cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Semantic shape editing using deformation handles

We propose a shape editing method where the user creates geometric deformations using a set of semantic attributes, thus avoiding the need for detailed geometric manipulations. In contrast to prior work, we focus on continuous deformations instead of discrete part substitutions. Our method provides a platform for quick design explorations and allows non-experts to produce semantically guided shape variations that are otherwise difficult to attain. We crowdsource a large set of pairwise comparisons between the semantic attributes and geometry and use this data to learn a continuous mapping from the semantic attributes to geometry. The resulting map enables simple and intuitive shape manipulations based solely on the learned attributes. We demonstrate our method on large datasets using two different user interaction modes and evaluate its usability with a set of user studies.
Cellular and Clinical Pharmacology of Fludarabine

In the past decade, fludarabine has had a major impact in increasing the effectiveness of treatment of patients with indolent B-cell malignancies. This has come about in a variety of clinical circumstances, including use of fludarabine alone as well as in combinations with DNA-damaging agents or membrane-targeted antibodies. Other strategies have used fludarabine to reduce immunological function, thus facilitating non-myeloablative stem cell transplants. Fludarabine is a prodrug that is converted to the free nucleoside 9-β-D-arabinosyl-2-fluoroadenine (F-ara-A) which enters cells and accumulates mainly as the 5′-triphosphate, F-ara-ATP. The rate-limiting step in the formation of triphosphate is conversion of F-ara-A to its monophosphate, which is catalyzed by deoxycytidine kinase. Although F-ara-A is not a good substrate for this enzyme, the high specific activity of this protein results in efficient phosphorylation of F-ara-A in certain tissues. F-ara-ATP has multiple mechanisms of action, which are mostly directed toward DNA. These include inhibition of ribonucleotide reductase, incorporation into DNA resulting in repression of further DNA polymerisation, and inhibition of DNA ligase and DNA primase. Collectively these actions affect DNA synthesis, which is the major mechanism of F-ara-A-induced cytotoxicity Secondarily, incorporation into RNA and inhibition of transcription has been shown in cell lines. With the standard dose of fludarabine (25 to 30 mg/m2/day given over 30 minutes for 5 days), plasma concentrations of about 3 μmol/L F-ara-A are achieved at the end of each infusion. Serial sampling of leukaemia cells from patients receiving these standard doses of fludarabine has demonstrated that the peak concentrations of F-ara-ATP are achieved 4 hours after start of fludarabine infusion. Although there is heterogeneity among individuals with respect to rate of F-ara-ATP accumulation, the peak concentrations are generally proportional to the dose of the drug. Knowledge of the plasma pharmacokinetics of its principal nucleoside metabolite F-ara-A, and the cellular pharmacology of the proximal active metabolite, F-ara-ATP, has provided some understanding of the activity of fludarabine when used as a single agent. Preclinical studies directed toward learning the mechanisms of action of this agent have formed the basis for several mechanism-based strategies for its combination and scheduling with other agents. As a single agent fludarabine has been effective for the indolent leukaemias. Biochemical modulation strategies resulted in enhanced accumulation of cytarabine triphosphate and led to the use of fludarabine for the treatment of acute leukaemias. Combination of fludarabine with DNA damaging agents to inhibit DNA repair processes has been highly effective for indolent leukaemias and lymphomas. The current review brings together knowledge of the mechanisms of fludarabine, the state of understanding of the plasma pharmacokinetics, and cellular pharmacodynamics of fludarabine nucleotides. This may be useful in the design of future therapeutic approaches.
Lymphocytopenia in children with lymphatic malformation.

Objective To determine whether an immunologic abnormality exists in patients with lymphatic malformation (LM). Design Retrospective case series. Setting Tertiary care pediatric hospital. Patients Twenty-one consecutive patients (11 male and 10 female) undergoing LM treatment. Interventions Clinical data (ie, age, clinical LM stage, radiographic appearance, and histologic findings) were correlated with complete blood cell count and detailed lymphocyte differential. Complete blood cell counts and lymphocyte subsets were measured in 21 and 18 patients, respectively. Results The average age at the time of testing was 67 months (range, 1-231 months). The patients were categorized according to LM stage, including 4 (19%) with stage 1, 4 (19%) with stage 2, 4 (19%) with stage 3, 7 (33%) with stage 4, and 2 (10%) with stage 5 disease. Radiographic LM appearance was macrocystic in 6 patients (29%), mixed macrocystic and microcystic in 8 (38%), and microcystic in 7 (33%). Complete blood cell count data demonstrated lymphocytopenia in 6 patients (29%). The results of the lymphocyte subset tests showed concomitant T-, B-, and natural killer (NK)–cell deficiency in 6 (33%) of 18 patients. All 6 patients with T-cell lymphocytopenia had normal neutrophil and platelet counts. Spearman rank and χ2analyses showed that LM stage 4 or 5 and microcystic LM were significantly associated with lymphocytopenia (P = .002 andP = .008, respectively). Histologic analysis did not demonstrate increased lymphocytes in any LM specimens. Conclusion We found T, B, and NK lymphocytopenia in patients with large bilateral or microcystic LM. Although the relationship between lymphocytopenia and infection was not addressed in this study, the recognition of lymphocytopenia in patients with LM may have important clinical and prognostic implications.
Current therapy and new perspectives in the treatment of medulloblastoma

