cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Control oriented system identification: a worst-case/deterministic approach in H/sub infinity /

The authors formulate and solve two related control-oriented system identification problems for stable linear shift-invariant distributed parameter plants. In each of these problems the assumed a priori information is minimal, consisting only of a lower bound on the relative stability of the plant, an upper bound on a certain gain associated with the plant, and an upper bound on the noise level. The first of these problems involves identification of a point sample of the plant frequency response from a noisy, finite, output time series obtained in response to an applied sinusoidal input with frequency corresponding to the frequency point of interest. This problem leads naturally to the second problem, which involves identification of the plant transfer function in H/sub infinity / from a finite number of noisy point samples of the plant frequency response. Concrete plans for identification algorithms are provided for each of these two problems. >
Distributional Impacts of Generic Advertising on Related Commodity Markets

A neglected aspect of the advertising spillover issue is the levy's role. For example, if two goods are substitutes, a per-unit levy on one of the goods (to fund an advertising scheme) will cause the demand for the other good to increase. With upward-sloping supply, and abstracting from the advertising effect, the price of the substitute good increases, which confers a welfare benefit to producers of the competing product. This welfare benefit is typically ignored when assessing advertising spillover (e.g., Kinnucan, Xiao, and Hsia; Piggott, Piggott, and Wright). A related issue is that it is often assumed (or implied) that if advertising decreases the demand for a substitute good, it will decrease the welfare of producers of that good (e.g., Green, Carman, and McManus). In reality, competing producer welfare may increase or decrease depending inter alia on the strength of substitution effects between the advertised
Using film in teacher training: Viewing the gifted through different lenses

Much has been written about the use of popular film clips for cinematherapy with gifted students. However, the use of this media has not been addressed in terms of educating preservice teachers, in‐service teachers, and graduate students about the characteristics, stereotypes, social‐emotional needs, diverse populations, parenting issues, and characteristics of teachers of the gifted. Strategies and sample film clips are described for preservice, in‐service, and graduate use. Suggestions, cautions, and future considerations are also presented. Listings of possible films and suggested topical applications are included.
Fluid dynamics of a sphere in an arbitrary electric field

Abstract The method of symbolic operator representation (SOR), which was introduced by Rayleigh [The Theory of Sound, vol. II, 2nd edn., Dover, New York] and applied to colloidal particles by Brenner [Chem. Eng. Sci. 19 (1964) 519], Brenner and Haber [Chem. Eng. Commun. 27 (1984) 283] and Haber and Brenner [Chem. Eng. Commun. 27 (1984) 296], is used to derive an exact solution for the velocity and electric fields of a particle in an infinite medium. The solution is obtained as an infinite series of pertinent vector functions. The first two terms of the solution are identical to a known expression, which was derived by an expansion method. Furthermore, an example is given to demonstrate the usefulness of the method of SOR in solving complex problems of particulate flows.
Oxidative changes in brain pyridine nucleotides and neuroprotection using nicotinamide

Pyridine nucleotides are critical during oxidative stress due to their roles in reductive reactions and energetics. The aim of the present study was to examine pyridine nucleotide changes in six brain regions of mice after an intracerebroventricular injection of the oxidative stress inducing agent, t-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BuOOH). A secondary aim was to investigate the correlation between NAD+ levels and DNA fragmentation. Here, we demonstrate that t-BuOOH induced a rapid oxidation of NADPH and a slow depletion of NAD+ in most brain regions. A slight increase in NADH also occurred in five brain regions. NAD+ depletion was associated with increased DNA fragmentation. This suggests the initiation of a death cascade involving poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), NAD+, ATP depletion and consequent cell death in brain tissue. PARP activity was accelerated in some brain regions after 20 min of oxidative stress. To counteract oxidative stress induced toxicity, NAD+ levels were increased in the brain using an intraperitoneal injection of nicotinamide. A surplus of brain NAD+ prevented DNA fragmentation in some brain regions. Nicotinamide administration also resulted in higher brain NADH, NADP+ and NADPH levels in some regions. Their synthesis was further upregulated during oxidative stress. Nicotinamide as a precursor for NAD+ may provide a useful therapeutic strategy in the treatment of neurodegeneration.
Measuring Citizen Satisfaction with Contracted-Out Public Service Quality: An Application of Servqual Measures

Ever increasing use of private contractors for delivering public services requires public organizations to develop and utilize contractor performance measurement tools. This study empirically examines the association between multiple dimensions of service quality and citizen satisfaction with contracted-out services by using a survey data collected from a local government in Korea. Drawing on SERVQUAL (a service quality measurement popular in the business administration literature) the present study categorizes the service quality measures into five dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is utilized to examine the measurement precision of five service quality dimensions and the predictive power of each dimension on overall service quality. The results confirm the applicability of SERVQUAL to measuring the service quality of contracted-out public services.
Toy model for breaking super gauge theories at the effective Lagrangian level

