cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Solution of the Falkner-Skan equation by recursive evaluation of Taylor coefficients

We present a computational method for the solution of the third-order boundary value problem characterized by the well-known Falkner-Skan equation on a semi-infinite domain. Numerical treatments of this problem reported in the literature thus far are based on shooting and finite differences. While maintaining the simplicity of the shooting approach, the method presented in this paper uses a technique known as automatic differentiation, which is neither numerical nor symbolic. Using automatic differentiation, a Taylor series solution is constructed for the initial value problems by calculating the Taylor coefficients recursively. The effectiveness of the method is illustrated by applying it successfully to various instances of the Falkner-Skan equation.
Cortisol Secretion by an Incidentally Discovered Nonfunctional Adrenal Adenoma

We describe a middle–aged man with late–onset multiple sclerosis and an incidentally discovered asymptomatic adrenal mass. He had no symptoms or signs of hypercortisolism. A 24–h profile revealed fluctuating serum cortisol values (between 15.1 and 4.7 fig⁄dl) and inappropriately low plasma ACTH values. Urinary cortisol excretion was 89 and 106 ng⁄day on two occasions. After a 4–h ACTH infusion,serum cortisol rose from 6.3 to 108 ⁄ig⁄dl. The serum dehydroepiandosteronelevel, 33 ng⁄dl before ACTH stimulation, did not change. During dexamethasone administration, the lowest daily urinary cortisol excretion was 37 jig⁄day, and 17–ketosteroid excretion was 8 mg⁄ day. The response to metyrapone showed a rise of serum 11– deoxycortisol to 25.6 ⁄xg⁄dl and of ACTH to 169.5 pg⁄ml. Afterremoval of the tumor, most likely an adenoma, the circadianpattern of cortisol and ACTH was normal. During a 4–h ACTH infusion, the serum cortisol level rose from 10 to 27 Mg⁄dl,and dehydroepiandrosterone rose from 62 to 90 ng⁄dl. Dur...
Correlating ethylene glycol reforming activity with in-situ EXAFS detection of Ni segregation in supported NiPt bimetallic catalysts

The structural changes in supported NiPt/C and NiPt/γ-Al2O3 catalysts were investigated using in situ extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) under aqueous phase reforming (APR) of ethylene glycol conditions. Reverse Monte Carlo is introduced to analyze the EXAFS data. Parallel reactor studies of APR of ethylene glycol showed that NiPt catalysts were initially more active than monometallic Pt catalysts. The enhanced activity was correlated to changes in the catalyst structure. Under APR conditions, Ni segregated to the surface of the catalysts, resembling Ni-terminated bimetallic surfaces that were predicted to be more active than Pt from theoretical and experimental studies on model surfaces.
Synthesis of repeating sequence copolymers of lactic, glycolic, and caprolactic acids

Repeating sequence copolymers of poly(lactic-co-caprolactic acid) (PLCA), poly(glycolic-co-caprolactic acid) (PGCA), and poly(lactic-co-glycolic-co-caprolactic acid) (PLGCA) have been synthesized by polymerizing segmers with a known sequence in yields of 50–85% with Mns ranging from 18–49 kDa. The copolymers exhibited well-resolved NMR resonances indicating that the sequence encoded in the segmers used in their preparation is retained and that transesterification is minimal. The exact sequences allowed for unambiguous assignment of the NMR spectra, and these standards were compared with the data previously reported for random copolymers. The glass transition temperatures (Tgs) of the PLCA and PGCA copolymers were found to depend primarily on monomer ratio rather than sequence. Sequence dependent Tgs were, however, noted for the PLGCA polymers with 1:1:1 L:G:C ratios; poly LGC and poly GLC exhibited Tgs that differed by nearly 8 °C. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011
System architecture of an optical reasoning system

This paper presents the architecture of an optical artificial intelligence system that uses mathematical resolution to reason from facts to conclusions. Data storage, logical operations, and interconnection are all accomplished using medium-scale optical components. The system performs parallel inference and search to achieve high performance. Alternative architectures are considered, and simulation results are presented that demonstrate the effect of variations in system architecture.
Gorilla adaptations to naturalistic environments

In the past few decades there have been increased investigations into the effects of captive environments on behavior. Simultaneously, zoological gardens have undergone a revolution in philosophy and design, resulting in a proliferation of “naturalistic” habitats. Complex environments such as these have been found to affect the behavior of captive animals favorably, including increasing reproductive and rearing success, encouraging the expression of species-typical behavior patterns, and decreasing abnormal behaviors. In June 1988, Zoo Atlanta completed four naturalistic habitats for western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). These new habitats afforded a unique opportunity to study the adaptation of lowland gorillas to novel, naturalistic habitats. During the first year of habitation, a total of 451 hours of data were collected on 11 gorillas housed in three harem groups. Focal animal sampling with a behavioral change scoring system was used to obtain information on behavior, substrate, environmental components utilized, and location in sun or shade. Instantaneous scans at 15 minute intervals provided information on location and behavior of all individuals. Adaptation to the environments was assessed by using the indices of: time spent manipulating objects across the course of the study, the percent of the habitats utilized, and the dispersal of individual animals over the habitats. Trends in these behaviors indicated that exploration of the environments significantly decreased, but that this decline in exploration took over six months to occur. Several interpretations of these findings are presented including the unfamiliarity of these naturalistic habitats to these subjects.
Crime and Punishment and Corruption: Who Needs “Untouchables?”

