cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Perception and Production of Approximant Consonants by Normal and Articulation-Delayed Preschool Children

Disagreement exists concerning the relationship between the perception of phonetic contrasts and their production by both normal and articulation-delayed children. The perception of three approximant consonant contrasts (/w/-/r/,/w/-/l/, /r/-/1/) was examined in two groups of 3-year-old children: Normal children who did and did not articulate /r/ and /1/ correctly and articulation-delayed children who misarticulated /r/ and /1/. Perception was assessed in a two-choice forced-choice identification task in which the subjects heard a word and pushed a button lighting a picture corresponding to the word. In general, normally developing children were highly accurate in their perception of all three contrasts, but there was more variability in /w/-/1/ perceptual performance among the children who neutralized the/w/-/1/contrast. Articulation-delayed children displayed a wider range of production patterns and were more variable in their perceptual performance than normally developing children. Results suggest tha...
Racial differences in blood pressure among urban adolescents

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are racial differences in the blood pressure patterns among urban adolescents. Blood pressure (BP) was measured according to Task Force guidelines in health-screening and education sessions conducted in urban public and parochial high schools. The prevalence of BP > or = 95th% (HBP) on initial screening was determined in a population of 3,349 students. Differences in prevalence of HBP among race, sex, and age groups were tested for significance by chi 2 analysis. The overall prevalence of HBP in this urban adolescent population was 8.1%. Significant race differences were present in females (blacks = 6.6% versus non-Hispanics = 2.9%, p < 0.01). Within the black females, HBP occurred more frequently among the girls attending predominantly black public schools (7.7%) compared to an interracial parochial school (2.0%) p < 0.001. This difference could not be explained by weight, height, or the occurrence of obesity. The observed BP differences within black females, by school, may reflect a family-environment effect on cardiovascular risk.
Inelastic and Elastic Scattering of 187-Mev Electrons from Selected Even-Even Nuclei

A survey has been made of the differential scattering cross sections for 187-Mev electrons on the even-even nuclei $_{12}\mathrm{Mg}^{24}$, $_{14}\mathrm{Si}^{28}$, $_{16}\mathrm{S}^{32}$, $_{18}\mathrm{A}^{40}$, and $_{28}\mathrm{Sr}^{88}$. It has been possible to separate the elastic scattering from the inelastic in all cases and to resolve the inelastic groups from specific nuclear levels for at least one level in all cases. A simple Born-approximation analysis of the elastic data yields values of the effective radii and surface thicknesses of the nuclear charge densities which (if suitably corrected for failure of the Born approximation) are in substantial agreement with the results of Hahn, Ravenhall, and Hofstadter; i.e., a radius parameter of $c\ensuremath{\cong}1.08 {A}^{\frac{1}{3}}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}13}$ cm (radius to half-maximum of the charge distribution) and a surface thickness of $t\ensuremath{\cong}2.5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}13}$ cm (thickness from 10% to 90% of the maximum of the charge distribution). Phenomenological analysis of the inelastic scattering along the lines laid down by Schiff yields some tentative multipolarity assignments, and application of some results of Ravenhall yields estimates of (radiative) partial level widths; for the $E2$ transitions these correspond to lifetimes of \ensuremath{\sim}19\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}13}$ sec (Mg 1.37 Mev) to \ensuremath{\sim}1.4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}13}$ sec (Sr 1.85 Mev). The observed strengths of the transitions are compared to those predicted by Weisskopf theory.
The Vigil Network : a means of observing landscape change in drainage basins

Long-term monitoring of geomorphic, hydrological, and biological characteristics of landscapes provides an effective means of relating observed change to possible causes of the change. Identification of changes in basin characteristics, especially in arid areas where the response to altered climate or land use is generally rapid and readily apparent, might provide the initial direct indications that factors such as global warming and cultural impacts have affected the environment. The Vigil Network provides an opportunity for earth and life scientists to participate in a systematic monitoring effort to detect landscape changes over time, and to relate such changes to possible causes. The Vigil Network is an ever-increasing group of sites and basins used to monitor landscape features with as much as 50 years of documented geomorphic and related observations.
The obligatory role of methionine in the conversion of sulfate to cephalosporin C

Cephalosporium acremonium CW 19 produces cephalosporin C from sulfate; production is increased by addition of methionine, a source of sulfur for the antibiotic. Mutation to methionine auxotrophy eliminates the ability to produce antibiotic at low methionine concentration (30–80 μg DL-methionine per ml) despite normal growth and the presence of excess sulfate for antibiotic synthesis. Thus cephalosporin C biosynthesis from sulfate by the parent culture involves some obligatory role of endogenous methionine, probably a non-precursor role.
Difficult conversations: a national course for neurosurgery residents in physician-patient communication.

