cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Direct epoxy embedding for vertical sectioning of cells grown as a monolayer on millipore filter.

Cells cultured as a monolayer on MF-Millpore GSWP. 0.22 μ pore size, filter were fixed, dehydrated, and examined by phase-contrast microscopy with the filter immersed in a 1:1 mixture of xylene and the embedding medium. The membrane was cut into 2 × 20 mm strips, and each strip which was selected for desired cells was embedded vertically in a BEEM capsule. Thus direct embedding which allowed edgewise sectioning of cells was obtained without removing them from the culturing support.
High-resolution structure of viruses from random diffraction snapshots

The advent of the X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) has made it possible to record diffraction snapshots of biological entities injected into the X-ray beam before the onset of radiation damage. Algorithmic means must then be used to determine the snapshot orientations and thence the three-dimensional structure of the object. Existing Bayesian approaches are limited in reconstruction resolution typically to 1/10 of the object diameter, with the computational expense increasing as the eighth power of the ratio of diameter to resolution. We present an approach capable of exploiting object symmetries to recover three-dimensional structure to high resolution, and thus reconstruct the structure of the satellite tobacco necrosis virus to atomic level. Our approach offers the highest reconstruction resolution for XFEL snapshots to date and provides a potentially powerful alternative route for analysis of data from crystalline and nano-crystalline objects.
Lymphocyte Recovery Predicts Outcomes in Cord Blood and T Cell–Depleted Haploidentical Stem Cell Transplantation

Alternative donor stem cell transplantation from cord blood or haploidentical peripheral blood donors is increasingly being used for patients who lack a matched related or unrelated donor. A higher nonrelapse mortality (NRM) rate has been noted with these 2 types of transplants, primarily because of infectious complications. Here, we hypothesized that the time to lymphocyte recovery (absolute lymphocyte count [ALC] of ≥1000/μL for the first 3 consecutive days) after transplant correlates with outcomes. We retrospectively analyzed 65 consecutive patients treated at our institution with cord blood (n = 37) and haploidentical (n = 28) transplantation with myeloablative fludarabine, melphalan, and thiotepa conditioning. Patients with lymphocyte recovery at day 60 posttransplant were more likely to survive long term than those without lymphocyte recovery. In multivariate analysis, ALC recovery was the only independent prognostic factor associated with mortality; patients without ALC recovery were 10.5 times (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.3-25.4) more likely to die than those with ALC recovery (P
The Stabilizing Effect of Spacetime Expansion on Relativistic Fluids With Sharp Results for the Radiation Equation of State

In this article, we study the 1 + 3-dimensional relativistic Euler equations on a pre-specified conformally flat expanding spacetime background with spatial slices that are diffeomorphic to \({\mathbb{R}^3.}\) We assume that the fluid verifies the equation of state \({p = c^{2}_{s} \rho,}\) where \({0 \leq c_{s} \leq \sqrt{1/3}}\) is the speed of sound. We also assume that the reciprocal of the scale factor associated with the expanding spacetime metric verifies a cs−dependent time-integrability condition. Under these assumptions, we use the vector field energy method to prove that an explicit family of physically motivated, spatially homogeneous, and spatially isotropic fluid solutions are globally future-stable under small perturbations of their initial conditions. The explicit solutions corresponding to each scale factor are analogs of the well-known spatially flat Friedmann–Lemaitre–Robertson–Walker family. Our nonlinear analysis, which exploits dissipative terms generated by the expansion, shows that the perturbed solutions exist for all future times and remain close to the explicit solutions. This work is an extension of previous results, which showed that an analogous stability result holds when the spacetime is exponentially expanding. In the case of the radiation equation of state p = (1/3)ρ, we also show that if the time-integrability condition for the reciprocal of the scale factor fails to hold, then the explicit fluid solutions are unstable. More precisely, we show the existence of an open family of initial data such that (i) it contains arbitrarily small smooth perturbations of the explicit solutions’ data and (ii) the corresponding perturbed solutions necessarily form shocks in finite time. The shock formation proof is based on the conformal invariance of the relativistic Euler equations when \({c^{2}_{s} = 1/3,}\) which allows for a reduction to a well-known result of Christodoulou.
Thermally fluctuating superconductors in two dimensions

In many two-dimensional superconducting systems1,2,3,4, such as Josephson-junction arrays, granular superconducting films, and the high-temperature superconductors, it appears that the electrons bind into Cooper pairs below a pairing temperature (TP) that is well above the Kosterlitz–Thouless temperature (TKT, the temperature below which there is long-range superconducting order5,6,7,8,9,10). The electron dynamics at temperatures between TKT and TP involve a complex interplay of thermal and quantum fluctuations, for which no quantitative theory exists. Here we report numerical results for this region, by exploiting its proximity to a T = 0 superconductor–insulator quantum phase transition11,12. This quantum critical point need not be experimentally accessible for our results to apply. We characterize the static, thermodynamic properties by a single dimensionless parameter, γ(T). Quantitative and universal results are obtained for the frequency dependence of the conductivity, which are dependent only upon γ(T) and fundamental constants of nature.
Decision-Making and Action Taking: Fisheries Management in a Changing Climate

