cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Photovoltaic field emulation including dynamic and partial shadow conditions

Abstract In this paper the development of a new laboratory prototype for the emulation of a photovoltaic (PV) field is presented. The proposed system is based on a DC/DC step-down converter topology and allows to obtain the solar array I–V curves, taking into account the environmental changes in solar irradiance and cell temperature. The DC/DC converter control strategy is deduced by using a comprehensive mathematical model of the PV field whose parameters are obtained from the knowledge of: (a) maximum power point data, measured when the PV plant power converter is running, (b) open circuit voltage and short-circuit current, measured off-line. This approach allows the most accurate representation of the PV source. Computer simulations and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed circuit acts as a highly accurate and efficient laboratory simulator of the photovoltaic array electrical characteristics both in steady state and transient conditions. Partial shading and fluctuating conditions can be reproduced too. Moreover the dynamic behaviour of the proposed laboratory emulator is suitable to its effective connection to power electronic interface to the utility or to load through a DC/DC boost converter.
Spectral polarization signature analysis and modeling in the infrared for the detection of landmines

Current electro-optical based landmine detection techniques focus on exploiting phenomena across several wavebands. In particular, polarization signatures have and continue to be a focus of interest for this problem. Our research examined these signatures in the context of a real world environment; specifically, we examined the spectral polarization characteristics of landmines and soils within a complex radiative environment. Our initial results indicate that the optical properties of sand dominate the resultant signature for the buried and flush-buried cases. For surface landmines, the polarization results are dependent on the depth of the soil coating. Therefore, a spectral phenomenological model for the polarization signature of the combined sand-landmine system was developed for the infrared band (mid-wave and long-wave infrared) to study these issues in more detail. The modeling paradigm centered on a radiative transfer approach coupled with heat transfer results to account for incident and emitted radiation simultaneously. This paper will present a description of the physics-based model for the spectral polarization signatures of buried, flush, and surface land mines.
Olfactory bulb transplantation into the olfactory bulb of neonatal rats.

Abstract Embryonic olfactory bulbs (E14–E18) were homotopically transplanted into neonatal rats (P1–P5) after partial or total bulb removal. After different survival times, the animals were sacrificed and their brains processed for histological and immunohistological observations. The growing sensory axons randomly formed glomeruli within the transplanted tissue which often acquired a typical laminar organization. Myelinated fibers connecting the transplant with the telencephalon were clearly identified in one animal. Thus, the present study has shown that olfactory bulb transplants were able to differentiate, mature and establish relationship with both the periphery and the brain.
Expressive Creativity: Narrative Text and Creative Cultural Expressions as a Healing Praxis

Creative expressions as a self-help tool can facilitate healing from the trauma of incest and domestic violence. In this essay, I rely on my own retrospective recollection and document the process of coming to memory and voice, and thus healing through creative expression. I speak to the positive outcomes that the use of creative expression can yield and narrate the process of healing during the completion of a book that examines living inside a house of incest. My path to recovery is narrated in the context of a violence-free childhood and the socialization of valuing creative expressions. This was the foundation for overcoming the abuse survived in adolescence by the daughters of a father who was diagnosed as a sociopath and who was also a serial pedophile. PERSPECTIVES is a special feature included in this issue of the Journal of Creativity in Mental Health that provides mental health professionals with an opportunity to discuss their positions on a variety of creativity-related topics. In this article...
Ludwig: an online programming tutoring and assessment system

An online programming tutoring and assessment system is described, and the results of a preliminary study are presented. Ten students in an introductory C++ programming course used the system; both qualitative and quantitative data were collected and suggest that a future large-scale implementation will yield beneficial results
Shoulder Rotation Laxity is Related to Pitching Mechanics

According to the 2002 Major League Baseball Disability Analysis, almost 70% of players on the disabled list are pitchers and throwing arm related injuries account for 53% of all disabled list placements. To reach a high ball speed, pitchers cock, or excessively externally rotate their pitching arm to or near an extreme ROM of 180° [1]. The shoulder is then immediately internally rotated to an astonishing 7000°/s after the leading foot contact. The excessive external rotation ROM and astonishing internal rotation velocity are thought to contribute to injury [2]. Repeated exposure to the excessive ROM and large shoulder loads may cause excessive laxity to the anterior shoulder and/or damage the soft tissue [2]. This can lead to shoulder instability and excessive humeral head translation that may cause impingement [3]. Therefore, the mobility and stability of the thrower’s shoulder are extremely relevant to performance and injury prevention.Copyright © 2011 by ASME
Aberration correction of sub-10-fs pulse focusing with high-numerical-aperture microscope objective

Deformable mirror is used to correct radially varying group delay in a nonlinear optical microscopy setup aiming to improve signal generation and image resolution. Simulations and experiments which support the efficacy of our method are presented.
Identification of pedigrees of hybrid maize (Zea mays L.) cultivars by isozyme electrophoresis and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

