cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Discrimination of Large and Small Numerosities by Human Infants

Six experiments investigated infants' sensitivity to numerosity in auditory sequences. In prior studies (Lipton &Spelke, 2003), 6-month-old infants discriminated sequences of 8 versus 16 but not 8 versus 12 sounds, and 9-month-old infants discriminated 8 versus 12 but not 8 versus 10 sounds, when the continuous variables of rate, sound duration, and sequence duration were controlled. The current studies investigated whether infants' numerical discrimination is subject to the signature ratio limit of adults' numerosity discrimination. Four experiments at 6 and 9 months provided evidence for this signature limit, suggesting that common mechanisms underlie numerosity discrimination in infants and adults. In further experiments, infants failed to discriminate 2 versus 4 or 2 versus 3 sounds when tested under the same conditions as with large numbers. These findings accord with studies using visual-spatial arrays (e.g., Clearfield &Mix, 1999) and suggest that separate systems underlie infants' representation o...
Short term biotic response before and during the treatment of an acid mine drainage with sodium carbonate

The lower portion of Upper Three Runs, a woodland stream in central Pennsylvania, receives acid drainage from a strip mine. In 1974, the effect of this input on pH and benthic invertebrates was studied by Tomkiewicz & Dunson (1977). We sampled the same stations in 1986 and then treated the mine drainage with sodium carbonate for seven days in an effort to evaluate the short term colonization response of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and invertebrates. No differences in the pattern of pH and invertebrate distribution was found between the 1974 and 1986 results, although pH values and invertebrate densities were higher in 1986. Total number of invertebrates and number of taxa colonizing bricks during three pre-treatment time periods (8, 10, 18 days) did not differ from the single treatment period (7 days). However, two species of Baetis (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) did increase in the treatment section during sodium carbonate application. The number of brook trout also increased in the treatment section, as compared to one pre-treatment estimate. These results indicate that motile species are able to respond within seven days, whereas, longer treatment may be required to produce community wide responses.
Hypospermatogenesis is the Cause of Infertility in the Male Weaver Mutant Mouse

The pathologic phenotype of the testis in both prepuberal and postpuberal male weaver mutant mice was studied by light microscopy. Morphometric analysis of seminiferous tubules was carried out. Epididymal fluid was examined for the presence of spermatozoa. The seminiferous tubules of 21-day-old prepuberal weaver mutant mice lacked patent lumina and had more degenerated cells than control mice. Fifty-six day-old weaver mutants had many germinal epithelial cells located within the adluminal compartment that were in advanced stages of degeneration. Round spermatids were enlarged and multinucleated. Round spermatids and spermatocytes had sloughed into the lumen. Compared to control mice, elongated spermatids were seen less frequently. In older weaver mice, the degenerative process involved germ cells in both the adluminal and basal compartments. In 143- and 226- day-old weaver mutants, the Sertoli cells were atrophic. Diameters of seminiferous tubules in weaver mice were significantly reduced when compared to control mice. Sperm were either absent or very low in number in the epididymal fluid of postpuberal weaver mice. We conclude that spermatogenesis is abnormal in male weaver mutant mice. The testicular phenotype is characterized by a degenerative process that affects both germ cells and supporting cells.
Organizing Across the Canada–US Border: Binational Institutions in the Niagara Region

This article explores the experience of seven grassroots cross-border organizations that have formed in the binational Niagara region. It begins by introducing the binational Niagara region and noting the comparative paucity and weakness of cross-border institutions in the area. It then identifies a number of grass-roots organizational initiatives that in some formal way straddle the Niagara River – initiatives that scholars have typically neglected. Based on interviews with leaders in these organizations, I describe the various governance structures and processes that these organizations have adopted to accommodate Canadian and American interests. I then turn to a discussion of some of the challenges facing these organizations that stem from their binational nature. Two in particular – resulting (1) from the securitization of the border since 2001 and the recent implementation of the WHTI secure document requirements, and (2) from the problems associated with fragmented political environments on both sid...
Modeling and design of Galfenol unimorph energy harvester

Magnetostrictive iron-gallium alloys, known as Galfenol, are a recent class of smart materials with potential in energy harvesting applications. Unimorph energy harvesters consisting of a Galfenol beam bonded to a passive substrate are simple and effective, but advanced models are lacking for these smart devices. This study presents a finite element model for Galfenol unimorph harvester systems. Experiments considering various design parameters such as pick up coil size, load resistance, beam thickness ratio, and bias magnetic field strength are conducted to guide and validate the modeling effort. If the free length of the Galfenol unimorph beam is considered as the effective length, the maximum average power density, peak power density, and open-circuit voltage amplitude achieved in experiments are 13.97 mW/cm 3 , 35.51 mW/cm 3 , and 0.66 V, respectively. By only considering the length of Galfenol surrounded by the pickup coil, the maximum average power density and peak power density are 23.66 mW/cm 3 and 60.14 mW/cm 3 , respectively.
Collision-induced dissociation of Nb+n (n = 2 − 11): bond energies and dissociation pathways

