cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Estimating the market shares of stores based on the shopper's search and purchase behavior

Suppose that a consumer has decided to shop around several retail stores in an attempt to find a desired product or service. From his or her past shopping experience, the shopper may know: (1) the assortment size of each store, (2) the search cost per visit, and (3) the price variation among the stores. For such a situation, we first consider the optimal sequence of stores and the optimal search strategy from the shopper's search-theoretic point of view. Based on the assumption that shoppers follow the optimal sequencing and search strategy that maximizes his or her expected net gain, we then estimate the market share of each store in the market area. With a numerical example, we finally analyze the effects of the assortment size, the search cost, and the price variation on the market shares of existing retail stores. Based on the shopper's search and purchase model, we attempt to explain: (1) why shoppers visit bigger stores first, (2) why they visit fewer stores if the search cost is relatively higher than the product price, and (3) why they shop around more stores if the price variation among the stores is large.
Web information management: past, present and future

In this talk I will give a brief retrospective on Web Information Management, and will discuss some of the key challenges for the future. I will not give a survey of all work in the area; instead I will give my personal perspective based on work in the InfoLab at Stanford. In particular, I will touch on our lab's work on crawling, indexing, ranking, personalization, and more recently on spam detection and social networking.
Tooth enamel mineralization in ungulates: implications for recovering a primary isotopic time-series

Abstract Temporal changes in the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of an animal are an environmental and behavioral input signal that is recorded into the enamel of developing teeth. In this paper, we evaluate changes in phosphorus content and density along the axial lengths of three developing ungulate teeth to illustrate the protracted nature of mineral accumulation in a volume of developing enamel. The least mature enamel in these teeth contains by volume about 25% of the mineral mass of mature enamel, and the remaining 75% of the mineral accumulates during maturation. Using data from one of these teeth (a Hippopotamus amphibius canine), we develop a model for teeth growing at constant rate that describes how an input signal is recorded into tooth enamel. The model accounts for both the temporal and spatial patterns of amelogenesis (enamel formation) and the sampling geometry. The model shows that input signal attenuation occurs as a result of time-averaging during amelogenesis when the maturation interval is long compared to the duration of features in the input signal. Sampling does not induce significant attenuation, provided that the sampling interval is several times shorter than the maturation interval. We present a detailed δ13C and δ18O record for the H. amphibius canine and suggest possible input isotope signals that may have given rise to the measured isotope signal.
Infrared Spectroscopic Study of Surface Diffusion to Surface Hydroxyl Groups on Al2O3: 2-Chloroethylethyl Sulfide Adsorption Site Selection

The interaction of the various hydroxyl groups on the Al2O3 surface with a bifunctional adsorbate, 2-chloroethylethyl sulfide, was studied by transmission infrared spectroscopy. Al2O3 has five unique Al−OH groups, differentiated by their coordination to the surface, which give independent AlO−H stretching modes. Monitoring intensity changes in these modes as 2-chloroethylethyl sulfide (CEES) molecules diffuse into the porous structure of alumina shows distinctly different stages of surface diffusion and reaction at the Al−OH groups. Three sequential steps have been separated by studies at low temperature, where the rate of the processes was kinetically retarded to allow observation. The final stage of the CEES interaction with the surface occur when the CEES molecules adsorbed on the surface via the sulfide moiety at Al3+ Lewis acid sites undergo a hydrolysis reaction with the neighboring basic Al−OH groups.
Reflections on Quantitative Gamma Imaging of Cell-Surface Interactions

Molecular and cellular interactions with foreign surfaces can be noninvasively measured by isotope imaging techniques. Long available for probing cell behavior, these techniques are now employed in molecular studies of disease progression, such as Alzheimer’s [1]. This paper reviews results obtained by noninvasive dual label gamma scintigraphy for the transient adhesion of platelets and neutrophils to pump-oxygenators during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). In this application, characteristic cell-foreign surface adhesion and release patterns are observed during CPB in the pig, as a function of oxygenator design and surface chemistry. Cell distributions in internal organs post-CPB are also affected by these processes. This method can be adapted to other settings where the understanding of protein-cell interactions with native and foreign surfaces is at issue, including fibrinogen-cell interactions, bacterial colonization, etc.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Proof of a conjecture of Bowlin and Brin on four-colouring triangulations

We prove a conjecture of Bowlin and Brin that for all n>=5, the n-vertex biwheel is the planar triangulation with n vertices admitting the largest number of four-colourings.
Pulmonary interstitial emphysema in an adult with metastatic choriocarcinoma

Although typically seen in neonates, barotrauma is a well-established complication of mechanical ventilation in other populations as well, particularly associated with the use of high peak pressures and continuous positive airway pressure. Complications range from subpleural bleb development to life-threatening pneumothorax. We report a case of barotrauma in an adult that initially presented as pulmonary interstitial emphysema; it was seen surrounding choriocarcinoma metastases during computed tomography evaluation for worsening respiratory distress.
THE IRAQI HIGH COURT: A RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE VIEW

