cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Topical Hypochlorous Acid (HOCl) as a Potential Treatment of Pruritus

Topical hypochlorous acid (HOCl) has recently been proposed as a treatment of pruritus. However, it is not known whether topical HOCl decreases or promotes pruritus. This review sheds light on this poorly understood subject. This article describes the pathophysiology of pruritus, current treatments of pruritus, and how pH determines the properties of HOCl in solution. The article then proposes two mechanisms by which HOCl may reduce pruritus: 1) HOCl is microbicidal to cutaneous pathogens, especially Staphylococcus aureus in atopic dermatitis; 2) HOCl is anti-inflammatory and reduces the activities of histamine, leukotriene B4, and interleukin-2, all of which are implicated in the pathophysiology of itch. Lastly, this article describes conditions under which HOCl may actually cause pruritus as an adverse effect. For example, HOCl increases the activity of nerve growth factor, which promotes itch. Prolonged or high-dose HOCl exposure may also cause irritant contact dermatitis, or less commonly, allergic contact dermatitis.
Does ice float in Titan’s lakes and seas?

Abstract We model Titan’s lakes and seas as methane–ethane–nitrogen systems and model the buoyancy of solids in these systems assuming thermodynamic equilibrium. We find that ice will float in methane-rich lakes for all temperatures below the freezing point of pure methane and that ice will also float in ethane-rich seas provided the ice has an air porosity of greater than 5% by volume.
Spatial Homogenization of Transport Discretization Schemes

Neutron transport problems for whole reactor core calculations result in a very large amount of unknowns. Some difficulties related to dimensionality of this kind of problem can be resolved by solving a well-posed homogenized transport problem on a coarse grid. We apply homogenization methodology to develop discretization schemes for solving k-eigenvalue problems on coarse meshes in 1D slab geometry. The step characteristic (SC) method is used for fine-mesh transport calculations. We develop spatially homogenized transport schemes on a basis of two different transport discretization methods: SC and linear discontinuous schemes. The basic approach is to formulate a discretization that is spatially consistent with the given fine-mesh transport discretization. The presented numerical results demonstrate features of the developed methods in preserving grid functions of the angular flux computed with the SC method on fine spatial meshes. We study sensitivity of the proposed schemes to various types of perturba...
A descriptive analysis of music therapists working with consumers in substance abuse rehabilitation: Current clinical practice to guide future research

The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine music therapists working with consumers in treatment for substance abuse with the intention of using these data to design realistic and practical research studies and inform future music therapists of what to expect as a Board-Certified Music Therapist working with this population. The secondary purpose of this study was to assess job environment factors of music therapists and their perception of influence on clinical effectiveness within the substance abuse population. Participants reported that communication, coping skills, emotional expression, decision making, and self-esteem were the most frequently addressed clinical objectives. The 12 Step, cognitive behavioral, and dual disorders were the most frequently utilized treatment approaches while lyric analysis and music assisted relaxation were the most utilized music therapy interventions. Participants had been working with the substance abuse population for a mean of 11.69 years, enjoyed their work, and felt they had a positive impact upon treatment. A significant relationship was found between years as an MT-BC and perception of positive impact of music therapy, possibly indicating that therapists who had practiced longer felt they were more effective. There was a significant relationship between the music therapists’ enjoyment of clinical practice and their perception of positive influence upon their consumers’ treatment, possibly indicating that the more a music therapist enjoyed their work, the more impact they felt they had upon their consumers. Finally, a significant relationship existed between the music therapists’ perception of treatment influence on their consumers and the percentage of consumers who had met their clinical objectives during the last week. Suggestions for additional research, implications for treatment, potential biases, and limitations of the study are provided.
Pi meson radiotherapy for advanced head and neck neoplasms: Preliminary results

Under the auspices of the University of New Mexico Cancer Research and Treatment Center, trials are under way at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility to evaluate the effects of pi meson irradiation on locally advanced human tumors. This paper summarizes the preliminary results in patients with locally advanced head and neck tumors treated under Phase I and Phase II studies. A total of 26 patients were treated between June 1977 and May 1979 with a minimum follow-up of 9 months and a maximum follow-up of 33 months. Sites of disease included the oropharynx in 10 cases (base of tongue in 7, tonsil in 2, and pharyngoepiglottic fold in 1), the supraglottic larynx in 4, the nasopharynx in 5, the oral cavity in 4, the hypopharynx in 2, and the sublingual salivary gland in 1. Twelve of the 26 patients are alive, and 10 survive with no evidence of disease. Doses employed ranged from a minimum of 1,000 peak pion rad in 7 fractions over 9 days to a maximum of 5,400 peak pion rad in 51 fractions over 89 days. The minimum dose employed for any patients treated with peak pions alone was 3,000 rad. These data are analyzed according to dose, site, histology, tumor response, local control, and survival. Results from these cases form the basis of the Phase III randomized trials for advanced squamous-cell carcinomas of the head and neck, which are currently in progress.
Effect of Organic Additives on the Onset of Asphaltene Precipitation

