cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Occurrence of melting during the solid particle erosion of copper

Abstract Copper single crystals were eroded by glass particles at a velocity of 133 m s −1 and an incidence angle of 30°. After erosion, surfaces and debris were examined by electron microscopy. Clear evidence was obtained for localized melting of the surface layers; this is associated with embedded fragments of erodant. The most likely cause of melting appears to be the smearing of a thin layer of copper between the erodant particle and the embedded fragments. Under such conditions the layer may melt if the rate of heating during impact is sufficiently larger than the rate of thermal conduction through the low conductivity embedded and impacting glass erodant. The implication of these results for other studies and the erosion of two-phase microstructures is discussed.
Frequency scaling of rain attenuation

A simple method of frequency scaling for rain attenuation is presented. This method includes a correction factor for rain inhomogeneity and takes into account the high correlation between peak rainfall rate and attenuation. The results are compared with Drufuca's empirical method. The discrepancies between theoretical scaling and empirical scaling are found to be reduced by about a factor of two when the corrections presented herein are incorporated.
Failure of cell-free spleen extracts to protect irradiated animals.

SummaryPostradiation administration of cell-free mouse splenic extract to whole body x-irradiated mice (intraperitoneally) and guinea pigs (intramuscularly) did not result in protection against postradiation death. The treated animals died at an accelerated rate when compared to the controls.
Two functions of the C-terminal domain of Escherichia coli Rob: mediating “sequestration-dispersal” as a novel off-on switch for regulating Rob’s activity as a transcription activator and preventing degradation of Rob by Lon protease

In Escherichia coli, Rob activates transcription of the SoxRS/MarA/Rob regulon. Previous work revealed that Rob resides in three to four immunostainable foci, that dipyridyl and bile salts are inducers of its activity, and that inducers bind to Rob's C-terminal domain (CTD). We propose that sequestration inactivates Rob by blocking its access to the transcriptional machinery and that inducers activate Rob by mediating its dispersal, allowing interaction with RNA polymerase. To test "sequestration-dispersal" as a new mechanism for regulating the activity of transcriptional activators, we fused Rob's CTD to SoxS and used indirect immunofluorescence microscopy to determine the effect of inducers on SoxS-Rob's cellular localization. Unlike native SoxS, which is uniformly distributed throughout the cell, SoxS-Rob is sequestered without an inducer, but is rapidly dispersed when cells are treated with an inducer. In this manner, Rob's CTD serves as an anti-sigma factor in regulating the co-sigma-factor-like activity of SoxS when fused to it. Rob's CTD also protects its N-terminus from Lon protease, since Lon's normally rapid degradation of SoxS is blocked in the chimera. Accordingly, Rob's CTD has novel regulatory properties that can be bestowed on another E. coli protein.
Speech and memory assessment in psychomotor epileptics.

Summary Thirty post-lobectomy patients operated on for relief of seizures due to temporal lobe epilepsy and six patients who had had implantation of depth electrodes only were assessed in terms of their speech and memory abilities. The results from two subtests of the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination show no significant group differences on speech tests. On the other hand, patients with left or dominant temporal lobectomies showed a greater memory deficit than those operated upon on the right or nondominant side. This difference was apparent on tests of both recent verbal memory and long-term memory.
Algorithms and software: integrating theory and practice in the undergraduate computer science curriculum

A theoretical trend in the development of undergraduate computer science curricula is described. While this curriculum trend can be seen as a natural evolution of a discipline, there are other reasons for it. An opposite trend can be observed that seeks to integrate theory and practice in the undergraduate curriculum. We offer general guidelines based on this second curriculum philosophy.
Design or screening of drugs for the treatment of Chagas disease: what shows the most promise?

Introduction: Endemic in Latin America, Chagas disease is now becoming a serious global health problem, and yet has no financial viability for the pharmaceutical industry and remains incurable. In 2012, two antimycotic drugs inhibitors of fungal sterol 14α-demethylase (CYP51) – posaconazole and ravuconazole – entered clinical trials. Availability of the X-ray structure of the orthologous enzyme from the causative agent of the disease, protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, determined in complexes with posaconazole as well as with several experimental protozoa-specific CYP51 inhibitors opens an excellent opportunity to improve the situation. Areas covered: This article summarizes the information available in PubMed and Google on the outcomes of treatment of the chronic Chagas disease. It also outlines the major features of the T. cruzi CYP51 structure and the possible structure-based strategies for rational design of novel T. cruzi specific drugs. Expert opinion: There is no doubt that screenings for altern...
The Analysis of an Innovative HIV-Positive Women's Support Group

ABSTRACT It has been demonstrated that engagement and retention are key components for the delivery of successful health care for HIV-positive individuals. Many social workers are often frustrated with the difficulty in forming and maintaining support groups; however, some providers have greater success. This paper illustrates and discusses an innovative support group for HIV-positive women in central Massachusetts. The purpose of this paper is to describe the context, formation, and functioning of the group, followed by a deconstruction analysis. In addition, the paper will build on this innovative method of support group work by suggesting additional women-engaging themes, activities, and tasks.
Interpreting Georges Sorel: Defender of virtue or apostle of violence?

