cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Delayed Traumatic Intracerebral Hematoma (DTICH) and the Determination of the Manner of Death. A Case Report and Review of the Literature

The concept of a traumatic incident resulting in death when there has been a prolonged interval between the two events raises questions for medical examiners. A case is presented in which a 33-year-old man was found dead in his locked home. Although there was no evidence of foul play at the scene, the death was subsequently found to be directly related to an episode of head trauma sustained in an altercation approximately 1½ months before. The fatal lesion was a large intraparenchymal hematoma in the right frontal lobe of the brain which had developed in an area of contusion identified by computerized tomography (CT) scan while he was hospitalized following the trauma. The literature regarding delayed traumatic intracerebral hematoma (DTICH) is reviewed and its relevance to cases coming under the jurisdiction of a medical examiner is discussed.
Peer Promotions as a Method to Identify Quality Content

Promoting blog content is a social activity — a means of communicating one student’s appreciation of another student’s work. This article explores the feasibility of using student promotions of content, in a blogosphere, to identify quality content, and implications for students and instructors. We show that students actively and voluntarily promote content, identify quality material with considerable accuracy, and use promotion data to select what to read. We explore the benefits of knowing which students are good and poor predictors of quality content, and what instructors can do with this information in terms of feedback and guidance.
Wireless biomedical telemetry using a fully-passive brain implant

Wireless biomedical telemetry between a fully-passive brain implant and an exterior interrogator is presented. A key aspect of the proposed implant is minimization of losses to wirelessly record neurological signals as low as 50 µV pp for the first time. To achieve this, we employed an implanted patch with a novel mixed architecture, and an interrogator spiral antenna. All components were integrated and optimized to achieve |S21| ≈ −26 dB and −19 dB at 2.4 GHz and 4.8 GHz, respectively. Measurement results are presented in good agreement with simulations.
A tribute to Achim Trebst, a friend

I honor here a friend, Achim Trebst, on his 80th birthday on June 9, 2009. I have known his outstanding research, on the biochemistry of photosynthesis, for years. My brief tribute, which includes personal, scientific and a cultural component, is followed by excellent tributes by Volker ter Meulen and Rudolf K. Thauer, by Heinrich Strotmann, and by Walter Oettmeier (this issue).
Speech Duration and Dependencies in Initially Structured and Unstructured Task Groups

We examine whether speech durations and speech content vary by social structure in groups and the content of preceding speeches. When actors are structural equals in groups, an observable interaction order emerges from interaction processes. When we experimentally impose authority, skill, or sentiment structures, structural advantage is related to longer speech durations. When structures are combined such that an actor is advantaged in more than one social structure, then the actor engages in shorter speech durations, although dominance (as measured by perceived contributions to the group) remains high for the actor. In addition, the likelihood that an actor contributes a solution to a group problem or invites other contributions is highly dependent on whether the preceding speech included positive feedback. The expected interdependence between contributions and invitations to contribute was not evident in our data. Thus our research provides new insight on the sequential dependencies between speech acts ...
Facile acid hydrolysis of p-chlorobenzaldoxime and its oral inefficacy

The kinetics of acid hydrolysis of p-chlorobenzaldoxime have been studied. A polarographic assay for reactant and product has been devised. The oxime readily hydrolyzes in acid solution to form an equilibrium mixture with the products. It is expected that the half-life of this oxime would be less than 20 minutes in the human stomach and that the oral inefficacy may be ascribed to this mode of degradation.
The distribution of cathepsin D in rat tissues determined by immunocytochemistry.

The distribution of cathepsin D (CD) was surveyed in rat tissues by light microscopic immunocytochemistry. Although immunoreactive CD was detected in all tissues examined, there was a marked difference in the amount in the cytoplasm of different cell types of the same organ. In the retina large amounts of CD were present in the pigment epithelium, ganglion cells, and Muller cells. Moderate to large amounts of CD were also found in neuronal perikarya of the gastrointestinal tract and adrenal medulla; in macrophages in the lung, liver, and spleen; in some secretory cells of the submandibular and lacrimal glands; in parts of renal distal convoluted and collecting tubules; and in the surface transitional epithelium of the calyx, ureter, and urinary bladder. Other cells adjacent to cells containing large amounts of the enzyme had little or no detectable CD themselves. These included hepatocytes, the proximal tubular cells of the kidney, selected cells of the submandibular gland, cells of the zona glomerulosa of the adrenal cortex, and lymphocytes in lymphoid organs. The localization of CD indicates that its degradative effect is exerted preferentially in certain cell types and suggests that physiological influences on CD may have a variety of effects in different organs.
Process planning in a fuzzy environment

Abstract Mixed-integer optimization models for chemical process planning typically assume that model parameters can be accurately predicted. As precise forecasts are difficult to obtain, process planning usually involves uncertainty and ambiguity in the data. This paper presents an application of fuzzy programming to process planning. The forecast parameters are assumed to be fuzzy with a linear or triangular membership function. The process planning problem is then formulated in terms of decision making in a fuzzy environment with fuzzy constraints and fuzzy net present value goals. The model is transformed to a deterministic mixed-integer linear program or mixed-integer nonlinear program depending on the type of uncertainty involved in the problem. For the nonlinear case, a global optimization algorithm is developed for its solution. This algorithm is applicable to general possibilistic programs and can be used as an alternative to the commonly used bisection method. Illustrative examples and computational results for a petrochemical complex with 38 processes and 24 products illustrate the applicability of the developed models and algorithms.
Diacylglycerol metabolism in neonatal rat liver: characterization of cytosolic diacylglycerol lipase activity and its activation by monoalkylglycerols.

