cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exploiting self-similarity of arterial trees to reduce the complexity of analysis

Vascular structures such as the pulmonary arterial tree contain hundreds of thousands of vessel segments, making structural and functional analysis of an entire 3D image volume very difficult. Currently-available methods for segmentation and morphometry of 3D vascular tree images require user interaction making the task very tedious and sometimes impossible. Our aim is to exploit the self-similar nature of arterial trees to simplify morphometric analysis. The structure of pulmonary arterial trees exhibits self- similarity in the sense that the segment length and diameter data from different pathways are statistically indistinguishable for subtrees distal to a given segment diameter. We analyze 3D micro-CT images of mouse and rat pulmonary arterial trees by measuring the lengths and diameters of the vessel segments of the several longest arterial pathways and their immediate branches interactively. Since measurements made on the longest pathways are representative of the tree as a whole, and there are less than 30 branches off the main trunk, the morphometry of the complex tree can be characterized by less than 100 length and diameter measurements.
A restriction on the weight enumerator of a self-dual code

Abstract Gleason's theorem gives the general form of the weight enumerator of a linear binary self-dual code; it is a linear combination with integral coefficients of certain polynomials. When the subcode of words whose weights are multiples of 4 is not the whole code, the MacWilliams identities applied to that subcode yield divisibility conditions on those coefficients. The conditions show that there are no further extremal codes, for Case 1 in the sense of Mallows and Sloane, than the ones known.
Motional correlation time of dilute111Cd impurities in liquid S and Se

Abstract : The elements sulfur, selenium and tellurium have been extensively studied in the liquid state on account of their interesting electrical and physical properties. According to current understanding, these materials exist in the liquid in the form of chain- or ring-shaped molecules, depending on the material and temperature range. Their electrical properties are strongly influenced by bonding irregularities in the predominant structure, such as chain ends, branches or impurities. As temperature increases, the relative concentration of these effects in bonding also increases, with a concomitant increase in the conductivity. Physically, the viscosity of the liquids decreases rapidly with increasing temperature, suggesting that the liquids undergo marked structural changes (ring-chain transformation, and shortening of chain length with increasing temperature, for example). Although powerful tools such as NMR, neutron scattering, and viscosity measurements, among many others, have been used to study these materials, a complete understanding of the dynamical behavior of these liquids is still lacking. We describe here an application of time-differential perturbed angular correlation (TDPAC) to the study of molecular dynamics in liquid S and Se.
Supporting early development of advanced high-performance logic with synchrotron orbital radiation lithography: a feasibility evaluation

The synchrotron x ray lithography (XRL) project described was conducted as a learning and feasibility vehicle for gate level lithography in support of IBM's most advanced CMOS logic programs. An electrically probable multilevel lithography test site was developed and characterized to exercise critical design, mask manufacture, alignment, exposure, and metrology issues in the 150 - 350 nm linewidth range. A fully capped silicided polysilicon gate stack was chosen for the electrical measurements in order to develop and demonstrate the XRL and related reactive ion etch process on a realistic, product-like substrate. This paper addresses test site design issues, elaborates on the mask manufacturing process, and presents SEM and electrical data from wafers processed at IBM's Advanced Semiconductor Technology Center. The data presented demonstrate the feasibility of supporting early device development and process integration with XRL and highlight the need for high resolution, defect free, proximity corrected masks to fully exploit the capabilities of x ray lithography.
Direct Visualization of Fis-DNA Interactions

The multistep kinetics through which DNA-binding proteins bind their targets is heavily studied, but relatively little attention has been paid to mechanisms of how proteins leave the double helix. We used a single-DNA stretching and fluorescence detection approach to study the kinetics of unbinding of the E. coli nucleoid-associated protein Fis, which is known to have site-specific regulatory and nonspecific chromosome-compacting functions. We find that a fraction of Fis bound to DNA spontaneously dissociates into protein-free solution leaving some Fis tightly bound to the double helix on cell-cycle-long timescales. However, if Fis is present in solution, we find that a concentration-dependent exchange reaction occurs which turns over all the bound protein, with a rate of kexch = 4x105 M−1sec−1. Thus, solvated proteins can play a key role in facilitating removal and renewal of proteins bound to the double helix. In addition, we compare the pattern of Fis binding along the DNA to the base-pair sequence and find a greater amount of Fis bound to GC-rich regions than to AT-rich regions.
Patterns in parent–child conversations about animals at a marine science center

