cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Second Language Perception of Mandarin Vowels and Tones.

This study examines the discrimination of Mandarin vowels and tones by native English speakers with varying amounts of Mandarin experience, aiming to investigate the relative difficulty of these two types of sounds for English speakers at different learning stages, and the source of their difficulty. Seventeen advanced learners of Mandarin (Ex group), eighteen beginning learners (InEx group), and eighteen English speakers naive to Mandarin (Naive group) participated in an AXB discrimination task. The stimuli were two Mandarin vowel contrasts, /li-ly/ and /lu-ly/, and two tonal contrasts, T1-T4 and T2-T3. The predicted difficulty for each contrast was hypothesized based on the assimilation of these sounds to English reported in previous work. The results showed that the Naive group was more accurate with vowel contrasts than with tones, suggesting that non-tonal language speakers without any Mandarin training are less sensitive to tonal distinction than to vowels. The two learner groups, on the other hand, were highly accurate with all contrasts except for the T2-T3 pair, and achieved significantly higher accuracy than the Naive group on /li-ly/ and T1-T4. This lends support to the view that experience in Mandarin improves English speakers' sensitivity to tonal distinction, helping them discriminate some tones as accurately as vowels. However, all three groups achieved low accuracy in discriminating T2 and T3, suggesting that this contrast may be inherently difficult and resistant to improvement. This study shows that various factors in addition to the native language experience may affect the perception of non-native vowels and tones.
A hybrid approach for fatigue detection and quantification

Lane departure warning system, Adaptive cruise control, and Pedestrian detection are widely used in automobile systems. The developing technologies to understand and solve the problem of fatigue are quite challenging in real time automated systems. Building dependable system is difficult as we have to build road-sense into such systems, which is quite trivial for human cognitive system but difficult for an automated system. In this paper, we have proposed an unsupervised hybrid approach to quantify driver's fatigue level. We have implemented the fatigue monitoring system using modified Viola Jones algorithm, Ada-boost training method and template matching using correlation coefficient. Unintentional lane departures are also due to driver's fatigue. So we propose a non-invasive hybrid method referred to as FQS (Fatigue Quantifying System) that integrates fatigue detection system along with lane departure feature. This hybrid system aims to detect the correlation between lane departures and driver fatigue levels. Our solution combines both visual and road features to detect the drowsiness of driver to achieve more precision and reduce the false alarm rate. Preliminary results show that the proposed system has high accuracy of 80% and can quantify the fatigue levels very effectively.
Quantification of Noise Sources for Amperometric Measurement of Quantal Exocytosis Using Ultramicroelectrodes

We are developing transparent multi-electrochemical electrode arrays on microchips in order to automate measurement of quantal transmitter exocytosis from individual neuroendocrine cells. Features of interest in amperometric recordings of quantal exocytosis can be 2 μm) for insulating the non-working areas of the electrodes also does not affect the PSD. We conclude that the standard deviation of current noise increases ∼ linearly with recording bandwidth, and microchip electrodes can achieve the same noise performance as carbon-fiber microelectrodes.
Rising sea levels and sinking property values: Hurricane Sandy and New York’s housing market

Abstract This paper analyzes the effects of hurricane Sandy on the New York City housing market using a large parcel-level dataset that contains all housing sales for 2003–2017. The dataset also contains geo-coded FEMA data on which building structures were damaged by the hurricane and to what degree. Our estimates provide robust evidence of a persistent negative impact on flood zone housing values. We show the gradual emergence of a price penalty among flood zone properties that were not damaged by Sandy, reaching 8% in year 2017 and showing no signs of recovery. In contrast, damaged properties suffered a large immediate drop in value following the storm (17–22%), followed by a partial recovery and convergence toward a similar penalty as non-damaged properties. The partial recovery in the prices of damaged properties likely reflects their gradual restoration. However, the persistent price reduction affecting all flood-zone properties is more consistent with a learning mechanism. Hurricane Sandy may have increased the perceived risk of large-scale flooding episodes in that area.
Vietoris’s Inequalities and Hypergeometric Series

The inequalities of Vietoris have been a good source of problems and new results. Some of these are outlined, and a hypergeometric sum suggested by one of the problems is evaluted.
Debt as a Countercyclical Fiscal Tool

This chapter builds on existing literature, in particular Robert Barro’s “transitory income and government expenditure” theory, and formulates a model for the countercyclical use of long-term full faith and credit debt by state governments to finance infrastructure. The model incorporates long-term debt into budgetary policy, bringing into consideration debt capacity, purposes and security of debt, as well as equity issues. The proposition is to retire debt in boom years in order to preserve debt capacity and reduce borrowing costs and then incur debt at a lower interest rate in bust years in order to help maintain state government’s service provision and pave the way for recovery. The chapter conducts several empirical tests. First, do states in aggregate use debt pro- or countercyclically? Second, what factors determine the cyclical patterns in states’ use of debt? Third, will the proposed optimal path of debt issue and retirement be applicable? And what may be the effects of this proposition? My results show that overall states do not tend to use debt against the economic cycle; however, I obtain some weak evidence that at least some states have adopted countercyclical debt policies. Finally, I simulate the effects of the proposed optimal debt policy with New York state; calibration shows that such a policy could have rendered the state a much better situation to encounter the Great Recession. Findings and results of this study will provide timely insight into this important issue to scholars and policy makers.
Connections: Facilitating Social Supports for Students with Deaf-Blindness in General Education Classrooms:

This article describes a three-component package to facilitate social supports for students who were deaf-blind in general education classes and discusses the rationale for and importance of its us...
Demonstration of Separation Control Using Dielectric Barrier Discharge Plasma Actuators.

