cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Online information search termination patterns across product categories and consumer demographics

Abstract While accessing information online, consumers exhibit differences in their patterns of search, that is, time spent per search episode and search frequency. The search patterns vary across both consumer characteristics and product categories. We empirically investigate consumer online information search termination patterns, and relate the differences to product categories and consumer characteristics. Findings of such an empirical study would be useful for planning communication strategies, website design, etc. The model is calibrated on empirical data collected through online surveys. We find that consumer learning occurs when consumers search across search goods, but not when they search across experience goods.
Seasonal and Spatial Characteristics of Formic and Acetic Acids Concentrations in the Southern California Atmosphere

Formic and acetic acids measurements made during the year 1986 are reported for eight sites in the Los Angeles basin and one remote offshore site. Formic and acetic acids concentrations measured in marine air upwind of the Los Angeles area over an 8-month period average 1.4 and 0.6 ppb, respectively, while concentrations within the Los Angeles urban area average 2.7−5.8 ppb formic acid and 2.9−4.2 ppb acetic acid. Average formic and acetic acids concentrations exceed average HNO3 and HCl concentra tions, making them the most abundant gas phase acids in the southern California atmosphere throughout the year. Formic and acetic acids concentrations near the coast change in proportion to changes in atmospheric dilution potential, as would be expected if formic and acetic acids were emitted directly from widespread area sources such as motor vehicle traffic. Downwind of Los Angeles, formic and acetic acids concentrations peak during the summer photochemi cal smog season, and concentration changes track both ch...
Approximations to multiple Coulomb scattering

The width of the angular distribution of the multiple Coulomb scattering of relativistic heavy particles can be described by simple formulas. The familiar one, which uses the number of radiation lengths, is accurate to 34% for all Z and can be accurate to 11% if a logarithmic path length correction is included. A fairly simple representation that does not use the radiation length agrees with the predictions of Moliere scattering to 2%.
Morphogenesis throughout saprobic and parasitic cycles of Coccidioides immitis

The fungus, Coccidioides immitis, differs from other dimorphic pathogens in that its parasitic stage is a complex morphogenic cycle, raising the question that changes in structure and composition during morphogenesis might influence host responses. As a prelude to examining the interaction of fungal morphogenesis and host responses, the life cycle of this fungus has been examined in greater detail than previously accomplished. During saprobic development, alternating enterothallic arthroconidia are formed as infectious propagules. The outer wall is broken and loosely adherent. Under in vitro conditions supporting the parasitic cycle, multinucleate arthroconidia transform into uninucleate round cells. Rapid, synchronous, nuclear replication is initiated, accompanied by increase in cell mass and deposition of new cell wall substance. As karyokinesis ceases, morphologic differentiation begins with invagination of the inner layers of the spherule wall and then is progressive, eventually segmenting the protoplasm into uninucleate endospores grouped in clusters within a hyaline membrane. Endospores, escaping through a break in the spherule wall, are held in aggregates by fibrils which are stretched and broken as endospores separate. It would seem that rapid production of hundreds of progeny from an original single cell, protected during development by an enclosing spherule wall and then released in clusters, should favor establishment of the fungus in a host, and dynamic changes in the cell wall during morphogenesis should influence the host response.
Phenylbutyrate inhibits the invasive properties of prostate and breast cancer cell lines in the sea urchin embryo basement membrane invasion assay

Histone deacetylase inhibitors, such as phenylbutyrate, are currently undergoing clinical trials as potential anticancer agents. Phenylbutyrate can induce cell differentiation and apoptosis in a number of cancer cell types and can act in synergy with ionizing radiation and chemotherapy to induce apoptosis. We used the sea urchin embryo basement membrane invasion assay to show that phenylbutyrate potently inhibited the invasive properties of both prostate and breast cancer cells at clinically achievable doses. This inhibition was dose-dependent and persisted for at least 24 hr after the drug was removed. These results suggest that in addition to activating apoptosis in cancer cells, phenylbutyrate may be used in prevention of metastatic disease.
Regiospecific Phosphorylation Control of the SR Protein ASF/SF2 by SRPK1

