cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Interchanging Functionality Among Homologous Elongation Factors Using Signatures of Heterotachy

Numerous models of molecular evolution have been formulated to describe the forces that shape sequence divergence among homologous proteins. These models have greatly enhanced our understanding of evolutionary processes. Rarely are such models empirically tested in the laboratory, and even more rare, are such models exploited to generate novel molecules useful for synthetic biology. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that the heterotachy model of evolution captures signatures of functional divergence among homologous elongation factors (EFs) between bacterial EF-Tu and eukaryotic eEF1A. These EFs are GTPases that participate in protein translation by presenting aminoacylated-tRNAs to the ribosome. Upon release from the ribosome, the EFs are recharged by nucleotide exchange factors EF-Ts in bacteria or eEF1B in eukaryotes. The two nucleotide exchange factors perform analogous functions despite not being homologous proteins. The heterotachy model was used to identify a set of sites in eEF1A/EF-Tu associated with eEF1B binding in eukaryotes and another reciprocal set associated with EF-Ts binding in bacteria. Introduction of bacterial EF-Tu residues at these sites into eEF1A protein efficiently disrupted binding of cognate eEF1B as well as endowed eEF1A with the novel ability to bind bacterial EF-Ts. We further demonstrate that eEF1A variants, unlike yeast wild-type, can function in a reconstituted in vitro bacterial translation system.
Retinal visualization in an eye with corneal crystals using indocyanine green videoangiography

Abstract PURPOSE: To report a patient in whom clear imaging of the retina, impossible with conventional methods, was obtained using indocyanine green (ICG) videoangiography. DESIGN: Interventional case report. METHODS: A 31-year-old patient with nephropathic cystinosis and complaints of decreased vision in the left eye underwent a complete ophthalmologic evaluation, including conventional photography, fluorescein angiography, and ICG videoangiography. RESULTS: With conventional methods (direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy, photography, and fluorescein angiography), the view of the left retina was obscured by densely packed corneal cystine crystals. During ICG angiography, clear imaging of the retina was obtained with near-infrared illumination. CONCLUSION: Indocyanine green videoangiography can be a useful tool in cases with cystinosis and other corneal opacities, where visualization and imaging of the retina are important but impossible with conventional methods.
Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction in Children

Abstract Up to 10% of school-age children suffer from recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) and/or urinary incontinence. Lower urinary tract problems are, together with asthma, the most important chronic disease of the pediatric age group. Diagnosis must discriminate among those children with functional voiding problems, those with neuropathic bladders, and those with anatomic anomalies who may need surgery. In boys with overactive bladder (OAB) and incontinence, urethral obstruction must be evaluated as the possible cause. Functional incontinence with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) is very common in girls and can be accompanied by UTI. In girls with dysfunctional voiding or underactive bladder, other anomalies need to be excluded because, for many of these girls, LUTS can be a chronic condition that requires lifelong attention to voiding behavior.
Caradocian chitinozoans from the Central Basin, Tennessee

Abstract Chitinozoans occur in low numbers and diversity in all formations of the Caradocian Stones River and Nashville Groups of the Central Basin, Tennessee. Sixteen species have been found in the interval studied: Belonechitina micracantha, B. robusta, B. seriespinosa, B. wesenbergensis, Calpichitina lata, Conochitina elegans, C. minnesotensis, Cyathochitina kuckersiana, Desmochitina minor, Lagenochitina cf. L. baltica, Pistillachitina pistillifrons, Rhabdochitina magna, R. turgida, R. usitata, Sphaerochitina actonica and Spinachitina multiradiata . On the basis of the chitinozoans present, the lower part of the Stones River Group is correlated to the North American Black Riveran Stage interval (British lower Caradocian Series). The upper part of the Stones River Group and the Nashville Group are correlated to the Black Riveran-Edenian interval (lower to middle Caradocian).
Nematoda: susceptibility of the egg to Bacillus thuringiensis toxins

Crystalline toxins from Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis and B.t. kurstaki were lethal in vitro to eggs of the nematode Trichostrongylus colubriformis. The LD50 values for the two toxins were 0.38 ng and 37.5 micrograms total protein/ml, respectively. After 1 week at ambient temperature, the LD50 of B.t. kurstaki decreased to less than 4 micrograms/ml. Toxin from B.t. israelensis had no effect within 48 hr on survival of adult nematodes or on their feeding in vitro. Third-stage larvae of T. colubriformis were also unaffected by B.t. israelensis toxin. Exposure of third-stage larvae of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis to 1.1 micrograms total protein/ml of B.t. israelensis for 4 hr had no effect on their infectivity in mice, based on recovery of helminths at 7 days after infection. Similar exposure of 5-day-old N. brasiliensis and subsequent transfer into the intestine of mice gave recoveries that were similar to the untreated control. Thirty strains of B. thuringiensis caused mortality in nematode eggs, but over a 77,000-fold range of activity was found, based on the LD50 values. Toxin from B.t. israelensis was lethal to eggs of six zooparasitic and one free-living species of nematode, but the LD50 values varied 28-fold. Addition of B.t. israelensis to feces that contained eggs of T. colubriformis reduced subsequent recovery of larvae, with an LD50 of 260 ng/g of feces.
Decay characteristics for nonlinear differential equations in Banach spaces

