cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Accelerated Endothelialization by Local Delivery of Recombinant Human Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Reduces In-Stent Intimal Formation

Endothelium plays an important role in vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and thrombus deposition. We thus hypothesized that local delivery of recombinant human vascular endothelial growth factor (rhVEGF) might reduce in-stent intimal formation. Balloon injury followed by Palmaz-Schatz stent implantation was performed in the external iliac artery of 30 New Zealand rabbits. Animals were then randomized to: 1) no local delivery (Controlgroup, n=10); 2) local delivery via a channel balloon catheter of 100μg rhVEGF165(VEGFgroup, n=10); or 3) local delivery of the vehicle solution (Vehiclegroup, n=10). Animals were sacrificed 28 days later and morphometric analysis was performed. Maximal intimal area was reduced from 1.47±0.12 mm2and 1.44±0.10 mm2in theControlandVehiclegroups, respectively, to 0.87±0.06 mm2in theVEGFgroup (p<.001). Accelerated endothelialization by local delivery of an endothelial-specific growth factor, rhVEGF, significantly reduces in-stent intimal formation and could constitute an attractive alternative to direct antiproliferative strategies.
Kinetics of zinc uptake by two rice cultivars

Rice (Oryzae sativa L.) cultivars differ widely in their susceptibility to zinc (Zn) dificiency. Excised root apices of cv IR26 actively absorbed Zn at a rate twice that of cv M101 roots. This difference in Zn uptake rates could not be attributed to greater root surface area in cv IR26 as compared to cv M101. The maximum rates of Zn uptake (Vmax) and the Km values also differed markedly between these two cultivars. Roots of cv M101 have a two-fold greater affinity for Zn than do those of cv IR26. Leaf blade tissues of IR26 and M101 rice absorbed Zn at similar rates. Rice cv IR26 readily develops Zn deficiency symptoms in hydroponic culture but cv M101 rarely does so.
Fast load control with stochastic frequency measurement

Matching demand with supply and regulating frequency are key issues in power system operations. Flexibility and local frequency measurement capability of loads offer new regulation mechanisms through load control. We present a frequency-based fast load control scheme which aims to match total demand with supply while minimizing the global end-use disutility. Local frequency measurement enables loads to make decentralized decisions on their power from the estimates of total demand-supply mismatch. To resolve the errors in such estimates caused by stochastic frequency measurement errors, loads communicate via a neighborhood area network. Case studies show that the proposed load control can balance demand with supply and restore the frequency at the timescale faster than AGC, even when the loads use a highly simplified system model in their algorithms. Moreover, we discuss the tradeoff between communication and performance, and show with experiments that a moderate amount of communication significantly improves the performance.
A systems intervention procedure for the management of aggressive behaviour

Abstract A significant reduction (p < .05) in the frequency of aggressive behaviour below baseline was found with eight institutionalized mentally retarded adult males using a systems intervention procedure. Self‐charting, a token system, differential reinforcement of other behaviour, verbal and physical prompts, restraint, time out from reinforcement, seclusion, and teaching alternatives were systematically applied with staff response options being contingent on the degree of control exhibited by the subject. Although it was concluded that this is an effective treatment model, further research was suggested.
Zoonotic Onchocerca (nematoda:filarioidea) in the cornea of a colorado resident

Abstract Objective A female patient, resident in the state of Colorado, presented with iritis of the right eye. Slit-lamp examination showed the presence of a thin, threadlike worm entwined in the cornea. The patient was taken to surgery for removal of the parasite. Design A case report. Intervention A 3-mm-long supertemporal incision was made in the cornea and further dissected until the worm could be grasped and removed by gentle traction. Results The worm, a filarial nematode, was identified as a member of the genus Onchocerca , most likely Onchocerca cervicalis , a natural parasite of horses. The patient had an uneventful recovery, and 1 week after surgery, her visual acuity, intraocular pressure, and corneal edema were all resolving. Conclusion In the United States and elsewhere, most cases of zoonotic filarial infection involving the eye are caused by Dirofilaria or Dipetalonema -like worms. However, the current case was caused by a species of Onchocerca . This is the first case of zoonotic Onchocerca from the eye to be reported, only the second case of zoonotic Onchocerca in the United States, and the seventh case worldwide. The worm was removed surgically, and the patient had an uneventful recovery.
Switchable haptotropic migrations of tricarbonylchromium complexes of 1,2-dihydro-2-phenyl-1,2-azaborine

1,2-Dihydro-2-phenyl-1,2-azaborine (5) reacts with Cr(CO)3(CH3CN)3 in THF at 50 °C to form the Cr(CO)3 complex 7 in which the chromium is η6-bound to the heterocyclic ring. Heating 7 in THF to 101 °C causes it to isomerize to complex 8, in which the chromium is η6-bound to the phenyl ring. The Cr(CO)3 group of 8 may be switched back to the heterocyclic ring by base conversion to the anion 9, followed by thermal isomerization to anion 10. Protonation of 10 re-forms 7. The X-ray structure of 8 shows that the uncoordinated 1,2-dihydro-1,2 azaborine ring is aromatic.
Synthesis, Crystal Chemistry and Stability of Ettringite, A Material with Potential Applications in Hazardous Waste Immobilization

