cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A two tier approach to chalkboard video lecture summary

We present a new tool to help students make use of video recordings of traditional chalkboard and whiteboard lectures. Our tool provides a compact summary of a chalkboard lecture in the form of a set of slides, and an interactive environment for electronic note-taking in real time while watching a lecture in class or during review. Key to the processing of a chalkboard video by our system is the removal of the lecturer from the video (now no longer present to occlude the board) and segmentation of the resulting video to produce a set of slides comprising a compact presentation of the content written on the board during the lecture. Our method enhances learning in a number of ways. Students can focus on taking notes to supplement the material, rather than rote transcription. In addition, notes are aligned temporally with the lecture video and thus provide a useful way for students to index into the important parts of the video. Our system can be easily integrated into courses with a recorded lecture video component to help students organize their notes and quickly navigate the lectures from a given course for particular topics.
Assessment of the Endocrine-Disrupting Effects of Trichloroethylene and Its Metabolites Using in Vitro and in Silico Approaches.

Trichloroethylene (TCE) is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant, which may have effects on both ecosystem and human health. TCE has been reported to cause several toxic effects, but little effort has been made to assess the ecological risks of TCE or its major metabolites: trichloroethanol (TCOH), trichloroacetic acid, and oxalic acid (OA). In this study, the endocrine-disrupting potential of TCE and its metabolites were investigated using in vitro and in silico approaches. We examined alterations in the steroidogenesis pathway using the NCI-H295R cell line and utilized receptor-mediated luciferase reporter cell lines to identify effects on estrogen and androgen receptors. Molecular docking was also used to explore chemical interactions with these receptors. All test chemicals except OA significantly increased 17β-estradiol production which can be attributed to an up-regulation of 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase. Moreover, TCOH exhibited significant antiestrogenic activity with a RIC20 (20% relative in...
Wishart variate generators

Subroutine WSHRT for generating matrix of variances and covariances of Wishart distribution
Immunosuppressant use and hospitalisations in adult patients with systemic lupus erythematosus admitted to a tertiary academic medical centre.

Objectives To describe how immunosuppressant use and hospitalisation patterns for SLE have evolved by comparing admission statistics at one academic centre between 2005 and 2013. Methods We identified admissions for SLE and for all hospitalised patients by using the hospital electronic database. For adult patients with SLE, a comprehensive chart review was conducted to identify primary indications for hospitalisation, in-hospital mortality, mean length of stay and immunosuppressant use. Results The number of yearly SLE patient hospitalisations decreased from 178 to 86 between the two times of observation. Infection was the most common reason for hospitalisation accounting for 39.9% of hospitalisations in 2005 versus 31.4% of hospitalisations in 2013 (p=0.29). Lupus flare accounted for 9.6% of admissions in 2005 versus 8.1% of admissions in 2013 (p=0.72). Seven patients died during their hospitalisation (3.9% of admissions) in 2005 as opposed to no inpatient deaths in 2013. Of the 261 admissions between 2010 and 2013, six admissions resulted in death (2.3% of admissions). SLE patient mean length of hospital stay decreased from 7.6 days to 6.4 days (p=0.36) compared with all patient length of stay, which decreased from 6 days to 5.8 days. Corticosteroid use decreased (79.8% to 61.6%, p=0.11) while hydroxychloroquine (27.0% to 59.3%, p Conclusions The number of hospitalisations, mortality and length of stay among hospitalised patients with SLE decreased over time. Infection was the primary reason for inpatient hospitalisation. Hydroxychloroquine use more than doubled over this same time period with statistical significance. These pilot data suggest improvements in SLE hospitalisation outcomes over time, but larger studies are needed to examine these trends and to understand the relationship between changing medication prescribing patterns and hospitalisation outcomes in patients with SLE.
Heritability of spotted wilt resistance in a Florida‐EP™ “113”‐derived peanut (Arachis hypogaea) population

Spotted wilt, caused by tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), is a major disease of peanut (Arachis hypogaea) in the south‐eastern United States. Cultivar resistance is the most important factor in disease control. However, spotted wilt resistance in current cultivars still carries risk in the absence of other practices when disease is severe. In contrast, a newly developed cultivar, Florida‐EP™ “113,” has demonstrated excellent resistance even when spotted wilt is severe. Information on heritability of this resistance can help breeders better utilize it in breeding. F₂‐derived populations from the cross Florida‐EP™ “113”/Georgia Valencia were developed and tested in field experiments in Florida from 2012 to 2014. Disease symptoms were evaluated visually, and the frequency of TSWV infection was measured by ImmunoStrip®. Heritability estimated from ImmunoStrip® was higher (0.66) compared to visual ratings (0.48). Genetic correlations among evaluation methods (rA = 0.92–0.99) and environments (rB = 0.86–0.99) were high. These results indicate that resistance in Florida‐EP™ “113” is highly heritable and that selection in a high disease risk environment is feasible without significant erosion of genetic gain.
Toroidal Compactification of Closed Bosonic Strings