Abstract The kinetic energy dependence of collision-induced dissociation (CID) of cluster ions of niobium with xenon has been investigated using guided ion beam mass spectrometry. Dissociation energies for ionic and neutral niobium clusters of up to eleven atoms are reported. The dependence of the CID cross-sections on Xe pressure, a phenomenon reported previously, is thoroughly investigated and a protocol for analysis which properly takes this effect into account is established. Lifetime effects are allowed for by employing an RRKM formalism in the cross-section modeling routine. The results are found to be in excellent agreement with the spherical drop model for convergence to bulk. The derived bond strengths as a function of cluster size inspire some speculations regarding cluster structure.
Modulation of Cell Proliferation by Heterotrimeric G Protein in Arabidopsis

The alpha subunit of a prototypical heterotrimeric GTP-binding protein (G protein), which is encoded by a single gene (GPA1) in Arabidopsis, is a modulator of plant cell proliferation. gpa1 null mutants have reduced cell division in aerial tissues throughout development. Inducible overexpression of GPA1 in Arabidopsis confers inducible ectopic cell division. GPA1 overexpression in synchronized BY-2 cells causes premature advance of the nuclear cycle and the premature appearance of a division wall. Results from loss of function and ectopic expression and activation of GPA1 indicate that this subunit is a positive modulator of cell division in plants.
Modeling and simulation of a DFIG-based wind-power system for stability analysis

This paper deals with the modeling and simulation of a double-fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind-power unit which is connected to the grid through a series-compensated transmission line. A detailed model of a DFIG in the rotor flux reference frame, along with its controllers, is developed in this paper. This paper proposes a comprehensive set of differential equations for grid connection of DFIGs that takes into account the dynamics of the grid side line filter and transmission line. Time domain simulations are performed in Matlab/Simulink. Based on the model and simulation results, system stability is investigated for different series compensation levels. Also, the effect of grid stiffness on the system stability is studied. Potential of sub-synchronous resonance (SSR) oscillations is investigated and the proper system and controller parameters which make the system stable and mitigate hazards due to SSR are identified.
Degradation mechanisms in brittle materials investigated by ultrasonic scanning

Abstract An experimental study of degradation mechanisms and patterning in brittle materials is reported. Specimens of a cast-in brittle material were subjected to external mechanical load. At various pre-peak load levels, through transmission ultrasonic measurements were taken at several locations of the sample. The damage evolution and its patterning were studied through analysis of the attenuation of the transmitted wave. For monotonically increasing load significant attenuation was observed at low load levels, while for unloading the attenuation changes were relatively small. The test results indicate random and non-symmetric distribution of attenuation within the sample. However, in general, higher attenuation was observed close to the load-free surfaces than in the interior of the sample. This observation signifies the so-called skin effect. Occasionally, at a few locations of various samples the energy of the received wave increased with increasing external load. This may indicate unloading of partially formed cracks. Measured surface strains are compared to the overall ones and the degradation patterning within the samples. The ultrasonic measurements are examined with respect to estimating the internal material length. The relation between ultrasonic wave attenuation and mechanical dissipated energy is examined.
Policy deliberation: confronting subjectivity and emotional expression

This article examines an issue about citizen participation that emerges in the literature on deliberative democracy and deliberative experimentation. Much of the work on deliberative participation has focused on the structures and procedures that lead to the design of effective deliberative fora. As important as this investigation has been, it has largely neglected the socio-cultural and subjective dimensions that under gird policy deliberation, especially the role of emotions. Emotional expression, in fact, has typically been portrayed as a barrier to reasoned judgment. Arguing that the successes of deliberative processes depend on more than democratic-deliberative principles and the structures derived from them, the first half of the article examines the social psychological aspects of deliberative communication, especially the role of social meaning and its implications for the creation and facilitation of deliberative settings. It does this by drawing on experiences and evidence from experiments in de...
Family organization as an ecology of ideas: an alternative to the reification of family systems.

The argument of this paper is that current structuralist and quasi-organismic models of family organization are descriptions masquerading as explanations. They correctly assert, but do not account for, the fact that the behavior of each member of a family is related to that of every other member. An adequate account must begin by assuming that people behave according to how they define the situations in which they are actors, and that such definitions of the situation are generalizations learned through repeated interaction with others. Family organization is regarded within this framework as the outcome of an evolutionary process by which some ideas are encouraged or confirmed and others suffer a kind of death or extinction, so that the ideas of each family member lead him or her to behave in ways that confirm or support the ideas of every other family member. That is what is meant by the slogan "family organization as an ecology of ideas." This view of family organization requires a demystified account of resistance in psychotherapy, a bare outline of which is provided in the previous section. The overall conception of the psychotherapeutic process presented here is closest to that of the Palo Alto Brief Therapy Project, though I offer as a conjecture that the effective operations of all the psychotherapies can be explained within this framework. Language: en
Influence of pH on the MI-MII equilibrium of rhodopsin in recombinant membranes.

