cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Wavefront Analysis in Post-LASIK Eyes and its Correlation with Visual Symptoms, Refraction and Topography

Purpose: To evaluate the information assessed with the LADARWave wavefront measurement device and correlate it with visual symptoms, refraction, and corneal topography in previously LASIK-treated eyes. Participants: One hundred five eyes (58 patients) of individuals who underwent LASIK surgery were evaluated. Design: Retrospective, noncomparative case series. Main Outcome Measures: Complete ophthalmologic examination, corneal topography, and wavefront measurements were performed. Correlations were made between the examinations and symptoms. Methods: Wavefront measurements were assessed with the LADARWave device. Manifest, cycloplegic refraction, and topographic data were compared with wavefront refraction and higher order aberrations. Visual symptoms were correlated to higher order aberrations in 3 different pupil sizes (5-mm, 7-mm, and scotopic pupil size). Pearson’s correlation coefficient and generalized estimating equations were used for statistical analysis. Results: In post-LASIK eyes, wavefront refraction components were poorly correlated to manifest and cycloplegic components. The comparison between manifest, cycloplegic, and wavefront refraction with total amount of higher order aberrations showed no strong correlation. The comparison between topography and manifest, cycloplegic, and wavefront refraction did not show strong correlation. Visual symptoms analysis showed correlation of double vision with total coma and with horizontal coma for the 5-mm and 7-mm pupil size; correlation between starburst and total coma for the 7-mm pupil size; and correlation of double vision with horizontal coma, glare with spherical aberrations and with total aberrations, and starburst with spherical aberrations for the scotopic pupil size. Scotopic pupil size had a positive association with starburst and a negative association with double vision. Conclusions: The LADARWave wavefront measurement device is a valuable diagnostic tool in measuring refractive error with ocular aberrations in post-LASIK eyes. A strong correlation between visual symptoms and ocular aberrations, such as monocular diplopia with coma and starburst and glare with spherical aberration, suggest this device is valuable in diagnosing symptomatic LASIK-induced aberrations. Horizontal coma was correlated with double vision, whereas vertical coma was not. Ophthalmology 2004;111:447–453 © 2004 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Statistical Analysis of Complex Systems in Biomedicine

The future explanatory power in biomedicine will be at the molecular-genetic level of analysis (rather than the epidemiologic-demographic or anatomic-cellular levels). This is the level of complex systems. Complex systems are characterized by nonlinearity and complex interactions. It is difficult for traditional statistical methods to capture complex systems because traditional methods attempt to find the model that best fits the statistician’s understanding of the phenomenon; complex systems are difficult to understand and therefore difficult to fit with a simple model. Artificial neural networks are nonparametric regression models. They can capture any phenomena, to any degree of accuracy (depending on the adequacy of the data and the power of the predictors), without prior knowledge of the phenomena. Further, artificial neural networks can be represented, not only as formulae, but also as graphical models. Graphical models can increase analytic power and flexibility. Artificial neural networks are a powerful method for capturing complex phenomena, but their use requires a paradigm shift, from exploratory analysis of the data to exploratory analysis of the model.
An Architecture for Online Affordance-based Perception and Whole-body Planning

The DARPA Robotics Challenge Trials held in December 2013 provided a landmark demonstration of dexterous mobile robots executing a variety of tasks aided by a remote human operator using only data from the robot's sensor suite transmitted over a constrained, field-realistic communications link. We describe the design considerations, architecture, implementation, and performance of the software that Team MIT developed to command and control an Atlas humanoid robot. Our design emphasized human interaction with an efficient motion planner, where operators expressed desired robot actions in terms of affordances fit using perception and manipulated in a custom user interface. We highlight several important lessons we learned while developing our system on a highly compressed schedule.
Worst-case system identification in H ∞ : validation of apriori information, essentially optimal algorithms, and error bounds

This paper is concerned with a particular control-oriented system identification problem recently considered by several authors. This problem has been referred to as the problem of worst-case system identification in H∞ in the literature. The formulation of this problem is worst-case/deterministic in nature. The available apriori information consists of a lower bound on the relative stability of the plant, an upper bound on a certain gain associated with the plant, and an upper bound on the noise level. The available aposteriori information consists-of a finite number of noisy plant point frequency response samples. The objective is to identify the plant transfer function in H∞ using the available apriori and aposteriori information. In this paper we resolve several important open issues pertaining to this problem. First, a method is presented for developing confidence that the available apriori information is correct. This method requires the solution of a certain nondifferentiable convex programming problem. Second, an essentially optimal identification algorithm is given for this problem. This algorithm is (worst-case strongy) optimal to within a factor of two. Finally, new upper and lower bounds on the optimal identification error for this problem are derived and used to estimate the identification error associated with the algorithm presented here. Interestingly, the development of each of the results described above draws heavily upon the classical Nevanlinna-Pick optimal interpolation theory. As such, the results of this paper establish a clear link between the areas of system identification and optimal interpolation theory.
The carnivorous plant described as Sarracenia alata contains two cryptic species

