cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Finite element modeling, characterization, and optimization design for the polymer-typed capacitive micro-arrayed ultrasonic transducer

This study constructs a two-dimensional axisymmetric finite element model (FEM) of the polymer-typed capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducers (P-CMUT). The electromechanical FE model is created using the APDL programming technique. The ANSYS multiphysics solver with sequential approach and the Physics environment files are applied for the solution of the electrostatic-structural coupled-field analysis. Simulations are performed to investigate the operational characteristics, such as collapse voltage and the resonant frequency of the P-CMUT. The numerical results are found to be in good agreement with experimental observation. Having confirmed validity and accuracy of the proposed numerical model, the study of influence of each defined parameter on the collapse voltage and resonant frequency of the P-CMUT are also presented. To solve some conflict problems taken place in diverse physical fields, an integrated multi-objective design method involving electrical and mechanical characterization is developed to optimize the geometric parameters and material properties of the P-CMUT. The optimization search routine conducted using the genetic algorithm (GA) is connected with the commercial FEM software ANSYS to obtain the best design variable using multi-objective functions. The results show that the optimal parameter values satisfy the conflicting objectives of the design procedures, namely to minimize the collapse voltage while simultaneously maintaining a high resonant frequency. Overall, the presented results confirm that the combined FEM/GA optimization approach provides an efficient and versatile means for optimization design of the P-CMUT.
Dietetic Technicians Students Provide Nutrition Education to Senior Citizens

Abstract Dietetic technician students planned and implemented a series of programs targeted to senior citizens at a congregate dining facility during National Nutrition Month. Topics included Dietary Guidelines, Food Pyramid for Seniors, Cardiac Nutrition, Osteoporosis and other issues of interest to that demographic group. The students developed promotional materials that were distributed at the center prior to the program. Each program was supported by visual aids and handouts all created by the Dietetic Technician Students. Senior citizens have a better understanding of nutrition issues by participating in the programs. Students evaluated the program success using a variety of methods including question answer periods and participant evaluation response forms. In addition to gaining experience in program development the students learned the value of undertaking a collaborative effort with a community program, the local dietetic association and ADA.
The Effects of Video and Paper Resumes on Assessments of Personality, Applied Social Skills, Mental Capability, and Resume Outcomes

In this laboratory experiment we examined the effect of resume format (paper resume only, video resume only, or both) on applicant evaluation. Differences in applicant personality trait evaluation were found for extraversion and agreeableness when video resumes were reviewed compared to when only paper resumes were reviewed. In addition, social skill and mental capability ratings were lower when only video resumes were reviewed. These findings indicate that video resumes may result in different assessments of applicant personality and harsher evaluations of applicant skills and abilities than paper resumes. Human resource personnel are cautioned in the use of video resumes until more research has been completed.
Organizational loyalty and personal ethics: The moral priorities of Chinese cadres

The ethical norms of senior cadres in the Peoples Republic of China are examined with respect to personal ethics, organizational loyalty and social responsibility. The extent to which one of these sets of norms may take priority over the other is investigated using survey research. The personal ethical values of the 46-50 age group are found to be unusually acute for a group of middle-aged administrators, much closer to those of the younger cadres. Also, they demonstrate exceptional homogeneity in their responses as compared to other age groups. However, they appear to have little independence of conscience when confronted with concrete decision making situations. Loyalty to the organization is found to be particularly dominant over personal ethics and responsibility to the larger society among these 46-50 year-old cadres. Lacking a moral anchor in any foundational philosophy or ideology, these cadres are highly vulnerable to control by the bureaucracies in which they are employed. Further research is sug...
Measuring Costs and Benefits of Distance Learning

Teleenseignement effectue a l'aide des reseaux, tels que Internet, ou des cederoms. Experiences realisees par trois universites des Etats-Unis. Valeur de cet enseignement, baisse du cout de la fourniture d'information et du cout de son acces, augmentation de la demande dans ce domaine
Toe walking: muscular demands at the ankle and knee.

Abstract Perry J, Burnfield JM, Gronley JK, Mulroy SJ. Toe walking: muscular demands at the ankle and knee. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2003;84:7-16. Objective: To compare the relationship between electromyographic activity and internal moment in heel-toe and toe walking. Design: Simultaneous recording of stride characteristics and kinematic, kinetic, and intramuscular electromyographic data; paired t tests identified significant between-condition differences. Setting: Gait laboratory. Participants: Ten able-bodied subjects. Interventions: Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures: Kinematic, moment, power, and electromyographic variables (ankle, knee). Results: Compared with heel-toe walking, toe walking showed greater plantarflexion during stance ( P [lt ].001), higher plantarflexor moments (peak, mean) during loading response ( P [lt ].001) and midstance ( P [lt ].001), lower mean plantarflexor moments during terminal stance ( P =.002), premature soleus ( P =.001) and gastrocnemius ( P [lt ].001) activity, and higher levels of mean soleus and gastrocnemius activity during stance. During toe walking, the peak internal knee extensor moment was lower in midstance ( P =.002), and power absorption was reduced in loading response; however, vastus intermedius electromyographic activity was not reduced. Conclusions: During toe walking, terminal stance soleus and gastrocnemius activity was greater, despite a lower mean internal plantarflexor moment. The dichotomy between internal moments and muscle effort (ie, electromyographic activity) was consistent with the reduction in force-generation capacity of the calf muscles when the ankle was in a plantarflexed position. [copy ] 2003 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
The ‘apparent’ hydrolysis of alkyl esters during electrospray ionization

