cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Thresholds and noise

Random processes acting through dynamical systems with thresholds lie at the heart of many natural and man-made phenomena. The thresholds here considered are general including not only sharp or “hard” boundaries but also a class of dynamical, nonlinear system functions some of which are themselves mediated by the noise. Processes include noise-induced transitions, postponed and advanced bifurcations, noise enhanced propagation of coherent structures, and stochastic resonance and synchronization. Examples of these processes are found in a wide range of disciplines from physics and chemistry to neuroscience and even human and animal behavior and perception. I will discuss some of these examples connecting them with their fundamental dynamical origins.
Works By and About Gabriel Marcel

The bibliography of any contemporary philosopher is destined to be incomplete before it is ever published and the following is no exception. One guiding principle has been used throughout in the preparation of this bibliography: to provide readers with a guide which, though not exhaustive, does provide a good starting point for the serious study of the philosophy of Gabriel Marcel. Those works which contain comprehensive bibliographies to a certain date are listed as such. Roger Troisfontaines' De l'existence a l'etre, for example, contains an exhaustive bibliography of Marcel's works to the date of its publication and this fact is noted in the entry below. It is always best to read a philosopher in his original language. For the convenience of the English-speaking reader however, the more important works of Gabriel Marcel are listed in the translation whenever possible. The books and articles written about Gabriel Marcel must obviously be listed in the language in which they appear in print.
Some Results of Amplitude Distribution Experiments on Shift Register Generated Pseudo-Random Noise

The well-known cyclic error-correcting codes are used so far only for serial systems; that is, systems having a single channel with information transmitted one bit at a time. In data-processing equipments and communication systems, information is often transmitted serially by characters and parallel by bits within a character. That is, there are several channels in parallel. Error correction in the existing multiple channel systems has been restricted to the use of block codes with the block length equal to the number of channels. The use of cyclic codes will allow the length of a code word many times greater than the number of parallel channels. This offers simple mechanization and, at the same time, reduces the redundancy of the system.
Flutter of Asymmetrically Swept Wings

Two formulations of the oblique wing flutter problem are presented; one formulation allows only simple wing bending deformations and rigid body roll as degrees of freedom, while the second formulation includes a more complex bending-torsional deformation together with the roll freedom. Flutter is found to occur in two basic modes. The first mode is associated with wing bending-aircraft roll coupling and occurs at low values of reduced frequency. The second instability mode closely resembles a classical bending-torsion wing flutter event. This latter mode occurs at much higher reduced frequencies than the first. The occurrence of the bending-roll coupling mode is shown to lead to lower flutter speeds while the bending-torsion mode is associated with higher flutter speeds. The ratio of the wing mass moment of inertia in roll to the fuselage roll moment of inertia is found to be a major factor in the determination of which of the two instabilities is critical.
Confinement of ultracold atoms in a Laguerre–Gaussian laser beam created with diffractive optics

Abstract We report 2D confinement of 87Rb atoms in a Laguerre–Gaussian laser beam. Changing of the sign of the detuning from the atomic resonance dramatically alters the geometry of the confinement. With the laser detuned to the blue, the atoms are confined to the dark, central node of the Laguerre–Gaussian laser mode. This trapping method leads to low ac Stark shifts to the atomic levels. Alternatively, by detuning the laser to the red of the resonance, we confine atoms to the high intensity outer ring in a multiply-connected, toroidal configuration. We model the confined atoms to determine azimuthal intensity variations of the trapping laser, caused by slight misalignments of the Laguerre–Gaussian mode generating optics.
Determining homomorphisms to skew fields

Given an associative ring R with unit, we may wish to characterize the homomorphisms from R to skew fields (division rings) by means of structure or information defined over R. Then constructing such structure on R will be equivalent to constructing a homomorphism to a skew field. Here we will regard skew field extensions as irrelevant, so that a homomorphism to a skew field composed with an inclusion map into a larger skew field is the same (for our purposes) as the original homomorphism. For example, if R is commutative, a homomorphism from R to a field is determined by the kernel, a prime ideal. The field and the homomorphism may be constructed from the prime ideal by forming the factor ring modulo that ideal and then embedding in the quotient field. For a noncommutative ring, an analog of a prime ideal has been introduced by P. M. Cohn (as in [I]): a “prime matrix ideal” of the ring R. Given a homomorphism R -+ K to a skew field K, we may apply the homomorphism to matrices over R (i.e., with entries in R) by applying the homomorphism to each entry. Then the prime matrix ideal of R determined by R -+ K consists of those square matrices over R whose images under the homomorphism are singular over K. This collection of matrices actually determines the homomorphism (up to isomorphism). In this article we describe several alternative ways of determining homomorphisms to skew fields, including ones induced from the notions of rank of a matrix, linear dependence, and dimension over a skew field. For example, if R ---f K is a homomorphism from a ring to a skew field, one may associate with each finitely presented right R-module A the number dim,(A @ K). This function on finitely presented modules is among the structures shown to determine the homomorphism. The topology that may be put on the collection of such homomorphisms (as on the prime spectrum of a commutative ring) is also discussed in terms of these new determining structures.
Distinct phenotypes among plasma membrane Ca2+-ATPase knockout mice.