Becker's result that fines should be maximized is also applicable to some social environments where law enforcers are corrupt. If the regulated activity is legal, the principal may efficiently deter crime without an anti-corruption unit. An opportunistic anti-corruption unit, even when corrupt, becomes useful for the principal when the activity is illegal, since the principal's goal of maximizing fines motivates the unit to collect bribes from the enforcer, which subsequently induces the enforcer to be nearly completely honest, minimizing corruption. Therefore, we show that there is not necessarily an infinite regress originating with the puzzle of who polices the police.
Celebrating a life by recognizing realities.

This special issue on nonhuman primate behavior and welfare, the proceedings of a special Animal Behavior Society session, celebrates the life of Dr. Sylvia Taylor (1963-2005). Sylvia's premature death reminded her friends to recognize the reality that life is short, but one can make the most of it. Many individuals and organizations have also recognized the reality that an educational venture such as this one requires adequate funding and support. Their generosity has made this undertaking a success. The idea behind the session was to recognize the reality that one cannot ensure nonhuman animal welfare without understanding animal behavior, and to explore the ways in which this principle applies to primates. One must also recognize the reality that nonhuman primate welfare depends on understanding the behavior of the human primate as well as the nonhuman primate. Ensuring the welfare of the nonhuman primate sometimes requires educating and motivating the human primate. This special issue will hopefully p...
Effect of 1partial thickness actuation on stress concentration reduction near a hole

Recently, there has been much interest in adaptive structures that can respond to a varying environment by changing their properties. Piezoelectric materials and shape memory alloys (SMA) are often used as partial thickness actuators to create such adaptivity by applied energy, usually electric curent. These actuators can be used to inducce strains in a structure and reduce stresses in regions of high stress concentration. Two of the present authors show that axisymmetric actuation strains applied troughout the thickness of a plate with a hole can reduce the stress concentration factor (SCF) in an isotropic plate from 3 to 2. However, in most cases actuators are expected to be bonded to or embedded in the plate, so that the actuation strains are applied in the actuators and not directly in the plate. The objective of this note is to show that such partial-thickness actuation cannot be used to reduce the stress concentration factor with axisymmetric actuations strain distribution.
On the training of DS-CDMA neural-network receivers

In this paper we prove formally that the optimum (nonlinear) DS-CDMA single-user decision boundary exhibits the following properties: (i) it is symmetric with respect to the origin and (ii) as it is traversed away from the origin, it converges to a hyperplane parallel to the MF decision boundary. Then, we translate properties (i) and (ii) to a set of constraints that can be used by any optimization algorithm for the selection (training) of the parameters of a general multi-layer-perceptron neural-network receiver. Using these constraints, the number of parameters to be optimized is reduced by nearly 50% for large-size networks, which effectively doubles the speed of any training procedure. Furthermore, we utilize properties (i) and (ii) to develop a new initialization scheme that provides additional improvements on the convergence rate and can be used by any recursive optimization algorithm. As a representative case study we consider the back-propagation (BP) algorithm and develop a constrained version of it that incorporates both the proposed constraints and the proposed initialization. The convergence rate enhancement achieved fay constrained-BP is illustrated by simulations.
ROMP crosslinkers for the preparation of aliphatic aerogels

Abstract Ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP) using Grubbs second generation catalyst generates aliphatic gels from norbornene based crosslinkable monomers with a functionality of 2 or 3. Supercritical drying of these gels (CO 2 ) leads to the formation of aerogels with densities as low as 4 mg mL − 1 . The microstructure was analyzed by SEM, and pore analyses by nitrogen adsorption. The use of crosslinkable monomers allows the straightforward synthesis of aerogels consisting of only carbon and hydrogen with C:H ratios up to ca. CH 1.58 with a finer microstructure than that of DCPD.
Forecast for financial services in 2010: no room for laggards

Purpose – The worldwide market for financial services is evolving rapidly, and is likely to look very different by the year 2010. This study identifies major market drivers and operational challenges that financial institutions will likely face over the next four years and pin‐points the strategies and practices recommended to create the “Hallmarks of Success”.Design/methodology/approach – This report is based on industry and literature reviews and builds on research carried out by Deloitte Research on the financial services industry.Findings – New asset classes such as private equity and hedge funds are attracting a growing number of investors. The payments business, a major source of revenue for financial institutions, is being restructured. In many countries, the impending retirement of baby boomers is changing the focus of financial services from long‐term accumulation to managed consumption. Emerging markets are becoming increasingly important sources of growth for firms in mature economies. Financia...
The nieuwkoid/dharma Homeobox Gene Is Essential for bmp2b Repression in the Zebrafish Pregastrula