Recent results on synthesis, crystal chemistry, structure and stability of ettringite* , with specific reference to use of this material in hazardous waste immobilization, are presented. Ettringites with selenate, chromate, borate, sulfite and carbonate replacing sulfate have been synthesized and characterized by XRD for phase purity and structure. In X-ray powder diffractograms, selenate and chromate etringites have the normal trigonal P31c ettringite structure, whereas the borate, sulfite and carbonate ettringites can be indexed on a hexagonal unit cell with a halved c parameter. In excess of 95% of the Se and B in solutions spiked with various concentrations of these elements has been removed by precipitation of ettringite. Ettringites appear to be unstable in solutions outside of the approximate pH range 11.0-12.5, and there is a potential for some oxyanion exchange between ettringites and oxyanion-containing solutions. Buffering of pH, and dissolved Ca, Al and sulfate activities by other components of ettringite-based hazardous waste forms, combined with low-reactivity C-S-H matrices, could largely mitigate these concerns.
Technical efficiency of shrimp fishery in South Carolina, USA

The increased inflow of imported shrimp into the US has lowered shrimp prices in the marketplace and with it, ex-vessel prices received by shrimp fishermen. Proposed remedies are aimed at strategies to increase the prices received by domestic producers. This study looks into issues related to the production side by estimating the technical efficiency of South Carolina shrimp boat operators. Estimates using a stochastic production frontier method show that average efficiency is 46%. This finding has strong implications on the long-term survival and viability of the local shrimp industry as it continues to face competition from low-priced imports.
Selected medical management of the older rehabilitative patient.

Abstract Lin JL, Armour D. Selected medical management of the older rehabilitative patient. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2004;85(Suppl 3):S76-82. This self-directed learning module highlights present practices of geriatric medicine that are commonly seen in an inpatient rehabilitation setting. It is a part of the study guide on geriatric rehabilitation in the Self-Directed Physiatric Education Program for practitioners and trainees in physical medicine and rehabilitation. In particular, attention is given to update physiatrists in the geriatric medical advances in pharmacotherapeutic considerations, the management of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, urinary tract infections, and sleep disorders. Overall article objective To update the common present-day medical practices for older persons seen in a rehabilitation setting.
Diagnostic grammar and assessment: translating criteria into questions.

There has been concern about whether standardized psychiatric interviews make valid diagnoses. Agreements between the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS), as an example of a standardized interview, with independent assessments by a clinician are reasonably high in most studies, but the clinical assessment is itself of uncertain validity. Using predictive ability is an alternative way of judging validity. Data are presented to show that the DIS is almost as good at prediction as a clinician's assessment, but here too there are problems. Because prediction is probabilistic (i.e. the same disorder can have multiple outcomes, and different disorders can share outcomes), it is not possible to say how good prediction has to be to demonstrate perfect validity. Across varied methods of validity assessment, some disorders are regularly found more validly diagnosed than others, suggesting that part of the source of invalidity lies in the diagnostic grammar of the systems whose criteria standardized interviews evaluate. Sources of invalidity inherent in the content and structure of a variety of diagnoses in DSM-III and its heir, DSM-III-R, are reviewed and illustrated, in part with results from the Epidemiological Catchment Area study. The relationship between diagnostic criteria and standardized interviews is symbiotic. While attempts to adhere closely to existing diagnostic criteria contribute to the diagnostic accuracy of standardized interviews, the exercise of translating official diagnostic criteria into standardized questions highlights problems in the system's diagnostic grammar, enabling standardized interviews to contribute to improvements in diagnostic nosology.
Emulsion‐mediated transport of nonaqueous‐phase liquid in porous media: A review∗

Abstract A review of literature on the formation, characteristic properties, and flow of emulsion in subsurface environment, and its potential impact on the transport of nonaqueous‐phase liquids (NAPLs) is provided. Synthesis of the literature indicates that emulsions can form during petroleum recovery as a result of production of natural surfactants by soil microorganisms, and the use of synthetic surfactants to clean up NAPL‐contaminated soils and aquifers. The use of surfactants as a remediation technique to remove hazardous NAPLs from soil and groundwater has been explored in some detail. However, cost‐effective and high‐efficiency remediation approaches using surfactants have yet to be accomplished. This review suggests that the use of surfactants to remove NAPLs from soil may involve the formation and flow of emulsions in the subsurface environment. The flow of emulsions may influence the transport of hazardous NAPLs in the subsurface environment, depending on the type and stability of emulsion form...
An improved method for the isolation of intact nuclei from southern armyworm (Spodoptera eridania) larval midgut

