cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Negotiation and Assessment as Tools for Tailoring Anatomy Courses to Allied Health Programs

Every healthcare discipline, from paramedics to physicians, has its own requirements for anatomical knowledge. Nonetheless, there is little standardization for what an anatomy course should provide. In this chapter, we discuss our experience with graduate nurses, physician assistants, and medical students. Rather than dwell on our solution to questions of what to teach and how to teach it, we discuss how we researched the questions and negotiated with stakeholders in our educational setting, so that you might develop the solutions that work best at your institution. By identifying and assessing the needs of all who have a stake in your course, you can devise the course goals and assessments that will convince stakeholders that your course is successful. Skillful negotiations and assessments will guide the development of your course through its early years and insure it integrates with your institution’s educational programs.
Heterocyclic Dyes: Preparation, Properties, and Applications

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the preparation, properties, and applications of heterocyclic dyes. The synthesis of dyes is intertwined with the birth of modern industrial organic chemistry, and some excellent treatises focus on the modern manufacture and applications of dyes. Moreover, a recent resurgence in dye chemistry has been fueled by exciting applications emerging from a variety of novel and interdisciplinary research topics. Heterocyclic compounds are used as naturally occurring and synthetic food dyes; they constitute a large portion of colorants used for inkjet printing, photography, and xerography; and they are well represented among the commercially significant cellulosic and textile dyes. Among smaller scale products, the so-called functional dyes show promise in potentially paradigm-shifting technologies—such as the direct splitting of water with visible light—and are important in optoelectronic applications—such as solar cell technology and digital optical storage—as well as in biomedical applications—such as photodynamic therapy (PTD) and photoinduced electron transfer (PET) imaging. Heterocyclic dyes are still used in traditional histochemical protocols, but they are also key components in more advanced fluorescent probes.
Interface Design to Support Situation Awareness in Virtual Puppetry

We propose virtual puppetry as a potential mechanism for enhancing students’ presence in a virtual learning environment. To develop this style of interaction will require substantial attention to the user interface in order to promote the operator’s situation awareness of both the real and virtual environments. This presentation describes the development of an initial prototype and some of the ongoing concerns for controlling virtual puppets.
Relationship between fat distribution and cardiometabolic risk in Hispanic girls.

OBJECTIVE In adults, certain body fat depots have greater impact on cardiometabolic risk than total adiposity. Whether similar relationships exist in children is uncertain. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships among dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measures of body fat distribution and total body adiposity with cardiometabolic risk factors in Hispanic girls. METHODS Measures of total percent body fat, percent of total fat within the android, gynoid, leg, and trunk regions, and cardiometabolic biomarkers (insulin, glucose, homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), triglycerides (TG), low and high lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C, HDL-C)) were obtained from 232 Hispanic girls (age 10.7 ±1.1 years). Regression models for each metabolic parameter were run against adiposity measures. Partial correlations of the adiposity measures were used to compare associations between adiposity measures and the cardiometabolic risk factors, controlling for somatic maturation. RESULTS Total and regional adiposity were significantly related with cardiometabolic risk factors (P < 0.05) except fasting glucose. The partial correlations of total and regional adiposity measures with each cardiometabolic biomarker were similar. More variance was explained for insulin and the HOMA-IR (33%-43%) than other risk factors. Partial correlations for the percentage of total fat in the gynoid and leg regions with insulin, HOMA-IR, TG, and LDL-C were negative, and positive with HDL-C. CONCLUSION Measures of total and regional fat perform similarly in predicting cardiometabolic risk in Hispanic girls. A higher proportion of fat distributed in the gynoid or leg region is associated with lower cardiometabolic risk.
Optimized Counter-Based Multi-Ported Memory Architectures for Next-Generation FPGAs

With the dramatic increase in utilization of FPGAs to accelerate compute/data intensive applications on embedded platforms, providing customized/optimized multi-ported memory architectures for FPGAs are of paramount importance. FPGAs achieve high speedup by exploiting parallelism in computations, which requires multi-ported memories to provide any number of ports for simultaneous and multiple read/write (R/W) operations. Most of the existing multi-ported memory designs become complex due to the extra logic and routing required to provide an arbitrary number of R/W ports. In this paper, we introduce four unique, novel, and optimized counter-based multi-ported memory architectures. With our memories, circular paths are eliminated; thus significantly reducing the design/routing complexity, while enhancing the operating frequency and area-efficiency. As a result, our memories can be seamlessly integrated to the existing and next-generation FPGAs. Our proposed memories are evaluated with the most recent multi-ported memory designs in the literature.
Creation of a Rudimentary Electronic Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Model to Explore Resident-Attending Communication

Background: At-home attending intensivists often must return to the hospital to assist residents. Introduction: To determine if using telemedicine communication between in-house pediatric residents...
SPATIAL FOURIER TRANSFORM FOR DETECTION AND ANALYSIS OF PERIODIC ASTROPHYSICAL PULSES

