cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Public Transportation Accessibility on Food Insecurity

I examine whether access to public transportation reduces the probability of food insecurity for households. The data set combines information from the Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement and the National Transit Database from 2006 to 2009. I address a potential endogeneity problem using the changes in federal governmental transportation funding as instruments. I find evidence of a negative causal effect of public transportation accessibility on food insecurity. An extra bus-equivalent vehicle per 10,000 people decreases the probability of food insecurity of households by 1.6 percentage points. In particular, the impact of public transit is more prominent among poor households and poor African-American households.
Bayesian modeling and classification of neural signals

Identifying and classifying action potential shapes in extracellular neural waveforms have long been the subject of research, and although several algorithms for this purpose have been successfully applied, their use has been limited by some outstanding problems. The first is how to determine shapes of the action potentials in the waveform and, second, how to decide how many shapes are distinct. A harder problem is that action potentials frequently overlap making difficult both the determination of the shapes and the classification of the spikes. In this report, a solution to each of these problems is obtained by applying Bayesian probability theory. By defining a probabilistic model of the waveform, the probability of both the form and number of spike shapes can be quantified. In addition, this framework is used to obtain an efficient algorithm for the decomposition of arbitrarily complex overlap sequences. This algorithm can extract many times more information than previous methods and facilitates the extracellular investigation of neuronal classes and of interactions within neuronal circuits.
Weak approximation for low degree Del Pezzo surfaces

Let K = Func(C) be the function field of a smooth curve C. For every Del Pezzo surface S/K which is an appropriately generic, weak approximation for S holds at every place of K, i.e., for every closed point c of C. This combines earlier work in (arXiv:0810.2597) with an analysis of weak approximation near boundary points of the parameter spaces for Del Pezzo surfaces of degrees 1 and 2.
An experimental investigation of a high flux heat pipe heat sink

An experimental investigation of a highly efficient heat pipe heat sink was investigated, in which the interline region was optimized using sintered particles. The effects of condenser size, sintered particles, and forced airflow on the heat transfer performance were investigated experimentally. The experimental results indicated that the thin film evaporation could significantly increase the evaporating heat transfer coefficient and remove heat fluxes up to 800 kW/m 2 . In addition, a theoretical model capable of predicting the temperature drop occurring in this device was developed. The predicted performance was in good agreement with the experimental data and the resulting model can be used to assist in the design of high heat flux, heat pipe heat sinks.
Group leader election under link-state routing

In this work, we place a long-established distributed computing problem in a new context. Specifically, the group leader election problem is studied ''inside the network,'' meaning that participants in the election process are network switches/routers, rather than hosts. In this context, an election protocol can take advantage of certain internal operations of the network, such as the underlying routing protocol, to meet stringent fault-tolerance criteria while minimizing the network traffic overhead. A robust solution to the problem, called the Network Leader Election (NLE) protocol, is proposed. The protocol is designed for use in networks based on link-state routing (LSR). The protocol is robust, for it achieves leadership consensus in the presence of adverse events, such as leader failures and network partitioning. The correctness of the protocol is proved formally. A simulation study reveals that the NLE protocol incurs low overhead in handling leader failures and in-group creation. In addition, it is shown how important network functions, including hierarchical routing, address resolution, and multicast core management, can benefit from the NLE protocol.
Mutual localization: Two camera relative 6-DOF pose estimation from reciprocal fiducial observation

Concurrently estimating the 6-DOF pose of multiple cameras or robots - cooperative localization - is a core problem in contemporary robotics. Current works focus on a set of mutually observable world landmarks and often require inbuilt egomotion estimates; situations in which both assumptions are violated often arise, for example, robots with erroneous low quality odometry and IMU exploring an unknown environment. In contrast to these existing works in cooperative localization, we propose a cooperative localization method, which we call mutual localization, that uses reciprocal observations of camera-fiducials to obviate the need for egomotion estimates and mutually observable world landmarks. We formulate and solve an algebraic formulation for the pose of the two camera mutual localization setup under these assumptions. Our experiments demonstrate the capabilities of our proposal egomotion-free cooperative localization method: for example, the method achieves 2cm range and 0.7 degree accuracy at 2m sensing for 6-DOF pose. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed work, we deploy our method on Turtlebots and we compare our results with ARToolKit [1] and Bundler [2], over which our method achieves a tenfold improvement in translation estimation accuracy.
Spectroscopic and photorefractive properties of infrared-sensitive rhodium-doped barium titanate

We have grown and characterized crystals of BaTiO3 doped with Rh. These crystals have a blue-green color that is probably due to charge-transfer optical transitions involving Rh4+ and/or Rh3+. Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy confirmed the presence of Rh4+ centers. Self-pumped phase-conjugation measurements were performed at wavelengths between 776 and 990 nm. Reflectivities near 80% were obtained throughout this wavelength range. In addition, self-pumped phase-conjugation buildup times were measured as a function of input power at 851 nm and are significantly faster than in undoped or Co-doped crystals studied previously. BaTiO3:Rh is therefore a promising material for near-infrared photorefractive applications.
Shelf-life of near-aseptically packaged refrigerated potato strips

