cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A new hierarchical approach for simultaneous control of multi-joint powered prostheses

Advanced upper-limb prostheses capable of actuating multiple degrees of freedom (DOF) are now commercially available. Pattern recognition based algorithms that use surface electromyography (EMG) signals measured from residual muscles show great promise as multi-DOF controllers. Unfortunately, current pattern recognition systems are limited to sequential control of each DOF. This study introduces a hierarchy of linear discriminant analysis (LDA) classifiers arranged to provide simultaneous DOF control. This approach and two other simultaneous control strategies were evaluated using healthy subjects controlling up to four DOFs, where any two DOFs could be controlled simultaneously. The new hierarchical approach was the most promising with classification errors at or below 15% on average for discrete and combined motions. The classification performance was significantly better (p < 0.05) than using a single LDA classifier trained to recognize both discrete and combined motions or classifying each DOF using a set of parallel classifiers. The high accuracy of the hierarchical approach suggests that pattern recognition techniques can be extended to permit simultaneous control, potentially allowing amputees to produce more fluid, life-like movements, ultimately increasing their quality of life.
Saddle-point-type optimality conditions and lagrangian-type duality for a class of constrained generalized fractional optimal control

Kecessary and sufficient saddle-point-type optimality conditions and Lagrangian-type duality relations are established for a class of state- and control-constrained generalized fractional optimal control problems. These optimality and duality criteria also contain. as special cases. similar results for optimal control problems with fractional. discrete max, and conventional objective functions
A fractal model of vegetation complexity in Alaska

A methodology using fractals to measure vegetation complexity in three regions of Alaska is presented. Subjective, binomial (0 = simple, 1 = complex) classifications of the complexity of mapped vegetation polygon patterns within continuous forest inventory plots measured in the regions were made by interpreters of aerial photographs. The fractal dimensions of the vegetation patterns within the plots then were estimated. Subsequently, the subjective classifications of the photo-interpreted plots were regressed against fractal dimension by using logistic regression.
Protective Effects of a Novel Niacin-Bound Chromium Complex and a Grape Seed Proanthocyanidin Extract on Advancing Age and Various Aspects of Syndrome X

Aging is the progressive accumulation of changes with time that are responsible for the ever-increasing likelihood of disease and death. The precise cascade of pathological events mainly responsible for aging are still not clearly understood, but enhanced production of free radicals and its deleterious effects on proteins, nucleic acids, and fats, as well as enhanced glycosylation of proteins and DNA are prevalent during aging. Insulin resistance may be a common etiology, at least in part, behind the pathobiological alterations of advancing age. Prevalent age-related disorders such as cardiovascular diseases, obesity, and cancer have been associated with impaired glucose/insulin metabolism and its consequences. This leads to future strategies to combat the aging process and chronic disorders such as the components of syndrome X associated with aging. Increasing the intake of antioxidants and/or substances recognized to enhance insulin sensitivity is a natural means of combatting the glucose/insulin perturbations and free radical damage. Accordingly, ingestion of niacin-bound chromium and natural antioxidants such as grape seed proanthocyanidin extract has been demonstrated to improve insulin sensitivity and/or ameliorate free radical formation and reduce the signs/symptoms of chronic age-related disorders including syndrome X. These natural strategies possess a highly favorable risk/benefit ratio.
Judicious use of antibiotics for common pediatric respiratory infections.

Background. Antibiotic resistance among common respiratory infection-producing bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Moraxella catarrhalis has become a major global public health problem. The use of antibiotics, whether or not medically justified for a particular illness, contributes to the development of resistant bacteria. To help to contain the proliferation of drug-resistant bacteria, members of the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recently published principles for the judicious use of antibiotics in common pediatric respiratory infections including the common cold, otitis media, sinusitis and tonsillopharyngitis. This article reviews the CDC/AAP principles for management of these illnesses and describes results of clinical practice studies in which efforts to improve the judicious use of antibiotics were undertaken. Conclusions. The success of the CDC/AAP principles in containing the increase in antimicrobial resistance depends upon their being practiced. Results of clinical practice studies indicate that judicious use of antimicrobial therapy in pediatric respiratory infections can be realized through education and persistence. More widespread educational and behavior modification efforts are necessary to reduce unnecessary prescription of antibiotics and to curtail the still burgeoning problem of bacterial resistance.
Plasma lipid concentrations during episodic occupational stress.

