cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Research data storage available to researchers throughout the U.S. via the TeraGrid

Many faculty members at small to mid-size colleges and universities do important, high quality research that requires significant storage. In many cases, such storage requirements are difficult to meet with local resources; even when local resources suffice, data integrity is best ensured by maintenance of a remote copy. Via the nationally-funded TeraGrid, Indiana University offers researchers at colleges and universities throughout the US the opportunity to easily store up to 1 TB of data within the IU data storage system.The TeraGrid is the National Science Foundation's flagship effort to create a national research cyberinfrastructure, and one key goal of the TeraGrid is to provide facilities that improve the productivity of the US research community generally. Providing facilities that improve the capacity and reliability of research data storage is an important part of this. This paper will describe the process for storing data at IU via the TeraGrid, and will in general discuss how this capability is part of a larger TeraGrid-wide data storage strategy.
Repair of Traumatic Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency by Trabecular Muscle Elevation

A technique is described for repair of traumatic tricuspid valve insufficiency; it was applied successfully in a young adult with a flail anterior leaflet due to chordal rupture. The technique consists of resuspension of the flail leaflet with autogenous trabecular muscle bundles and additional annuloplasty.
Production of electronically excited iodine atoms I(5p52P12) by collisional release in molecular I2

Abstract The appearance rate of 1* (5p52P 1 2 ) following laser photolysis of molecular I2 1.2 kT below the dissociation limit o the I2 (B3 Πou+) state has been monitored by time-resolved atomic absorption as a function of I2 pressure. Data were also taken with N2 as an added gas. The results confirm the production of I* from the B state by a collisional process and reveal an additional process by which I* continues to appear for several hundred nanoseconds after the laser pulse even at N2 pressures as high as 750 torr.
Site-specific Phosphorylation Differentiates Active from Inactive Forms of the Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 Tax Oncoprotein

The human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 oncoprotein Tax is a phosphoprotein with a predominately nuclear subcellular localization that accomplishes multiple functions via protein-protein interactions. It has been proposed that regulation of this protein's pleiotropic functions may be accomplished through phosphorylation of specific amino acid residues. We have conducted a phosphoryl mapping of mammalian-expressed Tax protein using a combination of affinity purification, liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, and site-directed substitution mutational analysis. We achieved physical coverage of 77% of the Tax sequence and identified four novel sites of phosphorylation at Thr-48, Thr-184, Thr-215, and Ser-336. Previously identified potential serine phosphorylation sites at Ser-10, Ser-77, and Ser-274 could not be confirmed by mass spectrometry. The functional significance of these novel phosphorylation events was evaluated by mutational analysis and subsequent evaluation for activity via both CREB and NF-κB-responsive promoters. Our results demonstrate that phosphorylation at Thr-215 is associated with loss of both Tax functions, phosphorylation at Thr-48 was specifically deficient for activation via NF-κB, and phosphorylation at Thr-184 and Ser-336 had no effect on these Tax functions. Semiquantitation of phosphopeptides revealed that the majority of Tax was phosphorylated at Thr-48, Thr-184, Thr-215, and Ser-336, whereas only a minor population of Tax was phosphorylated at either Ser-300 or Ser-301. These results suggest that both positive and negative phosphorylation signals result in the maintenance of a subfraction of Tax as "active" protein.
Perceptual defense and vigilance: Prediction from the Byrne Scale of Repression-Sensitization

Thresholds of nonsense syllables which had been paired previously with taboo words were found to be significantly higher in a group of college students identified as Repressers than nonsense syllables which had been paired previously with neutral words. These findings were interpreted as supporting a perceptual defense hypothesis. A mechanism of perceptual defense, the pupil response to emotional stimuli, was suggested.
Metaphors and competitive advantage: Evaluating the use of metaphors in theories of competitive strategy

Abstract Metaphors pervade both the general marketing and competitive strategy literatures. However, a critical evaluation reveals that, notwithstanding the extensive use of metaphors in these literatures and a growing awareness of the importance of metaphors in theory development, we have yet to realize the full potential of metaphors and metaphoric transfers. Therefore, we: (1) explicate the nature of metaphor, (2) explain its problematic status in marketing, and (3) by focusing on four key metaphors for/in competitive strategy, develop a framework for evaluating the dimensions of metaphoric transfer. In short, we encourage the productive use of metaphors in competitive strategy by furthering our understanding of their role in developing competitive strategy theory, research, and practice.
Editorial: Membrane protein interactions in the bladder--charges of disorderly conduct.

