cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Phosphoramide mustard exposure induces DNA adduct formation and the DNA damage repair response in rat ovarian granulosa cells.

Phosphoramide mustard (PM), the ovotoxic metabolite of the anti-cancer agent cyclophosphamide (CPA), destroys rapidly dividing cells by forming NOR-G-OH, NOR-G and G-NOR-G adducts with DNA, potentially leading to DNA damage. A previous study demonstrated that PM induces ovarian DNA damage in rat ovaries. To investigate whether PM induces DNA adduct formation, DNA damage and induction of the DNA repair response, rat spontaneously immortalized granulosa cells (SIGCs) were treated with vehicle control (1% DMSO) or PM (3 or 6 μM) for 24 or 48 h. Cell viability was reduced (P < 0.05) after 48 h of exposure to 3 or 6 μM PM. The NOR-G-OH DNA adduct was detected after 24 h of 6 μM PM exposure, while the more cytotoxic G-NOR-G DNA adduct was formed after 48 h by exposure to both PM concentrations. Phosphorylated H2AX (γH2AX), a marker of DNA double stranded break occurrence, was also increased by PM exposure, coincident with DNA adduct formation. Additionally, induction of genes (Atm, Parp1, Prkdc, Xrcc6, and Brca1) and proteins (ATM, γH2AX, PARP-1, PRKDC, XRCC6, and BRCA1) involved in DNA repair were observed in both a time- and dose-dependent manner. These data support that PM induces DNA adduct formation in ovarian granulosa cells, induces DNA damage and elicits the ovarian DNA repair response.
Probability Distribution Functions Relating to Blackbody Radiation

Statistical properties of blackbody radiation are discussed by the techniques of second quantization. Various probability distribution functions are derived, in particular the Bose-Einstein distribution function and its generalization for an arbitrary number of momentum-spin states. The Sudarshan phase space distribution function for blackbody radiation is obtained. Although in general the Sudarshan distribution function appears to be a generalized function, it is found that for the radiation field considered here, it becomes an ordinary function and is in agreement with expressions derived recently somewhat heuristically by other authors. A certain new probability distribution function for a statistcal radiation field is introduced and is expressed in terms of the eigenvalues of the annihilation operator. Unlike the phase space distribution function of Sudarshan, this function is non-negative. Finally an expression is derived for this probability distribution function appropriate to blackbody radiation.
Toward Modeling and Automating Ethical Decision Making: Design, Implementation, Limitations, and Responsibilities

One recent priority of the U.S. government is developing autonomous robotic systems. The U.S. Army has funded research to design a metric of evil to support military commanders with ethical decision-making and, in the future, allow robotic military systems to make autonomous ethical judgments. We use this particular project as a case study for efforts that seek to frame morality in quantitative terms. We report preliminary results from this research, describing the assumptions and limitations of a program that assesses the relative evil of two courses of action. We compare this program to other attempts to simulate ethical decision-making, assess possibilities for overcoming the trade-off between input simplification and output reliability, and discuss the responsibilities of users and designers in implementing such programs. We conclude by discussing the implications that this project highlights for the successes and challenges of developing automated mechanisms for ethical decision making.
Proceedings of the 11th ACM conference on Electronic commerce

The papers in these proceedings represent the technical contributions to the 11th ACM Conference on Electronic Commerce -- EC'10, held June 7-11, 2010, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Since its inception in 1999, ACM EC has served as the leading scientific conference on advances in theory, systems, and applications for electronic commerce. The natural focus of the conference is on computer science issues, but the conference is interdisciplinary in nature, addressing a number of facets of electronic commerce including (1) theory and foundations; (2) languages; (3) automation, personalization, and targeting; (4) security, privacy, encryption, and digital rights; (5) applications and empirical studies; and (6) social factors. In addition to the main technical program, EC'10 features two workshops, four tutorials, and invited keynote presentations from MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Erik Brynjolfsson and Microsoft's General Manager for Experimentation Platform Ronny Kohavi. EC'10 is also co-located this year with the 9th Workshop on the Economics of Information Security (WEIS 2010), the Trading Agent Competition (TAC 2010) and the 25th IEEE Conference on Computational Complexity (CCC 2010). The call for papers attracted 136 submissions from authors in academia and industry from around the world, including Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Each paper was reviewed by at least three program committee members and one senior program committee member on the basis of scientific novelty, technical quality, and importance to the field. After discussion and deliberation among the program committee, senior program committee and program chairs, 45 papers were selected for presentation at the conference; most of these papers appear in these proceedings. For a few accepted papers and at the authors' request, only abstracts are included along with pointers to full versions of these "working papers." This accommodates the practices of fields outside of computer science in which journal rather than conference publishing is the norm and conference publishing sometimes precludes journal publishing. It is expected that many of the papers in these proceedings will appear in a more polished and complete form in scientific journals in the future.
DIFFERENTIATION OF RESPONSE CHARACTERISTICS DURING MULTIPLE FIXED RATIO EXTINCTION