Electrospray ionization (ESI) mass spectrometry was employed to obtain both molecular weight confirmation and structural information for a series of novel alkenyldiarylmethane (ADAM) analogs. The mass spectral data were intended for use during the structure elucidation of ester hydrolysis products formed during an in vitro metabolism study of a series of novel ADAM analogs. The data on the precursor molecules show the presence of the molecular ion peak, [M+H]+, as well as a peak consistent with the hydrolysis product of the original ester ([MH-ROH+H2O]+). However, chemical ionization mass spectrometry, elemental analysis and 1H NMR data indicated the presence of only the intact diester compounds, suggesting that the formation of the hydrolysis product was an instrumental artifact, i.e., in-beam hydrolysis during ESI or a result of longer ion residence times of the ion trap mass analyzer. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Novel cellulose derivatives. V. Synthesis and thermal properties of esters with trifluoroethoxy acetic acid

Esters of cellulose with trifluoroethoxy acetic acid (TFAA) were prepared in homogeneous phase using a mixed anhydride with p-toluenesulfonic acid. Esters with low degree of substitution (DS), and with DS rising from 0 to 3, had hydrophobic character that prevented the usual association with moisture, which is otherwise typical of cellulose esters with low DS. Cellulose trifluoroethoxy acetate (CT) had T g 's declining by about 40 °C per DS-unit (from 160 to 41 °C) as DS rose from 1 to 3. Mixed esters, cellulose derivatives with acetate and trifluoroethoxy acetate substituents (CAT), exhibited glass-to-rubber and melting transitions by DSC. A linear relationship between both T g and T m with respect to DS was recorded with the T g and T m separated by 30° to 40 °C. This is consistent with cellulose esters described elsewhere. Surprisingly, the T g 's of CT and CAT were found to be identical when the DS was equivalent to the DS of the fluoro substituents (DS F ).
A Histone Deacetylase Regulates Addiction

Epigenetic modification of chromatin has been proposed to translate environmental stimuli into persistent "cellular memories." Recent studies suggest that epigenetic pathways regulate long-term behavioral adaptation in the nervous system. In this issue of Neuron, Renthal et al. utilize genetic manipulations of HDAC5 to provide strong evidence for a role for histone acetylation in the behavioral response to cocaine.
On the small-sample optimality of multiple-regeneration estimators

We describe a simulation output analysis methodology suitable for stochastic processes that are regenerative with respect to multiple regeneration sequences. Our method exploits this structure to construct estimators that are more efficient than those that are obtained with the standard regenerative method. We illustrate the method in the setting of discrete-time Markov chains on a countable state space, and we present a result showing that the estimator is the uniform minimum variance unbiased estimator for finite-state-space discrete-time Markov chains. Some empirical results are given.
Rationale, Benefits, and Methods of Service-Learning in Marketing Education.

Abstract This article presents a service-learning method in which students combine community service with academic study. Service-learning, which enhances the teaching/learning process and college/community relations, can be integrated in a variety of marketing courses as internship assignments, consultancies, or participant/observer volunteer activities. The learning outcomes include development of leadership and problem-solving skills, connecting the theoretical with the practical, and educating students for citizenship.
Elastic constants and tensile properties of Al 2 OC by density functional calculations

${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}\mathrm{OC}$ is a compound that forms as a nanoscale grain-boundary crystalline film in silicon carbide ceramics, and is responsible for imparting high low-temperature toughness and high-temperature creep strength in these materials. The elastic properties and ultimate strengths properties of ${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}\mathrm{OC}$ are determined from first-principles calculations. The crystal structure of ${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}\mathrm{OC}$ was approximated by an optimized model based on the wurtzite structure. The full set of single-crystal elastic stiffness ${c}_{ij}$ was calculated, from which the polycrystalline elastic constants were obtained by using the Voigt-Reuss-Hill averaging scheme. The tensile properties and the ideal strength in $[001]$ direction of ${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}\mathrm{OC}$ were also computed and compared to those of $\mathrm{SiC}$, where it was found that indeed, ${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}\mathrm{OC}$ is the weaker and more brittle phase, supporting fracture mechanics expectations for $\mathrm{SiC}$ containing ${\mathrm{Al}}_{2}\mathrm{OC}$-type intergranular films.
Polymorphism in a casein fraction of sows' milk.

