cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Technology adoption under time-differentiated market-based instruments for pollution control

Abstract Peak concentrations of ground-level ozone pose health risks to millions of U.S. citizens across the U.S. In order to reduce peak ozone concentrations, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from the power sector, among others, have been regulated with technology-based standards or, more commonly in recent years, market-based instruments such as cap-and-trade programs. However, the lack of temporal flexibility in current designs of these market-based instruments limits their cost-effectiveness on days forecasted to have the highest levels of pollution, including ozone precursors such as NOx, and as further emission reductions are sought, the marginal cost of these approaches increases dramatically. In this paper, we compare three regulatory schemes for reducing NOx emissions on high-ozone days: time-differentiated pricing, which prices NOx emissions only on days with high-ozone concentrations; undifferentiated pricing, which represents current NOx emission regulations; and technology-based standards. We develop a novel model that captures for the first time both the short- and long-term response of generators, through redispatching and control technology adoption, to a dynamic pricing scheme such as time-differentiated pricing. Unlike prior studies on time-differentiated pricing, the heart of our model, a unit commitment model, accounts for inter-temporal constraints on power generation that may be crucial to accurately capturing the response of generators to a transient price signal. We apply this model to the Texas power system and find that while control technology adoption (specifically selective catalytic reduction) does occur at very high time-differentiated prices, time-differentiated pricing mainly affects emissions and costs through redispatching of gas- for coal-fired generation. Furthermore, we show that time-differentiated pricing, due to its targeted pricing mechanism, provides a more cost-effective approach than undifferentiated pricing or technology-based standards for reducing NOx emissions on high-ozone days, but is not cost-effective at reducing summer-wide NOx emissions. Our results illustrate the trade-offs between these regulatory approaches and suggest that states should consider dynamic pricing schemes such as time-differentiated pricing for achieving further reductions in peak ozone concentrations.
Rare Case of Posterior Reversible Leukoencephalopathy Syndrome Secondary to Acute Chest Syndrome

We present a case of 29/m with a history of sickle cell disease who presented to the emergency department with sudden onset of chest, trunk, extremity, and back pain, consistent in quality and severity with the patient’s usual pain crises. Soon after admission to the medical unit for acute chest syndrome (ACS), the patient developed sudden onset of hypertension associated with left sided hemiplegia, lethargy, dysarthria, aphasia, and left sided facial droop. Neuroimaging revealed that on MRI Brain there was multifocal extensive signal abnormality and a small focal areas of hemorrhage compatible with posterior reversible leukoencephalopathy syndrome (PRES). Patient was treated with levetiracetam and phenytoin and improved soon afterwards, with resolution seen on follow-up MRI two months later.
Effects of Doxorubicin on Cellular Bioenergetics and Metabolism in Platelets

Cancer progression is associated with platelet activation, and as a result, platelets have become an ideal model to study the effects of chemotherapeutic agents on cellular bioenergetics and changes to cell metabolism. Doxorubicin (Adriamycin) is a chemotherapeutic agent used in the treatment of many cancer types by functioning through the intercalation of DNA in order to arrest the cell cycle; however, doxorubicin treatment is often dose-limited by high incidence of cardiotoxicity. Interestingly, doxorubicin has also been found to be a one-electron acceptor, forming a semiquinone radical leading to the generation of superoxide. In the present study we hypothesize that doxorubicin-elevated superoxide levels alters both the cellular bioenergetics and the metabolism of platelets, leading to altered cellular function. Platelets isolated from healthy volunteers were treated with acute sub-lethal concentrations of doxorubicin (0-50µM) for one hour, and monitored changes to cellular bioenergetics using extracellular flux analysis. The results show that as the concentration of doxorubicin increased, both basal and non-mitochondrial oxygen consumption rates (OCR) were increased while reserve capacity, thrombin activation, and platelet aggregation were decreased by doxorubicin in a dose-dependent manner. We also observed similar results using a different cell model, recently expired platelets obtained from the UAB blood bank. Together, our results suggest that doxorubicin treatment impairs platelet function, and changes cellular bioenergetics. Further studies on metabolic responses of platelets to doxorubicin will be needed to associate with changes in redox signaling and platelet function. The knowledge gained from these studies will provide future insight into the mechanism of how the redox cycling activity of doxorubicin plays a role in the treatment of cancer cells.
Evaluation of a multiplex PCR method to serotype Salmonella in animal feeds pre-enrichment broth cultures.