Abstract Parent–child conversations are a potential source of children's developing understanding of the biological domain. We investigated patterns in parent–child conversations that may inform children about biological domain boundaries. At a marine science center exhibit, we compared parent–child talk about typical sea animals with faces (fish) with talk about atypical sea animals without faces (e.g., sea stars), in particular with respect to anthropomorphic talk and use of animate pronouns. Parents talked about psychological states and used animate pronouns more often for typical than atypical animals; children showed a similar pattern for pronouns but did not differ in their property talk between typical and atypical animals. It was clearly parents who initiated the use of psychological properties and animate pronouns for typical animals. These patterns suggest that parent–child conversations draw boundaries between typical and atypical animals and could support children's inclination to anthropomorphize.
Embedded Continued Fractals and Their Hausdorff Dimension

A continued fractal Q α ⊂ R 2 is a curve which is associated to a real number α ∈ [0, 1]. Properties of the continued fraction expansion of α appear as geometrical properties of Q α . It is shown how number theoretic properties of α affect topological and geometric properties of Q α such as existence, continuity, Hausdorff dimension, and embeddedness.
ROLE OF GLUTAMINE IN BACTERIAL TRANSLOCATION AND EPITHELIAL INJURY IN CACO-2 CELL AND WEANLING RABBIT ILEAL LOOP MODELS. • 737

ROLE OF GLUTAMINE IN BACTERIAL TRANSLOCATION AND EPITHELIAL INJURY IN CACO-2 CELL AND WEANLING RABBIT ILEAL LOOP MODELS. • 737
Allelic imbalance on chromosome 17p13 in borderline (low malignant potential) epithelial ovarian tumors

Borderline epithelial ovarian tumors (BEOTs) possess clinical and pathologic features intermediate between cystadenomas and cystadenocarcinomas. Although the clinical and pathologic characteristics of BEOTs are well described, the molecular aspects are poorly understood. Three regions of loss of heterozygosity (often referred to as allelic imbalance [AI] when identified by polymerase chain reaction) on chromosome 17p13, one of which includes the p53 gene, have been implicated in the development of ovarian and breast cancers. To provide evidence that genes in these regions also may be involved in the development of BEOTs, we undertook a detailed analysis of AI at all three loci in BEOTs from 21 patients. Seventeen of the BEOTs were serous and four were mucinous. Five of 21 tumors (24%) had AI at one or more loci. Four tumors had AI using the D17S695 marker, two of which showed AI only at this locus. In addition, three tumors exhibited AI at the D17S654 locus, one of which showed AI only at this locus. These data suggest that there may be two tumor suppressor genes distal to p53 involved in the development of at least a subset of BEOTs. Peritoneal implants from a subset of serous BEOTs also were evaluated for AI and were found to be concordant with the primary tumor in all cases. Their genetic similarity is consistent with the implantation theory of peritoneal spread of serous BEOTs in these cases.
Scribal elites in Sultanate and Mughal Bengal

This article studies the importance of scribal skills in sustaining political regimes and the function of scribal careers in shaping and creating social and ritual status with particular reference to Bengal from the thirteenth till the eighteenth centuries. Based on histories of landed families, middle period Bengali literature and the large genealogical corpus (kulagranthas) of this region, the article surveys the social geography of literate–scribal communities and their long association with a number of Indo–Islamic regimes which ruled over Bengal during these centuries. The article explores the social and cultural implications of scribal careers as well as the educational and linguistic proficiencies which undergirded them. Finally, the article notes the role played by polities in regulating jati hierarchies and boundaries and comments on its implications for the period studied here as also for the colonial/modern period.
Minimum cost-reliability ratio path problem

Abstract The minimum ratio path problem in a network is known to be a strong NP-complete problem. However its variant, the minimum cost-reliability ratio path problem, is shown to possess an entirely different structure. We observe that the optimum solution of the minimum cost-reliability ratio path problem is an efficient extreme solution of a bicriteria path problem. We employ parametric programming to enumerate these efficient extreme solutions and a sufficiency condition is used to cut down the enumeration substantially. The algorithm is shown to be pseudo-polynomial. Computational results of the algorithm on grid as well as random networks are also presented. The algorithm is able to solve problems with several thousand nodes and arcs in a few seconds.
Entropy and convergence in Melanesian studies

Schieffelin, Edward L. and Robert Crittenden, eds. Like People You See in a Dream: First Contact in Six Papuan Societies. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1991. xix + 325 pp. including references and index. $39.50 cloth, $12.95 paper. Healey, Christopher. Maring Hunters and Traders: Production and Exchange in the Papua New Guinea Highlands. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. xxii + 401 pp. including notes, bibliography, and index. $45.00 cloth. Harrison, Simon. Stealing People's Names: History and Politics in a Sepik River Cosmology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. xv + 217 pp. including bibliography and index. $47.50 cloth.
Organic fungicides for late blight in Connecticut

