cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Lateral expansion of a laser-supported detonation wave in a gas.

A model satisfying the conditions in the burnt (ionized) and ambient undisturbed gases is presented for the two-dimensional case of the absorption wave resulting from the interaction of a laser beam with the plasma it generates in the gas through which the beam propagates. The flowfield of the rarefaction wave resulting from the laser-supported detonation is discussed, along with the computed shock and flow deflection angles.
Measurement of testosterone with a high-performance liquid chromatograph equipped with a flow-through ultraviolet spectrophotometer

Abstract A technique is described for measuring nanogram amounts of testosterone using high-performance liquid chromatography with detection by a flow-through spectrophotometer. The addition of a non-radioisotopic internal standard (4-androsten-11β-ol-3,17-dione) to the biological specimen automatically corrects for testosterone losses due to extraction and non-quantitative sample injection into the high-performance liquid chromatograph. This new method, which can be performed by inexperienced personnel, is shown to be rapid, precise, accurate and specific for testosterone.
ACTIVE WATER-WAVE ABSORBERS

The problem considered is that of absorbing two-dimensional water waves in a channel by means of a moving termination at the end of the channel. The problem is formulated for a semi-infinite channel and solutions are determined according to a linearized theory. The motion of the termination that is needed for absorption is determined in the form of a linear operation on the measured surface elevation at a fixed point in the channel so a self-actuating wave-absorbing system can be devised. A theoretical method of studying the stability of such a system is presented. A system of this type was built and experiments with it are described. Wave absorption is demonstrated both for monochromatic waves and for wave pulses. The absorption of a wave pulse is compared with the absorption of the same pulse by a fixed beach making a ten degree angle with the horizontal direction.
A simple method for motorized alignment of Osmic confocal optics

A system for the remote alignment of X-ray optics has been designed to address safety considerations related to manual optic adjustment. The described system also addresses some of the common problems associated with the alignment process, such as binding of components and the effects of external forces due to user contact that lead to irreproducibility of the process. The system as described should be applicable to most home laboratories.
Cultured astrocytes from heme oxygenase-1 knockout mice are more vulnerable to heme-mediated oxidative injury.

Hemin, the oxidized form of heme, is released from hemoglobin after CNS hemorrhage and may contribute to injury to surrounding tissue. The heme oxygenase (HO) enzymes catalyze the breakdown of hemin to biliverdin, carbon monoxide, and ferric iron. Although HO-2, the isoform expressed predominantly in neurons, accelerates heme-mediated neuronal injury, inhibitor studies suggest that HO-1 induction has a protective effect on astrocytes. In the present study, we directly compared the vulnerability of cultured HO-1 knockout and wild-type astrocytes to hemin. Consistent with prior observations, exposure of wild-type cultures to hemin for 24 hr resulted in protein carbonylation and concentration-dependent cell death between 10 and 60 μM, as determined by MTT and lactate dehydrogenase release assays. In cultures prepared from mice lacking the HO-1 gene, oxidative cell injury was approximately doubled. Both protein oxidation and cell death in HO-1 knockout astrocytes were significantly reduced by pretreating cultures with an adenovirus encoding the HO-1 gene prior to hemin exposure. HO-2 expression was observed in both knockout and wild-type cultures and was not altered by HO-1 gene deletion. Cell hemin accumulation after 20 hr hemin exposure was 4.7-fold higher in knockout cells. These results support the hypothesis that HO-1 protects astrocytes from heme-mediated oxidative injury. Selectively increasing its expression in astrocytes may be beneficial after hemorrhagic CNS injuries. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Impact of Sea Spray on Air-Sea Fluxes. Part II: Feedback Effects

Thispaperpresentsestimationsforthetransferofmomentum,heat,andwatermassbetweentheairandthe sea. The results from Lagrangian stochastic simulations of sea spray drops (see Part I), along with two sea spray generation functions, are used to calculate the spray-mediated flux components of the air‐sea fluxes. When the spray-mediated fluxes constitute a significant fraction of the total fluxes under certain conditions, their feedback effect on the atmosphere cannot be neglected. The authors derive a simplified feedback model to investigate such cases, finding that the spray-mediated fluxes may be especially sensitive to the size distribution of the drops. The total effective air‐sea fluxes lead to drag and enthalpy coefficients that increase modestly with wind speed. The rate of increase for the drag coefficient is greatest at moderate wind speeds, while the rate of increase for the enthalpy coefficient is greatest at higher wind speeds where the spray is ubiquitous.
Odontogenic tumours produced in Fischer rats by a single intraportal injection of methylnitrosourea

