cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Applied research: a cooperative venture

One of the frequently cited difficulties encountered by universities and other educational institutions is the availability of state-of-the-art equipment for use by both faculty and students. This problem is magnified considerably in Engineering Technology programs because of the quantity of equipment required for effective laboratory experiences. One solution to the problem is the establishment of a joint venture between universities and industry whereby the university utilizes equipment provided by industry to solve some of the existing problems. A discussion is presented here of the Robotics Application Laboratory within the Engineering Technology Department of Texas A&M University. The structure of the lab, along with the discussion of some of the more recent industrial projects is presented in an effort to encourage the establishment of similar such laboratories in Engineering or Engineering Technology programs at other educational institution across the country.
Ultrasonic NDE of Integrally Fabricated Turbine Rotors

A new challenge to ultrasonic inspection techniques is the NDE of integrally fabricated turbine rotors, where the turbine blades are either bonded to the disk in the manufacturing process or during rotor repair. Although reliable detection of gross defects, such as significant disbanded areas, is certainly essential in bond NDE, this project is primarily concerned with the detection and characterization of overall bond quality from a microstructure perspective. Thus, recent efforts have been directed toward seeking various ultrasonic inspection techniques which show reliable and measurable correlation to near-bond microstructure variations and which are implementable as practical inspection configurations. Experiments have been performed both on bonded specimens from two major jet engine manufacturers [1,2] and on a simulated bonded blade containing seeded defects in the bond plane [1]. Inspection modes which showed the best promise of correlation to bond quality were leaky Rayleigh waves, critical angle longitudinal waves, and longitudinal wave inspection near grazing incidence to the bond plane. These methods also are, at least in principle, implementable as practical techniques since they only require access to a single side of the blade. A second area of effort concerned application of models of imperfect interfaces [3] to the inference of bond microstructure parameters from ultrasonic scan data. Preliminary comparisons to experimental data were qualitatively favorable, but interpretation of model parameters in terms of the bond microstructure has not yet been possible. Results of the experimental tests will be presented along with the preliminary model comparisons. Analysis of the results will also concern selection of candidate techniques for implementation in the second phase of this project.
Nondestructive method for chondrocyte viability assessment in articular cartilage tissues with nonlinear optical microscopy

Covering the ends of long bones, articular cartilage provides a smooth, lubricated surface to absorb impact and distribute loads during movement so that underlying bone is protected. This function is facilitated by a complex and well-organized extracellular matrix (ECM). Being the only cell type in articular cartilage, chondrocytes are responsible for maintaining the homeostasis of the cartilage ECM; as such, the viability of chondrocytes is a critical parameter to reflect the quality of the cartilage. Most prevalent cell viability assays rely on dye staining and thereby cannot be performed for longitudinal monitoring or in-vivo assessment. Here we demonstrate that two-photon autofluorescence (TPAF) microscopy distinguishes live cells from dead cells in intact ex-vivo cartilage tissues, which provides a non-invasive method to assess cell viability. In our study, the endogenous fluorophores such as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) (NAD(P)H) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) were used to image chondrocytes in cartilages on rat tibia condyles immediately after harvesting. Second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging was also performed to examine the integrity of the extracellular and pericellular matrix. On the same tissue, the cell viability assay with Calcein-AM and Ethidium homodimer-1 (EthD-1) labeling was used as a gold standard to identify live or dead cells. We found that live cells presented stronger NAD(P)H fluorescence than dead cells in general and were readily identified if pseudo colors were used for showing two-channel images. Owing to its non-destructive nature, this method holds the potential value in assessing cell viability of engineered or living tissues without dye labeling.
Automatic quality control using hierarchical shape analysis for cerebellum parcellation

Automatic and accurate cerebellum parcellation has long been a challenging task due to the relative surface complexity and large anatomical variation of the human cerebellum. An inaccurate segmentation will inevitably bias further studies. In this paper we present an automatic approach for the quality control of cerebellum parcellation based on shape analysis in a hierarchical structure. We assume that the overall shape variation of a segmented structure comes from both population and segmentation variation. In this hierarchical structure, the higher level shape mainly captures the population variation of the human cerebellum, while the lower level shape captures both population and segmentation variation. We use a partial least squares regression to combine the lower level and higher level shape information. By compensating for population variation, we show that the estimated segmentation variation is highly correlated with the accuracy of the cerebellum parcellation results, which not only provides a confidence measurement of the cerebellum parcellation, but also gives some clues about when a segmentation software may fail in real scenarios.
Trust and Recall of Information across Varying Degrees of Title-Visualization Misalignment

