cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
XML mediation services utilizing model based data management

The application of the Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) enabled a new level of interoperability for heterogeneous IT systems. However, although XML enables separation of data definition and data content, it doesn't ensure that data exchanged is interpreted correctly by the receiving system. This motivates data management to support unambiguous definition of data elements for information exchange. Using a common reference model improves this process leading to "model based data management (MBDM)." The results can be used immediately to configure mediation layers integrating services into an overall service oriented architecture. For XML based services, the results of MBDM can be immediately applied in form of an auto-generated XSLT definition used to compose the service without additional modifications with other services. The paper uses the Command and Control Information Exchange Data Model (C2IEDM) -- as an example for a common reference model for information exchange -- and its potential use in the Global Information Grid (GIG) -- as the military example for a service oriented architecture -- to integrate web-enabled M&S applications as an example for applying this method.
A short course on modelling engineering systems using spreadsheets

The authors describe a continuing education workshop for engineers and scientists, offered in variants lasting from one to three days. Participants use commercial spreadsheet programs to model simple engineering systems, solving a variety of generic problems that should transfer readily between the branches of science and engineering. The popularity of the workshops stems from the participants' recognition of the utility of spreadsheets as a tool for engineers. The object–oriented nature of spreadsheets encourages a structured approach to problem solving. The data–flow structure of the programs helps users to take a close look at the variables involved in problems or models, even while they are building them.
Navigating the Two Worlds of Research

This short essay posits a navigational perspective regarding research philosophies, particularly arguing in favor of inclusive philosophies that avoid dividing research communities and scholars into two distinct camps. Thus, researchers are encouraged herein to navigate away from potentially divisive concepts such as “quantitative” and “qualitative” and navigate toward inclusive concepts that distinguish between research approaches without simultaneously fracturing research communities.
Neutral-Lipid Analysis Reveals Elevation of Acylglycerols and Lack of Cholesterol Esters in Plasmodium falciparum-Infected Erythrocytes

Here we show that blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum organisms accumulate a high mass of triacylglycerol and diacylglycerol. However, we failed to detect cholesterol esters, a second neutral lipid species reported to be important for a related apicomplexan, Toxoplasma gondii. Evidence for P. falciparum and T. gondii homologues of acyl coenzyme A:diacylglycerol acyltransferase suggests that acylglycerols may be the conserved neutral lipids in apicomplexans.
The Tropical Precipitation Response to Orbital Precession

Orbital precession changes the seasonal distribution of insolation at a given latitude but not the annual mean. Hence, the correlation of paleoclimate proxies of annual-mean precipitation with orbital precession implies a nonlinear rectification in the precipitation response to seasonal solar forcing. It has previously been suggested that the relevant nonlinearity is that of the Clausius‐Clapeyron relationship. Here it is argued that adifferentnonlinearityrelatedtomoistureadvectionbytheatmosphericcirculationismoreimportant.When perihelion changes from one hemisphere’s summer solstice to the other’s in an idealized aquaplanet atmospheric general circulation model, annual-mean precipitation increases in the hemisphere with the brighter, warmer summer and decreases in the other hemisphere, in qualitative agreement with paleoclimate proxies that indicate such hemispherically antisymmetric climate variations. The rectification mechanism that gives rise to the precipitation changes is identified by decomposing the perturbation water vapor budget into ‘‘thermodynamic’’ and ‘‘dynamic’’ components. Thermodynamic changes (caused by changes in humidity with unchanged winds) dominate the hemispherically antisymmetric annual-mean precipitation response to precession in the absence of land‐sea contrasts. The nonlinearity that enables the thermodynamic changes to affect annual-mean precipitation is a nonlinearity of moisture advection that arises because precessioninduced seasonal humidity changes correlate with the seasonal cycle in low-level convergence. This interpretationisconfirmedusingsimulationsinwhichtheClausius‐Clapeyronrelationshipisexplicitlylinearized. The thermodynamic mechanism also operates in simulations with an idealized representation of land, although in these simulations the dynamic component of the precipitation changes is also important, adding to the thermodynamic precipitation changes in some latitudes and offsetting it in others.
Bias and the Effect of Priors in Bayesian Estimation of Parameters of Item Response Models

The effectiveness of a Bayesian approach to the es timation problem in item response models has been sufficiently documented in recent years. Although re search has indicated that Bayesian estimates, in gen eral, are more accurate than joint maximum likelihood (JML) estimates, the effect of choice of priors on the Bayesian estimates is not well known. Moreover, the extent to which the Bayesian estimates are biased in comparison with JML estimates is not known. The ef fect of priors and the amount of bias in Bayesian esti mates is examined in this paper through simulation studies. It is shown that different specifications of prior information have relatively modest effects on the Bayesian estimates. For small samples, it is shown that the Bayesian estimates are less biased than their JML counterparts. Index terms: accuracy, Bayesian estimates, bias, item response models, joint maximum likelihood estimates, priors.
Impact of meteorology and emissions on methane trends, 1990-2004