Over the course of its existence, the chief transitional justice mechanism in Iraq – the Iraqi High Court has attracted an admirably sized assemblage of detractors, naysayers and critics. When examined in light of the normative values widely agreed to underly 21 century notions of transitional justice however, the necessity for the IHC as opposed to an alternative transitional mechanism becomes apparent. Various financial, logistical, idealogical and political barriers precluded reliance on an ad-hoc Tribunal, hybrid court, or trial of Saddam and his regime by the ICC; in this environment, the formation of the IHC represented a useful and necessary compromise. Further, the IHC in its current incarnation is a flawed but fixable tool. Its brief life has been marred by poor perceptions of its legitimacy, criticisms regarding the professionalism of its participants, and criticisms regarding its juridical remit. That the IHC refuses to engage in a rigorous and comprehensible legal exegesis in response to these problems does little to inure both the domestic and international communities it was ostensibly designed to serve. Nonetheless, with concentrated efforts it remains possible for the IHC to fix some of these shortcomings – and the perceptions of the shortcomings – and redeem itself in time to participate
Optical calibration of the Auger fluorescence telescopes

The Pierre Auger Observatory is optimized to study the cosmic ray spectrum in the region of the Greisen-Zatsepin-Kuz'min (GZK) cutoff, i.e.cosmic rays with energies of ~1020eV. Cosmic rays are detected as extensive air showers. To measure these showers each Auger site combines a 3000sq-km ground array with air fluorescence telescopes into a hybrid detector. Our design choice is motivated by the heightened importance of the energy scale, and related systematic uncertainties in shower energies, for experiments investigating the GZK cutoff. This paper focuses on the optical calibration of the Auger fluorescence telescopes. The optical calibration is done three independent ways: an absolute end-to-end calibration using a uniform, calibrated intensity, light-source at the telescope entrance aperture, a component by component calibration using both laboratory and in-situ measurements, and Rayleigh scattered light from external laser beams. The calibration concepts and related instrumentation are summarized. Results from the 5-month engineering array test are presented.
Capillary zone electrophoresis and isotachophoresis-mass spectrometry of polypeptides and proteins based upon an electrospray ionization interface.

The speical capabilities of the capillary electrophoresis electrospray ionization— mass spectrometer interface for the analysis of peptides and proteins with molecular weights extending to in excess 100 000 are reviewed. The dynamic combinations of both capillary zone electrophoresis and capillary isotachophoresis with electrospray ionization are illustrated for mixtures of peptides and proteins. Myoglobin and cytochrome c detection limits were ca 100 fmol. The potential extension of these methods for determination of the primary structure (sequence) of polypeptides using tandem mass spectrometry is shown to be facilitated by the high charge state of ions produced by the electrospray interface. The relevance of these results for advances in analytical biochemistry are discussed.
Exothermic heat released during catalytic polymerization of basswood-methyl methacrylate composites

Oven dried basswood was vacuum impregnated with methyl methacrylate monomer containing various amounts of free radical catalyst and trifunctional crosslinking agent. The wood-monomer composite was polymerized at 60°C in an air oven and the rate of heat generated was followed by means of a thermocouple placed in the center of the sample.
Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of Novel Bifunctional C-Terminal-Modified Peptides for δ/μ Opioid Receptor Agonists and Neurokinin-1 Receptor Antagonists

A series of bifunctional peptides that act as agonists for delta and mu opioid receptors with delta selectivity and as antagonist for neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptors were designed and synthesized for potential application as analgesics in various pain states. The peptides were characterized using radioligand binding assays and functional assays using cell membrane and animal tissue. Optimization was performed on the fifth residue which serves as an address moiety for both receptor recognitions. It had critical effects on both activities at delta/mu opioid receptors and NK1 receptors. Among the synthesized peptides, H-Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-Phe-Met-Pro-Leu-Trp-O-3,5-Bzl(CF3) 2 (5) and H-Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-Phe-Nle-Pro-Leu-Trp-O-3,5-Bzl(CF3)2 (7) had excellent agonist activity for both delta opioid and mu opioid receptors and excellent antagonist activity for NK1 receptors. These results indicate that the rational design of multifunctional ligands with opioid agonist and neurokinin-1 antagonist activities can be accomplished and may provide a new tool for treatment of chronic and several pain states.
Mixing Enhancement by Induced-Charge Electrokinetic Flow

The induced-charge electrokinetic flow (ICEKF) in a rectangular micorchannel with conducting hurdles embedded in the middle is investigated in this paper. A correction method is suggested to numerically estimate the induced zeta potential on the conducting surface. Two-dimensional pressure-linked Navior-Stokes equation is used to model the flow field in the channel. The numerical results show flow circulations generated from the induced non-uniform zeta potential distribution along the conducting hurdle surfaces. It is demonstrated numerically that the local flow circulations provide effective means to enhance the flow mixing between different solutions; the degree of enhancement depends on the hurdle geometries and hurdle numbers. The mixing using ICEKF described in this paper can be used in various microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip applications.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Large Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels Contribute to the Reduced Myogenic Tone of Peripheral Microvasculature After Cardiopulmonary Bypass

