cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Optimum selection of high performance mirror substrates for diamond finishing

Due to advances in manufacturing processes, the substrate options for high performance diamond machined mirrors are expanding. Fewer compromises have to be made to achieve the needed weight, stiffness and finish while maintaining reasonable costs. In addition to the traditional mirror materials like aluminum and beryllium, there are some less common materials that can now be included in the trade space that fill the cost and performance continuum between wrought aluminum and beryllium mirrors. Aluminum and beryllium, respectively, had been the low cost/fair performance and very high cost/very high performance bounds for substrate selection. These additional substrates provide multiple near net shape blank options and processes, mostly within these bounds, that can be considered in a mirror cost versus performance trade analysis. This paper will include a summary of some advances in manufacturing processes that provide more substrate options for diamond machined mirrors with some sample performance analysis and data. This is merged with the traditional substrate options to illustrate the now larger mirror substrate trade space. Some benchmark structural analysis is provided to back up a generic mirror design trade study.
Vitamin D and skeletal muscle function

Publisher Summary Vitamin D can be characterized as a prohormone which is metabolized to a secosteroidal hormone. This chapter summarizes the clinical evidence of an association between vitamin D status and physical performance and falls. It also describes how vitamin D affects muscle tissue morphology and considers the molecular mechanisms of vitamin D activity in skeletal muscle. Furthermore, it outlines the lessons learned from the vitamin D receptor (VDR) knockout mouse model. There has been growing evidence that vitamin D plays an important role in skeletal muscle. Early clinical descriptions of a reversible myopathy associated with profound vitamin D deficiency and chronic renal failure have recognized a potential association between vitamin D and muscle. More recent studies have reported reduced muscle mass, strength and performance and an increased risk of falls in older individuals with vitamin D insufficiency. Subsequently, this chapter discusses potential VDR polymorphisms and their relationship to muscle performance and falls, and touches on the effects of parathyroid hormone (PTH) on muscle. Finally, it states that Vitamin D supplementation may be a promising nutritional therapeutic intervention for reducing loss of muscle mass and improving muscle strength and physical performance in aging adults.
Evaluation: Concepts, Plans, and Progress

This chapter describes a general logic model that can be used as a framework for evaluating community demonstration projects. We then show how this model can be applied to Serve Here Connecticut Project. Consistent with the logic model framework, we discuss program goals and activities, ongoing program monitoring activities, outcome evaluation, and longer term program consequences. We conclude by presenting a questionnaire that will be used for the Serve Here evaluation. The plan is to administer the questionnaire on repeated occasions to applicants and those not admitted to the program due to space limitations. Our aim is to understand how program participation potentially impacts key measures such as community satisfaction, participation, trust, self-efficacy, and overall happiness.
Cancer clinical trial accessibility in the United States: An analysis of travel distance.

6540 Background: Accessibility of cancer clinical trials has been cited as a barrier to participation. While there are several dimensions to accessibility, travel distance may represent an importan...
Revealing the Race-Based Realities of Workforce Exclusion

AbstractAdvocates in the fight against poverty in Latin America often center class above race as the factor that most determines Afro-descendants’ life-chances. But a growing movement is setting the record straight.
The Place of the City in Environmental History

In the last fifteen years or so, the study of urban environmental history has led to an outpouring of valuable research. Many books and articles have appeared on topics such as building technology, public works and infrastructure, environmental services, parks and greenspace, pollution and public health, energy, environmental reform and regulation, and municipal engineering. The volume of work is gratifying and adds considerably to pioneering research dating back to the 1960s, including Lewis Mumford's sweeping The City in History (New York, 1961), Sam Bass Warner, Jr.'s classic case study Streetcar Suburbs (Cambridge, MA, 1962), Carl Condit's American Building Art 2v. (Chicago, 1960, 1961), Nelson Blake's seminal Water for the Cities (Syracuse, 1956), geographer Allan R. Pred's The Spatial Dynamics of U.S. Urban-Industrial Growth (Cambridge, MA, 1966), John W. Reps' The Making of Urban America (Princeton, 1965), Roy Lubove's TwentiethCentury Pittsburgh (New York, 1969), Charles S. Rosenberg's The Cholera
Oncologist impressions of automatic palliative care consultation for inpatients with advanced cancer.

e20541 Background: Access to palliative care is growing nationally, yet optimal methods for integration remain unclear. Input from oncologists is critical to the acceptance and utility of any delivery model. The University of Wisconsin implemented automatic palliative care consultation (APCC) for hospitalized patients with advanced, incurable cancer. To evaluate this process change, physician satisfaction and approaches to palliative care were evaluated before and after implementation of APCC. Methods: Attending oncologists were surveyed after supervising on the inpatient oncology service (Survey 1). For each patient discharged, oncologists were questioned about their satisfaction with hospitalization and discharge, perception of the patient’s expectations for long-term care, and impact of APCC. The patient’s primary oncologists were also surveyed post-hospitalization. (Survey 2). Results: For survey 1, 39 surveys were completed by 11 inpatient oncologists on patient who received an automatic palliative c...
Lower Leg Morphology and Stretch-Shortening Cycle Performance of Dancers

