cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Comparison of synthetic saponin cholesterol absorption inhibitors in rabbits: evidence for a non-stoichiometric, intestinal mechanism of action

The hypocholesterolemic activities of pamaqueside and tiqueside, two structurally similar saponins, were evaluated in cholesterol-fed rabbits. The pharmacological profiles of the saponins were virtually identical: both dose-dependently decreased the intestinal absorption of labeled cholesterol 25-75%, increased fecal neutral sterol excretion up to 2.5-fold, and decreased hepatic cholesterol content 10-55%. High doses of pamaqueside (>5 mg/kg) or tiqueside (>125 mg/kg) completely prevented hypercholesterolemia. Decreases in plasma and hepatic cholesterol levels were strongly correlated with increased neutral sterol excretion. Ratios of neutral sterol excreted to pamaqueside administered were greater than 1:1 at all doses, in opposition to the formation of a stoichiometric complex previously suggested for tiqueside and other saponins. Ratios in tiqueside-treated rabbits were less than unity, a reflection of its lower potency. Pamaqueside-treated rabbits exhibited a more rapid decline in plasma cholesterol concentrations than control animals fed a cholesterol-free diet, indicating that the compound also inhibited the absorption of biliary cholesterol. Intravenous administration of pamaqueside had no effect on plasma cholesterol levels despite plasma levels twice those observed in rabbits given pamaqueside orally. These data indicate that pamaqueside and tiqueside induce hypocholesterolemia by blocking lumenal cholesterol absorption via a mechanism that apparently differs from the stoichiometric complexation of cholesterol hypothesized for other saponins.
HSV-2 enhances ZIKV infection of the placenta and induces apoptosis in first-trimester trophoblast cells.

Problem Zika virus (ZIKV) has gained public concern for its association with microcephaly in infants born to ZIKV-infected mothers. To reach the fetus the virus must overcome the defense mechanisms provided by trophoblast cells. Additionally, in the first trimester, the integrity of the placenta is critical for fetal protection as damage to differentiating trophoblast can affect placental formation and function. We sought to investigate the effect of ZIKV infection on trophoblast cells and the factors that might increase the risk for ZIKV infection during pregnancy. Methods First-trimester human trophoblast cells, Swan 7.1, were infected with ZIKV, herpes simplex virus-2 (HSV-2), and yellow fiver (YFV). C57BL/6 pregnant mice were infected with HSV-2, ZIKV, or coinfection. Placental viral titers were determined by RT-PCR. Results ZIKV infection induces apoptosis in first-trimester trophoblasts and prevents differentiation of these cells. Furthermore, HSV-2 infection enhances placental sensitivity to ZIKV by enhancing the expression of TAM receptors, which facilitate ZIKV cell entry. Conclusion These findings may explain the mechanism by which ZIKV breaches the placental barrier to access the fetus. Furthermore, our results suggest that patients with HSV-2 infection are at a higher risk for the teratogenic effects induced by ZIKV.
AI-09 Treatment of MRL/LPR mice with a mab blocking binding of C3D to its receptors decreases ANTI-DNA autoantibodies and proteinuria: support for targeting the CR2:C3D interaction as a therapeutic strategy in SLE

Background The primary B cell receptors for antigen-bound complement C3 fragments are complement receptor 1 (CR1/CD35) and complement receptor 2 (CR2/CD21). In mice, as opposed to humans, CR1 and CR2 are derived through alternative splicing from a common gene designated Cr2 . CR1 is the primary receptor for the C3b and C4b fragments of C3 and C4, respectively, while CR2 binds the TED domain within C3d and iC3b. The absence of CR1/CR2 in Cr2 -/- mice impairs immunological responses to foreign antigens due to the lack of CR2/C3d costimulatory signals on B cells and impaired antigen retention on follicular dendritic cells. One might expect a similar humoral autoimmune enhancing role for CR1 and CR2 in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) through amplification of B cell responses to C3b/C3d-bound self-antigens. However, studies in murine models of SLE performed on a Cr2-/- background have demonstrated enhanced lupus-related autoimmunity. One potentially confounding factor with use of Cr2-/- mice is that CR1 is a high affinity receptor for C4b, which is itself necessary to maintain tolerance to lupus autoantigens in humans and mice. Materials and methods Previously, only rat anti-mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to CR2/CR1 have been available, which are immunogenic in mice. We have developed novel non-immunogenic mouse anti-mouse mAbs targeted to CR2-specific ligand-receptor interaction. The first is a non-B cell depleting mAb that recognises and blocks CR2 interactions with C3d without directly affecting CR1 interactions with C4b or C3b. The second mAb recognises the C3d fragment and blocks its interaction with CR2 without directly affecting C3b or C4b interactions with CR1. Results Using the MRL/lpr model of SLE, we have found that treatment with anti-CR2 mAb does not provide clinical benefit. Conversely, a single injection of anti-C3d mAb durably reduced anti-dsDNA antibody production (mean 383 R.U. in mAb 3d8b injected mice and 949 R.U. in control PBS injected mice, p Conclusions Blocking C3d/TED domain interactions with its receptor(s) through ligand-directed interruption of binding represents a potential new therapeutic approach in patients with SLE. Whether interruption of C3d:CR2 interactions through targeting of CR2 itself will provide similar clinical benefit requires additional study. Acknowledgements Funding provided through Alliance for Lupus Research Project Grant and NIH R21 AI105717.
Spanning trees with leaf distance at least d

