cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
MEG: A RISCV-based System Emulation Infrastructure for Near-data Processing Using FPGAs and High-bandwidth Memory

Emerging three-dimensional (3D) memory technologies, such as the Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), provide high-bandwidth and massive memory-level parallelism. With the growing heterogeneity and complexity of computer systems (CPU cores and accelerators, etc.), efficiently integrating emerging memories into existing systems poses new challenges and requires detailed evaluation in a realistic computing environment. In this article, we propose MEG, an open source, configurable, cycle-exact, and RISC-V-based full-system emulation infrastructure using FPGA and HBM. MEG provides a highly modular hardware design and includes a bootable Linux image for a realistic software flow, so that users can perform cross-layer software-hardware co-optimization in a full-system environment. To improve the observability and debuggability of the system, MEG also provides a flexible performance monitoring scheme to guide the performance optimization. The proposed MEG infrastructure can potentially benefit broad communities across computer architecture, system software, and application software. Leveraging MEG, we present two cross-layer system optimizations as illustrative cases to demonstrate the usability of MEG. In the first case study, we present a reconfigurable memory controller to improve the address mapping of standard memory controller. This reconfigurable memory controller along with its OS support allows us to optimize the address mapping scheme to fully exploit the massive parallelism provided by the emerging three-dimensional (3D) memories. In the second case study, we present a lightweight IOMMU design to tackle the unique challenges brought by 3D memory in providing virtual memory support for near-memory accelerators. We provide a prototype implementation of MEG on a Xilinx VU37P FPGA and demonstrate its capability, fidelity, and flexibility on real-world benchmark applications. We hope MEG fills a gap in the space of publicly available FPGA-based full-system emulation infrastructures, specifically targeting memory systems, and inspires further collaborative software/hardware innovations.
Family Presence for Patients with Severe Acute Brain Injury and the Influence of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Objectives: The global COVID-19 pandemic made strict visitation policies necessary. We explored the experiences of family members of patients with severe acute brain injury focusing on the impact of family presence in the hospital. Methods: Semistructured interviews (February 2018-April 2020) were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: We interviewed family members of 19 patients with stroke, traumatic brain injury, or cardiac arrest; five interviews occurred after initiation of restrictive visitation policies. Four key themes highlight the role of visitation on family's ability to (1) cope by being at the bedside, (2) protect and advocate for the patient, (3) build trust with clinicians, and (4) receive emotional support in the intensive care unit. After visitation restrictions, families found ways to communicate and support virtually and wished for proactive communication from clinicians. Conclusions: Family presence at patient's bedside fulfills important needs. Visitation restrictions require hospitals to be creative and inclusive to help maintain these connections.
A China Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations

Until recently, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been an effective framework for cooperation because it has continually adapted to changing economic realities. The current Doha Agenda is an aberration because it does not reflect one of the biggest shifts in the international economic and trading system: the rise of China. Even though China will have a stake in maintaining trade openness, an initiative that builds on but redefines the Doha Agenda would anchor China more fully in the multilateral trading system. Such an initiative would have two pillars. First, a new negotiating agenda that would include the major issues of interest to China and its trading partners, and thus unleash the powerful reciprocal liberalization mechanism that has driven the WTO process to previous successes. Second, new restraints on bilateralism and regionalism that would help preserve incentives for maintaining the current broad non-discriminatory trading order. JEL Codes: F1, F2, F5
Kwame Nkrumah and the All-African Trade Union Federation: Labour and the Emancipation of Africa

This chapter examines Kwame Nkrumah’s use of trade unions to gain Ghanaian independence, create the All-African Trade Union Federation (AATUF) to unite Africans from the bottom up, defeat Kenya’s Tom Mboya and his plan to affiliate the African labour movement with the West’s International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, and work surreptitiously with the Soviet Bloc’s World Federation of Trade Unions to fund the AATUF and use it as the labour adjunct in his effort to create a United States of Africa.
EFFICIENT IV ESTIMATION FOR AUTOREGRESSIVE MODELS WITH CONDITIONAL HETEROSKEDASTICITY

This paper analyzes autoregressive time series models where the errors are assumed to be martingale difference sequences that satisfy an additional symmetry condition on their fourth-order moments. Under these conditions quasi maximum likelihood estimators of the autoregressive parameters are no longer efficient in the generalized method of moments (GMM) sense. The main result of the paper is the construction of efficient semiparametric instrumental variables estimators for the autoregressive parameters. The optimal instruments are linear functions of the innovation sequence. It is shown that a frequency domain approximation of the optimal instruments leads to an estimator that only depends on the data periodogram and an unknown linear filter. Semiparametric methods to estimate the optimal filter are proposed. The procedure is equivalent to GMM estimators where lagged observations are used as instruments. As a result of the additional symmetry assumption on the fourth moments the number of instruments is allowed to grow at the same rate as the sample. No lag truncation parameters are needed to implement the estimator, which makes it particularly appealing from an applied point of view.
Interventions Designed to Improve Narrative Language in School-Age Children: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analyses

