cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Passing the Baton

IT SEEMS FITTING to use my last column as editor in chief (EIC) to report on the results of our 2014 board meeting. One of my guiding touch points as EIC has always been my memory of the rst IEEE Software board meeting I attended, in 2007. Given the involvement of so many recognized names in the eld, I expected to nd a lot of ponti cating and some strong personalities to navigate around. What I found instead was a group of forward-thinking, passionate, and collaborative contributors, who were anxious to roll up their sleeves and
Genotoxicity of acrylamide and its metabolite glycidamide administered in drinking water to male and female Big Blue mice

The recent discovery of acrylamide (AA), a probable human carcinogen, in a variety of fried and baked starchy foods has drawn attention to its genotoxicity and carcinogenicity. Evidence suggests that glycidamide (GA), the epoxide metabolite of AA, is responsible for the genotoxic effects of AA. To investigate the in vivo genotoxicity of AA, groups of male and female Big Blue (BB) mice were administered 0, 100, or 500 mg/l of AA or equimolar doses of GA, in drinking water, for 3–4 weeks. Micronucleated reticulocytes (MNRETs) were assessed in peripheral blood within 24 hr of the last treatment, and lymphocyte Hprt and liver cII mutagenesis assays were conducted 21 days following the last treatment. Further, the types of cII mutations induced by AA and GA in the liver were determined by sequence analysis. The frequency of MN-RETs was increased 1.7– 3.3-fold in males treated with the high doses of AA and GA (P � 0.05; control frequency ¼ 0.28%). Both doses of AA and GA produced increased lymphocyte Hprt mutant frequencies (MFs), with the high doses producing responses 16–25-fold higher than that of the respective control (P � 0.01; control MFs ¼ 1.5 6 0.3 � 10 � 6 and 2.2 6 0.5 � 10 � 6 in females and males,
The Structure of Alkali Tellurite Glasses

Structural models of alkali tellurite glasses, (M2O)x(TeO2)l-x with M = Li, Na, K are presented. The glass structure was studied with neutron and X-ray diffraction, and, in the case of sodium, NMR. Real-space models of the glass structure were built using the reverse Monte Carlo algorithm. The distribution of polyhedral types as a function of alkaline ion type and composition is derived. It is concluded that the broad distribution of polyhedral species, as compared to that found in crystalline tellurites of similar composition, is responsible for the marked resistance to devitrification shown by these glasses.
CRT-709 Cardiac Output Confusion. Why Your Cardiac Catheterization Lab Computer System May Not Give You The Results You Expect And Need?

Accurate assessment of Cardiac Output (CO) is a critical measurement in the cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL), especially in calculation of aortic valve area (AVA). Due to known inaccuracy of Fick assumptions, many measure Thermodilution (TD) CO as well. Most physicians assume that this more
A technique for the calibration of instrumented spatial linkages used for biomechanical kinematic measurements

Abstract Instrumented spatial linkages (ISL's) are finding wide applications in biomechanics for measuring all six degrees of freedom of relative location and attitude between two anatomical bodies moving through limited ranges of motion. The objective of this paper is to present a calibration scheme which will re-evaluate initial estimates of various kinematic and electrical parameters describing such linkages in order to minimize the error in linkage measurements over a specified field of motion. This technique may be separated into two parts — a mechanical calibration of the overall linkage and an iterative numerical synthesis of linkage parameter estimates based upon data from the mechanical calibration. Because certain linkage parameters may not be determined with a high degree of confidence (due to component compliance, assembly, or gauging errors), numerical re-evaluation of these parameters will provide a better analytical description of the linkage and produce superior accuracy in ISL measurement calculations. Use of an accurate mechanical calibration apparatus and a non-linear regressive Marquardt optimization formulation has demonstrated the effectiveness of this technique in reevaluating such parameters and subsequently improving and estimating the accuracy of ISL measurements.
CASE REPORT: Unilateral Neonatal Testicular Torsion

Testicular torsion in the neonatal period is an unusual finding. Because of the high morbidity associated with this condition, early recognition and appropriate management are imperative. Testicular torsion may be unilateral or bilateral and may occur prenatally or in the early postnatal period. Often, the nurse is the first health care provider to examine a newborn after birth and must be aware of the signs of this condition to minimize the risk of testicular loss.
The role of the skin of Rana pipiens in sulfate excretion

Abstract 1. 1. The intact whole skin of Rana pipiens excretes sulfate and this excretion is increased by sulfate loading of the animal, 2. 2. Ninety-five percent of the excretion of sulfate seen following sulfate loading is via the skin, while a small amount is handled by the urinary system.
Immunological aspects of acute ureteral obstruction: immune cell infiltrate in the kidney.

