cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Progesterone signaling in myometrial cells: role in human pregnancy and parturition

The steroid hormone, progesterone, is necessary for the establishment, maintenance and success of pregnancy. Progesterone maintains pregnancy mainly by promoting myometrial relaxation. This occurs via its binding with the nuclear progesterone receptor (PR) isoforms PR-A and PR-B in uterine myometrial cells. Recent studies suggest that for most of pregnancy progesterone/PR signaling blocks labor by inhibiting myometrial cell responsiveness to pro-inflammatory stimuli (i.e. an anti-inflammatory effect). Human parturition involves a functional progesterone withdrawal whereby myometrial cell progesterone-PR anti-inflammatory activity is lost due to changes in PR transcriptional activity. Recent data suggest that parturition involves specific changes in myometrial cell PR-A activity which abrogates the progesterone-PR anti-inflammatory effects and is induced in myometrial cells when the extent of pro-inflammatory stimuli exceeds a threshold level. This model explains how stress/inflammation induces term and preterm parturition and is a plausible target for therapies to prevent preterm birth.
Recreational cannabis use impairs driving performance in the absence of acute intoxication.

Abstract Background Across the nation, growing numbers of individuals are exploring the use of cannabis for medical or recreational purposes, and the proportion of cannabis-positive drivers involved in fatal crashes increased from 8 percent in 2013 to 17 percent in 2014, raising concerns about the impact of cannabis use on driving. Previous studies have demonstrated that cannabis use is associated with impaired driving performance, but thus far, research has primarily focused on the effects of acute intoxication. Methods The current study assessed the potential impact of cannabis use on driving performance using a customized driving simulator in non-intoxicated, heavy, recreational cannabis users and healthy controls (HCs) without a history of cannabis use. Results Overall, cannabis users demonstrated impaired driving relative to HC participants with increased accidents, speed, and lateral movement, and reduced rule-following. Interestingly, however, when cannabis users were divided into groups based on age of onset of regular cannabis use, significant driving impairment was detected and completely localized to those with early onset (onset before age 16) relative to the late onset group (onset ≥16 years old). Further, covariate analyses suggest that impulsivity had a significant impact on performance differences. Conclusions Chronic, heavy, recreational cannabis use was associated with worse driving performance in non-intoxicated drivers, and earlier onset of use was associated with greater impairment. These results may be related to other factors associated with early exposure such as increased impulsivity.
Indigenous peoples and the California gold rush: labour, violence and contention in the formation of a settler colonial state

ABSTRACTThe California gold rush era is most often remembered for the thousands of immigrants who traversed oceans and continents for a chance at quick wealth. Often lost in these narratives are th...
Melatonin Use in Hospitalized Children for Non‐Anesthetic Indications: A Systematic Review

Melatonin, a potent free radical scavenger, plays an important role in homeostasis of cell and organ physiology. The increased demand and synthesis from the pineal gland during times of oxidative stress suggests a potential benefit of melatonin supplementation during hospitalization for acute illness. Yet, the paucity of clinical studies for non-anesthetic-associated indications in pediatric populations hampers the safe, effective, and consistent use of melatonin. The objective of this study was to systematically review published studies of melatonin use for non-sedative and non-analgesic indications in hospitalized pediatric patients. We conducted a search of PubMed, EMBASE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Web of Science, and Scopus databases for articles on the use of melatonin for pediatric patients in a hospital setting. Thirteen eligible studies, all in neonates, were identified. Data elements extracted included study design, number of study subjects, indication for melatonin therapy, and melatonin regimen (formulation, dosage, and duration). Because study methodologies were very heterogeneous, a quantitative synthesis of the published findings was not possible. The identified studies were therefore categorized by the indication of melatonin (adjuvant-antioxidant or anti-inflammatory therapy) in the following specific disease states: (i) acute infections, (ii) respiratory distress syndrome, (iii) neurologic injury, and (iv) jaundice. The current data suggest that melatonin is safe for use in hospitalized neonates. Melatonin may be beneficial for reducing inflammatory markers in neonatal patients with disease states and clinical sequelae that are associated with increased inflammation and oxidative stress. Melatonin, in conjunction with phototherapy, is not superior to use of vitamin D with phototherapy for treatment of neonatal jaundice. However, studies in other pediatric populations are needed given widespread use across clinical inpatient settings.
Post-traumatic superior oblique tendon nodule associated with acquired Brown syndrome

A 67-year-old woman presented with a left hypotropia and eye pain after a traumatic fall. She had multiple left orbital wall fractures and an acquired limitation to elevation in all gazes, worse in adduction, suggestive of Brown syndrome. During strabismus surgery, a white nodule on the superior oblique tendon was identified and excised. Histopathology of the nodule revealed densely aggregated inflamed fibrovascular and fibrocollagenous scar tissue. Superior oblique rupture with spontaneous reparative reapproximation resulting in nodular formation is uncommon. We speculate that resulting tendon shortening may have contributed to the apparent Brown syndrome in this patient.
Log Discovery for Troubleshooting Open Distributed Systems with TLQ

