cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Coding the Meaning of Sounds: Contextual Modulation of Auditory Responses in the Basolateral Amygdala

Female mice emit a low-frequency harmonic (LFH) call in association with distinct behavioral contexts: mating and physical threat or pain. Here we report the results of acoustic, behavioral, and neurophysiological studies of the contextual analysis of these calls in CBA/CaJ mice. We first show that the acoustical features of the LFH call do not differ between contexts. We then show that male mice avoid the LFH call in the presence of a predator cue (cat fur) but are more attracted to the same exemplar of the call in the presence of a mating cue (female urine). The males thus use nonauditory cues to determine the meaning of the LFH call, but these cues do not generalize to noncommunication sounds, such as noise bursts. We then characterized neural correlates of contextual meaning of the LFH call in responses of basolateral amygdala (BLA) neurons from awake, freely moving mice. There were two major findings. First, BLA neurons typically displayed early excitation to all tested behaviorally aversive stimuli. Second, the nonauditory context modulates the BLA population response to the LFH call but not to the noncommunication sound. These results suggest that the meaning of communication calls is reflected in the spike discharge patterns of BLA neurons.
PMH25: A MODEL COMPARING OLANZAPINE AND ZIPRASIDONE IN PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

OBJECTIVE: To estimate and compare the efficacy, treatment-emergent adverse events, costs and outcomes of olanzapine and ziprasidone for treatment of schizophrenia. METHODS: A decision-analytic model was used to determine outcomes for patients treated over a 1-year period. Model parameters were based on clinical trial data and published medical literature. Data from different trials were compared only when patient populations were similar. Comparative studies were available for weight gain and cardiovascular events. For essential parameters with no relevant study results, assumptions were made that the medications would be similar. RESULTS: Compared to patients treated with ziprasidone, data seem to suggest that olanzapine patients had a higher response rate, a higher incidence of weight gain, and a lower incidence of QTc prolongation. Total medical cost was higher for ziprasidone patients when the medication cost of ziprasidone was assumed to be more than half the price than that of olanzapine. The olanzapine group's costs were more sensitive to changes in drug costs, whereas the ziprasidone group's costs were more sensitive to the response rate of the medication used for those patients not responsive to ziprasidone. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to ziprasidone patients, olanzapine patients may have a higher response rate, a higher incidence of weight gain, and a lower incidence of QTc prolongation, with lower total costs as long as ziprasidone is more than half the price of olanzapine.
Using community and family risk and protective factors for community-based prevention planning

Research has identified risk and protective factors related to adolescent substance use using individual-level data, but it is uncertain whether or not these relationships exist when data are aggregated to a community level. Using data from adolescents in 41 communities, this article found that most community and family risk and protective factors, measured at the community level, predicted student prevalences of tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana use 2 years later, whether using information from the same or different groups of students, although the predictive power was stronger within cohorts. The findings support community-level prevention planning that uses epidemiological information on levels of community and family risk and protective factors to identify areas of elevated risk and low protection to be targeted for community-based preventive interventions. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comm Psychol 35: 535–555, 2007.
Antiproton-Proton Annihilation into Charged Pion and Kaon Pairs from 0.7 to 2.4 GeV/c

A counter-spark-chamber experiment has been performed to measure the annihilation reactions p p π+ π and p p K+ K in the energy region 0.7-2.4 GeV/c. The angular region covered in the experiment was 0.65≤cosθc.m.≤1.0. The data were taken in order to study heavy bosons (mass greater than two nucleons) that might couple to the p p system. Our data have been combined with data from a previous BNL-Caltech experiment to give complete folded angular distributions and total cross sections for these reactions at 12 incident momenta. The folded two-pion annihilation data have been fitted by a simple Breit-Wigner resonance model in order to explore possible resonance behavior. The extreme-angle data have been interpreted in terms of particle exchanges, and through crossing symmetry comparisons are made with backward π p and K p scattering.
Structure and Mechanism of the Rebeccamycin Sugar 4′-O-Methyltransferase RebM

The 2.65-A crystal structure of the rebeccamycin 4′-O-methyltransferase RebM in complex with S-adenosyl-l-homocysteine revealed RebM to adopt a typical S-adenosylmethionine-binding fold of small molecule O-methyltransferases (O-MTases) and display a weak dimerization domain unique to MTases. Using this structure as a basis, the RebM substrate binding model implicated a predominance of nonspecific hydrophobic interactions consistent with the reported ability of RebM to methylate a wide range of indolocarbazole surrogates. This model also illuminated the three putative RebM catalytic residues (His140/141 and Asp166) subsequently found to be highly conserved among sequence-related natural product O-MTases from GC-rich bacteria. Interrogation of these residues via site-directed mutagenesis in RebM demonstrated His140 and Asp166 to be most important for catalysis. This study reveals RebM to be a member of the general acid/base-dependent O-MTases and, as the first crystal structure for a sugar O-MTase, may also present a template toward the future engineering of natural product MTases for combinatorial applications.
Strategy Diversity and Cognitive Assessment

