cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Hybrid Intelligent Packing System (HIPS) through integration of Artificial Neural Networks, Artificial Intelligence, and mathematical programming

A successful solution to the packing problem is a major step toward material savings on the scrap that could be avoided in the cutting process and therefore money savings. Although the problem is of great interest, no satisfactory algorithm has been found that can be applied to all the possible situations. This paper models a Hybrid Intelligent Packing System (HIPS) by integrating Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Operations Research (OR) approaches for solving the packing problem. The HIPS consists of two main modules, an intelligent generator module and a tester module. The intelligent generator module has two components: (i) a rough assignment module and (ii) a packing module. The rough assignment module utilizes the expert system and rules concerning cutting restrictions and allocation goals in order to generate many possible patterns. The packing module is an ANN that packs the generated patterns and performs post-solution adjustments. The tester module, which consists of a mathematical programming model, selects the sets of patterns that will result in a minimum amount of scrap.
The interactions of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) with chick embryo tissue culture cells: attachment and growth.

Abstract The formation of plaques by Newcastle disease virus (NDV) on monolayers of chick embryo cells requires only a single infective particle and furnishes a reliable method of assay. The values so obtained agree with those found by egg titrations. Attachment of NDV to chick embryo cells requires the presence of an ionic medium. The rate of attachment is the same as the rate observed with red cells. Attachment is almost independent of temperature between the range of 0 and 27°. The pH dependence curve for attachment suggests the involvement of carboxyl groups in the binding of virus to cells. Under conditions where NDV elutes completely from red cells, there is little or no elution from host cells. One-step virus growth curves, determined with cell suspensions, exhibited a latent period of 3 to 4 hours, followed by a rise period which lasted for 4 to 8 hours. The average yield per infected cell varied between 18 and 37.
Infrared chemiluminescence from hydrogen atom reactions with the sulfur-chlorine bond

Abstract The reaction of hydrogen atoms with SCl 2 , S 2 Cl 2 , SOCL 2 and So 2 Cl 2 gives infrared chemiluminescence from HCl in high vibrational levels. The degree of relaxation from the initial distribution was estimated by comparison to the emission from the reaction of H + Cl 2 . The vibrational level populations of HCl decreased in the series from SCl 2 to SO 2 Cl 2 .
Temporary drought can selectively suppress Schoenoplectus mucronatus in rice.

Abstract Outdoor pot experiments were conducted in California to quantify differences in rice and Schoenoplectus mucronatus susceptibility to drought and to identify morphological and physiological traits that would favor rice over S. mucronatus under drought. Plants were grown in flooded soil for approximately 5 weeks, and then subjected to different drought periods after which pots were re-flooded. Chlorophyll fluorescence assays revealed that rice and S. mucronatus Fv/Fm first became Ψ leaf ) had decreased to approximately −4 MPa and −2 MPa, respectively. Thus, by suffering less photosynthetic damage from drought, rice had better recovery after re-flooding than S. mucronatus . When drought reduced Ψ leaf to −3 MPa, S. mucronatus re-growth was nearly suppressed but that of rice was unaffected. Rice plants depleted soil moisture 1.6 faster than S. mucronatus due to larger and deeper roots and a high water-spending strategy (when Ψ leaf decreased from approximately −0.5 MPa to −2.5 MPa, 13 δ increased from −27.8 to −27.4 and from −28.1 to −26.0 for rice and S. mucronatus , respectively). Rice under interspecific competition sustained its Ψ leaf by extracting more water from greater depths, while causing severe moisture stress and photosynthetic damage to S. mucronatus . Thus temporary drought enhanced rice competitiveness over S. mucronatus , supporting the concept of using brief drought as a tool for S. mucronatus suppression in rice. The Ψ leaf developed by the end of the drought period predicted rice yields ( R 2 = 0.77, P S. mucronatus to recover from drought upon irrigation resumption ( R 2 = 0.62, P S. mucronatus never fully recovered from drought. Rice yields were only reduced after Ψ leaf reached values below approximately −2.5 MPa. Longer drought (∼20 d) delayed maturity and reduced rice yields by approximately 60–80%. The dry-down approach could help suppress weeds similar to S. mucronatus in organic rice where premium prices can compensate for lower grain yield.
VizCraft: a problem-solving environment for aircraft configuration design

The VizCraft problem-solving environment aids aircraft designers during conceptual design of a high-speed civil transport (HSCT). It integrates simulation codes that evaluate a design with visualizations for analyzing a design individually or in contrast to other designs. VizCraft provides a graphical user interface to a widely used suite of simulation and analysis codes for HSCT design, and it provides tools for visualizing the outputs of these codes. So, VizCraft provides an environment that combines visualization and computation, encouraging the designer to think in terms of the overall problem-solving task, not simply using the visualization to view the computation's results.
Anomalous Behavior Of The Reflectivity Of Metals Irradiated With 10.6 µm Laser Pulses