Troubleshooting a distributed system can be incredibly difficult. It is rarely feasible to expect a user to know the fine-grained interactions between their system and the environment configuration of each machine used in the system. Because of this, work can grind to a halt when a seemingly trivial detail changes. To address this, there is a plethora of state-of-the-art log analysis tools, debuggers, and visualization suites. However, a user may be executing in an open distributed system where the placement of their components are not known before runtime. This makes the process of tracking debug logs almost as difficult as troubleshooting the failures these logs have recorded because the location of those logs is usually not transparent to the user (and by association the troubleshooting tools they are using). We present TLQ, a framework designed from first principles for log discovery to enable troubleshooting of open distributed systems. TLQconsists of a querying client and a set of servers which track relevant debug logs spread across an open distributed system. Through a series of examples, we demonstrate how TLQenables users to discover the locations of their system’s debug logs and in turn use well-defined troubleshooting tools upon those logs in a distributed fashion. Both of these tasks were previously impractical to ask of an open distributed system without significant a priori knowledge. We also concretely verify TLQ’s effectiveness by way of a production system: a biodiversity scientific workflow. We note the potential storage and performance overheads of TLQcompared to a centralized, closed system approach.
Anisotropic Coarse-Grained Model for Conjugated Polymers: Investigations into Solution Morphologies

The optoelectronic properties of conjugated polymers are dictated by the interplay of multiscale structural features, including intrachain dihedrals, interchain π–π stacking, and the complex mesosc...
William Pincus: A Life in Service -- Government, Philanthropy & Legal Education

[eThis article memorializes the life and accomplishments of William “Bill” Pincus. The article brings the reader through Mr. Pincus’s career accomplishments, from his humble beginnings in New York City, to his impressive career in civil service, culminating in his work with the Ford Foundation and the Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility (CLEPR), where he spearheaded reforms in legal education. Mr. Pincus’s efforts were critical in establishing clinical legal education, drawing from his experiences both in law and government. Much of this article is derived from interviews of Mr. Pincus, conducted by the author, and provides an unprecedented insight into the life of a devoted and influential promoter of clinical legal education.nter Abstract Body]
“We’re More than Cows and Plows”: Preservice Agriculture Teachers Use Young Adult Literature to Construct Professional Identities

The purpose of this collective case study was to explore the impact of using young adult literature in a content area literacy course to leverage the development of professional identities in prese...
AUSTWICKIA CHELONAE IN A WILD GOPHER TORTOISE (GOPHERUS POLYPHEMUS) AND EVIDENCE OF POSITIVE SELECTION ON THE DIPHTHERIA-LIKE TOXIN GENE.

Austwickia (Dermatophilus) chelonae is a filamentous, gram-positive Actinobacteria in the Dermatophilaceae family. It has caused fatal granulomatous disease in diverse captive reptile species on three continents, but its presence in wild or free-ranging populations was unknown. An adult female gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) was presented euhydrated, but cachectic and infested with ticks, with two firm, encapsulated masses over the cranioventral neck and right stifle. The tortoise had moderate nonregenerative anemia and evidence of inflammation; plasma biochemistry data was within normal limits. Fine needle aspirate of the neck lesion revealed abundant necrosis and aggregates of cocci. Computed tomography delineated the masses and revealed an additional mass adjacent to the left zygomatic bone. After surgical excision, histology identified chronic granulomas with intralesional filamentous bacteria. Pan-bacterial 16S rRNA PCR and sequencing of the masses identified A. chelonae. Despite treatment with oxytetracycline and ceftazidime, the tortoise deteriorated and was euthanatized. An esophageal lesion consistent with A. chelonae was seen on postmortem examination, although it was determined that the tortoise ultimately succumbed to fungal pneumonia caused by Metarhizium robertsi, an entomopathogenic biotoxin sprayed as insect control. This case reveals A. chelonae is present in free-ranging chelonians in North America. This organism produces a toxin gene similar to diphtheria toxin, one of the most potent known biotoxins, which has not been previously identified outside the genus Corynebacterium. Novel PCR primers were designed for the toxin and rpoB genes, which were amplified and sequenced from two cases and compared with two available genomes. Selection analysis revealed that the toxin gene is under positive selection, which implies it interacts significantly with the immune system, making it a good candidate for immunodiagnostic test development.
The role of perspective in responding to property misconceptions