Medulloblastoma, a malignant tumor arising from the medullary velum, is the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood. Local extension into the cerebellar hemisphere, infiltration of the floor of the fourth ventricle, and seeding into the subarachnoid space are common. Early diagnosis and improved treatment consisting of surgery followed by radiation and chemotherapy for selected high-risk patients has contributed to a dramatic change in survival. This article reviews current treatment strategies and describes new therapies that have the potential to improve the outlook of children with medulloblastoma.
Reductions in ozone at high concentrations of stratospheric halogens.

An increase in the concentration of inorganic chlorine to levels comparable to that of oxidized reactive nitrogen could cause a significant change in the chemistry of the lower stratosphere leading to a reduction potentially larger than 15 percent in the column density of ozone. This could occur, for example by the middle of the next century, if emissions of man-made chlorocarbons were to grow at a rate of 3 percent per year. Ozone could be further depressed by release of industrial bromocarbon.
Optimal displacement in apparent motion and quadrature models of motion sensing

A grating appears to move if it is displaced by some amount between two brief presentations, or between multiple successive presentations. A number of recent experiments have examined the influence of displacement size upon either the sensitivity to motion, or upon the induced motion aftereffect. Several recent motion models are based upon quadrature filters that respond in opposite quadrants in the spatiotemporal frequency plane. Predictions of the quadrature model are derived for both two-frame and multiframe displays. Quadrature models generally predict an optimal displacement of 1/4 cycle for two-frame displays, but in the multiframe case the prediction depends entirely on the frame rate.
Pharmacokinetics of acyclovir after intravenous and oral administration

Acyclovir pharmacokinetics has been extensively investigated during the various phases of clinical development. Most of the administered drug is eliminated from the body unchanged, via the kidneys by glomerular filtration and tubular secretion. After intravenous dosing of patients with normal renal function, 8 to 14% of the dose is recovered in the urine as the metabolite 9-carboxymethoxymethylguanine. Adequate distribution of acyclovir has been demonstrated in the cerebrospinal fluid, vesicular fluid, vaginal secretions and tissues. The low plasma protein binding of acyclovir precludes drug interactions involving binding displacement. When intravenous doses in the range of 2.5 to 15 mg/kg were given every 8 h to adult patients, dose-independent kinetics was observed. Continuous infusions of acyclovir over an equivalent daily dose range have achieved predictable plasma levels. Acyclovir half-life (T1/2 beta) and total body clearance (Cltot) are influenced significantly by renal function, and dosage adjustments should be made for patients with impaired renal function. For patients with normal renal function (creatinine clearance (Clcr) greater than 80 ml/min/1.73m2) mean T1/2 beta and Cltot were 2.5 h and 327 ml/min/1.73 m2, respectively. In children 1-year-old or older, Cltot normalized by body surface area was essentially the same as in adults with normal renal function, whereas Cltot for neonates was approximately one-third the adult value. In the adult population, age-related decreases in acyclovir Cltot reflect age-related changes in renal function; therefore dosage adjustments based on Clcr will compensate for age effects on acyclovir pharmacokinetics. After oral administration, the bioavailability of acyclovir was approximately 20%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Historical Images and Reviews of Substance Use and Substance Abuse in the Teaching of Addiction Studies

The purpose of this article is to discuss how images and historical reviews of substance use and abuse from different time periods can be used to provide a better understanding of the historical background of the discipline. Historical reviews of various substances, as well as approaches to addressing substance abuse at different time periods, and other works can be utilized in conjunction with the historical images to provide students in addiction studies courses with a richer and fuller appreciation of the historical dimension of the field. This discussion will include the use of historical images and reviews in presenting various cultural contexts, historical perspectives, art historical perspectives, and theoretical perspectives.
Building energy consumption on-line forecasting using physics based system identification

Abstract Model based control has become a promising solution for building operation optimization and energy saving. Accuracy and computationally efficiency are two of the most important requirements for building energy models. Existing studies in this area have mostly been focusing on reducing computation burden using simplified physics based modeling approach. However, creating even the simplified physics based model is often challenging and time consuming. Pure date-driven statistical models have also been adopted in a lot of studies. Such models, unfortunately, often require long training period and are bounded to building operating conditions that they are trained for. Therefore, this study proposes a novel methodology to develop building energy estimation models for on-line building control and optimization using a system identification approach. Frequency domain spectral density analysis is implemented in this on-line modeling approach to capture the dynamics of building energy system and forecast the energy consumption with more than 90% accuracy and less than 2 min computational speed. A systematic analysis of system structure, system order and system excitation selection are also demonstrated. The forecasting results from this proposed model are validated against detailed physics based simulation results using a mid-size commercial building EnergyPlus model.
Residential Relegation of Registered Sex Offenders