Abstract A standard procedure for optimizing the transient response of a system of nonlinear differential equations near an asymptotically stable equilibrium point involves choosing the system parameters so that the right-most eigenvalue of the linearized system is furthest to the left in the complex plane. This procedure is shown to also apply for nonlinear systems in infinite dimensional Banach spaces.
Subdiaphragmatic stage I & II Hodgkin’s disease: long-term follow-up and prognostic factors

Abstract Purpose: To report long-term follow-up results and to analyze prognostic factors for overall and disease-free survival in patients with subdiaphragmatic Stage I & II Hodgkin’s disease. Methods and Materials: From September 1962 to April 1995, 109 patients presented at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center with subdiaphragmatic Hodgkin’s disease. The medical records of these patients were retrospectively reviewed; 22 patients who received no treatment at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center or who had radiation therapy at other institutions were excluded. The remaining 87 patients formed the basis of this study. The median age of our group was 33 years with a male: female ratio of 3.3:1. The histological subtypes were nodular sclerosis in 21 (24.1%) patients, mixed cellularity in 31 (35.6%), lymphocyte predominance in 33 (37.9%), lymphocyte depletion in 1 (1.1%) and unclassified histology in 1 (1.1%). Of the patients, 32 (36.8%) underwent laparotomy for diagnosis or staging purpose, 74 (85.1%) had lymphangiography, and 35 (40.2%) had computerized tomography of the abdomen and pelvis. Among the patients, 22 (25%) had more than three sites of nodal involvement at presentation, 56 (64.4%) had pelvic or abdominal disease, and 14 (18.4%) had bulky disease that was defined as disease with the largest dimension ≥ 7 cm. Stage distribution was IA in 33.3%, IIA in 39.1%, and IIB in 27.6%. Treatment was radiotherapy alone in 60 (69%) patients, chemotherapy and radiation in 23 (26.4%), and chemotherapy alone in 4 (4.6%). Results: The 10- and 20-year actuarial overall survival rates for all patients were 74.6% and 55.3%, and the corresponding disease-free survival rates were 72.4% and 67.5%, respectively. On univariate analysis, age > 40 years, B symptoms, nodular sclerosis or mixed cellularity histology, and decreased albumin or hemoglobin levels were statistically significant adverse pretreatment factors for overall survival. B symptoms, decreased albumin level, more than 3 sites of disease at presentation, and Stage II were statistically significant negative pretreatment prognostic factors for disease-free survival. Only B symptoms and decreased albumin level predicted worse outcome in both overall and disease-free survivals. On multivariate analysis, age > 40 years, nodular sclerosis and mixed cellularity histology, and decreased hemoglobin levels were three independent risk factors for overall survival. An analysis of the pattern of failure revealed that the majority of the patients with central Stage II disease who did not receive mantle radiation failed in the supradiaphragmatic area. Late complications of radiation were infrequent. Conclusions: Long-term follow-up of this group of patients revealed similar overall and disease-free long-term survival, as would be expected from supradiaphragmatic Hodgkin’s disease. For patients with central Stage II disease, it is anticipated that supradiaphragmatic radiation therapy would improve the disease-free survival.
An Intelligent Design System for Agile Design and Manufacturing of Mechanical Transmission Systems

Product development is a process with complicated procedures, which incorporate many aspects of knowledge, experience and teamwork. Specifically, mechanical system design requires an iterative process to determine the desired component design parameters that would satisfy kinematic, performance and manufacturability requirements, which would result in an efficient and reliable operation of speed reduction units. This article describes an approach towards the development of intelligent design support environments for mechanical transmission systems, along with implementation details of a distributed knowledge-based gearing design and manufacturing system that is deployed over the Internet. The system embodies the various tasks of the design process, with modules that address: performance evaluation, process optimization, manufacturability analysis, and provides reasoning and decision-making capabilities for reducing the time between gear tooth creation, detailed design and final production. This methodology is highly desirable in that it is able to simulate real working conditions, evaluate and optimize the design effectively, prevent designers from time-consuming iterations and reduce long and expensive test phases. In an application example relating to process design of a forged gearing system, once a successful power rating is achieved within the design environment through FEA based techniques, the system automatically feeds input parameters into the manufacturing module which carries out all process design and planning stages. Estimation of the number of preforming stages, generation of detail die drawings, and forging load and energy requirements are calculated based on available material design databases, knowledge-based rules and feature-level calculations. Utilization of the World Wide Web, as a medium for the implementation of gear design and its agile manufacturing over the Internet is also being demonstrated. A combination of HTML, JavaScript, VRML, CGI Script and C++ based procedures is used to bring this capability to users distributed anywhere in the world. With the above developments, the problems of experience and expertise for the designers are overcome and unexpected design iterations that cause wastage of engineering time and effort, are avoided. The environment can be easily enhanced with other types of gearing systems.© 2003 ASME
Application of a nutrient-saturation concept to the control of algal growth in lakes