Is the time ripe to develop technologically based versions of cognitive psychological methods and to apply them to problems of educational assessment? In this article, I point to dangers of using one common cognitive psychological method, chronometric analysis, for purposes of educational assessment. I also argue, though, that progress is being made toward developing more accurate diagnostic techniques, and that this progress promises to allow more revealing assessments than are possible with traditional psychometric instruments. Both the problems with chronometric methods and the promise of new approaches are illustrated with examples from recent research.
An Optical Study of Spark Ignition and Flame Kernel Development Near the Lean Limit at Elevated Pressure

Spark ignition of lean and dilute fuel-air mixtures provides emission reductions of NOx . Furthermore, operation at the lean-dilute limit increases engine efficiency through reduced pumping loses and reduced heat transfer. However, ignition near the lean flammability limit becomes more stochastic and exhibits substantially decreased flame propagation rates. In this work, spark ignition and the subsequent flame kernel development and propagation are studied in a constant volume optical combustion vessel. The vessel provides full field orthogonal and line-of-site optical access via sapphire windows. Additionally, an automated process controller with a versatile gas system enables the creation of a wide range of fuel-air mixtures, including lean and dilute mixtures of hydrocarbons, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and other gases. Ambient conditions including in-chamber temperature and pressure levels, along with dilution conditions, can be set independently. Ignition is provided by an automotive spark plug in the chamber. Optical diagnostics including simultaneous CH* chemiluminescence and shadowgraph imaging are utilized to characterize initial kernel growth and flame development under elevated pressure conditions, from atmospheric to 17.3 bar. Chemiluminescence images are quantified to determine flame intensity and kernel radius to understand the success of initial flame kernel development and propagation. Increasing the pressure yields a slower rate of flame kernel development and propagation, with a thickening flame front, which in turn increases the effects of buoyancy and heat loss. Leaning the mixture can yield unsuccessful kernel development due to heat loss to the large electrode which may cause a failed sustaining of combustion. This knowledge on kernel development near the lean limit benefits the engine community by characterizing the importance of ambient conditions including pressure and mixture properties in sustaining flame growth and propagation.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Responses to nutrient pulses of two colonizers requiring different disturbance frequencies.

Using a congeneric pair of colonizing perennial species, we tested the prediction that Plantago major, a species from frequently disturbed habitats, would respond to pulses of nutrient availability with greater increases of growth and shifts in biomass allocation to reproduction than would P. rugelii, a species from less frequently disturbed habitats. The two species were maintained at two nutrient levels, and plants were pulsed once each at five different times during the course of the experiment. Net photosynthesis was measured before plants were harvested at four intervals. It was found that the timing of nutrient pulses affected leaf and root relative growth rates (RGR) of P. major plants differently. At the high nutrient level, nutrient pulses given to P. major plants before the reproductive stage resulted in increased leaf RGR at the expense of root growth, whereas the opposite was observed at the low nutrient level. However, P. rugelii generally exhibited similar change in leaf and root RGR following nutrient pulses. P. major pulsed during the reproductive stage exhibited higher increases of RGR, total biomass, and leaf/root ratio, and different patterns from those plants pulsed before the reproductive staged. In contrast, P. rugelii generally exhibited similar change in these characters. At the final harvest, P. major plants significantly increased allocation to spike biomass in response to nutrient pulses, whereas P. rugelii did so only at specific times. For P. major, there were significant negative correlations between proportional allocation to vegetative (both leaves and roots) and reproductive organs, while for P. rugelii, the negative correlation was found only between proportional allocation to roots and spikes. The differences in response to nutrient availability of the two colonizers are commensurate with the degree and frequency of disturbance of the sites on which they grow in the field.
Entrusting Private Computation and Data to Untrusted Networks

We present sTile, a technique for distributing trust-needing computation onto insecure networks, while providing probabilistic guarantees that malicious agents that compromise parts of the network cannot learn private data. With sTile, we explore the fundamental cost of achieving privacy through data distribution and bound how much less efficient a privacy-preserving system is than a nonprivate one. This paper focuses specifically on NP-complete problems and demonstrates how sTile-based systems can solve important real-world problems, such as protein folding, image recognition, and resource allocation. We present the algorithms involved in sTile and formally prove that sTile-based systems preserve privacy. We develop a reference sTile-based implementation and empirically evaluate it on several physical networks of varying sizes, including the globally distributed PlanetLab testbed. Our analysis demonstrates sTile's scalability and ability to handle varying network delay, as well as verifies that problems requiring privacy-preservation can be solved using sTile orders of magnitude faster than using today's state-of-the-art alternatives.
Relations between microstructure and mechanical properties in secondary hardening steels