(1990). Interpreting Georges Sorel: Defender of virtue or apostle of violence? History of European Ideas: Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 239-257.
Three-Dimensional Stress Fields of Elastic Interface Cracks

Various aspects of stress fields near an interface crack in three-dimensional bimaterial plates are investigated. Due to the nature of the resulting deformation field, three-dimensional effects are more critical in a bimaterial plate than in a homogeneous plate. In the close vicinity of the crack front, the stress field is characterized by the asymptotic bimaterial K -field, and its domain size is a very small fraction of a plate thickness. Unlike a homogeneous case, the asymptotic field always consists all three modes of fracture, and an interface crack must propagate under mixed-mode conditions. Furthermore, computational results have shown that the two phase angles representing the relative magnitudes of the three modes strongly depend on the bimaterial properties. It has been also observed that a significant antiplane (Mode III) deformation exists along the crack front, especially near the free surface. Since experimental investigations have shown that critical energy release rate G c is highly dependent on the phase angles, accurate prediction of the interface fracture behavior requires not only the G distribution but also the variations of phase angles along the crack front.
Subharmonic solutions of periodically forced predator-prey systems

IN THIS PAPER we consider a class of planar ordinary differential equations consisting of a basic predator-prey system with an autonomous perturbation that may represent a damping or “frictional” force and a time-periodic perturbation. The problem we study is that of the existence of subharmonic solutions, that is, periodic solutions whose period is an integral multiple of the forcing period. It is not our intention to describe any specific ecosystem, but rather to give some rather general mathematical results and discuss the numerical computation of these subharmonics. We mention, however, that predator-prey cycles have been observed in nature for a long time, and their mechanism remains a major problem in mathematical biology. Some classic early studies were those of Volterra [l], Lotka [2] and Kolmogoroff [3], and the examples in Section 4 of this paper are perturbations of Volterra-Lotka systems. Considerable work has been done with various autonomous predator-prey models (see [4, Chapter 121 for a very readable introduction), but much less with time-dependent systems. From the point of view of applications, however, it seems reasonable to introduce periodic perturbations, and indeed it is difficult to imagine any high-level ecosystem in which the reproduction rates of at least some species are not affected by some cyclic factor (e.g. yearly, daily, lunar). It is hoped that the results given here may contribute to the understanding of such systems. For discussions of predator-prey cycles from the biological point of view, see [5-71. The main tool here is a variant of the Liapunov-Schmidt method as given by Chow and Hale [8]. The Liapunov-Schmidt method first seems to have been used to prove the existence of subharmonics for some classes of ordinary differential equations by Hale and Taboas [9]. Since then, a fairly extensive theory has been developed for single second-order equations. (see [lo] and references therein.) Subharmonics for a certain perturbed Volterra-Lotka system were examined from a different point of view in [ 111. We will now make a few comments on our notation. Whenever a function is introduced on the right-hand side of a differential equation, it is assumed to be smooth. “Smooth” here means C”. It will be evident that a hypothesis of C” in what follows can usually be replaced by a hypothesis of C” for some finite n, but we wanted to avoid the distraction of counting derivatives. Ordinary derivatives are denoted in the usual way by primes, dots, or d”, partial derivatives by subscripted variable names or a’, and derivative matrices by Ds. The 2 x 2 identity matrix is denoted by I. A “wedge” is a section of a disk lying between two smooth curves through the origin whose tangents at the origin are different.
Pharmacogenomics of atrial fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the commonest arrhythmia requiring intervention; we report here analyses of 2 ongoing studies of AF from the Pharmacogenomics of Arrhythmia Therapy (PAT) group. (1) ACE polymorphism and drug response: The Angiotensin Converting Enzyme (ACE) DD genotype increases plasma ACE, is presumed to thereby increase tissue angiotensin II, and has been linked to adverse outcomes in cardiovascular disease. Increasing evidence links activation of the renin-angiotensin system to the pathophysiology of atrial fibrillation (AF), suggesting the hypothesis that ACE I/D genotype modulates response of AF to therapy with conventional antiarrhythmic drugs (AADs). We have tested this idea in 229 patients (159 men, 70 women; age 51±15 years) prospectively enrolled in the Vanderbilt AF Registry. AAD outcome was defined blind to genotype as response if >75% reduction in frequency/duration of AF or non-response if duration/frequency was unchanged, necessitating a change in drug/ therapy. The frequencies of the DD, ID and II genotypes were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (26%, 45% and 28% respectively). 42% of DD subjects were non-responders, compared to 25% of ID and 11% of II (P<0.01, Fisher's exact test). ID/DD patients had 1.5±0.7 AAD trials, compared to 1.3±0.6 in II subjects (P=0.03). (2) Post-operative AF: Clinical and genomic predictors of post-operative AF were studied in 940 elective cardiac surgery patients; 250 had AF, and 250 were selected as controls. Multifactor Dimensionality Reduction (MDR) analysis was used to determine the roles of clinical risk factors (age, gender, type of operation, preoperative medications, medical history, and postoperative events) and the candidate genetic markers interleukin-6 (IL-6) -174 C/G, ACE I/D, and apolipoprotein E (ApoE) alleles. History of AF, length of stay, age, duration of cardiopulmonary bypass, and beta-blocker therapy on discharge predicted AF. We also detected a single locus effect of the IL-6 -174 C/G polymorphism, which was able to predict post-operative AF with 59.8% accuracy. ACE I/D polymorphism and ApoE alleles did not show consistent effects in predicting AF, either alone or interacting with environmental variables. Taken together, these results highlight the likelihood that this common arrhythmia may have multiple etiologies that are in part genetically-determined, and demonstrate utility of novel computational approaches in assessing candidate susceptibility genes. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2005) 77, P7–P7; doi: 10.1016/j.clpt.2004.11.029
Controlled selectivity for palladium catalysts using self-assembled monolayers

