cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Exploiting Memristive Crossbar Memories as Dual-Use Security Primitives in IoT Devices

As the internet-of-things (IoT) paradigm emerges, digital system designers are pressed with ever challenging design requirements necessitating smaller, more energy efficient systems. Such requirements for lightweight IoT devices apply first and foremost to the primary functionality of the devices themselves. However, as IoT devices and systems become more prevelant in society, designers also must include strong security measures within a very limited area and power budget. Thus, approaches to lightweight security primitives are needed to address challenges such as reliable device authentication, side-channel analysis, and memory integrity, to name a few. In this paper, we consider nanoelectronic circuit designs that provide robust security with minimal area and power overhead. We focus specifically on memristor based circuits that offer reasonable levels of security with low energy and area overhead. For example, memristive crossbars are attractive in and of themselves as candidates for dense on-chip non-volatile memory in IoT devices. We show how such memristive crossbar structures can be leveraged in the implementation of (1) crossbar-based physical unclonable functions (PUF) useful for authentication and (2) sneak path integrity checking for data stored in the memory itself. These functions also demonstrate the potential dual-use nature of memristive crossbar structures (e.g. use as a memory and as a PUF). Early analysis of the nanoelectronic security primitives considered suggest very low power operation with minimal area footprint, making these solutions reasonable candidates for providing security and a hardware root of trust in emerging IoT devices.
Analysis of a commercial small unmanned airborne system (sUAS) in support of the Radiometric Calibration Test Site (RadCaTS) at Railroad Valley

The Radiometric Calibration Test Site (RadCaTS) is an automated facility developed by the Remote Sensing Group (RSG) at the University of Arizona to provide radiometric calibration data for airborne and satellite sensors. RadCaTS uses stationary ground-viewing radiometers (GVRs) to spatially sample the surface reflectance of the site. The number and location of the GVRs is based on previous spatial, spectral, and temporal analyses of Railroad Valley. With the increase in high-resolution satellite sensors, there is renewed interest in examining the spatial uniformity the 1-km2 RadCaTS area at scales smaller than a typical 30-m sensor. RadCaTS is one of the four instrumented sites currently in the CEOS WGCV Radiometric Calibration Network (RadCalNet), which aims to harmonize the post-launch radiometric calibration of satellite sensors through the use of a global network of automated calibration sites. A better understanding of the RadCaTS spatial uniformity as a function of pixel size will also benefit the RadCalNet work. RSG has recently acquired a commercially-available small unmanned airborne system (sUAS) system, with which preliminary spatial homogeneity measurements of the 1-km2 RadCaTS area were made. This work describes an initial assessment of the airborne platform and integrated camera for spatial studies of RadCaTS using data that were collected in 2016 and 2017.
Understanding and Resolving Conflicting Traditions: A MacIntyrean Approach to Shared Deliberation in Medical Ethics.

The position of clinical ethicist exists to help resolve conflicts in the hospital. Sometimes these conflicts arise because of fundamental cultural differences between the patient and the medical team, and such cases present special challenges. Should the ideology of modern medicine reject the wishes of those who hold ideologies from differing cultures? How can the medical ethicist help resolve such conflicts? To answer these questions, I rely on the works of Alasdair MacIntyre. Using MacIntyre’s philosophy, we can better understand why traditions exist, how conflicts arise, and how opposing traditions can collaborate in shared decision making. In order to overcome conflict, I conclude that MacIntyre’s virtues of acknowledged dependence must be realized by the ethicist and those in disagreement over tradition. I use a case study of a young Amish patient to highlight the conflicts that arise and to help exhibit how shared decision making can be made possible.
Uno, dos, tres: One concept for three Angle Classes

With the advantage of hindsight when examining treatments involving the use of miniscrew anchorage, it appears in a parallax view that moving from buccal interradicular alveolar insertion sites to the palate often affords more reliability and versatility for orthodontic biomechanics. Specifically, one palatal insertion site for miniscrews, combined with simple laboratory modifications of the transpalatal arch can be employed as anchorage to assist in the correction of a wide variety of malocclusions.
Developing a measure for health professionals’ attitudes toward veterans

U.S. veterans have complex healthcare needs that require professionals who are properly trained to address these issues. However, little is known about the attitudes that nurses and other professionals have toward veteran patients, particularly those working in community-based settings where it is unlikely training on veterans’ issues has occurred. Understanding health professionals’ attitudes toward caring for veterans is an important step in developing a workforce that is knowledgeable and willing to serve this complex and growing population. The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Health Professionals’ Attitudes Toward Veterans (HPATV) scale, which explores attitudes regarding military cultural sensitivity and awareness, provision of care to veteran patients, and the prominent veterans’ health issues. The HPATV was developed across several phases, including review of existing measures and literature regarding veterans’ health and attitude structure, hypothesis of a factor structure, identification of a theoretical framework for attitude construction, item generation, 3-round Delphi survey to refine items and test content validity, piloting the measure among health professions students, and exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Following CFA, the final 14-item scale revealed 3 latent factors to describe health professionals’ more nuanced attitudes toward working with veteran patients: culture, care, and health. The HPATV is a validated and readily available tool for needs assessment, quality improvement, and evaluation. Use of this tool will help increase understanding of these culture, care, and health domains and generate quality improvement initiatives based on them—ultimately benefiting veteran patients through more sensitive, patient-centered care.
A Configurable and Contextually Expandable Interactive Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) for Chinese Children with Autism

