cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A role for CT in COVID-19? What data really tell us so far.

Author(s): Hope, Michael D; Raptis, Constantine A; Shah, Amar; Hammer, Mark M; Henry, Travis S; six signatories
Quantum time dilation: A new test of relativistic quantum theory

A novel quantum time dilation effect is shown to arise when a clock moves in a quantum superposition of two relativistic velocities. This effect is argued to be measurable using existing atomic interferometry techniques, potentially offering a new test of relativistic quantum theory.
Stigma in psychogenic nonepileptic seizures.

Abstract Objective There is scarce literature on stigma in families living with psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). Using a cohort of patients with epileptic seizures (ES) and their caregivers as controls, we aimed to quantify the level of patient and caregiver stigma in PNES and identify associations of patient and caregiver characteristics with it. Methods Patients with PNES and ES and their caregivers completed surveys about demographic, clinical, and psychosocial characteristics. Multivariate regression analysis was used to identify correlates of patient and caregiver stigma. Results Forty-three patients with PNES and 165 patients with ES were recruited. Compared with patients with ES, patients with PNES had shorter disease duration, higher seizure frequency, normal diagnostic data, poorer psychosocial health, and fewer antiseizure medications (ASMs). A total of 76.5% of patients with PNES and 59.5% of patients with ES felt stigmatized. Patient stigma level was higher in patients with PNES compared with those with ES, and it was negatively associated with patient quality of life (QOL). Additionally, 28 caregivers of patients with PNES and 99 caregivers of patients with ES were recruited. There were no significant demographic, caregiving, or psychosocial differences between the two caregiver cohorts. Seventy-two percent of caregivers of patients with PNES and 47% of caregivers of patients with ES felt stigmatized. Caregiver stigma level was also higher in caregivers of patients with PNES compared with caregivers of patients with ES, and it was negatively associated with patient QOL and positively associated with patient and caregiver anxiety. Conclusion Compared with those with ES, patients and caregivers living with PNES experience stigma more frequently and to a higher extent. Patient QOL emerges as a consistent correlate of that stigma.
Staphylococcus aureus ATP Synthase Promotes Biofilm Persistence by Influencing Innate Immunity

Staphylococcus aureus is a major cause of prosthetic joint infection (PJI), which is characterized by biofilm formation. S. aureus biofilm skews the host immune response toward an anti-inflammatory profile by the increased recruitment of myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) that attenuate macrophage proinflammatory activity, leading to chronic infection. A screen of the Nebraska Transposon Mutant Library identified several hits in the ATP synthase operon that elicited a heightened inflammatory response in macrophages and MDSCs, including atpA, which encodes the alpha subunit of ATP synthase. An atpA transposon mutant (ΔatpA) had altered growth kinetics under both planktonic and biofilm conditions, along with a diffuse biofilm architecture that was permissive for leukocyte infiltration, as observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Coculture of MDSCs and macrophages with ΔatpA biofilm elicited significant increases in the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin 12p70 (IL-12p70), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and IL-6. This was attributed to increased leukocyte survival resulting from less toxin and protease production by ΔatpA biofilm as determined by liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The enhanced inflammatory response elicited by ΔatpA biofilm was cell lysis-dependent since it was negated by polyanethole sodium sulfanate treatment or deletion of the major autolysin, Atl. In a mouse model of PJI, ΔatpA-infected mice had decreased MDSCs concomitant with increased monocyte/macrophage infiltrates and proinflammatory cytokine production, which resulted in biofilm clearance. These studies identify S. aureus ATP synthase as an important factor in influencing the immune response during biofilm-associated infection and bacterial persistence.IMPORTANCE Medical device-associated biofilm infections are a therapeutic challenge based on their antibiotic tolerance and ability to evade immune-mediated clearance. The virulence determinants responsible for bacterial biofilm to induce a maladaptive immune response remain largely unknown. This study identified a critical role for S. aureus ATP synthase in influencing the host immune response to biofilm infection. An S. aureus ATP synthase alpha subunit mutant (ΔatpA) elicited heightened proinflammatory cytokine production by leukocytes in vitro and in vivo, which coincided with improved biofilm clearance in a mouse model of prosthetic joint infection. The ability of S. aureus ΔatpA to augment host proinflammatory responses was cell lysis-dependent, as inhibition of bacterial lysis by polyanethole sodium sulfanate or a ΔatpAΔatl biofilm did not elicit heightened cytokine production. These studies reveal a critical role for AtpA in shaping the host immune response to S. aureus biofilm.
Treatment of Radial Longitudinal Deficiency: An International Survey.