The study by Lewis et al (page 2091) in this issue of The Journal raises a number of interesting questions about the precise nature of the permeability barrier in mammalian bladder and its susceptibility to failure and leakage. It is apparent from a number of studies that have originated from the same laboratory that cationic peptides increase bladder ion conductance in a voltage-dependent manner, the ion conductance is nonselective between cations and anions, the conductance can be reversed or inhibited by calcium, and the site of interaction between these polypeptides and the luminal surface is the apical membrane itself rather than the tight junctions. Lewis et al assess the effects of the N-terminal domain of vimentin (NT1), an intermediate filament protein of the cytoskeleton, which contains a high number of positively charged amino acids. This protein was shown to increase transepithelial conductance in a voltagedependent manner and with many of the same aforementioned electrophysiological characteristics. Peptides that contain high numbers of positively charged amino acids, such as arginine and lysine, have been shown to bind to negatively charged phospholipid head groups, induce disorder into the packing of lipids, and in some cases enter the bilayer and form channels that are able to conduct solutes. Protamine sulfate is an example of a small positively charged protein that has been shown to increase bladder conductance at low concentrations (100 g/ml). 1 However, when used at higher concentrations (10 mg/ml) this compound causes urothelial necrosis and sloughing off of the umbrella cells. This latter intervention was used as an injury model to gain some understanding of how the mammalian bladder recovers from insult.2 Therefore, depending on dosage, the tissue response can vary dramatically. Since the mechanism by which protamine sulfate elicits these effects is unknown, it is impossible to say whether different processes are at work between stimulation of ion conductances and wholesale destruction of the urothelium. At lower concentrations it appears that interactions between cationic proteins and the epithelium depend on overall peptide charge, peptide helicity and the nature of lipids in the membrane. The precise nature of the interactions and the effect on any given membrane vary from peptide to peptide. So does this mean that all protein interactions with membranes result in increased disorder? Clearly this is not the case, since the annexins, a family of membrane binding proteins found in the cytoplasm of many epithelial cells, reversibly bind to negatively charged phospholipids in the presence of calcium and actually increase lipid order by rigidifying the lipid headgroups in the bound leaflet of the bilayer. This interaction results in a decrease in the membrane permeabil
Changing Beliefs: Teaching and Learning Mathematics in Constructivist Preservice Classrooms

Abstract Constructivism is a learning theory which has emerged from Piagetian research. Reform in mathematics education frequently centers around constructivist principles. Many barriers prevent reform from occurring. The authors describe changes in instruction which have been implemented in their university mathematics education classrooms and relate these changes to their own constructivist philosophies. They examine the effects of change in instructional pedagogy and classroom environment on preservice teachers' beliefs about mathematics learning and teaching as well as the prospective teachers' feelings and attitudes toward mathematics.
The search for Bose–Einstein condensation of excitons in Cu2O: exciton-Auger recombination versus biexciton formation

Excitons in high-purity crystals of Cu2O undergo a density-dependent lifetime that opposes Bose?Einstein condensation (BEC). This rapid decay rate of excitons at a density n has generally been attributed to Auger recombination having the form , where A is an exciton-Auger constant. Various measurements of A, however, have reported values that are orders-of-magnitude larger than the existing theory. In response to this conundrum, recent work has suggested that excitons bind into excitonic molecules, or biexcitons, which are short-lived and expected to be optically inactive. Of particular interest is the case of excitons confined to a parabolic strain well?a method that has recently achieved exciton densities approaching BEC. In this paper we report time- and space-resolved luminescence data that supports the existence of short-lived biexcitons in a strain well, implying an exciton loss rate of the form with a biexciton capture coefficient C(T) proportional to , as predicted by basic thermodynamics. This alternate theory will be considered in relation to recent experiments on the subject.
High-dose-rate intraoperative radiation therapy (HDR-IORT) for retroperitoneal sarcomas ☆

Abstract Purpose: Retroperitoneal sarcomas represent a formidable challenge to the treating oncologist due to their location, large size, and poor prognosis. The purpose of this study was to determine if the addition of high-dose-rate intraoperative radiation therapy (HDR-IORT) to surgery and external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) would improve the outcome in these patients. Methods and Materials: Thirty-two patients with retroperitoneal soft tissue sarcoma were prospectively treated according to a protocol that included maximal tumor resection, HDR-IORT, and postoperative EBRT when feasible. Twelve patients presented with primary and 20 with locally recurrent disease. The tumors were high-grade in 20 patients and low-grade in 12 patients. Complete gross resection was achieved in 30 patients. HDR-IORT was given to a dose of 12–15 Gy. Additional EBRT was given to 78% of patients to a dose of 45–50.4 Gy. The two patients with gross residual disease received an additional I-125 permanent implant to a median peripheral dose of 140–160 Gy. The median follow-up was 33 months (range 1–77 mo). Results: The 5-year actuarial local control rate for the whole group was 62%. For patients with primary disease, the local control rate was 74% compared to 54% in patients with recurrent disease ( p = 0.4). The overall 5-year distant metastasis-free survival rate was 82%. In patients with high-grade tumors the rate was 70% vs. 100% in those with low-grade tumors. This difference was statistically significant, p = 0.05. The 5-year disease-free and overall survival rates were 55% and 45%, respectively. The most common type of post-treatment complication was gastrointestinal obstruction (18%) followed by fistula formation (9%), peripheral neuropathy (6%), hydronephrosis (3%), and wound complication (3%). Conclusions: We are encouraged by the favorable local control rate and the acceptable morbidity with this new technique applied to a challenging patient population.
The Stability and Persistence of Mutualisms Embedded in Community Interactions

