cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Developing Software Engineers: A Study of Professionalization in a CS Senior Capstone (Abstract Only)

My research investigates the role of practical experience on professionalization and confidence in students of software engineering during their university-to-work transition. Practical experience comes in many forms, including internships, capstone projects, and "year-in-industry" experiences. These hands-on opportunities place the learner into an authentic role using professional methods and tools to accomplish legitimate work. Improved understanding of the positive and negative influences of practical experience during the university-to-work transition may support ongoing discussions of the potential for integrating such experiences earlier in the learning pipeline. I apply a mixed-methods approach to studying the implementation of a computer science software engineering capstone course at an R1 research institution. My work integrates a case study of the artifacts produced during the capstone, qualitative interviews of student reflections about their experiences in the capstone, and a pilot run of a quantitative survey on professional identity and behaviors. Taken together, the three methods shed light on different roles that professional experience plays during the university-to-work transition.
Disease Transmission and Networks

While epidemiological models have traditionally assumed that diseases spread by the mass action principle, actual contact networks within social groups do not meet this assumption. Theoretical models have shown that disease dynamics could vary considerably under different types of contact networks, but these models face challenges in terms of their evaluation due to the difficulty of collecting empirical data. The honeybee colony with its elaborate social organization and large repertoire of diseases provides an ideal setting to explore how the structure of the contact network contributes to the transmission of a disease.
TIME SERIES ANALYSIS USING HUMAN POSTURE-PLATFORM AND GRAF-PEN DATA

ABSTRACT For the purpose of human vestibular system analysis, the evaluation of the musculo-skeletal function would have potential clinical use both to neurologists and otolaryngologists if there were an effective method of measuring the head tilt relative to the posture of the body under eye open or close conditions. The actual different sampled data base depending on 10 Hz or 20 Hz sampling rate are provided by the Human Vestibular Testing Laboratory, Eye and Ear Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pa. The Posture-Platform and Graf-Pen Systems are interfaced to a laboratory PDP-11 minicomputer and the autoregressive moving average (ARMA) time series analysis techniques in an attempt to find an optimize predication value of Platform data based on the given Graf-Pen data. Based upon the observed data, the model is built by identification and parameters estimation techniques. Then we use the model to forecast the observed data and compare the result with the subsequent true record.
The Role of Turquoises in the Ancient Mesoamerican Trade Structure

Mineral procurement is an enduring theme in both northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. Mining and mining settlements have given this great area much of its distinctive historical and cultural character (see, for example, West 1949; Spicer 1962; Bakewell 1976; Mecham 1927; Powell 1975). The popular mind forcefully associates mining with these signatures: the vivid imagery of field rushes; unstable social situations; transitory populations; quick flowerings and equally fast declines of settlements; and hardship. But much of what we regard as Colonial period mining activity appears to have had deeper roots. It is our contention that mineral exploitation and procurement was in fact one of the organizing postulates in the formation of the ancient Mesoamerican trade structure and that this activity was important, in select areas, at many or all levels of economic organization (a la Braudel 1972 and 1982). Within this context of early mineral procurement, we deal in this chapter with turquoise and its particular role in the Mesoamerican trade structure.
Examining the newborn with an open spinal dysraphism.

ABSTRACTSpinal dysraphism includes a constellation of frequent and potentially complex malformations of the spine and spinal cord. Open spinal dysraphisms, the majority of which are myelomeningoceles, have a number of associated morbidities that require both immediate and lifelong medical care. The
Back to the Basics: How Measuring Non-Opinions Affects the Validity of Sociotropic Explanations of Foreign Trade Preferences

This research considers the possible impact of non-attitudes on existing research regarding public opinion and trade. Based on an original survey of likely voters in North Carolina, we analyze three different models of measuring non-attitudes to examine their impact. Our baseline model includes the responses of all respondents. A second model looks only at those for whom trade is important. The third model then looks at only those who think about trade. For each model, data are analyzed first with “neutral” respondents, then without “neutral” respondents who were prodded into taking a direction issue position. Preliminary results suggest some important outcomes result from different measurement strategies. First, non-attitudes appear rampant. Secondly, they alter the aggregate distribution of trade preferences, in many cases changing whether a majority supports or opposes it. Effects on the correlates of preferences are interesting, although more marginal. Overall, our early findings suggest that the variables of most interest to researchers in this field may be affected by non-attitudes and, as such, researchers should be careful to account for the impact of non-attitudes in their analyses.
Improving the Transition from Pediatric to Adult Care for Adolescents and Young Adults with Autoinflammatory Diseases

