cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Outlier-Robust Clustering of Non-Spherical Mixtures

We give the first outlier-robust efficient algorithm for clustering a mixture of $k$ statistically separated d-dimensional Gaussians (k-GMMs). Concretely, our algorithm takes input an $\epsilon$-corrupted sample from a $k$-GMM and whp in $d^{\text{poly}(k/\eta)}$ time, outputs an approximate clustering that misclassifies at most $k^{O(k)}(\epsilon+\eta)$ fraction of the points whenever every pair of mixture components are separated by $1-\exp(-\text{poly}(k/\eta)^k)$ in total variation (TV) distance. Such a result was not previously known even for $k=2$. TV separation is the statistically weakest possible notion of separation and captures important special cases such as mixed linear regression and subspace clustering. Our main conceptual contribution is to distill simple analytic properties - (certifiable) hypercontractivity and bounded variance of degree 2 polynomials and anti-concentration of linear projections - that are necessary and sufficient for mixture models to be (efficiently) clusterable. As a consequence, our results extend to clustering mixtures of arbitrary affine transforms of the uniform distribution on the $d$-dimensional unit sphere. Even the information-theoretic clusterability of separated distributions satisfying these two analytic assumptions was not known prior to our work and is likely to be of independent interest. Our algorithms build on the recent sequence of works relying on certifiable anti-concentration first introduced in the works of Karmarkar, Klivans, and Kothari and Raghavendra, and Yau in 2019. Our techniques expand the sum-of-squares toolkit to show robust certifiability of TV-separated Gaussian clusters in data. This involves giving a low-degree sum-of-squares proof of statements that relate parameter (i.e. mean and covariances) distance to total variation distance by relying only on hypercontractivity and anti-concentration.
ADAIL: Adaptive Adversarial Imitation Learning

We present the ADaptive Adversarial Imitation Learning (ADAIL) algorithm for learning adaptive policies that can be transferred between environments of varying dynamics, by imitating a small number of demonstrations collected from a single source domain. This is an important problem in robotic learning because in real world scenarios 1) reward functions are hard to obtain, 2) learned policies from one domain are difficult to deploy in another due to varying source to target domain statistics, 3) collecting expert demonstrations in multiple environments where the dynamics are known and controlled is often infeasible. We address these constraints by building upon recent advances in adversarial imitation learning; we condition our policy on a learned dynamics embedding and we employ a domain-adversarial loss to learn a dynamics-invariant discriminator. The effectiveness of our method is demonstrated on simulated control tasks with varying environment dynamics and the learned adaptive agent outperforms several recent baselines.
Evaluation of a portable XRF device for in vivo quantification of lead in bone among a US population

Abstract Background Lead (Pb) concentration in bone is a reliable biomarker for cumulative Pb exposure and studying associated health outcomes. However, the standard K-shell fluorescence (KXRF) bone Pb measurement technology has limitations in large-scale population studies. Objective We compared measurements from a portable XRF device and a KXRF device. Methods We measured bone Pb concentrations in vivo using portable XRF and KXRF, each measured at the mid-tibia bone in 71 people, 38–95 years of age (mean ± SD = 63 ± 11 years) living in or near three Indiana communities, US; 10 participants were occupationally exposed. We estimated the correlation between bone Pb concentrations measured by both devices. We also examined the extent to which the detection limit (DL) of the portable XRF was influenced by scan time and overlying soft tissue thickness. Finally, we quantified the associations of estimated bone Pb concentration with age and age with soft tissue thickness. Results The mean bone Pb concentration measured via portable XRF was 12.3 ± 16.7 mg Pb/kg dry bone. The uncertainty of a 3-minute (N = 60) in vivo portable XRF measurement ranged from 1.8 to 6.3 mg/kg, in the context of soft tissue thickness ranging from 2 to 6 mm. This uncertainty was reduced by a factor of 1.4 with 5-minute measurements (N = 11). Bone Pb measurements via portable XRF and KXRF were significantly correlated: r = 0.48 for all participants, and r = 0.73 among participants with soft tissue thickness Conclusion With its ease of use, portability, and comparable sensitivity with conventional KXRF systems, the portable XRF could be a valuable tool for non-invasive quantification of bone Pb in vivo, especially for people with thinner soft tissue.
Virtually Walking in a Patient's Shoes-the Path to Empathy?

