cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Residual risk of liver disease after hepatitis C virus eradication

Summary Treatment of hepatitis C with direct-acting antivirals is safe and highly efficacious, resulting in viral clearance (sustained virological response [SVR]) in the vast majority of patients. Although SVR is mostly permanent and associated with a significant reduction of liver morbidity and mortality, some patients may still suffer from a major risk of progressive liver damage, potentially leading to severe complications – including liver decompensation, hepatocellular carcinoma and death. This concise review discusses some of the most important features of residual liver disease in patients with chronic hepatitis C who have achieved SVR after antiviral therapy.
Clear cell histology portends a worse prognosis than other WHO grade II histologies

Clear cell meningioma (CCM) is a rare WHO grade II meningioma variant, characterized by aggressive features and a high tumor recurrence rate. In this study, we compared overall and progression-free survivals between CCMs and other WHO grade II meningiomas. A retrospective institutional database review was performed to identify all patients who underwent surgical resection of a WHO grade II meningioma between 1997 and 2019. Overall survival and progression-free survival were compared between patients with clear cell meningiomas and patients with other WHO grade II meningiomas. Multivariable Cox proportional-hazards analysis was used to identify independent predictors of tumor recurrence and survival. We included a total of 214 patients in this study (43 CCMs, 171 other WHO grade II meningiomas). Patients with CCMs had significantly shorter progression-free (p = 0.001) and overall (p = 0.026) survivals than patients with other grade II meningiomas. In multivariable analysis, clear cell histology was a significant and powerful independent predictor of tumor recurrence (HR 1.93; 95% CI 1.14–3.26) when controlling for tumor location, extent of resection, and adjuvant radiation. In multivariable analysis, clear cell histology correlated with increased mortality (HR 1.96, 95% CI 0.97–3.94), though this was not statistically significant. This is the first study to compare overall and progression-free survivals between CCMs and other WHO grade II meningiomas. Clear cell histology predicts a higher risk of tumor recurrence and mortality than other grade II histologies. Future studies may help to understand the impact of these findings and the treatment implications.
Time-Varying Realization for Arbritary Functions

Abstract We solve an extension of the inverse problem: Given a function, x, which differential equation does it solve. This extends the well known solution for Bohl functions, where an LTI-ODE is the solution. We first show that for functions analytic in an open interval, a regular time-variant differential polynomial annihilates the given function. Its order is determined by the highest multiplicity of a real zero of the given function. This is then extended to a class of functions that are real-analytic in ℝ, and further to a class of meromorphic functions, but without real poles. The solution is based on the theory of entire functions, for which essential notions are summarized. Applications in reduced-modeling and computer algebra are mentioned.
COVID-19 related olfactory dysfunction prevalence and natural history in ambulatory patients.

Background: Evidence regarding prevalence of COVID-19 related Olfactory dysfunction (OD) among ambulatory patients is highly variable due to heterogeneity in study population and measurement methods. Relatively few studies have longitudinally investigated OD in ambulatory patients with objective methods. Methods: We performed a longitudinal study to investigate OD among COVID-19 ambulatory patients compared to symptomatic controls who test negative. Out of 81 patients enrolled, 45 COVID-19 positive patients and an age- and sex-matched symptomatic control group completed the BSIT and a questionnaire about smell, taste and nasal symptoms. These were repeated at 1 month for all COVID-19 positive patients, and again at 3 months for those who exhibited persistent OD. Analysis was performed by mixed-effects linear and logistic regression. Results: 46.7% of COVID-19 patients compared to 3.8% of symptomatic controls exhibited OD at 1-week post diagnosis (p<0.001). At 1 month, 16.7%, (6 of 36), of COVID-19 patients had persistent OD. Mean improvement in BSIT score in COVID-19 patients between 1-week BSIT and 1 month follow-up was 2.0 (95% CI 1.00 - 3.00, p<0.001). OD did not correlate with nasal congestion (r= -0.25, 95% CI, -0.52 to 0.06, p=0.12). Conclusions: Ambulatory COVID-19 patients exhibited OD significantly more frequently than symptomatic controls. Most patients regained normal olfaction by 1 month. The BSIT is a simple validated and objective test to investigate the prevalence of OD in ambulatory patients. OD did not correlate with nasal congestion which suggests a congestion-independent mechanism of OD.
A methodology to characterize USB3 IO link signal margin variation in high volume manufacturing

High-speed IO performance verification is challenging due to system variations across high volume manufacturing. This paper presents a methodology to quantify variations caused by several IO subcomponents including transmitter, receiver, channel, test repeatability and concurrency effects. A tablet USB3 design was used as an example to illustrate the method.
Executive Education is an Implementation of Supply Chain Management in Collegiate Schools of Business

