cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
From iron to antibiotics: Identification of conserved bacterial-fungal interactions across diverse partners

Microbial interactions are major determinants in shaping microbiome structure and function. Characterization of these interactions is not only essential to improve our understanding of microbiome ecology and microbiology in general, but also to identify novel molecules or processes with potential biotechnological applications. Interkingdom interactions such as bacterial-fungal interactions have been shown to be particularly important in microbial ecosystems. However, the diversity and conservation of these interactions remain poorly characterized as most of the studies so far focused on specific bacterium-fungus pairs. In this work, we explore the diversity of bacterial-fungal interactions by characterizing the molecular interaction mechanisms of 16 different bacterial-fungal pairs, involving 8 different fungi and 2 bacteria (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas psychrophila). Using random barcode transposon site sequencing (RB-TnSeq), we have identified the bacterial genes and pathways important for survival in fungal interaction contexts. We found a wide diversity of bacterial-fungal interactions, both antagonistic and beneficial. Interestingly, we also observe a set of interactions that appear to be conserved across bacterial-fungal partners studied. Our data suggest that fungal hydroxamate siderophores alleviate bacterial need for endogenous siderophore uptake. In addition, using a fungal mutant in a master regulator of secondary metabolite production, we found that fungal metabolites are key shapers of bacterial fitness profiles. The bacterial-fungal interactions identified across diverse partners indicate that, in addition to many species-specific effects, conserved interaction mechanisms may be important across microbiomes.
Photopharmacological control of lipid function

Abstract Photopharmacology enables the optical control of biological processes through the use of molecular photoswitches, such as functionalized azobenzenes. In this protocol, we describe general considerations for working with bioactive azobenzene photoswitches. Our approach is exemplified with a photoswitchable sphingosine-1-phosphate analog (PhotoS1P).
Temporal trends in receipt of adjuvant chemotherapy for veterans with colorectal cancer.

e19171Background: For patients with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) high risk stage II or stage III colorectal cancer (CRC), adjuvant chemotherapy improves disease free (DFS) and overa...
Is there an association among sleep duration, nap, and stroke? Findings from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

The objective of this study was to assess the association among nighttime sleep, daytime napping, total sleep duration (nighttime sleep plus daytime napping), and stroke in an elderly Chinese population. Data were derived from the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) with 4785 Chinese respondents over 65 years old. Four binary logistic regression models were used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals of the association among total sleep duration, nighttime sleep, daytime napping, and stroke, adjusting for confounders. After controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, health status, and comorbidity, there was no association between abnormal nighttime sleep and stroke (P values > 0.05). Compared to individuals with normal total sleep duration (7–8 h per day), short sleep duration (< 7 h per day) was approximately two times more likely to increase the risk of stroke (AOR = 1.81, 95%CI 1.10–2.97). Individuals who reported vision impairment, disability, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and mental health issues were at higher risk of stroke. In addition, physical activities with different levels were associated with a lower risk of stroke. Taking naps was not associated with stroke incidence (AOR = 1.12, 95%CI 0.77–1.64). In this elderly Chinese population, short total sleep duration per 24 h, not merely daytime napping or nighttime sleep, was significantly associated with an increased risk of stroke. Preventive measures for stroke may require a focus on elderly, sedentary individuals who report other health problems.
Impact of Lymph Node Yield on Survival in Surgically Treated Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Objectives(1) To estimate the association between neck dissection lymph node yield (LNY) and survival among patients with surgically treated human papilloma virus (HPV)–associated oropharyngeal squ...
Critical Drugs for Critical Care: Protecting the US Pharmaceutical Supply in a Time of Crisis

A single announcement from the White House prematurely claiming the safety and efficacy of hydroxychloroquine (Plaquenil) as a "game changer" for COVID-19 infection was enough to trigger a shortage of this drug 1 Hospitals treating severe COVID-19 cases now face significant challenges in maintaining supplies of far more essential critical care drugs, such as vasopressors, sedatives, and bronchodilators 2 In turn, many states have sought access to Strategic National Stockpile supplies only to find that such life-saving therapies were not available or had not been included in this portfolio 3 With the long bulge of the pandemic curve still to follow, it is likely that other commonly used drugs will face shortages in months to come [ ]most biopreparedness exercises have prepared for an infectious disease threat, such as the anthrax scare, to be a singular and acute event Based on the FDA's list, the DEA could provide a responsive review of the production quotas allocated to manufacturers, and the secretary of Health and Human Services could review the need for additional manufacturers to enter the market for certain products, in which case the secretary might consider invoking policies such as Section 1498 6 Under this law, the Secretary can authorize manufacturers to produce an emergency supply ofa drug under patent without the patent holder's approval (but providing fair compensation to the patent holder) A recent survey found that hospitals treating many patients with acute COVID-19 in New York City had greater need for life-supporting pharmaceuticals and were therefore at greater risk for shortages than other facilities in New York City or acute care hospitals located in other regions 7 Distributing the existing supply of pharmaceutical products to the neediest facility types and geographic areas may be limited by contractual agreements and FDA regulations
Cross-Modality Segmentation by Self-supervised Semantic Alignment in Disentangled Content Space