Empathy is the basis of a patient-physician relationship; however, this is being lost by students throughout medical training. Immersive virtual reality that allows individuals to viscerally experience anything from another person’s point of view has the potential to reverse the erosion of empathy and improve clinical practices.
Asynchronous Advantage Actor Critic: Non-asymptotic Analysis and Linear Speedup

Asynchronous and parallel implementation of standard reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms is a key enabler of the tremendous success of modern RL. Among many asynchronous RL algorithms, arguably the most popular and effective one is the asynchronous advantage actor-critic (A3C) algorithm. Although A3C is becoming the workhorse of RL, its theoretical properties are still not well-understood, including the non-asymptotic analysis and the performance gain of parallelism (a.k.a. speedup). This paper revisits the A3C algorithm with TD(0) for the critic update, termed A3C-TD(0), with provable convergence guarantees. With linear value function approximation for the TD update, the convergence of A3C-TD(0) is established under both i.i.d. and Markovian sampling. Under i.i.d. sampling, A3C-TD(0) obtains sample complexity of O(ϵ−2.5/N) per worker to achieve ϵ accuracy, where N is the number of workers. Compared to the best-known sample complexity of O(ϵ−2.5) for two-timescale AC, A3C-TD(0) achieves \emph{linear speedup}, which justifies the advantage of parallelism and asynchrony in AC algorithms theoretically for the first time. Numerical tests on synthetically generated instances and OpenAI Gym environments have been provided to verify our theoretical analysis.
Exciton Lifetime Distributions and Population Dynamics in the FMO Protein Complex from Prosthecochloris aestuarii.

Significant protein rearrangement upon excitation and energy transfer in Fenna-Matthews-Olson protein of Prosthecochloris aestuarii results in a modified energy landscape, which induces more changes in pigment site energies than predicted by the "standard" hole-burning theory. The energy changes are elucidated by simulations while investigating the effects of site-dependent disorder, both static (site-energy distribution widths) and dynamic (spectral density shapes). The resulting optimized site energies and their fluctuations are consistent with relative differences observed in inhomogeneous widths calculated by recent molecular dynamic simulations. Two sets of different spectral densities reveal how their shapes affect the population dynamics and distribution of exciton lifetimes. Calculations revealed the wavelength-dependent distributions of exciton lifetimes (T1) in the femtosecond to picosecond time frame. We suggest that the calculated multimodal and asymmetric wavelength-dependent T1 distributions offer more insight into the interpretation of resonant hole-burned (HB) spectra, kinetic traces in two-dimensional (2D) electronic spectroscopy experiments, and widely used global analyses in fitting data from transient absorption experiments.
Bioinspired particle engineering for non-invasive inhaled drug delivery to the lungs.

Abstract Pulmonary drug delivery is governed by several biophysical parameters of delivery carriers, such as particle size, shape, density, charge, and surface modifications. Although much attention has been given to other parameters, particle shape effects have rarely been explored. In this work, we assess the influence of particle shape of inhaled delivery carriers on their aerodynamic properties and macrophage uptake by using polymeric microparticles of different geometries ranging in various sizes. Doxorubicin was conjugated to the polymer particles and the bioconjugates were characterized. Interestingly, the results of in-vitro lung deposition, performed using a next generation impactor, demonstrated a significant improvement in the aerodynamic properties of the rod-shaped particles with a high aspect ratio as compared to spherical particles with the same equivalent volume. The results of a macrophage uptake experiment demonstrate that the high aspect ratio particles were phagocytosed less than spherical particles. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity of these doxorubicin-conjugated particles was determined against murine macrophages, resulting in reduced toxicity when treated with high aspect ratio particles as compared to spherical particles. This project provides valuable insights into the influence of particle shape on aerodynamic properties and primary defense mechanisms in the peripheral lungs, while using polymeric microparticles of various sizes and geometries. Further systematic development can help translate these findings to preclinical and clinical studies for designing efficient inhalable delivery carriers.
Noise adaptive multi-resolution technique to accurately denoise PET, MRI-PET, and PET-CT images

2050 Objectives 1. To develop a fast and robust method for automatically denoising PET, MRI-PET, and PET-CT images based on an accurate statistical noise models in the multi-resolution domain. 2. To preserve crucial information such as SUV based quantitative metrics, and object boundary information while denoising. Methods With IRB approval, 20 co-registered PET-CT, 20 MRI-PET, and 27 PET images were retrospectively collected. Our proposed denoising method consists of three steps: (1) a novel adaptive multi-scale approach to denoise three unique imaging modalities that are corrupted by three different noise models (PET corrupted by Poisson-Gaussian noise, MR images corrupted by Rician-distributed noise, and CT images corrupted by white Gaussian noise), (2) edge-preserving counterlet transform was used to denoise transformed images, and (3) an optimal inverse multi-scale transform to get the denoised images in SUV domain. Results Significant improvement in signal to noise ratio (SNR) (18.57 vs. 16.68, p Conclusions The preliminary study showed the feasibility of a fast, accurate, and automated method for denoising, PET, MRI-PET, and PET-CT images. Research Support This research is supported by Center for Infectious Disease Imaging (CIDI), the intramural research program of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).
Regulation of cell adhesion receptors by transforming growth factor-beta. Regulation of vitronectin receptor and LFA-1.