In order to adequately respond to misconceptions involving an object's properties, we must have a context-sensitive method for determining object similarity. Such a method is introduced here. Some of the necessary contextual information is captured by a new notion of object perspective. It is shown how object perspective can be used to account for different responses to a given misconception in different contexts.
State-dependent regulation of neuronal excitability by dopamine

Since the discovery that the loss of the dopaminergic innervation of the striatum resulted in Parkinson's disease, physiologists have attempted to understand the role of dopamine on striatal activity. Hypotheses relying upon concepts derived from studies of fast synaptic transmission have consistently failed to explain the actions of dopamine or other receptors coupled to G-proteins which modulate the properties of voltage-dependent ionic conductances responsible for synaptic integration and spike activity. Recently, patch clamp studies have revealed that in medium spiny striatal neurons dopamine D1-class receptors modulate voltage-dependent Na+, K+ and Ca2+ channels. From a consideration of the biophysical properties of these channels and the state transitions that medium spiny neurons undergo while responding to cortical input, a novel picture of dopamine's actions is beginning to emerge. Our results and those of others suggest that D2-class receptors serve to make the transition to the depolarized 'upstate' from the hyperpolarized 'downstate' more probable in response to cortical input. But, once the transition has occurred, the alteration in excitability should be short-lived unless the neuron has recently been active. This state-dependent modulation provides a mechanism by which dopamine could shape global striatal activity governing the execution of motor behaviors.
Lecture Notes in Microeconomic Theory

A set of lecture notes for the first quarter of a graduate microeconomics class, based on classes taught by the author at Tel Aviv, Princeton, and New York Universities.
Surgery combined with muscle therapy for dyspareunia from vulvar vestibulitis: an observational study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the dual importance of treating vestibule allodynia and pelvic floor myalgia in correcting dyspareunia associated with severe vulvar vestibulitis. STUDY DESIGN: In this observational study, 111 women were treated by modified superficial vestibulectomy and were evaluated for referral to physical therapists for pelvic floor myalgia. They were followed with interval repeat examinations. Later cohort assessment was by patient questionnaire surveys. Data from pelvic floor muscle examinations and physical therapy referrals were added by retrospective chart review. Primary outcomes were swab touch sensitivity and dyspareunia. RESULTS: Eighty-five percent of subjects ultimately had nontender vestibule examinations postoperatively. Fewer, numbering 64%, reported resolution of dyspareunia, 24% had less dyspareunia, 9% were no better, and 3% reported they were worse. Fifty percent of those with continued dyspareunia had no remaining vestibulitis, but had tight or tender pelvic muscles. Failure of surgery and physical therapy to correct dyspareunia related significantly to length of symptoms before therapy (p = 0.02). Follow-up averaged 3.7 years, with a range of 0.25-14. CONCLUSION: Superficial surgery can correct vulvar vestibulitis, but without treatment for pelvic floor myalgia, women may continue to have dyspareunia. Physical therapy is an important adjunct to achieve comfort.
Application of the Ronchi Ruling Beam Profiling Method to Axially Symmetric Laser Beams

The application of the Ronchi ruling beam characterization method to axially symmetric optical beams is analyzed. Specific results are derived for the Airy and focused annulus diffraction patterns. Plots of the ratio of minimum to maximum transmitted optical power versus the first null radius of the beam functions show that for the Airy pattern and other focused annuli with obscuration ratios smaller than approximately 0.30, the method should be just as useful as with Gaussian beams.
A note on the triple difference in economic models

This article shows when a triple difference strategy using an imperfect control category improves on the double difference strategy for estimating an average treatment effect. For example, a product is treated in one place and not another leading to a double difference strategy. When does comparison with an untreated product in triple difference strategy improve accuracy?
DyDa: Dynamic Data Warehouse Maintenance in a Fully Concurrent Environment

Data warehouses (DW) are an emerging technology to support high-level decision making by gathering information from several distributed information sources (ISs) into one materialized repository. In dynamic environments such as the web, DWs must be maintained in order to stay up-to-date. Recent maintenance algorithms tackle this problem of DW management under concurrent data updates (DU), whereas the EVE system is the first to handle (non-concurrent schema changes) (SC) of ISs. However, the concurrency of schema changes by different ISs as well as the concurrency of interleaved SC and DU still remain unexplored problems. In this paper, we propose a solution framework called DyDa that successfully addresses both problems. The DyDa framework detects concurrent SCs by the broken query scheme and conflicting concurrent DUs by a local timestamp scheme. The two-layered architecture of the DyDa framework separates the concerns for concurrent DU and concurrent SC handling without imposing any restrictions on the autonomy nor on the concurrent execution of the ISs. This DyDa solution is currently being implemented within the EVE data warehousing system.
Evaluation of head pose estimation for studio data

