cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Cardiovascular Regeneration and Stem Cell Therapy

Annarosa Leri, Piero Anversa, and William H. Frishman, eds. 229 pp. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing; 2007. $134.95. ISBN 1-4051-4842-9 The past decade has witnessed extraordinary medical and scientific discovery: The human genome is now sequenced, human embryonic stem cells can be cultured, and the existence of endogenous tissue repair systems is newly appreciated. Technologically, our ability to image biological systems both in the intact organism and at microscopic levels also has advanced at a breathtaking pace. Many of these advances were difficult to imagine 10 to 15 years ago and, in many instances, have forced reappraisal of long-held biological paradigms. One of the most important examples of this is the concept of chronic irreversible damage to adult organs. The totality of discoveries has challenged and overturned the long-held paradigmatic view that (with few exceptions) the parenchyma of adult organs comprises terminally differentiated cells that must function for our entire lives. Wound healing and the ability of the liver to regenerate (myth of Prometheus is must reading) were considered exceptions that proved the rule. In the past several years, we have seen discoveries indicating that bone marrow and other sites harbor stem cells capable of differentiation into various lineages, including cardiac myocytes, and that the heart itself contains a pool of stem or precursor cells. Similar biology has emerged for other organ systems, notably the brain, long thought to …
Respiration characteristics in subjects diagnosed as having nasal obstruction

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine the respective oral and nasal contributions to total respiration in patients scheduled for surgical corrections of nasal obstruction. The effect of anterior nares expansion and/or nasal decongestant administration on the nasal component of breathing was also examined in these patients. Although variability among subjects was demonstrated in the ratio of nasal respiration to total respiration, 25% of the “nasally-obstructed” patients were 100% nasal brethers and no patient had a nasal component less than 18% of total respiration. Great variability existed among the patients in their response to nares expansion and/or decongestant administration. Collectively, they demonstrated no significant mean increase in nasal respiration with nares expansion alone. The patients demonstrated an increase with administration of the decongestant and with decongestant combined with nares expansion. The latter condition resulted in an increase that was greater than with decongestant alone. The implication of this study is that the traditional diagnostic terms “mouth breathing” or “nasal obstruction” are not useful. They do not describe the type, location, or severity of an obstruction or the relative contribution of the nose and mouth to respiration. Many patients who experience symptoms or have signs of nasal obstruction can functionally compensate to maintain 100% nasal breathing.
Catalytic Hydrosilylation of the Carbonyl Functionality via a Transient Nickel Hydride Complex

We report the syntheses and characterization of two new sterically demanding chelate ligands, denoted PNMe3 (N-(2-(diisopropylphosphino)-4-methylphenyl)-2,4,6-trimethylanilide) and PNiPr3 (N-(2-(diisopropylphosphino)-4-methylphenyl)-2,4,6-triisopropylanilide), as well as the preparation of their nickel(II) halide complexes [(PNiPr3)Ni(μ2-Br)]2 (1) and [(PNMe3)Ni(μ2-Cl)]2 (2). The combination of complex 1 with KOtBu and Et3SiH as the hydride source can promote the hydrosilylation of a variety of carbonyl compounds in excellent yield and in a catalytic manner. The reactivity for a scope of substrates and a plausible mechanism along the hydrosilylation reaction are discussed in this work.
Optical Frequency Combs from A to Z

The basic design and operating principles of mode-locked laser and parametric optical frequency combs will be presented. The application of these combs to various scientific and technological fields will be described. Article not available.
N Degrees of Separation: Influences of Dynamic Programming on Computer Science

Bellman's dynamic programming methodology can be applied to a wide range of computer science optimization problems. Some of these applications are briefly reviewed here. This work has led to advances in numerous other areas of computer science, including programming languages, computer simulation, and computer architecture. In turn, advances in these other areas suggest other applications of and to dynamic programming. In summary, we survey interrelationships of disparate computer science areas, and how progress in these areas evolved from Bellman's work.
A probabilistic model for the assignment of priorities in hierarchically structured decision problems

Abstract We develop an approach to analyze the assignment of priorities under uncertainty in hierarchically structured multicriterion decision problems. We also derive the composite priority distribution function of a network structure.
A cross-corpus study of subjectivity identification using unsupervised learning†

In this study, we investigate using unsupervised generative learning methods for subjectivity detection across different domains. We create an initial training set using simple lexicon information and then evaluate two iterative learning methods with a base naive Bayes classifier to learn from unannotated data. The first method is self-training, which adds instances with high confidence into the training set in each iteration. The second is a calibrated EM (expectation-maximization) method where we calibrate the posterior probabilities from EM such that the class distribution is similar to that in the real data. We evaluate both approaches on three different domains: movie data, news resource, and meeting dialogues, and we found that in some cases the unsupervised learning methods can achieve performance close to the fully supervised setup. We perform a thorough analysis to examine factors, such as self-labeling accuracy of the initial training set in unsupervised learning, the accuracy of the added examples in self-training, and the size of the initial training set in different methods. Our experiments and analysis show inherent differences across domains and impacting factors explaining the model behaviors.
The 30-60-Day Convection Seesaw between the Tropical Indian and Western Pacific Oceans.