Summary.-Multiple Fixed Ratio Extinction force and displacement data for lever pressing were obtained from a rhesus monkey restrained in a primate chair. Two basic behaviors were defined: responses, which were reinforced, and errors, which were not. When a Fixed Ratio 4 baseline was used and the reinforced force or displacement band was shifted, relative frequency force and displacement disrributiocs shifted in the same direction. Under force-specific or displacement-specific reinforcement the number of errors preceding the first response of the fixed ratio was always larger than the number preceding any of the other responses. It rppeared that S discriminated the response requirements, and that the procedure c~n be used to study such discrimination in detail. While it is established that the force and displacement of lever-press responding may be controlltd through suitable reinforcement contingencies (e.g., Herrick, 1964; Notterman & Mintz, 1962), much remains to be leazned of the transitional and steady state characteristics of this operant under force-specific or displacement-speci fic reinforcement contingencies, particularly in species other than the rat. This paper describes fixed ratio performances obtained with both a force-detecting lever and a displacement-sensing lever. The data were obtained from one monkey during 650 experimental hours. Although the generality of the data cannot be assured, it is felt that its over-all features bear reporting. Unfortunately, rime did not ~ermit running additional Ss while the apparatus was available. METHOD Apparatus S was restrained in a Foringer primate chair enclosed in a sound and light tight cubicle. The cubicle was illuminated throughout the session by a 6-w fluorescent lamp. A 5-w incandescent lamp served as SD. A Davis feeder dispensed 190-mg. Ciba whole diet food pellets. S was shielded by white noise from all apparatus sound so that feeder operation generated the only transient noise in the booth.
Single-ventricle physiology reduces cerebral oxygen delivery in a piglet model.

Background In single-ventricle physiology, cerebral blood flow and oxygen (O 2 ) delivery may be inadequate. This study tests the hypotheses that in acute univentricular physiology (1) cerebral blood flow increases inadequately to maintain O 2 delivery, (2) the brain is incapable of increasing O 2 extraction due to hypoxemia, and (3) cerebral O 2 delivery diminishes selectively in different brain regions. Material and Methods Univentricular physiology was created in 8 piglets, while 8 animals were sham controls. Aortopulmonary shunt, echocardiography-guided atrial septostomy, tricuspid valve avulsion, and pulmonary artery occlusion were performed to allow the left ventricle to support systemic and pulmonary circulations. Cerebral blood flow (microspheres), cerebral O 2 and lactate metabolism, and cerebral O 2 saturation were measured at baseline, 30 minutes, and 120 minutes after conversion to univentricular physiology. Results Cerebral blood flow increased in the cerebrum and subtentorium in controls ( p 2 delivery at 30 and 120 minutes was lower in univentricular physiology than in controls ( p = 0.05). Fractional oxygen extraction was unchanged in both groups. Cerebral O 2 consumption trended lower in univentricular physiology ( p = not significant), while it was unchanged in controls. Lactate cerebral metabolic rate (CMR Lactate ) increased at 30 and 120 minutes in both groups. The decline in O 2 delivery was variable, but present in nearly all brain regions. Conclusions This study confirms the hypothesis that, in univentricular physiology, hypoxemia and limited cerebral blood flow reduce cerebral O 2 availability in nearly all regions. These findings contribute to the understanding of brain abnormalities in infants with univentricular physiology.
SU‐FF‐T‐71: An Interactive Software Tool for Modifying Outcome Models and Predicting Patient Specific Outcomes in Treatment Planning

Purpose: For patient‐specific radiotherapy outcomes predictions (i.e., NTCP predictions), the choice of model and its parameters is of utmost importance. Our goal is to develop a software tool which will let clinicians conveniently select the model, understand the effects of the model parameter values, and thereafter predict plan specific outcomes. Method: This module has been developed within CERR (Computational Environment for Radiotherapy Research), an open source Matlab‐based software system. Two commonly used NTCP analytical models implemented are the Lyman‐Kutcher‐Burman (LKB) and the Critical volume (CV). The parameters of LKB model include: the exponent for calculating EUD, D50, and the slope parameter m; whereas the parameters of the CV model include the mean relative damaged volume, critical fraction of FSUs, and interpatient variability. Our interactive outcomes estimation module lets the user change the model and parameters and observe the change in predicted outcome simultaneously. We have also implemented a new model to predict radiationlung injury, which is a logistic regression model with two predictors — mean dose to lung (MDL) and the GTV location (GTV‐superior‐inferior position). We developed an interactive nomogram to let users look at the variation in outcome with respect to MDL and GTV‐SI position. Results: The interactive outcomes‐prediction module within CERR was tested on sample plans. The user is presented with slider bars to change the parameter values, or the user can input their own values, and the estimated outcome is simultaneously updated. The interface is simple, user‐friendly, and easily extensible to include other outcomes models.Conclusion: This outcomes prediction module, along with other graphical visualization and analysis capabilities within CERR, may aid clinicians in understanding and using NTCP models for radiation treatment planning. This research was partially supported by NIH grant R01CA85181 as well as a grant from TomoTherapy, Inc.
Ab initio molecular orbital calculations on hydrogen bonding in binary water-alcohol mixtures: (CH3OH)2(H2O), (CH3OH) (H2O)2, and (CF3CH2OH)(H2O)

