cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
The Birthday Problem and Zero-Error List Codes

A key result of classical information theory states that if the rate of a randomly generated codebook is less than the mutual information between the channel’s input and output, then the probability that that codebook has negligible error goes to one as the blocklength goes to infinity. In an attempt to bridge the gap between the probabilistic world of classical information theory and the combinatorial world of zero-error information theory, this work derives necessary and sufficient conditions on the rate so that the probability that a randomly generated codebook operated under list decoding (for any fixed list size) has zero error probability goes to one as the blocklength goes to infinity. Furthermore, this work extends the classical birthday problem to an information-theoretic setting, which results in the definition of a “noisy” counterpart of Renyi entropy, analogous to how mutual information can be considered a noisy counterpart of Shannon entropy.
Do financial crises increase income inequality

Abstract This paper investigates the impact of economic crises on income inequality. Important evidence has emerged that in the aftermath of crises politics becomes polarized and economists have linked this to greater differences in income due to crises. However, the evidence on whether crises are linked to divergent incomes is weak and plagued by i) the possibility of a reverse effect going from great disparity in incomes to major economic crises; ii) the persistent nature of income inequality; and iii) important measurement error in both the dependent and independent variables. We use the longest time stretch of available data on crises and types of crises (Reinhart and Rogoff, 2011) and income inequality (Solt, 2009), as well as decade averaged data, general method of moments and error-correction models to more credibly estimate the complex relationship between crises and inequality. We find strong evidence that currency, banking, inflation and debt crises increase inequality, particularly in the long run.
Galois deformation spaces with a sparsity of automorphic points

Let $$k/\mathbb {F}_p$$ denote a finite field. For any split connected reductive group G/W(k) and a CM number field F, we deform nearly ordinary Galois representations $$\overline{\rho }:{{\,\mathrm{Gal}\,}}(\overline{F}/F) \rightarrow G(k)$$ to analytic families $$X_{\overline{\rho }}$$ of Galois representations $$\Gamma _F \rightarrow G(\overline{\mathbb {Q}}_p)$$ lifting $$\overline{\rho }$$ such that the set of points of $$X_{\overline{\rho }}$$ which are geometric (in the sense of the Fontaine–Mazur conjecture) with parallel Hodge–Tate weights is contained in an analytic subvariety of $$X_{\overline{\rho }}$$ with positive codimension. Thus, the set of points in $$X_{\overline{\rho }}$$ which could (conjecturally) be associated to automorphic forms is sparse. This generalizes a result of Calegari and Mazur for $$F/\mathbb {Q}$$ quadratic imaginary and $$G = {{\,\mathrm{GL}\,}}_2$$ . The sparsity of automorphic points for a CM field F contrasts with the situation when F is a totally real field, where automorphic points are often provably dense.
Absolute Eigenvalues-Based Covariance Matrix Estimation for a Sparse Array

The ensemble covariance matrix of a wide sense stationary signal spatially sampled by a full linear array is positive semi-definite and Toeplitz. However, the direct augmented covariance matrix of an augmentable sparse array is Toeplitz but not positive semi-definite, resulting in negative eigenvalues that pose inherent challenges in signal direction estimation problems. The positive eigenvalues-based covariance matrix for augmentable sparse arrays is robust but the matrix is unobtainable when all noise eigenvalues of the direct augmented matrix are negative, which is a possible case. To address this problem, we propose a robust covariance matrix for augmentable sparse arrays that leverages both positive and negative noise eigenvalues. The proposed covariance matrix estimate can be used in conjunction with subspace based algorithms such as multiple signal classification or adaptive beamformers such as minimum variance distortionless response beamformer to yield accurate signal direction estimates.
Negligible Cooperation: Contrasting the Maximal- and Average-Error Cases

In communication networks, cooperative strategies are coding schemes where network nodes work together to improve performance metrics such as the total rate delivered across the network. This work studies encoder cooperation in the setting of a discrete multiple access channel (MAC) with two encoders and a single decoder. A network node, here called the cooperation facilitator (CF), that is connected to both encoders via rate-limited links, enables the cooperation strategy. Previous work by the authors presents two classes of MACs: (i) one class where the average-error sum-capacity has an infinite derivative in the limit where CF output link capacities approach zero, and (ii) a second class of MACs where the maximal-error sum-capacity is not continuous at the point where the output link capacities of the CF equal zero. This work contrasts the power of the CF in the maximal- and average-error cases, showing that a constant number of bits communicated over the CF output link can yield a positive gain in the maximal-error sum-capacity, while a far greater number of bits, even a number that grows sublinearly in the blocklength, can never yield a non-negligible gain in the average-error sum-capacity.
Fair Lending for Cannabis Banking Justice