SR proteins (splicing factors containing arginine-serine repeats) are essential factors that control the splicing of precursor mRNA by regulating multiple steps in spliceosome development. The prototypical SR protein ASF/SF2 (human alternative splicing factor) contains two N-terminal RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) (RRM1 and RRM2) and a 50-residue C-terminal RS (arginine-serine-rich) domain that can be phosphorylated at numerous serines by the protein kinase SR-specific protein kinase (SRPK) 1. The RS domain [C-terminal domain that is rich in arginine-serine repeats (residues 198-248)] is further divided into N-terminal [RS1: N-terminal portion of the RS domain (residues 198-227)] and C-terminal [RS2: C-terminal portion of the RS domain (residues 228-248)] segments whose modification guides the nuclear localization of ASF/SF2. While previous studies revealed that SRPK1 phosphorylates RS1, regiospecific and temporal-specific control within the largely redundant RS domain is not well understood. To address this issue, we performed engineered footprinting and single-turnover experiments to determine where and how SRPK1 initiates phosphorylation within the RS domain. The data show that local sequence elements in the RS domain control the strong kinetic preference for RS1 phosphorylation. SRPK1 initiates phosphorylation in a small region of serines (initiation box) in the middle of the RS domain at the C-terminal end of RS1 and then proceeds in an N-terminal direction. This initiation process requires both a viable docking groove in the large lobe of SRPK1 and one RRM (RRM2) on the N-terminal flank of the RS domain. Thus, while local RS/SR content steers regional preferences in the RS domain, distal contacts with SRPK1 guide initiation and directional phosphorylation within these regions.
The reversal line may be a key modulator of osteoblast function: observations from an alveolar bone wound-healing model

The reversal line demarcates the cessation of osteoclast activity from the commencement of osteoblast activity at a remodeling site in bone. It is a seam between segments of bone that are formed at different times. We believe that the reversal line contains regulatory signals that, in part, control osteoblast activity. We have conducted a pilot study to examine the fate of reversal lines during abnormal bone remodeling in alveolar bone. A surgical periodontal defect was created in a Cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis), allowed to heal in the presence of plaque, and evaluated histologically. In this model, there is an acute inflammatory reaction followed by compromised bone formation. Woven bone rather than lamellar bone was deposited in the defect. A striking finding in this wound-healing model was the disruption of the carbohydrate material along the reversal line. This supports our theory that disruption of the signaling molecules in the reversal line may be responsible for uneven woven bone formation.
Flavor evaluation of copper-nickel hydrogenated soybean oil and blends with unhydrogenated oil

Soybean oils hydrogenated to zero linolenate in the pilot plant with a mixed copper-nickel catalyst and a straight copper chromite catalyst were evaluated and compared for flavor and odor. Hydrogenated oils were winterized and deodorized and stabilized with butylated hydroxytoluene, butylated hydroxyanisole, citric acid, and methyl silicone. Taste panel flavor scores of stored oils and room odor scores of oil at frying temperature were similar for oils hydrogenated either with straight copper chromite or with mixed copper chromite-nickel catalysts. Blends containing 1, 2, and 3% linolenate made from unhydrogenated soybean salad oil and soybean oil hydrogenated to 0% linolenate with mixed copper chromite-nickel catalyst were similarly evaluated. Panel responses indicated a blend of 29% unhydrogenated soybean salad oil and 71% hydrogenated soybean oil scored slightly lower than the hydrogenated soybean oil.
Low dislocation density GaN grown by MOCVD with SiNx nano-network

GaN epitaxial layers grown on SiC and sapphire suffer from high density of line and point defects. To address this problem, new growth methods using in situ or ex situ nano-network masks as dislocation filters have been introduced recently. In this work, we report on metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) of GaN layers on 2-inch sapphire substrates using in situ SiNx nano-networks intended for defect reduction. SiNx interlayers with different deposition times were employed after ~2 mm GaN grown on sapphire, which was followed by ~3.5 mm GaN overgrowth. With increasing SiNx coverage, full width at hall maximum (FWHM) values of (0002) and (101-2) X-Ray diffraction (XRD) peaks monotonously decrease from 252 arc sec to 217 arc sec and from 405 ar csec to 211 arc sec, respectively for a 5.5 mm thick film. Similarly, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that screw and edge type dislocation densities as low as 4.4x107 cm-2 and 1.7x107 cm-2 were achieved. The use of SiNx nanonetwork also increases the radiative recombination lifetimes measured by time-resolved photoluminescence to 2.5 ns from less than 0.5 ns in control GaN. We have also fabricated Ni/Au Schottky diodes on the overgrown GaN layers and the diode performance was found to depend critically on SiNx coverage, consistent with TEM, XRD and TRPL results. A 1.13eV barrier height was achieved when SiNx layer was used compared to 0.78 eV without any SiNx nanonetwork. Furthermore, the breakdown voltage was improved from 76 V to 250 V with SiNx nanonetwork.
The Hippo signaling pathway and stem cell biology

Stem cell (SC) activity fluctuates throughout an organism's lifetime to maintain homeostatic conditions in all tissues. As animals develop and age, their organs must remodel and regenerate themselves in response to environmental and physiological demands. Recently, the highly conserved Hippo signaling pathway, discovered in Drosophila melanogaster, has been implicated as a key regulator of organ size control across species. Deregulation is associated with substantial overgrowth phenotypes and eventual onset of cancer in various tissues. Importantly, emerging evidence suggests that the Hippo pathway can modulate its effects on tissue size by the direct regulation of SC proliferation and maintenance. These findings provide an attractive model for how this pathway might communicate physiological needs for growth to tissue-specific SC pools. In this review, we summarize the current and emerging data linking Hippo signaling to SC function.
Subagging for credit scoring models