Abstract The tropical Indian and western Pacific oceans are two prominent action centers for tropical 30–60-day convective variability. When convection is enhanced over the equatorial Indian Ocean, the tropical western Pacific often experiences an abnormal dry condition (phase I), whereas the development of the convection over the tropical western Pacific tends to be accompanied by suppressed convection in the equatorial Indian Ocean (phase II). This convection seesaw is a fundamental characteristic of the tropical 30–60-day oscillation. The seesaw is intimately associated with the activity of propagating low-frequency convective systems (LFCSs). Its formation process is season dependent. Typical boreal summer seesaw results from a time-lagged development of two systems: a western system that originates in the equatorial Indian Ocean and moves eastward and/or northward and an eastern system that develops in the western Pacific monsoon region and moves westward and/or northward. The boreal winter seesaw, o...
Scan-chain based watch-points for efficient run-time debugging and verification of FPGA designs

This paper describes a structured and area efficient approach for in-situ debugging of application for FPGA based reconfigurable systems. A scan chain is inserted into the hardware design running on the FPGA, which helps in debugging and verification by providing watch-point capability. The scan chain technique proposed is easy to use and has very low overhead. The scan-chain based implementation capitalizes on the capability of newer FPGAs to connect several LUTs serially and configure them as shift registers. The hardware debugging procedure proposed using the shift register LUTs does not require any recompilation of the design to change the watch-point conditions and thus is very fast. In this paper, the area overhead resulting from addition of a scan-chain based watch-point logic is discussed and is compared with other proposed debugging techniques. We observed that this technique has an average area overhead of 46% for the ITC benchmark circuits with varying widths of watch-point signals.
Male College Student Perceptions of Intercultural and Study Abroad Programs

Abstract In attempt to understand why men participate in study abroad at much lower rates than women, this study examines how male college students at a large research university perceive a university-run global education program, especially in terms of the expected costs and benefits of participating in such programs, and the extent to which gender schemas might influence these perceptions. Ways to more effectively recruit men to participate in study abroad are also discussed.
Characteristics and outcome of medical nonadherers in the veterans administration cooperative study of coronary artery surgery

Abstract During a 7-year follow-up period in the Veterans Administration Study of Bypass Surgery, 75 (24 %) of 311 medically assigned patients without left main disease “crossed over” to surgical treatment. Nineteen baseline, clinical, electrocardiographic and angiographic characteristics of the 75 crossover patients were compared with those of the 236 patients who adhered to medical treatment. At entry into the study, the crossover group contained more patients with severe angina than did the medical adherers group (p
LASER PHOTOLYSIS STUDIES OF QUINONE REDUCTION BY CHLOROPHYLL a IN ALCOHOL SOLUTION

- Upon laser photolysis of pheophytin-benzoquinone solutions in ethanol, transients due to the pheophytin triplet state (Pt), an exciplex (Pδ+ Qδ-), the pheophytin cation radical (P+) and the semiquinone radical (Q-) can be observed. Kinetic analysis indicates that the evolution of these transients at times longer than one microsecond is due to the decay of the exciplex with the concomitant formation of P+ and Q-, reverse electron transfer to form P and Q, solvent oxidation by P+, and Q- disproportionation. In support of the suggested solvent oxidation reaction, a large deuterium isotope effect is observed upon changing the solvent from methanol to its fully-deuterated counterpart. Comparisons are made between these results and those obtained with chlorophyll as described in the preceding paper.
Pgi2: Alternative Management Strategies for Dyspepsia

OBJECTIVE: To compare the cost-effectiveness of alternative dyspepsia management strategies: (1) H. pylori testing; if seropositive, providing H. pylori eradication treatment using oral omeprazole, clarithromycin, and amoxicillin; (2) empiric antisecretory therapy using omeprazole. METHODS: Decision analytical models compared cost/QALY for alternative strategies in patients grouped by gender and age. The study was conducted from the societal perspective using Year 1996–1999 prices, adjusted to year 2000 by CPI. Life expectancies were adjusted for QOL using the Index of Well-Being. Probabilities and prices were collected from the literature, the SEER program, National Vital Statistics, and BLS. The model considered H. pylori reinfection and gastric carcinogenesis risk over time. One-way sensitivity analyses were conducted on critical or uncertain parameters and threshold analyses on pivotal parameters. RESULTS: The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICE) for pooled patients (both genders) decreases with age from $3,612 per quality adjusted life year (QALY) saved at age 40–44 to the minimum of −$200 (dominant) per QALY saved at age 65–70. After age 70, the ICE increases with age. Females have higher ICEs than males in every age subgroup. The ICE was sensitive to discount rate, relative risk of gastric cancer (GC) in H. pylori infected patients, cost of treating GC, and cost of empiric antisecretory therapy, but not to the reinfection rate or infection rate of H. pylori, the change of the utility rate of GC and the one-year utility of dyspepsia patient under empiric antisecretory therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Taking $50,000/QALY as the societal ICE threshold, H. pylori screening and eradication is cost-effective for both genders at any age group, especially for male patients at older ages. Better estimates are needed for certain key parameters such as the relative risk reduction of GC with H. pylori eradication.
The Interactions of Sea Urchin Gametes During Fertilization

