cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Physical Activity and Cognitive Function among Older Adults with an Elevated Gamma Gap.

OBJECTIVE An elevated gamma gap is indicative of high serum concentrations of globulin proteins, some of which elicit acute inflammatory responses. An impaired cognitive function has been linked to central and peripheral inflammation, while exercise is associated with protective, anti-inflammatory benefits. In this study, we evaluated whether the gamma gap is associated with cognitive function among older adults and whether physical activity is favorably associated with cognitive function among those with an elevated gamma gap. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data from the 1999-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were used to identify 2,352 older adults aged between 60 and 85 years. The gamma gap was evaluated by subtracting albumin from total protein, i.e., gamma gap = total protein (g/dL) - albumin (g/dL). Those at or above 3.1 g/dL (31.0 g/L) were considered to have an elevated gamma gap. The Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) was used to assess cognitive function tasks of pairing and free recall among participants. Participants were asked open-ended questions about participation in leisure-time physical activity over the previous 30 days. RESULTS Those with an elevated gamma gap (DSST, 44.8) had a lower cognitive function score when compared to those without an elevated gamma gap (DSST, 50.1) (p < 0.001). After adjustments, and among those with an elevated gamma gap, those meeting the moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) guidelines (vs. not meeting them) had a DSST score of 6.42 units higher (β = 6.42, 95% CI 3.85-8.99, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION In this national sample of older adults, the gamma gap was associated with cognitive function, and among those with an elevated gamma gap, meeting the physical activity guidelines was associated with a higher cognitive function. Relevant clinical implications are discussed, as the gamma gap may be predictive of the risk for early mortality and reduced quality of life. Experimental work is needed to investigate whether physical activity training programs are effective in reducing an elevated gamma gap and preserving optimal cognitive functioning among at-risk individuals.
Comparison of one-stage and two-stage upper arm brachiobasilic arteriovenous fistula in the Vascular Quality Initiative.

Abstract Objective An upper arm brachiobasilic arteriovenous fistula (BBAVF) is a reliable autogenous hemodialysis access created with a one-stage or two-stage technique. Although both techniques are variably used, the optimal approach is uncertain. In this study, we compared the outcomes of one-stage and two-stage BBAVF procedures. Methods We identified 2648 patients who had received BBAVFs within the Vascular Quality Initiative data set (2010-2016) and compared those created using the one-stage and two-stage technique. The primary outcome measures were primary and secondary patency rates at 12 months. Other outcomes assessed were wound infection, steal, and swelling at 3 months. The log-rank test was used to evaluate patency by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the adjusted association between surgical technique and outcomes. Results There were 1234 (47%) one-stage and 1414 (53%) two-stage BBAVFs in the study cohort, including 1848 (70%) patients who were on dialysis at the time of surgery and 1795 (68%) patients with a history of previous access. Patients who underwent a one-stage BBAVF were more likely to be male (54% vs 45%; P Conclusions Whereas surgeons were more likely to perform a two-stage BBAVF in patients with a history of previously failed access and smaller basilic vein, our data show no difference in primary or secondary patency of one-stage and two-stage BBAVFs at 12 months.
Time of day effects on the relationship between daily sleep and anxiety: An ecological momentary assessment approach.

Abstract Previous research has linked sleep disturbance to anxiety. However, evidence for this relation has been inconsistent, largely limited to retrospective reports that do not account for daily variability, and silent on when the association is most pronounced. Thus, the present study utilized ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine the effects of daily deviations in total sleep time (TST) and person-average TST on anxiety and whether these effects varied as a function of time of day in a sample of unselected adults (N = 138). Results indicate that the amount of TST on a given night, relative to personal average TST, negatively predicted anxiety, and this relation was significant in the morning and afternoon, but not evening. In contrast, person-average TST was unrelated to average anxiety. Relations between TST and anxiety did not differ across objective (e.g., actigraphy) and subjective (e.g., sleep diary) measures. Furthermore, the pattern of results remained the same when controlling for previous day's anxiety and were not bidirectional. These findings suggest that getting less sleep than is typical for the individual predicts subsequent anxiety, and this effect is particularly strong in the morning. Average sleep duration may be less important to the experience of anxiety than deviations from that average. These findings highlight the importance of EMA to examine how and when variability in sleep confers vulnerability for anxiety symptoms.
It’s Who You Know (or Could Know) That Counts

Once complexity theory provides a foundation to a fuller understanding of mechanisms of change, this chapter applies network structures and principles to science. Networks are the actualization of complex systems, and we can use network analysis to begin a process of understanding the structure of the global network, exploring how networking changes the system. It also allows us to visualize and measure the global network at various levels.
Utilization of Waste Plastic and Recycle Concrete Aggregate in Production of Hot Mix Asphalt