Abstract Significant developments in the evolution of secondary hardening steels over the past 75 years are reviewed. It is shown that by the beginning of World War II the key solid state changes responsible for the unusual tempering resistance of secondary hardenning steels were becoming clear. In the two decades following the war transmission electron microscopy provided the high resolution tool needed to study the strengthening mechanisms and apparently intrinsic brittleness of secondary hardening steels. The chemical and microstructural factors known to cause the poor toughness are described and progress made in the last decade to improve the toughness is discussed. In particular, the role of the non-carbide-forming elements is examined. The beneficial and detrimental effects of silicon are described in detail. Finally, the enhancement of toughness that might be achieved from the partial substitution of silicon by aluminum is considered.
Developing a Low-Velocity Collision Model Based on the Nasa Standard Breakup Model

We have conducted a series of low-velocity impact experiments to understand the dispersion properties of fragments newly created by low-velocity impacts possible in space, especially in geostationary Earth orbit. The test results are utilized to establish a mathematical prediction model to be used in debris generation and propagation codes. Since the expected collision velocity between catalogued objects in geostationary Earth orbit shows a peak at a few hundreds meters per second, these impact experiments were conducted at a velocity range lower than 300 m/s. As a typical structure of satellites in geostationary Earth orbit, thin aluminum honeycomb sandwich panels with carbon fiber reinforced plastics face sheets were prepared, while the projectile was a stainless steel ball of 9 mm diameter. The data collected through these impact experiments have been re-analyzed based on the method used in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) standard breakup model 1998 revision. The results indicate that the NASA standard breakup model derived from hypervelocity impacts could be applied to low-velocity collision possible in geostationary Earth orbit with some modifications.
Effects of a carotene-deficient diet on measures of oxidative susceptibility and superoxide dismutase activity in adult women

Abstract The effect of consuming a low carotene diet (≈60 μg carotene/day) on oxidative susceptibility and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in women living in a metabolic research unit was evaluated. The diet had sufficient vitamins A, E, and C. The women ate the diet supplemented with 1500 μg/day β-carotene for 4 days (baseline), then the unsupplemented diet for 68 days (depletion), followed by the diet supplemented with > 15,000 μg/day carotene for 28 days (repletion). Production of hexanal, pentanal, and pentane by copper-oxidased plasma low density lipoproteins from carotene-depleted women was greater than their production of these compounds when repleted with carotene. Erythrocyte SOD activity was depressed in carotene-depleted women; it recovered with repletion. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances in plasma of carotene-depleted women were elevated and diminished with repletion. Dietary carotene seems to be needed, not only as a precursor of vitamin A, but also to inhibit oxidative damage and decrease oxidation susceptibility.
Heat stability of AMP pyrophosphorylase in differentiating intestinal epithelial cells.

Abstract AMP Pyrophosphorylase occurs as a more heat labile variant in tip cells of rat jejunum. Treatment of the animals with actinomycin D resulted in greater heat lability in the enzyme from the cells of the villus tips. Cycloheximide treatment resulted in greater heat stability. The results suggest that two enzyme forms exist - labile and stable and that the labile form is short-lived in vivo .
When bad things happen to good companies: strategy failure and flawed executives

Purpose – To develop a perspective on strategy that builds off of case histories of failure to provide insights on what works and doesn't work in corporate strategies.Design/methodology/approach – Several original case studies are presented, along with a series of analytical points that are suggested from these studies. The case studies are based on both primary (interviews) and secondary data. The paper used these case studies to make several basic points about corporate strategy.Findings – The critical findings relate to how executives misread the competitive landscape, fall into the trap of believing in their own strategy in the absence of confirming evidence, and sometimes engage in desperate decisions to try to remedy fundamental problems that cannot be so easily resolved.Research limitations/implications – The data in the paper are all based on subjective assessments of the competitive and business arenas firm were engaged in, and hence may subject to a variety of biases.Practical implications – The...
Migrant Status and Church Attendance

Analysis of the responses of a combined sample of 3,083 residents of a large mnetropolis was made to investigate the relationship between migrant status and church attendance. Church attendance rates for various types of migrants (urban and rural) were compared to each other and to those of the natives controlling for age, length of residence, region of origin, religion, sex, and socioeconomic status. A consistent pattern of migrants differentials was found among migrants of recent residence. Such findings were interpreted as being related to the importance of the urban church as an integratinig mechanism so that the groups best equipped and nmost in need of such a mechanism will show the highest rates of attendance.
On the Appearance of the Fractional Derivative in the Behavior of Real Materials

On propose des relations constitutives generalisees pour les materiaux viscoelastiques dans lesquelles les derivees d'ordre entier par rapport au temps sont remplacees par des derivees d'ordre fractionnaire. De tels modeles decrivent bien le comportement des materiaux reels
Characterization and localization of D1 dopamine receptors in the sexually dimorphic vocal control nucleus, area X, and the basal ganglia of european starlings