Abstract Twenty-nine odontogenic tumours were found in 134 Fischer F344 rats injected once only with methylnitrosourea (MNU, 0.4 millimole/kg body weight) via the portal vein within 48 h after partial hepatectomy. Whenever the site of origin of the tumours could be distinguished, they were observed to arise near the roots of the incisor teeth. Of these tumours, 26 were complex odontomas, consisting of well differentiated but haphazardly arranged cementum, dentine, enamel and pulp. Dentine comprised the bulk of the tumour masses. Two tumours were largely ameloblastic and exhibited squamous differentiation, although these growths also contained scattered foci of dentine deposition, while a third tumour contained a focus of purely ameloblastic tissue in an otherwise typical complex odontoma. Two of these tumours were classified as odontoameloblastomas, while the third, because of hypercellularity, nuclear pleomorphism, high mitotic rate and local invasiveness, was classified as ameloblastic carcinoma. This protocol, which requires only a single systemic administration of carcinogen, may serve as a model for the chemical induction of odontogenic neoplasms.
Simultaneous grounding and receptive field learning in visuomotor agents

To build artificial agents that can understand the environment around them, the semantics of their internal state should be learnable to them. Since neurons embedded in the brain cannot access directly to the outside, motor interaction with the environment is necessary. Sensory invariance driven action (SIDA) has been proposed [1] to learn the meaning of internal state based on reinforcement learning as shown in Figure ​Figure1.1. However, SIDA uses fixed Gabor filters to interact with the environment. It is possible that the receptive fields (RFs) in SIDA can also be learned based on the simultaneous statistics, and not just the state-action mapping. We propose the use of adaptive filters based on independent component analysis (ICA) in the SIDA framework for receptive field learning. Figure 1 (Left) Visual agent model from [1] . An illustration of a simple sensorimotor agent is shown. The agent has a limited field of view where part of the input from the environment (I) is projected. Then the projection is compared to the ... We tested two agents with 8 and 4 sensory primitives (filters). The corresponding motor primitives (actions) were 16 and 8 with two directions for each filter. The goal can be formulated to make a more diagonal reward table, Q, where the rows correspond to the sensory state (roughly, the orientation) and the column to the motor output (the gaze orientation). We compared the degree of diagonalization of Q, simply based on . Figure ​Figure22 shows the two types of filters and their reward tables with different primitives. We can see that the adaptive filters are more edge-like as in the input image than the Gabor filters. Also the values with Gabor filters are 0.6379 and 0.7808, while ones with the adaptive filters are 0.7091 and 0.9907. This means our proposed method better understand the environment than original SIDA. Figure 2 Filters and the reward tables with 8 and 4 primitives. (Left) with 8 primitives, (Right) with 4 primitives. (Top) Gabor filters and the corresponding reward tables, (Bottom) adaptive filters and their reward tables.
Interfacial properties of Ga-doped ZnO thin films on Si

Ga-doped ZnO films of thicknesses 3 to 500 nm were grown on Si at 200°C by pulsed-laser deposition in 10 mTorr of Ar. Sheet carrier concentration ns and mobility μ were measured at room temperature by the Hall effect and were fitted, respectively, to the equations n s (d)=n(∞)(d−δd) and μ(d)=μ(∞)/[1+d ∗ /(d−δd)] , where n(∞) is the predicted volume carrier concentration at d=∞ (the bulk value), δd is the thickness of the dead layer (if any), μ(∞) is the predicted mobility at d=∞ , and d ∗ is a figure of merit for the electrical properties of the interface. The fitted values of d ∗[/ sup] and δd were ∼ 23 and ∼ 11 nm , respectively. X-ray reflectance results were consistent with an ∼ 3-nm -thick interfacial layer of significantly lower density than that of bulk ZnO. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements showed an ∼ 10-nm -thick interfacial region in which the Ga peaks at ∼ 3.8% , well above the average value of 2.4% found in the bulk of the film.
Effect of calcium phosphate and alumina C γ gels on the mutagenicity and cytotoxicity of dimethylnitrosamine as studied in the CHO/HGPRT system

Abstract When CaCl 2 was added in increasing concentrations to a rat liver metabolic activation system (S9) buffered with sodium phosphate, the mutagenic activity and cytotoxicity of dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) in the Chinese hamster ovary cell/hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (CHO/HGPRT) system were greatly increased. This effect was not observed with an S9 mix buffered with N -2-hydroxyethylpiperazine- N ′-2-ethanesulfonic acid (HEPES). The calcium phosphate gel precipitate of the S9 mix possessed approximately built1 3 of the total activity of the mix, while the supernatant had only slight activity. However, when the calcium phosphate gel precipitate of a solution of S9 salts (without S9 protein) was added to the supernatant, the remaining 2 3 of the activity was recovered. Commercially obtained calcium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, and alumina C γ gels could substitute for CaCl 2 in the S9 mix, but diethylaminoethyl cellulose (DEAE cellulose) could not. Alumina C γ gel can exert its effect in the absence of both CaCl 2 and phosphate in the S9 mix. Increasing the time of contact between the S9 protein and the S9 salts increased the efficacy with which the S9 mix activated DMN; this is indicative of an adsorptive process by calcium phosphate gel.
The religious and romantic origins of psychoanalysis

The Religious and Romantic Origins of Psychoanalysis. By Suzanne Kirschner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 212 pp., $27.95 cloth, $15.95 paper.
Observable-preserving control of quantum dynamics over a family of related systems