Abstract Either phosphorus or nitrogen can be responsible for nutrient limitation of algae in lakes. Nitrogen limitation can be defeated by heterocystous cyanobacteria through nitrogen fixation, but no comparable mechanism exists for P. Therefore, P is considered the predominant factor limiting phytoplankton biomass in lakes. Even so, increasing numbers of studies show that many lakes are limited by N deficiency because heterocystous cyanobacteria do not become sufficiently abundant to offset N deficiency. Where N limitation prevails, P control over phytoplankton populations can be achieved only if P concentrations are first reduced to a saturation threshold that is determined by the amount of available N. The extent of this reduction, which will typically occur without any suppression of phytoplankton biomass, can be estimated from nutrient chemistry, nutrient enrichment experiments, and information on the stoi-chiometry of phytoplankton, as illustrated with data for a Colorado reservoir in which a reduc...
Application of expectation maximization to x-ray spectrum estimation for medical accelerators from transmission data

Accurate computation of dose delivered to the patient depends on knowledge of the x-ray spectrum of therapy, x-ray beams. This work applies the expectation-maximization (EM) method to the problem of reconstructing the x-ray source spectrum from transmission data of Aluminum and Lead. The proposed EM method is compared to an algebraic approach for solving the corresponding linear system of equations.
Some Problems With Assessing Cope's Rule

Cope's Rule states that the size of species tends to increase along an evolutionary lineage. A basic statistical framework is elucidated for testing Cope's Rule and some surprising complications are pointed out. If Cope's Rule is formulated in terms of mean size, then it is not invariant to the way in which size is measured. If Cope's Rule is formulated in terms of median size, then it is not invariant to the degree of separation between ancestral and descendant species. Some practical problems in assessing Cope's Rule are also described. These results have implications for the empirical assessment of Cope's Rule.
I Don't Sing, I Don't Dance, and I Don't Play Basketball!: Is Sociology Declining in Signifi cance, or Has it Just Returned to Business as Usual?

We must begin to discuss how race, racism, and ethnic discrimination are part and parcel to the American cultural experience (Feagin 2000). We must understand that until and unless there are major cultural, structural and political changes in America, that race, racism and ethnic discrimination will continue (Myrdal 1996; McKee 1993). Sociology, if indeed it is to be a critical discipline, must adopt a radical new stance with regards to race, racism and ethnic discrimination. Rather then merely offering lip service to such change, it must become an agent of that change in the various arenas in which it operates. All too often, in our classrooms we give the allusion that we have all the answers. The problem is that what few answers we do give are often couched in such nebulous terminology that the student is at a loss. Perhaps it is not the answers that the student is in search of, but the questions. Are we primarily gatekeepers of the status quo? Is sociology's primary goal to be apologists to an otherwis...
Investment Decision with a General Equilibrium Mean-Variance Approach

I. Introduction, 667. — II. Assumptions and a review of the market equilibrium model, 668. — III. Consumption and investment decisions jointly considered, 672. — IV. General equilibrium in a pure exchange economy, 676. — V. Productive activities by firms, 679. — VI. Conclusions, 682.
Spontaneous hepatic hemorrhage secondary to prolonged use of oral contraceptives

Oral contraceptive pills (OCP) are the most commonly used form of contraception throughout the United States of America. The prolonged usage of oral contraceptives leads to a variety of complications, ranging from subclinical modifications of liver function tests to the development of benign and malignant tumors of the liver. Spontaneous hepatic hemorrhage secondary to oral contraceptive use was only reported once in the early 1980s. We report a case of spontaneous hepatic hemorrhage secondary to prolonged ingestion of combined OCPs followed by multiple pulmonary emboli without underlying thrombophilia.
San Carlos Apache Cattle Industry

The complete assimilation of the Indian cultures into the general culture of the United States has been, and still is, the goal of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The program put into operation to achieve this purpose has been set up in terms of total and approximately simultaneous assimilation in all aspects of culture. Yet, in many instances, specific segments of an Indian culture have been singled out and brought under pressure to change without sufficient consideration as to: 1) how the change would affect relationships with the rest of the culture system, or 2) how existing relationships might affect the proposed change. An example of this selective type of directed culture change is the case study outlined in this paper, the Hereford cattle industry of the San Carlos Indians.
Iodometric titration of copper-oxide superconductors and Tokura's rule