We propose a toy model to illustrate how the effective Lagrangian for super QCD might go over to the one for ordinary QCD by a mechanism whereby the gluinos and squarks in the fundamental theory decouple below a given supersymmetry breaking scale m. The implementation of this approach involves a suitable choice of possible supersymmetry breaking terms. An amusing feature of the model is the emergence of the ordinary QCD degrees of freedom which were hidden in the auxiliary fields of the supersymmetric effective Lagrangian.
Analyzing and revising synthesized controllers for robots with sensing and actuation errors

The synthesis of verifiable robot controllers from a set of high-level task specifications provides a valuable tool for creating robot controllers for complex tasks. Such an approach can offer a number of advantages over more traditional programming methods, including the guarantee that the synthesized controller will satisfy all of its underlying specifications when operating with perfect sensing and actuation. This paper relaxes that assumption, and describes a method for probabilistically analyzing the behavior of a robot controller that is synthesized from a set of temporal logic specifications, when the robot operates with uncertainty in its sensing and actuation. The described approach creates a probabilistic model of the system and uses probabilistic model checking techniques to find the probability that it satisfies some set of specifications. In addition, the paper proposes a method which leverages that analysis to provide automated feedback to the user in the form of suggested revisions to the task specification or low-level components, in order to increase the probability that the robot successfully accomplishes its task.
TH-C-103-06: Non-Coplanar Cone Beam CT Reconstruction with Limited Angle of Projections Using Rigid Image Registration Facilitated Prior Image Constrained Compressed Sensing

Purpose: The purpose of this work is to develop a non‐coplanar cone beam CT (CBCT) image reconstruction method from limited angle of projections. Methods: Planning CT or CBCT acquired at neutral position (without couch rotation/translation) serves as the prior images for successive reconstruction. During the course of radiation therapy, subsequent CBCT scans are acquired from limited angle of projections. An iterative reconstruction algorithm, using prior image constrained compressed sensing (PICCS) framework and rigid image registration, is incorporated to reconstruct the patient image under non‐coplanar geometry. The prior reconstructed image is rotated/translated according to the nominal couch rotation/translation to serve as the prior input of the compressed sensing based iterative optimization. First, The PICCS framework can be solved iteratively using the total variation minimization step and the iterative image reconstruction step with simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (SART). Then, rigid image registration between the reconstructed image and the rotated/translated prior image is applied to further calibrate the rotation/translation of the prior image. The iterations of PICCS algorithm and rigid image registration continue until the registration results are below the predetermined threshold. The proposed reconstruction algorithm is evaluated with both digital phantom simulations and experimental data. Results: The proposed CBCT reconstruction algorithm significantly improved the image quality from projections with angular range as small as 72 degrees. It can reduce the rigid translational setup errors under from 8 mms to below 1 mm and the rigid rotational setup error from 5 degrees to below 1 degree. Compared with the original PICCS algorithm alone, the rigid registration step helps to improve the convergence of algorithm significantly. Conclusions: The proposed algorithm provides an accurate remedy for solving the problem of non‐coplanar CBCT reconstruction from limited angle of projections by taking advantage of the combination of PICCS framework and rigid image registration.
Red-emitting substrates for rapid botulinum neurotoxin detection

We report a new red-emitting molecular beacon for botulinum neurotoxin A suitable inexpensive rapid assay formats. Reaction kinetics including parameters like K m and V max were evaluated in a fluorogenic assay using the BoNT/A light chain.
Temperature-dependent changes in activation energies of the transport systems for nucleosides, choline and deoxyglucose of cultured Novikoff rat hepatoma cells and effects of cytochalasin B and lipid solvents

The initial rates of transport of uridine, thymidine, purines, choline and 2-deoxy-d-glucose by cultured Novikoff rat hepatoma cells were determined as a function of temperature between 5 and 41°C. Arrhenius plots of all transport systems exhibited sharp breaks in slope; between 17 and 23° for uridine, thymidine and hypoxanthine-guanine transport and between 29 and 32° for choline and 2-deoxy-d-glucose transport. The activation energies for the transport systems changed from 15–26 kcal/mole below the transition temperatures to 4–9 kcal/mole above the transition temperatures. Propagation of the cells in the presence ofcis-6-octadecenoic acid which results in marked changes in the lipid composition of cell membrane, had little effect on the temperature characteristics of the various transport systems. Similarly, propagation of the cells for 24 hr in media containing Tween 40 or nystatin had no effect on the capacity of the cells to transport the various substrates or on the temperature dependence of the transport systems. The presence of ethanol, phenethyl alcohol or Persantin at concentrations that inhibited thymidine and 2-deoxy-d-glucose transport between 40 and 70% also did not alter the transition temperatures or activation energies for the transport of these substrates. Cytochalasin B, on the other hand, shifted the transition temperature for 2-deoxy-d-glucose transport to higher temperatures in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas it had no effect on the temperature dependence of thymidine transport.
Meeting lawful interception requirements for selected IP traffic offload and local IP access traffic