The genetic basis for most autoinflammatory diseases (AIDs) makes them unique in rheumatology because most patients will be diagnosed during childhood and will continue to have active disease during adulthood. As a result, adolescents and young adults (AYAs) will need to transition to an adult rheumatologist at some point during their medical care. Transition comes at a particularly sensitive time for patients with AIDs, but it also brings opportunities for emotional growth and social development. In this chapter, we review essential skills that must be mastered by AYAs with AIDs to facilitate the process of transition, including the development of self-management skills and medical decision-making. We also address important aspects of the medical care for patients with AIDs, including long-term sequelae, issues related to pregnancy, primary care, stress management, attending college, and the development of a transition plan for pediatric and adult rheumatology practices.
NETA: when IP fails, secrets leak

Assuring the quality and the trustworthiness of third party resources has been a hard problem to tackle. Researchers have shown that analyzing Integrated Circuits (IC), without the aid of golden models, is challenging. In this paper we discuss a toolset, NETA, designed to aid IP users in assuring the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of their IC or third party IP core. The discussed toolset gives access to a slew of gate-level analysis tools, many of which are heuristic-based, for the purposes of extracting high-level circuit design information. NETA majorly comprises the following tools: RELIC, REBUS, REPCA, REFSM, and REPATH. The first step involved in netlist analysis falls to signal classification. RELIC uses a heuristic based fan-in structure matcher to determine the uniqueness of each signal in the netlist. REBUS finds word groups by leveraging the data bus in the netlist in conjunction with RELIC's signal comparison through heuristic verification of input structures. REPCA on the other hand tries to improve upon the standard bruteforce RELIC comparison by leveraging the data analysis technique of PCA and a sparse RELIC analysis on all signals. Given a netlist and a set of registers, REFSM reconstructs the logic which represents the behavior of a particular register set over the course of the operation of a given netlist. REFSM has been shown useful for examining register interaction at a higher level. REPATH, similar to REFSM, finds a series of input patterns which forces a logical FSM initialize with some reset state into a state specified by the user. Finally, REFSM 2 is introduced to utilizes linear time precomputation to improve the original REFSM.
Made in New York: A Collaborative Model to Encourage Slow Fashion:

Slow fashion is an emerging movement that encourages local and sustainable fashion design as a community-based approach. There are over 470 sheep, alpaca, and goat fiber farms in New York (NY), as ...
Protein Degradation Methods: Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy

Publisher Summary Chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA) is a lysosomal pathway of proteolysis that degrades 30% of cytosolic proteins during nutritional deprivation. Substrates for this pathway of proteolysis have targeting sequences biochemically related to the pentapeptide KFERQ. Another lysosomal pathway of proteolysis, macroautophagy, is induced in rat liver for the first day of starvation, but macroautophagy declines to basal levels by the second day. Once the cells are ready to harvest, usually at confluence, media can be removed from the plate using a vacuum flask and Pasteur pipette. Preparation of lysosomes involves resuspending the pelleted cells in 1 ml of sucrose solution and placing them into a nitrogen cavitation chamber. The latency assay is necessary to determine the percentage of broken lysosomes after isolation. Throughout the entire lysosomal preparation the samples should be kept on ice. Failure to keep the samples on ice will significantly decrease lysosomal recovery and increase the percentage of lysosomes that are broken. An 80% Mtz stock solution (w/v) should be made several days prior to the lysosomal preparation.
The Segmentation-Thickness Tradeoff in Online Marketplaces

A core tension in the operations of online marketplaces is between segmentation (wherein platforms can increase revenue by segmenting the market into ever smaller sub-markets) and thickness (wherein the size of the sub-market affects the utility experienced by an agent). An important example of this is in dynamic online marketplaces, where buyers and sellers, in addition to preferences for different matches, also have finite patience (or deadlines) for being matched. We formalize this trade-off via a novel optimization problem that we term as 'Two-sided Facility Location': we consider a market wherein agents arrive at nodes embedded in an underlying metric space, where the distance between a buyer and seller captures the quality of the corresponding match. The platform posts prices and wages at the nodes, and opens a set of virtual clearinghouses where agents are routed for matching. To ensure high match-quality, the platform imposes a distance constraint between an agent and its clearinghouse; to ensure thickness, the platform requires the flow to any clearinghouse be at least a pre-specified lower bound. Subject to these constraints, the goal of the platform is to maximize the social surplus subject to weak budget balance, i.e., profit being non-negative. Our work characterizes the complexity of this problem by providing both hardness results as well as algorithms for this setting; in particular, we present an algorithm that for any constant e > 0 yields a (1 + e ) approximation for the gains from trade, while relaxing the match quality (i.e., maximum distance of any match) by a constant factor.
A pairwise distance distribution correction (DDC) algorithm to eliminate blinking-caused artifacts in super-resolution microscopy

