cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Physiological and behavioral adaptations of three species of leafhoppers in response to the dilute nutrient content of xylem fluid

Abstract Physiological and behavioral processes of three species of leafhoppers were examined in relation to the extremely dilute content of their food source (xylem fluid). Segregated sexes of Homalodisca coagulata (Say), Homalodisca insolita (Wlk.) and Cuerna costalis (F.) were caged on two hosts, Lagerstroemia indica L. and Catharanthus roseus (L.). Excreta was analyzed and compared to the composition of xylem fluid of the hosts during day and night feeding. Both xylem fluid and insect excreta were analyzed for amino acids, organic acids and sugars and excreta was also analyzed for common excretory products. Efficiencies of metabolic conversion of organic compounds (defined by quantity ingested versus quantity excreted), and total nitrogen and carbon retention were calculated. Diurnal feeding patterns as well as total daily ingestion rates were recorded. Four primary similarities were noted in diet utilization regardless of leafhopper species, host species or sex: (1) excretion of ammonia as the primary waste product; (2) high efficiency of conversion for all organic compounds ingested from xylem fluid; (3) high daily feeding rates (100–300 times dry body weight per day and (4) adjustment of feeding rates to diurnal fluctuations in xylem fluid chemistry. Although these processes were operative for all leafhoppers examined, the extent of their usage and subsequent energy gain and nitrogen accumulation varied greatly with host species and insect sex. These processes maximize efficiency of diet utilization and are discussed in relation to nutritional and caloric requirements of xylem feeding insects.
Educational Strategies and Communication Skill Development in Dietetics

Abstract LEARNING OUTCOME : Dietetics Students Gain Confidence and Skills to Communicate Nutrition. Skills to educate and to communicate with clients, employees, peers, and the media have become increasingly important for the dietitian. Dietitians work side by side with professional educators and professionals in communications. To present themselves as peer professionals requires communication strengths. A course in the dietetics curriculum, Communications Techniques in Foods and Nutrition, teaches an instructional development strategy utilizing nutrition and food science topics. Objectives are for the student to develop programs using a variety of communication forums that are consistent with their audience, their future employment, and their knowledge of the field of nutrition and food science. Needs assessments, preinstructional activities, instructional activities, review, testing and evaluations are incorporated in educational instructions presented by the students. Radio talks, television videos, seminars, and instructions at community sites provide a variety of communication opportunities for each student. Use of computer programs produce effective professional quality visuals to enhance education. Evaluations indicate that confidence, organization! and skills in communications have increased as a result of this course.
Classification of eating disorders: toward DSM-V.

Objective: A goal of the DSM-IV revision is to increase clinical and research utility by improving diagnostic validity through reliance on empirical evidence. Currently defined eating disorder (ED) categories have limited validity and require refinement based on data. Method: The available scientific evidence is considered in evaluating the current ED nosology. Results: Specific recommendations include modifying ED classification by retaining categories but adding a dimensional component; removing the amenorrhea criterion for anorexia nervosa (AN); removing the subtypes for AN and bulimia nervosa (BN); making binge eating disorder (BED) an official diagnosis; and unifying the frequency and duration cut-points for BN and BED to once per week for 3 months. Priority research areas should include epidemiologic studies of full-range ED symptomatology and should focus on empirical validation for individual criterion. Conclusion: There are significant issues to address in revising ED nosology as we move toward a more valid and useful DSM-V. © 2007 by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 2007
Automatic Handling of Parts for Robot Assembly

Summary It is now widely recognized that one of the main obstacles to the economic application of robots in batch assembly work is the lack of flexible parts presentation devices. Current research in the Robot Assembly Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts demonstrates the potential of belt feeding devices as a possible solution to overcome this obstacle for a wide range of parts. This paper discusses the requirements for flexible parts handling and the merits of alternative strategies which are presently being applied. For belt feeding purposes parts are classified as stable or non-stable. Two main developments are reported: (i) a feeding concept employing simple adjustable tooling and a remote sensor for presentation and assembly of a wide class of non-stable parts; (ii) a low cost hopper-type belt feeder which utilizes a single discrete sensor for orientation of stable parts.
Duration of hospital participation in Get With the Guidelines-Resuscitation and survival of in-hospital cardiac arrest

Background Get With the Guidelines (GWTG-R) is a data registry and quality improvement program for in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA). It is unknown if duration of hospital participation in GWTG-R is associated with IHCA outcomes.
Cerebral glycine content and phosphoserine phosphatase activity in hyperaminoacidemias.

