cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Network modeling and simulation: a scalable simulator for TinyOS applications

Large clouds of tiny devices capable of computation, communication and sensing, goal of the Smart Dust project, will soon become a reality. Hardware miniaturization is shrinking devices and research in software is producing applications that allow devices to communicate and cooperate toward a common goal. Success on the software front hinges on the design of algorithms that can scale up with system size. Given that the number of individual cooperating devices will reach high orders of magnitude (hundreds of thousands or even millions), debugging and evaluating the software in such a large system can reap much benefit from simulation. This paper describes the design of a scalable and flexible simulator which allows for the direct execution, at source code level, of applications written for TinyOS, the operating system that executes on Smart Dust. This simulator also provides detailed models for radio signal propagation and node mobility.
Feature analysis and neural network-based classification of speech under stress

It is well known that the variability in speech production due to task-induced stress contributes significantly to loss in speech processing algorithm performance. If an algorithm could be formulated that detects the presence of stress in speech, then such knowledge could be used to monitor speaker state, improve the naturalness of speech coding algorithms, or increase the robustness of speech recognizers. The goal in this study is to consider several speech features as potential stress-sensitive relayers using a previously established stressed speech database (SUSAS). The following speech parameters are considered: mel, delta-mel, delta-delta-mel, auto-correlation-mel, and cross-correlation-mel cepstral parameters. Next, an algorithm for speaker-dependent stress classification is formulated for the 11 stress conditions: angry, clear, cond50, cond70, fast, Lombard, loud, normal, question, slow, and soft. It is suggested that additional feature variations beyond neutral conditions reflect the perturbation of vocal tract articulator movement under stressed conditions. Given a robust set of features, a neural network-based classifier is formulated based on an extended delta-bar-delta learning rule. The performance is considered for the following three test scenarios: monopartition (nontargeted) and tripartition (both nontargeted and targeted) input feature vectors.
A Statistical Technique for the Treatment of Rarely Occurring Impulsive Noise

This treatment of rarely occurring impulsive noise is based upon the development of probability distributions for the peaks of impulses incident on a receptor data bus. Monitoring equipment designed to fit in restricted shipboard conditions was used to take long-term measurements of the common-mode voltage levels on data bus lines on board two ships. Impulses registered at the monitoring point were seen to be clustered in the form of bursts. Damped ringing of unterminated cable shields was put forward as one of the main mechanisms causing impulse clustering. The measured results were compared with the theory and excellent matches were achieved.
TR-01Ezh2, A NOVEL TARGET IN TREATMENT OF MEDULLOBLASTOMA

Ezh2(enhancer of zeste homolog 2) is a member of the Polycomb-group (PcG) family. PcG family members form multimeric protein complexes that act as suppressors of the transcriptional state of genes over successive cell generations. Ezh2 acts mainly as a gene expression suppressor as it performs this role by the addition of three methyl groups to Lysine 27 of histone 3, a modification leading to chromatin condensation. Ezh2 is overexpressed in a number of human malignancies and its overproduction causes cancer due to silencing the expression of tumor suppressor genes. Overexpression of Ezh2 in medulloblastomas (MDB) has been shown in a number of studies while inhibition of its expression results in loss of viability cancer cells. Therefore targeting Ezh2+ MDB cells has the potential to result in a significant tumor regression. We have developed the first prototype of a mutated Herpes Simplex Virus-1, which is programmed to specifically replicate in cells that overexpress Ezh2 such as MDB cells resulting in their destruction. This oncolytic virus is called as “Signal-Smart 3 or SS3” virus. Normal tissues are not affected by this virus because of low or minimal expression of Ezh2. Oncolytic viruses are a novel family of anti-cancer agents capable of targeting cancer cells in a specific manner with different mechanisms. Many older members of this family are now in advanced phases of clinical trials. In this presentation, we explain our data about the effects of SS3 virus on the viability and tumorigenesis of MDB cells in-vitro and in-vivo.
On counting the rational numbers

In this study, we show how to construct a function from the set [image omitted] of natural numbers that explicitly counts the set [image omitted] of all positive rational numbers using a very intuitive approach. The function has the appeal of Cantor's function and it has the advantage that any high school student can understand the main idea at a glance without any prior knowledge of the Unique Prime Factorization Theorem or other nonelementary results. Unlike Cantor's function, the one we propose makes it very easy to determine what rational number, in unreduced form, is in a given position on the list and vice versa.
Effects of Lung Surfactant Proteins, SP-B and SP-C, and Palmitic Acid on Monolayer Stability