Abstract In single-molecule localization based super-resolution microscopy (SMLM), a fluorophore stochastically switches between fluorescent- and dark-states, leading to intermittent emission of fluorescence, a phenomenon known as blinking. Intermittent emissions create multiple localizations belonging to the same molecule, resulting in blinking-artifacts within SMLM images. These artifacts are often interpreted as true biological assemblies, confounding quantitative analyses and interpretations. Multiple methods have been developed to eliminate these artifacts, but they either require additional experiments, arbitrary thresholds, or specific photo-kinetic models. Here we present a method, termed Distance Distribution Correction (DDC), to eliminate blinking-caused repeat localizations without any additional calibrations. The approach relies on the finding that the true pairwise distance distribution of different fluorophores in an SMLM image can be naturally obtained from the imaging sequence by using distances between localizations separated by a time much longer than the average fluorescence survival time. We show that using the true pairwise distribution we can define and then maximize the likelihood of obtaining a particular set of localizations void of blinking-artifacts, generating an accurate reconstruction of the underlying cellular structure. Using both simulated and experimental data, we show that DDC surpasses all previous existing blinking-artifact correction methodologies, resulting in drastic improvements in obtaining the closest estimate of the true spatial organization and number of fluorescent emitters in a wide range of applications. The simplicity and robustness of DDC will allow it to become the field standard in SMLM imaging, enabling the most accurate reconstruction and quantification of SMLM images to date.
Presidents and Agencies in the Regulatory State: A Revealed Preference Approach to Measuring Policy Disagreement

Regulatory agencies are often in conflict with the White House. A key reason is that agencies develop policies that reflect the preferences of career bureaucrats, not just political appointees. One approach for inferring agency preferences is through their stated preferences, such as by surveying employees. While insightful, stated preferences typically struggle with how to weight the relative influence of appointees and careerists. I propose a revealed preference -- or behavioral -- approach that sidesteps this obstacle. My focus is the White House's regulatory review program. Agencies make proposals that the White House can review, or audit. My theoretical model clarifies conditions under which White House auditing reflects policy disagreement between presidents and agencies. Intuitively, proposals from "adversaries" are audited more frequently than proposals from "allies." Using data on the behavior of presidents (their strategic audits) and agencies (their strategic proposals), I statistically estimate the auditing bias presidents exhibit toward individual agencies. The resulting audit scores reveal policy disagreement between presidents and agencies, inclusive of the influence of appointees and careerists.
Inhibition of PAD2 Improves Survival in a Mouse Model of Lethal LPS-Induced Endotoxic Shock

Endotoxemia induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an extremely severe syndrome identified by global activation of inflammatory responses. Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) play an important role in the development of endotoxemia. Histone hypercitrullination catalyzed by peptidylarginine deiminases (PADs) is a key step of NET formation. We have previously demonstrated that simultaneous inhibition of PAD2 and PAD4 with pan-PAD inhibitors can decrease NETosis and improve survival in a mouse model of LPS-induced endotoxic shock. However, the effects of PAD2 specific inhibition during NETosis and endotoxic shock are poorly understood. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of the specific PAD2 or PAD4 inhibitor on LPS-induced endotoxic shock in mice. We found that PAD2 inhibition but not PAD4 inhibition improves survival. Also, the levels of proinflammatory cytokines and NETosis were significantly reduced by PAD2 inhibitor. To our knowledge, this study demonstrates for the first time that PAD2 inhibition can reduce NETosis, decrease inflammatory cytokine production, and protect against endotoxin-induced lethality. Our findings provided a novel therapeutic strategy for the treatment of endotoxic shock.
Long-Term and Late Effects of Cancer Treatments on Prescribing Physical Activity

Exercise prescription for cancer survivors following treatment must account for ongoing long-term and late effects of cancer treatment and their interaction with other comorbid conditions that individuals may experience. Healthcare professionals should inquire about physical activity and exercise at every patient encounter and be prepared to refer to either a clinically based or community-based exercise program. Evaluating baseline aerobic capacity and muscle strength is important to tailoring an exercise prescription to the survivor and modifying the exercise prescription, depending on how the survivor is tolerating it and progressing. In general, the exercise dose should be at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise 3 times a week and at least 2 nonconsecutive days of resistance exercise targeting the large muscle groups. For resistance training, individuals should perform at least 2 sets of 8–15 repetitions. Some survivors will not be able to meet these guidelines at first. The exercise dose may need to be modified for individuals with significant debilitation, i.e., start low and go slow. Adaptations to an exercise prescription should be based on side effects and symptoms not only related to cancer treatment but also considering the interplay of other comorbidities. Gradual progression of aerobic and resistance exercise is key to success with the goal for survivors to optimize recovery of physical functioning to a level that enables the survivor to engage in activities of daily living and to participate in activities that are meaningful. Exercise is critical to improving health and preventing disease for cancer survivors.
Torque Estimation Using Neural Drive for a Concentric Contraction