Visualizations are emerging as a means of spreading digital misinformation. Prior work has shown that visualization interpretation can be manipulated through slanted titles that favor only one side of the visual story, yet people still think the visualization is impartial. In this work, we study whether such effects continue to exist when titles and visualizations exhibit greater degrees of misalignment: titles whose message differs from the visually cued message in the visualization, and titles whose message contradicts the visualization. We found that although titles with a contradictory slant triggered more people to identify bias compared to titles with a miscued slant, visualizations were persistently perceived as impartial by the majority. Further, people's recall of the visualization's message more frequently aligned with the titles than the visualization. Based on these results, we discuss the potential of leveraging textual components to detect and combat visual-based misinformation with text-based slants.
The acoustics of feeling: Emotional prosody in the StoryCorps corpus

Effective communication depends not only on lexical content but also on how language is produced and perceived. Prosodic elements such as intensity, pitch accent (i.e., the pattern of low and high tones used in a stressed word), and intonation, have been suggested to aid in conveying emotional affect (e.g., happiness) in acted speech. For example, the word “yes” produced with a falling tone, high intensity, and large pitch range may indicate a high-arousal emotion like anger, whereas the same word produced with a flatter intonation, and lower intensity may indicate a low-arousal emotion like gloominess. Understanding the emotion with which words are produced facilitates appropriate communication because it tells the interlocutor how to best respond. Although this is intuitively true, the role of prosody in conveying emotional meaning is understudied, particularly in natural speech. This project thus utilizes StoryCorps, an extensive corpus of naturalistic interviews (publicly available at www.storycorps.org), to acoustically analyze pitch-accent usage in speech conveying different emotional affects. Portions of the StoryCorps interviews that convey overt emotional effect are selected and transcribed, and f0 trajectory, pitch range, duration, and intensity are tracked across stressed vowels to explore whether there are distinctive pitch-accent patterns used to convey different emotions.
A feminist coven in the university

Inspired by Sara Ahmed’s call to study what is near to you, we write about our sometimes-joyful, sometimes-furious, always passionate struggles as graduate students in the academy. As a site of imp...
Repair of truncus arteriosus with interrupted aortic arch (Van Praagh type A4).

Truncus arteriosus is an extremely rare and complex form of congenital heart disease. Surgical strategies vary depending on anatomic subtype. In this tutorial, we present our surgical technique for single stage repair of a truncus arteriosus with interrupted aortic arch (Van Praagh type A4).
An ℒ ∞ Feedback Control Strategy for Grid-Connected Three-Phase Voltage Source Inverters

The renewable energy market is expanding, and this creates a demand for efficient control for energy conversion. Most renewable energy is harnessed as DC and needs to be converted into 3-phase voltage with a voltage source inverter (VSI) to be connected to the grid. PI control is commonly utilized to control the VSI. It provides good steady state performance but suffers from poor disturbance rejection and limited bandwidth. This paper introduces the application of an ${\mathcal{L}_\infty }$ feedback control; an iterative algorithm based on LMIs (Linear Matrix Inequalities). The control objective is to provide the grid voltage and regulate the real and reactive power injected to the grid. The performance of the proposed control scheme is validated analytically and through Matlab/Simulink simulations under nominal conditions, input voltage disturbances and grid impedance uncertainties. The proposed method is compared with existing method (PI controller) showing that the proposed scheme can provide better reference tracking, and improved transient and steady-state performance with low implementation cost.
In Memoriam: Professor Emeritus David H. Bayley 26 March 1933 – 10 May 2020

David Hume Bayley sadly left us on 10 May. For those who were privileged to have known him as a professor, mentor, academic, colleague, confidant and/or friend, the loss is truly indescribable. Dav...
Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 1 Activity Is a Driver of Cyst Growth in Polycystic Kidney Disease.

BACKGROUND: Mutations in PKD1 and PKD2, which encode the transmembrane proteins polycystin-1 and polycystin-2, respectively, cause autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Polycystins are expressed in the primary cilium, and disrupting cilia structure significantly slows ADPKD progression following inactivation of polycystins. The cellular mechanisms of polycystin- and cilia-dependent cyst progression in ADPKD remain incompletely understood. METHODS: Unbiased transcriptional profiling in an adult-onset Pkd2 mouse model before cysts formed revealed significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in Pkd2 single-knockout kidneys, which were used to identify candidate pathways dysregulated in kidneys destined to form cysts. In vivo studies validated the role of the candidate pathway in the progression of ADPKD. Wild-type and Pkd2/Ift88 double-knockout mice that are protected from cyst growth served as controls. RESULTS: The RNASeq data identified cell proliferation as the most dysregulated pathway, with 15 of 241 DEGs related to cell cycle functions. Cdk1 appeared as a central component in this analysis. Cdk1 expression was similarly dysregulated in Pkd1 models of ADPKD, and conditional inactivation of Cdk1 with Pkd1 markedly improved the cystic phenotype and kidney function compared with inactivation of Pkd1 alone. The Pkd1/Cdk1 double knockout blocked cyst cell proliferation that otherwise accompanied Pkd1 inactivation alone. CONCLUSIONS: Dysregulation of Cdk1 is an early driver of cyst cell proliferation in ADPKD due to Pkd1 inactivation. Selective targeting of cyst cell proliferation is an effective means of slowing ADPKD progression caused by inactivation of Pkd1.
Incident Detection and Characterization

