cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Caring for the underserved: blending service learning and a web-based curriculum.

Background Recognition of health disparities among underserved individuals, whose demographic, geographic, or economic characteristics impede access to health-related services, has led to calls for the development of medical school curricula that address care for the underserved, but reports of the development and evaluation of such curricula are limited. Methods Two formats of a curriculum addressing care for the underserved were developed and implemented during the 6-week pediatric clerkship for third-year medical students during the 2003–2004 academic year. One format was faculty-led; the other was web-based. Skills for providing care to underserved families were taught through didactic, experiential, and service-learning curriculum components. Novel core curriculum elements included a screening tool for recognizing underserved patients and an independent clinical project through which students linked underserved families with community health resources. Analyses from 2004–2005 compared pre- and post-curriculum knowledge and attitudes of web-based students ( n =29) to those receiving either the faculty-led ( n =36) or the established "readings-only" curriculum ( n =35). Qualitative data from service learning projects were analyzed to assess clinical skills. Results Compared to students in the established curriculum, both web-based and faculty-led students demonstrated improved knowledge ( p p Conclusions Faculty-led and web-based curricula can equally improve student knowledge, attitudes, and skills about caring for the underserved.
Combating discrimination using Bayesian networks

Discrimination in decision making is prohibited on many attributes (religion, gender, etc?), but often present in historical decisions. Use of such discriminatory historical decision making as training data can perpetuate discrimination, even if the protected attributes are not directly present in the data. This work focuses on discovering discrimination in instances and preventing discrimination in classification. First, we propose a discrimination discovery method based on modeling the probability distribution of a class using Bayesian networks. This measures the effect of a protected attribute (e.g., gender) in a subset of the dataset using the estimated probability distribution (via a Bayesian network). Second, we propose a classification method that corrects for the discovered discrimination without using protected attributes in the decision process. We evaluate the discrimination discovery and discrimination prevention approaches on two different datasets. The empirical results show that a substantial amount of discrimination identified in instances is prevented in future decisions.
Early Intermediates in HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein-mediated Fusion Triggered by CD4 and Co-receptor Complexes

An early step in the process of HIV-1 entry into target cells is the activation of its envelope glycoprotein (GP120-GP41) to a fusogenic state upon binding to target cell CD4 and cognate co-receptor. Incubation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 Env-expressing cells with an excess of CD4 and co-recepeptor-bearing target cells resulted in an influx of an impermeant nucleic acid-staining fluorescent dye into the Env-expressing cells. The dye influx occurred concomitant with cell fusion. No influx of dye into target cells was observed if they were incubated with an excess of Env-expressing cells. The permeabilization of Env-expressing cells was also triggered by CD4.co-receptor complexes attached to Protein G-Sepharose beads in the absence of target cells. The CD4 and co-receptor-induced permeabilization of Env-expressing cells occurred with the same specificity with respect to co-receptor usage as cell fusion. Natural ligands for the co-receptors and C-terminal GP41 peptide inhibitors of HIV-1 fusion blocked this effect. Our results indicate that the process of HIV-1 Env-mediated fusion is initiated by the destabilization of HIV-1 Env-expressing membranes. Further elucidation of these early intermediates may help identify and develop potential inhibitors of HIV-1 entry into cells.
Dissection of ADP-ribose polymer synthesis into individual steps of initiation, elongation, and branching

Abstract We have studied the automodification reaction of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase (PARP) (EC 2.4.2.30). The individual reactions of initiation, elongation, and branching catalyzed by this enzyme have been dissected out by manipulating the concentration of βNAD, the ADP-ribosylation substrate. While PARP-mono(ADP-ribose) conjugates were the predominant products of automodification at 200 nM NAD (initiation), highly branched and complex polymers were synthesized at 200 μM NAD (polymerization). Initial rates of automodification increased with second order kinetics as a function of the enzyme concentration at both 200 nM and 200 μM NAD. These results are consistent with the conclusion that two molecules of PARP are required for ADP-ribose polymer synthesis during enzyme automodification. Thus, the auto-poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation reaction of PARP is intermolecular. In agreement with this notion, we observed that initial rates of the initiation reaction with 3′-deoxyNAD as a substrate also increased with the square of the enzyme concentration. In addition, the auto-poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation reaction of PARP increased with second order kinetics as a function of the NAD concentration at nanomolar levels (0.2–1.6 μM). Therefore, the dimeric structure of PARP also requires two molecules of bound NAD for efficient ADP-ribose polymerization.
Human tumor clonogenic assays: growth conditions and applications