Abstract Diacylglycerol lipase (glycerol ester hydrolase, EC 3.1.1.3) activities were investigated in subcellular fractions from neonatal and adult rat liver in order to determine whether one or more different lipases might provide the substrate for the developmentally expressed, activity monoacylglycerol acyltransferase. The assay for diacylglycerol lipase examined the hydrolysis of sn-1- stearoyl ,2-[ 14 C] oleoylglycerol to labeled monoacylglycerol and fatty acid. Highest specific activities were found in lysosomes (pH 4.8) and cytosol and microsomes (pH 8). The specific activity from plasma membrane from adult liver was 5.8-fold higher than the corresponding activity in the neonate. In other fractions, however, no developmental differences were observed in activity or distribution. In both lysosomes and cytosol, 75 to 90% of the labeled product was monoacylglycerol, suggesting that these fractions contained relatively little monoacylglycerol lipase activity. In contrast, 80% of the labeled product from microsomes was fatty acid, suggesting the presence of monoacylglycerol lipase in this fraction. Analysis of the reaction products strongly suggested that the lysosomal and cytosolic diacylglycerol lipase activities hydrolyzed the acyl-group at the sn-1 position. The effects of serum and NaCl on diacylglycerol lipase from each of the subcellular fractions differed from those effects routinely observed on lipoprotein lipase and hepatic lipase, suggesting that the hepatic diacylglycerol lipase activities were not second functions of these triacylglycerol lipases. Cytosolic diacylglycerol lipase activity from neonatal liver and adult liver was characterized. The apparent Km for 1-stearoyl,2-oleoylglycerol was 115 μM. There was no preference for a diacylglycerol with arachidonate in the sn-2 position. Bovine serum albumin stimulated the activity, whereas dithiothreitol, N-ethylmaleinide, and ATP inhibited the activity. Both sn-1(3)- and 2-monooleylglycerol ethers stimulated cytosolic diacylglycerol lipase activity 2–3-fold. The corresponding amide analogs stimulated 28 to 85%, monooleoylglycerol itself had little effect, and 1-alkyl- or 1-acyl-lysophosphatidylcholine inhibited the activity. These data provide the first characterization of hepatic subcellular lipase activities from neonatal and adult rat liver and suggest that independent diacylglycerol and monoacylglycerol lipase activities are present in microsomal membranes and that the microsomal and cytosolic diacylglycerol lipase activities may describe an ambipathic enzyme. The data also suggest possible cellular regulation by monoalkylglycerols.
Synthesis of metastable L12 cubic phases in (Al,M)3Zr (M = Fe,Ni) powders by mechanical alloying

The quest for lightweight, oxidation-resistant, high temperature materials for applications in the aerospace industry has led to numerous investigations of aluminum-rich intermetallics of the type Al[sub 3]X (commonly referred to as the trialuminides), where X is usually Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, or Ta. Metastable cubic L1[sub 2] phases have been synthesized in ternary Al-25Zr-xFe and Al-25Zr-xNi (x = 3 and 8) powders by MA starting from blended elemental powders. The degree of order increased with increasing MA time in both the alloy systems. Some differences in behavior were observed with variations in the amount of the ternary solute element. In the Fe-containing alloys, the degree of order was higher for the 3% Fe than the 8% Fe sample at all milling times. However, in the Ni-containing alloys, the degree of ordering was lower for the 3% Ni sample up to 10 h, and at longer milling times, the degree of ordering was higher for the 3% Ni sample than the 8% Ni sample. The degree of order increased significantly on annealing the powders at 500 C. The L1[sub 2] phases in all the four compositions investigated transformed to the equilibrium phases on annealing the powders at 900 C.
Differentiation of atypical atrioventricular node re-entrant tachycardia from orthodromic reciprocating tachycardia using a septal accessory pathway by the response to ventricular pacing.