The scope and relevance of wearable robotics spans across a number of research fields with a variety of applications. A challenge across these research areas is improving user-interface control. One established approach is using neural control interfaces derived from surface electromyography (sEMG). Although there has been some success with sEMG controlled prosthetics, the coarse nature of traditional sEMG processing has limited the development of fully functional prosthetics and wearable robotics. To solve this problem, blind source separation (BSS) techniques have been implemented to extract the user’s movement intent from high-density sEMG (HDsEMG) measurements; however, current methods have only been well validated during static, low-level muscle contractions, and it is unclear how they will perform during movement. In this paper we present a neural drive based method for predicting output torque during a constant force, concentric contraction. This was achieved by modifying an existing HDsEMG decomposition algorithm to decompose 1 sec. overlapping windows. The neural drive profile was computed using both rate coding and kernel smoothing. Neither rate coding nor kernel smoothing performed as well as HDsEMG amplitude estimation, indicating that there are still significant limitations in adapting current methods to decompose dynamic contractions, and that sEMG amplitude estimation methods still remain highly reliable estimators.
Firearm ownership and perceived risk of personal firearm injury.

Despite evidence that firearm access in the home is a strong risk factor for firearm injury, firearms are owned more often for self-protection than for any other reason. In this cross-sectional study, we describe the association between firearm ownership and perceived risk of personal firearm injury using logistic regressions applied to data from the 2018 California Safety and Well-being Survey. Most respondents (57.7%) reported being very/somewhat worried about gun violence happening to them. Compared with non-owners in households without firearms, firearm owners were 60% (adjusted OR (aOR) 0.40, 95% CI: 0.27 to 0.58) less likely to be worried about gun violence happening to them; non-owners living in homes with firearms were 46% (aOR 0.54, 95% CI: 0.33 to 0.88) less likely. This suggests an underestimation of actuarial risk that conflicts with the available evidence, with important implications for public health messaging.
Quantitative Assessment of the Hemodynamic Effects of Intra-Arterial Nitroglycerin on Hepatocellular Carcinoma using Two-Dimensional Perfusion Angiography.

Abstract Purpose To determine the hemodynamic effects of intra-arterial nitroglycerin on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using 2-dimensional (2D) perfusion angiography. Materials and Methods Two-dimensional perfusion angiograms obtained prior to radioembolization from September 2019 to February 2020 were retrospectively reviewed. The inclusion criteria were the presence of Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System-5 tumors and angiographically distinguishable tumor and background liver. The exclusion criteria were previously treated tumors and motion-degraded studies. Thirteen patients with 2D perfusion angiograms obtained before and 2 minutes ± 1 after the administration of intra-arterial nitroglycerin were analyzed. The mean patient age was 72 years ± 9 and 11 of 13 (85%) had cirrhosis. The mean maximum tumor dimension was 4.6 cm ± 2.1. Eight tumors were in the right lobe and 5 were in the left lobe. The tumor and background liver 2D perfusion data were processed and the areas under the time-density curves were calculated. The relative perfusion of HCC to background liver was compared before and after nitroglycerin administration using a 2-tailed paired t-test. Results The mean rate of contrast administration was 1.4 mL/s ± 0.7 and the mean volume administered was 7.1 mL ± 3.3. The mean nitroglycerin dose was 281 μg ± 69. Ten of 13 patients (77%) demonstrated a relative increase in tumor perfusion. The mean HCC to background liver area under the curve ratio was 1.94 ± 0.76 before and 2.40 ± 0.89 after nitroglycerin administration (P Conclusions Intra-arterial nitroglycerin increases previously untreated HCC perfusion relative to background liver as measured by 2D perfusion angiography, but this effect is variable among patients and should be validated with 3-dimensional imaging techniques.
The Failure to Achieve Fairness: Race and Poverty Continue to Influence Who Dies

Despite the promise of “Equal Justice Under Law” etched on the Supreme Court building, the outcomes of criminal cases continue to be influenced by race and poverty. Race comes into play in the discretionary decisions made by actors, primarily prosecutors, in how cases are treated. It is often hard to ferret out the effect of racial animus on cases because racial attitudes may be subconscious and race may be one of many factors which influence a prosecutor or a jury. Courts are generally unwilling to wrestle with these issues, and when they do address them, the available remedies are completely inadequate. The impact of a defendant’s poverty is more apparent. As a result of poverty, a person accused of a crime may be unable to contest the prosecution’s case and present a defense due to the inability to obtain a competent lawyer and investigative and expert assistance. Two aspects of the system are important in addressing the impact of race and poverty. First, the overwhelming majority of those accused of crimes are poor. There are of course some white collar cases, some cases involving big drug dealers, and some cases involving middle class people or their children who have run afoul of the law. But for the most part, the people accused are poor. For the most part, if you visit the courtrooms where criminal cases are being heard, you will see poor people being processed. Because the criminal justice system deals almost exclusively with poor people, it is out of sight and out of mind for most Americans. They do not know what happens in the criminal courts. They may assume that it is operating justly and fairly, or they may not even think about it. I hope that as a result of the information provided here, those of you who graduate from this law school will care about the
Impinging exostoses of the proximal radius: a report of two cases with distinct clinical features