Purpose The treatment of radial longitudinal deficiency (RLD) is highly variable without clear guidelines in the literature. The current study investigated variability among hand surgeons in treatment approaches for RLD patients with anomalies of the thumb and forearm. Methods An online survey was distributed to 105 self-identified North American pediatric hand surgeons and 23 international pediatric hand surgeons. The survey was developed after consideration of the controversies in RLD treatment. Variations in diagnostic approach, timing of treatment, surgical indications, and surgical techniques were presented in a 21-question survey. Results Seventy-four (57.8%) surgeons completed the survey. For type 2 hypoplastic thumb reconstruction, 81% of surgeons prefer the flexor digitorum superficialis transfer with others using the abductor digiti minimi transfer. Ninety-four percent and 100% of surgeons favored pollicization for type 3B and type 4 hypoplastic thumb, respectively. When performing pollicization, 88% of surgeons strive for tip-to-tip pinch, with 50% preferring 100° rotation and 38% greater than 120°, compared with 12% who preferred tip-to-side pinch. Nearly half of surgeons stated they would not recommend pollicization for a patient with a stiff index finger who utilizes ulnar prehension . Ninety percent of surgeons preferred observation for a type 1 radius. Type 2 treatment preferences were highly variable, the most common response being radius lengthening. For type 3/4 radius deficiency, surgeons were divided between soft tissue release with bilobed flap and centralization (42% and 36%, respectively). If radial deviation could not be passively corrected, 63% preferred an external fixator for soft tissue distraction before centralizing. Ulnar prehension functional pattern changed treatment for 45% of surgeons in type 3/4 radius. Conclusions This study provides information on areas of agreement and disagreement in the treatment of RLD. Specifically, there was consensus for treatment of types 3B and 4 thumbs and type 1 radius. Consensus was lacking for the amount of rotation in positioning of the pollicized digit, the role of pollicization with the stiff index finger, and also in the treatment of types 2, 3, or 4 radius. Clinical relevance This study provides a framework to establish treatment guidelines for thumb hypoplasia and RLD and has identified areas lacking consensus and that require additional study.
Physiological response to the odorant TMT in fully fed and calorically restricted laboratory mice.

2,3,5-trimethyl-3-thiazoline (TMT) is a chemical compound that is extracted from red fox urine and can be used to artificially simulate the presence of a predator. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that TMT would block entry into torpor in the calorically restricted C57Bl/6 mouse. We first demonstrated that TMT induced fear in the mouse. Exposure to TMT induced an acute freeze response (67.2 ± 6.7% of time), as compared to 6.7 ± 1.7% when exposed to water. Further, exposure to TMT for 30 min led to elevated circulating corticosterone levels, 377 ± 33 ng/ml, as compared to 29 ± 4 ng/ml when exposed to water. When mice were exposed to TMT during the dark or light phase, body temperature (Tb) dropped by 1.7 ± 0.9 °C and 0.7 ± 1.1 °C, respectively, over the first 110 min after exposure. To determine whether TMT influences daily torpor, mice were calorically restricted and exposed to either water or TMT. Mice were exposed 30 min before the start of torpor, determined by the bout of the previous day. Exposure to TMT significantly (p < 0.01) blunted the fall in the minimum Tb from 28.8 ± 0.3 °C (water) to 30.1 ± 0.6 °C (TMT) and significantly (p < 0.05) decreased the amount of time Tb was under 32 °C, from 431 ± 48 min (water) to 292 ± 78 min (TMT). These results establish that mice perceived the scent of TMT as a physiologically stressful stimulus and that Tb response is modestly blunted in the presence of that stressor. Our experiment highlights the intricate interplay between predation risk and energy conservation.
Medicaid and Child Health Equity.

Medicaid and Child Health Equity For children, no other insurer has equaled Medicaid’s comprehensive coverage and cost-sharing protections. But Medicaid also has important limitations, and the impe...
A Fiduciary Theory of Prosecution

Scholars have failed to arrive at a unifying theory of prosecution, one that explains the complex role that prosecutors play in our democratic system. This Article draws on a developing body of legal scholarship on fiduciary theory to offer a new paradigm that grounds prosecutors’ obligations in their historical role as fiduciaries. Casting prosecutors as fiduciaries clarifies the prosecutor’s obligation to seek justice, focuses attention on the duties of care and loyalty, and prioritizes criminal justice considerations over other public policy interests in prosecutorial charging and plea-bargaining decisions. As fiduciaries, prosecutors are required to engage in an explicit deliberative process for making these discretionary decisions. Finally, fiduciary theory offers some insight into prosecutorial regulation by clarifying that both accountability and independence are aimed at aligning prosecutors’ interest with that of the public. This, in turn, leads to the conclusion that proper regulation should aim to maximize both and helps identify when one might be more beneficial than the other.
Cost evaluation of integrating local HIV and housing data to facilitate service coordination in four demonstration sites