Polyacrylamide vertical gel electrophoresis was used to separate the caseins of sows' milk. Polymorphism was found in a region of the gels designated Cn3. The Cn3 polymorphism consists of two bands which appear to be controlled by two codominant alleles designated Cn 3 A and Cn 3 B . Homozygotes possess one band and heterozygotes posses both bands of equal intensity giving the following phenotypes: Cn3A, Cn3AB, and Cn3B. A chi-square test for goodness of fit of the observed phenotypes to that expected by the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium formula and a segregation analysis of eight matings involving 19 female progeny conform to the hypothesis that the Cn3 polymorphism is controlled by two codominant autosomal alleles. Further family studies will be necessary to confirm the genetic control of the Cn3 polymorphism.
Phase-sensitive detection on Lorentzian line shape and its application to frequency stabilization of lasers

A formulation to describe the general expression for the modulation broadening of Lorentzian profile is given analytically by using the Fourier expansion and the residue theorem. It is shown that the specific nth derivative signal can be obtained in a most straightforward manner. The present method is applied to a study of the maximum sensitivity (amplitude versus frequency detuning) of phase‐sensitive detection as a frequency discriminator. For the first derivative signal, maximum discrimination sensitivity can be obtained when the modulation width is set to be 1/2 times of the full width at the half maximum (FWHM) of the profile, while the maximum amplitude (signal‐to‐noise ratio) is obtained when the width is exactly equal to FWHM.
ortho-Borylated trifluoroacetanilides: synthesis and fluoride ion binding properties

The o-(pinacolboryl)trifluoroacetanilide (1) has been synthesized and structurally characterized. As indicated by NMR spectroscopy, this novel derivative reacts with fluoride to afford the corresponding fluoroborate derivative [1[sbnd]F]− in which the boron-bound fluorine atom forms a hydrogen bond with the proton of the trifluoroacetamide functionality. Compound 1 reacts with KHF2 to afford the corresponding trifluoroborate derivative which has been isolated as a dibenzo-18-crown-6 potassium salt (2). The crystal structure and the 1H NMR spectrum of this salt confirm the presence of a B[sbnd]F ··· H[sbnd]N hydrogen bond.
Representation of a perceptual decision in developing oculomotor commands.

Behaviour often depends on the ability to make categorical judgements about sensory information acquired over time. Such judgements require a comparison of the evidence favouring the alternatives1,2,3,4, but how the brain forms these comparisons is unknown. Here we show that in a visual discrimination task, the accumulating balance of sensory evidence favouring one interpretation over another is evident in the neural circuits that generate the behavioural response. We trained monkeys to make a direction judgement about dynamic random-dot motion5 and to indicate their judgement with an eye movement to a visual target. We interrupted motion viewing with electrical microstimulation of the frontal eye field and analysed the resulting, evoked eye movements for evidence of ongoing activity associated with the oculomotor response6,7,8,9,10. Evoked eye movements deviated in the direction of the monkey's judgement. The magnitude of the deviation depended on motion strength and viewing time. The oculomotor signals responsible for these deviations reflected the accumulated motion information that informed the monkey's choices on the discrimination task. Thus, for this task, decision formation and motor preparation appear to share a common level of neural organization.
Minimal flavor violation in the lepton sector of the Randall–Sundrum model

Abstract We propose a realization of Minimal Flavor Violation in the lepton sector of the Randall–Sundrum model. With the MFV assumption, the only source of flavor violation are the 5D Yukawa couplings, and the usual two independent sources of flavor violation are related. In the limit of massless neutrinos, the bulk mass matrices and 5D Yukawa matrices are simultaneously diagonalized, and hence the absence of FCNCs. In the case of massive neutrinos, the contributions to FCNCs in the charged lepton sector are highly suppressed, due to the smallness of neutrino masses. In addition, the MFV assumption also allows suppressing one-loop charged current contributions to flavor changing processes by reducing the size of the Yukawa couplings, which is not possible in the generic anarchical case. We found that the first KK mass scale as low as ∼ 3 TeV can be allowed. In both cases, we present a set of numerical results that give rise to realistic lepton masses and mixing angles. Mild hierarchy in the 5D Yukawa matrix of O ( 25 ) in our numerical example is required to be consistent with two large and one small mixing angles. This tuning could be improved by having a more thorough search of the parameter space.
Computer-based simulation training to improve learning outcomes in mannequin-based simulation exercises.