Greater levels of bone ultimate fracture load, bone stress–strain index, muscle cross-sectional area, and maximal voluntary isometric plantarflexion (MVIP) strength of the lower leg may be adaptations from chronic exposure to stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) actions. Dancers, a population that habitually performs SSC movements primarily about the ankle joint, may serve as a novel population to gain broader understanding of SSC function. A total of 10 female collegiate dancers and 10 untrained controls underwent peripheral quantitative computed tomography scans of both lower legs and performed MVIPs, countermovement hops, and drop hops at 20, 30, and 40 cm on a custom-made inclined sled. Dancers had greater right and left ultimate fracture load values and significantly (P ≤ .05) greater left leg stress–strain index than controls. Dancers had significantly larger right and left muscle cross-sectional area and MVIP values and hopped significantly higher during all hopping conditions in comparison with controls...
Histological Changes in the Rat Femoral Artery Following the Use of the Empty-and-Refill Test.

Background This study examines the effects of the empty-and-refill patency test on rat femoral arteries in the longer postoperative time period. Methods A simple arterial anastomosis was performed bilaterally on 20 rats. The empty-and-refill test was performed unilaterally in all rats, leaving the contralateral artery as an internal control. Rats were divided into two cohorts of 10 rats and survived for 48 hours and 2 weeks. Vessel patency was assessed prior to closing and immediately prior to sacrifice. The femoral arteries were harvested bilaterally and hematoxylin and eosin stains were performed. The femoral artery distal to the anastomosis in the region of the empty-and-refill test was histologically evaluated. Results All vessels were patent at the time of sacrifice. There was no statistical difference in the numeric scoring between the experimental and control vessels in the 48-hour cohort. Almost all vessels harvested at 48 hours showed endothelial cell loss distal to the anastomosis regardless of whether they underwent the empty-and-refill test. The only statistically significant difference in the 2-week cohort was an increase in adventitial smooth muscle proliferation in the experimental group. There were no other statistically significant results between the experimental and control groups at 2 weeks. An overall comparison of both cohorts revealed a statistically significant increase in endothelial cell number and intimal proliferation by 2 weeks postsurgery. Conclusion The empty-and-refill test does not compromise rat femoral artery anastomotic patency, nor does it produce histological damage either 48 hours or 2 weeks postsurgery.
Teaching Electrochemistry in the General Chemistry Laboratory through Corrosion Exercises

Electrochemistry is primarily taught in first-year undergraduate courses through batteries; this lab focuses instead on corrosion to apply electrochemical concepts of electrolytes, standard reduction potentials, galvanic cells, and other chemistry concepts including Le Chatelier’s Principle and Henry’s Law. Students investigate galvanic corrosion under neutral and acidic conditions quantitatively by measuring voltage, amperage, and mass loss and qualitatively using phenolphthalein. They also investigate protection against corrosion through the use of sacrificial anodes and impressed current cathodic protection.
Activity Aprons for Inpatients Requiring Individual Nursing Assignment Care: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Pilot Study.

Background:Activity aprons are commercially available products used to occupy patients with dementia at home or in long-term care facilities. We hypothesized that inpatient use of activity aprons c...
Cathartic Ink: A Qualitative Examination of Tattoo Motivations for Survivors of Sexual Trauma

Prior research indicates that motivations for obtaining tattoos are generally to signify philosophical positions, identity formation, life transitions and group membership. However, questions remai...
Early Treatment in Emergency Department Patients with Acute Heart Failure: Does Time Matter?

Acute heart failure accounts for over one million hospital discharges annually. Current guidelines suggest treatments for AHF should begin “without delay” but this time interval has not been clearly defined. Data suggest that certain treatments such as earlier treatment with diuretics and vasodilators may improve patient symptom relief, morbidity, and mortality. Secondary analyses of clinical trials of novel treatments under development have not shown similar results. The data are equivocal regarding the impact of early treatment in AHF on in-hospital and long-term morbidity and mortality. Improved clinical trial designs will help answer when and if “early” treatment should begin and whether it impacts short- and long-term outcomes in AHF.
In-Feed Native Advertising on News Websites: Effects of Advertising Format, Website Reputation, and Product Involvement

Focusing on two popular types of native advertising, endemic in-feed advertisements and linked in-feed advertisements, the current study examined the effects of advertising format, website reputati...
VSS Made Simpler