This study builds on existing research (Hughes and Kadleck 2008; Mustaine et al. 2006a; Tewksbury and Mustaine 2006) that shows registered sex offenders are more likely to live in undesirable and socially disorganized communities. We extend such analyses to a geographically and demographically different community and employ more sophisticated measures of social disorganization concepts to assess the validity of the claim that registered sex offenders are relegated to socially disorganized communities. Data from Orange County, Florida, including measures of violent crime and the social disorganization concepts of concentrated disadvantage, residential instability and immigrant concentration are used to examine the distribution of residential locations for registered sex offenders. Results show that higher concentrations of sex offenders are found in communities with more concentrated economic disadvantage, more residential instability and higher rates of robbery and child sexual abuse. Implications of these findings for public policy are discussed.
ARMA models, prewhitening, and minimum cross entropy

The problem of spectral estimation on the basis of observations from a finite stretch of a stationary time series is considered, in connection with knowledge of a prior estimate of the spectral density. A reasonable posterior spectral density estimate would be the density that is closest to the prior according to some measure of divergence, while at the same time being compatible with the data. The cross entropy has often been proposed to serve as such a measure of divergence. A correction of the original minimum-cross-entropy spectral analysis (MCESA) method of J.E. Shore (see IEEE Trans. Acoust. Speech Signal Process, vol.29, p.230-7, 1981) to traditional prewhitening techniques and to autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models is pointed out and a fast approximate solution of the minimum cross entropy problem is proposed. The solution is in a standard multiplicative form, that is, the posterior is equal to the prior multiplied by a correction factor. >
Properties and application of double-walled carbon nanotubes sorted by outer-wall electronic type

Double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) can adopt four distinct permutations arising from the electronic type (metallic or semiconducting) of their inner and outer walls. This polydispersity limits the utility of DWNTs in applications such as thin film electronics. We demonstrate that density gradient ultracentrifugation can be employed to address this source of heterogeneity by producing DWNTs with well-defined outer-wall electronic types. Optical absorption measurements of sorted DWNTs reveal outer-wall purities of 96% and 98% for sorted semiconducting and metallic samples, respectively. Electrical characterization of semiconducting and metallic outer-wall DWNTs in thin film transistors directly confirms the efficacy of these separations, with semiconducting DWNT devices yielding on/off ratios 2 orders of magnitude higher than comparable metallic DWNT devices.
A mixed integer program for loading and scheduling multiple flexible manufacturing cells

Abstract The loading and scheduling of multiple, flexible manufacturing cells is addressed. A fexible manufacturing system may contain two or more flexible manufacturing cells, where each cell is independent but receives its jobs from a common arrival queue. The procedure for this loading and scheduling is via a mixed integer programming formulation. Several objective functions are presented including: minimizing makespan, minimizing mean flowtime, and minimizing mean lateness. The paper contains a brief discussion of why loading of multiple flexible manufacturing cells is important. It also presents the problem and system in question, reviews the applicable past research and details the necessary assumptions. The mixed integer formulation is then presented and explained, followed by a discussion of the number of variables and constraints necessary to solve the program for a real world sized system. And finally, a simple numeric example is given.
Two-mode intelligent SU(1,1) states.

Using the two-mode realization of the su(1,1) Lie algebra, we define new states that equalize the su(1,1) uncertainty relation. We refer to these as two-mode intelligent SU(1,1) states. Due to strong correlations between modes, these states exhibit nonclassical properties such as sub-Poissonian statistics, violations of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality, squeezing in the superposition of the modes, and sum squeezing. We also study the phase distributions of the states and propose a mechanism by which they may be generated.
Continued development of a general equilibrium model for inorganic multicomponent atmospheric aerosols

Abstract A model is presented that predicts the total quantities of ammonium, chloride, nitrate and water contained in atmospheric aerosols, their physical state and their distribution among aerosol particles of different sizes. The model is based on the thermodynamic equilibrium calculation of the ammonium/chloride/nitrate/sodium/sulfate/water system. The existence of water in the aerosol phase at low relative humidities is shown to be explained. Observed aerosol concentrations at Long Beach, California during 30–31 August 1982 are successfully predicted.
Ion/ion reactions of multiply charged nucleic acid anions: electron transfer, proton transfer, and ion attachment