Objective. To assess the impact of computer-based simulation on the achievement of student learning outcomes during mannequin-based simulation.Design. Participants were randomly assigned to rapid r...
Dynamic pulsed-beam shaping using a TAG lens in the near UV

The ability to dynamically shape the spatial intensity profile of an incident laser beam enables new ways to modify and structure surfaces through pulsed laser processing. Here we describe a method to generate doughnut-shaped beams from an input Gaussian source using a tunable acoustic gradient index (TAG) lens. The TAG lens is capable of modulating between focused beams and annular rings of variable size, using sinusoidal driving frequencies. Laser micromachining is accomplished by synchronizing the TAG lens to a 355 nm pulsed nanosecond laser. Results in polyimide demonstrate the ability to generate adjacent surface features with different shapes and sizes.
PROPERTIES OF CLAY CASTING SLIPS

Nine casting slips were prepared, using bodies of the sanitary porcelain type. The electrolyte was a combination of 60%“N” brand sodium silicate and 40% sodium carbonate. Its amount was adjusted in each body slip to produce a cast having the right characteristics according to the “feel” test; the specific gravity of each slip was constant. The grain-size distribution of each slip was determined as well as the casting rate, consistency, and pH when the casting slips were first prepared and again after 24-, 48-, and 96-hour aging periods. There is a reasonably close relation between castability and the grain-size distribution. The pH of the body compositions differed, but there was little or no change in its value with the age of the casting slip up to 96 hours. It is concluded that the determination of grain size and pH should be of considerable aid in the control of casting slips.
Alpha interferon (IFN-α) gene transfer into hematopoietic stem cells

Gene transfer or gene therapy has advantages in the treatment of a variety of disorders due to its selective expression within specific mammalian cells. Interferon-a (IFN-α) has been used in the management of leukemia, but its diverse adverse activities with multiple potential side effects, possibly unrelated to therapeutic targets, may negatively influence the ability of IFN-α to treat this disorder. Therefore, we examined the ability of adenovirus (Ad)IFN-α gene construct to transfect normal (CD34+ cells) and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNC) and the transient overexpression of IFN-α in these cells. Ad-cytomegalovirus (CMV) promoter-driven IFN-α (AdCMV-IFN-α) at multiple doses was assessed to transfect highly purified CD34+ cells in liquid culture, and optimal transduction of CD34+ cells was achieved using 120 plaque-forming units. Flow cytometric determinations revealed that there was no significant difference in cell viability for the 4- or 24-h transfection periods. Immunoassay of IFN-α produced by CD34+ cells shows that IFN-α levels increased several-fold in transfected cells. Transient expression of the IFN-α gene did not suppress proliferation of CD34+ progenitors as indicated by BFU-E or colony-forming units granulocyte, macrophage (CFU-GM) growth. Reverse transcriptase/polymerase chain reaction analysis of RNA from CD34+-harvested CFU-GM progenitor cells demonstrated transient IFN-α mRNA expression. Similarly, CML BMMNC were transfected with AdCMV-IFN-α under similar conditions as described for CD34+ cells. BMMNC exposed to adenovirus for 24- and 48 h were found to express IFN-α at a substantial level. These in vitro data suggest that adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of IFN-α into hematopoietic stem cells can be achieved and that the IFN-α gene can be translated into its specific mRNA in CD34 progenitor cells.
Performance of greedy garbage collection in flash-based solid-state drives

In flash-based solid-state drives (SSD) and log-structured file systems, new data is written out-of-place, which over time exhausts the available free space. New free space is created by the garbage-collection process, which reclaims the space occupied by invalidated data. The write amplification, incurred because of the additional write operations performed by the garbage-collection mechanism is a critical factor that negatively affects the lifetime and endurance of SSDs. We develop two complementary theoretical models of the SSD operation for uniformly-distributed random small user writes: a Markov chain model, which is useful to explore the performance characteristics of small and medium-sized systems, and a second model that captures the behavior of large systems. The combination of both models allows us to comprehensively characterize the system operation and behavior. Results of theoretical and practical importance are analytically derived and confirmed by means of simulation. Our results demonstrate that (i) as the system occupancy increases, the write amplification increases; (ii) as the number of blocks increases, the write amplification decreases and approaches a lower bound; and (iii) as the number of pages contained in a block increases, the write amplification increases and approaches an upper bound. They also show that, for large systems, the number of free pages reclaimed by the greedy garbage-collection mechanism after each block recycling takes one of two successive values, which provides a quasi-deterministic performance guarantee.
Repetition, Communication, and Coordination Failure

We examine repetition as an institution that affects coordination failure in a game with and without pre-play communication. We use probit regression with random effects to test hypotheses regarding the frequency and form of coordination failure in the presence of repeated play versus one-shot games. Our results indicate that repetition without pre-play communication results in a lower frequency of coordination failure relative to one-shot game outcomes. This result is reversed when pre-play communication is allowed. Our evidence also suggests that repeated play coordination failures tend to be suboptimal Nash equilibria, whereas one-shot game coordination failures are disequilibria regardless of the presence of pre-play communication.
Octet baryon charge radii, chiral symmetry, and decuplet intermediate states

We compute the octet baryon charge radii to O(1/{Lambda}{sub {chi}}{sup 2}M{sub N}) in heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory (HB{chi}PT). We examine the effect of including the decuplet of spin-3/2 baryons explicitly. We find that it does not improve the level of agreement between the HB{chi}PT and experimental values for the {Sigma}{sup -} charge radius.
Male Role Norms Inventory--Short Form (MRNI-SF): Development, Confirmatory Factor Analytic Investigation of Structure, and Measurement Invariance across Gender.