Anomalous behavior of the specular reflectivity of polished metal surfaces subjected to intense CO2 laser pulses is reported. Irradiations of several metallic elements and alloys were conducted in hard vacuum and time-resolved measurements of specular reflectivity were performed during the 60-ns pulse. Results indicated in many cases a transient drop in reflectivity to a level in the 10-40% range followed by recovery to near unity by the end of the pulse for a stabilized surface. Metal vapor plasma was not detected in most cases and is not believed to be the dominant mechanism operative. Theoretical estimates of surface temperature transients are presented along with correlations of observed surface damage. Mechanisms which may explain the observed anomaly are discussed.
Microbiome complexity and Staphylococcus aureus in chronic rhinosinusitis

Objectives/Hypothesis The aim of this study was to compare microbiological culture-based and culture-independent (16S rRNA gene sequencing) methodologies for pathogen identification in chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) patients. We hypothesized that (a) bacterial culture and DNA sequencing would yield largely concurrent results, though sequencing would detect greater bacterial diversity, and (b) the sinonasal microbiomes of CRS patients would differ in composition and diversity compared with non-CRS controls.
Die Diffusion kleiner Teilchen in einer Flüssigkeit

Wenn kleine Teilchen in einer Flussigkeit schwimmen, fuhren sie eine Brownsche Bewegung aus und erleiden einen standigen Fall, dessen Geschwindigkeit aus dem Stokesschen Gesetz folgt. Wie auch die Anfangsdichtigkeit der Teilchen uber die Flussigkeit verteilt sein mag, der Endzustand wird immer ein stationarer sein, in dem die Dichtigkeit eine Exponentialfunktion der Tiefe ist. In mannigfachen Problemen ist es eine wichtige Frage, wie lange es dauern wird, bevor dieser stationare Zustand erreicht wird. Diese Frage ist vor kurzem von Furth behandelt worden. Seine Schlusse sind weit verschieden von denen des Verfassers, der fruher gefunden hatte, das der stationare Zustand in allen Fallen hauptsachlich in derselben Zeit erreicht wird, in der ein Teilchen mit der Stokesschen Geschwindigkeit durch die doppelte Tiefe der Flussigkeit fallen wurde. Dies Resultat wird bestatigt, indem der Fehler in Furths Behandlungsweise klargelegt wird.
CFRSL rain measurement facility — Part-2 rain profiling radar

The Central Florida Remote Sensing Laboratory has established a rain measurement facility in Central, Fl to study the statistical properties of tropical rainfall and the associated interaction with electromagnetic waves. The rain absorption coefficient is an important parameter, which governs the atmospheric propagation absorption loss during rainfall. This paper (part-2 of 2) describes this research facility and presents the theoretical design of a rain profiling radar system. This L-band pulsed radar will provide zenith-viewing reflectivity measurements over altitude increments of 150 m to augment a passive microwave radiometer that is used to estimate the rain absorption coefficient at C-band. A theoretical “Z-R” relationship (radar reflectivity values associated with corresponding rain rate) is used in a MATLAB radar simulation to illustrate the radar measurement performance using a numerical weather model to provide a realistic thunderstorm rainfall event.
Saturation QCD predictions with heavy quarks at HERA

The measurement of the proton structure function at HERA is often seen as a hint for the observation of saturation in high-energy QCD e.g. through the observation of geometric scaling. Accordingly, the dipole picture provides a powerful framework in which the QCD-based saturation models can be confronted to the data. In this Letter, we give a parametrisation of proton structure function which is directly constrained by the dynamics of QCD in its high-energy limit and fully includes the heavy quark effects. We obtain a good agreement with the available data. Furthermore, to the contrary of various models in the literature, we do not observe a significant decrease of the saturation momentum due to the heavy quark inclusion.
Detection of stratospheric N2O5 by infrared remote sounding

Measurements of N2O5 absorption (1230 and 1260 per cm) in infrared spectra were carried out using the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) instruments on board Spacelab 3. The detection of stratospheric N2O5, a temporary reservoir species whose photolysis products catalyze ozone destruction, was confirmed. Preliminary analysis of spectra recorded at sunrise on 1 May 1985 indicates a peak volume mixing ratio of 1.6 x 10 the -9th at 35 km an altitude of 35 km, or a broad concentration peak pf 4 x 10 to the 8th molecules per cu cm between 21 and 35 km. Absorption was not detected in spectra measured at sunset due to the depletion of N2O5 by photolysis during the day. The volume mixing ratio profile of N2O5 between 0 and 75 km altitude is reproduced in graphic form.
Cantharidin: potent feeding deterrent to insects.