Immunological aspects of acute ureteral obstruction: Immune cell infiltrate in the kidney. Kidneys from rats subjected to bilateral ureteral obstruction (BUO), unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO) and UUO with subsequent release were analyzed for leukocyte infiltration. A time-dependent influx of leukocytes, predominantly macrophages and suppressor T lymphocytes, occurred in both the cortex and medulla following obstruction, and disappeared with release of the obstruction. Glomerular macrophages declined following obstruction but increased to levels above control following release. The influx of leukocytes following obstruction was paralleled by an increase in thromboxane B 2 excretion by the kidney and coincided with a decrease in glomerular filtration rate (GFR). This would suggest that an influx of immune cells is a prominent feature of the acute renal response to ureteral obstruction. These cells may modulate some of the post-obstructive alterations in renal function via the production of vasoactive substances, such as thromboxane A 2 .
University student perceptions of the current and future role of nuclear energy in the world

The purpose of this paper is to document university student perceptions of the role and viability of nuclear energy in the world. Nuclear energy perceptions of 6,330 students at the University of Idaho (Moscow, ID, USA) were measured between 1993 and 2012. As part of a learning assessment study students in the large freshman environmental science class were asked several questions about the environment in a standardized survey on both the first and last day of class. In this way changes in student perceptions as a result of the course could be quantified. The two specific nuclear energy statements contained in the survey were: (1) “Nuclear power is a serious problem from an environmental standpoint;” and (2) “Nuclear energy is preferable to the use of fossil fuels.” In general 46.7% of students considered nuclear power a serious problem at the beginning of the course; however, at the end of the term less than 32% of students still held their initial negative opinion. In addition, a majority of students changed from indicating that fossil fuels were preferable to nuclear energy at the beginning of the course to a significant majority favoring or at least saying that nuclear power was no worse than fossil fuels at the conclusion of the term. Student major, year in college, gender and the year students were surveyed also had an impact on student answers. The significant finding of this study is that once students were educated in an unbiased way – including both the pros and cons of using nuclear energy they were more receptive to view the nuclear power option more favourably.
Vitamin D deficiency rickets in Greece

Rickets continues to occur even in warm countries like Greece. This is the first population survey of the incidence of biochemical evidence of rickets in a random sample of infants living in both uraban and rural areas. The authors examine the medical and social factors responsible for the occurrence of this preventable disease, and they present additional evidence that rickets may be a disease in which a genetically transmitted defect becomes evident under adverse environmental conditions.
Rolling Back Advances in Multicultural Education: No Child Left Behind and “Highly Qualified Teachers”

What are the relationships between the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and the core tenets of multicultural education? One way to evaluate the degree to which NCLB helps support goals consi...
Diagnostic Evaluation of Low Back Pain with Emphasis on Imaging

The authors review evidence on the diagnostic accuracy of clinical information and imaging for patients with low back pain in primary care settings.
Control of texture in monolithic alumina

Abstract Conventional ceramic powder slips seeded with α-Al2O3 platelets were rheologically processed to align the seed crystals. An aqueous-based gel reaction was used to ensure that alignment was retained in the green body and throughout the drying procedure. Bulk samples were produced by laying-up the cast tapes, filter pressing to form a green compact and then drying and sintering. The degree of preferred orientation in the sintered samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction. It was found that the degree of texture was significantly enhanced relative to samples processed in the same manner, but with no platelet additions. A scanning electron microscopic study of the final microstructures showed that the grain size and grain morphology were sensitive to the initial distribution of platelets within the green tape, which in turn was dependent on the volume fraction and size of the platelets. Further, it was demonstrated that using this technique it is possible to achieve a specimen which exhibits an equi-axed grain structure and yet has a strong degree of preferred orientation. Finally, studies of indentation cracking showed that a pronounced texture inhibited long-range crack propagation, and instead promoted localized cracking.
The wavelength-modulated spectrum of SrTiO3 and KTaO3

Abstract It is shown experimentally that the temperature variation of the band gap of SrTiO3 is determined by the phonon population rather than by the structural phase transition. Despite the great similarity between SrTiO3 and KTaO3 no similar temperature variation of the band gap is found in the latter material.
English Proficiency and Language Preference: Testing the Equivalence of Two Measures

Objectives. We examined the association of language proficiency vs language preference with self-rated health among Asian American immigrants. We also examined whether modeling preference or proficiency as continuous or categorical variables changed our inferences.Methods. Data came from the 2002–2003 National Latino and Asian American Study (n = 1639). We focused on participants' proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing English and on their language preference when thinking or speaking with family or friends. We examined the relation between language measures and self-rated health with ordered and binary logistic regression.Results. All English proficiency measures were associated with self-rated health across all models. By contrast, associations between language preference and self-rated health varied by the model considered.Conclusions. Although many studies create composite scores aggregated across measures of English proficiency and language preference, this practice may not always be conceptua...
Predictable and unpredictable error in tort awards: The effect of plaintiff self-selection and signaling