The selective reaction of one part of a bifunctional molecule is a fundamental challenge in heterogeneous catalysis and for many processes including the conversion of biomass-derived intermediates. Selective hydrogenation of unsaturated epoxides to saturated epoxides is particularly difficult given the reactivity of the strained epoxide ring, and traditional platinum group catalysts show low selectivities. We describe the preparation of highly selective Pd catalysts involving the deposition of n-alkanethiol self-assembled monolayer (SAM) coatings. These coatings improve the selectivity of 1-epoxybutane formation from 1-epoxy-3-butene on palladium catalysts from 11 to 94% at equivalent reaction conditions and conversions. Although sulphur species are generally considered to be indiscriminate catalyst poisons, the reaction rate to the desired product on a catalyst coated with a thiol was 40% of the rate on an uncoated catalyst. Interestingly the activity decreased for less-ordered SAMs with shorter chains. The behaviour of SAM-coated catalysts was compared with catalysts where surface sites were modified by carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons or sulphur atoms. The results suggest that the SAMs restrict sulphur coverage to enhance selectivity without significantly poisoning the activity of the desired reaction.
(R)-Methanandamide and Δ9-THC as discriminative stimuli in rats: tests with the cannabinoid antagonist SR-141716 and the endogenous ligand anandamide

Rationale and objectives: (R)-Methanandamide (AM-356), a metabolically more stable chiral analog of the endocannabinoid ligand anandamide, was used as a representative of fatty acid ethanolamide CB1 receptor ligands to characterize the discriminative stimulus functions of anandamides. Methods: Rats discriminated between 10 mg/kg (R)-methanandamide and vehicle administered IP 15 min prior to session onset. Another group of rats was initially trained to discriminate between 3 mg/kg Δ9-THC and vehicle given IP 30 min prior to session onset; for anandamide testing, the animals were retrained with 1.8 and 5.6 mg/kg Δ9-THC. A two lever operant methodology (FR10) was used. Results: Δ9-THC was more potent than (R)-methanandamide at both 15 and 30 min post-injection, irrespective of the training drug used. Additional tests with 10 and 18 mg/kg (R)-methanandamide suggested that the effects were declining by 1 h. The cannabinoid antagonist SR 141716 (0.3 and 1 mg/kg) produced rightward shifts in the Δ9-THC dose-response curve for Δ9-THC-appropriate responding and for (R)-methanandamide-appropriate responding (surmountable antagonism). SR-141716 (0.3 and 1 mg/kg) antagonized the ability of (R)-methanandamide to occasion either Δ9-THC-appropriate responding or (R)-methanandamide-appropriate responding. This antagonism was surmountable only at a dose of 0.3 mg/kg SR-1421716 in the (R)-methanandamide-trained rats. SR-141716 did not antagonize the rate-decreasing effects of (R)-methanandamide in either the Δ9-THC or the (R)-methanandamide trained rats. Response suppression precluded testing doses higher than 30 mg/kg (R)-methanandamide. Tests with SR-141716 (1 and 10 mg/kg) alone resulted in <3% Δ9-THC-appropriate responding. With 10 mg/kg SR-141716, response rate was significantly lower as compared to the rate observed during a vehicle test. Tests with anandamide (10 and 18 mg/kg) resulted in 41% and 85% (R)-methanandamide-appropriate responding at a 3-min pre-treatment time, but in a maximum of 15% (R)-methanandamide-appropriate responding at a longer (15 min) pre-treatment time. In the Δ9-THC (1.8 and 5.6 mg/kg) trained rats, anandamide never produced more than about 20% Δ9-THC-appropriate responding. Conclusion: The results add to a growing body of evidence indicating that there are both similarities and dissimilarities between classical cannabinoids such as THC and endogenous fatty acid ethanolamides.
A Review of Quality Evaluation Systems for Mental Health Services

