cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lorus Johnson Milne 1910–1987

Lorus J. Milne was born on a 200-acre farm of Crown Grant Land near Toronto, Ont Here, he developed a profound love of nature. Insects especially fascinated him, and he recalled mounting his first specimen, a dragonfly, at the age of 10. With his parents’encouragement, he learned proper entomological techniques, and at the age of 13 he amassed a collection that won first place in the 1923 Canadian Natural Exhibition. As a result of this award he was offered a position at the Canadian Museum; that offer was postponed when his age was discovered.
Electron-Nuclear Coupling in the Classical Limit for the Electronic Degrees of Freedom †

The use of a classical limit for the electronic degrees of freedom avoids the need to keep the nuclei clamped while solving for the dynamics of the electrons. The Hamiltonian for the electrons will then depend on the nuclear coordinates as dynamical variables. The resulting (classical) electron−nuclear coupled equations of motion exhibit dynamical symmetry and are shown to depend only on the ratio, κ4, of the electron to nuclear mass. We explore the coupled electron−nuclear dynamics as a function of κ for the special case of a single electron moving between two centers. In the dynamical regime where the nuclei are heavy and the Born−Oppenheimer separation should work, the full dynamical procedure is in excellent agreement with the nuclear dynamics as computed using the Born−Oppenheimer separation. In the opposite regime where the period of the electronic motion is long, a case that can be physically realized for very high Rydberg states, one reaches an ‘inverse' behavior where the nuclei adiabatically adj...
Characterizing the rate-limiting step of Trp-cage folding by all-atom molecular dynamics simulations

In this study, the detailed mechanisms of the rapid-folding Trp-cage mini-protein were investigated by extensive all-atom molecular dynamics simulations of both wild-type and mutant proteins using a recently developed point-charge force field within the AMBER simulation package and the generalized Born treatment of solvation. Among the 77 100-ns simulations performed on the wild-type protein, 5 of the simulation trajectories yielded structures with main-chain RMSDs of 1.0−2.0 A from the native NMR structure. A gradual reduction in the value of the main-chain RMSD distribution was observed during the simulations, which is consistent with the folding funnel theory. The folding time of ∼3 μs based on native tertiary contacts is in reasonable agreement with an experimental value of ∼4 μs. Detailed analysis suggests that packing of the structurally important Trp25 side chain is involved in the rate-limiting step and unfolding of the misfolded states and overcoming the additional entropic barrier also contribut...
A taxonomy of critical success factors

Critical success factors (CSFs) have received considerable attention from information systems academicians and practitioners over the past 15 years. However, the concept of criticality as widely used in common parlance tends to be metaphorical – the meaning of the term is loosely defined and the interpretation of the meaning is dependent upon the individual. To advance our knowledge of criticality and CSFs, the metaphorical use of the concept of criticality has to be formalised in a model by defining criticality and discriminating between different types of the same. The tacit knowledge of practitioners and researchers about criticality has to be explicated. This paper proposes a taxonomy of critical success factors in an attempt to formalise the concept. The proposed taxonomy is based on four levels of criticality and three sets of dichotomous attributes. The four levels of criticality in descending order of strength are: factors linked to success by a known causal mechanism; factors necessary and sufficient for success; factors necessary for success; and factors associated with success. The three sets of dichotomous attributes are: standing/instigating; direct/indirect; and enhancing/inhibiting. The taxonomy provides a framework for systematically classifying CSFs extant in literature and practice. Such classification will reveal the nature, extent, and sources of biases in the CSFs literature, if any, and help in correcting the biases if necessary and possible. The taxonomy can also be used to structure methodologies for eliciting CSFs, and thus ensure that the factors elicited are unbiased and complete.
How events are reviewed matters: Effects of varied focus on eyewitness suggestibility

Witnesses to a crime or an accident perceive that event only once, but they are likely to think or talk about it multiple times. The way in which they review the event may affect their later memory. In particular, some types of review may increase suggestibility if the witness has been exposed to postevent misleading information. In Experiment 1, participants viewed a videotaped crime and then received false suggestions about the event. We found that participants who were then asked to focus on specific details when reviewing the event were more suggestible on a later source memory test than participants asked to review the main points. The findings of Experiment 2 suggest that this effect was not due to a criterion shift at test. These findings indicate that the type of rehearsal engaged in after witnessing an event can hame important consequences for memory and, in particular, suggestibility.
Experimental demonstration of postnonlinearity compensation in a multi-span DPSK transmission

We demonstrate performance improvement in a multi-span 10 Gb/s DPSK transmission by employing postnonlinearity compensation. Significant improvements in BER were obtained for both dispersion managed soliton and quasi-linear transmission.
Primary sphenoid sinus esthesioneuroblastoma

