cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Does the worldwide shift of FDI from manufacturing to services accelerate economic growth? A GMM estimation study

Abstract We examine the effect of manufacturing and service FDI (foreign direct investment) on their own sector growth, the spillover to the other sectors and the overall economy in host countries. We identify significant sectoral and inter-industry spillover effects with various data classifications and types of FDI flows. Evidence reveals that growth effect of manufacturing FDI operates by stimulating activity in its own (manufacturing) sector and is prevalent in Latin America-Caribbean, in Europe-Central Asia, middle to low-income countries and economies with large industry share. A surge of service FDI is likely to spur growth in service industries but hurt activity in manufacturing industries. Financial service FDI enhances growth in South-East Asia and the Pacific, high income countries and service-based economies by stimulating activity in both manufacturing and service sectors. However, nonfinancial service FDI drains resources and hurts manufacturing industry in the same group of countries. We conclude that a shift from manufacturing to service FDI is likely to lead to deindustrialization in certain regions and types of economies if this shift is spearheaded by nonfinancial FDI.
Rhythmic constraints on stress timing in English

Abstract Rhythm in speech is interpreted as the hierarchical organization of temporally coordinated prosodic units. This is a departure from conventional phonetic approaches which have focused on isochrony. Speech cycling, a novel experimental vehicle for investigating rhythmic constraints, is introduced. In a speech cycling task, subjects repeat a phrase together with a periodic stimulus and the temporal distribution of onset events (beats) is examined. Two speech cycling experiments are presented which probe the degree to which the relative durations of inter-stress intervals within a series of repeated phrases are independent. The data reveal the presence of strong rhythmic constraints on stress timing which have hitherto eluded experimenters. It is argued that these constraints are evidence for a task-specific dynamical system in which prominent events (stress beats) are constrained to occur at specific, predictable, phases of an enclosing cycle. The dynamical system is characterized by entrainment between metrical levels, a principle which underlies rhythmic coordination in other activities such as locomotion. It is demonstrated that the hierarchical nesting of metrical levels arises inevitably within a repetition task, and what is more, the construction of individual prosodic units depends to some extent on the resulting rhythmic pattern. By structuring an utterance so that prominent events lie at privileged phases of a higher-level prosodic unit, rhythm is seen as an organizational principle which has its roots in the coordination of complex action and its effect in the realm of prosodic structure.
Angiotensin II inhibits hepatic cAMP accumulation induced by glucagon and epinephrine and their metabolic effects.

Abstract Incubation of isolated hepatocytes containing normal Ca2+ levels with angiotensin II, vasopressin or A23187 caused significant inhibition of the cAMP response to glucagon. Angiotensin II also inhibited cAMP accumulation induced by either glucagon or epinephrine in Ca2+-depleted hepatocytes. When sub-maximal doses of hormone were employed such that cell cAMP was elevated only 3–4-fold (∼2 pmol cAMP/mg wet wt cells) inhibition by angiotensin II was correlated with a decrease in phosphorylase activation. The data demonstrate that inhibition of hepatic cAMP accumulation results in reduced metabolic responses to glucagon and epinephrine and do not support the contention that the hepatic actions of glucagon are independent of cAMP.
Big gulps: specialized membrane domains for rapid receptor-mediated endocytosis

Eukaryotic cells are well known to use an elaborate, clathrin-based endocytic machinery to internalize ligand–receptor complexes. Although the number of components identified as being used during this essential process has increased substantially over the past decade, an appreciation for how receptor-mediated endocytosis is organized at a broader, cellular scale is still mostly undefined. Here, some new insights into how cells cluster and organize the endocytic machinery at defined cytoplasmic domains to increase the speed and efficiency of ligand–receptor internalization are presented.
Electrochemiluminescence as a tool for microscopy at the nanoscale

The particular form of electrochemiluminescence (ECL) used for analytical assays relies upon the discovery that tris(2,2'-bipyridyl)ruthenium(II) [Ru(bpy)32+] emits a 620 nm photon when adjacent to an electrode held at about one volt relative to Ag/AgCl. This reaction occurs within nanometers of the electrode. The enormous economic investment in nanoscale lithography tools is leading to tools capable of routinely producing 32 nm features by 2009. We propose that these two technologies could be combined to produce a nanoscale microscopy system. We constructed a macroscopic test-bed and performed tests on it to explore the feasibility of such a system. We tested an ECL solution containing 1 mM Ru(bpy)32+ 0.2 mM ammonium oxalate monohydrate in a 0.1 M ammonium acetate buffer at pH 5.0. Using this solution, we found that the ECL light was most intense at an applied voltage of 1.6 Volts, that the effect had excellent reproducibility and that the time to reach maximum intensity was several seconds after applying a voltage.
Carbon Monoxide: Case Scenarios and Update on ED Therapy

Allison A. Muller is Clinical Managing Director, The Poison Control Center, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa. For reprints write: Allison A. Muller, PharmD, CSPI, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Poison Control Center, 34th St & Civic Center Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19104; E-mail: mullera@email.chop.edu. J Emerg Nurs 2004;30:88-90. 0099-1767/$30.00 Copyright n 2004 by the Emergency Nurses Association. doi:10.1016/j.jen.2003.11.017
Pudendal neuropathy and the importance of EMG evaluation of fecal incontinence