Ca 2+ gradients across the plasma membrane, required for Ca 2+ homeostasis and signaling, are maintained in part by plasma membrane Ca 2+ -ATPase (PMCA) isoforms 1-4. Gene targeting has been used to analyze the functions of PMCA1, PMCA2, and PMCA4 in mice. PMCA1 null mutant embryos die during the preimplantation stage, and loss of a single copy of the PMCA1 gene contributes to apoptosis in vascular smooth muscle. PMCA2 deficiency in sensory hair cells of the inner ear causes deafness and balance defects, most likely by affecting both intracellular Ca 2+ and extracellular Ca 2+ in the endolymph. PMCA2 is required for viability of certain neurons, consistent with a major role in maintenance of intracellular Ca 2+ . Surprisingly, loss of PMCA2 in lactating mammary glands causes a sharp reduction in milk Ca 2+ , consistent with a macrocalcium secretory function. Although PMCA4 is widely expressed and is the most abundant isoform in some tissues, null mutants appear healthy. However, male PMCA4 null mutants are infertile due to a failure of hyperactivated sperm motility resulting from the absence of PMCA4 in the sperm tail, and Ca 2+ signaling in B lymphocytes, involving interactions between PMCA4, CD22, and the tyrosine phosphatase SHP-1, is defective. Studies of bladder smooth muscle from PMCA4 null mutants and PMCA1 heterozygous mice suggest that PMCA1 and PMCA4 play different roles in smooth muscle contractility, with PMCA1 contributing to overall Ca 2+ clearance and PMCA4 being required for carbachol-stimulated contraction. These phenotypes indicate that PMCA1 serves essential housekeeping functions, whereas PMCA4 and particularly PMCA2 serve more specialized physiological functions.
A modified anterior maxillary ostectomy.

Summary Two basic operative approaches for anterior maxillary ostectomy have been used by most surgeons; the Wassmund (1935) and Wunderer (1962) techniques. Both have been clinically and experimentally tested and found to be sound procedures (Bell 1969, Jensen et al. 1976, Sokoloski et al. 1976). The author has developed and used for the last five years a modified surgical procedure for anterior maxillary ostectomy which has some technical advantages. The purpose of this paper is to describe this technique. No significant complications have occurred with this procedure in over eighty cases.
Antisense oligonucleotides targeting malarial aldolase inhibit the asexual erythrocytic stages of Plasmodium falciparum.

Abstract A major obstacle in the global effort to control malaria is the paucity of anti-malarial drugs. This is compounded by the continuing emergence and spread of resistance to old and new anti-malarial drugs in the malarial parasites. Here we describe the anti-malarial effect of phosphorothioate antisense (AS) oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) targeting the aldolase enzyme of Plasmodium falciparum , using the asexual blood stages of the parasite grown in vitro. The blood stages of P. falciparum depend almost entirely on the energy produced by their own glycolysis. Aldolase, the fourth enzyme of the glycolytic pathway, is highly upregulated during the malarial 48-h life cycle. We found that the mRNA of this enzyme can be inhibited, in a sequence specific manner, using AS-ODN to the splice sites on the pre-mRNA of malarial aldolase. At the enzyme level, both specific AS-ODNs for the splice sites, as well as for the translation inititation site on mature mRNA, can inhibit aldolase enzyme activity within the trophozoites of P. falciparum. Furthermore, this downregulation of the malarial aldolase results in a reduction in the production of ATP within the parasite. Finally, the treatment reduces parasitemia. In summary, AS-ODNs targeting the aldolase gene of P. falciparum can interfere with the blood-stage life cycle of this parasite in vitro by inhibiting the expression of the enzyme aldolase which results in decreased malarial glycolysis and energy production. Thus, we conclude that blockade of the expression of malarial glycolytic enzymes using specific AS-ODNs has the potential of a new anti-malarial strategy.
Synthesis and Structure of the Novel 11-Vertex Rhenacarborane Dianion [1,1,1-(CO)3-2-Ph-closo-1,2-ReCB9H9]2- and Its Reactivity toward Cationic Transition Metal Fragments

Treatment of [NEt4][6-Ph-nido-6-CB9H11] in tetrahydrofuran (THF) with BunLi (2 equiv) followed by [ReBr(THF)2(CO)3] gives the title rhenacarborane dianion isolated, by addition of [N(PPh3)2]Cl, as a mixed salt [N(PPh3)2][NEt4][1,1,1-(CO)3-2-Ph-closo-1,2-ReCB9H9], whose structure was confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The closo 11-vertex dianion reacts readily with several cationic transition metal−ligand fragments, affording products with novel structures in which the electrophilic metal groups are attached exo-polyhedrally to the {closo-1,2-ReCB9} cage system by rhenium−metal bonds supported by three-center two-electron B−H⇀M linkages. Species prepared include [1,3-{M(dppe)}-3-μ-H-1,1,1-(CO)3-2-Ph-closo-1,2-ReCB9H8] (M = Ni, Pd, or Pt; dppe = Ph2PCH2CH2PPh2), [N(PPh3)2][1,3,6-{M(CO)3}-3,6-(μ-H)2-1,1,1-(CO)3-2-Ph-closo-1,2-ReCB9H7] (M = Mn or Re), and [1,6-{M(PPh3)}-1,7-{M(PPh3)}-6,7-(μ-H)2-1,1,1-(CO)3-2-Ph-closo-1,2-ReCB9H7] (M = Cu or Au). Of these, the structures of the platinum−rhenium and dicopper−rheni...
The head-direction signal is critical for navigation requiring a cognitive map but not for learning a spatial habit.