Owing to the rotatory motion of proximal radius and the closely apposed anatomic structures, cortically based osseous lesions at the level of the proximal forearm may produce symptomatic impingement. While osseous impingement onto the adjacent proximal ulna may result in limited forearm rotation, impingement on the surrounding soft-tissue structures may produce symptoms as well. Here, we describe two cases of symptomatic proximal radius exostosis, each of which produced distinct clinical symptoms. In the first case, impingement on the posterior interosseous nerve produced symptoms of radiating forearm pain and paresthesia resembling radial tunnel syndrome. In the second case, impingement of the exostosis on the distal biceps tendon resulted in painful mechanical snapping with rotation of the forearm. In both cases, symptoms rapidly improved after surgical excision.
Catalytic performance of porous Yb2O3 sesquioxide

Porous Yb2O3 ceramic (55%) was pressureless sintered at 900°C for four hours in air. The crystal structure of Yb2O3 was confirmed to be cubic (Ia3¯) with c = 10.43731 A by neutron diffraction. The ...
Modeling and Circuit Analysis of Interconnects with TaS 2 Barrier/Liner

Interconnect scaling has been identified as one of the key challenges associated with deeply scaled technology nodes because of several reasons. First, the miniaturization of the metal line and via dimensions not only reduces the cross-sectional area for conduction but also leads to an increase in copper (Cu) resistivity due to sidewall scattering and grain-boundary scattering [1] . Second, the highly resistive barrier/liner (TaN/Ta) layers (required to prevent copper (Cu) diffusion into the surrounding dielectrics) further reduce the cross-sectional area of Cu ( Fig. 1 ), aggravating the first issue. Third, the barrier/liner layers are in the path of the vertical conduction through the vias, which significantly increases the via resistance. To address some of these challenges, replacing the conventional TaN/Ta barriers/liners with ultra-thin 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (2D TMD) material such as TaS 2 (which serves as both barrier and liner) has been proposed [2] . With only 0.7nm of TaS 2 (as opposed to 2nm TaN + 2nm Ta), the % volume of Cu in the interconnects can be increased ( Fig. 1 ). However, TaS 2 suffers from higher vertical resistivity compared to Ta/TaN, which deteriorates the via conductivity. Therefore, evaluation of the overall merits and trade-offs of TaS 2 -augmented interconnects mandates extensive device modeling and circuit analysis. In this work, we analyze interconnects with TaS 2 barrier/liner by (a) building a 3D modeling framework for the line metals and vias, (b)integrating the model with the comprehensive circuit simulation flow based on synthesis and place-and-route and (c) evaluating the resistance of different levels of metals (M1-M9) and vias (V1-V8) and the circuit implications of TaS 2 -augmented interconnects in comparison with the conventional interconnects.
Transplant kidney biopsy for proteinuria with stable creatinine: Findings and outcomes.

Introduction Little is known aboutbiopsy findings and outcomes when kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) undergo biopsy for isolated proteinuria with stable serum creatinine (SCr). Methods We analyzed all KTRs who underwent biopsy for isolated proteinuria with stable SCr between January 2016 and June 2020. Patients were divided into three groups based on the biopsy findings: Active Rejection (AR), Glomerulonephritis (GN), and Other. Results A total of 130 KTRs fulfilled our selection criteria; 38 (29%) in the AR group, 26 (20%) in the GN group, and 66 (51%) in the Other group. Most baseline characteristics were similar between the groups. In multivariate analysis, higher HLA mismatch (HR per mismatch: 1.30; 95% CI:1.06-1.59; P = .01) and male gender (HR: .45; 95% CI .23-.89; P = .02) were associated with AR. There was no significant correlation between the degree of proteinuria and rejection (r = .05, P = .58) or GN (r = .07, P = .53). Graft survival was also similar between the groups. Likely due to the early diagnosis without a significant rise in SCr, outcomes were similar among all three groups. Conclusion Routine monitoring for proteinuria followed by a biopsy and appropriate management may help to identify early acute graft injury and prevent graft failure.
Clinical Trial Outcome Measurements in Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome and Their Application to the Development of Targeted Treatments

Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) is an epileptic encephalopathy that is challenging to treat, with >80% of patients remaining refractory to therapy. Patient-oriented clinical outcome measures are essential for treatment guidance and the development of new therapies. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of outcome measures used in clinical trials targeting patients with LGS, in order to inform future studies, develop, and implement targeted patient and caregiver-relevant outcome measures. Published clinical trials that include, or specifically target, individuals with LGS are reviewed, and primary and secondary outcome measurements are examined. Outcome measures are grouped and discussed as (1) seizure-related, (2) cognitive, (3) functional, (4) quality of life, and (5) psychosocial for both the LGS patient and caregiver. In patients with LGS, seizure frequency is the most common outcome measured by clinicians, while quality of life and psychosocial effect of treatments are often most important to families. Therefore, a disconnect exists between outcome measurements used in clinical trials and those rated important by families. Furthermore, cognitive, functional, and psychosocial outcome measures are often insufficiently sensitive for many LGS patients, and thus, using better targeted measures may result in an increased availability of treatment options.
Spatial working memory representations in human cortex are robust to a task-irrelevant interrupting stimulus