Mental health quality of care evaluation systems found in an extensive search are reviewed. The quality measures are differentiated from other seemingly similar types of scales and instruments. The quality systems are reviewed in reference to 1) reliability and validity of data, type, and source of data, allowance for patient variables, standards of quality, and other parameters and 2) range and comprehensiveness, particularly with regard to coverage of the range of disorders and conditions, of age groups, care needs, care settings, treatment modalities, and of types of provider performance. Most measures were reliable and valid. Some gave consideration to patient variables and case mix, to timing, and to treatment intensity. There were no measures of providers' interpersonal performance. With regard to range and comprehensiveness, there was a substantial imbalance toward the medical model and pharmacotherapy and away from systems orientation, from psychotherapy, and from other modalities, interventions, and types of programs.
The two-machine stochastic flowshop problem with arbitrary processing time distributions

We treat the two-machine flowshop problem with the objective of minimizing the expected makespan when the jobs possess stochastic durations of arbitrary distributions. We make three contributions in this paper: (1) we propose an exact approach with exponential worst-case time complexity. We also propose approximations which are computationally modest in their requirements. Experimental results indicate that our procedure is within less than 1% of the optimum; and (2) we provide a more elementary proof of the bounds on the project completion time based on the concepts of 'control networks'; and (3) we extend the 'reverse search' procedure of Avis and Fukuda [1] to the context of permutation schedules.
Fast Servo Signal Acquisition in Tape Drives

Abstract In a tape drive, the head assembly, which hosts servo readers and data writers/readers, must initially be moved to a target position, so that information can be written to or read from the desired tracks. The positioning of a servo reader over a servo band, from which the position-error signal for steady-state track-following operation is obtained, has to be fast, because of the moving-target nature of the problem. This is especially true in the presence of non-negligible lateral tape motion, as found in tape paths with flangeless rollers. In this paper, a method is proposed whereby not only the servo readers but also the data readers in a drive are used to detect the presence of a valid servo signal. If a servo reader is not positioned over a servo band, the distance between servo reader and servo band is continuously estimated by identifying the data reader detecting the presence of a servo signal. This information is then provided to a control element, which determines a trajectory for the actuator and outputs a control signal so that the servo reader rapidly lands over the servo band with optimum control effort. A realization of the proposed method is illustrated by simulation as well as experimental results.
Laboratory screening tests on the effect of initial oil saturation for the dynamic control of in-situ combustion

Abstract There are two main goals of this study: to investigate the performance variations of in-situ combustion (ISC) with the change in initial oil saturation (IOS) through laboratory screening tests and to determine mechanisms for maintaining the dynamic control of ISC by varying the injected air rate in an oil field which has heterogeneously distributed IOS. Thus, we start with the determination of the optimum IOS value for ISC with five combustion tube tests at identical experimental conditions but at different IOS values and the IOS value used in the best performing experiment is decided to be the optimum IOS value for the given experimental conditions. Then, the air-requirement for the field-scale application is calculated analytically. The air-requirements for the experiments which exhibit poorer performance are normalized according to the value obtained for the optimum IOS case. We observed that the fuel-deposition amount is highly affected by the IOS and decreases with IOS. Our findings show that the constant air rate used in the experiments is responsible for the performance change in ISC for varying IOS. Therefore, the air rate should be adjusted according to the estimated fuel deposition amount for the dynamic control of ISC for the field application.
Terrestrial mantle siderophiles and the lunar impact record

Results of an analytical fit to the lunar cratering record are shown to be in good agreement with geochemical estimates of the meteoritic component mixed into the lunar crust. Upon a gravitational scaling to the earth consistent with the statistical probability that earth impactors were more massive than lunar ones, an estimate is obtained of 1.5 x 10 to the 22nd kg of material accumulated by the earth begining 4.4 Gyr ago. This is in excellent agreement with estimates of postcore-formation meteoritic input derived from geochemical considerations of the abundances of highly siderophile elements in the terrestrial mantle. Approximate agreement is therefore established between the lunar cratering record scaling and both lunar and terrestrial geochemical constraints.
A high-yield method for the preparation of cleaved wedge specimens through semiconductor interfaces

Abstract A modified method of the standard technique for producing cross-sectional cleaved wedge specimens through semiconductor interfaces has been developed. In this procedure a dimple grinder is used to mill grooves in the sample prior to cleaving. This results in reliable high-quality cleavage of the sample and a specimen geometry which facilitates mounting so that a high preparation success rate is readily achievable. In addition, such specimens mounted in the standard way or in particular on modified slot grids are particularly useful when large height or tilt adjustments of the specimen are undesired or unavailable.
A model for warehouse order picking

