cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Association of Myocardial Blood Flow Reserve With Adverse Left Ventricular Remodeling in Patients With Aortic Stenosis: The Microvascular Disease in Aortic Stenosis (MIDAS) Study.

Importance Impaired myocardial flow reserve (MFR) and stress myocardial blood flow (MBF) on positron emission tomography (PET) myocardial perfusion imaging may identify adverse myocardial characteristics, including myocardial stress and injury in aortic stenosis (AS). Objective To investigate whether MFR and stress MBF are associated with LV structure and function derangements, and whether these parameters improve after aortic valve replacement (AVR). Design, setting, and participants In this single-center prospective observational study in Boston, Massachusetts, from 2018 to 2020, patients with predominantly moderate to severe AS underwent ammonia N13 PET myocardial perfusion imaging for myocardial blood flow (MBF) quantification, resting transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) for assessment of myocardial structure and function, and measurement of circulating biomarkers for myocardial injury and wall stress. Evaluation of health status and functional capacity was also performed. A subset of patients underwent repeated assessment 6 months after AVR. A control group included patients without AS matched for age, sex, and summed stress score who underwent symptom-prompted ammonia N13 PET and TTE within 90 days. Exposures MBF and MFR quantified on ammonia N13 PET myocardial perfusion imaging. Main outcomes and measures LV structure and function parameters, including echocardiographic global longitudinal strain (GLS), circulating high-sensitivity troponin T (hs-cTnT), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP), health status, and functional capacity. Results There were 34 patients with AS (1 mild, 9 moderate, and 24 severe) and 34 matched control individuals. MFR was independently associated with GLS and LV ejection fraction, (β,-0.31; P = .03; β, 0.41; P = .002, respectively). Stress MBF was associated with hs-cTnT (unadjusted β, -0.48; P = .005) and log NT-pro BNP (unadjusted β, -0.37; P = .045). The combination of low stress MBF and high hs-cTnT was associated with higher interventricular septal thickness in diastole, relative wall thickness, and worse GLS compared with high stress MBF and low hs-cTnT (12.4 mm vs 10.0 mm; P = .008; 0.62 vs 0.46; P = .02; and -13.47 vs -17.11; P = .006, respectively). In 9 patients studied 6 months after AVR, mean (SD) MFR improved from 1.73 (0.57) to 2.11 (0.50) (P = .008). Conclusions and relevance In this study, in AS, MFR and stress MBF were associated with adverse myocardial characteristics, including markers of myocardial injury and wall stress, suggesting that MFR may be an early sensitive marker for myocardial decompensation.
A Free/Libre Open-Source (FLOSS) Suite of Interactive Tools for Physiology Data Analysis

We live in an era of Big Data analytics in biomedical research. While there have been great advances in monitoring devices and analysis algorithms, there is no prescribed work-flow for analyzing biological data obtained from imaging or physiology experiments. Most laboratories use their own unique process for analyzing data and this often involves a mix of proprietary and Free/Libre Open-Source software (FLOSS). Many FLOSS tools are available, however, none comprehensively addresses the needs of current data-intensive biomedical research—specifically the need for free access and reproducibility. We have developed a FLOSS interactive analysis tool-set based on IPython/Python and specifically tailored to a physiology laboratory's work-flow. IPython provides an interactive work-flow that is easy to learn, use, and modify—thus facilitating training of new users in a laboratory and resulting in more rapid data analysis. Our IPython modules incorporate signal analysis tools used for time-series data (including ...
Bottomonium production at s NN = 200 GeV and s NN = 5.5 TeV

Properties of bottomonia ($\ensuremath{\Upsilon},{\ensuremath{\chi}}_{b}$, and ${\ensuremath{\Upsilon}}^{'}$) in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) are investigated by assessing inelastic reaction rates and their interplay with open-bottom states ($b$ quarks or $B$ mesons) and color screening. The latter leads to vanishing quarkonium-binding energies at sufficiently high temperatures (close to the dissolution point), which, in particular, renders standard gluo-dissociation, $g+\ensuremath{\Upsilon}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}b+\overline{b}$, inefficient because of a substantial reduction in final-state phase space. This problem is overcome by invoking a ``quasifree'' destruction mechanism, $g,q,\overline{q}+\ensuremath{\Upsilon}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}g,q,\overline{q}+b+\overline{b}$, as previously introduced for charmonia. The pertinent reaction rates are implemented into a kinetic theory framework to evaluate the time evolution of bottomonia in heavy-ion reactions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the CERN Large Hadron Collider within an expanding fireball model. Although bottom quarks are assumed to be exclusively produced in primordial nucleon-nucleon collisions, their thermal relaxation times in the QGP, which importantly figure into $\ensuremath{\Upsilon}$-formation rates, are estimated according to a recent Fokker-Planck treatment. Predictions for the centrality dependence of $\ensuremath{\Upsilon}$ production are given for upcoming experiments at RHIC and LHC. At both energies, $\ensuremath{\Upsilon}$ suppression turns out to be the prevalent effect.
Advanced Technology Program Company Business Reporting System: Data Overview