[1] Over the past century, atmospheric methane (CH4) rose dramatically before leveling off in the late 1990s. The processes controlling this trend are poorly understood, limiting confidence in projections of future CH4. The MOZART-2 global tropospheric chemistry model qualitatively captures the observed CH4 trend (increasing in the early 1990s and then leveling off) with constant emissions. From 1991–1995 to 2000–2004, the CH4 lifetime versus tropospheric OH decreases by 1.6%, reflecting increases in OH and temperature. The rise in OH stems from an increase in lightning NOx as parameterized in the model. A simulation including annually varying anthropogenic and wetland CH4 emissions, as well as the changes in meteorology, best reproduces the observed CH4 distribution, trend, and seasonal cycles. Projections of future CH4 abundances should consider climate-driven changes in CH4 sources and sinks.
Time-varying lung ventilation analysis of 4DCT using image registration

Imaging techniques for measuring lung ventilation are essential tools to study lung tissue response to radiation therapy. Most of the existing CT and image registration based ventilation measurement methods use two extreme phases (end expiration and end inspiration) while ignoring the important ventilation variation within the respiratory cycle. In this paper, we present a new instantaneous ventilation measurement scheme using multiple 4DCT phase images and regularized 3D image registration, which aims at measuring the regional ventilation within the respiratory cycle. The ventilation is measured using the Jacobian (a function of local partial derivatives) of the registration displacement field. For all four animals, 39% of the total lung volume reaches maximum ventilation at T 2 (50% inspiration phase) during inspiration and the 75% of the total lung volume reaches maximum ventilation at T 5 (75% expiration phase) during expiration. The registration accuracy assessed by 200 semi-automatically matched landmarks in all phases and animals show landmark error on the order of 1 mm after registration.
Gender Differences in Memory for What Others Say About Themselves and Their Family Members

Do women have a recall advantage for what others say? And does it matter what type of information another person shares with them? Women’s greater interdependence in self-construal was predicted to give them an advantage over men in their memory for information shared about close others. In an experimental study, 124 undergraduate students (64 women and 60 men) from a Midwestern university in the United States watched either a videotaped male or female target discussing his or her lifestyle habits, health goals, and family. Participants then completed a surprise recognition test of their memory for what the target had said. Results show men were as accurate as women at remembering personal information shared by the targets, but women more accurately recalled what was said about the targets’ family members. The implications of these findings for various professional relationships are discussed.
Embedded Gossip: Lightweight Online Measurement for Large-Scale Applications

For large-scale parallel applications, lightweight online monitoring can enable a wide range of online adaptations, including load balancing, power management, and progress monitoring. The processing and monitoring overhead of centralized global tracing techniques make them unsuitable for such tasks. Purely local tools, on the other hand, fail to provide the global information necessary for many desirable online adaptations of large-scale applications. In this paper, we describe a novel distributed online measurement method for large-scale applications called Embedded Gossip (EG). EG works by piggybacking performance information about application behavior on existing application messages and merging received information with previously known data in a fashion customized to the needs of a particular monitoring task. EG thus provides each process with both local and global views of application behavior with low overhead. To illustrate the capabilities of Embedded Gossip, we also show that it disseminates global information in a timely fashion for a wide range of monitoring tasks, including critical path profiling, workload imbalance monitoring, and progress monitoring. This global information has a wide range of potential uses, including imbalance detection for load balancing and energy management tools, progress monitoring for batch schedulers, and a wide range of other performance debugging and optimization techniques.
The Upper-Ocean Response to Surface Heating

Abstract Moored observations of atmospheric variables and upper-ocean temperatures from the Long-Term Upper-Ocean Study (LOTUS) and the Frontal Air-Sea Interaction Experiment (FASINEX) are used to examine the upper-ocean response to surface heating. FASINEX took place between January and June 1986 at 27°N, 7°M while LOTUS took place between May and October 1982 at 34°N, 7°W. The frequency-domain transfer function between rate of change of heat and the net surface heat flux is consistent with a one-dimensional heat balance between heating and convergence of vertical turbulent heat flux at timescales longer than the inertial. The observations satisfy the vertically integrated one-dimensional heat equation and indicate that the response to surface heating has been successfully isolated. Within the internal waveband, upward phase propagation in the response is inconsistent with a one-dimensional balance and the vertically integrated heat balance fails. The internal waveband response is explained as a balance ...
Resiliency and socioemotional functioning in youth receiving surgery for orofacial anomalies