In this paper we argue that two-species models of mutualism may be oversimplifications of the real world that lead to erroneous predictions. We present a four-species model of a pollination mutualism embedded in other types of community interactions. Conclusions derived from two-species models about the destabilizing effect of mutualisms are misleading when applied to the present scenario; although the mutualisms are locally destabilizing, the effect is more than canceled by an increased chance of feasibility. The crucial difference is the interaction of the mutualists with other species in a larger web. Furthermore, community persistence (without unrealistic population explosion), arguably a superior ecological criterion, is greatly enhanced by the presence of mutualisms. Therefore, we predict that mutualisms should be common in the real world, a prediction matching empirial findings and in contrast to the predictions from local stability analysis of basic two-species models. This method of stabilizing a mutualism appears superior in some ways to the often-used method of introducing density dependence in the strength of the mutualism, because it permits obligate mutualisms to exist even at low densities, again matching empirical findings. Lastly, this study is an example of how complex model assemblages can behave qualitatively differently from analogous simpler ones.
Can the nephron be spared

The search continues for the best role for mTOR inhibitor drugs in renal transplantation—principally to avoid or minimize the nephrotoxicity of the CNI class of immunosuppressive agents. The Spare the Nephron Trial describes the popular approach of early conversion from a CNI to the mTOR agent sirolimus for patients maintained on mycophenolate mofetil and steroids. At 1–2 years the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was superior for the sirolimus group, with a loss of tolerability for about 20%.
Inelastic Response of a Woven Carbon/Copper Composite, Part I: Experimental Characterization

This paper presents the results of an extensive mechanical characterization of a new woven metal matrix composite, namely 8-harness (8H) satin carbon/copper (C/Cu). While woven polymer matrix composites have existed for some time, woven metal matrix composites such as C/Cu are now being developed for the first time. Due to the high thermal conductivity of the copper matrix, this material system is a good candidate for high heat flux applications such as those associated with space power radiator panels and computer chip casings. The mechanical characterization of the 8H satin C/Cu composite was carried out using monotonic and cyclic tension, compression, and Iosipescu shear tests, as well as combined tension-compression tests. Experiments involving applied compression were performed using a novel gripping apparatus not previously described in the open literature. Specimens containing small amounts of chromium and titanium in the copper matrix, in addition to specimens with pure copper matrix, were tested ...
Changing rates of DNA and RNA synthesis in Drosophila embryos.

Abstract Rates of DNA and RNA synthesis during Drosophila embryogenesis were measured by labeling octane-treated embryos with [ 14 C]thymidine and [ 3 H]uridine. Radioactivity incorporated per hour was converted to rates of synthesis using measurements of the pool-specific activity during the labeling periods. The rate of DNA synthesis during early embryogenesis increases to a maximum at 6 hr after oviposition and then decreases sharply. Measured rates of DNA synthesis were used to calculate that the total amount of DNA per embryo doubles every 18 min at blastoderm, every 70–80 min during gastrulation, and less than once every 7 hr at later stages. The rate of RNA accumulation per embryo increases continuously during the first 14 hr of embryogenesis. The rate of nuclear RNA synthesis per diploid amount of DNA, however, decreases fivefold between blastoderm and primary organogenesis. The cytoplasmic poly(A) + RNA synthesized by blastoderm embryos associates rapidly with polysomes. The relatively high rate of synthesis of polysomal poly(A) + RNA per nucleus at blastoderm allows the small number of nuclei present at blastoderm to make a significant quantitative contribution to the informational RNA active in the early embryo. At the end of blastoderm, approximately 14% of the mRNA being translated in the embryo has been synthesized after fertilization.
The design of water soluble β-sheet structure based on a nucleation strategy

Abstract This manuscript demonstrates that incorporation of the amino acid residue 4-(2-aminoethyl)-6-dibenzofuranpropionic acid 1 is necessary but not sufficient to stabilize the β-sheet structure of a heptapeptide in water. A sequence which facilitates intrastrand hydrophobic interactions is also important.
The noradrenergic innervation density of the monkey paraventricular nucleus is not altered by early social deprivation

