cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Anatomic assessment of the mandibular buccal shelf for miniscrew insertion in white patients

Introduction Cortical bone thickness, bone width, insertion depth, and proximity to nerves are important factors when planning and placing orthodontic miniscrews. The objective of this study was to anatomically assess the mandibular buccal shelf in a white patient population as the insertion site for orthodontic miniscrews by investigating these 4 variables. Methods Measurements were made on cone-beam computed tomography scans of 30 white patients (18 girls, 12 boys; mean age, 14.5 ± 2 years). All measurements were taken adjacent to the distobuccal cusp of the first molar, and the mesiobuccal and distobuccal cusps of the second molar. Additionally, bone depth was measured at 2 height levels, 4 and 8 mm from the cementoenamel junction. Stereolithographic models of patients were superimposed on the cone-beam computed tomography volumes to virtually create an outline of the soft tissue on the cone-beam computed tomography image to allow identification of the purchase point height (mucogingival junction). The inferior alveolar nerve was digitally traced. Miniscrews (1.6 × 10 mm) were virtually placed at the buccal shelf, and their insertion depths and relationships to the nerve were assessed. Analysis of variance with post hoc analysis was used for data analysis. Results Insertion sites and measurement levels had significant impacts on both cortical bone thickness and bone width. Cortical bone thickness was typically greatest at the distobuccal cusp of the second molar. Bone width was also greatest at the distobuccal cusp of the second molar 8 mm from the cementoenamel junction. The greatest insertion depth was found again at the distobuccal cusp to the second molar, whereas the miniscrews had the greatest proximity to the nerve at this site also. Conclusions The distobuccal cusp level of the mandibular second molar is the most appropriate site for miniscrew insertion at the buccal shelf in white patients.
Sex Differences in Psychiatric Disease: A Focus on the Glutamate System

Alterations in glutamate, the primary excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, are implicated in several psychiatric diseases. Many of these psychiatric diseases display epidemiological sex differences, with either males or females exhibiting different symptoms or disease prevalence. However, little work has considered the interaction of disrupted glutamatergic transmission and sex on disease states. This review describes the clinical and preclinical evidence for these sex differences with a focus on two conditions that are more prevalent in women: Alzheimer's disease and major depressive disorder, and three conditions that are more prevalent in men: schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. These studies reveal sex differences at multiple levels in the glutamate system including metabolic markers, receptor levels, genetic interactions, and therapeutic responses to glutamatergic drugs. Our survey of the current literature revealed a considerable need for more evaluations of sex differences in future studies examining the role of the glutamate system in psychiatric disease. Gaining a more thorough understanding of how sex differences in the glutamate system contribute to psychiatric disease could provide novel avenues for the development of sex-specific pharmacotherapies.
KEEPING SODA IN SNAP: Understanding the Other Iron Triangle

Participants in SNAP have always been allowed to use their taxpayer-funded benefit to purchase Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs). Despite an acute public health crisis surrounding the consumption of unhealthy products including SSBs, especially among the low-income citizens who also qualify for SNAP benefits, this policy has yet to be changed. Interviews with policy participants in Washington, D.C., reveal that change is being blocked by a culture of “personal responsibility” in America, plus three specific political forces: corporate lobbying primarily by the beverage and food retail industries; a desire by liberals to defend SNAP as income support for the poor even if nutrition outcomes are sub-optimal; and institutional inertia within the Department of Agriculture and the agricultural committees of Congress. In the 2018 farm bill debate, this “iron triangle” of bipartisan resistance to change was strong enough to block even a pilot study of SSB restrictions in SNAP.
Collagen alterations in the corpus cavernosum of men with sexual dysfunction

Previous studies have noted the abundance of collagen in human erectile tissues and the association of altered collagen content with erectile dysfunction. We investigated these notions by studying the collagen characteristics of biopsies from the corpus cavernosum of men who required surgical correction of their sexual dysfunction. Histologic analysis revealed abundant collagen within the erectile tissues. With the exception of patients with Peyronie's disease and priapism, only mild alterations in collagen architecture were noted in the remainder of the patients. Biochemical quantitation confirmed the histologic study. The mean collagen content represented 47% of total protein in most patients. The proportion rose to 68% and 73% in the patients with Peyronie's disease and priapism, respectively. No statistical difference in collagen content was noted in all the patients studied. Immunohistochemistry revealed collagen types I and IV to predominate in the corpus cavernosum, with type III making up the minority. There were no qualitative changes in collagen ratios with age and disease. We conclude that though collagen is a major component of the penis, there are no changes in its histologic characteristics that can be correlated to senescence or to the etiology of erectile dysfunction.
Mining Discriminative Subgraph Patterns from Structural Data