Abstract The effect of hot water blanching and near-aseptic packaging on the shelf-life of refrigerated potato strips was investigated based on quality; microbial, textural and color. Potato strips were first blanched at low temperature (60 °C) for 10 or 20 min, and then second blanched at high temperature (∼98 °C) for 1, 5 or 10 min. Blanched potato strips were cooled and packaged into near-aseptic polyethylene bags using a near-aseptic packaging chamber. Microbial spoilage was observed for all treatments which received a second blanch of only 1-min. No microbial growth was observed within 28 days of refrigerated storage in strips treated for either 10 or 20 min in first blanch followed by 5 or 10 min in second blanch. Near-aseptically packaged refrigerated potato fries were significantly lighter in color and higher in textural quality compared to unprocessed fries (neither blanched nor near-aseptically packaged). No significant changes were observed in quality of near-aseptically packaged refrigerated potato strips during 28 days of storage at 7 ± 1 °C. These results indicate that combination of blanching and near-aseptic packaging is the better non-chemical alternative method for potato strips to extend shelf-life.
Controlling surface reactivities of transition metals by carbide formation

Abstract The surface reactivities of transition metals, including the Groups 4–6 early transition metals as well as the late transition metals of the 3d series, can often be modified by the formation of a carbide overlayer. More importantly, the reactivities of carbide-modified surfaces frequently demonstrate strong similarities to those of the Pt-group (Pt, Pd, Ir, Rh, Ru and Os) metals. In this paper, we will summarize our recent surface science investigations of the electronic, structural, and catalytic properties of well-characterized model carbide systems. Using several characteristic surface probing reactions, we will provide experimental evidence for the similar reactivities of the carbide-modified surfaces and the Pt-group metals. We will also discuss the underlying structural and electronic properties that are controlling the reactivities of the carbide-modified surfaces, such as the binding sites and chemical nature of the carbon atoms, the ionicity of the metal–carbon bonds, and the band structure of the transition metal carbides. We will also show examples of experimental attempts to correlate findings from the single crystal model carbide systems to amorphous powder carbide catalysts.
An elliptic K3 surface associated to Heron triangles

A rational triangle is a triangle with rational sides and rational area. A Heron triangle is a triangle with integral sides and integral area. In this article we will show that there exist infinitely many rational parametrizations, in terms of s, of rational triangles with perimeter 2s(s+1) and area s(s2−1). As a corollary, there exist arbitrarily many Heron triangles with all the same area and the same perimeter. The proof uses an elliptic K3 surface Y. Its Picard number is computed to be 18 after we prove that the Neron–Severi group of Y injects naturally into the Neron–Severi group of the reduction of Y at a prime of good reduction. We also give some constructions of elliptic surfaces and prove that under mild conditions a cubic surface in P3 can be given the structure of an elliptic surface by cutting it with the family of hyperplanes through a given line L. Some of these constructions were already known, but appear to have lacked proof in the literature until now.
RXTE and BeppoSAX Observations of MCG –5-23-16: Reflection from Distant Cold Material

We examine the spectral variability of the Seyfert 1.9 galaxy MCG-5-23-16 using RXTE and BeppoSAX observations spanning 2 years from April 1996 to April 1998. During the first year the X-ray source brightens by a factor of approximately 25% on timescales of days to months. During this time, the reprocessed continuum emission seen with RXTE does not respond measurably to the continuum increase. However, by the end of the second year during the BeppoSAX epoch the X-ray source has faded again. This time, the reprocessed emission has also faded, indicating that the reprocessed flux has responded to the continuum. If these effects are caused by time delays due to the distance between the X-ray source and the reprocessing region, we derive a light crossing time of between approximately 1 light day and approximately 1.5 light years. This corresponds to a distance of 0.001 pc to 0.55 pc, which implies that the reprocessed emission originates between 3 x 10(exp 15) cm and 1.6 x 10(exp l8) cm from the X-ray source. In other words, the reprocessing in MCG-5-23-16 is not dominated by the inner regions of a standard accretion disk.
"The Federal Deposit Insurance Fund That Didn't Put A Bite on U.S. Tax Payers"