Abstract Rhodopsin in native rod membranes and incorporated into egg phosphatidylcholine (egg PC) vesicles was studied at pH 5 and 7 at 28°C. Rhodopsin function, as monitored by the formation of metarhodopsin II (MII) from metarhodopsin I (MI) following an actinic flash, was found to be largely blocked in egg PC vesicles at pH 7. When the pH was lowered to 5, however, rhodopsin showed essentially equal activity in both native and egg PC membranes. This activity exceeded that found for rhodopsin in native membranes at pH 7. Phospholipid composition is thus shown to directly affect the MI ⇌ MII equilibrium, which in turn is linked to visual function.
Student Assessment of an Innovative Approach to Medical Education

Background Inductive reasoning via the Clinical Presentation (CP) Model is an innovative approach to medical education delivery. Moving the locus of training from the medical school campus to a community health center (CHC) or CHC-affiliated site for the second, third, and fourth year is equally innovative.
Hand and forearm strength and its relation to tennis

Eight expert tennis players and 12 nontennis playing controls were studied to determine the relationship between dominant and minor extremities in regard to hand and forearm isometric strength. The results revealed that overall strength, including wrist extension, was significantly greater (P 0.01) in the dominant arm in both groups. The tennis players were distinguished from the controls by significantly increased strength of metacarpophalangeal joint extension of the fingers on the dominant side. Examination of a group of 16 "tennis elbow" sufferers demonstrated no significant extensor strength differential in the dominant arm, with no reports of pain during the testing procedure. The increased strength of hand extension in elite tennis players may be significant in explaining the observed rarity of "tennis elbow" in these individuals.
The right angle (RA) motif: a prevalent ribosomal RNA structural pattern found in group I introns.

Abstract The right angle (RA) motif, previously identified in the ribosome and used as a structural module for nano-construction, is a recurrent structural motif of 13 nucleotides that establishes a 90° bend between two adjacent helices. Comparative sequence analysis was used to explore the sequence space of the RA motif within ribosomal RNAs in order to define its canonical sequence space signature. We investigated the sequence constraints associated with the RA signature using several artificial self-assembly systems. Thermodynamic and topological investigations of sequence variants associated with the RA motif in both minimal and expanded structural contexts reveal that the presence of a helix at the 3′ end of the RA motif increases the thermodynamic stability and rigidity of the resulting three-helix junction domain. A search for the RA in naturally occurring RNAs as well as its experimental characterization led to the identification of the RA in groups IC1 and ID intron ribozymes, where it is suggested to play an integral role in stabilizing peripheral structural domains. The present study exemplifies the need of empirical analysis of RNA structural motifs for facilitating the rational design and structure prediction of RNAs.
SST + gem5 = a scalable simulation infrastructure for high performance computing

High Performance Computing (HPC) faces new challenges in scalability, performance, reliability, and power consumption. Solving these challenges will require radically new hardware and software approaches. It is impractical to explore this vast design space without detailed system-level simulations. However, most of the existing simulators are either not sufficiently detailed, not scalable, or cannot evaluate key system characteristics such as energy consumption or reliability.To address this problem, we integrate the highly detailed gem5 performance simulator into the parallel Structural Simulation Toolkit (SST). We add the fast-forwarding capability in the SST/gem5 and port the lightweight Kitten operating system on gem5. In addition, we improve the reliability model in SST with a comprehensive analysis of system reliability. Utilizing the simulation framework, we evaluate the impact of two energy-efficient resource-conscious scheduling policies on system reliability. Our results show that the effectiveness of scheduling policies differ according to the composition of workload and system topology.
A Model of Integrated Services for Outpatient Treatment of Patients With Comorbid Schizophrenia and Addictive Disorders

The authors present a model of integrated services for the outpatient treatment of patients comorbid for psychoactive substance use disorders and schizophrenia. First, the authors consider the implications of dual diagnoses for the design of effective treatments. Second, they stress the importance of integrating components from both psychiatric and substance abuse treatment domains. Finally, they describe a pilot treatment project integrating psychiatric and substance abuse treatment and outline a longitudinal research effort that will test its efficacy.
Transport and morphological characteristics of polyetherimide-based carbon molecular sieve membranes