Increasing investigative efforts have been focused on the application of in vitro clonogenic assays for human tumors. Several semisolid matrices have been used for purposes of immobilizing the clonogenic cells, and a variety of growth factors and environmental conditions have been studied to enhance tumor colony growth. Although there remain some technical problems with these assays, the methodology has proven to have broad applicability to preclinical and clinical studies of human cancer. This report reviews some features and areas of application of this assay methodology. The ability to combine studies of drug effect with cytogenetic studies on clonogenic cells suggests that such assays may prove useful for evaluation of the emergence of drug resistance by primary and metastatic cancers.
Influence of Three Levels of Copper on the Performance of Turkey Poults with Diets Containing Two Sources of Methionine

Abstract Two trials were conducted to compare the performance of Nicholas Large White turkey poults fed diets with three levels of copper in diets with two sources of methionine. A corn-soybean meal diet, containing 26.5% protein, was used. The two methionine sources were fed at 0 and .06% in diets containing 0, 500, and 750 ppm of copper supplied by CuSO4·5H2 O. The basal diet contained no supplemental choline and sulfate-free trace minerals were used. The addition of 500 ppm of copper from copper sulfate to the diet improved body weight, feed efficiency, and feed consumption. However, the addition of 750 ppm of copper resulted in a depression of all of the parameters. The addition of both methionine sources significantly improved body weight, feed consumption, and feed efficiency at all levels of copper supplementation. No significant difference was attributed to the two sources of methionine as the response to the two sources was the same at all levels of copper supplementation.
Generalized intersection multiplicities of modules. II

In this paper we study intersection multiplicities of modules as defined by Serre and prove that over regular local rings of dim 0, with dim R/I + dim R/J < dim R.
Follow-up study of dental students' esthetic perceptions of mild dental fluorosis.

Objectives: Several studies have assessed people's esthetic perceptions of dental fluorosis, suggesting that concerns may be greater than believed previously. Few studies have assessed dental students' perceptions and none has done so over time. The purpose of this paper is to report on changes in dental students' esthetic perceptions of dental fluorosis and other conditions. Methods: Fourth-year dental students (n=45) completed questionnaires about computer-generated photographs of fluorosis and other conditions, using the same protocol as when they were entering dental students. Results were compared for each of the eight images at the individual level using paired statistical tests. Results: Although many patterns were generally consistent, there were a substantial number of differences in results over time, concerning both the mild fluorosis and non-fluorosis images. In general, students tended to score both fluorosis and non-fluorosis images more favorably as fourth-year students. When rating images from very pleased (1) to very embarrassed (10), fourth-year students rated the images significantly more favorably than they had done as first-year students for normal/control, incisal third only dental fluorosis, and a more generalized, mild fluorosis. Similarly, with a visual analog scale from satisfactory (0) to unsatisfactory (69), fourth-year students reported significantly lower (more favorable) scores than they had done as first-year students for the normal/control, diastema/no fluorosis, more involved mild fluorosis, and incisal third only mild fluorosis. There were no obvious changes in the relative levels of favorable evaluation of fluorosis vs. the other conditions. Conclusions: Fourth-year dental students generally had more favorable esthetic perceptions of mild dental fluorosis and other conditions than they had reported as entering students.
Evaluation of glycerol, a biodiesel coproduct, in grow-finish pig diets to support growth and pork quality.

Crossbred pigs (n = 216; BW = 31.3 ± 1.8 kg) were used to determine the effects of long- and short-term feeding of crude glycerol on growth performance, carcass traits, and pork quality of grow-finish pigs. Pigs were blocked by initial BW, and pens within blocks were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 dietary treatments (24 pens; 9 pigs/pen). Dietary treatments were control, a corn-soybean meal-based diet (CON); long-term, CON + 8% glycerol fed throughout the experiment (LT); and short-term, pigs fed CON for the first 6 wk followed by CON + 8% glycerol fed during the last 8 wk of the experiment (ShT). Pigs fed LT had greater (P 0.60) on pork quality of loins based on taste panel assessments. Feeding pigs 8% crude glycerol throughout the grow-finish period resulted in a 3% improvement in growth rate and a 2% depression in BW gain efficiency compared with CON diets. Grow-finish pigs fed diets containing 8% crude glycerol during the last 8 wk before slaughter achieved growth performance similar to pigs fed CON diets. Effects of crude glycerol on carcass traits seem to be limited to improvements in belly firmness with short-term feeding of glycerol.
Integration of Data Fusion Methodology and Degradation Modeling Process to Improve Prognostics

