cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Background subtraction for low-loss transmission electron energy-loss spectroscopy.

Abstract We present a technique for removing the zero-loss background from electron energy-loss spectra at very low energies (down to ∼2 eV), generating results that are superior in a number of ways to the results of standard Fourier deconvolution techniques. Our technique is based on a separately measured background spectrum which is spline-interpolated and matched to the zero-loss peak in the low-loss spectrum using curve-fit techniques. The data points are weighted with the use of a semi-empirical model of the random error in the data produced by a spectrometer. We demonstrate in tests on real-world data that this model accounts for the random error within the energy range of interest. We discuss practical details of implementation and present detailed comparisons of the results of various algorithms on a piece of test data obtained from a carbon nanotube sample. Compared to the standard techniques, our algorithm tends to be more consistent, less dependent on arbitrary parameters, and better able to quantify spectral features with small signal-to-noise ratios, particularly those at very low energies.
A methodology for interconnect dimension determination

The determination of metal wire dimensions and inter-layer dielectric thicknesses has become increasingly important in recent times, as wire delays have begun to dominate transistor delays. In this paper, we propose metrics to guide the determination of these dimensions, along with results which describe the efficacy of these metrics. The first metric, which we refer to as cross-bar bandwidth(CBB), compares different wiring configurations in terms ofthe resulting bandwidth they can support in a square of unitsize. The second metric, called power-adjusted cross-bar bandwidth (PCBB), measures the bandwidth of a square, while accounting for the power consumed by the interconnect in the square. The application of these metrics suggests that the traditional approach (of fabricating interconnect of the finest pitch possible) may be sub-optimal with respect to either metric that we present. We have conducted our experiments for layers METAL1 through METAL4, although the approach is general and can be applied to the problem of determining interconnect dimensions for any layer. Without considering driver resistance, our approach yields up to 16% improvement in CBB and 19% improvement in PCBB. When drivers are modeled, the improvements are even greater.
Electronic control of amide cis-trans isomerism via the aromatic-prolyl interaction.

The cis−trans isomerization of prolyl amide bonds results in large structural and functional changes in proteins and is a rate-determining step in protein folding. We describe a novel electronic strategy to control cis−trans isomerization, based on the demonstration that interactions between aromatic residues and proline are tunable by aromatic electronics. A series of peptides of sequence TXPN, X = Trp, pyridylalanine, pentafluorophenylalanine, or 4-Z-phenylalanine derivatives (Z = electron-donating, electron-withdrawing, or electron-neutral substituents), was synthesized and Ktrans/cis analyzed by NMR. Electron-rich aromatic residues stabilized cis amide bond formation, while electron-poor aromatics relatively favored trans amide bond formation. A Hammett correlation between aromatic electronics and cis−trans isomerization was observed. These results indicate that the interaction between aromatic residues and proline, which is observed to stabilize cis amide bonds and is also a general stabilizing inter...
Depolarization dispersion curves of some Raman fundamentals in ferrocytochrome c and oxyhaemoglobin

Depolarization dispersion curves and Raman excitation profiles of three fundamentals in ferrocytochrome c (1585, 1312 and 1363 cm−1) and oxyhaemoglobin (1583, 1376 and 1638 cm−1) are calculated togther with the corresponding absorption spectra in the region of 16000-23000 cm−1. A four-orbital model with two-electron interaction term and vibronic coupling terms for the a1g, a2g, b1g and b2g vibrations is used in two-mode calculations. It is shown that the observed depolarization dispersion curves indicate the presence of symmetry-breaking A2g and B1g electronic perturbations in ferrocytochrome c and of a B2g off-diagonal electronic perturbation in oxyhaemoglobin. These electronic perturbations lower the D4h symmetry of the porphyrin ring. It is also demonstrated that smaller vibronic perturbations become active in these molecules at lower symmetry. These vibronic perturbations result mainly from the symmetry-forbidden (D4h group) linear dependence of the nuclear potential energy in the Q and B states and of the two-electron interaction term on non-totally symmetric vibrational coordinates.
Economic and environmental impacts of conventional and reduced-impact logging in Tropical South America: a comparative review

Abstract Indicators of environmental impact and financial performance are compared for case studies of tropical forest logging from the Brazilian Amazon, Guyana, and Ecuador. Each case study presents parameters obtained from monitoring initial harvest entries into primary forests for planned, reduced-impact logging (RIL) and unplanned, conventional logging (CL) operations. Differences in cost definitions and data collection protocols complicate the comparative analysis, and suggest that caution is necessary in interpreting results. Given this caveat, it appears that RIL can generate competitive or superior profits relative to CL if the financial costs of wood wasted in the harvesting operation are fully accounted for. Increased operational efficiency is an important benefit of RIL, one that largely determines its cost-effectiveness relative to conventional practices. Uncertainties concerning the marginal benefits of RIL relative to familiar, profitable conventional practices pose an obstacle to broader adoption. Moreover, CL firms face few incentives to alter their operations unless they face dramatic changes in market signals. Adoption of RIL techniques as part of a long-term forest management regime faces additional challenges related to the opportunity cost of silvicultural prescriptions and timber set-asides to maintain productivity and ecosystem integrity.
Parametric uncertainty quantification in the Rothermel model with randomised quasi-Monte Carlo methods