Onset of solid precipitation from oils was determined by identifying the minimum in near-infrared absorbance. Solvent-induced precipitation typically causes asphaltene precipitation, but is also known to cause high-molecular-weight waxes to come out of solution. The effects of the addition of solid saturated and unsaturated compounds on the onset of solvent-induced precipitation from a crude oil were examined. Crude oil from Rangely, an oil field in northwestern Colorado was used. The solvent-induced precipitation was brought about using pentane, hexane, and heptane. On the basis of limited solvent carbon number investigated (5−7), less solvent was required for precipitation onset as the carbon number of alkanes decreased. As the flow rate of the precipitant increased, the onset was delayed. Addition of solid n-alkanes, such as eicosane and tetracosane to the oil initially, accelerated the onset of precipitation. When solid polyaromatic compounds (naphthalene and phenanthrene) were dissolved in the oil, m...
Alkaline earthlike spectra in highly ionized members of the Sm isoelectronic sequence

Energies and radiative transition probabilities have been computed for the 5s2 1S0–5s5p1,3PJ intervals in highly ionized members of the 62 electron samarium isoelectronic sequence by using ab initio multiconfiguration Dirac–Fock methods. For Z > 74 these become the lowest-lying levels, and the ion assumes an alkaline earthlike structure. Excitation energies and E1, M1, E2, and M2 transition probabilities for the 5s5p levels are reported for the ions Re+13 through U+30. Isoelectronic trends in the relative spacings of the 5s5p levels were also investigated by using semiempirical screening parameterizations of the intermediate coupling equations for the spin–orbit and exchange energies. These trends are compared with systematic regularities noted earlier in the homologous Be, Mg, Zn, and Cd sequences, and possibilities for precise extrapolative predictions are examined.
CTPs: Contextual Temporal Profiles for Time Scoping Facts using State Change Detection

Temporal scope adds a time dimension to facts in Knowledge Bases (KBs). These time scopes specify the time periods when a given fact was valid in real life. Without temporal scope, many facts are underspecified, reducing the usefulness of the data for upper level applications such as Question Answering. Existing methods for temporal scope inference and extraction still suffer from low accuracy. In this paper, we present a new method that leverages temporal profiles augmented with context— Contextual Temporal Profiles (CTPs) of entities. Through change patterns in an entity’s CTP, we model the entity’s state change brought about by real world events that happen to the entity (e.g, hired, fired, divorced, etc.). This leads to a new formulation of the temporal scoping problem as a state change detection problem. Our experiments show that this formulation of the problem, and the resulting solution are highly effective for inferring temporal scope of facts.
A hierarchical human detection system in (un)compressed domains

We propose a hierarchical retrieval system where shape, color and motion characteristics of the human body are captured in compressed and uncompressed domains. The proposed retrieval method provides human detection and activity recognition at different resolution levels from low complexity to low false rates and connects low level features to high level semantics by developing relational object and activity presentations. The available information of standard video compression algorithms are used in order to reduce the amount of time and storage needed for the information retrieval. The principal component analysis is used for activity recognition using MPEG motion vectors and results are presented for walking, kicking, and running to demonstrate that the classification among activities is clearly visible. For low resolution and monochrome images it is demonstrated that the structural information of human silhouettes can be captured from AC-DCT coefficients.
Evaluation of the Status of Laboratory Practices and the Need for Continuing Education in Medical Mycology

A survey to determine the need for training in medical mycology was sent to 605 US laboratories. Training needs were determined by comparing actual laboratory mycology practices with recommended practices, documenting the extent of mycology training reported by employees, and asking respondents to specify the fungi they considered most difficult to identify. The response rate was 56.7% (with only 316 laboratories providing sufficient information). Results showed a large degree of interlaboratory variation in practices and suggested that more judicious practices could lower costs and improve clinical relevance. Only 55.6% of laboratories reported that at least 1 employee attended a formal mycology continuing education program in the 4 years before the survey. Species of dermatophytes, dematiaceous fungi, and non-Candida yeasts were the most difficult to identify. Training may be needed in basic isolation procedures and in advanced topics such as identification of problematic molds and yeasts and antifungal susceptibility testing. Educators should consider clinical relevance and costcontainment without sacrificing quality when designing courses. Support for additional mycology training may improve if hospital and laboratory administrators are alerted to potential dangers and costs involved in treating patients with invasive fungal infections. Although some laboratory tests are becoming less difficult as technology advances, identification of fungi in the medical laboratory requires more expertise now than in the past because laboratory technologists are asked to identify a larger group of fungi. The distinction between well-known fungal pathogens and “contaminants” is no longer clear since species once considered harmless may now produce lifethreatening infections. 1 The patient population susceptible to
COSMOS: a compiled simulator for MOS circuits

