cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Simple Parallel Hierarchical and Relaxation Algorithms for Segmenting Noncausal Markovian Random Fields

The modeling and segmentation of images by MRF's (Markov random fields) is treated. These are two-dimensional noncausal Markovian stochastic processes. Two conceptually new algorithms are presented for segmenting textured images into regions in each of which the data are modeled as one of C MRF's. The algorithms are designed to operate in real time when implemented on new parallel computer architectures that can be built with present technology. A doubly stochastic representation is used in image modeling. Here, a Gaussian MRF is used to model textures in visible light and infrared images, and an autobinary (or autoternary, etc.) MRF to model a priori information about the local geometry of textured image regions. For image segmentation, the true texture class regions are treated either as a priori completely unknown or as a realization of a binary (or ternary, etc.) MRF. In the former case, image segmentation is realized as true maximum likelihood estimation. In the latter case, it is realized as true maximum a posteriori likelihood segmentation. In addition to providing a mathematically correct means for introducing geometric structure, the autobinary (or ternary, etc.) MRF can be used in a generative mode to generate image geometries and artificial images, and such simulations constitute a very powerful tool for studying the effects of these models and the appropriate choice of model parameters. The first segmentation algorithm is hierarchical and uses a pyramid-like structure in new ways that exploit the mutual dependencies among disjoint pieces of a textured region.
Multipart wave functions

Some wave functions separate into two or more distinct regions in phase space. Each region is characterized by a trajectory and a spread about that trajectory. The trajectory is the quantum mechanical current. We show that these regions correspond to parts of the wave function and that these parts are generally nonorthogonal.
Studying the Value of Library and Information Services. Part II: Methodology and Taxonomy.

This report, presented in two parts, is derived from a large study sponsored by the Council on Library Resources. Two of its objectives were to develop a taxonomy of value-in-use of library and information services based on users assessments and to propose methods and instruments for similar studies of library and information services in general. In the first part of the report, we discussed the underlying concepts related to value, which must be clarified to proceed with any pragmatic study of value. This established a theoretical framework, i.e., a theory of use-oriented value of information and information services. The theory drives the models used for the pragmatic part of the study resulting in a Derived Taxonomy of Value in Using Library and Information Services. In this, the second part, we deal with the specifics of the study: importance of a taxonomy; the method used for gathering data on user assessments of value in five research libraries, involving 18 services and 528 interviews with users; development and presentation of the Taxonomy; and statistics and tests of the Taxonomy. A novel aspect is the division of value of information services into three general classes or facets: (i) Reasons for use of a service in the given instance; (ii) quality of Interaction (use) related to that service; and (iii) worth, benefits, or implications of subsequent Results from use. We conclude the paper with suggestions for applications in practice, particularly in evaluation of services, and general discussions regarding the principles of taxonomic development. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Chemokines and their receptors in infectious disease.

The importance of chemokines and their receptors during infection, which initially had been inferred from their ability to induce leukocyte chemotaxis in vitro, has now been firmly established by direct genetic evidence in mice. However, recent evidence indicates that chemokines mediate not only specific leukocyte trafficking to sites of infection, as expected, but in addition, have surprising roles in regulating T helper cell polarization. Even more unexpectedly, HIV and Plasmodium vivax have been shown to use specific chemokine receptors as cell entry factors, facilitating rather than opposing transmission and progression of infectious disease. Further, most poxviruses and herpesviruses encode chemokine and/or chemokine receptor homologues which have been copied from the host and adapted for a variety of purposes, including evasion of the immune system, viral dissemination and possibly even tumorigenesis and angiogenesis. These types of viruses also encode three classes of secreted, structurally unique proteins that function as potent chemokine scavengers. The discovery of virus-encoded chemokines and chemokine receptors is significant with respect to both basic mechanisms of disease and clinical applications. Antichemokines (receptor antagonists and chemokine scavengers) provide powerful evidence that the chemokine system is important in anti-microbial host defense. Moreover, novel or unusual functions of viral chemokines and chemokine receptors may point to unrecognized functions for their host counterparts. Finally, viral anti-chemokines have the potential to be exploited therapeutically in diseases marked by chemokine expression and inappropriate inflammation. The aim of this article is to provide basic facts, current concepts and emerging unanswered questions for how host and microbial chemokine systems influence infection, focusing mainly on genetic evidence. Other biological processes regulated by the molecules discussed here are reviewed in separate articles in this volume. In addition, we will describe emerging technologies for blocking the chemokine system, which may be useful in HIV/AIDS and possibly other infectious diseases and inflammatory conditions.
LROS: Localized route optimization scheme for NEMO

