cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Transoral robotic surgery: Differences between online information and academic literature.

Abstract Objectives Evaluate the authorship, content, quality, and readability of information on Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS) available to patients online. Methods The technical search term “TORS Surgery” and layperson's term “robotic surgery of the mouth” were utilized to conduct a search of the top 50 websites on Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Websites were evaluated according to the HONcode evaluation of content and quality, and readability was assessed using the Flesch Reading Ease Formula, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Formula, SMOG readability formula, Coleman Liau Index formula, and Gunning Fog Index. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Fisher Freeman- Halton test to compare differences in authorship, quality, and content between the three search engines and the Fisher exact test was used to determine if there was a difference in these variables between the two search terms. Results Overall, websites were predominantly from academic institutions with 97% mentioning benefits of TORS with 24% mentioning risks. 45% of TORS websites had no description of the TORS procedure, while 62% allowed individuals to make appointments. There was a significant difference in authorship with the layperson's terms yielding more news sources, but there were no significant differences in quality and content of information elicited through the technical and layperson search terms. The mean readability scores were Flesch Kincaid Grade Level 13.81(±3.32), Gunning-Fog Index 16.51(±3.39), SMOG 12.53(±2.40), and Automated Readability Index 14.05 (±4.17). Conclusions Current online information on TORS surgery may not provide balanced information for patients to make informed healthcare decisions. The current readability of online information regarding TORS far exceeds the average literacy level of average American adults.
Computing GC Content

Nucleic acids are the chief information-bearing molecules in cells. Recall that they consist of polymers of repeating units called nucleotides that contain a sugar, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous structure called a base . The base is the part that is variable and thus carries information. In deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) there are four types of bases: adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T). The sequence of a nucleic acid polymer is defined by the order of these bases, which we can represent with a string of A's, C's, G's, and T's. Large strands of DNA, such as are found in bacterial chromosomes, can have millions of nucleotide units. Though you might expect that the four bases would occur in roughly equal numbers in such sequences, this is often not the case. The percentage of nucleotides that are G or C, called the GC content , varies considerably among organisms and can be used to categorize and compare them. For example, Salmonella enterica typhi , the pathogenic species of Salmonella that causes typhoid fever, has a GC content of approximately 52%. The GC content of other bacteria ranges from about 25% to 75%.
A New Doctrine for Hardware Security

In this paper, we promote the idea that recent woes in hardware security are not because of a lack of technical solutions but rather because market forces and incentives prevent those with the ability to fix problems from doing so. At the root of the problem is the fact that hardware security comes at a cost; Present issues in hardware security can be seen as the result of the players in the game of hardware security finding ways of avoiding paying this cost. We formulate this idea into a doctrine of security, namely the Doctrine of Shared Burdens. Three cases studies---Rowhammer, Spectre, and Meltdown---are interpreted though the lens of this doctrine. Our doctrine illuminates why these problems and exist and what can be done about them.
Lesion evolution and neurodegeneration in RVCL-S: A monogenic microvasculopathy.

Objective To characterize lesion evolution and neurodegeneration in retinal vasculopathy with cerebral leukoencephalopathy and systemic manifestations (RVCL-S) using multimodal MRI. Methods We prospectively performed MRI and cognitive testing in RVCL-S and healthy control cohorts. Gray and white matter volume and disruption of white matter microstructure were quantified. Asymmetric spin echo acquisition permitted voxel-wise oxygen extraction fraction (OEF) calculation as an in vivo marker of microvascular ischemia. The RVCL-S cohort was included in a longitudinal analysis of lesion subtypes in which hyperintense lesions on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), T1-postgadolinium, and diffusion-weighted imaging were delineated and quantified volumetrically. Results Twenty individuals with RVCL-S and 26 controls were enrolled. White matter volume and microstructure declined faster in those with RVCL–S compared to controls. White matter atrophy in RVCL-S was highly linear (ρ = −0.908, p Conclusion RVCL-S is a monogenic microvasculopathy affecting predominantly the white matter with regard to atrophy and cognitive impairment. White matter volumes in RVCL-S declined linearly, providing a potential metric against which to test the efficacy of future therapies. Progressive elevation of white matter OEF suggests that microvascular ischemia may underlie neurodegeneration in RVCL-S.
Public Sculpture Exhibitions in Neighborhoods: Arts-Driven, Heritage-Based, Urban Revitalization, and Social Practice (Part 1)

I put Sculpt EVV forward as an ethical, social practice model that expands, combines, or counters established museum and sculpture park engagement practices as well as established urban planning practices. Sculpt EVV consisted of four, juried, outdoor exhibitions of contemporary sculptures from across the continental United States. The works were displayed on approximately three and one-half residential blocks at the intersection of three economically challenged and culturally underserved inner-city neighborhoods. I summarize how the combination of arts-driven social practice with heritage identification and production can realize community development and economic development outcomes and how the city of Evansville mitigates gentrification and maintains income diversity in the revitalized neighborhoods.
Leptomeningeal Carcinomatosis Secondary to a Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumor.

