cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A differential-operator approach to the permanental polynomial.

A recently published computational approach to the permanental polynomial scales very badly (∼2n) with problem size, relying as it does on examining the entire augmented adjacency matrix for nonzero products. The present study presents an entirely different algorithm that relies on symbolic computation of second partial derivatives. This approach has previously been applied to the matching polynomial but not the permanental polynomial. The differential-operator algorithm scales much better with problem size. For fullerene-type structures without perimeters, the two algorithms take about the same time to compute n = 32. On one n = 40 structure, the new algorithm was >45 times faster. Relative performance is even better for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon structures, which have perimeters.
Categorical color rendering of four common light sources

Subjects were asked to sort samples from the Optical Society of America (OSA) Uniform Color Scales set into 33 color categories under four separate illuminants: tungsten-incandescent, metal halide, high-pressure sodium, and clear mercury. Sorting required that each color sample be designated as a “good,” “acceptable,” or “poor” example within one of the eleven basic color categories specified by Berlin and Kay. Three indices of the categorical color-rendering capacity of the sources were developed. Assuming tungsten-incandescent as the reference illuminant, all three measures rated the color-rendering quality of the tested illuminants from best to worst in the order listed above, in agreement with the CIE color-rendering index.
FACTORS AFFECTING OXYGEN UPTAKE IN MODEL SYSTEMS USED FOR INVESTIGATING LIPID PEROXIDATION IN MEAT

Measurements of linoleate oxidation catalyzed by nonheme iron or metmyoglobin (MetMb) have been frequently used as a model systems approach to investigate the mechanism of lipid peroxidation in meat. The objective of this study was to determine systematically the effects of Tween 20 (a nonionic surfactant), phosphate (a buffer component), MetMb (a heme iron catalyst), and Fe2+-EDTA (a nonenzymic nonheme iron catalyst) on linoleate oxidation. The oxidation was determined by polarographic measurements of oxygen tension. Tween 20 slightly enhanced MetMb catalysis of linoleate oxidation at pH 7.6 and markedly increased Fe2+-EDTA catalysis at pH 5.6. Phosphate accelerated MetMb catalysis but inhibited Fe2+-EDTA catalysis. The rate of MetMb catalysis was not proportional to MetMb concentration even within a narrow range whereas the rate of Fe2+-EDTA catalysis increased linearly with the concentration of Fe2+-EDTA (1:1) complex. Appropriate model conditions for the two catalytic systems have been proposed for effective utilization of the model systems in future research. The choice of Fe2+-EDTA as a nonenzymic nonheme iron catalyst has been explained based on its catalytic activity and practical considerations in the use of polarographic measurements of oxygen uptake for linoleate oxidation.
THE STEPPARENT ROLE: POTENTIAL FOR DISTURBANCES IN FAMILY FUNCTIONING*

Stepparents' role-related difficulties in developing stable patterns of feeling, thinking and acting toward their stepchildren are discussed in terms of contradictory pressures on them to act as parent, nonparent, and stepparent; the sharing of role functions of parent with the previous parent in ways not clearly established in the society; weakened social mores (e.g. the incest taboo), and anomalies in role learning opportunities.
Similarity of glomerular ultraviolet absorptions in diabetes mellitus and after cortisone therapy.

SummaryIn the glomerular stroma and arterioles of non-diabetic persons treated with cortisone an abnormal substance was found with ultraviolet absorptive properties indistinguishable from those of the nodules of intercapillary glomerulosclerosis. Histochemical properties of the material suggest that it is a mucopolysaccharide complex. The evidence is considered that implicates cortisone as one factor in the development of human diabetic intercapillary glomerulosclerosis.
Ionic Polymeric Conductor Nano Composites (IPCNCs) as Distributed Nanosensors and Nanoactuators

This article covers advances made in connection with Ionic Polymeric-Conductor Nano Composites (IPCNCs) as distributed biomimetic nanosensors, nanoactuators, nanorobots and artificial muscles. A review of the fundamental properties and characteristics of IPCNCs will first be presented. This summary will include descriptions of the basic materials' molecular structure and subsequent procedure to manufacture the basic material for chemical plating and electroactivation. Further described are chemical molecular plating technologies to make IPCNCs, nanotechnologies of manufacturing and trapping of nanoparticles, SEM, TEM, SPM and AFM characterization of IPMNCs, biomimetic sensing and actuation characterization techniques, electrical characterization and equivalent circuit modeling of IPCNCs as electronic materials. A phenomenological model of the underlying sensing and actuation mechanisms is also presented based on linear irreversible thermodynamics with two driving forces, an electric field and a solvent pressure gradient and two fluxes, electric current density and the ionic+solvent flux. The presentation concludes with a number of videos and some live demos.
A New Single-Staged Bi-Directional High Frequency Link Inverter Design

