cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Uncanny Robots of Perfection

We first discuss humanoid robots that satisfy the Gold Standard of robot-human similarity. This means that, for given domains, their performance is within the parameters accessible to humans. Next, we meet their close friends, the Uncanny Robots. They come in two varieties: First, we discuss the robots that are not quite able to meet human-level standards (known from the works of Masahiro Mori as inhabitants of the Uncanny Valley). Then we introduce the robots that seem overly proficient in performing human-like activities. The latter group has not been introduced in this exact sense before Boltuc’s 2011 and 2017 works on Church-Turing Lovers; though affine ideas had been presented by Cascio. We call the conceptual space where the latter group dwells the Uncanny Valley of Perfection; it is the focus of the last part of the current article.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common diseases encountered by both primary care physicians and gastroenterologists. GERD is defined as a condition that develops when the reflux of stomach contents causes troublesome symptoms and/or complications. Generally speaking, the term GERD is applied to patients with symptoms suggestive of reflux such as heartburn or regurgitation, whereas reflux esophagitis describes a subgroup of patients with symptoms of GERD who also have endoscopic or histologic evidence of esophageal inflammation. GERD can manifest in a wide array of symptoms. Typical symptoms include heartburn (retrosternal burning) and acid regurgitation (feeling of acidic gastric contents reaching the pharynx). Atypical symptoms such as epigastric fullness or pressure, epigastric pain, nausea, bloating, and belching may be indicative of GERD but may overlap with other conditions in the differential diagnosis such as peptic ulcer disease, achalasia, gastritis, dyspepsia, and gastroparesis. Lastly, there are a variety of extraesophageal symptoms that have been attributed to GERD including cough, wheezing, hoarseness, and sore throat; however, these are not specific to GERD. In general, symptoms tend to be more common after meals and while lying in the right lateral decubitus position.
A ATUAÇÃO DA FISIOTERAPIA EM CRIANÇAS COM SÍNDROME DOWN

Physiotherapy is one of the interventions of the disease in the Central Nervous System by means of aquatic therapy regardless of age that allows children to strengthen the inspiratory and expiratory muscles. This study is an integrative review that establishes an instrument already prepared to simplify, summarize and organize published studies. Data collection was performed by bibliographic review, through scientific articles, searched in the electronic databases: SCIELO and LILACS. Children with Down's Syndrome compared to other children without genetic alterations have 50% less respiratory muscle strength, impacting the contractility of inspiratory and expiratory muscles, these differences can be attributed to the anatomical-physiological characteristics of the respiratory system. Physiotherapy guarantees the therapeutic effects for neurological rehabilitation, promoting support and assisting in the development of motor coordination, acquiring balance in the sensorimotor system.
Building a doctor, one skill at a time: Rethinking clinical training through a new skills-based feedback modality.

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education milestones and entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are important assessment approaches but may lack specificity for learners seeking improvement through daily feedback. As in other professions, clinicians grow best when they engage in deliberate practice of well-defined skills in familiar contexts. This growth is augmented by specific, actionable coaching from supervisors. This article proposes a new feedback modality called microskills, which are derived from the psychology, negotiation, and business literature, and are unique in their ability to elicit targeted feedback for trainee development. These microskills are grounded in both clinical and situational contexts, thereby mirroring learners’ cognitive schemas and allowing for more natural skill selection and adoption. When taken as a whole, microskills are granular actions that map to larger milestones, competencies, and EPAs. This article outlines the theoretical justification for this new skills-based feedback modality, the methodology behind the creation of clinical microskills, and provides a worked example of microskills for a pediatric resident on a hospital medicine rotation. Ultimately, microskills have the potential to complement milestones and EPAs and inform feedback that is specific, actionable, and relevant to medical learners.
True driving force and characteristics of water transport in osmotic membranes

Abstract Diffusion cannot be a major water transport mechanism in osmotic membranes because of the lack of true water concentration gradient within the membrane. Due to the semipermeable property of osmotic membranes, water concentration in the membrane is virtually constant because of the absence of salts. The recently confirmed porous structure of the skin layer of osmotic membranes cannot support the basis to exclude bulk water flow in the membrane as assumed in the classic solution-diffusion model. Herein we demonstrate that the concentration difference of water at the membrane-solution interface manifests itself as a negative hydraulic pressure in the membrane. Hence, the only possible driving force for water movement in osmotic membranes is hydraulic pressure gradient. Osmotically driven membrane processes are characterized with negative pressure within the membrane below the water vapor pressure, inevitably leading to the formation of vapor or small bubbles within the membrane matrix. This phenomenon is expected to markedly reduce the effectiveness of osmotic pressure as a driving force for water transport. Delineation of the breakdown and possible restoration of water continuity under negative pressure is essential for proper understanding of the principles governing water transport in osmotic membranes.
Ligands with poly-fluorophenyl moieties promote a local structural rearrangement in the Spinach2 and Broccoli aptamers that increases ligand affinities