Network mobility (NEMO) basic support protocol (NBS) extends mobile IPv6 to enable mobile network to maintain connectivity when changing its point of attachment to the Internet. However, the use of bi-direction tunnel leads to pinball routing, packet overhead and latency. A localized route optimization scheme for NEMO (LROS) is proposed to solve mobility management and route optimization problems. LROS integrates NBS into a localized mobility management framework to reduce registration cost. Moreover, a route optimization scheme based on the framework is also introduced to eliminate pinball routing within mobile network.
Sequence-dependent group scheduling problems in flexible flow shops

Abstract Group scheduling within the context of sequence dependent setup times in flexible flow shops is considered in this paper. Flexible flow shops are becoming very popular in industry practice, primarily because of large workloads required by jobs within groups on some machine types. The objective is to minimize the makespan required to process jobs in all groups released on the shop floor. There is clearly a need for efficiently solving large problems that have industrial merit. To address this need, three different algorithms based on tabu search are developed. Problem sizes ranging in size from small, medium to large are considered along with three levels of flexibility. The higher the number of stages and the number of parallel machines in each stage, the higher is the flexibility introduced into the problem. Three different initial solution (IS) finding mechanisms with varying levels of computational difficulty are proposed to aid the search algorithms in identifying an IS. Thus, problem size is regarded as the main factor, while flexibility, IS finding mechanism, and algorithms are considered subplot factors. The makespan which speaks for efficacy and computation time which speaks for efficiency of the algorithms are considered separately as response variables in the proposed 3 4 factorial split-plot design used in the detailed statistical experiment. Based on the results, the search algorithm that uses short term memory is recommended for problems of all sizes and levels of flexibility. Also, as IS finding mechanisms are found statistically insignificant with respect to both makespan and computation time, the mechanism which requires the least amount of computation time is recommended.
Optical absorption of copper phosphate glasses in the visible spectrum

Abstract Optical absorption of copper phosphate glasses with batch compositions of 40, 50 and 55 mol% CuO have been examined in the visible and near-infrared range as a function of [Cu2+]/[Cutotal] in the glasses. An absorption band centered at about 11 000 cm−1 is produced due to an octahedral coordination of Cu2+ in the glass with strong tetragonal distortion. This absorption band is resolved into three-component Gaussian bands around 8500, 12 000 and 13 250 cm−1. These bands are assigned to the energy transitions 2 A 1 g → 2 B 1 g , 2 B 2 g → 2 B 1 g and 2 E g → 2 B 1 g , respectively. The degree of tetragonal distortion of Cu2+ coordination is slightly enhanced with increases in the [Cu2+] ratio and CuO content. A minimum absorption in the visible spectrum is produced by overlapping of the absorption bands of Cu2+ and Cu1+. The position of the minimum absorption shifts to higher wavenumber with increasing [Cu2+] ratio in the glass regardless of glass composition and is responsible for color changes.
The Effect of Serum Dilution on Free Thyroxine (T4) Concentration in the Low T4 Syndrome of Nonthyroidal Illness

Progressive dilution of normal sera causes little change in free T4 concentrations. Similar dilution of sera containing drug inhibitors of T4 binding to serum proteins causes a progressive fall in free T4. The low T4 syndrome of nonthyroidal illness is thought to be associated with a circulating inhibitor(s) of T4 binding. It would be expected, therefore, that dilution of sera from the low T4 syndrome might also result in a fall in free T4 concentrations. We compared the effect of progressive serum dilution on free T4 concentrations in low T4 syndrome sera to those in normal, hyperthyroid, pregnancy, TBG-deficient and salicylate-containing sera. A tracer dialysis method proved inappropriate for studying dilution effects. Using a new dialysate RIA method to measure free T4, we found a progressive fall in free T4 concentrations in sera from patients with the low T4 syndrome similar to that in serum containing salicylate, but not to that in normal sera. The magnitude of the fall varied widely among individual patients. Free T4 methods which use a diluted serum sample will underestimate free T4 concentrations in the low T4 syndrome.
Swirl brake effect on the rotordynamic stability of a shrouded impeller

The swirling motion of the shroud-to-housing leakage flow in pumps is known to have an adverse impact on the impeller rotordynamic stability. Swirl brakes, under such circumstances, would enhance the stability margin by reducing or, ideally, eliminating, the prerotation at the leakage passage inlet station. The numerical analysis outlined in this paper provides a quantitative means of predicting the effectiveness of such devices. The computed results also illustrate the mechanism with which the fluid/rotor interaction, with the aid of a typical brake, is altered towards relative overall rotordynamic stability. This is done through a comparative examination of the pressure perturbation distribution over the shroud surface for a wide range of backward and forward impeller-whirl frequencies. The conclusions in this study are consistent with recent experimental findings and have important design implications.
Extreme obesity due to impaired leptin signaling in mice does not cause knee osteoarthritis.