Modern methods for species delimitation provide biologists with the power to detect cryptic diversity in nearly any system. To illustrate the application of such methods, we collected data (21 sequence loci) from a carnivorous plant in southeastern North America and applied several recently developed methods (Gaussian clustering, Structurama, BPP, spedeSTEM). The pale pitcher plant Sarracenia alata inhabits the southeastern USA along the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Sarracenia alata populations are separated by the Mississippi River and Atchafalaya Basin, a known biogeographical barrier in this region, but the cohesiveness of S. alata as currently classified has not been tested rigorously. Multiple analytical approaches (including allelic clustering and species trees methods) suggest that S. alata comprises two cryptic lineages that correspond to the eastern and western portions of the plant's distribution. That such clear genetic evidence for cryptic diversity exists within S. alata and is in conflict with other sources of data (e.g. morphology, environmental differentiation) illustrates a conundrum faced by those who investigate species boundaries: genetic data are often the first type of data to accumulate evidence of differentiation, but most existing taxonomic treatments are based on nongenetic data. Our results suggest that S. alata as currently described contains two cryptic species, and we recommend the elevation of the western populations to species status. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013, 109, 737–746.
Channel feedback quantization methods for MISO and MIMO systems

We investigate the quantization of multiple antenna channel to feed back through a low-rate feedback channel. Specifically, for multiple-input single-output (MISO) systems, we propose a new design criterion and the corresponding design algorithm for quantization of the random beamforming vector. For multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels, which have multiple orthonormal vectors as channel spatial information for quantization, a matrix factorization method is proposed which provides a way to exploit the geometrical structure of orthonormality while quantizing the spatial information matrix. Results show that the quantization bit allocation over multiple spatial channels has a critical effect on the performance, and that the optimum bit allocation depends on the operating transmit power of the system.
808 nm wavelength light induces a dose-dependent alteration in microglial polarization and resultant microglial induced neurite growth.

Background and Objective Despite the success of using photobiomodulation (PBM), also known as low level light therapy, in promoting recovery after central nervous system (CNS) injury, the effect of PBM on microglia, the primary mediators of immune and inflammatory response in the CNS, remains unclear. Microglia exhibit a spectrum of responses to injury, with partial or full polarization into pro- and anti-inflammatory phenotypes. Pro-inflammatory (M1 or classically activated) microglia contribute to chronic inflammation and neuronal toxicity, while anti-inflammatory (M2 or alternatively activated) microglia play a role in wound healing and tissue repair; microglia can fall anywhere along this spectrum in response to stimulation. Materials and Methods The effect of PBM on microglial polarization therefore was investigated using colorimetric assays, immunocytochemistry, proteomic profiling and RT-PCR in vitro after exposure of primary microglia or BV2 microglial cell line to PBM of differing energy densities (0.2, 4, 10, and 30 J/cm2, 808 nm wavelength, 50 mW output power). Results PBM has a dose-dependent effect on the spectrum of microglial M1 and M2 polarization. Specifically, PBM with energy densities between 4 and 30 J/cm2 induced expression of M1 markers in microglia. Markers of the M2 phenotype, including CD206 and TIMP1, were observed at lower energy densities of 0.2–10 J/cm2. In addition, co-culture of PBM or control-treated microglia with primary neuronal cultures demonstrated a dose-dependent effect of PBM on microglial-induced neuronal growth and neurite extension. Conclusion These data suggest that the Arndt–Schulz law as applied to PBM for a specific bioassay does not hold true in cells with a spectrum of responses, and that PBM can alter microglial phenotype across this spectrum in a dose-dependent manner. These data are therefore of important relevance to not only therapies in the CNS but also to understanding of PBM effects and mechanisms. Lasers Surg. Med. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Projection, heads, and optimality

This article argues that inversion of the subject and auxiliary in English matrix questions and elsewhere is the effect of a violable optimality-theoretic constraint that requires head positions to be filled. When no other auxiliary is available, do-support occurs to satisfy this constraint, resulting in the presence of an expletive verb. When a higher-ranked constraint prohibits inversion, no inversion or do-support is found. The argument is then extended to cases where the complementizer that is obligatory, which are shown to offer best satisfaction of the proposed set of violable constraints
HOW DOES RESTORED HABITAT FOR CHINOOK SALMON (ONCORHYNCHUS TSHAWYTSCHA) IN THE MERCED RIVER IN CALIFORNIA COMPARE WITH OTHER CHINOOK STREAMS