Chronic hyperphenylalaninemia maintained with the aid of a suppressor of phenylalamine hydroxylase, α-methylphenylalanine, increases the glycine concentration and the phosphoserine phosphatase activity of the developing rat brain but not that of liver or kidney. Similar increases occur after daily injections with large doses of phenylalanine alone, while tyrosine, isoleucine, alanine, proline, and threonine, were without effect. Treatment with methionine, which increases the phosphoserine phosphatase activity of the brain and lowered that of liver and kidney, left the cerebral glycine level unchanged. When varying the degrees of gestational or early postnatal hyperphenylalaninemia, a significant linear correlation was found between the developing brains' phosphoserine phosphatase and glycine concentration. Observations on the uptake of injected glycine and its decline further indicate that coordinated rises in the brain's phosphoserine phosphatase and glycine content associated with experimental hyperphenylalaninemia denote a direct impact of phenylalanine on the intracellular pathway of glycine synthesis in immature animals.
Factors Related to Auditor-Client Disagreements over Income-Increasing Accounting Methods*

Abstract. The Securities and Exchange Commission requires disclosure of auditor-client disagreements that precede a change in auditor. Although prior research has documented that disclosure of disagreements is associated with a decline in equity value, no empirical work has examined factors that result in auditor-client disagreements. We hypothesize that managers are motivated by debt and compensation arrangements to propose methods that are objected to by their auditors (resulting in a disagreement). Because of their greater independence, we also hypothesize that reported disagreements will be more likely for Big Eight (now Big Six) auditors, A comparison of 40 firms that changed auditors and reported a disagreement with a control group of 40 firms that simply changed auditors revealed that disagreement firms are more likely to have debt covenant violations. Disagreement firms are also more likely to have higher leverage, a decline in earnings, and Big Eight auditors. For firms that disclosed the magnitude of the disagreement's effect on earnings, the use of the questionable procedure tended to enhance “flat” earnings growth. Resume. La Securities and Exchange Commission exige que soit publiee l'information relative aux desaccords verificateur-client qui precedent un changement de verificateurs. Bien que les recherches anterieures aient demontre que la publication de cette information est accompagnee d'un declin de la valeur des titres, aucun travail empirique n'a examine les facteurs qui sont a l'origine des desaccords verificateur-client. Les auteurs posent l'hypothese selon laquelle ce sont le passif et les regimes de remuneration qui motivent les gestionnaires a proposer des methodes auxquelles s'opposent les verificateurs (et qui donnent lieu a un desaccord). Les auteurs posent egalement l'hypothese selon laquelle il est plus probable que les desaccords declares mettent en cause les huit grands cabinets d'experts-comptables (maintenant les six grands), etant donne leur independance plus grande. La comparaison de 40 entreprises ayant change de verificateurs et fait etat d'un desaccord a un groupe de controle de 40 entreprises ayant simplement change de verificateurs a revele que les entreprises en desaccord sont davantage susceptibles d'avoir deroge a des clauses restrictives. Les entreprises qui declarent etre en desaccord avec leurs verificateurs sont aussi davantage susceptibles d'etre caracterisees par un levier financier eleve, un declin dans les benefices et le recours aux services d'un cabinet d'experts-comptables appartenant aux huit grands. Dans le cas des entreprises qui ont fait etat de l'ampleur des consequences du desaccord sur les benefices, l'utilisation du procede discutable a eu tendance a favoriser une croissance « horizontale » des benefices.
Quantum interference as a resource for quantum speedup

Quantum states can, in a sense, be thought of as generalizations of classical probability distributions, but are more powerful than probability distributions when used for computation or communication. Quantum speedup therefore requires some feature of quantum states that classical probability distributions lack. One such feature is interference. We quantify interference and show that there can be no quantum speedup due to a small number of operations incapable of generating large amounts of interference (although large numbers of such operations can, in fact, lead to quantum speedup). Low-interference operations include sparse unitaries, Grover reflections, short-time and low-energy Hamiltonian evolutions, and the Haar wavelet transform. Circuits built from such operations can be classically simulated via a Monte Carlo technique making use of a convex combination of two Markov chains. Applications to query complexity, communication complexity, and the Wigner representation are discussed.
Graphical user interface for interactive seismic ray tracing

RayGUI 2.0 is a new version of RayGUI,a graphical user interface (GUI) to the seismic travel time modeling program of Zelt and Smith [1992]. It represents a significant improvement over the previous version of RayGUI (RayGUI 1.04; Loss et al. [1998a, 1998b]). RayGUI 2.0 uses an updated Java version (1.3), and can run on various operating systems (UNIX, Linux, and Mac OS X). Several new functions have been incorporated, including executing the forward and inversion codes of Zelt and Smith [1992], creating models or adding new parts of models from an ASCII file, graphically adding layers or points, graphically pinching layers, changing the velocity value of a control point, reporting point location and velocity importing travel-time lists, generating postscript files, exporting the velocity model into an ASCII file, generating 1-D velocity profiles at specified locations, calculating rootmean-square errors between observed and calculated arrivals for selected phases, and accessing the ray trace log, as well as several other new display features.
Power enhanced extended maximum average correlation height filter for target detection

