cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A PETROGLYPH FROM EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS

ASSACHUSETTS petroglyphs seem to be of rare occurrence. In Mallory's work on pictographs (Ann. Rep. Bureau Am. Eth., vol. x, 1893) but three are mentioned, one being, of course, the Dighton rock. The other two, given in Rafn's Antiquites Am6ricaines, are in Rutland, Worcester county, and in Swansea, Bristol county, the latter about ten miles from the rock of Dighton. It thus seems of value to describe a stone, covered with inscriptions, recently obtained by the author, and now in his possession. This stone is a small, oblong boulder of trap, its longest dimension being about ten inches, and its weight slightly under thirty pounds. Its surface has weathered to a rusty red color. Its location, when first found, was in West Wrentham, in the edge of Norfolk county, at a rough and picturesque spot known as "Joe's Rock," popularly associated with stories of the Indians, and still remembered as the home of the last local native, called "Joe." The stone was found about sixty years ago by a Mr Simeon Stedman, who noticed the markings on its surface, and who was sufficiently interested in it to carry it to his house in Cumberland, R. I., about two miles from Joe's Rock. There it remained for thirty years or so, when it was used to mend a back door-step, and was unfortunately set in such a way that one surface was constantly exposed to wear. It stayed in this position for thirty years more, during which time the exposed surface was worn nearly smooth, although it still shows a long zigzag line and two round pits, presumably the deeper parts of an inscription now lost. The remainder of the stone was well protected, however, in part by the earth in which it was imbedded, and in part by its position, and when removed from the place, and washed, presented the appearance shown in the photographs here given (pl. VII). AM. ANTH., N. S., 13-5. 65
Resource Defragmentation Using Market-Driven Allocation in Virtual Desktop Clouds

Similar to memory or disk fragmentation in personal computers, emerging "virtual desktop cloud" (VDC) services experience the problem of data center resource fragmentation which occurs due to on-the-fly provisioning of virtual desktop (VD) resources. Irregular resource holes due to fragmentation lead to sub-optimal VD resource allocations, and cause: (a)decreased user quality of experience (QoE), and (b) increased operational costs for VDC service providers. In this paper, we address this problem by developing a novel, optimal "Market-Driven Provisioning and Placement" (MDPP) scheme that is based upon distributed optimization principles. The MDPP scheme channelizes inherent distributed nature of the resource allocation problem by capturing VD resource bids via a virtual market to explore soft spots in the problem space, and consequently defragments a VDC through cost-aware utility-maximal VD re-allocations or migrations. Through extensive simulations of VD request allocations to multiple data centers for diverse VD application and user QoE profiles, we demonstrate that our MDPP scheme outperforms existing schemes that are largely based on centralized optimization principles. Moreover, MDPP scheme can achieve high VDC performance and scalability, measurable in terms of a 'Net Utility' metric, even when VD resource location constraints are imposed to meet orthogonal security objectives.
Academic library liaison programs: four case studies

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to compare and contrast four academic liaison programs.Design/methodology/approach – Areas addressed include liaison subject specialization, communication methods, duties, and program evaluation.Findings – This paper found similarities in areas of orientation meetings, library guides, and information literacy classes. Unique concepts among the four libraries studied include physical classroom embedment, use of specialized class web pages, faculty literacy classes, and concentrated faculty information literacy assistance.Originality/value – The results presented provide insight into current academic library liaison practices and the faculty‐liaison relationship.
Detection and microsequencing of juvenile hormone-binding proteins of an insect by the use of an iodinated juvenile hormone analog.

An [125I] iodinated juvenile hormone (JH) analog can be used as a sensitive and highly selective probe for the visualization of high-affinity, (JH)-specific binding proteins from insect hemolymph samples. The proteins can be detected in their native form using a two-dimensional (isoelectric focusing then native gradipore gel) separation of the crude protein mixture containing the 125I-labeled iodinated JH analog. The proteins can be transferred to activated glass fiber paper by electroblotting, and the location of the bound γ-emitter can be found by exposure of the dried gel or the electroblot to X-ray film. The radiolabeled protein spot can be excised from the Coomassie-stained glass fiber paper and subjected directly to gas-phase N-terminal amino acid sequencing. This non-destructive, non-denaturing technique may have wide applicability in identifying and sequencing ligand-specific binding proteins in complex mixtures.
A new approach to liquefaction hazard zonation: Application to Laoag City, Northern Philippines

