cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Testing regex generalizability and its implications: a large-scale many-language measurement study

The regular expression (regex) practices of software engineers affect the maintainability, correctness, and security of their software applications. Empirical research has described characteristics like the distribution of regex feature usage, the structural complexity of regexes, and worst-case regex match behaviors. But researchers have not critically examined the methodology they follow to extract regexes, and findings to date are typically generalized from regexes written in only 1-2 programming languages. This is an incomplete foundation.Generalizing existing research depends on validating two hypotheses: (1) Various regex extraction methodologies yield similar results, and (2) Regex characteristics are similar across programming languages. To test these hypotheses, we defined eight regex metrics to capture the dimensions of regex representation, string language diversity, and worst-case match complexity. We report that the two competing regex extraction methodologies yield comparable corpuses, suggesting that simpler regex extraction techniques will still yield sound corpuses. But in comparing regexes across programming languages, we found significant differences in some characteristics by programming language. Our findings have bearing on future empirical methodology, as the programming language should be considered, and generalizability will not be assured. Our measurements on a corpus of 537,806 regexes can guide data-driven designs of a new generation of regex tools and regex engines."There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy."-Hamlet
Reflections on leadership in the time of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic, even as we are in its early phase, invites reflection on best leadership practices. As hospitals and providers pivot to respond, the pandemic spotlights leadership in healthcare. What is working as we all collectively combat this global viral scourge? The impetus to analyse leadership practices especially now comes from the adage that ‘a crisis is a terrible thing to waste’.1 The danger of COVID-19 is self-evident and is already all too apparent around the world. At this writing today (1 April 2020), 873 008 individuals have been infected worldwide and 43 275 have died.2 In addition to the scientific opportunities to better understand the virus, its epidemiology, and strategies to prevent and cure COVID-19 disease, there is a clear opportunity to reflect on how to lead in healthcare through a crisis, to catalogue best practices, and to cascade these leadership practices broadly. Even as we are in approaching the surge of the pandemic—in my community, on day 10 of a modelled course that predicts a surge approximately 40 days from now, there are already many lessons on leadership—extraordinary actions from ‘big L’ leaders—those with titled organisational responsibility as well as from ‘little l’ leaders—individuals without formal leadership titles whose leadership emerges organically. Indeed, a crisis such as this tests available models and hypotheses about leadership. In cataloguing some best practices that I have witnessed at my institution—the Cleveland Clinic, I will try to articulate these practices and frame them through the lens of extant leadership models. The model by Kouzes and Posner3 of five leadership commitments—challenging the process, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, modelling the way and encouraging the heart—provides an especially opportune taxonomy. What follows, then, is a catalogue of leadership practices, an annotation of each with specific examples, and a reflection …
A 2.85 pJ/bit, 52-Gbps NRZ VCSEL Driver with Two-Tap Feedforward Equalization

─We report an energy-efficient vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) driver implemented in a 130 nm SiGe HBT technology. Operation at data rates as high as 60 Gbps is demonstrated with the use of two-tap feed-forward equalizer (FFE) using a differentiator circuit at the output driver stage that eliminates the need for inductors and results in compact area (0.032 mm2). The current contribution of the differentiator produces a trade-off between energy efficiency and bandwidth enhancement. Error-free (BER < 10−12) non-return-to-zero (NRZ) transmission up to 52 Gbps is reported at an efficiency of 2.85 pJ/bit.
Seeking Truthful Names

In May 2018, the U.S. government responded to the demand of China’s aviation authority that air carriers adopt language regarding the status of Taiwan by railing against ‘Orwellian nonsense [that is] part of a growing trend by the Chinese Communist Party to impose its political views on American citizens and private companies.' This language raised eyebrows as well as questions about how to best translate the forceful phrasing. It also underscored that ideology is not merely an internal concern: the ‘political views’ of the Party are of primary concern to people living in China, but they also matter to foreign audiences. This chapter begins with a historical backdrop of the interrelated nature of Party and state. It then turns to Party ideology and organisation under Xi Jinping, including an emphasis on a ‘new-style political-party system’ (xin xing zheng dang zhidu 新型政党制度). This chapter cautions that there are troubling implications of China’s ‘new-style’ approach even if it is not directly adopted in other countries. Uniformity across countries is neither possible nor desirable, but too readily conceding the merits of a wide latitude for local variation in how countries structure power can gloss over what those variations mean in practice for the people being governed.
Anal cancer screening and prevention: A review for dermatologists