This paper briefly reports three years research on new fungicides especially dithiocarbamates on potatoes in Connecticut. Dithane, first tested here in 1941, and reported in 1943 has long been under test for late blight of potatoes. It has succeeded in areas like Florida where flea beetles and leafhoppers are of minor consequence. Until the advent of DDT to control these two pests, dithiocarbamates could not succeed elsewhere. The data reported herein suggest that dithiocarbamates, particularly Dithane, are not much if any better than Bordeaux mixture in the control of late blight, but they do permit the potatoes to set a larger yield.
Technique for seroma drainage in implant-based breast reconstruction

Seromas are a common complication associated with breast reconstructive surgery. In expander based breast reconstructions, a seroma can pose a particularly difficult problem related to final tissue envelope shape as well as an increase in the risk of infection and possible tissue necrosis. Unfortunately, the literature describes few non-image related techniques to drain a seroma with a breast implant in place. We present a technique to drain a seroma associated with expander based breast reconstruction in conjunction with expander inflation, minimizing the risk of expander puncture, utilizing the same equipment necessary for expander inflation in the office. The benefit to this technique is that diagnostic and therapeutic imaging is not necessary and the risk of expander damage is minimized.
Porphyric Insecticides 8. Structure-Activity Study of Substituted Pyridyls

Abstract The porphyric insecticidal modulating activity of 2,2′-dipyridyl and eight of its analogs was investigated. The insecticidal efficacy of these compounds was closely associated with their ability to enhance the conversion of exogenous δ-aminolevulinic acid to protoporphyrin IX. The relationship between photodynamic damage in Trichoplusia ni and various physical-chemical properties of Dpy analogs was rather complex and involved a multidimensional surface that consisted of van der Waals energy, 1,2,2′,1′ torsion angles, molecular size, and superdelocalizability over the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals. Electrostatic field changes in the 2,2′-dipyridyl analogs that appeared to be related to reduced insecticidal efficacy included: (a) the appearance of positive charge binding volumes at positions 4 and 4′ of the dipyridyl macrocycle, which flanked positive charge repelling volumes; (b) the acquisition of a fourth phenyl or pyridyl ring which generated alternating positive charge binding and repelling electrostatic fields between rings C and D; and (c) a change in sign and magnitude of the 1,2,2′,1′ torsion angles which was accompanied by the appearance of positive charge repelling volumes at the C5′-C6′ or C6′ position.
Time and Medicine

To introduce the articles in this issue, which treat the ways time shapes the theory and practice of medicine, this essay surveys developments in thinking about the nature of time from the beginnin...
Oxygen isotopes in nitrite: analysis, calibration, and equilibration.

Nitrite is a central intermediate in the nitrogen cycle and can persist in significant concentrations in ocean waters, sediment pore waters, and terrestrial groundwaters. To fully interpret the effect of microbial processes on nitrate (NO3-), nitrite (NO2-), and nitrous oxide (N2O) cycling in these systems, the nitrite pool must be accessible to isotopic analysis. Furthermore, because nitrite interferes with most methods of nitrate isotopic analysis, accurate isotopic analysis of nitrite is essential for correct measurement of nitrate isotopes in a sample that contains nitrite. In this study, nitrite salts with varying oxygen isotopic compositions were prepared and calibrated and then used to test the denitrifier method for nitrite oxygen isotopic analysis. The oxygen isotopic fractionation during nitrite reduction to N2O by Pseudomonas aureofaciens was lower than for nitrate conversion to N2O, while oxygen isotopic exchange between nitrite and water during the reaction was similar. These results enable t...
Nonmyeloablative therapy and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

The toxicities associated with conventional myeloablative therapy and allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT) limit the use of this potentially curative approach to relatively healthy young patients. The risk of treatment-related morbidity and mortality with conventional allogeneic SCT ranges from 10% to 50%, depending on the age of the patient, HLA histocompatibility, diagnosis and disease status, and presence or absence of comorbid conditions. The main goals of conventional high-dose preparative regimens are to eradicate the malignancy and induce adequate host immunosuppression to prevent graft rejection. However, accumulated data indicate that the currently used myeloablative regimens frequently do not eradicate the malignant clone, and that an immune-mediated effect between donor immunocompetent T lymphocytes and host tumor cells seems to induce a major therapeutic benefit, accounting for the significantly lower incidence of leukemic relapse seen with allogeneic SCT compared to autologous or syngeneic SCT. These observations have led to the development of newer treatment modalities focusing on the induction of host tolerance to donor cells followed by the administration of scheduled donor T-lymphocyte infusions. Preliminary clinical data are encouraging but need to be confirmed in well-designed prospective controlled trials with direct comparison to conventional allogeneic SCT and extended follow-up to determine the durability of responses and the consequences of late complications such as chronic graft-vs-host disease on the patient's quality of life.
Computer calculations of solenoidal focussing of MeV proton beams to one micrometer diameter

Abstract A superconducting solenoid lens for focussing proton beams up to 5 MeV to the order of one micron is installed on a scanning proton microprobe facility. The expected performance of the lens including the effects of the spherical, chromatic and mechanical aberrations, on the resolution and throughput, studied by ray trace computer calculations is described.
Reform in Three Phases: Judicial Action and the German Federal Framework Law for Higher Education of 1976.