Order picking in conventional warehouse environments involves determining a sequence in which to visit the unique locations where each part in the order is stored, and thus is often modeled as a traveling salesman problem. With computer tracking of inventories, parts may now be stored in multiple locations, simplifying replenishment of inventory and eliminating the need to reserve space for each item. In this environment, order picking requires choosing a subset of the locations that store an item to collect the required quantity. Thus, both the assignment of inventory to an order and the associated sequence in which the selected locations are visited affect the cost of satisfying an order. We formulate a model for simultaneously determining the assignment and sequencing decisions, and compare it to previous models for order picking. The complexity of the order picking problem is discussed, and an upper bound on the number of feasible assignments is established. Several extensions of TSP heuristics to the new problem setting and a tabu search algorithm are presented and experimentally tested.
High-Speed Interpolation Architecture for Soft-Decision Decoding of Reed–Solomon Codes

Algebraic soft-decision decoding of Reed-Solomon (RS) codes delivers promising coding gains over conventional hard-decision decoding. The most computationally demanding step in soft-decision decoding of RS codes is bivariate polynomial interpolation. In this paper, we present a hybrid data format-based interpolation architecture that is well suited for high-speed implementation of the soft-decision decoders. It will be shown that this architecture is highly scalable and can be extensively pipelined. It also enables maximum overlap in time for computations at adjacent iterations. It is estimated that the proposed architecture can achieve significantly higher throughput than conventional designs with equivalent or lower hardware complexity
Sampling-based motion planning with deterministic μ-calculus specifications

In this paper, we propose algorithms for the on-line computation of control programs for dynamical systems that provably satisfy a class of temporal logic specifications. Such specifications have recently been proposed in the literature as a powerful tool to synthesize provably correct control programs, for example for embedded systems and robotic applications. The proposed algorithms, generalizing state-of-the-art algorithms for point-to-point motion planning, incrementally build finite transition systems representing a discrete subset of dynamically feasible trajectories. At each iteration, local μ-calculus model-checking methods are used to establish whether the current transition system satisfies the specifications. Efficient sampling strategies are presented, ensuring the probabilistic completeness of the algorithms. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach on simulation examples.
Reflections on the recent historiography of eastern Congo

Considering the scale of violence that has accompanied the crisis in eastern Congo, the avalanche of academic writings on the subject is hardly surprising. Whether it helps us better understand the region's tortured history is a matter of opinion. This critical article grapples with the contributions of the recent literature on what has been described as the deadliest conflict since the Second World War. The aim, in brief, is to reflect on the historical context of the crisis, examine its relation to the politics of neighboring states, identify and assess the theoretical vantage points from which it has been approached, and, in conclusion, sketch out promising new directions for further research by social scientists. A unifying question that runs throughout the recent literature on the eastern Congo is how might a functioning state be restored or how might civil society organizations serve as alternatives to such a state – but there is little unanimity in the answers.
Diagenetic haematite and sulfate assemblages in Valles Marineris

Abstract Previous orbital mapping of crystalline gray haematite, ferric oxides, and sulfates has shown an association of this mineralogy with light-toned, layered deposits on the floor of Valles Marineris, in chaos terrains in the canyon’s outflow channels, and in Meridiani Planum. The exact nature of the relationship between ferric oxides and sulfates within Valles Marineris is uncertain. The Observatoire pour la Mineralogie, l’Eau, les Glaces et l’Activite (OMEGA) spectrometer initially identified sulfate and ferric oxides in the layered deposits of Valles Marineris. The Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) has also mapped coarse (gray) haematite in or at the base of these deposits. We use Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) spectra and Context Camera (CTX) and High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) imagery from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to explore the mineralogy and morphology of the large layered deposit in central Capri Chasma, part of the Valles Marineris canyon system that has large, clear exposures of sulfate and haematite. We find kieserite (MgSO 4 ·H 2 O) and ferric oxide (often crystalline red haematite) in the lower bedrock exposures and a polyhydrated sulfate without ferric oxides in the upper bedrock. This stratigraphy is duplicated in many other basinal chasmata, suggesting a common genesis. We propose the haematite and monohydrated sulfate formed by diagenetic alteration of a sulfate-rich sedimentary deposit, where the upper polyhydrated sulfate-rich, haematite-poor layers either were not buried sufficiently to convert to a monohydrated sulfate or were part of a later depositional phase. Based on the similarities between the Valles Marineris assemblages and the sulfate and haematite-rich deposits of Meridiani Planum, we hypothesize a common evaporite and diagenetic formation process for the Meridiani Planum sediments and the sulfate-bearing basinal Interior Layered Deposits.
Human Defensin α-1 Causes Trypanosoma cruzi Membrane Pore Formation and Induces DNA Fragmentation, Which Leads to Trypanosome Destruction