The data set compiles baseline information of companies that have received funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Advanced Technology Program (ATP) and about the projects that this funding helped promote. Download the slides at: http://papers.ssrn.com/paper=1028779 Download the audio file at: http://papers.ssrn.com/paper=1030002
The Shadow Bankruptcy System

This article exposes and explores a puzzle at the heart of the current economic crisis: The surprising under-use, and increasing misuse, of Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, the principal legal system for salvaging troubled businesses. The answer offered here: The rise of the shadow bankruptcy system. "Shadow bankruptcy" describes the severely under-regulated non-bank financial institutions (e.g., hedge funds, private equity funds and investment banks) that increasingly dominate and manipulate Chapter 11 reorganizations. Like the "shadow banking" system for which it is named, shadow bankruptcy thrives on and promotes opacity and undisclosed, possibly perverse, incentives. Shadow bankruptcy players exploit regulatory gaps to conceal their identities and motives, and so increase the uncertainty, complexity - and thus the cost - of negotiations to restructure distressed firms; they burden judicial resources through internecine fights of little benefit to reorganizing debtors; they have complex, multi-faceted hedging strategies that may effectively short-sell the debtor's reorganization effort, resulting in depressed asset values and the premature liquidation of otherwise viable firms. Shadow bankruptcy threatens Congress' basic aspiration in creating Chapter 11: preserving going concerns and jobs through negotiated reorganizations. Shadow bankruptcy thus promises to do for corporate reorganization what shadow banking did for the global financial system: privatize gains and socialize losses. This article explores the contours and costs of the shadow bankruptcy system. It also suggests some cures.
Integrated CORBA scheduling and resource management for distributed real-time embedded systems

Integration of middleware scheduling and resource management services enables open distributed real-time embedded (DRE) applications to meet end-to-end quality of service (QoS) requirements in highly variable operating environments. This paper describes our research on integrating CORBA scheduling and resource management services, and presents experiments we conducted to validate and quantify the benefits of this integration. Our experimental results show that integrating distributed scheduling and resource management in middleware for open DRE systems can offer significant improvements in predictability. Specifically, integrating our stand-alone resource management service with a previously unmanaged experimental baseline application reduced the ratio of missed deadlines from 26% to 10%, and the same application performed even better under the control of integrated scheduling and resource management services, with a missed deadline ratio of only 1%.
Constraints or Cover? International Institutions and Trade with Sanctioned States

How do international institutions affect trade with sanctioned states? Despite the central role played by international institutions in theories of sanctions success, little is actually known about the direct effects they have on state behavior. This paper explores the effects that institutional membership and institutional sanctions have on states’ proclivity to sanctions-bust. We test the literature’s assumption that international institutions’ sanctions are capable of preventing their members from undercutting sanctioning efforts by trading heavily with the sanctions’ target. We test this hypothesis and others via an analysis of the trade conducted with the targets of 164 sanctions episodes from 1950-2004 and the role played by five different international institutions. Surprisingly, we find only weak evidence that institutional sanctions actually reduce their members’ likelihoods of sanctions-busting and no evidence that U.N. sanctions do. We also find that members of the European Union avidly sanctions-bust - even when the institution participates in sanctioning efforts. These findings indicate that international institutions play a far more complicated role in affecting sanctions outcomes than previously assumed and have salient policy implications.
Threshold Selection in Transform Shrinkage

The transform shrinkage paradigm is reviewed, of which wavelet denoising is a key example, with a focus on the blockwise approach to processing of transform coeffients. Thresholding approaches are surveyed, with special emphasis is placed on an empirical Bayes approach, which promises to adapt well to the demands of both ’dense’ and ’sparse’ signals. Since the author has no significant experience with problems in astronomy, discussion and examples (denoising of signals, images and decon volution) are alas generic.
Adipose tissue in migratory birds

The sections in this article are: 1 Magnitude of Migratory Obesity 2 Body Distribution and Composition of Adipose Tissue in Migratory Birds 3 Homeostasis of Non-Fat Body Components During Migration 4 Fatty Acid Composition of Migratory Fat 5 Bioenergetics 6 Comparison of Obesity in Man and Migrating Birds 7 Summary
Liquid/air interfacial structure of alcohol-octyl hydroxamic acid mixtures: a study by sum-frequency spectroscopy.