Objectives Restorative interventions for cleft lip and palate involve annual evaluations, adjunct treatment, and multiple surgeries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the longitudinal impact of cleft surgery on psychosocial functioning among youth with cleft. Methods Data were derived from a 5-year, multicenter, prospective longitudinal study of children with cleft (N = 1196). Children completed psychological inventories for self-concept, anxiety, depression, mastery, and relatedness. Multilevel mixed-effects models were used to analyze the effects of craniofacial surgery for cleft on psychosocial outcomes over time. Results There were 1196 participants at baseline, of whom 258 (27.5%) received a surgical intervention prior to their 1st follow-up visit. Approximately 78% of participants had cleft lip and palate, and 22% had cleft palate only. Surgery receipt was significantly associated with lower relatedness (β = −1.48, 95% CI = −2.91, −0.05) and mastery (β = −1.32, 95% CI = −2.49, −0.15) scores, although overall scores appeared to increase over time. Surgery was not related to anxiety (β = −0.15, 95% CI = −1.08, 0.79), depression (β = 0.18, 95% CI = −0.65, 1.01), and self-concept (β = −0.84, 95% CI = −1.83, 0.15). The treatment–time interaction was not significant. Significant differences in psychosocial functioning were found across sex, race/ethnicity, and age groups. Conclusions Surgery may have negative short-term impacts on psychosocial functioning, although effects may diminish over time. Given the limited postsurgical follow-up period, long-term change in psychological well-being and the moderating effects of surgery may not be fully realized. Further follow-up of children with cleft through adulthood to explore developmental trajectories of psychosocial functioning in more detail is recommended.
Plasmacytoma of the large bowel: A review of the literature and a case report of multiple myeloma involving the rectosigmoid

Large bowel involvement is a rare manifestation of plasma cell tumors, especially in association with multiple myeloma. A review of the world literature reveals only 21 reported cases, the majority of which are classified as the solitary form of the disease. A case of multiple myeloma with rectosigmoid involvement is herein presented, and the radiological findings of reported cases are summarized.
Lipid Distribution in Lipoproteins Separated by Polyanion Precipitation

SummaryPaper electrophoresis and ultracentrifugation have been employed to demonstrate the completeness of β-lipoprotein isolation from chick plasma by a polyanion precipitation technique employing Mepesulfate as the precipitating agent. Data are presented demonstrating that in the chick made hypercholesterolemic by cholesterol feeding, the increase in plasma cholesterol occurs almost entirely in the β-lipoprotein fraction. Lipid distribution in the α-lipoprotein fraction of plasma has been determined for chick, rabbit, guinea pig, rat, mouse and dog as well as for the human. The chick, rat, mouse and dog were found to have more than 50% of the total plasma cholesterol bound to the α-lipoproteins in contrast to man, the rabbit and guinea pig. Values are also presented for distribution of lipid phosphorus and glycerides.
Combining Nonadhesive Materials into Microstructured Composite Surfaces Induces Cell Adhesion and Spreading.

The synergistic effects between surface topography and chemical functionality were investigated in order to enhance the adhesion of cells to poorly adhesive materials. It has been established that many cell types are weakly adhesive to thin films of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), or PNIPAAm, and self-assembled triethylene glycol-terminated alkanethiols (EG3SAM). To enhance adhesion, a topographical cue in the form of electrospun micron-width fibers of PNIPAAm was deposited to each coating. Both coatings, without fibers, supported less than 5% cell adhesion. With the deposition of the PNIPAAm fibers to the PNIPAAm coating, cell adhesion increased to 60% of the theoretical maximum at intermediate fiber coverage before decreasing again; however, cell spreading remained minimal. With the deposition of the PNIPAAm fibers onto the EG3SAM surface, cell adhesion increased to almost 100% at 60% fiber coverage, and unlike the PNIPAAm surface, cell spreading was significantly enhanced. This difference in spreading coi...
Risk Stratification for Acute Kidney Injury: Are Biomarkers Enough?

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common and serious complication that is associated with several adverse outcomes in hospitalized patients. AKI significantly increases the risk of mortality, need for renal replacement therapy, and intensive care admission, and it also has serious economic ramifications. Effective risk stratification to identify patients at risk for severe AKI is essential for targeting our health care and research resources to tackle this important public health issue. The overwhelming majority of research in earlier diagnosis and risk stratification of AKI over the past 10 years has focused on novel biomarker development. The purpose of this review is to provide an update on other novel risk stratification tools than can be used in the prognostication of AKI. We discuss the utility of the furosemide stress test in predicting the severity of AKI and the renal angina index in predicting the occurrence of AKI. We also discuss NephroCheck, a prognostic test that measures tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 and insulin-like growth factor binding protein 7 for the early detection of severe AKI.
Current Trends in Management of Pediatric Asthma