Langmuir isotherms and fluorescence and atomic force microscopy images of synthetic model lung surfactants were used to determine the influence of palmitic acid and synthetic peptides based on the surfactant-specific proteins SP-B and SP-C on the morphology and function of surfactant monolayers. Lung surfactant-specific protein SP-C and peptides based on SP-C eliminate the loss to the subphase of unsaturated lipids necessary for good adsorption and respreading by inducing a transition between monolayers and multilayers within the fluid phase domains of the monolayer. The morphology and thickness of the multilayer phase depends on the lipid composition of the monolayer and the concentration of SP-C or SP-C peptide. Lung surfactant protein SP-B and peptides based on SP-B induce a reversible folding transition at monolayer collapse that allows all components of surfactant to be retained at the interface during respreading. Supplementing Survanta, a clinically used replacement lung surfactant, with a peptide based on the first 25 amino acids of SP-B also induces a similar folding transition at monolayer collapse. Palmitic acid makes the monolayer rigid at low surface tension and fluid at high surface tension and modifies SP-C function. Identifying the function of lung surfactant proteins and lipids is essential to the rational design of replacement surfactants for treatment of respiratory distress syndrome.
Alcohol-related crashes and alcohol availability in grass-roots communities

This paper employs a unique panel data from 111 small non-metropolitan incorporated cities in California during a 108 month period from January 1981 to December 1989 in order to analyse the effect of alcohol availability on highway safety. Negative binomial regression models are estimated which include alcohol licences per square mile as a measure of alcohol availability. Theoretically, the sign of the alcohol licence density is indeterminate as it reflects a trade-off of its effect on traffic exposure and on the time price alcohol. Among the findings, increases in the density of general alcohol licences for off-site (on-site) alcohol consumption are beneficial (detrimental) to highway safety whereas increasing the density of beer/wine licences have non-uniform effects. Additional findings important to municipal policymakers are that DUI arrests and increasing the price of alcohol reduce alcohol-related crashes.
Epidemiology of Gait Disorders in Community-Residing Older Adults

OBJECTIVES: To study the epidemiology of gait disorders in community-residing older adults and their association with death and institutionalization. DESIGN: Community-based cohort study. SETTING: Bronx County and the research center at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. PARTICIPANTS: The Einstein Aging study recruited 488 adults aged 70 to 99 between 1999 and 2001. At entry and during annual visits over 5 years, subjects received clinical evaluations to determine presence of neurological or nonneurological gait abnormalities. MEASUREMENTS: Prevalence and incidence of gait disorders based on clinical evaluations and time to institutionalization and death. RESULTS: Of 468 subjects (95.9%) with baseline gait evaluations, 168 had abnormal gaits: 70 neurological, 81 nonneurological, and 17 both. Prevalence of abnormal gait was 35.0% (95% confidence interval (CI)=28.6-42.1). Incidence of abnormal gait was 168.6 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI=117.4-242.0) and increased with age. Men had a higher incidence of neurological gait abnormalities, whereas women had a higher incidence of nonneurological gaits. Abnormal gaits were associated with greater risk of institutionalization and death (hazard ratio (HR)=2.2, 95% CI=1.5-3.2). The risk was strongly related to severity of impairment; subjects with moderate to severe gait abnormalities (HR=3.2, 95% CI=1.9-5.2) were at higher risk than those with mild gait abnormalities (HR=1.8, 95% CI=1.0-2.8). CONCLUSION: The incidence and prevalence of gait disorders are high in community-residing older adults and are associated with greater risk of institutionalization and death.
Longitudinal Effects of Medication Nonadherence on Glycemic Control

Background: Medication nonadherence is known to worsen glycemic control. Few studies have examined this relationship over several years. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal effect of medication nonadherence on glycemic control among a large cohort of veterans. Methods: Analysis was performed on a cohort of 11 272 veterans with type 2 diabetes followed from April 1994 to May 2006. The primary outcome measures were mean glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (A1C) and proportion in poor control (A1C > 8%) over time. The main predictor was medication nonadherence based on medication possession ratio (MPR). Other covariates included sociodemographics and ICD-9 coded medical and psychiatric comorbidities. Generalized linear mixed models (GLMMs) were used to assess the relationship between MPR and A1C after adjusting for covariates. Results: Mean follow-up was 5.4 years. In the linear mixed model, after adjusting for baseline A1C and other confounding variables, mean A1C decreased by 0.24 (P <...
Creating a Community-Based Housing Response Pool

