cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Revisiting Early Research on Early Language and Number Names

This article addresses the relationship between language and mathematical thinking by reconsidering early work on language and number names. The analysis examines theoretical assumptions, later empirical data, and critiques of those early studies. Researchers, practitioners, and curriculum designers in mathematics education working in multilingual settings need to develop an updated view of this early work on number names across languages, carefully considering what early research actually showed, how it has been critiqued, and how to theoretically frame claims about language and mathematical thinking. The analysis presented here suggests several ways to frame such an updated perspective, including work on linguistic relativity and ecological approaches to the relationship between language and mathematical thinking.
Shaken sand — a granular fluid?

The connection between random grain motion and viscosity in shaken sand — a strongly non-equilibrium system — has been probed. Curiously, the link is similar to that found in an ordinary liquid in thermal equilibrium.
Application of 3-Dimensional Printing in a Case of Osteogenesis Imperfecta for Patient Education, Anatomic Understanding, Preoperative Planning, and Intraoperative Evaluation.

Background The techniques and applications of 3-dimensional (3D) printing have progressed at a fast pace. In the last 10 years, there has been significant progress in applying this technology to medical applications. We present a case of osteogenesis imperfecta in which treatment was aided by prospectively using patient-specific, anatomically accurate 3D prints of the calvaria. The patient-specific, anatomically accurate 3D prints were used in the clinic and in the operating room to augment patient education, improve surgical decision making, and enhance preoperative planning. Case Description A 41-year-old woman with osteogenesis imperfecta and an extensive neurosurgical history presented for cranioplasty revision. Computed tomography (CT) data obtained as part of routine preoperative imaging were processed into a 3D model. The 3D patient-specific models were used in the clinic for patient education and in the operating room for preoperative visualization, planning, and intraoperative evaluation of anatomy. The patient reported the 3D models improved her understanding and comfort with the planned surgery when compared with discussing the procedure with the neurosurgeon or viewing the CT images with a neuroradiologist. The neurosurgeon reported an improved understanding of the patient's anatomy and potential cause of patient symptoms as well as improved preoperative planning compared with viewing the CT imaging alone. The neurosurgeon also reported an improvement in the planned surgical approach with a better intraoperative visualization and confirmation of the regions of planned calvarial resection. Conclusions The use of patient-specific, anatomically accurate 3D prints may improve patient education, surgeon understanding and visualization, preoperative decision making, and intraoperative management.
Extracting Aggregation Free Energies of Mixed Clusters from Simulations of Small Systems: Application to Ionic Surfactant Micelles.

Micelle cluster distributions from molecular dynamics simulations of a solvent-free coarse-grained model of sodium octyl sulfate (SOS) were analyzed using an improved method to extract equilibrium association constants from small-system simulations containing one or two micelle clusters at equilibrium with free surfactants and counterions. The statistical–thermodynamic and mathematical foundations of this partition-enabled analysis of cluster histograms (PEACH) approach are presented. A dramatic reduction in computational time for analysis was achieved through a strategy similar to the selector variable method to circumvent the need for exhaustive enumeration of the possible partitions of surfactants and counterions into clusters. Using statistics from a set of small-system (up to 60 SOS molecules) simulations as input, equilibrium association constants for micelle clusters were obtained as a function of both number of surfactants and number of associated counterions through a global fitting procedure. Th...
Market channel selections by US nursery plant producers: a multivariate nonparametric fractional regression analysis

ABSTRACTAvailability of market channel alternatives has helped the growth of ornamental plant sales in the United States. To identify the factors affecting the choice and allocation of outputs to different market channels by nursery producers, we first use a mixture of experts model to select clusters of homogenous subpopulations of US nursery producers based on a 2009 National Nursery Survey. The impact of growers’ business characteristics on shares of sales to these channels was estimated using multivariate parametric and nonparametric fractional regression models. Specification tests indicated a nonparametric model was superior to a parametric model in some clusters. Important explanatory variables affecting the sales volume to different channels were sales of plant groups, kinds of contract sales, promotional expenses, and farm size. Results indicated the existence of clear market segmentation of nursery producers in the United States.
Vertical video: rupturing the aesthetic paradigm:

Popular culture has critiqued ‘vertical video syndrome’, or video shot on smartphones in the portrait rather than landscape orientation, as something aesthetically unpleasing which should be avoide...
Atomic Physics with Relativistic Beams

The availability of a beam of H- ions with near-luminal velocity has enabled us to investigate photon-atom interactions at photon energies and electric field strengths presently beyond the scope of ordinary laboratory techniques. See Fig. 1. We have surveyed the entire photodetachment spectrum of H- from threshold for single electron detachment to well above the threshold for two-electron detachment. Embedded in the one-electron photodetachment continuum of H- are a series of doubly excited states, termed “resonances” since they are unstable against autodetachment into the continuum. The two most striking of these lie near the threshold for the production of H° (n = 2): a very narrow state just below the threshold, the “Feshbach” resonance, and a broader state lying just above the n = 2 threshold, the “shape” resonance. By means of Stark mixing, we have been able to use these 1P states to uncover nearby 1S and 1D states. Just below the threshold for H° (n = 3) production, we have found a prominent dip in the photodetachment cross section. This “Feshbach”-type state is accompanied by a narrower recursion lying between it and the n = 3 threshold. The single electron Open image in new window Fig. 40. We are studying a System moving with 84% the speed of light. Time is dilated and lengths are contracted by 1.853. photodetachment total cross section above n = 3 shows no further distinctive features upon examination with our current resolution, although there is some evidence for structure below n = 4.
Perilesional edema and blood vessel characteristics in brain metastases and implications for treatment with immune therapy.