Quantum control aims at the manipulation of atomic- and molecular-scale dynamics phenomena. An important objective in this regard is the understanding of dynamical control within a family of related quantum systems. To explore this issue, diffeomorphic changes in the system Hamiltonian $\mathcal{H}(s,t)$ are introduced by scanning over a homotopy parameter $s$ and then monitoring the control field response needed to maintain the value of a specified target observable. This operation is implemented through a procedure referred to as diffeomorphic modulation under observable-response-preserving homotopy (D-MORPH). The governing D-MORPH differential equation determining the control laser field $E(s,t)$ is shown to explicitly allow for innumerable solutions, with each characterized by the choice of an arbitrary function $f(s,t)$ of $s$ and time $t$. The presence of $f(s,t)$ in the D-MORPH differential equation makes clear the origin of multiple control fields that produce the same observable objective. A stable algorithm is presented for practical execution of D-MORPH with the only criterion that the Hamiltonian $\mathcal{H}(s,t)$ permit reaching the objective over the full domain of $s$ being sampled. Both analytic and numerical examples are presented to illustrate the D-MORPH concept.
Activity of tongue muscles during respiration: it takes a village?

Almost twenty years have passed since the muscular hydrostat theory of tongue function was set forth ([7][1]). Yet few studies have explored one of its central predictions: that “extrinsic” tongue muscles (muscles with origin outside the tongue body) and “intrinsic” tongue muscles (muscles
Some techniques used in the ALCOR ILLINOIS 7090

An ALGOL compiler has been written by the ALCOR group for the IBM 7090. Some little known but significant techniques in compiler writing, together with organizational details of this compiler, are described. Timing estimates and an indication of compiler requirements are also given.
Genome-wide analyses of gene activity during seed development

The seed consists of three distinct regions, the zygotic embryo and endosperm and the maternal seed coat. Development of the seed requires co-ordinated growth and differentiation within each of these regions. Although the major events that occur during seed development have been studied extensively at the anatomical, physiological and molecular level, a comprehensive understanding of gene activity in each seed region has been lacking. DNA microarrays and extensive sequencing of cDNA libraries permit genome-wide analyses of mRNA populations of biological samples. We review recent studies of genome-wide gene activity that illustrate approaches used to provide new insights into the processes that occur during seed development.
Network and intrinsic cellular mechanisms underlying theta phase precession of hippocampal neurons.

Hippocampal ‘place cells' systematically shift their phase of firing in relation to the theta rhythm as an animal traverses the ‘place field'. These dynamics imply that the neural ensemble begins each theta cycle at a point in its state-space that might ‘represent' the current location of the rat, but that the ensemble ‘looks ahead' during the rest of the cycle. Phase precession could result from intrinsic cellular dynamics involving interference of two oscillators of different frequencies, or from network interactions, similar to Hebb's ‘phase sequence' concept, involving asymmetric synaptic connections. Both models have difficulties accounting for all of the available experimental data, however. A hybrid model, in which the look-ahead phenomenon implied by phase precession originates in superficial entorhinal cortex by some form of interference mechanism and is enhanced in the hippocampus proper by asymmetric synaptic plasticity during sequence encoding, seems to be consistent with available data, but as yet there is no fully satisfactory theoretical account of this phenomenon. This review is part of the INMED/TINS special issue Physiogenic and pathogenic oscillations: the beauty and the beast , based on presentations at the annual INMED/TINS symposium (http://inmednet.com).
Influence of tertiary alkanolamines on Portland cement hydration

The physical and chemical effects of small additions of two different tertiary alkanolamines to portland cement were investigated. The strengths of standard test mortars moist cured for more than 1 day were found to be enhanced in some cases by addition of triisopropanolamine, but not by similar amounts of triethanolamine. Thermogravimetric and X-ray diffractometric data indicate that the increased mortar strengths resulted from an increased degree of hydration of the cement. Calorimetry and aqueous-phase analysis show that the higher alkanolamine, triisopropauo-lamine, remains in solution for a sufficient time to catalyze hydration of C4 AF after all of the free gypsum has been consumed to form calcium sulfoaluminate hydrates, In contrast, the lower alkanolamine, triethanolamine, is mostly adsorbed by the cement within the first hours of hydration. It is hypothesized that the catalytic mechanism involves facilitated transport of ferric ions through the aqueous phase in the form of ferric-alkanolamine complexes.
Neurofilaments move apart freely when released from the circumferential constraint of the axonal plasma membrane

