cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Using big data and network analysis to understand Wikipedia article quality

Abstract The research reported in this paper focuses on the question of why Wikipedia articles are different in quality. Since these articles are developed in an open and social environment, our work investigates if the social capital of contributors plays a role in determining the quality of the articles. We focus on three major types of social capital with respect to teams of contributors working on Wikipedia articles: internal bonding, external bridging and functional diversity. Through a social network analysis of these articles based on a dataset extracted from its edit history, our research finds that all three types of social capital have a significant impact on their quality. In addition, we found that internal bonding interacts positively with external bridging resulting in a multiplier effect on article quality. The findings of our research have implications for developing automated techniques for quality assessment of Wikipedia and also provide insights into improving quality of these articles.
Interactive image and video classification using compressively sensed images

The paper investigates the use of compressively sensed images in interactive image classification. To speed-up the classification process and avoid costly reconstruction, we consider the use of a feed-forward neural network in a reduced complexity image domain. The interactive image and video classification systems have been used for real-time demonstrations that have been effectively utilized in outreach activities for attracting middle-school students to STEM.
The Iconoclastic Eclecticism of Trigant Burrow

There are two kinds of history: popular history and critical history. The first might be called surface history; it is taught in schools and preserved in calendars; it is always organized around single dates, names, and places—“In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” Critical or scholarly history looks more deeply into influences and conditions and numbers of people. From critical history we learn about the multitude of influences and cross-influences that shaped the past and continue to emerge in the present. We learn about inconsistencies and discrepancies and mixed, tentative historical interpretations. Popular history tends to be fixed while critical history always is being reformulated as new influences are discovered and new interpretations are offered and as happenings in the present give a different weighting to what is more and less important.
The Material Inventory of the Islamic City

The word souk means market, whether an urban trading center or a rural market held once a week. In country districts, produce and manufactured articles are bought and sold, and supplies of raw materials are obtained, at an appointed spot near regions whose production is varied and which are easily accessible.
Relationships of Long-Term Smoking and Moist Snuff Consumption With a DNA Methylation Age Relevant Smoking Index: An Analysis in Buccal Cells

INTRODUCTION Currently, there is no widely accepted, non-self-report measure that simultaneously reflects smoking behaviors and is molecularly informative of general disease processes. Recently, researchers developed a smoking index (SI) using nucleated blood cells and a multi-tissue DNA methylation-based predictor of chronological age and disease (DNA methylation age [DNAm-age]). To better understand the utility of this novel SI in readily accessible cell types, we used buccal cell DNA methylation to examine SI relationships with long-term tobacco smoking and moist snuff consumption. METHODS We used a publicly available dataset composed of buccal cell DNA methylation values from 120 middle-aged men (40 long-term smokers, 40 moist snuff consumers, and 40 nonsmokers). DNAm-age (353-CpGs) and SI (66-CpGs) were calculated using CpG sites measured using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip. We estimated associations of tobacco consumption habits with both SI and DNAm-age using linear regression models adjusted for chronological age, race, and methylation technical covariates. RESULTS In fully adjusted models with nonsmokers as the reference, smoking (β = 1.08, 95% CI = 0.82 to 1.33, p < .0001) but not snuff consumption (β = .06, 95% CI = -0.19 to 0.32, p = .63) was significantly associated with SI. SI was an excellent predictor of smoking versus nonsmoking (area under the curve = 0.92, 95% CI = 0.85 to 0.98). Four DNAm-age CpGs were differentially methylated between smokers and nonsmokers including cg14992253 [EIF3I], which has been previously shown to be differentially methylated with exposure to long-term fine-particle air pollution (PM2.5). CONCLUSIONS The 66-CpG SI appears to be a useful tool for measuring smoking-specific behaviors in buccal cells. Still, further research is needed to broadly confirm our findings and SI relationships with DNAm-age. IMPLICATIONS Our findings demonstrate that this 66-CpG blood-derived SI can reflect long-term tobacco smoking, but not long-term snuff consumption, in buccal cells. This evidence will be useful as the field works to identify an accurate non-self-report smoking biomarker that can be measured in an easily accessible tissue. Future research efforts should focus on (1) optimizing the relationship of the SI with DNAm-age so that the metric can maximize its utility as a tool for understanding general disease processes, and (2) determining normal values for the SI CpGs so that the measure is not as study sample specific.
Radiation-Induced Alterations in the Recurrent Glioblastoma Microenvironment: Therapeutic Implications