Esthesioneuroblastoma is a rare malignant tumor of undifferentiated neuroectodermal origin. Because these tumors are derived from olfactory epithelium, most cases arise in the superior nasal cavity at the level of the cribriform niche. The development of an esthesioneuroblastoma outside of the region in which olfactory epithelium exists is exceedingly rare. We report a rare case of a primary sphenoid sinus esthesioneuroblastoma and discuss the pathogenesis, clinical presentation, and treatment of this rare entity.
Summary of the National Institutes of Health Workshop on Group B Streptococcal Infection

Group B streptococci remain a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates. GBS vaccine or immunoglobulin administered iv may enhance neonatal GBS immunity. Likewise, intrapartum antibiotic therapy of colonized mothers appears to reduce vertical transmission of group B streptococci and to prevent both maternal and neonatal GBS disease. However, the safety and effectiveness of routine penicillin prophylaxis less than or equal to 1 hr after birth remain in question. For example, penicillin prophylaxis appears to be of little value in infants with low birth weights (less than 2,000 g) who become symptomatic shortly after birth; however, it may reduce the incidence of disease in larger, full-term infants who acquire the group B streptococci at delivery or in the few hours immediately thereafter. The potential harm of administering penicillin to all neonates must also be considered, since routine antibiotic therapy may alter the incidence of both neonatal infections due to penicillin-resistant pathogens and possible later penicillin allergy. Theoretically, a single injection of penicillin at birth may suppress GBS disease in some neonates but not effectively treat it, allowing the disease to progress prior to diagnosis and therapy. The decision to use penicillin routinely in neonates to prevent GBS disease must therefore be made with caution. Presently, this decision must be made on a situational basis, with institutions having a high incidence of early-onset GBS disease electing to use penicillin only if the potential benefits outweigh the risks.
Anchoring villi in human placental basal plate: lymphocytes, macrophages and coagulation.

Abstract We have studied basal plates in 25 normal placentae, ten placentae from primary aborters and six placentae from secondary aborters for leukocyte markers and coagulation components. Anchoring villi contained class II MHC antigen-reactive (HLA-DR, DP and DQ) macrophages and T-lymphocytes of the helper (CD4) phenotype. Antibodies to coagulation components revealed the presence of tissue factor, factor IX and fibrin in and around anchoring villi. Immune cells and coagulation components in anchoring villi were more frequently identified in secondary aborters. These findings provide morphological support for an idea that there is a linkage between the presence of immune cells and coagulation in anchoring villi of the basal plate. Helper T-lymphocytes can activate macrophages which release cytokines that activate coagulation through the extrinsicpathway. We envision this as an expression of maternal allogeneic recognition of extraembryonic tissues in the basal plate.
Evaluating Long-Term Effects of the Golden Lion Tamarin Environmental Education Program in Brazil

The authors evaluated the environmental education program of the Golden Lion Tamarin Association in Brazil by comparing results of a 2001 survey with baseline data from 1986. Responses of 666 residents and results from 4 focus groups revealed an increase in public support for the tamarin and its habitat and an increase in general environmental knowledge. The evaluation identified gaps in knowledge about the biology and conservation status of the tamarin and gaps in women's participation in the education program.
Online computation of exterior orientation with application to hand-eye calibration

Computation of the relative position and orientation between a camera and an observed object from a single image is a central problem in computer vision. Although many solution methods have been proposed, several problems remain. Analytical methods do not take into account the issue of noise. Nonlinear least-squares methods depend critically on good initialization. Linear least-squares methods tend to be very sensitive to noise and outliers. These shortcomings limit their use in modern computer vision applications. In this article, we formulate a new least squares objective function that leads to a good initialization scheme based on weak-perspective projection, as well as a robust and efficient descent algorithm using absolute orientation. The new method combines model-based parameter search and data-driven backprojection which, unlike most existing methods, minimizes 3-D object space error rather than 2-D image error. Extensive experiments on simulated data indicate that the new method outperforms commonly used least squares methods under most conditions. Its performance as a kernel in the inner loop of a robust M-estimate algorithm for outlier rejections is also studied. We demonstrate the use of this method in the context of hand-eye calibration.
Effect of the geometry of the intraoral position-indicating device on effective dose

Abstract Objective. The objective of this study was to calculate and compare the effective dose and to estimate risk from the use of intraoral position-indicating devices of differing geometries. Study design. Thermoluminescent dosimeters were placed at selected sites in the upper portion of a tissue-equivalent human phantom to record the equivalent dose to weighted tissues and organs. The phantom was exposed to simulated complete mouth surveys with either a long (29.8 cm) or short (19.6 cm) round open-end position-indicating device, a long (35.3 cm) or short (23.3 cm) rectangular open-end position-indicating device, or a pointed (29.6 cm) closed-end position-indicating device. Results. The effective dose was calculated as the sum of the equivalent doses to each organ or tissue multiplied by that organ or tissue's weighting factor. The salivary glands were included as part of the remainder. The effective dose ranged from 362 μSv for the pointed position-indicating device, to 63 μSv for both the long and the short rectangular position-indicating devices. Conclusions. These effective doses were calculated to represent a probability for stochastic effects that range in magnitude from 26 × 10 −6 to 4.6 × 10 −6 .
Bead Games, or, Getting Started in Computational Thinking Without a Computer