Summary Head-direction (HD) cells fire as a function of an animal's directional heading in the horizontal plane during two-dimensional navigational tasks [1]. The information from HD cells is used with place and grid cells to form a spatial representation (cognitive map) of the environment [2, 3]. Previous studies have shown that when rats are inverted (upside down), they have difficulty learning a task that requires them to find an escape hole from one of four entry points but that they can learn it when released from one or two start points [4]. Previous reports also indicate that the HD signal is disrupted when a rat is oriented upside down [5, 6]. Here we monitored HD cell activity in the two-entry-point version of the inverted task and when the rats were released from a novel start point. We found that despite the absence of direction-specific firing in HD cells when inverted, rats could successfully navigate to the escape hole when released from one of two familiar locations by using a habit-associated directional strategy. In the continued absence of normal HD cell activity, inverted rats failed to find the escape hole when started from a novel release point. The results suggest that the HD signal is critical for accurate navigation in situations that require a flexible allocentric cognitive mapping strategy, but not for situations that utilize habit-like associative spatial learning.
Impact of Combination Antimicrobial Therapy on Mortality Risk for Critically Ill Patients with Carbapenem-Resistant Bacteremia

There are limited treatment options for carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative infections. Currently, there are suggestions in the literature that combination therapy should be used, which frequently includes antibiotics to which the causative pathogen demonstrates in vitro resistance. This case-control study evaluated risk factors associated with all-cause mortality rates for critically ill patients with carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteremia. Adult patients who were admitted to an intensive care unit with sepsis and a blood culture positive for Gram-negative bacteria resistant to a carbapenem were included. Patients with polymicrobial, recurrent, or breakthrough infections were excluded. Included patients were classified as survivors (controls) or nonsurvivors (cases) at 30 days after the positive blood culture. Of 302 patients screened, 168 patients were included, of whom 90 patients died (53.6% [cases]) and 78 survived (46.4% [controls]) at 30 days. More survivors received appropriate antibiotics (antibiotics with in vitro activity) than did nonsurvivors (93.6% versus 53.3%; P < 0.01). Combination therapy, defined as multiple appropriate agents given for 48 h or more, was more common among survivors than nonsurvivors (32.1% versus 7.8%; P < 0.01); however, there was no difference in multiple-agent use when in vitro activity was not considered (including combinations with carbapenems) (87.2% versus 80%; P = 0.21). After adjustment for baseline factors with multivariable logistic regression, combination therapy was independently associated with decreased risk of death (odds ratio, 0.19 [95% confidence interval, 0.06 to 0.56]; P < 0.01). These data suggest that combination therapy with multiple agents with in vitro activity is associated with improved survival rates for critically ill patients with carbapenem-resistant Gram-negative bacteremia. However, that association is lost if in vitro activity is not considered.
Rapid Evolution of HIV-1 to Functional CD8+ T Cell Responses in Humanized BLT Mice

The development of mouse/human chimeras through the engraftment of human immune cells and tissues into immunodeficient mice, including the recently described humanized BLT (bone marrow, liver, thymus) mouse model, holds great promise to facilitate the in vivo study of human immune responses. However, little data exist regarding the extent to which cellular immune responses in humanized mice accurately reflect those seen in humans. We infected humanized BLT mice with HIV-1 as a model pathogen and characterized HIV-1-specific immune responses and viral evolution during the acute phase of infection. HIV-1-specific CD8(+) T cell responses in these mice were found to closely resemble those in humans in terms of their specificity, kinetics, and immunodominance. Viral sequence evolution also revealed rapid and highly reproducible escape from these responses, mirroring the adaptations to host immune pressures observed during natural HIV-1 infection. Moreover, mice expressing the protective HLA-B*57 allele exhibited enhanced control of viral replication and restricted the same CD8(+) T cell responses to conserved regions of HIV-1 Gag that are critical to its control of HIV-1 in humans. These data reveal that the humanized BLT mouse model appears to accurately recapitulate human pathogen-specific cellular immunity and the fundamental immunological mechanisms required to control a model human pathogen, aspects critical to the use of a small-animal model for human pathogens.
Visual illusion in lengths of words: an old friend in disguise.