D1 dopamine receptors were pharmacologically characterized and localized by quantitative autoradiography in the basal ganglia of male and female European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). The D1 selective antagonist SCH 23390 was used to label this receptor subtype. Starlings are songbirds and possess a neural circuit implicated in the learning and production of song. This circuit includes a sexually dimorphic nucleus, area X, that is a subregion of the parolfactory lobe of the basal ganglia and is known from work on zebra finches to receive dopaminergic input from the area ventralis of Tsai. We focused our investigation on the D1-like receptor subtype because they are abundant in the basal ganglia. Competition studies indicate that a variety of dopaminergic ligands compete with [3H] SCH 23390 for the binding site in an order of potency characteristic of a D1-like receptor. Autoradiographic studies of the basal ganglia revealed high D1 receptor densities in the avian homologues of the caudate-putamen and relatively low-receptor densities were observed in the avian homologue of the globus pallidus. In male starlings, area X could be reliably discerned on the autoradiograms by the higher density of D1 receptors compared to the surrounding parolfactory lobe (LPO). This was also true for females, though nt as reliably as in males. When we compared the mean D1 receptor density in area X for males and females we did not find a significant sex difference. However, we also analyzed the data by comparing sex differences in the degree to which area X has a higher receptor density in comparison with the surrounding LPO. When we normalized D1 receptor density in area X relative to the LPO, we did find a significant sex difference. This sex difference in relative receptor density represents another neural sex difference in the song circuit that may mediate sex differences in the learning and production of song in starlings and other songbirds. 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Effect of Reynolds Number and Periodic Unsteady Wake Flow Condition on Boundary Layer Development, Separation, and Re-attachment along the Suction Surface of a Low Pressure Turbine Blade

The paper experimentally studies the effects of periodic unsteady wake flow and different Reynolds numbers on boundary layer development, separation and re-attachment along the suction surface of a low pressure turbine blade. The experimental investigations were performed on a large scale, subsonic unsteady turbine cascade research facility at Turbomachinery Performance and Flow Research Laboratory (TPFL) of Texas A&M University. The experiments were carried out at Reynolds numbers of 110,000 and 150,000 (based on suction surface length and exit velocity). One steady and two different unsteady inlet flow conditions with the corresponding passing frequencies, wake velocities, and turbulence intensities were investigated. The reduced frequencies chosen cover the operating range of LP turbines. In addition to the unsteady boundary layer measurements, surface pressure measurements were performed. The inception, onset, and the extent of the separation bubble information collected from the pressure measurements were compared with the hot wire measurements. The results presented in ensemble-averaged, and the contour plot forms help to understand the physics of the separation phenomenon under periodic unsteady wake flow and different Reynolds number. It was found that the suction surface displayed a strong separation bubble for these three different reduced frequencies. For each condition, the locations defining the separation bubble were determined carefully analyzing and examining the pressure and mean velocity profile data. The location of the boundary layer separation was dependent of the Reynolds number. It is observed that starting point of the separation bubble and the re-attachment point move further downstream by increasing Reynolds number from 110,000 to 150,000. Also, the size of the separation bubble is smaller when compared to that for Re=110,000.
Pseudo-solenoids are not continuously homogeneous

Abstract The topological space X is a pseudo-solenoid if X is a hereditarily indecomposable, non-chainable, and circle-like continuum. It is shown that no such continuum is continuously homogeneous. Specifically, there are two points in X , identified as z and 1 ¯ , such that for any continuous surjection f : X → X , f ( 1 ¯ ) ≠ z . This answers a question of J.J. Charatonik in the negative.
Project-management education: current issues and future trends

Abstract Project-management education is presented in a framework of four attributes: content, structure, instruction form, and audience profile. In a socioeconomic environment undergoing important changes, emerging industry skills needs in project management shift to include ‘boundary-spanning’ and ‘integrative-management’ skills at the expense of ‘technical-management’ skills.
The changing clinical presentation of complete molar pregnancy