A prospective study was undertaken to evaluate pudendal neuropathy in fecal incontinence. Fifty-two patients (38 women and 14 men) with fecal incontinence underwent manometric and electromyographic evaluation (measurement of pudendal nerve terminal motor latency [PNTML] and sphincter muscle mapping). The average age of all patients was 54±17 years. Fifty-two percent (27/52) were found to have a pudendal neuropathy (PNTML > 2.1 milliseconds). Seventeen of these 27 patients (63 percent) had a bilateral pudendal neuropathy. Patients with a pudendal neuropathy were older than those without a neuropathy (63.7 yearsvs.51.9 years;P=0.01). Women were significantly more likely than men to have a pudendal neuropathy (P=0.03). Nine patients had an anatomic sphincter defect identified, and six of these (67 percent) had a neuropathy; 4/6 (67 percent) had a bilateral pudendal neuropathy. In the 43 patients who did not have an anatomic sphincter defect, there was no difference in resting pressure (69 mmHgvs60 mmHg;P= 0.4) or maximum voluntary contraction (95 mmHgvs.86 mmHg;P=0.5) when patients without a neuropathy were compared with those with a neuropathy. Patients with a pudendal neuropathy had a shorter sphincter length than those without a neuropathy (3.0 cmvs.3.9 cm;P=0.01). Bilateral pudendal neuropathy tended to occur more frequently in women (P=0.08) and was not associated with poorer resting pressure, maximum voluntary contraction, or shorter sphincter length. We conclude that pudendal neuropathy is a common cause of fecal incontinence, particularly in older women, and frequently occurs in association with a sphincter defect. Manometric evaluation alone is not helpful in identifying the neuropathic patient. PNTMLs should be routinely measured in the evaluation of fecal incontinence.
Symplectic groups, symmetric designs, and line ovals

symmetric design P(2m) having r as its full automorphism group, we will prove these results. The symmetric designs 9+(2m) will be studied and characterized in terms of an interesting property concerning the symmetric difference of distinct blocks. Other properties and characterizations of these desings will also be given, and an application made to rank 3 linear groups. There are several ways to construct Yf(2m). One way is in terms of difference sets [3, p. 1081; from this point of view, Ye(2m) has the unusual property of arising from difference sets in m + 1 nonisomorphic abelian groups. Using a description in terms of the incidence matrix, Block [l] observed that the automorphism group of F(2m) is 2-transitive. The present work was motivated by Block’s result. In the course of studying the full automorphism group Yf(2m), a description was found in terms of GOs(2m, 2) and Sp(2m, 2) (see Section 4). More recently, the designs P(2m) were discovered in terms of the latter description by A. Rudvalis (unpublished) and Cameron and Seidel [2]. Yet another description of the designs P(2m) arises from using suitable dual ovals in desarguesian and Liineburg-Tits planes. The construction in terms of desarguesian planes was obtained by the author [3, p. 951 at the same time that the incidence matrix and symplectic group descriptions were first considered; however, it was not originally known that the descriptions produced the same designs. The construction from the Liineburg-Tits planes requires the use of the designs to prove a new property of the planes. We note
Distributed control: priority scheduling for single source shortest paths without synchronization

Massively parallel computers provide unprecedented computing power that is only expected to grow. With great power comes great responsibility---parallel overheads may dominate and must be minimized. The synchronization overhead in particular is deeply rooted in the programming practice because it makes algorithms easier to design and implement. In the effort to eliminate it, we introduce the idea of distributed control where global synchronization is reduced to termination detection and each worker optimistically proceeds ahead, based on the local knowledge of the global computation. We propose a distributed priority scheduler to (approximately) prioritize useful work without synchronization, and we implement the single-source shortest paths (SSSP) algorithm using the scheduler. We show significant improvements over a previous implementation of SSSP using Δ-stepping.
Acute Aortic Dissection Clinician Update

A 27-year-old previously healthy woman presented to the emergency room after the sudden onset of severe chest pain and shortness of breath during the 37th week of pregnancy. Her examination was remarkable for a blood pressure of 118/70 mm Hg, heart rate of 100 bpm, and respiratory rate of 24 breaths per minute. The cardiovascular examination was notable for a soft systolic ejection murmur, and the pulmonary and general examinations were unremarkable. ECG demonstrated sinus tachycardia, and her chest x-ray was normal. A D-dimer level was elevated. She underwent a spiral computed tomography scan to evaluate for pulmonary embolism, which instead demonstrated an acute type A aortic dissection and a very small patent ductus arteriosus. The patient underwent emergency cesarean section, which delivered a viable baby, and repair of the type A dissection. Her aortic valve was trileaflet. She had no features on examination to suggest Marfan syndrome or Loeys-Dietz aneurysm syndrome. Her father had died suddenly at 31 years of age of a “presumed heart attack,” and her paternal uncle had undergone ascending aortic aneurysm resection at 42 years of age. Mutation analysis in this woman detected a heterozygous mutation in MYH11 , confirming familial thoracic aortic aneurysm/dissection (TAA/D). Acute aortic dissection is the most common life-threatening disorder affecting the aorta.1 The immediate mortality rate in aortic dissection is as high as 1% per hour over the first several hours, making early diagnosis and treatment critical for survival. Classification schemes for aortic dissection are based on anatomic involvement of the aortic dissection (Figure 1).2 In the DeBakey classification, type I dissections originate in the ascending aorta and extend to at least the aortic arch; type II dissections involve the ascending aorta only; and type III dissections begin in the descending aorta, usually just distal to the …
Rapid Changes in Local Extracellular Rat Brain Glucose Observed with an In Vivo Glucose Sensor