Though asthma cannot be cured, it can be effectively controlled with existing treatments. Management strategies for acute and chronic asthma often vary substantially within and among medical facilities and practices, often driven by physician preference and familiarity rather than by data. The use of carefully designed care paths can improve quality of care and decrease management costs of acute asthma in both the emergency department and in-patient setting. Using newer beta agonists and attention to proper inhalation delivery systems may also improve outcomes and patient satisfaction. Assessment-driven care paths can be safely and effectively administered by respiratory therapists and nurses. The major controversies in the management of chronic asthma center on what to do for the patient who fails to respond to low or moderate doses of inhaled corticosteroids. The addition of a long-acting beta agonist or a leukotriene receptor antagonist may be beneficial.
106 CAPTURE AND RELEASE OF INTACT HIV-DERIVED LENTIVECTOR PARTICLES BY HEMATOPOIETIC CELLS.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-based lentiviral vectors pseudotyped with vesicular stomatitis virus glycoprotein (VSV-G) are attractive vehicles for gene transfer to hematopoietic stem cells due to their broad host range and efficient cellular uptake. Ex vivo transduction culture of target cells and vector particles results in cellular uptake and successful genomic integration, or degradation. We have recently described the persistence of VSV-G lentivector particles in hematopopietic cells after ex vivo exposure and their ability to transduce secondary targets (Pan et al, J. Virol, in press). To distinguish cellular retention by prolonged adherence from actual cellular uptake, SupT1 (ie, “carrier”) cells were exposed for 1 hour to GFP-expressing lentivector at 37°C or 4°C (preventing uptake), followed by wash in PBS and subsequent co-culture with 293T fibroblasts. GFP expression was seen in 10% of 293T cells, confirming prolonged adherence of particles to carrier cells. This stands in contrast to vector exposure followed by pronase treatment (for proteolytic degradation of surface-bound particles), which resulted in GFP expression in only 0.1 to 1% of co-cultured 293T cells exposed to vector at 37°C, yet no discernable marking after vector exposure at 4°C and pronase treatment. Studying the kinetics of particle transfer and secondary transduction under these conditions, we observed a steady increase in secondary transduction (up to 10%) correlating with extended vector exposure times (up to 12 hours) of the SupT1 carrier cells. These data argue that viral particles remain cell bound, are progressively released from carrier cells, and maintain infectivity to secondary targets. Based on their extended half-life after ex vivo exposure to cells and differential secondary transduction after vector exposure at 4°C versus 37°C, a small number of particles also appear to be internalized and subsequently released. To explore the potential intracellular uptake and of particles postexposure to SupT1 cells, we next generated lentivector particles tagged with a vpr-GFP construct and detected persisting, cytoplasmically located particles inside cells by deconvolution microscopy. Taken together, our observations suggest that alternate fates, in addition to integration or degradation, exist for VSV-G vector particles after ex vivo exposure of hematopoietic cells. These particles persist intracellularly and remain capable of secondary transduction events upon release. Our observations have important implications for models using lentiviral vectors as research or therapeutic tools.
AnR danalogue of Valentine’s theorem on 3-convex sets

This paper deals with anR danalogue of a theorem of Valentine which states that a closed 3-convex setS in the plane is decomposable into 3 or fewer closed convex sets. In Valentine’s proof, the points of local nonconvexity ofS are treated as vertices of a polygonP contained in the kernel ofS, yielding a decomposition ofS into 2 or 3 convex sets, depending on whetherP has an even or odd number of edges. Thus the decomposition actually depends onc(P′), the chromatic number of the polytopeP′ dual toP.
Alcohol binge drinking: getting to the heart of it

chronic alcoholism in conjunction with its acute and chronic deleterious consequences ranks among the top five risk factors for disease and death ([7][1]). While clinical evidence suggests that low to moderate daily consumption of alcoholic beverages (particularly red wine) is associated with
Induction Therapy with Fludarabine, ara-C and G-CSF Results in Improved Event Free Survival in Core Binding Factor Leukemia.

Previously (Blood 2001;98:3575–3583) we reported that pts with inv (16) or t(8;21) (CBF) seemed to benefit from receiving fludarabine + ara-C (FA) rather than idarubicin + ara-C (IA), although other groups did not. Ara-C doses were 2g/m2 daily X 4–5 with FA and 1.5g/m2 daily X 2–4 by continuous infusion with IA. Because this observation was based on only 14 CBF pts given FA we proceeded, from 2000-present, to give all CBF pts FA either with (2000–2002; 22 pts) or without G-CSF (2003-present; 45 pts) on the days when FA was administered. Idarubicin(12 mg/m2 daily X 3) was given only if pts presented with WBC > 50,000, forcing start of treatment before cytogenetic results were known; once CR was achieved and CBF status was known, pts received 6 courses of post-remission therapy with FA (or FA +GCSF, FLAG) as described above. Median age was 41.5 years (range 16–83), 61 were male, 16 patients had antecedent hematologic disorder (AHD), 96 patients had ECOG performance status (PS) ≤ 1. One hundred and six patients (93%) achieved complete remission (CR). Events were defined as death, failure or relapse. Median time to event was 91 weeks and estimated EFS at 10 years was approximately 40%. Event-free survival (EFS) was compared in the 67 pts treated with FA or FLAG with EFS in 47 pts treated with IA +/− GCSF (IA/IAG). Because IA/IAG was given to CBF pts from 1991–2000 and FA or FLAG from 2000-present, we compared covariate-adjusted EFS in 436 pts with cytogenetics other than CBF according to whether they received IA before or after 2000 to estimate “period-effect”.EFS was superior in the earlier period, and this difference, seeming to inherently favor IA/IAG rather than FA or FLAG, was accounted for in the comparisons of these treatments in the CBF group. Preliminary analyses suggested that EFS in CBF pts was similar between IA and IAG (these groups were considered together for subsequent analyses) and longer with FLAG than with FA or IA/IAG (p= 0.06). After adjustments for covariates (age, WBC,platelets, marrow blasts etc) we compared EFS with FA, FLAG ,and IA/IAG, using both standard (Cox regression) and Bayesian approaches. The Bayesian model indicated that the posterior probability that FLAG was superior to IA/IAG was 0.98, and that, among pts given FA, the posterior probability that FLAG was superior to FA was 0.91. The Cox model indicated that the risk of an event with FLAG relative to IA/IAG was 0.84 (p = 0.07). A possible explanation for the seeming superiority of FLAG is the ability of G to increase accumulation of fludarabine-triphosphate in blasts during therapy (Clin Cancer Res 1995; 1:169–178). ![Figure][1] Figure ![Figure][1] Figure [1]: pending:yes
Performance Comparison of Destratification Fans for Large Spaces

