cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Firm-core virtual FPGA for just-in-time FPGA compilation

Just-in-time (JIT) compilation has been used in many applications to enable standard software binaries to execute on different underlying processor architectures, yielding software portability benefits. Researchers previously introduced the concept of a standard hardware binary to achieve similar portability benefits for hardware, using a JIT compiler to compile the hardware binary to an FPGA. The JIT compiler includes lean versions of technology mapping, placement, and routing algorithms that implement the standard hardware binary on a simple custom FPGA fabric designed specifically for JIT compilation. While developing a custom FPGA may be feasible for some applications, we propose implementing the simple FPGA fabric as a virtual FPGA. In this paper, we present a virtual FPGA, described using structural VHDL and thus representing a firm core that a designer can synthesize onto an existing FPGA. We synthesized the firm-core virtual FPGA onto Xilinx Spartan physical FPGAs and then mapped 18 benchmark circuits onto the virtual FPGA. Our results show a 6X decrease in performance and 100x more hardware resource usage, for the virtual FPGA approach compared to mapping the circuits directly to the physical FPGA fabric. While the hardware overhead is large, large commercial FPGA capacities may still mean that some applications can utilize a virtual FPGA approach if portability is more important than resource utilization. Furthermore, our work provides a baseline for future virtual FPGA approaches that may reduce the performance or area overhead through various means.
Distribution of Hematocrit Values After Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage

Low hematocrit values are common after subarachnoid hemorrhage and may be associated with elevated cerebral blood flow and transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) velocities, which may confound the interpretation of velocity as an indicator of vasospasm. The exact distribution of hematocrit among a neurosurgical population would be useful in assessing the magnitude of this difficulty but has not been previously reported. A database containing hematocrit values recorded at TCD examinations over a period of 7 years was reviewed. Two thousand four hundred thirteen hematocrit values were recorded for 575 patients. The distribution of hematocrit values was recorded among patients and among TCD studies. Eighteen percent of the patient population achieved a hematocrit of 26% or less at some point in their hospital stay, whereas 57% of patients achieved a hematocrit of 30% or less. Six percent of the TCD studies were associated with a hematocrit of 26% or less, while 33% of the studies were associated with a hematocrit of 30% or less.
Short-term revisit during programming tasks

Previous studies of Web page revisitation were only focused on long-term revisit ranging from hours to days. In this paper, we study the short-term revisit of less than one hour such as the revisit behavior during a small programming task. We first perform an exploratory study to observe the short-term revisit phenomenon. We then perform controlled experiments with our designed tool support as treatment by inviting 20 biomedical software developers to perform two software change tasks. Our results show that the participants with tool support used 19.7% less time than the ones without tool support.
Mechanically prelithiated silicon nano alloy as highly engineered anode material

Abstract Silicon (Si) anodes suffer from huge volume changes leading to cracking and pulverization impacting the battery life. To deliver high energy and long-term stability, we present a unique and facile prelithiated silicon nano alloy (SiNA) material with lithium stearate as reagent. Structurally controlled SiNA (in this work Si -iron (Fe)-manganese (Mn) combination) design with active Si surrounded by inactive buffer matrix to reduce mechanical deterioration during expansions was synthesized using a low-cost and low-temperature process relying on mechanical milling. Prelithiation was accomplished to compensate for the initial irreversible loss by pre-feeding with the lithium reagent to form a protective artificial solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) and prefill the mechanical crack voids of the SiNA to improve the mechanical properties necessary for long-term cyclability. The approach was to mechanically mix SiNA with lithium stearate followed by heat treatment above the melting point of lithium stearate to allow its easy diffusion with the surface and mechanical voids of the SiNA. Prelithiated SiNA exhibited enhanced physicochemical properties and featured boosted mechanical integrity characterized by nanoindentation. In overall, prelithiated SiNA revealed excellent electrochemical properties and long-term cycling stability addressed at significantly high loading (∼2 mg cm−2) and over 250 cycles, demonstrating its transformable potential to high energy applications.
Implementation of an integrating sphere for the enhancement of noninvasive glucose detection using quantum cascade laser spectroscopy

An integrating sphere is used to enhance the collection of backscattered light in a noninvasive glucose sensor based on quantum cascade laser spectroscopy. The sphere enhances signal stability by roughly an order of magnitude, allowing us to use a thermoelectrically (TE) cooled detector while maintaining comparable glucose prediction accuracy levels. Using a smaller TE-cooled detector reduces form factor, creating a mobile sensor. Principal component analysis has predicted principal components of spectra taken from human subjects that closely match the absorption peaks of glucose. These principal components are used as regressors in a linear regression algorithm to make glucose concentration predictions, over 75% of which are clinically accurate.
Boundary-Driven Emergent Spatiotemporal Order in Growing Microbial Colonies

