cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Group Theory: Matrix Representation and Character Tables

This chapter builds upon the knowledge gained from previous chapters. It deals with more complex point groups and construction of character tables. The growth of group theory is remarkable and astonishing. It has developed into a powerful and influential area of study, not only for mathematicians but also with application to other major fields of sciences. Group theory extracts the crucial characteristics of diverse situations in which some type of transformation or symmetry appears. This chapter deals with representation of groups, reducible and irreducible representations, and character tables. Furthermore, it illustrates the application of quantum mechanics and molecular orbital correlation to group theory. Finally, the chapter introduces the way in which molecular spectroscopy involves a study of internal molecular motions such as vibrations and the importance of symmetry in these considerations.
Chapter 8 – Nanotechnology safety in the construction and infrastructure industries

The importance of construction and infrastructures cannot be undermined. Buildings, roads, bridges, dams, transportation systems, and other infrastructures have brought the nations of the world together in many ways and made it a much smaller place. This chapter mainly talks about the world’s construction industry and the advancement of new materials and technologies in the field of nanotechnology. It also discusses the shift toward sustainable development in the construction industry and how this development is applied by construction companies. Nanotechnology is pushing construction and infrastructure industries to use more efficient nanomaterials in order to make “smarter” building structures and infrastructures. However, the role of various nanomaterials in the construction industry has been debated. The widespread trend of using nanomaterials has been discouraged because of the biological and environmental health and safety impacts of using nanomaterials in construction and infrastructures. Governmental agencies are currently playing a major role in establishing rules and regulations that govern proper and efficient handling and use of nanomaterials. This study provides a look at the current situation and offers suggestions for continuing on our path toward sustainable development in the field.
Accelerating $k$ -Medians Clustering Using a Novel 4T-4R RRAM Cell

Clustering is a crucial tool for analyzing data in virtually every scientific and engineering discipline. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has recently announced “the seven giants of statistical data analysis” in which data clustering plays a central role. This report also emphasizes that more scalable solutions are required to enable time and space clustering for the future large-scale data analyses. As a result, hardware and software innovations that can significantly improve energy efficiency and performance of the data clustering techniques are necessary to make the future large-scale data analysis practical. This paper proposes a novel mechanism for computing bit-serial medians within resistive RAM arrays with no need to read out the operands from memory cells. We propose a novel four-transistor, four-memristor memory cell that enables in situ median computation within the data arrays. (If necessary, the proposed cell could be used as four ordinary one-transistor, one-memristor memory cells to store four bits of information.) The proposed hardware is used to accelerate a data clustering library using breast cancer samples, indoor localization, and the U.S. Census data sets, as well as two applications using ${k}$ -means clustering. Our simulation results for the library indicate an average performance improvement of $15.5\times $ and an energy reduction of $28.5\times $ over a baseline CPU system. Also, we observe an overall speedup of $5.8\times $ with an energy improvement of $14.1\times $ over a baseline processing-in-memory accelerator. For the ${k}$ -means applications, we observe speedups of $45.7\times $ and $1.5\times $ with respective energy improvements of $49.5\times $ and $1.3\times $ as compared with the CPU baseline.
Quantum electrodynamics of optical metasurfaces

Recent theoretical and experimental development of optical metasurfaces has been able to address the major issues including high losses, cost-ineffective fabrication, and challenging integration that hamper the full-scale development of the metasurface technology. Future progress utilizing the quantum nature of light is likely to result in ultrathin metasurfaces with increased operational bandwidths and reduced losses. Here we discuss the simplest case of ultrathin plasmonic films as an example to show how quantum electrodynamics and understanding of quantum-dimensional effects therein can help uncover new functionalities of ultrathin metallic nanostructures.
A dynamic allosteric pathway underlies Rad50 ABC ATPase function in DNA repair

The Mre11-Rad50 protein complex is an initial responder to sites of DNA double strand breaks. Many studies have shown that ATP binding to Rad50 causes global changes to the Mre11-Rad50 structure, which are important for DNA repair functions. Here we used methyl-based NMR spectroscopy on a series of mutants to describe a dynamic allosteric pathway within Rad50. Mutations result in changes in the side chain methyl group chemical environment that are correlated with altered nanosecond timescale dynamics. We also observe striking relationships between the magnitude of chemical shift perturbations and Rad50 and Mre11 activities. Together, these data suggest an equilibrium between a ground state and an “active” dimerization competent state of Rad50 that has locally altered structure and dynamics and is poised for ATP-induced dimerization and eventual ATP hydrolysis. Thus, this sparsely populated intermediate is critical for Mre11-Rad50-directed DNA double strand break repair.
Cytokine activation of killer cells in mycobacterial immunity.

Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare (MAI) is an ubiquitous soil contaminant that rarely causes disseminated disease in adults, regardless of immunological status. In AIDS patients, however, this microorganism invades virtually every tissue and organ, and most conventional chemotherapeutic agents are usually ineffective against MAI. We report here that monocytes, in which MAI has established an intracellular parasitic stage, appear to be under the control of natural killer (NK) cells. Autologous large granular lymphocytes (LGL), purified from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), were capable of efficiently lysing MAI-infected monocytes In a 5 hr 51Cr-release assay. More importantly, interleukin 2 (IL-2) was able to activate the LGL to a high degree of lysis of infected monocytes. Additionally, 3 to 4 days of incubation of LGL with MAI resulted in the induction of killer cells capable of killing bacterially-infected monocytes, as well as tumor cells. Northern blot analysis of RNA from MAI-stimulated LGL revealed specific messages for both IL-2 receptor proteins (p55 and p70). Thus, MAI can directly activate killer cells, which may therefore play a role in containment of MAI infection by lysis of parasitized monocytes before the bacteria can multiply and spread to other sites.
Carbon storage along a latitudinal transect in Alaska

Global warming is anticipated to have a significant impact on high-latitude ecosystems which store large amounts of C in their soils and have a predominance of permafrost. The purpose of this study was to estimate the total C storage of different ecosystems along a north-south transect in Alaska. Soil pedons from three Alaska climate zones were studied. These zones were the arctic slope with continuous permafrost and vegetation predominantly tussock tundra and coastal marsh, Interior Alaska with discontinuous permafrost and vegetation predominantly spruce forest on the upland and tundra or bog in the lowland, and Southern Alaska free of permafrost with the vegetation predominantly mixed hardwood and conifers with moss bogs. Soil samples were taken from the representative ecosystems of these zones for carbon storage analysis. In the Arctic and Interior Alaska zones, many soils are cryoturbated and as a result the horizons are warped and often broken. These conditions made it impractical to use the common method for estimating C storage that is used for soils with roughly parallel horizons. For this study the linear proportion of each horizon in the cryoturbated pedon was digitized by using a Geographic Information System (GIS) and the irregular horizons were collapsed to form a simulated profile with parallel horizons. The carbon content of each pedon was then calculated based on the linear proportions. These carbon stores based on the whole soil (1 m deep) approach were compared to other available estimates from the literature. Calculations for pedons from selected ecosystems in Alaska ranged from 169 MgC/ha to 1292 MgC/ha. The organic carbon storage of the arctic coastal marsh pedon amounted to 692 MgC/ha, and that of the arctic tundra pedon amounted to 314 and 599 MgC/ha. The carbon storage of interior forest pedons was 169 and 787 MgC/ha, and the associated organic soil stored nearly 1300 MgC/ha. The carbon storage in the mixed forest and coastal forest pedons was 240 and 437 MgC/ha, respectively. The bog associated with the mixed and coastal forest stored 1260 MgC/ha. Soils with the thickest organic layers were bogs associated with the tundra and boreal forest. These soils had the largest carbon storage. Carbon stores estimated from the whole pedon approach are 30 to 100% higher than those from the literature from the same zones. These data suggest that the global carbon storage estimates based in part on literature values from the N. latitudes, may be underestimated.
Use of fluticasone in acute symptomatic pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Background Inhaled corticosteroids have been used with variable success in sarcoidosis. The role of the inhaled corticosteroid fluticasone in symptomatic pulmonary patients was studied. Methods Twenty-two patients at five institutions who had been given an initial dose of oral corticosteroids within the prior four weeks were enrolled in a randomized double blind trial of inhaled fluticasone. An algorithm for the dosage of prednisone including rules for reducing dose was developed and applied at all centers. Results Of the 21 patients seen for more than one visit, 10 received fluticasone and 11 placebo. There was no significant difference in the improvement of vital capacity or average daily dose of prednisone for the fluticasone versus placebo. Eight of ten patients taking fluticasone had improvement in cough, while only 6 of 11 patients on placebo had improved cough despite taking oral corticosteroids (p = 0.36, N.S.). The algorithm for decreasing corticosteroid dosage was exactly applied in over 80% of patient visits and oral corticosteroids were used throughout most of the year of treatment. Patients registered higher complaints regarding increased appetite and polyuria when on ten mg or more prednisone a day. There was no clinical difference in the rate of toxicity for the fluticasone versus placebo group. Conclusion A standard approach to tapering oral corticosteroids was followed in over 80% of patient visits. Oral corticosteroids were associated with significant complaints, while inhaled corticosteroids were well tolerated.
Sparse, Flexible and Efficient Modeling using L 1 Regularization

We consider the generic regularized optimization problem \( \hat w \)(λ) = arg minw ∑ k=1 m L(y k , x k T w)+λJ(w). We derive a general characterization of the properties of (loss L, penalty J) pairs which give piecewise linear coefficient paths. Such pairs allow us to efficiently generate the full regularized coefficient paths.We illustrate how we can use our results to build robust, efficient and adaptable modeling tools.
Piloting POGIL in an introductory Python programming course