The amount of time and money spent on restoring rivers for declining populations of salmon has grown substantially in recent decades. But despite the infusion of resources, many studies suggest that salmon populations are continuing to decline, leading some to question the effectiveness of restoration efforts. Here we examine whether a particular form of salmon restoration—channel reconfiguration with gravel augmentation—generates physical and biological habitat that is comparable with other streams that support salmon. We compared a suite of habitat features known to influence the various life stages of Chinook salmon in a restoration project in California’s Merced River with 19 other streams that also support Chinook that we surveyed in the same geographic region. Our survey showed that riffle habitats in the restored site of the Merced River have flow discharge and depth, substrate and food web characteristics that cannot be distinguished from other streams that support Chinook, suggesting that these factors are unlikely to be bottlenecks to salmon recovery in the Merced. However, compared with other streams in the region, the Merced has minimal riparian cover, fewer undercut banks, less woody debris and higher water temperatures, suggesting that these factors might limit salmon recovery. After identifying aspects in the Merced that differ from other streams, we used principal components analysis to correlate salmon densities to independent axes of environmental variation measured during our survey. These analyses suggested that salmon densities tend to be greatest in streams that have more undercut banks and woody debris and lower water temperatures. These are the same environmental factors that appear to be missing from the Merced River restoration effort. Collectively, our results narrow the set of candidate factors that may limit salmon recovery in channel reconfiguration restoration efforts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Supporting information may be found in the online version of this paper.
"The rheumatologist can see you now": Successful implementation of an advanced access model in a rheumatology practice

Objective To provide rheumatologic care to patients in a timely and patient-centered manner. Methods We developed and implemented processes to measure and help eliminate backlog, created access time for same-day patients, and retooled the appointments process to be more efficient and patient focused. In addition, we developed a protocol to be used by our primary care colleagues to care for osteoarthritis of the knee in a standardized manner. Results The third available rheumatology appointment fell from about 60 days to <2 days. Cancellations fell from 40% to <20%. Patient satisfaction measures (composite score, physician score, and accessibility score) improved significantly. The number of new patients seen for knee osteoarthritis decreased by 6.7%, whereas the number of new rheumatoid arthritis referrals increased by 50.4%. Financial performance improved as well. Conclusions This advanced access model in a busy academic rheumatology practice demonstrated considerable improvement in access, patient satisfaction, and finances. Using a team approach, we are now able to give the patient the rheumatologic care they want and need at a time they want and need it.
International Liquidity: Ends and Means

COUNTRY'S external liquidity consists of such resources as are readily available to its monetary authorities for the purpose of financing deficits in its balance of payments and defending the stability of its rate of exchange. These resources may take the form of liquid assets, such as gold and foreign exchange, or of facilities for borrowing such assets from abroad. The first part of this paper sets forth criteria for determining, in principle, the most desirable aggregate amount, composition, and, to a lesser extent, country distribution of external liquidity in the world. The second part deals with the instrumentalities that are, or might conceivably be, used to attain or approach these optima. Much that has been written in the postwar period about the adequacy of world reserves or world liquidity would appear to rest on uncertain logical foundations. One frequent approach is to estimate a figure for required or optimal reserves, by starting from some past date when total reserves are supposed to have been roughly satisfactory and adjusting this total for the growth in the value of world trade between the base date and the present time. While the value of world trade is, admittedly, a relevant consideration, there are many other dynamic factors affecting the need for reserves. This is emphasized in many of the writings in which such historical comparisons appear.' It is not surprising, therefore, that calculations starting from different base dates, at each of which reserves may have been roughly satisfactory, yield enormously different results. Moreover, if it is possible to say that reserves were or were not adequate at the base date, one wonders if it is not possible to apply the same criteria
The nature of 0+ excitations in 166Er

Abstract Lifetimes of excited 0 + states in 166 Er have been measured with the (n,n′γ) reaction. The first and second excited 0 + states have no significant collective enhancements of their decays, and their properties are suggestive of pair-type excitations rather than those of a β vibration or phonon excitation built on the γ vibration. The third excited 0 + state at 1934 keV has an enhanced decay to the ground state band with B ( E 2; 0 4 + → 2 gsb + ) = 8.8 ± 0.9 W.u., consistent with that expected for a β vibration.
Synthesis and guanase inhibition studies of a novel ring-expanded purine analogue containing a 5:7-fused, planar, aromatic heterocyclic ring system

Abstract The synthesis of a novel planar, potentially aromatic, ring-expanded xanthine analogue ( 1 ), containing the 5:7-fused imidazo[4,5-e][1,4]diazepine ring system, along with guanase inhibition studies are reported. The compound was synthesized in six steps, starting from 1-benzyl-5-nitroimidazole-4-carboxylic acid ( 2 ), and was biochemically screened against rabbit liver guanase. Compound 1 is a moderate competitive inhibitor of the enzyme with a K i of 2.27 ± 0.66 × 10 −4 M.
Noninferiority trials: clinical understandings and misunderstandings.