This paper presents a new bi-directional inverter, which can be used for both grid-connection and stand-alone modes. To increase the efficiency and reliability of renewable energy source inverter, a single-staged inverter topology is proposed, which utilizes single power processing stage to output rectified sinusoid voltage. Another low frequency unfolding circuit inverts it into sinusoid voltage. To handle the reactive power flow of load, a reverse DC/DC converter is added. Compared with the conventional cyclo-converter, the new topology are using power diodes as rectifiers on the secondary side of transformer, which will greatly reduce the cost of system and cause much less ringing voltage across the diodes. This topology demonstrates advantage on the expandable modularized system structure.
Substance use in maltreated youth : Findings from the national survey of child and adolescent well-being

The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics associated with different levels of substance use in a national probability sample of maltreated 11- to 15-year-olds (n = 1,179). Bivariate (chi-square tests) and multivariate (logistic regression) analyses were used to examine the association of adolescent substance use with demographics, placement type, and youth and family characteristics. Seventy-one percent of youth reported no use, 20% reported low levels of substance use, and approximately 9% reported moderate to high levels of use. Youth substance use was similar across placement types. Conduct problems and low caregiver relatedness were more prevalent for youth reporting higher levels of substance use. High levels of conduct problems increased the odds of substance use, whereas high caregiver monitoring decreased the odds of substance use. Caregiver monitoring may be a key tactic in attempts to reduce the likelihood of substance use in maltreated youth, regardless of placement type.
Self-imaging through a Fabry-Pérot interferometer

The spatial filtering property of a Fabry-Perot interferometer is shown to transform the spatial spectrum of an arbitrary image into a form which satisfies, approximately, the conditions for self-imaging. The limitations of the technique are studied and checked experimentally.
Temperature Dependence of Capacity and Impedance Data from Fresh and Aged High-Power Lithium-Ion Cells

Lithium-ion cells for hybrid electric vehicle applications must deliver and accept current pulses at relatively high rates and over a range of temperatures. We examined the effect of test temperature from room temperature to 55°C on the performance of three electrode cells (LiNi 0.8 Co 015 Al 0.05 O 2 -based positive electrode, Li 4/3 Ti 5/3 O 4 -based negative electrode, and Li-Sn alloy reference electrode) by galvanostatic cycling and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements. Increasing the test temperature reduced cell impedance, which improved its power delivery capability. The higher test temperatures reduced the width of the midfrequency impedance arc in the positive-electrode EIS data but did not affect the low-frequency Warburg impedance portion. We discuss the impedance reductions and capacity gains from the higher temperature measurements in terms of the electrochemical processes occurring at the electrode/electrolyte interfaces.
What must a proof of incompatibilism prove

Peter van Inwagen has developed two highly influential strategies for establishing incompatibilism about causal determinism and moral responsibility. These have come to be known as ‘the Direct Argument’ and ‘the Indirect Argument,’ respectively. In recent years, the two arguments have attracted closely related criticisms. In each case, it is claimed, the argument does not provide a fully general defense of the incompatibilist’s conclusion. While the critics are right to notice these arguments’ limitations, they have not made it clear what the problem with the arguments is supposed to be. I suggest three possibilities, arguing that none proves to be well founded. I conclude that the scope of these arguments is fully adequate for their defenders’ purposes.
Optimal forecasting of weekly load and temperature of a substation

Abstract This paper presents linear estimation models for prediction of the weekly variation of a substation load. As temperature variation has an impact on the predicted load, the temperature is modeled in state variable form. The model is then used as a part of a Kalman filter algorithm to predict the temperature a week in advance. The predicted temperature is used to update the predicted load. The models are based on spectral analysis of the substation load and temperature variation. The paper reports on the model's structure and accuracy of the results.
Studies on the state of insulin in blood: materials and methods for the estimation of "free" and "bound" insulin-like activity in serum.

New techniques have been introduced by the authors and collaborators in the course of their studies on the state, transport and regulation of insulin in man. The discovery that a portion of insulin in blood circulates in a complex form extractable by cationic exchange resins (Nacycle) led to the development of a simple technique for the separation of this portion of insulin from whole serum. The observation that insulin in its complex form is devoid of insulin activity, when assayed in vitro under specified conditions, resulted in the finding that factors present in adipose tissue extracts could dissociate the blood insulin complex (es). Methods have been developed therefore for the extraction, storage, preservation and “standardization” of these factors from adipose tissue. Studies on the ratio of “free” and “bound” insulin-like activity in serum suggest that this ratio does not represent a purely physicochemical equilibrium between “bound” and “free” insulin. This ratio depends upon the metabolic state ...
Random walks for solving boundary-value problems with flux conditions

We consider boundary-value problems for elliptic equations with constant coefficients and apply Monte Carlo methods to solving these equations. To take into account boundary conditions involving solution's normal derivative, we apply the new mean-value relation written down at boundary point. This integral relation is exact and provides a possibility to get rid of the bias caused by usually used finite-difference approximation. We consider Neumann and mixed boundary-value problems, and also the problem with continuity boundary conditions, which involve fluxes. Randomization of the mean-value relation makes it possible to continue simulating walk-on-spheres trajectory after it hits the boundary. We prove the convergence of the algorithm and determine its rate. In conclusion, we present the results of some model computations.
On the use of electronic corpora for theoretical linguistics : Case studies from the syntax of German