Human defensins play a fundamental role in the initiation of innate immune responses to some microbial pathogens. Here we show that human defensin alpha-1 displays a trypanocidal role against Trypanosoma cruzi, the causative agent of Chagas' disease. The toxicity of human defensin alpha-1 against T. cruzi is mediated by membrane pore formation and the induction of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA fragmentation, leading to trypanosome destruction. Exposure of trypomastigote and amastigote forms of T. cruzi to defensin alpha-1 significantly reduced parasite viability in a peptide concentration-dependent and saturable manner. The toxicity of defensin alpha-1 against T. cruzi is blocked by anti-defensin alpha-1 immunoglobulin G. Electron microscopic analysis of trypomastigotes exposed to defensin alpha-1 revealed pore formation in the cellular and flagellar membranes, membrane disorganization, and blebbing as well as cytoplasmic vacuolization. Furthermore, human defensin alpha-1 enters the trypanosome when membrane pores are present and is associated with later intracellular damage. Trypanosome membrane depolarization abolished the toxicity of defensin alpha-1 against the parasite. Preincubation of trypomastigotes with defensin alpha-1 followed by exposure to human epithelial cells significantly reduced T. cruzi infection in these cells. Thus, human defensin alpha-1 is an innate immune molecule that causes severe toxicity to T. cruzi and plays an important role in reducing cellular infection. This is the first report showing that human defensin alpha-1 causes membrane pore formation in a human parasite, leading to trypanosome destruction.
The Second Century Through the Eyes of Hermas: Continuity and Change

The Shepherd of Hermas yields important information about church developments in the early second century, an important and little-documented period. Generally recognized characteristics of the Roman church in the early centuries are confirmed for Hermas, suggesting that it is not sectarian but mainstream. It further suggests three developments: social fragmentation, a process toward ordering and recognition of authority, and evolution of the function of prophecy.
Occurrence and Distribution of Proteinase of Streptococcus faecalis var. liquefaciens.

Shugart, Lee R. (University of Tennessee, Knoxville), and Raymond W. Beck. Occurrence and distribution of proteinase of Streptococcus faecalis var. liquefaciens. J. Bacteriol. 92:338–341. 1966.—The proteolytic enzyme produced by Streptococcus faecalis var. liquefaciens (ATCC 13398) was shown to be an exoenzyme. The production of the proteinase was followed in growing cultures, and its distribution was compared with that of the intracellular enzymes reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH2) peroxidase and lactate dehydrogenase. The proteinase appeared in the culture medium prior to the stationary phase of growth, whereas the other enzymes could be found only in whole cells. Fractionation of whole cells by sonic treatment and by treatment with lysozyme showed the proteinase to be associated primarily with the cell wall and cell membrane, and NADH2 peroxidase to be associated only with the cytoplasmic fractions.
Protecting Sensitive Customer Information in Call Center Recordings

Protecting sensitive information while preserving the share ability and usability of data is becoming increasingly important in the outsourced business process industry. Particularly in the context of call-centers a lot of customer related sensitive information is stored in audio recordings. In this work, we address the problem of protecting sensitive customer information in audio recordings and Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) transcripts. The high word error rates, spontaneous nature of communication and the variability in agent-customer interaction makes it harder and expensive to craft rules or build annotators to detect sensitive information. In this paper we propose a semi supervised method to model sensitive information as a directed graph which is automatically generated from ASR transcripts. Vocabularies specific to the nodes are generated using features of context sensitive clusters. The direction and weight of the edge capture the ordering and timing constraints respectively for these features. These constraints are learnt from the time stamps associated with ASR transcripts. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated by applying it to the problem of detecting and locating credit card transaction in real life conversations between agents and customer of a call center.
Motion Segmentation by Learning Homography Matrices from Motor Signals

Motion information is an important cue for a robot to separate foreground moving objects from the static background world. Based on the observation that the motion of the background (from the robot's egocentric view) has stronger correlation to the robot's motor signals than the motion of foreground objects, we propose a novel method to detect foreground moving objects by clustering image features according to their motion consistency with motor signals. Corner/edge features are detected and tracked across adjacent frames. The errors between the estimated feature locations based on motor signals and their actual tracked locations are calculated. The features are clustered into background/foreground using Expectation-Maximization on these errors. Labeled features are then used for pixel-level image segmentation with the Active Contours and Graph-based Transduction techniques. Unlike pixel-level background subtraction methods, the proposed approach does not require a large number of frames for background model construction, and does not suffer from accumulated image registration error for dynamic cameras. In contrast to existing sparse feature based foreground/background separation methods, our approach clusters features in only one dimensional space instead of a higher dimensional space, and there is no need to search for parameters in an affine or homography transformation space or motion trajectory space.
Paternal smoking is associated with increased risk of child malnutrition among poor urban families in Indonesia.

