cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Time-domain solution to Maxwell's equations for a lightning dart leader and subsequent return stroke

Lightning detection and geolocation networks have found widespread use by the utility, air traffic control and forestry industries as a means of locating strikes and predicting imminent recurrence. Accurate lightning geolocation requires detecting VLF radio emissions at multiple sites using a distributed sensor network with typical baselines exceeding 150 km, along with precision time of arrival estimation to triangulate the origin of a strike. The trend has been towards increasing network accuracy without increasing sensor density by incorporating precision GPS synchronized clocks and faster front-end signal processing. Because lightning radio waveforms evolve as they propagate over a finitely conducting earth, and that measurements for a given strike may have disparate propagation path lengths, accurate models are required to determine waveform fiducials for precise strike location. The transition between the leader phase and return stroke phase may offer such a fiducial and warrants quantitative modeling to improve strike location accuracy.
Metaheuristics in big data: An approach to railway engineering

Big data is becoming increasingly important in various fields; railway engineering is no exception. The use of advanced analysis tools will lead to improved reliability and safety in railway systems. This paper addresses how metaheuristics can be used as an optimization technique to accurately analyze large data in railway engineering. Contributions in both optimization and application in railway engineering are also mentioned. Also, future research towards data analysis in real-life problems is discussed.
Discussion on “Preferential excitation of re-fracting interfaces by use of a source array” by S. J. Laster and A. F. Linville (GEOPHYSICS, February 1968, p. 49-64)

While we have no quarrel with the content of the paper (actually hearty agreement), we think that it is important that some acknowledgment of previous work in quite exactly the same field be made in articles published in Geophysics.
Surface normal thermoelastic displacement in moving rough contacts

Computing the thermoelastic displacement of three-dimensional stationary or moving bodies subject to frictional heating is an essential numerical procedure for the complex modeling of the contact of tribological components. Surface Roughness inevitably causes the irregularity of the frictional heat distribution, and thus complicates the process of the numerical simulation of contact problems. The surface normal thermoelastic displacement has been studied in previous papers for either stationary bodies with irregularly distributed heat or moving bodies with regularly distributed heat. In this work, irregularly distributed frictional heat is applied on the surface of a moving body. Temperature and surface normal thermoelastic displacement are solved by using an efficient numerical procedure involving the discrete convolution and fast Fourier transform algorithm and frequency response functions. The thermoelastic displacement due to frictional heat that is proportional to the contact pressure is comparable to the elastic displacement caused by the contact pressure and is not sensitive to the roughness texture. The transient performance of multiple heat sources with different shapes, as well as the mutual influence, is also studied.
Scalable and highly parallel implementation of Smith-Waterman on graphics processing unit using CUDA

Program development environments have enabled graphics processing units (GPUs) to become an attractive high performance computing platform for the scientific community. A commonly posed problem in computational biology is protein database searching for functional similarities. The most accurate algorithm for sequence alignments is Smith-Waterman (SW). However, due to its computational complexity and rapidly increasing database sizes, the process becomes more and more time consuming making cluster based systems more desirable. Therefore, scalable and highly parallel methods are necessary to make SW a viable solution for life science researchers. In this paper we evaluate how SW fits onto the target GPU architecture by exploring ways to map the program architecture on the processor architecture. We develop new techniques to reduce the memory footprint of the application while exploiting the memory hierarchy of the GPU. With this implementation, GSW, we overcome the on chip memory size constraint, achieving 23× speedup compared to a serial implementation. Results show that as the query length increases our speedup almost stays stable indicating the solid scalability of our approach. Additionally this is a first of a kind implementation which purely runs on the GPU instead of a CPU-GPU integrated environment, making our design suitable for porting onto a cluster of GPUs.
“Working Like a Colored Person”: Race, Service, and Identity in Nella Larsen's Passing

[T]hese descendants of barbarians and wild Afric tribes are docile, gentle, affectionate, grateful, submissive, and faithful! In a word, they possess every quality that should constitute a good ser...
Origin and development of retinal melanin in Amblystoma punctatum devoid of ovarian pigment

This report is concerned with the origin and elaboration of melanin in the retinal epithelium of Amblystoma punctatum. The animals used in this study developed from a single clutch of unpigmented eggs. The tapetum of such animals is devoid of ovarian pigment and, consequently, the initial formation of melanin can be readily followed. Specifically examined is the possibility of active involvement of melanocytes in the formation of tapetal pigment. Eyes were transplanted from embryos at stage 32+ into the gill region and ventral flank of embryos at stage 28. Data were obtained concerning the initial appearance of melanin and its subsequent elaboration in the tapetum of the grafts correlated with the presence or absence of melanocytes in the immediate vicinity. Melanin first appears in the flank grafts two to three days before melanocytes reach the area. Sequence of melanin elaboration in both types of graft follows more closely that of the donor animals than that of the less advanced hosts. Melanin always appears first in the anterior portion of both grafts and intact eyes, despite the fact that melanocytes are just as closely associated with the posterior pole of the eyes. It is concluded that melanin production is an intrinsic property of the retinal epithelium in Amblystoma.
The CpG-rich promoter of human LDH-C is differentially methylated in expressing and nonexpressing tissues.