This paper analyzes the potential of the Spatial Fourier transform (SFT) for detection of a periodic astrophysical signal and for estimation of parameters of the signal. In place of de-dispersing filter bank data for each Dispersion Measure (DM) trial and then integrating over frequency channels to yield a one-dimensional signal, we apply SFT to filter bank data, then detect periodic astrophysical signals and analyze their parameters such as DM and rotational period. This approach allows searching for periodic astrophysical signals in real time. Its complexity is dominated by the complexity of the SFT. The results of our analysis show promise. Using simulated data we demonstrate that it takes about 3 minutes of observation time to detect a pulsar at an S/N value of 8σ. The SFT data also provide information about the rotation of pulsars and lower and upper bounds on their DM value.
Addressing the problem of inaccuracy of measured 24-hour urine collections due to incomplete collection.

The 24-hour urine collection is widely considered the gold standard for assessing 24-hour excretion of various analytes. Yet, studies show that >30% of collections are incomplete and hence understate the true 24-hour excretion. We previously validated an equation for estimating an individual's 24-hour creatinine excretion, based on weight, sex, race, and age. The present study examines whether routinely correcting measured 24-hour excretion of an analyte using the ratio of estimated to measured 24-hour urine creatinine mitigates the misleadingly low values that result from undercollection. Ninety-nine participants, recruited from an outpatient hypertension clinic, submitted a 24-hour urine collection for measurement of creatinine and sodium excretion. The urine collections were dichotomized into complete (n = 63) and incomplete (n = 36) collections based on previously described criteria for expected 24-hour creatinine excretion. To adjust for possible incompleteness of collections, the measured 24-hour values were then corrected by multiplying them by the ratio of estimated to measured 24-hour urine creatinine. The mean 24-hour creatinine excretion was 1682 mg/d among complete collectors. Among incomplete collectors, the mean was 1211 mg/d before and 1695 mg/d after, adjustment. Similarly, mean 24-hour sodium excretion was 156 mEq/d among complete collectors, whereas among incomplete collectors it was 121 mEq/d before and 171 mEq/d after, adjustment. Undercollection of 24-hour urines is a common problem and results in misleadingly low values for excretion of analytes being measured. Routine adjustment of 24-hour urine values using estimated values for 24-hour creatinine excretion can greatly mitigate artifactually low 24-hour excretion results.
Effective Human Resource Practices for Competitive Advantages: An Emperical Assessment of Organizations in Transition

No one would dispute that American business environments are increasingly turbulent (Portwood & Eichinger, 1986; Ulrich & Wiersema, 1989; Ulrich, 1987; Tichy & Barnett, 1985; Sears, 1984; Gilbin, 1984). Globalization, shifts in public policy, changing demographic mix of labor pool, shifting customer demands, accelerating technological changes, emergence of new societal values, organizational structures, and corporate cultures, etc. have affected American businesses. All business segments have been affected ranging from smokestack America to relatively new hi-tech companies, from huge corporations to small ventures.
Tears in translation: Carolina Coronado's Sapphic poems

The title of this article, “Tears in Translation”, emphasizes two aspects of Sappho's works that are central for an understanding of the poetic corpus of Spanish Romantic poet Carolina Coronado, es...
Advances in Targeted Therapy for Progressive Fibrosing Interstitial Lung Disease

Progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease (PF-ILD) has been redefined as a new clinical syndrome that shares similar genetics, pathophysiology, and natural history to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). IPF is the most common form of idiopathic interstitial pneumonias, which is progressive in nature and is associated with significant mortality. Therapies targeting an inflammatory and/or immune response have not been consistently effective or well tolerated in patients with IPF. The two antifibrotic drugs approved for IPF treatment, nintedanib and pirfenidone, have been shown to reduce lung function decline in PF-ILD. Novel uses of antifibrotic therapy are emerging due to a paucity of evidence-based treatments for multiple ILD subtypes. In this review, we describe the current body of knowledge on antifibrotic therapy and immunomodulators in PF-ILD, drawing from experience in IPF where appropriate.
Investigating Opaque Infrastructures: The Desktop Odometer

This demo presents the Desktop Odometer, a device that shows users the distance they travel when browsing the web, by tracking the total miles between their current location and the server from where they are requesting information. Upon connecting the Desktop Odometer to their computer via a web browser extension, users are able to see how far information travels while surfing the web in real-time. This new ability to 'see' how far information has to physically travel gives users an opportunity to grapple with and reflect on the physicality of the Internet's infrastructure, which otherwise may remain opaque.
Cytology of Thymic Lesions