Background We investigated the role of calcium-activated potassium (K Ca ) channel activation in myogenic tone in human peripheral microvasculature after heart surgery. Methods Human skeletal muscle arterioles (90–180 μm diameter) were dissected from tissue harvested pre- and post-cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) during cardiac surgery. Myogenic reactivity in response to stepwise increases in intraluminal pressure was studied between pressure steps. Microvessel tone was determined pre-CPB, post-CPB, and after blockade of K Ca channels. Expression and localization of large conductance (BK) K Ca channels in the coronary microvasculature was assessed by immunoblot and immunofluorescence photomicroscopy. Results Myogenic tone of skeletal muscle arterioles was significantly reduced post-CPB compared with pre-CPB. Decrease in myogenic tone after CPB was reflected by the increase in microvessel internal diameter. Myogenic tone of post-CPB microvessels was significantly increased after treatment with BK Ca -blocker iberiotoxin, but unchanged in the combined presence of the blockers of intermediate (IK Ca ) and small conductance (SK Ca ) K Ca channels, TRAM34/apamin. The increases in myogenic tone after iberiotoxin treatment were demonstrated as a decrease in microvessel internal diameter. No significant differences in BK Ca protein levels were noted comparing pre- and post-CPB conditions judged by immunoblot and by immunofluorescence staining of skeletal muscle microvessels. Prominent staining for BK Ca -α and BK Ca -β 1 subunits localized to the microvascular smooth muscle. Conclusion CPB-associated decrease in peripheral myogenic reactivity is likely due to activation of BK Ca , but not IK Ca or SK Ca . CPB may increase BK Ca activity without increasing BK polypeptide level.
A general framework for efficient clustering of large datasets based on activity detection

Data clustering is one of the most popular data mining techniques with broad applications. K-Means is one of the most popular clustering algorithms, due to its high efficiency/effectiveness and wide implementation in many commercial/noncommercial softwares. Performing efficient clustering on large dataset is especially useful; however, conducting K-Means clustering on large data suffers heavy computation burden which originates from the numerous distance calculations between the patterns and the centers. This paper proposes framework General Activity Detection (GAD) for fast clustering on large-scale data based on center activity detection. Within this framework, we design a set of algorithms for different scenarios: (i) exact GAD algorithm, E-GAD, which is much faster than K-Means and gets the same clustering result; (ii) approximate GAD algorithms with different assumptions, which are faster than E-GAD, while achieving different degrees of approximation; and (iii) GAD based algorithms to handle the large clusters problem which appears in many large-scale clustering applications. The framework provides a general solution to exploit activity detection for fast clustering in both exact and approximate scenarios, and our proposed algorithms within the framework can achieve very high speed. We have conducted extensive experiments on several datasets from various real world applications, including data compression, image clustering, and bioinformatics. By measuring the clustering quality and CPU time, the experiment results show the effectiveness and high efficiency of our proposed algorithms. Copyright © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining 4: 11–29 2011 (This work is extended from our SDM'09 conference paper [1]. Supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation grants IIS-08-42769 and BDI-05-15813 and IIS-05-13678, and Office of Naval Research (ONR) grant N00014-08-1-0565. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies.)
Rape Crisis Centers and Programs: “Doing Amazing, Wonderful Things on Peanuts”

Even though the anti-rape movement began more than 30 years ago and there is greater awareness of sexual violence, are rape crisis centers or programs financially secure? Data from interviews with 63 rape crisis workers and volunteers from 6 rape crisis centers or programs located in 4 East Coast states indicate not only that rape crisis centers/programs continue to struggle financially but also that lack of funding continues to present challenges. When rape crisis centers/programs experience reductions in funding, staff positions are eliminated, remaining staff and volunteers are overworked, efforts to recruit and train volunteers are compromised, services for victims are reduced, and education and outreach to the communities become less available. Lack of funding negatively affects rape crisis centers/programs and jeopardizes their future.
Identification of glyburide metabolites formed by hepatic and placental microsomes of humans and baboons