Cantharidin, the well-known terpenoid compound from the blood of blister beetles (and active principle of Spanish fly), is a feeding deterrent to insects, effective at a concentration of 10-5 molar.
Influence of Surface Tension-Driven Convection on Cyclic Voltammograms of Langmuir Films of Redox-Active Amphiphiles

Simulations were conducted to elucidate the effects of Marangoni convection on the cyclic voltammograms of Langmuir films of redox-active amphiphiles. Oxidation and reduction of the amphiphiles occur at a line electrode that contacts the Langmuir film, and oxidation is assumed to introduce an electrostatic contribution to the surface equation of state of the film. A boundary element method is used to compute the bulk fluid velocities that are induced by the corresponding surface tension gradients and a finite element method used to compute the surface transport of the surfactants. When compared with the case of purely diffusional transport processes, the simulation results reveal that when Marangoni convection is included, the cyclic voltammograms become asymmetric. The anodic peaks tend to be larger and sharper than the cathodic and the ratio of cathodic peak to anodic peak is about 0.808. The results of the simulation are compared to past reports of cyclic voltammograms of Langmuir monolayers of a ferro...
Status of the K1200 cyclotron

Abstract The K1200 superconducting cyclotron has delivered beams of heavy ions to experiments in an interim vault during the construction of beamlines and detectors for the permanent target stations. The performance of the cyclotron and its status are presented.
Allogeneic bone marrow transplant for chronic myelogenous leukemia in a patient with multiple sclerosis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a demyelinating disease of the central nervous system in which immune mechanisms appear to be an important component of the pathophysiology. Although the clinical manifestations are variable, a subset of patients develops a progressive clinical course associated with marked neurologic impairment and significant morbidity. BMT has been proposed as a treatment for such patients based on preclinical data as well as clinical observations in other autoimmune diseases. We report clinical and MRI findings in an MS patient, later diagnosed with CML, and treated with an allogeneic BMT.
Stability concepts of dynamical systems

Many fields of interest under current research involve dynamical systems. In these fields dynamical systems can be formulated, and their stability examined as a special case of problems of stability in dynamics.
Continuous chemical vapor deposition processing with a moving finite thickness susceptor

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of thin films onto a moving surface is an important material processing technique for semiconductor fabrication, optical coatings, and many other applications. Continuous CVD processing offers an attractive solution to meet high volume requirements. In this study, the deposition on a finite thickness moving susceptor, considering surface reactions, is numerically investigated. When a susceptor is in motion, the reaction zone residence time and the coupling of conduction heat transfer in the susceptor with convection heat transfer in the gas flow significantly alter the deposition rate and film quality. A model is developed to quantify continuous CVD film production for several important design parameters. The numerical model is validated for the deposition of silicon through comparisons with analytical results and experimental data available in the literature. Films produced by continuous CVD are shown to be strongly dependent on susceptor speed, material selection, and susceptor thickness. Susceptor speed is directly linked to residence time in the reaction region, with lower residence times resulting in less time for reaction and heating, hence reducing growth rates. Increased thickness and susceptor thermal diffusivity alters the thermal energy distribution, thereby reducing the susceptor surface temperature and lowering the deposition rate. These effects may be overcome by increasing the length of the heating zone. Film quality is also influenced by the susceptor temperature, since reaction-controlled deposition typically produces different film structure than deposition under diffusion-controlled conditions. Overall, the results obtained demonstrate the feasibility of employing a moving finite thickness susceptor for CVD processing. A correlation of several operational parameters is also obtained for the film thickness. This may be used for the design and optimization of continuous CVD systems. The numerical model may also be used for considering deposition of other materials.
Shoe Inserts Alter Plantar Loading and Function in Patients With Midfoot Arthritis

Study Design Experimental laboratory study supplemented by a case series. Objectives (1) To assess the effect of a 4-week intervention with a full-length insert on functional outcomes in patients with midfoot arthritis; (2) to examine the effect of the custom-molded three-quarter-length (3Q) and full-length (FL) carbon graphite insert on plantar loading in patients with midfoot arthritis. Background Given the coexistence of pain and lower-arched foot alignment in patients with midfoot arthritis, arch-restoring orthotic devices such as the 3Q insert are frequently recommended. However, patients continue to report foot pain despite using the 3Q insert. The FL insert has been proposed as an alternative, but objective data examining its efficacy are lacking. Methods Twenty female patients with midfoot arthritis participated in the study. Functional outcomes were assessed using the Foot Function Index-Revised (FFI-R). Plantar loading during walking was measured in the following conditions: shoe only, shoe with...
Mutual information-based multimodality registration of cardiac ultrasound and SPECT images: a preliminary investigation.

Background: Ultrasound (US) and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) are the two most commonly prescribed procedures for diagnosing coronary artery disease (CAD). We have demonstrated the feasibility of multimodality registration of two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) cardiac US images with cardiac SPECT images with an aim to simultaneously present the complementary anatomical and perfusion information from the two modalities. We have also tested the clinicians' assessment of the clinical adequacy of the registered images. Methods and Results: We have demonstrated temporal and spatial registration for nine sets of cardiac US and SPECT cine loops covering the entire cardiac cycle. Temporal alignment was performed by interpolation of existing SPECT images at cardiac phases corresponding to available US images. Spatial registration was performed in 3D image space using a mutual information-based approach. Experts from echocardiography and nuclear medicine determined the clinical utility of the registration by rating each registration on a scale of 1 to 5, a rating of 3 or above indicating clinical utility. 2DUS-SPECT registration (five cases) received an average rating of 4.2, whereas 3DUS-SPECT registration (four cases) received an average rating of 2.85. By one-sample t test, the overall evaluations (mean 3.58) were greater than the pre-specified clinical cut-off of 3 with p < 0.05, indicating likelihood of clinical utility. Conclusion: Our method demonstrates the feasibility of registering cardiac US and SPECT images in their present as well as possible future forms. Such registration has the potential to provide a more accurate and powerful tool for diagnosing CAD.
Feasibility of Cloze techniques for teaching and evaluating culturally disadvantaged beginning readers.