The interactions between sea urchin spermatozoa and ova during fertilization usually exhibit a high degree of species specificity. Under natural conditions and reasonable gamete concentrations, most interspecific inseminations fail to yield zygotes. Macromolecules on the external surfaces of the apposing gametes must surely be responsible for successful gamete recognition, adhesion and fusion. Species specific recognition between surface components of sperm and egg could occur during at least three events comprising the fertilization process. The first event is the interaction of the sperm plasma membrane with the egg jelly coat. This induces the sperm acrosome reaction resulting in the exocytosis of the “bindin” -containing acrosome granule and also the extrusion of the acrosome process from the anterior tip of the sperm. The second event is the adhesion of the bindin-coated acrosome process to glycoprotein “bindin receptors” on the external surface of the egg vitelline layer. The third event is the penetration of the vitelline layer and the fusion of sperm and egg plasma membranes. With the isolations of the component of egg jelly which induces the acrosome reaction, sperm bindin from the acrosome vesicle and the egg surface bindin receptor from the vitelline layer, there is hope of discovering the molecular basis of this most interesting intercellular interaction which results in the activation of embryonic development.
Electrical Characterization of Single Carbon Nanowires

We present experimental results on the electrical characterization of single semiconducting carbon nanowires using microfabricated electrodes. The material tested is classified as nanoporous carbon and is a class of amorphous carbonaceous material. Because of amorphous nature of this system the properties of the carbon nanowires are not similar to other crystalline carbon nanowire systems such as carbon nanotubes and graphitic carbon nanowires. Synthesis, experimental characterization techniques and the electron transport mechanism are discussed in this paper. Applications for this carbonaceous material include size-selective catalysis [1, 2], flexible electronic components and as gas sensors [3].Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Lanthanum increases the rat thymocyte cytoplasmic free calcium concentration by enhancing calcium influx

Abstract In the present study, I have examined the effect of lanthanum (La 3+ ) on cytoplasmic free calcium concentration in isolated rat thymocytes employing the quin2 technique. As with its effect on 15 Ca accumulation in rat thymocytes (Segal, J. and Ingbar, S.H. (1984) Endocrinology, 115, 160–166), La 3+ produced a concentration-related increase in thymocyte cytoplasmic free calcium concentration. This effect of La 3+ was very prompt in onset, evident within about 30 s from the time of addition of La 3+ . The lowest effective concentration of La 3+ was 6 μM (+22.7% above control), and it increased progressively to reach maximal values at 25 μM (+100% above control). La 3+ added to quin2-loaded thymocytes suspended in a calcium-free medium was without effect. In addition, La 3+ had no significant effect on 45 Ca efflux, and La 3+ did not inhibit calcium-ATPase activity in the rat thymocytes. These results demonstrate that in rat thymocytes La 3+ increases cytoplasmic free calcium concentration by increasing the extracellular calcium influx into the cell rather than the release of calcium from an intracellular pool.
Pathways of Increased Water Clarity After Fish Removal from Ventura Marsh; a Shallow, Eutrophic Wetland

We investigated the pathways by which water clarity increases following fish removal by evaluating the effects of a benthivorous fish reduction in a large, shallow, eutrophic, wetland in a predominately agricultural watershed in Iowa, U.S.A. Phytoplankton was phosphorus limited prior to manipulation. After a substantial fish removal was obtained, water clarity increased as a result of decreased suspended sediment and phytoplankton biomass. Trophic cascading, mitigated by release from fish predation and decreased physical interference from suspended sediments, appears to determine water clarity. Inorganic suspended solids declined immediately after fish were removed but the biomass of Daphnia and Ceriodaphnia did not increase until a few weeks after fish removal. High grazing by zooplankton likely reduced phytoplankton biomass during the height of the clear-water phase. Phytoplankton appeared to be limited by zooplankton grazing for approximately two months before reverting to bottom-up control. An increase in suspended sediment and/or increased predation pressure on zooplankton, due to the return of juvenile carp, appears to account for the decline of larger-bodied zooplankters and the switch back to bottom-up control. Macrophyte diversity and density increased substantially after the initiation of the clear-water phase.
Full-spectrum laterally-arranged multiple-bandgap InGaN solar cells

