cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The nonconvecting solar pond applied to building and process heating

Abstract Recent studies indicate that solar pond house heating systems could be competitive with some conventional ones, particularly if a pond were to be used to supply thermal energy to several buildings. It is appropriate and important, therefore, to extend these investigations to include industrial process heating and also the influence of variations in salt content and unit price of salt on pond cost. To do this, equations are derived which yield a single set of dimensions for a hypothetical pond satisfying a given heating requirement. Pond dimensions are determined for house heating, winter crop drying and paper processing in the Richland, Washington area; cost estimates for hypalon-lined ponds of these dimensions are then compared with costs attributed to conventional thermal energy sources used for these purposes. Such comparisons can help guide researchers in determining requirements necessary for the pond to be competitive, e.g. the maximum stabilizing salt content allowable for a competitive pond.
Long-term Oral Therapy of Congestive Heart Failure with Phosphodiesterase Inhibitors

The existing management of severe chronic congestive heart failure carries a dismal prognosis. Mortality over 6 months is 50% by some estimates. This fact, coupled with increasing concern for the safety and efficacy of the digitalis glycosides, has stimulated an intense search for new oral cardiotonic agents suitable for chronic administration. Despite the ability of many phosphodiesterase inhibiting agents to affect profound hemodynamic improvement acutely after oral or intravenous administration, none of the four agents here reviewed in 30 clinical trials has been adequately proven to provide benefit over conventional long-term therapy of severe heart failure. The four drugs to have undergone long-term clinical trials are amrinone, milrinone, enoximone (MDL 17043), and piroximone (MDL 19,025). For amrinone, inefficacy was revealed through carefully designed, placebo-controlled studies despite initial enthusiasm generated by open uncontrolled trials. Enoximone has suffered rapid attenuation of its hemodynamic effectiveness in most studies, and piroximone failed in its only long-term trial. Therefore, final judgment on most of these agents must await completion of controlled clinical trials, and any initial optimism stimulated by the current uncontrolled studies should be met with reservation.
Influence of soil moisture on Pratylenchus penetrans.

The rate of population increase of Pratylenchus penetrans is greatest at moderate soil moisture tensions (pF 2-3) and is least at very low or very high tensions. Soil type influences population growth: the higher the silt and clay content of a soil the greater is the moisture tension necessary for satisfactory population growth. In general, the number of nematodes surviving in soil decreases with increasing moisture and temperature above freezing. No nematodes survive 15 days at -15° C or at 37° C. Soil type influences survival: at tensions of pF 3.7-4.2 survival is much greater in clay than in sandy soil. Nematodes can remain viable at tensions as high as pF 5.0, but death is rapid at pF 5.06. The results show that the half-life concept is of limited value for measurement of nematode viability. In sandy soil some P. penetrans enter alfalfa roots under saturated conditions (pF 0) and under dry conditions (pF 3.0) but entry is greatest under moist conditions (pF 1.8-2.5). The results suggest that only fourth stage larvae and adults of P. penetrans can penetrate into roots. The experimental results indicate that the widespread occurrence of high Pratylenchus spp. populations in sandy soils can be explained in terms of the interaction of soil moisture with soil type.
Emotion Regulation and Heterogeneity in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Objective How best to capture heterogeneity in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using biomarkers has been elusive. This study evaluated whether emotion reactivity and regulation provide a means to achieve this. Method Participants were classified into three groups: children with ADHD plus low prosocial behavior (hypothesized to be high in callous/unemotional traits; n=21); children with ADHD with age-appropriate prosocial behavior (n = 54); and typically developing children (n = 75). Children completed a task with four conditions: negative induction, negative suppression, positive induction, and positive suppression of affect. The task required children to view an emotion-laden film clip, while either facially mimicking (induction) or masking (suppression) the emotion of the main character. Parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system activity were assessed via respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP), respectively. Symptoms of anxiety, conduct, and oppositional defiant disorders were treated as covariates. Results The ADHD-typical-prosocial group displayed atypically elevated parasympathetic reactivity (emotion dysregulation) during positive induction, along with increased sympathetic activity (elevated arousal) across conditions. In contrast, the ADHD-low-prosocial group displayed reduced parasympathetic reactivity and reduced sympathetic activity (low emotional arousal) across baseline and task conditions. Thus, both ADHD groups had altered patterns of autonomic functioning, but in two distinct forms. Conclusion Although ADHD is heterogeneous clinically, results suggest that ADHD is also heterogeneous with regard to physiological indices of emotion and regulation. Future studies of emotion, regulation, and ADHD should take this into account. Further study of physiological responding in ADHD may yield clinically and etiologically distinct domains or groups.
Assessing programs designed to improve outcomes for children exposed to violence: Results from nine randomized controlled trials

Objectives The study tests whether participation in interventions offered by a subset of sites from the National Safe Start Promising Approaches for Children Exposed to Violence initiative improved outcomes for children relative to controls.
Fragment distributions for brittle rods with patterned breaking probabilities