Purpose The purpose of this systematic review with meta-analyses was to examine interventions that aimed to improve narrative language outcomes for preschool and elementary school–age children in t...
Computationally-efficient voice activity detection based on deep neural networks

Voice activity detection (VAD) is among the first preprocessing steps in most speech processing applications. While there are several very low-power analog solutions, the more recent deep neural network (DNN) based solutions have superior VAD performance in even complex noisy backgrounds at the expense of increase in computations. In this paper, we propose a computationally-efficient network architecture, ResCap+, for high performance VAD. ResCap+ operates on small-sized sequences and is built with residual blocks in a convolutional neural network to encode the characteristics of the input spectrum, and a capsule network with LSTM cells to capture the temporal relationship between these sequences. We evaluate the model using the AMI meeting corpus and show that it outperforms a state-of-the-art DNN-based model on accuracy with ≈55× less computation cost. We also present initial hardware performance results on a low-power programmable architecture, Transmuter, and show that it can process every 40ms input audio sequence with a delay of 15.17ms resulting in real-time performance.
Complications Associated with Surgical Treatment of Adult Spondylolisthesis

There are numerous surgical procedures that exist for the treatment of adult spondylolisthesis. The goal of these procedures is the same despite their technical differences: neurologic decompression, achieving solid fusion and +/− spondylolisthesis reduction. Likewise, the complications associated with these procedures are similar. The following is a summary of the most commonly encountered complications associated with the surgical management of adult spondylolisthesis and their recommended management. Pseudoarthrosis is the most common complication that occurs in lumbar spine fusion surgery. It can be a diagnostic challenge and requires a thorough investigation. Neurologic injuries can occur in various forms from dural tears to paralysis. While achieving a solid fusion is the goal, slip progression and instrumentation failure may occur in the process. The risk associated with these complications depends on the various surgical procedures that are undertaken. This chapter reviews the most common complications associated with the surgical treatment of adult spondylolisthesis and their management.
Cyclic nucleotide control of protein kinases.

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a discussion on the cyclic nucleotide control of protein kinases. The chapter concentrates on the current knowledge about the structure, function, and regulation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)- and cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP)-dependent protein kinases. The chapter reviews the initial studies that led to the discovery of cAMP-dependent protein kinase and its mode of regulation by cAMP. The chapter critically evaluates, in selected hormonal systems, the observations that correlate the rise of cAMP with the activation of cAMP-dependent protein kinase and the phosphorylation of a substrate protein with the biological response. The chapter discusses various structural models and biological role of cGMP-dependent and cAMP-dependent protein kinases. The control of various biochemical reactions by protein kinases may not be because of a singular type of protein kinase. The cyclic-nucleotide-dependent protein kinases might control the activity of a certain cyclic-nucleotide-independent protein kinase and vice versa. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the biological regulation of neurotransmission and adrenocortical steroid metabolism by cGMP-dependent protein kinases.
Lithium and Valproate Levels Do Not Correlate with Ketamine’s Antidepressant Efficacy in Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Depression

Ketamine and lithium both inhibit glycogen synthase kinase 3. In addition, lithium and ketamine have synergistic antidepressant-like effects at individually subeffective doses in rodents. We hypothesized that ketamine's antidepressant effects would be improved by therapeutic doses of lithium versus valproate and that serum lithium levels would positively correlate with ketamine's antidepressant efficacy. Thirty-six patients with treatment-resistant bipolar depression maintained on therapeutic-dose lithium (n = 23, 0.79 ± 0.15 mEq/L) or valproate (n = 13, 79.6 ± 12.4 mg/mL) received 0.5 mg/kg ketamine infusion in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial. The primary depression outcome measure-the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)-was assessed before infusion and at numerous postinfusion time points. Both lithium (F 1,118 = 152.08, p < 0.001, and d = 2.27) and valproate (F 1,128 = 20.12, p < 0.001, and d = 0.79) significantly improved depressive symptoms, but no statistically significant difference was observed between mood stabilizer groups (F 1,28 = 2.51, p = 0.12, and d = 0.60). Serum lithium and valproate levels did not correlate with ketamine's antidepressant efficacy. Although the study was potentially underpowered, our results suggest that lithium may not potentiate ketamine's antidepressant efficacy in treatment-resistant bipolar depression.
Olivine emerges from isolation

At a depth of around 410 km in the Earth's mantle, the speed of seismic waves rises sharply. The reason is thought to be the high-pressure transformation of the mineral olivine to wadsleyite at that depth. Seismological data have however been at odds with laboratory work with these minerals, in which their behaviour is extrapolated to mantle conditions. A study showing that manganese and iron can be exchanged between olivine and other mantle minerals is a step towards resolving these discrepancies.
The Jena Six and the History of Racially Compromised Justice in Louisiana

This symposium contribution paper puts the story of the Jena Six, young African American men charged with attempted murder for a schoolyard fight, in the larger context of Louisiana legal history. It argues that Louisiana has historically discriminated against its African American citizens through vaguely drafted laws that could be applied with almost unlimited discretion. These included laws allowing registrars to deny voting registration to applicants who failed to satisfactorily interpret particular sections of the state or U.S. Constitution, and a vagrancy law, still on the books, allowing arrest of "Persons found in or near any structure, movable, vessel, or private grounds, without being able to account for their lawful presence therein." Given this history, unlimited prosecutorial discretion has predictable effects.
A Comparative Study on Linguistic Feature Selection in Sentiment Polarity Classification.

