cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the effectiveness of a front shielding lead skirt apron for pregnant radiation workers

2030 Objectives: A lighter weight front shielding lead skirt apron is an advantage for pregnant radiation workers, especially in late pregnancy. Because of the lack of shielding on the backside, our department wanted to evaluate the effectiveness of a front shielding lead skirt apron in reducing fetal radiation exposure when worn durn pregnancy by nuclear medicine personnel. Methods: A pregnant nuclear medicine technologist wore a front shielding 0.5mm lead equivalency skirt apron (Shielding International Inc, Madras, OR.) for a total of 29 working days in a nuclear medicine department while performing both diagnostic and therapeutic imaging procedures. Three radiation monitoring devices were worn in specific locations on the apron: one badge was worn anterior at waist level underneath the lead apron; the second badge was worn at waist level on the outside surface of the apron; the third badge was worn posterior on the unshielded backside of the apron. At the end of the experimental time period, the radiation badges were collected and sent to Laundauer Inc. for radiation readings. Results: The radiation exposure received by the monitoring device located anterior on the outside of the apron was 30 mrem. The radiation level of the badge worn anterior at the waist level under the lead apron and the badge worn on the unshielded backside of the apron was 5 mrem, respectively. As a result, the front shielding lead apron significantly reduced anterior fetal radiation exposure from 30 mrem to 5 mrem and no significant radiation exposure was received on the unshielded backside. Conclusions: The front shielding lead skirt apron significantly reduced anterior fetal radtiation exposure from 30 mrem to 5 mrem and no significant increase in the radiation exposure was measured from the unshielded backside. The front lead skirt apron is effective at reducing fetal radiation exposure when worn by pregnant nuclear medicine workers.
Antigenic Features of Immunoglobulins

In addition to carrying out the diverse functions of the humoral immune system, the family of proteins collectively referred to as “immunoglobulins” possesses important antigenic features. These proteins, in other words, are themselves immunogenic, as would be expected of such large and complex molecules. Detailed study of the precise nature of the antigenic features of immunoglobulins has provided important insights into the organization and complexity of the various members of this protein family, knowledge of how their synthesis is genetically controlled, and information showing how immunological reactions involving immunoglobulins as target molecules can contribute to a number of disease states. It is the purpose of this chapter to provide an overview of what is currently known about these various antigenic properties of immunoglobulins. The chapter by Calvanico and Tomasi in this volume provides relevant information regarding the elements of immunoglobulin structure.
The Sunyaev-Zel’dovich Effect and H0

Observational data on the Sunyaev-Zel’dovich effect for three clusters are used to obtain limits to the value of the Hubble constant. Only a wide bound on the value of Ho, 10 kms−1 Mpc−1 < Ho < 160 kms−1 Mpc−1 can be derived, mostly because of the large uncertainty in the measured temperature of the intracluster medium in each cluster. Better information on this temperature and on the distribution of the intracluster medium are needed for this method to yield a good measurement of H0.
Role of Bacterial Biofilms in Urinary Tract Infections

Bacterial urinary tract infections represent the most common type of nosocomial infection. In many cases, the ability of bacteria to both establish and maintain these infections is directly related to biofilm formation on indwelling devices or within the urinary tract itself. This chapter will focus on the role of biofilm formation in urinary tract infections with an emphasis on Gram-negative bacteria. The clinical implications of biofilm formation will be presented along with potential strategies for prevention. In addition, the role of specific pathogen-encoded functions in biofilm development will be discussed.
The Role of Non-protein Nitrogen in Progressive Renal Failure

Of the 10–15 guanidino compounds currently isolated from blood and urine of uremic subjects the most prominently and consistently increased is guanidinosuccinic acid (GSA)1. The toxicity resulting from this increase has been elusive and, to date, the principal and most reproducible effect reported has been a reduction in platelet microtubular contractibility which may contribute to the bleeding diathesis which accompanies uremia2. The origin of this material has been shown to be the mixed function oxidation of urea occurring in the liver and driven by the substrate, urea3.Fig 1 diagrams a part of this alternate pathway showing those substances which, injected intraperitoneally in rats, increase urinary output of GSA, Injecting a little more than a millimole of methionine results in a profound reduction in GSA output (64%) with homocysteine, a methionine precursor, producing a lesser decline (18%). That this is not an effect of the sulfhydril group is shown by the lack of effect by either cysteine or acetyl cysteine (chosen for its greater cellular permeability).
Present and future emissions of air pollutants in China:: SO2, NOx, and CO