Many scientific applications search for patterns in complex structural information; when this structural information is represented as graphs, a powerful tool is efficiently mining discriminative subgraphs. For example, the structures of chemical compounds can be stored as graphs, and with the help of discriminative subgraphs, chemists can predict which compounds are potentially toxic; 3D protein structures can be stored as graphs, and with the help of discriminative subgraphs, pharmacologists can predict which proteins are able to bind certain ligands and which are not; program flow information can be represented as graphs and with the help of discriminative subgraphs, computer scientists can identify program bugs and predict which program flows are successful and which are not. Many research studies have been devoted to developing efficient discriminative subgraph pattern mining algorithms. Higher efficiency allows users to process larger graph datasets and higher effectiveness enables users to achieve better results in applications. In this chapter, we introduce several existing discriminative subgraph pattern mining algorithms, including LEAP, CORK, graphSig, COM, GAIA and LTS. We evaluate the algorithms with real protein and chemical structure data.
Dynamic game applied to coordination control of two arm robotic system

The previous kinematic study of a pick-and-place robot with two entirely independent arms, is extended to the dynamic model of such a robot. The arms are seen as two players avoiding collision in any event. The corresponding game of kind gives the alloption program to the designer. A barrier between dexterous regions for each of the arms is determined. The method can be applied to a large class of multi-arm robots.
Society of Toxicology Develops Learning Framework for Undergraduate Toxicology Courses Following the Vision and Change Core Concepts Model.

The Society of Toxicology announces the development of a Learning Framework (https://www.toxicology.org/education/docs/SOT-Toxicology-Learning-Objectives.pdf) for undergraduate toxicology that will facilitate the development and sharing of evidence-based teaching materials for undergraduate toxicology educators throughout the world. This Learning Framework was modeled on the "Vision and Change Report" (www.visionandchange.org), an effort of the National Science Foundation and American Association for the Advancement of Science defining Core Concepts and Core Competencies to inform undergraduate biology course design. Vision and Change (VC Biological Information, Risk and Risk Management; Systems Toxicology; and Pathways and Transformations for Energy and Matter. Underpinning the Core Concepts are Level 2 Toxicology Concepts, which are broad disciplinary categories, Level 3 Learning Objectives, which address specific learning goals, and Level 4 Example Learning Objectives and Case Studies, which provide examples of how content might be taught. Syllabi from more than 20 undergraduate toxicology courses and several undergraduate toxicology textbooks were surveyed to determine toxicology-related Learning Objectives. From these, undergraduate educators can design courses tailored to their institutional needs by selecting a subset of Learning Objectives. Publication of a Learning Framework for toxicology will enable integration into other disciplines and facilitate the development and sharing of evidenced-based teaching materials for toxicology to educators in allied disciplines. Ultimately this will expand toxicology's impact to a broader audience.
Religious and Spiritual Values Conflicts in Queer Partnerships: Implications for Couples and Family Counselors:

In providing couples and family counseling to sexual/affectional and gender variant minorities (i.e., queer persons), couples and family counselors (CFCs) need to recognize that religious and spiri...
Working Smarter, Not Harder: Using Academic and Advising Cohorts to Achieve Positive Change in One Small Program Area

This article presents how one small program area in a state university used academic and advising cohorts to overcome limited resources resulting from budgetary restrictions. By reviewing the literature and identifying program goals, the program area was able to devise a restructuring plan that not only eased the burden on faculty members, but also assisted students in developing peer networks and in connecting academic and advising work. Furthermore, student retention numbers improved during the first cycle of implementation of the cohort model. The article shares implementation details along with the rationale for choosing this course of action.
Consequences of chronic frequent premature atrial contractions: Association with cardiac arrhythmias and cardiac structural changes.

INTRODUCTION Frequent premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) can cause cardiomyopathy (CM). Postextrasystolic potentiation (PESP) and irregularity have been in implicated as triggers of PVC-CM. Because both phenomena can also be found in premature atrial contractions (PACs), it is speculated that frequent PACs have similar consequences. METHODS AND RESULTS A single-center, retrospective study included all consecutive patients undergoing a 14-day Holter monitors (November 2014 to October 2016). Patients were divided into four groups by ectopy burden group 1 (<1%) and remaining by tertiles (group 2-4). Echocardiographic and arrhythmic data were compared between PAC and PVC burdens. In addition, a translational PAC animal model was used to assess the chronic effects of frequent PACs. A total 846 patients were reviewed. In contrast to PVCs, we found no difference in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), end-systolic and end-diastolic dimensions and presence of CM (LVEF <50%) between different PAC groups. Multivariate regression analysis demonstrated that only PVC burden predicted low EF (odds ratio, 1.1; confidence interval, 1.03-1.13; P = .001). While there was a weak correlation between PAC burden and supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) episodes and atrial fibrillation (AF) burden (r = 0.19; P < .001), there was no correlation between PAC burden and LVEF or CM. Finally, atrial bigeminy in our animal model did not significantly decrease LVEF after 3 months. CONCLUSION PAC burden is associated with increased AF and SVT episodes. In contrast to a high PVC burden, a high PAC burden is not associated with CM. Our findings suggest that heart rate irregularity and/or PESP may play a minimal role in the pathophysiology of PVC-CM.
Spatial Memory Rehabilitation in Virtual Reality – Extending findings from Epilepsy Patients to the General Population