Glyburide (glibenclamide) is a second-generation sulfonylurea used for treatment of type-2 and gestational diabetes mellitus. To date, two glyburide metabolites have been identified in maternal urine: namely, 4-trans-hydroxycyclohexyl glyburide and 3-cis-hydroxycyclohexyl glyburide. The use of glyburide to treat gestational diabetes prompted us to investigate its metabolism by the placenta. The metabolism of glyburide by microsomal preparations from human and baboon placenta was compared with metabolism by their livers. The metabolites formed by the microsomes of the four tissues were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry using retention times, ion current (extracted at m/z 510), and selected-ion monitoring. The data obtained revealed the formation of six distinct hydroxylated derivatives of glyburide by each of the four microsomal preparations. However, the amounts of the six metabolites formed by the placentas were a fraction of that formed by the livers. Moreover, the relative quantities of each metabolite formed differed between species as well as between the two tissues. Also, the structure of the unidentified metabolites was determined by comparison with synthesized standards. These metabolites were identified as the 4-cis-hydroxycyclohexyl glyburide, 3-trans-hydroxycyclohexyl glyburide, and 2-trans-hydroxycyclohexyl glyburide. Therefore, one glyburide metabolite remains to be identified, but the data we obtained allowed us to suggest its structure.
SU-E-T-486: Effect of the Normalized Prescription Isodose Line On Target Dose Deficiency in Lung SBRT Based On Monte Carlo Calculation

Purpose: To investigate the impact of normalized prescription isodose line on target dose deficiency calculated with Monte Carlo (MC) vs. pencil Beam (PB) in lung SBRT. RTOG guidelines recommend prescription lines between 60% and 90% for lung SBRT. How this affects the magnitude of MC-calculated target dose deficiency has never been studied. Methods: Under an IRB-approved protocol, four lung SBRT patients were replanned following RTOG0813 by a single physicist. For each patient, four alternative plans were generated based on PB calculation prescribing to 60–90% isodose lines, respectively. Each plan consisted of 360o coplanar dynamic conformal arcs with beam apertures manually optimized to achieve similar dose coverage and conformity for all plans of the same patient. Dose distribution was calculated with MC and compared to that with PB. PTV dose-volume endpoints were compared, including Dmin, D5, Dmean, D95, and Dmax. PTV V100 coverage, conformity index (CI), and heterogeneity index (HI) were also evaluated. Results: For all 16 plans, median (range) PTV V100 and CI were 99.7% (97.5–100%) and 1.27 (1.20–1.41), respectively. As expected, lower prescription line resulted in higher target dose heterogeneity, yielding median (range) HI of 1.26 (1.05–1.51) for all plans. Comparing MC to PB, median (range) D95, Dmean, D5more » PTV dose deficiency were 18.9% (11.2–23.2%), 15.6% (10.0–22.7%), and 9.4%(5.5–13.6%) of the prescription dose, respectively. The Dmean, D5, and Dmax deficiency was found to monotonically increase with decreasing prescription line from 90% to 60%, while the Dmin deficiency monotonically decreased. D95 deficiency exhibited more complex trend, reaching the largest deficiency at 80% for all patients. Conclusion: Dependence on prescription isodose line was found for MC-calculated PTV dose deficiency of lung SBRT. When comparing reported MC dose deficiency values from different institutions, their individual selections of prescription line should be considered in addition to other factors affecting the deficiency magnitude.« less
How Radio News Uses Sources to Cover Local Government News and Factors Affecting Source Use

This study of source use in news coverage of local governments by 198 radio stations indicates that radio news stories had fewer and less diverse sources than daily newspaper stories. The differenc...
TH-C-AUD C-05: Assessment of Intrafractional Motion for Spinal Radiosurgery Patients by Multiple Onboard Megavoltage CT Scans During Treatment

Purpose: To assess the intrafractional patient motion during single‐fraction spinal radiosurgery using multiple CT scans acquired with onboard megavoltage CT (MVCT) during treatment. Method and Materials: Nineteen patients underwent single‐fraction (12 – 24 Gy) spinal radiosurgery on a TomoTherapy HiArt radiotherapy unit with onboard MVCT. Because of the large fractional dose, the treatment was divided into 3 or more sub‐fractions. Patients were immobilized with BlueBAG™ BodyFIX® except for C‐spine patients who were immobilized with face‐and‐shoulder masks. To accurately align the patient, an initial MVCT was acquired after patient was setup to skin marks. Image registration between MVCT and planning CT was performed using an auto‐registration algorithm followed by manual fine tuning to calculate the couch shifts. Immediately after the alignment, a verification MVCT scan was acquired. The couch was further shifted according to verification CT before the first sub‐fraction was delivered. Subsequently, MVCT was reacquired and the patient realigned after each sub‐fraction. A total of 67 MVCT‐guided intrafrational alignments (excluding initial alignments) were evaluated for the 19 patients. Couch shifts were analyzed to obtain the information of patient intrafractional movements. Results: The mean ± standard deviation for the magnitude (and displacement which is expressed in parentheses) of the shift was 1.0±0.9 mm (0.16±1.31 mm) in the lateral direction, 1.2±1.1 mm (0.31±1.62 mm) in the anteroposterior direction, 1.6±1.2 mm (0.44±1.97 mm) in the superoinferior direction, and 2.5±1.4 for the resultant vector. The respective maximum shifts were 5.0 mm, 5.4 mm, 5.7 mm and 5.9 mm. Majority (73%) of the realignments required shifts less than 3.0 mm. Image resolution and registration errors may have contributed to the observed intrafractional motions. Conclusion: Patient intrafractional motion should be considered in treatment planning for spinal radiosurgery patients. More intensive intrafractional monitoring and better immobilization device are necessary to reduce intrafrational patient motion.
Effects of water temperature and barium concentration on otolith composition along a salinity gradient: Implications for migratory reconstructions