The Cyber Operation Centers will continue to serve as a centralized location where operational elements involved in cybersecurity and communications dependence are coordinated and integrated. The cyber incident response partners include all Federal departments and agencies; State, local, tribal, and territorial governments; the private sector; and international partners. In close coordination with the originators of information and with other partners, the Federal requests, receives, shares, and analyzes information on cyber-attack techniques and vulnerabilities from the range of the highest to the lowest level of classification or restriction possible and works with Federal partners to mitigate threats to critical networks.
Comparison of the Prevalence of Pathogenic Variants in Cancer Susceptibility Genes in Black Women and Non-Hispanic White Women With Breast Cancer in the United States.

Importance The prevalence of germline pathogenic variants (PVs) in cancer susceptibility genes in US Black women compared with non-Hispanic White women with breast cancer is poorly described. Objective To determine whether US Black and non-Hispanic White women with breast cancer have a different prevalence of PVs in 12 cancer susceptibility genes. Design, setting, and participants Multicenter, population-based studies in the Cancer Risk Estimates Related to Susceptibility (CARRIERS) consortium. Participants were Black and non-Hispanic White women diagnosed with breast cancer, unselected for family history or age at diagnosis. Data were collected from June 1993 to June 2020; data analysis was performed between September 2020 and February 2021. Main outcomes and measures Prevalence of germline PVs in 12 established breast cancer susceptibility genes. Results Among 3946 Black women (mean [SD] age at diagnosis, 56.5 [12.02] y) and 25 287 non-Hispanic White women (mean [SD] age at diagnosis, 62.7 [11.14] y) with breast cancer, there was no statistically significant difference by race in the combined prevalence of PVs in the 12 breast cancer susceptibility genes evaluated (5.65% in Black vs 5.06% in non-Hispanic White women; P = .12). The prevalence of PVs in CHEK2 was higher in non-Hispanic White than Black patients (1.29% vs 0.38%; P Conclusions and relevance This large population-based case-control study revealed no clinically meaningful differences in the prevalence of PVs in 12 breast cancer susceptibility genes between Black and non-Hispanic White women with breast cancer. The findings suggest that there is not sufficient evidence to make policy changes related to genetic testing based on race alone. Instead, all efforts should be made to ensure equal access to and uptake of genetic testing to minimize disparities in care and outcomes.
Globalization and the Prevention of Ethnic Wars at the Local Level: A Cross-Country Analysis

This study seeks to investigate how economic globalization and the rule of law affect the onset of ethnic war at the local level. While several empirical studies have explored the roles of globalization and the rule of law on large-scale civil war, most ethnic wars do not reach the intensity of civil war. As a consequence, we have a weak understanding of how globalization and rule of law affect the risk of ethnic war. This study links the literatures on ethnic war, globalization, and the rule of law, and examines the concomitant effects of economic globalization and rule of law on low-intensity ethnic war onsets. It is expected that both can reduce the risk of ethnic war because each constrains state power and, at the same time, enhances opportunities for ethnic inclusion. Analyses of 140 countries from 1997 to 2010 show that both economic globalization and the rule of law significantly lower the risk of low-intensity ethnic war, and the discrimination of ethnic populations increases this risk. To facilitate peace at local levels, international policy makers and states should promote global economic integration, the rule of law, and ethnic inclusion.
A Framework for Machine Learning of Model Error in Dynamical Systems.

The development of data-informed predictive models for dynamical systems is of widespread interest in many disciplines. We present a unifying framework for blending mechanistic and machine-learning approaches to identify dynamical systems from data. We compare pure data-driven learning with hybrid models which incorporate imperfect domain knowledge. We cast the problem in both continuous- and discrete-time, for problems in which the model error is memoryless and in which it has significant memory, and we compare data-driven and hybrid approaches experimentally. Our formulation is agnostic to the chosen machine learning model. Using Lorenz '63 and Lorenz '96 Multiscale systems, we find that hybrid methods substantially outperform solely data-driven approaches in terms of data hunger, demands for model complexity, and overall predictive performance. We also find that, while a continuous-time framing allows for robustness to irregular sampling and desirable domain-interpretability, a discrete-time framing can provide similar or better predictive performance, especially when data are undersampled and the vector field cannot be resolved. We study model error from the learning theory perspective, defining excess risk and generalization error; for a linear model of the error used to learn about ergodic dynamical systems, both errors are bounded by terms that diminish with the square-root of T. We also illustrate scenarios that benefit from modeling with memory, proving that continuous-time recurrent neural networks (RNNs) can, in principle, learn memory-dependent model error and reconstruct the original system arbitrarily well; numerical results depict challenges in representing memory by this approach. We also connect RNNs to reservoir computing and thereby relate the learning of memory-dependent error to recent work on supervised learning between Banach spaces using random features.
Using synthetic data generation to train a cardiac motion tag tracking neural network.