Spatial memory is a critical function. Without it, we cannot understand our environment, situate ourselves within it, or remember where items are located. Most research on the neural basis of spatial memory is conducted either with invasive brain recordings from animals or with non-invasive imaging in humans. An emerging way to link these areas is by studying rare invasive recordings from the human brain, which can be obtained from epilepsy patients who have electrodes surgically implanted for seizure mapping. In recent years this invasive method has expanded our understanding of how the human brain represents space and has also suggested methods for modulating and potentially rehabilitating memory. However, it is unclear whether these results from epilepsy patients generalize to the non-epileptic population, and from testing in hospital rooms to more immersive and comfortable setups. Here, groups of epilepsy patients (n=69) and healthy participants (n=17) performed the same virtual spatial memory task, enabling us to compare their spatial memory performance. Moreover, we compared spatial memory performance between a standard computer screen versus a head-mounted display. We found that the spatial memory performance of epilepsy patients performing our task in a hospital was similar to that of matched healthy participants performing the task in the lab. Furthermore, actual spatial memory performance was similar on the group level irrespective of the interface used, despite the fact that subjects reported higher immersion with the head mounted display. By showing consistent spatial memory performance with a single paradigm across epilepsy patients and healthy participants, as well as with the use of different display modalities, our results provide a baseline for evaluating findings regarding the neural basis of spatial memory and neuromodulation for rehabilitation. More broadly, these results demonstrate that findings from neurosurgical patients are comparable to the wider population.
Predictive Risk Factors Associated With Increased Opioid Use Among Patients Undergoing Elective Spine Surgery

ABSTRACT Background: Opioids are commonly used for postoperative pain management in spine surgery. However, few guidelines exist for appropriate prescribing in the acute postoperative phase of care. We identify risk factors for inpatient (IP) opioid use and examine relationships between IP requirements and discharge (DC) opioid prescriptions. Methods: Retrospective review of elective spine surgeries between January 2014 and May 2018 identified cases of lumbar decompression (LD), LD with fusion (LDF), and cervical decompression with fusion (CDF) at our high-volume spine center. Multiple regression examining potential risk factors for opioid use was performed. Opioid use was normalized into daily morphine milligram equivalents (MME). Results: A total of 2281 patients who underwent 1251 LD, 384 LDF, and 648 CDF procedures were identified (54.1% male, mean age = 57.9 years, mean body mass index = 30.3 kg/m2, median American Society of Anesthesiologists [ASA] score = 2). Mean IP opioid use was 44.4 MME/day and average DC prescriptions totaled 496.5 MME. Multiple regression models identified younger age and increased ASA score as predictive of increased daily IP opioid consumption (βAGE = −0.36, P Conclusions: Younger patients and higher ASA scores correlated with increased IP opioid use and DC opioid prescriptions. DC prescriptions appropriately reflect IP use. Level of Evidence: 3. Clinical Relevance: Adequate pain management is an integral component to successful outcomes in spine surgery. Awareness of candidates likely to require higher levels of opioid analgesia will be beneficial in guiding surgeon prescribing practices.
Her Majesty’s Desert Throne: The Ecology of Queen Butterfly Oviposition on Mojave Milkweed Host Plants

Butterfly-host plant relationships can inform our understanding of ecological and trophic interactions that contribute to ecosystem function, resiliency, and services. The ecology of danaid-milkweed (Apocynaceae) host plant interactions has been studied in several biomes but is neglected in deserts. Our objective was to determine effects of plant traits, seasonality, and landscape-level host plant availability on selection of Mojave milkweed (Asclepias nyctaginifolia A. Gray) by ovipositing monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus plexippus) and queen butterflies (Danaus gilippus thersippus) in the Californian Mojave Desert. We surveyed all known Mojave milkweed locations in the Ivanpah Valley, California (n = 419) during early, mid-, and late spring in 2017. For each survey, we counted monarch and queen butterfly eggs on each Mojave milkweed plant. We also measured canopy cover, height, volume, and reproductive stage of each Mojave milkweed plant. We counted a total of 276 queen butterfly eggs and zero monarch butterfly eggs on Mojave milkweed host plants. We determined that count of queen butterfly eggs significantly increased with increasing Mojave milkweed canopy cover. Additionally, count of queen butterfly eggs was: (1) greater on adult Mojave milkweed plants than on juvenile and seedling plants and greater on juvenile Mojave milkweed plants than on seedling plants; and (2) greater during early spring than mid-spring-we recorded no eggs during late spring. Based on aggregation indices, queen butterfly eggs occurred on Mojave milkweed plants in a nonrandom, clustered pattern throughout the Ivanpah Valley. We provide the first evidence of trophic interactions between queen butterflies and Mojave milkweed at multiple spatial scales in the Mojave Desert, suggesting that conservation and management practices for both species should be implemented concurrently. Given its role as an herbivore, pollinator and prey, the queen butterfly may serve as a model organism for understanding effects of anthropogenic disturbance (e.g., solar energy development) on "bottom-up" and trophic interactions among soils, plants and animals in desert ecosystems.
Studies of Sulfate Utilization by Algae

