cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Brief Report: Influence of Physical Activity on Sleep Quality in Children with Autism

Sleep-related problems are often documented in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). This study examined physical activity as a variable that might influence sleep quality in children with ASD. Ten children, ages 9-16 years, were asked to wear accelerometer devices for 7 days in order to track objective measures of activity and sleep quality. Parents of the children also completed the Child's Sleep Habits Questionnaire and maintained a daily sleep log while their child wore the device. This study demonstrated that though over half of the children were identified as having at least one sleep-related problem, their activity levels were significantly related to their sleep patterns. Specifically, the more physically active children had overall higher sleep quality.
Adaptive Behavior of Retarded, Slow-Learner, and Average Intelligence Children.

Abstract Scores on the WISC-R and the AAMD Adaptive Behavior Scale, Part I, Public School Version, were obtained for 94 elementary school children referred for psychological services in a southeastern rural area. Some of the adaptive behavior scores differentiated among children classified as EMR, slow-learners, or average intelligence. Some of the domain subscores of the ABS seem of questionable validity and reliability.
Microwave “ionization” of excited hydrogen atoms: how nonclassical local stability brought about by scarred separatrix states is affected by broadband noise and by varying the pulse envelope

Abstract Studies of the microwave “ionization” of excited hydrogen atoms have shonn (so far) six regimes of dynamical behavior as one changes the scaled frequency, which is the ratio of the driving frequency ω and the classical Kepler frequency ω k . After a brief description of each regime, we focus on the results of recent experiments probing the detailed semiclassical behavior in two of them. Observed nonclassical local stability that, nevertheless, classically scales has been explained theoretically as being brought about by scarred quantal wavefunctions anchored semiclassically to the (broken) separatrix regions in the classical phase space above and below the main nonlinear resonance zone centered near ω ω k = 1 1 . The experimental data show that the upper and lower separatrix states states are affected differently by broadband noise added to the coherent microwave field and by variations in the microwave pulse envelope. Implications of these results for future work are discussed.
CORCEMA evaluation of the potential role of intermolecular transferred NOESY in the characterization of ligand-receptor complexes

We report a theoretical characterization of the intermolecular transferred NOESY (inter-TrNOESY) between ligands and receptor macromolecules that bind reversibly, using a COmplete Relaxation and Conformational Exchange MAtrix (CORCEMA) theory developed in our laboratory. We examine the dependence of inter-TrNOESY on the dissociation constant, off-rate, ligand-to-receptor ratio, and distance variations between protons of interacting species within the complex. These factors are analyzed from simulations on two model systems: (i) neuraminidase complexed to a transition-state analogue; and (ii) thermolysin complexed to a leucine-based inhibitor. The latter case utilizes a three-state model of interaction to simulate the effect of hinge-bending motions on the inter-TrNOESY. Our calculations suggest a potential role for inter-TrNOESY (when observable) and CORCEMA analysis in properly docking the ligand within the active site, and in refining the conformation of the ligand-receptor (active-site) complex. These findings have implications on the structure-based design of ligands (e.g., inhibitors) reversibly binding to receptors (e.g., enzymes).
Magnetic Field Orientation of Migratory Savannah Sparrows With Different First Summer Experience

Three groups of hand-reared savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) were given different exposure to the sky and an ambient magnetic field during their first summer to investigate the possible effect of experience on the magnetic field orientation of their first autumn migration. Whether ever having seen the sky or not, birds raised exposed to local earth's magnetic field showed the same directional orientation during tests in the local earth's magnetic field. Birds with prior experience with the sky were perhaps better oriented. Birds that were raised outdoors in a 90° shifted magnetic field, however, oriented differently during tests in the local earth's magnetic field. Their orientation tended to be orthogonal to the other groups. The data show that first summer experience can influence the magnetic field orientation of migratory savannah sparrows and in a way which suggests the possibility of a calibration process.
Salesperson Performance and Managerially Controllable Factors: An Investigation of Individual and Work Group Effects:

Although prior studies in psychology, management, and marketing have explored the association between salesperson performance and managerially controllable factors, an assumption of these investigations is that the relationship between performance and such antecedents is applicable to salespersons viewed only as individuals without regard for their work group. In the present study, relationships between variables from three categories of managerially controllable factors (reported by salespersons) and salesperson performance (assessed by supervisors) were investigated in terms of individuals and work groups using Within and Between Analysis procedures. Results from two samples suggest that though several relationships between managerially controllable factors and salesperson performance are individually based, some relationships are relevantfor the work group as a whole. Implications of the results for management practice are discussed.
The use of affinity chromatography in purification of cyclic nucleotide receptor proteins