Abstract The identification of Salmonella enterica serotypes remains a highly important public health concern for microbiological analysis of foods, feeds, and clinical samples. Outbreaks of human salmonellosis are sometimes linked to contact with infected animals and animal feeds. To possibly reduce the number of outbreaks, it is important to rapidly, efficiently detect Salmonella enterica in animal feeds and food products. A multiplex PCR for molecular serotyping of Salmonella enterica previously used in a single lab validation study for serotyping in multiple human food matrices was used in this investigation to evaluate the effectiveness of the multiplex PCR assay as serotyping method and screening tool for Salmonella in animal feeds. This approach is unique in that: • The multiplex PCR serotyping assay may be used for rapid screening and serotyping of Salmonella enterica from contaminated animal feed at the non-selective pre-enrichment step. • The assay may provide the serotype or identification of Salmonella in positive samples at concentration as low as 10 CFU/25 g after a 24 h non-selective pre-enrichment step. • In addition to the ability to serotype, this assay contains invA as an internal control for Salmonella positive identification. The invA shows positive indication for Salmonella outside of the 30 serotypic banding patterns.
A 1600 by 1200, 300 mW, 40 fps multi-spectral imager for near-infrared fluorescence image-guided surgery

We have designed, fabricated, and tested a multi-spectral imager for near-infrared fluorescence image-guided surgery capable of simultaneously imaging both color and near-infrared fluorescence information with high sensitivity at 40 frames per second. The imaging sensor is composed of 1600 by 1200 imaging elements covered by pixelated spectral interference filters. The imaging sensor was successfully used in a preclinical study to assess and compare altered dynamic arterial perfusion in a murine model.
Using Primer-ID Deep Sequencing to Detect Recent Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection

Intrahost viral sequence diversity can be evaluated over multiple genomic regions using next-generation sequencing (NGS) and scaled to population-level diversity to identify recent human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection. Using Primer-ID NGS, we sequenced the reverse transcriptase (RT) and env V1-V3 regions from persons with known infection dates, and assessed the mean (π) and first quintile of pairwise diversity distributions over time. The receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (AUC) of RT and V1-V3 combined showed excellent discrimination of recent infection <9 months: using π (only single transmitted variants: AUC, 0.98; threshold <1.03%; sensitivity, 97%; specificity, 89%) and the first quintile (including all variants: AUC, 0.90; threshold <0.60%; sensitivity, 91%; specificity, 92%).
Concurrent Treatment of Substance Use Disorders and PTSD using Prolonged Exposure: A Randomized Clinical Trial in Military Veterans

Abstract Objective A substantial amount of individuals with substance use disorders (SUD) also meet criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Prolonged Exposure (PE) is an effective, evidence-based treatment for PTSD, but there is limited data on its use among individuals with current alcohol or drug use disorders. This study evaluated the efficacy of an integrated treatment that incorporates PE (Concurrent Treatment of PTSD and Substance Use Disorders Using Prolonged Exposure or COPE) among veterans. Method Military veterans (N = 81, 90.1% male) with current SUD and PTSD were randomized to 12 sessions of COPE or Relapse Prevention (RP). Primary outcomes included the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), PTSD Checklist-Military version (PCL-M), and the Timeline Follow-back (TLFB). Results On average, participants attended 8 out of 12 sessions and there were no group differences in retention. Intent-to-treat analyses revealed that COPE, in comparison to RP, resulted in significantly greater reductions in CAPS (d = 1.4, p Conclusions This study is the first to report on the use of an integrated, exposure-based treatment for co-occurring SUD and PTSD in a veteran sample. The findings demonstrate that integrated, exposure-based treatments are feasible and effective for military veterans with SUD and PTSD. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.
Toward an Improved Understanding of Online Customer Service Delivery to Millennials

Firms need to deliver high quality customer service to retain clients and improve performance. For online companies, a key customer segment is the highly technologically skilled millennials. This s...
Optimizing logarithmic decrement damping estimation through uncertainty propagation

Abstract This work derives an analytical expression for the optimal number of periods between samples when estimating damping using the logarithmic decrement method. This expression, obtained from an uncertainty analysis of the method's principal equation, is shown to be a function of only one system parameter: the damping ratio. This suggests that for linear systems with viscous damping there is a unique, damping-dependent period choice corresponding to minimum uncertainty in the estimated damping ratio. This result led to the discovery of a constant optimal amplitude ratio offering a straightforward guideline that can be applied by the experimenter to obtain damping ratio estimates with minimum uncertainty. The derived expressions are applied to a series of numerical and experimental systems to confirm their validity.
Highlights from the literature