Extended maximum average correlation height (EMACH) filter is generated from representative training images of expected target, and is designed to keep a balance between distortion tolerance and clutter rejection capability in target detection and tracking. However, in some cases it fails because of blurred target signature, similarity with background and clutter objects, and other distortions. Experimental study indicates that power enhancement of the images can overcome many instances of such failures. In this process, both the training images and test images undergo a power-law transformation, where the pixel intensities are raised to some power before developing the EMACH filter and/or performing the correlation operation. This process, indeed, high-lights the target image signature both in the filter and in the input scene and/or makes prominent difference between the target and other objects/backgrounds. The power enhanced EMACH filter, called PEMACH filter henceforth, has been found to be successful in several target detection problems.
Enhanced Nitrogen Doping in TiO2 Nanoparticles

TiO2 - xNx nanoparticles were prepared by employing the direct amination of 6−10-nm-sized titania particles. Doping on the nanometer scale led to an enhanced nitrogen concentration of up to 8%, compared to ≤2% in thin films and micrometer-scale TiO2 powders. The synthesized TiO2 - xNx nanocrystals are catalytically active and absorb well into the visible region up to 600 nm, thus exemplifying the use of a nanostructure-based synthesis as a means of producing novel photocatalytic materials.
An unusual meteor shower on 1 September 2007

Around 83 B.C., give or take a century, comet Kiess (C/1911 N1) passed by the Sun, ejecting a cloud of dust particles. The comet returned in 1911, after completing one orbit. The dust particles were pushed by solar radiation pressure into slightly wider orbits and have been returning ever since, forming a thin ongoing stream of dust that usually passes just outside Earth's orbit. On occasion, the combined gravity of the solar system's planets moves this dust trail into Earth's path. Earth encountered this 2000-year-old dust in 1935, 1986, and 1994, causing a meteor shower known as the Aurigids.
Light-mediated and H-bond facilitated liposomal release: the role of lipid head groups in release efficiency

Syntheses of coumarin-containing lipids and liposomal formulations incorporating these lipids are studied. The influence of the lipid head groups in enhancing the release efficiency of these liposomes under light irradiation is studied and a molecular mechanism is provided.
Series Spectra of Two-valence-Electron Systems and of Three-valence-Electron Systems

WE have recently been able to prove that the following laws first discovered in the X-ray field, namely (1) the Moseley law, (2) the regular-doublet, or Sommerfeld, law, and (3) the irregular-doublet, or Hertz, law, hold also throughout the whole field of optics, provided only the radiating atoms under comparison have the same electronic structure but varying nuclear charge.
The effect of trace amounts of oxygen on the HCl etching of silicon

The introduction of small amounts of oxygen (or water) during the gas phase etching of silicon with HCl at high temperatures (1400 K) has a pronounced effect on the etch rate. When at fixed HCl vapour pressure and temperature the oxygen concentration is increased from 1 to 20 ppm the etch rate increases due to the parallel etching of silicon according to Si+2HCl→SiCl2+H2 and Si+12O2→SiO. Going to higher O2 concentrations the total etch rate passes a maximum and beyond 40 ppm O2 — depending on T and carrier gas — the total etch rate drops to zero. This is due to the formation of an oxide skin at the silicon surface, which layer physically hinders the etching of silicon with HCl. In argon this oxide layer has a closed structure causing an abrupt drop of the total etch rate within a very narrow range of oxygen input concentrations. In hydrogen the oxide layer has an open structure so that the HCl etching is only partially interfered with and the total etch rate only very gradually goes to zero with increasing O2 input concentration. The observed formation of SiO2 on Si in H2 and Ar systems with and without HCl agrees with thermodynamical calculations on the formation of a second solid phase of SiO2. This demonstrates that near-equilibrium conditions are present during the etching of silicon in the system studied.
Synthesis of N′-Substituted Methanedisulfonamides and N'-Substituted Methanedisulfonylureas

Abstract The preparation of various derivatives of methanedisulfonic acid is reported. These include fifteen N′-substituted methanedisulfonamides and four N′-substituted methanedisulfonylureas.
Natalizumab for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and Crohn's disease

OBJECTIVETo review the pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, safety, and pivotal clinical trials for natalizumab in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and inflammatory bowel disease.DATA SOURCESA PubMed/MEDLINE search was conducted (1966–June 2005), and information was obtained from Iowa Drug Information Services. Additional data sources included meeting abstracts, bibliographies from identified articles, and information from the manufacturer.STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTIONStudies and review articles examining natalizumab were evaluated. All published, randomized clinical trials evaluating natalizumab in MS and IBD were included in this review.DATA SYNTHESISNatalizumab is the first drug in a new class of agents called selective adhesion molecule inhibitors. It has shown promising results in MS and inflammatory bowel disease and appears superior compared with current therapies in reducing relapse rates. However, 3 recent, confirmed case reports of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) create...
Antioxidant capacity and stilbene contents of wines produced in the Snake River Valley of Idaho