Glioblastoma (GBM) is uniformly fatal with a median survival of just over 1 year, despite best available treatment including radiotherapy (RT). Impacts of prior brain RT on recurrent tumors are poorly understood, though increasing evidence suggests RT-induced changes in the brain microenvironment contribute to recurrent GBM aggressiveness. The tumor microenvironment impacts malignant cells directly and indirectly through stromal cells that support tumor growth. Changes in extracellular matrix (ECM), abnormal vasculature, hypoxia, and inflammation have been reported to promote tumor aggressiveness that could be exacerbated by prior RT. Prior radiation may have long-term impacts on microglia and brain-infiltrating monocytes, leading to lasting alterations in cytokine signaling and ECM. Tumor-promoting CNS injury responses are recapitulated in the tumor microenvironment and augmented following prior radiation, impacting cell phenotype, proliferation, and infiltration in the CNS. Since RT is vital to GBM management, but substantially alters the tumor microenvironment, we here review challenges, knowledge gaps, and therapeutic opportunities relevant to targeting pro-tumorigenic features of the GBM microenvironment. We suggest that insights from RT-induced changes in the tumor microenvironment may provide opportunities to target mechanisms, such as cellular senescence, that may promote GBM aggressiveness amplified in previously radiated microenvironment.
Security for the Modern Age: Securely running processes that require the entire syscall interface

Giving operators a usable means of securing the methods they use to deploy and run applications is a win for everyone. Keeping the usability-focused abstractions provided by containers, while finding new ways to automate security and defend against attacks, is a great path forward.
Disinfection Byproducts Bind Human Estrogen Receptor-α.

Disinfection byproducts are formed during most drinking water treatment and presently number >800, some of which are implicated in human health outcomes including bladder cancer and infertility, with unknown mechanisms of action. In particular, it is not yet understood whether these compounds can disrupt the estrogen-signaling pathway through binding to the human estrogen receptor (ER). In the present study, 21 disinfection byproducts, selected for their predicted involvement in endocrine-related diseases and their structural diversity, were individually evaluated for their binding affinity to the human ER and in silico, and then a subset of these chemicals was studied in binary mixtures with the known weak estrogen, 4-n-nonylphenol. Individually, 9 of the 21 disinfection byproducts were able to weakly bind to the ER, with affinities ranging from log median inhibitory concentration values of -3.83 to -2.19 M. In binary mixtures, the chemicals followed concentration addition, with their weak binding affinities having little contribution to the overall mixture affinity. These results demonstrate the variety of small-molecule disinfection byproduct structures that are capable of binding to the ER, and that their weak binding can still be of importance when overall human exposure to mixtures of disinfection byproducts in disinfected drinking water is considered. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;9999:1-9. © 2019 SETAC.
Limb blood flow - Rest and heavy exercise in sitting and supine positions in man

The objectives of the study were twofold: (1) to determine the effect of body position (hydrostatic pressure) on total blood flow in active and passive limbs at rest and after severe exercise; and (2) to further evaluate the impedance technique for measurement of blood flow. To this end, the effect of body position on the redistribution of total blood flow in active (leg) and passive (forearm) limbs during exercise was determined by measuring total limb impedance (blood flow) in five male and one female subjects in sitting and supine positions with a modified Beckman BR-100 rheograph. The results show that, at rest and after exercise, the supine position induces significantly greater flows in the leg but not in the forearm. With severe exercise, blood flows are increased in both passive and active limbs, so that there is probably no net transfer of blood volume from passive to active muscles. The advantages of the impedance technique over other methods are stressed.
Compartmental diffusion modeling: Describing customer heterogeneity & communication network to support decisions for new product introductions

Abstract Following the introduction of the well-known Bass model and its variations to model adoption of a new product, compartmental modeling has emerged, in which the adoption pattern is modeled at the level of each compartment (or customer segment). Compartmental models add spatial and psychographic segments to Bass-type models which can allow modelers to approximate the heterogeneity, clustering and communication network of customers, while retaining an analytical structure. These models have been mainly explored in the context of demand forecasting and describing customer behavior, but their suitability as a scalable modeling tool to support large scale marketing and/or operational decision making is not explored. In this paper, we propose a flexible compartmental model and assess its suitability in terms of use of data, adherence to micro-level customer behavior, and use in large scale decision making. We show the merits of the CDE model by carrying out an extensive simulation study and also estimation on data on boradband adoption. We find that compartmental models result in estimates that are drastically less biased and can predict the shape of the adoption curve significantly better than what can be achieved by the Bass model. Even though these models can be scalable to capture large number of segments, we show that these improvements can still be observed with even a small number of segments (in contrast to what has been hypothesized in the literature), and are not sensitive to errors in the underlying process of customer segmentation. Therefore, the analytical structure of compartmental models can be further explored to further support large scale marketing and operational decision making, as they do not inherit the major shortcomings of Bass-type models while they capture the effect of customer clustering and interactions. Even though the focus of this paper is on new product adoption, compartmental modeling can also be successfully utilized in diverse physical, biological, and social settings that are governed by similar dynamics.
“I Don’t Belong Here”: Understanding Hostile Spaces