Decision-makers in fisheries management are confronted with the challenge of how to respond to existing and predicted changes in ocean conditions that are likely to affect the stocks of fish they manage. In order to address climate change most research and thinking advises decision-makers to ensure that fisheries are well-managed and abundant in an ecosystem context. These policies can best allow fisheries to adapt to changing climate. To address climate change, decision-makers should carefully monitor changing conditions and potential changes in factors affecting fish stock abundance. An adaptive approach to fisheries management under conditions of climate change requires that decision-makers engage with fishing interests in a transparent manner and in ways that respect the input of fishing interests and in ways that acknowledge the levels of uncertainty. This approach implies a governance approach to management that is closer to co-management or shared management responsibility than in most hierarchical processes that characterize fishery management to date. The answer to the question of when fishery decision-makers should begin to incorporate climate change into decision making processes is that they should have started yesterday. The justification for this is that even today, climate variability can affect fishery management decisions and the sooner this is understood and incorporated into the management process the better. In economic terms, a conservative decision relative to fisheries management is likely to produce a positive long term benefit whereas the failure to recognize the need to act in time may have serious immediate negative consequences especially when compounded by inadequate management. While climate change can also produce positive consequences for some species a note of caution is still advised in anticipating and responding to such opportunities.
Near-Linear Time Approximation Algorithms for Curve Simplification

We consider the problem of approximating a polygonal curve P under a given error criterion by another polygonal curve P' whose vertices are a subset of the vertices of P. The goal is to minimize the number of vertices of P' while ensuring that the error between P' and P is below a certain threshold. We consider two different error measures: Hausdorff and Frechet. For both error criteria, we present near-linear time approximation algorithms that, given a parameter ź > 0, compute a simplified polygonal curve P' whose error is less than ź and size at most the size of an optimal simplified polygonal curve with error ź/2. We consider monotone curves in ź2 in the case of the Hausdorff error measure under the uniform distance metric and arbitrary curves in any dimension for the Frechet error measure under Lp metrics. We present experimental results demonstrating that our algorithms are simple and fast, and produce close to optimal simplifications in practice.
Ion milling-induced ESD damage during MR head fabrication

Abstract An ESD-like damage mechanism relating to ion milling of MR devices at the wafer level has been identified. This failure is seen as an increased incidence of dielectric shorting between the reader and shield at an in-process test point and is accompanied by an increase in MR sensor resistance. Beam neutralization conditions from a Kaufman ion source mill during particular wafer fabrication steps are shown to have been responsible for these failures. Because the neutralization of the ion beam was inadequate, induced electrical potential differences can build up between the reader and the shield. Even small nonuniformities in the milling process then allow adequate time to differentially charge the device's reader and shield contacts to several volts. The resulting EOS condition has led to breakdown of the read gap dielectrics. The evidence for these conclusions and the corrective actions required will be presented.
Unequal Error Protection: An Information-Theoretic Perspective

An information-theoretic framework for unequal error protection is developed in terms of the exponential error bounds. The fundamental difference between the bit-wise and message-wise unequal error protection ( UEP) is demonstrated, for fixed-length block codes on discrete memoryless channels (DMCs) without feedback. Effect of feedback is investigated via variable-length block codes. It is shown that, feedback results in a significant improvement in both bit-wise and message-wise UEPs (except the single message case for missed detection). The distinction between false-alarm and missed-detection formalizations for message-wise UEP is also considered. All results presented are at rates close to capacity.
Evolution of Nuclear Star Clusters

Two-body relaxation times of nuclear star clusters are short enough that gravitational encounters should substantially affect their structure in 10 Gyr or less. In nuclear star clusters without massive black holes, dynamical evolution is a competition between core collapse, which causes densities to increase, and heat input from the surrounding galaxy, which causes densities to decrease. The maximum extent of a nucleus that can resist expansion is derived numerically for a wide range of initial conditions; observed nuclei are shown to be compact enough to resist expansion, although there may have been an earlier generation of low-density nuclei that were dissolved. An evolutionary model for NGC 205 is presented which suggests that the nucleus of this galaxy has already undergone core collapse. Adding a massive black hole to a nucleus inhibits core collapse, and nuclear star clusters with black holes always expand, due primarily to heat input from the galaxy and secondarily to heating from stellar disruptions. The expansion rate is smaller for larger black holes due to the smaller temperature difference between galaxy and nucleus when the black hole is large. The rate of stellar tidal disruptions and its variation with time are computed for a variety of initial models. The disruption rate generally decreases with time due to the evolving nuclear density, particularly in the faintest galaxies, assuming that scaling relations derived for luminous galaxies can be extended to low luminosities.
Grouping Promotes Equality The Effect of Recipient Grouping on Allocation of Limited Medical Resources