This paper introduces our head pose estimation system that localizes nose-tip of the faces and estimate head poses in studio quality pictures. After the nose-tip in the training data are manually labeled, the appearance variation caused by head pose changes is characterized by tensor model. Given images with unknown head pose and nose-tip location, the nose-tip of the face is localized in a coarse-to-fine fashion, and the head pose is estimated simultaneously by the head pose tensor model. The image patches at the localized nose tips are then cropped and sent to two other head pose estimators based on LEA and PCA techniques. We evaluated our system on the Pointing'04 head pose image database. With the nose-tip location known, our head pose estimators can achieve 94 - 96% head pose classification accuracy(within ±15°). With nose-tip unknown, we achieves 85% nose-tip localization accuracy (within 3 pixels from the ground truth), and 81 - 84% head pose classification accuracy(within ±15°).
Late-Time Cosmological Phase Transitions

It is shown that the potential galaxy formation and large-scale structure problems of (1) objects existing at high redshifts (Z ⋧ 5), (2) structures existing on scales of 100Mpc as well as velocity flows on such scales, and (3) minimal microwave anisotropies \( \frac{{\Delta T}}{T} \lesssim {10^{ - 5}} \) can be solved if the seeds needed to generate structure form in a vacuum phase transition after decoupling. It is argued that the basic physics of such a phase transition is no more exotic than that utilized in the more traditional GUT scale phase transitions, and that, just as in the GUT case, siginificant random gaussian fluctuations and/or topological defects can form. Scale lengths of ∼100Mpc for large-scale structure as well as ∼1Mpc for galaxy formation occur naturally. Possible support for new physics that might be associated with such a late-time transition comes from the preliminary results of the SAGE solar neutrino experiment, implying neutrino flavor mixing with values similar to those required for a late-time transition. It is also noted that a see-saw model for the neutrino masses might also imply a tau neutrino mass that is an ideal hot dark matter candidate. However, in general either hot or cold dark matter can be consistent with a late-time transition.
Efficiency and Foreclosure Effects of All-Units Discounts: Empirical Evidence

We study an All-Units Discount, in which a downstream firm pays a linear wholesale price up to a quantity threshold, beyond which a discount applies to all future and previous units. Such contracts, which are common in many industries, potentially have both efficiency and foreclosure effects. We estimate a structural model of demand and retailer effort to quantify the efficiency gains induced by the contracts, and to identify cases in which the contract results in either efficient or inefficient exclusion of competing products. We show how the contract allocates the cost of a stock-out between upstream and downstream firms, and find evidence that the contract induces inefficient exclusion in the confection industry. Finally, we point out that the impact of upstream mergers in many markets is likely to be felt not through the price in the final-goods market, but rather in the wholesale market. We examine the impact of various upstream mergers on the willingness of the dominant firm to offer rebate contracts, and the impact that the rebate contracts have on social welfare.
Recent topographic evolution and erosion of the deglaciated Washington Cascades inferred from a stochastic landscape evolution model

In this study, we model postglacial surface processes and examine the evolution of the topography and denudation rates within the deglaciated Washington Cascades to understand the controls on and time scales of landscape response to changes in the surface process regime after deglaciation. The postglacial adjustment of this landscape is modeled using a geomorphic-transport-law-based numerical model that includes processes of river incision, hillslope diffusion, and stochastic landslides. The surface lowering due to landslides is parameterized using a physically based slope stability model coupled to a stochastic model of the generation of landslides. The model parameters of river incision and stochastic landslides are calibrated based on the rates and distribution of thousand-year-time scale denudation rates measured from cosmogenic 10Be isotopes. The probability distributions of those model parameters calculated based on a Bayesian inversion scheme show comparable ranges from previous studies in similar rock types and climatic conditions. The magnitude of landslide denudation rates is determined by failure density (similar to landslide frequency), whereas precipitation and slopes affect the spatial variation in landslide denudation rates. Simulation results show that postglacial denudation rates decay over time and take longer than 100 kyr to reach time-invariant rates. Over time, the landslides in the model consume the steep slopes characteristic of deglaciated landscapes. This response time scale is on the order of or longer than glacial/interglacial cycles, suggesting that frequent climatic perturbations during the Quaternary may produce a significant and prolonged impact on denudation and topography.
Localization of osteoid osteomas--use of radionuclide scanning and autoimaging in identifying the nidus.