This Comment offers a fair lending solution to promote racial equity in federal cannabis banking reform: amend the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to ensure individuals previously arrested, charged, or convicted for selling, cultivating, or possessing marijuana will not therefore be precluded from loans to start legal cannabis businesses. Given disparities in the criminal enforcement of marijuana laws, this amendment would provide racial justice benefits, while also encouraging entrepreneurship. As a market-based social justice effort, this amendment offers a bipartisan approach to one of the most vexing and contentious issues in marijuana banking reform. This Comment briefly surveys the federal statutes that have led to an under-banked cannabis industry and discusses the costs of cash for marijuana businesses. It then examines prior reforms proposed by academics, executive-branch officials, and legislators. Finally, this Comment explores the racial equity concerns that these proposals fail to address and develops a fair lending approach for justice in marijuana banking reform.
A Universal Lossless Compression Method applicable to Sparse Graphs and heavy-tailed Sparse Graphs

Graphical data arises naturally in several modern applications, including but not limited to internet graphs, social networks, genomics and proteomics. The typically large size of graphical data argues for the importance of designing universal compression methods for such data. In most applications, the graphical data is sparse, meaning that the number of edges in the graph scales more slowly than $n^{2}$ , where $n$ denotes the number of vertices. Although in some applications the number of edges scales linearly with $n$ , in others the number of edges is much smaller than $n^{2}$ but appears to scale superlinearly with $n$ . We call the former sparse graphs and the latter heavy-tailed sparse graphs. In this paper we introduce a universal lossless compression method which is simultaneously applicable to both classes. We do this by employing the local weak convergence framework for sparse graphs and the sparse graphon framework for heavy-tailed sparse graphs.
Regularized Ordinal Regression and the ordinalNet R Package.

Regularization techniques such as the lasso (Tibshirani 1996) and elastic net (Zou and Hastie 2005) can be used to improve regression model coefficient estimation and prediction accuracy, as well as to perform variable selection. Ordinal regression models are widely used in applications where the use of regularization could be beneficial; however, these models are not included in many popular software packages for regularized regression. We propose a coordinate descent algorithm to fit a broad class of ordinal regression models with an elastic net penalty. Furthermore, we demonstrate that each model in this class generalizes to a more flexible form, that can be used to model either ordered or unordered categorical response data. We call this the elementwise link multinomial-ordinal class, and it includes widely used models such as multinomial logistic regression (which also has an ordinal form) and ordinal logistic regression (which also has an unordered multinomial form). We introduce an elastic net penalty class that applies to either model form, and additionally, this penalty can be used to shrink a non-ordinal model toward its ordinal counterpart. Finally, we introduce the R package ordinalNet, which implements the algorithm for this model class.
Predicting chemotherapy response using a variational autoencoder approach

Background Multiple studies have shown the utility of transcriptome-wide RNA-seq profiles as features for machine learning-based prediction of response to chemotherapy in cancer. While tumor transcriptome profiles are publicly available for thousands of tumors for many cancer types, a relatively modest number of tumor profiles are clinically annotated for response to chemotherapy. The paucity of labeled examples and the high dimension of the feature data limit performance for predicting therapeutic response using fully-supervised classification methods. Recently, multiple studies have established the utility of a deep neural network approach, the variational autoencoder (VAE), for generating meaningful latent features from original data. Here, we report the first study of a semi-supervised approach using VAE-encoded tumor transcriptome features and regularized gradient boosted decision trees (XGBoost) to predict chemotherapy drug response for five cancer types: colon, pancreatic, bladder, breast, and sarcoma. Results We found: (1) VAE-encoding of the tumor transcriptome preserves the cancer type identity of the tumor, suggesting preservation of biologically relevant information; and (2) as a feature-set for supervised classification to predict response-to-chemotherapy, the unsupervised VAE encoding of the tumor's gene expression profile leads to better area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the precision-recall curve classification performance than the original gene expression profile or the PCA principal components or the ICA components of the gene expression profile, in four out of five cancer types that we tested. Conclusions Given high-dimensional "omics" data, the VAE is a powerful tool for obtaining a nonlinear low-dimensional embedding; it yields features that retain biological patterns that distinguish between different types of cancer and that enable more accurate tumor transcriptome-based prediction of response to chemotherapy than would be possible using the original data or their principal components.
Stochastic properties of ultralight scalar field gradients

Ultralight axionlike particles are well-motivated dark matter candidates that are the target of numerous direct detection efforts. In the vicinity of the Solar System, such particles can be treated as oscillating scalar fields. The velocity dispersion of the Milky Way determines a coherence time of about ${10}^{6}$ oscillations, beyond which the amplitude of the axion field fluctuates stochastically. Any analysis of data from an axion direct detection experiment must carefully account for this stochastic behavior to properly interpret the results. This is especially true for experiments sensitive to the gradient of the axion field that are unable to collect data for many coherence times. Indeed, the direction, in addition to the amplitude, of the axion field gradient fluctuates stochastically. We present the first complete stochastic treatment for the gradient of the axion field, including multiple computationally efficient methods for performing likelihood-based data analysis, which can be applied to any axion signal, regardless of coherence time. Additionally, we demonstrate that ignoring the stochastic behavior of the gradient of the axion field can potentially result in failure to discover a true axion signal.
Local Two- and Three-Nucleon Chiral Interactions