Abstract The molecular structure of the liquid/air interfaces of 1-octanol, 1-decanol, n-decane and the branched decyl alcohol EXXAL 10 has been studied by sum-frequency spectroscopy (SFS) in the CH stretching vibrational region. The data suggest that the interfaces consist of ordered molecules with closely packed alkyl tails, in close to all-trans conformation with some gauche defects. The degree of surface ordering for the branched alcohol is much higher than for octanol and decanol. When octyl hydroxamic acid (OHA) is dissolved in 1-octanol it increases the gauche conformational defects in the interfacial chains, possibly due to mixing with the surface alcohol molecules and disrupting their ordering. In contrast, we suggest that when octyl hydroxamic acid is dissolved in EXXAL 10, the surface ordering of the alcohol chains does not change. We put forward the hypothesis that the appearance of new bands, belonging to the asymmetric methylene group vibrations and to the asymmetric methyl modes in the SF spectra of the mixture suggests that the surface OHA molecules are arranged with their hydrocarbon tails tilted very close to the interface.
Surface modification of silicon and silica in biological environment : an X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study

Abstract The Earth’s crust is primarily made of various silicate materials upon which we successfully dwell everyday. Numerous biomedical studies, however, have documented the toxicity of some of these materials when interacted with biological cells. It has become apparent that the surface chemistry of these silicates plays a key role in the cell pathogenesis, thus enhancing the value of the use of electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA) or X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) as a key method for analysis. Recent studies suggest that many common silicates, including silica itself, may not be innocuous to cell pathogenecity, thus suggesting their inclusion in these XPS studies. This paper presents a detailed study of the surface chemical modification of silicon and silica when interacting with Ehrlich cells. XPS studies at selected stages of cell treatment reveal cell-induced alteration in the carbon, silicon, and oxygen of these silicon-based materials as well as changes in the carbon, iron, and nitrogen of the cell chemistry. Supporting results from the atomic absorption spectroscopy show similar changes.
Use of the Straessler–Kittel theory of phase transitions: thermodynamic properties and application to the Verwey transition

Abstract Thermodynamic quantities derived from the Straessler–Kittel theory of phase transitions are derived and evaluated. The applicability of these results to the Verwey transition of magnetite is briefly discussed.
The effect of suspended particles on Rayleigh-Bénard convection I. A nonlinear stability analysis of a thermal equilibrium model

The weakly nonlinear stability of the pure conduction solution for an appropriate aerosol one-layer Rayleigh-Benard model of a Boussinesq particle-gas system in thermal equilibrium which retains both the particle and collision pressures is investigated. The main result of this analysis is in qualitative accord with the dominant but heretofore anomalous characteristic of columnar instabilities observed in smoke-air mixtures: namely, that lowering the threshold temperature gradient associated with the occurrence of the supercritically equilibrated rolls predicted for a clean gas leads to reduction increasing with decreasing layer depth which becomes quite severe in the case of very thin layers.
Tuning nanoscale grain size distribution in multilayered Al–Mn alloys

Al–Mnx/Al–Mny multilayers with a wide range of structures ranging from microcrystalline to nanocrystalline and amorphous were electrodeposited using a single-bath method under galvanostatic control from room temperature ionic liquid. By varying the Mn composition by ∼1–3 at.% between layers, the grain sizes in one material can be systematically modulated between two values. Control over both the layer structure and the structure within individual layers together offers unique opportunities to optimize multiple properties simultaneously.
Mood Meter: large-scale and long-term smile monitoring system

Have you ever wondered whether it's possible to quantitatively measure how friendly or welcoming a community is? Or imagined which parts of the community are happier than others? In this work, we introduce a new technology that begins to address these questions.
Longitudinal monitoring of WBC subsets in packed RBC units after filtration: implications for transfusion transmission of infections.

BACKGROUND: Specific subsets of peripheral blood WBCs are reservoirs for infectious agents, such as CMV and EBV, and can serve as vectors for transfusion transmission of these agents. While filter WBC reduction has been used to prevent transfusion transmission of infections, its effectiveness has not been documented for many infectious agents and in some instances may be difficult to demonstrate in clinical trials. Because the effectiveness of filtration depends on the number of infected WBCs remaining at transfusion, WBC subpopulations in packed RBC units were quantitated after filtration and storage. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Packed RBC units (n = 14) were filtered and stored at 4oC for 42 days or were stored without filtration. Serial samples were subjected to flow cytometric immunophenotyping of WBC subsets: neutrophils, monocytes, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells, B cells, and NK cells. RESULTS: Filtration produced a mean reduction in total WBCs of 3.2 log. Monocytes, lymphocytes, and neutrophils were reduced by 4.1, 3.8, and 2.5 log, respectively. Lymphocyte subsets also demonstrated differential reduction with filtration. All WBC subsets showed ongoing loss during storage. CONCLUSIONS: Monocyte and lymphocyte subsets are removed most effectively by prestorage filtration. Postfiltration storage leads to further significant reductions in WBC subsets. The implications of these findings for the mitigation of transfusion transmission of infection are discussed.
Augmenting aerial earth maps with dynamic information from videos