Abstract Charge transfer reactions, including electron transfer, proton transfer, and cation attachment, have been investigated for ion/ion reactions involving multiply charged oligonucleotide anions. Low-mass cations, such as the oxygen cation (O2 +) and protonated isobutylene (C4H9+), have been used to manipulate charge states of high-mass oligonucleotide anions with the “trapping by proxy” approach in a quadrupole ion trap. Oxygen cations react with oligonucleotide anions by electron transfer reactions, inducing a series of w- (or d-), (a-B)-, and z-type fragment ions for polydeoxyadenylate (polydA) and polydC anions. Much less fragmentation is noted for anions of polydT and 5′-d(CGGG)5-3′. Protonated isobutylene, C4H9+, undergoes proton transfer reactions with oligonucleotide anions with significantly less fragmentation. Protonated benzoquinoline (BQ) ions react with oligonucleotides predominantly by proton transfer with minimal fragmentation, but show a small degree of attachment to polydT and G-rich oligonucleotides. The extent of fragmentation associated with ion/ion reactions involving oligonucleotides appears to be directly related to ion/ion reaction exothermicity. Electron transfer ion/ion reaction products do not appear to be significantly more or less stable than proton transfer products of the same charge state. Protonated BQ, due to its higher mass than isobutene or oxygen, obviates the need for trapping by proxy and allows the ion parking technique to be applied to oligonucleotide anions. Peptide cations react with oligonucleotide anions via proton transfer but show extensive adduct ion formation as well. Neither the N-terminal amino group nor the C-terminal carboxy group appears to be essential in adduct ion formation. Rather, the possibility for multiple non-covalent interactions between polar groups on the peptide and oligonucleotide leads to the formation of stable adducts.
The formation of 6,7-dihydro-7-hydroxy-1-hydroxy-methyl-5H-pyrrolizine, a metabolite of pyrrolizidine alkaloids.

In vitro metabolism of senecionine with rat hepatic microsomes was studied. The main pyrrolic metabolite, 6,7-dihydro-7-hydroxy-1-hydroxymethyl-5H-pyrrolizine was isolated by preparative high performance liquid chromatography (PRP-1 column) and examined by mass spectrometry. Results of the incubation performed in the presence of H218O indicated that both hydroxyl groups of the metabolite came from the solvent. Thus, formation of the pyrrolic metabolite is accomplished by alkyl-oxygen fission of both bonds C7-O and C9-O of the dehydroalkaloid, an intermediate supposedly formed during metabolic transformation of pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs).
A Sub-Neighborhood Scale Land Use Regression Model for Predicting NO2

This study set out to develop a land use regression model at sub-neighborhood scale (0.01-1 km) for Portland, Oregon using passive measurements of NO(2) at 77 locations. Variables used to develop the model included road and railroad density, traffic volume, and land use with buffers of 50 to 750 m surrounding each measurement site. An initial regression model was able to predict 66% of the variation in NO(2). Including wind direction in the regression model increased predictive power by 15%. Iterative random exclusion of 11 sites during model calibration resulted in a 3% variation in predictive power. The regression model was applied to the Portland metropolitan area using 10 m gridded land use layers. This study further validates land use regression for use in North America, and identifies important considerations for their use, such as inclusion of railways, open spaces and meteorological patterns.
Geometric Investigation of Association/Dissociation Kinetics with an Application to the Master Equation for CH3 + CH3 ↔ C2H6

The dynamics of association/dissociation kinetics is studied, with an application to the titled reaction. The focus is the geometry of the phase space of the phenomenological rate law, a Lindemann mechanism, and the master equation of this reversible reaction, all of which are nonlinear. It is shown that all three systems possess similar phase space structure, including a 1-D manifold. This 1-D manifold describes asymptotic motion for either dissociation or recombination and is the analogue of the corresponding eigenvector for linear master equations describing dissociation without recombination. The 1-D manifold allows for the separation of asymptotic motion from transient behavior and together with other manifolds in phase space allows a better understanding of the dissociation and recombination processes. The 1-D manifold also allows us to test various approximations that have been used in the past to calculate association rate constants from the master equation and Lindemann mechanism and develop new ...
Neurophysiological monitoring for safe surgical tethered cord syndrome release in adults

Abstract Background Release of tethered spinal cord by sectioning of the filum terminale carries a significant risk of injury to the neighboring motor and sensory nerve roots. Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring techniques can help to minimize these adverse neurologic outcomes. Methods We performed a retrospective review of 67 consecutive patients undergoing tethered cord release. We excluded 52 pediatric patients which limited our study to 15 adult patients treated during a four year period, including patients with a thick filum, low lying conus, myelomeningocele, filum tumor, spinal cord malformation, and/or lipoma. Clinical outcomes were determined from postoperative follow-up visits. Two patients were lost to follow up and were excluded from the clinical outcome analysis. Electrical stimulation of the filum terminale and lumbo-sacral nerve roots in conjunction with electromyogram (EMG) recording was performed intraoperatively. Results The mean electrical threshold for EMG response during stimulation of the filum terminale was 37.1 volts (V), range 15 to 100 V. In comparison, the lowest threshold obtained by direct stimulation of the ventral nerve roots was a mean of 1.46 V, with a range of 0.1 to 7 V. More than 70% of the patients studied demonstrated a filum to motor root threshold ratio of 100:1 or greater. No patient developed new neurologic symptoms or signs postoperatively. Bowel and bladder function improved in 46% of patients, back pain in 39% and motor function in 31%. Eight percent reported decline in bladder control and worsening back pain postoperatively. Conclusions The often dramatic difference in the threshold of the filum terminale and adjacent motor nerve roots (100:1) helps to identify, isolate, and safely section the filum terminale. Tethered cord release using intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring is safe and in the majority of cases leads to improvement or at least, stabilization of neurologic function. Monitoring prevented intraoperative nerve root injury that might have resulted in immediate onset of new neurologic deficits caused by the surgical procedure.
Two-dimensional diffusion limited system for cell growth.