Determination of pedigree by laboratory means can provide an initial and rapid check of hybrid identity in studies designed to compare genotypes. In order to test the accuracy of such determinations, isozymic and chromatographic data were used in an attempt to ascribe pedigrees to 25 hybrids that were identified only by a letter code from a list of 30 inbred lines. The pedigrees of 9 single-cross hybrids were correctly deduced as was the direction in which each cross was made. The pedigrees of 2 hybrids could only be determined ambiguously, however these hybrids were reciprocals and the biochemical data were unable to distinguish between 2 related candidate inbred lines. Pedigrees of 3 hybrids were either incompletely determined or could not be determined from the list of 30 candidate inbred lines and were thus correctly identified as non-Pioneer® brand hybrids. Pedigrees of 9 3-way hybrids could be determined accurately but the pedigrees of 2 non-Pioneer® brand hybrids could not be deduced completely. The ability to correctly ascribe pedigrees of hybrids shows that these data provide a rapid means of determining whether additional field and laboratory tests would be warranted in tests designed to compare genotypic similarity of hybrids.
Pilot-scale study on ozone-enhanced catalytic oxidation of waste gas emissions from the pulp and paper industry†

Field studies were conducted at Domtar's Kraft pulp and paper mill (Hawesville, KY) for 2 weeks to investigate the treatment of high volume, low concentration (HVLC) waste gas streams using ozone-enhanced catalytic oxidation technology. The contaminants in the HVLC waste gas from the pulping area of the mill contained mainly methanol (360 ± 80 ppm) and total reduced sulfur compounds [dimethyl sulfide (DMS) (4400 ± 670 ppm) and dimethyl disulfide (150 ± 25 ppm). The catalysts used in the field studies included ViO2/TiO2 and CuO/MoO3/a-Al2O3. The results of the field study showed ozone-to-sulfur ratios >2, space velocities 90% destruction of DMS in the HVLC waste gas stream. Ozone-enhanced catalytic oxidation has key environmental advantages over incineration, including mild operating temperatures and thus, lower energy costs and lower NOx formation. Although the technology appeared to be feasible at the laboratory scale, the field study data revealed that several obstacles must be overcome prior to this technology being implemented at large scale. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2011
Finding the visibility graph of a simple polygon in time proportional to its size

Let P be a given simple polygon with n sides. The visibility graph of P has an edge between every pair of polygon vertices that can be connected by an open segment in the interior of P. We describe an algorithm that finds the visibility graph of P in O(m + n log log n) time, where m is the number of edges in the visibility graph. Because m can be as small as O(n), the algorithm improves on the more general visibility algorithms of Asano et al. [AAGHI] and Welzl [W], which take T(n2) time.
An application of a context-aware file system

Ubiquitous computing environments stretch the requirements of traditional infrastructures used to facilitate the development of applications. Activities are often supported by collections of applications, some of which are automatically launched with little or no human intervention. This task-driven environment challenges existing application construction and data management techniques. In this paper, we describe a file system that organises application data based on contextual information, imports user data based on its physical presence, and supports format conversions to accommodate device context. We describe several applications that we have developed within our ubiquitous computing infrastructure and show how they leverage the novel features of our file system to simplify their complexity.
Five NOTCH4 polymorphisms show weak evidence for association with schizophrenia : evidence from meta-analyses

NOTCH4 initially received consideration as a risk gene for schizophrenia based on its location within a region on chromosome 6p that had previously shown strong evidence for genetic linkage with the illness. The initial published test for allelic association found strong evidence for involvement of this gene in schizophrenia, but subsequent studies failed to confirm this finding. Presently, we have used meta-analysis to derive a best estimate of the nature and magnitude of the associations between schizophrenia and five polymorphisms in and around the NOTCH4 gene. No significant association was detected between schizophrenia and repeat length of alleles at the (TAA)n, (CTG)n, or (TTAT)n polymorphisms, or between the disease and specific risk alleles at these polymorphisms or at the SNP1 or SNP2 polymorphisms. Heterogeneity and stronger evidence of association with the putative risk alleles of the (TAA)n, (CTG)n, SNP1, and SNP2 polymorphisms was observed in family-based studies than in case-control studies, suggesting that these polymorphisms may reliably influence risk for schizophrenia under certain circumstances. Since more consistent and robust associations with schizophrenia risk have been observed for haplotypes of these polymorphisms [especially those containing SNP2 and (CTG)n], additional large family-based or genomic-controlled studies would be helpful for definitively specifying the role of NOTCH4 haplotypes in risk for schizophrenia.
Comparative analysis of minimally invasive microductectomy versus major duct excision in patients with pathologic nipple discharge