The CELIPREV (Celiac Disease Risk Prevalence and natural history of potential celiac disease in at family-risk infants prospectively investigated from birth) study1 prospectively followed up 553 children in Italy from birth with coeliac disease (CD)–predisposing human leucocyte antigen (HLA) genes. Children with a diagnosis of potential CD continued to receive a normal diet and repeated the serological screening for CD every year. Potential CD was defined in the presence of (1) a CD-compatible HLA genotype, (2) a Marsh 0–1 lesion at the biopsy, and (3) IgA tissue transglutaminase antibody and endomysial antibody positivity or IgG tissue transglutaminase antibody positivity in presence of IgA deficiency. A small-intestinal biopsy was taken in presence of persistent positive serology. Overall, 26 (4.7%) children received a diagnosis of potential CD (50% females, median age 24 months). All children were symptom-free. Twenty-three …
Non-Leaching, Benign, Fouling Control, Multilayer Polymer Coatings for Marine Applications: PP-1274 Findings

Abstract : The goal of this research is to produce environmentally friendly coatings that protect the hulls of ships below the waterline against fouling by seaweed, barnacles, and other organisms. Fouling by these organisms produces additional drag on the ship, increasing the operating and maintenance costs. Currently, antifouling paints containing tin and copper biocides are used because of their effectiveness against most forms of fouling. However, these biocidal organometallic compounds that are environmentally persistent cause damage to the ecosystem, and enter the food chain. The ban on tributyltin (TBT) antifoulants by the International Maritime Organization will be effective in 2008, and copper-based coatings are expected to face similar restrictions in the near future. Non-toxic "fouling-release" or "fouling-repellant" coatings are the desirable alternatives to coatings that are biocidal. Silicone-based paints that belong to the former category are commercially available, but do not satisfy many of the desired performance characteristics. The soft silicones do not withstand the rigorous demands of the marine environment, do not sufficiently and consistently self-clean, or, due to polymer restructuring or other degradation pathways, lose many of the desirable surface properties with time and exposure to marine organisms. This report describes the synthesis and testing of block copolymers that contain semifluorinated (SF) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) side groups, and show promise as non-toxic, antifouling substitutes to copper-containing paints. These surface-active groups modify the coating-water interfacial energy, conferring fouling- release or fouling-repellant properties to the surface.
Network modeling and Internet of things for smart and connected health systems—a case study for smart heart health monitoring and management

Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the US. Recent advances in the Internet of Things (IoT) provide a great opportunity to realize smart and connected health systems through IoT monitoring...
Are screening by yoga instructors and their practice patterns important to prevent injuries in yoga clients

Abstract Background and purpose Little information exists regarding the association of yoga-related injuries with yoga instructor (YI) practice patterns. Therefore, this cross-sectional survey examined the screening and practice characteristics of YI and its relationship with yoga-related injuries. Methods and materials YI from Northeastern US completed a customized web-based 57-item questionnaire. Results The response rate of our questionnaire was 46%. In this study, only 8.8% of the YI reported physical performance screening and 33.7% of the participants did medical screenings with their clients. A binomial logistic regression analysis with the above variables revealed that adherence to training by YI (p = 0.031) and the use of Sun Salutations (p = 0.002) predicted lower yoga-related injuries in clients reported by YI. Conclusions Reduction in client yoga-related injuries was predicted by YI adhering to their training and performing Sun Salutations in their classes.
Quadrupedal robots trot into the wild

Deep reinforcement learning enables quadruped robots to traverse challenging natural environments using only proprioception.
Supply Chain Strategy for Nascent Firms in Emerging Technology Markets

Large, well-established, and conventionally market-driven firms form the contextual basis through which supply chain management's (SCM's) strategic role has typically been examined. In terms of highly innovative, early-stage technology firms, however, there has been relative little supply chain development and SCM research. If research in supply chains, innovation, and technology entrepreneurship is to advance, it is critical that a greater needed supply chain strategy understanding be developed for nascent technology that are creating new markets and supply chains through product launches.
Comparing treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction among individuals presenting to psychiatric care with and without recent suicidal ideation.

OBJECTIVE To compare pre- and posttreatment psychological functioning and patient satisfaction among patients with and without recent suicidal ideation receiving care at a partial hospital program. METHODS Patients (N = 1295) completed (1) self-report measures of clinical severity, treatment beliefs, and patient satisfaction and (2) a clinician-administered suicidal ideation measure. RESULTS At admission, patients with past-month ideation reported more severe psychopathology and functional impairment than those without past-month ideation; however, at discharge, both groups reported comparable psychological functioning. Additionally, although patients with past-month ideation reported lower expectations that treatment would be helpful, both groups ultimately reported comparable satisfaction with services. CONCLUSION Individuals with recent suicidal ideation may present to care with more severe psychopathology and lower treatment expectations yet may experience comparable treatment benefits and report similar satisfaction with services as patients without recent ideation. Research is needed to identify treatment components that drive perceived benefits and symptom reduction among at-risk individuals.
Trial of Oral Diuretics Prior to Discharge Is Not Associated With Improved Outcomes in Decompensated Heart Failure.