As part of the evaluation of a federal initiative to integrate HIV medical and housing data at four local jurisdictions in the U.S., we estimated the financial costs of implementing data integration occurring from June 2016 to August 2018. We collected data on labor, non-labor, and overhead expenses based on invoices and surveys of staff time, staff compensation, and non-labor expenses. Non-labor expenses were directly charged or allocated to the project using the number of full-time equivalents as the allocation basis. Reported indirect cost rates were used to estimate overhead expenses. Demonstration sites spent an average of $273,656 over the full 27-month period, with an average monthly spending of $10,010 in 2018 U.S. dollars. There was sizable variation in the data integration costs across sites, implementation phases, and data integration models. Findings may help policymakers and potential adopters of similar data integration efforts customize parameters for local conditions and estimate resources required.
Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is associated with improved survival in patients undergoing hepatic resection for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Abstract Background The impact of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) on overall and recurrence-free survival (OS, RFS) in resectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is poorly characterized. We sought to investigate the association of NAC with oncologic outcomes in ICC. Methods We identified n = 52 patients with ICC undergoing hepatectomy from 2004 to 2017. Oncologic outcomes were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier and multivariate Cox proportional hazard modeling. Results The median patient age was 64-years. NAC was administered in ten (19%) patients, most commonly with gemcitabine-cisplatin (n = 8, 80%). Median RFS and OS were 15 months. and 49 months, respectively. Controlling for stage and margins, NAC was independently associated with improved OS (HR 0.16, P = 0.01) but not RFS (HR 0.54, P = 0.27). NAC was not associated with major post-operative complications (P = 0.25) or R1 margins (P = 0.58). Conclusion NAC in ICC may hold oncologic benefits beyond downstaging borderline resectable disease, such as identifying patients with favorable biology who are more likely to benefit from resection.
Experiences of Asian Women Who Live in Urban Environments and Are Breast Cancer Survivors

IntroductionDespite expanding interest in cancer survivorship, little is known about urban Asian breast cancer survivors whose experience may differ from those in suburban and rural locations. This...
Ethical challenges for a new generation of early-phase pediatric gene therapy trials

After decades of setbacks, gene therapy (GT) is experiencing major breakthroughs. Five GTs have received US regulatory approval since 2017, and over 900 others are currently in development. Many of these GTs target rare pediatric diseases that are severely life-limiting, given a lack of effective treatments. As these GTs enter early-phase clinical trials, specific ethical challenges remain unresolved in three domains: evaluating risks and potential benefits, selecting participants fairly, and engaging with patient communities. Drawing on our experience as clinical investigators, basic scientists, and bioethicists involved in a first-in-human GT trial for an ultrarare pediatric disease, we analyze these ethical challenges and offer points to consider for future GT trials.
Open Domain Question Answering over Virtual Documents: A Unified Approach for Data and Text.

Due to its potential for a universal interface over both data and text, data-to-text generation is becoming increasingly popular recently. However, few previous work has focused on its application to downstream tasks, e.g. using the converted data for grounding or reasoning. In this work, we aim to bridge this gap and use the data-to-text method as a means for encoding structured knowledge for knowledge-intensive applications, i.e. open-domain question answering (QA). Specifically, we propose a verbalizer-retriever-reader framework for open-domain QA over data and text where verbalized tables from Wikipedia and triples from Wikidata are used as augmented knowledge sources. We show that our Unified Data and Text QA, UDT-QA, can effectively benefit from the expanded knowledge index, leading to large gains over text-only baselines. Notably, our approach sets the single-model state-of-the-art on Natural Questions. Furthermore, our analyses indicate that verbalized knowledge is preferred for answer reasoning for both adapted and hot-swap settings.
PML is essential for multiple apoptotic pathways.

The PML gene of acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL) encodes a cell growth and tumour suppressor, however, the mechanisms by which PML suppresses tumorigenesis are poorly understood. We show here that Pml is required for Fas- and caspase-dependent DNA-damage–induced apoptosis. We also found that Pml is essential for induction of programmed cell death by Fas, tumour necrosis factor α (TNF), ceramide and type I and II interferons (IFNs). As a result, Pml –/– mice and cells are protected from the lethal effects of ionizing radiation and anti-Fas antibody. Pml is required for caspase 1 and caspase 3 activation upon exposure to these stimuli. The PML-RARα fusion protein of APL renders haemopoietic progenitor cells resistant to Fas-, TNF- and IFN-induced apoptosis with a lack of caspase 3 activation, thus acting as a Pml dominant-negative product. These results demonstrate that Pml is a mediator of multiple apoptotic signals, and implicate inhibition of apoptosis in the pathogenesis of APL.
Homotopy groups of K-contact toric manifolds

Contact toric manifolds of Reeb type are a subclass of contact toric manifolds which have the property that they are classified by the images of the associated moment maps. We compute their first and second homotopy group terms of the images of the moment map. We also explain why they are K-contact.
The Modern Law Dean: The Rainmaker

The law deanship involves the ability to play many roles. It is the thesis of this article, however, that one role is beginning to overshadow the others. We have entered an era where more and more law deans are first and foremost public envoys, professional fundraisers, and alumni boosters. I call this law dean “the rainmaker”. Of course law deans have always been rainmakers to some extent, especially in the private schools. But today, the external role is becoming paramount throughout legal academia. This enlarged external role forces a reallocation of the dean’s time and energies. The rainmaker law dean often spends more than half of her time on rainmaking activities. This essay considers the implications of the rise of the rainmaker law dean for universities, colleges, faculties, students, and for deans themselves.
Chinese Gardens: The Relation of Man to Nature in Seventeenth-Century French Culture

