cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Bayesian Approach to Automated Creation of Tactile Facial Images

Portrait photos (facial images) play important social and emotional roles in our life. This type of visual media is unfortunately inaccessible by users with visual impairment. This paper proposes a systematic approach for automatically converting human facial images into a tactile form that can be printed on a tactile printer and explored by a user who is blind. We propose a deformable Bayesian Active Shape Model (BASM), which integrates anthropometric priors with shape and appearance information learnt from a face dataset. We design an inference algorithm under this model for processing new face images to create an input-adaptive face sketch. Further, the model is enhanced by input-specific details through semantic-aware processing. We report experiments on evaluating the accuracy of face alignment using the proposed method, with comparison with other state-of-the-art results. Furthermore, subjective evaluations of the produced tactile face images were performed by 17 persons including six visually-impaired users, confirming the effectiveness of the proposed approach in conveying via haptics vital visual information in a face image.
Robust Bayesian mixture modelling

Bayesian approaches to density estimation and clustering using mixture distributions allow the automatic determination of the number of components in the mixture. Previous treatments have focussed on mixtures having Gaussian components, but these are well known to be sensitive to outliers, which can lead to excessive sensitivity to small numbers of data points and consequent over-estimates of the number of components. In this paper we develop a Bayesian approach to mixture modelling based on Student-t distributions, which are heavier tailed than Gaussians and hence more robust. By expressing the Student-t distribution as a marginalization over additional latent variables we are able to derive a tractable variational inference algorithm for this model, which includes Gaussian mixtures as a special case. Results on a variety of real data sets demonstrate the improved robustness of our approach.
English Garden or Tangled Grounds? Navigating the Nanotechnology Patent Landscape

The patent landscape, like a garden, can tell you much about its designers and users; their motivations, biases and general interests. And while both patent landscapes and gardens may appear to the casual observer as refined and ordered, an in depth exploration of the terrain is likely to reveal unforeseen challenges including, for example, alien species, thickets and trolls. As this article illustrates, patent landscapes are dynamic and have been forced to continually evolve in response to technological innovation. Emerging technologies, such as biotechnology and information communication technology, have challenged the traditional patent landscape, the overarching framework and design has largely remained intact. But will this always be the case? The aim of this article is to highlight how nanotechnology is challenging the existing structures and underlying foundation of the patent landscape and the implications thereof for the technology, industry and the public more generally. The article concludes by asking the question whether the patent landscape will be able to withstand the ubiquitous nature of the technology, or whether nanotechnology will be a catalyst for governments and policy makers to overhaul the current landscape design. In the end, we suggest that nanotechnology may be the final push for cross-national harmonization of patent laws and administration.
Mapping the Decision-Making Process for Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy for Breast Cancer: The Role of Decisional Resolve

Background. Studies show adjuvant endocrine therapy increases survival and decreases risk of breast cancer recurrence for hormone receptor–positive tumors. Yet studies also suggest that adherence rates among women taking this therapy may be as low as 50% owing largely to adverse side effects. Despite these rates, research on longitudinal patient decision making regarding this therapy is scant. Objective. We sought to map the decision-making process for women considering and initiating adjuvant endocrine therapy, paying particular attention to patterns of uncertainty and decisional change over time. Methods. A longitudinal series of semistructured interviews conducted at a multispecialty health care organization in Northern California with 35 newly diagnosed patients eligible for adjuvant endocrine therapy were analyzed. Analysis led to the identification and indexing of 3 new decision-making constructs—decisional phase, decisional direction, and decisional resolve—which were then organized using a visual ...
Strategies for the nurse executive to keep the rural hospitals open

Rural hospitals are confronted with multiple challenges to survive in the competitive health care environment of today's world. Declining population, corporate mergers and downsizing, transportation, cost of technology, and health manpower shortages are only a few of the issues rural hospitals must be prepared to address in order to survive. Federal- and state-administered programs are available that can contribute to the survival of the rural hospital. The nurse executive has a key role in contributing to the planning, development, and implementation of survival strategies.
Carving intracrater layered deposits with wind on Mars

Crater basins on Mars host thick sedimentary sequences, which record the environments of early Mars. These basin fills commonly exhibit mound morphologies thought to arise from aeolian erosion of initially crater filling strata. This study presents transport-based models explaining how mounds could be carved by wind. Wind tunnel experiments generated morphologies similar to those observed on Mars, and numerical modeling of flow over a crater using large-eddy simulation (LES) demonstrated a positive feedback between topographic focusing of flow and erosion potential. Observations of yardangs, dunes, and wind streaks, all proxies for wind direction, largely agree with model results. Where mound strata origins have been interpreted, basal subaqueous deposits are overlain by aeolian deposits. This stratigraphic progression, culminating in wind-driven excavation, is consistent with a global desiccation event. The occurrence of sedimentary mounds only on Noachian terrain argues that this event was related to late Noachian climatic change.
An Optical Communications Pathfinder for the Next Generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellite

This paper provides an overview of NASA's Laser Communications Relay Demonstration Project (LCRD), a joint project between NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), the Jet Propulsion Laboratory California Institute of Technology (JPL), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory (MIT LL). LCRD will provide a minimum of two years of high data rate optical communications services in geosynchronous orbit (GEO), demonstrating how optical communications can meet NASA’s and other agencies’ growing need for higher data rates. Two optical communications terminals will be flown on a SSL commercial communications satellite in GEO to be launched no earlier than December 2017, and will demonstrate a technology critical for NASA’s Next Generation Tracking and Data Relay Satellite. This paper will discuss the results of the recent Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration, describe the remaining challenges for an optical relay network, and discuss how the LCRD mission will be a pathfinder for that future system.
Transplacental maternal engraftment and posttransplantation graft-versus-host disease in children with severe combined immunodeficiency

Background Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Transplacental maternal engraftment (TME), the presence of maternal T cells in peripheral blood before transplantation, is detectable in a significant proportion of patients with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID). Although the presence of TME is associated with a decreased risk of rejecting a maternal graft, it is unknown whether TME plays a role in development of GVHD after HSCT. Objective The purpose of this study was to determine whether the presence of pretransplantation TME is associated with posttransplantation GVHD in patients with SCID. Methods This was an institutional retrospective review of 74 patients with SCID undergoing transplantation between 1988 and 2014. The incidence of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) was compared in patients with versus those without TME. Confounding variables, such as donor type and conditioning regimen, were included in a multivariate regression model. Results TME was identified in 35 of 74 children. Post-HSCT aGVHD developed with an incidence of 57.1% versus 17.9% in those without TME ( P P = .006 and relative risk, 1.42, P = .02, respectively). Conclusion TME independently predicts the development of posttransplantation aGVHD, even when controlling for donor type and conditioning used. The presence of TME should be considered when assessing the risk of aGVHD in patients with SCID and designing the approach for GVHD prophylaxis.
Helen’s semiotic body: ancient and modern representations

The paper draws on theoretical work on the representation of the female body as an object of the male gaze in modern narrative, in order to decode and analyze Helen’s portrayal as a physical vacuum in ancient literature. I argue that the negation of Helen’s corporeality emphasizes the semiotic duality of her body, allowing it to be deployed both as a sign and as a site for the inscription of signs. The paper, then, proceeds to show how Helen’s Iliadic depiction has provided the eighteenth-century philosopher Edmund Burke with a rhetorical platform upon which to theorize the aesthetic dichotomy between the beautiful and the sublime. I close my analysis by illustrating how the eclecticism, compromises, and pastiches that inform Helen’s cinematic recreations find a parallel in, and thus perpetuate, ancient pictorial techniques.
Asymmetry and International Relationships

Power is real, but it does not always prevail. This book explores how disparity structures international relationships. Beginning at the bilateral level, the relationship between the smaller side and the larger side can be normal as long as the smaller does not feel threatened and the larger can assume that its capabilities are respected. However, the smaller can be tempted to brinksmanship, while the larger can be tempted to bully. Asymmetric conflicts are often stalemated because the limited commitment of the larger side is met by the smaller's mortal resistance. In multilateral situations, asymmetry shapes patterns of uncertainty and attention. In global systems, how hegemons treat their subjects is the unobserved sand shifting beneath their feet as they look toward their challenger. Since 2008, the US has retained primacy but not dominance. The management of asymmetric relationships in a multinodal world will determine how power matters in the current era.
An alternative empirical likelihood method in missing response problems and causal inference

Missing responses are common problems in medical, social, and economic studies. When responses are missing at random, a complete case data analysis may result in biases. A popular debias method is inverse probability weighting proposed by Horvitz and Thompson. To improve efficiency, Robins et al. proposed an augmented inverse probability weighting method. The augmented inverse probability weighting estimator has a double-robustness property and achieves the semiparametric efficiency lower bound when the regression model and propensity score model are both correctly specified. In this paper, we introduce an empirical likelihood-based estimator as an alternative to Qin and Zhang (2007). Our proposed estimator is also doubly robust and locally efficient. Simulation results show that the proposed estimator has better performance when the propensity score is correctly modeled. Moreover, the proposed method can be applied in the estimation of average treatment effect in observational causal inferences. Finally, we apply our method to an observational study of smoking, using data from the Cardiovascular Outcomes in Renal Atherosclerotic Lesions clinical trial. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Microbiological Quality of Crabmeat During Processing.