Higher educational reforms undertaken in the Federal Republic between 1965 and 1979 bear witness to a growing proclivity among German citizens to engage in “politicized legalism”. Three verdicts issued by the Bundesverfassungsgericht demonstrate the extent of juridical influence on the promulgation of a Federal Framework Law for Higher Education during the three reform phases of expansion, standardization and rationalization. Judicial activism in the field of university reform is seen to impair seriously the ability of state legislatures and academic institutions to engage in future experimentation and innovation in response to changing socio-economic conditions.
Internal control in local area networks: An accountant's perspective

Control and security are, arguably, among the major weaknesses of today's local area networks (LANs). This article presents an accountant's views of selected issues related to six internal control categories: (1) transmission controls, (2) access controls, (3) file management, (4) encryption, (5) activity monitoring, and (6) applications controls. The discussion includes a detailed example of a popular, commercially available LAN.
Sequence- and Interactome-Based Prediction of Viral Protein Hotspots Targeting Host Proteins: A Case Study for HIV Nef

Virus proteins alter protein pathways of the host toward the synthesis of viral particles by breaking and making edges via binding to host proteins. In this study, we developed a computational approach to predict viral sequence hotspots for binding to host proteins based on sequences of viral and host proteins and literature-curated virus-host protein interactome data. We use a motif discovery algorithm repeatedly on collections of sequences of viral proteins and immediate binding partners of their host targets and choose only those motifs that are conserved on viral sequences and highly statistically enriched among binding partners of virus protein targeted host proteins. Our results match experimental data on binding sites of Nef to host proteins such as MAPK1, VAV1, LCK, HCK, HLA-A, CD4, FYN, and GNB2L1 with high statistical significance but is a poor predictor of Nef binding sites on highly flexible, hoop-like regions. Predicted hotspots recapture CD8 cell epitopes of HIV Nef highlighting their importance in modulating virus-host interactions. Host proteins potentially targeted or outcompeted by Nef appear crowding the T cell receptor, natural killer cell mediated cytotoxicity, and neurotrophin signaling pathways. Scanning of HIV Nef motifs on multiple alignments of hepatitis C protein NS5A produces results consistent with literature, indicating the potential value of the hotspot discovery in advancing our understanding of virus-host crosstalk.
An Ex Vivo Motility System Reveals the Cellular Roadmap for Myosin Motors

Eukaryotic cells have a self-organizing cytoskeleton, where motors transport cargoes on these cytoskeletal tracks. We have demonstrated that myosin X can select for motility based on actin architecture (Nagy et al., PNAS:105(28), 2008). We hypothesize that any myosin motor may possess this ability of selection. To understand the sorting processes, we describe a system to observe single-molecule traffic patterns of multiple motor types in a cellular context. We followed the motility of class V, VI, and X myosins on preserved actin cytoskeletons from Drosophila S2 cells. From the trajectory maps, we find a radial actin architecture, but with a subset of filaments having the opposite polarity (barbed ends toward the cell center). We also see regional control of motility for all three motors, with several preferred regions (with varying velocity). Any of these features are not apparent from conventional in vitro motility assays using purified components. We further compared our S2 trajectory maps to maps of myosin V, VI and X created in Cos-7 and U2OS cells. These mammalian cell types display a complex actin architecture, revealed dramatically by the maps. Cos-7 cells have more isotropic actin than S2 cells and support motility of all three classes of myosins. U2OS cells do not support motility of class V and X very well. Although, myosin VI does make processive runs on U2OS cells, and these runs are specific for the stress fibers that span the length of the cells. Interestingly, the velocities for all three classes of myosins are similar for all cell types analyzed. This conclusion supports that myosin motility is selected for based on the actin architecture of cells, and we further hypothesize that the more dynamic the actin is the more myosin tracking that will occur.
Band structure and ballistic conductance of strained Si nanowires

The electronic band structure of hydrogen passi-vated, square cross-section, uniaxially strained [001], [110] and [111] silicon nanowires (Si NWs) has been calculated using nonlocal empirical pseudopotentials. Local pseudopotentials for bulk Si — calibrated to yield the correct workfunction and coupled to nonlocal corrections — yield results in good agreement with those of first-principles calculations, whenever available, and have been employed to calculate the electronic structure, the ballistic conductance and the effective mass of Si NWs, their dependence on wire diameter and strain and the corresponding variations of the band gap. We find the largest ballistic electron conductance for larger-diameter [001] wires under compressive strain while the smallest transport electron effective mass is found for larger-diameter [110] wires under tensile strain.
Perfect decoupling of linear systems with discrete parameter uncertainties