Forty-two wines produced from grapes grown in Idaho were examined in this study. The samples examined were from four monovarietal wines (12 Cabernet Sauvignon, 9 Merlot, 7 Riesling, 14 Chardonnay). Wine samples represented twelve wineries that obtain their fruit from vineyards located within Idaho’s Snake River Valley. Titratable acidity, pH, specific gravity, colour measurements (lightness, chroma, and hue), % haze, total anthocyanins, total phenolics, total tannins, antioxidant capacity, and individual stilbene measurements were performed. The antioxidant capacities (ORAC values) of Idaho wines ranged from 3.1 (Merlot wine) to 87.0 (Cabernet Sauvignon wine) lmol of Trolox/ml (mean = 38.5 lmol of Trolox/ml). Mean ORAC values of Merlot wines (mean = 27.6 lmol of Trolox/ml) were lower than the other three styles (mean for Cabernet Sauvignon wines = 41.0 lmol of Trolox/ml, mean for Chardonnay wines = 42.8 lmol of Trolox/ml, and mean for Riesling wines = 39.4 lmol of Trolox/ml). Free stilbene levels (four different stilbenes) were examined by direct-HPLC/DAD/ESI-MS/MS method. Piceid and resveratrol (both trans- and cis-) were found in the samples. Stilbene levels ranged from 0.97 (Riesling wine) to 12.88 (Cabernet Sauvignon wine) mg (expressed as trans-resveratrol)/l. This is the first paper to report the current chemical composition of Idaho wines. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
A Dissociation between Symbolic Number Knowledge and Analogue Magnitude Information

Semantic understanding of numbers and related concepts can be dissociated from rote knowledge of arithmetic facts. However, distinctions among different kinds of semantic representations related to numbers have not been fully explored. Working with numbers and arithmetic requires representing semantic information that is both analogue (e.g., the approximate magnitude of a number) and symbolic (e.g., what / means). In this article, the authors describe a patient (MC) who exhibits a dissociation between tasks that require symbolic number knowledge (e.g., knowledge of arithmetic symbols including numbers, knowledge of concepts related to numbers such as rounding) and tasks that require an analogue magnitude representation (e.g., comparing size or frequency). MC is impaired on a variety of tasks that require symbolic number knowledge, but her ability to represent and process analogue magnitude information is intact. Her deficit in symbolic number knowledge extends to a variety of concepts related to numbers (e.g., decimal points, Roman numerals, what a quartet is) but not to any other semantic categories that we have tested. These findings suggest that symbolic number knowledge is a functionally independent component of the number processing system, that it is category specific, and that it is anatomically and functionally distinct from magnitude representations.
Beyond Viruses: Clinical Profiles and Etiologies Associated with Encephalitis

Background. Encephalitis is a complex syndrome, and its etiology is often not identified. The California Encephalitis Project was initiated in 1998 to identify the causes and further describe the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of encephalitis. Methods. A standardized report form was used to collect demographic and clinical data. Serum, cerebrospinal fluid, and respiratory specimens were obtained prospectively and were tested for the presence of herpesviruses, arboviruses, enteroviruses, measles, respiratory viruses, Chlamydia species, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. The association between an identified infection and encephalitis was defined using predetermined, organism-specific criteria for confirmed, probable, or possible causes. Results. From 1998 through 2005, a total of 1570 patients were enrolled. Given the large number of patients, subgroups of patients with similar clinical characteristics and laboratory findings were identified. Ten clinical profiles were described. A confirmed or probable etiologic agent was identified for 16% of cases of encephalitis: 69% of these agents were viral; 20%, bacterial; 7%, prion; 3%, parasitic; and 1%, fungal. An additional 13% of cases had a possible etiology identified. Many of the agents classified as possible causes are suspected but have not yet been definitively demonstrated to cause encephalitis; these agents include M. pneumoniae (n = 96), influenza virus (n = 22), adenovirus (n = 14), Chlamydia species (n = 10), and human metapneumovirus (n = 4). A noninfectious etiology was identified for 8% of cases, and no etiology was found for 63% of cases. Conclusions. Although the etiology of encephalitis remains unknown in most cases, the recognition of discrete clinical profiles among patients with encephalitis should help focus our efforts toward understanding the etiology, pathogenesis, course, and management of this complex syndrome.
Small-signal methods for electric ship power systems

This paper presents an overview of small-signal analysis methods applicable to shipboard power systems that use ac as the primary form of power distribution. Future electric ship power systems will arguably be power electronic systems due to wide-spread use of power electronic circuits and control. The inherent nonlinear behavior of switching power converters coupled with the time-varying operation trajectory of ac power systems represents a major difficulty for small-signal analysis of such systems, namely, traditional small-signal linearization techniques cannot be directly applied to develop linear, time-invariant system models. Possible solutions to this problem include modeling using dynamic phasors, transformation into a rotating (dq) reference frame, reduced-order modeling, and harmonic linearization. This paper provides an overview of these methods and discusses their utilities as well as limitations for shipboard power system stability and power quality analysis.
The VRG4 Gene Is Required for GDP-mannose Transport into the Lumen of the Golgi in the Yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae

In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, glycoproteins and sphingolipids are modified in the Golgi by the addition of mannose residues. The critical mannosyl donor for these reactions is the nucleotide sugar, GDP-mannose, whose transport into the Golgi from the cytoplasm is required for mannosylation. This transport reaction has been well characterized, but the nucleotide sugar transporter has yet to be identified in yeast. VRG4 is an essential gene whose product is required for a number of Golgi-specific functions, including glycosylation and the organization of the endomembrane system. Here, data are presented that demonstrate that the primary role of Vrg4p is in the transport of GDP-mannose into the Golgi. The vrg4 mutation causes a general impairment in mannosylation, affecting N-linked and O-linked glycoprotein modifications as well as the mannosylation of sphingolipids. By using an in vitro assay, vrg4 mutants were shown to be specifically defective in the transport of GDP-mannose into Golgi vesicles. The Vrg4 protein localizes to the Golgi complex in a pattern that suggests a wide distribution throughout the Golgi. Vrg4p displays homology to other putative nucleotide sugar transporters, suggesting that the VRG4 gene encodes a Golgi GDP-mannose transporter. As Vrg4p is essential, these results suggest that a complete lack of mannosylation of glycoproteins in the Golgi leads to inviability. Alternatively, the essential function of Vrg4p in yeast involves its effect on sphingolipids, which would imply a critical role for mannosylinositol phosphorylceramides or mannosyl diphosphoinositol ceramides on growth and viability.
Recombinant Human Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I Treatment Inhibits Gluconeogenesis in a Transgenic Mouse Model of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

IGF-I and insulin are structurally related polypeptides that mediate a similar pattern of biological effects via receptors that display considerably homology. Administration of recombinant human IGF-I (rhIGF-I) has been proven to improve glucose control and liver and muscle insulin sensitivity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). The effect of rhIGF-I treatment was evaluated in a mouse model of type 2 DM (MKR mouse), which expresses a dominant-negative form of the human IGF-I receptor under the control of the muscle creatine kinase promoter specifically in skeletal muscle. MKR mice have impaired IGF-I and insulin signaling in skeletal muscle, leading to severe insulin resistance in muscle, liver, and fat, developing type 2 DM at 5 wk of age. Six-week-old MKR mice were treated with either saline or rhIGF-I for 3 wk. Blood glucose levels were decreased in response to rhIGF-I treatment in MKR mice. rhIGF-I treatment also increased body weight in MKR with concomitant changes in body composition such as a decrease in fat mass and an increase in lean body mass. Insulin, fatty acid, and triglyceride levels were not affected by rhIGF-I, nor were insulin or glucose tolerance in MKR mice. Hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp analysis demonstrated no improvement in overall insulin sensitivity. Pyruvate and glutamine tolerance tests proved that there was a decrease in the rate of glucose appearance in MKR mice treated with rhIGF-I, suggesting a reduction in the gluconeogenic capacity of liver, kidney, and small intestine. Taken together these results demonstrate that the improvement of the hyperglycemia was achieved by inhibition of gluconeogenesis rather than an improvement in insulin sensitivity. Also, these results suggest that a functional IGF-I receptor in skeletal muscle is required for IGF-I to improve insulin sensitivity in this mouse model of type 2 DM.
Kinetics of digitoxin and the bis- and monodigitoxosides of digitoxigenin in normal subjects

The kinetics of digitoxin and two of its metabolites, the bis- and monodigitoxosides of digitoxigenin, were determined in six normal subjects. Mean t½s and total body clearances were 134.4, 15.4, and 0.59 hr and 2.66, 27.3, and 1071 ml/min. Mean renal clearance of the monodigitoxoside was more rapid (7.24 ml/min) than those of digitoxin (0.81 ml/min) or the bisdigitoxoside (0.94 mi/min). The volumes of distribution were of the same order, 0.45 l/kg for digitoxin, 0.57 l/kg for the bisdigitoxoside, and 0.83 l/kg for the monodigitoxoside. The short t½ of monodigitoxoside would make it unsuitable for clinical use, but the bisdigitoxoside of digitoxigenin has a t½ of an intermediate length and may have significant therapeutic advantages. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1984) 36, 601–606; doi:10.1038/clpt.1984.228
Community-Oriented Primary Care: A Path to Community Development

Although community devel- | H. Jack Geiger, MD, MSciHyg opment and social change are not explicit goals of community- oriented primary care (COPC), they are implicit in COPC’s emphasis on community organization and local participation with health professionals in the assessment of health problems. These goals are also implicit in the shared understanding of health problems’ social, physical, and economic causes and in the design of COPC interventions. In the mid-1960s, a community health center in the Mississippi Delta created programs designed to move beyond narrowly focused disease-specific interventions and address some of the root causes of community morbidity and mortality. Drawing on the skills of the community itself, a selfsustaining process of healthrelated social change was initiated. A key program involved the provision of educational opportunities.
Training in Operations Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Two contributions: 1 Training in Operations Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Philip M. Morse, and 2 Operations Research at the Johns Hopkins University by Rogert H. Roy.
Reasoning about grasping