Abstract Intact nuclei, relatively free of cell debris, were prepared from armyworm midgut tissue by a new, improved procedure involving homogenization in the presence of 0.1% Triton X-100 and 1% polyvinylpyrrolidone followed by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The nuclear fraction thus prepared was a suitable source for assay of RNA polymerase activity. Polymerase activity was dependent on the presence of all four ribonucleotide triphosphates, was stimulated by Mn 2+ and Mg 2+ and was inhibited by actinomycin D and α-amanitin.
Estimating the number of asymptotic degrees of freedom for nonlinear dissipative systems

We show that the long-time behavior of the projection of the exact solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations and other dissipative evolution equations on the finite-dimensional space of interpolant polynomials determines the long-time behavior of the solution itself provided that the spatial mesh is fine enough. We also provide an explicit estimate on the size of the mesh. Moreover, we show that if the evolution equation has an inertial manifold, then the dynamics of the evolution equation is equivalent to the dynamics of the projection of the solutions on the finite-dimensional space spanned by the approximating polynomials. Our results suggest that certain numerical schemes may capture the essential dynamics of the underlying evolution equation.
Multiperipheral Theory of Deep-Inelastic Electron-Nucleon Scattering

The Amati-Bertocchi-Fubini-Stanghellini-Tonin multiperipheral model is modified to study deep-inelastic electron-nucleon scattering. The behavior of the structure functions is derived in the limit of large energy and momentum transfer, $\ensuremath{\nu}$ and ${q}^{2}$, with $\ensuremath{\omega}\ensuremath{\equiv}\frac{2m\ensuremath{\nu}}{(\ensuremath{-}{q}^{2})}$ fixed but large. In particular, scaling is derived. To accomplish this derivation it is necessary to introduce a cutoff for the momentum transfer of the exchange nucleon, which directly couples to the photon in the multiperipheral chain. The multiperipheral derivation is compared with derivations that use other models. The generality of our derivation, in the sense of requiring only Regge behavior and a particular asymptotic off-shell dependence, is discussed.
Abnormal fatty acid composition of biotin-responsive multiple carboxylase deficiency fibroblasts.

Clinical and biochemical correlations in the biotin-responsive multiple carboxylase deficiencies have suggested that disordered lipogenesis plays a role in the pathogenesis of the disease. In particular, the activity of biotin-dependent acetyl CoA carboxylase and thede novo synthesis of fatty acids are reduced in mutant fibroblasts. In the present work, we examine the biochemical consequences of these deficiencies, and document and characterize an abnormal fatty acid composition in holocarboxylase synthetase deficiency fibroblasts. Following growth in biotin-restricted medium, the total fatty acid content of mutant cells is reduced. There were significant reductions in the percentage as 16:0, 18:0 and 20:3N9 fatty acids, with the proportion of longer-chain fatty acids either increased or maintained at control levels. The cellular content of 16:0, 16:1, 18:0, 18:1 and 20:3N9 fatty acids was reduced, while that of the longer-chain fatty acids was preserved at control levels in mutant cells deprived of biotin. We speculate that the components of the altered fatty acid pools may be disproportionately incorporated into complex lipids in mutant cells, with pathologic effects on the multiple carboxylase deficiency phenotype.
Effects of increasing and decreasing reward magnitude and pre-experimental persistence level on focal and incidental responses

Abstract Children rated as high persisters (HP) or low (LP) received increasing, decreasing, or random schedules of reward. Effects of reward, persistence, and sex factors on a focal lever moving response and an incidental latency response over rewarded and nonrewarded trials were investigated. Lever activity of LP girls directly reflected the schedules of reward magnitudes while HP girls whowed high activity to low rewarded trials similar to findings in earlier work. Notably low lever activity of HP boys was attributed to their problem solving reaction to the task situation. The focal and incidental responses yielded different information about reward treatments under certain conditions. For LP boys, in particular, decrement in response speeds reflected the decreasing rewards while the concurrent lever activity either increased or remained stable. Similarities and differences between this and previous work were considered. Problems of comparing the results of this experiment and one that used analogous incentive schedules with animal S s were also discussed.
Echocardiography in the management of mitral valve prolapse

Echocardiography plays a major role in the management of patients with mitral valve prolapse (MVP). The technique has greatly enhanced our understanding of the pathophysiology, epidemiology and natural history. There are major and minor echocardiographic diagnostic criteria for prolapse. Major criteria involve the mitral leaflets and include late systolic posterior displacement on M-mode, bulging into the left atrium on 2D long-axis (LAX) view, and thickening and redundancy of the leaflets. Minor criteria include holosystolic posterior prolapse on M-mode, bowing of the mitral leaflets into the left atrium (LA) in the apical 2D views, and late systolic mitral regurgitation on the Doppler echogram. Any of the major criteria should be sufficient to make the diagnosis. One or two minor criteria without a major sign would be questionable. The degree of thickening and redundancy and the presence and quantitation of mitral regurgitation influence prognosis. Echocardiography is also helpful in identifying complications such as endocarditis and ruptured chordae. An echocardiogram may not be necessary for the diagnosis, but it is helpful for prognosis and as a baseline for possible future changes. The frequency of follow-up echocardiograms should be determined by clinical findings. When mitral regurgitation is present, then one should follow LA and left ventricular size and function. Transoesophageal echocardiography may be desirable for better definition of vegetations or flail leaflets and is frequently used to monitor surgical repair.
Variability over time in the mutagenicity of ashes from municipal solid-waste incinerators