The interaction of nucleic acids with their molecular targets often involves structural reorganization that may traverse a complex folding landscape. With the more recent recognition that many RNAs, both coding and noncoding, may regulate cellular activities by interacting with target molecules, it becomes increasingly important to understand the means by which nucleic acids interact with their targets and how drugs might be developed that can influence critical folding transitions. We have extensively investigated the interaction of the Spinach2 and Broccoli aptamers with a library of small molecule ligands modified by various extensions from the imido nitrogen of DFHBI (3,5-difluoro-4-hydroxybenzylidene imidazolinone) that reach out from the Spinach2 ligand binding pocket. Studies of the interaction of these compounds with the aptamers revealed that poly-fluorophenyl-modified ligands initiate a slow change in aptamer affinity that takes an extended time (half-life of ~40 min) to achieve. The change in affinity appears to involve an initial disruption of the entrance to the ligand binding pocket followed by a gradual lockdown for which the most likely driving force is an interaction of the gateway adenine with a nearby 29OH group. These results suggest that poly-fluorophenyl modifications might increase the ability of small molecule drugs to disrupt local structure and promote RNA remodeling.
Firm-Theoretic Limitations on Proposition III

This paper builds on work by Thomadakis [1976] and Peyser [1981] who demonstrated that a disparity normally exists between the "capitalization" rate and the "cutoff" rate. Modigliani and Miller [1958] maintained that the two rates are equal in the absence of capital structure changes and corporate taxation. However, they neglected to analyze the effects of the firm's demand and production functions on the comparative risks embedded in average and marginal returns. This paper used a certainty-equivalence approach to show that the difference in these risks is the source of the disparity and that the firm's demand and production characteristics magnify or attenuate it. Although knowledge of the cutoff rate is necessary for determining the optimal scale of investment, it is not directly observable. However, the cutoff rate turns out to be imputable from an algebraic function of the capitalization rate and either the Lerner Index or Tobin's q ratio. Because common measures of the Lerner Index implicitly assume away the conditions that are necessary to produce disparate discount rates, the q ratio appears to be the preferred alternative for the purpose at hand.
Learning for Optical Flow Using Stochastic Optimization

We present a technique for learning the parameters of a continuous-state Markov random field (MRF) model of optical flow, by minimizing the training loss for a set of ground-truth images using simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation (SPSA). The use of SPSA to directly minimize the training loss offers several advantages over most previous work on learning MRF models for low-level vision, which instead seek to maximize the likelihood of the data given the model parameters. In particular, our approach explicitly optimizes the error criterion used to evaluate the quality of the flow field, naturally handles missing data values in the ground truth, and does not require the kinds of approximations that current methods use to address the intractable nature of maximum-likelihood estimation for such problems. We show that our method achieves state-of-the-art results and requires only a very small number of training images. We also find that our method generalizes well to unseen data, including data with quite different characteristics than the training set.
Chloro({2-[mesityl(quinolin-8-yl-κN)boryl]-3,5-dimethyl-phenyl}methyl-κC)palladium(II) as a Catalyst for Heck Reactions

We recently reported an air and moisture stable 16-electron borapalladacycle formed upon combination of 8-quinolyldimesitylborane with bis(benzonitrile)dichloropalladium(II). The complex features a tucked mesityl group formed upon metalation of an ortho-methyl group on a mesityl; however it is unusually stable due to contribution of the boron pz orbital in delocalizing the carbanion that gives rise to an η4-boratabutadiene fragment coordinated to Pd(II), as evidenced from crystallographic data. This complex was observed to be a highly active catalyst for the Heck reaction. Data of the catalyst activity are presented alongside data found in the literature, and initial comparison reveals that the borapalladacycle is quite active. The observed catalysis suggests the borapalladacycle readily undergoes reductive elimination; however the Pd(0) complex has not yet been isolated. Nevertheless, the ambiphilic ligand 8-quinolyldimesitylborane may be able to support palladium in different redox states.
Crisis urbana y respuesta institucional en dos megaciudades. Lecciones del manejo de la devastación sísmica en las ciudades de México y Los Ángeles

Based on an analytical framework derived as much from institutional theory as from the theory of urban planning, this study examines the results of two programs created to re-establish order and stability after a situation of urban crisis. They include: the Program for the Renovation of Low-Income Housing in Mexico City, created after the 1985 earthquake, and the Ghost Town Program founded in Los Angeles, California, after the 1994 earthquake. Both programs have been praised for their swift action, massive financing, improvement of pre-existing conditions, community participation and institutional coordination. The principal argument in this study is that urban planning institutions in both cities were effective during the crisis caused by the earthquakes mainly because they were based on institutional routes: a type of procedure that is often scorned or underestimated because it has the reputation of being extremely bureaucratic. The planning institutions in Mexico City and Los Angeles responded effectively because they were capable of adapting institutional routines quickly and efficiently to dramatic, unforeseen circumstances. Framed as a case study, this analysis seeks to clarify and explain the dynamics of urban planning within a context of crisis in two ways; first, case studies show that an explicit, systematic institutional analysis helps explain what features yield positive results in urban planning and why. Second, institutional analysis shows the conditions under which institutional routines can serve as powerful, effective tools for resolving unforeseen circumstances, regardless of the prevailing socio-political context.
Threonine Deaminase from Salmonella typhimurium I. PURIFICATION AND PROPERTIES