A 66-year-old male presented to the emergency department (ED) with altered mental status and concern for stroke. Seven months prior to presentation, the patient was diagnosed with a benign gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST), for which he did not receive further workup. Initially, there was a concern for a stroke, however, CT of the brain, CT angiography of the head and neck, and MRI of the brain were negative for any acute abnormalities. Lumbar puncture (LP) revealed a low glucose level with increased protein and white blood cells in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The patient did not display the typical signs and symptoms of meningitis, however, inpatient antibiotic treatment was initiated. The patient continued to deteriorate and repeat LP with cytology was ordered, which revealed malignant cells that were similar to the biopsy of the GIST; our patient was diagnosed with leptomeningeal carcinomatosis (LMC) secondary to the GIST. This case report presents a rare complication of a solid GIST and highlights the need for a high clinical index of suspicion for LMC, including those previously deemed to be benign.
Digest: Predicting the future by learning from the past in lizards’ thermal traits

How do traitsevolve on a global scale? Ibarguengoytia et al. provide a framework for understanding the evolutionary history of thermal traits in a broadly diverse lizard family Liolaemidae and find that the lizards' body temperature has evolved following the change in air temperature over the past ∼20,000 years, while the preferred body temperature for physiological functions has evolved at a lower rate. This difference results in a higher buffer to respond to global climate change, in particular for viviparous species, which usually show lower body temperatures in their natural environments. Oviparous species from the arid environments are at higher risk of extinction in the family Liolaemidae.
Biosynthesis and Assembly of Outer Membrane Lipoprotein in E. coli

The outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria contains abundant copies of a limited number of proteins, the so-called major outer membrane proteins. One of the major outer membrane proteins in E. coli and other gram-negative bacteria is the murein lipoprotein (Braun and Rehn, 1969). The NH2 terminus of this protein consists of a novel amino acid, glycerylcysteine. Two moles of fatty acid are attached to the glyceryl moiety through ester linkage, and one mole of fatty acid is amide-linked to the amino group of the cysteine moiety (Hantke and Braun, 1973).
Growth and Neutron Diffraction Experiments on Single Crystals of Deuterium

Neutron and X-ray diffraction studies1–3 of crystalline solid solutions of orthodeuterium and paradeuterium using powder-sample techniques have clearly demonstrated the existence of a low-temperature cubic phase for solutions of high (> 65%) paradeuterium content. The neutron diffraction studies2,3 indicate the cubic phase to be of space group Pa3 with four molecules per unit cell, whereas the X-ray diffraction1 indicates an fcc structure. To further elucidate the low-temperature structure of enriched paradeuterium samples, we have undertaken a neutron diffraction study of single crystals in the temperature interval 1–18°K. We report here some preliminary experiments to establish techniques for preparing and cooling single-crystal samples. Four cell designs were tested in these experiments. All cells were cylindrical and of nominal size 3 mm diameter × 4 cm long.
Can DREs provide long-lasting security? the case of return-oriented programming and the AVC advantage

A secure voting machine design must withstand new attacks devised throughout its multi-decade service lifetime. In this paper, we give a case study of the longterm security of a voting machine, the Sequoia AVC Advantage, whose design dates back to the early 80s. The AVC Advantage was designed with promising security features: its software is stored entirely in read-only memory and the hardware refuses to execute instructions fetched from RAM. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that an attacker can induce the AVC Advantage to misbehave in arbitrary ways--including changing the outcome of an election--by means of a memory cartridge containing a specially-formatted payload. Our attack makes essential use of a recently-invented exploitation technique called return-oriented programming, adapted here to the Z80 processor. In return-oriented programming, short snippets of benign code already present in the system are combined to yield malicious behavior. Our results demonstrate the relevance of recent ideas from systems security to voting machine research, and vice versa. We had no access either to source code or documentation beyond that available on Sequoia's web site. We have created a complete vote-stealing demonstration exploit and verified that it works correctly on the actual hardware.
Phylogenetic Affinity of a Wide, Vacuolate, Nitrate-Accumulating Beggiatoa sp. from Monterey Canyon, California, with Thioploca spp.