Incineration of municipal solid waste as an alternative to its disposal in landfills has advantages such as volume reduction and generation of energy. However, both air emissions and the residual ash may pose environmental and human health hazards. The Ames mutagenicity assay was used to determine the mutagenicity of fly and bottom ash from two incinerators over time. This assay is an alternative to costly and time-consuming chemical analyses and is more realistic for the assessment of the best disposition of the ash i.e. whether it could pose a risk to handlers of the ash, whether it can be used in cement or as a fertilizer or whether it should be relegated to a landfill. The mutagenic potency of fly and bottom ash on a per g weight basis of material is similar. Furthermore, the variability over time in mutagenicity indicates that constant monitoring of incineration products and byproducts is essential.
Otopalatodigital syndrome type II associated with omphalocele: report of three cases.

We present 3 patients with otopalatodigital (OPD) syndrome type II and omphalocele; 2 of the cases are brothers. There are now 6 known cases of OPD type I or II with omphalocele. We propose that this combination is not co-incidental and discuss mechanisms that may result in the combination of OPD, omphalocele, and other midline defects. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Viewing instruction set design as an optimization problem

This paper reviews past attempts to systematize instruction set design and offers an alternative approach. Our technique is based on compaction of microoperations to form instructions. The compaction is done in such a way as to optimize a metric which is a function of cycle count, code size, and instruction set size. To illustrate our technique, optimal instruction sets are derived for data structure creation in Prolog.
Only the Clothes Changed: Women Operators in British Computing and Advertising, 1950&#x2013;1970

The use of women workers in early computing and advertising ironically may have hurt their long-term professional position in the field because it reflected, and helped shape, their role as low-cost, unskilled workers. This article traces the relationship between advertising images of women used to sell data processing equipment and the early, feminized, data processing labor force in Great Britain.
Economic Science: An Experimental Approach for Teaching and Research

Economics experiments have been used to study theories and policies that are often difficult to evaluate with data from naturally occurring markets. This paper is a selective summary of my work in the main areas of experimental economics: markets, individual decisions, games, and public choice. The discussion pertains both to scientific discoveries and teaching innovations.
Signal processing aspects of computer music: A survey

The application of modern signal processing techniques to the production and processing of musical sound gives the composer and musician a level of freedom and precision of control never before obtainable. This paper surveys the use of analyis of natural sounds for synthesis, the use of speech and vocoder techniques, methods of artificial reverberation, the use of discrete summation formulae for highly efficient synthesis, the concept of the all-digital recording studio, and discusses the role of special-purpose hardware in digital music synthesis, illustrated with two unique digital music synthesizers.
The structure of formate species on Pd(1 1 1) calculated by density functional theory and determined using low energy electron diffraction

The structure of formate species adsorbed on Pd(1 1 1) has been determined using low-energy electron diffraction (LEED). The presence of formate species on the Pd(1 1 1) surface was established using reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). The oxygen atoms of the formate species were found to be adsorbed over surface palladium atoms with the OCO plane perpendicular to the surface. The CO bond length was found to be 1.26 ± 0.05 A ˚ , the palladium–oxygen distance was 2.16 ± 0.06 A ˚ , and the OCO angle 130 ± 5� . The experimentally determined values were in
Reduced order models for discrete time systems using remainder matching method

A novel method for reducing the order of a discrete-time transfer function is introduced. The objective of the reduction process is to preserve design parameters of the transfer function so that controllers designed on the basis of the reduced model will satisfactorily compensate the original system. In the remainder matching method, the higher-order terms in the continued fraction expansion are matched to an mth-order transfer function at m chosen frequencies. The mth-order matched transfer function is then substituted in the continued fraction and inverted to obtain the reduced-order model. Such an approach allows the designer to choose significant frequencies such as gain crossover frequency and bandwidth for the matching process. As a result, the compensation for the original system and that for the reduced-order model will have a better match. >
Evaluation of proposed methods to update human testing of self-contained breathing apparatus