The logistic regression framework has been for long time the most used statistical method when assessing customer credit risk. Recently, a more pragmatic approach has been adopted, where the first issue is credit risk prediction, instead of explanation. In this context, several classification techniques have been shown to perform well on credit scoring, such as support vector machines among others. While the investigation of better classifiers is an important research topic, the specific methodology chosen in real world applications has to deal with the challenges arising from the real world data collected in the industry. Such data are often highly unbalanced, part of the information can be missing and some common hypotheses, such as the i.i.d. one, can be violated. In this paper we present a case study based on a sample of IBM Italian customers, which presents all the challenges mentioned above. The main objective is to build and validate robust models, able to handle missing information, class unbalancedness and non-iid data points. We define a missing data imputation method and propose the use of an ensemble classification technique, subagging, particularly suitable for highly unbalanced data, such as credit scoring data. Both the imputation and subagging steps are embedded in a customized cross-validation loop, which handles dependencies between different credit requests. The methodology has been applied using several classifiers (kernel support vector machines, nearest neighbors, decision trees, Adaboost) and their subagged versions. The use of subagging improves the performance of the base classifier and we will show that subagging decision trees achieve better performance, still keeping the model simple and reasonably interpretable.
Ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography of white without pressure.

Purpose To describe ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography (UWFA) findings in eyes with white without pressure (WWOP) and in eyes without any obvious peripheral chorioretinal disease, and to determine if a difference exists between these two groups. Methods A retrospective review of 379 eyes undergoing diagnostic UWFA using the Optos 200Tx imaging system. Eyes were excluded if the quality of the color photograph or UWFA prevented reliable evaluation. Eyes were also excluded if there was any evidence of peripheral retinal or choroidal disease, which was thought to have an effect on UWFA (eg, peripheral background diabetic or hypertensive retinopathy, vein occlusion, or any other peripheral vascular disorder). Eyes were determined to have WWOP, based on a dilated fundus examination and color fundus photography that contained areas of peripheral retinal whitening consistent with the diagnosis. UWFA was evaluated by trained masked graders, and determined to have or not have peripheral vascular leakage and/or staining. Results Of the 379 eyes evaluated, 45 eyes were included in the study. Twelve eyes were determined to have peripheral WWOP; 33 eyes did not have WWOP on examination or color fundus photography. Three common UWFA peripheral patterns were visualized. Eyes with and without WWOP were grouped into one of three patterns. The majority of eyes without WWOP demonstrated UWFA pattern one (69.7%), while those in the WWOP group demonstrated pattern three (50%). The distribution of UWFA patterns is statistically different between those with and without WWOP (P = 0.002). In eyes without WWOP, in patients with no documented systemic microvascular disease (diabetes, hypertension), 71.4% of eyes had UWFA pattern one while 14.3% had both patterns two and three. Conclusion This study is one of the first to specifically evaluate peripheral vascular leakage/staining in eyes with WWOP as well as in eyes without any obvious peripheral chorioretinal disease. We demonstrate that a significant portion of WWOP eyes exhibit peripheral findings on UWFA (pattern one) compared to eyes without WWOP. Importantly, even in eyes that are apparently unremarkable in the periphery on exam and color photography, UWFA can still show peripheral vascular abnormalities. These results warrant further investigation.
Radiative and nonradiative relaxation measurements in Ce3+ doped crystals☆

Abstract Radiative and nonradiative transition rates from the lowest excited Ce3+ 5d level in a series of cerium doped oxide and fluoride crystals (Ce3+:LaF3, Ce3+:CaF2, Ce3+:YLiF4, Ce3+:Y3Al5O12, and Ce3+:YAIO3) have been determined by measuring the Ce3+ 5d → 4f fluorescence lifetime as a function of sample temperature. The onset of the thermally induced nonradiative transitions occurs for temperatures T∗ between 300 and 900 K depending on the host crystal. At temperatures lower than T∗, there is an additional but much weaker temperature dependance of the radiative lifetime. Analysis of the radiative lifetime shows that the radial integral 〈4f|r|5d〉 varies by about 20% from the mean value of 0.30 A among the set of five host crystals, and is a factor of about 1.5 smaller than the free-ion value.
Kinetics and modeling of carbon dioxide absorption into aqueous solutions of diethanolamine

The kinetics of the reaction between CO2 and aqueous diethanolamine (DEA) were estimated over the temperature range of 293−343 K from absorption data obtained in a laminar-liquid jet absorber. The absorption data were obtained over a wide range of DEA concentrations and for CO2 partial pressures near atmospheric. A rigorous numerical mass-transfer model based on penetration theory in which all chemical reactions are considered to be reversible was developed and used to estimate kinetic rate coefficients from the experimental absorption data. The kinetic data were found to be consistent with the zwitterion mechanism. The scarce zwitterion rate coefficient estimates reported in the literature are in fair agreement with the results of this work.
Finite-element method simulation of effects of microstructure, stress state, and interface strength on flow localization and constraint development in Nb/Cr2Nb in situ composites