Objective To determine if the clinical presentation of complete hydatidiform mole has changed in recent years compared with historic controls (1965–1975). Methods Chart review of all 74 patients referred to the New England Trophoblastic Disease Center for the primary management of complete hydatidiform mole during 1988–1993 was performed and comparison made to historic controls (1965–1975). Results Vaginal bleeding remained the most common presenting symptom, occurring in 62 of 74 (84%) current patients, compared with 297 of 306 (97%) controls ( P = .001). However, anemia was present in only four of 74 (5%) current patients, compared with 165 of 306 (54%) controls ( P = .001). Excessive uterine size, preeclampsia, and hyperemesis occurred in only 21 of 74 (28%), one of 74 (1.3%), and six of 74 (8%) current patients, respectively, compared with 156 of 306 (51%), 83 of 306 (27%), and 80 of 306 (26%), respectively, of historic controls ( P = .001). No cases of clinical hyperthyroidism or respiratory distress were found in recent years. Ultrasound diagnosed complete hydatidiform mole before the onset of clinical symptoms in seven of 69 (10%) current patients. Among patients not receiving chemoprophylaxis, persistent gestational trophoblastic tumor developed in 23% of current patients and 18.6% of historic controls. Conclusion Fewer current patients with complete hydatidiform mole present with the traditional symptoms of complete hydatidiform mole (excessive uterine size, anemia, preeclampsia, hyperthyroidism, or hyperemesis) when compared with historic controls. However, there has been no statistically significant change in the development of persistent gestational trophoblastic tumor in current patients compared with historic controls.
Directional constraint enforcement for fast cloth simulation

We introduce a new method that greatly improves the iterative edge length constraint enforcement frequently used in real-time cloth simulation systems for preventing overstretching. Our method is based on the directional enforcement of constraints and on the simultaneous progressive scanning of the cloth edges, starting from fixed vertices and propagating on the direction of gravity. The proposed method successfully detects the meaningful springs to be corrected and ignores the ones that do not have any significance on the overall visual result. The proposed approach is simple and robust and is able to achieve realistic cloth simulations without overstretching, without causing any visual artifacts, and dramatically decreasing the computational cost of the constraint enforcement process.
TOWARD A QUANTITATIVE THEORY OF PUNISHMENT

In two experiments, pigeons' key pecking for food on concurrent variable-interval schedules was punished with electric shock according to concurrent variable-interval punishment schedules. With unequal frequencies of food but equal rates of punishment associated with the two keys and at several intensities of shock, the response and time allocation of all six pigeons overmatched the obtained relative frequency of food. The overmatching was predicted by a subtractive model of the interaction between punishment and positive reinforcement but not by two alternative models. Increases in the k and r(e) parameters of the generalized matching law could not account for the observed shifts in preference.
Examination of Explanted Heart After Radiofrequency Ablation for Intractable Ventricular Arrhythmia

Intractable ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF), often referred to as electrical storm (ES), is a life-threatening emergency requiring immediate intervention.1 Patients presenting with ES often suffer from severe cardiomyopathy but may have structurally normal hearts with ion channelopathy. Common triggers of ES include myocardial ischemia, acute congestive heart failure, electrolyte abnormalities, and drug toxicity. Patients with left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) frequently develop ventricular arrhythmia and ES refractory to antiarrhythmic therapy.1 One study found that sustained VT or VF occurred in 52% of patients with a continuous-flow LVAD (HeartMate II).2 Although LVAD therapy can prevent hemodynamic collapse resulting from sustained ventricular arrhythmia, patients may develop hemodynamic instability and decreased flow rates as a result of right ventricular dysfunction. If VT/VF cannot be controlled with antiarrhythmic therapy, then urgent electrophysiological study and ablation are indicated. In this unique report, we describe a successful substrate ablation of recurrent drug refractory ES in a patient with a HeartMate II LVAD awaiting …
Research and Statistics: Generalizability and How It Relates to Validity

1. Sarah Shea Crowne, PhD* 1. *Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md. A 10-year-old boy recently received a diagnosis of diabetes. His mother feels that he would benefit from learning about coping styles and behavior management techniques from other children who have diabetes. However, you are unaware of the effectiveness of this type of group intervention. A parent is concerned about her child developing asthma because he has had shortness of breath and wheezing at times. The child's older sister recently received an asthma diagnosis, based on similar symptoms. You are curious about the prevalence of asthma in siblings. Generalizability refers to the extent to which the results of a study apply to individuals and circumstances beyond those studied. (1) Commonly referred to as external validity, generalizability is the degree to which a given study's findings can be extrapolated to another population. Results of a study are considered generalizable if they have relevant characteristics of and implications for more individuals than those in the sample studied. Generalizability is a crucial aspect of both research design and interpretation of research in practice. In research design, …
A group card sorting methodology for developing informational Web sites

Problems with users successfully finding information on Web sites abound. Using the card sorting methodologies can help Web site developers structure a Web site closer to how the intended users think about a topic, organize information for the Web site, and label its nodes and branches. The article provides an overview of card sorting, provides a suggested approach to card sorting and verifying the resulting labels and suggested map. To close, the article notes the emerging inconsistencies being reported in usability testing findings and then suggests turning to well-established social science methods to identify ways of enhancing card sorting. The article closes by calling for specific research to enhance card sorting methodologies.
Integrating Evolutionary Psychology and Social Psychology: Reflections and Future Directions