Deep convolutional networks have demonstrated state-of-the-art performance in a variety of medical image tasks, including segmentation. Taking advantage of images from different modalities has great clinical benefits. However, the generalization ability of deep networks on different modalities is challenging due to domain shift. In this work, we investigate the challenging unsupervised domain adaptation problem of cross-modality medical image segmentation. Cross-modality domain shift can be viewed as having two orthogonal components: appearance (modality) shift and content (anatomy) shift. Previous works using the popular adversarial training strategy emphasize the significant appearance/modality alignment caused by different physical principles while ignoring the content/anatomy alignment, which can be harmful for the downstream segmentation task. Here, we design a cross-modality segmentation pipeline, where self-supervision is introduced to achieve further semantic alignment specifically on the disentangled content space. In the self-supervision branch, in addition to rotation prediction, we also propose elastic transformation prediction as a new pretext task. We validate our model on cross-modality liver segmentation from CT to MR. Both quantitative and qualitative experimental results demonstrate that further semantic alignment through self-supervision can improve segmentation performance significantly, making the learned model more robust.
The Predicament of Large Numbers of Observations and How We Got There: Critical Review

BACKGROUND Classical statistics were developed in a time when small sample sizes were the norm; thus, statistical significance typically ensured large clinical effects. Over the past 10-20 years, computational techniques have allowed studies with modest effects to reach statistical significance (usually P < 0.05) by analyzing very large numbers of patients. In this review, I discuss how this came about and provide an intuitive understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of various statistical parameters that provide insight into clinical effect sizes. CONTENT In this review of the literature, a simple web-based program was used for calculations. Examples are shown. Odds and risk ratios are compared with ROC curves to allow better understanding of their predictive value. SUMMARY In these complex times, an intuitive understanding of statistical procedures is increasingly important. This review will attempt to advance the reader's knowledge so that one can calculate the number needed to treat and its confidence interval, understand the meaning of a modest association, and determine when a study is likely to be accurate but with questionable clinical utility.
Effect of shear bond failure on the strength ratio in DEM modeling of quasi-brittle materials

Displacement softening has shown to be an effective ingredient to overcome common deficiencies associated with DEM modeling based on bonded spherical particles (Ma and Huang in Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 104:9–19, 2018b). By incorporating a softening path in the normal force–displacement contact law, we show that the softening contact model can not only yield a realistic compressive over tensile strength ratio as high as about 30, but also capture the highly nonlinear failure envelope at the confined extension stress range, typical for quasi-brittle materials such as rocks and concretes. In our previous model, bond breakage at the particle scale is governed by the normal bond strength only. Here, we generalize the model by removing the restriction on the shear bond failure. Formulation of the displacement-softening model is first introduced. Novel features from modeling the behaviors of Berea sandstone without considering shear bond failure are summarized. How material behaviors at both the micro- and macroscale are affected by the inclusion of shear bond failure is then analyzed. Finally, implications of the numerical results in the context of how to calibrate material properties for DEM modeling in general is discussed.
Can video-based telehealth examinations of the abdomen safely determine the need for imaging?

There is little evidence on the reliability of the video-based telehealth physical examinations. Our objective was to evaluate the feasibility of a physician-directed abdominal examination using te...
Toward a New Anthropology of Japan

The Anglophone anthropology of Japan started as part of the wartime enemy studies. As such, its primary reference frame has been and continues to be the national state; even when the regional or local communities are studied, national characteristics and national culture provided the cross-reference and comparative standard. Against this backdrop, this article argues that the national framework of the Japan anthropology can be useful in studying Japan as biopower and specifically, this article attempts to do so by focusing on the figure of the Korean in Japan in the last one hundred years.
Estimation of the fuel temperature reactivity coefficient of the UMass-Lowell research reactor based on empirical and theoretical point reactor kinetics models

Abstract Modeling nuclear reactors for simulating transients can be very challenging for a lot of reasons, e.g. space–time representation, heterogeneity, etc. Reactor-specific design and data may also be required for the facility being analyzed. Although reactor point kinetics theory is usually a method of choice in analyzing such transients, a reactor’s specifications are required to achieve meaningful results. This work describes a unique method for estimating the fuel temperature reactivity coefficient for use with the point reactor kinetics model of the UMass-Lowell Research Reactor. The computed coefficient is later validated with experimental data.
A Real-Time, Linear, Parameter-Varying, Model Predictive Control Strategy for a Battery-Supercapacitor Hybrid Energy Storage System