For the several years the presenter has been integrating an introduction to the Python programming language with the use of the executable flowchart software Visual Logic in an introductory programming course that is largely comprised of first-year students. The course has been taught in a traditional lecture/lab style. The first half of the course allowed students to learn the fundamental of programming using Visual Logic and the second part of the course focused on implementing these structures in Python. In general, it seemed easier for the students to learn the Python language after learning Visual Logic.
Low Cost Autonomous Battery Replacement System for Quadrotor Small Unmanned Aerial Systems (sUAS) using 3D Printing Components

Quadrotor sUAS have a limited battery life, which limits the flight time of missions. Many other researchers have proposed battery replacement as a method of extending the flight time of an sUAS. However, the battery swapping methods in these previous designs were very complex. In this paper, a simpler method for battery swapping is proposed, which makes it easier to both attach and remove the battery from the quadrotor. In addition, all these designs can be implemented with 3D printers, reducing the cost for production. The battery swapping station consists of 4 components: main replacement portion, male and female funnel, modified battery sleeve, and rotating battery chassis. Experimentation showed that the system was able to replace a battery autonomously, using only sensor inputs. Tests on the battery case proved that the electric contact was reliable and the quadrotor sUAS could be armed and operated using the modified battery. However further experimentation is needed to successfully integrate the male funnel with an sUAS for field operations.
Quasiclassical Trajectory Analysis of Nitrogen for High-Temperature Chemical Kinetics

Understanding gas–phase chemical kinetics is important for modeling hypersonic flows. This paper discusses quasiclassical trajectory analysis, in which gas–phase interactions are simulated using ab...
Analysis of Simulated Imagery for Real-Time Vision-Based Automated Aerial Refueling

This Paper presents a three-dimensional graphical simulation (virtual world) that replicates a complete aerial refueling scenario including the tanker, the tanker’s stereo vision system, and an app...
THE EFFECTS OF REDUCED WETLANDS AND STORAGE BASINS ON THE STABILITY OF A SMALL CONNECTICUT ESTUARY

Abstract: Alewife Cove is a small (17 ha) receiving estuary for an 802-ha watershed system in southeast Connecticut. Over the past hundred years, urban development has destroyed or functionally separated 50% of the system's former fresh watercourses and inland wetlands and 40% and 75% respectively of its estuarine basins and marshes. The estuary, no longer buffered against sporadic runoff, undergoes drastic salinity changes following rainstorms, causing the mixing zone to oscillate over fully one-half of its total area. Beneath this zone, flocculent silt-clay sediments (80–85% water) cover the bottom in a layer exceeding 2 m in places. Groundwater intrusion causes salinity gradients in the sediments which can exceed those in the water column, and sediment pH can be reduced to 3.5. The infaunal community lacks spatial or temporal integrity. Small opportunists ( Capitella, Streblospio ) dominate, representing an early sere. Biomass is low. Epibenthic forms are limited. Macrodetrital (>0.5 mm) fragments, mostly freshwater and terrestrial material, outweigh living biomass by 10 1 -10 3 and contribute to the conditions inhibiting macroinvertebrate processors large enough to handle them. This situation perpetuates organic loading to the area which sustains the stress. Depressed community structure beneath the mixing zone thus appears to result from a combination of factors which can be linked to the altered pattern of freshwater flow (flocculation, salinity stress, low pH and organic loadings). The proportionate influence of each of these factors, and also the extent to which other small estuaries are similarly affected await further study. These findings suggest that the maintenance of watershed storage capacity to buffer adequately against sporadic runoff is vital to maintaining healthy estuaries downstream from urbanized areas.
Shielding Material Comparison for Electromagnetic Interference Mitigation for the Air Pump Motor of Personal Dust Monitors

Since 2016, electromagnetic interference (EMI) of personal dust monitors (PDMs) with magnetic proximity detection systems (PDSs) has been observed in underground coal mines. The EMI causes the magnetic field measurements of a PDS to change, which, in turn, alters the calculated location of the miner relative to the machine. Any altered location calculation can potentially cause the PDS to fail to warn a worker who is at an unsafe distance from the machine, arousing a serious concern on safety hazard caused by EMI in underground mines. The search for EMI mitigation strategies led to the development and use of large shielding pouches and boxes to hold the entire PDM to reduce its magnetic emission. Research on these pouches and boxes found that although they were able to reduce the emitted radiation from the PDM, they also disturbed the magnetic field of the PDS, affecting its performance. Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have focused on shielding internal PDM components rather than shielding the entire PDM. The PDM air pump motor is one of the PDM components that has been identified as a major source of electromagnetic radiation and has been selected for further study and tests. The measurements show that a small copper or aluminum foil enclosure can effectively reduce the magnetic emission of the motor by between 50 and 85% at 73 kHz. This study compares the test results of the air pump motor with various cost-effective shielding materials. The data provided in this paper can serve as a reference for shielding enclosure design of the PDM air pump motor to reduce its electromagnetic emission as one form of EMI mitigation strategy.
Trends in High- and Low-Value Cardiovascular Diagnostic Testing in Fee-for-Service Medicare, 2000-2016.