Thymic neoplasms are rare and range from benign hyperplasia to neoplastic, with thymomas being the most common. Thymomas are neoplasms of the thymic epithelial cells and are characterized by a biphasic cellular pattern with two populations of cells: epithelial cells and admixed lymphocytes. The proportion of epithelial cells and lymphocytes varies and the various thymoma subtypes are based on the cytomorphology and the proportion of different cell types present. The cytomorphology of the World Health Organization (WHO) subtypes is described in this chapter.
Higher-Order Corrections for Frozen Terminator Orbit Design

Suitable orbit options around asteroids are limited due to strong perturbations caused by solar radiation pressure (SRP), a target’s irregular gravity field, and third-body acceleration. One potent...
Faith at Work Scale (FWS): Justification, Development, and Validation of a Measure of Judaeo-Christian Religion in the Workplace

Workplace spirituality research has sidestepped religion by focusing on the function of belief rather than its substance. Although establishing a unified foundation for research, the functional approach cannot shed light on issues of workplace pluralism, individual or institutional faith-work integration, or the institutional roles of religion in economic activity. To remedy this, we revisit definitions of spirituality and argue for the place of a belief-based approach to workplace religion. Additionally, we describe the construction of a 15-item measure of workplace religion informed by Judaism and Christianity – the Faith at Work Scale (FWS). A stratified random sample (n = 234) of managers and professionals assisted in refining the FWS which exhibits a single factor structure (Eigenvalue = 8.88; variance accounted for = 59.22%) that is internally consistent (Cronbach’s a = 0.77) and demonstrates convergent validity with the Faith Maturity Scale (r = 0.81, p > 0.0001). The scale shows lower skew and kurtosis with Mainline and Catholic adherents than with Mormons and Evangelicals. Validation of the scale among Jewish and diverse Christian adherants would extend research in workplace religion.
Modeling fission product diffusion in TRISO fuel particles with BISON

Abstract The diffusion of fission products in intact TRISO particles depends on particle geometry, fission product source rates, time, temperature, and temperature-dependent diffusion coefficients. Simulating this diffusion process requires models for source rates and diffusion coefficients, plus a computation of the temperature field if not prescribed. In addition, the simulation quality depends on the discretization of the geometry, appropriate time stepping, and the accuracy of the solution method. In this paper, we explore the simulation of fission product diffusion in TRISO fuel particles using the finite element method via the fuel performance code BISON. Recent material model development has occurred in BISON for each material present in tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) fuel particles: the buffer, inner pyrolytic carbon, silicon carbide, and outer pyrolytic carbon layers, as well as the fuel kernel. Also, new mesh generation and fission product release fraction capabilities have been added. Diffusion capabilities are shown to converge to the correct solution via formal verification tests. A large number of code benchmarking problems are also given, with good results, showing that BISON’s computed release fractions closely match those of other software tools. Finally, a significant validation effort is detailed in which fission product release, measured as part of the AGR-1 capsule experiments, is compared to BISON outputs. BISON outputs compare favorably to the experimental data and to PARFUME results.
Problems of portrayal: Hidden Figures in the development of science educators

The framing of characters by mainstream films can affect viewers’ perceptions of social groups, their histories, and their contributions. Using critical media analysis, I explore the film Hidden Figures and its portrayal of Katherine Goble Johnson, an African American mathematician employed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during the United States’ Civil Rights Movement. First, I rely on womanist methodology to examine the film’s portrayal of Katherine’s professional experiences and then Black Feminist Thought (BFT) to interpret the film in relationship to the book from which it was adapted, Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race. The themes in Hidden Figures’ portrayal of Katherine were as follows: (1) compliance with the sexist and racist norms of the organization (NASA), (2) reliance on narratives of exceptionalism and omission. These themes constitute the major finding, which was that whiteness was expressed through Katherine’s academic and innovative, perfection as an ethical and disciplined (work/er), and belonging and leading. Additionally, through omission, the film is a cultural product that reflects whiteness as a cultural norm. Implications of these findings are discussed in connection to the use of critical media analysis to build critical media literacy in the preparation of African American women dis/interested in fields such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
BOREAS TGB-5 Dissolved Organic Carbon Data from NSA Beaver Ponds

The BOReal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study Trace Gas Biogeochemistry (BOREAS TGB-5) team collected several data sets related to carbon and trace gas fluxes and concentrations in the Northern Study Area (NSA). This data set contains concentrations of dissolved organic and inorganic carbon species from water samples collected at various NSA sites. In particular, this set covers the NSA Tower Beaver Pond Site and the NSA Gillam Road Beaver Pond Site, including data from all visits to open water sampling locations during the BOREAS field campaigns from April to September 1994. The data are provided in tabular ASCII files.
IDENTIFICATION OF NONLINEAR DELAY SYSTEMS USING SPLINE METHODS