A new class of carbon molecular sieve membranes (CMSMs) has been prepared by carbonization of polyetherimide-coated mesoporous tubular supports. The membranes show higher permeance and better separation factors than other supported CMSMs reported in the literature for the CO{sub 2}/CH{sub 4} and H{sub 2}/CH{sub 4} binary mixtures as well as for the CO{sub 2}H{sub 2}/CH{sub 4} ternary mixture. CO{sub 2}/CH{sub 4} separation factors as high as 145 for the equimolar binary and 155 for the ternary mixture were obtained with a CO{sub 2} permeance about 0.15 (cm{sup 3}/cm{sup 2}{center_dot}psi{center_dot}min). The corresponding H{sub 2}/CH{sub 4} separation factors for the equimolar binary and ternary mixtures were 68 and 50, respectively, with a H{sub 2} permeance of 0.13 (cm{sup 3}/cm{sup 2}{center_dot}psi{center_dot}min). The membrane also shows good stability when tested with CO{sub 2} and Ar single gases, as well as with an equimolar mixture of CO{sub 2}/CH{sub 4}. To study the mechanism of permeation and separation in CMSMs, tests with single gases as well as with binary and ternary mixtures were performed at different temperatures, transmembrane pressure differences, and feed compositions. Elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and gas adsorption were also employed to study the morphology of the resulting membranes. Elemental analysis shows thatmore » although the structure consists mostly of carbon, it also still contains oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen. Scanning electron microscopy of the cross section of the carbonized membrane shows that the carbonized layer lies essentially within the mesoporous {gamma}-alumina layer, a result also verified by N{sub 2} adsorption analysis at 77 K. The experimental data were compared with simulation results with the same mixtures using a nonequilibrium molecular dynamics method.« less
Microwave radiation of Uranus and Neptune

Abstract Observations of Uranus and Neptune at wavelengths of 1.65, 2.7, and 6 cm further clarify their ratio emission spectra and atmospheric temperatures. Measurements made at the same time of Jupiter and Mars at the 1.65- and 2.7-cm wavelenghts are presented.
Spin distributions in the quark parton model

Spin-dependent parton distributions are described in a broken SU(6) quark parton model. The model predicts definite forms for the spin-dependent structure functions in deep inelastic lepton-nucleon scattering and leads to several relations between Regge intercepts and couplings. Resonance electroproduction at large momentum transfer is explored via Bloom-Gilman duality.
The peroxidase-thiocyanate-hydrogen peroxide antimicrobial system.

Abstract Peroxidase (lactoperoxidase or myeloperoxidase, EC 1.11.1.7), thiocyanate and H2O2 are the components of an antimicrobiol system which is effective against a number of organisms. H2O2 may be formed endogenously (presumably by microbial metabolism), may be added, or may be generated by the addition of one of a number of H2O2-generating systems. Among the latter are the oxidation of ascorbic acid, the oxidation of glucose oxidase by gluxose oxidase (EC 1.1.3.4), the oxidation of hypoxanthine by xanthine oxidase (EC 1.2.3.2), or the Mn2+-dependent aerobic oxidation of reduced of metabolites if the metabolite oxidation results in the reduction of TPN+ (or DPN+). the peroxidase-thiocyanate-H2O2 antimicrobial system in inhibited by catalase as well as by a number of low-molecular-weight substance which may be present in the growth media, or in biological fluids. The possible distribution of this antimicrobial system in the body is considered.
Response of recurrent uterine high-grade malignant mixed müllerian tumor to letrozole.

Uterine malignant mixed mullerian tumor (MMMT) is a rare malignancy occurring most often in postmenopausal women. Despite the use of multimodality treatments including surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, prognosis is still poor in most cases. We report the case of a 69-year-old woman with recurrent metastatic high-grade MMMT that responded to letrozole, an aromatase inhibitor. At the initial diagnosis of high-grade uterine MMMT in February 2001, the patient underwent total abdominal hysterectomy, bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, and postoperative pelvic radiotherapy. Two years later, an asymptomatic retroperitoneal mass was discovered on surveillance abdominal computed tomography scanning. The 3.5- x 3.0-cm mass was considered inoperable owing to its location near the aorta at the level of the renal vessels. The patient declined radiation or chemotherapy. Treatment with letrozole was begun at 2.5 mg daily. Serial computed tomography scans demonstrated marked tumor shrinkage; after 11 months of letrozole therapy, the tumor had shrunk to less than 25% of its original volume. Further study of letrozole for high-grade uterine MMMT is warranted.
CD44 Regulates Hepatocyte Growth Factor-mediated Vascular Integrity ROLE OF c-Met, Tiam1/Rac1, DYNAMIN 2, AND CORTACTIN

