cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Online estimation of cardiac output from respiratory data using a gradient method

This paper presents a method for estimating cardiac output, using only respiratory measurements and a mathematical model fo the respiratory system. Direct measurement of cardiac output requires the surgical insertion of a flow-meter around the pulmonary artery, and hence is restricted to procedures with experimental animals. In man, cardiac output is generally estimated using indirect means, such as by measuring the concentration of a dye in the arterial circulation as a result of its injection into the venous circulation. The degree cf dilution of the dye (after adequate mixing) can be used to estimate the flow. The technique presented in this paper is also an indirect noninvasive procedure based on CO2 measurements. It differs from other indirect methods primarily in that it uses an on-line dynamic model of the respiratory system and makes use of a parameter-estimation algorithm. The method is based on the fact that cardiac output is a parameter in the respiratory system. A mathematical model of this system is simulated on a computer and forced (on-line) with a signal proportional to the subject's total ventilation. the output of the model is a signal representing the end-tidal exhaled partial pressure of carbon dioxide, PCO2. The computer generated end-tidal PC O2 is compared with the measured PC O2 obtained from CO2 analyser. The comparison is based on the squared difference between these two signals at the end of each breath. This error measure is minimised automatically by the computer adjusting the model cardiac output. Experimental procedures and computer techniques are presented. The resulting values of cardiac output in the model were compared with experimental data obtained using dye-dilution techniques with five mongrel dogs weighing 10–15 kg. The computer-generated estimates are shown to agree with experimental data to within 15%, with over half of the estimates agreeing within 4%.
On the maximum entropy of the sum of two dependent random variables

Investigates the maximization of the differential entropy h(X+Y) of arbitrary dependent random variables X and Y under the constraints of fixed equal marginal densities for X and Y. We show that max[h(X+Y)]=h(2X), under the constraints that X and Y have the same fixed marginal density f, if and only if f is log-concave. The maximum is achieved when X=Y. If f is not log-concave, the maximum is strictly greater than h(2X). As an example, identically distributed Gaussian random variables have log-concave densities and satisfy max[h(X+Y)]=h(2X) with X=Y. More general inequalities in this direction should lead to capacity bounds for additive noise channels with feedback. >
Effects of age, pregnancy, and lactation on rat, guinea pig, and cow adipose enzyme activities and cow adipose metabolism.

Abstract In the enzyme study, virgin, pregnant, lactating, and adult animals whose ages were comparable to lactating animals were compared. With all three species, young virgin adipose enzyme activities were higher than in older groups indicating a prominent age effect. Comparison of adipose enzyme activities of adult and lactating groups indicated that activities of only a few enzymes were increased during lactation and some differences in response exist among species. In the general study of cow adipose metabolism through tissue slices, relative rates of glucose-1-, -2-, and -6- 14 C oxidation and incorporation into glyceride glycerol were 1.0, .5, and .25 and .62, .92, and 1.0, indicating high hexose monophosphate shunt activity and high rates of glucose utilization for glyceride glycerol synthesis. Ratio of glucose-U- 14 C oxidation to use for lipogenesis was about 1.2, was increased by insulin in vitro, and was decreased in lactating as compared to nonlactating animals. Rates of glucose and acetate oxidation and use for lipogenesis were doubled approximately during lactation. Comparisons of rates of glucose oxidation with rates of fatty acid synthesis from acetate indicated that NADPH 2 yields from hexose-P oxidation via pentose cycle are not sufficient to support fatty acid synthesis. Hence, additional NADPH 2 generating reactions must occur. Rates of fatty acid esterification in adipose tissue slices exceeded rates of fatty acid synthesis by about four-fold presumably reflecting extensive fatty acid reesterification.
Fetal Alcohol Exposure: Effects on the Developing Brain

After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Describe the primary central nervous system effects of prenatal alcohol exposure. 2. Describe the relationship of fetal alcohol syndrome and mental retardation. 3. Delineate proposed mechanisms of alcohol’s adverse effects on the developing brain. 4. Identify key factors that increase the risk of alcohol-induced fetal brain damage. 5. Delineate proposed neuroprotective strategies to limit fetal brain damage. Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) was described initially in the American medical literature in 1973 by Jones and colleagues as a constellation of features in children born to alcoholic mothers. These features include facial and other physical anomalies, pre- and postnatal growth deficiency, and variable central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities. These latter may involve structural brain defects, cognitive abnormalities, delayed brain development, and signs of neurologic impairment, including lifelong behavioral and psychosocial dysfunction. In 1996, the Institute of Medicine further defined criteria for the diagnosis of FAS and also proposed a new term: Alcohol-related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (ARND). This latter term includes structural CNS and cognitive abnormalities in children in whom fetal exposure to alcohol has been confirmed. Unlike FAS, a diagnosis of ARND does not require the presence of facial or other physical abnormalities. In 2000, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Substance Abuse published these new definitions in Pediatrics (Figure⇓ ). Figure 1. Diagnostic classification of fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD). Reprinted with permission from Pediatrics . 2000;106:358–361 The problem is enormous. FAS is estimated to occur in the United States at a rate of 1 to 3 per 1,000 live births and is higher in selected subgroups, such as Native Americans. The rate of ARND is estimated to be at least 10 times greater. Fetal alcohol exposure is estimated to be the leading cause of mental retardation in developed countries today. Although …
Influence of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on the thyroid hormone status of BHE/cdb rats

