cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Characterization of a single-supply subthreshold FPGA

This paper presents a pair of field programmable gate array (FPGA) test chips optimized for subthreshold operation to maximize energy efficiency. Both chips were fabricated in the IBM 0.18 µm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process using the same FPGA architecture; one making use of conventional static CMOS multiplexers and one using dynamic threshold MOS (DTMOS) multiplexers. Reliable subthreshold operation is achieved for both test chips by replacing conventional SRAM with variation-tolerant interruptible latches. For the chip with conventional multiplexers, testing across eleven dice showed an average minimum operating voltage of 300 mV. A 43X reduction in power delay product (PDP) was seen compared to 1.5V operation. For the DTMOS chip, testing across four dice showed an average minimum operating voltage of 260 mV. The test results show that the DTMOS chip is more reliable at sub-300 mV, consistent with simulations. Minimum energy analysis of both test chips suggests that the minimum energy point for the FPGA occurs at subthreshold voltages.
Duet Interaction: Learning Musicianship for Automatic Accompaniment

Computer music systems can interact with humans at different levels, including scores, phrases, notes, beats, and gestures. However, most current systems lack basic musicianship skills. As a consequence, the results of human-computer interaction are often far less musical than the interaction between human musicians. In this paper, we explore the possibility of learning some basic music performance skills from rehearsal data. In particular, we consider the piano duet scenario where two musicians expressively interact with each other. Our work extends previous automatic accompaniment systems. We have built an artificial pianist that can automatically improve its ability to sense and coordinate with a human pianist, learning from rehearsal experience. We describe different machine learning algorithms to learn musicianship for duet interaction, explore the properties of the learned models, such as dominant features, limits of validity, and minimal training size, and claim that a more human-like interaction is achieved.
A compartmental model for capillary supply

AbstractOxygen diffusion for time-dependent diffusion and consumption can be measured for small tissue regions containing a single capillary. An all or none model is reflected by myocardial infarction where necrotic regions are clearly demarcated. However if there is more than one capillary, the problem becomes very difficult; since the boundary of the ischemic area is no longer circular and is not known a priori. A geometric compartmental model using the Fick’s method will be presented for multi-capillary supply. Our method is to approach the steady state by a transient process, which paradoxically may be more efficient than the steady-state problem.
Entitlements and Public Policy in Environmental Risks

In this volume we address a wide range of issues pertaining to risk in environmental policy. The chapters to follow are concerned with individual perceptions of risk, the valuation of environmental risks, the ways in which risks are reported and discussed in the media, the alternative governmental roles in addressing environmental risks, and public policy issues involving risks — biotechnology hazards, hazardous waste facilities, and occupational hazards. Underlying all of these issues are important questions concerning individual and group exposures to environmental risks.
Management practice effects on surface total carbon: Differences in spatial variability patterns

Lack of information about the spatial variability of soil C in different management systems limits accurate extrapolation of C sequestration findings to large scales. The objectives of this study were to: (i) describe and quantify variability of total C in three management systems, chisel-plow (CT) and no-till (NT) with conventional chemical inputs and a chisel-plow organic management practice with cover crops (CT-cover) 15 yr after conversion from conventional management; (ii) assess the strengths of spatial correlation in the three studied systems; and (iii) evaluate contributions of topography and texture to the overall total C variability and its spatial components. The data were collected at 12 60 by 60 m plots at the Long Term Ecological Research site, Kellogg Biological Station, MI. The data consisted of elevation measurements taken on a 2 by 5 m grid and a total of 1160 measurements of total C, sand, silt, and clay contents taken from the 0-to5-cmdepth.OverallvariabilityoftotalCinNTwasmorethanfour times greater than in CT, and in CT-cover the variability was more than two times greater than CT. Spatial correlation of total C was the strongestinNT, followedbyCT-cover,andthenbyCT.Strongerspatial structures in NT and CT-cover were found to form in response to topographical and texture gradients. Effects of texture were largely associated with topographical effects; however, even when topography was controlled for, texture still substantially contributed to explaining total C variability.
Assessing the Electoral Impact of the 2010 Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review:

The Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review (CIR) distinguishes itself by linking a small deliberative body to the larger electoral process. Since 2010, CIR citizen panels have been a legislatively authorized part of Oregon general elections to promote a more informed electorate. The CIR gathers a representative cross-section of two dozen voters for 5 days of deliberation on a single ballot measure. The process culminates in the citizen panelists writing a Citizens’ Statement that the secretary of state inserts into the official Voters’ Pamphlet sent to each registered voter. This study analyzes the effect of one such Citizens’ Statement from the 2010 general election. In Study 1, an online survey experiment found that reading this Statement influenced Oregon voters’ values trade-offs, issue knowledge, and vote intentions. In Study 2, regression analysis of a cross-sectional phone survey found a parallel association between the Statement’s use and voting choices but yielded some mixed findings.
How Do Thermometers Work?—The Polythermal Ensemble

In the previous Lectures, we discussed the canonical ensemble description of an ideal gas. By means of ensemble averages, we calculated the average energy, the mean-square energy and mean-square energy fluctuation, and the import of fluctuations for experimental measurements of E.We then used three separate paths to compute the pressure of an ideal gas, finding that these paths gave the same answer to all questions on which agreement should have been expected.
Imaging the Deep Choroidal Vasculature Using Spectral Domain and Swept Source Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography.