Recycling of waste material is a recent technique aims to change the waste material into new products to reduce the pollution and detrimental effect on the environment and reduce the demand of new fresh natural sources. Plastic bags and Recycled Concrete Aggregate (RCA) are samples of these waste materials can be re-used in road construction. Over one million bags are used every minute worldwide, whereas, aggregate is consist of about 95% of asphalt mixture and can be obtained as RCA from demolished infrastructure. This paper presents laboratory tests results of using waste plastic and RCA in production of asphalt mixture. Since the cement past attached to RCA particles contribute to lower their density and increase the porosity, the waste plastic are used to enhance the engineering properties of asphalt mixture and consume these large amount of waste material. The results showed that Waste Plastic Modified Bitumen (WPMB) mix containing 100% RCA produces higher Marshall Stability, higher retained stability and higher indirect tensile strength compared with conventional mix. The percents of the increase were 10% for Marshall Stability, 7% for Marshall retained stability and 9% for higher indirect tensile
Gender Typicality of Faces Affects Children’s Categorization and Judgments of Women More than of Men

Most infants display more perceptual knowledge of female than male faces, which is related to their predominant experience with women. If disparities in social experience persist beyond infancy, children should have a better developed sense of what typifies female than male faces. Gender typicality of faces should therefore more often impact their cognitive decisions for female than male targets. To test this possibility, we assessed U.S. 5- to 9-year-olds’ (n = 81) responses when making similarity judgments, spontaneous gender references, and typicality decisions for female and male targets whose faces were gender typical or atypical. Parental reports confirmed most children had predominant experience with female caregivers. Consistent with predictions, gender typicality of faces differentially influenced children’s similarity and typicality judgments for female, but not male, targets. It did not influence their spontaneous gender references, perhaps due to the task being more cognitively demanding. Results show children more reliably detect the gender typicality of female than male faces, which affects their social groupings and decisions about what constitutes a good example of a face more so for female than male targets. Findings might help explain the origins of women being judged by their facial appearance more so than men. Moreover, high feminine-looking women seem to elicit the female category more than low feminine-looking women do, which could elicit greater gender-role expectations for women with high feminine faces.
Virtuous Human Hacking: The Ethics of Social Engineering in Penetration-Testing

Abstract This paper offers a virtue ethics analysis of social engineering in penetration-testing. It begins by considering previous research on this topic and argues that such attempts misconstrue or more often overlook this Aristotelian tradition. It articulates the core tenets of virtue ethics and applies them to an analysis of white hat social engineering. A virtue ethics analysis requires that individuals and the firms that initiate the penetration-test be placed within a larger communal context which obligates individuals who are potential human hacking victims to participate in the constitution and flourishing of larger communities. As such, for virtue ethics consent is not a necessary condition for the positive ethical status of white hat social engineering. If methods are consistent with moderation (i.e. the golden mean) manipulation at lower orders within the hierarchy of communities can be justified if it can reasonably be understood as part of an individual's participatory obligation and the results of this participation is essential to ensure the eudaimonia of the larger community. Nevertheless, the golden mean requires that robust mitigation strategies lessen the degree of harm inflicted on social engineering victims. Where possible, a degree of consent should be attained as part of this mitigation. Finally, penetration-testing firms must be able to demonstrate that a robust ethical training program governs its use of social engineering.
Fast genome editing in Bacillus subtilis.

Bacillus subtilis is a model organism for Gram-positive bacteria and widely used in the study of cellular functions and processes including protein secretion, sporulation, and signal transduction. It is also an important industrial host for the production of proteins and chemicals. Generally, genome editing of B. subtilis often needs the construction of integration vectors in Escherichia coli, linearizing the constructed plasmids, and subsequent transformation of the linear deoxyribonucleic acid via natural competence or electroporation. In this work, we examined the feasibility to directly transform and integrate B. subtilis using linear deoxyribonucleic acid from Gibson assembly without the need for cloning in E. coli. Linear deoxyribonucleic acid of 8-10 kb showed the highest transformation efficiency which was similar to that of using linearized plasmids constructed in E. coli. This method shortens the overall process from 1 week to 1 day and allows the integration of multiple genes in one step, providing a simple and fast method for genome editing in B. subtilis.
Evaluation of achiral templates with fluxional Brønsted basic substituents in enantioselective conjugate additions.