The incidence of and mortality from anal cancer, predominantly squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), have been increasing since the 1980s, during an era when many common malignancies have seen decreases in mortality. Dermatologists may be more likely to see patients at an increased risk for anal SCC, such as those living with HIV, MSM and those presenting for management of anogenital warts, yet there is little guidance in the field on how to manage these patients. We underwent a project to review the evidence surrounding screening and prevention of anal SCC. HPV vaccination, the main preventative measure for anal SCC, is often underutilized and may not be effective for those most at risk. Screening methods currently include high-risk HPV and anal cytology testing, with high-resolution anoscopy (HRA) reserved for biopsy and confirmatory testing. High-risk HPV testing has been associated with high sensitivity for intraepithelial neoplasia, but low specificity in high-risk groups. Recent meta-analyses examining AIN detection using anal cytology estimate a similarly high sensitivity of 74-87%, with a relatively higher specificity (44-66%) for identifying high-grade AIN. HRA is the gold standard for diagnosis, but its accessibility and cost are deterrents from its use as a screening tool. Cervical cancer screening, initially adopted without significant evidence of its impact, has significantly decreased cervical cancer rates. The argument can be made that rates of anal SCC may also benefit from appropriate screening methods, particularly anal cytology. It is prudent for dermatologists to be aware of the methods available to them in the management of at-risk patients, the data supporting them, and the potential benefits of screening in order to counsel patients appropriately and address the increasing burden of disease.
A Methodology to Measure Power Losses of Rolling Element Bearings under Combined Radial and Axial Loading Conditions

In this study, an experimental methodology is presented for measuring power losses of rolling element bearings under combined radial and axial loading conditions. The set-up developed for this purp...
MBE growth of compound semiconductors: Part I. Stochastic modeling

A stochastic model for the MBE growth kinetic study of compound semiconductors is developed based on the master equation approach, the solid-on-solid restriction, and the quasi-chemical approximation. The developed model is suitable for the zinc blende crystals with 001 as the growth direction. In the modeling, the diamond cubic structure and the two sublattice nature of the zinc blende crystal are taken into account. The stochastic model is extended to compound semiconductor alloys such as GaAlAsSb to make it suitable for the MBE kinetic studies of alloys. Up to four elements with two in each sublattice can be accommodated. The presence of two elements in the same sublattice was taken into account. A procedure for the evaluation of the model parameters based on the available thermodynamic and experimental data is discussed. Advantages and limitations of the stochastic model over the available theoretical models are discussed.
Evaluations of a bullying case involving a victim with autism spectrum disorder

We investigated how people determine whether a specific occurrence of aggression between students constitutes bullying and how they think perpetrators should be treated. In two experiments, we examined perceptions of relational bullying at a university involving a victim who admits to engaging in socially inappropriate behavior. Participants were assigned to one of three victim disability conditions: autism spectrum disorder (ASD), dyslexia, or no disability. They listened to a recording of a disciplinary hearing and made several evaluations (e.g., verdict). Participants' judgments were more likely to favor the victim if they learned that he had ASD rather than dyslexia or no disability. Observers may view an ASD diagnosis as a reasonable explanation for behaving inappropriately and therefore excuse the victim's conduct.
Word synthesis based on line spectrum pairs

The author described the initial investigation of a synthetic speech system based on line spectrum pair (LSP) analysis of the speech signal. The synthesizer contains a library of stored LSP speech segments extracted from natural speech. These segments are modified as necessary by a small set of context-sensitive rules and then concatenated to generate high-quality natural-sounding speech. Tests of a preliminary system produced MRT and DRT scores of 87.3 and 79.7, respectively. The LSP vocabulary synthesizer is limited to utterances of a single syllable, but future research will expand its capabilities to allow implementation of a full text-to-speech system. >
Women at altitude: carbohydrate utilization during exercise at 4,300 m

To evaluate the hypothesis that exposure to high altitude would reduce blood glucose and total carbohydrate utilization relative to sea level (SL), 16 young women were studied over four 12-day periods: at 50% of peak O(2) consumption in different menstrual cycle phases (SL-50), at 65% of peak O(2) consumption at SL (SL-65), and at 4,300 m (HA). After 10 days in each condition, blood glucose rate of disappearance (R(d)) and respiratory exchange ratio were measured at rest and during 45 min of exercise. Glucose R(d) during exercise at HA (4.71 +/- 0.30 mg. kg(-1). min(-1)) was not different from SL exercise at the same absolute intensity (SL-50 = 5.03 mg. kg(-1). min(-1)) but was lower at the same relative intensity (SL-65 = 6.22 mg. kg(-1). min(-1), P < 0.01). There were no differences, however, when glucose R(d) was corrected for energy expended (kcal/min) during exercise. Respiratory exchange ratios followed the same pattern, except carbohydrate oxidation remained lower (-23.2%, P < 0.01) at HA than at SL when corrected for energy expended. In women, unlike in men, carbohydrate utilization decreased at HA. Relative abundance of estrogen and progesterone in women may partially explain the sex differences in fuel utilization at HA, but subtle differences between menstrual cycle phases at SL had no physiologically relevant effects.
Vasopressin activates collecting duct urea transporters and water channels by distinct physical processes