Supply chain management involves the integration of business processes among the functions within a firm as well as between a company and its customers and suppliers to improve performance. We argue that executive education, like supply chain management, can serve as an integrator not only among departments—both academic and nonacademic—within a business school but also across the university. More urgently needed, executive education can serve as an integrator between the scholarly research function of a collegiate school of business and the practice of management and business. We call for contributions on these topics in the form of Forward Thinking submissions, original research manuscripts, and proposals for both Thought Leadership series and Special Topics forums.
Introducing Language Typology: Explaining crosslinguistic preferences

Chapter outline The concept of explanation is illustrated by explaining the structure of an English sentence. The three-step process is then applied to the explanation of crosslinguistically recurrent patterns. The postscript adds a few general comments about the study of language typology. Introduction Why are crosslinguistically recurrent patterns the way they are? In the preceding chapters, a few explanatory comments have already been made about some of them. The genesis of articles was explained by the general process of grammaticalization (Chapter 6, Section 6.2.1). The distribution of resumptive pronouns in relative clauses was accounted for by reference to the varying degrees of difficulty of relative clause constructions, which in turn stem from processing problems (Chapter 6, Section 6.3.2.2 and 6.4.1, Chapter 3, Section 3.2.1.1). The preference for homorganic consonant clusters was explained by auditory similarity among nasal consonants (Chapter 5, Section 5.2.1). The reason for the predominance of suffixing over prefixing was given by the history of affixation and by processing preferences (Chapter 4, Section 4.3). The predominance of the accusative and ergative alignment patterns over the other logical possibilities was explained by the need for clarity and economy (Chapter 3, Section 3.2.2.2). The crosslinguistic frequency of certain color terms was causally linked to cultural factors (Chapter 2, Section 2.5.2). And markedness was invoked for explaining a variety of patterns, such as asymmetries in body-part terms, kinship terminology, personal pronouns, number words, and antonymic adjectives (Chapter 2, Section 2.2–2.5), the distribution of zero forms (Chapter 4, Section 4.2.2.2), and some phonological patterns (Chapter 5, Section 5.3).
Seismic wavespeed images across the Iapetus and Tornquist suture zones

[1] Closures of the Iapetus Ocean and the Tornquist Sea lead to the collision of the paleocontinents of Laurentia, Baltica and Eastern Avalonia during the Caledonian orogeny. It has been speculated that relicts of these two closures may be preserved within the crust or upper mantle. Over the past decades, numerous wide-angle seismic profiles were gathered in northwestern Europe to search for related subsurface features. Although active source studies revealed detailed crustal structures across the Iapetus and Tornquist suture zones, there are relatively few clear three-dimensional upper mantle images beneath this region. We use a new European crust and upper mantle model, EU30, determined based on continental scale, nonlinear adjoint tomography, to explore upper mantle structures across these two suture zones. Model EU30 reveals two fast anomalies within the upper mantle: one dips in a northwesterly direction down to approximately 400 km beneath the North Sea, and the other dips in a southwesterly direction down to nearly 250 km across the Tornquist Suture Zone. In addition, we observe a “gap” between the lithospheres of Laurentia and Eastern Avalonia across the Iapetus Suture Zone beneath the central British Isles. These seismic images suggest that heterogeneity related to the closures of the Iapetus Ocean and the Tornquist Sea have been preserved within the upper mantle over hundreds of millions of years.
Isoflavone content among maturity group 0 to II soybeans

This study reports the isoflavone contents of 210 soybean cultivars grown in South Dakota and explores possible relations between isoflavone contents and agronomic characteristics. Total isoflavone contents (normalized) ranged from 1161 to 2743 μg/g. A number of agronomic characteristics were documented for each variety including maturity group, hilum color, disease resistance, seed weight, yield, maturity (in days), and plant height. Varieties in maturity group I had significantly higher total isoflavones when compared to maturity group 0. Hilum color was related to differences in genistin, daidzein, and genistein content. No differences in isoflavone content were observed based on disease resistance profiles. Genistein content was found to be negatively correlated with yield, days of maturity, and plant height. Weak but significant correlations also existed between these agronomic characteristics and other isoflavones.
Evolution of Vertebrate Voltage-Gated Ion Channel α Chains by Sequential Gene Duplication

Phylogenetic analysis of alpha chains of voltage-gated ion channels revealed that extensive gene duplication has occurred among both Ca(2+) and Na(+)-channels since the origin of vertebrates. Rather than showing a pattern of gene duplication consistent with the hypothesis of polyploidization early in vertebrate history, both Ca(2+) and Na(+) channels showed patterns of sequential gene duplication associated with specialization of the gene products. In the case of Na(+) channels, the phylogeny supported the hypothesis that the ancestral vertebrate gene had an expression pattern including both central and peripheral nervous system cells and that duplication of vertebrate Na(+) channel genes has repeatedly been followed by specialization for the central nervous system, the peripheral nervous system, or muscle cells. Thus, cephalization in vertebrate evolution has been accompanied by specialization of this important family of neuromuscular proteins along the central-peripheral axis.
A programmable focal-plane MIMD image processor chip