Abstract Iodometric titration measurements, which are often interpreted as obtaining the excess valence on Cu atoms in Y(La y Ba 1− y ) 2 Cu 3 O x , are reinterpreted as determining concentrations of “neutral” or hypocharged oxygen instead. Tokura's Rule, an empirical relationship between the critical oxygen content x c and the critical La content y c at the onset of superconductivity, is derived on the basis of a hypocharged-oxygen model.
Gender Differences in Meal Patterns: Role of Self-Caught Fish and Wild Game in Meat and Fish Diets

The hypothesis that there are gender differences in consumption patterns of self-caught fish and wild game in the meat and fish diet was examined for 415 people attending the Palmetto Sportsmen's Classic in Columbia, South Carolina. Women were less likely to eat most types of wild fish and game than were men, although there were no gender differences in the percentage eating beef, chicken, pork, and restaurant and store-bought fish. Similarly, women consumed significantly fewer meals of wild-caught fish and game than did men, although the number of meals of most store-bought foods did not differ. Both men and women who ate more meals of fish ate a higher percentage of wild-caught fish than either store-bought or restaurant fish. People with low number of fish and meat meals ate mainly fish; people eating over 30 meals of meat and fish a month ate mainly meat. Only about 9% of those interviewed said that they changed their fish consumption patterns when they, or their spouse, were pregnant. These gender-specific data on protein consumption can be used for exposure assessment and risk management decisions regarding consumption advisories for wild-caught fish and game.
Smart programmable wireless microaccelerometers

The integration of MEMS, SAW devices and required microelectronics and conformal antenna to realize a programmable wireless accelerometer is presented in this paper. This unique combination of technologies results in a novel accelerometer that can be remotely sensed by a microwave system with the advantage of no power requirements at the sensor site. The microaccelerometer presented is simple in construction and easy to manufacture with existing silicon micromachining techniques. Programmable accelerometers can be achieved with splitfinger interdigital transducers (IDTs) as reflecting structures. If IDTs are short circuited or capacitively loaded, the wave propagates without any reflection whereas in an open circuit configuration, the IDTs reflect the incoming SAW signal. The programmable accelerometers can thus be achieved by using an external circuitry on a semiconductor chip using hybrid technology. The relatively small size of the sensor makes it an ideal conformal sensor. The accelerometer finds application as air bag deployment sensors, vibration sensors for noise control, deflection and strain sensors, inertial and dimensional positioning systems, ABS/traction control, smart suspension, active roll stabilization and four wheel steering. The wireless accelerometer is very attractive to study the response of a `dummy' in automobile crash test.© (1998) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
The attentional demands of mnemonic control processes

In order to assess the processing (i.e., attentional) demands of different control processes, subjects were required to perform a secondary choice reaction time task in addition to primary verbal tasks. The performance of the secondary task yielded a measure termedexpended processing capacity (EPC), which was used to infer the attentional demands of the primary tasks. Two factors, mediator type (experimenter-supplied vs. subject-generated) and intentionality (incidental vs. intentional), were varied in a paired-associate situation in an effort to affect the degree of elaboration processing. Only mediator type had an effect on recall accuracy and on EPC during both initial processing and recall. Subject-generated mediators resulted in higher recall and in higher EPC during initial processing, but in lower EPC during recall, than did experimenter-supplied mediators. Implications of these findings are discussed.
Introducing the Concepts of "Positions," "Space," and "Worlds": Seeing Human Being and Becoming—and Religion—in New Ways

Theories of psychological development, however diverse, often express common underlying ontological-epistemological commitments shaped by the legacies of Descartes, Newton, and Kant. Three related psychoanalytic concepts—“positions,” “space,” and “worlds”—individually and collectively sketch the contours of a different way of construing human being and becoming—a way that departs from these legacies. Implications for the study of religion of this “different way” are examined.
Frequency of Gathering Eggs and Effect Upon Interior Egg Quality

Abstract MANY measures are being taken at the present time to maintain high interior quality in eggs after they are laid. These measures include clean nests, frequent gathering, proper cooling, and satisfactory temperature, humidity, and ventilation in the egg room. It is recommended that during the hot summer days experienced in Delaware that eggs be gathered three or four times a day. However many poultrymen do not realize the importance of frequent collection, and pick up the eggs only once or perhaps twice on the hot summer days. Bausman (1936) in a survey of 214 Delaware poultry farms found that on 91 of the farms the eggs were gathered only once a day, on 123 twice, and in a few cases more often. In order to actually show the value of frequent collection of eggs during the summer months it appears that definite data showing the measured deterioration in quality would . . .
Macintosh OS X: a smooth migration