The goal of this lecture is to show something of the algebraic structure of compactified closed bosonic strings. The works reported here was done in collaboration with Stuart Raby [1] and the recent work on Lorentzian lattices includes Louise Dolan. We study the boundary conditions of the first-quantized compactified closed bosonic string. Demanding that internal symmetries result from the Frenkel-Kac construction, we show at the tree level that the “left” and “right” lattices must be self-dual if all masses are integers; they can be chosen independently to be E8 X E8 or Spin(32)/ℤ2 for 16 compactified dimensions. It is also shown how to get a group G X G on a slightly different lattice, which gives tachyons of two different mass values, including tachyons in nontrivial representations of GXG. We discuss here the closed bosonic string; it would be interesting to apply some of these considerations to the heterotic string.
Mechanisms of moral disengagement.

This chapter analyzes how the mechanisms of moral disengagement function in terrorist operations. The mechanisms of moral disengagement involve cognitive and social machinations but not literal self-deception. Acting on moral or ideological imperatives reflects a conscious offense mechanism, not an unconscious defense mechanism. Cognitive restructuring of behavior through moral justifications and palliative characterizations is the most effective psychological mechanism for promoting destructive conduct. Moral justification is brought into play in selecting counterterrorist measures. Public intimidation is a key element that distinguishes terrorist violence from other forms of violence. People who are objects of terrorist attacks, in turn, characterize their retaliatory violence as trifling, or even laudable, by comparing them with carnage and terror perpetrated by terrorists. Terrorist behavior evolves through extensive training in moral disengagement and terrorist prowess, rather than emerging full blown. The various disengagement practices form an integral part of the training.
A Method to Identify Relevant Information Sufficient to Answer Situation Dependent Queries

In various complex and dynamic environments, having a good understanding of the current situation in hand is the foundation for successful decision-making. Several frameworks have been proposed for information gathering and interpretation in situation assessment. However, decision makers nowadays face an information overload challenge during situation assessment. When the decision maker deals with a specific situation, usually large volumes of information are delivered to him or her in real time, of which only a few are relevant. It is practically impossible for them to deal with such huge data streams in real time. Additionally, if a situation needs to be communicated to others, it is not clear what information is relevant and thus would need to be sent over (sometimes over-loaded) communication links in order to convey the description of the situation. Therefore, a method is needed to support the human decision makers to identify the relevant information in situation assessment. In this paper, we develop a inference-based information relevance reasoning method in situation assessment to automatically identify relevant information for characterizing the situation that a decision maker is dealing with. By using this method, the following two basic questions will be answered: (1) what kind of information is relevant to characterize a situation? (2) how to identify the relevant information automatically? In this paper, we take the cyber security as the application domain, and evaluate our method using a cyber security dataset generated by Skaion corporation. We use four metrics to evaluate our method.
Fatty Acid and Related Potassium Kv2 Channel Blockers: Toxicity and Physiological Actions on Mosquitoes.

Potassium channels constitute a very diverse group involved in neural signaling, neuronal activity, membrane potential maintenance, and action potential generation. Here, we tested the mammalian potassium channel blockers TRAM-34 and 5-hydroxydecanoate (5-HDC), as well as certain fatty acids (FA) that might fit in the lumen of the pore and block channel activity by obstructing K+ ion passage. Kv channel blockers could be leads for a novel pesticide type. Insecticidal activity was assessed by topical application to Anopheles gambiae adult mosquitoes, paralysis in a headless larval assay, at the cellular level with patch-clamp recordings of engineered HEK cells expressing AgKv2.1 channels, as well as central nervous system recordings from larval Drosophila melanogaster. With only one hydroxyl group difference, decanoic acid had a consistently greater effect than 5-HDC in blocking Kv channels, paralyzing larvae, and killing mosquitoes. The 11-dansylamino undecanoic acid (DAUDA) blockage of eukaryotic Kv channels is demonstrated for the first time, but it failed to kill adult mosquitoes. We synthesized alkyl esters from DAUDA and decanoic acid in an effort to improve cuticular penetration, but it had little impact upon adult toxicity. TRAM-34 and rolipram did not show activity on Kv channels nor potent insecticidal effect on adult mosquitoes. Furthermore, co-application of test compounds with permethrin did not increase mortality in adults. In conclusion, the compounds tested had modest insecticidal and synergistic activity.
Measurement reliability of phonation threshold pressure in pediatric subjects