Objective To test the hypothesis that obesity resulting from deletion of the leptin gene or the leptin receptor gene results in increased knee osteoarthritis (OA), systemic inflammation, and altered subchondral bone morphology. Methods Leptin-deficient (ob/ob) and leptin receptor–deficient (db/db) female mice compared with wild-type mice were studied, to document knee OA via histopathology. The levels of serum proinflammatory and antiinflammatory cytokines were measured using a multiplex bead immunoassay. Cortical and trabecular subchondral bone changes were documented by microfocal computed tomography, and body composition was quantified by dual x-ray absorptiometry. Results Adiposity was increased by ∼10-fold in ob/ob and db/db mice compared with controls, but it was not associated with an increased incidence of knee OA. Serum cytokine levels were unchanged in ob/ob and db/db mice relative to controls, except for the level of cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant (keratinocyte chemoattractant; murine analog of interleukin-8), which was elevated. Leptin impairment was associated with reduced subchondral bone thickness and increased relative trabecular bone volume in the tibial epiphysis. Conclusion Extreme obesity due to impaired leptin signaling induced alterations in subchondral bone morphology without increasing the incidence of knee OA. Systemic inflammatory cytokine levels remained largely unchanged in ob/ob and db/db mice. These findings suggest that body fat, in and of itself, may not be a risk factor for joint degeneration, because adiposity in the absence of leptin signaling is insufficient to induce systemic inflammation and knee OA in female C57BL/6J mice. These results imply a pleiotropic role of leptin in the development of OA by regulating both the skeletal and immune systems.
Comparative distribution of cytochrome oxidase, succinate permease, and fixed anionic sites on the intact inner mitochondrial membrane. Polycationic ferritin as a visually detectable metabolic inhibitor

Abstract Electrostatic binding of polycationic ferritin, a macromolecular ligand, to the surface of the intact inner mitochondrial membrane was found to induce a rapid inhibition of succinate and ascorbate oxidation. Electron microscopy revealed that concentrations up to 60 μg/ml of polycationic ferritin resulted in binding of the ligand to anionic sites of high affinity located on the surface of the inner boundary membrane. This preferential binding occurred concomitantly with a 17% inhibition of ascorbate-cytochrome c oxidase activity and 57% inhibition of succinoxidase activity. At a concentration of 200 μg/ml, polycationic ferritin bound in a general distribution which included lower affinity anionic sites of the cristal membrane. This total binding occurred with greater than 95% inhibition of both ascorbate and succinate oxidation. Kinetic data showed polycationic ferritin to bind to cytochrome oxidase as a noncompetative inhibitor with regard to cytochrome c. The data reveal that the morphologically distinct inner boundary and cristal membranes differ in their relative binding affinities for polycationic ferritin and thus in their anionic macromolecular structure. Differences in the percent inhibition between ascorbate-cytochrome c oxidase activity and succinoxidase activity, at different ligand concentrations, indicate that approximately 17% of the total cytochrome oxidase and 57% of the total succinate permease is located in the inner boundary membrane. However, the inner boundary membrane occupies only 22% whereas the cristal membrane occupies 78% of the inner mitochondrial membrane. Thus cytochrome oxidase appears to be equally distributed between the two membrane areas while succinate permease may be as much as five times more concentrated in the inner boundary compared to the cristal membrane.
Optimizing eHealth breast cancer interventions: which types of eHealth services are effective?

Little is known about the effective elements of Interactive Cancer Communication Systems (ICCSs). A randomized trial explored which types of services of a multifaceted ICCS benefited patients and the nature of the benefit. Women with breast cancer (N = 450) were randomized to different types of ICCS services or to a control condition that provided internet access. The Comprehensive Health Enhancement Support System (CHESS), served as the ICCS. ICCS services providing information and support, but not coaching such as cognitive behavior therapy, produced significant benefits in health information competence and emotional processing. Provision of Information and Support ICCS services significantly benefited women with breast cancer. More complex and interactive services designed to train the user had negligible effects.
Introduction of protein kinase recognition sites into proteins: a review of their preparation, advantages, and applications.

Labeled proteins are used in a variety of applications. This review focuses on methods that utilize genetic engineering to introduce protein kinase recognition sites into proteins. Many protein kinase recognition sites can be introduced into proteins and serve as useful tags for a variety of purposes. The introduction of protein kinase recognition sites into proteins can be achieved without modifying the essential structure or function of the proteins. Because proteins modified by these procedures retain their activity after phosphorylation, they can be used in many applications. The phosphorylatable proteins can be labeled easily to high specific activity with radioisotopes (32P, 33P, or 35S), or the nonradioactive 31P can be used. The use of these radioisotopes provides a convenient and safe method for radiolabeling proteins. Moreover, the use of the nonradioactive 31P with protein tyrosine kinase recognition sites permits the tagging of proteins and their detection with the many anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies available. Overall, the procedure represents a convenient, safe, and efficient method to label proteins for a variety of applications.
Effects of Multiple Maternal Relationship Transitions on Offspring Antisocial Behavior in Childhood and Adolescence: A Cousin-Comparison Analysis