We introduce a tractable stochastic spatial Moran model to explain experimentally-observed patterns of rod-shaped bacteria growing in rectangular microfluidic traps. Our model shows that spatial patterns can arise as a result of a tug-of-war between boundary effects and modulations of growth rate due to cell-cell interactions. Cells align parallel to the long side of the trap when boundary effects dominate. However, when the magnitude of cell-cell interactions exceeds a critical value, cells align orthogonally to the trap's long side. Our model is analytically tractable, and completely solvable under a mean-field approximation. This allows us to elucidate the mechanisms that govern the formation of population-level patterns. The model can be easily extended to examine various types of interactions that can shape the collective behavior in bacterial populations.
What Is the Structure of Human Populations

The study of evolution is limited by its essentially stochastic nature. Even if we understand all the forces affecting the transmission of genes from one generation to the next, we cannot predict the future genetic constitution of a population and we cannot reconstruct all aspects of the past. The phrase “cannot predict” is to be taken in the same sense as when we decline to predict whether a toss of a fair coin will result in a head or a tail. We may be content to assign a probability of one half to each outcome, but the inherent uncertainty in the tossing process is widely acknowledged and even serves as the basis for deciding elections in the case of equal numbers of votes for each of two candidates. The possibility of studying the physics of coin tossing to such a degree that the outcome can be predicted with certainty is rejected, and biological processes such as meiosis are very much more complicated. Our theories of evolution are designed to apply on the average or to give probabilities to sets of outcomes. Our data, however, are from specific outcomes. Our understanding of evolution must proceed from the single replicate of the process. We can no more construct a complete theory of a stochastic process from specific data than we can predict a specific outcome with certainty from our theory.
On the Artificial Dissociation of the Relationship between Accommodation and Convergence

If someone holds a weak prism before the eye with its vertical base outward he sees crossed double images at first, but they are soon single again because he eliminates the double images by an increase in the convergence of the eyes. If he uses a strong prism for the same experiment, when he is not practiced in the observation of peripheral double images, he does not see double but does see various things unclearly through one another. He sees a different part of visual space with each eye and is not able to reestablish clear vision unless he finds the necessary eye position by chance. The observer who is practiced in such experiments indeed immediately notices the corresponding double image for each image, if it is at all recognizable, and easily reestablishes single vision by strong convergence. In this way I myself have overcome every prism which does not demand a stronger inward turning of the eye than the anchoring of the eyeball permits.
Additivity of apparent and standardized ileal digestibility of amino acid determined by chromic oxide and titanium dioxide in mixed diets containing wheat and multiple protein sources fed to growing pigs

The aim of this study was to investigate the additivity of apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of crude protein (CP) and amino acids (AA) in mixed diets containing wheat, canola meal (CM), meat and bone meal (MBM), and sorghum distillers' dried grains with solubles (DDGS) fed to pigs with chromic oxide (Cr2O3) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) as digestibility index markers. Four diets were prepared to contain wheat, CM, MBM, or DDGS as a sole source of nitrogen; three mixed diets were prepared to contain wheat, CM, and MBM; wheat, MBM, and DDGS; or wheat, CM, MBM, and DDGS; also, a nitrogen-free diet was prepared to estimate the basal ileal endogenous losses (BEL) of CP and AA. Both Cr2O3 and TiO2 were incorporated at 5 g/kg into each diet. Sixteen barrows (initial body weight = 34.7 ± 0.6 kg) surgically fitted with T-cannulas at the distal ileum were allotted to a duplicate 8 × 4 Youden square design with eight experimental diets and four periods. During each 7-d period, the ileal digesta was collected for 2 d after a 5-d adaptation, and the AID and SID of CP and AA were determined using Cr2O3 or TiO2 as marker. There was no interaction between diet and marker type for both AID and SID of CP and AA. Similar BEL, AID, and SID of CP and AA were determined by Cr2O3 and TiO2. In the wheat-CM-MBM diet, the measured AID of CP and most AA determined with Cr2O3 or TiO2 were not different from the predicted values, which was determined based on the measured AID values in wheat, CM, and MBM. In the wheat-MBM-DDGS diet, the measured and predicted AID of CP and seven indispensable AA differed (P < 0.05) using Cr2O3 as marker, and the measured and predicted AID of CP and four indispensable AA differed (P < 0.05) using TiO2 as marker. The measured AID of CP and most indispensable AA were greater (P < 0.05) than predicted AID regardless of marker type for the wheat-CM-MBM-DDGS diet. The measured SID of CP and indispensable AA were consistent with the predicted values, except Lys in the wheat-CM-MBM diet using either marker and His in the wheat-MBM-DDGS diet with Cr2O3 as marker. In conclusion, more accurate prediction of ileal digestibility of CP and AA was achieved using SID rather than AID in mixed diets containing wheat, CM, MBM, and DDGS. The determination of endogenous loss, AID, and SID of CP and AA were not affected by marker type in this study. In addition, the additivity of AID and SID of CP and most indispensable AA in mixed diets was not affected by marker type.
Prior to Initiation of Chemotherapy, Can We Predict Breast Tumor Response? Deep Learning Convolutional Neural Networks Approach Using a Breast MRI Tumor Dataset