Background Minimally invasive techniques are being used increasingly in patients with benign and malignant breast diseases. The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic yield of 2 groups of patients who underwent either minimally invasive microductectomy or major duct excision for pathologic nipple discharge. Methods Two hundred thirty-five patients who underwent nipple exploration and duct excision and were part of an institutional review board–approved database were included in this retrospective analysis. Preoperative imaging, ductal washing cytology, surgical specimen size, and final histopathology were compared among 95 patients who underwent microductectomy by using intraoperative ductoscopy and 140 patients undergoing standard major duct excision. Results Mean age of patients undergoing microductectomy was 53 versus 55 years in patients undergoing major duct excision. Preoperative mammogram was negative or benign in 92% and suspicious in 8% of patients in both the microductectomy group and the major duct excision group. A ductal abnormality was identified by preoperative ductography in 43 of 56 (77%) patients in the microductectomy group versus 74 of 92 (80%) patients in the major duct excision group. Ductal cytology was benign in 81% and 80% of patients tested, respectively. Mean specimen size was significantly smaller in patients who underwent microductectomy (9.2 cm 3 ) as compared with major duct excision (12.6 cm 3 ). Although the percentage of patients with atypical ductal hyperplasia or lobular carcinoma in situ was similar among the 2 groups (9% vs 10%), only 3 of 95 (3%) patients within the microductectomy group were found to have carcinoma within the resection specimen as compared with 12 of 140 (9%) within the major duct excision group ( P = .03). Mean specimen size of the patients diagnosed with carcinoma was 8.6 cm 3 in the microductectomy group as compared with 15.5 cm 3 in the major duct excision group ( P = .014). Conclusions These data confirm that patients who present with single duct pathologic nipple discharge usually have benign pathology as the etiology. However, in a small percentage of patients an occult carcinoma might be present. Major duct excision appears to detect a higher percentage of occult carcinoma when compared with minimally invasive microductectomy, which might be related to the larger sample size of the resection specimen.
RETHINKING CULTURAL ADAPTATION

Several issues surrounding the concept of cultural adaptation and its significance to cultural geography are discussed. A new model of cultural adaptation is developed to explain the evolution of spatial structures. Also a research agenda for geographic inquiry is proposed.
Volume Compensation Method for Routing Irrigation Canal Demand Changes

This paper examines the problem of routing known water demands through gate-controlled, open-channel irrigation delivery systems. Volume-compensation principles were used to route multiple demands in multiple-pool canal systems. The volume-compensation method schedules each demand change individually under the assumption of a series of steady states and superimposes the individual results. Volume-compensation routing schedules were computed for two of the test cases proposed by the ASCE Task Committee on Canal Automation. Alternative routing schedules were computed with the gate-stroking method, which is an inverse solution of the unsteady-flow equations. Both solutions were tested through unsteady-flow simulation. While not as effective as gate-stroking solutions, volume-compensation solutions performed satisfactorily under ideal flow control conditions. When subjected to realistic operational constraints, specifically constraints on the flow regulation interval, and also to incorrect canal hydraulic roughness information, both methods performed similarly.
Reverse Gyrase Functions as a DNA Renaturase ANNEALING OF COMPLEMENTARY SINGLE-STRANDED CIRCLES AND POSITIVE SUPERCOILING OF A BUBBLE SUBSTRATE

Reverse gyrase is a hyperthermophile-specific enzyme that can positively supercoil DNA concomitant with ATP hydrolysis. However, the DNA supercoiling activity is inefficient and requires an excess amount of enzyme relative to DNA. We report here several activities that reverse gyrase can efficiently mediate with a substoichiometric amount of enzyme. In the presence of a nucleotide cofactor, reverse gyrase can readily relax negative supercoils, but not the positive ones, from a plasmid DNA substrate. Reverse gyrase can completely relax positively supercoiled DNA, provided that the DNA substrate contains a single-stranded bubble. Reverse gyrase efficiently anneals complementary single-stranded circles. A substoichiometric amount of reverse gyrase can insert positive supercoils into DNA with a single-stranded bubble, in contrast to plasmid DNA substrate. We have designed a novel method based on phage-mid DNA vectors to prepare a circular DNA substrate containing a single-stranded bubble with defined length and sequence. With these bubble DNA substrates, we demonstrated that efficient positive supercoiling by reverse gyrase requires a bubble size larger than 20 nucleotides. The activities of annealing single-stranded DNA circles and positive supercoiling of bubble substrate demonstrate that reverse gyrase can function as a DNA renaturase. These biochemical activities also suggest that reverse gyrase can have an important biological function in sensing and eliminating unpaired regions in the genome of a hyperthermophilic organism.
Monte Carlo approach to transient analysis of HBTs with different collector designs

The transient analysis of heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) using the Monte Carlo technique is presented. Three HBT structures with conventional (A), inverted field (B), and undoped (C) collectors were simulated. The transient behavior of the collector currents show that the time constants are 1.466, 0.722, and 0.863 ps at a collector current of 3.5*10/sup 4/ A/cm/sup 2/ for devices A, B and C, respectively. This suggests that the inverted field structure may be the best choice for high-speed applications. >
Critical dynamics from statics.