Previous studies of the association between multiple parental relationship transitions (i.e., when a parent begins or terminates an intimate relationship involving cohabitation) and offspring antisocial behavior have varied in their efforts to rule out confounding influences, such as parental antisocial behavior and low income. They also have been limited in the representativeness of their samples. Thus, it remains unclear to what degree parents’ multiple relationship transitions have independent effects on children’s antisocial behavior. Analyses were conducted using data on 8,652 6–9-year-old, 6,911 10–13-year-old, and 6,495 14–17-year-old offspring of a nationally representative sample of U.S. women. Cousin-comparisons were used in combination with statistical covariates to evaluate the associations between maternal relationship transitions and offspring antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence. Cousin-comparisons suggested that associations between maternal relationship transitions and antisocial behavior in childhood and early adolescence are largely explained by confounding factors. In contrast, the associations between maternal relationship transitions and offspring delinquency in late adolescence were robust to measured and unmeasured confounds. The present findings suggest that interventions aimed at reducing exposure to parental relationship transitions or addressing the psychosocial consequences of exposure to parental relationship transitions could reduce risk for offspring delinquency in late adolescence.
Interspecific Facilitation in a Guild of Benthic Marine Herbivores

Interspecific relationships and trophic function within the urchin guild are considered in light of experiments and observations performed in situ. Two conclusions are reached: 1) interactions between members of the guild contribute to its persistence, and 2) the plant-herbivore interactions so important in structuring this community can best be evaluated when guild members are treated as a unit. As with other mixed species trophic units, the mechanisms of interspecies facilitation operate to reduce the effects of predation and increase foraging efficiency.
Centrosome Amplification and the Origin of Chromosomal Instability in Breast Cancer

The development and progression of aggressive breast cancer is characterized by genomic instability leading to multiple genetic defects, phenotypic diversity, chemoresistance, and poor outcome. Centrosome abnormalities have been implicated in the origin of chromosomal instability through the development of multipolar mitotic spindles. Breast tumor centrosomes display characteristic structural abnormalities, termed centrosome amplification, including: increase in centrosome number and volume, accumulation of excess pericentriolar material, supernumerary centrioles, and inappropriate phosphorylation of centrosome proteins. In addition, breast tumor centrosomes also show functional abnormalities characterized by inappropriate centrosome duplication during the cell cycle and nucleation of unusually large microtubule arrays. These observations have important implications for understanding the mechanisms underlying genomic instability and loss of cell polarity in cancer. This review focuses on the coordination of the centrosome, DNA, and cell cycles in normal cells and their deregulation resulting in centrosome amplification and chromosomal instability in the development and progression of breast cancer.
The Dielectric Strength of Noninflammable Synthetic Insulating Oils

The development of synthetic noninflammable chlorinated liquids of the aromatic hydrocarbon type places in the hands of the engineer a chemically stable material of high dielectric strength and possessing a dielectric constant approximately equal in value to that of cellulose itself. This insures a more equitable stress distribution in the composite insulation assembly normally used in commercial practice. The result is an increase in dielectric breakdown and related phenomena. No fixed relation defining the superiority of the synthetic noninflammable liquid or liquid-treated insulation is possible, since variation in test conditions changes the relative dielectric values. In general, however, the data indicate an advantage in favor of the synthetic liquid and liquid-treated insulation equal to at least 20 per cent of the corresponding mineral-oil value.
Fast Conducting Mechanoreceptors Contribute to Withdrawal Behavior in Normal and Nerve Injured Rats

Abstract Fast-conducting myelinated high-threshold mechanoreceptors (AHTMR) are largely thought to transmit acute nociception from the periphery. However, their roles in normal withdrawal and in nerve injury–induced hyperalgesia are less well accepted. Modulation of this subpopulation of peripheral neurons would help define their roles in withdrawal behaviors. The optically active proton pump, ArchT, was placed in an adeno-associated virus-type 8 viral vector with the CAG promoter and was administered by intrathecal injection resulting in expression in myelinated neurons. Optical inhibition of peripheral neurons at the soma and transcutaneously was possible in the neurons expressing ArchT, but not in neurons from control animals. Receptive field characteristics and electrophysiology determined that inhibition was neuronal subtype–specific with only AHTMR neurons being inhibited. One week after nerve injury the AHTMR are hyperexcitable, but can still be inhibited at the soma and transcutaneously. Withdrawal thresholds to mechanical stimuli in normal and in hyperalgesic nerve-injured animals also were increased by transcutaneous light to the affected hindpaw. This suggests that AHTMR neurons play a role not only in threshold-related withdrawal behavior in the normal animal, but also in sensitized states after nerve injury. This is the first time this subpopulation of neurons has been reversibly modulated to test their contribution to withdrawal-related behaviors before and after nerve injury. This technique may prove useful to define the role of selective neuronal populations in different pain states.
Quality, tuition, and applications to in-state public colleges