Dorsoventral specification of the zebrafish gastrula is governed by the functions of the dorsal shield, a region of the embryo functionally analogous to the amphibian Spemann organizer. We report that the bozozok locus encodes the transcription factor nieuwkoid/dharma, a homeobox gene with non-cell-autonomous organizer-inducing activity. The nieuwkoid/dharma gene is expressed prior to the onset of gastrulation in a restricted region of an extraembryonic tissue, the yolk syncytial layer, that directly underlies the presumptive organizer cells. A single base-pair substitution in the nieuwkoid/dharma gene results in a premature stop codon in boz(m168) mutants, leading to the generation of a truncated protein product which lacks the homeodomain and fails to induce a functional organizer in misexpression assays. Embryos homozygous for the boz(m168) mutation exhibit impaired dorsal shield specification often leading to the loss of shield derivatives, such as prechordal plate in the anterior and notochord in the posterior, along the entire anteroposterior axis. Furthermore, boz homozygotes feature a loss of neural fates anterior to the midbrain/hindbrain boundary. Characterization of homozygous mutant embryos using molecular markers indicates that the boz ventralized phenotype may be due, in part, to the derepression of a secreted antagonizer of dorsal fates, zbmp2b, on the dorsal side of the embryo prior to the onset of gastrulation. Furthermore, ectopic expression of nieuwkoid/dharma RNA is sufficient to lead to the down regulation of zbmp2b expression in the pregastrula. Based on these results, we propose that gastrula organizer specification requires the Nieuwkoop center-like activity mediated by the nieuwkoid/dharma/bozozok homeobox gene and that this activity reveals the role of a much earlier than previously suspected inhibition of ventral determinants prior to dorsal shield formation.
Matrix operator theory of radiative transfer. 1: rayleigh scattering.

An entirely rigorous method for the solution of the equations for radiative transfer based on the matrix operator theory is reviewed. The advantages of the present method are: (1) all orders of the reflection and transmission matrices are calculated at once; (2) layers of any thickness may be combined, so that a realistic model of the atmosphere can be developed from any arbitrary number of layers, each with different properties and thicknesses; (3) calculations can readily be made for large optical depths and with highly anisotropic phase functions; (4) results are obtained for any desired value of the surface albedo including the value unity and for a large number of polar and azimuthal angles; (5) all fundamental equations can be interpreted immediately in terms of the physical interactions appropriate to the problem; and (6) both upward and downward radiance can be calculated at interior points from relatively simple expressions.
Study of 3D Mixing Processes by Numerical and Experimental Approaches

Mixing vessels are widely used for blending and chemical reactions. Although much has been done on mixing processes, the complex, three-dimensional flow phenomena are still not well understood. The purpose of our first step in this research is the simulation and validation of time-resolved, three-dimensional velocity vector data. Such results are an essential part of the design of mixing systems, but are generally not available to the engineers. The computational work involves direct numerical simulation (DNS) and large eddy simulation (LES) of the Navier-Stokes equations. Later, modeling of the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations will be undertaken as a simplified approach. Simulations and modeling are being validated by experiments. Two flow mixing systems are under investigation. First and most important for validation is an opposed jet flow system that offers some unique characteristics that can be used for validation of DNS/LES simulations. It also has applications in the injection molding of plastics. Second, simulations of impeller driven mixing vessels that are more commonly used in processing are under development. Here the moving mesh system adds complexity. In addition, visualization of both numerical and experimental results, 3-D particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) techniques have been developed. The proposed paper will address the problems in the modeling of chemical mixing and discuss the results of simulation and validation.Copyright © 2002 by ASME
Improved blood pressure control with a physician-nurse team and home blood pressure measurement.

OBJECTIVE To assess whether a physician-nurse team model could improve long-term hypertension control rates by active intervention and modification of antihypertensive drug regimens based on home blood pressure (BP) measurements. PATIENTS AND METHODS This study consisted of patients referred to a hypertension specialty clinic between July 1999 and June 2002 for the evaluation and management of uncontrolled hypertension. Patients were evaluated initially by a physician. A treatment plan was designed and implemented subsequently by a hypertension nurse specialist. Each patient was given an automated digital home BP monitor and requested to provide 42 BP readings taken during 7 days at intervals of 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after dismissal from the clinic. The mean of these weekly values was reviewed by the physician-nurse team, and the treatment regimen was adjusted to achieve a goal BP of less than 135/85 mm Hg. RESULTS One hundred six consecutively referred patients were enrolled in the study (mean ± SD age, 64±14 years; 58% female; baseline BP, 156±16/85±11 mm Hg). Ninety-four patients submitted BP data after 1 month, and 78 patients completed the entire 12-month study period. Overall, mean BP decreased to 138±17/78±8 mm Hg at 1 month and to 131±9/75±7 mm Hg at 12 months ( P P CONCLUSION The use of home BP measurement by a physiciannurse team has the potential to significantly improve long-term hypertension control rates in a geographically dispersed patient population. This model should reduce both cost and inconvenience associated with the treatment of hypertension.
Processing of polyurethane/polyester interpenetrating polymer networks by reaction injection molding. Part III: Flow reorientation through multiple impingement