A comparison of nucleolide sequences of murine LDH-a and Ldh-c genes and human LDH-A, LDH-B, and LDH-C reveals that mouse Ldh-c has lost the CpG “island” present in the genes for the somatic isozymes. However, the human LDH-C gene has a CpG-rich region of 230 bp surrounding its promoter. Endonuclease sensitivity coupled with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) demonstrate the presence of nine heavily methylated sites in this region in different somatic cells. The same sites are specifically hypomethy-lated in expressing tissues. 3′ sites bordering the CpG-rich region appear to be methylated in both expressing and nonexpressing tissues. Furthermore, the methylated promoter forms a specific complex in vitro with a methyl-DNA binding protein. Evolutionary and functional implications of these observations are discussed. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Topographic Variation in Structure of Mixed-Conifer Forests Under an Active-Fire Regime

Management efforts to promote forest resiliency as climate changes have often used historical forest structure and composition to provide general guidance for fuels reduction and forest restoration treatments. However, it has been difficult to identify what stand conditions might be fire and drought resilient because historical data and reconstruction studies are generally limited to accurate estimates only of large, live tree density and composition. Other stand features such as smaller tree densities, dead wood, understory structure, regeneration, and fuel loads have been difficult to quantify, estimate how they may vary across a landscape, or assess how they would be affected by fire under current climate conditions. We sampled old-growth, mixed-conifer forests with at least two low-intensity fires within the last 65 years in 150 plots at 48 sample sites ranging over 400 km of the Sierra Nevada. Recent fire history had the strongest influence on understory conditions with small tree density decreasing and shrub cover increasing with the increased intensity and frequency of fire associated with upper-slope and ridge-top locations. In contrast, stand structures associated with large, overstory trees such as total basal area, canopy cover, and the abundance of large snags and logs increased in topographic locations associated with more mesic, productive sites regardless of fire history. In forests with restored fire regimes, topography, fire and their interaction influence productivity and burn intensity, creating the structural heterogeneity characteristic of frequent-fire forests.
Pathologic fracture after radiation therapy for primary non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphoma of bone

Between 1963 and 1981, 32 patients with biopsy proven non-Hodgkin's lymphoma involving bone were treated at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology either with radiation alone or in conjunction with chemotherapy. An unexpectedly high rate of fracture at the site of the tumor was observed. Six patients were excluded because they survived less than six months after the completion of radiotherapy or were lost to follow-up within six months. There were 15 appendicular and 17 axial sites treated. Local control was achieved in 30 of 32. There were 10 patients with appendicular lesions of which seven suffered a fracture. Of the seven patients with lesions in a weight bearing bone, six suffered fractures. Twenty-six sites of involvement received less than 5000 rad. Five sites of involvement with diffuse histiocytic lymphoma (DHL) involving the appendicular skeleton received 5000 to 6000 rad. One site with DHL involving the axial skeleton received 5000 rad. Of the six patients receiving high dose, two presented with pathologic fractures of the femur requiring surgical stabilization and the remaining four patients suffered subsequent fractures 7 to 30 months after completion of therapy. Two of these six had local recurrence of disease. It appears that involvement of the appendicular skeleton by lymphoma frequently results in fracture. Doses of 5000 rad or greater do not increase the probability of local control but may contribute to the risk of fracture following radiotherapy.
Field-scale investigation of the effect of land use on sediment yield and runoff using runoff plot data and models in the Mara River basin, Kenya

article i nfo The need for more agricultural areas stemming from population pressure has been contributing to the increased forest and grassland-to-agricultural areas conversion in recent years in the upper Mara River Basin, Kenya. The deforestation of the Mau forest and settlement on hydrological sensitive areas of the watershed along with poor soil and water conservation practices have caused the high level of soil erosion and water quality deterioration. The various efforts to curve down this problem necessitate the knowledge of the rate of erosion, surface runoff as a function of the physical and hydrometeorological characteristics of the watershed. In support of this effort, a study was conducted to evaluate the effects of three land-use/land cover practices on runoff and sediment yield using runoff plots and two models: Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) and Erosion 3D. In order to accomplish these objectives, runoff plots were established at three sites: Amala upstream; Amala downstream and Nyangores watersheds. In all of the three watersheds, three land uses (cropland, grassland and bare land) with similar slope steepness and soil types were considered. Using the data collected from the runoff plots, the WEPP and Erosion 3D models were evaluated. The plot scale research results indicated that erosion was high in all of the sites on cultivated lands. The highest total sediment yield over the study period was observed on cultivated land (162.38 g/m 2 ) in the Nyangores watershed; and the lowest sediment yield (29.95 g/m 2 ) was observed on grassland at Amala downstream site. The model evaluation indicated that both of the models perform well in estimation of runoff, however, the WEPP model performs better than Erosion 3D in estimation of soil erosion.
Molar absorptivity and a1cm1% values for proteins at selected wavelengths of the ultraviolet and visible regions—XIX