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Phonation threshold pressure (PTP), the minimum subglottal pressure (Ps ) required for phonation, is sensitive to changes in laryngeal biomechanics and is often elevated with pathology. Little is reported on PTP in children; challenges with task performance and measurement reliability represent barriers to routine clinical assessment. STUDY DESIGN Pilot study evaluating PTP and Ps measurement reliability in children using labial and mechanical interruption. METHODS Twenty-two subjects aged 4 to 17 years (10.7 ± 3.9 years) participated. Ten trials were performed for each method; task order was randomized. For labial interruption, subjects produced /pα/ five times at softest (onset PTP) and comfortable amplitude. For mechanical interruption, subjects produced a sustained /α/ while a balloon valve interrupted phonation five times for 250 ms each; mechanical interruption was performed with a mouthpiece and mask. PTP was recorded as the difference between Ps and supraglottal pressure at phonation cessation (offset PTP). Mean PTP and Ps and intrasubject coefficients of variation were compared. Correlations with age were evaluated. RESULTS Mean PTP (P < .001) and Ps (P = .005) were higher for labial interruption. Intrasubject coefficients of variation for PTP (P = .554) and Ps (P = .305) were similar across methods. Coefficient of variation was related to age for mechanical-mask trials only (r = -0.628, P = .00175). CONCLUSIONS Differences in means are likely related to differences in task and PTP hysteresis effect. Reliability is comparable with all methods; using a mouthpiece may be preferable to a mask for mechanical interruption. Measurement of PTP is noninvasive, reliable, and may be a useful adjunct in pediatric voice assessment. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE 3b Laryngoscope, 129:1520-1526, 2019.
Off-Diagonal Decay of Bergman Kernels: On a Question of Zelditch

We study the orthogonal projection from \(L^2({\mathbb {C}}^d, e^{-2\lambda \phi })\) to its subspace of entire holomorphic functions, as \(\lambda \rightarrow \infty \), for weights \(\phi \) that depend only on \({\text {Re}}(z)\) and are uniformly strictly plurisubharmonic. We show that the associated Bergman kernels are \(O(e^{-c\lambda })\) away from the diagonal, if and only if \(\phi \) is real analytic.
When a mismatched advertisement is more persuasive than a matched one: revisiting the functional approach

Within the context of the functional approach to attitudes, the functional matching concept posits that messages that match the functional underpinnings of an individual’s attitude are more persuas...
Nieuw onderzoek euthanasieverklaringen bij vergevorderde dementie

Al sinds de invoering van de euthanasiewet in 2002 worstelen artsen met het dilemma hoe zij moeten omgaan met schriftelijke euthanasieverklaringen van mensen met ernstige dementie. Tegelijkertijd neemt de druk op artsen toe om te voldoen aan de euthanasiewensen van hun patienten. Een nieuw onderzoeksproject heeft als doel het bieden van meer ondersteuning bij deze problematiek.
A multi-wave cross-lagged regression analysis of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory and Self-Reported Offending

Abstract Purpose This study sought to clarify the relationship between psychopathy and self-reported offending using a measure of psychopathy that did not directly assess criminal behavior; i.e., the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI). Methods Cross-lagged correlations between five pairs of waves from the Pathways to Desistance study were used to assess the psychopathy-offending relationship in 1354 (1170 male, 184 female) previously adjudicated delinquents. Structural equation modeling was used to assess these five pairs of waves, controlling for important demographic and criminological covariates and the outcome’s antecedent. Results All five zero-order cross-lagged YPI → offending correlations and all five zero-order cross-lagged offending → YPI correlations were significant. All five YPI → offending regressions and all five offending → YPI regressions were significant, after controlling for the demographic/criminological/antecedent variables, although there were no significant differences between the two paths (YPI → offending vs. offending → YPI). All ten cross-lagged regressions were significant in male participants but only three of the regressions were significant in females. Conclusions Psychopathy, as measured by the YPI, and self-reported offending are reciprocally related, at least in boys and young men, such that offending is as likely to shape psychopathy as psychopathy is to shape offending.
Subtalar distraction arthroplasty with bone marrow aspirate concentrate (BMAC), preliminary results of a new joint preservation technique

Abstract Introduction Isolated subtalar osteoarthritis (OA) is a debilitating condition usually occurring after trauma and particularly in the setting of an intraarticular calcaneal fracture. Currently, subtalar (talo-calcaneal joint) fusion surgery is the treatment of choice in managing subtalar OA after failure of conservative treatment. Unfortunately, subtalar fusion eliminates joint motion and increases the load over the adjacent midfoot and ankle joints, which affects the outcome of the surgery over time. Popular in the ankle, distraction arthroplasty offers another joint-preserving option, particularly important for active patients. In contrast to fusion as a salvage procedure, subtalar distraction arthroplasty allows the possibility of maintaining the function of the arthritic subtalar joint while reducing pain and improving the overall function of the foot and ankle. Methods We performed subtalar distraction arthroplasty using a circular external fixator combined with BMAC on seven patients with symptomatic and refractory subtalar OA. All these patients were interested in an alternative to fusion. We obtained clinical and radiographic data before and after surgery. Ankle Osteoarthritis Score (AOS) and the Marijnissen Distraction Clinical Score (MDCS) were obtained before surgery, after one year, and at latest follow-up. Results The average age was 56 years (range 45–69). The mean duration of post-operative follow-up was 35.4 months (range 15.2–53.5). The inversion of the ankle joint changed from 16.9° (10°–25°) pre-operatively to 14.3° (10°–20°) post-operatively (P = 0.28), and the eversion from 5.6° (0°–10°) to 10.0° (0°–20°) (P = 0.17). We found an increase in subtalar joint space from 1.4 mm (0–3) to 2.6 mm (2–4) before and after surgery (P = 0.01), respectively. Finally, Pixel Density Ratio (PDR) increased from 0.87 (0.66–1.30) to 1.01 (0.89–1.18) (P = 0.19). Compared to pre-operative conditions, we observed a decrease in subchondral sclerosis on X-ray in all cases post-operatively. The AOS score for ankle pain improved from 58.8 (47–74) to 15.1 (0–31) (p Conclusions Preliminarily, results of subtalar distraction arthroplasty as a new joint preservation technique are encouraging. Our research suggests the possibility of subtalar distraction arthroplasty as an effective treatment for symptomatic subtalar OA. Furthermore, this new operation does not eliminate the possibility of a future surgery like fusion. Subtalar distraction arthroplasty can be helpful in the management of subtalar OA in active patients who desire preservation of foot and ankle motion.
Changes in plasma urea concentration can be used to determine protein requirements of two populations of pigs with different protein accretion rates.

