cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Estimating survival curves with left truncated and interval censored data via the ems algorithm

It is well-known that the nonparametric maximum likelihood estimator (NPMLE) of a survival function may severely underestimate the survival probabilities at very early times for left truncated data. This problem might be overcome by instead computing a smoothed nonparametric estimator (SNE) via the EMS algorithm. The close connection between the SNE and the maximum penalized likelihood estimator is also established. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations demonstrate the superior performance of the SNE over that of the NPMLE, in terms of either bias or variance, even for moderately large Samples. The methodology is illustrated with an application to the Massachusetts Health Care Panel Study dataset to estimate the probability of being functionally independent for non-poor male and female groups rcspectively.
Effects of scale on interpreting life‐history characteristics of ungulates and carnivores

Many life-history characteristics of large mammals are scale sensitive. We provide examples where varying temporal and spatial scales can affect interpretation of data concerning life-history characteristics in large herbivores and carnivores and offer recommendations for selecting the most appropriate sampling scale or scales. We also document that some animals make decisions concerning their spatial distribution at scales well beyond the size of the home range. Conversely, other decisions involving sexual segregation of sexes, or where to give birth, may be made at scales below the level of the habitat patch. Such differences in behaviour affect our understanding of habitat selection in large herbivores, and interpreting tradeoffs between acquiring essential resources and avoiding predators. Moreover, some landscape attributes may be selected at one scale, whereas other characteristics of the environment may be selected at another. We argue that even sophisticated models for explaining the ecology and behaviour of mammals benefit from framing specific hypotheses that are related to the to the life-history characteristics of those animals. We also believe that the failure to consider and select the most appropriate scale, or suite of scales, may lead to the mismanagement of critical natural resources. We forge relationships among scale, life-history characteristics of mammals, and biodiversity. Finally, we synthesize the literature on scale for large mammals and make recommendations for future research.
Gene therapy improves immune function in preadolescents with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency

Retroviral gene therapy can restore immunity to infants with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (XSCID) caused by mutations in the IL2RG gene encoding the common gamma chain (γc) of receptors for interleukins 2 (IL-2), −4, −7, −9, −15, and −21. We investigated the safety and efficacy of gene therapy as salvage treatment for older XSCID children with inadequate immune reconstitution despite prior bone marrow transplant from a parent. Subjects received retrovirus-transduced autologous peripherally mobilized CD34+ hematopoietic cells. T-cell function significantly improved in the youngest subject (age 10 years), and multilineage retroviral marking occurred in all 3 children.
Differences in the Memory-Based Searching of Delayed and Normally Developing Young Children.

Abstract The memory-based searching of developmentally delayed and normal 2-year-old children was compared. The results of the study confirmed the hypothesis that individual differences would be minimal in a relatively noneffortful memory task, but that substantial individual differences would occur when more cognitive effort was required. The performance of the delayed and normal children was very good and quite similar in the basic memory task, which simply involved remembering the location of a toy hidden in a distinctive, natural location in a room. Substantial individual differences were found, however, in the children's ability to draw inferences about plausible locations for a missing toy based on their memory for where it had been hidden. When they discovered that their toy was not where they remembered it had been hidden (it had been surreptitiously moved by the experimenter), a group of normal children searched for the toy in places that were nearby or otherwise related to the original location of the toy. They used their memory for where the toy had been hidden to generate plausible alternative locations to search. In contrast, delayed children, who discovered their toy to be unaccountably missing from a location, persevered in repeatedly searching that same place. Unlike the normal children, they did not try something new. An important aspect of the data reported is that they reveal an important difference-not just a delay-in the cognitive functioning of young delayed children.
Bronchiolitis obliterans following pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Bronchiolitis obliterans (BrOb) is a well-recognized complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). It is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality in adult patients. However, the incidence and morbidity of this complication have not been well described in the pediatric population. We report our experience of BrOb in 216 pediatric allogeneic HSCT patients between 1 January 2001 and 31 December 2005. In total 18 of 216 patients developed BrOb during this time. The diagnosis of BrOb was based on pulmonary function abnormalities, radiographic findings or lung biopsy. In total 14 of 18 patients with BrOb received stem cells from unrelated donors. In total 17 of 18 patients received bone marrow as a stem cell source, and 1 received peripheral blood stem cells. All pediatric patients in this report had a known risk factor for BrOb, most commonly chronic GVHD (l8 of 18 patients). Additionally, 7 of 18 patients had either toxic lung injury or virally mediated pulmonary disease before the diagnosis of BrOb. With a median of 45.1 months of follow-up, the outcomes were 5 of 18 patients died of lung disease, 2 died of other causes, 3 had progressive lung disease, 6 achieved partial resolution of disease and 2 had stable disease. BrOb, while uncommon, is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality in pediatric HSCT.
LIQUID PHASE METHANOL SYNTHESIS IN AN ENTRAINED REACTOR—DEVELOPMENT OF A GAS-LIQUID MASS TRANSFER CORRELATION