The preservation of vascular endothelial cell (EC) barrier integrity is critical to normal vessel homeostasis, with barrier dysfunction being a feature of inflammation, tumor angiogenesis, atherosclerosis, and acute lung injury. Therefore, agents that preserve or restore vascular integrity have important therapeutic implications. In this study, we explored the regulation of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)-mediated enhancement of EC barrier function via CD44 isoforms. We observed that HGF promoted c-Met association with CD44v10 and recruitment of c-Met into caveolin-enriched microdomains (CEM) containing CD44s (standard form). Treatment of EC with CD44v10-blocking antibodies inhibited HGF-mediated c-Met phosphorylation and c-Met recruitment to CEM. Silencing CD44 expression (small interfering RNA) attenuated HGF-induced recruitment of c-Met, Tiam1 (a Rac1 exchange factor), cortactin (an actin cytoskeletal regulator), and dynamin 2 (a vesicular regulator) to CEM as well as HGF-induced trans-EC electrical resistance. In addition, silencing Tiam1 or dynamin 2 reduced HGF-induced Rac1 activation, cortactin recruitment to CEM, and EC barrier regulation. We observed that both HGF- and high molecular weight hyaluronan (CD44 ligand)-mediated protection from lipopolysaccharide-induced pulmonary vascular hyperpermeability was significantly reduced in CD44 knock-out mice, thus validating these in vitro findings in an in vivo murine model of inflammatory lung injury. Taken together, these results suggest that CD44 is an important regulator of HGF/c-Met-mediated in vitro and in vivo barrier enhancement, a process with essential involvement of Tiam1, Rac1, dynamin 2, and cortactin.
A dual Fourier-wavelet domain authentication-identification watermark

A dual Fourier-Wavelet domain watermarking technique for authentication and identity verification is proposed. Discrete wavelet transform (DWT) domain spread spectrum is used for embedding identity (such as registration number, transaction ID etc.) information. While a blind detector detects an ID, it is important to validate with other ancillary data. To satisfy that requirement, we embed a robust signature and hide it in a mid-band wavelet subband using Fourier domain bit-embedding algorithm. Results are furnished to show the compression tolerance of the method.
An experimental model to investigate initial tracheal anastomosis strength.

Objectives/Hypothesis: Early anastomotic dehiscence is a devastating complication of segmental tracheal resection. Although wound healing, patient comorbidities, and anastomotic tension are all influential factors, there is a paucity of information available on initial tracheal stability after various tracheal anastomosis techniques in human tissue. Study Design: Prospective cadaver study. Methods: We present a novel, inexpensive pulley-based system to apply symmetric tension on the trachea in a longitudinal direction to the point of anastomotic dehiscence. The validity of this mechanism was confirmed with trials using incrementally increasing quantities of the same suture type. Twenty-four trials were then performed on 12 cadaver tracheas (six fresh and six preserved) to compare anastomotic strength with two commonly used suture materials (3-0 polyglactin [Vicryl] vs. 3-0 polydioxanone [PDS]). Results: Validation studies demonstrated that the force increased appropriately with an increasing number of sutures tested. In the tracheal anastomoses, tracheal suture pull-through was the most common mechanism of dehiscence, regardless of suture type. No significant difference in anastomotic stability was detected between the fresh versus preserved cadaver tracheas. The mean anastomotic strength was slightly greater for Vicryl (179.9 N) when compared to PDS (161.5 N), but the difference did not reach significance (P = .207). Conclusions: We introduce an inexpensive tool for measuring initial tracheal anastomosis stability with human cadavers, which demonstrated no difference in the tracheal pull-through strength of Vicryl and PDS.
A principal component analysis of postinjury viscoelastic assays: Clotting factor depletion versus fibrinolysis

Introduction The mechanisms driving trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC) remain to be defined, and its therapy demands an orchestrated replacement of specific blood products. Thrombelastography (TEG) is a tool to guide the TIC multicomponent therapy. Principal component analysis (PCA) is a statistical approach that identifies variable clusters; thus, we hypothesize that PCA can identify specific combinations of TEG-generated values that reflect TIC mechanisms. Methods Adult trauma patients admitted from September 2010 to October 2013 for whom a massive transfusion protocol was activated were included. Rapid TEG values obtained within the first 6 hours after injury were included in the PCA. PCA components with an eigenvalue >1 were retained, and, within components, variable loadings (equivalent to correlation coefficients) >|60| were considered significant. Component scorings for each patient were calculated and clinical characteristics of patients with high and low scores were compared. Results Of 98 enrolled patients, 67% were male and 70% suffered blunt trauma. Median age was 41 years (interquartile range 28–55) and median Injury Severity Score was 31.5 (interquartile range 24–43). PCA identified three principal components (PCs) that together explained 93% of the overall variance. PC1 reflected global coagulopathy with depletion of platelets and fibrinogen whereas PC3 indicated hyperfibrinolysis. PC2 may represent endogenous anticoagulants such as the activation of protein C. Conclusion PCA suggests depletion coagulopathy is independent from fibrinolytic coagulopathy. Furthermore, the distribution of mortality suggests that low levels of fibrinolysis may be beneficial in a select group of injured patients. These data underscore the potential of risk for concurrent presumptive treatment for preserved depletion coagulopathy and possible fibrinolysis.
Couple Attitudes and Agreement Regarding Pregnancy Wantedness in the Philippines