Objective To describe the design, content, implementation, and evaluation of a national curriculum for teaching practical skills in empathic communication to residents in neurosurgery. Design Based on needs assessed through a national survey of neurosurgery program directors, videotaped scenarios using standardized patients illustrating good and bad communication skills were developed. Presurveys and postsurveys were conducted querying participants on their level of competence and the specific behaviors they would attempt to change following participation. A subgroup of residents was evaluated before and after the training based on videotaped role-play exercises. Setting A pilot study was conducted at the authors' institution and later implemented at National Neurosurgery Boot Camps. Participants A total of 14 Duke graduate medical education neurosurgery residents agreed to participate in the pilot study. From across the country, 93 residents (representing 59 institutions) participated in the communication training as part of the Neurosurgery Boot camps, 11 of whom volunteered to participate in a role-playing session before and after the formal teaching session. Results Most of the neurosurgery program directors responding to the survey indicated that an interactive online communication-training module would be of value (77%). A total of 93 residents participated in communication training as part of the Neurosurgery Boot Camps. Approximately half of the residents reported having no formal physician-patient communication training. Presurvey and postsurvey results showed significant improvement in several of the communication scenarios. Those who participated in role-play showed significant improvement in "asking open-ended questions," "listening," "fire warning shot," "allowing patient to absorb," and "explaining in clear language." Conclusions Neurosurgeons frequently participate in difficult conversations. Both residents and faculty note that exposure to this content is suboptimal. A hybrid approach to teaching communication skills is well received and enhances graduate medical education training of surgical subspecialists.
How monkeys see the eyes: Cotton-top tamarins' reaction to changes in visual attention and action.

Among social species, the capacity to detect where another individual is looking is adaptive because gaze direction often predicts what an individual is attending to, and thus what its future actions are likely to be. We used an expectancy violation procedure to determine whether cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus oedipus) use the direction of another individual’s gaze to predict future actions. Subjects were familiarized with a sequence in which a human actor turned her attention toward one of two objects sitting on a table and then reached for that object. Following familiarization, subjects saw two test events. In one test event, the actor gazed at the new object and then reached for that object. From a human perspective, this event is considered consistent with the causal relationship between visual attention and subsequent action, that is, grabbing the object attended to. In the second test event, the actor gazed at the old object, but reached for the new object. This event is considered a violation of expectation. When the actor oriented with both her head-and-eyes, subjects looked significantly longer at the second test event in which the actor reached for the object to which she had not previously oriented. However, there was no difference in looking time between test events when the actor used only her eyes to orient. These findings suggest that tamarins are able to use some combination of head orientation and gaze direction, but not gaze direction alone, to predict the actions of a human agent.
Overexpression of BsoBI restriction endonuclease in E. coli, purification of the recombinant BsoBI, and identification of catalytic residues of BsoBI by random mutagenesis

BsoBI is a type II restriction enzyme found in Bacillus stearothermophilus JN209 that recognizes the symmetric sequence 5'-CYCGRG-3' (Y=C or T; R=A or G) and cleaves between the first and second base to generate a four-base 5' extension. The cloning and sequencing of BsoBI restriction-modification system has been described by Ruan et al. [Mol. Gen. Genet. 252 (1996) 695-699]. Here we report the overexpression of BsoBI restriction endonuclease gene in E. coli by insertion of the endonuclease gene into an expression vector pRRS. The recombinant BsoBI was purified to homogeneity and its N-terminus sequence was determined. It has the same N-terminal aa sequence as the native enzyme. The constitutive expression of BsoBI from pRRS is lethal to E. coli in the absence of the cognate methylase. The bsoBIR gene was mutagenized with either hydroxylamine or by error-prone polymerase chain reaction in vitro and transferred into E. coli via plasmid vectors in the absence of the cognate methylase. Surviving transformants were selected that carry BsoBI variants which lost endonuclease activity. DNA sequencing of the mutant alleles revealed that G123, D124, D212, D246, E252 and H253 are important residues for enzymatic activity. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay was used to identify binding-proficient and cleavage-deficient variants. Seven variants I95M&D124Y, G123R, D212N, K207R&D212V, D246N, D246G and E252K can still bind DNA despite the loss of cleavage activity. Thus, residues D124, D212, D246 and E252 may be located near or within the catalytic center, and are likely involved in metal ion binding.
Unsteady, Combined Radiation and Conduction in an Absorbing, Scattering, and Emitting Medium

The transient cooldown of a gray, absorbing, isotropic scattering, emitting, and conducting medium bounded by gray, diffusely emitting and reflecting parallel plates is considered. Numerical solutions are obtained for the initial boundary-value problem with a discontinuous decrease in temperature at one boundary. The quasi-steady equation of radiative transfer is solved using Gaussian quadrature and a matrix eigenvector technique together with explicit numerical solution of the unsteady energy equation. Temperature and energy flux distributions are presented for variations of optical thickness, boundary emissivity, albedo, and conduction-radiation parameter.
Pannexin1 is part of the pore forming unit of the P2X7 receptor death complex