Abstract A series of neuroanatomic analyses have been undertaken to identify potential neuropathological changes seen in monkeys exposed to early social deprivation, which leads to psychopathology, inappropriate responses to stress and appetitive disorders. The animals used in this study were either socially reared or maternal- and peer-deprived. Within this framework, the distribution and density of noradrenergic (and adrenergic) varicosities was assessed in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus of rhesus monkeys using dopamine-β-hydroxylase immunohistochemistry combined with laser scanning microscopy. Quantitative analysis of dopamine-β-hydroxylase-immunoreactive varicosity density within magnocellular and parvicellular regions revealed no significant differences between rearing conditions, suggesting that this chemically identified afferent input to the paraventricular nucleus was not affected by the early environmental insult of social deprivation. The apparent lack of vulnerability of the paraventricular nucleus to differential rearing conditions contrasts with the neuropathological changes observed in several discrete brain regions.
Widths and spectroscopic factors in 21 O

A recent ${}^{20}$O(d,p) ${}^{21}$O experiment, in reverse kinematics, discovered two new states in ${}^{21}$O at 4.77(10) and 6.17(11) MeV, with ${J}^{\ensuremath{\pi}}$ assignments of 3/2${}^{+}$ and of 3/2${}^{+}$ or 7/2${}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, respectively. Both widths and spectroscopic factors were reported, along with the branching ratio for the upper state to decay to the 2${}^{+}$ state of ${}^{20}$O. We have computed single-particle widths for all the relevant decays and have used them to extract additional information for these two states, including the spectroscopic factors for 2${}^{+}$ decay of the upper state with the two possible ${J}^{\ensuremath{\pi}}$ values. Our analysis prefers 7/2${}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ for ${J}^{\ensuremath{\pi}}$.
Finite element solution of thermal convection on a hypercube concurrent computer

Numerical solutions to thermal convection flow problems are vital to many scientific and engineering problems. One fundamental geophysical problem is the thermal convection responsible for continental drift and sea floor spreading. The earth's interior undergoes slow creeping flow (~cm/yr) in response to the buoyancy forces generated by temperature variations caused by the decay of radioactive elements and secular cooling. Convection in the earth's mantle, the 3000 km thick solid layer between the crust and core, is difficult to model for three reasons: (1) Complex rheology -- the effective viscosity depends exponentially on temperature, on pressure (or depth) and on the deviatoric stress; (2) the buoyancy forces driving the flow occur in boundary layers thin in comparison to the total depth; and (3) spherical geometry -- the flow in the interior is fully three dimensional. Because of these many difficulties, accurate and realistic simulations of this process easily overwhelm current computer speed and memory (including the Cray XMP and Cray 2) and only simplified problems have been attempted [e.g. Christensen and Yuen, 1984; Gurnis, 1988; Jarvis and Peltier, 1982]. As a start in overcoming these difficulties, a number of finite element formulations have been explored on hypercube concurrent computers. Although two coupled equations are required to solve this problem (the momentum or Stokes equation and the energy or advection-diffusion equation), we will concentrate our efforts on the solution to the latter equation in this paper. Solution of the former equation is discussed elsewhere [Lyzenga, et al, 1988]. We will demonstrate that linear speedups and efficiencies of 99 percent are achieved for sufficiently large problems.
PATTERNS OF GRIEF REACTION AFTER PREGNANCY LOSS

Analysis of three waves of Perinatal Grief Scale scores for 194 bereaved subjects over the course of two years revealed patterns of change different from those commonly noted in the literature. Less than half the sample matched the "normal" model; the rest exhibited non-normal patterns that did not fit the alternative psychological models. Demographic variables and pregnancy history, both before and after the loss, help explain some of the differences in direction of the grief response.
Evaluation of a new chemical dip strip for detecting ketonemia in the emergency setting

The utility of a new urine dipstick, Chemstrip uK, was evaluated using serum in place of urine to quantify serum ketones in 29 acutely ill patients with suspected ketosis treated in the emergency department. The serum Chemstrip uK method accurately predicted the level of ketonemia as assessed by the Acetest tablet method (r = .94; P less than .0001). There were no false-negative and no false-positive results. The use of this strip is recommended for evaluating subjects with suspected ketosis.
A unifying viewpoint of multilayer perceptrons and hidden Markov models

A generic iterative model for artificial neural networks (ANNs) is proposed which covers a wide variety of existing neural networks: single-layer feedback networks, multilayer feedforward networks, hierarchical competitive networks, and hidden Markov models. From the phase-retrieve point of view, the hidden Markov models described by the trellis structure can be regarded as a homogeneous (recurrent) multilayer perceptron with nonlinear squashing activation function. From the learning-phase point of view, it is shown that the additive gradient descent (ascent) approaches can be used to derive the back-propagation learning in the multilayer perceptrons. On the other hand, the multiplicative gradient descent (ascent) approach can be successfully applied to the trellis structure and used to derive the Baum-Welch reestimation formulation in the hidden Markov models. >
Sterol Biosynthesis Is Required for Heat Resistance but Not Extracellular Survival in Leishmania