9572Background: Little is known about tumor-associated vasogenic edema in brain metastasis, yet it is the cause of significant morbidity and mortality. Our purpose was to better characterize edema ...
Effects of Intimate Partner Violence and Home Environment on Child Language Development in the First 3 Years of Life.

Objective Intimate partner violence (IPV) can adversely affect children's cognitive development, but links between IPV exposure and language development in the earliest years of life remain unknown. The present study examined the effects of IPV and the quality of the home environment on children's language development at age 3 years. Methods In a prospective, 5-panel, longitudinal study of 79 mother-child dyads assessed prenatally to age 3 years, we examined standardized measures of receptive and expressive language development at age 3 years. Predictors and covariates included measures of IPV, characteristics of the home environment, maternal education, and maternal depression. Results Regression analyses indicated a significant main effect of the home environment and maternal education on receptive language, with more supportive homes and more educated mothers at age 1 year linked to better child receptive language at age 3 years. Higher maternal education also significantly predicted better child expressive language at age 3 years. Early exposure to IPV had a direct adverse effect on children's expressive language development; however, interaction analyses indicated that this association was moderated by the quality of the home environment. Specifically, IPV adversely affected expressive language even when home quality was high, indicating that a supportive and stimulating home environment did not buffer effects of IPV on expressive language development. Conclusions Intimate partner violence may adversely affect expressive language, even in positive home environments. Early language skill is an important predictor of later academic readiness and psychological development; therefore, children from at-risk home environments should be screened and monitored early for intervention.
Experimental Study on Consistency of Surge Test between Using Gas Arrestors and Capacitors

This paper presents a particular analysis of the consistency in surge test between using gas arrestors and capacitors. The IEC has strict definitions of the parameters of the test waveform. To compare the waveforms and their parameters in the two coupling modes, high voltage probe and oscilloscope were used to measure the open circuit voltage waveform respectively under the capacitor coupling mode and the gas arrester coupling mode. The experimental result showed that for 10/700μs generators, when the voltage is below 500V, the waveform distortion of gas arrester coupling mode is serious. And with the increase of test voltage, the waveform distortion is reduced. When voltage reaches 1000V, the influence of gas arrester can be ignored.
Temperature effects on neuronal firing rates and tonic-to-bursting transitions

Temperature fluctuations can affect neurological processes at a variety of levels, with the overall output that higher temperatures in general increase neuronal activity. While variations in firing rates can happen with the neuronal system maintaining its homeostatic firing pattern of tonic firing, or bursting, changes in firing rates can also be associated with transitions between the two patterns of firing. Our computer simulations suggest a possible mechanism directly related to the shortening of the duration of the action potential for higher firing rates with temperature increase. Increased temperatures also shorten the period doubling cascade and chaos transition between tonic and burting regimes.
Correlation of CT Angiography and 99mTechnetium-Labeled Red Blood Cell Scintigraphy to Catheter Angiography for Lower Gastrointestinal Bleeding: A Single Institution Experience

Abstract Purpose To investigate the correlation of computed tomography (CT) angiography and 99m Technetium-labeled red blood cell (RBC) scintigraphy to catheter angiography (CA) in the management of lower gastrointestinal bleeding (LGIB) while considering potential nephrotoxic effects of iodinated contrast. Materials and Methods From November 2012 to August 2017, 223 CAs performed for LGIB, including massive, ongoing, and obscure bleeding, were retrospectively identified in patients with pre-procedural CT angiography or RBC scintigraphy. Positive correlations and sensitivities were calculated for CT angiography and RBC scintigraphy using CA results as reference. Correlations were then compared while considering certain clinical presentations of LGIB. Contrast dose was compared with maximum creatinine recorded 48–72 hours after. Results Thirty-eight patients underwent CT angiography; 173 patients underwent RBC scintigraphy; and 12 patients completed both studies. CT angiography had a positive correlation of 67.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 57.0, 76.7) and sensitivity of 85.2% (95% CI: 66.3, 95.8), whereas RBC scintigraphy had a positive correlation of 29.3% (95% CI: 27.7, 31.0) and sensitivity of 94.4% (95% CI: 84.6, 98.8). CT angiography had higher positive correlation across all clinical presentations. No dose-toxicity relationship was observed between contrast and renal function (R 2 : 0.008), nor was there a difference in incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy between CT angiography and RBC scintigraphy ( P = .30). Conclusions CT angiography has greater positive correlation to CA than RBC scintigraphy for assessing LGIB in active stable as well as hemodynamically unstable LGIB. As such, greater adoption of CT angiography may reduce the number of nontherapeutic CAs performed. Additional contrast associated with CT angiography does not result in increased nephrotoxicity.
Mitigating data leakage by protecting memory-resident sensitive data

