cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Directions for computing truncated multivariate Taylor series

Efficient recurrence relations for computing arbitrary-order Taylor coefficients for any univariate function can be directly applied to a function of n variables by fixing a direction in R n . After a sequence of directions, the multivariate Taylor coefficients or partial derivatives can be reconstructed or interpolated. The sequence of univariate calculations is more efficient than multivariate methods, although previous work indicates a space cost for this savings and significant cost for the reconstruction. We completely eliminate this space cost and develop a much more efficient algorithm to perform the reconstruction. By appropriate choice of directions, the reconstruction reduces to a sequence of Lagrange polynomial interpolation problems in R n-1 for which a divided difference algorithm computes the coefficients of a Newton form. Another algorithm collects like terms from the Newton form and returns the desired multivariate coefficients.
Note on the Use of Weibull Statistics to Characterize Wind-Speed Data

Abstract A hybrid density function is given for describing wind-speed distributions having nonzero probability of “calm.” A Weibull probability graph paper designed specifically for plotting wind-speed distributions is used to determine distribution parameters to within a few percent of values obtained by the maximum likelihood technique. Data from the National Weather Service are used to demonstrate the use of the hybrid density function and the Weibull graph paper.
Fat, Soy and Carrageenan Effects on Sensory and Physical Characteristics of Ground Beef Patties

Sensory and physical characteristics of beef patties containing 20% fat, 8% fat, or 8% fat plus 20% soy protein isolate (SI), soy flour (SF), soy concentrate (SC), or a mixture (MIX) of carrageenan (0.5%), starch (0.5%), and phosphate (0.2%) were compared after 0, 4, 8, and 12 wks storage at - 18°C. MIX had higher Hunter a* values than other treatments. Cook loss was lowest for MIX and highest for all beef patties. Soy extenders decreased beefy flavor and increased off-flavor scores. Time in frozen storage increased off-flavor, rubbery texture, and TBA value, and decreased red color and Hunter b* value of ground beef patties. Quality may be lowered in frozen-stored high fat, or low-fat-soy extended beef patties.
Influence of age upon Ifosfamide-induced nephrotoxicity.

Background Ifosfamide-induced nephrotoxicity is well recognized in children, although it has also been reported in adults. Whether ifosfamide nephrotoxicity is more common in children than in adults is not known. Procedure Medical records of adults and children diagnosed with sarcoma whom received ifosfamide with a cumulative dose >20 g/m2 were evaluated. Twenty-five children (≤18-years of age) and 28 adults were identified. Results National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria grade 3–4 ifosfamide-induced nephrotoxicity was present in 24 and 17% of children and adults, respectively (P = 0.58). Cumulative ifosfamide doses were similar between the two populations, with the median (range) of 70.2 g/m2 (22.4–72) for children and 59 g/m2 (20.8–146) for adults (P = 0.25). Logistic regression analysis indicated that neither age or cumulative ifosfamide dose were associated with grade 3–4 ifosfamide-induced nephrotoxicity (P = 0.36). Conclusions Children and adults receiving >20 g/m2 of ifosfamide have similar susceptibility to ifosfamide-induced nephrotoxicity. Factors other than age and cumulative dose should be considered for understanding the inter-individual variation in nephrotoxicity. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
A latent transition model of the effects of a teen dating violence prevention initiative

PURPOSE: Patterns of physical and psychological teen dating violence (TDV) perpetration, victimization, and related behaviors were examined with data from the evaluation of the Start Strong: Building Healthy Teen Relationships initiative, a dating violence primary prevention program targeting middle school students. METHODS: Latent class and latent transition models were used to estimate distinct patterns of TDV and related behaviors of bullying and sexual harassment in seventh grade students at baseline and to estimate transition probabilities from one pattern of behavior to another at the 1-year follow-up. Intervention effects were estimated by conditioning transitions on exposure to Start Strong. RESULTS: Latent class analyses suggested four classes best captured patterns of these interrelated behaviors. Classes were characterized by elevated perpetration and victimization on most behaviors (the multiproblem class), bullying perpetration/victimization and sexual harassment victimization (the bully-harassment victimization class), bullying perpetration/victimization and psychological TDV victimization (bully-psychological victimization), and experience of bully victimization (bully victimization). Latent transition models indicated greater stability of class membership in the comparison group. Intervention students were less likely to transition to the most problematic pattern and more likely to transition to the least problem class. CONCLUSIONS: Although Start Strong has not been found to significantly change TDV, alternative evaluation models may find important differences. Latent transition analysis models suggest positive intervention impact, especially for the transitions at the most and the least positive end of the spectrum. Language: en
The oral hypoglycemie agent, U‐56324, inhibits the activity of ATP‐sensitive potassium channels in cell‐free membrane patches from cultured mouse pancreatic B‐cells

U-56324, a hypoglycemic agent derived from nicotinic acid, inhibited the activity of ATP-sensitive potassium channels in excised patches from mouse pancreatic B-cells. The effect of U-56324 on channel activity was reversible and concentration-dependent while it had no effect on single channel conductance. The positional isomer, U-59588, which has relatively little hypoglycemic activity, had no effect on channel properties. U-56324, at the same concentrations, had no effect on calcium-activated potassium channels. The basis for the potentially antidiabetic properties of U-56324 may therefore be due to direct and specific inhibition of ATP-sensitive potassium channels.
Postoperative opioid analgesia: Time for a reconsideration?