Enantioselective conjugate addition of malononitrile to pyrazolidinone-derived enoates proceeds in excellent yields and high enantioselectivities. A comparison of fluxional substituents with and without a Bronsted basic site and their impact on selectivity is detailed. Molecular sieves as an additive were found to be essential to achieve high enantioselectivity.
Imaging and Structural Informatics

As is evident to anyone who has had an X-ray, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exam, or a biopsy, images play a central role in the health care process. In addition, images play important roles in medical communication and education, as well as in research. In fact much of our recent progress, particularly in diagnosis, can be traced to the availability of increasingly sophisticated images that not only show the structure of the body in incredible detail but also show the function.
Encoding Clinical Pathways: The Impact Beyond the Target

The past several years have seen the long-predicted convergence of two trends in modern medicine: the standardization of care and the computerization of the clinical environment. Now, in many care settings, practice improvement has become virtually synonymous with efforts to encode clinical behavior into the electronic health record (EHR) and computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) systems. Much work on computerized decision support has focused largely on the performance of these systems with respect to the diagnosis or process that they are designed to address, rather than clinical outcomes or local impacts. Clinical tools need to be evaluated from both the perspective of their overall impact on the care environment into which they are being inserted as well as their customizability to best fit the individual patient’s experience of care.
Does It Matter if Examinee Motivation Is Measured before or after A Low-Stakes Test? A Moderated Mediation Analysis

The indirect effect of perceived test importance on test performance via examinee effort is often modeled using importance and effort scores measured after test completion, which does not align wit...
Interfacial reactions of Cu(II) adsorption and hydrolysis driven by nano-scale confinement

Spatial confinement is prevalent in sedimentary rocks and can lead to changes in the chemical behavior at mineral–water interfaces. This includes both deviations in the physico-chemical properties of confined water, when compared to the bulk liquid phase, and subsequent alterations in adsorption chemistry of ions inside nano-scale mineral pores. Here we document contrasting adsorption mechanisms and differences in local coordination environments of copper (Cu2+), depending on whether the ion is adsorbed on non-porous silica surfaces, versus inside 8 nm and 4 nm pores in silica. X-ray absorption spectroscopy, flow micro-calorimetry, and batch adsorption methods together with molecular modeling are used to thoroughly describe the dependence of these adsorption processes on the pore size. We show that confinement within silica pores promotes Cu–Cu interactions and increases the formation of Cu–Cu polynuclear surface complexes. We also demonstrate that the mechanism of Cu2+ adsorption on non-porous versus porous silica is vastly different. The adsorption of Cu2+ on non-porous silica is an endothermic process, whereby Cu2+ undergoes dehydration prior to surface complexation. In contrast, adsorption within nano-scale pores is preceded by only partial dehydration, and significant formation of Cu–Cu polynuclear complexes, which leads to an overall exothermic signal. Interfacial confinement leads to dramatic changes in the adsorption mechanism and speciation, which in turn controls the fate and transport of chemical species in natural environments.
Abstract LB-C11: Targeting metastatic prostate cancer with a multi-functional therapy approach

Prostate cancer (PCa) cells move throughout the body, hone to and destroy the bone microenvironment, grow and thereby cause death. Our historical inability to target cell movement has precluded our realization of multifunctional therapy wherein each of these processes is targeted. Our group has recently shown that inhibition of intracellular activation of Raf1 with the small molecule therapeutic, KBU2046, permits for the first time selective inhibition of cell motility. Here we demonstrate that simultaneous disruption of multiple distinct functions that drive progression of PCa to induce death results in advanced disease control. Using an orthotopic murine model of human PCa metastasis, KBU2046 combined with docetaxel achieves sustained anti-tumor action and improved inhibition of metastasis, compared to monotherapy. KBU2046 does not interfere with androgen deprivation or androgen receptor antagonist mediated hormone therapy in either in vitro or in vivo models. Cell movement is necessary for osteoclast-mediated bone degradation. KBU2046 inhibits Raf1 and its downstream activation of MEK1/2 and ERK1/2 in osteoclasts, inhibiting cytoskeleton rearrangement, resorptive cavity formation and bone destruction in vitro, with improved effects observed when the bone microenvironment is chemically modified by pretreatment with zoledronic acid. Using a murine cardiac injection model of human PCa bone destruction quantified by computed tomography, KBU2046 plus zoledronic acid exhibited improved inhibitory efficacy, compared to monotherapy. The combined disruption of pathways that drive cell movement, honing to the bone and growth constitutes a multi-functional targeting strategy that provides advanced disease control. Citation Format: Ryan Gordon, Limin Zhang, Abhinandan Pattanayak, Wenqi Li, Raymond Bergan. Targeting metastatic prostate cancer with a multi-functional therapy approach [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2019 Oct 26-30; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2019;18(12 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-C11. doi:10.1158/1535-7163.TARG-19-LB-C11
Fractional Conformable Approximation of Csiszar’s f-Divergence

Here are given tight probabilistic inequalities that give nearly best estimates for the Csiszar’s f-divergence. These use the right and left conformable fractional derivatives of the directing function f. Csiszar’s f-divergence or the so called Csiszar’s discrimination is used as a measure of dependence between two random variables which is a very important aspect of stochastics, we apply our results there. The Csiszar’s discrimination is the most essential and general measure for the comparison between two probability measures. See also [4].
Sales Promotions and Resource Optimization in Sustainable Fashion

The clothing industry is among the ones with the highest impact on our environment. Water waste, air pollution, pollution from chemicals used in cloth preparation, and disposal of large amounts of new and old clothes through incineration or landfill deposits are some examples. Considering the fast change in fashion trends and variety of styles, people do not get much out of clothes as they should. One solution is to share a fashion item among people until it goes out of style or until it can no longer be used. In this paper, we describe the challenges in the fashion-sharing economy and propose a probabilistic model for sales promotion planning.
Evolutionary origins of genomic adaptations in an invasive copepod.