Abstract Ceiling fan is proven to have a beneficial effect on increasing air velocity and reducing temperature stratification and thus saving energy for high ceiling applications. Studies show that the velocities produced by large diameter, ceiling mounted fans do not produce a negative or positive effect on human comfort. Recently, smaller, high velocity fans have been introduced to the market as an alternative to these large diameter fans that provides similar energy savings due to reduced destratification, while still not moving the air fast enough to cause human discomfort, though these products have been studied less. This study simulates and compares the performance of both large and small diameter fans using a validated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. Two different types of destratification fans are investigated for their performance in destratifying the air temperatures in warehouse style retail stores. A portion of a retail store is used as a base to create the test environment. Simulations show that the small diameter high speed fan (SDHSF) is very good at bringing a well-mixed column of air all the way to the floor, but the spaces without a fan directly overhead are hardly affected. The large diameter low speed fans (LDLSF) are able to mix nearly the entire space, though they created uncomfortable drafts near head height. Between these two fans, the LDLSF is more successful at destratifying the entire space, though the SDHSF is better at only destratifying a specific, smaller area. Varying the speed of the LDLSF also allows for successful destratification, while maintaining acceptable draft velocities.
Articulatory coordination and the clinical profile of two cleft palate speakers

Abstract: Articulatory movements of two post surgical cleft palate patients were studied using cinefluorographic procedures (24 frames per second). The subjects both achieved closure during a sustained production of /u/ but had different clinical profiles. The coordination of the velum with other articulators (jaw, tongue dorsum and tongue tip) and with voicing was analysed in order to demonstrate the hypothesized relationship between articulatory timing and nasality. The results show that the movement of velum differed dramatically between these two subjects. For S2, the subject with the higher nasality ratings, velar closure was achieved less consistently than for S1. When it was achieved it often came after voice onset or after the maximum vocal tract constriction had occurred. These relationships, it is argued, are conducive to increases in nasal resonance. The data suggest that many of the timing patterns shown may be accounted for by the mechanical constraints placed on the velum by the lowering of the jaw and tongue. It is suggested that in order to determine precise role of neuromuscular and mechanical parameters in velar function or dysfunction, comprehensive modelling of velar activity needs to be pursued.
Defect Physics of CH 3 NH 3 PbX 3 (X = I, Br, Cl) Perovskites

The properties of defects, including point defects, grain boundaries, and surfaces in photovoltaic absorbers play critical roles in determining the nonradiative recombination behavior, and, consequently, the performance of solar cells made of these absorbers. Here, we review our theoretical understanding of the defect properties of organic–inorganic methylammounium lead halide perovskites, CH3NH3PbX3 (X = I, Br, Cl), using density-functional theory calculations. We show that CH3NH3PbI3 perovskites exhibit unique defect properties—point defects with low formation energy values only create shallow levels, whereas point defects with deep levels have high formation energies. Surfaces and grain boundaries do not produce deep levels. These unique defect properties are attributed to the antibonding coupling between Pb lone-pair s and I p orbitals, the high ionicity, and the large lattice constants. We further show that CH3NH3PbI3 exhibits an intrinsic ambipolar self-doping behavior with electrical conductivity tunable from p-type to n-type via controlling the growth conditions. However, CH3NH3PbBr3 exhibits unipolar self-doping behavior. It demonstrates a preference for p-type conductivity if synthesized under thermal equilibrium growth conditions. CH3NH3PbCl3 may exhibit a compensated self-doping behavior due to its large bandgap. Doping CH3NH3PbI3 using external dopants may improve the p-type conductivity, but not the n-type conductivity due to compensation from intrinsic defects.
Taiko Drumming as Sound Knowledge

This article explores the history of Taiko drumming as a practice of sound knowledge. It also discusses the history and cultural significance of Taiko in the United States.
The multiple access wiretap channel II with a noisy main channel