Cellular network operators are dealing with the increased data requirements of their customers by attempting to offload traffic from the mobile core network. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards have defined several strategies that allow for offloading user traffic from the mobile core network. The 3GPP standards also define requirements for the mobile networks to support lawful interception of subscriber traffic. The current methods employed by mobile network operators to perform lawful interception are insufficient to support the traffic offload methods. This paper describes the current lawful interception landscape as well as the methods to perform traffic offload. It then proposes the architecture and methods that allow for traffic offload while satisfying law enforcement needs.
H+ stoichiometry of sites 1 + 2 of the respiratory chain of normal and tumor mitochondria

Abstract The mechanistic stoichiometry for vectorial H + ejection coupled to electron transport through energy-conserving segments 1 + 2 was determined on cyanide-inhibited mitochondria from rat liver, rat heart, and Ehrlich ascites tumor cells, and on rat liver mitoplasts with ferricyanide or ferricytochrome c as electron acceptors. K + (+ valinomycin) and Ca 2+ were employed as permeant cations. Three different methods were employed. In the first, known pulses of ferricyanide were added, and the total H+ ejected was determined with a glass electrode. Such measurements gave H + 2 e − values exceeding 7.0 for both normal and tumor mitochondria with β-hydroxybutyrate and other NAD-linked substrates; uptake of Ca 2+ was also measured and gave the expected q + 2 e − ratios. The second type of measurement was initiated by addition of ferricytochrome c to rat liver mitoplasts, with H + ejection monitored with the glass electrode and ferricytochrome c reduction by dual-wavelength spectrophotometry; the H + 2 e − ratios generally exceeded 7.0. In the third type of measurement, mixing and dilution artifacts were eliminated by oxidizing ferrocytochrome c in situ with a small amount of ferricyanide. H + 2 e − ratios for rat liver mitoplasts oxidizing β-hydroxybutyrate consistently approached or exceeded 7.5. Over 150 measurements made under a variety of conditions gave observed H + 2 e − ejection ratios significantly exceeding 7.0, which correlated closely with H + 2 e − measurements on sites 1 + 2 + 3, sites 2 + 3, and site 2. Factors leading to the deficit of the observed ratios from the integral value 8 for sites 1 + 2 were discussed.
Characterization of Damage in Sandstones along the Mojave Section of the San Andreas Fault: Implications for the Shallow Extent of Damage Generation

Following theoretical calculations that suggest shallow generation of rock damage during an earthquake rupture, we measure the degree of fracture damage in young sedimentary rocks from the Juniper Hills Formation (JHF) that were displaced 21 km along the Mojave section of San Andreas Fault (SAF) and were not exhumed significantly during their displacement. In exposures adjacent to the fault, the JHF typically displays original sedimentary fabrics and little evidence of bulk shear strain at the mesoscopic scale. The formation is, however, pervasively fractured at the microscopic scale over a zone that is about a 100 m wide on the southwest side of the SAF near Little Rock. The abundance of open fractures, the poor consolidation, and the shallow inferred burial depth imply that the damage was generated close to the surface of the Earth. The spatial correlation of this damage with a seismically active trace of the SAF suggests that it was generated by SAF slip events that by assumption were of a seismic nature throughout the displacement history of the JHF. Thus the JHF provides a very shallow upper bound for the generation of brittle damage in a seismic fault zone. The fracture fabric is characterized by preferred orientations of fractures that split grains between contact points and is consistent with overall deformation under directed compression. However, the available results cannot be used to distinguish between proposed off-fault damage mechanisms. Fracture orientations are compatible with a maximum compressive stress oriented at a high angle to the fault at about 10 m, and at a lower, more variable angle farther away from the fault. The fracture distribution and fabric are consistent with observations made of the microscale damage characteristics of the Hungry Valley Formation in the northwestern section of the SAF in the Mojave, and with previous observations of exhumed, ancestral strands of the SAF.
Angular dependence of the in-plane magnetization of (100) Cu/Ni/Cu structures

Abstract (100) Cu/Ni/Cu sandwich structures have been deposited on (100) Si using the (100) Cu epitaxially grown as the seed layer. The in-plane epitaxial relation between the metal films and Si allows the study of angular dependence of the magnetization for the field parallel to the film plane. Keeping the Cu layers at 1000 A each and varying the Ni layers between 50 and 1000 A, the magnetization along the [110] edge is larger than that along the [100] one. This is observed for both structures with a Ni thickness of 1000 and 500 A, respectively. For the thinner Ni layers, the angular dependence is interfered by the reversal in magnetic anisotropy reported earlier. For such structures, a squared hysteresis loop is observed for the field perpendicular to the film plane, whereas one with little loop is observed for the in-plane magnetization. The angular dependence observed for the 1000 and 500 A Ni films is the same as that of single crystal Ni. The (100) Cu/Ni/Cu films thus grown can be used for other magnetic measurements in the exploration of two-dimensional magnetism with controlled orientations.
An Empirical Investigation of the Relationship Between Profit Margin Persistence and Firms’ Choice of Business Model: Evidence from the US Airline Industry