The current Man Test protocols used by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health for the certification testing of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) do not provide continuous real-time information on the performance of these devices during actual use. In addition, current protocols do not test human subjects at the same absolute work rates but at rates that vary according to the subjects' body weights. This study was conducted to evaluate revised "Use Test" protocols proposed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, which are normalized to subjects' body weights. No differences in duration were observed among the three body weight categories for the multiple work rate. Use Test 2. It was concluded that the proposed Use Test protocols could form the basis for eventual recommendations to revise the current Man Tests for SCBA performance evaluation.
Bringing Realistic Software Engineering Assignments to the Software Engineering Classroom

Effective, professional quality work is essential for success in many fields of endeavor, yet software engineering students often gain, at best, a limited and cursory level of expertise through their normal curricula. In particular, students often fall short in the areas of communication and project tracking. This paper discusses an approach that has proved successful in two graduate level software engineering courses. The approach requires them to produce professional grade documents and to use earned value management techniques for keeping track of their work. Two key elements of the approach are to set an expectation for professional grade student work products and to provide opportunities for the student to produce drafts that are rigorously reviewed.
Homogeneous superchondritic 142Nd/144Nd in the mid‐ocean ridge basalt and ocean island basalt mantle

[1] 146Sm decays to 142Nd with a relatively short half-life (∼68 Ma). The142Nd/144Nd of modern terrestrial mantle-derived lavas is 18 ± 5 ppm higher than the chondrite reservoir. The difference in142Nd/144Nd between Earth and chondrites likely owes to Sm/Nd ratios 6% higher in the accessible Earth that arose within the first 30 million years following accretion. In order to constrain the early history of the mantle domains sampled by ocean island basalts (OIB) and mid-ocean ridge basalts (MORB), we present high-precision142Nd/144Nd measurements on 11 different lavas from five hot spots, and one lava each from the Indian and Atlantic ridges. The lavas examined in this study bracket much of the known Sr-Nd-Pb-He isotopic variability the in mantle. These data complement existing high-precision142Nd/144Nd data on MORB and OIB lavas. In agreement with previous studies, we find that MORB and OIB lavas examined for high-precision142Nd/144Nd exhibit ratios that are indistinguishable from the terrestrial standard and are 15–20 ppm higher than the average obtained for ordinary and enstatite chondrites. The uniform, superchondritic 142Nd/144Nd data in OIB and MORB are consistent with derivation from a common, early formed (<30 Ma after accretion) progenitor reservoir with Sm/Nd ∼6% higher than chondrites. If there exists any variability in 142Nd/144Nd in the OIBs and MORBs examined to date, it is too small to be resolved with the precision currently available.
Enhancement along the normal facial nerve in the facial canal: MR imaging and anatomic correlation.

Normal facial nerves are reported to show no enhancement at magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, in contradiction to the authors' clinical experience. To investigate this inconsistency, the authors searched MR imaging files and clinical records to find patients who underwent MR imaging of the temporal bone (at 1.5 T) before and after intravenous administration of gadopentetate dimeglumine and who had bilateral clinically normal facial nerves. When the MR images of 93 patients (186 facial nerves) were analyzed subjectively, 142 nerves (76%) were visibly enhanced along at least one segment of the facial nerve within the facial canal; the nerves of 64 of the 93 patients (69%) showed right-left asymmetry in enhancement, which was inhomogeneously distributed along each nerve. The facial nerve in the cerebellopontine angle cistern and in the internal auditory canal, as well as in the visualized proximal portion of the extracranial facial nerve, showed no enhancement. Comparison with reference anatomic sections show...
Impact of patient knowledge, patient-pharmacist relationship, and drug perceptions on adverse drug therapy outcomes.

The purpose of this project was to determine the relationship between adverse drug outcomes and knowledge of drugs, quality of a counseling relationship, and perceptions about drugs in an ambulatory clinic population. The presence of these three factors and other indicators of adverse outcomes were identified through a structured interview of 78 patients. Medical records were reviewed 3, 6, and 12 months after the initial interview to determine the presence of adverse drug outcomes. Four outcomes-hospitalizations, unscheduled clinic visits, emergency room visits, and changes in drug regimen-were assessed and categorized according to drug-related problem. Demographics of the group were recorded. Responses to the interview were analyzed to determine differences in counseling relationships between pharmacists and other health professionals. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the influence of independent variables on outcome. Relative risks for developing adverse outcomes given the presence of certain independent variables were calculated for significant associations. Significant relationships between predictor variables and adverse drug outcomes were identified for the following independent variables: female gender (RR = 5.2, Cl 1.11, 24.31), three or more diseases (RR = 3.3, CI 1.13, 9.75), more drug knowledge and better perceptions (RR = 0.29, Cl 0.10, 0.84), perception of no or low drug interference (RR = 0.18, CI 0.044, 0.745), and inadequate data collection by nurses and physicians as perceived by the patient (RR = 3.08, Cl 1.09, 8.70). More knowledge and better perceptions about drugs were associated with a reduced risk of therapy changes due to drug-related problems. No association was found between the quality of the pharmacist-patient counseling relationship and adverse drug outcomes.
Optimizing routing in structured peer-to-peer overlay networks using routing table redundancy