To help mitigate liquefaction hazards in the Philippines, an inexpensive yet effective approach to liquefaction hazard zonation was developed in this study. The proposed approach is also useful in other areas especially where funds for more rigorous procedures may not be available. The approach utilizes the geomorphology-based criteria to identify liquefaction-prone deposits based on geology and grain characteristics, and generate a preliminary liquefaction susceptibility map. Then, microtremor recordings, popularly used in site effect estimation, are gathered to derive qualitative information on the density and thickness of these deposits and generate a site classification map. This latter map is also essentially a ground shaking hazard map in that it shows those areas where thick, soft deposits likely to amplify and prolong the duration of ground motion can be found. Therefore, it also identifies areas where seismic demand can be high that the possibility of liquefaction being triggered is likewise high. Combining the two maps, an integrated liquefaction hazard zonation map is produced which provides not only an improved characterization of the soils’ capacity to resist liquefaction but also integrates qualitative information on the seismic demand on these deposits as well. With information about the relative thickness of the deposits, the severity of potential damage can likewise be inferred from the map since thicker deposits relate to more serious damage. The proposed approach was applied to Laoag City, Northern Philippines, where it was shown to reliably identify areas that are vulnerable to the hazard.
On Equivalences for a Class of Timed Regular Expressions

Timed regular expressions are an extension of regular expressions that capture a notion of time. Roughly speaking, timed regular expressions can be used to represent timed sequences of events, with new operators to control the duration of those sequences. These timed regular expressions correspond to a form of timed automaton equipped with clocks, of the kind introduced by Alur and Dill. We develop a coalgebraic treatment of such timed regular expressions, along the lines of the coalgebraic treatment of regular expressions based on deterministic automata. This yields a coinductive proof principle, that can be used to establish equivalence of a class of timed regular expressions.
Exercise Training Produces Nonuniform Increases in Arteriolar Density of Rat Soleus and Gastrocnemius Muscle

Objective: Exercise training has been shown to increase regional blood flow capacity to muscle tissue containing fibers that experience increased activity during exercise. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that the increased blood flow capacity is partially the result of increases in arteriolar density (number of arterioles/mm2 of tissue), specifically in skeletal muscle tissue, with the largest relative increase in muscle fiber activity during training bouts.Methods: This hypothesis was tested by comparing and contrasting the effects of endurance exercise training (ET) and interval sprint training (IST) on arteriolar density in soleus muscle (S) red (Gr) and white (Gw) portions of gastrocnemius muscle of male Sprague Dawley rats. ET rats completed 10 weeks of treadmill training 30 m/min, 15% grade, 60 min/day, 5 days/week, while IST rats completed 10 weeks of IST consisting of six 2.5-min exercise bouts, with 4.5-min rest between bouts (60 m/min, 15% incline), 5 days/week. The hypothes...
Nonlinear regression analysis for complex surveys

In a clustered finite population, it is assumed that a given function depending on an unknown parameter may be adopted to reveal the relationship among the variables of interest. The finite population parameter corresponding to this unknown parameter is defined as a solution of an estimating equation defined by a properly chosen population loss function. An estimation procedure that takes sample weights into account is considered. Use of this function in estimating the population mean per cluster is discussed. Large sample properties of estimators are investigated.
MEASUREMENT OF SEXUAL ISOLATION AND SELECTIVE MATING

The recent biological definitions of species by Dobzhansky (1941), Mayr (1942), and others have stressed the attainment of reproductive isolation between two populations as the critical step in speciation. As a result, considerable interest has been aroused in the study of sexual isolation at various levels of divergence. The data, which have been accumulating quite rapidly, have been obtained in various ways, but interpretation of these results on a common basis has been rather difficult. It is desirable, therefore, to have some simple means of comparing the results from the different types of mating experiments. If the mating behavior or the degree of sexual isolation between two groups is under study, the mating possibilities are of the following four kinds.
Sub-graphing web service ontologies to support resource constraints of mobile devices

As web service ontologies grow larger, the ability of mobile devices, such as cell phones and PDA's, to download and reason across them is severely limited. Given that an agent on a mobile device only needs a subset of what is described in a web service ontology, an ontology sub-graph can be created. In this paper, we propose five new metrics to measure the quality in terms of correct query handling of ontology sub-graphs relative to the original ontology. We then correlate these metrics to mean average recall of each ontology sub-graph to show confidence in the metrics ability to predict quality.
Frost action in cement paste

An earlier theory of frost action is further developed and its implications considered, particularly with regard to testing. Factors determining durability of paste, dimensions of sample, degree of saturation and rate of cooling are discussed. It is shown that cumulative residual expansion is a good indicator for testing frost resistance: samples can be evaluated after 10 to 15 freeze-thaw cycles. The results are discussed in relation to existing tests.
Chronic treatment of rats with the specific σ ligand D-pentazocine fails to modulate dopamine D2 and σ binding in brain