Using the mapping of d-dimensional time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau models in d dimensions onto associated (d+1)-dimensional static systems, we calculate the dynamic critical exponents in terms of static ones by using the Feynman graph expansion of critical exponents. Moreover, the dynamic-scaling hypothesis is traced back to anisotropic scaling in the associated (d+1)-dimensional model, yielding new exponent equalities.
Dendroecological analysis reveals long-term, positive effects of an introduced understory plant on canopy tree growth

Although the introduction of non-native species can have severe ecological and economic consequences, there is increasing awareness that introduced plants can also provide valuable ecosystem services. Here, we use tree-ring data from 30 sites in the southeastern US to demonstrate that non-native Lespedeza bicolor has long-term, positive effects on the growth of mature Pinus palustris trees. Trees growing near cultivated plots planted with nitrogen-fixing L. bicolor have experienced on average 56 % greater annual growth than trees growing near plots planted with non-nitrogen-fixing Secale cereale. Moreover, this fertilization effect has persisted for 25 years, since the local introduction of L. bicolor. This positive effect of L. bicolor provides evidence that non-native species may alter the growth of overstory trees that play important ecological and economic roles in southeastern forests, and suggests that subsidies from L. bicolor may influence carbon sequestration and change the nature of community dynamics at habitat edges. More generally, our results illustrate that non-native nitrogen-fixing understory plants may have strong, unappreciated effects on canopy tree growth, that the effects of non-native plants may have a distinct spatial extent, and that the net effect of non-native plants depends upon the interplay of ecological costs and benefits that may not be intuitive.
The reaction between Na vapor and N2O at room temperature

Abstract The gas-phase reaction between Na metal vapor and N 2 O has been examined at near room temperature in a fast-flow low pressure reactor using photometric methods. The reaction rate was determined to be k 1 = 7.6 × 10 11 cm 3 /mole sec at 330°C and gives an activation energy of about 1100 cal/mole when compared with published high-temperature rate data. The reaction is accompanied by Na D-line chemiluminescence, the intensity of which is found to correspond to Na-atom removal; a kinetic mechanism is suggested to explain this behavior.
Tic Tac Toe: effects of predictability and importance on acoustic prominence in language production.

Importance and predictability each have been argued to contribute to acoustic prominence. To investigate whether these factors are independent or two aspects of the same phenomenon, naive participants played a verbal variant of Tic Tac Toe. Both importance and predictability contributed independently to the acoustic prominence of a word, but in different ways. Predictable game moves were shorter in duration and had less pitch excursion than less predictable game moves, whereas intensity was higher for important game moves. These data also suggest that acoustic prominence is affected by both speaker-centered processes (speaker effort) and listener-centered processes (intent to signal important information to the listener).
Seasonal Commercial Egg Production Curve Differences

Abstract The statistical and economic significance of seasonal differences in commercial egg production curves were assessed. The time profile of both the number and weight of eggs laid by White Leghorn pullets was found to differ significantly statistically between housing seasons. Imputed differences in the value of gross egg receipts suggest that seasonal production differences as well as seasonal egg price patterns should be considered in formulating commercial layer flock replacement plans.
C to U editing of the anticodon of imported mitochondrial tRNA(Trp) allows decoding of the UGA stop codon in Leishmania tarentolae

All mitochondrial tRNAs in kinetoplastid protists are encoded in the nucleus and imported into the organelle. The tRNA(Trp)(CCA) can decode the standard UGG tryptophan codon but can not decode the mitochondrial UGA tryptophan codon. We show that the mitochondrial tRNA(Trp) undergoes a specific C to U nucleotide modification in the first position of the anticodon, which allows decoding of mitochondrial UGA codons as tryptophan. Functional evidence for the absence of a UGA suppressor tRNA in the cytosol, using a reporter gene, was also obtained, which is consistent with a mitochondrial localization of this editing event. Leishmania cells have dealt with the problem of a lack of expression within the organelle of this non-universal tRNA by compartmentalizing an editing activity that modifies the anticodon of the imported tRNA.
Understanding the health of an access network

Understanding the health of a network via failure and outage analysis is important to assess the availability of a network, identify problem areas for network availability improvement, and model the exact network behavior. However, there has been little failure measurement and analysis work on access networks. In this paper, we carry out an in-depth outage and failure analysis of a university campus network using a rich set of node outage and link failure data and topology information. We investigate the attributes of hardware/software and misconfiguration problems of the networks, the relation of link failure and node outage, the node availability, and the correlations between layers of a hierarchical network. Our study shows that the general characteristics of the campus network are very distinct from backbone networks, and the hierarchical architecture and redundancy of the network design is fairly effective in the network health.
Deep ultraviolet steppers and scanners for sub-180-nm device fabrication