Abstract A CNN based method for cardiac MRI tag tracking was developed and validated. A synthetic data simulator was created to generate large amounts of training data using natural images, a Bloch equation simulation, a broad range of tissue properties, and programmed ground-truth motion. The method was validated using both an analytical deforming cardiac phantom and in vivo data with manually tracked reference motion paths. In the analytical phantom, error was investigated relative to SNR, and accurate results were seen for SNR > 10 (displacement error 0.3 mm). Excellent agreement was seen in vivo for tag locations (mean displacement difference = − 0.02 pixels, 95% CI [ − 0.73, 0.69]) and calculated cardiac circumferential strain (mean difference = 0.006, 95% CI [ − 0.012, 0.024]). Automated tag tracking with a CNN trained on synthetic data is both accurate and precise.
Systematic Desensitization, Implosion, and Flooding

In this chapter, we shall present three techniques that are derived largely from principles of classical conditioning: systematic desensitization, implosion, and flooding. Although these techniques have not been used extensively with children, they represent potentially effective procedures for the treatment of conditioned emotional responses such as fear, anxiety, and agitated depression. Heretofore, these emotional states in children have been largely ignored, or at least unattended to, by the majority of professionals. Graziano (1978), in discussing the situation for childhood fears, has indicated that In contrast to the vast amount of professional effort that behavior therapists and researchers have devoted to the fears of adults, children’s fears have been largely neglected. Adults seem to minimize the importance of children’s fears and to view such fears as a common, expected, transitory and thus not particularly serious part of normal development, (p. 283)
Tele-Education in a Telemedicine Environment: Implications for Rural Health Care and Academic Medical Centers

Over 50 million people in the United States (about 20% of the population) live in rural areas, but only 9% of the nation's physicians practice in rural communities. It is difficult to recruit and retain rural health care practitioners, partly because of issues relating to professional isolation. New and enhanced telecommunications links between community and academic hospitals show promise for reducing this isolation and enhancing lifelong learning opportunities for rural health care providers. This paper will explore some of the issues involved in using interactive video (telemedicine) networks to transmit continuing medical education programming from an academic center to multiple rural hospitals. Data from a recent University of Iowa survey of the state's health educators will be presented as one approach to assessing the health care marketplace for the deployment of tele-education services.
They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust (Kirshenblatt and Kirshenblatt-Gimblett)

They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust is a stunning and gripping volume. The book is difficult to categorize: part art book, part memoir, part ethnography, part history; it defies and transcends conventional genres. It promises to stimulate attention across a wide array of interests and demographics. Some will flip through the book, admiring Mayer Kirshenblatt’s evocative paintings of Jewish life in interwar Poland. Others will study his meticulous instructions on subjects ranging from how to harness a horse to how to make a dreydl. Still others will peruse the author’s recollections of his early education in Apt, or of his emigration by steamship to Canada. My four-year old daughter, whose readings I never thought I would be referencing in an academic book review, loved the painting “Boy with Herring” and marveled at the idea of carrying home a fish wrapped in newspaper with brine dripping from the head and tail. Two generations removed, my parents both picked up the book and read it cover to cover during their week-long visit a few weeks ago. I can think of few books that could garner this much attention from such diverse readerships.
Cataracts and Photochemical Damage in the Lens

The possibility is considered that ultraviolet radiation, from sunlight and other ambient sources, is a major causative factor in certain human cataracts. Epidemiological and experimental data from the literature are reviewed and new experimental results on exposure of rat lenses to UV laser radiation in vitro are presented. This UV irradiation of lenses is shown to cause: (i) photochemical alteration of tryptophan residues in lens proteins, resulting in loss of tryptophan fluorescence, (ii) new ultraviolet absorption bands attributable to photo-oxidation products of lens proteins, and (iii) cross-linking of polypeptides in lens proteins, detected by sodium dodecylsulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It is noted that the UV radiation-induced lens changes reported are quite similar to the changes found when normal human lenses develop cataracts. In order to establish the degree to which UV-exposed lenses resemble naturally occurring cataracts, a comprehensive comparison of anatomical, histological and biochemical parameters for normal, cataractous and UV-exposed human lenses is proposed.
Evaluation of the govstat statistical interactive glossary: implications for just-in-time help

The GovStat Statistical Interactive Glossary (SIG) is intended to allow users of federal statistical agency websites to look up meanings of statistical terms they encounter on the websites without interrupting their tasks. This kind of just-in-time, just-in-place help is one approach to integrating help with users' tasks as seamlessly as possible. We discuss implications of an evaluation study of the SIG for the design and deployment of such help.
Compositional tuning of ferromagnetism in Ga1−xMnxP