Abstract Analysis of naturally occurring variation in otolith elemental composition has become a common approach for retrospectively determining migratory history in diadromous fishes. Environmental factors, such as temperature, salinity, and ambient water concentration, can independently, or in an interactive manner, affect elemental incorporation rates. Furthermore, the relative importance of kinetic and metabolic (or “vital”) effects on elemental incorporation remains unclear. In this study, a repeated measures design was used to: (1) quantify the effects of water temperature (9 °C, 12 °C, 15 °C) and freshwater Ba:Ca levels (low, intermediate, and high) on elemental partitioning and otolith composition (Mg:Ca, Sr:Ca, Ba:Ca) in juvenile Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) along a salinity gradient (0, 5, 10, 14); and (2) estimate the lag time between physical exposure to chemically distinct water masses and changes in otolith composition. Additionally, relationships between elemental incorporation and somatic and otolith growth rates were evaluated across and within temperature treatments to identify potential rate effects. Otolith incorporation of Sr and Ba was positively related to water concentration whereas Mg incorporation was not. For Sr and Mg, there were significant interactions between temperature and salinity ( p ≤ 0.01). For Ba, there were complex interactions among temperature, water Ba:Ca values, and salinity ( p ≤ 0.01). In certain instances, interactive effects of temperature and salinity were large enough to confound interpretation of field data. Furthermore, there was evidence for negative effects of somatic growth rate on the incorporation of Ba that were consistent across temperatures ( r = − 0.32 to − 0.72). Observations were consistently contrary to expectations based on models of elemental incorporation for abiotic aragonite, highlighting the importance of vital effects and indicating that species-specific models of incorporation may be necessary. Changes in otolith composition were detected within 2–3 d of a change in water composition but otolith composition did not stabilize for 12–14 d, indicating that habitat transitions should be discernable in a short period of time but the otolith may not reflect ambient water levels for up to 2 weeks. These observations underscore the need to evaluate the effects of abiotic and biotic factors on otolith elemental incorporation in settings that mimic natural conditions to accurately interpret field data.
Magneto-Elastic Interactions in Gadolinium

The effect of the change in easy direction of magnetization on the elastic constants ${c}_{33}$ and ${c}_{44}$ has been measured in single-crystal gadolinium by means of a pulse-echo technique. One of the constants ${c}_{33}$ exhibited a sharp decrease of about 2% over the temperature range -37 to -51\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C after which it slowly returned to its normal, monotonic increasing behavior with decreasing temperature. Magnetic fields of up to 8 kOe, either parallel or perpendicular to the unique axis of the hexagonal crystal, were applied to the sample. These decreased the absolute magnitude of the change in ${c}_{33}$. It is thought that the acoustic wave is coupled to the spin structure by volume magnetostriction.
On the replications of certain multiplicative designs

Bounds on the number of row sums in ann×n, non-singular (0,1)-matrixA sarisfyingA tA=diag (k 1-λ1,…,k n-λn),k j>λj>0,λ1=…=λe,λe+1=…=λn are obtained which extend previous results for such matrices.
Effects of Instantaneous Live Load on the Performance of Constructed Concrete Members in Cold Regions

AbstractThis paper presents the effects of instantaneous live load on the performance of partially cracked axial concrete members (representing on-site damage) subjected to cold region environments. A total of 5,289 constructed bridges in the state of North Dakota are analyzed to identify critical attributes. The environments simulated consist of 100 cycles of freezing-submerging-drying at a freezing temperature of -30°C. The instantaneous live load effects are 20%, 40%, and 60% of the concrete compression strength at 28 days. A combined experimental and numerical investigation is conducted to examine the behavior of conditioned concrete cylinders. The research reports that the environmental effects are critical on the performance of existing concrete members in cold regions, and the presence of live load accelerates the deterioration of concrete. Internal damage attributable to the load cycling affects the axial stiffness and crack propagation of the conditioned concrete. All cylinders show volumetric co...
Simple phenomenological modeling of transition-region capacitance of forward-biased p-n junction diodes and transistor diodes

The derivation of a simple expression for the capacitance C(V) associated with the transition region of a p-n junction under a forward bias is derived by phenomenological reasoning. The treatment of C(V) is based on the conventional Shockley equations, and simpler expressions for C(V) result that are in general accord with the previous analytical and numerical results. C(V) consists of two components resulting from changes in majority carrier concentration and from free hole and electron accumulation in the space-charge region. The space-charge region is conceived as the intrinsic region of an n-i-p structure for a space-charge region markedly wider than the extrinsic Debye lengths at its edges. This region is excited in the sense that the forward bias creates hole and electron densities orders of magnitude larger than those in equilibrium. The recent Shirts-Gordon (1979) modeling of the space-charge region using a dielectric response function is contrasted with the more conventional Schottky-Shockley modeling.
High volume manufacturing of polymer planar waveguides via UV embossing