The electronic versions of PECS (picture exchange communication system) have been introduced to non-verbal children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the past decade. In this paper, we discuss some related issues and propose the design of more versatile electronic PECS (ePECS) as a comprehensive language training tool.
Impact of Scientific Maps on Technological Search and Novelty

How scientific maps influence technological search and innovation is not well understood. In this study, we analyze the impact of the human genome, a detailed scientific map, on drug discovery. In ...
New and forgotten paradigms: the environment and economics in historical archaeology

creation (the making of sources)', the moment of fact assembly (the making of archives)', the moment of fact retrieval (the making of narratives)', and the moment of retrospective significance (the making of history in the final sense)" (emphases his). Silences exist in the narratives of scholarly history as well. In most instances these are products of omission rather than commission: in essence they are the products of forgetting. Although many studies of memory and forgetting make reference to power as an integral force in the production of history (Shackel 2001; Schmidt and Walz 2007), there exists an important difference between historical silences and forgetting (Mills 2008). In the case of historical archaeology and its growth as a field of study, there are paradigms that have been maintained and those that have been forgotten. In this regard it can be argued that these omissions were made during the construction of narratives of both the field's history (Schulyer 1978, 1999; South 1994) and its epistemological development during the 1960s and 1970s (Noel Hume 1968; Fairbanks 1976; Deetz 1977; South 1977). In situating the articles presented in this volume, it is worth exploring the rather circuitous route the environment and economics have taken to enter
Recent Advances in the Pathophysiology and Treatment of Septic Shock

Septic shock ranks among the most severe clinical manifestations of systemic microbial infection [1]. The clinical syndrome is characterized by significant derangements in host physiology, the most prominent being systemic hypotension. This is frequently accompanied by evidence of organ dysfunction such as respiratory insufficiency or renal failure. By definition, patients with septic shock have clinical evidence of infection, a systolic blood pressure less than 90 mm Hg or a decrease in blood pressure of greater than 40 mm Hg, and remain hypotensive after receiving 500 ml of saline or Ringer’s lactate solution. In most, but not all patients with septic shock, blood cultures reveal a bacterial pathogen. Gramnegative bacteria are most commonly recognized as etiologic agents, although gram-positive bacteria, viruses and fungi are occasionally implicated.
Pediatric Lacrimal Disorders

• Nasolacrimal duct obstruction (NLDO) is one of the most common abnormalities in pediatric ophthalmology.
New food safety initiatives in the Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The production of meat and poultry products has become increasingly complex. Technological growth has contributed to the need for sophistication in determining the origin and risk of food-borne microbial infections as well as environmental contaminants. The increasing use of agricultural chemicals in animal production and to some extent in processed foods has led to the presence of chemical residues in meat and poultry. These changes have caused the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), a public health agency within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), to institute new food safety initiatives and procedures for inspection of meat and poultry products. The goal is to reduce risks to the public health from conditions observed during antemortem and postmortem inspection or detected during processing. FSIS is committed to scientific innovation and has implemented several rapid inplant tests that have given the Agency inexpensive, less disruptive methods to determine product adulteration contamination.
ΔFosB Decreases Excitability of Dorsal Hippocampal CA1 Neurons

Both the function of hippocampal neurons and hippocampus-dependent behaviors are dependent on changes in gene expression, but the specific mechanisms that regulate gene expression in hippocampus are not yet fully understood. The stable, activity-dependent transcription factor ΔFosB plays a role in various forms of hippocampal-dependent learning and in the structural plasticity of synapses onto CA1 neurons. The authors examined the consequences of viral-mediated overexpression or inhibition of ΔFosB on the function of adult mouse hippocampal CA1 neurons using ex vivo slice whole-cell physiology. We found that the overexpression of ΔFosB decreased the excitability of CA1 pyramidal neurons, while inhibition increased excitability. Interestingly, these manipulations did not affect resting membrane potential or spike frequency adaptation, but ΔFosB overexpression reduced hyperpolarization-activated current. Both ΔFosB overexpression and inhibition decreased spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents, while only ΔFosB inhibition affected the AMPA/NMDA ratio, which was mediated by decreased NMDA receptor current, suggesting complex effects on synaptic inputs to CA1 that may be driven by homeostatic cell-autonomous or network-driven adaptations to the changes in CA1 cell excitability. Because ΔFosB is induced in hippocampus by drugs of abuse, stress, or antidepressant treatment, these results suggest that ΔFosB-driven changes in hippocampal cell excitability may be critical for learning and, in maladaptive states, are key drivers of aberrant hippocampal function in diseases such as addiction and depression.
Examining Sources of Gender DIF in Mathematics Knowledge of Future Teachers Using Cross-Classified IRT Models