Abstract Theoretical linguistics requires example sentences both as empirical basis for the development of theories and as counterexamples to previous generalizations. In addition to obtaining such examples by introspection, electronic corpora can be used to search for examples which are relevant for a particular theoretical issue. This second option is only rarely used in generative linguistics, possibly since it is not fully appreciated that such a use of corpora is in principle independent of the fundamental methodological issues separating empiricists and rationalists. This paper illustrates with examples from the syntax of German how searching in corpora can help find theoretically relevant examples. Such examples are particularly interesting in that they exhibit a wide variation of potentially relevant parameters. The case studies highlight how linguistic terminology used to single out the relevant phenomenon can be reconstructed in terms of the empirical properties which are accessible directly or through annotations in a corpus.
Rotational dynamics of the regulatory light chain in scallop muscle detected by time-resolved phosphorescence anisotropy.

We have used time-resolved phosphorescence anisotropy (TPA) to study the rotational dynamics of chicken gizzard regulatory light chain (RLC) bound to scallop adductor muscle myofibrils in key physiological states. Native RLC from scallop myofibrils was extracted and replaced completely with gizzard RLC labeled specifically at Cys 108 with erythrosin iodoacetamide (ErIA). The calcium sensitivity of the ATPase activity of the labeled myofibril preparation was quite similar to that of the native sample, indicating that the ErIA-labeled RLC is functionally bound to the myosin head. In rigor (in the absence of ATP, when all the myosin heads are rigidly bound to the thin filament), a slight decay was observed in the first few microseconds, followed by no change in the anisotropy. This indicates small-amplitude restricted motions of the RLC or the entire LC domain of myosin. Addition of calcium to rigor restricts these motions further. Relaxation with ATP (no Ca) causes a large decay in the anisotropy, indicating large-amplitude rotational motion with correlation times of 5-50 Is. Further addition of calcium, to induce contraction, resulted in a decrease in the rate and amplitude of anisotropy decay. In particular, there is clear evidence for a slow rotational motion with a correlation time of approximately 300 Is, which is not present either in rigor or relaxation. This indicates rotational motion that specifically correlates with force generation. The changes in the rotational dynamics of the light-chain domain in rigor, relaxation, and contraction support earlier work based on probes of the catalytic domain that muscle contraction is accompanied by a disorder-to-order transition of the myosin head. However, the motions of the LC domain are different from those of the catalytic domain, which indicates rotation of the two domains relative to each other.
Greedy fair queueing: a goal-oriented strategy for fair real-time packet scheduling

Fair scheduling algorithms are an important component of most QoS mechanisms designed to support the performance guarantees required by real-time applications. In this paper, we present greedy fair queueing (GrFQ), a novel scheduler based on a greedy strategy of reducing the maximum difference in normalized service received by any two flows at each transmission boundary. We prove that the GrFQ scheduler achieves a better bound on the normalized lag than other known schedulers. We further propose a simplified version of the scheduler, called GrFQ-lite, which avoids the emulation of a fluid flow system and has a per-packet work complexity of O(1) in the computation of the timestamps. Borrowing from the field of economics, we use the Gini index as a measure of instantaneous fairness. Using real gateway traffic traces, we show that the GrFQ scheduler achieves better fairness than any other known scheduler at virtually all instants of time. We further show that the GrFQ-lite scheduler achieves equivalent or better fairness than other known schedulers including those that are significantly more computationally intensive in their emulation of the ideally fair fluid flow system.
What Does That Mean? Investigating Obfuscation and Readability Cues as Indicators of Deception in Fraudulent Financial Reports

Building on theories of obfuscation and deception from accounting and communication literature, we examined 202 fraudulent and non-fraudulent 10-Ks by focusing on 25 linguistic cues. Our findings suggest that authors of fraudulent 10-Ks chose more complex words, signaling words of achievement and cause, and qualifying conjunctions. We found that truthful 10-Ks displayed more present tense verbs and were easier to read as indicated by the FRE readability measure. Those who construct 10-Ks may choose to deceive strategically by hiding bad news in more complicated content while trumpeting good news and achievements.
Development of the hamster serotoninergic system: cell groups and diencephalic projections.