A process is described here which is capable of creating very low cost single or multimode waveguides. To reuce the cost of manufacture to the lowest levels, one must move away from intensive individual processing steps such as wafer- based spin coating, lithography, and development. Here, a process is described which is inspired by the printing industry; especially the printing of raised features to form simple, low cost holograms typically used for product security. All efforts must be approached with a level of precision and engineering not typically required in the embossing industry. Precision resist masters of 12' dimension were created using commercially available photoresists and photomasks. High fidelity molds (and embossing tools) were made by replicating the master in both metal and elastomer. PET film was coated with an underclass layer which uniformly reproduced waveguide channel features. The filling process of waveguide cores proceeded through the coating of the channels followed by lamination of an overcoating. Finally, end face preparation was examined through die cutting, slitting, and laser cutting techniques.
Location of particle tracks in nuclear emulsion using a wide-gap spark chamber

Abstract The accuracy with which particle tracks can be located in nuclear emulsions using trajectories determined by a wide-gap spark chamber has been investigated. Results indicate improvement over previous studies using narrow-gap chambers. The rms deviation of tracks from their predicted coordinates is 225 μm. The rms deviations in projected and dip angles are are 0.29° and 0.47° respectively.
Lithium, Aluminum, and Gallium Complexes of the C6F5‐Substituted β‐Diketiminate Ligand [HC(CMe)2(NC6F5)2]‐

The β-aminoimine [HC(CMe)2(NC6F5)2]H (1) is readily converted into the lithium β-diketiminate [HC(CMe)2(NC6F5)2]Li·OEt2 (2) by treatment with MeLi. The aluminum and gallium derivatives [{HC(CMe)2(NC6F5)2}MMe2] (M = Al (3); Ga (4)) have been prepared via the CH4 elimination reactions of 1 with MMe3. The X-ray crystal structures of 1 - 4 have been determined and the trends in metrical parameters are discussed.
Student Teaching Practice in Two Elementary Teacher Preparation Programs

This study examines student teaching of elementary teacher preparation programs in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the United States of America (USA). Two programs comparable in program design, course requirements and goals were selected for exploration. The key aspects that were studied about student teaching include its unit ratio in a program, features of placements, written work by student teachers and evaluation. Findings indicate that these programs share the same basic elements related to student teaching but differences exist in student teaching sequence, focus on candidates’ practice to assume teaching responsibilities, participation in evaluation and level of peer interaction. The PRC program places an emphasis on teamwork of candidates and makes them active evaluators in a threestep sequence including mock mini lessons. The USA candidates are required to gain considerably more field and teaching experience in duration and number of lessons to teach cross multiple subjects. They also reflect on their practices regularly in addition to fulfilling other credential requirements beyond the program. Educational implications are discussed regarding the characteristics of the programs in an international context.
MCG: a correct-by-design multichip module router with crosstalk avoidance

A new multilayer multichip module router, MCG, based on a global approach that allows the incorporation of electrical, power, and delay constraints is described. In comparisons with other routers such as V4R and SLICE, the MCG router has shown substantial improvement in routing density, number of layers, number of vias, and total interconnect length on industrial benchmarks. In addition, it is one of the first routing tools that efficiently incorporates sophisticated noise models during the routing process. Prior techniques have primarily relied upon post-routing analysis followed by rip-up and re-route or have employed simplistic models during routing. These two approaches tend to result in significant re-design and thus delay the prototyping process or result in overly conservative designs. The approach presented here overcomes these deficiencies while providing higher quality routing solutions. In addition, it has been shown that this routing approach is applicable to high-density printed circuit board routing and has been successfully adopted by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for a board that will be launched by NASA in 1996 as part of the Pathfinder mission. This mission will place an autonomous vehicle on Mars.
Identification and characterization of calcium and manganese transporting ATPase (PMR1) gene of Pichia pastoris.