Sentiment polarity classification is perhaps the most widely studied topic. It classifies an opinionated document as expressing a positive or negative opinion. In this paper, using movie review dataset, we perform a comparative study with different single kind linguistic features and the combinations of these features. We find that the classic topic-based classifier(Naive Bayes and Support Vector Machine) do not perform as well on sentiment polarity classification. And we find that with some combination of different linguistic features, the classification accuracy can be boosted a lot. We give some reasonable explanations about these boosting outcomes.
Preparation of collagen-coated gels that maximize in vitro myogenesis of stem cells by matching the lateral elasticity of in vivo muscle.

The physical nature of a cell’s microenvironment – including the elasticity of the surrounding tissue – appears to exert a significant influence on cell morphology, cytoskeleton, and gene expression. We have previously shown that committed muscle cells will develop sarcomeric striations of skeletal muscle myosin II only when the cells are grown on a compliant gel that closely matches the passive compliance of skeletal muscle. We have more recently shown with the same types of elastic gels that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) maximally express myogenic genes, even in the absence of tailored soluble factors. Here, we provide detailed methods not only for how we make and nanomechanically characterize hydrogels of muscle-like elasticity, but also how we culture MSCs and characterize their myogenic induction by whole human genome transcript analysis.
Experiments on Chute Flows of Granular Materials

Experiments on continuous, steady flows of granular materials down an inclined channel or chute were made with the object of acquiring information on the rheological properties of the granular material flow and the nature of the boundary condition on the base of the channel. Specifically measurements were made of the mean material velocities and velocity profiles on all boundaries of the flow using cross-correlation of two neighboring fibre-optic displacement probes. The output from these probes was used to obtain (1) the unsteady or random component of the particle velocity in the longitudinal direction and (2) a measure of the volume fraction of the flow in contact with the base by counting the frequency of passage of the particles. Measurement was also made of the depth of the flow, the mass flow rate and the shear stress on the base. The latter employed a strain-gauged shear force plate built into the base. The experiments are currently in progress and so further data will be presented at a later date. Nevertheless the preliminary data have yielded a number of interesting features.
Galactosyl-sucrose oligosaccharides and potential longevity of primed seeds

Correlative evidence indicates that sucrose and α-galactosyl-sucrose oligosaccharides (raffinose family oligosaccharides; RFOs) may be involved in seed longevity. Priming treatments (hydration in water or osmotic solutions followed by drying) can improve short-term seed performance but often result in reduced seed longevity. As RFOs are metabolized quickly following seed imbibition, loss of RFOs during priming could lead to more rapid deterioration in dry storage. This hypothesis was tested by measuring sucrose and oligosaccharide contents and potential longevity of primed seeds. Raffinose contents of whole lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) seeds declined during hydration and priming and were correlated with decreased median potential viability (p50). However, this relationship was less significant when only the embryonic axes were analysed. In tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) and impatiens (Impatiens balsamina L.) seeds, planteose was the major galactosyl-sucrose oligosaccharide and only small quantities of RFOs were present. Planteose contents declined during priming in seeds of both species, while sucrose contents increased or remained constant. Post-priming treatments that restored longevity in primed impatiens and tomato seeds were not accompanied by consistent changes in RFO or planteose contents. Our data do not rule out a role for oligosaccharides in seed longevity, but they make it unlikely that changes in oligosaccharide contents alone are responsible for the reduction in longevity due to priming or its restoration by post-priming treatments.
The Proapoptotic Activities of Bax and Bak Limit the Size of the Neural Stem Cell Pool

The proapoptotic Bcl-2 family members Bak and Bax play central and redundant roles in the regulation of apoptosis. In this study, we investigated the effect of loss of Bax and Bak in the CNS. The adult bax-/-bak-/- mice display masses of densely staining cells in the proliferative zones of the brain. These cells are shown to be a mix of neural progenitor cells and postmitotic cells at different stages of neural and glial differentiation. Both neural progenitor cells and mature neurons derived from bax-/-bak-/- mice were resistant to various apoptotic stimuli. Despite this resistance, postmitotic mature bax-/-bak-/- neurons remain as sensitive to excitoxic death as wild-type neurons. Thus, Bax and Bak play a critical role in regulating the number of neural progenitor cells in the adult brain but are not absolutely required for the initiation of neuronal cell death after neurotoxic injury.
Studies on the Passive Transfer of Immunity with Newcastle Disease Virus in Relation to Deutectomy