Importance Owing to a rapid increase in rates of diagnostic cardiovascular testing in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services implemented a series of payment changes intended to reduce overall spending on fee-for-service testing. Whether guideline-concordant testing has been subsequently affected is unknown to date. Objective To determine whether changes in overall rates of use of diagnostic cardiovascular tests were associated with changes in high-value testing recommended by guidelines and low-value testing that is expected to provide minimal benefits. Design, Setting, and Participants This retrospective cohort study assessed a national 5% random sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65 to 95 years from January 1, 1999, through December 31, 2016. Data were analyzed from February 15, 2018, through August 15, 2019. Exposures Eligibility to receive high-value testing (assessment of left ventricular systolic function among patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction or heart failure) and low-value testing (stress testing before low-risk noncardiac surgery and routine stress testing within 2 years of coronary revascularization not associated with acute care visits). Main Outcomes and Measures Age- and sex-adjusted annual rates of overall, high-value, and low-value diagnostic cardiovascular testing. Results Mean (SD) age was similar over time (75.57 [7.32] years in 2000-2003; 74.82 [7.79] years in 2012-2016); the proportion of women slightly declined over time (63.23% in 2000 to 2003; 57.27% in 2012 to 2016). The rate of overall diagnostic cardiovascular testing per 1000 patient-years among the 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries increased from 275 in 2000 to 359 in 2008 (P Conclusions and Relevance Rates of overall and low-value diagnostic cardiovascular testing appear to have declined considerably and rates of high-value testing have increased slightly. Payment changes intended to reduce spending on overall testing may not have adversely affected testing recommended by guidelines.
Conceptualising and measuring cultural intelligence: important unanswered questions

Cultural intelligence (CQ) is rapidly gaining popularity as a construct that predicts and explains effectiveness and performance in cross-cultural settings, not only in the context of a multi-cultural workplace, but also in other domains of life. Thus, valid and reliable measurement of CQ is important for business, society and research. While dozens of CQ scales have been developed, they tend to suffer from some serious limitations. A number of important questions pertaining to measurement of CQ remain unanswered. The present paper reviews the limitations of existing instruments, points us the issues that must be addressed to advance our understanding of the phenomenon to the next level and provides directions for future research in this area.
Potential undercounting of overdose deaths caused by specific drugs in vital statistics data: An analysis of Florida.

Abstract Introduction Due largely to ambiguous or incomplete information provided on death certificates, the widely cited Multiple Cause of Death (MCOD) data reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been shown to undercount the number of fatal overdoses caused by specific drugs. However, the extent of the undercounts is unclear. Methods We obtained the number of fatal overdoses from 2003 to 2017 in Florida caused by the three drug groups (amphetamines, benzodiazepines, and opioids) and three drugs (methadone, cocaine, and heroin) that we could map across the MCOD data and data reported by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission (FMEC). The FMEC data are based on state-mandated reporting of the causal drugs in overdose deaths. We analyzed the differences across all deaths and by gender, age group, and race. Results Depending on the drug, the numbers of deaths across all individuals reported in the FMEC data ranged from 19 %–39 % higher than the counts in the MCOD data. The differences varied over time and by some demographic factors. Conclusions The MCOD data appear to undercount the number of fatal overdoses caused by the drugs we investigated. Our analysis did not identify a cause or pattern to explain the differences. Efforts to improve the reporting of fatal overdoses may enhance our understanding of and subsequently may improve the response to the drug overdose epidemic.
A preliminary taxonomy of techniques used in software fuzzing

Software fuzzing is a testing technique, which generates erroneous and random input to a software so that the software of interest can be monitored for exceptions such as crashes [1]. Both in the open source software (OSS) and proprietary domain, fuzzing has been widely used to explore software vulnerabilities. For example, information technology (IT) organizations such as Google1 and Microsoft2 use software fuzzing as part of the software development process. As of Jan 2019, GitHub hosts 2,915 OSS repositories related to fuzzing3.
Highly Accelerated Real-Time Free-Breathing Cine CMR for Patients With a Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device