If a potential tort plaintiff can predict that the court will overestimate damages, he is more likely to bring suit, but if the court is aware of this, it will adjust its awards accordingly. In general, court error implies that the court should moderate extreme awards whether they are high or low, because of regression towards the mean. Predictable error, however, tends to push the optimal adjustment downwards, and unpredictable error pushes it upwards, because of plaintiff selection and signaling, respectively. Errors of either kind can lead plaintiffs to bring meritless suits.
Caged trans-4-Hydroxy-2-nonenal

A caged 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal (4-HNE) has been prepared and its photochemistry investigated. Upon photolysis, 1 releases 4-HNE in up to 100% yield. From these photolyses, 4-HNE could be isolated in up to 91% yield. 4-HNE is produced under either aerobic or anaerobic conditions. The caging strategy does not require prior preparation of 4-HNE and, therefore, represents a three-step synthetic route to the bioactive enal in 48% overall yield.
Complex systems: Unzipping Zipf's law.

One mathematical model can account for power-law distributions in a variety of systems. Eschewing system-specific assumptions, it utilizes a shared feature of the observed distributions: they all describe the division of items into groups.
Molecular Genetic Aspects of Solid Tumors in Childhood

Advances in molecular genetic research in the past 2 decades have led to an increased understanding of the genetic events in the pathogenesis and progression of human malignancies, including those of childhood. A number of pediatric malignancies have served as models for the molecular genetic approach to patients with cancer. These have highlighted the utility of molecular analysis for a variety of purposes including diagnosis, risk stratification and treatment planning, understanding of syndromes associated with cancer and genetic screening, genetic counseling and prophylactic treatment including surgery. It is likely that there soon will be individualized treatment regimens based on the molecular biologic profile of a patient's tumor. In addition, molecular profiling will lead to new drug development designed to induce differentiation of tumor cells, block dysregulated growth pathways, or reactivate silenced apoptotic pathways. This review discusses the molecular genetic aspects of some of the more common pediatric tumors as well as tumors whose pathogenetic mechanisms are particularly instructive.
Information theory approach to the isothermal–isobaric ensemble. 2: Monte Carlo simulations with Lennard-Jones potential

Abstract Monte Carlo simulations on the isothermal–isobaric partition functions for both argon and methane gas were performed. In the first part of this work [J. Mol. Struct. (THEOCHEM), submitted for publication], the experimental correlations were tested for square-well and hard-sphere potential calculations of the volume factor (for the modified isothermal–isobaric partition function). In this work, the simulation is performed with a more accurate Lennard-Jones potential for which accurate partition functions under various conditions were calculated. Correlations to experimental data are also described, as well as the parameters needed to perform this computations.
Declines in swimming performance with age: a longitudinal study of Masters swimming champions

Introduction Because of its many participants and thorough records, competitive Masters swimming offers a rich data source for determining the rate of physical decline associated with aging in physically fit individuals. The decline in performance among national champion swimmers, both men and women and in short and long swims, is linear, at about 0.6% per year up to age 70–75, after which it accelerates in quadratic fashion. These conclusions are based primarily on cross-sectional studies, and little is known about individual performance declines with aging. Herein we present performance profiles of 19 male and 26 female national and international champion Masters swimmers, ages 25 to 96 years, participating in competitions for an average of 23 years.
100% efficient sub-nanoliter sample introduction in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma spectrometry: implications for ultralow sample volumes.

Recently, nanoflow nebulizers with low-volume drain-free spray chambers became available for inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry application for analysis of very small sampling volumes. The present technical note reports on a different approach for 100% efficient subnanoliter sample introduction, the application of monodisperse piezoelectric microdroplet dispensers which generate 40−50 μm droplets with high reproducibility if nozzles of 30 μm diameter are applied. The droplets having volumes below 0.1 nL can be introduced loss-free and without plasma loading, with frequencies up to ∼100 Hz into analytical plasmas. In this technical note, the analytical figures of merit of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry with single droplet introduction are reported using Ca and Au standard solutions as examples. Future engineering is required to reduce the total sample volumes from the relatively large sample reservoir of the current study, thereby...
Image-Guided Palliation of Painful Metastases Using Percutaneous Ablation

Painful skeletal metastases are a common problem in cancer patients. Although external beam radiation therapy is the current standard of care for cancer patients who present with localized bone pain, 20 to 30% of patients treated with this modality do not experience pain relief and few further options exist for these patients. For many patients with painful metastatic skeletal disease, analgesics remain the only alternative treatment option. Recently, image-guided percutaneous methods of tumor destruction have proven effective for treatment of this difficult problem. Patient selection, treatment methods, and results of treatment are described for the use of percutaneous radiofrequency ablation and cryoablation for patients with painful metastatic disease.
Study on a grid interface algorithm for solutions of incompressible Navier–Stokes equations