1. Incubation of high specific activity adenosine-5′-phosphosulfate (AP35S) with crude enzyme fractions or purified APS-sulfotransferase from wildtype and from a mutant which does not grow on sulfate (Sat2-) leads to binding of label to protein as judged by separation on Sephadex G-25. Crude extracts of mutants Sat1-, Sat6-, and Sat7-R1 lacking APS-sulfotransferase show 10 fold lower binding, indicating that APS-sulfotransferase activity is required. 2. Protein-bound radioactivity is not released by mild acid and exchanges with sulfite excluding bound APS; this suggests a linkage of the organic thiosulfate type (R-S-SO3-). Labeled protein releases radioactive SO32- and GSSO3- with gluthathione (GS-); with BAL or S2-, SSO32- is released. 3. The reaction of APS with APS-sulfotransferase is heat labile, but once bound, the radioactivity is still released by thiols from the heated protein. 4. Aged purified APS-sulfotransferase loses binding activity which is restored by adding the supernatant from heated fresh extract, indicating the participation of a cofactor, consistent with the view that a low molecular weight carrier participates in the main pathway of reduction.
miR-30a targets gene networks that promote browning of human and mouse adipocytes

MicroRNA-30a (miR-30a) impacts adipocyte function, and its expression in white adipose tissue (WAT) correlates with insulin sensitivity in obesity. Bioinformatic analysis demonstrates that miR-30a expression contributes to 2% of all miRNA expression in human tissues. However, molecular mechanisms of miR-30a function in fat cells remain unclear. Here, we expanded our understanding of how miR-30a expression contributes to antidiabetic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPARγ) agonist activity and metabolic functions in adipocytes. We found that WAT isolated from diabetic patients shows reduced miR-30a levels and diminished expression of the canonical PPARγ target genes ADIPOQ and FABP4 relative to lean counterparts. In human adipocytes, miR-30a required PPARγ for maximal expression, and the PPARγ agonist rosiglitazone robustly induced miR-30a but not other miR-30 family members. Transcriptional activity studies in human adipocytes also revealed that ectopic expression of miR-30a enhanced the activity of rosiglitazone coupled with higher expression of fatty acid and glucose metabolism markers. Diabetic mice that overexpress ectopic miR-30a in subcutaneous WAT display durable reductions in serum glucose and insulin levels for more than 30 days. In agreement with our in vitro findings, RNA-seq coupled with Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) suggested that miR-30a enabled activation of the beige fat program in vivo, as evidenced by enhanced mitochondrial biogenesis and induction of UCP1 expression. Metabolomic and gene expression profiling established that the long-term effects of ectopic miR-30a expression enable accelerated glucose metabolism coupled with subcutaneous WAT hyperplasia. Together, we establish a putative role of miR-30a in mediating PPARγ activity and advancing metabolic programs of white to beige fat conversion.
U.S. states initiation of energy efficiency policies in the era of climate change: Throwing a searchlight on the influence of political partisanship

Abstract Responding to climate change, the most vexing environmental challenge of today, encompasses the use of measures enhancing adaptation to its current and future consequences and those aimed at mitigating further warming. This study addresses the latter response category. In particular, it examines the extent to which political partisanship influences states’ energy efficiency policies. For context, energy efficiency improvement is one of the leading tools used to deal with energy consumption-related environmental problems, including climate change. Analysis of panel data spanning several years, indeed, shows that political partisanship is a leading driver of states’ energy efficiency policies. More specifically, there is evidence that Republican Party dominance in states is negatively related to these policies, which is consistent with findings from prior studies and the political partisanship explanation of environmental commitment and protection. However, part of this relationship is influenced by the strength of the fossil fuel industry, that is, coal production. It would seem that the political consideration among Republicans that has stymied policy response to climate change at the federal level is exerting a likewise influence at the state level. Based on the findings reported here and in prior studies, getting a handle on the environmental challenges of today will require getting Americans identifying as Republicans to embrace the need for environmental protection.
Dissipation of Oscillation Energy and Distribution of Damping Power in a Multimachine Power System: A Small-signal Analysis.