Abstract The effects of dehydroepiandrosterone treatment on the thyroid status of prediabetic, male BHE/cdb rats were investigated. Five-week old BHE/cdb rats fed a 65% glucose diet were injected intraperitoneally daily with either dehydroepiandrosterone (0.35 mol/kg body weight) or vehicle (1 mL/kg body weight) for 8 weeks. Organ weights, body composition, resting oxygen consumption, serum thyroxine, triiodothyronine, triglycerides, glucose and insulin, and thyroxine 5′-deiodinase activity in liver, brown adipose tissue, kidney, and pituitary were determined. Dehydroepiandrosterone-treated rats weighed significantly less at the end of the study than the control rats. Food intake was not different (P ≥ 0.05) between groups. Dehydroepiandrosterone treatment decreased epididymal and retroperitoneal fat pad weights, carcass energy, total and free serum thyroxine levels, thyroxine: triiodothyronine ratios, and hepatic and pituitary 5′-deiodinase activities, and increased resting oxygen consumption, liver weights, liver protein, renal weights, and body ash. Dehydroepiandrosterone was without effect on the other parameters. These data suggest that dehydroepiandrosterone alters thyroid hormone status and in so doing, affects energy balance by increasing metabolic rate and decreasing fat stores.
Positively curved π2-finite manifolds

Abstract Let M be a smooth manifold with finite second homotopy group, positive sectional curvature, dimension greater than 8, and assume that a compact connected Lie group G acts smoothly on M. We prove the vanishing of the characteristic number A ˆ ( M , T M ) if G contains two commuting involutions. To cite this article: H. Herrera, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 345 (2007).
Characterization of murine immunoglobulin G antibodies against human amyloid-β1–42

Abstract It has been demonstrated that immunization of transgenic mouse models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with amyloid-β1–42 peptide (Aβ1–42) results in amelioration of AD-like pathology, including reduced soluble and deposited β-amyloid and decreased cognitive impairment. Based on the proposed importance of immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti-Aβ antibodies (Abs) in these effects, we sought to characterize these Abs in splenocytes from mice immunized with Aβ1–42. Data show that a more aggregated preparation of Aβ1–42 gives a robust IgG anti-Aβ Ab response, while these Abs are almost undetectable when a less aggregated preparation of Aβ1–42 is used as the immunogen. Importantly, IgG anti-Aβ Ab production is detected after just 12 weeks of Aβ1–42 treatment. Analysis of anti-Aβ Ab IgG isotypes reveals that the majority of these Abs are IgG1, with significantly fewer Abs of the IgG2a or IgG2b isotypes (IgG1>IgG2a>IgG2b), suggesting a T lymphocyte helper type II response after Aβ1–42 immunization. To determine the epitope of Aβ recognized by IgG anti-Aβ Abs, intact Aβ and Aβ peptide fragments were analyzed for their ability to bind these Abs. Data show that these Abs specifically recognize an amino-terminal epitope of Aβ between amino acids one and twelve, with higher affinity for a more soluble preparation of Aβ1–42. These data further indicate the immunogenic potential of Aβ1–42 and offer insight into the nature of the IgG anti-Aβ Ab response.
Transcription factor c-Rel enhances C-reactive protein expression by facilitating the binding of C/EBPβ to the promoter

Induction of C-reactive protein (CRP) synthesis in hepatocytes by cytokines occurs at the transcriptional level. In Hep3B cells, the transcription factors C/EBPbeta, STAT3, and Rel p50 have been shown to participate in this process. A C/EBP binding site centered at -53 and an overlapping nonconsensus kappaB site on the promoter are critical for CRP expression. We have previously found that an oligonucleotide containing a kappaB site diminished binding of C/EBPbeta to the C/EBP site, suggesting that unidentified Rel proteins present in Hep3B nuclei facilitate the formation of C/EBPbeta-complexes. The current studies were undertaken to determine which of the five Rel proteins, p50/p65/p52/c-Rel/RelB, play such a role. Mutation of the nonconsensus kappaB site did not abolish binding of C/EBPbeta to its binding site, indicating that this site was not necessary for the formation of C/EBPbeta-complexes. Depletion of Rel proteins from Hep3B nuclei led to decreased formation of C/EBPbeta-complexes on a CRP promoter-derived oligonucleotide that contained only the intact C/EBP binding site but not the nonconsensus kappaB site. This finding indicates that Rel proteins are involved in the binding of C/EBPbeta to its binding site by a kappaB site-independent mechanism. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) revealed that it was c-Rel that facilitated formation of C/EBPbeta-complexes and that c-Rel bound directly to C/EBPbeta-complexes formed on the C/EBP site. Cotransfection of c-Rel enhanced the induction of CRP promoter-driven luciferase activity and enhanced endogenous CRP expression in cells transfected with C/EBPbeta. We conclude that c-Rel regulates CRP expression without the requirement of binding to a kappaB site, and binds directly to C/EBPbeta to facilitate the binding of C/EBPbeta to the CRP promoter.
Computing normalizers in permutation p-groups