Active flow control of boundary-layer separation using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma actuators is studied experimentally. Separation is induced on a flat plate installed in a closed-circuit wind tunnel by a shaped insert on the opposite wall. The flow conditions represent flow over the suction surface of a modern low-pressure turbine airfoil. The Reynolds number, based on wetted plate length and nominal exit velocity, is varied from 50,000 to 300,000, covering cruise to takeoff conditions. Low (0.2%) and high (2.5%) free-stream turbulence intensities are set using passive grids. A spanwise-oriented phased-array plasma actuator, fabricated on a printed circuit board, is surface-flush-mounted upstream of the separation point and can provide forcing in a wide frequency range. Deliberately-detuned applied-voltage frequencies driving each electrode pair generated traveling waves with a forcing frequency that can excite the separated shear-layer instabilities, thus providing a control mechanism. Static surface pressure measurements and hot-wire anemometry of the base and controlled flows are performed and indicate that the DBD plasma actuator is an effective device for separation control.
Glucocorticoid-induced osteoporosis in systemic lupus erythematosus:

Improvement in survival of systemic lupus erythematosus has been brought about with new advancement in treatment. However, glucocorticoids remain the sole cornerstone and as patients live longer, t...
Understanding the implications of the “vaping epidemic” among adolescents and young adults: A call for action

In the past 5 years, the use of nicotine delivered through electronic cigarettes ("e-cigarettes") has sky-rocketed among adolescents and young adults. E-cigarettes, with their high nicotine content, appealing flavors, low costs, wide availability, and discreet designs threaten 5 decades of progress in the fight against tobacco use. Aside from the increased risk of subsequent use of traditional cigarettes, marijuana, opioids, and other illicit drugs, building evidence indicates that e-cigarette use also exposes youth to several acute and long-term health risks that greatly outweigh the as-yet unfounded potential benefits from the use of e-cigarettes as a smoking reduction or cessation tool in this age group. We discuss some of the latest research on e-cigarettes, highlighting risks and harms associated with their use in adolescents and young adults, and suggest opportunities for action, including the enforcement of age, sales and marketing limitations, and concerted research and public health efforts to help curb what has become a new nicotine epidemic among youth.
Learning Restricted Boltzmann Machines with Arbitrary External Fields.

We study the problem of learning graphical models with latent variables. We give the first algorithm for learning locally consistent (ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic) Restricted Boltzmann Machines (or RBMs) with {\em arbitrary} external fields. Our algorithm has optimal dependence on dimension in the sample complexity and run time however it suffers from a sub-optimal dependency on the underlying parameters of the RBM. Prior results have been established only for {\em ferromagnetic} RBMs with {\em consistent} external fields (signs must be same)\cite{bresler2018learning}. The proposed algorithm strongly relies on the concavity of magnetization which does not hold in our setting. We show the following key structural property: even in the presence of arbitrary external field, for any two observed nodes that share a common latent neighbor, the covariance is high. This enables us to design a simple greedy algorithm that maximizes covariance to iteratively build the neighborhood of each vertex.
Lumbosacral plexiform neurofibroma: a rare case in an adult without neurofibromatosis type I

Plexiform neurofibromas are an uncommon variant of neurofibromas that are described as being essentially pathognomonic of neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). Plexiform neurofibromas in the absence of NF1 are extremely rare. We present the case of a 38-year-old woman with a large multilobulated lumbosacral mass extending into the pelvis and proximal thigh. Histopathology of a CT-guided biopsy of the mass revealed it to be a neurofibroma. The imaging findings were consistent with a plexiform subtype. Further imaging and clinical workup showed that the patient had no other identifiable neurofibromas and did not meet criteria for the diagnosis of NF1.
A Machine Learning Model for the Systematic Identification of Wild-Type Transthyretin Cardiomyopathy