We hypothesize that convolutional neural networks (CNN) can be used to predict neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) response using a breast MRI tumor dataset prior to initiation of chemotherapy. An institutional review board-approved retrospective review of our database from January 2009 to June 2016 identified 141 locally advanced breast cancer patients who (1) underwent breast MRI prior to the initiation of NAC, (2) successfully completed adriamycin/taxane-based NAC, and (3) underwent surgical resection with available final surgical pathology data. Patients were classified into three groups based on their NAC response confirmed on final surgical pathology: complete (group 1), partial (group 2), and no response/progression (group 3). A total of 3107 volumetric slices of 141 tumors were evaluated. Breast tumor was identified on first T1 postcontrast dynamic images and underwent 3D segmentation. CNN consisted of ten convolutional layers, four max-pooling layers, and dropout of 50% after a fully connected layer. Dropout, augmentation, and L2 regularization were implemented to prevent overfitting of data. Non-linear functions were modeled by a rectified linear unit (ReLU). Batch normalization was used between the convolutional and ReLU layers to limit drift of layer activations during training. A three-class neoadjuvant prediction model was evaluated (group 1, group 2, or group 3). The CNN achieved an overall accuracy of 88% in three-class prediction of neoadjuvant treatment response. Three-class prediction discriminating one group from the other two was analyzed. Group 1 had a specificity of 95.1% ± 3.1%, sensitivity of 73.9% ± 4.5%, and accuracy of 87.7% ± 0.6%. Group 2 (partial response) had a specificity of 91.6% ± 1.3%, sensitivity of 82.4% ± 2.7%, and accuracy of 87.7% ± 0.6%. Group 3 (no response/progression) had a specificity of 93.4% ± 2.9%, sensitivity of 76.8% ± 5.7%, and accuracy of 87.8% ± 0.6%. It is feasible for current deep CNN architectures to be trained to predict NAC treatment response using a breast MRI dataset obtained prior to initiation of chemotherapy. Larger dataset will likely improve our prediction model.
Fostering a Culture of Innovation: A Case Study of Elementary School Principals in Costa Rica.

To help promote a culture of innovation, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Science, Technology, and Telecommunication of Costa Rica estab- lished a national executive decree requiring all public schools in the country partic- ipate in the National Program of Science and Technology Fairs (NPSTF). This case study examines the role of five elementary school principals in Costa Rica in imple menting and preparing their schools for the NPSTF initiative. Principals played three significant roles: the motivator of teachers and students; acquirer of NPSTF resources; and the organizer of NPSTF committees and coalitions to help train and finance the initiative. It is recommended the Ministry of Education establish a budget solely ded- icated to support infrastructure and professional development for NPSTF while align ing goals with all stakeholders.
Farmers’ intention to use text messaging for extension services in Trinidad

ABSTRACTPurpose: The effectiveness of new extension approaches hinges on farmers’ willingness to adopt innovative ways to interact with extension. Therefore, this study explored farmers’ willingnes...
Effect of New York State Electronic Prescribing Mandate on Opioid Prescribing Patterns

Abstract Background Drug overdose was the leading cause of injury and death in 2013, with drug misuse and abuse causing approximately 2.5 million emergency department (ED) visits in 2011. The Electronic Prescriptions for Controlled Substances (EPCS) program was created with the goal of decreasing rates of prescription opioid addiction, abuse, diversion, and death by making it more difficult to “doctor-shop” and alter prescriptions. Objective In this study, we describe the opioid-prescribing patterns of emergency physicians after the introduction of the New York State EPCS mandate. Methods We conducted a retrospective, single-center, descriptive study with a pre-/post-test design. The pre-implementation period used for comparison was April 1–July 31, 2015 and the post-implementation period was April 1–July 31, 2016. All ED discharge prescriptions for opioid medications prior to and after the initiation of New York State EPCS were identified. Results During the pre-implementation study period, 22,221 patient visits were identified with 1366 patients receiving an opioid prescription. During the post-implementation study period, 22,405 patient visits were identified with 642 patients receiving an opioid prescription. This represented an absolute decrease of 724 (53%) opioid prescriptions (p Conclusions There was a significant decline in the overall number of opioid prescriptions after implementation of the New York EPCS mandate.
ConStance: Modeling Annotation Contexts to Improve Stance Classification