Ab initio LCAO-SCF molecular orbital calculations have been performed on open-chain and cyclic trimers containing methanol and water and on dimers containing 2,2,2-trifluoroethanoI and water. These calculations were done in conjunction with experimental studies of molecular association in vapors of binary mixtures. Equilibrium structures and energies were determined using the minimal STO-3G basis set. The 2:1 and 1:2 methanol-water cyclic trimers have similar binding energies and are more stable than their respective open-chain trimers. Limited calculations were carried out to assess the importance of polarization functions and correlation energy in the methanol-water trimers. These calculations confirmed the STO-3G predictions. The most stable trifluoroethanol-water dimer has an O—H O and an H F hydrogen bond. It has a larger interaction energy than either a trifluoroethanol dimer or a water dimer.
Selective Opioid Inhibition of Small Nociceptive Neurons

Opioid analgesia, the selective suppression of pain without effects on other sensations, also distinguishes between different types of pain: severe, persistent pain is potently inhibited by opioids, but they fail to conceal the sensation of a pinprick. The cellular basis for this specificity was analyzed by means of patch-clamp experiments performed on fluorescently labeled nociceptive neurons (nociceptors) that innervate rat tooth pulp. Activation of the μ opioid receptor inhibited calcium channels on almost all small nociceptors but had minimal effect on large nociceptors. Somatostatin had the opposite specificity, preferentially inhibiting calcium channels on the large cells. Because persistent pain is mediated by slow-conducting, small nociceptors, opioids are thus likely to inhibit neurotransmitter release only at those primary synapses specialized for persistent pain.
Abolition and Empire in Sierra Leone and Liberia

In 1787, the British Anti-Slavery Society planted a ‘province of freedom’ for poor blacks in Sierra Leone, providing a blueprint for Americans establishing Liberia as the ‘beacon of hope and possib...
COMPARISON OF LEVELS OF SULFOLANE AND DIISOPROPANOLAMINE IN NATURAL WETLAND VEGETATION EXPOSED TO GAS-CONDENSATE CONTAMINATED GROUND WATER

Groundwater containing the process chemicals sulfolane (tetrahydrothiophene 1,1-dioxide) and diisopropanolamine (DIPA) has contaminated a wetland in the vicinity of a sour-gas natural gas processing facility. Of concern is the extent of which these contaminants are taken up by vegetation and the associated risk to wildlife that may eat the plants. All sampled wetland plants contained detectable levels of sulfolane and DIPA. Sulfolane was distributed predominantly in portions of the vegetation above the surface, such as sedges (Carex spp.) flower heads (e.g., 430±80 mg kg−1 wet tissue mass), whereas the levels of DIPA were more evenly distributed and generally lower throughout the plants (e.g., cattail (Typha latifolia) roots, 9.4±1.7 mg kg−1; sedges flower heads, 16±3 mg kg−1). Sulfolane may, therefore, translocate to a greater extent than DIPA in wetland vegetation. A wide range of concentrations covering a factor of 10 was observed for both contaminants in plant tissue collected within close proximity (...
Intermediate goods and the formation of duty-free zones

Abstract If a country forms a duty-free zone by lowering tariffs on intermediate goods and taxes on foreign capital used in the zone, then resources are attracted from the surrounding domestic zone. This can worsen the effects of the distortions due to the tariffs remaining in the domestic zone and can lower the host country's national income and welfare. This tends to occur if: (1) there is less substitutability between the intermediate and labor than between these factors and capital, (2) there is currently a small foreign-owned sector in which the share of labor in total costs is large relative to the share of the imported intermediate in the foreign sector and relative to the share of labor in total costs in the domestic zone. Ironically, under the latter circumstances, the host country is likely to regard a duty-free zone as an attractive option.
Multidimensional digital image representations using generalized Kaiser–Bessel window functions

Inverse problems that require the solution of integral equations are inherent in a number of indirect imaging applications, such as computerized tomography. Numerical solutions based on discretization of the mathematical model of the imaging process, or on discretization of analytic formulas for iterative inversion of the integral equations, require a discrete representation of an underlying continuous image. This paper describes discrete image representations, in n-dimensional space, that are constructed by the superposition of shifted copies of a rotationally symmetric basis function. The basis function is constructed using a generalization of the Kaiser-Bessel window function of digital signal processing. The generalization of the window function involves going from one dimension to a rotationally symmetric function in n dimensions and going from the zero-order modified Bessel function of the standard window to a function involving the modified Bessel function of order m. Three methods are given for the construction, in n-dimensional space, of basis functions having a specified (finite) number of continuous derivatives, and formulas are derived for the Fourier transform, the x-ray transform, the gradient, and the Laplacian of these basis functions. Properties of the new image representations using these basis functions are discussed, primarily in the context of two-dimensional and three-dimensional image reconstruction from line-integral data by iterative inversion of the x-ray transform. Potential applications to three-dimensional image display are also mentioned.
Self-Efficacy and Classroom Learning