Recently my wife brought home from the library a charming book by Phillip Done, an elementary school teacher from California, called Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind (Done 2009). The book is rich in anecdotes drawn from the author’s long experience in the classroom, and acts as a wonderful complement (or maybe a tonic alternative) to reading in educational research. Done doesn’t write like a researcher, but his tales are filled with the sounds and smells and emotions of the classroom, and he has–or has developed over time–tremendous insight into the personalities of the children with whom he works. The purpose of this column is not to review Done’s book (which in any event I haven’t yet finished) but to note that much of his experience and accumulated wisdom is about stuff–about the physical materials of teaching. He knows about construction paper, and glue, and thumbtacks, and a million other objects of the trade. At the outset of Close Encounters, he suggests coining the word teacherhood (by analogy with ‘‘motherhood’’ or ‘‘fatherhood’’), and writes:
Heat as a contrast agent to enhance thermal imaging of blood vessels

In this study we test the feasibility of using low-cost LEDs to selectivity heat blood for enhanced thermal imaging of vascular structures. Applications of this new imaging technique include mapping blood vessels during surgeries such as tumor removal and vascular repair. In addition, this technique could potentially be used to determine the location of increased vascular density, and thus breast cancer tumors. Porcine blood, skeletal muscle, skin and fat were illuminated with LEDs that emit at 405 nm and 530 nm (near the blood absorption peaks) and the increase in temperature as a function of time was recorded using a thermal camera. In the studies with the 530 nm LED, blood heated more than other tissue types and the heating rate for the blood was significantly faster than other tissues. Illumination of blood with the 530 nm LED at low powers (tissue irradiance <500 mW/cm2) will selectively heat blood with no damage to surrounding tissue. Illumination with the 405 nm LED produced large temperature changes (up to 15°C) at low LED powers (tissue irradiance <500 mW/cm2). The heating and heating rates measured with this LED were higher than those measured for the 530nm LED. However, blood, skin and fat showed comparable amounts of heating and heating rates. The amount of heating in muscle tissue was dependent on the skeletal muscle type, but most samples showed heating comparable to or larger than blood. This LED was not effective at selectively heating blood relative to the other tissue types. The results of the preliminary studies suggest that the best contrast can be achieved with pulsed 530 nm LED illumination and an image analysis method that highlights rapid changes in temperature.
A simulation model approach to analysis of the business case for eliminating health care disparities.

Purchasers can play an important role in eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care. A need exists to develop a compelling "business case" from the employer perspective to put, and keep, the issue of racial/ethnic disparities in health care on the quality improvement agenda for health plans and providers. To illustrate a method for calculating an employer business case for disparity reduction and to compare the business case in two clinical areas, we conducted analyses of the direct (medical care costs paid by employers) and indirect (absenteeism, productivity) effects of eliminating known racial/ethnic disparities in mammography screening and appropriate medication use for patients with asthma. We used Markov simulation models to estimate the consequences, for defined populations of African-American employees or health plan members, of a 10% increase in HEDIS mammography rates or a 10% increase in appropriate medication use among either adults or children/adolescents with asthma. The savings per employed African-American woman aged 50-65 associated with a 10% increase in HEDIS mammography rate, from direct medical expenses and indirect costs (absenteeism, productivity) combined, was $50. The findings for asthma were more favorable from an employer point of view at approximately $1,660 per person if raising medication adherence rates in African-American employees or dependents by 10%. For the employer business case, both clinical scenarios modeled showed positive results. There is a greater potential financial gain related to eliminating a disparity in asthma medications than there is for eliminating a disparity in mammography rates.
State-resolved dynamics of NO produced by photodissociation of t-butyl nitrite on Ag(111)

Abstract The dynamics of nitric oxide, NO, produced by 248 nm photodissociation of t -butyl nitrite, (CH 3 ) 3 CONO, adsorbed on Ag(111) has been probed using resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization time-of-flight (REMPI-TOF) and interpreted using a direct excitation and collisional relaxation model. NO TOF spectra vary with rotational state and surface coverage, submonolayer to multilayers, of t -butyl nitrite. High rotational state ( J >40.5) spectra show a sharp peak of fast NO, interpreted as collisionless ejection, along with an intermediate speed peak ascribed to NO that has collided with neighbors. The collisionless peak is evidence supporting direct excitation followed by prompt ejection of NO. As J is lowered from 50.5 to 12.5, the intermediate peak position drops from 60 to 30% of the collisionless kinetic energy. Low J (
Asymptomatic Cervical Stenosis: To Operate or Not?