Drugs that bind at the sigma site have been proposed to have psychotomimetic and/or antipsychotic activity that is independent from that mediated by the phencyclidine (PCP) receptor. Some evidence suggests that sigma ligands may produce their effects by modulation of dopamine neurotransmission. The present study examined potential interactions between the sigma and dopamine system following chronic treatment with d-pentazocine, a specific sigma ligand that has negligible affinity for either PCP or dopamine receptors. Rats treated for one month with either saline or 10 mg/kg per day d-pentazocine revealed no significant differences in either the KD or Bmax of [3H]haloperidol-labeled sigma or [3H]YM-09151-2-labeled dopamine D2 receptors across multiple brain regions. These results are discussed in relation to the pharmacology of putative sigma-receptor subtypes.
Effect of Sodium Hydroxide on the Solubilities of L-Isoleucine, L-Leucine, and L-Valine

The solubilities of L-isoleucine, L-leucine, and L-valine in aqueous solutions containing sodium hydroxide were determined. In all cases, the solubility increased as the solution pH was increased above the isoelectric point, and then it decreased sharply with further additions of base, after 1 mol of NaOH/mol of amino acid was added to the solution.
Implicit surface visualization of reconstructed biological molecules

An implicit surface of a density function is the set of points at which the value of the function is equal to a fixed threshold. An object that is defined as the collection of points at which the density function value is above the threshold can be visualized by displaying the implicit surface. Some methods for the reconstruction of biological macromolecules from their electron microscopic projections produce density functions that are specified by a linear combination of smoothly-varying radially-symmetric basis functions of finite support, also known as blobs. When density functions are determined by such a blob representation, the implicit surfaces are smoothly varying and the normal at any point on such a surface can be analytically calculated. This property can be utilized to produce high-quality visualizations by raycasting. While raycasting tends to be computationally expensive, we present a methodology that uses techniques of computer graphics and image processing to significantly reduce the cost of visualization.
Noncredit Education in Community College: Students, Course Enrollments, and Academic Outcomes

Objective: This study examines the characteristics, course enrollment patterns, and academic outcomes of students who started their college careers in noncredit courses. Method: Drawing upon a rich...
Fleas and canine dermatology

The cat flea, Ctenocephalides felis felis, is the flea most commonly found on dogs in the UK. The adult flea is a small, wingless, laterally flattened insect. Female fleas can lay up to 50 eggs a day. The cat flea life cycle involves the development from egg to adult via three larval stages and one pupal stage. Fleas are associated with a number of medical problems in their canine hosts, including irritation, flea allergy dermatitis, anaemia, tapeworm infestation and transmission of infectious agents. Pruritus is the principal manifestation of flea allergy dermatitis, the most common dermatological condition in dogs.
Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?

No. This paper investigates the relationship between financing constraints and investment-cash flow sensitivities by analyzing the firms identified by Fazzari, Hubbard, and Petersen as having unusually high investment-cash flow sensitivities. We find that firms that appear less financially constrained exhibit significantly greater sensitivities than firms that appear more financially constrained. We find this pattern for the entire sample period, subperiods, and individual years. These results (and simple theoretical arguments) suggest that higher sensitivities cannot be interpreted as evidence that firms are more financially constrained. These findings call into question the interpretation of most previous research that uses this methodology.
Incorporation of SPECT imaging in a longitudinal cognitive rehabilitation therapy programme

In this clinical study, five consecutive referrals to a cognitive rehabilitation therapy (CRT) programme were followed in a longitudinal protocol involving a resting SPECT and neuropsychological evaluation at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and post non-treatment intervals. All clients had acquired brain injury and initially demonstrated neuropsychological deficits and various degrees of hypoperfusion on SPECT. Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) was used to evaluate change in successive SPECT images. Following CRT, all clients were able to return to productive employment or schooling. Examination of the neuropsychological testing results revealed significant improvement in performance following CRT which were generally maintained during the non-treatment period. SPM analysis of the SPECT data revealed that, in a majority of cases, most of the significant increases in relative cerebral blood flow redistribution were seen during the treatment period, rather than the non-treatment period. The results suggest that, even in individuals who are more than 2 years post-brain damage, relative increases in rCBF can be demonstrated following individualized CRT and that most of these changes can be related to improvements on neuropsychological tests.
Development of aspirin resistance in persons with previous ischemic stroke.