We introduce methods for augmenting aerial visualizations of Earth (from tools such as Google Earth or Microsoft Virtual Earth) with dynamic information obtained from videos. Our goal is to make Augmented Earth Maps that visualize plausible live views of dynamic scenes in a city. We propose different approaches to analyze videos of pedestrians and cars in real situations, under differing conditions to extract dynamic information. Then, we augment an Aerial Earth Maps (AEMs) with the extracted live and dynamic content. We also analyze natural phenomenon (skies, clouds) and project information from these to the AEMs to add to the visual reality. Our primary contributions are: (1) Analyzing videos with different viewpoints, coverage, and overlaps to extract relevant information about view geometry and movements, with limited user input. (2) Projecting this information appropriately to the viewpoint of the AEMs and modeling the dynamics in the scene from observations to allow inference (in case of missing data) and synthesis. We demonstrate this over a variety of camera configurations and conditions. (3) The modeled information from videos is registered to the AEMs to render appropriate movements and related dynamics. We demonstrate this with traffic flow, people movements, and cloud motions. All of these approaches are brought together as a prototype system for a real-time visualization of a city that is alive and engaging.
An operational assessment of the application of the relative reduction factors in the demonstration of attainment of the 8-hr ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard.

Abstract The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1997 revised the 1-hr ozone (O3) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) to one based on an 8-hr average, resulting in potential nonattainment status for substantial portions of the eastern United States. The regulatory process provides for the development of a state implementation plan that includes a demonstration that the projected future O3 concentrations will be at or below the NAAQS based on photochemical modeling and analytical techniques. In this study, four photochemical modeling systems, based on two photochemical models, Community Model for Air Quality and the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with extensions, and two emissions processing models, Sparse Matrix Optimization Kernel for Emissions and Emissions Modeling System, were applied to the eastern United States, with emphasis on the northeastern Ozone Transport Region in terms of their response to oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic carbon-focused controls on the estimated design ...
PDE-based analysis and control of the oxygen storage level in three-way catalytic converters

We develop a model that retains the distributed nature of three-way catalytic converters based on PDE formulation. Based on this model we show that when a square wave air-to-fuel ratio is applied at the inlet of the catalyst, the time-average of the oxygen storage level acquires an equilibrium profile which is asymptotically stable. To suppress various disturbances at the inlet of the catalyst, we design an output feedback control law based on the linearized system around the acquired equilibrium, using the ideal concentration measurements.
Laparoscopic lumbar discectomy: case report.

ABSTRACT Laparoscoic lumbar discectomy is an extension of two accepted technologies, laparoscopy and percutaneous discectomy. A young male with an L5-S1 disc herniation had the anterior aspect of the lumbosacral disc exposed laparoscopically. The disc space was entered with a trephine under fluoroscopic and video control. The discectomy was carried out with curettes and rongeurs. Evoked potentials monitored continuously, reverted to normal with decompression of the S1 nerve root. This was accomplished in an outpatient setting with minimal use of oral narcotics.
Psychiatric medication-seeking beliefs and behaviors among college students.

Background: Misuse of prescription psychiatric medications is increasing on college campuses. Sources of medications include friends or family, obtaining prescriptions fraudulently or from multiple physicians, and buying drugs online. Objective: This study assessed psychosocial correlates of medication-seeking behaviors in college students to identify characteristics of potential prescription drug misusers. Methods: The sample included 383 participants (59.2% female) recruited from various campus locations and online classes of a Division I university in the southeastern region of the United States, with an enrollment of approximately 50,000 students. Participants anonymously completed self-report questionnaires. Results: Misusers of prescription psychiatric medication were more likely to have health insurance and to know someone else who had misused that medication. They were more likely to endorse positive attitudes regarding medication-seeking. There was a significant correlation between positive medic...
Visible spectroscopy of aerosol particles collected on filters: iron-oxide minerals

Abstract Diffuse reflectance spectrometry was used to investigate the reflectance characteristics of aerosol particles captured on bulk filters from Bermuda, Barbados, and Izana. First derivatives of the spectra were examined for signals from two iron-oxide minerals, hematite and goethite, at 555 and 435 nm, respectively, and the spectra and peaks were evaluated relative to the iron concentrations on the filters. The percent reflectance in the yellow, orange, and especially red bands increased with increasing iron concentrations while the normalized reflectances in the violet, blue, and green bands decreased. Pronounced peaks in the first derivative values of the reflectance spectra indicate the presence of hematite and goethite in the brown samples whereas the gray samples lack significant peaks for hematite and goethite. The first derivative values at these characteristic wavelengths were strongly related to the iron concentrations in the samples, implicating iron-oxide minerals as important influences on the aerosols’ reflectance spectra. These results indicate that diffuse reflectance spectroscopy has the potential of providing a rapid non-destructive method for identifying two iron-oxide minerals at concentrations typical of those on atmospheric filters.
A class of semiparametric transormation frailty models with application to estimating treatment effects and heterogenity in aids clinical traials

Muitivariate failure time data are common in medical research; com¬monly used statistical models for such correlated failure-time data include frailty and marginal models. Both types of models most often assume pro¬portional hazards (Cox, 1972); but the Cox model may not fit the data well This article presents a class of linear transformation frailty models that in¬cludes, as a special case, the proportional hazards model with frailty. We then propose approximate procedures to derive the best linear unbiased es¬timates and predictors of the regression parameters and frailties. We apply the proposed methods to analyze results of a clinical trial of different dose levels of didansine (ddl) among HIV-infected patients who were intolerant of zidovudine (ZDV). These methods yield estimates of treatment effects and of frailties corresponding to patient groups defined by clinical history prior to entry into the trial.
Concanavalin A Alters Synaptic Specificity between Cultured Aplysia Neurons