Abstract : Spline based approximation schemes for nonlinear nonautonomous functional differential equation control systems are discussed and it is shown how these may be employed in parameter estimation techniques. A sample of our numerical findings is also presented. (Author)
Equilibration studies: The determination of the relative thermodynamic stabilities of one set of isomeric pyrones

Abstract The bases of the order of stabilities and aromaticities usually assigned to the 2-pyrones and 4-pyrones are considered and found to be equivocal. Relative basicity and equilibration evidence is presented which indicates that the 2-pyrone, 4-methoxy-6-methyl-4-pyrone, is thermodynamically more stable than the 4-pyrone, 2-methoxy-6-methyl-4-pyrone. An estimation of the predictive power of the Huckel method for the relative stabilities of the pyrones is reported.
Incompetent Subjects and Proxy Consent

Research with incompetent subjects presents the most serious ethical challenges than any other category of research. Special limitations are set on the types of research that can be conducted with this population. Both researchers and those who provide surrogate consent have obligations to protect the rights and welfare of this population that exceed those duties owed to competent subjects. Keywords: incompetence; consent; subjects; assent; dissent
SURGICAL EXCISION OF PULMONARY METASTASES

Two patients who had had pulmonary metastatic lesions treated by surgical excision 6 and 11 years ago have been reported as cured. The majority of patients with pulmonary metastases die despite the implementation of roentgen therapy and chemotherapeutic agents. A more aggressive approach would include pulmonary metastasectomy. The application of this technique to selected patients in whom the primary tumor has been controlled, and the metastases are limited to the lungs, should be considered before hope for a cure is abandoned.
Tracer Simulation of Soluble Waste Concentration

The transport of solute in rivers and estuaries can be described by a linear convective diffusion equation. Therefore, the principle of linear superposition can be applied to the dispersion data obtained from a short-term prototype tracer test in order to simulate the concentration buildup of a soluble waste resulting from its long-term release. The assumptions are that both tracer and waste decay according to the first-order reaction rates and that the flow is repetitive with a certain period, which may range from a multiple of tidal cycle for an estuary to an infinitesimal time for a steady river flow. Equations are derived to relate observed tracer concentrations to simulated waste concentrations. Examples of field application are presented. It is concluded that this simulation method is quite feasible for a quick and direct pollution assessment under certain conditions.
Securities Trading on the Internet

A web of information technology has transformed the securities industry over the past 30 years. Initial innovations spun vast proprietary networks between institutions, speeding up transaction processing to allow greater transaction volume in the same time period. The Internet has expanded that web to individual investors, newly empowering them with timely information in a cost-efficient manner, access to communities of other investors—each contributing to the common knowledge (or ignorance) base—and greater access to markets. As the bull market of the 1990s dissolved, retail investors have been less inclined to take advantage of these opportunities to ”go it alone.” Online brokerages have had to acquire research and advising capabilities, either internally or through alliances, and to increase their fees commensurately. At the same time as it attracted a swarm of retail investors, the web of electronic communication over the Internet has impacted trading institutions, brokers and exchanges alike. Buy and sell orders can now “meet” and “match” away from a physical trading floor or even a centralized electronic exchange such as Nasdaq. Newly born electronic communication networks (ECNs) provide unprecedented competition for the established exchanges, challenging them to restructure themselves into more flexible, more accessible entities. Keywords: buy orders; mutual fund; option; Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); securities industry; sell orders; stock
2D Semiconductor FETs—Projections and Design for Sub-10 nm VLSI

Two-dimensional (2D) crystal semiconductors, such as the well-known molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), are witnessing an explosion in research activities due to their apparent potential for various electronic and optoelectronic applications. In this paper, dissipative quantum transport simulations using nonequilibrium Green’s function formalism are performed to rigorously evaluate the scalability and performance of monolayer/multilayer 2D semiconductor-based FETs for sub-10 nm gate length very large-scale integration (VLSI) technologies. Device design considerations in terms of the choice of prospective 2D material/structure/technology to fulfill sub-10 nm International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) requirements are analyzed. First, it is found that MoS2 FETs can meet high-performance (HP) requirement up to 6.6 nm gate length using bilayer MoS2 as the channel material, while low-standby-power (LSTP) requirements present significant challenges for all sub-10 nm gate lengths. Second, by studying the effects of underlap (UL) structures, scattering strength, and carrier effective mass, it is found that the high mobility and suitably low effective mass of tungsten diselenide (WSe2), aided by the UL, enable 2D FETs for both HP and LSTP applications at the smallest foreseeable (5.9 nm) gate length. Finally, possible solutions for sub-5 nm gate lengths, specifically anisotropic 2D semiconductor materials for HP and sub- $kT/q$ switch (2D tunnel FET) for LSTP, are also proposed based on the effects of critical material parameters on the device performance.
Double negative metamaterial design, experiments, and applications