Abstract Visual working memory (WM) enables the maintenance and manipulation of information no longer accessible in the visual world. Previous research has identified spatial WM representations in activation patterns in visual, parietal, and frontal cortex. In natural vision, the period between the encoding of information into WM and the time when it is used to guide behavior (the delay period) is rarely “empty”, as is the case in most of the above laboratory experiments. In naturalistic conditions, eye movements, movement of the individual, and events in the environment result in visual signals which may overwrite or impair the fidelity of WM representations, especially in early sensory cortices. Here, we evaluated the extent to which a brief, irrelevant interrupting visual stimulus presented during a spatial WM delay period impaired behavioral performance and WM representation fidelity assayed using an image reconstruction technique (inverted encoding model). On each trial, participants (both sexes) viewed two target dots and were immediately post-cued to remember the precise spatial position of one dot. On 50% of trials, a brief interrupter stimulus appeared. While we observed strong transient univariate visual responses to the distracter stimulus, we saw no change in reconstructed neural WM representations under distraction, nor a change in behavioral performance on a continuous recall task. This suggests that spatial WM representations may be particularly robust to interference from incoming task-irrelevant visual information, perhaps related to their role in guiding movements.
Tantalum Ohmic Contacts to Diamond by a Solid State Reaction Process

The recognized need for devices that can perform under severe operating conditions and recent advances in the growth of diamond films at moderate temperatures and low pressures has generated great interest in the exploitation of the many unique properties of diamond for solid state devices. Among these properties are high strength, high thermal conductivity, high band gap energy, high carrier mobility, and high resistance to degradation by exposure to radiation, heat, and corrosives[1,2].
The Role of the Electron Microscope in Virus Research

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the role of electron microscope in virus research. The applications of the instrument have generally taken four directions of investigation: (1) the external morphology of purified virus particles, (2) the appearance of subunits of disintegrated viruses, (3) the identification of particles in suspension as viral agents, and (4) the appearance of developing viruses within cells. The use of electron microscope in examining the detailed morphology of intact virus particles has an overwhelming influence on the ubiquity of the close relation between discrete particles and the causative agents of viral diseases, and on the great variety of sizes and shapes that these agents may take. Electron microscopy is much simpler than virus purification. The power of the microscope is used to take the viruses apart and investigate the morphology of their disintegrated substructures. The possibilities of quantitative electron microscopy are employed to aid in the identification of presumed virus particles and to establish the absolute infective titer of the virus particles in the selected host-cell system.
Intestinal cryptosporidiosis complicated by disseminated cytomegalovirus infection.

Abstract A 48-yr-old man with profuse diarrhea for about 9 mo was found to have intestinal cryptosporidiosis. Treatment with antibacterial, antimalarial, and other antiprotozoal agents failed to control the disease. The organisms were identified by light and electron microscopy in a biopsy specimen from the duodenum. Disseminated infection with cytomegalovirus developed during treatment, and the patient died. Five other instances of intestinal cryptosporidiosis have been reported. Immunologic incompetence, related to either disease or therapy, or both, was present in 4 cases but, although suspected, could not be proved in the patient described in this paper.
Amplification of bacteriophage library inserts using polymerase chain reaction.

Publisher Summary The amplified products are readily ligated into a sequencing vector as a result of restriction enzyme sites engineered into the primers. This chapter employs this technique, referred to as “one-way polymerase chain reaction (PCR),” to amplify the variable encoded domains of T cell antigen receptor (TCR) α and β chain complementary DNA (cDNA) from both alloreactive T lymphocyte clones (TLCs) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). This method has widespread application to the analysis of any target for which some 3' sequence is known. The amplified insert can be subcloned into a plasmid vector following digestion with restriction enzyme that cleaves at the cloning site, or it can be used for other purposes, for example, to generate radioactively labeled probe, or as sequencing template. This procedure eliminates the need to grow bacteriophage, to perform bacteriophage DNA preparations following routine library screening, or to elute bacteriophage from agarose plugs. A procedure is described to expedite bacteriophage library screening using PCR. The method enables PCR of bacteriophage library inserts to be performed directly from phage–plaque material, the product of which can be used for a number of purposes.
Putting the brakes on innate immunity: a regulatory role for CD200?

Until now, the function of OX2 has been unclear. Now, with the cloning of its receptor and the generation of OX2−/− mice, a possible role as an inhibitor for myeloid activation has emerged.
Mechanical allodynia: A role for sensitized nociceptive tract cells with convergent input from mechanoreceptors and nociceptors?