The leaf distance of a tree is the maximum d such that the distance between any pair of leaves in the tree is at least d. Kaneko provided sufficient conditions to force the existence of a spanning tree with leaf distance at least d=3 and conjectured that similar conditions suffice for larger d. The case when d=4 was later proved by Kaneko, Kano, and Suzuki. In this paper, we show that when d4, a stronger form of this conjecture holds for graphs with independence number at most five. As an immediate corollary, we obtain that when dn3, this stronger version holds for all n-vertex graphs, consequently proving Kanekos conjecture for dn3.
Functional diversity increases ecological stability in a grazed grassland

Understanding the factors governing ecological stability in variable environments is a central focus of ecology. Functional diversity can stabilize ecosystem function over time if one group of species compensates for an environmentally driven decline in another. Although intuitively appealing, evidence for this pattern is mixed. We hypothesized that diverse functional responses to rainfall will increase the stability of vegetation cover and biomass across rainfall conditions, but that this effect depends on land-use legacies that maintain functional diversity. We experimentally manipulated grazing in a California grassland to create land-use legacies of low and moderate grazing, across which we implemented rainout shelters and irrigation to create dry and wet conditions over 3 years. We found that the stability of the vegetation cover was greatly elevated and the stability of the biomass was slightly elevated across rainfall conditions in areas with histories of moderate grazing. Initial functional diversity—both in the seed bank and aboveground—was also greater in areas that had been moderately grazed. Rainfall conditions in conjunction with this grazing legacy led to different functional diversity patterns over time. Wet conditions led to rapid declines in functional diversity and a convergence on resource-acquisitive traits. In contrast, consecutively dry conditions maintained but did not increase functional diversity over time. As a result, grazing practices and environmental conditions that decrease functional diversity may be associated with lasting effects on the response of ecosystem functions to drought. Our results demonstrate that theorized relationships between diversity and stability are applicable and important in the context of working grazed landscapes.
Novel fork-tip needles versus standard needles for EUS-guided tissue acquisition from solid masses of the upper GI tract: a matched cohort study

AbstractBackground: There are very few available data on the novel SharkCore™ needles for EUS-FNB.Aim: Comparison of the performance of the SharkCore™ needles with the standard EUS-FNA needles for the diagnosis of solid upper GI masses.Patients and methods: Single-center, retrospective cohort study in an academic tertiary referral hospital. Patients were matched 1:1 for the site of the lesion and the presence or absence of rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE).Results: A total of 102 patients were included. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean number of passes (3.3 ± 1.3 versus 3.4 ± 1.5; p = .89). Similar results were observed at the subgroup with ROSE (4.3 ± 1.3 versus 3.7 ± 1.5; p = .26). More histological specimens were obtained with the SharkCore™ needles compared to standard needles (59 versus 5%; p < .001). Diagnostic test characteristics were not significantly different (sensitivity: 91.5 versus 85.7; specificity: 100 versus 100%; accuracy: 92.2 versus 85.4% for SharkCore™ versu...
PREVALENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF PSEUDOGYMNOASCUS DESTRUCTANS IN MICHIGAN BATS SUBMITTED FOR RABIES SURVEILLANCE.

Abstract Since 2006, bat populations in North America have suffered devastating mortality from an emerging disease known as white-nose syndrome (WNS). The causal agent of WNS is the fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans. In April 2014, WNS was discovered in little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) in Michigan, US, and has since been documented in 12 counties. Because current surveillance for WNS focuses primarily on mine-hibernating species in winter, it is subject to geographic, species, and seasonal bias. To investigate species affected and potential associations of gender, seasonal life cycle, and region with P. destructans prevalence, 1,040 rabies-negative bats were sampled from May 2014 to May 2015 from animals submitted as part of statewide rabies surveillance. The vast majority (96%) of the sample population consisted of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus), a noncavernicolous species. Two methods were used to detect P. destructans: fluorescence of the muzzle, wing, and tail membranes under ultraviolet ligh...
SEISMIC RISK AND RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN THE COASTAL ZONE