Taoism has for centuries inspired the spirit of poets, painters, garden designers, and tapestry, screen and porcelain makers. There is a close relationship of aesthetic theories, philosophy and cultural achievements in both garden design and landscape painting. The main intent of this inquiry is to seek a fresh approach to the main features of the Tao, the Chinese Way of life and creativity, and to relate these aspects to the landscape gardens in visions of poets, painters and musicians of seventeenth-century France.
Beccaria's 'On Crimes and Punishments': A Mirror on the History of the Foundations of Modern Criminal Law

Beccaria’s treatise "On Crimes and Punishments" (1764) has become a placeholder for the classical school of thought in criminology, for deterrence-based public policy, for death penalty abolitionism, and for liberal ideals of legality and the rule of law. A source of inspiration for Bentham and Blackstone, an object of praise for Voltaire and the Philosophies, a target of pointed critiques by Kant and Hegel, the subject of a genealogy by Foucault, the object of derision by the Physiocrats, rehabilitated and appropriated by the Chicago School of law and economics — these ricochets and reflections on Beccaria’s treatise reveal multiple dimensions of Beccaria’s work and provide an outline of a history of the foundations of modern criminal law. In becoming a classic text that has been so widely and varyingly cited, though perhaps little read today, "On Crimes and Punishments" may be used as a mirror on the key projects over the past two centuries and a half in the domain of penal law and punishment theory — and this essay hopes to contribute, in a small way, to such an endeavor. In the end, we may learn as much about those who have appropriated and used Beccaria than we would about Beccaria himself — perhaps more.
The Place of Rawls in Political and Ethical Theory

The work of John Rawls is central to contemporary political philosophy. A Theory of Justice provides a model for the justification of substantive principles of justice, and it defends principles that reject utilitarianism. Ultimately, justification is a matter of what the participants in a relationship or an institution can justify to one another. Unlike utilitarianism, which assumes that there is one good that it is the job of morality to maximize, Rawls holds that there are multiple conceptions of the good associated with different individuals. Furthermore, he holds that there are multiple principles of morality associated with different relationships and institutions. His principles of justice are designed for one of these—the basic structure of society. They establish a moral minimum that all members of a society owe to one another, but additional principles are required to govern other special relationships.
Shift-invariant denoising using wavelet-domain hidden Markov trees

Wavelet-domain hidden Markov models have proven to be useful tools for statistical signal and image processing. The hidden Markov tree (HMT) model captures the key features of the joint statistics of the wavelet coefficients of real-world data. One potential drawback to the HMT framework is the need for computationally expensive iterative training (using the EM algorithm, for example). We use an image structure not yet recognized by the HMT to show that the HMT parameters of real-world, grayscale images have a certain form. This leads to a description of the HMT model with just nine meta-parameters (independent of the size of the image and the number of wavelet scales). We also observe that these nine meta-parameters are similar for many images. This leads to a universal HMT (uHMT) model for grayscale images. Algorithms using the uHMT require no training of any kind. While simple, a series of image estimation/denoising experiments show that the uHMT retains nearly all of the key structures modeled by the full HMT. Based on the uHMT model, we develop a shift-invariant wavelet denoising scheme that outperforms all algorithms in the current literature.
Old and poor: Policy challenges in the 1990s

Despite an overall decline in the rate of poverty among elderly people in recent decades, certain subgroups of the elderly still suffer from high poverty rates. These include elders living alone, minorities, the very old, and widows. The gap between these vulnerable subgroups and more affluent elders is expected to grow in the decades to come. The most important tool available to policymakers seeking to reduce elderly poverty is the SSI program. An increase in benefit levels is recommended as well as a vigorous outreach program, because about half of elders apparently eligible are not participants. A second important tool is Medicaid. As of 1984, only 29% of poor elders, and 8% of near-poor elders, received Medicaid coverage to fill gaps in Medicare. Remedial measures are outlined. Altogether, at an estimated annual cost of only $5 billion, the United States could eliminated elderly poverty and assure that no elderly person is driven into poverty by burdensome medical expenses.
DO OUTSIDE DIRECTORS FACE LABOR MARKET CONSEQUENCES? A NATURAL EXPERIMENT FROM THE FINANCIAL CRISIS

The exogenous shock of the financial crisis made shareholders and regulators particularly attuned to financial firm performance. We thus use the financial crisis as a natural experiment to study labor market consequences for outside directors at banks and other financial companies. Examining 6,507 director years at bank and financial companies over the period from 2006 to 2010 we find that outside director turnover at financial firms is negatively correlated to lagged variables for stock returns. However, the increased chance of being replaced for poor performance is only 0.99% for a one standard deviation change in performance compared to 0.59% at non-financial firms, in either case an arguably trivial amount. We also find limited evidence of salience with respect to the financial crisis. We draw on these empirical findings to assess current board-centered responses to the financial crisis and their failings.
Enzyme Analysis to Determine Glucose Content