This article discusses the role of perceived self-efficacy during classroom learning of cognitive skills. Self-efficacy refers to personal judgments of performance capabilities in a given domain of activity. Students enter classroom activities with various aptitudes and prior experiences, which affect their initial sense of self-efficacy for learning. During task engagement, students may assess self-efficacy by utilizing cues made cognitively salient by educational practices and which convey information about their capability to acquire knowledge and skills, such as performance outcomes, attributions, situational circumstances, outcome patterns, perceived model similarity, and persuader credibility. In turn, heightened learning self-efficacy enhances motivated learning, or motivation to acquire knowledge and skills. Research findings are presented showing how different educational practices affect self-efficacy. Future research needs to determine how students derive efficacy information from multiple cues, and to specify in finer detail how the cognitive processes involved in understanding instruction and appraising self-efficacy influence one another.
Shortened version of the Umkehr method for observing the vertical distribution of ozone

A theoretical study was performed to explore the possibility of shortening the 2-3-h time requirement for a Dobson Umkehr observation by incorporating more wavelength pairs into the measurement procedure. In essence, the measurement becomes one of using wavelength in place of solar zenith angle as the independent variable. Practical and physical limitations restrict the variable-wavelength method to solar zenith angles 75 degrees < theta(0) < 90 degrees . Solution residual variance and correlation criteria are used to judge the statistical information content of each method in order to establish a degree of equivalence between the two. As a check on the validity of the theoretical approach, a limited eigenvalue analysis is performed on the synthesized Umkehr observations, and this is compared with eigenanalyses on real Umkehr data reported by other investigators. The over-all results of the present investigation indicate that the variable-wavelength method possesses the potential for deducing vertical ozone profiles at least equivalent to, if not slightly better than, profiles deduced by the standard Umkehr method.
Bromfenac(Duract)-associated hepatic failure requiring liver transplantation

Bromfenac sodium (Duract) is a phenylacetic acid-derived nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent introduced in the United States in 1997 and withdrawn in 1998. We describe the first case of fulminant hepatic failure associated with this agent treated successfully with liver transplantation. Similarities to hepatotoxicity with related agents is discussed.
Latex gloves use and symptoms in health care workers 1 year after implementation of a policy restricting the use of powdered gloves.

Abstract Background: Latex sensitization related to glove use is a complex problem, and glove use policies that restrict exposure to powdered latex gloves alone may not provide adequate safety. This study explored health care workers’ (HCWs’) latex glove use and reports of related health symptoms 1 year after implementation of the latex glove replacement policy. Methods: Two cross-sectional surveys. One was a population-based survey of HCWs at the institution (National Surveillance System for Hospital Health Care Workers); the second, a detailed survey of HCWs stratified by exposure to latex gloves (Latex Symptom Survey). Results: The prevalence of symptoms of dermatitis reported by latex glove users was 40.3% (National Surveillance System for Hospital Health Care Workers) and 50.0% (Latex Symptom Survey). Symptom reports increased as exposure to latex gloves increased (pairs used per day, occupations with more glove use, working in higher exposure areas, more tenure, and more hours of use per day). Aerosol symptoms and urticaria related to latex glove use were reported much less frequently than were rash, chapping, itching, or redness. HCWs, even those with skin symptoms, continued to choose latex gloves in more than 80% of the cases. Conclusions: Stepwise preplacement evaluation at employee health clinics is recommended to identify and protect employees sensitized to latex. The medical community needs more understanding and education about latex gloves, latex sensitization, and available alternatives. (AJIC Am J Infect Control 2000;28:352-8)
Sources of imitation: improving bank process capabilities

Abstract This paper argues that imitators are more likely than innovators to use a wider variety of channels for improving their process capabilities, and that the sources of imitation are more ‘informal,’ or non-market-mediated, than formal. Yet, the search for know-how is a variegated process even within the same industry. These variations stem from factors other than industry-specific technical requirements. Regulatory intervention has important implications for firm history, skill bases, size, and competitive focus. Taken together, these background elements guide firms from the same industry towards somewhat different sources of know-how. The case under study is banking, a service industry rarely considered in the literature on technical change.
Absorption of Millimeter to Submillimeter Waves by Atmospheric Water Molecules