This paper examines the influence of a firm’s business model on the relative persistence of profit margins in the U.S. airline industry. The strategic management literature describes a firm’s business model as reflecting how that firm chooses to compete in the marketplace. Given this linkage between business model, competition and the marketplace, we conjecture that the persistence of profit margins will be influenced by firms’ choices of business model. Further, we hypothesize that this choice of business model influences the relative persistence of the individual revenue and expense components of current profit margins for future margins. We test these conjectures by (1) partitioning our sample firms according to business model (network carriers versus low-cost carriers), and (2) decomposing sample firms’ profit margins into components relating to pricing policy, input cost control, and productivity. While low-cost carriers are, on average, more profitable than their network carrier counterparts, we find that the margins of network carriers tend to be more persistent than those of low-cost carriers, and that this differential persistence is reflected in the association between current revenue and expense components and future margins.
Social Support among Late Adolescent Users of Alcohol and Other Drugs.

This study examined the impact of social support on the use of alcohol and other drugs among late adolescents. Additionally, the study analyzed the interactional effects of social support and the other independent variables: gender, age, and race. The findings of the study suggest that social support does influence the use of alchol and other drugs. However, the direction of influence varies with alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine and with various subgroups.
The statistics and kinematics of transverse sand bars on an open coast

Abstract Ten years (1987–1996) of time exposure video images of the nearshore region at Duck, NC were used to study transverse sand bars, bathymetric features of intermediate length scales (10–200 m) oriented oblique or perpendicular to the shoreline. These transverse sand bars extend seaward from both the shoreline (trough transverse bars) and the shore-parallel sand bar (offshore transverse bars). Transverse bars had not previously been observed in an energetic coastal environment such as that at Duck, and their dynamics and role in nearshore processes is unknown. Frequency of occurrence statistics and length scales of the transverse bars were calculated using the video images. Trough and offshore transverse bars appeared a mean of 39 and 73 days per year, respectively. The offshore bars were found to be much larger features than the trough bars, with mean wavelengths (alongshore spacing between consecutive crests) of 79 and 172 m for trough and offshore bars, respectively. Both the trough and offshore bars were found to persist for periods of days to months. The alongshore movement of the bars was measured and compared to estimates of surf zone longshore currents which were calculated from wave height and wave angle data. Both sets of bars were observed to move at rates up to 40 m/day. At times, both trough and offshore bars were observed shifting in the same direction as the current was flowing, and at other times, both sets of bars remained stationary, even under relatively strong longshore currents. Trough bars were also observed moving against the current. An hypothesis, proposed by Barcilon and Lau (1973) [J. Geophys. Res. 78(15): 2656–2664], that the transverse bars were created as a sea bed instability under longshore currents, was tested by comparing the magnitude of estimated surf zone longshore currents with times of formation or presence of transverse bars. There was no evidence to suggest that the bars were formed by this simple longshore current instability mechanism. Instead, it is plausible that the combined effects of waves and currents may drive the formation of these features.
Impact of an electronic health record on follow-up time for markedly elevated serum potassium results.

Follow-up of abnormal ambulatory laboratory results is often suboptimal. The impact of an ambulatory electronic health record (EHR) on follow-up of markedly elevated blood potassium (K +) results w...
Nutritional Requirements for Growth and Sporulation of Clostridium perfringens

Two strains of Clostridium perfringens grew in a chemically defined medium consisting of L-tryptophan, L-arginine, L-glutamic acid, L-histidine HC1, L-leucine, DL-threonine, DLphenylalanine, DL-tryrosine, DL-valine, L-cystine, ascorbic acid, Ca d-pantothenate, pyridoxine, biotin, adenine HCI, glucose, salts and mercaptoacetic acid. Alanine, aspartic acid and methionine were highly stimulatory but not essential for growth. Growth did not occur in the absence of glucose, but other fermentable carbohydrates were not tested. Acetone, isopropyl alcohol, succinic acid, acetic acid, butanol, butyric acid, lactic acid, pyruvic acid, oxaloacetic acid or acetaldehyde did not eliminate the requirement for glucose. Methionine was required for sporulation ; one strain also required riboflavin, isoleucine, serine and lysine. Butanol increased the degree of sporulation in a complex thioglycolate medium. Failure of CI. perfringens to sporulate in inadequately buffered media containing glucose was shown to be caused by the high H-ion concentration developing in the culture medium. In addition, some possible end-products of glucose metabolism such as lactic acid, oxaloacetic acid and acetaldehyde, reduced sporulation in one strain appreciably.
Electrochemical and conformational studies of microcystin-LR