Model predictive control (MPC) of the battery-supercapacitor (SC) hybrid energy storage system (HESS) has been studied for electric vehicle (EV) and microgrid applications. However, the conventional models of the HESS reported in the literature, which play an important role in the MPC, cannot guarantee satisfactory modeling and prediction accuracy for the entire range of the battery state of charge (SOC). To address this issue, this work develops a linear, parameter-varying (LPV) model for the HESS, which accounts for the SOC variations of the battery and, therefore, offers higher HESS modeling and prediction accuracy than the conventional models with fixed parameters reported in the literature. Based on the LPV model, a real-time, multiobjective LPV-MPC strategy is proposed to optimally split the load current of the HESS between battery and SC. Simulation studies verify the superiority of the proposed LPV-MPC strategy over the existing current split strategies in reducing the energy losses and battery degradation of the HESS. Finally, a real-time experiment is carried out to further validate the proposed LPV-MPC strategy for an EV application.
Effects of anterior load carriage on gait parameters: A systematic review with meta-analysis.

Abstract Anterior load carriage is common in occupational work and daily activities. Our primary purpose was to systematically review previous work concerning the biomechanics of walking with anterior load carriage. A secondary goal was to conduct a meta-analysis on common gait parameters relevant to front load carriage. An electronic database search yielded eight qualified articles. Meta-analyses were performed for four gait variables: stride length, heel contact velocity, required coefficient of friction, double support time. When possible, subgroup analyses by age were conducted. Results suggest that walking with front load carriage may shorten the stride length, particularly among young adults, but has small effects on the other three variables. Findings should be interpreted with caution given the limited number of studies included and small sample size per study. Future work investigating these four variables and others is needed to further our understanding of the impact of front load carriage on gait.
The Cultural Rift Dividing Humanistic and Positive Psychology: The Future Possibilities of Reconciliation

SYNOPSISHumanistic Psychology is often misportrayed as dying or dead, a claim that is especially egregious when made by positive psychologists, who minimize their debt to, as well as co-opt a narrow version of, Humanistic Psychology. This rift rests on a cultural divide that cuts broadly across many sectors of modern life. Through denigration of and distancing from Humanistic Psychology, positive psychology has gained considerable benefits siphoned from Humanistic Psychology. Consequently, a better future for Humanistic Psychology requires making explicit efforts to be more holistic, including in valuing all methodologies, and emphasizing the importance of including both positive and negative phenomena within its purview. This could reclaim largely dormant aspects of Humanistic Psychology, undermining the efforts of positive psychology to assert itself as distinct, and perhaps facilitating an eventual reconciliation.
A Life in Bits and Bytes: A Portrait of a College Student and Her Life with Digital Media.

Background/Context: Digital media seem to pervade all aspects of American youth’s lives, from communicating with friends and family to learning about the world around them. Many educators and scholars celebrate the new opportunities for learning that Web 2.0 tools present, and empirical evidence suggests that computer-mediated communication positively influences the quality of adolescents’ friendships. Yet, adults are also mindful of the risks associated with youth’s digital media activities, including the negative effects of multitask ing and the implications for identity development of being perpetually “tethered” to one’s friends and family. Focus of Study: Because widespread Internet and mobile phone use are still relatively new phenomena, further research is needed to investigate their effects on young people. Existing research indicates that the effects are unlikely to be wholly positive or negative. In this arti cle, the author explores the tension between the promises and perils associated with digital media in the context of one college student’s daily experiences. Research Design: Using the qualitative method of portraiture, the author examined how one college student uses digital media in her everyday life; her motivations and goals for using various media; and the opportunities and drawbacks she perceives in her daily media use. Conclusions: This student’s experiences illuminate the always-connected, always-connecting quality of life for today’s young people. Her experiences also reveal the complexity of life with digital media, because media both support her connections to people and ideas and give rise to feelings of disconnection and fragmentation. Finally, this portrait highlights the need for and value of nurturing youth’s reflective practices and providing them with spaces to engage in sustained reflection.
Voltage field generated by a single photodiode in a volume conductor: simulation and measurements

One of the major challenges of neural stimulation is the mechanical stress and resulting neural trauma induced by the movement of the electrode interconnects. A potential way of eliminating interconnects is to use micro-stimulators that can be activated through optical means. To test this method, the voltage field generated by a single photodiode in a volume conductor was analyzed using finite element (FE) analysis. The voltage field was also experimentally tested using diodes with uncoated gold and electrodeposited iridium oxide film (EIROF) coated contacts pulsed with a near-infrared laser (NIR) beam. The EIROF coated microphotodiodes proved to have much larger current injection capabilities. Comparison of experimental results with the finite element model shows that the photodiode voltage is saturating at a few microamperes due to the high impedance of the contacts. However, the voltage generated is larger than 50 mV in peak at the cathodic contact. The voltage waveforms recorded directly from the contacts show that the interface needs a long time interval to discharge. This places a limit on the maximum frequency of stimulation.
Effects of Dietary Protein, Fat and Energy Intake during an Initiation Phase Study of 7,12-Dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-Induced Breast Cancer in Rats