Factors that regulate synaptic specificity were investigated with Aplysia buccal and bag cell neurons in primary cell culture. In the presence of fetal calf serum electrical synapses are formed between buccal-buccal or bag-bag cell pairs, but not between buccal-bag cell pairs. Instead, buccal neurons make inhibitory chemical synapses on bag cells. However, in the presence of nanomolar concentrations of the lectin concanavalin A this pattern changes, such that more than 75 percent of buccal-bag pairs exhibit electrical synapses and the frequency of occurrence of buccal-bag chemical synapses is reduced. Such changes in synaptic specificity may be important in determining the types of synapses formed during neuronal development and neurite regeneration.
Myogenin mRNA is elevated during rapid, slow, and maintenance phases of stretch-induced hypertrophy in chicken slow-tonic muscle

Biochemical changes that are associated with the growth phase of stretch-induced skeletal muscle hypertrophy are better understood than events that maintain the increased muscle mass. One purpose of this study was to determine whether changes that occur during the period of rapid muscle hypertrophy persist during periods when muscle growth plateaus or the rate of enlargement slows. Serum response factor (SRF), myogenin, MyoD, and actin mRNA expression patterns were examined. SRF protein interactions with serum response element-1 (SRE1) of the chicken skeletal alpha-actin gene were also characterized. Anterior latissimus dorsi (ALD) wet weight (132% and 122%) and total RNA concentration (29% and 19%) increased after 2 and 3 weeks of stretch overload, respectively. Myogenin mRNA per microgram RNA increased after 3 (775%), 6 (1073%), 14 (227%), and 21 days (133%) of stretch overload. At 6 days, myogenin mRNA levels were increased in the distal, middle and proximal regions of the ALD. Serum response factor (SRF) mRNA per microgram total RNA was not increased after 2 or 3 weeks of stretch overload. MyoD and skeletal alpha-actin mRNAs per microgram total RNA were also unchanged after 2 and 3 weeks of stretch. Gel mobility shift assays demonstrated that SRF bound to SRE1 from 14-day-stretched ALD nuclear extracts had an increased mobility compared to control, and this difference in mobility was maintained in nuclear extracts from ALD muscle whose mass was declining. These results indicate that the expression of myogenin mRNA and total RNA remains elevated during either slow or maintenance periods of stretch-induced increases in ALD mass, when SRF mRNA has returned to control levels. Additionally, stretch-induced alterations in SRF binding to SRE1, from the skeletal alpha-actin promoter, occur regardless of the rate of stretch-induced growth.
Faults and Tests in Quantum Circuits

Quantum computing is a recently developed approach to information processing, which is based on quantum mechanics rather than classical physics. Information is represented by quantum bits (qubits) that correspond to microscopic states such as photon polarization. Up to 2n n-bit words can be stored simultaneously in n qubits, implying a type of massive parallelism. Powerful forms of quantum interaction such as interference and entanglement exist which have no counterparts in classical computer science. Some important and hitherto intractable problems such as prime factorization of large numbers can be solved efficiently using quantum methods. In practice, however, quantum computing devices and circuits are extremely difficult to design and build, since they are nanoscale in size and operate at very low energy levels. Consequently, they have many more failure modes than classical (non-quantum) circuits. For example, quantum signal states are inherently unstable and tend to decay rapidly due to interaction with the environment (decoherence). Quantum gate operations are defined by continuous parameters that allow small errors to arise and propagate to other gates. Furthermore, state measurement is probabilistic and the measurement process itself affects the state being measured. This talk will review the history and development of quantum circuits, with emphasis on their failure modes and testing requirements. It will be seen that quantum circuits are highly testable for classical faults. However, they are also subject to various complex, nonclassical failure modes, which are still not well understood. Some methods for error correction and recovery that have been developed specifically for quantum circuits will also be reviewed.
Pavement Marking Retroreflectivity Requirements for Older Drivers

Traffic pavement markings serve to regulate, guide, and channelize traffic and supplement other traffic-control devices. Because of their retroreflective properties pavement markings are critical for guidance at night, when reference objects near the edge of the roadway are difficult to see. Nighttime luminance levels provided by pavement markings that may be adequate for younger drivers may be less than adequate for older drivers. Both subjective evaluations and quantitative measures of inplace roadway markings were made to determine minimum marking retroreflectivity levels required for older drivers. In the field study more than 85 percent of subjects aged 60 years or older rated a marking retroreflectance of 100 mcd/m2/lx as adequate or more than adequate for night conditions. This base value does not include the effects of windshields and headlights that are less than clean or the variability of individual vehicle headlight performance. A comparison between the results for older drivers and the result...
Home-based central nervous system assessment of a multifactor behavioral intervention for chronic sleep-onset insomnia*