Human social psychology was shaped over a long ancestral past and should not be considered with a view to modern circumstances alone. However, social psychology and evolutionary psychology have progressed relatively independently, despite the advantages of integrating these positions. The current chapter provides a brief overview of the eight subareas of social psychology covered in this volume: social cognition, the self, attitudes and attitude change, interpersonal processes, mating and relationships, violence and aggression, health and psychological adjustment, and individual differences. Within each area, we outline several broad advantages of applying evolutionary reasoning. We suggest that future research continue to apply an evolutionarily perspective when considering social psychological questions. We conclude that the integration of evolutionary psychology and social psychology will prove invaluable to researchers investigating the proximate and ultimate mechanisms underlying human social behavior.
Modeling and Control of a Partial Body Weight Support System: An Output Regulation Approach

This brief reports on the modeling, control design, and implementation, and experimental results of a partial body weight support (PBWS) system, which facilitates walking and the relearning process for people suffering from gait impairment as a result of a neurological injury such as strokes. This apparatus is equipped with a load cell which constantly monitors the provided support force, and a linear motor, capable of taking immediate action to keep this support force very close to a predefined profile. In order to design a feedback control law that governs the action of the linear motor, a dynamic model of the PBWS system with a patient has been developed along with a procedure to identify the model parameters. Based on this model, the design of the feedback law is formulated and solved as an output regulation problem. The implementation of the resulting feedback law is described in detail and practical limitations of output regulation in this application are discussed. Preliminary data from a clinical study demonstrate the ability of this novel PBWS system to provide the desired support force patterns and to modulate gait parameters such as the vertical ground reaction force in a controlled manner.
Package Design Advisor-mechanical, electrical and thermal analysis in one CAD tool

This paper describes a tool called the Package Design Advisor was developed to allow designers of silicon devices to make packaging decisions as part of their product design flow and model the impact of die design on package and vice versa. The tool runs under the X-Windows Motif environment and is completely interactive, with the user requiring to input no detailed geometry data, but chip specifications such as die size, estimated power, number of I/O's, etc. The major modules are: electrical, mechanical and thermal analysis; electrical model generation, package specs and pad layout guidelines. The mechanical module selects and checks for minimum and maximum die sizes allowable for the different families and other criteria required for assembly. The thermal module computes /spl Theta//sub ja/ and /spl Theta//sub jc/ and allows the user to configure a cooling system for the package for a specific application (heat fin size, air flow rate, etc.). The electrical analysis module computes the number of power and ground pins required for the core and periphery based on buffer and bus characteristics input by the user, and the electrical model section generates schematics of the package and user specified transmission line models (microstrip, stripline, etc.) to be used in circuit simulation.
ROLES OF CONSUMER AND PSYCHOLOGY IN CONSUMER PSYCHOLOGY

An argument is presented for incorporating formally and explicitly the study of consumer behavior in the graduate training program. Consumer psychology is defined and its relationships with other b...
Is there an upper limit of intracranial pressure in patients with severe head injury if cerebral perfusion pressure is maintained

Authors of recent studies have championed the importance of maintaining cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) to prevent secondary brain injury following traumatic head injury. Data from these studies have provided little information regarding outcome following severe head injury in patients with an intracranial pressure (ICP) greater than 40 mm Hg, however, in July 1997 the authors instituted a protocol for the management of severe head injury in patients with a Glasgow Coma Scale score lower than 9. The protocol was focused on resuscitation from acidosis, maintenance of a CPP greater than 60 mm Hg through whatever means necessary as well as elevation of the head of the bed, mannitol infusion, and ventriculostomy with cerebrospinal fluid drainage for control of ICP. Since the institution of this protocol, nine patients had a sustained ICP greater than 40 mm Hg for 2 or more hours, and five of these had an ICP greater than 75 mm Hg on insertion of the ICP monitor and later experienced herniation and expired within 24 hours. Because of the severe nature of the injuries demonstrated on computerized tomography scans and their physical examinations, these patients were not aggressively treated under this protocol. The authors vigorously attempted to maintain a CPP greater than 60 mm Hg with intensive fluid resuscitation and the administration of pressor agents in the four remaining patients who had developed an ICP higher than 40 mm Hg after placement of the ICP monitor. Two patients had an episodic ICP greater than 40 mm Hg for more than 36 hours, the third patient had an episodic ICP greater than of 50 mm Hg for more than 36 hours, and the fourth patient had an episodic ICP greater than 50 mm Hg for more than 48 hours. On discharge, all four patients were able to perform normal activities of daily living with minimal assistance and experience ongoing improvement. Data from this preliminary study indicate that intense, aggressive management of CPP can lead to good neurological outcomes despite extremely high ICP. Aggressive CPP therapy should be performed and maintained even though apparently lethal ICP levels may be present. Further study is needed to support these encouraging results.
M-lattice: a novel non-linear dynamical system and its application to halftoning