Understanding the structure and reactions of nuclei from first principles has been a long-standing goal of nuclear physics. In this respect, few- and many-body systems provide a unique laboratory for studying nuclear interactions. In the past couple of decades, the modeling of nuclear interactions has progressed significantly owing, in particular, to the development of chiral effective field theory ( $$\chi $$ EFT), a low-energy effective representation of quantum chromodynamics. Within $$\chi $$ EFT, many studies have dealt with the construction of both two- and three-nucleon interactions. The aim of the present article is to provide a concise account of chiral interaction models that are local in configuration space, and to report on a selection of recent results for nuclear systems obtained with these interactions.
Effective counting of simple closed geodesics on hyperbolic surfaces

We prove a quantitative estimate, with a power saving error term, for the number of simple closed geodesics of length at most $L$ on a compact surface equipped with a Riemannian metric of negative curvature. The proof relies on the exponential mixing rate for the Teichmuller geodesic flow.
A Framework for the Study of Persuasion

Persuasion is a vital part of politics—who wins elections and policy disputes often depends on which side can persuade more people. Given this centrality, the study of persuasion has a long history...
Limitations of the Impagliazzo-Nisan-Wigderson Pseudorandom Generator Against Permutation Branching Programs.

The classic Impagliazzo–Nisan–Wigderson (INW) pseudorandom generator (PRG) (STOC ‘94) for space-bounded computation uses a seed of length \(O(\log n \cdot \log (nw/\varepsilon )+\log d)\) to fool ordered branching programs of length n, width w, and alphabet size d to within error \(\varepsilon \). A series of works have shown that the analysis of the INW generator can be improved for the class of permutation branching programs or the more general regular branching programs, improving the \(O(\log ^2 n)\) dependence on the length n to \(O(\log n)\) or \(\tilde{O}(\log n)\). However, when also considering the dependence on the other parameters, these analyses still fall short of the optimal PRG seed length \(O(\log (nwd/\varepsilon ))\).
Frequency Effects on Syntactic Rule Learning in Transformers.

Pre-trained language models perform well on a variety of linguistic tasks that require symbolic reasoning, raising the question of whether such models implicitly represent abstract symbols and rules. We investigate this question using the case study of BERT’s performance on English subject–verb agreement. Unlike prior work, we train multiple instances of BERT from scratch, allowing us to perform a series of controlled interventions at pre-training time. We show that BERT often generalizes well to subject–verb pairs that never occurred in training, suggesting a degree of rule-governed behavior. We also find, however, that performance is heavily influenced by word frequency, with experiments showing that both the absolute frequency of a verb form, as well as the frequency relative to the alternate inflection, are causally implicated in the predictions BERT makes at inference time. Closer analysis of these frequency effects reveals that BERT’s behavior is consistent with a system that correctly applies the SVA rule in general but struggles to overcome strong training priors and to estimate agreement features (singular vs. plural) on infrequent lexical items.
Reduction in CD11c + microglia correlates with clinical progression in chronic experimental autoimmune demyelination

Abstract Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune demyelinating disease with high variability of clinical symptoms. In most cases MS appears as a relapsing-remitting disease course that at a later stage transitions into irreversible progressive decline of neurologic function. The mechanisms underlying MS progression remain poorly understood. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is an animal model of MS. Here we demonstrate that mice that develop mild EAE after immunization with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein 35–55 are prone to undergo clinical progression around 30 days after EAE induction. EAE progression was associated with reduction in CD11c+ microglia and dispersed coalescent parenchymal infiltration. We found sex-dependent differences mediated by p38α signaling, a key regulator of inflammation. Selective reduction of CD11c+ microglia in female mice with CD11c-promoter driven p38α knockout (KO) correlated with increased rate of EAE progression. In protected animals, we found CD11c+ microglia forming contacts with astrocyte processes at the glia limitans and immune cells retained within perivascular spaces. Together, our study identified pathological hallmarks of chronic EAE progression and suggests that CD11c+ microglia may regulate immune cell parenchymal infiltration in autoimmune demyelination.
Pathogenic and transcriptomic differences of emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants in the Syrian golden hamster model.