Enzyme analysis is used for many purposes in food science and technology. Enzyme activity is used to indicate adequate processing, to assess enzyme preparations, and to measure constituents of foods that are enzyme substrates. In this experiment, the glucose content of corn syrup solids is determined using the enzymes, glucose oxidase and peroxidase. Glucose oxidase catalyzes the oxidation of glucose to form hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), which then reacts with a dye in the presence of peroxidase to give a stable colored product.
7 – WORK AND HEAT

This chapter describes the circumstances under which heat can be converted into work. The reverse—that is, the conversion of work into heat can always be accomplished with 100% efficiency. If the process is carried out isothermally, the system that accomplishes the conversion remains unchanged at the end of the process. The process can therefore be continued indefinitely. The situation is quite different when heat is converted into work. This is another manifestation of the special nature of heat as a form of energy exchange. Although it is possible to convert heat into work completely, at the end of such a process the state of the system is changed. To continue the process of converting heat into work it is necessary to arrange a cyclic process in which the system is restored to its original state at the completion of each cycle. This requires the sacrifice of a portion of the heat. As a result, such a conversion never proceeds with 100% efficiency even if the conversion were carried out reversibly. It thus becomes necessary to establish the conditions under which the maximum amount of work can be extracted from a given process.
Dynamic Stochastic Model for Converging Inbound Air Traffic

Weather accounts for the majority of congestion in the National Airspace System, which highlights the importance of addressing weather uncertainty to mitigate delays. First, this paper presents a new dynamic stochastic integer programming model that studies the single-airport ground-holding problem with respect to uncertainty in the separation between flights instead of airport acceptance rate. The current model is able to provide a more accurate schedule expressed in minutes for the individual flight. Second, a converging inbound air traffic model is formulated based on the current model. This paper addresses a problem involving the merging of two inbound streams into a single airport in which uncertainty in separation from minutes-in-trail restrictions is considered. Although the “first-come/first-served” policy is still obeyed by flights on the same path, the experimentation has shown that allowing flights on different paths to switch arrival orders can help reduce the total delays. Finally, in order t...
Using time-dependent rate equations to describe chirped pulse excitation in condensed phases

Abstract A time-dependent rate equation formalism is developed to describe high-intensity excitation of molecules in condensed phases using broadband laser pulses. When electronic and vibrational dephasing rates are fast relative to the pulse dynamics, the generalized optical Bloch equations can be written as a set of coupled rate equations with coefficients that depend on the time-dependent overlap of the pulse spectrum with the molecular lineshape. These rate equations are shown to reproduce qualitatively the effects observed experimentally in recent quantum control experiments using high-intensity, chirped femtosecond pulsed excitation.
Uptake and metabolism of 3′,5′-cyclic adenosine monophosphate and N6,O2′-dibutyryl 3′,5′-cyclic adenosine monophosphate in isolated bovine thyroid cells

Abstract 1. 1. Accumulation of intracellular radioactivity was measured during incubation of isolated bovine thyroid cells with cyclic [ 32 P]AMP, cyclic [8- 3 H]AMP and dibutyryl cyclic [8- 3 H]AMP. With cyclic [ 32 P]AMP, 32 P cell/medium ratios ranged from 0 to to 0.04 compared to a maximum 3 H cell/medium ratio of 0.29 with cyclic [ 3 H]AMP and 0.16 with dibutyryl cyclic [ 3 H]AMP. The excess of intracellular cyclic [ 3 H] over cyclic [ 32 P]AMP radioactivity was due to extracellular formation of more penetrable dephosphorylated cyclic AMP metabolites which probably served as precursor of intra-cellular cyclic AMP. 2. 2. Less than 10% of intracellular cyclic [ 32 P] of cyclic [ 3 H]AMP survived enzymatic degradation whereas only one-half of intracellular dibutyryl cyclic [ 3 H]AMP was degraded during a 60-min incubation. Nonetheless, these data indicate that incubation of cells with 3 mM cyclic AMP would result in intracellular cyclic AMP levels considerably higher than those measured in thyrotrophin-stimulated cells. 3. 3. Conclusions: (a) the ability of dibutyryl cyclic AMP to simulate TSH effects on thyroid in vitro , and the inability of cyclic AMP to do so do not appear to be due to the greater accumulation of the substituted nucleotide inside the cell, (b) although susceptibility of cyclic AMP to intracellular enzymic hydrolysis may account for its biological ineffectiveness, intracellular cyclic AMP levels achieved in the presence of exogenous cyclic AMP are of sufficient magnitude to warrant other considerations, and, (c) effects of dibutyryl cyclic AMP on thyroid in vitro may be due predominantly to the substituted nucleotide itself or to N 6 -monobutyryl cyclic AMP rather than to cyclic AMP formed by deacylation.
Determination of lattice coherency by X-ray synergetic techniques in InGaPAs/InP heterostructures

