cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Automatic Feedback Control of Shared Hybrid Caches in 3D Chip Multiprocessors

3D integration enables building caches from different types of technologies such as SRAM, Magnetic RAM (MRAM), DRAM, and Phase-change RAM (PRAM). Hybrid cache architectures (HCAs) have been proposed to take advantage of the benefits offered by these types of technologies. Employing this novel cache architecture to build shared caches in chip multiprocessors (CMPs) can lead to significant performance and power consumption improvements. In this paper, we focus on a 3D CMP design in which the shared last level L2 cache is composed of an MRAM layer and an SRAM layer stacked upon the processing cores and present a control theory centric approach designed to partition this shared hybrid L2 cache space dynamically among concurrently running applications in order to satisfy the application-level performance QoS targets. At each time interval, the two layers of the hybrid L2 cache are partitioned, based on the cache demands made by the controllers of the applications, to satisfy the specified performance targets. We evaluate our feedback control based scheme using various workloads. Our experimental evaluation shows that the proposed scheme is able to satisfy the specified performance QoS in most of the tested cases, by partitioning the hybrid cache space of the 3D CMP among co-runner applications.
Gelling temperatures of high acyl gellan as affected by monovalent and divalent cations with dynamic rheological analysis

Abstract The effects of Na+, K+, Ca++ and Mg++ cations on the sol–gel transitions of high acyl (HA) gellan dispersions were investigated. Gelling temperatures of 1% HA gellan dispersions containing selected cations (monovalent cations, 10–200 mM; divalent cations, 2–80 mM) were determined using dynamic rheological analysis. Gelling temperatures increased with cation concentrations. Divalent cations exhibited greater effects on the gelling temperature than equivalent concentrations of monovalent cations, but the effects between the two different types of divalent cations or the two different monovalent cations were not significantly different. An equation based upon the assumption that the effects of cations on gelling temperatures were additive fitted well with the experimental data (R2=0.98, standard error of prediction=0.58 °C).
Imprint of evolutionary conservation and protein structure variation on the binding function of protein tyrosine kinases

Motivation: According to the models of divergent molecular evolution, the evolvability of new protein function may depend on the induction of new phenotypic traits by a small number of mutations of the binding site residues. Evolutionary relationships between protein kinases are often employed to infer inhibitor binding profiles from sequence analysis. However, protein kinases binding profiles may display inhibitor selectivity within a given kinase subfamily, while exhibiting cross-activity between kinases that are phylogenetically remote from the prime target. The emerging insights into kinase function and evolution combined with a rapidly growing number of publically available crystal structures of protein kinases complexes have motivated structural bioinformatics analysis of sequence--structure relationships in determining the binding function of protein tyrosine kinases. Results:In silico profiling of Imatinib mesylate and PD-173955 kinase inhibitors with protein tyrosine kinases is conducted on kinome scale by using evolutionary analysis and fingerprinting inhibitor--protein interactions with the panel of all publically available protein tyrosine kinases crystal structures. We have found that sequence plasticity of the binding site residues alone may not be sufficient to enable protein tyrosine kinases to readily evolve novel binding activities with inhibitors. While evolutionary signal derived solely from the tyrosine kinase sequence conservation can not be readily translated into the ligand binding phenotype, the proposed structural bioinformatics analysis can discriminate a functionally relevant kinase binding signal from a simple phylogenetic relationship. The results of this work reveal that protein conformational diversity is intimately linked with sequence plasticity of the binding site residues in achieving functional adaptability of protein kinases towards specific drug binding. This study offers a plausible molecular rationale to the experimental binding profiles of the studied kinase inhibitors and provides a theoretical basis for constructing functionally relevant kinase binding trees. Contact: gverkhiv@ucsd.edu Supplementary information: The supplementary material contains the details of the phylogenetic analysis of protein tyrosine kinases, including phylogenetic dendrograms of protein tyrosine kinases based on sequence alignments of the kinases catalytic domain and evolutionary conservation profiles of the binding site residues. This section provides a more detailed description of the Monte Carlo binding simulations, including energetic model and simulated tempering technique generalized for ligand--protein binding dynamics with the multiple protein tyrosine kinase structures.
Fundamental Issues in the Stability of Adaptive IIR Filters

Adaptive IIR filter analysis is more complicated than for the FIR case because (a) some algorithm signals are generated by the adaptive filter itself, and (b) the prediction error relates to the adapted parameters via a filtering operation. Averaging analyses of stability address the first issue by linearization about the convergence point, and the second by using passivity of the error operator. However, published results do not fully account for signal dynamics in the linearization, nor have initial conditions in the passivity analysis been considered. This paper addresses these gaps. Our motivation to revisit these broadly applicable issues is for analyzing recently developed adaptive algorithms that have application to biological systems.
A Smart Trocar for automatic tool recognition in laparoscopic surgery