Purpose:To evaluate the deeper choroidal vasculature in eyes with various ocular disorders using spectral domain (SD) optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) and swept source (SS) OCTA.Meth...
Apoptosis in glioma cells: review and analysis of techniques used for study with focus on the laser scanning cytometer

Traditional approaches to the treatment of brain tumors are based on the hypothesis that tumors arise and grow because of the disordered regulation of cell proliferation. More recently, it has become apparent that tumor growth depends not only on the rate of cell proliferation but also on the rate of apoptosis (programmed cell death). Genomic alterations that occur in malignancy may limit the cell's ability to undergo apoptosis. Many new treatment strategies for gliomas stem from the use of techniques aimed at manipulating apoptosis. Being able to assess the efficacy of experimental treatments with refined techniques and being able to use instruments that can provide accurate measurements of the apoptotic markers will open the door for discovering novel strategies with the potential to induce effective and selective cytotoxicity. We discuss here in detail the major traditional techniques of assessing apoptosis. We provide an overview of cytometric techniques, including flow cytometry (FC), and will compare it with the laser scanning cytometer (LSC). This is a powerful new tool with potential for obtaining a fast and objective analysis of apoptosis through multiple mechanisms, as well as for assessing proliferation and DNA ploidy in solid malignant tumors.
Drivers’ Perceptions of Functionality Implied by Terms Used to Describe Automation in Vehicles:

The expectations induced by the labels used to describe vehicle automation are important to understand, because research has shown that expectations can affect trust in automation even before a per...
Interactions with Muscle Cells Boost Fusion, Stemness, and Drug Resistance of Prostate Cancer Cells

Poorly understood interactions with nonmalignant cells within the tumor microenvironment play an important role in cancer progression. Here, we explored interactions between prostate cancer and muscle cells that surround the prostate. We found that coculturing of prostate cancer cells with skeletal or smooth muscle cells expands the subpopulations of cancer cells with features characteristic of cancer stem-like cells, including anchorage-independent growth, elevated CD133 expression, and drug resistance. These changes in the properties of cancer cells depend on: (i) the muscle cell–induced increases in the concentrations of interleukins 4 and 13; (ii) the cytokine-induced upregulation of the expression of syncytin 1 and annexin A5; and (iii) cancer cell fusion. In human prostate cancer tissues, expression of syncytin 1 and annexin A5, proteins that we found to be required for the cell fusion, positively correlated with the cancer development suggesting that these proteins can be used as biomarkers to evaluate cancer progression and potential therapeutic targets. Implications: The discovered effects of muscle cells on prostate cancer cells reveal a novel and specific pathway by which muscle cells in the microenvironment of prostate cancer cells promote cell fusion and cancer progression.
Mitochondrial DNA content is not related with pregnancy but with euploidy

Introduction Altered levels of mitochondrial DNA were found to be associated with female age, aneuploidy and implantation potential ( Fragouli et al., 2015 ). The quantity of mtDNA was found to be significantly higher in embryos from older women and in aneuploid embryos. Blastocysts that successfully implanted tended to contain lower mtDNA quantities than those failing to implant (below the threshold of 0.003). The aim of our study was to correlate the mitochondrial DNA content with female age, euploidy and the subcategories of aneuploidy (monosomies, trisomies and mosaics). Material and Methods This observational study was based on 2494 embryos belonging to 483 patients (mean female age: 35.7) applying for preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) due to advanced maternal age (>37), a history of abnormal fetal karyotype or structural abnormalities. Good or top-quality blastocysts (at least 4BB) were biopsied and analyzed by next generation sequencing (NGS) (PGM platform, ThermoFisher). 1084 embryos were euploid and 1157 aneuploid, of which 404 were pure monosomic(s), 315 pure trisomic(s), 438 diagnosed with mixed monosomies and trisomies and 253 mosaics. Results Female age was not found to be correlated with the mitochondrial DNA content (p=0.27). However, the mitochondrial DNA content tends to increase with age (correlation coefficient, R=0.02). Although implanted embryos had an increased level of mitochondrial DNA content, it did not reach statistical significance either and no threshold could be established (p=0.33). Nevertheless, when euploid blastocysts were compared with aneuploids, the mitochondrial DNA content was found to be significantly decreased in euploids (p Conclusions Mitochondrial DNA content was not found as being a biomarker of successful implantation. However, it is related with euploidy in this series of 2494 embryos as euploid blastocysts had a decreased level of mitochondrial DNA. The quiet embryo hypothesis postulates that a low oxidative phosphorylation rate from the zygote to the morula stage limits reactive oxygen species production thus maximizing viability, a postulation that may be extended to euploid blastocysts.
Sensitivity of 1JC1-H1 Magnitudes to Anomeric Stereochemistry in 2,3-Anhydro-O-furanosides