The possibility that stress affects plasma lipid concentrations has been the subject of recent investigation, but the findings are equivocal in nonlaboratory settings. To determine whether psychological stress contributes to variability in plasma lipid concentrations and concomitant changes in health behaviors, the effect of increased work load on plasma lipids and apolipoproteins was examined in 173 lawyers. Plasma cholesterol, triglyceride, and apolipoprotein concentrations were studied during periods of high work load (corresponding to impending tax deadlines) and during periods of usual work load. Self-reports of stress, work load, and time pressure, and cortisol, blood pressure, and heart rate were measured to verify that impending deadlines were associated with increased stress levels. Health behaviors which may affect plasma lipoprotein concentrations, including dietary intake and exercise, were also examined. High work load was accompanied by increases in self-reported work load among lawyers most directly affected by the impending deadlines. Plasma apolipoprotein B and triglycerides increased during periods of high work load (M=1.9 mg/dL,SD=10.1 andM=5.3,SD=34.4, respectively). No changes in dietary intake and exercise were observed. Psychological stress (high work load) is associated with potentially atherogenic changes in plasma lipid concentrations. While the lipoprotein effect of this short-term work stress is small, the effects of longer-term stress on multiple risk factors including triglycerides and apolipoprotein B could have significance for the development of coronary artery disease.
An Adaptive Critic Approach to Reference Model Adaptation

Neural networks have been successfully used for implementing control architectures for different applications. In this work, we examine a neural network augmented adaptive critic as a Level 2 intelligent controller for a C- 17 aircraft. This intelligent control architecture utilizes an adaptive critic to tune the parameters of a reference model, which is then used to define the angular rate command for a Level 1 intelligent controller. The present architecture is implemented on a high-fidelity non-linear model of a C-17 aircraft. The goal of this research is to improve the performance of the C-17 under degraded conditions such as control failures and battle damage. Pilot ratings using a motion based simulation facility are included in this paper. The benefits of using an adaptive critic are documented using time response comparisons for severe damage situations.
Two Hyperfinite Constructions of the Brownian Bridge

Infinitesimal Analysis is used to give two constructions of the brownian bridge process. In the first construction a hyperfinite tied down random walk is used and a brownian bridge is obtained via the standard part map. As a consequence it is shown that the brownian bridge is the weak limit of a sequence of normalized tied down random walks. The second construction is based on a hyperfinite uniform empirical process. This construction gives an almost trivial proof of Donsker's Invariance Principle for the uniform empirical process
Abundance and Chemical Speciation of Phosphorus in Sediments of the Mackenzie River Delta, the Chukchi Sea and the Bering Sea: Importance of Detrital Apatite

Utilizing a sequential extraction technique this study provides the first quantitative analysis on the abundance of sedimentary phosphorus and its partitioning between chemically distinguishable phases in sediments of the Bering Sea, the Chukchi Sea and the Mackenzie River Delta in the western Arctic Ocean. Total sedimentary phosphorus (TSP) was fractionated into five operationally defined phases: (1) adsorbed inorganic and exchangeable organic phosphorus, (2) Fe-bound inorganic phosphorus, (3) authigenic carbonate fluorapatite, biogenic apatite and calcium carbonate-bound inorganic and organic phosphorus, (4) detrital apatite, and (5) refractory organic phosphorus. TSP concentrations in surface sediments increased from the Chukchi Sea (18 μmol g−1 of dried sediments) to the Bering Sea (22 μmol g−1) and to the Mackenzie River Delta (29 μmol g−1). Among the five pools, detrital apatite phosphorus of igneous or metamorphic origin represents the largest fraction (~43%) of TSP. The second largest pool is the authigenic carbonate fluorapatite, biogenic apatite as well as CaCO3 associated phosphorus (~24% of TSP), followed by the Fe-bound inorganic phosphorus, representing ~20% of TSP. The refractory organic P accounts for ~10% of TSP and the readily exchangeable adsorbed P accounts for only 3.5% of TSP. Inorganic phosphorus dominates all of phosphorus pools, accounting for an average of 87% of the TSP. Relatively high sedimentary organic carbon and total nitrogen contents and low δ13C values in the Mackenzie River Delta together with the dominance of detrital apatite in the TSP demonstrate the importance of riverine inputs in governing the abundance and speciation of sedimentary phosphorus in the Arctic coastal sediments.
Design and Marker-Based Validation of a Biplane Fluoroscopy System for Studying the Foot and Ankle

The ability to accurately measure three dimensional (3D) bone kinematics is key to understanding the motion of the joints of the body, and how such motion is altered by injury, disease, and treatment. Precise measurement of such kinematics is technically challenging. Biplane fluoroscopy is ideally suited to measure bone motion. Such systems have been developed in the past for both radiographic stereo-photogrammetric analysis (RSA) [1] and the more challenging model-based analysis [2]. Research groups have studied the knee [3,4], shoulder [5] and ankle [6] motion with similar techniques. The work presented here is an initial evaluation of the performance of our system, i.e., a validation that this in-house system can detect magnitudes of motion on-par with other existing systems.Copyright © 2012 by ASME
The queerness of Lucy Snowe

(1995). The queerness of Lucy Snowe. Nineteenth-Century Contexts: Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 367-384.
Token Reinforcement and Selective Exposure to Persuasion