Duplicate samples of crab and crabmeat (body meat and claw meat) were collected four times a day for two consecutive days at seven in-line locations (plus finished product claw and body meat) along the processing lines of 47 crabmeat plants located along the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the United States. All the plants adhered to Good Manufacturing Practice, as determined by visual inspection. Two sanitation inspections and sample collections were conducted at 5-month intervals to reflect seasonal variation. In all, 8,477 in-line samples and 2,459 finished product units of blue crab and crabmeat and 522 in-line samples and 128 finished product units of red crab and Maine crab and crabmeat were analyzed microbiologically. Geometric mean aerobic plate count at 35°C (APC 35) values increased from 1,200 CFU/g before pick to 20,000 CFU/g in the finished product (body meat). For claw meat, APC 35 values increased from 15,000 CFU/g before pick to 24,000 CFU/g in the finished product. Aerobic plate count at 30°C (APC 30) values were consistently higher (2-fold or less) than APC 35 values. Coliform counts in both finished products were ≥19/g in approximately 60% of the units. Coliforms exceeded 500/g in 3.8 and 3.2% of the finished product units for body meat and claw meat, respectively. Geometric mean Escherichia coli counts were 100/g. S. aureus counts increased significantly after picking.
The demands of recognition: state anthropology and ethnopolitics in Darjeeling

Townsend Middleton’s The Demands of Recognition is an invitation to think through the everyday dilemmas of ethnic minorities as well as the state anthropologists who certify them as ‘scheduled trib...
How to Image the Velopharyngeal Portal

In order to determine the best method of imaging the velopharyngeal portal so as to appreciate the interrelationships of palatal and pharyngeal wall movements during speech, one must consider the purposes of the examination: First is the desire to image the velopharyngeal (VP) portal; second, the desire to image the portal in motion; third, the desire to image it while simultaneously recording the patient’s speech. If the method of imaging the VP portal does not satisfy all three of these requirements, the study will give less than adequate diagnostic information and inappropriate therapeutic decisions may result.
On a Possible Giant Impact Origin for the Colorado Plateau

It is proposed and substantiated that an extraterrestrial object of the approximate size and mass of Planet Mars, impacting the Earth in grazing incidence along an approximately N-NE to S-SW route with respect to the current orientation of the North America continent, at about 750 million years ago (750 Ma), is likely to be the direct cause of a chain of events which led to the rifting of the Rodinia supercontinent and the severing of the foundation of the Colorado Plateau from its surrounding craton. It is further argued that the impactor was most likely a rogue exoplanet, which originated from one of the past crossings of our Solar System through the Galactic spiral arms, during the Sun's orbital motion around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. New advances in galactic dynamics have shown that the sites of galactic spiral arms are locations of density-wave collisionless shocks. The perturbations from such shocks are known to lead to the formation of massive stars, which evolve quickly and die as supernovae. The blastwaves from supernova explosions, in addition to the spiral-arm collisionless shocks themselves, could perturb the orbits of the streaming disk matter, occasionally producing rogue exoplanets that can reach the inner confines of our Solar System. The similarity of the period of spiral-arm crossings of our Solar System, with the approximate period of major extinction events in the Phanerozoic Eon of the Earth's history, as well as with the (half) period of the supercontinent cycle, indicates that the global environment of the Milky Way Galaxy may have played a major role in initiating Earth's tectonic activities.
EMERGEncy ID NET: Review of a 20-Year Multisite Emergency Department Emerging Infections Research Network

As providers of frontline clinical care for patients with acute and potentially life-threatening infections, emergency departments (EDs) have the priorities of saving lives and providing care quickly and efficiently. Although these facilities see a diversity of patients 24 hours per day and can collect prospective data in real time, their ability to conduct timely research on infectious syndromes is not well recognized. EMERGEncy ID NET is a national network that demonstrates that EDs can also collect data and conduct research in real time. This network collaborates with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other partners to study and address a wide range of infectious diseases and clinical syndromes. In this paper, we review selected highlights of EMERGEncy ID NET's history from 1995 to 2017. We focus on the establishment of this multisite research network and the network's collaborative research on a wide range of ED clinical topics.
86 – Series Solution*

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses series solution applicable to homogeneous linear ordinary differential equations. If an infinite series is substituted into a linear equation, the different coefficients may be matched to obtain recurrences for the coefficients of the series; solving these recurrences results in an explicit solution. In the procedure, for a homogeneous linear second-order ordinary differential equation in the form y“ + P(x)y' + Q(x)y = 0, a series solution is searched around the point x = 0. An expansion about any other point, x0, could be determined by changing the independent variable to t = x − x0, and then analyzing the resulting equation near t = 0. The chapter highlights that when the given linear ordinary differential equation has an irregular singular point, then series solutions are difficult to obtain and they may be slowly convergent. Often, the WKB method is used to approximate the solution near an irregular singular point.
Reovirus σ3 Protein: dsRNA Binding and Inhibition of RNA-Activated Protein Kinase