We report the magnetic and transport properties of Ga{sub 1-x}Mn{sub x}P synthesized via ion implantation followed by pulsed laser melting over a range of x, namely 0.018 to 0.042. Like Ga{sub 1-x}Mn{sub x}As, Ga{sub 1-x}Mn{sub x}P displays a monotonic increase of the ferromagnetic Curie temperature with x associated with the hole-mediated ferromagnetic phase while thermal annealing above 300 C leads to a quenching of ferromagnetism that is accompanied by a reduction of the substitutional fraction of Mn. However, contrary to observations in Ga{sub 1-x}Mn{sub x}As, Ga{sub 1-x}Mn{sub x}P is non-metallic over the entire composition range. At the lower temperatures over which the films are ferromagnetic, hole transport occurs via hopping conduction in a Mn-derived band; at higher temperatures it arises from holes in the valence band which are thermally excited across an energy gap that shrinks with x.
Association Of Marital Status With Access To Renal Transplantation

In this report we evaluated the association of marital status with access to renal transplantation. We analyzed data from the USRDS. In patients with ESRD aged ≥27 (mean age of first marriage in the US), we analyzed the association of marital status with two outcomes: (1) likelihood of being placed on the waiting list for renal transplantation or first transplant, (2) likelihood of receiving kidney transplant in patients already listed. We analyzed marital status as a categorical variable: (1) not married (including never been married and widowed); (2) divorced or separated; and (3) currently married. Subgroups based on age, race, sex, donor type and diabetic status were also analyzed. After adjustments for the included independent variables and compared to individuals never married or widowed, those who were divorced/separated (HR 1.55, p < 0.001) and currently married (HR 1.54, p < 0.001) had a higher likelihood of being placed on the transplant waiting list. Once listed, married individuals had higher chances of getting transplanted as well (HR 1.28, p = 0.033). This trend was consistent in most of the subgroups studied. We demonstrated that being married is associated with better access to renal transplantation compared to those who were never married/widowed.
Object Recognition Using Subspace Methods

In this paper we describe a new recognition method that uses a subspace representation to approximate the comparison of binary images (e.g. intensity edges) using the Hausdorff fraction. The technique is robust to outliers and occlusion, and thus can be used for recognizing objects that are partly hidden from view and occur in cluttered backgrounds. We report some simple recognition experiments in which novel views of objects are classified using both a standard SSD-based eigenspace method and our Hausdorff-based method. These experiments illustrate how our method performs better when the background is unknown or the object is partially occluded. We then consider incorporating the method into an image search engine, for locating instances of objects under translation in an image. Results indicate that all but a small percentage of image locations can be ruled out using the eigenspace, without eliminating correct matches. This enables an image to be searched efficiently for any of the objects in an image database.
Chromogenic In Situ Hybridization for the Detection of HER-2/neu Gene Amplification in Breast Cancer With an Emphasis on Tumors With Borderline and Low-Level Amplification Does It Measure Up to Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization?

We compared chromogenic in situ hybridization (CISH) with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for assessing HER-2/neu gene amplification using tissue microarrays (TMAs) made from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue blocks from 113 cases of invasive breast carcinoma. TMAs were created using 0.6-mm tissue cores with 4 sampled cores per tumor. For both assays, a HER-2/chromosome 17 signal ratio of 2.0 or more was considered positive for gene amplification. The average ratio of cores from the same tumor was used for determination of gene amplification status of that particular tumor Of 113 cases, 102 were tested successfully by both assays. The results were concordant in 100.0% of cases (63 amplified; 39 nonamplified). All 22 cases of borderline (ratio, 2.0-2.5) or low-level (ratio, 2.6-3.9) amplification by FISH also showed HER-2 gene amplification by CISH. CISH is as sensitive as FISH in detecting borderline and low-level HER-2 amplification. Reliable recognition of the invasive carcinoma area by light microscopy and preservation of the test slides are added advantages of CISH. CISH performs as well as FISH in the analysis of HER-2 gene amplification in breast cancer and might have advantages in certain situations.
S-Adenosylmethionine Mediates Glutathione Efficacy by Increasing Glutathione S-Transferase Activity: Implications for S-Adenosyl Methionine as A Neuroprotective Dietary Supplement

When maintained on a folate-deficient, iron-rich diet, transgenic mice lacking in apolipoprotein E (ApoE-/- mice) demonstrate impaired activity of glutathione S-transferase (GST), resulting in increased oxidative species within brain tissue despite abnormally high levels of glutathione. These mice also exhibit reduced levels of S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) and increased levels of its hydrolysis product S-adenosyl homocysteine, which inhibits SAM usage. Supplementation of the above diet with SAM restored GST activity and eliminated reactive oxygen species at the expense of stockpiled glutathione, suggesting that one or more SAM-dependent reactions were required to maintain GST activity. We examined herein the impact of SAM on GST activity using a cell-free assay. SAM stimulated GST activity in a dose-response manner when added to homogenates derived from the above ApoE-/- mice. SAM also increased activity of purified rat liver GST and recombinant GST. Filtering of SAM through a 4 kDa cutoff and systematic withholding of reaction components eliminated the possibility of any additional contaminating enzyme. These findings confirm that SAM can exert a direct effect on GST activity. Since Alzheimer's disease is accompanied by reduced GST activity, diminished SAM and increased SAH, these findings underscore the critical role of SAM in maintenance of neuronal health.
Ending Reliance on Opinions of the Taxpayer's Own Lawyer