We compare husbands' and wives' views of the wantedness of their most recent pregnancy in the Philippines, a country where relatively high levels of unintended fertility persist. This research is an extension of earlier work that looked separately at individual men's and women's responses. We analyze survey data for 369 couples and find that those most at risk of experiencing a pregnancy that neither spouse wanted tended to be higher parity couples, those who were more fatalistic, those who were practicing Catholics who attended religious services frequently, and those among whom the husband was the sole breadwinner. Higher parity women and older women were also more apt to experience a pregnancy that was wanted by only 1 spouse. Women who had difficulty discussing sexual matters with their husbands were more likely than other women to have a pregnancy that their husbands wanted but they did not.
Synaptic depression and facilitation can induce motion aftereffects in an excitable membrane model of visual motion processing

Abstract A two-dimensional sheet of locally connected neural elements may be used to model motion detection in visual cortex. Activity waves resulting from inputs representing objects in motion have distinctive amplitudes and shapes, which characterize the object's motion. Repeated application of moving stimuli to such a system may lead to depression and facilitation of connections in the membrane. As a consequence, nonmoving stimuli may then give rise to activity waves like those characteristic of motion, but in the direction opposite to that of the conditioning stimulus. This effect may be used to model translational and rotational motion aftereffects in visual cortex.
Concerning the analysis of 2×2 tables

Recent papers (R. M. Engeman and G. D. Swanson, 1991, Comput. Biomed. Res. 24, 509; M. R. Massai and P. Barbini, 1993, Comput. Biomed Res. 26, 98) have expressed concern regarding differences in results among statistical methods of hypothesis testing for 2 x 2 contingency tables. These papers did not present current statistical thought on this topic, and they did not discuss measures of effect for such analyses. In this paper statistical literature on the 2 x 2 contingency table is presented and philosophical issues underlying the methods discussed. Measures of effect appropriate for several data origins or designs which result in 2 x 2 arrays are also presented. The paper presents an empirical adjustment to the Fisher's exact test known as the mid-P approach. The information should help provide the user of statistics a better understanding of the analysis of 2 x 2 tables. An example using data from Engeman and Swanson (1991) is provided, and some recommendations for the analysis of 2 x 2 tables are given.
Modeling Unintended Personal-Information Leakage from Multiple Online Social Networks

Most people have multiple accounts on different social networks. Because these networks offer various levels of privacy protection, the weakest privacy policies in the social network ecosystem determine how much personal information is disclosed online. A new information leakage measure quantifies the information available about a given user. Using this measure makes it possible to evaluate the vulnerability of a user's social footprint to two known attacks: physical identification and password recovery. Experiments show the measure's usefulness in quantifying information leakage from publicly crawled information and also suggest ways of better protecting privacy and reducing information leakage in the social Web.
Entrepreneurial applications of the lean approach to service industries

Service industries have grown significantly in recent years, especially in the advanced economies. The applicability of the Toyota system for manufacturing excellence to other industries has been widely studied. This paper seeks to contribute to this growing body of research by exploring the applications of the Toyota approach, particularly the lean system in the service sector. The paper examines the information systems that have enabled benefit in the service industries, to include vendor-managed inventory systems and variants, and then compares the benefits from information systems in support of supply chains. We also review why enterprise systems provide more opportunities in aiding the implementation of the lean systems. We present a case study of a South Korean supply chain system to demonstrate the entrepreneurial application of such approaches.
Jobs, Cities, and Suburbs in the Global Economy

Intra-metropolitan shifts in the location of higher- income people increase the concentration of the poor in cities. These movements threaten the economic productivity of cities, endangering national prosperity. If we cannot utilize fully the capital, buildings, and environments that are unique to cities because of problems that arise from the concentration of the poor, then we have diminished the nation's "economic portfolio." Jobs decrease not only for city residents but for people throughout the nation, regardless of whether they live in or near a city. The author examines evidence for the premise that cities are essential to the productivity of the U.S. economy. She also examines how cities affect their suburbs. Some national policies are identified that encourage higher-income metropolitan residents to live in new suburbs. The policies include the home mortgage and property deductions from income taxes and the cost to city residents of poverty and other income redistribution programs.
Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Contributes to Apoptosis in Hippocampal Neurons during Experimental Group B Streptococcal Meningitis

To evaluate the role of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in neuronal injury in experimental group B streptococcal meningitis, infected neonatal rats were treated with a monoclonal antibody against TNF-alpha (20 mg/kg intraperitoneally) or saline given at the time of infection. Histopathology after 24 h showed necrosis in the cortex and apoptosis in the hippocampal dentate gyrus. Treated animals had significantly less hippocampal injury than did controls (P < .001) but had similar cortical injury and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) inflammation. The antibody was then administered directly intracisternally (170 microg) to test whether higher CSF concentrations reduced inflammation or cortical injury. Again, hippocampal apoptosis was significantly reduced (P < .01), while cortical injury and inflammation were not. Thus, TNF-alpha played a critical role in neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampus, while it was not essential for the development of inflammation and cortical injury in this model.
Ordinal Time Series Methodology for Industry and Competitive Analysis