Using the values of the rotational molecular parameters (including cencrifugal distortion terms) of the H216O molecule, which can explain 12 observed transitions below 800 GHz, all rotational energy levels with normalized Boltzmann factors larger than 5×10−8 at 300°K are calculated. Probabilities of all possible electric dipole transitions among these states, 2277 lines, are calculated using the eigenfunctions thus obtained, and the permanent electric dipole moment of 1.8546 Debye. Assuming the single and full Lorentzian line forms, we calculated the absorption coefficient for millimeter to submillimeter region. Our result, using the single term Lorentzian line form, agrees quite well with experiment for 1 Torr of water vapor in 760 Torr air at 300°K.
Counseling at the Crossroads An Interview With Robert L. Smith

This article presents an interview with Dr. Robert L. Smith, Executive Director of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors. Smith discusses the development of his interest i...
An MMPI Index of Disturbed Marital Interaction

This preliminary study indicates that couples in whom the husband scores 20 or more T-score points higher than his wife on the Mf scale of the MMPI come into group psychotherapy with significantly more distress than do couples with a low Mf index. The high-index couples also appear to benefit more from psychotherapy than do couples with a low Mf index.
Modeling concurrent software

The author proposes a disciplined multitasking method, entity-life modeling, which may provide a more direct and efficient approach to concurrent computing. He then shows how this method could apply to an automated control system. He discusses an example of a flexible manufacturing system.
Scientific plans for deep sea drilling

The Deep Sea Drilling Project is about to launch phase IV of its drilling operations, known as the International Phase of Ocean Drilling (IPOD). Plans for the first year of IPOD are well under way and a preliminary drilling schedule for the first four years has been drawn up. At this stage it is appropriate to inform the scientific community in general of these plans and to invite comment and suggestions. As in the past the scientific planning is carried out by the Joint Oceanographic Institutions for Deep Earth Sampling (JOIDES). This organisation, international from the outset, will through its various panels continue to provide scientific advice to DSDP for the IPOD programme as it has to the previous phases of drilling.
Examples and Results

This chapter presents results of system co-synthesis for benchmark examples. We present the following two case studies in hardware-software co-design and compare hardware-software implementations against purely hardware implementations: Graphics controller design. The purpose of the graphics controller is to provide a dedicated controller for generating actual pixel coordinates from parameters for different geometries. The input to the controller is a specification of the geometry and its parameters, such as end points of a line. The current design handles drawing of lines and circles. However, it is a modular design to which additional drawing capabilities can be added. The controller is intended for use in a system where the graphics controller accepts input geometries at the rate of 200,000 per second and outputs at about 2 million samples per second to a drawing buffer that is connected to a (CRT) device controller. Typically the path from the drawing buffer to the CRT controller runs at a substantially higher rate of about 40 million samples per second. Network controller design. This controller implements the functionality of a carrier-sense, collision-detection protocol for handling multiple accesses over a shared communication medium. The controller works under specified timing constraints. However, a deterministic resolution of the timing constraints is difficult due to non-deterministic operations involved in handling multiple, variable-length data packets.
A Multi-Echelon Inventory System with Information Exchange

In this paper, we consider a supply-chain model consisting of a single product, one supplier, and multiple retailers. Demand at the retailers is random, but stationary. Each retailer places her orders to the supplier according to the well-known ( Q,R) policy. We assume that the supplier has online information about the demand, as well as inventory activities of the product at each retailer, and uses this information when making order/replenishment decisions. We first propose a replenishment policy for the supplier, which incorporates information about the inventory position of the retailers. Then, we provide an exact analysis of the operating measures of such systems. Assuming the inventory/replenishment decisions are made centrally for the system, we compare the performance of our model with those that do not use information in their decision making, namely, systems that use installation stock policies via a numerical experiment. Based on our numerical results, we identify the parameter settings under which information sharing is most beneficial.
Cyclic homology and the Macdonald conjectures

LetA+(k) denote the ring ℂ[t]/t k+1 and letG be a reductive complex Lie algebra with exponentsm 1, ...,m n. This paper concerns the Lie algebra cohomology ofG⊗A +(k) considered as a bigraded algebra (here one of the gradings is homological degree and the other, which we callweight, is inherited from the obvious grading ofG⊗A +(k)). We conjecture that this Lie algebra cohomology is an exterior algebra withk+1 generators of homological degree 2m s +1 fors=1,2, ...,n. Of thesek+1 generators of degree 2m s +1, one has weight 0 and the others have weights (k+1)m s +t fort=1,2, ...,k. It is shown that this conjecture about the Lie algebra cohomology of ⊗A +(k) implies the Macdonald root system conjectures. Next we consider the case thatG is a classical Lie algebra with root systemA n ,B n ,C n , orD n. It is shown that our conjecture holds in the limit onn asn approaches infinity which amounts to the computation of the cyclic and dihedral cohomologies ofA+(k). Lastly we discuss the relevance of this limiting case to the case of finiten in this situation.
Quantitative Determination of Conformer Populations: Assessment of Specific Rotation, Vibrational Absorption, and Vibrational Circular Dichroism in Substituted Butynes