In many clinical settings for the treatment or prevention of disease, currently available interventions provide clinically meaningful benefits by decreasing irreversible morbidity or mortality. An important example is the setting of treatment for pneumonia, where some antibiotics provide substantive benefits by meaningfully reducing mortality in addition to improving symptoms of cough, breathlessness and chest pain. Even though existing standard interventions (hereafter called ‘Standard’) provide important clinical benefits in clinical settings such as pneumonia, patients and caregivers may be interested in new interventions that would essentially retain the efficacy of Standard while being substantially better in terms of safety, convenience of administration, or cost. When the goal is to replace an existing Standard that provides clinically meaningful effects on measures of irreversible morbidity or mortality, there is ethical motivation to use Standard as the control in a randomized trial evaluating the new intervention. While it would be preferable in such a trial to establish the new intervention to have superior efficacy, it may be sufficient to rule out that its efficacy is unacceptably worse than that of Standard. These are called noninferiority (NI) trials and have been discussed extensively in the literature [1–12,101]. By design, the NI trial requires specification of the minimum threshold constituting an unacceptable loss of efficacy. This threshold is called the NI margin. The formulation of the NI margin is often controversial. Sponsors interested in conducting smaller trials and increasing the likelihood of achieving ‘positive’ results prefer large margins. However, to avoid exposing patients to meaningfully less-effective new interventions, there should be rigorous scientific justification for the NI margin. An inherent weakness of the NI trial design is that there is not a placebo ‘anchor’. If results of the NI trial reveal the new intervention and Standard have similar efficacy, are these regimens similarly effective or ineffective in that setting? To obtain an ‘anchor’, it is usually assumed an unbiased estimate of Standard’s true effect in the NI trial is provided by the estimated effect of Standard obtained from earlier randomized controlled trials. Unfortunately, this key assumption is inherently untestable and readily fails to hold because the true effect of Standard is altered by many factors that can differ between the settings of the NI trial and these earlier trials [12]. The NI margin should be adjusted to address this inherent uncertainty about the effect of Standard in the NI trial setting. Fleming et al. illustrate the necessity of this in the setting of community acquired bacterial pneumonia: “Suppose the formulation of the noninferiority margin is based on earlier trials that establish Standard has large effects on the measure of absolute reduction in mortality in a population at highest risk of death such as in the elderly or those with bacteremia.
Maternal dietary docosahexanoic acid content affects the rat pup auditory system.

Previous studies of the effects of dietary docosahexanoic acid (DHA), 22:6n3, on neurodevelopment have focused mainly on visual-evoked potentials and indices of visual activity, measures that may be confounded by effects on the retina rather than on neural pathways. We investigated the effect of pre- and postnatal maternal dietary DHA content on auditory brainstem conduction times (ABCTs), the appearance of the auditory startle reflex (ASR), and 2',3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase (CNPase) activity in brainstem homogenates. Timed pregnant dams were fed, beginning on day 2 of gestation and throughout lactation, a purified diet containing one of three levels of DHA (0, 1, or 3% of total fatty acids, or 0, 0.4 or 1.2% of total energy). On postnatal day (PND) 3, pups were randomly crossfostered within diet groups to minimize litter effects and culled to 10 per litter. Cerebrums and milk from culled pups stomachs were collected for lipid analysis. The timing of appearance of the ASR was determined between PND 10 through 14 and ABCTs were measured in pups on PND 24 and 31. Pups were sacrificed on PND 31 and cerebrums were removed. In each of two replicated studies, pups in the 1% DHA group weighed significantly less on PND 3 and they gained significantly less weight from PND 3 to 31 compared with pups in the 0 or 3% groups (p<0.01). The auditory studies were not conducted on the 1% DHA group since measures of auditory function are in part a function of somatic growth. The tissue fatty acid data for the 1% DHA group did not show unexpected findings. Higher dietary DHA was reflected in milk and pup cerebrums, and levels of arachidonic acid were inversely related to levels of DHA. In the pups of dams fed diets containing 3% versus 0% DHA, the ASR appeared significantly later (p<0.001) and the ABCTs were longer (p<0.05) on PND 31. CNPase activity levels were not different between the 0 and 3% DHA groups. This study demonstrated that the auditory brainstem response is sensitive for identifying effects of diet on neurodevelopment, and that diets supplemented with high levels of DHA may exert a negative influence on central nervous system development, potentially through effects on myelin. This study suggests the need for further studies of pre- and postnatal long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid dietary supplementation.
Graphene: Nanoelectronics goes flat out

The unique electronic band structure of graphene has led to a number of exotic effects that have fascinated fundamental researchers and may also lead to improvements in the performance of electronic devices.
Kinetics of nuclear-cytoplasmic translocation of Foxo1 and Foxo3A in adult skeletal muscle fibers

In skeletal muscle, the transcription factors Foxo1 and Foxo3A control expression of proteins that mediate muscle atrophy, making the nuclear concentration and nuclear-cytoplasmic movements of Foxo1 and Foxo3A of therapeutic interest in conditions of muscle wasting. Here, we use Foxo-GFP fusion proteins adenovirally expressed in cultured adult mouse skeletal muscle fibers to characterize the time course of nuclear efflux of Foxo1-GFP in response to activation of the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)/phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway to determine the time course of nuclear influx of Foxo1-GFP during inhibition of this pathway and to show that Akt mediates the efflux of nuclear Foxo1-GFP induced by IGF-1. Localization of endogenous Foxo1 in muscle fibers, as determined via immunocytochemistry, is consistent with that of Foxo1-GFP. Inhibition of the nuclear export carrier chromosome region maintenance 1 by leptomycin B (LMB) traps Foxo1 in the nucleus and results in a relatively rapid rate of Foxo1 nuclear accumulation, consistent with a high rate of nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling of Foxo1 under control conditions before LMB application, with near balance of unidirectional influx and efflux. Expressed Foxo3A-GFP shuttles ∼20-fold more slowly than Foxo1-GFP. Our approach allows quantitative kinetic characterization of Foxo1 and Foxo3A nuclear-cytoplasmic movements in living muscle fibers under various experimental conditions.
Recent Advances in Mercury Research