Publisher Summary Earthquakes, whether local or distant, are complex phenomena that can impose severe loadings on structures. They release large amounts of strain energy from limited volumes of the earth's crust in the form of seismic body and surface waves. The identification of seismic hazards connected with onshore and offshore resource development and facility sitings constitutes a primary task along many parts of the U.S. coastal zone. The risk ranges from nominal along the eastern seaboard to severe along the southern coast of Alaska. Countless projects have been, and many more will be, strongly affected by limitations imposed as a result of the apparent seismic risk. The economic and social impacts will be significant. The identification of seismic hazards in the coastal zone is uniquely challenging to the seismologist and structural engineer. The data is sparse and it is difficult and expensive to acquire; generally indirect methods of data gathering are required. Finally, the surface geology often consists of very recent, poorly lithified materials, whose spatial extent and physical characteristics under seismic shaking are poorly known.
The Effect of Real-Time Feedback Using a Smartwatch on the Clinical Behavior of Novice Student Clinicians

The use of computer monitors to provide technology-based written feedback during clinical sessions, referred to as “bug-in-the-eye” (BITi) feedback, recently emerged in the literature with prelimin...
SYSTEMIC VENTRICULAR STRAIN IS ABNORMAL IN OBESE ADULTS WITH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE

Obesity is associated with left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and cardiac dysfunction. In obese adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD), a sensitive echocardiographic marker like strain might enable early detection of subclinical cardiac changes. 2D transthoracic echocardiograms (TTE) done on
Multiple frequency saturation pulses reduce CEST acquisition time for quantifying conformational exchange in biomolecules

Exchange between conformational states is required for biomolecular catalysis, allostery, and folding. A variety of NMR experiments have been developed to quantify motional regimes ranging from nanoseconds to seconds. In this work, we describe an approach to speed up the acquisition of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) experiments that are commonly used to probe millisecond to second conformational exchange in proteins and nucleic acids. The standard approach is to obtain CEST datasets through the acquisition of a series of 2D correlation spectra where each experiment utilizes a single saturation frequency to 1H, 15N or 13C. These pseudo 3D datasets are time consuming to collect and are further lengthened by reduced signal to noise stemming from the long saturation pulse. In this article, we show how usage of a multiple frequency saturation pulse (i.e., MF-CEST) changes the nature of data collection from series to parallel, and thus decreases the total acquisition time by an integer factor corresponding to the number of frequencies in the pulse. We demonstrate the applicability of MF-CEST on a Src homology 2 (SH2) domain from phospholipase Cγ and the secondary active transport protein EmrE as model systems by collecting 13C methyl and 15N backbone datasets. MF-CEST can also be extended to additional sites within proteins and nucleic acids. The only notable drawback of MF-CEST as applied to backbone 15N experiments occurs when a large chemical shift difference between the major and minor populations is present (typically greater than ~ 8 ppm). In these cases, ambiguity may arise between the chemical shift of the minor population and the multiple frequency saturation pulse. Nevertheless, this drawback does not occur for methyl group MF-CEST experiments or in cases where somewhat smaller chemical shift differences occur are present.
Representations and Rituals of the State

The state is a symbolic construction, a fact that has major implications for understanding of the state. Knowledge of the symbolic processes surrounding the political order has evolved from the insights of Durkheim and, later, Fortes and Evans-Pritchard, to Geertz and Bourdieu. As theory has developed, scholars have increasingly recognized that symbolic representations of the polity are not only central to attempts to bolster the political status quo, but also to attempts to undermine it. Among these processes of representation, political ritual plays a major role. Rites help tie individuals to the state; legitimize power-holders, power-seekers, and institutions; bind people emotionally through a sense of solidarity; and foster certain views of political reality. For leaders of new regimes and new states, in particular, formulating powerful representations of the new order, and powerful rites, is crucial to success. Leaders of both opposition groups within the existing order and of revolutionary movements aimed at overthrowing that order must likewise rely on the manipulation of symbols and rites. Various examples are used to illustrate these processes.
A method for predicting crack growth in nonhomogeneous viscoelastic media

Equations are developed for predicting crack growth in the opening mode for quite general situations, including many quasi-static and dynamic problems involving moisture and temperature gradients in monolithic and composite materials. Except for the small zone of failing material at the crack tip, the body is assumed to be linearly viscoelastic. A method for obtaining viscoelastic stresses and displacements from elastic solutions is first described. The traction boundary condition for the crack faces is not in general satisfied by these results. However, it is shown by modifying the failure zone in the elastic problem this condition can be met, and an integral equation for the stress in the modified failure zone is derived. Approximate analysis similar to that used previously by the author in stress analysis is then employed to solve the integral equation and develop relatively simple equations for predicting crack speed; these equations relate crack speed in the viscoelastic material to stress intensity factors in a suitably defined elastic body.
Neurodevelopmental Disorders in Common Syndromes

Numerous genetic syndromes have had the cognitive and behavioral components of the phenotype delineated, leading to improved diagnosis of the condition, as well as to better management and interventional approaches. This article is a review of some of what is known about the neurodevelopmental aspects of some of the more common genetic syndromes.
Failure recovery for bulk synchronous applications with MPI stages