A two transmitter multiple access wiretap channel II (MAC-WT-II) with a discrete memoryless (DM) main channel is investigated. Two models for the wiretapper, who chooses a fixed-length subset of the channel uses and observes erasures outside this subset, are proposed. In the first model, in each position of the subset, the wiretapper noiselessly observes either the first or the second user's symbol, while in the second model, the wiretapper observes a noiseless superposition of the two symbols. Achievable strong secrecy rate regions for the two models are derived. The achievability is established by solving a dual secret key agreement problem in the source model. The secrecy of the keys in the dual source model is established by deriving a lemma which provides a doubly exponential convergence rate for the probability of the keys being uniform and independent from the wiretapper's observation. The results extend the recently examined WTC-II with a DM main channel to a multiple access setting.
The isolation and characterization of phospholipids containing mono- and dimethylethanolamine from Neurospora crassa

Mono- and dimethylethanolamine containing phospholipids have been isolated from a choline-requiring mutant strain of Neurospora crassa. These phospholipids have been chemically degraded, and shown to be the phosphatidyl esters of mono- and dimethylethanolamine. The implications of the accumulation of these compounds by the mutant of Neurospora are discussed.
Power electronics and its challenges

Since the invention of the world's first electronics patent by Edison in 1884, electronics branched out as microelectronics, digital electronics and power electronics. Power electronics has evolved as an distinctive subject area in electrical engineering and it is making significant contributions towards the modern technological growth. This presentation summarizes the chronological development, and its challenges ahead for maintaining its identity.
Integrated nCTF pad design on PCB for BGA solder joint reliability enhancement

In PCBA manufacturing industry, corner adhesive was commonly used on BGA(Ball Grid Arrays) to resolve the solder joint crack induced by mechanical stress either during shock and vibration reliability test or during board manufacturing processes(ICT test fixture, router, handling and etc) especially for mobile motherboard. However, this solution imposed high manufacturing cost which required additional glue processes with more process control, additional equipment setup for adhesive dispenser and curing oven as well as additional material cost for the adhesive. Besides that, the BGA with corner adhesive is difficult to be reworked especially for high-temperature curing adhesive. A new approach in PCB design for BGA called integrated nCTF(non critical to function) or dummy pad has been developed to replace the costly corner adhesive to address the problem of solder joint crack induced at post board level shock and vibration reliability test as well as time-0 solder joint crack induced by mechanical stress during board manufacturing. This paper will review the land pattern of the integrated nCTF pad design, stencil opening design, evaluation plan and the results of CTF(critical to function) solder joint crack percentage comparison between integrated nCTF pad and individual nCTF pad as well as to show the bulky solder joint formed on the integrated nCTF pads.
The Rhetorical Impulse in Husserl's Phenomenology

At its most fundamental level, phenomenology is concerned with how meaning is constituted. This fundamental concern means that phenomenology must also be concerned with the use of language, since language plays an essential role in the constitution of meaning. Clearly, language must play the same essential role in constituting explicitly phenomenological meaning, which means that phenomenology must be concerned with how it uses language when it speaks about its insights. In the first part of the essay, I show that from the beginning of his career Husserl was acutely aware of the role that language must play in the successful communication of phenomenological insight and the subsequent constitution of phenomenology’s meaning. The second part suggests that Husserl considered appropriately phenomenological expression to be an essential aid in attaining phenomenological intuition, and not just communicating the insights gained by his method. The third and main part of the essay supports this claim through a thorough analysis of Husserl’s theory of meaning, and the fourth part supports this claim by relating this theory of meaning to Husserl’s phenomenology of language. The fifth part of the essay draws out the rhetorical elements revealed by these analyses. Part six takes note of Husserl’s rhetorical deficiencies in presenting his philosophical project. All this compels a conclusion (in part seven) which suggests that we must appeal to the “evocative” dimension of language rather than to its “descriptive” dimension, because description is not sufficient to evoke the essential structures of experience sought by the Husserlian phenomenologist.
Bioimaging with Macromolecular Probes Incorporating Multiple BODIPY Fluorophores

Seven macromolecular constructs incorporating multiple borondipyrromethene (BODIPY) fluorophores along a common poly(methacrylate) backbone with decyl and oligo(ethylene glycol) side chains were synthesized. The hydrophilic oligo(ethylene glycol) components impose solubility in aqueous environment on the overall assembly. The hydrophobic decyl chains effectively insulate the fluorophores from each other to prevent detrimental interchromophoric interactions and preserve their photophysical properties. As a result, the brightness of these multicomponent assemblies is approximately three times greater than that of a model BODIPY monomer. Such a high brightness level is maintained even after injection of the macromolecular probes in living nematodes, allowing their visualization with a significant improvement in signal-to-noise ratio, relative to the model monomer, and no cytotoxic or behavioral effects. The covalent scaffold of these macromolecular constructs also permits their subsequent conjugation to seco...
Platelet proteins cause basophil histamine release through an immunoglobulin-dependent mechanism.