The interferon-inducible, double-stranded (ds)RNA-activated protein kinase PKR is clearly an important mediator of interferon action and has also been implicated in the induction of apoptosis (Lee and Esteban 1994; Kibler et al. 1997) and in the inhibition of cellular protein synthesis in virus-infected cells. Much of the compelling evidence for the role of PKR in virus replication has come from the study of viruses such as reovirus that encode inhibitors of PKR. This review will discuss the genetic and biochemical data suggesting that reovirus σ3 protein, acting as a dsRNA-binding protein, functions as an inhibitor of PKR.
Heterogeneous Efficiencies of mRNA Translation in Human Mitochondria

The recently completed elucidation of the informational content of the human mitochondrial genome (Chomyn et al., 1986), taken as a prototype of all mammalian mitochondrial genomes, has set the stage for an analysis of the mechanisms and regulation of gene expression in this system. The well established mode of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) transcription and RNA processing in mammalian mitochondria (Ojala et al., 1981), while admirable in its simplicity and economy, raises questions as concerns the mechanisms which control the differential expression of mitochondrial genes. In particular, one would like to know how the regulation of the steady state amounts of the different RNA species is achieved in a genome where both strands are transcribed in the form of polycistronic molecules comprising rRNA, mRNA and tRNA sequences (Fig. 1). Furthermore, one can ask whether, in addition to a control at the transcriptional and RNA processing levels, there is also a control at the translational level.
Cryptic plasmid in Bacillus pumilus ATCC 7065.

Abstract Approximately 2% of the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) extracted from Bacillus pumilus ATCC 7065 can be isolated as covalently closed, circular duplex molecules. The 7065 plasmid-like DNA appears homogeneous with respect to size and has a molecular weight of approximately 6 million daltons. A biological function for this circular DNA element has not been determined.
An On-Line Method of Transfer Function Analysis in EBR-II

An on-line digital data reduction method has been adopted at Experimental Breeder Reactor II for transfer function analyses of reactor stability. Adoption of this system has decreased the time requ...
Simulation in Nursing

High-fidelity patient simulation is utilized in a variety of ways in the nursing profession. While simulation was slow to enter nursing education, beginning late in the 1990s, simulation use took even longer to reach the nurses already practicing in healthcare environments. Growth has steadily increased, though many nurses and nursing students still lack exposure to this valuable teaching strategy. As with most technological advances, the cost of patient simulators has decreased over the past decade. Initial use of patient simulators, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, for nursing education occurred as the result of grant programs and visionary leaders. There are still challenges to full integration, such as cost, human resources, and training needs; however, the value is appreciated and the benefits are beginning to outweigh the challenges. It is vital that administrators and simulation enthusiasts continue to promote the effective use of simulation and provide the leadership to integrate this teaching methodology into the entire curriculum. Further research needs to be undertaken to identify the impact various conceptual areas have on learning outcomes as well as how learning with simulation impacts patient care and safety.
Association between Continuity and Team-Based Care and Health Care Utilization: An Observational Study of Medicare-Eligible Veterans in VA Patient Aligned Care Team.

OBJECTIVE It remains unknown whether high-functioning teams can compensate for poor continuity of care to support important patient outcomes. DATA SOURCE Linked VA administrative and Medicare claims data to measure the relationship of team-based care and continuity of care with high-cost utilization. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study of 1.2 million VA-Medicare dual eligible Veterans assigned to a VA primary care provider (PCP) in 2012. Continuity was the proportion of primary care visits to the assigned VA provider of care. Clinics were categorized as low, average, or high-team functioning based on survey data. Our primary outcomes were the number of all-cause hospitalizations, ambulatory care sensitive (ACSC) hospitalizations, and emergency department (ED) visits in 2013. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A 10-percentage point increase in continuity with a VA PCP was associated with 4.5 fewer hospitalizations (p < .001), 3.2 fewer ACSC hospitalizations (p < .001), and 2.6 more ED visits (p = .07) per 1,000 patients. Team-based care was not significantly associated with any high-cost utilization category. Associations were heterogeneous across VA-reliant and nonreliant Veterans. Finally, the interaction results demonstrated that the quality of team-based care functioning could not compensate for poor continuity on hospitalizations, ACSC hospitalizations, or ED visits. CONCLUSIONS In Veterans who were reliant on the VA for services, increasing continuity with a VA PCP and high-functioning team-based care clinics was associated with fewer ED visits and hospitalizations. Furthermore, leveraging combined data from VA and Medicare allowed to better measure continuity and assess high-cost utilization among Veterans who are and are not reliant on the VA for services.
Real-Time Streaming Application for IoT Using Raspberry Pi and Handheld Devices