Manual annotations are a prerequisite for many applications of machine learning. However, weaknesses in the annotation process itself are easy to overlook. In particular, scholars often choose what information to give to annotators without examining these decisions empirically. For subjective tasks such as sentiment analysis, sarcasm, and stance detection, such choices can impact results. Here, for the task of political stance detection on Twitter, we show that providing too little context can result in noisy and uncertain annotations, whereas providing too strong a context may cause it to outweigh other signals. To characterize and reduce these biases, we develop ConStance, a general model for reasoning about annotations across information conditions. Given conflicting labels produced by multiple annotators seeing the same instances with different contexts, ConStance simultaneously estimates gold standard labels and also learns a classifier for new instances. We show that the classifier learned by ConStance outperforms a variety of baselines at predicting political stance, while the model’s interpretable parameters shed light on the effects of each context.
Nucleon and $\Omega$ Baryon Masses with All-HISQ Fermions at the Physical Point

We present the results of the nucleon and $\Omega$ baryon masses using staggered action for both valence and sea quarks. Three ensembles with the physical pion mass at approximate lattice spacings of $0.15$, $0.12$, and $0.088$fm are employed to extrapolate the masses to continuum and we obtain $M_N = 964(16)$ MeV and $M_\Omega = 1678(9)$. Both statistical and systematic uncertainties are included in the nucleon mass, whereas only the statistical uncertainty is accounted for in the $\Omega$ baryon mass.
Believing to Belong: Addressing the Novice-Expert Problem in Polarized Scientific Communication

There is a large gap between the specialized knowledge of scientists and laypeople’s understanding of the sciences. The novice-expert problem arises when non-experts are confronted with (real or ap...
Getting Wet and Cleaning Up: Swimming, Social Class, and Space in 1950s Barcelona

This article explores how the local elites in the city of Barcelona attempted to use swimming clubs, specifically the construction of new pools, to remake the urban landscape and to empower themsel...
Metaphysics without Ontology: W ang Bi and the Daodejing

It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that much of how the modern world views the Daodejing is more attributable to the Xuanxue commentator Wang Bi than to any putative author named “Laozi.” Because of Wang Bi’s emphasis on metaphysics, modern European commentators have almost universally favored an ontological reading of the Daodejing, which understands Dao as a monolithic, static, abstract, fundamental reality akin to the Vedantic concept of Brahman. I will argue that Wang Bi’s commentary can be read as more sympathetic to a process understanding, which understands Dao as pluralistic, dynamic, and concrete, than to an ontological one.
Screening for Vitamin D Deficiency in Adults

A 49-year-old Black man with a history of hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and class I obesity (body mass index of 31.4 kg per m2) presents for a wellness examination. The patient's hypertension and diabetes are well controlled with lisinopril and metformin; they do not take any other medications. The patient feels well today, with no health complaints and a negative review of systems. The patient tells you that they recently read an online article about vitamin D and is concerned they might have a low vitamin D level.
Immunosuppression of Fertility by LDH-C4

The natural response of the immune system to foreign proteins can be exploited in the development of a vaccine for control of fertility. Potential target antigens for such a vaccine include those that are found specifically on the surface of sperm and are absent from somatic tissues (reviewed by Aitken, 1982, Goldberg, 1983, Anderson and Alexander, 1983). Such antigens are uniquely suited to incorporation into a vaccine that may be applicable to both male and female use. They do not appear in the male until spermatogenesis begins, which is after the immune system has already become tolerant to “self-antigens”. Even after they appear, they are isolated from the male immune system by the blood-testes barrier. They are not found at all in female tissues. Thus these antigens can provoke antibody formation in either males or females. Furthermore, a vaccine would have the advantage over currently available contraceptive methodologies of not interfering with hormonal and metabolic functions.
Do Grades Matter? The Influence of Personal and Collective Assessments of Schools on Political Judgments

We seek to increase our understanding of the role that individuals' assessments of schools, both locally and in the nation as a whole, play within a political context. Relying on data from the Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll, we investigate how individuals' ratings of schools relate to their attitudes toward policy alternatives and public officials. We find that the relationship concerning these assessments and political judgments differs between parents and those individuals without school-aged children. Perhaps, most striking is the weak relationship between assessments of the nation's schools and parents' support for policy alternatives; instead, these attitudes are tied to their assessments of their local schools. When considering how well political officials have worked to improve education policy, the attitudes of individuals appear related to the grades that they assign the schools locally and in the nation as a whole. Buscamos incrementar nuestra comprension del rol que juegan dentro del contexto politico las evaluaciones que hacen individuos de las escuelas locales y de la nacion. Apoyandonos en datos de la encuesta Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup, investigamos como los ratings de las escuelas se relacionan con las actitudes de los individuos hacia las alternativas de politicas y los oficiales politicos. Encontramos que la relacion sobre estas evaluaciones y juicios politicos difieren entre padres de familia y aquellos individuos sin ninos en edad escolar. Quizas lo mas llamativo es la debil relacion entre las evaluaciones de las escuelas a nivel nacional y el apoyo de los padres a alternativas de politicas; en lugar de ello, estas actitudes estan ligadas a sus evaluaciones de las escuelas locales. Cuando se considera lo bien que los oficiales politicos han trabajado para mejorar las politicas educativas, las actitudes de los individuos parecen estar relacionadas con la calificacion que ellos otorgan a las escuelas a nivel local y nacional.
Solvation in hydrofluoroalkanes: how can ethanol help?