Summary form only given. As minimum feature sizes for leading edge-logic and memory integrated circuits shrink to 180 nm and less, stepper manufacturers are pressed to develop optical systems of unprecedented performance and complexity. High-power, high-repetition-rate KrF and ArF excimer lasers are the ultraviolet light sources for these sophisticated optical tools.
UB-matrices and conditions for Poncelet polygon to be closed

A sufficient condition for the generation of a package of algebraic Poncelet curves is presented. The condition is obtained via the link between the parameters of the nested Poncelet curves and the eigenvalues of matrices which admit unitary bordering. This condition results in an example refuting the conjecture raised in [Linear and Multilinear Algebra 45 (1998) 49; Linear Algebra Appl. 329 (2001) 61] that algebraic Poncelet curves are always generated by such matrices. Then the condition is applied to the case of nested quadrics in order to determine whether they form the Poncelet configuration, i.e., whether there exists a closed polygon inscribed in the outer quadric and circumscribed about the inner one. The classical Cayley criterion answers this question for a given number N of sides of a polygon. In this paper, a different kind of criterion in the form of rational recurrent equations is developed. Moreover, sufficient conditions are derived for the case when a closed Poncelet polygon with any number of sides does not exist.
Comparison of 1200 V silicon carbide Schottky diodes and silicon power diodes

This paper describes the design and characterization of 1200 V silicon carbide (SiC) Schottky diodes using a p-n junction barrier to control the leakage current. A low forward voltage drop of 1.9 V at 150 A/cm/sup 2/ and a low leakage current of 300 /spl mu/A/cm/sup 2/ are demonstrated. We compare the performance of SiC Schottky diodes with the 1200 V silicon (Si) PiN diodes fabricated and optimized for military and commercial motor drive applications. The power loss and related voltage and current stress of the SiC Schottky diodes and Si PiN diodes are evaluated using a half-bridge test circuit. The static and dynamic characterization of 1200 V SiC Schottky diodes and Si PiN diodes is performed at 25/spl deg/C and 150/spl deg/C. The SiC Schottky diode exhibits a 30% reduction in the total power loss as compared to the state-of-the-art Si PiN diodes, mainly due to a negligible reverse recovery charge in the SiC Schottky diode, which is 20/spl times/ lower than state-of-the-art Si power diode. Furthermore, the SiC Schottky diode contributes to lowering the overall voltage and current stress by a factor of 6/spl times/ on the switches (in this case IGBTs are used) due to the superior reverse recovery performance of the SiC Schottky diode.
Beyond Transcription—New Mechanisms for the Regulation of Molecular Chaperones

Molecular chaperones are an essential part of the universal heat shock response that allows organisms to survive stress conditions that cause intracellular protein unfolding. During the past few years, two new mechanisms have been found to control the activity of several chaperones under stress conditions-the regulation of chaperone activity by the redox state and by the temperature of the environment. Hsp33, for example, is redox-regulated. Hsp33 is specifically activated by disulfide bond formation during oxidative stress, where it becomes a highly efficient chaperone holdase that binds tightly to unfolding proteins. Certain small heat shock proteins, such as Hsp26 and Hsp16.9, on the other hand, are temperature regulated. Exposure to heat shock temperatures causes these oligomeric proteins to disassemble, thereby changing them into highly efficient chaperones. The ATP-dependent chaperone folding system DnaK/DnaJ/GrpE also appears to be temperature regulated, switching from a folding to a holding mode during heat stress. Both of these novel post-translational regulatory strategies appear to have one ultimate goal: to significantly increase the substrate binding affinity of the affected chaperones under exactly those stress conditions that require their highest chaperone activity. This ensures that protein folding intermediates remain bound to the chaperones under stress conditions and are released only after the cells return to non-stress conditions.
Letter knowledge in parent–child conversations

Learning about letters is an important component of emergent literacy. We explored the possibility that parent speech provides information about letters, and also that children's speech reflects their own letter knowledge. By studying conversations transcribed in CHILDES (MacWhinney, 2000) between parents and children aged one to five, we found that alphabetic order influenced use of indi- vidual letters and letter sequences. The frequency of letters in children's books influenced parent utterances throughout the age range studied, but children's utterances only after age two. Conversations emphasized some literacy-relevant features of letters, such as their shapes and association with words, but not letters' sounds. Describing these patterns and how they change over the preschool years offers important insight into the home literacy environment.
Job Approval and Senate Election Outcomes In the United States

A growing body of congressional scholarship investigates variation in the incumbent electoral advantage that depends on factors such as competence, political skill, and ideological extremity. This article contributes to this line of work by providing analysis of the relationship between senators' home-state approval ratings and their electoral fortunes using newly available data from the Job Approval Ratings (JAR) collection. The findings show that senatorial job approval affects retirement, quality-candidate emergence, campaign spending, and outcomes. The myriad indirect effects suggest that strategic political actors are central to the process by which incumbents are held accountable for the reputations they develop in their constituencies.
Ipsilateral connections of the ventral premotor cortex in a new world primate.