Abstract Biospecific affinity chromatography has been used to purify specific cyclic AMP and cyclic GMP receptor proteins. Several variables are important for successful purification of the cyclic AMP receptor protein, the most critical being the length of the aliphatic spacer side arm. 8-(2-Aminoethyl)-amino-cyclic AMP coupled to agarose specifically retains the cyclic AMP receptor protein by interaction with the immobilized nucleotide. Binding of the cyclic AMP receptor subunit of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase to the immobilized nucleotide results in dissociation of the catalytic protein phosphokinase subunit which is not retained. The retained cyclic AMP receptor protein is subsequently eluted by cyclic AMP. Homogeneous cyclic AMP receptor protein prepared from rabbit skeletal muscle by affinity chromatography has been characterized. The molecular weight of the native protein as determined by analytical ultracentrifugation and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at varying acrylamide concentrations is 76 800 and 82 000, respectively. The protein is asymmetric with frictional and axial ratios of 1.64 and 12. SDS and urea polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis indicate that the native cyclic AMP receptor is composed of two identical subunits of 42 700 molecular weight. The native protein dimer binds 2 moles of cyclic AMP per mole of protein and is active in suppressing activity of isolated catalytic subunits of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. Cyclic GMP receptor protein from bovine lung has been purified using the same affinity chromatography media. Since cyclic nucleotide binding to cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase does not result in dissociation of regulatory receptor and catalytic phosphotransferase subunits, the cyclic GMP-dependent protein kinase holoenzyme is retained on the column and can be subsequently specifically eluted with cyclic GMP.
Superresolution Fluorescence Microscopy within a Scanning Electron Microscope

Correlative optical and electron microscopy has the potential to provide detail on the organization of biological static structures at multiple length scales, but conflicting technical requirements on experimental design, molecular identification, and sample preparation present major obstacles. While fluorescence microscopy is usually impossible in an electron microscope, we present nondestructive fluorescence imaging of biological samples in an SEM. Our novel chamber allows a scanned electron beam to indirectly excite fluorescence with nanometer-scale resolution while simultaneously protecting the sample from electron damage. The sample, tagged with organic dyes, is placed on a scintillating cerium-doped yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP) film. A focused electron beam is then used to generate optical excitations at a specific location on the film opposite the sample, thus forming a 20-nm illumination volume that excites fluorophores. Dye fluorescence is collected within the electron microscope and, as the beam is scanned, an image is formed.In order to completely block a low-voltage electron beam yet maximize the optical excitation intensity, an extremely thin YAP film is required. We have succeeded in fabricating a 20-nm thick suspended YAP film over an area 30 microns wide via molecular beam epitaxy, pulsed laser deposition, and deep reactive ion etching. Using our ultrathin scintillating films, we demonstrate superresolution imaging of fluorescently labeled particles and polymers. This technique has the potential to revolutionize correlative microscopy by combining a scanned electron probe with fluorescence detection in the same instrument, at the same time. In general, due to its nondestructive nature, it holds great promise as an alternative multiscale fluorescence microscopy, with resolution tunable from tens of nanometers up to microns, especially for damage-sensitive or highly dynamic cellular structures. We are applying this tool toward the study of biologically-inspired nanostructures, thylakoid membrane organization, and molecular motor dynamics.
A synaptic basis for memory storage in the cerebral cortex

A cardinal feature of neurons in the cerebral cortex is stimulus selectivity, and experience-dependent shifts in selectivity are a common correlate of memory formation. We have used a theoretical “learning rule,” devised to account for experience-dependent shifts in neuronal selectivity, to guide experiments on the elementary mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in hippocampus and neocortex. These experiments reveal that many synapses in hippocampus and neocortex are bidirectionally modifiable, that the modifications persist long enough to contribute to long-term memory storage, and that key variables governing the sign of synaptic plasticity are the amount of NMDA receptor activation and the recent history of cortical activity.
Beta-catenin expression in benign and malignant pilomatrix neoplasms.

Summary Background β-catenin is a 92-kDa protein, initially identified as a coprecipitating species with the E-cadherin cell–cell adhesive complex. It plays a role in signal transduction in the Wnt signalling pathway and has been identified as an oncogene in colon cancer and melanoma. Exon 3 β-catenin-activating mutations were found in 75% of cases of pilomatricoma (PM). Previous studies have shown that nuclear and/or cytoplasmic staining may correlate with β-catenin gene mutation. Objectives Because the immunohistochemical expression of β-catenin in the nucleus or the cytoplasm correlates with β-catenin mutation, we studied the immunohistochemical profile of β-catenin expression in normal scalp hair follicles and in PM and pilomatrix carcinoma (PC). Methods We reviewed 21 cases of PM and five cases of PC using immunohistochemical staining with commercially available antibody in a standard fashion on formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue samples. Results All 26 tumours displayed both nuclear and cytoplasmic staining in the basaloid cells with focal membranous staining. Shadow cells were negative in all tumours. Normal control sections from the scalp displayed nuclear reactivity of the matrical cells, mostly concentrated in the supramatrical zone of hair follicles. Membranous staining was present along the intercellular junctions of the epidermis and along the outer and inner root sheaths of hair follicles. We have found similar patterns of β-catenin nuclear and cytoplasmic expression in both PM and PC. Conclusions Despite the shared β-catenin expression, the biological behaviour of PM and PC is markedly different. These two tumours probably share the activation of a common cellular pathway that could be related to their shared method of keratinization or a shared dysfunction of the cellular adhesion complex and consequently tumorigenesis. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the β-catenin immunohistochemical expression profile in PC.
Differential Kinetic and Spatial Patterns of β-Arrestin and G Protein-mediated ERK Activation by the Angiotensin II Receptor