Abstract Unlike the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation and the Bank Insurance Fund, the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) survived the 1980s without falling into a state of accounting insolvency. This paper analyzes how differences in incentive structure constrain the attractiveness of interest-rate speculation and other risk-taking opportunities to managers and regulators of credit unions. Despite these better incentives, robust present-value calculations establish that NCUSIF fell into economic insolvency during the mid-1980s. Besides calculating the extent of this insolvency, the paper also seeks to explain why, after NCUSIF became insolvent, it could rebuild its reserves without an explicit or implicit taxpayer bailout. Our explanation turns on cross-industry coinsurance responsibilities and the shallowness of the fund's observed insolvency relative to industry net worth. We identify forces in the decisionmaking environment tending to limit the depth and duration of unresolved insolvencies at individual credit unions. Managerial opportunities to benefit personally from taking risks that would flow through to NCUSIF are constrained by difficulties in converting a credit union to stockholder form and by the intensity of proactive monitoring of troubled credit unions by sister institutions and other private coinsurers. We conjecture that expanded use of coinsurance and private monitoring could reduce taxpayer loss exposure elsewhere in government deposit insurance systems.
Sloshing in High-Speed Galaxy Interactions

Observations of lopsided spiral galaxies motivated us to explore whether the rapid passage of a companion galaxy could cause them. We examine whether the center of mass of the visible matter becomes displaced from the center of mass of the dark halo during the intruder's passage, thereby causing an asymmetric response and asymmetric structure. Two-dimensional N-body simulations indicate that this can happen. We also explore some consequences of this offset. These include the center of mass of the visible disk following a decaying orbit around the halo center of mass and the development of transient one-armed spirals that persist for up to six rotation periods. We then study the results of a variety of initial conditions based on such offsets. We report on the results of several runs in which we initially offset a disk from its halo's center of mass by an amount typical of the above interaction. In some runs the halo is free to move, while in others it is held fixed. We used three different mass distributions for the halo in these runs. We find that the disk's center of mass spiraled inward, creating a variety of observed or observable phenomena including one-armed spirals, massive clumps of particles, and counterrotating waves. The systems settle into relatively axisymmetric configurations. Whether or not the end states included a bar depended on a variety of initial conditions.
Beverage Use and Risk for Kidney Stones in Women

Background: An increase in fluid intake is routinely recommended for patients who have had kidney stones to decrease the likelihood of recurrence. However, data on the effect of particular beverage...
Conformationally restricted amino acids: Diastereoselective substitution at the β-position of L-tryptophan

Abstract Higher order cuprates add with extreme exo-facial selectivity to the chiral tetrahydropyrroloindole 3 , itself prepared in enantiomerically pure form from L-tryptophan: treatment of the adducts with trifluoroacetic acid provides diastereo- and enantiomerically pure β-substituted tryptophan derivatives.
Analysis of Representative Volume Element for Asphalt Concrete Laboratory Shear Testing

The primary purposes of this paper are to develop a method of quantifying the precision and bias in repeated simple shear test at constant height (RSST-CH) laboratory test results for different-sized specimens and to determine the effects of this precision and bias on predicted rutting performance. The effect of RSST-CH variability was quantified by using a statistical sampling method called bootstrapping. The contribution of test variability to variability in predicted in situ rutting performance was determined by performing Monte Carlo simulations that used a shear-based incremental-recursive rutting analysis model. Results indicated that significant bias exists between the predicted rut depths of different specimen sizes. Increasing the specimen size decreased the test variability. Specimen size requirements for two different mix types are proposed on the basis of the analysis. The effect of test temperature on test results variability was also determined. In addition, analyzing various rutting perform...
On Regional Monetary Arrangements For ASEAN

Abstract This paper analyzes the extent to which ASEAN may be suitable for a regional monetary arrangement. On the economic front, we review evidence on patterns of trade, economic shocks, the extent of factor mobility, and the monetary transmission mechanism. We find that ASEAN today is less suitable for a regional monetary arrangement than the Euro area was before the Maastricht Treaty, but the differences are not large. On the political front, we analyze the prerequisites for monetary integration in light of 50 years of European experience. We conclude that a firm political commitment would be key to ensuring that an attempt to form a regional monetary arrangement is not viewed as simply another fixed exchange rate system open to speculative attack. That commitment would have to be strong enough to survive for an extended period and to support difficult decisions such as rendering the central bank independent, adhering to fiscal and exchange rate arrangements even if the policy stance conflicts with that which would be adopted on the basis of purely domestic considerations, and accepting supranational directives. These are very considerable prerequisites for success. J. Japan. Int. Econ. , June 2000, 14 (2), pp. 121–148. International Monetary Fund; University of California, Berkeley; and International Monetary Fund. Copyright 2000 Academic Press. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: F33, F36, F41, F42.
The thermal evolution of an Earth with strong subduction zones