Following disasters, housing is a principal component of economic and buildings losses. Traditional interim housing programs have been criticized for their inability to (1) adequately address the socioeconomic needs of displaced families; and (2) control expenditures. The objective of this paper is to present a new housing framework that can revolutionize the current understanding of post-shelter housing from an overly expensive, socially disruptive activity to a capacity building process. The proposed framework supports the development of a community-based housing response pool that can (1) transform the one-size-fits-all housing assistance to a customized need-tailored approach, while (2) supporting local businesses to recover. This paper presents the development of two key modules within the proposed framework, including (1) an automated data acquisition module; and (2) a data mapping module to match available housing characteristics and locations to fulfill the social, emotional, and economic needs of displaced families. Moreover, this paper discusses the need to develop (1) an IT-based collaboration system among multiple localities and agencies; and (2) a real-time housing procurement system. The proposed framework should prove useful to emergency management agencies in (1) utilizing available housing resources; and (2) quantifying the need to construct/install additional interim housing within the affected communities.
In the absence of renal disease, 20 year mortality risk in type 1 diabetes is comparable to that of the general population: a report from the Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications Study

Aims/hypothesis The FinnDiane Study has reported that mortality in type 1 diabetes is not increased over a 7 year follow-up in the absence of renal disease (RD). Using the Pittsburgh Epidemiology of Diabetes Complications (EDC) Study population (n = 658) of childhood-onset type 1 diabetes (age <17 years), the present study sought to replicate and expand these findings to a 20 year follow-up (as of 1 January 2008) and examine cause of death by renal status.
Evidence-Based Medicine in a Nutshell: A Guide to Finding and Using the Best Evidence in Caring for Patients

Evidence-based medicine is the use of the best current evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. Practicing EBM requires recognition that in most encounters with patients, questions arise that should be answered to provide the patient with the best available medical care. Asking well-built clinical questions that contain 4 elements—a patient or problem, an intervention, a comparison intervention (if necessary), and an outcome—is an important step in practicing EBM. Once appropriate questions have been formulated, the best source for finding most types of best evidence is by searching the MEDLINE database by computer. MEDLINE searches have inherent software and operator limitations that make their reliability quite variable. One should be aware of these limitations and improve one's skills in searching. The Cochrane Collaboration Controlled Clinical Trials Registry contains more than 190,000 controlled clinical trials and is the best source of evidence about treatment. The quality (strength) of evidence is based on a hierarchy of evidence: results of systematic reviews of well-designed clinical studies, results of 1 or more well-designed clinical studies, results of large case series, expert opinion, and personal experience. Once the best evidence has been found, the EBM approach involves critically appraising the quality of the evidence, determining its magnitude and precision, and applying it to the specific patient. Guidelines to critically appraise and apply evidence are available. The clinical question, best evidence, and its critical appraisal should be saved in a format that can be easily retrieved for future use.
Gastroesophageal Reflux in Association with Congenital Heart Disease

The clinical course of 19 infants with severe respiratory symptoms associated with the presence of both congenital heart disease and gastroesophageal reflux is described. Down Syndrome or central nervous system disease was present in 12 of the 19 infants. The identification of reflux as a major or additional cause of the respiratory complications was often overlooked. Medical therapy alone was successful in only one of the 19 patients. Early repair or palliation of the cardiac malformation with or without subsequent antireflux surgical procedure was associated with relief of the symptoms in 13 patients.
When divergent life histories hybridize: insights into adaptive life‐history traits in an annual weed

Summary • Colonizing weed populations face novel selective environments, which may drive rapid shifts in life history. These shifts may be amplified when colonists are hybrids of species with divergent life histories. Selection on such phenotypically diverse hybrids may create highly fecund weeds. We measured the phenotypic variation, strength of natural selection and evolutionary response of hybrid and nonhybrid weeds. • We created F1 hybrids of wild radish, an early flowering, small-stemmed weed, and its late-flowering, large-stemmed, crop relative (Raphanus spp.). Replicate wild and hybrid populations were established in an agricultural landscape in Michigan, USA. The consequences of three generations of natural selection were measured in a common garden experiment. • Hybrid populations experienced strong selection for larger, earlier flowering plants whereas selection was relatively weak on wild populations. Large plant size evolved two to three times faster in the hybrid populations than in wild populations, yet hybrid populations did not evolve earlier flowering. Strong selection on size and phenotypic correlations between age at reproduction and size may have limited the response of flowering phenology. • Our findings demonstrate hybridization between species with divergent life histories may catalyse the rapid evolution of certain adaptive, weedy traits while tradeoffs limit the evolution of others.
Lighting quality research using rendered images of offices

Forty participants viewed a series of high-quality, computer-rendered colour images of a typical open-plan partitioned office, and rated them for attractiveness. The images were projected at realistic luminances and 33% of full size. The images were geometrically identical, but the outputs of four lighting circuits depicted in the renderings were independently manipulated. Initially, the lighting circuit outputs were random, but a genetic algorithm was used to generate new images that retained features of prior, highly-rated, images. As a result, the images converged on an individual’s preferred scene. Luminances in the preferred image were similar to preferred luminances chosen by people in real settings. A sub-set of images was rated on Brightness, Non-Uniformity and Attraction scales. Ratings were significantly related to simple photometric descriptors of the images. In particular, around 50% of the variance in Attraction ratings was predicted by average image luminance and its square, or by average im...
A Computational Study of the Aerodynamics of Hovering and Maneuvering in Drosophila