Background and Purpose The ex vivo effect of aspirin (ASA) on platelet aggregation, the platelet component of thrombosis, was studied at repeated intervals in a cohort of patients taking aspirin for recurrent ischemic stroke prevention to define the maintenance of efficacy over time. Methods We administered increasing doses of aspirin (from 325 to 1300 mg/d) to patients with previous ischemic stroke and determined the extent of inhibition of platelet aggregation after 2 weeks and thereafter at approximately 6-month intervals. Results Over 33 months, 306 patients had platelet aggregation studies performed to define their initial response to ASA therapy. Of these, 228 had complete and 78 had partial inhibition of platelet aggregation at initial testing. To date, 119 of those who had complete inhibition and 52 who had partial inhibition have undergone repeat testing at least once. At repeat testing 39 of the 119 (32.7%) with complete inhibition at initial testing had lost part of the antiplatelet effect of ASA and
Readmission for Newborn Jaundice: The Value of the Coombs’ Test in Predicting the Need for Phototherapy

Current practice at our hospital is to perform a direct antiglobulin test (DAT) on cord blood samples of all infants born to blood type O or Rh-negative mothers. Measurement of serum total bilirubin (STB) level and follow-up after discharge are at the discretion of the individual physician. The purposes of the present study were, first, to determine the clinical utility of performing a routine DAT and, second, to define the clinical characteristics of infants readmitted to the hospital for phototherapy. The study was done over a 1-year period extending from January 1 to December 31, 2000. A retrospective review of the DAT results of all infants born to type O or Rh-negative mothers was conducted. The 2 groups of infants included those who had a positive cord blood DAT and were treated with phototherapy and those who needed readmission to the hospital for phototherapy. We found that routine DAT testing of cord blood from term nonjaundiced infants born to O positive mothers is not necessary. Infants with 2 or more risk factors for jaundice irrespective of the results of the DAT are at an increased risk for needing readmission for phototherapy.
Dimensionality and Disciplinary Differences in Personal Epistemology.

A growing body of work addresses the nature of epistemological development and epistemological beliefs: how individuals come to know, the theories and beliefs they hold about knowing, and the manner in which such epistemological premises are a part of and an influence on the cognitive processes of thinking and reasoning. This study investigates the dimensionality of personal epistemology as hypothesized in a recent review of the literature as well as the nature of disciplinary differences. First-year college students responded to a set of questionnaires that included an adaptation of a domain-general epistemological instrument and a discipline-focused questionnaire. Results suggest that there is an underlying dimensionality to epistemological theories that cuts across disciplinary domains, but that students, at least by the 1st year of college, discriminate as to how these theories differ by discipline. Disciplinary differences were strong, suggesting that 1st-year college students see knowledge in science as more certain and unchanging than in psychology, are more likely to regard personal knowledge and firsthand experience as a basis for justification of knowing in psychology than in science, view authority and expertise as the source of knowledge more in science than in psychology, and perceive that in science, more than in psychology, truth is attainable by experts. This contradicts existing research that suggests that epistemological development is domain general and that epistemological beliefs do not differ by discipline.
A methodology for the synthesis of hourly weather data

Abstract The ability to generate weather data from limited inputs and location independent correlations would allow simulations of environmentally driven systems to be run at locations for which detailed weather records do not exist. A further improvement would be to generate just one year of data which would yield the same simulation results as those of long-term data, thereby minimizing the computation needed to assess long-term system performance. In this paper, a methodology to calculate such a year of data is described. It is a combinationand modification of several previously published generation methods. Statistics obtained from long-term (22 years), Typical Meteorological Year, and synthetically generated weather data are compared at three locations (Albuquerque, NM, Madison, WI, and New York, NY).
MEASUREMENT AND PREDICTION OF ENTRAINED-FLOW GASIFICATION PROCESSES.

A detailed mathematical model is used to predict local and effluent properties within an axisymmetric, entrained-flow gasifier. Laboratory experiments were conducted to provide local properties for four coal types from a gasifier operating at near-atmospheric pressure. Effects of selected model parameters and test variables were examined and compared with measurements in most cases. The comparison of predictions and measurements provides the first evaluation of capabilities and limitations of a comprehensive model for entrained-flow gasifiers.
Effects of geometry and intermetallic bonding on the mechanical response, spalling and fragmentation of Ni-Al laminates

Conventional uniaxial tension tests and laser-shock experiments were carried out to investigate the mechanical properties of aluminum–nickel laminates under quasi-static (� 10 � 3 s � 1 ) and dynamic (� 10 5 s � 1 ) loading conditions. A finite-element code was used to model the experiments and provide insights into the laminates’ mechanical response. It was demonstrated that the geometry of the laminate constituents (i.e. the aluminum and nickel laminae) and the interlaminar bonding are the two critical parameters in determining the accuracy of the numerical calculations. These results are also useful to those interested in improving the mechanical properties of this class of materials since we demonstrate that a material with “perfect” laminae and “perfect bonding” is substantially stronger than the experimental material.
Design of multidimensional filter banks for non-separable sampling

Results from the design of multidimensional filter banks with arbitrary sampling patterns are presented, with emphasis on the particular cases of quincunx and hexagonal sampling. Conditions for what is and what is not achievable given specific design constraints (such as perfectly diamond-shaped filters, linear phase, and paraunitariness) are stated. Useful cascade structures are given, and the issue of completeness is addressed. The hexagonal case is analyzed, and a structure allowing perfect reconstruction while yielding linear phase and paraunitary filters is proposed. Two applications are considered: obtaining directional subband decomposition with hexagonal filters, and decomposition of interlaced and progressively scanned television with quincunx ones. >
Permanent magnet inductor design