The ability of populations to expand their geographical ranges, whether as invaders, agricultural strains or climate migrants, is currently one of the most serious global problems. However, fundamental mechanisms remain poorly understood regarding factors that enable certain populations, such as biological invaders, to rapidly transition to novel habitats. According to one hypothesis, environmental fluctuations in the native range could promote successful invasions by imposing balancing selection on key traits and maintaining the genetic variation that enables rapid adaptation in novel habitats. Here we test the genomic predictions of this hypothesis by performing whole-genome sequencing of multiple independent invasive freshwater and native saline populations of the copepod Eurytemora affinis complex. We found that invasive populations have repeatedly responded to selection through the parallel use of the same single-nucleotide polymorphisms and genomic loci, to a much greater degree than expected. These same loci were enriched for signatures of long-term balancing selection in the native ranges, with 15–47% of loci exhibiting significant signatures of balancing selection. The strong association between parallel evolution in the invaded range and balancing selection in the native range supports the hypothesis that fluctuating habitats can promote invasive success and that balancing selection might serve as a widespread and important mechanism that enables rapid adaptation in nature. Genome sequencing of multiple independent invading freshwater and native saline populations of a copepod reveals a positive association between balancing selection in the native range and parallel directional selection in the invading populations.
Noncolocated Passivity-Based Control of a 2 DOF Tower Crane with a Flexible Hoist Cable

This paper presents a dynamic model of a two-dimensional tower crane, including a Rayleigh-Ritz discretization of the crane's flexible hoist cable, and proposes a passivity-based control approach for payload trajectory tracking using the μ-tip rate. It is assumed that the crane's payload is massive, which allows for a decoupling of the rigid and elastic system dynamics. It is shown that the crane features a passive input-output mapping from modified force and torque inputs to a modified output formed using the position and velocity tracking errors of the payload. An input strictly passive derivative controller is proposed, which results in the velocity tracking error and the μ-tip position error of the payload converging to zero. A numerical example is presented that demonstrates the controller's performance when the payload is to track an agile trajectory.
EVALI in an 18-Year-Old Male with Abdominal Pain

INTRODUCTION E-cigarette or vaping associated lung injury (EVALI) is a new condition characterized by the CDC as a potentially life-threatening respiratory illness linked to vaping. Patients may present with a wide range of influenza-like symptoms. Abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting were the predominant symptoms in this case of suspected EVALI. CASE DESCRIPTION An 18-year-old male with a two-year history of intermittent nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain, presented to the ED with worsening nausea and vomiting despite oral antiemetics and five days of fever. He had normal vitals, and exam was …
Development of an inexpensive matrix-assisted laser desorption—time of flight mass spectrometry method for the identification of endophytes and rhizobacteria cultured from the microbiome associated with maize

Many endophytes and rhizobacteria associated with plants support the growth and health of their hosts. The vast majority of these potentially beneficial bacteria have yet to be characterized, in part because of the cost of identifying bacterial isolates. Matrix-assisted laser desorption-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) has enabled culturomic studies of host-associated microbiomes but analysis of mass spectra generated from plant-associated bacteria requires optimization. In this study, we aligned mass spectra generated from endophytes and rhizobacteria isolated from heritage and sweet varieties of Zea mays. Multiple iterations of alignment attempts identified a set of parameters that sorted 114 isolates into 60 coherent MALDI-TOF taxonomic units (MTUs). These MTUs corresponded to strains with practically identical (>99%) 16S rRNA gene sequences. Mass spectra were used to train a machine learning algorithm that classified 100% of the isolates into 60 MTUs. These MTUs provided >70% coverage of aerobic, heterotrophic bacteria readily cultured with nutrient rich media from the maize microbiome and allowed prediction of the total diversity recoverable with that particular cultivation method. Acidovorax sp., Pseudomonas sp. and Cellulosimicrobium sp. dominated the library generated from the rhizoplane. Relative to the sweet variety, the heritage variety c ontained a high number of MTUs. The ability to detect these differences in libraries, suggests a rapid and inexpensive method of describing the diversity of bacteria cultured from the endosphere and rhizosphere of maize.
Problems of Business Operation

The problems of Negro business, though closely related to the present status of the enterprises, find their greatest significance in their implications for the future. The materials gathered in the course of the study of businesses owned and operated by Negroes multiply the significance of the statement that the growth of business “depends upon the degree of efficiency with which the problems confronting every business man in this highly competitive age are met.”1
Proceed with Extreme Caution: Citation to Wikipedia in Light of Contributor Demographics and Content Policies