Laterally-arranged multiple bandgap (LAMB) solar cells based on InGaN nanowires or pillars with spatial composition-grading over a broad range over the surface of a single substrate were designed and simulated using Silvaco ATLAS software. The p-n junction is formed by n-type InGaN and a p-type GaP emitter, which is predicted to have a valence band well-aligned to In-rich InGaN based on a simple electron affinity band alignment model. Both three and six subcell designs were evaluated at various levels of solar concentration up to 240 suns. Efficiencies ranged from 32.9% to 40.2% for the three-subcell design and from 33.8% to 40.4% for the six-subcell design as the solar concentration was increased from one to 240 suns. A similar design utilizing a p-i-n structure rather than a simple p-n junction achieved 29.3% to 40.2% with three subcells and 36.1% to 46.2% with six subcells. The much greater benefit of increasing the number of subcells in the p-i-n design as compared to the p-n structure is attributed to more efficient carrier extraction, which enhances current-matching between subcells.
Low-energy beam pumping in TARA reactor design

The possibility of neutral-beam pumping in a tandem mirror thermal-barrier region is explored. To reduce the necessary neutral-beam pumping power, substituting low- for high-energy neutral beams is investigated. With the help of a two-step square well model and a variational expression for the trapping current, the competition between the trapping process and the drag effect for the deeply trapped particles is illustrated. This competition can lead to a stable equilibrium with reduced pumping power.
Protein machines mediate the basic genetic processes

Abstract Multienzyme complexes powered by nucleoside triphosphate hydrolysis play central roles in many biological processes. The DNA replication apparatus is a particularly well-understood example.
Creation and the Symbiosis of Science and Judaism

It seems to me that the critical questions that science and natural philosophy raise for Jewish theology are the following: Does God evolve? Does the universe have or even need an interpretation, specifically with reference to the fact that most of the universe most of the time is uninhabitable, and there may be many more than one universe? Does the universe need a beginning? What is distinctive about human consciousness, intelligence, and ethics in the light of evidence for evolution from all of the life sciences? Finally, will both life and the universe end? These questions are not only modern. They contain all the primary issues that have dominated rabbinic thought. That agenda can be summarized in six topics: How should we model what we believe about (1) God, (2) the world, and (3) the human being; and how should we understand the relations between them, that is, between (4) God and the world (or, creation), (5) God and the human (or, revelation), and (6) the human and the world (or, redemption)? In this paper I focus on the fourth issue, creation. My answer is presented in detail in my Judaism and the Doctrine of Creation (Samuelson 1994). Here I shall summarize my conclusions there concerning science, Jewish texts, and the correlation between them.
Strategies for Managerial and Employee Intervention in the Idealization-Frustration-Demoralization Cycle:

The effectiveness with which employees discharge their responsibilities in organizations is affected dramatically by the extent to which they feel disillusioned with their work. Managers with whom the authors work as consultants lament a cycle that begins with idealization, turns to frustration, and, left unchecked, yields demoralization (the IFD cycle). The authors investigate this cycle and advance two propositions: (1) employees have the right to function in organizations that conscientiously provide resources to obstruct the IFD cycle; and (2) employees have the responsibility to participate authentically in opportunities to obstruct the IFD cycle. Specific interventions into the cycle for restoration of “organizational health” are suggested.
An imbalance between VEGF and endostatin underlies impaired angiogenesis in gastric mucosa of aging rats

Gastric mucosa of aging individuals exhibits increased susceptibility to injury and delayed healing. Our previous studies in young rats showed that healing of mucosal injury depends on and is criti...
Neonatal conductive hearing loss disrupts the development of the Cat-315 epitope on perineuronal nets in the rat superior olivary complex

The critical period is a postnatal window characterized by a high level of experience-dependent neuronal plasticity in the central nervous system and sensory deprivation during this period significantly impacts neurological function. Perineuronal nets (PNNs) are specialized aggregates of the extracellular matrix which ensheath neuronal cell bodies, primary dendrites and axon hillocks and function in neuronal protection and stabilize synapses. PNNs are generally not present at birth, but reach adult-like patterns by the end of the third or fourth postnatal week. Their appearance is believed to mark the close of the critical period and sensory deprivation during this epoch disrupts development of PNNs. Here we investigate the postnatal development of two PNN markers (Wisteria floribunda agglutinin [WFA] and Cat-315) and the effect of neonatal conductive hearing loss (CHL) on their development. Our data indicates that these PNN markers are not present in the superior olivary complex (SOC) at birth, but develop over the first four postnatal weeks in different temporal patterns and also that neonatal CHL results in a significant decrease in the number of SOC neurons associated with Cat-315 reactive PNNs.
SELF-EFFICACY FOR SOCIAL SITUATIONS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH GENERALIZED SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER

Self-efficacy is a potentially useful concept when applied to Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD). The aims of the current study were to examine the psychometric properties of the Self- Efficacy for Social Situations Scale (SESS; Gaudiano and Herbert, 2003) and to investigate the relationship between self-efficacy and anxiety in an adolescent sample with generalized SAD. Results replicated those found in a previous adult SAD sample. The SESS showed high internal consistency and good construct and criterion-related validity. The SESS also predicted subjective anxiety and perceived performance in social role play tests after controlling for social anxiety severity. Furthermore, self-efficacy more clearly predicted self-ratings in contrast to observer ratings of performance in social role play tests. Finally, changes in social self- efficacy were strongly associated with changes in social anxiety symptoms following treatment, even after controlling for changes in fear of negative evaluation. Treatment implications for adolescent SAD are discussed.
Just Markets from the Perspective of Catholic Social Teaching

The “justice of markets” is intricately connected to the treatment of the poor and the disadvantaged in market economies. The increased interest of multinational corporations in low-income market segments affords, on one hand, the opportunity for a more inclusive capitalism, and on the other, the threat of greater exploitation of poor and disadvantaged consumers. This article traces the contributions of Catholic Social Teaching and its basic principles toward providing insight into what constitutes “justice” in such “marketing to the impoverished” situations.
Protein complex identification by supervised graph local clustering

Motivation: Protein complexes integrate multiple gene products to coordinate many biological functions. Given a graph representing pairwise protein interaction data one can search for subgraphs representing protein complexes. Previous methods for performing such search relied on the assumption that complexes form a clique in that graph. While this assumption is true for some complexes, it does not hold for many others. New algorithms are required in order to recover complexes with other types of topological structure. Results: We present an algorithm for inferring protein complexes from weighted interaction graphs. By using graph topological patterns and biological properties as features, we model each complex subgraph by a probabilistic Bayesian network (BN). We use a training set of known complexes to learn the parameters of this BN model. The log-likelihood ratio derived from the BN is then used to score subgraphs in the protein interaction graph and identify new complexes. We applied our method to protein interaction data in yeast. As we show our algorithm achieved a considerable improvement over clique based algorithms in terms of its ability to recover known complexes. We discuss some of the new complexes predicted by our algorithm and determine that they likely represent true complexes. Availability: Matlab implementation is available on the supporting website: www.cs.cmu.edu/~qyj/SuperComplex Contact: [email protected]
Perspectives in Genetic Screening: Principles and Implications

Recent advances in genetic identification and characterization of a number or hereditary disorders have led to increased possibilities for genetic testing and screening. The context and methods of screening are important given that identification of otherwise healthy persons as being presymptomatic or at increased risk for genetic diseases may have serious consequences for their future lifestyle, employment, and insurability. This article examines general principles for genetic screening, including goals, delivery issues, and professional and lay responses to screening and counseling, and recommends areas in which social psychological research on screening is needed.
Ongoing Issues of Racial and Ethnic Stigma in Education 50 Years after Brown v. Board

Brown v. Board of Education was focused on eliminating racial stigma and creating greater racial equity in education. Unfortunately, racial and ethnic stigma is still a powerful force in educational institutions of all kind. In this manuscript, I review the ways that stigma impedes academic performance, shapes the classroom climate and student–teacher relationships, and is a powerful influence on students’ developing identities and identifications. Current efforts to create greater educational equity need to focus at least some of their attention on the issue of stigma and its role in educational performance and outcomes. Finally, strategies for reducing racial and ethnic stigma in the classroom are discussed.
Job Burnout New Directions in Research and Intervention

Job burnout is a prolonged response to chronic emotional and interpersonal stressors on the job and is defined here by the three dimensions of exhaustion, cynicism, and sense of inefficacy. Its presence as a social problem in many human services professions was the impetus for the research that is now taking place in many countries. That research has established the complexity of the problem and has examined the individual stress experience within a larger social and organizational context of people's response to their work. The framework, which focuses attention on the interpersonal dynamics between the worker and other people in the workplace, has yielded new insights into the sources of stress, but effective interventions have yet to be developed and evaluated.
Respiratory Consequences of Rhinovirus Infection

Rhinoviruses, a genus of the family Picornaviridae, are the cause of more than 50% of respiratory tract infections. Complications of rhinovirus infections, which include otitis media, sinusitis, exacerbations of asthma, and other pulmonary diseases, can be significant in certain populations. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction has allowed the identification of rhinoviruses and led to a greater appreciation of the role of this pathogen in upper and lower respiratory tract disease. Furthermore, antiviral agents with broad activity against rhinoviruses have recently been developed, have undergone clinical trials, but have not been approved for clinical use. By altering the clinical course of picornavirus infections, it may be possible to minimize their potential adverse consequences.
Children's literacy interest and its relation to parents’ literacy‐promoting practices