This is the third of a three-part paper investigating the feasibility of processing polyurethane/polyester Interpenetrating Polymer Networks (IPN) by Reaction Injection Molding (RIM).1 Two basic issues are addressed concerning the improvement of the mixing scale in impingement mixing, namely, the influence of multiple impingement on the microscale and the number of flow dividing elements needed to achieve a certain degree of mixing. It was found that the incorporation of cascading stages does improve mixing further. The extent of improvement depends on the secondary stream Reynolds number and the local impingement pressure. A transition zone generally demarcates the beginning of marginal improvement on the number of elements used. Since the cascading configuration operates in a manner analogous to “motionless mixers,” there is a practical limit to the number of stages that can be used. At a primary impingement pressure of 18,000 psi, for instance, an overall improvement of 53 percent is recorded for a flow through a total of 80 stages. A noticeable 23 percent is noted within the first ten stages while the next 70 stages enhance mixing by only 30 percent. Thermal and dynamic mechanical analysis revealed some degree of interpenetration between the two networks.
Application of an Adiabatic WRF Adjoint to the Investigation of the May 2004 McMurdo, Antarctica, Severe Wind Event

Abstract The tangent linear and adjoint of an adiabatic version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model with its Advanced Research WRF (ARW) dynamic core have been developed. The source-to-source automatic differentiation tool [i.e., the Transformation of Algorithm (TAF) in FORTRAN] was used in the development. Tangent linear and adjoint checks of the developed adiabatic WRF adjoint modeling system (WAMS) were conducted, and all necessary correctness verification procedures were passed. As the first application, the adiabatic WAMS was used to study the adjoint sensitivity of a severe windstorm in Antarctica. Linearity tests indicated that an adjoint-based sensitivity study with the Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) 90-km domain configuration for the windstorm is valid up to 24 h. The adjoint-based sensitivity calculation with adiabatic WAMS identified sensitive regions for the improvement of the 24-h forecast of the windstorm. It is indicated that the windstorm forecast largely reli...
Reversible changes in the stability of phosphofructokinase in rat diaphragms

Abstract Phosphofructokinase from rat diaphragms undergoes reversible change from stable to labile form. Enzyme activity in tissue extracts immediately following sacrifice was stable. The enzyme becomes labile after incubation of the diaphragms in Krebs-Ringer for 30 min. Stability of the enzyme can be reversed by electrical stimulation of the intact diaphragms in the presence of epinephrine. It is suggested that changes in the lability of phosphofructokinase could be an extra factor involved in its regulation.
Measuring Market Timing: An International Examination of Market Timing Conditions

The objective of this article is to introduce an expost measure of market timing independent of luck or skill in order to identify when market conditions are more favorable to successful market timing and to evaluate the conclusions of several previous academic studies. We propose that basic market conditions rotate from favoring buy-and-hold investing to favoring market timing strategies, and that these conditions can be measured in any equity market by tracking the results of a constant skilled market timer. We seek to identify what market return conditions are more conducive to successful timing for this constant-skilled investor and when these conditions have been present over our sample period. The MTBH metric was calculated for 44 countries for 14 years and compares findings of eight previous studies of the timing ability in mutual fund managers, stock traders, option traders, and individual investors across several U.S. and international indexes. The MTBH metric is particularly accurate in explaining the positive timing results for options traders and hedge fund managers, but not as accurate in explaining mutual fund timing. The MTBH metric provides an alternative explanation for non-persistent market-timing results outside of the investors’ behavior or skill and can be applied to any foreign or domestic market to evaluate managers’ timing results.
New frontiers for brentuximab vedotin for lymphomas.