Gaining reliable arbitrary code execution through the exploitation of memory corruption vulnerabilities is becoming increasingly more difficult in the face of modern exploit mitigations. Facing this challenge, adversaries have started shifting their attention to data leakage attacks, which can lead to equally damaging outcomes, such as the disclosure of private keys or other sensitive data. In this work, we present a compiler-level defense against data leakage attacks for user-space applications. Our approach strikes a balance between the manual effort required to protect sensitive application data, and the performance overhead of achieving strong data confidentiality. To that end, we require developers to simply annotate those variables holding sensitive data, after which our framework automatically transforms only the fraction of the entire program code that is related to sensitive data operations. We implemented this approach by extending the LLVM compiler, and used it to protect memory-resident private keys in the MbedTLS server, ssh-agent, and a Libsodium-based file signing program, as well as user passwords for Lighttpd and Memcached. Our results demonstrate the feasibility and practicality of our technique: a modest runtime overhead (e.g., 13% throughput reduction for MbedTLS) that is on par with, or better than, existing state-of-the-art memory safety approaches for selective data protection.
Variable perceptual potency of the initial 20 ms time window

Abstract: The major focus of this experiment was examination of the contribution or “perceptual potency” of the initial 20 ms “time window” associated with voiceless stop consonant release. An electronic gating procedure was used to achieve consonant burst elimination; the remaining aspiration + vocalic transition + vowel (A + VT + V) segments of six meaningful voiceless stop + vowel CV and eve syllables (/pi, ti, ki, pap, tap, kap/) were presented to 30 adult female listeners for identification. Each stimulus syllable was originally produced in sentence-initial position within a constant carrier phrase at slow, moderate, and fast rates of articulation. Listeners were presented the segments from each target syllable both with the accompanying carrier phrase and in “isolation”. Although no advantage for carrier phrase context was observed, the perceptual potency of the 20 ms time window was not constant but varied significantly as a function of both type of syllable construction and rate of articulation.
Clamping trials prior to thoracostomy tube removal and the need for subsequent invasive pleural drainage.

Abstract Background There is little evidence supporting or refuting clamping trials, a period of clamping thoracostomy tubes prior to removal. We sought to evaluate whether clamping trials reduce the need for subsequent pleural drainage procedures. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of trauma patients who underwent tube thoracostomy during 2009–2015. We compared patients who underwent clamping trials to those who did not, adjusting for confounders. The primary outcome was subsequent ipsilateral pleural drainage within 30 days. Results We evaluated 214 clamping trial and 285 control patients. Only two of 214 patients failed their clamping trial and none developed a tension pneumothorax [0.0% (95% CI 0.0–1.7%)]. Clamping trials were associated with fewer pleural drainage procedures [13 (6%) vs. 33 (12%); adjusted OR 0.41 (95% CI 0.20–0.84)]. Conclusions A clamping trial prior to thoracostomy tube removal seems to be safe and was associated with less likelihood of a subsequent pleural drainage procedure.
Memory B Cell Activation, Broad Anti-influenza Antibodies, and Bystander Activation Revealed by Single-Cell Transcriptomics

Antibody memory protects humans from many diseases. Protective antibody memory responses require activation of transcriptional programs, cell proliferation, and production of antigen-specific antibodies, but how these aspects of the response are coordinated is poorly understood. We profile the molecular and cellular features of the antibody response to influenza vaccination by integrating single-cell transcriptomics, longitudinal antibody repertoire sequencing, and antibody binding measurements. Single-cell transcriptional profiling reveals a program of memory B cell activation characterized by CD11c and T-bet expression associated with clonal expansion and differentiation toward effector function. Vaccination elicits an antibody clone, which rapidly acquired broad high-affinity hemagglutinin binding during affinity maturation. Unexpectedly, many antibody clones elicited by vaccination do not bind vaccine, demonstrating non-specific activation of bystander antibodies by influenza vaccination. These results offer insight into how molecular recognition, transcriptional programs, and clonal proliferation are coordinated in the human B cell repertoire during memory recall.
Effects of Diaphorina citri Population Density on Daily Timing of Vibrational Communication Calls: Potential Benefits in Finding Forage.