Asymptomatic cervical stenosis is a relatively common condition that is being diagnosed more frequently during the evaluation of other disorders with the use of new noninvasive imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging. Although the annual risk of spinal cord injury and cervical myelopathy due to cervical stenosis appears to be small, the long-term cumulative risk of cervical stenosis in the young or middle-aged patient can be significant and may justify surgical consideration. In older patients, where life expectancy is lower and risk of surgical complications is greater, it is likely more prudent to closely observe these patients until symptoms arise. Patient education about the symptoms of myelopathy and close observation is required for all patients. A detailed history and physical examination may also detect subtle signs or symptoms of myelopathy that were not previously appreciated. There is a need for further clinical study of the role of surgery in asymptomatic patients with significant cervical stenosis.
Attenuation of signaling and nitric oxide production following prolonged leptin exposure in human aortic endothelial cells.

Acute leptin exposure stimulates endothelial nitric oxide (NO) production in vitro. In contrast, chronic elevations in circulating leptin levels in patients with obesity are associated with endothelial dysfunction and impaired endothelial NO production. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to examine the direct effects of acute and more sustained leptin stimulation on endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) and NO production in human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs). HAECs were treated with vehicle or with leptin (5 or 60 ng/mL) acutely (30-60 minutes) or for 72 hours. HAEC NO release into culture media was measured with a chemiluminescence technique, and superoxide (O 2 −. ) production was measured with electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. HAEC eNOS activity was measured as the conversion of 3 H-arginine to 3 H-citrulline, and protein levels of eNOS, phospho-eNOS (serine 1177), Erk, phospho-Erk, suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS3), xanthine oxidase (XO), and the reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADPH) oxidase components p22phox, p67phox, Nox-4, and gp91phox were examined by Western blotting or immunoprecipitation. Acute leptin exposure increased eNOS serine 1177 phosphorylation and caused Erk activation. In contrast, prolonged leptin stimulation was not cytotoxic and failed to alter eNOS expression, phosphorylation, or HAEC NO release. Furthermore, prolonged leptin stimulation did not alter O 2 −. production or NADPH oxidase or XO expression but increased SOCS3 expression. In contrast to acute stimulation, prolonged (72 hours) stimulation does not alter endothelial cell NO or O 2 −. production. We postulate that chronic leptin stimulation, through increased SOCS3 expression, may attenuate the effects of leptin on vascular endothelial function.
Retrograde oxidation of hydrothermal precipitates and petroleum in Escanaba Trough sediments

Abstract Three push cores obtained near a hydrothermal vent in the Escanaba Trough, Gorda Ridge, have been analyzed for interstitial water chemistry, inorganic solids geochemistry, and organic geochemistry. The inorganic analyses indicate the study area has no present hydrothermal fluid flow but the presence of a high temperature mineral phase (calcite precipitate representing a temperature range of 168°–199°C) indicates past hydrothermal activity. The presence of weathered sulfides and an extensively weathered and oxidized hydrothemal petroleum is evidence for a retrograde oxidative weathering process occurring in the sediments.
Scientists, Entrepreneurs, and the Policy Process: A Study of the Post-1945 California Sardine Depletion

The California Marine Research Committee was established by the state legislature in 1947 in response to the catastrophic failure of the Pacific Coast sardine fishery. Scientists, state and federal resource-managment officials, and industry leaders put aside long-standing differences of viewpoint to launch a uniquely comprehensive, multidisciplinary research effort. This paper, based on newly opened archival materials, analyzes the founding and early work of the agency. How a stalemate occurred that delayed a consensus on policy recommendations and had the practical effect of continuing virtually unregulated sardine fishing is explained. The article illustrates the institutional development of post-war "Big Science" as a major actor in the policy process and analyzes the mobilization of public agencies to cope with complex environmental issues in resource-extractive industries. AT its peak in the mid-1930s, the sardine fishery in California's coastal waters was probably the most intensively exploited oceanic fishery in world history. It supplied at the time fully one fourth the entire tonnage of fish landed in the United States. It supported a major fishing and processing industry in California, supplying not only canned table food but-through the process called "reduction," extracting fishmeal from the raw material for agricultural fertilizer and oil for industrial uses-a large trade in byproducts, both within the state and in
Transients and Rise Times of the Refractive EIT-Kerr Nonlinearity

We observe transients and rise times for the refractive EIT Kerr nonlinearity in Rubidium vapor, and discuss the importance of the rise times for various applications of EIT enhanced optical nonlinearities
Liposome filtration. Dependence on transition temperature