Research on differential item functioning (DIF) has focused traditionally on the detection of effects. However, recent studies have investigated potential sources of DIF, in an attempt to determine how or why it may occur. This study examines variability in item difficulty in math performance that is accounted for by gender, referred to as gender DIF, and the extent to which gender DIF is explained by both person predictors (opportunity to learn [OTL]) and item characteristics (item format). Cross-classified multilevel IRT models are used to examine the relationships among item difficulty, gender, OTL, and item format. Data come from the U.S. cohort of an international study of future math teachers, the Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics.
Cognitive Computing to Optimize IT Services

In this paper, the challenges of maintaining a healthy IT operational environment have been addressed by proactively analyzing IT Service Desk tickets, customer satisfaction surveys and social media data. A Cognitive solution goes beyond the traditional structured data analysis solutions by deep analyses of both structured and unstructured text. The salient features of the proposed platform include language identification, translation, hierarchical extraction of the most frequently occurring topics, entities and their relationships, text summarization, sentiments and knowledge extraction from the unstructured text using Natural Language Processing techniques. Moreover, the insights from unstructured text combined with structured data allows the development of various classification, segmentation and time-series forecasting use-cases on incident, problem and change datasets. The text and predictive insights together with raw data are used for visualization and exploration of actionable insights on a rich and interactive dashboard. However, it is hard not only to find these insights using traditional Analytics solutions but it might also take very long time to discover them, especially while dealing with massive amount of unstructured data. By taking actions on these insights, organizations can benefit from significant reduction of ticket volume, reduced operational costs and increased customer satisfaction. In various experiments, on average, up to 18–25 % of yearly ticket volume has been reduced using the proposed approach.
“Actually Existing Sustainabilities” in Urban China: National Initiatives and Local Contestations

Abstract While the United States under the Trump administration frames environmental initiatives and related governance measures as detrimental to economic development, China thinks the opposite. S...
A Machine Learning Approach to Predicting Case Duration for Robot-Assisted Surgery

Robot-assisted surgery (RAS) requires a large capital investment by healthcare organizations. The cost of a robotic unit is fixed, so institutions must maximize use of each unit by utilizing all available operating room block time. One way to increase utilization is to accurately predict case durations. In this study, we sought to use machine learning to develop an accurate predictive model for RAS case duration. We analyzed a random sample of robotic cases at our institution from January 2014 to June 2017. We compared the machine learning models to the baseline model, which is the scheduled case duration (determined by previous case duration averages and surgeon adjustments). Specifically, we used: 1) multivariable linear regression, 2) ridge regression, 3) lasso regression, 4) random forest, 5) boosted regression tree, and 6) neural network. We found that all machine learning models decreased the average root-mean-squared error (RMSE) as compared to the baseline model. The average RMSE was lowest with the boosted regression tree (80.2 min, 95% CI 74.0–86.4), which was significantly lower than the baseline model (100.4 min, 95% CI 90.5–110.3). Using boosted regression tree, we can increase the number of accurately booked cases from 148 to 219 (34.9% to 51.7%, p < 0.001). This study shows that using various machine learning approaches can improve the accuracy of RAS case length predictions, which will increase utilization of this limited resource. Further work is needed to operationalize these findings.
A Common Neuroendocrine Substrate for Diverse General Anesthetics and Sleep.

Summary How general anesthesia (GA) induces loss of consciousness remains unclear, and whether diverse anesthetic drugs and sleep share a common neural pathway is unknown. Previous studies have revealed that many GA drugs inhibit neural activity through targeting GABA receptors. Here, using Fos staining, ex vivo brain slice recording, and in vivo multi-channel electrophysiology, we discovered a core ensemble of hypothalamic neurons in and near the supraoptic nucleus, consisting primarily of neuroendocrine cells, which are persistently and commonly activated by multiple classes of GA drugs. Remarkably, chemogenetic or brief optogenetic activations of these anesthesia-activated neurons (AANs) strongly promote slow-wave sleep and potentiates GA, whereas conditional ablation or inhibition of AANs led to diminished slow-wave oscillation, significant loss of sleep, and shortened durations of GA. These findings identify a common neural substrate underlying diverse GA drugs and natural sleep and reveal a crucial role of the neuroendocrine system in regulating global brain states. Video Abstract
Efficient empiricism: Streamlining teaching, research, and learning in empirical courses