This study examined how children's literacy interests related to parent literacy-promoting practices across time. Using a sample of 909 preschool-age children and the newly developed Child Activities Preference Checklist, literacy interest appeared to be a complex construct, not easily captured by a single measure. In a subsample of 230 children with longitudinal data, parent literacy practices and child literacy interests related concurrently and across time. Parent literacy practices were more stable than child literacy interests, with children's literacy interest continuing to develop over the preschool year. Parent practices of exposing children to literacy and teaching them literacy concepts appeared to be distinct constructs. Exposure to literacy was especially important in the growth of literacy interests and the hypothesis that exposure has a negative effect on children with little initial interest was not fully supported.
Incremental read-aheads

In spite of the advances in caching, query optimization, and object persistence techniques in the past few years, the cost of interactions of large-scale data-intensive applications with a relational database where the persistent objects are implemented remains a performance bottleneck To reduce the cost of such interactions, we present a read-ahead scheme, which allows the application to reduce the number of database roundtrips by retrieving the data before it is actually needed by the transactions in the applications. We focus on designing generic rules for determining the efficient sequences of SQL statements for read-ahead queries on relational databases, such that the rules would be useful across application domains and data-access patterns This paper explains our research methodology for generating generic access patterns and studying the parameters that influence the costs of various combinations of read-ahead SQL statements that implement the generic access patterns of applications.
Adapting the cognitive walkthrough method to assess the usability of a knowledge domain visualization

The usability of knowledge domain visualization (KDViz) tools can be assessed at several levels. Cognitive walkthrough (CW) is a well known usability inspection method that focuses on how easily users can learn software through exploration. Typical applications of CW follow structured tasks where user goals and action sequences that lead to achievement of the goals are well defined. KDViz and other information visualization tools, however, are typically designed for users to explore data and user goals and actions are less well understood. In this paper, we describe how the traditional CW method may be adapted for assessing the usability of these systems. We apply the adapted version of CW to CiteSpace, a KDViz tool that uses bibliometric analyses to create visualizations of scientific literatures. We describe usability issues identified by the adapted CW and discuss how CiteSpace supported the completion of tasks, such as identifying research fronts, and the achievement of goals. Finally, we discuss improvements to the adapted CW and issues to be addressed before applying it to a wider range of KDViz tools.
Otologic management in children with the CHARGE association

Abstract Objectives: To characterize otologic management of two patient groups, those with the CHARGE association and those not strictly labeled as CHARGE but with several features of the disorder (CHARGE-like), in order to determine: (1) the clinical validity and utility of managing CHARGE-like children in a similar manner to patients with the strictly defined CHARGE association, (2) the progression and prognosis of hearing loss and (3) the identification of factors that may predict the degree of hearing loss. Design: Case series. Setting: Tertiary care urban children's hospital. Patients: 37 children, 22 in the CHARGE group and 15 in the CHARGE-like group. Interventions: Otorhinolaryngologic and audiologic management. Main outcome measures : Otorhinolaryngologic and audiologic evaluation. Results: All patients required otologic and/or audiologic care. Bilateral hearing loss was found in 32 patients (86%) and unilateral hearing loss in five patients (14%) when hearing was assessed in the absence of otitis media. Among the 32 patients with bilateral hearing loss, 31 (97%) were able to be fit with useful hearing aids. External ear anomalies were present in 25/37 (68%) patients, and middle ear and ossicular anomalies were identified in four cases (4/37, 11%). 36/37(97%) patients required surgical management of otitis media. Three patients (3/37, 8%) exhibited radiographic evidence of inner ear deformity. Facial nerve dysfunction was noted in the records of 14/37 (38%) patients. No statistically significant difference was found when CHARGE and CHARGE-like patients were compared for degree of hearing loss ( P =0.5964), type of hearing loss ( P =0.2657), worsening of hearing level ( P =0.7908), or anomalies of the external ear ( P =0.6921), ossicles ( P =0.7908), inner ear ( P =0.7908) or facial nerve ( P =0.6409). Patients with external ear anomalies did not exhibit statistically different degrees ( P =0.3125) or types ( P =0.1515) of hearing loss from patients without auricular anomalies. The presence of facial nerve anomaly correlated significantly ( P =0.0021) with profound hearing loss. Conclusions: Children who are CHARGE-like may be may be considered equivalent in terms of otologic and audiologic management to children strictly defined as CHARGE patients. These children all require otologic care due to the high prevalence of middle ear disease and the underlying permanent hearing loss that is both stable and aidable. The degree of hearing loss cannot be predicted by external ear morphology, but may be predicted by facial nerve palsy.
Comparative Functional Genomic Analysis of Solanum Glandular Trichome Types