An 80/spl times/78 pixels vision chip for focal-plane image processing is presented. The chip employs a Multiple-Instruction-Multiple-Data (MIMD) architecture to provide five spatially processed images in parallel. The size, configuration, and coefficients of the spatial kernels are programmable. The chip's architecture allows the photoreceptor cells to be small and parked densely by performing all computations on the read-out, away from the array. The processing core uses digitally programmed current-mode analog computation. Operating at 9.6 K frames/s in 800-lux ambient light, the chip consumes 4 mW from a 2.5-V power supply. Performing 11/spl times/11 spatial convolutions, an equivalent computation (5.5 bit scale-accumulate) rate of 12.4 GOPS/mW is achieved using 22 mm/sup 2/ in a 1.2-/spl mu/m CMOS process. The application of the chip to line-segment orientation detection is also presented.
Pleural Effusion From Acute Lung Rejection

A single-lung transplant recipient developed an ipsilateral pleural effusion from acute lung rejection 2 weeks after transplantation. The pleural effusion was exudative and contained more than 80% lymphocytes on two separate determinations. Acute lung rejection should be added to the differential diagnosis of a lymphocyte-predominant exudative pleural effusion.
Parameter-space screening: a powerful tool for high-throughput crystal structure determination.

The determination of protein structures on a genomic scale requires both computing capacity and efficiency increases at many stages along the complex process. By combining bioinformatics workflow-management techniques, cluster-based computing and popular crystallographic structure-determination software packages, an efficient and powerful new tool for structural biology/genomics has been developed. Using the workflow manager and a simple web interface, the researcher can, in a few easy steps, set up hundreds of structure-determination jobs, each using a slightly different set of program input parameters, thus efficiently screening parameter space for the optimal input-parameter combination, i.e. a set of parameters that leads to a successful structure determination. Upon completion, results from the programs are harvested, analyzed, sorted based on success and presented to the user via the web interface. This approach has been applied with success in more than 30 cases. Examples of successful structure determinations based on single-wavelength scattering (SAS) are described and include cases where the `rational' crystallographer-based selection of input parameters values had failed.
Critical phenomena and tricritical points in multicomponent systems

Abstract If one adopts an appropriate point of view, the thermodynamic properties of fluid mixtures near critical points are analogous to those of a pure fluid. This point of view is developed for binary mixtures, of which the liquid-vapor critical line in 3He4He is a particular example. Tricritical points arise in mixtures of three or more components. They are not analogous to critical points in pure fluids, but resemble tricritical points in superfluid 3He4He mixtures and metamagnets.
Resident microglia from adult mice are refractory to nitric oxide-inducing stimuli due to impaired NOS2 gene expression

Microglia are the immunoregulatory cells of the central nervous system (CNS) and share many characteristics with resident macrophages in extracerebral tissues. Nitric oxide (NO) is secreted by macrophages following induction of the NO synthase gene NOS2 by stimuli elicited during a T-cell response and/or by microbial products. NO regulates both innate and adaptive immune responses, such as killing intracellular pathogens and inhibiting T-cell proliferation. Regulation of NO production by microglia, however, is poorly understood. We find that microglia from healthy adult mice produce negligible amounts of NO compared with resident macrophages during restimulation of peptide-specific CD8 T cells, and therefore cannot block T-cell proliferation. The impaired NO response extends to exogenous NOS2-inducing stimuli, including cytokines, CD40 ligation, and lipopolysaccharide. In contrast, microglia produce proinflammatory cytokines in response to these same stimuli, and therefore possess a relatively selective block in NO production. We go on to show that resident microglia fail to produce detectable levels of either the NOS2 enzyme or NOS2 RNA in response to NO-inducing stimuli. We therefore propose that microglia in the healthy adult brain exist in an “NO-incompetent” state in which NO production is blocked at the level of NOS2 RNA. The inability of resident microglia in the healthy CNS to produce NO may allow these immunoregulatory cells to modulate immune processes temporally, and may serve to protect the CNS from irreparable damage at the onset of infection or injury. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Isomorphic factorizations VII. Regular graphs and tournaments

It is shown using enumeration results that for r > 2t, almost all labeled r-regular graphs cannot be factorized into t ⩾ 2 isomorphic subgraphs. However, no examples of such nonfactorizable graphs are known which satisfy the obvious divisibility condition that the number of edges is divisible by t. Similar observations hold for regular tournaments (t ⩾ 2} and for r-regular digraphs (r > t ⩾ 2).
Toward an effective and credible program: Water pollution control

While the public demand for water pollution control remains loud, the political response has become deafening. The responsible political leadership in both parties has avoided the temptation to engage in competitive promises. But those seeking instant solutions and those whose political response has been guided by the pressure of Earth Day have created an image about the pollution problem that is difficult for the public to understand. This confusion is a serious matter and unless the problem is clarified and the achievements that are likely to take place during the next five to ten years are clearly explained, the American people will be disappointed, and their faith in government and technology will continue to diminish. The addition of unneeded, further strains on an overburdened society need not happen if we share with the public a realistic appraisal of what is possible during the 70's.
Numerical path integral techniques for long time dynamics of quantum dissipative systems