Surgical excision of osteoid osteomas is curative, but intraoperative localization and pathologic identification in submitted fragments may be difficult. We used preoperative /sup 99m/Tc methylene diphosphonate injection and intraoperative probing to localize the nidus of three clinically suspected cases of osteoid osteoma. Then in the pathology department, fine grain specimen x-rays and specimen autoimaging on undeveloped film were utilized. In all cases, technetium radioactivity localized within the lesion. Although the nidus was identified by fine grain specimen x-rays in only one case, the subsequent histologically proved osteoid osteoma corresponded in all cases to the fragment with the most intense autoimaging. We conclude that isotope scanning is effective in localizing osteoid osteomas at surgery, and autoimaging is effective in identifying the nidus itself by the pathologist.
A Heterogeneous High-Dimensional Approximate Nearest Neighbor Algorithm

We consider the problem of finding high-dimensional approximate nearest neighbors. We introduce an old style probabilistic formulation instead of the more general locality sensitive hashing (LSH) formulation, and show that at least for sparse problems it recognizes much more efficient algorithms than the sparseness destroying LSH random projections. Efficient algorithms for homogeneous (all coordinates have the same probability distribution) problems are well known, the most famous reference being the work by Broder in 1998. The main theme of this paper is to find its “best” generalization to heterogeneous (different coordinate probabilities) problems. We find a practical algorithm which is asymptotically best in a wide natural class of algorithms. Readers interested in the more complicated very best (at least up to date) can look up our previous work in 2010. The analysis of our algorithms reveals that its complexity is governed by an information like function, which we call “small leaves bucketing forest information.” Any doubts whether it is “information” are dispelled by the aforementioned work.
Hippocampus-Specific fMRI group activation analysis with continuous m-reps

A new approach to group activation analysis in fMRI studies that test hypotheses focused on specific brain structures is presented and used to analyze hippocampal activation in a visual scene encoding study. The approach leverages the cm-rep method [10] to normalize hippocampal anatomy and project intra-subject hippocampal activation maps into a common reference space, eliminating normalization errors inherent in whole-brain approaches and guaranteeing that peaks detected in the random effects activation map are indeed associated with the hippocampus. When applied to real fMRI data, the method detects more significant hippocampal activation than the established whole-brain method.
Some like it healthy: demand for functional products in the Italian yogurt market

Despite the significant interest shown by academics as to investigating the market of functional foods, little empirical research has used market data to infer on the characteristics of functional foods’ consumers via demand analysis. Using a discrete choice (nested-logit) model and scanner data of yogurt purchases in the Italian market, this paper analyzes the demand for both conventional and functional yogurts assessing also the role of health-related demographics as shifters. The empirical results show that, in the category analyzed, while higher prices are still a deterrent for the success of some functional products, drinkable functional yogurts appear successfully differentiated, benefitting from a relatively low own-price elasticity of demand. The results suggest also that health-related consumers’ characteristics play an important role in shifting the demand for yogurts (both conventional and functional), indicating that, consistently with previous findings, consumers aiming to improve (or maintain) their health status are more inclined to buy functional products than conventional ones.
Wrappers to the Rescue

Wrappers are mechanisms for introducing new behavior that is executed before and/or after, and perhaps even in lieu of, an existing method. This paper examines several ways to implement wrappers in Smalltalk, and compares their performance. Smalltalk programmers often use Smalltalk's lookup failure mechanism to customize method lookup. Our focus is different. Rather than changing the method lookup process, we modify the method objects that the lookup process returns. We call these objects method wrappers. We have used method wrappers to construct several program analysis tools: a coverage tool, a class collaboration tool, and an interaction diagramming tool. We also show how we used method wrappers to construct several extensions to Smalltalk: synchronized methods, assertions, and multimethods. Wrappers are relatively easy to build in Smalltalk because it was designed with reflective facilities that allow programmers to intervene in the lookup process. Other languages differ in the degree to which they can accommodate change. Our experience testifies to the value, power, and utility of openness.
Three recitations on holonomic systems and hypergeometric series

Abstract These "recitations" were given in the 24th session of the "Seminaire Lotharingien", held in the Spring of 1990, somewhere in the Vosges mountains. I thank Dominique Foata for inviting me, and letting me sample one of these charming seminars which preserve the spirit that Oberwolfach lost a long time ago. I would like to thank Peter Paule and Voker Strehl for the invitation to include them in this special issue of the JSC, and for many helpful comments.
Sensitivity Analysis in Observational Studies

In an observational study, subjects are not randomly assigned to treatment or control, as they would be in a controlled clinical trial. As a consequence, differing outcomes in treated and control groups may not reflect effects of the treatment, but rather some way the groups were not comparable prior to treatment, that is, some hidden bias. A sensitivity analysis appraises how the conclusions of a study might be altered by hidden biases of various magnitudes. Keywords: confounding; hidden bias; nonrandomized experiment; observational study; sensitivity analysis; treatment effects; unobserved bias
Vortex Stability in a Trapped Bose Condensate

A vortex in a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate can experience at least two Types of instabilities. (1). Macroscopic hydrodynamic motion of the vortex core relative to the center of mass of the condensate requires some process to dissipate energy. (2). Microscopic small-amplitude normal modes can also induce an instability. In one specific example, the vortex core again moves relative to the overall center of mass, suggesting that there may be only a single physical mechanism.
Mechanisms in the glucansucrase synthesis of polysaccharides and oligosaccharides from sucrose.