The majority of individuals with insomnia treated with single behavioral interventions do not achieve normal sleep. In this study, individuals with chronic sleep-onset insomnia (n=12) were treated with a sequentially administered multifactor behavioral intervention consisting of sleep restriction, modified stimulus control, and relaxation training. They were compared to age- and sex-matched normal sleepers (n=14) prior to and following treatment using home-based polysomnography and power spectral analysis of pre-sleep EEG activity as dependent measures. Individuals with insomnia showed highly significant beneficial changes on EEG measures of insomnia, including a 75% reduction in sleep-onset latency, and did not differ from normal sleepers at posttreatment. Individuals with insomnia exhibited greater pre-sleep CNS arousal than normal sleepers at pretreatment and showed a significant reduction on this measure at posttreatment. Objective improvements in sleep were accompanied by significant improvements in self-report measures of sleep and mood. We conclude that a multifactor behavioral intervention consisting of sleep restriction, modified stimulus control, and relaxation response training is highly effective in moving individuals with chronic sleep-onset insomnia into the range of normal sleepers and may achieve its effect, in part, by reducing pre-sleep CNS arousal.
Intraoperative computed tomography for deep brain stimulation surgery: technique and accuracy assessment

Background The efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) is highly dependent on the accuracy of lead placement. Objective To describe the use of intraoperative computed tomography (iCT) to confirm lead location before surgical closure and to study the accuracy of this technique. Methods Fifteen patients underwent awake microelectrode-guided DBS surgery in a stereotactic frame. A portable iCT scanner (Medtronic O-arm) was positioned around the patient's head throughout the procedure and was used to confirm lead location before fixation of the lead to the skull. Images were computationally fused with preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and lead tip coordinates with respect to the midpoint of the anterior commissure-posterior commissure line were measured. Tip coordinates were compared with those obtained from postoperative MRI. Results iCT was integrated into standard frame-based microelectrode-guided DBS surgery with a minimal increase in surgical time or complexity. Technically adequate 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional images were obtained in all cases. Head positioning and fixation techniques that allow unobstructed imaging are described. Lead tip measurements on iCT fused with preoperative MRI were statistically indistinguishable from those obtained with postoperative MRI. Conclusion iCT can be easily incorporated into standard DBS surgery, replaces the need for C-arm fluoroscopy, and provides accurate intraoperative 3-dimensional confirmation of electrode tip locations relative to preoperative images and surgical plans. iCT fused to preoperative MRI may obviate the need for routine postoperative MRI in DBS surgery. Technical nuances that must be mastered for the efficient use of iCT during DBS implantation are described.
Ultracentrifugation Studies on the 1 lood of Normal and Jaundice-diseased Silk vorms.

SummaryThe blood of normal and of jaundice-diseased silkworms and a highly infectious purified material isolated by Glaser and Stanley from the blood of diseased worms were studied in the ultracentrifuge. No difference between the bloods of healthy and diseased worms was observed by this method. Both contained a homogeneous component with a corrected sedimentation constant of 16 or 17 S and a very inhomogeneous, more slowly sedimenting component. The only component present in an optically detectable amount in the highly infectious purified material was found to have a corrected sedimentation constant of about 17 S.
Optical and VLF radio observations of sprites over a frontal storm viewed from O’Brien Observatory of the University of Minnesota

Abstract Video images, and photometric and VLF data, were obtained by the University of Minnesota SKYFLASH system of 38 ‘sprite’ events associated with a strong frontal system located in the upper midwest, U.S.A., on 20–21 June 1996. Besides two image-intensified TV cameras, the SKYFLASH system included telescopic photometers sensitive to Rayleigh scattered lightning flashes by viewing the zenith over the station (O’Brien Observatory, University of Minnesota, about 40 km NE of Minneapolis-St Paul) and also several VLF channels with 300 Hz to 10 kHz bandwidth for recording the electromagnetic ‘sferics’. The sprites covered a wide range of sizes, from small kilometer-size filaments to huge luminous objects 50–60 km in lateral dimension. All the sprites appeared to consist of bundles of filaments, and always followed—within several ms—a ‘trigger’ could-ground discharge which, in 35 of the 38 events, was positive. It is difficult to find physical mechanisms that explain this positive stroke preference. The larger events reached from 80 km almost to cloud tops, but the small events were localized near 60 km altitude, which is the ‘bright’ region of sprite luminosity, a fact also not well explained theoretically. The filamentary structure of sprites also presents challenges to explain. Of about a dozen lightning storms observed with SKYFLASH in the period from 1993 to 1996 in the upper midwest, only two had an appreciable number of sprites.
Structure and Stability of Apolipoprotein A-I in Solution and in Discoidal High Density Lipoprotein Probed by Double Charge Ablation and Deletion Mutation