Objectives The purpose of this study was to determine whether the response to ventricular pacing during tachycardia is useful for differentiating atypical atrioventricular node re-entrant tachycardia (AVNRT) from orthodromic reciprocating tachycardia (ORT) using a septal accessory pathway. Background Although it is usually possible to differentiate atypical AVNRT from ORT using a septal accessory pathway, a definitive diagnosis is occasionally elusive. Methods In 30 patients with atypical AVNRT and 44 patients with ORT using a septal accessory pathway, the right ventricle was paced at a cycle length 10 to 40 ms shorter than the tachycardia cycle length (TCL). The ventriculo-atrial (VA) interval and TCL were measured just before pacing. The interval between the last pacing stimulus and the last entrained atrial depolarization (stimulus-atrial [S-A] interval) and the post-pacing interval (PPI) at the right ventricular apex were measured on cessation of ventricular pacing. Results All 30 patients with atypical AVNRT and none of the 44 patients with ORT using a septal accessory pathway had an S-A-VA interval >85 ms and PPI-TCL >115 ms. Conclusions The S-A-VA interval and PPI-TCL are useful in distinguishing atypical AVNRT from ORT using a septal accessory pathway.
Recommended mlinrimum data seL for state dementia registries

The Alzheimer's Disease State Registry Operator's Workshop developed specific recommendations for a minimum basic data set to which all public health dementia registries at the meeting agreed to subscribe. In their databases, they will carry items of information relating to the patient's identifying and sociodemographic characteristics, diagnosis, reporting facility or physician, and death (with vital statistics and autopsy data). The workshop participants also reached consensus on the tentative nature of this set of recommendations and the need for further review and possible revision after additional operating experience has been obtained.
Quantitative Forecasting Models and Active Diversification for International Bonds

Extensive empirical evidence documents relatively consistent if modest predictability in excess bond returns and excess currency returns. The theory that active investors9 ability to add value on a risk-adjusted basis is proportional to their forecasting skill motivates the authors to extend empirical forecasting models to new sorts of trades-curve steepness positioning, and cross-country spread trading. They test the performance of increasingly complex trading strategies between 1992 and 2002, from using single indicators to predict specific trades, to pooling indicators into one forecasting model for each trade, and then to diversify across several trades. The broad composites produce the best risk-adjusted performance. One can gain an edge from the limited forecastability of returns and magnify this edge through diversification across strategies.
Chemical physics: Molecular conformations fielded

Studies of molecular dynamics can be foiled by the presence of stereoisomers — molecules that have the same bond sequence arranged in different geometries. This problem has now been deflected.
Determination of cyanate, and a study of its accumulation in aqueous solutions of urea

Abstract Cyanate accumulation in aqueous solutions of urea was measured by means of a spectrophotometric method of improved sensitivity. At 25°C, cyanate accumulation initially occurred at a rate of ca. 0.07 mmole of NCO/liter/day/mole of urea, but the rate of accumulation decreased progressively (especially at higher urea concentrations) and a maximum cyanate level was reached in about 60 days. At a given urea concentration, the maximum cyanate level at 25° was ca. 60% of that obtainable at 38° (7 days), and ca. 23% of that obtained at 85° (50 min). The presence of traces of ammonia in some lots of reagent-grade urea is believed to stimulate initial cyanate accumulation. Cyanate accumulation was prevented by storage of neutral solutions of urea (prepared at temperatures not exceeding 25°) at 5°, or by buffering the urea solutions at pH 4.7.
Symmetries and optimal multi-dimensional mechanism design

We efficiently solve the optimal multi-dimensional mechanism design problem for independent additive bidders with arbitrary demands when either the number of bidders is held constant or the number of items is held constant. In the first setting, we need that each bidder's values for the items are sampled from a possibly correlated, item-symmetric distribution, allowing different distributions for each bidder. In the second setting, we allow the values of each bidder for the items to be arbitrarily correlated, but assume that the distribution of bidder types is bidder-symmetric. These symmetric distributions include i.i.d. distributions, as well as many natural correlated distributions. E.g., an item-symmetric distribution can be obtained by taking an arbitrary distribution, and "forgetting" the names of items; this could arise when different members of a bidder population have various sorts of correlations among the items, but the items are "the same" with respect to a random bidder from the population.For all ∈>0, we obtain a computationally efficient additive ∈-approximation, when the value distributions are bounded, or a multiplicative (1-∈)-approximation when the value distributions are unbounded, but satisfy the Monotone Hazard Rate condition, covering a widely studied class of distributions in Economics. Our running time is polynomial in max{#items,#bidders}, and not the size of the support of the joint distribution of all bidders' values for all items, which is typically exponential in both the number of items and the number of bidders. Our mechanisms are randomized, explicitly price bundles, and in some cases can also accommodate budget constraints.Our results are enabled by several new tools and structural properties of Bayesian mechanisms, which we expect to find applications beyond the settings we consider here; indeed, there has already been follow-up research [Cai et al. 2012; Cai and Huang 2012] making use of our tools in both symmetric and non-symmetric settings. In particular, we provide a symmetrization technique that turns any truthful mechanism into one that has the same revenue and respects all symmetries in the underlying value distributions. We also prove that item-symmetric mechanisms satisfy a natural strong-monotonicity property which, unlike cyclic-monotonicity, can be harnessed algorithmically. Finally, we provide a technique that turns any given ∈-BIC mechansism (i.e. one where incentive constraints are violated by ∈) into a truly-BIC mechanism at the cost of O(√∈) revenue.
Antioxidant Properties of Cerium Oxide Nanocrystals as a Function of Nanocrystal Diameter and Surface Coating