Rothermel's wildland surface fire model is a popular model used in wildland fire management. The original model has a large number of parameters, making uncertainty quantification challenging. In this paper, we use variance-based global sensitivity analysis to reduce the number of model parameters, and apply randomised quasi-Monte Carlo methods to quantify parametric uncertainties for the reduced model. The Monte Carlo estimator used in these calculations is based on a control variate approach applied to the sensitivity derivative enhanced sampling. The chaparral fuel model, selected from Rothermel's 11 original fuel models, is studied as an example. We obtain numerical results that improve the crude Monte Carlo sampling by factors as high as three orders of magnitude.
Localization and distribution of tritiated histidine in growing mouse incisor.

HISTIDINE has been reported as being the predominant basic amino-acid of developing human enamel1. At present specific histochemical methods for in situ demonstration of histidine are not available2. With the recent availability of tritiated histidine, autoradiography appears to offer an adequate method for tracing its utilization in the growing incisors of mice.
Interaction of Moloney murine leukemia virus matrix protein with IQGAP

The matrix protein (MA) of the Moloney murine leukemia virus (M-MuLV) was found to interact with IQGAP1, a prominent regulator of the cytoskeleton. Mutational studies defined residues of MA critical for the interaction, and tests of viruses carrying MA mutations revealed a near-perfect correlation between binding and virus replication. The replication-defective mutants showed defects in both early and late stages of the life cycle. Four viable second-site revertant viruses were isolated from three different replication-defective parental mutants, and in all cases the interaction with IQGAP1 was restored by the suppressor mutations. The interaction of MA and IQGAP1 was readily detected in vitro and in vivo. Virus replication was potently inhibited by a C-terminal fragment of IQGAP1, and impaired by RNAi knockdown of IQGAP1 and 2. We suggest that the IQGAPs link the virus to the cytoskeleton for trafficking both into and out of the cell.
Analysis of Relationship between Paraspinal Muscle Fatty Degeneration and Cervical Spine Motion Using Kinetic Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

The alignment and mobility of the cervical spine is influenced by factors related to the vertebral bodies, intervertebral discs, ligaments, facet joints, and muscles. Few reports have described the role played by the paraspinal muscles in cervical spine mobility. In this study, we investigate the relationship between fatty degeneration of the paraspinal muscles and cervical motion as assessed with kinetic magnetic resonance imaging (kMRI). One hundred eighty-eight symptomatic patients underwent cervical kMRI in neutral, flexion, and extension positions. We quantified cervical paraspinal muscle fatty infiltration and measured angular variation and translational motion at each cervical level, and the global Cobb angle. Cervical paraspinal muscle fatty degeneration demonstrated a pattern in which C3 and C7 had significantly more fatty infiltration than C4, C5, and C6. Additionally, when the normal group was compared with the fatty degeneration group with respect to angular variation, translational motion, and Cobb angle, no significant differences were found except in angular variation at the C3–C4 level. In conclusion, we found a significantly larger quantity of fatty degeneration in the paraspinal muscles at C3 and C7 than the middle cervical levels. Also, we demonstrate that fatty degeneration does not significantly affect cervical lordotic alignment or mobility characteristics.
A helium diffraction study of the p(2X2) phase of oxygen on Pd(100)

Abstract The p(2X2) ordered structure of oxygen on Pd(100) was investigated with He diffraction. Best-fit intensity calculations of the very rich diffraction spectra yield a corrugation amplitude of 0.68 A for the oxygen adatom hills, ard require the oxygens to be located in the fourfold coordinated hollows. Surface charge-density calculations were performed in analogy to the well-studied O/Ni(100) system by superposition of atomic charge densities, taking into account the oxygen adatoms in a singly negative state. The corrugation amplitude measured was reproduced with the oxygens ∼0.9 A above the topmost palladium layer.
A method for determining the neutron multiplicity for gamma rays from (particle, xnγ) reactions☆

Abstract A technique is presented for identifying γ rays from specific (particle, x n γ ) reactions by measuring the time-of-flight of the outgoing neutrons. Gamma rays associated with different neutron multiplicities are shown to be coincident with different parts of the neutron time-of-flight spectrum.
Structural and Functional Aspects of Social Support for Mothers of Children with and without Cognitive Delays in Vietnam.