Pairs of words containing the same numbers of letters were found to differ in apparent length if one member of the pair contained all short letters while the other contained some tall letters such as b or l. It was hypothesized that the difference was due to a visual distortion whereby the horizontal component of a word appeared to be shortened when its vertical component was increased.
Papillary Urothelial Neoplasm of Low Malignant Potential: Evolving Terminology and Concepts

Purpose: The most controversial aspect of the new WHO 2004/ISUP classification system is the creation of the PUNLMP diagnostic category. We discuss PUNLMP tumors and the WHO 2004/ISUP classification system with an emphasis on tumor morphology and heterogeneity, recurrence and progression rates, tumor genetics, interobserver variability and the usefulness of biomarkers and molecular diagnostic techniques for grading bladder tumors.Materials and Methods: A literature search using PubMed was performed. All relevant literature concerning PUNLMP and the WHO 2004/ISUP grading system for urothelial neoplasms was reviewed.Results: The new WHO 2004/ISUP classification reflects work in progress. Low malignant potential terminology may not reflect the true biological behavior of these tumors. Additionally, interobserver variability in making a diagnosis of PUNLMP is high despite detailed histological criteria. Urine cytopathology in the context of the WHO 2004/ISUP classification does not appear to effectively discr...
A code provenance management tool for ip-aware software development

In this paper we introduce a code provenance management tool which can track the provenance of source code and generate provenance reports to facilitate best practices for managing intellectual property (IP) throughout the software development lifecycle. We present the IP-aware process supported by the tool and explain how it reduces both the cost and the risk of code IP management. Results from three pilots are analyzed to illustrate the effectiveness of cost and risk reduction.
Nuclear Localization and Formation of β-Catenin–Lymphoid Enhancer Factor 1 Complexes Are Not Sufficient for Activation of Gene Expression

In response to activation of the Wnt signaling pathway, beta-catenin accumulates in the nucleus, where it cooperates with LEF/TCF (for lymphoid enhancer factor and T-cell factor) transcription factors to activate gene expression. The mechanisms by which beta-catenin undergoes this shift in location and participates in activation of gene transcription are unknown. We demonstrate here that beta-catenin can be imported into the nucleus independently of LEF/TCF binding, and it may also be exported from nuclei. We have introduced a small deletion within beta-catenin (Delta19) that disrupts binding to LEF-1, E-cadherin, and APC but not axin. This Delta19 beta-catenin mutant localizes to the nucleus because it may not be efficiently sequestered in the cytoplasm. The nuclear localization of Delta19 definitively demonstrates that the mechanisms by which beta-catenin localizes in the nucleus are completely independent of LEF/TCF factors. beta-Catenin and LEF-1 complexes can activate reporter gene expression in a transformed T-lymphocyte cell line (Jurkat) but not in normal T lymphocytes, even though both factors are nuclear. Thus, localization of both factors to the nucleus is not sufficient for activation of gene expression. Excess beta-catenin can squelch reporter gene activation by LEF-1-beta-catenin complexes but not activation by the transcription factor VP16. Taken together, these data suggest that a third component is necessary for gene activation and that this third component may vary with cell type.
Model-based trade space exploration for near-Earth space missions

We developed a capability for model-based trade space exploration to be used in the conceptual design of Earth-orbiting space missions. We have created a set of reusable software components to model various subsystems and aspects of space missions. Several example mission models were created to test the tools and process. This technique and toolset has demonstrated itself to be valuable for space mission architectural design
Dependence of complex permeabiity and harmonic power generation of a sintered YBa2Cu3O7−δ rod on applied AC and DC magnetic fields

Abstract Systematic experimental studies are reported for the AC permeability and harmonic generation power Pnf in a sintered rod of granular YBa2Cu3O7−δ at 77 K as a unction of simultaneously applied AC and DC magnetic field from 0.01 to several hundred Oe. The separate contributions of the inter- and intragranular supercurrents are quite resolved, enabling the development of a generalized critical state model, which with two components is found to well explain the AC permeability and harmonic generation power as functions of AC and DC field up to the n=9 harmonic. Intergranular currents dominate the behavior for fields less than about 50 Oe; intragranular currents dominate for fields greater than 100 Oe.
Temporal information extraction

Research on information extraction (IE) seeks to distill relational tuples from natural language text, such as the contents of the WWW. Most IE work has focussed on identifying static facts, encoding them as binary relations. This is unfortunate, because the vast majority of facts are fluents, only holding true during an interval of time. It is less helpful to extract PresidentOf(Bill-Clinton, USA) without the temporal scope 1/20/93 - 1/20/01. This paper presents TIE, a novel, information-extraction system, which distills facts from text while inducing as much temporal information as possible. In addition to recognizing temporal relations between times and events, TIE performs global inference, enforcing transitivity to bound the start and ending times for each event. We introduce the notion of temporal entropy as a way to evaluate the performance of temporal IE systems and present experiments showing that TIE outperforms three alternative approaches.
Induction of Anergy by Antibody Blockade of TCR in Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein-Specific Cells