The present studies were performed to investigate the kinetics of regulation of water channels and urea carriers in the rat terminal (IMCD) in response to vasopressin (AVP). The time courses of osmotic water permeability (Pf) and urea permeability (P(urea)) were measured in isolated perfused rat terminal IMCD segments following AVP stimulation and subsequently following AVP washout. Under control conditions, Pf and P(urea) kinetics were similar. Both transport processes exhibited complex patterns of activation with a period of rapid permeability increase followed by a period of slower increase. Both transporters also exhibited complex patterns of reversal following AVP washout, with a rapid permeability decrease (5 min) followed by a slower decrease toward the baseline value. The measurements were repeated in the presence of a lumen > bath osmotic gradient, a condition associated with a decreased rate of apical endocytosis in collecting ducts. The lumen > bath gradient did not alter the kinetics of Pf increase after AVP addition, but completely blocked the decrease in Pf normally seen with washout of AVP. In contrast, the lumen > bath osmotic gradient did not affect the decrease in urea permeability after AVP washout, but blocked the rapid phase of urea permeability increase following AVP addition. Thus imposition of a lumen > bath osmotic gradient resulted in separation of the time courses of P(urea) and Pf changes associated with AVP addition and washout. This finding indicates that the physical processes responsible for AVP-mediated alteration of urea transporter and water channel activity in the apical membrane are distinct.
Improving Community Health While Satisfying a Critical Community Need: A Case Study for Nonprofit Hospitals.

Background School-based student health screenings identify issues that may affect physical and intellectual development and are an important way to maintain student health. Nonprofit hospitals can provide a unique resource to school districts by assisting in the timely completion of school-based screenings and meet requirements of the Affordable Care Act. This case study describes the collaboration between an academic medical center and a local school district to conduct school-based health screenings. Community context Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and Penn State Hershey PRO Wellness Center collaborated with Lebanon School District to facilitate student health screenings, a need identified in part by a community health needs assessment. Methods From June 2012 through February 2013, district-wide student health screenings were planned and implemented by teams of hospital nursing leadership, school district leadership, and school nurses. In fall 2013, students were screened through standardized procedures for height, weight, scoliosis, vision, and hearing. Outcomes In 2 days, 3,105 students (67% of all students in the district) were screened. Letters explaining screening results were mailed to parents of all students screened. Debriefing meetings and follow-up surveys for the participating nurses provided feedback for future screenings. Interpretation The 2-day collaborative screening event decreased the amount of time spent by school nurses in screening students throughout the year and allowed them more time in their role as school wellness champion. Additionally, parents found out early in the school year whether their child needed physician follow-up. Partnerships between school districts and hospitals to conduct student health screenings are a practical option for increasing outreach while satisfying community needs.
Audiometric testing and hearing protection training through multimedia technology

The purpose of this paper is to present the development process of a computer-based audiometric testing and tailored intervention program, and assess its feasibility by obtaining users’ feedback. The program was implemented for 397 operating engineers at their union training center, and its feasibility was evaluated by obtaining quantitative and qualitative feedback from the participants through a survey and focus group. Over 96% of the participants indicated they liked receiving a hearing test by computer; the computer-based test worked smoothly; and the computer-based training was well organized, effective and held their interests. Almost all (more than 99%) said they would recommend this program to other workers. This project is considered as one of the first ones incorporating multimedia computer technology with self-administered audiometric testing and tailored training. Participants’ favorable feedback strongly supported the continued utilization of this approach for designing and developing health ...
IMPROVED VARIATIONAL TREATMENT OF LARGE N LATTICE GAUGE THEORIES

An improved variational ansatz is used to study the phase structure of four-dimensional lattice gauge theories in the large-$N$ limit. Although the large-$N$ limit is characterized by a stationary condition for an effective action, fluctuations peculiar to this limit still remain, which can best be probed by our improved treatment. To be specific, we treat the mixed $\mathrm{SU}(N)\ensuremath{-}\frac{\mathrm{SU}(N)}{{Z}_{2}}$ system for even $N$ large, by utilizing a two-parameter trial action.
Liver Transplantation for Hepatitis C: Disease Management

Hepatitis C-positive liver transplantation (LT) patients present significant problems in post-transplant management. These patients are known to have more rapid fibrosis progression, and outcomes are worsening in the population, compared to other indications for LT. Decisions regarding selection of immunosuppressants and treatment of rejection are different in these patients, because both may alter the course of progression. HCV recurs universally, and treatment of recurrence is fraught with difficulties in tolerability and low response rates. One option for treating these patients is retransplantation, but this option, too, is controversial. This review discusses each of these issues in detail.
EPIDEMIC PYODERMA CAUSED BY NEPHRITOGENIC STREPTOCOCCI IN COLLEGE ATHLETES

Abstract An epidemic of streptococcal pyoderma occurred among football players at the University of North Carolina. Lesions consisted of infected abrasions and minor lacerations, many of which were superficial and did not produce enough discomfort to cause individuals to seek medical care. The epidemic strain was an M-type 2 streptococcus with antigenic characteristics similar to those recently associated with significant numbers of cases of acute glomerulonephritis following pyoderma in children. The antistreptolysin-O and anti-deoxyribonuclease-B responses to infections were slight. Nephritis was not detected among the North Carolina football players, as evidenced by normal urinalyses, the absence of clinical disease, and normal serum-complement (C3) levels. The absence of nephritis possibly can be explained by the minor nature of infections, the relatively mild immune response, prompt specific therapy, and, perhaps, the age of those affected.
Insulin/IGF-1 and ROS signaling pathway cross-talk in aging and longevity determination.