Background: Current heart failure guidelines recommend transition of intravenous (IV) diuretics to oral > 24 h prior to hospital discharge. The aim of this study was to determine whether transition to oral diuretics prior to discharge in patients hospitalized with decompensated systolic heart failure (SHF) was associated with improved 30-day events. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study, in which adults admitted to the Loma Linda Medical Center for 3 - 14 days with a primary discharge diagnosis of acute on chronic SHF were included. Mortality data were obtained from the National Death Index, while readmission only to our facility was included. The t -test and Chi-square test were used for analyses. Results: A total of 314 patients were studied. Patients who were managed with guideline-recommended trial of oral diuretics, and patients who continued to receive IV diuretics on the last full hospital day were overall similar in baseline characteristics. Patients who received oral diuretics on the day prior to discharge had longer length of stay, less weight loss, were discharged on lower diuretic doses (all P < 0.05), and had similar outcomes of 30-day readmission and 30-day hospitalization-free survival. Conclusions: The transition to oral diuretics prior to discharge in patients with decompensated SHF was not associated with improved 30-day outcomes. These results require validation in prospective trials but suggest that guideline recommendations regarding transitioning to oral diuretics prior to discharge may deserve re-evaluation. Cardiol Res. 2021;12(4):244-250 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/cr1265
Improving Student Skills and Career Readiness Through Targeted and Embedded Instruction

BackgroundPsychology students can and sometimes do develop skills and career readiness in their courses, but these outcomes are rarely made explicit.ObjectiveThis research jointly examines how two ...
Reconsidering the Past: Optimizing Hidden States in Language Models

We present Hidden-State Optimization (HSO), a gradient-based method for improving the performance of transformer language models at inference time. Similar to dynamic evaluation (Krause et al., 2018), HSO computes the gradient of the log-probability the language model assigns to an evaluation text, but uses it to update the cached hidden states rather than the model parameters. We test HSO with pretrained Transformer-XL and GPT-2 language models, finding improvement on the WikiText-103 and PG-19 datasets in terms of perplexity, especially when evaluating a model outside of its training distribution. We also demonstrate downstream applicability by showing gains in the recently developed prompt-based few-shot evaluation setting, again with no extra parameters or training data.
Functionalizing silica sol-gel with entrapped plant virus-based immunosorbent nanoparticles

Advancements in understanding and engineering of virus-based nanomaterials (VBNs) for biomedical applications motivate a need to explore the interfaces between VBNs and other biomedically-relevant chemistries and materials. While several strategies have been used to investigate some of these interfaces with promising initial results, including VBN-containing slow-release implants and VBN-activated bioceramic bone scaffolds, there remains a need to establish VBN-immobilized three dimensional materials that exhibit improved stability and diffusion characteristics for biosensing and other analyte-capture applications. Silica sol-gel chemistries have been researched for biomedical applications over several decades and are well understood; various cellular organisms and biomolecules (e.g., bacteria, algae, enzymes) have been immobilized in silica sol-gels to improve viability, activity, and form factor (i.e., ease of use). Here we present the immobilization of an antibody-binding VBN in silica sol-gel by pore confinement. We have shown that the resulting system is sufficiently diffuse to allow antibodies to migrate in and out of the matrix. We also show that the immobilized VBN is capable of antibody binding and elution functionality under different buffer conditions for multiple use cycles. The promising results of the VBN and silica sol-gel interface indicate a general applicability for VBN-based bioseparations and biosensing applications.
Multiple marginalized population Monte Carlo

Population Monte Carlo (PMC) algorithms iterate on a set of samples and weights to approximate a stationary target distribution. Their estimation quality and convergence efficiency rely on many factors including the number of samples and the choice of importance function. The computational complexity of the PMC algorithm becomes increasingly challenging as the numbers of the unknowns increases. In this paper, we propose a marginalized PMC algorithm for high-dimensional problems, where the state space of the system is partitioned into several subspaces of lower dimensions and handled by a set of marginalized PMC estimators. Simulation results show the accuracy and feasibility of the method as well as its improvement with respect to other conventional approaches.
MISgoverned: CONNECTIONS, the Welfare Management System, and the Erosion of Welfare Rights

Welfare administration technologies exploded in the U.S. after 1996, becoming increasingly dispersed, variable, decentralized, rapidly expanding across government programs and state lines, linking a variety of organizations and actors. Counter to most claims, social service clients and frontline caseworkers are less concerned with questions of privacy and confidentiality when they encounter IT in the social service system, and more concerned with issues of power, oppression, and autonomy. This paper explores lessons learned from a four-year research project on how technologies shape citizenship and political subjectivity in the welfare office. What kinds of citizens and relationships are they creating? Do they (re)produce power asymmetries? Divert clients from collecting assistance?
Clinical toxicology and epidemiology--a good match.