The COSMOS simulator provides fast and accurate switch-level modeling of MOS digital circuits. It attains high performance by preprocessing the transistor network into a functionally equivalent Boolean representation. This description, produced by the symbolic analyzer ANAMOS, captures all aspects of switch-level networks including bidirectional transistors, stored charge, different signal strengths, and indeterminate (X) logic values. The LGCC program translates the Boolean representation into a set of machine language evaluation procedures and initialized data structures. These procedures and data structures are compiled along with code implementing the simulation kernel and user interface to produce the simulation program. The simulation program runs an order of magnitude faster than our previous simulator MOSSIM II.
Problems and Service Needs of Asian Americans in Chicago: An Empirical Study

(1978). Problems and Service Needs of Asian Americans in Chicago: An Empirical Study. Amerasia Journal: Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 23-44.
Methodology and Toolset for ASIP Design and Development Targeting Cryptography-Based Applications

Network processors utilizing general-purpose instruction-set architectures (ISA) limit network throughput due to latency incurred from cryptography and hashing applications (AES, DES, MD5, and SHA). This paper presents a methodology using computer-aided design, for development of high-performance application-specific instruction-sets (ASIP) targeting applications saturated in repetitive sequential bitwise operations and data-flow dependencies, thus exposing both fine and coarse grain parallelism through a set of recurring pattern extraction tools. These specific instructions, in conjunction with a minimal set of general-purpose instructions, are then incorporated into a simplistic, single-cycle CPU architecture, for a comparison (in CPU cycles) with common general-purpose instruction latencies (Intel P4). We show that the high-performance instruction set derived, based on the proposed methodology, has the potential for facilitating dramatic improvements in performance (over the software kernel implementation) with substantially increased throughput. Results show that up to 93% of the code is utilized by the instructions derived through the developed toolset resulting with up to 2. 7times cycle time improvement.
Ovarian Changes in the Guinea Pig During Various Reproductive Stages and Steroid Treatments

Follicular growth in the guinea pig ovaries has been studied at various stages of the estrous cycle, pregnancy, and on Day 3 postpartum. (4-7 animals per group). In addition, effects of progesterone (10 mg/day for 16 days beginning Day 2 of the cycle) and testosterone propionate (5 mg on Day 2 followed by 1 mg/day for 48 days) were studied. Ovaries were serially sectioned, and the number and size of vesicular follicles were determined. No statistically significant changes in the ovarian weight or follicular count were observed during the estrous cycle. In contrast, during pregnancy (particularly during the 2nd and 3rd trimester) the ovarian weight doubled but the follicular count declined from 101 ± 9 (SE) ID cyclic animals to 67 ± 5 (p <0.01). Follicles larger than 70O�.s in diameter (considered preovulatory) were consistently found only on Day 15 of the cycle and on Day 66 of pregnancy. Administration of progesterone blocked the development of these preovulatory follicles and ovulation but otherwise failed to decrease the follicular count, growth, or ovarian weight when compared to cyclic animals. In contrast, testosterone propionate decreased both the ovarian weight and the follicular growth, and also suppressed the formation of corpora lutea.
Office Airway Surgery

The emergence and refinement of flexible endoscopes during the second half of the twentieth century has facilitated flexible bronchoscopy's rise as the standard for evaluation of and often intervention in the tracheobronchial tree. Many of these procedures require only topical anesthesia and may be conducted in office settings without sedation. The relocation of procedures previously reserved for the operating room or endoscopy suite confers cost savings, improves provider flexibility, and maintains patient safety while increasing satisfaction and limiting convalescence.
Reverse cholesterol transport is elevated in carboxyl ester lipase-knockout mice

Mechanisms to increase reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) and biliary sterol disposal are currently sought to prevent atherosclerosis. Previous work with HepG2 cells and primary hepatocytes showed that carboxyl ester lipase (CEL), a broad-spectrum lipase secreted by pancreas and liver, plays an important role in hydrolysis of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesteryl esters (CEs) after selective uptake by hepatocytes. The effect of CEL on RCT of HDL cholesterol was assessed by measuring biliary and fecal disposal of radiolabeled HDL-CE in control and Cel(-/-) mice. Radiolabeled CE was increased 3-fold in hepatic bile of Cel(-/-) mice, and the mass of CE in gall bladder bile was elevated. Total radiolabeled transport from plasma to hepatic bile was more rapid in Cel(-/-) mice. Fecal disposal of radiolabel from HDL-CE, as well as total sterol mass, was markedly elevated for Cel(-/-) mice, primarily due to more CE. RCT of macrophage CE was also increased in Cel(-/-) mice, as measured by excretion of radiolabel from injected J774 cells. Increased sterol loss was compensated by increased cholesterol synthesis in Cel(-/-) mice. Together, the data demonstrate significantly increased RCT in the absence of CEL and suggest a novel mechanism by which to manipulate plasma cholesterol flux.
An Examination of the Interface between Context and Theory Applied to the Study of Chinese Organizations