Adult Diaphorina citri (ACP) use visual and chemical cues to locate young citrus flush shoots on which they forage and oviposit, and they use vibrational communication duetting calls as cues to help locate mates. For individual pairs, calling and mating usually peaks between 10:00 and 15:00. To explore whether call rates (calls/h) are affected by interactions with nearby conspecifics, rates were compared in small citrus trees on which either 5 or 25 ACP female and male pairs had been released at 17:00 for later recording from sunrise (06:00) to 22:00. Final ACP locations were noted 40 h after release. Call rates were similar in both treatments during normal mating hours. However, rates were significantly higher for low- than high-density treatments between 06:00 and 10:00, which suggests calling during this period may be affected by conspecific density. Both sexes aggregated on flush at both densities. We discuss the potential that ACP producing calls near sunrise, outside of normal mating hours, might benefit from gains in reproductive fitness in low-density contexts if they call not only to locate mates but also to locate preferred flush—in which case, co-opting of vibrations to disrupt both mating and foraging may be feasible.
Evaluation of efficacy of Arndt endobronchial blocker for airway management during one-lung ventilation in pediatric patients

Objective To evaluate the efficacy of Arndt endobronchial blocker (AEB) for airway management during one-lung ventilation(OLV) in pediatric patients. Methods Thirty pediatric patients, aged 4 months-12 yr, weighing 5.6-26.0 kg, of American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status Ⅱ-Ⅳ, scheduled for elective thoracotomy under OLV requiring the use of single lumen tracheal tube assisted by AEB, were enrolled in this study.OLV was performed with the AEB placed outside the single lumen tracheal tube in pediatric patients below 2 years old and with AEB inserted through the single lumen tracheal tube in pediatric patients ≥ 2 years old.The rate of successful establishment of artificial airway at first attempt, time of establishing artificial airway, time of pulmonary collapse, AEB malpositions and airway pressure before and after OLV were recorded, and the efficacy of lung collapse was evaluated. Results The rate of successful tracheal intubation of extraluminal and endoluminal AEB placement at first attempt was 100% in 30 pediatric patients, and no high airway pressure was found after OLV.The efficacy of lung collapse was poor in one patient and good in one patient, and intraoperative AEB malpositions were found in two patients among the pediatric patients used extraluminal AEB placement.The efficacy of lung collapse was good in one patient, intraoperative AEB malposition was found in one patient, and SpO2 was decreased after OLV in one patient among the pediatric patients used endoluminal AEB placement. Conclusion Reasonably selecting the method of placing AEB followed by enhancing intraoperative airway management can be safely and effectively applied for OLV in pediatric patients. Key words: Intubation, intratracheal; Respiration, artificial; Child
Cancer cells are uniquely susceptible to accumulation of MMBIR mutations

Abstract Microhomology-mediated break-induced replication (MMBIR) is a mechanism of polymerase template switching at microhomology, which can produce complex genomic rearrangements (CGRs), underlies neurological and metabolic diseases, and contributes to cancer development. Yet, the extent of MMBIR activity in genomes is poorly understood due to difficulty in directly identifying MMBIR events by whole genome sequencing (WGS). Here, by using our newly developed MMBSearch software, we directly detect MMBIR events in human genomes and report substantial differences in frequency and complexity of MMBIR events between normal and cancer cells. MMBIR events appear only as germline variants in normal human fibroblast cells but readily accumulate de novo across several cancer types. Detailed analysis of MMBIR mutations in lung adenocarcinomas revealed MMBIR-initiated chromosome fusions that disrupted potential tumor suppressor genes and induced CGRs. Our findings document MMBIR as a trigger for widespread genomic instability and highlight MMBIR as a potential driver of tumor evolution.
Clinical characteristics and outcomes in women and men hospitalized for coronavirus disease 2019 in New Orleans.

Determine if sex differences exist in clinical characteristics and outcomes of adults hospitalized for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in a US healthcare system. Case series study. Sequentially hospitalized adults admitted for COVID-19 at two tertiary care academic hospitals in New Orleans, LA, between 27 February and 15 July 2020. Measures included demographics, comorbidities, presenting symptoms, and laboratory results. Outcomes included intensive care unit admission (ICU), invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), and in-hospital death. We included 776 patients (median age 60.5 years; 61.4% women, 75% non-Hispanic Black). Rates of ICU, IMV, and death were similar in both sexes. In women versus men, obesity (63.8 vs 41.6%, P 35) in women, but the magnitude of the effect of morbid obesity (BMI ≥ 40) was similar in both sexes. COPD was associated with ICU (adjusted OR (aOR), 2.6; 95%CI, 1.5–4.3) and IMV (aOR, 1.8; 95%CI, 1.2–3.1) in women only. Diabetes (aOR, 2.6; 95%CI, 1.2–2.9), chronic kidney disease (aOR, 2.2; 95%CI, 1.3–5.2), elevated neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (aOR, 2.5; 95%CI, 1.4–4.3), and elevated ferritin (aOR, 3.6; 95%CI, 1.7–7.3) were independent predictors of death in women only. In contrast, elevated D-dimer was an independent predictor of ICU (aOR, 7.3; 95%CI, 2.7–19.5), IMV (aOR, 6.5; 95%CI, 2.1–20.4), and death (aOR, 4.5; 95%CI, 1.2–16.4) in men only. This study highlights sex disparities in clinical determinants of severe outcomes in COVID-19 patients that may inform management and prevention strategies to ensure gender equity.
Study protocol: a prospective controlled clinical trial to assess surgical or medical treatment for paediatric type 2 diabetes (ST2OMP).