Abstract Liposomes formed by vortexing and passed through polycarbonate surface retention membranes showed appreciable differences in filtration behavior depending on the temperature of filtration relative to the liposome gel-liquid crystal transition temperature. Below transition, liposomes were filterable and size distributions could be determined; the cumulative volume distributions were log-normal. Above transition, liposomes were not filterable: smaller liposomes were formed until a limiting size was reached. These results suggest that liquid crystal liposome size distributions cannot be determined by filtration. This filtration behavior is a physical property of liposomes, related to the gel-liquid crystal transition, not previously reported. This property could be exploited as a new method for controlling liposome size distributions, but the implications for lipid membranes, including biological membranes, are general.
Maximum Likelihood Estimation of Stationary Univariate Fractionally Integrated Time Series Models

Abstract To estimate the parameters of a stationary univariate fractionally integrated time series, the unconditional exact likelihood function is derived. This allows the simultaneous estimation of all the parameters of the model by exact maximum likelihood. Issues involved in obtaining maximum likelihood estimates are discussed. Particular attention is given to efficient procedures to evaluate the likelihood function, obtaining starting values, and the small sample properties of the estimators. Limitations of previous estimation procedures are also discussed.
A Flashing Line Can Warp Your Mind

Keeping pace with a constantly changing world requires the ability to make predictions about the future on a variety of timescales. A very basic example of this is the ability to predict the future location of a moving object in the brief time that it takes to perceive and respond to that object. In this issue of Neuron, experiments by Sundberg, Fallah, and Reynolds reveal a potential neural substrate for making short-range predictions about motion in visual area V4.
Sediment grains moved by passing tsunami waves: Tsunami deposits in deep water

Abstract Tsunamis propagating in the open ocean have associated horizontal particle velocities that do not change with depth — yet the limiting water depth where a tsunami of given characteristics will initiate sediment motion remains unknown. Based upon linear wave theory and a parametrization of the Shields curve, equations are derived and solved, using an iterative scheme, to address the topic of grain movement by tsunami waves as a function of water depth and wave amplitude. The focus is on waves in deep water where tsunami waves behave linearly and on non-cohesive sediment grains. Furthermore, the question is addressed of which grain sizes are picked up on a sloping beach as the wave shoals. According to the results, even the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004 was incapable of moving fine sand in water deeper than 985 m in the Bay of Bengal and 335 m in the Indian and Pacific oceans. The results suggest that tectonic tsunamis of size equal to or smaller than the Boxing Day tsunami cannot initiate motion of deep-water cohesionless sediments that can be correlated on an oceanic basin-wide scale.
A microenvironmental model of carcinogenesis

We propose that carcinogenesis requires tumour populations to surmount six distinct microenvironmental proliferation barriers that arise in the adaptive landscapes of normal and premalignant populations growing from epithelial surfaces. Somatic evolution of invasive cancer can then be viewed as a sequence of phenotypical adaptations to these barriers. The genotypical and phenotypical heterogeneity of cancer populations is explained by an equivalence principle in which multiple strategies can successfully adapt to the same barrier. This model provides a theoretical framework in which the diverse cancer genotypes and phenotypes can be understood according to their roles as adaptive strategies to overcome specific microenvironmental growth constraints.
Cryopyrin-induced Interleukin 1β Secretion in Monocytic Cells ENHANCED ACTIVITY OF DISEASE-ASSOCIATED MUTANTS AND REQUIREMENT FOR ASC

Several autoinflammatory disorders are associated with missense mutations within the nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain of cryopyrin. The mechanism by which cryopyrin mutations cause inflammatory disease remains elusive. To understand the molecular bases of these diseases, we generated constructs to express three common cryopyrin disease-associated mutations, R260W, D303N, and E637G, and compared their activity with that of the wild-type protein. All cryopyrin mutant proteins tested were found to induce potent NF-κB activity when compared with the wild-type protein. This activation was dependent on the expression of ASC, an adaptor protein previously suggested to mediate cryopyrin signaling. When the disease-associated mutants were expressed in monocytic THP-1 cells (which express endogenous ASC), each induced spontaneous IL-1β secretion, whereas wild-type protein did not. In the absence of stimuli, wild-type cryopyrin was unable to bind to ASC, whereas the three mutants coimmunoprecipitated with ASC, suggesting a mechanism involved in the constitutive activation of mutant proteins. The induction of cryopyrin activity by enforced oligomerization in THP-1 cells resulted in ASC binding and the secretion of IL-1β, an effect that was abolished by the inhibition of ASC expression with small interfering RNAs. Thus, cryopyrin-mediated IL-1β secretion requires ASC in monocytic cells. Further, these results indicate that cryopyrin disease-associated mutants are constitutively active and able to induce NF-κB activation and IL-1β secretion at least in part by an increased ability to interact with ASC.
Internally resonating lattices for bandgap generation and low-frequency vibration control