We have examined the ability of transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) to regulate the expression of members of the αβ2 and αβ3 families of integrins. TGF-β1 elevates the expression of vitronectin receptors (αvβ3 integrin) in all cells examined including WI-38 human lung fibroblasts, 3T3-L1 mouse fibroblasts, and MG-63 human osteogenic sarcoma cells. TGF-β1 action increases the level of mRNA and the synthesis of vitronectin receptor subunits with t½of 3–4 h and 6 h, respectively. TGF-β1 up-regulates expression of the intercellular adhesion receptor, LFA-1 (αLβ2), in THP-1 human monocytic leukemia cells by increasing the synthesis of αL subunit but not β2 subunit. The increase in αl synthesis and assembly into LFA-1 complexes induced by TGF-β1 occurs in parallel with elevated fibronectin receptor synthesis in THP-1 cells. These responses to TGF-β1 are lost upon phorbol esterinduced differentiation of THP-1 cells into the macrophage phenotype. The results suggest a role of TGF-β in the regulation of cell-matrix interactions mediated by vitronectin receptors and cell-cell interactions mediated by LFA-1 in the immune system.
The migration of deuterium during aryl hydroxylation. II. Effect of induction of microsomal hydroxylases with phenobarbital or polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Abstract Acetanilide-4- 2 H is converted to 4-hydroxyacetanilide-3- 2 H during incubation with liver microsomal preparations. The degree of migration and retention of deuterium in this reaction, previously shown to depend on the pH of the media, is also dependent upon the species, strain, and sex of the animal used as the source of microsomal preparations. Pretreatment of animals with phenobarbital causes an increase in the retention of deuterium in 4-hydroxyacetanilide produced from 4-deuteroacetanilide while pretreatment with benzpyrene or 3-methylcholanthrene causes a decrease in the retention. The effect of induction on the migration and retention of deuterium and of tritium is unique to acetanilide-4- 2 H, and is not observed during hydroxylation of anisole-4- 2 H, chlorobenzene-4- 2 H, or 4-fluorobiphenyl-4′- 2 H. It is proposed that two “acetanilide hydroxylases” exist in varying amounts in different species, and that one, characterized by exhibiting high retentions of deuterium in the hydroxylation of acetanilide-4- 2 H, is induced by phenobarbital, while the other, characterized by exhibiting low retentions of deuterium in the same reaction, is induced by 3-methylcholanthrene and benzpsyrene.
A framework for literacy education in multicultural, multilingual, and multiliterate classrooms

In this article, I draw on theories of generativity and multiliteracies pedagogy, as well as research on youths’ language and literacy practices and development that are framed by a multiliteracies lens, to outline approaches to literacy education that draw upon, as well as strengthen, students’ existing language, literacy, and cultural repertoires while assisting youths’ development of new knowledge and capabilities that are advantageous to living and learning in diverse societies. These approaches involve students and teachers investigating the language and literacy practices in students’ lives; and reading, composing, and analyzing multicultural, multilingual, and multimodal texts.
A unique missense allele of BAF155, a core BAF chromatin remodeling complex protein, causes neural tube closure defects in mice

Failure of embryonic neural tube closure results in the second most common class of birth defects known as neural tube defects (NTDs). While NTDs are likely the result of complex multigenic dysfunction, it is not known whether polymorphisms in epigenetic regulators may be risk factors for NTDs. Here we characterized Baf155msp3, a unique ENU-induced allele in mice. Homozygous Baf155mps3 embryos exhibit highly penetrant exencephaly, allowing us to investigate the roles of an assembled, but malfunctional BAF chromatin remodeling complex in vivo at the time of neural tube closure. Evidence of defects in proliferation and apoptosis were found within the neural tube. RNA-Seq analysis revealed that surprisingly few genes showed altered expression in Baf155 mutant neural tissue, given the broad epigenetic role of the BAF complex, but included genes involved in neural development and cell survival. Moreover, gene expression changes between individual mutants were variable even though the NTD was consistently observed. This suggests that inconsistent gene regulation contributes to failed neural tube closure. These results shed light on the role of the BAF complex in the process of neural tube closure and highlight the importance of studying missense alleles to understand epigenetic regulation during critical phases of development. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Develop Neurobiol 74: 483–497, 2014
Brodie’s Abscess in a Patient Presenting with Sickle Cell Vasoocclusive Crisis

First described by Sir Nicholas Brodie in 1832, Brodie's abscess is a localized subacute or chronic infection of the bone, typically seen in the metaphases of long bones in children and adolescents. The diagnosis can prove to be enigmatic due to absence of clinical signs and symptoms of systemic disease. We report a very interesting case of Brodie's abscess masquerading as sickle cell vasoocclusive crisis in a 20-year-old female with sickle cell disease and review the literature.
Optimal sensor positioning to track rib deflections from an optical system in the Hybrid III dummy.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine the optimal use of a new optical device, the RibEye system, intended to obtain internal ribcage deflections from tests using anthropomorphic test dummies. Specifically, the study was designed to determine the most efficacious mounting location of light emitting diodes (LEDs) on the ribs and sternum in the 50th percentile male Hybrid III dummy. Methods: Optical signal drop-out and accuracy assessment tests were conducted. In the former series, symmetric antero-posterior chest compressive loading was accomplished using cylindrical and square indenters, and asymmetrical compressive loading was accomplished using unilateral offset and diagonal belt-type loadings. LEDs were mounted to multiple ribs bilaterally at varying locations on the ribcage. The internal chest potentiometer available in the Hybrid III dummy was used. The latter series, aimed at examining the system accuracy, consisted of tests with LEDs mounted to the 4 corners of the sternum, termed...
Effect of predatory fish presence on habitat use and diel movement of the stream amphipod, Gammarus minus