INTRODUCTION The pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes (T2D) in youth differs from adults and conventional medical treatment approaches with lifestyle change, metformin, thiazolidinediones or insulin are inadequate. Metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS) improves multiple health outcomes in adults with T2D. Initial small, uncontrolled studies of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass have also suggested beneficial effects in adolescents. Definitive studies in youth with T2D are lacking, especially with the now more common form of MBS, vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG). The surgical or medical treatment for paediatric type 2 diabetes (ST2OMP) clinical trial was designed to test the hypothesis that VSG will more effectively reduce hyperglycaemic and diabetes comorbidities than the best currently available medical treatment incorporating state of the art pharmacotherapies. ST2OMP is also designed to better understand the pancreatic and enterohepatic mechanisms by which MBS improves diabetes and its associated comorbidities. METHODS AND ANALYSIS ST2OMP is a prospective, open-label, controlled clinical trial that will recruit 90 postpubertal participants, age range 13-19.9 years, with body mass index ≥35 kg/m2 or >120% of 95th percentile and youth-onset T2D. The primary outcome is the per cent of youth achieving haemoglobin A1c <6.0% at 12 months postgroup allocation (post-VSG vs postmedical group allocation). Secondary outcomes include remission of comorbidities and measures of β-cell and incretin responses at 12 and 24 months post VSG versus AMT. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION The ST2OMP protocol was approved by the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and the University of Colorado Institutional Review Boards. Written informed consent is obtained prior to study enrolment. Study findings will be widely disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and conference presentations. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER Clinical Trials.Gov NCT04128995.
Outlier accommodation with semiparametric density processes: A study of Antarctic snow density modelling:

In many settings, data acquisition generates outliers that can obscure inference. Therefore, practitioners often either identify and remove outliers or accommodate outliers using robust models. How...
Etiological Theories of Function: A Geographical Survey

Formulations of the essential commitment of the etiological theory of functions have varied significantly, with some individual authors' formulations even varying from one place to another. The logical geography of these various formulations is different from what is standardly assumed; for they are not stylistic variants of the same essential commitment, but stylistic variants of two non-equivalent versions of the etiological theory. I distinguish these "strong" and "weak" versions of the etiological theory (which differ with respect to the role of selection in their definitions of function), draw out their respective implications, and argue that the weak version is to be preferred to the strong.
Energy-aware online algorithm to satisfy sampling rates with guaranteed probability for sensor applications

Energy consumption is a major factor that limits the performance of sensor applications. Sensor nodes have varying sampling rates since they face continuously changing environments. In this paper, the sampling rate is modeled as a random variable, which is estimated over a finite time window. We presents an online algorithm to minimize the total energy consumption while satisfying sampling rate with guaranteed probability. An efficient algorithm, EOSP (Energy-aware Online algorithm to satisfy Sampling rates with guaranteed Probability), is proposed. Our approach can adapt the architecture accordingly to save energy. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.
Loss of NAD(H) from swollen yeast mitochondria

The mitochondrial electron transport chain oxidizes matrix space NADH as part of the process of oxidative phosphorylation. Mitochondria contain shuttles for the transport of cytoplasmic NADH reducing equivalents into the mitochondrial matrix. Therefore for a long time it was believed that NAD(H) itself was not transported into mitochondria. However evidence has been obtained for the transport of NAD(H) into and out of plant and mammalian mitochondria. Since Saccharomyces cerevisiae mitochondria can directly oxidize cytoplasmic NADH, it remained questionable if mitochondrial NAD(H) transport occurs in this organism. NAD(H) was lost more extensively from the matrix space of swollen than normal, condensed isolated yeast mitochondria from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The loss of NAD(H) in swollen organelles caused a greatly decreased respiratory rate when ethanol or other matrix space NAD-linked substrates were oxidized. Adding NAD back to the medium, even in the presence of a membrane-impermeant NADH dehydrogenase inhibitor, restored the respiratory rate of swollen mitochondria oxidizing ethanol, suggesting that NAD is transported into the matrix space. NAD addition did not restore the decreased respiratory rate of swollen mitochondria oxidizing the combination of malate, glutamate, and pyruvate. Therefore the loss of matrix space metabolites is not entirely specific for NAD(H). However, during NAD(H) loss the mitochondrial levels of most other nucleotides were maintained. Either hypotonic swelling or colloid-osmotic swelling due to opening of the yeast mitochondrial unspecific channel (YMUC) in a mannitol medium resulted in decreased NAD-linked respiration. However, the loss of NAD(H) from the matrix space was not mediated by the YMUC, because YMUC inhibitors did not prevent decreased NAD-linked respiration during swelling and YMUC opening without swelling did not cause decreased NAD-linked respiration. Loss of endogenous NAD(H) from isolated yeast mitochondria is greatly stimulated by matrix space expansion. NAD(H) loss greatly limits NAD-linked respiration in swollen mitochondria without decreasing the NAD-linked respiratory rate in normal, condensed organelles. NAD addition can totally restore the decreased respiration in swollen mitochondria. In live yeast cells mitochondrial swelling has been observed prior to mitochondrial degradation and cell death. Therefore mitochondrial swelling may stimulate NAD(H) transport to regulate metabolism during these conditions.
Studies of scattering mechanisms in gate tunable InAs/(Al,Ga)Sb two dimensional electron gases