Abstract A table of molar absorptivity and A 1% 1 cm values for more than 220 proteins is given. The conditions used to obtain these values and references to the original literature are also given.
Quantitative characterization of flaws near a surface using inverse born approximation

Quantitative reconstruction of volumetric flaws near a surface of an elastic solid has been carried out experimentally by analyzing the scattered ultrasonic waves. The inverse Born approximation (developed for flaws in bulk materials) was tested for the first time in the determination of the size, shape, and orientation of near-surface flaws. We have studied spherical solid inclusions at various depths below the surface. In addition we examined an approximately 2:1 prolate spheroidal inclusion which was located one major axis below the surface. The determination of the flaw's size, shape, and orientation in terms of an equivalent ellipsoid is realized by performing nonlinear least-squares iteration of the one-dimensional Born inversion results obtained at various scattering directions within a finite aperture. The reconstruction is in good agreement with the actual parameters of the flaw.
Laws and counterfactuals

2 That both sorts of cases fall under the general form of memory which Malcolm calls "factual memory" is shown by what he says on pp. 203-4: "I wish to consider, first of all, that use of 'remember' in which this verb is followed by a clause of the form 'that p,' where for 'p' there may be substituted any sentence expressing a proposition. I will give this form the name of 'factual memory,' for the reason that if the subordinate sentence in the thatclause expresses a true proposition then the that-clause expresses a fact." 3 By "completely forgotten" I mean "forgotten beyond recall." For one can be said to know something "all along" even if he has temporarily forgotten it. But if someone has "completely forgotten" something by the time we, say, ask him about it, then he no longer knows it. Once we commit ourselves to someone's having forgotten something beyond recall, then if he later "comes up with it," we must say that he learned it again, or found out again, or determined it anew, or perhaps guessed, but not that he remembers it. 4 I owe this point to Professor Emilio Roma.
The Paradox of the Knower without Epistemic Closure

Does the Paradox of the Knower, as introduced by Kaplan and Montague (1960), provide us with compelling reason to doubt that, even when a fair amount of idealization is tolerated, knowledge is closed under entailment? Not so, says Cross (2001). Charles Cross has recently offered a variant of the Paradox of the Knower that dispenses with Kaplan and Montague's assumption that knowledge is closed under entailment. Cross's Paradox of the Knowledge-Plus Knower is not directly concerned with knowledge but rather with what he calls 'knowledgeplus', which is, roughly speaking, derivability from some known premiss. However, Cross (2001) suggests that the Paradox of the KnowledgePlus Knower renders implausible the view that Kaplan and Montague's requirement of epistemic closure is to be blamed for the Paradox of the Knower. The purpose of this note is to suggest that Cross's Paradox of the Knowledge-Plus Knower involves an assumption that is more problematic than Kaplan and Montague's original assumption of epistemic closure. I would like to argue, in addition, that the interplay between knowledge-plus and provability undermines the use of the Paradox of the Knowledge-Plus Knower against the diagnosis of the Paradox of the Knower that blames the contradiction on Kaplan and Montague's assumption that knowledge is closed under entailment. In the end, however, I would like to suggest, the moral of the Knower Paradox remains uncertain. The Paradox of the Knower can be developed in any reasonable theory capable of proving a certain amount of arithmetic. In what follows, I will assume the axioms of Peano Arithmetic as formalized in L(K), the language of arithmetic augmented with a monadic primitive predicate K. Thus I allow for occurrences of the predicate K in the induction axioms of PA(K). Though the full power of PA(K) is not needed to develop the Paradox of the Knower, PA(K) is a simple theory capable of proving
Highly efficient resonant coupling of optical excitations in hybrid organic/inorganic semiconductor nanostructures