Mechanical allodynia is a significant sensory abnormality in many patients with chronic neuropathic pain, either of peripheral or central origin. It is proposed that this condition results from central sensitization of ascending nociceptive tract cells receiving convergent input from mechanoreceptors and nociceptors. It is assumed that these cells signal pain and that they normally do not respond sufficiently to weak mechanical stimuli to exceed threshold for pain perception. However, strong nociceptive stimuli can sensitize these cells, increasing their responses to mechanical inputs to a level beyond pain threshold. Central lesions could have a similar effect by changing the bias of descending control systems.
Journal Use in Pharmacy: A Citation Analysis of Faculty Publications at a School of Pharmacy

ABSTRACT Managing journal collections for a multidisciplinary, scientific field of study requires a deep understanding of the literature used by those researchers. This study examined the journal literature cited by the pharmacy faculty at the University of Mississippi to determine the most frequently used titles, their subject areas, the age of the citations relative to the source articles, and the major publishers of those
Force control in coordination of two arms

The use of two arms simplifies manipulatory tasks such as assembly of an object from large parts which cannot be handled by one arm. This paper describes the control method for coordination of two arms. As fundamental tasks, the parallel transfer task and the rotational transfer task are considered. More complex tasks are accomplished by using these two modes simultaneously. The control of motor torque of each joint is adopted instead of joint position control. The wrist force sensor is used in order to measure the interactive force between two arms.
Application of the pentaiodide strong base resin disinfectant to the U.S. space program

A pentaiodide resin is described which has 70 percent of its weight composed of elemental iodine, has a relatively low iodine residual, and may offer superior disinfection capability for applications on long-duration space vehicles. Such a disinfectant is crucial for use on spacecraft for long periods of time where water would be recycled through various systems. The pentaiodide resin is capable of devitalizing 1 x 10 to the 9th bacteria per ml in aqueous suspension within 10 seconds of contact with the resin bed. A number of organisms have already been tested and the resin continues to prove effective. Resin properties and composition are discussed and a detailed account of the first investigation of the pentaiodide resin as a disinfectant against the intestinal parasite Giardia lamblia is provided.
Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 Imaging of Shocks in Superbubbles

Bright X-ray emission has been detected in superbubbles in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and it is suggested that supernova remnants (SNRs) near the inner-shell walls are responsible for this X-ray emission. To identify SNR shocks in superbubble interiors, we have obtained Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 emission-line images of the X-ray–bright superbubbles DEM L152 and DEM L192 and the X-ray–dim superbubble DEM L106. We use these images to examine the shell morphology and [S II]/Hα ratio variations in detail. Of these three superbubbles, DEM L152 has the highest X-ray surface brightness, the most filamentary nebular morphology, the largest expansion velocity (~40 km s-1), and the highest [S II]/Hα ratio (0.4–0.6). Its [S II]/Hα ratio increases outward and peaks in sharp filaments along the periphery. DEM L192 has a moderate X-ray surface brightness, a complex but not filamentary morphology, a moderate expansion velocity (35 km s-1), and a low [S II]/Hα ratio (~0.15). DEM L106 is not detected in X-rays. Its shell structure is amorphous and has embedded dusty features; its expansion velocity is less than 10 km s-1. None of the three superbubbles show morphological features in the shell interior that can be identified as directly associated with SNR shocks, indicating that the SNR shocks have not encountered very dense material. We find that the [S II]/Hα ratios of X-ray–bright superbubbles are strongly dependent on the UV radiation field of the encompassed OB associations. Therefore, a tight correlation between [S II]/Hα ratio and X-ray surface brightness in superbubbles should not exist. We also find that the filamentary morphologies of superbubbles are associated with large expansion velocities and bright X-ray emission.
4 – SAMPLING DISTRIBUTIONS AND CONFIDENCE INTERVALS

This chapter explains sampling distribution. Sampling distributions provide a perspective on how different location estimators compare to one another. That is, they provide both a graphical and a numerical summary of how the accuracy of the sample mean, for example, compares to the accuracy of the sample median, trimmed mean, or method of moments (MOM) estimate of location. The conventional method for approximating the sampling distribution of the sample mean was derived by Laplace nearly 200 years ago. Laplace's strategy which forms the foundation of many methods are routinely used today, consists of several components. Each of components appreciates the advantages of modern techniques. The immediate goal is to describe each of these components and then to indicate how they come together in an attempt to make inferences about the population mean. These components are scrutinized and consider the better results from the modern technology. Laplace's solution was to appeal to his central limit theorem, which says that under very general conditions, even if observations are randomly sampled from a nonnormal distribution, the sampling distribution of the sample mean approaches a normal distribution as the sample size gets large.
Fast, high-order solution of surface scattering problems

We present a new algorithm for the numerical solution of problems of acoustic scattering by surfaces in three-dimensional space. This algorithm evaluates the scattered field, through fast, high-order solution of the boundary integral equation. The high-order of the solver is achieved through use of partition of unity together with analytical resolution of kernel singularities. The acceleration in turn, results from a novel approach which, based on high-order "two-face" equivalent source approximations, reduces the evaluation of far interactions to evaluation of 3-D FFTs. We demonstrate its performance with a variety of numerical results. In particular, we show that the present algorithm can evaluate accurately in a personal computer, scattering from bodies of acoustical sizes of several hundreds.
Effect of Percent Relative Humidity, Moisture Content, and Compression Force on Light-Induced Fluorescence (LIF) Response as a Process Analytical Tool.