Chair: Dara Z. Strolovitch (Princeton)Nadia E. Brown (Purdue University)Tiffany J. Willoughby-Herard (University of California, Irvine)Nick Carnes (Duke University)Christina E. Bejarano (University...
A data-driven approach to construct a quantitative relationship between microstructural features of fatigue cracks and contact acoustic nonlinearity

This study demonstrates the feasibility of a data-driven approach to construct a quantitative relationship between nonlinear acoustic parameters and microstructural features of contact interfaces. The near-surface nonlinearity is measured using dynamic acousto-elastic testing (DAET) with a surface wave probe, while the microstructural features are extracted from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of fatigue cracks. Four aluminum alloy samples, each having a fatigue crack are prepared. Six local nonlinearity parameters are measured at different locations along the crack propagation direction. A total of 40 local measurements are acquired. A principal component analysis (PCA) reveals that all six nonlinearity parameters are correlated and hence can be replaced by one principal component (PC). Fifteen crack micro-geometrical features at each measurement point were extracted from the SEM images. Regression analysis is used to relate the PC of the nonlinearity parameters to the microstructural features at the crack interface. We compare three regression models that take variable selection into account: stepwise multiple linear regression (MLR), stepwise principal component regression (PCR), and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO). Despite having different principles, the three predictive models identify two features as the most significant in predicting the interface nonlinearity: the crack aperture (opening) distribution and the distance to the crack tip. The differences between the three models and the physical interpretation of the data-driven predictions are discussed.
Reevaluating the ozone nonattainment standards: Evidence from the 2004 expansion

Abstract In 2004 the EPA implemented the largest regulatory expansion of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards since the program's inception in the 1970's. As a result, polluting plants in hundreds of counties faced significant new regulatory costs. This paper discusses the selection process by which counties were designated as nonattainment and provides empirical evidence on the impacts of these regulations on employment, establishments and establishment size in exposed industries. Results from a nonparametric differences-in-differences matching estimator show that, relative to the constructed counterfactual, employment in affected industries temporarily increased (fell less), the number of establishments permanently decreased and establishment size increased. These findings are consistent with regulation increasing firms' investment and entry costs.
The Power of Jury Instructions: Evidence from EEOC Cases

Jury instructions are the last opportunity American litigants have to get input from the court as to their case’s strength. Thus, processes surrounding jury instructions are an opportunity for the parties to settle. But the ways jury instructions affect litigants are completely unstudied. I review 80 jury instructions documents from 30 EEOC enforcement actions between 1996 and 2006, and find some tentative evidence that a court’s preference for one party on instructions about the merits could lead to an outcome in that party’s favor. Where the court does not take a clear stance, the case may be likely to settle.
Weight and Cluster Based Test case Prioritization Technique

Software testing has a significant importance to achieve maximum quality to satisfy the customers and concerned stakeholders. A test case is designed to perform set of actions with intend of finding errors and verify some functions and features of an application. During design process, a huge number of test cases produced, some of them are of little or no use, which can be ignore or postponed, when there is budget and time constraints, or a need to decide which test cases to execute first and which to last. However, in black box testing, test cases are prioritized manually during planning phase and companies mostly experience schedule limitations, in that case, effective testing costs them badly. Test case prioritization’s main purpose is to effectively use time and budget to execute highest priority test cases first with customer’s satisfaction. To achieve this goal, we proposed a technique in which we use a customer assigned weight abstracted from business requirements to keep the customer’s preference first, based on that three main clusters formed. Then we calculate proposed cost and time percentage for each test case using function points and complexity measure, with in each cluster. Based on that, clusters further classified in to High, Medium and Low priorities clusters by K-Medoids algorithm. In our approach, test cases finally classified in to clusters and sub clusters based on the priority of the both stakeholders. Our approach shows 79.174% accuracy as compared to the actual data. To achieve maximum efficiency, considering user’s satisfaction, this method of mining test cases will be helpful in terms of saving time and cost.
Design strategies to achieve target collapse risks for reinforced concrete wall buildings in sedimentary basins

Studies of recorded ground motions and simulations have shown that deep sedimentary basins can greatly increase the damage expected during earthquakes. Unlike past earthquake design provisions, fut...
Markovian Embedding Procedures for Non-Markovian Stochastic Schr\"{o}dinger Equations

We present embedding procedures for the non-Markovian stochastic Schrodinger equations, arising from studies of quantum systems coupled with bath environments. By introducing auxiliary wave functions, it is demonstrated that the non-Markovian dynamics can be embedded in extended, but Markovian, stochastic models. Two embedding procedures are presented. The first method leads to nonlinear stochastic equations, the implementation of which is much more efficient than the non-Markovian stochastic Schrodinger equations. The stochastic Schrodinger equations obtained from the second procedure involve more auxiliary wave functions, but the equations are linear, and we derive the corresponding generalized quantum master equation for the density-matrix. The accuracy of the embedded models is ensured by fitting to the power spectrum. The stochastic force is represented using a linear superposition of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck processes, which are incorporated as multiplicative noise in the auxiliary Schrodinger equations. The asymptotic behavior of the spectral density in the low frequency regime is preserved by using correlated stochastic processes. The approximations are verified by using a spin-boson system as a test example.
Multiple Causes of Dementia as Engineered Senescence