Abstract As part of the CHINA-MAP program, sponsored by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, regional inventories of air pollutants emitted in China are being characterized, in order that the atmospheric chemistry over China can be more fully understood and the resulting ambient concentrations in Chinese cities and the deposition levels to Chinese ecosystems be determined with better confidence. This paper presents estimates of emissions of three of the major air pollutants in China: sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), and carbon monoxide (CO). Emissions are estimated for each of the 29 regions of China covered by the RAINS-ASIA simulation model, including Hong Kong and Taiwan. All sectors of the Chinese economy are considered, including the combustion of biofuels in rural homes. Data for 1990 and 1995 are presented, as well as two projections for the year 2020 under alternative assumptions about levels of environmental control. Sulfur dioxide emissions are projected to increase from 25.2 mt in 1995 to 30.6 mt in 2020, provided emission controls are implemented on major power plants; if this does not happen, emissions could increase to as much as 60.7 mt by 2020. Emissions of nitrogen oxides are projected to increase from 12.0 mt in 1995 to somewhere in the range of 26.6–29.7 mt by 2020, with little in the way of pollution controls or other emission reduction measures in place. Emissions of carbon monoxide are projected to decline from 115 mt in 1995 to 96.8 mt in 2020, due to more efficient combustion techniques, especially in the transportation sector; if these measures are not realized, carbon monoxide emissions could increase to 130 mt by 2020. Emissions of all three species are concentrated in the populated and industrialized areas of China: the Northeastern Plain, the East Central and Southeastern provinces, and the Sichuan Basin.
Improving the Global, International and Intercultural (GII) Competencies of IT Students via Integrated Collaboration During Study Abroad

The rapidly globalizing nature of the information technology (IT) industry demands that employees demonstrate global, international, and intercultural (GII) competencies in addition to technical and traditional soft skills. Universities have struggled to provide opportunities for students - particularly in STEM fields to improve upon such GII competencies in a context related to their students' specific disciplines. The study examines students from a US university who enrolled in an IT course with an embedded short-term study abroad component to China. Students in this course were given the opportunity to participate in a short, face-to-face collaborative project with students from a Chinese university in an effort to gauge improvements in GII competencies as a result of the interaction. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the student participants indicates that even a short-duration collaborative experience can create a positive impact in student awareness of GII competencies and the need to engage in a globalized society. The authors offer observations of student reaction, suggest future studies that could lead to deeper analysis of the experience, and propose that similar encounters between students be studied.
Kirchhoff–Love shell formulation based on triangular isogeometric analysis

Abstract This article presents application of rational triangular Bezier splines (rTBS) for developing Kirchhoff–Love shell elements in the context of isogeometric analysis. Kirchhoff–Love shell formulation requires high continuity between elements because of higher order PDEs in the description of the problem. Non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS)-based IGA has been extensively used for developing Kirchhoff–Love shell elements, as NURBS-based IGA can provide high continuity between and within elements. However, NURBS-based IGA has some limitations; such as, analysis of a complex geometry might need multiple NURBS patches and imposing higher continuity constraints over interfaces of patches is a challenging issue. Addressing these limitations, isogeometric analysis based on rTBS can provide C1 continuity over the mesh including element interfaces, a necessary condition in finite elements formulation of Kirchhoff–Love shell theory. Based on this technology, we use Cr smooth rational triangular Bezier spline as the basis functions for representing both geometry and solution field. In addition to providing higher continuity for Kirchhoff–Love formulation, using rTBS elements we can achieve three significant challenging goals: optimal convergence rate, efficient local mesh refinement and analysis of geometric models of complex topology. The proposed method is applied on several examples; first, this technique is verified against multiple plate and shell benchmark problems; investigating the convergence rate on the benchmark problems demonstrates that the optimal convergence rate can be obtained by the proposed technique. We also apply our method on geometric models of complex topology or geometric models in which efficient local refinement is required. Moreover, a car hood is modeled with rTBS and structurally analyzed by using the proposed framework.
Evolution of Pluggable Optics and What is Beyond

Need to support higher speeds of Ethernet at high radix on datacenter switches is prompting new pluggable optic form factors, on-board optics and co-packaging of optics with switch ASICs to fulfill the evolutionary need.
The Groups [A,ΩX] and Their Homomorphisms

In this section we consider the group [A,ΩX] of homotopy classes of maps of the space A into the loop space ΩX and the homomorphisms f*: [B,ΩX] → [A,ΩX] induced by a continuous map f: A → B. We deal only with spaces with base points and maps and homotopies that preserve base points. Furthermore, it is assumed that all spaces have the homotopy type of connected CW-complexes with finitely generated homology and homotopy groups in each dimension.
Accelerated and Active Self-healing Techniques for BTI Wearout

BTI has long been recognized as a partially reversible wearout effect, but the literature is vague about how much recovery can be achieved under different conditions and what it means for designers to boost the rate and level of BTI recovery. This chapter proposes a series of biologically inspired techniques that are able to effectively accelerate and activate the BTI recovery; measurement results with actual hardware demonstrate that even what would be considered irreversible BTI wearout can be almost fully eliminated by employing an internal circadian rhythm for recovery. By fully taking advantage of the explored unique BTI recovery behaviors and running the system in a “refreshed” mode, the necessary design margins that would be assigned by flat-guardband approach can be significantly reduced, and the average performance can be improved as well. We present the theory, models, experimental demonstration, and potential design benefits of accelerated and active BTI recovery in this chapter.
Wireless Communications and Applications Above 100 GHz: Opportunities and Challenges for 6G and Beyond