Abstract Postoperative pain relief has improved in recent years with the development of new analgesics, additional routes of administration and the appearance of the hypothesis of pre-emptive as well as balanced analgesia (Kehlet H: Postoperative pain relief—what is the issue? Br J Anaesth 1994;72:375–8). Many initial improvements simply involved the administration of opioid analgesics in new ways, such as continuous or on demand intravenous (IV) or epidural infusion. These methods allow lower total opioid dosages, provide a more stable concentration of opioid at the receptor and correspondingly better analgesic effects, and also fewer unwanted side effects. Although opioids have played a prominent role in postoperative analgesia for centuries and are still often administered as a matter of routine, their frequent minor side effects and the increasing availability of suitable alternatives may limit their future use in some situations. Thus, the recent emphasis on ambulatory surgery and accelerated surgical stay programs, both with a focus on early recovery of organ function and provision of functional analgesia [ ie , pain relief that allows normal function (Kehlet H: Postoperative pain relief—what is the issue? Br J Anaesth 1994;72:375–8)] provide an opportunity for a reappraisal of opioid use in these settings. For this debate, controlled clinical studies on the opioid-sparing effect of different analgesic techniques are mentioned, and preferably studies with multiple dosing of analgesics and/or a reasonably large patient sample size. These data do not allow a proper meta-analysis to be performed because of the large variability in surgical procedures, dosing regimens, assessment criteria, among others.
Circadian variations in intracranial pressure and translaminar pressure difference in Sprague-Dawley rats.

PURPOSE To study the circadian (24-hour) change in intracranial pressure (ICP) in conscious, freely moving rats and to project the circadian change in translaminar pressure difference. METHODS Telemetric pressure transmitters were implanted to monitor ICP in the lateral ventricle in nine light-dark-entrained Sprague-Dawley rats. ICP and locomotor activity data were collected. The mean results for the 12-hour light period and the 12-hour dark period were compared. The light-dark change in ICP was also determined in six rats under an acute 24-hour constant dark condition. The circadian translaminar pressure difference was projected based on the ICP data and the previously established circadian pattern of intraocular pressure (IOP). RESULTS Under the standard light-dark condition, the hourly average ICP was relatively constant (7.47-10.90 mm Hg). The light-dark ICP difference was -0.11 ± 1.45 mm Hg (mean ± SD, P = 0.823), whereas the locomotor activity was significantly higher during the dark period (P < 0.01). Under the acute constant dark condition, the subjective light-dark ICP difference remained small. Compared with a significant light-dark IOP elevation of 5.15 ± 4.47 mm Hg (P = 0.037) in rats housed under the same laboratory conditions, the light-dark ICP variation was considered minimal. The translaminar pressure difference was projected to be 5.26 mm Hg higher in the dark period (mean, 17.10 mm Hg) than in the light period (mean 11.84 mm Hg). CONCLUSIONS There is no significant circadian ICP variation in Sprague-Dawley rats. The translaminar pressure difference is projected to be higher during the dark period because of the change in IOP.
The Power of Why: Connecting Curriculum to Students' Lives

Student disengagement can be a major impediment to effective student learning. When parents and educators cannot provide adequate reasoning to explain the value of what is taught at home and in school, students can lose their motivation to learn and be engaged in classroom activities. In this article, the authors explain the importance of teacher reflection and identification of students' stances and thought processes in making robust decisions around classroom life. Reflecting on or reasoning about the lessons taught, and the questions asked or left out of the curriculum, can help students engage with the curriculum and thus improve their achievement. The authors use examples to show how authentic reasoning may address students' need to understand and appreciate the worth of the curriculum and the concerns of the larger community.
On-pump coronary artery bypass graft operation: Is one crossclamp application better than two?

Abstract Objectives Several factors may increase the risk of stroke during coronary artery bypass grafting. These include age and atherosclerosis, which are not modifiable, and aortic manipulation, which may be modifiable. This study reports our experience with variable degrees of aortic manipulation (ie, single vs double [partial occlusion] aortic crossclamp techniques) and its influence on rate of operative stroke. Methods We performed a retrospective review of 8497 patients treated with isolated on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting from 1993 to 2010. Demographics included an age of 66.8 ± 10.3 years and male sex in 6548 patients (77.1%). Operative technique used the single aortic crossclamp in 2051 patients (24.1%) and the partial aortic crossclamp in 6446 patients (75.9%). To adjust for differences in baseline patient characteristics, 2 propensity-matched cohorts of 1333 patients each were created using Society of Thoracic Surgeons risk calculator variables. Results In the unmatched cohorts, stroke occurred in 25 patients (1.2%) in the single aortic crossclamp cohort and in 98 patients (1.5%) in the partial aortic crossclamp cohort ( P = .320). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated no significant relationship between stroke and aortic occlusion clamp technique (single clamp odds ratio, 0.80; 95% confidence interval, 0.51-1.24; P = .321). In the matched cohorts, stroke occurred in 16 patients (1.2%) in both the single and partial occlusion clamp cohorts ( P = 1.00). Conclusions Given the methods and limitations of the data analysis, the single and partial aortic crossclamp techniques result in similar rates of stroke during on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.
Voltage stability enhancement using Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) technology