Courts and advocates have shown an increasing willingness to cite to Wikipedia. This trend has piqued the attention of scholars, who have considered the permanency concerns raised by citations to Wikipedia and critiqued how courts and advocates have used Wikipedia. This Article adds to the growing scholarship on the Wikipedia citation trend by examining the contours of the Wikipedia contributor crowd and the principles underlying Wikipedia’s content in order to better inform the evaluation of Wikipedia as a potential authoritative source. Part I provides an overview of the Wikipedia citation trend in cases and federal appellate briefs. Part II describes the ongoing judicial and scholarly debate about citation to Wikipedia. Part III first examines the size and demographics of the Wikipedia contributor crowd by using systems data and published surveys. Part III then examines Wikipedia’s editorial and content policies, which guide the Wikipedia contributor crowd in creating content. Finally, Part IV considers the Wikipedia contributor crowd and the editorial and content policies discussed in Part III in the context of traditional evaluative criteria. This evaluation calls into question some of the assumptions underlying the justifications for relying on Wikipedia. Thus, despite the trend, legal writers should proceed with extreme caution when considering reliance on Wikipedia.
Distribution of alginate gene sequences in the Pseudomonas rRNA homology group I-Azomonas-Azotobacter lineage of superfamily B procaryotes

Abstract Chromosomal DNA from group I Pseudomonas species, Azotobacter vinelandii, Azomonas macrocytogens, Xanthomonas campestris, Serpens flexibilis, and three enteric bacteria was screened for sequences homologous to four Pseudomonas aeruginosa alginate (alg) genes (algA, pmm, algD, and algR1). All the group I Pseudomonas species tested (including alginate producers and nonproducers) contained sequences homologous to all the P. aeruginosa alg genes used as probes, with the exception of P. stutzeri, which lacked algD. Azotobacter vinelandii also contained sequences homologous to all the alg gene probes tested, while Azomonas macrocytogenes DNA showed homology to all but algD. X. campestris contained sequences homologous to pmm and algR1 but not to algA or algD. The helical bacterium S. flexibilis showed homology to the algR1 gene, suggesting that an environmentally responsive regulatory gene similar to algR1 exists in S. flexibilis. Escherichia coli showed homology to the algD and algR1 genes, while Salmonella typhimurium and Klebsiella pneumoniae failed to show homology with any of the P. aeruginosa alg genes. Since all the organisms tested are superfamily B procaryotes, these results suggest that within superfamily B, the alginate genes are distributed throughout the Pseudomonas group I-Azotobacter-Azomonas lineage, while only some alg genes have been retained in the Pseudomonas group V (Xanthomonas) and enteric lineages.
Incremental Model Checking in the Modal Mu-Calculus

We present an incremental algorithm for model checking in the alternation-free fragment of the modal mu-calculus, the first incremental algorithm for model checking of which we are aware. The basis for our algorithm, which we call MCI (for Model Checking Incrementally), is a linear-time algorithm due to Cleaveland and Steffen that performs global (non-incremental) computation of fixed points. MCI takes as input a set δ of change) to the labeled transition system under investigation, where a change constitutes an inserted or deleted transition; with virtually no additional cost, inserted and deleted states can also be accommodated. Like the Cleaveland-Steffen algorithm, MCI requires time linear in the size of the LTS in the worst case, but only time linear in δ in the best case. We give several examples to illustrate MCI in action, and discuss its implementation in the Concurrency Factory, an interactive design environment for concurrent systems.
Induction and Regeneration of Autoplasts from Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum JW102 and Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus JW200

Autolysis was induced to form stable, cell wall-free cells of Clostridium thermohydrosulfuricum JW102 and Thermoanaerobacter ethanolicus JW200, using a complex medium containing glycine (0.4% wt/vol) and/or sucrose or glycerol (10% wt/vol) at an optimum temperature of 64 degrees C. Autoplasts of both bacteria were grown as L-phase colonies on solid medium; more than 50% of these colonies regenerated to the walled form during prolonged incubation. The removal of the cell wall was confirmed by electron microscopy.
Efficient checking of computations in number theory

We present efficient program checkers for two important number theory problems, integer GCD and modular exponentiation. The notion of program checkers was introduced by Manuel Blum as a new approach to the problem of program correctness. Our result regarding checking integer GCD answers an open problem posed by Blum; further-more, the checker we give is a constant query checker. The other result paves the way for more robust cryptographic programs, as modular exponentiation is the basis for several cryptosystems, and introduces a new technique for writing checkers, the tester-checker. Taken together, these results lay the foundation for more reliable number-theoretic programs. Further details can found in [AHK].
Ideal and Exterior Weight Enumerators for Linear Codes: Examples and Conjectures