(1970). Feasibility of Cloze Techniques for Teaching and Evaluating Culturally Disadvantaged Beginning Readers. The Journal of Social Psychology: Vol. 82, No. 2, pp. 205-214.
Spontaneous polarization effects in nanoscale wurtzite structures

For nanoscale wurtzite structures such as quantum dots and nm-thick layers, the surfaces may terminate locally in different atoms; for example, GaN structures may terminate with Ga-surfaces or N-surfaces. In this paper, the spontaneous polarization is calculated and shown to depend on these surface terminations.
Ion Etching: An Application of the Mathematical Theory of Hyperbolic Conservation Laws

It is shown that the two‐dimensional ion etching problem is described by a single nonlinear hyperbolic conservation law. A brief description of the theory of such equations is given. Facet corners correspond to shocks. Some exact solutions are presented. Numerical methods are discussed, and computational results are presented.
Communicative dynamics of hermeneutical conversation in oral history interviews

Oral history is a form of conversation. Its generic function is to transmit a culture by word of mouth. In this paper, the potential of oral history interviews for becoming dialectical, here termed hermeneutical conversation, is examined. In addition, the speech actions and the usage rules necessary for producing hermeneutical conversation are identified and explained. The process of making events disputable, which has been neglected by discourse analysts, is emphasized as a central feature of the communicative dynamics of hermeneutical conversation.
Quantification of Müllerian inhibiting substance in developing chick gonads by a competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

An immunoblotting method was used to purify a Mullerian-inhibiting substance (MIS)-specific antiserum. The serum was used to quantify the content of MIS in developing chick gonads by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. From embryonic stages to the eleventh week after hatching, male chicken testes have a high content of MIS in the following two stages: (1) from the sixth to the eighth day and from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of incubation, and (2) from the second to the eighth week after hatching. The high content of MIS in the early embryonic stage is closely correlated with the natural pattern of Mullerian duct regression observed in the male embryo. From the sixth to the twelfth day of incubation, the female right ovary contains a higher content of MIS than that of the left ovary. Up to the fourteenth day of incubation, the content of MIS in the left ovary reaches maximum levels and then declines. The combination of MIS from right and left ovaries was found to be highest in the ninth to the fourteenth day of incubation, when the regression of the right Mullerian duct reached its highest peak. However, the question of the inability of MIS to cause regression of the female left Mullerian duct and the caudal part of the right duct is raised and discussed. The hypothesis that prenatal estrogenic hormone (diethylstilbestrol) protects the Mullerian duct has been reevaluated. It was found that estrogen does not reduce the MIS content in prenatally treated gonads.
Poster: Context-sensitive use of bioinformatics tools with complementary functionalities for hypothesis generation

Bioinformatics tools can be of great help in mining and summarizing voluminous data. However, such tools are usually ineffective in dealing with heterogeneous data and have a limited array of functionalities. Integrated Bioinformatics tools with complementary functionalities (IBTCF) can potentially further knowledge discovery. In this paper, we have used a progressive IBTCF that infer complementary information from the literature, high throughput genomic data and the human curated Gene Ontology classification. Empirical analyses were performed to find an associations between Alzheimer's disease and Tuberculosis, two seemingly disconnected diseases. The origin for this association is believed to be through matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) genes and their mode of action. The integrated system may also further multi-faceted issues in knowledge discovery.
Integrin engagement, the actin cytoskeleton, and c-Src are required for the calcitonin-induced tyrosine phosphorylation of paxillin and HEF1, but not for calcitonin-induced Erk1/2 phosphorylation.