Regulation of hormonal, insulin/IGF-1 (Ins/IGF-1) signaling activities, and pathways of the intrinsic generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a role in aging and longevity determination. In this review we discuss the cross-talk between these pathways as mechanisms of signaling that may be important factors in the regulation of aging and longevity. The balance of physiological processes controlling the rate of aging and longevity in several mouse mutants suggests the involvement of cross-talk mechanisms of regulation of the insulin/IGF1 signaling pathway vs. the ROS signaling pathways. In mice, modulation of the Ins/IGF-1 signaling pathways resulting from the Prop1df, Pit1dw and Igf1 receptor mutations exemplify the hormonal pathways associated with aging and longevity determination. These pathways are also targets of the ROS-mediated redox pathways. Similarly, the Klotho and p66Shc mutants link regulation of ROS signaling pathways to aging and longevity determination. Both of these models also display altered insulin signaling activity, a characteristic associated with longevity. The Ins/IGF-1 signaling pathway is of particular interest because of its decreased activity due to genetic manipulation vs. its responsiveness to ROS levels.
The charge spectrum of the cosmic radiation at 41° N

From a large stack of GK5 emulsions flown at Texas, 41° N geomagnetic latitude, the charge spectrum of the cosmic radiation at 10400 feet was 0 obtained. Special emphasis is given to the observation of the detailed shape of the spectrum in the regionZ 9. The gap-counting is extensively used even at these higZ values after very careful calibration with break-up events and δ-ray countings. The charge spectrum thus obtained was extrapolated to the top of the atmosphere by making use of the fragmentation probabilities in air which were obtained from the analysis of a total of 209 interactions in the same stack. This extrapolation gives for the ratio of the light nuclei, L, (Z=3, 4 and 5) and the heavy nuclei, H, (Z ⩾ 9), to the medium ones, M, (Z = 6, 7 and 8) the values 0.32 ±0.07 and 0.48 ±0.10, respectively. at the top of the atmosphere. The fragmentation probabilities in hydrogen, the main constituent of interstellar matter, were also obtained from the careful study of the interactions in the stack and allowed to make a further extrapolation of the charge spectrum from the top of the atmosphere to the one at the source region of the cosmic radiation. The ratio of the heavy nuclei to the medium ones was found to be 0.66±1.6 at the source. This charge spectrum at the source region is compared with the average chemical abundances of the elements in the universe as well as with those in certain types of stars. The results seem to indicate a close similarity of the chemical abundance curve of the cosmic radiation with that of certain types of young stars.
Immunoglobulin variable-region diversity in the zebrafish.

As part of an investigation of the immune system in the developing zebrafish, Danio rerio, we cloned and characterized a genomic V H segment and a number of cDNAs encoding IgM heavy chains. The genomic V H has the characteristic features of V H in other vertebrates, including a leader segment interrupted by a short intron, and regulatory and recombination signal sequences. The V H sequences of 75 cDNA clones fell into four distinct groups or families. All of these families cluster most closely with other teleost V H ; one of the families, VH3, is also closely related to other vertebrate V H . Analysis by Southern blotting suggests that there are a number of germline genes corresponding to each family. Most variability within the VH1 family is confined to codons 30–32, at the end of the first framework region and in the beginning of the first complementarity-determining region. The nucleotide sequence of the genomic V H in this region contains motifs associated with a relatively high frequency of somatic mutation. There is much variability in segments of the clones corresponding to the third complementarity-determining region. The cDNA sequences encoding the fourth framework region are consistent with the contribution of four distinct J H segments.
Calculating the Mean Amplitude of Glycemic Excursion from Continuous Glucose Monitoring Data: An Automated Algorithm

Abstract Background: Glycemic variability is currently under scrutiny as a possible predictor of the complications of diabetes. The manual process for estimating a now classical measure of glycemic variability, the mean amplitude of glycemic excursion (MAGE), is both tedious and prone to error, and there is a special need for an automated method to calculate the MAGE from continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data. Methods: An automated algorithm for identifying the peaks and nadirs corresponding to the glycemic excursions required for the MAGE calculation has been developed. The algorithm takes a column of timed glucose measurements and generates a plot joining the peaks and nadirs required for estimating the MAGE. It returns estimates of the MAGE for both upward and downward excursions, together with several other indices of glycemic variability. Results: Details of the application of the algorithm to CGM data collected over a 48-h period are provided, together with graphical illustrations of the intermed...
Diabetes control improved when inner-city patients received graphic feedback about glycosylated hemoglobin levels.