Recent progress in numerical methods for evaluating the real‐time path integral in dissipative harmonic environments is reviewed. Quasi‐adiabatic propagators constructed numerically allow convergence of the path integral with large time increments. Integration of the harmonic bath leads to path integral expressions that incorporate the exact dynamics of the quantum particle along the adiabatic path, with an influence functional that describes nonadiabatic corrections. The resulting quasi‐adiabatic propagator path integral is evaluated by efficient system‐specific quadratures in most regimes of parameter space, although some cases are handled by grid Monte Carlo sampling. Exploiting the finite span of nonlocal influence functional interactions characteristic of broad condensed phase spectra leads to an iterative scheme for calculating the path integral over arbitrary time lengths. No uncontrolled approximations are introduced, and the resulting methodology converges to the exact quantum result with modest amounts of computational power. Applications to tunnelingdynamics in the condensed phase are described.
Corbino-geometry Josephson weak links in thin superconducting films

I consider a Corbino-geometry superconducting-normal-superconducting Josephson weak link in a thin superconducting film, in which current enters at the origin, flows outward, passes through an annular Josephson weak link, and leaves radially. In contrast to sandwich-type annular Josephson junctions, in which the gauge-invariant phase difference obeys the sine-Gordon equation, here the gauge-invariant phase difference obeys an integral equation. I present exact solutions for the gauge-invariant phase difference across the weak link when it contains an integral number $N$ of Josephson vortices and the current is zero. I then study the dynamics when a current is applied, and I derive the effective resistance and the viscous drag coefficient; I compare these results with those in sandwich-type junctions. I also calculate the critical current when there is no Josephson vortex in the weak link but there is a Pearl vortex nearby.
Analyses of six years of spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) pond culture trials

Abstract Spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) pond culture trials (52) were conducted on the central Texas coast from 1983 through 1988. All ponds were stocked with 2-day-old larvae at 45 000 to 2 075 000/ha, 9 to 28 days after initial filling and fertilization. Zooplankton, dissolved oxygen concentration, salinity, and temperature were routinely sampled throughout the culture period. Ponds were harvested 20 to 30 days after stocking. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to examine the effect of 38 independent variables associated with stocking density, the length of the culture period, fertilization, water quality, and zooplankton densities on percent harvest, number of fish harvested/ha, and kg of fish harvested/ha day−1 of culture. Mean temperature, mean polychaete larvae densities for the culture period, and minimum dissolved oxygen concentration observed explained 69% of the variance in percent harvest. Mean temperature, stocking density, and mean polychaete larvae densities in the second, third, and fourth week after stocking explained 79% of the variance associated with number of fish harvested/ha. Variation observed in kg of fish harvested/ha day−1 of culture was best explained (R2 = 0.76) by mean temperature, stocking density, and mean polychaete larvae densities in the first and fourth week after stocking. Polychaete larvae density, especially during the latter stages of culture, was statistically the most important factor associated with production of spotted seatrout from larvae to ≈ 30 mm TL fingerlings.
Repetition priming across the adult lifespan--the long and short of it.

ABSTRACT Previous reports suggest that repetition priming (i.e., enhanced processing of a stimulus after experience with that stimulus) is long lasting and impervious to the effects of age, in contrast to the pattern found with explicit memory. However, the nature of repetition priming in aged individuals remains unclear, as conflicting findings have also been reported. We used a longitudinal design to examine how repetition priming is affected by multiple stimulus repetitions (three presentations) and different delay intervals (no delay, 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month) in young adults, as well as in two groups of aging adults (young-elderly and old-elderly). Our findings extend previous reports that priming is long lasting, even when 1 month intervenes between the initial experience with an item and the subsequent priming test of that item (Cave, 1997), and is relatively impervious to the effects of age (Mitchell, et al., 1990). In addition, a more detailed characterization of priming and the effects of agin...
Space encoding based human activity modeling and situation perception

Human activity refers to a collection of motions and actions from either an individual or a group. Human activity study aims to recognize subjects' behavioral patterns and understand their situations. Human activity analysis and situation perception can be used to enhance the performance of various applications ranging from healthcare to surveillance and energy efficient buildings, etc. This paper presents a space encoding based framework for human activity information acquisition/analysis and situation perception. The novelties of this paper include: 1) efficient activity information acquisition based on a space encoding method; 2) reliable human activity representation based on stable statistical distributions; 3) effective activity-to-situation correlation based on data learning methods. Both simulations and experiments are performed by using pressure sensors deployed on the floor. The preliminary results have demonstrated the advantages of the proposed method.
The value and limitations of gastroscopy in the diagnosis of antral lesions.