Nuclei of the circadian visual system are extensively innervated by serotoninergic neurons and rhythmicity is modulated by the serotoninergic system. This study investigated the temporal relationships between prenatal origins of serotoninergic cell groups and perinatal innervation of structures in the hamster circadian visual system as well as in the remaining diencephalon. Serotonin-immunoreactive (5-HT-IR) neurons of the B4-B9 complex were first seen on embryonic day 8 (E8). The number of neurons increases sharply by E10 when the first 5-HT-IR cells are evident in the medulla (B1–B3 complex). The distribution of serotoninergic neurons in the hamster brainstem is generally adult-like by E14. Thick 5-HT-IR fibers arch around the mesencephalic flexure at E10 and reach more rostral mesencephalic areas at E11.A branch of the medial forebrain bundle (MFB) projects ventrally toward the retrochiasmatic area; a second branch ascends along the fasciculus retroflexus. Fibers cross the midline in the supraoptic commissure by E12, others arrive in the lateral geniculate region, and a branch of the MFB extends toward the mammillary area. At E13, a periventricular medial thalamic branch of the MFB is seen, axons appear in the supramammillary commissure, and a fine fasciculus between the medial thalamus and intergeniculate leaflet is visible. Lateral, paraventricular, and retrochiasmatic hypothalamic areas and centro- and dorsomedial thalamus are densely innervated at E14. The mammillary area and lateral geniculate body are moderately innervated, and the first fibers appear in the deep laminae of the superior colliculus. The innervation of the suprachiasmatic nuclei, periventricular hypothalamus, and superficial layers of the superior colliculus occurs postnatally. The results are consistent with serotoninergic system development in other species. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Analysis of the efficacy of portal vein embolization for patients with extensive liver malignancy and very low future liver remnant volume, including a comparison with the associating liver partition with portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy approach

Background The primary reported indication for the associating liver partition with portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) technique is in patients with very low future liver remnant volumes. Given the elevated incidence of major morbidity (40%) and liver-related mortality (12%) with ALPPS, we sought to determine the safety and efficacy of percutaneous portal vein embolization (PVE) in a similar patient population. Study Design Tumor resectability and morbidity and mortality rates were reviewed for 144 consecutive liver tumor patients with future liver remnant to body weight ratios (LR/BW) less than 0.5%. All patients were referred for preoperative percutaneous right plus segment IV PVE using embolic microspheres, with planned reassessment of the LR/BW 30 days after PVE. Post-PVE outcomes were compared with reported outcomes for ALPPS. Results Percutaneous PVE was successfully performed in 141 of the 144 study patients (97.9%). Adequate regeneration was observed in 139 patients (98.5%) with median post-PVE LR/BW rising from 0.33% to 0.52% (p Conclusions Based on its ability to select oncologically resectable patients and superior safety and efficacy profiles, percutaneous right + segment IV PVE and interval surgery remains the standard of care for patients with very low future liver remnant volumes.
Time-series analysis of diffusion interferometry data and its application to Bayesian inversion of synthetic borehole pressure data

Interferometry methods in exploration geophysics are premised on a powerful theoretical foundation in which the ambient noise observed at discrete locations can be manipulated through either crosscorrelation or convolution to yield the response of a virtual “active source” experiment (i.e., the empirical Green’s function, abbreviated as EGF) without the actual deployment of physical sources. Sources of the ambient background may be either naturally occurring or engineered. Regardless, the theory for diffusive systems requires them to be volumetrically distributed over an infinite domain. The central question is then, “What region for the ambient sources matters most for good EGF estimation?” Here, we build on previous work in frequency domain EGF estimation by extending the analysis to the time domain where the broadband response is driven by the continuum of diffusive length scales therein. Analysis of the double half-space diffusion model (simulating a lithologic contact) demonstrates that sources between the two receiver locations have the most impact on EGF accuracy, and that when either of the receivers is close to the lithologic contact, the sources must also extend more deeply, into the high-diffusivity side to maintain accuracy. We further examine the suitability for inversion of EGF signals built with the limited and finite ambient source distributions expected in actual exploration scenarios. One-dimensional Bayesian inversion of singlewell and crosswell configurations of a three-layered system simulating a reservoir layer between two impermeable layers revealed that transient EGF signals were reliably invertible when sources were constrained to the middle reservoir layer. In production monitoring settings, natural sources originating from pumping and subsequent flow-related physics (pressure diffusion, electrochemical and seismoelectric effects, etc.), this result suggests that EGF signals may be a useful measure of reservoir properties.
Theory of quasiparticle interference in mirror-symmetric two-dimensional systems and its application to surface states of topological crystalline insulators

We study symmetry-protected features in the quasiparticle interference (QPI) pattern of two-dimensional (2D) systems with mirror symmetries and time-reversal symmetry, around a single static point impurity. We show that, in the Fourier-transformed local density of states (FT-LDOS) $\ensuremath{\rho}(\mathbf{q},\ensuremath{\omega})$, while the position of high-intensity peaks generically depends on the geometric features of the iso-energy contour at energy $\ensuremath{\omega}$, the absence of certain peaks is guaranteed by the opposite mirror eigenvalues of the two Bloch states that are (i) on the mirror-symmetric lines in the Brillouin zone (BZ) and (ii) separated by scattering vector $\mathbf{q}$. We apply the general result to the QPI on the $\ensuremath{\langle}001\ensuremath{\rangle}$ surface of the topological crystalline insulator Pb${}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}$Sn${}_{x}$Te and predict all vanishing peaks in $\ensuremath{\rho}(\mathbf{q},\ensuremath{\omega})$. The model-independent analysis is supported by numerical calculations using an effective four-band model derived from symmetry analysis.
Remote Collaboration on Task Scheduling for Humans at Mars