Abstract Grid interface treatment is a crucial issue in solving unsteady, three-dimensional, incompressible Navier–Stokes equations by domain decomposition methods. Recently, a mass flux based interpolation (MFBI) interface algorithm was proposed for Chimera grids [Tang HS, Jones SC, Sotiropoulos F. An overset grid method for 3D unsteady incompressible flows. J Comput Phys, 2003;191:567–600] and it has been successfully applied to a variety of flows. MFBI determines velocity and pressure at grid interfaces by mass conservation and interpolation, and it is easy to implement. Compared with the commonly used standard interpolation, which directly interpolates velocity as well as pressure, the proposed interface algorithm gives fewer solution oscillations and faster convergence rates. This paper makes a study on MFBI. Starting with discussions about grid connectivity, it is shown that MFBI is second-order accurate for mass flux across grid interface. It is also derived that the scheme provides second-order accuracy for momentum flux. In addition, another version of MFBI is presented. At last, numerical examples are presented to demonstrate that MFBI honors mass flux balance at grid interfaces and it leads to second-order accurate solutions.
Treatment of Pieris Ingestion in Goats with Intravenous Lipid Emulsion

Seven goats and one ram presented with clinical signs including regurgitation, obtundation, anorexia, apparent pain, and bloat. The animals had escaped from their barn, and it was discovered that they had ingested leaves of Pieris japonica, Japanese pieris, a grayanotoxin-containing plant. Animals were treated with antibiotics, calcium borogluconate, B vitamins, and activated charcoal within the first 24-h postexposure, which was followed by the recovery of the ram and two goats and the death of two goats. Approximately 36 h after Japanese pieris ingestion, one of the three remaining anorectic goats was dosed with intravenous lipid emulsion (ILE). This goat recovered within a few hours. The remaining two goats were given ILE the next day and appeared to recover, but one died a week later of aspiration pneumonia.
Maximizing Spare Utilization by Virtually Reorganizing Faulty Cache Lines

Aggressive technology scaling to 45 nm and below introduces serious reliability challenges to the design of microprocessors. Since a large fraction of chip area is devoted to on-chip caches, it is important to protect these SRAM structures against lifetime and manufacture-time failures. Designers typically overprovision caches with additional resources to overcome hard faults. However, static allocation and binding of redundant spares results in low utilization of the extra resources and ultimately limits the number of defects that can be tolerated. This work re-examines the design of process-variation-tolerant on-chip caches with a focus on providing the flexibility and dynamic reconfigurability necessary to tolerate large numbers of defects with modest hardware overhead. Our approach, ZerehCache, virtually reorganizes the cache data array using a permutation network to provide more degrees of freedom for spare allocation. A graph coloring algorithm is used to configure the network and identify the proper mapping of replacement elements. We perform an extensive design space exploration of both L1/L2 caches to identify several Pareto-optimal ZerehCaches. Given these optimal design points, we employ ZerehCache to extend the effective lifetime of the on-chip caches and prevent early lifetime failures. Finally, yield analysis studies performed on a population of 1,000 chips at the 45 nm technology node demonstrated that an L1 design with 16 percent overhead and an L2 design with eight percent area overhead achieve yields of 99 percent and 96 percent, respectively.
Direct assessment of multiple testing correction in case-control association studies with related individuals.

Genome-wide association studies typically test large numbers of genetic variants in association with trait values. It is well known that linkage disequilibrium (LD) between nearby markers tends to introduce correlation among association tests. Failure to properly adjust for multiple comparisons can lead to false-positive results or missing true-positive signals. The Bonferroni correction is generally conservative in the presence of LD. The permutation procedure, although has been widely employed to adjust for correlated tests, is not applicable when related individuals are included in case-control samples. With related individuals, the dependence among relatives' genotypes can also contribute to the correlation between tests. We present a new method Pnorm to correct for multiple hypothesis testing in case-control association studies in which some individuals are related. The adjustment with Pnorm simultaneously accounts for two sources of correlations of the test statistics: (1) LD among genetic markers (2) dependence among genotypes across related individuals. Using simulated data based on the International HapMap Project, we demonstrate that it has better control of type I error and is more powerful than some of the recently developed methods. We apply the method to a genome-wide association study of alcoholism in the GAW 14 COGA data set and detect genome-wide significant association. Genet. Epidemiol. 35:70–79, 2011. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Functional homogeneity of pancreatic islets of aging rats.