Internet of Things (IoT) is in the spotlight because its applications positively impact everyday quality of life. This study aims to develop a cost-effective solution to real time video streaming by using a low-cost ARM (Advanced RISC Machines)-based computer, i.e. Raspberry Pi (RPi). We developed a simple streaming server written in Java that runs efficiently on the RPi and showed that the RPi can support streaming services to multiple devices at once. We also developed a light-weight android application that the server can stream to. The client and server communicate via JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). We divided high quality video into image files with the jpg format, into packets and then transmitted them to multiple handheld devices simultaneously. We conclude that our system anchored in a low-cost ARM-based computer can retain quality of service (QoS) regarding video streaming to multiple handheld devices.
Democratic elections in faulty distributed systems

In this paper, we show that for elections in distributed systems the conversion from non-binary choices to binary choices does not always provide optimal results when the preferences of nodes are not identical. With this observation, we study the problem of conducting democratic elections in distributed systems in the form of social choice and social welfare functions with three or more candidates. We present some impossibility and possibility results for distributed democratic elections in presence of Byzantine behavior. We also discuss some existing election schemes, and present a new approach that attempts to mitigate the effects of Byzantine votes. We analyze the performance of these schemes through simulations to compare their efficacy in producing the most desirable social welfare rankings.
Preparing College Students for the End of Work: The Role of Meaning

This article explores the complex future of work and how projected changes in the workplace will inevitably influence college students. We examine workforce trends and predictions with a focus on t...
Undergraduate Student Perspectives on Textbook Costs and Implications for Academic Success

To provide more affordable course content to our students and faculty, local data on how students perceive textbook expenses and how the costs impact student success would be necessary in order to advocate to faculty and other stakeholders. This survey, conducted at a mid-sized research public institution, aims to explore student perceptions of textbooks and how these perceptions influence academic success. The results reveal that students feel that the cost of required textbooks is unreasonable and that students are more likely to purchase required textbooks for in-major classes than for elective or general education courses. The most common means of reducing costs are purchasing from a vendor other than the campus bookstore, renting, or sharing books with classmates. Implications for academic success included not purchasing required textbooks or withdrawing from a course due to not having the materials. Students whose majors are housed in the College of Business have the highest textbook costs.
Identity and Information in Organizations

Identity, reputation, and culture represent ways to understand why organizations with similar structures and memberships nevertheless behave differently. While a large body of work has advanced our understanding of the effects of formal institutional details such as delegation, hierarchy, transparency, and oversight on organizational behavior, less attention has been paid to informal institutional details such as shared mission, professionalism, and other bases of organizational identity. We present a theory of organizational decision-making that incorporates organizational identity in the form of "mission." The degree to which individuals will be motivated to adopt their organization's mission will be influenced by both the preferences of others within, and the structure of, the organization. Thus, we provide a theory of endogenous preferences within organizations that incorporates features of both formal and informal institutions.
Thinking like a Linguist: An Introduction to the Science of Language

This is an engaging introduction to the study of language for undergraduate or beginning graduate students, aimed especially at those who would like to continue further linguistic study. It introduces students to analytical thinking about language, but goes beyond existing texts to show what it means to think like a scientist about language, through the exploration of data and interactive problem sets. A key feature of this text is its flexibility. With its focus on foundational areas of linguistics and scientific analysis, it can be used in a variety of course types, with instructors using it alongside other information or texts as appropriate for their own courses of study. The text can also serve as a supplementary text in other related fields (Speech and Hearing Sciences, Psychology, Education, Computer Science, Anthropology, and others) to help learners in these areas better understand how linguists think about and work with language data. No prerequisites are necessary. While each chapter often references content from the others, the three central chapters on sound, structure, and meaning, may be used in any order.
Training the Next Generation of Obstetrics and Gynecology Leaders, A Multi-Institutional Needs Assessment.

OBJECTIVE To assess resident and faculty interest in, as well as content and preferred format for, a leadership curriculum during obstetrics and gynecology residency DESIGN: From June to July 2019, a needs assessment survey on leadership training was distributed to residents and academic faculty at 3 United States obstetrics and gynecology residency programs. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed. Open ended questions were analyzed for themes. SETTING Three ob/gyn residency programs across the United States: Kaiser Permanente East Bay in Oakland, California, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, New York. PARTICIPANTS Surveys were distributed to all residents (n = 111) and affiliated academic faculty (n = 124) at each of the 3 participating sites. RESULTS Resident response rate was 71% (79/111) and faculty rate was 63% (78/124). Postgraduate year (PGY) 1 residents were more likely to believe there was sufficient leadership training during residency (17/23, 74%) compared to PGY 2-4s (16/56, 29%) and faculty (20/76, 26%; p < 0.01). Most residents (66/79, 84%) and faculty (74/78, 82%) expressed that residents would benefit from a leadership curriculum. Both deemed small group exercises and leadership case studies taught by physicians were the preferred format for this curriculum. Residents and faculty agreed on 3 of the top 4 topics for a leadership curriculum - effective communication, team management, and time management - while residents chose self-awareness and faculty chose professionalism as the fourth of their top domains. Open-ended survey questions revealed that leadership demands in obstetrics and gynecology are similar to other specialties but differ in emphasis on crisis management, situational awareness, and advocacy training. CONCLUSIONS Given unique aspects of leadership within the specialty, obstetrics and gynecology residents and faculty see benefit for specialty-specific formalized leadership training.
Politicians Are Not Technologists: Technologists Are Not Politicians