Objectives The goal of this work was to evaluate the ability of ethanol mixed with hydrofluoroalkanes (HFAs) to improve solvation of moieties of relevance to pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs). Methods Chemical force microscopy was used to measure the adhesion force (Fad) between alkyl-based, ether-based and ester-based moieties (C8/C8, COC/COC and COOC/COOC interactions) in 2H,3H-perfluoropentane (HPFP)/ethanol mixtures. HPFP is a liquid that mimics propellant HFAs. The Fad results are thus a measure of solvation in HFAs. Johnson–Kendall–Roberts (JKR) theory was used to model the results. Key findings The Fad normalized by the tip radius of curvature (Fad/R) decreased upon the addition of ethanol, suggesting its ability to enhance the solvent environment. At 15% (v/v) ethanol, the Fad/R was reduced 34% for the alkyl, 63% for the ether, and down 67% for the ester tails. Thus, the solvation could be ranked as: ester > ether > alkyl. JKR theory was a reasonable model for the Fad/R. Conclusions Ethanol, within the concentration range of interest in commercial pMDIs, provided limited enhancement in solvation of alkyl moieties. On the other hand, the cosolvent significantly enhanced solvation of ether-based and ester-based moieties, thus suggesting its potential for formulations containing amphiphiles with such groups.
It's all about the pentiums: The use, manipulation, and storage of digital microscopy imaging data for the biological sciences.

SUMMARY Digital microscopy has revolutionized quantitative imaging, with binary-encoded computer files serving to capture and store imaging data sets for analysis. With the ever-present use of computers to generate and store imaging data, it becomes increasingly important to understand how these files are created, and how they can be both used and mis-used. This is a particularly important task for the biologist who may have limited background in computer science. Here we discuss some of the basic aspects of digital data storage and use, including file types, storage media, and the choice between commercial and open-source software. Often, open-source software is written by a user or group of users, and then distributed to the scientific community at large. These can be important tools, but there are some hidden costs to this freeware that we will discuss. We will also compare open-source software to commercial imaging software, which is often written for use by non-computer scientists. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 82: 508–517, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Teaching English Language Learners through Technology

As the fourth book in the series Teaching Language Learners Across the Curriculum, this volume by Tony Erben, Ruth Ban, and Martha Castaneda serves as a straightforward and practical handbook for pre-service and in-service K-12 classroom teachers who have no formal pedagogical training in second language teaching. Whereas the previous books in the series focused on specific subject areas, Teaching Language Learners through Technology is relevant to all content areas and bridges linguistics, language learning research, and practical day-to-day teaching strategies to show educators how the use of technology in differentiated instruction can help facilitate language learning.
Does body mass index misclassify physically active young men

Abstract Objective The purpose of this analysis was to determine the accuracy of age and gender adjusted BMI as a measure of body fat (BF) in U.S. Army Soldiers. Methods BMI was calculated through measured height and weight (kg/m2) and body composition was determined by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA). Linear regression was used to determine a BF prediction equation and examine the correlation between %BF and BMI. The sensitivity and specificity of BMI compared to %BF as measured by DEXA was calculated. Results Soldiers (n = 110) were on average 23 years old, with a BMI of 26.4, and approximately 18% BF. The correlation between BMI and %BF (R = 0.86) was strong (p Conclusion Using adjusted BMI thresholds in populations where physical fitness and training are requirements of the job provides better accuracy in identifying those who are overweight or obese due to high BF.
Sickle Cell Anemia in Two White American Children: Essential Laboratory Criteria for Diagnosis

A number of hematologic disorders share diagnostic and clinical features of sickle cell anemia but have significantly different genetic implications and prognosis. Because of these differences, the establishment of a precise diagnosis is essential for the child in whom any form of sickle cell disease is identified. To illustrate the requirements for a definitive laboratory diagnosis of sickle cell anemia, this report presents the approach to establishing this diagnosis in two white American patients. From a review of the literature, these patients appear to be the only white Americans with sickle cell anemia in whom the diagnosis has been unequivocally established.
The Communications Log: A Communication Tool for Improved Project Communications Management

Despite the vast amount of information regarding project communications management, the Project Management Body of Knowledge does not include a method of tracking conversations between project stakeholders by the project manager. In order to improve communications, communication tools should be implemented by organizations (Loo, 1995). A method such as a communications log should be included as a communication tool in the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide). This article explores the use of a communications log (CL) as a communication tool for tracking project-related conversations for improved project communications management as well as instructions of how to set-up an online communications log, some guidelines for use, and some suggestions as to where the communications log would most appropriately be incorporated into the PMBOK® Guide. The contribution of this article is to further the field of project communications management by considering the use of a communications log as a tool for increased communicational effectiveness.
A simple and efficient method to transcribe RNAs with reduced 3' heterogeneity.