This paper expands recent appeals for more context sensitive organizational research to include organizational theory. It does this by systematically examining the interface between theory and context, characterized herein as contextualizing theory (theories in context) and theorizing about context (theories of context). The results of this analysis challenge recent criticisms of Chinese organizational scholarship for relying too much on Western theory. As an alternative to discontinuing the practice of cross-context theory borrowing, ways of making this borrowing more context sensitive are explored. The use of context effects to explain organizational phenomena, as well as their essential contribution to all forms of cross-context scholarship, is also examined. In addition, specific suggestions are offered for overcoming the obstacles facing scholars engaged in cross-context theorizing, especially scholars in new research contexts interested in using and improving ‘mainstream’ theory.
Prostate cancer and schizophrenia

Abstract Objectives To assess the incidence of prostate cancer in individuals with schizophrenia. Methods A MEDLINE search was performed for all studies of “prostate cancer” or “cancer” and “schizophrenia.” Results Five studies had age-standardized, site-specific cancer data. All five had a lower standardized incidence ratio for prostate cancer, ranging from 0.49 to 0.76. The incidence of cancer at other sites varied among the studies. Possible explanations included ascertainment bias; genetic factors; antipsychotic drug effects, either by being cancer protective or decreasing testosterone, or both; and lifestyle differences, such as prolonged hospitalization resulting in a decreased opportunity for heterosexual intercourse. Conclusions The results of this study have revealed that the incidence of prostate cancer in individuals with schizophrenia is significantly lower than expected.
Bundled-Rate Legislation for Medicare Reimbursement for Dialysis Services: Implications for Anemia Management with ESAs

With the incidence of ESRD on the rise, there is a continuing need to control anemia-related treatment costs in dialysis patients receiving reimbursement through Medicare. Currently, erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are billed separately from dialysis services, potentially creating little financial incentive for more efficient use. The Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in July 2008, includes provisions intended to address this concern. Under this act, dialysis services will be reimbursed using a fully bundled, comprehensive payment system that includes all services currently covered in the basic composite rate, as well as certain separately billable items, including ESAs. A base rate of $229.63 per treatment has been assigned, to be individualized using case-mix adjusters. The implications of this new system for anemia management with ESAs continue to be elucidated. With fixed compensation for ESAs, management strategies that maximize efficiencies and, thereby, optimize cost savings will be favored. Select strategies may include switching from intravenous (IV) to subcutaneous routes, lowering Hb targets and ESA doses in hyporesponsive patients, increasing administration of IV iron, increasing use of home dialysis, and optimizing ESA dosing intervals. Once-monthly ESA therapy has potential advantages under this new system as an alternative to more frequently administered ESAs and may help achieve quality metrics in a cost-efficient manner.
Dose-dependent changes in the spectrum of mutations induced by ionizing radiation.

Abstract Schwartz, J.L., Jordan, R., Sun, J., Ma, H. and Hsie, A.W. Dose-Dependent Changes in the Spectrum of Mutations Induced by Ionizing Radiation. We examined the influence of dose on the spectrum of mutations induced at the hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyltransferase (Hprt) locus in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. Independent CHO-K1 cell mutants at the Hprt locus were isolated from cells exposed to 0, 0.5, 1.5, 3.0 and 6.0 Gy 137Cs γ rays, and the genetic changes responsible for the mutations were determined by multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based exon deletion analysis. We observed dose-dependent changes in mutation spectra. At low doses, the principal radiation-induced mutations were point mutations. With increasing dose, multibase deletion mutations became the predominant mutation type such that by 6.0 Gy, there were almost three times more deletion mutations than point mutations. The dose response for induction of point mutations was linear while that for multibase deletions fit ...
Uncertainty quantification in the ab initio rate-coefficient calculation for the CH3CH(OH)CH3+OH→CH3C(OH)CH3+H2O reaction

Abstract Theoretical methods to obtain rate coefficients are essential to fundamental combustion chemistry research, yet the associated uncertainties are largely unexplored in a systematic manner. In this paper we focus on the study of parametric uncertainties for a hydrogen-atom-abstraction reaction, CH 3 CH ( OH ) CH 3 + OH → CH 3 C ( OH ) CH 3 + H 2 O , which bears significant importance in low-temperature alcohol combustion and especially in autoignition models. After identifying the parameters causing significant uncertainty in the rate-coefficient calculations, Bayesian inference is employed to determine the joint probability density function (PDF) thereof using the experimental data of Dunlop and Tully (1993) [6] on isopropanol + OH. The inferred PDFs are compared to the various parameter values obtained from high-level electronic-structure calculations in order to assess the limitations of current methodologies. To gain insight on modeling the kinetic isotope effect (KIE), the reaction of the hydroxyl radical with deuterated isopropanol is also investigated.
Long-term modulation of respiratory network activity following anoxia in vitro.