Environmentally dominant members of the genus Beggiatoa and Thioploca spp. are united by unique morphological and physiological adaptations (S. C. McHatton, J. P. Barry, H. W. Jannasch, and D. C. Nelson, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 62:954–958, 1996). These adaptations include the presence of very wide filaments (width, 12 to 160 μm), the presence of a central vacuole comprising roughly 80% of the cellular biovolume, and the capacity to internally concentrate nitrate at levels ranging from 150 to 500 mM. Until recently, the genera Beggiatoa and Thioploca were recognized and differentiated on the basis of morphology alone; they were distinguished by the fact that numerous Thioploca filaments are contained within a common polysaccharide sheath, while Beggiatoa filaments occur singly. Vacuolate Beggiatoa or Thioploca spp. can dominate a variety of marine sediments, seeps, and vents, and it has been proposed (H. Fossing, V. A. Gallardo, B. B. Jorgensen, M. Huttel, L. P. Nielsen, H. Schulz, D. E. Canfield, S. Forster, R. N. Glud, J. K. Gundersen, J. Kuver, N. B. Ramsing, A. Teske, B. Thamdrup, and O. Ulloa, Nature [London] 374:713–715, 1995) that members of the genus Thioploca are responsible for a significant portion of total marine denitrification. In order to investigate the phylogeny of an environmentally dominant Beggiatoa sp., we analyzed complete 16S rRNA gene sequence data obtained from a natural population found in Monterey Canyon cold seeps. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis of a clone library revealed a dominant clone, which gave rise to a putative Monterey Beggiatoa 16S rRNA sequence. Fluorescent in situ hybridization with a sequence-specific probe confirmed that this sequence originated from wide Beggiatoa filaments (width, 65 to 85 μm). A phylogenetic tree based on evolutionary distances indicated that the Monterey Beggiatoa sp. falls in the gamma subdivision of the class Proteobacteria and is most closely related to the genus Thioploca. This vacuolate Beggiatoa—Thioploca cluster and a more distantly related freshwater Beggiatoa species cluster form a distinct phylogenetic group.
Dynamic filtering of stochastic solar resources using HVAC drive control — A determination of feasible bandwidth

This paper defines a bandwidth over which power electronic HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning) drives can operate such that when integrated with stochastic solar power they act as an effective electric swing bus to mitigate solar power variability. In doing so, grid power is shown to be substantially more constant, reducing the need for fast grid resources or dedicated energy storage. The concept is equivalent to using building thermal energy as virtual dynamic storage in support of power grid operation. Two years of solar data have been collected on sub-millisecond time scales to test the results. Here a three-day sample is used to evaluate efficacy, determine solar frequency-domain content, and test a low-pass filtering concept introduced to model ideal power compensation. A more practical band-pass filter is realized that provides 1) lower frequency bounds such that the building maintains consistent room temperature via the HVAC system as demonstrated by a thermal modeling study, and 2) upper frequency bounds that ensure commanded HVAC fan speeds do not update arbitrarily fast. The latter primarily avoids acoustic discomfort to users. The combination is illustrated by experimental results based on various update rates of a variable frequency fan drive over a sample of actual stochastic solar data.
Constraints management--recent advances and practices

In this preface, I provide a brief historical background and basic concepts of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) for the sake of researchers new to TOC, present a summary of the papers accepted for this special issue within a framework, and then point out a few potential research issues I think will have substantial impact on the future TOC research, specifically in the production management arena.
Images as bags of pixels

We propose modeling images and related visual objects as bags of pixels or sets of vectors. For instance, gray scale images are modeled as a collection or bag of (X, Y, I) pixel vectors. This representation implies a permutational invariance over the bag of pixels, which is naturally handled by endowing each image with a permutation matrix. Each matrix permits the image to span a manifold of multiple configurations, capturing the vector set's invariance to orderings or permutation transformations. Permutation configurations are optimized while jointly modeling many images via maximum likelihood. The solution is a uniquely solvable convex program, which computes correspondence simultaneously for all images (as opposed to traditional pairwise correspondence solutions). Maximum likelihood performs a nonlinear dimensionality reduction, choosing permutations that compact the permuted image vectors into a volumetrically minimal subspace. This is highly suitable for principal components analysis which, when applied to the permutationally invariant bag of pixels representation, outperforms PCA on appearance-based vectorization by orders of magnitude. Furthermore, the bag of pixels subspace benefits from automatic correspondence estimation, giving rise to meaningful linear variations such as morphings, translations, and jointly spatio-textural image transformations. Results are shown for several datasets.
New Twists on the Deverson Axial-Flow Compressor Rotor

Goto has presented data in the literature for the Deverson axial flow compressor rotor in a single stage environment. The flow features tip leakage and hub corner stall. In this paper, 3-d turbulent steady flow calculations for the rotor are used to determine if, and how, this rotor can be a useful CFD test case. The sensitivity of the CFD results to unknowns about the test case environment is computed. In particular the influences of blade twist, hub gap leakage flow between rotating and stationary components, and a departure from a radial equilibrium pressure distribution at the rotor exit are investigated. Evidence in support of these phenomena is presented and discussed, their likely magnitudes are suggested, and their influence on the rotor performance is quantified.Copyright © 1997 by ASME
A prospective, randomized trial of Unna's boots versus hydroactive dressing in the treatment of venous statis ulcers