Let G and H be subgroups of a finite p-group of permutations. We describe the theory and implementation of a polynomial-time algorithm for computing the normalizer of H in G. The method employs the imprimitivity structure and an associated canonical chief series to reduce to linear problems with fast solutions. An implementation in GAP exhibits marked speedups over general-purpose methods applied to the same groups. There are analogous procedures and timings for the problem of testing conjugacy of subgroups of p-groups, and implementations are planned. It is an easy matter, also, to extend the application to general nilpotent groups.
Discovery of power-laws in chemical space.

Power-law distributions have been observed in a wide variety of areas. To our knowledge however, there has been no systematic observation of power-law distributions in chemoinformatics. Here, we pr...
QSAR for the organophosphate-induced inhibition and 'aging' of the enzyme neuropathy target esterase (NTE).

Abstract QSAR was devised for the neuropathy potency of various organophosphate (OP) compounds. The neuropathy-target-esterase (NTE) inhibition data were either obtained from the literature for a number of OP compounds or were determined experimentally for methamidophos, acephate, coumaphos and EPN. Aging Index that determined whether or not an OP would age NTE, correlated with molecular depth (MD) and the index density dipole-moment (density∗ Ω) (Eq. (1)). The t1/2 values that represented the time (min) during which 50% of the OP-inhibited brain NTE undergoes ‚aging‘, correlated with the topological indices Dif3 and 1/Dif4 (Eq. (2)). Log10I50 for AChE that determined the OP concentration causing 50% inhibition in AChE activity, correlated with Ebond and Charge−1 (Eq. 3)). Log10I50 for NTE correlated with 1 HS2 and H-Bonding (Eq. (4)). The (Log10I50NTE)/(Log10I50AChE) ratio that determined an OPs neuropathy potential relative to its cholinergic toxicity potential, correlated with log P and Log10Polarity (...
Factors Associated with Households’ Planning Horizons for Making Saving and Spending Decisions

This study used the 2010 Survey of Consumer Finances to investigate which demographic factors are associated with households’ planning horizon for making saving and spending decisions. The planning horizon plays an important role in explaining household asset accumulation and financial security. Because of its critical influence, it is important that financial counselors and educators understand how to communicate with their clients to lengthen their planning horizon. The results of the ordinal logistic regression showed that age, race, education, marital status, and gender were related to the length of the planning horizon. Households who have an older White male head, have more years of education, and are married have higher odds of having a longer planning horizon.
Talent management and physician leadership training is essential for preparing tomorrow's physician leaders

Talent management and leadership development is becoming a necessity for health care organizations. These leaders will be needed to manage the change in the delivery of health care and payment systems. Appointment of clinically skilled physicians as leaders without specific training in the areas described in our program could lead to failure. A comprehensive program such as the one described is also needed for succession planning and retaining high-potential individuals in an era of shortage of surgeons.
Suicidal thinking and behavior among youth involved in verbal and social bullying: risk and protective factors.

Abstract Purpose To identify risk and protective factors associated with thinking about or attempting suicide among youth involved in verbal and social bullying. Methods We analyzed data on 130,908 students in the sixth, ninth, and twelfth grades responding to the 2010 Minnesota Student Survey. Among students involved in frequent bullying (once a week or more during the past 30 days), we compared those who did and did not report suicidal ideation or a suicide attempt during the past year. Separate analyses were conducted for perpetrators only, victims only, and bully-victims. Results Overall, 6.1% of students reported frequent perpetration only, 9.6% frequent victimization only, and 3.1% both. Suicidal thinking or a suicide attempt was reported by 22% of perpetrators only, 29% of victims only, and 38% of bully-victims. In logistic regression models controlling for demographic and other risk and protective factors, a history of self-injury and emotional distress were risk factors that cross-cut the three bullying involvement groups. Physical abuse, sexual abuse, a mental health problem, and running away from home were additional risk factors for perpetrators only and victims only. Parent connectedness was a cross-cutting protective factor, whereas stronger perceived caring by friends and by nonparental adults were additional protective factors for some groups. Conclusions A range of risk and protective factors were associated with suicidal ideation and a suicide attempt among youth involved in verbal and social bullying. Findings may assist in identifying youth at increased risk for suicidal thinking and behavior and in promoting key protective factors.
cuBLASTP: Fine-Grained Parallelization of Protein Sequence Search on a GPU