Decisions about allocation of scarce resources, such as transplant organs, often entail a trade-off between efficiency (i.e., maximizing the total benefit) and fairness (i.e., dividing resources equally). In three studies, we used a hypothetical scenario for transplant-organ allocation to examine allocation to groups versus individuals. Study 1 demonstrated that allocation to individuals is more efficient than allocation to groups. Study 2 identified a factor that triggers the use of fairness over efficiency: presenting the beneficiaries as one arbitrary group rather than two. Specifically, when beneficiaries were presented as one group, policymakers tended to allocate resources efficiently, maximizing total benefit. However, when beneficiaries were divided into two arbitrary groups (by hospital name), policymakers divided resources more equally across the groups, sacrificing efficiency. Study 3 replicated this effect using a redundant attribute (prognosis) to create groups and found evidence for a mediat...
Voxel-space ambient occlusion

Abstract : Ambient occlusion adds important detail to a scene. This paper presents a multiresolution screen-space voxel based ambient occlusion technique, which improves G-buffer based techniques, avoiding artifacts such as haloing. Our technique is scalable to the level-of-detail desired by the user. Because we assume voxels to be small objects, we compute ambient occlusion using an area rendering equation based formulation. As ambient occlusion changes smoothly across a scene, we use a stencil based screen-space multiresolution buffer to refine and render multiple resolution images. Curvature and depth discontinuity metrics to identify appropriate sampling rates.
Stochastic Depletion Problems: Effective Myopic Policies for a Class of Dynamic Optimization Problems

This paper presents a general class of dynamic stochastic optimization problems we refer to as stochastic depletion problems. A number of challenging dynamic optimization problems of practical interest are stochastic depletion problems. Optimal solutions for such problems are difficult to obtain, both from a pragmatic computational perspective as well as from a theoretical perspective. As such, simple heuristics are desirable. We isolate two simple properties that, if satisfied by a problem within this class, guarantee that a myopic policy incurs a performance loss of at most 50% relative to the optimal adaptive control policy for that problem. We are able to verify that these two properties are satisfied for several interesting families of stochastic depletion problems and, as a consequence, we identify computationally efficient approximations to optimal control policies for a number of interesting dynamic stochastic optimization problems.
Orthogonal sets of data windows constructed from trigonometric polynomials

Suboptimal, easily computable substitutes for the discrete prolate spheroidal windows used by D.J. Thomson (Proc. IEEE, vol.70, p.1055-1096, 1982) for spectral estimation are given. Trigonometric coefficients and energy leakages of the window polynomials are tabulated. >
Synthesis of N,N-Diethylbenzamides via a Nonclassical Mitsunobu Reaction

Abstract The use of the Mitsunobu reaction for the synthesis of N,N-diethylbenzamides affords ortho-, meta-, and para-substituted benzamides containing both electron-donating and electron-withdrawing groups. While the preparation of numerous functional groups has been efficiently demonstrated employing the Mitsunobu reaction, our methodology represents the first application of the Mitsunobu reaction for the construction of benzamides using benzoic acid and amine starting materials. Moreover, this synthetic transformation is believed to proceed via a nonclassical mechanism involving the existence of an acyloxyphosphonium ion. [Supplementary materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Synthetic Communications® for the following free supplemental resource(s): Full experimental and spectral details.]
SECURITY PRICE REACTIONS AROUND PRODUCT RECALL ANNOUNCEMENTS

This study presents an empirical, event-time analysis of the financial impact of product recall announcements on the equity holders of affected firms. Product recalls convey relevant information to the market at the time the announcement is reported in The Wall Street Journal. Further, security prices continue to react significantly to product recall announcements for approximately two months following the initial news release. No relation between the firm's equity decline and the direct costs of the recall is found, indicating the importance of indirect costs such as litigation or a reduction in future corporate sales due to reputation damage.
Dynamic calibration of a shear-stress sensor using Stokes-layer excitation

The design and implementation of a novel dynamic calibration technique for shear-stress sensors is presented. This technique uses the oscillating wall shear stress generated by a traveling acoustic wave as a known input to the shear-stresssensor.Asilicon-micromachined, eoating-element shear-stresssensorhasbeen dynamicallycalibrated up to 4 kHz using this method. These data represent the e rst broadband, experimental verie cation of the dynamic response of a shear-stress sensor.
Effects of velocity ratio on mixing layer three-dimensionality