To identify residues and segments in the central region of apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) that are important for the protein structure and stability, we studied the effects of four double charge ablat...
A high-resolution laser Doppler anemometer : design, qualification, and uncertainty

A new high-resolution laser Doppler anemometer (LDA) has been developed with a working distance of 350 mm, allowing operation in lab-scale wind tunnels. The measurement volume size is 35 μm in diameter by 60 μm in length, allowing resolution of the smallest turbulence scales even at fairly high Reynolds numbers. The controversial question of velocity and validation bias in LDA data is resolved with an experimental method for measuring and removing those effects. Uncertainty estimates are also derived for all the mean and Reynolds stress measurements.
GASS: a data movement and access service for wide area computing systems

In wide area computing, programs frequently execute at sites that are distant from their data. Data access mechanisms are required that place limited functionality demands on an application or host system yet permit high-performance implementations. To address these requirements, we propose a data movement and access service called Global Access to Secondary Storage (GASS). This service defines a global name space via Uniform Resource Locators and allows applications to access remote files via standard I/O interfaces. High performance is achieved by incorporating default data movement strategies that are specialized for I/O patterns common in wide area applications and by providing support for programmer management of data movement. GASS forms part of the Globus toolkit, a set of services for high-performance distributed computing. GASS itself makes use of Globus services for security and communication, and other Globus components use GASS services for executable staging and real-time remote monitoring. Application experiences demonstrate that the library has practical utility.
Multi-faulted dislocation loops in electron bombarded aluminium

Abstract The high voltage electron microscope has been used to introduce and observe multi-faulted dislocation loops in aluminium. A wide variety of different loop configurations, including double and triple-layer defects, was encountered in helium preinjected aluminium and compared with that from quenching investigations by other authors. The observation that faulted dislocation loops formed under a wider range of irradiation temperatures and with a wider variety of configurations in aluminium previously doped with a few ppm helium than they did in uninjected material, suggests that helium can influence the process of fault formation.
Children's sex-related stereotyping of colors

4 studies addressed children's sex-related stereotyping of colors. Study 1 examined preschoolers' awareness of color stereotypes. Children were presented with 6 toy animals, identical except for color, and were asked to identify the sex of each animal and to select a favorite. Both sex identifications and toy preferences were highly consistent with adult color stereotypes. Study 2 demonstrated that clothing color influences preschool, kindergarten, and first-grade children's impressions of other children whose sex is known. Studies 3 and 4 indicated that the effects of stereotyping based on color are modest in comparison to the effects of stereotyping based directly on sex. In addition, color stereotyping did not show the regular age-related increase that is characteristic of sex-role stereotyping.
Determination of transmission and insertion loss for multi-inlet mufflers using impedance matrix and superposition approaches with comparisons

Abstract This paper details how transmission and insertion loss can be defined for the multi-inlet case. Two different procedures are used for calculations and are compared against one another. The first is an impedance matrix method that has been proposed in the past and is especially suitable for deterministic approaches like the boundary element method. The other is a superposition method that does not require assembling or inverting a matrix. Though each method can be extended to the n-inlet situation, the superposition approach is mathematically simpler but requires the source impedance to be known a priori. Transmission and insertion loss can be determined using either method, and results using both are shown to be equivalent. The methods are demonstrated and compared for a two-inlet one-outlet expansion chamber. After which, the superposition method is used to determine the insertion loss for a two-inlet one-outlet generator set muffler experimentally.
Radiation response modification following molecular inhibition of epidermal growth factor receptor signaling.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) has emerged as a central molecular target for modulation in concer therapeutics. The correlation between overexpression of EGFR and clinically aggressive malignant disease renders EGFR a promising therapy target for many epithelial tumors, which represent approximately two thirds of all human cancers. Although the initial impetus for examining EGFR signal interruption as an anticancer strategy involved proliferative growth inhibition, more recent studies now confirm the capacity of EGFR down-regulation to modify apoptosis, invasion capacity, angiogenesis, DNA damage repair, and cellular response to radiation and selected chemotherapy agents. The favorable interaction profile for EGFR blocking agents combined with radiation and/or chemotherapy has stimulated clinical trials in diverse anatomic sites including head and neck, colorectal, pancreas, and lung. Among the most well studied and promising current agents for EGFR signal modulation are C225 and ZD1839. C225 is a chimeric monoclonal antibody to the EGFR (extracellular domain), whereas ZD1839 is a selective inhibitor of the EGFR-tyrosine kinase (cytoplasmic domain). The spectrum of cellular and biological effects that follow molecular blockade of the EGFR is enlarging and reflect the central role of this receptor in regulating epithelial cell behavior. Molecular inhibition of EGFR signaling in combination with radiation represents a highly promising investigational arena. A preview of current translational research efforts and early clinical trials focused primarily on radiation interaction is provided herein.
Price effects of stock market liberalization in Taiwan