The stability and security of power systems are of utmost importance to planning and operation engineers. As demand on grid resources increase, and contingency impacts on the interconnected power grids become more threatening/severe, real-time determination of power system operation and control is needed. This paper therefore develops an integrated strategy for handling the challenging problem of maintaining voltage stability for online applications in power engineering. The proposed method builds on recent advanced in the areas of real-time voltage stability monitoring and control. It is based on the use of real-time measurements via phasor measurement unit (PMU) technology. The design strategy will allow the real-time computation and controls, such as adjustments of voltage regulators or controllable series/shunt compensators, to arrest voltage instability at its onset.
Reflection coefficient analysis of a TEM-Excited reflectarray unit cell using quality factors

In this paper, an approach to extract the reflection coefficient of reflectarray unit cells is developed using the quality (Q) factors. To obtain the radiation Q factor, an approach based on full-wave simulations is employed, while the other Q factors are derived theoretically. The accuracy of the approach is verified by comparing the presented theory with full-wave simulations. The proposed method helps simplify the reflectarray unit cell design and provides useful insight into the underlying physics.
Experimental Study of Anti-Jamming Problem for Frequency Control System

This article studies about anti-jamming problem for frequency control system with three experimental methods which are magnetic shielding, grounding and filtering. The results demonstrate that filtering is the most evident anti-interference. the interference of frequency converter is independent with the signal; Shielding on both ends of the grounding is better than single ended grounding. All of the conclusions will be used for reference.
Phosphorylation of Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3 and Stimulation of T-cell Factor Signaling following Activation of EP2 and EP4 Prostanoid Receptors by Prostaglandin E2

Recently we have shown that the FP(B) prostanoid receptor, a G-protein-coupled receptor that couples to Galpha(q), activates T-cell factor (Tcf)/lymphoid enhancer factor (Lef)-mediated transcriptional activation (Fujino, H., and Regan, J. W. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 12489-12492). We now report that the EP(2) and EP(4) prostanoid receptors, which couple to Galpha(s), also activate Tcf/Lef signaling. By using a Tcf/Lef-responsive luciferase reporter gene, transcriptional activity was stimulated approximately 10-fold over basal by 1 h of treatment with prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)) in HEK cells that were stably transfected with the human EP(2) and EP(4) receptors. This stimulation of reporter gene activity was accompanied by a PGE(2)-dependent increase in the phosphorylation of both glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) and Akt kinase. H-89, an inhibitor of protein kinase A (PKA), completely blocked the agonist-dependent phosphorylation of GSK-3 in both EP(2)- and EP(4)-expressing cells. However, H-89 pretreatment only blocked PGE(2)-stimulated Lef/Tcf reporter gene activity by 20% in EP(4)-expressing cells compared with 65% inhibition in EP(2)-expressing cells. On the other hand wortmannin, an inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, had the opposite effect and inhibited PGE(2)-stimulated reporter gene activity to a much greater extent in EP(4)-expressing cells as compared with EP(2)-expressing cells. These findings indicate that the activation of Tcf/Lef signaling by EP(2) receptors occurs primarily through a PKA-dependent pathway, whereas EP(4) receptors activate Tcf/Lef signaling mainly through a phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-dependent pathway. This is the first indication of a fundamental difference in the signaling potential of EP(2) and EP(4) prostanoid receptors.
Ovarian and plasma PGE and PGF levels in naturally ovulating brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and the effects of indomethacin on prostaglandin levels.

Abstract Plasma and ovarian levels of PGE and PGF were measured by radioimmunoassay in naturally ovulating brook trout ( Salvelinus fontinalis ). At 12 hours post-ovulation, PGF levels in plasma and ovarian tissue were significantly elevated over levels in gravid controls. Plasma PGF levels were still elevated 5 – 7 days post-ovulation. Indomethacin treatment (10 ug/gm body weight) of ovulatory brook trout significantly decreased plasma and ovarian PGF levels by 12 hours post-ovulation. No significant differences were observed in plasma PGE levels, through gravid controls contained significantly elevated ovarian PGE levels as compared to ovulated fish.
Sugar in moderation: sugar diets affect short-term parasitoid behaviour