Abstract When an MPI program experiences a failure, the most common recovery approach is to restart all processes from a previous checkpoint and to re-queue the entire job. A disadvantage of this method is that, although the failure occurred within the main application loop, live processes must start again from the beginning of the program, along with new replacement processes—this incurs unnecessary overhead for live processes. To avoid such overheads and concomitant delays, we introduce the concept of “MPI Stages.” MPI Stages saves internal MPI state in a separate checkpoint in conjunction with application state. Upon failure, both MPI and application state are recovered, respectively, from their last synchronous checkpoints and continue without restarting the overall MPI job. Live processes roll back only a few iterations within the main loop instead of rolling back to the beginning of the program, while a replacement of failed process restarts and reintegrates, thereby achieving faster failure recovery. This approach integrates well with large-scale, bulk synchronous applications and checkpoint/restart. In this article, we identify requirements for production MPI implementations to support state checkpointing with MPI Stages, which includes capturing and managing internal MPI state and serializing and deserializing user handles to MPI objects. We evaluate our fault tolerance approach with a proof-of-concept prototype MPI implementation that includes MPI Stages. We demonstrate its functionality and performance using LULESH, CoMD, and microbenchmarks. Our results show that MPI Stages reduces the recovery time for both LULESH and CoMD in comparison to checkpoint/restart and Reinit (a global-restart model).
Evaluating the relationships among religion, social virtues, and meaning in life

There is growing evidence that a sense of meaning in life may emerge, in part, from the social relationships that people maintain. But it is not clear how the relationship between social ties and a...
Pathologic Basis for Thyroid Ultrasound

Thyroid ultrasound (US) became pivotal in triaging thyroid fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy following recent name change of “noninvasive follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma” (fvPTC) to “noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features” (NIFTP). This chapter describes the pathologic basis of grayscale thyroid US for cytopathologists, radiologists, endocrinologists, and thyroid surgeons. There are two composite figures of 11 tumors with US, cytology, gross pathology, and histopathology, comparing indolent and aggressive thyroid cancers and comparing NIFTPs with infiltrative and encapsulated fvPTCs on US features, cytology features, and histology features. Color Doppler US is correlated with cellularity of FNA samples of various tumors and aid in predicting the bloodiness of thyroid FNA samples.
Contextual sensing: why we should make sensors "smarter" (Conference Presentation)

Abstract: Aside from the daunting physics based challenges needed to maintain Moore's Law, it's becoming increasingly difficult to justify the huge foundry investments required. This probable constraint to future electronics provides sensor developers with a unique opportunity to create more "elegant" sensing design options. Instead of continually increasing the amount of data collected in an open-loop manner, we should consider providing "intelligent" feedback to and within sensors in a more "closed-loop" manner. In other words, allow the sensor to dynamically learn how best to allocate its sampling, processing, and communication resources based on both external objectives and internal conditions. Imbedding deep learning machines into sensors designs could help mitigate Moore's Law's possible demise.
Where We Go from Here

If the discussion of the preceding chapters is correct, then risk assessment needs to be improved in some significant ways. In general, it needs to avoid simplistic approaches to problems of safety, and to address the complex epistemological, logical, scientific, and ethical problems raised by questions of evaluating societal risks. In particular, in terms of the methods of revealed preferences, risk assessors could take some first steps toward improvement of their methods and techniques by foregoing appeal to the commensurability presupposition (Chapter 3), the theory of the compensating wage differential (Chapter 4), the probability-threshold position (Chapter 5), and the linearity assumption (Chapter 6). Instead, they need to investigate the ethical and methodological constraints which, in a particular situation, determine whether these appeals are philosophically defensible.
La vivienda productiva: una alternativa de solución habitacional a las prácticas económicas domiciliarias de subsistencia

Numerosas familias de la periferia de muchas ciudades utilizan la vivienda provista por la ayuda social como sitio para realizar actividades economicas de sobrevivencia, con consecuentes efectos negativos en sus condiciones de habitabilidad y en la calidad de vida de los usuarios. Se planteara esta situacion a partir del analisis de casos de algunas experiencias habitacionales en America Latina, donde se ha abordado el problema de la vivienda social desde el concepto de vivienda productiva, para extraer aspectos significativos que contribuyan a la elaboracion de propuestas adecuadas, destinadas a aportar a la politica habitacional en favor de un habitat digno.
Lamotrigine-induced DRESS Syndrome Manifesting as 'Eosinophilic Colitis': An Uncommon Presentation of a Very Uncommon Condition.

Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS) is a rare drug-induced hypersensitivity reaction that manifests with a variety of signs and symptoms. It is an important condition that must be recognized by all physicians because if untreated, it can be fatal. There are a variety of medications that are responsible for this condition. The liver, lungs, and kidneys are commonly affected, with the involvement of the gastrointestinal tract being very rare; only a few cases are reported worldwide. We are presenting a case of lamotrigine-induced DRESS syndrome manifesting as colitis. A 32-year-old female presented with diarrhea, two weeks after the initiation of lamotrigine. Her condition worsened with the development of a generalized rash and bloody diarrhea. Further investigations revealed that she likely had a drug reaction secondary to lamotrigine. Fortunately, prompt initiation of systemic steroids led to the resolution of her symptoms.
Gratitude is positively associated with quality of life in multiple sclerosis.