Ending Reliance argues that tax opinions given by an attorney or accountant to his clients are not reliable if they will be revealed to a court or the IRS. Attorneys and accountants now face competition in an economic world, and clients will pay for the easy and yielding opinions but not for the ones that say no. An attorney or accountant may now give an opinion without fear of penalty, although there is a large chance that it will not withstand a challenge by the IRS. Tax doctrine has firmly (albeit recently) settled that opinions by an adviser loyal to the seller of a tax transaction may not be relied on by the buyer. The seller’s adviser will lean in too far, patch over difficulties, and fail to identify all the defects. The presentation return position opinions are similarly inflated. Johnson would deny admission of tax opinions in a penalty controversy as proof of taxpayer good faith or reasonable cause for failure to pay tax. The proposal is offered as a part of the Shelf Project, which is a collaboration of tax professionals developing ways to raise revenue, when Congress is ready, in ways that increase the fairness and efficiency of the tax base. The Shelf Project has 70 proposals so far. Comments are welcome either as public debate, directed to the Tax Notes editor or privately to cjohnson@law.utexas.edu.
Design-for-test methodology for Motorola PowerPC/sup TM/ microprocessors

Testing of modern microprocessor designs remains a challenging problem. At Motorola's Somerset Design Center, we rely heavily on Design-For-Test (DFT) to address these challenges. To date our efforts have been very successful. This paper reviews our DFT methodology and how the DFT group is dealing with the new challenges that are facing PowerPC/sup TM/ microprocessor designs.
Dual damascene patterning of polymer interlayer dielectrics

We unveil an innovative and manufacturable process technique to pattern dual damascene structures in polymer interlayer dielectric (ILD) without the need for either a permanent hardmask or an embedded etch stop (ES) layer. We introduce a sacrificial hardmask (SAM) and a sacrificial via fill (SAVIL) material to enable the patterning process. Since the hardmask is sacrificial, it is removed at the end of the patterning process without compromising the overall dielectric value of the ILD. The utilization of the SAVIL material provided the trench lithography step with a hole-free, and planar substrate. We demonstrate patterning of dual damascene structures using SAM/SAVIL in a via-first integration scheme through a comparative patterning performance between the SAM/SAVIL-assisted dual damascene patterning and the dual hardmask approach used most in the industry.
Properties of vector mesons at finite temperature: Effective Lagrangian approach.

We examine the properties of {rho} mesons at finite temperature {ital T} with the use of an effective chiral Lagrangian. The effective Lagrangian includes vector and axial-vector mesons as massive Yang-Mills fields of the chiral symmetry. It is shown that at the leading order of the temperature the effective mass of the {rho} meson is not changed and only a mixing in vector and axial-vector correlators takes place. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}
Run-time Adaptation to Heterogeneous Processing Units for Real-time Stereo Vision

Today's systems from smartphones to workstations are becoming increasingly parallel and heterogeneous: Processing units not only consist of more and more identical cores - furthermore, systems commonly contain either a discrete general-purpose GPU alongside with their CPU or even integrate both on a single chip. To benefit from this trend, software should utilize all available resources and adapt to varying configurations, including different CPU and GPU performance or competing processes. This paper investigates parallelization and adaptation strategies applied to the example application of dense stereo vision, which forms a basis i.a. for advanced driver assistance systems, robotics or gesture recognition and represents a broad range of similar computer vision methods. For this problem, task-driven as well as data element- and data flow-driven parallelization approaches are feasible. To achieve real-time performance, we first utilize data element-parallelism individually on each device. On this basis, we develop and implement strategies for cooperation between heterogeneous processing units and for automatic adaptation to the hardware available at run-time. Each approach is described concerning i.a. the propagation of data to processors and its relation to established methods. An experimental evaluation with multiple test systems reveals advantages and limitations of each strategy.
3D silicon infrared photonic lattices

3D photonic lattices are engineered 'materials' which are the photonic analogues of semiconductors. These structures were first proposed and demonstrated in the mid-to-late 1980's. However, due to fabrication difficulties, lattices active in the IR are only just emerging. A variety of structures and fabrication approaches have been investigated. The most promising approach for many potential applications is a diamond-like structure fabricated using silicon microprocessing techniques. This approach has enabled the fabrication of 3D silicon photonic lattices active in the IR. The structures display bandgaps centered from 12(mu) down to 1.55(mu) , depending on pitch.
Perelman, ad Hominem Argument, and Rhetorical Ethos