Verifiable secret sharing (VSS) allows honest parties to ensure consistency of their shares even if a dealer and/or a subset of parties are corrupt. We focus on perfect VSS, i.e., those providing perfect privacy, correctness and commitment with zero error, in the unconditional (information-theoretic) security setting where no assumption on the computational power of the participants is imposed.
Some Questions from a School Administrator

The need for a system of special education which covers all aspects of interprofessional and interagency relationships is discussed. Related problems are: that many general classroom teachers may not be ready to include the handicapped in their classes, that principals generally have little academic background on the needs of the handicapped, and that teacher education programs need to have broader certification requirements in the special education field.
Utilization of robotics for retroperitoneal lymph-node dissection in pediatric and non-pediatric hospitals.

The objective of this study is to determine recent trends in use of robotics and laparoscopy for pediatric retroperitoneal lymph-node dissection (RPLND) in pediatric and non-pediatric hospitals. We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from 29 hospitals in the Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS), and data from 14 states in the State Inpatient Databases (SID), between 2008 and 2014. The study population was comprised of patients aged ≥ 10 years undergoing RPLND, with an inpatient diagnosis of testicular or paratesticular cancer, based on international classification of disease (ICD) codes. Robotic approach was identified by the presence of an ICD procedure code modifier. During the study period, a total of 90 RPLNDs were performed in pediatric hospitals (median patient age 16 years). Of these, 4 (4.4%) were performed robotically. A total of 3120 RPLNDs were performed in non-pediatric hospitals (median patient age: 32 years). Among these, 269 (8.6%) were performed robotically, with an increasing trend in the use of robotic RPLND (adjusted annual increase in probability of undergoing robotic vs. open procedure: 16%; 95% CI 8–24). Undergoing robotic RPLND was associated with a reduction in postoperative length of stay of 3.5 days (95% CI 2.9, 4.1). Open surgical approaches comprise the vast majority of RPLNDs performed at pediatric hospitals. This is in contrast with trends in non-pediatric hospitals where robotic RPLND is being increasingly utilized. Future research is necessary to investigate this discrepancy in adopting minimally invasive techniques for RPLND in pediatric centers.
Experimental Evaluation of Layered DD Coil Structure in a Wireless Power Transfer System

The transfer efficiency of a wireless power transfer system (WPT) is a critical and desired property for faster dynamic charging of electric vehicles, portable electronics, and battery powered medical devices. Mutual and self-inductance are two parameters that influence performance of the coil. To achieve an increase in inductance, coils are wound with more turns, therefore, making them bigger and not being able to fit into a fixed area. In this article, we have implemented a novel layered double D (LDD) coil with configuration that is optimized to create maximum constructive flux linkage between the transmitting and receiving coils. While also increasing the effective area of its parent double D (DD) coil, LDD still maintains the same lateral area. The inductances of both LDD and DD coil were measured alongside each other. LDD gave a significant increase in inductance comparison to the DD coil. Ferrite and aluminum shielding material are introduced to the coils to determine the effect on inductance. The coils had a more consistent performance when ferrite was used as a shield. By evaluating the WPT performance of various coil configurations, it was determined that the LDD coil with ferrite shield gave the best performance, making them very suitable for next generation WPT applications.
Medicare expenditures for conventional and biologic disease modifying agents commonly used for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

Abstract Background Biologic disease modifying agents (bDMARDs) are an integral part of rheumatoid arthritis treatment guidelines but are associated with significant cost in the US. We present the trends in total spending and unit cost of conventional DMARDs (cDMARDs) as compared to bDMARDs in Medicare program. Methods We used the Medicare drug spending data for the year 2012–2017 covering all part B (fee-for-service) and part D drugs. Total spending was calculated by summing spending across various drug formulations and unit drug cost by dividing total spending by number of doses dispensed. We present the 6-year trends in total spending, total beneficiary count and unit costs of each of the commonly used cDMARDs and bDMARDs. Results Between 2012 and 2017, the total spending on the cDMARDs increased 5-folds from $98 million to $579 million; this was fraction of total spending on bDMARDs which increased from $4.3 to $10.0 billion. This increase was driven largely by unit costs of drug rather than number of beneficiaries. There was a 6-fold increase in the unit cost of generic hydroxychloroquine followed by methotrexate and leflunomide. Amongst bDMARDs, adalimumab and etanercept unit cost increased by 2-folds. The increase was less pronounced for office-administered products. Conclusions Despite the availability of several generic cDMARDs over decades, there were steep increases in the unit cost of these agents to “keep pace” with the increases in bDMARDs. As the number of elderly rheumatoid arthritis patients increases, policy interventions might be required to reduce the spending on both biologics and conventional DMARDs.
Dementia Care in Diverse Older Adults in the U.S. Deep South and the Rest of the United States.