Publisher Summary This paper presents recent examples on weight enumerators of ideals and sub-algebras of exterior algebras generated by codes and the conjectures these examples suggest. An (n, k) code C over a q element field F is a k-dimensional subspace of the vector space F n of n -tuples. Two codes are equivalent if there is a weight-preserving linear transformation between them. It is a result of MacWilliams—that is, this means that one code can be obtained from the other by permuting the standard basis for F n and perhaps multiplying the standard basis elements by nonzero scalars. A brief discussion of the relevant parts of exterior algebra, developed in an elementary way is discussed. The examples discussed suggest that one may able to distinguish between inequivalent codes by computing weight enumerators of iterated exterior algebras of the codes. In the case of binary codes, it has neither been able to prove nor give a counter example to the conjecture that the exterior weight enumerator of a code determines the code up to equivalence.
Hypercalciuria in the frequency-dysuria syndrome of childhood

Dysuria in children is most commonly found to be due to bacterial infection, but in many instances, no infection can be documented and other causes such as trauma, the use of bubble bath, insertion of a foreign body, and sexual abuse are unlikely. In many of the noninfectious cases, the cause remains obscure] Frequently, symptomatic treatment (or no treatment) leads to resolution of the dysuria within several days to 1 week. 1 In some patients, however, the complaint of dysuria persists, resulting in much distress to the child, the family, and caretakers. We report a 180 patientmonth experience with 13 children with persistent or recurrent dysuria and other urinary symptoms found to be closely associated with increased urinary calcium excretion.
A possible high-temperature origin for the carbonates in the martian meteorite ALH84001

THE meteorite Allan Hills (ALH) 84001, commonly accepted to be of martian origin, is unique among known martian meteorites in containing abundant, zoned, pre-terrestrial carbonate minerals1–9. Previous studies of the oxygen isotope compositions of these minerals5,6,8 have suggested that they precipitated from a low-temperature (0–80 °C) aqueous fluid in the martian crust— perhaps in a near-surface hydrothermal system. Here we report analyses of the major-element compositions of the carbonates, which provide an independent constraint on the composition and temperature of the fluid from which they formed. We argue that the most likely explanation for the observed compositions, and for the absence of co-existing hydrous minerals, is that the carbonates were formed by reactions between hot (>650 °C), CO2-rich fluids and the ultramafic host rock during an impact event Impact processes on the martian surface can produce both the hot, CO2-rich fluid (by volatilization of surface carbonates or other CO2 sources) and—by brecciation—the conduits through which it flowed. Impact metasomatism is also consistent with the observed oxygen isotope disequilibrium, sequence of mineral formation, and carbonate mineral zoning, reflecting carbonate formation during rapid cooling from high temperatures rather than prolonged exposure to low-temperature fluids6,8.
Critical Review of Raman Spectroscopy as a Diagnostic Tool for Semiconductor Microcrystals

Raman scattering is becoming a widely used tool for the characterization of semiconductor microcrystals due to its sensitivity to crystal sizes below a few hundred angstroms. Through detailed analysis of the first order Raman spectrum it is possible to determine the size and shape of microcrystalline grains. First order spectra must be examined with care however, since they are sensitive to other factors including: stress/strain, surface vibrations, mixed amorphous/microcrystalline phases and intragrain defects. Second order Raman spectra are more sensitive to microcrystalline effects than first order spectra. They offer the potential to measure crystal sizes greater than a few hundred angstroms but much work remains to be done to quantify the size dependence of the second order spectra.
Ion exchange properties of a crystalline hydrated silica

Abstract A hydrated crystalline sodium polysilicate Na2O·xSiO2·yH2O, has been described by McCulloch (1), who showed that the sodium ions could be removed from the silica by acid. Silica derived from this type of sodium polysilicate has been prepared and studied. It appears to be a crystalline zeolite, unique in that it contains no alumina or other metal oxide (2).
A generalized fault diagnosis method in dynamic analogue circuits

Fault diagnosis of analogue circuits is essential for analogue and mixed-signal systems testing and maintenance. A new method is proposed in this paper for multiple fault diagnosis of linear analogue circuits in frequency domain. The Woodbury formula is applied to the modified nodal equation to construct the fault diagnosis equation, which relates the limited measured circuit responses with the multiple faults inside the circuit in a linear way. A recently developed ambiguity group locating technique is modified here to identify the faulty parameters directly. Computation cost is reduced compared to combinatorial search in traditional fault verification methods. Only one node is needed for voltage measurement, but multiple excitations on accessible nodes are required for fault identification. Parameter evaluation can provide the exact solution to the deviated values of faulty parameters. The faulty parameter deviations can have any finite values. Example circuits are provided to illustrate the proposed method. Two other methods for multiple analogue fault diagnosis sharing the same mechanism as the method proposed in this paper are also briefly described. The proposed method is extremely effective for the circuit with very limited accessible nodes and is also computationally efficient. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cardiomyocytes undergo apoptosis in human immunodeficiency virus cardiomyopathy through mitochondrion- and death receptor-controlled pathways.