The design and testing of several metamaterials (MTMs) that exhibit double negative (DNG) medium properties at X-band frequencies are reported. Double negative media are materials in which the permittivity and permeability are both negative. Simulation and experimental results are given that demonstrate the realization of DNG metamaterials matched to free-space. The extraction of the effective permittivity and permeability for these DNG metamaterials from reflection and transmission data is treated. It is shown conclusively that the metamaterials treated exhibit DNG properties in the frequency range of interest. The designed MTMs consist of combinations of capacitively loaded strip (CLS) and split ring resonator (SRR) inclusions in a background dielectric substrate. Applications for DNG media are in the fields of sensor and energy transmission technologies.
Determinants of bone mineral density in Chinese-American women

Few data are available regarding bone mineral density (BMD) and its determinants among Chinese Americans. We identified determinants of BMD among 359 Chinese-American women in order to identify risk factors for low BMD in this burgeoning population. BMD in Chinese-American women is influenced by a number of factors, including immigration. Osteoporosis and low BMD are common among Chinese women, including Chinese Americans, who are a growing population at risk for osteoporosis in the US. Few data are available regarding BMD and its determinants among Chinese-American women. In this study, we examined predictors of BMD in 359 ambulatory Chinese-American women, ages 20–90, using stepwise multiple regression analysis. Variables in the model included age, weight, height, menarche age, years since menopause, immigration age, years in US, percentage of life in US, number of pregnancies, oral contraceptive use, family history of osteoporosis, family history of hip fracture, daily calcium intake, exercise, time outdoors, alcohol consumption and tobacco use. Among premenopausal women, weight was the strongest predictor of BMD, accounting for 10.5% of the variance at the lumbar spine (LS), 15.2% at the total hip (TH) and 16.6% at the femoral neck (FN). Time outdoors was also a positive predictor of BMD (1.4% at LS, 2.8% at TH and 1.6% at FN), while family history of osteoporosis (1.4% at TH) and age (3.7% at FN) were negative predictors. Among postmenopausal women, greater BMD at the LS and TH was associated with greater weight and earlier immigration age. Weight accounted for 16.4% of the variance at the LS and 19.8% at the TH; immigration age accounted for 3.1% of the variance at the LS and 4.1% at the TH. At the FN, years since menopause and weight were predictors of BMD, accounting for 14.4% and 8.7% of the variance, respectively. While older age at immigration had a negative effect on BMD, years in and proportion of life in the United States were not significant predictors of BMD. Bone mineral density in Chinese-American women is influenced by a number of biological and lifestyle factors, including immigration. The results of this study provide new insights into risk factors for low bone density as they relate to environmental determinants in the growing population of Chinese-American women.
Unusual activity detection for persistent target surveillance

The information generated by the integrated sensor suite is massive. Simply bringing the information to the decision makers is a cognitive disaster due to the information overload. Intelligent algorithms need to be developed to exploit and filter the information. In this work, we seek to develop content-level change detection and activity-level information fusion and filtering algorithms to detect unusual activities for persistent target surveillance applications.
An Efficient Parallel Algorithm for Shortest Paths in Planar Layered Digraphs

Computing shortest paths in a directed graph has received considerable attention in the sequential RAM model of computation. However, developing a polylog-time parallel algorithm that is close to the sequential optimal in terms of the total work done remains an elusive goal. We present a first step in this direction by giving efficient parallel algorithms for shortest paths in planar layered digraphs. We show that these graphs admit special kinds of separators called {\em one-way} separators which allow the paths in the graph to cross it only once. We use these separators to give divide and conquer solutions to the problem of finding the shortest paths between any two vertices. We first give a simple algorithm that works in the CREW model and computes the shortest path between any two vertices in an $n$-node planar layered digraph in time $O(\log^3 n)$ using $n/ \log n$ processors. A CRCW version of this algorithm runs in time $O(\log^2 n \log \log n)$ and uses $n/ \log \log n$ processors. We then use results of Aggarwal and Park [1] and Atallah [4] to improve the time bound to $O(\log^2 n)$ in the CREW model and $O(\log n \log \log n)$ in the CRCW model. The processor bounds still remain as $n/ \log n$ for the CREW model and $n/ \log \log n$ for the CRCW model.
The Arctic Water Resource Vulnerability Index: An Integrated Assessment Tool for Community Resilience and Vulnerability with Respect to Freshwater

People in the Arctic face uncertainty in their daily lives as they contend with environmental changes at a range of scales from local to global. Freshwater is a critical resource to people, and although water resource indicators have been developed that operate from regional to global scales and for midlatitude to equatorial environments, no appropriate index exists for assessing the vulnerability of Arctic communities to changing water resources at the local scale. The Arctic Water Resource Vulnerability Index (AWRVI) is proposed as a tool that Arctic communities can use to assess their relative vulnerability–resilience to changes in their water resources from a variety of biophysical and socioeconomic processes. The AWRVI is based on a social–ecological systems perspective that includes physical and social indicators of change and is demonstrated in three case study communities/watersheds in Alaska. These results highlight the value of communities engaging in the process of using the AWRVI and the diagnostic capability of examining the suite of constituent physical and social scores rather than the total AWRVI score alone.
An index of macroeconomic performance