Background. Operating rooms have become increasingly complex environments and more prone to errors because of loss of situation awareness. Adding computer intelligence to the operating room may help overcome these limitations particularly if the system can automatically track which step of an operation a surgeon is performing. To develop such a platform, it is necessary to track which laparoscopic instruments are being used and in which port they are inserted. This article describes the development and validation of a “Smart Trocar” that can automatically perform this function. Methods. A Smart Trocar system prototype was developed that uses a wireless camera attached to a standard laparoscopic port and custom software algorithms. The system recognizes color wheels attached to the handle of a laparoscopic instrument and compares the unique color pattern to an instrument library for proper tool identification. The system was tested for reliability in a box trainer environment using a variety of tool positi...
Load-balanced isosurfacing on multi-GPU clusters

Isosurface extraction is a common technique applied in scientific visualization. Increasing sizes of volumes over which isosurfacing is to be applied combined with increasingly hierarchical parallel architectures present challenges for efficiently distributing isosurfacing work loads. We propose a technique that, with a modest amount of preprocessing, efficiently distributes isosurfacing load to GPU compute resources within a cluster. Load uniformity is maximized over a set of user-defined isovalues, enabling improved scalability over naive, non-data-centric, work distribution approaches.
An integrated approach to inferring gene–disease associations in humans

One of the most important tasks of modern bioinformatics is the development of computational tools that can be used to understand and treat human disease. To date, a variety of methods have been explored and algorithms for candidate gene prioritization are gaining in their usefulness. Here, we propose an algorithm for detecting gene-disease associations based on the human protein-protein interaction network, known gene-disease associations, protein sequence, and protein functional information at the molecular level. Our method, PhenoPred, is supervised: first, we mapped each gene/protein onto the spaces of disease and functional terms based on distance to all annotated proteins in the protein interaction network. We also encoded sequence, function, physicochemical, and predicted structural properties, such as secondary structure and flexibility. We then trained support vector machines to detect gene-disease associations for a number of terms in Disease Ontology and provided evidence that, despite the noise/incompleteness of experimental data and unfinished ontology of diseases, identification of candidate genes can be successful even when a large number of candidate disease terms are predicted on simultaneously.
Diversity-assisted channel estimation and multiuser detection for downlink CDMA with long spreading codes

In downlink communication of a direct-sequence (DS) code-division multiple-access (CDMA) system, each user's short spreading codes are superimposed by base station's common long codes. This situation creates much difficulty in blind signal detection when multipath propagation occurs. However, when spatial/temporal diversity is available at the receiver, it is shown in this paper that subspace technique can be directly applied to estimate the common downlink multipath channel. Then, typical linear receivers, such as zero-forcing (ZF), minimum mean-square-error (MMSE) and RAKE receivers can be designed to detect the desired signal. Since the data covariance matrix is used but estimated from finite data samples, performance of both channel estimator and receivers gets perturbed. It is thus thoroughly and jointly analyzed by perturbation analysis. Justification of analysis and comparison of different receivers are also made through simulations.
Cardiac Stimulant Action of Extracts of Coelenterates on Rat Atria

Crude aqueous ethanol extracts of nine out of 12 species of anthozoans and the one scyphozoan examined showed varying degrees of positive inotropic and chronotropic effects on isolated rat atria. This is the first report of what may be rather widely occurring heart stimulants of possible practical utility among the Coelenterata.
Seasonal Shifts in Relative Density of the Lizard Anolis polylepis (Squamata, Dactyloidae) in Forest and Riparian Habitats

Abstract Seasonal abundance is known to fluctuate in many reptile species, but comparative studies of proximal macrohabitats across seasons are rare. We surveyed for differences in abundance in a common lowland Central American forest anole, Anolis polylepis, across proximal forest and riparian habitats during the wet and dry seasons in southwest Costa Rica. We found that dry-season decreases in population abundance of A. polylepis in a forest habitat are mirrored by simultaneous increases in abundance in an adjacent riparian area. This result is compatible with seasonal movements between forest and riparian macrohabitats in A. polylepis. Likely causal factors for this macrohabitat shift include increased risk of desiccation and decreased prey abundance in the forest habitat during dry periods. We briefly discuss potential conservation implications of habitat shifts to suitable microhabitats on this tropical lizard.
Practical protocols for fast histopathology by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic imaging

Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic imaging is an emerging technique that combines the molecular selectivity of spectroscopy with the spatial specificity of optical microscopy. We demonstrate a new concept in obtaining high fidelity data using commercial array detectors coupled to a microscope and Michelson interferometer. Next, we apply the developed technique to rapidly provide automated histopathologic information for breast cancer. Traditionally, disease diagnoses are based on optical examinations of stained tissue and involve a skilled recognition of morphological patterns of specific cell types (histopathology). Consequently, histopathologic determinations are a time consuming, subjective process with innate intra- and inter-operator variability. Utilizing endogenous molecular contrast inherent in vibrational spectra, specially designed tissue microarrays and pattern recognition of specific biochemical features, we report an integrated algorithm for automated classifications. The developed protocol is objective, statistically significant and, being compatible with current tissue processing procedures, holds potential for routine clinical diagnoses. We first demonstrate that the classification of tissue type (histology) can be accomplished in a manner that is robust and rigorous. Since data quality and classifier performance are linked, we quantify the relationship through our analysis model. Last, we demonstrate the application of the minimum noise fraction (MNF) transform to improve tissue segmentation.
Expression of an 11 kDa methionine-rich delta-zein in transgenic soybean results in the formation of two types of novel protein bodies in transitional cells situated between the vascular tissue and storage parenchyma cells

Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) is an important protein source in human diets and animal feeds. The sulphur content of soybean seed proteins, however, is not optimal for ration formulations. Thus, increasing the methionine and cysteine content of soybean seed proteins would enhance the nutritional quality of this widely utilized legume. We have earlier reported the isolation of an 11 kDa delta-zein protein rich in methionine from the endosperm of the maize (Zea mays L.) inbred line W23a1 [Kim, W.-S. and Krishnan, H.B. (2003) Allelic variation and differential expression of methionine-rich-delta-zeins in maize inbred lines B73 and W23a1. Planta, 217, 66-74]. Using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation, a construct consisting of the coding region of the cloned delta-zein gene under regulation of the beta-conglycinin alpha'-promoter was introduced into the soybean genome. The 11 kDa delta-zein gene was expressed in the seeds of transgenic soybeans, although low-level expression was also detected in the leaves. In situ hybridization indicated that the 11 kDa delta-zein mRNA was expressed predominantly in transitional cells located between the vascular tissue and storage parenchyma cells. Immunohistochemistry of developing transgenic soybeans revealed that the accumulation of the 11 kDa delta-zein occurred primarily in these transitional cells. Expression of the 11 kDa delta-zein gene in transgenic soybean resulted in the formation of two endoplasmic reticulum-derived protein bodies that were designated as either spherical or complex. Immunocytochemical localization demonstrated that both the spherical and complex protein bodies accumulated the 11 kDa delta-zein. Although expression of the 11 kDa delta-zein gene elevated the methionine content of the alcohol-soluble protein fraction 1.5-1.7-fold above that of the non-transgenic line, the overall methionine content of seed flour was not increased. Our results suggest that the confined expression of the 11 kDa delta-zein gene in transitional cells could be limiting the increase in methionine content in transgenic soybean seeds.
Post‐glacial changes in spatial patterns of vegetation across southern New England

Aim We analysed lake-sediment pollen records from eight sites in southern New England to address: (1) regional variation in ecological responses to post-glacial climatic changes, (2) landscape-scale vegetational heterogeneity at different times in the past, and (3) environmental and ecological controls on spatial patterns of vegetation. Location The eight study sites are located in southern New England in the states of Massachusetts and Connecticut. The sites span a climatic and vegetational gradient from the lowland areas of eastern Massachusetts and Connecticut to the uplands of north-central and western Massachusetts. Tsuga canadensis and Fagus grandifolia are abundant in the upland area, while Quercus, Carya and Pinus species have higher abundances in the lowlands.
Is intrinsic value conditional

Accoding to G.E. Moore, something's intrinsic valuedepends solely on its intrinsic nature. Recently Thomas Hurka andShelly Kagan have argued, contra Moore, that something's intrinsic valuemay depend on its extrinsic properties. Call this view the ‘ConditionalView’ of intrinsic value. In this paper I demonstrate how a Mooreancan account for purported counterexamples given by Hurka and Kagan. I thenargue that certain organic unities pose difficulties for the ConditionalView.
Mode II Measurements for Stiction Failed MEMS Devices

Among MEMS devices, the most common type of failure is stiction. Stiction is the unintended adhesion between two surfaces when they are in close proximity to each other. Various studies have been conducted in recent years to study suction. Our research group has shown the in-service repair of the suction failed MEMS devices is possible with structural vibrations. In order to further understand this phenomenon and better predict, theoretically, the onset of repair we have constructed an apparatus to determine the Mode I, II, and III interfacial adhesion energies of MEMS devices failed on a substrate. Recently we have developed a nonlinear model to measure the Mode I interfacial adhesion energies accurately. Using the same experimental apparatus we used earlier to determine the Mode I interfacial adhesion energies, we measure the Mode II interfacial adhesion energies. The proposed experimental method for measuring the Mode II interfacial adhesion energies for suction failed MEMS devices uses a microcantilever beam (1500 μm long, 10 μm wide, and 2.6 μm thick) attached to MEMS actuator with fixed-fixed beam flexure. Deflection of the spring is measured with a vernier scale of the actuator. Then a nonlinear elastic model of the fixed–fixed beam flexure is used to determine the interfacial adhesion energy between the failed microcantilever beam and the surface. In this work, we report our initial results for the interfacial energies from Mode II type failures. A critical strain energy release rate, for Mode II, is found to be G ≤ 549 μJ/m2 .Copyright © 2010 by ASME
The Human Lexinome: Genes of Language and Reading.