As humans venture farther from Earth for longer durations, it will become essential for those on the journey to have significant control over the scheduling of their own activities as well as the activities of their companion systems and robots. However, the crew will not do all the scheduling; timelines will be the result of collaboration with ground personnel. Emerging technologies such as in-space message buses, delay-tolerant networks, and in-space internet will be the carriers on which the collaboration rides. Advances in scheduling technology, in the areas of task modeling, scheduling engines, and user interfaces will allow the crew to become virtual scheduling experts. New concepts of operations for producing the timeline will allow the crew and the ground support to collaborate while providing safeguards to ensure that the mission will be effectively accomplished without endangering the systems or personnel.
DOUBLE EXCITATION IN PROTON–HELIUM COLLISIONS

Theoretical and experimental studies on double excitation in proton–helium collisions are reviewed. Two theoretical approaches, which are common in the treatment of atomic collision processes, are described: perturbative approaches and the close coupling method. Experimentally, double excitation has mainly been studied by spectroscopy of the autoionized electrons emitted by the decay of the doubly excited states and by projectile energy-loss spectroscopy. The results emerging from the theoretical and experimental studies include the following points: first, the coupling of the doubly excited states to the continuum is very important in the electron spectra leading to pronounced interference effects. Second, double excitation mechanisms involving the electron–electron interaction are dominant except for low projectile energies. Third, interference effects between various double excitation mechanisms appear to be insignificant in the cross-sections differential in the electron emission angle, but might be important under certain conditions in the cross-sections differential in the projectile scattering angle.
Has the Conversion of Natural Wetlands to Agricultural Land Increased the Incidence and Severity of Damaging Freezes in South Florida

Abstract On several occasions, winter freezes have wrought severe destruction on Florida agriculture. A series of devastating freezes around the turn of the twentieth century, and again during the 1980s, were related to anomalies in the large-scale flow of the ocean–atmosphere system. During the twentieth century, substantial areas of wetlands in south Florida were drained and converted to agricultural land for winter fresh vegetable and sugarcane production. During this time, much of the citrus industry also was relocated to those areas to escape the risk of freeze farther to the north. The purpose of this paper is to present a modeling study designed to investigate whether the conversion of the wetlands to agriculture itself could have resulted in or exacerbated the severity of recent freezes in those agricultural areas of south Florida. For three recent freeze events, a pair of simulations was undertaken with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System. One member of each pair employed land surface proper...
Phase noise suppression in frequency comb generators

We propose an idea to suppress the flicker (1/f) noise in radio frequency (RF) multiplier-based frequency comb generators. Comb generators are often used for frequency multiplication in frequency synthesis. In general, comb generators apply high power to a nonlinear element (NLE) such as a step-recovery diode to generate harmonics. Flicker of phase from the NLE causes significant noise to be projected onto the higher-order harmonics of the input signal. The phase noise of the n-th harmonic increases by n2 relative to the noise of the input signal; this is also true for the input-referred multiplier phase noise. A system can be constructed that compares the fundamental signal before and after it enters the comb generator. If the phase perturbations between the fundamental and any particular harmonic can be measured in real time, a feedback or feed-forward servo can be implemented to correct the phase noise that is introduced by frequency multiplication. A defective excessively noisy comb generator is used in this experiment to act as the candidate for noise correction. This allows for simplified testing of the proof of principle by measuring the corrected candidate versus a typical comb generator.
Enhancing student learning in database courses with large data sets

Rapidly increasing storage device capacities at ever decreasing costs have resulted in mushrooming of publicly available large data sets on the Web. In this paper, we describe a novel approach to teaching relational database course by using such data repositories. We demonstrate our approach using the Amazon.com product database, though the approach is generic and is applicable to other data repositories. The Amazon database is supposedly the largest product database ever in existence. We have used the Amazon Web Services API and .NET/C# application to extract a subset of the product database to enhance student learning in a relational database course. This realistic data served various activities of the course and provided a rich backdrop to demonstrate more interesting features of SQL and Oracle cost-based query optimization. Central to the course is a semester-long team project. We discuss the details of data extraction from Amazon.com, conceptual and logical data modeling, logical and physical database design, database creation and data loading, database querying, and database application development.
Multiwavelength Constraints on the Day-Night Circulation Patterns of HD 189733b