Mercury (Hg) is a highly toxic, non-essential, naturally occurring metal with a variety of uses. Mercury is not required for any known biological process and its presence in the human body may be detrimental, especially to the nervous system. Both genetic and behavioral studies suggest that mercury levels, age (both of exposure and at testing), and genetic background determine disease processes and outcome. The metal receptors and genes responsible for mercury metabolism also appear to play a pivotal role in the etiology of mercury-induced pathology. This review presents information about the latest advances in mercury research, with particular focus on low-level exposures and the contribution of genetics to toxic outcome. Future studies should address the contribution of genetics and low-level mercury exposure to disease, namely gene x environment interactions, taking into consideration age of exposure as developing animals are exquisitely more sensitive to this metal. In addition to recent advances in understanding the pathology associated with mercury exposure, the review highlights transport mechanisms, cellular distribution and detoxification of mercury species in the body.
Byzantine-resistant total ordering algorithms

Multicast group communication protocols are used extensively in fault-tolerant distributed systems. For many such protocols, the acknowledgments for individual messages define a causal order on messages. Maintaining the consistency of information, replicated on several processors to protect it against faults, is greatly simplified by a total order on messages. We present algorithms that incrementally convert a causal order on messages into a total order and that tolerate both crash and Byzantine process faults. Varying compromises between latency to message ordering and resilience to faults yield four distinct algorithms. All of these algorithms use a multistage voting strategy to achieve agreement on the total order and exploit the random structure of the causal order to ensure probabilistic termination.
Measurement of T-kinin in rat plasma using a specific radioimmunoassay.

T-kinin (Ile-Ser-Bradykinin) has been isolated only from the plasma of the rat and it is unclear whether the peptide, or its biosynthetic precursor, T-kininogen, circulates in the human. An NH2-terminally directed antiserum to T-kinin was raised in rabbits using an immunogen prepared by coupling the free -SH group of T-kinin extended from its COOH-terminus by a cysteinyl residue to an -NH2 group on human serum albumin. A radioimmunoassay was developed using this antiserum and 125I-labelled [Tyr10]T-kinin as tracer that was sensitive (least-detectable concentration 3 fmol/tube) and relatively specific for T-kinin (cross-reactivity with bradykinin and kallidin less than 1%). Treatment of rat plasma with an excess of trypsin in the presence of a kininase inhibitor generated T-kinin immunoreactivity equivalent to 455 +/- 71 pmol/ml (mean +/- S.E.M.; n = 9) and this immunoreactivity was eluted from a reversed-phase HPLC column as a single peak with the same retention time as synthetic T-kinin. In contrast, treatment of plasma from healthy human subjects (n = 8) and from patients (n = 8) with inflammation due to acute or chronic gastrointestinal disease under the same conditions did not generate any detectable T-kinin immunoreactivity. It is concluded, therefore, that T-kininogen, the biosynthetic precursor of T-kinin in the rat, is either absent from the plasma of human subjects or is present in a concentration less than 30 fmol/ml. Similarly, T-kininogen is probably not an acute phase reactant in humans.
Hydrogen sorption hysteresis and superior storage capacity of silicon-carbide nanotubes over their carbon counterparts

Abstract We report for the first time the results of an extensive experimental study of hydrogen sorption in silicon-carbide nanotubes (SiCNTs), which were synthesized using the reaction between SiO vapor and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in an argon atmosphere in the temperature range 1200 °C–1500 °C. The as-synthesized SiCNTs were then purified using a sodium hydroxide solution in order to remove the side products of the synthesis reaction. The hydrogen sorption characteristics of the as-synthesized SiCNTs, as well as those of the purified SiCNTs were then measured at 25 °C and for pressures of up to 100 bars. The results reveal hysteresis between the adsorption and desorption isotherms, which we attribute to the presence of metal impurities and/or the multilayer structure of the nanotubes. The hydrogen storage capacity of the as-synthesized SiCNTs is similar to that of the CNTs, whereas for the purified SiCNTs it is 50% higher than that of the CNTs, in agreement with the results of molecular simulations reported previously. In addition, the hydrogen uptake rate in the SiCNTs is about five times faster than that in the CNTs and, in contrast with the CNTs, its desorption from SiCNTs is completely reversible under vacuum.
Fatigue Life Fragilities and Performance-Based Design of Wind Turbine Tower Base Connections