Permanent magnet inductors (PMI) are useful in dc biased applications. They utilize the flux produced by a permanent magnet (PM) to partially offset the flux established by current in the inductor winding. The addition of permanent magnets allows for decreased inductor mass for a given inductor current and inductance rating. Herein, the Pareto-optimal front between loss and mass is established for a PMI inductor and is compared to that of a traditional EI core inductor. It is shown that the PMI inductor is significantly less massive than the EI core inductor for a given loss.
Shedding light on adaptation.

One of the most remarkable features of the vertebrate retina is its ability to adapt to ambient illumination. One can read from this page by candlelight or one can read from it on a sunny afternoon, but the page always appears white and the letters black. It is the molecular trickery of light
Global predicate analysis and its application to register allocation

To fully utilize the wide machine resources in modern high-performance microprocessors it is necessary to exploit parallelism beyond individual basic blocks. Architectural support for predicated execution increases the degree of instruction level parallelism by allowing instructions from different basic blocks to be converted to straight-line code guarded by boolean predicates. However predicated execution also presents significant challenges to an optimizing compiler. For example, in live range analysis, a predicated definition does not necessarily end the live range of a virtual register. This paper describes techniques to analyze the relations among predicates in order to improve the precision and effectiveness of various compiler analysis and transformation phases in the presence of predicated code. Our predicate analysis operates globally to obtain relations among predicates. Moreover, we analyze control flow and predication in a single unified framework. The result can be queried by subsequent optimization and analysis phases. Based on this framework, we extend a traditional method to a predicate-aware register allocator which takes global predicate relations into account. We have implemented the proposed algorithms to effectively reduce register pressure. Our experimental results show 24.6% of a large test suite obtain, on average, 20.71% and better register allocation due to the algorithms presented in this paper.
Activity of crayfish abdominal-positioning interneurones during spontaneous and sensory-evoked movements.

The premotor interneurones that produce coordinated abdominal movements in crayfish (Procambarus) when stimulated directly, are also ‘sensorimotor’. Sets of these interneurones respond in predictable ways to touching the body surface. One set of interneurones (type I) is activated to spiking by touch, while another (type II) receives only subthreshold influences. Several of these interneurones have overlapping receptive fields on the body surface. Touching areas of overlap activates groups of interneurones which discharge at low to moderate frequencies, rather than producing a high-frequency discharge of a single cell. No single positioning interneurone has been identified which is solely responsible for a “voluntary” (spontaneous) motor programme. When active, the positioning interneurones contribute to the production of the behaviour as a member of a constellation of such cells. The results show that this motor system comprises interneurones with sensory as well as motor properties. Although single cells can produce coordinated movements when stimulated at high frequencies, these positioning interneurones appear to function as ‘command elements’ within a large ‘command system’ and not as individual units.
An Unusual Case of Infectious Endocarditis in Pregnancy

Poster Presentation Background Infectious endocarditis during pregnancy is rare, occurring in an estimated 0.006% of pregnancies. Right‐sided endocarditis is most commonly associated with heart and valvular diseases, whereas left‐sided endocarditis is associated with intravenous (IV) drug use. Maternal mortality rates are high (33%) due to complications of heart failure and embolic events, and fetal mortality rates are between 14% and 33%. Infectious endocarditis presents unique challenges in patient care management, such as antibiotic treatment, timing of delivery, and timing of cardiac surgery if required. Case A 30‐year‐old G4P1 at 26 5/7 weeks gestation was transferred to labor and delivery from another facility with a 2‐week history of fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, and cough. Her medical history included, methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus , Hepatitis C, anemia, and IV drug abuse in combination with methadone use, preliminary positive blood cultures, and multiple social issues. An echocardiogram, electrocardiogram, and laboratory studies were obtained. Consults to infectious disease, cardiology, and maternal fetal medicine were placed and an antibiotic regime was initiated. Shortly after arrival, the patient's respiratory status significantly declined. The surgical critical care team was consulted and the patient was taken for a computed tomography scan and then transferred to the critical care unit. On day 3 of admission, she was transferred to the obstetric high‐risk area where her course was complicated by further febrile episodes, septic pulmonary emboli, a right‐sided pleural effusion requiring thoracentesis, and subsequently chest tube placement, multiple antibiotics, blood transfusions, peripherally inserted central catheter line placement and oxygen support. During week 3, she was stable enough for transfer to the inpatient antenatal unit for continuing treatment with antibiotics. The patient signed herself out of the hospital on day 26 against medical advice. The patient returned for induction of labor at 37‐week gestation secondary to complex antenatal course and cholestasis of pregnancy. She delivered a live born female infant and had a bilateral tubal ligation complicated by a wound infection after discharge. The infant was discharged to home as a well newborn. Conclusion Infectious endocarditis rarely develops during pregnancy. Treatment requires collaboration between many disciplines and careful consideration of the effects on the mother and fetus.
Seasonal effects on salivary testosterone levels among lese males of the Ituri Forest, Zaire.