(Abstract) Three-dimensional unsteady computations of the flow past a fruit fly Drosophila under hovering and free flight conditions are computed. The kinematics of the wings and the body of the fruit fly are prescribed from experimental observations. The computed unsteady lift and thrust forces are validated with experimental results and are in excellent agreement. The unsteady aerodynamic origin of the time-varying yaw moment is identified. The differences in the kinematics between the right and the left wings show that subtle change in the stroke angle and deviation angle can result in the yaw moment for the turning maneuver. The computed yaw moment reaches a peak value at the beginning of the maneuver and remains positive through out the remainder of the maneuver. The origin of the yaw moment is investigated by computing the center of pressures on each wing and the individual moment arms. This investigation leads to the conclusion that it is the forward force and a component of the lift force that combine to produce the turning moment while the side force alone produces the restoring torque during the maneuver. The vorticity shed from the wing's leading edge and the tips show a loop like structure that during stroke reversals pinches off into Λ-like structures that have not been previously observed in the wakes of flapping fliers.
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health Care

With the skyrocketing costs of modern health care many health policy planners turn to cost effective analysis (CEA) or cost benefit analysis (CBA) to get quantitative answers for appropriateness of health procedures. This article analyzes how well approaches like CEA or CBA handle the hidden ethical judgements for such problems as: alternative treatments for an identical goal the most effective utilization of funds earmarked for a particular goal empirical support for the adoption of previously underfunded medical programs and exposing noncostworthy care. Areas of analysis that involve human capital methodologies whereby human value is often defined by economic worth was shown to discriminate against low wage earners. The quandary of how to determine the value of human life and health is an essential problem but is certainly not straight forward. A particular criticism of CEA where there exist ethical shortcomings is the analysis of health care for the elderly (e.g. the elderly have a worse expenditure of dollars for lifespan extension). If CEA or CBA is applied in an appropriate manner CEA can encompass many of our democratic societys values and therefore philosophers historians and students of the humanities are encouraged to provide input in this domain of analysts and economics.
Are there moral obligations to cosmetic dermatology patients beyond informed consent

A 45-year-old woman comes to the office of Dr Fox, a dermatologist, requesting wrinkle reduction with a botulinum toxin injection. She appears to be worried, frazzled, and anxious. The patient says she wants the wrinkle reduction treatment so that she can look younger for her husband. She confides in Dr Fox—without prompting—that she fears her husband is having an affair with a younger woman. She says that her husband is clearly no longer attracted to her and she fears he will leave her and their high schooleage children if she does not improve her appearance. She also tells Dr Fox that she is financially dependent on him, having been a career homemaker. Her husband is very supportive of this treatment; in fact, it was his suggestion. She tells Dr Fox that she is open to doing whatever it takes to save her marriage. After examination, Dr Fox deems the patient an appropriate candidate for cosmetic botulinum toxin injection and feels confident that she can effectively improve the appearance of the patient’s wrinkles with treatment.
Exogenous and endogenous corticosteroids modulate blood-brain barrier development in the ovine fetus

We previously reported decreases in blood-brain barrier permeability in the ovine fetus at 80% of gestation after antenatal corticosteroids and shown that permeability is not reduced in newborn lam...
A Queuing Theoretic Approach to Processor Power Adaptation for Video Decoding Systems

Video decoding applications must often cope with highly time-varying workload demands, while meeting stringent display deadlines. Voltage/frequency scalable processors are highly attractive for video decoding on resource-constrained systems, since significant energy savings can be achieved by dynamically adapting the processor speed based on the changing workload demand. Previous works on video-related voltage scaling algorithms are often limited by the lack of a good complexity model for video and often do not explicitly consider the video quality impact of various steps involved in the decoding process. Our contribution in this paper is threefold. First, we propose a novel complexity model through offline training that explicitly considers the video source characteristics, the encoding algorithm, and platform specifics to predict execution times. Second, based on the complexity model, we propose low complexity online voltage scaling algorithms to process decoding jobs such that they meet their display deadlines with high probability. We show that on average, our queuing-based voltage scaling algorithm provides approximately 10%-15% energy savings over existing voltage scaling algorithms. Finally, we propose a joint voltage scaling and quality-aware priority scheduling algorithm that decodes jobs in order of their distortion impact, such that by setting the processor to various power levels and decoding only the jobs that contribute most to the overall quality, efficient quality, and energy tradeoffs can be achieved. We demonstrate the scalability of our algorithm in various practical decoding scenarios, where reducing the power to 25% of the original power can lead to quality degradations of less than 1.0 dB PSNR.
Antibody-Dependent Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity in Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Rhesus Monkeys

