cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Development of a Star Tracker-Based Reference System for Accurate Attitude Determination of a Simulated Spacecraft

Abstract : The goal of this research effort is to investigate the analysis, design, integration, testing, and validation of a complete star tracker and star field simulator system concept for AFIT's satellite simulator, SimSat. Previous research has shown that while laboratory-based satellite simulators benefit from star trackers, the approach of designing the star field can contribute significant error if the star field is generated on a flat surface. To facilitate a star pattern that better represents a celestial sky, a partially hemispherical dome surface is suspended above SimSat and populated with a system of light emitting diodes of various intensities and angles of separation. Test results show that the spherical star pattern surface is effective in minimizing the effects of parallax when imaging in a finite conjugate mode and that more reliable attitude information within 1 degree of accuracy can be attained. The added capability to research star pattern recognition and attitude determination algorithms in the future is also significant.
THE EFFECT OF ADRENALECTOMY ON THE EPIPHYSEAL CARTILAGE OF THE RAT

THE BEHAVIOR of the proximal epiphyseal cartilage of the rat's tibia is an excellent criterion for studies of the relation of internal secretions and nutrition to growth or to each other. It is an ex−tremely active point of growth in the young rat (Dodds and Cameron, 1934; Ingalls, 1941) and does not disappear until late in life when union of the epiphysis with the shaft takes place after a thousand days of age (Dawson, 1925). At present it is being considered ex−tensively as an important locus of action of the pituitary growth hormone, which has been called a “chondrotrophic hormone” (Freud, Levie and Kroon, 1939; Ray, Evans and Becks, 1941). In 1941 Ingalls and Hayes demonstrated a stunting of the epiphyseal cartilage and a failure of endochondral bone formation in eleven rats from one to two weeks after adrenalectomy, and suggested that atrophy of the adrenal cortex might be a major factor in the in−terruption of growth consequent to hypophysectomy
Export of sphingosine-1-phosphate and cancer progression.

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) is a bioactive lipid mediator that promotes cell survival, proliferation, migration, angiogenesis, lymphangiogenesis, and immune response; all are critical processes of cancer progression. Although some important roles of intracellular S1P have recently been uncovered, the majority of its biological effects are known to be mediated via activation of five specific G protein-coupled receptors [S1P receptor (S1PR)1–S1PR5] located on the cell surface. Secretion of S1P produced inside cells by sphingosine kinases can then signal through these receptors in autocrine, paracrine, and/or endocrine manners, coined “inside-out” signaling of S1P. Numerous studies suggest that secreted S1P plays important roles in cancer progression; thus, understanding the mechanism by which S1P is exported out of cells, particularly cancer cells, is both interesting and important. Here we will review the current understanding of the transport of S1P out of cancer cells and its potential roles in the tumor microenvironment.
A glass microchip device for conducting serological survey of West Nile viral antibodies

Serological surveys are vital to determining the prevalence of a disease and/or the immunity status against it in any population. However, the relatively large sample volume requirement (1–10 mL) in traditional serum-based assays demands that blood draw camps be set up by medical professionals to obtain samples for these studies which significantly increases the time and cost associated with them. Here we address these drawbacks of a serosurvey by reducing the whole blood requirement in its diagnostic procedures down to 10 μL using the microfluidic platform. Such a miniaturization approach was demonstrated in our current work by developing a microchip based serological device for determining the serum levels of West Nile (WN) viral antibodies (IgG and IgM) to assess the immunity status against WN virus in Fremont County, Wyoming. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were developed for these target analytes in glass microchannels to accomplish this task using antibodies/assay reagents purchased from commercial sources. The reported assays were directly quantitated using a fluorescence microplate reader which to our knowledge is the first account of signal measurement in a microchip based ELISA procedure using this standard instrument. To enable this quantitation method, the assay channels on our device were spaced identically as the wells on a commercial microplate, and a holder having the dimensions of this plate was used to accommodate the microchips. Our microfluidic assays showed an excellent correlation with the results from the microwell plate based experiments for significantly lower incubation periods and using only 3 μL of the ELISA reagents.
Applications of Lobatto polynomials to an adaptive finite element method: A posteriori error estimates for HP-Adaptivity and Grid-to-Grid Interpolation

Hp-adaptive finite element codes require methods for estimating the error at several spatial orders and for interpolating solutions between grids. Lobatto polynomial-based techniques are presented for both. An interpolation error-based error estimation strategy for a posteriori error estimates is generalized to yield asymptotically exact error estimates one order higher than the computed solution. The estimates involve high-order derivatives of the solution that must be approximated from the computed solution. Differentiating a ``Taylor-like'' series for error in the Lobatto interpolant and using the weak form of the equations yields the correct derivative approximations. This leads to a more robust order selection strategy. Interpolation between grids is done over each element using the Lobatto interpolating polynomial. Explicit formulas for the inverse of the resulting Lobatto interpolation matrices are given. Computational results illustrate the theory.
Drug Warnings That Can Cause Fits — Communicating Risks in a Data-Poor Environment

In January, the FDA announced that it had found a near-doubling of suicidal ideation and behavior among trial subjects randomly assigned to receive anticonvulsant medications rather than placebo. Dr. Jerry Avorn writes that the anticonvulsant–suicidality controversy reveals the limits of our capacity to ascertain adverse events and the challenges inherent in risk communication.
BEHAVIORAL EFFECTS OF NEONATAL IRRADIATION OF THE CEREBELLUM. II. QUANTITATIVE STUDIES IN YOUNG-ADULT AND ADULT RATS.

