cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
A Plant-Based High-Carbohydrate, Low-Fat Diet in Overweight Individuals in a 16-Week Randomized Clinical Trial: The Role of Carbohydrates

The effects of carbohydrates on body weight and insulin sensitivity are controversial. In this 16-week randomized clinical trial, we tested the role of a low-fat, plant-based diet on body weight, body composition and insulin resistance. As a part of this trial, we investigated the role of changes in carbohydrate intake on body composition and insulin resistance. Participants (n = 75) were randomized to follow a plant-based high-carbohydrate, low-fat (vegan) diet (n = 38) or to maintain their current diet (n = 37). Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was used to measure body composition. Insulin resistance was assessed with the Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA-IR) index. A repeated measure ANOVA model was used to test the between-group differences from baseline to 16 weeks. A linear regression model was used to test the relationship between carbohydrate intake, and body composition and insulin resistance. Weight decreased significantly in the vegan group (treatment effect −6.5 [95% CI −8.9 to −4.1] kg; Gxt, p < 0.001). Fat mass was reduced in the vegan group (treatment effect −4.3 [95% CI −5.4 to −3.2] kg; Gxt, p < 0.001). HOMA-IR was reduced significantly in the vegan group (treatment effect −1.0 [95% CI −1.2 to −0.8]; Gxt, p = 0.004). Changes in consumption of carbohydrate, as a percentage of energy, correlated negatively with changes in BMI (r = −0.53, p < 0.001), fat mass (r = −0.55, p < 0.001), volume of visceral fat (r = −0.35, p = 0.006), and HOMA (r = −0.27, p = 0.04). These associations remained significant after adjustment for energy intake. Changes in consumption of total and insoluble fiber correlated negatively with changes in BMI (r = −0.43, p < 0.001; and r = −0.46, p < 0.001, respectively), fat mass (r = −0.42, p < 0.001; and r = −0.46, p < 0.001, respectively), and volume of visceral fat (r = −0.29, p = 0.03; and r = −0.32, p = 0.01, respectively). The associations between total and insoluble fiber and changes in BMI and fat mass remained significant even after adjustment for energy intake. Increased carbohydrate and fiber intake, as part of a plant-based high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet, are associated with beneficial effects on weight, body composition, and insulin resistance.
Low survey response! Can I still use the data?

Natural resource agencies often use mail surveys to collect stakeholder information. A major concern of mail surveys, however, has long been relatively low response rates compared to telephone or f...
Foreign Investments in the Forestry Sector as a Means of Increasing Community Resilience: Two Case Studies in Mexico

Community resilience is the sustained ability of a community to use available resources while responding to stress, as well as the ability to recover from adverse situations accounting for social vulnerability, environmental hazards, and economic conditions. As climate change increases risk and unpredictability for management and planning, understanding resilience is crucial. Focusing on Mexico, this work explores international forestry sector investments as a tool to increase resilience. This research uses interviews, surveys, and programmatic documents comparing two case studies to explore the impact of certain foreign investments on community resiliency. The resilience concepts measured include diversity, economic and ecological variability, social capital, tight feedbacks, innovation, governance overlap, and ecosystem services. Results show that such investments can increase community resilience by improving community management, resource utilization, and recovery ability in times of economic, social, or biophysical stress.
Java supervenience

This paper reports on the development of a language construct designed to solve certain problems in composability at the level of object-oriented programming languages. Features were chosen to investigate how much compositional functionality could be added to core Java with as small a change as possible and in an additive manner. A fairly elegant and effective syntax on core Java resulted in reducing the clutter of the ''mechanics'' of composition. This construct features eliminating runtime cast and null exceptions within the construct, and the option of parametric covariant override. It does so while avoiding undesirable restrictions or new frameworks. Recently, new techniques intended to improve the composability of software components in the Java ecosystem have been vigorously pursued. Proposals take on the objectives of composition in largescale systems and enterprise applications but often implement on conventional object-oriented languages which face the same kinds of problems from the ground up. Benefitting from those experiences, the present work seeks to provide core Java-level solutions to problems that are analogous to those at the higher-levels. The supervenience construct described in this paper is based on a well-established formulation for composing a relationship over classes with some common behavioral elements, their behavioral intersection. The narrow concern of this construct is the sound composition of components across class families while eliminating certain barriers to runtime type-safety in core Java. The supervenience construct has been applied to certain classic problems and key case studies in composability and extensibility which represent fundamental issues that emerge at every level. The implementation requires no installed runtime frameworks and no changes to the JVM or type system of core Java. It is designed to deploy stand-alone or later integrate with the standard Java compiler and IDEs. The continuing research is now focusing on a more formal proof of its type-safety, applying the reference implementation to mid-scale and distributed applications.
Japanese Economy, an Alternative View

Many of the recent studies on the Japanese economy focus on its decade-long slump and the economic policies that may help end it. In contrast, this paper focuses on two specific developments during this period that have largely been overlooked in the literature: the continuous growth of foreign investments and strong Japanese exports despite the gradual loss of comparative advantage in some products. The study concludes that when these developments and their ramifications are taken into account, the overall performance of the Japanese economy during the last decade is not as bad as it first appears. Rather, the past ten years for the Japanese economy may be considered a period of transition, from an economy of high growth to one of lower but more mature growth.
Fatal Curvularia brain abscess in a heart and kidney transplant recipient.