The seven-membrane-spanning angiotensin II type 1A receptor activates the mitogen-activated protein kinases extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2) by distinct pathways dependent on either G protein (likely G(q)/G(11)) or beta-arrestin2. Here we sought to distinguish the kinetic and spatial patterns that characterize ERK1/2 activated by these two mechanisms. We utilized beta-arrestin RNA interference, the protein kinase C inhibitor Ro-31-8425, a mutant angiotensin II receptor (DRY/AAY), and a mutant angiotensin II peptide (SII-angiotensin), which are incapable of activating G proteins, to isolate the two pathways in HEK-293 cells. G protein-dependent activation was rapid (peak <2 min), quite transient (t((1/2)) approximately 2 min), and led to nuclear translocation of the activated ERK1/2 as assessed by confocal microscopy. In contrast, beta-arrestin2-dependent activation was slower (peak 5-10 min), quite persistent with little decrement noted out to 90 min, and entirely confined to the cytoplasm. Moreover, ERK1/2 activated via beta-arrestin2 accumulated in a pool of cytoplasmic endosomal vesicles that also contained the internalized receptors and beta-arrestin. Such differential regulation of the temporal and spatial patterns of ERK1/2 activation via these two pathways strongly implies the existence of distinct physiological endpoints.
Interstrain fighting in male mice

Interstrain fighting between males of the STJ (albino) and the CBAJ (black-agouti) strains was studied under three different sets of conditions: (a) contests terminated after first victory using males isolated since weaning; (b) 30-minute contests with males isolated since weaning; (c) contests terminated after the first victory using socially experienced males. It was found that: 1. (1) Under all three sets of conditions, the CBA males achieved fighting superiority. 2. (2) The CBA superiority in fighting was not evident in the first contests but developed rapidly thereafter. 3. (3) When the contests are conducted for a 30-minute period, rather than until first submission, the conditioning of the ST males to defeat occurs more rapidly. 4. (4) Social experience before fighting has different effects on the two types of males. It drastically reduces all aspects of aggressiveness of the ST males. Its only effects on the CBA males are to increase their attack latency and to extend the number of contests required to achieve their superiority in fighting. The above results are compared with those obtained elsewhere. The dependency of fighting ability upon the situation in which the behaviour is elicited is discussed.
Single-Cell Adhesion Tests against Functionalized Microspheres Arrayed on AFM Cantilevers Confirm Heterophilic E- and N-Cadherin Binding

We assess the cross-reactivity of both cellular as well as recombinant E- and N-cadherins using functionalized bead arrays assembled on atomic-force-microscope cantilevers. This new approach builds upon and enhances the utility of a recently developed force probe that integrates a custom-built, horizontal atomic force microscope with micropipette manipulation. It enables us to test multiple biomolecular interactions of the same cell in a swift sequential or cyclic manner and thus to resolve subtle differences between individual interactions that otherwise would be obscured by cell-cell baseline variability. For each cell, we contrast heterophilic E:N-cadherin binding with the respective homophilic bonds and with a suitable control. Clarifying previous literature reports, we establish that specific bonds between E- and N-cadherins form readily, albeit less frequently than homophilic bonds of either cadherin. We support this assessment with a rough estimate of the ratio of on-rate constants of E/N-cadherin binding.
Text locating in scene images for reading and navigation aids for visually impaired persons