The biological control potential of parasitic wasps in the field is expected to increase with the provisioning of sugar sources, which increase longevity and replenish carbohydrate reserves. Apanteles aristoteliae is an important parasitoid of Argyrotaenia franciscana, the orange tortrix, an economic pest in fruit crops. In the present study, the effect of sugar diet on the physiological status of A. aristoteliae is investigated in the laboratory, as well as the effects of nutritional status on short-term olfactory orientation and parasitism behaviour, and the association between olfactory orientation and immediate parasitism activity. Levels of glycogen, fructose, total sugars, proportional weight gain and volume consumed are higher among females fed 25% sucrose solution than 10% sucrose solution, and lowest for those fed water. Sugar feeding also affects behaviour: wasps with higher levels of fructose or weight gain have a lower probability of making a choice in the olfactometer. Wasps with intermediate fructose levels or weight gain have a higher probability of orienting towards hosts than wasps with low or high levels. Among wasps that make a choice in the olfactometer, wasps fed 10% or 25% sucrose significantly prefer host versus food cues, whereas starved wasps are just as likely to select food cues as host cues.
Insulin-like growth factor-I induces cyclooxygenase-2 expression via PI3K, MAPK and PKC signaling pathways in human ovarian cancer cells

Elevated levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) are associated with ovarian carcinogenesis and progression. However, the molecular mechanisms by which IGF-I contributes to ovarian cancer development remain to be elucidated. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is a crucial player in the pathogenesis of human malignancies. Herein we showed that IGF-I efficiently induced COX-2 expression and PGE2 biosynthesis at physiologically relevant concentrations in human ovarian cancer cells. IGF-I treatment significantly increased COX-2 transcriptional activation. IGF-I also stabilized COX-2 mRNA through the COX-2 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR), which appeared independent of the conserved AU-rich elements. We next investigated the signaling pathways involved in IGF-I-induced COX-2 expression. We found that PI3K inhibitor wortmannin or LY294002 blocked COX-2 expression induced by IGF-I. Wortmannin treatment or a dominant negative PI3K mutant significantly inhibited IGF-I-induced COX-2 mRNA stabilization, but only slightly decreased COX-2 transcriptional activation. We showed that ERK1/2 and p38 MAPKs were required for IGF-I-induced COX-2 expression and that activation of both pathways by IGF-I increased COX-2 transcriptional activation and its mRNA stability. IGF-I stimulated PKC activation in the cells and pretreatment with PKC inhibitor bisindolylmaleimide prevented IGF-I-induced COX-2 transcriptional activation and mRNA stabilization, and inhibited COX-2 mRNA and protein expression. Taken together, our data demonstrate that IGF-I induces COX-2 expression in human ovarian cancer cells, which is mediated by three parallel signaling cascades — PI3K, MAPK, and PKC pathways that differentially regulate COX-2 expression at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels.
Multilevel security issues in distributed database management systems II

In this paper we describe multilevel security issues for a distributed database management system which operates in a limited heterogeneous environment. We first describe an architecture for such a system and then discuss techniques for query processing and transaction management.
Gauge symmetry and quark confinement

The confinement of quarks is the absence of states with non-zero triality (i.e. quark minus antiquark number mod 3) among the observed hadrons. We suggest the use of the vanishing of the propagator for the states with triality in arbitrary gauge as the signature for quark confinement. We shall show that the quark propagator is either vanishing or isolated quarks propagate and their triality charge is screened completely by some unusual states of the gluon field.
Retardation of grain growth in electrodeposited Cu by an electric field

The application of an external dc electric field E = 5 kV/cm during the annealing of electrodeposited Cu foil at 150–195 °C retarded grain growth. The time dependence of the grain size both with and without the field was $$D=A_{\rm o} \exp (-Q/RT)t^n$$ where A o = (3.53–4.35) × 10−5 m s−1, Q = 11.3–11.6 kJ/mole and n = 0.048–0.052. The field consistently reduced A o, but had no clear effect on Q and n. Consideration of the grain growth kinetics in terms of the expression dD/dt = M o exp (−Q M/RT)P q gave Q M = Q/n = 233–239 kJ/mole and q = 1/n−1 = 19.1–20.1. Theoretical considerations along with data in the literature on grain boundary migration in Al and Cu suggest that these values of q and Q M could reflect the action of impurities. Several possibilities are given for the decrease in A o and the corresponding retardation of grain growth by the field. Good accord occurred for a reduction by the field of the dislocation density contribution to the driving force P. Grain growth data in the literature, along with the present results, are in some accord with both the impurity drag and topology models; hence both should be considered in any analysis of grain growth kinetics.
Exogenous spermine reduces ischemic damage in a model of focal cerebral ischemia in the rat

Alterations in polyamine metabolism during and after global or focal cerebral ischemia can produce a multiplicity of effects on brain such as modification in mitochondria calcium buffering capacity, exacerbating glutamate-mediated neurotoxicity, and impairment of the blood-brain barrier. In this study, the endogenous polyamine spermine was administered intravenously 30 min prior to temporary focal cerebral ischemia in rats induced by clipping of the left middle cerebral and bilateral common carotid arteries for 3 h. Three days after removal of the microclips, intracardiac perfusion with 2% 2,3,5-triphenyl tetrazolium chloride was performed. Coronal slices were cut, photographed, and examined for cortical infarct volume. Spermine reduced infarct volume in a dose-dependent fashion. This study demonstrates that the use of polyamines may be considered as a powerful tool in prevention of ischemic tissue damage following focal cerebral ischemia.
Ionization during thunderstorms at the Huancayo Magnetic Observatory