Research on various aspects of the methanol synthesis was performed in a liquid entrained reactor. The catalyst-oil slurry is pumped through the tubular entrained reactor and syngas is fed cocurren...
Ribbon synapses compute temporal contrast and encode luminance in retinal rod bipolar cells

Contrast is computed throughout the nervous system to encode changing inputs efficiently. The retina encodes luminance and contrast over a wide range of visual conditions and must adapt its responses to maintain sensitivity and to avoid saturation. We examined the means by which one type of adaptation allows individual synapses to compute contrast and encode luminance in biphasic responses to step changes in light levels. Light-evoked depletion of the readily releasable vesicle pool (RRP) at rod bipolar cell ribbon synapses in rat retina limited the dynamic range available to encode transient, but not sustained, responses, thereby allowing the transient and sustained components of release to compute temporal contrast and encode mean light levels, respectively. A release/replenishment model revealed that a single, homogeneous pool of synaptic vesicles is sufficient to generate this behavior and that a partial depletion of the RRP is the dominant mechanism for shaping the biphasic contrast/luminance response.
Comparative study of the performances of four photovoltaic/thermal solar air collectors.

An extensive investigation of the thermal, electrical, hydraulic and overall performances of flat plate photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) air collectors has been made. Four popular designs are considered with the air flowing either over the absorber (Model I) or under it (Model II) and on both sides of the absorber in a single pass (Model III) or in a double pass fashion (Model IV). Heat balance equations are written for each model and are numerically solved, incorporating measured climate data. The effects of air specific flow rate and the selectivity of the absorber plate and PV cells on the performances have been examined. It is found that under similar operational conditions, the Model I collector has the lowest performance, while the other models exhibit comparable thermal and electrical output gains. Nevertheless, the Model III collector demands the least fan power, followed by Models IV and II. It is also shown that selective properties are inappropriate for these PV/T collectors due to the resultant reduction in the generated PV energy, especially at low flow rates. The study provides valuable information regarding the design and operation of such types of PV/T air collectors.
Does managed care affect quality? Appropriateness, referral patterns, and outcomes of carotid endarterectomy.

This was a population-based observational study to assess the impact of managed care (MC) on several dimensions of quality of surgical care among Medicare beneficiaries undergoing carotid endarterectomies (CEAs) (N = 9308) in New York. Clinical data were abstracted from medical charts to assess appropriateness and deaths or strokes within 30 days of surgery. Differences in patients, appropriateness, and outcomes were compared using chi-square tests; risk-adjusted outcomes were compared using regression. Fee-For-Service (FFS, N = 8691) and MC (N = 897) CEA patients had similar indications for surgery, perioperative risk, and comorbidities. There were no differences in inappropriateness between FFS and MC (8.6% vs 8.4%). MC patients were less likely to use a high-volume surgeon (20.1% vs 13.5%) or hospital (20.5% vs 13.0%, P < .05). There were no differences in risk-adjusted rates of death or stroke (OR = 0.97; 95% CI = 0.69-1.37). Medicare MC plans did not have a positive impact on inappropriateness, refer...
Porting Existing Radiation Code for GPU Acceleration

Graphics processing units (GPUs) have proven very robust architectures for performing intensive scientific calculations, resulting in speedups as high as several hundred times. In this paper, the GPU acceleration of a radiation code for use in creating simulated satellite observations of predicted climate change scenarios is explored, particularly the prospect of porting an already existing and widely used radiation transport code to a GPU version that fully exploits the parallel nature of GPUs. The porting process is attempted with a simple radiation code, revealing that this process centers on creating many copies of variables and inlining function/subroutine calls. A resulting speedup of about 25x is reached. This is less than the speedup achieved from a radiation code built for CUDA from scratch, but it was achieved with an already existing radiation code using the PGI Accelerator to automatically generate CUDA kernels, and this demonstrates a possible strategy to speed up other existing models like MODTRAN and LBLRTM.
Diarrhoeal diseases and the global health agenda: measuring and changing priority

We investigate priority setting and the global health agenda by analysing the control of diarrhoeal diseases (CDD). CDD was one of the ‘twin engines’ of the 1980s’ child survival movement, but now has a low priority on the global health agenda, even though diarrhoeal diseases still claim around 1.5 million children annually. In this article, we develop a framework and four indicators of priority to measure CDD’s overall prominence on the global health agenda over the last three decades: trends in treatment coverage, changes in perceived priority, changes in financial support and institutional involvement and bibliographic trends. We find that CDD’s priority is now one-sixth to one-third of its level in 1985. We then use political analysis to suggest strategies for reframing CDD as an issue and promoting its priority on the global health agenda.
Testing Human Sera for Antibodies against Avian Influenza Viruses: Horse RBC Hemagglutination Inhibition vs. Microneutralization Assays