Abstract THESE experiments were conducted in an attempt to determine the basis for variances which appear in the literature regarding the function and transfer of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) antibody in the yolk and the serum-yolk relationship in the chick following hatching. Brandly et al. (1946) have stated that there is a positive correlation between serum and yolk neutralization values in hens immunized to Newcastle disease virus, but that the serum titers exceed those of the yolk by a factor of 10 to 100. The embryo exhibits antiviral activity at 15 days, is augmented at 18 days, then at 20 days the supposed maximum is reached. Schmittle (1950) compared the serum of hens exposed to Newcastle disease virus to their yolks by the HI test. In 2.3 percent of the cases, the serum was positive and the yolk negative; in 54.4 percent the serum and yolk titers were the same; in 37.5…
Why Write...Together: A Research Update.

(1986). Why write . . . together: A research update. Rhetoric Review: Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 71-81.
A tax motivation for smoothing dividends

Abstract Lintner (1956) finds that managers perceive shareholders to value a smooth dividend stream. In response to this perception, managers smooth the dividend stream over time. In this paper, we demonstrate that personal income tax laws may provide managers with an additional reason to smooth the dividend stream. We find that dividend smoothing way increase wealth for a tax-paying investor by reducing the present value of the investor's future expected income tax liabilities. Dividend smoothing has no wealth effect for investors who do not pay taxes. We also find that smoothing the dividend stream is especially important to firms with volatile earnings. The potential increase in wealth from dividend smoothing is a function of the convexity of the income tax code. We apply the dividend model specified by Lintner (1956) to a nongrowing firm, and find that the optimal value for the speed of adjustment parameter is equal to zero. This corresponds to paying a fixed dividend. Finally, our model lends itself to a testable hypothesis regarding the smoothing of dividend income.
Democracy in Europe: The Impact of European Integration

Europeanization has brought radical change to the governance practices of all European Union (EU) member states, and these practices have clashed with traditional ideas about democracy. The degree to which EU member states have been affected is largely a matter of institutional fit. The EU, as a compound supranational polity in which governing activity is highly diffused through multiple authorities, has been more disruptive to simple national polities such as Britain and France, in which governing has traditionally been channeled through a single authority, than to compound national polities such as Germany and Italy, in which it has traditionally also been diffused through multiple authorities.The main problem for EU member states, however, is that national leaders have generally failed to develop new ideas and discourses to reflect Europeanized realities. But here too institutional differences matter. Simple polities are better positioned to address changes because their concentration of authority ensures them a more elaborate communicative discourse with the general public, in which they are able to speak with one voice, than are compound national polities, let alone the EU, given the number of potentially authoritative voices with differing messages.Vivien A. Schmidt is Jean Monnet Professor of European Integration at Boston University (vschmidt@bu.edu). Her recent books include Policy Change and Discourse in Europe, coedited with C. Radaelli (2005), and The Futures of European Capitalism (2002). Her forthcoming book Democracy in Europe: The EU and National Polities (2006) explores the impact of the European integration on national democracies. This article is a revision of a paper prepared for presentation to the American Political Science Association National Meetings in Chicago, September 1–5, 2004.
Rapid screening of plants promoting phenanthrene degradation

Crop plants were tested for their capacity to bring about phenanthrene degradation in solution. A simple colorimetric method was used to quantify phenols formed from phenanthrene in 1 h. In the presence of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and pea (Pisum sativum L.) roots, >50% of the phenanthrene was metabolized and converted to phenols. In the presence of roots of other plant species, phenanthrene disappeared rapidly, but little phenols accumulated. We suggest that this is a rapid, simple assay to screen plant species for use in phytoremediation.
Exploring the Socioeconomic and Immigration Health Contexts of Asian Americans

Despite an overall picture of good health for Asian Americans in the aggregate, growing evidence shows that specific subgroups—particularly those with high proportions of immigrants—have diverse patterns relative to socioeconomic position and health. Using data from the largest U.S. state health survey, this study explores the contributions of socioeconomic and immigration factors to health status among Asian American subgroups. Results indicate that level of education, income, and English language ability were significant predictors of health status for the Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese subgroups. Varying patterns in the results by subgroup are discussed in the context of immigration policy.
EFFECTS OF ELECTROCUTANEOUS READY-SIGNAL VARIATION ON VISUAL REACTION-TIME

Two ready-signal variables (direction of change in electrocutaneous stimulation and method of presentation: “trace” or “delayed”) were combined in a 2 by 2 by Ss design. Neither variable produced a significant main effect but yielded a highly significant interaction. Results were interpreted in terms of arousal. intersensory. and conditioning explanations of ready-signal effects.
Sensitive and selective liquid chromatographic postcolumn reaction detection system for biotin and biocytin using a homogeneous fluorophore-linked assay