Abstract Three-dimensionality in transitioning mixing layers, in the form of streamwise vortical structures, is now well established and understood. In the present investigation, the effects of velocity ratio, or more precisely of velocity difference across the layer, on the near-field generation and development of three-dimensionality in two-stream mixing layers have been investigated for the first time. Detailed time-averaged velocity measurements were obtained using a single rotatable cross-wire probe on fine cross-plane grids at four streamwise locations in the near-field region. The effects of five velocity ratios, ranging from r =0.5 to 0.9, were investigated by keeping the velocity of one stream constant while varying that of the other. The results indicate that the mixing layer three-dimensionality is strongest for the mixing layer with the lowest velocity ratio. The peak mean streamwise vorticity levels decrease with increasing velocity ratio at all the streamwise locations investigated. However, the rate of decrease is highest at the most upstream station and it decreases with increasing downstream distance. The mean streamwise vorticity contours at the first station show that their distribution is quite similar at the different velocity ratios, implying that the generating mechanism and initial disturbance fields remain unchanged with velocity ratio. However, it is conceivable that the amount of stretching in the braid regions due to the spanwise vortical structures is affected by velocity ratio. As the velocity ratio decreases (and the velocity difference across the layer increases), stronger spanwise rollers are generated which increase the amount of stretching in the braid regions and hence the streamwise vorticity is amplified. The splitter plate wake has a lasting effect on the three-dimensional structure of the mixing layers at the higher velocity ratios. The presence and effects of the wake are clearly seen in the mean velocity, mean streamwise vorticity and Reynolds stress contours.
π-Acceptor induced reactions: Radicals vs. ions in thermally induced ether cleavage reactions

Abstract The reactions of benzyl ether ( 1a ) and 4,4′-dicyanobenzyl ether ( 1b ) with a wide range of π-acceptors in acetonitrile at 190°C have been studied. The π-acceptors were chosen in order to systematically vary the ΔG° for hydride or electron transfer from the ethers to the π-acceptors. The products of thermal activation of the bond cleavage reaction are the aldehyde and the alcohol derived from the starting ethers. A linear free energy correlation of the relative thermal reaction rates of 1a and 1b with the reduction potentials of the quinones was obtained. This relationship indicates that the rate of radical pair separation becomes increasingly important relative to the rate of the second electron transfer and subsequent product formation through the hydride transfer intermediate as the electron affinity of the quinone decreases.
A Characterization of Rationalizable Consumer Behavior

For an arbitrary data set D = {(p, x)} ⊆ (ℝ+m∖ {0}) × ℝ+m, finite or infinite, it is shown that the following three conditions are equivalent: (a) D satisfies GARP; (b) D can be rationalized by a utility function; (c) D can be rationalized by a utility function that is quasiconcave, nondecreasing, and that strictly increases when all its coordinates strictly increase. Examples of infinite data sets satisfying GARP are provided for which every utility rationalization fails to be lower semicontinuous, upper semicontinuous, or concave. Thus condition (c) cannot be substantively improved upon.
A FACILE ROUTE TO 3-ALKOXY-2-METHYLPROPENALS, USEFUL INTERMEDIATES IN THE SYNTHESIS OF CAROTENOIDS

Abstract A “one-pot” process for the preparation of a carotenoid synthon (4) has been developed that involves methoxide-promoted condensation of propionaldehyde with methyl formate, followed by exclusive o-alkylation of the resultant stabilized enolate (6).
State Renewable Energy Governance: Policy Instruments, Markets, or Citizens

Since the 1990s, state governments in the United States have diversified policy instruments to encourage the electric power industry to deploy renewable sources for electricity generation. This study identifies the trends and variations in renewable energy (RE) policy governance among states and examines the effectiveness of policy instruments in the deployment of RE sources for electricity production. This study explores 18 state legislative, RE-related regulations, programs, or financial incentives existing between 2001 and 2010 in 48 states in the United States. Renewable energy policies were classified into three types of policy approaches: command-and-control, market-based, and information instruments. Results suggest that authoritative approaches are more likely to be effective in the governmental intervention toward a pre-existing market, and information instruments and citizen participation became important in the power industry in the 2000s. In addition, it gives us some evidence that federal assistance under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 influenced the overall growth of the renewable electricity industry, in addition to state government–led policy designs.
Function sharing in mechanical design

Function sharing in mechanical design is the simultaneous implementation of several functions with a single structural element. If automobiles were designed without function sharing they would be relatively large, expensive and unreliable. But because elements like the sheetmetal body implement many functions (electrical ground, structural support, aerodynamic faring, weather protection, and aesthetics among others) automobiles perform better and cost less than a non-function-sharing alternative. This paper describes how function sharing can be viewed as a computational design procedure that produces efficient designs from modular designs. The function sharing procedure consists of three steps: 1) a structural element is deleted from the design; 2) physical features that can provide alternative implementations of the function(s) of the deleted element are found; 3) modifications are made to the design to accentuate the desired properties of the features found in step 2. We have chosen mechanical devices that can be described functionally as a network of lumped-parameter idealized elements as a domain for exploring function sharing. Such d evices include pressure gauges, accelerometers, and hydraulic cylinders.
ARCHER, a new Monte Carlo software tool for emerging heterogeneous computing environments