We present new Spitzer observations of the phase variation of the hot Jupiter HD 189733b in the MIPS 24 μm bandpass, spanning the same part of the planet's orbit as our previous observations in the IRAC 8 μm bandpass (Knutson et al. 2007). We find that the minimum hemisphere-averaged flux from the planet in this bandpass is 76% ± 3% of the maximum flux; this corresponds to minimum and maximum hemisphere-averaged brightness temperatures of 984 ± 48 K and 1220 ± 47 K, respectively. The planet reaches its maximum flux at an orbital phase of 0.396 ± 0.022, corresponding to a hot region shifted 20°-30° east of the substellar point. Because tidally locked hot Jupiters would have enormous day-night temperature differences in the absence of winds, the small amplitude of the observed phase variation indicates that the planet's atmosphere efficiently transports thermal energy from the day side to the night side at the 24 μm photosphere, leading to modest day-night temperature differences. The similarities between the 8 and 24 μm phase curves for HD 189733b lead us to conclude that the circulation on this planet behaves in a fundamentally similar fashion across the range of pressures sensed by these two wavelengths. One-dimensional radiative transfer models indicate that the 8 μm band should probe pressures 2-3 times greater than at 24 μm, although the uncertain methane abundance complicates the interpretation. If these two bandpasses do probe different pressures, it would indicate that the temperature varies only weakly between the two sensed depths, and hence that the atmosphere is not convective at these altitudes. We also present an analysis of the possible contribution of star spots to the time series at both 8 and 24 μm based on near-simultaneous ground-based observations and additional Spitzer observations. Accounting for the effects of these spots results in a slightly warmer night-side temperature for the planet in both bandpasses, but does not otherwise affect our conclusions.
A simple and versatile decentralized control for slotted ALOHA, reservation ALOHA, and local area networks

A simple, decentralized control for reducing the delays and stabilizing random-access channels is presented. The control, which is based on a computationally efficient recursive implementation of the minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) predictor of the channel backlog, applies to slotted ALOHA, to reservation ALOHA, and to local area networks (LANs) with carrier-sense multiple access (CSMA) or CSMA with collision detection (CSMA/CD) protocols. The MMSE predictor controller (MMSE-PC) can stabilize the slotted ALOHA for all traffic rates not exceeding e/sup -1/, and it can achieve stable throughput arbitrarily close to one with finite delays in the reservation ALOHA and in LANs. Extensive simulation has shown that the MMSE-PC performs extremely well in all three random-access environments. For the implementation of the MMSE-PC in LANs, synchronization of transmissions is not required but it is required in slotted ALOHA and reservation ALOHA. The MMSE-PC has been implemented in hardware and tested in asynchronous LANs. >
Wide spectral response and ambient air-stable nanowire window-absorber type solar cells

Use of embedded CdS nanowires is demonstrated for partially overcoming the spectral transmission loss and the low mechanical and electrical robustness of planar CdS window layer and thus enhancing the quantum efficiency and reliability of CdS-CdTe solar cells. Power conversion efficiency of 12% is achieved, and aging and reliability are improved by approximately 3 times in un-encapsulated cells, over their traditional planar CdS counterparts. A nearly ideal spectral response of quantum efficiency at a wide spectrum range provides evidence for enhanced light absorption and carrier generation and collection in the absorber layer. Our results prove the efficacy of this nanowire approach for enhancing the quantum efficiency and the reliability in window-absorber type solar cells like CdS-CdTe, CdS-CIGS and CdS-CZTSSe.
Abstract A06: Cholesteryl ester accumulation induced by PTEN loss and PI3K/AKT activation underlies human prostate cancer aggressiveness

Altered lipid metabolism is increasingly recognized as a signature of cancer cells. Enabled by label-free Raman spectromicroscopy, we performed quantitative analysis of lipogenesis at single-cell level in human patient cancerous tissues. Our imaging data revealed an unexpected, aberrant accumulation of esterified cholesterol in lipid droplets of high-grade prostate cancer and metastases. Biochemical study showed that such cholesteryl ester accumulation was a consequence of loss of tumor suppressor PTEN and subsequent activation of PI3K/AKT pathway in prostate cancer cells. Furthermore, we found that such accumulation arose from significantly enhanced uptake of exogenous lipoproteins and required cholesterol esterification. Depletion of cholesteryl ester storage significantly reduced cancer proliferation, impaired cancer invasion capability, and suppressed tumor growth in mouse xenograft models with negligible toxicity. These findings open opportunities for diagnosing and treating prostate cancer by targeting the altered cholesterol metabolism. Citation Format: Hyeon Jeong Lee, Shuhua Yue, Junjie Li, Seung-Young Lee, Tian Shao, Bing Song, Liang Cheng, Timothy A. Masterson, Xiaoqi Liu, Timothy L. Ratliff, Ji-Xin Cheng. Cholesteryl ester accumulation induced by PTEN loss and PI3K/AKT activation underlies human prostate cancer aggressiveness. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Targeting the PI3K-mTOR Network in Cancer; Sep 14-17, 2014; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2015;14(7 Suppl):Abstract nr A06.
Editorial Commentary: Curbing the rising tide of heart failure costs: Novel drugs and their place in the continuum of care