All traumas—cranial, cardiovascular, hormone, viral, bacterial, fungi, parasites, misfolded protein, genetic, behavior, environmental and medication—affect the brain. This paper itemizes studies showing the many different causes of dementia including Alzheimer’s disease. Causes interact with each other, act sequentially by preparing the optimal conditions for its successor, initiate other diseases, allow for other traumas to accumulate and degrade protective features of the brain. Since such age-related cognitive impairment is not exclusively a human attribute there might be support for an evolutionary theory of dementia. Relying on theories of antagonistic pleiotropy and polymorphism, the brain has been designed to sequester trauma. Because of increased longevity, the short-term tactic of sequestering trauma becomes a long-term liability. We are engineered to sequester these insults until a tipping point is reached. Dementia is an evolutionary trade-off for longevity. We cannot cure dementia without understanding the overall biology of aging.
Fabrication and characterization of bioresorbable zinc/WC nanocomposite springs for short bowel syndrome treatment

Abstract Short Bowel Syndrome (SBS) is a devastating disease that affects thousands of lives every year. Patients diagnosed with SBS have malabsorption. Recently, endoscopically inserted springs were used to lengthen the small intestines. However, the springs are not biodegradable and need to be surgically removed after lengthening. Zinc, as a novel biodegradable material with suitable corrosion rate, is promising for this application. unfortunately, zinc lacks the mechanical strength to be used as effective springs. In this study, we successfully designed and fabricated a biodegradable Zn-WC nanocomposite spring with enhanced and tunable mechanical strengths to meet with requirements of springs for in vivo animal testing.
Do Badges Increase Student Engagement and Motivation

Gamification - using game mechanics for affording gameful experiences in non-game contexts - is getting increased attention in the educational field. However, its motivational mechanisms, intended to enhance student learning, are still not sufficiently understood. In this paper, we present an empirical study on the use of one of the most popular gamification elements, badges. The goal is to shed some light on their impact on student engagement and motivation. The study results suggest that while the badges improve student engagement and academic performance, they do not affect the student's intrinsic motivation. However, we speculate that they foster internalization of the learning-related extrinsic motivators? values, which results in increased engagement in the learning activities.
Distal Humerus Fractures

Distal humerus fractures in the adult population represent about 2% of all fractures and 33% of all humerus fractures. They typically present in a bimodal distribution as either younger males or elderly females. They are usually the result of high-energy trauma in the young population and low-energy falls in the more elderly patient. These fractures can be very challenging to manage, as they often can involve an articular as well as a diaphyseal component. As with all intra-articular fractures, anatomic reduction of the articular surface is paramount in keeping the chances of developing post-traumatic arthritis as low as possible. This often requires surgical intervention to achieve, with specific rehabilitation protocols set in place for successful recovery and to avoid certain complications, such as elbow stiffness, heterotopic ossification, and nerve injury.
Impacts of Ankyloglossia on Speech and Feeding

Ankyloglossia, or tongue tie, is a condition that restricts tongue mobility as a result of the presence of a short, tight lingual frenulum. It can also be characterized as having a “square, heart shaped, or indented tip of tongue at rest and/or upon attempted protrusions” (Potock, 2015, para. 5). A majority of individuals have some sort of webbing underneath their tongue, but those who have tongue ties tend to have more of that webbing than usual. To better understand the details of ankyloglossia, Baxter et al. (2018) compared the condition to syndactyly. As with tongue ties, patients with syndactyly have too much webbing; however, theirs occurs between their fingers. They struggle with mobility just the same.
Free Speech and the Myth of the Internet as an Unintermediated Experience

In recent years, a growing number of commentators have raised concerns that the decisions made by Internet intermediaries - including last-mile network providers, search engines, social networking sites, and smartphones - are inhibiting free speech and have called for restrictions on their ability to prioritize or exclude content. Such calls ignore the fact that when mass communications are involved, intermediation helps end users to protect themselves from unwanted content and allows them to sift through the avalanche of desired content that grows ever larger every day. Intermediation also helps solve a number of classic economic problems associated with the Internet. In short, intermediation of mass media content is inevitable and often beneficial. Calls to restrict intermediation have also largely overlooked the longstanding tradition reflected in the Supreme Court’s First Amendment jurisprudence with respect to other forms of electronic communication recognizing how intermediaries’ exercises of editorial discretion promote free speech values. The debate also ignores the inauspicious/dubious history of past efforts to regulate the scope of electronic intermediaries’ editorial discretion, which were characterized by the inability to develop coherent standards, a chilling effect on controversial speech, and manipulation of the rules for political purposes.
An Assessment of the Performance of Indian State-Owned Enterprises