Objective: Paternal smoking is highly prevalent in Asia, and tobacco may account for a large proportion of household expenditures among poor families. We sought to characterise the relationship between paternal smoking, child malnutrition and food expenditures. Design: Data on smoking, household expenditures and child malnutrition were examined in a stratified multistage cluster sample of households in the Indonesia nutrition surveillance system. Main outcome measures were child wasting (weightfor-height Z-score ,22), underweight (weight-for-age Z-score ,22) and stunting (height-for-age Z-score ,22), and severe wasting, underweight and stunting (defined by respective Z-scores ,23). Setting: In total, 175583 households from urban slum areas in Indonesia. Subjects: Children 0‐59 months of age. Results: The prevalence of paternal smoking was 73.8%. After adjusting for child gender and age, maternal age and education, and weekly per capita household expenditures, paternal smoking was associated with child stunting (odds ratio (OR) ¼ 1.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08‐1.14, P , 0.0001), severe wasting (OR ¼ 1.17, 95% CI 1.03‐1.33, P ¼ 0.018) and severe stunting (OR ¼ 1.09, 95% CI 1.04‐1.15, P , 0.001). In households where the father was a smoker, tobacco accounted for 22% of weekly per capita household expenditures, with less money spent on food compared with households in which the father was a non-smoker. Conclusions: Among poor families in urban slum areas of Indonesia, paternal smoking diverts household money from food to tobacco and exacerbates child malnutrition.
Efficient robust AMF using the FRACTA algorithm

The FRACTA algorithm has been shown to be an effective space-time adaptive processing (STAP) methodology for the airborne radar configuration in which there exists nonhomogeneous clutter, jamming, and dense target clusters. Further developments of the FRACTA algorithm are presented here in which the focus is on the robust, efficient implementation of the FRACTA algorithm. Enhancements to the FRACTA algorithm include a censoring stopping mechanism, an alternative data blocking approach for adaptive power residue (APR) censoring, and a fast reiterative censoring (RC) procedure. Furthermore, a coherent processing interval (CPI) segmentation scheme for computing the adaptive weights is presented as an alternative approach to computing the adaptive matched filter (AMF) weight vector that allows for lower sample support and reduced computational complexity. The enhanced FRACTA algorithm, denoted as FRACTA.E, is applied to the KASSPER I challenge datacube which possesses dense ground target clusters that are known to have a significant deleterious effect on standard adaptive matched filtering (AMF) processors. It is shown that the FRACTA.E algorithm outperforms and is considerably more computationally efficient than both the original FRACTA algorithm and the standard sliding window processing (SWP) approach. Furthermore, using the KASSPER I datacube, the FRACTA.E algorithm is shown to have the same detection performance as the clairvoyant algorithm where the exact range-dependent clutter covariance matrices are known.
Femtoscopy in p+p vs. heavy ion collisions in STAR

The geometric substructure of the particle-emitting source has been characterized via two-particle interferometry by the STAR collaboration for several energies and colliding systems at RHIC. In heavy ion collisions the mT dependence of femtoscopic radii has been observed for all particle types by several experiments at different collision energies. This dependence has been thought to arise from space-momentum correlations generated by collective flow. On the other hand, there are several reports of a similar mT dependence by experiments measuring elementary particle collisions. Here, quite different physical mechanisms – including resonances, strings, and uncertainty arguments – have been proposed to explain the dependence. Determining the differences or similarities in the space-time physics driving the signal in heavy ion versus p+p collisions requires a direct comparison of mT dependence of the radii. Such a comparison has, until now, been sorely lacking. STAR data allow, for the first time, such a direct comparison between A+A, d+A, and p+p collisions, at the same energy, measured in the same detector, and using the same analysis techniques. Surprisingly, our preliminary results indicate an mT-independent scaling of the femtoscopic radii with overall system size. Possible physics implications of these observations will be discussed, and the importance of long-range non-femtoscopic correlations for low multiplicity collisions will be emphasized.
Building with a memory: responsive color interventions

Building with a Memory is a subtle responsive intervention that aims to provide cohesion and community awareness through the use of light and color. The installation delivers thought-provoking information by capturing, analyzing and rendering real-time and archived human activity in a workplace setting. The installation senses movement in the space through an IR camera and computer vision techniques. Two custom lighting fixtures and a video monitor render the aggregated movements. The visually simple aesthetic of the piece aims to balance active engagement and passive contribution, providing a rewarding experience for both occasional passersby and regular users of the space. This paper describes the motivations and contributions of the installation, together with insights gained from an informal evaluation and directions for future explorations.
Inflammatory Markers and Longitudinal Lung Function Decline in the Elderly

Longitudinal studies examining associations of the inflammatory markers fibrinogen and C-reactive protein (CRP) with lung function decline are sparse. The authors examined whether elevated fibrinogen and CRP levels were associated with greater longitudinal lung function decline in the elderly. The Cardiovascular Health Study measured fibrinogen and CRP in 5,790 Whites and African Americans from four US communities aged 65 years or older in 1989-1990 or 1992-1993. Spirometry was performed in 1989-1990 and 4, 7, and 16 years later. Fibrinogen and CRP were inversely associated with lung function at baseline after adjustment for multiple potential confounders. In mixed models, the rate of decline in forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV(1))/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio with increasing age was faster among those with higher baseline fibrinogen (-0.032%/year per standard deviation higher fibrinogen (95% confidence interval: -0.057, -0.0074)) but not among those with higher CRP (-0.0037%/year per standard deviation higher CRP (95% confidence interval: -0.013, 0.0056)). Longitudinal analyses for FEV(1) and FVC yielded results in the direction opposite of that hypothesized, possibly because of the high mortality rate and strong inverse association of FEV(1) and FVC but not FEV(1)/FVC with mortality. An alternative approach to missing data yielded similar results. In conclusion, higher levels of fibrinogen, but not CRP, independently predicted greater FEV(1)/FVC decline in the elderly.
Family-Related Roles and Considerations