Abstract Ribose C2′ methoxy groups (-OCH3) on the penultimate nucleotide or the last two nucleotides of DNA templates can dramatically improve the quality of transcripts produced by T7 RNA polymerase. This strategy can be adapted to generate transcripts of varying lengths and will allow greater ease in purification of the products.
On the dead-zone formation in plastic axially-symmetric converging flow

Abstract A n upper-bound analysis is used to examine dead-zone formation in rigid/plastic axially-symmetric converging flow. A quasi-stable internal shear is found to occur under certain conditions. Bounds on the geometry for quasi-stable behavior and bounds on the required power are presented. The analysis agrees favorably with experiments.
Information coding and oscillatory activity in synfire neural networks with and without inhibitory coupling

When a population spike (pulse-packet) propagates through a feedforward network with random excitatory connections, it either evolves to a sustained stable level of synchronous activity or fades away (Diesmann et al. in Nature 402:529---533 1999; Cateau and Fukai Neur Netw 14:675---685 2001). Here I demonstrate that in the presence of noise, the probability of the survival of the pulse-packet (or, equivalently, the firing rate of output neurons) reflects the intensity of the input. Furthermore, inhibitory coupling between layers can result in quasi- periodic alternation between several levels of firing activity. These results are obtained by analyzing the evolution of pulse-packet activity as a Markov chain. For the Markov chain analysis, the output of the chain is a linear mapping of the input into a lower-dimensional space, and the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the transition matrix determine the dynamics of the evolution. Synchronous propagation of firing activity in successive pools of neurons are simulated in networks of integrate-and-fire and compartmental model neurons, and, consistent with the discrete Markov process, the activation of each pool is observed to be predominantly dependent upon the number of cells that fired in the previous pool. Simulation results agree with the numerical solutions of the Markov model. When inhibitory coupling between layers are included in the Markov model, some eigenvalues become complex numbers, implying oscillatory dynamics. The quasiperiodic dynamics is validated with simulation with leaky integrate-and-fire neurons. The networks demonstrate different modes of quasiperiodic activity as the inhibition or excitation parameters of the network are varied.
Visual inspection versus quantitative flow cytometry to detect aberrant CD2 expression in malignant T cells.

Background: Abnormal levels of T-cell antigen expression occur in T-cell neoplasia. We examined CD2 expression in malignant and normal T cells to determine if the level of CD2 expression differed significantly and if quantitation assisted in detecting this difference. Method: Flow cytometric immunophenotypic (FCI) evaluation was performed on specimens from 36 patients with mature T-cell neoplasia. Abnormal T cells were identified based upon the abnormal FCI and morphology. Levels of CD2 expression were quantitated using 1:1 PE conjugates of anti-CD2 and QuantiBRITE bead standards to calculate the antibodies bound per cell (ABC). The efficacy of ABC measurement versus simple examination of dots plots was compared. Results: Abnormal levels of CD2 expression were frequently observed in mature T-cell malignancies. The CD2 ABC values were highly sensitive in detecting differences between malignant and normal T cells (P = 0.0028). In most cases (24/32 specimens, 75%), CD2 ABCs differed by >20%. CD2 ABCs had high variability in normal T cells. Conclusions: CD2 expression by malignant T cells differed significantly from that of normal T-cells by CD2 ABC quantitation. The high variability in normal T-cell CD2 ABCs limited the determination of normal reference ranges and, thus, its utility in the diagnosis of T-cell neoplasia. However, examination of CD2 can help in detection of tumor cells when residual normal T cells are present for comparison. Moreover, the increased sensitivity of CD2 quantitation is valuable in confirming FCI cases where abnormalities in CD2 expression are difficult to appreciate by visual inspection alone. Published 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Comparison of Statistical Approaches to Evaluate Factors Associated With Metabolic Syndrome

J Clin Hypertens (Greenwich). In statistical analyses, metabolic syndrome as a dependent variable is often utilized in a binary form (presence/absence) where the logistic regression model is used to estimate the odds ratio as the measure of association between health-related factors and metabolic syndrome. Since metabolic syndrome is a common outcome the interpretation of odds ratio as an approximation to prevalence or risk ratio is questionable as it may overestimate its intended target. In addition, dichotomizing a variable that could potentially be treated as discrete may lead to reduced statistical power. In this paper, the authors treat metabolic syndrome as a discrete outcome by defining it as the count of syndrome components. The goal of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of alternative generalized linear models for analysis of metabolic syndrome as a count outcome and compare the results with models that utilize the binary form. Empirical data were used to examine the association between depression and metabolic syndrome. Measures of association were calculated using two approaches; models that treat metabolic syndrome as a binary outcome (the logistic, log-binomial, Poisson, and the modified Poisson regression) and models that utilize metabolic syndrome as discrete/count data (the Poisson and the negative binomial regression). The method that treats metabolic syndrome as a count outcome (Poisson/negative binomial regression model) appears more sensitive in that it is better able to detect associations and hence can serve as an alternative to analyze metabolic syndrome as count dependent variable and provide an interpretable measure of association.
Anoxic survival of the isolated cerebellum of the turtle Pseudemis scripta elegans.