We examine the determinants of performance of 68 Indian state-owned enterprises in the manufacturing sector for a five-year period: 1987 to 1991. Relative performance is determined using data envelopment analysis, with variations in performance patterns subsequently explained using regression analysis. We note that the performance of firms in the Indian state-owned sector is characterized by both, low performance, as well as significant and systematic variations in the performance parameters. Size is positively associated and age negatively associated with efficiency. Further, economic liberalization and reforms aimed at improving the performance of state-owned firms induces efficiency gains over time. This heterogeneity within the state-owned sector has policy implications, which we discuss. In countries which have privatized large numbers of their state-owned firms, it is often the larger establishments which have been sold to the public. The state-owned firms in the manufacturing sector that can be candidates for privatization are the smaller and older manufacturing firms. These firms may also be easier to dispose of to private investors. This finding reinforces our central thesis that firm-level analysis within the state-owned sector is useful and important for generating pragmatic policy guidelines.
On TAMEing robots

This paper presents a framework for affective robotic behavior (TAME) and describes an exploratory experimental study to identify relevant affective phenomena to include into the framework in order to increase ease and pleasantness of human-robot interaction.
Composition and Structure of Bottomland Forest Vegetation at the Tiak Research Natural Area, McCurtain County, Oklahoma

Although southeastern Oklahoma has substantial areas of bottomland forest, few studies exist of this vegetation type. We analyzed forest community structure at the Tiak Research Natural Area of the Ouachita National Forest on the Upper Gulf Coastal Plain. Vegetation data were collected from 24 12m x 8m macroplots. Percent cover data were recorded for ferns, fern-allies, and herbaceous angiosperms. Tree sapling and shrub species were recorded in diameter classes, and numbers of stems in estimated height classes were recorded for midlevel and canopy trees. One hundred fifty-two taxa of woody and herbaceous plants were encountered. Toxicodendron radicans and Arundinaria gigantea were the common understory species. Acer rubrum, A. saccharum, Carpinus caroliniana, Carya alba, C. texana, Cornus florida, Fraxinus americana, Liquidambar styraciflua, and Nyssa sylvatica were common as mid-level species. Quercus lyrata and Q. phellos were the most common canopy layer trees.
TREATMENT OF POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER REDUCES SUICIDAL IDEATION

BACKGROUND: Suicide is a significant public health problem. Although various studies have found evidence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a risk factor for suicidal behaviors, no study has examined whether or not PTSD treatment decreases suicidal thoughts. This study aims to fill this gap in the literature by examining changes in suicidal ideation over the course of a randomized clinical trial, which compared two widely used treatments for PTSD-cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and prolonged exposure (PE). METHODS: Data from 163 trial participants over five time points (pre- and posttreatment, 3 and 9 months posttreatment, and 5-10 years posttreatment) were examined using multilevel growth curve analyses to determine if reductions in PTSD symptoms during treatment were associated with reductions in suicidal ideation. Major depression diagnosis and hopelessness were controlled. RESULTS: Suicidal ideation decreased sharply during treatment with continued, but more subtle decreases, during the follow-up period. These decreases were associated with decreases in PTSD symptoms over the course of treatment. These associations were not accounted for by depression diagnoses at the start of the study or changes in hopelessness over the course of treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Two widely used, effective treatments for PTSD reduce suicidal ideation. CPT exhibited a larger influence on suicidal ideation than PE, although the magnitude of the difference was small in size. Inclusion of PTSD screening and treatment could enhance suicide prevention efforts. Language: en
VEHICLE ROUTING AND SCHEDULING FOR TRUNK HAULAGE.

The paper deals with the daily control of the vehicles in a network of less-than-truckload carriers. The operations in such a network consist of the regional pick-up and delivery traffic around the depots, regular line service between the depots, possibly through one or several hubs, and additional transports of partial loads between customers. The regional traffic planning, which is closely related to the classical vehicle scheduling problem, is not considered here. However, scheduling the trunk haulage tours is a quite different problem which has found little attention in literature, so far. We analyze various problem settings encountered in practice, present a new heuristic algorithm for a basic problem and report on computational tests with real-life data.
Incentives Structures and Criminal Justice