Ordinal time series analysis is a new methodology that is especially appropriate for industry and competitive analysis along multiple dimensions of performance over periods of time. The methodology, by using ordinal data, eliminates the requirements encountered in cardinal analysis for further assumptions and calculations concerning model specifications, appropriate discount rates, and re-scaling of data to facilitate presentation. Using longitudinal data, ordinal time series analysis allows the strategy analyst to develop empirical measures of the position, volatility, direction of movement, and relative uncertainty associated with an industry or with groups of firms within that industry. Using these statistical patterns of industry behavior, key strategic dimensions and relationships among and across performance measures, groups of firms, and industries can be identified. The methodology is illustrated by using published data to perform a comparative ordinal time series analysis of the largest firms in the transportation industry over the last quarter century.
QuRe: software for viral quasispecies reconstruction from next-generation sequencing data.

Summary: Next-generation sequencing (NGS) is an ideal framework for the characterization of highly variable pathogens, with a deep resolution able to capture minority variants. However, the reconstruction of all variants of a viral population infecting a host is a challenging task for genome regions larger than the average NGS read length. QuRe is a program for viral quasispecies reconstruction, specifically developed to analyze long read (>100 bp) NGS data. The software performs alignments of sequence fragments against a reference genome, finds an optimal division of the genome into sliding windows based on coverage and diversity and attempts to reconstruct all the individual sequences of the viral quasispecies—along with their prevalence—using a heuristic algorithm, which matches multinomial distributions of distinct viral variants overlapping across the genome division. QuRe comes with a built-in Poisson error correction method and a post-reconstruction probabilistic clustering, both parameterized on given error rates in homopolymeric and non-homopolymeric regions. Availability: QuRe is platform-independent, multi-threaded software implemented in Java. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License, available at https://sourceforge.net/projects/qure/. Contact: ti.oohay@nevnha; moc.liamg@nevnha Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
Effect of a Liver Bypass and Overtransfusion on “Trapping” of Red Cells.

SummaryIn anesthetized dogs, the measured cell and plasma volumes, protein concentration, venous hematocrit and BVRcells were the same before and after bypassing the liver with a portal vein to femoral vein shunt. An overtransfusion of blood after the bypass produced significant changes in all measured circulatory parameters. At the end of the experiment the volume of trapped cells was 33 % of the cells infused, and the escaped plasma was 93% of the infused. Protein lost represented 78% of the infused. Circulatory and venous hematocrits were the same after the bypass and transfusion, suggesting that under these circumstances cells and plasma were evenly distributed throughout the circulation. Mean arterial pressure was reduced slightly after insertion of the bypass and also after the overtransfusion. Portal venous pressure increased when the liver was bypassed and further increased after the transfusion following the bypass.
Elevational Rapoport's rule is not pervasive on mountains

Aim Elevational Rapoport’s rule, proposed in 1992 by Stevens, predicts that species ranges on mountains become larger in elevational extent with increasing elevation. Here we test this prediction using 160 datasets of range size measured by maximum elevational extents for bats, birds, frogs, non-volant small mammals, reptiles, and salamanders from mountains around the globe.
Structure of cultured fibroblasts from dermatosparaxic calves.

Clonal cell lines from the dermis of a dermatosparaxic calf were grown in tissue culture. After fixation in a mixture of glutaraldehyde and osmium, they were prepared for electron microscopy. Most cells contained a well-developed Golgi region, lysosomes, mitochondria, and dilated cisternae of rough endoplasmic reticulum. They also contained numerous, large bundles of intracellular filaments, many lipid droplets and extensive arrays of vesicles. Cultures accumulated substantial amounts of extracellular fibrillar material. The fibrils were loosely packed and indistinctly cross-banded. Bundles of intracellular filaments were commonly parallel in adjacent cells and also parallel to extracellular fibrils. These cytoplasmic features may result from the inability of the secreted collagen to form normal fibrils.
Ion mobility–mass spectrometry of phosphorylase B ions generated with supercharging reagents but in charge-reducing buffer