The magnitude of the one-bond coupling constant between C1 and H1 in 2,3-anhydro-O-furanosides has been shown to be sensitive to the stereochemistry at the anomeric center. A panel of 24 compounds was studied and in cases where the anomeric hydrogen is trans to the epoxide moiety, 1JC1-H1 = 163−168 Hz; and when this hydrogen is cis to the oxirane ring, 1JC1-H1 = 171−174 Hz. In contrast, for 2,3-anhydro-S-glycosides, the size of the 1JC1-H1 is not sensitive to C1 stereochemistry. Computational studies on all four methyl 2,3-anhydro-O-furanosides (5−8) demonstrated that 1JC1-H1 was inversely proportional to the length of the C1−H1 bond. A previously reported equation, which relates C1−H1 bond distance and atomic charges to 1JC1-H1 magnitudes, could be used to accurately predict the J values in the α-lyxo (5) and β-ribo (8) isomers. In contrast, with the β-lyxo (6) and α-ribo isomers (7), this equation underestimated the size of these coupling constants by 10−20 Hz.
Barbarians, Bridge Builders, and Boycott: The British Sports Council’s Fact-Finding Mission to South Africa

In January 1980, four representatives of the British Sports Council began a fact-finding mission in South Africa to assess whether or not the apartheid nation had taken significant steps towards so...
Public Domain Software: A Formula for Better Classroom Computing.

Microcomputers are finding their way into mathematics classes all across the country. This heavy investment by schools has made computers accessible to millions of students. Microcomputers are an efficient way to individualize instruction, supply motivation, and increase achievement. With appropriate software and classroom management, computers can be used to make lackluster or difficult subject content come alive in interest-
South African abortion attitudes from 2007-2016: the roles of religiosity and attitudes toward sexuality and gender equality.

Abortion is legal in South Africa, but negative abortion attitudes remain common and are poorly understood. We used nationally representative South African Social Attitudes Survey data to analyze a...
Maximizing Solar Energy Utilization through Multicriteria Pareto Optimization of Energy Harvesting and Regulating Smart Windows

Summary Windows play a crucial role in regulating solar energy exchange with a building, while supporting many essential functions, including natural daylighting, ventilation, and visual contact with the outside. These distinct functions often make complex and sometimes conflicting demands of solar energy. Here, we report a multicriteria Pareto optimization approach to obtain optimal balance of the energy-harvesting and energy-regulating functions for a smart window device. The optimal design is validated experimentally using a nanofabricated prototyping smart window device, which comprises a semi-transparent perovskite solar cell and an aperiodic multilayer nanophotonic coating. Based on experimental characterization of the prototype, calculations using EnergyPlus project an annual energy savings of 13,560 kWh or 187% over a chromogenic smart window for a 2,000-ft2 single-story residential building located in Phoenix, Arizona. The reported multicriteria optimization and the nanophotonic device architecture offer promising solutions for the efficient utilization of solar energy.
MagAuth: Secure and Usable Two-Factor Authentication with Magnetic Wrist Wearables

Secure and usable user authentication is the first line of defense against cyber attacks on smart end-user devices. Advanced hacking techniques pose severe threats to the traditional authentication systems based on the password/PIN/fingerprint. We propose MagAuth, a secure and usable two-factor authentication scheme with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) wrist wearables with magnetic strap bands to enhance the security and usability of password-based authentication for mobile touchscreen devices. In MagAuth, a user enrolls a self-chosen unlock pattern or touch gesture into his touchscreen device by performing it with the same hand the magnetic wrist wearable is on. The chosen unlock pattern or touch gesture serves as the first authentication factor, and the user's behavioral features manifested in the magnetic field changes during his finger movement correspond to the second factor. The user can unlock his touchscreen device only when both authentication factors can be validated. Comprehensive user experiments confirm the high security and usability of MagAuth. In particular, MagAuth achieves an average true-positive rate up to 96.3% and a false-positive rate no larger than 8.4%. Moreover, we show that MagAuth is highly resilient to various attacks.
Avoidable Acute Care Use for Vaccine-Preventable Illnesses Among Medicaid Beneficiaries With Lupus.