AbstractWind turbines are typically designed for a target service life of 20 years because of fatigue-related failures of the moving components such as the rotors and blades. Designing the tower to have the same lifetime as other components is clearly desirable for optimization of the wind turbine system. This study focuses on the fatigue life of the tower base connection subjected to wind loading. A simplified finite-element model for wind turbines subjected to nonlinear wind loading in time domain was developed specifically for application in this study. The relative motion between the wind speed and moving blades in the flapwise direction only creates force nonlinearity for the applied wind load and hence, necessitates application of a simple fluid/structure interaction model. Then, a model for fatigue assessment (Mode I), including crack propagation, was developed for the tower base connection. The inclusion of crack propagation is expected to extend the service life of the tower compared with convent...
HMA-III: A self-calibrating wireless microphone array system

Our past research has focused on wired microphone arrays having a large number of elements and wide aperture. The wiring for these large arrays is tedious and only a tree structure with intermediate multiplexing of signals works well. A wireless array alleviates this immense wiring issue, albeit other difficulties are introduced including interferences in the wireless transmissions, synchronization, the need for automatic self-calibration, and module power, size and mounting. This paper introduces our first successful wireless array system, HMA-III. It discusses the desired attributes for such an array and the tradeoffs made to assemble a first working system. Results for the automatic self-calibration are presented.
The fine structure of the thrombocyte in the dogfish (Mustelus canis) with special reference to microtubule orientation.

The cytoplasm of the dogfish (Mustelus canis) thrombocyte was found to contain microtubules. The tubules which measured 230 A in diameter appeared singly and in groups. They were found in all parts of the cytoplasm but usually close to the perinuclear area. Similar arrangements of tubules were observed in eosinophils and hemoblasts, but not in the mature, smaller lymphocytes. The orientations of the perinuclear bundles frequently reflected the shape of the nuclei, appearing in furrows, indentations, and between lobes.
Semi-supervised Learning of Feature Hierarchies for Object Detection in a Video

We propose a novel approach to boost the performance of generic object detectors on videos by learning video-specific features using a deep neural network. The insight behind our proposed approach is that an object appearing in different frames of a video clip should share similar features, which can be learned to build better detectors. Unlike many supervised detector adaptation or detection-by-tracking methods, our method does not require any extra annotations or utilize temporal correspondence. We start with the high-confidence detections from a generic detector, then iteratively learn new video-specific features and refine the detection scores. In order to learn discriminative and compact features, we propose a new feature learning method using a deep neural network based on auto en-coders. It differs from the existing unsupervised feature learning methods in two ways: first it optimizes both discriminative and generative properties of the features simultaneously, which gives our features better discriminative ability, second, our learned features are more compact, while the unsupervised feature learning methods usually learn a redundant set of over-complete features. Extensive experimental results on person and horse detection show that significant performance improvement can be achieved with our proposed method.
Molecular cloning and characterization of two novel human renal organic anion transporters (hOAT1 and hOAT3).

The cloned organic anion transporters from rat, mouse, and winter flounder (rOAT1, mOAT1, fROAT) mediate the coupled exchange of alpha-ketoglutarate with multiple organic anions, including p-aminohippurate (PAH). We have isolated two novel gene products from human kidney which bear significant homology to the known OATs and belong to the amphiphilic solute facilitator (ASF) family. The cDNAs, hOAT1 and hOAT3, encode for 550- and 568-amino-acid residue proteins, respectively. hOAT1 and hOAT3 mRNAs are expressed strongly in kidney and weakly in brain. Both genes map to chromosome 11 region q11.7. PAH uptake by Xenopus laevis oocytes injected with hOAT1 mRNA is increased 100-fold compared to water-injected oocytes. PAH uptake is chloride dependent and is not further increased by preincubation of oocytes in 5 mM glutarate. Uptake of PAH is inhibited by probenicid, alpha-ketoglutarate, bumetanide, furosemide, and losartan, but not by salicylate, urate, choline, amilioride, and hydrochlorothiazide.
Graph theoretical approach to the topological spin Hamiltonian applied to conjugated molecules

Abstract Approximate formulae for the total π-electron energy calculated within the topological spin Hamiltonian are derived using the connected moments expansion (CMX) technique up to the third order. This provides the first reported graph theoretical approach to the topological Hamiltonian other than the Huckel one. The formulae, valid for alternant, singlet ground state hydrocarbons, are used to estimate the total π-electron energy of some large molecules
Direct Measurement of the Hydrogen-Bonding Effect on the Intrinsic Redox Potentials of [4Fe−4S] Cubane Complexes