Background Use of specialists and recommended drugs has beneficial effects for older adults living with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia (ADRD). Gaps in care may exist for minorities, e.g., Blacks, and especially in the United States (U.S.) Deep South (DS), a poor U.S. region with rising ADRD cases and minority overrepresentation. Currently, we have little understanding of ADRD care utilization in diverse populations in this region and elsewhere in the U.S. (non-DS), and the factors that adversely impact it. Objective To examine utilization of specialists and ADRD drugs (outcomes) in racial/ethnic groups of older adults with ADRD and the personal or context-level factors affecting these outcomes in DS and non-DS. Methods We obtained outcomes and personal-level covariates from claims for 127,512 Medicare beneficiaries with ADRD in 2013-2015, and combined county-level data in exploratory factor analysis to define context-level covariates. Adjusted analyses tested significant association of outcomes with Black/White race and other factors in DS and non-DS. Results Across racial/ethnic groups, 33%-43% in DS and 43%-50% in non-DS used specialists; 47%-55% in DS and 41%-48% in non-DS used ADRD drugs. In adjusted analyses, differences between Blacks and Whites were not significant. Vascular dementia, comorbidities, poverty, and context-level factor "Availability of Medical Resources" were associated with specialist use; Alzheimer's disease and senile dementia, comorbidities, and specialist use were associated with drug use. In non-DS only, other individual, context-level covariates were associated with the outcomes. Conclusion We did not observe significant gaps in ADRD care in DS and non-DS; however, research should further examine determinants of low specialist and drug use in these regions.
Ventilator change in children on home mechanical ventilation affected by the Philips respironics trilogy ventilator recall.

The Philips Respironics recall notification issued in June 2021 affected many of their positive airway pressure devices and mechanical ventilators including the Trilogy 100 and 200 ventilators that are often utilized in children using home positive pressure ventilation via tracheostomy (PPV-T). Optimal strategies to replace ventilators in children using home PPV-T affected by the Philips recall are unknown. We conducted a retrospective study of children using home PPV-T with recalled Trilogy ventilators who underwent inpatient ventilator change to non-recalled portable home ventilators (PHV) using our collaborative institutional protocol. During the study period, there were 40 children using PPV-T with recalled Trilogy ventilators and 19 patients underwent inpatient ventilator change either during an elective hospitalization (n = 8) or during an unscheduled or postoperative hospitalization (n = 11). The median duration of hospitalization for ventilator change was 2 days (interquartile range: 6 days) and generally 1 day for patients admitted solely for ventilator change. In children using PPV-T with recalled Trilogy ventilators, a systematic protocol collaborating with the patients, physicians, and durable medical equipment companies may optimize transition to nonrecalled PHVs.
Computers and the Law: An Introduction to Basic Legal Principles and Their Application in Cyberspace

Computers and the Law provides readers with an introduction to the legal issues associated with computing - particularly in the massively networked context of the Internet. Assuming no previous knowledge of the law or any special knowledge of programming or computer science, this textbook offers undergraduates of all disciplines and professionals in the computing industry an understanding of basic legal principles and an awareness of the peculiarities associated with legal issues in cyberspace. This book introduces readers to the fundamental workings of the law in physical space and suggests the opportunity to create new types of laws with nontraditional goals.
An Algorithm for Kharitonov Synthesis

A multiple plant model formulation with a quadratic cost function has been shown to be a method for synthesizing stabilizing feedback controllers based on Kharitonov's theorem. An algorithm which solves the multiple plant model quadratic cost function problem is presented in this paper. The algorithm starts with a different full state feedback gain for each model then attempts to converge each gain to the fixed Kharitonov feedback gain. The Kharitonov feedback gain can have an output feedback or decentralized output feedback structure. An extension of the algorithm to synthesizing optimal gain scheduled control laws over a regime of plant models for centralized and decentralized output feedback is also presented.
Object Type Directed Garbage Collection To Improve Locality

Most garbage collected systems have excessive need for RAM to achieve reasonable performance without too much paging. The reason for such poor locality is the way data are organized in the heap. Conventional organization approaches such as breadth-first ordering do not always bring objects in the same active working set together. When such co-active objects are distributed throughout the heap (on different memory pages), high paging costs will result from accessing objects during execution. To alleviate such poor ordering, researchers have tried many different approaches: depth-first ordering, dynamic reorganization, object creation ordering, and hierarchical decomposition. Each of these approaches has its associated costs, effectiveness, and limitations. This paper presents a new ordering approach to improve locality. By paying a little attention to object type and format, effective heuristics can be derived to group co-active objects together. To investigate this idea, a number of such object type directed grouping techniques are incorporated into a Scheme-48 system. Page fault reduction of up to an order of magnitude was observed.
Anatomy of Bank Contagion: Evidence from Helena, Montana During the Panic of 1893