Intact turtle brain provides a useful model for the study of anoxia and potential survival strategies, since this tissue maintains transmembrane ion gradients and ATP levels during prolonged anoxia and recovers functional activity afterwards. Since isolated tissues offer experimental advantages, the present study sought to determine effects of anoxia on the isolated turtle cerebellum and to define relationships between anoxia survival and glucose supply. In normoxia, the extracellular potassium ([K+]0) activity and evoked potentials were maintained with 5 mM glucose, but 20 mM glucose was required to maintain adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels and prevent significant increases in [K+]0 during anoxia. Inhibition of glycolysis by iodoacetic acid (IAA) during anoxia provoked large increases in [K+]0 at all glucose levels. These results demonstrate the usefulness of the isolated turtle cerebellum for studies of anoxic survival since this tissue can maintain ATP levels and [K+]0 during prolonged anoxia with 20 mM glucose in the artificial cerebrospinal fluid medium. They also suggest the presence of a Pasteur effect at least during the transition to a hypometabolic state.
Microeconomics and Psychology

Psychologists such as the Nobel Prize–winner Daniel Kahneman challenge the major assumptions of microeconomics: the rational pursuit of self-interest given unchanging tastes. One may explore these issues through a questionnaire that may be distributed in class. How many of your students behave as the psychologists predict? Should economists adapt their theories of the market to reflect their findings? Prospect theory, changes in reference points, fairness, framing effects, loss aversion, the ultimatum game, herding, context dependence, the dictator game, preference reversals and the structure of the human brain are all illustrated through simple questions. The body of this article connects the questions to the literature and introduces the debates between economists and psychologists.
Partisanship in American presidential, senatorial and gubernatorial elections in ten western states

Abstract There is a sizeable body of recent literature which concludes that the strength of electoral partisanship in the United States has waned in the post World War II period. Although there is ample evidence that partisan dealignment has occurred at the national level, there is little basis on which to confirm that the impacts of dealignment are spatially uniform and well advanced in all areas of the country. The purpose of this paper is to examine the dealignment hypothesis in the context of a single electoral region. County-level voting returns for presidential, senatorial and gubernatorial elections in ten western states are examined using principal components and correlation analyses to gauge the impact of dealignment on this region. The results of this research contradict much of the literature on partisan dealignment. This study found no evidence of partisan dealignment in presidential elections and only limited tentative support for the influence of dealignment on the region's voting choices in gubernatorial and senatorial elections.
Expression of Mmp-9 and Related Matrix Metalloproteinase Genes During Axolotl Limb Regeneration

One of the earliest events in limb regeneration is the extensive remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of matrix degrading enzymes that have been identified in both normal and disease states. Using RT-PCR and cDNA library screening, we have isolated sequences homologous to four different Mmp genes. The spatial and temporal expression of one of these, Mmp-9, has been analyzed during axolotl limb regeneration. Northern blot analysis identifies a 3.8 kb transcript that is abundantly expressed during regeneration, and whole-mount in situ hybridization has uncovered an unusual bi-phasic expression pattern. The first phase begins at 2 hours after amputation, and expression is confined to the healed wound epithelium. This phase continues for 2 days, showing peak expression at 14 hours after amputation. This early phase may be needed to retard reformation of the basal lamina of the epidermis, and thereby facilitate the epidermal-mesenchymal interactions required for successful regeneration. The second phase begins a few days later when a small blastema has formed. During this phase, expression is in the mesenchyme, localized to cells around the tips of the cut skeletal elements. This expression is maintained through several stages until redifferentiation begins. The timing and position of the second phase of expression is consistent with a role for Mmp-9 in the removal of damaged cartilage matrix. We have also discovered that the time of onset of Mmp-9 expression is sensitive to denervation, which causes a delay of several hours. Finally, retinoids, known for their dramatic effects on the pattern of regenerating limbs, can cause a down regulation of Mmp-9 expression. Dev Dyn 1999;216:2-9.
Assessment of palliative care cancer patients' most important concerns.