Abstract Islets from different regions of pancreases of aging rats were compared for size and variations in response to glucose stimulation. The results show that pancreatic islets from the ventral-duodenal and splenic regions of 12-mo-old retired breeder Spraque-Dawley rats are comparable in all respects measured: thus, pancreatic regional differences cannot explain the age-associated reduction in beta cell secretory response noted in previous studies.
Video games and citizenship

In their article "Video Games and Citizenship" Jeroen Bourgonjon and Ronald Soetaert argue that digitization problematizes and broadens our perspective on culture and popular media, and that this has important ramifications for our understanding of citizenship. Bourgonjon and Soetaert respond to the call of Gert Biesta for the contextualized study of young people's practices by exploring a particular aspect of digitization that affects young people, namely video games. They explore the new social spaces which emerge in video game culture and how these spaces relate to community building and citizenship. Bourgonjon and Soetaert also examine whether these social spaces can be a source for different types of capital (Bourdieu) and reflect on the ethical dimensions of video gaming.
Comparison of deuterium and hydrogen experiments in the Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment

Abstract In this paper we report on the results of deuterium and hydrogen experiments in the Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX). We have compared ∼500 deuterium discharges with similar discharges in hydrogen. Typically, we produce H 2 plasmas with peak toroidal currents in the range of 0.6 MA, electron temperatures ( T e ) of ∼200 eV and energy confinement times ( τ E ) of ∼200 μs. The D 2 fueled discharges show similar results to those with H 2 fueling with no obvious differences in confinement time. Electron temperatures of ∼200 eV with similar electron densities were observed. Both the deuterium and hydrogen fueled discharges have a calculated thermal diffusivity below χ e 2 /s. However, the D 2 fueled discharges had a factor of ∼5 increase in high- Z (titanium) impurity content suggesting an increase of physical sputtering. We find no significant mass scaling effects.
Adaptive smoothing of images with local weighted regression

We present a weighting scheme for local weighted regression designed to achieve tow goals: (1) to reduce noise within image regions of smoothly varying intensities; and (2) to maintain sharp boundaries between image regions. Such a procedure can function as a preprocessing step in ann image segmentation problem or simply as an image enhancement technique.© (1996) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Resistance to Botrytis cinerea in Solanum lycopersicoides is dominant in hybrids with tomato, and involves induced hyphal death

Botrytis cinerea causes gray mold disease and affects hundreds of plant species, including tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). The wild nightshade, Solanum lycopersicoides, is cross compatible with tomato and is more resistant to B. cinerea, thus representing a potential source for crop improvement. Tests involving droplet inoculation of detached leaves and spray inoculation of entire seedlings demonstrated that resistance to B. cinerea varies among S. lycopersicoides accessions, with S. lycopersicoides LA2951 being the most resistant accession tested. Expression of resistance in the intergeneric hybrid (L. esculentum cv. 'VF36' × S. lycopersicoides LA2951) suggested that resistance is at least partially dominant in tomato. A green fluorescent protein-tagged B. cinerea strain was used for confocal microscopic comparison of infection in leaves of S. lycopersicoides and tomato. Even though S. lycopersicoides supported spore germination, there was evidence for hyphal lysis and death 3 days after inoculation, at a time when lesions were expanding on susceptible tomato plants. The reduced frequency of B. cinerea lesion spread on S. lycopersicoides explains why this fungus produced fewer spores in this wild nightshade than in tomato.
Identification of Possible Reactive Oxygen Species Involved in Ultraviolet Radiation-Induced Oxidative DNA Damage

Abstract We have previously demonstrated that each region of the ultraviolet (UV) spectrum (UVA, UVB, and UVC) induces the formation of 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodGuo) in purified calf thymus DNA and HeLa cells in a fluence-dependent manner. In the present study, we further characterize the possible reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are involved in the induction of 8-oxodGuo by UV radiation. Sodium azide, a singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) scavenger though its quenching effect on HO· was also reported, inhibited 8-oxodGuo production in calf thymus DNA exposed to UVA, UVB, or UVC in a concentration-dependent fashion with maximal quenching effect of over 90% at a concentration of 10 mM. Catalase, at a concentration of 50 U/ml, reduced the yields of UVA- and UVB-induced 8-oxodGuo formation by approximately 50%, but had little effect on UVC-induced 8-oxodGuo production. In contrast, 50 U/ml of superoxide dismutase (SOD) did not affect induction of 8-oxodGuo by any portion of the UV spectrum. Hydroxyl radical (HO·) scavengers mannitol and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) moderately reduced the levels of 8-oxodGuo induced by UVA and UVB, but not those by UVC. Instead, mannitol and DMSO enhanced the formation of 8-oxodGuo induced by UVC. These results suggest that certain types of ROS are involved in UV-induced 8-oxodGuo formation with 1 O 2 playing the predominant role throughout the UV spectrum. Except for UVC, other ROS such as hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) and HO· may also be involved in UVA- and UVB-induced oxidative DNA damage. Superoxide anion appears not to participate in UV-induced oxidation of guanosine in calf thymus DNA, as SOD did not display any quenching effects.
Augmented intelligence - the new AI - unleashing human capabilities in knowledge work