Frequencies from 100 GHz to 3 THz are promising bands for the next generation of wireless communication systems because of the wide swaths of unused and unexplored spectrum. These frequencies also offer the potential for revolutionary applications that will be made possible by new thinking, and advances in devices, circuits, software, signal processing, and systems. This paper describes many of the technical challenges and opportunities for wireless communication and sensing applications above 100 GHz, and presents a number of promising discoveries, novel approaches, and recent results that will aid in the development and implementation of the sixth generation (6G) of wireless networks, and beyond. This paper shows recent regulatory and standard body rulings that are anticipating wireless products and services above 100 GHz and illustrates the viability of wireless cognition, hyper-accurate position location, sensing, and imaging. This paper also presents approaches and results that show how long distance mobile communications will be supported to above 800 GHz since the antenna gains are able to overcome air-induced attenuation, and present methods that reduce the computational complexity and simplify the signal processing used in adaptive antenna arrays, by exploiting the Special Theory of Relativity to create a cone of silence in over-sampled antenna arrays that improve performance for digital phased array antennas. Also, new results that give insights into power efficient beam steering algorithms, and new propagation and partition loss models above 100 GHz are given, and promising imaging, array processing, and position location results are presented. The implementation of spatial consistency at THz frequencies, an important component of channel modeling that considers minute changes and correlations over space, is also discussed. This paper offers the first in-depth look at the vast applications of THz wireless products and applications and provides approaches for how to reduce power and increase performance across several problem domains, giving early evidence that THz techniques are compelling and available for future wireless communications.
Damage mechanics modeling of the non-linear behavior of SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composite fuel cladding

Abstract A damage model is developed and validated with experimental data for the non-linear mechanical behavior of SiC/SiC composite materials in nuclear applications. The model extends a continuum damage mechanics formalism, where explicit property degradation and volumetric swelling as a result of neutron irradiation are additionally included. The model is shown to be validated with out-of-pile experiments, and then applied to off-normal and high-burnup operating conditions associated with loss of cooling and extended radiation exposure, respectively. Optimized operating conditions aimed at reducing the fuel temperature included variation of the thermal conductivity and initial fuel-cladding gap thermal resistance. The nonlinear response along with continuum micro-cracking damage predictions are obtained and compared to the behavior during normal operating conditions. Numerical implementation of the model is based on 3-D Finite Element solutions.
The Effects of Enhancement Strategies of Beef Flanks on Composition and Consumer Palatability Characteristics

Beef rectus abdominis muscles (n = 100; 20/treatment) were assigned randomly to 1 of 5 treatments: untreated control (Control, No Treatment; CNT), vacuum tumbled control without marinade (Tumbled Control, No Treatment; TCNT), vacuum tumbled with marinade (TUMB), injected with marinade (INJ), and injected with marinade plus vacuum tumbled (IPT) to determine how enhancement techniques influence consumer palatability. After processing, flank samples were cooked (72°C), cut into 1.3-cm strips, and served as fajita strips for consumer evaluation (n = 200). Treatment influenced (P 0.05). Samples processed using TUMB and INJ were similar (P > 0.05) for flavor and WTP, and INJ, IPT, and TUMB samples were similar (P > 0.05) for overall liking. Thus, consumers were willing to pay more for IPT than TUMB (P 0.05) for overall liking. Injection plus tumbling improved tenderness, juiciness, and flavor liking scores over tumbling alone, but not over injection alone. Injection influenced consumer tenderness more than tumbling, but tumbling had greater effects on cooked moisture than injection. While IPT did not surpass either TUMB or INJ in all sensory categories, IPT does excel when considering moisture retention along with palatability.
Prognostic and radiographic correlates of a prospectively collected molecularly profiled cohort of IDH1/2-wildtype astrocytomas.

BACKGROUND In the molecular era, the relevance of tumor grade for prognostication of IDH1/2-wildtype (WT) gliomas has been debated. It has been suggested that histologic grade II and III astrocytomas with molecular features of glioblastoma, IDH1/2-WT have a similar prognosis to glioblastoma and should be considered for the same clinical trials. METHODS We integrated prospective clinical sequencing from 564 patients with IDH1/2-WT gliomas (26 grade II, 71 grade III and 467 grade IV) with clinical and radiographic data to assess associations between molecular features, grade and outcome. RESULTS Compared to histologic grade IV IDH1/2-WT astrocytomas, histologic grade II astrocytomas harbor fewer chromosome 7/10 alterations (P = 0.04), EGFR amplifications (P = 0.022) and alterations in cell-cycle effectors (P = 1.9e-11), but a similar frequency of TERT promoter mutations. In contrast, there is no difference in the frequency of these canonical molecular features in histologic grade III vs. IV IDH1/2-WT disease. Progression-free (PFS) and overall survival (OS) for histologic grade II tumors were significantly longer than grade III tumors (P = 0.02 and P = 0.008, respectively), whereas there was no difference in PFS and OS for histologic grade III compared to grade IV tumors. Median PFS for histologic grade II, III and IV tumors was 19, 11 and 9 months, respectively. Median OS for the same tumors was 44, 23 and 23 months, respectively. In histologic grade II and III IDH1/2 WT tumors, gliomatosis is associated with the absence of cell-cycle alterations (P = 0.008) and enriched in grade II features (P = 0.1) and alterations in the PI3K-AKT pathway (P = 0.09). CONCLUSIONS Grade II histology has genotypic and phenotypic associations with prognostic implications in IDH1/2-WT astrocytomas.
Ultraviolet filters in sunscreen products labeled for use in children and for sensitive skin