This article develops a composite index of macroeconomic performance (IMP) and uses this index to ask: did the macroeconomic performance of the US economy improve during the 1990s relative to its own past performance; and has US macroeconomic performance been superior to that of other advanced capitalist economies during the post‐war period as a whole? It is demonstrated that by studying the behaviour of an IMP, it is possible to draw conclusions about these comparative macroeconomic performance puzzles that are robust with respect to changes between multiple index weighting schemes.
Innovations in the design of bundled-item auctions.

Auctions have captured the attention of economists for several reasons. One is the relevance for specific applications of research on auctions in light of their widespread and growing use in the field, particularly in online transactions. Auctions are also highly amenable to economic analysis, because the rules are generally precisely defined; modern game-theoretic techniques of economic analysis can be brought to bear with fewer simplifying assumptions than for many other areas of economics. Furthermore, the rich variety of possible auction rules and underlying environments in which auctions can be conducted provide a wealth of interesting economic issues to investigate. The study of auctions, which began with the seminal work of Vickrey (1), has yielded useful policy prescriptions with regard to the sale of goods. The work that Porter et al. (2) report and summarize in this issue of PNAS is representative of a particularly interesting and useful branch of this research, the development of combinatorial auctions. The Porter et al. (2) study employs the research methodology of experimental economics. Although introduced later than in the natural sciences and psychology, experimental methods in economics have gained broad acceptance in recent decades. As in the natural sciences, an experiment involves constructing a laboratory environment specifically for the purpose of addressing research questions. Human subjects are placed in a laboratory economy, and their decisions and the resulting outcomes are studied. The investigator is able to observe variables with values that are unknown in typical economic situations, to control parameters of interest, and to replicate the experiment repeatedly under identical conditions. One of the most innovative uses of the methodology has been to design and test new auction rules for use in specific applications. The performance of an auction system is typically evaluated on two criteria: efficiency and revenue. Economists generally view an allocation …
Molecular cloning of cDNA encoding the phenol/aryl form of sulfotransferase (mSTp1) from mouse liver.

Abstract The cDNA sequence of the mouse liver phenol/aryl form of sulfotransferase (mSTpl) has been determined. The cloned cDNA consists of 1269 base pairs (bp) and contains an 897 nucleotide open reading frame (ORF) beginning at nucleotide 65, which encodes a 298 amino acid polypeptide of 34.7 kDa. Alignment of mSTpl to other sulfotransferases shows overall identities of 87% to r-STp, 37% to r-STa, 48% to r-STe, 51% to b-STe, and 37% to h-STa, at the deduced amino acid level.
Improve memory access for achieving both performance and energy efficiencies on heterogeneous systems

Hardware accelerators are capable of achieving significant performance improvement for many applications. In this work we demonstrate that it is critical to provide sufficient memory access bandwidth for accelerators to improve the performance and reduce energy consumption. We use the scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm as a case study in which three bottleneck stages are accelerated on hardware logic. Based on different memory access patterns of SIFT algorithms, two different approaches are designed to accelerate different functions in SIFT on the Xilinx Zynq-7045 device. In the first approach, convolution is accelerated by designing fully customized hardware accelerator. On top of it, three interfacing methods are analyzed. In the second approach, a distributed multi-processor hardware system with its programming model is built to handle inconsecutive memory accesses. Furthermore, the last level cache (LLC) on the host processor is shared by all slaves to achieve better performance. Experiment results on the Zynq-7045 device show that the hybrid design in which two approaches are combined can achieve ∼10 times and better improvement for both performance improvement and energy reduction compared with the pure software implementation for the convolution stage and the SIFT algorithm, respectively.
Characterization of the synthesis and secretion of transforming growth factor-alpha from salivary glands and saliva.

Whole saliva collected from rat, mouse, and human sources was found to contain high concentrations of transforming growth factor-alpha (TGF alpha) when analyzed by RIA. The concentrations of TGF alpha in unstimulated human saliva (age, 30-45 yr; n = 10; 1.5 +/- 3.1 nM) was reduced with age (age, 55-70 yr; n = 10; 0.4 +/- 0.1 nM), but increased in oral pathologies manifested in xerostomia (age, 57-70; n = 6; 0.8 +/- 0.2 nM) and Paget's disease (age, 58-76; n = 8; 2.0 +/- 0.6 nM). Immunohistochemical localization of TGF alpha in the salivary glands of rats and mice revealed specific immunostaining of the granular ductal cells of the parotid and submandibular glands. Reverse transcription followed by polymerase chain reaction amplification of total RNA from the parotid and submandibular glands of rats and mice demonstrated the presence of TGF alpha mRNA, suggesting endogenous synthesis by the salivary glands. Thus, salivary glands appear to be an exocrine source for a second member of the epidermal growth fa...
Usability challenges for enterprise service-oriented architecture APIs