AbstractThe increasing importance of empirical analysis in economics highlights the need for efficient ways to bring these skills to the classroom. R Markdown is a new technology that provides a so...
Best Practice Statement on Urologic Procedures and Antimicrobial Prophylaxis

Purpose:The primary rationale for antimicrobial prophylaxis (AP) is to decrease the incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) and other preventable periprocedural infections, with the secondary go...
Climates for Ethnic and Racial Diversity: Latina/o Sorority and Fraternity Member Perspectives

This qualitative critical narrative inquiry explored how members of Latina/o sororities and fraternities perceived campus climates for racial and ethnic diversity at predominantly White institution...
Data Infrastructure Elements in Support of Accelerated Materials Innovation: ELA, PyMKS, and MATIN

Materials data management, analytics, and e-collaborations have been identified as three of the main technological gaps currently hindering the realization of the accelerated development and deployment of advanced materials targeted by the federal materials genome initiative. In this paper, we present our ongoing efforts aimed at addressing these critical gaps through the customized design and build of suitable data infrastructure elements. Specifically, our solutions include: (1) ELA—an experimental and laboratory automation software platform that systematically tracks interrelationships between the heterogeneous experimental datasets (i.e., provenance) acquired from diverse sample preparation and materials characterization equipment in a single consistent metadata database, (2) PyMKS—the first Python-based open-source materials data analytics framework that can be used to create high-fidelity, reduced-order (i.e., low computational cost), process–structure–property linkages for a broad range of material systems with a rich hierarchy of internal structures spanning multiple length scales, and (3) MATIN—a HUBzero-based software platform aimed at nucleating an emergent e-science community at the intersection of materials science, manufacturing, and computer science, and facilitating highly productive digital collaborations among geographically and organizationally distributed materials innovation stakeholders. This paper provides a timely report of lessons learned from these interrelated efforts.
The Association Between Acculturation and Social Determinants with Young Hispanic Women's Decision to Obtain the HPV Vaccine

Abstract Introduction: This year, an estimated 27,000 individuals in the United States will be diagnosed with an HPV-attributable cancer (i.e., cervical, vaginal, vulvar, penile, or anal) that causes pain, suffering, and death. Hispanic women are disproportionately affected by cervical cancer, with rates that are nearly 40% higher than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. This study examines the association between the level of acculturation and social determinants of health with obtaining an HPV vaccine among young U.S. Hispanic women. Methods: This study conducted secondary data analyses of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2009 – 2010. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) that included demographics, language spoken in the home, insurance status, and social support factors was conducted to determine the relationship of these variables. Additionally, logistic regression was employed to identify the factors that predict HPV vaccine status. Results: Among the sample of 2,835 Hispanic women, only 401 (14.1%) reported obtaining the vaccine. The results of this study indicated that as young women moved toward acculturation, their odds of obtaining the HPV vaccine increased slightly (1.37 times). Furthermore, as access to health insurance increased, rates of obtaining the HPV vaccine increased. Among the moderation models tested, as education among the acculturated group increased, the probability of being vaccinated increased. Yet this did not hold true among the non-acculturated group—as education went up, the probability of vaccination only slightly increased. Conclusions: Future efforts to increase utilization of the HPV vaccine should focus on less acculturated young women while utilizing culturally conscious strategies tailored to not only raise awareness surrounding the HPV vaccine, but to move women to obtain the vaccine. Keywords: HPV vaccine, acculturation, cervical cancer
The edge architecture for semi-autonomous industrial robotic inspection systems

Robots have been increasingly used in industrial applications, being deployed along other robots and human supervisors in the automation of complex tasks such as the inspection, monitoring and maintenance of industrial assets. In this paper, we shared our experience and presented our implemented software framework for such edge computing for semi-autonomous robotics inspection. These systems combine human-in-the-loop, semi-autonomous robots, edge computing and cloud services to achieve the automation of complex industrial tasks. This paper describes a robotic platform developed, discussing the key architectural aspects of a semi-autonomous robotics system employed in two industrial inspection case studies: remote methane detection in oilfields, and flare stack inspections in oil and gas production environment. We outline the requirements for the system, sharing the experience of our design and implementation trade-offs. In particular, the synergy among the semi-autonomous robots, human supervisors, model-based edge controls, and the cloud services is designed to achieve the responsive onsite monitoring and to cope with the limited connectivity, bandwidth and processing constraints in typical industrial setting.
The Block-based, Text-based, and the CS1 Prepared