Purpose/objective Individuals diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) often experience decreased quality of life (QoL), in part attributable to fatigue, depression (Benedict et al., 2005), and cognitive dysfunction (Cutajar et al., 2000). Beyond these well-established predictors, the positive trait of gratitude-attentiveness to positive features in one's life-has predicted QoL in the context of other chronic illnesses. However, relatively little research has examined the relevance of gratitude as a contributor to QoL in MS. The purpose of the present study was (a) to test whether trait gratitude would predict QoL in MS, above and beyond known predictors (e.g., perceived and objectively assessed cognitive dysfunction, fatigue, and depression symptoms), and (b) to test whether gratitude would buffer (i.e., moderate) the effects of these predictors on QoL. Research Method/Design: This study employed a cross-sectional, single time-point design. Participants formally diagnosed with MS (N = 128) completed a short battery to assess cognitive function and self-report measures of depression, fatigue, perceived cognitive functioning, gratitude, and QoL. Results Consistent with hypotheses, gratitude uniquely predicted higher QoL beyond other predictors. In addition, gratitude buffered the effect of objective cognitive performance on QoL as expected, but did not interact with other predictors. Conclusions/implications These results suggest the need for further research into gratitude as a potential source of resilience for individuals with MS. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Host phylogeny and life history stage shape the gut microbiome in dwarf (Kogia sima) and pygmy (Kogia breviceps) sperm whales

Gut microbiomes perform crucial roles in host health and development, but few studies have explored cetacean microbiomes especially deep divers. We characterized the gut microbiomes of stranded dwarf (Kogia sima) and pygmy (K. breviceps) sperm whales to examine the effects of phylogeny and life stage on microbiome composition and diversity. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed diverse gut communities (averaging 674 OTUs) dominated by a few symbiont taxa (25 OTUs accounted for 64% of total relative abundance). Both phylogeny and life stage shaped community composition and diversity, with species-specific microbiome differences present early in life. Further analysis showed evidence of microbiome convergence with host maturity, albeit through different processes: symbiont 'accumulation' in K. sima and 'winnowing' in K. breviceps, indicating different methods of community assembly during host development. Furthermore, culture-based analyses yielded 116 pure cultures matching 25 OTUs, including one isolate positive for chitin utilization. Our findings indicate that kogiid gut microbiomes are highly diverse and species-specific, undergo significant shifts with host development, and can be cultivated on specialized media under anaerobic conditions. These results enhance our understanding of the kogiid gut microbiome and may provide useful information for symbiont assessment in host health.
Forecasting eco-evolutionary dynamics in the Northern Blue butterfly (2019 field season)

Natural selection can drive rapid evolutionary change, particularly in human-altered habitats. Rapid adaptation to global change requires standing genetic variation for ecologically important traits, but at present little is known about how much relevant genetic variation most populations possess. With this in mind, we began a long term study of genome-wide molecular evolution in a series of natural butterfly populations in the Greater Yellowstone Area in 2012 to quantify the contribution of environment-dependent natural selection to evolution in these butterfly populations, and determine whether selection varies enough across space and time to maintain variation that could facilitate adaptation to global change. In 2019, we visited 11 focal populations to collect samples for DNA and plant chemistry, estimate population sizes (mark-release-recapture methods), and survey arthropod communities at the sites. Our analyses are ongoing, and this is a preliminary report, but thus far we have found that census population sizes are much higher than contemporary effective population sizes (though these metrics are highly correlated), and that both are independent of genetic diversity levels. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that selection plays a central role in eco-evolutionary dynamics in this system. Featured photo from figure 1 in report.
NEONATAL ASCITES AND OBSTRUCTIVE UROPATHY A Case Report with 4-Year Follow-Up

A case of neonatal ascites associated with severe, obstructive uropathy is described. Recovery followed correction of the urinary tract obstruction. Follow-up data, including those pertaining to growth and development, over a 4-year period are presented. Attempts to demonstrate leakage of urine or a direct communication between the urinary tract and the peritoneal cavity were made, but failed. The pathogenesis of congenital ascites in infants with bilateral hydronephrosis and hydro-ureters remains obscure.
Support Vector Learning for Gender Classification Using Audio and Visual Cues: A Comparison

Computer vision systems for monitoring people and collecting valuable demographics in a social environment will play an increasingly important role in enhancing user's experience and can significantly improve the intelligibility of a human computer interaction (HCI) system. For example, a robust gender classification system is expected to provide a basis for passive surveillance and access to a smart building using demographic information or can provide valuable consumer statistics in a public place. The option of an audio cue in addition to the visual cue promises a robust solution with high accuracy and ease-of-use in human computer interaction systems.This paper investigates the use of Support Vector Machines(SVMs) for the purpose of gender classification. Both visual (thumbnail frontal face) and audio (features from speech data) cues were considered for designing the classifier and the performance obtained by using each cue was compared. The performance of the SVM was compared with that of two simple classifiers namely, the nearest prototype neighbor and the k-nearest neighbor on all feature sets. It was found that the SVM outperformed the other two classifiers on all datasets. The best overall classification rates obtained using the SVM for the visual and speech data were 95.31% and 100%, respectively.
A scientific on-line database for efficient function approximation

