cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Fabrication and piezoelectric property of PMN-PT nanofibers

Abstract Piezoelectric nanostructures have recently attracted attention because of their potentials for nanoscale sensing and energy scavenging. Here we present the fabrication and characterization of novel piezoelectric 0.65Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 –0.35PbTiO 3 (PMN-PT) nanofibers. PMN-PT nanofibers were fabricated by an electrospinning process combined with subsequent high temperature treatment. The diameter of the nanofibers ranged from 148 nm to 216 nm. Well aligned nanofiber arrays were obtained using an electric field assisted method. A theoretical model was given for measuring piezoelectric properties of nanofibers using Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM). The electromechanical coupling coefficient ( d 33 ) of single PMN-PT nanofibers was measured and a value of 50±2 pm/V was obtained. The excellent properties of these nanofibers may enable the development of novel piezoelectric nanosensors and nanogerators for sensing and energy harvesting applications.
Robustness of threshold policies in beneficiary-donor model

A common problem in multiserver systems is deciding how to allocate resources among jobs so as to minimize mean response time. Since good parameter settings typically depend on environmental conditions such as system loads, an allocation policy that is optimal in one environment may provide poor performance when the environment changes, or when the prediction of the environment is wrong. We say that such a policy is not robust. In this paper, we analytically compare the robustness of several threshold-based allocation policies, in a dual server beneficiary-donor model. We introduce two types of robustness: static robustness, which measures robustness against mis-estimation of the true load, and dynamic robustness, which measures robustness against fluctuations in the load. We find that policies employing multiple thresholds offer significant benefit over single threshold policies with respect to static robustness. Yet they surprisingly offer much less benefit with respect to dynamic robustness.
Classical conditioning in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and anxiety disorders: a test of Quay's model

Quay (1988) put forward a model of childhood mental disorders based on Gray's (1982) theory that there exists within the brain a behavioral inhibition system (BIS), which processes signals related to aversive or punishing stimuli. According to this model, children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) show lower than optimal levels of activity in this system, which leads to less responsiveness at a physiological level to signals related to punishment. Children with ADHD and controls were compared on a classical conditioning paradigm. Skin conductance and cardiac responses were measured in response to a conditioned stimulus that had been paired with an aversive unconditioned stimulus. There were no differences between the groups, suggesting that, in terms of classical conditioning, ADHD children are equally responsive to signals related to punishment as controls.
The effects of defective Suppressor-mutator insertions on the expression of a Bronze-1 allele in maize

Molecular and biochemical analyses of the maize transposable element mutant bronze-m13, which resulted from the insertion of a defective Suppressor-mutator element in an exon of a Bronze-1 allele, ...
Speech perception and memory coding in relation to reading ability

Previous work has demonstrated that children who are poor readers have short-term memory deficits in tasks in which the stimuli lend themselves to phonetic coding. The aim of the present study was to explore whether the poor readers' memory deficit may have its origin in perception with the encoding of the stimuli. Three experiments were conducted with third grade good and poor readers. As in earlier experiments, the poor readers were found to perform less well on recall of random word strings and to be less affected by the phonetic characteristics (rhyming or not rhyming) of the items (Experiment 1). In addition, the poor readers produced more errors of transposition (in the nonrhyming strings) than did the good readers, a further indication of the poor readers' problems with memory for order. The subjects were tested on two auditory perception tasks, one employing words (Experiment 2) and the other nonspeech environmental sounds (Experiment 3). Each was presented under two conditions: with a favorable signal-to-noise ratio and with masking. The poor readers made significantly more errors than the good readers when listening to speech in noise, but did not differ in perception of speech without noise or in perception of nonspeech environmental sounds, whether noise-masked or not. Together, the results of the perception studies suggest that poor readers have a perceptual difficulty that is specific to speech. It is suggested that the short-term memory deficits characteristic of poor readers may stem from material-specific problems of perceptual processing.
Fractional calculus in viscoelasticity: An experimental study

Abstract Viscoelastic properties of soft biological tissues provide information that may be useful in medical diagnosis. Noninvasive elasticity imaging techniques, such as Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE), reconstruct viscoelastic material properties from dynamic displacement images. The reconstruction algorithms employed in these techniques assume a certain viscoelastic material model and the results are sensitive to the model chosen. Developing a better model for the viscoelasticity of soft tissue-like materials could improve the diagnostic capability of MRE. The well known “integer derivative” viscoelastic models of Voigt and Kelvin, and variations of them, cannot represent the more complicated rate dependency of material behavior of biological tissues over a broad spectral range. Recently the “fractional derivative” models have been investigated by a number of researchers. Fractional order models approximate the viscoelastic material behavior of materials through the corresponding fractional differential equations. This paper focuses on the tissue mimicking materials CF-11 and gelatin, and compares fractional and integer order models to describe their behavior under harmonic mechanical loading. Specifically, Rayleigh (surface) waves on CF-11 and gelatin phantoms are studied, experimentally and theoretically, in order to develop an independent test bed for assessing viscoelastic material models that will ultimately be used in MRE reconstruction algorithms.
Human Serum Enzymes in Electrophoretic Fractions