Summary An attempt was made to shape the listening preferences of 54 male and female undergraduates for two persuasive messages by presenting them with token reinforcers for “correct” choices of opposing arguments during a visual presentation series. Although most Ss reported awareness of the reinforcement contingency during the token-reward phase of the experiment, only those who received tokens for choosing the positive argument were effectively conditioned. The reinforcement manipulation did not affect preferences for the negative arguments. Although unaware that they were doing so, the Ss listened longer to a message which contained elements of the previously reinforced arguments as compared with time spent on the same message by nonreinforced controls. It is concluded that reinforcement procedures can, under some conditions, effectively determine selective exposure to persuasive messages.
Phospholipase D1, but Not D2, Regulates Protein Secretion Via Rho/ROCK in a Ras/Raf-Independent, MEK-Dependent Manner in Rat Lacrimal Gland

Purpose. A prior study showed that cholinergic agonists activate phospholipase D (PLD). The purpose of this study was to determine whether cholinergic agonists use the PLD pathway to alter protein secretion and to identify the molecular signaling components of this pathway in rat lacrimal gland acini.
Irradiated costal cartilage in augmentation rhinoplasty

Numerous materials are available for use in augmentation rhinoplasty. For the moderate-to-severe saddle nose deformity, we prefer use of irradiated homologous costal cartilage. This method has been effective in augmentation of the nasal dorsum as well as nasal tip modification, when septal or auricular cartilage is lacking. During the past 25 years, we have used irradiated costal cartilage at our institution via the external rhinoplasty approach for robust and versatile reconstruction of the nasal framework and esthetic nasal tip modification. This article contains a detailed discussion of the technique as well as selected illustrative cases.
Intraaortic Balloon Pumping for Control of Recurrent Myocardial Ischemia

Eleven patients were studied because of recurrent angina at rest. In five cases ischemic pain developed 3-10 days after acute myocardial infarction. Pain recurred in all cases despite therapy with bedrest, oxygen, heparin anticoagulation, nitrates, and whenever possible, beta blockade. Intraaortic balloon pumping with a 30-cc balloon prevented ischemia in nine patients and markedly reduced the frequency of ischemic attacks in two. Coronary angiograms were obtained during circulatory assistance without complication and confirmed proximal coronary artery obstructions in all patients. Saphenous vein aortocoronary bypass grafting was then performed. Intraaortic balloon pumping will effectively control myocardial ischemia resistant to medical therapy.
Induction and Inhibition of Ciprofloxacin Resistance-Conferring Mutations in Hypermutator Bacteria

The emergence of drug-resistant bacteria poses a serious threat to human health. Bacteria often acquire resistance from a mutation of chromosomal genes during therapy. We have recently shown that the evolution of resistance to ciprofloxacin in vivo and in vitro requires the induction of a mutation that is mediated by the cleavage of the SOS repressor LexA and the associated derepression of three specialized DNA polymerases (polymerase II [Pol II], Pol IV, and Pol V). These results led us to suggest that it may be possible to design drugs to inhibit these proteins and that such drugs might be coadministered with antibiotics to prevent mutation and the evolution of resistance. For the approach to be feasible, there must not be any mechanisms through which bacteria can induce mutations and acquire antibiotic resistance that are independent of LexA and its repressed polymerases. Perhaps the most commonly cited mechanism to elevate bacterial mutation rates is the inactivation of methyl-directed mismatch repair (MMR). However, it is unclear whether this represents a LexA-independent mechanism or if the mutations that arise in MMR-deficient hypermutator strains are also dependent on LexA cleavage and polymerase derepression. In this work, we show that LexA cleavage and polymerase derepression are required for the evolution of clinically significant resistance in MMR-defective Escherichia coli. Thus, drugs that inhibit the proteins responsible for induced mutations are expected to efficiently prevent the evolution of resistance, even in MMR-deficient hypermutator strains.
Oxidants, Antioxidants, and Respiratory Tract Lining Fluids

Respiratory tract lining fluids (RTLFs) are a heterogeneous group of substances covering the respiratory tract epithelial cells (RTECs) from nasal mucosa to alveoli. Antioxidant contained in the RTLFs can be expected to provide an initial defense against inhaled environmental toxins. The major antioxidants in RTLF include mucin, uric acid, protein (largely albumin), ascorbic acid, and reduced glutathione (GSH). RTLF antioxidants can be augmented by such processes as transudation/exudation of plasma constituents; RTEC secretory processes, including glandular mucus secretion; and cellular antioxidants derived from lysis of RTECs and of inflammatory cells. The antioxidant composition of RTLFs and their role in modulating normal and pathophysiologic RTEC functions under conditions of oxidative stress are yet to be fully characterized.
Reduced nitric oxide synthase activity in rats with chronic renal disease due to glomerulonephritis.