Background The active ingredients in sunscreen products are ultraviolet (UV) filters, many of which are known potential allergens. The use of sunscreen in younger children and individuals with sensitive skin requires special attention, since absorption and allergen sensitization are of concern. Objective This study aims to evaluate the ultraviolet filters in sunscreen products labeled specifically for "kids" or as "sensitive/hypoallergenic" and compare these to general sunscreen products. Methods From December 2017 to March 2018, the ingredient labels on commercially available sunscreen products in Bangkok, Thailand, were analyzed. Results Two hundred and forty-six sunscreen products were examined. Of these, twenty products (8.1%) were marketed for "kids." Forty-one products (16.6%) were labeled as "sensitive" or "hypoallergenic." Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate (EHMC) and benzophenone-3 (BP3) were less prevalent in products for children [(P = .004) and (P = .029), respectively]. Eighty-five percent of sunscreen products labeled for kids contained at least one chemical UV filter. There was no significant difference between BP3, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (BMDM), and octocrylene (OCR) in products labeled for sensitive skin compared to products with no specific labels. Moreover, methylene bis-benzotriazolyl tetramethylbutylphenol (MBBT) was more commonly found in products for sensitive skin than in nonsensitive products (P = .001). Conclusions Common allergenic UV filters were found in sunscreens labeled as sensitive and for children. Regulations for displaying these specific labels should be established for improved benefits and safety to allergy-prone skin.
The tyrannicide citizen in fifth-century BCE Athens

Long after tyrants no longer presented a real and present danger for Athens, tyranny and tyrannicide continued to occupy the imagination and public discourse of the Athenian democracy. The Athenians’ response (real or fabricated) to tyranny gave them a powerful (if imaginary) model to identify and manage the elites and leaders whose ambitions worried them. This conceptual flexibility was clearly an asset of the Athenian democracy. But just as importantly, tyrannicide occupied a place in the Athenians’ understanding of democratic citizenship. Tyrannicide framed the potential of every citizen to protect the democracy when threatened, a potential that underlay his civic responsibilities and powers. In addition, this paper argues, the memory and celebration of the tyrannicides, Harmodius and Aristogiton, their achievement and, most of all, their relationship, gave the Athenians a public narrative that illustrated the concepts of friendship and equality framing their everyday political lives.
Management of the Wheat Curl Mite and Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus With Insecticides on Spring and Winter Wheat

The wheat curl mite (WCM, Aceria tosichella, Keifer) is an eriophyid mite species complex that causes damage to cereal crops in the Northern Great Plains by feeding damage and through the transmission of plant viruses, such as wheat streak mosaic virus. Insecticide treatments were evaluated in the greenhouse and field for efficacy at managing the WCM complex on wheat. Treatments tested were carbamates, organophosphates, pyrethroids, a neonicotinoid seed treatment, mite growth inhibitors, and Organic Materials Review Institute-approved biocontrols, soaps, and oils. Treatment with carbamates, organophosphates, and pyrethroids decreased WCM in greenhouse trials compared with untreated controls 14 days after infestation. The seed treatment, mite growth inhibitors, and organic pesticides did not reduce WCM populations effectively and consistently. The timing of application was tested using a sulfur solution as the experimental treatment. Treating plants with sulfur seven days after mite infestation reduced mites compared with the untreated control. In contrast, prophylactically applied sulfur and sulfur applied 14 days after mite infestation were not effective. When tested under field conditions with plots infested with viruliferous mites, there was no yield difference detected between untreated control plots and plots sprayed with insecticides. Select carbamates, organophosphates, and pyrethroids have a potential for use in greenhouse mite management when appropriate.
Bayesian identification of bots using temporal analysis of tweet storms