Young-adult and adult rats whose cerebellum was focally irradiated with a variable number of daily doses of 200 r X-ray during infancy were tested for spontaneous locomotion, in activity wheels, for muscular strength, in a weight-pulling apparatus, and, for skill in coordination, in a rope-climbing apparatus. Spontaneous activity declined as a function of number of daily irradiations; the interaction of treatment, age, and prior experience was also investigated. Weight pulling capacity, as determined by running time in an alleyway, was not affected by irradiation with 1 to 4 × 200 r with loads equalling the rats' own body weights. Ease of rope climbing was inversely related to the number of daily irradiations in terms of climbing time, number of shocks received, falls off the rope, and other criteria.
Genesis of cosmological tracker fields

The role of the quintessence field as a probable candidate for the repulsive dark energy, the conditions for tracking and the requisites for tracker fields are examined. The concept of ``integrated tracking'' is introduced and a new criterion for the existence of tracker potentials is derived assuming monotonic increase in the scalar energy density parameter ${\ensuremath{\Omega}}_{\ensuremath{\varphi}}$ with the evolution of the universe as suggested by the astrophysical constraints. It provides a technique to investigate generic potentials of the tracker fields. The general properties of the tracker fields are discussed and their behavior with respect to the tracking parameter $\ensuremath{\epsilon}$ is analyzed. It is shown that the tracker fields around the limiting value $\ensuremath{\epsilon}\ensuremath{\simeq}\frac{2}{3}$ give the best fit with the observational constraints.
Segmentation of dual-echo MR images using neural networks

We have integrated Kohonen's self-organizing feature maps with the idea of fuzzy sets and applied this model to the problem of dual-echo MR image segmentation. In the proposed method, a Kohonen network provides the basic structure and update rule, whereas fuzzy membership values control the learning rate. The calculation of learning rate is based on a fuzzy clustering algorithm. In the experiments, spatially registered T2-weighted and proton density MR data are used as input images. Every input image is first converted to a 1-D vector and two such vectors from two images are then combined to form a 2-D matrix. The initial weights are then fed into the model to start the iterative process. The process terminates when the stopping criteria is met. The major strength of the proposed approach is its stability and unsupervised nature. The experimental results show that the speed of convergence is faster than that of the fuzzy clustering method and the conventional region-based segmentation methods.
Climate security, risk assessment and military planning

Climate and environmental changes pose emerging and unique challenges to international security—as the global community experiences issues of food insecurity, severe droughts and floods—and have cascading impacts on energy supplies and infrastructure. Environmental hazards may shift abruptly, posing new risks to vulnerable systems and critical nodes in ways that diverge from historical experience. Effective risk assessments and planning will require understanding of how climate change will affect natural disasters and disaster response, and how hazards may be more extreme or unique from past experiences. This article discusses the role of climate change in affecting security planning from a military perspective, and how integration of scientific data and intelligence methods can foster assessment and effective response.
The Life and Death of Axis IV: Caught in the Quest for a Theory of Mental Disorder

Axis IV, one of the five dimensions of clinical description, has provided a way to report psychosocial and environmental problems that may affect the diagnosis, treatment, and/or prognosis of a psychiatric disorder. Originally conceived in DSM-III as a way to rate and rank the severity of particular environmental stressors, axis IV was simplified for DSM-IV to a more straightforward listing of psychosocial factors, given the reliability and validity problems with quantifying the etiologic contribution of specific stresses to mental disorder. In the newest manual, however (DSM-5), the entire multiaxial system has been quietly eliminated. How and why multiaxial assessment was abandoned, and what this implies for social work theory and practice, are addressed in a conceptual review that traces the history and empirical evidence, positive and negative, for incorporating a psychosocial dimension into the diagnosis of mental disorder.
Comparative methods for handling missing data in large databases: An empirical simulation