The current study reports the development from the Male Role Norms Inventory-Revised (MRNI-R; Levant, Rankin, Williams, Hasan, & Smalley, 2010) of the 21-item MRNI-Short Form (MRNI-SF). Confirmatory factor analysis of MRNI-SF responses from a sample of 1,017 undergraduate participants (549 men, 468 women) indicated that the best fitting "bifactor" model incorporated the hypothesized 7-factor structure while explicitly modeling an additional, general traditional masculinity ideology factor. Specifically, each item-level indicator loaded on 2 factors: a general traditional masculinity ideology factor and a specific factor corresponding to 1 of the 7 hypothesized traditional masculinity ideology norms. The bifactor model was assessed for measurement invariance across gender groups, with findings of full configural invariance and partial metric invariance, such that factor loadings were equivalent across the gender groups for the 7 specific factors but not for the general traditional masculinity ideology factor. Theoretical explanations for this latter result include the potential that men's sense of self or identity may be engaged when responding to questions asking to what extent they agree or disagree with normative statements about their behavior, a possibility that could be investigated in future research by examining the associations of the general and specific factors with measures of masculine identity. Additional exploratory invariance analyses demonstrated latent mean differences between men and women on 4 of the 8 factors, and equivocal results for invariance of item intercepts, item uniquenesses, and factor variances-covariances.
Hemicellulose Extraction of Mixed Southern Hardwood with Water at 150 °C: Effect of Time

Hemicelluloses derived from biomass are presently underutilized. In order to develop more profitable biorefinery processes, the mechanism responsible for hemicellulose removal by pretreatments has to be further explored. The hydrothermal dissolution profile of the wood components cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin of a hardwood mixture during autohydrolysis in a modified Dionex ASE-100 is described. Well-closed material balances were obtained for lignin-free yield, xylan, and glucomannan when comparing the solid and liquid phases. Xylo-oligomers were the predominant component in the extract. Xylan initially dissolved as oligosaccharides and then slowly depolymerized into monomeric xylose. The residual xylan in wood was only slightly deacetylated. A smaller amount of glucomannan was removed as oligosaccharides. Arabinose and galactose were completely removed from wood as monomers at the end of the extraction process. Initially all acetyl groups were removed while still bound to oligosaccharides. Then, a...
Quantitative determination of organic solvent soluble lipofuscin pigments in tissues.

Lipofuscin pigment determination in tissue extracts was quantitated by the use of its property of fluorescence. Chloroform: methanol tissue extracts were purified on Sephadex LH-20 columns before quantitative fluorescence measurements of the lipofuscin pigments. Interfering compounds separated by chromatography were retinol and a lower mol wt fluorescent compound. Irradiation of tissue extracts with ultraviolet light was not sufficient to eliminate the interference caused by retinol and the lower mol wt compound. Purified lipofuscin pigments from blood, lung, liver, spleen, brain, heart, and kidney tissues demonstrated distinct fluorescent emission maximum at 435 nm and excitation maxima between 345 and 350 nm.
A study of microwave multiple scattering effects in trees

Tree scattering problems at L band contain tree components in close proximity of each other. In this case, the multiple scattering effects between tree components become more significant. Scattering properties of a simple tree with primary branches over the ground are studied in this paper. The Method of Moments is applied to find the scattering amplitude of the tree. Results for the bistatic scattering cross sections including the multiple scattering are compared with single scattering results. They suggest that coherent multiple scattering effects in trees can be significant in certain cases.
A uniform approach to multidimensional scaling

We present a method and an algorithm that puts interval and ordinal multidimensional scaling at two ends of a continuum. Theory and simulation show that the method compares favorably with classical scaling methods. A parameter is identified that produces scaling that combines benefits of interval, and ordinal scaling.
Judging age from handwriting done with and without visual feedback