With the recent demonstration in the RV144 Thai trial that a vaccine regimen that does not elicit neutralizing antibodies or cytotoxic T lymphocytes may confer protection against human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection, attention has turned to nonneutralizing antibodies as a possible mechanism of vaccine protection. In the current study, we evaluated the kinetics of the antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) response during acute and chronic SIVmac251 infection of rhesus monkeys. We first adapted a flow cytometry-based ADCC assay, evaluating the use of different target cells as well as different strategies for quantitation of activated natural killer (NK) cells. We found that the use of SIVmac251 Env gp130-coated target cells facilitates analyses of ADCC activity with a higher degree of sensitivity than the use of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected target cells; however, the kinetics of the measured responses were the same using these different target cells. By comparing NK cell expression of CD107a with NK cell expression of other cytokines or chemokine molecules, we found that measuring CD107a expression is sufficient for evaluating the anti-SIV function of NK cells. We also showed that ADCC responses can be detected as early as 3 weeks after SIVmac251 infection and that the magnitude of this antibody response is inversely associated with plasma viral RNA levels in animals with moderate to high levels of viral replication. However, we also demonstrated an association between NK cell-mediated ADCC responses and the amount of SIVmac251 gp140 binding antibody that developed after viral infection. This final observation raises the possibility that the antibodies that mediate ADCC are a subset of the antibodies detected in a binding assay and arise within weeks of infection.
A kinase independent function for Tec kinase ITK in regulating antigen receptor induced serum response factor activation

The Tec family kinases are critical downstream regu- lators of antigen receptor signals in lymphocytes. As kinases, they act on critical substrates to regulate signals such as calcium increase leading to activation of transcription factors such as NFAT, NFjB and SRF. We now show here that ITK, a member of the Tec family of tyrosine kinases, has a kinase independent function. Mutants of ITK that lack kinase activity or a kinase domain can rescue cells lacking Tec family kinases for antigen receptor induced SRF activation, but not for NFAT, AP-1 or NFjB activation. Furthermore, expression of these mutants in WT cells enhanced SRF activation. This kinase independent function required the SH2 domain since a mutant lacking both the kinase and SH2 domains was much less effective at rescuing SRF activation. This kinase-deleted mutant could partially res- cue ERK activation, and interact with multiple tyrosine phos- phorylated proteins during antigen receptor signaling, suggesting that ITK uses a scaffolding function that regulates signals leading to specific regulation of SRF activation. 2006 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
System Issues: Challenges to Intimate Partner Violence Screening and Intervention:

This ethnographic study examines the experiences of health care providers (HCPs) and advocates implementing intimate partner violence (IPV) screening and interventions in their health care organizations. Numerous policies and protocols have been developed to improve the response of HCPs to survivors of IPV. Typically studies have focused on HCPs with little attention to the role of organizations in providing care. The findings from this study highlight that even with IPV programs in place the organizational environment can contribute to suboptimal outcomes. Identified challenges included time constraints, organizational expectations for increased productivity, and dwindling organizational support and services for IPV. With the continuing debate regarding universal screening, this study illuminates the need for clinicians to have a supportive clinical environment and resources for IPV screening and intervention.
Importance of electrostatic polarizability in calculating cysteine acidity constants and copper(I) binding energy of Bacillus subtilis CopZ

CopZ is a copper chaperone from Bacillus subtilis. It is an important part of Cu(I) trafficking. We have calculated pKa values for the CXXC motif of this protein which is responsible for the Cu(I) binding, and the Cu(I) binding constants. Polarizable and fixed-charges formalisms were employed, and solvation parameters for the both models have been refitted. We had to partially redevelop parameters for the protonated and deprotonated cysteine residues. We have discovered that the polarizable force field (PFF) is qualitatively superior and allows a uniformly better level of energetic results. The PFF pKa values for cysteine are within ca. 0.8–2.8 pH units of the experimental data, while the fixed-charges OPLS formalism yields errors of up to tens of units. The PFF magnitude of the copper binding energy is about 10 kcal/mol or 50% higher than the experimental value, while the using the refitted OPLS parameters leads to an overall positive binding energy, thus predicting no thermodynamically stable complex. At the same time, the agreement of the polarizable S⋯Cu(I) distances with the experimental results is within 0.08 A range, and the non-polarizable calculations lead to an error of about 0.4 A. Moreover, the accuracy of the PFF has been achieved without any explicit fitting to either pKa or CopZ⋯Cu(I) binding energies. We believe that this makes our polarizable technique a choice method in reproducing protein – copper binding and further supports the notion that explicit treatment of electrostatic polarization is crucial in many biologically relevant studies, especially ion binding and transport.
Towards a framework for online game adoption