Structured peer-to-peer (p2p) overlay networks like CAN, Chord, Pastry and Tapestry [3, 6, 5, 9] provide a self-organizing substrate for large-scale peer-to-peer applications. These systems provide efficient, fault-tolerant routing, object location and load balancing within a self-organization overlay network. In this paper, we show how redundant information that is collected as part of the normal overlay maintenance protocol can be exploited to improve the performance of routing, in terms of both the number of routing hops and routing delay penalty. We use Pastry as a concrete example to describe the set of optimizations and to evaluate their improvement in routing performance via a large scale simulation using a realistic network topology model. We then discuss how these optimizations can be applied to other structured p2p overlays.
High-Speed Function Approximation

We address a new learning problem where the goal is to build a predictive model that minimizes prediction time (the time taken to make a prediction) subject to a constraint on model accuracy. Our solution is a generic framework that leverages existing data mining algorithms without requiring any modifications to these algorithms. We show a first application of our framework to a combustion simulation problem. Our experimental evaluation shows significant improvements over existing methods; prediction time typically is improved by a factor between 2 and 6.
The “Tibet question”: Tibetan, Chinese and Western perspectives

The historical conflict between Tibet and China goes back almost a thousand years. Both sides use history to argue their point about the core issues in this dispute – Tibet's claim of independence and autonomy, and China's of suzerainty. This article looks at the historical roots of this conflict, particularly since 1949, when China began its gradual takeover of Tibet. Chinese policies toward Tibet, which have been driven by a desire to communize and sinicize Tibet, has been met by stiff resistance from the Tibetans, who see Han Chinese dominance as a force that will, over time, destroy Tibet's unique religion, language, culture, and history. This resistance has drawn the attention of the West, who see Chinese policies in Tibet as a symbol of the failings of Beijing's rulers to embrace a strong commitment to human rights at the same time that China is becoming a global economic power. The 14th Dalai Lama, a key figure in this conflict, and his government-in-exile have served as bridges to Western efforts ...
Folding-Unfolding Transitions in Single Titin Molecules Characterized with Laser Tweezers

Titin, a giant filamentous polypeptide, is believed to play a fundamental role in maintaining sarcomeric structural integrity and developing what is known as passive force in muscle. Measurements of the force required to stretch a single molecule revealed that titin behaves as a highly nonlinear entropic spring. The molecule unfolds in a high-force transition beginning at 20 to 30 piconewtons and refolds in a low-force transition at approximately 2.5 piconewtons. A fraction of the molecule (5 to 40 percent) remains permanently unfolded, behaving as a wormlike chain with a persistence length (a measure of the chain's bending rigidity) of 20 angstroms. Force hysteresis arises from a difference between the unfolding and refolding kinetics of the molecule relative to the stretch and release rates in the experiments, respectively. Scaling the molecular data up to sarcomeric dimensions reproduced many features of the passive force versus extension curve of muscle fibers.
RC2-a living lab for cloud computing

In this paper we present our experience in building the Research Compute Cloud (RC2), a cloud computing platform for use by the worldwide IBM Research community. Within eleven months of its official release RC2 has reached a community of 631 users spanning 34 countries, and serves on average 350 active users and 1800 active VM instances per month. Besides offering a utility computing platform across a heterogeneous pool of servers, RC2 aims at providing a living lab for experimenting with new cloud technologies and accelerating their transfer to IBM products. This paper describes our experience in designing and implementing a flexible infrastructure to enable rapid integration of novel ideas while preserving the overall stability and consumability of the system.
Inferring the network latency requirements of cloud tenants

Cloud IaaS and PaaS tenants rely on cloud providers to provide network infrastructures that make the appropriate tradeoff between cost and performance. This can include mechanisms to help customers understand the performance requirements of their applications. Previous research (e.g., Proteus and Cicada) has shown how to do this for network-bandwidth demands, but cloud tenants may also need to meet latency objectives, which in turn may depend on reliable limits on network latency, and its variance, within the cloud providers infrastructure. On the other hand, if network latency is sufficient for an application, further decreases in latency might add cost without any benefit. Therefore, both tenant and provider have an interest in knowing what network latency is good enough for a given application. This paper explores several options for a cloud provider to infer a tenants network-latency demands, with varying tradeoffs between requirements for tenant participation, accuracy of inference, and instrumentation overhead. In particular, we explore the feasibility of a hypervisor-only mechanism, which would work without any modifications to tenant code, even in IaaS clouds.
Nanoindentation response of Fe-10%Cr bi-crystal structures with Σ5 and Σ3 tilt boundaries: An atomistic study