Abstract A homogeneous fluorophore-linked assay was used to develop a posteolumn reaction detection system for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Biotin and biocytin were chosen as the model analytes. The effluent from the HPLC column was merged with a reagent stream containing avidin that was labeled with fluorescein isothiocyanate (avidin-FITC). The binding of the separated analytes by the labeled avidin was accompanied by an enhancement of the fluorescence intensity at 520 nm. This increase in fluorescence was proportional to the concentration of the analytes and constituted the analytical signal. The procedure was optimized with respect to the reagent concentration and the flow-rate of the reagent solution. Analytical characteristics of the method were determined. The procedure was highly selective for biotin and its derivatives. The detection limits for biotin and biocytin were 89 and 94 pg, respectively, for 20-μl injections. The developed postcolumn reaction detection system was validated by determining biotin in a liquid vitamin preparation and a horse-feed supplement.
Isolation of Pythium litorale from irrigation ponds used for vegetable production and its pathogenicity on squash

Abstract Irrigation water can harbour propagules of pathogenic oomycetes that may be a primary source of disease outbreak in crop plants. Irrigation ponds associated with vegetable production in southern Georgia, USA, were assessed in this study. Camellia and rhododendron leaves were used as baits for recovery of oomycetes that were further identified by morphological characteristics and analysis of the internal transcribed spacer rDNA regions. Pythium litorale was frequently isolated from all irrigation ponds sampled. Assessment of growth rates of P. litorale isolates at 5–45 °C indicated that the optimum and maximum temperatures were 30 and 40 °C, respectively. It appeared that these isolates were more tolerant to higher temperatures than previously described P. litorale isolates from Europe that had a maximum growth temperature of 35 °C. Pathogenicity assay with the P. litorale isolates showed that they caused fruit rot and seedling damping-off of yellow squash. Pythium litorale was first described as ...
Flux creep characteristics after the increase in temperature or external field

Abstract The parameters of power-law magnetic relaxation; M s , R and β, have been studied on a laser-ablated YBCO thin film. It was found that at given T and H, M s was almost independent on measuring process. R and β obtained from fixed H and step-increased T process were respectively larger than those from fixed T and step-increased H process. These demonstrated that the rate of flux creep is more influenced by Lorentz force than by thermal activation factor.
Highly efficient capture and enumeration of low abundance prostate cancer cells using prostate‐specific membrane antigen aptamers immobilized to a polymeric microfluidic device

Prostate tumor cells over-express a prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) that can be used as a marker to select these cells from highly heterogeneous clinical samples, even when found in low abundance. Antibodies and aptamers have been developed that specifically bind to PSMA. In this study, anti-PSMA aptamers were immobilized onto the surface of a capture bed poised within a PMMA, microchip, which was fabricated into a high-throughput micro-sampling unit (HTMSU) used for the selective isolation of rare circulating prostate tumor cells resident in a peripheral blood matrix. The HTMSU capture bed consisted of 51 ultra-high-aspect ratio parallel curvilinear channels with a width similar to the prostate cancer cell dimensions. The surface density of the PSMA-specific aptamers on an ultraviolet-modified PMMA microfluidic capture bed surface was determined to be 8.4 x 10(12) molecules/cm(2). Using a linear velocity for optimal cell capture in the aptamer-tethered HTMSU (2.5 mm/s), a recovery of 90% of LNCaP cells (prostate cancer cell line; used as a model in this example) was found. Due to the low abundance of these cells, the input volume required was 1 mL and this could be processed in approximately 29 min using an optimized linear flow rate of 2.5 mm/s. Captured cells were subsequently released intact from the affinity surface using 0.25% w/w trypsin followed by counting individual cells using a contact conductivity sensor integrated into the HTMSU that provided high detection and sampling efficiency (approximately 100%) and did not require staining of the cells for enumeration.
The effect of ketorolac on postoperative febrile episodes in patients after abdominal myomectomy

Abstract Objective: Our purpose was to determine whether administering the anti-inflammatory agent ketorolac after abdominal myomectomy reduces the incidence of febrile episodes. Study Design: This prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical investigation compared administering ketorolac 15 mg intravenously every 6 hours beginning in the recovery room with saline solution administered in the same regimen in 122 patients undergoing abdominal myomectomy in a large, urban academic medical center. The primary outcome was fever >101.0°F in the postoperative period. Results were analyzed by χ 2 analysis, independent samples t test, and logistic regression. Results: Data were analyzed on 112 patients, with 56 in the treatment group and 56 in the placebo group. After confounding factors were controlled with logistic regression, the data revealed a statistically significant reduction in febrile episodes in the ketorolac-treated group (27%) compared with the saline solution-treated group (41%) ( P =.04). Conclusion: Treatment with ketorolac after abdominal myomectomy results in a statistically significant reduction in the rate of febrile episodes. (Am J Obstet Gynecol 2002;187:1450-5.)
AN ADJOINT VARIABLE METHOD FOR SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS OF NON-LINEAR ELASTIC SYSTEMS