To probe how H-bonding effects the redox potential changes in Fe−S proteins, we produced and studied a series of gaseous cubane-type analogue complexes, [Fe4S4(SEt)3(SCnH2n+1)]2- and [Fe4S4(SEt)3(SCnH2nOH)]2- (n = 4, 6, 11; Et = C2H5). Intrinsic redox potentials for the [Fe4S4]2+/3+ redox couple involved in these complexes were measured by photoelectron spectroscopy. The oxidation energies from [Fe4S4(SEt)3(SCnH2nOH)]2- to [Fe4S4(SEt)3(SCnH2nOH)]- were determined directly from the photoelectron spectra to be ∼130 meV higher than those for the corresponding [Fe4S4(SEt)3(SCnH2n+1)]2- systems, because of the OH···S hydrogen bond in the former. Preliminary Monte Carlo and density functional calculations showed that the H-bonding takes place between the −OH group and the S on the terminal ligand in [Fe4S4(SEt)3(SC6H12OH)]2-. The current data provide a direct experimental measure of a net H-bonding effect on the redox potential of [Fe4S4] clusters without the perturbation of other environmental effects.
Amplification of C-MYC as the Origin of the Homogeneous Staining Region in Ovarian Carcinoma Detected by Micro-FISH

Homogeneous staining region (hsr), a cytogenetic indicator of gene amplification, has been frequently found in ovarian carcinoma (ovc). To identify the origin of the hsr, chromosome microdissection combined with polymerase chain reaction and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was applied to two human ovarian cancer cell lines, GR and MLS/P. The hsr probes were labeled with biotin or digoxigenin and hybridized to normal metaphase spreads to elucidate the chromosomal origin and regional localization of the amplified genes. FISH to normal metaphase spreads with the probe generated from the whole hsr-bearing chromosome from GR hybridized to 8q24, 2p13→2q11.2, 10pter→10p15, 10p12→10q11.2, 5q23→5q31, and 5q33→5qter. For MLS/P, the hsr-bearing marker chromosome hybridized to 8q and 15q. In both cases, detailed FISH analysis revealed enhanced signal intensity at the 8q24 locus, which coincides with the chromosomal location of the C-MYC oncogene. To verify the involvement of C-MYC in hsr formation, in situ hybridization with a probe specific for the C-MYC oncogene was conducted and confirmed the amplification of C-MYC as the origin of the hsr. The whole hsr-bearing chromosome for GR is designated as rev ish der(10) (10pter→10p15::8q24hsr:: 10p12→10q11.2::8q24::2q11.2→2p13::2p13→2q11.2::8q24::10q11→10p11.2::5q23→5q31::5q33→5qter (wcp10+,D10Z1++,wcp2+,D2Z++,wcp5+,wcp8+,C-MYC++/hsr). The hsr-bearing marker for MLS/P is designated as rev ish der(8)(qter→8q24::8q24::8q24→8q10::8q10→8q24::8q24::8q24::8q24→8qter:: 15q11→15qter)(wcp8+,D8Z1+,wcp15+,C-MYC+++++++). FISH with the probe generated from the hsr of GR also painted the hsr in MLS/P, indicating that the two hsrs have shared homology, which indicates that the amplification of 8q24/C-MYC as the origin of hsr may be a nonrandom genomic alteration in ovc.
A Pandemic Influenza H1N1 Live Vaccine Based on Modified Vaccinia Ankara Is Highly Immunogenic and Protects Mice in Active and Passive Immunizations

Background The development of novel influenza vaccines inducing a broad immune response is an important objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate live vaccines which induce both strong humoral and cell-mediated immune responses against the novel human pandemic H1N1 influenza virus, and to show protection in a lethal animal challenge model.
Effect of Yield Criterion on Numerical Simulation Results Using a Stress-Based Failure Criterion

Determining tearing concerns in numerical simulations of sheet metal components is difficult since the traditional failure criterion, which is strain-based, exhibits a strain path dependence. A stress-based, as opposed to a strain-based, failure criterion has been proposed and demonstrated analytically, experimentally in tube forming, and through numerical simulations. The next step in this progression to the acceptance of a stress-based forming limit diagram is to demonstrate how this failure criterion can be used to predict failure of sheet metal parts in numerical simulations. In this paper, numerical simulation results for dome height specimens are presented and compared to experimental data. This procedure was repeated for various yield criteria to examine the effect of this parameter on the ability to predict failure in the numerical simulations. Reasonable agreement was obtained comparing the failure predicted from numerical simulations and those found experimentally, in particular for the yield criterion which has been shown to best characterize the material used in this study.
A computer program to generate signal-detection theory values for sensitivity and response bias