The use of a scientific, on-line database for function approximation is a technique that can significantly reduce the computational demands for problems requiring the frequent evaluation of computationally expensive functions. In this paper we present several new algorithms which significantly improve the performance of software implementations of this database approach. These algorithms are of two types--first, algorithms designed to improve the database retrieval rates; and, second, algorithms that seek to reduce the size of the database and subsequently reduce the cost of database queries. We have developed a software implementation of algorithms called DOLFA. We present experimental results which detail the performance of the DOLFA software for one representative combustion application. We observe significant improvements in cumulative time needed for database operations and memory requirements in a comparison of DOLFA to the function tabulation software system ISAT.
Complete exchange on a wormhole routed mesh

The complete exchange (or all-to-all personalized) communication pattern occurs frequently in many important parallel computing applications. We discuss several algorithms to perform complete exchange on a two dimensional mesh connected computer with wormhole routing. We propose algorithms for both power-of-two and non power-of-two meshes as well as an algorithm which works for any arbitrary mesh. We have developed analytical models to estimate the performance of the algorithms on the basis of system parameters. These models take into account the effects of link contention and other characteristics of the communication system. Performance results on the Intel Touchstone Delta are presented and analyzed. >
A Review of “The German Myth of the East: 1800 to the Present”

This fascinating volume traces the European East in the German imagination from 1800 to the present. Although other authors have covered much of the same material that Vejas Liulevicius analyzes, h...
Out-of-plane spectrometry: Why and how

Abstract Out-of-plane detection capability is required in order to exploit the full potential of coincident electron scattering. We review here some of the most compelling arguments for out-of-plane spectrometry and offer some illustrative examples of the power of the technique. We then examine how such a capability can be realized in the environment of intermediate energy electron accelerators. Finally, we introduce a novel approach for the isolation of nuclear/nucleon responses based on simultaneous measurements by an array of spectrometers.
Solute binding curves for (two polymer + solute)–complex systems I. “one-solute-stack” systems

The matrix method is used for calculating the grand partition function for the reaction: 2 polymer + solute = complex. The homogeneous polymers are assumed to have two types of sites within each nucleotide unit: sites for the polymer–polymer association, i.e., (p-p) sites; sites for polymer–solute association i.e., (p-s) sites. The respective binding parameters, P and F, and nearest-neighbor interaction parameters, W and S, are assumed independent. Complications due to ring entropy are avoided by rest riding the model to one-solute-stack systems, which are physically realizable when the reciprocal of the solute cooperativity parameter is much larger than the number of nucleotides in the polymer. The 4 × 4 generating matrix is shown to be a tensor product of two 2 × 2 matrices, each the generating matrix of a particular type of site. The scalar product of the 4 × 4 matrix is shown to be equivalent to the scalar product of a 2 × 2 matrix in the weak interaction limit, W ≈ 0. Calculations are presented for the general case which restricts the (p-s) association to occur only with (p-p) associated nucleotide units. The nature of the binding curve in relation to partitioning the total interaction energy (F + P + S + W) among the parameters is discussed. Also presented is a criterion for neglecting possible states in the calculation of the grand partition function.
Feature enhancing aerial lidar point cloud refinement.

Raw aerial LiDAR point clouds often suffer from noise and under-sampling, which can be alleviated by feature preserving refinement. However, existing approaches are limited to only preserving normal discontinuous features (ridges, ravines and crest lines) while position discontinuous features (boundaries) are also universal in urban scenes. We present a new refinement approach to accommodate unique properties of aerial LiDAR building points. By extending recent developments in geometry refinement to explicitly regularize boundary points, both normal and position discontinuous features are preserved and enhanced. The refinement includes two steps: i) the smoothing step applies a two-stage feature preserving bilateral filtering, which first filters normals and then updates positions under the guidance of the filtered normals. In a separate similar process, boundary points are smoothed directed by tangent directions of underlying lines, and ii) the up-sampling step interpolates new points to fill gaps/holes for both interior surfaces and boundary lines, through a local gap detector and a feature-aware bilateral projector. Features can be further enhanced by limiting the up-sampling near discontinuities. The refinement operates directly on points with diverse density, shape and complexity. It is memory-efficient, easy to implement, and easily extensible. © (2014) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Infrared absorption of OH- centers in silver chloride

Abstract The near infrared absorption of silver chloride doped with hydroxide has been studied at various temperatures. The hydroxide stretching band is observed at 3468.3 cm-1 for a temperature of 4.5°K. A libration sideband was observed 221.0 cm-1 from the stretching band. For crystals doped with sodium hydroxide, two stretching bands were observed. Measurements of OD- doped crystals indicate a greatly increased anharmonicity constant.
Design of a high voltage multi-cavity 35 GHz phase-locked gyrotron oscillator