For over 50 years, computer scientists whose backgrounds span many academic and corporate affiliations have attempted to truncate a novice programmer’s investment into their learning that might expedite the length of time required to advance from beginner to intermediate programmer. Widely accepted innovations in programming languages that use blocks instead of text to maintain novices’ motivation and attention have replaced some conventional text-based pedagogies at the pre-college level [8]. This study aims to contribute new knowledge to the Computer Science Education (CSEd) field to empirically validate whether text or block-based languages optimally prepare high school students for success in undergraduate level CS1 (Introduction to Computer Science) courses. The research sub-focus aims to distinguish the significance of equitable preparation between students from underserved communities and their peers arriving at college from affluent areas. This study introduces a 7-week, mixed-methods inquiry aimed at entering first-year undergraduate students enrolled in CS1, exploring their prior programming knowledge and experiences that might establish a relationship among high school programming curricula and learners’ CS1 achievement.
dictyBase 2015: Expanding data and annotations in a new software environment

dictyBase is the model organism database for the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum and related species. The primary mission of dictyBase is to provide the biomedical research community with well-integrated high quality data, and tools that enable original research. Data presented at dictyBase is obtained from sequencing centers, groups performing high throughput experiments such as large-scale mutagenesis studies, and RNAseq data, as well as a growing number of manually added functional gene annotations from the published literature, including Gene Ontology, strain, and phenotype annotations. Through the Dicty Stock Center we provide the community with an impressive amount of annotated strains and plasmids. Recently, dictyBase accomplished a major overhaul to adapt an outdated infrastructure to the current technological advances, thus facilitating the implementation of innovative tools and comparative genomics. It also provides new strategies for high quality annotations that enable bench researchers to benefit from the rapidly increasing volume of available data. dictyBase is highly responsive to its users needs, building a successful relationship that capitalizes on the vast efforts of the Dictyostelium research community. dictyBase has become the trusted data resource for Dictyostelium investigators, other investigators or organizations seeking information about Dictyostelium, as well as educators who use this model system.
Energy, Complexity and Strategies of Evolution

Cultural evolution has long been among the themes of anthropology but it has never ranked high. It is left mainly to archaeologists because they have to make sense of how society works and survives through time–a concern that has pretty much been abandoned by many cultural anthropologists. Anthropologists today seem little motivated to find out how society works, but rather to make the world a better place to live in for a particular population. The challenges of atmospheric change, nuclear proliferation, environmental degradation and resource exhaustion, the emergence of life threatening species–these challenges of contemporary evolution have awakened less interest in anthropology. The concern with cultural evolution seems to be of greater interest to non-anthropologists, such as in the work of Jarrod Diamond (2005), a biologist, and the genre that as emerged as Big History, with the works of David Christian (2005) and others. Among the few contemporary anthropologists who have sought the dynamics of cultural evolution, the work of Joseph Tainter (1996) stands out. A scholar who has addressed these problems, but from a vaster perspective, is the astrophysicist, Eric Chaisson (2001). He proposes that both cultural and biological evolution must be seen as charged by the same dynamics that have been responsible for the evolution of the entire universe–namely, the energy initiated with the Big Bang and that has since been responsible for the emergence of galaxies, stars, planets, and in turn, life and culture. While this may appear to be an exotic claim, Chaisson effectively places human society within the larger context of the dynamics and processes of cosmic evolution. Here we will first look at these dynamics and then turn to some aspects of contemporary society. My own bias has for many years been to use energy as a tool to
P-glycoprotein promotes epithelial T helper 2-associated cytokine secretion in chronic sinusitis with nasal polyps.

Background Sinonasal epithelial cells are recognized as drivers of inflammation in chronic sinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) through secretion of T helper 2 (Th2)-promoting cytokines. P-glycoprotein (P-gp) is overexpressed in nasal polyps and modulates epithelial cytokine secretion in healthy mucosa. The objective of this study is to determine whether P-gp overactivity promotes Th2-associated cytokine secretion in CRSwNP. Methods Polyp explants (n = 4) and primary epithelial cell cultures (n = 5) were cultivated from patients with CRSwNP. Explant P-gp activity was determined using a calcein assay. In culture, P-gp was quantified by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and sensitivity to PSC-833 inhibition was determined using a calcein assay. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cytokine secretion of interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-8, IL-25, and granulocyte macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) were quantified by ELISA and compared to secretion following P-gp inhibition. Differences in P-gp expression and cytokine secretion were compared using a Mann-Whitney U test. Secretion was correlated with P-gp expression using a Pearson correlation coefficient. Results Calcein retention is increased in P-gp inhibited vs uninhibited polyp explants (mean ± standard deviation [SD]; 5.17 ± 1.76 vs 2.55 ± 0.62; p < 0.05) but not in controls, indicating increased nasal polyp P-gp activity. P-gp is sensitive to dose-dependent P-gp inhibition with PSC-833 in vitro. LPS-stimulated secretion of normalized GM-CSF (45.21 ± 41.39) and IL-6 (63.16 ± 36.37) were significantly reduced following P-gp inhibition (8.47 ± 3.28; p < 0.01, and 39.94 ± 31.07; p < 0.05; respectively) and secretion was highly correlated with P-gp expression(r = 0.824, p < 0.05, and r = 0.833, p < 0.05; respectively). Conclusion P-gp overactivity promotes Th2-associated epithelial cytokine secretion in nasal polyps, suggesting a novel mechanism for maintaining chronic inflammation in CRSwNP.
P89. Differential diagnosis between epilepsy and parasomnia may be difficult even on 10–20 video-EEG