The conventional assumption in economics of crime is that criminal justice system actors behave like social planners, choosing punishment levels to equate the marginal benefits and costs from society’s perspective. This paper presents empirical evidence suggesting in practice, punishment is based on a much narrower objective function, leading to over-incarceration. The costs and benefits of various punishment options are reflected at different government levels in the US. The 1996 California Juvenile Justice Realignment can be used as a natural experiment: it shifted the costs of juvenile corrections from states to counties, keeping overall costs and responsibilities unchanged. Moving the cost of incarceration from state to counties resulted in a discontinuous drop in the number of juveniles being sent to state facilities, but no change in juvenile arrests. This indicates that when costs and benefits of incarceration are not borne by the same agency, there is excess incarceration: not only is there more demand for prison than when costs are fully internalized; but there are no gains in terms of crime reduction from this extra incarceration.
Tests of Monte Carlo perturbation theory for the free energy of liquid copper

Monte Carlo perturbation theory, in which terms in the thermodynamic perturbation series are evaluated by Monte Carlo averaging, has potentially large advantages in efficiency for calculating free energies of liquids from ab initio potential surfaces. In order to test the accuracy of perturbation theory for liquid metals, a series of calculations has been done on liquid copper, modeled by an embedded atom potential. A simple 1/r(12) pair potential is used as the reference system. The free energy is calculated to third order in perturbation theory, and the results are compared to an exact formula. It is found that for optimal reference potential parameters, second order perturbation theory is essentially exact. Second and third order theories give accurate results for significantly nonoptimal reference parameters. The relation between perturbation theory and reweighting is discussed, and an approximate formula is derived that shows an exponential dependence of the efficiency of reweighting on the second order free energy correction. Finally, techniques for application to ab initio potentials are discussed. It is shown that with samples of 100 configurations, it is possible to obtain accuracy and precision at the level of approximately 1 meV/atom.
The arteries of the pelvic limb of the cat (Felis domesticus).

Summary The major arterial blood supply to the pelvic limb of the cat is described from a comparative standpoint and some of the discrepancies in the literature are indicated. The findings are limited to the essential characteristics of the major vessels which are presented by composite illustrations. Zusammenfassung Die Arterien der Beckengliedmase bei der Hauskatze Vom Standpunkt der vergleichenden Anatomie werden die groseren arteriellen Blutgefase der Beckenextremitat der Hauskatze an Hand von Abbildungen beschrieben und dabei auf einige Widerspruche hinsichtlich der einschlagigen Literatur aufmerksam gemacht. Resume Les arteres de l'extremite posterieure du chat On decrit l'irrigation arterielle principale de l'extremite posterieure du chat du point de vue comparatif et l'on signale quelques contradictions avec la litterature. Les descriptions se limitent aux caracteristiques essentielles des vaisseaux principaux et sont presentees avec des illustrations. Resumen Las arterias del miembro pelviano en el gato Desde el punto de vista comparative, se describe el abastecimiento sanguineo arterial mayor al miembro pelviano del gato, indicandose algunas discrepancias publicadas en la bibliografia. Los hallazgos se limitan a las caracteristicas esenciales de los vasos mayores y se presentan mediante ilustraciones compuestas.
Evaluation of vasovagal syncope with body surface mapping during head-up tilt-table testing.

Abstract In conclusion, during vasovagal syncope we observed an increase in the QRST isoarea gradient (reflecting greater uniformity of repolarization), possibly due to changes in autonomic tone. In contrast, we observed a decrease in the QRST isoarea gradient (increased disparity of repolarization) in patients without vasovagal syncope during HUT. Future research should examine the clinical use of BSM as an early predictor of vasovagal syncope before symptom onset during HUT, thus limiting patient discomfort.
Residues distal from the active site that alter enzyme function in M.HhaI DNA cytosine methyltransferase.

Abstract Ten M.HhaI residues were replaced with alanine to probe the importance of distal protein elements to substrate/cofactor binding21,methyl transfer, and product release. The substitutions, ranging from 6–20 A from the active site were evaluated by thermodynamic analysis, pre-steady and steady-state kinetics, to obtain Kd AdoMet, Kd DNA, kcat/Km DNA, kcat, and kmethyltransfer values. For the wild-type M.HhaI, product release steps dominate catalytic turnover while the 4-fold faster internal microscopic constant kmethyltransfer presents an upper limit. The methyl transfer reaction has δH‡ and δS‡ values of 10.3 kcal/mol and—29.4 cal/(mol K), respectively, consistent with a compressed transition state similar to that observed in the gas phase. Although the ten mutants remained largely unperturbed in methyl transfer, long-range effects influencing substrate/cofactor binding and product release were observed. Positive enhancements were seen in Asp73Ala, which showed a 25fold improvement in AdoMet affini...
'I Don't Like Writing. It Makes My Fingers Hurt': Students talk about their classroom assessments

Students' own voices describe their perceptions of classroom assessments: the assignment's interest and importance, students' self-efficacy for accomplishing the tasks, and the goal orientations behind their efforts at learning. A multiple case study design looked at seven classroom assessment environments--seven teachers' classrooms--in four different schools, with interviews from 161 students. Student perceptions of assessments revolved around their personal connection with the assessments or their consequences. There were more similarities than differences in students' descriptions across classrooms and assessments.
Dysregulated Gene Expression During Hematopoietic Differentiation From Human Embryonic Stem Cells