Within the human genome, genetic mapping studies have identified 10 regions of different chromosomes, known as DYX loci, in genetic linkage with dyslexia, and two, known as SLI loci, in genetic linkage with Specific Language Impairment (SLI). Further genetic studies have identified four dyslexia genes within the DYX loci: DYX1C1 on 15q, KIAA0319 and DCDC2 on 6p22, and ROBO1 on 13q.FOXP2on 7q has been implicated in the development of Speech-Language Disorder. No genes for Specific Language Impairment have yet been identified within the two SLI loci. Functional studies have shown that all four dyslexia genes play roles in brain development, and ongoing molecular studies are attempting to elucidate how these genes exert their effects at a subcellular level. Taken together, these genes and loci likely represent only a fraction of the human lexinome, a term we introduce here to refer to the collection of all the genetic and protein elements involved in the development of human language, expression, and reading. Learning outcomes: The reader will become familiar with (i) methods for identifying genes for complex diseases, (ii) the application of these methods in the elucidation of genes underlying disorders of language and reading, and (iii) the cellular pathways through which polymorphisms in these genes may contribute to the development of the disorders.
Global trajectory planning for fault tolerant manipulators

Whether a task can be completed after a failure of one of the degrees-of-freedom of a redundant manipulator depends on the joint angle at which the failure takes place. It is possible to achieve fault tolerance by globally planning a trajectory that avoids unfavorable joint positions before a failure occurs. In this paper we present a trajectory planning algorithm that guarantees fault tolerance while simultaneously satisfying joint limit and obstacle avoidance requirements.
An evaluation of fine-grain producer-initiated communication in cache-coherent multiprocessors

Prefetching is a widely used consumer-initiated mechanism to hide communication latency in shared-memory multiprocessors. However, prefetching is inapplicable or insufficient for some communication patterns such as irregular communication, pipelined loops, and synchronization. For these cases, a combination of two fine-grain, producer-initiated primitives (referred to as remote-writes) is better able to reduce the latency of communication. This paper demonstrates experimentally that remote writes provide significant performance benefits in cache-coherent shared-memory multiprocessors with and without prefetching. Further, the combination of remote writes and prefetching is able to eliminate most of the memory system overhead in the applications, except misses due to cache conflicts.
Miniaturization of implantable wireless power receiver

Implantable medical devices will play an important role in modern medicine. To reduce the risk of wire snapping, and replacement and corrosion of embedded batteries, wireless delivery of energy to these devices is desirable. However, current autonomous implants remain large in scale due to the operation at very low frequency and the use of unwieldy size of antennas. This paper will show that the optimal frequency is about 2 orders of magnitude higher than the conventional wisdom; and thereby the power receiving coils can be reduced by more than 100 fold without sacrificing either power efficiency or range. We will show that a mm-sized implant can receive 100’s µW of power under safety constraints. This level of power transfer is sufficient to enable many functionalities into the micro-implants for clinical applications.
Currency Risk and the Safe-haven Hypothesis

It has been argued that the dollar's role as a safe currency may affect its value over and above what can be justified fundamentally. This view stresses the role of the dollar as a safe-haven currency whose demand increases during periods of uncertainty. Applying a generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity framework to data on four bilateral exchange rates versus the dollar, the results show that uncertainty strengthens the dollar.
Influence of the Isotopic Composition of Standards on the Accuracy of Atomic Spectrometry for the Determination of Lithium

Analysis by atomic spectroscopy depends on the comparison of the signal generated by the sample to the signal generated by a standard. If the isotopic distribution of the analyte element in the sample differs substantially from the isotopic distribution in the standards, then an error will result. The magnitude of the error depends on the differences in abundances and on the wavelength differences between the analysis lines of the isotopes. If the analysis is performed by atomic absorption spectrometry, the error is also influenced by the isotopic distribution in the hollow cathode lamp. In the determination of lithium by emission the relative errors can reach 6% for an enriched (40 atom% 6Li) sample. In atomic absorption, the relative errors in the lithium concentrations can reach 50% for an enriched sample.
Nonlinear MMSE interference cancellation for asynchronous CDMA channels with convolutional coding

A trellis-based algorithm is derived in this paper for nonlinear MMSE estimation of convolutionally encoded signals in asynchronous CDMA channels with random spreading. Iterative nonlinear MMSE multiuser detection, proposed by the authors earlier for uncoded systems, is extended to forward error-correcting (FEC) coded CDMA systems by employing this algorithm. The resulting receiver is a Turbo-like combined FEC decoder and multiuser detector whose complexity is linear in the number of users. The proposed trellis-based estimation algorithm has the same order of complexity in the number of states of the FEC code as the Viterbi algorithm for optimal decoding of convolutional codes. Simulation results indicate that the proposed cancellation scheme can offer substantial improvement in performance over three other schemes in terms of cancellation error, capacity increase and tolerance to deep fades.
A new topological technique for characterizing homoclinic tangles