SUMMARY. 1 We examined how the presence of predatory fish affected macro—and microhabitat use and movement patterns of the amphipod, Gammarus minus Say, in a second order stream. 2 Among macrohabitats, amphipods were consistently more abundant in runs than in pools. Densities in pools were low regardless of fish presence, whereas low densities in runs were correlated with fish presence. Siltation and the lack of coarse substrate particles probably accounted for the scarcity of G. minus in pools. Among microhabitats, G. minus was more abundant in leaf litter and gravel than in silt/sand substrates. Fish presence did not affect microhabitat use in the field. Laboratory manipulations showed, however, that predation rates by green sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus Rafinesque) were significantly lower on amphipods in leaf litter than in other microhabitats. 3 Most movement by G. minus in runs occurred at night and was directed downstream. In the laboratory, amphipods significantly reduced swimming activity at night in response to water conditioned with green sunfish. In the field, however, amphipods were only slightly less active in runs at night when exposed to chemical cues of confined green sunfish. The distribution of amphipods in streams is influenced by the presence of fish, but chemical cues alone may not be important in triggering predator avoidance behaviours in nature.
Urban effects, distance, and protected areas in an urbanizing world

Abstract With rapid global urban growth, the proximity between urban and protected areas will increase. We identify four categories of nations, based on the proportion of people in urban areas, the amount of protected area, and the 1995 and estimated 2030 distance between cities and protected areas: urbanized nations (>60% urban) with a high population density (>40 people/km2) and close proximity between urban and protected areas (e.g., Europe); urbanized nations with a relatively low population density and moderate proximity between urban and protected areas (e.g., United States); rural nations with a lots of parks (>5% of land area), where proximity will dramatically increase (e.g., China); and rural nations with limited protected area systems (e.g., West Africa). A literature review of 163 studies identified 22 important urban effects on protected areas. Effects range from global to local, with two-thirds of the effects essentially limited to within 50 km of an urban area. We also examined conservation projects of The Nature Conservancy to determine if threats reported by conservation practitioners varied with proximity to urban area. Although many types of threats occurred at all proximities, threat types overall correlated significantly with proximity to an urban area, including more frequent problems with habitat loss due to residential development and wastewater/sewage. Thus, with the median distance from a park to an urban area already less than 50 km in many regions, we conclude that thousands of protected areas are already impacted by urban areas and many more will be impacted in the future.
Secret key sharing using entanglement swapping and remote preparation of quantum state

In this paper we propose a new algorithm for secret key sharing by utilizing quantum entanglement swapping and remote preparation of quantum state. This algorithm is used when two parties do not share an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) pair but one wishes to transmit a secret key to the other. In order to successfully accomplish this process, a third party who shares an EPR pair with both parties will help them build a new EPR pair. The new EPR pair will be used between the sender and the receiver to remotely prepare a quantum state. This process will provide a secure way to share secret keys between the two parties who do not share EPR pairs. Furthermore, the process doesn't require sending any physical quantum state, instead the sender prepares a known state and sends only one classical bit to the receiver to help build an intended quantum state.
Characterization of a peptide affinity support that binds selectively to staphylococcal enterotoxin B.

Abstract The influences of mass transfer and adsorption–desorption kinetics on the binding of staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) to an affinity resin with the peptide ligand, Tyr-Tyr-Trp-Leu-His-His (YYWLHH) have been studied. The bed and particle porosities, the axial dispersion coefficient and the pore diffusivity were measured using pulse experiments under unretained conditions. Adsorption isotherms for SEB on YYWLHH resins with peptide densities in the range from 6 to 220 μmol/g were measured and fitted to a bi-Langmuir equation. At peptide densities below 9 μmol/g and above 50 μmol/g, dissociation constants were lower (2 × 10−3 to 7 × 10−3 mol/m3), and binding capacities were larger (43–47 mg SEB/g). In the range from 9 to 50 μmol/g dissociation constants were larger (13 × 10−3 to 24 × 10−3 mol/m3) and capacities were lower (33–37 mg SEB/g). These observations are consistent with a transition from single point attachment of the protein to the ligand at low peptide densities to multipoint attachment at high peptide densities. The general rate (GR) model of chromatography was used to fit experimental breakthrough curves under retained conditions to determine the intrinsic rate constants for adsorption, which varied from 0.13 to 0.50 m3 mol−1 s−1, and exhibited no clear trend with increasing peptide density. An analysis of the number of transfer units for the various mass transfer steps in the column indicated that film mass transfer, pore diffusion (POR) and the kinetics of adsorption can all play an important role in the overall rate of adsorption, with the intrinsic adsorption step apparently being the rate determining step at peptide densities below 50 μmol/g.
Cigarette Smoking and Suicide: A Prospective Study of 300, 000 Male Active-duty Army Soldiers