Previous studies have found that a 95% reduction in TCR expression does not adversely affect response to foreign Ags, indicating that T cells have an excess of TCR for Ag recognition. Because self-reactive T cells may have low affinity for peptide:MHC, we investigated whether myelin-reactive T cells require these excess TCR for optimal response. To test this concept, mAb were used to effectively reduce the TCR of Valpha3.2 and Vbeta11 TCR transgenic mice (referred to as 2D2). After masking the TCR with either continuous or prepulsed anti-Valpha3.2 Ab, 2D2 cells were immediately stimulated with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)(35-55). These cells have a dramatic Ab dose-dependent reduction in proliferation, with a small reduction in TCR expression leading to a 50% reduction in proliferation in vitro. Additionally, 2D2 cells, treated with anti-Valpha3.2 Ab and peptide for 7 days, were re-stimulated with MOG and continue to have a dose-dependent reduction in proliferation. TCR quantitation identified the same amount of TCR on the Ab/peptide treatment compared with the peptide-only control. These results point out that the combination of reduced TCR and peptide challenge leads to a phenotypic change resulting in T cell anergy. Importantly, adoptive transfer of these anergic T cells upon autoimmune disease induction had a marked reduction in disease severity compared with untreated MOG-specific CD4(+) T cells, which had significant autoimmune disease manifested by optic neuritis and death. Thus, reduction of TCR expression may provide a potential therapy for self-reactive T cells involved in autoimmune diseases through the induction of anergy.
Situational Meanings of Japanese Social Deixis: The Mixed Use of the Masu and Plain Forms

This article explores indexical relations between honorific forms and their situational meanings by examining the Japanese addressee honorific masu form and its nonhonorific counterpart, the plain form. Arguing against a simple view of these forms as speech-level markers, the article proposes that both addressee-deference and speaker-focused self-presentation are indexical values of the masu form; the plain form is associated with an absence of these values. By examining two contrastive social situations, the article investigates ways in which co-occurring contextual features foreground one value over the other.
Three-dimensional kinematic gait analysis of Doberman Pinschers with and without cervical spondylomyelopathy.

Background The optimal treatment of cervical spondylomyelopathy (CSM) is controversial, with the owner's and clinician's perception of gait improvement often being used as outcome measures. These methods are subjective and suffer from observer bias. Objectives To establish kinematic gait parameters utilizing digital motion capture in normal Doberman Pinschers and compare them with CSM-affected Dobermans. Animals Nineteen Doberman Pinschers; 10 clinically normal and 9 with CSM. Methods All dogs were enrolled prospectively and fitted with a Lycra® body suit, and motion capture was performed and used to reconstruct a 3-D stick diagram representation of each dog based on 32 reflective markers, from which several parameters were measured. These included stride duration, length, and height; maximal and minimal spinal angles; elbow and stifle flexion and extension; and maximum and minimum distances between the thoracic and pelvic limbs. A random-effects linear regression model was used to compare parameters between groups. Results Significant differences between groups included smaller minimum (mean = 116 mm; P = .024) and maximum (mean = 184 mm; P = .001) distance between the thoracic limbs in CSM-affected dogs. Additionally, thoracic limb stride duration was also smaller (P = .009) in CSM-affected dogs (mean = 0.7 seconds) when compared with normal dogs (mean = 0.8 seconds). In the pelvic limbs, the average stifle flexion (mean = 100°; P = .048) and extension (mean = 136°; P = .009), as well as number of strides (mean = 2.7 strides; P = .033) were different between groups. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Our findings suggest that computerized gait analysis reveals more consistent kinematic differences in the thoracic limbs, which can be used as future objective outcome measures.
Global patterns and vigor of ventilated hydrothermal circulation through young seafloor

Article history: Using an updated global heat flow dataset with >14000 oceanic measurements, we revise the estimated global power deficit due to ventilated hydrothermal circulation. This study differs from previous estimates by taking into account (1) non-Gaussian statistics, (2) an improved seafloor age model, (3) a new plate cooling model calibrated directly to heat flow, and (4) the effect of sediment cover on the heat flow deficit and ventilated cutoff age. We obtain the maximum heat flow deficit (difference between predicted and observed) when the data are separated by seafloor areas with <400 m and ! 400 m of sediment cover. The estimated power deficit (integrated heat flow deficit with respect to area) for areas of thin (<400 m) sediment cover is 7.8 TW and for areas of thick (! 400 m) is 0.2 TW. The total power deficit, 8.0 TW with 50% of estimates falling between 5.0 and 10.0 TW, represents a ! 30% reduction in magnitude compared with previous heat flow and fluid flow based estimates. Regions with thick, ! 400 m, sediment cover experience half the heat flow deficit for one-third of the duration (25 Ma) of regions with thin sediment cover (75 Ma). Based on this study, vigorous fluid exchange between the oceans and seafloor redistributes ! 30% of heat lost through young oceanic crust.
Eventual Intersection for Sequences of Lévy Processes