Abstract InGaPAs/InP heterostructures grown by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) were systematically examined. The coherency state of the interface was assessed by comparison of normal and parallel lattice parameters and by X-ray topography. Based on these results, the metastable limit of critical thickness was computed. Dependence of X-ray full-width at half maximum (FWHM) on the lattice mismatch and on the tetragonality of the epilayer was observed. These results demonstrate that the coherency state of the hetero-interface is of primary importance in influencing the crystal quality of the InGaPAs active layer.
The protonic structure of methane, ammonia, water, and hydrogen fluoride

Abstract Schrodinger's time independent equation was solved approximately using the variational theorem for methane, ammonia, water, and hydrogen fluoride with the kinetic energy operators of the protons included in the Hamiltonian and the electrons and protons described by Slater orbitals. One minimal basis configuration was used for the electrons and twelve, twenty, six and one configurations were used for methane, ammonia, water, and hydrogen fluoride respectively. The kinetic energies of the protons were found to be about three per cent of the bond energies. The calculations yielded protonic spectra similar to the electronic spectra.
A review of carbon and nitrogen balances in switchgrass grown for energy

Abstract Increased atmospheric CO2, caused partly by burning fossil fuels, is assumed to elevate the risk of global warming, while nitrate contamination of surface runoff and groundwater from fertilizer and agricultural wastes constitutes a serious environmental hazard on a regional scale. Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) grown as an energy crop could reduce atmospheric CO2 accumulation by replacing fossil fuels and sequestering C. It could also improve soil productivity by C sequestration, and reduce NO−13 contamination of water by absorbing N lost from fertilizer and agricultural waste if planted in filter strips on adjacent land. The objective of this study was to assess potential impacts of switchgrass on C and N balances by reviewing and synthesizing information from current literature, unpublished data and on-going research. Replacing fossil fuels with switchgrass, or any other biomass, will have a much greater effect on atmospheric CO2 than C sequestration. This is because replacing fossil fuels provides a cumulative effect, while C sequestration offers only a one-time benefit. Furthermore, switchgrass will provide net gains in C sequestration only if it replaces annual row crops, but not if it replaces grazed pasture. Nitrogen recovery by switchgrass in an Alabama study was 65.6%, which compares favorably with the 50% recovery frequently quoted as the norm for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and corn (Zea mays L).
Interferon α activates the tyrosine kinase Lyn in haemopoietic cells

We investigated whether the src-family tyrosine kinase Lyn is involved in the generation of interferon α (IFNα) signals in haemopoietic cells. In vitro kinase assays using IFNα-sensitive cells of B-cell origin demonstrated the presence of IFNα-dependent kinase activity in anti-Lyn immunoprecipitates. Further studies demonstrated that Lyn associates via its src homology 2 (SH2) domain with the Janus family tyrosine kinase Tyk-2. This interaction was IFNα-dependent and involved direct binding of the SH2 domain of Lyn to the IFNα-activated form of Tyk-2. Thus, during binding of IFNα to its receptor in malignant haemopoietic cells, Lyn is engaged in an IFNα-signalling pathway, probably downstream of Tyk-2.
Editorial: New Associate Editors Introduction

IT is my pleasure to introduce and welcome three new members of the Editorial Board, Antonia Bertolino, Ross Jeffery, and Patrick McDaniel. Dr. Bertolino will assist us in the areas of software testing and software dependability, as well as other nonfunctional properties, Professor Jeffery in the areas of software engineering process and product modeling and improvement, and in software quality, metrics, and management, and Professor McDaniel in various aspects of software security, such as in network and systems, programming languages, telecommunications, digital rights, and policies. The brief biographies of these new AEs can be found below. I look forward to working with our new AEs. I would also like to thank the following people who have retired from the Editorial Board so far this year: Tom Ball, Bill Frakes, Pankaj Jalote, Robyn Lutz, and Avi Rubin. These colleagues have voluntarily given their time and effort to the task of paper management and peer review, helping to maintain the reputation of the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering as a fi rst-class journal. I am very grateful for their support. Finally, I would like to use this opportunity to give you news of some changes at TSE. It has been decided that, beginning in January 2008, TSE should go from 12 monthly issues per year to 6 bimonthly issues. The result will be fewer but healthier issues with more papers and content per issue, which will be easier for the IEEE CS to produce and which will help us to reduce our costs. Bimonthly issues will not penalize authors: We already have electronic publication (Rapid Posting) on acceptance and the maximum increase in paper publication delay will be a month. Readers will also not suffer as all subscriptions include both online access and printed copies of the journal. Although this will mean fewer issues per year, the intention is not to reduce the content. On the contrary, TSE has the capacity to publish more papers of the required quality. Despite receiving around one paper submission every day, we continue to provide rigorous review and relatively fast turnaround, with average times from submission to fi rst decision of 4 months and to publication of around 13 months. I encourage all authors in the software engineering fi eld to submit their best work to TSE.
Further evidence that a mouse chromosome 4 locus influences cerebellar folial pattern.