Reduced nitric oxide synthase activity in rats with chronic renal disease due to glomerulonephritis. Background Animal studies with systemic nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition and renal ablation, suggest that NO deficiency is both a cause and a consequence of chronic renal disease (CRD). Methods This study examined a glomerulonephritis (GN) model of CRD to determine if NO is deficient. In addition to measuring indices of renal function (proteinuria, creatinine clearance, structural damage), indices of total and renal nitric oxide production also were assessed (total NO X excretion, renal NOS activity, renal NOS protein abundance, plasma levels of NOS substrate and endogenous inhibitor). Results Rats developed increasing proteinuria 12 to 20 weeks after induction of GN (with anti-glomerular basement membrane, GBM, antibody) and at 20 weeks exhibited reduced creatinine clearances and increased glomerulosclerosis relative to age-matched controls. Total NO X excretion was reduced and the renal cortical NOS activity and neuronal NOS (nNOS) abundance was decreased relative to controls. There was no impact on renal or aortic endothelial NOS expression or cerebellar nNOS. The plasma L-arginine (Arg) concentration was well maintained but plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) concentration increased in GN versus control animals. Conclusions Total and renal NOS activity is reduced in the GN model of CRD due to increased circulating endogenous NOS inhibitors and decreased renal nNOS abundance.
Cocaine-induced alterations in dopamine receptor signaling: Implications for reinforcement and reinstatement

The transition from casual drug use to addiction, and the intense drug craving that accompanies it, has been postulated to result from neuroadaptations within the limbic system caused by repeated drug exposure. This review will examine the implications of cocaine-induced alterations in mesolimbic dopamine receptor signaling within the context of several widely used animal models of addiction. Extensive evidence indicates that dopaminergic mechanisms critically mediate behavioral sensitization to cocaine, cocaine-induced conditioned place preference, cocaine self-administration, and the drug prime-induced reinstatement of cocaine-seeking behavior. The propagation of the long-term neuronal changes associated with recurring cocaine use appears to occur at the level of postreceptor signal transduction. Repeated cocaine treatment causes an up-regulation of the 3',5'-cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-signaling pathway within the nucleus accumbens, resulting in a dys-regulation of balanced D1/D2 dopamine-like receptor signaling. The intracellular events arising from enhanced D1-like postsynaptic signaling mediate both facilitatory and compensatory responses to the further reinforcing effects of cocaine.
Prey-Predator-Protector Model for Cancer

This paper presents a simulation model of the disease cancer. Various aspects of the disease are noted and changes in these aspects are modeled to indicate their resemblance to real-life situations. As with any model, its validity depends on how well it conforms with experimental evidence, and how useful it is as a predictor of future events. It is hoped that the model will stimulate sufficient interest that such experiments will be conducted, with the ultimate goal being a better approach to the control of the disease.
First results from a 1.1-m-diameter superconducting monopole detector.

We present the design and performance of a superconducting induction magnetic-monopole detector with 1.1-m-diameter gradiometer loops. The detector demonstrates that gradiometers can be overlapped with no mutual inductance to yield high redundancy without increasing shield volume. One of two detector units was sensitive to the passage of monopoles through two overlapped gradiometers with 98% coincidence efficiency for 161 hours. The unit has a coincident sensitive area averaged over 4\ensuremath{\pi} sr of 4400 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. No candidate events were observed, setting an upper limit on the flux of cosmic-ray magnetic monopoles of f\ensuremath{\lesssim}7.1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}11}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}2}$ ${\mathrm{sr}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ ${\mathrm{sec}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ (90% C.L.). The detector was operated in ambient magnetic fields of \ensuremath{\sim}5--125 mG.
Large-scale nanophotonic phased array

A large-scale silicon nanophotonic phased array with more than 4,000 antennas is demonstrated using a state-of-the-art complementary metal-oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process, enabling arbitrary holograms with tunability, which brings phased arrays to many new technological territories. Nanophotonic approaches allow the construction of chip-scale arrays of optical nanoantennas capable of producing radiation patterns in the far field. This could be useful for a range of applications in communications, LADAR (laser detection and ranging) and three-dimensional holography. Until now this technology has been restricted to one-dimensional or small two-dimensional arrays. This paper reports the construction of a large-scale silicon nanophotonic phased array containing 4,096 optical nanoantennas balanced in power and aligned in phase. The array was used to generate a complex radiation pattern—the MIT logo—in the far field. The authors show that this type of nanophotonic phased array can be actively tuned, and in some cases the beam is steerable. Electromagnetic phased arrays at radio frequencies are well known and have enabled applications ranging from communications to radar, broadcasting and astronomy1. The ability to generate arbitrary radiation patterns with large-scale phased arrays has long been pursued. Although it is extremely expensive and cumbersome to deploy large-scale radiofrequency phased arrays2, optical phased arrays have a unique advantage in that the much shorter optical wavelength holds promise for large-scale integration3. However, the short optical wavelength also imposes stringent requirements on fabrication. As a consequence, although optical phased arrays have been studied with various platforms4,5,6,7,8 and recently with chip-scale nanophotonics9,10,11,12, all of the demonstrations so far are restricted to one-dimensional or small-scale two-dimensional arrays. Here we report the demonstration of a large-scale two-dimensional nanophotonic phased array (NPA), in which 64 × 64 (4,096) optical nanoantennas are densely integrated on a silicon chip within a footprint of 576 μm × 576 μm with all of the nanoantennas precisely balanced in power and aligned in phase to generate a designed, sophisticated radiation pattern in the far field. We also show that active phase tunability can be realized in the proposed NPA by demonstrating dynamic beam steering and shaping with an 8 × 8 array. This work demonstrates that a robust design, together with state-of-the-art complementary metal-oxide–semiconductor technology, allows large-scale NPAs to be implemented on compact and inexpensive nanophotonic chips. In turn, this enables arbitrary radiation pattern generation using NPAs and therefore extends the functionalities of phased arrays beyond conventional beam focusing and steering, opening up possibilities for large-scale deployment in applications such as communication, laser detection and ranging, three-dimensional holography and biomedical sciences, to name just a few.
Toward an understanding of similarity judgments for music digital library evaluation