In this paper I describe a novel application of contemplative techniques to software engineering with the goal of augmenting the intellectual capabilities of knowledge workers within the field in four areas: flexibility, attention, creativity, and trust. The augmentation of software software engineers’ intellectual capabilities is proposed as a third complement to the traditional focus of methodologies on the process and environmental factors of the software development endeavor. I argue that these capabilities have been shown to be open to improvement through the practices traditionally used in spiritual traditions, but now used increasingly in other fields of knowledge work, such as in the medical profession and the education field. Historically, the intellectual capabilities of software engineers have been treated as a given within any particular software development effort. This is argued to be an aspect ripe for inclusion within software development methodologies.
Detecting Web Content Function Using Generalized Hidden Markov Model

Web content function indicates authors? intension towards the purpose of the content and therefore plays an important role for web information processing. In this paper we propose a Generalized Hidden Markov Model which extends traditional Hidden Markov Model for web content function detection. By incorporating multiple emission features and detecting state transition sequence based on layout structure, Generalized Hidden Markov Model can effectively make use of web-specific information and achieve better performance comparing to traditional Hidden Markov Model. Comparing to previous approaches on function detection, our approach has the advantages of domain-independency and extensibility for other applications. Experiments show promising results with our approach.
Possible Role of Protein Kinase C in the Sensitization of Primate Spinothalamic Tract Neurons

The responsiveness of spinal cord nociceptive neurons to innocuous mechanical stimuli can be increased by the release of excitatory amino acids (EAAs) and peptides attributable to an injury-induced barrage of impulses. This sensitization of spinal dorsal horn neurons can also result from administration of phorbol ester by microdialysis, presumably by direct activation of protein kinase C (PKC). This study was designed to examine the effects of central sensitization of spinothalamic tract (STT) neurons produced by intradermal injection of capsaicin on the descending inhibition driven from the periaqueductal gray (PAG) and the possible role of PKC in this process in anesthetized monkeys. Sensitization of responses of STT cells to mechanical stimuli was induced by intradermal injection of capsaicin. PAG inhibition was significantly attenuated when sensitization of responses to mechanical stimuli occurred. However, perfusion of the spinal cord with NPC15437 (a selective PKC inhibitor) by microdialysis could prevent the sensitization of the responses to mechanical stimuli and the reduction in PAG inhibition of these responses induced by capsaicin injection. Results similar to those produced by capsaicin injection were observed when a PKC activator, phorbol ester (12- O -tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate), was infused within the dorsal horn by microdialysis. An inactive phorbol ester (4α-phorbol 12,13-didecanoate) had no effect. These results provide evidence that the activation of PKC contributes to the development of central sensitization in dorsal horn neurons produced by chemical stimulation with capsaicin. Attenuation of the effectiveness of PAG inhibition takes place when the sensitization of dorsal horn cells develops, and PKC may play a significant role in this process.
Factors influencing compliance with GAAS reporting standards on private sector engagements

Examines the influence of various audit firm and client characteristics on compliance with Generally Accepted Auditing Standards’ (GAAS) reporting standards for private sector audits performed by small audit firms. Because prior studies in this area have focused on public sector audits, an important contribution of this study is the use of an observable quality measure as the dependent variable on audits performed in the private sector. Obtains data for the study from the quality reviews of firms licensed to practise in the State of Arkansas during the years 1989‐1991. Suggests that audit fees, the complexity of the engagement and membership in the state Certified Public Accountants’ society are positively related to compliance with GAAS reporting standards on private sector engagements performed by small audit firms. In addition, firm size is negatively related to compliance with GAAS reporting standards on private sector engagements performed by small audit firms.
Superresolution imaging--caveolae, caveolins, mitochondria, and function in heart.