Introduction Wild-type transthyretin (TTR) amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTRwt)—a life-threatening but now treatable disease—is often misdiagnosed as more common etiologies of heart failure (HF). As a strategy to identify undiagnosed patients, we sought to develop and validate a machine learning (ML) model to identify ATTRwt patients using medical claims data. Methods We developed an ML model for the identification of ATTRwt using ICD codes from US medical claims data sourced from IQVIA (n =∼300 million patients, up to 10 years of medical history). An ATTRwt cohort was derived using an ICD code for ATTRwt and compared to a random sample of HF patients matched by age, gender, and medical histories [cohort 1a (ATTRwt): N=373, cohort 1b (HF): N=373]. The classification model employed the Random Forest algorithm to learn from data from 80% of the patients (training set) and tested the learnings on the remaining 20% of patients (test set). Model validation was performed by predicting ATTRwt in 3 additional cohorts: ATTRwt and non-ATTRwt HF patients in electronic medical record (EMR) data [cohort 2a (ATTRwt): N=100, cohort 2b (HF): N=100], cardiac amyloidosis (CA) and HF patients in medical claims data [cohort 3a (CA): N=4,485, cohort 3b (HF): N=4,485, and CA and HF patients in EMR data [cohort 4a (CA): N=1,789, cohort 4b (HF): N=1,789]. EMR data was sourced from Optum (n= 88 million US patients, up to 10 years of medical history). The CA cohort comprised patients with organ-specific amyloidosis and HF diagnoses. Results The model delivered robust performance in correctly predicting ATTRwt and HF patients with sensitivity/specificity/accuracy of 94/94/91%, AUC 0.97 (derivation cohort 1, test set). External validation was also successful: cohort 2, 96/95/88%; cohort 3, 64/72/77%; and cohort 4, 75/76/80%. Model output revealed key clinical features associated with ATTRwt patients: pericardial disease (OR 11.8 CI 5.3-30.1), primary intrinsic cardiomyopathy (OR 6.1 CI 4.4-8.5), carpal tunnel (OR 5.7 CI 4.3-11.8), diastolic HF (OR 5.3 CI 3.8-7.4), atrial fibrillation (OR 4.9 CI 3.4-7.2), RBBB (OR 4.5 CI 2.5-5.6), synovitis (OR 3.9 CI 2.4-6.8), pleural effusion (OR 2.7 CI 2.0-3.7), osteoarthrosis (OR 2.5 CI 1.8-3.5), lumbar spinal stenosis (OR 2.1 CI 1.5-3.1), chronic kidney disease (OR 2.1 CI 1.5-2.8), and senile cataract (OR 2.0 CI 1.5-2.8). Conclusion Our findings from a robust ML analysis confirm the clinical profile of ATTRwt patients consistent with published literature and provide additional novel insights to aid in identifying undiagnosed patients. This is the first ML approach that provides a systematic framework to identify ATTRwt patients with a high degree of accuracy among large patient-level databases.
SL-BioDP: Multi-Cancer Interactive Tool for Prediction of Synthetic Lethality and Response to Cancer Treatment.

Synthetic lethality exploits the phenomenon that a mutation in a cancer gene is often associated with new vulnerability which can be uniquely targeted therapeutically, leading to a significant increase in favorable outcome. DNA damage and survival pathways are among the most commonly mutated networks in human cancers. Recent data suggest that synthetic lethal interactions between a tumor defect and a DNA repair pathway can be used to preferentially kill tumor cells. We recently published a method, DiscoverSL, using multi-omic cancer data, that can predict synthetic lethal interactions of potential clinical relevance. Here, we apply the generality of our models in a comprehensive web tool called Synthetic Lethality Bio Discovery Portal (SL-BioDP) and extend the cancer types to 18 cancer genome atlas cohorts. SL-BioDP enables a data-driven computational approach to predict synthetic lethal interactions from hallmark cancer pathways by mining cancer’s genomic and chemical interactions. Our tool provides queries and visualizations for exploring potentially targetable synthetic lethal interactions, shows Kaplan–Meier plots of clinical relevance, and provides in silico validation using short hairpin RNA (shRNA) and drug efficacy data. Our method would thus shed light on mechanisms of synthetic lethal interactions and lead to the discovery of novel anticancer drugs.
After the Flood

In a substantially altered world, when sea-level rise has swallowed the Sundarbans and made cities such as Kolkata, New York and Bangkok uninhabitable, when readers and museum-goers turn to the art...
Is high sensitivity always desirable for a grating-based differential phase contrast imaging system?

PURPOSE In grating-based x-ray differential phase contrast (DPC) imaging, the measured signal amplitude of the phase shift induced by an image object is proportional to the so-called system sensitivity. Therefore, to achieve a better signal-to-noise (SNR) for improved imaging performance, it is generally believed that one should increase the system sensitivity by reducing the period of the analyzer grating or increasing the distance between the phase grating and analyzer grating. The purpose of this work is to theoretically and experimentally demonstrate that there is an optimal system sensitivity to attain the highest SNR for a given task provided that the standard phase-stepping acquisition and phase retrieval methods are used. When system sensitivity goes beyond this optimal value, SNR decreases and the imaging performance deteriorates. METHODS Due to the fundamental fact that the measured phase signal is a cyclic variable, the phase wrapping effect is inevitable in DPC imaging when the system sensitivity increases. The phase wrapping effect appears in both signal and noise measurements. The effect in the signal measurement is manifested in the so-called signal statistical bias and such effect often impacts the accuracy of the measurement. The phase wrapping effect also appears in the noise variance measurement and impacts the precision of the measurement. A thorough theoretical analysis was performed in this work to demonstrate the quantitative impacts of phase wrapping on both signal bias and noise variance and thus on the actual system SNR. The joint effect of phase wrapping in both the signal bias and noise variance yields an optimal system sensitivity to achieve the highest SNR. Both extensive numerical simulation studies and experimental studies were performed to validate the theoretical analysis. RESULTS Both theoretical analysis and experimental studies show that the SNR of the DPC signal is not always proportional to the sensitivity due to the cyclic nature of the signal and the phase wrapping effect. For a given refraction angle and exposure level, there exists an optimal sensitivity factor that maximizes the SNR, beyond which, increasing the sensitivity will decrease the SNR. CONCLUSIONS Increase of system sensitivity does not always improve x-ray DPC imaging performance provided that the standard phase-stepping acquisition and phase retrieval methods are used.
How Computational Experiments Can Improve Our Understanding of the Genetic Architecture of Common Human Diseases