Abstract The Monte Carlo radiation transport community faces a number of challenges associated with peta- and exa-scale computing systems that rely increasingly on heterogeneous architectures involving hardware accelerators such as GPUs and Xeon Phi coprocessors. Existing Monte Carlo codes and methods must be strategically upgraded to meet emerging hardware and software needs. In this paper, we describe the development of a software, called ARCHER (Accelerated Radiation-transport Computations in Heterogeneous EnviRonments), which is designed as a versatile testbed for future Monte Carlo codes. Preliminary results from five projects in nuclear engineering and medical physics are presented.
On describing the behavior and implementation of distributed systems

Abstract A simple, basic and general model for describing both the (input/output) behavior and the implementation of distributed systems is presented. An important feature is the separation of the machinery used to describe the implementation and the behavior. This feature makes the model potentially useful for design specification of systems and of subsystems. The model's primitivity and generality make it a suitable basis for cost comparison of distributed system implementations.
Laser treatment of cervical and vaginal neoplasia

The conservative management of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (with electrodiathermocautery and cryosurgery) is unsuitable for the treatment of similar vaginal lesions because of complications of scarring, stenosis, and fistulas. A new modality of treatment with the use of a carbon dioxide laser beam was evaluated for the treatment of cervical and vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia. Histopathologic examination of cervical tissue after laser beam therapy showed that most of the tissue destruction resulted from evaporation of tissue and that the zone of tissue necrosis was much less than after cryosurgery or electrocautery. Laser therapy was used in 50 patients, 46 of whom had varying degrees of cervical and vaginal intraepithelial neoplasia. Treatment failures occurred in five patients (10 per cent). The experience of this study suggests that the major value of laser treatment of the lower genital tract will be in the management of vaginal intraepithelial lesions, while similar results in the treatment of cervical neoplasia may be achieved by much simpler methods.
Shape-Controlled Synthesis of Colloidal Metal Nanocrystals: Thermodynamic versus Kinetic Products

This Perspective provides a contemporary understanding of the shape evolution of colloidal metal nanocrystals under thermodynamically and kinetically controlled conditions. It has been extremely challenging to investigate this subject in the setting of one-pot synthesis because both the type and number of seeds involved would be changed whenever the experimental conditions are altered, making it essentially impossible to draw conclusions when comparing the outcomes of two syntheses conducted under different conditions. Because of the uncertainty about seeds, most of the mechanistic insights reported in literature for one-pot syntheses of metal nanocrystals with different shapes are either incomplete or ambiguous, and some of them might be misleading or even wrong. Recently, with the use of well-defined seeds for such syntheses, it became possible to separate growth from nucleation and therefore investigate the explicit role(s) played by a specific thermodynamic or kinetic parameter in directing the evolution of colloidal metal nanocrystals into a specific shape. Starting from single-crystal seeds enclosed by a mix of {100}, {111}, and {110} facets, for example, one can obtain colloidal nanocrystals with diversified shapes by adjusting various thermodynamic or kinetic parameters. The mechanistic insights learnt from these studies can also be extended to account for the products of conventional one-pot syntheses that involve self-nucleation only. The knowledge can be further applied to many other types of seeds with twin defects or stacking faults, making it an exciting time to design and synthesize colloidal metal nanocrystals with the shapes sought for a variety of fundamental studies and technologically important applications.
Learning a hybrid architecture for sequence regression and annotation

When learning a hidden Markov model (HMM), sequential observations can often be complemented by real-valued summary response variables generated from the path of hidden states. Such settings arise in numerous domains, including many applications in biology, like motif discovery and genome annotation. In this paper, we present a flexible framework for jointly modeling both latent sequence features and the functional mapping that relates the summary response variables to the hidden state sequence. The algorithm is compatible with a rich set of mapping functions. Results show that the availability of additional continuous response variables can simultaneously improve the annotation of the sequential observations and yield good prediction performance in both synthetic data and real-world datasets.
Stringent maximum residue limits, protectionism, and competitiveness: the cases of the US and Canada

Maximum residue limits (MRLs) on pesticides and veterinary drugs in plant and animal products are established to promote food safety and animal and plant health. In practice, however, they are often accused of creating unnecessary trade barriers. The controversy is more prominent when a given MRL is stricter than the corresponding international standard developed by Codex. Using the score indices constructed by Li and Beghin (2012), we empirically assess the implications of stringency in MRLs in plant and animal products, relative to Codex levels, for Canadian and US trade performance. We find little evidence that US imports are influenced by domestic stringency or those imposed by its trading partners. However, US exports are negatively affected by stringency in destination markets. Canada’s stringent MRLs facilitate its exports of plant and animal products and these exports do not seem to be impeded by MRL stringency in destination markets. Canada’s imports do not appear to be systematically influenced by either its own or its trading partners’ MRL stringency. We draw implications for the potential harmonization of MRLs between the two countries.
Obstacle-type problems for minimal surfaces