An important part of many programming tasks is the use of libraries and other forms of application programming interfaces (APIs). Programming via Web services using a service-oriented architecture (SOA) is an emerging form of API usage. Web services in a business context (called enterprise SOA or E-SOA) add additional complexity in terms of the number of the services, the variety of internal data structures, and service interdependencies. After altering existing human-computer interaction (HCI) methodologies to address the unique context of software development for SOA, we evaluated a large E-SOA API and identified many usability challenges. Prominent results include difficulties developers encountered while assembling data structures in Web service parameters, cycles of errors due to unclear control parameters within data structures, and difficulties with understanding long identifier names. We recommend a tolerance for unspecified objects in automatically-generated Web service proxy code, consistent data structures in parame ters across services, and encoding optional namespace schemes into WSDL files.
A phased plan for an electric passenger car demonstration: An analysis of planning needs

The criteria for successful demonstrations are reviewed, these criteria are then applied to electric vehicles, and a phased plan is presented for electric vehicle demonstrations supported mainly by the private sector. The phased plan includes a sequence of activities of exploratory study, field tests, and demonstration planning before a costly demonstration is carried out.
Dynamics of children's gait

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to examine the characteristics of gait in 3- and 4-year-old children. Eighteen children completed 20 walking passes on each of two days. Sagittal plane kinematics and ground reaction force patterns were analyzed. From the kinematic data, high standard deviation values were noted for many of the segmental and angular velocity variables, especially the more distal segments and joints. Differences between boys and girls were observed in the linear and angular velocity values associated with the lower extremity. The ground reaction force patterns also displayed differences for the boys and girls with the boys exhibiting a greater difference in the vertical peak force values, a greater braking force, and a greater value for the medio-lateral force excursion measure. The results provide a comprehensive description of the gait characteristics of children and suggest that differences between boys and girls are evident at age 3 and 4.
Critical dynamics of inhomogeneous superconducting films

The Gaussian-random model for the critical dynamics in inhomogeneous superconducting films is augmented by including the quartic interaction term in the free-energy functional. Within the Hartree approximation a self-consistent calculation of the order-parameter relaxation rate $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ is presented. The temperature dependence of $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$ exhibits a pronounced change for various values of the Ginzburg critical width. A comparison with an experiment on Al-${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}$${\mathrm{O}}_{3}$-Pb junction is presented and the validity of the Gaussian-random model for this specific experiment is demonstrated.
Effect of colloids on the survival of bacteriophages in seawater

Abstract A study was undertaken on the effect of colloids on the survival of bacteriophage T 7 in natural seawater. It was found that the biological inactivation of virus T 7 was controlled by the addition of inorganic and organic colloids. Colloidal montmorillonite and Escherichia coli K cells protected the virus from inactivation in natural seawater. The nature of this protective effect is discussed.
Reflections on 35 years with Applied Optics: outgoing editorial

Applied Optics' Editor-in-Chief, Joseph N. Mait reflects on his experience as a reader, author, reviewer and eventual editor of the journal. Dr. Mait also introduces the incoming Editor-in-Chief, Ronald G. Driggers and acknowledges outgoing Division Editor, T.-C. Poon.
Adopting a Viewpoint: Psychology Majors and Psychological Theory

Psychology majors were surveyed about their endorsement of a psychological theory. Fifty-nine percent of the respondents reported adopting a theory; the most widely accepted theoretical viewpoints were the eclectic and the behavioral/learning/social learning positions. Senior majors and those who had taken courses in personality and abnormal psychology were most likely to have adopted a theory. Students reported that the most important influence on their adoption of a theory was its ability to help them understand themselves. Psychology majors also reported that their theoretical viewpoints had a moderate influence on their academic planning and their approach to everyday problems.
Interaction of silver halides with gelatin of like charge

Interactions of gelatin with silver bromide and silver iodide sols of like charges have been studied as a function of gelatin concentration, pH, and addition of neutral electrolytes. Silver halide solsin statu nascendi and aged sols were used in the experiments. Solsin statu nascendi showed a scattering intensity maximum indicating coagulation, while aged sols did not. At higher pH values, the maximum appeared, if sufficient amounts of electrolyte and gelatin were present. It is suggested that gelatin reduces the “effective” surface charge density of the colloidal particles. Such silver halide sols of reduced charge are then coagulated by smaller amounts of electrolytes than the same sols in the absence of gelatin. For very large concentrations of gelatin, close to the gel point, coagulation occurred wheter sols were aged orin statu nascendi.
Acquired CMV chorioretinitis in severe combined immunodeficiency.