This work examines the effect of nanocrystal diameter and surface coating on the reactivity of cerium oxide nanocrystals with H2O2 both in chemical solutions and in cells. Monodisperse nanocrystals were formed in organic solvents from the decomposition of cerium precursors, and subsequently phase transferred into water using amphiphiles as nanoparticle coatings. Quantitative analysis of the antioxidant capacity of CeO2–x using gas chromatography and a luminol test revealed that 2 mol of H2O2 reacted with every mole of cerium(III), suggesting that the reaction proceeds via a Fenton-type mechanism. Smaller diameter nanocrystals containing more cerium(III) were found to be more reactive toward H2O2. Additionally, the presence of a surface coating did not preclude the reaction between the nanocrystal surface cerium(III) and hydrogen peroxide. Taken together, the most reactive nanoparticles were the smallest (e.g., 3.8 nm diameter) with the thinnest surface coating (e.g., oleic acid). Moreover, a benchmark tes...
Characterization and chromosomal mapping of the human gene for SFT, a stimulator of Fe transport.

Abstract Hemochromatosis is the most common genetic disorder known in man and results in progressive tissue deposition of iron leading to cirrhosis of the liver, hepatic carcinoma, congestive heart failure, endocrinopathies, and premature death. SFT (stimulator of Fe transport) is a newly discovered transport protein that facilitates uptake of iron. Recent studies have demonstrated that although SFT expression is reciprocally regulated in response to cellular iron levels, it is aberrantly upregulated in the liver of hemochromatosis patients, indicating that enhanced SFT expression contributes to the etiology of this disease. Here we report the molecular cloning and characterization of the human gene for SFT. FISH analysis maps the SFT gene to human chromosome 10q21. PCR analysis indicates 1000 nucleotides of intervening intron sequence near the 3′ end of the coding region for SFT. Based on DNA sequence analysis of the additional 5′ untranslated region obtained from the genomic clone, SFT lacks known metal-regulated transcriptional or translational control elements. These studies provide the basis for future elucidation of the mechanisms that control SFT expression in order to discover how this regulation is lost in hemochromatosis.
Identification of a New Form of Death-associated Protein Kinase That Promotes Cell Survival

In this study, two alternatively spliced forms of the mouse death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) have been identified and their roles in apoptosis examined. The mouse DAPK-alpha sequence is 95% identical to the previously described human DAPK, and it has a kinase domain and calmodulin-binding region closely related to the 130-150 kDa myosin light chain kinases. A 12-residue extension of the carboxyl terminus of DAPK-beta distinguishes it from the human and mouse DAPK-alpha. DAPK phosphorylates at least one substrate in vitro and in vivo, the myosin II regulatory light chain. This phosphorylation occurs preferentially at Ser-19 and is stimulated by calcium and calmodulin. The mRNA encoding DAPK is widely distributed and detected in mouse embryos and most adult tissues, although the expression of the encoded 160-kDa DAPK protein is more restricted. Overexpression of DAPK-alpha, the mouse homolog of human DAPK has a negligible effect on tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced apoptosis. Overexpression of DAPK-beta has a strong cytoprotective effect on TNF-treated cells. Biochemical analysis of TNF-treated cell lines expressing mouse DAPK-beta suggests that the cytoprotective effect of DAPK is mediated through both intrinsic and extrinsic apoptotic signaling pathways and results in the inhibition of cytochrome c release from the mitochondria as well as inhibition of caspase-3 and caspase-9 activity. These results suggest that the mouse DAPK-beta is a negative regulator of TNF-induced apoptosis.
Luteolin induces apoptosis in multidrug resistant cancer cells without affecting the drug transporter function: involvement of cell line-specific apoptotic mechanisms

Bioflavonoids are of considerable interest to human health as these serve as antioxidant and anticancer agents. Although epidemiological and experimental studies suggest that luteolin, a natural bioflavonoid, exhibits chemopreventive properties, its effectiveness as an antiproliferative agent against multidrug resistant (MDR) cancers is unclear. Thus, we assessed the antiproliferative effects of luteolin and associated molecular mechanisms using two MDR cancer cell lines that express high levels of P-glycoprotein and ABCG2. In this article, we demonstrate that luteolin induces apoptosis in P-glycoprotein- and ABCG2-expressing MDR cancer cells without affecting the transport functions of these drug transporters. Analysis of various proliferative signaling pathways indicated that luteolin-induced apoptosis involves reactive oxygen species generation, DNA damage, activation of ATR Chk2 p53 signaling pathway, inhibition of NF-kB signaling pathway, activation of p38 pathway and depletion of antiapoptotic proteins. Importantly, use of luteolin in these analyses also identified specific molecular characteristics of NCI-ADR/RES and MCF-7/MitoR cells that highlight their different tissue origins. These results suggest that luteolin possesses therapeutic potential to control the proliferation of MDR cancers without affecting the physiological function of drug transporters in the body tissues.
Demonstration of a keratan sulfate proteoglycan and a mannose-rich glycoconjugate in corpora amylacea of the brain by immunocytochemical and lectin-binding methods