A needle-type electrochemically based microsensor for glucose (110 microns o.d.) is described. This sensor, designed for monitoring transient glucose content changes in response to neural stimuli, has a response time of approximately 5 s and has been shown to be free of interference from endogenous electroactive species such as ascorbate, urate, and various neurotransmitters. It exhibits linear response to glucose up to 10 mM. The usefulness of the sensor has been demonstrated by examining the time-dependent interstitial glucose concentration in the rat hippocampus in response to KCl depolarization and by stimulation of glutamate neurons through a perforant pathway. Simultaneous monitoring of oxygen is also carried out and demonstrates that for both oxygen and glucose there is substantial local depletion of both species and that their pools are replenished by increased regional cerebral blood flow. The transient initial rapid (10-13 s) decrease up to 20-34%, observed on a time scale comparable to that for neurotransmitter release, may be involved in a recently suggested astrocytic uptake for glutamate-stimulated aerobic glycolysis possibly needed to meet energy homeostasis in brain. These studies demonstrate the importance of microsensors in monitoring transient events linked to neuronal stimulation.
Commutators, Eigenvalue Gaps, and Mean Curvature in the Theory of Schrödinger Operators

Commutator relations are used to investigate the spectra of Schrodinger Hamiltonians, H = −Δ + V(x), acting on functions of a smooth, compact d-dimensional manifold M immersed in ℝ d+1. Here Δ deno...
Dissociation in Epilepsy and Conversion Nonepileptic Seizures

Summary: Purpose: We examined the dimensionality of the item content of the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) in relation to the clinical diagnosis of conversion nonepileptic seizures (C-NES) versus complex partial epilepsy (CPE). Methods: The DES was administered to a sex- and agematched sample of 132 patients with C-NES and 169 with CPE and was factor analyzed with principal components analysis (PCA) with varimax rotation. Results: The mean total DES score was 15.1 in the C-NES group and 12.7 in the CPE group (p = 0.079). The factors obtained by PCA differentiated the CPE and C-NES groups more strongly than did the total DES score. The factor accounting for the most variance, interpreted as “depersonalizationderealization,” was significantly greater in C-NES than CPE (p = 0.005). An “absorption-imaginative involvement” factor, which included some of the clinical features of posttraumatic stress disorder was elevated only in subjects reporting histories of childhood abuse (p = 0.001) regardless of the diagnosis of CPE or C-NES. An “amnestic” factor appearing to represent memory problems related to neurologic impairment showed a trend toward elevation in CPE (p = 0.056) and may have confounded the CPE versus C-NES distinction using total DES scores. Conclusions: The DES has separate underlying dimensions that appear to relate distinctively to depersonalization and derealization, childhood trauma, and neurologic impairment. The heterogeneous item content of the DES is a potential confound that should be appreciated when this instrument is used to study dissociation in neuropsychiatric populations. Key Words: Complex partial epilepsy--Conversion nonepileptic seizuresDissociative Experiences Scale.
Exploration and spontaneous activity in young rats

Spontaneous-alternation behavior and activity levels of juvenile rats were measured during repeated 30-min exposures to a cross maze. Activity level increased as a function of age in animals 15-30 days old, but patterning of maze-arm choices was unrelated to maturation.
A portable file directory system

A portable file directory system that provides a machine-independent method for specifying files is described. The portable directory system, or PDS, facilitates uniform usage of portable software by supplying a standard for file specification. The PDS supports a hierarchical directory structure, similar to that in UNIX and Multics, and a set of primitives for manipulating the structure and preparing files for input/output. While the PDS participates in file specification, it does not participate in the actual i/o; it has no impact on i/o efficiency. The implementation, which is easily extended to include additional capabilities, is described. Experience in using the PDS as a part of command interpreters and preprocessors is also discussed.
Inferring functional brain connectivity from field-potential oscillations in health and disease