SOME of the electrophoretic components of human serum have been shown to contain certain enzyme activities1,2.
Off-balance sheet activities and bank default-risk premia: A comparison of risk measures

This paper examines the market discipline of off-balance sheet activities on the default-risk premia of subordinated bank debt. The standard approach for determining whether market prices of subordinated debt reflect the risk of default is to regress the yield spread against accounting measures of bank risk. This approach may be inadequate because yield spreads are neither linear nor monotonic functions of bank risk. Moreover, the standard approach fails to consider that banks are regulated. This paper compares this approach and one where risk is measured with a contingent claims pricing model. Observed yields on subordinated bank debt over equivalent maturity treasuries are used to compute implied asset variances. OBS banking activities appear to reduce both linear risk-premia and implied asset variances. These results suggest that bank regulators may be overly concerned with the risk exposure of off-balance sheet banking activities.
Estimating True Score in the Compound Binomial Error Model.

Several procedures have been proposed in the statistical literature for estimating simultaneously the mean of each ofk binomial populations. In terms of mental test theory, however, it is not clear that these procedures should be used when an item sampling model applies since the binomial error model is usually viewed as an oversimplification of the “true” situation. In this study we compare empirically several of these estimation techniques. Particular attention is given to situations where observations are generated according to a two-term approximation to the compound binomial distribution.
All dysuria is local. A cost-effectiveness model for designing site-specific management algorithms.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the cost-effectiveness of management strategies for dysuria in different office settings. DESIGN: Decision and cost-effectiveness analyses, assuming the payer’s perspective. Data on disease prevalence, test characteristics, treatment efficacy, and adverse effects were drawn from the English language literature using medline searches and bibliographies. SETTING: Hypothetical primary care practice. PATIENTS: Otherwise healthy, nonpregnant women with symptoms of dysuria, urgency, and frequency. INTERVENTIONS: All reasonable combinations of urinalysis, urine culture, pelvic examination, chlamydia and gonorrhea cultures, and empiric treatment with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. RESULTS: The cost-effectiveness of strategies varied substantially among different patient settings. In all settings, empiric trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole for all patients was least expensive and least effective. Most testing increased both cost and effectiveness. Compared to empiric antibiotics, performing pelvic examination and urine culture for women with normal urinalyses had a marginal cost-effectiveness ratio of $4 to $32 per symptom-day avoided (SDA). Adding urine culture for patients with pyuria had a marginal cost of $34 to $107 per SDA, which fell to $40/SDA when the prevalence of resistance to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole exceeded 40%. Pelvic examination and urine culture for all patients regardless of urinalysis results achieved the greatest benefit but at the highest cost (>$300 per SDA). CONCLUSIONS: In otherwise healthy women with symptoms of dysuria and no vaginal complaints, performing pelvic exam and urine culture based on urinalysis offers a reasonable alternative to empiric therapy. Other testing may be warranted, depending on antibiotic resistance and the value of avoiding a day of dysuria.
LONG-TERM PRODUCTIVITY OF CANVASBACKS (AYTHYA VALISINERIA) IN A SNOWPACK-DRIVEN DESERT MARSH

Abstract Ruby Lake, Nevada, is a large palustrine wetland that hosts the southern-most major breeding population of Canvasbacks (Aythya valisineria). That arid marsh, fed by springs derived from mountain snowpack, differs in climate and hydrology from glaciated potholes of the northern prairies where most Canvasbacks breed. Fourteen years of nesting data on Canvasbacks over a 31 year period (1970–2000) were analyzed to determine factors affecting breeding performance at Ruby Lake and whether they differed from those in the prairies. Long-term Mayfield nest success at Ruby Lake (50% of all nests) was in the range of that in the northern prairies (21–65%). Of all Canvasback nests, 73% were parasitized (mostly by Redheads [Aythya americana]) as compared to 83–97% in a large Manitoba marsh and 57–65% in Manitoba potholes. However, as in the northern prairies, nest parasitism generally had little or no effect on either nest success or percentage of host eggs that hatched. In Manitoba potholes, nest success was...
MO‐E‐BRA‐04: In‐Field Risk of Radiation Induced Second Cancer in Proton Therapy and IMRT for Pediatric Patients Considering Dose Inhomogeneities