BLAST, short for Basic Local Alignment Search Tool, is a fundamental algorithm in the life sciences that compares biological sequences. However, with the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) and increase in sequence read-lengths, whether at the outset or downstream from NGS, the exponential growth of sequence databases is arguably outstripping our ability to analyze the data. Though several recent studies have utilized the graphics processing unit (GPU) to speedup the BLAST algorithm for searching protein sequences (i.e., BLASTP), these studies used coarse-grained parallel approaches, where one sequence alignment is mapped to only one thread. Moreover, due to the irregular memory access patterns in BLASTP, there remain significant challenges to map the most time-consuming phases (i.e., hit detection and ungapped extension) to the GPU using a fine-grained multithreaded approach. To address the above issues, we propose cuBLASTP, an efficient fine-grained BLASTP implementation for the GPU using CUDA. Our cuBLASTP realization encompasses many research contributions, including (1) memory-access reordering to reorder hits from column-major order to diagonal-major order, (2) position-based indexing to map a hit with a packed data structure to a bin, (3) aggressive hit filtering to eliminate hits beyond the threshold distance along the diagonal, (4) diagonal-based parallelism and hit-based parallelism for ungapped extension to extend sequences with different lengths in databases, and (5) hierarchical buffering to reduce memory-access overhead for the core data structures. The experimental results show that on a NVIDIA Kepler GPU, cuBLASTP delivers up to a 5.0-fold speedup over sequential FSA-BLAST and a 3.7-fold speedup over multithreaded NCBI-BLAST for the overall program execution. In addition, compared with GPU-BLASTP (the fastest GPU implementation of BLASTP to date), cuBLASTP achieves up to a 2.8-fold speedup for the kernel execution on the GPU and a 1.8-fold speedup for the overall program execution.
The intelligence deed end: How you present it!

Introductory note: When I showed the following little piece to colleagues, I discovered that I was taking the risk of being completely misunderstood. French friends found it unfair and definitely anti-French …. while American friends found it unfair and definitely anti-American! I feel it necessary to now “state” my purpose (in the American way) or to defend my thesis (the French way). This piece was developed from a CI debriefing I attended at a large European firm. I knew the details of the report, and comparing it to what I was hearing, I sensed a huge waste of resources: where was the richness, the in-depth understanding that I appreciated in the report? Gone. The intelligence work was perfect, its presentation misleading. “It must have something to do with the way they present it,” I thought. I decided to address the issue in a humorous tone, purposefully exaggerating some aspects of the heavy “perceptual filters” (Starbuck and Miliken, 1988; Baumard 1994) that spoil our work as CI professionals. So, please, don't bite my finger—look where it is pointing!.
Jeannie: granting java native interface developers their wishes

Higher-level languages interface with lower-level languages such as C to access platform functionality, reuse legacy libraries, or improve performance. This raises the issue of how to best integrate different languages while also reconciling productivity, safety, portability, and efficiency. This paper presents Jeannie, a new language design for integrating Java with C. In Jeannie, both Javaand C code are nested within each other in the same file and compile down to JNI, the Java platform's standard foreign function interface. By combining the two languages' syntax and semantics, Jeannie eliminates verbose boiler-plate code, enables static error detection across the language boundary, and simplifies dynamic resource management. We describe the Jeannie language and its compiler, while also highlighting lessons from composing two mature programming languages.
Expiration-Day Effects of the All Ordinaries Share Price Index Futures: Empirical Evidence and Alternative Settlement Procedures

Stock index futures were the most successful financial innovation of the 1980s. In spite of their widespread use internationally, they continue to be criticised for causing ‘aberrations’ in the stock market, particularly on expiration days when futures contracts are cash-settled. This paper examines expiration-day effects of the Sydney Futures Exchange’s All Ordinaries Share Price Index (SPI) futures and discusses alternative futures settlement procedures. Our investigations indicate that, while index stock trading volume is abnormally high near the close on expiration days, price movements are not different from those observed on other days. In other words, the SPI futures cash settlement at the close appears to have worked well through our sample period. This study also describes and analyses the two basic alternative cash settlement procedures—a single price settlement and an average price settlement.
Double-Recessed High-Frequency AlInGaN/InGaN/GaN Metal–Oxide Double Heterostructure Field-Effect Transistors

We demonstrate a low-threshold AlInGaN/InGaN/GaN metal-oxide semiconductor double heterostructure field-effect transistor (MOS-DHFET) for high-frequency operation. A combination of an InGaN channel (for carrier confinement), a DRE process, and a new digital-oxide-deposition technique helped us to achieve MOS-DHFET devices with extremely low subthreshold leakage currents. This reduction in output conductance (short channel effect) resulted in a high cutoff gain frequency fT of about 65 GHz and a current gain frequency f max of 94 GHz. The devices exhibited high drain-currents of 1.3 A/mm and delivered RF powers of 3.1 W/mm at 26 GHz with a 35 V drain bias.
Instability after total elbow arthroplasty