A study of scattering mechanisms in gate tunable two dimensional electron gases confined to InAs/(Al,Ga)Sb heterostructures with varying interface roughness and dislocation density is presented. By integrating an insulated gate structure the evolution of the low temperature electron mobility and single-particle lifetime was determined for a previously unexplored density regime, 1011–1012 cm−2, in this system. Existing theoretical models were used to analyze the density dependence of the electron mobility and single particle lifetime in InAs quantum wells. Scattering was found to be dominated by charged dislocations and interface roughness. It was demonstrated that the growth of InAs quantum wells on nearly lattice matched GaSb substrate results in fewer dislocations, lower interface roughness, and improved low temperature transport properties compared to growth on lattice mismatched GaAs substrates.
Experience, Problems, and Subtleties of Electrostatic Discharge at JPL

Approaches used to control electrostatic discharge (ESD) at the JPL are discussed. ESD control problems generally occur in the following: (1) wrist straps; (2) outer garments that preclude the generation of static charge; and (3) materials, items, techniques, or processes permitting the development of a static charge. Consideration is given to the cleaning of antistatic materials, outside contracts, vapor degreasing, and electrostatically charged electrical cables.
Look-up table FPGA realization of m-out-of-n bit voters

Voting is a fundamental operation in the realization of fault-tolerant hardware modules. Different techniques to design bit voters have been proposed in the past; the most common is based on sparse logic implementation of two/multi-level specifications. Though results for these kinds of implementations are optimal or near to optimal in terms of area and speed of the synthesized circuit, physical realization and testing may require a long time. We present results on the implementation of m-out-of-n bit voters at the FPGA level. >
Flagellar motility of the pathogenic spirochetes

Bacterial pathogens are often classified by their toxicity and invasiveness. The invasiveness of a given bacterium is determined by how capable the bacterium is at invading a broad range of tissues in its host. Of mammalian pathogens, some of the most invasive come from a group of bacteria known as the spirochetes, which cause diseases, such as syphilis, Lyme disease, relapsing fever and leptospirosis. Most of the spirochetes are characterized by their distinct shapes and unique motility. They are long, thin bacteria that can be shaped like flat-waves, helices, or have more irregular morphologies. Like many other bacteria, the spirochetes use long, helical appendages known as flagella to move; however, the spirochetes enclose their flagella in the periplasm, the narrow space between the inner and outer membranes. Rotation of the flagella in the periplasm causes the entire cell body to rotate and/or undulate. These deformations of the bacterium produce the force that drives the motility of these organisms, and it is this unique motility that likely allows these bacteria to be highly invasive in mammals. This review will describe the current state of knowledge on the motility and biophysics of these organisms and provide evidence on how this knowledge can inform our understanding of spirochetal diseases.
Toward a Dynamic Theory of Action at the Micro Level of Genocide: Killing, Desistance, and Saving in 1994 Rwanda

This article is about behavioral variation in genocide. Research frequently suggests that violent behaviors can be explained by or treated as synonymous with ethnic categories. This literature also tends to pre-group actors as perpetrators, victims, or bystanders for research purposes. However, evidence that individuals cross boundaries from killing to desistance and saving throughout genocide indicates that the relationship between behaviors and categories is often in flux. I thus introduce the concept of behavioral boundary crossing to examine when and how Hutu in 1994 Rwanda aligned with the killing behaviors expected of them and when and how they did not. I analyze interviews with 31 Hutu, revealing that transactional, relational, social-psychological, and cognitive mechanisms informed individuals’ behaviors during the genocide. The result is a dynamic theory of action that explains participation without homogenizing individual experience due to presumptions about behavioral and categorical alignment.
Colorectal carcinoma: selected issues in pathologic examination and staging and determination of prognostic factors

Abstract Context.—Colorectal carcinoma is one of the most common types of cancer in Western countries and is consistently ranked among the top 3 causes of cancer-related deaths, with approximately 150 000 new cases in the United States and 55 000 deaths in 2006. The pathologist's assessment of tumor stage and stage-independent morphologic features, such as vascular/lymphatic invasion, influences treatment strategies for the individual patient, such as the decision to offer adjuvant therapy after surgery. However, although the pathologist influences clinical care in colorectal cancer, certain aspects of staging and evaluation of prognostic factors remain challenging and confusing. Objectives.—To present the currently used colorectal cancer staging system; to address challenging areas in pathologic staging, including T category considerations and recommendations for the minimum number of lymph nodes sampled; and to discuss assessment of selected stage-independent prognostic factors, such as vascular/ lympha...
Functional determinants and geometry