Purpose: In radiation therapyorgans outside of the treatment volume receive medium to low doses. These doses might lead to side effects, e.g. the induction of a second cancer. In general IMRTtreatment plans require more fields than proton treatment plans to reach comparable dose conformality. In addition, photon beams do not stop in the patient. The dose distributions and organdose levels therefore differ substantially. The purpose of this analysis was to assess the risk for developing a second cancer for organs directly in the beam path. When treating pediatric patients. Method and Materials: Age and gender specific whole‐body phantoms (4‐year old female and 14‐year old male) were implement in the treatment planning system in order to determine in‐field doses. We have used two treatment sites for our study, namely, optic glioma and pelvic sarcoma. We have used a recently published second cancer risk model which takes into account the dose levels and dose inhomogeneities by using the concept of organ equivalent doses. Lifetime attributable risks (LAR) were determined. Results: In IMRT parotids receive exit dose, therefore, the second cancer risks (LARs) for treating opticglioma from IMRT is around 0.5%, whereas, in proton therapy parotids do not receive any dose. Considering braintissue,IMRT causes LARs between 1.2% and 2.0% considering repopulation rates between 0% and 50%. In proton therapy, the values vary from 0.4% to 1.2%, respectively. LARs in the 14‐year old patient are found to be smaller compared to LARs in the 4‐year old patient. Conclusions: Integral doses to in‐field organs are in general 2 to 3 times larger from IMRT as compared to proton therapy. We find LARs from IMRT are higher compared to those from proton therapy e.g. for braintissue 1.2% in IMRT as opposed to 0.4% in proton therapy considering zero repopulation rate.
Preparation and characterization of asymmetric α-alkoxy dipyrrin ligands and their metal complexes

Asymmetric α-substituted dipyrrins have been synthesized and characterized. The compounds were formed by a metal mediated reaction involving a single alkoxy group substituted into the α-position of an α,β-unsubstituted dipyrrin. An α-methoxy dipyrrin, 5-(4-cyanophenyl)-1-methoxydipyrrin (α-OMe-4-cydpm), was prepared from 5-(4-cyanophenyl)-4,6-dipyrromethane. Methoxy, ethoxy, and propoxy derivatives (α-OMe-4-mecdpm, α-OEt-4-mecdpm, α-OPr-4-mecdpm) of 5-(4-methoxycarbonylphenyl)-4,6-dipyrromethane have also been prepared. A homoleptic, bis(1-methoxy)dipyrrinato zinc(II) complex, [Zn(α-OMe-4-mecdpm)2], has been synthesized, as has a heteroleptic cobalt(III) complex with one α-OMe-4-cydpm ligand and two unsubstituted 5-(4-cyanophenyl)dipyrrin (4-cydpm) ligands ([Co(α-OMe-4-cydpm)(4-cydpm)2]). The rotational barrier of the meso-aryl substituent of [Zn(α-OMe-4-mecdpm)2] was found to be 17.3 kcal mol−1 by variable-temperature NMR spectroscopy. The compounds α-OMe-4-cydpm and [Zn(α-OMe-4-mecdpm)2] have also been characterized by X-ray diffraction. The formation of the new dipyrrin derivatives is shown to be general and can be performed on dipyrrins with various meso-aryl substitutents, with a variety of alcohols, and can be promoted by several metal salts.
Groundstate defectons in soft-core fermion quantum crystals☆

Abstract We investigate a Hartree-Fock band description of atomic motion in a three-dimensional crystal of identical atoms at T = 0 K . For sufficiently high density we show that these atomic bands overlap, which implies the presence of coherently tunneling defects or “defectons”.
Cancer pain management in children

The World Health Organization document Cancer Pain Relief and Palliative Care in Children (WHO, 1998) advocates the global application of the principles of pain management and palliative care for children with cancer. The principles of pain management include the application of the WHO analgesic ladder, appropriate opioid dose escalation, the use of adjuvant analgesics, and the use of non-pharmacological methods of pain control. These principles of pain management should be incorporated into the treatment protocols of all children with cancer, acknowledging that treatment options may be limited for some children.
Structural and biochemical characterization of the GTPgammaS-, GDP.Pi-, and GDP-bound forms of a GTPase-deficient Gly42 --> Val mutant of Gialpha1.

The Gly42 → Val mutant of Giα1 was characterized structurally and biochemically to elucidate two important features of Giα1-catalyzed GTP hydrolysis. The crystal structure of the GTPγS-bound G42VGiα1 protein demonstrates that the steric bulk of Val42 pushes the Gln204 residue into a catalytically incompetent conformation, providing a rationale for the diminished GTPase activity of this mutant. The same phenomenon may also account for the diminished GTPase activity of the homologous transforming Gly42 → Val mutation in p21ras. Similarly, the steric bulk of the unique Ser42 residue in Gzα may account for the comparatively slower rate of GTP hydrolysis by this Gα subunit. The G42VGiα1 subunit was also characterized structurally in its GDP·Pi- and GDP-bound states, providing a unique opportunity to view three “snapshots” of GTP hydrolysis. Hydrolysis of GTP to a transient GDP·Pi-bound intermediate is associated with substantial conformational changes in the switch II segment of the protein. Eventual release o...
For IBD, Bugs and Genes Are the Name of the Game