This paper presents a novel non-linear dynamical system called the "M-lattice system". This system is rooted in the reaction-diffusion model, first proposed be Turing in 1952 to explain the formation of animal patterns such as zebra stripes and leopard spots. The M-lattice system is closely related to the analog Hopfield network and the cellular neural network, but has more flexibility in how its variables interact. In particular, the model is well-suited to a variety of applications formulated as constrained nonlinear optimization. The present study demonstrates the use of this model for two different image halftoning examples. The first example synthesizes a halftone of Einstein in the "hand-drawn" style of the Wall Street Journal portraits; it illustrates how a more flexible quality metric can be used when the binary requirement is stated as an explicit constraint. The second example synthesizes halftones free of correlated artifacts; it illustrates the noise-shaping capability of the M-lattice system. >
Detecting Masqueraders Using High Frequency Commands as Signatures

Network intruders commonly use stolen passwords or other means to log into legitimate users' computer accounts. To prevent this from happening, it is important that we are able to distinguish a user as a true user or a masquerader. Uniqueness of user command has been used in the past as signature of users. This project explores the high frequency commands to see if they work well as signatures. Experimental result was provided to show that they work as well as the Uniqueness method. Besides, the comparisons with other methods were also presented.
Phylogeny and Biogeography of Isoëtes (Isoëtaceae) Based on Nuclear and Chloroplast DNA Sequence Data

Abstract Despite its ancient origins, worldwide distribution, and adaptation to diverse habitats, Isoetes species have a highly conserved morphology, making it difficult to resolve phylogenetic relationships using morphological characters. In this paper, we report the results from various analyses (maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference) for Isoetes species from around the world based on nucleotide sequences from the nuclear internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and chloroplast atpB/rbcL intergenic spacer regions. The trees resulting from our analyses of the combined data contain six major well-supported clades (bootstrap ≥ 90%, posterior probabilities = 1.00): A clade with possible Gondwanan affinities (I. australis, I. coromandelina, I. panamensis, I. cubana, I. jamaicensis); a South African clade (I. capensis, I. toximontana, I. stellenbossiensis, I. stephansenii); a largely Northern Hemisphere clade (I. nuttallii, I. orcuttii, I. minima, I. dixitei, I. abyssinica, I. olympica, I. lo...
MYB is a novel regulator of pancreatic tumour growth and metastasis

MYB encodes for a transcription factor regulating the expression of a wide array of genes involved in cellular functions. It is reported to be amplified in a sub-set of pancreatic cancer (PC) cases; however, its pathobiological association has remained unclear thus far. Expression of MYB and other cellular proteins was analysed by immunoblot or qRT-PCR analyses. MYB was stably overexpressed in non-expressing (BxPC3) and silenced in highly expressing (MiaPaCa and Panc1) PC cells. Effect on growth was analysed by automated cell counting at 24-h interval. Cell-cycle progression and apoptotic indices of PC cells with altered MYB expression were measured through flow cytometry upon staining with respective biomarkers. Cell motility/invasion was examined in a Boyden’s chamber assay using non-coated or Matrigel-coated membranes. Effect on tumorigenicity and metastatic potential was examined by non-invasive imaging and through end-point measurements of luciferase-tagged MYB-altered PC implanted in the pancreas of nude mice. MYB was aberrantly expressed in all malignant cases of pancreas, whereas remained undetectable in normal pancreas. All the tested established PC cell lines except BxPC3 also exhibited MYB expression. Forced expression of MYB in BxPC3 cells promoted their growth, cell-cycle progression, survival and malignant behaviour, whereas its silencing in MiaPaCa and Panc1 cells produced converse effects. More importantly, ectopic MYB expression was sufficient to confer tumorigenic and metastatic capabilities to non-tumorigenic BxPC3 cells, while its silencing resulted in significant loss of the same in MYB-overexpressing cells as demonstrated in orthotopic mouse model. We also identified several MYB-regulated genes in PC cells that might potentially mediate its effect on tumour growth and metastasis. MYB is aberrantly overexpressed in PC cells and acts as a key determinant of pancreatic tumour growth and metastasis.
Decay Behavior of Excited Nd Ions in KYF4 Crystals

The Nd doped KYF4 crystal is a new fluoride laser material. This material is attractive owing to broader absorption linewidths and longer fluorescence lifetimes compared with Nd-doped YAG or YLF. Its general laser emission shifts to shorter wavelength (1.041 μm). The lifetimes of Nd3+ ions in 4F3/2 excited states were measured at various temperatures from 20K to 300K for three Nd-doped KYF4 samples with different concentrations. Other basic spectroscopic measurements were also presented. When the temperature is not too low (150–300K), the lifetimes change very little with temperature. But in the low temperature region, the lifetimes strongly depend on temperature, especially around 50K. There appeared a strange decay behavior, which was assumed to be due to the energy transfers between different Nd ion sites in KYF4. The lifetime of Nd ions in KYF4 crystal is long, which is favorable for diode-pumping. For these crystals there is strong concentration quenching. The relation of lifetime with concentration is linear at 300K, and it is nonlinear at low temperatures.
Optical Torque of a Vortex Beam