To evaluate the quantitative agreement between the observed and predicted properties of specific rotation, vibrational absorption, and vibrational circular dichroism (VCD), (+)-3-chloro-1-butyne, which is one of the smallest single conformer chiral molecules, has been synthesized for the first time and its intrinsic rotation (specific rotation at infinite dilution), vibrational absorption, and VCD have been measured. These properties have also been predicted using density functional theory (DFT) and large basis sets, namely aug-cc-pVDZ, 6-311++G(2d,2p), and aug-cc-pVTZ. Using these experimental and predicted properties, the absolute configuration of (+)-3-chloro-1-butyne is established as (R). The observed intrinsic rotation and predicted specific rotation are observed to be in excellent quantitative agreement. The predicted vibrational absorption and VCD spectra are in good qualitative agreement with the corresponding observed spectra; however, the root-mean-square percent differences in integrated inten...
Graph-based methods for unsupervised and semi-supervised learning

Summary form only given. In many applications of machine learning, it is cheap to collect unlabeled examples but expensive to collect labeled ones. Often, the unlabeled examples can provide useful auxiliary information by revealing that the data has a simple underlying structure (M. Belkin and P. Niyogi, 2004). Of particular interest is the case when seemingly high dimensional data can be described in terms of a small number of degrees of freedom. How can we search for low dimensional structure in high dimensional data (C. J. C. Burges, 2005)? If the data is mainly confined to a low dimensional subspace, then simple linear methods can be used to discover the subspace and estimate its dimensionality. More generally, though, if the data lies on (or near) a low dimensional manifold, then its structure may be highly nonlinear, and linear methods are bound to fail. The talk would have four aims: (i) to provide an overview of graph-based spectral methods for nonlinear dimensionality reduction; (ii) to illustrate how unlabeled examples can be used, in conjunction with labeled examples, to improve classification when the data lies on or near on a low dimensional manifold; (iii) to suggest how low dimensional manifolds may arise from particular types of acoustic feature extraction; (iv) to speculate how recent methods in unsupervised and semi-supervised learning could be generalized to problems involving sequences, as occur in speech and language processing
Revisiting the Sealands: Report of Preliminary Ground Reconnaissance in the Hammar District, Dhi Qar and Basra Governorates, Iraq

The flourit of early Sumerian civilization in southern Iraq marked a degree of economic differentiation, sociopolitical complexity, and urbanization previously unseen in the ancient world. This article reports the results of recent geo-archaeological investigation of three complementary resources in southern Mesopotamia that are thought to have offered an ecological advantage, thus laying the economic foundations for these developments: (1) expansive irrigable plains; (2) vast pasture lands; and (3) the littoral resources of levee back swamps/deltaic marshes. Focusing on the area of the Hawr al-Hammar marshes, the authors conducted preliminary archaeological, geological and landscape investigation over the course of 18 days in the autumn of 2010, funded by a U.S. National Science Foundation High Risk Research in Physical Anthropology and Archaeology grant.
Noninvasive determination of in situ heating rate using KHz acoustic emissions and focused ultrasound

For high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to be widely applicable in the clinic, robust methods of treatment planning, guidance and delivery need to be developed. These technologies would greatly benefit if patient specific tissue parameters could be provided as inputs so that the treatment planning and monitoring schemes are customized and tailored on a case by case basis. A noninvasive method of estimating the local in situ acoustic heating rate using the heat transfer equation (HTE) and applying novel signal processing techniques is presented in this article. The heating rate is obtained by experimentally measuring the time required to raise the temperature of the therapeutic focus from a baseline temperature to boiling (here assumed to be 100 degrees C for aqueous media) and then solving the heat transfer equation iteratively to find the heating rate that results in the onset of boiling. The onset of boiling is noninvasively detected by measuring the time instant of onset of acoustic emissions in the audible frequency range due to violent collapse of bubbles. In vitro experiments performed in a tissue mimicking alginate phantom and excised turkey breast muscle tissue demonstrate that the noninvasive estimates of heating rate are in good agreement with those obtained independently using established methods. The results show potential for the applicability of these techniques in therapy planning and monitoring for therapeutic dose optimization using real-time acoustic feedback.
Nighttime ionization by energetic particles at Wallops Island in the altitude region 120 to 200 km

Five Nike Apache rockets, each including an energetic particle spectrometer and an electron density-electron temperature experiment, have been launched from Wallops Island (L = 2.6) near midnight under varying geomagnetic conditions. On the most recent of these (5 January 1978) an additional spectrometer with a broom magnet, and a 391.4 nm photometer were flown. The data from this flight indicate that the energetic particle flux consists predominantly of protons, neutral hydrogen and possibly other energetic nuclei. The energy spectrum becomes much softer and the flux more intense with increasing Kp for 10-100 keV. The pitch angle distribution at 180 km is asymmetrical with a peak at 90 deg indicating that the majority of particles are near their mirroring altitude. Ionization rates are calculated based on the measured energy spectrum and mirror height distribution. The resulting ionization rate profile is found to be nearly constant with altitude in the region 120 to 200 km. The measured energetic particle flux and calculated ionization rate from the five flights are found to vary with magnetic activity (based on the Kp and Dst indexes) in the same way as the independently derived ionization rates deduced from the electron density profile.
Determinacy for games ending at the first admissible relative to the play