The key to identifying automated activity on social media is to isolate and analyze individual tweet storms that show how an account interacts with the twitterverse over time. In this work we propose the Dynamic Wavelet Fingerprint (DWFP) as a way to identify and flag this activity. Time-series representations of tweet storms are constructed using post metadata, and the DWFP converts these into binary images using a wavelet transform. To describe each tweet storm, features are extracted from the account metadata, tweet metadata, and DWFP images and then passed to a probabilistic classifier. We test three Bayesian Inference models: Multinomial Naive Bayes, Gaussian Naive Bayes, and Ensemble Naive Bayes (ENB). Using Bayesian Inference structures allows us to propagate information between tweet storms by passing the posterior bot probability from one tweet storm as the prior assumption for the following tweet storm. For this proof-of-concept work we use a small, unambiguous dataset of 777 verified humans and 223 known bot accounts. We find the ENB model with four classifiers in the ensemble—decision tree, support vector machine, multi-layer perceptron, and logistic regression—provides the best results with a classification accuracy of 98.5%, and an f-score of 0.96 on the withheld validation data.
The Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model in Human-Robot Interaction: A Conceptual Replication

Understanding human-robot social comparison is critical for creating psychologically safe robots (i.e., robots that do not cause psychological discomfort). However, there has been limited research examining social comparison processes in human-robot interaction (HRI). We aimed to conceptually replicate prior research suggesting that the Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) model of social comparison applies to HRI. In short, the SEM model describes the mechanisms in which others can impact one’s self-evaluation. We applied the model to an online presentation of a humanoid robot, RUDY. We predicted that task relevance would moderate the relationship between the robot’s performance level and participant evaluations of the robot. When RUDY engaged in a low-relevance task (guessing someone’s age), participants would evaluate RUDY accurately (i.e., they would rate RUDY more positively when it performed well than when it performed poorly). However, when RUDY engaged in a high-relevance task (understanding how people feel), participants would evaluate RUDY inaccurately (i.e., they would rate RUDY negatively regardless of its actual performance). Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that participants in both the high- and low-relevance conditions evaluated RUDY accurately. Our results suggest that SEM effects may not generalize to all types of tasks and robots. A “highly relevant” task might mean something different depending on the exact nature of the human-robot relationship. Given the inconsistency between these findings and past research, discerning the boundary conditions for SEM effects may be crucial for developing psychologically safe robots.
Coiled Coil Crosslinked Alginate Hydrogels Dampen Macrophage-Driven Inflammation

Alginate hydrogels are widely used for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine due to their excellent biocompatibility. A facile and commonly used strategy to crosslink alginate is the addition of Ca2+ that leads to hydrogelation. However, extracellular Ca2+ is a secondary messenger in activating inflammasome pathways following physical injury or pathogenic insult leading to persistent inflammation and scaffold rejection. Here we present graft copolymers of charge complementary heterodimeric coiled coil (CC) peptides and alginate that undergo supramolecular self-assembly to form Ca2+ free alginate hydrogels. The formation of heterodimeric CCs was confirmed using circular dichroism spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy revealed a significant difference in pore size between Ca2+ and CC crosslinked gels. The resulting hydrogels were self-supporting and display shear-thinning and shear-recovery properties. In response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation, peritoneal macrophages and bone marrow derived dendritic cells cultured in the CC crosslinked gels exhibited a 10-fold reduction in secretion of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β compared to Ca2+ crosslinked gels. A similar respose was also observed in vivo upon peritoneal delivery of Ca2+ or CC crosslinked gels. Analysis of peritoneal lavage showed that macrophages in mice injected with Ca2+ crosslinked gels display a more inflammatory phenotype compared to macrophages from mice injected with CC crosslinked gels. These results suggest that CC peptides by virtue of their tunable sequence-structure-function relationship and mild gelation conditions are promising alternative crosslinkers for alginate and other biopolymer scaffolds used in tissue engineering.
Essentials of Crisis Counseling and Intervention

Series Preface. Introduction. One. Overview of Crisis and Trauma Intervention. Two. Basic Principles of Crisis Intervention. Three. Crisis Intervention Models. Four. Crisis Assessment. Five. Common Crisis Intervention Strategies. Six. The Helper. Seven. Helping in Time of Crisis: How to Apply the Models for Crisis Intervention to Clinical Crisis Situations. Eight. Group Crisis Interventions. Nine. Ethical and Legal Aspects of Crisis Intervention. Appendix A: Suicide Assessment Checklist. Appendix B: Triage Assessment Form. References. Annoatated Bibliography. Index. Acknowledgments.
Reflections on Excitations in Superfluid Helium

A brief review of the excitations in liquid He4 is presented, with an emphasis on the interactions which were found to give two-roton resonances. The implications of this discovery were particularly relevant to the analysis of the Raman spectrum and neutron scattering experimental data. Later studies also demonstrated the inadequacy of the Born Approximation as a result of the resonant structure, and hence extensive theoretical progress was achieved by various groups in understanding the transport properties associated with phonons and rotons. Attempts to derive a truly microscopic description of the roton coupling encountered difficulties which were similar to those afflicting the meson scattering problem in nuclear physics. Nevertheless, semiphenomelogical inputs for the structure factor led to successful descriptions of the lowest order interactions, although the details of the resonances remain beyond the reach of current theory. Recent developments in the study of roton interactions as a function of pressure suggest directions for future studies.
An analysis of underfitting in MLP networks