Background Following the discovery of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its rapid spread throughout the world, new viral variants of concern (VOC) have emerged. There is a critical need to understand the impact of the emerging variants on host response and disease dynamics to facilitate the development of vaccines and therapeutics. Methods Syrian golden hamsters are the leading small animal model that recapitulates key aspects of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We performed intranasal inoculation of SARS-CoV-2 into hamsters with the ancestral virus (nCoV-WA1-2020) or VOC first identified in the United Kingdom (B.1.1.7, alpha) and South Africa (B.1.351, beta) and analyzed viral loads and host responses. Findings Similar gross and histopathologic pulmonary lesions were observed after infection with all three variants. Although differences in viral genomic copy numbers were noted in the lungs and oral swabs of challenged animals, infectious titers in the lungs were comparable between the variants. Antibody neutralization capacities varied, dependent on the original challenge virus and cross-variant protective capacity. Transcriptional profiling of lung samples 4 days post-challenge (DPC) indicated significant induction of antiviral pathways in response to all three challenges with a more robust inflammatory signature in response to B.1.1.7 infection. Furthermore, no additional mutations in the spike protein were detected at 4 DPC. Interpretations Although disease severity and viral shedding were not significantly different, the emerging VOC induced distinct humoral responses and transcriptional profiles compared to the ancestral virus. These observations suggest potential differences in acute early responses or alterations in immune modulation by VOC. Funding Intramural Research Program, NIAID, NIH; National Center for Research Resources, NIH; National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, NIH.
A Wireless Fully-Passive Acquisition of Biopotentials.

Biopotential signals contain essential information for assessing the functionality of organs and diagnosing diseases. We present a flexible sensor, capable of measuring biopotentials, in real time, in a wireless and fully-passive manner. The flexible sensor collects and transmits biopotentials to an external reader without wire, battery, or harvesting/regulating element. The sensor is fabricated on a 90 μm-thick polyimide substrate with a footprint of 18 × 15 × 0.5 mm3. The wireless fully-passive acquisition of biopotentials is enabled by the RF (Radio Frequency) microwave backscattering effect where the biopotentials are modulated by an array of varactors with incoming RF carrier that is backscattered to the external reader. The flexile sensor is verified and validated by emulated signal and electrocardiogram (ECG), electromyogram (EMG), and electrooculogram (EOG), respectively. A deep learning algorithm analyzes the signal quality of wirelessly acquired data, along with the data from commercially available wired sensor counterparts. Wired and wireless data shows <3% discrepancy in deep learning testing accuracy for ECG and EMG up to the wireless distance of 240 mm. Wireless acquisition of EOG further demonstrates accurate tracking of horizontal eye movement with deep learning training and testing accuracy reaching up to 93.6% and 92.2%, respectively, indicating successful detection of biopotentials signal as low as 250 μVPP. These findings support that the real-time wireless fully-passive acquisition of on-body biopotentials is indeed feasible and may find various uses for future clinical research.
WIDEFT: A Corpus of Radio Frequency Signals for Wireless Device Fingerprint Research

Wireless network security may be improved by identifying networked devices via traits that are tied to hardware differences, typically related to unique variations introduced in the manufacturing process. One way these variations manifest is through unique transient events when a radio transmitter is activated or deactivated. Features extracted from these signal bursts have in some cases, shown to provide a unique "fingerprint" for a wireless device. However, only recently have researchers made such data available for research and comparison. Herein, we describe a publicly-available corpus of radio frequency signals that can be used for wireless device fingerprint research. The WIDEFT corpus contains signal bursts from 138 unique devices (100 bursts per device), including Bluetooth- and WiFi-enabled devices, from 79 unique models. Additionally, to demonstrate the utility of the WIDEFT corpus, we provide four baseline evaluations using a minimal subset of previously-proposed features and a simple ensemble classifier.
Options for Improving Rigidized Ceramic Heatshields

Studies regarding capabilities, tensile strength, and dimensional stability of fibrous ceramics, used in current thermal protection systems and those required for future NASA advanced transfer vehicles, are presented. It is shown that the use of smaller diameter (2-4 micron) aluminoborosilicate fibers (instead of conventional 11-micron size) in the FRCI composites improves the homogeneity and tensile strength of high-silica composite. Substitution of the smaller aluminoborosilicate fibers by 2-4-micron alumina fibers in the AETB composites improves the dimensional stability, at the expense of a substantial increase in the thermal expansion coefficient, with a potential decrease in tensile strength.
Email Accessibility and Social Networking

Previous studies concerning the accessibility of social networking web sites have revealed that there are components of such web sites which present accessibility problems for users with disabilities, including blind users. This paper discusses the intersection of e-mail accessible and social networking, for blind users. Not only is e-mail an important component of social networking sites, but often, an e-mail address is required for registration. The topic of e-mail and social networking is being studied in the broader context of a multi-stage research study of blind users and their e-mail usage. This multi-stage study is being conducted to understand the usage patterns and accessibility problems encountered by blind users in using both web-based and application-based e-mail. Our hope is that the research study will result in the proposal of new strategies and guidelines for accessible design. This conference presentation will report on the status of the data collection.
Planar lightwave circuit balanced optical fanout using a thin photodetector array embedded in a polymer MMI coupler

In this paper, a balanced optical fanout using 1/spl times/4 thin film metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) photodetector array embedded in a photoimageable polymer multi-mode interference (MMI) coupler is fabricated, demonstrated, and compared to theoretical estimates. This is the first MMI coupler reported with an integrated photodetector array, and the first MMI coupler reported that has been fabricated with a photoimageable polymer. For optical signal distribution (e.g. optical clock distribution), balanced signal routing is an important optical function, and MMI couplers provide compact design, low splitting loss, and balanced output.
The Principle of the Common Cause

In The Direction of Time, Hans Reichenbach (1956) stated a principle that he thought helps guide nondeductive inference from an observed correlation to an unobserved cause. He called it the principle of the common cause. Wesley Salmon (1975, 1978, 1984) subsequently elaborated and refined this idea.
Molecular characterization of the type 3 (MR/K) fimbriae of Klebsiella pneumoniae.