Sterol biosynthesis is a crucial pathway in eukaryotes leading to the production of cholesterol in animals and various C24-alkyl sterols (ergostane-based sterols) in fungi, plants, and trypanosomatid protozoa. Sterols are important membrane components and precursors for the synthesis of powerful bioactive molecules, including steroid hormones in mammals. Their functions in pathogenic protozoa are not well characterized, which limits the development of sterol synthesis inhibitors as drugs. Here we investigated the role of sterol C14α-demethylase (C14DM) in Leishmania parasites. C14DM is a cytochrome P450 enzyme and the primary target of azole drugs. In Leishmania, genetic or chemical inactivation of C14DM led to a complete loss of ergostane-based sterols and accumulation of 14-methylated sterols. Despite the drastic change in lipid composition, C14DM-null mutants (c14dm−) were surprisingly viable and replicative in culture. They did exhibit remarkable defects including increased membrane fluidity, failure to maintain detergent resistant membrane fraction, and hypersensitivity to heat stress. These c14dm− mutants showed severely reduced virulence in mice but were highly resistant to itraconazole and amphotericin B, two drugs targeting sterol synthesis. Our findings suggest that the accumulation of toxic sterol intermediates in c14dm− causes strong membrane perturbation and significant vulnerability to stress. The new knowledge may help improve the efficacy of current drugs against pathogenic protozoa by exploiting the fitness loss associated with drug resistance.
Clinical implications of t(11;14)(q13;q32), t(4;14)(p16.3;q32), and -17p13 in myeloma patients treated with high-dose therapy

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is more sensitive than conventional cytogenetics for recognizing chromosomal changes. Several FISH-detected abnormalities have been associated with inferior prognosis, including deletion of chromosomes 17 and 13 (Δ13) and t(4;14)(p16.3;q32). We analyzed the prognostic value of FISH testing in 238 patients who received high-dose therapy between January 1990 and September 2001. All patients had pretransplantation cytoplasmic immunoglobulin FISH done on cytospin slides from bone marrow aspirates for t(11;14), t(4;14), and -17(p13.1) (TP53). Time to progression and overall survival were significantly shorter for patients with t(4;14) and those with -17(p13.1) but were not affected by t(11;14). Overall survival was significantly shorter for patients with both t(4;14) and Δ13 abnormalities than for those with Δ13 alone (26.8 vs 18.8 months). In a multivariable analysis of the effect of Δ13 and t(4;14), the risk ratio for t(4;14) was greater than for Δ13 (2.6 vs 1.5). For high-dose therapy patients, -17(p13) and t(4;14) have clinical importance for estimating time to progression and overall survival. The presence of t(4;14) identifies a subset of patients whose time to progression is only 8.2 months. These patients receive minimal benefit from autologous stem cell transplantation and are candidates for novel therapeutic approaches. (Blood. 2005;106:2837-2840)
Impact of Power Generation Mix on Life Cycle Assessment and Carbon Footprint Greenhouse Gas Results

Summary The mix of electricity consumed in any stage in the life cycle of a product, process, or industrial sector has a significant effect on the associated inventory of emissions and environmental impacts because of large differences in the power generation method used. Fossil-fuel-fired or nuclear-centralized steam generators; large-scale and small-scale hydroelectric power; and renewable options, such as geothermal, wind, and solar power, each have a unique set of issues that can change the results of a life cycle assessment. This article shows greenhouse gas emissions estimates for electricity purchase for different scenarios using U.S. average electricity mix, state mixes, state mixes including imports, and a sector-specific mix to show how different these results can be. We find that greenhouse gases for certain sectors and scenarios can change by more than 100%. Knowing this, practitioners should exercise caution or at least account for the uncertainty associated with mix choice.
Health insurance and labor market outcomes: Joint decision-making within households

Abstract Most Americans obtain access to health insurance through an employer. In this paper, we ask how the link between health insurance and employment affects labor market choices such as whether to work full-time. To understand the effect of the incentives embedded in the employer-based insurance system, we study the joint decision-making of husbands and wives that determines the household's access to health insurance. We estimate the effect on a wife's (husband's) labor market outcomes of husband's (wife's) health insurance, allowing the health insurance of both spouses to be endogenous. Obtaining unbiased estimates of such effects is complicated by the likelihood that positive assortative mating creates correlations between a couple's characteristics and the possibility that there are important unobservable household income effects. Our innovation is to measure these biases by examining a second fringe benefit, paid sick leave, in addition to health insurance. We find that, as predicted, spouse's insurance has statistically significant negative effects on being offered own employer insurance as well as on the probability of working full-time with health insurance.
On Slupecki T-Functions