Salivary testosterone levels were measured in 33 Lese horticulturalist men in June and August 1989 in order to examine the effects of improved nutritional status on testicular function. The Lese experience an annual hunger season from March through June that varies in impact from year to year, and was particularly severe in 1989. Even before annual weight losses, the Lese are at the low end of the desirable range and are below the desirable population mean for the body mass index. Despite significant weight gain in August, both morning and evening testosterone levels declined, perhaps reflecting a lagged recovery period undetected in the 3-month interval of the study. Lese mean salivary testosterone levels are lower, in general, than average levels in healthy Western controls. Lese males, however, exhibit similar, albeit suppressed, diurnal variation compared to healthy Western males and comparable age-related decline in free testosterone levels. Chronic undernourishment and poor dietary composition are probably responsible for lower testosterone levels among the Lese and a lack of recovery in testosterone production following nutritional improvement. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
GMFβ controls branched actin content and lamellipodial retraction in fibroblasts

The lamellipodium is an important structure for cell migration containing branched actin nucleated via the Arp2/3 complex. The formation of branched actin is relatively well studied, but less is known about its disassembly and how this influences migration. GMF is implicated in both Arp2/3 debranching and inhibition of Arp2/3 activation. Modulation of GMFβ, a ubiquitous GMF isoform, by depletion or overexpression resulted in changes in lamellipodial dynamics, branched actin content, and migration. Acute pharmacological inhibition of Arp2/3 by CK-666, coupled to quantitative live-cell imaging of the complex, showed that depletion of GMFβ decreased the rate of branched actin disassembly. These data, along with mutagenesis studies, suggest that debranching (not inhibition of Arp2/3 activation) is a primary activity of GMFβ in vivo. Furthermore, depletion or overexpression of GMFβ disrupted the ability of cells to directionally migrate to a gradient of fibronectin (haptotaxis). These data suggest that debranching by GMFβ plays an important role in branched actin regulation, lamellipodial dynamics, and directional migration.
Enhancement of residual echo for improved acoustic echo cancellation

This paper investigates the use of a signal enhancement technique, namely a noise suppressing nonlinearity, on the adaptive filter error in order to increase the stability and the performance of acoustic echo cancellation (AEC) when there is a continuous distortion to the acoustic echo signal. The algorithm presented here differs from others in that the enhancement of signal is done in the adaptation loop, rather than as a post-processing technique for further reduction of residual echo in the signal, and that the resulting nonlinearity for the cancellation error is formulated as a solution to the signal enhancement problem. Combining the nonlinear error suppression method with NLMS and other adaptive step-size algorithms based on NLMS shows an improvement of between 5 to 15 dB in the average ERLE for additive white noise and around 2 dB for speech coding distortion when a simulated acoustic echo is used. The reduction of the misalignment of 5 dB or more for both noise cases can be expected. The technique is shown to be beneficial also with a real acoustic echo. The new method is seen as a viable technique for improving the existing AEC algorithms when the acoustic echo is corrupted by linear distortion in the form of additive noise or by nonlinear distortion in the form of speech coding.
Cache-based solutions to hotspot contention in shared memory multiprocessors

A new cache-based approach for solving the tree saturation problem in multistage interconnection networks (MINs) is proposed. The scheme moves the hotspot from the main memory and distributes it in the MIN as cached copies. A stage of the MIN may have a cache copy of the hotspot and only hot requests can be routed to the cache. Due to the alternate paths taken by the hot requests the congestion at the buffers in the switches is reduced, and performance is drastically improved. Different ideas/arrangements have been tried, and it is shown that, when the proposed technique is used along with pairwise combining, all variants of the scheme perform better than pairwise combining alone even in large networks. It is concluded that utilizing only one cache (with one location) can drastically reduce the contention problem, even if pairwise combining is not implemented. Network delays are among the lowest delays reported to date. >
Methods for the Circumvention of Problems Associated with the Study of the Ocular Lens Plasma Membrane-Cytoskeleton Complex