Rationale and Objectives To develop a 16-fold accelerated real-time, free-breathing cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) pulse sequence with compressed sensing reconstruction and test whether it is capable of producing clinically acceptable summed visual scores (SVS) and accurate left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in patients with a cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED). Materials and Methods A 16-fold accelerated real-time cine CMR pulse sequence was developed using gradient echo readout, Cartesian k-space sampling, and compressed sensing. We scanned 13 CIED patients (mean age = 59 years; 9/4 males/females) using clinical standard, breath-hold cine and real-time, free-breathing cine. Two clinical readers performed a visual assessment of image quality in four categories (conspicuity of endocardial wall at end diastole, temporal fidelity of wall motion, any artifact level on the heart, noise) using a five-point Likert scale (1: worst; 3: clinically acceptable; 5: best). SVS was calculated as the sum of 4 individual scores, where 12 was defined as clinical acceptable. The Wilcoxon signed-rank test was performed to compare SVS, and the Bland-Altman analysis was conducted to evaluate the agreement of LVEF. Results Median scan time was 3.7 times shorter for real-time (3.5 heartbeats per slice) than clinical standard (13 heartbeats per slice, excluding nonscanning time between successive breath-hold acquisitions). Median SVS was not significantly different between clinical standard (15.0) and real-time (14.5). The mean difference in LVEF was −2% (4.7% of mean), and the limits of agreement was 5.8% (13.5% of mean). Conclusion This study demonstrates that the proposed real-time cine method produces clinically acceptable SVS and relatively accurate LVEF in CIED patients.
ECOTLB: Eventually Consistent TLBs

We propose ecoTLB—software-based eventual translation lookaside buffer (TLB) coherence—which eliminates the overhead of the synchronous TLB shootdown mechanism in operating systems that use address space identifiers (ASIDs). With an eventual TLB coherence, ecoTLB improves the performance of free and page swap operations by removing the inter-processor interrupt (IPI) overheads incurred to invalidate TLB entries. We show that the TLB shootdown has implications for page swapping in particular in emerging, disaggregated data centers and demonstrate that ecoTLB can improve both the performance and the specific swapping policy decisions using ecoTLB’s asynchronous mechanism. We demonstrate that ecoTLB improves the performance of real-world applications, such as Memcached and Make, that perform page swapping using Infiniswap, a solution for next generation data centers that use disaggregated memory, by up to 17.2%. Moreover, ecoTLB improves the 99th percentile tail latency of Memcached by up to 70.8% due to its asynchronous scheme and improved policy decisions. Furthermore, we show that recent features to improve security in the Linux kernel, like kernel page table isolation (KPTI), can result in significant performance overheads on architectures without support for specific instructions to clear single entries in tagged TLBs, falling back to full TLB flushes. In this scenario, ecoTLB is able to recover the performance lost for supporting KPTI due to its asynchronous shootdown scheme and its support for tagged TLBs. Finally, we demonstrate that ecoTLB improves the performance of free operations by up to 59.1% on a 120-core machine and improves the performance of Apache on a 16-core machine by up to 13.7% compared to baseline Linux, and by up to 48.2% compared to ABIS, a recent state-of-the-art research prototype that reduces the number of IPIs.
Cohen, Jeffrey E. The President on Capitol Hill: A Theory of Institutional Influence : New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2019. 320 pages. $105 (Hardcover), $35 (Softcover)

How much influence do presidents have in Congress? Asking this particular question marks one of the two big differences setting Cohen’s book apart from most studies of the president’s role in the l...
2013 Amendments to Ca Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund

This article examines The California Victims of Corporate Fraud Compensation Fund, originally created in 2002 to provide recovery for consumers who obtain court judgments for corporate fraud, but do not receive full recovery from the defendant. From 2002-2012, this fund has been subject to controversy. The 2013 amendments to the Corporations Code seek to remedy these controversies after numerous consumer complaints and adverse publicity.
Hall effect and magnetoresistivity in the ternary molybdenum sulfides

The Hall coefficient and magnetoresistance of sputtered films of Cu(x)Mo6S8 and PbMo6S8 have been measured, as well as the magnetoresistance in sintered samples of the same materials. Assuming a single band model, net carrier densities and mean mobilities are determined
Characterization of the A-type potassium current in murine gastric fundus smooth muscles.

Transient outward, or “A-type,” currents are rapidly inactivating voltage-gated potassium currents that operate at negative membrane potentials. A-type currents have not been reported in the gastri...
Thermally modulated lithium iron phosphate batteries for mass-market electric vehicles

The pursuit of energy density has driven electric vehicle (EV) batteries from using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathodes in early days to ternary layered oxides increasingly rich in nickel; however, it is impossible to forgo the LFP battery due to its unsurpassed safety, as well as its low cost and cobalt-free nature. Here we demonstrate a thermally modulated LFP battery to offer an adequate cruise range per charge that is extendable by 10 min recharge in all climates, essentially guaranteeing EVs that are free of range anxiety. Such a thermally modulated LFP battery designed to operate at a working temperature around 60 °C in any ambient condition promises to be a well-rounded powertrain for mass-market EVs. Furthermore, we reveal that the limited working time at the high temperature presents an opportunity to use graphite of low surface areas, thereby prospectively prolonging the EV lifespan to greater than two million miles. Ternary layered oxides dominate the current automobile batteries but suffer from material scarcity and operational safety. Here the authors report that, when operating at around 60 °C, a low-cost lithium iron phosphate-based battery exhibits ultra-safe, fast rechargeable and long-lasting properties.
On the tractability of smooth constraint satisfaction problems