Abstract Background The hemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay is a frequently used method to screen human sera for antibodies against influenza A viruses. Because HI has relatively poor sensitivity in detecting antibodies against avian influenza A strains, a more complicated microneutralization (MN) assay is often preferred. Recent research suggests that the sensitivity of the HI assay can be improved by switching from the traditionally used turkey, guinea pig, human, or chicken RBCs to horse RBCs. Objective To evaluate the performance of the horse RBC HI when screening for human antibodies against avian influenza types H3, H4, H5, H6, H7, H9, H11, and H12. Study design We evaluated the reproducibility of horse RBC HI and its agreement with MN results using sera from people exposed or not exposed to wild and domestic birds. Results The horse RBC HI assay had high reliability (90%–100%) and good agreement with MN assay results (52%–100%). Conclusion The horse RBC HI assay is reliable, less expensive, less complex, and faster than the MN assay. While MN will likely remain the gold standard serologic assay for avian viruses, the horse RBC HI assay may be very useful as a screening assay in large-scale epidemiologic studies.
The effects of fasting and of growth hormone administration on plasma fatty acid concentration in normal and hypophysectomized rhesus monkeys.

The effects of growth hormone and of fasting on the concentration of plasma nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA) in hypophysectomized and intact monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were studied. NEFA concentration was determined by the method of Dole. Small doses (0.05 nig./kg.) of simiangrowthhormone caused an increase in plasma NEFA concentrations in fasting hypophysectomized and intact monkeys. Bovine and porcine growth hormone preparations were ineffective in this regard as were LTH, TSH, ACTH and Pituitrin. The effect of simian growth hormone was absent or diminished if the animals were allowed access to food during the experiment. Fasting caused a marked increase in plasma NEFA concentrations within a few hours. Hypophysectomized as well as normal monkeys showed increased NEFA concentrations in response to fasting, suggesting that the NEFA mobilization during fasting is not mediated by an increased secretion of growth hormone by the pituitary gland.
Decomposing the roles of perseveration and expected value representation in models of the Iowa gambling task

Models of human behavior in the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) have played a pivotal role in accounting for behavioral differences during decision-making. One critical difference between models that have been used to account for behavior in the IGT is the inclusion or exclusion of the assumption that participants tend to persevere, or stay with the same option over consecutive trials. Models that allow for this assumption include win-stay-lose-shift (WSLS) models and reinforcement learning (RL) models that include a decay learning rule where expected values for each option decay as they are chosen less often. One shortcoming of RL models that have included decay rules is that the tendency to persevere by sticking with the same option has been conflated with the tendency to select the option with the highest expected value because a single term is used to represent both of these tendencies. In the current work we isolate the tendencies to perseverate and to select the option with the highest expected value by including them as separate terms in a Value-Plus-Perseveration (VPP) RL model. Overall the VPP model provides a better fit to data from a large group of participants than models that include a single term to account for both perseveration and the representation of expected value. Simulations of each model show that the VPP model’s simulated choices most closely resemble the decision-making behavior of human subjects. In addition, we also find that parameter estimates of loss aversion are more strongly correlated with performance when perseverative tendencies and expected value representations are decomposed as separate terms within the model. The results suggest that the tendency to persevere and the tendency to select the option that leads to the best net payoff are central components of decision-making behavior in the IGT. Future work should use this model to better examine decision-making behavior.
Concentration of dietary calcium supplied by calcium carbonate does not affect the apparent total tract digestibility of calcium, but decreases digestibility of phosphorus by growing pigs

A regional experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the concentration of dietary Ca does not affect the digestibility of Ca or P in diets fed to growing pigs. Six diets based on corn, potato protein isolate, cornstarch, and soybean oil were for- mulated. All diets also contained monosodium phos- phate, crystalline AA, salt, and a vitamin-micromineral premix. The only difference among the diets was that varying concentrations of calcium carbonate were used to create diets containing 0.33, 0.46, 0.51, 0.67, 0.92, and 1.04% Ca. All diets contained between 0.40 and 0.43% P. Six universities participated in the experi- ment and each university contributed 2 replicates to the experiment for a total of 12 replicates (initial BW: 23.1 ± 4.4 kg). Pigs were placed in metabolism cages that allowed total, but separate, collection of feces and urine from the pigs. Pigs within each replicate were randomly allotted to the 6 diets and fed experimental diets for 14 d with urine and feces being collected over a 5-d period. Diets, feces, and urine samples were ana- lyzed for Ca and P, and the daily balance, the appar- ent total tract digestibility (ATTD), and the retention of Ca and P were calculated. Results indicated that intake, fecal excretion, and urinary excretion of Ca in- creased (linear, P < 0.05) as dietary Ca concentration increased. The daily intake of P was not affected by the dietary concentration of Ca, but fecal excretion of P increased (linear, P < 0.05) as dietary Ca concen- trations increased. In contrast, urinary P output was decreased (linear, P < 0.05) as dietary Ca increased. The retention of Ca increased (linear, P < 0.05) from 1.73 to 4.60 g/d, whereas the retention of P decreased (linear, P < 0.05) from 1.98 to 1.77 g/d as dietary Ca concentrations increased. However, if calculated as a percentage of intake, both Ca and P retention were decreased (linear, P < 0.05) as dietary Ca concentra- tion increased (from 55.4 to 46.1% and from 48.4 to 43.5%, respectively). The ATTD of Ca was not affected by the dietary concentration of Ca, but the ATTD of P was decreased (linear, P < 0.05) from 56.9 to 46.2% as dietary Ca concentration increased. It is concluded that the dietary concentration of Ca does not affect the ATTD of Ca in calcium carbonate, but increased concentrations of dietary Ca may decrease the ATTD of P in diets based on corn, potato protein isolate, and monosodium phosphate.
Clinoptilolite Zeolite Influence on Nitrogen in a Manure-Amended Sandy Agricultural Soil