1. Gastroscopy is often of great value in the differential diagnosis of the gastric antrum observed radiologically to be “spastic, rigid, and deformed,” for confirming an X-ray diagnosis of antral lesion (neoplasm, ulcer, gastritis), in the differential diagnosis of antral ulcers, and in correcting an erroneous X-ray interpretation of a benign lesion.
DRC and mask friendly pattern and probe aberration monitors

This paper considers modifications of the Pattern-and-Probe monitors to make them suitable for including within the circuit design as drop in monitors for the lithography process. Nonidealities such as lens aberrations can be monitored through patterns derived from the Zernike polynomials. However, the non-Manhattan geometries produced by this theoretical method are not mask friendly, and in fact took many hours to manufacture in their first attempt. This paper presents modifications to original aberration monitors to allow them to pass DRC checks and thus be more mask-friendly. Additionally, the original patterns' quantitative interpretation also requires over exposure sequences, special SEM reading of dots instead of linewidth, and separate calibration of the EM performance of the central reference probe. The principles expressed in the original aberration monitors can be integrated into more traditional circuit layouts to create more processing acceptable patterns, with the example shown in this paper retaining 68% of it sensitivity and no decrease in orthogonality.
Softener absorption by regenerated cellulose

The absorption of glycerol solutions by cellulose regenerated from viscose has been studied over a range of glycerol concentrations up to 95%. After corrections had been made for loss of moisture in handling, only very small differences between the concentration of glycerol in the film and the concentration of glycerol in the equilibration bath were found. The enrichment factor (defined as the ratio of glycerol concentration in the film to the glycerol concentration in the bath) was unity up to 16% glycerol, reached a maximum of 1.03 at approximately 25% glycerol, and fell to 0.96 at 95% glycerol concentration. We concluded therefore that glycerol and water are absorbed by gel cellulose in practically the same ratio as they occur in the bath solution and no preferential affinity for glycerol over water is evident. Two cellulose films of different degree of polymerization gave similar results. A redetermination of refractive indexes of aqueous glycerol solutions at 25° is included.
Focal Regression-Like Changes in Dysplastic Back Nevi :A Diagnostic Pitfall for Malignant Melanoma

Regression in melanoma can be complete or partial. Melanocytic nevi may show focal regression-like changes (RLC). We studied the incidence of RLC in a total of 777 melanocytic back nevi. These included 17 cases of blue nevi, 28 cases of compound nevi, 385 cases of compound dysplastic nevi, 34 cases of congenital compound nevi, 26 cases of congenital intradermal nevi, 58 cases of intradermal nevi, and 229 cases of junctional dysplastic nevi. The dysplastic nevi were categorised according to the associated cytologic atypia (mild, moderate, and severe). 21 malignant melanomas of the back were also reviewed for regression. RLC were seen with a striking correlation with the degree of cytologic atypia in dysplastic nevi. RLC were seen in 4.5% of mildly, 9.6% of moderately, and 17.2% of severely dysplastic compound nevi. RLC were seen in 10.3% of mildly, 18.8% of moderately, and 39.3% of severely dysplastic junctional nevi. The incidence of regression in non-dysplastic nevi was much less, ranging from 2.9% to 3.6%. We believe this phenomenon is probably related to trauma/irritation. Caution should be taken before rendering the diagnosis of regressed malignant melanoma on the back since dysplastic nevi may show focal similar changes.
The effect of missing teeth on masticatory performance and efficiency

Abstract Masticatory performance and efficiency data from the laboratory of Oral Physiology at Tufts College Dental School have been assembled in groups according to teeth in occlusion. This was an attempt to evaluate the effect of missing teeth on masticatory performance and efficiency. A series of 741 individual determinations have been presented in table form. It was noted that the loss of the first molar tooth resulted in a drop of 33 per cent efficiency. Losing the second and third molar resulted in a drop of 44 per cent. A first and third molar loss resulted in a drop of 66 per cent. The average masticatory efficiency of denture wearers was 24 per cent. Wide variations in masticatory efficiency were demonstrated among individuals possessing the same types and numbers of teeth in occlusion. Counting the number of teeth in occlusion was of little or no value in determining masticatory efficiency.
Catalytic cracking of squalene to gasoline-range molecules

Abstract Cracking squalene over a zeolite catalyst produced an organic liquid containing light hydrocarbons. The distillate of the organic liquid product (b.p.
Cisplatin induced reversible bilateral vocal cord paralysis: An undescribed complication of cisplatin

Background Bilateral vocal cord paralysis is uncommon. Most cases occur secondary to trauma, malignancy, surgery, or intubation. Also, it was reported as a side effect of Vinca alkaloids. Methods We report a patient with small cell lung cancer who developed bilateral vocal cord paralysis and needed to be intubated after treatment with cisplatin and etoposide. All workups excluded metastases as a cause of bilateral vocal cord paralysis. The patient required tracheostomy; she did not receive any further chemotherapy. After 11 weeks, vocal cord paralysis disappeared, tracheostomy was reversed, and the patient remained symptom free; however, 6 months later, the patient developed brain and liver metastases and died from her disease with no evidence of vocal cord paralysis. Results We report a case of reversible bilateral vocal cord paralysis that we believe to be secondary to cisplatin toxicity, which is an undescribed complication of this drug. Conclusion Cisplatin can induce reversible bilateral vocal cord paralysis. The concurrent use of cisplatin and etoposide might have contributed to this complication in our patient. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Head Neck 21: 78–79, 1999.
Typical, finite baths as a means of exact simulation of open quantum systems.