Sleep related attacks of bizarre complex movements may be due to either epilepsy or non-REM parasomnia. Differential diagnosis can be especially difficult in mentally retarded patients due to lack of detailed medical history and presence of epilepsy risk factors such as brain lesions. We present the case of a 19 year-old male with history of preterm birth, perinatal intracerebral hemorrhage, and post-hemorrhagic hydrocephalus. His parents reported up to 20 attacks per night characterized by startle from sleep, fearful expression in his eyes, grabbing hold of the bedframe, body rocking, and groaning, each episode lasting between 10 and 30 s. Several standard EEGs were normal. Cranial computed tomography (CT) scan showed a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt catheter in place. He was diagnosed with parasomnia following standard polysomnography in an external sleep laboratory. In our institution, polysomnography and 10–20 video EEG monitoring were performed for four nights, and 13 of the habitual attacks were recorded. All attacks occurred out of sleep with six attacks occurring from slow-wave sleep (N3) and seven occurring out of light sleep (N2). All but one attack were lacking an ictal EEG change, only one event was associated with rhythmic evolving theta in the left frontal region lasting for a few seconds. Tachykardia of up to 170 beats per minute was seen in all events. Video review revealed that the sequence of clinical features was extremely stereotypical and monomorphic across all 13 events. Interictal EEG was completely normal during the awake stage as well as during sleep in the first and second nights. Only in nights three and four, interictal sleep EEG revealed several spikes in the left frontal region. We diagnosed left frontal lobe epilepsy with exclusively sleep-related hypermotor seizures and stared the patient on anticonvulsant medication. This case demonstrates that the differential diagnosis of epilepsy versus Non-REM parasomnia may be difficult even with 10–20 video EEG. The vast majority of seizures (or all) may lack an ictal EEG pattern, and interictal epileptiform spikes or sharp waves may be very infrequent or absent. Short events with a very stereotypic sequence of clinical features as well as attacks arising from light sleep (N2) support the diagnosis of epilepsy. One or two nights of polysomnography – even with an extended 10–20 EEG montage – may not be sufficient to differentiate parasomnia from epileptic seizures.
Testing an attracticide hollow fibre formulation for control of Codling Moth, Cydia pomonella (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

Laboratory and field tests were conducted to evaluate the use of an experimental sprayable formulation of chopped hollow fibres loaded with codlemone and mixed with 1.0% esfenvalerate and an adhesive to control codling moth, Cydia pomonella (L.) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). Moths were not repelled by the addition of the insecticide to the adhesive and were rapidly killed following brief contact. A significantly greater proportion of male moths flew upwind and contacted individual fibres for a longer period of time when fibres had been aged > 7 d versus fibres 0 – 7 days-old in flight tunnel tests. Field tests using sentinel fibres placed in 10.0 mg drops of adhesive on plastic disks stapled to the tree found that fibres were not touched until they had aged > 8 d. Conversely, moth mortality following a 3-s exposure to field-collected fibres deposited on the top of leaves was low in bioassays with fibres aged > 8 d. The deposition and adhesion of fibres within the apple canopy appear to be two major factors influencing the success of this approach. Fibres were found adhering to foliage, fruit, and bark within the orchard; however, visual recovery of fibres following each of the three applications was < 5.0%. Both the substrate and the positioning of the fibre on the substrate influenced fibre retention. The highest proportion of fibres was found initially on the upper surface of leaves and this position also had the highest level of fibre retention. Fibres on the underside of leaves or partially hanging off of a substrate were dislodged within two weeks.
Recent Advances in Instrumentation for Microprobe Analysis

While the most important examples of microprobe analysis have come from the use of an electron probe to produce excited states in the specimen and an X-ray analyzer to detect the radiative decay of these excited states, other forms of local excitation have also been used, for example, a focussed ion beam or a focussed or collimated photon beam. The signals that result from the local excitation can also assume many additional forms such as backscattered electrons, secondary electrons or ions, and optical radiation. Some of these signals obtained with electron beam excitation have been discussed in W. C. Nixon’s review paper at this conference [1].
Investigating the Important Correlates of Maternal Education and Childhood Malaria Infections