The authors examined the relation between cigarette smoking and suicide by conducting a cohort study of 300,000 male US Army personnel followed prospectively from January 1987 through December 1996 for 961,657 person-years. They found that the risk of suicide increased significantly with the number of cigarettes smoked daily (p for trend Language: en
Multimedia content-downloading system using millimeter-wave attached memory

This paper presents a high-speed multimedia content-downloading system using 60GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) technology. For a cost-effective solution, the system makes use of conventional 802.11 for the interactive controls between an access point and smart mobile devices, handling such services as access point discovery, authentication, mmWave link establishment, beam steering, and lost packet recovery. The high-speed one-way mmWave link is dedicated to the transfer of content data. The smart mobile device only has an mmWave receiver so that it can keep its power dissipation and hardware costs low. The content data is downloaded from an access point to such a smart mobile device via an external storage component of the mobile device. To use the high bandwidth of the mmWave, the mmWave receiver writes directly to the external storage as a wireless attached memory, which is accessed by the smart mobile device via its SD interface. We built a proof-of-concept prototype with a smartphone receiving data from an mmWave system, and evaluated the performance.
Tourism — a vital force for peace

Abstract C.R. Goeldner of the University of Colorado describes a unique and significant tourism event which took place on 23–27 October 1988 in Vancouver, British Columbia, when more than 500 participants from 64 countries and 33 US states attended the conference ‘Tourism - a vital force for peace’. The conference featured five plenary sessions with illustrious speakers and 75 concurrent sessions and idea exchanges. Some of the conference highlights are contained in the report which follows.
Pentazocine tablet analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography

Abstract A rapid extraction ion-pair reversed-phase system has been demonstrated for analysis of pentazocine hydrochloride in tablets. This high-perfromance liquid chromatographic method was also shown to separate other members of a series of benzomorphans. A favorable comparison was found between results by this method and a normal-phase HPLC method for pentazocine. The effects of ion-pairing agent and of concentration were investigated in view of possible retention mechanisms. A review of previous analytical methods for pentazocine is given.
Total and Excitation-Transfer Cross Sections for Collisions between2S3Metastable and Ground-State Helium Atoms

Total and excitation-transfer cross sections for collisions between $2^{3}S$ metastable and ground-state helium atoms have been calculated in the perturbed-stationary-state approximation, using the best available adiabatic $^{3}\ensuremath{\Sigma}_{u}^{+}$ and $^{3}\ensuremath{\Sigma}_{g}^{+}$ potential curves for ${\mathrm{He}}_{2}$, and in the "diabatic" approximation, using a repulsive $^{3}\ensuremath{\Sigma}_{g}^{+}$ curve, constructed so as to have the appropriate united-atom limit. Both the total and excitation-transfer cross sections are found to show an oscillatory energy dependence. The detailed nature of these oscillations is found to be different for the adiabatic and "diabatic" descriptions. However, the average magnitude of the cross sections does not show this sensitivity. Differential cross sections have also been calculated and show considerable structure. Existing experimental measurements are included and compared with these calculations.
Energy conservation and management in the U.S.

Abstract Electrical power is one major industry that has shaped and contributed to the progress and technical advances of mankind over the past century. Power must be available to the consumer in any amount that one may require from minute to minute. In generating power, the concept, so far, has been straightforward. If society demanded more power, the power companies would simply find a way to supply users, even by building more generation facilities. This supply-side management technique worked very well until the early 1970s. Mankind began to realize the damage to the atmosphere and ecosystem from the gluttonous consumption of fossil fuels. The power companies began to look for other viable solutions to their problems. Demand-side management is the planning and implementation of those utility activities designed to influence consumer use of electricity in ways that will produce desired changes in the utilities load shape. Supply-side and demand-side management techniques are both discussed in this paper. Also, these technologies are not the only ones that are useful, but they presently seem to be the ones most often considered and discussed.
Oxidation study of Fe-8Cr-10Ni-(0-3)Si-(0-6)Mo alloys

Mechanisms are proposed to explain the oxidation rate behavior of Fe-8Cr-10Ni alloys to which varying amounts of either Si (0–3%) or Mo (0–6%), or both have been added. The formation and breakdown of a silica sublayer cause significant changes in the oxidation mechanism. The formation of the silica depends on preformation of a Cr2O3 outer layer. The addition of Mo enhances the oxidation protection of Fe-Si alloys by producing an Fe-Mo-Si precipitate in the base metal.
High-Performance Liquid Chromatography of Glycopeptides and Oligosaccharides on Graphitized Carbon Columns