Theories of bank contagion often highlight the idea that financial crises frequently start as local shocks and then spread to other financial institutions. Conditions in Helena, Montana at the onset of the Panic of 1893 present an ideal laboratory for testing these theories. We use a unique dataset — the daily ledgers from four national banks that operated in Helena, Montana during the early 1890s — to test whether bank contagion existed. We find that a one standard deviation increase in the incidence of news about a bank run elsewhere in the country lead to a 0.05 to 0.30 standard deviations surge in withdrawals in time certificate deposits in all four banks. In addition, we find little evidence that depositors reacted to fundamental shocks. The results, therefore, indicate that depositor behavior was an important mechanism through which contagion took place. A test of increased correlations and narrative evidence based on contemporary newspapers reports confirm these findings. Using a structural VAR we show that withdrawals in one bank do not lead to deposits in any of the remaining banks, suggesting that once deposits left a bank, they did not return to the banking system. Thus, contagion through depositor behavior amplified financial instability during the Panic of 1893.
Congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency. Observations over a period of 6 years.

Observations over a period of 6 years are reported on 10 children in whom the diagnosis of congenital sucrase isomaltase deficiency (SID) was confirmed by quantitative estimation of disaccharidase activity of the small intestinal mucosa. Repeat biopsies were performed on eight of the ten patients and showed no evidence that sucrase isomaltase activity is acquired. Sucrose tolerance tests (2 gm/kg) showed no significant rise in blood glucose in the seven patients in whom they were performed. This condition may appear in young infants with severe diarrhea resulting in a malabsorption syndrome and failure to thrive. It may also be manifest in a milder clinical presentation with bothersome diarrhea in spite of normal growth and development in the older infant or young child. The diagnosis in this latter group can be difficult, and is frequently missed.
Intuitive, but not simple: including explicit water molecules in protein-protein docking simulations improves model quality

Characterizing the nature of interaction between proteins that have not been experimentally cocrystallized requires a computational docking approach that can successfully predict the spatial conformation adopted in the complex. In this work, the Hydropathic INTeractions (HINT) force field model was used for scoring docked models in a data set of 30 high-resolution crystallographically characterized "dry" protein-protein complexes and was shown to reliably identify native-like models. However, most current protein-protein docking algorithms fail to explicitly account for water molecules involved in bridging interactions that mediate and stabilize the association of the protein partners, so we used HINT to illuminate the physical and chemical properties of bridging waters and account for their energetic stabilizing contributions. The HINT water Relevance metric identified the "truly" bridging waters at the 30 protein-protein interfaces and we utilized them in "solvated" docking by manually inserting them into the input files for the rigid body ZDOCK program. By accounting for these interfacial waters, a statistically significant improvement of ∼24% in the average hit-count within the top-10 predictions the protein-protein dataset was seen, compared to standard "dry" docking. The results also show scoring improvement, with medium and high accuracy models ranking much better than incorrect ones. These improvements can be attributed to the physical presence of water molecules that alter surface properties and better represent native shape and hydropathic complementarity between interacting partners, with concomitantly more accurate native-like structure predictions.
Adaptive electronic linearization of fiber optic links

Nonlinearity in electrical-to-optical conversion limits dynamic range for transmitting analog and multilevel signals over fiber optic channel. We describe CMOS predistortion linearizer which extends dynamic range of direct and externally modulated links by suppressing both 2nd and 3rd order distortions.
Frequency dependent dissipation onset in 4He films

Abstract Limiting effects in the amplitude of third sound waves emanating from a critical flow region near the source have been used to determine the onset of dissipation in thin 4 He films at various frequencies. It is found that at higher frequencies the film is less stable at a given flow velocity.
Perceptive Home Energy Interfaces: Navigating the Dynamic Household Structure

Much discussion has taken place regarding environmental sustainability, fossil fuels and other efforts to reverse the trend of global climate change. Unfortunately, individuals often choose the path of least resistance when making home energy decisions. Thus, it is imperative to consider all of the underlying causes that influence home energy consumption in an effort to build a more perceptive interface that addresses the variety of household occupant needs.This research seeks to explore the dynamic nature of household occupancy, individual comfort and situational variants that impact home energy consumption in an effort to discover critical design factors for building novel interfaces for home energy systems.
Cathode erosion in a high-pressure high-current arc: calculations for tungsten cathode in a free-burning argon arc