ABSTRACTWe study certain obstacle-type problems involving standard and nonlocal minimal surfaces. We obtain optimal regularity of the solution and a characterization of the free boundary.
The staging of lung cancer

Staging is one of the most important components in the management of lung cancer. Accurate staging is important because it allows the clinician to predict prognosis and assign appropriate therapy and also provides a system that allows clinicians and researchers to stratify patients into reasonably homogenous groups so that treatment outcomes can be appropriately compared. Tumor staging is broadly broken down into clinical staging and pathologic staging. Clinical stage refers to the best prediction of lung cancer stage prior to the commencement of therapy. Pathologic stage refers to the best prediction of stage following pathologic analysis of the patient’s tumor, lymph nodes, and/or metastases and is usually applied following surgical resection or exploration. The distinction between clinical and pathologic stage becomes slightly less clear, however, when patients undergo some form of histologic staging without surgical resection or exploration. Thus, a patient may undergo histologic assessment of mediastinal nodes by endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) fine-needle aspiration (FNA) prior to surgical resection. The information thus gained is considered to contribute to the clinical not pathologic stage, which would be determined by the pathologic findings at surgery. If the same patient was found to have ipsilateral lymph node metastases at EBUS and then went on to receive nonsurgical therapy, he would be considered to have pathologic-stage N2 (p-stage IIIa) disease. Ultimately, pathologic stage is determined by the highest-level histologic evidence that is available. Following preoperative therapy (such as chemotherapy and radiation), subsequent pathologic staging is associated with the prefix “y.” Thus a patient with ipsilateral nodal metastases might be downstaged by preoperative chemotherapy from pN2 prior to treatment to yp-N0 after pathologic analysis of the post-chemotherapy surgical specimen.
Photon blockade in an optical cavity with one trapped atom

We have observed photon blockade, as evidenced by the photon statistics for light transmitted by an optical cavity containing one trapped atom. The measurements also reveal the energy distribution for atomic motion in the trap.
Evaluating best practices for Campylobacter and Salmonella reduction in poultry processing plants

Poultry processing plants in the United States were surveyed on their current Campylobacter and Salmonella control practices. Following surveys, data were collected to develop a baseline for prevalence rates of Salmonella and Campylobacter; then changes in practices were implemented and evaluated for improvements in pathogen control. Surveys were sent to the plant Quality Assurance managers to determine production levels, antimicrobial interventions, and current pathogen testing practices. Initial sampling was performed at 6 plants with similar production volumes, at sites that included carcass samples before any pre-evisceration intervention, after exiting the inside-outside bird washer (IOBW), after exiting the pre-chiller, after exiting the primary chiller, and after exiting any post-chill intervention, as well as a water sample from each scalder, pre-chiller, primary chiller, and post-chill dip tank or finishing chiller. Enumerations and enrichments were performed for Campylobacter and Salmonella. Following the baseline sampling, changes in practices were suggested for each plant and a second sampling was conducted to determine their effectiveness. Results demonstrated that peracetic acid (PAA) was the most effective (P 0.05). Microbial buildup in the immersion tanks demonstrates the need for effective cleaning, sanitation practices, and chiller maintenance to reduce contamination of poultry with Campylobacter and Salmonella.
The Unthinkable and the Unthought

When people misrepresent their beliefs in response to social pressures, public discourse gets impoverished. Because public discourse is a basic determinant of individual perceptions and understandings, a by-product is the distortion of private knowledge. This article highlights a tendency for beliefs treated as unthinkable to disappear from society's repertoire of ideas, that is, to become unthought. Two mechanisms are identified as the vehicles of this destructive evolutionary process. The first is intragenerational: As individuals we base many of our judgments on social proof. The second is intergenerational: We tend not to think about matters our forebears have treated as settled. The argument distinguishes between hard beliefs, which are based on direct observation, inference, and analysis, and soft beliefs, which are based exclusively on social proof.
Informational Fragility of Dynamic Rational Expectations Equilibria

We study the stability properties of Rational Expectations equilibria in dynamic models with incomplete information when the information set of agents is slightly perturbed. We show that equilibria where the endogenous variables resolve the information incompleteness can be informationally fragile, in the sense that a slight perturbation in the endogenous information set of the agents along the equilibrium path can lead to a break-down of the equilibrium dynamics. We then construct a class of dynamic rational expectations equilibria that are informationally stable for the same parameter space where other equilibria are informationally fragile. We show that an equilibrium that is informationally fragile is not least-squares learnable, while an equilibrium that is informationally stable always is. We finally present an application to a macroeconomic equilibrium model with productivity shocks and nominal rigidities under incomplete information that shows that both informationally fragile and stable equilibria can be obtained, with quite different shocks propagation properties.
Stimuli Reduce the Dimensionality of Cortical Activity