Introduction Analysis of large complex survey databases is an important research tool for health services researchers in Surgery. Missing data elements are challenging as reasons they are missing are multi-factorial, especially variables with multiple categories such as race. We simulated missing data for race and analyzed the bias from five missing data methods used in predicting major amputation in patients with critical limb ischemia (CLI). Methods Discharges with fully observed data containing lower extremity revascularization or major amputation and CLI were selected from the 2003-2007 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a complex survey database (weighted N=684,057). Considering random and non-random missing data schemes, we simulated missing data for race to compare five missing data methods (complete case analysis (CCA), missing indicator variable (MIV), single imputation with mean frequencies, re-weighted estimating equations (RWEEs), and multiple imputation). Bias was determined by comparing mean regression coefficients estimated from 100 simulated datasets (B_miss) to those estimated from the fully observed dataset (B_full), with relative bias calculated as (B_full–B_miss/B_full)*100%. Results Our results demonstrate that RWEEs produce the least biased and MIV the most biased coefficients. CCA, single imputation, and multiple imputation resulted in moderate bias. Sensitivity analysis demonstrated that optimal method choice depends on quantity and type of missing data encountered. Conclusions Missing data is an important analytical topic in research with large databases. RWEEs are flexible and provided the least biased coefficients. The commonly used MIV method introduces the most bias and should be used with caution. We present empirical evidence to guide method selection for handling missing data.
Scientific advances, societal trends, and the education andpractice of obstetrician-gynecologists

Summary Specialization in medicine in the United States began in Colonial America and expanded rapidly, spurredby increasing scientific information and advancing technology. By 1972, when the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology instituted subspecialty divisions, it had become impossible for the general obstetrician-gynecologist to remain competent in all areas of our specialty. Changes we can anticipate are a decreasing need for operations and hospital care coupled with increasing emphasis on primary health care for women. Most of our resident education programs have not yet reflected the need to begin to prepare obstetrician-gynecologists for a role that will be quite different from their present one
Permalloy film NDRO memory

A thin magnetic film NDRO storage cell has been developed for very high-speed word-organized memories. The storage cell contains two 500-A, 15-mil-square Permalloy film elements with a read and sense line between them. One film element is deposited on a metallic ground plane, so that the read line and its image in the ground plane are coupled to the readout film and decoupled from the storage film. A 3-ns-wide 300-mA read pulse with a 1-ns rise time yields a 4- to 6-mV output signal. Two methods of coincident current writing were investigated. One with the word and digit lines outside the storage cell required 500-mA word current, 80-mA digit current, and a read after write pulse. Writing takes 50 ns and the storage cell will tolerate coincident word and digit disturb currents of 50 and 100 mA, respectively. The other method uses the read and sense lines between the films as word and digit lines. Word currents of 300 mA and digit currents of 50 mA are required to write. The disturb margins are greater, and read after write pulse is not required. Because the eddy currents in the ground plane must decay, writing takes 3 μs. A 512-word, 40-digit test plane has been built and partially populated to determine problems in building a large array. The characteristic impedances and effects of attenuation and delay have been observed. In particular, the output signals are reduced one half because of attenuation and the difference in signal propagation time in the two directions on the sense line.
Substrate Competition Studies Demonstrate Oxidative Metabolism of Glucose, Glutamate, Glutamine, Lactate and 3-Hydroxybutyrate in Cortical Astrocytes from Rat Brain

It is well established that astrocytes can utilize many substrates to support oxidative energy metabolism; however, use of energy substrates in the presence of other substrates, as would occur in vivo, has not been systematically evaluated. Substrate competition studies were used to determine changes in the rates of 14CO2 production since little is known about the interaction of energy substrates in astrocytes. The rates of 14CO2 production from 1 mM D-[6-14C]glucose, l-[U-14C]glutamate, l-[U-14C]glutamine, d-3-hydroxy[3-14C]butyrate, l-[U-14C]lactate and l-[U-14C]malate by primary cultures of astrocytes from rat brain were determined to be 1.17 ± 0.19, 85.30 ± 12.25, 28.04 ± 2.84, 13.55 ± 4.56, 14.84 ± 2.40 and 5.20 ± 1.20 nmol/h/mg protein (mean ± SEM), respectively. The rate of 14CO2 production from glutamate oxidation was higher than that of the other substrates Addition of unlabeled glutamate significantly decreased the rates of 14CO2 production from all other substrates studied; however, glutamate oxidation was not altered by the addition of any of the other substrates. The rate of 14CO2 production of glutamine was decreased by glutamate, but not altered by other substrates. The rate of 14CO2 production from glucose was significantly decreased by the addition of unlabeled glutamate, glutamine or lactate, but not by 3-hydroxybutyrate or malate. Addition of unlabeled glucose did not significantly alter the 14CO2 production from any other substrate. 14CO2 production from lactate was decreased by the addition of unlabeled glutamine or glutamate and increased by addition of malate. The 14CO2 production from malate was decreased by the addition of unlabeled glutamate or lactate, but was not altered by the other substrates. The substrate utilization for oxidative energy metabolism in astrocytes is very different than the profile previously reported for synaptic terminals. These studies demonstrate the potential use of multiple substrates including glucose, glutamate, glutamine, lactate and 3-hydroxybutyrate as energy substrates for astrocytes. The data also provide evidence of interactions of substrates and multiple compartments of TCA cycle activity in cultured astrocytes.
Teaching Science to Students With Learning Problems in the Elementary Classroom

Because of recent legislation, students with mild disabilities frequently receive science instruction in the general education classroom. Elementary teachers therefore have the challenge of teaching science to children with a wide range of abilities and preparing them to pass the federally mandated assessments in science. The emphasis in the general education science curiculum is on high-level cognitive skills which is challenging for students with learning problems. This article reviews characteristics of students with learning and behavior problems and then presents some ideas for practice to help these students and their teachers have a positive experience.
Access to care and medicines, burden of health care expenditures, and risk protection: results from the World Health Survey.