We have developed a topological approach, called homotopic lobe dynamics, for describing the qualitative structure of homoclinic tangles. This approach begins from an efficient and accurate description of the initial development of a tangle, up to some finite number of iterates J, where the value of J indicates the amount of information that one puts into the theory. Our approach can then compute the topologically forced structure of the tangle at all iterates after J. This allows one, for example, to predict a minimal set of homoclinic intersections. This technique places few assumptions on the homoclinic tangles considered. In fact, one main advantage is its ability to describe the wide variety of behaviour seen in physically significant tangles.
Towards ubiquitous awareness: the PRAVTA prototype

Despite huge progress in information and communication technology it is often difficult to spontaneously contact persons who are at other locations. This is often due to the fact that important information about the persons at the other sites is missing. We therefore argue that users need awareness-they need to know if the potential communication or cooperation partners are present in the system, if they are available, how busy they are, and so forth. Furthermore, users need this information independently of their current location and adapted to their current context. In this paper we introduce the concept of ubiquitous awareness-a concept that provides users with context-specific information about the presence, availability, and tasks of other persons anytime and anywhere and at the same time allows the system to capture information about users. We present the PRAVTA prototype that exemplifies an implementation of this concept.
What are extreme environmental conditions and how do organisms cope with them

Severe environmental conditions affect organisms in two major ways. The environment may be predictably severe such as in deserts, polar and alpine regions, or individuals may be exposed to temporarily extreme conditions through weather, presence of predators, lack of food, social status etc. Existence in an extreme environment may be possible, but then to breed or molt in addition can present major bottlenecks that have resulted in the evolution of hormone-behavior adaptations to cope with unpredictable events. Examples of hormone-behavior adaptations in extreme conditions include attenuated testosterone secretion because territoriality and excess courtship may be too costly when there is one opportunity to reproduce. The individual may even become insensitive to testosterone when target areas of the brain regulating reproductive behavior no longer respond to the hor- mone. A second example is reduced sensitivity to glucocorticoids following acute stress during the breeding season or molt that allows successful reproduction and/or a vital renewal of the integument to endure extreme conditions during the rest of the year. Reduced sensitivity could involve: (a) modulated response of the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis, (b) reduced sensitivity to high glucocorticoid levels, or (c) a combination of (a) and (b). Moreover, corticosteroid binding proteins (CBP) buffer responses to stress by reducing the movement of glucocorticoids into target cells. Finally, intracellular enzymes (11β-hydroxysteroid dehy- drogenase and variants) can deactivate glucocorticoids entering cells thus reducing interaction with receptors. These mechanisms have important implications for climate change and increasing extremes of weather (Current Zoology 57 (3): 363-374, 2011).
RATIO OF SYSTOLIC BLOOD PRESSURE TO LEFT VENTRICULAR END-DIASTOLIC PRESSURE AT THE TIME OF PERCUTANEOUS CORONARY INTERVENTION PREDICTS IN-HOSPITAL MORTALITY IN PATIENTS WITH ST-ELEVATION MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

Multiple scoring systems that incorporate clinical information, vital signs and physical examination have been derived to predict mortality in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of simple hemodynamic parameters obtained at
China’s Legislation for Preventing and Controlling Soil Contamination

No act or regulations have yet been enacted in China for soil contamination. Rather, only some relevant provisions scatter in the Environmental Protection Act of the PRC, which indicates that a gap exists in legislation for preventing and controlling soil contamination and we badly need a systematic and operative statutory framework. Absence of legislation immediately results in lack of environmental managerial, power which cannot meet the demand for preventing soil contamination. While analyzing land contamination, people always focus on lack of policies and laws. As such, an elaborate statutory system should be built and especially an act be enacted that specifies the purpose, basic principles and managerial rules of prevention of soil contamination in China.
Analysis of Water-Hammer Wave Speed and Friction Loss in Annular Space

In order to study the phenomenon and regular movement pattern of liquid flow in annular space in projects such as oil extraction and drilling,the water hammer problem of liquid flow in annular space,which was rarely addressed at the moment,was discussed.According to the structure characteristics of annular space and the motion characteristics of fluid,the calculating formula of water-hammer wave speed was deduced in annular space.The calculating method of friction drag and its effect on the wave speed equations were discussed.The obtained water-hammer wave speed equations could provide reference for the further research of mobility pattern and characteristics of liquid flow in annular space.
Differential regulation of actin and myosin isoenzyme synthesis in functionally overloaded skeletal muscle