The experiment had two objectives: 1) to determine the protein requirements of two strains of growing-finishing pigs based on growth performance, carcass characteristics, tissue accretion rates, and organ weights and 2) to evaluate whether protein requirements can be determined from changes in plasma urea concentration. Forty-six Gene Pool (GP) and 46 Hampshire (H) gilts with an initial BW of 28.5 kg were used. Pigs were allotted to two trials of a randomized complete block experiment with a 2 x 6 factorial arrangement of treatments. Five pigs from each strain were randomly selected and slaughtered at the beginning of each of the two trials. The remaining 72 pigs were individually penned and allotted to one of six dietary treatments (10, 13, 16, 19, 22, or 25% CP). Pigs remained on the experiment until the mean weight of a treatment group within each strain reached 115 kg (16 wk for GP and 14 wk for H), at which time all pigs of that strain were slaughtered. The only strain x protein level interactions that were detected were for carcass protein and water accretion rates. Gene Pool pigs grew less rapidly and utilized feed less efficiently than H pigs (P < .001). Average daily gain (quadratic, P < .05) and ADG/ADFI (quadratic, P < .05) were increased as protein level increased until a plateau was reached. Backfat depths were decreased (linear, P < .001) and longissimus muscle areas were increased (linear, P < .001) as protein level increased. Protein accretion rate was lower (P < .01) and fat accretion was higher (P < .01) in GP pigs than in H pigs. Protein accretion increased (quadratic, P < .001) and fat accretion decreased (linear, P < .001) with increasing dietary protein level. Examination of the response of plasma urea concentration over time suggested that GP pigs required 13% CP from 30 to 80 kg and 10% CP thereafter, whereas H pigs required 19% CP from 30 to 45 kg, 16% CP from 45 to 100 kg, and 13% CP thereafter.
The Role of Human Milk in Decreasing Necrotizing Enterocolitis Through Modulation of the Infant Gut Microbiome: A Scoping Review:

BackgroundNecrotizing enterocolitis is associated with a high incidence of morbidity and mortality in premature infants. Human milk minimizes necrotizing enterocolitis risk, although the mechanism ...
Deep Learning for Whole-Slide Tissue Histopathology Classification: A Comparative Study in the Identification of Dysplastic and Non-Dysplastic Barrett's Esophagus

The gold standard of histopathology for the diagnosis of Barrett's esophagus (BE) is hindered by inter-observer variability among gastrointestinal pathologists. Deep learning-based approaches have shown promising results in the analysis of whole-slide tissue histopathology images (WSIs). We performed a comparative study to elucidate the characteristics and behaviors of different deep learning-based feature representation approaches for the WSI-based diagnosis of diseased esophageal architectures, namely, dysplastic and non-dysplastic BE. The results showed that if appropriate settings are chosen, the unsupervised feature representation approach is capable of extracting more relevant image features from WSIs to classify and locate the precursors of esophageal cancer compared to weakly supervised and fully supervised approaches.
Heart Rate and Breathing Rate Calculated from Cheeks and Lips Using Green and Derived Colors from Video

There has been considerable interest in the development of non-contact measurement of heart rate (HR) and breathing rate (BR). Some researchers have focused the heart rate (HR) and breathing rate (BR) measurement on the cheek region extracted from the face. The physiological rationale behind selecting the face and facial parts such as cheeks rely on the concept of photoplethysmography (PPG), which is the absorption of light by blood cells. A PPG signal contains information about HR and BR. Several studies have used PPG from the cheek portion extracted from the videos as many capillaries lie underneath the cheeks. Lips also carry a rich bed of blood vessels underneath. Because of the difference in innervation of the lips from the cheeks, there is the possibility that non-contact measurement from the lips may also contain information about subtle changes in autonomic function. Therefore, we explored whether lips might contain information about HR and BR comparable or better than cheeks in measuring HR and BR. Towards this goal data were collected from 5 subjects. Our results showed that while measurements from lips generally were comparable to those from cheeks, for wider use, lips may not be a viable location to calculate non-contact HR and BR due to possible confounding factors.
Net Tuition, Unmet Financial Need, and Cooling Out: A National Study of Degree Aspirations Among First-Time Community College Students:

Objective:This study examined the statistical association between net tuition and changes in degree aspirations among community college students. In addition, the study explored the moderating infl...
Adoption of Health System Innovations: Evidence of Urban-Rural Disparities from the Ohio Primary Care Marketplace

Accountable care organizations (ACOs), patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs), and the meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs) generated particular attention during the last decade. Translating these reforms into meaningful increases in population health depends on improving the quality and clinical integration of primary care providers (PCPs). However, if these innovations spread more quickly among PCPs in urban and wealthier areas, then they could potentially worsen existing geographic disparities in health outcomes. To determine the market penetration of Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) ACOs, PCMHs, and the meaningful use of EHRs among PCPs across urban and rural counties in Ohio. Retrospective, observational study of the percent of PCPs in a county who are affiliated with PCMH, ACO, and meaningful use (MU) of EHR. PCPs in all of Ohio’s 88 counties from 2011 to 2015. Primary care market penetration of ACO, PCMH, and meaningful use of EHR In 2015, the Ohio primary care market penetration of PCMH was 23.4%, ACO was 27.7%, MU stage 1 was 55.8%, and MU stage 2 was 26.6%. During the study period, PCMH and ACO market penetration increased faster in urban counties relative to rural counties, and market penetration of meaningful use of EHR increased faster in rural counties. Market penetration of PCMH and ACOs increased faster in urban markets compared to rural markets. However, the adoption of EHRs increased faster in rural markets. The results are a cause for optimism as well as a call to action: although recent efforts to increase PCMH and ACO adoption were less effective among the rural population in Ohio, federal programs to accelerate adoption of EHRs were overwhelmingly successful in rural areas.
Tribology of selectively irradiated PTFE surfaces

Selectively irradiated polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) surfaces combining the low friction and non-abrasive attributes of an unirradiated polymer with the enhanced wear resistance of wholly irradiated PTFE are demonstrated. Augmented wear resistance, similar to that of filled PTFE composites, is obtained without the accompanying counterface abrasion typical of hard particulate fillers. Friction of these ‘composite’ irradiated/unirradiated surfaces can be less than that of unirradiated PTFE, as irradiated regions limit transfer morphology to only thin oriented films. Spatially distributed irradiated and unirradiated surface regions are patterned by masking 225 keV incident electrons. Under the given contact conditions (6.5 MPa nominal pressure against polished stainless steel) such self-lubricating, wear-resistant composite surfaces had lifetimes of several kilometers sliding distance before giving way to rapid wear of the underlying unmodified PTFE.
A physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model of docetaxel in SCID mice bearing SKOV3 human ovarian cancer xenografts

3102 Introduction: Docetaxel (DOC), a semisynthetic taxane, is active against a wide range of solid tumors. We previously reported tumor-specific retention of DOC in SKOV3 xenografts when compared to plasma and normal tissues (Strychor et al., AACR 2005 #4165). Because DOC disposition in tissue and tumor may play an important role in drug-related toxicity and efficacy, we developed a PBPK model to describe the time course of Doc in plasma, tumor, and normal tissues. Methods: DOC was administered IV at 10 mg/kg to female C.B.-17 SCID mice bearing SKOV3 human ovarian cancer xenografts. Mice (n = 3/time point) were euthanized, exsanguinated and dissected at 0.083, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 18, and 24 h after Doc administration. Doc concentrations in plasma, tumor, liver, kidney, spleen, brain, heart, and lung were determined by LC-MS. The PBPK model used first-order ordinary differential equations to describe inter-compartmental mass transport and estimate DOC concentrations in plasma, tumor, and normal tissue. Perfusion-limited tissues (liver, brain, tumor, lung, and spleen) were characterized with tissue subcompartments while diffusion-limited tissues (heart and kidney) were modeled using partition coefficients. Organ-specific blood flow values were fixed at values from the literature (US EPA / OHEA report, 1994) and organ volumes were fixed at mean post-exsanguination organ weights (n = 33). Parameter estimation and model structure selection was accomplished by minimizing the weighted sum of squared error between the model predictions and mean values of measured DOC concentrations for each organ. Results: In order to capture the measured dynamics, additional compartments (muscle and carcass) were included. Clearance was modeled as solely hepatic and estimated as 9.188 1/min. Vascular fractions for tumor, brain, liver, spleen, lung, and muscle were estimated as 0.016, 0.124, 0.975, 0.972, 0.967, and 0.060, respectively. Transfer rates from the vascular to the interstitial compartment for tumor, brain, liver, spleen, lung, and muscle were estimated as 0.129, 0.953, 8470.1, 0.031, 7.162, and 1.818 1/min, respectively. Likewise, transfer rates from the interstitial to the vascular compartment were found to be 0.001, 1.105, 48.00, 0.345, 4.173, and 0.320 1/min for tumor, brain, liver, spleen, lung, and muscle, respectively. Partition coefficients for the heart and kidney were estimated as 10.0 and 17.3, respectively. The model accurately captured DOC concentration versus time data for plasma, brain, tumor, liver, kidney, and heart. Model predictions for spleen and lung were less accurate. Conclusions: The PBPK model accurately describes Doc distribution in plasma, non-tumor, and tumor tissue. Support provided by Sanofi-Aventis Oncology and the Pittsburgh Tissue Engineering Initiative
Node-centric hybrid routing for ad-hoc wireless extensions of the Internet