A simple design procedure is presented, based on Gilbert's decoupling parameters [1]-[2] for perfect scaler decoupling via state feedback of a linear time-invariant system with parameter uncertainties defined over a discrete set of possible values.
Obligation and welfare policy

Ronald Reagan came to the White House with a reputation for welfare reform that dated from his days as governor of California. The administration's first step was to restrict benefits to working recipients in ways similar to procedures originally proposed in that state. The impact on the AFDC caseload of these changes, however, was modest, and, ironically, the work program opportunities provided by legislation sponsored by the Reagan administration have been exploited as successfully by Democrats such as Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts as by Republicans. Despite frequent references to welfare and welfare problems since 1981, the administration has been notably short of ideas. The silence from the White House has been filled by outsiders - first Murray and then Mead and others such as journalists Mickey Kaus (1986) and Nicholas Lemann (1986). While Losing Ground argued for the government's retirement from the field in the War on Poverty, Mead offered a vision certain to make both liberals and the administration uncomfortable. On the one hand, his demand for ‘creative statecraft’ calls for substantial government activism, a renewed attack. On the other, his assertion that further progress will require attention to behavioral issues challenges the liberal attitude that what the poor need most is the empowerment that cash can provide. For the concerned public, something about Mead's argument rings true. The poverty we see - homeless derelicts, children of mothers who are children themselves, recipients who reach midlife never having known anything but welfare dependency, neighborhoods in which everyone receives support - hardly seems vulnerable to negative tax payments. And, as Mead suggests, eliminating the present system would create unacceptable hardship. Even if financial incentives are the prime movers in most areas of economic life, we are all a bit embarrassed by them; in the abstract it seems better to say that absent parents are obligated to support their children and able-bodied adults are obligated to work. That said, Beyond Entitlement offers few prescriptions for conduct of the creative statecraft that will devise obligations for the poor and provide for their enforcement. Even Mead's most successful WIN offices were working with only a small fraction of adults on assistance. Problems already encountered in implementation of work-welfare programs in several states suggest that ambitious intervention intended to reduce dependency is extremely difficult. In retrospect it appears that Mead's principal contribution was, as was Murray's, to open up the debate on welfare and to make reference to recipient responsibilities and obligations acceptable. But given the intellectual elbowroom provided by Murray and Mead, we are left with the hard work of program design and implementation and a continuing mandate to care for the poor.
HLA Homozygosity and the Risk of Related-Donor Transfusion-Associated Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Based on the prevailing interpretation of recent data implicating donor homozygosity for an HLA haplotype shared with a heterozygous recipient, it is our conclusion that the risk of TA-GVHD for a sibling of the blood donor is about half that of a parent or a child, and the risk for a grandparent, a grandchild, or a blood-related aunt, uncle, niece, or nephew is about the same as the risk for the donor's sibling. Consequently, the current recommendation and the practice of irradiating cellular blood products for transfusion to first-degree relatives but not for transfusion to more distant relatives is insufficient. We believe that the recommendation for prophylactic irradiation of cellular blood products, based on the current understanding of its apparent safety, should be extended at least to include transfusion to the donor's grandparents, grandchildren, and blood-related aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews.
Efficient health data compression on mobile devices

There is an increase rise in the usage of mobile health sensors in wearable devices and smartphones. These embedded systems have tight limits on storage, computation power, network connectivity and battery usage making it important to ensure efficient storage/ communication of sensor readings to centralized node/ server. Frequency Transform or Entropy encoding schemes such as arithmetic or Huffman coding can be used for compression, but they incur high computational cost in some scenarios or are oblivious to the higher level redundancies in signal. To this end, we used the property of periodicity in these naturally occurring signals such as heart rate or gait measurements to design a simple low cost scheme for data compression. First, a modified Chi-square periodogram metric is used to adaptively determine the exact time-varying periodicity of the signal. Next, the time-series signal is folded into Frames of length equal to a pre-determined period value. We have successfully tested the scheme for good compression performance in ECG, motion accelerometer data and Parkinson patients samples, leading to 8-14X compression in large sample sizes (6-8K samples) and 2-3X in small sample sizes (200 samples). The proposed scheme can be used stand-alone or as pre-processing step for existing techniques in literature.
Multiparameter Radar and Aircraft Study of Raindrop Spectral Evolution in Warm-based Clouds