Abstract The detection of microcystins in freshwater and in biological samples has become increasingly important due to their toxicity and tumor-promoting nature. This paper describes the electrochemical characterization of microcystin–LR using cyclic voltammetry and anodic stripping voltammetry at different substrates of gold, platinum, glassy carbon and carbon pastes electrodes. Results of electrochemical oxidation reactions indicated that gold-catalyzed complexes were formed between mercury ions and microcystin at approximately 450 mV versus a silver/silver chloride reference electrode. The resulting complex, that was also observed using copper, zinc, lead and gallium ions, was strongly dependent on the concentration of microcystins at picomolar levels with quantitation range of 10 pM–1 nM. The energetics of interaction of the metal ions with the cyclic peptide was studied using semi-empirical molecular orbital calculations. Stable conformation was obtained when the metal ions were localized within the cavity region of the microcystin. This is likely to provide a new approach to the possible mechanisms of detoxification for this class of hepatotoxic peptides. It is also likely to result in the development of suitable electrochemical method of detection for other types of microcystin.
New approach to quantum dynamics: recursive, average case complexity, distributed approximating functional method for time-independent wavepacket forms of Schrödinger and Lippmann-Schwinger equations

Abstract A new approach to quantum dynamics is presented which addresses the fundamental difficulty of exponential growth of computational complexity with the dimensionality of the system. A general recursive polynomial treatment of the time-independent full Green operator, the average-case complexity approach to multi-dimensional integration, and the continuous distributed approximating functional representation of the Hamiltonian are the three ingredients of the approach. Calculations for collinear H+H 2 reactive scattering are presented to illustrate the method.
Doppler-free optogalvanic spectroscopy using an infrared color center laser☆

Abstract We have used a cw color center laser near 2.6 μm to study highly excited states in helium and neon atoms by Doppler- free intermodulated optogalvanic spectroscopy in a hollow cathode discharge tube. For helium n = 4 to 6 transitions, the resolution was limited to about 320 MHz (FWHM) by Holtzmark broadening due to the presence of charged particles in the discharge. Lines as narrow as 60 MHz were observed for neon 3s 5 -5p 10 .
Intrinsic response times of double-barrier resonant tunneling diodes at terahertz frequencies

We have measured the broad band terahertz response of state of the art InGaAs/AlAs and InAs/AlSb resonant tunneling diodes from 180 GHz to 3.6 THz using the free-electron lasers at UCSB. A tungsten whisker antenna in a conventional probe station is used to couple the far- infrared radiation into the device. Normalizing the resonant tunneling response with the off- resonant response allows us to circumvent the much slower RC time constant of the device and consequently enables a measurement of the relaxation time due to the quantum inductance.
Active thread compaction for GPU path tracing

Modern GPUs like NVidia's Fermi internally operate in a SIMD manner by ganging multiple (32) scalar threads together into SIMD warps; if a warp's threads diverge, the warp serially executes both branches, temporarily disabling threads that are not on that path. In this paper, we explore and thoroughly analyze the concept of active thread compaction---i.e., the process of taking multiple partially-filled warps and compacting them to fewer but fully utilized warps---in the context of a CUDA path tracer. Our results show that this technique can indeed lead to significant improvements in SIMD utilization, and corresponding savings in the amount of work performed; however, they also show that certain inadequacies of today's hardware wipe out most of the achieved gains, leaving bottom-up speed-ups of a mere 12--16%. We believe our analysis of why this is the case will provide insight to other researchers experimenting with this technique in different contexts.
Characterization and control of chaotic stress oscillations in a model for the portevin-le chÂtelier effect

The Portevin-Le Chatelier (PLC) effect, otherwise known as serrated yielding, repeated yielding, or jerky flow, has been a subject of investigation for many years. Modeling studies, and experiments have shown that the oscillatory PLC stress-strain dynamics can sometimes be a form of deterministic chaos. In such cases, the spontaneously occurring oscillations are aperiodic and are characterized by at least one positive Lyapunov exponent. However, whether they be chaotic or not, these oscillations are detrimental to the mechanical integrity of the material, so that some means by which they can be suppressed would be a desirable feature. In the work described below, a strategy for suppressing these oscillations is developed and applied to a model for the PLC effect. The strategy is physically realistic in the sense that it is based on the feedback of a control signal, obtained from a measurable quantity, to an accessible (i.e., controllable) parameter. Application is made here to a case for which the oscillations are chaotic, although the approach is applicable to periodic stress oscillations as well.
The effects of neutrophils and phospholipase A2 on transvascular albumin flux in isolated rabbit lungs

Abstract In this study, addition of phospholipase A2 (PLA2) to salt-perfused isolated rabbit lungs containing rabbit polymorphonuclear leukocytes leads to an increase in pulmonary capillary permeability. We add 1.5 × 108 polymorphonuclear leukocytes to the perfusate. Next, indomethacin is added to the perfusate and 40 units of PLA2 are infused into the pulmonary arterial inflow of the lungs. At the end of the study, a lung sample is removed for measurement of transvascular albumin flux using I125-albumin as a measure of the permeability-surface area product. Control studies demonstrate no increase in transvascular albumin flux. Addition of a dual cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase inhibitor, BW755C, to the perfusate prevents the increase in transvascular albumin flux. We conclude that PLA2 interacts with polymorphonuclear leukocytes to increase protein permeability. Since PLA2 can release endogenous arachidonic acid and platelet-activating factor from cells, this suggests that release of such products may contribute to an increase in pulmonary capillary permeability from polymorphonuclear leukocytes. The ability of BW755C to prevent the increase suggests the possibility that lipoxygenase products contribute.
Becoming Familiar with Fibromyalgia