In many centers the standard treatment for venous stasis ulcers consists of UB dressings. A new dressing, DuoDERM hydroactive dressing (HD), has recently been used extensively for the treatment of venous stasis ulcers. Because of this trend, a prospective, randomized trial of these two dressings was undertaken. Sixty-nine ulcers (39 HD and 30 UB) were randomized. End points were complete healing and development of complications necessitating cessation of treatment. Time to healing, cost of treatment, and patient convenience were also evaluated. Twenty-one of 30 ulcers (70%) healed with UB therapy compared with 15 of 39 ulcers (38%) treated with HD (p less than 0.01, CST). Life-table healing rates at 15 weeks were 64% for UB compared with 35% for HD (p = 0.01, log rank test). Ten of 39 patients (26%) receiving HD had complications compared with no complications in the UB group (p = 0.004, FET). For those patients whose ulcers healed, there was no significant difference (p = 0.51, STT) in the mean time required for healing or the average weekly cost of dressing materials between the HD group (7.0 weeks at +11.50 per week) and the UB group (8.4 weeks at +12.60 per week). Those patients treated with HD reported a significantly greater level of convenience than those patients with UB (p = 0.004, STT). Although treatment with HD led to better patient acceptance, those patients receiving UB therapy had a significantly greater rate of healing and a significantly lesser incidence of complications than those patients treated with HD.
Improved Detection of the G1528C Mutation in LCHAD Deficiency

Abstract Long-chain 3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydrogenase (LCHAD) deficiency, an autosomal recessive disorder of fatty-acid oxidation, is clinically characterized by skeletal myopathy, Reye-like syndrome, or sudden unexplained infant death. A common mutation, G1528C, has recently been reported. To avoid nonspecific amplification from a “pseudogene” and potential complications, we have developed a nested PCR/PstI digestion method. Here, we report mutation studies in 11 additional unrelated patients with LCHAD deficiency. Genomic DNA fragments (117 bp) were amplified by the nested PCR, digested withPstI, and subjected to electrophoresis on 12% polyacrylamide gel. Four patients were found to be homozygous for the G1528C mutation; 7 patients were compound heterozygous, indicating significant genetic heterogeneity. The G1528C mutation has been found on at least one allele in all patients with isolated LCHAD deficiency, suggesting that it is an excellent marker for this disease. This DNA test combined with tandem mass-spectrometricin vitroprobe analysis easily identifies affected individuals and carriers in families which are compound heterozygous for G1528C.
Estimating time parameters of overland flow on impervious surfaces by the particle tracking method

AbstractTravel time and time of concentration Tc are important time parameters in hydrological designs. Although Tc is the time for the runoff to travel to the outlet from the most remote part of the catchment, most researchers have used an indirect method such as hydrograph analysis to estimate Tc. A quasi two-dimensional diffusion wave model with particle tracking for overland flow was developed to determine the travel time, and validated for runoff discharges, velocities, and depths. Travel times for 85%, 95% and 100% of particles arrival at the outlet of impervious surfaces (i.e. Tt85, Tt95, and Tt100) were determined for 530 model runs. The correlations between these travel times and Tc estimated from hydrograph analysis showed a significant agreement between Tc and Tt85. All the travel times showed nonlinear relationships with the input variables (plot length, slope, roughness coefficient, and effective rainfall intensity) but showed linear relationships with each other.Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Asso...
NASA delegation returns from China

An aeronautics delegation, headed by Alan Lovelace, NASA deputy administrator has returned to the U.S. after 2 week in China, where it visited Chinese aeronautical research and development facilities. Invited to make the trip by the Chinese aeronautical establishment, the group met with Chinese colleagues and lectured on NASA aeronautical research and development activities. NASA has invited the Chinese establishment to send a delegation to the United States for a similar visit in September 1980. The Chinese delegation is to visit NASA headquarters, NASA research center's specializing in aeronautics, and other aeronautical research and development facilities in the United States.
Seven at one stroke: results from a cache-oblivious paradigm for scalable matrix algorithms

A blossoming paradigm for block-recursive matrix algorithms is presented that, at once, attains excellent performance measured by• time• TLB misses• L1 misses• L2 misses• paging to disk• scaling on distributed processors, and• portability to multiple platforms.It provides a philosophy and tools that allow the programmer to deal with the memory hierarchy invisibly, from L1 and L2 to TLB, paging, and interprocessor communication. Used together, they provide a cache-oblivious style of programming.Plots are presented to support these claims on an implementation of Cholesky factorization crafted directly from the paradigm in C with a few intrinsic calls. The results in this paper focus on low-level performance, including the new Morton-hybrid representation to take advantage of hardware and compiler optimizations. In particular, this code beats Intel's Matrix Kernel Library and matches AMD's Core Math Library, losing a bit on L1 misses while winning decisively on TLB-misses.
Naphthyridine chemistry. XII. Syntheses of N‐oxides

The syntheses of the various 1,X-naphthyridine mono- and di-N-oxides as well as the 2-mono-and 2,7-di-N-oxides of 2,7-naphthyridine are reported. The PMR spectra of these compounds have been analyzed in detail.
Action Unit Models of Facial Expression of Emotion in the Presence of Speech