Overload hypertrophy of the chicken anterior latissimus dorsi muscle is accompanied by a replacement of one myosin isoenzyme (slow myosin-1, SM1) by another (slow myosin-2, SM2). To investigate the molecular mechanisms by which these changes occur, we measured the fractional synthesis rates (ks) in vivo of individual myosin-heavy-chain isoenzymes, total actin and total protein during the first 72 h of muscle growth. Although the ks of total protein and actin were doubled at 24 h, the ks for SM1 and SM2 were depressed. However, the ks of both isomyosins were nearly tripled by 72 h. Despite the increase in muscle size observed at 72 h, the amount of SM1 was reduced by half, indicating increased degradation of SM1. Results of translation of polyribosomes in vitro paralleled the results obtained in vivo. The proportion of total polyadenylylated mRNA in total RNA was increased at 48 and 72 h, but unchanged at 24 h despite the increase in protein synthesis at 24 h. Nuclease-protection analyses indicate that the level of specific SM1 and SM2 mRNAs change in a reciprocal fashion during overload. We conclude that gene-specific and temporal differences exist in the regulatory mechanisms that control overload-induced muscle growth.
Viral Hepatitis, Type B

The disease that is recognized as type B hepatitis today was first described in 1885 by Lurman (1). He observed an outbreak of jaundice among shipyard workers who were inoculated with smallpox vaccine two months previously. Later it became clear that the human lymph component of the vaccine was obtained from a donor who undoubtedly was a hepatitis B carrier. Although type B hepatitis was first recognized during this past century, it is likely that it existed as an unrecognized disease for many hundreds of past generations.
The humble pursuit of respect for persons

Humility has been found to be the correlative interest for one's pursuit of duties related to self; but Kant's, and our own, suspicion that recognition of duties to self is somehow previous to and a condition of recognition and proper fulfillment of duties to others raises the question of how this attitude of humility, itself tied to the obligatory end of self-perfection, could be important also for recognition and fulfillment of one's obligatory end toward others. A general answer to this question can be stipulated: if recognizing the value and needs of other persons, and the resulting obligation these place on oneself, depends upon recognizing their situation to be similar to one's own (and not simply as being better or worse, more or less valuable than oneself); then knowing one's own value and moral status in the way that has been suggested the humble person knows it is indeed previous to adequate recognition of one's obligation to others. Accepting oneself as a dependent and corrupt but capable and dignified agent is a condition for being able to recognize this identical state in other persons. Without such recognition, I could not characterize the situation of others as such, nor be able to respond in appropriate ways to it. Humility – that is, the integration of this substantial self-knowledge into a pervasive life-guiding meta-attitude as discussed in Part III – is thus a condition for recognizing one's obligatory end relative to other persons reliably and consistently.
Effect of Implementation of Nonlinear Sequence Transformations on Power Series Expansion for a Class of Non-Linear Abel Equations

Convergence of power series solutions for a class of non-linear Abel type equations, including an equation that arises in nonlinear cooling of semi-infinite rods, is very slow inside their small radius of convergence. Beyond that the corresponding power series are wildly divergent. Implementation of nonlinear sequence transformation allow effortless evaluation of these power series on very large intervals.. Keywords—Nonlinear transformation, Abel Volterra Equations, Mathematica
Risk factors and prevention for surgical intestinal disorders in extremely low birth weight infants.

Surgical intestinal disorders (SID), such as necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), focal intestinal perforation (FIP), and meconium-related ileus (MRI), are serious morbidities in extremely low birth weight (ELBW, birth weight <1000 g) infants. From 2010, we performed enteral antifungal prophylaxis (EAP) in ELBWI to prevent for SID. The aim of this study was to identify disease-specific risk factors and to evaluate the efficacy of prevention for SID in ELBW infants. A retrospective chart review of all consecutive patients between January 2006 and March 2015, which included 323 ELBW infants who were admitted to Shizuoka Children’s Hospital, was conducted. The number of infants with NEC, FIP, and MRI was 9, 12, and 13, respectively; 28 in 323 ELBW infants died. The control group defined the cases were not SID. In-hospital mortality was higher in infants with NEC relative to those in the control group. On logistic regression analysis, low gestational age and cardiac malformations were associated with increased risk of NEC. IUGR were associated with increased risk of MRI. EAP decreased risk of NEC and FIP. Low gestational weight and NEC were associated with increased risk of death. Survival to hospital discharge after operation for NEC in ELBW infants remains poor. EAP decreased risk of NEC and FIP in ELBW infants.
Bundling of Vertically Differentiated Products in a Supply Chain