The torque created by a vortex beam is expressed by an exact formula developed through classical electromagnetic theory. The torque is linearly related to the orbital angular momentum mode. Our analysis relates the optical torque reduction to the atmospheric rotational correlation function.
Effects of process parameters on the ablated flux characteristics during pulsed-laser ablation of lead zirconate titanate (PZT&)

We have investigated the ablated flux characteristics of PbZrxTi1−xO3 as a function of deposition process parameters. The ablation-deposition rate, angular distribution, and type of ablated species are all affected by the oxygen gas pressure. Visually, a change in the shape and color of the ablation plume are evident upon adding oxygen gas. The ablated flux distribution narrows as the oxygen pressure is increased, from a cos40θ distribution in a low gas pressure, up to a cos260θ distribution at an oxygen pressure of 300 mTorr. This narrowing, or focusing, of the ablated plume also results in an increased deposition rate along the plume centerline for high laser power. However, at low laser power the deposition rate decreases as the pressure is increased, due to gas scattering effects. The energy of depositing species and the ratio of deposition flux to O2 flux will then be very different in each of these two regimes. The species in the plume have been examined using optical emission spectroscopy. We have found that mostly atomic species are present, but the ratio of ions to neutrals is very different for the Pb, Zr, and Ti atoms. Therefore, the application of electric fields near the substrate would affect the film composition to some degree.
Homeland Security in the Heartland: Risk, Preparedness, and Organizational Capacity

This study examines the perceived risk of a terrorist attack, terrorism preparedness activities, and organizational capacity in over 500 Illinois law enforcement agencies. Survey results show that the perceived risk of an attack is relatively low but organizations are taking steps to prepare for large-scale emergencies. The study also found that perceptions of risk predicted the level of preparedness activities and that an organizational leader's confidence in his or her organization's ability to respond to a terrorist incident is influenced by the number of preparedness measures taken. Implications of the research are explored.
The Mechanisms of Salt and Water Retention in Cardiac Failure

The congestion that is the clinical hallmark of most cases of cardiac failure begins with the development of a decrement in the heart's pumping competence and eventuates in edema and ascites. Between these end points is a complex of hemodynamic, hormonal, metabolic, and electrolytic abnormalities, many of which represent vain attempts to compensate for the underlying cardiac deficiency.
East Germany and Detente: CRACKS IN THE MYTH OF STABILITY: 1967–1971

The anti-detente forces of monopoly capitalism and Social Democratic politicians and ideologues in the service of the Bonn government developed concepts by which they hoped to use the tendencies toward detente in order to make the GDR's borders ‘permeable,’ to ‘overcome’ them, and to ‘open’ the country to the FRG and the other NATO states… These counter-revolutionary aims confirmed that the principles of peaceful coexistence could only be carried out in a bitter and long-lasting class struggle against imperialism. Geschichte der SED (1978) TOWARDS A CRISIS IN IDENTITY A psychologist once noted that only in times of crisis do individuals become aware of the complexity of their personalities. Each is ‘a combination of capacities created in the distant past and of opportunities divined in the present; a combination of totally obvious preconditions developed in individual growth and of social conditions recreated in the precarious interplay of generations.’ Political regimes, too, experience crises of identity, which expose the complex foundations of their own ‘personalities,’ the tenuous accommodation of divergent internal forces and the interplay of human volition, contingency, and their surrounding environment. The blend of these diverse factors seems so satisfying and so capable of providing a coherent picture of the world and of one's place within it – satisfying, that is, until some internal contradiction or external force disrupts this complacency.
Using the U.S. Civil Rights Movement to explore social justice education with K-6 pre-service teachers

Abstract The U.S. Civil Rights Movement (CRM) is a relevant K-6 topic to learn foundational concepts of social justice and participatory citizenship. Year after year, though, U.S. elementary school lessons typically focus on a Martin Luther King, Jr.-Rosa Parks centered narrative, adapted for character education. This qualitative inquiry invited 66 pre-service teachers to explore social justice education embedded at the core of existing K-6 historical topics. Examining pre-service teachers׳ knowledge, beliefs, and what and how they plan to teach their future students revealed dated educational philosophies. They held limited content knowledge and sociopolitical critical thinking needed to teach the CRM׳s civic significance and were conflicted by wanting to both empower students and withhold information. This study describes actions designed to model replicable, justice-oriented lessons and help K-6 pre-service teachers reflect on pedagogical choices and ideologies they adopt. It also calls attention to the challenges of K-6 teacher education and school reform when teachers lack content knowledge and political/cultural awareness.