Our ability to investigate questions improves as methods advance. Such advances may permit some issues to be resolved while other questions develop a new complexion and engender new and/or refined questions. Here experiments that combine superresolution optical imaging (or stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy, STORM (1,2)) and electron microscopy (EM) tomography are presented in a study on cardiac structures by Wong et al. (3). The focus is primarily on the spatial organization of the cardiac transverse tubular (TT) system, also called the transverse-axial tubular system (TATS). While the transverse character of the TT/TATS system clearly dominates in healthy mammalian adult ventricular myocytes, heart failure leads to disorganization and dedifferentiation of this tubular system (4). In addition, the organization of caveolin-3 and the ryanodine receptors (RyR2 or the Ca2+ release channel in the junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum) are presented and discussed. The work seeks to link dynamic cellular structures and nanoscopic organization to cellular function. This work is also a very nice demonstration of the value of combining superresolution optical microscopy (STORM, PALM, and STED—see below (1,2,5–7)) and EM tomography (8,9). The name of the protein caveolin comes from the name of structures with which they are reported to be associated: the caveolae (10). The caveolae are omega-shaped invaginations of the surface membrane (10,11) of cells with localized function and organization (12). In cardiac and skeletal muscle cells, the caveolae are thought to be associated with both the external sarcolemmal membrane and the membranes of the TATS. In some cases, caveolae are associated with mitochondria (13) and in adipocytes with lipid metabolism (14). It is thus often thought that the spatial organization of the caveolae as well as the specific array of proteins and lipids in the very small omega-shaped structure underlie caveolar function. There is, however, a distinction of the concept between caveolin-rich membranes and caveolae as presented in the work by Wong et al. (3). The authors show that the majority of the surface membrane (external SL and TATS membranes) containing caveolin-3 does not include caveolar invaginations. Although there are TT dilations in the region of the junctional sarcoplasmic reticulum, they are not caveolae. This suggests that some quantitative reexamination of a number of hypotheses may be in order. Perhaps the exciting recent findings by Makarewich et al. (15), for example, would be recast if caveolae were not present. Nevertheless, the findings of Wong et al. (3) serve mainly to draw attention to a critical question: What exactly do the caveolins do? In addition, the work demonstrates both the power and utility of superresolution optical imaging combined with EM tomography.
Assessing Object Mastery in the Home

In this study, the causal relationship between introduced noise and object clutter on infant performance was tested empirically. The infants were studied in their own homes and they actively engaged with the test materials, demonstrating object mas tery. Surprisingly, however, the noise and object clutter did not interfere with the quality of object mastery for these twelve month olds. The differences between home and laboratory testing, as well as the implications of such testing, are discussed in-depth. The home is a physical setting where patterns of activity, interpersonal relationships, and roles develop (Bronfenbrenner 1979). The home is often considered the “primary setting in which the child’s early social, emotional and cognitive development occurs” (Poag, Goodnight, and Cohen 1985:72). Infants have less control over their environment than do older individuals; therefore, the home may be especially important for infants. One important area of study has been the impact of the early home environment on cognitive development. Physical features of the home environment that seem to support and facilitate early cognitive performance have been identified. Findings from Bradley and Caldwell’s (1984) longitudinal work indicate that the richness of an infant’s home environment throughout the first year, with respect to availability and variety of manipulable objects, has a positive effect on cognitive performance immediately after infancy. Early home environmental features such as change in room decor and availability of highly contingent toys (i.e., toys that respond to specific infant actions) have been positively related to a variety of concomitant cognitive measures (Wachs 1985, 1987; Wachs and Chan 1986). Wachs and his colleagues also have isolated some variables that are negatively associated with cognitive outcome (Wachs and Chan 1986; Wachs 1987; Slabach, Wachs, and Morrow 1989). These variables are often correlates of high-density environments and include noise, crowding, and heavy traffic patterns. Extended, I am indebted to the families who participated in this project. The First Years company provided complimentary gifts for participants.
A study on heterogeneous sensing and networking platform for Intelligent Transportation System

Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) is to utilize the sensing, networking and information technologies for transport applications such as road and vehicles. In ITS, various sensors and networks play a vital role in the capturing and transmitting of transportation information. Especially, wireless networks' spectrum resource and reliability are important factors in this system. In this paper, we firstly give a brief description of the techniques adopted by the Intelligent Transportation System, and we then study an heterogeneous sensing and networking platform for the ITS traffic monitoring applications. A case study on video camera based traffic monitoring is given and the adoption of Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) coding is proved to support reliable communication.
Notch3 signaling promotes the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension

Notch receptor signaling is implicated in controlling smooth muscle cell proliferation and in maintaining smooth muscle cells in an undifferentiated state. Pulmonary arterial hypertension is characterized by excessive vascular resistance, smooth muscle cell proliferation in small pulmonary arteries, leading to elevation of pulmonary vascular resistance, right ventricular failure and death. Here we show that human pulmonary hypertension is characterized by overexpression of NOTCH3 in small pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells and that the severity of disease in humans and rodents correlates with the amount of NOTCH3 protein in the lung. We further show that mice with homozygous deletion of Notch3 do not develop pulmonary hypertension in response to hypoxic stimulation and that pulmonary hypertension can be successfully treated in mice by administration of N-[N-(3,5-difluorophenacetyl)-L-alanyl]-S-phenylglycine t-butyl ester (DAPT), a gamma-secretase inhibitor that blocks activation of Notch3 in smooth muscle cells. We show a mechanistic link from NOTCH3 receptor signaling through the Hairy and enhancer of Split-5 (HES-5) protein to smooth muscle cell proliferation and a shift to an undifferentiated smooth muscle cell phenotype. These results suggest that the NOTCH3-HES-5 signaling pathway is crucial for the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension and provide a target pathway for therapeutic intervention.
Megastore: Providing Scalable, Highly Available Storage for Interactive Services