BACKGROUND A general understanding of allergic transfusion reaction mechanisms remains elusive. Multiple mechanisms have been proposed, but none have been compared experimentally. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS We used histamine release (HR) from healthy human donor basophils to model allergic transfusion reactions. Platelet component supernatant (plasma), platelet lysate, and manipulated platelet lysates (dialyzed, delipidated, trypsinized, mild heat-inactivated, and ultracentrifuged) were used to characterize allergic stimuli. Immunoglobulin-dependent mechanisms were investigated through cell surface immunoglobulin depletion and ibrutinib signaling inhibition. HR induced by platelet mitochondria was compared with HR by platelet lysate with or without DNase treatment. RESULTS Robust, dose-responsive HR to platelet lysate was observed in two of eight nulliparous, never-transfused, healthy donors. No HR was observed with plasma. Among manipulated platelet lysates, only trypsin treatment significantly reduced HR (39% reduction; p = 0.008). HR in response to platelet lysate significantly decreased with either cell surface immunoglobulin depletion or ibrutinib pretreatment. Platelet mitochondria induced minimal basophil HR, and DNase treatment did not inhibit platelet lysate–induced HR. CONCLUSION Type I immediate hypersensitivity to platelet proteins may be an allergic transfusion reaction mechanism. Prior sensitization to human proteins is not required for basophil responses to platelet proteins. Further study into the relative contributions of hypersensitivity to platelet versus plasma proteins in transfusion is warranted.
Estimating freeway travel time and its reliability using radar sensor data

ABSTRACTTravel time and its reliability are intuitive system performance measures for freeway traffic operations. This paper proposes a method to estimate travel times based on data collected from roadside radar sensors, considering spatially correlated traffic conditions. Link-level and corridor-level travel time distributions are estimated using these travel time estimates and compared with the ones estimated based on probe vehicle data. The maximum likelihood estimation is used to estimate the parameters of Weibull, gamma, normal, and lognormal distributions. According to the log-likelihood values, lognormal distribution is the best fit among all the tested distributions. Corridor-level travel time reliability measures are extracted from the travel time distributions. The proposed travel time estimation model can well capture the temporal pattern of travel time and its distribution.
Black box measurement of system noise in integrated wireless receivers

Tightly-integrated antennas and inaccessible radio frequency (RF) outputs are common barriers to measuring system noise in integrated wireless receive systems. We propose a solution centered on locating “SNR isoresponses” — processed receiver outputs achieved equivalently by either signal attenuation or added excess noise. The approach enables measurements that may be referred to the receiver input or a plane wave incident upon the receive antenna. We parameterize the latter concept and relate it to input-referred noise and the gain-to-system-noise figure of merit (G/T). Either the conducted or radiated parameter may be applied as a performance metric or as a basis to compare incident signal or interference strength. Tests demonstrate the method and parameters with a consumer off-the-shelf global positioning system (GPS) L1 receiver.
Is Arc mRNA Unique: A Search for mRNAs That Localize to the Distal Dendrites of Dentate Gyrus Granule Cells Following Neural Activity

There have been several attempts to identify which RNAs are localized to dendrites; however, no study has determined which RNAs localize to the dendrites following the induction of synaptic activity. We sought to identify all RNA transcripts that localize to the distal dendrites of dentate gyrus granule cells following unilateral high frequency stimulation of the perforant pathway (pp-HFS) using Sprague Dawley rats. We then utilized laser microdissection (LMD) to very accurately dissect out the distal 2/3rds of the molecular layer (ML), which contains these dendrites, without contamination from the granule cell layer, 2 and 4 h post pp-HFS. Next, we purified and amplified RNA from the ML and performed an unbiased screen for 27,000 RNA transcripts using Affymetrix microarrays. We determined that Activity Regulated Cytoskeletal Protein (Arc/Arg3.1) mRNA, exhibited the greatest fold increase in the ML at both timepoints (2 and 4 h). In total, we identified 31 transcripts that increased their levels within the ML following pp-HFS across the two timepoints. Of particular interest is that one of these identified transcripts was an unprocessed micro-RNA (pri-miR132). Fluorescent in situ hybridization and qRT-PCR were used to confirm some of these candidate transcripts. Our data indicate Arc is a unique activity dependent gene, due to the magnitude that its activity dependent transcript localizes to the dendrites. Our study determined other activity dependent transcripts likely localize to the dendrites following neural activity, but do so with lower efficiency compared to Arc.
Electrostatic Interactions in Protein Structure, Folding, Binding, and Condensation

Charged and polar groups, through forming ion pairs, hydrogen bonds, and other less specific electrostatic interactions, impart important properties to proteins. Modulation of the charges on the amino acids, e.g., by pH and by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, have significant effects such as protein denaturation and switch-like response of signal transduction networks. This review aims to present a unifying theme among the various effects of protein charges and polar groups. Simple models will be used to illustrate basic ideas about electrostatic interactions in proteins, and these ideas in turn will be used to elucidate the roles of electrostatic interactions in protein structure, folding, binding, condensation, and related biological functions. In particular, we will examine how charged side chains are spatially distributed in various types of proteins and how electrostatic interactions affect thermodynamic and kinetic properties of proteins. Our hope is to capture both important historical developments and recent experimental and theoretical advances in quantifying electrostatic contributions of proteins.
Impulsive, Disinhibited Behavior-Dining in a Restaurant.