Abstract We present a modeling framework for 1D fragmentation in brittle rods, in which the distribution of fragments is written explicitly in terms of the probability of breaks along the length of the rod. This work is motivated by the experimental observation of several preferred lengths in the fragment distribution of shattered brittle rods after dynamic buckling [J.R. Gladden, N.Z. Handzy, A. Belmonte, E. Villermaux, Dynamic buckling and fragmentation in brittle rods, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005) 35503]. Our approach allows for non-constant spatial breaking probabilities, which can lead to preferred fragment sizes, derived equivalently from either combinatorics or a nonhomogeneous Poisson process. The resulting relation qualitatively matches the experimentally observed fragment distribution, as well as some other common distributions, such as a power law with a cutoff.
Images of Old Men’s Masculinity: Still a Man?

Relatively little attention has been paid to later life masculinities. Separate studies were designed to identify the commonly held images of old men and then determine whether or not an old man is perceived as a man or more in terms of a gender-neutral elderly person. The first assessed the commonly held images of positive and negative later life masculinities. A second study examined if old men’s gendered character was perceived similarly in comparison to a young man or an old woman. Findings from the studies revealed age expectations and masculinity norms jointly affected people’s images of old men. Old men were favorably described more often than negatively stereotyped, and there was evidence of distinct late life masculinity expectations.
POST-TRANSLATIONALLY MODIFIED S12, ABSENT IN TRANSFORMED BREAST EPITHELIAL CELLS, IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE 26S PROTEASOME AND IS INDUCED BY PROTEASOME INHIBITOR

The 26S proteasome, consisting of the 20S core and 19S regulatory complexes, regulates intracellular protein concentration through proteolytic degradation of targeted substrates. Composition of the 19S regulatory complex as well as posttranslational modifications of the 19S subunits can effectively regulate the activity of the 26S proteasome. Aberrant activity of the 26S proteasome affects the cell cycle, apoptosis and other cellular processes related to cancer. Recent data show an additional proteasome-independent role of 19S subunits in transcriptional regulation. S12 (Rpn8), the human homologue of mouse Mov-34, is a non-ATPase 19S regulatory subunit of the 26S proteasome. Previous studies have identified phosphorylated S12. In our study, we identify a modified S12 isoform (S12-M) with distinct biochemical properties. The S12-M isoform was found in 6 normal, but not 4 transformed, breast epithelial cell lines. Modification of S12 protein can be induced in vitro by addition of the proteasome inhibitor PSI. Modified and unmodified S12 have similar mass, but different isoelectric points, consistent with phosphorylation. In normal cells, unmodified S12 associates with the 26S proteasome, while modified S12-M does not. Whereas transformed cell line nuclei contain neither S12 isoform, S12-M is predominantly cytosolic in normal cells, with the unmodified S12 present in both the nuclei and cytosol. Together with the role of 19S subunits in transcriptional regulation, homology between S12 and eIF3 and TFIIH subunits, coelution with immunoproteasome subunits, and differential posttranslational modification and nuclear localization, these data suggest a differential nuclear function of modified and unmodified S12 in cancer. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Pulmonary mucormycosis with massive fatal hemoptysis.

Abrupt, massive, and fatal hemoptysis occurred in two patients with pulmonary mucormycosis. One patient had uncontrolled diabetes mellitus and the other acute leukemia in remission. Pulmonary artery erosion by mucormycotic hyphae caused the hemorrhage in both cases. Mucormycosis is an unusual cause of massive hemoptysis.
Experimental Analysis of the Eyeless Mutant in the Mexican Axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum)

SYNOPSIS. The region of the prospective eye vesicle of the Fl generation from parents known to be heterozygous for the gene e, which produces eyeless embryos in the homozygous condition was grafted under the epidermis of host embryos. Donor and host embryos were randomly selected at the stage of fusion of the neural folds to form pairs. Donor and receptor embryos were operated at their right side only so that the left side could serve to identify the phenotype of each operated embryo. The experimental results obtained in the four classes of donor-receptor combinations, can be described as follows: 1) The prospective eye vesicle of phenotypically wild type donors, grafted under the flank epidermis of receptor embryos of the same type, developed pigmented retina at a rate of over 90%, and a lens was found in this combination in about one third of the cases. 2) Surprisingly, the prospective optic vesicle from eyeless embryos, grafted to normal hosts, also developed pigmented retina at a frequency which was not statistically different from that obtained with prospective optic vesicles from wild type embryos. The developing optic cups from eyeless embryos also induced a lens in some cases. In the class of experiments in which optic vesicles from wild type embryos were grafted under flank epidermis of eyeless hosts, significantly fewer grafts developed pigmented retina as compared to wild type controls. Prospective optic vesicles grafted from eyeless embryos under epidermis of eyeless hosts, in one case, produced pigmented retina. In a complementary set of experiments, epidermis from the flank was grafted upon the prospective eye region of host embryos. The result of the four classes of experiments corroborated the previous results: Wild type epidermis may cure the eyeless situation, whereas epidermis from eyeless embryos suppresses eye formation in the wild type host.
QCD with and in nuclei: color transparency and short-range correlations in nuclei – theory, observations, directions for further studies