Abstract We have previously shown that in a HEK-293 cell line that overexpresses the C1a isoform of the calcitonin receptor (C1a-HEK), calcitonin induces the tyrosine phosphorylation of the focal adhesion-associated proteins HEF1 (a p130Cas-like docking protein), paxillin, and focal adhesion kinase and that it also stimulates the phosphorylation and activation of Erk1 and Erk2. We report here that cell attachment to the extracellular matrix, an intact actin cytoskeleton, and c-Src are absolutely required for the calcitonin-induced phosphorylation of focal adhesion-associated proteins. In contrast to the phosphorylation of paxillin and HEF1 in cells attached to fibronectin-coated dishes, calcitonin failed to stimulate the phosphorylation of paxillin and HEF1 in suspended cells, in cells attached to poly-d-lysine-coated dishes, and in attached cells pretreated with the RGD-containing peptide GRGDS. Overexpression of wild-type c-Src increased calcitonin-induced paxillin and HEF1 phosphorylation, whereas overexpression of kinase-dead Src or Src lacking a functional SH2 domain inhibited the calcitonin-stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of these proteins. Overexpression of Src lacking the SH3 domain did not affect the calcitonin-induced phosphorylation of paxillin and HEF1. In contrast to the regulation of paxillin and HEF1 phosphorylation, the calcitonin-induced phosphorylation of Erk1 and Erk2 did not appear to involve c-Src and was only partially dependent on cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix and an intact actin cytoskeleton. Furthermore, inhibition of Erk1 and Erk2 phosphorylation had no effect on the calcitonin-induced phosphorylation of paxillin and HEF1. Thus, in C1a-HEK cells, the calcitonin receptor is coupled to the tyrosine phosphorylation of focal adhesion-associated proteins and to Erk1/2 phosphorylation by mechanisms that are in large part independent.
The Time Dependence of the Detachment Force of Ground Micrometer-Size Particles from a Planar Substrate: Effect of Particle Rotation

The time dependence of the detachment force applied to 7 µm ground polyester particles coated with silica nanoparticles was determined by ultracentrifugation. It was found that the force required to separate the particles from the substrate increased during the first 24 hours and changed very little thereafter. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) results suggest that the increase in adhesion is due to the particles rotating from their initial positions obtained during deposition. The role of the silica nanoparticles in determining the time dependence of the detachment force is discussed in terms of the JKR and Fuller–Tabor models.
Critical fields, Pauli paramagnetic limiting, and material parameters of Nb 3 Sn and V 3 Si

The upper-critical-field behavior of ${\mathrm{Nb}}_{3}$Sn and ${\mathrm{V}}_{3}$Si is studied as a function of residual resistivity. The results are analyzed in the framework of the Ginzburg-Landau-Abrikosov-Gor'kov theory of type-II superconductivity including the effects of the electron-phonon interaction. The importance of the electron-phonon interaction on the Pauli paramagnetic limiting process is stressed and it is found that inclusion of the electron-phonon corrections (most importantly the electron-phonon renormalization of the normal-state parameters) is needed to sensibly fit the data. For ${\mathrm{Nb}}_{3}$Sn failure to include these effects leads to too high spin-orbit scattering rates. The critical-field data are also used to determine the density of states of these materials as well as several other superconducting and normal-state parameters.
Photoconductive Properties of Regioregular Poly(3-hexylthiophene)

We investigate the photoconductivity of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) using 400 and 800 nm light. We observe a linear dependence of the photocurrent on optical power at both wavelengths.
Solid-phase synthesis of 3-alkyl-2-arylamino-3,4-dihydroquinazolines

Abstract The solid-phase synthesis of 3-alkyl-2-arylamino-3,4-dihydroquinazolines using an N-Fmoc-β-amino-2-nitrobenzenepropanoic acid scaffold is described. The resin-bound scaffold was reductively alkylated with aldehydes or ketones after Fmoc deprotection, followed by reduction of the nitro group with tin(II) chloride. Subsequent cyclization of the 1,3-diamine intermediates with aryl isothiocyanates in the presence of 1,3-diisopropylcarbodiimide (DIC) afforded the desired products in high purity with moderate to good yield after trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) cleavage.
The Older Primipara Implications for Nurses

The professional nurse plays a major role in counseling the older couple throughout the pregnancy, labor, delivery, and puerperium. Nurses need to keep abreast of the new testing and monitoring procedures used during pregnancy and labor and delivery, and these procedures need to be explained to the pregnant couple. Individual and group teaching are ways that the nurse can counsel and support the older couple, thereby increasing their confidence in the health team and their ability to incorporate a child into their lifestyle. In this article these concerns are addressed as related to 1) physical needs and 2) psychological needs.
The Effects of Anger on Negotiations over Mergers and Acquisitions

The practical implications that have been drawn from this analysis of anger in mergers and acquisitions negotiations are just a few of the many that could be identified and further developed from future research. Future studies of conflict behavior can profitably go beyond the narrow focus on anger used here to consider other emotions and related states, such as fear, resentment, gratitude, guilt, or stress. Scholars and negotiators should be mindful not to ignore emotional factors in negotiation simply because emotions and their causes are complex. As I pointed out earlier, emotions are an integral part of the way human beings approach many conflict situations. Those of us who are interested in resolving disputes can only benefit by gaining a better understanding of emotions, the factors that trigger them, and their consequences.
The invisible radiologist: an address to a residency graduating class