The effect of percent relative humidity (16–84% RH), moisture content (4.2–6.5% w/w MC), and compression force (4.9–44.1 kN CF) on the light-induced fluorescence (LIF) response of 10% w/w active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) compacts is reported. The fluorescent response was evaluated using two separate central composite designs of experiments. The effect of % RH and CF on the LIF signal was highly significant with an adjusted R 2 = 0.9436 and p < 0.0001. Percent relative humidity (p = 0.0022), CF (p < 0.0001), and % RH2 (p = 0.0237) were statistically significant factors affecting the LIF response. The effects of MC and CF on LIF response were also statistically significant with a p value <0.0001 and adjusted R 2 value of 0.9874. The LIF response was highly impacted by MC (p < 0.0001), CF (p < 0.0001), and MC2 (p = 0022). At 10% w/w API, increased % RH, MC, and CF led to a nonlinear decrease in LIF response. The derived quadratic model equations explained more than 94% of the data. Awareness of these effects on LIF response is critical when implementing LIF as a process analytical tool.
Habilitation of the Child with Chronic Renal Failure

In the not-too-distant past, habilitation of the child with chronic renal failure was not an issue; all children with chronic renal failure died or were severely impaired. When dialysis and transplantation for children became technically possible, the techniques leading to physical survival were of consuming interest. Devising clinically feasible methods of hemodialysis for a 5-kg child was a sufficiently demanding task. Developing surgical techniques and immunosuppressive regimens making possible transplantation for children was equally challenging.
Black hole demographics from the M● − σ relation

We analyse a sample of 32 galaxies for which a dynamical estimate of the mass of the hot stellar component, Mbulge, is available. For each of these galaxies, we calculate the mass of the central black hole, M•, using the tight empirical correlation between M• and bulge stellar velocity dispersion. The frequency function is reasonably well described as a Gaussian with and standard deviation ∼0.45; the implied mean ratio of black hole mass to bulge mass is a factor of ∼5 smaller than generally quoted in the literature. We present marginal evidence for a lower, average black hole mass fraction in more massive galaxies. The total mass density in black holes in the local Universe is estimated to be ∼ consistent with that inferred from high-redshift active galactic nuclei.
The generation of periodic transients of very low frequency in solids by externally applied electric fields

We have discovered that periodic transients of very low frequency are generated in substances such as β-carotene and amorphous selenium when these solids are exposed to a strong external electric field. The phenomenology of the transient generation in the two substances is presented as a function of electric field, illumination intensity, illumination wave length, temperature, and surrounding gaseous ambient. The fact that the photoconductivity current has a maximum at the wave length at which the period of the transient generation is a minimum implies that bulk lattice structure is implicated in the phenomenon. Wir haben entdeckt, das starke elektrische Felder Schwingungen von sehr niedriger Frequenz in Substanzen wie β-Caroten und amorphem Selen anregen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird uber die Phanomenologie der Schwingungserregung in diesen beiden Substanzen in Abhangigkeit vom angelegten elektrischen Feld, von der Intensitat und Wellenlange der Lichteinstrahlung, der Temperatur und der Gasumgebung berichtet. Die Tatsache, das der Photoleitungsstrom ein Maximum bei der gleichen Wellenlange erreicht, bei der die Schwingungsperiode ein Minimum aufweist, deutet darauf hin, das bei diesem Phanomen die Festkorpergitterordnung eine Rolle spielt.
Quantification of thallium-201 scintigrams in acute myocardial infarction.

Abstract A method has been developed for measurement of myocardial infarct size from thallium-201 scintigrams that depends on computer measurement of levels of radioactivity in the myocardium. In 16 dogs, thallium-201 scintigrams were obtained in the left lateral and left anterior oblique projections 48 hours after ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Scintigraphic results were obtained by two independent observers and were compared with tissue measurements of infarct volume calculated from thallium autoradiograms and nitro-blue tetrazolium (NBT)stained tissue slices. Infarct volumes derived from tissue measurements were used to develop criteria for the computer scintigraphic technique. There was no significant difference in the scintigraphic measurements made by the two observers. Scintigraphic infarct size in the left lateral and left anterior oblique projections correlated with tissue infarct size with r values of 0.88 and 0.75, respectively, for thallium autoradiography and 0.71 and 0.70, respectively, for NBT tissue staining. The range of infarct volume was 3.3 to 14.8 percent of the left ventricular mass. Results of this study suggest that scintigraphic quantitation of infarct size is feasible in this dog model.