Abstract This paper investigates the main determinants of applying to in-state public colleges and universities. I use data from over 500,000 SAT and ACT test takers to examine the roles of college quality and tuition in the college selection decision. I take advantage of the interstate variation in quality and tuition at the public flagship universities in each state to examine these influences empirically. The main finding is that student willingness to pay for quality is quite large. a one standard deviation increase across states in college quality at the flagship school is estimated to have an equal but opposite effect on student applications as a 70–80% increase in in-state tuition.
Extended-precision floating-point numbers for GPU computation

Double-float (df64) and quad-float (qf128) numeric types can be implemented on current GPU hardware and used efficiently and effectively for extended-precision computational arithmetic. Using unevaluated sums of paired or quadrupled f32 single-precision values, these numeric types provide approximately 48 and 96 bits of mantissa respectively at singleprecision exponent ranges for computer graphics, numerical, and general-purpose GPU programming. This paper surveys current art, presents algorithms and Cg implementation for arithmetic, exponential and trigonometric functions, and presents data on numerical accuracy on several different GPUs. It concludes with an in-depth discussion of the application of extended precision primitives to performing fast Fourier transforms on the GPU for real and complex data. [Addendum (July 2009): the presence of IEEE compliant double-precision hardware in modern GPUs from NVidia and other manufacturers has reduced the need for these techniques. The double-precision capabilities can be accessed using CUDA or other GPGPU software, but are not (as of this writing) exposed in the graphics pipeline for use in Cg-based shader code. Shader writers or those still using a graphics API for their numerical computing may still find the methods described herein to be of interest.]
Childhood adversities and adult depression: basic patterns of association in a US national survey

The long-term relationships between various forms of childhood adversity and adult episodes of major depression are explored in a representative household survey of the United States adult (age 25+) population. Seven of the eight childhood adversities considered are significantly associated with recent (12-month) episodes of depression. These effects are largely indirect consequences of some childhood adversities leading to a life history of depression and prior depression leading to new episodes. Only three of the eight childhood adversities directly affect recent onset or recurrence. The paper closes with a discussion of implications for future research on the long-term effects of childhood adversities.
Publishing evolving metadocuments on the web

Metadocuments are documents that consist primarily of references to other documents, and elements within them. Our active browsing web visualization tool generates an evolving series of navigable metadocument snapshots over time. The granularity of browsing is shifted, from documents to the finer grained information elements, which are metadocument constituents. The program conducts expression-directed automatic retrieval of information from the web. It performs procedural visual composition of the information elements to form spatial hypertext. The user can express interest and design intentions through direct manipulation interactions with the visualized information elements. As prior versions of the tool lacked the capabilities of save and load, they were entirely process-oriented. The metadocuments existed only as transient states. This paper is an early report on our new metadocument authoring and publishing capability, and its potential uses. Saved metadocuments can be published on the web. Once published, they can serve both as static navigable metadocuments, and as the jumping off point from which the information space represented by the collected elements can continue to evolve.
Thermolysis of di-π-cyclopentadienyl-σ-organotitanium chlorides

Abstract The thermolysis of a series of compounds Cp 2 (R)TiCl (where Cpπ-cyclopentadienyl and R is a σ-bonded hydrocarbon moiety) was studied. After an initial unsteady period, first-order loss of the R group was observed. The activation energy of bond breaking was approximately 25 kcal/mole for all compounds. The products and kinetics are explained by postulating that the rate-determining step is the promotion of the R group to a non-ionic activated state in which it is still within and influenced by the titanium coordination sphere but mobile enough to migrate from one titanium atom to another.
In search of a mechanism for receptor-mediated neurobehavioral teratogenesis by nicotine: catecholamine release by nicotine in immature rat brain regions