I am not a psychologist, sociologist, or philosopher, and my goal this evening is not to pass on weighty truths about the human condition. But I have been in radiology now for 43 years, and I would like to frame my remarks in light of my experiences and also with the hope that nonradiologist spouses and significant others with us this evening may better understand some of the challenges we face together. Each one of us has a story about when he or she decided to become a radiologist. I was in the middle of a class exercise on performing physical examinations when the instructor said to me, “Okay, Thrall, now look in the left ear.” The problem was, I had seen nothing in the right ear that motivated me to want to look in the left ear. My life flashed before me, and I had this acute depressive reaction where all I could see were miles and miles of ears stretching until the end of time. As luck would have it, shortly thereafter, I had the opportunity to visit the Department of Radiology at the University of Michigan, where I was going to medical school. I noticed several things. First, the radiologists actually seemed to be happy. Moreover, it was quite clear that the radiologists were highly respected by the referring physicians for their knowledge and their ability to discern subtle findings amidst the hades of gray (apparently some peo-
Mumps virus inhibits migration of primary human macrophages toward a chemokine gradient through a TNF-alpha dependent mechanism

Macrophages are an important cell type for regulation of immunity, and can play key roles in virus pathogenesis. Here we address the effect of infection of primary human macrophages with the related paramyxoviruses Parainfluenza virus 5 (PIV5) and Mumps virus (MuV). Monocyte-derived macrophages infected with PIV5 or MuV showed very little cytopathic effect, but were found to be defective in migration toward a gradient of chemokines such as macrophage colony stimulating factor (MCSF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). For MuV infection, the inhibition of migration required live virus infection, but was not caused by a loss of chemokine receptors on the surface of infected cells. MuV-mediated inhibition of macrophage chemotaxis was through a soluble factor released from infected cells. MuV infection enhanced secretion of TNF-α, but not macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF). Antibody inhibition and add-back experiments demonstrated that TNF-α was both necessary and sufficient for MuV-mediate chemotaxis inhibition.
The effects of alliance information on Web service composition

Web service composition (WSC) has emerged as a promising approach to integrating business applications within and across organizational boundaries. One of the major objectives of WSC research is to improve the performance of composite Web services. To this end, alliance information between different services partners has great potential, but has been overlooked by extant approaches to composing Web services. To address the above limitation, we propose an alliance-aware method for WSC in this paper, which incorporates the alliance information in constructing Web services. In addition, we adopt a multi-agent architecture to model and evaluate methods for WSC. Our experiment results reveal a significant impact of alliance information on the performance of WSC. We believe our findings on WSC are important to both WSC researchers and practitioners.
Increased lymph node metastases at mastectomy for breast cancer associated with host obesity, cigarette smoking, age, and large tumor size

The lymph node status at mastectomy of 623 women with breast cancer was analyzed by tumor size, estrogen receptor (ER) status, host obesity, age, and smoking habits. Of the 485 women undergoing surgery who were older than 50 years of age, stepwise logistical regression analysis demonstrated that four or more positive nodes were more frequently associated with larger primary tumors (P less than 0.0001), obesity (P less than 0.001), and smoking (P = 0.0134), but not with tumor ER status (P = 0.6718). The 138 women undergoing mastectomy who were younger than 50 years of age more frequently demonstrated four or more positive nodes than older women (34.1% versus 22.9%) (P less than 0.001), after control for other factors. Among these younger women, four or more positive nodes were more frequently associated with larger tumor size (P = 0.0093), but not with obesity, smoking, or ER status. These observations suggest that tobacco usage and obesity may potentiate the early spread of malignant disease.
The psychological consequences of weight gain prevention in healthy, premenopausal women.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the psychological consequences of a modest weight loss in a sample of healthy women aged 44 to 50. METHOD: Five hundred and thirty-five women, with body mass indices (BMIs) ranging from 20 to 34, were randomly assigned either to an intensive behavioral lifestyle intervention or to a no-treatment control group. Women in the lifestyle intervention received weight loss goals of 5 to 15 lb, depending on baseline BMI, and attended 20 weekly group meetings during which they received information on lowering dietary fat intake and increasing physical activity levels. Psychological measures administered at baseline and at a 6-month examination assessed perceived stress, mood, dietary restraint, and binge eating behaviors. RESULTS: Intervention subjects showed significant decreases in depressive symptoms over time, relative to control subjects, and this effect was observed for normal-weight, as well as heavier, subjects. Binge eating scores for all subjects declined significantly over time, with heavier subjects in the intervention showing the greatest decrease in scores. DISCUSSION: The current study found no evidence of negative psychological sequelae of participation in a behavioral lifestyle change program, regardless of weight status. Results further suggest that participation in these types of programs may exert a positive influence on the psychological status of both normal-weight and heavier women.
Thermal-induced recovery of small deformations and degradation defects on epoxy coating surface