Perelman’s view of the role of persons in argument is one of the most distinctive features of his break with Cartesian assumptions about reasoning. Whereas the rationalist paradigm sought to minimize or eliminate personal considerations by dismissing them as distracting and irrelevant, Perelman insists that argumentation inevitably does and ought to place stress on the specific persons engaged in an argument and that the relationship between speaker and what is spoken is always relevant and important. In taking this position, Perelman implicitly revives the classical conception of proof by character (ethos or “ethotic” argument), but despite an extended discussion of act and person in argument, The New Rhetoric does not give much consideration to the classical concept and confuses differing approaches to it within the tradition. The result is that Perelman treats the role of the speaker in argument only by reference to abstract techniques and does not recognize the importance of examining particular cases in order to thicken understanding of how ethotic argument works in the complex, situated context of its actual use. Consequently, Perelman’s account of the role of persons in argument should be supplement by reference to case studies, and to that end, I consider ethotic argument in W.E.B. Du Bois’ famous essay “Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others”.
Quantitation of volatile anesthetic-induced depression of myocardial contractility using a single beat index derived from maximal ventricular power

Development of an index of myocardial contractility that is load independent and that can be derived from a single cardiac cycle in vivo has important intraoperative ramifications. Recently, a new index of contractile state based on maximal ventricular power (the rate of ventricular work) has been proposed that appears to fulfill these requirements. This investigation compared the efficacy and sensitivity of this novel method of measurement of myocardial contractility to the slope (Mw) of the preload recruitable stroke work (PRSW) relationship, an established measure of left ventricular function derived from left ventricular pressure-segment length loops in dogs before and during volatile anesthetic-induced cardiac depression. Sixteen experiments in two groups were performed using eight dogs chronically instrumented for measurement of aortic and left ventricular pressure, left ventricular dP/dt, subendocardial segment length, intrathoracic pressure, and thoracic aortic blood flow. The maximal ventricular power index (PWRmax/EDL2) was calculated as the product of peak aortic blood pressure and peak aortic blood flow divided by the square of end-diastolic segment length. Mw was obtained from a series of left ventricular pressure-segment length loops generated by abrupt vena caval occlusion. Systemic hemodynamics and myocardial contractility using these two methods were recorded in the conscious state and after 30 minutes of equilibration at 1.25, 1.5, or 1.75 MAC isoflurane or halothane.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Disjuncture 2.0: youth, Internet use and cultural identity in Bishkek

With the diffusion of networked media like the Internet, Kyrgyz youth are increasingly growing up in a world that is marked by a mix of the local and the global. With the Internet come vast, searchable, global databases, as well as a potential repositioning of users as receivers and producers of content on global networks. Media and cultural studies scholars argue that this change can unsettle social relations and lead to new ways of structuring identities. In this view, emergent identities seem to be more fluid, more unpredictable, and much less dependent on tradition. Using ethnographic techniques, this study brings to light the interaction between cultural identity and Internet use in the everyday lives of urban Kyrgyz youth. The study finds that Kyrgyz youth – catalysed by their ability to carry out searches and to maintain social connections online – are placing their cultural inheritance in a global context and questioning ‘tradition’ as few Kyrgyz have done before. Emergent cultural identities are ...
Self-doping of gold chains on silicon: a new structural model for Si(111)-(5 x 2)-Au.

A new structural model for the reconstruction is proposed and analyzed using first-principles calculations. The basic model consists of a ``double honeycomb chain'' decorated by Si adatoms. The periodicity of the honeycomb chains is doubled by the presence of a half-occupied row of Si atoms that partially rebonds the chains. Additional adatoms supply electrons that dope the parent band structure and stabilize the period doubling; the optimal doping corresponds to one adatom per four cells, in agreement with experiment. All the main features observed in scanning tunneling microscopy and photoemission are well reproduced.
Increased fluoroscopy time for central venous catheter placement by radiology residents versus staff radiologists.

Purpose To evaluate differences in interventional radiology procedural fluoroscopy time (FT) for radiology residents versus staff radiologists, using central venous catheter (CVC) placement as an index service. Methods To minimize interservice and complexity variables, stand-alone temporary internal jugular CVC procedures were targeted for analysis. Reports and images from 1,067 temporary CVC services from 2 hospitals over 2 years were reviewed as part of a quality improvement initiative. Insertion site, catheter type (eg, smaller triple lumen versus larger hemodialysis), resident identifier, staff identifier, and documented FT were compiled and analyzed. Results Applying clinical (eg, concomitant venous angioplasty) and anatomic (eg, femoral access) exclusions, 537 cases with complete CVC procedure records were available for analysis. Radiology residents and staff radiologists were primary operators in 128 and 409 procedures, respectively. Distribution of resident procedures (82% right, 66% large lumen) was similar to that of staff (79% right, 63% large lumen). Mean FT of resident services was twice as long as that of staff services (1.24 minutes versus 0.63 minutes, P Conclusions When CVCs are placed by radiology residents, FT is double that for identical procedures performed by staff radiologists. Similar discrepancies likely exist for other interventional radiologic procedures. Residency training programs should initiate measures to monitor and manage fluoroscopy during interventional procedures to minimize radiation dose to patients, trainees, and other staff.
Idiopathic heart disease associated with pregnancy and the puerperium