OBJECTIVE Nearly 25% of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are hospitalized yearly, often for outcomes that may have been avoided if patients had received sustained outpatient care. We examined acute care use for vaccine-preventable illnesses to determine sociodemographic contributors and modifiable predictors. METHODS Using US Medicaid claims from 29 states (2000-2010), we identified adults (18-65 years) with prevalent SLE and 12 months of enrollment prior to the first SLE code (index date) to identify baseline data. We defined acute care use for vaccine-preventable illnesses as emergency department (ED) or hospital discharge diagnoses for influenza, pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, herpes zoster, high-grade cervical dysplasia/cervical cancer, and hepatitis B after the index date. We estimated the incidence rate of vaccine-preventable illnesses and used Cox regression to assess risk (with hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals) by sociodemographic factors and health care utilization, adjusting for vaccinations, comorbidities, and medications. RESULTS Among 45,654 Medicaid beneficiaries with SLE, <10% had billing claims for vaccinations. There were 1,290 patients with ≥1 ED visit or hospitalization for a vaccine-preventable illness (6.6 per 1,000 person-years); 93% of events occurred in unvaccinated patients. Patients who were Black compared to White had 22% higher risk. Greater outpatient visits were associated with lower risk. CONCLUSION Medicaid beneficiaries with SLE who are not vaccinated are at risk for potentially avoidable acute care use for vaccine-preventable illnesses. Racial disparities were noted, with a higher risk among Black patients compared to White patients. Greater outpatient use was associated with reduced risk, suggesting that access to ambulatory care may reduce avoidable acute care use.
Analysis of Experimental OSL Data

In this chapter we provide detailed R codes that show how researchers can analyze and model their experimental continuous wave OSL (CW-OSL) signals and linearly modulated OSL (LM-OSL) signals. We present detailed examples for computerized analysis of OSL experimental data, using the R packages Luminescence and numOSL, and how to extract the relevant optical cross sections. On the modeling side, we present the GOT equation derived from the OTOR model, show how this equation can be integrated numerically using R, and compare with the analytical solutions for OSL, which are based on the Lambert Wfunction. We show how to transform the shapeless experimental CW-OSL signals into peak-shaped LM-OSL signals and present several examples of using the R package RLumCarlo to simulate OSL signals. The chapter concludes with a list of recommended protocols for analyzing OSL data in the laboratory.
Renal Denervation for the Treatment of Hypertension: Unnerving or Underappreciated?

Hypertension is a major, modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease, CKD, and mortality ([1][1]). As guidelines recommend more stringent BP goals, achieving these benchmarks often requires multiple medications, which can yield high dosing complexity, pill burden, expense, and drug intolerance
Mitochondrial ROS Induced Lysosomal Dysfunction and Autophagy Impairment in an Animal Model of Congenital Hereditary Endothelial Dystrophy.

Purpose The Slc4a11 knock out (KO) mouse model recapitulates the human disease phenotype associated with congenital hereditary endothelial dystrophy (CHED). Increased mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the Slc4a11 KO mouse model is a major cause of edema and endothelial cell loss. Here, we asked if autophagy was activated by ROS in the KO mice. Methods Immortalized cell lines and mouse corneal endothelia were used to measure autophagy and lysosome associated protein expressions using Protein Simple Wes immunoassay. Autophagy and lysosome functions were examined in wild type (WT) and KO cells as well as animals treated with the mitochondrial ROS quencher MitoQ. Results Even though autophagy activation was evident, autophagy flux was aberrant in Slc4a11 KO cells and corneal endothelium. Expression of lysosomal proteins and lysosomal mass were decreased along with reduced nuclear translocation of lysosomal master regulator, transcription factor EB (TFEB). MitoQ reversed aberrant lysosomal functions and TFEB nuclear localization in KO cells. MitoQ injections in KO animals reduced corneal edema and decreased the rate of endothelial cell loss. Conclusions Mitochondrial ROS disrupts TFEB signaling causing lysosomal dysfunction with impairment of autophagy in Slc4a11 KO corneal endothelium. Our study is the first to identify the presence as well as cause of lysosomal dysfunction in an animal model of CHED, and to identify a potential therapeutic approach.
Hume's ‘Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth’ and Scottish political thought of the 1790s

This article traces the reception of Hume's ‘Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth’ (1752) among a circle of Scottish Whigs supportive of the French Revolution. While the influence of Hume's essay on Amer...
Identification of voiced stop consonants produced by acoustically driven vocal tract modulations

A recently developed speech production model, in which speech segments are specified by relative acoustic events called resonance deflection patterns, was used to generate speech signals that were presented to listeners in a perceptual test. The purpose was to determine the effect of variations of the magnitude and polarity of the third resonance deflection on identification of the consonant in a V1CV2 disyllable while the deflections of the first and second resonances were held constant. Result showed that listeners' identification changed from /d/ to /ɡ/ when the polarity of the third resonance deflection switched from positive to negative.
Asthma: A Special Case of Susceptibility to Air Pollution

Although asthma has been recognized as a pathological respiratory condition for over 2000 years, there is no agreed upon definition of asthma. In the 1950s the hallmark of asthma was considered to be reversible airways obstruction. Reversibility of decreased lung function by bronchodilating medications was used to diagnose asthma. Currently, airway inflammation is considered to be the hallmark of asthma. Partly this came about with the introduction of the fiber optic bronchoscope that allowed investigators to examine the airways of patients with asthma. These bronchoscopic examinations revealed intense inflammatory lesions (Barbee and Murphy, 1998). In a recent text on asthma, Woolcock (1997) admits that “in spite of the immense amount of material presented here we do not know the answer” to the question, What is asthma? In the face of this deficit, investigators are relegated to describing symptoms, exacerbations, and abnormal structural components of the airways. There is a current working definition of asthma
OPTIMAL DYNAMIC HARVEST OF A MOBILE RENEWABLE RESOURCE