In a prior study (Lovelace & Aikens, 1990), young and old adults wrote 10 common words with their eyes open and again with their eyes closed. The present study used writing samples from 20 old and 20 young writers (67–85 years vs. 18–24 years) in the prior study. Thirty college students judged (1) which were written with eyes closed (paired comparisons, same word written by same person) and (2) whether the writer was young or old. Both tasks were difficult; performance was significantly above chance, but not good (71% correct on open/closed, 65% on young/old, both ps <.001). Accuracy of open/closed decisions was no higher when judging old writers than young writers, implying that the motor skill of handwriting is well preserved in aged individuals; they do not have an increased need of visual feedback to write. Judges also reported cues they had used to make these decisions. Accuracy of age decisions was significantly related to the reported use of style cues (73%correct for subjects reporting they used that cue vs. 53% when not reported, chance = 50%).
Analytical derivation of distortion constraints and their verification in a learning vector quantization-based target recognition system

We obtain a novel analytical derivation for distortion-related constraints in a neural network- (NN)-based automatic target recognition (ATR) system. We obtain two types of constraints for a realistic ATR system implementation involving 4-f correlator architecture. The first constraint determines the relative size between the input objects and input correlation filters. The second constraint dictates the limits on amount of rotation, translation, and scale of input objects for system implementation. We exploit these constraints in recognition of targets varying in rotation, translation, scale, occlusion, and the combination of all of these distortions using a learning vector quantization (LVQ) NN. We present the simulation verification of the constraints using both the gray-scale images and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA's) Moving and Stationary Target Recognition (MSTAR) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images with different depression and pose angles.
Interventional endoscopic ultrasound in pancreatic disease

The use of endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) in pancreatic disease is rapidly evolving as the field moves from a primarily diagnostic role to one of therapeutic intervention. Therapeutic EUS includes techniques such as the celiac block and transmural pseudocyst drainage. Newer techniques include EUS-guided fine-needle injection therapy in which a variety of agents are being investigated for the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Novel EUS-guided techniques are being devised to drain and alleviate pancreaticobiliary and gastroduodenal obstruction.
Evaluation of axillary lymphadenectomy without axillary drainage for patients undergoing breast-conserving therapy

Background: The routine use of drainage after axillary node dissection in patients undergoing breast-conserving therapy (BCT) is being questioned. To determine the value of routine drainage, we evaluated the postoperative course of patients with primary breast carcinoma who underwent axillary dissection with or without axillary drainage.
Do mandibular third molars alter the risk of angle fracture

Purpose: In this study, we measured the relationship between the presence of mandibular third molars (M3s) and angle fractures. In addition, the study examined the relationship between M3 impaction level and angle fracture susceptibility. Patients and Methods: We used a multicenter retrospective cohort study design and a sample composed of patients treated for mandibular fractures. The predictor variables were 1) the presence of an M3 and 2) the position of an M3 classified according to the Pell and Gregory system. The outcome variable was the presence or absence of an angle fracture. Results: The study sample was composed of 1,210 patients. Patients with M3s present had a 2.1 times greater chance of an angle fracture than did patients without M3s (P <.001). There was a statistically significant variation in the risk for an angle fracture depending on M3 position (P <.001). Conclusions: In patients who sustain a mandible fracture, the presence of M3s significantly increases the likelihood of an angle fracture. In addition, the risk for an angle fracture depends on M3 position. © 2002 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons J Oral Maxillofac Surg 60:514-518, 2002
Gas sensing properties of zinc oxide nanostructures prepared by thermal evaporation

Progress has been achieved in the synthesis, structural characterization and physical properties investigation of nanostructures. We have focused our attention on zinc oxide nanostructures. We report on the growth of ZnO nanostructures using vapour phase technique. We have synthesized, depending on the growth conditions, different nanostructures such as wires and combs of zinc oxide. ZnO nanowires electrical properties have been characterised in presence of different gases, the results highlight remarkable response to acetone and ethanol with detection limits lower than 1 ppm.
Database‐searching proficiency and problem‐solving proficiency in a biomedical domain

In this article, we examine how proficient medical students are in retrieving information from a database in bacteriology and whether students who were more proficient obtained higher scores on a subsequent posttest. In particular, we examined the computer logs of 26 students who used the INQUIRER database to obtain information relevant to 11 problems assigned during their bacteriology course. The analysis addressed recall and precision as measures of search success, as well as three indices of the more general construct of search proficiency. Student searches were found to be usually successful, as students recalled, on average, about 90% of problem‐relevant information available in the database. Of the three indices of search proficiency, only the “efficiency “ of these students as database searchers was related to their subsequent posttest performance.
Municipal Wi-Fi: big wave or wipeout?

This article describes some contemporary cases, explores the perspectives of municipalities, providers, and legislators, and examines some examples that could synchronize the various stake-holders' positions. We focus here mostly on US cases. Deployment of wireless services to cities and towns has become a topic of considerable controversy. At the center of the debate is the decision by municipalities to offer low-cost service to citizens who would normally be excluded from the Internet. This "digital divide" justification often pits large cities against incumbent telecommunications providers. Legislation at the national and state levels has been somewhat favorable to the providers so far, but this bias might be shifting as more large providers join, rather than oppose, municipal wireless projects
Structure and properties of arginase from the polychaete annelid Pista pacifica Berkeley.