Automatic recognition of emotion using facial expressions in the presence of speech poses a unique challenge because talking reveals clues for the affective state of the speaker but distorts the canonical expression of emotion on the face. We introduce a corpus of acted emotion expression where speech is either present (talking) or absent (silent). The corpus is uniquely suited for analysis of the interplay between the two conditions. We use a multimodal decision level fusion classifier to combine models of emotion from talking and silent faces as well as from audio to recognize five basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happy and sad. Our results strongly indicate that emotion prediction in the presence of speech from action unit facial features is less accurate when the person is talking. Modeling talking and silent expressions separately and fusing the two models greatly improves accuracy of prediction in the talking setting. The advantages are most pronounced when silent and talking face models are fused with predictions from audio features. In this multi-modal prediction both the combination of modalities and the separate models of talking and silent facial expression of emotion contribute to the improvement.
The other side of value: The gross profitability premium.

Abstract Profitability, measured by gross profits-to-assets, has roughly the same power as book-to-market predicting the cross section of average returns. Profitable firms generate significantly higher returns than unprofitable firms, despite having significantly higher valuation ratios. Controlling for profitability also dramatically increases the performance of value strategies, especially among the largest, most liquid stocks. These results are difficult to reconcile with popular explanations of the value premium, as profitable firms are less prone to distress, have longer cash flow durations, and have lower levels of operating leverage. Controlling for gross profitability explains most earnings related anomalies and a wide range of seemingly unrelated profitable trading strategies.
Arterectomy in the treatment of intractable pain following recovery from acute arterial occlusion

Abstract After recovery from acute occlusion of a major artery to the extremity, even though the circulation is sufficient for tissue nutrition, the patient may develop severe rest pain with paresthesias and numbness of the extremity. This pain has been termed ischemic neuritis. Temporary relief may be obtained by blocking the sympathetic nerves to the leg, but sympathectomy is contraindicated. In a series of ten patients the site of obstruction was visualized by arteriography. Excision of a segment of the thrombosed artery was followed by immediate relief from the pain. There was no significant increase in circulation after this procedure. It is believed that arterectomy is of value in the treatment of this type of pain through the interruption of some nervous reflex which originates from the thrombosed artery.
Commutators in Banach *-algebras

The set of commutators in a Banach -algebra A, with continuous invo- lution, is examined. Applications are made to the case where A = B('2), the algebra of all bounded linear operators on '2. 1. Introduction. We present a study of commutators, elements of the form (x;y) = xy yx in Banach and Banach -algebras. Commutators have been examined carefully in the case of B(X), the algebra of all bounded linear operators on a Hilbert space X. We cite the book by Putnam (11), where further references can be found. Let A be a Banach -algebra with a continuous involution. Our results also apply to any Banach algebra if the conclusions involving the involution are ignored. Throughout we let E denote a closed linear subspace in A. We let C denote the set of all commutators in A, and let Z(E) denote the center of A modulo E, the set of all a2 A such that (a;x)2 E for all x2 A. In Herstein's book (9, p. 5), this notion was studied for ring theory under the notation T (E). He showed (9, Lemma 1.4) that T (E) is both a subring and a Lie ideal if E is a Lie ideal. Suppose that A has an identity and that E 6 C. We show that the complement of Z(E) contains a set where x 2 and x n 2 for all positive integers n whenever x2 . This implies that the set D(E) of all (a;b)2 C such that (a k ;b r ) =
Variation in prescription contraceptive pricing across Florida ZIP code income groups.

Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to explore average monthly cost of commonly prescribed oral and transvaginal contraceptives, across ZIP code income groups, in Florida. Study Design In March, 2011, the MyFloridarx.com database was searched to assess monthly prices of seven commonly prescribed contraceptives charged by Florida pharmacies. Results With the exception of TNRG/EE 35 ( χ 2 [4, N = 401]=18.72, p=.00), monthly costs of contraceptives did not vary significantly across Florida ZIP code median income quintile groups. Conclusion Overall, while there was little variability in retail pharmacy prices in Florida for seven commonly prescribed contraceptives, monthly costs of individual contraceptives varied widely. Implications This report found little variability, across ZIP codes, in retail pharmacy prices in Florida for seven commonly prescribed contraceptives, but the monthly costs of individual contraceptives varied widely. It is paramount that clinicians consider costs when discussing contraceptive options with their patients.
Mechatronic objects for real-time control software development