In their article, Zweiner and Ginsburg1 use descriptive epidemiology as a tool to provide new and useful information. At the same time, they show the usefulness and the limitations of this method and reemphasize specific issues in the diagnosis and management of anticholinesterase insecticide poisonings. Descriptive epidemiology is useful for describing the natural history of disease, for evaluating trends in health or disease, and for making comparisons among different subgroups. It helps identify problems or topics for research (ie, hypothesis generation).2 Descriptive epidemiology is often used for evaluating clinical toxicology data. The systematic reworking of a large case series permits review of diagnostic criteria and accuracy and critique of accepted or novel therapy.
Reassociation Kinetics for Epstein-Barr Virus DNA: Nonhomology to Mammalian DNA and Homology of Viral DNA in Various Diseases

The number of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) genomes per cell in established leukocytic lines and tissue specimens has been evaluated by measuring DNA-DNA reassociation kinetics with hydroxyapatite chromatography. Under the proper conditions, this method is sufficiently sensitive to detect EBV DNA in the amount of 0.1 genome per cell. All the samples tested that have been suspected to be without EBV DNA by cRNA hybridization proved negative by this more sensitive specific analysis. These included Hela and Hep2 cells, a negative case of Burkitt's lymphoma, two negative cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and two established human leukocytic lines. Homology tests conducted with single-strand-specific nuclease S1 indicated that the viral DNA from a nasopharyngeal carcinoma and infectious mononucleosis were more than 90% homologous to EBV DNA.
Spirituality and the Seamstress: Birds in Ipiutak and Western Thule Lifeways at Deering, Alaska

Zooarchaeological data from sites 49-KTZ-299 and 49-KTZ-300 at Deering, Alaska, and ethnographic and oral historical information from Inupiat, Yupiit, Inuit, and other northern Indigenous communities are brought together to examine Ipiutak and Western Thule reliance on birds. Cut-mark, elemental-representation, and aging data from bird bones suggest that Ipiutak and Western Thule living at Deering between ca. AD 700 and 1200 utilized birds not only as food, but also as raw materials for making needles and sewing garments. Bird-skin clothing manufacture is a gendered and spiritually charged activity for northern Indigenous peoples, and the antiquity of these associations is explored. Although circumpolar bird subsistence encompasses intertwining economic, sociocultural, spiritual, and symbolic components, the dynamism and multidimensionality of these practices have been underrecognized in academic discourse on subsistence.
Syntax–Phonology Interface

The bulk of evidence concerning the syntax–phonology interface shows an influence of syntax on phonology. The domain structure for sentence-level phonological and phonetic phenomena, which forms part of the surface phonological representation (PR) of the sentence, is defined through an interaction of two types of constraints: syntax–prosodic structure interface constraints, which call for certain properties of the surface syntactic representation of the sentence (PF) to be reflected in domain structure in PR, and prosodic structure markedness constraints, which call for the surface prosodic structure to display patterns of unmarked prosodic structure. The effects of prosodic markedness constraints argue against direct access theories, which see phonological phenomena as defined directly on the surface syntax. Distinguishing PF and PR raises the question whether PF is input to the phonological component, with PR the output, as in standard models of generative grammar, or whether there may be mutual influence. Current models of grammar would countenance effects in the other direction, with the possibility of phonological principles constraining the range of acceptable surface syntactic representations, and research is beginning to explore this area.
The real pro-life stance--health care reform and abortion funding.

“Baby killer.” The accusation was made during what may have been the most remarkable exchange in the year-long congressional debates over health care reform, late in the evening of March 21, just after the House had passed the Senate's reform bill. House Republicans moved to recommit the bill to the Budget Committee for the sole purpose of adding the Stupak–Pitts antiabortion amendment, whose inclusion had been necessary for the passage of the House's original health care reform bill.1 Only 10 minutes were allotted for the debate over the motion to recommit, and most of this time was given to the . . .
Friendship Influences during Early Adolescence: The Special Role of Friends' Grade Point Average.

This study examines how a wide variety of diverse friendship group attributes affect changes in indicators of school performance, social behavior, and mental health between early seventh and late eighth grade. Nine hundred and one middle school students named their friends. Independent data from these friends were used to construct friendship groups that were then characterized in terms of their mean level on measures of academic performance, social behavior, psychological closeness, and structure. Two novel conclusions emerge from the study. First, nearly all the friendship effects are domain-specific. That is, peer attributes in the school domain affect individual school performance outcomes, while peer attributes in the social behavior domain affect individual social behavior. Second, friends' grade point average (GPA) is the most powerful single friendship attribute. It has the largest total effect, the most consistent effects within its own school performance domain, and the sole reliable cross-domain impact—on an index of negative social behavior that taps into acting out and drug use. The within-domain peer effects mostly replicate past findings, though the methodological controls used here are more extensive than in past studies and so provide a stronger causal warrant.
Cortical projections of posterior parietal cortex in owl monkeys