Abstract We summarize basic theoretical ideas which let to the observation of the short-range correlations (SRC) in nuclei using hard probes and outline directions for probing quark-gluon structure of SRCs. Implications of the observations of color transparency for processes involving pions are reviewed. Open questions and directions for further studies of color transparency phenomena using hadronic projectiles are presented using as an example the PANDA detector at FAIR.
SALT REGULATION AND LEAF SENESCENCE IN AGING LEAVES OF JAUMEA CARNOSA (LESS.) GRAY (ASTERACEAE), A SALT MARSH SPECIES EXPOSED TO NaCl STRESS

The effects of increasing salt stress on leaf senescence and salt regulation were investigated in the halophyte Jaumea carnosa in hydroponic culture experiments. The plants were grown in Hoagland's nutrient solution plus additional NaCl salt (0, 300, 400, 500 mm NaCl). Decreases in nucleic acids, protein, and chlorophyll were used as indicators of leaf senescence. The results indicated no definitive pattern of acceleration in leaf senescence with increasing salt stress. Salt regulation was also unaffected as leaves aged under increasing NaCl concentrations. The results are consistent with those of previous studies of the halophyte which indicated that the species was very tolerant of high NaCl concentrations.
Environmental bugs invade EO imaging systems

Often electro-optical (EO) imaging systems in the thermal infrared (IR) are used for applications for which they were not originally designed. On the flip side, EO imaging systems are touted as applicable for scenarios when the magnitude of the effects of the environment (that can and do occur) have not been adequately characterized. As a result when an imaging system does not perform as expected, there is much pointing of fingers to place blame and discussion of environmental bugs (counterpart to computer bugs) getting into the equipment and fouling up the works. Some examples of these subtle problems that impact the design and use of EO imaging systems in the thermal IR are discussed in this paper, particularly the effects of optical turbulence, path radiance, and field calibration.
Self-assessment of VDT operator health: hierarchical structure and validity analysis of a health checklist

The underlying hierarchical structure and validity of a health checklist that assesses Video Display Terminal (VDT) operator health was examined. This checklist has been used in many studies of VDT workers (Smith, Cohen, Stammerjohn, & Happ, 1981; Piotrkowski, Cohen, & Coray, 1992). Two hundred sixty‐two office employees from three public service organizations provided the data to identify the underlying structure and assess the validity of the health checklist. Factor analyses of the health checklist were performed to identify all meaningful factor solutions. The convergent and discriminant validity of the nine‐factor solution was examined. The factor analyses led to the identification of a hierarchical structure of the health checklist. This empirical structure is shown to be conceptually sound and useful and offers flexibility in constructing various scales.
Acute bacterial percarditis in children: Report of 25 cases

Twenty-five patients, aged 5 months to 14 years, with acute bacterial pericarditis are reported. Thirteen (52 per cent) of the patients died. The presenting symptoms, associated illness and physical findings, bacteriology, and response to therapy are reviewed. Optimum therapy consists of intravenous administration of specific antibiotics combined with surgical drainage; 90 per cent of our patients treated in this fashion survived. Antibiotic therapy alone is usually inadequate, especially in the presence of significant effusion, and among our patients only three of 10 patients so treated survived. One patient developed constrictive pericarditis 1 month after the initial attack with meningococcal pericarditis and required pericardectomy.
Rapid cooling of neutron stars

Abstract The thermal evolution of neutron stars has long been regarded as the source of information about the possible physical states of dense matter. Until recently, the general view was that, if matter consisted of nucleons, cooling would be relatively slow, while if matter were in an exotic state (Bose condensates or quark matter), cooling would be faster — so fast, in fact, that thermal emission from the star's surface would be unobservable. Recently, this view has been called into question following the demonstration that ordinary matter can cool by the so-called direct Urca process even more rapidly than matter in an exotic state. The conditions under which very rapid cooling would occur through energy loss via emission of neutrinos from the interior are as follows. The direct Urca process can occur in neutron stars if the proton concentration exceeds some critical value in the range 11–15%. The proton concentration, which is determined by the poorly known symmetry energy of matter above nuclear density, exceeds the critical value in many current calculations. If it occurs, the direct Urca process enhances neutrino emission and neutron star cooling rates by a large factor compared to any process considered previously. Direct Urca processes with hyperons and/or nucleon isobars can also occur in dense matter as long as the concentration of Λ hyperons exceeds a critical value that is less than 3% and is typically about 0.1%. The neutrino luminosities from the hyperon Urca processes are about 5–100 times less than the typical luminosity from the nucleon direct Urca process, but they are larger than those expected from other sources. These new direct Urca processes provide avenues for rapid cooling of neutron stars which invoke neither exotic states nor the large proton fraction required for the nucleon direct Urca process. It is thus likely that all neutron stars will cool rapidly, whether they contain the so-called exotic matter or not. If so, the ramifications are many and are briefly discussed.
Are we nearsighted when it comes to myopia treatment