Susceptibility to common human diseases such as cancer is influenced by many genetic and environmental factors that work together in a complex manner. The state of the art is to perform a genome-wi...
Analyzing pre-positioning within a disrupted bulk petroleum supply chain

This paper examines the modeling of disruption events within a bulk petroleum supply chain through the use of an object-oriented simulation library. We describe how the library models disruption events and their effects on supply chain operations. This includes how to specify disruptions, mitigation strategies and metrics that can be used to assess the impact of the disruption. The modeling is illustrated via an analysis of a supply chain involving DLA Energy’s bulk petroleum supply chain as impacted by a category 4 hurricane scenario. The effectiveness of pre-positioning of inventory within the supply chain is illustrated.
“They look at us like junkies”: influences of drug use stigma on the healthcare engagement of people who inject drugs in New York City

People who inject drugs (PWID) are a medically and socially vulnerable population with a high incidence of overdose, mental illness, and infections like HIV and hepatitis C. Existing literature describes social and economic correlations to increased health risk, including stigma. Injection drug use stigma has been identified as a major contributor to healthcare disparities for PWID. However, data on this topic, particularly in terms of the interface between enacted, anticipated, and internalized stigma, is still limited. To fill this gap, we examined perspectives from PWID whose stigmatizing experiences impacted their views of the healthcare system and syringe service programs (SSPs) and influenced their decisions regarding future medical care. Semi-structured interviews conducted with 32 self-identified PWID in New York City. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Interview transcripts were coded using a grounded theory approach by three trained coders and key themes were identified as they emerged. A total of 25 participants (78.1%) reported at least one instance of stigma related to healthcare system engagement. Twenty-three participants (71.9%) reported some form of enacted stigma with healthcare, 19 participants (59.4%) described anticipated stigma with healthcare, and 20 participants (62.5%) reported positive experiences at SSPs. Participants attributed healthcare stigma to their drug injection use status and overwhelmingly felt distrustful of, and frustrated with, medical providers and other healthcare staff at hospitals and local clinics. PWID did not report internalized stigma, in part due to the availability of non-stigmatizing medical care at SSPs. Stigmatizing experiences of PWID in formal healthcare settings contributed to negative attitudes toward seeking healthcare in the future. Many participants describe SSPs as accessible sites to receive high-quality medical care, which may curb the manifestation of internalized stigma derived from negative experiences in the broader healthcare system. Our findings align with those reported in the literature and reveal the potentially important role of SSPs. With the goal of limiting stigmatizing interactions and their consequences on PWID health, we recommend that future research include explorations of mechanisms by which PWID make decisions in stigmatizing healthcare settings, as well as improving medical care availability at SSPs.
Buried treasure or Ill-gotten spoils: the ethics of data mining and learning analytics in online instruction

This paper considers the practical applications of the article, Ethical Oversight of Student Data in Learning Analytics: A Typology Derived from a Cross-continental, Cross-institutional Perspective by Willis et al. (Educ Technol Res Dev 64: 881–901, 2016). Students engaging in online learning leave behind vast quantities of data. In 2020, the rapid shift to online learning during the global pandemic allowed virtual data collection to outpace procedures and policies that promote ethical analysis. The mere availability of data does not confer ethical collection of data. Further, analysis of data under the assumption of learning outcomes does not necessarily ensure justice or learning for students. This article offers possible applications of the heuristic by Willis et al. (Educ Technol Res Dev 64: 881–901, 2016) for ethical learning analytics in order to mitigate harm to students. It extends their work by suggesting educators consider the racialized encoding of data themselves, and argues that every act of surveillance during the pandemic creates norms for future surveillance.
American Association of Clinical Endocrinology Disease State Clinical Review on the Evaluation and Management of Adrenocortical Carcinoma in an Adult: a Practical Approach.

ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of this Disease State Clinical Review is to provide a practical approach to patients with newly diagnosed adrenocortical carcinoma, as well as to follow-up and management of patients with persistent or recurrent disease. Methods: This is a case-based clinical review. The provided recommendations are based on evidence available from randomized prospective clinical studies, cohort studies, cross-sectional and case-based studies, and expert opinions. Results: Adrenocortical carcinoma is a rare malignancy, often with poor outcomes. For any patient with an adrenal mass suspicious for adrenocortical carcinoma, the approach should include prompt evaluation with detailed history and physical exam, imaging, and biochemical adrenal hormone assessment. In addition to adrenal-focused imaging, patients should be evaluated with chest-abdomen-pelvis cross-sectional imaging to define the initial therapy plan. Patients with potentially resectable disease limited to the adrenal gland should undergo en bloc open surgery by an expert surgeon. For patients presenting with advanced or recurrent disease, a multidisciplinary approach considering curative repeat surgery, local control with surgery, radiation therapy or radiofrequency ablation, or systemic therapy with mitotane and/or cytotoxic chemotherapy is recommended. Conclusion: As most health care providers will rarely encounter a patient with adrenocortical carcinoma, we recommend that patients with suspected adrenocortical carcinoma be evaluated by an expert multidisciplinary team which includes clinicians with expertise in adrenal tumors, including endocrinologists, oncologists, surgeons, radiation oncologists, pathologists, geneticists, and radiologists. We recommend that patients in remote locations be followed by the local health care provider in collaboration with a multidisciplinary team at an expert adrenal tumor program. Abbreviations: ACC = adrenocortical carcinoma; ACTH = adrenocorticotropic hormone; BRACC = borderline resectable adrenocortical carcinoma; CT = computed tomography; DHEAS = dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate; EDP = etoposide, doxorubicin, cisplatin; FDG = 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose; FNA = fine-needle aspiration; HU = Hounsfield units; IVC = inferior vena cava; LFS = Li-Fraumeni syndrome; MEN1 = multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1; MRI = magnetic resonance imaging; OAC = oncocytic adrenocortical carcinoma; PC = palliative care; PET = positron emission tomography
Feasibility and Impact of the Combined Application of Coronary CT Angiography With the HEART Pathway in Patients With Suspected Acute Coronary Syndrome.

BACKGROUND This study examines the feasibility and utility of integrating coronary computed tomography angiography and the HEART Pathway into a novel accelerated diagnostic protocol-called HEART-CT-and assesses its impact as an optional interactive decision support tool (smart form) in the electronic health record. METHODS This was a retrospective observational study performed in 2 adult emergency departments (ED) among patients evaluated for suspected acute coronary syndrome. Primary outcomes included the rate of discharge from the ED following HEART-CT Smart Form use, 30-day major adverse cardiac events (MACE), and ED length of stay (LOS). Hypothesis-generating outcomes included the rate of Smart Form use by ED providers and whether adhering to the HEART-CT recommendations was associated with improved outcomes. RESULTS The study included 672 subjects, 78.1% of whom were discharged from the ED. HEART-CT identified 76.7% of patients with increased risk HEAR scores as safe for discharge. No patients identified as low risk by HEART-CT had MACE within 30 days. Total mean ED LOS was 4.6 hours. ED providers used the HEART-CT smart form in 19.7% of eligible patients. ED providers who followed the HEART-CT recommendations had 3.41 times higher odds of ED discharging patients with increased risk HEAR scores than nonadherent providers (95% CI, 2.20-5.27). CONCLUSIONS HEART-CT reclassified a large proportion of patients as safe for discharge, maintained a high sensitivity for detecting 30-day MACE, and had an acceptable ED LOS. Future studies should test the extent to which more automated clinical decision support improves provider adoption and clinical outcomes of HEART-CT.
Outcomes in Heart Transplant (HT) in Patients Receiving Inotropes Following UNOS Heart Allocation Policy Changes

Purpose The 2018 UNOS Heart Allocation policy changes aimed to improve stratification in patients receiving heart transplant. Patients receiving inotropes who were classified as status 1A were re-classified as status 3 following the changes. We sought to assess the effect of the 2018 UNOS Heart Allocation policy changes on patients receiving inotropes. Methods 1569 patients who required inotropes received HT in the year before and after the UNOS policy changes. Pre- (n=831) and post-policy (n=738) cohorts were identified using the UNOS registry. Baseline characteristics were compared using standard statistical analysis. 180-day outcomes were evaluated using Kaplan Meier survival analysis as well as univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazards modeling. Results Baseline characteristics were similar for both groups regarding age, gender, ethnicity, diabetes status, smoking history, non-transplant cardiac surgery history, ventilator use, serum creatinine, PA mean pressure, and cardiac output but differed in IABP use at transplant (pre: 10%, post: 48.5%, p Conclusion UNOS policy changes were not shown to affect HT survival 180 days for patients receiving inotropes prior to transplant, however mean ischemic time and days on waiting list were increased, as well as IABP use. Further research is warranted to determine if these factors will affect patient mortality moving forward.
Micromachined RF voltage-controlled oscillator with phase noise characterization