Glandular trichomes play important roles in protecting plants from biotic attack by producing defensive compounds. We investigated the metabolic profiles and transcriptomes to characterize the differences between different glandular trichome types in several domesticated and wild Solanum species: Solanum lycopersicum (glandular trichome types 1, 6, and 7), Solanum habrochaites (types 1, 4, and 6), Solanum pennellii (types 4 and 6), Solanum arcanum (type 6), and Solanum pimpinellifolium (type 6). Substantial chemical differences in and between Solanum species and glandular trichome types are likely determined by the regulation of metabolism at several levels. Comparison of S. habrochaites type 1 and 4 glandular trichomes revealed few differences in chemical content or transcript abundance, leading to the conclusion that these two glandular trichome types are the same and differ perhaps only in stalk length. The observation that all of the other species examined here contain either type 1 or 4 trichomes (not both) supports the conclusion that these two trichome types are the same. Most differences in metabolites between type 1 and 4 glands on the one hand and type 6 glands on the other hand are quantitative but not qualitative. Several glandular trichome types express genes associated with photosynthesis and carbon fixation, indicating that some carbon destined for specialized metabolism is likely fixed within the trichome secretory cells. Finally, Solanum type 7 glandular trichomes do not appear to be involved in the biosynthesis and storage of specialized metabolites and thus likely serve another unknown function, perhaps as the site of the synthesis of protease inhibitors.
Run-Time Scheduler Synthesis for Hardware-Software Systems and Application to Robot Control Design (Abstract)

We present a tool that automatically generates a run-time scheduler for a target architecture from a heterogeneous system-level specification in both Verilog HDL and C. Part of the run-time scheduler is implemented in hardware, which allows the scheduler to be predictable in being able to meet hard real-time constraints, while part is implemented in software, thus supporting features typical of software schedulers. We describe the tool flow and target architecture, synthesis of the control portion of the run-time scheduler in hardware, and control of the software using interrupts. Finally, we conclude with a sample application of the tool to a robot design example.
Fine-grained QoS scheduling for PCM-based main memory systems

With wide adoption of chip multiprocessors (CMPs) in modern computers, there is an increasing demand for large capacity main memory systems. The emerging PCM (Phase Change Memory) technology has unique power and scalability advantages and is regarded as a promising candidate among new memory technologies. When scheduling a mix of applications of different priority levels, it is often important to provide tunable QoS (Quality-of-Service) for the applications with high priority. However due to the slow PCM cell access, and the destructive interferences among concurrent applications, existing memory scheduling schemes lack the flexibility to tune QoS in a wide range, in particular to the level close or equal to that of standalone execution. In this paper we propose a novel QoS scheduling scheme that utilizes request preemption and row buffer partition that enable QoS tuning at a fine-granularity. That is, they can tune the request queuing time and the PCM bank service time for the high priority requests. Our experimental results show that the proposed scheme achieves 1.7× ∼10× QoS tuning range while introducing negligible area and energy overheads.
A 2-bit RF MEMS phase shifter in a thick-film BGA ceramic package

The development of a thick-film hermetic BGA package for a radio-frequency (RF) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) 2-bit phase shifter is presented. The measured packaged MEMS phase shifter average in-band insertion loss was 1.14 dB with an average return loss of 15.9 dB. The package transition insertion loss was less than 0.1 dB per transition with excellent agreement between simulated and measured results. It was also demonstrated that the RF MEMS phase shift performance could be improved to obtain a phase error of less than 3.3 degrees. The first reported measurements of the average rise and fall times associated with a MEMS circuit (in this case a 2-bit phase shifter) were 26 and 70 /spl mu/s, respectively. The advent of packaged RF MEMS phase shifters will reduce the cost (both design and building) of future phase arrays.
1,5‐Di‐tert‐butyl‐3‐hydroxy‐7‐methyl­ene‐1‐azonia‐5‐aza­cyclo­octane iodide

This paper reports the solid-state structure of the title compound, C15H31IN2O. The mol­ecule has a non-crystallographic mirror plane that accommodates all atoms except the hydroxyl-H and the H atom on the positively charged N atom.
Divisionalization and Entry Deterrence

This paper assumes that incumbent firms can create new independent divisions more cheaply than potential entrants, who must incur the additional overhead costs of new entry. The main theoretical result is that such divisionalization ability leads perfectly informed incumbents to preempt all rational entry into their industries. In contrast, existing models of entry deterrence imply that informed incumbents, even those with steadily decreasing average costs, will often allow rational entry. Our result may explain why successful, large-scale entry by firms with no informational advantage is extremely rare. The use of divisions to preempt entry may also explain why large firms in high-profit oligopolies often divisionalize, allowing their divisions to compete freely despite the negative pecuniary externality that each division imposes on others.
In vitro evaluation of free-form biodegradable bone plates for fixation of distal femoral physeal fractures in dogs.