The motion of an evaporated atom of the cathode material in a near-cathode plasma is considered. It is shown that the evaporated atom is ionized almost instantly. The created ion, under the influence of a strong electric field existing in the cathode proximity, has a high probability of returning to the cathode. A small fraction of evaporated atoms are able to diffuse away from the cathode to the region where they are involved in plasma flow and lose their chance to return to the cathode. The fraction of the total evaporated atoms, which do not return to the cathode, the escape factor, determines the net erosion rate. In order to calculate this factor, the distributions of the plasma parameters in the near-cathode plasma were considered. Calculations showed that the escape factor is on the order of a few per cent. Using experimental data on the plasma and cathode temperatures, we calculated the net erosion rate for a free-burning 200 A argon arc with a thoriated tungsten cathode. The calculated erosion rate is close to 1 µg s−1, which is in agreement with available experimental data.
A modular sensornet architecture: past, present, and future directions

ion that supports existing implementations, more so than building a narrow waist that exports a set of services that new implementations are expected to adhere to. While future applications may use such features, the disregard for these interfaces by current protocols, coupled with the desire to maintain a lean narrow waist, leads to a top-down focus. In designing the unifying link layer abstraction for T2 [20], our approach has been quite different. We began with a foundation similar to the previous version, pruning unneeded services and functionality. More importantly we synthesized a list of requirements for a diverse set of protocols and applications in order to ensure support in the upcoming version. We also focused on integrating cross-layer services, such as security and power management, working closely with developers of these stand-alone components and focused architectures. The result is a new link abstraction which we feel is lean, yet provides the essential set of services needed to support the majority of higher-level services.
Speed of discrimination with redundant stimulus attributes

Speed of sorting decks of 32 cards with two alternative stimuli was measured. The stimuli were pairs of dots with attributes of distance between dots, angle of orientation of the pair, and position of the pair to the right or left of center. The attributes varied in relative discriminability and were used in all possible pair- and triple-correlated (redundant) combinations. Results showed an increase in speed of sorting with either an increase in discriminability or an increase in number of redundant attributes. It is argued that the increased speed with addition of redundant attributes is due both to a selective serial processing of attributes (requiring attribute separability) and to an increased discriminability with combined attributes (requiring attribute integrality).
Autonomous basin climbing method with sampling of multiple transition pathways: application to anisotropic diffusion of point defects in hcp Zr

This paper presents an extension of the autonomous basin climbing (ABC) method, an atomistic activation-relaxation technique for sampling transition-state pathways. The extended algorithm (ABC-E) allows the sampling of multiple transition pathways from a given minimum, with the additional feature of identifying the pathways in the order of increasing activation barriers, thereby prioritizing them according to their importance in the kinetics. Combined with on-the-fly kinetic Monte Carlo calculations, the method is applied to simulate the anisotropic diffusion of point defects in hcp Zr. Multiple migration mechanisms are identified for both the interstitials and vacancies, and benchmarked against results from other methods in the literature. The self-interstitial atom (SIA) diffusion kinetics shows a maximum anisotropy at intermediate temperatures (400~700 K), a non-monotonic behavior that we explain to originate from the stabilities and migration mechanisms associated with different SIA sites. The accuracy of the ABC-E calculations is validated, in part, by the existing results in the literature for point defect diffusion in hcp Zr, and by benchmarking against analytical results on a hypothetical rough-energy landscape. Lastly, sampling prioritization and computational efficiency are demonstrated through a direct comparison between the ABC-E and the activation relaxation technique.
Presenilins in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia

Results Our recent report showed that presenilins regulate synaptic function by modulating ryanodine receptor-mediated calcium release from the ER. To determine how presenilins regulate intracellular calcium signaling in neurons, we performed Ca imaging coupled with electrophysiological and molecular analyses using both acute hippocampal slices of unique presenilin conditional mutant mice and cultured hippocampal neurons, in which presenilins are acutely inactivated with a lentivirus expressing Cre recombinase.
Studies on Convulsive Disorders in Young Children: I. Incidence of Febrile and Nonfebrile Convulsions by Age and Other Factors

Extract: In a cohort of 18,500 newborn infants, those who had experienced one or more convulsions were studied. Data were available for the unaffected as well as for the affected children. All families were members of a prepaid medical care program that provides comprehensive medical care. By five years of age, two percent of the 18,500 children had had one or more febrile convulsions; one percent had had nonfebrile convulsions. The incidence of the first nonfebrile seizure was highest during the first month of life; febrile convulsions reached a high peak during the second year of life. The risk of a febrile convulsion was equal for boys and girls but that of a nonfebrile seizure was higher for boys. The nonfebrile group had an excess of children with birth weights between 1500 and 2500 g, especially those whose gestational age was 37 weeks or more. The distribution by birth weight and gestational age of the febrile group was similar to that of the entire cohort. Multiple episodes occurred in one-third of the children of the febrile group and in three-quarters of the nonfebrile group. About 3 % of the children with febrile seizures later developed nonfebrile convulsions; about 7% of the nonfebrile group had initially a febrile seizure. Nearly 31% in the nonfebrile group and 7% in the febrile group had severe congenital anomalies; in the entire cohort only 3% had such an anomaly before they reached age five. Among the children in the nonfebrile group were 10% with cerebral palsy and 16% with mental retardation including 5% with both disorders. Speculation: As the cohort of 18,500 children grows older, a certain number of them will develop real epilepsy. This study provides three distinct groups: children who had febrile convulsions, those who had nonfebrile convulsions, and those who had no seizures in early childhood. The future follow-up of these groups will provide the necessary data for determining the relative rates of developing epilepsy associated with the convulsion experience in early childhood.
Diffraction efficiency and electron microscopy of large amplitude holographic gratings