An RF voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) is implemented employing an on-chip, high-Q micromachined variable capacitor and three-dimensional (3D) coil inductor. The micromachined variable capacitor achieves a 15% tuning range with a nominal 2 pF capacitance and a Q value above 60 at 1 GHz. The 3D inductor minimizes the substrate loss and achieves a Q of 16 at 1 GHz. Both passive components are fabricated on silicon substrates and thus amenable to monolithic integration with standard IC processes. The prototype VCO exhibits a phase noise of -136 dBc/Hz at 3 MHz offset frequency from the carrier, suitable for various wireless communication applications, in particular GSM. The VCO is tunable from 855 MHz to 863 MHz under 3V, limited by the test setup. The micromachined VCO exhibits an additional phase noise caused by mechanical-thermal vibration of the suspended plate, which can potentially be dominant within the low offset frequency. This noise source can be suppressed by placing the oscillator in a vacuum environment.
Accommodation of Amino Acid Insertions in an α-Helix of T4 Lysozyme: Structural and Thermodynamic Analysis

One to four alanines were inserted by site-directed mutagenesis at three different locations within the alpha-helix comprising residues 39 to 50 in bacteriophage T4 lysozyme. All insertion mutants were correctly folded and catalytically active although the insertions led to a thermal destabilization by 1.1 to 4.2 kcal/mol when compared to wild-type. Variants that restored part of the loss in stability associated with the initial alanine insertions could be found by randomizing the inserted amino acids. In selected cases, directed mutagenesis of adjacent residues was also used to regain stability. Structural information obtained from X-ray crystallography and/or 2D-NMR for 10 different variants showed two distinct ways in which the protein responded to the amino acid insertions: (1) The inserted amino acids were incorporated into the helix by replacing preceding wild-type amino acids and causing a shift in register towards the N terminus. As a consequence, wild-type amino acids were translocated from the helix into the preceding loop. (2) Insertions caused a "looping out" within the alpha-helix. In this case the perturbation was confined to a minimal region in the immediate vicinity of the insertion. No change in the length of the helix was detected in either case. The structural response appears to be determined by the maintenance of the hydrophobic interface between the helix and the rest of the protein. This interface remains essentially intact in all variant structures. The results exemplify the plasticity and the adaptability of the protein structure which allows the incorporation of additional amino acids into a secondary structure element without large structural perturbations, as long as vital internal interactions are preserved. They also suggest that loops in proteins related by evolution can vary in length not only because of insertions within the loops themselves but also as a consequence of insertions within neighboring secondary structure elements.
The Early Diagenesis of Organic Matter: Bacterial Activity

Bacteria are the primary agents of the early diagenesis of organic matter (OM) in marine sediments. The reasons for their predominant roles are straightforward: (1) they occur abundantly and universally throughout all marine sediments; (2) they can respire, reproduce, and, therefore, use OM more rapidly than any other organisms; (3) they possess enzymes and enzyme systems (in many cases, unique to the prokaryotic kingdom) that make them extraordinarily versatile in their nutritional requirements and abilities to alter a wide variety of particulate and dissolved organic (and inorganic) materials; and (4) they readily enter into complex associations with each other and with higher organisms in ways that produce powerful degradative capabilities beyond those of a single organism in isolation.
Insulin and Glucagon Secretion in vivo and its Neural Control

The sections in this article are: 1 Anatomy of the Endocrine Pancreas 1.1 Islet Cell Types 1.2 Vascular Supply 1.3 Innervation 2 Acute Regulation of Secretion 2.1 Secretion During Feeding 2.2 Secretion During Hypoglycemia 3 Chronic Adaptation of Secretion 3.1 Fasting 3.2 Obesity 3.3 Pregnancy 3.4 Partial β-Cell Loss or Dysfunction 3.5 Human Diabetes Mellitus 4 Summary and Conclusion
Quality of care problems among medicare and medicaid patients

The purpose of this study was to characterize quality of care problems among Medicare and Medicaid inpatients in New York State. The patients selected for this study comprised 1991 and 1992 Medicare and all 1992 Medicaid inpatients in whom quality of care problems with actual or potential adverse effects were found. The patients in this study were drawn from public, proprietary, voluntary and teaching hospitals. A total of 1000 quality of care problems with either actual or potential adverse effects were found in 706 Medicare patients. Two hundred and seventy-five (275) quality of care problems with actual or potential adverse effects were found in 154 Medicaid patients. Premature death occurred in 53 (7.4%) of the 706 Medicare and in 42 (27.2%) of the 154 Medicaid patients. Treatment problems and monitoring failures accounted for the majority of quality of care problems with actual or potential adverse effects for both Medicare (63.0%) and Medicaid (75.7%) patients. Among Medicare patients, the treatment of infections and antibiotic use, fluid and electrolyte management, and inappropriate drug use were among the leading causes of quality of care problems. Attending physicians were associated with the majority of Medicare quality of care problems while house staff and attending physicians were associated with the majority of those among Medicaid patients. The results of this study indicate that there are several leading causes of quality of care problems among Medicare and Medicaid patients. Treatment problems and monitoring failures together comprise the majority of such problems. Among Medicare patients, it was found that most quality of care problems were associated with the treatment of infections and antibiotic use, fluid and electrolyte management, and inappropriate drug use. Most quality of care problems among Medicaid patients were associated with these categories as well as with labor and delivery problems, and poor discharge planning. The results of this study reflect the peer-review process in which providers are given an opportunity to respond to physicianreviewer decisions about the presence of actual or potential adverse effects. Such a process, which permits the presentation of additional data and information by providers, produces fewer final adverse outcome determinations than a process uniquely based on chart review. The quality of care problems observed in this study are amenable to focused educational interventions. Such remedial interventions could yield significant improvements in the quality of care for all patients.
Rolling Contact Between Rigid Cylinder and Semi-Infinite Elastic Body With Sliding and Adhesion