Drawing on Uses and Gratifications theory, this paper proposes and empirically tests an integrated model that depicts the factors that have the potential to impact the behavioral intention to adopt online games. The model is tested with data collected from 308 students in an American university. Overall, the results revealed that the effect of enjoyment was very crucial, and those of social interaction and achievement are moderate, but that of flow of experience did not influence behavioral intention. Results also indicated that visual appeal and escapism are important factors that affect and precede enjoyment. Proposes an integrated model that identifies factors leading to online game adoption.The effect of enjoyment was very crucial.The effect of social interaction and achievement are moderate.Flow of experience did not significantly affect behavioral intention.Visual appeal and escapism are important factors that affect and precede enjoyment.
The Sex-Linked Dwarf Gene as Expressed in Two Meat-Type Control Lines of Chickens

Abstract The influence of the sex-linked recessive dwarf gene (dw) was evaluated through 8 and 9 backcross generations in the Athens Randombred and Athens-Canadian Randombred populations, respectively, to assess the influence of this gene in control population backgrounds. Reproduction of both populations was by mating heterozygous (Dw/dw) males to normal females, followed by mating normal males to dwarf females in alternate generations. Backcrosses, therefore, produced full sib normal and dwarf females for evaluation in alternate generations. The relative depressive effect of the dw gene on body weight was less at 8 weeks of age than at latter ages. The depressive effect of dw on shank length at 16 weeks of age was similar to the depressive effect of this gene on 8-week body weight. Dwarfism did not appear to delay sexual maturity in the control population backgrounds used in this study, and no significant differences were noted in egg production (between normal and dwarf sibs). Dwarf pullets laid fewer defective eggs than their normal sibs.
Effect of cooling structure on thermal behavior of copper plates of slab continuous casting mold

A three-dimensional finite-element model of slab continuous casting mold was conducted to clarify the effect of cooling structure on thermal behavior of copper plates. The results show that temperature distribution of hot surface is mainly governed by cooling structure and heat-transfer conditions. For hot surface centricity, maximum surface temperature promotions are 30 °C and 15 °C with thickness increments of copper plates of 5 mm and nickel layers of 1 mm, respectively. The surface temperature without nickel layers is depressed by 10 °C when the depth increment of water slots is 2 mm and that with nickel layers adjacent to and away from mold outlet is depressed by 7 °C and 5 °C, respectively. The specific trend of temperature distribution of transverse sections of copper plates is nearly free of cooling structure, but temperature is changed and its law is similar to the corresponding surface temperature.
Hirschsprung's disease : a review

Hirschsprung's disease is not the easiest of diseases to diagnose and there is a range of similar diseases which merge into the problem. The lack of knowledge as to its aetiology means that prevention is not possible. The wide range of treatments suggests that none of them give ideal results every time, although they each have their adherents. Much work is necessary to elucidate the cause of this disease.
Research and implementation of key techniques of encryption and decryption system on heterogeneous database

Data encryption is an effective way to guarantee the confidentiality of information. Concerning the poor compatibility of heterogeneous database and single type query of encrypted data in the general encryption and decryption systems, the authors provided a new database encrypted mode on the basis of domain metadata: adopted the Object Relation Mapping ( ORM ) mechanism for heterogeneous databases, improved flexible and various cryptograph query by building ciphertext index, and designed and implemented the encryption and decryption system on the heterogeneous database. The theoretic analysis and the experimental results show that the system can support various types of heterogeneous databases, provides multi-mode cryptograph queries and increases the security of database encryption.
Increases in body mass of rats during spaceflight : Models and measurements

To test the hypothesis that the body mass of rats is increased during spaceflight, we developed two models from the literature and obtained mass measurements during spaceflight. From studies of centrifugation (hypergravity), there is a reduction in body mass of rats dependent on the exposure gravity level. From data in 18 publications on rats subjected to hypergravity by centrifugation, we developed a model that predicted a 27% increase in body mass during the microgravity of spaceflight. Following spaceflight, with an increase in gravity on return to Earth, there is a reduction in body mass of rats for over 3 d. We related the reduction in body mass after spaceflight to the time after landing that mass measurements were made. From data in 23 publications on rats returning from spaceflight, we developed a model that predicted a 19% increase in body mass during spaceflight. Measurement of body mass of rats on days 6 and 10 of spaceflight found a 7 and 9% increase compared with ground control animals. The increase in body mass during spaceflight suggests that the rat may provide a viable model for metabolic studies in which changes during spaceflight may be predicted in part by ground-based hypergravity studies.
Review: Cyberbullying myths and realities