Many reading assistants and navigation systems have been designed specifically for people who are blind or visually impaired, but text locating in scene image with complex background has not yet been successfully addressed. In this paper, we propose a novel method to locate scene text by combining color uniformity and high edge density together. We perform structural analysis of text strings which contain several characters in alignment. First, we calculate the edge image and then repaint the corresponding edge pixels in the original image by using a non-dominant color. Second, color reduction is performed by color histogram and K-means algorithms to segment the repainted image into color layers. Third, we perform edge detection and label the boundaries of both text characters and unexpected noises in each color layer. Each centroid is assigned a degree which is the number of overlap in the same position among color layers. Fourth, text line fitting among centroids with high degree is performed to cascade the character boundaries which belong to the same text string. The detected text string is presented by a rectangle region covering all character boundaries in its text line. Experimental results demonstrate that our algorithm is able to locate text strings with arbitrary orientations. The performance of our algorithm is comparable with the state-of-art algorithms.
Adhesion Mechanisms of Polyurethanes to Glass Surfaces. III. Investigation of Possible Physico-Chemical Interactions at the Interphase

Abstract Surface free energies of polyurethanes made from toluene diisocyanate and 1, 4 butanediol-based hard segments and caprolactone polyol-based soft segments were calculated using additive functions. Good agreement was found between the calculated values based on additive functions and the calculated values based on contact angle measurements. The phase-separated polyurethanes were found to have a higher polar surface free energy component (γP). This was linked to the preferential segregation of butanediol/butanediol-derived moieties to the polyurethane surfaces due to phase separation. The adhesion values of these polyurethanes to soda-lime glass were correlated with their respective γP values and a linear relationship was found. It was also shown that the adhesion values of the low γP polyurethanes improved substantially when the glass surfaces were coated with a thin layer of butanediol prior to the bonding. The modulus of the interphase region rich in butanediol was evaluated. Although a modulus ...
"Sensitivity" and "specificity" reconsidered: the meaning of these terms in analytical and diagnostic settings.

Imprecise usage of the terms "sensitivity" and "specificity" produces confusion in the diagnostic use of sophisticated laboratory test results. "Analytical sensitivity" represents the smallest amount of substance in a sample that can accurately be measured by an assay. "Analytical specificity" refers to the ability of an assay to measure on particular organism or substance, rather than others, in a sample. An assay's analytical sensitivity and analytical specificity are distinct from that assay's clinical diagnostic sensitivity and diagnostic specificity. "Diagnostic sensitivity" is the percentage of persons who have a given disorder who are identified by the assay as positive for the disorder. High analytical sensitivity does not guarantee acceptable diagnostic sensitivity. "Diagnostic specificity" is the percentage of persons who do not have a given condition who are identified by the assay as negative for the condition. False-positive reactions occur because of sample contamination and diminish the diagnostic specificity of the assay. The terms "sensitivity" and "specificity" should be used with the requisite adjectives because the "diagnostic" and the "analytical" meanings of these terms are very different.
Technical Summary of the First U.S. Plasma Jet Workshop

This paper provides a technical summary of the first U.S. Plasma Jet Workshop, which was sponsored by the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences and held at Los Alamos National Laboratory on January 24–25, 2008. The purpose of the workshop was to bring together members of the national plasma jet research community in order to discuss ongoing research and identify research needs and opportunities in plasma jets and their applications, which include fundamental studies of high energy density (HED) plasmas, magneto-inertial fusion (MIF), laboratory astrophysics, and disruption mitigation and fueling for magnetic confinement devices. Over the course of the workshop, about equal time was devoted to short technical talks and group discussions.
Estimating 7Q10 Confidence Limits from Data: A Bootstrap Approach

7Q10 streamflow estimates used to support modeling and data analysis under the Clean Water Act national pollution discharge elimination system and total maximum daily load programs can have direct environmental and economic impacts. Thus it is important that 7Q10 streamflow always be reported together with confidence limits indicating the reliability of the estimate. In practice this is rarely done. This technical note presents a bootstrap approach for computing 7Q10 confidence limits from data and compares it to an empirical method. A case study using randomly selected subsets of data from five rivers in Idaho is used to evaluate the two methods. While both methods exhibit the expected increase in confidence interval as fewer years of data used, the bootstrap approach generally results in wider confidence intervals than does the empirical method. The opposite appears to be true in cases where fewer than 15 years of data are used or when the data are positively skewed. As most streamflow data are positively skewed short records, the bootstrap approach can generally be thought of as a more conservative means for estimating 7Q10 confidence intervals.
The properties of hydrogenic donors confined in GaAs-AlGaAs multiple quantum wells

Abstract Photoluminescence, electronic Raman scattering and far-infrared absorption have been employed in the study of hydrogenic donors in GaAsAlGaAs multiple quantum wells. These measurements indicate that the binding energies of the impurities become larger as the width of the quantum well is reduced. Furthermore, the binding energy depends upon the location of the impurity in the well, with those at the center being the most tightly bound. The magnitude of these effects are in good agreement with theoretical results. These studies suggest that the experimental probes employed should be valuable for the investigation of “spike doping” profiles that have been modified as a result of diffusion or segregation during growth.
Health Impact Assessments and Healthy Schools