There is presently considerable interest in accurately simulating the evolution of open systems for which Markovian master equations fail. Examples are systems that are time dependent and/or strongly damped. A number of elegant methods have now been devised to do this, but all use a bath consisting of a continuum of harmonic oscillators. While this bath is clearly appropriate for, e.g., systems coupled to the electromagnetic field, it is not so clear that it is a good model for generic many-body systems. Here we explore a different approach to exactly simulating open systems: using a finite bath chosen to have certain key properties of thermalizing many-body systems. To explore the numerical resources required by this method to approximate an open system coupled to an infinite bath, we simulate a weakly damped system and compare to the evolution given by the relevant Markovian master equation. We obtain the Markovian evolution with reasonable accuracy by using an additional averaging procedure, and elucidate how the typicality of the bath generates the correct thermal steady state via the process of ``eigenstate thermalization.''
Dynamicity vs. effectiveness: studying online clustering for scatter/gather

We proposed and implemented a novel clustering algorithm called LAIR2, which has constant running time average for on-the-fly Scatter/Gather browsing [4]. Our experiments showed that when running on a single processor, the LAIR2 on-line clustering algorithm was several hundred times faster than a parallel Buckshot algorithm running on multiple processors [11]. This paper reports on a study that examined the effectiveness of the LAIR2 algorithm in terms of clustering quality and its impact on retrieval performance. We conducted a user study on 24 subjects to evaluate on-the-fly LAIR2 clustering in Scatter/Gather search tasks by comparing its performance to the Buckshot algorithm, a classic method for Scatter/Gather browsing [4]. Results showed significant differences in terms of subjective perceptions of clustering quality. Subjects perceived that the LAIR2 algorithm produced significantly better quality clusters than the Buckshot method did. Subjects felt that it took less effort to complete the tasks with the LAIR2 system, which was more effective in helping them in the tasks. Interesting patterns also emerged from subjects' comments in the final open-ended questionnaire. We discuss implications and future research.
Spectroscopic studies and AFM analysis of Ho3+ and Tm3+ doped yttrium oxide nanoparticles

Y 2 O 3 nanocrystals doped with rare-earth ions have attracted considerable interest because of their chemical and thermal stability and their possible application in the light emitting devices and three-dimensional displays. Trivalent-rare-earth ion-doped Y 2 O 3 nanoparticles have been synthesized, and their spectroscopic studies have been carried out using visible laser excitation. The size of the nanoparticles has been estimated using atomic force microscope and scanning electron microscope.
Burst-Timing-Dependent Plasticity of NMDA Receptor-Mediated Transmission in Midbrain Dopamine Neurons

Summary Bursts of spikes triggered by sensory stimuli in midbrain dopamine neurons evoke phasic release of dopamine in target brain areas, driving reward-based reinforcement learning and goal-directed behavior. NMDA-type glutamate receptors (NMDARs) play a critical role in the generation of these bursts. Here we report LTP of NMDAR-mediated excitatory transmission onto dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra. Induction of LTP requires burst-evoked Ca 2+ signals amplified by preceding metabotropic neurotransmitter inputs in addition to the activation of NMDARs themselves. PKA activity gates LTP induction by regulating the magnitude of Ca 2+ signal amplification. This form of plasticity is associative, input specific, reversible, and depends on the relative timing of synaptic input and postsynaptic bursting in a manner analogous to the timing rule for cue-reward learning paradigms in behaving animals. NMDAR plasticity might thus represent a potential neural substrate for conditioned dopamine neuron burst responses to environmental stimuli acquired during reward-based learning.
Effect of EVA lesion on reversal learning in the dark

Albino rats were pretrained in a water T maze in the light. Experimental Ss were then given lesions in the extrinsic visual area of neocortex (EVA) and in surrounding neocortex. Control Ss were given lesions in neocortex surrounding EVA to equate groups for the amount of damage outside EVA. Ss were then trained in the dark for five reversals and it was found that experimental Ss learned more slowly than controls (p <.005).
Methamphetamine and pentobarbital effects on human motor performance.