An oligomeric arginase with a molecular weight of 205000 is present in the intestinal tissues of the polychaete annelid Pista pacifica. The presence of an active subunit with a molecular weight of 34000 was demonstrated. The enzyme specificity, effect of thiol reagents on activity, kinetic properties of the intact enzyme and the active subunit were investigated. Treatment of the arginase with EDTA results in its dissociation into an inactive subunit; the active oligomeric structure can be regenerated by addition of Mn2+. The correlation of characteristics of arginase from a certain species and that species, mode of nitrotelism is discussed.
Automated Storage Management with QoS Guarantees

Automated storage management is critical for most dataintensive applications running on DBMSs. In large-scale storage subsystems, the workload is expected to vary with time. In order to ensure both QoS and efficient usage of storage resources, variation in the actual physical disks is allowed to support a single virtual disk. Such data migration generates extra IOs and consumes storage resources. Not only does data migration need to be scheduled ahead but it must also be scheduled in such a way that QoS violations do not occur because of the extra migration IOs. In this paper, we present a novel analytic framework, PULSTORE, for autonomically managing the storage to provide performance guarantee during migration.
A multi-modular approach to gradual change in grammaticalization

Examining four constructions in three languages (English quantificational nouns, Japanese subordinating conjunctions, Cantonese coverbs, Japanese deverbal postpositions), this paper shows that semantic properties can change faster than syntactic properties in gradual processes of grammaticalization. In each of these cases, the syntactic properties of one category become associated with the semantic properties of a different category when an item undergoes semantic change, leading to the appearance of mixed categorial properties. We propose that this sort of change is best captured using a multi-modular framework (Sadock 1991, Yuasa 2005), which allows changes to affect semantics independently of syntax, and which shows clearly that the relevant items and constructions still conform to the separate structural constraints of syntax and semantics, despite the unusual combination of properties. These findings are important for theories of grammaticalization because they suggest that the cover term ‘decategorialization’ (the loss of grammatical properties associated with the source category) must be understood in terms of at least two separate processes: (1) the effects of semantic change on an item's distribution; and (2) the effects of frequency (Bybee & Hopper 2001) and Pressure for Structure–Concept Iconicity (Newmeyer 1998) on an item's syntactic categorization. Our case studies show that the first kind of decategorialization effects can occur even in the absence of the second kind. Implications of these findings, including possible reasons for both the instability and the long-term retention of mismatch constructions, are also considered.
Student Marketing Portfolios: Professionalizing Our Discipline and Integrating Our Curriculum

This article presents the "marketing portfolio" as a vehicle for demonstrating student work to prospective employers.
Open-access phototransistor-based optoelectronic tweezers for long-term single cell heterogeneity study

We demonstrate, for the first-time, long-term culturing of single cells under continuous phototransistor-based optoelectronic tweezers (Ph-OET) trapping. A new device configuration, open-access Ph-OET, is presented to integrate the trapping functionality of Ph-OET with culturing capabilities in a Petri dish. Maintenance of human leukemia cell lines (K562, Jurkat) under optical manipulation for up to five cell generation has been achieved.
Millimeter-wave magnetooptics: New method for characterization of ferrites in the millimeter-wave range

This paper presents a new free-space millimeter-wave method based on the transverse magnetooptical effect, which provides the complete and accurate characterization of the ferrites for the first time in the millimeter-wave range. The described data analysis and processing methods lead to the separation of dielectric and magnetic effects and to the simultaneous determination of both millimeter-wave permittivity and permeability. It is demonstrated that this new method can be used for the characterization of soft ferrites as well as hard anisotropic ferrites. The magnetooptical measurements were realized using a millimeter-wave spectrometer combined with the electromagnet providing a transverse magnetic field up to 1 T. The backward-wave oscillators were used as a source of tunable coherent millimeter-wave radiation. It was shown that the freespace method applying the polarized Gaussian beams generates precise transmission data and enables the accurate determination of the optical constants of ferrites in the entire millimeter-wave range.
A Continental-Scale Classification of Rainfall Seasonality Regimes in Africa Based on Gridded Precipitation and Land Surface Temperature Products

AbstractA classification of rainfall seasonality regimes in Africa was derived from gridded rainfall and land surface temperature products. By adapting a method that goes back to Walter and Lieth’s approach of presenting climatic diagrams, relationships between estimated rainfall and temperature were used to determine the presence and pattern of humid, arid, and dry months. The temporal sequence of humid, arid, and dry months defined nonseasonal as well as single-, dual-, and multiple-wet-season regimes with one or more rainfall peaks per wet season. The use of gridded products resulted in a detailed, spatially continuous classification for the entire African continent at two different spatial resolutions, which compared well to local-scale studies based on station data. With its focus on rainfall patterns at fine spatial scales, this classification is complementary to coarser and more genetic classifications based on atmospheric driving forces. An analysis of the stability of the resulting seasonality re...
CoMoM: Efficient Class-Oriented Evaluation of Multiclass Performance Models