Targeting of the potent anti-tubulin agent, monomethyl auristatin E (MMAE), directly to CD30 positive tumor cells using brentuximb vedotin (BV) has recently proven to be quite eff ective for patients with relapsed and refractory (rel/ref ) Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). Before the entry of BV, these patients had very limited treatment options at their disposal, and the introduction of BV has undoubtedly prolonged many lives. However, the full extent of its impact on HL and ALCL still remains to be determined. Clinical trials evaluating BV in the front-line setting in HL and ALCL are under way and may lead to dramatic changes in our treatment strategies for these malignancies. Following its success in HL and ALCL, the logical next step was to determine which other patient categories might benefi t from BV. Other non-Hodgkin lymphomas are known to express CD30 at varying rates, but whether this would translate into sensitivity to BV was still unknown. It was also unclear at this point what constitutes CD30 positivity and what percentage of CD30 positive cells is required to regard a tumor as positive or whether there was a particular cut-off suffi cient for BV activity. Ongoing studies are beginning to provide an answer to these questions, although some of the answers given may not be what we would have expected. Considerable single-agent activity has been reported for BV in other CD30 positive B cell lymphomas and systemic T cell lymphomas, as well as mycosis fungoides (MF) (Table I) (1 - 3). Contrary to what we may have predicted, in each of these analyses, the level of CD30 expression did not cor- relate with response to BV, and in fact, responses were even observed among patients determined by immunohis- tochemical (IHC) staining to have no CD30 expression in their tumors. Th e reason for this is as yet not known; how- ever, it is possible that a very low level of CD30 expression is indeed suffi cient for BV effi cacy due to the action of free MMAE on neighboring CD30-negative cells at the time of its release from dying CD30-positive cells within tumors. Fur- thermore, standard IHC may not be sensitive enough to detect very low levels of CD30 expression. Among patients with MF treated with BV, Krathen and colleagues were able to detect CD30 expression using quantitative image analysis on biop- sies from 12 patients that were initially deemed negative by routine IHC. Even with this more sophisticated technique for evaluating CD30 expression, though, no correlation between CD30 expression and sensitivity to BV was found (3). While these fi ndings clearly raise questions regarding mechanisms of resistance to BV and the issues of biomarkers of sensitivity
Surgical resection of solitary brain metastasis from cervical cancer

This is the first report of a patient with cervical cancer who underwent surgical resection of a solitary brain metastasis eight years following diagnosis. This case is unique because of the indolent nature of the tumor and because the patient had resection of metastatic lung nodules three years earlier. In this particular case, the patient9s survival was not prolonged, so craniotomy and resection cannot be recommended in this disease, even when there has been a prolonged disease progression-free interval. Palliative management should include steroids and radiation therapy.
A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study of Polymer Dynamics in Aqueous Poly(ethylene oxide) Solutions

We have performed molecular dynamics simulations of aqueous solutions of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) in order to investigate the influence of water on polymer dynamics as a function of solution composition. Simulations were performed on 12 repeat unit PEO chains (530 Da) at 318 K covering a composition range (polymer weight fraction wp) from 0.17 to 1.0. It was found that addition of a small amount of water to a PEO melt dramatically affects polymer dynamics on all length scales, leading to a maximum in relaxation times in the range wp = 0.78−0.90, with the greatest effect occurring for smaller length-scale motions. With further dilution relaxation times decreased dramatically, with the greatest effect occurring for the largest length-scale motions. Water slows the rate of conformational transitions in PEO compared to the melt, an effect that sets in rapidly with initial dilution and saturates at wp ≈ 0.5. Initial addition of water leads to an increase in the heterogeneity of the rate of conformational tra...
Comment: Challenges in defining the clinical spectrum of neurogenetic disorders

Diagnostic parsimony and a focus on single genes may encourage overinterpretation of the clinical import of specific genetic variants. With conditions as complex and common as migraine, there are additional confounding factors: clinical and genetic heterogeneity and incomplete penetrance. Pelzer et al.1 re-examined a family with both hemiplegic migraine (FHM) and benign familial infantile seizures (BFIS) previously attributed to a mutation in the FHM2 gene ATP1A2 .2 The recent discovery of mutations in the proline-rich transmembrane protein 2 ( PRRT2 ) gene primarily in familial paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia but also in other childhood-onset episodic disorders (including FHM and BFIS) prompted the authors to re-examine this family to uncover a new mutation in PRRT2 .
Transcription in vitro of the bacteriophage P22 antirepressor gene

By transcribing bacteriophage P22 DNA in vitro with Escherichia coli RNA polymerase, we identify the transcript synthesized from Pant, the promoter for expression of the antirepressor gene (ant). The Pant in vitro transcript is about 1·2 × 103 bases in size and is one of the most abundant large RNA species synthesized from phage DNA under these conditions. The results of experiments using templates modified by insertion of the translocatable ampicillin resistance element Tn1 or by cleavage with restriction endonucleases show that the Pant transcript is synthesized rightward, contains the entire ant coding sequence, and terminates before gene 9, which encodes the P22 tail protein. This finding is consistent with the observation that gene 9 is not expressed from the Pant promoter in vivo. Six independent spontaneous mutations that prevent synthesis of antirepressor protein in vivo also prevent synthesis of the Pant transcript in vitro; these six mutations most probably inactivate the Pant promoter. Reversion of one of these “promoter-down” (Pant↓) mutations by selection for the Ant+ phenotype simultaneously restores synthesis of antirepressor protein in vivo and synthesis of the Pant transcript in vitro. Phage that carry a Pant↓ point mutation synthesize no detectable antirepressor protein, although they produce gene 9 protein late in infection. Thus, although the entire ant coding sequence is presumably transcribed in the sense direction from the phage P22 promoter for late gene expression (Plate), antirepressor protein does not appear to be synthesized from the Plate transcript.
Single crystal raman study of tetramethylammonium cadmium chloride