The generalization ability of an MLP network has been shown to be related to both the number and magnitudes of the network weights. Thus, there exists a tension between employing networks with few weights that have relatively large magnitudes, and networks with a greater number of weights with relatively small magnitudes. The analysis presented in this paper indicates that large magnitudes for network weights potentially increase the propensity of a network to interpolate poorly. Experimental results indicate that when bounds are imposed on network weights, the backpropagation algorithm is capable of discovering networks with small weight magnitudes that retain their expressive power and exhibit good generalization.
On the Growth of Restricted Integer Partition Functions

We study the rate of growth of p(n, S, M), the number of partitions of n whose parts all belong to S and whose multiplicities all belong to M, where S (resp. M) are given infinite sets of positive (resp. nonnegative) integers. We show that if M is all nonnegative integers then p(n, S, M) cannot be of only polynomial growth and that no sharper statement can be made. We ask: if p(n, S, M) > 0 for all large enough n, can p(n, S, M) be of polynomial growth in n?
A case study in selecting optimal number of trials in Bayesian decision making

This educational paper presents an illustration of choosing the optimal sample size within the framework of Bayesian Decision Theory. Using a somewhat artificial but entertaining example (electing an optimal number of dates for a marriage decision), it provides a tutorial for the challenging problem of decision making and walks the reader through various steps needed to be accomplished: formalizing the loss function, choosing priors for the parameters of interest, and computing the posterior expected loss for either of the two possible actions (to marry or not). Finally the optimal sample size (number of dates) is selected as a minimizer for the Bayes risk, evaluated (via simulations) under the assumption that the action with smallest posterior expected loss would be taken.
The unified probabilistic model for IR

The two previous probabilistic models of information retrieval, which seemed to be in some sense incompatible, can now be regarded as two complementary parts of a unified model. The new Model 3, which is derived in the framework of the unified model from a combination of Models 1 and 2, makes use of relevance feedback information from the individual user about other documents, and from other users about the individual document.
Application of comparative genomics in the identification and analysis of novel families of membrane-associated receptors in bacteria.

A great diversity of multi-pass membrane receptors, typically with 7 transmembrane (TM) helices, is observed in the eukaryote crown group. So far, they are relatively rare in the prokaryotes, and are restricted to the well-characterized sensory rhodopsins of various phototropic prokaryotes. Utilizing the currently available wealth of prokaryotic genomic sequences, we set up a computational screen to identify putative 7 (TM) and other multi-pass membrane receptors in prokaryotes. As a result of this procedure we were able to recover two widespread families of 7 TM receptors in bacteria that are distantly related to the eukaryotic 7 TM receptors and prokaryotic rhodopsins. Using sequence profile analysis, we were able to establish that the first members of these receptor families contain one of two distinct N-terminal extracellular globular domains, which are predicted to bind ligands such as carbohydrates. In their intracellular portions they contain fusions to a variety of signaling domains, which suggest that they are likely to transduce signals via cyclic AMP, cyclic diguanylate, histidine phosphorylation, dephosphorylation, and through direct interactions with DNA. The second family of bacterial 7 TM receptors possesses an α-helical extracellular domain, and is predicted to transduce a signal via an intracellular HD hydrolase domain. Based on comparative analysis of gene neighborhoods, this receptor is predicted to function as a regulator of the diacylglycerol-kinase-dependent glycerolipid pathway. Additionally, our procedure also recovered other types of putative prokaryotic multi-pass membrane associated receptor domains. Of these, we characterized two widespread, evolutionarily mobile multi-TM domains that are fused to a variety of C-terminal intracellular signaling domains. One of these typified by the Gram-positive LytS protein is predicted to be a potential sensor of murein derivatives, whereas the other one typified by the Escherichia coli UhpB protein is predicted to function as sensor of conformational changes occurring in associated membrane proteins We present evidence for considerable variety in the types of uncharacterized surface receptors in bacteria, and reconstruct the evolutionary processes that model their diversity. The identification of novel receptor families in prokaryotes is likely to aid in the experimental analysis of signal transduction and environmental responses of several bacteria, including pathogens such as Leptospira, Treponema, Corynebacterium, Coxiella, Bacillus anthracis and Cytophaga.
Book Reviews: Archaeology

Viking America: The Norse Crossings and Their Legacy. JAMES ROBERT ENTER-LINE. Viking Expansion Westwards. MAGNUS MAGNUSSON.
Cats Require More Dietary Phenylalanine or Tyrosine for Melanin Deposition in Hair than for Maximal Growth