The generation of hematopoietic cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) has raised the possibility of using hESC as an alternative donor source for transplantation. However, functional defects identified in hESC-derived cells limit their use for full lymphohematopoietic reconstitution. The purpose of the present study was to define and quantitate key functional and molecular differences between CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor subsets derived from hESC and CD34+ subsets from umbilical cord blood (UCB) representing definitive hematopoiesis. Two distinct sub-populations were generated following mesodermal differentiation from hESC, a CD34bright (hematoendothelial) and CD34dim (hematopoietic-restricted) subset. Limiting dilution analysis revealed profound defects in clonal proliferation relative to UCB particularly in B lymphoid conditions. Transcription factors normally expressed at specific commitment stages during B lymphoid development from UCB-CD34+ cells were aberrantly expressed in hESC-derived CD34+ cells. Moreover, strong negative regulators of lymphopoiesis such as the adaptor protein LNK and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-α (CEBPα), were exclusively expressed in hESC-CD34+ subsets. Knockdown of LNK lead to an increase in hematopoietic progenitors generated from hESCs. The aberrant molecular profile seen in hESC-CD34+ cells represents persistence of transcripts first expressed in undifferentiated hESC and/or CD326-CD56+ mesoderm progenitors, and may contribute to the block in definitive hematopoiesis from hESC.
Learning from Nuclear waste repository design: the ground-control plan

Abstract At present, under a U.S. Department of Energy program, three repositories for commercial spent fuel—in salt, tuff and basalt— are in the phase of site characterization and conceptual designs, and one pilot project for defense waste in salt is under development. A repository design for crystalline rock has recently been postponed. Because of strict quality assurance requirements throughout design and construction, and the need to predict and ascertain in advance the satisfactory performance of the underground openings, much intellectual energy has been expended to analyse underground openings in the unusual circumstances of the repository environment. In the long term, these efforts will lead to an improved understanding of rock behavior and improved methods of underground analysis and design. For the short term, a formalized ground control plan was developed, the principles of which may be applied to other types of projects. This paper summarizes the status of underground design and construction for nuclear waste repositories and presents some details of the ground control plan and its individual elements.
Photoactive Analogs of Farnesyl Pyrophosphate Containing Benzoylbenzoate Esters: Synthesis and Application to Photoaffinity Labeling of Yeast Protein Farnesyltransferase.

Farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) is involved in a large number of cellular processes including the prenylation of transforming mutants of Ras proteins implicated in cancer. Photoactive analogs could provide useful information about enzyme active sites that bind farnesyl pyrophosphate; however, the availability of such compounds is extremely limited. Molecules that incorporate benzophenone moieties are attractive photoaffinity labeling reagents because of their useful photochemical properties. Here, the syntheses of two compounds, 3a and 3b, containing para- and meta-substituted benzoylbenzoates are described. Compounds 3a and 3b are competitive inhibitors (with respect to FPP) of yeast protein farnesyltransferase (PFTase) with Ki values of 910 and 380 nM, respectively. Both compounds inactivate PFTase upon photolysis, resulting in as much as 44% inactivation of enzyme activity. Photolysis of PFTase in the presence of [32P]3a or of [32P]3b results in preferential labeling of the β subunit, suggesting that this...
Intractable early childhood obesity as the initial sign of insulin resistant hyperinsulinism and precursor of polycystic ovary syndrome.

Objective We report that intractable early childhood obesity may be associated with severe insulin resistance syndromes (pseudo-Cushing's syndrome and pseudo-acromegaly) and precede polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Study design/results Patient 1 had prepubertal obesity followed by early puberty and was diagnosed with pseudo-Cushing's syndrome and insulin resistance at 10.3 years. Oligomenorrhea, androgen excess, and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) emerged at 13.5 years. Patient 2 developed intractable prepubertal obesity followed by atypical true sexual precocity and pseudo-Cushing's syndrome in early childhood. By 11.3 years, oligomenorrhea, androgen excess, and DM2 had appeared. Patient 3 had prepubertal overgrowth in weight and height and was diagnosed with pseudo-acromegaly, menstrual irregularity, androgen excess, and impaired glucose tolerance at 14.3 years of age. Patient 4 had prepubertal overgrowth that evolved into pseudo-acromegaly, insulin resistance, secondary amenorrhea, and androgen excess at 15.6 years. Conclusions Intractable prepubertal obesity was recognized to culminate in early childhood pseudo-Cushing's syndrome or pseudo-acromegaly, which are manifestations of insulin-resistant hyperinsulinism, and to herald adolescent PCOS.
Using extended captions to improve learning from instructional illustrations