This paper describes the design for an experimental high power, phase-locked gyrotron oscillator. The electron beam is generated by a 1 MV pulseline accelerator, and the reference signal is provided by a 35 GHz, 20 kW magnetron. The expected output power is in the range 1 to 10 MW. The design is based on a solid 1 MeV, 100 Amp, 4 mm electron beam with a momentum pitch ratio ∞ of 0 · 75. The locking signal from the magnetron is introduced via a prebunching cavity. A second (passive) bunching cavity is used to increase the locking frequency bandwidth obtainable with a given locking power. The bunching cavities are designed to operate in the fundamental TE111 cylindrical cavity mode. Some competition from the TE112 higher order axial mode could not be avoided owing to the constraint on the minimum drift tube diameter set by the requirement to propagate the electron beam. The bunching cavities include two axial slots to control the cavity Q factor and suppress competing modes. Additional slots and apertures a...
Trusting a trusted system

The biggest cost driver in building a High Assurance System can often be the choice of method used to attain sufficient trust in the system. This talk will take a look at trust methodology, some of the issues involved, and some of the history that surrounds these issues. We will then examine some newer applications for trusted systems where the traditional methods break down, and discuss a possible new paradigm for achieving trust.
A biochemical and genetic model for parasite resistance to antifolates. Toxoplasma gondii provides insights into pyrimethamine and cycloguanil resistance in Plasmodium falciparum.

We have exploited the experimental accessibility of the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii and its similarity to Plasmodium falciparum to investigate the influence of specific dihydrofolate reductase polymorphisms known from field isolates of drug-resistant malaria. By engineering appropriate recombinant shuttle vectors, it is feasible to examine mutations by transient or stable transformation of T. gondii parasites, in bacterial and yeast complementation assays, and through biochemical analysis of purified enzyme. A series of mutant alleles that mirrorP. falciparum variants reveals that the key mutation Asn-108 (Asn-83 in T. gondii) probably confers resistance to pyrimethamine by affecting critical interactions in the ternary complex. Mutations such as Arg-59 (T. gondii 36) have limited effect in isolation, but in combination with other mutations they enhance the competitive ability of folate by increasing the speed of product turnover. Val-16 (T. gondii 10) confers low level resistance to cycloguanil but hypersensitivity to pyrimethamine. This mutation precludes Asn-108, probably because compression of the folate binding pocket introduced by this combination is incompatible with enzyme function. These studies permit detailed biochemical, kinetic, and structural analysis of drug resistance mutations and reconstruction of the probable phylogeny of antifolate resistance in malaria.
Simulation of long-path horizontal propagation through a three-layer non-Kolmogorov atmosphere model

We explore the possibility that a three-layer model including non-Kolmogorov turbulence center section may produce coherent structures in received intensity. Instead, we find that non-Kolmogorov power-law media decreases coherence when log-amplitude variance is fixed.
Radial Distribution Functions for a Hydrogenous Plasma in Equilibrium

Radial distribution functions ${g}_{\mathrm{ab}}(r)$ for a dense hydrogenous plasma (${n}_{i}={n}_{e}={10}^{18}$ electrons/cc) are obtained near the ionization temperature by solving the Percus-Yevick equation and a modified Percus-Yevick equation. The effective interparticle potentials used were obtained previously by a direct evaluation of their corresponding two-particle Slater sums, and include the Heisenberg quantal effect, but not the statistical quantal effect. The iterative solution of the equations, even using a variety of numerical procedures, is found to break down when the ionization falls appreciably.
Testing for the Equality of the Variance‐Covariance Matrices of Two Jointly Normal Vector Variables

Assume a joint 2P-variate normal distribution for the p-component vectors x and y with unknown mean and unknown variance-covariance matrices Σxx and Σyy respectively, with Cov (x, y)=Σxy. No assumptions are made about the nature of Σxy. The likelihood ratio method is investigated to test the hypothesis that Σxx = Σyy. A method of numerical solution to the likelihood equations in the restricted parameter case is given when p=2, and approximate solutions are suggested for p>2.
Patchy stomatal conductance: emergent collective behaviour of stomata

Abstract Until recently, most scientists have tacitly assumed that individual stomata respond independently and similarly to stimuli, showing minor random variation in aperture and behaviour. This implies that stomatal behaviour should not depend on the scale of observation. However, it is now clear that these assumptions are often incorrect. Leaves frequently exhibit dramatic spatial and temporal heterogeneity in stomatal behaviour. This phenomenon, in which small ‘patches' of stomata respond differently from those in adjacent regions of the leaf, is called ‘patchy stomatal conductance'. It appears to represent a hitherto unknown type of emergent collective behaviour that manifests itself in populations of stomata in intact leaves.
Role of emergency physician in an organization in India