We identify a property of constraints called smoothness, and present an extremely simple randomized algorithm for solving smooth constraints. The complexity of the algorithm is much less than the lower bound for establishing path-consistency, and because smoothness is shown to be identical to connected row-convexity (CRC) for the case of binary constraints, the time and space complexity of solving CRC constraints is improved. Central to our algorithm is the relationship of smooth constraints to random walks on directed graphs. We also provide simple deterministic algorithms to test for the smoothness of a given CSP under given domain orderings of the variables. Finally, we show that some other known tractable constraint languages, like the set of implicational constraints, and the set of binary integer linear constraints, are special cases of smooth constraints, and can therefore be solved much more efficiently than the traditional time and space complexities attached with them.
Insertion and deletion mutations in the repA4 region of the IncFII plasmid NR1 cause unstable inheritance.

Abstract Mutants of IncFII plasmid NR1 that have transposons inserted in the repA4 open reading frame (ORF) are not inherited stably. The repA4 ORF is located immediately downstream from the replication origin (ori). The repA4 coding region contains inverted-repeat sequences that are homologous to the terC inverted repeats located in the replication terminus of the Escherichia coli chromosome. The site of initiation of leading-strand synthesis for replication of NR1 is also located in repA4 near its 3' end. Transposon insertions between ori and the right-hand terC repeat resulted in plasmid instability, whereas transposon insertions farther downstream did not. Derivatives that contained a 35-bp frameshift insertion in the repA4 ORF were all stable, even when the frameshift was located very near the 5' end of the coding region. This finding indicates that repA4 does not specify a protein product that is essential for plasmid stability. Examination of mutants having a nest of deletions with endpoints in or near repA4 indicated that the 3' end of the repA4 coding region and the site of leading-strand initiation could be deleted without appreciable effect on plasmid stability. Deletion of the pemI and pemK genes, located farther downstream from repA4 and reported to affect plasmid stability, also had no detectable effect. In contrast, mutants from which the right-hand terC repeat, or both right- and left-hand repeats, had been deleted were unstable. None of the insertion or deletion mutations in or near repA4 affected plasmid copy number. Alteration of the terC repeats by site-directed mutagenesis had little effect on plasmid stability. Plasmid stability was not affected by a fus mutation known to inactivate the termination function. Therefore, it appears that the overall integrity of the repA4 region is more important for stable maintenance of plasmid NR1 than are any of the individual known features found in this region.
Hepatic tuberculosis : comparison of miliary and local form

The clinical and pathological features of 22 patients, 11 males and 11 females 17–70 years of age (48.0±16.0 years), with hepatic tuberculosis were reviewed. Five patients had no evidence of extrahepatic tuberculosis (local form), and 17 had the miliary form. The clinical features of the miliary and local forms were similar with pyrexia, abdominal pain, hepatomegaly and body weight loss as the main manifestations. The biochemical findings were also quite similar in reversed albumin and globulin (A/G) ratio (2.9/3.5 vs. 3.2/3.4 g/dl) and disproportionate elevation of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) in comparison with bilirubin values but lower levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (40.4±51.0 vs. 170.8±209.4 U/l; p<0.05) and ALP (208.5±138.9 vs. 389.5±271.1 U/l; p<0.05) in the miliary form. Patients with the local form had higher albumin (3.2±0.8 vs. 2.9±0.7 g/dl), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (160.4±221.7 vs. 65.9±69.7 U/l), and gamma glutamyl-transpeptidase (γGT) (217.0±144.0 vs. 136.0±92.1 U/l), although the differences were not significant. The histopathological features of the miliary form were also similar to the local form with granuloma, caseation, acid-fast bacilli, fatty change and portal fibrosis as the main findings. The local form revealed more severe signs of hepatocytic damage while the miliary form was more wasting. The results suggest that the miliary and local forms of hepatic tuberculosis had quite similar clinical presentations and pathological features. The biochemical tests suggesting hepatic tuberculosis were reversed A/G ratio and disproportionate elevation of ALP.
Risk-adjusted martingales and the design of “indifference” gambles