Squid giant axons were used to obtain axonal cytoskeletons that had been separated from the confines of their plasma membranes. To remove the plasma membrane, axoplasm was extruded from the giant axon directly into an artificial axoplasm solution (AAS). This procedure produces a smooth axoplasmic cylinder in which neurofilaments (NFs) are the most prevalent cytological elements. The NFs scatter light strongly and thus dark-field light microscopy can be used to quantify the volume occupied by these polymers. Measurements of the widths of the dark-field images of the axoplasmic cylinders showed that the cross-sectional area of the NF population increased by 60-110% (n = 8) between 1-100 min after plasma membrane removal, and then continued to increase more slowly for many hours. After 1,000 min, the cross-sectional area was 75-160% (n = 8) larger than at 1 min. These light microscopic measurements of axoplasm suggest that the NF population disperses to occupy a continuously increasing volume after removal of the plasma membrane and immersion in AAS. This inference was confirmed by quantitative ultrastructural studies of NFs in axoplasmic cross-sections, which demonstrated that the spacing between the NFs increased between 1-1,000 min after plasma membrane removal. Comparison of the NF density distribution after 1,000 min with a theoretical distribution calculated using the Poisson theorem indicated that the NFs dispersed randomly. These studies on NFs in isolated axoplasm suggest that ordinary thermal forces of Brownian motion are sufficient to move axonal NFs apart independently and thereby to disperse them. We propose that, in the intact axon, the dispersive movements of the NFs spread the NF cytoskeleton radially and expansively to fill out the cylindrical space contained by the axonal plasma membrane and its surrounding connective tissue elements.
Ideal strength of bcc molybdenum and niobium

The behavior of bcc Mo and Nb under large strain was investigated using the ab initio pseudopotential density-functional method. We calculated the ideal shear strength of the {l_brace}211{r_brace} slip systems and the ideal tensile strength in the direction, which are believed to provide the minimum shear and tensile strengths. As either material is sheared in either of the two systems, it evolves toward a stress-free tetragonal structure that defines a saddle point in the strain-energy surface. The inflection point on the path to this tetragonal ''saddle-point'' structure sets the ideal shear strength. When either material is strained in tension along , it initially follows the tetragonal, ''Bain,'' path toward a stress-free fcc structure. However, before the strained crystal reaches fcc, its symmetry changes from tetragonal to orthorhombic; on continued strain, it evolves toward the same tetragonal saddle point that it reached in shear. In Mo, the symmetry break occurs after the point of maximum tensile stress has been passed, so the ideal strength is associated with the fcc shear. In Mo, the symmetry break occurs after the point of maximum tensile stress has been passed, so the ideal strength is associated with the fcc extremum as in W. However,more » a Nb crystal strained in becomes orthorhombic at tensile stress below the ideal strength. The ideal tensile strength of Nb is associated with the tetragonal saddle point and is caused by failure in shear rather than tension. In dimensionless form, the ideal shear and tensile strengths of Mo (tau* = tau-sub m/G111 = 0.12 sigma* = sigma-sub m/E100 = 0.078) are essentially identical to those previously calculated for W. Nb is anomalous. Its dimensionless shear strength is unusually high, tau* = 0.15, even though the saddle-point structure that causes it is similar to that in Mo and W, while its dimensionless tensile strength, sigma* = 0.079, is almost the same as that of Mo and W, even though the saddle-point structure is quite different.« less
Electrochemistry of Ion-Selective Electrodes

Ion-Selective Electrodes (ISEs) for measurement of activities of species in aqueous and mixed solvents, or partial pressures of dissolved gases in water, are mainly membrane-based devices, involve permselective, ion-conducting materials. The electrodes are generally used in the potentiometric (zero-current) mode, and they superficially resemble classical redox electrodes of Types 0 (inert), 1 (Ag/Ag+), 2 (Ag/AgCl/CP), and 3 (Pb/PbC2O4/ CaC2O4/Ca2+). The latter, while ion selective, depends on a redox couple (electron exchange), rather than solely on ion exchange as the principal origin of interfacial potential differences (pd’s).
Off-shell conformal field theory at the one-loop level

Abstract The one-loop off-shell N -point tachyon amplitude is obtained for Witten's covariant string field theory, using off-shell conformal methods. An identity is derived which relates the ghost correlation function to the javobian in changing to standard variables. This identity is used to show that the correct integration measure is obtained. The covering of moduli space by the field theory Feynman diagrams is shown. Complete on-shell agreement is found with first-quantized results. Finally, the off-shell singularity structure is discussed.
Thrombopoietin: Biology and Clinical Applications

Thrombopoietin (also called c-Mpl ligand, megakaryocyte growth and development factor, megapoietin) has recently been purified and cloned. This molecule is indeed the long-sought-after hematopoietic factor that controls platelet production. Thrombopoietin levels increase within 24 h after the onset of thrombocytopenia and are inversely and exponentially proportional to the platelet count. Injection of thrombopoietin into animals stimulates the number, size and ploidy of bone marrow megakaryocytes and increases the platelet count up to ten-fold. Although human studies with several different forms of recombinant thrombopoietin have just begun, animal studies suggest a wide range of potential clinical applications. In animals, recombinant thrombopoietin reduced radiation- and chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia, enhanced platelet recovery after bone marrow transplantation and increased the number of megakaryocyte precursor cells in stem cell harvests. Active at very low concentrations, thrombopoietin appears to have few adverse effects in animals. At very high doses, reversible marrow fibrosis has occasionally been seen, but despite platelet counts up to ten times normal, there is no evidence that it increased the risk of thrombosis. There is little likelihood that thrombopoietin will stimulate tumor growth since receptors for thrombopoietin have not been detected on solid tumors. Therefore, thrombopoietin promises to be a specific and effective stimulator of platelet production and will soon join erythropoietin and G/GM-CSF in the clinical armamentarium. Although thrombocytopenia is uncommon in most chemotherapy protocols, ongoing clinical studies will determine the role of thrombopoietin in the prevention and treatment of thrombocytopenia in oncology patients.
Point/Counterpoint: Electrical Stimulation for Dysphagia: The Argument Against Electrical Stimulation for Dysphagia