We introduce the class-oriented method of moments (CoMoM), a new exact algorithm to compute performance indexes in closed multiclass queuing networks. Closed models are important for performance evaluation of multitier applications, but when the number of service classes is large, they become too expensive to solve with exact methods such as mean value analysis (MVA). CoMoM addresses this limitation by a new recursion that scales efficiently with the number of classes. Compared to the MVA algorithm, which recursively computes mean queue lengths, CoMoM also carries on in the recursion information on higher-order moments of queue lengths. We show that this additional information greatly reduces the number of operations needed to solve the model and makes CoMoM the best-available algorithm for networks with several classes. We conclude the paper by generalizing CoMoM to the efficient computation of marginal queue-length probabilities, which finds application in the evaluation of state-dependent attributes such as quality-of-service metrics.
THE ORIGIN OF ALVEOLAR MACROPHAGES IN MOUSE RADIATION CHIMERAS

This investigation attempted to determine whether the primary source of alveolar macrophages is pulmonary or hematopoietic. We have utilized an antigenic marker to identify cells of hematopoietic origin. Mouse chimeras were produced by irradiating C57B6/AF1 mice (900 R) and then injecting them intravenously with B10D2/AF1 bone marrow. The donor animal has an antigenic specificity on the H-2 locus, not shared by the recipient. Alveolar macrophages were obtained by repeated lung washings with physiologic saline at 37°C. Cytotoxic tests were done on bone marrow and alveolar macrophages using anti-31 mouse antibody, absorbed rabbit serum as complement, and trypan blue exclusion as a test for viability. Animals were studied at 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35–50 days and 4, 5, 8, and 11 months after irradiation and bone marrow replacement. By 21 days after irradiation, 90% of the animals had greater than 80% replacement of marrow with donor tissue; and white blood cell and alveolar macrophage counts approached normal. At this time and at later intervals the per cent of donor cells in the lung free cell population was not significantly different from the per cent of donor cells in the bone marrow. Similarly, after aerosol particulate exposure, the percentage of marrow cells and alveolar macrophages of donor origin were not significantly different. This immunologic approach suggests that alveolar macrophages in radiation chimeras are entirely of hematopoietic origin.
Novel protocol for random visual stimulation during visual evoked potential testing

The standard method of studying the visual evoked potentials (VEPs) of multiple visual stimuli is to separately record the VEP for each stimulus then compare the resultant signals. The resultant signals are subject to inter-presentation noise factors. These can include subject attention, electrode noise and subject movement. We have developed a technique, which allows all of the visual stimuli to be presented randomly in a single recording. The individual VEPs for each visual pattern are then extracted from the recorded signal. The method employs a custom written visual presentation program, which controls the video output and parallel port synchronization. By presenting all of the data during one experiment, the electrode noise, the subject's movement and attentiveness are more uniform for all recorded signals. In this study, we examined the VEPs to a square-wave grating pattern embedded in different degrees of spatial noise. For each subject, we recorded the VEP response to the different stimulus patterns using a random presentation of the stimuli. This method of stimulation produced viable trends within 30 trials which is 50% to 200% fewer trials than standard methods currently require.
Protein binding to monosodium urate crystals and its effect on platelet degranulation.

The membranolytic effects of microcrystalline monosodium urate (MSU) on biologic membranes are well documented for a number of cells and subcellular structures [1–3]. This process has been ascribed to hydrogen-bond formation between the crystal and membrane phospholipids and is blocked by strong hydrogen acceptors such as proteins or anionic polymers [1]. Since the acute inflammatory response of gouty arthritis occurs in protein-rich joint fluid, we have examined the protein adsorptive properties of MSU crystals. The effects of adsorbed protein on polymorphonuclear leukocytes and platelet degranulation were studied and are reported in detai1.
Dharma of the Living Dead: A Meditation on the Meaning of the Hollywood Zombie:

This paper examines the religious implications of the modern zombie, which has achieved great popularity in the modern Western imagination. Today’s zombie-craze can be traced from its roots in Hait...
On minimizing the peak-to-average power ratio for the sum of N sinusoids

A new derivation is presented of a previously known relationship for phasing N equal-amplitude, equally spaced (in frequency) sinusoids so that the peak-to-average power ratio of their sum is 2.6 dB. The method of derivation provides intuitive insight into why this result is possible, and shows that the 2.6 dB figure is obtained independently of N as long as N is large. Any phase or frequency modulation can be applied simultaneously to all N sinusoids without altering this result. >