A factorial experiment was conducted to examine the effects of dietary protein (8, 16, 32% of energy from casein) and dietary fat (12, 24, 48% of energy from corn oil) on the initiation of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced breast carcinogenesis in rats. Forty weanling female Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to each of nine diets fed ad libitum. After 4 wk each rat received DMBA (20 mg/kg) via gastric intubation. For an additional 22 wk after carcinogen administration all rats consumed a diet containing 16% of dietary energy from protein and 24% from fat. Dietary fat, protein and ad libitum energy consumption exhibited statistically significant effects on final tumor prevalence, but interactive effects were not found. At necropsy, rats fed corn oil at 12, 24 and 48% of energy prior to DMBA administration showed tumor prevalences of 58, 58 and 85% with 116, 153 and 231 total tumors, respectively. The data indicate a significant nonlinear effect of dietary fat. Corresponding numbers for rats fed casein at 8, 16 and 32% of energy prior to DMBA were prevalences of 79, 65 and 59%, with total tumor counts of 194, 144 and 162. Higher dietary protein during the initiation phase was associated with a significant reduction in tumor prevalence, which was most striking between 8 and 16% of energy from protein. In addition, results of multiple logistic regression showed that tumorigenesis was increased with greater ad libitum energy intake. The odds of a tumor at necropsy were multiplied by 1.19 for each kilocalorie increase in ad libitum energy intake averaged over the post-DMBA phase of the experiment. An additional six weanling rats fed each diet for 4 wk were killed for assay of hepatic carcinogen metabolizing enzymes at the time corresponding to DMBA administration in the initiation experiment. Both protein and fat showed independent effects on the activity of several enzymes. However, enzyme activity did not suggest a unifying mechanism whereby these nutrients influence DMBA-induced mammary carcinogenesis.
Order statistics based diversity combining for fading channels

We present a new order statistics based diversity combining scheme (OSDC) for combining a set of independently fading signal amplitudes. The OSDC orders all the received signal amplitudes and uses only the two strongest signals in the combining process. The decision as to whether to use only the strongest or both the strongest and the next strongest is mane depending on the relative strengths of these two highest order statistics. Signal-to-noise ratio performance of the new scheme is compared with that of the traditional schemes such as, selection combining, maximal ratio combining, equal gain combining, and a second order selection combining (SC2), for three channels, namely Rayleigh, Nakagami and exponential. The results show that OSDC performs as well as SC2.
Proposal for Development of a National Microwave Brightness-Temperature Standard | NIST

We review the advantages of a national standard for microwave brightness temperature and outline our proposed approach toward developing such a standard. The proposal is a combined standard that would comprise both a standard radiometer, traceable to primary noise standards, and a fully characterized standard target. We also review our recent work on development of a standard radiometer and on characterization of calibration targets.
GC skew defines distinct RNA polymerase pause sites in CpG island promoters

CpG islands (CGIs) are associated with over half of human gene promoters and are characterized by a unique chromatin environment and high levels of bidirectional transcriptional activity relative to surrounding genomic regions, suggesting that RNA polymerase (Pol II) progression past the CGI boundaries is restricted. Here we describe a novel transcriptional regulatory step wherein Pol II encounters an additional barrier to elongation distinct from the promoter-proximal pause and occurring at the downstream boundary of the CGI domain. For most CGI-associated promoters, Pol II exhibits a dominant pause at either the promoter-proximal or this distal site that correlates, both in position and in intensity, with local regions of high GC skew, a sequence feature known to form unique secondary structures. Upon signal-induced gene activation, long-range enhancer contacts at the dominant pause site are selectively enhanced, suggesting a new role for enhancers at the downstream pause. These data point to an additional level of control over transcriptional output at a subset of CGI-associated genes that is linked to DNA sequence and the integrity of the CGI domain.
DIRECT MAGNETIC RESONANCE ARTHROGRAPHY OF THE CANINE SHOULDER