The view that there are too few engineers in the legislative branch of government is confirmed. It is argued that the lack of scientists and engineers in elected public offices creates an imbalance of professional perspectives which will affect decision making on public policy on technological issues ranging from engineering education to advanced weapons systems. It is also shown, however, that the interplay between society and technology is gradually becoming more balanced.
Elementary Steps in the Nucleophilic Addition of Amines to Olefins

Nucleophilic addition of amines to olefins which are activated by electron withdrawing substituents occurs readily in aqueous dimethylsulfoxide. The reaction comprises two steps: (1) nucleophilic addition to form a zwitterionic complex; (2) removal of the ammonio proton of the zwitterion by a base. In most cases the first step is rate limiting but in some cases proton transfer is rate limiting. The latter situation prevails either when the reverse of the nucleophilic attack step is very rapid, as in the reaction of morpholine with benzylidenemalononitrile, or when the rate of proton transfer is depressed by a steric effect, as in the reaction of morpholine with 1,1-dinitro-2,2-diphenylethylene. The steric effects in this latter system are among the most dramatic ones reported to date. Our data also show that the kinetic barrier to nucleophilic attack is substantially higher for nitro than for cyano activated olefins. This effect seems to be related to the well known fact that proton transfers involving nitro activated carbon acids are much slower than those of cyano activated carbon acids.
Reducing the computational demands of medical monitoring classifiers by examining less data

Instrumenting patients with small, wearable sensors will enable physicians to continuously monitor patients outside the hospital. These devices can be used for real-time classification of the data they collect. For practical purposes, such devices must be comfortable and thus be powered by small batteries. Since classification algorithms often perform energy-intensive signal analysis, power management techniques are needed to achieve reasonable battery lifetimes. In this thesis, we describe software-based methods that reduce the computation, and thus, energy consumption of real-time medical monitoring algorithms by examining less data. Though discarding data can degrade classification performance, we show that the degradation can be small. We describe and evaluate data reduction methods based on duty cycling, sensor selection, and combinations of the two. Random duty cycling was applied to an online algorithm that performs risk assessment of patients with a recent acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We modified an existing algorithm that estimates the risk of cardiovascular death following ACS. By randomly discarding roughly 40% of the data, we reduced energy consumption by 40%. The percentage of patients who had a change in their risk classification was 3%. A sensor selection method was used to modify an existing machine learning based algorithm for constructing multi-channel, patient-specific, delay-sensitive seizure onset detectors. Using this method, we automatically generated detectors that used roughly 60% fewer channels than the original detector. The reduced channel detectors missed seven seizures out of 143 total seizures while the original detector missed four. The median detection latency increased slightly from 6.0 to 7.0 seconds, while the average false alarms per hour increased from 0.07 to 0.11. Finally, we investigated the impact of approaches that combine duty cycling with sensor selection on the energy consumption and detection performance of the seizure onset detection algorithm. In one approach, where we combined two reduced channel detectors to form a single detector, we reduced energy consumption by an additional 20% over the reduced channel detectors. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm. 14-0551, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Ph. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Shade effects on forage crops with potential in temperate agroforestry practices

Thirty forages, including eight introduced cool-season grasses, four native warm-season grasses, one introduced warm-season grass, eight introduced cool-season legumes, five native warm-season legumes, and four introduced warm-season legumes, were grown in 7.6 L (two gallon) pots in full sun, 50%, and 80% shade created by shade cloth over a greenhouse frame. Experiments were conducted during summer--fall 1994, spring--early summer 1995, and summer--fall 1995. A complete randomized experimental design was used and above ground dry weight was measured in each shade environment. Tukey's studentized range test was used to compare mean dry weights (MDW) within a species. Warm-season grasses displayed significant reductions in MDW under shade regardless of growing season. All cool-season forages grown during spring--early summer showed a decrease in MDW under shade; however, the reductions in dry weights of ‘Benchmark’ and ‘Justus’ orchardgrass, ‘KY 31’ tall fescue, Desmodium canescens and D. paniculatum were not significant under 50% shade. Cool-season grasses showed more shade tolerance when grown during the summer--fall than when grown during the spring--early summer. Seven of the selected cool-season grasses grown during the summer--fall did not display significant reductions in MDW under 50% shade as compared to full sun. Smooth bromegrass grown under 50% shade showed a significantly increased MDW production compared to growth in full sun. With the exception of Justus orchardgrass and smooth bromegrass, growth of cool-season grasses was inhibited at 80% shade. Among the legumes harvested during the fall, the dry weights of both Desmodium species tested and hog peanut (Amphicarpaea bracteata L.) increased significantly under 50% and 80% shade. In addition, ‘Cody’ alfalfa, white clover, slender lespedeza and ‘Kobe’ lespedeza showed no significant reductions in MDW under 50% shade.
MAXIMAL ENTROPY PERMUTATIONS OF EVEN SIZE