The theory of signal detection was originally proposed by Tanner and Swets (1954) and has come to serve as an alternative to classical psychophysical methodologies. Signal detection's greatest advantage over classical psychophysical methodologies is the separate determination of parameters reflecting sensory and nonsensory factors. The sensitivity of the decision-making process is a function of the variable d'; which is equal to the distance between the noise and signal-plus-noise distribution and which is monotonically related to the signal strength. Nonsensory factors are reflected in the response criterion. The most commonly used measure of response criterion is {3, which is defined as the ratio of the signal-plus-noise distribution at the criterion to the ordinate of the noise distribution. Gardner, Dalsing, Reyes, and Brake (1984) recently published a table of {3 values corresponding to various hit and false-alarm rates. Traditionally, researchers in psychophysics have been primarily interested in measures of sensory sensitivity. The matter of how a subject sets or maintains a criterion at the appropriate value and adjusts that value to take account of relevant intercurrent events has been largely ignored (Treisman & Williams, 1984). One disadvantage of {3 as a measure of response criterion is that it forms an asymmetric distribution such that values cannot be easily averaged over subjects, trial blocks, and so forth. By taking the natural logarithm of {3, one derives a measure of response criterion that can be averaged. In addition, In ({3) is invariant over sensitivity under maximization ofexpected value. The conversion to In ({3) is helpful when the researcher wishes to average {3 or to do other parametric analyses of {3 values. We describe a program (see Appendix), written for the Apple computer, that generates measures of d', {3 and In ((3) from a given pair of hit and false-alarm rates. The ZGEN program is written in Applesoft and uses an approximation for the inverse normal integral function, which is defined as the value of X such that for a given Q:
Hearing Impairment as a Determinant of Function in the Elderly

This clinical, practice-based study explores the research question: Is there a relationship between hearing loss and functional disturbance in elderly patients? We analyzed the impact of hearing impairment on 153 patients over 65 years of age screened in primary care practice. Functional and psychosocial impairment were measured using the Sickness Impact Profile (SIP), a standardized measure for assessing sickness related dysfunction. Hearing level was determined with pure tone audiometry. Multiple linear regression was used to adjust for patient case-mix differences and other clinical variables. After adjustment, a 10 dB increase in hearing loss was found to result in a 2.8 point increase in Physical SIP scores (95% confidence interval = 1.8-3.8), a 2.0 point increase in psychosocial SIP scores (95% confidence interval = 0.8-3.2) and a 1.3 point increase in overall SIP scores (95% confidence interval = 0.1-2.5). Poor hearing was associated with higher SIP scores and increased dysfunction. Thus, hearing impairment is an important determinant of function in the elderly.
Disrupted modular organization of resting-state cortical functional connectivity in U.S. military personnel following concussive 'mild' blast-related traumatic brain injury

Blast-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been one of the "signature injuries" of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, neuroimaging studies in concussive 'mild' blast-related TBI have been challenging due to the absence of abnormalities in computed tomography or conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the heterogeneity of the blast-related injury mechanisms. The goal of this study was to address these challenges utilizing single-subject, module-based graph theoretic analysis of resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) data. We acquired 20min of resting-state fMRI in 63 U.S. military personnel clinically diagnosed with concussive blast-related TBI and 21 U.S. military controls who had blast exposures but no diagnosis of TBI. All subjects underwent an initial scan within 90days post-injury and 65 subjects underwent a follow-up scan 6 to 12months later. A second independent cohort of 40 U.S. military personnel with concussive blast-related TBI served as a validation dataset. The second independent cohort underwent an initial scan within 30days post-injury. 75% of the scans were of good quality, with exclusions primarily due to excessive subject motion. Network analysis of the subset of these subjects in the first cohort with good quality scans revealed spatially localized reductions in the participation coefficient, a measure of between-module connectivity, in the TBI patients relative to the controls at the time of the initial scan. These group differences were less prominent on the follow-up scans. The 15 brain areas with the most prominent reductions in the participation coefficient were next used as regions of interest (ROIs) for single-subject analyses. In the first TBI cohort, more subjects than would be expected by chance (27/47 versus 2/47 expected, p Language: en
Using Crisis Simulations in Public Relations Education

Objectives: Students will demonstrate research, decision making, team building, and public speaking skills, while applying issues management and crisis communication concepts in a realistic setting Courses: Introduction to Public Relations, Public Relations Cases, Crisis Communication
Culture of Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) and Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis)

Abstract Interest in the culture of Atlantic and Pacific (Hippoglossus hippoglossus and H. stenolepis) halibut developed in the 1980s. In general, information collected with respect to the culture requirements of one halibut species is applicable to the other. Maintenance of captive broodstock in circular culture tanks of sufficient size can be accomplished without difficulty. Broodfish can be induced to develop and spawn with or without the use of hormones. Various devices for incubating eggs have been developed and tested, with slow upwelling systems being among the most successful. Eggs are fragile and can be protected to some degree by incubating them at their salinity of neutral buoyancy. A major bottleneck to successful routine culture of the two species is in the area of larval development. The larvae are weak swimmers, extremely fragile, and slow to develop to the size of first‐feeding. Larvae that will accept feed require several additional weeks before they metamorphose into juveniles. The envir...
Mohawk Demography and the Effects of Exogenous Epidemics on American Indian Populations

Abstract The combination of archaeological and documentary research in the Mohawk Valley Project has allowed an unusually detailed assessment of demographic change through the contact and colonial periods. The results support the view that exogenous epidemics did not enter the northeastern part of North America until the Seventeenth Century. They indirectly support the lower of current estimates of the size of the pre-Columbian population of North America. The case study also illuminates certain aspects of cultural ecology and cultural evolution, supporting the principles that selection operates simultaneously at many levels and that human intentionality is a relevant consideration only at a relatively small scale.