The rapid development of sensing and computing technologies has enabled multiple sensors embedded in a system to simultaneously monitor the degradation status of an operation unit. This creates a data-rich environment for degradation modeling and prognostics that could potentially lead to an accurate inference about the remaining lifetime of the degraded unit. However, as data collected from multiple sensors are often correlated and each sensor data contains only partial information about the same degradation process, there is a pressing need to develop data fusion methodologies that can integrate the data from multiple sensors for better characterizing the stochastic nature of the degradation process. Unlike other existing data fusion methodologies that treat the fusion procedure and the degradation modeling as two separate tasks, this paper aims at solving these two challenging problems in a unified manner. Specifically, we develop a methodology to construct a health index via fusion of multiple degradation-based sensor data. Our goal is that the developed health index provides a much better characterization of the condition of the unit and thus leads to a better prediction of the remaining lifetime. A case study that involves a degradation dataset of an aircraft gas turbine engine is implemented to numerically evaluate and compare the prognostic performance of the developed health index with existing literature.
Parking problem (sequential packing) simulations in two and three dimensions

Abstract The goal of the parking limit problem is to determine the mean fraction of a space that would be occupied by fixed objects, each of the same size, that are placed or created randomly in that space until no more can fit. The goal of the two-dimensional parking limit problem is to determine the fraction of an area that would be occupied by disks of one size; a three-dimensional parking limit problem involves creating spheres in a volume. We tried a simple numerical simulation algorithm combined with regression analysis to do the two-dimensional problem and found the parking limit to be 0.51 to 0.56 area fraction for disks on a plane, which is consistent with the results of others. We then used the three-dimensional version of this algorithm to obtain the parking fraction in a cubical region with penetrable walls. Our results can be multiplied by a geometrical factor to give the parking fraction for a cube with impenetrable walls and can be extrapolated to give the parking fraction for an infinite region. Regression equations were obtained for the effects of the ratio of the sphere radius to the side of the cubical volume and of the dimensionless number of attempts to park. We found the parking limit for an infinite volume to be 0.37 to 0.40 for spheres.
Hemoglobin interference in the direct determination of erythrocyte protoporphyrin concentrations for monitoring lead intoxication of waterfowl.

With the current concern regarding lead intoxication in waterfowl caused by ingested lead shot, researchers may be trying to test for the problem in their localities. To accomplish this, some will be looking to the pioneering work of Roscoe (1977, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Connecticut, Storrs, 130 pp.) and Roscoe et a!. (1979, J. Wildl. Dis. 15: 127-136) for the determination of quantitative blood protoporphyrin concentrations. Because our laboratory is limited to the use of a filter fluorometer, we opted to use the double extraction technique of Peter et a!. (1978, Clin. Chem. 24: 1515-1517) to assess concentrations in ducks from Minnesota. When comparing our results with those of Roscoe et al. (1979, op. cit.), we found that our normal values were several times higher. This report describes the methods used to elucidate the difference and presents the results obtained from these methods. Blood samples were drawn from the brachial vein of 13 mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), five lesser scaup (Aythya affinis), one greater scaup (Aythya mania) and three ring-necked ducks (Aythya coilaris) using a 22-ga. needle and 3-ml heparinized syringe. The blood was put into 2-ml heparinized vacutainers (Becton Dickinson #6498), aerated by shaking with the stoppers removed, and refrigerated at least
The progress portfolio: designing reflective tools for a classroom context

A great deal of effort has gone into developing open-ended inquiry activities for science education as well as complex computer tools for accessing scientific data to help students learn science. To be successful with these tools and activities, students need to learn a set of inquiry skills and to develop a new mode of classroom work: reflective inquiry. In this paper we describe the design of the Progress Portfolio, a software environment to promote reflective inquiry, and we examine the influences of the unique practices and features of classroom contexts on our design process.
The dehydration of methanol and isopropanol on aluminas of various specific surface areas

Abstract Alumina samples with surface areas from 2.72 to 221 m. 2 /g. were studied to relate their specific catalytic activities for the dehydration of methanol and isopropanol to their surface area. The individually adsorbed amounts of both reactants as measured by gas chromatography indicated two adsorption modes for each species. The order of adsorbed amounts of methanol and isopropanol correlated with the order of heats of immersion per unit area of the aluminas in water which was previously found to be proportional to particle size. But the catalytic activities as a function of particle size exhibited a maximum, with both the lowest and highest area aluminas having minimal activity. This behavior is the same as previously observed in the dehydration of ethanol.
p38 MAPK Regulates IL‐1β Induced IL‐6 Expression Through mRNA Stability in Osteoblasts