The promise of robots for the future is that of intelligent, autonomous machines functioning in a variety of tasks and situations. If this promise is to be met, then it is vital that robots be capable of grasping and manipulating a wide range of objects in the execution of highly variable tasks. A current model of human grasping divides the grasp into two stages, a precontact stage and a postcontact stage. In this paper, we present a rule-based reasoning system and an object representation paradigm for a robotic system which utilizes this model to reason about grasping during the precontact stage. Sensed object features and their spatial relations are used to invoke a set of hand preshapes and reach parameters for the robot arm/hand. The system has been implemented in PROLOG and results are presented to illustrate how the system functions.
Neurorehabilitation of behavioral disorders following lightning and electrical trauma

Neurobehavioral problems after lightning and electrical injuries are diverse. Commonly reported are decreased cognitive function, pain syndromes, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and significant alterations in social and work roles. While the problems resemble those following other kinds of accidents, the injury scenarios for lightning and electrical trauma are unique, and seem to invite more skepticism and controversy in medical and legal realms when the survivors seek help. Studies of lightning and electrical injuries have identified disabling neuropsychiatric changes for some survivors, often persistent and occasionally progressive, that appear weakly related to litigation status, inconsistently related to injury scenarios, and likely influenced by individual premorbid emotional and coping patterns. Standards of care in the fields of brain injury, behavioral medicine, and psychotherapy can inform rehabilitation strategies. Proper assessment is important, as well as an individualized approach to treatment. Multidisciplinary intervention focuses on managing symptoms, learning compensatory skills, providing psychosocial support, and preventing maladaptive behaviors. It has been therapeutic for some patients to become activists for better awareness and prevention.
An Islamic consideration of western moral education: an exploration of the individual

This paper offers a theoretical comparison of the concept of the individual presumed in modern Islamic educational theory and western moral educational theory, revealing a distinct Islamic point of view on the western educational premise that a moral universe is derived dialectically between individual and society. From an Islamic perspective, socially derived moral truths cannot supersede the moral ideal of nurturing and awakening a spiritual self into a unity of being. Muslim scholars fear that two inter‐related things are lost in western approaches: inwardly fostered personal discovery and timeless sacred principles. The modern Muslim educational approach presents possible talking points regarding how moral education is valued and understood differently and raises questions regarding the universal applicability of western moral education models. Western and Islamic perspectives are considered and areas of contention and commonality are explored. Scholars under consideration include Durkheim, Dewey, Koh...
Covering-based supervisory control of partially observed discrete event systems for state avoidance

In this work we present a new polynomial complexity approach to state avoidance for nondeterministic and partially observed discrete event systems. Our approach generates control based on a covering of the system state space that identifies overlapping sets of indistinguishable states. This approach is shown to be more permissive than existing state-feedback control techniques.
Compressive Sensing Reconstruction With Prior Information by Iteratively Reweighted Least-Squares

Iteratively reweighted least-squares (IRLS) algorithms have been successfully used in compressive sensing to reconstruct sparse signals from incomplete linear measurements taken in nonsparse domains. The underlying optimization problem corresponds to finding the vector that solves the lp minimization while explaining the measurements, and IRLS allows to easily control the used value of p, with effect on the number of required measurements. In this paper, we propose a weighting strategy in the reconstruction method based on IRLS in order to add prior information on the support of the sparse domain. Our simulation results show that the use of prior knowledge about positions of at least some of the nonzero coefficients in the sparse domain leads to a reduction in the number of linear measurements required for unambiguous reconstruction. This reduction occurs for all values of p , so that a further reduction can be achieved by decreasing p and using prior information. The proposed weighting scheme also reduces the computational complexity with respect to the IRLS with no prior information, both in terms of number of iterations and computation time.
When are Appearances Deceiving? The Nature of the Beauty Premium

We design a laboratory experiment to illuminate the channels through which relatively more attractive individuals receive higher wages. Specifically, we are able to distinguish taste-based discrimination from rational statistical discrimination and biased beliefs. Using three realistic worker tasks to increase the external validity of our results, we find that the “beauty premium” is highly task-specific: while relatively more attractive workers receive higher wage bids in a bargaining task, there is no such premium in either an analytical task or a data entry task. The premium in the bargaining task is driven by biased beliefs about worker performance. We find that there is substantial learning after worker-specific performance information is revealed, highlighting the importance of accounting for longer-run interactions in studies of discrimination.
An exploration-based taxonomy for emergent behavior analysis in simulations

Emergent behaviors in simulations require explanation, so that valid behaviors can be separated from design or coding errors. We present a taxonomy, to be applied to emergent behaviors of unknown validity. Our goal is to facilitate the explanation process. Once a user identifies an emergent behavior as a certain type within our taxonomy, exploration can commence in a manner befitting that type. Exploration based on type supports narrowing of possibilities and suggests exploration methods, thus facilitating the exploration process. Ideally, a taxonomy would be robust, allowing reasonable variation in behavior type assignment without penalty in cost or correctness during the exploration process. The taxonomy we present is robust, comprehensive and suitable for use with our established emergent behavior exploration methods. In addition to the taxonomy, we present our design rationale, and a summary of results from a test application of our taxonomy.
Analysis of the prevalence of severe hand,foot,and mouth disease in Nanchang from 2009 to 2013