SUMMARY An adjoint variable method for design sensitivity analysis of non-linear elastic systems is presented. The method uses domain parameterization and a mutual form of the Hu-Washizu energy principle, and extends results reported in a recent work for linear elastic systems to non-linear elasticity. Non-linearities due to finite deformations and non-linear, hyperelastic constitutive models are considered. In contrast to other methods for non-linear sensitivity analysis, the present formulation can be applied with force, displacement or mixed approximate solution methods. The mutual energy expression used in the adjoint sensitivity derivation is developed from a non-linear extension of the Hu-Washizu energy functional and yields a linear governing equation for the adjoint system. This has important ramifications for the computational cost of a sensitivity analyses of non-linear systems: excluding the cost of determining the response of the system, the cost of a sensitivity analysis for a non-linear system is essentially the same as that for a linear system. Finite element implementation of the resulting sensitivity expressions is discussed, and two numerical examples are presented. The first example involves large deformations of a Mooney-Rivlin body, while the second involves design sensitivity analysis for mixed solution methods.
Contemporary issues in amblyopia treatment.

Purpose The aim of this report is to review the contemporary research in amblyopia treatment and how it will affect clinical practice patterns. Methods Topics addressed include prescribing the optimal refractive correction, the most effective treatment, duration and intensity of treatment, regression after treatment, the upper age for treatment, and the chance of the amblyope losing his or her sound eye. Results and Conclusions The optimal refractive correction is best determined with cycloplegic retinoscopy; pharmacologic penalization can be as effective as patching in children with moderate amblyopia; less-intense treatment regimens have been found to be as effective as more-intense treatment regimens; regression can occur in as many as 25% of all treated patients; some older amblyopes can be treated successfully; and the amblyope has a higher chance of becoming blind than the nonamblyope.
Development and construct validation of a self-report measure of binge eating tendencies.

Abstract Bulimia is an eating disorder purported to comprise binge eating episodes with subsequent depressive moods and self-deprecating thoughts. This study reports the development and preliminary construct validation of a Binge Scale intended to provide more descriptive, quantifiable information about the behavioral and attitudinal parameters of bulimia. Over two-thirds of the females and nearly one-half of the males in the samples reported binge eating occurences. The severity of binge eating was associated with degree of dieting concern (“restraint”) and inversely related to self-image acceptance, particularly among females. Maintaining body weight below “set point” through restrained eating efforts may increase the susceptibility to periodic binge episodes.
Why Even More Clinical Research Studies May Be False: Effect of Asymmetrical Handling of Clinically Unexpected Values

Background In medical practice, clinically unexpected measurements might be quite properly handled by the remeasurement, removal, or reclassification of patients. If these habits are not prevented during clinical research, how much of each is needed to sway an entire study?
The relationships between the Golgi apparatus, GERL, and lysosomes of fetal rat liver Kupffer cells examined by ultrastructural phosphatase cytochemistry

Kupffer cells are the sinusoidal macrophages of the liver. Using ultrastructural phosphatase cytochemical methods, we examined the relationship between the Golgi apparatus, GERL, and lysosomes of Kupffer cells in fetal rat livers identified, in part, by their ability to phagocytize intravenously injected latex spheres. Thiamine pyrophosphatase (TPPase) activity was localized to the inner Golgi saccules and some vesicles in the Golgi region but not to GERL. A TPPase-like activity, demonstrable in lysosomes, was abolished by sodium fluoride but not suppressed by the alkaline phosphatase inhibitors L-cysteine and L-p-bromotetramisole. Acid phosphatase (AcPase) was localized by GERL, some coated vesicles, and in lysosomes, but not to the Golgi stacks. Continuities between GERL and lysosomes were observed. Phagosomes containing internalized latex spheres received TPPase and AcPase sequentially. TPPase was localized in phagosomes immediately after latex administration. AcPase activity was not found here until at least 10 minutes following the injection of the particulates. Our findings indicate that Kupffer cell lysosomes are derived from GERL, but also suggest that phagosomes may receive material packaged by the Golgi apparatus as well as GERL.
Theoretical studies of methanol droplet combustion based on results from the USML-2 mission

Abstract Since earth-based, low-gravity facilities limit the size of methanol droplet combustion experiments in air to a maximum of about 1 mm in diameter if complete combustion histories are to be observed, a fiber-supported drop-combustion investigation, with initial drop diameters from about 2–5 mm, was performed during the USML-2 mission to study the effect of initial droplet size on flame extinction. The experiments showed that the droplet extinction diameter increases with the initial diameter, as predicted by earlier rate-ratio asymptotic analyses and by numerical integrations of full sets of conservation equations. There were differences, however, in the slopes of the curves of the extinction diameter as a function of the initial diameter. For this reason, the previous theoretical analysis for the combustion and extinction of methanol droplets, that considers flame extinction by application of rate-ratio asymptotics and that accounts for absorption in the liquid of water produced in the flame, with perfect liquid-phase mixing, a Burke-Schumann gas-phase description, no water initially in the liquid and all Lewis numbers unity, is modified here by introducing a Lewis number for water that differs from unity and by accounting for water initially present in the fuel. Comparison of extinction diameters predicted by this modified theory with those measured in the spacelab experiments results in good agreement between theory and experiments if the initial water content is around 20%. Both theory and experiments show extinction diameters that increase approximately linearly with the initial diameter for these large droplets. Reasons for the good agreement are discussed, and worthwhile future investigations are suggested.
The new 'burbs: the exurbs and their implications for planning policy