Megastore is a storage system developed to meet the requirements of today’s interactive online services. Megastore blends the scalability of a NoSQL datastore with the convenience of a traditional RDBMS in a novel way, and provides both strong consistency guarantees and high availability. We provide fully serializable ACID semantics within ne-grained partitions of data. This partitioning allows us to synchronously replicate each write across a wide area network with reasonable latency and support seamless failover between datacenters. This paper describes Megastore’s semantics and replication algorithm. It also describes our experience supporting a wide range of Google production services built with Megastore.
Determining the strength and orientation of an elevated dipole

The electromagnetic field expressions of an elevated electric dipole above a flat perfectly conducting ground plane are presented. It is shown that surface-based measurements, at a specified location, of the vertical electric field and the horizontal magnetic fields permit a unique determination of the strength and orientation of the dipole.
Observation of higher-band defect modes in two-dimensional photonic lattices

We report the experimental demonstration of bandgap guidance of light by a single-site negative defect in optically-induced two-dimensional photonic lattices. The guided patterns display fine spatial structures arising from defect modes excited at higher bandgaps.
Development of hepatocellular carcinomas and increased peroxisomal fatty acid β-oxidation in rats fed [4-chloro-6-(2, 3-xylidino)-2-pyrimidinylthio] acetic acid (Wy-14, 643) in the semipurified diet

To eliminate interference by contaminating xenobiotics that may possibly be present in the commercial rodent chow, we used semipurified diet in these studied to establish the carcinogenicity of hepatic peroxisome proliferator [4-chloro-6-(2,3-xylidino)-2-pyrimidinylthio] acetic acid (Wy-14,643). This compound was fed to male F344 rats in the semipurified diet at a dietary concentration of 0.2% (w/w) for 65 weeks. Between 40 and 65 weeks, 14 of 14 rats fed Wy-14,643 developed hepatocellular carcinomas. Therefore, the possibility that peroxisome proliferators increase the liver tumor incidence by as promoting effect appears highly unlikely, even though these compounds appear to be non-genotoxic. The liver tumors, as well as non-tumor portions of liver in Wy-14,643 fed rats, showed increased levels of peroxisomal fatty acid beta-oxidation system and H2O2. Excessive accumulation of autofluorescent lipofuscin, indicative of increased lipid peroxidation, was also observed in the liver parenchymal cells, during Wy-14,643 induced liver tumorigenesis. These observations support the contention that sustained proliferation of peroxisomes leads to oxygen radical toxicity, which may eventually lead to the development of liver tumors in rodents exposed to peroxisome proliferators.
Analytical study of a control algorithm based on emotional processing

This paper presents a control algorithm developed from the mammalian emotional processing network. A discrete event model was modified for application to a continuous time plant. It resulted in a system with a connected equilibrium set. To understand the dynamics, first integrals are identified and a proof of stability is given.
New models for sharing responsibilities in the preparation of technical communicators

In response to advances in computer technology, academic programs in technical communication are challenged to rethink the basic curriculum. To prepare students for work, we now need expensive and specialized computer labs as well as software training not regularly available in university settings. New partnerships are being formed with work place and community mentors, with shared responsibilities for the preparation of technical communicators, and faculty members are sometimes assuming roles traditionally assigned to development officers.
Use Of Derivatives In The Airline Industry

This paper is about the use of derivatives such as futures and option used as hedging to reduce exposure to risk in the Airline Industry. The paper considers the way derivatives are used and undertakes primary research to determine whether there is a relationship between the use of derivatives, the level of profit, the level of liabilities and executive salaries. This paper uses regression analysis and a chi-squared test. The conclusion assesses the value of these tools to airlines.
Adolescent disclosure of information about peers: the mediating role of perceptions of parents' right to know.

Following the important insight that what parents know about their adolescent offspring depends primarily on what the child tells them, this study examines how attitudes about what parents have a right to know mediate the associations between several factors (quality of parent–child relationships, time spent with family and peers, levels of antisocial and prosocial behaviors, and gender and age) and adolescents’ disclosures about peer relations. In two studies of early and middle adolescents (Ns = 231, 249; M ages = 14.5, 13.0; 62.3, 51.8 % female; 53.7, 67.5 % European American), a new measure of right-to-know attitudes is derived and then applied to four facets of adolescents’ experiences with peers: details of activities with peers, issues in specific relationships, and positive and negative peer characteristics. The findings indicate that adolescents are more inclined to disclose certain aspects of their peer relations than others, but these inclinations are related to several factors—especially the quality of mother–child relationships and involvement in antisocial behavior—and mediated by adolescents’ attitudes regarding what parents have a right to know about peers. The results are related to autonomy development and parental oversight of adolescent peer interactions.