Neural networks that produce rhythmic behaviors require flexibility to respond to changes in the internal and external state of the animal. It is important to not only understand how a network responds during such perturbations but also how the network recovers. For example, the respiratory network needs to respond to and recover from temporary changes in oxygen level that can occur during sleep, exercise, and respiratory disorders. During a temporary decrease in oxygen level, there is an increase in respiratory frequency followed by a depression that can lead to complete apnea. Here we used a mouse brain stem slice preparation as a model system to examine the recovery of respiratory network activity after brief episodes of anoxia. We found the respiratory network recovers from a single anoxic episode with a transient increase in fictive respiratory frequency. Although repetitive anoxia does not elicit a greater frequency increase, it does elicit a longer lasting frequency increase persisting ≤90 min. Thus there is a centrally mediated long-lasting influence on the respiratory network elicited by decreased oxygen levels. This modulation occurs as a prolonged facilitation of fictive respiratory frequency after brief repetitive but not single anoxic exposure. These data are important to consider in the context of disorders such as sleep apnea in which brief periodic anoxic episodes are experienced.
Effects on Trillium recurvatum, a Michigan Threatened Species, of Applying Glyphosate to Control Vinca minor

ABSTRACT: Clipping of Vinca minor followed by fall treatment with 2% glyphosate, controlled Vinca minor without adversely affecting Trillium recurvatum or other plant species in a second growth, mesic southern forest in southwestern Michigan.
Relationships between the structure and the surface activity of nano-sized alumina in acid catalysis

As shown in another communication to Symposium 5, nano-sized aluminas enriched in pentacoordinated aluminum (Al{sup V}) are obtained through the limited hydrolysis of aluminum alkoxides. Here the surface properties of these aluminas are investigated from the catalytic point of view. The goal is to obtain geometrical information on the Lewis acid sites. {sup 1}H{r_arrow}{sup 27}Al (cross-polarization) high resolution MAS NMR, using chemisorbed NH{sub 3} which acts as a {sup 1}H spin reservoir, allows the direct observation of surface Al involved in the catalytic site. The polarization transfer from these protons to surface Al is remarkably efficient because of the relatively short Al:N-H distance. It is observed that the main Lewis acid sites are located on distorted tetrahedral aluminum and pentacoordinated Al. These results are compared to low temperature infrared data of adsorbed CO.
287 HABITUAL NONDISCLOSING INFECTORS OF HIV AND THEIR RISK TO PUBLIC HEALTH: A DISCUSSION OF HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS' LEGAL RESPONSIBILITIES.

Background In the context of routine medical care, health care providers (HCPs) may uncover that a known and appropriately counseled HIV-infected patient is intentionally exposing sexual contacts to HIV. Some nondisclosing infectors (NDIs) are habitual (HNDIs). In Louisiana, intentional sexual exposure of HIV without disclosing and obtaining consent is a felony. During routine care, we became aware of at least 5 women in our viral diseases clinic who became infected with HIV by two known HNDIs. The infected victims were counseled on existence of the crime committed against them, yet none wished to prosecute. Purpose To determine HCPs9 legal obligations and options in regard to reporting NDIs to law enforcement authorities. Methods The Louisiana criminal code was researched to reveal all laws pertaining to confidential HIV testing and disclosure and requirements for HCP mandatory reporting of potential crimes. The city police and district attorneys9 office were interviewed to clarify the current criminal statutes. Summary Strict laws specifically detail circumstances where HCPs can disclose HIV test results to at-risk contacts (eg, spouses) yet prohibit HCP disclosure to law enforcement agencies except in compliance with a court order. Hence, enforcement of the intentional exposure law requires the victims to inform on their NDI. Louisiana state law mandates HCPs report gun shot wounds (GSW); burns in the setting of suspected arson; physical or sexual abuse or neglect of children, elderly, or disabled; and infections due to agents of bioterrorism to the appropriate agency in order to protect public health. Futhermore, affected patients are exempt from physician-patient privilege and failure of HCPs to report GSW, abuse, or bioterrorism is a misdemeanor crime. Yet when it comes to NDIs, HCPs have no legal recourse. Conclusions The public health can suffer greatly from actions of nondisclosing infectors of HIV (actions that have already been deemed criminal). Although a patient9s right to privacy is a very serious matter, sometimes sacrifice of confidentiality is warranted to protect society. Recommendation A change in our criminal statutes should be considered to release HCPs from physician-patient privilege and mandate report of this felony to law enforcement.
An AIS-Based Site Planning Method to Help Minimize Collision Risk during Marine Autonomous Surface Craft Deployments