The activity of ensembles of simultaneously recorded neurons can be represented as a set of points in the space of firing rates. Even though the dimension of this space is equal to the ensemble size, neural activity can be effectively localized on smaller subspaces. The dimensionality of the neural space is an important determinant of the computational tasks supported by the neural activity. Here, we investigate the dimensionality of neural ensembles from the sensory cortex of alert rats during periods of ongoing (inter-trial) and stimulus-evoked activity. We find that dimensionality grows linearly with ensemble size, and grows significantly faster during ongoing activity compared to evoked activity. We explain these results using a spiking network model based on a clustered architecture. The model captures the difference in growth rate between ongoing and evoked activity and predicts a characteristic scaling with ensemble size that could be tested in high-density multi-electrode recordings. Moreover, we present a simple theory that predicts the existence of an upper bound on dimensionality. This upper bound is inversely proportional to the amount of pair-wise correlations and, compared to a homogeneous network without clusters, it is larger by a factor equal to the number of clusters. The empirical estimation of such bounds depends on the number and duration of trials and is well predicted by the theory. Together, these results provide a framework to analyze neural dimensionality in alert animals, its behavior under stimulus presentation, and its theoretical dependence on ensemble size, number of clusters, and correlations in spiking network models.
Athletes with implantable cardioverter defibrillators: can they return to competitive sports?

An 18-year-old man, African-American college basketball player is seen for pre-participation cardiovascular screening. He reports no cardiovascular symptoms and has no family history of juvenile sudden cardiac death or heritable cardiac disease. A screening ECG shows T wave inversion preceded by ST segment elevation in V3-V4 and abnormal T wave inversion in the lateral leads V5-V6, I and aVL (figure 1). An echocardiogram is performed showing concentric left ventricular hypertrophy with prominent apical thickening with a maximal septal measurement of 24 mm, posterior wall thickness of 12–13 mm, left ventricular internal diameter in diastole of 4.8 cm, and normal left ventricular systolic and diastolic function without outflow tract obstruction. Cardiac MRI demonstrates asymmetric thickening of the mid and apical septum with a maximal measurement of 31 mm, as well as several adjacent dense foci of delayed gadolinium enhancement in the mid inferior septum; findings consistent with a diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Subsequent exercise treadmill testing and ambulatory ECG monitoring show no abnormalities. The patient receives an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for primary prevention of sudden death because his maximal wall thickness is >30 mm (class IIa). Should he be allowed to return to competitive sports? Figure 1 Screening ECG with abnormal T wave inversion in the lateral leads. ICDs have demonstrated a mortality benefit in many cardiac conditions by reducing sudden death from ventricular arrhythmias. ICDs are indicated for high-risk patients with cardiomyopathies and channelopathies where the potential benefit outweighs the risk of complications. High-risk patients are typically defined as having a prior cardiac arrest, ventricular tachycardia, left …
Acquisition of English verb transitivity by native speakers of Japanese

This study is concerned with native Japanese speakers’ acquisition of English lexical causativity. In Japanese, a large number of verbs, including those not participating in the causative alternation in English (e.g., kieru/kesu “disappear/be disappeared” and todoku/todokeru “deliver/be delivered”), are lexically causative, in addition to the prototypical causative verbs such as aku/akeru “open” and ugoku/ugokasu “move”. This asymmetric relationship forms a gap between the L1 and L2 and will cause overgeneralization errors in the L2 utterances. In this study, 44 native speakers of English and 60 Japanese ESL learners participated in the grammaticality judgment tasks in a series of experiments. The data show that the negative transfer exists in the inherently-directed motion verbs and verbs of disappearance, but it is conditioned by the frequency of verbs. The existence of frequency effect on verbs in the asymmetric relationship indicates that certain classes of verbs must be learned from the input.
Feedback Particle Filter for a Continuous-Time Markov Chain

This technical note extends the feedback particle filter (FPF) methodology and algorithms to the problem of filtering a continuous-time Markov chain. The main contribution is the development of a feedback control-based transformation of the Wonham filter, where the control input is realized via a time-modulated Poisson counter process. A complete characterization of the feedback mechanism that defines the FPF is obtained, which leads to tractable algorithms for the nonlinear filtering problem even for large state spaces. Numerical examples are introduced to help illustrate the application of these techniques.
Impacts of corn price and imported beef price on domestic beef price in South Korea