The Ringling School of Art and Design is a fully accredited four year college of visual art and design with a student population of approximately 1000. The Ringling School has achieved national recognition for its large-scale integration of technology into collegiate visual art and design education and maintains a student to computer ratio of better than two to one. Due to the demand for computing power and the requirement for ease of use, we moved our instructional computer laboratories to the Mac OS X environment in the fall of 2002. OS X has the stability of a UNIX core and an easy to navigate Aqua graphical user interface. We have found that OS X is the best operating system for training future artists and designers. Moreover, at Ringling School, we can now use the Macintosh to run high-end graphics, nonlinear video editing, animation, multimedia, web production, and digital video applications rather than expensive UNIX workstations. As visual artists cross from painting on canvas to creating in the digital realm, OS X based solutions have made artistic expression in the digital realm easy and intuitive.As with any new technology and large-scale deployment, IT managers will need to consider a number of factors as they migrate to Mac OS X. We would like to share valuable information with our colleagues, including tips and tricks we learned from our move to the OS X environment. Our paper will address issues such as instructional computer laboratory configuration, management tools, security, authentication, integration into an existing infrastructure, font management, application support, user training, printing, and peripheral support. We will also discuss the issues that arose and the lessons learned during and after the migration process.
Multiscale Bayesian rectification of data from linear steady-state and dynamic systems without accurate models

A common situation in chemical processes is that the measured data come from a dynamic process, but the available accurate process models only represent steady-state behavior. Furthermore, process data usually contain multiscale features due to different localizations in time and frequency. Existing methods for rectifying dynamic data require an accurate dynamic process model and are best for rectifying single-scale data. This paper presents a multiscale Bayesian approach for rectification of measurements from linear steady-state or dynamic processes with a steady-state model or without a model. This approach exploits the ability of wavelets to approximately decorrelate many autocorrelated stochastic processes and to extract deterministic features in a signal. The decorrelation ability results in wavelet coefficients at each scale that contain almost none of the process dynamics. Consequently, these wavelet coefficients can be rectified without a model or with a steady-state process model. The dynamics are captured in the wavelet domain by the scale-dependent variance of the wavelet coefficients and the last scaled signal. The proposed approach uses a scale-dependent prior for rectifying the wavelet coefficients and rectifies the last scaled signal without a model. In addition to more accurate rectification than existing methods, the multiscale Bayesian approach can eliminate the less relevant scales from the rectification before actually rectifying the data, resulting in significant savings in computation. This paper focuses on the rectification of Gaussian errors, but the approach is general and can be easily extended to other types of error distributions.
Reply to comments by R. Von Herzen, E.E. Davis, A.T. Fisher, C.A. Stein and H.N. Pollack on “Earth's heat flux revised and linked to chemistry”

Abstract The lengthy comment by Von Herzen et al. does not address the most important conclusions of the paper by Hofmeister and Criss [Hofmeister, A.M., Criss, R.E., 2005, Earth's heat flux revisited and linked to chemistry. Tectonophys. 395, 159–177.]. These are 1) that actual measurements better describe the Earth than do simplistic models with demonstrably unrealistic boundary conditions that diverge markedly from the data; and 2) that the models are unconstrained, resulting in a series of papers proposing values for the global flux that have become increasingly disparate from the growing data base over time (Fig. 3 in our paper). We disagree strongly with penultimate concluding statement of Von Herzen et al., “that it is preferable to base surface heat flow analysis not only on the extensive measurements but also on well understood processes that are known to bias the values and statistics of the measurements,” as our Fig. 3 demonstrates that no consistent magnitude has been assigned to the alleged advective flux, so that neither the processes nor the correction are “well understood”. We do not deny the existence of submarine hydrothermal systems, but we disagree strongly with the scales over which they are alleged to operate, and with the large Rayleigh and Nusselt numbers Von Herzen et al. assign to them.
DETERMINING PLANNING PROCESS DIFFERENCES FOR GROWTH-ORIENTED NEW VENTURES: A QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF HIGH-TECH AND NON HIGH-TECH FIRMS

This paper compares two qualitative studies of growth-oriented firms to identify similarities and propose differences in growth planning processes between high-tech new ventures and other types of new ventures. The comparison suggests that infrastructural preparation for growth is necessary for all types of growth-oriented new ventures. However, the paper proposes that high-tech new ventures must spend more time in environmental analysis than non high-tech new ventures because their external environments change much more rapidly. The paper also proposes that the high-tech firm’s management team conduct strategy implementation as a top-down activity to control scarce financial resources, whereas implementation be delegated to the functional levels in non-high tech firms.
HIV and tuberculosis: noncompliance revisited

Revisiting the stereotype of the noncompliant patient can transcend the frustrating or resentful feelings nurses may experience when caring for patients with HIV and tuberculosis. This reevaluation also can lend itself to developing mutually participative nurse-patient relationships. The author suggests relationship goals, assessment parameters, and intervention strategies—including a directly observed therapy (DOT) contract. These actions support a commitment to empowering both the nurse and the patient in their relationship in the TB treatment process.
Posterior wall reinforcement in selected cases of graft to aorta end-to-side anastomosis