A gene homologous to Saccharomyces cerevisiae PMR1 has been cloned in the methylotrophic yeast Pichia pastoris. The entire P. pastoris PMR1 gene (PpPMR1) codes a protein of 924 amino acids. Sequence analysis of the PpPMR1 cDNA and the genomic DNA revealed that there is no intron in the coding region. The putative gene product contains all of the conserved regions observed in P-type ATPases and exhibits 66.2%, 60.3% and 50.6% identity to Pichia angusta (Hansenula polymorpha), Saccharomyces cerevisiae PMR1 and human ATP2C1 gene products, respectively. A pmr1 null mutant strain of P. pastoris exhibited growth defects in media with the addition of EGTA, but with supplementation of Ca2+ to a calcium-deficient media reversed the growth defects of the mutant strain. Manganese reversed the growth defects of the mutant strain; however, the cell growth was not as profound as the Ca2+-supplemented media. The results demonstrated that the P. pastoris gene encodes the functional homologue of the S. cerevisiae PMR1 gene product, a P-type Ca2+/Mn2+-ATPase. The DNA sequence of the P. pastoris PMR1 gene has been submitted to GenBank under Accession No. DQ239958. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Evolution of the morphological innovations of feathers

Feathers are complex assemblages of multiple morphological innovations. Recent research on the development and evolution of feathers has produced new insights into the origin and diversification of the morphological innovations in feathers. In this article, I review and discuss the contribution of three different factors to the evolution of morphological innovations in feathers: feather tubularity, hierarchical morphological modularity, and the co-option molecular signaling modules. The developing feather germ is a tube of epidermis with a central dermal pulp. The tubular organization of the feather germ and follicle produces multiple axes over which morphological differentiation can be organized. Feather complexity is organized into a hierarchy of morphological modules. These morphological modules evolved through the innovative differentiation along multiple different morphological axes created by the tubular feather germ. Concurrently, many of the morphological innovations of feathers evolved through the evolutionary co-option of plesiomorphic molecular signaling modules. Gene co-option also reveals a role for contingency in the evolution of hierarchical morphological innovations. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 304B:570-579, 2005. r 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Assessing the Causes of Late Pleistocene Extinctions on the Continents

One of the great debates about extinction is whether humans or climatic change caused the demise of the Pleistocene megafauna. Evidence from paleontology, climatology, archaeology, and ecology now supports the idea that humans contributed to extinction on some continents, but human hunting was not solely responsible for the pattern of extinction everywhere. Instead, evidence suggests that the intersection of human impacts with pronounced climatic change drove the precise timing and geography of extinction in the Northern Hemisphere. The story from the Southern Hemisphere is still unfolding. New evidence from Australia supports the view that humans helped cause extinctions there, but the correlation with climate is weak or contested. Firmer chronologies, more realistic ecological models, and regional paleoecological insights still are needed to understand details of the worldwide extinction pattern and the population dynamics of the species involved.
Numerical Conditioning Problems and Solutions for Nonparametric i.i.d. Statistical Active Contours

In this paper, we propose an active contour model based on nonparametric independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) statistics of the image that can segment an image without any a priori information about the intensity distributions of the region of interest or the background. This is not, however, the first active contour model proposed to solve the segmentation problem under these same assumptions. In contrast to prior active contour models based on nonparametric i.i.d. statistics, we do not formulate our optimization criterion according to any distance measure between estimated probability densities inside and outside the active contour. Instead, treating the segmentation problem as a pixel-wise classification problem, we formulate an active contour to minimize the unbiased pixel-wise average misclassification probability (AMP). This not only simplifies the problem by avoiding the need to arbitrarily select among many sensible distance measures to measure the difference between the probability densities estimated inside and outside the active contour, but it also solves a numerical conditioning problem that arises with such prior active contour models. As a result, the AMP model exhibits faster convergence with higher accuracy and robustness when compared to active contour models previously formulated to solve the same nonparametric i.i.d. statistical segmentation problem via probability distances. To discuss this improved numerical behavior more precisely, we introduce the notion of &#x201C;conditioning ratio&#x201D; and demonstrate that the proposed AMP active contour is numerically better conditioned (i.e., exhibits a much smaller conditioning ratio) than prior probability distance-based active contours.
Wide-area incident management system on the Internet

The incident management process consists of four sequential steps-incident detection, response, clearance and recovery. Each of these components comprises of a number of operations and coordinated decision-making between the agencies involved. The provision of computer based support tools for the personnel involved will help develop appropriate strategies and increase efficiency and expediency. Existing systems are developed on various traditional computing platforms. However, with the advent of World Wide Web and Internet based programming tools such as Java, it is now possible to develop platform independent decision support tools for the incident management agencies. Any agency will be able to use these Web based tools on a computer with a Java enabled browser. Thus, Web based tools offer an invaluable opportunity to develop next generation online decision support tools for real-time traffic management. The major objectives of this paper are: 1. to explore and demonstrate the applicability of Web-based tools for the development of online decision support systems for incident management and, 2. to develop and test a prototype incident management decision support system (DSS) which has most of the capabilities of similar UNIX based DSS. The paper briefly describes the implementation and development of a prototype wide-area incident management support system using Web-based tools. It also describes the implementation architecture and the individual functions of this prototype.
Laser Interferometer Measurement System on the Yale PDS 2020G

We have installed a dual-axis laser interferometer system on the Yale PDS 2020G microdensitometer to replace the linear encoders. Various diagnostic tests show that the laser interferometer is a superior encoder system for the PDS with a positional accuarcy of about 0.3 micron.
Two Algorithms for Learning the Parameters of Stochastic Context-Free Grammars