The effects of volume fraction of particles, stress state, and interface strength on the yield strength, flow localization, plastic constraint, and damage development in Nb/Cr2Nb in situ composites were investigated by the finite-element method (FEM). The microstructure of the in situ composite was represented in terms of a unit rectangular or square cell containing Cr2Nb particles embedded within a solid-solution-alloy matrix. The hard particles were considered to be elastic and isotropic, while the matrix was elastic-plastic, obeying the Ramberg-Osgood constitutive relation. The FEM model was utilized to compute the composite strength, local hydrostatic stress, and plastic strain distributions as functions of volume fraction of particles, stress state, and interface strength. The results were used to elucidate the influence of volume fracture of particles, stress state, and interface property on the development of plastic constraint and damage in Nb/Cr2Nb composites.
The Comparative Influence of Individual, Peer Tutoring, and Communal Learning Contexts on the Text Recall of African American Children:

Peer tutoring strategies tend to use structured peer interactions and group reward contingency. This study was designed to offer a peer learning environment within which the putative communal tende...
Effects of acute treatment with dopaminergic drugs on open field behavior of adult monkeys treated with lead during the first year postpartum

Abstract A pharmacological challenge of nonhuman primate open field behavior, similar to that which previously assessed the cholinergic system (10), was used here to measure potential lead-induced alterations in the dopaminergic system. Monkeys that had been treated with lead during the first year postpartum were assessed at 7 years of age in the open field after acute intramuscular injection of apomorphine (0.0–0.3 mg/kg) or haloperidol (0.0–30 μg/kg). Duration of environmental exploration indicated a possible greater responsivity to 0.2 mg/kg apomorphine in the lead-treated monkeys; however, in all other behaviors, lead-treated monkeys responded to both drugs similarly to controls. Regardless of lead treatment, apomorphine administration decreased duration of inactivity and increased environmental exploration; the latter possibly included an increase in stereotypical behavior that might have been recorded as environmental exploration. Haloperidol had no significant effects on open field behavior over the dose range tested. Open field behavioral alterations previously reported for these monkeys at 4–6 years of age were no longer strongly exhibited by the lead-treated monkeys in any portion of the current study. Latency to enter the open field was marginally increased in the lead-treated group but levels of environmental exploration were comparable to controls. These results indicate an attenuation of lead-related effects with maturity and/or familiarity with the open field.
Replication bypass of the acrolein-mediated deoxyguanine DNA-peptide cross-links by DNA polymerases of the DinB family.

DNA−protein cross-links (adducts) are formed in cellular DNA under a variety of conditions, particularly following exposure to an α,β-unsaturated aldehyde, acrolein. DNA−protein cross-links are subject to repair or damage-tolerance processes. These adducts serve as substrates for proteolytic degradation, yielding DNA−peptide lesions that have been shown to be actively repaired by the nucleotide excision repair complex. Alternatively, DNA−peptide cross-links can be subjected to replication bypass. We present new evidence about the capabilities of DNA polymerases to synthesize DNA past such cross-links. DNAs were constructed with site-specific cross-links, in which either a tetrapeptide or a dodecylpeptide was covalently attached at the N2 position of guanine via an acrolein adduct, and replication bypass assays were carried out with members of the DinB family of polymerases, human polymerase (pol) κ, Escherichia coli pol IV, and various E. coli polymerases that do not belong to the DinB family. Pol κ was a...
Accelerated junctional rhythm and nonalternans repolarization lability precede ventricular tachycardia in Casq2-/- mice.

Background Calsequestrin-2 (CASQ2) is a Ca2+ buffering protein of myocardial sarcoplasmic reticulum. CASQ2 mutations underlie a form of catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT). The CPVT phenotype is recapitulated in Casq2−/− mice. Repolarization lability (RL) - beat-to-beat variability in the T wave morphology - has been reported in long-QT syndrome, but has not been evaluated in CPVT.
Structure and lithium ion diffusion in lithium silicate glasses and at their interfaces with lithium lanthanum titanate crystals

Abstract Solid state lithium ion electrolytes are important to the development of next generation safer and high power density lithium ion batteries. Lithium containing glasses such as lithium silicate glasses have been widely studied due to their high ionic conductivity. Recently, lithium silicate glasses were introduced in polycrystalline lithium lanthanum titanate (LLT) ceramics as intergranular thin films between the crystalline grains to achieve higher lithium ion conductivities in these solid state electrolytes. In this work, we present investigations of the structure and diffusion behavior of lithium silicate glasses and their interfaces with LLT crystals using molecular dynamics simulations. The short and medium range structures of the lithium silicate glasses were characterized and the ceramic/glass interface models were obtained using MD simulations. Lithium ion diffusion behaviors in the glass and across the glass/ceramic interfaces, as well as the effect of atomic structure on diffusion behaviors, were investigated. It was found that there existed a minor segregation of lithium ions at the glass/crystal interface. The interface lithium ion diffusion energy barrier was found to be dominated by the glass phase.
What vs. Where in Touch: An fMRI Study