We consider a supply chain consisting of a single manufacturer and a single retailer. The manufacturer produces a basic and a premium product. If desired, a bundle of the two products might also be produced at a unit bundling cost. We allow either the manufacturer or the retailer to produce the bundle from the component products. All products, however, must be sold exclusively through the retailer. Using game theoretic models, we compare and contrast the equilibrium outcomes under retailer bundling and manufacturer bundling scenarios. We show that under manufacturer bundling, the manufacturer never offers the full product line composed of the basic product, the premium product, and the bundle, at equilibrium; while the same does not hold under retailer bundling. We show that total supply chain profit under retailer bundling weakly dominates that under manufacturer bundling and characterize the region in the parameter space where this domination is strict. We explore an extension where there is a capacity constraint in producing one or both of the component products and characterize the equilibrium outcomes. We show that unlike the infinite capacity case, offering the full product line is an equilibrium outcome under manufacturer bundling when the capacity of the premium good is limited.
Deterministic modeling of API5L X52 steel in a coal-tar-coating/cathodic-protection system in soil

Abstract Impedance characteristic signal for a coal tar-coated API5L-X52 steel with cathodic protection has been investigated in soil using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Deterministic transmission line model (TLM) has been set up to simulate the impedance results of pipeline with intact and artificial defect coating, and to verify the damage evolution of coated pipeline with cathodic protection in soil. To illustrate the coating inherent property, coating in each transmission line unit has been assumed to be represent by two imaginary parts: a relatively coating barrier part which serves as parallel of capacitor and resistor (Cper Rper); and another part considered as porous coating serves as parallel of porous coating and double layer (Cpor Rpor (Cdl Rct)). The parameter θ has been proposed to calculate the total impedance of the coating, to illustrate its performance. An adjustment was applied to calculate total resistance Rt mathematically, based on the simulation results to illustrate the damage evolution concept. The Rt values are in agreement with the proposed damage evolution stages.
7. Comparison of two deformable registration software using an in-house “deformable phantom”

Introduction The multimodality image fusion, widely used in radiotherapy to precisely contour the target volumes, opened the field to deformable registration, as significant anatomical and positional modifications may occur between acquisitions. In this work, a heat deformable 3D phantom, with two rigid well defined lesions, was conceived to quantify the performances of Velocity and Smart Adapt in their ability to segment structures on deformed images. Material and methods The phantom’s deformable body (BODY) is made from wax (deformable at 40 °C) and includes two rigid elements of Aquaplast (deformable at 60°C) in its extremities (Fig. 1). The volumes of the structures were 10.78cc, 18.9cc and 466.8cc respectively for PTV-A, PTV-B and BODY. The initial distance between the centers of PTV-A and PTV-B was 10.6 cm. At first, it was scanned on its initial form (CTinitial), then undergone two deformations, having one CT imaging for each deformation (CT-1deform, CT-2deform). The PTV-B was shifted from PTV-A 1.2cm after the first deformation and 4.7cm after the second deformation. Reference contours BODY, PTV-A and PTV-B were manually contoured on each CT, with 3 physicist drawing PTVs to estimate intra-observer variability. The CTinitial was deformed to CT-1deform and CT-2deform using both Smart Adapt and Velocity. Different metrics were used to compare manual and segmented structures. Results In the table below are presented the metrics results as a mean value for PTV-A & PTV-B. Download : Download high-res image (112KB) Download : Download full-size image
An anthocyanin-enriched extract from strawberries delays disease onset and extends survival in the hSOD1G93A mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Objective: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease resulting from the death of motor neurons in the brain, brain stem, and spinal cord. Several processes such as oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and neuronal apoptosis, contribute to disease progression. Anthocyanins are flavonoid compounds derived from fruits and vegetables that possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-apoptotic abilities. Thus, these unique compounds may provide therapeutic benefit for the treatment of ALS.Methods: We used the G93A mutant human SOD1 (hSOD1G93A) mouse model of ALS to assess the effects of an anthocyanin-enriched extract from strawberries (SAE) on disease onset and progression. Mice were administered SAE orally beginning at 60 days of age until end-stage such that mice received 2 mg/kg/day of the extract's primary anthocyanin constituent. Clinical indices of disease were assessed until mice were sacrificed at end-stage. Histopathological indices of disease progression were also evalua...
X-linked recessive congenital stationary night blindness, myopia, and tilted discs

A family with X-linked recessive congenital stationary night blindness, myopia, and tilted discs has been identified. All affected members have decreased vision, nystagmus, strabismus with decreased binocular function, visual field defects, abnormal fundus appearance with typical fluorescein angiographic findings of tilted disc syndrome, abnormal electroretinograms, and abnormal visual evoked responses to patterned stimuli. Similar clinical evaluation of an obligate carrier revealed no ocular abnormalities.
Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption, Vascular Impairment, and Ischemia/Reperfusion Damage in Diabetic Stroke.