Zeolite minerals may improve nitrogen availability to plants in soil and reduce losses to the environment. A study was conducted to determine the influence of clinoptilolite (CL) on nitrogen (N) mineralization from solid dairy manure (224 kg N ha−1) in a sandy soil. Clinoptilolite was added to soil at six rates (0 to 44.8 Mg CL ha−1), each sampled during 11 sampling dates over a year. Over time, nitrate (NO3)-N increased, ammonium (NH4)-N decreased, but total inorganic N increased. Clinoptilolite did not influence the nitrification rates of initial manure NH4-N or mineralization of organic N (ON) over time. It is possible that adsorption of manure-derived potassium (K) outcompeted the NH4-N for CL exchange sites. The ON concentration was constant up to 84 days and then decreased by approximately 18% over the remaining time of the study across all treatments. Clinoptilolite use in this sandy soil did not alter mineralization of N from dairy manure.
A comparative analysis of parallel disk-based Methods for enumerating implicit graphs

It is only in the last five years that researchers have begun to use disk-based search techniques on a large scale. The primary examples of its use come from symbolic algebra and from artificial intelligence. In the field of parallel search, disk-based search has been forced on researchers because the historical growth in the amount of RAM per CPU core has now stopped. Indeed, the current trend toward multi-core CPUs now threatens to take us backwards.This article makes an original contribution to the design of disk-based parallel search algorithms. It presents a survey of disk-based techniques side-by-side, for the first time. This allows researchers to choose from a menu of techniques, and also to create new hybrid algorithms from the building blocks presented here.
Firm-level evidence on productivity differentials and turnover in Taiwanese manufacturing

Abstract High rates of firm entry and exit have accompanied the rapid and sustained growth of output in Taiwan's manufacturing sector. A high rate of firm turnover can contribute to industry productivity growth if it reflects a transfer of resources from less efficient to more efficient producers. Using comprehensive firm-level panel data from the Taiwanese Census of Manufactures for 1981, 1986, and 1991, we measure total factor productivity for entering, exiting, and continuing cohorts of firms and quantify the contribution of firm turnover to industry productivity improvements. Across manufacturing firms, we find significant differences in productivity that are reflected in turnover patterns. Cohorts of new firms have lower average productivity than incumbents but are themselves a heterogeneous group. The more productive members of the group, on average, survive and, in many cases, their productivity converges to the productivity level of older incumbents. Exiting firms are less productive than survivors. The productivity differential between entering and exiting firms is an important source of industry-level productivity growth in Taiwanese manufacturing, accounting for as much as one-half of industry improvement in some industries and time periods.
Chemical Profiles of Hydrolyzed Milk Samples after Treatment with Commercial Enzymes

commercial enzymes (protease and lipase) were used to produce highly flavored cheese-like hydrolysates from fluid milk. Free fatty acids, free amino acids, degree of proteolysis, and volatile profiles were assessed to suggest the importance of proteolytic and lipolytic activity on cheese flavor development. Free fatty acid liberation was maximized with the combined Flavourzyme (protease) and Palatase® (lipase) treatment incubated at 30 °C, most likely due to synergism conferred by the protease. The Flavourzyme/Palatase samples incubated at 45 °C generated the highest total concentration of volatile compounds. The addition of Flavourzyme generated free amino acids and low molecular weight peptides ( Dans cette etude, des enzymes commerciales (protease et lipase) sont utilisees pour produire des composes caracteristiques de la flaveur de fromage a partir de lait liquide. Les composes volatils (acides gras libres et composes volatils totaux) et les produits de degradation proteolytiques (acides amines libres, peptides et degre d'hydrolyse) sont determines pour evaluer l'importance de l'activite proteolytique et lipolytique sur le developpement de la flaveur du fromage.
An exact gate decomposition algorithm for low-power technology mapping

With the remarkable growth of portable application and the increasing frequency and integration density, power is being given comparable weight to speed and area in IC designs. In technology mapping, how decomposition is done can have a significant impact on the power dissipation of the final implementation. In the literature, only heuristic algorithms are given for the low-power gate decomposition problem. In this paper, we prove many properties an optimal decomposition tree must have. Based on these optimality properties, we design an efficient exact algorithm to solve the low-power gate decomposition problem. Moreover, the exact algorithm can be easily modified to a heuristic algorithm which performs much better than the known heuristics.
Specification and planning of interactive UAV missions in adversarial environments