Abstract Biosynthetic l-threonine deaminase (l-threonine hydrolyase, deaminating; EC 4.2.1.16) has been purified approximately 250-fold from crude extracts of nutritionally derepressed Salmonella typhimurium. Sedimentation of the enzyme in the ultracentrifuge results in a single, sharp, symmetrical peak in the schlieren pattern. The purification procedure is capable of removing the radioactivity from a crude extract containing label in all the proteins except native threonine deaminase. The deaminase reaction shows homotropic interaction only in the presence of l-isoleucine; high ionic strength or low valine concentrations remove these interactions. The pure enzyme is effectively inhibited by l-isoleucine. The pH optimum of the deaminase reaction is 9 to 10; the pH curve is shifted to higher values in the presence of l-isoleucine. The activity of the purified enzyme is independent of added pyridoxal phosphate. The cofactor is resolved by dialysis against tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane hydrochloride buffer at pH 8.0. Pyridoxal phosphate and pyridoxamine phosphate are capable of reactivating the enzyme. The activity of the purified enzyme is independent of divalent cations, but NH4+, K+, Li+, and Na+ show about 20% stimulation of enzyme activity. The enzyme has two absorption maxima (280 and 420 mµ). The removal of pyridoxal phosphate from the enzyme is accompanied by the loss of the 420 mµ absorption. The enzyme contains 0.99 mole of pyridoxal phosphate per 100,000 g of protein. The minimum molecular weight computed on the basis of pyridoxal phosphate content and sedimentation coefficient is 200,000.
A Conversation with Teresa Meng: The founder of Atheros analyzes the role of signal processing in the evolving world of wireless communications.

In 1999, Teresa Meng took a leave of absence from Stanford University and with colleagues from Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley, founded Atheros Communications to develop and deliver the core technology for wireless communication systems. Using a combination of signal processing and CMOS RF technology, Atheros came up with a pioneering 5 GHz wireless LAN chipset found in most 802.11a/b/g products, and continues to extend its market as wireless communications evolve.
Combat-Related Killing: Expanding Evidence-Based Treatments for PTSD

Abstract Despite its prevalence, killing in war is an experience that may not fit neatly into existing models of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its treatment. The context in which killing occurred may be complex. Furthermore, while killing may certainly be fear based, an individual may have also killed in response to losing someone close and experiencing sadness and anger, as opposed to fear. While evidence-based treatments for PTSD may be a good starting point for killing-related trauma, we argue that existing treatments need to be expanded. Complex killing-related cognitions that may not be anticipated or identified, moral injury, self-forgiveness, and loss are all important issues that arise that may need to be addressed in greater detail. Consequently, we have developed a 6- to 8-session individual treatment module for those impacted by killing in war, expressly designed for use with existing evidence-based treatments for PTSD, currently being validated for use in clinical practice. We see this module as supplementary, rather than as a replacement, building on the skills that veterans have already learned within these treatments. By expanding the types of treatments we offer those who have killed in war, we can ensure that we are providing veterans with comprehensive treatment that takes the complexities of war and its aftermath into account.
Electrode coatings for high temperature hydrogen electrolysis

A discussion of fabrication techniques and performance testing of solid oxide components for use in hydrogen steam electrolysis is presented. Novel plasma spray techniques are utilized to deposit the thin ceramic oxide electrode, electrolyte, and interconnect layers on a planar intermetallic bipolar plate. Optimal porosity is achieved within the electrode microstructure through mixed feed techniques that are a combination of dry powder feed and liquid solution injection. The perovskite anode coatings formed from liquid precursor feedstock require post-deposition annealing in an oxygen-rich atmosphere to form the desired perovskite structures. Electrical conductivity measurements were measured for all electrodes and interconnect materials as a function of temperature to 1000 °C.
On quasi-conjugate n-tuples of matrices

Abstract The concept of quasi-conjugate n -tuples of matrices is defined. The number of n -tuples in similarity classes of n -tuples over finite fields is determined for the cases n = 2 and n = 3.
Dissociation and heat transfer in laminar flow