Resurfacing total elbow arthroplasty is occasionally unstable. Instability may be related to insufficiency of the ligaments or improper tensioning and implant positioning at the time of surgery. Ligament reconstruction has produced mixed results; however, attempts to reconstruct the ligaments are probably worthwhile because conversion of a freshly cemented resurfacing implant to a semiconstrained hinge is very challenging.
VLSI based analog power system emulator for fast contingency analysis

This paper is concerned with the development of a fast, programmable, and reconfigurable power system emulator using an analog/mixed-signal VLSI microchip. The proposed microchip is capable of emulating behaviors of large power system networks under various conditions with faster than real-time computation time that is independent of the size of the power system network. The proposed model focuses on static security analysis, where the main objective is to access the existing operating state of the system. If the state is found to be secure, contingency analysis is performed to evaluate system vulnerability and time necessary to obtain such results. This time is compared to traditional computational techniques to evaluate static security of a power system. This paper discusses the design methodology of the proposed microchip and describes a smaller scale prototype of the analog emulator that is currently being developed on printed circuit boards (PCBs).
Topological excitations and Monte Carlo simulation of Abelian gauge theory

We study the phase structure of lattice electrodynamics in three and four dimensions using Monte Carlo simulation, with special emphasis on the topological excitations of the theory. We formulate an operational definition of a monopole and measure the density of monopoles as a function of coupling constant. In three dimensions and for strong coupling in four dimensions monopoles screen external magnetic fields. Below a critical coupling in four dimensions the external field penetrates into the bulk of the medium; this long-range correlation essentially shows that the lattice theory in weak coupling is characterized by a massless photon.
Software Connectors for Highly Distributed and Voluminous Data Intensive Systems

We describe a research agenda for selecting software connectors which quantifiably satisfy different scenarios for large volume data distribution. We outline the necessity for a framework which allows a user to select amongst the different distribution connectors available. The framework is based on a classification of distribution connectors along eight key dimensions of data distribution.
Processor architecture for software implementation of multi-sector G-RAKE receivers for HSUPA wireless infrastructure

The high speed uplink packet access (HSUPA) wireless standard requires extremely high-performance signal processing in the baseband receiver, the most challenging being the chip rate rake receiver. In this paper we describe the architectural enhancements on the IBM's PowerEN processor, to enable it to support the computational requirements of the rake receiver in a fully programmable and scalable fashion. A key feature of these enhancements is a bank-based very-large register file, with embedded single instruction multiple data (SIMD) support. This processor-in-regfile (PIR) strategy is implemented as local computation elements (LCEs) attached to each bank. This overcomes the limitation on the number of register file ports and at the same time enables high degree of parallelism. We show that these enhancements enable the integration of multi-sector HSUPA G-RAKE receivers on a single processor.
Utility Independence and Preferences for Multiattributed Consequences

This paper introduces and defines the concept of utility independence, and derives general expressions for simplifying the assessment of multiattribute utility functions, given that certain utility independence assumptions hold. These results are more general than the commonly used additive utility function, which is shown to be a special case. Finally, the paper discusses the relevance of this work as an approximation technique when requisite assumptions are not satisfied.
Is Lycopene an Effective Agent for Preventing Prostate Cancer

The role of lycopene, an open-chain carotenoid found in tomatoes and devoid of retinoid activity, as an anticarcinogenic, chemopreventive agent, especially for use in prostate cancer, is still under active investigation. In this issue, Qui and colleagues show that lycopene induces responses in human prostate epithelial cells that are antiproliferative, antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory, as well as downregulating targets in the androgen receptor signaling pathway. In this perspective, we review aspects of the molecular and cellular biology of lycopene that support its use for prevention of prostate cancer. Whether lycopene itself or its metabolites induce most of its benefits is still uncertain. At present, meta-analysis of clinical studies of lycopene for prevention of prostate cancer in men does not yet support the definitive clinical use of this carotenoid in a preventive setting.
Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch for Microwave Applications

A procedure for choosing the dimensions of a photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) for operation at microwave switching frequencies, and particularly at 10.0 GHZ, is described. The critical dimension is the switch length (electrode separation), which must be small enough to force photo-induced charge removal during switch turn-off via sweep out rather than recombination. The switch depth in the direction of turn-on optical pulse absorption must be several optical absorption depths long to ensure absorption of all the incident light, which optimizes optical to electrical signal gain. The switch width is determined in conjunction with the peak intensity of the optical pulse because the switch width-optical intensity product, which represents optical power, determines both the on-state switch resistance and the turn-off delay time. Simulations show that a switch with a 0.5 mum length, 5.0 mum depth, and 20 mum width, illuminated with 1.0 W optical pulses at 10 GHz, will have a 0.23 Omega on-state resistance and a 46 ps turn-off time.
Temperature coupling and trade-off phenomena in the acoustic communication system of the cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus De Geer (Gryllidae)