Abstract Objectives We assessed the contribution of health insurance and a functioning public sector to access to care and medicines and household economic burden. Methods We used descriptive and logistic regression analyses on 2002/3 World Health Survey data in 70 countries. Results Across countries, 286,803 households and 276,362 respondents contributed data. More than 90% of households had access to acute care. However, less than half of respondents with a chronic condition reported access. In 51 low and middle income countries (LMIC), health care expenditures accounted for 13–32% of total 4-week household expenditures. One in four poor households in low income countries incurred potentially catastrophic health care expenses and more than 40% used savings, borrowed money, or sold assets to pay for care. Between 41% and 56% of households in LMIC spent 100% of health care expenditures on medicines. Health insurance and a functioning public sector were both associated with better access to care and lower risk of economic burden. Conclusion To improve access, policy makers should improve public sector provision of care, increase health insurance coverage, and expand medicines benefit policies in health insurance systems.
In vivo confocal imaging of corneal neovascularization

Purpose To investigate the cellular dynamics of vessel formation during corneal neovascularization in the living eye by confocal microscopy. Methods Corneal neovascularization was initiated by placing a 7-0 silk suture through the corneal stroma 3 mm from the limbus at the 12 o'clock position in both eyes of 10 New Zealand white rabbits. The corneas were examined for vessel ingrowth at intervals from 1 to 15 days after suture placement using a tandem scanning confocal microscope with a 20X water immersion objective, as well as a slit-lamp biomicroscope. Changes in the limbal vessels were recorded on videotape for later analysis. As early vessel growth appeared to be associated with corneal nerves, the total number of sprouts and the number of sprouts along nerves were counted in confocal images, and the results analyzed for statistical significance. Vessel growth and the structural relationship between vascular buds and the deep stromal nerves were examined by light and transmission electron microscopy. Results The early events of cell migration from the limbal microvessels were found to be associated with the deep stromal nerves; although this association was easily visualized by confocal microscopy, it could not be documented by slit-lamp biomicroscopy. By 18 h after suture placement, the limbal vessels were dilated and the first vascular buds appeared as short, pointed, or flat-topped protrusions from the deep limbal capillaries. By 96 h, the capillary buds had increased in density and had begun to form lumens. Movement of red blood cells was established between 72 and 80 h after the first signs of bud formation, at the same time that cells of immune origin were seen. Confocal microscopy revealed and transmission electron microscopy verified that new bud formation began with the formation of vascular tubes by endothelial migration along the deep stromal nerves. The total number of sprouts and the number of sprouts associated with stromal nerves were similar on days 1 and 2 but differed on days 3-7, suggesting an association between sprouts and nerves in the early stages of neovascularization. Conclusion Using real-time white light confocal microscopy, we were able, for the first time, to observe the process of corneal neovascularization in the living eye, from the earliest stages within hours after initiation to 2 weeks. The deep stromal nerves appear to serve as a focus for the growth of new vessels, by attracting and supporting vessel growth and/or by providing a potential space for movement of the endothelial cells. Confocal microscopy may provide a new approach to achieving a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in corneal neovascularization.
Cancer as Multifaceted Disease

Cancer has recently overtaken heart disease as the world’s biggest killer. Cancer is initiated by gene mutations that result in local proliferation of abnormal cells and their migration to other parts of the human body, a process called metastasis. The metastasized cancer cells then interfere with the normal functions of the body, eventually leading to death. There are two hundred types of cancer, classified by their point of origin. Most of them share some common features, but they also have their specific character. In this article we review mathematical models of such common features and then proceed to describe models of specific cancer diseases.
Mutation of a new sodium channel gene, Scn8a, in the mouse mutant 'motor endplate disease'

The mouse neurological mutant 'motor endplate disease' (med) is characterized by early onset progressive paralysis of the hind limbs, severe muscle atrophy, degeneration of Purkinje cells and juvenile lethality. We have isolated a voltage-gated sodium channel gene, Scn8a, from the flanking region of a transgene-induced allele of med. Scn8a is expressed in brain and spinal cord but not in skeletal muscle or heart, and encodes a predicted protein of 1,732 amino acids. An intragenic deletion at the transgene insertion site results in loss of expression. Scn8a is closely related to other sodium channel alpha subunits, with greatest similarity to a brain transcript from the pufferfish Fugu rubripes. The human homologue, SCN8A, maps to chromosome 12q13 and is a candidate gene for inherited neurodegenerative disease.
A synthetic route to thionolactones