Speed in three types of repetitive motor performance, and manual reaction time was tested at different levels of task complexity, on 36 students who served as their own control over repeated sessions, in which they received intravenous doses of methamphetamine, pentobarbital, and placebo adjusted to their body weight. The simpler the task the more likely was methamphetamine to speed up and pentobarbital to slow down performance rate. Compared with placebo, pentobarbital significantly affected rate in counter pressing, and tended to retard performance in a manual skill of finer co-ordination as well as in a cancellation test. Methamphetamine significantly speeded counter pressing with the dominant hand, but exercised that effect on the other hand only over the first minute of performance. Acitvity rate in the manual dexterity test was significantly faster on methamphetamine than on pentobarbital. Individual variability in work rate over successive time samples, and decrement over time, tended to be highest with methamphetamine. The favorable effect of methamphetamine on performance rate may thus stem primarily from an initial spurt that cannot be sustained, although it may revive after intervals longer than those investigated in the present study. No methamphetamine effect could be determined in several tests of reaction time, but pentobarbital slowed down responses, whether warning signals were provided or not. A slow rate in repetitive motor performance with barbiturates may, therefore, be partly attributable to a delay in monitoring cues for response.
A sensitive procedure to detect alternatively spliced mRNA in pooled-tissue samples

One important goal of genomics is to explore the extent of alternative splicing in the transcriptome and generate a comprehensive catalog of splice forms. New computational and experimental approaches have led to an increase in the number of predicted alternatively spliced transcripts; however, validation of these predictions has not kept pace. In this work, we systematically explore different methods for the validation of cassette exons predicted by computational methods or tiling microarrays. Our goal was to find a procedure that is cost effective, sensitive and specific. We examined three ways of priming the reverse transcription (RT) reaction—poly-dT priming, random priming and pooled exon-specific priming. We also examined two strategies for PCR amplification—flanking PCR, which uses primers that hybridize to the constitutive exons flanking the predicted exon, and a semi-nested PCR with a primer that targets the predicted exon. We found that the combination of RT using a pool of gene-specific primers followed by semi-nested PCR resulted in a significant increase in sensitivity over the most commonly used methodology (97% of the test set was detected versus 14%). Our method was also highly specific—no false positives were detected using a test set of true negatives. Finally, we demonstrate that this method is able to detect alternative exons with a high sensitivity from whole-organism RNA, allowing all tissues to be sampled in a single experiment. The protocol developed here is an accurate and cost-effective way to validate predictions of alternative splicing.
Overvoltage detection in single and multigenerator aircraft A-C systems

OVERVOLTAGES resulting from fault conditions in aircraft a-c electric systems being designed at present can cause extensive utilization equipment damage. Until such time as aircraft power generating and regulating equipment design results in reduced overvoltage possibilities, it is likely that an overvoltage control relay will be installed in many single-generator systems.
Structural evolution of a quartz–sillimanite vein and nodule complex in a late-to post-tectonic leucogranite, Western Adirondack Highlands, New York

Abstract Quartz–sillimanite veins and nodules within the carapace of a late- to post- tectonic leucogranite crosscut one another as well as calcsilicate schlieren. These relationships document a fracture-related and hydrothermal origin of the vein and nodule complex. Two dominant orientations (N50E, N20E) are observed with the former being the oldest and most deformed. Both of these sets have undergone deformation, including boudinage of veins to produce nodules. Zircon geochronology fixes the emplacement age of the leucogranite at 1035.1±3.8 Ma and late crosscutting pegmatites at 1034±10 Ma, hence the vein–nodule complex must fall within this interval. Late dikes of leucogranite truncate the complex and document the continued presence of magma during vein–nodule formation. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) in the leucogranite carapace reveals an approximately horizontal flow direction, within a plane striking N49E and dipping moderately to the northwest. In this regime, quartz–sillimanite veins formed initially as tension fractures in subvertical NNE orientations either as a result of high fluid pressures or rapid sinistral shear along the N50E contact. Progressive sinistral shear rotated the veins counterclockwise causing buckling followed by boudinage and rotation of fragments into near parallelism with the N50E contact. Strain was accommodated by slip between crystals and melt migration with an estimated melt fraction of at least 30%. Multiple episodes of fracturing and vein formation appear to have occurred. Final deformation of the carapace and the vein–nodule complex is envisioned as a flattening against the contact, perhaps as a result of pluton inflation. Melt was still present after this event as evidenced by post-vein granite and pegmatite dikes, commonly with sinistral shear along the dike margin.
A general relationship between two quantizer design criteria (Corresp.)