Publisher Summary This chapter examines the mechanisms involved in the glucansucrase synthesis of polysaccharides and oligosaccharides from sucrose. The enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of glucans from sucrose are secreted into the culture medium. The enzymes produced by Leuc. mesenteroides strains are inducible by sucrose, which is absolutely required in the culture media for their production. The glucansucrases use sucrose as a high-energy glucosyl donor for polysaccharide and oligosaccharide syntheses. For glucan synthesis, the energy of the glucose glycosidic linkage of sucrose must be conserved until the glucose is incorporated into the polysaccharide. In addition, the glucose moiety must be manipulated so that the enzyme can perform its catalytic function of synthesizing a glycosidic bond. This can be achieved by the transfer of the glucose moiety of sucrose to the enzyme with the formation of a covalent, high-energy-enzyme intermediate. The two-site insertion mechanism for the de Novo synthesis of polysaccharide by the addition of glucose to the reducing end is also elaborated in the chapter.
A new algorithm for sampling CSP solutions uniformly at random

The paper presents a method for generating solutions of a constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) uniformly at random. Our method relies on expressing the constraint network as a uniform probability distribution over its solutions and then sampling from the distribution using state-of-the-art probabilistic sampling schemes. To speed up the rate at which random solutions are generated, we augment our sampling schemes with pruning techniques used successfully in constraint satisfaction search algorithms such as conflict-directed back-jumping and no-good learning.
Geometry and Texture from Thousands of Images

This paper presents a novel method for automatically recovering dense surface patches using large sets (1000’s) of calibrated images taken from arbitrary positions within the scene. Physical instruments, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), inertial sensors, and inclinometers, are used to estimate the position and orientation of each image. Some of the most important characteristics of our approach are that it: 1) uses and refines noisy calibration estimates; 2) compensates for large variations in illumination; 3) tolerates significant soft occlusion (e.g. tree branches); and 4) associates, at a fundamental level, an estimated normal (eliminating the frontal-planar assumption) and texture with each surface patch.
Perturbation of plane curves and sequences of integers

(The measurability of M.f(x) is discussed in the appendix.) Let p > 1. We say that F differentiates LtPo,. if and only if for f Lto,.(2) we have
The nature of comets.

This paper quickly reviews the general evidence concerning the orbits of comets, relative “ages”, the relationship with the Oort cloud, non-gravitational forces, sizes, and rotation of the nuclei. Following a brief discussion of the composition of the nuclei, some of the evidence regarding homogeneity and possible development into earth-crossing asteroids is presented. The latter touches on the question whether we have in the laboratory any samples of comets other than the Brownlee particles. The discussion then turns to problems of the place and nature of origin, particularly possible direct contributions from the interstellar medium and evidence for supernova contributions (from meteoritic studies) as relevant to comet structure and activity. The discussion next concerns the chemical and physical structure, particularly the evidence for amorphous ices and cosmic-ray damage in new comets. Review of more evidence regarding bursts, splitting, jets, halos, dust and the basic structure of comets will center around the question of radioactive heating, possible exothermic reactions, and internal structure. This is relevant to suggestions concerning the development of life forms in comets in addition to the possible contribution of volatiles to the Earth and terrestrial planets by comets.
Pure Extensions of Locally Compact Abelian Groups.

In this paper, we study the group Pext(C, A) for locally compact abelian (LCA) groups A and C. Sufficient conditions are established for Pext(C, A) to coincide with the first Ulm subgroup of Ext(C, A). Some structural information on pure injectives in the category of LCA groups is obtained. Letting E denote the class of LCA groups which can be written as the topological direct sum of a compactly generated group and a discrete group, we determine the groups G in © which are pure injective in the category of LCA groups. Finally we describe those groups G in © such that every pure extension of G by a group in E splits and obtain a corresponding dual result.
Digital Processing and Information Technology in Imaging

First page of article Keywords: digital processing and information technology in imaging; teleradiology and telemedicine
Entity workspace: an evidence file that aids memory, inference, and reading

An intelligence analyst often needs to keep track of more facts than can be held in human memory. As a result, analysts use a notebook or evidence file to record facts learned so far. In practice, the evidence file is often an electronic document into which text snippets and hand-typed notes are placed. While this kind of evidence file is easy to read and edit, it provides little help for making sense of the captured information. We describe Entity Workspace, a tool designed to be used in place of a traditional evidence file. Entity Workspace combines user interface and entity extraction technologies to build up an explicit model of important entities (people, places, organizations, phone numbers, etc.) and their relationships. Using this model, it helps the analyst find and re-find facts rapidly, notice connections between entities, and identify good documents and entities to explore next.
Component-based active appearance models for face modelling