In [2] E. L. Post defined a many-valued propositional logic to be functionally complete if, for every function on the set of truth-values, there exists a formula of the logic having that function as its associated truth-value function. He proved that the logic with truth-values 1, 2, …, m and (i) a unary connective ∼ such that ∼p has truth-value i +1 (mod m ) when p has truth-value i , (ii) a binary connective ∨ such that p ∨ q has truth-value min( i, j ) when p, q have truth-values i, j respectively, is functionally complete. The many-valued logics described by Łukasiewicz and Tarski [1] are not functionally complete. These logics have truth-values 1, 2, …, m and (i) a unary connective ~ such that ~p has truth-value m −i+1 when p has truth-value i , (ii) a binary connective → such that if p, q have truth-values i, j respectively, then p → q has truth-value 1 for i ≧ j , and truth-value 1 for i ≧ j . The functional incompleteness of these logics is immediate, since there exists no formula in p having truth-value i (≠ 1 or m ) when p has truth-value 1. In [4] Slupecki showed that if a new unary connective T, such that T(p) has truth-value 2 for all truth-values assigned to p, is added to the 3-valued Łukasiewicz-Tarski logic, then the resulting logic is functionally complete. In [3] Rosser and Turquette proved this result for the m -valued ( m ≧ 3) logic.
Closing the Loop in Aids for the Neurologically Handicapped

Basic neuroscience researchers are working closely with physical scientists and engineers to develop neural prostheses for individuals with disorders of the nervous system. These aids include auditory prostheses for the deaf, bladder evacuation prostheses and motor prostheses for the paralyzed. The level of sophistication of these devices is increasing, and several are now beginning to move from open loop systems to microprocessor controlled, closed loop systems with custom-fabricated transducers. The basic principles of these prostheses will be discussed, and current research results will be presented.
Role of Cardiac Myosin Binding Protein C in Sustaining Left Ventricular Systolic Stiffening

Despite advances in the molecular biology of cardiac myosin binding protein-C (cMyBP-C), little is understood about its precise role in muscle contraction, particularly in the intact heart. We tested the hypothesis that cMyBP-C is central to the time course and magnitude of left ventricular systolic elastance (chamber stiffening), and assessed mechanisms for this influence in intact hearts, trabeculae, and skinned fibers from wild-type (+/+) and homozygous truncated cMyBP-C (t/t) male mice. cMyBP-C protein was not detected by gel electrophoresis or Western blot in t/t myocardium. cMyBP-C t/t ventricles displayed reduced peak elastance, but more strikingly a marked abbreviation of the systolic elastance time course, which peaked earlier (27.6±2.1 ms) than in +/+ controls (47.8±1.6 ms). Control hearts reached only 42±4% of maximum elastance at the onset of ejection, with substantial further stiffening during ejection. This contrasted to t/t mutants, which reached 77±3% of peak elastance before ejection of peak. These unusual findings were not observed in alternative models involving severe cardiomyopathy, but were recapitulated in a cMyBP-C null mouse. The abbreviated elastance time course and lower peak were consistent with earlier time-to-peak trabecular tension, increased unloaded shortening velocity in t/t skinned muscle strips, and dramatically reduced myofilament stiffness at diastolic calcium concentrations. These results provide novel insights into the role of cMyBP-C in myocardial systolic mechanics. Abnormal sarcomere shortening velocity and abbreviated muscle stiffening may underlie development of cardiac dysfunction associated with deficient incorporation of cMyBP-C.
Sustainable speed management in small rural communities

Small rural communities are often located along major state or county highways and as a result much of the traffic along their main thoroughfare is pass-through rather than local. Unfortunately, drivers passing through those communities often enter at high speeds and then maintain those speeds throughout creating a safety problem for the community. High speeds also discourage pedestrian activities, such as walking and bicycling, and discourage community interaction and vitality. Little guidance in the US is available about use of traffic calming in small rural communities since application of traffic calming has been done almost exclusively in larger urban areas. This paper discusses results of a project which evaluated eight different traffic calming treatments in five rural Iowa communities. Speeds were measured before and after installation of the treatments and the effectiveness of each treatment is discussed in this paper.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CARD SHARK

Marvel, a giant of the comic book industry, bought Fleer, a leading trading card company, a year ago. Last summer, they tapped Bill Jemas from the NBA to be the strategist responsible for developing and marketing new sports and entertainment products. From what we can see, Jemas really knows how to play his cards.
Power / Capacity Scaling: Energy Savings With Simple Fault-Tolerant Caches

Complicated approaches to fault-tolerant voltage-scalable (FTVS) SRAM cache architectures can suffer from high overheads. We propose static (SPCS) and dynamic (DPCS) variants of power/capacity scaling, a simple and low-overhead fault-tolerant cache architecture that utilizes insights gained from our 45nm SOI test chip. Our mechanism combines multi-level voltage scaling with power gating of blocks that become faulty at each voltage level. The SPCS policy sets the runtime cache VDD statically such that almost all of the cache blocks are not faulty. The DPCS policy opportunistically reduces the voltage further to save more power than SPCS while limiting the impact on performance caused by additional faulty blocks. Through an analytical evaluation, we show that our approach can achieve lower static power for all effective cache capacities than a recent complex FTVS work. This is due to significantly lower overheads, despite the failure of our approach to match the min-VDD of the competing work at fixed yield. Through architectural simulations, we find that the average energy saved by SPCS is 55%, while DPCS saves an average of 69% of energy with respect to baseline caches at 1 V. Our approach incurs no more than 4% performance and 5% area penalties in the worst case cache configuration.
Quality-adaptive media streaming by priority drop