Highly efficient resonant coupling of optical excitations in hybrid organic/inorganic semiconductor nanostructures
Black carbon in marine particulate organic carbon: Inputs and cycling of highly recalcitrant organic carbon in the Gulf of Maine

article To increase our understanding of the roles of black carbon (BC), a highly sorptive and recalcitrant material, we measuredBCconcentrationsand fluxesinmarineparticulateorganiccarbon(POC)outofthewatercolumninthe GulfofMaine(GoM),arepresentativecoastalareadownwindofimportantBCsourcesoftheNortheasternUnited States.Concentrationsranged fromb0.1 to 16 μg/L in the spring and late summer, typically contributing between 1and20%of thePOC.Water-columnexport fluxeswerenear10gBC/m 2 ∙yr.Theseobservationssuggestthat(a)up to 50% of the "molecularly uncharacterized" POC in this region's seawater is combustion-derived BC, and (b) the "bioavailabilities" of hydrophobic pollutants like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) would be influenced substantially by sorption to BC. The observed BC spatial distributions implythat a large part of the BC was carried offshore by wind and that much of it is accumulated in the coastal sediments. On a global scale, these results suggest the GoM and other coastal areas with similar BC loadings accumulate significant amounts of highly recalcitrant organic carbon that remineralizes on geological time scales in the world's oceans.
Systems Engineering Problems in Computer-Driven CRT Displays for Man-Machine Communication

Computer-driven cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays are becoming an important means of on-line man-machine communication, particularly for graphical input/output in laboratory investigations of computer-aided design techniques. Their operation, however, often requires so much of the computational resources of the associated computer that they are not yet considered economic or practical for general industrial use. This paper discusses the systems engineering problems in designing and using display systems, with emphasis on the hardware-software tradeoffs. As an example, a display specifically developed for computer-aided design applications is described which has unusual special-purpose computing capabilities for dynamic picture manipulations, including rotation, scaling, and translation of 3-dimensional images. it is concluded that there is much work ahead, and that the proper hardware-software organization for these complexes of computers, communication links, terminals, and men is a fertile field for the systems engineer.
Becoming Writing, Becoming Writers

Many qualitative researchers have puzzled over the question of how to write more engaging, more communicative texts. “Why” we write, however, is not often part of our scholarly conversations. In this article, I examine the writing process and position writing as a learning tool which enables what researchers know about themselves and their topics. I engage with writing as a product, process, form of invention, and instrument of self-reflection. Ultimately, I suggest that writing should be included more intentionally in our research methods courses. Writing is not simply what we “do,” but also how we become better writers and scholars.
Modeling of grain boundary effects on photovoltaic properties of metal-insulator thin-film polycrystalline semiconductor solar cells

A model has been developed to characterize the photovoltaic properties of a thin-film polycrystalline semiconductor solar cell with a metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) structure and an accumulated back contact which forms a back surface field. Semiconductor doping density, thickness, grain size, and grain boundary trap density are the parameters used to characterize the semiconductor. Collection velocity, diode ideality factor, effective junction barrier height, and light transmittance are the parameters used to characterize the MIS interfacial region. The three-dimensional grain size and grain boundary problem is simplified by transforming it to an equivalent one-dimensional single-level bulk trap problem. The majority-carrier density and the built-in potential are assumed to be affected by light intensity, doping and trap densities. The effects of deep-level grain boundary traps and of surface passivation on the short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, fill factor, collection and conversion efficiencies of these cells are calculated based on the potential distribution in the thin-film semiconductor. Recombination current and series and shunt resistance are not included and the superposition principle is not used in the calculation. Sample calculations are included for the specific case of electrodeposited n-type CdTe MIS solar cells. Methods to improve the conversion efficiency and the application of modeling are discussed.
Developing social identity models of players from game telemetry data

In this paper, we present an approach to modeling aspects of the identities of videogame players by data mining game telemetry information on in-game player performance and customization preferences. Our model demonstrates that such data can be used to reveal aspects of the identities players express by their social networking profile information. We tested our model on players of the multiplayer first-person shooter videogame Team Fortress 2. It was able to significantly explain the variances of the players' number of friends (35.1%), number of uploaded screenshots (49.6%), and number of uploaded videos (39.2%) of their profiles on the gaming social network Steam. Our results revealed several findings, such as criteria indicating how players customized avatars differently according to notions of aesthetics and practicality, and how these notions contributed to predicting their number of friends on their social networking profiles. Responses evaluated from a conducted survey reaffirmed several of these findings.
Fecal Bacteroidales Diversity and Decay in Response to Variations in Temperature and Salinity

Bacteroidales are attractive as water quality indicators because of their potential to discern sources of fecal pollution, and it is presumed that these bacteria do not multiply outside their host organisms. The persistence of a fecal Bacteroidales marker was monitored over 14 days in river water microcosms that varied in temperature from 10°C to 30°C and salinity from 0‰ to 30‰ by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Decay rates were estimated and compared to the results of other studies examining the survival and persistence of Bacteroidales markers by converting decay rates from other studies to a common decay rate unit. The log-linear decay rates estimated in this work ranged from -0.18 to -1.31 ln(C(T)/C(0)) day(-1), where C(T) is the threshold cycle and C(0) is the concentration of cells at time zero, which is comparable to findings in previous studies. Salinity had a positive effect on Bacteroidales marker persistence, while decay was more rapid at higher temperatures. Comparison of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries generated from microcosm samples indicated that most of the operational taxonomic unit (OTU) and phylogenetic diversity was found within samples and not between samples, indicating at least qualitatively that diverse lineages persist and likely have similar survival characteristics under most of the conditions examined. It was noted that the samples at higher salinities also had the smallest amount of diversity between samples as well as the lowest decay rates. This research also highlights the need for a repository of raw survival and persistence data if more sophisticated models of decay are to be employed and compared between different studies.
LONGITUDINAL MEASURES OF POVERTY: ACCOUNTING FOR INCOME AND ASSETS OVER TIME