The design of real-time control software for a mechatronic system must be effectively integrated with the system hardware in order to achieve useful qualitative benefits beyond basic functionality. The sought-after benefits include: rapid development, flexibility, maintainability, extensively, and reusability. In this work we focus upon the interface between the device drivers and the control software with the aim to properly design this interface to best realize the aforementioned benefits. The results of this fundamental research include the development of an easily manageable set of four C++ object classes following an object-oriented approach to software design. These Universal Mechatronic Objects (UMOs) are applicable to a wide spectrum of actuators including dc motors, stepper motors, and solenoids; and sensors including pressure sensors, microswitches, and encoders. UMOs encapsulate the interface between the electrical subsystem and the control subsystem, providing the control software developer with a powerful abstraction that facilitates the development of hardware-independent control code and providing the electrical subsystem developer with an effective abstraction that facilitates the development of application-independent device drivers. Objects which are intuitively related to hardware components of the mechatronic system can be declared using the UMOs early in the system development process to facilitate the rapid concurrent development of both the electrical and the control subsystems. Our UMOs were developed as part of a project to implement a real-time control system for a z-theta robotic manipulator. The z- theta manipulator is one component of the Minifactory project in the Microdynamic Systems Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University. The goals of this agile assembly project include the reduction of factory setup and changeover times, plug-and-play type modularity, and the reuse of its components. The application of UMOs to the manipulator software development is shown to be consistent with these goals.
The effects of interpolated rest on the first and second responses of the conditioned GSR

Employing an 8-sec CS-UCS interval, the effect of a rest interval on the first (1.3 to 5.0 sec after CS onset) and second (5.0 to 9.5 sec after CS onset) responses of the GSR was measured. Two groups of 14 Ss received a series of paired tones (CS) and shocks (UCS). The rest interval effected an increase in first responses and a decrease in second responses. The data were taken as further support for the position that first responses contain a large orienting component, while second responses are produced through increments in associative strength.
Studies on the distribution of L-ascorbic acid in the rat.

Abstract l -Ascorbic acid-1-C 14 slowly equilibrates in various tissues when injected into rats, whereas dehydroascorbie acid-1-C 14 equilibrates more rapidly. Dehydroascorbic acid was found to penetrate into brain, eye, and erythrocytes to a greater extent than ascorbic acid. Intravenous administration of large doses of ascorbic acid (20 mg.) to nephrectomized rats or the induction of accelerated ascorbic acid biosynthesis in such animals resulted in a marked accumulation of the vitamin in serum without appreciable tissue transfer. A similar amount of exogenous dehydroascorbic acid, the oxidized nonionic form of the vitamin, was largely removed from the serum. The ascorbic acid in serum of blood drawn from the renal vein of dogs was primarily in an oxidized form, whereas serum from the carotid artery and from the femoral and jugular veins was largely in the reduced form. These findings suggest that ascorbic; acid enters tissues as dehydroascorbic acid and that the kidney may play a role in the distribution of the vitamin by oxidizing it to the un-ionized, easily penetrable form.
Imaging of Hearing Loss

A wide range of pathology involving the external, middle, and inner ear contribute to conductive and sensorineural hearing loss. Diagnostic imaging plays a critical role in the evaluation and management of hearing loss. High resolution computed tomography (CT) of the temporal bone and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are the preferred imaging modalities to evaluate the ear structures for causes of hearing loss, with the specific type of hearing loss and location of defect dictating which type of imaging is preferred. In general, the external auditory canal, middle ear space, mastoid, petrous apex, and otic capsule are best visualized with CT, whereas suspicion of retrocochlear pathology warrants MRI.
Adrenoceptor antagonists block c-fos response to stress in the mouse brain.

Abstract The present study examined the role of monoaminergic systems in mediating the c-fos response to stress in the mouse brain. Mice were pretreated with various monoamine receptor antagonists prior to immobilization stress and were assayed for c-fos immunohistochemically throughout the brain. It was found that the α-1 adrenergic antagonist, prazosin significantly reduced the response in 10 12 telencephalic, 2 6 diencephalic and 4 5 brainstem regions and that the β-1 adrenergic antagonist, betaxolol reduced it in 6 12 telencephalic, 1 6 diencephalic and 0 5 brainstem regions. The effects of these drugs were not due to nonspecific depressions of neuronal activity as several brain regions with high fos responses were unaffected. Nor were they due to sedation as the drugs did not affect rotorod performance. Neither the β-2 adrenergic blocker, ICI118,551, the D 1 D 2 receptor blocker, fluphenazine, the 5HT1A antagonist, WAY 100135, nor the 5HT2 antagonist, ketanserin, produced a clear pattern of effects on the response. It is concluded that of the monoaminergic systems, the noradrenergic is the one most involved in the central fos response to immobilization stress in the mouse brain and that the response is mediated by a mixture of α-1 and β-1 receptors.
A Disability Response to Surrogate Decision Making in the Internet Age

Whether social media content should be used to support or determine surrogate decisions in health care is a critical question, and the importance of this issue for people with disabilities deserves...
An evaluation of virtual human technology in informational kiosks

In this paper, we look at the results of using spoken language interactive virtual characters in information kiosks. Users interact with synthetic spokespeople using spoken natural language dialogue. The virtual characters respond with spoken language, body and facial gesture, and graphical images on the screen. We present findings from studies of three different information kiosk applications. As we developed successive kiosks, we applied lessons learned from previous kiosks to improve system performance. For each setting, we briefly describe the application, the participants, and the results, with specific focus on how we increased user participation and improved informational throughput. We tie the results together in a lessons learned section.
Efficient Recovery of Elemental Mercury from Hg(II)-Contaminated Aqueous Media Using a Redox-Recyclable Ion-Exchange Material