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to highlight the current research on myopia treatment and to speculate about the future of myopia treatment. Methods. A review of the literature on myopia treatment in humans was performed using Medline, CRISP, and a variety of web pages. A summary of the research is presented in the article. Results. Most of myopia research can be categorized into three areas: control, treatment, and prevention. Most of independent myopia research currently conducted is in the area of control. Great advances in the myopia treatment are constantly being practiced, but few independent investigations are conducted. Methods of predicting the future onset of myopia are being investigated to some day allow us to apply preventive agents before myopia occurs. Conclusion. Two randomized clinical trials are scheduled for completion within the next year, and they should offer answers about mechanisms of myopia control. Treatments for myopia are moving beyond questions of safety and efficacy and on to reductions of complications and refinement of vision to produce super vision. At least one eye drop, pirenzepine, is being investigated for myopia control and may show promise for prevention of myopia in the future.
Levodopa strengths and weaknesses

Despite clinical experience with levodopa for more than three decades, the role of this agent in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) has not been well defined. Clearly the most effective antiparkinsonian drug, levodopa, is associated with emergence of motor complications, particularly fluctuations and dyskinesias, as well as other side effects. In addition to these limitations, there is an ongoing debate about the potential neurotoxic effects of levodopa, suggested by some in vitro studies. However, there is no support for levodopa-induced neurotoxicity from in vivo studies. This review discusses possible mechanisms of levodopa-related complications and therapeutic strategies for their prevention and management.
Acute pyomyositis of the pelvis: the spectrum of clinical presentations and MR findings

Background: Acute pelvic pyomyositis is uncommon in non-tropical areas. Objective: To summarize the clinical and MR findings in children with acute pelvic pyomyositis. Materials and methods: We retrospectively identified 20 children (mean age 9.4 years) who were evaluated by MR and diagnosed with acute pelvis pyomyositis during the time period between January 2002 and June 2005. We reviewed clinical, laboratory, and imaging findings. Results: Fifteen of the 20 children had secondary pyomyositis associated with osteomyelitis (n=13), septic hip (n=4) or sacroiliitis (n=4); all were previously healthy except for one child with leukemia. Seven of the children with secondary pyomyositis underwent bone scintigraphy; three (43%) did not show pelvic abnormalities. Staphylococcus aureus was cultured in 13 of the 15 (87%) children. Five of the 20 children had primary pyomyositis. Three had underlying disease and two others were engaged in vigorous physical activity. Bone scintigraphies (n=2) were negative. Cultures were positive for S. aureus in three of the five (60%) children. Conclusion: Septic hip should be the first diagnostic consideration in children with fever and acute hip pain. Pyomyositis should be considered if art\hrocentesis is negative or there is clinical suspicion of infection outside the hip joint. MR is the preferred imaging modality for evaluating foci of pyomyositis, muscle abscesses, and additional foci of infection within the pelvis.
Capturing the patient's experience: using qualitative methods to develop a measure of patient-reported symptom burden: an example from ovarian cancer.

Context Experts in patient-reported outcome (PRO) measurement emphasize the importance of including patient input in the development of PRO measures. Although best methods for acquiring this input are not yet identified, patient input early in instrument development ensures that instrument content captures information most important and relevant to patients in understandable terms.
Of Du Bois and Diaspora: The Challenge of African American Studies

This article explores the role African American Studies has played in responding to the quandary of multiple consciousness as initially outlined by Du Bois, arguing that the origins of African American Studies were informal but nonetheless incisive in its analysis, as can be see in such works as David Walker’s Appeal. When taken as a hemispheric phenomenon (as opposed to a North American boundedness), certain fundamental themes reoccur in both the informal and the subsequent formal scholarship, such as the condition of exploitative labor extraction, the relationship to Africa, and the transnational linkages and meanings of the diasporic experience. The article ends with a call to marry prescription and praxis.
Trench doping conformality by plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII)

Plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) is a technique which can be used to conformally dope sidewalls of Si trenches. Using junction staining techniques and subsequently calibrating the observed stained depth to measured dose, dopant distributions inside Si trenches with aspect ratios ranging from 1 to 12 are studied for various bias voltages from 5 to 20 kV. Unlike conventional collimated beam implantation, PIII was able to conformally dope all aspect ratios studied with no evidence of abrupt discontinuities in the dopant distribution along the trench surface as a result of beam shadowing by trench geometry. Furthermore, it is shown that the higher implant biases results in more directional trajectories. Thus, dopant distributions along irregular geometries can be controlled by PDIII process conditions. >
Caribbean precipitation: review, model and prospect:

The study of Caribbean climate pre-1990 focused almost exclusively on attempts to link spatial patterns in climatic variables to physical processes. Much of this research assumed a 'simple' regional climate, warm year round with a wet season dominated by tropical cyclones, but researchers soon found that a precipitation regionalization of the Caribbean was not as straightforward and simple. Consequently, a satisfactory understanding of the regional precipitation climate has eluded researchers for much of the second half of the twentieth century. Recently, with the increased availability and quality of satellite and precipitation data, researchers have begun to use gridded data sets to identify the spatial boundaries of the bimodal precipitation region and the atmospheric processes associated with the two maxima and minimum in precipitation. The fi ndings of these most recent studies can be combined to construct a fi ve part (North Atlantic high pressure, low level Caribbean jet, subsidence caused by Central America convection, basin wide increased wind shear, and divergence around Jamaica) conceptual Caribbean precipitation model that begins to address spatial variability in the bimodal structure of annual rainfall and the development of the midsummer minimum in precipitation. Such a regional precipitation climate model provides hypotheses to be tested and investigated in future research. Further, researchers must work towards a more effective and clear communication of the bimodal nature of Caribbean precipitation and the associated summer decrease in precipitation, integrate upper air analysis into the current working hypotheses, and further examine the interannual to interdecadal variability of the Caribbean midsummer drought for prediction purposes.
JUNIOR DOCTOR PRESCRIBING: TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT

Background Prescribing errors have recently been highlighted as a significant problem; the General Medical Council commissioned a study (EQUIP) in 20091 which found the most common errors were with dosing. Whilst the EQUIP study focussed on adult prescribing the consequences of dosing errors in children are more harmful. In 2010, Ghaleb et al . Conducted a study across a range of paediatric settings in London which demonstrated a 13% prescribing error rate.2 The paediatric pharmacy team at Southampton Children9s Hospital have provided prescribing teaching at doctor9s induction for many years, but have recently introduced a structured scenario based assessment. This was agreed at a consultant paediatrician/care group meeting prior to starting. Aim The aim of this work is to describe our experience of the RCPCH Paediatric Prescribing tool in assessing junior doctors starting at Southampton Children9s Hospital. Method Face-to-face teaching and case based assessment are carried out at induction using the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) paediatric prescribing tool and assessment sheet 3. Results Two induction assessments have been completed to date, n=21, passed n=18 and failed=3 (14%). All doctors who failed the initial test sat an alternative assessment within a week. One person failed the 2nd test and had to have their prescriptions counter-signed by designated supervisors for 1 month before re-sitting with a third set of scenarios. This meant the doctor had to be temporarily removed from the on-call rota. Only one prescribing error was identified during the one month period and the second re-sit was passed. Following a supervisors meeting the doctor was allowed to prescribe independently and reinstated onto the on-call rota. Conclusion This report highlights our experience at Southampton Children9s Hospital of using the RCPCH prescribing tool and assessment. The majority of junior doctors sitting the assessment passed. The test was able to identify individuals unable to meet the required prescribing standards who were then supported. Further discussion is needed to ensure that a safe level of cover is maintained if doctors have to be temporarily removed from on-call services. We hope to extend the assessment to include GP trainees and other specialities and generate an on-line tool for use next year following the introduction of electronic prescribing. Discussions are on-going regarding the introduction of the assessment across the Medical Deanery as part of core training. We recommend that centres undertaking this exercise agree the measures that will be taken in the event of a failure.
Partial detection for multiple antenna cooperation

Multi-antenna relays can significantly increase the speed and reliability of wireless systems. However, because of the complexity of MIMO detection, there is considerable overhead in implementing a MIMO relay if the conventional detect-and-forward strategy is used. To address this challenge, we propose a novel cooperative partial detection (CPD) strategy that partitions the detection task between the relay and the destination. CPD leverages the structure of the tree-based close-to-ML MIMO detectors, and modifies the tree traversal so that instead of visiting all the levels of the tree, only a subset of the levels, thus a subset of the transmitted streams, are visited. This novel approach reduces the tree levels, i.e. dimensions, in both the relay and the destination. Moreover, CPD provides a flexible method to control the level of partitioning between the relay and the destination, and thus, adjust the detection computational complexity in the relay and the destination. Monte-Carlo simulation results show that, under equal transmit power and complexity constraint in the destination, CPD achieves a better BER performance compared to the non-relay scenario, with limited computational overhead in the relay.
Musica colonial: 18 th century music score meets 21 st century digitalization technology

The Musica Colonial project is an initiative to preserve, digitize, and provide online access to the sole copy of a handwritten Colonial times cathedral music scores with Spanish lyrics collection in microfilm format archived at the Mesoamerican Center for Regional Research (CIRMA) located in Antigua, Guatemala. Various fields and methodologies of research can be done on this collection because of its multi-faceted and culturally rich content. This paper mainly focuses on the music aspect of the collection and illustrates the different stages of making the musical content of the collection accessible to the public. Digitization is the most affective and promising way to display this special collection to the rest of the world.
Characterization of the Cation and Temperature Dependence of DNA Quadruplex Hydrogen Bond Properties Using High-Resolution NMR