Anastomosis between synthetic gratis and the aorta or other major arteries may be performed safely in most cases either end-to-end or end-to-side. In some instances where it is in the surgeon's judgement that an end-to-end anastomosis may compromise collateral or visceral circulation, the performance of the latter may be preferable. However, because of the poor quality of the aortic wall ravaged by atherosclerosis, this is not always safe. Such disintegration of the aortic wall may manifest itself in extreme calcification, loosely attached atheromas, or moderate dilatation with extreme thinning and weakening. If, in the latter situation, the surgeon still believes that an end-to-side anastomosis may be preferable to the patient we offer the following technical modification which allows safe performance of end-to-side anastomosis between the aorta or other major artery even if the vessel is moderately dilated and the wall is too thin to insure the long-term safety of the graft to artery anastomosis.
Luminosity Functions of Lyα Emitters at Redshifts z = 6.5 and z = 5.7: Evidence against Reionization at z ≤ 6.5

The visibility of Lyα emission from galaxies should be suppressed substantially by a neutral intergalactic medium before reionization. Even after taking into account a local H II region produced by the galaxy and a velocity offset of Lyα, a factor of 3 attenuation in the line is unavoidable. We rule out such a suppression by comparing line luminosity functions of Lyα emitters at z = 6.5 and 5.7. The luminosity functions at z = 5.7 and z = 6.5 were constructed using published surveys over a range of depths and volumes. They constrain both characteristic luminosity L* and density *. The luminosity functions at the two redshifts are statistically consistent with one another, and only one survey lies substantially off the luminosity function. We conclude that reionization was largely complete at z ≈ 6.5.
SAT02-2: Modulation Classification of MPSK for Space Applications

Space missions are being developed with increasing levels of autonomy, as a means to increase their science return, fault-tolerance, and longevity. In this paper, we present NASA's low-complexity techniques to autonomously identify the modulation order of an M-ary phase-shift-keying signal in the presence of additive white Gaussian noise. This is part of a larger program to develop an autonomous radio that receives a signal without a priori knowledge of its modulation type, modulation index, data rate, and pulse shape. For classification between binary and quaternary phase-shift keying, these techniques represent a lopsided trade-off in which a factor of 100 reduction in complexity results in less than a 0.2 dB loss in performance relative to the maximum likelihood modulation classifier.
High Resolution infrared spectra

Abstract The technological modifications introduced for further increasing the path length in White-type absorption cells are described in detail. These ultra-long paths have been used in observing weak quadrupole vibration-rotation spectra of molecular nitrogen and hydrogen. In particular new measurements of the S(12) quadrupole line in the 1-0 band of molecular nitrogen are reported using a tunable diode laser as a source. Also, the pressure shift coefficient for the 4-0 S(1) quadrupole line of molecular hydrogen was measured combining the White cell with a high resolution grating spectrometer and a state of the art CCD (Charge Coupled Device) imaging array.
Legal and Ethical Challenges of Online Behavioral Targeting in Advertising

Online behavioral targeting (OBT), the tracking of a consumer's online activities in order to develop a behavioral profile of the consumer, is a rapidly growing technique that enables advertisers to deliver relevant messages. While OBT provides many advantages to shoppers and advertisers alike, the practice has the technological potential to violate consumers’ privacy rights to a dangerous and unprecedented degree. Still, OBT is poorly understood by most consumers, is often nontransparent and deceptive, and in many cases does not even provide a reasonable chance to opt out. Due to OBT's relative newness, few laws, regulations, and policies, as well as in-depth ethical analyses of the practice, exist. Actions by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), however, provide a notable exception. In a series of reports, in particular since 2009, the agency has engaged in dialogs with various stakeholders about OBT and the dangers it poses to consumers. Its efforts have also included legal enforcement activities. Withi...
Addressing the Specific Behavioral Health Needs of Men, by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has released an extensive library of Treatment Improvement Protocols (TIPs) since its inception of the series in 1993. Althoug...
OPSALC: A computer-integrated operations planning system for autonomous landfill compaction☆

Construction workers and operators associated with sanitary waste landfilling operations face significant health risks because of high levels of exposure to harmful solids and gases. Automation of the spreading and compacting processes of a landfilling operation using an autonomous compactor can reduce exposure of workers to the harmful environment, and thereby lead to improved safety of workers. This paper describes a computer-integrated operations planning system that facilitates (1) the design of landfill cells and (2) the generation of area-covering path plans for spreading and compaction processes by the autonomous compactor. The partitioning of a given landfill site into three-dimensional cells is accomplished by a recursive spatial decompostion technique in which the cell sizes are determined using a probabilistic model for waste generation. A recursive sub-division of each cell into monominoes facilitates the system to automatically deal with any differences between the actual amount of waste generated on a particular day and the amount predicted by the probabilistic model. The partitioned configuration of the landfill site is used to generate the path plan for the autonomous compactor using three motion models, namely straight-up, straight-down, and zig-zag. The computer-integrated system is implemented using PHIGS graphics standard and MOTIF toolkit with C-program binding.
Gender and general strain theory: A replication and exploration of Broidy and Agnew's gender/strain hypothesis among a sample of southwestern Mexican American adolescents