Abstract The treatment of O-alkyllactonium tetrafluoroborate salts with anh. NaSH in CH 3 CN at 0°C led to five-, six-, and seven-membered thionolactones (44– 90% yield).
Uncertainty handling in geospatial data

The topic of data uncertainty handling is relevant to essentially any scientific activity that involves making measurements of real world phenomena. A rigorous accounting of uncertainty can be crucial to the decision-making process. The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview on select issues in handling uncertainty in geospatial data. We begin with photogrammetric concepts of uncertainty handling, followed by investigating uncertainty issues related to processing vector (object) representations of geospatial information. Suggestions are offered for enhanced modeling, visualization, and exploitation of local uncertainty information in applications such as fusion and conflation. Stochastic simulation can provide an effective approach to improve understanding of the consequences uncertainty propagation in common geospatial processes such as path finding. Future work should consider the development of standardized modeling techniques for stochastic simulation for more complex object data, to include spatial and attribute information.
Misrecognition and science education reform

In this forum, I expand upon Teo and Osborne’s discussion of teacher agency and curriculum reform. I take up and build upon their analysis to further examine one teacher’s frustration in enacting an inquiry-based curriculum and his resulting accommodation of an AP curriculum. In this way I introduce the concept of misrecognition (Bourdieu and Passeron 1977) to open up new ways of thinking about science inquiry and school reform.
S,S-1,2-Dicyclohexylethane-1,2-diol and its racemic compound: a striking exception to Wallach's rule.

The structures of enantiopure S,S-1,2-dicyclohexylethane-1,2-diol and its racemic compound (rac-S,S-1,2-dicyclohexyl­ethane-1,2-diol) have been determined at 295 and 173 K. The crystals of the enantiopure material are more than 4% denser than the crystals of the racemic compound, but the melting points indicate that the crystals of the less dense racemic compound are considerably more stable than those of the racemic conglomerate. This apparent exception to the correlation of crystal density and melting point is explained. The enantiopure crystals have four molecules in the asymmetric unit (Z′ = 4). Two of the molecules have the conformation observed for the one independent molecule of the racemic compound and two have a higher energy conformation; the overall P21 structure is a perturbed version of a P212121 structure with Z′ = 2. The enantiopure and racemic crystals have the same hydrogen-bonding motif, but the motif in the former appears to be significantly strained. A reason why crystals of enantiopure material might be systematically less dense than crystals of its racemic compound and to be more likely to have Z′ > 1 is suggested.
Transport and display mechanisms for multimedia conferencing across packet-switched networks

Abstract A transport protocol that supports real-time communication of audio/video frames across campus-area packet switched networks is presented. It is a “best effort” protocol that attempts to ameliorate the effect of jitter, load variation, and packet loss, to provide low latency, synchronized audio and video communications. This goal is realized through four transport and display mechanisms, and a real-time implementation of these mechanisms that integrates operating system services (e.g., scheduling and resource allocation, and device management) with network communication services (e.g., transport protocols), and with application code (e.g., display routines). The four mechanisms are: a facility for varying the synchronization between audio and video to achieve continuous audio in the face of jitter, a network congestion monitoring mechanism that is used to control audio/video latency, a queuing mechanism at the sender that is used to maximize frame throughput without unnecessarily increasing latency, and a forward error correction mechanism for transmitting audio frames multiple times to ameliorate the effects of packet loss in the network. The effectiveness of these techniques is demonstrated by measuring the performance of the protocol when transmitting audio and video across congested networks.
Mitochondrial encephalomyopathies: what next?

In few areas of medicine has progress been more spectacular than in the field of mitochondrial diseases, especially those related to mtDNA mutations. Much remains to be done, however, and this brief review discusses the following areas of research where progress has been more limited or data are still controversial: (1) the molecular basis of respiratory-chain defects due to nuclear DNA mutations; (2) defects of mitochondrial protein importation; (3) defects of intergenomic signalling; (4) pathophysiology of mtDNA-related disorders; (5) ageing and age-related neuro-degenerative diseases; (6) therapy; and (7) genetic counselling.
Photochemistry of 1,2-diphenyl-2,2-dimethyl-propanone-1 in micellar solutions. Cage effects, isotope effects and magnetic field effects.