During the months of May, June, July, and August 1947, continuous recordings of the rate of ion formation in the atmosphere were made at the Huancayo Magnetic Observatory in Peru. The equipment used consisted of an air-tight cylindrical ionization chamber made of coarse mesh wire netting, and covered with thin cellophane. The stopping power of the cellophane for alpha rays is equivalent to 1.5 cm of air. The walls of the chamber were held at a potential of 90 volts, positive with respect to ground. A central insulated rod was connected to a unifilar electrometer. This is grounded at the beginning of each hour, and left insulated six min after the hour. During the remaining 54 min, the central rod collected positive ions at a rate proportional to the rate of ion formation inside the chamber. Electrometer deflection was continuously recorded on a photographic trace. Since the charge remained on the rod and electrometer fiber, the trace effectively integrated the rate of ion formation during the 54-min period.
Transient spectroscopy of bacterial rhodopsins with an optical multichannel analyzer. 2. Effects of anions on the halorhodopsin photocycle.

We find that the photocycle of halorhodopsin (HR) in the presence of nitrate (but not chloride) consists of two parallel series of reactions. The first is essentially the same as that which occurs in the presence of chloride: HRhv----HRK----HRKL----HRL----HRO----HR. The second photocycle, however, which we describe as HRhv----HR'K----HRKO----HRO----HR, seems characteristic of what one would observe in the absence of chloride. Absorption spectra are calculated for all species but HRK and HR'K, which occur at shorter times (less than 60 ns) than we can resolve. At nitrate concentrations between 0.1 and 1 M, the proportion of HR which enters the first kind of photocycle increases in such a way as to suggest that nitrate can substitute for chloride, but much less effectively. At lower anion concentrations, the two photocycles are independent of one another, but at higher concentrations, they interact; i.e., the reaction HRKO----HRO----HRL can be observed. Thus, HRO must be common to the two photocycles. Kinetic fitting of the time dependence of HRL and HRO at different chloride concentrations provides evidence for the participation of chloride in the interconversion of HRL and HRO. The results are consistent with a model in which the photoreaction is influenced by the binding of an anion (either chloride or nitrate) to site II in HR: when an anion is bound, the HRK-initiated HRL-type photocycle is observed, but when the site is not occupied, the HR'K-initiated HRO-type photocycle is seen.
Case study: visualization for decision tree analysis in data mining

Decision trees are one of the most popular methods of data mining. Decision trees partition large amounts of data into smaller segments by applying a series of rules. Creating and evaluating decision trees benefits greatly from visualization of the trees and diagnostic measures of their effectiveness. This paper describes an application, EMTree Results Viewer, that supports decision tree analysis through the visualization of model results and diagnosis. The functionality of the application and the visualization techniques are revealed through an example of churn analysis in the telecommunications industry.
Computer security and human values interact

Computer security is technically challenging; it is also an area with ethical, legal and sociological implications. When computer security (as well as other technical content) is taught, one should provoke students to think about the human values involved in making technical decisions. This paper develops teaching ideas for two issues in computer security: WWW cookies; and public access to government databases.
The design of a mobile portion size estimation interface for a low literacy population

Being aware of one's portion sizes is a key component of maintaining a healthy diet, however, it is difficult for individuals especially low literacy populations to estimate their consumption. Nutritional monitoring applications can help but most of them are designed for people with high literacy and numeracy skills. In this paper, we designed and evaluated six portion size estimation interfaces through a Wizard of Oz based experiment using low-fidelity prototypes with ten varying literacy individuals. The interfaces were designed based on the cognitive strategies adults use for reporting portion sizes in diet recall studies. Participants made correct estimates with interfaces designed for liquid and amorphous foods, but had difficulties with those designed for solid foods. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for designing accurate and low literacy-accessible portion size estimating mobile interfaces.
DNA supercoiling of recombinant plasmids in mammalian cells.