This paper revisits the concept of damping torque in a multimachine power system and its relation to the dissipation of oscillation energy in synchronous machine windings. As a multimachine extension of an existing result on a single-machine-infinite-bus (SMIB) system, we show that the total damping power for a mode stemming from the interaction of electromagnetic torques and rotor speeds is equal to the sum of average power dissipations in the generator windings corresponding to the modal oscillation. Further, counter-intuitive to the SMIB result, we demonstrate that, although the equality holds on an aggregate, such is not the case for individual machines in an interconnected system. To that end, distribution factors are derived for expressing the average damping power of each generator as a linear combination of average powers of modal energy dissipation in the windings of all machines in the system. These factors represent the distribution of damping power in a multimachine system. The results are validated on IEEE 4-machine and 16-machine test systems.
Size-sieving separation of hard-sphere gases at low concentrations through cylindrically porous membranes

Membranes are compelling devices for many industrial separation processes, which are all subject to the intrinsic permeability-selectivity tradeoff. A general strategy to enhance separation performance is to reduce the pore size distribution and, ideally, make the membrane isoporous. In this study, we focus on a minimal model for regularly porous membranes, which consists of hard spheres moving through cylindrical pores. The collision dynamics is solved exactly and implemented in nonequilibrium event-driven molecular dynamics simulations. For such size-sieving porous membranes, we show that the permeability P of hard spheres of size σ through cylindrical pores of size d follows the hindered diffusion mechanism due to size exclusion as P ∝ (1 - σ/d)2. According to this law, the separation of binary mixtures of large and small particles exhibits a linear relationship between α-1/2 and P-1/2, where α and P are the selectivity and permeability of the smaller particle, respectively. The mean permeability through polydisperse pores is the average of the permeabilities of individual pores, weighted by the fraction of the single pore area over the total pore area.
Deformable ProtoPNet: An Interpretable Image Classifier Using Deformable Prototypes.

Machine learning has been widely adopted in many domains, including high-stakes applications such as healthcare, finance, and criminal justice. To address concerns of fairness, accountability and transparency, predictions made by machine learning models in these critical domains must be interpretable. One line of work approaches this challenge by integrating the power of deep neural networks and the interpretability of case-based reasoning to produce accurate yet interpretable image classification models. These models generally classify input images by comparing them with prototypes learned during training, yielding explanations in the form of "this looks like that." However, methods from this line of work use spatially rigid prototypes, which cannot explicitly account for pose variations. In this paper, we address this shortcoming by proposing a case-based interpretable neural network that provides spatially flexible prototypes, called a deformable prototypical part network (Deformable ProtoPNet). In a Deformable ProtoPNet, each prototype is made up of several prototypical parts that adaptively change their relative spatial positions depending on the input image. This enables each prototype to detect object features with a higher tolerance to spatial transformations, as the parts within a prototype are allowed to move. Consequently, a Deformable ProtoPNet can explicitly capture pose variations, improving both model accuracy and the richness of explanations provided. Compared to other case-based interpretable models using prototypes, our approach achieves competitive accuracy, gives an explanation with greater context, and is easier to train, thus enabling wider use of interpretable models for computer vision.
Cardiac Prevention Guidelines

In this chapter, we summarize a number of recently released guideline documents for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. Specifically, guidelines for the assessment of cardiovascular risk, the treatment of high cholesterol, the treatment of obesity, optimizing diet and healthy lifestyle habits, and the treatment of hypertension are discussed. Particular focus is given to new developments in these guidelines, pharmacologic considerations related to the guidelines, as well as positive and negative attributes of the recommendations. A thorough understanding of these recent guidelines, including their strengths and weaknesses, is critical in order to deliver the most up-to-date evidence-based cardiovascular care.
Four common myths about plantation forestry

Privately owned tree farms and plantations share many characteristics of natural forests, multiple purpose forests, and fiber plantations. Tree farms and plantations are managed primarily for the sustainable production of solid wood and fiber; however, they increasingly play an important role in protecting all forest values. This rapidly changing role poses a challenge to forest managers — to increase productivity to meet spiraling worldwide demand while satisfying public expectations for preserving and enhancing a full range of forest resources.
Translating Theory into Practice - Abstract State Machines within Microsoft

As researchers in rigorous methods we are interested in the challenge of building and maintaining software systems on a massive scale. Our methods must work for real-world systems with hundreds or thousands of components that interact in complex ways.
Status of Marshall Space Flight Center solar house

The Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) solar facility is described herein, and test results obtained from late May 1974 to September 1974 are discussed. This facility was assembled to provide operational experience in the utilization of solar energy for heating and cooling buildings. The major subsystems are the solar collector, the energy storage tank, the simulated living space, the air conditioning and heating subsystems, and the controls. These subsystems are described with emphasis placed on major results and conclusions. A cursory evaluation of the system for cooling is given from energy and power consumption viewpoints. This data evaluation indicates the current system is capable of supplying 50 per cent of the thermal energy required to drive the air conditioner. A preliminary evaluation of winter data indicates that more than 90 per cent of the heating required can be provided by the solar system.
Designing Toxicogenomics Studies that use DNA Array Technology

Background: Bioassays are routinely used to evaluate the toxicity of test agents. Experimental designs for bioassays are largely encompassed by fi xed effects linear models. In toxicogenomics studies where DNA arrays measure mRNA levels, the tissue samples are typically generated in a bioassay. These measurements introduce additional sources of variation, which must be properly managed to obtain valid tests of treatment effects. Results: An analysis of covariance model is developed which combines a fi xed-effects linear model for the bioassay with important variance components associated with DNA array measurements. These models can accommodate the dominant characteristics of measurements from DNA arrays, and they account for technical variation associated with normalization, spots, dyes, and batches as well as the biological variation associated with the bioassay. An example illustrates how the model is used to identify valid designs and to compare competing designs. Conclusions: Many toxicogenomics studies are bioassays which measure gene expression using DNA arrays. These studies can be designed and analyzed using standard methods with a few modifi cations to account for characteristics of array measurements, such as multiple endpoints and normalization. As much as possible, technical variation associated with probes, dyes, and batches are managed by blocking treatments within these sources of variation. An example shows how some practical constraints can be accommodated by this modelling and how it allows one to objectively compare competing designs.
Statistically partitioned, low power TCAM

Network search engines based on ternary CAMs are widely used in routers. However, due to parallel search nature of TCAMs power consumption becomes a critical issue. In this paper, we propose an architecture that partitions the lookup table into multiple TCAM portions based on individual TCAM cell status and achieves up to 30% power reduction.
Parallel operation of wind turbine, fuel cell, and diesel generation sources

We investigated a small isolated hybrid power system that used a parallel combination of dispatchable and nondispatchable power generation sources. The nondispatchable generation came from a nature-dependent wind turbine, and the dispatchable generations were a fuel cell and a diesel generator. On the load side, the nondispatchable portion was the village load, and the dispatchable portion was the energy storage, which could be in many different forms (e.g., space/water heater, electrolysis, battery charger, etc.) The interaction among different generation sources and the loads was investigated. Simulation results showed the effect of the proposed system on voltage and frequency fluctuations.
Hypocalcemic seizures in neonates

A case of a 2-week-old infant who presented to the emergency department (ED) with rapid eye blinking and jerking in the absence of physical abnormalities is presented. Hypocalcemia and hypomagnesemia were detected. This case represents the common presentation, therapy, and outcome of neonatal hypocalcemia. It is of particular interest to ED physicians because most of the time the etiology of neonatal seizures can be diagnosed in the ED and appropriate therapy can be immediately instituted.
Good news, bad news: experience building software development environment using the object-oriented paradigm

This paper presents our experience building an extendible software development environment using the object-oriented paradigm. We have found that object instances provide a natural way to model program constructs, and to capture complex relationships between different aspects of a software system. The object-oriented paradigm can be efficiently implemented on standard hardware and software, and provides some degree of extendibility without requiring major modifications to the existing implementation.Unfortunately, we have also found that some natural extensions that we would like to make to the environment are not easily incorporated. We argue that the lack of extendibility is due to the object-oriented paradigm's lack of support for providing modifications and extensions to the object-oriented paradigm itself.
Ordering, Incommensuration, and Phase Transitions in Pyrrhotite: Part I: A TEM Study of Fe7S8

Abstract Vacancy ordering in synthetic Fe 7 S 8 at elevated temperature was studied using transmission electron microscopy. Two known idealized structures of Fe 7 S 8 are monoclinic and trigonal based upon ABCD and ABC stacking of Kagome nets, respectively. The TEM results indicate a tendency for Fe 7 S 8 to transform from monoclinic to trigonal between 200 and 300°C. A disordering of vacancies occurs above 300°C and yields a partially filled CdI 2 -type structure. The Curie magnetic transition is associated with this vacancy-ordering transition. On slow cooling, it was found that the vacancies are ordered such as to tend to restore the Kagome nets and lead to ABCD and ABC layering.
Slackers and Zealots: Civil Service, Policy Discretion, and Bureaucratic Expertise