Bullying has long been a concern of youth advocates (e.g., educators, counselors, researchers, policy makers). Recently, cyberbullying (bullying perpetrated through online technology) has dominated the headlines as a major current-day adolescent challenge. This article reviews available empirical research to examine the accuracy of commonly-perpetuated claims about cyberbullying. The analysis revealed several myths about the nature and extent of cyberbullying that are being fueled by media headlines and unsubstantiated public declarations. These myths include that (a) everyone knows what cyberbullying is; (b) cyberbullying is occurring at epidemic levels; (c) cyberbullying causes suicide; (d) cyberbullying occurs more often now than traditional bullying; (e) like traditional bullying, cyberbullying is a rite of passage; (f) cyberbullies are outcasts or just mean kids; and (g) to stop cyberbullying, just turn off your computer or cell phone. These assertions are clarified using data that are currently available so that adults who work with youth will have an accurate understanding of cyberbullying to better assist them in effective prevention and response. Implications for prevention efforts in education in light of these revelations are also discussed and include effective school policies, educating students and stakeholders, the role of peer helper programs, and responsive services (e.g., counseling).
Moneyball for Academia: Toward Measuring and Maximizing Faculty Performance and Impact

As described in Michael Lewis' Money ball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, a baseball player's On Base Percentage is a good metric for rating players' usefulness or productivity. What metrics can be used for gauging a professor's performance? Is there a correlation between salary and these metrics? Are these metrics more accurate for certain fields of study? Is the currently popular practice of predominantly hiring junior faculty justified? This paper explores citations and number of publications as metrics for performance in terms of research impact. It searches for correlation between professor salary and these metrics across several subsets of professors. While there are certainly other, less concrete metrics that can be used to rate a professor such as teaching ability or regard in the field, this paper aims to look for correlation in the more measurable metrics. Finally, we build classifiers to predict IEEE/ACM Fellowships of CS/EE professors using these metrics.
Stacking-Sequence Changes and Na Ordering in Layered Intercalation Materials

The performance of Na-ion batteries is sensitive to the nature of cation ordering and phase transformations that occur within the intercalation compounds used as electrodes. In order to elucidate these effects in layered Na intercalation compounds, we have carried out a first-principles statistical mechanics study of Na ordering and stacking-sequence preferences in the model compound NaxTiS2. Our calculations predict a series of structural phase transitions at room temperature between O3, P3, O1, O1–O3 staged hybrid, and O1–P3 staged hybrid. We further explore the ordering of Na ions in P3 and O3 and find that these host structures favor very distinct Na-vacancy patterns. Low energy orderings on the honeycomb lattice in P3 consist of triangular island domains with vacancies coalescing at antiphase boundaries. This results in a devil’s staircase of ground-state Na orderings within P3 that are unlike the orderings possible in the triangular lattice of Na sites in O3. We explore the role that antiphase bound...
Image to audio frequencies modulation for visually impaired people

This paper presents a method to convey images to visually impaired people. It takes the images from a camera, which could be on a smartphone or embedded into eyeglasses, and then converts them into a set of modulated frequencies mixed together into one single audio melody, that is then played back to the user. Although it is very difficult for a normal user to makes sense of all the information that can be conveyed using this method, the hope is that with training visually impaired people will be able to interpret the data as a rudimentary vision system.
Outside in the Stereotype: Anglo-Indians' Passage from Community to Singularity

Postcolonial India casts itself as a nation-state with a normative “Hindu” identity. This identity sustains itself by othering the racially-mixed Anglo-Indian via a stereotype that represents her a...
An exploratory study of Clinical and Translational Science Award community-engaged research training programs.

BackgroundThe Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) institutions are increasing development of training programs in community-engaged research (CEnR) to support translational science.MethodsThis study sampled posters at CTSA national meetings to identify CEnR training approaches, topics, and outcomes.ResultsQualitative analysis of 30 posters revealed training topics and outcomes focused primarily on CEnR capacity building, overcoming barriers, systems change, and sustainability.ConclusionFurther research should focus on development and results of CTSA CEnR training program metrics.
Purification and reconstitution of TRPV1 for spectroscopic analysis

Polymodal ion channels transduce multiple stimuli of different natures into allosteric changes; these dynamic conformations are challenging to determine and remain largely unknown. With recent advances in single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) shedding light on the structural features of agonist binding sites and the activation mechanism of several ion channels, the stage is set for an in-depth dynamic analysis of their gating mechanisms using spectroscopic approaches. Spectroscopic techniques such as electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and double electron-electron resonance (DEER) have been mainly restricted to the study of prokaryotic ion channels that can be purified in large quantities. The requirement for large amounts of functional and stable membrane proteins has hampered the study of mammalian ion channels using these approaches. EPR and DEER offer many advantages, including determination of the structure and dynamic changes of mobile protein regions, albeit at low resolution, that might be difficult to obtain by X-ray crystallography or cryo-EM, and monitoring reversible gating transition (i.e., closed, open, sensitized, and desensitized). Here, we provide protocols for obtaining milligrams of functional detergent-solubilized transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1) that can be labeled for EPR and DEER spectroscopy.
Buds, Gemmules, Tissue Regression