Abstract Radar measurements of reflectivity differential reflectivity, and X-band (3-cm wavelength) specific attenuation are used to inter some microphysical characteristics of warm-based convective clouds with emphasis on raindrop spectral evolution. The case study of 22 July 1986, during the Cooperative Huntsville Meteorological Experiment, was chosen for analysis. This day was characterized by multicellular storm types; one such multicell configuration was repeatedly penetrated by the University of North Dakota Citation aircraft equipped with cloud physics instrumentation. Radar data acquisition was coordinated with aircraft penetrations made at a constant pressure altitude of 2.7 km enabling a detailed interpretation of differential reflectivity in terms of mean raindrop size. The evolution of several radar reflectivity cells was studied and certain key microphysical features were identified, notably the evolution of raindrop spectra from a “growth” type to an equilibrium type. Further evidence that p...
Integral Representation of a Double Commutator

An integral representation is found for the vacuum expectation value of a double commutator. The problem of incorporating the Jacobi identity into such a representation remains unsolved. (auth)
Image reconstruction with the phase-only wavelet joint transform optical correlator

This paper discusses a method for reconstructing images using a joint transform optical correlator (JTC) architecture. The architecture employs a single liquid crystal television (LCTV) as the spatial light modulator (SLM) operating only on the phase of the incident coherent light. The wavelet transform (WT)-based image decomposition and synthesis is performed in the transform plane instead of the correlation, or wavelet transform plane. While the method presented here does not yield a true reconstruction in the strictest sense, it has many useful characteristics. Experimental results are presented as well.
Modeling of Gamma-ray Spectra to Direct Efficient Chemical Separations

A project has been undertaken at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to tailor a series of efficient chemical separations to allow the rapid quantification of gamma-ray emitting isotopes in mixed fission product (MFP) samples. In support of that goal, modeling of singles and coincident gamma-ray spectra that would result from various chemical separation strategies has been performed. These simulated spectra have identified likely instances of spectral interference and have provided an estimate of the time window available for the detection of radionuclides following various chemical separation schemes. A description of results to date is presented here, demonstrating the utility of this approach for improved processing and analysis of fission product samples.
Stability of dynamic brain models in neuropercolation approximation

In this paper, the basic building blocks of the intentional neurodynamics cycle is studied using probabilistic cellular automata. We apply the mean field neuropercolation model to describe the dynamics of coupled excitatory-inhibitory neural populations. The model exhibits a phase transition between a background point attractor and narrow-and (limit-cycle) behavior, depending of the choice of system parameters. Metastable dynamics near criticality is investigated. We show the existence of various regions with unstable and multiple stable equilibria. The results are relevant to modeling cognitive phase transitions observed in brains during awareness experience.
Use of Digital Cameras for Pavement Surface Distress Survey

The categorization and quantification of the type, severity, and extent of surface distress is a primary method for assessing the condition of highway pavements. Several methodologies are reviewed that were developed to automate pavement distress surveys. Existing available applications of automated pavement surface distress surveys rely on analog video technology, which poses several limitations on the performance of the systems. Through the use of new digital, high-performance cameras, high-definition images of pavement surfaces were acquired. These images were directly captured, archived, and analyzed by microcomputers. Two types of digital cameras were used in the research: area scan and line scan. Research revealed that high-performance area scan cameras may have advantages over line scan cameras. However, line scan cameras based on the technique of time delayed integration have good potential when tight synchronization and correct timing control are fully integrated into the system. The imaging subs...
Systems mapping of metabolic genes through control theory

The formation of any complex phenotype involves a web of metabolic pathways in which one chemical is transformed through the catalysis of enzymes into another. Traditional approaches for mapping quantitative trait loci (QTLs) are based on a direct association analysis between DNA marker genotypes and end-point phenotypes, neglecting the mechanistic processes of how a phenotype is formed biochemically. Here, we propose a new dynamic framework for mapping metabolic QTLs (mQTLs) responsible for phenotypic formation. By treating metabolic pathways as a biological system, robust differential equations have proven to be a powerful means of studying and predicting the dynamic behavior of biochemical reactions that cause a high-order phenotype. The new framework integrates these differential equations into a statistical mixture model for QTL mapping. Since the mathematical parameters that define the emergent properties of the metabolic system can be estimated and tested for different mQTL genotypes, the framework allows the dynamic pattern of genetic effects to be quantified on metabolic capacity and efficacy across a time-space scale. Based on a recent study of glycolysis in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we design and perform a series of simulation studies to investigate the statistical properties of the framework and validate its usefulness and utilization in practice. This framework can be generalized to mapping QTLs for any other dynamic systems and may stimulate pharmacogenetic research toward personalized drug and treatment intervention.
A-stable block implicit one-step methods

A class of methods for solving the initial value problem for ordinary differential equations is studied. We developr-block implicit one-step methods which compute a block ofr new values simultaneously with each step of application. These methods are examined for the property ofA-stability. A sub-class of formulas is derived which is related to Newton-Cotes quadrature and it is shown that for block sizesr=1,2,..., 8 these methods areA-stable while those forr=9,10 are not. We constructA-stable formulas having arbitrarily high orders of accuracy, even stiffly (strongly)A-stable formulas.
Multimedia to teach urology to medical students.