This paper uses data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation to estimate durations of poverty spells and to determine whether temporarily poor families have sufficient assets to cover the shortfall of their incomes below poverty-their personal poverty gaps. If poverty is measured using monthly rather than annual income data, four times as many persons enter poverty, but most spells are short: the median duration is between four and six months. More than one-third of all poverty spells are eliminated if financial assets are used to fill poverty gaps, but remaining poverty spells are longer. Separate estimates are made for the elderly and for families with children.
"Professor" Charles Tyrrell and his ideal sight restorer.

Charles A. Tyrrell was a masseur who obtained his MD degree at age 57 in 1900. In addition to his private practice he was editor of several pseudomedical magazines. He also owned two proprietary ventures that he conducted on a mail order basis. One of these involved production and sale of the The Ideal Sight Restorer, a U-shaped device consisting of a rubber bulb at the base, from which on both sides arose an arm of rubber tubing capped by an ivory eye piece. The eye cups were applied to the closed eyelids and the intermittent suction produced by squeezing the rubber bulb was claimed to provide a form of ocular massage capable of curing serious eye diseases (eg. cataract and glaucoma), as well as doing away with the need for spectacles. Although his fraudulent activities and deceptive advertising practices were described on several occasions in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Tyrrell persisted in his enterprises until he died in 1918.
Spontaneous subperiosteal orbital hematoma as initial presentation of metastatic lung adenocarcinoma to the skull: case report.

AbstractIntroduction: Subperiosteal orbital hematoma is a rare occurrence, typically developing as a result of orbital trauma. The spontaneous formation of a subperiosteal orbital hematoma (sSOH) may also occur but is less frequent. To date there has been no documented cases of sSOH as the initial presentation of an unknown metastatic neoplasm to the skull. We provide a case of a woman with unknown lung adenocarcinoma that metastasized to the skull which caused the formation of a sSOH resulting in orbital compression syndrome.Case Report: A 57-year-old female presented with double vision, retro-orbital right eye pain, and vision loss in the right eye. A magnetic resonance imaging revealed a right orbital compressive lesion with an adjacent supraorbital skull lesion and separate left frontal skull lesion. Intra-operative findings along with post-operative immunohistochemistry staining revealed sSOH resulting from a metastatic lung adenocarcinoma to the skull. Further metastatic work up also revealed an occ...
Can Technology Help Us Make the Mathematics Curriculum Intellectually Stimulating and Socially Responsible

In order to answer the question posed in the title of this paper, we must take a wide perspective and explore the goal societies have for maintaining educational systems, how curriculum contributes to the attainment of these goals, how mathematics in the curriculum contributes to effectiveness in attaining these goals and finally some of the ways in which appropriately crafted technology can help to make mathematics a more effective part of the curriculum.
Feedback control scheduling in distributed real-time systems

Distributed soft real-time systems are becoming increasingly unpredictable due to several important factors such as the increasing use of commercial-off-the-shelf components, the trend towards open systems, and the proliferation of data-driven applications whose execution parameters vary significantly with input data. Such systems are less amenable to traditional worst-case real-time analysis. Instead, system-wide feedback control is needed to meet performance requirements. In this paper, we extend our previous work on developing software control algorithms based on a theory of feedback control to distributed systems. Our approach makes three important contributions. First, it allows the designer for a distributed real-time application to specify the desired temporal behavior of system adaptation, such as the speed of convergence to desired performance upon load or resource changes. This is in contrast to specifying only steady-state metrics, e.g., deadline miss ratio. Second, unlike QoS optimization approaches, our solution meets performance guarantees without accurate knowledge of task execution parameters-a key advantage in an unpredictable environment. Third, in contrast to ad hoc algorithms based on intuition and testing, our solution has a basis in the theory and practice of feedback control scheduling. Performance evaluation reveals that the solution not only has excellent steady state behavior, but also meets stability, overshoot, and settling time requirements. We also show that the solution outperforms several other algorithms available in the literature.
Cold pools in the Columbia Basin