The purinergic receptor P2X7 is part of a complex signaling mechanism participating in a variety of physiological and pathological processes. Depending on the activation scheme, P2X7 receptors in vivo are non-selective cation channels or form large pores that can mediate apoptotic cell death. Expression of P2X7R in Xenopus oocytes results exclusively in formation of a non-selective cation channel. However, here we show that co-expression of P2X7R with pannexin1 in oocytes leads to the complex response seen in many mammalian cells, including cell death with prolonged ATP application. While the cation channel activity is resistant to carbenoxolone treatment, this gap junction and hemichannel blocking drug suppressed the currents induced by ATP in pannexin1/P2X7R co-expressing cells. Thus, pannexin1 appears to be the molecular substrate for the permeabilization pore (or death receptor channel) recruited into the P2X7R signaling complex.
Immunological heterogeneity of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA).

Abstract Sera specimens of some cancer patients with high CEA concentrations (more than 500 ng CEA/ml by Roche CEA assay) were compared by radioimmunoassay (RIA) using two different anti-CEA antisera (Roche and Montreal). Both anti-CEA antisera (Roche and Montreal) recognized three different purified standard preparations of CEA by RIA. However, a large difference of more than two orders of magnitude was observed in the ability of the two antisera to detect serum CEA in these selected patients. This suggests that circulating CEA-like activity in some patients with carcinoma of the digestive tract is immunologically different from available CEA standards purified from human tumor extracts.
Magnetic field effects on hydrogenic donor states in GaAs

Abstract The far infrared photoconductivity of epitaxial n-type GaAs has been studied near 4.2 °K, as a function of magnetic field. The results show that the photoconductivity is largely due to transitions from the donor ground state to excited states. The observed transition energies are in good agreement with the results of effective mass theories.
Mediating in your pajamas: The benefits and challenges for ODR practitioners

Many alternative dispute resolution (ADR) professionals remain skeptical of on-line dispute resolution (ODR) out of a belief that the cold, impersonal realm of cyberspace cannot adequately accommodate human emotions and meet the needs of disputants as fully as face-to-face ADR processes. This essay discusses how emotions and cognitive limitations influence the mediation process on-line, possible methods by which ODR neutrals may address human needs, and some of the challenges and rewards experienced by ODR practitioners as they use technology to deliver traditional ADR services.
Symbolic play and early language development in normal and mentally retarded children.

This study investigated the relationship of early language development and symbolic play behaviors in normal and mentally retarded children. Piaget' type IIA symbolic play, the ability to represent one object with another, was assessed by employing an object stimulus gradient. Forty children served as subjects: 20 normal and 20 trainable mentally retarded youngsters, 10 each at MLU Stage Pre-I and MLU Stage I. The results of a three-way ANOVA revealed significant main effects of MLU Stage and object condition and a significant interaction of MLU by object condition. The MLU Stage Pre-I children demonstrated significantly more restricted symbolic play than did the MLU Stage I children regardless of developmental status. A Pearson product-moment correlation between MLU and mean symbolic play score showed a high positive correlation between the two variables. Symbolic play which involves the use of one object to represent another was found to be a strong correlate of early language development.
Sticks and stones: shareholder activists in the public forum

Purpose – This paper discusses shareholder activists in the public forum.Design/methodology/approach – This as a viewpoint paper in which the authors discuss the roles played by shareholder activists in the public forum.Findings – There are a variety of responses that companies may take in response to activism.Originality/value – The authors present some strategies for dealing with shareholder activists and shareholder groups.
Predictors of depressive symptoms in older veterans with heart failure.

Objectives: This study collected data on demographic factors, heart failure physical limitations, perception of heart failure intrusiveness, coping mechanisms, locus of control, self-efficacy and social support for 104 older veterans with heart failure (HF) to determine the factors’ relative importance in predicting depressive symptoms. Method: Participants were veterans at least 60 years of age with HF who were screened for depression and anxiety with the Geriatric Depression Scale and Geriatric Anxiety Inventory, respectively, so that the final sample consisted of equal numbers with and without significant levels of anxiety and depression. Other measures included the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, Heart Failure Illness Intrusiveness Rating Scale, Brief-COPE, Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale, Chronic Disease Self-Efficacy and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Results: Correlational analyses indicated that depressive symptoms were significantly associated with ph...
Power Spectrum Identification for Adaptive Systems