Our goal was to evaluate the ability of three magnetic resonance arthrography (MRA) techniques to improve visualization of soft tissue stabilizing components of the canine shoulder. The optimum concentration of gadolinium (gadodiamide) for MRA was determined by imaging seven individual shoulders with one of seven dilutions of 0.5 mol/l gadodiamide in saline; (1:100, 1:400, 1:800, 1:1000, 1:1200, 1:1400, and 1:1600). For this, sagittal and dorsal T1-weighted fat saturation (T1WFS) images were used. The 1:1200 dilution of gadolinium was determined to be the optimum concentration as it provided adequate contrast to distinguish supporting joint structures without obscuring the edges of those structures. Sagittal, dorsal, and transverse MRA images were then acquired in nine cadaver shoulders using T1WFS with gadolinium, proton density fat saturation (PDFS) with gadolinium, and PDFS with saline. Descriptive comparisons were made among techniques. When gadolinium was compared with saline as a contrast medium, gadolinium provided greater contrast against underlying soft tissues, thereby enhancing tendon and ligament conspicuity. When T1WFS and PDFS gadolinium sequences were compared, minor differences were noted. The interface between tissue and fluid was sharper and more distinct in PDFS images. MRI arthrography has promise as a tool for the diagnosis of canine soft tissue shoulder injury. MRA may be most useful when trauma to the biceps tendon, lateral glenohumeral ligament, or medial glenohumeral ligament is suspected.
Simultaneous in vivo measurements of HbO2 saturation and PCr kinetics after exercise in normal humans

Simultaneous measurements of phosphocreatine (PCr) and oxyhemoglobin (HbO2) saturation were made during recovery from exercise in calf muscles of five male subjects. PCr was measured using magnetic...
Energy Efficient Optimum Sensing With Energy Harvesting Power Sources

In this paper, we study the optimum estimation of a band-unlimited continuous-time random process using discrete-time samples taken by a sensor powered by energy harvesting devices. In order to accurately represent a band-unlimited random process, a large sampling rate is needed, and this may yield a huge amount of data to be collected and transmitted. In the mean time, the energy required for sensing and transmitting the data must satisfy the constraints imposed by stochastic energy harvesting sources. To cope with these challenges, we propose a family of the best-effort random sensing policies. The best-effort random sensing schemes define a set of randomly chosen candidate sensing instants, and the sensor performs sensing at a given candidate sensing instant only if there is sufficient energy available. Otherwise an energy outage is declared and the sensor remains silent. It is shown through asymptotic analysis that the probability of energy outage during sensing is determined by the ratio between the energy harvesting rate and the energy consumption rate. For a given average energy harvesting rate, less samples per-unit time means a weaker temporal correlation between two adjacent samples, but a smaller energy outage probability, less data, and more energy per sample. Such a tradeoff relationship is captured by developing a closed-form expression of the estimation mean squared error (MSE), which analytically identifies the interactions among the various system parameters. The estimation MSE is minimized by optimizing the tradeoff among system parameters. The proposed optimum sensing scheme can asymptotically achieve the same performance as a system with the conventional energy sources, and significantly reduce the amount of data to be collected and transmitted.
Application of sodium triple-quantum coherence NMR spectroscopy for the study of growth dynamics in cartilage tissue engineering

We studied the tissue growth dynamics of tissue-engineered cartilage at an early growth stage after cell seeding for four weeks using sodium triple-quantum coherence NMR spectroscopy. The following tissue-engineering constructs were studied: 1) bovine chondrocytes cultured in alginate beads; 2) bovine chondrocytes cultured as pellets (scaffold-free chondrocyte pellets); and 3) human marrow stromal cells (HMSCs) seeded in collagen/chitosan based biomimetic scaffolds. We found that the sodium triple-quantum coherence spectroscopy could differentiate between different tissue-engineered constructs and native tissues based on the fast and slow components of relaxation rate as well as on the average quadrupolar coupling. Both fast (Tf ) and slow (Ts ) relaxation times were found to be longer in chondrocyte pellets and biomimetic scaffolds compared to chondrocytes suspended in alginate beads and human articular cartilage tissues. In all cases, it was found that relaxation rates and motion of sodium ions measured from correlation times were dependent on the amount of macromolecules, high cell density and anisotropy of the cartilage tissue-engineered constructs. Average quadrupolar couplings were found to be lower in the engineered tissue compared to native tissue, presumably due to the lack of order in collagen accumulated in the engineered tissue. These results support the use of sodium triple-quantum coherence spectroscopy as a tool to investigate anisotropy and growth dynamics of cartilage tissue-engineered constructs in a simple and reliable way.
Inhibition of c-Met as a Therapeutic Strategy for Esophageal Adenocarcinoma

The hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) receptor c-Met is a tyrosine kinase receptor with established oncogenic properties. We have previously shown that c-Met is usually overexpressed in esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA), yet the implications of c-Met inhibition in EA remain unknown. Three c-Met-overexpressing EA cell lines (Seg-1, Bic-1, and Flo-1) were used to examine the effects of a c-Met-specific small molecule inhibitor (PHA665752) on cell viability, apoptosis, motility, invasion, and downstream signaling pathways. PHA665752 demonstrated dose-dependent inhibition of constitutive and/or HGF-induced phosphorylation of c-Met, which correlated with reduced cell viability and inhibition of extracellular regulated kinase 1/2 phosphorylation in all three EA cell lines. In contrast, PHA665752 induced apoptosis and reduced motility and invasion in only one EA cell line, Flo-1. Interestingly, Flo-1 was the only cell line in which phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt was induced following HGF stimulation. The PI3K inhibitor LY294002 produced effects equivalent to those of PHA665752 in these cells. We conclude that inhibition of c-Met may be a useful therapeutic strategy for EA. Factors other than receptor overexpression, such as c-Met-dependent PI3K/Akt signaling, may be predictive of an individual tumor's response to c-Met inhibition.
Dielectric breakdown strength in sol-gel derived PZT thick films