Persistent midwinter cold air pools produce multiday periods of cold, dreary weather in basins and valleys. Persistent stable stratification leads to the buildup of pollutants and moisture in the pool. Because the pool sometimes has temperatures below freezing while the air above is warmer, freezing precipitation often occurs, with consequent effects on transportation and safety. Forecasting the buildup and breakdown of these cold pools is difficult because the interacting physical mechanisms leading to their formation, maintenance, and destruction have received little study. In this paper, persistent wintertime cold pools in the Columbia River basin of eastern Washington are studied. First a succinct meteorological definition of a cold pool is provided and then a 10-yr database is used to develop a cold pool climatology. This is followed by a detailed examination of two cold pool episodes that were accompanied by fog and stratus using remote and in situ temperature and wind sounding data. The two episodes illustrate many of the physical mechanisms that affect cold pool evolution. In one case, the cold pool was formed by warm air advection above the basin and was destroyed by downslope winds that descended into the southern edge of the basin and progressively displaced the cold air in the basin. In the second case, the cold pool began with a basin temperature inversion on a clear night and strengthened when warm air was advected above the basin by a westerly flow that descended from the Cascade Mountains. The cold pool was nearly destroyed one afternoon by cold air advection aloft and by the growth of a convective boundary layer (CBL) following the partial breakup of the basin stratus. The cold pool restrengthened, however, with nighttime cooling and was destroyed the next afternoon by a growing CBL.
Acute exercise can improve cardioprotection without increasing heat shock protein content.

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of acute bouts of exercise on myocardial recovery after ischemia and heat shock protein expression. Adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups: 1) 1-day run (1DR; n = 6) and 2) 3-day run (3DR; n = 7), in which rats ran for 100 min at a speed of 20 m/min up a 6 degrees grade for 1 or 3 consecutive days; 3) 1-day cold run (1CR), in which rats ran the same as 1DR but with wet fur at 8 degrees C, which prevented an elevation of core temperature (n = 8); 4) heat shock sedentary (HS), in which rats had their core temperatures raised to 42 degrees C one time for 15 min (n = 5); and 5) sedentary control (n=15). Cardiac function was analyzed 24 h after the last treatment using an isolated, working heart model. Nonpaced hearts were initially perfused under normoxic conditions, then underwent 17 min of global, normothermic (37 degrees C) ischemia, and, finally, were allowed to recover for 30 min under normoxic conditions. The concentration of the 72-kDa heat shock protein (HSP 72) was measured in each left ventricle. Compared with that in the sedentary group, recovery of cardiac output x systolic pressure (CO x SP) was enhanced (P 0.05) between the following groups: 1DR vs. 3DR, 1DR vs. HS, and 1DR vs. 1CR. Heat shock protein concentration was significantly greater (P 0.05). We conclude that acute bouts of exercise can produce cardioprotective effects without an elevation of HSP 72.
Evanescent black holes.

A renormalizable theory of quantum gravity coupled to a dilaton and conformal matter in two spacetime dimensions is analyzed. The theory is shown to be exactly solvable classically. Included among the exact classical solutions are configurations describing the formation of a black hole by collapsing matter. The problem of Hawking radiation and back reaction of the metric is analyzed to leading order in a $\frac{1}{N}$ expansion, where $N$ is the number of matter fields. The results suggest that the collapsing matter radiates away all of its energy before an event horizon has a chance to form, and black holes thereby disappear from the quantum-mechanical spectrum. It is argued that the matter asymptotically approaches a zero-energy "bound state" which can carry global quantum numbers and that a unitary $S$ matrix including such states should exist.
The Origins of the Present Japanese Constitution.

Throughout the years when the Meiji Constitution served for most purposes as Japan's basic law (1890–1947), it was always a matter of considerable value to the nation's constitutional scholars to have readily available an authoritative statement of the intent of the framers of that document. This was Itō Hirobumi's Kempō Gige (Commentaries on the Constitution). It played a role somewhat analogous to that of Madison's journals in our own annals of constitutional, legal and historical scholarship, but was even more definitive. It is interesting therefore to speculate just where present or future Japanese scholars might find a similar source for their present constitution. The facts presently available would indicate the necessity of a pilgrimage to New York's Waldorf Tower. There or in its immediate environs are to be found the most notable of the “founding fathers” of the present Japanese Constitution. That one should have to seek on foreign shores for the author of the fundamental law of a great modern state is in itself a phenomenon unique in recent history. Even stranger perhaps is the fact that some nine years after its promulgation and four years after the end of the military occupation which made it possible in the first place, this constitution remains formally intact and unamended.
Surface Reconstruction from Two-view Body Scanner Data:

We propose an effective algorithm based on subdivision surface representation for reconstruction of the human body from the data of a two-view body scanner. In the case that the scan data can be grouped into front and back views, we firstly rearrange the data by resampling in the frontal projection plane, and triangulate each set of data points followed by zippering the front and back contours with an Add—Delete method to create an initial mesh. Then the initial mesh is simplified to produce a control mesh as the base of a subdivision surface. Finally, the control mesh is optimized by fitting its subdivision surface to the original data, and, accordingly, a piecewise smooth body model is reconstructed. Experimental results show that the algorithm is capable of gap and hole filling, is robust to noise, and is computationally efficient.
The Relation between Apolipoprotein A-I and Dementia The Honolulu-Asia Aging Study

The association between apolipoproteins and neurodegeneration is unclear. The authors examined the association of dementia with serum levels of apolipoprotein A-I (ApoA-I) alone and in combination with the apolipoprotein E genotype (ApoE). Subjects were Japanese-American men in Hawaii followed since 1965 in the Honolulu Heart Program cohort and the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. Lipid levels were assessed in 1980-1982. Dementia was diagnosed in 1991-1993, 1994-1996, and 1997-1999 by using a multistep procedure and international guidelines. The sample consisted of 929 men (107 dementia cases). The relation between ApoA-I and dementia was examined by using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for age, education, and cardiovascular risk factors. Compared with men in the lowest quartile, men in the highest quartile of ApoA-I concentration had a significantly lower risk of dementia (hazard ratio = 0.25, 95% confidence interval: 0.08, 0.78). Compared with men with both risk factors, those with a high ApoA-I concentration and no ApoE epsilon4 had a significantly lower risk of dementia (hazard ratio = 0.21, 95% confidence interval: 0.08, 0.52). Previous work has demonstrated an inverse relation between ApoA-I and cardiovascular disease, and the authors extended these findings to the risk of dementia. These results raise the possibility that different lipoprotein components of cholesterol may be differentially associated with dementia.
Production of Carbonate Sediments by Selected Large Benthic Foraminifera on Two Pacific Coral Reefs

ABSTRACT Carbonate production, deposition, and turnover rates by selected members of the rotaliine foraminiferal families Asterigerinidae, Calcarinidae, and Nummulitidae were calculated using growth and standing crop data. In Palau, Western Caroline Islands, carbonate production rates on seaward reef flats were up to 2.8 kg CaCO3 m-2 yr-1, which is equivalent to carbonate deposition of almost 1 mm yr-1. Productivity on lagoonal reef slopes was about 0.6 kg CaCO3 m-2 yr-1 or deposition of about 0.2 mm yr-1. Carbonate turnover rates in the living populations were 11-16 times per year. In Hawaii, production rates were much lower because of slower growth rates and the absence of the family Calcarinidae. Product on rates were up to 0.15 kg CaCO3 m-2yr-1 on seaward reef slopes, which is a depositional rate of about 0.05 mm yr-1. Carbonate turnover rates were 7-11 times per year. These production rates are comparable to many values reported in the literature for coral, coralline algae, and macrobenthos.
A unifying framework for computational reinforcement learning theory

Computational learning theory studies mathematical models that allow one to formally analyze and compare the performance of supervised-learning algorithms such as their sample complexity. While existing models such as PAC (Probably Approximately Correct) have played an influential role in understanding the nature of supervised learning, they have not been as successful in reinforcement learning (RL). Here, the fundamental barrier is the need for active exploration in sequential decision problems. An RL agent tries to maximize long-term utility by exploiting its knowledge about the problem, but this knowledge has to be acquired by the agent itself through exploring the problem that may reduce short-term utility. The need for active exploration is common in many problems in daily life, engineering, and sciences. For example, a Backgammon program strives to take good moves to maximize the probability of winning a game, but sometimes it may try novel and possibly harmful moves to discover how the opponent reacts in the hope of discovering a better game-playing strategy. It has been known since the early days of RL that a good tradeoff between exploration and exploitation is critical for the agent to learn fast (i.e., to reach near-optimal strategies with a small sample complexity), but a general theoretical analysis of this tradeoff remained open until recently. In this dissertation, we introduce a novel computational learning model called KWIK (Knows What It Knows) that is designed particularly for its utility in analyzing learning problems like RL where active exploration can impact the training data the learner is exposed to. My thesis is that the KWIK learning model provides a flexible, modularized, and unifying way for creating and analyzing reinforcement-learning algorithms with provably efficient exploration. In particular, we show how the KWIK perspective can be used to unify the analysis of existing RL algorithms with polynomial sample complexity. It also facilitates the development of new algorithms with smaller sample complexity, which have demonstrated empirically faster learning speed in real-world problems. Furthermore, we provide an improved, matching sample complexity lower bound, which suggests the optimality (in a sense) of one of the KWIK-based algorithms known as delayed Q-learning.
Effects of Air Pollutants on Interactions Between Plants, Insects, and Pathogens