This paper presents an analysis of 7,602 similarity judgments collected for the Symbolic Melodic Similarity (SMS) and Audio Music Similarity and Retrieval (AMS) evaluation tasks in the 2006 Music Information Retrieval Evaluation eXchange (MIREX). We discuss the influence of task definitions, as well as evaluation metrics on user perceptions of music similarity, and provide recommendations for future Music Digital Library/Music Information Retrieval research pertaining to music similarity.
Prevalence and management of elevated intraocular pressure after placement of an intravitreal sustained-release steroid implant.

Purpose of review The fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implant was approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration in April, 2005 for treatment of noninfectious posterior segment uveitis (NIPU). This therapy is effective with respect to prevention of uveitis recurrence. However, corticosteroid-associated increased intraocular pressure frequently occurs in implanted eyes and must be managed appropriately to prevent glaucomatous vision loss. Recent findings Pooled results from three recent prospective randomized trials show that 75% of eyes receiving the fluocinolone acetonide implant required intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering therapy at some point within the 3-year study course. Eyes requiring surgical intervention had a high rate of hypotony but also showed stable postoperative visual acuity. Summary Fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implants are an effective therapy for NIPU. However, patients receiving this treatment are at high risk for development of vision-threatening increased IOP. Therefore, we recommend that patients treated with fluocinolone acetonide implants receive frequent IOP monitoring and referral to a glaucoma specialist if pressure control is not achieved.
Refractive indices of reactive magnetooptical thin films

A method is described for determining the refractive indices of magnetooptical thin films. The films are deposited in a multilayer stack so that they can be protected from the environment. A thick, transparent substrate is used so that both air incident and substrate incident optical measurements can be performed. The normal incidence reflectance, transmittance, and magnetooptical rotation and ellipticity are used to compute the complex refractive index of the thin film. This technique is applied to a TbFe and a TbFeCo alloy. The addition of Co is found to significantly enhance the magnetooptic indices at long wavelengths.
Uncovering some subtleties of the uncovered set: Social choice theory and distributive politics

Although the uncovered set has occupied a prominent role in social choice theory, its exact shape has never been determined in a general setting. This paper calculates the uncovered set when actors have pork barrel, or purely distributive, preferences, and shows that in this setting nearly the entire Pareto set is uncovered. The result casts doubt on the usefulness of the uncovered set as a general solution concept and suggests that to predict the distribution of political benefits one must explicitly model the institutions that structure collective choice.
Male Juveniles with Sexual Behavior Problems: Are There Differences Among Racial Groups?

This study used archival data on a sample of 186,492 referrals from a southwestern state Juvenile Probation Commission to compare the characteristics of 5,439 male Black, Hispanic, and White juveniles with sexual behavior problems on the five most common sexual offenses in the data set. The characteristics of 181,053 juveniles of the three races without sexual behavior problems were also compared on the basis of the seven most common nonsexual offenses. The bases of comparison were the seven variables: reported incidence of sexual offenses, the primary caregivers or living arrangements, age, suspected sexual abuse, suspected emotional abuse, suspected physical abuse, and special education status, on which racial differences were found. Prevention and treatment implications of findings are discussed.
Parameter Sensitivity Reduction in Fixed-Order Dynamic Compensation

This paper presents a simple formulation for designing fixed-order dynamic compensators that are robust to uncertainty at the plant input and have reduced sensitivity to structured uncertainty in the plant dynamics. An approximate loop transfer recovery technique is extended to include a penalty on the trajectory sensitivity dynamics. This approach avoids introducing the sensitivity states, and thus the dimension of the optimization problem is not increased. The usefulness of the technique is illustrated by two compensator designs. The first design considers a case where the uncertain parameters occur in the output matrix. The second design is for a high bandwidth controller for a flexible spacecraft.
Perception of marital roles in purchase decision processes: A cross-cultural study