Researchers working to understand inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are like chess masters playing simultaneous games. Indeed, host genetic factors, microbial flora, and environmental cues are critical to the pathogenesis of IBD. However, studying these factors in isolation provides a fragmented snapshot because it ignores the cross-talk that occurs along the digestive tract. Now, Haberman et al. not only provide an elegant framework to collect, analyze, and interpret this type of multilevel data, they also offer novel insights into the biology of IBD that may have direct clinical implications. The location and nature of IBD ulcerations are helpful to distinguish the two main forms of IBD. Whereas ulcerative colitis (UC) lesions are restricted to the mucosa of the colon/rectum, those of Crohn’s disease (CD) are not as superficial and occur anywhere along the digestive tract. The authors focused their efforts on the terminal ileum because it harbors the bulk of the mucosal immune system. Four types of pediatric patients were studied: those with CD with ileal lesions, those with CD or UC with colonic lesions, or asymptomatic controls. Ileal tissue obtained at biopsy was used for diagnostic pathology and RNA signatures. At the same time, the ileal microbial flora was sampled to establish patient-specific microorganism profiles. Because of the large sample size ( n = 359), both discovery and validation cohorts were included by design. Specific ileal gene expression and microbial profiles were identified that were shared by all CD patients (with or without ileal lesions). What’s more, several gene/microbe dyads were highly correlated when IBD samples were compared with controls. For example, decreased expression of apolipoprotein A1 (APOA1) was consistently noted in CD samples that were abnormally poor in bacteria of a specific phylum, the Firmicutes. Remarkably, a clinical prediction model based only on clinical parameters was substantially improved by inclusion of APOA1 gene expression and microbial flora data. These results suggest that in CD, the terminal ileum plays a central role in modulating the pathologic immune system activation. Integration of these findings into clinical prediction algorithms may eventually also lead to improved clinical care. Further studies will, however, be necessary to substantiate whether the strong associations uncovered translate into a bona fide causal relationship. Y. Haberman et al. , Pediatric Crohn disease patients exhibit specific ileal transcriptome and microbiome signature. J. Clin. Invest. , published online 8 July 2014 (10.1172/JCI75436). [[PubMed]][1] [1]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25003194
Plastic deformation in brittle and ductile fracture

Abstract An effort is made to cover the full elastic-plastic range from the very troublesome fractures which initiate and propagate at nominal or net stress well down in the elastic range to the common yet more easily understandable and preventable fractures at fully plastic or limit load conditions. Similarities and differences of behavior between steels which are highly rate-sensitive and aluminum alloys or other rather insensitive materials are examined. The very marked distinctions between the very special extremes of plane stress and plane strain are brought out along with their relevance to the failure of complex structures and elements. In contrast, the need to consider bending in most shell structures is emphasized. A demonstration is given of the likelihood in the laboratory, but even more so in the field, of confusing limit load fractures with low stress fractures. Crack extension under plane strain conditions is studied in some detail, and the important role of progressive blunting is indicated both in limiting maximum achievable stresses and providing a small region of intense strain in which ductile fracture mechanisms are operative. Comparison with appropriate microstructural dimensions leads to a rationale for minimum thickness dimensions for plane strain fracture. Plane stress yield patterns in cracked sheets are shown to be greatly sensitive to the yield criterion. The line plastic zone Dugdale model provides a correct solution for a non-hardening Tresca material, but diffuse zones result for a Mises material. The important role of thickness direction anisotropy is indicated. Stable extension under increasing load appears as a possible consequence of crack advance into previously deformed material. Conditions for stable vs. abrupt growth, the appropriateness of energy balance approaches, and plastic limit load calculations are also studied. An attempt is made to place all in perspective.
CONCATENATING DECOHERENCE-FREE SUBSPACES WITH QUANTUM ERROR CORRECTING CODES

An operator sum representation is derived for a decoherence-free subspace (DFS) and used to (i) show that DFS’s are the class of quantum error correcting codes (QECC’s) with fixed, unitary recovery operators and (ii) find explicit representations for the Kraus operators of collective decoherence. We demonstrate how this can be used to construct a concatenated DFS-QECC code which protects against collective decoherence perturbed by independent decoherence. The code yields an error threshold which depends only on the perturbing independent decoherence rate. [S0031-9007(99)09301-1]
Evolution of electronic structure as a function of size in gallium phosphide semiconductor clusters

Abstract Anion photoelectron spectra have been taken of Ga x P y − clusters at a photodetachment wavelength of 266 nm (4.657 eV). Clusters of varying stoichiometry with up to 18 atoms have been investigated. We obtain electron affinities and vertical detachment energies to the ground and low-lying excited states of the neutral clusters. Photoelectron spectra of clusters with 3–5 atoms are compared to previously reported ab initio calculations. Trends in the electron affinities and excitation energies for the larger clusters are discussed.
The Movement of Psychological Extras Into Ability Assessment