It is commonly supposed that plate tectonic rates are controlled by the temperature-dependent viscosity of Earth's deep interior. If this were so, a small decrease in mantle temperature would lead to a large decrease in global heat transport. This negative feedback mechanism would prevent mantle temperatures from changing rapidly with time. We propose alternatively that convection is primarily resisted by the bending of oceanic lithosphere at subduction zones. Because lithospheric strength should not depend strongly on interior mantle temperature, this relationship decreases the sensitivity of heat flow to changes in interior mantle viscosity, and thus permits more rapid temperature changes there. The bending resistance is large enough to limit heat flow rates for effective viscosities of the lithosphere greater than about 1023 Pa s, and increases with the cube of plate thickness. As a result, processes that affect plate thickness, such as small-scale convection or subduction initiation, could profoundly influence Earth's thermal history.
Metastability, mode coupling and the glass transition

The mode coupling theory (MCT) has been successful in explaining the observed sequence of time relaxations in dense fluids. Previous expositions of this theory showing this sequence have required the existence of an ideal glass transition temperature, T0. Recent experiments show no evidence of T0. In the present work, it is shown how the theory can be reformulated, in a fundamental way, such that one retains this sequence of relaxation behaviors but with a smooth temperature dependence and without any indication of T0. The key ingredient in the reformulation is the inclusion of the metastable nature of the glass transition problem through a coupling of the mass density to the defect density. A main result of the theory is that the exponents governing the sequence of time relaxations are weak functions of the temperature by contrast with the results from conventional MCT.
Throughput-Delay Analysis of Random Linear Network Coding for Wireless Broadcasting

In an unreliable single-hop broadcast network setting, we investigate the throughput and decoding-delay performance of random linear network coding as a function of the coding window size and the network size. Our model consists of a source transmitting packets of a single flow to a set of n users over independent time-correlated erasure channels. The source performs random linear network coding (RLNC) over k (coding window size) packets and broadcasts them to the users. We note that the broadcast throughput of RLNC must vanish with increasing n, for any fixed k. Hence, in contrast to other works in the literature, we investigate how the coding window size k must scale for increasing n. Our analysis reveals that the coding window size of Θ(ln(n)) represents a phase transition rate, below which the throughput converges to zero, and above which, it converges to the broadcast capacity. Further, we characterize the asymptotic distribution of decoding delay and provide approximate expressions for the mean and variance of decoding delay for the scaling regime of k=ω(ln(n)). These asymptotic expressions reveal the impact of channel correlations on the throughput and delay performance of RLNC. We also show that how our analysis can be extended to other rateless block coding schemes such as the LT codes. Finally, we comment on the extension of our results to the cases of dependent channels across users and asymmetric channel model.
Velocity and Pressure Measurements Along a Row of Confined Cylinders

The results of flow experiments performed in a row of confined cylinders designed to mimic a model of a prismatic gas-cooled reactor lower plenum design are presented. Pressure measurements between the cylinders were made. Additionally, the flow field was measured using particle image velocimetry at two different resolutions (one at high resolution and a second with wide angle that includes three cylinders). Based on these measurements, five regimes of flow behavior are identified that are found to depend on Reynolds number. It is found that the recirculation region behind the cylinders is shorter than that of half-cylinders placed on the wall representing the symmetry plane. Unlike a single cylinder, the separation point is always found to be on the rear of the cylinders, even at very low Reynolds number.
A random walk through models of nonlinear clustering.

The authors present a few simple models of the mass function of collapsed objects. The emphasis is on apparently unrelated models which end up giving the same answer for the number density and merger histories of virialized clumps. They also comment briefly on models of the spatial distribution of the clumps, and how they can be used to model the spatial distribution of the mass.
A novel dimerization of ethyl 3-cyanomethyl-2-indolecarboxylate

Abstract Reaction of ethyl 1-benzenesulfonyl-3-bromomethyl-2-indolecarboxylate ( 3 ) with KCN in THF resulted in the formation of ethyl 1-benzenesulfonyl-3-cyanomethyl-2-indolecarboxylate ( 4 ) and two other dimeric indole derivatives 5 and 6 . The mechanism of formation of products 5 and 6 is explained, via the elimination of benzenesulfinate.
The use of computers in analysis

Automatic computers, both analog and digital, have attained a prominent place in most modern engineering curricula. The computer is recognized as an important engineering design tool permitting the student to test the efficacy of a large number of design hypotheses to determine an optimum design. In these applications the computer is favored because it enables the student to dispense with laborious hand calculations and because it familiarizes the engineering student with techniques which will subsequently be valuable to him in industry. The application of automatic computers to another category of engineering courses - courses in methods of analysis - is more controversial.
Subscriber Assignment for Wide-Area Content-Based Publish/Subscribe