This paper describes a method for identifying the parameters of a class of power spectra. In contrast to conventional methods of spectral analysis, the method assumes a particular form for the power spectrum and gives direct estimates of unknown parameters. Thus the method is faster than ordinary spectral analysis and can be easily implemented by a digital computer for use in an adaptive loop. The derivation of the estimates assumes that the power spectrum has no zeros, and is based on well-known results in the theory of autoregressive schemes. Some ways of extending the results to the case where zeros are present in the spectrum are suggested. The method can also be used as a prewhitening technique in conjunction with ordinary spectral analysis.
Long-term experimental manipulation of winter snow regime and summer temperature in arctic and alpine tundra

Three 60 m long, 2·8 m high snowfences have been erected to study long-term effects of changing winter snow conditions on arctic and alpine tundra. This paper describes the experimental design and short-term effects. Open-top fiberglass warming chambers are placed along the experimental snow gradients and in controls areas outside the fences; each warming plot is paired with an unwarmed plot. The purpose of the experiment is to examine short- and long-term changes to the integrated physical-biological systems under simultaneous changes of winter snow regime and summer temperature, as part of the Long-Term Ecological Research network and the International Tundra Experiment. The sites were at Niwot Ridge, Colorado, a temperate high altitude site in the Colorado Rockies, and Toolik Lake, Alaska, a high-latitude site. Initial results indicate that although experimental designs are essentially identical at the arctic and alpine sites, experimental effects are different. The drift at Niwot Ridge lasts much longer than do the Toolik Lake drifts, so that the Niwot Ridge fence affects both summer and winter conditions, whereas the Toolik Lake fence affects primarily winter conditions. The temperature experiment also differs in effect between the sites. Although the average temperature increase at the two sites is similar (daily increase 1·5 °C at Toolik and 1·9 °C at Niwot Ridge), at Toolik Lake there is only minor diurnal variation, whereas at Niwot Ridge the daytime increases are extreme on sunny days (as much as 7–10 °C), and minimum nighttime temperatures in the chambers are often slightly cooler than ambient (by about 1 °C). The experimental drifts resulted in wintertime increases in temperature and CO2 flux. Temperatures under the deep drifts were much more consistent and warmer than in control areas, and at Niwot Ridge remained very close to 0 °C all winter. These increased temperatures were likely responsible for observed increases in system carbon loss. Initial changes to the aboveground biotic system included an increase in growth in response to both snow and warming, despite a reduced growing season. This is expected to be a transient response that will eventually be replaced by reduced growth. At least one species, Kobresia myosuroides, had almost completely died at Niwot Ridge three years after fence construction, whereas other species were increasing. We expect in both the short- and long-term to see the strongest effects of snow at the Niwot Ridge site, and stronger effects of temperature at Toolik Lake. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A hybrid hardware/software approach to efficiently determine cache coherence Bottlenecks

High-end computing increasingly relies on shared-memory multiprocessors (SMPs), such as clusters of SMPs, nodes of chip-multiprocessors (CMP) or large-scale single-system image (SSI) SMPs. In such systems, performance is often affected by the sharing pattern of data within applications and its impact on cache coherence. Sharing patterns that result in frequent invalidations followed by subsequent coherence misses create cache coherence bottlenecks with significant performance penalties. Past work on identifying coherence bottlenecks based oil tracing memory accesses incurs considerable runtime overhead and does not scale well with increasing problem sizes, which makes it infeasible to use with real-world programs.In this paper, we introduce a novel low-cost, hardware-assisted approach to determine coherence bottlenecks in shared-memory OpenMP applications. We assess the merits of our approach on a contemporary SMP platform. Specifically, we assess the feasibility of lossy tracing to pin-point coherence problems in applications. We evaluate the qualitative and quantitative trade-offs between tracing overhead and accuracy of the generated coherence traffic metrics, correlated to memory access points at the program source level.Our lossy tracing mechanism closely approximates the degree of accuracy of determining coherence misses in full traces for most of the benchmarks we study while reducing run-time execution overhead and trace sizes by one to two orders of magnitude. To the best of our knowledge, this novel method significantly outperforms any of the prior approaches and, for the first time, makes cache coherence analysis feasible for long-running applications.
Registry Studies for Improving the Quality of Cardiovascular Care The Role of Variance Components

In this issue of Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 2 seemingly unrelated articles appear that utilize clinical registry data: Curtis et al1 utilize the American College of Cardiology’s CathPCI Registry to calculate hospital-specific 30-day risk standardized mortality rates following percutaneous coronary intervention whereas Likosky and colleagues2 exploit the Northern New England Cardiovascular Disease Study Group’s cardiac surgery registry to identify factors associated with patient-specific low output failure after coronary bypass grafting surgery. The former is concerned with estimating between-hospital variation in patient outcomes and the latter aims to quantify between-surgeon and between-patient variations in patient outcomes. Although the questions are similar, the authors have focused on different statistical summary measures. Curtis and colleagues use > 100 000 admissions to assess quality of hospital care across 602 hospitals and estimate hospital-specific performance measures using hierarchical (or random effects) logistic regression models. Likosky and colleagues study …
Visual evoked potential latencies in papilledema and hydrocephalus

Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) obtained by using counterphase gratings were studied in adult patients with hydrocephalus and papilledema and in patients with papilledema due to brain tumor but without hydrocephalus. Transient VEPs were delayed only if hydrocephalic ventricular enlargement was present, while normal VEPs were recorded from patients with papilledema but without hydrocephalus. In three cases studied before and after treatment a reduction of the latency of the transient VEP corresponded to a reduction of ventricular size in patients with hydrocephalus. The steady-state VEPs similarly paralleled the recovery following therapy, but the response to specific spatial frequencies, the time of recovery, and measurements of interocular differences revealed that the two types of EP (i.e., recorded at slow and faster temporal rates) may tap different systems. The study of VEPs is proposed as a method of evaluating shunt patency in hydrocephalic patients.
A Multiple Secret Sharing Scheme based on Matrix Projection

In [3], Bai et al. have proposed a multiple secret sharing scheme based on matrix projection. It is an elegant scheme with several advantages such as small share size and dynamic to secret changes. However,one of its disadvantages is that the secrets are organized in a square matrix and hence the number of secrets must be a square. So there is often a necessity to stuff dummy secrets into the secret matrix if the number of secrets is not a square.We present a new scheme based on matrix projection method that can share any number of secrets and make full use of every element of the secret matrix. The proposed scheme is as secure as Bai's scheme. Besides, the proposed scheme can also take advantage of the proactive characteristic of the Matrix Projection Method to update shares periodically to improve security.Our scheme increases the potential range of the threshold. The increment of the threshold range is even more when we are using the proactive feature of the scheme. It also further reduces the share size to a constant (equal to that of a single secret). As with Bai's scheme, our scheme is partially verifiable based on the properties of the projection matrix. The paper also summarizes and classifies typical existing secret sharing schemes.
Multi-objective optimization techniques for VLSI circuits

The EDA design flows must be retooled to cope with the rapid increase in the number of operational modes and process corners for a VLSI circuit, which in turn results in different and sometimes conflicting design goals and requirements. Single-objective solutions to various design optimization problems, ranging from sizing and fanout optimization to technology mapping and cell placement, must hence be augmented to deal with this changing landscape. This paper starts off by presenting a variety of methods for providing analytical models for power and delay to be used in the optimization algorithms. The modeling includes non-convex and convex functional forms. Next, a class of robust and scalable methods for solving multi-objective optimization problems (MOP) in a digital circuit is presented. We present the results of a multi-objective (i.e., power dissipation and delay) gate (transistor) sizing optimization algorithm to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method. We set up the problem as a simultaneous, multi-objective optimization problem and solve it by using the Weighted Sum and Compromise Programming methods. After comparing these two methods, we present the Satisficing Trade-off Method (STOM) to find the most desirable operating point of a circuit.
An Empirical Investigation of an Incentive Plan that Includes Nonfinancial Performance Measures

Recent studies report an increasing use of nonfinancial measures such as product quality, customer satisfaction, and market share in performance measurement and compensation systems. A growing literature suggests that because current nonfinancial measures are better predictors of long‐term financial performance than current financial measures, they help refocus managers on the long‐term aspects of their actions. However, little empirical evidence is available on the relation between nonfinancial measures and financial performance, and even less is known about performance impacts of incorporating nonfinancial measures in incentive contracts. Using time‐series data for 72 months from 18 hotels managed by a hospitality firm, this study provides empirical evidence on the behavior of nonfinancial measures and their impact on firm performance. The results indicate that nonfinancial measures of customer satisfaction are significantly associated with future financial performance and contain additional information...
Using Conversational Learning to Enhance Teaching of Diversity

To function in today’s diverse and multicultural environment, workers must be properly prepared; yet teaching diversity is not an easy task. This article explores some of the challenges of diversity and proposes the use of conversational learning to make teaching more effective in preparing students and employees for the workplace. In addition, a model of conversational learning is discussed along with ways to facilitate its use in teaching diversity.
The participation of Mexico in global supply chains: the challenge of adding Mexican value

There is a general perception that Mexico’s insertion in global supply chains has been mostly in assembly operations and that efforts should be made to incorporate additional domestic value in the international production networks in which the country participates. To examine this issue properly one needs to have a measure of the share of domestic value added that is effectively embodied in Mexico’s exports. We analyse firm-level data from the Manufacturing Industry, maquiladora and Export Services Program census which covers all the firms that benefit from the Maquiladora and the Program of Temporary Imports to Produce Export Goods programs. We find that the share of domestic value added as a proportion of the firm’s exports has been declining in the last 6 years. We show that the decline is not the result of market share reallocations; that it persists after controlling for price changes and that is observed across firms of all sizes. The results suggest that more segments of the supply chains are gener...
"Acquiescence" in the MMPI: a method variance artifact?