We investigate how aspects of “civil service” systems of personnel management interact with bureaucratic discretion to create expert bureaucracies populated by policy-motivated agents. We construct a dynamic model in which bureaucrats may invest in (relationship-specific) policy expertise and may or may not be interested in policy choices per se. The legislature makes sequentially rational grants of discretion, which serve as incentives for expertise investment and continued service only for policy-motivated bureaucrats. Bureaucratic policy preferences and the legislature's agency problem vis-a-vis bureaucracies develop endogenously in the model. Bureaucratic expertise can be supported in equilibrium only at a cost of its politicization; “neutral competence” is inconsistent with strategic incentives of bureaucrats. We identify several conditions that support the development of an expert bureaucracy in equilibrium, including security of job tenure and control over policy issues for policy-motivated bureaucrats.
Transient Absorption Spectroscopy of High-Mobility Ions in Decalin†

Transient absorption spectroscopy is used to demonstrate that pulse radiolysis of a decalin mixture (63% cis-decalin + 37% trans-decalin) with 15 MeV electrons results in formation of high-mobility solvent holes. These radical cations react with perylene with a rate constant of 8.5 x 10{sup 10} mol{sup -1} dm{sup 3} s{sup -1}. This scavenging is faster by an order of magnitude than ion-molecule reactions of normally diffusing ions (nearly (5-7.5) x 10{sup 9} mol{sup -1} dm{sup 3} s{sup -1}). Under conditions of the experiment, the lifetime of the rapidly migrating solvent holes is nearly 150 ns, which identifies them as the high-mobility cations observed by dc and microwave conductivity. 19 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.
AVHRR imagery and in‐situ data accessed via Internet

Software that allows remote users to browse satellite-derived images and in-situ data archives of interest to oceanographers via Internet has been developed by researchers at the University of Rhode Island/s Graduate School of Oceanography. The tool, called “Xbrowse,” can access a recently assembled archive of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) Sea Surface Temperature (SST) imagery covering the Western Atlantic from 1979 to present, with new passes being added daily. From January 1979 through March 1982, the coverage is spotty. From April 1982 to present, every pass downloaded on the Wallops Island receiving station is available. Each pass in the archive has been remapped to standard geophysical coordinates.
5.2.2 Complexity Measures to Predict System Development Project Outcomes

While it is broadly accepted that complexity makes system development harder, there is no concrete understanding of which types of complexity have the most significant impact. Looking beyond current literature which describes complexity or measures the complexity of a system, this research seeks complexity measures that directly affect development project outcomes: project cost overrun, project schedule delay, and system performance shortfalls. A set of complexity measures was developed based on a comprehensive literature analysis and ranking via a trade study. The effect of those measures on project outcome was studied for 75 systems development efforts, primarily in the aerospace and defense sector. The findings indicate that among the dozens of complexity measures discussed in the literature, the three measures with the most significant impacts on development outcomes in these projects were: number of hard-to-meet requirements, degree of cognitive fog, and stability of stakeholder relationships.
ECC parity: a technique for efficient memory error resilience for multi-channel memory systems

Servers and HPC systems often use a strong memory error correction code, or ECC, to meet their reliability and availability requirements. However, these ECCs often require significant capacity and/or power overheads. We observe that since memory channels are independent from one another, error correction typically needs to be performed for one channel at a time. Based on this observation, we show that instead of always storing in memory the actual ECC correction bits as do existing systems, it is sufficient to store the bitwise parity of the ECC correction bits of different channels for fault-free memory regions, and store the actual ECC correction bits only for faulty memory regions. By trading off the resultant ECC capacity overhead reduction for improved memory energy efficiency, the proposed technique reduces memory energy per instruction by 54.4% and 20.6%, respectively, compared to a commercial chip kill correct ECC and a DIMM-kill correct ECC, while incurring similar or lower capacity overheads.
Wavelet-enhanced bayesian classification of surface nanostructures observed in pentacene thin films

Abstract In recent years, the wavelet transform has proven to be an extremely powerful image-processing tool. Here, we have developed a wavelet-enhanced Bayesian methodology to analyze the AFM images of organic crystals, such as pentacene, using the Haar wavelet transform. This methodology segments and identifies structures in AFM data and extracts quantitative information such as grain size, perimeter, and orientation. This methodology relies on a Naive Bayesian classification system, which determines whether each data point corresponds to a peak or a valley with a finite statistical probability based on analysis of a synthetic teaching image. In this work, we apply this technique to AFM images of organic crystal films deposited on three different substrates.
Analysis of two polymorphic forms of a pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine N9-C10 reversed-bridge antifolate binary complex with human dihydrofolate reductase.