This paper presents a general design strategy for streaming media applications in best effort computing and networking environments. Our target application is video on demand using personal computers and the Internet. In this scenario, where resource reservations and admission control mechanisms are not generally available, effective streaming must be able to adapt in a responsive and graceful manner. The design strategy we propose is based on a single simple idea, priority data dropping, or priority drop for short. We evaluate the efficacy of priority drop as an adaptation tool in the video and networking domains. Our technical contribution with respect to video is to show how to express adaptation policies and how to do priority-mapping, an automatic translation from adaptation policies to priority assignments on the basic units of video. For the networking domain, we present priority-progress streaming, a real-time best-effort streaming protocol. We have implemented and released a prototype video streaming system that incorporates priority-drop video, priority mapping, and priority-progress streaming. Our system demonstrates a simple encode once, stream anywhere model where a single video source can be streamed across a wide range of network bandwidths, on networks saturated with competing traffic, all the while maintaining real-time performance and gracefully adapting quality.
Trace recovery: a distributed computing application for perturbation tracking

Execution monitoring plays a central role in most software development tools for parallel and distributed computer systems. However, such monitoring may induce delays that corrupt event timing. In this paper we introduce a perturbation analyses-like algorithm that, given a safe timed Petri net model of the monitored software, can recover the uncorrupted event timings, i.e., those that would have been observed had the delays not been present. Monitoring conditions sufficient to ensure correct operation of the algorithm, and examples illustrating the algorithm's applicability to message-passing systems are also presented. This is part of a larger effort aimed at identifying cost-effective software alternatives to hardware monitoring. >
Pharmacogenetics of paraoxonase activity: elucidating the role of high-density lipoprotein in disease

PON1 is a key component of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) and is at least partially responsible for HDL's antioxidant/atheroprotective properties. PON1 is also associated with numerous human diseases, including cardiovascular disease, Parkinson's disease and cancer. In addition, PON1 metabolizes a broad variety of substrates, including toxic organophosphorous compounds, statin adducts, glucocorticoids, the likely atherogenic L-homocysteine thiolactone and the quorum-sensing factor of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Numerous cardiovascular and antidiabetic pharmacologic agents, dietary macronutrients, lifestyle factors and antioxidant supplements affect PON1 expression and enzyme activity levels. Owing to the importance of PON1 to HDL function and its individual association with diverse human diseases, pharmacogenomic interactions between PON1 and the various factors that alter its expression and activity may represent an important therapeutic target for future investigation.
Regimes and the Rule of Law: Judicial Independence in Comparative Perspective

According to popular wisdom, judicial independence and the rule of law are essential features of modern democracy. Drawing on the growing comparative literature on courts, we unpack this claim by focusing on two broad questions: How does the type of political regime affect judicial independence? Are independent courts, in fact, always essential for establishing the rule of law? In highlighting the role of institutional fragmentation and public opinion, we explain why democracies are indeed more likely than dictatorships to produce both independent courts and the rule of law. Yet, by also considering the puzzle of institutional instability that marks courts in much of the developing world, we identify several reasons why democracy may not always prove sufficient for constructing either. Finally, we argue that independent courts are not always necessary for the rule of law, particularly where support for individual rights is relatively widespread.
Stripping the S&P 500 Index

A new market in S&P 500 Index dividend strips, which are claims to a year's dividend on the index, would not only improve risk sharing but, more importantly, would also serve to focus investor attention on the fundamentals that determine the value of the index rather than simply on the future resale value of the index. Such a market would also reveal the market assessment of certainty-equivalent growth rates in dividends and thus help to promote rational pricing. Calculations are presented to illustrate the prices at which the index strips might trade, the associated certainty-equivalent growth rates, and the expected returns for given expected dividend growth rates.
Testing for stochastic independence: application to blind source separation

In this paper, we address the issue of testing for stochastic independence and its application as a guide to selecting the standard independent component analysis (ICA) algorithms when solving blind source separation (BSS) problems. Our investigation focuses on the problem of establishing tests for the quality of separation among recovered sources obtained by ICA algorithms in an unsupervised environment. We review existing tests and propose two contingency table-based algorithms. The first procedure is based on the measure of goodness-of-fit of the observed signals to the model of independence provided by the power-divergence (PD) family of test statistics. We provide conditions that guarantee the validity of the independence test when the individual sources are nonstationary. When the sources exhibit significant time dependence, we show how to adopt Hotelling's T/sup 2/ test statistic for zero mean to create an accurate test of independence. Experimental results obtained from a variety of synthetic and real-life benchmark data sets confirm the success of the PD-based test when the individual source samples preserve the so-called constant cell probability assumption as well as the validity of the T/sup 2/-based test for sources with significant time dependence.
How To Safeguard Your Sensitive Data