Abstract We have used chloroquine/agarose gel electrophoresis and a blot-hybridization technique to study the modulation of superhelicity of extrachromosomal DNA in mammalian cells. The high sensitivity of the procedure has allowed us to measure the change in the specific linking difference or superhelical density (sigma) of a plasmid, psvo alpha 1p3d, after its introduction into COS-7 cells by DNA transfection. Because the molecular weight of psvo alpha 1p3d is approximately the same as that of simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA, the latter can be used as a standard for estimating the average linking difference or number of superhelical turns (tau) of psvo alpha 1p3d after separation of the different supercoiled species on chloroquine/agarose gels. It was found that transfection of monkey cells with either fully supercoiled psvo alpha 1p3d isolated from bacteria (tau = -27 +/- 1, sigma congruent to -0.051) or its relaxed form after treatment with DNA topoisomerase I yields psvo alpha 1p3d samples of the same tau and sigma values of -20 +/- 1 and -0.038, respectively. The difference between the tau values of psvo alpha 1p3d and SV40 in COS-7 cells, in which both plasmids undergo rounds of replication, corresponds to an average difference of 5 +/- 1 superhelical turns. Plasmid psvo alpha 1p3d remains at this lower level of superhelicity for at least 72 hr. The distribution in linking numbers of the topoisomers of psvo alpha 1p3d isolated from transfected COS cells is also more heterogeneous than that of SV40 DNA. These results suggest that the regulation of DNA supercoiling and chromatin assembly may be closely associated with specific DNA sequences. The approach presented here should have a wide application in the study of the regulation and functional role(s) of DNA supercoiling of plasmids in mammalian cells.
ISAKOS Consensus Shoulder Instability Classification System

After reviewing all of the classifications system for shoulder instability in current use, our committee concluded that there is no one single system in current use that could completely classify all shoulder instabilities. As in the case of the rotator cuff classification system, we reached consensus that a new system, based on elements of systems currently in use, was necessary to adequately classify most shoulder instabilities that are reported in the literature. Unlike rotator cuff tears that can be classified visually, instability is primarily a symptom. Thus, any instability classification system should include a classification of symptoms. Five factors were identified as being important in the classification of shoulder instability; 1. Frequency of recurrence, 2. Etiology of instability, 3. Direction of Instability, 4. Severity of instability, and 5. The Anatomic Lesion responsible for the instability. The FEDS system proposed and validated by John Kuhn included most of these elements. Our current system is a modification of this system, and thus, a great deal of credit should be given to Dr. Kuhn.
Chlorine toxicity to early life stages of freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae).

Chlorine (Cl) is a highly toxic, widely used halogen disinfectant that is present in point-source pollution discharges from wastewater treatment plants and industrial facilities. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency freshwater criteria for Cl are 19 μg total residual Cl (TRC)/L as a maximum 1-h average concentration and 11 μg TRC/L as a maximum 4-d average; however, toxicological data for unionids were not used in these calculations. To address this void in the data, we conducted acute tests with glochidia from several species and 21-d bioassays with three-month-old Epioblasma capsaeformis and three-, six-, and 12-month-old Villosa iris juveniles. The 24-h lethal concentration 50 values for glochidia were between 70 and 220 μg TRC/L, which are 2.5 to 37 times higher than those reported in other studies for cladocerans. Significant declines in growth and survivorship were observed in the 21-d test with E. capsaeformis at 20 μg TRC/L. Lowest-observed-adverse-effects concentrations in bioassays with juvenile V. iris were higher (30–60 μg TRC/L) but showed a significant trend of declining toxicity with increased age. Although endpoints were above water quality criteria, the long life spans of unionids and potential implications of chronic exposure to endangered juvenile mussels still warrant concern.
Comparative Efficacy of Epidural, Subarachnoid, and Intracerebroventricular Opioids in Patients With Pain Due to Cancer

Background and Objectives Although rarely used, intracerebroventricular opioid therapy (ICV) is an option for the control of intractable pain due to cancer when systemic treatments have failed. The aim of the present study is to use available data from published trials to compare ICV with the more common epidural (EPI) and subarachnoid (SA) opioid treatments in an attempt to establish the utility and safety of ICV. Methods Because there are no published controlled trials comparing these routes of administration, the combined data from multiple uncontrolled trials were used, with differences between the treatments analyzed statistically. Trials assessing ICV (13 trials, 268 patients), EPI (29 trials, 909 patients) and SA (21 trials, 410 patients) in cancer patients were identified; data on analgesic efficacy, common pharmacologic side effects, and complications were then extracted and the accumulated incidence data analyzed. Results The findings (weighted means) indicated ICV to be at least as effective against pain as other neuraxial treatments, with 75% of ICV-treated patients obtaining excellent pain relief as compared with 72% of EPI- and 58% of SA-treated patients (not significant). The failure rate of both spinal treatments tended to be greater than that of ICV and was significantly higher in the case of EPI (P = .045). In general, persistent side effects appeared to be more of a problem with the spinal treatments, while transient symptoms occur more often with ICV. Persistent nausea, urinary retention, and pruritus all were more frequent with the two spinal treatments than with ICV, but transient nausea and respiratory depression occurred more often with ICV. Sedation and confusion appeared to occur more often with ICV than with spinal therapy, while constipation and headache were rarely encountered with ICV. There were no real differences in infectious complication rates among the three treatments (except for a lower rate of infection when an implanted pump was used), but technical problems such as catheter blockage, misplacement, or leakage tended to occur less often with ICV. Conclusions Intracerebroventricular therapy appears to be at least as effective against pain as other neuraxial treatments. The ICV technique is the only fixed system that is associated with fewer technical problems than the use of simple percutaneous epidural catheters (difference 9%, standard error of the difference 3.4). The present state of evidence indicates that ICV is a successful treatment for patients with intractable cancer pain and compares well with spinal opioid treatments in terms of efficacy, side effects, and complications.
Energy-optimized mapping of application to smartphone platform — A case study of mobile face recognition