A number of naturally occurring, asexual, propagative, developmental processes are known in the phylum. The most widespread and important of these is somatic growth, which is dealt with in Chapter Nine. Of the remaining, gemmule formation and hatching are best studied. In addition, some species develop and release buds, although this phenomenon is not especially common. A special case of “budding” involves fragmentation of the tissue and sometimes its dispersal. Some animals undergo tissue disorganization, usually on a seasonal basis, followed by cellular reorganization and development. Such disorganization has been reported following sexual reproduction in some species.
Separation of Hydrogen Isotopes by Multicomponent Distillation

Separation of liquefied gas mixtures by fractional distillation may be accomplished in either a continuous or batch operation. Continuous distillation is preferred for large feed mixtures of nearly constant compositions. On the other hand, the batch method is more suitable for separating relatively small feed mixtures of widely varying compositions. Steady state conditions with regard to temperature, pressure, and composition characterize the continuous system while in a batch system all of these parameters change continuously with time. As an extension of earlier work1 on the separation of hydrogen-deuterium mixtures, this paper deals with the batch separation of a mixture containing all six possible isotopic modifications of hydrogen.
Local Histograms for Classifying H&E Stained Tissues

We introduce a rigorous mathematical theory for the analysis of local histograms, and consider the appropriateness of their use in the automated classification of textures commonly encountered in images of H&E stained tissues. We first discuss some of the many image features that pathologists indicate they use when classifying tissues, focusing on simple, locally-defined features that essentially involve pixel counting: the number of cells in a region of given size, the size of the nuclei within these cells, and the distribution of color within both. We then introduce a probabilistic, occlusion-based model for textures that exhibit these features, in particular demonstrating how certain tissue-similar textures can be built up from simpler ones. After considering the basic notions and properties of local histogram transforms, we then formally demonstrate that such transforms are natural tools for analyzing the textures produced by our model. In particular, we discuss how local histogram transforms can be used to produce numerical features that, when fed into mainstream classification schemes, mimic the baser aspects of a pathologist’s thought process.
Infants, Mothers, Families, and Strangers

Developmental theorists have long viewed the infant-mother relationship as a crucial determinant of early socioemotional development (e.g., Ainsworth, 1967, 1973; Bowlby, 1969; Erikson, 1963; Freud, 1938; Maccoby and Masters, 1970; Sears, Maccoby, and Levin, 1957). Mother-infant interactions comprise a major part of the average infant’s everyday experiences, and they occur in contexts that are likely to be especially important to the baby, such as feeding, the relief of distress, and play. Thus it seems likely that the infant-mother relationship would have a greater direct influence on infants than other early relationships, at least in traditional families. This does not mean, however, that the infant-mother relationship is exclusively important. Other partners also provide valuable experiences, ranging from the physically arousing stimulation provided by fathers (Lamb, 1977, 1981b) to the give-and-take interactions provided by peers (Lewis, Young, Brooks, and Michalson, 1975; Mueller and Vandell, 1979). Furthermore, events outside the mother-infant dyad-like the father’s presence (Lamb, 1979) or supportiveness (Pedersen, 1981)-affect the quality of the interactions shared by infant and mother. For these reasons, it is unwise to view the infant-mother relationship without considering the broader socioemotional context within which their interactions occur (Lewis and Rosenblum, 1978).
Electronic and Other Self-Help Materials for Unhealthy Alcohol Use in Primary Care

There are ample reasons to think broadly about facilitating a change in unhealthy alcohol use, given that the majority of persons meeting criteria for an alcohol-use disorder neither receive nor want treatment. At the same time, the majority of those who recover from an alcohol-use disorder do not do so via formal treatment, and brief interventions (one or two sessions, often as brief as 15 min in length) for alcohol use frequently show results that appear equivalent to those of longer interventions, sometimes even with heavier drinkers. Growing evidence suggests that even pretreatment assessment, and/or the decision to seek help and be involved in a research study, can result in significant change. Thus, alternative approaches could be important options for those whose unhealthy drinking is not severe enough to merit formal treatment, as well as with dependent drinkers who are currently unwilling to consider formal treatment. Self-help approaches broadly defined here as any nonpharmaceutical source of assistance not involving a live counselor or other professional may meet the need for an alternative approach that is efficacious, relatively palatable to patients exhibiting unhealthy alcohol use, and minimally burdensome to medical staff. The current review included only interventions that have been subjected to at least minimal empirical evaluation, defined as at least one controlled trial. Evidence supports the use of self-help interventions in helping to promote reductions in alcohol use among persons with unhealthy alcohol use. If implemented widely, they have the potential for a relatively strong public health and population impact.