Background This study reports development of a social support scale appropriate to the Vietnamese culture and the impact of social support on mothers of children with cognitive delays by using the developing scale. Method Interview surveys were conducted with 225 mothers of children with and without cognitive delays in Vietnam. The structural and functional social supports were examined in relation to two aspects of stress, parental competence and role restriction. Demographic variables were incorporated in examining the relationships between social support and stress. Results The social support scale had adequate reliability and structural and functional aspects comparable to those found in Western societies. Two domains in functional support, material and family-directed support, alleviated stress when controlling for child disability status and sociodemographic variables. Conclusions The results showed that informal and functional social support have some effect on maternal stress. However, when other variables were examined in combination, child disability was the strongest predictor of maternal stress.
J. G. Frazer and the Jews

Along with H. G. Wells, J. G. Frazer was perhaps the most influential secularist voice in English in the 20th century. Nonetheless, a review of the distinctly unusual changes in his attitudes toward the Jews and Judaism over the years lends credibility to the notion that he may in fact have been ambivalent about religion throughout his long life. The key figures in this remarkable evolution were Heinrich Heine, William Robertson Smith, and Solomon Schechter; Frazer's personal relationships with the latter two were crucial in causing him to reconsider his views and move from standard academic Oxbridge antisemitism to a position that can only be characterized as semitophilic.
A comparative experiment of the effect of visualization on user performance of information systems

This study investigated the effect of visualization on user performance of information systems by comparing an information visualization system with a textual based system. The results indicate that the difference is significant in terms of task completion time, user satisfaction, and total number of mouse clicks.
Microstructural morphology in the transition region between scar and intact residual segments of a healing rat medial collateral ligament.

This study used a rat model to investigate the microstructural organization of collagen through the transition from scar to intact residual segments of a healing medial collateral ligament (MCL). Twenty-two male retired breeder Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly separated into two groups. Eleven underwent surgical transections of both MCLs and were allowed unrestricted cage activity until euthanized two weeks post surgery. The remaining eleven rats were used as normal controls. All 44 MCLs were harvested including intact femoral and tibial insertions and prepared for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging. At harvest the scar region in the healing ligaments was more translucent than the normal tissue. Ligaments were viewed from femoral to tibial insertions at magnifications of 100X through 20,000X. Tissue away from the scar region in the transected MCLs was indistinguishable from normal tissue in uninjured ligaments. Collagen fibers and fibrils in these tissues were more aligned along the longitudinal ...
Fright Posture of the Plesiopid Fish Calloplesiops altivelis: An Example of Batesian Mimicry.

When frightened by a predator, the plesiopid fish, Calloplesiops altivelis, adopts a posture and appearance that mimics the head of a noxious moray eel, Gymnothorax meleagris. Tests indicate that the mimicry is Batesian and not Mullerian. Unlike the strategy of other reef-fish prey species, which hide when threatened, the Calloplesiops9s strategy is one of intimidation.
Ampacity of Electric Power Cables in Vertical Protective Risers

A method is presented to compute the ampacity of an electric power cable located in both vented and nonvented circular protective risers. While techniques for calculating the ampacity of underground cables and overhead lines are well established, techniques for rating the riser portion of a cable circuit have not been as thoroughly studied. Usually cable ampacities are based on the assumption that the underground portion of the circuit will be cooler than the portion located in the riser. Therefore, approximate derating factors are used to reduce the underground cable circuit ampacity when risers are present.
Fundus Lesions in Malignant Hypertension: II. A Pathologic Study of Experimental Hypertensive Optic Neuropathy

• Accelerated renovascular hypertension produces optic nerve changes ranging from optic disc edema to optic atrophy. To elucidate the pathogenesis of hypertensive optic neuropathy, the optic nerves from 12 monkeys (23 eyes) with accelerated renovascular systemic hypertension were studied by electron and light microscopy. Within 21 months, the animals demonstrated the entire spectrum of pathologic changes. In the optic nerves with optic disc edema, the prelaminar optic nerve exhibited vasoconstriction with subsequent axonal hydropic swelling, axolemma disruption, and glial swelling. In retrolaminar myelinated optic nerve, vasoconstriction was more severe, with endothelial swelling and pericytic degeneration resulting in intramyelinic vacuoles and glial swelling. Optic disc edema appeared to result from axonal hydropic swelling secondary to ischemic infarct, followed by loss of axons and gliosis in the prelaminar optic nerve. The retrolaminar myelinated nerve showed prominent microglial reaction and eventual atrophy of axons and glia. Ischemia seemed to play a major role in hypertensive optic neuropathy, which represents anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
In their own words: seven advanced cancer patients describe their experience with pain and the use of opioid drugs