Based on a hybrid superposition of an indentation contact and a rolling contact an analytical procedure is developed to evaluate the effects of surface adhesion during steady-state rolling contact, whereby two analytic solutions have been obtained. The first solution is a Hertz-type rolling contact between a rigid cylinder and a plane strain semi-infinite elastic substrate with finite adhesion, which is a JKR-type rolling contact but without singular adhesive traction at the edges of the contact zone. The second solution is of a rolling contact with JKR singular adhesive traction. The theoretical solution indicates that, when surface adhesion exists, the friction resistance can be significant provided the external normal force is small. In addition to the conventional friction coefficient, the ratio between friction resistance force and normal force, this paper suggests an "adhesion friction coefficient" which is defined as the ratio between friction resistance force and the sum of the normal force and a function of maximum adhesive traction per unit area, elastic constant of the substrate, and contact area that is characterized by the curvature of the roller surface.
The Vec-Permutation Matrix, the Vec Operator and Kronecker Products: A Review

The vec-permutation matrix I m,n is defined by the equation vec A m × n = I m,n vecA′, Where vec is the vec operator such that vecA is the vector of columns of A stacked one under the other. The variety of definitions, names and notations for I m,n are discussed, and its properties are developed by simple proofs in contrast to certain lengthy proofs in the literature that are based on descriptive definitions. For example, the role of I m,n in reversing the order of Kronecker products is succinctly derived using the vec operator. The matrix M m,n is introduced as M m,n = I m,n M; it is the matrix having as rows,every nth row starting with the first, then every nth row starting with the second, and so on. Special cases of M m,n are discussed.
A method for the direct measurement of mRNA in discrete regions of mammalian brain.

Abstract A rapid and nearly quantitative method for the direct analysis of steady-state mRNA levels in microgram quantities of frozen mammalian brain is described. Briefly, tissue punches 0.5–1.0 mm in diameter were sampled from 250-μm-thick cryostat sections of rat brain (approximately 50–200 μg tissue). The samples were homogenized in 50 μl of a denaturing gel loading buffer and applied directly to a 2.2 m formaldehydeagarose gel for electrophoresis and subsequent RNA blot analysis. The method is extremely rapid, results in excellent recovery of intact RNA, and allows the direct assay of mRNA levels in discrete subregions of the mammalian brain.
Effect of 2-Speed Geared Manual Wheelchair Propulsion on Shoulder Pain and Function

Finley MA, Rodgers MM. Effect of 2-speed geared manual wheelchair propulsion on shoulder pain and function. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2007;88:1622-7. Objective: To investigate the impact of a manual 2-gear drive wheelchair wheel (MAGICWheels) on shoulder pain and function in manual wheelchair users. Design: A single-group, repeated-measures pre- and post- design with baseline and retention. Setting: General community. Participants: Full-time manual wheelchair users (N17) currently experiencing shoulder pain (mean age, 4614y; wheelchair use, 1510y). Intervention: Five-month trial using a 2-gear wheelchair wheel. Main Outcomes Measures: The Wheelchair Users Shoul- der Pain Index (WUSPI), Wheelchair Users Functional Assess- ment (WUFA), and timed hill climb test with rating of per- ceived exertion (RPE). Results: There was significant reduction in shoulder pain after the intervention at week 2 (P.004) through week 16 (P.015). The difference was not found at week 20; however, 1 participant reported an increase in pain from unrelated factors during week 20. Change from baseline was calculated without this subject's data; there was a significant reduction in shoulder pain (P.003). There was no difference in WUFA after using the 2-gear wheel (P.06). Hill climb time was longer when using the 2-gear wheel (P.01), but no difference in the RPE (P.13) resulted. Shoulder pain during the 4-week retention phase showed a trend toward increasing, as indicated by in- creased WUSPI scores. There was not a significant percentage increase, however, in comparison with the final week of using the MAGICWheels (P.05). Conclusions: There were pain reductions 2 weeks after using the MAGICWheels, indicating a rapid response to the intervention. These findings indicate the potential for shoulder pain reduction with the use of a manual drive wheel during mobility, even in highly functional manual wheelchair users.
Analysis of Spectroscopic Imaging Data by Fuzzy C-Means Clustering

A novel method of analyzing spectroscopic imaging data is presented. A fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm has been applied to the analysis of near-infrared spectroscopic imaging data acquired with the combination of a CCD camera and a liquid crystal tunable filter. The use of fuzzy C-means clustering dramatically increased the information obtained from near-IR spectroscopic images and allowed for the detection of small subregions of the image that contained novel and unanticipated spectral features, without the need for a priori knowledge of the chemical composition of the sample. Two illustrative samples were analyzed, one comprised of four different inks printed on label paper and the other containing indocyanine green and human blood patches. The regions containing the different constituents were clearly demarcated and their mean spectra determined. The mean spectra of the second sample were shown to match those obtained using a scanning near-IR spectrometer. In addition to probing the spatial and spec...
α-Synuclein induces both positive mean curvature and negative Gaussian curvature in membranes.