Objectives. To test the hypothesis that an interactive multimedia-based computer application may be used to teach urology to undergraduate medical students. Methods. Third-year medical students rotating on their urology clerkship were studied. Student knowledge was measured with a multiple choice test administered in a pretest–post-test experimental design. The educational intervention was a multimedia-based application that presented a clinical module on hematuria, using natural language-like entries. Student attitudes toward the multimedia application were assessed by a survey. Results. Twenty-three consecutive third-year medical students participated. Mean pretest and post-test scores ± standard deviation were 35% ± 11% versus 74% ± 17%, respectively, P < 0.0001. Student questionnaire responses indicated highly positive opinions that the multimedia-based module was easy to use, was fun, provided natural patient responses, had clear exercises, provided immediate feedback, was educational, and had a nonthreatening format, and that the multiple choice questions were clear and fair. Conclusions. Multimedia-based education may be used to teach urology to undergraduate medical students.
Value-Driven Design of non-commercial systems through bargain modeling

Value-Driven Design is formed on the premise that a design can be created that maximizes the design organization’s preference. It is recognized that other preferences, possibly competing, exist as well and will have an influence on the design. This paper explores how the negotiation of value preferences can be captured in bargaining models to determine the optimal design for the set of negotiators, taking into account conflicting preferences and player impatience. A notional strategic strike aircraft system is used as an example to illustrate the importance of design perspectives in the emerging practice of Value-Driven Design.
Seasonal climate information preserved in West Antarctic ice core water isotopes: relationships to temperature, large-scale circulation, and sea ice

As part of the United States' contribution to the International Trans-Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ITASE), a network of precisely dated and highly resolved ice cores was retrieved from West Antarctica. The ITASE dataset provides a unique record of spatial and temporal variations of stable water isotopes (d 18 O and dD) across West Antarctica. We demonstrate that, after accounting for water vapor diffusion, seasonal information can be suc- cessfully extracted from the ITASE cores. We use meteo- rological reanalysis, weather station, and sea ice data to assess the role of temperature, sea ice, and the state of the large-scale atmospheric circulation in controlling seasonal average water isotope variations in West Antarctica. The strongest relationships for all variables are found in the cores on and west of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide and during austral fall. During this season positive isotope anomalies in the westernmost ITASE cores are strongly related to a positive pressure anomaly over West Antarctica, low sea ice concentrations in the Ross and Amundsen Seas, and above normal temperatures. Analyses suggest that this seasonally distinct climate signal is due to the pronounced meridional oriented circulation and its linkage to enhanced sea ice variations in the adjacent Southern Ocean during fall, both of which also influence local to regional temperatures.
Inversion skill for limited-area shelf modeling. Part I: An OSSE case study

Abstract The ability to compute circulation based on limited data is addressed. The operational context is a 3-day ADCP survey in the Yellow Sea, offshore from a tidally energetic semi-enclosed bay. Velocity data are inverted to deduce boundary conditions for a limited-area simulation model. Skill in fitting, interpolating, and extrapolating the data is judged. A model-generated, shelf-scale climatology serves as Truth for the sampling and for the skill assessment. The simulation model is 3-D and nonlinear. Iteration with a linearized inverse achieves fast, monotonic convergence. The model successfully reconstructs Truth at the data points, within them, and shoreward from them. Skill degrades seaward from the data. The relative importance of tidal and subtidal forcing is assessed for Eulerian velocity and Lagrangian displacement. These findings place upper bounds on skill expectations, since the context is idealistic.
Perceptual adjustments to multiple speakers

Abstract Different speakers may pronounce the same sounds very differently, yet listeners have little difficulty perceiving speech accurately. Recent research suggests that listeners adjust their preexisting phonemic categories to accommodate speakers’ pronunciations ( perceptual learning ). In some cases, these adjustments appear to reflect general changes to phonemic categories, rather than speaker-specific adjustments. But what happens when listeners encounter multiple speakers with different pronunciations? We exposed listeners to two speakers who varied in their pronunciation of a particular phoneme (Experiment 1: /d/ or /t/; Experiment 2: /s/ or /ʃ/). Listeners then categorized sounds on /d/-/t/ or /s/-/ʃ/ continua, in the same two voices. The results suggest that perceptual experience leads to very different learning for different types of phonemic contrasts. For fricatives, perceptual learning was speaker-specific: The system was able to maintain multiple different representations simultaneously. In contrast, perceptual learning for stop consonants resulted in more general changes that required the system to re-adjust when a new pronunciation was encountered.
The Role of Architecture and Evolutionary Development in Accommodating Change