Defining healthy schools remains largely discipline specific. Design disciplines ground discussions in a “green building” framework. Public health approaches healthy schools through programmatic interventions for physical activity and nutrition. This article presents a more systemic approach to healthy schools via health impact assessment (HIA). It reviews literature on health determinants in school environments, focusing on physical design. Existing school HIAs are reviewed with other decision support tools that provide guidance on the operation and design of healthy schools. The paper examines current use of HIAs in schools and develops a screening matrix for using HIA in creating healthy schools.
Immigration Geopolitics Beyond the Mexico–US Border

Despite the centrality of Mexico–US border policing to pre- and post-9/11 US immigration geopolitics, perhaps the most significant yet largely ignored immigration-related fallout of the so-called war on terrorism has been the extension of interior immigration policing practices away from the southwest border. As I outline in this paper, these interior spaces of immigration geopolitics—nominally said to be about fighting terrorism, but in practice concerned with undocumented labor migration across the Mexico–US border—have not emerged accidentally. Rather, the recent criminalization of immigration law, the sequestering of immigration enforcement from court oversight and the enrollment of proxy immigration officers at sub-state scales have been actively pursued so as to make interior enforcement newly central to US immigration geopolitics. I argue here that these embryonic spaces of localized immigration geopolitics shed new light on the spatiality of US immigration governance, which has typically been thought of by geographers as active predominantly at the territorial margins of the state. I conclude the paper with some thoughts as to how geographers might rethink the what and where of contemporary US immigration geopolitics.
Groves of Phylogenetic Trees

A major challenge in biological sciences is the reconstruction of the Tree of Life. To this effect, large genomic databases like GenBank and SwissProt are being mined for clusters from which phylogenies can be inferred. Systematists and comparative biologists commonly combine such phylogenies into informative supertrees that reveal information which was not explicitly displayed in any of the original phylogenies. However, whether a supertree is informative depends on particular overlap properties among the clusters from which it originates. In this work we formally introduce the concept of groves — sets of clusters with the potential to construct informative supertrees. Thus maximal potential candidate clusters for informative supertree construction can be identified in large databases through groves, prior to inferring trees for each cluster. Groves also have the potential to lead to informative supermatrix construction. We developed methods that (i) efficiently identify particular types of groves and (ii) find lower and upper bounds on the minimal number of groves needed to cover all the trees or data sets in a database. Finally, we apply our methods to the green plant sequences from GenBank.
EUV properties of two diffraction gratings

The efficiency and scattering characteristics of a mechanically ruled grating (MRG) and a holographically ruled grating (HRG) are presented. One of these gratings will be employed in the Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer, an instrument of the Remote Atmospheric and Ionospheric Detector System to be flown aboard a TIROS satellite in 1991. The HRG showed much less Lyman alpha scattering, while the MRG had the better efficiency over most of the spectral range covered.
The Validity of Einstein Assessment Subtest Scores as Predictors of Early School Achievement

The Einstein Assessment of School-Related Skills was developed to help professionals in education, medicine, and health care identify children who need comprehensive evaluation for school learning problems in grades kindergarten through five. This brief (7- to 10-minute) screening instrument was designed to measure reading, arithmetic, auditory memory, language-cognition, and visual motor abilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of Einstein subtest scores as predictors of early school achievement. In the fall of 1988, the Einstein was administered to 796 students in kindergarten through second grade from schools in Cleveland, Ohio and the Bronx, New York. Multiple regression analyses were used to identify those subtests that made significant, independent contributions to the prediction of subsequent achievement, with achievement marked by teacher ratings, end-of-year grades, and standardized test scores. Results showed that a single subtest generally predicted as well as the total...
Possible role of arachidonic acid in stress-induced cytochrome P450IA1 activity.

We have previously reported that a microcarrier-attached human hepatoma (Hep G2) cell line responds to hydrodynamic shear upon transfer to an agitated, clean, autoclaved spinner flask with a transient increase in cytochrome P450IA1 (CYPIA1) activity. Physiological changes induced by hydrodynamic stress could be problematic in the scaleup of microcarrier cultures. A better understanding of how stress alters cell physiology may assist in reactor scaleup. The induction of CYPIA1 activity was dependent on the agitation level of the cultures, and the level of CYPIA1 induction was comparable to that obtained with exposure to approximately 0.1 nM TCDD (2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin). It has been well documented that hydrodynamic shear stress can cause alterations in the metabolism of phospholipid membrane-bound arachidonic acid (AA) in adherent cells in a parallel plate system. The present study was carried out to determine if either AA or a metabolite of AA was involved in the induction of CYPIA1 activity in the microcarrier cultures of Hep G2 cells. Addition of exogenous AA followed by initiation of the stress resulted in an increase in the level of CYPIA1 activity. Pretreatment of the cultures with quinacrine, an inhibitor of phospholipase A 2 , reduced the stress-induced CYPIA1 activity. Furthermore, addition of propranolol, an inhibitor of phosphatidic acid phosphohydrolase, resulted in an increase in the response in addition to sustaining the induced enzyme activity. Pretreatment with the cyclooxygenase inhibitor, indomethacin, or the lipoxygenase inhibitor, caffeic acid, had no effect on the response, suggesting that the cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways were not involved in generating AA metabolites that alter CYPIA1 activity. The agent, nordihydroguaiaretic acid, blocks the monooxygenase pathway and blocks CYPIA1 activity increases. These observations suggest a possible mechanism where the stress on the cells induces phospholipase D, resulting in the formation of phosphatidic acid which then activates phospholipase A 2 , resulting in the release of AA. Further, these results are consistent with a mechanism in which the metabolism of AA, most likely through the monooxygenase pathway, results in a metabolite that by a yet unknown mechanism induced CYPIA1.
Interface Mutation to assess the adequacy of tests for components and systems