Abstract The Raman spectra of (CH3)4NCdCl3 are reported and the low frequency lattice modes are compared with those of the isomorphous crystal (CH3)4NMnCl3.
Phase Coherent Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation

We demonstrate the first measurement of XUV radiation with long coherence times via a direct heterodyne beat in the XUV. We generated the XUV radiation by coupling a frequency comb to an enhancement cavity to perform HHG.
Performance Analysis of Uplink Scheduling Algorithms for VoIP Services in the IEEEE 802.16e OFDMA System

While the voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services is expected to be widely supported in wireless mobile networks, the performance of VoIP services has not previously been evaluated in the IEEE 802.16e orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system taking the adaptive modulation and coding scheme into consideration. To support real-time uplink service flows, three different types of scheduling have been designed in the IEEE 802.16e standard: the unsolicited grant service (UGS), the real-time polling service (rtPS), and the extended rtPS (ertPS). In this paper, we compare the three real-time scheduling algorithms in terms of the performance of VoIP services by using the analytical and simulation models that we developed.
Automatic data analysis of real-time song and locomotor activity in zebra finches

The zebra finch is a superb natural animal model to study cognition and as such could contribute to the further understanding of nicotinic intervention therapies for patients suffering from cognitive impairment as observed in neurodegenerative disorders. Manual analysis of data produced by this model is extremely labour intensive, error-prone, and typically takes weeks to complete. We designed data acquisition methods, selected analysis algorithms, and developed software to efficiently and accurately automate the detection and classification of song production (cognitive functioning) and locomotor activity (physical condition). Our custom-designed software accurately classifies song and locomotor activities. After classification, the reduced data sets can be further analysed with popular tools, such as 'R'.
Serotonin modulation of the release of sequestered [3H]serotonin from nerve terminals in an insect neurohemal organ in vitro.

Abstract Exogenous tritiated serotonin ([3H]5-HT) is taken up by and released from serotonin-containing fibers within abdominal nerves ofRhodnius prolixus during in vitro incubations. Sequestered [3H]5-HT behaves as expected of an endogenous neurosecretory product in this system. Release is Ca2+-dependent during both K+-induced and physiologically induced secretory episodes. The kinetics of the release of sequestered label parallels the kinetics of release of endogenous neurohormones. Preloaded preparations which are washed with unlabeled 5-HT release label in two fashions; 5-HT itself induces a release of label and, at lower concentrations, 5-HT facilitates the release of label induced by high K+ washes. Facilitatory effects appear to be mediated through receptors within the neurohemal organ (NHO).
"Weight cycling" and mortality: how do the epidemiologists explain the role of intentional weight loss?

In the past 5 years, four prospective, epidemiologic studies of "weight cycling" found that mortality is higher for persons with unstable body weight than for persons whose body weight is relatively stable [1-3,5]. These findings have generated considerable interest and controversy in both the scientific community and the lay press because of the belief that the weight fluctuations were caused by intentional weight loss. None of these studies, however, collected information that would indicate whether the weight changes were intentional or unintentional. This review examines the reasons given by the authors of these studies to support the inference that intentional weight loss caused the increase in mortality. The authors acknowledged that weight loss can be caused by preexisting illness, and they usually made efforts to control for the confounding effects of illness in their analyses. However, they generally concluded that the weight fluctuations resulted from unsuccessful dieting, but no data were presented on the incidence or causes of weight fluctuation in the populations from which the samples were drawn. In none of the studies did the authors recommend that obese persons stop trying to lose weight. The reader is cautioned to await further studies in which intentionality of weight loss is directly assessed before concluding that dieting to reduce weight increases the risk of mortality.
A 2-to-10 Watt Monolithic Integrated Power Amplifier

This paper presents some unique device characteristics and typical applications of a power amplifier. The device incorporates such features as high current capability, temperature shut down and short circuit protection. It also offers a choice of operation over a wide range of output loads and supply voltages. Simple external circuitry and minimal circuit components make this IC an outstanding candidate for low to medium power audio systems, high power audio driver, servo motor driver, low voltage high current adjustable power supply and numerous thick film applications.
Relationships of stress, appraisal and coping, to chronic low back pain.