Abstract Nicotine disrupts central nervous system development through interactions with nicotinic cholinergic receptors found in immature brain, leading to discoordination of target cell replication and differentiation. However, it is unclear whether the net result is achieved by nicotine's actions on its specific target cells, or indirectly through receptor-mediated release of other neurotransmitters, such as catecholamines, that possess neurotrophic properties. In the current study, developing rats (1, 7, 14 and 21 days old) were challenged acutely with nicotine (0.3 mg/kg) and the release of catecholamines was evaluated in vivo (AMPT method) in three brain regions that differ in nicotinic receptor concentrations. Nicotine did not stimulate catecholamine release at birth, but developed the capacity to do so in parallel with the ontogeny of nicotinic cholinergic receptors in the midbrain + brainstem and in the forebrain. In the cerebellum, which remains poor in nicotinic receptors, no response was obtained at any age. Superimposed on this general pattern, changes in sensitivity to nicotine were also seen that corresponded to ontogenetic changes in endogenous cholinergic tone, suggesting that receptor desensitization occurs normally during developmental stages in which neuronal activity is high. The absence of a catecholamine response to nicotine at birth in the rat indicates that neurobehavioral teratology associated with fetal nicotine exposure does not reflect secondary actions mediated through catecholamines. However, because brain development in the neonatal rat corresponds to fetal stages in man, the onset of these mechanisms may be relevant to human fetal exposure.
Correction to 'The case for electric design of real-time software'

The title of this paper (see ibid., vol.15, p.360-2 (1989)) was printed incorrectly. It should have read: the case for the eclectic design of real-time software. >
Uniqueness of solutions of right focal problems for third order differential equations

On considere l'unicite des solutions, quand elles existent, de certains problemes aux valeurs limites pour l'equation differentielle d'ordre 3: y'″=f(x,y,y',y″). On suppose que f:(a,b)×R 3 →R est continue
Effect of notch orientation on the evolution of plasticity in superalloy single crystals

Abstract The effect of notch orientation on the evolution of slip bands in double-notched tensile samples of a single crystal superalloy loaded in a 〈0 0 1〉 orientation was experimentally investigated and compared to the results of a three-dimensional linear elastic anisotropic finite element analysis (FEA). The analysis was conducted for two orientations with notches parallel to a 〈0 1 0〉 and a 〈1 1 0〉 orientation, respectively. The observed slip traces agreed well with the predicted dominant slip systems based on the FEA. The experimental results suggest that the dominant slip planes activated at low load levels persist at higher load levels and the activation of other slip bands within a domain is initially inhibited.
Building dynamic relation tree from photo collections

Recognizing people and identifying their relations from images have significant social and business values. In this paper, we present an automated workflow that derives a relation tree for major characters in a photo collection by integrating technologies of face clustering and facial feature analysis together with contextual information. In particular, as people's relations evolve over time, for image collections spanning a long period of time (e.g. a number of years), the concept of dynamic relation tree is proposed to represent people's relations precisely. The procedure for building the relation tree is described, and sample results that show the evolution of people's relations over time are discussed.
Gut Check: Clostridium difficile Testing and Treatment in the Molecular Testing Era

We evaluated the impact of nursing education and stewardship interventions on Clostridium difficile testing and treatment appropriateness. Diarrhea documentation increased for those with positive tests (45% to 70%); pretreatment laxative use decreased (50% to 19%). Appropriate treatment increased for severe infection (57% to 93%), but all asymptomatically colonized patients were treated.
Tree Encroachment of A Sawgrass (Cladium jamaicense) Marsh within an increasingly urbanized ecosystem

ABSTRACT: Fire suppression and altered water drainage often change community structure and species composition in human-dominated ecosystems. We describe the decline of sawgrass marshes between 1940 and 2002, and assess the current condition of remnant marshes within the MacKay Tract, an isolated wetland embedded within rapidly developing eastern Orlando, Florida. We tested the correlation between live sawgrass and presence of adult hardwood trees and seedlings (primarily red maple, Acer rubrum) and describe vegetation in plots with different levels of tree encroachment. Total area occupied by open sawgrass in the MacKay Tract has declined dramatically the last 60 years; in 2006, open sawgrass comprised only 12% of the area covered in 1940. Tree basal cover was negatively associated with live sawgrass and positively related to red maple seedling density, but not associated with dead sawgrass tussocks. Sawgrass was positively correlated with the second axis of a non-metric multidimensional scaling ordinati...
A framework for global stabilization of nonlinear systems by continuous state feedback

This paper presents a framework for global stabilization of inherently nonlinear systems that may not be smoothly stabilizable but stabilizable by continuous state feedback. A systematic design method which combines homogeneous systems theory with the idea of adding a power integrator is developed for the explicit construction of C/sup 0/ globally stabilizing controllers. The significance of the new framework is illustrated by solving a variety of nonlinear control problems that cannot be dealt with by existing methods.
Species concepts: the basis for controversy and reconciliation

Some of the disputes about species concepts can be resolved through clari¢cation of the conceptual issues. Others are intractable because incompatible preferences are being optimized. According to the current biological consensus species (taxa) are populations rendered cohesive by sex. The philosophical consensus has it that the species and other categories are (abstract) classes, whereas particular species and other taxa are (concrete) individuals (in the ontological sense). Natural kinds are classes that have the properties they do because of laws of nature. Individuals such as species and clades owe their properties to history, not laws of nature; they are not kinds at all and calling them natural kinds is, therefore, grossly misleading. Having the species of taxonomy be equivalent to the species of evolutionary theory facilitates the integration of history and laws of nature within biology. Eiorts to de¢ne the species category on the basis of similarity create misleading impressions about the laws and mechanisms of speciation processes. A diversity of incompatible species concepts (pluralism) is undesirable because the various kinds of units that are called ‘species’ diier with respect to the underlying laws of nature that make them natural kinds.
Corporate communication, sustainability, and social media: It's not easy (really) being green