Interface Mutation (IM) is proposed as an adequacy criterion to assess the adequacy of test sets developed to test components and systems. IM uses the description of a component's interface to generate interface mutants. Tests are assessed on their ability to distinguish interface mutants. Experiments conducted to evaluate the goodness of IM are reported. Analysis of experimental data suggests that test sets adequate with respect to IM are effective in revealing errors in components. The effort required to develop the tests is lower compared to the effort required to develop test sets adequate with respect to the traditional code coverage criteria based on control flow.
Wavelength multicasting using an ultra high-speed all-optical wavelength converter

A new multicasting scheme based on 1 to 8-wavelength conversion is proposed for future high-speed broadband networks. 40 Gbit/s optical time domain multiplexed (OTDM) data was used to simultaneously impose phase modulation on 4 CW channels, 3.6 nm apart. The resulting sidebands were filtered using an arrayed waveguide router (AWGR) to obtain 8 different 40 Gbit/s OTDM channels. The measured bit-error rates indicate a power penalty of less than 1.5 dB.
Community‐acquired pneumonia: A practical approach to management for the hospitalist

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is common, and inpatient physicians should be familiar with the most current evidence about and guidelines for CAP management. Our conclusions and recommendations include: Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common identified cause of CAP requiring hospitalization, whereas Legionella pneumophila is a common cause of severe CAP. The chest radiograph remains an essential initial test in the diagnosis of CAP and should be supplemented by blood cultures sampled prior to antibiotic therapy and sputum for gram stain and culture if a high-quality specimen can be rapidly processed. Once the diagnosis is made, the Pneumonia Severity Index (PSI) should be used to optimize the location of treatment and to provide prognostic information. Absent other mitigating factors, patients in PSI risk classes I, II, and III can safely be treated as outpatients. Hospitalized patients with CAP should be treated promptly with empiric antibiotics. Nonsevere pneumonia should be treated with a parenteral beta-lactam plus either doxycycline or a macrolide. Patients admitted to the intensive care unit should be treated with a beta-lactam plus either a macrolide or a fluoroquinolone as well as be evaluated for pseudomonal risk factors. Most patients with nonsevere CAP reach clinical stability in 2-3 days and should be considered for a switch to oral therapy and discharge shortly thereafter. Patients should receive pneumococcal vaccination, influenza vaccination, and tobacco cessation counseling prior to discharge if eligible. Multiple quality indicators are measured and publicly reported in the management of CAP, which provides hospitals with an opportunity to improve care processes and patient outcomes.
Do deer and shrubs override canopy gap size effects on growth and survival of yellow birch, northern red oak, eastern white pine, and eastern hemlock seedlings?

Innovative forestry practices that use natural disturbance and stand developmental processes as models to increase forest complexity are now being considered as a way to conserve biodiversity while managing for a range of objectives. We evaluated the influence of harvest-created gap size (6, 10, 20, 30, and 46 m diameter gaps and uncut references) over 12 growing seasons on planted tree seedling growth and survival for four tree species that tend to experience poor recruitment in both managed and unmanaged northern hardwood forests in eastern North America. We expected, based on silvics, that the three mid-tolerant species (yellow birch [Betula alleghaniensis], red oak [Quercus rubra], and white pine [Pinus strobus]) would perform best in intermediate-sized gaps, and the one shade tolerant species (hemlock [Tsuga canadensis]) would perform best in small gaps. However, all four of the species grew taller with increasing gap size, while survival was highest in intermediate gap sizes. Although gap size had statistically significant effects on growth and survival, the magnitude of the effects were modest. With the exception of a small portion of white pine individuals (35% of survivors were >150 cm tall), trees were short (<1 m) and few survived (<30%) 12 years after planting. Evidence from deer exclosures and individual gaps with high shrub (Rubus idaeus) densities suggest that browsing and shrub competition resulted in poor tree growth and survival, and may have constrained the magnitude of many potential tree seedling responses to gap size. Our study highlights the management challenges of using gap size as a tool to influence future forest composition in forests with overly abundant deer and pervasive shrub layers and underscores the importance of silvicultural prescriptions that include measures for reducing these impacts. 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V.
Antigen-specific T helper cell function: differential cytokine expression in primary and memory responses.