We present a node-centric approach to hybrid routing for ad hoc networks in which normal nodes are distinguished from special nodes, called netmarks, hosting popular network services or functioning as points of attachment to the Internet. With node-centric hybrid routing, netmarks force other common nodes to maintain routing information for them by advertising their routing information as in table-driven routing protocols. Routes between peer nodes are set up on-demand. A node-centric routing solution is presented based on partial link state information. Simulation results using ns2 show that this approach performs much better than on-demand routing protocols.
Heuristics as invariants and its application to learning

We present a characterization of heuristic static evaluation functions which unifies their treatment in single-agent problems and two-person games. The central thesis is that a useful heuristic function is one which is invariant along a solution path. This local characterization of heuristics can be used to predict the effectiveness of given heuristics and to automatically learn useful heuristic functions for problems.
Memory technology for post CMOS era

One of the tasks of the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) Emerging Research Devices (ERD) Technology Working Group (TWG) is to seek out memory technologies presented in the research literature and weigh whether they have the potential to serve in 22-nm and smaller IC generations. The motive for this effort is to develop data that can help guide research investment decisions. In 2004, the ERD TWG summarized some quantitative attributes of four alternative memory approaches, and developed a potential/risk score for each. While this effort falls far short of identifying a specific technology, it is at least a beginning. This article describes the nature of the challenge and reports initial study results.
Analog Video Magnetograms in Real Time

For many years solar magnetic fields have been measured by a variety of techniques, all of which exploit the Zeeman splitting of lines in the solar spectrum. One of these techniques (Leighton, 1959) involves a photographic subtraction of two monochromatic images to produce a picture of the Sun in which the line-of-sight component of the solar magnetic field appears as various shades of gray. In a magnetogram made by this method, zero field strength appears as neutral gray, while magnetic fields of one polarity or the other appear as lighter or darker areas, respectively. Figure 1 shows such a magnetogram.
Bacteriorhodopsin and Rhodopsin

The sections in this article are 1 Introduction 2 NMR Strategies 3 Structure 4 Protonation and Hydrogen Bonding 5 Proton Diffusion 6 Biographical Sketch Related Articles
Neighborhood Stabilization Program

In July 2008, Congress established the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) to help local governments address the neighborhood effects of concentrated foreclosures. As of the writing of this article, a total of $7 billion has been allocated to the program. This policy brief presents a theoretical justification for NSP and discusses how the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development implemented the program.
Dynamical Structure of the Zodiacal Cloud

Advances in infrared astronomy and computing power have made detailed study of the structure of the zodiacal cloud possible. An extremely complex cloud has been revealed, quite distinct from the smooth, rotationally symmetric structure assumed prior to the launch of IRAS. The relative contribution of cometary and asteroidal material to the cloud as a whole remains a subject for debate. However, the existence of discrete structures within the cloud, such as the dust bands associated with the Hirayama asteroid families and the Earth’s resonant ring, serve as dynamical constraints on the possible sources for the cloud.
Aerobic, Resistance, and Cognitive Exercise Training Poststroke

Stroke may cause physical or cognitive impairments. Approximately 50% to 75% of all stroke survivors have residual motor or cognitive disabilities that prevent them from living independently. Muscle weakness is considered a major cause of motor disability in stroke patients.1 Impaired walking occurs in as many as 80% of individuals immediately after stroke,2 with muscle weakness in the paretic limb explaining ≤50% of the variance in gait among individuals with chronic mild-to-moderate poststroke hemiparesis.3 As a result, gait patterns become asymmetrical and gait speed reduced.4 Additionally, impaired walking is commonly observed beyond 6 months after stroke.5 This lack of walking competency can precipitate and exacerbate a sedentary lifestyle and cardiovascular deconditioning. Previous work has shown that maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max), as a measurement of cardiovascular fitness, is reduced to 10 to 17 mL/kg/min within the first month after stroke6 and remains below 20 mL/kg/min beyond 6 months.7 The same values can be 45% lower than in age-matched and healthy individuals.8 The implication of low VO2max becomes even more important knowing that a minimum of 20 mL/kg/min is needed for performing daily activities9 and for independent living among older stroke patients.10 In addition to stroke-related decline in cardiovascular fitness, a natural decline in VO2max occurs after the age of 50, averaging a 5% to 10% (or ≈ 5 mL/kg/min) loss per decade. Therefore, elderly stroke patients may face disease- and age-related declines in cardiorespiratory fitness. In a meta-analysis of 11 studies (n=1105), low physical activity (PA) levels, for example, 4355 daily steps taken, have been observed among stroke patients.11 People with other chronic diseases, such as chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, have reported as few as 2237 steps a day.12 The medical establishment, including …
An on-line unsupervised learning machine for adaptive feature extraction