Efferent cortical projections of posterior parietal cortex were determined by degeneration and autoradiographic methods in owl monkeys. Intraregional connections were to the immediate surround of the injection or lesion site, and to distinct foci within the posterior parietal region. The extraregional ipsilateral connections were with (1) previously established subdivisions of visual association cortex (the Dorsomedial Area, the Medial Area, the Dorsolateral Area, and the Middle Temporal Area), (2) other locations in caudal neocortex, and (3) frontal cortex. The callosal projections were to separate foci in posterior parietal cortex of the contralateral cerebral hemisphere. The separate foci of both ipsilateral and contralateral terminations in posterior parietal cortex raise the possibility that this region contains more than one functional subdivision. The connections with visual association cortex suggest a role for parietal cortex in visual behavior. Other foci in caudal neocortex indicate the possible locations of additional subdivisions of association cortex.
Induction of chondrogenesis and superficial zone protein accumulation in synovial side population cells by BMP‐7 and TGF‐β1

Synovial cells are known to contain a sub-population of cells with multipotent differentiating capacity including chondrocytes. However, the stem/progenitor cells in synovial cells have not been well characterized. Stem/progenitor cells can exclude Hoechst 33342 dye, and the cell fraction with this property is called "side population (SP)." SP cells are present in many adult tissues. The aim of this investigation was to identify, isolate, and characterize SP cells from bovine synovium. Hoechst dye efflux and fluorescence activated cell sorting showed that synovial cells contained 0.60% SP cells. In the presence of verapamil, an inhibitor of ABC transporters critical for the dye efflux property, the SP cell fraction was not observed, indicating the critical role of ABC transporters. Isoforms of ABC transporters (ABCG2 and ABCB1 mRNA) were highly expressed in SP cells derived from the synovial cells by real-time RT-PCR analysis. Bone morphogenetic protein-7 (BMP-7) induced type II collagen mRNA expression characteristic of chondrogenesis in articular cartilage with both SP and non-SP cells. In addition, expression of SZP mRNA, a marker of the surface layer of articular cartilage, was significantly up-regulated by BMP-7, and the protein accumulation of SZP was stimulated by both BMP-7 and TGF-beta1. Thus, synovial cells contain ABC transporter-dependent SP cells. These findings demonstrate that side population cells of synovium differentiate toward an articular chondrocyte phenotype of the surface layer and have direct implications for tissue engineering and regeneration of articular cartilage.
The detection of nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage: still a diagnostic challenge

Nontraumatic subarachnoid hemorrhage is one of the most elusive diagnoses in emergency medicine; it is a potentially lethal disease that is often considered and rarely found. The current practice as determined by the American College of Emergency Physicians 1996 Clinical Policy on Headache is a noncontrast head computed tomography (CT) followed by diagnostic lumbar puncture (LP) to exclude subarachnoid hemorrhage. Whereas the guideline does not consider pretest probability of subarachnoid hemorrhage in determining which patients require LP after negative head CT, patients' acceptance of LP, technical aspects of performing a LP in patients with nonideal anatomy, and risks associated with LP must all be considered when choosing to proceed with invasive testing. This article outlines the use of current testing modalities including CT, magnetic resonance imaging, angiography and LP to provide an up-to-date understanding of diagnostic testing for subarachnoid hemorrhage.
Molecular-dynamics simulations of electron-ion temperature relaxation in a classical Coulomb plasma.

Molecular-dynamics simulations are used to investigate temperature relaxation between electrons and ions in a fully ionized, classical Coulomb plasma with minimal assumptions. Recombination is avoided by using like charges. The relaxation rate agrees with theory in the weak coupling limit ($g\ensuremath{\equiv}\mathrm{\text{potential}}/\mathrm{\text{kinetic energy}}\ensuremath{\ll}1$), whereas it saturates at $gg1$ due to correlation effects. The ``Coulomb log'' is found to be independent of the ion charge (at constant $g$) and mass ratio $g25$.
Specialists make faster decisions than generalists: experiments with aphids.

Theoretical studies and a few recent experimental reports suggest that the evolution of diet breadth in herbivorous insects is constrained by a limited neural ability to efficiently process large amounts of information in short periods of time. This neural–constraints hypothesis predicts that generalist herbivores should make slower or poorer decisions than specialists when selecting plants, because generalists must discriminate and decide among stimuli from a wider variety of potential hosts. The present study compares the speed with which host–associated decisions are made in specialist versus generalist populations of the aphid Uroleucon ambrosiae . Populations of U. ambrosiae from eastern North America are highly specific to the host plant Ambrosia trifida (Asteraceae), whereas those from the American southwest also feed on a variety of other taxa from the Asteraceae. Experiments with winged (alate) and wingless (apterous) individuals showed that host–finding, host–selection, host–acceptance, host–sampling and host–settling were more efficiently performed by the eastern specialists. These very consistent results provide evidence that strongly supports the neural–constraints hypothesis.
The communication patterns of internal medicine and family practice physicians.