Two alternative methods for the study of the lens cytoskeleton are described which serve to overcome some of the difficulties imparted by the unique biology of the lens. The first technique involves rapid freezing, thick sectioning, and selective extraction and/or fixation of the lens section. This approach offers several advantages: 1) enhanced visualization of the cytoskeleton, 2) avoidance of fixation gradients, 3) free access for immunocytochemical probes, 4) retention of tissue-wide spatial relationships, with a sharp increase in the resolution of regional analysis, and 5) the capacity for correlative morphological and biochemical comparisons. The second method involves the covalent immobilization of the plasma membrane-cytoskeleton complex (PMCC) to acrylamide beads. This approach permits: 1) avoidance of fixation in the immunocytochemical analysis of lens cytoskeleton and plasma membranes 2) rapid processing of multiple, small-quantity samples for immunocytochemistry/ biochemical analysis 3) cleane...
Hierarchical scheduling windows

Large scheduling windows are an effective mechanism for increasing microprocessor performance through the extraction of instruction level parallelism. Current techniques do not scale effectively for very large windows, leading to slow wakeup and select logic as well as large complicated bypass networks. This paper introduces a new instruction scheduler implementation, referred to as Hierarchical Scheduling Windows or HSW, which exploits latency tolerant instructions in order to reduce implementation complexity. HSW yields a very large instruction window that tolerates wakeup, select, and bypass latency, while extracting significant far flung ILP. Results: It is shown that HSW loses <0.5% performance per additional cycle of bypass/select/wakeup latency as compared to a monolithic window that loses /spl sim/5% per additional cycle. Also, HSW achieves the performance of traditional implementations with only 1/3 to 1/2 the number of entries in the critical timing path.
Feasibility and Efficacy of a Computer-Based Intervention Aimed at Preventing Reading Decoding Deficits Among Children Undergoing Active Treatment for Medulloblastoma: Results of a Randomized Trial

Objective To investigate the feasibility of a computer-based reading intervention completed by patients diagnosed with a brain tumor. Methods Patients were randomized to the intervention (n = 43) or standard of care group (n = 38). The intervention consisted of 30 sessions using Fast ForWord® exercises in a game-like format. Change in reading decoding scores over time since diagnosis was examined. Gender, race, parent education, parent marital status, and age at diagnosis were examined as covariates. Results 17 patients (39.5%) were able to complete the target goal of 30 intervention sessions. Females had significantly greater training time than males (p = .022). Age at diagnosis was associated with average training time/session for females (r = .485, p = .041). No significant differences were found in reading scores between the randomized groups. Conclusions The study was well accepted by families and adherence by patients undergoing radiation therapy for medulloblastoma was moderate. Suggestions for improved methodology are discussed.
Harmonizing tailpipe policy in symmetric countries: Improve the environment, improve welfare?

Abstract We show that harmonizing emissions policy may be bad for the environment and/or global welfare, even when pollution is transboundary and countries are identical in every way. Harmonization effectively internalizes the transboundary aspects of pollution. But it also changes the politics surrounding tailpipe regulation. With harmonization, producers can no longer avoid strict local regulation by simply exporting their products to overseas markets with weak standards for consumer goods. As a result, harmonization may raise political opposition to regulation. To examine these competing effects we develop a generic treatment of the politics of environmental regulation, a treatment we show to be isomorphic to three popular models of political economy: majority rules, a political elite and a political contributions approach. We find that harmonization both weakens environmental regulation and reduces global welfare when the level of political capture by dirty industry is high relative to the rate of pollution transmission across borders.
Change detection of wetland ecosystems using Landsat imagery and change vector analysis

Accurate, efficient, and repeatable mapping of changes in wetlands and riparian areas (referred to collectively as wetlands) is critical for monitoring human, climatic, and other effects on these important systems. We used Landsat-based satellite imagery from 1988 and 2001 to map changes in wetland ecosystems in the Gallatin Valley of southwest Montana. Stochastic gradient boosting (SGB) was used to classify the 2001 image, and change vector analysis (CVA) was used to identify locations where wetland areas might have changed between 1988 and 2001. These potentially changed locations again were classified for the 1988 Landsat image using SGB. Areas of change constituted 3.4% of the study area, thus only this small percentage of the image was reclassified for the 1988 image. Overall change detection accuracy was 76%, although changes along the periphery of wetland boundaries and in areas of smaller upland inclusions were not distinguished as well as other changes. Overall accuracies of the SGB wetland classification maps were 81% for 1988 and 86% for 2001. CVA significantly reduced the number of pixels involved in the historical image classification compared to conducting independent classifications, thus reducing the potential for compounding classification errors in unchanged areas.
Behavior of One to Two Week Summertime Subtropical Wind Maxima over the South Pacific during an ENSO Cycle