The relationship between maternal education and child health has intrigued researchers for decades. This study explored the interaction between maternal education and childhood malaria infection. Cross-sectional survey data from three African countries were used. Descriptive analysis and multivariate logistic regression models were completed in line with identified correlates. Marginal effects and Oaxaca decomposition analysis on maternal education and childhood malaria infection were also estimated. Children with mothers whose education level was beyond primary school were 4.7% less likely to be malaria-positive (P < 0.001). The Oaxaca decomposition analysis exhibited an 8% gap in childhood malaria infection for educated and uneducated mothers. Over 60% of the gap was explained by differences in household wealth (26%), household place of domicile (21%), malaria transmission intensities (14%), and media exposure (12%). All other correlates accounted for only 27%. The full adjusted model showed a robust and significant relationship between maternal education and childhood malaria infection.
First-Principles Theoretical Study of Molecular HCl Adsorption on a Hexagonal Ice (0001) Surface

A key step in the mechanism of polar ozone depletion involves the interaction of HCl with the particles that constitute polar stratospheric clouds. These particles exist as hexagonal ice Ih crystals below approximately 185 K. As a first step, we examine the binding of molecular HCl to a number of extended surface models of the basal (0001) face of hexagonal ice in addition to a cluster model representative of an unreconstructed adsorption site. Calculations are performed using gradient-corrected density-functional theory and high-order correlation methods. After correcting for zero-point energies, we estimate the molecular binding energy and enthalpy at 185 K to be 23 and 25 kJ/mol, respectively, for low (single-molecule) HCl coverage. These estimates decrease by a few kJ/mol at higher HCl coverage and are based partially on a low density of dangling surface OH groups. Our results set the stage for future studies addressing the possible ionization of molecularly adsorbed HCl using first-principles molecul...
Grover's disease (transient acantholytic dermatosis) : relationship of acantholysis to acrosyringia

Transient acantholytic dermatosis is often associated with excessive sweating, fever, and bed confinement. The patho-genesis of this disease has been postnlated to be poral occlusion of damaged eccrine intraepidermal ducts. Histological and immunohistochemical and ultrastructural studies were performed on 10 biopsies from 10 patients with transient acantholytic derinatosis. Immunoreactions for carcinoembryonic antigen and cytokeratin-7 to identify eccrine duct epithelium were performed on all 11 biopsies. In addition. 5 of the biopsies were immunoreacted for cytokeratin 8. All immunoreactions were reviewed independently by two observers to determine extent of reactivity and whether it correlated with areas of epidermal acanthoiysis. Among the 11 biopsies, 8 showed acanthoiysis not associated with eccrine duct outflow tracts. In 2 biopsies the acanthoiysis was consistently associated with acrosyringea; in one case acanthoiysis was inconsistently associated with eccrine outflow tracts. Epidermal acanthoiysis in patients with Grover's disease is associated with the outflow tracts of eccrine ducts in a subgroup of patients. Although leakage of sweat from occluded sweat ducts in acrosyringia may be the mechanism operating in a subgroup of patients with Grover's disease, this does not appear to be the subgroup of patients in whom Grover's disease develops in the setting of being bedridden and/or sweating.
On the comparative performance of urban delivery vehicle classes

As it is widely known, a large truck generates more pollution and congestion than a small truck, which is an obvious consequence of its larger size. However, it is frequently overlooked that they have very different cargo productivities, and that large trucks require less trips to transport the same amount of cargo than small trucks. As a result, large trucks could produce less social costs than small trucks, as long as they generate proportionally less traffic. The objective is to identify the conditions under which large trucks are the most beneficial in terms of social costs. To gain insight into the nature of these tradeoffs, a mathematical formulation was developed to express social costs as a function of a multimodal vector of traffic flows. The key insight gained is that large trucks could indeed be better in terms of social costs if they replace a sufficient number of small trucks.
Conditioning of the nictitating membrane response in rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) with electrical brain-stimulation as the unconditioned stimulus

Abstract Mis, Gormezano, and Harvey [19] and Martin, Land, and Thompson [17] showed that electrical stimulation of the brain (ESB) could be used as an unconditioned stimulus (US) to establish classical (Pavlovian) conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response (NMR) to a tone conditioned stimulus (CS). Experiment 1 of the present study demonstrated classical conditioning of the rabbit's NMR to ESB with tone, lights, and back shock CSs. Conditioned responding transferred positively from acquisition training with ESB to training with a peripheral US (paraorbital eye shock). Discrimination training and tests of stimulus generalization indicated that conditioned responding to ESB was not due to nonassociative factors. Electrode placements yielding NMR elicitation were distributed widely across the pontine brainstem, whereas successful conditioning sites were located in the vicinity of the abducens nucleus. The behavioral unconditioned and conditioned responses obtained with ESB were similar in topography to those observed with paraorbital eye shock. Experiment 2 of the present study showed that an NMR conditioned with CS-eye shock pairings could be maintained with an ESB US. Electrode loci associated with successful maintenance of conditioning were located caudal and ventrolateral to the abducens nucleus in a region containing cells that are thought to comprise the accessory abducens nucleus.
PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBON MULTI-ANALYTE TETROL ISOMERS FROM SERUM ALBUMIN ADDUCTS BY GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY/HIGH RESOLUTION MASS SPECTROMETRY