Two streams have been identified in cortical visual processing: a ventral stream for form, color, and features, and a dorsal stream for spatial characteristics and motion. We investigated whether similar "what" and "where" dissociations of function exist for human somatosensory processing. Using identical stimuli and hand movements, subjects either performed tactile object recognition (TOR) and ignored location or performed tactile object localization (LOC) and ignored identity. A matched-movement control task separated activation associated with sensorimotor input from higher-level cognitive contributions. Results confirmed separate processing streams for TOR and LOC. TOR activated the frontal pole as well as bilateral inferior parietal and left prefrontal regions involved in tactile feature integration and naming. LOC activated bilateral superior parietal areas involved in spatial processing. The dissociation of object and spatial processing streams appears to be a modality general organizational principle in the brain.
Evolutionary stability and efficiency

Abstract ‘One of the advantages of moral philosophy over game theory is that moralists give sensible advice to moral agents while game theory can give stupid advice to game theorists’ — Ian Hacking.
Application of explicitly correlated Gaussian functions for calculations of the ground state of the beryllium atom

The electronic energy of atoms and molecules may be evaluated accurately by the use of wave functions where the interelectronic distances are explicitly present. In particular, explicitly correlated Gaussian-type functions make these types of calculations feasible and computationally tractable even for more extended systems. The resulting multielectron integrals may be reduced to standard one- and two-electron integrals that are readily evaluated. Initial calculations have been made for the Be atom where all four electrons were correlated at the same time. The preliminary results show that accurate results may be obtained. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Community/Agency Trust: A Measurement Instrument

Many natural resource management agencies invest considerable time and financial resources into building relationships with their constituents. Theoretically, the building of trust produces a relationship that leads to socially acceptable planning and positive management outcomes. Despite the central role trust plays in natural resource management, empirical attempts to measure the construct have been limited. This research note presents the development and validation of a psychometric instrument intended to measure the trust held by local community members living adjacent to managed natural resource areas. The instrument is based in current theory, and exhibits reliable and valid psychometric properties when applied to different study populations. Our intention is to provide an accepted instrument through which knowledge regarding the unique dimensions of community/agency trust, and the entire trust construct as a whole, can be furthered.
Why Victory in the War on Cancer Remains Elusive: Biomedical Hypotheses and Mathematical Models

We discuss philosophical, methodological, and biomedical grounds for the traditional paradigm of cancer and some of its critical flaws. We also review some potentially fruitful approaches to understanding cancer and its treatment. This includes the new paradigm of cancer that was developed over the last 15 years by Michael Retsky, Michael Baum, Romano Demicheli, Isaac Gukas, William Hrushesky and their colleagues on the basis of earlier pioneering work of Bernard Fisher and Judah Folkman. Next, we highlight the unique and pivotal role of mathematical modeling in testing biomedical hypotheses about the natural history of cancer and the effects of its treatment, elaborate on model selection criteria, and mention some methodological pitfalls. Finally, we describe a specific mathematical model of cancer progression that supports all the main postulates of the new paradigm of cancer when applied to the natural history of a particular breast cancer patient and fit to the observables.
Traffic engineering of high-rate large-sized flows

High-rate large-sized (α) flows have adverse effects on delay-sensitive flows. Research-and-education network providers are interested in identifying such flows within their networks, and directing these flows to traffic-engineered QoS-controlled virtual circuits. To achieve this goal, a design is proposed for a hybrid network traffic engineering system (HNTES) that would run on an external server, gather NetFlow reports from routers, analyze these reports to identify α-flow source/destination address prefixes, configure firewall filter rules at ingress routers to extract future flows and redirect them to previously provisioned intra-domain virtual circuits. This paper presents an evaluation of this HNTES design using NetFlow reports collected over a 7-month period from four ESnet routers. Our analysis shows that had HNTES been deployed, it would have been highly effective, e.g., > 90% of α-bytes that arrived at the four routers over the 7-month period would have been redirected to virtual circuits. Design aspects such as whether to use /24 subnet IDs or /32 addresses in firewall filters, and which router interfaces' NetFlow reports to include in the HNTES analysis, are studied.
The source and origin of the exotic component and kreep-rich materials on the moon