Introduction: Emergency Medicine is still at a nascent stage of recognition in India, there are very few recognized courses coming into being recently for the same. Moreover Emergency Physicians in an organization providing Emergency medical care is even rarer, as the value placed on this specialty is very less by the corporates. It is normally believed that the profile of an Emergency Physician in a corporate is just stuck to handling the emergency, coordinating between all the agencies concerned, and admitting patients to a hospital and then monitoring patients for the same. This being the only function is mostly done by the primary care doctor of the company. Aim: The current article is meant to create awareness for both the corporates and the Emergency Physicians. Results and Conclusion: Moreover the role of the Emergency Physician is a lot more than just that, and the corporates need to understand added value which an Emergency Physician will bring on the table for them like other medical services in the company. This is from the organization point of view. From the point of view of the Emergency Physician, having a exposure to the corporate world is even rare, as the role involves not only handling emergencies but also understanding the business dynamics of the company, developing strategic plans and also understanding the ground operations for the same.
Intraluminal Shunt for the Thoracic Aorta: Blood Flow and Function in Chronic Studies

Abstract Background . Aortic cross-clamping during operations on the thoracic aorta may result in paraplegia or kidney failure. Methods . A nonshunting method of repair was compared with intraluminal shunting in two groups of young pigs: the no-shunt group, which received simple aortic cross-clamping at the ligamentum for 15 minutes; and the shunt group, which received an aortic graft with a temporary intraluminal shunt and balloon occlusion of the inferior vena cava only during shunt insertion and removal. Blood flow to the spinal cord and viscera was measured with radiolabeled microspheres on days 1, 3, 5, and 7 after operation. Renal and neurologic function and histology also were studied. Results . In the no-shunt group, there was hyperemia of the lumbar cord compared with the shunt group. There were no significant differences in renal cortex blood flow or creatinine clearance. Seven of 10 animals in the no-shunt group had paraplegia, compared with none in the shunt group. Histologic studies of the lower lumbar cord showed bilateral central necrosis of gray matter in the no-shunt group, but no evidence of necrosis in the shunt group. Conclusions . An intraluminal shunt allowed thoracic aorta reconstruction without paraplegia. (Ann Thorac Surg 1997;63:419–24)
Fully coupled six-dimensional calculations of rovibrational eigenstates of floppy four-atom molecules

Abstract A methodology for rigorous and efficient quantum 6D calculation of the vibration-rotation levels of floppy four-atom molecules is reviewed. The rovibrational Hamiltonian in the diatom–diatom Jacobi coordinates is employed. The distance between the diatomic centers of mass is discretized by means of the discrete variable representation (DVR). At each DVR point, a 5D Hamiltonian is diagonalized. The quasiadiabatic basis of the 5D eigenvectors reduces greatly the dimension of the final Hamiltonian matrix, allowing its direct diagonalization to give the rovibrational energy levels and wave functions. The methodology lends itself well to implementation on parallel computers.
An empirical comparison of agricultural supply response mechanisms

(1982). An empirical comparison of agricultural supply response mechanisms. Applied Economics: Vol. 14, No. 2, pp. 183-194.
Cytochrome P450cam: SS- dimer and -SH derivative reactivities

Abstract N-ethyl-maleimide alkylation converts ferric P450 cam to a (succinimido-cys) 4 protein with native optical and EPR spectra but insensitive to substrate induced shift of iron to high spin with Soret absorption to higher energy and inactive in putidaredoxin ferric-ferrous reduction. On photo or chemical reduction the ferrous protein oxygenates and, with reduced putidaredoxin, converts substrate to product. Mild oxidation of P450 cam yields a disulfide dimer whose properties on alkylation of 3 sulfhydryls equal the succinimido 4 monomer; additional alkylation converts either monomer or dimer to a P420.
Thirty-Day Outcomes Support Implementation of a Surgical Safety Checklist

Background Thirty-day postoperative complications from unintended harm adversely affect patients and their families and increase institutional health care costs. A surgical checklist is an inexpensive tool that will facilitate effective communication and teamwork. Surgical team training has demonstrated the opportunity for stakeholders to professionally engage one another through leveling of the authority gradient to prevent patient harm. The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database is an outcomes reporting tool capable of validating the use of surgical checklists. Study Design Three 60-minute team training sessions were conducted and participants were oriented to the use of a comprehensive surgical checklist. The surgical team used the checklist for high-risk procedures selected from those analyzed for the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. Trained observers assessed the checklist completion and collected data about perioperative communication and safety-compromising events. Results Data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program were compared for 2,079 historical control cases, 246 cases without checklist use, and 73 cases with checklist use. Overall completion of the checklist sections was 97.26%. Comparison of 30-day morbidity demonstrated a statistically significant (p = 0.000) reduction in overall adverse event rates from 23.60% for historical control cases and 15.90% in cases with only team training, to 8.20% in cases with checklist use. Conclusions Use of a comprehensive surgical safety checklist and implementation of a structured team training curriculum produced a statistically significant decrease in 30-day morbidity. Adoption of a comprehensive checklist is feasible with team training intervention and can produce measurable improvements in patient outcomes.