An analytic study of heat transfer and temperature and composition distribution was conducted for a reacting fluid in laminar flow in a tubular reactor. The reaction chosen was reversible and homogeneous of the form A ⇆ 2U. Numerical solutions were obtained by machine computation for conditions of chemical equilibrium and of finite kinetics. For endothermic, dissociative reactions the radial energy transfer due to diffusion adds to the contribution due to a temporary difference. Nusselt numbers up to 10 fold greater than those for the corresponding inert system are obtained. The diffusion contribution is a maximum when the radial mass transfer is not subject to a reaction resistance; i.e. at equilibrium. On a analyse le transferl de chaleur et la distribution de temperature et composition d'un reactif fluide en ecoulement laminaire dans un reacteur tubulaire. La reaction etudiee est reversible et homogene de la forme A ⇆ 2U. Les solutions numeriques ont ete obtenues pour les conditions d'equilibre chimique et de vitesse de reactions limitees. Pour des reactions endothermiques et dissociantes, le transfert radial d'energie cause par la diffusion s'ajoute a la contribution provenant de la difference de temperature. On obtient des nombres de Nusselt jusqu'a 10 fois superieurs a ceux pour des systemes similaires mais inertes. L'effet cumulatif de la diffusion est maximum lorsque le transfert de masse radial n'est pas affecte par une resistance due a la reaction; c'est-a-dire a l'equilibre.
Rapid Identification of Antifungal Compounds against Exserohilum rostratum Using High Throughput Drug Repurposing Screens

A recent large outbreak of fungal infections by Exserohilum rostratum from contaminated compounding solutions has highlighted the need to rapidly screen available pharmaceuticals that could be useful in therapy. The present study utilized two newly-developed high throughput assays to screen approved drugs and pharmaceutically active compounds for identification of potential antifungal agents. Several known drugs were found that have potent effects against E. rostratum including the triazole antifungal posaconazole. Posaconazole is likely to be effective against infections involving septic joints and may provide an alternative for refractory central nervous system infections. The anti-E. rostratum activities of several other drugs including bithionol (an anti-parasitic drug), tacrolimus (an immunosuppressive agent) and floxuridine (an antimetabolite) were also identified from the drug repurposing screens. In addition, activities of other potential antifungal agents against E. rostratum were excluded, which may avoid unnecessary therapeutic trials and reveals the limited therapeutic alternatives for this outbreak. In summary, this study has demonstrated that drug repurposing screens can be quickly conducted within a useful time-frame. This would allow clinical implementation of identified alternative therapeutics and should be considered as part of the initial public health response to new outbreaks or rapidly-emerging microbial pathogens.
Traumatic Bifascicular Intraventricular Block

A case of bifascicular intraventricular conduction defect due to nonpenetrating trauma to the heart sustained in an auto accident is reported. Previous cases with similar electrocardiographic manifestations are mentioned. Anatomic localization of the injury and clinical implications are commented on.
Gut gavage with antiendotoxin antibodies reduces the liberation of tumor necrosis factor-α after hemorrhage/resuscitation

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of gut gavage both alone and with enteral administration of monoclonal antibodies to endotoxin on the liberation of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and subsequent hemodynamics after hemorrhage/resuscitation. DESIGN Dose response intervention, sham-controlled animal study. SETTING Research laboratory at a university medical center. ANIMALS Instrumented rats (250-325 g body weight) underwent standardized hemorrhage/resuscitation. INTERVENTIONS Animal groups received 4 hrs before hemorrhage/resuscitation: gastric gavage with Colyte alone (group 1), combined with E5 antiendotoxin at either 0.2 mg/100 g (group 2) or 2 mg/100 g body weight (group 3), or sham controls (group 4). There were six animals studied in each of the four groups. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS For animals receiving gut gavage and high-dose E5 antiendotoxin, plasma concentrations of TNF-alpha (pg/mL) at 120 mins after hemorrhage/resuscitation were significantly lower compared with sham controls (16+/-4 group 3; 65+/-36 group 4; mean +/- SD, p < .05). At 300 mins, this same treatment group had a significantly higher mean blood pressure (mm Hg) (110+/-6 group 3; 86+/-7 group 4: p < .05). Also at 300 mins after hemorrhage/resuscitation, plasma lactate concentrations (mmol/L) were significantly lower for all gut gavage treatment groups compared with sham control animals (1.9+/-0.2 group 1; 2.0+/-0.2 group 2; 1.8+/-0.2 group 3; 4.8+/-2.8 group 4, p < .05). CONCLUSIONS Prior treatment with gut gavage and enterally administered antiendotoxin antibodies reduces TNF-alpha liberation after hemorrhage/resuscitation and confers a subsequent improvement in hemodynamics and decreased plasma lactate concentrations. Such therapy may be efficacious in patients undergoing elective procedures where major hemorrhage is likely or in severely injured patients with continued or recurrent hemorrhage.
Anatomy and function of the heart and intrathoracic vessels in congenital heart disease: Evaluation with the dynamic spatial reconstructor