Variations in the hydrogen bond network of the Oxy-1.5 DNA guanine quadruplex have been monitored by trans-H-bond scalar couplings, h2JN2N7, for Na+-, K+-, and NH4+-bound forms over a temperature range from 5 to 55 °C. The variations in h2JN2N7 couplings exhibit an overall trend of Na+ > K+ > NH4+ and correlate with the different cation positions and N2−H2···N7 H-bond lengths in the respective structures. A global weakening of the h2JN2N7 couplings with increasing temperature for the three DNA quadruplex species is accompanied by a global increase of the acceptor 15N7 chemical shifts. Above 35 °C, spectral heterogeneity indicates thermal denaturation for the Na+-bound form, whereas spectral homogeneity persists up to 55 °C for the K+- and NH4+-coordinated forms. The average relative change of the h2JN2N7 couplings amounts to ∼0.8 × 10-3/K and is thus considerably smaller than respective values reported for nucleic acid duplexes. The significantly higher thermal stability of H-bond geometries in the DNA qu...
Active learning for pipeline models

For many machine learning solutions to complex applications, there are significant performance advantages to decomposing the overall task into several simpler sequential stages, commonly referred to as a pipeline model. Typically, such scenarios are also characterized by high sample complexity, motivating the study of active learning for these situations. While most active learning research examines single predictions, we extend such work to applications which utilize pipelined predictions. Specifically, we present an adaptive strategy for combining local active learning strategies into one that minimizes the annotation requirements for the overall task. Empirical results for a three-stage entity and relation extraction system demonstrate a significant reduction in supervised data requirements when using the proposed method.
Predictors of success in associate degree nursing programs

Abstract This retrospective correlational study was conducted to identify predictor factors to assist nursing programs in determining admission criteria. The dependent variables were nursing course grade point average (GPA) as a predictor of program success and National Council Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN) success. The independent variables were the American College Test (ACT) composite score, ACT math subscore, ACT reading subscore, ACT English subscore, ACT science subscore, grades in anatomy and physiology, and cumulative GPA prior to entering nursing school. The relationships between variables were analyzed using analysis of variance and logistic regression. The results of the study showed that all the independent variables in combination were predictors of success in the nursing program. The ACT English subscore was statistically significant ( p
Semantic-Aware and QoS-Aware Image Caching in Ad Hoc Networks

Semantic caching was originally used for structural data objects such as 2D location data and cannot be directly applied to mobile image data access. First, traditional semantic caching relies on exact match and therefore is not suitable for approximate and similarity-based queries. Second, the semantic description of cached data is defined on query context instead of data content, which leads to inefficient use of cache storage. Third, the semantic description of cached data does not reflect the popularity of the data, making it difficult to conduct popularity-driven content analysis and prediction. To facilitate content-based image retrieval in wireless ad hoc networks, we propose a semantic-aware image caching (SAIC) scheme in this paper. The proposed scheme can efficiently utilize the cache space and significantly reduce the cost of image retrieval. The proposed SAIC scheme is based on several innovative ideas: 1) multilevel representation of the semantic contents, 2) association-based and Bayesian probability-based content prediction, 3) constraint-based representation method showing the semantic similarity between images, 4) nonflooding query processing, and 5) adaptive cache consistency maintenance. The proposed model is introduced, and through extensive simulation, its behavior has been compared against two state-of-the-art ad hoc caching schemes as advanced in the literature.
Subcutaneous immunoglobulin therapy in pediatric primary antibody deficiency

Subcutaneous immunoglobulin (SCIG) therapy is recognized as a standard treatment for primary antibody deficiency. SCIG is efficacious for the prevention of infections and is associated with a lower risk of systemic side effects, improved quality of life for patients and families and is preferred by children when compared with intravenous immunoglobulin replacement. For pediatric patients, SCIG is an ideal treatment modality that affords children and families more freedom and less disruption of important childhood activities. This article reviews the characteristics of SCIG to provide the pediatric practitioner with an understanding of the experiences their patients receiveing SCIG may encounter.
Real-time routing in mobile networks using GPS and GIS techniques

A discussion of employing the Global Positioning System (GPS) and geographic information system (GIS) technologies for packet routing strategies in ad-hoc mobile wireless networks is presented. Mobile network architectures and existing packet routing schemes are briefly discussed to illustrate how GPS and GIS techniques can be beneficially employed. Telegeoinformatics, a new discipline that combines wireless communications with GPS and GIS is presented, along with its potential to address several packet routing issues. This paper also presents open issues and research topics in this area that are currently receiving attention.
pCOMPATS: Period-Compatible Task Allocation and Splitting on Multi-core Processors