To circumvent some problems associated with traditional ability assessment, psychologists have searched for extra information during testing. In recent years, efforts have been developing to turn these "psychological extras" into more formal psychological assessment practice. These strategies include (a) learning-potential assessment, (b) paired-associate learning, (c) diagnostic teaching, and (d) child development observation. The current status of these proposed assessment strategies is reviewed, their advantages and disadvantages discussed, and some areas of future research are proposed. To answer the question of whether these procedures can serve a position of standard psychological practice, research must: (a) outline how such strategies contribute to greater sophistication in prescription, (b) determine what populations can best be assessed through these approaches, (c) demonstrate how the resulting diagnostic information will generalize across different tasks, situations, and individuals, and (d) d...
Potent inhibition of starch-synthase by Tris-type buffers is responsible for the perpetuation of the primer myth for starch biosynthesis

Mukerjea and Robyt [Carbohydr. Res. 2012, 352, 137-142] showed that a primer-free potato starch-synthase synthesized starch chains de novo, without the addition of a primer. A dichotomy arises as to why 61 studies from 1964 to the present have had to add a carbohydrate primer to obtain starch-synthase activity. All of these studies used 25-100 mM Tris, Bicine, or Tricine buffers. We have found that the Tris-type buffers completely inhibit starch-synthase at these concentrations. The addition of 10 mg/mL of the putative primers, glycogen and maltotetraose, gave a partial reversal of the inhibition, with glycogen being better than maltotetraose. It has been found that the Tris-type buffers form a complex with the ADPGlc substrate, removing it from the digest, causing the inhibition. The addition of the putative primers releases some of the ADPGlc from the complex, permitting it to act as a substrate for starch-synthase. The study definitively shows that the need for primers for starch-synthase by many investigators from 1964 to the present has been caused by Tris-type buffer inhibition that was partially reversed by putative primers. This has led to the perpetuation of the primer myth for the biosynthesis of starch chains by starch-synthase.
Methyl Iodide Toxicity

Excerpt The letter below was sent by Dr. Appel in response to the "Comment" letter by Drs. Cobb and Raymond that was published in the October 1976 issue. To the editor: Doctors Cobb and Raymond hav...
Online Advertising: Heterogeneity and Conflation in Market Design

The past decade has seen the explosive emer gence of online advertising as a major source of revenue for Internet publishers. Analyses of this phenomenon are mostly conducted in the sway of Google's hugely successful search advertising program. In the early days of the Internet, before Google, virtually all advertising revenues were related to simple display ads. Yet by 2008 search advertising accounted for over $10.5 billion of the $23.4 billion in total online advertising, and pun dits were forecasting continued growth at rates of 12 percent per year over the next five years.1 Internet advertising markets have broken sharply from the advertising markets for tradi tional media. In the older media, every consumer that received a particular magazine, listened to a particular radio program, or watched a particu lar TV show would read, hear or see the same advertisement. An advertiser that wanted to reach an audience with particular characteris tics could do so only within narrow limits. For example, a beer company might advertise on televised football games, and a maker of fashion clothing might advertise in women's magazines. Although publications do some tailoring of their offerings, as when a newspaper has differ ent local editions, audience mix is nevertheless constrained by the audiences for each type of publication, rather than by the objectives of the advertiser or the current intentions of the viewer. The Internet changes that. When a con sumer types "running shoes" into a search box at Google or Yahoo or Bing, it provides direct information about the searcher's intent?what
Radiation-guided drug delivery systems.

A primary limiting factor for cancer treatment is normal tissue toxicity. Targeted cancer treatment can potentially maximize cancer cure and minimize normal tissue toxicity. Physical energy can be used to activate inert oncologic drugs. X-rays have an advantage over other forms of physical energy because tissue penetration and precise localization can be achieved. Radiation can be used to control drug delivery through radiation-inducible gene therapy. Radiation-guided drug delivery systems involve the targeting of immunoconjugates to radiation-inducible neoantigens induced by irradiation of neoplasms. Magnetic fields can compliment these technologies by drawing magnetic particles containing oncologic drugs toward an externally applied magnetic field. The field of targeted drug delivery by use of external radiation fields will ultimately bring new delivery systems into clinical trials. This review highlights radiation-guided cancer drug delivery systems, at preclinical and clinical stages of development, t...
The effect of varying u.v. intensities on the concentration of scopolin and caffeoylquinic acids in tobacco and sunflower

Abstract Using a simple but reliable method involving one-dimensional paper chromatography for the quantitative determination of chlorogenic acid, neochlorogenic acid, 4- O -caffeoylquinic acid (“band 510”), and scopolin, the effect of varying u.v. light intensities on the concentration of these compounds in tobacco and sunflowers has been determined. With increased u.v. intensity, an increase in scopolin concentration was found in tobacco leaves and stems and in sunflower leaves. Chlorogenic acid concentration was higher in roots, stems, and leaves of tobacco plants treated with low, stimulatory u.v. radiation than in comparable plants grown under control or under higher u.v. conditions. Similar experiments with sunflowers indicated that the chlorogenic acid concentration of sunflower leaves was less under the low u.v. radiation than in comparable sunflower plants of control or of higher u.v. treatments. In stems and roots of sunflower, no consistent pattern of change in the chlorogenic acid concentration was found under the u.v. conditions tested. The concentration of chlorogenic acid increased in sunflower older leaves, but no consistent pattern of chlorogenic acid change with age was observed in sunflower stems and roots. Neochlorogenic acid and the third isomer (band 510) were found in both tobacco and sunflower, but in much higher concentrations in tobacco. Both of these isomers were found in all parts of the two test plants, except tobacco stems or roots. Postulates are presented which point out the possible significance of chlorogenic acid and/or scopolin in lignification and in mediating environmental conditions through effects on internal regulatory mechanisms. Internal concentrations of these compounds possibly are correlated with their release from the plant, and subsequently with allelopathic relations among plants.
Gossip is synteny: incomplete gossip and an exact algorithm for syntenic distance