We study the problem of assigning subscribers to brokers in a wide-area content-based publish/subscribe system. A good assignment should consider both subscriber interests in the event space and subscriber locations in the network space, and balance multiple performance criteria including bandwidth, delay, and load balance. The resulting optimization problem is NP-complete, so systems have turned to heuristics and/or simpler algorithms that ignore some performance criteria. Evaluating these approaches has been challenging because optimal solutions remain elusive for realistic problem sizes. To enable proper evaluation, we develop a Monte Carlo approximation algorithm with good theoretical properties and robustness to workload variations. To make it computationally feasible, we combine the ideas of linear programming, randomized rounding, coreset, and iterative reweighted sampling. We demonstrate how to use this algorithm as a yardstick to evaluate other algorithms, and why it is better than other choices of yardsticks. With its help, we show that a simple greedy algorithm works well for a number of workloads, including one generated from publicly available statistics on Google Groups. We hope that our algorithms are not only useful in their own right, but our principled approach toward evaluation will also be useful in future evaluation of solutions to similar problems in content-based publish/subscribe.
Should Obese Patients Lose Weight Before Receiving a Kidney Transplant

Background. The results of renal transplantation in obese recipients have been controversial, with some reports finding increased morbidity prohibitive and others finding increased morbidity acceptable. We attempted to determine whether obese patients in extreme excess of their ideal body weight should undergo transplantation. Methods. The study population included 127 obese (body mass index >30 kg/m 2 ) patients who were compared with a matched nonobese control group (body mass index <27 kg/m 2 ) of 127 recipients with similar demographics. There were no significant differences between the groups according to donor source, recipient race or sex, retransplants, transplant percent reactive antibodies, cause of renal failure, or hypertension. However, significantly more obese patients had a pretransplant history of angina (11.2% vs. 3.2%, P=0.02) or a previous myocardial infarction (5.6% vs. 0.8%, P=0.04). Results. The mean follow-up was 58.9±40 (range 3-170) months. Nonobese patients enjoyed a significantly (P=0.0002) greater patient survival (89% vs. 67%) at 5 years and suffered only about half the number of deaths (25 vs. 46) during the period of observation. Cardiac disease was the leading cause of death (39.1%) in the obese group. Patient death had a major impact on graft survival because there were no differences between the groups when death with graft function was censored from the analysis. There were no significant differences between the groups in delayed graft function, acute rejection, chronic rejection, length of hospital stay, operative blood loss, or mean serum creatinine up to 5 years. However, obese patients experienced significantly (P=0.0001) more complications per patient (3.3 vs. 2.2) and a greater incidence (P=0.0003) of posttransplant diabetes (12% vs. 2%). Similar cyclosporine blood levels were observed in obese recipients even though they were receiving 0.75-2 mg/kg/day less cyclosporine than the nonobese recipients. Conclusions. Outcome differences in obese renal transplant patients were primarily due to a higher mortality resulting from cardiac events. Obesity seems to have little effect on immunologic events, long-term graft function, or cyclosporine delivery. Aggressive pretransplant screening for ischemic heart disease is essential to identify an especially high-risk subgroup of obese patients. Although it would seem prudent to recommend weight reduction <30 kg/m 2 to all patients before transplant, these data suggest that obese patients with a history of cardiac disease should not be transplanted until weight reduction has been accomplished.
Comment on “New methods for old Coulomb few‐body problems”

In this Comment on the above-mentioned paper by F. E. Harris, A. M. Frolov, and V. H. Smith, we briefly review our contributions to development of new methods for solution of the Coulomb four-body problem. We show that our research group, headed by Professor T. K. Rebane, had a priority in using the fully correlated exponential basis for variational calculations of four-body systems. We also draw attention to the fact that our group subsequently implemented a more advanced method, which uses highly efficient exponential-trigonometric basis functions for solution of the same problem. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006
Geometric Filter For Reducing Speckle

A nonlinear speckle filter based on geometric concepts is defined, and an example of its effectiveness on synthetic aperture radar imagery is shown. Comparison with look-averaging is made using artificial imagery with synthetic speckle.
Monetarism: The Issues and the Outcome

The paper surveys some main issues in the monetarist-Keynesian debate of the 1960s and 1970s and the outcome of the debate. The debate was not static; the issues changed. At first Keynesians argued that money was largely irrelevant for output and the price level. By the end of the 1970s, issues such as neutrality, the natural rate, and the effect of inflation on nominal interest rates had been settled. Principal remaining issues were the use of money growth as a target, instrument, or indicator of monetary policy and reliance on rules. The paper sketches some of the progress on rules versus discretion in the past 20 years but focuses mostly on the role of money. Some evidence is presented for the U.S. supporting the monetarist position that control of money is useful in a medium-term or rule-based policy to control inflation as now advocated by several central banks.
What is an Optimal Spacecraft Structure

Many engineers have attempted to optimize the design of a spacecraft structure. They usually utilize a simplified criterion or objective function (e.g., fully stressed, minimum cost) that addresses only one aspect of the design. The real-world dilemma is closer to having to select among competing designs using multiple criteria of varying importance as the time or emphasis changes. This paper presents a method for evaluating candidate designs that allows the user to assign weights to the various criteria. These weights can be altered as the program objectives change. The method makes use of the experts from the numerous disciplines involved in the design, analysis, manufacture, and operation of a spacecraft.
Protein Histidine Phosphatase 1 Negatively Regulates CD4 T Cells by Inhibiting the K+ Channel KCa3.1