Surface defects, which are dependent on the surface properties, determine the appearance, toughness, and other properties of coatings; thus, changes to the morphology of a damaged epoxy coating surface were investigated on annealing. Changes in mechanically produced indentations and scratches with annealing indicate a surface transition temperature about 10 degree lower than the measured bulk glass transition temperature (Tg). Polymer molecules at a free surface, even in a crosslinked coating, may have higher mobility, and thus allow different relaxation activity from the bulk material. The eventual extent of deformation is a function of the annealing temperature and time. Results showed that the deformation profile diminished, driven by viscoelastic deformation and surface energy; the effect of structural relaxation will be further studied. When the surface features were generated by photodegradation, the roughness increased initially when temperature was increased, possibly due to phase coarsening, and then the roughness diminished during extended annealing.
Nature of the atomic-scale restructuring of Pt(100) electrode surfaces as evidenced by in-situ scanning tunneling microscopy

Elucidating the atomic and nanoscale structures of single-crystal metal electrodes is of central importance in electrochemistry. Until recently, most information along those lines was obtained by low-energy electron diffraction and related methods following transfer into ultrahigh vacuum (uhv) [1,2]. The recent advent of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) as an in-situ probe is offering important new insight into the structural properties of the electrode substrates themselves as well as ordered adsorbate layers [3]. Examinations of surface restructuring, i.e. the occurrence of metal atomic arrangements which differ from the ideal bulktermination structure, are forming an important part of current research efforts [2,3]. Most studies along these lines are concerned with metal reconstructions, whereby the top layer of surface atoms rearrange to form ordered terraces with unit cells that are quite different from the (1 X 1) symmetry. A related, yet quite distinct, form of restructuring entails longer-range disruption of the surface lattice, possibly to form periodic superstructures, but perhaps involving retention of the local unit-cell geometry. While examples are as yet less plentiful, the local-probe nature of the STM makes the technique well suited to the examination of the latter form of restructuring, which can escape detection when using diffraction-based methods. A recent example of restructuring with retention of the terrace (1 X 1) geometry is seen by STM on Au(ll0) electrode in iodide media, where periodic cleavage along the (li0) direction is observed so to yield terrace “channels” bordered by monoatomic steps at high potentials, where an ordered iodine adlayer is present 141. Another case, examined initially by Vitus et al. [5& involves the formation of dense arrays of 20-40 A substrate “islands” on initially uniform Pt(100) terraces upon in-situ replacement of an iodine adlayer, formed
"Pliocene-Pleistocene" Boundary in Deep-Sea Sediments.

Changes in planktonic microfossil assemblages in Atlantic sediment cores, at approximately the beginning of the Quaternary, correspond in a general way with those recognized in Pacific cores. How closely the horizon marked by these changes approximates to the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary is not yet established.
Disseminated active HHV-6 infections in patients with AIDS.

Abstract Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infected cells were detected in all lung, lymph-node, spleen, liver, and kidney tissues obtained at necropsy from an unselected series of nine patients with AIDS. This infection rate was significantly higher than that for cytomegalovirus. Lung infection with HHV-6 was extensive enough in one patient to account for fatal pneumonitis. In other tissues increased numbers of HHV-6 infected cells were related to the presence of lymphocytic infiltrates or residual lymphoid tissue, with lymphocytes being predominantly infected. Thus HHV-6 is an important pathogen in patients with AIDS.
Research Activity and the Support of Undergraduate Education.

The level of faculty research activity is widely believed to have a detrimental effect on faculty attitudes toward the improvement of undergraduate education. The authors report findings to the contrary.
Shared recovery for energy efficiency and reliability enhancements in real-time applications with precedence constraints

While Dynamic Voltage Scaling (DVS) remains as a popular energy management technique for modern computing systems, recent research has identified significant and negative impacts of voltage scaling on system reliability. To preserve system reliability under DVS settings, a number of reliability-aware power management (RA-PM) schemes have been recently studied. However, the existing RA-PM schemes normally schedule a separate recovery for each task whose execution is scaled down and are rather conservative. To overcome such conservativeness, we study in this article novel RA-PM schemes based on the shared recovery (SHR) technique. Specifically, we consider a set of frame-based real-time tasks with individual deadlines and a common period where the precedence constraints are represented by a directed acyclic graph (DAG). We first show that the earliest deadline first (EDF) algorithm can always yield a schedule where all timing and precedence constraints are met by considering the effective deadlines of tasks derived from as late as possible (ALAP) policy, provided that the task set is feasible. Then, we propose a shared recovery based frequency assignment technique (namely SHR-DAG) and prove its optimality to minimize energy consumption while preserving the system reliability. To exploit additional slack that arises from early completion of tasks, we also study a dynamic extension for SHR-DAG to improve energy efficiency and system reliability at runtime. The results from our extensive simulations show that, compared to the existing RA-PM schemes, SHR-DAG can achieve up to 35p energy savings, which is very close to the maximum achievable energy savings. More interestingly, our extensive evaluation also indicates that the new schemes offer non-trivial improvements on system reliability over the existing RA-PM schemes as well.
A counterexample to temporal differences learning

Sutton’s TD(N method aims to provide a representation of the cost function in an absorbing Markov chain with transition costs. A simple example is given where the representation obtained depends on A. For X = 1 the representation is optimal with respect to a least-squares error criterion, but as X decreases toward 0 the representation becomes progressively worse and, in some cases, very poor. The example suggests a need to understand better the circumstances under which TD(0) and Q-learning obtain satisfactory neural network-based compact representations of the cost function. A variation of TD(0) is also given, which performs better on the example.
Baby Booms and Baby Busts in the Twentieth Century