Consider the events $\{F_n \cap \bigcup_{k=1}^{n-1} F_k = \emptyset\}$, $n \in N$, where $(F_n)_{n=1}^\infty$ is an i.i.d. sequence of stationary random subsets of a compact group $G$. A plausible conjecture is that these events will not occur infinitely often with positive probability if $P\{F_i \cap F_j \ne \emptyset \mid F_j\} > 0$ a.s. for $i \ne j$. We present a counterexample to show that this condition is not sufficient, and give one that is. The sufficient condition always holds when $F_n = \{X_t^n : 0 \le t \le T\}$ is the range of a Levy process $X^n$ on the $d$-dimensional torus with uniformly distributed initial position and $P\{\exists 0 \le s, t \le T : X_s^i = X_t^j \} > 0$ for $i \ne j$. We also establish an analogous result for the sequence of graphs $\{(t,X_t^n) : 0 \le t \le T\}$.
How the Choice of Wrapper Learner and Performance Metric Affects Subset Evaluation

Due to the widespread problem of high dimensionality(datasets with many features/independent attributes), feature selection has become an important research topic in many areas of machine learning. One form of feature selection, wrapper-based subset evaluation, has been the focus of a moderate amount of research, because its use of classification learners to find optimal feature subsets has the potential to remove redundant features and find feature subsets which directly achieve the goal of improving classification performance. However, while the choice of learner to use within the wrapper framework has previously been studied, no paper has thoroughly investigated the role of the performance metric used within the wrapper process. Especially with imbalanced data (data where one class predominates over other classes), traditional metrics such as accuracy can give a misleading view of how many instances from each class are mislabeled. While it seems intuitive that metrics which take balance into account will affect the chosen features, no previous study has investigated this effect directly. In the present work, we test five different learners and five different performance metrics within the wrapper framework and use a newly-proposed variant of the Tanimoto Index to evaluate the similarity among the different choices of learner and metric as all other factors are held constant, using two datasets from the domain of social network profile mining. We find that while the Best Arithmetic Mean and Best Geometric Mean metrics (both of which find the stated means of True Positive Rate and True Negative Rate) are somewhat similar, they still are quite distinct, and no other metrics are particularly similar to one another. The five learners were also found to produce extremely dissimilar feature subsets. Thus, we show that the choice of both learner and metric has a major effect on which features are selected by through wrapper-based feature selection.
Formal Verification and Automated Testing for Diagnostic and Monitoring Systems

are combined. Formal methods achieve this by using symbolic methods of analysis, and it is the computational complexity of these symbolic methods that limits and complicates their application. Recently, new methods and tools for symbolic analysis have been developed that are far more ecient and eective in practice than earlier methods. These include solvers for “satisfiability modulo theories” (SMT solvers) and methods for using these to analyze discrete and hybrid (i.e., mixed discrete and continuous) systems. In addition, new ways to apply these capabilities have been developed, such as their use for test generation, and controller synthesis, in addition to analysis. In this paper, we outline these new methods, and describe a project to extend and apply them in combination to issues in verification and testing of diagnostic and monitoring systems.
Management of residual shunts after initial percutaneous patent foramen ovale closure: a single center experience with immediate and long-term follow-up.

Background: Moderate-to-large residual shunts following percutaneous patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure are clinically important and associated with recurrent neuroembolic events. However, their management has not been clearly established in clinical practice. We report our experience in patients of these patients with a prior history of cryptogenic stroke and/or transient ischemic attack (TIA). Methods: All patients undergoing percutaneous PFO closure were routinely screened at six-months for residual shunts using transthoracic 2D echocardiography with antecubital administration of agitated saline contrast and color flow Doppler. Patients with evidence of moderate-to-large residual shunts were selected to undergo reintervention with shunt closure. Postreintervention follow-up was performed at 24-hr, 30 days, and every six months thereafter. Clinical predictors of the moderate-to-large residual shunts, and the feasibility, safety and long-term efficacy of percutaneous residual shunt closure using a second device implant were examined. Results: Between 1995 and 2007, a total of 424 patients underwent PFO closure. Of these, 5% (21/424) had moderate-to-large residual shunts. Baseline characteristics among patients with moderate-to-large residual shunts and those with only none or small defects (n = 403) were similar. Multivariate analysis identified the 24-hr postprocedure shunt as the only independent predictor of residual shunting at six months. Of the 21 study patients with moderate-to-large residual shunt (mean age, 47 ± 14), one underwent successful elective surgical repair, while the remaining 20 underwent transcatheter closure using a second device. The technique was successful in 95% (19/20), and all but one patient had complete shunt closure at six months of their percutaneous reintervention. We report no deaths, recurrent strokes or TIAs during the long-term mean follow-up period of 2.9 years. Conclusions: Our study suggests that in patients with moderate-to-large residual PFO shunts, percutaneous reintervention using a second device implant is safe and effective. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Walking may be related to less vascular stiffness in the Activity Counseling Trial (ACT)