The aim of the present report is to call attention to the fact that corpora amylacea (CA) of the brain have similar biochemical and immunological characteristics as the connective tissue matrix. We have demonstrated that CA reacted positively toward a monoclonal antibody that specifically recognized the polysaccharide determinant on cartilage proteoglycans. Material strongly bound to concanavalin A was demonstrated in CA, blood vessel wall and cartilage and suggested high levels of mannose in these structures. These findings are in agreement with the known fact that both brain and cartilage contain keratan sulfate and high mannose glycoproteins. We propose that CA may result from accumulation of glycoconjugates normally present in the brain tissue matrix as the result of aging.
Far infrared spectra, conformational equilibria, vibrational assignments and ab initio calculations of 2-chloroethanol

Abstract The far infrared spectrum (350-50 cm −1 ) of gaseous 2-chloroethanol, ClCH 2 CH 2 OH, was recorded at a resolution of 0.10 cm −1 . The OH torsional fundamental of the most stable gauche conformer, Gg', where the capital G refers to internal rotation around the CC bond and the lower case g to internal rotation around the CO bond, was observed at 344.0 cm −1 with ‘hot bands’ falling to lower frequency. The ‘hot bands’ are believed to be caused by the OH torsion in excited states of the CC torsion which is observed at 147 cm −1 . The corresponding torsional modes were observed for two of the high energy trans conformers, Tg (281.4 cm −1 ) and Tt (∼200 cm −1 ). A number of transitions observed in the spectra of the vapor between 250 and 300 cm −1 are assigned to the ClCC bend of the Gg' (299 cm −1 ), Tt (266 cm −1 ), and Tg (250 cm −1 ) conformers with some having associated ‘hot bands’. Additionally infrared spectra of the vapor, amorphous and crystalline solids were recorded, and Raman spectra of the liquid, including depolarization ratios, and of the amorphous and crystalline solids were obtained. The structural parameters, conformational stabilities, barriers to internal rotation and fundamental frequencies were obtained from ab initio calculations utilizing the RHF/6-31++G∗∗ and the MP2/6-31G∗∗ basis sets and the data are compared with the experimental results.
Heart surgery in patients on chronic dialysis

Introduction. Patients on dialysis for end-stage renal failure are subjected to cardiac surgery with increasing frequency. End-stage renal failure is known to be an important risk factor for complications of cardiac operations performed with cardiopulmonary bypass. The aim of this study was to determine the impact of preoperative clinical status and operative variables on perioperative morbidity and mortality in hemodialysis dependent patients subjected to a cardiac surgery. Material and Methods. The following operative variables were examined: urgency, type and duration of surgery and duration of extracorporeal circulation. The study is a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients with end-stage renal failure dependent on maintenance hemodialysis who underwent cardiac surgery during four years. Results. The study included 46 patients. Operations performed included isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG, n = 24), valve surgery alone (n = 6), and combined valve surgery or coronary artery bypass grafting and valve surgery (n = 16). The perioperative mortality rate was 13% with four fatal outcomes in patients who had undergone combined cardiac surgery. We found age > 70 years, preoperative New York Heart Association class IV, preoperative anemia, combined surgery and emergent surgery to be associated with a higher relative risk for perioperative death. Conclusion. Patients on dialysis have an increased morbidity and mortality following cardiac surgery; however, we believe that end-stage renal failure should not be regarded as a contraindication to cardiac surgery or cardiopulmonary bypass.
Normal Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography of Tocopherols on Polar Phases

Abstract Five plant tocopherols were separated by normal phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on aminopropylsilica or diol-bonded silica with fluorescence detection. HPLC characteristics of these compounds were studied under various mobile phase conditions. Mobile phases employed binary solvent systems comprising a hydrocarbon and an alcohol, an ether or an ester. Separation factors (α) of adjacent ring-methylated tocol components were determined. Employment of aprotic weakly polar modifiers in the mobile phases increased the α values for the pair of 5,8- and 7,8-dimethyltocol, but decreased those for the 5,7-and 5,8-dimethyltocol pair. Both component resolution and detection sensitivity were adversely affected by the use of a diol-bonded silica phase of large particle size. HPLC with cyclohexane-binary eluents invariably led to lower values of analyte capacity factors (k′) than with hexane counterparts. Further, regardless of the type of column evaluated, the tocol isomers eluted in an eth...
FORMAL SPECIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF AN AGENT-BASED MEDICAL IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEM

A mobile agent system is a special distributed system with moving programs in networks. Mobile agent systems provide a powerful and flexible paradigm for building high performance distributed systems. Due to dynamic configuration property, assuring quality of a mobile agent system is a challenge work. Formal specification and analysis of a mobile agent system provides one of the best approaches to ensure the correctness of a system design. However, it is difficult to find a formal specification tool for modeling a mobile agent system with an easy to understand and concise model. In addition, it is a challenge but also important work to provide an automatic formal analysis approach for verifying whether a system specification correctly meets certain requirements in a mobile agent system. In this paper, a framework for specification and analysis of mobile agent systems is defined. First, Predicate/Transition nets are extended with dynamic channels for modeling mobile agent systems. The formalism has the expressive power to naturally model the software architecture of a mobile agent system, and easily capture the properties especially the mobility, mobile communication and dynamic configuration of a mobile agent system. Then, model checking is instrumented to the framework for automatically verifying the correctness of the specification of a mobile agent system. In order to illustrate the capability of the formalism and the verification strategy, a medical image processing system using mobile agents is modeled using the extended Predicate/Transition nets and system properties are verified using the SPIN model checker.
Random close packing revisited: Ways to pack frictionless disks

We create collectively jammed (CJ) packings of 50-50 bidisperse mixtures of smooth disks in two dimensions (2D) using an algorithm in which we successively compress or expand soft particles and minimize the total energy at each step until the particles are just at contact. We focus on small systems in 2D and thus are able to find nearly all of the collectively jammed states at each system size. We decompose the probability $P(\ensuremath{\phi})$ for obtaining a collectively jammed state at a particular packing fraction $\ensuremath{\phi}$ into two composite functions: (1) the density of CJ packing fractions $\ensuremath{\rho}(\ensuremath{\phi})$, which only depends on geometry, and (2) the frequency distribution $\ensuremath{\beta}(\ensuremath{\phi})$, which depends on the particular algorithm used to create them. We find that the function $\ensuremath{\rho}(\ensuremath{\phi})$ is sharply peaked and that $\ensuremath{\beta}(\ensuremath{\phi})$ depends exponentially on $\ensuremath{\phi}$. We predict that in the infinite-system-size limit the behavior of $P(\ensuremath{\phi})$ in these systems is controlled by the density of CJ packing fractions---not the frequency distribution. These results suggest that the location of the peak in $P(\ensuremath{\phi})$ when $N\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\infty}$ can be used as a protocol-independent definition of random close packing.
Teacher Efficacy: A Model for Teacher Development and Inclusion

Students with special needs must have the opportunity to learn in inclusive classrooms. However, this requires that classroom teachers believe that (a) students can learn in spite of any negative environmental influences in their lives, and (b) they personally have the ability to reach any student. Securing this teaching efficacy for teachers in inclusive classroom settings requires paradigm shifts in preservice and inservice teacher development programs with the precept that all students can learn and that we can assist them. The authors, one a regular and the other a special education teacher educator, collaborate to explore the issue of how best to provide and maintain a positive personal teaching efficacy among regular teacher education candidates who are faced with the challenges of having students with varying levels of ability and behavioral responses in their classrooms.
A nested APi structure to simplify cross-device communication

In this paper we present Responsive Objects, Surfaces, and Spaces (ROSS) API, a tangible toolkit that allows designers and developers to easily build applications for heterogeneous network devices. We describe the unique nested structure of the ROSS framework that enables cross-platform and device development and demonstrate its capabilities using several prototype applications.
Exposure Dose Control Techniques For Excimer Laser Lithography

Measurements of pulse-to-pulse energy fluctuation statistics were made at several wave-lengths for a commercial discharge pumped excimer laser, under a variety of operating conditions. Various approaches to achieving accurate exposure dose control in microlithographic exposure tools using noisy pulsed sources are discussed. A pulse-by-pulse active control technique for static field lithography is described in detail, together with measured performance data. Alternative techniques suitable for one dimensional scanning slit field exposure tools are presented.
Developing a water collection and filtration system in Limpopo, South Africa

This article examines a methodology for increasing water quality and quantity in the villages of Tchibvumo and Tshapasha (T&T), Limpopo Province, South Africa. The residents are routinely sick with symptoms typical of waterborne illnesses. Based on census data collected in the summer of 2009, the University of Virginia Systems Capstone team sought to characterize the link between access to water and community health. The team also developed criteria for evaluating alternatives to address the problem. This paper begins by assessing the link between access to water and community health. The team was able to use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) combined with the survey data to map all water sources, human waste sites, and house locations in T&T. The survey data did not include any health metrics that could be used to establish a relationship between access to water and sanitation (WASAN) and health in the village. However, the survey gave insight into WASAN accessibility and the need for additional health data. The Capstone team also assisted the villages in this effort by evaluating solutions to increase water quantity and improve water quality. The alternatives for improving access to water service include seasonal storage, construction of a micro-dam, diversion of water to a reservoir, and the dredging of an existing pool within the nearby Pfaleni River. The preliminary evaluation of the water flow and legal requirements indicates that drawing water from a pool in the river is the preferred method of water collection. The only filtration alternative that meets the requirement for sustainability would be a slow sand filter. Prior research has indicated that considerable care should be taken during implementation of any alternatives to include the community in all phases of design, construction, and management in order to assure that the system provides sustained access to water service in the community.
Deficiency of Reduced Nicotinamide-Adenine Dinucleotide Oxidase in Chronic Granulomatous Disease

Reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide oxidase of normal human polymorphonuclear leukocytes has properties that would qualify it as the enzyme responsible for the respiratory burst during phagocytosis. The enzyme was deficient in leukocytes of five patients with chronic granulomatous disease. This lack of adequate reduced nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide oxidase could be the basis for the metabolic abnormalities characteristic of these leukocytes and for their diminished bactericidal activity.
“little language” project modules

Many computer science departments are debating the role of programming languages in the curriculum. These discussions often question the relevance and appeal of programming-languages content for today's students. In our experience, domain-specific, “little languages” projects provide a compelling illustration of the importance of programming-language concepts. This paper describes projects that prototype mainstream applications such as PowerPoint, TurboTax, and animation scripting. We have used these exercises as modules in non-programming languages courses, including courses for first year students. Such modules both encourage students to study linguistic topics in more depth and provide linguistic perspective to students who might not otherwise be exposed to the area.
Ecology of West Nile virus in North America

The introduction, dispersal and establishment of West Nile virus in North America were reviewed, focusing on factors that may have enhanced receptivity and enabled the invasion process. The overwintering persistence of this tropical virus within temperate latitudes was unexpected, but was key in the transition from invasion to endemic establishment. The cascade of temporal events allowing sporadic amplification to outbreak levels was discussed within a future perspective.
Trachoma viruses isolated in the United States. 3. Strain specific effects of tetracycline and penicillin.

SummaryThe ability of varying amounts of penicillin or tetracycline to interfere with the growth of trachoma virus in eggs was studied. Three strains of this agent isolated in the United States behaved in a reproducible and individual manner toward these drugs. They exhibited a very large range of differences in susceptibility to these antibiotics. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
A bi-level Bernoulli scheme for database sampling

Current database sampling methods give the user insufficient control when processing ISO-style sampling queries. To address this problem, we provide a bi-level Bernoulli sampling scheme that combines the row-level and page-level sampling methods currently used in most commercial systems. By adjusting the parameters of the method, the user can systematically trade off processing speed and statistical precision---the appropriate choice of parameter settings becomes a query optimization problem. We indicate the SQL extensions needed to support bi-level sampling and determine the optimal parameter settings for an important class of sampling queries with explicit time or accuracy constraints. As might be expected, row-level sampling is preferable when data values on each page are homogeneous, whereas page-level sampling should be used when data values on a page vary widely. Perhaps surprisingly, we show that in many cases the optimal sampling policy is of the "bang-bang" type: we identify a "page-heterogeneity index" (PHI) such that optimal sampling is as "row-like" as possible if the PHI is less than 1 and as "page-like" as possible otherwise. The PHI depends upon both the query and the data, and can be estimated by means of a pilot sample. Because pilot sampling can be nontrivial to implement in commercial database systems, we also give a heuristic method for setting the sampling parameters; the method avoids pilot sampling by using a small number of summary statistics that are maintained in the system catalog. Results from over 1100 experiments on 372 real and synthetic data sets show that the heuristic method performs optimally about half of the time, and yields sampling errors within a factor of 2.2 of optimal about 93% of the time. The heuristic method is stable over a wide range of sampling rates and performs best in the most critical cases, where the data is highly clustered or skewed.
Pre-clinical analysis of Crizotinib in uveal melanoma

Purpose Uveal melanoma (UM) is an intraocular neoplasm with an annual incidence of 7 per million. UM originates from melanocytes just like cutaneous melanoma (CM) and similar to CM, the MAPK pathway is involved in the development of UM. However, not all UM seem to depend on the activation of this pathway. Loss of ERK signalling may be correlated with progression as the ERK negative cells are derived from UM metastasis. Here, tumours apparently use different mechanisms to proliferate and survive. In this study, we aimed to determine the pathway that is up-regulated in UM metastases and to inhibit its function with targeted kinase inhibitors. Methods We used pathway profiling to identify the pathways that are important in metastases. Furthermore, the c-Met inhibitor (Crizotinib) was used to inhibit the c-Met receptor and to identify downstream targets. Colony formation assays and 3D sphere assays were used to characterize UM cells in a three dimensional environment. Results Reduced c-Met activation rather than reduced expression was induced with Crizotinib treatment. Subsequently, c-Met inhibition was correlated with reduced colony formation. c-Met positive UM cells captured in 3D spheres revealed a reduced capacity to migrate upon Crizotinib treatment compared to cells that lack activated c-Met. Conclusion c-Met activation was observed in metastasizing UM where it serves as biomarker for Crizotinib treatment. Efficacy of treatment was shown by inhibition of growth and migration. Combined our data reveals c-Met signalling in progression of UM and support the use of Crizotinib for UM metastasis.
Jaw muscle pain and its effect on gothic arch tracings