Abstract The case of a 14-year-old primigravida in whom idiopathic heart disease associated with pregnancy and the puerperium proved fatal 6 months postpartum is presented. Hemodynamic and angiocardiographic studies revealed data compatible with right and left ventricular failure of the high-output type and enlargement of all cardiac chambers. The QRS axis of the electrocardiogram showed progressive left axis deviation which seemed to parallel the severity of the disease. Comparative histologic studies of the myocardial biopsy specimen and, 2 months later, of the heart postmortem showed evidence of a rapidly progressive, widespread degenerative and reparative process in the myocardium. A review of the American literature reveals only 27 autopsied cases, including our case, and no previous myocardial biopsies of this disease of obscure etiology. We have analyzed the 27 autopsied cases with reference to clinical manifestations, electrocardiographic changes, cardiac hypertrophy, mural thrombi, and histopathology, and most of these cases show striking similarity as reported by different investigators. Idiopathic heart disease associated with pregnancy and the puerperium continues to remain an enigma with reference to etiology and pathogenesis.
P1-04-03: The Effect of Survivin Downregulation on Radiosensitization of Breast Cancer Cell Lines Grown under Adherent and Stem Cell Promoting Culture Conditions.

Survivin, the smallest member of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein (IAP) family, is a bifunctional protein that has been implicated in both control of cell division and inhibition of apoptosis. Survivin has been shown to be involved in radiation resistance of various cancer types and its expression is increased by sublethal doses of irradiation in both differentiated and cancer stem cell (CSC) population. However, it is unknown whether suppression of survivin radiosensitizes the CSC population or diminishes its self renewal ability. Herein, we cloned the survivin dominant-negative mutant lacking a phosphorylation site (T34A) (Mesri et al., 2001 JCI) into the lentiviral LeGo vectors and assessed mammosphere formation and radiosensitization in MCF7, SUM149 and SUM159 cell lines grown under adherent or stem cell promoting conditions. We found an induction of survivin by western blotting in the dominant negative mutant (T34A)-transfected cell lines. Moreover, we observed a higher than two-fold increase in the Sub-G1 population as well as an increased Caspase 3 activity in the T34A-transfected SUM149 and SUM159 cells compared to control cells indicating an anti-apoptotic function of survivin. We also found that T34A-transfected cells showed a 1.5 to 2-fold decrease in the number of mammospheres compared to the control-transfected cells. Furthermore, T34A-transfected cells showed radiosensitization in adherent cells from SUM149 and SUM159 cells but no effect was observed in MCF7 cells. However, no radiosensitization was observed in stem cell promoting culture conditions with increasing doses of radiation in all tested cell lines. This indicates that the widely used standard clonogenic assays do not optimally select anti-CSC agents and that targeted therapies should be specifically tested for their activity against the CSC population. Further functional endpoint studies will be conducted to validate the in vitro findings. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-04-03.
6j symbols forU_q (\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{l}_2 ) and non-Euclidean tetrahedra

We relate the semiclassical asymptotics of the 6j symbols for the quantized enveloping algebra \(U_q (\mathfrak{s}\mathfrak{l}_2 )\) at q a root of unity (resp. q real positive) to the geometry of spherical (resp. hyperbolic) tetrahedra.
The data analysis and the knowledge of climate and water resources in South Dakota

The general principles in climate research and relations of deployed models and obtained knowledge for territory like state or river basin presented on the base of results of data analysis of air temperature (Shmagin and Todey, 2008), precipitation (Shmagin, 2010), and stream flow (Chen and Shmagin 2006). The term of data analysis means sequence of activities and procedures to deal with empirical data: composition the observations as initial matrixes (1), primary analysis with simple statistical characteristics and visualization of data with simple graphs to determine general variability and presents of errors (2), and then analysis of time spatial data variability and interconnections in the matrix (3). The cyber model of landscape (Shmagin, 1997) allows formulate the research tacks for the data analysis, present results as quantities models and fuzzy maps and interpret obtained result in specific field of natural sciences (hydrology, climatology, ecology and others). Data analysis on the base of cyber model provides description of time spatial variability of climate characteristics and water cycle for diversity of regional landscapes as multidimensional structure. Multidimensional structure of regional landscape diversity create the best possible base for longtime forecast (seasonal and interannual) of climate characteristics and development of professional applications to deal with natural variability. The uncertainties of models used for forecast placed in contest of education of art and science.