In this research, nanoindentation responses of Fe-10%Cr bi-crystal structures containing Σ5{310}〈001〉 and Σ3{111}〈110〉 tilt grain boundaries (GBs) have been investigated using atomistic simulation technique. Deformation analyses identify the nucleation of 1/2〈111〉, 〈001〉 and 1/6〈111〉 types of dislocations within the material. The {110} slip planes are found to be more active than the {123} and {100} slip planes. Load-displacement response and corresponding changes in contact area have been recorded and used to measure material hardness and reduced modulus. The lengths of the nucleated dislocations are measured and used to estimate dislocation density within the plastic zone beneath the indenter. Dislocation motion has been found to be much easier in model with Σ3 boundary and the early interaction of the dislocation with the boundary affects the shape of the load-displacement curve, contact area on the indented surface, and the volume of the plastic zone. The hardness of the material has been found to be affected primarily by the interaction of the dislocation with the boundary, rather than by the dislocation density within the plastic zone. Both the boundaries exhibit maximum resistance to slip transmission even at the maximum indentation depth.
Bank CEO Optimism and the Financial Crisis

I test theories of the recent financial crisis by studying how banks' pre-crisis investments connect to their CEOs' beliefs. Using different proxies for beliefs, I find banks with larger housing investments and worse crisis performance had CEOs who were more optimistic ex ante. Banks with the most optimistic CEOs experienced 20 percentage points higher real estate loan growth, and 15 percentage points lower crisis period stock returns. Bank decisions appear consistent with CEO beliefs. CEOs' optimism contributed to credit expansions and crisis losses. I do not find evidence that CEOs made housing investments due to agency frictions while aware of impending problems.
Non-Abelian Braiding of Light

Many topological phenomena first proposed and observed in the context of electrons in solids have recently found counterparts in photonic and acoustic systems. In this work, we demonstrate that non-Abelian Berry phases can arise when coherent states of light are injected into ``topological guided modes'' in specially fabricated photonic waveguide arrays. These modes are photonic analogues of topological zero modes in electronic systems. Light traveling inside spatially well-separated topological guided modes can be braided, leading to the accumulation of non-Abelian phases, which depend on the order in which the guided beams are wound around one another. Notably, these effects survive the limit of large photon occupation, and can thus also be understood as wave phenomena arising directly from Maxwell's equations, without resorting to the quantization of light. We propose an optical interference experiment as a direct probe of this non-Abelian braiding of light.
Sedation and analgesia for gastrointestinal endoscopy in children

Different sedation or anesthesia protocols are available to enable gastrointestinal endoscopic examinations in children. None is optimal. Sedation is organized according to the medical system, resources and the availability of personnel and medication (sedatives, anesthetics, analgesics). If anesthesiologist’s sedation teams for children are not available, strong evidence supports sedation safety and efficiency when it is performed by specially educated non-anesthesiologists and registered nurses. This review is a brief synthesis of main guidelines and position papers of procedural sedation in children and, when unavailable, in adults, who are eligible for pediatric gastrointestinal endoscopy sedation by non-anesthesiologist. Published data are supplemented by clinical experience and the findings of author’s research on ketamine sedation. Other established sedative combinations are benzodiazepine and opioid or propofol as a sole agent or in combination with analgesics. Special stress is given on a proper choice of the sedation protocol for specific examination or procedure in accordance with institution’s policy. Whole endoscopic team has to be engaged in the implementation of new evidence and continuous education to achieve the highest possible safety and quality standards.
Fabrication and Structural and Optical Properties of Amorphous Si/SiO2 Superlattices on (100) Si

We report the growth and characterization of amorphous Si (a-Si)/SiO 2 superlattices on (100) Si. The a-Si layers (thickness varying from 1 to 10 nm) were vacuum-deposited at room temperature by molecular beam epitaxy while the SiO 2 layers (1 nm) were grown by an ex-situ UV-ozone treatment. This procedure was repeated six times to produce periodic multilayer structures. The chemical modulation of these structures was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy and depth profiling using Auger electron spectroscopy. X-ray specular reflectivity showed that the structures have a well defined periodicity. The a-Si layers have a density approaching (>95 %) that of c-Si and an interfacial roughness that increases with the a-Si layer thickness. The Raman spectrum from the Si layers of all samples shows broad peaks near 150, 310 and 470 cm −1 that are typical of a-Si. On annealing at high temperatures, the three Raman bands decrease in intensity, while the 470 cm −1 band also shifts to higher frequency and becomes narrower. After annealing for 30 s at 1100 °C, the a-Si bands are weak and the 470 cm −1 band is merging with the c-Si 520 cm −1 line, indicating that partial re-crystallization of the Si layers has occurred. The room temperature light emission properties of these nanostructures in the green to red wavelength region is reported. The luminescence shifts to longer wavelength with increasing a-Si layer thickness, consistent with a quantum confinement mechanism.
Seeing is Comforting: Effects of Teleoperator Visibility in Robot-Mediated Health Care