The syntenic distance between two genomes is given by the minimum number of fusions, fissions, and translocations required to transform one into the other, ignoring the order of genes within chromosomes. The problem of computing this distance is NP-complete. In this paper, we give an O(2O(n log n)) algorithm to exactly compute the syntenic distance between two genomes that contain at most n chromosomes. Our algorithm requires O(2O(d log d)) time when this distance is d, improving the O(2O(d2)) running time of the beat previous exact algorithm. Our result is based upon a tight connection between syntenic distance and a novel generalization of the classical gossip problem. We define the incomplete gossip problem, in which there are n gossipers who each have a unique piece of initial information. They communicate by phone calls in which the participants exchange all their information, and the goal is to minimize the total number of phone calls necessary to inform each gossiper of his set of relevant gossip which he desires to learn.
When we leave hospital: a patient's perspective of burn injury.

At the age of 18, I thought I had the best summer job possible, working outside at the local marina, with the prospect of going to college in a few months to become a nurse. In an instant everything changed. While moving a boat on a trailer, a group of us sustained electrical injuries when the mast hit a high tension power line. I found myself fighting for my life in a burns centre and mourning the loss of a friend. The physical healing was gruelling and at times overwhelming for me and my family, and the medical team was a great support for me. However, this article focuses on the problems I faced once I left the hospital, two and a half months later, because that was toughest part of my journey. My comments are both personal and from the perspective of having been a burn nurse for over 13 years. It is a shared story of healing the emotional scars of burn injuries because I have learnt so much from others. One such person is Barbara Kammerer Quayle, a fellow burn survivor and colleague I met after I became a burn nurse. She taught me how healthcare professionals could make a difference for survivors struggling to regain a place in their family and society. Many of the strategies I discuss are her life's work and are used with her permission. For some burn survivors these strategies are natural responses, but for others they have to be learnt and practised. While in the secure cocoon of the burn centre, I received extraordinary social support and acceptance from staff. After my discharge and return to my community, however, I felt surprised, shocked, and sometimes completely overwhelmed as I realised I would …
A fuzzy logic approach for safety and collision avoidance in robotic systems

A major factor that has limited the application of robots in industrial and human service applications has been the lack of robust sensing and control algorithms for detection and prevention of collision conditions. This paper discusses an approach to the collision avoidance control of robots using a fuzzy logic methodology for the integration of sensory input data from the robot's environment. The paper presents a formulation of the collision avoidance problem using the occupancy grid formulation, and discusses the use of a combination of Dempster-Shafer inference and fuzzy logic in fusing the sensory information and making robot movement decisions. This hybrid approach utilizes the strengths of both systems to provide an effective and computationally tractable result. @ 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Femtosecond Solvation Dynamics of the Hydrated Electron

Femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy of the equilibrated hydrated electron has been recorded with 35fs resolution, revealing unprecedented transient features on the 30{endash}80fs time scales that have been assigned to inertial solvation dynamics of the hydrated electron. These data allow for a rigorous experimental evaluation of the recently published nonadiabatic quantum molecular dynamics simulations of the adiabatic and nonadiabatic dynamics of the hydrated electron. {copyright} {ital 1998 } {ital The American Physical Society}
Breast biopsy vacucylinder.

Summary There is a need for a simple, reliable means for obtaining biopsy specimens of the human breast that are more ample than those obtainable with needle technics. Such tissue specimens are needed for improved diagnosis of cancerous and precancerous lesions as well as for other studies requiring adequate amounts of tissue. We have designed, constructed, and preliminarily tested an instrument for such purposes. The instrument has repeatedly secured tissue specimens 3 or 4 mm in diameter and several centimeters in length from the breast immediately prior to mastectomy. It consists of a cylinder 3 or 4 mm in diameter with a disposable razor-sharp cutting tip and an adapter at the opposite end to which a vacuum tube is applied. Experience with more than twelve cases to date has been without complication.
Arthroscopic techniques in minimally invasive spine surgery: closure of the lumbar fascia: surgical technique.