The effects of ambient temperature on stridulation (calling song) in males, and phonotaxis in females, were studied in the chirping cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus . In the male, temperature had the greatest effect on the syllable and chirp repetition rates. Both increased linearly with increasing temperature between 15 and 24°C; there was no effect of temperature on these temporal properties at higher temperatures (24–33°C). Syllable duration, number of syllables per chirp and dominant frequency remained relatively unaffected by changes in temperature. Stridulation and phonotaxis were temperature coupled because the female at 15, 22 and 30°C responded best to synthetic songs with syllable and chirp repetition rates that matched these temporal properties of the male9s calling song at the same temperature. The phonotactic behaviour of the female indicates that certain combinations of temporal properties in the male9s calling Song improve the female9s response at different temperatures, suggesting the presence of ‘trade-off’ phenomena in phonotaxis and pattern recognition in G. bimaculatus .
ON THE CALCULATION OF INTRA-CLASS AND INTER-CLASS COEFFICIENTS OF CORRELATION FROM CLASS MOMENTS WHEN THE NUMBER OF POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS IS LARGE

IF onie designates as classes the groups of measurements or evaluations segregated out of the whole series under consideration, then those correlations which measure the similarity in character of the individuals of the same class may be designated as intra-class coefficients of correlation, while those which rneasure the resemblance between the individuals of different buit (in some manner) related classes may be designated as inter-class coefficients of correlation.
Development of congenics for hypnotic sensitivity to ethanol by QTL-marker-assisted counter selection.

Mouse strains congenic for individual quantitative trait loci (QTLs) conferring hypnotic sensitivity to ethanol were constructed by backcrossing genotypically selected ILS × ISS N2 individuals to either inbred Long Sleep (ILS) or inbred Short Sleep (ISS) mice. We used a novel ``speed congenic'' approach in which N2 mice were genotyped for markers flanking each of the five originally identified QTLs. Genotypic selection for ISS regions at four of the five QTLs, and for ILS/ISS at the fifth QTL, allowed rapid fixation of the genetic background. We call this strategy ``QTL-Marker-Assisted Counter Selection'' or QMACS. By the N4 generation, phenotypic assessments showed that in some sublines the QTL had not been captured; these sublines were discarded and positive lines split to create new replicate sublines. One QTL, on Chromosome (Chr) 8, was not confirmed. At the N8, virtually all sublines on the remaining QTLs retained the phenotypic difference between heterozygotes and ISS homozygotes. Small numbers of interim congenics were produced at the N6 and later generations in which the ILS QTL was made homozygous on the ISS background; as expected, these congenic mice showed an increased sleep time. For later backcrosses (after the N4), the parents were selected on the basis of phenotype as well as genotype. The parent-offspring correlation over all QTLs was significant, supporting the use of phenotypic selection in congenic construction.
In vitro transformation of rabbit cytotrophoblast cells into syncytiotrophoblast: stimulation of hormone secretion by progesterone and dibutyryl cyclic 3',5'-adenosine monophosphate.

Rabbit placenta syncytiotrophoblast cells exhibit immunostaining for the hormone relaxin. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the ability of cultured rabbit trophoblast cells to secrete immunoreactive (IR) relaxin and then to study the effects of progesterone, which is essential for maintenance of the placenta and of pregnancy in the rabbit, on that secretion. On Day 1, both treated and untreated trophoblast cell cultures consisted of 90% relaxin-negative mononuclear cells (cytotrophoblast and fibroblast) and 10% relaxin-positive multinuclear cells (syncytiotrophoblast). Media from untreated cultures, collected throughout 9 days of culture, contained low but constant levels of relaxin. Electron microscopy studies indicated that relaxin was localized in dense granules of the multinuclear cells and that these cells formed by fusion of mononuclear cytotrophoblast. Progesterone treatment (40 and 80 ng/ml) increased (p < 0.0001) media concentrations of relaxin, increased the number of desmosomes between cytotrophoblast cells (12 vs. 4 for controls on Day 5), and increased the percentage of multinuclear cells (73% of the cell population vs. 20% for controls on Day 7). Specificity of the progesterone effect was evaluated by treatment of cultures with dibutyryl cAMP (dbcAMP), insulin, hCG, estradiol-17p, prostaglandin E,, and prostaglandin FF,. Only dbcAMP (2 mM and 4 mM) produced an increase (p < 0.0001) in media concentrations of relaxin. These results indicate that, like the intact placenta, cultured cytotrophoblast cells fuse to form syncytiotrophoblast and that the latter contain IR relaxin.
Effects of a spring prescribed burn on the soil seed bank in sagebrush steppe exhibiting pinyon-juniper expansion