An on-line unsupervised learning machine (LEAP) for adaptive feature extraction (principal component decomposition of a stochastic process) is introduced. Some results on convergence analysis of the LEAP system are summarized. A result on the identification of a nontrivial domain of attraction for the system is given. A new application is shown. LEAP can be extended to perform on-line higher-order statistics component decomposition of a stochastic process. This extended system (ELEAP) can then be combined with two identification techniques resulting in an on-line signal processing system for parameter estimation of multichannel moving-average processes using higher-order statistics. >
SURROGATE END POINT FOR PROSTATE CANCER SPECIFIC MORTALITY IN PATIENTS WITH NONMETASTATIC HORMONE REFRACTORY PROSTATE CANCER

ABSTRACTPurpose:: We determined whether prostate specific antigen (PSA) velocity can serve as surrogate end point for prostate cancer specific mortality (PCSM) in patients with nonmetastatic, hormone refractory prostate cancer.Materials and Methods:: The study cohort comprised 919 men treated from 1988 to 2002 at 1 of 44 institutions with surgery (560) or radiation therapy (359) for clinical stages T1c-4NxMo prostate cancer, followed by salvage hormonal therapy for PSA failure. All patients experienced PSA defined recurrence while on hormonal therapy. Prentice criteria require that the surrogate should be a prognostic factor and the treatment used did not alter time to PCSM following achievement of the surrogate end point. These criteria were tested using Cox regression. All statistical tests were 2-sided.Results:: PSA velocity greater than 1.5 ng/ml yearly was statistically significantly associated with time to PCSM and all cause mortality following PSA defined recurrence while undergoing hormonal therap...
A comparison of statistical and dynamical downscaling for surface temperature in North America

[1] Projections from general circulation model (GCM) simulations must be downscaled to the high spatial resolution needed for assessing local and regional impacts of climate change, but uncertainties in the downscaling process are difficult to quantify. We employed a multiple linear regression model and the MM5 dynamical model to downscale June, July, and August monthly mean surface temperature over eastern North America under greenhouse gas-driven climate change simulation by the NASA GISS GCM. Here we examine potential sources of apparent agreement between the two classes of models and show that arbitrary parameters in a statistical model contribute significantly to the level of agreement with dynamical downscaling. We found that the two methods and all permutations of regression parameters generally exhibited comparable skill at simulating observations, although spatial patterns in temperature across the region differed. While the two methods projected similar regional mean warming over the period 2000–2087, they developed different spatial patterns of temperature across the region, which diverged further from historical differences. We found that predictor domain size was a negligible factor for current conditions, but had a much greater influence on future surface temperature change than any other factor, including the data sources. The relative importance of SD model inputs to downscaled skill and domain-wide agreement with MM5 for summertime surface temperature over North America in descending order is Predictor Domain; Training Data/Predictor Model; Predictor Variables; and Predictor Grid Resolution. Our results illustrate how statistical downscaling may be used as a proxy for dynamical models in sensitivity analysis.
A high performance systolic architecture for k-NN classification

This paper describes the architecture of the winning entry to the 2014 Memocode Design Contest, in the maximum performance category. This year's Memocode design contest asks contestants to find the 10 nearest neighbors between 1,000 testing points and 10,000,000 training points. Instead of using Euclidean distance, the contest uses Mahalanobis distance. The contest has 2 awards: the maximum performance award and the cost adjusted performance award. Our implementation uses a brute force approach that calculates the distance between every testing point to every training point. We use the Convey HC-2ex, a FPGA-based platform. However, the theory applies to software implementations as well. At the time of publication, our runtime is 0.54 seconds.
Truth in the Tales of the Odyssey

story was a lie. While we can forgive him for his fabrication?that's what murderers are expected to do?we have no mercy for his accomplice, the director, who has deliberately and with malice aforethought misled the unsuspecting audience by his convincing cinematographic representation of something that did not actually happen. It would not be soothing to point out to the indignant viewers that nothing in the film 'actually' happened, that the whole hour and a half, in fact, was a fiction. Nor would such logic be entirely sound. We would be poor interpreters of fiction indeed if we could not make a distinction between what 'really' happens in a fictional world and a false version of events. It makes sense to talk
Turnover Intentions and Voluntary Turnover: The Moderating Role of Network Centrality

The intention to leave a job has been shown to be the best predictor of turnover, but rarely explains more than 20% of this behavior. This article explores how centrality in social networks moderat...
Action potentials of cardiac muscle in healing infarcts: response to norepinephrine and caffeine.