Trace element concentrations in the lunar soils are inversely correlated to the grain size -i.e., the finer the grain size the higher the trace element content. These enrichments are attributed to the combined effects of comminution of local rocks and a preferential addition of the exotic component to the finer grain sizes. The exotic component appears similar to Fra Mauro materials and there is a strong correlation between the percentage of exotic component and distance from Fra Mauro site. Based on trace element characteristics, it is suggested that exotic component is finely comminuted KREEP and is dispersed on the lunar surface from the Fra Mauro and other high gamma-ray active regions in the Imbrium-Procellarum regions. The major and trace element chemistry of these materials is considered to be due to impact melting of trace-element-rich accessory phases followed by variable dilution with partial melts of the bulk solid phases of plagioclase, low Ca pyroxene and olivine. The generation of KREEP and exotic component is an impact produced local process and need not imply a global occurrence of radioactive crust on the Moon.
External Bone Volume, Ash, and Fat-Free Dry Weight of Femurs of Laying Hens Fed Diets Deficient or Adequate in Phosphorus

Abstract The femurs of laying hens fed diets containing .18, .23, or .43% available phosphorus were evaluated. External bone volume (V) and organic matter (OM) content and OM/V were not different. Ash (A), percent bone ash, and A/V were significantly less at the two lowest levels of dietary phosphorus. It was concluded that the femurs of phosphorus deficient laying hens have a reduction in mineral content but not organic matter, Determination of external bone V and expression of A/V may be of value in assessing osteoporotic bone.
Winnowing: local algorithms for document fingerprinting

Digital content is for copying: quotation, revision, plagiarism, and file sharing all create copies. Document fingerprinting is concerned with accurately identifying copying, including small partial copies, within large sets of documents.We introduce the class of local document fingerprinting algorithms, which seems to capture an essential property of any finger-printing technique guaranteed to detect copies. We prove a novel lower bound on the performance of any local algorithm. We also develop winnowing, an efficient local fingerprinting algorithm, and show that winnowing's performance is within 33% of the lower bound. Finally, we also give experimental results on Web data, and report experience with MOSS, a widely-used plagiarism detection service.
A knowledge representation framework based on autoepistemic logic of minimal beliefs

In recent years, various formalizations of nonmonotonic reasoning and different semantics for normal and disjunctive logic programs have been proposed, including autoepistemic logic, circumscription, CWA, GCWA, ECWA, epistemic specifications, stable, well-founded, stationary and static semantics of normal and disjunctive logic programs. In this paper we introduce a simple non-monotonic knowledge representation framework which isomorphically contains all of the above mentioned nonmonotonic formalisms and semantics as special cases and yet is significantly more expressive than each one of these formalisms considered individually The new formalism, called the AutoEpistemic Logic of minimal Beliefs, AELB, is obtained by augmenting Moore's autoepistemic logic, AEL, with an additional minimal belief operator, B, which allows us to explicitly talk about minimally entailed formulae. The existence of such a uniform framework not only results in a new powerful non-monotonic formalism but also allows us to compare and better understand mutual relationships existing between different nonmonotonic formalisms and semantics and enables us to provide simpler and more natural definitions of some of them. It also naturally leads to new, even more expressive and flexible formalizations and semantics.
Comment on: Riazi et al. Can ultrasound of the tibial nerve detect diabetic peripheral neuropathy? A cross-sectional study. Diabetes Care 2012;35:2575-2579.

Riazi et al. (1) report that ultrasound demonstrates a consistent enlargement of the posterior tibial nerve in the distal leg in diabetes sensorimotor polyneuropathy (DSP). They also describe an inverse relation between calculated cross-sectional area and objectively measured nerve conduction studies and a direct relationship with subjective DSP severity. Their discussion suggests ultrasound use as a point-of-care screening device for DSP and speculates as to whether a demonstrated nerve enlargement in DSP should be of concern for anesthesiologists considering the use of local or regional nerve block injections, which might hypothetically put the compromised nerve at additional risk. A more …
Oscars, Astronotus ocellatus, Have a Dietary Requirement for Vitamin C

We found that vitamin C is an essential nutrient for an Amazonian ornamental fish, the oscar (Astronotus ocellatus). This was demonstrated by the absence of L-gulonolactone oxidase activity, the enzyme responsible for the biosynthesis of vitamin C, in liver or kidney of oscars and by a feeding trial in which oscars without vitamin C dietary supplementation developed clinical deficiency signs. Fish weighing 29.2 +/- 1.9 g were divided into four groups, and each group was fed a casein-based semipurified diet containing 0, 25, 75 or 200 mg ascorbic acid equivalent (AA)/kg diet for 26 wk. Vitamin C was supplemented in the diets as L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, a mixture of phosphate esters of ascorbate, which is more stable to oxidation than AA. At the end of 26 wk, fish fed no AA had significantly lower weight gain than fish fed the AA-supplemented diets (P < 0.05). Oscars without dietary AA supplementation gained only 37% of their initial weight, compared with 112, 102 and 91% gained by fish fed 25, 75 and 200 mg AA/kg diet, respectively. After 25 wk without dietary supplementation of AA, fish began to develop clinical deficiency signs, including deformed opercula and jaws, hemorrhage in the eyes and fins, and lordosis. Histology indicated that fish without AA supplementation had deformed gill filament support cartilage and atrophied muscle fibers. Collagen content of the vertebral column was significantly lower in fish devoid of dietary AA (P < 0.05). Liver AA concentration varied in proportion to dietary concentration of AA. The minimum dietary AA concentration tested in this study, 25 mg AA/kg diet, was sufficient to prevent growth reduction and AA deficiency signs in oscars.
Data size optimizations for java programs