Field-potential recordings (e.g. EEG, MEG) of ongoing neural activity exhibit oscillations of specific frequencies over a pink-noise 1/f background [1]. The oscillations appear in the power spectrum as a collection of frequency bands evenly spaced on a logarithmic scale, thereby preventing mutual entrainment and cross-talk. Applying mathematical techniques for inverse problems [2], we reverse-engineered network architectures with 80 nodes that generate these characteristic dynamics of normal brain function. We show that all reconstructed networks, or “virtual brains”, display similar topological features (e.g. structural motifs) and dynamics (e.g. spindle and sharp waves). We also reverse-engineered putative diseased brains (epileptic and schizophrenic), in which oscillatory activity is altered in different ways [3]. The reconstructed networks show consistent alterations of functional connectivity and dynamics. These alterations lead to a decrease in neural complexity (Fig. ​(Fig.1A),1A), as defined in [4], changes in the hierarchical structure of the brain connectivity (Fig. ​(Fig.1B)1B) and in the probability of finding certain structural motifs (Figs. ​(Figs.1C1C​1C1D1D​1D1E1E​1E1F).1F). The predictions from our model may be easily tested in actual brains. Figure 1 Structural properties of virtual brains from four groups with different power spectra (Background: 1/f spectrum; Normal; Deficient: missing high frequency content – putative schizophrenic brain; Entrained: frequency bands are rational multiples ...
Sphenoid and Subdural Hemorrhage as a Presenting Sign of Ruptured Clinoid Aneurysm

Background Aneurysm rupture presenting as an isolated or pure subdural hematoma (SDH) without subarachnoid hemorrhage is an extremely rare radiographic presentation. We present a case of a ruptured internal carotid artery aneurysm with a pure SDH and concurrent sphenoid sinus hemorrhage.
Comparative studies of tidal rhythms. x. a dissection of the persistent activity rhythms of the crab, sesarma

The spontaneous locomotor activity of 86 penultimate‐hour crabs was studied during the last 4 summers in constant darkness, and in normal and reversed light/dark cycles. In constant conditions some of the individuals exhibited only solar‐day rhythms, some displayed only tidal rhythms, and some described both. The normal and reversed light/dark cycles entrained the solar‐day rhythm, but produced only masking and relative coordination in the tidal components. In 3 crabs, one of the two tidal peaks split, indicating that these peaks can act independently of one another. This suggests that the tide‐associated display of Sesarma—like 5 other crab species—may use two circalunidian clocks, one to control each peak in this rhythmic display.
Physiological effects of flavour perception

The flavour of food, a critical determinant of consumer selection and consumption, also has the potential to regulate how ingested food is absorbed and metabolized. The underlying physiological pathways that facilitate the relationships between flavour and nutrient metabolism are neural connections among the oropharyngeal region, the brain and peripheral tissues. Recent studies have shown that the flavour of food can improve nutrient metabolism in human subjects. Future work should identify how individual flavours can improve nutrient metabolism in both normal and clinical populations.
HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points): Is It Coming to the Dairy?

The risks and consequences of foodborne and waterborne pathogens are coming to the forefront of public health concerns, and strong pressure is being applied on agriculture for immediate implementation of on-farm controls. The FDA is considering HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) as the new foundation for revision of the US Food Safety Assurance Program because HACCP is considered to be a science-based, systematic approach to the prevention of food safety problems. In addition, the implementation of HACCP principles permits more government oversight through requirements for standard operating procedures and additional systems for keeping records, places primary responsibility for ensuring food safety on the food manufacturer or distributor, and may assist US food companies in competing more effectively in the world market. With the HACCP-based program in place, a government investigator should be able to determine and evaluate both current and past conditions that are critical to ensuring the safety of the food produced by the facility. When this policy is brought to the production unit, the impact for producers and veterinarians will be substantial.
Crystal Structure of the SarS Protein from Staphylococcus aureus

The expression of virulence determinants in Staphylococcus aureus is controlled by global regulatory loci (e.g., sarA and agr). One of these determinants, protein A (spa), is activated by sarS, which encodes a 250-residue DNA-binding protein. Genetic analysis indicated that the agr locus likely mediates spa repression by suppressing the transcription of sarS. Contrary to SarA and SarR, which require homodimer formation for proper function, SarS is unusual within the SarA protein family in that it contains two homologous halves, with each half sharing sequence similarity to SarA and SarR. Here we report the 2.2 A resolution X-ray crystal structure of the SarS protein. SarS has folds similar to those of SarR and, quite plausibly, the native SarA structure. Two typical winged-helix DNA-binding domains are connected by a well-ordered loop. The interactions between the two domains are extensive and conserved. The putative DNA-binding surface is highly positively charged. In contrast, negatively charged patches are located opposite to the DNA-binding surface. Furthermore, sequence alignment and structural comparison revealed that MarR has folds similar to those of SarR and SarS. Members of the MarR protein family have previously been implicated in the negative regulation of an efflux pump involved in multiple antibiotic resistance in many gram-negative species. We propose that MarR also belongs to the winged-helix protein family and has a similar mode of DNA binding as SarR and SarS and possibly the entire SarA protein family member. Based on the structural differences of SarR, SarS, and MarR, we further classified these winged-helix proteins to three subfamilies, SarA, SarS, and MarR. Finally, a possible transcription regulation mechanism is proposed.
Clinical prediction of pneumonia [1]

To the Editors: Health care costs are rising, hence the increasing emphasis on a more selective use of high-cost technologic and other ancillary testing. To assist physicians with this task, clinic...
Wading for food the driving force of the evolution of bipedalism