Previous studies have shown that the muscle fibers that survive on the epicardial surface of a 5- or 14-day-old infarct in canine hearts have reduced or absent plateau phase during repolarization. Since the absence of a plateau phase could be related to a decrease in the slow inward current, we determined whether norepinephrine (NE) (3.13×10 −5 m ) or caffeine (2.5 to 5.0 m m ) restored the reduced plateau phase of action potentials of fibers from the 5- to 14-day infarct (4 m m K + ). In addition, we compared the slow inward current-mediated slow response action potentials induced by NE or caffeine in K + depolarized fibers from the 5- and 14-day infarcts to those induced in control fibers. Our results show that NE and caffeine had little or no significant effects on repolarization or the plateau area of action potentials of fibers from infarcted preparations. In addition, NE and caffeine both induced slow response action potentials in all normal fibers, but in some fibers from infarcts, these agents failed to elicit slow responses. In other fibers from infarcts, NE and caffeine induced slow response action potentials but they had reduced mean areas when compared to the control potentials. In conclusion, the alteration and absence of slow responses in fibers from infarcted preparations suggest that there may be a chronic abnormality in the slow Ca current channel in fibers from the 5- and 14-day infarct.
Diabetic choroidal and iris vasculature scanning electron microscopy findings.

Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to study vascular casts of twenty-four autopsy eyes taken from patients with long-standing insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus. These casts were compared to casts of ten 'normal' autopsy eyes from patients without a history of diabetes or other vascular disease. The SEM findings in the choroidal vessels of the diabetic eyes included: increased tortuosity, focal vascular dilations and narrowings, hypercellularity, vascular loops and microaneurysm formation, 'drop-out' of choriocapillaries, and sinus-like structure formation between choroidal lobules in the equatorial area. In the iris, neovascularization was evident in the vascular casts in cases with clinically recognized rubeosis iridis. These findings indicate that there is significant involvement of the uveal tract in diabetic eyes. The present study strongly supports the Hidayat and Fine light microscopic observation that the diabetic choroid demonstrates significant vascular changes (e.g. narrowed vessels with possible 'drop-out' of capillaries and neovascularization). Changes in the diabetic choroid, especially in the choriocapillaris, may be a contributing factor in diabetic retinopathy, resulting in decreased oxygenation of the outer layer of the retina. Short reviews and updated information of diabetic eye disease provide some additional insights into the vascular problems in the eye.
Coaching abroad: Insights about assets.

Global corporations usually settle on a list of management competencies that they use to select, appraise, and coach managers in all of their locations around the world. When firsttime coaching managers are outside of this corporate world, they can be surprised to learn that there are some very different views on the competencies needed to be an effective manager. The asset management model described in this article evolved over several years of experience in coaching managers in underdeveloped nations from Africa through Asia. These coaching cases included government managers who were controlling millions of dollars of foreign aid and essential public services; they also included managers of small businesses who were providing employment and growing the local economy. An asset management model offers a culturally appropriate framework that defines management competency in terms of three core concepts: ambition, asset leverage and innovation. The model has since proven useful as a framework for coaching inexperienced managers in small high-tech and biotech firms in the United States.
A Program for Developing Aural Discrimination of Instrumental Tone Colors Using a Videosonic Teaching Machine

1 See Theodore H. A. Ashford, "The Use of Programmed Instruction to Teach Fundamental Concepts in Music Theory," Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 14 (Fall 1966), pp. 171-177; Robert A. Barnes, "Programed Instruction in Music Fundamentals for Future Elementary Teachers," Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 12 (Fall 1964), pp. 187-198; Robert R. Fink, 4'Programed Part Writing," Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 15 (Summer 1967), pp. 159-164; Genevieve Hargiss, "The Development and Evaluation of Self-Instructional Materials in Basic Music Theory for Elementary Teachers," Bulletin of the Council for Research in Music Education, No. 4 (Winter 1965), pp. 1-5; Charles L. Spohn, "Programing the Basic Materials of Music for Self-Instructional Development of Aural Skills," Journal of Research in Music Education, Vol. 11 (Fall 1963), pp. 91-98; and Charles L. Spohn and William Poland, 4'An Evaluation of Two Methods Using Magnetic Tape Recordings for Programed Instruction in the Elemental Materials of Music>" Final Report of Grant #7-34-0430-172, U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (Columbus, Ohio: The Ohio State University Research Foundation, 1964). 2 One of the earliest and most successful published programed mtlsic texts using recorded sound material is James C. Carlsen's Melodic Perception: A Program for SelfInstruction (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965); see also Jeanne Foster Wardian, The Language of Music: A Programed Course (New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967). 3 An interesting program for high school students is reported by J. Austin Andrews, "Development and Trial of a Basic Course in Music Theory Using Self-Instructional Materials to Supplement Training Received in High School Performing Groups," BuEletin of the Council tor Research in Music Education, No. 8 (Fall 1966), pp. 30-35.