Abstract The expression of type 3 (MR/K) fimbriae by Klebsiella pneumoniae requires the production of at least four polypeptides with molecular masses of 20.5, 25, 34, and 78 kilodaltons. The genes encoding these polypeptides are located on a gene cluster 5,500 base pairs in length. The nucleotide sequence of the major fimbrial structural gene was determined, and its transcription was shown to initiate in vitro 157 base pairs upstream of the translational start site. The predicted amino acid sequence for the fimbrial subunit comprised 202 residues, including a signal peptide of 22 amino acids. Despite similarities in the organization of the gene cluster, the nucleotide and the amino acid sequence of the major fimbrial subunit revealed little agreement with other known fimbrial subunit sequences.
Novel treatment options for juvenile idiopathic arthritis

The purpose of this review is to summarize the newer and possible future treatments for the arthritis and systemic features in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), including evidence supporting their efficacy and safety.
Distance-Independent Inactivation of an Enhancer by the Suppressor of Hairy-Wing DNA-Binding Protein of Drosophila

When the gypsy retrotransposon of Drosophila inserts between an enhancer and promoter it prevents the enhancer from activating transcription. Enhancers are blocked because the protein (SUHW) encoded by the suppressor of Hairy-wing [su(Hw)] gene binds to gypsy. For example, gypsy insertions in an 85 kilobase region between a wing margin-specific enhancer and the promoter in the cut gene cause a cut wing phenotype that is suppressed by su(Hw) mutations. A temperature-sensitive combination of mutant su(Hw) alleles was used to investigate the mechanism by which SUHW blocks the cut wing margin enhancer. By shifting from the nonpermissive to the permissive temperature and vice versa at various stages in development it was found that active SUHW is only required around pupariation when the wing margin enhancer is active to cause a cut wing phenotype. This was true whether gypsy was in the embryonic control region near the promoter, or in the late larval control region near the wing margin enhancer. These results indicate that SUHW must be active only when an enhancer is active to block the enhancer. Furthermore, the observations also indicate that enhancer-blocking by SUHW is reversible and that it occurs soon after binding of active SUHW to gypsy DNA. These results are consistent with models in which SUHW structurally interferes with enhancer-promoter interactions.
Low-Pass Filters Using Coaxial Transmission Lines as Elements

Transmission-line low-pass filter design is in large measure dependent upon the frequency band in which the filter is to be used. Certain approximations may be made at comparatively low frequencies which simplify the problem, refinements in the analysis having to be introduced as the filter pass band is extended to higher and higher frequencies. Four transmission-line low-pass filter designs are presented which specify the mechanical dimensions required for constructing low-pass transmission-line filters having pass bands with a width of as much as 4000 Mc.
Occurrence of zebra mussel ( Dreissena polymorpha ) in the oligohaline Hudson River, New York

Between May and October of 1992,Dreissena polymorpha invaded the oligohaline portion of the Hudson River Estuary to river kilometer (RKM) 65 (as measured upstream from the river mouth), recruiting onto suspended concrete cinder blocks and surviving 2–5‰ salinity.D. polymorpha was significantly most abundant at the most upstream sites examined, RKMs 112 and 99 (0–3‰), decreased significantly at each more downstream site, with none found at the most downstream site, RKM 49 (5–9‰). The size frequencies ofD. polymorpha at the most upstream sites were skewed toward the smallest identifiable size-class (2 mm <shell length≤3 mm). The abundance data suggest thatD. polymorpha passively dispersed downstream from established upstream source populations. By extending its range to the oligohaline zone of the Hudson River,D. polymorpha has encountered a novel suite of species with which to interact, several of which are also introduced species.Dreissena polymorpha now sympatrically occurs with other fouling organisms, including the introduced false dark mussel,Mytilopsis leucophaeata, the introduced hydroidCordylophora caspia, and the barnacleBalanus improvisus. D. polymorpha also established sympatry with a potential predator, the blue crab,Callinectes sapidus, and a potential macrophytic substrate, the introduced water chestnut,Trapa natans.
Why versus how often: Causal reasoning and the incidence of judgmental bias.