OBJECTIVE: To develop and test an inexpensive visual tool to help patients with diabetes improve glycemic control.
IR-camera methods for automotive brake system studies

Automotive brake systems are energy conversion devices that convert kinetic energy into heat energy. Several mechanisms, mostly related to noise and vibration problems, can occur during brake operation and are often related to non-uniform temperature distribution on the brake disk. These problems are of significant cost to the industry and are a quality concern to automotive companies and brake system vendors. One such problem is thermo-elastic instabilities in brake system. During the occurrence of these instabilities several localized hot spots will form around the circumferential direction of the brake disk. The temperature distribution and the time dependence of these hot spots, a critical factor in analyzing this problem and in developing a fundamental understanding of this phenomenon, were recorded. Other modes of non-uniform temperature distributions which include hot banding and extreme localized heating were also observed. All of these modes of non-uniform temperature distributions were observed on automotive brake systems using a high speed IR camera operating in snap-shot mode. The camera was synchronized with the rotation of the brake disk so that the time evolution of hot regions could be studied. This paper discusses the experimental approach in detail.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Competitive hierarchies in marine benthic communities

Patterns of competitive displacement by over-growth were examined in communities of sessile organisms in the low intertidal zone at three sites in Washington state and Alaska. Cruotose invertebrates and algae can be arranged into a hierarchy such that species of lower competitive rank rarely overgrow any higher ranking species. Erect and solitary species show a wide range of competitive abilities, but whether they fall into a strict hierarchy is unknown. Few of the solitary or erect species occupy substantial amounts of space in the communities examined. An approximate competitive hierarchy is well established in middle to high intertidal areas dominated by mussels, fleshy algae, and barncles, and has been an important concept in developing both an intuitive understanding and specific mathematical models of the dynamics of benthic marine communities. In particular, lower ranking species in such communities are thought to depend upon predation or chronic disturbance to the dominants to avoid competitive displacement. An alternative viewpoint, proposed on the basis of “nonstransitive” competitive relationships observed in cryptic encrusting communities on the undersides of coral plates, is that specific competitive “loops” or “networks” allow the coexistence of a number of competitors. Although the growth forms and higher taxa represented in the low intertidal bear some similarity to those in the cryptic coral reef community, there is little evidence of ecologically important competitive loops in the intertidal. A reanalysis of data from cryptic reef communities suggests that they also do not depart substantially from a competitive hierarchy, although there appear to be many more cases of local reversals in the outcome of competition. It is suggested that the ecological importance of departures from a strict hierarchy depends upon the competitive rankings of the participants, with departures involving competitively dominant species likely to contribute much more to community structure than those involving opportunistic species.
Market and Public Policy Mechanisms in Poverty Reduction: The Differential Effects on Poverty Crime

This paper reports the results of an empirical test of the hypothesis that three mechanisms of poverty reduction-improved market opportunities, government cash transfer payments, and government in-kind transfer payments have differential impacts on the relative return to legal and illegal activity and, in turn, on the rate of property crime. In addition, the paper reports empirical tests of the hypothesis that these differential impacts of market and government policy mechanisms vary by type of property crime. Employing measures of each of these mechanisms, time series models for Burglary, Auto Theft, and Robbery are estimated from yearly, national, Uniform Crime Report (UCR) data for the period 1959 through 1995. The results indicate that poverty reductions due to improved market conditions have similar impacts on each type of property crime. However, the direction and magnitude of the impact of different government policy mechanisms varies between and within particular types of crimes. The paper conclud...
Physical and materials limitations on burnout voltage of GaAs power MESFET's

This paper presents a study of factors limiting the burnout voltage of GaAs power MESFET's. A new device geometry had been investigated. Novel techniques using electron-beam induced current (EBIC) in the drain loop in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the shift in carbon Auger line in a scanning Auger microscope (SAM) have been applied to study the bulk electric field distribution and the surface voltage distribution. These techniques have been used to identify the regions of high electric field that lead to device burnout. The highest burnout voltages were observed at 8 × 1016-cm-3doping with at least 60-V burnout at full channel current and 85 V near pinchoff conditions. This is a new state of the art. An optimum undoped buffer-layer thickness is observed to be compatible with high burnout voltage and low leakage current. Finally, under optimized conditions of doping and geometry, no improvement is observed in the burnout voltage with the use of a higher doped contact layer.
The Inaugural Alan Bott Memorial Lecturea: Twenty years of NZOVRF‐supported scientific inquiry