Although the term "fibromyalgia" has appeared in the literature for 90 years, the disease may go unrecognized by clinicians. It is a devastating disease, more common than rheumatoid arthritis, yet its cause remains a mystery. There is no cure for fibromyalgia; however, nurses may be able to help improve the quality of life for the patients who live with this disease. This article explores theories of causation, treatment modalities, and the potential role of nurses in their work with these patients.
Piecewise registration for point-to-surface mapping of cardiac data

Patient-specific mapping of point based cardiac data to a segmented heart surface requires accurate point-to-surface registration. The hypothesis is that anatomical movement that occurs between electrophysiological (E-P) data and cardiac image acquisition causes the pulmonary veins to have different orientations relative to the heart. We propose a piecewise registration of the atria and veins to produce a more accurate matching of these data sets. We developed phantoms and simulated clinical data accounting for noise and motion to demonstrate the robustness of the point-to-surface registration algorithm. Then three sets of patient data were used to evaluate rigid and piecewise registration, totaling three left atria and eight pulmonary veins. Analysis using the Student’s t-test showed the overall average chamfer distance for the three patients was significantly lower with piecewise registration compared to global rigid registration (p-values = 0.01, 0.05, 0.10). Visual analysis of the global and piecewise registered points confirms the importance of considering the plasticity and locomotion generally inherent in dynamic biological systems when attempting to match data sets acquired from such systems.
Effects of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans on nesting wood ducks (Aix sponsa) at Bayou Meto, Arkansas

Wood ducks (Aix sponsa) nesting along Bayou Meto downstream from a hazardous waste site in central Arkansas were contaminated with polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and dibenzofurans (PCDFs...
The blunted plasma cortisol response to apomorphine and its relationship to treatment response in patients with schizophrenia.

The adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol responses to apomorphine (APO), a direct acting dopamine (DA) agonist, have been reported to be significantly blunted in neuroleptic-free patients with schizophrenia (SCH). This study primarily examined the cortisol, but also the prolactin (PRL) and growth hormone (GH), response to APO in patients with SCH compared to normal controls, as well as the relationship between endocrine measures and response to antipsychotic drug treatment. APO, 0.01 mg/kg, or placebo was administered to 51–98 patients with SCH and 15–25 normal controls. Psychopathology was assessed at the baseline and six weeks after drug treatment. The plasma cortisol response to APO was markedly blunted in patients with SCH compared to normal controls. Patients who responded to six weeks of treatment with antipsychotic drugs had a higher cortisol response to APO compared to non-responders. The plasma GH, but not PRL, response to APO was blunted in male patients with SCH. Neither plasma GH nor PRL responses to APO were related to treatment response at six weeks. These results provide further evidence of dopaminergic dysfunction in SCH. Furthermore, the APO-stimulated cortisol response may be predictive of subsequent clinical response to antipsychotic drug treatment.
Iron‐rich rhythmically laminated sediments in Lake of the Clouds, northeastern Minnesota1

Sediments from the deepest part of Lake of the Clouds (31 m) are rhythmically laminated throughout all but the basal part of the column. The laminations can be correlated with events in the lake cluring the annual cycle. Ferrous iron (maximum 620 ppm ) accumulates in a layer of water about 2 m thick in the deepest part of the lake. The laminations form in the sediments only where overlain by this stagnant iron-rich water. The lightcolored portion of the couplet presumably forms from iron oxides precipitated from partially oxygenated bottom water during fall and spring overturns, the dark layer from organic remains that settle out during summer. Chemical analysis and electron-microprobe studies reveal a much higher concentration of iron and manganese in the light layers than in the dark. Vivianite [Fe:!( POa)z * 8H,O] and probably limonite ( FcaOs * nHzO) occur extensively in nodules throughout the core. Siderite (FeCG) was identified by X-ray diffraction. Numerous orange spherical aggregates occur in the light layers. An iron and manganese profile of the sediment column suggests that the most distinct laminae are found where the iron content of the sediment is at least 4%.
Autonomous Searching and Tracking of a River using an UAV

Surveillance operations include inspecting and monitoring river boundaries, bridges and coastlines. An autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) can decrease the operational costs, expedite the monitoring process and be used in situations where a manned inspection is not possible. This paper addresses the problem of searching and mapping such littoral boundaries using an autonomous UAV based on visual feedback. Specifically, this paper describes an exploration system that equips a fixed wing UAV to autonomously search a given area for a specified structure (could be a river, a coastal line etc.), identify the structure if present and map the coordinates of the structure based on the images from the onboard sensor(could be vision or near infra-red). Experimental results with a fixed wing UAV searching and mapping the coordinates of a 2 mile stretch of a river with a cross track error of around 9 meters are presented.
Calculating the per-unit-length circuit parameters of a coaxial transmission line using singularity functions