Background The ACT was a clinical trial of various patient education and counseling interventions to increase physical activity in sedentary primary care populations. It provided the opportunity to measure the effect of increasing physical activity on aortic pulse wave velocity (APWV), a measure of vascular stiffness, in a relatively healthy middle-aged population. The effects of the interventions, as well as the impact of walking and correlates such as older age and maximal oxygen uptake (V˙o 2 max), on APWV were assessed. Methods The participants in this study were a subset of the 874 persons recruited for the ACT. Information about self-reported physical activity and disease status was collected at baseline (464 persons), 6- month (528 persons), and 24-month (555 persons) intervals. Physiological measures included APWV, systolic blood pressure, and other correlates. Results In multivariate analyses, the various treatment arms did not have a significant effect on APWV. However, walking in hours per day was associated with slower APWV times or less stiffness ( P = .03). This was significant for women and consistent but not significant for men. In addition, age, clinic site, race, systolic blood pressure, and V˙o 2 max were independently associated with APWV. Conclusions Increased walking frequency over a 24-month period was predictive of reduced vascular stiffness in ACT. The more significant result for walking frequency in women than in men might be caused by the presence of a low V˙o 2 max or physical activity threshold for an effect of walking on APWV, which most women achieved but most men had surpassed at the start of the study. Although needing confirmation because this was a secondary analysis, modest physical activity may have a beneficial effect on large vessel structure.
A cell attachment peptide from human C-reactive protein.

The serum acute phase reactant, C-reactive protein (CRP), is selectively deposited at sites of tissue damage and degraded by neutrophils into biologically active peptides. A synthetic peptide corresponding to residues 27-38 present in each of the five identical subuints of CRP mediated cell attachment activity in vitro. Although the CRP-derived peptide contains a Tuftsin (TKPR)-like sequence at its amino-terminus, the Tuftsin tetrapeptide itself, as well as several synthetic peptides of CRP, failed to inhibit the cell-attachment activity to the CRP-derived peptide. Peptides containing the sequences responsible for the cell attachment activity of the extracellular matrix proteins, fibronectin (Fn) and laminin, failed to inhibit the CRP-derived peptide cell attachment activity. However the addition of the RGDS and RGDSPASSLP cell-binding peptides of Fn to cells enhanced attachment to the active peptide from CRP. In the converse experiment, the cell-binding peptide of CRP did not influence cell attachment to Fn or laminin. A peptide corresponding to the same stretch of amino acid residues within the homologous Pentraxin, serum amyloid P-component (SAP), displayed nearly identical cell- attachment activity. Several monoclonal antibodies (mAb) specific for the CRP-derived cell-binding peptide neutralized its cell-attachment activity. These mAbs reacted with intact CRP and neutralized the cell-binding activity of CRP itself. The findings suggest that a peptide with cell-binding activity could be generated from the breakdown of the CRP and then contribute directly to cellular events leading to tissue repair. © 1992 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
An event-guided approach to reducing voltage noise in processors

Supply voltage fluctuations that result from inductive noise are increasingly troublesome in modern microprocessors. A voltage "emergency", i.e., a swing beyond tolerable operating margins, jeopardizes the safe and correct operation of the processor. Techniques aimed at reducing power consumption, e.g., by clock gating or by reducing nominal supply voltage, exacerbate this noise problem, requiring ever-wider operating margins. We propose an event-guided, adaptive method for avoiding voltage emergencies, which exploits the fact that most emergencies are correlated with unique microarchitectural events, such as cache misses or the pipeline flushes that follow branch mispredictions. Using checkpoint and rollback to handle unavoidable emergencies, our method adapts dynamically by learning to trigger avoidance mechanisms when emergency-prone events recur. After tightening supply voltage margins to increase clock frequency and accounting for all costs, the net result is a performance improvement of 8% across a suite of fifteen SPEC CPU2000 benchmarks.
The Wine Vault And Bistro: A Case Study

This case study details the creation and evolution of an entrepreneurial effort started by a 7 year old girl and continued by her entire family. What began as a young girl’s way to earn money without selling her toys has evolved into a successful restaurant and wine bar called The Wine Vault & Bistro, tucked away in the South Mission Hills neighborhood of San Diego, CA. This case has been prepared as the basis for classroom discussion and is not intended to illustrate either effective or ineffective business practices. Sample discussion questions are included at the conclusion of the case itself.
Leo: a profile-driven dynamic optimization framework for GPU applications

Parallel architectures like GPUs are a tantalizing compute fabric for performance-hungry developers. While GPUs enable order-of-magnitude performance increases in many data-parallel application domains, writing efficient codes that can actually manifest those increases is a non-trivial endeavor, typically requiring developers to exercise specialized architectural features exposed directly in the programming model. Achieving good performance on GPUs involves effort-intensive tuning, typically requiring the programmer to manually evaluate multiple code versions in search of an optimal combination of problem decomposition with architecture- and runtime-specific parameters. For developers struggling to apply GPUs to more general-purpose computing problems, the introduction of irregular data structures and access patterns serves only to exacerbate these challenges, and only increases the level of effort required. This paper proposes to automate much of this effort using dynamic instrumentation to inform dynamic, profile-driven optimizations. In this vision, the programmer expresses the application using higher-level front-end programming abstractions such as Dandelion [18], allowing the system, rather than the programmer, to explore the implementation and optimization space. We argue that such a system is both feasible and urgently needed. We present the design for such a framework, called Leo. For a range of benchmarks, we demonstrate that a system implementing our design can achieve from 1.12 to 27x speedup in kernel runtimes, which translates to 7-40% improvement for end-to-end performance.
Flippers in the Housing Market: An Application of Trade Networks