Osteoblast‐derived IL‐6 functions in coupled bone turnover by supporting osteoclastogenesis favoring bone resorption instead of bone deposition. Gene regulation of IL‐6 is complex occurring both at transcription and post‐transcription levels. The focus of this paper is at the level of mRNA stability, which is important in IL‐6 gene regulation. Using the MC3T3‐E1 as an osteoblastic model, IL‐6 secretion was dose dependently decreased by SB203580, a p38 MAPK inhibitor. Steady state IL‐6 mRNA was decreased with SB203580 (2 µM) ca. 85% when stimulated by IL‐1β (1–5 ng/ml). These effects require de novo protein synthesis as they were inhibited by cycloheximide. p38 MAPK had minor effects on proximal IL‐6 promoter activity in reporter gene assays. A more significant effect on IL‐6 mRNA stability was observed in the presence of SB203580. Western blot analysis confirmed that SB203580 inhibited p38 MAP kinase, in response to IL‐1β in a dose dependent manner in MC3T3‐E1 cells. Stably transfected MC3T3‐E1 reporter c...
Autonomic symptoms at baseline and following infectious mononucleosis in a prospective cohort of adolescents.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complex condition involving fatigue and musculoskeletal and cognitive symptoms. Six, 12, and 24 months following monospot-positive acute infectious mononucleosis (IM), 13%, 7%, and 4%, respectively, of adolescents met criteria for CFS.1 As part of their evaluation at baseline and 6, 12, and 24 months following IM, adolescents diagnosed with CFS and recovered controls completed questionnaires regarding autonomic symptoms.
A direct spectrophotometric assay for d-alanine carboxypeptidases and for the esterase activity of β-lactamases

Abstract A direct spectrophotometric pH indicator method has been devised to assay the activity of the d -Ala carboxypeptidase/transpeptidase of Streptomyces R61, and which should be of general application to d -Ala carboxypeptidases. The substrate employed is N,N′ -diacetyl- l -lysyl- d -alanyl- d -lactate. The method allows the determination of steady-state kinetic parameters, and can also be used for the assay of the esterase activity of β-lactamases against specific depsipeptides.
Issues and perspectives of law enforcement accreditation: A national study of police chiefs

Abstract In late 1984, the first police agencies were awarded accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA). Since then, 275 agencies have achieved accreditation, with many more in various stages of self-assessment. Two primary concerns have emerged with respect to the process: (1) the managerial utility of accreditation, and (2) whether accreditation is in conflict with community policing. No empirical research has addressed these issues. This national study utilized survey research to establish benchmark data on these factors and identify further research questions. Embodied in this article note are selected initial findings from the study as well as foundation information related to law enforcement accreditation.
Left Ventricular Outflow Tract Obstruction Following Mitral Valve Replacement with Carpentier-Edwards Prosthesis

Left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction is a rare complication of mitral valve replacement. In this article, we describe three patients in whom left ventricular outflow tract obstruction occurred following Carpentier-Edwards porcine mitral valve replacement. All three patients presented with symptomatic mitral regurgitation (angiographic grade 3–4) requiring mitral valve replacement. Preoperatively there was no evidence of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy by physical exam, echocardiography, or by cardiac catheterization. At the time of surgery all three were shown to have severe mitral valve prolapse. The native anterior mitral leaflet was left intact and pledgeted to the mitral annulus. Following surgery a new systolic murmur was appreciated. Echocardiographic exam visualized obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract by the prosthetic strut in two cases and by a flail anterior leaflet in one case. Continuous-wave Doppler measured a calculated peak gradient of 72 to 81 mmHg across the left ventricular outflow tract. In one case simultaneous Doppler and cardiac catheterization confirmed the diagnosis and severity of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. Mechanisms of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction following Carpentier-Edwards porcine mitral valve replacement are discussed. These three cases highlight the importance of echo-Doppler techniques in understanding the mechanism of newly detected systolic murmurs following mitral valve replacement.
The Effects of Irradiation at 1.6 kGy on Quality Characteristics of Commercially Produced Ham and Pork Frankfurters over Extended Storage

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New bounds on local strain fields inside random heterogeneous materials

Abstract A methodology is presented for bounding the higher L p norms, 2 ⩽ p ⩽ ∞ , of the local strain inside random media. We present optimal lower bounds that are given in terms of the applied loading and volume fractions for random two phase composites. These bounds provide a means to measure load transfer across length scales relating the excursions of the local fields to applied loads. These results deliver tight upper bounds on the macroscopic strength domains for statistically defined heterogeneous media.
Surgical Considerations in 22Q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) may be associated with several palatal abnormalities, including overt cleft palate, submucosal cleft palate, palatopharyngeal disproportion, and velar hypotonia. The syndrome is the genetic disorder most commonly associated with velopharyngeal dysfunction (VPD). The complex causes of VPD in affected patients combine with the complexity of associated medical disorders to render surgical management of the velopharynx particularly challenging. Optimization of surgical outcomes requires precision in diagnosis, surgical management, and multidisciplinary care. This article provides an overview of 22q11DS and provides a review of the assessment and surgical management of VPD in affected individuals.
Learning to rank typed graph walks: local and global approaches