We present a set of techniques for reducing the memory consumption of object-oriented programs. These techniques include analysis algorithms and optimizations that use the results of these analyses to eliminate fields with constant values, reduce the sizes of fields based on the range of values that can appear in each field, and eliminate fields with common default values or usage patterns. We apply these optimizations both to fields declared by the programmer and to implicit fields in the runtime object header. Although it is possible to apply these techniques to any object-oriented program, we expect they will be particularly appropriate for memory-limited embedded systems.We have implemented these techniques in the MIT FLEX compiler system and applied them to the programs in the SPECjvm98 benchmark suite. Our experimental results show that our combined techniques can reduce the maximum live heap size required for the programs in our benchmark suite by as much as 40%. Some of the optimizations reduce the overall execution time; others may impose modest performance penalties.
Temporal and spatial distributed event correlation for network security

Computer networks produce large amount of event-based data that can be collected for network security and management analysis. Computer networks are dynamic systems and network events are the observable of their dynamic activities. Evidence of attacks against a network and its resources is often scattered among these distributed events. Therefore, a critical challenge is to correlate these events across observation space and time to detect various attack scenarios. This paper analyzes how control and estimation methods can be applied to correlate distributed events for network security. Based on those methods, a process query system has been implemented which can scan and correlate distributed network events according to users' high-level description of dynamic processes.
Evidence for a Novel Gene Expression Program in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis-Infected Cattle

A bovine-specific cDNA microarray system was used to compare gene expression profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from control uninfected (n = 4) and Johne's disease-positive (n = 6) Holstein cows. Microarray experiments were designed so that for each animal, a direct comparison was made between PBMCs stimulated in vitro with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and PBMCs stimulated with phosphate-buffered saline (nil-stimulated PBMCs). As expected, M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis stimulation of infected cow PBMCs enhanced expression of gamma interferon transcripts. In addition, expression of 15 other genes was significantly affected (>1.25-fold change; P < 0.05) by in vitro stimulation with M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Similar treatment of control cow PBMCs with M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis resulted in significant changes in expression of 13 genes, only 2 of which were also affected in PBMCs from the infected cow PBMCs. To compare gene expression patterns in the two cow infection groups (infected cows and uninfected cows), a mixed-model analysis was performed with the microarray data. This analysis indicated that there were major differences in the gene expression patterns between cells isolated from the two groups of cows, regardless of in vitro stimulation. A total of 86 genes were significantly differentially expressed (P < 0.01) in M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis-stimulated PBMCs from infected cows compared to expression in similarly treated PBMCs from control cows. Surprisingly, a larger number of genes (110 genes) were also found to be significantly differentially expressed (P < 0.01) in nil-stimulated cells from the two infection groups. The expression patterns of selected genes were substantiated by quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase PCR. Flow cytometric analysis indicated that there were no gross differences in the relative populations of major immune cell types in PBMCs from infected and control cows. Thus, data presented in this report indicate that the gene expression program of PBMCs from M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis-infected cows is inherently different from that of cells from control uninfected cows.
QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PRACTICES OF AWARD-WINNING RESIDENTIAL BUILDERS AND HOUSING DEVELOPERS

New home buyers in United States are becoming more discriminating in their home buying decision. They are demanding quality construction at reasonable prices. The current state of construction market also gives construction buyers more ammunition to be more discriminate when they choose to purchase homes. To be competitive and remain in business, housing contractors and developers must meet the growing quality demands of the customers. Thus, the competition to meet the buyers’ quality demand has forced many of them to rethink the ways they build their homes. The improved designs, and construction methods and practices have resulted into award-winning quality-built homes for many of these contractors. This study was conducted to examine the quality improvement characteristics of selected award-winning residential builders and housing developers in selected counties in North Carolina, U.S.A. Through a structured questionnaire, the researchers collected information relative to their common quality characteristics, organizational culture and overall business practices. Data analysis was performed using basic descriptive statistics. The results show that regular inspection of work in progress, feedback from customers, and immediate attention to punch list items, were highly ranked among the quality characteristics evaluated.
Accuracy of Emergency Medical Services–Reported Last Known Normal Times in Patients Suspected With Acute Stroke

Background and Purpose—The last known normal (LKN) time is a critical determinant of IV tissue-type plasminogen activator (IV tPA) eligibility; however, the accuracy of emergency medical services (EMS)-reported LKN times is unknown. We determined the congruence between neurologist-determined and EMS-reported LKN times and identified predictors of incongruent LKN times. Methods—We prospectively collected EMS-reported LKN times for patients brought into the emergency department with suspected acute stroke and calculated the absolute difference between the neurologist-determined and EMS-reported LKN times (|ΔLKN|). We determined the rate of inappropriate IV tPA use if EMS-reported times had been used in place of neurologist-determined times. Univariate and multivariable linear regression assessed for any predictors of prolonged |ΔLKN|. Results—Of 251 patients, mean and median |ΔLKN| were 28 and 0 minutes, respectively. |ΔLKN| was <15 minutes in 91% of the entire cohort and <15 minutes in 80% of patients with...
Broad cellular immunity with robust memory responses to simian immunodeficiency virus following serial vaccination with adenovirus 5- and 35-based vectors.