Abstract The paper reports on a structural concept for high stiffness and high damping performance. A stiff external frame and an internal resonating lattice are combined in a beam-like assembly which is characterized by high frequency bandgaps and tuned vibration attenuation at low frequencies. The resonating lattice consists of an elastomeric material arranged according to a chiral topology which is designed to resonate at selected frequencies. The concept achieves high damping performance by combining the frequency-selective properties of internally resonating structures, with the energy dissipation characteristics of their constituent material. The flexible ligaments, the circular nodes and the non-central interactions of the chiral topology lead to dynamic deformation patterns which are beneficial to energy dissipation. Furthermore, tuning and grading of the elements of the lattice allows for tailoring of the resonating properties so that vibration attenuation is obtained over desired frequency ranges. Numerical and experimental results demonstrate the tuning flexibility of this concept and suggest its potential application for load-carrying structural members parts of vibration and shock prone systems.
A collection of conversational AAC-like communications

We contribute a public test set of everyday conversational communications. The communications were written in response to ten hypothetical situations given to workers on the crowdsourcing site Amazon Mechanical Turk. After quality control, our public dataset consists of 1,506 unique communications. These communications can be used to help design and evaluate text-based predictive communication aids. The collection also provides a common public test set for research into predictive conversational text entry.
TU-C-351-07: Prospective Displacement and Velocity Based Cine 4D CT

Purpose: Existing 4D CT scans show artifacts in a large percentage of cases. Additional dose is also given to ensure redundancy in data to minimize artifacts. To solve this a Prospective Displacement and Velocity based (PDV CT) cine method for acquisition of 4D CTimages was developed. It is compared against retrospective methods for efficiency, dose, and accuracy. Effects of different model parameters are also illustrated. Method and Materials: With the PDV CT method, image acquisition is only performed if both displacement and velocity of the respiratory signal are within predetermined tolerances. Respiratory signals from a Varian Real Time Position Management (RPM) system for 24 patients (103 sessions) under free breathing conditions were used. To surmount system latency and enhance efficiency, a linear adaptive prediction algorithm was used. The root‐mean‐square of differences between displacements and velocities of the respiratory signal corresponding to subsequent images, were calculated in order to evaluate the accuracy of each method. Results: A reduction in patient dose during image acquisition between 22 – 50% was achieved depending on the parameters chosen. The mean root‐mean‐square difference show PDV CT produces similar results than retrospective displacement sorting in general, although differences ∼20% smaller was achieved for some parameters. Velocity RMS differences improved between 30% – 45% when compared to retrospective phase sorting. The efficiency in acquisition time compared to retrospective phase sorting varied from ∼10% for displacement and velocity tolerances of 1mm and 4mm/s, respectively, to 80% – 93% for 4mm and 4mm/s. Conclusion: The reduced variation in the displacement and velocity of the respiratory signal indicates that the PDV CT method described here, could be a valuable tool for reducing artifacts in 4D CTimages, and more importantly, substantial dose reduction to the patient, although the price may be acquisition time. Conflict‐of‐Interest: Research supported by 1P01CA116602.
Gene Therapy for the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease: The Nature of the Biologics Expands the Future Indications

The pharmaceutical industry's development of therapeutic medications for the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) endures, as a result of the continuing need for better agents, and the increased clinical demand due to the aging population. Each new drug offers advantages and disadvantages to patients when compared to other medical offerings or surgical options. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become a standard surgical remedy for the effective treatment of select patients with PD, for whom most drug regimens have failed or become refractory. Similar to DBS as a surgical option, gene therapy for the treatment of PD is evolving as a future option. In the four different PD gene therapy approaches that have reached clinical trials investigators have documented an excellent safety profile associated with the stereotactic delivery, viral vectors and doses utilized, and transgenes expressed. In this article, we review the clinically relevant gene therapy strategies for the treatment of PD, concentrating on the published preclinical and clinical results, and the likely mechanisms involved. Based on these presentations, we advance an analysis of how the nature of the gene therapy used may eventually expand the scope and utility for the management of PD.
Pharmacokinetics and Therapeutics of Acute Intramuscular Ziprasidone