Abstract High-performance liquid chromatography of carbohydrate materials on graphitized carbon columns (GCC) has some advantages over other types of chromatography. Oligosaccharides and glycopeptides with few amino acids are barely retained on reversed-phase columns even under high salt or low pH conditions, but can be retained effectively on a graphitized carbon column. Moreover, elution of GCC requires concentrations of organic solvents lower than that required for normal-phase columns. The usefulness of graphitized carbon columns is exemplified by the following results: (i) Man9GlcNAc2 with only Asn or Asn-Phe (derived from soybean agglutinin) was not retained by a C18 reversed-phase column, but could be separated on a GCC with a gradient of 10-45% CH3CN in 30 min. (ii) Ribonuclease B glycopeptides obtained by Pronase digestion could be separated on GCC with a gradient of 10-30% CH3CN, but they were not retained on a C18 reversed-phase column even with water as eluent. (iii) Oligosaccharides released from ribonuclease B by endo-β-N-acetylglucosaminidase were separated from each other and peptides on GCC with a linear gradient of 10 mM NH4OH to 10 mM NH4OH-12.5% CH3CN in 50 min at 70°C. Silica-based columns do not allow such an alkaline eluent. (iv) Chito-oligosaccharides (DP 1-9) are well separated within 40 min on GCC with a gradient (10 mM NH4OH-10 mM NH4OH with 25% CH3CN) at 50°C. Chito-oligosaccharides could not be separated by high-performance anion exchange columns such as Carbopac PA-1.
Enhanced Mucosal Imaging and the Esophagus—Ready for Prime Time?

Innovation of endoscopic technology has recently been introduced to improve real-time visualization of mucosal architecture and subepithelial vascular structures. Since the esophagus is easily accessible using endoscopy and the length of required observation is limited, many different types of new imaging modalities have been reported and showing promising data. Early detection of neoplastic changes in the esophagus is devoted to the treatment in early stage cancer and theoretically leads to better prognosis. This review will focus on the emerging endoscopic technologies for the management of esophageal cancer.
Effect of light on basipetal movement of indoleacetic Acid in green stem sections of coleus.

Most of our information on the effects of light on auxin movement comes from studies on the phototropism of the etiolated coleoptile of various grasses, organs in which light decreases auxin transport (e.g., 12, 15). One of the few publications on the effect of light on auxin movement in green stem tissues concluded that "light greatly increased the amount of IAA taken up by the tissue, but did not increase the transport af IAA out into a receiving agar block" (14). However, a close look at the data (14) revealed that all counts in the receiver blocks were very low, that "C-labeled IAA of low specific radioactivity had been used (0.95 c/mole), and that the relatively insensitive planchet counting system had been used for measuring radioactivity. This suggested to us that, if we used IAA of higher specific radioactivity and the much greater efficiency of liquid scintillation counting, we might be able to detect differences in the receiver blocks that the less sensitive methods could not reveal. We were encouraged in this belief by the fact that this approach had worked in the parallel situation involving IAA movement through root sections (7).
Granule cell heterotopia in normal and nervous mutant mice of the BALB/c strain

Abstract Aberrant granule cells are present in the cerebellar molecular layer of ‘nervous’ (nr/nr) mutant mice of the Balb/cGr strain. These heterotopic cells produce dendrites which form glomerulus-like synaptic complexes in the molecular layer with both mossy and climbing fibers. Similar heterotopic cells are also present in normal mice of the Balb/cGr and C3Heb/FeJ strains, although to a much lesser degree, while they are rare in C57BL/6J mice. The relevance of these findings to mechanisms of normal granule cell migration and synaptogenesis during development are discussed.
Anti-maleyl antibody.

Abstract Rabbits were immunized with bovine serum albumin (BSA) ∗ modified either with maleic anhydride or maleic anhydride irontetracarbonyl. Precipitating antibodies were obtained against maleyl-BSA (MA-BSA) in each case. An antibody which gave a single precipitin line against MA-BSA and maleyl bovine gamma globulin (MA-BGG) was isolated using a maleylaminopropylamino-Sepharose affinity column. Inhibition of precipitation studies with this antibody employing 14 C-MA-BGG as the antigen showed that maleate is approximately 10 times stronger as an inhibitor than either fumarate or succinate, that β-phenylpropionate is 1·5 times stronger than maleat, and that bis -1,3(maleamido)-propane is 2800 times stronger than maleate. Based on the data from these and other inhibitors, it is suggested that primary recognition by the antibody for the maleyl hapten occurs along the −CH=CH− side of this hapten.
Automated Residential Energy Monitoring: An Approach to Performance Comparisons

Techniques for residential energy usage monitoring is an emerging field that is currently drawing significant attention. This paper is a description of the current efforts to monitor and compare the performance of three solar-powered homes built at Missouri University of Science and Technology. The homes are outfitted with an array of sensors and a data logger system to measure and record electricity production, system energy use, internal home temperature and humidity, hot water production, and exterior ambient conditions the houses are experiencing. Data will be collected to measure the performance of the houses, compare to energy modeling programs, design and develop cost effective sensor systems for energy monitoring, and produce a cost effective home control system.© 2009 ASME
Intersection homology and Poincaré duality on homotopically stratified spaces