Teleoperated robots can be used to provide medical care to patients in infectious disease outbreaks, alleviating workers from being in dangerous infectious zones longer than absolutely needed. Nevertheless, patients' reactions to this technology have not been tested. We test three hypotheses related to patients' comfort and trust of the operator and robot in a simulated Ebola Treatment Unit. Our findings suggest patients trust the robot teleoperator more when they can see the teleoperator.
Soil conditions and damage in the Mexico earthquake of July 28, 1957

A report is given of observations of the effects of soil conditions on damage in Mexico City and Guerrero State in the earthquake of July 28, 1957. An isoseismal map is presented which identifies anomalies in intensity distribution which appear to be closely related to local geology and soil conditions. Comparison is made between Mexico City, 170 miles from the epicenter and founded on the deep alluvium of Lake Texcoco, and several cities and villages 60 miles from the epicenter, founded on firmer deposits or granite. Mexico City suffered Modified Mercalli intensities of VII and IV, respectively, in that part of the lake-bed area where tall buildings stand, and on the more compact formations. Of the several cities 60 miles from the epicenter, all suffered intensity V or less except Chilpancingo, where the intensity was VII to VIII. Chilpancingo rests on deep unconsolidated deposits; the other places are on rock or shallower unconsolidated deposits.
Diagnosis of neonatal ischemic stroke

Neonatal ischemic stroke is related to high mortality and high incidence of serious sequelae.There are some difficulties in the early diagnosis of neonatal ischemic stroke.Medical history,clinical characteristics,imaging tests,electroencephalogram and some other new technologies are essential elements for the diagnosis of neonatal ischemic stroke.These elements are discussed in this review to strengthen the awareness of the disease and its diagnosis.
Di-Jet Imbalance Measurements in Central Au + Au Collisions at sNN=200 GeV from STAR

Abstract The STAR collaboration reports the first measurements of the transverse momentum asymmetry AJ of di-jet pairs in central gold-gold collisions and minimum bias proton-proton collisions at s N N = 200 GeV at RHIC. We focus on anti-kT di-jets with a leading jet p T > 20 GeV / c and a subleading jet p T > 10 GeV / c , with a constituent cut of 2 GeV/c, which reduces the effect of the underlying heavy-ion background. We examine the evolution of AJ while reclustering these same di-jets with a lower constituent cut of 200 MeV/c. For the low pT constituent cut with a resolution parameter of R = 0.4 , the balance between the di-jets is restored to the level of p+p collisions which indicates the lost energy observed for di-jets with a constituent cut of p T Cut > 2 GeV / c is recovered. Further variations of R and the constituent pT-cutoff indicate that the lost energy is redistributed in the form of soft particles, accompanied by a broadening of the jet structure.
Computational modeling of electromechanical instabilities in dielectric elastomers(Conference Presentation)

Dielectric elastomers are a class of soft, active materials that have recently gained significant interest due to the fact that they can be electrostatically actuated into undergoing extremely large deformations. An ongoing challenge has been the development of robust and accurate computational models for elastomers, particularly those that can capture electromechanical instabilities that limit the performance of elastomers such as creasing, wrinkling, and snap-through. I discuss in this work a recently developed finite element model for elastomers that is dynamic, nonlinear, and fully electromechanically coupled. The model also significantly alleviates volumetric locking due that arises due to the incompressible nature of the elastomers, and incorporates viscoelasticity within a finite deformation framework. Numerical examples are shown that demonstrate the performance of the proposed method in capturing electromechanical instabilities (snap-through, creasing, cratering, wrinkling) that have been observed experimentally.
Time to move the fat

In this issue of Genes & Development, Dowen and colleagues (pp. 1515-1528) elegantly unify two previously unconnected aspects of physiology. The investigators provide significant genetic evidence to support a critical link between developmental timing decisions and the regulation of lipid mobilization at the transition to adulthood in Caenorhabditis elegans This novel connection involves cross-tissue signaling from the hypodermis (epidermis) to the intestine to promote reproductive success in the germline.
Agile Systems Requirements Definition and Analysis

One of the most important jobs of the systems engineer is to turn stakeholder needs into a set of system requirements that will meet those needs. This high-level activity has a number of crucially important subactivities. The primary activity is to Generate/Update System Requirements. The key to doing a good hob on this in MBSE is to group these requirements into use cases and analyze them for consistency, accuracy, completeness, and correctness. This is done with one of three workflows for use case analysis—flow-based (starting with activity diagrams), scenario-based (emphasizing sequence diagrams), and state-based (starting with a state machine description). Each of these three alternatives constructs an executable requirements model for verifying the requirements and results in higher-quality requirements. In parallel with these activities, a logical data schema specifies the data, materiel, and energy flows between the system and its environment. Dependability analysis looks at the system for concerns relevant to safety, reliability, and security, also resulting in additional requirements. Finally, the verification plan is begun to specify how the final product will be verified against the system requirements.
An Unexpected Wait

This case discusses a pharmacodynamic interaction between pancuronium and mivacurium. Pancuronium administered before mivacurium can result in prolonged muscular blockade.