The results of the crystal structure determination of human dihydrofolate reductase (hDHFR) as a binary complex with the potent N9—C10 reversed-bridge antifolate inhibitor 2,4-­diamino-6-[N-(3′,4′,5′-trimethoxybenzyl)-N-methylamino]pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine (1) are reported for two independent polymorphic rhombohedral R3 lattices [R3(1) and R3(2)]. Data from these two crystal forms were refined to 1.90 A resolution for complex R3(1), with R = 0.186 for 9689 data, and to 1.80 A resolution for complex R3(2), with R = 0.194 for 13 305 data. Changes in the loop geometry between the two structures reflects contact differences in the packing environments in the two R3 lattices. The largest changes (between 0.5 and 1.7 A) are observed for the loop regions encompassing residues 16–25, 40–48, 81–89, 99–108, 143–148 and 161–169. Comparison of the intermolecular contacts of these loops reveals that the R3(2) lattice is more tightly packed, as reflected in its smaller VM value and smaller solvent content. The conformation of inhibitor (1) is similar in both structures and the N9—C10 bridge geometry is more similar to that observed for the normal C9—N10 bridge of trimetrexate (TMQ) than to the other N9—C10 reversed-bridge antifolates previously reported. The effect of the N9—C10 reversed-bridge geometry is to distort the bridge from coplanarity with the pyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine ring system and to twist the C10 methylene conformation towards a gauche conformation. This also influences the conformation of the methoxybenzyl ring, moving it away from a trans position and placing the 5′-­methoxy group deeper within the hydrophobic pocket made by Leu60, Pro61 and Asn64 of the hDHFR active site.
Inhibition of dihydropteridine reductase by catecholamines and related compounds

Catecholamines and related compounds, such as dopamine, 5- or 6-hydroxydopamine, N-methyldopamine, tyramine, octopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine, inhibit human liver dihydropteridine reductase (NADH:6,7-dihydropteridine oxidoreductase, EC 1.6.99.10) noncompetitively with Ki values ranging from 7.0 · 10−6 − 1.9 · 10−4M (I50 values = 2.0 · 10−5 − 2.0 · 10−4M). The tyroslne analogs α-methyltyrosine and 3-iodotyrosine are weak inhibitors of this enzyme (I50 > 10−3 M). The inhibitory effect of catecholamines is slightly decreased by O-methylation of one hydroxyl group, but is essentially abolished by total methylation. The inhibitory strength of the catecholamines and related compounds tested against this enzyme can be arranged in the following order: dopamine, 6-hydroxydopamine, 5-hydroxydopamine, N-methyldopamine > tyramine, 3-O-methyldopamine, 4-O-methyldopamine > epinephrine 3-O-methylepinephrine, norepinephrine, octopamine > tyrosine > α-methyltyrosine, 3-iodotyrosine > homoveratrylamine. These results suggest that dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine may serve as physiological regulators of mammalian dihydropteridine reductase.
An evaluation of scour measurement devices

Scour, the leading cause of bridge failures, affects hundreds of thousand bridges and costs hundreds of millions of dollars in direct repair costs in the U.S. alone. Furthermore, scouring has also been linked to catastrophic failures that resulted in the loss of human lives. The U.S. Federal Highway Administration has proposed several countermeasures to reduce the impact of bed degradation. One of these countermeasures that is particularly relevant during peak flow periods is the real-time monitoring. Two common scour monitoring techniques are the sonar fathometers and time domain reflectometry. A novel vibration-based monitoring technique, which exploits the nature of turbulence in open channel flows for measuring scour hole depth has recently been proposed. Through an extensive experimental campaign, the authors evaluate the dependency of the performance of these three monitoring techniques on the channel conditions, such as the water temperature, and salinity or sediment concentration. The experimental results indicate that both the time domain reflectometry and sonar methods are sensitive to the channel temperature and salinity. For the sonar device, such effects can be accounted for by modifying the speed of sound for different temperature and salinity levels. For the time domain reflectometry method, the temperature effects can be accounted for using the above approach, while the presence of salinity degrades the waveform features limiting the device to non-saline environments. Salinity and temperature are shown to have little effect on the novel method. Furthermore, the time domain reflectometry and vibration-based methods are observed to be insensitive to suspended sediment concentrations and turbid flow. Sonar, however, is shown to be sensitive to moving turbid water. In varying topography, sonar is found to record the minimum depth within the beam diameter. Flow misalignments up to 901 have little impact on the vibration-based method.
Teaching engineering ethics to undergraduates: Why? What? How?

The teaching of engineering ethics is on the increase at universities around the United States. The motivation for this increase (WHY?) has several driving forces, including: a new Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) accreditation criteria; new questions on Professional Engineering (PE) licensing examinations; new industrial marketplace needs; and a growing awareness in the engineering profession of a need for ethical sensitivity to the consequences of our actions as engineers.