Following the approach of the classic 1974 marital-role influence study of Davis and Rigaux, the present study focuses on differences in decision making (i.e., joint, husband dominated, wife dominated) across 24 product categories as a function of two key factors. These factors are stage of the decision process (i.e., problem recognition, information search, and the final decision) and culture (People’s Republic of China and the United States). The Jacobson Marital-Role Egalitarianism Scale is included to further assess individual differences in husband and wife traditionality-modernism. The major findings are that emphasis on joint, husband-dominated, and wife-dominated decisions vary by stage and by stage-culture interaction. Practical implications are presented with suggestions for future research.
Developmental changes in the modification of lysosomal enzymes in Dictyostelium discoideum

Evidence has been found for a generalized change in the post-translational modification of lysosomal enzymes during development of Dictyostelium discoideum. The physical and antigenic properties of four developmentally regulated lysosomal enzymes, N-acetylglucosaminidase, beta-glucosidase, alpha-mannosidase, and acid phosphatase, have been examined throughout the life cycle. In vegetative cells, a single major isoelectric species is detected for each enzymatic activity on native nonequilibrium isoelectric focusing gels. Between 6 and 10 hr of development, all activities, including the preformed enzyme, become less negatively charged, resulting in a modest but reproducible shift in the isoelectric focusing pattern. This alteration is not detected by native gel electrophoresis at constant pH. As development continues, the specific activity of beta-glucosidase, alpha-mannosidase, and acid phosphatase continues to increase and coincidentally, new, less acidic isozymic bands of activity can be observed on both gel systems. Some of these new isozymes accumulate preferentially in anterior cells, while others accumulate preferentially in posterior cells of migrating slugs. N-Acetylglucosaminidase does not increase in specific activity late in development and no new isozymic species appear. Using a monoclonal antibody that reacts with sulfated N-linked oligosaccharides shared by vegetative lysosomal enzymes in D. discoideum, the antigenicity of the developmental isozymes has been characterized. All of the enzymatic activity present during vegetative growth and early development is immunoprecipitable. However, the less negatively charged isozymes that accumulate after aggregation are not recognized by the antibody. Nonantigenic acid phosphatase and alpha-mannosidase are found in both anterior and posterior cells from migrating pseudoplasmodia. Since each enzyme is coded by a single structural gene, these results suggest that the isozymes present late in development arise from the synthesis of the same polypeptides with altered post-translational modifications. The appearance of anterior and posterior specific isozymes is likely to be the result of cell type specific changes in the glycoprotein modification pathway for newly synthesized proteins.
Stopping simulated paths early

We provide results on stopping simulation paths early as a variance reduction technique, adding to our earlier work on this topic. The problem of pricing a financial instrument with cash flows at multiple times, such as a mortgage-backed security, motivates this approach, which is more broadly applicable to problems in which early steps are more informative than later steps of a path. We prove a limit theorem that demonstrates that this relative informativeness of simulation steps, not the number of steps, determines the effectiveness of the method. Next we consider an extension of the idea of stopping simulation paths early, showing how early stopping can be random and depend on the state a path has reached, yet still produce an unbiased estimator. We illustrate the potential effectiveness of such estimators, and describe directions for future research into their design.
Resilience, stress, and life quality in older adults living with HIV/AIDS.

Objectives: This study tested the mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between life stress and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older people, 50 years of age and older, living with HIV/AIDS (OPLWHA).Method: Data from 299 OPLWHA were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) to define a novel resilience construct (represented by coping self-efficacy, active coping, hope/optimism, and social support) and to assess mediating effects of resilience on the association between life stress and HRQoL (physical, emotional, and functional/global well-being).Results: SEM analyses showed satisfactory model fit for both resilience and mediational models, with resilience mediating the associations between life stress and physical, emotional, and functional/global well-being.Conclusion: Resilience may reduce the negative influence of life stress on physical, emotional, and functional/global well-being in OPLWHA. Interventions that build personal capacity, coping skills, and social support m...
The Elmore Delay as a Bound for RC Trees with Generalized Input Signals

The Elmore delay is an extremely popular delay metric, particularly for RC tree analysis. The widespread usage of this metric is mainly attributable to it being the most accurate delay measure that is a simple analytical function of the circuit parameters. The only drawbacks to this delay metric are the uncertainty as to whether it is an optimistic or a pessimistic estimate, and the restriction to step response delay estimation. In this paper, we prove that the Elmore delay is an absolute upper bound on the 50% delay of an RC tree response. Moreover, we prove that this bound holds for input signals other than steps, and that the actual delay asymptotically approaches the Elmore delay as the input signal rise time increases. A lower bound on the delay is also developed using the Elmore delay and the second moment of the impulse response. The utility of this bound is for understanding the accuracy and the limitations of the Elmore delay metric as we use it for design automation.
Use of Student Field-Based Consulting in Business Education: A Comparison of American and Australian Business Schools