Abstract This empirical research explores how 16 global corporations from four different industry sectors—retail, technology equipment, food/beverage/tobacco, and consumer goods—use social media platforms and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports to communicate about sustainability. Facebook, Twitter, CEO letters from annual reports and CSR/sustainability reports, and other company documentation are examined to compare the content and scope of these firms’ corporate communication. The sample is divided into two subsamples (Green and Not Green firms) using Newsweek's Greenest Company 2012 rankings, and compared for differential use of social media and corporate reports. Results show that communication varies across firm and industry regarding types of sustainability initiatives reported, metrics employed, and communication media utilized, and that Green firms are more active than Not Green firms both in addressing sustainability and in general social media activity. Implications are discussed herein and recommendations are presented for companies seeking to better understand the effective use of social media and sustainability communication.
A Flexible Parallel Simulator for Networks-on-Chip With Error Control

This paper presents a flexible parallel simulator to evaluate the impact of different error control methods on the performance and energy consumption of networks-on-chip (NoCs). Various error control schemes can be inserted into the simulator in a plug-and-play manner for evaluation. Moreover, a highly tunable fault injection feature is developed for modeling various fault injection scenarios, including different fault injection rates, fault types, fault injection locations, and faulty flit types. Case studies performed in the proposed flexible simulation environment are presented to demonstrate the impact of a set of error control schemes on NoC performance and energy in different noise scenarios. This paper also uses the simulator to provide design guidelines for NoCs with error control capabilities.
The Purpose, Philosophy, Content, and Structure of Doctoral Comprehensive/Qualifying Exams A Survey of Counseling Psychology Training Programs

To gather information about comprehensive/qualifying examinations, the authors surveyed the 64 programs that composed the Council of Counseling Psychology Training programs as well as six nonmember training directors A four-page questionnaire was mailed to these program directors, with 53 (76%) questionnaires being returned. Although all programs required some form of comprehensive evaluation for admission to doctoral candidacy, there was considerable variability among programs regarding philosophy, purpose, content, and structure. Of the programs, 58% required both written and oral comps, and 38% required written comps only. No program required oral comps only. Seventy-seven percent reported that the purpose of comps was to assess ability and integrate knowledge. Although most programs assessed knowledge in the areas of psychological foundations, professional issues, counseling theories and practices, assessment and measurement, and research and statistics, few assessed knowledge in cross-cultural issues...
Inherent Protein Structural Flexibility at the RNA-binding Interface of L30e

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae ribosomal protein L30 autoregulates its own expression by binding to a purine-rich internal loop in its pre-mRNA and mRNA. NMR studies of L30 and its RNA complex showed that both the internal loop of the RNA as well as a region of the protein become substantially more ordered upon binding. A crystal structure of a maltose binding protein (MBP)-L30 fusion protein with two copies in the asymmetric unit has been determined. The flexible RNA-binding region in the L30 copies has two distinct conformations, one resembles the RNA bound form solved by NMR and the other is unique. Structure prediction algorithms also had difficulty accurately predicting this region, which is consistent with conformational flexibility seen in the NMR and X-ray crystallography studies. Inherent conformational flexibility may be a hallmark of regions involved in intermolecular interactions.
A FEM/BEM formulation for a CG-FFT solution of 3-D scattering by a cavity

A technique which combines the finite element and boundary integral formulations along with the conjugate gradient method (CGM) and fast Fourier transform (FFT) was proposed for the electromagnetic characterization of infinitely long slots in a thick conducting plane filled with an inhomogeneous composite material (see Jin and Volakis, 1989). In the present work, the authors extend the technique to treat three-dimensional problems. Specifically, they consider the problem of scattering by a three-dimensional cavity in an infinite conducting plane. >
Band gap narrowing in heavily doped N/sup +/ indium phosphide

The results of measurements of bandgap narrowing in sulfur-doped n/sup +/InP are given. The room-temperature photoluminescence spectra of n/sup +/InP layers were measured, and from the shift in energy of the photoluminescence peak the authors calculated the bandgap narrowing as a function of doping concentration which was measured using the Hall effect. In addition, bandgap narrowing obtained from the contact potential measurements using C-V characteristics was compared with bandgap narrowing from photoluminescence measurements, and the results show reasonable agreement. >
WSSMP: A High-Performance Serial and Parallel Symmetric Sparse Linear Solver