In the probability literature, a martingale is often referred to as a “fair game.” A martingale investment is a stochastic sequence of wealth levels, whose expected value at any future stage is equal to the investor’s current wealth. In decision theory, a risk neutral investor would therefore be indifferent between holding on to a martingale investment, and receiving its payoff at any future stage, or giving it up and maintaining his current wealth. But a risk-averse decision maker would not be indifferent between a martingale investment and his current wealth level, since he values uncertain deals less than their mean. A risk seeking decision maker, on the other hand, would readily accept a martingale investment in exchange for his current wealth, and would repeat this investment any number of times. These ideas lead us to introduce the notion of a “risk-adjusted martingale”; a stochastic sequence of wealth levels that a rational decision maker with any attitude toward risk would value constantly with time, and would be indifferent between receiving its pay-off at any future stage, or giving it up and maintaining his current wealth level. We show how to construct such risk-adjusted investments for any decision maker with a continuous monotonic utility function. The fundamental result we derive is that a pay-off structure of an investment (i) is a risk-adjusted martingale and (ii) can be represented by a lattice if and only if the pay-off functions are invariant transformations of the given utility function.
NCL1, a novel gene for a non-essential nuclear protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Abstract The nucleolar protein Nop2p is an essential gene product that is required for pre-rRNA processing and ribosome biogenesis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Hong, B. et al., 1997, Mol. Cell. Biol., 17, 378–388). A search for proteins similar to Nop2p identified a novel yeast gene product that also shares significant homology with the human proliferation associated nucleolar protein p120. The gene encoding this 78 kDa protein was termed NCL1 (for nuclear protein 1; corresponding to YBL024w). Ncl1p and Nop2p contain an evolutionarily conserved motif that has been termed the `NOL1/NOP2/fmu family signature' (NOL1 encodes p120). Epitope tagged Ncl1p was found to be localized to the nucleus, including the nucleolus, and was concentrated at the nuclear periphery. NCL1 is not essential. Strains containing a disruption of NCL1, or strains overexpressing NCL1, grow essentially identically to wildtype NCL1 strains on a number of different media and at different temperatures. Disruption of NCL1 does not affect steady-state levels of large and small ribosome subunits, monoribosomes, and polyribosomes. However, disruption of NCL1 leads to increased sensitivity to the antibiotic paromomycin.
Multi-Section Inhomogeneous Coupled-Line Filters with Large Mode-Velocity Ratios

Design data for single-section inhomogeneous coupled-line filters based on large even/odd mode-velocity ratios has recently been published. The purpose of this paper is to extend those results to multi-section inhomogeneous coupled-line filters with large mode-velocity ratios. Both experimental and theoretical data are presented. The rather complex pole-zero structure of single-section inhomogeneous coupled-line filters permits great flexibility in designing multi-section filters. Very sharp transitions between pass- and stop-bands are possible as well as large stopband to passband width ratios.
Minimizing the 1/r(2) perturbation for ideal fluence detectors in small source γ-irradiation fields.

A technique for analyzing the effect of the geometrical shape of a source or a detector, using a quadrupole expansion, is described herein. It is shown that this method may be exploited to predict, optimize the geometry of a source, or a measurement device, and nearly eliminate, the departure from the 1/r2 fall-off characteristic due to irradiation from small sources. We have investigated several simple shapes that have a vanishing Q2 quadrupole moment: a right circular cylinder with a diameter to depth ratio of , a cone with a radius to height ratio of unity, and an oblate ellipsoid with a diameter to depth ratio of . These ideal shapes produce optimally small departures in a 1/r2 field, nearly mimicking a point-like detector. We have also found a rotationally symmetric shape, intermediate to the other three, that has additionally, a vanishing Q4, the hexadecapole moment. This geometry further improves the 1/r2-perturbation characteristics and has an additional free parameter that may be adjusted to model the ideal cylinder, cone or oblate spheroid.
Distinguishing anxiety and depression in self‐report: purification of the beck anxiety inventory and beck depression inventory‐II

The overlap of symptoms associated with anxiety and depressive disorders hinders their differentiation using self-report scales. The aim of this study was to develop purified versions of the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) that encompass only items highly specific to anxiety and depression, respectively. However, using these purified scales only increased the ability to differentiate anxiety and depressive disorders slightly. Anxiety and depression seem to be inherently linked and, thus, the high comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders seems to be not a function of the same types of symptoms being reported for each disorder. Nevertheless, purified BAI and BDI-II scales might be useful for separating the effects of interventions on anxiety and depressive symptoms.
Structural and functional differences in the dio1 gene in mice with inherited type 1 deiodinase deficiency.

The type 1 deiodinase (D1) provides the major portion of the circulating T3 in vertebrates. In C3H and certain other inbred mice, liver and kidney D1 activity is 5- to 10-fold lower than in the common phenotype, C57. The lower D1 levels are paralleled by a decreased normal-sized dio1 mRNA and hyperthyroxinemia. Low activity cosegregates with a restriction fragment length variant (RFLV) in both inbred and recombinant strains, indicating it is due to differences in the dio1 gene. The exonic structure and the deduced amino acid sequences are identical for both strains and highly homologous to that of the rat. The RFLV is due to an approximately 150-base pair expansion of repetitive sequences in the second intron of the C3H gene, but this segment does not differentially affect the transient expression of a human GH gene. The promoter and 5'-flanking regions of the C3H and C57 dio1 genes are very similar and are GC rich without TATA or CCAAT boxes. However, functional assays of 1.5-kilobase 5'-flanking dio1-CA...
Safety of intrastriatal neurotransplantation for Huntington's disease patients