A new cell system, the ''sandwich'' system, was developed to supplement multicellular spheroids as tumor analogues. Sandwiches allow new experimental approaches to questions of diffusion, cell cycle effects and radiation resistance in tumors. In this thesis the method for setting up sandwiches is described both theoretically and experimentally followed by its use in x-ray irradiation studies. In the sandwich system, cells are grown in a narrow gap between two glass slides. Where nutrients and waste products can move into or out of the local environment of the cells only by diffusing through the narrow gap between the slides. Due to the competition between cells, self-created gradients of nutrients and metabolic products are set up resulting in a layer of cells which resembles a living spheroid cross section. Unlike the cells of the spheroid, however, cells in all regions of the sandwich are visible. Therefore, the relative sizes of the regions and their time-dependent growth can be monitored visually without fixation or sectioning. The oxygen and nutrient gradients can be ''turned off'' at any time without disrupting the spatial arrangement of the cells by removing the top slide of the assembly and subsequently turned back on if desired. Removal of themore » top slide also provides access to all the cells, including those near the necrotic center, of the sandwich. The cells can then be removed for analysis outside the sandwich system. 61 refs., 17 figs.« less
Secure Coding Over Networks Against Noncooperative Eavesdropping

This paper studies the problem of secure communication over a noiseless network from an information-theoretic perspective. A single-source single-sink acyclic planar network is considered, and the communication between the source and the sink is subject to noncooperative eavesdropping on each link. Using equivocation to measure the confidentiality of messages, we establish sufficient conditions, in terms of communication rates and network parameters, for provably secure communication. A constructive proof, which combines Shannon's key encryption and the Ford-Fulkerson algorithm, is provided and constitutes a readily implementable secure coding scheme. The derived achievable rate equivocation region is tight when specializing to several special cases. In particular, when the communication network decouples into nonoverlapping parallel paths, the proposed encoding scheme is optimal, i.e., it achieves the secure communication capacity for such networks.
Expression of the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products in Oligodendrocytes in Response to Oxidative Stress

Demyelination is a common result of oxidative stress in the nervous system, and we report here that the response of oligodendrocytes to oxidative stress involves the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE). RAGE has not previously been reported in neonatal rat oligodendrocytes (NRO), but, by using primers specific for rat RAGE, we were able to show expression of messenger RNA (mRNA) for RAGE in NRO, and a 55-kDa protein was detected by Western blotting with antibodies to RAGE. Neonatal rat oligodendrocytes stained strongly for RAGE, suggesting membrane localization of RAGE. Addition of low concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (100 μM) initiated 55-kDa RAGE shedding from the cell membrane and the appearance of “soluble” 45-kDa RAGE in the culture medium, followed by restoration of RAGE expression to normal levels. Increasing hydrogen peroxide concentration (>200 μM) resulted in no restoration of RAGE, and the cells underwent apoptosis and necrosis. We further confirmed the observation in a human oligodendroglioma-derived (HOG) cell line. Both the antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cysteine and the broad-spectrum metalloproteases inhibitor TAPI0 were able partially to inhibit shedding of RAGE, suggesting involvement of metalloproteases in cleavage to produce soluble RAGE. The level of 55-kDa RAGE in autopsy brain of patients undergoing neurodegeneration with accompanying inflammation [multiple sclerosis and neuronal ceroid-lipofuscinosis (Batten's disease)] was much lower than that in age-matched controls, suggesting that shedding of RAGE might occur as reactive oxygen species accumulate in brain cells and be part of the process of neurodegeneration.
The development and mission of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)

This paper provides an overview of the SIRTF mission, telescope, cryostat, instruments, spacecraft, orbit, operations and project management approach; and this paper serves as an introduction to the accompanying set of detailed papers about specific aspects of SIRTF.
NOTICE: an architecture for traffic incident detection

Road and traffic safety can be improved if the drivers have the ability to see further down the road and can be informed of relevant traffic events, including collisions and slow-downs. The recently proposed VANETs (Vehicular Ad hoc Networks) are expected to enable both vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-roadside (V2R) communications. Virtually all the papers published in the literature assume that V2V communications will rely on a strong roadside infrastructure. Unfortunately, the roadside infrastructure, is very likely to be the target of theft, vandalism and other similar activities that will jeopardize their intended functionality. Worse yet, one can easily contemplate a scenario where the roadside infrastructure may be hacked and injected with malicious code, rendering it not only useless but, downright dangerous.However, all the VANET systems proposed thus far are afflicted with serious security and privacy problems. Indeed, the way current systems are set up, the driver of a car that participates in the traffic will not be able to preserve their privacy and may be subject to impersonation or Sybil attacks. The problem stems from the fact that V2V communication can be traced back to an individual car. Even if several pseudonyms are used, detecting the true identity of the driver and, therefore, invading their privacy appears to be unavoidable.In a sharp departure from the common wisdom we propose to look at vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-roadside (V2R) communications from a different perspective. Instead of relying on the roadside infrastructure that is vulnerable to attacks, we propose to embed in the asphalt covering the surface of the roads sensor belts. Each belt consists of a collection of pressure sensors, optionally equipped with piezo-electric elements. The belts can detect and interact with passing cars.In this keynote address we discuss in detail NOTICE and show that it can be easily extended to cover many problems of interest in infotainment and peer-to-peer content delivery. One important application of NOTICE is with planned evaluations when optimal use must be made of available transportation resource.
Rydberg electron dynamics in high-frequency elliptically polarized microwave fields