For many years, Alan Bott travelled from his optometric practice in Paeroa to supervise the contact lens laboratories and clinics at The University of Auckland. He was one of the founders of the New Zealand Optometric Vision Research Foundation (NZOVRF) working closely with Eugene Hirst and Dr Leon Garner (now Professor Emeritus Garner) to raise nearly $500,000 for the Foundation from 1985 to 1988. Alan passed away in 1999 as a result of prostate cancer. He is remembered fondly by all who knew him. Since its inception 20 years ago, the NZOVRF has supported research that has advanced our knowledge and understanding in many areas of optometry and vision science. Even a brief discussion of each of the 39 studies that the foundation has supported would result in a very long report, so I shall confine my remarks to an area that has been of great interest and controversy, especially concerning whether myopia and other refractive anomalies occur as a result of hereditary or environmental influences or both.
AdELL: An Adaptive Warp-Balancing ELL Format for Efficient Sparse Matrix-Vector Multiplication on GPUs

The sparse matrix-vector multiplication (SpMV) is a fundamental computational kernel used in science and engineering. As a result, the performance of a large number of applications depends on the efficiency of the SpMV. This kernel is, in fact, a bandwidth-limited operation and poses a challenge for optimization when the matrix has an irregular structure. The literature on implementing SpMV on throughput-oriented many core processors is extensive and mostly focuses on matrix formats, proposing different ideas to adapt matrix sparsity to the underlying architecture. In this paper, we propose a novel ELL-based matrix format called Adaptive ELL (AdELL) to improve the state-of-the-art of the SpMV on Graphic Processing Units (GPUs). The AdELL format is based on the idea of distributing working threads to rows according to their computational load, creating balanced hardware-level blocks (warps) that take full advantage of the vectorized execution on Streaming Multiprocessors (SMs). The AdELL data structure is created using a novel warp-balancing heuristic designed to smooth the workload among warps without the need of tuning any parameters. AdELL provides an efficient warp-level synchronization (as opposed to block-level) but can also use atomic operations to distribute very skewed rows over multiple warps. Moreover, we introduce a loop unrolling heuristic that optimizes the SpMV performance by selecting the best unrolling factor based on the warp workload. We tested the proposed AdELL sparse format on a set of conventional benchmarks from heterogeneous application domains. The results show substantial and consistent performance improvements for double-precision calculations, outperforming the state-of-the-art ensemble framework clSpMV. We could observe speedup peaks up to 1.94 and a 25% (geometric) average improvement, which can be potentially increased to 43% introducing a simple 1x2 blocking strategy.
Effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy for panic disorder on comorbid conditions: Replication and extension

Replicating and extending our prior work (Tsao, Lewin, & Craske, 1998), the present study examined the impact of cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) for principal panic disorder/agoraphobia (PDA) on the frequency and severity of comorbid conditions in 51 principal PDA patients diagnosed using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for DSM-IV (ADIS-IV; Brown, Di Nardo, & Barlow, 1994). Patients with at least 1 additional diagnosis of clinical severity declined from 60.8% (n = 31) at pretreatment to 37.3% (n = 19) at posttreatment, and 35.3% (n = 18) at follow-up. ADIS-IV severity ratings for comorbid generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), depression, and specific phobia also declined significantly following treatment. Reductions in comorbidity were maintained at 6-month follow-up. Baseline comorbidity was not associated with increased severity of PDA at pretreatment and did not adversely impact outcome for PDA immediately posttreatment or at follow-up. Possible mechanisms, as well as implications for clinical practice and policy decisions, are discussed.
Surface biofunctionalization of nanostructured GeSbSe chalcogenide glass thin films

Thin nanostructured chalcogenide films were grown using the oblique angle deposition (OAD) technique and subsequently polymerized with thin poly(amino-p-xylylene) (PPX) films. Our objective was twofold, i.e., to use deposited polymeric thin films to allow the attachment of biomolecules to chalcogenide glass thin films, and at the same time, to increase surface area by OAD to enhance surface functionality. The effectiveness of this approach was evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), together with a combination of fluorescent protein immobilization and confocal microscopy characterization. It is shown that the presence of amine groups on the surface of the polymer coated chalcogenide thin films yield a notable increment of surface coverage with proteins at large evaporation oblique angles which is expected to enhance detection performance of the film in biosensor applications.
Social Norm Theory and Male Circumcision: Why Parents Circumcise

�� I agree with Michael Benatar and David Benatar (2003) that circumcision has powerful culture value. Indeed, empirical studies have shown that the parental decision to circumcise is based primarily on social, not medical, considerations. This commentary discusses how the cultural norm favoring circumcision inouences parental decision making. The dynamics of this process make it unlikely that circumcision rates will decline dramatically, at least in the absence of legal intervention. Even if one withholds normative judgment about circumcision—labeling it neither good nor bad but simply something that is appropriately left to parental discretion—more time should be spent examining the actual reasons parents choose to circumcise. Too often the discussion is about only the medical pros and cons, even though the strength of the cultural norm frequently prevents parents from evenhandedly assessing the medical considerations. Legal theorists have observed that norms often regu
Work as a “Central Life Interest” of Industrial Supervisors

Use of Robert Dubin's Central Life Interest Schedule reveals that a majority of industrial supervisors are job-oriented. Low correlations of the Schedule with three other attitudinal instruments in...
Life events and illness onset: a review.