The Dynamic Spatial Reconstructor is a unique high speed volume imaging X-ray scanner based on computed tomographic principles. It has several potential advantages over conventional angiographic methods, including reduced invasion, reduced rate of false negative results and increased accuracy of measurements of structure and function. To evaluate the utility of the Dynamic Spatial Reconstructor in the investigation of congenital heart disease, scanning was performed in several pediatric patients with pulmonary valve atresia. Early results show that three-dimensional images of the cardiac chambers and intrathoracic vessels can be acquired and displayed with the system. All the information necessary for quantitative analysis of the pulmonary arteries can be obtained with a single scan involving injection of 0.6 to 2.0 cc/kg of contrast agent and radiation exposure of 0.54 to 0.95 rad/s over 5 to 8 seconds.
Utilizing the other 80% of your system's performance: Starting with Vectorization

Vectorization, as opposed to parallelization, is less utilized as a means of exploiting the full capabilities of a processor. This is a problem since even today this means only ¼ to ½ of the performance of the CPU is used. This is only getting worse in future, especially as accelerators are becoming more prevalent. After an introduction to the basics and history of vectorization the talk will introduce various techniques available for vectorization of compiled code. This talk will focus on gcc and for some details on Linux but the knowledge should be transferable if the features are fully implemented elsewhere.
Congestion analysis for global routing via integer programming

This work presents a fast and flexible framework for congestion analysis at the global routing stage. It captures various factors that contribute to congestion in modern designs. The framework is a practical realization of a proposed parameterized integer programming formulation. The formulation minimizes overflow inside a set of regions covering the layout which is defined by an input resolution parameter. A resolution lower than the global routing grid-graph creates regions that are larger in size than the global-cells. The maximum resolution case simplifies the formulation to minimizing the total overflow which has been traditionally used as a metric to evaluate routability. A novel contribution of this work is to demonstrate that for a small analysis time budget, regional minimization of overflow with a lower resolution allows a more accurate identification of the routing congestion hotspot locations, compared to minimizing the total overflow. It allows generating a more accurate congestion heatmap. The other contributions include several new ideas for a practical realization of the formulation for industry-sized benchmark instances some of which are also improvements to existing global routing procedures. This work also describes coalesCgrip, a simpler variation of our framework which was used to evaluate the ISPD 2011 contest.
Efficient incremental beam-search parsing with generative and discriminative models: keynote talk

This talk will present several issues related to incremental (left-to-right) beam-search parsing of natural language using generative or discriminative models, either individually or in combination. The first part of the talk will provide background in incremental top-down and (selective) left-corner beam-search parsing algorithms, and in stochastic models for such derivation strategies. Next, the relative benefits and drawbacks of generative and discriminative models with respect to heuristic pruning and search will be discussed. A range of methods for using multiple models during incremental parsing will be detailed. Finally, we will discuss the potential for effective use of fast, finite-state processing, e.g. part-of-speech tagging, to reduce the parsing search space without accuracy loss. POS-tagging is shown to improve efficiency by as much as 20-25 percent with the same accuracy, largely due to the treatment of unknown words. In contrast, an 'islands-of-certainty' approach, which quickly annotates labeled bracketing over low-ambiguity word sequences, is shown to provide little or no efficiency gain over the existing beam-search.
An advanced pump limiter experiment of large toroidal extent — ALT II

Abstract Concepts for an advanced pump limiter experiment able to exhaust 5–10% of the plasma particle flux and remove 200 W/cm 2 of heat flux on the limiter face are developed and analyzed. An axisymmetric toroidal belt limiter has a compound curvature blade with edges that extend one particle e-folding distance into the scrape-off layer plasma. Approximately 30% of the plasma efflux flows in a gap between the bottom of the limiter blade and the top of either a structural floor, a plenum box or a liner. Neutralizer/deflector plates are located in discrete pairs at each pumping duct and are designed to optimally scatter neutralized particles into the pump ducts. An alternative design consists of a central toroidal spine beneath the blade which scatters plasma as neutral gas into a plenum box. For application to the TEXTOR tokamak with 1.5 MW of ICRF heating and 2.6 MW of 50 keV neutral beam injection, detailed analysis shows that an average heat flux is approximately 200 W/cm 2 and that the localized collector plate design is about five times more efficient than the spinal design for particle removal.
The role of spatial filtering in sensitivity regulation

The role of spatial filtering in controlling sensitivity to increments is hard to evaluate under normal viewing conditions because eye movements lead to a confounding of spatial and temporal transients. We measured sensitivity to increments on different sized backgrounds in photopic and scotopic vision when the backgrounds were stabilized on the retina, thus eliminating temporal transients. The saturating effect of small fields on photopic thresholds was preserved under these conditions indicating that spatial filtering by retinal cells is critical in maintaining photopic sensitivity. Some effect of spatial pattern on sensitivity in stabilized vision was also observed in scotopic vision, although it was much smaller than was observed in photopic vision. The interaction effects between rod and cone systems that are observed with small backgrounds were also preserved in stabilized vision, implicating a very peripheral site for the generation of these interactions.
Effect of diabetes mellitus and insulin on the regulation of the PepT 1 symporter in rat jejunum.