We show that intersection homology extends Poincare duality to manifold homotopically stratified spaces (satisfying mild restrictions). These spaces were introduced by Quinn to provide “a setting for the study of purely topological stratified phenomena, particularly group actions on manifolds.” The main proof techniques involve blending the global algebraic machinery of sheaf theory with local homotopy computations. In particular, this includes showing that, on such spaces, the sheaf complex of singular intersection chains is quasi-isomorphic to the Deligne sheaf complex. 55N33, 57N80, 57P99
Communicating hydrocephalus secondary to venous complications following intraatrial baffle operation (mustard procedure) for d-Transposition of the great arteries

A 39-month-old male had macrocephaly and communicating hydrocephalus secondary to superior vena cava (SVC) obstruction which was a postoperative complication of an intraatrial baffle operation (Mustard procedure) performed at age 10 months. Computerized tomography revealed progressive hydrocephalus. Cardiac catheterization showed an SVC pressure of 24 mm Hg. IVC and systemic vein atrium pressures were 5 mm Hg. Cineangiograms showed huge azygos collaterals from SVC to IVC. The operation was revised using a Dacron baffle instead of the original pericardial baffle. Nine months postoperatively, the head circumference was 55.0 cm and there was no clinical evidence of SVC obstruction.
Natural Meningococcal Agglutinins and Lysins in Human Serum

ConclusionsOur data permit certain deductions regarding the nature and origin of the natural meningococcal agglutinin and lysin. It is clear that both antibodies increase in intensity and extensity with age and since conditions are generally favorable for the successive absorption from the nasopharynx of antigenic material belonging to the genus Neisseria one might be led to believe that both are due to "occult" immunization. However, as will appear below, it is more than likely that we are dealing with two separate entities.The natural meningococcal agglutinin, according to our data, possesses a well marked immunological specificity. This is suggested not only by the occurrence of type-specific agglutinins in a certain percentage of normal human sera but more particularly by the fact that such agglutinins can be exhausted only by absorption with the specific antigens. In this respect the natural agglutinin resembles the immune agglutinin. Our observation that natural agglutinins occurred more often again...
Factors influencing the prevalence of gallstones in liver disease: the beneficial and harmful influences of alcohol

Factors influencing the prevalence of gallstones in liver disease: the beneficial and harmful influences of alcohol
Twice daily toothbrushing with a stabilized stannous fluoride/sodium hexametaphosphate dentifrice may reduce gingivitis, gingival bleeding, and dental plaque.

Article Title and Bibliographic Information A controlled 6-month clinical trial to study the effects of a stannous fluoride dentifrice on gingivitis. Mallatt M, Mankodi S, Bauroth K, Bsoul SA, Bartizek RD, He T. J Clin Periodontol 2007;34(9):762-7. Level of Evidence Level 1: Good-quality, patient-oriented evidence. Strength of Recommendation Grade Not applicable. Purpose/Question The authors assessed the antiplaque and antigingivitis benefits of a stabilized stannous fluoride/sodium hexametaphosphate dentifrice in comparison with a negative control dentifrice over a 6-month period following an oral prophylaxis. Source of Funding This study was funded by the Procter & Gamble Company (Mason, OH). Type of Study/Design This study was a randomized, stratified, double-blind, single-center, parallel group clinical trial.
Cowpeas Tannins Related to Cultivar, Maturity, Dehulling and Heating

Tannins were analyzed on three cultivars of cowpeas at three maturity stages. Cultivars differed in testa darkening which increased during maturation. Darker testa had greater tannin concentrations. Testa tannins increased up to 7-fold during maturation and up to 96% of the tannins were found in the testa. The sum of tannins in individually tested cotyledon and testa was up to 10.7 times greater than that found from analysis of whole cowpea after grinding to 20-mesh. Heating in water reduced whole cowpea tannins 38–76%; cotyledon 53–59%, and testa 66–75%.
Manoeuvring target motion parameter estimation for ISAR image fusion

In inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging applications, generating an image of a manoeuvring target is a challenge due to the tradeoff between the fine image resolution requirements and the temporal variability of the Doppler response. The time frequency transform (TFT) is a common method to solve this problem. Prior TFT-based research assumes that the ISAR observes the target from a single fixed aspect. Because of its manoeuvring characteristics, the target motion features are sometimes not extractable from the observing aspect, but become much more distinct from other aspects. ISAR image fusion is thus able to provide significant advantages, since multiple looks of the same target from different aspects will increase the available knowledge. After constructing the common projection plane and building up the physical connection between radars and the manoeuvring target, the parameters that describe the target motion are estimated for very short time duration within which the Doppler response can be assumed to be a constant. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the estimation procedure and thus the fusion method. The authors conclude that the ISAR system must be carefully configured in order to realise the full benefits of their image fusion technique for manoeuvring targets.
A unified field theory with varying charge and rest-mass