Abstract The diffraction efficiency of Ag coated holographic gratings was measured as a function of the grating amplitude, H , for a He-Ne laser incident at 30° and 70° in the plane perpendicular to the grating grooves. The grating amplitude was determined using a scanning electron microscope. It was found that the diffraction efficiency of s polarized light increased monotonically with increasing H for H H = 90 nm and 220 nm . These results were compared to the theoretical calculations of Heitmann and found to agree within 10% for H H H , the data deviated significantly, presumably due to a breakdown of the small amplitude assumption on which the calculations were based.
Blood pressure and sodium excretion in the sinoaortic denervated rat during chronic high and low sodium intake and acute sodium loading.

We studied the effects of dietary sodium on the magnitude of hypertension in sinoaortic denervated (SAD) rats. Groups of SAD rats and sham operated (SO) controls drank tap water and received chows with different amounts of sodium: low (0.08%), regular (0.4%), high (3%) or very high (7%) sodium; other groups, some after unilateral nephrectomy, received regular chow and 1% saline to drink. These various sodium regimens were started before operations and were continued for at least 12 weeks after SAD and SO. Weekly systolic tail-cuff pressures of SAD rats were significantly higher throughout the 12 week postoperative period than those of SO rats regardless of sodium regimen (p<0.05 to<0.01). Analysis of variance indicated no significant differences between pressures of SAD rats on regular or low sodium chows and those receiving any of the high sodium regimens. When SAD rats were switched from regular to high sodium diets no significant change was induced in systolic pressures. We then examined renal sodium e...
Suppression of abnormal karyotype predicts superior survival in multiple myeloma

Cytogenetic studies were performed as part of all diagnostic and surveillance bone marrow examinations in 956 newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma (MM) receiving total therapy (TT) protocols and in 1085 previously treated patients enrolled in non-TT protocols. In both groups, cytogenetic abnormalities (CA) were present in one-third at baseline and persisted in 14% prior to first and 10% prior to second transplant (TT, 5%; non-TT, 15%); post-transplant detection rates increased progressively with time, from 7% within 6 months to 21% within 24 months to 28% at relapse. According to multivariate analyses, overall survival was adversely affected by the presence of CA at baseline (hazard ratio (HR)=7.20, P<0.001) and the development of CA both prior to (HR=3.28, P<0.001) and after first transplant (HR=6.24, P<0.001), whereas suppression of CA pretransplant was favorable (HR=0.38, P<0.001). The presence of CA at relapse further distinguished patients with a short median post-relapse survival of only 11 versus 47 months in those without CA (P<0.0001). Post-relapse survival was independently adversely affected by the detection of CA both at baseline (HR=1.35, P=0.044) and relapse (HR=2.47, P<0.001). Collectively, these results underscore the importance of monitoring for CA and attest to the favorable prognostic consequences of CA suppression with effective therapy.
Modification of the Properties of Elongating RNA Polymerase by Persistent Association with Nascent Antiterminator RNA

Abstract Nascent RNA encoded by putL , a cis -acting antitermination site of bacteriophage HK022, increases readthrough of terminators by directly modifying the transcript elongation complex. To characterize the interaction between the antiterminator RNA and RNA polymerase, we stalled the elongation complex downstream of putL and determined the sensitivity of the transcript to ribonuclease cleavage. Part of PutL RNA was protected from cleavage by wild-type polymerase, but not by a mutant with a defect in put -dependent antitermination. We also exposed the stalled complex to oligonucleotides complementary to putL RNA, restarted transcription, and measured antitermination. Some, but not all, complementary oligonucleotides inhibited antitermination. Finally, cleavage of the RNA between putL and the 3′-end released putL RNA from the stalled complex and prevented antitermination.
Southwestern Internal Medicine Conference: Pulmonary Thromboembolic Disease—Diagnosis, Management and Prevention