The entropy of a permutation is the least topological entropy of any continuous interval map having an invariant set which is shuffled according to the permutation. For each k, we identify the maximal entropy permutations of size 2k.
Granular Computing and Rough Set Theory

Granulation plays an essential role in human cognition and has a position of centrality in both granular computing and rough set theory. Informally, granulation involves partitioning of an object into granules, with a granule being a clump of elements drawn together by indistinguishability, equivalence, similarity, proximity or functionality. For example, an interval is a granule; so is a fuzzy interval; so is a gaussian distribution; so is a cluster of points; and so is an equivalence class in rough set theory. A granular variable is a variable which takes granules as values. If Gis value of X, then Gis referred to as a granular value of X. If Gis a singleton, then Gis a singular value of X. A linguistic variable is a granular variable whose values are labeled with words drawn from a natural language. For example, if Xis temperature, then 101.3 is a singular value of temperature, while "high" is a granular (linguistic) value of temperature.
Concentration-dependent oxygen diffusivity in YBa2Cu3O6+x: II. Oxygen partial pressure studies

Abstract Electrical resistance measurements were used to determine the equilibrium resistivity characteristics and the oxygen diffusion behavior in YBa2Cu3O6+x (YBCO) as a function of oxygen partial pressure at temperatures ranging from 450–850°C. The equilibrium resistivity values depended on the oxygen partial pressures as n = ϑLog ϱ/ϑLog[P(O2)], where n ranged from approximately − 1 6 up to − 1 2 from low to high temperatures. A clear p-type to n-type transition was observed near 750°C for an oxygen content of 6.1 (x = 0.1). Values of the oxygen exponent, n, for single crystal YBCO at 650°C and 708°C were similar to those for polycrystalline specimens. Measurements of the time-dependent resistivity behavior between different oxygen partial pressures yielded diffusion kinetics between well-established boundary values of the oxygen content, x. In single crystal specimens, the chemical diffusivity for oxygen in-diffusion was observed to increase with decreasing oxygen content. The kinetic data for the polycrystalline specimens between 450–850°C also depended on the oxygen concentration; however, the temperature dependence was non-Arrhenius.
Estrogen formation in the brain

Abstract Diverse observations that androgens could be converted to estrogens in extraglandular sites, that only aromatizable androgens produce effects similar to those of estrogens at the central level, and that estrogens and androgens are localized in the same neuronal areas of the brain with a pattern that favors estradiol with respect to nuclear uptake all led to the search for and ultimate finding that androgens can be aromatized in specific areas of the brain. The reaction seems to be influenced by the hormonal state of the animal, occurs in all species thus far tested, and may represent one mechanism for androgen action in the central nervous system.
DPN- and TPN-17β-Hydroxy-C19-Steroid Dehydrogenase Activities in Skeletal Muscles1

Homogenates of the gastrocnemius muscle of the rat, dog and guinea pig and the temporal muscle of the guinea pig converted testosterone to androstenedione. The dehydrogenase activity was enhanced by the addition of either DPN or TPN. The greatest enhancement occurred on the addition of DPN to the dog gastrocnemius system. (Endocrinology 74: 233, 1964)
UniCam—2D gestural camera controls for 3D environments

We present a novel approach to controlling a virtual 3D camera with a 2D mouse or stylus input device that is based on gestural interaction. Our approach to 3D camera manipulation, UniCam, requires only a single-button stylus or mouse to directly invoke specific camera operations within a single 3D view. No 2D widgets or keyboard modifiers are necessary. By gesturally invoking all camera functionality, UniCam reduces the modal nature of typical desktop 3D graphics applications, since remaining mouse or stylus buttons can be used for other application functionality. In addition, the particular choice and refinement of UniCam controls efficiently enables a wide range of camera manipulation tasks, including translation in three-dimensions, orbiting about a point, animated focusing on an object surface, animated navigation around an object, zooming in upon a region, and saving and restoring viewpoints. UniCam’s efficiency derives primarily from improved transitions between techniques and to a lesser degree from adaptations of existing techniques. Although we have conducted no formal user evaluations, UniCam is the result of years of iterative development with approximately one hundred users. During this time more conventional modifier key and menu-based implementations were implemented and either refined or rejected. Informally, users appear to require a few hours of training to become proficient with UniCam controls, but then typically choose them almost exclusively even when widget-based controls, such as those provided by an Inventor viewer, are simultaneously available. CR Categories: H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation (e.g., HCI)]: User Interfaces—Graphics user interfaces (GUI); H.5.2 [Information Interfaces and Presentation (e.g., HCI)]: User Interfaces—Input devices and strategies; H.5.1 [Information Interfaces and Presentation (e.g., HCI)]: Multimedia Information Systems—Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities; I.3.6 [Computer Graphics]: Methodology and Techniques—Interaction techniques;
THE SURVIVAL OF LEPTOSPIRA (SPIROCHÆTA) ICTEROHÆMORRHAGIÆ IN NATURE; OBSERVATIONS CONCERNING MICROCHEMICAL REACTIONS AND INTERMEDIARY HOSTS

1. Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae is unable to grow in the urine, either with or without the addition of suitable culture ingredients, the acidity of the urine being detrimental to the growth. It survives less than 24 hours, unless the urine is neutralized or slightly alkalized, when the period of survival is somewhat longer. If suitable nutrient ingredients are added to the neutralized or slightly alkalized urine, the organism is able to grow for about 10 days, after which multiplication ceases. 2. Feces from normal or jaundiced persons destroy Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae within 24 hours when a rich culture is added and the mixture allowed to stand at 26 degrees C. The addition of blood serum and corpuscles does not prevent the destruction of the organism. Autoclaved specimens and filtrates of unheated feces do not constitute a suitable medium in which to keep the organism alive for any length of time, but the addition of blood corpuscles and serum in adequate quantities renders them fairly satisfactory as media. Under natural conditions Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae cast off in the feces cannot survive more than 24 hours. 3. Polluted water, sewage, and soil will not serve to keep Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae alive for more than 3 days at the most. When deprived by filtration or autoclaving of their bacteria they become indifferent diluents and may be used to make up a culture medium when mixed with serum and citrate plasma of a suitable animal. Sterilized soil with a neutral reaction, when added to a culture, has an unfavorable effect upon the growth of the organism. 4. Most of the aerobic bacteria found in feces, sewage, soil, and tap water inhibit the growth of Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae when inoculated into the same medium. Bacillus faecalis alkaligenes and many strains of non-hemolytic streptococci caused the least interference, although growth was never so vigorous or lasting in the media in which they were present as in the control media. Certain pathogenic bacteria (Bacillus typhosus, Bacillus paratyphosus, Bacillus dysenteriae, pneumococcus) are antagonistic to the growth of the spirochete. 5. Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae is highly sensitive to the destructive action of bile, bile salts, and sodium oleate, but resists the action of saponin. In this last respect it differs from many so called spirochetes. The destructive action of these agents is counteracted by blood serum. 6. The larvae and adults of the Culex mosquito, the larvae of the house-fly and bluebottle fly, wood ticks (Dermacentor andersoni), and leeches failed to become carriers of the spirochetes when fed on infected guinea pigs or their organs; that is, they cannot play the part of an intermediary host of Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae.
The number of lattice points in alcoves and the exponents of the finite Weyl groups

We count lattice points in certain rational simplices associated with an irreducible finite Weyl group W and observe that these numbers are linked to the exponents of W.
Sinus Venosus Atrial Septal Defect Associated with Partial Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage: Surgical Repair

This report descrbies a new technique for the repair of sinus venosus atrial septal defect associated with partial anomalous pulmonary venous drainage. A right atrial wall flap is used both to deflect the anaomalous venous blood into the left atrium and to close the atrial septal defect. Then an atrioplasty is performed. This method does not employ any foreign materials, avoids injury to the sinoatrial node and internodal tracts, and minimizes the risk of obstruction of the ostia of the anomalous pulmonary veins and superior vena cava.
Comparison study between indirect photometric and direct conductivity detection for anion exchange chromatography using naphthalenesulfonate derivatives as mobile phases

Indirect photometric and unsuppressed direct conductivity detection modes are examined using naphthalene mono-, di-, and tri-sulfonate as mobile phases for the separation of several anions such as F−, Cl−, NO2−, Br−, NO3−, SO4=,I−, and SCN− using a commercial anion exchange column. With all three mobile phases, conductivity detection shows better sensitivities and detection limits than indirect photometry. Conductivity detection is 5 to 16 times more sensitive than indirect photometry for all analytes. Detection limits achieved using these mobile phases are, for example, 0.04 ng and 0.1 ng for chloride ion with conductivity and indirect photometry, respectively. Both detection modes give wide linear ranges extending from at least 100 ppm to the detection limit of each anion which is generally about 0.02 ppm. Sulfur oxide anions such as dithionate and tetrathionate are separated using flow programming with naphthalenetrisulfonate as the mobile phase in less than 20 minutes. With both detection modes, desired chromatographic performance of these three eluents is achieved without pH adjustment of the mobile phase.