The Active Appearance Model (AAM) is a powerful tool for modelling a class of objects such as faces. However, it is common to see a far from optimal local alignment when attempting to model a face that is quite different from training faces. In this paper, we present a novel component-based AAM algorithm. By modelling three components inside the face area, then combining them with a global AAM, face alignment achieves both local as well as global optimality. We also utilize local projection models to locate face contour points. Compared to the original AAM, our experiment shows that this new algorithm is more accurate in shape localization as the decoupling allows more flexibility. Its insensitivity to different face background patterns is also clearly manifested.
Survey of the ULF wave Poynting vector near the Earth's magnetic equatorial plane

[1] Ultralow frequency (ULF) waves transfer energy in the Earth's magnetosphere through a variety of mechanisms that impact the Earth's ionosphere, radiation belts, and other plasma populations. Measurements of the electromagnetic portion of the energy transfer rate are an important source of information for assessing the importance of ULF waves relative to other energy transfer mechanisms as well as a diagnostic for studying the behavior of ULF waves. Using Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms satellite data, we examine the time‒averaged electromagnetic energy transfer rate, or Poynting vector, as a function of frequency and region of the magnetosphere; for this study, we focus on the direction and rate of energy transfer relative to the background magnetic field, comparing perpendicular and parallel transfer rates. This study extends earlier studies of the ULF wave Poynting vector that focused on narrower frequency ranges or specific regions of the magnetosphere; here we consider the 3–50 mHz frequency range, all local time sectors, radial distances from 3 to 13 Re, and magnetic latitudes close to the equatorial plane. We measure time‒averaged Poynting vectors that range from 10−11 to 10−5 W/m2 , with larger Poynting vector magnitudes occurring at larger radial distances and smaller frequencies. In every spatial region and frequency we examined, we found a large degree of scatter in both the Poynting vector magnitude and direction. The Poynting vector tends to be anisotropic at all frequencies, with more energy transferred along rather than across the background magnetic field. This preference for parallel energy transfer near the magnetic equator suggests that Joule dissipation in the ionosphere and the acceleration of auroral electrons are the largest sinks of ULF wave energy in the magnetosphere.
Model checking multithreaded programs with asynchronous atomic methods

In order to make multithreaded programming manageable, programmers often follow a design principle where they break the problem into tasks which are then solved asynchronously and concurrently on different threads. This paper investigates the problem of model checking programs that follow this idiom. We present a programming language Spl that encapsulates this design pattern. Spl extends simplified form of sequential Java to which we add the capability of making asynchronous method invocations in addition to the standard synchronous method calls and the ability to execute asynchronous methods in threads atomically and concurrently. Our main result shows that the control state reachability problem for finite Spl programs is decidable. Therefore, such multithreaded programs can be model checked using the counterexample guided abstraction-refinement framework.
Refrigerated Dynamic Seal TO 6.9 MPa (1000 psi)

The self sealing, high shear flow passage approach which was extended to large pressure differences was studied. In a refrigerated seal the fluid to be sealed flows through a refrigerated housing or constriction. The fluid can be frozen to the housing during the transient phase. Under steady state conditions the refrigerated seal proves to be a dynamic low leakage seal. The concept is extended to pressure differences of 6.9 MPa.
Relative Comparison Kernel Learning with Auxiliary Kernels

In this work we consider the problem of learning a positive semidefinite kernel matrix from relative comparisons of the form: "object A is more similar to object B than it is to C", where comparisons are given by humans. Existing solutions to this problem assume many comparisons are provided to learn a meaningful kernel. However, this can be considered unrealistic for many real-world tasks since a large amount of human input is often costly or difficult to obtain. Because of this, only a limited number of these comparisons may be provided. We propose a new kernel learning approach that supplements the few relative comparisons with "auxiliary" kernels built from more easily extractable features in order to learn a kernel that more completely models the notion of similarity gained from human feedback. Our proposed formulation is a convex optimization problem that adds only minor overhead to methods that use no auxiliary information. Empirical results show that in the presence of few training relative comparisons, our method can learn kernels that generalize to more out-of-sample comparisons than methods that do not utilize auxiliary information, as well as similar metric learning methods.
Creating Trust among the Distrustful: A Phenomenological Examination of Supportive Services for Former Sex Workers