Objective To study the epidemiological characteristics of cases of severe hand,foot,and mouth disease(SHFMD)in Nanchang from 2009 to 2011. Methods Data on cases of SHFMD were downloaded from China Information System for Disease Control and Prevention.SHFMD was detected in throat swabs with a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.Descriptive and analytic epidemiology were used to analyze the epidemiological characteristics of SHFMD. Results In total,302 cases of SHFMD were reported,and the male-female ratio was 2.07︰1.Most patients were under 3years of age(265/302,87.75%).The peak in incidence varied from week 16 to 27every year,while a relatively lower autumn peak was evident in 2011.There were statistically significant differences in the distribution of places where patients lived(χ2=21.66,P=0.001).Of all the laboratory confirmed cases of SHFMD,75.11%were type EV71.The distribution of virus types differed significantly(χ2=23.21,P=0.026)during the five years studied,and the other types of enterovirus responsible for HFMD increased in comparison to the previous four years.SHFMD had a mortality rate of 6.29%.Of the deaths,most involved patients from rural areas(84.21%)and infection with EV71(84.21%).Conclusion Variation in the enterovirus responsible for HFMD should be continually monitored,and the ability to recognize and diagnose the disease should be improved to increase the success rate of treatment at medical facilities.
Abstract 239: Selective Class I and II Histone Deacetylation Inhibitors Alter Stability of HDAC-Corepressor Complexes

Introduction: Alterations in expression and activity of different genes have been implicated in the pathogenesis of heart failure. Our lab has shown that HDAC-repressor complexes play a critical role in the upregulation Sodium Calcium Exchanger ( Ncx1) and HDAC inhibition causes changes that attenuated cardiac remodeling during cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. Thus, treatment with HDAC inhibitors has been proposed as a potential strategy for treatment of cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. HDAC inhibitors repress deacetylase activity but we propose that they also affect HDAC confirmation and interaction with other protein factors. We hypothesize that HDAC inhibitors affect the stability of the co-repressor complex with specific transcription factors and that this effect is dependent on the transcription factor. Results: Inhibition of HDACs in adult cardiomyocytes results in the greater stabilization of HDACs with co-repressor molecules that were recruited to the NCX1 promoter through Nkx2.5 transcription factor. HDAC class I specific inhibitor, MS 275 demonstrated stronger association between HDACs and co-repressors while other Class I inhibitors, PD106 and BML 210 failed on showing this phenomenal. The results suggested that class I HDACs inhibitors may affect formations of HDAC-complex via alternated active site interactions other than chelating with zinc binding domain. These results compliment ChIP experiments which also demonstrate the different recruitments of Sin3a at the proximal promoter of NCX1. In vivo analysis on HDAC5 knockout mice reveal that the Sin3a-HDAC1/2 repressor complex is not recruited to the Ncx1 promoter in the absence of HDAC5, indicating not only Class I HDAC but also Class II HDACs play an important role on HDAC-complex formation. Conclusions: This work gives insight into part of the molecular mechanism of how HDAC inhibitors can affect the stability of the HDAC co-repressor complex in cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. In addition, we demonstrated the Class IIa HDACs are required for the recruitment of the Sin3a/HDAC1/2 co-repressor complex to specific transcription factors on the target promoter.
Potential Effectiveness of Tolvaptan to Improve Ascites Unresponsive to Standard Diuretics and Overall Survival in Patients with Decompensated Liver Cirrhosis

After tolvaptan was approved for the treatment of cirrhosis patients with ascites, only a few studies have reported its efficacy in the real clinical setting, and no studies have reported its contribution to overall survival. This study clarified the clinical outcomes of tolvaptan treatment in terms of improving ascites unresponsive to standard diuretics (AUS) and overall survival. We retrospectively enrolled 80 decompensated cirrhosis patients with AUS who were administered tolvaptan from October 2012 to December 2014. The patients were divided into two groups according to ascites improvement. We compared laboratory results and overall survival and analyzed factors that affected overall survival. Of the 80 patients, 59 (73.8 %) were male and the median age was 70 years. Thirty-nine (48.8 %) patients were Child–Pugh class C, and 36 (45.0 %) had advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Tolvaptan was effective in 48 (60.0 %) patients with an average 3.8 kg weight reduction and ineffective in 32 (40.0 %) patients. The cumulative survival rate differed significantly between the two groups (p < 0.0001), with 87.5 and 68.0 % survival at 30 and 90 days, respectively, in the effective group, and 50.0 and 30.5 % survival, respectively, in the ineffective group. Multivariate analysis showed that improvement in AUS, advanced HCC, total bilirubin level, blood urea nitrogen level, and the presence of hyponatremia were independent predictors of overall survival. Tolvaptan could possibly improve overall survival in decompensated cirrhosis patients with AUS as long as it was demonstrated to be effective in these patients.
Ecological disruption precedes mass extinction