Pinyon-juniper (Pinus monophylla-Juniperus osteosperma) woodlands are expanding into shrubsteppe ecosystems in western portions of the Great Basin. Often, highly competitive trees displace the understory, and pre- scribed fire is increasingly used as a restoration tool. To inform management decisions about post-fire recovery, we examined immediate and long-term (i.e., 2 growing seasons) responses of the germinable seed bank to a spring pre- scribed fire. One week before and 1 week after a May 2002 prescribed burn, soil samples were taken under P. mono- phylla trees, under Artemisia tridentata ssp. vaseyana shrubs, and from interspace microsites. Two growing seasons after the prescribed burn, soil samples were taken from the same microsites and from similar microsites in an adjacent unburned area. Prior to the burn, the germinable seed bank under shrubs contained the highest seed density and the highest species richness followed by interspace and tree microsites. Shrub litter was consumed by the burn, causing complete loss of the seed bank from that microsite and depleting the A. tridentata seed bank. Interestingly, the density of germinable seeds in soil under P. monophylla trees increased immediately following the burn; 70% of that increase originated from the annual forb Descurainia pinnata. Two growing seasons following the prescribed burn, no overall dif- ferences in germinable seed density between burned and unburned plots were observed, but seed bank species compo- sition differed, with seed banks in the prescribed burn having a greater abundance of Eriogonum elatum, E. microthe- cum, and Gayophytum diffusum compared to unburned plots, which had a greater abundance of A. tridentata, Lappula occidentalis, and Descurainia pinnata. Our results indicate that rapid restoration to prefire vegetation cannot rely upon the soil seed bank. To ensure rapid recovery, land managers should select sites for prescribed burns that have fire-tolerant perennial vegetation.
Factors affecting post-control reinvasion by seed of an invasive species, Phragmites australis , in the central Platte River, Nebraska

Invasive plants, such as Phragmites australis, can profoundly affect channel environments of large rivers by stabilizing sediments and altering water flows. Invasive plant removal is considered necessary where restoration of dynamic channels is needed to provide critical habitat for species of conservation concern. However, these programs are widely reported to be inefficient. Post-control reinvasion is frequent, suggesting increased attention is needed to prevent seed regeneration. To develop more effective responses to this invader in the Central Platte River (Nebraska, USA), we investigated several aspects of Phragmites seed ecology potentially linked to post-control reinvasion, in comparison to other common species: extent of viable seed production, importance of water transport, and regeneration responses to hydrology. We observed that although Phragmites seed does not mature until very late in the ice-free season, populations produce significant amounts of viable seed (>50 % of filled seed). Most seed transported via water in the Platte River are invasive perennial species, although Phragmites abundances are much lower than species such as Lythrum salicaria, Cyperus esculentus and Phalaris arundinacea. Seed regeneration of Phragmites varies greatly depending on hydrology, especially timing of water level changes. Flood events coinciding with the beginning of seedling emergence reduced establishment by as much as 59 % compared to flood events that occurred a few weeks later. Results of these investigations suggest that prevention of seed set (i.e., by removal of flowering culms) should be a priority in vegetation stands not being treated annually. After seeds are in the seedbank, preventing reinvasion using prescribed flooding has a low chance of success given that Phragmites can regenerate in a wide variety of hydrologic microsites.
Disturbance robustness measures and wrench-feasible workspace generation techniques for cable-driven robots

Cable robots are a type of robotic manipulator that has recently attracted interest for large workspace manipulation tasks. Cable robots are relatively simple in form, with multiple cables attached to a mobile platform or end-effector. The end-effector is manipulated by motors that can extend or retract the cables. Cable robots have many desirable characteristics, including low inertial properties, high payload-to-weight ratios, potentially vast workspaces, transportability, ease of disassembly/reassembly, reconfigurability and economical construction and maintenance. However, relatively few analytical tools are available for analyzing and designing these manipulators. This thesis focuses on expanding the existing theoretical framework for the design and analysis of cable robots in two areas: disturbance robustness and workspace generation. Underconstrained cable robots cannot resist arbitrary external disturbances acting on the end-effector. Thus a disturbance robustness measure for general underconstrained single-body and multi-body cable robots is presented. This measure captures the robustness of the manipulator to both static and impulsive disturbances. Additionally, a wrench-based method of analyzing cable robots has been developed and is used to formulate a method of generating the Wrench-Feasible Workspace of cable robots. This workspace consists of the set of all poses of the manipulator where a specified set of wrenches (force/moment combinations) can be exerted. For many applications the Wrench-Feasible Workspace constitutes the set of all usable poses. The concepts of robustness and workspace generation are then combined to introduce a new workspace: the Specified Robustness Workspace. This workspace consists of the set of all poses of the manipulator that meet or exceed a specified robustness value.
HSAs - the 'Sleeper' in the Drug Bill