Abstract Dielectric DC breakdown strengths of ferroelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thick films are examined with respect to the film thickness, top electrode area, and grain size. The breakdown strengths of PZT(52/48) films are as much as two times higher than the predicted values empirically derived from bulk ceramics by earlier researchers. I-V characteristics show three distinct conduction mechanisms on 8 μm PZT films. Samples aged in air for one year show lower breakdown strengths, higher leakage currents, and higher onset voltages of the space-charge-limited conduction (SCLC) mechanism.
Some properties of Kendall's partial rank correlation coefficient

Abstract We show through a simulation study that the approximate distribution of Kendall's partial rank correlation coefficient τ 12.3 can be obtained by Jackknifing. We also present some examples which demonstrate that τ 12.3 can be difficult to interpret.
Using HyperCard to teach person perception and attribution concepts

HyperCard stacks were used to present and illustrate concepts in person perception and attribution theory. Active participation of learners was maintained through the use of interactive tutorials and simulations requiring frequent learner input. Scanned photographs, cartoons, animations, and diagrams were used to increase learner interest. Two groups of college students were tested after interaction with either the HyperCard stacks or textual materials that presented these concepts to discover the relative effectiveness of the stacks. The HyperCard group scored significantly better on an information test after a 2-h exposure to the material. The same group expressed enthusiasm, enjoyed the study experience, and voiced a desire to have more computer-assisted learning experiences, while the other group found the interaction with textual materials boring and did not look forward to a similar experience in the future.
A few theoretical aspects of deregulation

Abstract Market economies devoid of all public regulation cannot be counted on to achieve either Pareto-all-optimal efficiency or a democracy’s definition of distributive justice. Therefore, some regulative regimes can improve a society’s importance, while some can be net counter productive. Finding a better golden mean between deregulation and positive regulation is the hard challenge facing the better society.
Analysis of Data from a Controlled Repeated Measurements Design with Baseline-Dependent Dropouts

Abstract. Differences in mean rates of change are of primary interest in many controlled treatment evaluation studies. Generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) procedures are widely conceived to be the preferred method of analysis for repeated measurement designs when there are missing data due to dropouts, but systematic dependence of the dropout probabilities on antecedent or concurrent factors poses a problem for testing the significance of differences in mean rates of change across time in such designs. Controlling for the dependence of dropout probabilities on baseline values poses a special problem because a theoretically correct GLMM random-effects model does not permit including the same baseline score as both covariate and dependent variable. Monte Carlo methods are used herein to evaluate the actual Type 1 error rates and power resulting from two commonly-illustrated GLMM random-effects model formulations for testing the GROUPS × TIMES linear interaction effect in group-randomized repeated measurem...
Potent and cooperative feedback inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity by calcium in pituitary-derived GH3 cells.

Abstract Calcium (Ca2+) ion concentrations that are achieved intracellularly upon membrane depolarization or activation of phospholipase C stimulate adenylate cyclase via calmodulin (CaM) in brain tissue. In the present study, this range of Ca2+ concentrations produced unanticipated inhibitory effects on the plasma membrane adenylate cyclase activity of GH3 cells. Ca2+ concentrations ranging from 0.1 to 0.8 μM exerted an increasing inhibition on enzyme activity, which reached a plateau (35–45% inhibition) at around 1 μM. This inhibitory effect was highly cooperative for Ca2+ ions, but was neither enhanced nor dependent upon the addition of CaM (1 μM) to EGTA-washed membranes. The inhibition was greatly enhanced upon stimulation of the enzyme by vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) and/or GTP. Prior exposure of cultured cells to pertussis toxin did not affect the inhibition of plasma membrane adenylate cyclase activity by Ca2+, although in these membranes, hormonal (somatostatin) inhibition was significantly attenuated. Maximally effective concentrations of Ca2+ and somatostatin produced additive inhibitory effects on adenylate cyclase. The addition of phosphodiesterase inhibitors demonstrated that inhibitory effects of Ca2+ were not mediated by Ca2+-dependent stimulation of a phosphodiesterase activity. These observations provide a mechanism for the feedback inhibition by elevated intracellular Ca2+ levels on cAMP-facilitated Ca2+ entry into GH3 cells, as well as inhibitory crosstalk between Ca2+-mobilizing signals and adenylate cyclase activity.
Neuroanatomical analysis of functional brain images: Validation with retinotopic mapping