Abstract When faced with the task of making a prediction or estimating a likelihood, it is argued that people often reason about the presence or absence and relative strength of possible causal mechanisms for the production of relevant outcomes. In so doing people rely on “causal cues” or properties of an inferential problem which indicate the nature of the particular causal processes which give rise to specific outcomes. It is hypothesized that causal cues, precisely because they focus attention and thought on specific causal mechanisms, can obscure the relevance of mathematical laws of probability and lead to statistically biased judgment. Two experiments were conducted. Their results support the hypothesis, showing that the incidence of the conjunction fallacy and the base rate fallacy depend on task-specific cues for causal reasoning.
Identification of putative crustacean neuropeptides using in silico analyses of publicly accessible expressed sequence tags

The development of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for crustacean cDNA libraries and their deposition in publicly accessible databases has generated a rich resource for peptide discovery in this commercially and ecologically important arthropod subphylum. Here, we have conducted in silico searches of these databases for unannotated ESTs encoding putative neuropeptide precursors using the BLAST program tblastn, and have predicted the mature forms of the peptides encoded by them. The primary strategy used was to query the database with known decapod prepro-hormone sequences or, in some instances, insect precursor protein sequences. For neuropeptides for which no prepro-hormones are known, the peptides themselves were used as queries. For those peptides expected to originate from a common precursor, the individual sequences were combined, with each peptide flanked by a dibasic processing site and, if amidated, a glycine residue. Using these approaches, 13 unannotated ESTs encoding putative neuropeptide precursors were found. For example, using the first strategy, putative Marsupenaeus japonicus prepro-hormones encoding B-type allatostatins, neuropeptide F (NPF), and orcokinins were identified. Similarly, several Homarus americanus ESTs encoding putative orcokinin precursors were found. In addition to the decapod prepro-hormones, ESTs putatively encoding a NPF isoform and a red pigment concentrating hormone-like peptide were identified from the cladoceran Daphnia magna, as was one EST putatively encoding multiple tachykinin-related peptides from the isopod Eurydice pulchra. Using the second strategy, we identified a Carcinus maenas EST encoding HIGSLYRamide, a peptide recently discovered via mass spectrometry from Cancer productus. Using mass spectral methods we confirmed that this peptide is also present in Carcinus maenas. Collectively over 50 novel crustacean peptides were predicted from the identified ESTs, providing a strong foundation for future investigations of the evolution, regulation and function of these and related molecules in this arthropod taxon.
Potential for Infra-Nodal Heart Block and Cardiogenic Shock With Propofol Administration

We report a case of infra-nodal complete heart block and cardiogenic shock in a previously healthy 64-year-old man after administration of 180 mg of intravenous Propofol. Although bradycardia, hypotension, and heart block are commonly seen with propofol administration, such findings are transient and respond quickly to administration of vagolytic or sympathomimetic agents suggesting an AV nodal mechanism of heart block. Sustained left ventricular systolic dysfunction and cardiogenic shock by an alternative, non-autonomic mechanism has also been described in the setting of Propofol administration. Our case is the first to note sustained complete infra-nodal heart block in this setting. Early recognition of such a complication, restoration of atrio-ventricular (A-V) synchrony with dual chamber pacing, and aggressive circulatory support is essential in bridging such patients to recovery.
Sparse approximation based Gaussian mixture model approach for uncertainty propagation for nonlinear systems

A new method is proposed to determine the number of components that are sufficient to estimate the probability density function of a non-linear dynamic system using Gaussian sum filter. This method is based upon the combination of L1 and L2 norm. While L1 norm tries to shift the solution towards one of the vertices of the simplex, thus, minimizing the number of non-zero quantities, the L2 norm tries to reduce the error to as low as possible. Unlike previous methods, the method proposed in this paper is simple and computationally less expensive.
AVOIDANCE OF INGUINAL INCISION IN LAPAROSCOPICALLY CONFIRMED VANISHING TESTIS SYNDROME

Purpose: Nonpalpable testicles may be due to the vanishing testis syndrome, intra-abdominal position, examination obscured by obesity or scar tissue and rarely testicular agenesis. Laparoscopy is an excellent means of distinguishing these entities without the need for open abdominal exploration. We investigated whether laparoscopy affects the need for an inguinal incision and exploration when no testicle is palpable and the vas and vas deferens are visualized exiting the internal inguinal ring on laparoscopy.Materials and Methods: In 34 boys 6 to 18 months old (mean age 41) physical examination demonstrated a nonpalpable testicle, including on the right side in 12, on the left side in 17 and bilaterally in 5. The vanishing testis syndrome was diagnosed after laparoscopy when no testicle was palpable despite physical examination done with the patient under anesthesia, spermatic vessels were visualized exiting the internal inguinal ring or spermatic vessels were visualized in the abdomen with or without an ...
GABAergic modulation of primary gustatory afferent synaptic efficacy