Mass extinctions are dramatic features of the fossil record in which extinction risk is substantially elevated above background levels. Although extinction risk varies markedly over geologic time, as well as geographically, it was particularly elevated and global in extent during the so-called Big Five events: the Late Ordovician, Late Devonian, end-Permian, end-Triassic, and end-Cretaceous (1). These events were originally recognized by variations in extinction rate in marine animal families, and their importance remains in analyses at the genus level and that account for variable preservation over geologic time (2, 3). Increasing attention has concentrated on understanding the ecological effects of mass extinction and other lesser but still significant extinction episodes (4⇓⇓⇓⇓⇓–10). In PNAS, Sheets et al. (11) document the ecological changes in marine planktonic communities not only during, but preceding the Late Ordovician (447–444 Ma) mass extinction.
Otopolyposis With Middle Ear Allergic Mucin in a Patient With Allergic Fungal Rhinosinusitis.

Objective:The purpose of this study is to report a case of otopolyposis and middle ear allergic mucin in a patient with allergic fungal rhinosinusitis (AFRS) and no history of middle ear disease an...
Learning Theories and Education: Toward a Decade of Synergy

Acknowledgments: This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF#0354453). Any opinions, findings and conclusions expressed in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The authors wish to thank the following individuals for their contributions to the chapter: Leah Bricker, Hank Clark, Barbara Conboy, Joan Davis, Katie Hardin, Beth Koemans, Tiffany Lee, Laurie McCarthy, Maisy McGaughey, Raj Raizada, Suzanne Reeve, Maritza Rivera-Gaxiola, Tom Satwicz, Yang Zhang, and Heather Toomey Zimmmerman.
Does the Molecular Weight Dependence of Tg Correlate to Me

The nature of the molecular weight (MW) dependence of the glass transition temperature (Tg) in polymers still remains a subject of discussion. Recently, Hintermeyer et al. [Macromolecules 2008, 41, 9335] proposed that the MW at which the dependence of Tg saturates corresponds to the molecular weight between entanglements, Me. We demonstrate on the example of four polymers that there is no relationship between Me and saturation of the molecular weight dependence of Tg.
Computer Simulation of Singlet Fission in Single Crystalline Pentacene by Functional Mode Vibronic Theory

We have applied our functional mode framework for singlet fission to pentacene, a prototypical organic material for multiple exciton generation. It was found that singlet fission in pentacene occurs predominantly through a coherent process mediated by a virtual charge-transfer (CT) intermediate, which lies slightly above the photoexcited S1S0 state. This energetic near-degeneracy facilitates a substantial vibronic superposition, leading to a rapid transition rate of 25.1 ps–1. By contrast, the direct S1S0 → T1T1 path constitutes a much more sluggish route with a rate of 2.6 ps–1, largely due to the weak diabatic coupling between participant states. These data collectively afford an experimentally consistent rate of 27.7 ps–1 for the entire singlet fission process. The presence of this low-lying CT intermediate suggests that enhanced electronic coupling between S1S0 and T1T1 states may collude with coherent vibrational mixing to expedite the formation of triplet pairs. The knowledge gleaned from our invest...
Analysis and Simulation of the Left Ventricular Response to Bilateral Changes in Carotid Sinus Pressure

Abstract A study of the left ventricular systolic pressure response to bilateral changes in carotid sinus pressure was undertaken in which the experimental preparation employed eliminated all parallel and interacting control influences save those of intrasinusal pressures. It was desired to define this physiologic system in terms of three functional blocks, i.e. the baroceptors, the central nervous system (c.n.s.), and the myocardium. The first phase of the study consequently consisted of defining the third, myocardial block, i.e. the systolic pressure response to external simultaneously applied electrical stimulation to both divisions of the autonomic nervous system (a.n.s.). Statistical experimental design procedures were used to derive quadratic regression response surfaces which success-fully described the system's static gain (including sympathetic-parasympathetic negative interactions) as shown by a hybrid computer simulation. The second phase of this work then consisted of measuring and modeling the response of the total carotid sinusmyocardial system, where now the previously defined a.n.s.-myocardial system was used as the final block. A similar experimental preparation was used except that now the inputs consisted of independent pressure sources coupled to each control sinus region. By successively eliminating each autonomic division, it was shown that the systolic pressure response is mediated primarily via the sympathetic division below about 150 mmHg, and primarily by the parasympathetic division above about 150 mmHg of intrasinusal pressure. Statistical comparisons of the effects of left versus right carotid sinus pressure changes showed that the gain of the right sinus is greater than that of the left, and that the response to combined stimulation was greater or lesser than the sum of the individual left and right responses when pressure was decreased or increased, respectively, from a mean value of 150 mmHg. The total system was successfully simulated by means of a hybrid computer, using the above derived model of autonomic-systolic pressure responses as one component. Each component of the overall model was directly identified with its real physiologic component. An interpretation of the derived model structure in physiological terms is briefly discussed.