Abstract We present a mathematical model for the growth, movement, and harvesting of a renewable resource, and characterize the spatiotemporal distribution of harvest effort which maximizes the present value of harvest (yield) over a finite time horizon. We derive the optimality system for this model and show that the yield-maximizing solution often includes one or more no-take reserves that change in size over time. We explore how the results change with varying parameter values. The results inform ongoing debate about the use of reserves, and are increasingly relevant as technology enables enforcement of spatially structured harvest constraints.
Low Density Parity Check Codes Based on Sparse Matrices with No Small Cycles

In this paper we give a systematic construction of matrices with constant row weights and column weights and arbitrarily large girths. This resolves a problem raised by D. MacKay. The matrices are used in the generator matrices of linear codes. We give the experiment performance results for codes whose associated matrices have girth 8. We also give a randomized construction of matrices with constant row sums and column sums and few 4-cycles. The codes generated using the matrices are used to encode bit streams for a Gaussian channel and decoded using a decoding algorithm that combines features of the algorithms given by MacKay and Cheng and McEliece. The experimental performance results for codes generated using the random matrices are compared to those of the systematically constructed codes. The results show that the codes generated using the random codes with smaller block sizes perform as well as the systematic codes with bigger block sizes. The performance of the systematic codes, for specified weights, can be used to tailor the random codes. MATLAB routines for the construction for the girth 8 case and a special girth 4 case are included.
Trends in Religious Healing and the Integration of Biomedicine and Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United States and Around the Globe: A Review

Religion and Healing in America. Linda L. Barnes and Susan S. Sered, eds. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005 (cloth and paper). xvi + 535 pp. Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the United StatesInstitute of Medicine. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2005 (cloth). xx + 337 pp. Consciousness and Healing: Integral Approaches to Mind-Body Medicine. Marilyn Schlitz and Tina Amorok with Marc S. Micozzi, eds. St. Louis: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone, 2005 (cloth and paper). lx + 583 pp. Negotiating the Holistic Turn: The Domestication of Alternative Medicine. Judith Fadlon. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005. x + 157 pp.
SIRTF and solar system studies

Current objectives of infrared studies of solar system bodies are reviewed, and the contributions in this area that SIRTF can make are addressed. Primordial issues, the evolution of giant planet atmospheres and satellites, seasonal processes in giant planet atmospheres and satellites, the comets, the asteroids, interplanetary matter, and the detection of extrasolar planetary systems are considered. The role of SIRTF in the Comet Rendezvous Asteroids Flyby (CRAF) mission is examined.
Absolute luminosity and energy determination in bunched colliding-beam machines

There is a basic difference between electron-positron machines and proton-antiproton colliders which should be made clear at the outset. First, because electrons and positrons are simple objects which interact via the electroweak force, their interaction cross sections into explicit final states can be calculated very precisely. Thus, for example, if elastic e+e scattering (Bhabha) can be monitored at a physics detector, one has a measure of the machine luminosity. The energy of an e+e machine does not come so easily and is of tremendous importance as it is a constraint on the final state detected in the experiment.
How you can develop a Skunk Works for your organization

Summary form only given as follows. Lockheed Martin received a contract to develop an experimental reusable rocket ship. The proposal emanated from its Skunk Works which successfully developed fourteen innovative products in record time. The methods developed to establish such a record are discussed in this paper.
Global biogeochemical cycle of boron

[1] The global Boron (B) cycle is primarily driven by a large flux (1.44 Tg B/yr) through the atmosphere derived from seasalt aerosols. Other significant sources of atmospheric boron include emissions during the combustion of biomass (0.26–0.43 Tg B/yr) and coal, which adds 0.20 Tg B/yr as an anthropogenic contribution. These known inputs to the atmosphere cannot account for the boron removed from the atmosphere during rainfall (3.0 Tg B/yr) and estimated dry deposition (1.3–2.7 Tg B/yr). In addition to atmospheric deposition, rock weathering is a source of boron (0.19 Tg B/yr) for terrestrial ecosystems, and humans mine about 0.31 Tg B/yr from the Earth's crust. More than 4.8 Tg B/yr circulates in the biogeochemical cycle of land plants, and about 0.53–0.63 Tg B/yr is carried from land to sea by rivers. The biogeochemical cycle of boron in the sea includes 4.4 Tg B/yr circulating in the marine biosphere, and an annual loss of 0.47 Tg B/yr to the oceanic crust via a variety of sedimentary processes that collectively remove only a small fraction of the total annual inputs to the oceans. Thus with our current understanding of the global biogeochemistry of B, the atmospheric budget shows outputs > inputs, while the marine compartments show inputs > outputs. Despite these uncertainties, it is clear that the human perturbation of the global B cycle has more than doubled the mobilization of B from the crust and contributes significantly to the B transport in rivers.
On the energy landscapes of 3-indole acetic acid and 3-indole propionic acid. A study of side chain flexibilities in their S0 and S1 electronic states