The present study describes the pattern of connections of the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) with various cortical regions of the ipsilateral hemisphere in adult squirrel monkeys. Particularly, we 1) quantified the proportion of inputs and outputs that the PMv distal forelimb representation shares with other areas in the ipsilateral cortex and 2) defined the pattern of PMv connections with respect to the location of the distal forelimb representation in primary motor cortex (M1), primary somatosensory cortex (S1), and supplementary motor area (SMA). Intracortical microstimulation techniques (ICMS) were used in four experimentally naive monkeys to identify M1, PMv, and SMA forelimb movement representations. Multiunit recording techniques and myelin staining were used to identify the S1 hand representation. Then, biotinylated dextran amine (BDA; 10,000 MW) was injected in the center of the PMv distal forelimb representation. After tangential sectioning, the distribution of BDA-labeled cell bodies and terminal boutons was documented. In M1, labeling followed a rostrolateral pattern, largely leaving the caudomedial M1 unlabeled. Quantification of somata and terminals showed that two areas share major connections with PMv: M1 and frontal areas immediately rostral to PMv, designated as frontal rostral area (FR). Connections with this latter region have not been described previously. Moderate connections were found with PMd, SMA, anterior operculum, and posterior operculum/inferior parietal area. Minor connections were found with diverse areas of the precentral and parietal cortex, including S1. No statistical difference between the proportions of inputs and outputs for any location was observed, supporting the reciprocity of PMv intracortical connections.
Evaluation of the in-vitro activity of furopenem (SY5555 or SUN5555) against respiratory tract pathogens and β-lactamase producing bacteria

Furopenem is a novel orally active penem. In this study, furopenem was highly active in vitro against Streptococcus pneumoniae (MIC90 0.03 mg/L), Haemophilus influenzae (MIC90, 2 mg/L), and Moraxella catarrhalls (MIC90, 0.5 mg/L). Its activity was not reduced by a variety of beta-lactamase enzymes, however beta -lactam resistance by other mechanisms was associated with higher MICs.
Utility of N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide for assessing hemodynamic significance of patent ductus arteriosus in dogs undergoing ductal repair

Abstract Objective Determine if plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) correlates with markers of hemodynamically significant patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in dogs. Animals Ten dogs with PDA and 30 healthy dogs of similar ages. Methods Prospective case series with control population. Dogs with PDA were initially evaluated with thoracic radiographs, transthoracic echocardiography, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) and NT-proBNP. Following ductal occlusion, NT-proBNP and echocardiography were repeated within 24 h and at day 90. PCWP was repeated at day 90. Correlation between NT-proBNP and hemodynamic measurements was assessed, and accuracy of NT-proBNP for identifying PDA severity was estimated. Results NT-proBNP was significantly higher (median; absolute range) in dogs with PDA (895; 490–7118 pmol/L) than controls (663; 50–1318 pmol/L) (p = 0.025). NT-proBNP decreased significantly 90 days post-ductal closure (597; 154–1858 pmol/L) (p = 0.013). Left atrial and ventricular size decreased significantly within 24 h and at day 90 as did PCWP (day 90 only). NT-proBNP correlated with vertebral heart size (VHS) and indexed left ventricular systolic diameter (iLVIDs); concentrations ≥ 1224 pmol/L distinguished dogs with elevated VHS and iLVIDs. Conclusions NT-proBNP is elevated in dogs with PDA, decreases following PDA closure and correlates with select radiographic and echocardiographic markers of cardiac remodeling.
Towards automating the creation of hypermedia service manuals by compiling specifications

Hypermedia creation is still considered to be a laborious task in the present stage of multimedia computing, particularly for information migrated from older forms. Existing automatic creation methods only generate restricted forms of hyperlinking and have been developed primarily for the conversion of free textual information. They have limitations in creating hyperlinked service manuals which often contain non-textual information such as schematic diagrams. The authors present a new approach to automatic creation of hypermedia that requires new types of hyperlinks for various service information sources, and is based on formal specifications. Unlike previous methods, this approach using specifications, supports more flexible descriptions of hotspots and links for a variety of information items and access methods. >
Preoperative glycopyrrolate: oral, intramuscular, or intravenous administration