Adenovirus serotype 35 (Ad35) is a promising vaccine platform for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and emerging infectious diseases as it is uncommon in humans worldwide and is distinct from Ad5, the major vaccine serotype for which many individuals have pre-existing immunity. The immunogenicity of a first-generation, replication-competent Ad35-based vaccine was tested in the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) rhesus macaque model by evaluating its capacity to boost immunity generated by Ad5-based vectors. A series of four immunizations with replication-defective Ad5 vectors expressing SIVmac239 gag induced high-frequency responses mediated by both CD8+ and CD4+ T cells directed against several epitopes. Ad5-specific neutralizing antibody responses that did not neutralize Ad35 were rapidly induced but waned over time. Subsequent immunization with Ad5-based vectors was minimally effective, whereas immunization with Ad35-based vectors generated a strong increase in the frequency of Gag-specific T cells with specificities that were unchanged. While this boosting response was relatively transient, challenge with the distinct pathogenic isolate SIV/DeltaB670 generated robust and selective recall responses to Gag with similar specificities as induced by vaccination that were elevated for 25 weeks relative to controls. Vaccination had measurable albeit minor effects on virus load. Unexpectedly, regional hypervariability within the Gag sequence of SIV/DeltaB670 was associated with mutation of the conserved CD8+ T-cell epitope CM9 without concurrent flanking mutations and in the absence of immune pressure. These findings support the further development of Ad35 as a vaccine vector, and promote vaccine regimens that utilize serial administration of heterologous adenoviruses.
I-Love-Q Relations in Neutron Stars and their Applications to Astrophysics, Gravitational Waves and Fundamental Physics

The exterior gravitational field of a slowly rotating neutron star can be characterized by its multipole moments, the first few being the neutron star mass, moment of inertia, and quadrupole moment to quadratic order in spin. In principle, all of these quantities depend on the neutron star's internal structure, and thus, on unknown nuclear physics at supranuclear energy densities, all of which is usually parametrized through an equation of state. We here find relations between the moment of inertia, the Love numbers and the quadrupole moment (I-Love-Q relations) that do not depend sensitively on the neutron star's internal structure. Such universality may arise for two reasons: (i) these relations depend most sensitively on the internal structure far from the core, where all realistic equations of state mostly approach each other; (ii) as the neutron star compactness increases, the I-Love-Q trio approaches that of a black hole, which does not have an internal-structure dependence. Three important consequences derive from these I-Love-Q relations. On an observational astrophysics front, the measurement of a single member of the I-Love-Q trio would automatically provide information about the other two, even when the latter may not be observationally accessible. On a gravitational-wave front, the I-Love-Q relations break the degeneracy between the quadrupole moment and the neutron star spins in binary inspiral waveforms, allowing second-generation ground-based detectors to determine the (dimensionless) averaged spin to $\mathcal{O}(10)%$, given a sufficiently large signal-to-noise ratio detection. On a fundamental physics front, the I-Love-Q relations allow for tests of general relativity in the neutron star strong field that are both theory and internal-structure independent. As an example, by combining gravitational-wave and electromagnetic observations, one may constrain dynamical Chern-Simons gravity in the future by more than six orders of magnitude more stringently than Solar System and table-top constraints.
Growth and the Class II patient: Rendering unto Caesar

Abstract In the context of Class II treatment, most probably would agree that an excess of mandibular growth would be helpful, both to the patient and to the orthodontist. The literature features a smattering of evidence that this is precisely the sort of pattern one sees in many Class II patients, quite independent of treatment strategy. There is, however, a tendency to expect (and perhaps to see) favorable growth only in functional-appliance patients. As a result, growth modification therapy may receive more credit than it deserves in the world of optimistic, albeit uncontrolled, clinical observations and impressions. In the present study, the pattern of sagittal maxillo mandibular growth and/or displacement ("apical base change") was examined in 120 Class II patients treated with the edgewise appliance. Regardless of treatment (extraction or nonextraction), 9 out of 10 showed a pattern of change in which the mandible advanced relative to the maxilla. It is concluded that an assessment of treatment alternatives, especially those designed to modify growth, must employ this favorable pattern as the baseline from which the effects of growth modification are judged. Methods of factoring out the "good growth" that commonly accompanies fixed appliance therapy are discussed within the context of evaluating the effects of functional appliances.