In 1986, the NRC recommended a dietary concentration of 4.0 g/kg of phenylalanine and 8.5 g/kg of total aromatic amino acids for growing kittens on the basis of maximal growth rate and nitrogen balance. Black hair-coated cats were given purified diets containing the following phenylalanine + tyrosine (Phe + Tyr) concentrations (g/kg diet): 4 + 2, 4 + 4, 4 + 6, 4 + 8, 10 + 0, 10 + 2, 10 + 4, 10 + 6, 10 + 8, 10 + 10, 24 + 0 for at least 6 mo. All other amino acids were present at about twice the requirements. Total melanin and the oxidation product of eumelanin, pyrrole-2,3,5-tricarboxylic acid (PTCA) were measured in hair. There was a significant linear relationship between the concentrations of tyrosine in plasma and PTCA in hair. The relationship between PTCA concentration in hair and Phe + Tyr in the diet had a point of inflection at approximately 16 g/kg Phe + Tyr. Cats fed diets with or =18 g/kg is recommended for the prevention of visually discernible red hair in black-coated cats. Dietary concentrations >18 g total aromatic amino acids/kg diet promote a greater ratio of PTCA:total melanin in hair. We are unaware of a secondary nutrient requirement being so much greater than the requirement for growth.
Simplifying Scalable Graph Processing with a Domain-Specific Language

Large-scale graph processing, with its massive data sets, requires distributed processing. However, conventional frameworks for distributed graph processing, such as Pregel, use non-traditional programming models that are well-suited for parallelism and scalability but inconvenient for implementing non-trivial graph algorithms. In this paper, we use Green-Marl, a Domain-Specific Language for graph analysis, to intuitively describe graph algorithms and extend its compiler to generate equivalent Pregel implementations. Using the semantic information captured by Green-Marl, the compiler applies a set of transformation rules that convert imperative graph algorithms into Pregel's programming model. Our experiments show that the Pregel programs generated by the Green-Marl compiler perform similarly to manually coded Pregel implementations of the same algorithms. The compiler is even able to generate a Pregel implementation of a complicated graph algorithm for which a manual Pregel implementation is very challenging.
Deep brain stimulation macroelectrodes compared to multiple microelectrodes in rat hippocampus

Microelectrode arrays (wire diameter <50 μm) were compared to traditional macroelectrodes for deep brain stimulation (DBS). Understanding the neuronal activation volume may help solve some of the mysteries associated with DBS, e.g., its mechanisms of action. We used c-fos immunohistochemistry to investigate neuronal activation in the rat hippocampus caused by multi-micro- and macroelectrode stimulation. At ± 1V stimulation at 25 Hz, microelectrodes (33 μm diameter) had a radius of activation of 100 μm, which is 50% of that seen with 150 μm diameter macroelectrode stimulation. Macroelectrodes activated about 5.8 times more neurons than a single microelectrode, but displaced ~20 times more neural tissue. The sphere of influence of stimulating electrodes can be significantly increased by reducing their impedance. By ultrasonic electroplating (sonicoplating) the microelectrodes with platinum to increase their surface area and reduce their impedance by an order of magnitude, the radius of activation increased by 50 μm and more than twice the number of neurons were activated within this increased radius compared to unplated microelectrodes. We suggest that a new approach to DBS, one that uses multiple high-surface area microelectrodes, may be more therapeutically effective due to increased neuronal activation.
Validating OPA with WECC Data

We validate the OPA cascading blackout simulation on a 1553 bus WECC network model by establishing OPA parameters from WECC data and comparing the blackout statistics obtained with OPA to historical WECC data.
Energy requirements of contraction and relaxation: implications for inotropic stimulation of the failing heart

It is likely that the myocardium in the patient with congestive heart failure is unable to provide enough chemical energy to meet its mechanical requirements. If this interpretation is correct, inotropic stimulation, by increasing energy utilization, could contribute to the progressive myocardial cell death that characterizes end-stage cardiac hypertrophy. This deterioration could be delayed by the depressed myocardial contractility in the chronically overloaded heart, which reduces myocardial energy utilization, and delayed by changes in the expression of myosin isoforms that improve cardiac efficiency. An important goal of therapy in congestive heart failure, therefore, may be to reduce energy expenditure by unloading the failing heart and, in some cases, by administration of negative inotropic drugs.
EMC issues relating to the design of communicating appliances

There has been a rapid growth in the use of mobile communications with the emergence of digital radio technologies. In parallel with this PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) are now starting to enter the market place. The development of commercial products combining both digital electronics and RF (radio frequency) circuits gives rise to some important EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) challenges. These can broadly be categorised into two areas. Does RF interference from the transmitter of the radio cause upset of the digital circuits? Will the sensitivity of a receiver be reduced if it is placed in close proximity to some digital circuitry? This paper reports explorative measurements in both these areas. Comparative measurements of susceptibility of logic gates to RF interference are presented. These results indicate that the use of HC (high speed CMOS) devices can considerably reduce susceptibility to RF interference. In addition measurements have been taken to show how receiver sensitivity can become be degraded when operating in close proximity to digital circuitry.
Requirement of Type III TGF-β Receptor for Endocardial Cell Transformation in the Heart