Abstract Based on recent theoretical and empirical advancements in general strain theory (GST) research, this study explored the possible extension of GST to explain both interpersonal aggression and property offending among Hispanic adolescents. More specifically, this study attempted to replicate the work of Piquero and Sealock (2004) by examining gender differences in GST-related processes that affect criminal behavior using self-report data from a large sample of southwestern Mexican American adolescents. Results from a series of multivariate models incorporating several measures of strain, negative affect, and coping resources provided partial support for Broidy and Agnew's (1997) gender/general strain hypotheses and produced relatively similar findings in terms of gender similarities/differences as reported by Piquero and Sealock (2004). Additional results also identified several significant three-way interaction effects once gender x negative emotion x conditioning factor interaction terms were simultaneously estimated. Possible theoretical modifications and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Importance of methane-oxidizing bacteria in the methane budget as revealed by the use of a specific inhibitor

METHANE is a greenhouse gas whose concentration in the atmosphere is increasing1–3. Much of this methane is derived from the metabolism of methane-generating (methanogenic) bacteria4,5 and over the past two decades much has been learned about the ecology of methanogens; specific inhibitors of methanogenesis, such as 2-bromoethanesulphonic acid, have proved useful in this regard6. In contrast, although much is known about the biochemistry of methane-oxidizing (methanotrophic) bacteria7, ecological investigations have been hampered by the lack of an analogous specific inhibitor6. Methanotrophs limit the flux of methane to the atmosphere from sediments8,9 and consume atmospheric methane10, but the quantitative importance of methanotrophy in the global methane budget is not well known5. Methylfluoride (CH3F) is known to inhibit oxygen consumption by Methylococcus capsu-latus11, and to inhibit the oxidation of 14CH4 to 14CO2 by endosymbionts in mussel gill tissues12. Here we report that methylfluoride (MF) inhibits the oxidation of methane by methane monooxy-genase, and by using methylfluoride in field investigations, we find that methanotrophic bacteria can consume more than 90% of the methane potentially available.
Synchronous Pulsatile Release of Luteinizing Hormone and Immunoreactive Beta‐Endorphin from the Human Pituitary in vitro

Abstract An in vitro perifusion system employing very frequent (30 s) perifusate collectionswas utilized to investigate the relationship between pulsatile release of luteinizing hormone (LH) and immunoreactive beta-endorphin (ibeta-END) during individual perifusions of adult human anterior hemipituitaries. Each of six hemipituitaries released LH and ibeta-END in a distinctlypulsatile fashion, with pulses occurring approximately every 3.2 min for each. Power spectral analysis revealed that pulsatile release of both LH and ibeta-END occurred in a rhythmic pattern, with a periodicity of 3.1 and 3.2 min, respectively, and that the periodicity of pulsatile LH and ibeta-END release was correlated within individual perifusions. Moreover, the relative amplitudes (% change) of the synchronous LH and ibeta-END pulses were correlated. The effluent fractions from two of the perifusions were also assessed for thyrotropin, and it was determinedthat thyrotropin pulses were synchronized to both LH and ibeta-END pulses. These studies confirm that LH and ibeta-END are released from human anterior pituitaries in vitro in an intrinsically pulsatile fashion, and demonstrate that the LH and ibeta-END pulses tend to occur rhythmically and in synchrony and proportion with each other. Furthermore, correlation of thyrotropin pulses to both the LH and ibeta-END pulses suggests a common fundamental intrapituitary pulse generating mechanism.
A prolonged study of oral veratrum viride in the treatment of essential hypertension

Abstract 1. 1. A group of twenty-two patients with essential hypertension was treated with veratrum viride in tablet form for periods varying from two to five months. Each patient was given the maximum dose he could tolerate and was used as his own control by substituting placebos for the drug. 2. 2. Statistical analysis of the results obtained failed to show a significant change in blood pressure or pulse rate while under treatment. 3. 3. Tachyphylaxis is suggested as the possible reason for the results obtained.
Formalism and intuition in computability

The model of recursive functions in 19341936 was a deductive formal system. In 1936, Turing and in 1944, Post introduced more intuitive models of Turing machines and generational systems. When they...
Post-deployment trust evaluation in wireless cryptographic ICs