The calcium activated K+ channel KCa3.1 plays an important role in T lymphocyte Ca2+ signaling by helping to maintain a negative membrane potential which provides an electrochemical gradient to drive Ca2+ influx. We previously showed that Nucleoside Diphosphate Kinase Beta (NDPK-B), a mammalian histidine kinase, is required for KCa3.1 channel activation in human CD4 T lymphocytes. We now show that the mammalian protein histidine phosphatase (PHP)-1 directly binds and inhibits KCa3.1 by dephosphorylating histidine 358 on KCa3.1. Overexpression of wild type, but not a phosphatase dead PHPT-1 inhibited KCa3.1 channel activity. Decreased expression of PHPT-1 by siRNA in human CD4 T cells resulted in an increase in KCa3.1 channel activity and increased Ca2+ influx and proliferation following T cell receptor (TCR) activation indicating that endogenous PHPT-1 functions to negatively regulate CD4 T cells. Our findings provide the first example of a mammalian histidine phosphatase negatively regulating TCR signaling and are one of the few examples of histidine phosphorylation/dephosphorylation influencing a biological process in mammals.
THE REGULATION OF THE NORADRENERGIC NEURON

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses the regulation of the noradrenergic neuron. A number of regulatory processes exist that influence the biosynthesis of catecholamines in adrenergic neurons. The large number of events, occurring in a highly synchronized fashion, implies a wide variety of possible regulatory sites. Norepinephrine (NE) that is released into the synaptic cleft can act on presynaptic α-receptors to inhibit the release of additional NE. A further possible mechanism for regulating the release of NE from adrenergic nerves involves prostaglandins of the E type. These compounds are present in most mammalian tissues and an increased formation and release of prostaglandins has been observed in conjunction with increased nerve activity. Nerve growth factor is another substance that appears to be involved in regulating the synthesis of enzymes in adrenergic neurons. When it is administered to newborn rats, for example, it can cause a selective induction of TH and DBH. The increase in the activities of these enzymes is far greater than is that of other enzymes.
Rotating Leadership and Collaborative Innovation Recombination Processes in Symbiotic Relationships

Using a multiple-case, inductive study of eight technology collaborations between ten organizations in the global computing and communications industries between 2001 and 2006 this paper examines w...
Visualizing 3D vector fields with splatted streamlines

We present a novel technique called streamline splatting to visualize 3D vector fields interactively. This technique integrates streamline generation with the splatting method of volume rendering. The key idea is to create volumetric streamlines using geometric streamlines and a kernel footprint function. To optimize the rendering speed, we represent the volumetric streamlines in terms of a series of slices perpendicular to the principal viewing direction. Thus 3D volume rendering is achieved by blending all slice textures with support of graphics hardware. This approach allows the user to visualize 3D vector fields interactively such as by rotation and zooming on regular PCs. This new technique may lead to better understanding of complex structures in 3D vector fields.
Stability regions of large-scale systems

Using an aggregated comparison system, methods are developed for estimating regions of asymptotic stability for large-scale systems composed of interconnected, exponentially stable subsystems; in general, some of these subsystems are not globally stable. Three different forms of Liapunov functions are shown to be suitable for describing the stability behavior of the aggregated system, but one form in particular, heretofore not used in this context, is found to be the most natural. Using this function, some general results are obtained.
X-ray scaling relations of galaxy groups in a hydrodynamic cosmological simulation

We examine the scalings of X-ray luminosity, temperature, and dark matter or galaxy velocity dispersion for galaxy groups in a ΛCDM cosmological simulation, which incorporates gravity, gas dynamics, radiative cooling, and star formation, but no substantial nongravitational heating. In agreement with observations, the simulated LX-σ and LX-TX relations are steeper than those predicted by adiabatic simulations or self-similar models, with LX ∝ σ4.4 and LX ∝ T for massive groups and significantly steeper relations below a break at σ ≈ 180 km s-1 (TX ≈ 0.7 keV). The TX-σ relation is fairly close to the self-similar scaling relation, with TX ∝ σ1.75, provided that the velocity dispersion is estimated from the dark matter or from 10 galaxies. The entropy of hot gas in low-mass groups is higher than predicted by self-similar scaling or adiabatic simulations, and it agrees with observational data that suggest an "entropy floor." The steeper scalings of the luminosity relations are driven by radiative cooling, which reduces the hot (X-ray-emitting) gas fraction from 50% of the total baryons at σ ≈ 500 km s-1 to 20% at σ ≈ 100 km s-1. A secondary effect is that hot gas in smaller systems is less clumpy, further driving down LX. A smaller volume simulation with 8 times higher mass resolution predicts nearly identical X-ray luminosities at a given group mass, demonstrating the insensitivity of the predicted scaling relations to numerical resolution. The higher resolution simulation predicts higher hot gas fractions at a given group mass, and these predicted fractions are in excellent agreement with available observations. There remain some quantitative discrepancies: the predicted mass scale of the LX-TX and LX-σ breaks is somewhat too low, and the luminosity-weighted temperatures are too high at a given σ, probably because our simulated temperature profiles are flat or rising toward small radii, while observed profiles decline at r 0.2Rvir. We conclude that radiative cooling has an important quantitative impact on group X-ray properties and can account for many of the observed trends that have been interpreted as evidence for nongravitational heating. Improved simulations and observations are needed to understand the remaining discrepancies and to decide the relative importance of cooling and nongravitational heating in determining X-ray scalings.
Evaluation of polynomials with super-preconditioning