We investigated 18 AIDS hearts (5 with and 13 without cardiomyopathy) by using immunocytochemistry and computerized image analysis regarding the roles of HIV-1 proteins and tumor necrosis factor ligands in HIV cardiomyopathy (HIVCM). HIVCM and cardiomyocyte apoptosis were significantly related to each other and to the expression by inflammatory cells of gp120 and tumor necrosis factor-α. In HIVCM heart, active caspase 9, a component of the mitochondrion-controlled apoptotic pathway, and the elements of the death receptor-mediated pathway, tumor necrosis factor-α and Fas ligand, were expressed strongly on macrophages and weakly on cardiomyocytes. HIVCM showed significantly greater macrophage infiltration and cardiomyocyte apoptosis rate compared with non-HIVCM. HIV-1 entered cultured neonatal rat ventricular myocytes by macropinocytosis but did not replicate. HIV-1- or gp120-induced apoptosis of rat myocytes through a mitochondrion-controlled pathway, which was inhibited by heparin, AOP-RANTES, or pertussis toxin, suggesting that cardiomyocyte apoptosis is induced by signaling through chemokine receptors. In conclusion, in patients with HIVCM, cardiomyocytes die through both mitochondrion- and death receptor-controlled apoptotic pathways.
Impact of duration of diabetes on outcome following pancreas transplantation.

Abstract Introduction The impact of duration of T1DM on outcomes following simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation (SPK), pancreas after kidney transplantation (PAK), and pancreas transplantation alone (PTA) is currently unknown. Materials and methods A total of 451 pancreas transplants performed at a single institution between January 2003 and April 2013 (SPK n = 238, PAK, n = 97, and PTA, n = 116) were divided into three groups based on cumulative years of T1DM (0–20 years, 21–30 years, and >30 years). Early (7-day) and late (90-day) pancreas allograft loss, patient and pancreas allograft survivals were analyzed. Results While, PAK was more common in recipients with >30 years of T1DM (29%, p 30 years (p Conclusions Longstanding T1DM does not seem to negatively impact recipient outcomes following all types of pancreas transplantation.
Establishing pathways of energy flow for insect predators using stable isotope ratios: field and laboratory evidence.

Quantifying pathways of energy transfer between plants, pests, and beneficial insects is a necessary step toward maintaining pest stable agroecosystems in the absence of chemical subsidies. A diet switching experiment utilizing a predatory ladybird beetle, Hippodamia variegata (Goeze), evaluated the use of naturally occurring stable C and N isotopes as an economically feasible and safe method for quantifying pathways of energy flow within agroecosystems. Stable isotope values of the ladybird beetle Coleomegilla maculata lengi (Timberlake) collected from an agroecosystem were used to estimate the relative amount of C and N derived from agricultural plants and incorporated by ladybird beetles based on mass balance equations. At the beginning of the diet-switching experiment δ13C and δ15N values of H. variegata (–12.0‰ and 6.3‰, respectively) differed by –0.2‰ and 2.9‰ from the aphids that were provided exclusively as their diet. These data are consistent with previous estimates of trophic level isotope effects. After switching the diet of H. variegata to an alternative food, isotope values of H. variegata gradually shifted toward expected values for individuals fed this diet (–22.9‰ and 8.8‰ for δ13C and δ15N values, respectively). Isotope values of another ladybird beetle, C. maculata, collected from the field indicated that in May, alfalfa and maize (pollen) obtained in the previous year contributed 32% and 68% of the C or N to the diets of these individuals and in August, 52%, 6%, and 42% of the C or N assimilated by these insects was derived from alfalfa, wheat, and maize, respectively. These data are consistent with expectations based on the relative abundance of C. maculata in various crops during the season. The field and laboratory data are a clear indication that isotope values are sensitive to dietary changes on a relatively short time scale (days) and provide a strong basis for the use stable C and N isotope to trace energy flow patterns of these beneficial organisms within agroecosystems.
Simulation Methods for Optimum Performance Estimation of Analog and Computer Impedance Relays

This paper develops state models for estimating the optimum performance of analog and computer impedance relays in the presence of noise due to non-fundamental frequency components. An Extended Kalman filter is used to determine the optimum estimates and error covariance of impedance magnitude and phase angle. lt is shown that impedance relays have performance limits dependent upon the amount of noise present. The effects of sampling rate of input signals, data-window used for fault detection, and cut-off frequency of anti-aliasing filter on the performance of a computer relay are also investigated. Digital computer simulation results for both analog and computer impedance relays are presented.
Competition for Grades and Graduate-Student Performance.