The Watson Symmetric Sparse Matrix Package, WSSMP, is a high-performance, robust, and easy to use software package for solving large sparse symmetric systems of linear equations. It can can be used as a serial package, or in a shared-memory multiprocessor environment, or as a scalable parallel solver in a message-passing environment, where each node can either be a uniprocessor or a shared-memory multiprocessor. WSSMP uses scalable parallel multifrontal algorithms for sparse symmetric factorization and triangular solves. Sparse symmetric factorization in WSSMP has been clocked at up to 210 MFLOPS on an RS6000/590, 500 MFLOPS on an RS6000/397 and in excess of 20 GFLOPS on a 64-node SP with RS6000/397 nodes. This paper gives an overview of the algorithms, implementation aspects, performance results, and the user interface of WSSMP.
Supramolecular assembly of biohybrid photoconversion systems

Self-assembled membrane architectures have great potential for the development of materials for the conversion of solar energy into electricity or fuels. Discovering the design principles that promote self-assembly in natural photosynthetic systems may provide inspiration for the development of synthetic solar conversion systems. We report for the first time that naturally occurring light harvesting antennae can alter the phase behavior of a poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(propylene oxide)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO–PPO–PEO) block copolymer system from micellar to lamellar structures mimicking their role in maintaining the supramolecular architecture of the photosynthetic membrane. Small-angle neutron scattering shows that PEO43–PPO16–PEO43 micelles undergo a phase transition from a micellar state to a lamellar structure with a ∼60 A spatial repetition in the presence of plant light harvesting complex II (LHCII). In addition, spectrophotometric analysis indicates that the protein self-assembles in the synthetic membrane structure. Photodependent hydrogen production mediated by LHCII embedded in the block copolymer had a maximum rate of 6.4 µmol h−1 per mg chlorophyll. The production of H2 was sustained for greater than 100 hours showing the potential of this approach for the development of self-assembled bioinspired photoconversion systems. Although excited energy transfer is the primary function of LHCII, this work provides evidence that the protein complex can also perform electron transfer, a role not known to occur in vivo. The significance of this work is that it provides a novel approach for developing a new class of membrane-based smart material with a well-controlled architecture that is dependent on the assembly of interacting components, and it could also have important implications in self-repair and control of energy transfer in photoconversion devices.
Chief Financial Officer Power, Pay Duration, and Earnings Quality

While numerous studies have examined the impact that powerful CEOs have on their compensation and overall firm decisions, relatively little is known about how powerful CFOs influence their compensation and important firm outcomes, such as earnings quality. This is somewhat surprising given the critical role CFOs play in the financial reporting process of a firm. We examine whether relatively more powerful CFOs influence the “duration” of their compensation. Our results suggest that powerful CFOs have shorter pay durations than less powerful CFOs, giving powerful CFOs faster unrestricted access to their compensation. Additionally, we examine whether powerful CFOs affect the earnings quality of the firms they manage, particularly when the incentives arising from “pay duration” are strong. We find higher levels of income-increasing accrual-based earnings management in firms with powerful CFOs who have short pay durations.
Educational Research: Limited, but Worthwhile and Maybe a Bargain

No one would dispute the fact that empirical research has limited value. But is it really futile and wasteful? Do educators currently rely too much on empirical studies? Although John Eisenberg includes periodic softening statements (e.g., "I do not claim that they [science, scientific method, and their applications] are not without great value or that they are completely untrustworthy"), the article, starting with the subtitle, creates the impression that educators give far too much weight to empirical research. I will dispute this claim, arguing instead that, if anything, research should receive more attention. I start by suggesting that Eisenberg misrepresents the current extent of reliance on research, and I then critique his arguments on the futility of research. I conclude that empirical research, although fallible and limited, deserves more respect than Eisenberg wants to give it, and perhaps more than it generally receives from educators.
Quantitative analysis of temperature, relative humidity, and diet influencing development of the larger grain borer, Prostephanus truncatus (Horn) (Coleoptera: Bostrichidae)

Abstract Data from three published studies on the development of Prostephanus truncatus (Horn) reared at constant temperatures and relative humidities (RH) were reanalysed to provide new information and quantitative description needed for predicting developmental times or rates in different environments. Models fitted to the temperature‐dependent development data were used for comparing developmental times among insect stages, relative humidities, diets and studies. Development of the eggs and pupae was similar at 40%, 70%, 80%, and 90% RH. Significant differences were detected between studies in the egg hatch to adult development and larval development, attributable, in part, to differences in the degree of compaction of ground maize used for rearing insects. For all life stages the temperatures for minimum (Tmin) and maximum (Tmax) developmental rates, and degree‐days above Tmin required for completion of development, were estimated. The linear degree‐day and nonlinear models presented here could be use...