A phenomenological exploration was conducted into the lived experiences of 13 voluntary sex workers receiving supportive services in a major city in the southwestern United States. The study explored how participants viewed the services they received after exiting the sex industry, as well as experiences of coercion throughout their lives. Data analysis revealed, unexpectedly, that constructs of trust emerged. Respondents provided insight into how trust is learned throughout their lives and how coercion is often used by those around them to inspire trust before and during life in the sex industry. Participants also articulated how trust can be relearned, replacing coercion, while receiving supportive services after exiting the industry. Results from this study reveal processes by which sex workers learn to trust others by connecting through common experiences shared with other sex workers, modeling staff demonstrations of trust with other staff and clients, and being held accountable by others to their de...
A Bayesian multiresolution independence test for continuous variables

In this paper we present a method of computing the posterior probability of conditional independence of two or more continuous variables from data, examined at several resolutions. Our approach is motivated by the observation that the appearance of continuous data varies widely at various resolutions, producing very different independence estimates between the variables involved. Therefore, it is difficult to ascertain independence without examining discretized data at several carefully selected resolutions. In our paper, we accomplish this using the exact computation of the posterior probability of independence, calculated analytically given a resolution. At each examined resolution and boundary placement, we assume a multinomial distribution with Dirichlet priors for the discretized table parameters, and compute the posterior using Bayesian integration. Across resolutions, we use a search procedure to approximate the Bayesian integral of probability over an exponential number of possible boundary placements. Our method generalizes to an arbitrary number variables in a straightforward manner. The test is suitable for Bayesian network learning algorithms that use independence tests to infer the network structure, in domains that contain any mix of continuous, ordinal discrete, and categorical variables.
Evolution in swarm intelligence: an evolutionary ant-based optimization algorithm

Swarm Intelligent (SI) algorithms draw their inspiration from the interaction of individuals of social organisms. One such algorithm, Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) [1], utilizes the foraging behavior of ants to solve combinatorial optimization problems. Although ACO performs well in a static environment, it has been pointed out that ACO does not perform as well as other heuristics in dynamic situations such as routing. This paper proposes a new algorithm, entitled Evolutionary Ant Colony Optimization (EACO), that combines ACO with elements of Genetic Algorithms (GA). By adding evolution, the EACO algorithm allows the individual ants to develop their own characteristics, thereby removing the homogeneity inherent within ACO. Our results demonstrate the potential of this approach in a dynamic environment.
Incorporating temporal capabilities in existing key management schemes

The problem of key management in access hierarchies studies ways to assign keys to users and classes such that each user, after receiving her secret key(s), is able to independently compute access keys for (and thus obtain access to) the appropriate resources defined by the hierarchical structure. If user privileges additionally are time-based, the key(s) a user receives should permit access to the resources only at the appropriate times. This paper presents a new, provably secure, and efficient solution that can be used to add time-based capabilities to existing hierarchical schemes. It achieves the following performance bounds: (i) to be able to obtain access to an arbitrary contiguous set of time intervals, a user is required to store at most 3 keys; (ii) the keys for a user can be computed by the system in constant time; (iii) key derivation by the user within the authorized time intervals involves a small constant number of inexpensive cryptographic operations; and (iv) if the total number of time intervals in the system is n, then the server needs to maintain public storage larger than n by only a small asymptotic factor, e.g., O(log* n log log n) with a small constant.
The Dragon's Gift: The Real Story of China in Africa

The Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, held in November of 2006 helped to focus more world attention on the state of the African economy, which has seen far too many worries and failures and far too few successes. As the author states "It forced the West to focus on something new: Chinese aid and other forms of economic engagement were sharply on the rise in Africa. China was on a track to become the African continent's largest trading partner, outpacing Great Britain and the United States. Nearly 900 Chinese companies had invested in Africa by then (2002) – in factories and farms, retail shops and oil wells.
Changing Bases: Multistage Optimization for Matroids and Matchings

This paper is motivated by the fact that many systems need to be maintained continually while the underlying costs change over time. The challenge is to continually maintain near-optimal solutions to an underlying optimization problem, without creating too much churn in the solution itself. We model this as a multistage combinatorial optimization problem where the input is a sequence of cost functions (one for each time step); while we can change the solution from step to step, we incur an additional cost for every such change.
Growth-Led Exports: Is Variety the Spice of Trade?

Fast-growing countries tend to experience rapid export growth with little secular change in their terms of trade. This contradicts the standard Armington trade model, which predicts that fast-growing countries can experience rapid export growth only to the extent that they accept declining terms of trade. This paper generalizes the monopolistic competition trade model of Helpman and Krugman (1985), providing a basis for growth-led exports without declining terms of trade. The key mechanism behind this result is that fast-growing countries are able to develop new varieties of products that can be exported without pushing down the prices of existing products. There is strong support for the new model in long-run export growth of many countries in the post-war era.
Observations on Teat Lesions

The paper reviews the aetiology, control and significance of teat lesions in dairy cows with special emphasis on herpes mammillitis.