Seven individuals living with advanced cancer, who were followed by a pain and palliative care service at an urban cancer center and had at least once expressed a desire for hastened death, describe how both pain and the use of opioid drugs affected their quality of life. Their description is part of a broader phenomenological inquiry on the experience of living with advanced cancer and how that experience affected attitudes towards life and death. Serial, "in-depth semi-structured" interviews were conducted (mean=3 interviews/patient). Themes that emerged in relation to pain and opioid use reflect struggle--with self, with God, and with desire to live and/or readiness to die. Recognizing the appraisal process that patients undertake regarding the cost/benefit of reporting pain and accepting opioids, as well as the impact on severe pain on desire for death, from the patients' own word, gives a framework for the clinician to intervene.
One Symptom of Originality: Race and the Management of Labour in the History of the United States

In the labour-history of the US, the systematised management of workers is widely understood as emerging in the decades after the Civil War, as industrial production and technological innovation changed the pace, nature and organisation of work. Though modern management is seen as predating the contributions of Frederick Taylor, the technique of so-called 'scientific management' is emphasised as the particularly crucial managerial innovation to emerge from the US, prefiguring and setting the stage for Fordism. This article argues that the management of labour in the US has roots in the particularities of a society which racialised its labour-systems – slave and free – and thus made 'racial knowledge' central to managerial knowledge. Rather than transcending the limits of racial knowledge, the authors argue that scientific management relied on experts to know and develop 'the races' not only for the purpose of accumulating capital but also for the organisation of modern production through the first decades of the twentieth century. Such 'knowledge' became central to the export of managerial and engineering knowledge from the US to the world.
Focusing Components in Typical Chaotic Billiards Should be Absolutely Focusing

We demonstrate that the defocusing mechanism fails to work if not all focusing components of the boundary are absolutely focusing. More precisely, we construct billiard tables with arbitrary long free path away from a non-absolutely focusing component such that a nonlinearly stable periodic orbit exists. Therefore the only known standard procedure of constructing chaotic ergodic billiards works in general only if all focusing boundary components are absolutely focusing.
Model calibration in the continual reassessment method

Background The continual reassessment method (CRM) is an adaptive model-based design used to estimate the maximum tolerated dose in dose finding clinical trials. A way to evaluate the sensitivity of a given CRM model including the functional form of the dose-toxicity curve, the prior distribution on the model parameter, and the initial guesses of toxicity probability at each dose is using indifference intervals. While the indifference interval technique provides a succinct summary of model sensitivity, there are infinitely many possible ways to specify the initial guesses of toxicity probability. In practice, these are generally specified by trial and error through extensive simulations.Methods By using indifference intervals, the initial guesses used in the CRM can be selected by specifying a range of acceptable toxicity probabilities in addition to the target probability of toxicity. An algorithm is proposed for obtaining the indifference interval that maximizes the average percentage of correct selecti...
Forest thinning and subsequent bark beetle-caused mortality in Northeastern California

The Warner Mountains of northeastern California on the Modoc National Forest experienced a high incidence of tree mortality (2001-2007) that was associated with drought and bark beetle (Coleoptera: Curculionidae, Scolytinae) attack. Various silvicultural thinning treatments were implemented prior to this period of tree mortality to reduce stand density and increase residual tree growth and vigor. Our study: (1) compared bark beetle-caused conifer mortality in forested areas thinned from 1985 to 1998 to similar, non-thinned areas and (2) identified site, stand and individual tree characteristics associated with conifer mortality. We sampled ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa var ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) and Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi Grev. and Balf.) trees in pre-commercially thinned and non-thinned plantations and ponderosa pine and white fir (Abies concolor var lowiana Gordon) in mixed conifer forests that were commercially thinned, salvage-thinned, and non-thinned. Clusters of five plots (1/50th ha) and four transects (20.1x100.6m) were sampled to estimate stand, site and tree mortality characteristics. A total of 20 pre-commercially thinned and 13 non-thinned plantation plot clusters as well as 20 commercially thinned, 20 salvage-thinned and 20 non-thinned mixed conifer plot clusters were established. Plantation and mixed conifer data were analyzed separately. In ponderosa pine plantations, mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins) (MPB) caused greater density of mortality (trees ha-1 killed) in non-thinned (median 16.1 trees ha-1) compared to the pre-commercially thinned (1.2 trees ha-1) stands. Percent mortality (trees ha-1 killed/trees ha-1 host available) was less in the pre-commercially thinned (median 0.5%) compared to the non-thinned (5.0%) plantation stands. In mixed conifer areas, fir engraver beetles (Scolytus ventralis LeConte) (FEN) caused greater density of white fir mortality in non-thinned (least square mean 44.5 trees ha-1) compared to the commercially thinned (23.8 trees ha-1) and salvage-thinned stands (16.4 trees ha-1). Percent mortality did not differ between commercially thinned (least square mean 12.6%), salvage-thinned (11.0%), and non-thinned (13.1%) mixed conifer stands. Thus, FEN-caused mortality occurred in direct proportion to the density of available white fir. In plantations, density of MPB-caused mortality was associated with treatment and tree density of all species. In mixed conifer areas, density of FEN-caused mortality had a positive association with white fir density and a curvilinear association with elevation.
Top‐down inflation and deflation at the summit of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i observed with InSAR