Evidence is accumulating that suggests that the large human brain is most likely to have evolved in littoral and estuarine habitats rich in naturally occurring essential fatty acids. This paper adds further weight to this view, suggesting that another key human trait, our bipedality might also be best explained as an adaptation to a water-side niche. Evidence is provided here that extant apes, although preferring to keep dry, go into water when driven to do so by hunger. The anecdotal evidence has suggested that they tend to do this bipedally. Here, a new empirical study of captive bonobos found them to exhibit 2% or less bipedality on the ground or in trees but over 90% when wading in water to collect food. The skeletal morphology of AL 288-1 ("Lucy") is shown to indicate a strong ability to abduct and adduct the femur. These traits, together with a remarkably platypelloid pelvis, have not yet been adequately explained by terrestrial or arboreal models for early bipedalism but are consistent with those expected in an ape that adopted a specialist side-to-side 'ice-skating' or sideways wading mode. It is argued that this explanation of A. afarensis locomotor morphology is more parsimonious than others which have plainly failed to produce a consensus. Microwear evidence of Australopithecus dentition is also presented as evidence that the drive for such a wading form of locomotion might well have been waterside foods. This model obtains further support from the paleo-habitats of the earliest known bipeds, which are consistent with the hypothesis that wading contributed to the adaptive pressure towards bipedality.
Effects of Gravity on Combustion Synthesis in Heterogeneous Gasless Systems

The first systematic experimental investigation of combustion synthesis from elements conducted under low (10 -4 m/s 2 ) gravity conditions is reported. Several classes of gasless heterogeneous reaction systems were studied, e.g.,Ni-Al,Ti-C, and Ni-Al-Ti-B. A variety of gravity-related effects were observed. It was shown that the convection of inert gas, occurring in the reaction chamber during the combustion process in terrestrial conditions, leads to instability of combustion front propagation along the sample. Also, composite materials (Ni 3 Al-TiB 2 ) produced in microgravity have finer size of refractory phase (TiB 2 ) that is more uniformly distributed in the Ni 3 Al intermetallic matrix. The grains formed in terrestrial conditions were approximately 50% larger. The results obtained with quenched samples showed that this difference is related to the buoyancy enhanced coalescence process. For the Ti-C system, dynamics of sample expansion have been determined, and materials with final porosity up to 90% have been synthesized in microgravity conditions without the use of any gasifying additives. Finally, it was observed that the combustion velocity for loose Ni-Al mixtures in microgravity is about three times larger than in terrestrial conditions. This effect may be explained by a change in the primary mechanism of heat transfer through the reaction medium.
Simplified calculation of explosives-generated temperature and pressure

Abstract Gas in exploded boreholes experiences very high temperature and pressure which prohibit the use of the ideal gas law, PV = nRT. However, non-ideal gaseous mixtures can be described by the compressibility factor, Z, which measures the deviation of a real gas from ideal gas behavior. The Z-factors for real gases are nearly equal when the gases have the same reduced temperature and pressure. Application of Kay's Law permits direct calculation of the explosion state parameters. The detonation state conditions, used in earlier efforts to describe non-ideal explosive gas behavior, may be neglected.
Androgens and Hypertension Role in Both Males and Females

See related article, pp 788–794 It is now well accepted that blood pressure (BP) in normotensive men and prevalence of hypertension in men is greater than in women.1 After menopause, the prevalence of hypertension increases in women until it exceeds that in men.1 Because cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in both men and women, and hypertension is a leading risk factor for CVD, determining the mechanisms responsible for the sex differences in BP and prevalence of hypertension is important in protecting against CVD. Evidence suggests that androgens can contribute to BP control in women just as in men, because androgens are elevated in young women with conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome,2 and there is evidence that androgens tend to increase in women after menopause.3 The mechanisms by which androgens control BP in both men and women remain to be elucidated. In the current issue of Hypertension , Wu et al4 extend their previous observations on the mechanisms responsible for androgen-mediated hypertension. They reported previously that treatment of male rats with 5α-dihydrotestosterone (DHT; 40 to 120 mg/kg body weight) caused an increase in BP and intrarenal expression of CYP4A and 20-hydroxy-5,8,11,14-eicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE),5 that was prevented by CYP4A ω-hydroxylase inhibition (with HET-0016).6 In addition, DHT increased, and HET-0016 decreased, renal microvascular markers of oxidative stress. These data were the first to suggest that 20-HETE contributes to androgen-induced increases in oxidative stress. Subsequently, Ishizuka et al …
Evaluation of diagnostic tests by individuals and small groups