We investigate whether "supercharging" reagents able to shift the charge state distributions (CSDs) of electrosprayed protein ions upward also influence gas-phase protein structure. A differential mobility analyzer and a mass spectrometer are combined in series (DMA-MS) to measure the mass and mobility of monomer and multimeric phosphorylase B ions (monomer molecular weight ∼97 kDa) in atmospheric pressure air. Proteins are electrosprayed from charge-reducing triethylammonium formate in water (pH = 6.8) with and without the addition of the supercharging reagent tetramethylene sulfone (sulfolane). Because the DMA measures ion mobility prior to collisional heating or declustering, it probes the structure of supercharged protein ions immediately following solvent (water) evaporation. As in prior studies, the addition of sulfolane is found to drastically increase both the mean and maximum charge state of phosphorylase B ions. Ions from all protein n-mers were found to yield mobilities that, for a given charge state, were ∼6-10% higher in the absence of sulfolane. We find that the mobility decrease which arises with sulfolane is substantially smaller than that typically observed for folded-to-unfolded transitions in protein ions (where a ∼60% decrease in mobility is typical), suggesting that supercharging reagents do not cause structural protein modifications in solution as large as noted recently by Williams and colleagues [E. R. Williams et al., J. Am. Soc. Mass Spectrom., 2010, 21, 1762-1774]. In fact, the measurements described here indicate that the modest mobility decrease observed can be partly attributed to sulfolane trapping within the protein ions during DMA measurements, and probably also in solution. As the most abundant peaks in measured mass-mobility spectra for ions produced with and without sulfolane correspond to non-covalently bound phosphorylase B dimers, we find that in spite of a change in mobility/cross section, sulfolane addition does not substantially alter the structure of non-covalently bound protein complexes in the gas-phase.
Semi-supervised cross feature learning for semantic concept detection in videos

For large scale automatic semantic video characterization, it is necessary to learn and model a large number of semantic concepts. But a major obstacle to this is the insufficiency of labeled training samples. Multi-view semi-supervised learning algorithms such as co-training may help by incorporating a large amount of unlabeled data. However, one of their assumptions requiring that each view be sufficient for learning is usually violated in semantic concept detection. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-view semi-supervised learning algorithm called semi-supervised cross feature learning (SCFL). The proposed algorithm has two advantages over co-training. First, SCFL can theoretically guarantee its performance not being significantly degraded even when the assumption of view sufficiency fails. Also, SCFL can also handle additional views of unlabeled data even when these views are absent from the training data. As demonstrated in the TRECVID '03 semantic concept extraction task, the proposed SCFL algorithm not only significantly outperforms the conventional co-training algorithms, but also comes close to achieving the performance when the unlabeled set were to be manually annotated and used for training along with the labeled data set.
Short-term high-fat diet increases postprandial trimethylamine-N-oxide in humans.

The gut microbiota plays an obligatory role in the metabolism of nutrients containing trimethylamine moieties, such as l-carnitine and choline, leading to the production of the proatherogenic trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). We hypothesized that a short-term, high-fat diet would increase fasting and postprandial plasma concentrations of TMAO in response to a high-fat meal challenge. Following a 2-week eucaloric control diet, 10 nonobese men (18-30 years) consumed a eucaloric, high-fat diet (55% fat) for 5 days. Plasma TMAO was measured after a 12-hour fast and each hour after for 4 hours following a high-fat meal (63% fat) at baseline and after the high-fat diet using ultraperformance liquid chromatography/ tandem mass spectrometry. Fasting plasma TMAO did not increase significantly following the high-fat diet (1.83 ± 0.21 vs 1.6 ± 0.24 μmol/L). However, plasma TMAO was higher at hour 1 (2.15 ± 0.28 vs 1.7 ± 0.30 μmol/L), hour 2 (2.3 ± 0.29 vs 1.8 ± 0.32 μmol/L), hour 3 (2.4 ± 0.34 vs 1.58 ± 0.19 μmol/L), and hour 4 (2.51 ± 0.33 vs 1.5 ± 0.12 μmol/L) (all P < .05) following the high-fat diet as compared with the baseline postprandial response. In conclusion, a short-term, high-fat diet does not increase fasting plasma TMAO concentrations but appears to increase postprandial TMAO concentrations in healthy, nonobese, young men. Future studies are needed to determine the mechanisms responsible for these observations.
Finding globally optimum solutions in antenna optimization problems

During the last decade, the unprecedented increase in the affordable computational power has strongly supported the development of optimization techniques for designing antennas. Among these techniques, genetic algorithm [1] and particle swarm optimization [2] could be mentioned. Most of these techniques use physical dimensions of an antenna as the optimization variables, and require solving Maxwell's equations (numerically) at each optimization step. They are usually slow, unable to handle a large number of variables, and incapable of finding the globally optimum solutions. In this paper, we are proposing an antenna optimization technique that is orders of magnitude faster than the conventional schemes, can handle thousands of variables, and finds the globally optimum solutions for a broad range of antenna optimization problems. In the proposed scheme, termination impedances embedded on an antenna structure are used as the optimization variables. This is particularly useful in designing on-chip smart antennas, where thousands of transistors and variable passive elements can be employed to reconfigure an antenna. By varying these parasitic impedances, an antenna can vary its gain, band-width, pattern, and efficiency. The goal of this paper is to provide a systematic, numerically efficient approach for finding globally optimum solutions in designing smart antennas.