BACKGROUND: The constrained working area in minimally invasive exposures of the spine may limit the capacity to effectively close the lumbar fascia, especially in patients with elevated body mass indexes. The working channel in these cases may have a diameter as narrow as 14 mm and a length up to 9 cm. Under these circumstances, the use of a conventional needle driver and a curved needle becomes suboptimal for closures of the fascia. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the utility of an arthroscopic suture passer for closure of the lumbar fascia in such approaches. METHODS: A flexible suture passer, typically used in arthroscopic rotator cuff repair surgery, was used through a minimally invasive portal for fascial closure after minimally invasive lumbar spine procedures. RESULTS: The use of an arthroscopic suture passer precludes the need for rotation of a curved needle in a constrained working area. Deploying a nitinol needle through an arc delivers the suture through the fascia, thereby facilitating closure. Satisfactory lumbar fascia closures were achieved in 18 patients with elevated body mass indexes. CONCLUSION: Application of existing technology in other surgical specialties may address the shortcomings of current techniques in minimally invasive approaches to the spine. The use of a flexible arthroscopic suture passer is one example in which current technology in one discipline may be applied to minimally invasive approaches. Increasing the awareness of techniques and instruments in other surgical disciplines may expand the armamentarium of the minimally invasive spine surgeon.
Development of Measurement and Control System for TLP Bonding

The key to accomplish transient liquid phase bonding in the atmosphere is to control bonding temperature, holding time and compressive pressure. The measurement and control system was independently developed based on an industrial computer and I/O cards. The output of a medium frequency power supply and the opening degree of a proportional relief valve were regulated to control bonding temperature and compressive pressure. Improved PID algorithm was presented, and the temperature precision in steady stage reached ± 0.1%. The system is applied to TLP bond steel pipes successfully.
Analyzing multimodality tomographic images and associated regions of interest with MIDAS

This paper outlines the design and features incorporated in a software package for analyzing multi-modality tomographic images. The package MIDAS has been evolving for the past 15 years and is in wide use by researchers at New York University School of Medicine and a number of collaborating research sites. It was written in the C language and runs on Sun workstations and Intel PCs under the Solaris operating system. A unique strength of the MIDAS package lies in its ability to generate, manipulate and analyze a practically unlimited number of regions of interest (ROIs). These regions are automatically saved in an efficient data structure and linked to associated images. A wide selection of set theoretical (e.g. union, xor, difference), geometrical (e.g. move, rotate) and morphological (grow, peel) operators can be applied to an arbitrary selection of ROIs. ROIs are constructed as a result of image segmentation algorithms incorporated in MIDAS; they also can be drawn interactively. These ROI editing operations can be applied in either 2D or 3D mode. ROI statistics generated by MIDAS include means, standard deviations, centroids and histograms. Other image manipulation tools incorporated in MIDAS are multimodality and within modality coregistration methods (including landmark matching, surface fitting and Woods' correlation methods) and image reformatting methods (using nearest-neighbor, tri-linear or sinc interpolation). Applications of MIDAS include: (1) neuroanatomy research: marking anatomical structures in one orientation, reformatting marks to another orientation; (2) tissue volume measurements: brain structures (PET, MRI, CT), lung nodules (low dose CT), breast density (MRI); (3) analysis of functional (SPECT, PET) experiments by overlaying corresponding structural scans; (4) longitudinal studies: regional measurement of atrophy.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
A Hierarchical Architecture for QoS Guarantees and Routing in Wireless/Mobile Networks

This paper addresses the problem of providing quality of service (QoS) support and routing for wireless networks in the presence of user mobility. The proposed architecture is hierarchical where cells (the basic region of mobile coverage) are organized into QoS/routing domains. The QoS mechanism is based on our earlier work, which follows the integrated services approach with reservation protocol and class-based queueing used for signaling and scheduling, respectively. The routing mechanism proposed in this paper is integrated with the above QoS mechanism and uses a combination of mobile IP, fast route table updates, and proxy address resolution protocol. The architecture and mechanisms have been implemented in a wireless and mobile test bed that uses Lucent WaveLAN cards. Experimental results from this test bed are presented to show the validity of the architecture and to discuss basic system performance.
A mechanism-based cross-linker for the identification of kinase-substrate pairs.

The reversible phosphorylation of proteins is one of the most important mechanisms for the regulation of signal transduction cascades. Recently, there has been substantial progress made in the identification of new phosphoproteins and phosphorylation sites. Unfortunately, there are very few methods available that allow this information to be used to identify the upstream kinase responsible for the phosphorylation event. Herein, we describe a new method that allows the cross-linking of a substrate of interest to its upstream kinase. This method relies upon a novel, mechanism-based cross-linker and the replacement of the phosphorylated residue with a cysteine residue. The application of this method to a number of kinase−peptide substrate pairs is described.
Production metrology and control of color filter array photolithography for CMOS imagers

The color filter array (CFA) for an image-producing semiconductor device is composed of patterned red-, and green- and blue-colored photoresist structures. CFA photolithography is rather different from that of most semiconductor process levels.
Solid state aluminum-27 NMR studies of tridecameric Al-OxoHydroxy clusters in basic aluminum selenate, sulfate, and the mineral zunyite