In this paper we study the zeta-function determinant in the context of elliptic boundary value problems. Our main technique is to relate the determinant of an operator, or a ratio of determinants, to the boundary values of the solutions of the operator. This has the advantage of restricting attention to the solutions of the operator, which do not depend on the boundary conditions and can often be written down explicitly, rather than the eigenvalues, which are usually difficult to work with. In addition, the problem is reduced to a calculation over the boundary of the manifold which is a closed manifold of dimension one less than the original manifold. This has special significance in the case that the manifold is a finite interval. In this case the boundary is a pair of points and the determinant of an ordinary differential operator is expressed in terms of the determinant of a finite matrix.
Investigation of trajectories of inviscid fluid particles in two-dimensional rotating boxes

The particle trajectories of inviscid fluid flow within two-dimensional rotating (elliptic, triangular, and square) boxes are numerically investigated. The source panel method is employed to represent the instantaneous potential interior flow field, and the Runge–Kutta method is used to track the fluid particles. The analytic solutions for the fluid trajectories for the elliptic box are used to verify the numerical accuracy of the method. The numerical error can be reduced to the level of the round-off error if the panels are properly configured and an appropriate number of panels is used. The stagnation of the particles at the corners of the triangular box is successfully predicted with this method. The corner of the square box is found to be a singularity. A logarithmic complex potential is proposed to account for the singularity, using which the stagnation of the particles at the corner in the square box is also captured. The natural frequency of the particles in the rotating elliptic box is constant throughout the flow domain, and the fluid trajectories are epitrochoidal curves. In the triangular box and the square box, the natural frequency strongly depends on the particle position, and the particle trajectories are similar to epitrochoidal curves. In general, the trajectory patterns depend only on the box rotating frequency and the natural frequency of the fluid particle motion.
New class of quark mass matrix and calculability of the flavor mixing matrix

We discuss a new general class of mass matrix {ital Ansatz} that respects the fermion mass hierarchy and {ital calculability} of the flavor mixing matrix. This is a generalization and justification of the various specific forms of the mass matrix by successive breaking of the maximal permutation symmetry. By confronting the experimental data, a large class of the mass matrices are shown to survive, while certain specific cases are phenomenologically ruled out. Also the CP violation turns out to be maximal, when the phase of the (1,2) element of the mass matrix is {pi}/2. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}
Systems pharmacology, pharmacogenetics, and clinical trial design in network medicine

The rapidly growing disciplines of systems biology and network science are now poised to meet the fields of clinical medicine and pharmacology. Principles of systems pharmacology can be applied to drug design and, ultimately, testing in human clinical trials. Rather than focusing exclusively on single drug targets, systems pharmacology examines the holistic response of a phenotype-dependent pathway or pathways to drug perturbation. Knowledge of individual pharmacogenetic profiles further modulates the responses to these drug perturbations, moving the field toward more individualized ('personalized') drug development. The speed with which the information required to assess these system responses and their genomic underpinnings is changing and the importance of identifying the optimal drug or drug combinations for maximal benefit and minimal risk require that clinical trial design strategies be adaptable. In this paper, we review the tenets of adaptive clinical trial design as they may apply to an era of expanding knowledge of systems pharmacology and pharmacogenomics, and clinical trail design in network medicine.
Blackbody radiation from hot two-dimensional electrons in AlxGa1-xAs/GaAs heterojunctions.

We have studied the broad-band far-infrared (FIR) radiation from hot two-dimensional (2D) electrons in selectively doped Al x Ga 1-x As/GaAs heterojunctions. The combination of a composite Si bolometer and a magnetic-field-tuned InSb cyclotron resonance filter allows a spectroscopic as well as an intensity analysis of the FIR emission from hot 2D electrons. It is found that the radiation spectra are well explained by the theory of blackbody radiation and the emissivity assuming a classical Drude conductivity. The behavior of the determined effective blackbbody temperatures of hot 2D electrons is quantitatively explained by a theory of acoustic- and optical-phonon emissions
A qualitative and quantitative color reaction for pyridoxal with sulfuric acid

The carbonyl-phenol-acid reaction system yields color reactions with phenols, carbonyl compounds (aldehydes and ketones), and inorganic acids. 'I'o test for one of the components of this reaction system, the remaining two components constitute the specific reagents. The four related compounds, pyridoxine, pyridoxamine, pyridoxal, and pyridoxic acid each possess a phenolic hydroxyl. Pyridoxal possesses an aldehyde group in addition to the phenolic hydroxyl. Pyridoxal yields an intense yellow color on treatment with concentrated sulfuric acid. Pyridoxine, pyridoxamine and pyridoxic acid prove not to be chromogenic on treatment with concentrated sulfuric acid. Pyridoxal can therefore be differentiated by means of the sulfuric acid reaction from the other three compounds related to vitamin B6. The colored product obtained by the interaction of pyridoxa1 and concentrated sulfuric acid yields a characteristic absorption spectrum and follows the Beer-Lambert law in the concentrations of pyridoxal tested (l0—100 μg).
A transportable system for management and exchange of programs and other text