Background: Although differences between Internal Medicine (IM) and Family Practice (FP) physicians have been examined in terms of care outcomes and cost, there have been few studies of specialty differences in physician-patient communication. Methods: In 1995, 277 clinical encounters with 29 full-time, community-based FP physicians and 287 clinical encounters with 30 full-time, community based IM physicians were audiotaped. Communication was evaluated with the Roter Interaction Analysis System to reflect data gathering, patient education and counseling, rapport building, partnership building, verbal dominance, and patient-centeredness. Patient satisfaction was measured with an exit questionnaire. Results: IM clinicians ask more biomedical questions (P = .02). FP clinicians engage in more psychosocial discussion (P = .02) and tend to engage in more emotionally supportive exchanges such as empathy and reassurance (P = .06). Significant interaction effects show differential treatment of patient subgroups by specialty; FP physicians were more verbally dominant with female patients (P Conclusions: The current work adds insight into FP and IM differences in both physician-patient communication and predictors of patient satisfaction.
Cost-effective ultrasound PACS solution

Picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) have been quite successful at the University of Florida in the areas of CT, MR, and nuclear medicine. In each case, although we have not always been able to provide the optimal level of performance, we have been able to solve a problem and the systems are used extensively. Ultrasound images are required in a number of locations and the multiformat camera print capability was no longer adequate for the growing volume in the ultrasound section. Although we were certain we could successfully implement PACS for ultrasound, new forces in health care dictate that we justify our system in terms of cost. We analyzed the feasibility of a PACS solution for ultrasound and designed a system that meets our needs and is cost effective. We evaluated the ultrasound operation in terms of image acquisition patterns and throughput requirements. An inventory of existing and PACS equipment was made to determine the feasibility of interfacing the two systems. Commercial systems were evaluated for functionality and cost and a system was designed to meet our needs. The only way to achieve our goal of installing a cost effective ultrasound PACS was to eliminate film and use the cost savings to offset the cost of new equipment and development. We designed a system that could be produced using inexpensive components and existing hardware and software to meet our needs. A commercial vendor was chosen to provide the ultrasound acquisition. The Radiology Information System interface used at the University provides the necessary data to build a DICOM header, and an existing DICOM server routes the images to the appropriate workstations, archives, and printers. Additional storage is added to an existing archive to accommodate the ultrasound images and two existing workstations are evaluated for use in ultrasound.© (1995) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Advances in the archiving and distribution facilities at the Space Telescope Science Institute

The Hubble Data Archive at the Space Telescope Science Institute contains over 4.3 TB of data, primarily for the Hubble Space Telescope, but also from complementary space- based and ground-based facilities. We are in the process of upgrading and generalizing many of the HDA's component system, developing tools to provide more integrated access to the HDA holdings, and working with other major data providing organizations to implement global data location services for astronomy and other space science disciplines. This paper describes the key elements of our archiving and data distribution systems, including a planned transition to DVD media, data compression, data segregation, on-the-fly calibration, an engineering data warehouse, and distributed search and retrieval facilities.
Akt Phosphorylates MstI and Prevents Its Proteolytic Activation, Blocking FOXO3 Phosphorylation and Nuclear Translocation

Oxidative stress can induce apoptosis through activation of MstI, subsequent phosphorylation of FOXO and nuclear translocation. MstI is a common component of apoptosis initiated by various stresses. MstI kinase activation requires autophosphorylation and proteolytic degradation by caspases. The role of Akt in regulating MstI activity has not been previously examined. Here, we show that MstI is a physiological substrate of Akt. Akt phosphorylation of MstI diminishes its apoptotic cleavage by caspases and prevents its kinase activity on FOXO3. MstI directly binds to Akt, which is regulated Akt kinase activity. Akt phosphorylates MstI on the Thr387 residue and protects MstI from apoptotic cleavage in vitro and in apoptotic cells. Interestingly, Akt phosphorylation of MstI strongly inhibits its kinase activity on FOXO3. The phosphorylation mimetic mutant MST1 T387E blocks H2O2-triggered FOXO3 nuclear translocation and apoptosis. Thus, our findings support that Akt blocks MstI-triggered FOXO3 nuclear translocation by phosphorylating MstI, promoting cell survival.
The dielectric properties of non-conductors☆