We consider the setting of lazy random graph walks over directed graphs, where entities are represented as nodes and typed edges represent the relations between them. This framework has been used in a variety of problems to derive an extended measure of entity similarity. In this paper we contrast two different approaches for applying supervised learning in this framework to improve graph walk performance: a gradient descent algorithm that tunes the transition probabilities of the graph, and a reranking approach that uses features describing global properties of the traversed paths. An empirical evaluation on a set of tasks from the domain of personal information management and multiple corpora show that reranking performance is usually superior to the local gradient descent algorithm, and that the methods often yield best results when combined.
A New Test of Convergence Theory

A classic version of convergence theory was proposed by Marion Levy (1966) as part of his theory of modernization: if and as the level of modernization increases (defined as a higher ratio of reliance upon inanimate energy and tools, relative to animate energy), the level of structural uniformity among relatively modernized societies continually increases. This hypothesis that there is more uniformity among modernized than among non-modernized societies is tested here with cross-national data from 148 non-modernized and 52 modernized societies. Using the coefficient of variation (V) as the measure of convergence, I analyze a wide range of variables: level of economic development, capitalist market economy, demographic variables, technology, the state and political democracy, cognitive modernization, health, income inequality and poverty, gender particularism-universalism, and information and communications. I find that the modernized societies do show more convergence (lower V scores) than the non-modernized societies on 49 of the 51 variables tested. Among the 21 societies that were already modernized in 1965, as they became more modernized during the period from1965 to the present, they also became more convergent on 32 of the 45 variables analyzed. Thus, variation in social structure is greater among less modernized than among more modernized societies, and this has implications for theories of globalization.
Optimizing Space Time Adaptive Processing through accelerating memory-bounded operations

Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) is a technique for processing signals from multiple antenna elements over multiple time periods for target detection. As STAP algorithms are typical run on airborne platforms, they need to be both high performance and energy-efficient. Due to the high rate of processing required, many existing algorithms focus on reducing the dimensionality of the data, or exploiting structure in the underlying mathematical formulation in order to reduce the total number of floating-point operations (FLOPs), and consequently, the time for computation. While such algorithms target the FLOPs-intensive operations within the STAP algorithm, a significant portion of the compute time for most STAP algorithms is actually spent in low-FLOPs, memory-bounded operations. In this paper, we address the computation of these memory-bounded operations within the STAP algorithm using a 3D stacked Logic-in-Memory system. The imminent arrival of 3D stacked memory makes avail high memory bandwidth, which opens up a new and orthogonal dimension for optimizing STAP algorithms. We show that more than 11x improvement in time, and 77x improvement in energy efficiency can be expected when a 3D stack is used together with memory-side accelerators to target the memory-bounded operations within STAP.
Expression of normal sequence pathogenic proteins for neurodegenerative disease contributes to disease risk: ‘permissive templating’ as a general mechanism underlying neurodegeneration

Loci underlying autosomal dominant forms of most neurodegenerative disease have been identified: prion mutations cause Gerstmann Straussler syndrome and hereditary Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, tau mutations cause autosomal dominant frontal temporal dementia and alpha-synuclein mutations cause autosomal dominant Parkinson's disease. In these cases, the pathogenic mutation is in the protein that is deposited in the diseased tissue and the whole protein is deposited. In Alzheimer's disease, mutations in amyloid precursor protein or in the presenilins cause autosomal dominant disease. These are the substrate and proteases responsible for the production of the deposited peptide Abeta. Thus, in all the cases, the mutations lead to the disease by a mechanism that involves the deposition process. Furthermore, sporadic forms of all these diseases are predisposed by genetic variability at the same loci, implying that the quantity of the normal protein influences the risk of this form of disease. These results show that the amount of pathogenic protein expression is a key factor in determining disease initiation. Recent work on transgenic models of these diseases is consistent with the view that there are two stages of pathogenesis: a concentration-dependent formation of a pathogenic protein oligomer followed by aggregation on to this oligomeric template by a process that is less dependent on the concentration of the protein.
Antimicrobial prophylaxis may not be the answer: Surgical site infections among patients receiving care per recommended guidelines

Background It is believed that compliance with all 3 components of perioperative antimicrobial prophylaxis, ie, timing, choice, and duration, yields greater reduction in surgical site infections (SSI). Methods An observational study was performed among patients in the surgical care improvement project at a tertiary public academic hospital in the United States. The rates of SSI among patients who received appropriate antimicrobial agent(s) per current guidelines were compared with patients who did not. Medical record review was performed to compare the clinical characteristics of patients with SSI (cases) and an equal number of patients without SSI (matched controls). Results From January 2008 to June 2009, 762 patients underwent 763 eligible surgical procedures. Forty-seven (6.2%) developed SSI. The rate of SSI in patients who received appropriate antimicrobial prophylaxis per guidelines was not different from those who did not (42/611, 6.9% vs 5/152, 3.3%, respectively; P value = .13). Patients with SSI were more likely to have an elevated body mass index (median and interquartile range in cases: 28.7 [27.0-34.9] vs 25.0 [22.4-30.4] in controls; P value = .02) and more likely to have diabetes (36% vs 9%, respectively; odds ratio, 5.71; 95% confidence interval: 1.43-22.8; P value = .02). Conclusion Compliance with timing, choice, and duration of antimicrobial prophylaxis as a whole did not lead to lower SSI. Elevated body mass index and diabetes were associated with a higher rate of SSI.
A new sub-packetization bound for minimum storage regenerating codes