Perceived changes in occlusion and decreased range of motion are often expressed by patients with masticatory muscle pain. The adverse loading of craniomandibular tissues that results from an inadequate maxillomandibular relationship in combination with the coexisting dysfunction is widely regarded as the cause of pain. This study was designed to test whether pain can cause significant changes in position of the mandible and therefore form the basis for any perceived changes in the maxillomandibular relationship. A second objective was to determine whether pain can cause changes in the mandibular range of motion. Five subjects who rated pain intensity on a visual analog scale were used in a single-blind, randomized, repeated-measures study design. Tonic muscle pain was induced by infusion of 5% hypertonic saline solution into the central portion of the superficial masseter muscle. Isotonic saline solution was used as a control, with subjects blinded to the type of substance given. The effect of pain on the position of the apex of the gothic arch tracing, the direction of the lateral mandibular border movements, and the mandibular range of motion was studied in a horizontal plane with minimal occlusal separation. Pain significantly affected the position of the apex of the gothic arch tracing in anterior (F = 11.46, p = 0.03) and transverse (F = 35.0, p = 0.004) directions. Similarly, pain affected the orientation of the mandibular lateral border movements (F = 12.44, p = 0.02) and their magnitude (F = 14.97, p = 0.01). All pain-induced effects proved to be reversible. The observed effect of pain can explain the perceived change of bite that is frequently noted by patients with orofacial pain. This study provided evidence of an alternative causal relationship between pain and changes in occlusal relationship and questions occlusal therapy as treatment, directed toward the elimination of the underlying cause in patients with masticatory muscle pain.
Primary embryonal-cell carcinoma of the parietal lobe. Case report.

✓ A case of primary embryonal-cell carcinoma of the parietal lobe is reported. The unusually chronic presentation of such a malignant tumor is described. The atypical computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of this lesion are presented. Review of the literature yielded no previous reports of a lobar embryonal-cell carcinoma. The rarity of intracranial germ-cell tumors presenting off the midline is discussed.
Isolation and two-step classification of normal white blood cells in peripheral blood smears

Introduction: An automated system for differential white blood cell (WBC) counting based on morphology can make manual differential leukocyte counts faster and less tedious for pathologists and laboratory professionals. We present an automated system for isolation and classification of WBCs in manually prepared, Wright stained, peripheral blood smears from whole slide images (WSI). Methods: A simple, classification scheme using color information and morphology is proposed. The performance of the algorithm was evaluated by comparing our proposed method with a hematopathologist's visual classification. The isolation algorithm was applied to 1938 subimages of WBCs, 1804 of them were accurately isolated. Then, as the first step of a two-step classification process, WBCs were broadly classified into cells with segmented nuclei and cells with nonsegmented nuclei. The nucleus shape is one of the key factors in deciding how to classify WBCs. Ambiguities associated with connected nuclear lobes are resolved by detecting maximum curvature points and partitioning them using geometric rules. The second step is to define a set of features using the information from the cytoplasm and nuclear regions to classify WBCs using linear discriminant analysis. This two-step classification approach stratifies normal WBC types accurately from a whole slide image. Results: System evaluation is performed using a 10-fold cross-validation technique. Confusion matrix of the classifier is presented to evaluate the accuracy for each type of WBC detection. Experiments show that the two-step classification implemented achieves a 93.9% overall accuracy in the five subtype classification. Conclusion: Our methodology achieves a semiautomated system for the detection and classification of normal WBCs from scanned WSI. Further studies will be focused on detecting and segmenting abnormal WBCs, comparison of 20× and 40× data, and expanding the applications for bone marrow aspirates.
Finite Analytic Numerical Method for Two-Point Boundary Value Problems of Ordinary Differential Equations

Abstract The finite analytic numerical method is developed to solve two-point boundary value problems of ordinary differential equations. The basic idea of the finite analytic method is the incorporation of the local analytic solution of the governing equation in the numerical solution of the boundary value problem. In this study, the finite analytic solution is developed for both linear and nonlinear second-order ordinary differential equations. Several examples are solved to demonstrate the application of the finite analytic method. It is shown that the finite analytic method is simple, accurate and well behaved in the presence of singularities. It is also shown that the finite difference expression for the derivative is a particular simple case of the finite analytic expressions. The finite analytic method can therefore be regarded as a desirable alternative to other numerical schemes for solving two-point boundary value problems.
ADAM-TS8, a novel metalloprotease of the ADAM-TS family located on mouse chromosome 9 and human chromosome 11.

A disintegrin-like and metalloprotease domain with thrombospondin type I modules (ADAM-TS) describes a novel family of zinc metalloendopeptidases. Its members have a common domain organization, which includes, typically, a pre-pro-metalloprotease domain, a disintegrin-like domain, and one or more thrombospondin-like (TS) modules. We describe here the complete primary structure of mouse ADAM-TS8, through cloning of Adamts8 cDNA. This novel member of the family contains two TS modules and is highly similar in sequence and domain organization to three other recently described gene products, ADAM-TS5, ADAM-TS6, and ADAM-TS7. Adamts8 is expressed at low levels throughout development and in adult mouse lung and heart. Through analysis of an interspecific backcross panel, we place the Adamts8 locus on mouse chromosome 9 at a consensus position of 11 cM and its human ortholog, recently reported as the METH2 gene, on human chromosome 11q25.