This study reports the results of a comparative study of American business schools and Australian schools of commerce regarding utilization of field-based consultancy and associated critical variables. Respondents in the survey were 141 deans of Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accredited business schools in the United States and 71 heads of Australian commerce programs. Overall, student field-based consultancy is widely used in both countries. This indicates that it should be possible to implement international field-based consultancies between American and Australian business schools, which would, in turn, lead to increased potential for international study abroad for business students of both countries.
Gold nanorod assisted near-infrared plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) of squamous cell carcinoma in mice.

Plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) is a minimally-invasive oncological treatment strategy in which photon energy is selectively administered and converted into heat sufficient to induce cellular hyperthermia. The present work demonstrates the feasibility of in vivo PPTT treatment of deep-tissue malignancies using easily-prepared plasmonic gold nanorods and a small, portable, inexpensive near-infrared (NIR) laser. Dramatic size decreases in squamous cell carcinoma xenografts were observed for direct (P 57% of the directly-injected tumors and 25% of the intravenously-treated tumors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Growth Hormone Therapy in Adults with Prader-Willi Syndrome

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is characterized by hyperphagia, obesity if food intake is not strictly controlled, abnormal body composition with decreased lean body mass and increased fat mass, decreased basal metabolic rate, short stature, low muscle tone, cognitive disability, and hypogonadism. In addition to improvements in linear growth, the benefits of growth hormone therapy on body composition and motor function in children with PWS are well established. Evidence is now emerging on the benefits of growth hormone therapy in adults with PWS. This review summarizes the current literature on growth hormone status and the use of growth hormone therapy in adults with PWS. The benefits of growth hormone therapy on body composition, muscle strength, exercise capacity, certain measures of sleep-disordered breathing, metabolic parameters, quality of life, and cognition are covered in detail along with potential adverse effects and guidelines for initiating and monitoring therapy.
Design and fabrication of a low-cost, multispectral imaging system

This paper reports the design and construction of a low-cost, multispectral imaging system using a single, large format CCD and an array of 18 individual lenses coupled to individual spectral filters. The system allows the simultaneous acquisition of 18 subimages, each with potentially different optical information. The subimages are combined to create a composite image, highlighting the desired spectral information. Because all the subimages are acquired simultaneously, the composite image shows no motion artifact. Although the present configuration uses 17 narrow bandpass optical filters to obtain multispectral information from a scene, the system is designed to be a general purpose, multiaperture platform, easily reconfigured for other multiaperture imaging modes.
Trace detection of non-uniformly distributed analytes on surfaces using mass transfer and large-area desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) mass spectrometry

Ambient ionization methods such as desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) allow the analysis of chemicals adsorbed at surfaces without the need for sample (or surface) pretreatment. A limitation of current implementations of these ionization sources is the small size of the area that can be sampled. This makes examination of surfaces of large areas time-consuming because of the need to raster across the surface. This paper describes a DESI source that produces a spray plume with an effective desorption/ionization area of 3.6 cm2, some 200 times larger than given by conventional DESI sources. Rhodamine 6G and several drugs of abuse (codeine, heroin and diazepam) were used to demonstrate the ability to use large-area DESI MS to perform rapid (a few seconds) representative sampling of areas of the order of several square centimetres without scanning the probe across the surface. The large area ion source displayed high sensitivity (limits of detection in the high nanogram range) and high reproducibility (∼20 to 35% relative standard deviation). The rapid analysis of even larger surfaces (hundreds of cm2) for traces of explosives is possible using a sorbent surface wipe followed by large-area DESI interrogation performed directly on the wipe material. The performance of this mass transfer dry wipe method was examined by determination of the limits of detection of several explosives. Surfaces with different topographies and compositions were also tested. Using this method, absolute limits of detection observed for HMX and RDX from plastic surfaces and skin were found to be as low as 10 ng cm−2. The concentration of residue from large surface areas in this technique allowed the detection of 100 ng of explosives from surfaces with areas ranging from 1.00 × 103 cm2 to 1.40 × 104 cm2.
Blind change detection for audio segmentation

Automatic segmentation of audio streams according to speaker identities and environmental and channel conditions has become an important preprocessing step for speech recognition, speaker recognition, and audio data mining. In most previous approaches, the automatic segmentation was evaluated in terms of the performance of the final system, like the word error rate for speech recognition systems. In many applications, like online audio indexing, and information retrieval systems, the actual boundaries of the segments are required. We present an approach based on the cumulative sum (CuSum) algorithm for automatic segmentation which minimizes the missing probability for a given false alarm rate. We compare the CuSum algorithm to the Bayesian information criterion (BIC) algorithm, and a generalization of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for automatic segmentation of audio streams. We present a two-step variation of the three algorithms which improves the performance significantly. We present also a novel approach that combines hypothesized boundaries from the three algorithms to achieve the final segmentation of the audio stream. Our experiments, on the 1998 Hub4 broadcast news, show that a variation of the CuSum algorithm significantly outperforms the other two approaches and that combining the three approaches using a voting scheme improves the performance slightly compared to using the a two-step variation of the CuSum algorithm alone.
Crustal and uppermost mantle structure in southern Africa revealed from ambient noise and teleseismic tomography