[1] We use interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) to study deformation of the summit caldera at Kīlauea Volcano during 2000–2008, which spanned both an east rift zone eruptive event in 2007 and the start of the ongoing summit eruption in 2008. The data set consists of small baseline subset (SBAS) time series generated from 270 acquisitions on three separate beam modes from the Radarsat-1 satellite. We identify 12 time periods with distinct patterns of displacement that we attribute until late 2003 to secular tectonic-driven deformation and from 2004 to 2008 to four different sources in the summit area. We model the shallow magmatic system as a spherical reservoir at 1.9 ± 0.1 km depth below the surface to the northeast of Halemaumau (source 1) and three vertically stacked sills at greater depths in the southern caldera area (source 2 at the southern edge of the caldera at 2.9 ± 0.2 km depth, source 3 to the south-southeast of the caldera at 3.4 ± 0.5 km depth, and source 4 south of the caldera at 3.6 ± 0.4 km depth). The sequence for filling of and withdrawal from these reservoirs reveals a top-down process, with sequences of both inflation and deflation initiating in the shallowest source. Inflation of source 3 is coincident with elevated seismic activity in the upper east rift zone in February 2006 and May 2007. Source 4 is elongated toward the southwest rift zone and also shows elevated seismicity that extends toward the southwest rift zone.
BLOOD PRESSURE AND PLASMA LIPIDS DURING ASCORBIC ACID SUPPLEMENTATION IN BORDERLINE HYPERTENSIVE AND NORMOTENSIVE ADULTS

Abstract In order to clarify the relationship of vitamin C to hypertension, a tablet of 1000 mg ascorbic acid (AA) or a placebo was supplied daily to 20 adult subjects for two 6-week periods in a randomized, crossover design. The subjects consumed self-selected diets and were in good vitamin C status; and 12 were classified as borderline hypertensive. AA supplementation reduced systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure but did not affect diastolic blood pressure. Total plasma cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol and total triglyceride were not affected. It appears that vitamin C supplementation may have therapeutic value in human hypertensive disease.
Runaway Texts: The Many Life Stories of Iurii Trifonov and Christa Wolf

L 1993 the East German author Christa Wolf (born 1929) granted an interview to a German journalist in Santa Monica, California. The journalist came bearing evidence from the newly opened records of the STASI (the East German Secret Police): the spy institution had briefly employed Wolf as an "Unofficial Coworker" (Inoffizieller Mitarbeiter).1 One year earlier, in Moscow, the widow of the Soviet author Iurii Trifonov (1925-81) had begun publishing her late husband's childhood journals.2 Her edition of these documents from the height of the Great Terror gave renewed moral stature to a writer who had decided to accommodate Soviet censorship by writing Aesopian prose, rather than to publish his work abroad or in samizdat editions. In the cases of both Wolf and Trifonov, the end of the Cold War brought secret records of the self into the public domain without the authors' explicit consent. In both cases, the publications exploded a series of carefully constructed life texts. Much of Wolf's and Trifonov's literary work stands out for its close affinity to autobiography and its engagement with personal history. As these authors write about coming of age in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, they explore questions of individual
To Solve the Job Shop Scheduling Problem with the Improve Quantum Genetic Algorithm

Job shop scheduling problem has been a typical scheduling problem that has been thoroughly studied over the last few decades. It has been proven to be a NP-hard problem. The purpose of job scheduling is to assign the work pieces to each machine according to a certain sequence and accomplish the work process with the minimum time. This paper, based on the quantum algorithm theory and quantum chromosome coding knowledge as well as the traditional genetic algorithm, raises an improve quantum genetic algorithm for job shop scheduling. Under the process expression form, it suggests to present the codes as quantum chromosome in order to solve the job shop scheduling problem and make it easy for the information of the elitist to be used to control the variation and make the population to evolve towards the excellent pattern with a large probability and accelerate the convergence rate. The simulation results indicate that the algorithm has better searching and convergence performances.
Androgen Deficiency in Men Without Overt Pituitary-Gonadal Disease: The Role of Testosterone Therapy