Abstract Certain questions concerning the arithmetic complexity of univariate polynomial evaluation are considered. The principal technical results show that there exist polynomials f , g , and h with h = fg , such that h requires substantially fewer arithmetic operations than either f or g . However, if the coefficients of f are algebraically independent, then any h = fg is as hard to evaluate as f . The question of the relative complexities of f and fg is viewed as a special case of the following question: given an operator Δ which maps polynomials to sets of polynomials, what savings in arithmetic operations is achievable by evaluating some polynomial h ϵ Δ ( f ) rather than f ? Observations and open questions concerning several operators are discussed.
IO and spatial information as Bayesian priors in an employment forecasting model

Interindustry input-output (IO) relationships were incorporated into a local labor market forecasting model for the Toledo, OH MSA by Magura (1990); he found that the use of the IO information as a Bayesian prior reduced forecast errors. LeSage and Magura (1991) found similar results using national labor market data. This paper likewise uses IO information as a Bayesian prior in forecasting employment in four industries in five states but also adds spatial information. The purpose of adding the spatial information is to determine if it further reduces forecast errors. Using a mixture of a spatial weight matrix similar to that proposed by LeSage (1993) in addition to the IO information, it is found that forecast errors are reduced beyond that achieved with only the IO information.
Video-Rate Stereo Matching Using Markov Random Field TRW-S Inference on a Hybrid CPU+FPGA Computing Platform

We demonstrate a video-rate stereo matching system implemented on a hybrid CPU+field-programmable gate array (FPGA) platform (Convey HC-1). Stereo matching is a fundamental problem of computer vision, and emerging applications, such as 3-D gesture recognition and automotive navigation, demand fast and high-quality stereo matching. Markov random field (MRF)-based approaches are widely used, but conventional software solvers are slow. Belief propagation (BP) solvers, which use patterns of local message passing on MRFs, have been studied in hardware, but their performance is unreliable. We show how a superior method, sequential tree-reweighted message passing (TRW-S), can be rendered in hardware. TRW-S has reliable convergence, guaranteed by its so-called sequential computation. Analysis reveals many opportunities for TRW-S hardware acceleration. Starting from the core architecture for streaming TRW-S, we describe the end-to-end system engineering for full video stereo matching. We partition the stereo matching procedure across the CPU and the FPGAs and apply frame level optimizations, such as message reuse based on scene change detection, frame level parallelization, and function level pipelining. The experimental results show that our system achieves a speed of 22.8 frames/s for a challenging QVGA video stereo matching task. We noticed that our system is significantly faster than several recent GPU/ASIC implementations of similar stereo inference methods based on BP.
More Peptides and Other Diverse Constituents of the Marine Mollusk Philinopsis speciosa

In addition to five new depsipeptides related to kulolide-1 (1), further examination of the mollusk Philinopsis speciosa has yielded a linear peptide, pupukeamide (14), and an unprecedented macrolide, tolytoxin-23-acetate (7). Chemical makeup suggested that the compounds originate from blue-green algae and are transmitted via herbivorous mollusks to P. speciosa. This could be verified by laboratory experiment. The structures were determined largely by spectroscopic techniques and the stereochemistry by hydrolysis of the peptides followed by chiral chromatography.
Periapical tooth root infections in llamas and alpacas

Abstract Head and neck abscesses are a common complaint in llamas and alpacas in North America representing 3% of clinical cases presented at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Ohio State University (OSU-VTH). Approximately 20% of infected teeth have infection of the pulp cavity most often associated with a patent infundibulum, approximately 60% have evidence of periodontal disease and compromised periodontal ligament, and 20% are of unknown cause. Differential diagnosis includes tooth root abscess, osteomyelitis, soft tissue abscess ( Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis ), foreign body, parotid duct lesion, facial bone fracture, retained food bolus, and malocclusion. The aim of this paper is to review available information and provide clinical observation on etiology, diagnosis, and treatment option for tooth root infection in llamas and alpacas.
Rate-based control schemes for ABR traffic—design principles and performance comparison