We apply a new analytical technique involving singularity functions to calculate the per-unit-length capacitance and inductance of a coaxial transmission line. With this technique, the force on each conductor of the coaxial line can be directly calculated by incorporating the sifting integral of the unit step function which is equal to 1/2. The per-unit-length parameters are extracted from the total stored energy in the coaxial line by varying the radius of one of the conductors and integrating the force expression on the conductor surface over the appropriate range of this radius.
Volatile Components of Peacha

SUMMARY On the basis of relative retentions of two dissimilar gas chromatographic columns and matching infrared spectra, benzaldebyde, benzyl alcohol, γ-caprolactone, γ-octalactone, γ-decalactone and δ-decalactone were identified as components of Red Globe peach essence. The chromatographic peculiarities of peach essence are discussed, and a modified technique that may permit resolution of multiple-component peaks is described. There are indications that peaches, unlike Bartlett pears, may owe their aroma entirely to an integrated response to a series of contributory flavor compounds.
Characterization of Growth and Acid Formation in a Bacillus subtilis Pyruvate Kinase Mutant

Based on measurements and theoretical analyses, we identified deletion of pyruvate kinase (PYK) activity as a possible route for elimination of acid formation in Bacillus subtilis cultures grown on glucose minimal media. Evidence consistent with the attenuation of PYK flux has come from metabolic flux calculations, metabolic pool and enzymatic activity measurements, and a series of nuclear magnetic resonance experiments, all suggesting a nearly complete inhibition of PYK activity for glucose-citrate fed cultures in which the amount of acid formation was nearly zero. In this paper, we report the construction and characterization of a pyk mutant of B. subtilis. Our results demonstrate an almost complete elimination of acid production in cultures of the pyk mutant in glucose minimal medium. The substantial reduction in acid production is accompanied by increased CO2 production and a reduced rate of growth. Metabolic analysis indicated a dramatic increase in intracellular pools of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) and glucose-6-P in the pyk mutant. The high concentrations of PEP and glucose-6-P could explain the decreased growth rate of the mutant. The substantial accumulation of PEP does not occur in Escherichia coli pyk mutants. The very high concentration of PEP which accumulates in the B. subtilis pyk mutant could be exploited for production of various aromatics.
Hepatocyte attachment to laminin is mediated through multiple receptors.

The interaction of hepatocytes with the basement membrane glycoprotein laminin was studied using synthetic peptides derived from laminin sequences. Rat hepatocytes bind to laminin and three different sites within the A and B1 chains of laminin were identified. Active laminin peptides include the PA22-2 peptide (close to the carboxyl end of the long arm in the A chain), the RGD-containing peptide, PA21 (in the short arm of the A chain) and the pentapeptide YIGSR (in the short arm of the B1 chain). PA22-2 was the most potent peptide, whereas the other two peptides had somewhat lower activity. Furthermore, hepatocyte attachment to laminin was inhibited by the three peptides, with PA22-2 being the most active. Various proteins from isolated membranes of cell-surface iodinated hepatocytes bound to a laminin affinity column including three immunologically related binding proteins : Mr = 67,000, 45,000, and 32,000. Several proteins--Mr = 80,000, 55,000, and 38,000-36,000--with a lower affinity for laminin were also identified. Affinity chromatography on peptide columns revealed that the PA22-2 peptide specifically bound the Mr = 80,000, 67,000, 45,000, and 32,000 proteins, the PA21 peptide bound the Mr = 45,000 and 38,000-36,000 proteins and the YIGSR peptide column bound the 38,000-36,000 protein. Antisera to a bacterial fusion protein of the 32-kD laminin-binding protein (LBP-32) reacted strongly with the three laminin-binding proteins, Mr = 67,000, 45,000, and 32,000, showing that they are immunologically related. Immunoperoxidase microscopy studies confirmed that these proteins are present within the plasma membrane of the hepatocyte. The antisera inhibited the adhesion of hepatocytes to hepatocytes to laminin by 30%, supporting the finding that these receptors and others mediate the attachment of hepatocytes to several regions of laminin.
Sample average approximation of stochastic dominance constrained programs

In this paper we study optimization problems with second-order stochastic dominance constraints. This class of problems allows for the modeling of optimization problems where a risk-averse decision maker wants to ensure that the solution produced by the model dominates certain benchmarks. Here we deal with the case of multi-variate stochastic dominance under general distributions and nonlinear functions. We introduce the concept of $${\mathcal{C}}$$ -dominance, which generalizes some notions of multi-variate dominance found in the literature. We apply the Sample Average Approximation (SAA) method to this problem, which results in a semi-infinite program, and study asymptotic convergence of optimal values and optimal solutions, as well as the rate of convergence of the feasibility set of the resulting semi-infinite program as the sample size goes to infinity. We develop a finitely convergent method to find an $${\epsilon}$$ -optimal solution of the SAA problem. An important aspect of our contribution is the construction of practical statistical lower and upper bounds for the true optimal objective value. We also show that the bounds are asymptotically tight as the sample size goes to infinity.
Test application time reduction for scan circuits using limited scan operations