We have developed a preliminary method for the qualitative assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) tetrol metabolites in humans using serum albumin adducts. The method was used to investigate the presence of tetrol metabolites of PAHs released following acid hydrolysis of serum albumin-diol epoxide adducts. Liquid-liquid extraction and solid phase extraction were used for isolation and purification of the tetrol metabolites. Purified tetrols were derivatized to convert them to their trimethylsilyl derivatives and analyzed using gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry. A total of 26 tetrol isomers were investigated, resulting in observation of the following 8 tetrols in 3 smoking and 7 non-smoking donors: 5-methylchrysene-1,2,3,4-anti-tetrol, benz(a)anthracene-1,2,3,4-anti-tetrol, benz(a)anthracene-1,2,3,4-syn-tetrol, benz(a)anthracene-8,9,10,11-anti-tetrol, (±)-benzo(a)pyrene-r-7,t-8,9,c-10-tetrahydrotetrol (BPTI-1), (±)-benzo(a)pyrene-r-7,t-8,c-9,t-10-tetrahydrotetrol (BPTII-1), ...
Balance of unsaturated fatty acids is important to a cholesterol-lowering diet: comparison of mid-oleic sunflower oil and olive oil on cardiovascular disease risk factors

Abstract Objective To evaluate the effects of a trans fat-free monounsaturated fatty acid-rich vegetable oil (NuSun sunflower oil, National Sunflower Association, Bismark, ND) that is a good source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and low in saturated fatty acids on lipid and lipoprotein levels and oxidative stress. Design A double-blinded, randomized, three period crossover, controlled feeding study. Subjects/setting Thirty-one men (n=12) and women (n=19) with moderate hypercholesterolemia who were 25 to 64 years of age. Intervention Experimental diets provided 30% fat (olive oil or NuSun sunflower oil contributed one half of the total fat), 8.3% vs 7.9% saturated fatty acid, 17.2% vs 14.2% monounsaturated fatty acid, and 4.3% vs. 7.7% PUFA (olive oil and NuSun sunflower oil, respectively), and 294 mg cholesterol. The control diet was an average American diet (34% fat, 11.2% saturated fatty acid, 14.9% monounsaturated fatty acid, 7.8% PUFA). Subjects consumed each diet for 4 weeks with a 2-week compliance break before crossing over to another diet. Main outcome measures Lipid and lipoprotein levels were measured, and measures of oxidative stress, including lag time, rate of oxidation, total dienes, and lipid hydroperoxides, were assessed. Statistical analysis The mixed model procedure was used to test for main effects of diet, feeding period, and order of diets. Tukey-Kramer adjusted P values were used to determine diet effects. Results The NuSun sunflower oil diet decreased both total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels compared with the average American diet and the olive oil diet. There was no effect of the olive oil diet compared with the average American diet. Total cholesterol decreased 4.7% and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased 5.8% on the NuSun sunflower oil diet vs the average American diet. There was no effect of the experimental diets on triglyceride levels, rate of oxidation, total dienes, lipid hydroperoxides, or α-tocopherol. Lag time was the longest following the olive oil diet and shortest following the NuSun sunflower oil diet. Conclusions The higher PUFA content appeared to account for the greater total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol lowering and reduction in lag time of the NuSun sunflower oil diet. However, the fact that there were no differences in the resulting oxidation products suggests there were no adverse effects on low-density lipoprotein oxidation. Since PUFAs are important for cholesterol lowering, foods that replace saturated fatty acids should include a balance of unsaturated fatty acids.
Filtering by morphological pseudoconvolutions

The present paper introduces a digital gray-scale morphological filtering technique that is based on postfiltering a given filter so the invariant class of the new filter is larger than the invariant class of the original filter. More specifically, the invariant class of the new filter contains the original invariant class together with all signals whose variation is below a chosen threshold. The postfiltering includes a single erosion and a single dilation by a one-parameter structuring element, the choice of parameter determining the resulting invariant class. While the methodology is quite general, the two applications considered pertain to moving averages with nonnegative weights and moving means, both of which are morphological filters. Both suppress noise in a signal and each possesses specific advantages and disadvantages. In brief, means tend to give better noise suppression while blurring edges, whereas medians preserve edges, while at the same time flattening small background variation in the underlying signal. The new one parameter family of filters derived from a moving average, called pseudoconvolutions, preserve steps beneath a predetermined threshold. The filters derived from medians, called pseudomedians, preserve uncorrupted low background variation. Because they preserve small variation while at the same time behaving like their mother filters, both filters are especially effective when the noise occurs in bursts, rather than uniformly across the signal.© (1990) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.