The use of side-channel parametric measurements along with statistical analysis methods for detecting hardware Trojans in fabricated integrated circuits has been studied extensively in recent years, initially for digital designs but recently also for their analog/RF counterparts. Such post-fabrication trust evaluation methods, however, are unable to detect dormant hardware Trojans which are activated after a circuit is deployed in its field of operation. For the latter, an on-chip trust evaluation method is required. To this end, we present a general architecture for post-deployment trust evaluation based on on-chip classifiers. Specifically, we discuss the design of an on-chip analog neural network which can be trained to distinguish trusted from untrusted circuit functionality based on simple measurements obtained via on-chip measurement acquisition sensors. The proposed method is demonstrated using a Trojan-free and two Trojan infested variants of a wireless cryptographic IC design, as well as a fabricated programmable neural network experimentation chip. As corroborated by the obtained experimental results, two current measurements suffice for the on-chip classifier to effectively assess trustworthiness and, thereby, detect hardware Trojans that are activated after chip deployment.
X-ray microanalysis of Al/Zr multilayers in the transmission electron microscope

A one-nanometer scale transmission electron microscope electron probe X-ray microanalysis characterization of as-deposited and annealed aluminum — 11.5 at.% zirconium multilayer samples in cross-section synthesized by magnetron sputtering is reported on here. Composition line profiles were acquired across Zr layers in as-deposited material and samples isochronnally annealed in a differential scanning calorimeter to temperatures of 290°C and 485°C. A spatial resolution of approximaty 1.5 to 2.0 nm was achieved in these experiments and will be improved by deconvoluti on of the instrumental electron probe function from the data. The as-deposited structure consisted of crystalline Al and Zr layers with thin amorphous layers at the Al/Zr interfaces. The amorphous interface layers increased in thickness upon annealing to 290°C. Additionally, at 290°C a metastable cubic alloy forms at the Zr deposited on Al interface. Upon heating to 485°C a multilayer of Al and metastable cubic AlxZr1-x phase is formed. The electron microscopic experimental technique, observations and data analysis will be discussed as applied to these multilayered materials.
Health Worker Attitudes toward Rural Service in Liberia : Results from Qualitative Research

In Liberia, the maldistribution of health workers is particularly pronounced as 14 years of civil war exacerbated the concentration of experienced health workers in urban areas. The government has identified this challenge as a priority area for policy intervention. The objective of this study was to explore the drivers of health workforce choice including job location. It presents the results from preparatory qualitative research that fed into the design of a discrete choice experiment (DCE). The qualitative study interviewed 26 registered nurses, midwives, and physician assistants about their current working conditions, their job location preference, and priority areas for change in working conditions. Content analysis was used to analyze the data. The study shed light on health worker job preferences and their working conditions, and identified six job attributes that health workers consider to be important when choosing a job. These were pay, transport, availability of medical materials and infrastructure, housing, workload, and further training opportunities. These attributes were chosen because they reflect the frequency to which they were cited during the interviews and the extent to which they were amenable to policy intervention. Associated attribute levels were chosen for each attribute to reflect current work conditions and the levels of change that will be necessary to trigger changes in job choice. The relative weight of each of these attributes in location choice has been quantitatively determined through the follow-up DCE. Although the main aim of this study was to feed into the DCE design, it incidentally throws light on a wider variety of issues with regard to health worker career choice, motivation, and performance.
Interpolating a Consumption Variable for Scaling and Generalizing Potential Population Pressure on Urbanizing Natural Areas

Measures of population pressure, referring in general to the stress upon the environment by human consumption of resources, are imperative for environmental sustainability studies and management. Development based on resource consumption is the predominant factor of population pressure. This paper presents a spatial model of population pressure by linking consumption associated with regional urbanism and ecosystem services. Maps representing relative geographic degree and extent of natural resource consumption and degree and extent of impacts on surrounding areas are new, and this research represents the theoretical research toward this goal. With development, such maps offer a visualization tool for planners of various services, amenities for people, and conservation planning for ecologist. Urbanization is commonly generalized by census numbers or impervious surface area. The potential geographical extent of urbanism encompasses the environmental resources of the surrounding region that sustain cities. This extent is interpolated using kriging of a variable based on population wealth data from the U.S. Census Bureau. When overlayed with land-use/land-cover data, the results indicate that the greatest estimates of population pressure fall within mixed forest areas. Mixed forest areas result from the spread of cedar woods in previously disturbed areas where further disturbance is then suppressed. Low density areas, such as suburbanization and abandoned farmland are characteristic of mixed forest areas.
7.1: Invited Paper: True 3D Display Technology

Conventional stereoscopic displays unnaturally require keeping eye accommodation fixed at one focal distance while dynamically varying vergence. This forced decoupling of reflexively linked processes fatigues eyes. Our multifocal True 3D displays generate accommodation cues that match vergence and stereoscopic retinal disparity demands, better mimicking natural vision and minimizing eye fatigue.