Surface electrical stimulation for dysphagia is still a controversial subject. Some studies tout the benefits of using electrical stimulation (e-stim) for improving a disordered swallow. It is impo...
In the Union Now Understanding Public Sector Union Membership

Despite periodic consideration of public sector unions in the public management and administration literature, empirical evidence on the union membership decisions of public employees remains scant...
Desert wetlands in the geologic record

Abstract Desert wetlands support flora and fauna in a variety of hydrologic settings, including seeps, springs, marshes, wet meadows, ponds, and spring pools. Over time, eolian, alluvial, and fluvial sediments become trapped in these settings by a combination of wet ground conditions and dense plant cover. The result is a unique combination of clastic sediments, chemical precipitates, and organic matter that is preserved in the geologic record as ground-water discharge (GWD) deposits. GWD deposits contain information on the timing and magnitude of past changes in water-table levels and, therefore, are a potential source of paleohydrologic and paleoclimatic information. In addition, they can be important archeological and paleontological archives because desert wetlands provide reliable sources of fresh water, and thus act as focal points for human and faunal activities, in some of the world's harshest and driest lands. Here, we review some of the physical, sedimentological, and geochemical characteristics common to GWD deposits, and provide a contextual framework that researchers can use to identify and interpret geologic deposits associated with desert wetlands. We discuss several lines of evidence used to differentiate GWD deposits from lake deposits (they are commonly confused), and examine how various types of microbiota and depositional facies aid in reconstructing past environmental and hydrologic conditions. We also review how late Quaternary GWD deposits are dated, as well as methods used to investigate desert wetlands deeper in geologic time. We end by evaluating the strengths and limitations of hydrologic and climatic records derived from GWD deposits, and suggest several avenues of potential future research to further develop and utilize these unique and complex systems.
Nonlinear Generative Models for Dynamic Shape and Dynamic Appearance

Our objective is to learn representations for the shape and the appearance of moving (dynamic) objects that supports tasks such as synthesis, pose recovery, reconstruction and tracking. In this paper we introduce a framework that aim to learn a landmark-free correspondence-free global representations of dynamic appearance manifolds. We use nonlinear dimensionality reduction to achieve an embedding of the global deformation manifold that preserves the geometric structure of the manifold. Given such embedding, a nonlinear mapping is learned from the embedding space into the visual input space. Therefore, any visual input is represented by a linear combination of nonlinear bases functions centered along the manifold in the embedding space. We also show how approximate solution for the inverse mapping can be obtained in a closed form which facilitate recovery of the intrinsic body configuration. We use the framework to learn the gait manifold as an example of a dynamic shape manifold, as well as to learn the manifolds for some simple gestures and facial expressions as examples of dynamic appearance manifolds.
Cellular basis of diabetic nephropathy: IV Antioxidant enzyme mRNA expression levels in skin fibroblasts of type 1 diabetic sibling pairs

Background Blunted cultured skin fibroblast (SF) antioxidant enzyme responses to hyperglycaemia are associated with diabetic nephropathy risk. The present study explores whether this association is, at least in part, genetically determined. Methods We measured glomerular structure and SF mRNA expression for catalase and glutathione peroxidase in 21 sibling pairs concordant for type 1 diabetes. All patients had four or more (mean 21.5) years of diabetes and glomerular filtration rate>40 ml/min/1.73 m2. Thirty-four patients were normoalbuminuric, four were microalbuminuric, three were proteinuric and one was not classifiable. Heritability of patient characteristics was assessed by intra-class correlation and by a genetic variance component model. Results Mesangial fractional volume, mesangial matrix fractional volume, glomerular basement membrane width and surface density of peripheral glomerular basement membrane per glomerulus were significantly correlated in these sibling pairs. Catalase mRNA expression levels were also related and highly heritable in these sibling pairs. The association between sibship and glutathione peroxidase mRNA expression levels did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions This study suggests that SF catalase mRNA expression levels, known to be associated with diabetic nephropathy risk, are in part genetically determined.
The effect of electroporation on the strength-interval curve during unipolar stimulation of cardiac tissue

The authors' purpose is to study the effect of electroporation on the strength-interval curve in cardiac tissue. In their numerical simulations, the electrical properties of a 3-dimensional volume of tissue are represented using the bidomain model with unequal anisotropy ratios, and the membrane is represented using the Beeler-Reuter model. The main effect of electroporation is to modify the anode break section of the strength-interval curve. Electroporation supplies a source of depolarization following the end of an anodal current pulse, which adds to the diffusion of depolarization from the nearby virtual cathodes. The electroporation mechanism by itself supports anode break stimulation in tissue having equal anisotropy ratios.
Unsupervised phenotyping of Severe Asthma Research Program participants using expanded lung data