Abstract This report documents the occurrence of chorioretinitis apparently due to acquired CMV infection in a male infant with partial immunologic reconstitution of severe combined immunodeficiency. The fundus changes consist primarily of peripheral pigment scarring along vessels, with some focal scarring scattered in the posterior pole. Paramacular edema, small retinal hemorrhages, and choroidal degenerative changes were also part of the chorioretinopathy.
Recurrent Amyloid Involvement in the Vitreous Body After Vitrectomy

A patient with vitreous opacification due to primary familial amyloidosis underwent bilateral vitrectomy via the pars plana with excellent visual results. Two and one half years later opacification of the vitreous body recurred in the retrolental area bilaterally, necessitating a repeat vitrectomy in the left eye. This opacity was successfully removed from the posterior surface of the lens without apparent damage to the lens.
Quantum Chemical Investigation of the Koch Carbonylation of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether (MTBE)

Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) is a widely used additive in oxygenated gasoline that has recently come under environmental pressure. Consequently, the demand for MTBE is likely to decrease in the future, and new uses for MTBE need to be explored. Production of methyl 2,2-dimethylpropanoate (methyl pivalate) via Koch carbonylation chemistry is an attractive option because methyl pivalate has been shown to be a fluid with a much lower ozone-forming potential than many other oxygenated solvents. Semiempirical, Hartree-Fock, MP2, and density functional theory calculations, believed to be the first on this system, indicated that the most energetically difficult step in this chemistry is the decomposition of MTBE to tert-butyl cation and methanol. Specific solvation effects were included in these calculations by inclusion of a small number of explicit solvent molecules, and nonspecific solvation effects were taken into account using a dielectric continuum model.
Interaction of nitric oxide with tetrathiolato iron(II) complexes: relevance to the reaction pathways of iron nitrosyls in sulfur-rich biological coordination environments.

The mechanism of formation of dinitrosyl iron complexes (DNICs) coordinated by cysteine residues at iron−sulfur protein sites has received little attention in the chemical literature. As a logical first step toward elucidating this mechanism and characterizing new iron−nitrosyl intermediates, we investigated the interaction of NO (g) and NO+ with iron−sulfur complexes chosen to mimic sulfur-rich iron sites in biology. The reaction of NO (g) with [Fe(StBu)4]2- cleanly affords the mononitrosyl complex, [Fe(StBu)3(NO)]- (1), a previously unknown species evoked in this chemistry. Reaction of [Fe(StBu)4]2- with NO derivatives, such as NO+, yields the corresponding dinitrosyl S-bridged Roussin red ester [Fe2(μ-StBu)2(NO)4] (2). The nitrosyl complexes 1 and 2 can chemically convert to the DNIC, [Fe(StBu)2(NO)2]- (3). The results should aid in the spectroscopic identification and elucidation of reaction pathways for the nitrosylation of iron in biologically related sulfur-rich coordination environments.
Membrane trafficking and the cytoskeleton: an integrated view. ASCB/EMBO/Dudley Wright Summer Research Conference, Santa Maria Imbaro, Italy, June 26-30, 1999.

The beautiful grounds, facilities and location of the Consorzio Mario Negri Sud in Santa Maria Imbaro, on the Adriatic Coast of Italy, were the site at the end of June for a stimulating, interdisciplinary meeting entitled ‘Membrane trafficking and the cytoskeleton: an integrated view’. This meeting represented the fifth and final offering of biannual summer research conferences held this decade, arranged and supported jointly by the European Molecular Biology Organization, the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) and the H.Dudley Wright Foundation of Switzerland. Daniela Corda and Alberto Luini of the Department of Cell Biology and Oncology of the Consorzio hosted the meeting, supported by the excellent administrative assistance of Raffaella Bertazzi and Dorothy Doyle. The meeting topic was conceived and the sessions were organized by George Bloom (University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, Dallas, TX), Viki Allen (University of Manchester, Manchester, UK), Jennifer Lippincott‐Schwartz [National Institutes of Health (NIH) Division of Child Health and Human Development] and the late Thomas Kreis (University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland) who lost his life in the SwissAir crash last year. The meeting was attended by ∼175 principal investigators, postdoctoral and graduate students representing 14 European countries plus the USA, Canada, Japan, Israel and New Zealand. Additional funding for the meeting was provided by the National Cancer Institute of the NIH, the National Science Foundation and the Keith Porter Foundation. The purpose of these topic‐oriented summer research conferences, as envisioned by the late Mr Dudley Wright, is to foster scientific exchange between various groups of scientists isolated from each other by geographical constraints, or differences in fields or approaches to a problem. The meeting in Italy certainly succeeded in fulfilling Mr Wright's intent and was notable for its inclusion of many scientists at the postdoctoral and graduate student levels. It focused attention on two …