Stroke is a major cause of death and long‐term disability accompanied by steep social and medical costs. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic, lifelong, severe metabolic health problem characterized by hyperglycemia, attributable to insulin deficiency, insulin resistance, or a combination of both.
Solvent Effects on the Oxygenation of Ni-Bound Thiolates

The air-oxidation of N,N’-bis(mercaptoethyl)-1,5-diazocyclooctanenickel(II), (1), yielding sulfur-oxygenated products, displays a pronounced solvent effect with the rate decreasing in the order DMF > CH3CN > H2O ≫ ROH . Square wave voltammetry has been used to monitor the reaction in various solvents. The reactions in nonprotic organic solvents result in mixtures of mono- (2) and bis-sulfinato (3) complexes and a trinuclear species resulting from free Ni2+. Mechanistic considerations are complicated by the fact that isolated monosulfinate 2 does not Open image in new window react with O2 to form the bis-sulfinate, 3. In water the reaction of 1 with O2 yields a different oxygenate, I, as the sole product which, when isolated and redissolved in nonprotic solvents, is prone to further oxygenation to form the 3. or decomposition to form 2 and 1. The nature of I and a comparison of the solvent effect to those seen in organic systems will be discussed.
Editorial on centennial feature about the toughness of glass

Volume 1 of the Journal had several papers on glass. Most of these involved optical glass manufacturing, in response to the then-critical need to expand domestic glass as optics formerly imported Germany and Austria-Hungary were unavailable. Only one paper addressed the mechanical properties of glass. This was in the November 1918 issue, where T.L. Sorey of the National Bureau of Standards reported on “strength tests of plain and protective sheet glass”. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Layer-by-Layer Engineered Microbicide Drug Delivery System Targeting HIV-1 gp120: Physicochemical and Biological Properties.

The purpose of this study is to engineer a model anti-HIV microbicide (Tenofovir) drug delivery system targeting HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120 (HIV-1 g120) for the prevention of HIV sexual transmission. HIV-1 g120 and mannose responsive particles (MRP) were prepared through the layer-by-layer coating of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) with Concanavalin A (Con A) and glycogen. MRP average particle size ranged from 881.7±15.45 nm to 1130±15.72 nm, depending on the number of Con A layers. Tenofovir encapsulation efficiency in CaCO3 was 74.4% with drug loading of 16.3% (w/w). MRP was non-cytotoxic to Lactobacillus crispatus, VK2 and RAW 264.7 cells and did not induce any significant pro-inflammatory nitric oxide release. Overall, compared to control, no statistically significant increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, MKC, IL-7 and TNFα levels was observed. Drug release profiles in the presence of methyl α-D-mannopyranoside and recombinant HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein gp120 followed Hixson–Cro...
Performance of multi-level amplify-and-forward relays with multihop diversity

This work analyzes cooperative networks in which a single source message is retransmitted by multiple levels of amplify-and-forward (AF) relays that are equipped with single antennas. The effects of noise and signal accumulation and multihop diversity (combining signals from multiple previously transmitted levels) on the network performance are studied. This work quantifies the advantages of multi-level networks over the classical multihop networks, which has degrading performance as the size of the network increases when relays use the simple AF strategy.
Rational Emotions: Animal Rights Theory, Feminist Critiques and Activist Insight

In this chapter, I briefly present the foundational arguments for granting animals moral consideration, as developed by Tom Regan and Peter Singer. I also address the main feminist critiques to these arguments, which are rooted in the feminist care tradition and vegetarian ecofeminism. To evaluate these divergent philosophies of animal rights, I use studies that demographically and psychologically examine animal rights activists, vegans, and vegetarians (veg’ns) in order to contextualize and illuminate animal rights theory. This allows for an understanding of theory as a dialectical system of praxis, whereby theory and practice inform each other.
Subjectivity and orientation in Levinas and Kant

This essay presents an argument for reconceptualizing subjectivity as orientational rather than foundational in nature. My focus is on the work of Emmanuel Levinas and Immanuel Kant. I begin by summarizing Levinas's theory of ethical subjectivity as a theory of the self where the internal and the external are in constant play. Then I turn to two works of Kant for resources to understand better the meaning of Levinas's theory of the self. In "What is Orientation in Thinking?" Kant presents a model for orientation in thought that I make use of as a basic framework for a model of orientational subjectivity. Then I analyze two feelings described by Kant in the third Critique which I argue can be understood as orientational feelings within such a model of orientational subjectivity: the feeling of sensus communis and the feeling of vocation.
The Konus and Frisch Expenditure-Based Cost of Living Indices

In order to solidify important concepts, we shall first present some index concepts in the absence of an income tax. The key to constructing an expenditure-based cost of living index is the expenditure function examined in Chapter Three, namely \({\text{e}}\left( {{\text{P,u}}} \right) \equiv \frac{{\min }}{{\text{X}}}\left\{ {{\text{P}} \bullet {\text{X}}\left| {{\text{U}}\left( {\text{X}} \right) \geqslant {\text{u}}} \right.} \right\}\). This function defines the minimum expenditures on goods and leisure necessary to purchase the standard of living corresponding to u.
Relationship transitions for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder: types, turbulence, and transition processing communication

ABSTRACTThis study surveys transitions specific to parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), examines how aspects of relational turbulence vary based on the type of transition experi...