Modern smartphones use heterogeneous multi-core SoC which includes CPU, GPU, DSP and various application-specific accelerators. It provides opportunities to realize compute-intensive applications on a battery-powered and resource-limited mobile device by assigning each sub-task to the most suitable computing core. To meet the performance requirement with minimized energy consumption, the algorithm also needs to be characterized to identify its adaptability to the performance and energy/power trade-off. In this paper, we use face recognition as an application driver and Nvidia's Tegra SoC/platform as a target platform to explore the strategies of application-to-platform mapping for energy minimization and performance optimization. We demonstrate that tuning the algorithms for the platform can significantly reduce the computational complexity to meet the real-time performance requirement with very little compromise in the recognition accuracy. We further demonstrate that utilizing the mobile GPU inside the Tegra SoC for feature extraction, the most compute-intensive task in this application, can achieve 51% reduction in runtime and 50% reduction in total energy consumption, in comparison with an implementation which uses the CPU only.
A search for the simplest chaotic partial differential equation

A numerical search for the simplest chaotic partial differential equation (PDE) suggests that the Kuramoto–Sivashinsky equation is the simplest chaotic PDE with a quadratic or cubic nonlinearity and periodic boundary conditions. We define the simplicity of an equation, enumerate all autonomous equations with a single quadratic or cubic nonlinearity that are simpler than the Kuramoto–Sivashinsky equation, and then test those equations for chaos, but none appear to be chaotic. However, the search finds several chaotic, ill-posed PDEs; the simplest of these, in the discrete approximation of finitely many, coupled ordinary differential equations (ODEs), is a strikingly simple, chaotic, circulant ODE system.
Be Mindful of What You Impose on Your Colleagues: Implications of Social Burden for Burdenees' Well‐being, Attitudes and Counterproductive Work Behaviour

This paper describes two studies of a new relational variable social burden and its implications for employees' well-being, job attitudes and counterproductive work behaviours. Social burden is defined as behaviours from colleagues that elicit the focal employees' social support. Across two separate samples (540 nurses and 172 university employees), we found that social burden differentiated from psychological aggression and incivility, respectively. A separate cross-sectional sample of 273 nurses from Study 1 revealed that social burden from colleagues was positively associated with focal employees' anxiety, irritation, depressive mood, physical symptoms, job dissatisfaction and turnover intentions. Study 2 used a time-lagged design with a separate sample of 383 university employees and 160 of their coworkers. In this study, social burden from supervisors and from coworkers were together predictive of employees' subsequent emotional strains and job attitudes, as measured 6 months later. With respect to sources of social burden, social burden from supervisors more strongly predicted job attitudes and counterproductive work behaviours directed at others, and social burden from coworkers more strongly predicted emotional strains.
The method of manufactured solutions applied to chaotic systems

In this paper, the method of manufactured solutions is applied to dynamical systems possessing chaotic behavior. This method is used in a non-traditional way to identify points with potential numerical errors and to improve computational efficiency. The numerical errors may be due to the selection of error tolerances in the integration of the ordinary differential equations, computer arithmetic precision, etc. Two classical chaotic models and two ship capsize models are examined. The current approach has similarities to entrainment methods in chaotic control theory, where entrainment refers to two dynamical systems having the same period, phase and amplitude. The convergent region from control theory is used to give a rough guide for identifying potentially catastrophic numerical errors for the classical chaotic models. The effectiveness of this method in improving computational efficiency is demonstrated for the ship capsize models.
Cellular automata-based parallel random number generators using FPGAs

Cellular computing represents a new paradigmfor implementing high-speed massively parallel machines. Cellular automata (CA), which consist of an array of locally connected processing elements, are a basic formof a cellular-based architecture. The use of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) for implementing CA accelerators has shown promising results. This paper investigates the design of CA-based pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs) using an FPGA platform. To improve the quality of the random numbers that are generated, the basic CA structure is enhanced in two ways. First, the addition of a superrule to each CA cell is considered. The resulting self-programmable CA (SPCA) uses the superrule to determine when to make a dynamic rule change in each CA cell. The superrule takes its inputs from neighboring cells and can be considered itself a second CA working in parallel with the main CA. When implemented on an FPGA, the use of lookup tables in each logic cell removes any restrictions on how the super-rules should be defined. Second, a hybrid configuration is formed by combining a CA with a linear feedback shift register (LFSR). This is advantageous for FPGA designs due to the compactness of the LFSR implementations. A standard software package for statistically evaluating the quality of random number sequences known as Diehard is used to validate the results. Both the SPCA and the hybrid CA/LFSR were found to pass all the Diehard tests.
Use of central venous catheters in children with haemophilia: one haemophilia treatment centre experience.