Analysis of the relationship between content type and true-false keying direction in the item pool from which the MMPI was constructed indicates a striking lack of independence. This suggests that previous evidence interpreted as indicating the importance of acquiescence response style in the MMPI is at least in part an artifact.
FBI guidelines for use of hypnosis

Abstract The Federal Bureau of Investigation uses hypnosis as a tool for investigative purposes in selected cases where further leads are needed and witnesses or victims are willing to participate in a hypnotic interview. All sessions are tape recorded, preferably by video. A hypnotic interview cannot necessarily provide accurate leads, and therefore careful investigative work is done to verify the accuracy of any information obtained in hypnosis. Psychiatrists, psychologists, or physicians specially trained in hypnotic techniques have been employed to add protection for the witnesses or victims being questioned under hypnosis.
Soft Body Simulation with Leaking Effect

Though there is much research on physically-based animation of soft bodies, simulating soft body objects in real-time remains challenging problem. This paper presents an algorithm for simulating leaking effects in real-time soft body simulations where fast calculation is priority. To simulate leaking effects in a soft body, geometrical cases of broken springs are defined and an algorithm rearranges the topology of neighbors in which the broken springs are connected. Then, internal forces are applied to surface points to model the leaking effect and deform the soft body. Experiments show that the soft body objects with leaking effects can be realistically simulated at interactive speeds on common hardware.
Abstraction and control for groups of fully-actuated planar robots

This paper shows how a large number of robots can be coordinated by designing control laws on a small dimensional manifold, independent on the number and ordering of the robots. The small dimensional description of the team has a product structure of a Lie group, which captures the dependence of the ensemble on world frame, and a shape manifold, which is an intrinsic description of the team. We design decoupled controls for group and shape. The individual control laws which are mapped to the desired collective behavior can be realized by feedback depending only on the current state of the robot and the state on the small dimensional manifold, so that the robots have to broadcast their states and only have to listen to some coordinating agent with small bandwidth.
Using technology to enhance K–12 outreach in materials science

Most K–12 outreach programs worldwide within materials science and beyond rely on scientists visiting K–12 classrooms and assisting teachers with instruction and development of classroom materials, as well as developing on-site professional development workshops. Due to the limited time materials scientists and teachers have available for participating in K–12 outreach programs, more creative approaches are necessary to accommodate the needs of a broader spectrum of teachers and students. Incorporating technology into K–12 outreach programs is one approach that can be used to overcome some of the obstacles currently faced. This article discusses different manners in which technology can be included in K–12 materials science outreach programs, such as K–12 educational software and tools as well as online professional development programs. This article also draws on broader educational technology research to identify known challenges of incorporating technology into outreach programs and possible ways to overcome such challenges.
Breaking in is hard to do: how students negotiate classroom activity shifts

Using conversation‐analytic methods, this paper examines teacher‐initiated activity transitions to highlight how students in the second‐language (L2) classroom systematically contest shifts. These video‐recorded interactions come from an advanced‐level adult English‐as‐a‐second‐language classroom, and multi‐modal analysis is utilised to demonstrate how L2 students and their teacher negotiate the boundaries of activities in the classroom. Shifts both between and within activities are analysed to underscore the different interactional work required of students to challenge shifts in these different sequential environments. Students were found to take strategic advantage of the incremental nature of teacher‐initiated activity shifts in order to redirect talk back to a prior topic. Students demonstrate control over talk by creating ‘wiggle room’ at activity transitions, and the teacher’s sanction of these student‐initiated turns also provides them with additional interactional space; the contributions of both...
The Economic Costs of Conflict: A Case Study of the Basque Country

This article investigates the economic effects of conflict, using the terrorist conflict in the Basque Country as a case study. We find that, after the outbreak of terrorism in the late 1960's, per capita GDP in the Basque Country declined about 10 percentage points relative to a synthetic control region without terrorism. In addition, we use the 1998-1999 truce as a natural experiment. We find that stocks of firms with a significant part of their business in the Basque Country showed a positive relative performance when truce became credible, and a negative relative performance at the end of the cease-fire.
Atrophy of the Heart After Insertion of a Left Ventricular Assist Device and Closure of the Aortic Valve

Described are findings in a 70-year-old man who had heart transplantation 4 years after treatment with a left ventricular assist device, and surgical closure of his previously replaced aortic valve. The result was a totally nonfunctioning left ventricle resulting in severe atrophy.
Bayes’ Theorem—A Review

Formal probability analysis based on Bayes' theorem greatly enhances the diagnostic capabilities of exercise testing in the detection of coronary artery disease. The pretest characteristics of a patient must be considered along with the test results in arriving at a post-test probability of disease. The essential concepts of probability analysis have broad applications in the entire field of medicine.
Inflation Targeting: Lessons from Four Countries