Extensive research is underway to build chips with potentially hundreds of cores. In this paper, we consider the problem of scheduling periodic real-time tasks on multi-core processors. We develop a task partitioning algorithm called Period-Compatible-Allocation and Task-Splitting (pCOMPATS) for fixed-priority scheduling of preemptive hard real-time tasks where the utilization of each of the tasks is less than 50%. pCOMPATS clusters compatible tasks together with task splitting to improve the achievable utilization. We show that as the number of cores increases, the least upper bound on schedulable utilization achieved using pCOMPATS approaches 100% per core. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first result that shows that the utilization bound improves as the number of processing cores in the system increases. We refer to tasks having utilization greater than or equal to 50% as heavy tasks and provide a task-partitioning algorithm called pCOMPATS-HT for allocating such tasks. We show that the upper bound on schedulable utilization when tasks are scheduled using pCOMPATS-HT is at most 72%. We also evaluate the performance of pCOMPATS and other well-known partitioning techniques, and show that using pCOMPATS provides much better schedulable utilization in the average case. We characterize the overhead of pCOMPATS using measurements on an Intel Core i7 processor running Linux/RK. The overheads are seen to be low on the platform, making pCOMPATS to be practical. Our results are especially useful in the context of future many-core processors with dozens to hundreds of cores per processor.
A Generalization of Rota′s NBC Theorem

Abstract We generalize Rota′s theorem characterizing the Mobius function of a geometric lattice in terms of subsets of atoms containing no broken circuit and give applications to the weak Bruhat order of a finite Coxeter group and the Tamari lattices. We also give a direct proof of the fact that in the geometric case any total order of the atoms can be used. Simple involutions are used in both proofs. Finally, we show how involutions can be used in similar situations, specifically in a special case of Rota′s Crosscut Theorem as well as in related proofs of Walker on Hall′s Theorem and Reiner on characteristic and Poincare polynomials.
A programmable temperature monitoring device for tagging small fish: a prototype chip development

This paper describes the design of an archival temperature monitoring tag to be used to collect habitat information of Atlantic salmon during the marine phase of the species' natural history. The monolithic circuit should not exceed an average power dissipation of 3.4 /spl mu/W, so that a small 3V, 30 mAh lithium battery will provide the device with the expected lifetime of 3 years. The thermal sensor is realized by a p-n-junction, The recorded junction voltages are digitized and stored in static RAM cells. The tag is programmed before deployment by an external computer via a serial interface. The device's temperature-monitoring protocol is defined at this stage. Upon retrieval of the tag, the stored temperature values will be transferred to a computer where the geographical location of the fish at the actual sampling time will be deduced through retrospective navigation based on known sea temperature distribution.
R‐Curve Behavior and Flaw Insensitivity of Ce‐TZP/Al2O3 Composite

A ceria-partially-stabilized zirconia-aiumina (Ce-TZP/Al2O3) composite optimized for transformation toughening was used to demonstrate its flaw insensitivity due to R-curve behavior. Four-point bend specimens fabricated with a controlled distribution of spherical pores showed nearly the same characteristic strength and strength variability (Weibull modulus) as specimens fabricated without the artificial pores. In situ observations confirmed stable growth of cracks initiated at pores and the crack lengths at fracture instability were much greater than the pore sizes, thus resulting in fracture strengths insensitive to the pores. The small variability in the fracture strength was found to be associated with variability in the R-curve and the instability crack lengths. An analysis based on the fracture instability criterion for rising crack growth resistance accounted for the strength variability due to variability in the R-curve. Comparable four-point bend experiments were also conducted on a sintered yttria-partially-stabilized zirconia (2Y-TZP) ceramic. This ceramic showed significant degradation of strength due to the presence of the pores. This flaw sensitivity is attributed to its steep rising R-curve over short crack lengths.
Presidential Politics and the Problem of Drugs in America Assessing the Relationship Between the President, Media, and Public Opinion

This study explores the relationship between the president, public opinion, and the media in regard to drug abuse policy in America from 1969 through 2004. The theory of presidential influence over...
Fourier Transform Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Study of Polymer Films and Coatings: A Method for Studying Polymer Surfaces

Diffuse reflectance FT-IR (DRIFT) is described as a tool for the study of polymer surfaces. The high sensitivity (particularly to surfaces) and nondestructive sample preparation procedure used for DRIFT experiments are valuable characteristics of the technique. By the use of an overlayer of a nonabsorbing powder such as KBr, the quality of the spectra of coatings and surface species on absorbing substrates is improved. We performed a model study using multilayer polymer films in order to understand the optimal applicability of DRIFT to these measurements. The relative contribution of the surface to the spectra can be adjusted by varying the amount and/or particle size of the KBr powder overlayer. Correlations between particle size, overlayer amount, and nature of the spectra of the
Inference and validation of protein identifications