Let o(k) denote the Mitchell order of k . We show how to reduce long games which run to the first ordinal admissible in the play, to iteration games on models with a cardinal k so that (1) k is a limit of Woodin cardinals: and (2) o(k) = k ++ . We use the reduction to derive several optimal determinacy results on games which run to the first admissible in the play.
Clinical outcome analysis in "high-risk" versus "low-risk" patients eligible for national surgical adjuvant breast and bowel B-39/radiation therapy oncology group 0413 trial: five-year results.

Purpose To report the local control and overall survival outcomes after lumpectomy followed by accelerated partial breast irradiation in high-risk patients as defined by the current inclusion criteria for the National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel B-39/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 0413 Intergroup trial. Methods and Materials Between 2000 and 2005, 273 women with early-stage breast cancer were treated using either multicatheter interstitial brachytherapy ( n = 247) or MammoSite ( n = 26). Patients received 32–34 Gy in 8–10 twice-daily fractions using high-dose-rate 192 Ir brachytherapy. All patients met the initial inclusion criteria for the Intergroup trial and were separated into two groups: high-risk patients (representing the cohort that remained eligible for the Intergroup trial) who satisfied one or more of the "high-risk" criteria (age n = 90), and low-risk patients who comprised the remainder of the cohort ( n = 183). The outcomes of the two cohorts were analyzed and compared. Results The median follow-up of the entire cohort was 48.5 months. No significant difference was found in outcomes at 5 years between the low- and high-risk groups, with a local control rate of 97.8% vs. 93.6%, crude local recurrence rate of 2.2% ( n = 4) vs. 4.4% ( n = 4), and overall survival rate of 92.1% vs. 89.5%, respectively. Conclusion At 5 years, no statistically significant difference was found in outcomes for patients deemed to be at greater risk in the current National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel B-39/Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 0413 Intergroup trial. These clinical data support the inclusion of this "high-risk" population in this important ongoing study.
The use of the Tempa.Dot thermometer in routine clinical practice

SIR—The Tempa.Dot single-use thermometer has been in use in the UK for over 10 years and in the USA for nearly 30 years. Over the last 7 years it has been marketed by 3M Health Care Limited. Its use in the NHS followed the European Union Directive to reduce the medical use of mercury. It also has the advantages of lack of cross-infection risk and more rapid recordings. A sensor matrix at the tip of the thermometer consists of 50 temperature-indicating dots, each with a melting point separation of 0.1 °C. At any given temperature within the range 35.5–40.4 °C, all dots with a melting point at or below that temperature change colour from beige to bright blue. Temperature readings are indicated by the number on the thermometer that corresponds with the row of the last blue dot plus 0.1 °C for every blue dot in that row greater than one. Tempa.Dot complies with European published standard EN-12470- 02(P2). This requires the mean accuracy to be within 0.1 °C for each dot
Information theoretic approach for performance evaluation of multi-class assignment systems

Multi-class assignment is often used to aid in the exploitation of data in the Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) community. For example, tracking systems collect detections into tracks and recognition systems classify objects into various categories. The reliability of these systems is highly contingent upon the correctness of the assignments. Conventional methods and metrics for evaluating assignment correctness only convey partial information about the system performance and are usually tied to the specific type of system being evaluated. Recently, information theory has been successfully applied to the tracking problem in order to develop an overall performance evaluation metric. In this paper, the information-theoretic framework is extended to measure the overall performance of any multiclass assignment system, specifically, any system that can be described using a confusion matrix. The performance is evaluated based upon the amount of truth information captured and the amount of false information reported by the system. The information content is quantified through conditional entropy and mutual information computations using numerical estimates of the association probabilities. The end result is analogous to the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve used in signal detection theory. This paper compares these information quality metrics to existing metrics and demonstrates how to apply these metrics to evaluate the performance of a recognition system.
Party System Change: Testing a Model of New Party Entry

I argue that the costs of entry, benefits of office and the probability of receiving electoral support, i.e. the strategic entry calculation by new party elites, determine new party emergence. The model is tested using pooled time-series cross-sectional data from 22 OECD countries for elections held between 1960 and 2002. The results show that new parties are more frequent when the institutional structures are permissive (the cost of entry is low), the corporatist arrangements are weak or non-existent (the benefit of entry is high) and the electoral histories of the incumbents are short (the probability of attracting votes is high). The last two factors interact in their relationship with the number of new parties, as presumed by the theory.
Discovery of the upper dentition of Barbourofelis whitfordi (Nimravidae, Carnivora) and an evaluation of the genus in California