Abstract There is evidence that coping strategies play an important role in chronic pain problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between Stressors, appraisals, coping responses, and chronic low back pain. Eighty-five community volunteers with chronic low back pain completed self-report measures of pain and the reversed Ways of Coping Checklist, a questionnaire assessing primary Stressor and related appraisals and coping responses. Only 43% identified pain or physical limitations as their primary Stressor. Significant differences in average pain during the past week, coping strategies, and appraisals of the Stressor were found between patients who identified pain or physical limitations as their primary Stressor and those who did not. Examination of the relationships between appraisal and coping revealed that certain appraisals of the pain problem were associated with certain coping responses. Appraisals were not directly associated with pain ratings, but blaming oneself was negatively related to ratings of average pain during the previous week, and seeking social support was negatively related to present pain ratings on the McGill Pain Questionnaire. The findings indicate the importance of studying appraisal and coping processes in chronic pain patients, and directions for future research are suggested.
Ultrathin single-mode image fiber for medical usage

Miniaturization of silica-based ultrathin imagefibers is needed to serve more medical applications in diagnostic imaging. However, by reducing the pixel element size rapidly, the imagefibers were found to have the characteristics of the single-mode imagefiber. The optical properties of the ultrathin imagefiber with the LP11 mode cutoff wavelength within the visible wavelength region, which is called the single-mode imagefiber, have been studied. The studies found that the property of wavelength selective propagation associated with single-mode ultrathin imagefibers can be applied to the field of biomedical diagnostic imaging as a fluorescence sensor.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Ion induced damage in strained CdZnSe/ZnSe quantum well structures

A study of the effects of reactive ion etching on molecular beam epitaxy grown (CdxZn1−xSe/ZnSe) strained quantum well (QW) samples using low temperature photoluminescence reveals a blue shift in the characteristic peak position of the 8 nm QW when exposed to plasmas of H2, D2, or He. Based on experimental results we suggest that this blue shift is a result of ion induced damage interacting with strain present in the as-grown QW. The QW is compressively strained at the interface with additional local strains in the QW lattice due to its random ternary alloy composition. The shallowest QW samples exhibit a peak in the blue shift as a function of bias voltage, with a reduced blue shift seen at high voltages.
Pervaporation as a green drying process for tetrahydrofuran recovery in pharmaceutical synthesis

The use of pervaporation technology as a green drying process for the recovery and reuse of the solvent, tetrahyrdofuran, in a pharmaceutical synthesis has been evaluated. A case study has been performed on a step in the synthesis of a new oncology drug. Pervaporation has been integrated with a constant-volume distillation process to produce a hybrid system that allows for the recovery and reuse of tetrahydrofuran. An economic and environmental analysis shows that this is an effective technology for this application.
Newborn blood spot screening: New opportunities, old problems

Newborn screening is evolving very rapidly. Geographical coverage is expanding, particularly for common disorders such as congenital hypothyroidism. New technologies, particularly tandem mass spectrometry and high throughput mutation analysis, have increased greatly the range of disorders which could be covered. However, these new possibilities are being exploiting at very different rates in different countries. This is due in part to the different ways in which generally-accepted screening criteria, based on the ten principles of Wilson and Jungner, are being interpreted and applied to policy. The appropriate management of some of the conditions newly-detectable by screening also remains controversial and there is a pressing need to align screening policy and clinical practice. Critical analysis and careful collection of data on an international basis are required to resolve these issues.
An efficient two-electron integral transformation for vector-concurrent computer architectures

A matrix-multiplication based implementation of the two-electron integral transformation is compared to the “optimized” algorithm recently presented by Hurley, Huestis and Goddard. In spite of its poorer operation count, the matrix-multiplication based program runs significantly faster on the Alliant FX/8 than the code described by Hurley et al. Our code also uses much less memory, but requires more disk storage. Trade-offs between the requirements for disk storage, central memory, number of computing elements and CPU time are also discussed.
On the spatial variation of seismic ground motions and its effects on lifelines

Abstract The effect of the spatial variability-incoherence and apparent propagation of the seismic ground motions on the response of buried and above-ground lifelines is analysed. Simulations based on the most commonly used spatial variability models are generated and the correspondence between the characteristics of the models and those of the space-time simulations is identified. The correlation between the degree of exponential decay in the incoherence of the motions and the response of the structures is determined. It is shown that seismic ground motions that are partially correlated at low frequencies induce the highest quasistatic internal forces in lifelines, whereas motions with slowly decaying incoherence produce the highest contribution to the dynamic response. The significance of the incoherence and the apparent propagation of the motions on the response of the structures is also examined. The apparent propagation of the motions affects the response considerably at low apparent propagation velocities. For higher values of the velocity and for seismic motions that exhibit loss of coherence, the apparent propagation of the motions produces a lower-order effect compared to that of their incoherence for the structures analysed. The most important effect of the spatial incoherence is the introduction of significant quasistatic internal forces in the structures.
TRAINING ECOLOGISTS TO THINK WITH UNCERTAINTY IN MIND