This investigation focused on studying the effects of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and insulin treatment on absorption of glycylsarcosine (Gly-Sar) across the Sprague-Dawley rat jejunum, using in situ perfusion in a physiologic acidic microenvironment at pH 6.0. Rats were divided into five groups: normal controls in group I, normal colchicine-treated rats in group II, normal cytochalasin-treated rats in group III, streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats in group IV, and insulin-treated diabetic rats in group V. Histologic studies of the five different groups showed morphologic changes upon induction of diabetes and treatments with colchicine and cytochalasin and several variations in post-1 month diabetic rats treated with insulin. The rate of uptake of Gly-Sar was significantly reduced in the diabetic state. The comparison of colchicine-treated and cytochalasin-treated rats to the diabetic group suggests that an intact cytoskeleton and tight junctions may play a role in jejunal dipeptide absorption....
An epistemological problem and possibility

The ecotheology represented in this project is situated within the small segment of Earth’s people who are disproportionately: (1) responsible for climate change; (2) beneficiaries of the fossil fuel economy causing it; and (3) protected from its worst consequences. The epistemological underpinnings of our ecotheology are shaped by this social location and the imbalances in power and privilege that have produced them. Is ecotheology developed from this epistemological location capable of challenging those imbalances in power and privilege? Or are sources of theological wisdom outside the boundaries of power and privilege in advanced global capitalism necessary to forge a future not governed by it? This essay pursues these questions.
Papillary carcinoma of the thyroid with manifestations resembling Graves' disease.

Objective: To describe a case of papillary carcinoma of the thyroid that mimicked a diffuse toxic goiter. Methods: We present a detailed case report, review related cases in the literature, and discuss the possible role of autoantibodies in promoting the growth of papillary thyroid tumor. Results: A 28-year-old woman had a 6-month history of weight loss, palpitations, increased anxiety, and enlargement of her thyroid gland. Laboratory studies confirmed the presence of hyperthyroidism. A 1-cm nodule was identified at the left upper pole of the thyroid. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of this nodule revealed papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. Total thyroidectomy and a modified radical neck dissection were performed. Microscopic examination showed that the entire gland was replaced by a papillary carcinoma with a predominantly follicular pattern of growth. Of 44 lymph nodes tested, 31 were positive for metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma. The presence of thyroid antibodies may have had a role in the aggres...
Alerting and Message Components in Songs of Rufous-Sided Towhees

In numerous species of passerine birds the initial few notes of the song have a narrow frequency range and wide temporal spacing when compared with the rest of the song. This structure is well adapted for high detectability when the song is acoustically degraded during passage through the environment. The song of the rufous-sided towhee (Pipilo eythrophtalmus) consists of relatively tonal introductory syllables followed by a complex rapid trill. The trill is capable of carrying more information than the introduction, but is inherently less detectable at a distance owing to degradation by reverberation, amplitude fluctuation, and frequency-dependent attenuation. Signal detection theory predicts that the detectability of the trill will be increased when it is preceded by the introductory syllables, owing to the removal of uncertainty concerning the time of arrival of the signal. This is alerted detection. I performed field experiments using playback of recorded song to towhees to test the hypothesis that these introductory syllables facilitate detection of conspecific song at a distance. Tape recordings of normal and artificially degraded full songs, introduction, and trills were played to territorial male towhees. Normal songs, degraded songs, and normal trills elicited strong territorial defense responses, indicating recognition as adequate species-specific song, and confirming that sufficient information is contained in the trill for species recognition. Degraded trills alone elicited little response. Both normal and degraded introductions also elicited little response, demonstrating that the increased response to a degraded full song over that to a degraded trill is not due to any species-specific characteristics of the introduction, but rather to its function as an alerting stimulus.
A Note on Lancaster's Procedure for the Combination of Independent Events

LANCASTER (1961) generalized FISHER's (1932) nonparametric procedure for combining independent p-values by transforming P i from the i-th experiment to a chi-squared random variable with d i degrees of freedom, with d i not necessarily equal to 2. We explore the relationship between Lancaster's procedure and a weighted Liptak procedure (KOZIOL and TUCKWELL, 1994) under which P i is transformed to the standard normal scale. We investigate approximations to the null distribution of Lancaster's test procedure, chi-squared with d degrees of freedom. We find that the CORNISH-FISHER (1960) expansions and the LUGANNANI-RICE (1980) saddlepoint approximations are quite accurate, for non-integral values of d, and for values of d as low as 20.
Direct Observation of a Corotating Interaction Region by Three Spacecraft