Abstract Five experiments were undertaken to assess individual and team evaluation of the diagnosticity of hypothetical “code-breaking” tests. Three aspects of diagnosticity were examined: P(S), or the probability that a test will be successful (reduce uncertainty as to which “code” is being used) ; reductive capacity, or the amount of uncertainty reduced by a successful test; and redundancy, or the extent to which two tests convey the same information. Experiments I–IV indicated that individual subjects are highly sensitive to all three aspects of diagnosticity. Experiment V revealed that the extent to which redundancy of information between teammates can be resolved depends on team structure. Freely interacting teammates in a decentralized arrangement can solve redundancy as well as individuals; other team arrangements (concocted and centralized) yield poorer performance in this regard. The method utilized in this research seems eminently suited to the study of small groups.
Multimodality Fusion with MRI, CT, and Ultrasound Contrast for Ablation of Renal Cell Carcinoma

Fusion technology with electromagnetic (EM) tracking enables navigation with multimodality feedback that lets the operator use different modalities during different parts of the image-guided procedure. This may be particularly helpful in patients with renal insufficiency undergoing kidney tumor ablation, in whom there is a desire to minimize or avoid nephrotoxic iodinated contrast exposure. EM tracking software merges and fuses different imaging modalities such as MRI, CT, and ultrasound and can also display the position of needles in real time in relation to preprocedure imaging, which may better define tumor targets than available intraoperative imaging. EM tracking was successfully used to ablate a poorly visualized renal tumor, through the combined use of CT, gadolinium-enhanced MR, and contrast-enhanced US imaging to localize the tumor.
PMAC: A POLYGON MATCHING CHIP

The recognition of polygons in 3-D space is an important task in robot vision. Advances in VLSI technology have now made it possible to implement inexpensive, efficient and very fast custom designs. The authors have earlier proposed a class of VLSI architectures for this computationally intensive task, which makes use of a set of local shape descriptors for polygons which are invariant under affine transformations, i.e. translation, scaling, rotation and orthographic projection from 3-D to any 2-D plane. This paper discusses the design and implementation of PMAC, a prototype for polygon matching, as a custom CMOS VLSI chip. The recognition procedure is based on the matching of edge-length ratios using a simplified version of the dynamic programming procedure commonly employed for string matching. The matching procedure also copes with partial occlusions of polygons. The implemented architecture is systolic and fully utilizes the principles of pipelining and parallelism in order to obtain high speed and throughput.
Generalized Triangular Decomposition in Transform Coding

A general family of optimal transform coders (TCs) is introduced here based on the generalized triangular decomposition (GTD) developed by Jiang This family includes the Karhunen-Loeve transform (KLT) and the generalized version of the prediction-based lower triangular transform (PLT) introduced by Phoong and Lin as special cases. The coding gain of the entire family, with optimal bit allocation, is equal to that of the KLT and the PLT. Even though the original PLT introduced by Phoong is not applicable for vectors that are not blocked versions of scalar wide sense stationary processes, the GTD-based family includes members that are natural extensions of the PLT, and therefore also enjoy the so-called MINLAB structure of the PLT, which has the unit noise-gain property. Other special cases of the GTD-TC are the geometric mean decomposition (GMD) and the bidiagonal decomposition (BID) transform coders. The GMD-TC in particular has the property that the optimum bit allocation is a uniform allocation; this is because all its transform domain coefficients have the same variance, implying thereby that the dynamic ranges of the coefficients to be quantized are identical.
Pituitary-Adrenal and Autonomic Responses to Stress in Women After Sexual and Physical Abuse in Childhood

ContextEvidence suggests that early adverse experiences play a preeminent role in development of mood and anxiety disorders and that corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) systems may mediate this association.ObjectiveTo determine whether early-life stress results in a persistent sensitization of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to mild stress in adulthood, thereby contributing to vulnerability to psychopathological conditions.Design and SettingProspective controlled study conducted from May 1997 to July 1999 at the General Clinical Research Center of Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Ga.ParticipantsForty-nine healthy women aged 18 to 45 years with regular menses, with no history of mania or psychosis, with no active substance abuse or eating disorder within 6 months, and who were free of hormonal and psychotropic medications were recruited into 4 study groups (n = 12 with no history of childhood abuse or psychiatric disorder [controls]; n = 13 with diagnosis of current major depression who were sexually or physically abused as children; n = 14 without current major depression who were sexually or physically abused as children; and n = 10 with diagnosis of current major depression and no history of childhood abuse).Main Outcome MeasuresAdrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol levels and heart rate responses to a standardized psychosocial laboratory stressor compared among the 4 study groups.ResultsWomen with a history of childhood abuse exhibited increased pituitary-adrenal and autonomic responses to stress compared with controls. This effect was particularly robust in women with current symptoms of depression and anxiety. Women with a history of childhood abuse and a current major depression diagnosis exhibited a more than 6-fold greater ACTH response to stress than age-matched controls (net peak of 9.0 pmol/L [41.0 pg/mL]; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.7-13.3 pmol/L [21.6-60.4 pg/mL]; vs net peak of 1.4 pmol/L [6.19 pg/mL]; 95% CI, 0.2-2.5 pmol/L [1.0-11.4 pg/mL]; difference, 8.6 pmol/L [38.9 pg/mL]; 95% CI, 4.6-12.6 pmol/L [20.8-57.1 pg/mL]; P<.001).ConclusionsOur findings suggest that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system hyperreactivity, presumably due to CRF hypersecretion, is a persistent consequence of childhood abuse that may contribute to the diathesis for adulthood psychopathological conditions. Furthermore, these results imply a role for CRF receptor antagonists in the prevention and treatment of psychopathological conditions related to early-life stress.
Uranium on Oceanic Side of Circum-Pacific Mobile Belt: ABSTRACT