Aluminum forms a number of tridecameric (Al,,) cluster compounds in which 02-, OH-, FP, and HZ0 are ligands. Examples are the basic aluminum salts (chloride, selenate, and sulfate, Refs. (1, 2)) and the m ineral zunyite (3). The basic aluminum salts are formed by partial hydrolysis of A1(H20)63’ by base, have commercial utility, and have recently been the subject of several studies using aluminum-27 NMR spectroscopy, both in solution (4, 5) and in the crystalline solid state (I, 6). The basic aluminum salts all contain a central AlO unit, surrounded by twelve six-coordinate Al atoms. Early solution NMR studies readily detected signals arising from AD4 in the tr idecamer (4), but only under certain conditions (at high temperature) could resonances attributable to the octahedral aluminums be observed, due presumably to their large quadrupole coupling constants (e2qQ/h). Similarly, detection of the octahedral aluminums in the basic chlorides and sulfates in the solid state has until now not been successful (6). In contrast, solid state NM studies using “mag ic-angle” sample spinning (MASS) (7) of the m ineral zunyite, a basic aluminum silicate having the structure [Ali,(OH, F)i6F2]Si502&1, have recently revealed quite narrow lines for both fourand six-coordinate aluminum (I). In this paper, we present 27A1 MASS, variable-angle sample-spinning (VASS) (8) and static NMR spectra of basic aluminum selenate, sulfate, and the m ineral zunyite, obtained at several magnetic field strengths, which has allowed us to determine e2qQ/h and isotropic chemical-shift values for both Al(4) and Al(6) sites in all three systems. We discuss the likely origins for the large differences in e2qQ/ h between Al(6) sites in zunyite (-2.5 MHz) and the basic aluminum selenate and sulfate (10 MHz). Availability of e*qQ/h (and asymmetry parameter, 7) information will be shown elsewhere to permit evaluation of rotational correlation times for the Ali3 clusters in solution, and thereby to permit estimation of oxygen-l 7 e’qQ/h values in such systems (9). The basic aluminum selenate and sulfate were obtained as Na[AI04 a Ali2(OH)24(OH2)12] (X0&.YH20 (X = Se or S and Y 13, Ref. (2)) from
Causal Analysis in the Organizational Sciences and Alternative Model Specification and Evaluation

The requirement in causal analysis concerning ordering of a model's variables is considered by discussing literature on path analytic modeling and causal inference procedures. A general procedure, to be used when several rival causal models are tested, is presented and the necessity for its use illustrated with a test of House's Path-Goal Theory of Leadership. Generalizations and recommendations on causal analysis are discussed.
A Critique of the Caregiving Literature

In this critical review of the recent caregiving literature, we identify several methodological problems. Specifically noted are the variable and often confusing definitions of the caregiver, the lack of specification of needs, overrepresentation of self-selected samples, and the absence of attention to the total support network. We conclude that future researchers should focus on the total support process in later life, rather than on a single caregiver, so that policy can best be designed to mesh the informal and formal support systems.
Peripheral virus-specific T-cell interleukin-10 responses develop early in acute hepatitis C infection and become dominant in chronic hepatitis.

Background /Aims Interleukin-10 (IL-10) has been ascribed pro-viral but anti-fibrotic properties in chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. In this study, we examined the role of HCV-specific T-cell IL-10 response in patients with acute and chronic HCV infection. Methods Peripheral HCV-specific T-cell IL-10 and IFNγ responses were measured in cytokine Elispot assay using overlapping HCV-derived peptides in patients with chronic ( n =61), resolved ( n =15) and acute ( n =8) hepatitis C, looking for their onset, quantity, breadth and durability relative to clinical and virological outcomes. The source and effect of HCV-specific IL-10 response were determined in depletion and IL-10 neutralization experiments. Results Both HCV-specific IL-10 and IFNγ responses were detected early within 1–2months of acute clinical hepatitis C. However, only HCV-specific IL-10 response correlated with elevated liver enzymes, increased viremia and suppressed HCV-specific CD4 + T-cell proliferation in acute infection. While these associations were lost in established chronic infection, HCV-specific IL-10 responses were increased in patients without cirrhosis while IL-10 blockade enhanced antiviral effector IFNγ responses. Conclusions HCV-specific IL-10 Tr1 responses may play a dual role in HCV infection, dampening effector T-cells to promote viral persistence in acute infection but also protecting against progressive fibrosis in chronic infection.
Robust computation of mutual information using spatially adaptive meshes

We present a new method for the fast and robust computation of information theoretic similarity measures for alignment of multi-modality medical images. The proposed method defines a non-uniform, adaptive sampling scheme for estimating the entropies of the images, which is less vulnerable to local maxima as compared to uniform and random sampling. The sampling is defined using an octree partition of the template image, and is preferable over other proposed methods of non-uniform sampling since it respects the underlying data distribution. It also extends naturally to a multi-resolution registration approach, which is commonly employed in the alignment of medical images. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated using both simulated MR images obtained from the BrainWeb database and clinical CT and SPECT images.