Abstract The cage reaction resulting from photolysis of PhCOC (CH 3 ) 2 Ph and PhCOC(CD 3 ) 2 Ph in micellar solution is shown to be subject to substantial magnetic field and magnetic isotope effects.
Current status and the future of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) in plant genome research

Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), which allows direct mapping of DNA sequences on chromosomes, has become the most important technique in plant molecular cytogenetics research. Repetitive DNA sequence can generate unique FISH patterns on individual chromosomes for karyotyping and phylogenetic analysis. FISH on meiotic pachytene chromosomes coupled with digital imaging systems has become an efficient method to develop physical maps in plant species. FISH on extended DNA fibers provides a high-resolution mapping approach to analyze large DNA molecules and to characterize large genomic loci. FISH-based physical mapping provides a valuable complementary approach in genome sequencing and map-based cloning research. We expect that FISH will continue to play an important role in relating DNA sequence information to chromosome biology. FISH coupled with immunoassays will be increasingly used to study features of chromatin at the cytological level that control expression and regulation of genes.
Cooperative thermal denaturation of proteins designed by binary patterning of polar and nonpolar amino acids.

We previously reported a combinatorial strategy for designing R-helical proteins by assigning only the binary patterning of polar or nonpolar residues (Kamtekar, S., Schiffer, J. M., Xiong, H. Y., Babik, J. M., and Hecht, M. H. (1993) Science 262, 1680-1685). Here we describe the finding that approximately half of the proteins in the original collection display some level of cooperativity in their thermal denaturation profiles. Many are monomeric in solution, demonstrating that the observed cooperativity is not merely a consequence of oligomerization. These findings demonstrate that although the combinatorial nature of the design strategy precludes explicit design of side-chain packing, binary patterning incorporates sufficient sequence information to generate de novo proteins with cooperatively folded structures. As binary partitioning of polar and nonpolar amino acids is an intrinsic part of the genetic code, these findings may bear on the early evolution of native proteins.
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Affects behavior by Biasing Endogenous Cortical Oscillations.

A governing assumption about repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been that it interferes with task-related neuronal activity – in effect, by “injecting noise” into the brain – and thereby disrupts behavior. Recent reports of rTMS-produced behavioral enhancement, however, call this assumption into question. We investigated the neurophysiological effects of rTMS delivered during the delay period of a visual working memory task by simultaneously recording brain activity with electroencephalography (EEG). Subjects performed visual working memory for locations or for shapes, and in half the trials a 10-Hz train of rTMS was delivered to the superior parietal lobule or a control brain area. The wide range of individual differences in the effects of rTMS on task accuracy, from improvement to impairment, was predicted by individual differences in the effect of rTMS on power in the alpha-band of the EEG (~ 10 Hz): a decrease in alpha-band power corresponded to improved performance, whereas an increase in alpha-band power corresponded to the opposite. The EEG effect was localized to cortical sources encompassing the frontal eye fields and the intraparietal sulcus, and was specific to task (location, but not object memory) and to rTMS target (superior parietal lobule, not control area). Furthermore, for the same task condition, rTMS-induced changes in cross-frequency phase synchrony between alpha- and gamma-band (> 40 Hz) oscillations predicted changes in behavior. These results suggest that alpha-band oscillations play an active role cognitive processes and do not simply reflect absence of processing. Furthermore, this study shows that the complex effects of rTMS on behavior can result from biasing endogenous patterns of network-level oscillations.
Phosphorus loadings to lakes and some of their responses. Part 2. Regression models of summer phytoplankton standing crops, winter total P, and transparency of New York lakes with known phosphorus loadings 1

An interrelated series of regression equations is derived to define the response of lake ecosystems to mixed zone phosphorus loadings in terms of simple and readily determinable parameters. Data used were collected over 14 yr for 16 lakes in central New York State characterized by a wide variety of morphometries, hydrologies, and phosphorus loadings. The regressions describing the dependence of summer phytoplankton standing crop and winter total P concentration on loading and of standing crop on total P were linear. Those characterizing water transparency as a function of standing crop and winter total P were parabolic. All regressions showed high correlation coefficients. The overall model composed of these regressions establishes a quantitative basis for the concept that phosphorus supplied to lakes exerts a uniquely controlling role on phytoplankton standing crop. The regressions may be used for trophic state description and in the development of management strategies for lakes.
On the use of meshfree methods and a geometry based surgical cutting algorithm in multimodal medical simulations

In this paper, we present some of our recent advances in the simulation of surgical procedures including surgical cutting in multimodal virtual environments. Progressive cutting, without the generation of new primitives, is achieved by snapping the nearest nodes to the interaction point between the cutting tool and the underlying polygon edge. The realism of the simulation is enhanced by employing a local subdivision algorithm in the vicinity of the tool-tissue interaction region. A cutting gutter is constructed to display the interior of the cut surface as the cut opens up. A meshfree method is used to compute the deformation fields and interaction forces. Simulation examples involving the cutting of realistic organ models are presented.
Improving Data Availability for Better Access Performance: A Study on Caching Scientific Data on Distributed Desktop Workstations