White-light observations of interplanetary disturbances have been dominated by interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs). This is because the other type of disturbance, the corotating interaction region (CIR), has proved difficult to detect using white-light imagers. Recently, a number of papers have appeared presenting CIR observations using the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) Heliospheric Imagers (HIs), but have mostly only focused on a single spacecraft and imager. In this paper, we present observations of a single CIR that was observed by all three current white-light heliospheric imagers (SMEI and both STEREO HIs), as well as the in situ instruments on both STEREO satellites and ACE. We begin with a discussion of the geometry of the CIR structure, and show how the apparent leading edge structure is expected to change as it corotates relative to the observer. We use these calculations to predict elongation-time profiles for CIRs of different speeds for each of the imagers, and also to predict the arrival times at the in situ instruments. We show that although all three measured different parts, they combine to produce a self-consistent picture of the CIR. Finally, we offer some thoughts on why CIRs have proved so difficult to detect in white-light heliospheric images.
Design of a statically indeterminate truss with specified creep deflections

Abstract A modified Levenberg-Marquardt method and an active set strategy to solve a nonlinear least squares problem subject to bounds on the variables is proposed for the design of a statically indeterminate truss with specified creep deflections at different times.
Migrants of Privilege: The Political Transnationalism of Americans in Mexico

This article applies the literature on political transnationalism to the unique case of a growing population of Americans, born and bred in the United States, who are choosing to live in Mexico. With few exceptions, this population, moving from north to south, fits the model of transnational migrants who reside in a country of settlement while maintaining ties, political and otherwise, to their country of origin. They vote in U.S. elections, raise money for U.S. campaigns, meet with U.S. politicians, and form civic organizations dedicated to the values of their homeland all while residing in Mexico. The exceptions in the case, however, point to the need for minor refinements in the literature on transnationalism to take account of a sending state that is privileged in relation to the receiving state and migrants who are privileged relative to their host society. The case also has important political and policy implications given that this population of U.S. emigrants, many of them retirees, is likely to i...
De la fête et du théâtre: politique du spectacle chez Mme de Staël et Michelet

La fete et le theâtre sont souvent associes a deux modeles politiques divergents: la democratie directe, fondee sur l’homogeneite et la participation unanime du peuple, et la democratie representative, pronant l’utilite de la representation pour edifier et unifier un peuple. L’article suivant soutient que cette opposition est remise en question au dix-neuvieme siecle par Mme de Stael et Michelet. Par des voies contraires (Mme de Stael plaide en faveur du theâtre, tandis que Michelet est partisan de la fete), ils arrivent a une conclusion identique: la fete ne peut exister sans le theâtre, de meme que le theâtre ne peut exister sans la fete. Depasser l’opposition entre la fete et le theâtre permet aux deux auteurs d’offrir de nouvelles solutions aux problemes souleves par la representation politique et par la de reconceptualiser les bases d’une unite nationale, ainsi que de developper une vision originale de la fonction politique du spectacle dans une democratie.
Direct Conversion of FM Magnetic Tape Data into Digital Form

A system is described for decoding frequency-modulated magnetic tape data directly into digital form suitable for input to a digital computer. Included in the system is a very precise method used to compensate for flutter errors. The bypassing of standard demodulation, filtering, and analog-to-digital conversion permits a significant improvement in signal-to-noise ratio. This type of system is most advantageous when reproducing data from magnetic decks whose signal-to-noise ratios cannot be reliably expected to remain at a satisfactory level. Using electrocardiograms, it has been demonstrated that a real gain in the detection of low-amplitude waveforms can be achieved with this system as compared to conventional reproducing.
COMPOUND-NUCLEUS PROCESSES FOR THE REACTION U$sup 235$ + n

The neutron capture and inelastic scattering cross section of ${\mathrm{U}}^{235}$ are calculated on the basis of the statistical theory of nuclear reactions in the energy region up to 1.1 Mev. To carry out the program, one uses experimental data from the resonance region including the radiation width and the level spacing of the compound nucleus. One also makes use of the measured fission and total cross sections in the energy range considered, the spectrum of excited states of the target, and an exponential level-density law for the compound states. The agreement with experiment is good.
The Nature and Classification of Unlabelled Neurons in the Use of Kohonen's Self‐Organizing Map for Supervised Classification

Kohonen’s Self-Organizing Map is a neural network procedure in which a layer of neurons is initialized with random weights, and subsequently organized by inspection of the data to be analyzed. The organization procedure uses progressive adjustment of weights based on data characteristics and lateral interaction such that neurons with similar weights will tend to spatially cluster in the neuron layer. When the SOM is associated with a supervised classification, a majority voting technique is usually used to associate these neurons with training data classes. This technique, however, cannot guarantee that every neuron in the output layer will be labelled, and thus causes unclassified pixels in the final map. This problem is similar to but fundamentally different from the problem of dead units that arises in unsupervised SOM classification (neurons which are never organized by the input data). In this paper we specifically address the problem and nature of unlabelled neurons in the use of SOM for supervised classification. Through a case study it is shown that unlabelled neurons are associated with unknown image classes and, most particularly, mixed pixels. It is also shown that an auxiliary algorithm proposed here for assigning classes to unlabelled neurons performs with the same success as that experienced with Maximum Likelihood.
Effect of Aquatic Macrophyte Removal on Recruitment and Growth of Black Crappies and White Crappies in Lake Conroe, Texas