Abstract The exurbs are currently home to sixty million Americans, and may be home to more people than urban, suburban, or rural areas are by early in the next century. Planners may be unprepared to address the special needs and challenges presented by the exurbs, because the tools that planners use to manage cities, suburbs, and rural areas may be inappropriate. Before planners can respond adequately to the challenge of exurban development, they must first understand who lives there and why. Using a case study of the Portland, Oregon area, we find that although ex-urbanites have many socio-economic characteristics in common with suburbanites, they prefer a different lifestyle. This lifestyle includes rural amenities, large house lots, and longer drives to work. We also find substantial differences between exurbanites living in small towns and those living in rural areas.
Effects of an acutely toxic dose of the avicide 3-chloro-p-toluidine in chickens.

Abstract The acute effects of the avicide 3-chloro- p -toluidine were studied. It was hoped that this study would reveal possible mechanisms for the toxicity of this compound in chickens. The signs of toxicity included hypoglycemia, depletion of liver glycogen, and excessive buildup of uric acid in the plasma, a selective loss of protein content from the kidney and a shift in the white blood cells. No significant changes were found in the activity of serum glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase, tissue or serum phosphatases (except an increase in the activity of alkaline phosphatase at 6 hr), protein content of the liver, or the plasma sodium and potassium concentrations of birds treated with 3-chloro- p -toluidine.
The cosmogenic He3 and He4 distribution in the meteorite Carbo

Abstract The cosmogenic He 3 and He 4 distribution in a cross-section of the iron meteorite, Carbo, has been made with a mass spectrometer. The He 3 /He 4 ratio is approximately constant throughout most of the cross-section and has a value of 0·239. The amount of He 3 varies between the approximate limits of 3·2 and 4·6 × 10 −6 std. cm 3 /g of meteorite. Contours of constant He 3 and He 4 were plotted. These are open curves indicating the meteorite was either split in half late in its lifetime or eroded away on one side since its fall to earth.
Three new species of Cobaea (Polemoniaceae)

Revisionary work has revealed three new species ofCobaea:Cobaea flava of northern Peru,C. paneroi of central Mexico, andC. rotundiflora of Guatemala and extreme southeastern Mexico.Cobaea flava is most similar toC. campanulata and differs mainly in its pedicel pubescence, corolla coloration, and stamen position.Cobaea paneroi is among the large-flowered species (theCobaea scandens group) but is easily distinguished from these by its long-acuminate calyx segments.Cobaea rotundiflora most closely resemblesC. triflora. It differs mainly in its corolla coloration and wider, pubescent calyx segments.
Quantitative analysis of Pt–PAMAM ligand exchange reactions: Time and concentration effects

Abstract The goal of this work is to quantitatively evaluate the extent of Pt–PAMAM complexation for conditions used in practice to prepare PAMAM-stabilized Pt nanoparticles for catalysis applications. UV–visible spectrophotometry (UV–vis), atomic absorption (AA) spectroscopy, and ion chromatography (IC) are used to monitor the progress of ligand exchange reactions between PtCl42− and G4OH PAMAM dendrimers. A specific objective was to quantify the fraction of Pt that covalently binds with PAMAM as a function of time, nominal Pt:PAMAM ratio, and PAMAM concentration. UV–vis and IC results show that ligand exchange reactions between PtCl42− and G4OH continue to produce new Pt–PAMAM bonds and release chloride ions over periods as long as 3 months. The overall kinetics of ligand exchange follows a log(time) dependence. Dialysis of G4OH–(Pt2+)n solutions followed by AA analysis shows that fractional covalent binding is greater than 90% for n 40, showing that the actual number of Pt atoms that are irreversibly, covalently bound by G4OH is less than the nominal Pt:G4OH ratio (n). Incomplete binding leaves free, aquated Pt complexes in solution that may impact subsequent reduction and nanoparticle formation. We show that the 250 nm peak absorbance due to ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) increases non-linearly with the bound Pt:G4OH ratio. We speculate that the change in the extinction coefficient may be due to a graduate transition from multidentate to monodentate complexation as the bound Pt:G4OH ratio increases.
Chronic Friedlander's Pneumonia

to treat satisfactorily. Soloman’ estimated that Friedlander’s pneumonia constitutes 1 to 3 per cent of all adult cases of pneumonia. The onset of the disease can closely mimic either that of pneumococcic pneumonia or virus pneumonia and failure of the disease to respond to ordinary antibiotics is frequently the first factor to raise a question as to the correct diagnosis. The following case presentations point out the problems in diagnosis and treatment of these conditions and illustrate the difficulties
Connect-the-dots: a new heuristic