The analysis of functional brain images generated by positron emission tomography (PET) has depended on averaging individual images in a common stereotactic space to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in activation maps. Although the precise relationship of stereotactic coordinates to sulcul and gyral anatomy is obscured, these techniques have productively enabled exploratory, pixel-based analysis of PET images. Coregistered three-dimensional magnetic resonance (MR) datasets, not widely available at the time PET techniques were pioneered, now make it possible to develop complementary hypothesis-led analysis techniques that respect individual anatomy and, therefore, allow conclusions in terms of sulcal and gyral anatomy. We report the development of such a technique, involving construction of a local standard space within anatomically-defined boundaries. We validate the technique with a retinotopic mapping paradigm. In the analysis based on this standard space, regions of activation from the contributing subjects superimpose better than they do when Talairach's transformation is used. This approach also allows conclusions to be drawn specifically about striate cortex, whereas analysis of stereotactically transformed data does not distinguish V1 and V2. This approach is likely to be particularly useful for studying brain-damaged subjects, to whom a universal stereotactic space cannot be applied. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
The Role of Middleware in Architecture-Based Software Development

Software architectures promote development focused on modular functional building blocks (components), their interconnections (configurations), and their interactions (connectors). Since architecture-level components often contain complex functionality, it is reasonable to expect that their interactions will be complex as well. Middleware technologies such as CORBA, COM, and RMI provide a set of predefined services for enabling component composition and interaction. However, the potential role of such services in the implementations of software architectures is not well understood. In practice, middleware can resolve various types of component heterogeneity — across platform and language boundaries, for instance — but also can induce unwanted architectural constraints on application development. We present an approach in which components communicate through architecture-level software connectors that are implemented using middleware. This approach preserves the properties of the architecture-level connectors while leveraging the beneficial capabilities of the underlying middleware. We have implemented this approach in the context of a component- and message-based architectural style called C2 and demonstrated its utility in the context of several diverse applications. We argue that our approach provides a systematic and reasonable way to bridge the gap between architecture-level connectors and implementation-level middleware packages.
Team size in spinal cord injury inpatient rehabilitation and patient participation in therapy sessions: the SCIRehab project.

Context/objective Rehabilitation teams generally are described as consisting of a single representative of 6–8 disciplines, but research suggests that the number of individuals involved may be much larger. This study aimed to determine the size of teams in spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation, and the effect of team size on patients' active participation in their treatment sessions. Design Prospective observational study. Setting Six SCI rehabilitation centers. Participants A total of 1376 patients with traumatic SCI admitted for first rehabilitation. Interventions Not applicable. Outcome measures Number of treatment sessions, by discipline and overall clinician rating of active participation of the patient; Treatment Concentration Index (TCI) calculated as Σpk2 (where p refers to the proportion of treatment sessions delivered by team member k). Results The average patient was treated by 39.3 different clinicians. The numbers were especially high for physical therapy (mean: 8.8), occupational therapy (...
Using inheritance for computing with physical quantities: an interdisciplinary project

This paper involves an interdisciplinary project in computer science and physics. Students in introductory physics courses need to be able to deal with dimensioned quantities (often called "dimensional analysis"), and to solve problems using the correct units for various physical quantities. Computer science students need to understand concepts of object-oriented programming, including the notion of inheritance. In this paper we present a project in which physical quantities such as distance, time, mass, speed, force, power, etc. are represented as objects. The student designing the classes can ensure that the client always combines quantities in an appropriate fashion (e.g. a force must be computed as a mass multiplied by an acceleration). The student designing the classes can also allow the client to compute physical quantities using different units (e.g., the addition of three distances: 1 inch + 2 meters + 3 feet). This is done by defining subclasses Meters, Miles, and Feet, all of which inherit from the class Distance, thus providing the student with a nice example of the proper use of inheritance.The relevant classes, with test driver software, have been implemented and are available at the URL: http://www.rowan.edu/~bergmann The software has been implemented in both C++ and Java, though this paper will use the C++ version in its exposition.
On non-Archimedean Polish groups with two-sided invariant metrics

Abstract We give several characterizations of non-Archimedean Polish groups admitting compatible two-sided invariant metrics. Using these characterizations we further prove that there exist surjectively universal groups for this class, but there are no universal ones. We also give answers to analogous questions for abelian non-Archimedean Polish groups.
Burntgas composition of the heliumoxygenacetylene flame

Abstract The burnt gas composition of a potentially important atom reservoir, the He O 2 C 2 H 2 flame, is calculated. This flame, compared to the air—acetylene flame, provides a slightly more reducing and a much less quenching environment.
Almost Optimal Pseudorandom Generators for Spherical Caps: Extended Abstract