“Effects of air pollutants on vegetation are like icebergs: the more substantial effects are often below what is easily observed on the surface.” (Laurence et al. 1983)
TECHNOLOGY AND THE BLIND PERSON: CORRIDORS OF INSENSITIVITY

The past three decades have been no less than spectacular in terms of technological advances that have occurred and are occurring in enhancing the communication, mobility, vocational, and recreational opportunities of blind and severely visually impaired people.
Effects of warming on the degradation and production of low-molecular-weight labile organic carbon in an Arctic tundra soil

Abstract The fate of soil organic carbon (SOC) stored in the Arctic permafrost is a key concern as temperatures continue to rise in the northern hemisphere. Studies and conceptual models suggest that degradation of SOC is affected by its composition, but it is unclear exactly which SOC fractions are vulnerable to rapid breakdown and what mechanisms may be controlling SOC degradation upon permafrost thaw. Here, we examine the dynamic consumption and production of labile SOC in an anoxic incubation experiment using soil samples from the active layer at the Barrow Environmental Observatory, Barrow, Alaska, USA. Free-reducing sugars, alcohols, and low-molecular-weight (LMW) organic acids were analyzed during incubation at either −2 or 8 °C for up to 240 days. Results show that degradation of simple sugar and alcohol in SOC largely accounts for the initial rapid release of CO2 and CH4 through anaerobic fermentation, whereas the fermentation products, acetate and formate, are subsequently utilized as primary substrates for methanogenesis. Iron(III) reduction is correlated with acetate production and methanogenesis, suggesting its important role as an electron acceptor in SOC respiration in tundra environment. These observations are further supported in a glucose addition experiment, in which rapid CO2 and CH4 production occurred concurrently with rapid production and consumption of labile organics such as acetate. However, addition of tannic acid, as a more complex organic substrate, showed little influence on the overall production of CO2 and CH4 and organic acids. Together our study shows that LMW labile SOC controls the initial rapid release of green-house gases upon warming of permafrost soils. We present a conceptual framework for the labile SOC transformations and their relations to fermentation, iron reduction and methanogenesis, thereby providing the basis for improved model prediction of climate feedbacks in the Arctic.
Diseases of Rapeseed (Canola) and Mustard

Included are summer turnip rapeseed, Brassica campestris L.; Argentine-type rapeseed, B. Napus L.; Oriental and brown mustard, B. juncea L.; and yellow mustard, B. hirta Moench.
Transmission Distance Calculation of Electrical Interface Signal in SDH Plant

A simple method for calculating the transmission distance of the electrical interface signal is presented on the basis of utilizing the attenuation coefficiency of transmission line and the allowable input attenuation of the electrical interface.
Early visual environment and development of visual function

Over the past half-century,investigations on mammalian visual system have clarified that the visual pathway from retina to primary visual cortex is highly complex but displays the orderly topological neural connections. Furthermore,previous explorations especially revealed the function of primary visual cortex and its postnatal development. The development of visual pathway is orchestrated initially by an early innate non-visual experience-dependent regulated by successively genetic,molecules and inherent electrophysiological activity,and then visual functions in primary visual cortex such as receptive fields,orientation specific columns,cortical ocular dominance columns and binocular vision etc,are highly regulated by visual experience. Therefore,the development of the visual system is sculpted not only by heredity but also by visual experience after eye opening. This review highlights the postnatal development of mammalian visual pathway,especially the important effects of early visual environment on the development of normal visual function,and discusses the medical possibilities of improving the treatment of amblyopia by visual environment.
The Jewish Middle Age: The Jewish View

Many human communities have segmented their sense of history into three parts: past – an early idyllic period; present – a period of serious decline; and future – an anticipated return to the idyllic past, replete with a sense of the everlasting nature of this third and final period. Christianity and Judaism each adumbrated a vision of its tripartite history, with of course differing perspectives on what constituted past, present, and future. In fact, Christians developed a sense of both tripartite Christian history and tripartite Jewish history. For our purposes, it is important to gain a sense of both the Jewish and Christian views of tripartite Jewish history, with a focus on the middle period of decline in Jewish fortunes. In traditional Jewish thinking, this middle period of decline involved the loss of political independence, the destruction of Jerusalem and its sacred temple, and transformation of the Jews into a people in exile, all of which were attributed to Roman domination of Palestine in the first century and were clustered around the symbolic date of the year 70. In fact, two of these three developments actually took place over an extended period of time, predating and postdating the year 70. In the eighth pre-Christian century, the Judean kingdom had lost its political independence as a result of Assyrian conquest and remained a subjugated polity down through the second pre-Christian century – under the Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks. After a brief eight decades of renewed Jewish independence under the Hasmonean ruling family, in 63 bce Rome bloodlessly asserted imperial domination of Judea. Thus, Jewish political independence ended long before the year 70.