AbstractMarine autonomous surface crafts (MASCs), or unmanned surface vehicles as their precursors have traditionally been known, could cost effectively advance spatiotemporal coverage and resolution capabilities for oceanographic sampling in coastal and estuarine settings, if deployed for long durations (from days to weeks). Site planning for such deployments balances scientific goals against operational risk of collision avoidance (CA) maneuvers required by the MASC during encounters with other vessels. A method is developed and demonstrated in this paper, using archived Automatic Identification System (AIS) vessel tracking data, to quantify such potential encounters of a MASC on a repeat-transect survey. The demonstration site is Rhode Island Sound, where average vessel track frequencies are shown to range from about 8 to 0.01 or less per day, from inshore shipping lanes to areas farther offshore, respectively. Encounters per month ranged from 24 to 1 for increasingly offshore locations, based on a MAS...
Hybrid Hardware/Software Floating-Point Implementations for Optimized Area and Throughput Tradeoffs

Hybrid floating-point (FP) implementations improve software FP performance without incurring the area overhead of full hardware FP units. The proposed implementations are synthesized in 65-nm CMOS and integrated into small fixed-point processors with a RISC-like architecture. Unsigned, shift carry, and leading zero detection (USL) support is added to a processor to augment an existing instruction set architecture and increase FP throughput with little area overhead. The hybrid implementations with USL support increase software FP throughput per core by $2.18\times $ for addition/subtraction, $1.29\times $ for multiplication, 3.07– $4.05\times $ for division, and 3.11– $3.81\times $ for square root, and use 90.7–94.6% less area than dedicated fused multiply-add (FMA) hardware. Hybrid implementations with custom FP-specific hardware increase throughput per core over a fixed-point software kernel by 3.69– $7.28\times $ for addition/subtraction, 1.22– $2.03\times $ for multiplication, $14.4\times $ for division, and $31.9\times $ for square root, and use 77.3–97.0% less area than dedicated FMA hardware. The circuit area and throughput are found for 38 multiply-add, 8 addition/subtraction, 6 multiplication, 45 division, and 45 square root designs. Thirty-three multiply-add implementations are presented, which improve throughput per core versus a fixed-point software implementation by 1.11– $15.9\times $ and use 38.2–95.3% less area than dedicated FMA hardware.
How Evolution Shapes Proteins

Just yesterday, I was walking to my car from the lab and I found a stick insect on the sidewalk. I picked him up to return him back to the greenery. As I was coaxing him onto my hand, he suddenly folded up his long, spindly legs and turned into, well, a stick. Evolution is an odd, meandering process, which often produces unexpectedly magical results. There’s much evidence for this in our everyday world: you only need to look around. Here in my California garden, I have found caterpillars shaped exactly like bird droppings. We have katydids that look exactly like leaves. I’ve seen a moth that looks exactly like a bumblebee and a hand-sized moth with such perfect camouflage that it disappears completely when it lands on the trunk of a tree.
Plasticity of floral longevity and floral display in the self-compatible biennial Sabatia angularis (Gentianaceae): untangling the role of multiple components of pollination

Background and aims Plasticity of floral traits in response to pollination can enable plants to maximize opportunities for pollen import and export under poor pollination conditions, while minimizing costs under favourable ones. Both floral longevity and display are key traits influencing pollination. While pollination-induced flower wilting is widely documented, we lack an understanding of the multifactorial complexity of this response, including the influence of other pollination components, costs of extended longevity and subsequent impacts on floral display. Methods Plasticity of floral longevity was experimentally evaluated in Sabatia angularis in response to multiple pollination factors: pollen addition, removal, and source (self, single-donor outcross, multiple-donor outcross) and timing of pollination. Effects of pollen quantity were further evaluated by exploiting variation in autonomous self-pollen deposition. Delayed pollination costs were tested comparing seed set from early versus late pollinations. Finally, I compared floral display metrics (peak floral display, time to peak flower, flowering duration, mean flowering rate) between experimentally pollinated and control plants. Key results Floral longevity was highly plastic in response to pollen addition and its timing, and the response was dose-dependent but insensitive to pollen source. Pollen removal tended to extend floral longevity, but only insofar as it precluded pollination-induced wilting via autonomous self-pollination. Under delayed pollination, the wilting response was faster and no cost was detected. Pollination further led to reduced peak floral displays and condensed flowering periods. Conclusions Floral longevity and display plasticity could optimize fitness in S. angularis, a species prone to pollen limitation and high inbreeding depression. Under pollinator scarcity, extended floral longevities offer greater opportunities for pollen receipt and export at no cost to seed set, reproductive assurance via autonomous self-pollination and larger, more attractive floral displays. Under high pollinator availability, shortened longevities lead to smaller displays that should lower the risk of geitonogamy.
Bibliographical Note: Provenance, The Case of the Yorkshire, England Collection

In cleaning up the last bits of retrospective conversion, catalogers often have the opportunity to correct past omissions and errors. I was asked to recatalog an item referred to as the Yorkshire Scrapbook. The old card simply gave that name and little other information. The collection had been disassembled—items removed from their pages, put into folders bearing the page numbers, and boxed—and was to be moved from the classed collection to the graphic arts collection. I asked the curator if anything was known about the collection, particularly its provenance. For many collections, provenance is of crucial importance. There . . .
Psychophysiology in the Study of Psychological Trauma: Where Are We Now and Where Do We Need to Be?