Rydberg electron dynamics in strong elliptically polarized microwave fields is a problem of great complexity. We present a treatment of this problem when the microwave frequency is much higher than the Kepler frequency of the Rydberg electron. The dynamics containing two widely differing time scales can be treated by a higher-order version of Kapitza averaging, as a result of which the problem is mapped onto well known celestial mechanics problems and turns out to have dynamical symmetries not mandated by their geometrical symmetries.
Influence of endothelium on β-adrenoceptor-mediated mechanical and electrical functions in rat pulmonary artery

The effect of isoprenaline on mechanical and electrical functions was studied in intact and denuded rat isolated pulmonary arteries. In intact blood vessels, isoprenaline-induced relaxation was significantly attenuated by acidification of buffer, presence of Ba(2+) and/or ouabain. Isoprenaline produced hyperpolarisation of vascular muscle cells increasing E(m) from -61.0+/-0.44 (n=190 cells) to -70.0+/-0.74 mV (n=31 cells; mean+/-SE). The latter effect was inhibited by acidification of buffer, tetraethylammonium (TEA), Ba(2+) and/or ouabain. Isoprenaline-mediated relaxation was also significantly inhibited by the removal of endothelial cells. Acidification of buffer, or the presence of Ba(2+), or ouabain alone did not result in further inhibition of relaxation to isoprenaline in denuded tissues. However, Ba(2+) and ouabain combined caused further inhibition of the relaxant responses to isoprenaline in denuded tissues analogous to intact tissue. Combined Ba(2+), TEA and ouabain also caused substantial inhibition of relaxant response to isoprenaline. Inclusion of Ba(2+), TEA or ouabain in acidic buffer did not further inhibit relaxation to isoprenaline when compared to Ba(2+), TEA and ouabain combined in regular buffer. Denudation of blood vessels resulted in a significant hyperpolarisation of vascular muscle (-67.4+/-0.35 mV; n=195 cells) due to the activation of K channels and Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase. In denuded tissue, isoprenaline was unable to further increase E(m) (-68.8+/-0.44 mV n=36). Isoprenaline-induced hyperpolarisation involves activation of K channels and Na(+)/K(+)-ATPase of smooth muscle cells possibly in parallel but mutually dependent on the presence of endothelial cells.
Examining Reaction Specificity in PvcB, a Source of Diversity in Isonitrile-Containing Natural Products.

Many bacteria produce isonitrile-containing natural products that are derived from aromatic amino acids. The synthetic clusters that control biosynthesis most commonly encode two enzymes, designated PvcA and PvcB, as well as additional enzymes that direct synthesis of the natural product. The PvcA enzyme installs the isonitrile moiety at the amino group of either tyrosine or tryptophan, as dictated by the particular pathway. The common pathway intermediate produced by PvcA is directed toward different ultimate products by PvcB, a member of the family of Fe2+, α-ketoglutarate-dependent oxygenases. To continue our investigation of the structural and functional properties of the isonitrile biosynthetic pathways, we present here a study of the PvcB homologues from three organisms. Two pathways, derived from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Xenorhabdus nematophila, produce known products. A third PvcB homologue from Erwinia amylovora is part of an uncharacterized pathway. Our results demonstrate the diversity of rea...
A simple client-side defense against environment-dependent web-based malware

Web-based malware tend to be environment-dependent, which poses a significant challenge on defending web-based attacks, because the malicious code - which may be exposed and activated only under specific environmental conditions such as the version of the browser - may not be triggered during analysis. This paper proposes a simple approach for defending environment-dependent malware. Instead of increasing analysis coverage in detector, the goal of this technique is to ensure that the client will take the same execution path as the one examined by the detector. This technique is designed to work alongside a detector, it can handle cases existing multi-path exploration techniques are incapable of, and provides an efficient way to identify discrepancies in a JavaScript program's execution behavior in a user's environment compared to its behavior in a sandboxed detector, thereby detecting false negatives that may have been caused by environment dependencies. Experiment shows that this technique can effectively detect environment-dependent behavior discrepancy of various forms, including those seen in real malware.
Structural–acoustic optimization of sandwich cylindrical shells for minimum interior sound transmission