Patients with acute psychosis often exhibit agitation, which can be distressing and hazardous to others as well as to the patient. In such psychiatric emergencies, intramuscular antipsychotic agents can be easier to administer than oral formulations, and they have the added advantage of more rapid absorption and a faster onset of action. However, intramuscular formulations of conventional antipsychotics, which have been the standard treatment, are associated with acute dystonia and other movement disorder-related adverse events. Ziprasidone is the first atypical antipsychotic to be clinically available in both intramuscular and oral formulations in the US. The intramuscular formulation of ziprasidone, ziprasidone mesylate, uses sulfobutylether β-cyclodextrin to solubilise the drug by complexation. The pharmacokinetics of intramuscular ziprasidone include rapid attainment of therapeutic drug level (time to reach peak serum concentration [tmax] ≤60 minutes postdose), a mean terminal elimination half-life ranging from 2 to 5 hours, bioavailability of approximately 100%, exposure to drug that increases in a dose-related manner and little drug accumulation even after 3 days of repeated intramuscular administration. The metabolism and elimination of intramuscular ziprasidone have not been extensively evaluated. The principal difference between any oral versus intramuscular formulations of a drug is in first-pass metabolism. Oral ziprasidone is eliminated mainly via the hepatic route and <1 % is eliminated in urine and <4% in faeces as unchanged drug. That would not be expected to change with the intramuscular route of administration. Low concentrations of ziprasidone are seen 12–18 hours after the last intramuscular injection. The rapid clearance of ziprasidone from plasma after an intramuscular administration results in little to no persistence of plasma drug level when switching from intramuscular to oral drug administration. No clinically significant age-, sex- or race-related effects on the pharmacokinetics of intramuscular or oral ziprasidone have been noted, and the tolerability and cardiovascular safety profiles of intramuscular ziprasidone have been well characterised in clinical trials.
The OmniTread OT-4 serpentine robot—design and performance

Serpentine robots are slender, multi-segmented vehicles designed to provide greater mobility than conventional mobile robots. Serpentine robots are ideally suited for urban search and rescue, military intelligence gathering, and inspection tasks in hazardous or inaccessible environments. One such serpentine robot, developed at the University of Michigan, is the “OmniTread OT-4.” The OT-4 comprises seven segments, which are linked to each other by six joints. The OT-4 can climb over obstacles that are much higher than the robot itself, propel itself inside pipes of different diameters, and traverse difficult terrain, such as rocks or the rubble of a collapsed structure. The foremost and unique design characteristic of the OT-4 is the use of pneumatic bellows to actuate the joints. The pneumatic bellows allow the simultaneous control of position and stiffness for each joint. Controllable stiffness is important in serpentine robots, which require stiff joints to cross gaps and compliant joints to conform to rough terrain for effective propulsion. Another unique feature of the OmniTread design is the coverage of all four sides of each segment with drive tracks. This design makes the robot indifferent to rollovers, which are bound to happen when the slender bodies of serpentine robots travel over rugged terrain. This paper describes the OmniTread concept and some of its technical features in some detail. In the Experiment Results Section, photographs of successful obstacle traverses illustrate the abilities of the OT-4. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Impedance spectroscopy: Models, data fitting, and analysis

Abstract First, several impedance spectroscopy models found useful for data fitting and interpretation of dielectric- and conductive-system frequency data are briefly summarized and compared. The first of these are the Kohlrausch KD model for dielectric-system response, representing the frequency response associated with stretched-exponential temporal response, and models appropriate for ionically conducting materials. These are the K0 model for fitting and analysis (equivalent to the KD model but applied to conducting situations), and its transform extensions: the original modulus formalism and the important corrected modulus formalism, both involving the basic K1 model, calculated from the K0 model. Also, several approaches to describing and fitting two types of nearly-constant-loss effects in conductive-systems are compared. Finally, previously unpublished comparisons and evaluations of several coupling models and the cutoff model are presented and show that the results of the coupling models are inconsistent and lead to physically implausible high-temperature response. The cutoff model does not suffer from these deficiencies, and, as well, its physical basis is simpler than that of the coupling models. It is concluded, on the basis of both experimental and synthetic data fitting, that for conductive-system situations the corrected modulus formalism approach, with a temperature- and ionic-concentration-independent fractional exponent, β1C ≅ 1 / 3, is the most appropriate model for representing the hopping response of homogeneous materials; an effective-medium nearly-constant-loss model describes such experimental loss data well; and the cutoff model, appropriate in both the time and the frequency domains, should replace all coupling models.
Nanostructured Cobalt Oxide Clusters in Mesoporous Silica as Efficient Oxygen‐Evolving Catalysts

Light, inexpensive, effective: Nanostructured Co(3)O(4) clusters (see picture) in mesoporous silica are the first example of a nanometer-sized multielectron catalyst made of a first-row transition-metal oxide that evolves oxygen from water efficiently. The nanorod bundle structure of the catalyst results in a very large surface area, an important factor contributing to the high turnover frequency.
Amino Acid Transport in Insects

Most insect cell membranes seem to contain uniporters that facilitate the diffusion of amino acids into and out of the cells. In addition to these passive diffusion systems, all but one of the insect tissues studied to date seem to contain at least one amino acid-cation symport system that allows their cells to accumulate certain amino acids from the extracellular medium. cDNAs encoding three such symporters have very recently been cloned and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence of each insect symporter was determined to be homologous to that of symporters mediating the transport of the same or related substrates in mammalian tissues.
A MSD-HMM Approach to Pen Trajectory Modeling for Online Handwriting Recognition