It is shown that the neutron and proton may be treated as different states of the one particle in a classical field theory by ascribing to them an extra degree of freedom in terms of which to specify the electric charge. This may be done in the framework of a unified field theory which is a modification of the theory of Kaluza and Klein, Kaluza's constanta being chosen to give the correct mass difference of neutron and proton. Without the explicit introduction of meson potentials or any free parameters, it then follows that there exists a short range (≈10−13 cm) attraction between neutron and proton, and a modified Coulomb interaction between two protons. The possibility of charge exchange between nucleons is a consequence of the field equations and the geodesic equations of motion. A photon may acquire a charge and rest-mass when extremely close to a charged particle, and the possibility arises for the formation of systems of such charged photons with rest energies of order 100 MeV. Without any special assumptions about the fifth coordinatex5 it follows that in the linear approximation the electromagnetic potentials satisfy Maxwell's equations and are independent ofx5 when all other potentials are neglected. Correspondence with classical electrodynamics is established in the limita→0.
Structural effects in axoplasm of DNase I, an actin depolymerizer that blocks fast axonal transport

Abstract We have studied by electron microscopy the organization of microtubules and neurofilaments in axons of giant identified neurons inAplysia and the effect upon it of microinjected DNase I, a depolymerizer of actin filaments, to determine whether the block of fast transport caused by this agent might be due to disorganization of the cytoskeleton. Microtubules were thoroughly intermingled with the more numerous neurofilaments rather than segregated into domains. In the axon of the cell, GCN, the morphologically identifiable transmitter storage vesicles, which have been shown previously to move by anterograde fast axonal transport, were distributed non-randomly, tending to be near microtubules. They were found most frequently 10–20 nm from the nearest microtubule. When DNase I was microinjected into the axon of the cell R2, large clumps of organelles formed in areas distributed around the perimeter of the axoplasm. Microtubules were abnormally rare in those areas, though abundant elsewhere in the injected region. In some axons injected with DNase I, axoplasm separated from the axolemma at many places around the perimeter of the axoplasm. When the microtubule stabilizing drug taxol was present in the bathing medium, the inhibition of transport caused by injection of DNase I was reduced by about half. We conclude that a substantial part, at least, of this inhibition is caused by localized losses of microtubules. These results suggest that actin is more likely to play a structural role in the axon than a direct role in force generation for fast axonal transport.
Multiple Roles for the sRNA GcvB in the Regulation of Slp Levels in Escherichia coli

The Escherichia coli gcvB gene encodes a small RNA that regulates many genes involved in the transport of dipeptides, oligopeptides, and amino acids (oppA, dppA, cycA, and sstT). A microarray analysis of RNA isolated from an E. coli wild-type and a ΔgcvB strain grown to midlog phase in Luria-Bertani broth indicated that genes not involved in transport are also regulated by GcvB. One gene identified was slp that encodes an outer membrane lipoprotein of unknown function induced when cells enter stationary phase. The aim of this study was to verify that slp is a new target for GcvB-mediated regulation. In this study we used RT-PCR to show that GcvB regulates slp mRNA levels. GcvB negatively controls slp::lacZ in cells grown in Luria-Bertani broth by preventing an Hfq-mediated activation mechanism for slp::lacZ expression. In contrast, in glucose minimal medium supplemented with glycine, GcvB is required for inhibition of slp::lacZ expression, and Hfq prevents GcvB-mediated repression. Thus, GcvB regulates slp in both LB and in glucose minimal
A Max-Product EM Algorithm for Reconstructing Markov-Tree Sparse Signals From Compressive Samples

We propose a Bayesian expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for reconstructing Markov-tree sparse signals via belief propagation. The measurements follow an underdetermined linear model where the regression-coefficient vector is the sum of an unknown approximately sparse signal and a zero-mean white Gaussian noise with an unknown variance. The signal is composed of large- and small-magnitude components identified by binary state variables whose probabilistic dependence structure is described by a Markov tree. Gaussian priors are assigned to the signal coefficients given their state variables and the Jeffreys' noninformative prior is assigned to the noise variance. Our signal reconstruction scheme is based on an EM iteration that aims at maximizing the posterior distribution of the signal and its state variables given the noise variance. We construct the missing data for the EM iteration so that the complete-data posterior distribution corresponds to a hidden Marcov tree (HMT) probabilistic graphical model that contains no loops and implement its maximization (M) step via a max-product algorithm. This EM algorithm estimates the vector of state variables as well as solves iteratively a linear system of equations to obtain the corresponding signal estimate. We select the noise variance so that the corresponding estimated signal and state variables obtained upon convergence of the EM iteration have the largest marginal posterior distribution. We compare the proposed and existing state-of-the-art reconstruction methods via signal and image reconstruction experiments.
Improved LMS algorithm for adaptive beamforming

Two adaptive algorithms which make use of all the available samples to estimate the required gradient are proposed and studied. The first algorithm is referred to as the recursive LMS (least mean squares) and is applicable for a general array. The second algorithm is referred to as the improved LMS algorithm and exploits the Toeplitz structure of the array correlation matrix and can be used only for an equispaced linear array. >