Heart failure (HF) management continues to be a challenging enterprise worldwide. It adds significant stress to the economic burden of any society. Over $39 billion is spend in the United States alone each year to care for greater than 5.8 million HF patients [1]. It also results in significant morbidity and mortality, accounting for over 1 million hospitalizations as the primary cause for admission each year. There is added pressure of health care systems and the payers to optimize treatment paradigms and add value based care as the primary strategy. This would hopefully reduce costs and improve outcomes over time. The gold standard for treatment of HF has been and continues to be aggressive medical therapy. Beta blockers, angiotensin converting enzymeinhibitors (ACE-I), angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), and aldosterone antagonists have all been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality in this population. Also, other advanced therapies such as mechanical assist devices and cardiac resynchronization therapies have added further benefits in more advanced HF patients. Non-invasive and invasive hemodynamic monitoring systems continue to refine how we evaluate and treat HF on a real-time basis. However, medical therapy continues to be the most cost effective option in this current environment of rising health care costs and limited resources. A total of 10 years have elapsed since the FDA approved new-in-class medications for HF treatment. These new FDA approved drugs include Ivabradine (trade name Corlanor) and Sacubitril/Valsartan (trade name
Quantitative changes in arterial blood sugar during canine anaphylactic shock.

Following the observation that glycogen disappears almost quantitatively from the canine liver during the first fifteen minutes of typical anaphylactic shock,1 we have determined the parallel quantitative changes in blood sugar. The determinations were made by the Meyers-Bailey modification of the Lewis-Benedict technique.Blood from non-etherized normal dogs shows a sugar content varying from 0.10 percent to 0.12 percent. On etherization the blood sugar rises to 0.13 percent to 0.18 percent, an average of 0.15 percent in our series. The sugar remains fairly constant at this level, with maximum variations of 0.03 percent.Two control non-sensitized dogs (morphine-ether anesthesia), and two dogs giving only slight suggestions of horse serum sensitization (by Kymograph readings) were injected intravenously with 1 cc. to 2 cc. horse serum per Kg. of body weight. The blood sugar remained almost constant in these animals for thirty minutes, with maximum variations of 0.02 percent above or below the initial readi...
The cellulolytic activity of thermophilic fungi and Actinomycetes.

The thermophilic molds showed greater cellulolytic ability than did the thermophilic actinomycetes. Chaetomium thermophile var. coprophilc. C. thermophile var. dissitum, Himicola grisea var. thermo...
AIDS knowledge level and influencing factors among the out-of-school youth in Tongbai county

Objective: To learn the knowledge level of AIDS and analyze the influencing factors of AIDS among out-of school youth in Tongbai county. Methods: 372 out-of-school youth were invited to participate in the intervention.Their knowledge about AIDS was measured before and after intervention. Results: Score of knowledge about AIDS was higher after health education among out-of school youth(t=33.617,P0.001).The factors affecting the knowledge of AIDS were age(F=6.833,P0.001),classification of job(F=7.649,P=0.001),income(F=4.932,P=0.001) and the state of habitation with family(F=3.333,P=0.037). Conclusion: The knowledge related with AIDS was very poor among out-of-school youth in Tongbai county.Health education about AIDS should combine with the specific feature of target population.
Distance-Constrained k Spatial Sub-Networks: A Summary of Results

Given a graph and a set of spatial events, the goal of Distance-Constrained k Spatial Sub-Networks (DCSSN) problem is to find k sub-networks that meet a distance constraint and maximize the number of spatial events covered by the sub-networks. The DCSSN problem is important for many societal applications, such as police patrol assignment and emergency response assignment. The problem is NP-hard; it is computationally challenging because of the large size of the transportation network and the distance constraint. This paper proposes a novel approach for finding k sub-networks that maximize the coverage of spatial events under the distance constraint. Experiments and a case study using Chicago crime datasets demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms baseline approaches and reduces the computational cost to create a DCSSN.
Detection and Segmentation of Bird Song in Noisy Environments

By studying the activity and population distribution of bird species, ecologists can gain valuable insights into factors that affect the whole ecosystem. However, current methods of tracking bird activity involve manual field surveys, which are slow and lowresolution. The OSU Bioacoustics Group is building a system to automatically gather per-species bird activity data using machine learning analysis of audio gathered from remote automatic recorders. After audio is recorded in the field, in order to classify bird species, each ‘syllable’ of bird song must be extracted from the source audio, in a process we call segmentation. Abstract
Radiologic-Pathologic Correlation for Benign Results After MRI-Guided Breast Biopsy

OBJECTIVE. The majority of MRI-guided breast biopsies yield benign pathology. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive overview of benign pathologic entities commonly encountered at MRI-guided breast biopsy. CONCLUSION. Proper radiologic-pathologic correlation is an integral component of MRI-guided breast biopsy. Familiarity with the spectrum of MRI findings and key histopathologic features of common benign entities will enhance the radiologist's confidence in determining concordance and lead to improved patient management recommendations.
Pyridine Dinucleotides from Molecules to Man.