Abstract The behavior of subtropical jet streaks over the Australian–South Pacific region is investigated for four consecutive 6-month summer seasons, November to April, during the period 1985–89. The study is an extension of a recent one by Ko and Vincent (hereafter referred to as KV), in which jet streaks during the summer season of 1984–85 were examined. Ko and Vincent found that the upper-tropospheric zonal wind behaved in a quasi-periodic manner, with maxima recurring over the western South Pacific at intervals between one and two weeks. In the present study, wind maxima are found to exhibit a 1–2-week periodic oscillation over the South Pacific in all four years, thus substantiating the finding by KV. In addition, a second set of jet streaks, with a similar periodicity, is found over the southern Australian region. It is also seen that the mean summertime position of the South Pacific jet and its accompanying jet streaks are much farther cast during the El Nino event of 1986–87 than they are in the ...
A Student ERP Simulation Game: A Longitudinal Study

This research paper presents the results of enterprise resource planning (ERP) learning (knowledge and skills) as well as acceptance of information technology (IT) and attitudes for students taking...
Using daily student presentations to address attitudes and communication skills in CS1

Many CS1 courses lack a breadth in coverage of computing-related topics and do not actively engage in non-programming computer science topics. In addition, many introductory (and advanced) courses fail to help students develop oral communication skills. In this paper, we describe our experience with addressing these issues in CS1 courses at two different institutions through the use of brief, daily student presentations. Not only can this help recruitment and retention, but it helps to develop more well-rounded students. We also describe the results of a survey students take before and after the course to evaluate how participating in the course can affect attitudes and beliefs about computer science.
Enhancement of Multisubband Electron Mobility in Barrier Delta-Doped Asymmetric GaAs/AlGaAs Double Quantum Well Structure

ABSTRACTWe analyse the effect of asymmetry in the structure parameters on low-temperature multisubband electron mobility μ in a barrier delta-doped GaAs/AlGaAs double quantum well structure. We obtain the subband energy levels and wave functions through self-consistent solution of Schrodinger and Poisson's equations. We show that μ is enhanced through asymmetry in well widths and spacer widths as a function of doping concentration, mediated by intersubband effects. We analyse the interplay of different scattering mechanisms on μ and show that the nonlinear enhancement of μ arises due to interface roughness (ir-) scattering even though the mobility is mostly limited by ionized impurity (imp-) scattering. We further show that the range of μ up to which the ir-scattering dominates depends on the occupation of subbands. Our results can be utilized for low-temperature devices.
Ten steps to conducting a large, multi-site, longitudinal investigation of language and reading in young children

Purpose: This paper describes methodological procedures involving execution of a large-scale, multi-site longitudinal study of language and reading comprehension in young children. Researchers in the Language and Reading Research Consortium (LARRC) developed and implemented these procedures to ensure data integrity across multiple sites, schools, and grades. Specifically, major features of our approach, as well as lessons learned, are summarized in ten steps essential for successful completion of a large-scale longitudinal investigation in early grades. Method: Over five years, children in preschool through third grade were administered a battery of 35 higher- and lower-level language, listening, and reading comprehension measures. Data were collected from children, their teachers, and their parents/guardians at four sites across the United States. Substantial and rigorous effort was aimed toward maintaining consistency in processes and data management across sites for children, assessors, and staff. Conclusion: With appropriate planning, flexibility, and communication strategies in place, LARRC developed and executed a successful multi-site longitudinal research study that will meet its goal of investigating the contribution and role of language skills in the development of children’s listening and reading comprehension. Through dissemination of our design strategies and lessons learned, research teams embarking on similar endeavors can be better equipped to anticipate the challenges.
Small intestinal pathology.

During the past year, important studies on various mechanisms of small bowel disease have been reported. The section on enterocyte function evaluates studies on hypoxia and apoptosis. Many of the studies of small intestinal epithelia use as models T84 cells. When these cells are referred to as intestinal cells, it may be in a general sense. This may be of relevance in permeability studies because the transepithelial resistance of T84 cells is on the order of 1000 to 2000 ohm.cm, much higher than the resistance of the small intestine. These studies produce added insights into cellular function. Hypoxia causes changes in epithelial permeability through autocrine pathways. Additional studies methodically detail apoptosis in the small intestinal cell caused by ischemia-reperfusion and the potential mechanisms. Apoptosis is also important in graft-versus-host disease. A number of studies of the mechanism of action of Clostridium difficile toxins are reviewed; these may have therapeutic implications in the future. Finally, the role of mast cells in immunity and in postischemic inflammation is reviewed.
Garbanzo Bean as a Potential Feeding Stimulant for Use with a Nuclear Polyhedrosis Virus of the Tobacco Budworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

Water extracts of fresh and dried garbanzo beans were effective feeding stimulants for larvae of the tobacco budworm, Heliothis virescens (F.). Both materials were as effective as a commercial cottonseed-base stimulant in enhancing larval mortality when mixed with virus and applied to cotton leaf disks. Virus-water extracts of garbanzo bean leaves and pods were no more effective in producing larval mortality than was virus mixed with water alone.