Abstract In January, 1991, the Taiwan stock market was partially opened to direct investment by foreign investors. This paper examines the stock price effects of this market liberalization. We use the GARCH methodology to investigate the impact of stock-market liberalization on the distribution of stock returns yielded by the Taiwan Weighted Index over the period, 1988–1994. The results show that Taiwan's stock market liberalization has induced some changes in the returns distribution. More importantly, the volatility of stock returns is lower post-liberalization.
Study of the D(d, d)D, D (d, p)T and D(d, n)3He reactions with polarized deuterons

Abstract The vector analysing power of the D(d, d)D, D(d, p)T and D(d, n) 3 He reactions have been measured at 10 MeV deuteron bombarding energy. The analysig power for elastic scattering is consistent with zero at all angles. The D(d, p)T and D(d, n) 3 He analysing power is consistent, within the errors, with charge symmetry.
Asymptotic Stability of Rarefaction Waves for 2 * 2 Viscous Hyperbolic Conservation Laws

This paper concerns the asymptotic behavior toward rarefaction waves of the solution of a genera) 2 x 2 hyperbolic conservation laws with positive viscosity. We prove that if the initial data is close to a constant state and its values at + a3 lie on the kth rarefaction curve for the corresponding hyperbolic conservation laws, then the solution tends as I + co to the rarefaction wave determined by these states.
Performance strategies of US Olympians in practice and competition

Until recently, no self‐report instruments have examined psychological skills use in both practice and competition. In light of the significant role of practice in sport performance outcomes, a need exists to measure these skills in both domains. This study was designed to investigate differences in performance strategies of US Olympians in both practice and competition. The Test of Performance Strategies was administered to 176 US participants in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Summer Games. Discriminant function analyses demonstrated significant differences between medalists and nonmedalists in both the competition and practice performance strategies. Furthermore, significant gender and age differences were identified for competition strategies only. The 16 subscales of the TOPS, with two exceptions, create an internally stable instrument with moderate predictive ability relative to quality of sport performance, gender, and age in this elite sample of athletes.
Insulin and Insulin-like Growth Factor I Receptors Utilize Different G Protein Signaling Components

We examined the role of heterotrimeric G protein signaling components in insulin and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) action. In HIRcB cells and in 3T3L1 adipocytes, treatment with the Gαi inhibitor (pertussis toxin) or microinjection of the Gβγ inhibitor (glutathioneS-transferase-βARK) inhibited IGF-I and lysophosphatidic acid-stimulated mitogenesis but had no effect on epidermal growth factor (EGF) or insulin action. In basal state, Gαi and Gβ were associated with the IGF-I receptor (IGF-IR), and after ligand stimulation the association of IGF-IR with Gαi increased concomitantly with a decrease in Gβ association. No association of Gαi was found with either the insulin or EGF receptor. Microinjection of anti-β-arrestin-1 antibody specifically inhibited IGF-I mitogenic action but had no effect on EGF or insulin action. β-Arrestin-1 was associated with the receptors for IGF-I, insulin, and EGF in a ligand-dependent manner. We demonstrated that Gαi, βγ subunits, and β-arrestin-1 all play a critical role in IGF-I mitogenic signaling. In contrast, neither metabolic, such as GLUT4 translocation, nor mitogenic signaling by insulin is dependent on these protein components. These results suggest that insulin receptors and IGF-IRs can function as G protein-coupled receptors and engage different G protein partners for downstream signaling.
Flexion Space Configuration in Total Knee Arthroplasty

Abstract Equal resection of the posterior femoral condyles combined with a 90° tibial resection results in a trapezoidal flexion space. Two groups of patients were studied; in one group, the flexion space was allowed to remain trapezoidal, whereas in the other group, the anteroposterior femoral resections were externally rotated to allow rectangularization of the flexion space. In the second group, the range of flexion was increased and the incidence of medial tibial pain and zone I radiolucencies decreased. Other than for knees in a hypervalgus position before surgery, the mean amount of rotation required was 3°±0.2°.
The color-matching functions for λ≥ 540nm: Incompatibility with the blue fundamental

Abstract The question of the blue fundamental contribution to foveal color matches for [λ ≥ 540nm] is examined. It is shown that, with two almost universally accepted assumptions, such a blue fundamental contribution leads to a contradiction with the observed color-matching functions. It is concluded that the blue fundamental does not contribute to foveal color matches for [λ≥ 540nm].
Doping Mesoporous Materials with Multicolor Quantum Dots

Rapid and precise doping of mesoporous silica beads has been achieved with luminescent quantum dots, leading to 1−2 orders of magnitude improvements over the results previously achieved with polystyrene latex beads. A surprising finding is that multivalent hydrophobic interactions provide a strong driving force for efficient partitioning and immobilization of surfactant-coated quantum dots in the silica nanopores. The results indicate that the doping levels are so quantitative and precise that at least 30 ratios are distinguishable with two colors of quantum dots and that over 1000 ratios are possible with only three colors. By integrating mesoporous structures and quantum-confined particles, this work opens new possibilities in developing encoded or “smart” nanocomposite materials for multiplexed bioassay, high-throughput screening, and military security applications.