Traditional systems engineering processes emphasize controlling changes, and are effective at ensuring the transformation of system requirements into a system implementation that successfully fulfills those requirements. For large information systems, however, the rate of change in missions and technology is now such that a system that successfully meets the original written requirements may be obsolete on delivery. The days of static turnkey systems are gone: systems must continually evolve to adapt to changes in their environment. To support evolutionary systems, certain changes are required in the systems engineering process. Specifically, a shift in emphasis from limiting change to accommodating change is called for. Accordingly, a shift in emphasis from system requirements to the system architecture is needed. This paper discusses the need for evolvability, the role of architecture in enhancing evolvability, and the changes to the systems engineering process needed to support evolutionary systems.
A goodness-of-fit comparison of four survival curve models

Four parametric survival models are compared. The constant hazard functions as a function of a covariate are: . The models were compared using as the distance between models the average over the covariate values of the sup norm between the two survival curves. It was found that 1) is a considerably different model than models 2), 3) and 4). For samples of size 100 and below the variability due to the estimation of parameters in models 2), 3) and 4) was greater than the distance between the models. The authors conclude that the choice between models 2), 3) and 4) is not crucial for small sample sizes.
Texture and other physicochemical properties of whole rice bread.

Samples of experimental rice breads baked in a home bread machine were evaluated by physicochemi- cal methods and compared with a local commercial whole-wheat bread. The results showed that rice breads had less specific volume, harder texture, and were more prone to retrogradation during storage than whole wheat bread. All stored breads showed a peak at about 52 8C by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis, which is character- istic of retrograded starch. However, the DH for rice bread was about 3 times the value of whole-wheat bread, suggesting its strong tendency to retrograde. X-ray diffraction (XRD) evaluation also indicated the appearance of a strong 2u peak between 16.7 8C to 17.0 8C in rice bread than in whole-wheat bread, which is consistent with starch retrogradation.
Fault classes and error detection capability of specification-based testing

Some varieties of specification-based testing rely upon methods for generating test cases from predicates in a software specification. These methods derive various test conditions from logic expressions, with the aim of detecting different types of faults. Some authors have presented empirical results on the ability of specification-based test generation methods to detect failures. This article describes a method for cokmputing the conditions that must be covered by a test set for the test set to guarantee detection of the particular fault class. It is shown that there is a coverage hierarchy to fault classes that is consistent with, and may therefore explain, experimental results on fault-based testing. The method is also shown to be effective for computing MCDC-adequate tests.
Activation and inhibition of the proteasome by betulinic acid and its derivatives

This study discovered that betulinic acid (BA) is a potent proteasome activator that preferentially activates the chymotrypsin-like activity of the proteasome. Chemical modifications can transform BA into proteasome inhibitors. Chemical modifications at the C-3 position of BA resulted in compounds, such as dimethylsuccinyl BA (DSB), with various inhibitory activities against the human 20S proteasome. Interestingly, the proteasomal activation by BA and the inhibitory activity of DSB could be abrogated by introducing a side chain at the C-28 position. In summary, this study discovered a class of small molecules that can either activate or inhibit human proteasome activity depending on side chain modifications.
Hematologic malignancies: an opportunity to fill a gap in cancer surveillance

Reporting of hematologic malignancies is an increasingly important focus for cancer surveillance. As trends in cancer care are shifting to the outpatient setting, hospital-based data collection methods used for cancer surveillance will result in under-reporting of these cancers. This study describes the testing and validation of an automated system for capturing and reporting cancers from community oncology providers. The system was evaluated in 5 oncology practices in two states processing claims data for a 4- or 8-month interval. Resulting cancers were matched with the state registries. A random sample of nonmatched cases was reabstracted to measure the accuracy of the claims data for reporting of hematologic malignancies. The overall match rate for the 1,935 hematologic malignancies reported during the study period was 58.2 % (range, 37.4 % for CLL to 71.2 % for Hodgkin’s Lymphoma). The overall accuracy rate for billing-reported hematologic malignancies was 95 %. Accuracy among cases that did not match with the cancer registry was 88 %. The estimated number of missed cases for the five participating practices ranged from 0.8 leukemia cases/oncologist/year to 3.4 CLL cases/oncologist/year. The estimated total number of missed cases in the five participating practices was 292 with an interquartile range of 263–323. As cancer diagnosis and treatment continue migration into ambulatory physician practice settings unreported hematopoietic cases will become increasingly problematic. Leveraging the standardized electronic billing data for automated reporting of cancer cases from physician practices may be an efficient method to reduce this gap in cancer surveillance reporting.