Using a combination of X-ray scattering, fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, coarse-grained molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and potential of mean force calculations, we have explored the mem...
Computational aspects of elliptic curves and modular forms

The ultimate motivation for much of the study of Number Theory is the solution of Diophantine Equations -- finding integer solutions to systems of equations. Elliptic curves comprise a large, and important class of such equations. Throughout the history of their study Elliptic Curves have always had a strong algorithmic component. In the early 1960's Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer developed systematic algorithms to automate a generalization of a procedure called "descent" which went back to Fermat. The data they obtained was instrumental in formulating their famous conjecture, which is now one of the Clay Mathematical Institute's Millenium prizes.
Evaluation of the independent component analysis algorithm for face recognition under varying conditions

Face Recognition has been a major topic of research for many years and several approaches have been developed, among which the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) algorithm using Eigenfaces is the most popular. Eigenfaces optimally extract a reduced basis set that minimizes reconstruction error for the face class prototypes. The method is based on second-order pixel statistics and does not address higher-order statistical dependencies such as relationships among three or more pixels. Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is a recently developed linear transformation method for finding suitable representations of multivariate data, such that the components of the representation are as statistically independent as possible. The face image class prototypes in ICA are considered to be a linear-mixture of some unknown set of basis images that are assumed to be statistically independent, in the sense that the pixel values of one basis image cannot be predicted from that of another. This research evaluates the performance of ICA for face recognition under varying conditions like change of expression, change in illumination and partial occlusion. We compare the results with that of standard PCA, employing the Yale face database for the experiments and the results show that ICA is better under certain conditions.
Photon absorbed fractions for cylindrical geometry: Homogeneous nonradioactive cylinder containing a homogeneous cylindrical distribution of activity

The purpose of this study was to calculate photon absorbed fractions in tissue surrounding a radioactive source where both the source and the surrounding tissue are assumed to have cylindrical geometry. Specifically, we treated two cases: the case of a cylindrical source of homogeneous activity placed in air, and second, the case of a cylindrical source of homogeneous activity placed in a cylindrical nonradioactive absorbing material. In this study we offer an analytical solution to these problems followed by numerical integration. The computer program allowed for very general calculations, e.g., different tissues, different geometrical setups. Tables of absorbed fractions have been developed for commonly used radionuclide energies and tissue-equivalent material. A comparison between our results and the results of other related studies showed the advantages and limitations of this approach.
Bridging the gap between acquisitions and public services: One approach

Abstract Rather than perpetuating the misunderstandings between public services and technical services librarians, a series of statements were written, setting forth the internal agreements, policies, and general procedures that existed within an academic library. The statements have also been a useful tool in the orientation of new staff members.
Dissections of p : q rectangles

We determine all simple perfect dissections of p:q rectangles into at most twelve p:q rectangular elements. A computer search shows there are only eight such dissections, two of order 10, three of order 11, and three of order 12.
Effect of Intense Rolling and Folding on the Phase Stability of Amorphous Al-Y-Fe Alloys

A systematic examination of the effect of intense deformation on the crystallization behavior of amorphous Al85Y10Fe5, Al86Y9Fe5, and Al88Y5Fe7 alloys demonstrated a strong composition dependence of the crystallization reactions at true strain levels of about −500 pct. Primary crystallization occurs during the deformation of the Al88Y5Fe7 alloy, but for the Al86Y9Fe5 and Al85Y10Fe5 alloys, deformation-induced crystallization is not observed at a true strain of about −500 pct. At strain levels of the order of −1200 pct, the Al85Y10Fe5 alloy develops regions with primary Al, which is not observed during thermal processing of the same amorphous alloy without deformation. In addition, at strain levels of −1200 pct, a deformed Al88Y7Fe5 sample displays strong microstructural heterogeneities. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis showed the presence of nanocrystal dispersions adjacent to shear bands with a total width of about half a micrometer. The results demonstrate that the phase selection during deformation-induced crystallization can deviate from the thermally-induced phase selection. Novel phases and microstructures can thus be obtained from the deformation processing of amorphous alloys.
Analytical techniques in government science policy

Abstract The need is felt by governments and others that their policies towards science and technology should be improved by using good analytical and conceptual tools. This article summarises the results of a study undertaken at OECD into how useful some OECD countries have found these formal techniques, and caution is advised over their uncritical adoption.