Codes for distributed storage systems are often designed to sustain failure of multiple storage disks. Specifically, an (n, k) MDS code stores k symbols in n disks such that the overall system is tolerant to a failure of up to n - k disks. However, access to at least k disks is still required to repair a single erasure. To reduce repair bandwidth, array codes are used where the stored symbols or packets are vectors of length l. MDS array codes can potentially repair a single erasure using a fraction l/(n - k) of data stored in the surviving nodes. We ask the following question: for a given (n, k), what is the minimum vector-length or sub-packetization factor l required to achieve this optimal fraction? For exact recovery of systematic disks in an MDS code of low redundancy, i.e. k/n > 1/2, the best known explicit codes [1] have a sub-packetization factor I which is exponential in k. It has been conjectured [2] that for a fixed number of parity nodes, it is in fact necessary for l to be exponential in k. In this paper, we provide new converse bounds on k for a given l We prove that k ≤ l2 for an arbitrary but fixed number of parity nodes r = n ™ k. For the practical case of 2 parity nodes, we prove a stronger result that k ≤ 4l.
CT and MRI of Congenital Anomalies of the Seminal Vesicles

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this article is to provide a current review of the spectrum of CT and MRI findings seen in common congenital anomalies of the seminal vesicles.CONCLUSION. CT and MRI can both accurately show renal and seminal vesicle anomalies. Seminal vesicle anomalies often occur concurrently with renal and vasal defects. MRI is a better tool for accurately defining anatomic relationships when one is planning to excise a seminal vesicle cyst or if one is considering a difficult differential diagnosis.
Effects of Nonnormal Distributions on Highway Construction Acceptance Pay Factor Calculation

Percent within limits (PWL) is a commonly used quality control/quality assurance measure of highway pavement materials and construction, and it is a popular index for adjusting pay factors. However, PWL is based on the assumption of normal distribution of quality characteristics (e.g., concrete compressive strength and asphalt air voids). Skewness and kurtosis, which are common forms of statistical nonnormal distributions, can potentially bias the acceptance pay factor calculations. To examine this potential pay bias, simulations were performed to investigate the magnitude and the direction (overestimation or underestimation) of pay factor calculations. The study revealed that for both one-sided and two-sided specification limits, bias in pay factors not only did vary in magnitude but also reversed in direction over various ranges of PWL. These analyses showed that for a one-sided upper specification limit, on average, a positive skewness and kurtosis can underestimate the pay factor of an acceptable quality level population by 0.90%, and overestimates a rejectable quality level population by 3.8%. This leads to falsely penalizing acceptable products and rewarding bad products. The same was true for two-sided limits, which again varied based upon the percent of defective materials at the tails of the distribution. This is a very important issue because these biases in pay factors can easily upset the relative profit margins of the contractor. Furthermore, this may not be easily detectable without a detailed and sophisticated analysis as outlined in this paper. For multiple quality characteristics based pay factors, analyses showed that the combined magnitude of these biases was not linearly cumulative. Findings of the study indicate that bias in pay was higher for lots with fewer sublots and higher skewness and kurtosis.
Isolation and Partial Characterization of Regulatory Mutants of the Pyrimidine Pathway in Salmonella typhimurium

Mutants of Salmonella typhimurium affected in the regulation of pyrimidine biosynthesis were isolated by two methods. The first involved screening for bacteria able to feed a pyrimidine-requiring indicator strain, and the second involved selection for bacteria simultaneously resistant to two pyrimidine analogues, 5-fluorouracil and 5-fluorouridine, in a S. typhimurium strain unable to degrade 5-fluorouridine. Among the mutants isolated by these methods are constitutive mutants, producing high levels of pyrimidine biosynthetic enzymes in the presence or absence of pyrimidines, and feedback modified mutants, in which aspartate transcarbamylase is partially desensitized to its inhibitor, cytidine triphosphate. No fully desensitized mutant has been found. The partially desensitized character cotransduces with the pyrB locus, that of aspartate transcarbamylase. The constitutive character has been determined in a few cases to be localized in the region of leu and pro on the Salmonella map.
HYPERGEN-a distributed genetic algorithm on a hypercube