The problem considered in this paper is that of finding a simple polygon through a given set of points in the plane that is “natural” in some perceptual sense. We propose that a particular geometric object called the minimal spanning Voronoi tree captures the essence of the problem. Despite the fact that we can neither prove the existence of this geometric object nor design an exact algorithm for finding it, a search heuristic results in remarkably pleasing solutions to the problem.
Don't shoot the (second) messenger: endomembrane transporters and binding proteins modulate cytosolic Ca2+ levels.

Abstract Ca2+ signal transduction requires the meticulous regulation of cytosolic Ca2+ levels. Endomembrane Ca2+ transporters and binding proteins are important components in partitioning these Ca2+ signals to mediate cellular activity. Recently, many of these proteins have been characterized and mutant analysis suggests that these transporters form a network. Future attempts to manipulate plant Ca2+ signaling must address all aspects of this complex.
Loss of inhibitory motor control following a subanesthetic dose of thiobarbiturate in rhesus monkeys

An operant paradigm was employed to examine the magnitude and duration of the behavioral excitation induced by a subanesthetic dose of a short-acting thiobarbiturate drug. Thus,.5 h following a single intravenous injection of sodium thiamylal (Surital, P.D.; 12.5 mg/kg), the mean response rate of monkeys previously trained to barpress for food reinforcement on a VI 30-sec schedule was increased threefold. By 3 h postinjection, drug and saline means were statistically indistinguishable and by 4 h, they were virtually identical. Analysis of pauses and interreinforcement response rates from cumulative records showed a tendency for drugged animals to respond in rapid bursts, and undrugged animals to maintain the steady, slow response rate characteristic of performance on a variable-interval schedule. Possible CNS mediation of this behavioral excitation in terms of interference with inhibitory reticular formation processes is discussed.
Object-oriented region-of-interest toolkit for workstations

Medical imaging workstations need capabilities for defining a Region Of Interest (ROI) within an image, so that it can be processed for visualization or quantitative measurements. The purpose of this work was to develop a generic, object-oriented toolkit which allows creation, modification, querying and traversal of an ROI. In the object-oriented design, an ROI class is defined with associated methods. An ROI object consists of a set of 3-D points represented using interval- end-points. The ROI toolkit has been developed using C++, in conjunction with patient browser and image object navigation (display) toolkits, to serve as the foundation for thoracic and neuro-radiology workstations. Because of the object-oriented design and generic representation of the ROI, this toolkit can easily facilitate standard and advanced image processing methods.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Surface Tension of Symmetric Star Polymer Melts

To evaluate the effect of polymer architecture on surface tension, glass transition, and other thermodynamic properties, we synthesized a series of 4-arm and 11-arm symmetric star polystyrenes. Surface tension was measured as a function of molecular weight of the stars and temperature in the melt using a modified Wilhelmy plate technique. We find that architectural effects play a significant role in determining the molecular weight dependence of polymer melt surface tension. A variable density lattice model that considers effects of entropic attraction of polymer chain ends to surfaces, compressibility and density gradients in the region near the surface is used to determine the origin of this observation. This analysis is complemented with surface tension calculations using more classical thermodynamic models that consider only bulk property changes with polymer architecture and molecular weight. Bulk thermodynamic properties for selected stars were derived from pressure−volume−temperature (PVT) measurem...
Experimental and computational investigations of Ser10 and Lys13 in the binding and cleavage of DNA substrates by Escherichia coli DNA topoisomerase I

Ser10 and Lys13 found near the active site tyrosine of Escherichia coli DNA topoisomerase I are conserved among the type IA topoisomerases. Site-directed mutagenesis of these two residues to Ala reduced the relaxation and DNA cleavage activity, with a more severe effect from the Lys13 mutation. Changing Ser10 to Thr or Lys13 to Arg also resulted in loss of DNA cleavage and relaxation activity of the enzyme. In simulations of the open form of the topoisomerase–DNA complex, Lys13 interacts directly with Glu9 (proposed to be important in the catalytic mechanism). This interaction is removed in the K13A mutant, suggesting the importance of lysine as either a proton donor or a stabilizing cation during strand cleavage, while the Lys to Arg mutation significantly distorts catalytic residues. Ser10 forms a direct hydrogen bond with a phosphate group near the active site and is involved in direct binding of the DNA substrate; this interaction is disturbed in the S10A and S10T mutants. This combination of a lysine and a serine residue conserved in the active site of type IA topoisomerases may be required for correct positioning of the scissile phosphate and coordination of catalytic residues relative to each other so that DNA cleavage and subsequent strand passage can take place.