Background Previous studies have identified asthma phenotypes based on small numbers of clinical, physiologic, or inflammatory characteristics. However, no studies have used a wide range of variables using machine learning approaches. Objectives We sought to identify subphenotypes of asthma by using blood, bronchoscopic, exhaled nitric oxide, and clinical data from the Severe Asthma Research Program with unsupervised clustering and then characterize them by using supervised learning approaches. Methods Unsupervised clustering approaches were applied to 112 clinical, physiologic, and inflammatory variables from 378 subjects. Variable selection and supervised learning techniques were used to select relevant and nonredundant variables and address their predictive values, as well as the predictive value of the full variable set. Results Ten variable clusters and 6 subject clusters were identified, which differed and overlapped with previous clusters. Patients with traditionally defined severe asthma were distributed through subject clusters 3 to 6. Cluster 4 identified patients with early-onset allergic asthma with low lung function and eosinophilic inflammation. Patients with later-onset, mostly severe asthma with nasal polyps and eosinophilia characterized cluster 5. Cluster 6 asthmatic patients manifested persistent inflammation in blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and exacerbations despite high systemic corticosteroid use and side effects. Age of asthma onset, quality of life, symptoms, medications, and health care use were some of the 51 nonredundant variables distinguishing subject clusters. These 51 variables classified test cases with 88% accuracy compared with 93% accuracy with all 112 variables. Conclusion The unsupervised machine learning approaches used here provide unique insights into disease, confirming other approaches while revealing novel additional phenotypes.
A Software Defined Radio Application Utilizing Modern FPGAs and NoC Interconnects

Network on chips are becoming a common onchip interconnect for both FPGA and mainstream processor designs. At the same time, software defined radios (SDR) are a new application field that is gaining much attention. As SDR tasks are mapped onto network on chip architectures, the typically streaming nature of samples will stress the NoC itself and possibly hurt the performance of other applications using that NoC. In this paper, we present the results of our partitioning and placement of a SDR transmitter onto a NoC architecture using an FPGA. We use a 802.11a transmitter example partitioned across a NoC and compare it to a handcrafted design. Additionally, various placement schemes, runtime architecture loads and NoC access methods are examined to determine the feasibility of this application and architecture combination.
Energy Dissipation of a Kaolinite at Different Water Contents

A Georgia kaolinite, at water contents from 55 to 95 per cent, was tested by means of a Weissenberg Rheogoniometer under conditions of pure shear with sinusoidally varying deformation over a frequency range of 3 decades. The results, including time-dependent effects, are expressed in terms of the magnitude of the complex modulus and the phase angle, as developed in the theory of linear viscoelasticity, and stress-strain hysteresis curves. The complex modulus is a two-component quantity, which has a real part associated with the elastic or energy storage characteristics of the material and an imaginary part associated with its viscous or energy dissipation characteristics. Although the complex modulus interpretation is very good for linearly viscoelastic materials, its applicability and usefulness diminishes as the material departs from linear viscoelastic behavior. On the other hand. the determination of energy dissipation from stress-strain hysteresis curves does not depend on any assumption concerning material behavior, because the area enclosed by the curve gives a direct measure of the energy dissipated in a single cycle of deformation. The dissipation characteristics obtained by the two methods are compared and used to illustrate the degree of validity and some limitations of linear viscoelasticity theory.
Source Cues, Partisan Identities, and Political Value Expression

This article examines the conditions under which partisan identities shape the positions people express on four political values: equal opportunity, self-reliance, moral traditionalism, and moral tolerance. The theoretical framework posits that (1) party source cues activate latent partisan biases in the minds of citizens, which in turn affect the degree to which individuals express support for these values; (2) out-party cues are more powerful motivators of value expression than in-party cues; (3) value shifts are more pronounced when liberal-conservative identities reinforce partisan sentiments; and (4) partisan cues promote horizontal constraint among these values. These hypotheses are tested using data from a set of experiments appearing on a novel national survey. The empirical results generally support these theoretical expectations.
Test of a Model of the Organizational Antecedents of Parent Involvement and Satisfaction with Public Education

Researchers have speculated on the nature of relations among parental satisfaction, school climate, and other variables. However, few empirical studies have examined relations among these variables in a causal framework, even when rhetoric of organizational change and its positive effects on parents, students, and teachers is abundant. The purpose of this study was to test a causal model incorporating school climate, school-parent communication, and parent empowerment and their effects on parental involvement and satisfaction. The present study employed a 71.2% sample of 42,818 parents (or 33,244 responding parents) from 122 elementary schools. Parent-school communication and school climate showed the strongest direct effects on parental satisfaction, followed by empowerment. The strongest indirect path to parental satisfaction was from school climate through informing parents. Other paths that showed weaker relations to parental satisfaction were: School climate-empowerment-informed; school climate-empow...
The effects of time advance mechanism on simple agent behaviors in combat simulations