The genetic algorithm is a robust search and optimization technique based on the principles of natural genetics and survival of the fittest. Genetic algorithms (GA) are a promising new approach to global optimization problems, and are applicable to a wide variety of problems. HYPERGEN was developed as a research tool for investigating parallel genetic algorithms applied to combinatorial optimization problems. It provides the user with a wide variety of options to test the particular problem at hand. In addition, HYPERGEN is modular enough for a user to insert routines of his own for special needs, or for doing further research studies on parallel GAs. HYPERGEN was used successfully to find new 'best' tours on three 'standard' TSP problems, and out-performed a parallel simulated annealing algorithm on various package placement problems. The authors found it fairly easy to fine tune the parameters that drive a parallel GA for near optimal performance (population size, migration rate, and migration interval). >
How Old is the New Madrid Seismic Zone

Current seismicity levels on the New Madrid seismic zone should produce about 0.11 cm/year of horizontal slip which, when compared with uplift of 42 m in the subsurface strata below the Lake County uplift and assuming a 31° reverse fault model, indicates that the present seismicity levels could not have been present for more than about 64,000 years. If seismicity in the region has persisted for a much longer period of time, then (1) the seismicity has moved spatially between several deformed zones (Crowley’s Ridge and the Crittenden County fault zone); (2) the seismicity is episodic in nature, and active periods similar to the present occur between long quiescent times; or (3) there have been far fewer large earthquakes than predicted by extrapolation of the Gutenberg-Richter relation to higher magnitudes. Any of these scenarios indicates that assessing the hazard from large earthquakes is more complicated than conventional analyses have assumed because either the seismicity locations or rates change or analysis techniques relying on the Gutenberg-Richter relation are invalid for estimating the recurrence times of large earthquakes in the New Madrid area.
Information technology and culture: Identifying fragmentary and holistic perspectives of culture

In this paper, we review the literature on information technology (IT) and culture. The construct of ''culture'' has alternately been defined and studied by international scholars as national culture, and by organizational scholars as organizational or corporate culture. We argue that, despite the considerable amount of research activity in these areas, the two research traditions have existed as ''stovepipes,'' operating in parallel but not communicating effectively with each other. After reviewing how the linkage between IT and culture has been conceptualized in the literatures on national and organizational culture, we identify some gaps in these research streams, and propose a new conceptualization of culture. Grounding our framework in social identity theory (SIT), we argue that it is necessary to advance from the fragmentary perspectives that exist at present to a more holistic view of culture. We believe that this novel perspective will enable scholars to move toward a more multi-faceted view of culture as a richly layered set of forces that shape individuals' beliefs and actions. We also identify opportunities for mutual learning, areas of challenge, and domains of possible contradiction between the two research streams as one step toward further theoretical advances.
Purification of Large Quantities of Influenza Virus by Density Gradient Centrifugation

New zonal centrifuges can conveniently process as much as five orders of magnitude (10(5)) greater sample volumes than conventional swinging-bucket rotors. The continuous-sample-flow-with-banding versions may be used in series with ancillary purification procedures. Here we have studied the combined process: absorption and elution of influenza virus with barium sulfate followed by concentration and isopycnic banding of the virus in a buffered sucrose gradient. Kilogram quantities of impurity have been rapidly separated from grams of purified virus, which have been conveniently concentrated several hundred-fold by the purification process. Experimental vaccines made by these procedures are being evaluated.
Cognitive Enhancers for Anxiety Disorders

Cognitive-behavioral therapy is an effective intervention for anxiety disorders. However, a significant number of people do not respond or only show partial response even after an adequate course of the treatment. Recent research has shown that the efficacy of the intervention can be improved by the use of cognitive enhancers that augment the core learning processes of cognitive-behavior therapy. This manuscript provides a review of the current state of cognitive enhancers for the treatment of anxiety disorders.
Insertion loss analysis in a photonic interconnection network for on-chip and off-chip communications

An on-chip photonic interconnection network is simulated to determine statistical insertion losses for different network sizes and non-blocking switch layouts. For an 8times8 folded-torus network, we obtain an optical link loss budget of 15.5 dB.
Increased midgestational IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-5 in women bearing a child with autism: A case-control study