Client-side data caching serves as an excellent mechanism to store and analyze the rapidly growing scientific data, motivating distributed, client-side caches built from unreliable desktop storage contributions to store and access large scientific data. They offer several desirable properties, such as performance impedance matching, improved space utilization, and high parallel I/O bandwidth. In this context, we are faced with two key challenges: (1) the finite amount of contributed cache space is stretched by the ever increasing scientific dataset sizes and (2) the transient nature of volunteered storage nodes impacts data availability. In this article, we address these challenges by exploiting the existence of external, primary copies of datasets. We propose a novel combination of prefix caching, collective download, and remote partial data recovery (RPDR), to deal with optimal cache space consumption and storage node volatility. Our evaluation, performed on our FreeLoader prototype, indicates that prefix caching can significantly improve the cache hit rate and partial data recovery is better than (or comparable to) many persistent-data availability techniques.
METHODOLOGY FOR CALCULATING THE ABILITY OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SYSTEMS TO MANUFACTURE THEMSELVES

Renewable energy and storage technologies are often thought of as sustainable energy systems and several life cycle analyses point to the positive energy return on energy invested for individual renewable systems. However, in order to power the various life cycle processes such as manufacturing, refining, and installation, fossil fuels are used to generate the required heat and electricity. Thus, there remains a question as to how the whole suite of renewable technologies, as considered in isolation from fossil fuels, can power their own life cycles. Because most renewable technologies have intermittent outputs due to intermittent inputs such as the sun, wind, and waves, it is unclear how compatible those power outputs are for our constant and high-power industrial processes. Storage technologies can possibly play a key role in providing dispatchable power, and storage systems are often quoted as being necessary to promote widespread use of renewable energy. This paper presents a methodology to measure innovation in renewable and storage technologies by using a time-varying renewable energy only energy return on energy invested – rEROI(t). Innovative technologies will therefore be those that make rEROI(t) increase over time. The methodology assumes that the power outputs of existing renewable systems would be the only source of power for the life cycle processes of making the next set of renewable and storage technologies. Thus, renewable systems are required to manufacture themselves.Copyright © 2009 by ASME
Clinical correlates of attentional bias to drug cues associated with cocaine dependence

Background and Objective Preoccupation (attentional bias) related to drug-related stimuli has been consistently observed for drug-dependent persons with several studies reporting an association of the magnitude of measured attentional bias with treatment outcomes. The major goal of the present study was to determine if pre-treatment attentional bias to personal drug use reminders in an addiction Stroop task predicts relapse in treatment-seeking, cocaine-dependent subjects. Methods We sought to maximize the potential of attentional bias as a marker of risk for relapse by incorporating individualized rather than generalized drug use cues to reflect the personal conditioned associations that form the incentive motivation properties of drug cues in a sample of cocaine-dependent subjects (N = 35). Results Although a significant group Stroop interference effect was present for drug versus neutral stimuli (ie, attentional bias), the level of attentional bias for cocaine-use words was not predictive of eventual relapse in this sample (d = .56). A similar lack of prediction power was observed for a non-drug counting word Stroop task as a significant interference effect was detected but did not predict relapse outcomes (d = .40). Conclusions and Scientific Significance The results of the present study do not provide clear support for the predictive value of individual variation in drug-related attentional bias to forecast probability of relapse in cocaine-dependent men. (Am J Addict 2014;23:478–484)
Fostering High-Quality Teaching With an Enriched Curriculum and Professional Development Support: The Head Start REDI Program

This randomized controlled trial tested whether teaching quality in Head Start classrooms could be improved with the addition of evidence-based curriculum components targeting emergent language or literacy and social-emotional development and the provision of associated professional development support. Participants were lead and assistant teachers in 44 Head Start classrooms. Teachers received 4 days of workshop training along with weekly in-class support from a mentor teacher. End-of-year observations indicated that compared with the control group, intervention teachers talked with children more frequently and in more cognitively complex ways, established a more positive classroom climate, and used more preventive behavior-management strategies. Results supported the conclusion that enriched curriculum components and professional development support can produce improvements in multiple domains of teaching quality.
Calculation of kinetic rate constants from thermodynamic data

A new scheme for relating the absolute value for the kinetic rate constant k to the thermodynamic constant Kp is developed for gases. In this report the forward and reverse rate constants are individually related to the thermodynamic data. The kinetic rate constants computed from thermodynamics compare well with the current kinetic rate constants. This method is self consistent and does not have extensive rules. It is first demonstrated and calibrated by computing the HBr reaction from H2 and Br2. This method then is used on other reactions.
Cerebellar ataxia with progressive improvement.