This paper presents an optimization study of cylindrical sandwich shells to minimize the transmitted sound into the interior induced by the exterior acoustic excitations. The boundary elements and finite elements are, respectively, used to model the interior and exterior acoustics and the vibration of the shell. The design parameters of the optimization are the reinforcement angles of the orthotropic composite materials of the skins and core. The sensitivity analysis of the objective function with respect to the design variables is computed by the adjoint-variable technique. The optimizations of the shell at a single frequency and in a band of frequencies are investigated. From the promising optimization results it is seen that the reinforcement angles in the composite sandwich layers are effective structural design parameters to minimize the sound transmission into the interior without giving up the structural rigidity, particularly at low frequencies where the structural damping is not effective.
The kinetics of chain exchange in two-chain coiled coils: αα- and ββ-tropomyosin

Measurements are presented on the time course of chain exchange among two-chain alpha-helical coiled coils of rabbit tropomyosin. All experiments are in a regime (temperature, protein concentration) in which coiled-coil dimers are the predominant species. Self-exchange in alpha alpha-tropomyosin was investigated by mixing alpha alpha species with alpha* alpha*, the asterisk designating an alpha-chain whose lone sulfhydryl (C190) has been blocked by carboxyamidomethylation. The overall process alpha alpha + alpha* alpha* in equilibrium with 2 alpha alpha* is followed by measurement of the fraction (h) of alpha alpha* species as a function of time. Similarly, self-exchange in beta beta-tropomyosin is examined by measurements of the overall process: beta beta + beta* beta* in equilibrium with 2 beta beta*, in which beta* signifies a beta-chain blocked at both sulfhydryls (C36 and C190). The observed time course for both chains is well fit by the first-order equation: h (t) = h (infinity) (1-e-k1t), with h (infinity) congruent to 0.5. This long-time limit is as expected for self-exchange, and agrees with experiments that attain equilibrium after slow cooling of thermally dissociated and unfolded chains. The simplest consonant mechanism is chain exchange by rate-limiting dissociation of dimers followed by random reassociation. Kinetic analysis shows k1 to be the rate constant for the chain dissociation step, a quantity not previously measured for any coiled coil. This rate constant for beta beta species is about an order of magnitude greater than for alpha alpha. In both, the activation enthalpy and entropy are very large, suggesting that activation to an extensively (greater than 50%) unfolded species necessarily precedes dissociation. Experiments are also reported for overall processes: alpha alpha + beta* beta* in equilibrium with 2 alpha beta* and alpha* alpha* + beta beta in equilibrium with 2 alpha* beta. Results are independent of which chain is blocked. Again h (infinity) congruent to 0.5, in agreement with equilibrium experiments, and the time course is first order. The rate constants and activation parameters are intermediate between those for self-exchange.
Regulation of sarco/endoplasmic and plasma membrane calcium ATPase gene expression by calcium in cultured human lens epithelial cells

Since Ca 2+ -ATPase is a major determinant of calcium homeostasis in the lens, we examined the expression of Ca 2+ -ATPase by calcium. An immortalized human lens epithelial cell line, HLE B-3, was treated with thapsigargin to inhibit sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ -ATPase (SERCA) releasing calcium from intracellular stores. Isoforms of the plasma membrane Ca 2+ -ATPase (PMCA) and SERCA were quantified by Western blot and quantitative real time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. We showed that both PMCA1 and SERCA3 isoform protein and mRNA are upregulated two- to three-fold in thapsigargin-treated HLE B-3 cells in a time and dose-dependent manner. Thapsigargin did not change the protein or mRNA levels of PMCA2, 3, 4 or SERCA2b. Considering the harmful effects of increased intracellular calcium levels, the upregulation of both SERCA and PMCA pumps suggests it is a compensatory mechanism to restore the calcium concentration to the physiological resting level.
The rate of degradation of liver proteins.

Abstract In adult young rats, administration of large doses of glucocorticoid completely arrested the increase in the amount of total liver protein, but induced alanine aminotransferase to the maximum level. The rates of degradation of the total protein pool and of the alanine aminotransferase pool were estimated by measuring the rates of disappearance of radioactivity from the pools which had been prelabeled with radioactive amino acids. The apparent half-life values of total protein were 6.1 days in normal livers and 3.2 days in livers receiving 10 mg of steroid per day. The apparent half-life value of the enzyme was 3.3 days in normal livers, and in glucocorticoid-treated livers the values were 10.2 days when the enzyme was labeled before induction and 2.4 days when the enzyme was labeled after the tissue had reached the maximally induced enzyme level. These apparent half-life values correlated closely with the changes in the size of each pool. The decay rates of radioactive proteins obtained from livers in which the size of pool was maintained constant by the glucocorticoid reflect the true rate of degradation of each macromolecular species.
Enzyme-amplified receptor assay screening test for chlorpromazine, trifluoperazine, and phencyclidine.