Modulation of synaptic transmission at the primary sensory afferent synapse is well documented for the somatosensory and olfactory systems. The present study was undertaken to test whether GABA impacts on transmission of gustatory information at the primary afferent synapse. In goldfish, the vagal gustatory input terminates in a laminated structure, the vagal lobes, whose sensory layers are homologous to the mammalian nucleus of the solitary tract. We relied on immunoreactivity for the GABA-transporter, GAT-1, to determine the distribution of GABAergic synapses in the vagal lobe. Immunocytochemistry showed dense, punctate GAT-1 immunoreactivity coincident with the layers of termination of primary afferent fibers. The laminar nature and polarized dendritic structure of the vagal lobe make it amenable to an in vitro slice preparation to study early synaptic events in the transmission of gustatory input. Electrical stimulation of the gustatory nerves in vitro produces synaptic field potentials (fEPSPs) predominantly mediated by ionotropic glutamate receptors. Bath application of either the GABAA receptor agonist muscimol or the GABAB receptor agonist baclofen caused a nearly complete suppression of the primary fEPSP. Coapplication of the appropriate GABAA or GABAB receptor antagonist bicuculline or CGP-55845 significantly reversed the effects of the agonists. These data indicate that GABAergic terminals situated in proximity to primary gustatory afferent terminals can modulate primary afferent input via both GABAA and GABAB receptors. The mechanism of action of GABAB receptors suggests a presynaptic locus of action for that receptor. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Neurobiol 52: 133–143, 2002
Benefits of short-term dietary restriction in mammals

Dietary or calorie restriction (DR, CR), defined as reduced food intake without malnutrition, imparts many benefits in model organisms. Extended longevity is the most popularized benefit but the least clinically relevant due to the requirement for long-term food restriction. DR also promotes stress resistance and metabolic fitness. Emerging data in experimental models and in humans indicate that these benefits occur rapidly upon initiation of DR, suggesting potential clinical relevance. Here we review data on the ability of short-term DR to induce beneficial effects on clinically relevant endpoints including surgical stress, inflammation, chemotherapy and insulin resistance. The encouraging results obtained in these preclinical and clinical studies, and the general lack of mechanistic understanding, both strongly suggest the need for further research in this emerging area.
Effects of Instruction on Communication Apprehension and Communication Competence

In this study, we assessed how classroom instruction might result in changes in students' communication competence (CC) and communication apprehension (CA). Students enrolled in a basic communication class completed the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension (PRCA) and the Self‐Perception of Communication Competence (SPCC) Scale at the beginning and end of a semester. Scores on the PRCA and SPCC negatively correlated with each other at Time 7 and Time 2. CC increased and CA decreased from Time 1 to Time 2. CC with strangers increased and CA in groups decreased from Time 1 to Time 2. High apprehensive and low competence students experienced greater changes in their respective PRCA and SPCC scores than did their counterparts. Students who completed the course and those who dropped out differed on dyadic SPCC and total PRCA. We discussed implications of the findings.
Lower dmensionality and localization

Abstract A survey is given of the theory of localization of electrons in random one- and two-dimensional systems. The scaling theory and other perturbation theory approaches are considered. The application of the theory to conduction in thin films, inversion layers, and thin wires is surveyed. There is a brief discussion of two-dimensional electrons in strong magnetic fields. The effect of interactions on the electrons is discussed.
Characterization of the nonvolatile compounds formed during the thermal oxidation of 1-linoleyl-2,3 distearin: I. The nonacidic fraction

A compound isolated from the nonacidic fraction of thermally oxidized 1-linoleyl-2,3-distearin was shown to be 18-pentatriacontanone. A combination of schemical and instrumental analyses was used to determine the structure.
Randomized controlled trial of a web-delivered personalized normative feedback intervention to reduce alcohol-related risky sexual behavior among college students.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of personalized normative feedback (PNF) on college student alcohol-related risky sexual behavior (RSB). METHOD: In a randomized controlled trial, 480 (57.6% female) sexually active college students were stratified by gender and level of drinking and randomly assigned to an alcohol-only intervention, an alcohol-related RSB-only intervention, a combined alcohol and alcohol-related RSB intervention, or control. All assessment and intervention procedures were Web-based. RESULTS: Results indicated a significant reduction in drinking outcomes for the alcohol only and the combined alcohol and alcohol-related RSB interventions relative to control. Findings further demonstrated a significant reduction in alcohol-related RSB outcomes for the alcohol-related RSB only and the combined alcohol and alcohol-related RSB interventions relative to control. There were no significant intervention effects on alcohol-related negative consequences. These findings demonstrate that the combined alcohol and alcohol-related RSB intervention was the only intervention successful at reducing both drinking and alcohol-related RSB outcomes relative to control. There were no significant differences when comparing the combined alcohol and alcohol-related RSB intervention to the alcohol-only intervention or the alcohol-related RSB-only intervention. Finally, results suggested that the intervention effects on high-risk behaviors were mediated by reductions in descriptive normative perceptions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that PNF specific to drinking in sexual situations was needed to reduce alcohol-related RSB. Furthermore, this study highlights the potential utility of a brief intervention that can be delivered via the Internet to reduce high-risk drinking and alcohol-related RSB among college students. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved). Language: en
TEACHING PERFORMANCE CRITERION DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SCALING: TEACHER-STUDENT POINTS-OF-VIEW ANALYSIS