Abstract A new ATM service category, the Available Bit Rate service, has been introduced in the ATM Forum. It dynamically allocates available bandwidth to users by controlling the flow of user traffic with feedback. The Forum has ratified the rate-based flow control framework for the support of this new service. In this paper, we provide a recipe for designing rate-based feedback schemes demonstrating the rich variety of available switch mechanisms. Each aspect of the feedback control loop mechanism is explored in detail and several available choices are investigated. Two example switch mechanisms are provided that illustrate the rate-based control design principles. The ability of these mechanims to support the desired objectives of an ABR service is compared using a reference network configuration. Simulation results show that the rate-based framework allows a great degree of architectural flexibility in the design of switch mechanisms. However, the explicit rate based approach is more capable than single bit feedback approaches in providing immediate access to available bandwidth in the presence of VBR sources. The rate-based framework provides switch vendors sufficient flexibility to choose a mechanism among several available options, based on their performance requirements and cost budges.
Raman scattering as a probe of intermediate phases in glassy networks

Bulk glass formation occurs over a very small part of phase space, and ‘good’ glasses (which form even at low quench rates ∼10 K/sec) select an even smaller part of that accessible phase space. An axiomatic theory provides the physical basis of glass formation, and identifies these sweet spots of glass formation with existence of rigid but stress-free networks for which experimental evidence is rapidly emerging. Recently, theory and experiment have come together to show that these sweet spots of glass formation occur over a range of chemical compositions identified as ‘intermediate phases’ (IPs). These ranges appear to be controlled by elements of local and medium-range molecular structures that form isostatically rigid networks. IP glasses possess nonhysteretic glass transitions (Tg’s) that do not age much. Raman scattering has played a pivotal role in elucidating the molecular structure of glasses in general, and in identifying domains of IPs. Experiments reveal that these phases possess sharp phase boundaries and are characterized by an optical elasticity that varies with network mean coordination number, r, as power law. In this review, we provide examples in chalcogenide and oxide glass systems in which these phases along with optical elasticity power laws have been established. IP glasses represent self-organized nanostructured functional materials optimized by nature. Copyright  2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
New cobaltite materials containing CdI2-type layers: Synthesis and structures of Ba2Co4ClO7 and Ba2Co4BrO7

Abstract Single crystals of the title compounds were prepared by solid-solid reaction using BaCl2 or BaBr2 flux at 1100 °C. The structures of these two new cobaltites were solved and refined in the trigonal symmetry with space group R 3 ¯ m : a = 5.716(2) A, c = 45.01(3) A for Ba2Co4ClO7 and a = 5.7434(5) A, c = 46.151(9) A for Ba2Co4BrO7. The two compounds are isostructural and their structures can be considered as the intergrowth along [001] of hexagonal blocks (Ba2Co8O14)2− built from a close-packing of [O4] and [BaO3] layers with octahedral and tetrahedral cobalt, separated by fluorite-type double layers (Ba2Cl2)2+ or (Ba2Br2)2+. The main difference between Ba2Co4ClO7 and Ba2Co4BrO7 is due to the fluorite-type layers: (Ba2Cl2)2+ double layers are perfectly ordered while (Ba2Br2)2+ blocks are affected by a structural disorder through the bromine atoms.
Discrete wave packets upstream from the Earth and comets

Discrete wave packets are nearly monochromatic waves lasting several wave cycles which are frequently found on the leading edge of steepened low-frequency waves or shocklets upstream from the earth's bow shock. Similarly appearing waves are present at comet Giacobini-Zinner. To determine if these waves are the same as those observed at earth a detailed comparison of the properties of the two sets of waves is presented. The waves have very similar amplitudes, durations, and directions of propagation. Thus it is concluded that the source mechanism for the two phenomena must be the same, i.e., wave steepening.
Sterics versus Electronics: Regioselective Cross‐Coupling of Polybrominated Thiophenes

Methods for the regioselective cross-coupling of 2,3,5-tribromothiophene have been developed in which selective aryl–aryl coupling occurs at the 5-position with yields up to 63 %. The difference in reactivity of the α- and β-positions then allows sequential regioselective couplings first at the 2-position, followed by the 3-position. Such regioselective cross-coupling allows unprecedented control in the generation of trifunctionalized thiophenes. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008)
Joint evaluation of the directional accuracy of corporate executives’ forecasts

Although most research on directional analysis focused on either increase/decrease or acceleration/deceleration of variables of interest, we jointly evaluate the two-directional changes in the real GDP predicted by corporate executives. We applied an approach recently developed by Pesaran and Timmermann (2009) in addition to the tests extensively used in the literature. Besides determining that, the forecast is not useful in predicting an increase/decrease and acceleration/deceleration in real GDP, joint evaluation of the forecast illustrates the advantage of the new test. Further, we examine the two data vintages.