Immune anomalies have been documented in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and their family members. It is unknown whether the maternal immune profile during pregnancy is associated with the risk of bearing a child with ASD or other neurodevelopmental disorders. Using Luminex technology, levels of 17 cytokines and chemokines were measured in banked serum collected from women at 15 to 19 weeks of gestation who gave birth to a child ultimately diagnosed with (1) ASD (n = 84), (2) a developmental delay (DD) but not autism (n = 49) or (3) no known developmental disability (general population (GP); n = 159). ASD and DD risk associated with maternal cytokine and chemokine levels was estimated by using multivariable logistic regression analysis. Elevated concentrations of IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-5 in midgestation maternal serum were significantly associated with a 50% increased risk of ASD, regardless of ASD onset type and the presence of intellectual disability. By contrast, elevated concentrations of IL-2, IL-4 and IL-6 were significantly associated with an increased risk of DD without autism. The profile of elevated serum IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-5 was more common in women who gave birth to a child subsequently diagnosed with ASD. An alternative profile of increased IL-2, IL-4 and IL-6 was more common for women who gave birth to a child subsequently diagnosed with DD without autism. Further investigation is needed to characterize the relationship between these divergent maternal immunological phenotypes and to evaluate their effect on neurodevelopment.
The Voting Rights Act: Disfranchisement, Dilution, and Alternative Election Systems

The Voting Rights Act (VRA) (79 Stat. 667) is widely regarded as the most effective piece of civil rights legislation enacted in the United States. Adopted initially in 1965 to protect the voting rights of African Americans, it was expanded in 1975 to protect the voting rights of specified language minorities: Hispanice, Native Americans, Native Alaskans, and Asian Americans.A number of important changes in American politics can be traced directly to the VRA. The first is the dramatic increase in the number of minority voters. The major barriers to minority group members registering to vote and casting ballots have been removed as a result of the Act; consequently, minority disfranchisement is only rarely an issue today.The expansion of the minority electorate was critical to another important change, the increase in the number of minority elected officials. Minority voter support has usually been essential to the electoral success of minority candidates. Growth in the minority electorate in the United States was followed by an increase in minority officeholders. The magnitude of this increase, however, has been dependent on additional VRA provisions.
Locating Library Items by GIS Technology

This article identifies a common problem in many academic libraries: users having difficulties finding library items. It suggests that a mapping system may help solve the problem if the difficulties stem from users who do not understand floor structures of the library or classification of the collections. The technology of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is proposed to build the system because of its ability to analyze spatial data of collection locations and dynamically present the analytical results in maps of varied detail. Such a GIS item-locating system could be integrated into current online catalog systems so that users would have search results in both textual display and visual demonstration. The article advocates that libraries take advantage of GIS for its inexpensive development and simple implementation.
Theory to predict shear stress on cells in turbulent blood flow

Shear stress on blood cells and platelets transported in a turbulent flow dictates the fate and biological activity of these cells. We present a theoretical link between energy dissipation in turbulent flows to the shear stress that cells experience and show that for the case of physiological turbulent blood flow: (a) the Newtonian assumption is valid, (b) turbulent eddies are universal for the most complex of blood flow problems, and (c) shear stress distribution on turbulent blood flows is possibly universal. Further we resolve a long standing inconsistency in hemolysis between laminar and turbulent flow using the theoretical framework. This work demonstrates that energy dissipation as opposed to bulk shear stress in laminar or turbulent blood flow dictates local mechanical environment of blood cells and platelets universally.
Reversing the phonological similarity effect.

The phonological similarity effect—poor retention of order for lists of similar-sounding items—is a benchmark finding in the short-term memory literature. In our first two experiments, we show that the effect actually reverses following relatively brief periods of distraction, yielding better order retention for similar than for dissimilar lists, provided that different items are used on every trial. In Experiment 3, the same items were used on every trial and similar lists produced poorer performance across all three retention intervals. The results are interpreted from a general discrimination framework: Items are viewed as occupying positions in a multidimensional space defined by list and within-list dimensions.
Exclusive processes at JLab at 6 GeV

Deeply virtual exclusive reactions provide a unique opportunity to probe the complex internal structure of the nucleon. They allow to access information about the correlations between parton transverse spatial and longitudinal momentum distributions from experimental observables. Dedicated experiments to study Deeply Virtual Compton Scattering (DVCS) and Deeply Virtual Meson Production (DVMP) have been carried out at Jefferson Lab using continuous electron beam with energies up to 6 GeV. Unpolarized cross sections, beam, target and double spin asymmetries have been measured for DVCS as well as for π 0 exclusive electroproduction. The data from Hall B provide a wide kinematic coverage with Q 2 =1-4.5 GeV 2 , xB=0.1-0.5, and −t up to 2 GeV 2 . Hall A data have limited kinematic range partially overlapping with Hall B kinematics but provide a high accuracy measurements. Scaling tests of the DVCS cross sections provide solid evidence of twist-2 dominance, which makes chiral-even GPDs accessible even at modest Q 2 . We will discuss the interpretation of these data in terms of Generalized Parton Distributions (GPDs) model. Successful description of the recent CLAS π 0 exclusive production data within the framework of the GPD-based model provides a unique opportunity to access the chiral-odd GPDs.