Baby booms—prolonged and significant increases in the fertility rate, after completion of the demographic transition—occurred throughout the Western world in the period following World War II, and were followed by equally significant baby busts. Total Fertility Rates which had approached replacement level in the Depression of the 1930s rose in many cases to more than 3.5 births per woman, and then plunged below replacement level. The two most widely-known theories have attributed these movements to economic factors, with one placing primary emphasis on the role of female labor force participation and wages, and the other on what is termed ‘relative cohort size’ effects. These two theories have very different implications regarding the likelihood of a repetition of this pattern in future. This is significant since any repetition would undermine demographers' assumption that world population growth will approach a steady state following completion of the demographic transition
Patterns of Genetic Variation Between the Checkered Skippers Pyrgus communis and Pyrgus albescens (Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae)

We examined patterns of genetic variation between the transcontinental species Pyrgus communis (Grote) and Pyrgus albescens Plotz (Hesperiidae) to examine whether patterns of molecular variation are congruent with the taxonomy. Sequence data from mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA failed to distinguish the two taxa. Although substantial genetic variation is explained by the two nominal taxa, more variation is explained by geography. Specifically, our molecular data indicate that the Transverse Ranges of southern California and the Sierra Nevada are important features affecting patterns of genetic variation. The possibility of recent divergence and secondary contact is discussed. Although P. communis and P. albescens do not adhere to a phylogenetic species concept, diagnostic morphological and distributional differences exist between the two entities that merit consideration regarding their taxonomic status.
Prediction of Intracardiac Pressures and Assessment of Ventricular Function with Doppler Echocardiography

Doppler echocardiography provides a noninvasive technique by which blood flow in cardiac chambers and vessels can be characterized, and the timing and direction of flow can be determined. Transvalvular pressure gradients can be quantified noninvasively by Doppler echocardiography. Combined imaging and Doppler allow quantification of volume flow rates. Intracardiac pressures and cardiac function can be evaluated by combining such measurements with observations from the physical examination. One of the most important concepts used in noninvasive estimation of intracardiac pressures is that transvalvular pressure gradients can be calculated in the presence of valvular regurgitation as well as in the presence of valvular stenosis. In both instances, the Doppler equation is used to calculate blood velocity (V)
Miscible blends of a vinylidene chloride/vinyl chloride copolymer with polymethacrylates

A copolymer of vinylidene chloride and vinyl chloride containing 13.5% of the latter has been found to form completely miscible blends with atactic and isotactic poly(methyl methacrylate). poly(ethyl methacrylate), poly(n-propyl methacrylate), and poly(cyclohexyl methacrylate). All but the latter of these blends were shown to exhibit lower critical solution temperature behavior at temperatures below that at which the copolymer rapidly degrades. The copolymer was found to be only partially miscible with poly(isopropyl methacrylate), while no detectable level of miscibility was observed with poly(methyl acrylate), poly(ethyl acrylate), poly(vinyl acetate), poly(vinyl methyl ether), or poly(vinyl methyl ketone). Information about interactions between components in the miscible blends was estimated from melting point data and is discussed.
An averaging approach to estimate urban traffic speed using large-scale origin-destination data

Knowledge about the driving condition can be exploited by the energy management system of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) to optimise its fuel economy. However, estimating urban traffic speed can be a challenging problem, since the complexity of the road network requires a large amount of sensing coverage. GPS equipped vehicles have been used to address this problem, despite the drawback of high transmission cost due to the periodic locations reporting during the entire trip. This paper presents an alternative method to estimate urban traffic speed when only the trip distance, origin, destination and trip time are known, without the detailed information about the vehicle trajectory. Taxicab fleet data is used due to its wide area-coverage and large data availability. One month (15 million) observations of taxi origin-destination data in New York City is processed using cluster computers to create a traffic speed model of Manhattan at different times of day. The developed average traffic speed model is able to accurately predict the recorded trip duration from the taxicab data, and therefore, can be used to estimate energy consumption and optimise PHEV control.
Propagation of Uncertainty in Optimal Design of Multilevel Systems: Piston-Ring/Cylinder-Liner Case Study

This paper proposes an approach for optimal design of multilevel systems under uncertainty. The approach utilizes the stochastic extension of the analytical target cascading formulation. The reliability of satisfying the probabilistic constraints is computed by means of the most probable point method using the hybrid mean value algorithm. A linearization technique is employed for estimating the propagation of uncertainties throughout the problem hierarchy. The proposed methodology is applied to a piston-ring/cylinder-liner engine subassembly design problem. Specifically, we assess the impact of variations in manufacturing-related properties such as surface roughness on engine attributes such as brake-specific fuel consumption. Results are compared to the ones obtained using Monte Carlo simulation.