Two design criteria for the quantization of signal-detection data are considered. These criteria, one of which is based on asymptotic efficiency and the other on a mean-squared error quantity, are shown to be closely related for quantizer design in a general parametric decision framework.
A simulation of large-scale groundwater flow and travel time in a fractured rock environment for waste disposal purposes

Two-dimensional regional groundwater flow was simulated based on a conceptual model of low-permeability crystalline rocks of the Whiteshell Research Area (WRA) in south-eastern Manitoba. The conceptual model consists of fracture zones that strike in different directions and dip at various angles in the background rock mass. The thickness and hydraulic properties of the fracture zones in the conceptual model were varied as were the fluid properties and the boundary conditions of the groundwater flow system. The effects of these variations on the groundwater flow pattern and on the convective travel time along pathways from a hypothetical disposal vault at 500 m depth to discharge locations at the ground surface were evaluated. The vault was located in the regional discharge area of the groundwater system. A homogeneous conceptual model of the WRA, having only freshwater flow, formed a groundwater flow pattern with a regional flow system. Local flow systems developed increasingly with the introduction of fracture zones 20 m and 3 m thick, and depth-dependent fluid density. This indicates a reduction in groundwater residence time by fracture zones and fluid density. Flow pathways were analysed using both a stream-function and a particle-tracking technique. The pathways and their lengths from the location of the vault to the surface varied spatially according to the flow patterns. The minimum travel time along these pathways was less than 150 000 and greater than 4 000 000 years in models with and without fracture zones, respectively, indicating that the presence of fracture zones was the major controlling factor. A precise knowledge and refinement of conceptual model parameters is necessary during site selection for waste disposal purposes. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Biochemical traits of ciauscolo, a spreadable typical Italian dry-cured sausage.

Ciauscolo is a short-ripened fermented sausage manufactured in the Marche region (central Italy) that has recently received a protected geographical indication product classification (PGI). The aim of this study was the exploration of the biochemical traits of this traditional Italian salami, with a special focus on protein and lipid composition. Ciauscolo salami was characterized by pH of 5.1 and 0.91 water activity. A prevalence of lactic acid bacteria in the microbiota was found. The free amino acids and biogenic amines average content was 2657 and 255 mg/kg, respectively. With regards to lipids composition unsaturated fatty acids represented 63% and 72% of total and free fatty acids. Despite these results had wide statistical variability, attributable to differences in the processing parameters and raw matter used, some peculiar traits were found: (1) structural muscular proteins underwent to less proteolysis than sarcoplasmic ones; (2) glycogen phosphorylase, enolase, and aldolase were the most proteolyzed among the sacoplasmic proteins; (3) there was inverse correlation between histamine content and yeasts population, and a direct correlation between the gly-pro content and lactic acid bacteria counts; (4) the content of aspartic acid and methyonine seem to be a possible molecular marker able to distinguish between double and single milling.
Beyond Disparity: Changes in Federal Sentencing After Booker and Gall?

333 Federal Sentencing Reporter, Vol. 23, No. 5, pp. 333–341, ISSN 1053-9867 electronic ISSN 1533-8363. ©2011 Vera Institute of Justice. All rights reserved. Please direct requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press’s Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/fsr.2011.23.5.333. Beyond Disparity: Changes in Federal Sentencing After Booker and Gall?
Algorithm to detect reconvergent fanouts in logic circuits

Testability measures have been advocated by many authors as aids in the designing and testing of logic circuits. These have been shown to be inaccurate for circuits which contain reconvergent fanouts. An algorithm is presented which will detect all sources of reconvergence in a circuit by processing a normal textual circuit description. As well as identifying all the gates at which reconvergence occurs, the reconvergent sites, the algorithm lists all the fanout nodes that reconverge at each of these sites. The automatic detection of reconvergence can be used for improving the testability analysis of circuits containing such fanouts. This algorithm is also being used as the basis of an analysis which identifies the undetectable faults in a circuit.
Native Hawaiians and psychology: the cultural and historical context of indigenous ways of knowing

This article reviews psychological research on Native Hawaiians conducted in the 19th through the 21st centuries. The rationale is to provide a historical orientation to this indigenous group, to increase awareness of the complexities of research about Native Hawaiians, and to draw attention to emerging issues, practices, and challenges of psychological research emphasizing indigenous health and well-being. This article lays a historical foundation for future research with a renewed emphasis on indigenous knowledge and its holistic view of psychology in relationship to the land, spiritual beliefs, cultural practices, language, and community.
Update in calcium deposition diseases.

Purpose of review Calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate and basic calcium phosphate crystals are common components of osteoarthritic synovial fluids and define subsets of patients with inflammatory or rapidly destructive arthritis. Recent literature concerning clinical and etiologic aspects of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate and basic calcium phosphate crystal arthritis are reviewed. Recent findings Recent literature reminds us of the propensity of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate deposition disease to mimic other syndromes affecting the elderly. Several new studies reinforce the prevalence and significance of extra-articular calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate deposits, and demonstrate the presence of basic calcium phosphate-like whitlockite crystals in intervertebral discs. Current work serves to increase our appreciation for the complex role of the putative pyrophosphate transporter, ANKH, in healthy and diseased cartilage. The application of newer radiographic techniques to the diagnosis of calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate deposition disease holds promise for easier and more accurate identification of these crystal deposits in vivo. Work demonstrating the efficacy of a crystal poison in an animal model of osteoarthritis provides good evidence for a pathogenic role of calcium crystals in osteoarthritis, and hope for new therapies for these diseases. Summary Continued work will further our understanding of these common crystals and their associated clinical syndromes.