Asymmetrical continental margin orogenic belts have superimposed mineralization belts also zoned asymmetrically toward low temperature in the foreland, suggesting orogenic redistribution of crustal metals. The quantity of uranium concentrated into deposits is maximum in a final forelandward zone. High-temperature Th-U concentrations are less prominent in rearward tectonic zones. Unfavorability of tectonic zones oceanward of the batholith zone, for low-temperature uranium, predicted in 1970, is reviewed as a test of the metallo-tectonic concept, after 12 years of intensive exploration during the price peak. Of 19 Pacific-margin countries containing island-arc, back-arc-flysch-basin, pluton-in-flysch, or batholith tectonic zones, three aggregate six uranium deposits (four of low temperature), nine prospects, and perhaps ten occurrences. Two more countries have one prospect each. One vein is in island-arc andesite. Two disseminations in basin flysch may represent submarine exhalations. Several high temperature veins are associated with alkaline plutons in flysch, and several high temperature replacement disseminations with "porphyry" copper/molybdenum deposits are known. Many uneconomic high temperature replacement disseminations in alkaline granite are known in the batholith zone. One economic dissemination is in a granite pluton contact zone and two supergene impregnations are in regolit over granite batholith. Several impregnations occur in basin sandstones derived from and overlying granite. Strongest uranium mineralization in oceanward tectonic zones was associated with cratonization of oceanic rocks. End_of_Article - Last_Page 968------------
White dot syndromes: a 20-year study of incidence, clinical features, and outcomes.

Purpose: To measure the incidence of white dot syndromes (WDS) in a community-based population and to report clinical features and outcomes.Methods: Multicenter retrospective study using the Rochester Epidemiology Project medical records linkage system of Olmsted County, Minnesota. Databases were searched to identify all patients with WDS from January 1, 1988 through December 31, 2008.Results: Mean ophthalmic follow-up was 4.5 years and mean general medical follow-up was 9.1 years. The incidence of WDS was 0.45 per 100,000 per year (95% CI 0.19–0.71). Incidence rates for specific disease entities were also calculated. The authors report some associated autoimmune diseases in this series. Multiple evanescent white dot syndrome (MEWDS) was more common in females, and acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy (APMPPE) was more common in males. Both MEWDS and APMPPE generally carried a good visual prognosis. Fifty percent of cases with APMPPE had a positive history of psoriasis. The only punct...
Current Demographics Suggest Future Energy Supplies Will Be Inadequate to Slow Human Population Growth

Influential demographic projections suggest that the global human population will stabilize at about 9–10 billion people by mid-century. These projections rest on two fundamental assumptions. The first is that the energy needed to fuel development and the associated decline in fertility will keep pace with energy demand far into the future. The second is that the demographic transition is irreversible such that once countries start down the path to lower fertility they cannot reverse to higher fertility. Both of these assumptions are problematic and may have an effect on population projections. Here we examine these assumptions explicitly. Specifically, given the theoretical and empirical relation between energy-use and population growth rates, we ask how the availability of energy is likely to affect population growth through 2050. Using a cross-country data set, we show that human population growth rates are negatively related to per-capita energy consumption, with zero growth occurring at ∼13 kW, suggesting that the global human population will stop growing only if individuals have access to this amount of power. Further, we find that current projected future energy supply rates are far below the supply needed to fuel a global demographic transition to zero growth, suggesting that the predicted leveling-off of the global population by mid-century is unlikely to occur, in the absence of a transition to an alternative energy source. Direct consideration of the energetic constraints underlying the demographic transition results in a qualitatively different population projection than produced when the energetic constraints are ignored. We suggest that energetic constraints be incorporated into future population projections.
Regulation of NAD Synthesis by the Trifunctional NadR Protein of Salmonella enterica

The three activities of NadR were demonstrated in purified protein and assigned to separate domains by missense mutations. The N-terminal domain represses transcription of genes for NAD synthesis and salvage. The C-terminal domain has nicotinamide ribose kinase (NmR-K; EC 2.7.1.22) activity, which is essential for assimilation of NmR, converting it internally to nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN). The central domain has a weak adenylyltransferase (NMN-AT; EC 2.7.7.1) activity that converts NMN directly to NAD but is physiologically irrelevant. This central domain mediates regulatory effects of NAD on all NadR activities. In the absence of effectors, pure NadR protein binds operator DNA (the default state) and is released by ATP (expected to be present in vivo). NAD allows NadR to bind DNA in the presence of ATP and causes repression in vivo. A superrepressor mutation alters an ATP-binding residue in the central (NMN-AT) domain. This eliminates NMN-AT activity and places the enzyme in its default (DNA binding) state. The mutant protein shows full NmR kinase activity that is 10-fold more sensitive to NAD inhibition than the wild type. It is proposed that NAD and the superrepressor mutation exert their effects by preventing ATP from binding to the central domain.
Spectrum of doubly ionized yttrium (Y iii)