Flippers in the real estate market play an influential role in the pricing strategy. I analyze the contribution of flippers as an application of trade networks where flippers act as a ‘‘dealer’’ type of middlemen. I work with a specific dataset for two neighborhoods with distinct characteristics in Atlanta, Georgia. I compare and contrast the flippers' returns using different methods if the holding period is three years or less. The findings show that the suburban area was more profitable for flippers possibly due to the higher quality of homes in suburban Atlanta.
Two Cases Studies of Fifth Grade Students Reasoning About Levers

The purpose of this teaching experiment was to give fifth grade students activities using simple machines to see how they would use proportional reasoning to mathematize those activities. We chose a series of activities using two types of levers, because of their experiences with seesaws and because this combined mathematics with science. We hoped that they would develop models of the lever. We also hoped that they would recognize the inverse multiplicative relationship between distance and weight. The students did demonstrate evidence of preliminary models about the relationship between weights and distances on a lever. On the final day, the students, in a thought experiment, were able to discover the multiplicative relationship between distance and weight, but they did not realize the inverse nature of this relationship.
Context Effects in the Measurement of Subjective Workload: Prolonged Exposure to the Same or Different Contexts

The present study investigated the effect of context on the subjective measurement of workload using the continuous memory task. Twelve levels of task difficulty were manipulated either between-subjects or within-subjects. Participants performed the continuous memory task for 48 trials under either a single difficulty level (between-subjects context) or under all 12 difficulty levels (within-subjects context). Workload was measured using ModSWAT— a technique that uses the sum of the SWAT dimensions to form the workload composite rather than the standard conjoint measurement procedure. Results indicated no difference in performance as a function of context but that context affected ratings of subjective workload. Under the single context condition, participants rated the workload of the easiest conditions higher than if the same conditions occurred within context of other more difficult conditions. Results are discussed in terms of their implication for practical assessment of subjective workload.
Rehydration of Accidentally Desiccated Pathology Specimens

A problem which arises in all laboratories on occa­ sion is accidental desiccation of tissue specimens in the course of processing. Frequently the error is due to overloading of the processing basket by inexperi­ enced personnel, with the result that the specimens on top are not immersed in the processing solutions, or are actually knocked out of the basket. Occa­ sionally there is a mechanical malfunction of auto­ matic processing equipment. In either case, the result is reduction of the tissue to small dried pellets, which must be rehydrated for paraffin embedding and sectioning. In the past, we have attempted to do this by immersing the speci­ mens in water for 30 minutes, followed by Bouin's solution and rapid processing on the Ultra-Technicon, with variable but generally unsatisfactory results. I have been engaged, in cooperation with the Uni­ versity of Pennsylvania's Department of Anthropology, in a paleopathological study of mummified tissues. 1- 3 It was suggested that I apply the rehydrating solution used for mummies to these inadvertently mummified pathological specimens. This report demonstrates the successful application of this technique of paleo­ pathology to a current laboratory problem.
FRS Module Design and Its Collaborative Relationship

Online data replication is the basic part of disaster-tolerate system.This paper discusses the system architecture and the module architecture of the FreeBSD platform data Replication System(FRS),and presents how these modules cooperate.It designs and implements a FRS which embeds general replication device driver layer.The system has a strong independence,flexibility and versatility,and can achieve replication on data block level while maintain independent on specific storage devices and logical volume manager.
Study on logging features method of hydrocarbon reservoir in complex reservoir space

The carbonate reservoirs in northern Tarim Basin are highly heterogeneous.It's hard to identify fissures and caves by using conventional logging.By integrating resistivity image logging techniques,logging information can be well used to qualitatively analyze and quantitatively evaluate carbonate reservoirs.And it can accurately determine fracture feature, permeability,as well as development of primary and secondary pores in carbonate reservoir.Meanwhile the application results of explanation are testified by well testing.This paper presents a study of explanation method and effectiveness of reservoir parameter of buried hill carbonate reservoirs in Lunnan reservoir of Tarim Basin,which overcome influence of horizontal detection depth and heterogeneity by combining conventional logging and imaging logging information.Through analysis on property of heterogeneity reservoir and fracture distribution,the accuracy of logging explanation in carbonate reservoirs is increased,finally resulting in correct evaluation on carbonate reservoirs.
Detrusor hyperreflexia: the effect of posture and pelvic floor activity.

AbstractDetrusor hyperreflexia is described in patients with neurological disorders, bladder outflow obstruction, persistent enuresis and in female incontinent patients with no obvious neurological or urological disease. Postural changes were present in 60 per cent of the patients and in 45 per cent of the patients examined reflex relaxation of the pelvic floor occurred with the uninhibited detrusor contractions.