Abstract The cerebellar folial pattern of mice displays marks variation amomng inbred strains. Previous studies of progeny of crosses of C57BL/6 mice with DBA/2J and BALB/cByJ mice indicated a multifactorial mode of inheritance in both cases. The cross with DBA/2J led to the mapping, to Chromosome 4, of a locus ( Cfp -1) that influences the frequency of the intraculminate fissure. Here we report that Cfp -1) influences the frequency of the declival sulcus and appears to influence the frequency of the intraculmiate and precentral fissures, in F 2 hybrid offspring from crosses of C57BL/6J and BALB/cByJ mice.
The Effects of University Patenting and Licensing on Downstream R&D Investment and Social Welfare

A central argument behind the Bayh-Dole Act presumed that firms had no incentives to invest in downstream R&D aimed at developing university inventions committed to the public domain. The empirical evidence on university patenting and licensing is partly at odds with the premises of this argument. Non-exclusive licensing of university patents has been common and lucrative, and in the area of biomedical technologies university patents and licensing restrictions may be a hindrance to downstream R&D, rather than a stimulus. The paper presents a model of R&D competition based on a university invention where appropriability conditions are defined by the patentability of downstream innovations and imitation opportunities. A comparison of equilibria under “open access” to university inventions and under “university patenting” shows that only under restrictive conditions the latter regime results in increased R&D investment and social welfare. In general, university licensing royalties are therefore a poor gauge of social welfare gains from university patenting.
Friction characteristics and wear resistance of carbon-coated glass-based rigid magnetic disks

Abstract Thin film magnetic recording disks each comprising a glass substrate, cobalt-nickel magnetic medium and a carbon overcoat were tested using an environment controlled pin-on-disk type tester. The heads used were thin film heads with a ceramic slider made of 70% aluminum oxide and 30% titanium carbide. It was found that at a load of 100 mN the friction coefficient between the carbon overcoat and the head increased significantly with the sliding distnace travelled, the peak value being in the range 1.4–1.9; when a relatively light load (10 mN) was used, the friction coefficient varied much less. The mechanism of friction build-up was investigated and it was found that carbon debris adhering to the slider rail surfaces was responsible for the increase in friction. With the lighter load, the wear of the carbon overcoat was in the burnishing regime and debris did not form. High speed tests using a pin-on-disk apparatus showed that glass-based thin film disks are more wear resistant than aluminum-based ones, and thin film disks are considerably more wear resistant than oxide disks.
High-Q MEMS-tunable W-band bandstop resonators

High quality factor W band MEMS-tunable evanescent-mode bandstop resonators are presented for the first time. The precision, tolerances, and small feature capability of silicon microfabrication techniques enable these resonators to be the highest frequency tunable evanescent-mode cavities shown to date. Their MEMS tuning technology requires very low power to operate, and the entire resonator-tuner structure is made of silicon to enable compatibility with integrated circuit manufacturing processes. A measured tuning range of 75.8 GHz to 82.3 GHz with quality factors of 414 to 448 were observed with a tuning voltage of 70 Volts. Such resonators will be important for tunable W band filters as lower frequencies become saturated and W band applications become more common.
Belief superiority in the environmental domain: Attitude extremity and reactions to fracking

This study examined belief superiority—the belief that one's own beliefs are more correct than other viewpoints—in the domain of environmental and energy issues. Replicating research in other domains, attitude extremity on seven energy issues was associated with belief superiority about those viewpoints. Consequences of belief superiority were also tested: participants read an article that either confirmed or contradicted their position on hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”). People high in belief superiority rated the article's author more harshly when he disagreed with them. However, these participants were also more willing than those low in belief superiority to discuss and work on fracking topics. Those high in belief superiority thought they were better educated about energy than others, and their certainty about their beliefs tended to increase after reading the article, even when the article contradicted those beliefs. Implications of belief superiority for energy education and environmental campaigns are discussed.
The fluency of spoilers: Why giving away endings improves stories

Spoilers, despite their name, seem to increase enjoyment of stories. This could be because readers enjoy reading expected endings, because knowing the ending allows them to appreciate aesthetic elements instead of guessing what will happen, or because knowing the ending increases fluency by enabling readers to correctly interpret clues and events. We conducted three experiments to test these hypotheses. Experiment 1 collected ratings at the midpoints of anthologized stories, and determined that readers experience greater pleasure even before reading the end of spoiled stories. This spoiler benefit was mediated by processing fluency, and not by appreciation of aesthetic elements. Experiment 2 found that spoilers similar to those in Experiment 1 do not increase ease of reading — or pleasure — for very-easy-to-read stories. Experiment 3 found, however, that very simple spoilers could increase the pleasure of easy-to-read stories.
Microwave Hall effect in a quasi-one-dimensional system: Tetrathiafulvalenium-tetracyanoquinodimethanide (TTF-TCNQ)