The spectrum of doubly ionized yttrium was observed from 600 to 9700 A by means of plane- and concave-grating spectrographs at NBS. About 100 new lines were observed. From these measurements, 40 new energy levels were derived. The known level system (Rb i isoelectronic sequence, 4p6nl) now includes the series ns (n = 5–9), np (n = 5–9), nd (n = 4–8), nf (n = 4–10), ng (n = 5–8), and nh (n = 6–8). The nf series shows irregular fine-structure splittings, 4f having a negative splitting of about 3 cm−1. The ionization energy of Y iii was determined to be 165 540.5 ± 1.0 cm−1 (20.52457 ± 0.00012 eV). A reexamination of Kiess’s data for Zr iv in the light of the Y iii analysis yielded a revised value for the ionization energy of Zr iv of 277 550 ± 20 cm−1 (34.412 ± 0.003 eV).
HAAD: A Quick Algorithm for Accurate Prediction of Hydrogen Atoms in Protein Structures

Hydrogen constitutes nearly half of all atoms in proteins and their positions are essential for analyzing hydrogen-bonding interactions and refining atomic-level structures. However, most protein structures determined by experiments or computer prediction lack hydrogen coordinates. We present a new algorithm, HAAD, to predict the positions of hydrogen atoms based on the positions of heavy atoms. The algorithm is built on the basic rules of orbital hybridization followed by the optimization of steric repulsion and electrostatic interactions. We tested the algorithm using three independent data sets: ultra-high-resolution X-ray structures, structures determined by neutron diffraction, and NOE proton-proton distances. Compared with the widely used programs CHARMM and REDUCE, HAAD has a significantly higher accuracy, with the average RMSD of the predicted hydrogen atoms to the X-ray and neutron diffraction structures decreased by 26% and 11%, respectively. Furthermore, hydrogen atoms placed by HAAD have more matches with the NOE restraints and fewer clashes with heavy atoms. The average CPU cost by HAAD is 18 and 8 times lower than that of CHARMM and REDUCE, respectively. The significant advantage of HAAD in both the accuracy and the speed of the hydrogen additions should make HAAD a useful tool for the detailed study of protein structure and function. Both an executable and the source code of HAAD are freely available at http://zhang.bioinformatics.ku.edu/HAAD.
Efficiently Querying Large XML Data Repositories: A Survey

Extensible markup language (XML) is emerging as a de facto standard for information exchange among various applications on the World Wide Web. There has been a growing need for developing high-performance techniques to query large XML data repositories efficiently. One important problem in XML query processing is twig pattern matching, that is, finding in an XML data tree D all matches that satisfy a specified twig (or path) query pattern Q. In this survey, we review, classify, and compare major techniques for twig pattern matching. Specifically, we consider two classes of major XML query processing techniques: the relational approach and the native approach. The relational approach directly utilizes existing relational database systems to store and query XML data, which enables the use of all important techniques that have been developed for relational databases, whereas in the native approach, specialized storage and query processing systems tailored for XML data are developed from scratch to further improve XML query performance. As implied by existing work, XML data querying and management are developing in the direction of integrating the relational approach with the native approach, which could result in higher query processing performance and also significantly reduce system reengineering costs.
Influence of the discretization method on the integration accuracy of observers with continuous feedback

The paper discusses the problem of integrating the equations of state observers associated with direct field orientation (DFO) of motor drives and studies the influence of the discretization method used on the accuracy of integration. In a typical implementation, discrete-time integration is done using Euler's discretization method (forward rectangular rule) - the method is simple and integration is accurate when the drive operates at low and medium speed. However, as the frequency increases, the integration becomes inaccurate because the Euler approximation starts losing more and more area from under the curve. Theoretically, the problem could be alleviated by increasing the sampling frequency; however, this cannot always be done. Another idea would be to adopt a more accurate (but more computationally intensive) integration method, for example, trapezoidal integration (Tustin method). The paper shows that, at high frequency, under ideal conditions, trapezoidal integration performs better than the Euler method. In a real implementation, however, conditions are non-ideal since the measured signals bring dc offsets and imperfections into the terms to be integrated - as a result, pure integration must be replaced with quasi-low pass filtering. Under these conditions, the paper compares the Euler, Tustin and backward rectangular methods from the point of view of integration accuracy. The implications related to direct field orientation of motor drives are studied by considering a full-order observer for the PMSM - this is discretized using the three methods considered and the results are compared. At high frequency, neither integration method gives perfect results; the Euler method yields a waveform that leads the expected one while the backward rectangular method yield a waveforms that lags it. The paper finds that, surprisingly, when quasi-low pass filtering is used, the Tustin method is not significantly more accurate than the other ones - the waveform obtained lags the expected one by an angle comparable with the lead angle of the Euler method. It is shown that the integration accuracy depends on the frequency, sampling time, filter bandwidth and on the integration method used. Accurate high frequency drive DFO control would require correction of the magnitude/phase of the estimates.