In this paper, specification and planning of UAV missions, in which interaction with the operators, adversaries, and the environment plays a crucial role, are studied. A novel specification method is introduced to model interactive tasks in UAV missions and process algebra framework is used to model complex interactive tasks from relatively simple ones. An anytime state-space search algorithm is proposed. The algorithm effectively searches for a feasible solution and improves on such solution over time, eventually terminating with an optimal solution.
Detection and Characterization of Monoclonal Componentsin Serum and Urine

Detection of a monoclonal component (the immunoglobulin product of a clone of plasma cells) in the serum and/or urine is an important part of the laboratory evaluation of a patient with a plasma cell or B-lymphocyte proliferative disease. Usually, large quantities of monoclonal components are present in the serum of patients with multiple myeloma or Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia. Small quantities of monoclonal components in serum may signify light chain disease, a B-lymphocytic lymphoma or leukemia, amyloid AL (amyloidosis associated with immunoglobulin light chains), a neuropathy, or the predisposition to develop a malignant plasma cell/B-lymphocyte proliferative disorder in a patient with no currently evident clinical problem (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance–MGUS). About 25% of individuals who fall into the MGUS category develop myeloma or a related B-lymphocyte proliferative disorder after 20 to 35 years of follow-up (1). Because of this, annual follow-up is prudent, even for patients with relatively small monoclonal components in their serum. For the past half-century, protein electrophoresis using either cellulose acetate or agarose gels has been the mainstay in screening serum and urine for monoclonal components. Most of the currently used electrophoretic techniques require a considerable amount of manual labor. Thus, although the reagents are relatively inexpensive, the time involved in applying the samples, fixing, staining, and washing the gels, and performing the densitometric scans of the gels make electrophoresis rather costly. Furthermore, there is considerable variation in the resolution of the major protein fractions from one manufacturer’s product to another. Some relatively simple and inexpensive techniques allow one to recognize only five bands that often have fuzzy borders. Those techniques make it difficult to detect small monoclonal components or those that migrate in the beta region, where transferrin, C3, and β-lipoprotein may obscure a subtle monoclonal band. Not surprisingly, techniques that provide a high-resolution electrophoretic pattern with …
Synthesis and properties of poly[arylene ether (N‐arylenebenzimidazole)]s

Poly(arylene ether)s containing N-arylenebenzimidazole groups were prepared by the aromatic nucleophilic displacement reaction of two new bis(hydroxyphenyl-N-arylenebenzimidazole)s with activated aromatic difluorides in sulfolane at 200°C in the presence of anhydrous potassium carbonate. The bis(hydroxyphenyl-N-arylenebenzimidazole)s were prepared from bis(o-aminoanilino) arylenes and phenyl-4-hydroxybenzoate. The polymers were soluble in N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone and m-cresol and exhibited inherent viscosities from 0.37–0.86 dL/g and glass transition temperatures from 219–289°C. Thermogravimetric analyses showed 5% weight losses from 463–506°C in air and 467–522°C in nitrogen. Unoriented thin films exhibited tensile strengths, moduli, and break elongations at 23°C of 10.2–12.5 ksi, 318–365 ksi, and 4–7%, respectively, and at 177°C of 5.1–6.9 ksi, 256–296 ksi, and 1–5%, respectively. A 50 : 50 random copolymer prepared from 1,3-bis(4-fluorobenzoyl) benzene, 1,1'-(4,4'-biphenylene)-bis[2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)benzimidazole], and 5,5'-bis[2-(4-hydroxyphenyl)benzimidazole] exhibited higher moisture absorption and lower tensile properties than those predicted by a rule of mixtures relationship. The chemical, physical, and mechanical properties of these polymers are discussed. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.‡
Hierarchical learning of reactive behaviors in an autonomous mobile robot

Describes an autonomous mobile robot that employs a simple sensorimotor learning algorithm at three different behavioral levels to achieve coherent goal-directed behavior. The robot autonomously navigates to a goal destination within an obstacle-ridden environment by using the learned behaviors of obstacle-detection, obstacle-avoidance, and beacon-following. These reactive behaviors are learned in a hierarchical manner by using a hillclimbing routine that attempts to find the optimal transfer function from perceptions to actions for each behavior. The authors present experimental results that show that each behavior was successfully learned by the robot within a reasonably short period of time. The authors conclude by discussing salient features of their approach and possible directions for future research.
Psychological Assumptions, Experimentation, and Real World Problems A Critique and an Alternate Approach to Evaluation

Recent developments in the history, philosophy, psychology, and sociology of science raise serious challenges to our traditional notions about the decisive power of experiments in the development o...
Global practical stabilization of planar linear systems in the presence of actuator saturation and input additive disturbance

In this note, we revisit the problem of global practical stabilization for planar linear systems subject to actuator saturation and input additive disturbances. A parameterized linear state feedback law is designed such that, by tuning the value of the parameter, all trajectories of the closed-loop system converge to an arbitrarily small neighborhood of the origin in a finite time and remain in there.
Small-Scale Forcing of a Turbulent Boundary Layer