In recent years, a number of central banks have chosen to orient their monetary policy toward the achievement of numerical inflation targets. This study examines the experience of the first three countries to adopt an inflation-targeting strategy - New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom. It also considers the German experience with a monetary targeting scheme that incorporated many elements of inflation targeting even earlier. The authors find that the countries adopting a numerical inflation target have successfully maintained low inflation rates. Other benefits of inflation targeting include increased central bank accountability, heightened public understanding of monetary policy, and an improved climate for economic growth.
Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) Design Based on Computational Reliability Analysis

Accelerated life testing (ALT) design is usually performed based on assumptions of life distributions, stress–life relationship, and empirical reliability models. Time-dependent reliability analysis on the other hand seeks to predict product and system life distribution based on physics-informed simulation models. This paper proposes an ALT design framework that takes advantages of both types of analyses. For a given testing plan, the corresponding life distributions under different stress levels are estimated based on time-dependent reliability analysis. Because both aleatory and epistemic uncertainty sources are involved in the reliability analysis, ALT data is used in this paper to update the epistemic uncertainty using Bayesian statistics. The variance of reliability estimation at the nominal stress level is then estimated based on the updated time-dependent reliability analysis model. A design optimization model is formulated to minimize the overall expected testing cost with constraint on confidence of variance of the reliability estimate. Computational effort for solving the optimization model is minimized in three directions: (i) efficient time-dependent reliability analysis method; (ii) a surrogate model is constructed for time-dependent reliability under different stress levels; and (iii) the ALT design optimization model is decoupled into a deterministic design optimization model and a probabilistic analysis model. A cantilever beam and a helicopter rotor hub are used to demonstrate the proposed method. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed ALT design optimization model. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Photothermal inactivation of bacteria on plasmonic nanostructures

ABSTRACT Hospital-acquired bacterial infections are frequently associated with the pathogen ic biofilms on surfaces of devices and instruments used in medical procedures. The utilization of thermal plasmonic agents is an innovative approach for sterilizing hospital equipment and for in vivo therapeutic treatment of bacterial infection. A photothermal inactivation technique via array of nanoporous gold disks (NPGDs) has been developed by irradiating near infrared (NIR) light onto deposited bacterial cells (Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Exiguobacterium AT1B) on the surface of metal nanostructure. The physical and photothermal properties of the NPGD substrate were investigated using topographical scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and thermographic infrared imaging. Bacterial viability studies on NPGD substrates irradiated with and without NIR light were evaluated using a fluorescence-based two-component stain assay. The results show that the heat generated from the NPGD substrate promotes high cell death counts (~100%) at short exposure durations (<25 s) even for thermally-resistant bacterial strains. The photothermal effects on NPGD substrate can lead to point-of-care applications. Keywords: nanoporous gold disk (NPGD), photothermal, nosocomial, heat-resistant bacteria
Pair Programming vs. Solo Programming: What Do We Know After 15 Years of Research?

In 2000, Kent Beck popularized the notion of pair programming, and argued that this practice could improve software quality and developer learning, and would not adversely affect duration, as compared to solo programming. We conduct a meta-analysis of 15 years of empirical tests of these relationships, and find that: pairs generally (a) produce higher quality software, (b) learn more, and (c) program faster, supporting Beck's arguments. We conclude the paper with what we know and what we do not know about pair programming and directions for future research on the topic.
Effects of Copper and Zinc Source on Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Lipid Metabolism in Finishing Steers123

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of Cu and Zn source on performance, trace mineral status, lipid metabolism, and carcass quality of finishing steers. In the study, 195 steers were blocked by origin, stratified by BW, and sorted into 24 pens. Pens within blocks were then randomly assigned to treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Factors were 10 mg of Cu/kg of dietary DM from CuSO4 or 10 mg of Cu/kg of dietary DM from organic Cu and 90 mg of Zn/kg of dietary DM from ZnSO4 or 36 mg of Zn/kg of dietary DM from organic Zn with 54 mg of Zn/kg of DM from ZnSO4. Steers were fed a high concentrate finishing diet until they reached an approximate BW of 580 kg. Diets were fed once daily in the morning to allow ad libitum access to feed throughout the day. Daily feed offerings were recorded and feed refusal was measured every 28 d. Body weights were recorded for each steer and blood samples were collected from 3 steers per pen every 28 d. Three weeks prior to slaughter, subcutaneous adipose tissue biopsies were taken from 1 steer per pen. Postharvest longissimus dorsi muscle samples were collected and evaluated for fatty acid composition. There were no Cu or Zn main effects or Cu × Zn interactions for ADG, DMI, or feed efficiency. The effect of Cu or Zn source was similar across treatments for hot carcass weight, dressing percent, rib eye area, subcutaneous fat thickness, kidney, pelvic, and heart fat, and marbling score. There was a Zn effect for calculated yield grade. Steers receiving organic Zn had a lesser (P = 0.03) calculated yield grade than steers receiving inorganic Zn. Serum cholesterol, plasma Cu and Zn concentrations, fatty acid composition of longissimus muscle and subcutaneous fatty acid synthase activity were similar across treatments. Results from this study indicate that trace mineral source had little influence on performance, carcass characteristics, and lipid metabolism.
Verification of RESRAD-RDD. (Version 2.01)