The beneficial effects of testosterone replacement have been unequivocally demonstrated only in the classical androgen-deficiency syndrome associated with disorders of the hypothalamic-pituitary-testicular axis. The only other clinical disorder where the use of androgenic steroids has been shown to alter disease outcome is hereditary angioneurotic edema. There is increasing interest in exploring the use of androgens for clinical disorders in which low testosterone levels are the result of a systemic illness. These syndromes that are associated with a higher prevalence of low testosterone levels than is observed in the general population include chronic illness, aging, and osteoporosis. Because of the potentially large market that patients with these disorders represent for androgenic products, a very substantial effort is underway both in the academic community and in the pharmaceutical industry to develop selective androgenic agonists with defined properties that might have therapeutic applications in these disorders. There are two major uncertainties in the area at this time. First, androgen deficiency in these clinical disorders has been defined solely in terms of low testosterone levels because we do not have good biological markers of testosterone action in the target organs. Second, we do not know whether testosterone replacement therapy can produce clinical significant changes in health-related outcomes in any of these disorders, with the exception of hereditary angioneurotic edema. The use of androgenic steroids in these disorders should, therefore, be viewed as investigational at this time.
On the computation of (2‐2) three‐center Slater‐type orbital integrals of 1/r12 using Fourier‐transform‐based analytical formulas

We describe a computational scheme devised for using Fourier- transform-based analytic formulas for three-center integrals of r12 1 , wherein each electron is described by a two-center product of Slater-type orbitals. The asymptotic behavior of the auxiliary functions, which are related to modified spherical Bessel functions and to exponential integrals, is investigated, and recursive computational schemes are derived that are shown to be numerically stable for high summation indices and large internuclear distances. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem 100: 146-154, 2004
A PCR-based method of detection and differentiation of K88 + adhesive Escherichia coli

The objective of this study was to develop a polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method to detect and differentiate among Escherichia coli strains containing genes for the expression of 3 antigenic variants of the fimbrial adhesin K88 (K88ab, K88ac, and K88ad). Five primers were designed that allowed detection of K88 + E. coli, regardless of antigenic variant, and the separate detection of the ab, ac, and ad variants. Primers AM005 and AM006 are 21 base pair (bp) oligomers that correspond to a region of the K88 operon that is common to all 3 antigenic variants. Primers MF007, MF008, and MF009 are 24-bp oligomers that matched variable regions specific to ab, ac, and ad, respectively. Using primers AM005 and AM006, a PCR product was obtained that corresponds to a 764-bp region within the large structural subunit of the K88 operon common to all 3 antigenic variants. Primer AM005 used with MF007, MF008, or MF009 produced PCR products approximately 500-bp in length from within the large structural subunit of the K88 operon of the 3 respective antigenic variants. Fragments were identified by rates of migration on a 1% agarose gel relative to each other as well as to BstEII-digested lambda fragments. This PCR-based method was comparable to the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and western blot test in the ability to differentiate between the antigenic variants. K88 + E. coli were differentiated from among laboratory strains and detected in ileal samples taken from cannulated pigs challenged with a known K88 + variant. K88 + E. coli were also detected from fecal swabs taken from newly weaned pigs, thus confirming that this PCR-based test could provide a convenient clinical assay for the detection of K88 + E. coli. Detection and differentiation of K88 + E. coli using general and specific primers was successful. PCR methods of detection should permit identification of K88 + antigenic variants regardless of the level of expression of the antigen.
Influence of chicken protein isolate and heating temperature on textural properties of low-fat frankfurters

SUMMARY The effects of chicken protein isolate (CPI) addition and heating temperature on the textural properties of low-fat frankfurters were investigated. Frankfurter quality was determined by measuring textural, color, and sensory characteristics. A high temperature caused an increased firmness, breaking force, and gel strength of the frankfurters, and CPI concentration intensified the gel strength. The commercial chicken frankfurters had a greater acceptability and purchase intention than the experimental frankfurters with CPI when evaluated by panelists. The frankfurters with CPI addition (without pork lard) had a lower fat content than the commercial chicken frankfurters. The total replacement of fat by CPI in the experimental frankfurters contributed to the production of a low-fat product because it had a 60% lower lipid content than the commercial chicken frankfurters while maintaining good textural characteristics.
Radiation belt data assimilation of a moderate storm event using a magnetic field configuration from the physics-based RAM-SCB model

Abstract. Data assimilation using Kalman filters provides an effective way of understanding both spatial and temporal variations in the outer electron radiation belt. Data assimilation is the combination of in situ observations and physical models, using appropriate error statistics to approximate the uncertainties in both the data and the model. The global magnetic field configuration is one essential element in determining the adiabatic invariants for the phase space density (PSD) data used for the radiation belt data assimilation. The lack of a suitable global magnetic field model with high accuracy is still a long-lasting problem. This paper employs a physics-based magnetic field configuration for the first time in a radiation belt data assimilation study for a moderate storm event on 19 December 2002. The magnetic field used in our study is the magnetically self-consistent inner magnetosphere model RAM-SCB, developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Furthermore, we apply a cubic spline interpolation method in converting the differential flux measurements within the energy spectrum, to obtain a more accurate PSD input for the data assimilation than the commonly used linear interpolation approach. Finally, the assimilation is done using an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), with a localized adaptive inflation (LAI) technique to appropriately account for model errors in the assimilation and improve the performance of the Kalman filter. The assimilative results are compared with results from another assimilation experiment using the Tsyganenko 2001S (T01S) magnetic field model, to examine the dependence on a magnetic field model. Results indicate that the data assimilations using different magnetic field models capture similar features in the radiation belt dynamics, including the temporal evolution of the electron PSD during a storm and the location of the PSD peak. The assimilated solution predicts the energy differential flux to a relatively good degree when compared with independent LANL-GEO in situ observations. A closer examination suggests that for the chosen storm event, the assimilation using the RAM-SCB predicts a better flux at most energy levels during storm recovery phase but is slightly worse in the storm main phase than the assimilation using the T01S model.
Effects of dietary phosphorus level and inorganic source on survival and growth of Penaeus vannamei postlarvae in zero-water exchange culture tanks