Abstract This paper describes and gives the results of tests upon the electrical properties of mica, paraffined paper, celluloid, and ice. The materials were tested in the form of condensers, and the tests included measurements of the capacity, power-factor, conductivity, breakdown strength, and capacity variation with applied voltage. The tests covered a range of from 3000 cycles to 250 cycles per second by sine-form alternating voltage, and from 83 cycles to 1 cycle per second by unidirectional charges applied for equivalent times of charge. The results of the tests were reduced to values for unit dielectric volume, and a table of such results is included. It is shown that there is a general relation between the electrical properties of the materials tested, — i.e., that the substances with high dielectric constant have also high dielectric losses, low breakdown strength, and low insulation resistance. Temperature effects were eliminated by making all measurements on each condenser at a constant temperature. As far as possible, this temperature was made the same for different materials, so that a comparison of the results is not subject to temperature correction. It is shown that within ordinary commercial limits the capacity of condensers having either of these substances as dielectrics is independent of the magnitude of the voltage applied to them. The results of the tests are given in the form of curves.
Tissue binding of tritiated norepinephrine in pigmented nuclei of human brain.

Regional binding of norepinephrine to tissue structures occurs in sections of brain tissue incubated in vitro with tritiated norepinephrine, followed by radioautography. The binding probably represents one of the mechanisms involved in the uptake and storage of catecholamines by nerve cells. Applying this method to a study of human brains showed excessively strong binding of norepinephrine at the surface membranes of pigmented nerve cells in the substantia nigra, nucleus coeruleus, nucleus dorsalis vagi, and others. Such excessive binding was not found in nonpigmented nuclei in the human brain nor in rat brain. The arrangement of sites of binding at the cell membranes strongly suggested synaptic endings. Melanin pigmentation of nerve cells may be related to the amount of catecholamine-containing synapses at the surface of the neurons.
A Fuzzy Logic Based Decision Making System for Fusing Measurements From an E-Puffer and E-Sniffer Sensing Systems for Detecting Explosives

This is primarily a concept paper and describes a decision making system that fuses the output from cold plasma based E-Puffer and E-Sniffer sensing systems to reliably detect explosive traces. This paper describes research and development of a novel non-contact method to detect explosive bearing personnel, baggage and vehicles that is based on the integration of a multitude of key technologies, primarily cold/atmospheric plasma and pattern recognition/decision making capabilities. This work will ultimately lead to a viable system that can be installed in doorways of buildings, garages, baggage carousals, etc. that will trigger a positive response when detecting explosive traces on personnel, bags or vehicles going thru a doorway. This paper describes the basic product concept and provides preliminary results of the fusion process from a simulated data set of output measurements from the two orthogonal measurement systems.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Gesture-driven American sign language phraselator

This paper describes a portable American Sign Language (ASL)-to-English phraselator. This wearable device is based on an Acceleglove originally developed for recognizing the hand alphabet, and a two-link arm skeleton that detects hand location and movement with respect to the body. Therefore, this phraselator is able to recognize finger-spelled words as well as hand gestures and translate them into spoken voice through a speech synthesizer. To speed-up the recognition process, a simple prediction algorithm has been introduced so the phraselator predicts words based on the current letter being inputted, or complete sentences based on the current sign being translated. The user selects the rest of the sentence (or word) by means of a predefined hand gesture for the phraselator to speak out the sentence in English or Spanish. New words of phrases are automatically added to the lexicon for future predictions.
Learning Multiuser Channel Allocations in Cognitive Radio Networks: A Combinatorial Multi-Armed Bandit Formulation

We consider the following fundamental problem in the context of channelized dynamic spectrum access. There are $M$ secondary users and $N \ge M$ orthogonal channels. Each secondary user requires a single channel for operation that does not conflict with the channels assigned to the other users. Due to geographic dispersion, each secondary user can potentially see different primary user occupancy behavior on each channel. Time is divided into discrete decision rounds. The throughput obtainable from spectrum opportunities on each user-channel combination over a decision period is modeled as an arbitrarily-distributed non-negative random variable with bounded support but unknown mean, i.i.d. over time. The objective is to search for an allocation of channels for all users that maximizes the expected sum throughput. We formulate this problem as a combinatorial multi-armed bandit (MAB), in which each arm corresponds to a matching of the users to channels. Unlike most prior work on multi-armed bandits, this combinatorial formulation results in dependent arms. Moreover, the number of arms grows super-exponentially as the permutation $P(N,M)$. We present a novel matching-learning algorithm with polynomial storage and polynomial computation per decision period for this problem, and prove that it results in a regret (the gap between the expected sum-throughput obtained by a genie-aided perfect allocation and that obtained by this algorithm) that is uniformly upper-bounded for all time $n$ by a function that grows as $O(M^4 N log n)$, i.e. polynomial in the number of unknown parameters and logarithmic in time. We also discuss how our results provide a non-trivial generalization of known theoretical results on multi-armed bandits.