In order to understand the effect of small scale forcing on turbulent flows and its implications on control, an experimental investigation is made into the forcing of the inertial scales in the wall region of a turbulent boundary layer. A wall-mounted resonant actuator is used to produce a local vortical structure in the streamwise direction which is convected downstream by the boundary layer flow. The frequency associated with this structure is governed by the resonant frequency of the device and falls in the range of the inertial scales at the Reynolds number of the experiment (Reg Kt 1200). Single and multiple point measurements have been made to determine mean and fluctuating statistics as well as dual-point correlations. These data are used to infer changes in the statistics and structure of the near-wall region of the boundary layer due to the actuator forcing.
Human-Robot Interaction in Groups: Theory, Method, and Design for Robots in Groups

For the last decade, robots have been adopted into group work ranging from corporate offices to military operations. While robotic technology has matured enough to allow robots to act as team members, our understanding of how this alters group work is limited. In particular, little work has examined how the adoption of robots might alter group processes and outcomes. The purpose of this workshop is to bring together researchers investigating issues related to the theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches to studying human robot interactions within groups. We expect the workshop will contribute to our understanding of how to better design robots for group interactions.
Predicting Takeover Success Using Machine Learning Techniques

A takeover success prediction model aims at predicting the probability that a takeover attempt will succeed by using publicly available information at the time of the announcement. We perform a thorough study using machine learning techniques to predict takeover success. Specifically, we model takeover success prediction as a binary classification problem, which has been widely studied in the machine learning community. Motivated by the recent advance in machine learning, we empirically evaluate and analyze many state-of-the-art classifiers, including logistic regression, artificial neural network, support vector machines with different kernels, decision trees, random forest, and Adaboost. The experiments validate the effectiveness of applying machine learning in takeover success prediction, and we found that the support vector machine with linear kernel and the Adaboost with stump weak classifiers perform the best for the task. The result is consistent with the general observations of these two approaches.
Intracellular Response Properties of Units in the Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus of Unanesthetized Decerebrate Gerbil

Ding, Jiang and Herbert F. Voigt. Intracellular response properties of units in the dorsal cochlear nucleus of unanesthetized decerebrate gerbil. J. Neurophysiol. 77: 2549–2572, 1997. Intracellular...
Empagran - Empire Building or Judicial Modesty?

This paper, which will appear in a book on the Supreme Court and International Law, comments on the contribution of Professor Ralf Michaels on F. Hoffman-LaRoche, Ltd. v. Empagran S.A. Without quarreling with Professor Michael’s insightful and creative analysis, I offer an alternative reading of the decision. I locate it within a four-decade tradition of growing skepticism about the value of civil litigation brought by private persons as a means of vindicating public interests.
FLT3-LIGAND STIMULATES/COSTIMULATES THE GROWTH OF MYELOID STEM/PROGENITOR CELLS

The present studies evaluated effects of recombinant human (rhu) and murine (rmu) flt3 ligand (flt3-L) on colony formation by subsets of myeloid stem and progenitor cells present in low-density (LD) and cell-sorted CD34 hu cord blood (CB) and bone marrow (BM) cells and unseparated mu BM cells. By itself, flt3-L had weak colony-stimulating activity. It stimulated small dispersed CFU-GM-type colonies, but not BFU-E, CFU-GEMM, or HPP-CFC colonies, from LD and CD34 huCB and BM. However, flt3-L had additive to greater-than-additive effects on colony number and size by CFU-GM stimulated with GM-CSF or IL-3, with or without Steel factor (SLF); by CFU-G stimulated by G-CSF with or without SLF; by CFU-M stimulated by CSF-1; and by BFU-E, CFU-GEMM, and HPP-CFC stimulated by Epo with or without IL-3 or SLF. Flt3-L enhanced the effects of SLF, alone and in combination with other CSFs. Similar effects were apparent on LD and sorted CD34 cells and also at the level of single sorted and isolated CD34 cells/well. Flt3-L enhanced expansion of immature subsets of huCD34(+)-column separated CB CFU-GM stimulated by the potent combination of SLF and PIXY321 (a GM-CSF/IL-3 fusion protein). While flt3-L did not enhance the replating capacity of CFU-GEMM plated in the presence of Epo and SLF, it enhanced numbers of these CFU-GEMM colonies with the capacity to be replated. Flt3-L effects were not species-specific; rhu and rmu forms were active on huCB/BM and muBM. These results demonstrate the potent direct-acting stimulating/costimulating activities of flt3-L in vitro on myeloid stem/progenitor cells.
Adversity, Maltreatment, and Resilience in Young Children

Background Much of the research on children in high risk environments, particularly those who have been maltreated, has focused on negative outcomes. Yet, much can be learned from some of these children who fare relatively well. The objective was to examine resilience in high-risk preschoolers, and to probe contributors to their adaptive functioning.
Fundamentals of lateral and vertical heterojunctions of atomically thin materials.