The tandem of 3-indole acetic acid (IAA) and 3-indole propionic acid (IPA) is ideally suited for a detailed study of the intramolecular forces responsible for the conformational properties of species containing side chains. Toward this end, high resolution S(1)<-- S(0) excitation spectra of the three origin bands in IAA and the two origin bands in IPA were recorded and analyzed. Each origin is assigned to a unique conformer. A discussion of the resulting energy landscape is given.
Assessing the necessity of confirmatory testing for exome-sequencing results in a clinical molecular diagnostic laboratory

Assessing the necessity of confirmatory testing for exome-sequencing results in a clinical molecular diagnostic laboratory
Vocabulary acquisition and reading ability

Lexical acquisition ability for aurally taught words was studied in fourthgrade children. Reading ability, intelligence, and working memory were evaluated as predictor factors in vocabulary learning. Reading ability was found to predict facility at learning the novel phonological sequences, while intelligence was the only factor which accounted for performance level for the semantic content of the words. The working memory measure, digit span, failed to make a significant contribution to either the phonological or semantic outcome measures. Examination of two subgroups of skilled and less-skilled readers indicated that less-skilled readers had more difficulty acquiring the phonological information for new words. No between-group differences were found in long-term retention or in the ability to provide definitions for the newly learned words. The findings suggest that the vocabulary deficits of less-skilled readers stem, at least in part, from difficulty establishing accurate phonological representations for new words.
THIAMIN RETENTION AND SENSORY QUALITY OF INFRARED AND CONVENTIONALLY BROILED BEEF LOIN STEAKS FOR FOODSERVICE USE1

Beef loin steaks were broiled using infrared and gas broiling methods. Percent cooking losses were higher (p < 0.05) for the infrared broiled steaks, 28.3 ± 2.6%, compared to 24.2 ± 4.4% for the gas broiled steaks. Infrared broiled steaks had significantly higher (p < 0.05) moisture content and lower (p < 0.01) fat content. There were no significant differences among maximum shear force values of steaks prepared by both methods. No significant differences were observed in percent thiamin retention between the two broiling methods. The mean percent thiamin retention in steaks prepared by the infrared method was 80.9 compared to 84.9 by the gas broiling method. There were no significant differences among panelist sensory evaluations for appearance, flavor, juiciness, tenderness, and overall acceptability of steaks prepared by the two methods.
A rapid automated system for the analysis of dissolved total organic nitrogen in aqueous solutions

Abstract An automated system for the analysis of dissolved organic nitrogen has been developed and applied to natural waters. It is based on subjecting sample to u.v. irradiation followed by a heterogeneous reduction of the nitrogen containing irradiation products to ammonia which is detected by an ammonia gas sensing probe. Quantitative recoveries of different organic nitrogen compounds common to natural waters were obtained after 17 min of irradiation. Determination with and without irradiation make possible the separate determination of total and inorganic nitrogen, respectively.
Simplifying the Utilization of Machine Learning Techniques for Bioinformatics

The domain of bioinformatics has a number of challenges such as handling datasets which exhibit extreme levels of high dimensionality (large number of features per sample) and datasets which are particularly difficult to work with. These datasets contain many pieces of data (features) which are irrelevant and redundant to the problem being studied, which makes analysis quite difficult. However, techniques from the domain of machine learning and data mining are well suited to combating these difficulties. Techniques like feature selection (choosing an optimal subset of features for subsequent analysis by removing irrelevant or redundant features) and classifiers (used to build inductive models in order to classify unknown instances) can assist researchers in working with such difficult datasets. Unfortunately, many practitioners of bioinformatics do not have the machine learning knowledge to choose the correct techniques in order to achieve good classification results. If the choices could be simplified or predetermined then it would be easier to apply the techniques. This study is a comprehensive analysis of machine learning techniques on twenty-five bioinformatics datasets using six classifiers, and twenty-four feature rankers. We analyzed the factors at each of four feature subset sizes chosen for being large enough to be effective in creating inductive models but small enough to be of use for further research. Our results shows that Random Forest with 100 trees is the top performing classifier and that the choice of feature ranker is of little importance as long as feature selection occurs. Statistical analysis confirms our results. By choosing these parameters, machine learning techniques are more accessible to bioinformatics.
Reactivity of Dinuclear Rhodium(I) Macrocycles Formed via the Weak-Link Approach

The reaction of a macrocyclic Rh(I) complex having hemilabile PO ligands with Cl− results in Rh−O bond breakage and yields a Cl-bridged tetranuclear Rh(I) complex, which was characterized by a single-crystal X-ray diffraction study. Reactivity of the complex with CO and halide abstracting agents is described.
Functionally-Generalised MOQA Operations