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a major public health concern, which has been seeing increased recent attention partly due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Historically, research attempting to understand the etiology and treatment of PTSD has made frequent use of psychophysiological measures of arousal as they provide a number of advantages in providing objective, non-self-report outcomes that are closely related to proposed neurobiological mechanisms and provide opportunity for cross-species translation. Further, the ongoing shift in classification of psychiatric illness based on symptom clusters to specific biological, physiological, and behavioral constructs, as outlined in the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Research Domain Criteria project (RDoC), promises that psychophysiological research will continue to play a prominent role in research on trauma-related illnesses. This review focuses on the current state of the knowledge regarding psychophysiological measures and PTSD with a focus on physiological markers associated with current PTSD symptoms, as well as markers of constructs thought to be relevant to PTSD symptomatology (safety signal learning, fear extinction), and psychophysiological markers of risk for developing PTSD following trauma. Future directions and issues for the psychophysiological study of trauma including traumatic brain injury (TBI), treatment outcome studies, and new wearable physiological monitoring technologies are also discussed.
Oxidation of Pyrrole by Dehaloperoxidase-Hemoglobin: Chemoenzymatic Synthesis of Pyrrolin-2-Ones.

The use of oxidoreductases as biocatalysts in the syntheses of functionalized, monomeric pyrroles has been a challenge owing to, among a number of factors, undesired polypyrrole formation. Here, we have investigated the ability of dehaloperoxidase (DHP), the coelomic hemoglobin from the terebellid polychaete Amphitrite ornata, to catalyze the H2O2-dependent oxidation of pyrroles as a new class of substrate for this enzyme. Substrate oxidation was observed for all compounds employed (pyrrole, N-methylpyrrole, 2-methylpyrrole, 3-methylpyrrole and 2,5-dimethylpyrrole) under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Using pyrrole as a representative substrate, only a single oxidation product, 4-pyrrolin-2-one, was observed, and notably without formation of polypyrrole. Reactivity could be initiated from all three biologically relevant oxidation states for this catalytic globin: ferric, ferrous and oxyferrous. Isotope labeling studies determined that the O-atom incorporated into the 4-pyrrolin-2-one product was derived exclusively from H2O2, indicative of a peroxygenase mechanism. Consistent with this observation, single- and double-mixing stopped-flow UV-visible spectroscopic studies supported compound I, but not compounds ES or II, as the catalytically-relevant ferryl intermediate involved in pyrrole oxidation. Electrophilic addition of the ferryl oxygen to pyrrole is proposed as the mechanism of O-atom transfer. The results demonstrate the breadth of chemical reactivity afforded by dehaloperoxidase, and provide further evidence for establishing DHP as a multifunctional globin with practical applications as a biocatalyst.
Newton’s Influence on the Development of Psychology

Although the eminence of Newton in mathematics, astronomy, and physics is universally known, his powerful and misleading influence upon psychology is not generally appreciated. In accordance with the spiritistic philosophy current in his time, and on the basis of his prismatic color experiments, he constructed a model of perception which has dominated psychological thinking for centuries in complete variance from fact and naturalistic theory.
Representing Operational Flexibility in Generation Expansion Planning Through Convex Relaxation of Unit Commitment

Large shares of renewable generation in electric power systems increase the need for operational flexibility. Consideration of operational flexibility in generation expansion planning (GEP) necessitates the modeling of unit commitment (UC) in system operations. However, the UC problem itself is computationally challenging. We present a GEP model in which the embedded operational problem is a convex relaxation of the UC problem. Through a large-scale example based on the Texas system, we show the tightness and tractability of our relaxation, as well as the impact of operational flexibility on GEP.
Between Meir Dworzecki and Yehiel Dinur: amidah in the writing of Ka-Tzetnik 135633

The term amidah or Jewish resistance during the Holocaust has been controversial since its inception. Should it be limited to armed or at least active and collective operations, or should i...
Light scattering characterization of viscoelastic modulations in biopolymer hydrogels

We demonstrate the use of spatiotemporal coherence-gated light scattering for the continuous measurement of the time-evolving mechanical properties of biopolymer hydrogels undergoing viscoelastic modulations. Changes in both the optical and mechanical characteristics of the medium can be monitored using the same instrument and measurement procedure.
On the social value of accounting objectivity in financial stability

ABSTRACT In this paper, we analyze the social value of accounting objectivity in maintaining financial stability. Building on an early influential accounting study by Ijiri and Jaedicke (1966), we ...
Digital Fresnel reflection holography for high-resolution 3D near-wall flow measurement