Distinguishing between the development of functional potential in antigen-specific T helper (Th) cells and the delivery of these specialized functions in vivo has been difficult to resolve. Here, we quantify the frequency of cytokine-producing cells within the primary and memory B10.BR Th cell response to pigeon cytochrome c (PCC). In vitro analysis of acquired functional potential indicated no Th1/Th2 cytokine polarity at the peak of the primary response with surprisingly little evidence for the selective preservation of interleukin (IL)-2, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-4, and interferon (IFN)-γ potentials into the memory compartment. However, the expression of these functional potentials appears tightly regulated in vivo. The staggered appearance of primary response cytokines directly ex vivo contrasts markedly with their rapid coordinate expression in the memory response. Frequencies of IL-2–, TNF-α–, IFN-γ–, and IL-10–expressing memory responders increased over their primary response counterparts, but were still markedly lower than revealed in vitro. IL-4–, IFN-γ–, and IL-10–expressing Th cells remained at low but stable frequencies over the first 6 d of the memory response. Analysis of T cell receptor β chain sequences of IL-4– and TNF-α–expressing PCC-specific Th cells provides evidence for early functional commitment among clonal progeny. These data indicate that the development of functional potential is a consequence of initial antigen experience, but delivery of specialized functions is differentially regulated in primary and memory immune responses.
Teaching eXtreme Programming Remotely

This paper has two objectives; discussing how to teach eXtreme Programming (XP) and how to teach it remotely as a way to enlarge critically small departments. We show how to teach XP using class projects. We also discuss some of the problems brought to effective distance education by this method and their solutions. We essentially find in this case study that XP can be studied remotely and that distance education can be used to ''staff" software engineering programs
Hydraulics of floods upstream of horseshoe canyons and waterfalls

Horseshoe waterfalls are ubiquitous in natural streams, bedrock canyons, and engineering structures. Nevertheless, water flow patterns upstream of horseshoe waterfalls are poorly known and likely differ from the better studied case of a one-dimensional linear step because of flow focusing into the horseshoe. This is a significant knowledge gap because the hydraulics at waterfalls controls sediment transport and bedrock incision, which can compromise the integrity of engineered structures and influence the evolution of river canyons on Earth and Mars. Here we develop new semiempirical theory for the spatial acceleration of water upstream of, and the cumulative discharge into, horseshoe canyons and waterfalls. To this end, we performed 110 numerical experiments by solving the 2-D depth-averaged shallow-water equations for a wide range of flood depths, widths and discharges, and canyon lengths, widths and bed gradients. We show that the upstream, normal flow Froude number is the dominant control on lateral flow focusing and acceleration into the canyon head and that focusing is limited when the flood width is small compared to a cross-stream backwater length scale. In addition, for sheet floods much wider than the canyon, flow focusing into the canyon head leads to reduced discharge (and drying in cases) across the canyon sidewalls, which is especially pronounced for canyons that are much longer than they are wide. Our results provide new expectations for morphodynamic feedbacks between floods and topography, and thus canyon formation.
Intraobserver variability in fibroid size measurements: estimated effects on assessing fibroid growth.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate intraobserver variability of fibroid sonographic measurements and apply this factor to fibroid growth assessment. METHODS Study participants were African American women aged 23 to 34 years who had never had a diagnosis of uterine fibroids. All participants underwent transvaginal sonography to screen for the presence of previously undiagnosed fibroids (≥0.5 cm in diameter). The diameters of up to 6 fibroids were measured in 3 perpendicular planes at 3 separate times during the examinations by experienced sonographers. Intraobserver variability as measured by the coefficient of variation (CV) for fibroid diameter and volume was calculated for each fibroid, and factors associated with the CV were assessed by regression models. The impact of variability on growth assessment was determined. RESULTS Ninety-six of 300 women screened were found to have at least 1 fibroid, yielding a total of 174 fibroids for this analysis. The mean CV for the 3 measurements of fibroid maximum diameter was 5.9%. The mean CV for fibroid volume was 12.7%. Fibroid size contributed significantly to intraobserver variability (P = .04), with greater variability for smaller fibroids. Fibroid type (submucosal, intramural, or subserosal) was not important. Fibroids from the same woman tended to have similar measurement variability when assessed for volume but not for maximum diameter. Calculations showed that when following up fibroids, as much as a 20% increase in diameter could be due to measurement error, not "true growth." CONCLUSIONS A small fibroid must have a greater change in size than a large fibroid to conclude that it is growing, but even for small fibroids an increase in diameter of greater than 20% is likely to indicate true growth, not measurement variability.
Towards an empirical measure of evolvability