We have measured the Hall mobility at room temperature in three samples of tetrathiafulvalenium-tetracyanoquinodimethanide (TTF-TCNQ), using a Faraday-rotation technique at 9.3 GHz, with the magnetic field normal to the $a\ensuremath{-}b$ plane of the crystals. The Hall mobility, expressed as the drift mobility in the $a$ direction multiplied by an enhancement factor $\ensuremath{\eta}$, is observed to be positive, and $\ensuremath{\eta}$ is measured to be between 5 and 10. We compute this enhancement for a model in which transport across chains is diffusive, while transport along chains is metallic; we adopt a triangular lattice as a model. The phase interference in the presence of a magnetic field arises from two competing processes for charge transfer and leads to a further enhancement of the Hall mobility. The sign of the Hall mobility is interpreted as indicating that the carriers in the TCNQ chain relax more rapidly. Microwave measurements on the conductivity along both the $a$ and $b$ axes are also reported.
An empirical analysis of overshoot duration times in a stationary gaussian process

This paper presents an empirical study of the overshoot duration times in a stationary Gausslan process with an exponential autocorrelation function R J = exp −β|J|. A gamma distribution is presented as a statistical model describing duration time frequencies. The analysis resulting in a predicted mean and variance of duration times as a function of β and the crossing level A is described. Results for selected A and β values are presented.
Table of Percentage Points of Kolmogorov Statistics

Abstract A simple method for testing the probability that a set of numbers is a sample from a known distribution consists of comparing the empirical cumulative distribution function of the sample, S n (x), with the known cumulative distribution function F(x). Both D n = maximum {S n (x) – F{x)} and D n * = maximum | S n (x) – F(x) | are random variables, independent of the special form of F(x), if F(x) is continuous. This paper contains more extensive tables of the percentage points in the distributions of D n and D n * than have been published previously. These values are obtained by empirical modification of a known asymptotic formula. * This study was supported in part by funds granted to Ohio State University by the Research Foundation for aid in fundamental research. The author acknowledges the assistance of Nelson Prentiss, Vincent Donato, Milton Glanz, and Richard Thomas in carrying out numerical computations.
Solving minimum-cost flow problems by successive approximation

We introduce a framework for solving minimum-cost flow problems. Our approach measures the quality of a solution by the amount that the complementary slackness conditions are violated. We show how to extend techniques developed for the maximum flow problem to improve the quality of a solution. This framework allows us to achieve O(min(n3, n5/3 m2/3, nm log n) log (nC)) running time.
A stable manifold theorem for the curve shortening equation

On presente une famille de solutions homothetiques de l'equation pour une courbe planaire ∂X/∂τ=KN et on demontre l'existence de varietes non lineaires stables et instables autour de telles solutions
Modeling signal transduction in normal and cancer cells using complex adaptive systems

As a first approximation, organisms can be defined by the complement of cell types that they possess. Each cell type is defined by its specific collection of signal transduction pathways. While many pathways are common to most cell types (e.g. glycolysis), others are specific to a particular cell type and serve to characterized that cell. Many diseases, including cancer, are characterized by aberrations in general and specific signal-transduction pathways. These pathways are generally intricate and not easily modeled. The formalism of complex adaptive system theory, however, provides the tools by which these pathways can be investigated. By modeling signal-transduction pathways from the viewpoint of complex adaptive systems, a deeper understanding of their intricacies may result. This could eventually lead to novel methods of therapeutic intervention in diseases that arise from aberrant signal transduction.
Experimental investigation of a cornstalk wick heat pipe

Abstract This paper describes a heat pipe constructed with cornstalks as a wick material in an aluminum tube tested in a temperature range of 22 to 62C. It used water as the fluid for heat transfer operating in a vacuum state. The heat transferred was computed based on the measurement of parameters of the heat pipe.
The antileishmanial activity of isoforms 6- and 8-selective histone deacetylase inhibitors

Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) pleiotropy is largely due to their nonselective inhibition of various cellular HDAC isoforms. Connecting inhibition of a specific isoform to biological responses and/or phenotypes is essential toward deconvoluting HDACi pleiotropy. The contribution of classes I and II HDACs to the antileishmanial activity of HDACi was investigated using the amastigote and promastigote forms of Leishmania donovani. We observed that the antileishmanial activities of HDACi are largely due to the inhibition of HDAC6-like activity. This observation could facilitate the development of HDACi as antileishmanial agents.
Active antenna performance limitation

Many amplifier designs have been proposed for use with electrically small antennas in receiving applications. A study of pertinent noise figure and available power gain equations shows that performance is strongly influenced by antenna resistance. Low values of antenna resistance limit noise performance, and a study of antenna Q shows that only a limited increase in resistance can occur.
High-frequency magnetic servo amplifier for air-borne control systems

THE ADVANTAGES of operating magnetic amplifiers at frequencies higher than the usual 60 and 400 cycles per second (cps) are improved transient response and reduced size and weight. These advantages are very important in the application of magnetic amplifiers to air-borne control systems. This paper presents results of the development of a high-frequency 4,700-cps magnetic servo amplifier used to drive a 400-cps servo motor for military aircraft applications.