We report our clinic experience with central venous catheters (CVCs) in 23 children with haemophilia, who, in total, had 35 catheters. Seventeen of the 23 children had Broviac catheters (external), 6/23 had an implantable device (Port-A-Cath) only, while four had Broviac and Port-A-Cath at different times. The age of the patients at the time of initial catheter placement ranged from 4 months to 18 years; 11 were under age 3 years. Indications for CVC placement included induction of immune tolerance, treatment of HIV-related complications, prophylactic therapy following intracranial haemorrhage, primary prophylaxis and secondary prophylaxis. Catheter-related infection was the most common complication, occurring in 84% of the external catheters. Of these infections 79% occurred in HIV-negative subjects. Staph and strep species were the most common infectious organisms isolated. Minor bleeding around the catheter occurred in 20% of cases even with adequate correction of haemophilia. Three children accidentally removed the external catheter (12%). Thrombosis of the catheter was uncommon (8%), occurring in only two patients, one of whom had a small newborn size external catheter. When presenting with line sepsis, haemophilic children who were HIV negative had transient temperature spikes approximately 1 h after catheter flushing. This presentation was different from our oncology or HIV-positive patients with CVC-related sepsis. Our experience with ports (Port-A-Cath) in haemophilic children is limited, but catheter-related infection (40%) seems to be less of a problem with the implantable device and the ports have been well accepted by our haemophilic patients and their parents.
High-Voltage and High-Power PLL Diagnostics using Advanced Cooling and Emission Images

In this paper, the paper discuss a diagnostics methodology based on the combined use of advanced chip cooling technology and high-resolution time-integrated images of the light emission due to off-state leakage current (LEOSLC). The methodology was successfully applied to the debug of an IBM microprocessor chip fabricated in the 90 nm SOI technology generation
Parameter estimation of superimposed signals using the EM algorithm

A computationally efficient algorithm for parameter estimation of superimposed signals based on the two-step iterative EM (estimate-and-maximize, with an E step and an M step) algorithm is developed. The idea is to decompose the observed data into their signal components and then to estimate the parameters of each signal component separately. The algorithm iterates back and forth, using the current parameter estimates to decompose the observed data better and thus increase the likelihood of the next parameter estimates. The application of the algorithm to the multipath time delay and multiple-source location estimation problems is considered. >
Comparison of phylogenetic relationships based on phospholipid fatty acid profiles and ribosomal RNA sequence similarities among dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria

Twenty-five isolates of dissimilatory sulfate-reducing bacteria were clustered based on similarity analysis of their phospholipid ester-linked fatty acids (PLFA). Of these, 22 showed that phylogenetic relationships based on the sequence similarity of their 16S rRNA directly paralleled the PLFA relationships. Desulfobacter latus and Desulfobacter curvatus grouped with the other Desulfobacter spp. by 16S rRNA comparison but not with the PLFA analysis as they contained significantly more monoenoic PLFA than the others. Similarly, Desulfovibrio africanus clustered with the Desulfovibrio spp. by 16S rRNA but not with them when analyzed by PLFA patterns because of higher monoenoic PLFA content. Otherwise, clustering obtained with either analysis was essentially congruent. The relationships defined by PLFA patterns appeared robust to shifts in nutrients and terminal electron acceptors. Additional analyses utilizing the lipopolysaccharide-lipid A hydroxy fatty acid patterns appeared not to shift the relationships based on PLFA significantly except when completely absent, as in Gram-positive bacteria. Phylogenetic relationships between isolates defined by 16S rRNA sequence divergence represent a selection clearly different from the multi-enzyme activities responsible for the PLFA patterns. Determination of bacterial relationships based on different selective pressures for various cellular components provides more clues to evolutionary history leading to a more rational nomenclature.
Plasma-derived serum from hypertensive rats differentially increases growth of cultured arteriolar smooth muscle

A role for humoral factors in the arterial hypertrophy accompanying hypertension has been suggested, but direct evidence is lacking. We measured [3H]thymidine incorporation of growth-arrested smooth muscle cells, cultured from renal preglomerular arterioles of normal rats and exposed for 12 h to 10% platelet-poor plasma-derived serum (PDS) from male rats with early, benign, one-kidney, one-clip hypertension and paired one-kidney normotensive control rats. In the presence of low background concentrations (1-2%) of fetal calf serum, PDS from hypertensive rats increased [3H]thymidine incorporation up to 117% more than PDS from normotensive rats (P < 0.0001). Results were similar for the < 10,000 mol wt fraction of PDS and for PDS from rats drinking saline vs. water or eating a 7% (high) vs. a 0.45% NaCl diet. PDS from hypertensive rats also differentially increased smooth muscle cell proliferation and c-fos mRNA expression. Platelet-derived growth factor levels in PDS were undetectable (< 0.17 ng/ml). This study provides evidence for altered concentrations of sodium chloride-unresponsive plasma factor or factors in hypertension that result in enhanced growth of arteriolar smooth muscle cells.