A new receptor based assay is described for the determination of classes of drugs which have high affinities for the acetylcholine receptor. The method is based upon the inhibition of the enzyme activity of an enzyme-drug conjugate by the binding to the receptor protein, and competition between free drugs and the enzyme-drug conjugate for a limited number of receptor sites. The activity of the enzyme marker system, glucose-6-phosphate dehy-drogenase covalently conjugated to desipra-mine, is monitored by colorimetric detection of the rate of NADH formation at 340 nM. The procedure proposed is designed to provide a simple drug screen which can be done in a minimally equipped laboratory while achieving the required sensitivity. The technique is illustrated for three acetylcholine channel binding compounds: the hallucinogen phencyclidine (PCP) and the antipsychotic agents chlorpromazine and trifluoperazine. This procedure yields calibration curves with detection limits at nanomolar levels of drug, with binding responses dependent on the amounts of receptor and enzyme-labeled drug used. Aspecific binding responses of unlabeled enzyme to drug or receptor to compounds with low affinity for the receptor are shown to have minimal effect on the assay.
Abnormal prion accumulation associated with retinal pathology in experimentally inoculated scrapie-affected sheep.

The purpose of this study was to characterize the patterns of PrP(Sc) immunoreactivity in the retinae of scrapie-affected sheep and to determine the extent of retinal pathology as indicated by glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactivity (GFAP-IR) of Muller glia. Sections from the retina of 13 experimentally inoculated scrapie-affected and 2 negative control sheep were examined with immunohistochemical staining for PrP(Sc), GFAP, and PrP(Sc)/GFAP double staining. GFAP-IR of Muller glia is suggestive of retinal pathology in the absence of morphologic abnormality detected by light microscopy. Sheep with the least amount of PrP(Sc) in the retina have multifocal punctate aggregates of prion staining in the outer half of the inner plexiform layer and rarely in the outer plexiform layer. In these retinae, GFAP-IR is not localized with prion accumulation, but rather is present in moderate numbers of Muller glia throughout the sections of retina examined. The majority of sheep with retinal accumulation of PrP(Sc) have intense, diffuse PrP(Sc) staining in both plexiform layers, with immunoreactivity in the cytoplasm of multiple ganglion cells and lesser amounts in the optic fiber layer and between nuclei in nuclear layers. This intense PrP(Sc) immunoreactivity is associated with diffuse, intense GFAP-IR that extends from the inner limiting membrane to the outer limiting membrane. This is the first report of a prion disease in a natural host that describes the accumulation of PrP(Sc) in retina associated with retinal pathology in the absence of overt morphologic changes indicative of retinal degeneration.
Carbon sources for in vitro protein synthesis by rumen bacteria.

Summary In vitro tracer studies were conducted to determine the rate at which several volatile fatty acids and glucose were utilized by rumen bacteria, and the amount of carbon from these sources incorporated into bacterial proteins, nucleic acids, and polysaccharides. The rate at which each metabolite was utilized by rumen microorganisms was estimated on the basis of the decline in specific activity during incubation. The average rates calculated for acetate, propionate, butyrate, and valerate, in milligrams/liter/hour, were 131.0, 18.2, 13.2, and 0.6, respectively. Glucose was utilized in proportion to the amount added. At 10 and 20 mg/milliliter levels, 556 and 1,155 mg/liter/hour were utilized, respectively. After incubation, some cellular components of the microorganisms were examined for C 14 content. Nucleic acids contained label from acetate and glucose, but little or no activity from propionate, butyrate, or valerate. Activity from all labeled metabolites was found in the proteins. Of the activity that disappeared from the labeled acetate, propionate, butyrate, valerate, and glucose during incubation, the average amounts incorporated into proteins were 2.5, 2.1, 1.6, 2.6, and 2.9%, respectively. Cellular polysaccharides also became labeled from each source.
Pain Reporting, Opiate Dosing, and the Adverse Effects of Opiates After Hip or Knee Replacement in Patients 60 Years Old or Older:

Our goal was to determine whether there were age-related differences in pain, opiate use, and opiate side effects after total hip or knee arthroplasty in patients 60 years old or older. We hypothesized that there would be no significant differences between age groups in (1) mean pain score, (2) opiate use after adjusting for pain, or (3) opiate side effects after adjusting for opiate use and pain score. We retrospectively reviewed the electronic and paper charts of all patients undergoing total joint replacements at our institution over 3 years who met the following criteria: (1) 60 years old or older, (2) primary single total knee or total hip replacement, and (3) no preoperative dementia. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative course data were collected using a customized data entry process and database. We divided the patients into 2 age groups, those 60 to 79 years old and those 80 years old or older. Using a marginal model with the panel variable of postoperative day, we investigated the associations between age group and pain, age group and pain adjusting for opiate use, and age group and complications (respiratory depression, naloxone usage as a measure of respiratory arrest, delirium, constipation, and urinary retention) adjusting for opiate use (Xtgee, Stata10, Stata Corp. LP, College Station, Texas). Significance was set at P < .05. We found no significant difference in pain scores between groups, but the older group had significantly fewer opiates prescribed yet significantly more side effects, including delirium (odds ratio 4.2), than did the younger group, even after adjusting for opiate dose and pain score.