Dining in a restaurant with a loved one who has dementia can be an ordeal, especially if the expectations of the caregiver do not match those of the patient and the restaurant environment is not suitable for patients with dementia. The size of the dining area, lighting, background music or noise, decor of the room, number of customers, variety of the items on the menu, number of plates and cutlery on the table, in addition to flowers, candles, and other decorations on the table are all potent distractors. There are so many stimuli; the patient can be overwhelmed with information overload and not able to focus on the main purpose of the event: have dinner and especially enjoy the other person's company. In this case scenario, we present a 62-year-old man diagnosed with behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). His daughter "invited" him to have dinner with her at a very fancy restaurant to celebrate her promotion at work. Unfortunately, whereas the evening started very well, it had a catastrophic ending. We discuss what went wrong in the patient/daughter interaction and how the catastrophic ending could have been avoided or averted.
Headquarters for Animal Relief in Emergencies

This chapter “Headquarters for Animal Relief in Emergencies” reveals the disparity in the way the governmental agencies favored specific animal welfare groups that were on good terms with them and “punished” small and grassroots groups, which engaged in the actual animal rescue work by entering the exclusion zone. This chapter also exposes the mismanagement and misuse of public donations by the Headquarters for Animal Relief in Emergencies and major non-profit organizations (NPOs) for animal welfare in Japan.
Encoding Optical Architectures via Gene Expression Programming

We introduce a methodology for encoding optical architectures (i.e., number, types, and order of optical elements) that enables automated design of optical systems when combined with ray tracing software, parameter optimizations, and a merit function.
Thermodynamic modeling of asphaltene precipitation in pure and mixed solvents with NRTL-SAC

Abstract Based on the Yen-Mullins model for asphaltene precipitation, a novel thermodynamic framework has been established to model solvent effects on asphaltene precipitation for 13 out of 15 diverse binary solvents with predictive activity coefficient models, i.e., UNIFAC and COSMO-SAC. In this work, a refined version of NRTL-SAC activity coefficient model is used to correlate the onset of asphaltene precipitation in all the 15 binary solvents. The simplicity of NRTL-SAC in representing the wide range of molecules in terms of four conceptual segments and its proven predictive power pave the way to tackle thermodynamic modeling of asphaltene precipitation in petroleum fluids.
On delay and security in network coding

In this thesis, delay and security issues in network coding are considered. First, we study the delay incurred in the transmission of a fixed number of packets through acyclic networks comprised of erasure links. The two transmission schemes studied are routing with hop-by-hop retransmissions, where every node in the network simply stores and forwards its received packets, and linear coding, where nodes mix their packets by forwarding linear combinations of all their previously received packets. We show that even though the achievable rates of coding and routing are the same, network coding can have an increasingly better performance than routing as the number of packets increases. Secondly, we investigate the security benefits of network coding. We investigate the achievable secrecy rate region in a general network of noisy wiretap channels with general communication demands. The eavesdropper has access to an unknown set of links, and on the wiretapped links observes a degraded version of the intended receiver's observation. While characterizing the capacity in general is an open problem, in the noise-free case there exist inner and outer bounds. In the noisy case, we show how one can change any of the wiretap channels to a noiseless degraded broadcast channel, so that the derived network's rate region bounds, and under certain conditions is equivalent, to that of the initial network. Specifically, we showed that in case the eavesdropper can choose only a single link to wiretap at each time, then one can change all the links in the network with corresponding noiseless ones, creating an equivalent noiseless secrecy problem. In the case where the eavesdropper can wiretap multiple links simultaneously, we derive upper and lower bounding noiseless network problems. Finally, we consider design practical code design for the detection of adversarial errors in a distributed storage system. We build on work of functions that can fool linear polynomials to create and communicate hash functions of the data in order to detect with high probability the maliciously attacked nodes in the system.
EVOLUTION OF NETWORK FLOWS UNDER REAL-TIME INFORMATION: DAY-TO-DAY DYNAMIC SIMULATION ASSIGNMENT FRAMEWORK

A day-to-day dynamic framework, in which the DYNASMART simulation assignment model was applied to evaluate the performance of traffic networks, was developed to study network dynamics under different information systems. Two levels of tripmaker decision-making processes are identified: (a) day-to-day dynamics and (b) real-time dynamics. Day-to-day dynamics consider the choices of departure time and route according to indifference bands of tolerable "schedule delay" defined as the difference between the user's actual and preferred arrival times. Real-time dynamics consider en route switching decisions. Numerical experiments were conducted to investigate the day-to-day evolution of network flows under real-time information and assess the effectiveness of such information in a proper dynamic perspective.