Predictive capacity is needed to anticipate the consequences of global change. Along with the computational challenges inherent in accounting for uncertainly in models of ecological and physical processes related to global change, we face educational challenges related to developing the intellectual capital for thinking with uncertainty in mind. Hand in hand with promoting the kinds of research needed to advance the evolving science of ecological forecasting, we need to set an education agenda for developing and enhancing computational literacy of current and future ecologists, managers, and policymakers. Key elements of an educational agenda are (1) defining the audiences and what each needs to know and be able to do; (2) developing curricula and pedagogical strategies in which thinking skills and conceptual understanding are, by design, linked; (3) addressing training needs of faculty to teach effectively about uncertainty to these different audiences; and (4) creating and implementing assessment tools to explore the impact of programs designed to train ecologists to think with uncertainty in mind. Assessing the extent to which new training models have impacted forecasting research and the conceptual understanding of ecologists is an important topic for future scholarship in education, and a natural area for collaboration between forecasting and education researchers.
Impact of sea grass density on carbonate dissolution in Bahamian sediments

Carbonate dissolution has been widely observed in shallow water tropical sediments. However, sediment budgets have generally not been closed with respect to the amount of acid required to produce the observed carbonate dissolution. Recently it has been suggested that enhanced oxygen transport into sediments through the roots and rhizomes of sea grasses might play a role in resolving this mass balance problem. We conducted studies of sea grass‐carbonate sediment interactions around Lee Stocking Island, Exuma Islands, Bahamas to further examine this problem. Our studies showed that alkalinity, total dissolved inorganic carbon ( SCO2) and Ca 21 increased with depth in the pore waters, while pH and calculated carbonate ion concentration decreased with depth. These observations are consistent with the occurrence of carbonate dissolution in these sediments. The magnitude of pore water alkalinity, SCO2, and Ca 21 changes was also related to sea grass density, with the largest gradients seen in the sediments of dense sea grass beds. Calculations suggested that less than ;50% of the O2 needed to drive aerobic respiration (and ultimately carbonate dissolution via CO2 production) could be supplied by transport processes such as diffusion, bioturbation, and physical pore water advection. Furthermore, the O 2 needed to balance the carbonate dissolution budget could be provided by the transport of ,15% of the photosynthetically derived O2 to the sediments through sea grass roots and rhizomes without enhancing the removal of carbonate dissolution end products. Thus sea grasses play an important role in controlling the rates of carbonate dissolution in shallow water tropical marine sediments.
Comparison of wild type and genetically engineered nuclear polyhedrosis viruses of Autographa californica for mortality, virus replication and polyhedra production in Trichoplusia ni larvae

Virus replication and polyhedra production of two polyhedron-positive recombinant nuclear polyhedrosis viruses of Autographa californica, AcJHE.KK and AcAaIT which encode juvenile hormone esterase and scorpion toxin, respectively, were compared with those of a plaque purified wild-type nuclear polyhedrosis virus, AcMNPV-C6, in Trichoplusia ni larvae. Though average times required to kill the T. ni larvae increased with the age of the larvae, killing time by either recombinant virus was significantly shorter than that by wild-type virus. Killing time was reduced ca. 30% for AcAaIT-infected larvae and 5 to 8% for AcJHE.KK-infected larvae as compared to that for AcMNPV-C6-infected larvae. The average weight of larvae infected with AcAaIT was significantly lower than that of larvae infected with AcJHE.KK and AcMNPV-C6. The mean numbers of polyhedra produced in each larva inoculated with AcAaIT and AcJHE.KK were ca. 20% and 60%, respectively, of those for AcMNPV-C6. Total virus titers in AcMNPV-C6-infected larvae were significantly higher than those in AcJHE.KK- and AcAaIT-infected larvae until 2 days post infection.
Trends in adrenalectomy rates, indications, and physician volume: A statewide analysis of 1816 adrenalectomies

Background Adrenalectomy rates seem to be increasing in Florida, possibly due to increased availability of laparoscopic adrenalectomy, identification of incidentalomas, and access to care for minorities. We hypothesized that the rate of adrenalectomies in Florida increased from 1998-2005 while characteristics of patients, diagnoses, operations, and operating physicians changed over this period. Methods Prospectively-collected, mandatory-reported, hospital discharge data for all inpatient adrenalectomies undertaken in Florida from 1998-2005 were obtained along with Florida census and physician certification and education data. Characteristics of adrenalectomy patients, diagnoses, operations, and physicians were analyzed. Results 1816 adrenalectomies were available for analysis. Yearly rates of adrenalectomy nearly doubled from 1.20 to 2.26 per 100,000 Florida residents ( P = .0024). Overall, patient characteristics such as demographics, indications and comorbidities did not change, whereas hospital charges increased and length-of-stay (LOS) significantly decreased ( P = .0031 and P P Conclusions The rate of adrenalectomies is increasing in Florida. This increase was not associated with distinct trends in patient characteristics, although a significant decrease in LOS was identified. As these trends continue and adrenalectomy is applied more liberally, indications for adrenalectomy may need to be re-evaluated.