We investigate the effects of time advance mechanisms on the behavior of agents in combat simulations using some simple scenarios relevant to combat and agent-based models. We implement these simulation designs in two modeling packages that illustrate the differences between discrete-time simulation (DTS) and discrete-event simulation (DES) methodologies. Many combat models use DTS as their simulation time advance mechanism. We demonstrate that the presence and size of the time step as a modeling component can have a substantial impact on the basic characteristics of agent and simulation performance. We show that the use of a DTS method can degrade the modeling accuracy of changes in agent sensor range and detection outcomes, and also can compromise the ability of agents to travel to specific target destinations in a spatial simulation environment. We conclude that DES methodology successfully addresses these problems and is preferred as a time advance mechanism in these situations.
Long-term habituation to food in obese and nonobese women

Background: Habituation is a form of learning in which repeated exposure to a stimulus leads to a decrease in responding. Eating involves repeated presentation of the same food stimulus in a meal, and habituation is reliably observed within a meal such that faster rates of habituation are associated with less energy intake. It is possible that repeated presentation of the same food over days will lead to long-term habituation, such that subjects habituate to foods repeated over meals. However, no research on long-term habituation to food in humans has been conducted. Objective: The current study was designed to assess long-term habituation in 16 obese and 16 nonobese premenopausal women. Design: Obese and nonobese women (aged 20–50 y) were randomly assigned to receive a macaroni and cheese meal presented 5 times, either daily for 1 wk or once per week for 5 wk. Results: In both obese and nonobese women, daily presentation of food resulted in faster habituation and less energy intake than did once-weekly presentation of food. Conclusions: Long-term habituation was observed when the same food was presented at daily meals but not when presented once weekly for 5 wk. These results provide the first evidence of longterm habituation to food in women and show that memory of food over daily meals can increase the rate of habituation and reduce energy intake. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01208870. Am J Clin Nutr 2011;94:371–6.
Uncertainty and Variability in Human Exposures to Soil Contaminants Through Home-Grown Food: A Monte Carlo Assessment

This paper presents a general model for exposure to homegrown foods that is used with a Monte Carlo analysis to determine the relative contributions of variability (Type A uncertainty) and true uncertainty (Type B uncertainty) to the overall variance in prediction of the dose-to-concentration ratio. Although classification of exposure inputs as uncertain or variable is somewhat subjective, food consumption rates and exposure duration are judged to have a predicted variance that is dominated by variability among individuals by age, income, culture, and geographical region. Whereas, biotransfer factors and partition factors are inputs that, to a large extent, involve uncertainty. Using ingestion of fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy products, and meat and soils assumed to be contaminated by hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) as cases studies, a Monte Carlo analysis is used to explore the relative contribution of uncertainty and variability to overall variance in the estimated distribution of potential dose within the population that consumes home-grown foods. It is found that, when soil concentrations are specified, variances in ratios of dose-to-concentration for HCB are equally attributable to uncertainty and variability, whereas for BaP, variance in these ratios is dominated by true uncertainty.
More Fractional Factorial Design Examples

This chapter contains the analysis of four interesting experiments reported in the literature.
Three Improvements in Reduction and Computation of Elliptic Integrals

Three improvements in reduction and computation of elliptic integrals are made. 1. Reduction formulas, used to express many elliptic integrals in terms of a few standard integrals, are simplified by modifying the definition of intermediate “basic integrals.” 2. A faster than quadratically convergent series is given for numerical computation of the complete symmetric elliptic integral of the third kind. 3. A series expansion of an elliptic or hyperelliptic integral in elementary symmetric functions is given, illustrated with numerical coefficients for terms through degree seven for the symmetric elliptic integral of the first kind. Its usefulness for elliptic integrals, in particular, is important.
Performance of cellulose acetate butyrate membranes in hyperfiltration of sodium chloride and urea feed solution

Cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB) membranes are shown to give high salt and urea rejection with water flux of about 3 gallons/sq ft per day at 600 psig. Membranes prepared from a formulation containing glyoxal show a significant increase in flux and decrease in salt and urea rejection with drying time. Zero drying time gives maximum urea and salt rejection and is therefore most suitable for hyperfiltration of sodium chloride and urea feed solution.
Exercise in treating depression: broadening the psychotherapist's role.

Research findings over the past two decades strongly indicate that moderate exercise can have a beneficial effect upon depression, yet suggestions to depressed patients that they exercise rarely are followed. Despite the research, few psychotherapists employ exercise promotion and maintenance as part of their treatment. An approach to integrating exercise promotion into psychotherapy treatment is presented. It incorporates a therapist–patient collaborative process involving joint assessment of biopsychosocial barriers and facilitators for exercise initiation and maintenance that are unique to the patient. Based upon the assessment, a collaborative exercise plan is developed and implemented. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 57: 1289–1300, 2001.
Positron emission tomographic imaging of copper 64- and gallium 68-labeled chelator conjugates of the somatostatin agonist tyr3-octreotate.