Computer software is usually exchanged between different computer facilities via punched cards or magnetic tape. For up to about 1000 images, cards are cheaper and probably easier to deal with than tape. The primary problem with cards is the variety of punch codes. Frequently, one also has the minor nuisance of repunching cards damaged in transit. For larger amounts of data, tape is cheaper, but there are so many tape formats in use that the recipient frequently has trouble reading a tape, even if the format is simple and well defined. Occasionally, one has the problem of parity errors, which make a tape essentially worthless. When test data, modules in several languages, computer output or documentation are included, the lack of organization in the material can cause a substantial amount of unnecessary human labor.This paper presents a system for exchanging information on tape, that allows information about the data to be included with the data. The system is designed for portability, but requires a few simple machine dependent modules. These modules are available for a variety of machines, and a bootstrapping procedure is provided. The system allows content selected reading of the tape, and a simple text editing facility is provided. Although the system recognizes 30 commands, information may be extracted from the tape by using as few as three commands. In addition to its use for information exchange, we expect the system to find use in maintaining large libraries of text.
Seat/Head Restraint System Robust Design for IIHS Rear Impact

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) announced the procedures to evaluate and rate rear crash protection system, which focus on how well seat/head restraint system protects against soft tissue neck (“whiplash”) injury. The “Good” rating for IIHS rear impact combining with the “Good” ratings of both frontal offset and side impacts, plus offering electronic stability control will earn the Institute’s “Top Safety Pick” award. The goal of this work is to develop an analytical and efficient way to assist engineers in analyzing the design variables of the seat/head restraint system to improve the IIHS rear impact rating. An integrated robust design method for IIHS rear impact is developed using design of experiments, variable screening, response surface method, and genetic algorithm. A CAE simulation model with Bio-RID dummy is built to correlate to rear impact sled tests. The correlated model is then used in the robust design study to identify design strategy and obtain robust design to maximize the chance of achieving IIHS rear impact “Good” rating. The proposed robust design method is applied to a manual seat/head restraint system to achieve robust design under various noise factors. The results demonstrate that the integrated robust design method is a useful tool to improve the seat and head restraint system design to improve IIHS rear impact rating.Copyright © 2007 by ASME
Anomalous nodule visibility effects in mammographic images

This study was undertaken to further investigate recent reports of unusual contrast-detail (CD) behavior in images with mammographic backgrounds, namely threshold contrast for detection increased with nodule size for Gaussian nodules. In this work we investigated the effects on the CD curve of allowing differently shaped nodules, in particular nodules with sharper edges. The following types of nodules/disks were studied: Gaussian shaped nodules and blurred disks, the latter characterized by a radius and an independent edge sharpness parameter. In a second type of disk the edge blur was held proportional to the disk radius. Ideal Observer detection thresholds were calculated for different nodule/disk radii ranging from 1.5 to 15 mm and observer performance studies were conducted. Noise power spectra (NPS) measurements confirmed the frequency dependence previously reported, NPS (alpha) 1/f3.1. For the Gaussian nodules we confirmed the reported CD behavior, with threshold contrast (alpha) radius0.2. However, for the disk nodules with fixed blur edges we observed different behavior (larger objects required less contrast), with threshold proportional to radius-0.28. For the disk nodules with variable blur the threshold contrast was almost independent of radius. In summary while we duplicated the reported CD diagrams for Gaussian nodules, different behavior was observed for nodules with edges. We conclude that in addition to considering the details of the noise, it is necessary to consider the signal properties in more detail.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Efficacy of albendazole and fenbendazole against Giardia infection in cattle

Abstract Efficacies of albendazole and fenbendazole in suppressing Giardia cyst output of infected calves were evaluated in two clinical trials. In the first trial, 18 naturally infected calves were allocated to an untreated control group (n = 9) and an albendazole-treated group (n = 9). Calves in the treated group were given 20 mg kg−1 oral albendazole once daily for 3 days. Compared to controls, treated calves showed 98.5%, 97.6% and 90.8% reductions in cysts per gram of feces (cpg) 1,2 and 6 weeks respectively after the start of treatment. In a second trial, 13 infected calves were allocated to an untreated control group (n = 6) and a fenbendazole-treated group (n = 7). Calves in the treated group were given 10 mg kg−1 fenbendazole orally twice daily for 3 days. Compared to the control group, treatments reduced cpg counts by 100%, 98.5% and 59.5% 1,2, and 3 weeks respectively after the start of treatment. Both albendazole and fenbemdazole appeared to be effective in suppressing cyst excretion by Giardia-infected calves.