The use of lithium-intercalated transition metal dichalcogenides, LixES2, as redox-recyclable ion-exchange materials for the extraction of the aqueous heavy metal ions Hg2+, Pb2+, Cd2+, and Zn2+ wa...
ELECTRON TRAPPING IN SELF-MODULATED LASER WAKEFIELDS BY RAMAN BACKSCATTER

Abstract : Simultaneous measurements of high energy electrons and plasma wave characteristics have been conducted in a self-modulated laser wakefield accelerator. Approximately 10(exp 8) electrons were accelerated from the background plasma to energies greater than 1 MeV with a peak energy of approximately 30 MeV. A strong correlation between the plasma wave amplitude and electron production was measured with no evidence of wave breaking. Simulations indicate plasma electrons are trapped by the low phase velocity beat waves produced by backward Raman scattering.
Troglitazone add-on therapy to a combination of sulfonylureas plus metformin achieved and sustained effective diabetes control.

Objective: To elucidate the effect of triple combination oral agent therapy on type 2 diabetes. Methods: We performed a prospective longitudinal study on 40 patients with type 2 diabetes who had failed to achieve a glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) of =8.0% despite optimal therapy with a combination of sulfonylureas plus metformin. Troglitazone was added and then titrated, with the intent to achieve at least a 1% reduction in HbA1c within 3 months. Responders were reassessed at 6 and 12 months. Nonresponders were reassessed at 6 months; in the absence of a significant HbA1c response, participation in the study was discontinued. Results: Of the 40 study subjects, 25 were responders, 10 were nonresponders, and 5 were withdrawn from the study before completion of 3 months of therapy because of side effects. The 25 responders had a mean baseline HbA1c of 9.9%, which decreased significantly to 7.8% after 3 months of troglitazone therapy and to 7.4% at 6 months and at 12 months. In addition, the fasting blood glu...
Semi-empirical all-valence-electron SCF calculations of acidities of cycloalkanes

CNDO/2 calculations of the energy change RH→R−+H+ for cycloalkanes give the acidity order: cyclohexane > cyclopentane > cyclobutane > cyclopropane, exactly the reverse of the experimental order. INDO results are similar to CNDO/2. A new method, IRDO, related to NDDO is described. Both of these methods give results differing from the first two but agreement with experiment is still poor.
Self-consistent Perron-Frobenius operator for spatiotemporal chaos

Abstract A self-consistent Perron-Frobenius operator is introduced. The invariant measure in a subspace for the spatiotemporal chaos of a coupled map lattice is calculated through the operator. Some applications to spatiotemporal intermittency transitions and pattern dynamics are briefly presented.
Characteristics of the Specific Bacterium Associated With Heterorhabditis Bacteriophora (Heterorhabditidae: Rhabditida)

The infective stage juveniles of Heterorhabditis bacteriophora Poinar (Heterorhabditidae: Rhabditida) carry a specific bacterium in the lumen of their pharynx and intestine. The bacterial cells are large, motile, peritrichously flagellated, gram negative, non-sporeforming rods. They are released by the infective-stage juveniles after they reach the hemolymph of susceptible insects. Additional cultural and biological characteristics of the specific bacterium are presented.
Infrared Response Measurements on Radiation-Damaged Si(Li) Detectors

The improved infrared response (IRR) technique has been used to qualitatively compare radiation effects on Si(Li) detectors with energy levels reported for silicon in the literature. Measurements have been made on five commercial silicon detectors and one fabricated in-house, both before and after irradiation with fast neutrons, l.9-MeV protons, and 1.6-MeV electrons. Effects dependent upon the extent of radiation damage have been observed. It seems likely that the photo-EMF, or photovoltage, effect is the basic mechanism for the observation of IRR in p-i-n diodes with a wide i-region. Experimental characteristics of the IRR measurement are in agreement with those of the photovoltage effect.
TWO-DIMENSIONAL TWO LAYER ELECTRONS NEAR A HALF-FILLED LANDAU LEVEL

We report finite cluster exact diagonalization studies under periodic boundary conditions of two layers of electrons in a strong magnetic field at a half-filled Landau level. For the system studied by Suen et al., the ground states have more than 97 per cent of its spectral weight in the symmetric single particle levels. The eigenfunctions and eigenvalues up to a constant factor for different aspect ratios are essentially the same as previous numerical results of a single layer of electrons of zero thickness at half-filling.
Search Engine or Content Website? A Local Information Seeking Classification Model Based on Consumer Characteristics and Website Perceptions