Pulmonary embolism remains a serious condition which has generated controversy regarding both the optimal diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. The development of newer modalities will eventually yield more efficient and safe approaches to both diagnosis and therapy; however, at the present time there is no definitive approach that can be recommended, and management must be individualized based on the patient's clinical status and the experience and expertise available at a particular institution.
A Top–Down and Bottom–Up Component of Visual Attention

A new constituent of visual attention theory is proposed based on research in an animal model system. That showed that the neuromodulators released by efference from that animal’s brain can accelerate or retard the potentials produced by visual stimulation of that animal’s photoreceptors. Such a possibility has never been considered in human behavioral research even though it has been clearly demonstrated that attention can alter the temporal window of visual perception. We therefore propose that attention theory should include new top–down and bottom–up components (TBC) with a top–down component that involves efferents that go from the brain to the photoreceptors and a bottom–up component that involves consequent neuromodulatory alterations of the timing of the afferent photoreceptor potentials evoked by light stimuli. Not long ago, it would have been infeasible to test the validity of TBC in humans. However, newly developed multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) technology makes it possible to obtain comfortable and objective measures of the timing of human retinal potentials while obtaining quantitative behavioral measures of both the observer’s state of attention and of visual performance. If the present prediction is confirmed by such measures, it would allow the mfERG technique to be used for both the objective diagnosis of and the quantitative evaluation of treatments for a variety of attention disorders. These would include attention deficit hyperactivity disorders as well as several psychoses that involve attentional difficulties. The costs of testing TBC are modest; the potential benefits of applying this neurocomputational technology to assist sufferers could be substantial.
Best m-term trigonometric approximation for the classes B_{p,{{\uptheta }}}^r of functions of low smoothness

We obtain an exact-order estimate for the best m-term trigonometric approximation of the Besov classes $ B_{p,{{\uptheta }}}^r $ of periodic functions of many variables of low smoothness in the space L q , 1 < p ≤ 2 < q < ∞.
Protein–water electrostatics and principles of bioenergetics

Despite its diversity, life universally relies on a simple basic mechanism of energy transfer in its energy chains—hopping electron transport between centers of electron localization on hydrated proteins and redox cofactors. Since many such hops connect the point of energy input with a catalytic site where energy is stored in chemical bonds, the question of energy losses in (nearly activationless) electron hops, i.e., energetic efficiency, becomes central for the understanding of the energetics of life. We show here that standard considerations based on rules of Gibbs thermodynamics are not sufficient, and the dynamics of the protein and the protein–water interface need to be involved. The rate of electronic transitions is primarily sensitive to the electrostatic potential at the center of electron localization. Numerical simulations show that the statistics of the electrostatic potential produced by hydration water are strongly non-Gaussian, with the breadth of the electrostatic noise far exceeding the expectations of the linear response. This phenomenon, which dramatically alters the energetic balance of a charge-transfer chain, is attributed to the formation of ferroelectric domains in the protein's hydration shell. These dynamically emerging and dissipating domains make the shell enveloping the protein highly polar, as gauged by the variance of the shell dipole which correlates with the variance of the protein dipole. The Stokes-shift dynamics of redox-active proteins are dominated by a slow component with the relaxation time of 100–500 ps. This slow relaxation mode is frozen on the time-scale of fast reactions, such as bacterial charge separation, resulting in a dramatically reduced reorganization free energy of fast electronic transitions. The electron transfer activation barrier becomes a function of the corresponding rate, self-consistently calculated from a non-ergodic version of the transition-state theory. The peculiar structure of the protein–water interface thus provides natural systems with two “non's”—non-Gaussian statistics and non-ergodic kinetics—to tune the efficiency of the redox energy transfer. Both act to reduce the amount of free energy released as heat in electronic transitions. These mechanisms are shown to increase the energetic efficiency of protein electron transfer by up to an order of magnitude compared to the “standard picture” based on canonical free energies and the linear response approximation. In other words, the protein–water tandem allows both the formation of a ferroelectric mesophase in the hydration shell and an efficient control of the energetics by manipulating the relaxation times.
STUDIES OF SUPERDENSE HADRONIC MATTER IN A RELATIVISTIC TRANSPORT MODEL

Transport models have been very useful in studying the properties of the hot, dense matter that is created in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We review here a Relativistic Transport (ART) Model and its applications in heavy ion collisions at beam energies below about 10 AGeV available from the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The model allows one to study not only the reaction dynamics leading to the formation of superdense hadronic matter, but also to explore the effects due to the nuclear equation of state and the deformation/orientation of the colliding nuclei on the size and lifetime of the superdense matter. We also discuss the dependence of the central baryon and energy densities, the degree of thermalization, and the collective radial flow velocity of the superdense matter on the beam energy. We further review how the properties of the superdense hadronic matter can be determined from studying the collective flow of nucleons, pions and kaons in these collisions...