The programming language MOQA was designed by Michel Schellekens in [Schellekens M.: Compositional Average-Case Analysis, Preprint, submitted to the Journal of ACM (2006), 78p.; M.P. Schellekens, A Modular Calculus for the Average Cost of Data Structuring, Springer book to appear (2008), 250 pp.] specifically to facilitate the average execution time analysis of its programs. MOQA is based on a special data structure and an associated suite of operations. This special data structure, said here as labeled partial orders (lpo), is a pair (P,@?) such that P=(X,@?) is a poset and @?:X@?L a strictly increasing bijection between X and a totally ordered set L. MOQA basic operations are defined on lpo's under some restrictions. These restrictions guarantee the main property of MOQA's operations, said here as Automatic Random Preservation. Random Preservation (RP) is a fundamental property used to calculate the average time of programs, opening the way to a (semi-)automation of this calculation in MOQA. In the paper, we introduce functionally-generalised versions of some MOQA basic operations. Those versions are defined with more natural restrictions and in a more general way than the correspondent MOQA operations. As a consequence of their greater generality, they are not RP on all their domains in contrast to MOQA operations. Nevertheless, they have two good properties. The first one is that they have the intended semantics. For instance, the generalised split actually splits any lpo into two parts using a label as a pivot. The second one is that the subdomains on which they are RP are strictly bigger than the domains where MOQA basic operations are defined and RP. A tractable characterisation of those RP subdomains is an open problem and its solution would be an important step toward an implementation of the functionally-generalised operations as Automatic RP operations.
The human milk oligosaccharide 2′-fucosyllactose modulates CD14 expression in human enterocytes, thereby attenuating LPS-induced inflammation

Background A major cause of enteric infection, Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria activate mucosal inflammation through lipopolysaccharide (LPS) binding to intestinal toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). Breast feeding lowers risk of disease, and human milk modulates inflammation. Objective This study tested whether human milk oligosaccharides (HMOSs) influence pathogenic Escherichia coli -induced interleukin (IL)-8 release by intestinal epithelial cells (IECs), identified specific proinflammatory signalling molecules modulated by HMOSs, specified the active HMOS and determined its mechanism of action. Methods Models of inflammation were IECs invaded by type 1 pili enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) in vitro: T84 modelled mature, and H4 modelled immature IECs. LPS-induced signalling molecules co-varying with IL-8 release in the presence or absence of HMOSs were identified. Knockdown and overexpression verified signalling mediators. The oligosaccharide responsible for altered signalling was identified. Results HMOSs attenuated LPS-dependent induction of IL-8 caused by ETEC, uropathogenic E. coli , and adherent-invasive E. coli (AIEC) infection, and suppressed CD14 transcription and translation. CD14 knockdown recapitulated HMOS-induced attenuation. Overexpression of CD14 increased the inflammatory response to ETEC and sensitivity to inhibition by HMOSs. 2′-fucosyllactose (2′-FL), at milk concentrations, displayed equivalent ability as total HMOSs to suppress CD14 expression, and protected AIEC-infected mice. Conclusions HMOSs and 2′-FL directly inhibit LPS-mediated inflammation during ETEC invasion of T84 and H4 IECs through attenuation of CD14 induction. CD14 expression mediates LPS-TLR4 stimulation of portions of the ‘macrophage migration inhibitory factors’ inflammatory pathway via suppressors of cytokine signalling 2/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3/NF-κB. HMOS direct inhibition of inflammation supports its functioning as an innate immune system whereby the mother protects her vulnerable neonate through her milk. 2′-FL, a principal HMOS, quenches inflammatory signalling.
Quantification of Adiposity in Small Rodents using Micro-CT

Non-invasive three-dimensional imaging of live rodents is a powerful research tool that has become critical for advances in many biomedical fields. For investigations into adipose development, obesity, or diabetes, accurate and precise techniques that quantify adiposity in vivo are critical. Because total body fat mass does not accurately predict health risks associated with the metabolic syndrome, imaging modalities should be able to stratify total adiposity into subcutaneous and visceral adiposity. Micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) acquires high-resolution images based on the physical density of the material and can readily discriminate between subcutaneous and visceral fat. Here, a micro-CT based method to image the adiposity of live rodents is described. An automated and validated algorithm to quantify the volume of discrete fat deposits from the computed tomography is available. Data indicate that scanning the abdomen provides sufficient information to estimate total body fat. Very high correlations between micro-CT determined adipose volumes and the weight of explanted fat pads demonstrate that micro-CT can accurately monitor site-specific changes in adiposity. Taken together, in vivo micro-CT is a non-invasive, highly quantitative imaging modality with greater resolution and selectivity, but potentially lower throughput, than many other methods to precisely determine total and regional adipose volumes and fat infiltration in live rodents.
Influence of bedrock geology on dissolved organic matter quality in stream water