Health savings accounts (HSAs), says Aaron, may well be the most important provision of the recently enacted Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act. HSAs substantially reduce the distinctions between employer-financed health insurance and pensions or other employer contributions to tax-sheltered retirement saving. Tax treatment of HSAs, he explains, is more favorable than that accorded to qualified pensions, 401(k) plans, IRAs, or other "tax-sheltered" saving. By reducing the barriers between health insurance and retirement saving, HSAs should cause many employers to reexamine the form and composition of both health and pension benefits. In particular, many employers may find it attractive to adopt high-deductible insurance and deposit into HSAs amounts at least equal to the gap between the old, low-deductible and the new, higher deductible and pay for the added cost of that shift through cutbacks in defined-contribution pension deposits. Aaron concludes that claims that HSAs will have a large impact on total health care spending are overblown because only a small fraction of total health outlays occurs during episodes of care that are less costly than high-deductible insurance limits.
Introduction to the Focus Section on Validation of the SCEC Broadband Platform V14.3 Simulation Methods

This Special Focus Section comprises a collection of eight papers describing recent advances in methods for the broadband simulation of earthquake ground motions and their evaluation against recorded data and empirical models. In the jargon of engineering seismology, “broadband” implies seismograms with periods ranging from less than 0.1 s to greater than 10 s. Broadband simulations are of scientific and engineering interest because they provide complete time histories that can be useful in ground‐motion forecasting, especially for parameter ranges that are poorly sampled by observed seismograms. The papers in this collection document a coordinated exercise, conducted by the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) in collaboration with the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) Center, which takes important steps toward validating broadband simulation methods for engineering purposes. The exercise was driven by two major hazard modeling efforts, the South Western United States (SWUS) ground‐motion characterization project and the PEER Next Generation Attenuation project for central and eastern North America (NGA‐East). Both projects require simulations to supplement observations for constraining ground‐motion prediction equations (GMPEs) and characterizing their epistemic uncertainties. The first paper, by Goulet et al. (2015), describes the objectives and design of the study. The validations were done in two parts: against …
MicroRNA conjugated gold nanoparticles and cell transfection.

While the importance of microRNAs (miRNAs) in cancer treatment or manipulation of genetic expression has been increasingly recognized for developing miRNA-based therapies, the controlled delivery of miRNAs into specific cells constitutes a challenging task. This report describes preliminary findings from an investigation of the conjugation of gold nanoparticles with miRNAs (miRNA–AuNPs) and their cell transfection. The immobilization of miRNAs on the AuNPs was detected, and the surface stability was substantiated by gel electrophoresis assessment of the highly charged characteristics of miRNA–AuNPs and their surface-exchange inactivity with a highly charged surfactant. The miRNA–AuNPs were tested in cell transfection using multiple myeloma cells, demonstrating efficient knockdown in the functional luciferase assay. The findings have important implications for understanding the mechanistic details of cell transfection involving miRNA-conjugated nanoparticles as biosensing or targeting probes.
Using Simulation to Teach Critical Thinking Skills: You Can’t Just Throw the Book at Them

It is the job of an educator not only to teach the necessary information required to care for critically ill patients, but also to ensure that the student is able to apply his or her learning during patient care. This article discusses the importance of incorporating critical thinking in education programs. While there are not yet clearly proven strategies for teaching critical thinking, the simulation strategy described in this article is one possibility that holds great promise.
Big Data, Dopamine and Privacy by Design

Privacy considerations are unavoidable in human computing endeavors, and both our decision making biases and biology may play a much larger role than commonly acknowledged in privacy related decision making. Decision making considerations such as temporal discounting and how our neurochemistry and neurobiology, including production of compounds such as dopamine, are impacted by social engagement need to be considered in human computing efforts if we are to protect participants privacy rights. Addressing privacy rights in human computing could be highly disruptive to existing approaches to online interaction design and commercial business models and will likely require adoption of privacy principles such as Privacy By Design to be successful.
Effects of relaxin on rat atrial myocytes. I. Inhibition of I(to) via PKA-dependent phosphorylation

The peptide hormone relaxin has direct, positive inotropic and chronotropic effects on rat hearts in vivo and in vitro. Relaxin's effects on the electrophysiological properties of single quiescent atrial cells from normal rats were investigated with a whole cell patch clamp. Relaxin had a significant inhibitory effect on outward potassium currents. The outward potassium current consisted of a transient component (I(to)) and a sustained component (I(S)). The addition of 100 ng/ml of relaxin inhibited the peak I(to) in a voltage-dependent manner (74% inhibition at a membrane potential of -10 mV to 30% inhibition at +70 mV). The time to reach peak I(to) and the apparent time constant of inactivation of I(to) were increased by relaxin. Dialysis with the protein kinase A inhibitor 5-24 amide (2 microM) prevented relaxin's effects, suggesting an obligatory role for this kinase in the relaxin-dependent regulation of the potassium current.
Taming the Angry Beast

Fixing Climate. What Past Climate Changes Reveal About the Current Threat--and How to Counter It. By Wallace S. Broecker and Robert Kunzig. Hill and Wang (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), New York, 2008. 269 pp. $25. ISBN 9780809045013. The authors discuss how human activities have triggered the possibility of catastrophic climate change, how we have come to recognize the threat, and what steps we might take to reduce the damages