Patients in the palliative care setting have a number of concerns not necessarily connected to their medical problems, such as spiritual and relationship issues. When these problems are not properly assessed and addressed, they may become a significant source of distress for patients and families. The aims of the present study were to assess the concerns of patients attending a palliative care clinic, to examine physicians’ ratings of patient concerns, to access the concordance between patients’ and physicians’ ratings, and to assess the association between patients’ concerns and their level of distress. We evaluated 137 patients attending a symptom control and palliative care clinic. Patients completed the Concerns Checklist, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Cancer Behavior Inventory at the beginning of their visit. The Concerns Checklist was completed by the patient’s clinic physician immediately after the visit and was used to estimate how accurate the physician was in identifying patients’ concerns. We examined the correlation between the total number of patient concerns and their levels of anxiety, mood disturbance, and self-efficacy. Patients were most concerned about loss of function, the future, and caring for themselves. Concordance between physician and patient rating of concerns was poor (all kappas, 0.26 or lower). Higher levels of patient concerns were associated with greater anxiety (r = 0.52) and depressive symptoms (r = 0.40) and lower self-efficacy (r = −0.37). There was generally poor concordance between patients reporting of their concerns and physicians reporting of the patients’ concerns. In addition, patients’ with more concerns also had higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Thus, it is important to find strategies to more accurately identify patients’ concerns, so that they can be adequately addressed.
3-Azido-1,2,4-triazine N-Oxides. Syntheses and structure elucidation

Several 3-azido-1,2,4-triazine 1-oxides were prepared by treating the appropriate 3-hy-drazino derivatives with nitrous acid. 3-Azido-1,2,4-triazine 2-oxide was prepared by reaching the corresponding 3-bromo derivative with either tetramethylguanidinium azide in chloroform or sodium azide in aqueous acetone. The azido derivatives which could cyclize to form the tetra-zolo isomers were proven to exist enitrely in the open chain form by a 13C nmr, 1H nmr and infrared spectroscopic study.
Density-driven self-consistent-field method: Density functionals for electron correlation energy.

Functional relations between the Hartree-Fock density and energy, and the densities and energies obtained within the approximate electron correlation methods, such as many-body perturbation theory and coupled clusters, are examined.
Scores on the MMPI-2-RF scales as a function of increasing levels of failure on cognitive symptom validity tests in a military sample.

This research examined associations between the full range of Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) validity and substantive scales and increasing levels of cognitive symptom validity test (SVT) failure in a sample of 501 military members who completed a neuropsychological evaluation primarily for mild traumatic brain injury resulting from a closed head injury and blast exposure or heat injury. SVT failure was associated with significant linear increases in all of the over-reporting MMPI-2-RF validity scales and most of the substantive scales. For the validity scales, all over-reporting scales had large effect sizes (ESs) when comparing a group that failed no SVTs with a group that failed three SVTs. A comparison between these two groups for the substantive scales revealed the largest ESs for scales related to somatic/cognitive complaints and emotional dysfunction. RBS (Response Bias Scale) had the largest ES of all scales (d = 1.69), followed by FBS-r (Symptom Validi...
Lectins and their uses as biotechnological tools

This short overview illustrates the great interest scientists have in lectins and their wide applications in biotechnology and biochemical research. In the hundred years since Stillmark's announcement, there has been a continuous and growing regard for the characterization and exploitation of lectins in biochemical research. It is likely that the future will find lectins, not only from plant but also from animals and microorganisms, playing increasing important roles in the research and clinical laboratory.
Computer, light on!

The potential benefits of environment automation for older adults and for individuals with physical limitations are becoming well known. At the same time, there is concern that high-tech solutions will not be widely accepted by this target population. In this paper we present the results of a human factors study in which we allow individuals with varied backgrounds and physical limitations to selectively employ voice control of devices in their own homes. Here we summarize the results of the study and highlight issues for further investigation.
Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and Language Regression

Few studies have compared gastrointestinal problems in children with an autism spectrum disorder with and without a history of language regression. A cross-sectional study was conducted with structured interviews in 100 children with autism spectrum disorder, using a gastrointestinal questionnaire and a familial autoimmune questionnaire. By parental report, children with language regression more frequently exhibited an abnormal stool pattern (40% vs 12%, P = 0.006) and had an increased family history of celiac disease or inflammatory bowel disease (24% vs 0%, P = 0.001) and of rheumatoid arthritis (30% vs 11%, P = 0.03). Among 35 children with a family history of autoimmune disease, an abnormal stool pattern was reported more frequently in those with language regression (78% vs 15%, P = 0.001) than in those without. An association was observed between children with language regression, a family history of autoimmune disease, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Additional studies are needed to examine a possible shared autoimmune process.
Oxide Thin Films for Tunable Microwave Devices

Oxide thin films have been studied for frequency and phase agile electronics. The electric-field tuning of microwave devices employs ferroelectrics, while the Magnetic-field tuning uses ferrites. The critical material parameters for ferroelectric thin films are the tunability of the dielectric constant and the dielectric loss. This paper describes the current understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of these properties and the research efforts to improve them in ferroelectric thin films.
Overview of fly-by-light research and development at Rockwell International

An overview is presented of fiber optic smart structure research at Rockwell for Fly-by-Light technology. The methods emphasize the use of radio frequency (rf) amplitude modulation of the optical intensity and detection of phase and amplitude of the rf signal transmitted through various optical fiber systems. Strain is transferred from metallic or composite structures to the embedded optical fibers.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.