Zero-water exchange culture tanks were stocked with Penaeus vannamei postlarvae to compare the effects of (i) three dietary phosphorus levels: 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2 %, and (ii) three dietary inorganic phosphorus sources: CaHPO4, Na2HPO4 and NaH2PO4, on postlarvae biological performance, and total reactive phosphorus accumulation in the water (TRPAW). Dietary Ca:P ratio was maintained within a 1:1 to 1:2 ratio. Postlarvae survival was high and not significantly different among treatments. Postlarvae growth was not significantly different, regardless of dietary phosphorus level. TRPAW was significantly higher with increasing level of dietary phosphorus. Dietary inorganic phosphorus source did not have a significant effect on postlarvae growth. No significant differences were found on TRPAW between diets with Na2HPO4 and NaH2PO4 supplementation at equal dietary phosphorus level. TRPAW was significantly lower with CaHPO4 than with Na2HPO4 or NaH2PO4 supplementation at equal dietary phosphorus level. Environmental quality of culture water may be greatly modified through nutritional strategies without negatively affecting shrimp biological performance.
Radiographic Comparison of Three Methods for Nasal Saline Irrigation

Objective: To compare intranasal distribution of saline solution delivered by three popular methods for nasal saline irrigation. Study Design: Prospective, controlled comparison. Methods: Eight healthy adult volunteers received nasal irrigation with 40 mL of isotonic, nonionic contrast material immediately before having coronal computed tomography to visualize distribution of solution in the paranasal sinuses. For each study subject, three methods of irrigation were used: irrigation using positive-pressure irrigation, irrigation using negative-pressure irrigation, and irrigation using a nebulizer. For each subject, three-dimensional computer reconstructions of the irrigated paranasal sinus airspaces were used to compare contrast solution volume and distribution achieved by the three methods. Results: Of the three methods used, two methods, positive-pressure and negative-pressure irrigation, distributed contrast solution widely to ethmoid and maxillary sinuses, but distribution of contrast solution was more uniform using positive-pressure irrigation than using negative-pressure irrigation. The nebulization method distributed contrast solution poorly and resulted in a significantly lower volume of retained contrast solution (P <.05). Conclusion: Judged solely on the basis of solution distribution in the nasal sinuses, nasal irrigation is effective when either positive-pressure or negative-pressure irrigation is used but is ineffective when a nebulizer is used.
Acute onset rhythmic hiccup-like respirations secondary to oral baclofen toxicity.

Abstract Objective Baclofen toxicity has been associated with seizures, coma, apnea, autonomic disturbances, and cardiac conduction abnormalities. It has not been associated with rhythmic hiccup-like respirations. Method We report a patient with suspected baclofen toxicity. Results Our patient is a 19-year-old girl with cerebral palsy secondary to prematurity and repaired tetralogy of Fallot who had started oral baclofen 8 months before to diminish spasticity. Her main concern was the acute onset of rhythmic, deep, continual, hiccup-like breaths every few seconds, increasing in frequency with exhaustion, and disappearing in sleep. The night after her evaluation, her symptoms significantly worsened. She presented at the Johns Hopkins pediatric emergency room where her symptoms were only somewhat responsive to a benzodiazepine; she was discharged without a clear etiology. After discussion the next day, her baclofen dose was reduced. Within 12 hours, her abnormal respirations disappeared without recurrence. Conclusions Respiration involves glutamatergic excitatory synaptic input to medullary inspiratory γ-aminobutyric acid–mediated pacemaker neurons. Baclofen acts on presynaptic γ-aminobutyric acid B receptors on glutamate axons; derangement of this system may explain the irregular respirations in our patient in a dose-dependent fashion.
Trust Computing for Social Networking

Trust plays an important role in a web-based social network. Given the open and dynamic nature of such an online virtual community, trust evaluation relies on transitive relationships among the direct and indirect neighbors of an evaluator. We propose a framework to evaluate the trustworthiness of a given node (e.g., a user) based on a set of trust chains and a trust graph. We will also systematically analyze the inherent relationships between the two approaches. Many terms presented in this paper are new, including a virtual trust chain, the capacity, completeness, and degree of a trust graph, and a base trust chain set for a complete trust graph. Our contributions also include algorithms outlining novel approaches for peer trust evaluation in social networks.
Supporting social recommendations with activity-balanced clustering