Fetal neural transplantation has been shown to be a feasible, safe, and according to a number of recent reports, effective treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD). Fetal striatal transplantation may be as feasible, safe, and effective a treatment for Huntington's disease (HD), a disorder for which there is currently no effective treatment. This report describes our experience with fetal striatal transplantation to adult striatum in three HD patients. Three moderately advanced, nondemented HD patients received transplantation of fetal striatal tissue. The striatal precursor was selectively obtained from the lateral ganglionic eminence. Each patient received bilateral grafts from five to eight donors, placed into the caudate nucleus (one graft on each side) and the putamen (four grafts on each side). All three patients had HD as documented by family history, DNA heterozygosity (17-20 and 48-51 repeats), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealing striatal atrophy, and 2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography revealing striatal hypometabolism. All patients had been evaluated using the Unified Huntington's Disease Rating Scale and appropriate neuropsychological tests for at least 3 months prior to transplantation. One year following transplantation, MRI of all three patients revealed that the grafts survived and grew within the striatum without displacing the surrounding tissue. No patients demonstrated adverse effects of the surgery or the associated cyclosporin immunosuppression, nor did any patient exhibit deterioration following the procedure. The limited experience provided by these three patients indicates that fetal tissue transplantation can be performed in HD patients without unexpected complications.
Potential difference responses due to K+, Na+ and Cl- changes in bullfrog antrum with and without HCO3-.

Abstract The effect of changing [K + ], [Na + ] and [Cl − ] in nutrient solution was studied in bullfrog antrum with and without HCO 3 − in nutrient. In 25 mM HCO 3 − (95% O 2 /5% CO 2 ) and in zero HCO 3 − (100% O 2 ), nutrient pH was maintained at 7.3. Changing from 4 to 40 mM K + or from 81 to 8.1 mM Cl − gave a decrease 10 min later in transmucosal PD (nutrient became more negative) — a normal response. These responses were less in zero than in 25 mM HCO 3 − . A decrease from 102 to 8 mM Na + decreased PD (anomalous response of electrogenic NaCl symport). This effect was attenuated or eliminated in zero HCO 3 − . In contrast, change from 4 to 40 mM K + gave initial anomalous PD response and change from 102 to 8 mM Na + , initial normal PD response with either zero or 25 mM HCO 3 − . Both responses were associated with (Na + + K + )-ATPase pump and were greater in zero than in 25 mM HCO 3 − . Initial PD increases in zero HCO 3 − are explained as due to increase in the resistance of passive conductance and/or NaCl symport pathways. Thus, removal of HCO 3 − modifies conductance pathways of nutrient membrane.
Fundamentals of database searching

Aligning novel sequences with previously characterized genes or proteins provides important insights into their common attributes and evolutionary origins. The principles underlying the computational tools that can be used to evaluate sequence alignments are discussed.
Activators of potassium M currents have anticonvulsant actions in two rat models of encephalitis

Opioid systems in hippocampus regulate excitability and kappa opioids have a role in anticonvulsant protection, but their mechanisms of action are incompletely understood. We examined the ability of opioid and nonopioid agents with overlapping ionic mechanisms and actions similar to kappa opioid agonists, to block seizures in rat models of encephalitis due to Borna Disease virus and Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1. Naltrindole, a delta antagonist and thus a kappa opioid sparing agent, (10 mg/kg s.c.) blocked spontaneous and naloxone (opioid antagonist)-induced seizures in the models, but produced somatic signs similar to opioid withdrawal. Given that delta antagonists as well as kappa opioid agonists in hippocampus enhance potassium M currents (IM), we tested the effect of the IM augmenter flupirtine. Flupirtine (20 mg/kg i.p.) prevented seizures in Borna and herpes infected rats, without signs of withdrawal, hypotonia or sedation. The results support the efficacy of opioid and nonopioid drugs in modulating naloxone-induced seizures in critical illness due to viral encephalitis and by analogy, opioid withdrawal seizures.
Investigations of a foregut receptor essential to taste threshold regulation in the blowfly.

Abstract The involvement of the foregut in the regulation of taste threshold by the blowfly, Phormia regina , was investigated by behavioural techniques. The sensitivity of flies to sugar was measured as experimental meals moved through their foreguts at known rates. It was demonstrated that the duration of threshold elevation is determined by the duration of foregut stimulation. Injections of solutes into the blood which slow crop emptying and therefore prolong foregut stimulation also prolong the duration of threshold elevation. Similarly, large meal size and high sugar concentration prolong foregut stimulation and therefore threshold elevation. Fructose, glucose, sucrose, sorbose, mannose, and sorbitol produce the same behavioural effect when acting via the postulated foregut receptor, indicating that it is probably not a chemoreceptor. Because solutions which differ osmotically by a factor of 10 also produce the same behavioural effect, the foregut receptor does not appear to be sensitive to osmotic pressure. Solutions which distend the foregut to the same extent produce the same behavioural effect, suggesting that the essential element in the foregut is a stretch receptor. A homeostatic mechanism for the regulation of food intake, crop volume, and blood sugar is presented.