Background Nonprogressive cerebellar ataxias are characterized by a persistent, nonprogressive ataxia associated with cognitive impairment. Cerebellar hypoplasia on imaging is variable but is not predictive of the degree of ataxia or cognitive impairment. Objective To describe a family with a nonprogressive cerebellar ataxia associated with cognitive and motor impairments that improve with age. Design Genetic study in a family with nonprogressive cerebellar ataxia. Clinical and imaging features are also described. Setting Community hospital. Patients Both parents and 3 children from an affected family. Main Outcome Measures Clinical features, magnetic resonance imaging findings, and genetic findings. Results A genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism screen did not show clear linkage to known spinocerebellar ataxia loci, in particular spinocerebellar ataxia type 15. Repeat spinocerebellar ataxia loci expansions were excluded. Magnetic resonance images of all affected individuals demonstrated cerebellar vermian abnormalities. Conclusions These findings suggest that nonprogressive cerebellar ataxia is genetically heterogeneous and, when associated with gradual improvement in cognition and motor skills, likely represents a separate, distinct clinical entity.
Dynamic cluster resizing

Processor resources required for an effective execution of an application vary across different sections. We propose to take advantage of clustering to turn-off resources that do not contribute to improve performance. First, we present a simple hardware scheme to dynamically compute the energy consumed by each processor block and the energy-delay/sup 2/ product for a given interval of time. This scheme is used to compute the effectiveness of the current configuration in terms of energy-delay/sup 2/ and evaluate the benefits of increasing/decreasing the number of active issue queues. Performance evaluation shows an average energy-delay/sup 2/ product improvement of 18%, and up to 50% for some applications, in a quad-cluster architecture.
The impact of urban patterns on aquatic ecosystems: An empirical analysis in Puget lowland sub-basins

Landscape change associated with urbanization poses major challenges to aquatic ecosystems. Extensive studies have shown that the composition of land cover within a watershed can account for much of the variability in water quality and stream ecological conditions. While several studies have addressed the relationship between watershed urbanization and biotic integrity in streams, few have directly addressed the question of how urban patterns influence ecological conditions. These studies typically correlate changes in ecological conditions with simple aggregated measures of urbanization (e.g., human population density or percent impervious surface). We develop an empirical study of the impact of urban development patterns on stream ecological conditions in 42 sub-basins in the Puget Sound lowland region on a gradient of urbanization. We hypothesize that ecological conditions in urbanizing landscapes are influenced through biophysical changes by four urban pattern variables: land use intensity, land cover composition, landscape configuration, and connectivity of the impervious area. Using community measures of benthic macroinvertebrates as indicators of in-stream biotic integrity we examined the relationships between urban development patterns and ecological conditions in these basins. Significant statistical relationships were found between landscape patterns—both amount and configuration of impervious area and forest land—and biotic integrity of streams suggesting that patterns of urban development matter to aquatic ecosystems.
Isolated epithelial cells of the toad bladder. Their preparation, oxygen consumption, and electrolyte content.

Epithelial cells of the toad bladder were disaggregated with EDTA, trypsin, hyaluronidase, or collagenase and were then scraped free of the underlying connective tissue. In most experiments EDTA was complexed with a divalent cation before the tissue was scraped. Q OO2, sucrose and inulin spaces, and electrolytes of the isolated cells were measured. Cells disaggregated by collagenase or hyaluronidase consumed O2 at a rate of 4 µl hr-1 dry wt-1. Q OO2 was increased 50% by ADH (100 U/liter) or by cyclic 3',5'-AMP (10 mM/liter). Na+-free Ringer's depressed the Q OO2 by 40%. The Q OO2 of cells prepared by trypsin treatment or by two EDTA methods was depressed by Na+-free Ringer's but was stimulated relatively little by ADH. Two other EDTA protocols produced cells that did not respond to Na+ lack or ADH. The intracellular Na+ and K+ concentrations of collagenase-disaggregated cells were 32 and 117 mEq/kg cell H2O, respectively. Cation concentrations of hyaluronidase cells were similar, but cells that did not respond to ADH had higher intracellular Na+ concentrations. Cells unresponsive to ADH and Na+ lack had high sucrose spaces and low transcellular membrane gradients of Na+, K+, and Cl-. The results suggest that trypsin and EDTA disaggregation damage the active Na+ transport system of the isolated cell. Certain EDTA techniques may also produce a general increase in permeability. Collagenase and hyaluronidase cells appear to function normally.
Bioassay Designs for Validating Biologically Based Mathematical Models of Carcinogenesis for Risk Assessment

Bioassays that include various types of discontinuous exposure to carcinogens are somewhat rare and are far from routine. However, discontinuous-dosing groups represent a valuable enhancement of the ordinary bioassay design. My hope is that efforts to include discontinuous-exposure groups in cancer-bioassays will become widespread, and that discontinuous-dosing designs will eventually be a matter of routine. To me, such designs represent an easy (although perhaps costly) way to increase the sophistication of the tumor incidence data for model fitting, and to provide valuable data for validating (or perhaps invalidating) postulated mathematical models of the cancer process. Certainly discontinuous-dosing data at least provide a valuable ancillary resource to be utilized along with data on postulated mechanisms in the effort to implement biologically based models of the cancer process for quantitative risk assessment. Such data might even be indispensible.