A field study was conducted to determine the linkage between dissolved organic matter (DOM) quality and bedrock geology. Sediment and water samples were collected from six streams, three flowing over sandstone and three flowing over limestone bedrock in the Bankhead National Forest, Alabama. Various stream water and sediment characteristics were determined by standard limnological methods and DOM quality was determined by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry with sample introduction by electrospray ionization (ESI FT-ICR MS). Stream waters from limestone streams showed higher concentrations of calcium, magnesium, sodium, sulfate and dissolved inorganic carbon, as well as higher pH and acid neutralizing capacity, and were enriched in condensed hydrocarbons. In contrast, stream waters from sandstone streams showed higher concentrations of aluminum and iron and were enriched in tannin-like compounds. ESI FT-ICR MS analysis indicated that stream water DOM consisted of between 2950 and 3700 individual compounds ranging from 250 to 1000 Dalton. DOM compounds were grouped into 35 heteroatom (NnOoSs) classes based on molecular formula assignments and multi- variate statistical analysis was applied to reveal the patterns of variation of the DOM quality and identify environmental parameters associated with the variation. Partial redundancy analysis indicated that the variation in stream water DOM quality correlated with stream location and water chemistry parameters associated with bedrock type. A similar analysis including three previously published ESI FT-ICR MS anal- yses of stream water DOM showed similar correlations with location and stream water chemistry, indi- cating that bedrock geology via stream water chemistry influences DOM quality.
Relationships among Career Exploration, Job Search Intensity, and Job Search Effectiveness in Graduating College Students

Abstract This paper examines the linkages among the constructs of career exploration, job search intensity, and job search effectiveness. Viewing job search intensity as a part of the job choice process, job search intensity is hypothesized to mediate the relationships of self and environmental exploration with a job seeker's initial compensation and job satisfaction. Using a sample of 219 graduating college students, results suggested that job search intensity mediated the relationship of environmental exploration with initial compensation. The results supported the concept of readiness and action-based stages in the job choice process. Support may be needed to guide job seekers through both stages.
Numerical modeling of friction stir welded aluminum joints under high rate loading

Prediction of shear band formation and other strain localization processes presents many computational challenges that must be overcome to enable dynamic failure prediction and material design of ductile material systems. The current work presents a finite element based computational framework accounting for this critical deformation process, as applied to a detailed investigation of friction stir welded (FSW) aluminum joints. A stir welded joint has several zones, each with distinct microstructural characteristics and material properties. For applications in Army land vehicles, which may be subject to under-body blast, an understanding of the energy absorption capability of these joints is needed. Thus material inhomogeneity, dynamic loading, and detailed understanding of small scale failure processes must all be accounted for to accurately model FSW material behavior. In this study, an implicit nonlinear consistent (INC) or monolithic solution technique is used to predict shear band formation and estimate the energy absorption and failure strain of a stir welded aluminum joint. It has been shown that failure initiating at material interface regions can be predicted, and furthermore that abrupt material property gradients predominantly contribute to FSW joint failure.
Liquid chromatographic determination of 2′,3′-dideoxyguanosine in human plasma

Abstract A rapid assay for 2′,3′-dideoxyguanosine (ddG) in human plasma has been developed. The ddG was first extracted from human plasma using solid phase extraction. The extract containing ddG was then assayed with liquid chromatography using an ODS column and a mobile phase of 9% methanol in pH 6.8 phosphate buffer. The overall method had good accuracy (within 2%), linearity (r = 0.9998), sensitivity (LOD = 1.8 ng, S/N = 3) and recovery (>99% for 5–50 μg ddG per ml plasma).
Charles Abrams vs. Robert Moses: Contested Rhetorics of Urban Housing

Charles Abrams and Robert Moses engaged in a decades-long rhetorical skirmish regarding urban housing and planning in New York City. Despite Abrams's stylistic efforts to alter the physical permanent plans of Moses, his efforts for the most part failed to overcome institutionalized power and its ability to cement the public terms of debate, especially slum. Yet Abrams's sensitivity to multiple factors of urban use illustrates his valuation of collective discourse for perceived social problems and provides a reminder of the importance of approaching complex issues with an orthos logos perspective.
Ammonia nitrided isolation oxide for selective epitaxial growth technology to eliminate edge transistor effects of SOI and bulk N-channel MOSFETs

A simple and effective method to eliminate edge transistor effects in SOI and bulk N-channel MOSFETs, fabricated using selective epitaxial growth of silicon, is demonstrated. Employing an ammonia nitridation of the isolation oxide, before the epitaxial growth, the boron out-diffusion into the surrounding oxide is effectively suppressed. Parasitic edge transistors in both SOI and bulk N-MOSFETs are eliminated.
Small Volumes Create Super(elastic) Effects

Anyone who has ever broken a favorite coffee cup knows that ceramic materials do not accommodate strain well. Ceramic materials typically fail at strains (extensions) of less than 0.1%. On page 1505 of this issue, Lai et al. (1) demonstrate a class of ceramics that can deform reversibly by more than 7%, rendering these solids “superelastic.” To put this in context, at 7% strain, an aluminum can would crumple with no hope of recovery. When Lai et al. made small chemical changes to their ceramics, they found a memory effect, whereby the solid can be permanently deformed, but upon heating reverts back to its original size and shape.