When school years end and adult life begins, young adults with developmental disabilities and their families experience fully the realities of transition. Contrary to common connotation, this "transition" from school to adult roles is neither unitary nor smooth (Ferguson and Ferguson, 1986; Ferguson, Ferguson, andJones, 1988), and often involves extensive time waiting for opportunities to assume adult roles in work and community living (Brodsky, 1983; Ferguson and Ferguson, 1986). In addition, young adults with developmental disabilities and their families often continue to live together for years after the young adult leaves school (Brodsky, 1983; Irvin, Close, and Wells, 1987; Kregel, Wehman, and Seyfarth, 1985; McDonnell, Wilcox, Boles, and Bellamy, 1985). The responsibility for accomplishing desired transition outcomes devolves largely from the service system to the family (McCallum, 1985; Turnbull, 1988; Wilcox and Bellamy, 1982). These realities heighten the importance of the family's roles in the transition to adulthood of a family member with developmental disabilities. Demands are ever present for individuals and their families to cope with a variety of both known and unknown exigencies if the individuals with developmental disabilities and their families are to achieve satisfying adult lives. There is increased potential for family concerns to become stresses that can undermine transition to adult lives for people with developmental disabilities. Thus, to accomplish satisfactory transition outcomes for youth with disabilities who are entering their adult years, it is essential to address the needs and concerns of their families as well. In this paper, we document the role of the family related to transition and describe a useful conceptualltheoretical foundation that can serve to facilitate a clearer understanding of transition for young adults and their families. We emphasize the family-dependent nature and effects of the process of transition to adulthood for youth with developmental disabilities. Our approach is premised upon two well-established facts: First, young adults with developmental disabilities commonly live with their natural or foster families, who assume major responsibilities for overseeing the quality of their young adults' lives. Second, the myriad of family concerns that result are largely unaddressed within current education and adult service provision. Our conceptual/theoretical model, based largely on Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) stress and coping theory, derives directly from these two premises. Within our model, we define transition as an ongoing sequence of familyrelated events that can best be understood as both normative and extraordinary care-giving concerns, associated stresses, and coping efforts.
Cloud classification using support vector machines

Cloud classification from GOES 8 (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) imagery data is performed using the infrared (IR) channel only. For each block of the image, first and second order statistics are extracted and used to train and test a classifier. In this paper, cloud classification is performed using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier. This scheme, which is typically used to solve two-class problems, has been extended to classify ten different cloud and no-cloud areas. Preliminary results indicate the promise of this method for meteorological applications.
Relative movements of the thyroid and cricoid cartilages assessed by neural stimulation in dogs.

The literature abounds with contradictory answers to the question whether it is the cricoid or the thyroid cartilage that moves during changes in the fundamental frequency of the voice. If we assume that the cricoid is less resistant to movement than the thyroid, it is the cricoid that should be the moving member at the cricothyroid joints. This hypothesis was tested and confirmed in 15 dogs by stimulating the superior and recurrent laryngeal nerves, which supply the cricothyroid and thyroarytenoid muscles respectively. When the superior laryngeal nerve was stimulated, the cricoid arch always moved upward. It always moved backward, i.e., caudad, when the recurrent nerve was stimulated. At no time did movement of the thyroid cartilage result from stimulation of the laryngeal nerves.ZUSAMMENFASSUNGMan findet in der Literatur viele sich widersprechende Antworten auf die Frage, ob der Krikoid- oder der Thyroidknorpel sich bewegt, wenn die Grundfrequenz der Stimme sich verandert. Nimmt man an, dass der Krikoid...
Accurate alignment of functional EPI data to anatomical MRI using a physics-based distortion model

Mapping of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to conventional anatomical MRI is a valuable step in the interpretation of fMRI activations. One of the main limits on the accuracy of this alignment arises from differences in the geometric distortion induced by magnetic field inhomogeneity. This paper describes an approach to the registration of echo planar image (EPI) data to conventional anatomical images which takes into account this difference in geometric distortion. The authors make use of an additional spin echo EPI image and use the known signal conservation in spin echo distortion to derive a specialized multimodality nonrigid registration algorithm. They also examine a plausible modification using log-intensity evaluation of the criterion to provide increased sensitivity in areas of low EPI signal. A phantom-based imaging experiment is used to evaluate the behavior of the different criteria, comparing nonrigid displacement estimates to those provided by a magnetic field mapping acquisition. The algorithm is then applied to a range of nine brain imaging studies illustrating global and local improvement in the anatomical alignment and localization of fMRI activations.