In order to safeguard a sensitive database, we must ensure both its privacy and its longevity. However, privacy and longevity tend to be competing objectives. We show how to design a system that provides both good privacy and good longevity simultaneously. Systems are modelled as compositions of two basic operators, Copy and Split. We propose metrics with which to evaluate the privacy, longevity and performance offered by such systems. The search for the "best" system under these metrics is then formulated as a constrained optimization problem. Solving the optimization problem exactly turns out to be intractable, so we propose techniques for efficiently finding an approximate solution.
cis Elements Necessary for Developmental Expression of a Myxococcus xanthus Gene That Depends on C Signaling

Cell contact-mediated C signaling coordinates morphogenesis and gene expression during development of Myxococcus xanthus. One promoter that depends on C signaling for transcription lies upstream of Ω4403, the site of a Tn5 lac insertion in the genome. The Ω4403 promoter has a C-box sequence centered at −49 bp that matches the consensus 5′-CAYYCCY-3′, which is found in several C-signal-dependent promoters. Mutational analysis of the Ω4403 promoter region was performed to test the importance of the C box and to identify other cis-acting elements. A 6-bp change in the −10 region eliminated promoter activity, but a 6-bp change in the −35 region decreased activity only about twofold. Certain single-base-pair changes in the C box centered at −49 bp abolished promoter activity, establishing the importance of this sequence element. Single-base-pair changes in a C-box-like sequence centered at −77 bp also abolished promoter activity, but the pattern of mutational effects was different from that for the C box centered at −49 bp. Additional single-base-pair changes indicated that all 10 bp from −79 to −70 bp are important for Ω4403 promoter activity. Mutations at −59, −61, −62, and −63 bp also abolished promoter activity, defining a 5-bp element from −63 to −59 bp. This 5-bp element is separated from the 10-bp element (i.e., −79 to −70 bp) by 6 bp that can be changed without loss of promoter activity. Likewise, the 5 bp between the 5-bp element and the C box can be changed without loss of activity, but deletion of these 5 bp abolished activity, indicating that spacing is important. Sequences similar to the 5- and 10-bp elements, as well as the C box, are present in other C-signal-dependent promoters, suggesting some similarity in the regulatory mechanisms, but there are also indications that these cis elements do not function identically in the different promoters.
Coordinate Transformation, Orthogonal Collocation, Model Reformulation and Simulation of Electrochemical-Thermal Behavior of Lithium-Ion Battery Stacks

In this paper, a simple transformation of coordinates is proposed that facilitates the efficient simulation of the non-isothermal lithium-ion pseudo 2-D battery model. The transformed model is then conveniently discretized using orthogonal collocation with the collocation points in the spatial direction. The resulting system of differential algebraic equations (DAEs) is solved using efficient adaptive solvers in time. A series of mathematical operations are performed to reformulate the model to enhance computational efficiency and programming convenience while maintaining accuracy even when non-linear or temperature dependent parameters are used. The transformed coordinate allows for efficient simulation and extension from cell sandwich to stack models. Furthermore, the transformation and reformulation techniques are used to simulate operation of an 8-cell battery stack subject to varying heat transfer coefficients as well as specified temperature boundary conditions.
A markov model for the effect of covariates including drug adherence on longitudinal viral response in hiv patients

Dynamic adherence-response relationship between antiviral drugs and HIV RNA. All HIV RNA values (measured bi-monthly) from salvage treatment trial ACTG 398 are categorized into one of three groups (low/med/high). The unit of analysis is the 2-month interval RNA category change: rise, fall, or stay the same. Covariates are: pre-study exposure to NNRTI (yes/no), elapsed on-study time (early/late), the viral RNA at the start of the interval, and time-average fractional drug adherence during the interval (measured using electronic medication monitoring—MEMS). NONMEM is used for estimation, which is stabilized by penalizing all covariate parameters for deviation from zero. Multiple imputation is used for missing MEMS. Standard-errors are estimated by bootstrap, and inference is via likelihood ratio test (LRT) or randomization test (RT). The mean probability that RNA falls during an interval for an individual in the “med” (“high”) group is 0.75 (0.72) for on-study time ≤ 2 months vs. 0.34 (0.15) for >2 months (LRT: p<0.05); 0.63 (0.80) with no prior exposure to NNRTI vs. 0.30 (0.52) with prior exposure (LRT: p<0.05); and 0.54 (0.72) for MEMS ≥ 80% vs. 0.46 (0.50) for MEMS <80% (RT: p=0.03). In conclusion, a Markov model for qualitative serial 2-month HIV viral RNA change confirms the influence of the starting RNA (Markov property) and several covariates including drug adherence. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2004) 75, P90–P90; doi: 10.1016/j.clpt.2003.11.343