At the turn of this century, Herbert Kroemer, the 2000 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, famously commented that “the interface is the device”. This statement has since opened up unparalleled opportunities at the interface of conventional three-dimensional (3D) materials (H. Kroemer, Quasi-Electric and Quasi-Magnetic Fields in Non-Uniform Semiconductors, RCA Rev., 1957, 18, 332–342). More than a decade later, Sir Andre Geim and Irina Grigorieva presented their views on 2D heterojunctions which further cultivated broad interests in the 2D materials field. Currently, advances in two-dimensional (2D) materials enable us to deposit layered materials that are only one or few unit-cells in thickness to construct sharp in-plane and out-of-plane interfaces between dissimilar materials, and to be able to fabricate novel devices using these cutting-edge techniques. The interface alone, which traditionally dominated overall device performance, thus has now become the device itself. Fueled by recent progress in atomically thin materials, we are now at the ultimate limit of interface physics, which brings to us new and exciting opportunities, with equally demanding challenges. This paper endeavors to provide stalwarts and newcomers a perspective on recent advances in synthesis, fundamentals, applications, and future prospects of a large variety of heterojunctions of atomically thin materials.
Tracking of tuning effects in bis-cyclometalated iridium complexes: a combined time resolved infrared spectroscopy, electrochemical, and computational study.

Electronic structure and photophysical properties have been investigated for a new series of fluorinated iridium complexes with the parent [Ir(ppy)2(deeb)](PF6) (deeb is 4,4′-diethylester-2,2′-bipyridine). Time resolved infrared spectroscopy (TRIR) has been used to observe the long-lived triplet excited state of each complex confirming its mixed charge transfer character. Supplementary evidence of charge transfer in the triplet state is provided via emission spectroscopy, transient absorption spectroscopy, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Both computational and spectroscopic assignments reveal consistency in the first excitation throughout the series of complexes. Electrochemical measurements meanwhile show that increasing fluorination still induces expected shifting of frontier orbitals. Excited states beyond the lowest lying triplet are probed for the complexes via UV–vis spectroscopy which reveals three distinct features. These features are assigned via time-dependent DFT (TD-DFT) to b...
The Microstructure and Giant Magnetoresistance of NiFeAg Thin Films

Although Much has been published on giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) in co-deposited thin films [1–4], only little [5] has been published on the structure-property relationships limiting the effect. Here, we report the results of microstructural characterization of NiFeAg thin films that exhibit a GMR effect. The as-deposited films show a sizeable GMR effect. The Maximum GMR effect observed was 6.4% with -4k0e FWHM of the 6P/P peak. Upon annealing these films, the GMR at first increases, and then decreases. We present microstructural evidence from TEM and XRD, amongst other techniques, which shows that this is a consequence of the initial NiFeAg thin film agglomerating into NiFe grains in a predominantly Ag segregant Matrix. Upon extended annealing, excessive grain growth leads to a decrease in the GMR as predicted by the model of Berkowitz, et al. [1].
Invasive forest defoliator contributes to the impending downward trend of oak dominance in eastern North America

Disturbanceby non-native insect species can be an important ecological driver shaping long-term changes in vegetation and plant species composition. While impacts of gypsy moth (Lymatria dispar L.) outbreaks in North American forests have been extensively studied, the results are quite inconsistent, particularly with respect to the amount of tree mortality associated with defoliation. In this study, we integrate geographical data describing historical gypsy moth defoliation with forest inventory data collected by a national forest inventory programme to quantify regional impacts across several million hectares of forest land in the northeastern US. While observed increases in host tree mortality rates and decreases in growth rates associated with defoliation were expected, the study also indicates that this overstory mortality, coupled with ongoing declines in oak regeneration, will result in a long-term reduction of oak density in defoliated areas. Eventually, these impacts will likely contribute to regional shifts in tree species composition and forest succession pathways. Gypsy moth outbreaks thus appear to exacerbate ongoing declines in young oak age classes in the region.
Pathological case of the month

13-YEAR-OLD Mexican girl was evaluated for a weeklong history of recurrent tonicoclonic seizure activity. The only observation from a medical examination was a small lymph node in the left anterior region of the neck. The girl was alert and afebrile, and findings were normal for complete blood cell count; prothrombin and activated partial thromboplastin times; electrolytes, serum urea nitrogen, creatinine, and glucose levels; and urinalysis. A radiograph of the chest was unremarkable, but a magnetic resonance image of the brain showed a single, small, ring-enhancing lesion surrounded by edema in the subcortical zone of the high left parietal region. A computed tomography‐guided, stereotactic, left frontal craniotomy was performed, and a fairly welldemarcated, hard, ball-like structure was resected. Inspection of the specimen under dissecting microscope demonstrated gray-white brain tissue 1.0 cm in diameter surrounding a smooth, ovoid, yellow-white mass measuring 0.6 cm in diameter. The mass was solid, and cutting the surface revealed 3 variably thick concentric zones: a peripheral zone of translucent pale yellow, a middle zone of translucent pale gray, and a central opaque, sharply demarcated, yellow necrotic zone (Figure).
Genotype-phenotype correlation between the polymorphic UDP-glucuronosyltransferase 2B7 and O-glucuronidation of the major active metabolites of tamoxifen