Discovery or shotgun proteomics has emerged as the most powerful technique to comprehensively map out a proteome. Reconstruction of protein identities from the raw mass spectrometric data constitutes a cornerstone of any shotgun proteomics workflow. The inherent uncertainty of mass spectrometric data and the complexity of a proteome render protein inference and the statistical validation of protein identifications a non-trivial task, still being a subject of ongoing research. This review aims to survey the different conceptual approaches to the different tasks of inferring and statistically validating protein identifications and to discuss their implications on the scope of proteome exploration.
Distance learning: From multiple snapshots, a composite portrait

This article discusses the current state of distance learning in composition by reporting on and interpreting a 2005 survey that assesses trends and workload conditions in distance learning. Areas examined in the article include attitudes of faculty and administration, faculty demographics, student demographics, online course and program development, course caps, course delivery and management tools, technology support, course design freedom, impact on writing pedagogy, and institutional DE profile. The article concludes by summarizing the current DL picture, identifying areas of need, and providing research recommendations for the future.
Elevated plasma Epstein-Barr virus DNA at diagnosis predicts a poor prognosis in peripheral T-cell lymphomas

suggest bortezomib-based chemotherapy as an effective treatment option in HIV-associated PEL for the first time.
Skeleton key to vascular disease.

Bone biology has developed increasing importance in vascular biology, and vice versa. The link begins in the embryo, when bone develops on a vascular reticulum produced by angiogenic ingrowth into calcified cartilage. The connection remains in late adulthood, when bone tissue forms within
Charge symmetry breaking in /sup 4/He

Calculations for $^{4}\mathrm{He}(\ensuremath{\gamma}, \mathrm{p})^{3}\mathrm{H}$ and $^{4}\mathrm{He}(\ensuremath{\gamma}, \mathrm{n})^{3}\mathrm{He}$ have been performed with the recoil-corrected continuum shell model. A charge-symmetry breaking interaction has been introduced in an effort to explain the large value (\ensuremath{\sim}2) observed in recent experiments for the cross section ratio $R=\frac{\ensuremath{\sigma}(\ensuremath{\gamma}, \mathrm{p})}{\ensuremath{\sigma}(\ensuremath{\gamma}, \mathrm{n})}$. The calculations indicate that it is highly unlikely that such a large value of the cross section ratio can be obtained within standard theoretical assumptions.NUCLEAR REACTIONS $^{4}\mathrm{He}(\ensuremath{\gamma}, \mathrm{p})$, ($\ensuremath{\gamma}, \mathrm{n}$), ${E}_{x}=20\ensuremath{-}36$ MeV; calculated $\ensuremath{\sigma}(E)$, expansion coefficients ${a}_{k}(E)$, ${B}_{k}(E)$ for $\ensuremath{\sigma}(E, \ensuremath{\theta})$, $P(E, \ensuremath{\theta})$. $^{3}\mathrm{H}$(p,n); calculated $A(E)$, $P(E)$. Studied influence of charge symmetry breaking interaction.
Diseases Transmitted by Man’s Worst Friend: the Rat

Historically, the rat has been considered a scourge to mankind, for example, rats infected with the plague bacillus that caused the Black Death, which accounted for millions of deaths in Europe during the Middle Ages. At least three pandemics (in the 5th and 6th, 8th through 14th, and 19th through 21st centuries) of plague ravaged civilizations, and the disease undoubtedly plagued humankind prior to recorded history. Also, numerous other diseases are spread to humans by rats; thus, a quote from Hans Zinsser's text Rats, Lice, and History, "Man and rat will always be pitted against each other as implacable enemies," conveys the general revulsion that society holds for the wild rat.
Genotype-Specific Interaction of Latent TGFβ Binding Protein 4 with TGFβ

Latent TGFβ binding proteins are extracellular matrix proteins that bind latent TGFβ to form the large latent complex. Nonsynonymous polymorphisms in LTBP4, a member of the latent TGFβ binding protein gene family, have been linked to several human diseases, underscoring the importance of TGFβ regulation for a range of phenotypes. Because of strong linkage disequilibrium across the LTBP4 gene, humans have two main LTBP4 alleles that differ at four amino acid positions, referred to as IAAM and VTTT for the encoded residues. VTTT is considered the "risk" allele and associates with increased intracellular TGFβ signaling and more deleterious phenotypes in muscular dystrophy and other diseases. We now evaluated LTBP4 nsSNPs in dilated cardiomyopathy, a distinct disorder associated with TGFβ signaling. We stratified based on self-identified ethnicity and found that the LTBP4 VTTT allele is associated with increased risk of dilated cardiomyopathy in European Americans extending the diseases that associate with LTBP4 genotype. However, the association of LTBP4 SNPs with dilated cardiomyopathy was not observed in African Americans. To elucidate the mechanism by which LTBP4 genotype exerts this differential effect, TGFβ's association with LTBP4 protein was examined. LTBP4 protein with the IAAM residues bound more latent TGFβ compared to the LTBP4 VTTT protein. Together these data provide support that LTBP4 genotype exerts its effect through differential avidity for TGFβ accounting for the differences in TGFβ signaling attributed to these two alleles.