In this report, the results generated by RESRAD-RDD version 2.01 are compared with those produced by RESRAD-RDD version 1.7 for different scenarios with different sets of input parameters. RESRAD-RDD version 1.7 is spreadsheet-driven, performing calculations with Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. RESRAD-RDD version 2.01 revamped version 1.7 by using command-driven programs designed with Visual Basic.NET to direct calculations with data saved in Microsoft Access database, and re-facing the graphical user interface (GUI) to provide more flexibility and choices in guideline derivation. Because version 1.7 and version 2.01 perform the same calculations, the comparison of their results serves as verification of both versions. The verification covered calculation results for 11 radionuclides included in both versions: Am-241, Cf-252, Cm-244, Co-60, Cs-137, Ir-192, Po-210, Pu-238, Pu-239, Ra-226, and Sr-90. At first, all nuclidespecific data used in both versions were compared to ensure that they are identical. Then generic operational guidelines and measurement-based radiation doses or stay times associated with a specific operational guideline group were calculated with both versions using different sets of input parameters, and the results obtained with the same set of input parameters were compared. A total of 12 sets of input parameters were used for the verification, and the comparison wasmore » performed for each operational guideline group, from A to G, sequentially. The verification shows that RESRAD-RDD version 1.7 and RESRAD-RDD version 2.01 generate almost identical results; the slight differences could be attributed to differences in numerical precision with Microsoft Excel and Visual Basic.NET. RESRAD-RDD version 2.01 allows the selection of different units for use in reporting calculation results. The results of SI units were obtained and compared with the base results (in traditional units) used for comparison with version 1.7. The comparison shows that RESRAD-RDD version 2.01 correctly reports calculation results in the unit specified in the GUI.« less
People's Idea Under Crisis——Understand Hemingway's "A Clean and Well-Lighted Place"

Ernest Hemingway is one of the outstanding American short-story writers in the twentieth century.His A Clean and Well-Lihted Place was written in the time of financial crisis.It is a classical short story with nihilism.In the work,Hemingway described different people with different psychological situation from special point.
A hitchhiker's guide to analysis of the secretory pathway in yeast.

Publisher Summary This chapter presents the analysis of the secretory pathway in yeast. The highly compartmentalized organization of cellular activities in the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, requires a mechanism that ensures the correct localization of protein and lipid. All cellular protein biosynthesis operates in the cytoplasm except for a small number of mitochondrial DNA-encoded proteins. Secretory proteins are synthesized on polyribosomes that preferentially associate with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) shortly after initiation and discharge the nascent polypeptides into the ER. In yeast secretory proteins, the N-linked core oligosaccharides are trimmed to Man8GlcNAc2 and are extensively modified with additional mannose residues during their transit through the Golgi apparatus, producing a carbohydrate structure referred to as the “outer chain.” Protein secretion and plasma membrane assembly in S .cerevisiae are directed topologically to the bud portion of a growing cell, this region being the region of active cell surface growth. For 35S or 32P radiolabeling, the appropriate growth conditions depend largely on the proteins to be examined. Expression of a variety of regulated secretory and membrane proteins require growth conditions that starve yeast of a particular catabolite. Two commonly studied yeast proteins—the α-cell-specific mating pheromone ( α-factor) and the soluble vacuolar protease (CPY)—are produced constitutively.
Surgery for invasive bladder cancer.

Bladder substitution, in whole or in part, represents a growing field within the specialty of surgery. The principles and procedures associated with bladder augmentation are well established and include the use of spatulated, rather than intact, bowel segments and appreciation of the importance of adequate protection of the augmented bladder from urinary catheter drainage.
A distributed MEMS gyro network for joint velocity estimation

This paper is about improving joint and actuator velocity estimates on a human-sized hydraulic humanoid robot by adding a network of inexpensive microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) gyroscopes. Due to the lack of joint velocity sensors on the majority of humanoid robots, the joint velocity estimates often become a limiting factor on the controller performance. The distributed gyroscopes serve as indirect sensors of the joint velocities that can be estimated by a Kalman filter. Using this framework, we achieve higher velocity gains at the center of mass level on an Atlas hydraulic humanoid robot, which translates into better control performance.