Objective—To design and manufacture free-form biodegradable polycaprolactone (PCL) bone plates and to compare mechanical properties of femoral constructs with a distal physeal fracture repaired by use of 5 stabilization methods. Sample Population—40 canine femoral replicas created by use of additive manufacturing and rapid tooling. Procedures—Surgery duration, mediolateral and craniocaudal bending stiffness, and torsional stiffness of femoral physeal fracture repair constructs made by use of 5 stabilization methods were assessed. The implants included 2 Kirschner wires inserted medially and 2 inserted laterally (4KW), a commercial stainless steel plate (CSP), a custom free-form titanium plate (CTP), thin (2-mm-thick) biodegradable PCL plates (TNP) placed medially and laterally, and thick (4-mm-thick) PCL plates (TKP) placed medially and laterally. Results—Surgical placement of 4KW was more rapid than placement of other implants The mean caudal cantilever bending stiffness of CTP and CSP constructs was gre...
Real‐time quadrupole mass spectrometer analysis of gas in borehole fluid samples acquired using the U‐tube sampling methodology

Sampling of fluids in deep boreholes is challenging becauseof the necessity to minimize external contamination and maintain sampleintegrity during recovery. The U-tube sampling methodology was developedto collect large volume, multiphase samples at in situ pressures. As apermanent or semi-permanent installation, the U-tube can be used forrapidly acquiring multiple samples or it may be installed for long-termmonitoring applications. The U-tube was first deployed in Liberty County,TX to monitor crosswell CO2 injection as part of the Frio CO2sequestration experiment. Analysis of gases (dissolved or separate phase)was performed in the field using a quadrupole mass spectrometer, whichserved as the basis for determining the arrival of the CO2 plume. Thepresence of oxygen and argon in elevated concentrations, along withreduced methane concentration, indicate sample alteration caused by theintroduction of surface fluids during borehole completion. Despiteproducing the well to eliminate non-native fluids, measurementsdemonstrate that contamination persists until the immiscible CO2injection swept formation fluid into the observationwellbore.
Assessing the ability to predict human percepts of odor quality from the detector responses of a conducting polymer composite-based electronic nose

Abstract The responses of a conducting polymer composite “electronic nose” detector array were used to predict human perceptual descriptors of odor quality for a selected test set of analytes. The single-component odorants investigated in this work included molecules that are chemically quite distinct from each other, as well as molecules that are chemically similar to each other but which are perceived as having distinct odor qualities by humans. Each analyte produced a different, characteristic response pattern on the electronic nose array, with the signal strength on each detector reflecting the relative binding of the odorant into the various conducting polymer composites of the detector array. A “human perceptual space” was defined by reference to English language descriptors that are frequently used to describe odors. Data analysis techniques, including standard regression, nearest-neighbor prediction, principal components regression, partial least squares regression, and feature subset selection, were then used to determine mappings from electronic nose measurements to this human perceptual space. The effectiveness of the derived mappings was evaluated by comparison with average human perceptual data published by Dravnieks. For specific descriptors, some models provided cross-validated predictions that correlated well with the human data (above the 0.60 level), but none of the models could accurately predict the human values for more than a few descriptors.
Changes in environmental temperature influence leptin responsiveness in low- and high-fat-fed mice.

Loss of body fat in leptin-treated animals has been attributed to reduced energy intake, increased thermogenesis, and preferential fatty acid oxidation. Leptin does not decrease food intake or body fat in leptin-resistant high-fat (HF)-fed mice, possibly due to a failure of leptin to activate hypothalamic receptors. We measured energy expenditure of male C57BL/6 mice adapted to low-fat (LF) or HF diet and infused them for 13 days with PBS or 10 μg leptin/day from an intraperitoneal miniosmotic pump to test whether leptin resistance prevented leptin-induced increases in energy expenditure and fatty acid oxidation. There was no effect of low-dose leptin infusions on either of these measures in LF-fed or HF-fed mice, even though LF-fed mice lost body fat. Experiment 2 tested leptin responsiveness in LF-fed and HF-fed mice housed at different temperatures (18°C, 23°C, 27°C), assuming that the cold would increase and the hot environment would inhibit food intake and thermogenesis, which could potentially interfere with leptin action. LF-fed mice housed at 23°C were the only mice that lost body fat during leptin infusion, suggesting that an ability to modify energy expenditure is essential to the maintenance of leptin responsiveness. HF-fed mice in cold or warm environments did not respond to leptin. HF-fed mice in the hot environment were fatter than other HF-fed mice, and, surprisingly, leptin caused a further increase in body fat, demonstrating that the mice were not totally leptin resistant and that partial leptin resistance in a hot environment favors positive energy balance and fat deposition.