Stochastic context-free grammars (SCFGs) are often used to represent the syntax of natural languages. Most algorithms for learning them require storage and repeated processing of a sentence corpus. The memory and computational demands of such algorithms are illsuited for embedded agents such as a mobile robot. Two algorithms are presented that incrementally learn the parameters of stochastic context-free grammars as sentences are observed. Both algorithms require a fixed amount of space regardless of the number of sentence observations. Despite using less information than the inside-outside algorithm, the algorithms perform almost as well.
Minimizing area and power of sequential CMOS circuits using threshold decomposition

This paper describes the design of a standard cell library of differential mode threshold gates, referred to as a Threshold Logic Latch or TLL, and new threshold function identification and decomposition methods to map a conventional logic network consisting of logic gates and flipflops, into a hybrid network that consists of both TLLs and conventional logic gates. After logic synthesis and physical design (placement and routing) using a commercial 65nm LP (low power) library, and commercial design tools, the hybrid circuits are shown to have up to 35% less dynamic power, about 50% less leakage power and around 37% less area when compared to the corresponding conventional design operated at the same (peak) frequency.
Fruit and vegetable intake and risk of upper respiratory tract infection in pregnant women

Every year about 25 million people in the United States visit their family doctors with uncomplicated upper respiratory infections (URIs) (1), and pregnant women are no exception. As one of the most frequently reported maternal disorders during pregnancy, URI ranging from the common cold, generally mild and self-limited, to more severe and even life-threatening pneumonia (complicated URI), may adversely affect the fetus in a direct or indirect way. For example, shorter gestational age at delivery and higher rate of preterm birth were found to be related with complicated URIs during pregnancy(2). Some congenital abnormalities such as anencephaly and cleft lip were also reported to be associated with maternal common colds(3-5). Eating five servings of fruits and vegetables each day is commonly recommended to reduce the susceptibility to URI(6), and women are advised to eat more fruits and vegetables during pregnancy(7), since fruits and vegetables are rich dietary sources of a variety of nutrients and many biologically active compounds. However, no study has been conducted to evaluate the association between fruit and vegetable intake and URI incidence during pregnancy. We therefore examined this relationship in a retrospective cohort of pregnant women followed for 5 months since their last menstrual period (LMP).
Learning the past tense of English verbs using inductive logic programming

This paper presents results on using a new inductive logic programming method called Foidl to learn the past tense of English verbs. The past tense task has been widely studied in the context of the symbolic/connectionist debate. Previous papers have presented results using various neural-network and decision-tree learning methods. We have developed a technique for learning a special type of Prolog program called a first-order decision list, defined as an ordered list of clauses each ending in a cut. Foidl is based on Foil [19] but employs intensional background knowledge and avoids the need for explicit negative examples. It is particularly useful for problems that involve rules with specific exceptions, such as the past-tense task. We present results showing that Foidl learns a more accurate past-tense generator from significantly fewer examples than all previous methods.
ENHANCING PROSOCIAL PLAY BETWEEN HANDICAPPED AND NONHANDICAPPED PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

In a single-subject experimental design effects of social toys in a teacher-mediated comprehensive treatment on the social play of three preschool handicapped children was examined. The comprehensive treatment included imitative cooperative lesson plans, environmental structure, and teachers' in-service education. The children's baselines began with solitary play and rose to parallel play in the second comprehensive treatment when the. teachers made greatest use of appropriate prompting and reinforcement. These results illustrate the feasibility of teacher-mediated versus researcher-mediated efforts to enhance the social interaction of handicapped and nonhandicapped preschool children.
NEUROSPORA MUTANTS LACKING ORNITHINE TRANSCARBAMYLASE.

Mutants lacking ornithine transcarbamylase, the enzyme which couples ornlthine to carbamyl phosphate, were isolated by two methods: as suppressors of the class of pyr-3 mutants displaying in vitro aspartic transcarbamylase activity, and by the filtration and selective plating technic, using conidia of a suppressor mutation, s. This strain suppresses, among other mutants, the class of pyr-3 mutants referred to above. The enzymatic phenotypes of these mutants are described and, although infertility makes it difficult to prove allelism, genetic analyses indicate that all of the mutants studied are located near arg-5 on linkage group II. (auth)
Quality improvement interventions to prevent healthcare-associated infections in neonates and children

Purpose of reviewHealthcare-associated infections cause substantial harm to hospitalized neonates and children. Efforts that prevent these infections are a major focus of current patient safety initiatives. This review focuses on the reports of quality improvement interventions to prevent central li
Computer-Aided Detection of Tumors in 3D Tomograms from Diffuse Optical Mammography

Diffuse Optical Tomography provides multi-parameter 3-D images of breast cancer. We introduce a multi-parameter, position, subject analysis to identify signatures of cancer and utilize these signatures to locate cancers in additional subjects.