Abstract Study Objective: To evaluate the effects of oral, intramuscular (IM) and intravenous (IV) glycopyrrolate on oral and gastric secretions, and to assess how these routes of administration change intubating conditions. Design: Randomized, double-blinded study. Setting: University hospital operating room Patients: 37 ASA status I and II general anesthesia patients Interventions: Patients were randomized to receive glycopyrrolate or placebo just before surgery by three routes: oral, IM, and IV. Glycopyrrolate was received once by one route and placebo by the other two routes. A placebo group received three placebos and no glycopyrrolate. Measurements and Main Results: Mouth conditions and intubating conditions were qualitatively assessed by the patient and the intubating anesthesiologist. No difference between groups was noted. Oral and gastric volumes were measured and showed significantly less gastric volume for the IV group as compared with the other groups. Oral secretions were reduced in both the IV and IM groups when compared with placebo or glycopyrrolate administered orally. Conclusions: Preoperative glycopyrrolate is significantly more effective at reducing oral and gastric secretions if administered intravenously immediately before induction.
Heap-filter merge join: a new algorithm for joining medium-size inputs

A novel algorithm for relational equijoin is presented. The algorithm is a modification of merge join, but promises superior performance for medium-size inputs. In many cases it even compares favorably with both merge join and hybrid hash join, which is shown using analytic cost functions. >
Letter to the editor: The course of lingual artery from transoral robotic view.

To the Editor: Goyal et al recently published an anatomic study about the surgical anatomy of the supraglottic larynx using the da Vinci robot. In this publication, the course of lingual artery has been described as lateral to hyoglossus muscle, which separates the artery from the lingual nerve. The authors exposed the lingual artery while describing the endoscopic anatomy of the supraglottic larynx. However, the lingual artery has been shown lateral to the digastric muscle in their Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6. The above findings were not confirmed with lateral neck (transcervical) exploration either. This article challenges previous anatomic studies, to the best of our knowledge, lingual artery arises from the external carotid artery as a second anterior branch; it first runs obliquely upward and medialward to the greater cornu of the hyoid bone; it then curves downward and forward, forming a loop that is crossed by the hypoglossal nerve, and passes medial to the digastric and stylohyoid muscles (Figure 1), and lateral to styloglossus muscle (Figure 2). Then, it runs lateral to the hyoglossus muscle and enters to the base of tongue. Because the lingual artery courses beneath the digastric and stylohyoid muscles and superior to greater horn of hyoid bone (Figures 1 and 2), neck dissection performed over these muscles prevents lingual artery injury in daily practice. Similarly, dissecting medial to the styloglossus muscle may prevent lingual artery injury during transoral robotic base of tongue interventions (Figure 1C). We have used 2 fresh cadavers to confirm the relationship between the course of the styloglossus muscle and lingual artery. All cadavers were dissected via transoral route and then the transorally described structures were confirmed by lateral neck exploration. Our dissections revealed that the muscle that was described as the digastric muscle by Goyal et al should be the styloglossus muscle. This misinterpretation of the styloglossus muscle may cause confusion during transoral robotic surgery and consequent vascular complications.
Intervention in Gene Regulatory Networks via a Stationary Mean-First-Passage-Time Control Policy

A prime objective of modeling genetic regulatory networks is the identification of potential targets for therapeutic intervention. To date, optimal stochastic intervention has been studied in the context of probabilistic Boolean networks, with the control policy based on the transition probability matrix of the associated Markov chain and dynamic programming used to find optimal control policies. Dynamical programming algorithms are problematic owing to their high computational complexity. Two additional computationally burdensome issues that arise are the potential for controlling the network and identifying the best gene for intervention. This paper proposes an algorithm based on mean first-passage time that assigns a stationary control policy for each gene candidate. It serves as an approximation to an optimal control policy and, owing to its reduced computational complexity, can be used to predict the best control gene. Once the best control gene is identified, one can derive an optimal policy or simply utilize the approximate policy for this gene when the network size precludes a direct application of dynamic programming algorithms. A salient point is that the proposed algorithm can be model-free. It can be directly designed from time-course data without having to infer the transition probability matrix of the network.
Genetic Evidence of Mutator-Induced Deletions in the Short Arm of Chromosome 9 of Maize. II. Wd Deletions

Analyses of 113 putative Mutator-induced events involving the yg2 locus of chromosome 9 revealed that 11 of these events were deletions that produce albino seedlings when homozygous. This phenotype is characteristic of wd (white deficiency) deletions. All 11 wd-Mu deletions failed to complement wd1 and pyd1 (pale-yellow deficiency). Nine of the wd-Mu deletions were analyzed cytologically. Two were found to be terminal deletions and seven were internal deletions. Two of the seven had normal pairing throughout the terminal region involved in the pyd1 and wd1 deletions. Because genetic tests established that deletions were present in these two stocks, these deletions were probably too short to disrupt the pairing of the homologous chromosomes. Mechanisms by which the Mutator system might generate these deletions are discussed.
An Algorithm for Simultaneous Radiolocation of Multiple Sources