We propose a novel backscatter holographic imaging system, as a compact and effective tool for 3D near-wall flow diagnostics at high resolutions, utilizing light reflected at the solid-liquid interface as a reference beam. The technique is fully calibrated, and is demonstrated in a densely seeded channel to achieve a spatial resolution of near-wall flows equivalent to or exceeding prior digital inline holographic measurements using local tracer seeding technique. Additionally, we examined the effects of seeding concentration and laser coherence on the measurement resolution and sample volume resolved, demonstrating the potential to manipulate sample domain by tuning the laser coherence profile.
Iterative Self-assembly with Dynamic Strength Transformation and Temperature Control

We propose an iterative approach to constructing regular shapes by self-assembly. Unlike previous approaches, which construct a shape in one go, our approach constructs a final shape by alternating the steps of assembling and disassembling, increasing the size of the shape iteratively. This approach is embedded into an extended hexagonal tile assembly system, with dynamic strength transformation and temperature control. We present the construction of equilateral triangles as an example and prove the uniqueness of the final shape. The tile complexity of this approach is O1.
Use of sonication for viral isolation

A viral passage method using sonication to obtain cell-free virus was compared with the conventional viral cell culture passage technic. The recovery of 121 varicella zoster virus and cytomegalovirus isolates in human fibroblast vials from sonicated versus nonsonicated passage suspensions was studied. These fibroblast vials with cytopathic effect were identified using monoclonal fluorescent antisera. Twenty-eight (29%) of cytomegalovirus isolates were recovered only from sonicated passages, and an additional 28 isolates had faster recovery and/or a greater number of viral plaques from sonicated passages. Sonication did not increase significantly the varicella zoster virus recovery rate.
Wireless internet > wireless + internet

The technical and business communities view a "wireless Internet" as an inevitable sequel to the spectacular growth of cellular communications and the World Wide Web in the 1990s. The prevailing wisdom is that without the nuisance of wired connections to consumer equipment, Internet access will be more convenient and enjoyable. While this is true, it is only part of the picture because it fails to acknowledge the fact that information services shaped by the needs and characteristics of people on the move and the nature of the information they send and receive will be qualitatively different from services delivered to people in fixed locations. In the long run, a wireless Internet will offer far more than the negative benefit of an Internet with some of its wires removed. However, to realize the full potential of a wireless Internet, it will be necessary to transcend the technical assumptions that nurtured cellular communications and the Web.This chapter examines current industry trends in uniting wireless communications and the Internet. It describes the advances these trends will produce and the bottlenecks they do not address. It then surveys current research initiatives that go beyond the centralized topology of wireless systems and the client/server model of Internet information delivery.
Why Does Investor Protection Matter for the Cost of Equity

Investor protection matters for the cost of equity because it affects the redistribution of wealth from investors to other agents in the economy. This wealth redistribution shifts systematic risk to investors, which can not be eliminated by portfolio diversification or risk sharing through trade. Other country specific factors that affect output can be shared by international trade, which provides justification for the emphasis of the literature on investor protection in explaining cross-country differences in the cost of equity. The theory predicts that the effect of redistribution on the cost of equity is stronger in countries with larger GDP and higher GDP growth volatility. The empirical evidence shows that the effect of redistribution on the cost of equity is economically significant even across developed countries that are relatively well integrated to world markets. In addition, redistribution theory connects several seemingly unrelated international finance puzzles.
Integrating Partial Least Squares Correlation and Correspondence Analysis for Nominal Data

We present an extension of pls—called partial least squares correspondence analysis (plsca)—tailored for the analysis of nominal data. As the name indicates, plsca combines features of pls (analyzing the information common to two tables) and correspondence analysis (ca, analyzing nominal data). We also present inferential techniques for plsca such as bootstrap, permutation, and \({\chi }^{2}\) omnibus tests. We illustrate plsca with two nominal data tables that store (respectively) behavioral and genetics information.
Students’ perspectives on different teaching methods: comparing innovative and traditional courses in a technology program

Background: A growing number of educators have started exploring student-centered approaches to improve students’ learning and satisfaction with courses and programs. While prior research shows a p...
Uncovering Power Transmission Dynamic Model from Incomplete PMU Observations

Proliferation of Phasor Measurement Units (PMUs) that allow for a synchronous and distributed collection of data can be leveraged to obtain reliable information about the power system model. In practice, one has to account for the system being partially observed as not every bus hosts a PMU. We consider the problem of partial recovery of the underlying dynamic state matrix of transmission power grids from time-stamped PMU measurements on a subset of nodes in a network. We propose a data-driven method which does not assume any knowledge of system parameters and only relies on basic assumptions about the system dynamics. The method is based on a least-squares regression with a nuclear norm regularization that accounts for the effect of hidden observations, supplemented with structural physics-informed constraints that enforce the identifiability. Performance of the method is demonstrated on an IEEE test case example.
Homeless Education and Social Capital: An Examination of School and Community Leaders.

Background/ContextThis study contributes to the literature on the schooling of homeless and highly mobile students. Although previous work has detailed the demographics of homelessness, the effects...