We describe a static compaction procedure for full-scan circuits. The procedure accepts a (compact) test set generated for the combinational logic of the circuit and produces a test set with reduced test application time and tester memory, requirements. The reductions are achieved by combining pairs of tests. When a pair of tests is combined, the scan operation required between the two tests is replaced with a limited scan operation. Under a limited scan operation a scan chain of length L is shifted a number of positions S /spl les/ L. As a special case, S = 0 implies that the scan operation between two tests is eliminated altogether. We introduce several techniques to ensure that consideration of test pairs can be done efficiently and results in very high levels of test compaction for benchmark circuits.
Studies of Potential Inhibitors of Sodium Aluminosilicate Scales in High-Level Waste Evaporation

Abstract For a decade, the evaporation of highly alkaline High-Level nuclear wastes as practiced in some DOE nuclear waste facilities has produced sodium aluminosilicate scales causing both operation and criticality hazards. Segregation of aluminum-rich wastes from silicate-rich wastes minimizes the amount of scale produced and reduces cleaning expenses but does not eliminate scaling nor increase operational flexibility in waste processing. Similar issues have affected the aluminum refining industry for many decades. Over the past several years, successful commercial products have been identified to eliminate aluminosilicate fouling in the aluminum industry but have not been utilized in a nuclear environment. Laboratory quantities of three proprietary aluminosilicate scale inhibitors produced by Cytec industries have been shown to prevent formation of aluminosilicate scales. The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has been actively testing these potential scale inhibitors to examine their radiation ...
Scalp Histology in RAPP‐Hodgkin Syndrome

We report unique histologic findings in scalp biopsies from two family members with Rapp-Hodgkin syndrome. Rapp-Hodgkin and the related AEC syndrome show a primary scarring alopecia and pili torti. The syndromes, which are related to ectodactyly, ectodermal dysplasia and cleft lip/palate syndrome, have been credited to mutations in the TP63 gene. Most notable on biopsy is a primary scarring alopecia and abnormal hair shaft shape. Calcification in the outer root sheath epithelium, the basement membrane of the lower segment and within naked hair shafts is present. Neutrophils and bacterial rods and cocci are adjacent to the hair shaft in the superior segment, associated with dilated follicular ostia. Perifollicular fibrosis is associated with a variety of inflammatory cell types, mostly lymphocytic. One sample shows interfollicular irregular psoriasiform epidermal hyperplasia with parakeratosis, compact orthokeratosis, hypergranulosis, and intraepidermal neutrophils. Follicular architecture is abnormal with abrupt and linear loss of nucleated matrical cells (B fringe of Adamson). The line of Ayber measures 0.30 mm on average. Hair shafts measure up to 0.16 mm, with variable abnormal cross sectional shape, usually square. Outer root sheath epithelium is disorganized with slight cellular pleomorphism, and the cuticle of the inner and outer root sheath is irregular in thickness.
The Electromyographer's Guide to the Motor Unit

This article's purpose is to explain the anatomicophysiologic basis for observations and measurements made by the electromyographer. An electromyographer may be trained in the techniques of electromyography without understanding the anatomicophysiology, and valuable interpretive subtleties may be missed. This article is an attempt to provide that background (ie, the link among anatomy, physiology, and electrodiagnostic findings). It is hoped that with a fuller understanding of the anatomicophysiologic basis of clinical electromyography, subtle observations can be made which will allow a more sophisticated level of interpretation of electromyography results. Such interpretations should improve the electromyographer's capacity to provide useful information to a referring physician and hence, improve the management of a patient.
Immunological and chemical studies of the streptococcal group O protein type antigens.

Abstract Two antigens present in group O streptococci have been described and are designated as type antigens. No other antigens are present in extracts of group O cells in significant quantity. Antigen I is a cell wall protein, and II is a nucleoprotein of undetermined cell location. The immunological specificity of the latter resides only in the protein. Both antigens have been extracted from the cell with water or 0.2 n HCl (pH 2) at 100 C, and antigen I can be removed by trypsin. After purification, pH 2 was found to destroy the serological activity of each antigen. Antgens I and II and also the O polysaccharide antigen can be distinguished on a single agar-gel diffusion plate with group O whole-cell antiserum. N- and C-terminal amino acid analyses and total amino acid composition prove that I and II are separate molecular species. Each possesses properties which separate them from the streptococcal M, R, and T proteins. Antigen I separated into three fractions, each possessing serological specificity, on a diethylaminoethyl-Sephadex column at pH 8.6 during an increase in buffer molarity. The protein is considered to possess a multiple unit structure. The results indicate that the O streptococci are limited to two serological types. Group O whole-cell antisera, after adsorption with a strain not containing the O polysaccharide, can now be prepared for the positive identification of the types of group O streptococci.