Transforming growth factor–β (TGF-β) signaling is mediated by a complex of type I (TBRI) and type II (TBRII) receptors. The type III receptor (TBRIII) lacks a recognizable signaling domain and has no clearly defined role in TGF-β signaling. Cardiac endothelial cells that undergo epithelial-mesenchymal transformation express TBRIII, and here TBRIII-specific antisera were found to inhibit mesenchyme formation and migration in atrioventricular cushion explants. Misexpression of TBRIII in nontransforming ventricular endothelial cells conferred transformation in response to TGF-β2. These results support a model where TBRIII localizes transformation in the heart and plays an essential, nonredundant role in TGF-β signaling.
Response of Ammophila breviligulata to acid rain and low soil pH

The effects of simulated acid rain and low soil pH on the growth of Ammophila breviligulata (Cape Strain), American beach grass, were studied in greenhouse experiments. Plants treated with acid rain were shorter, but shoot density, live shoot biomass, and rhizome biomass were not adversely affected by the acid rain treatments. Root biomass was greatest in the acid rain treatments. A manipulated soil pH of 4.0, typical of that found in field sites of dying beach grass, resulted in significantly reduced plant height, shoot density, shoot biomass, and rhizome biomass. Root biomass was greater in the low pH treatment and was six times greater than rhizome biomass in that treatment while the root to rhizome ratio was approximately 1∶1 in the control — likely a reflection of the plant's response to decreased nutrient availability in the low pH soil. Acid rain treatment of dune sand resulted in the leaching of Al, a potentially phytotoxic element.
Ethanol abuse and the trauma patient.

Background: Alcohol intoxication has long been associated with an increased risk of injury from a number of mechanisms and with trauma recidivism. It is less certain whether alcohol abuse is associated with worse outcomes for a given degree of injury. Methods: Review of the pertinent English-language literature. Results: The vasodilator effects of alcohol may hamper fluid resuscitation, especially in head-injured patients. Acute and chronic alcohol intoxication both have substantial effects on the cellular and molecular responses necessary to fight infection. High alcohol concentrations exert an immunosuppressive effect on production of proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor and interleukin-1. However, the clinical effects of the immunosuppression are variable and difficult to discern in heterogeneous trauma patient populations with variable degrees of intoxication. Conclusion: Alcohol has a profound impact on the epidemiology of injury, but the physiology and biochemical effects in an in...
Comparison of modeled sampling strategies for estimation of dairy herd lameness prevalence and cow-level variables associated with lameness

Monitoring herd lameness prevalence has utility for dairy producers and veterinarians in their efforts to reduce lameness, for animal welfare assessment programs, and for researchers. Locomotion scoring is a method used to quantify lameness and calculate prevalence. Because of the time necessary to locomotion score each cow in large dairy herds, a sampling strategy to determine herd lameness prevalence that allows scoring of fewer cows would be useful. Such a sampling strategy must be validated for accuracy compared with the lameness prevalence when all cows in a herd are locomotion scored. The purpose of this study was to assess 3 previously suggested methods of estimating lameness prevalence by strategic sampling of dairy herds. Sampling strategies tested included (1) sampling a calculated number of cows in the middle third of the milking parlor exit order for each pen, (2) sampling a calculated number of cows weighted across pens and distributed evenly within each pen, and (3) sampling all cows in the high production, low production, and hospital pens. Lactating cows on 5 dairy farms in Washington and Oregon (n = 4,422) were locomotion scored using a 5-point scale to determine herd-level lameness prevalence (percentage with locomotion score ≥3). Milking parlor exit order, order in headlocks at the feed bunk within each pen, and breed were recorded for each cow. The number of days in lactation, milk production, and parity were collected from farm computer records. Pen grouping strategy for each farm was obtained by interview with farm management. Sampling strategies were modeled using the locomotion score data set for each herd. Estimates of lameness prevalence obtained from the milking parlor exit order sample and the sample distributed across pens were within 5 percentage points of the whole herd prevalence. The third strategy estimated the lameness prevalence within 5 percentage points on 4 farms, but overestimated prevalence on 1 farm. Pen-level prevalence obtained by locomotion score of all cows in the pen was variable and not reliably predictive of herd-level prevalence. Cows of Holstein breed, parity >1, and exiting the milking parlor in the last 20% of the pen had greater odds of lameness compared with other breeds, parities, and milking parlor exit order groups in a multivariate analysis. This study indicates that the sampling strategies using the middle of milking parlor exit order and a calculated sample distributed across the herd may be used to obtain an estimate of herd lameness prevalence.
Thunderstorm Electrification and Raindrop Collisions and Disjection in an Electric Field

Raindrop collisions in an electric field selectively transfer charges of one sign to the larger disjected drops. The disjected drops, falling away from the smaller drops, separate free charge to establish electric fields as large as those observed in thunderstorms.