This article explores an alternative to the author's earlier work in radiolocation of mobile communication devices. Radiolocation method developed earlier addresses two significant issues in radio communication: it determines the location of potentially uncooperative interlocutors, and, by guiding the directional response, it alleviates the loss of signal strength with distance. In this article an algebraic algorithm is investigated, which reconstructs the directions of incoming radio transmissions from signal strengths on a ring of radially oriented directional antennas; it is based on a suitable basis-set representation of the incoming signal. This algorithm is well suited for time-critical, embedded and parallel ASIC implementations. Present algorithm locates multiple (non-coherent) radio sources simultaneously, a feature that is of interest for applications beyond the original single-source radiolocation developed for wireless networking. Mathematical basis of the algorithm is explained, issues of accuracy and resolution are discussed, and the approach is illustrated with simulated examples of radiolocation. Fourier transform, and the resulting algorithm is numerically well-behaved. We obtain the desired basis-set expansion as the solution of a system of linear equations with constant, known coefficients. The solution can be tabulated, and the directions and strengths of sources can be obtained by multiplying matrices and vectors of constant dimensions. This calculation is of fixed duration, and is amenable to fixed-point implementation on compact embedded processors, or in parallel as an ASIC.
Can soft biometric traits assist user recognition

Biometrics is rapidly gaining acceptance as the technology that can meet the ever increasing need for security in critical applications. Biometric systems automatically recognize individuals based on their physiological and behavioral characteristics. Hence, the fundamental requirement of any biometric recognition system is a human trait having several desirable properties like universality, distinctiveness, permanence, collectability, acceptability, and resistance to circumvention. However, a human characteristic that possesses all these properties has not yet been identified. As a result, none of the existing biometric systems provide perfect recognition and there is a scope for improving the performance of these systems. Although characteristics like gender, ethnicity, age, height, weight and eye color are not unique and reliable, they provide some information about the user. We refer to these characteristics as "soft" biometric traits and argue that these traits can complement the identity information provided by the primary biometric identifiers like fingerprint and face. This paper presents the motivation for utilizing soft biometric information and analyzes how the soft biometric traits can be automatically extracted and incorporated in the decision making process of the primary biometric system. Preliminary experiments were conducted on a fingerprint database of 160 users by synthetically generating soft biometric traits like gender, ethnicity, and height based on known statistics. The results show that the use of additional soft biometric user information significantly improves (approximately 6%) the recognition performance of the fingerprint biometric system.
A practical method for high-level synthesis of combinational logic from VHDL

This paper demonstrates a method to allow rapid design from a high level VHDL program down to a simple netlist. Each stage of the design process generates a complete design representation as the behavioral axis of the Y-chart is descended. These design representations can be simulated to verify operation at each stage. The result is a fast and efficient method for digital design. >
Nuclear polarization deduced from muonic208Pb measurements

The 2p-1s, 3d-2p, 3p-2s, 2s-2p, 3p-1s and 3d-1s muonic X-ray transitions in208Pb have been used to determine the parameters of a spherical Fermi charge distribution and to deduce the nuclear polarization of the 1s, 2s and 2p muonic levels. We find the fitted value for the 1s nuclear polarization to be larger by a factor of two than calculations; this may shed light on low-lying nuclear compressive modes.
Long-Segment Fusion for Adult Spinal Deformity Correction Using Low-Dose Recombinant Human Bone Morphogenetic Protein-2: A Retrospective Review of Fusion Rates.

BACKGROUND Although use of very high-dose recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) has been reported to markedly improve fusion rates in adult spinal deformity (ASD) surgery, most centers use much lower doses due to cost constraints. How effective these lower doses are for fusion enhancement remains unclear. OBJECTIVE To assess fusion rates using relatively low-dose rhBMP-2 for ASD surgery. METHODS This was a retrospective review of consecutive ASD patients that underwent thoracic to sacral fusion. Patients that achieved 2-year follow-up were analyzed. Impact of patient and surgical factors on fusion rate was assessed, and fusion rates were compared with historical cohorts. RESULTS Of 219 patients, 172 (78.5%) achieved 2-year follow-up and were analyzed. Using an average rhBMP-2 dose of 3.1 mg/level (average total dose = 35.9 mg/case), the 2-year fusion rate was 73.8%. Cancellous allograft, local autograft, and very limited iliac crest bone graft (<20 mL, obtained during iliac bolt placement) were also used. On multivariate analysis, female sex was associated with a higher fusion rate, whereas age, comorbidity score, deformity type, and 3-column osteotomy were not. There were no complications directly attributable to rhBMP-2. CONCLUSION Fusion rates for ASD using low-dose rhBMP-2 were comparable to those reported for iliac crest bone graft but lower than for high-dose rhBMP-2. Importantly, there were substantial differences between patients in the present series and those in the historical comparison groups that could not be fully adjusted for based on available data. Prospective evaluation of rhBMP-2 dosing for ASD surgery is warranted to define the most appropriate dose that balances benefits, risks, and costs. ABBREVIATIONS ASD, adult spinal deformityICBG, iliac crest bone graftOR, odds ratiorhBMP-2, recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2RR, risk ratioTCO, 3-column osteotomy.