SUMMARY Rayleigh wave phase velocity maps in southern Africa are obtained at periods from 6 to 40 s using seismic ambient noise tomography applied to data from the Southern Africa Seismic Experiment (SASE) deployed between 1997 and 1999. These phase velocity maps are combined with those from 45 to 143 s period which were determined previously using a two-planewave method by Li & Burke. In the period range of overlap (25‐40 s), the ambient noise and two-plane-wave methods yield similar phase velocity maps. Dispersion curves from 6 to 143 s period were used to estimate the 3-D shear wave structure of the crust and uppermost mantle on an 1 ◦ × 1 ◦ grid beneath southern Africa to a depth of about 100 km. Average shear wave velocity in the crust is found to vary from 3.6 km s ‐1 at 0‐10 km depths to 3.86 km s ‐1 from 20 to 40 km, and velocity anomalies in these layers correlate with known tectonic features. Shear wave velocity in the lower crust is on average low in the Kaapvaal and Zimbabwe cratons and higher in the surrounding Proterozoic terranes, such as the Limpopo and the NamaquaNatal belts, which suggests that the lower crust underlying the Archean cratons is probably less mafic than beneath the Proterozoic terranes. Crustal thickness estimates agree well with a previous receiver function study of Nair et al.. Archean crust is relatively thin and light and underlain by a fast uppermost mantle, whereas the Proterozoic crust is thick and dense with a slower underlying mantle. These observations are consistent with the southern African Archean cratons having been formed by the accretion of island arcs with the convective removal of the dense lower crust, if the foundering process became less vigorous in arc environments during the Proterozoic.
Fetal Exposure to High-Avidity TCR Ligand Enhances Expansion of Peripheral T Regulatory Cells

Lately, it has become clear that regulatory T cells (Tregs) play a major role in the maintenance of peripheral tolerance and control of autoimmunity. Despite these critical functions, the process underlying the development of Tregs remains largely undefined. Herein, altered peptide ligand (APL) variants derived from the proteolipid protein-1 (PLP1) epitope were expressed on immunoglobulins (Igs) and the resulting Ig-APLs were used to deliver the APLs from mother to fetus through the maternal placenta to influence thymic T cell selection. This delivery system was then adapted to the SJL/J mouse, a strain that expresses only the DM20 form of PLP, which lacks the dominant PLP1 epitope in the thymus during fetal and neonatal development. This model, which restores thymic T cell selection for PLP1, was then used to determine whether affinity plays a role in the development of Tregs. The findings show that fetal exposure to low-affinity peptide ligand was unable to drive development of Tregs while variants with higher affinity to the TCR resulted in significant seeding of the periphery with mature, naive Tregs. Thus, contrary to pathogenic T cells, Tregs require avid TCR-ligand interaction to undergo thymic development and maturation.
Surgical management for displaced pediatric proximal humeral fractures: a cost analysis

Purpose The purpose of this investigation was to determine which of the following methods of fixation, percutaneous pinning (PP) or intramedullary nailing (IMN), was more cost-effective in the treatment of displaced pediatric proximal humeral fractures (PPHF). Methods A retrospective cohort of surgically treated PPHF over a 12-year period at a single institution was performed. A decision analysis model was constructed to compare three surgical strategies: IMN versus percutaneous pinning leaving the pins exposed (PPE) versus leaving the pins buried (PPB). Finally, sensitivity analyses were performed, assessing the cost-effectiveness of each technique when infection rates and cost of deep infections were varied. Results A total of 84 patients with displaced PPHF underwent surgical stabilization. A total of 35 cases were treated with IMN, 32 with PPE, and 17 with PPB. The age, sex, and preoperative fracture angulation were similar across all groups. A greater percentage of open reduction was seen in the IMN and PPB groups (p = 0.03), while a higher proportion of physeal injury was seen in the PPE group (p = 0.02). Surgical time and estimated blood loss was higher in the IMN group (p \ 0.001 and p = 0.01, respectively). The decision analysis revealed that the PPE technique resulted in an average cost saving of $4,502 per patient compared to IMN and $2,066 compared to PPB. This strategy remained cost-effective even when the complication rates with exposed implants approached 55 %. Conclusions Leaving pins exposed after surgical fixation of PPHF is more cost-effective than either burying pins or using intramedullary fixation.