AbstractThis study explored the effect of a single concrete source of motivation (competition for grades) on performance of graduate students in education. Two intact classes of forty-nine and fifty-nine students were compared on two criteria: (1) research papers and (2) examination scores. Class A competed for grades on criterion (1) but not criterion (2); Class B was not allowed to compete for grades on either criterion (1) or (2), On criterion (1), Class A performed at a significantly higher level than Class B; on criterion 2, both classes performed at the same level. Students in Class A performed at a higher level on criterion (1) than they did on criterion (2). These results suggest that performance among graduate students is significantly higher under conditions in which they compete for grades than under conditions in which there is no competition for grades.
Enabling persistent queries for cross-aggregate performance monitoring

It is essential for distributed, data-intensive applications to monitor the performance of the underlying network, storage, and computational resources. Increasingly, distributed applications need performance information from multiple aggregates, and tools need to make real-time steering decisions based on the performance feedback. With increasing scale and complexity, the volume and velocity of monitoring data is increasing, posing scalability challenges. In this work, we have developed a persistent query agent (PQA) that provides real-time application and network performance feedback to clients/ applications, thereby enabling dynamic adaptations. The PQA enables federated performance monitoring by interacting with multiple aggregates and performance monitoring sources. Using a publish-subscribe framework, it sends triggers asynchronously to applications/clients when relevant performance events occur. The applications/clients register their events of interest using declarative queries and get notified by the PQA. The PQA leverages a complex event processing (CEP) framework for managing and executing the queries expressed in a standard SQL-like query language. Instead of saving all monitoring data for future analysis, PQA observes performance event streams in real time, and runs continuous queries over streams of monitoring events. In this work, we present the design and architecture of the PQA, and describe some relevant use cases.
Current-mode CMOS quaternary multiplier circuit

A new current-mode CMOS quaternary multiplier circuit is presented. This circuit accepts two 4-valued input currents and a 3-valued CARRY input current and generates a 4-valued SUM output current and a 3-valued CARRY output current. It uses 49 MOS transistors and generates the product in approximately 10 mu s, worst case, in simulations. >
Egg Components and Hatchling Lipid Reserves: Parental Investment in Kinosternid Turtles from the Southeastern United States

We measured egg components and pre-ovulatory parental investment in kinosternid turtles (Kinosternon baurii, Kinosternon subrubrum, Sternotherus minor, and Sternotherus odoratus) from the southeastern USA. Allocation patterns were determined by comparing lipid content of eggs and hatchlings, to determine whether females of species with hatchlings that exhibit a delayed nest-emergence strategy: (1) allocate higher proportions of energy storage lipids to eggs, (2) produce hatchlings with higher levels of storage lipids, and (3) have higher levels of pre-ovulatory parental investment in comparison to species whose hatchlings exhibit immediate emergence. Whereas total non-polar lipid (NPL) proportions by dry mass of eggs varied significantly among species, NPL proportions of hatchlings were not significantly different. Pre-ovulatory parental investment in care (proportion of hatchling NPL to egg NPL) was 40, 50, and 55% for K. subrubrum, S. minor, and S. odoratus, respectively. Lipid class composition of eggs and hatchlings was studied to distinguish lipids allocated for energy storage from those allocated to other functions. For both eggs and hatchlings, individual lipid classes (triacylglycerol, triacylglycerol fatty acid, cholesterol, cholesterol ester, and phospholipid) as proportions of total lipid, were similar among species. The major lipid class component of eggs and hatchlings of all species was triacylglycerol (\83%), an energy storage lipid. Substantial changes in lipid classes during embryogenesis were similar among species and included: (1) depletion of triacylglycerol, (2) increase in cholesterol esters, and (3) changes in phospholipid composition. Incubation time varied significantly among species, and appeared to be responsible for differential energy utilization during embryogenesis. Our results are inconsistent with the previously observed pattern that hatchlings exhibiting a delayed nest-emergence strategy are allocated higher proportions of energy storage lipids than those that exhibit immediate emergence. However, because the species that overwinters in the nest (K. subrubrum) hatches approximately 40 days later than the species that typically does not (S. odoratus), hatchling K. subrubrum may contain higher non-polar lipid proportions than hatchling S. odoratus during similar winter time periods. Kinosternid hatchlings contain enough stored lipids to support basal maintenance costs for substantial time periods. We suggest that such reserves may be critical to hatchling survival during a period of negative energy balance, regardless of nest emergence strategy. © 1998 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.
Space Shuttle orbiter and subsystems.

Considerable progress has been made in designing the Space Shuttle orbiter and defining its subsystems since the development contract was awarded by NASA to Rockwell International in August 1972. This paper describes the orbiter's current design characteristics and its major assemblies. The aerothermodynamic and other considerations involved in defining the configuration are discussed, and the orbiter flight characteristics are summarized. Arrangement of the crew cabin, crew provisions, accommodations for payloads, and descriptions of the major subsystems are presented, providing design highlights of interest to space mission planners and to the aerospace technical community.