Abstract In Lake Conroe, Texas, macrophyte removal by grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella corresponded to an increase in abundance of threadfin shad Dorosoma petenense. Subsequently, growth rates of black crappies Pomoxis nigromaculatus and white crappies P. annularis increased, and crappie recruitment to harvestable size (254 mm total length) declined by 1–2 years compared with periods when macrophyte coverage ranged from 29 to 44%. First-year growth appeared to be density-dependent for both species. Crappie year-class strength was highly variable, and no consistent trends were evident between age-1 density and macrophyte or threadfin shad abundance. If crappies depend on threadfin shad or other pelagic forage fish for food, and if these prey are negatively affected by excessive macrophyte growth, then plant control should be considered to enhance crappie growth rates.
Treatment of differentiated thyroid carcinoma in 7 dogs utilizing 131I

Seven dogs with thyroid gland carcinoma were treated with 131I and hormone suppressive therapy either alone (3 dogs) or in combination with surgery (3 dogs) or 137Cs teletherapy and chemotherapy (1 dog). Empirically chosen doses of 75 to 137 mCi of 131I were given orally (2 dogs) and intravenously (5 dogs). Adverse effects were limited to acute, transient bone marrow hypoplasia and pancytopenia. Nominal objective reduction in tumor volume or size and number of pulmonary metastases was observed in 4 dogs treated with 131I and thyroxine. Of these 4 dogs, 2 had stable disease for periods of 4 and 12 months while a third dog had stable disease for 27 months following two 131I treatments at 3 month intervals. The fourth dog had progressive disease. Two dogs with mediastinal metastases showed reduction in localization of 99mTc pertechnetate and radioiodine following 2 and 3 treatments using 131I. It appears that relatively high doses of 131I can be used safely for the treatment of canine thyroid tumors and that further investigation can be justified to define its efficacy.
The value of avoiding a LULU: hazardous waste disposal sites.

This paper develops and estimates a demand model to describe a household's demand for distance from a landfill with hazardous wastes. This model provides one basis for gauging the intensity of a household's desire to avoid living near this type of facility. Using the conceptual framework of a hedonic property value model to provide the basis for demand for distance questions, a survey in suburban Boston elicited this information from 609 households. The demand estimates imply that the average household would realize a consumer surplus between $330 to $495 annually for each mile between its residence and a landfill containing hazardous waste.
A tale of three cities and their Raison d'etat: Ancona, Venice, Livorno, and the competition for Jewish merchants in the sixteenth century

(1991). A tale of three cities and their Raison d'etat: Ancona, Venice, Livorno, and the competition for Jewish merchants in the sixteenth century. Mediterranean Historical Review: Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 138-162.
Selected reductions of conjugated nitroalkenes

Conjugated nitroalkenes are readily reduced by a variety of borane and borohydride reagents. The reactions provide a convenient access to a number of nitrogen and oxygen based functional groups.
Widely-Detuned All-Fiber Photon Pair Source in Standard Telecom Fiber

We demonstrate photon pair generation in the telecom O- and L-bands thru spontaneous four-wave mixing in fiber. These wavelengths have low loss in fiber and are widely detuned from the pump, which simplifies filtering and reduces Raman.
A Sample-Grouping Technique for Paraffin Embedments

A technique is described which facilitates histological preparation of multiple tissue specimens for light microscopy. The procedure enables the investigator to separate and label identifiable subgroups from a larger number of specimens in one histological section. After standard fixation, murine esophagi were arranged longitudinally and secured within segments of murine intestine. Markers such as plant fibers and human hairs were threaded alongside the esophagi within each intestinal casing. After standard dehydration and infiltration, several segments of intestine were arranged parallel to each other and at right angles to the intended plane of sectioning and were embedded together in one paraffin block. This method made it possible to assemble onto one microscope slide cross sections of 42 individual esophagi in 6 identifiable subgroups, each containing 7 esophagi.
Effect of Oral Administration of Iodoacetic Acid on Cystine Content of Rats.

SummaryThe addition of iodoacetic acid to a low-protein basal diet results in a statistically significant lowering of the total sulfhydryl (calculated as cystine) content of rats ingesting this diet, as contrasted to animals given the basal diet alone. The supplementing of the iodoacetic acid-containing basal diet with either l-cystine or dl-methionine prevents the lowering in total sulfhydryl concentration in the tissues of rats and, indeed, permits a final sulfhydryl content higher than that found for control animals fed the basal diet alone. These data would appear to support the conclusion that orally administered iodoacetic acid exerts an influence on the sulfur metabolism of the organism.
Overview of the BTeV pixel detector

Abstract The main goals of the BTeV experiment are to study mixing, CP violation, and rare decays of beauty and charm. The BTeV first level trigger will be based on tracks and vertices found in its silicon pixel vertex detector. A comprehensive discussion and the status of this unique pixel detector are discussed in the current paper. More detailed discussions of these topics are provided by other papers in this volume.