Decisions concerning everyday life activities such as patronizing restaurants require obtaining information about them. Some consumers go directly to content websites when they need such information; others go directly to search engines. How do search engine users differ from content website users for a given type of local information? This local information-seeking classification model posits that they differ in their prior experiences with their “go-to” websites, their perceived search skills, their habit of using search engines, their involvement with the activity for which information is sought, their tendency to conduct extensive information search, and their beliefs about their “go-to” website types. Empirical results support the model. By integrating everyday life information seeking (ELIS), technology acceptance model (TAM), and consumer behavior literatures, the model in this study fills a theoretical gap in the literature and opens new lines of inquiries for both ELIS and TAM research.
Fast-wave power flow along SOL field lines in NSTX and the associated power deposition profile across the SOL in front of the antenna

Fast-wave heating and current drive efficiencies can be reduced by a number of processes in the vicinity of the antenna and in the scrape off layer (SOL). On NSTX from around 25% to more than 60% of the high-harmonic fast-wave power can be lost to the SOL regions, and a large part of this lost power flows along SOL magnetic field lines and is deposited in bright spirals on the divertor floor and ceiling. We show that field-line mapping matches the location of heat deposition on the lower divertor, albeit with a portion of the heat outside of the predictions. The field-line mapping can then be used to partially reconstruct the profile of lost fast-wave power at the midplane in front of the antenna, and the losses peak close to the last closed flux surface (LCFS) as well as the antenna. This profile suggests a radial standing-wave pattern formed by fast-wave propagation in the SOL, and this hypothesis will be tested on NSTX-U. Advanced RF codes must reproduce these results so that such codes can be used to understand this edge loss and to minimize RF heat deposition and erosion in the divertor region on ITER.
Low power multi-camera system and algorithms for automated threat detection

A key to any robust automated surveillance system is continuous, wide field-of-view sensor coverage and high accuracy target detection algorithms. Newer systems typically employ an array of multiple fixed cameras that provide individual data streams, each of which is managed by its own processor. This array can continuously capture the entire field of view, but collecting all the data and back-end detection algorithm consumes additional power and increases the size, weight, and power (SWaP) of the package. This is often unacceptable, as many potential surveillance applications have strict system SWaP requirements. This paper describes a wide field-of-view video system that employs multiple fixed cameras and exhibits low SWaP without compromising the target detection rate. We cycle through the sensors, fetch a fixed number of frames, and process them through a modified target detection algorithm. During this time, the other sensors remain powered-down, which reduces the required hardware and power consumption of the system. We show that the resulting gaps in coverage and irregular frame rate do not affect the detection accuracy of the underlying algorithms. This reduces the power of an N-camera system by up to approximately N-fold compared to the baseline normal operation. This work was applied to Phase 2 of DARPA Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS) program and used during field testing.
A variable-selection heuristic for K-means clustering

One of the most vexing problems in cluster analysis is the selection and/or weighting of variables in order to include those that truly define cluster structure, while eliminating those that might mask such structure. This paper presents a variable-selection heuristic for nonhierarchical (K-means) cluster analysis based on the adjusted Rand index for measuring cluster recovery. The heuristic was subjected to Monte Carlo testing across more than 2200 datasets with known cluster structure. The results indicate the heuristic is extremely effective at eliminating masking variables. A cluster analysis of real-world financial services data revealed that using the variable-selection heuristic prior to the K-means algorithm resulted in greater cluster stability.
Relationship of injection drug use, antiretroviral therapy resistance, and genetic diversity in the HIV-1 pol gene.

Objectives: To determine if a history of injection drug use influences genotypic protease inhibitor (PI) resistance to antiretroviral agents. Methods: We assessed the presence of resistance mutations in PI-naive injection drug users (IDUs) and non-IDUs participating in the Women's Interagency HIV Study. Eighteen HIV-infected participants who reported injection drug use before study enrollment and 32 HIV-infected non-IDUs contributed a total of 34 and 65 personvisits, respectively, to analyses. Results: Based on data from multiple clones obtained from different time points from each individual, we determined that primary PI resistance mutations were more frequent among person visits contributed by IDUs (24%) than non-IDUs (8%, P = 0.05). Although neither reached statistical significance, diversity was higher within the protease region among study visits carrying PI-resistant clones at both the nucleotide level (2.66 vs. 2.35; P = 0.08) and at the amino acid level (1.60 vs. 1.32; P = 0.23). Most of the primary resistance mutations could not be detected using the standard population sequencing employed in the clinical setting. Five of 6 individuals in whom clones encoding PI resistance mutations were identified failed PI-containing highly active antiretroviral therapy within 12 months of therapy initiation. Conclusions: Our findings indicate that more aggressive sampling for resistance mutations among viral clones before highly active antiretroviral therapy initiation might permit selection of more effective treatment, particularly in IDUs.
On ionospheric composition measurements with an R.F. impedance probe

Abstract Consideration is given to extending various methods used for determining electron number density in the ionosphere to ion composition measurements. A technique involving the impedance of an antenna operated in a frequency range on the order of the ion cyclotron frequency to the electron cyclotron frequency appears promising. Theoretical impedance results for some idealized combinations of ions as well as typical ion mixtures encountered in the ionosphere illustrate application of the technique. The advantages and limitations of the impedance probe are discussed.