Halfspaces or linear threshold functions are widely studied in complexity theory, learning theory and algorithm design. In this work we study the natural problem of constructing pseudorandom generators (PRGs) for halfspaces over the sphere, aka spherical caps, which besides being interesting and basic geometric objects, also arise frequently in the analysis of various randomized algorithms (e.g., randomized rounding). We give an explicit PRG which fools spherical caps within error e and has an almost optimal seed-length of O(log n + log(1/e) ⋅ log log(1/e)). For an inverse-polynomially growing error e, our generator has a seed-length optimal up to a factor of O( log log (n)). The most efficient PRG previously known (due to Kane 2012) requires a seed-length of Ω(log3/2(n)) in this setting. We also obtain similar constructions to fool halfspaces with respect to the Gaussian distribution. Our construction and analysis are significantly different from previous works on PRGs for halfspaces and build on the iterative dimension reduction ideas of Kane et. al. 2011 and Celis et. al. 2013, the classical moment problem from probability theory and explicit constructions of approximate orthogonal designs based on the seminal work of Bourgain and Gamburd 2011 on expansion in Lie groups.
η5‐P‐ or η4‐P‐Coordination in apically oxygenated phosphoranes? An ab initio study of PH4O−, PH4O− · E (E = Li+, NH4+, and HF) and related fluorinated oxyphosphoranes

Structural optimizations of the apically substituted isomer of PH4O− and the diapically substituted isomer of PH3FO− with diffuse-function augmented 3–21G* basis sets and with the 6–31 + G* and 6–31 + + G* basis sets result in P-η4-coordination in these anions. The structures obtained are those of a hydride or fluoride ion “solvated” by or complexed with phosphine oxide, rather than phosphoranes. In contrast, 3–21G* basis sets without diffuse functions on the atom in the trans-apical position with regard to the oxy-substituent yield P-η5-phosphorane structures that appear to be computational artifacts of the small basis set; the formation of the P-η4-geometries is curtailed by the insufficient functional description of the potential trans-apical nucleophilic leaving group. The overall neutral apical isomers of PH4O− · E(E = Li+, NH4+), the diapical isomer of PH3FO−Li+, as well as the model-solvated apical isomer of PH4O− · HF favor P-η5-phosphorane geometries at all of these computational levels. The mechanism by which the E-group alters the electronic structures within PH4Oa− is discussed based on the geometries, the molecular orbitals, and electron density analysis techniques.
Use of partial dissolution techniques in geochemical exploration

Abstract Application of partial dissolution techniques to geochemical exploration has advanced from an early empirical approach to an approach based on sound geochemical principles. This advance assures a prominent future position for the use of these techniques in geochemical exploration for concealed mineral deposits. Partial dissolution techniques are classified as single dissolution or sequential multiple dissolution depending on the number of steps taken in the procedure, or as “nonselective” extraction and as “selective” extraction in terms of the relative specificity of the extraction. The choice of dissolution techniques for use in geochemical exploration is dictated by the geology of the area, the type and degree of weathering, and the expected chemical forms of the ore and of the pathfinding elements. Case histories have illustrated many instances where partial dissolution techniques exhibit advantages over conventional methods of chemical analysis used in geochemical exploration.
Awaiting cervical change for the diagnosis of preterm labor does not compromise the efficacy of ritodrine tocolysis

Abstract We retrospectively studied 209 patients treated with ritodrine hydrochloride to determine whether change in cervical effacement or dilatation during a period of observation before therapy would result in decreased efficacy of ritodrine, as measured by delivery delays of 48 hours, 1 week, or until ≥37 weeks' gestation; neonatal intensive care unit admission; and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. Patients who were ≥3 cm dilated on admission were at high risk of therapy failure by all outcome measures compared with patients
Large eddy simulation of turbulent crossflow in tube bundles

Abstract Flow characteristics have been examined in non-staggered and staggered tube bundles using the large eddy simulation method. The simulations use two subgrid scale closure models that are compared to available experimental data in the form of power spectral densities and bound spectra of lift and drag forces. In large eddy simulation, the large scale motions are explicitly resolved while the small scale motions are modeled. The simulations have been performed adopting the large eddy simulation computer code GUST. Rigid two-dimensional tube bundle arrays are considered with staggered and non-staggered geometries. Non-staggered array simulations are carried out for a deep bundle case (100 × 100 grid) and an inflow/outflow case (400 × 160 grid). A deep bundle staggered array simulation (154 × 178 grid) is also performed. Power spectral densities of lift and drag forces correlate well with the experimental data. Correlation functions are used to describe turbulence characteristics. Flow visualization has enabled the distinction of different characteristics within the flow, such as switching effects within a tube bank and in the wake of the bundle flow. These are similar observations as in experimental findings. Comparison of the power spectral densities to bound spectra shows good agreement. The results indicate that the large eddy simulation technique is capable of turbulence prediction in complex geometries and may be used as a viable engineering tool with the careful consideration of the subgrid scale closure model.