In support of social interaction and information sharing, online communities commonly provide interfaces for users to form or interact with groups. For example, a user of the social music recommendation site last.fm might join the "First Wave Punk" group to discuss his or her favorite band (The Clash) and listen to playlists generated by fellow fans. Clustering techniques provide the potential to automatically discover groups of users who appear to share interests. We explore this idea by describing algorithms for clustering users of an online community and automatically describing the resulting user groups. We designed these techniques for use in an online recommendation system with no pre-existing group functionality, which led us to develop an "activity-balanced clustering" algorithm that considers both user activity and user interests in forming clusters.
Shape deposition manufacturing of smart metallic structures with embedded sensors

The need to obtain information on the performance and lifetime of a tool in service is of prime importance to many industries. It calls for on-line acquisition of information such as temperature and strain values from tools and structures. With embedded sensors, structures are capable of monitoring parameters at critical locations not accessible to ordinary sensors. To embed sensors in the functional structures, especially structures, Shape Deposition Manufacturing (SDM) is a methodology capable of integrating sensors during the production of tooling or structural components. Thin film sensors and fiber optic sensors have been identified as two promising candidates to be integrated in metallic structures. Embedded thin film strain gages have been characterized in a four-point bending test and the results, showing linearity and no hysteresis, match with those from the theoretical model and commercially available strain gages. Fiber optic sensors have been successfully embedded in nickel and stainless steel structures. The embedded fiber optic sensors have been used to measure temperatures and strains. They provide higher sensitivity, good accuracy, and high temperature capacity. Based on fiber optic sensor embedding techniques, a remote temperature/strain sensing system suitable rotating objects, such as turbine blades, has been developed. The developed techniques can be harnessed for rapid prototyping of smart metallic structures.
Prior knowledge strengthens learning to control search in weak theory domains

Rather than search exhaustively in large problem spaces, people use heuristics that entail minimal search and yet support intelligent decisions. Human performance in such spaces is robust and improves with experience. Game playing is a good example. the traditional AI approach to game playing, however, has been to build a program that plays only a single game, and plays it very well. Because exhaustive search of the game graph and minimax of the resultant values guarantees perfect play, programmed champions rely on deep, fast, efficient search. Despite their more limited, fallible memories and arguably slower processors, human masters often defeat a program whose search is incomplete. People search less, remember less, and somehow make the right choices. This article describes HOYLE, a program that learns to play specific games under the direction of a weak theory, clearly delineated prior knowledge about games in general. HOYLE differs from most game-playing programs in two ways: it is able to play any of a broad class of games according to the rules, and it improves its performance through a variety of learning paradigms. HOYLE shows that, for a class of related problems, it is possible to replace deep search with a weak theory based upon heuristically selective cache memories and a consensus about action among reliable rationales.
Parental divorce and adult children's attachment representations and marital status

The purpose of this study was to explore adult attachment as a means of understanding the intergenerational transmission of divorce, that is, the propensity for the children of divorce to end their...
The evolutionary dynamics of complex polymorphisms.

The theory of balanced polymorphism which has been elaborated by population geneticists, notably Sewall Wright and R. A. Fisher, has in the main been concerned with the effects of single loci. As theory generally goes apace with experiment, this accent on single locus polymorphisms has been due to the plethora of observational evidence relating to simple cases. It is sufficient to note the vast effort made by Dobzhansky and his co-workers in their elucidation of the inversion polymorphism of the third chromosome of Drosophila pseudoobscura. In recent years, however, a few cases have come to light of polymorphisms involving more than one Mendelian unit. Among these are the inversions on different chromosomes found in D. robustca studied by Levitan (1955 and 1958), the shell color of Cepaea nemoralis reported by Lamotte (1951) and by Cain and Sheppard (1952), the complex mimicry pattern in certain butterflies (Sheppard, 1959) and the inversions in two chromosomes of the grasshopper Moraba scurra analyzed by White (1957) and Lewontin and White (1960). The study of effects of natural selection on single locus polymorphisms must take into account only inter-allelic effects such as additivity and dominance. In multi-locus polymorphisms, however,
Robust model predictive control of constrained linear systems

Linear matrix inequality (LMI) based optimization methods are applied to the problem of designing a model predictive controller for an uncertain constrained linear system. The control signal is specified in terms of both feedback and feedforward components, where the feedback is designed to maintain the state within a prescribed ellipse in the presence of unknown bounded disturbances and system perturbations. The feedforward component drives these ellipses to a desired reference state. The LMI characterization allows exact specification of ellipsoidal and hyperplane constraints on the inputs, states and outputs.