Abstract Significance: Pyridine dinucleotides, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP), were discovered more than 100 years ago as necessary cofactors for fermentation in yeast extracts. Since that time, these molecules have been recognized as fundamental players in a variety of cellular processes, including energy metabolism, redox homeostasis, cellular signaling, and gene transcription, among many others. Given their critical role as mediators of cellular responses to metabolic perturbations, it is unsurprising that dysregulation of NAD and NADP metabolism has been associated with the pathobiology of many chronic human diseases. Recent Advances: A biochemistry renaissance in biomedical research, with its increasing focus on the metabolic pathobiology of human disease, has reignited interest in pyridine dinucleotides, which has led to new insights into the cell biology of NAD(P) metabolism, including its cellular pharmacokinetics, biosynthesis, subce...
Application-Aware Network Design for Hadoop MapReduce Optimization Using Software-Defined Networking

The MapReduce (M/R) framework used in Hadoop has become the de facto standard for big data analytics. However, the lack of network-awareness of the default M/R resource manager in a traditional IP network can cause unbalanced job scheduling and network bottlenecks; such factors can eventually lead to an increase in the Hadoop M/R job completion time. In this paper, we propose a software-defined network (SDN) approach in an application-aware network (AAN) platform that provides both underlying networks functions as well M/R particular forwarding logics. We measure the resources’ usage for M/R workloads using the HiBench benchmark suite to identify the traffic pattern. We then demonstrate that by using our AAN-SDN framework, which uses an adaptive traffic engineering mechanism, the job completion time can be noticeably improved.
Hybrid density functional theory modeling of Ca, Zn, and Al ion batteries using the Chevrel phase Mo6S8 cathode

Hybrid density functional theory (DFT) is used to study the Chevrel phase Mo6X8 (X = S, Se, Te) as a promising cathode material intercalated with various metal ions (M = Li, Na, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Zn, Al). Electronic properties and voltages are calculated for each case. Ca ions are predicted to produce a voltage output ranging from 1.8–2.1 V, comparable to the voltage calculated for Li ions while providing two electrons per transferred ion. The highest voltage is determined to result when the chalcogen X in Mo6X8 is S, over Se or Te. Additionally, a comparison of the local-density approximation (LDA), the Perdew–Burke–Ernzerhof (PBE), the Hubbard U corrected GGA-PBE (PBE+U), the meta-GGA modified Becke–Johnson (mBJ), and the hybrid Heyd–Scuseria–Ernzerhof (HSE) functionals are made. The electronic structure determined with HSE is taken as the most reliable, and PBE and LDA can provide reasonable approximations. The PBE+U approach yields an erroneous band gap and should be avoided. The voltages calculated with HSE are in excellent agreement with available experimental data.
A qualitative exploration of cervical and breast cancer stigma in Karnataka, India

Breast and cervical cancer are two of the most common cancers among women worldwide and were the two leading causes of cancer related death for women in India in 2013. While it is recognized that psychosocial and cultural factors influence access to education, prevention, screening and treatment, the role of stigma related to these two cancers has received limited attention. Two qualitative exploratory studies. One focusing on cervical cancer, the other on breast cancer, were conducted in Karnataka, India using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. In the breast cancer study, 59 in-depth interviews were conducted with patients, primary caregivers and healthcare providers. In the cervical cancer study, 147 respondents were interviewed including older and younger women, husbands, healthcare providers and community leaders. While stigma was not the focus of either study, themes relating to stigma emerged and are the focus of this analysis. Cancer stigma emerged as a general theme across both data sets. It appeared throughout the transcripts as descriptions of how women with breast or cervical cancer would be treated and talked about by husbands, family and the community (manifestations of stigma) and the reasons for this behavior. Stigma as a theme also arose through discussions around managing disclosure of a cancer diagnosis. Stigma was juxtaposed with a narrative of support for women with cancer. Three major themes emerged as driving the manifestations of cancer stigma: fear of casual transmission of cancer; personal responsibility for having caused cancer, and; belief in and fear of the inevitability of disability and death with a cancer diagnosis. Manifestations of cancer stigma were described in terms of experienced (enacted) stigma, including isolation or verbal stigma, and anticipated (fear of) stigma, should a cancer diagnosis be disclosed. The presence in these communities of cancer stigma and its many forms emerged across both the cervical and breast cancer data sets. Stigma was a feared outcome of a cancer diagnosis and described as a barrier to screening, early diagnosis and treatment seeking for women with symptoms. While further research on cancer stigma is needed, this exploration of some of the driving factors provides insight for future programmatic efforts to reduce cancer stigma and improve access to information, screening and treatment.
Software Engineering of Safety-Critical Systems: Themes From Practitioners

This study addresses two important questions related to engineering of safety-critical software and software-intensive systems. The first question is: which software and software-intensive systems should be considered safety critical? The second question is: what processes, design practices, and tools have practitioners been using for building these systems? We answer these questions through an analysis of unstructured interviews with experienced engineers who self-describe as working on safety-critical systems. Then, a thematic analysis of these responses was conducted. The results of this study are intended to provide guidance to those building safety-critical systems and have implications on state engineering licensure boards, in the determination of legal liability, and in risk assessment for policymakers, corporate governors, and insurance executives.