ABSTRACT The family Nimravidae is a group of cat-like carnivorans that evolved sabertooth forms in parallel to Felidae. The last records of nimravids are represented by species of the North American genus Barbourofelis. Fossils of Barbourofelis found in Clarendonian North American Land Mammal Age (NALMA) deposits of California represent the western-most occurrences of the genus. Here we describe new material of Barbourofelis whitfordi from the late Miocene Dove Spring Formation (12.5–8 Ma) of the northwestern Mojave Desert, southern California, including the first known saber and confirmed upper cheek dentition of the species. Consistent with the delayed canine eruption observed in other Barbourofelis species, the newly discovered permanent cheek teeth are associated with deciduous upper canines. The upper and lower third premolars of B. whitfordi are larger in size relative to the carnassials, and less reduced in cusp morphology than other Barbourofelis species. In this regard, p3 morphology and size in ...
Which long coalition? The creation of the anti-slavery coalition

How are party coalitions shaped and reshaped? Elected officials choose coalitions to win elections, but they must work to maintain those coalitions. Non-elected political actors, advancing an ideology at odds with the party coalition, can undermine the party. This article explores this possibility in the case of partisan change on slavery in the Antebellum United States. Intellectuals in 1850 divided into two camps over slavery and the other major issues of the day at a time when slavery cross-cut the two parties in Congress. The ideological division matches one that develops in Congress a decade later, suggesting that the parties responded not just to electoral incentives, but also to this elite division.
Performance measures for input shaping

Input shaping is a technique used for reducing command-induced residual vibration. A train of impulses, known as the input shaper, is convolved with a reference command, such that the new command causes little or no vibration. The performance, or efficiency, of the input shaper is generally measured by comparing the residual vibration from the shaped command with the residual vibration from the unshaped command. This paper addresses critical issues regarding this and other basic measures of input shaper performance. The result is a thorough understanding of the role of performance measures and, in addition, the generation of more meaningful performance measures.
Evaluating minimal important differences for the FACT-melanoma quality of life questionnaire

Objectives: Minimal Important Differences (MIDs) establish benchmarks for interpreting mean differences in clinical trials involving quality of life outcomes and inform discussions of clinically meaningful change in patient status. The purpose of this study was to assess MIDs for the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Melanoma (FACT-M). Methods: A prospective validation study of the FACT-M was performed with 273 patients with stages I through IV melanoma. FACT-M, Karnofsky Performance Scales, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status scores were obtained at baseline and 3 months following enrollment. Anchor- and distribution-based methods for assessing MIDs were compared, and pattern-mixture modeling was employed to derive multivariate adjusted estimates. Results: This study indicates that an approximate range for MIDs of the FACT-M subscales is between 5 to 9 points for the Trial Outcome Index, 4 to 6 points for the Melanoma Combined Subscale, 2 to 4 points for the Melanoma Subscale, and 1 to 2 points for the Melanoma Surgery Subscale. Each method produced similar but not identical ranges of MIDs. Conclusions: The properties of the anchor instrument employed to derive MIDs directly affect resulting MID ranges and point values. When MIDs are offered as supportive evidence of a clinically meaningful change, the anchor instrument used to derive clinically meaningful thresholds of change should be clearly stated along with information supporting the choice of anchor instrument as the most appropriate for the domain of
Residential location theory and the measurement of segregation

Les mesures traditionnelles de la segregation du logement definissent l'integration comme se produisant lorsque la proportion de minorites ethniques dans une agglomeration est repliquee dans n'importe quelle sous-zone. Ce papier propose des indices de segregation nouveaux deduits des predictions des temps de transport domicile-travail des personnes de couleur, sous l'hypothese qu'ils devraient etre identiques aux temps de transport domicile-travail des blancs qui ont les memes caracteristiques. Nous montrons que ces nouveaux indices entrainent un classement des agglomerations americaines en termes de segregation tres differents de celui effectue avec les indices standards.
Multivariate Analysis Methods in Particle Physics

Each generation of high energy physics experiments is grander in scale than the previous - more powerful, more complex and more demanding in terms of data handling and analysis. The spectacular performance of the Tevatron and the beginning of operations of the Large Hadron Collider, have placed us at the threshold of a new era in particle physics. The discovery of the Higgs boson or another agent of electroweak symmetry breaking and evidence of new physics may be just around the corner. The greatest challenge in these pursuits is to extract the extremely rare signals, if any, from huge backgrounds arising from known physics processes. The use of advanced analysis techniques is crucial in achieving this goal. In this review, I discuss the concepts of optimal analysis, some important advanced analysis methods and a few examples. The judicious use of these advanced methods should enable new discoveries and produce results with better precision, robustness and clarity.
Magnetic resonance imaging measurement reproducibility for calf muscle and adipose tissue volume.

Purpose To describe a new semi-automated method for segmenting and measuring the volume of the muscle, bone and adipose (subcutaneous and inter-muscular) tissue in calf muscle compartments using magnetic resonance (MR) images and determine the intra- rater and inter-rater reproducibility of the measures.