Genetic representations that do not employ a one-to-one mapping of genotype to phenotype are known as indirect encodings, and can be much more efficient than direct encodings for complex problems. Increasing a representation's capacity to facilitate effective search, i.e. its evolvability, has long been a goal of Evolutionary Computation. However, currently no benchmarks exist to measure evolvability. One reason is that it is difficult to decouple a representation's capacity to evolve under any fitness function, i.e. the latent evolvability, and its performance on a specific benchmark. Towards this goal, a method is proposed in this paper that measures the representation's ability to extract invariant properties from a changing fitness function. The test is applied to three distinct representations and it is able to distinguish all three. Ultimately, this test can serve as the foundation for performing controlled experiments determining what factors contribute to evolvability.
Research Evaluation and Prospective Diagnosis of Dementia With Lewy Bodies

Objective To evaluate the relative merits of recently developed criteria for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLBs) in a longitudinal study of dementia. Design The diagnosis of DLBs was used in combination with other clinical diagnosis. Patients were classified primarily based on the NINCDS-ADRDA (National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke–Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association) clinical criteria for probable or possible Alzheimer disease, or with other disease process that can cause dementia (eg, Parkinson disease), and secondarily according to the consensus guidelines for DLBs. This "double" clinical diagnosis was implemented to capture different pathological entities. The neuropathological diagnosis of Lewy bodies was made with monoclonal antibodies against α-synuclein. Setting Multidisciplinary research clinic. Results Prospective application of the consensus guidelines for DLBs from January 1, 1997, to September 29, 2000, identified 11 patients having the diagnosis of probable DLBs and 35 having possible DLBs. The diagnosis of probable or possible DLBs was associated with probable Alzheimer disease in 34 patients, with possible Alzheimer disease in 5 patients, with Parkinson disease in 2 patients, and with other disease processes in 2 patients. Three patients were diagnosed as having probable DLBs alone. An autopsy was performed in 26 of the cases who were clinically examined during the study period. Cortical Lewy bodies were identified in 13 cases; 4 had had premortem diagnosis of DLBs (sensitivity, 30.7%; specificity, 100%). Conclusions The prospective validation of the clinical criteria for DLBs showed poor accuracy in this series. We believe that current criteria for DLBs are useful when DLBs occur in isolation, but have low sensitivity when Lewy bodies coexist with the pathological abnormalities of Alzheimer disease.
Collaborative Scientific Workflows

In recent years, a number of scientific workflow management systems (SWFMSs) have been developed to help domain scientists synergistically integrate distributed computations, datasets, and analysis tools to enable and accelerate scientific discoveries. As more scientific research projects become collaborative in nature, there is a compelling need of dedicated services to support collaborative scientific workflows on the Internet. This paper reviews the state of the art of the field of scientific workflows towards the support of collaborative scientific workflows, identifies critical research challenges, and presents our ongoing research work aiming to study how to create services supporting collaborative scientific workflows.
Application of quantized control to human self-rotation maneuvers in microgravity

We consider motion planning of human self- rotations; that is, human-body rotations without external torques, which are common in microgravity, diving, and gymnastics. In these cases it may be difficult to formulate an objective function that leads to maneuvers that are appropriate for humans to perform in high-stress situations. For example, cognitive complexity of a given motion can be difficult to quantify and incorporate in an objective function. In this paper, we pose the self-rotation planning problem using a quantization of motion, by defining a set of specific finite-time trajectories called motion primitives. By incorporating complexity considerations in the definition of the motion primitives, the quantized control method permits us to develop complete maneuvers that can be easily learned and are well-suited for high-stress situations. An application to astronaut motion is analyzed in order to lower the workload when a reorientation needs to be performed. Using the proposed motion-quantization methodology, we show that difficult-to-perform astronaut maneuvers can be replaced by concatenations of simpler motions, formed from rotations about two axes.
How Teaching Institutions Can Help Conservation Biology

songbirds represent a case in which the pace of critical research may be compromised by lack of involvement at teaching institutions. Work on potential causes of bird wintering in the tropics (October‐ April) has been scant compared with research during the breeding season, probably in part because of the challenges of conducting tropical research and the overlap with teaching assignments. Furthermore, the importance of the migratory period (late August‐early October and April‐late May) as an influence on migrant declines has been largely neglected, even though birds may exhibit their highest mortality rate during this period (Sillett and Holmes 2002).