A155 Tamoxifen (TAM) is a selective estrogen receptor modulator widely used in the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Breast cancer patients treated with TAM for 5 years exhibit a 30-50% reduction in both the rate of disease recurrence after 10 years of patient follow-up, and in the occurrence of contralateral breast cancer. The major hydroxylated metabolites, 4-hydroxy (OH)-TAM and 4-OH-N-desmethylTAM (endoxifen), exhibit up to 100 times the anti-estrogenic activity of TAM itself. In patients treated with TAM, there is substantial inter-individual variability in cancer response, development of resistance to TAM therapy, and in the incidence of TAM-induced adverse events, including deep vein thrombosis, hot flashes, and the development of endometrial cancer. A major mode of metabolism of TAM, 4-OH-TAM, and endoxifen is by glucuronidation via the UDP glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) family of enzymes. Polymorphisms in the UGT enzymes responsible for the glucuronidation of TAM and its metabolites play an important role in inter-individual differences in TAM metabolism, and may potentially play an important role in inter-individual variability in patient response to TAM. Previous studies have shown UGT2B7 to be the most active hepatic UGT against 4-OH-TAM and endoxifen in vitro and the UGT2B7268Tyr variant results in lower activity against these substrates as compared to its wild-type UGT2B7268His counterpart. The present study examined the correlation between UGT2B7 codon 268 genotypes and liver microsomal activities against trans-4-OH-TAM and trans-endoxifen. Seventy-two human liver microsomes, prepared from adjacent normal liver specimens obtained during surgery from individual patients undergoing resection for hepatocellular carcinoma, were screened for glucuronidation activity against trans-4-OH-TAM and trans-endoxifen and analyzed by ultra-pressure liquid chromatography. The corresponding genomic DNA from each individual was analyzed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis for the UGT2B7 codon 268 polymorphism. The rate of O-glucuronidation was 31% and 27% lower, respectively, in individuals homozygous for the UGT2B7 (Tyr/Tyr) genotype for trans-4-OH-TAM and trans-endoxifen, respectively, as compared to subjects with the UGT2B7 (His/His) genotype (p-value
Convergence in nitrogen deposition and cryptic isotopic variation across urban and agricultural valleys in northern Utah

The extent to which atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition reflects land use differences and biogenic versus fossil fuel reactive N sources remains unclear yet represents a critical uncertainty in ecosystem N budgets. We compared N concentrations and isotopes in precipitation-event bulk (wet + dry) deposition across nearby valleys in northern Utah with contrasting land use (highly urban versus intensive agriculture/low-density urban). We predicted greater nitrate (NO3−) versus ammonium (NH4+) and higher δ15N of NO3− and NH4+ in urban valley sites. Contrary to expectations, annual N deposition (3.5–5.1 kg N ha−1 yr−1) and inorganic N concentrations were similar within and between valleys. Significant summertime decreases in δ15N of NO3− possibly reflected increasing biogenic emissions in the agricultural valley. Organic N was a relatively minor component of deposition (~13%). Nearby paired wildland sites had similar bulk deposition N concentrations as the urban and agricultural sites. Weighted bulk deposition δ15N was similar to natural ecosystems (−0.6 ± 0.7‰). Fine atmospheric particulate matter (PM2.5) had consistently high values of bulk δ15N (15.6 ± 1.4‰), δ15N in NH4+ (22.5 ± 1.6‰), and NO3− (8.8 ± 0.7‰), consistent with equilibrium fractionation with gaseous species. The δ15N in bulk deposition NH4+ varied by more than 40‰, and spatial variation in δ15N within storms exceeded 10‰. Sporadically high values of δ15N were thus consistent with increased particulate N contributions as well as potential N source variation. Despite large differences in reactive N sources, urban and agricultural landscapes are not always strongly reflected in the composition and fluxes of local N deposition—an important consideration for regional-scale ecosystem models.
Improving the use of biological data in Antarctic management

The Antarctic Treaty System requires that the effects of potential human disturbance be evaluated, such as through the development and evaluation of Initial and Comprehensive Environmental Evaluations (IEEs and CEEs), and through the implementation of Management Plans for Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) and Antarctic Specially Managed Areas (ASMAs). The effectiveness of these management processes hinges on the quality and transparency of the data presented, particularly because independent validation is often difficult or impossible due to the financial and logistical challenges of working in the Antarctic. In a review of these documents and their treatment of wildlife survey data, we find that the basic elements of best data practices are often not followed; biological data are often uncited or out-of-date and rarely include estimates of uncertainty that would allow any subsequent changes in the distribution or abundance of wildlife to be rigorously assessed. We propose a set of data management and use standards for Antarctic biological data to improve the transparency and quality of these evaluations and to facilitate improved assessment of both immediate and long-term impacts of human activities in the Antarctic.