In modeling online handwritten characters, imaginary strokes have been conveniently generated by connecting adjacent real strokes together to form a continuous trajectory. However, this approach causes confusions among characters with similar but actually different trajectories. In this paper, we propose to use multi-space probability distribution (MSD) to model imaginary strokes jointly with real strokes. With the proposed MSD, real and imaginary strokes become observations from different probability spaces and they are modeled stochastically. Also, the flexibility in MSD to assign different feature dimensions to each individual space enables us to ignore certain features that can cause singularity problem in modeling. Experimental results obtained in handwritten Chinese character recognition indicate MSD provides 1.3%-2.8% character recognition accuracy improvement across different recognition systems where MSD significantly improves discrimination among confusable characters with similar trajectories.
Asthma screening, case identification and treatment in school-based programs.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Asthma is an important health problem in school-aged children and schools seem an obvious site to find and work with under-recognized and under-treated asthma. Teachers and coaches often must deal with asthma-related symptoms or emergencies requiring knowledge, skills, and written plans and policies. In 2005, school-based asthma work focused on two areas: identification of unrecognized asthma and management of under-treated asthma. RECENT FINDINGS Effective school-based screening requires a simple, effective screening tool. Three new asthma screening tools continue to identify more false-positive than true positive cases of asthma. Public health experts question whether asthma even fits the usual criteria for 'screening' because it does not have an asymptomatic phase. 'Case-finding' is presented as a better use of resources, allowing schools to focus on children with asthma that has been diagnosed but remains symptomatic. No school-based program based on letters, reminders, or recommendations sent to parents or community physicians changed asthma care. Three reports describe programs designed to supplement usual asthma care by providing in-school interventions, but none appeared ready for implementation in all schools in the USA. A major barrier was the continuing lack of school nurses, who must have asthma-related education and medical support to provide school-based asthma management. SUMMARY Schools continue to be a site for asthma interventions but few of the programs, even the most intensive, influence children's asthma-related health. Most programs require modifications and further evaluation, and all require careful assessment of the burden on schools.
Multi-agent differential graphical games: Online adaptive learning solution for synchronization with optimality

Multi-agent systems arise in several domains of engineering and can be used to solve problems which are difficult for an individual agent to solve. Strategies for team decision problems, including optimal control, N-player games (H-infinity control and non-zero sum), and so on are normally solved for off-line by solving associated matrix equations such as the coupled Riccati equations or coupled Hamilton-Jacobi equations. However, using that approach players cannot change their objectives online in real time without calling for a completely new off-line solution for the new strategies. Therefore, in this paper we bring together cooperative control, reinforcement learning, and game theory to present a multi-agent formulation for the online solution of team games. The notion of graphical games is developed for dynamical systems, where the dynamics and performance indices for each node depend only on local neighbor information. It is shown that standard definitions for Nash equilibrium are not sufficient for graphical games and a new definition of ''Interactive Nash Equilibrium'' is given. We give a cooperative policy iteration algorithm for graphical games that converges to the best response when the neighbors of each agent do not update their policies, and to the cooperative Nash equilibrium when all agents update their policies simultaneously. This is used to develop methods for online adaptive learning solutions of graphical games in real time along with proofs of stability and convergence.
Current and Emerging Pharmacological Treatments for Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumour

Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) are the most common mesenchymal tumours of the gastrointestinal tract, previously classified as leiomyosarcomas. Most GIST express KIT and the majority have mutations in the KIT gene. The most common KIT mutation occurs in the juxtamembrane domain of exon 11. These mutations lead to cellular proliferation and survival. GIST with exon 11 mutations respond better to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) than those with exon 9 mutations. Most KIT-negative GIST express platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGFR)-α; however, a small percentage of GIST are negative for both KIT and PDGFRα. Imatinib and other TKIs have dramatically improved the outcome of patients with metastatic GIST. Newer and more advanced TKIs are under intense investigation as eventually all GIST patients develop resistant tumours. In addition, these drugs can be utilized in the preoperative setting for patients with unresectable localized tumours or those at high risk for surgical morbidity. TKIs have been given in the adjuvant setting for patients with resected tumours at high risk for recurrence. The duration of adjuvant therapy is currently under evaluation; however, it is possible that these patients would need to continue therapy indefinitely.
Flocking with obstacle avoidance: cooperation with limited communication in mobile networks

In this paper, we provide a dynamic graph theoretic framework for flocking in presence of multiple obstacles. In particular, we give formal definitions of nets and flocks as spatially induced graphs and define flocking. We introduce the notion of framenets and describe a procedure for automatic construction of an energy function for groups of agents. The task of flocking is achieved via dissipation of this energy according to a protocol that only requires the use of local information. We show that all three rules of Reynolds are hidden in this single protocol. Three types of agents called /spl alpha/, /spl beta/, and /spl gamma/ agents are used to create flocking. Simulation results are provided that demonstrate flocking by 100 dynamic agents.