Abstract Investigations attempting to show a correlation between life events and the onset of any illness are reviewed. A brief discussion of the main methodologic problems in this area of research is also presented. Investigations of the sick role and the effect of stress upon illness behavior indicate that greater control of these variables is desirable. To gain this, it is suggested that in future studies, illness be more adequately documented than it has been to date. In the studies reviewed here, the data are not sufficiently sound to warrant any firm conclusions conceming the relationship between life events and illness onset.
Ethnic Diversity and Differing Value Systems: A Theoretical Analysis of Educational Alienation

I propose in this article to examine the concept of ethnic diversity, the emergence of differing value systems, and their impact on the educational process. I will examine how differing value systems are derived, how they contribute to ethnic diversity, and how significant they are to the educational process. Lawrence Kohlberg, late of Harvard University, was the foremost American theoretician of the development of morality and values in human society. He based his research on the theoretical formulations of Jean Piaget, whose pioneering works-particularly The Moral Judgement of the Child (1965)-delineated the progressive stages in the child's development of moral reasoning. Kohlberg's research in the United States and several foreign countries led him to the conclusion that the cognitivestructural development of moral reasoning was universal, and that it proceeded through six stages which were sequential and invariant. In agreement with Piaget, Kohlberg believed that "the progression of children's [moral] development reflects the evolution of societies from forced conformity, to differentiation, diminished supervision, autonomy, and cooperation" (Cortese, 1990, p. 38). Kohlberg, in his own work, developed six stages of moral development with the sixth and highest stage being principled reasoning leading to human rights and justice.
Comparative in vitro and bactericidal activities of telithromycin against penicillin-nonsusceptible, levofloxacin-resistant, and macrolide-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae by time-kill methodology.

Abstract Broth microdilution MICs were determined for 14 antimicrobial agents against 296 clinical, non-duplicate isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae collected at Methodist Hospital (Indianapolis, Indiana, USA) from January 2001 to December 2003. Isolates were categorized as susceptible, intermediate, or resistant using Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute breakpoints. Time-kill studies were performed to evaluate the bactericidal activity of telithromycin at 1, 2, 4, and 8× MIC against 10 penicillin-nonsusceptible, levofloxacin-resistant, and macrolide-resistant (7 M-phenotype, 3 MLS B -phenotype) strains. Bactericidal activity was defined as a ≥3-log 10 reduction in CFU/mL. The prevalence of resistance was highest for the macrolides (32%), followed by penicillin (16.2%), clindamycin (10.8%), amoxicillin ± clavulanate (4.4%), levofloxacin (3.0%), gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin (2.4%), ceftriaxone and cefotaxime (2.0%), and gemifloxacin (1.4%). None of the isolates tested were resistant to telithromycin. At 24 h, telithromycin was bactericidal for 0/10, 2/10, 7/10, and 7/10 isolates at 1× MIC, 2× MIC, 4× MIC, and 8× MIC, respectively. At 4–8× MIC, telithromycin was bactericidal for 7/7 M-phenotype isolates and 0/3 MLS B -phenotype isolates. For the MLS B -phenotype isolates, colony counts were decreased by 1.3–2.1 log 10 colony-forming units/mL after 24 h at 8× MIC. Overall, telithromycin was highly active against 296 isolates of S. pneumoniae from our institution and demonstrated bactericidal activity at clinically achievable concentrations for 7 of 10 penicillin-nonsusceptible, levofloxacin-resistant, and macrolide-resistant S. pneumoniae . However, telithromycin was bacteriostatic for the MLS B -phenotype isolates.
Phase diagram studies of methanolH2OCO2 and acetonitrileH2OCO2 mixtures

Abstract The primary goal of this work was to identify one-phase regions of the phase diagrams for methanol/H2O/CO2 mixtures and acetonitrile/H2O/CO2 mixtures over the temperature range of 25°–100°C. These mixtures are expected to be useful for efficient separation methods that require polar solutes with fast mass transfer. We were therefore most interested in finding mixture compositions that contained significant quantities of H2O and CO2. For both ternary mixtures at high proportions of CO2, the single-phase region was defined by the onset of an upper critical solution temperature line. Methanol/CO2 mixtures are markedly more miscible with H2O than acetonitrile/CO2 mixtures.
Temperatures in Large Alternating-Current Generators

THE general public undoubtedly thinks of the size of a machine in terms of its physical dimensions or the work it can do. To the engineer, largeness involves the difficulties inherent in the design and construction. To him, a 5000 kv-a. generator at 3600 revs. per min. is large, while a 20,000 kv-a. generator at 100 revolutions is not large if considered strictly with reference to the temperature problem.
The role of pararenal collaterals in assessing renal artery stenosis before and after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty

For the past several years, observation of flow direction in non-parenchymal renal artery branches, particularly during pharmacoangiography, has proved to be extremely reliable in the preoperative evaluation of the hemodynamic significance of renal artery stenoses. The advent of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) has expanded the applications for these methods. Their value in PTA is demonstrated through five illustrative cases. In four stenoses shown to be significant before PTA, clinical responses were favorable. In one case undergoing PTA of an anatomically severe, but hemodynamically insignificant stenosis, blood pressure was unchanged after PTA. After PTA, observation of orthograde flow in the pararenal arteries confirms the adequacy of the procedure, and predicates a favorable clinical response.
Intra-arterial injection of neural stem cells using a microneedle technique does not cause microembolic strokes

Intra-arterial (IA) injection represents an experimental avenue for minimally invasive delivery of stem cells to the injured brain. It has however been reported that IA injection of stem cells carries the risk of reduction in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and microstrokes. Here we evaluate the safety of IA neural progenitor cell (NPC) delivery to the brain. Cerebral blood flow of rats was monitored during IA injection of single cell suspensions of NPCs after stroke. Animals received 1 × 106 NPCs either injected via a microneedle (microneedle group) into the patent common carotid artery (CCA) or via a catheter into the proximally ligated CCA (catheter group). Controls included saline-only injections and cell injections into non-stroked sham animals. Cerebral blood flow in the microneedle group remained at baseline, whereas in the catheter group a persistent (15 minutes) decrease to 78% of baseline occurred (P<0.001). In non-stroked controls, NPCs injected via the catheter method resulted in higher levels of Iba-1-positive inflammatory cells (P=0.003), higher numbers of degenerating neurons as seen in Fluoro-Jade C staining (P<0.0001) and ischemic changes on diffusion weighted imaging. With an appropriate technique, reduction in CBF and microstrokes do not occur with IA transplantation of NPCs.
Neurotrophic regulation of acetylcholinesterase in regenerating skeletal muscle

Abstract The activities of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) were measured in homogenates of rat anterior tibial muscles. These muscles underwent degeneration and subsequent regeneration as a result of intramuscular injection of the myotoxic local anesthetic Marcaine with hyaluronidase. As in our previous study, AChE was decreased on the first day after injection of Marcaine. As regeneration progressed, AChE increased and exhibited an “overshoot”. To determine whether the increase in AChE is subject to neural regulation, we measured the activities of AChE and BuChE in Marcaine-treated muscles after denervation, and after application to the sciatic nerve of a silastic cuff contining 0.1% (w/w) vinblastine. This latter procedure suppressed axoplasmic flow and caused the development of some signs of denervation without affecting muscular activity per se. Denervation prevented the Marcaine-induced increase in AChE. Chronic application of vinblastine (3 and 7 days) also prevented the increase in AChE. Although partial recovery of physiological changes was observed after 14–21 days of application of vinblastine, AChE returned to the control level by Day 14. BuChE remained essentially unchanged in these experiments. These results suggest that AChE in regenerating skeletal muscle is subject to neurotrophic regulation.
Heat and Mass Transfer Coefficients in Drying of Starch Based Food Systems

Experiments were conducted to measure the temperature and moisture content of starch and starch-fructose samples during drying. A two-dimensional finite element model was developed. An exhaustive parameter estimation technique was applied in conjunction with the model and drying data to estimate the moisture filtration coefficient k p and the surface heat and mass transfer coefficients, h q and h m , Minimization of the deviation between experimental and simulation data resulted in a k p value of 0.51 * 10 -7 kg.m/N.h and 0.52 * 10 -7 kg.m/N.h for the starch and starch-fructose samples. Corresponding values of h were 15.8 W/m 2 K and 21.2 W/ m 2 K and that of h m were 1.12 * 10 -5 m/s and 0.94 * 10 -6 m/s respectively.
Modes I and II cracks in a linear hardening solid in general yielding

Abstract In the preceding paper (Weertman (1993), Mech. Mater. 15, 65–74) solutions were found for modes I, II and III stationary cracks in a linear work hardening solid (of true shear modulus G and of effective elastic-plastic shear modulus G ) in general yielding. A satisfactory solution was found for the mode III crack. However, the mode I and mode II crack solutions, constructed in the same way as the mode III crack solution, failed because they require reverse slip. The present paper presents a satisfactory complete solution for this problem for the mode I crack and for the mode II crack. The solution does not require reverse slip. The key change in the solution is how the total rotation field is partitioned into an elastic component and a plastic component. In contrast to the earlier mode I and mode II solutions, the existence of a non-redundant dislocation density field is required in the solutions. For the mode I crack (but not for the mode II crack) no dislocations enter the solid from the crack faces or from a crack tip (and blunt the tip). This observation is the important result of this paper. This result supports the conjecture that no dislocation injection from the crack plane or crack tip occurs for the mode I crack in an elastic-perfectly plastic solid in small scale yielding (Weertman (1992), Physica Status Solidi (b) 172, 27–40).