The bifunctional chelator and radiometal have been shown to have a direct effect on the pharmacokinetics of somatostatin receptor (SSTR)-targeted imaging agents. We evaluated three Y3-TATE analogues conjugated to NOTA-based chelators for radiolabeling with 64 Cu and 68 Ga for small-animal positron emission tomographic/computed tomographic (PET/CT) imaging. Two commercially available NOTA analogues, p-SCN-Bn-NOTA and NODAGA, were evaluated. The p-SCN-Bn-NOTA analogues were conjugated to Y3TATE through b-Ala and PEG8 linkages. The NODAGA chelator was directly conjugated to Y3-TATE. The analogues labeled with 64 Cu or 68 Ga were analyzed in vitro for binding affinity and internalization and in vivo by PET/CT imaging, biodistribution, and Cerenkov imaging ( 68 Ga analogues). We evaluated the effects of the radiometals, chelators, and linkers on the performance of the SSTR subtype 2-–targeted imaging agents and also compared them to a previously reported agent, 64 Cu-CB-TE2A-Y3-TATE. We found that the method of conjugation, particularly the length of the linkage between the chelator and the peptide, significantly impacted tumor and nontarget tissue uptake and clearance. Among the 64 Cu- and 68 Ga-labeled NOTA analogues, NODAGA-Y3-TATE had the most optimal in vivo behavior and was comparable to 64 Cu-CB-TE2A-Y3-TATE. An advantage of NODAGA-Y3-TATE is that it allows labeling with 64 Cu and 68 Ga, providing a versatile PET probe for imaging SSTr subtype 2–positive tumors.
Large-scale ozone and aerosol distributions, air mass characteristics, and ozone fluxes over the western Pacific Ocean in late winter/early spring

[1] Large-scale measurements of ozone (O3) and aerosol distributions were made from the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) field experiment conducted in February–April 2001. Remote measurements were made with an airborne lidar to provide O3 and multiple-wavelength aerosol backscatter profiles from near the surface to above the tropopause along the flight track. In situ measurements of O3, aerosols, and a wide range of trace gases were made onboard the DC-8. Five-day backward trajectories were used in conjunction with the O3 and aerosol distributions on each flight to indicate the possible origin of observed air masses, such as from biomass burning regions, continental pollution, desert regions, and oceanic regions. Average latitudinal O3 and aerosol scattering ratio distributions were derived from all flights west of 150°E, and these distributions showed the average latitude and altitude dependence of different dynamical and chemical processes in determining the atmospheric composition over the western Pacific. TRACE-P (TP) showed an increase in the average latitudinal distributions of both O3 and aerosols compared to PEM-West B (PWB), which was conducted in February–March 1994. O3, aerosol, and potential vorticity levels were used to identify nine air mass types and quantify their frequency of occurrence as a function of altitude. This paper discusses the characteristics of the different air mass types encountered during TP and compares them to PWB. These results confirmed that most of the O3 increase in TP was due to photochemistry. The average latitudinal eastward O3 flux in the western Pacific during TP was found to peak near 32°N with a total average O3 flux between 14 and 46°N of 5.2 Tg/day. The eastward total CO flux was calculated to be 2.2 Tg-C/day with ∼6% estimated from Asia. The Asian flux of CO2 and CH4 was estimated at 4.9 and 0.06 Tg-C/day.
Stochastic simulation of high-frequency ground motions based on seismological models of the radiated spectra

Theoretical predictions of seismic motions as a function of source strength are often expressed as frequency-domain scaling models. The observations of interest to strong-motion seismology, however, are usually in the time domain (e.g., various peak motions, including magnitude). The method of simulation presented here makes use of both domains; its essence is to filter a suite of windowed, stochastic time series so that the amplitude spectra are equal, on the average, to the specified spectra. Because of its success in predicting peak and rms accelerations (Hanks and McGuire, 1981), an ω -squared spectrum with a high-frequency cutoff ( f m), in addition to the usual whole-path anelastic attenuation, and with a constant stress parameter (Δ σ ) has been used in the applications of the simulation method. With these assumptions, the model is particularly simple: the scaling with source size depends on only one parameter—seismic moment or, equivalently, moment magnitude. Besides peak acceleration, the model gives a good fit to a number of ground motion amplitude measures derived from previous analyses of hundreds of recordings from earthquakes in western North America, ranging from a moment magnitude of 5.0 to 7.7. These measures of ground motion include peak velocity, Wood-Anderson instrument response, and response spectra. The model also fits peak velocities and peak accelerations for South African earthquakes with moment magnitudes of 0.4 to 2.4 (with f m = 400 Hz and Δ σ = 50 bars, compared to f m = 15 Hz and Δ σ = 100 bars for the western North America data). Remarkably, the model seems to fit all essential aspects of high-frequency ground motions for earthquakes over a very large magnitude range . Although the simulation method is useful for applications requiring one or more time series, a simpler, less costly method based on various formulas from random vibration theory will often suffice for applications requiring only peak motions. Hanks and McGuire (1981) used such an approach in their prediction of peak acceleration. This paper contains a generalization of their approach; the formulas used depend on the moments (in the statistical sense) of the squared amplitude spectra, and therefore can be applied to any time series having a stochastic character, including ground acceleration, velocity, and the oscillator outputs on which response spectra and magnitude are based .