South Korea is one of the largest beef importing countries in the world. Australia, USA, and New Zealand provide the majority of beef they import. The objective of this study is to evaluate the price relationship of Korean cattle and corn, prices of the imported beef and corn, and prices of Korean cattle and imported beef. We examine threshold points using threshold vector autoregressive (TVAR) model by assuming the presence of nonlinearity. We find that there are two thresholds in Australian beef price with first difference data. This study finds that the current Korean beef price is positively affected by increasing in the previous month of Australian beef price in first and second regimes. Changing in previous corn price has no significant impact on current Korean cattle price in the second regime. In the third regime, we find that current Korean cattle price is positively affected by previous corn price whereas no impact from previous Australian beef price. In this study, we could not use data for the USA due to the periods of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). However, we expect that current Korean beef price is significantly affected by changing in the previous month of US beef price using data after the periods of BSE.
SiteOut: An Online Tool to Design Binding Site-Free DNA Sequences

DNA-binding proteins control many fundamental biological processes such as transcription, recombination and replication. A major goal is to decipher the role that DNA sequence plays in orchestrating the binding and activity of such regulatory proteins. To address this goal, it is useful to rationally design DNA sequences with desired numbers, affinities and arrangements of protein binding sites. However, removing binding sites from DNA is computationally non-trivial since one risks creating new sites in the process of deleting or moving others. Here we present an online binding site removal tool, SiteOut, that enables users to design arbitrary DNA sequences that entirely lack binding sites for factors of interest. SiteOut can also be used to delete sites from a specific sequence, or to introduce site-free spacers between functional sequences without creating new sites at the junctions. In combination with commercial DNA synthesis services, SiteOut provides a powerful and flexible platform for synthetic projects that interrogate regulatory DNA. Here we describe the algorithm and illustrate the ways in which SiteOut can be used; it is publicly available at https://depace.med.harvard.edu/siteout/.
Correction of Human Cyclic Neutropenia with Prednisolone

A 70-year-old woman with cyclic neutropenia was treated with 16 mg of etiocholanolone and 25 mg of prednisolone intramuscularly every other day. During 14 weeks' treatment amplitude of cyclic fluctuations in neutrophil counts gradually decreased, but pretreatment cycles returned promptly after treatment was stopped. Prednisolone alone every other day (25 mg) reproduced this result, and by 23 weeks, neutrophil counts became stable at about 1500 per cubic millimeter. tcycling of monocytes, platelets and reticulocytes was also eliminated, as were symptoms that had accompanied neutropenic periods. In addition, bone-marrow neutrophil precursors and neutrophil marrow reserves were stabilized. The patient was subsequently maintained satisfactorily with oral prednisolone, 20 mg every other day. These studies demonstrate that the discontinuous myeloid maturation that occurs in cyclic neutropenia can be corrected with prednisolone every other day.
Comparison of asynchronous versus synchronous arm crank ergometry.

Study Design: A direct comparison of synchronous versus asynchronous arm crank ergometry has not been carried out previously. Therefore, a comparative research design was employed. Objective: To assess the physiological responses of arm cranking when performed asynchronously (arms moving opposite to each other) versus synchronously (both arms moving in the same direction simultaneously). Setting: A university hospital setting in Galveston, Texas, USA. Methods: Seventeen individuals between the ages of 19 and 53 years were studied, 11 with paraplegia and six with no apparent disability. Two maximal arm crank graded exercise tests were performed with the subject seated in a wheelchair. Testing consisted of both arms (1) asynchronously (reciprocally) pushing and pulling the crank handles and (2) pushing and pulling the crank handles synchronously. Each test consisted of 2 min stages starting at 20 W and increasing 10 W per stage thereafter until exhaustion. Heart rate, oxygen consumption, and minute ventilation were measured and recorded during each stage. Blood lactate levels were monitored before and after each test. Statistical analysis was performed using the multivariate Hotelling's T2 followed by post hoc univariate tests. Results: Greater power and longer test times (both groups, P<0.05) and higher post test blood lactates (nondisabled P<0.01, paraplegic P<0.05) were achieved with asynchronous cranking versus synchronous cranking. While submaximal responses were similar between the two modes of cranking, there was a tendency for all variables to be lower with asynchronous. All subjects preferred asynchronous rather than synchronous cranking. Conclusion: Despite few statistically significant differences, based on the subjective reports from all subjects, we believe there is a clinically significant difference between the two modes of cranking. The results suggest that the mode of cranking may have implications for arm crank testing, training, and functional locomotion in individuals with lower extremity impairments.
Enabling the Use of Heterocyclic Arynes in Chemical Synthesis

Heterocyclic arynes have long been targeted as potential tools for the synthesis of substituted heterocycles. Recent advances have led to an improved understanding of the factors that determine regioselectivity in reactions of these strained intermediates and, in turn, the aryne distortion model. This paper highlights the use of this predictive model to enable the use of heterocyclic arynes, such as indolynes and pyridynes, in chemical synthesis.