This article examines two strategies for improving the effectiveness of illustrations in text. Descriptive captions repeated the contents of illustrations verbally, whereas instructive captions focused learners’attention on salient features of illustrations without descriptive text. Contrary to much of the literature on pictures and prose, these illustrations provided information that did not overlap the main body of text. Two measures of learning outcomes were used: one which assessed learning from the illustrations alone and one that assessed learning from the verbal text alone. Results favoured the caption conditions over the illustration-only condition. However, no additive effects of the captions were observed. In addition, the illustration plus descriptive caption condition outperformed the descriptive caption condition alone and the memory for accompanying text did not suffer from the presence of the illustrations or captions.
Long-range heteronuclear spin locking (HSL) and its application to peptide sequencing

Abstract In this paper, the utility of heteronuclear-spin-locking 2D NMR experiments for structure elucidation from long-range interactions is demonstrated. Long-range { 1 H} 13 C heteronuclear-shift-correlation spectra via spin locking provides peptide-sequencing information for gramicidin-S with considerably better sensitivity than was previously obtained with other long-range shift-correlation methods such as HOESY and COLOC.
Evolutionary, not revolutionary, programming exercises using design patterns in an OO data structures course

Over the years there have been many papers supporting the use of design patterns in a traditional data structures course. In support of this approach, we present an evolutionary sequence of five programming exercises, concentrating on problems that require the use of six different design patterns in the context of a data structures course. Included with these exercises are brief descriptions, code segments, and teaching tips to demonstrate the simplicity and power of design patterns to teach object-oriented design principles. UML class diagrams are used to visualize and supplement the discussions.
SU-E-T-33: Prediction of Exit Dose Images Using XVMC and BEAMnrc Monte Carlo Code

Purpose: It has been evaluated that XVMC and BEAMnrc codes are suitable for dose calculation in patient. However, required accuracy of the codes at extended distance under scattering media is challenging. Furthermore, there is a growing importance of dose validation of complicated radiation therapy by exit dosimetry and dose reconstruction. Therefore, the purpose for this study is to predict the exit EPIDimages under phantom using XVMC simulation and compare them with ion chamber measurements and BEAMnrc calculation. Methods: For this study XVMC and BEAMnrc/DOSXYZnrc beam simulation algorithms were used to model a 6 MV Varian linear accelerator. The dose profiles at 150 cm were calculated under solid water flat phantoms that were isocentrically placed. Water phantom thicknesses were variable from 10 to 20 cm. On exit plane of calculation, a 2 cm‐thick build up phantom and a 5‐cm thick backscattering phantom were placed. The results were compared to PTW ion chamber measurements for various field sizes.Results: The XVMC and BEAMnrc simulation results were agreeable with the ion chamber reference exit dose measurements. The XVMC and BEAMnrc beam profile were in agreement in terms of dose profile for various field sizes and penumbrae. The Monte Carlo results were within 3% dose difference within 80% of each field size.Conclusions: Calculations were done to predict the exit doseimages using XVMC simulation and BEAMnrc calculation for various field sizes and phantom depth. When these were compared to a reference ion chamber the calculations were in agreement. The study shows that XVMC and BEAMnrc are applicable to predict EPIDimages at EPID depth.
Why are eligible thrombolysis candidates left untreated

Background Despite proven efficacy, thrombolytics are used in a minority of eligible candidates. Because some of the exclusion criteria are vague, relying on documented contraindications could disguise biases in usage. This study sought to identify barriers to tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) treatment among eligible patients with acute ischemic stroke. Methods The study prospectively identified all patients with an initial diagnosis of ischemic stroke arriving within 2.5 hours of symptom onset at 11 hospitals participating in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention–sponsored California Acute Stroke Prototype Registry during two 3-month periods in 2002 and 2003. Potential risk factors for nontreatment with thrombolytics among patients categorized as eligible were examined, based on directly documented contraindications. Analyses were repeated after reclassification of eligibility based on record review. Results Of 625 patients with ischemic stroke, 126 (20%) arrived at the emergency department within 2.5 hours of symptom onset. Based on direct documentation, 72 (11.5% of all patients; 57% of in-time arrivals) were eligible for thrombolysis; 32 (44% of eligible patients) who received tPA within the 3-hour time window and 40 who did not receive thrombolytic medications despite having no documented contraindication to treatment. Factors predictive of nontreatment were older age ( p =0.0005), later arrival ( p =0.004), and admittance to a non-academic hospital ( p =0.03). After record review, slightly fewer patients ( n =61) were deemed eligible, with a tPA treatment rate of 52% among those eligible. Older age ( p =0.002) and later arrival ( p =0.002) continued to be predictive of nontreatment with thrombolytics after reclassification. Conclusions Even when more-comprehensive eligibility standards are applied, older age and later hospital arrival are associated with nontreatment with thrombolytics.