Summary.-30 operational tasks of psychology professors were scaled by the 14 students and 10 of the 14 faculty of the same deparunent using an adaptation of the pair comparisons method. The stimuli, in the form of operational statements of classroom teacher activities, were compared two at a time by Ss who made judgments in terms of the amount of similarity between activities. These judgments were then transformed into correlation coefficients and factor analysed. Factorial congruence between faculty and student judgments was demonstrated. The classroom activities of the psychology professors at the urban college may be described in terms of 8 basic dimensions: "Knowledge Dissemination." "Teacher Dynamism," "Classroom Administration," "Control of Student Behavior," "Environmental Regulation," "Advisory Guidance," "Information Dissemination," and "Teacher-Student Feedback."
Estimates for Dimensions of Spaces of Siegel Modular Cusp Forms

Every Siegel modular form has a Fourier-Jacobi expansion. This paper provides various sets of Fourier coefficients whose vanishing implies that the associated cusp form is identically zero. We call such setsestimates because in the Fourier series case, an upper bound for the dimension of the vector space of cusp forms is provided by the cardinality of the set. Our general estimates have, among others, those estimates of Siegel and Eichler as corollaries. In particular, one new corollary of our general estimates appears to be superior for computational purposes to all other known estimates. To illustrate the use of this corollary, we prove the known result that the theta series of the latticesD 16 + andE 8 ⊕E 8 are the same in degreen = 3 by computing just one Fourier coefficient. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. 11F46 (11F30, 11F27).
“Take This Child and Suckle It for Me”: Wet Nurses and Resistance in Ancient Israel:

Using Exodus 2 and other references to wet nurses in the Hebrew Bible as a springboard, this article examines the socio-historical conditions of free and enslaved wet nurses in antiquity through a cross-cultural investigation of Graeco-Roman and rabbinic legal and cultural texts. It then analyzes Exodus 2as an example of resistance literature during the Persian period to support anti-colonial resistance within the Jewish community in Yehud against Persian control. The wet nurse represents the resistance of the enslaved class to oppression and genocide.
Chemical characterization of pyridoxalated hemoglobin polyoxyethylene conjugate.

Pyridoxalated hemoglobin polyoxyethylene conjugate (PHP) was developed in the 1980s as an oxygen carrier and is now under development for treatment of nitric oxide-dependent, volume refractory shock. PHP is made by derivatizing human stroma-free hemoglobin with pyridoxal-5-phosphate and polyoxyethylene (POE). A unique aspect of using POE for modification is that unlike its mono-methoxy polyethylene glycol (PEG) relatives, POE is bifunctional. The result of derivatization of stroma-free hemoglobin is a complex mixture of modified hemoglobin and other red cell proteins. The molecular weight profile, based on size exclusion chromatography, is bimodal and has a number average molecular weight of approximately 105 000 and a weight average molecular weight of approximately 187 000. The mixture of hemoglobin molecules has on average 3.3 pyridoxal and 5.0 polyoxyethylene units per tetramer. A portion of the tetramers are linked by POE crosslinks. The hemoglobin tetramers retain their ability to dissociate into dimer pairs and only a small percentage of the dimer pairs are not modified with POE. The SDS-PAGE profile exhibits the ladder-like appearance commonly associated with polyethylene glycol-modified proteins. The isoelectric focusing profile is broad, demonstrating a pI range of 5.0–6.5. The hydrodynamic size of PHP was determined to be approximately 7.2 nm by dynamic light scattering. Soluble red blood cell proteins, such as catalase, superoxide dismutase, and carbonic anhydrase, are present in PHP and are also modified by POE.
From “All of Me” to “All of You” Listening for Aura

In this essay, I argue for a hearing of and listening for Benjamin’s concept of aura as an attributed and aural quality that is situated in the various intertwining contexts of performers, performa...
Effect of ABO blood group on the collagen-binding assay for von Willebrand factor

von Willebrand disease (VWD) is the most common congenital bleeding disorder and is caused by a quantitative or qualitative abnormality of von Willebrand factor (VWF). Ristocetin cofactor (RCoF) assay is used to evaluate VWF activity, but it does not assess collagen-binding activity. Normal values of RCoF and VWF antigen vary with ABO blood group type. The collagen-binding assay (CBA) measures VWF activity; however, its relationship with ABO blood group has not been completely explored. We performed CBA on plasma samples from 131 healthy volunteers to determine if CBA values correlated with blood type. Individuals with blood group O had a mean CBA value of 94 ± 28%, which was significantly different from the mean of 117 ± 33% in persons with non-O blood groups (P = 0.0001). Thus, CBA values appear to correlate with ABO blood type in a manner similar to RCoF. Am. J. Hematol. 71:229–231, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.