Abstract A 42-year-old woman with history of heart failure status post orthotopic heart transplant and end stage renal disease presented to the hospital with decompensated heart failure that progressed to cardiogenic shock. She underwent a new orthotopic heart transplant and cadaveric donor kidney transplant. Three weeks later, she experienced right facial droop and right upper extremity weakness. Computed tomography showed a left frontal cortical lesion with vasogenic edema and a central hemorrhagic component. Given the concern for an angioinvasive mold infection, she was started on voriconazole and amphotericin B. Brain biopsy was performed and histopathology revealed septated hyphae with acute angle branching. Mycology culture isolated Curvularia sp. Unfortunately, her mental status deteriorated with subsequent development of multiorgan failure that led to death.
Spatial and temporal dynamics of 20th century carbon storage and emissions after wildfire in an old-growth forest landscape

Abstract Both fire exclusion and subsequent wildfires have strongly affected carbon storage in fire-prone dry forests, with implications for how carbon storage will change in the future. Using a reconstruction of forest structure in 1899 and pre- and post-fire field data, we quantified changes in carbon stocks in a 2125-ha old-growth mixed conifer forest landscape over a century of fire exclusion and emissions due to a 2013 wildfire. From 1899 to 2002 aboveground carbon storage in live trees increased 2.5-fold from 97 Mg/ha to 263 Mg/ha. Despite burning in an uncharacteristically severe wildfire, the forest still contained 169 Mg/ha of live aboveground tree carbon in 2014. Direct fire emissions were 72 Mg/ha and did not vary with canopy cover loss because emissions were largely driven by consumption of accumulated surface fuels. Areas that burned at low, moderate and high severity in the wildfire contained similar amounts of carbon in 1899, when the forest was still experiencing frequent low severity fire. By 2002 the low severity areas contained 80 and 86 Mg/ha more aboveground live tree carbon than moderate and high severity areas respectively. The wildfire reinforced and amplified these differences in carbon storage that arose during fire exclusion, such that carbon storage following the wildfire was more variable across the landscape. Additionally, the proportion of carbon stored in shade-intolerant, more fire-sensitive species increased. These changes in where and in what tree species carbon is stored, due to the combination of fire exclusion and wildfire, have implications for the potential future stability of these carbon stocks.
Wave-optics simulation of correlated speckle fields for use in closed-loop-tracking studies

In this study, we use a series of computational-wave-optics experiments to address the statistics associated with image-plane speckle fields resulting from a tilted flat plate that is rough compared to the wavelength of uniform illumination. To quantify the strength of simulated speckle, we make use of the focal ratio a.k.a. f number. This parameter provides a gauge for the size of speckles appearing across the image of a target. Our goal throughout is to show that, frame to frame, the analysis can appropriately simulate correlated speckle fields in an image plane. Our results show that the speckle fields we simulate are properly correlated from one frame to the next, relative to closed-form expressions. This outcome leads to the ability to perform closed-loop-tracking studies, which are becoming increasingly important for applications that involve imaging through turbulence.
Mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation is impaired in TALLYHO mice, a new obesity and type 2 diabetes animal model

Type 2 diabetes has become an epidemic disease largely explained by the dramatic increase in obesity in recent years. Mitochondrial dysfunction is suggested as an underlying factor in obesity and type 2 diabetes. In this study, we evaluated changes in oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial biogenesis in a new human obesity and type 2 diabetes model, TALLYHO/Jng mice. We hypothesized that the sequence variants identified in the whole genome analysis of TALLYHO/Jng mice would affect oxidative phosphorylation and contribute to obesity and insulin resistant phenotypes. To test this hypothesis, we investigated differences in the expression and activity of oxidative phosphorylation complexes, including the transcription and translation of nuclear- and mitochondrial-encoded subunits and enzymatic activities, in the liver and kidney of TALLYHO/Jng and C57BL/6 J mice. A significant decrease was observed in the expression of nuclear- and mitochondrial-encoded subunits of complex I and IV, respectively, in TALLYHO/Jng mice, which coincided with significant reductions in their enzymatic activities. Furthermore, sequence variants were identified in oxidative phosphorylation complex subunits, a mitochondrial tRNA synthetase, and mitochondrial ribosomal proteins. Our data suggested that the lower expression and activity of oxidative phosphorylation complexes results in the diminished energy metabolism observed in TALLYHO/Jng mice. Sequence variants identified in mitochondrial proteins accentuated a defect in mitochondrial protein synthesis which also contributes to impaired biogenesis and oxidative phosphorylation in TALLYHO/Jng mice. These results demonstrated that the identification of factors contributing to mitochondrial dysfunction will allow us to improve the disease prognosis and treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes in humans.
Squamous epithelial cell presence reduces accuracy of urinalysis for prediction of positive urine cultures.

Abstract Background Diagnostic value of urinalysis specimens contaminated with squamous epithelial cells (SEC) from the genital surfaces is assumed to be limited compared to clean-catch samples. However, no studies have quantified the change in predictive value in the presence of SECs for individual urinalysis markers. Methods In a retrospective, single center cohort study, we analyzed all urine cultures sent from the ED over a 26-month period with corresponding urinalysis results. Cultures were classified as positive with growth of >104 colony forming units of pathogenic bacteria, negative if no growth, or contaminated for all other results. UA specimens were classified as contaminated or clean based on SEC presence. Accuracy of urinalysis markers for prediction of positive cultures was calculated as an area under the curve (AUC) and was compared between contaminated and clean UA specimens. Results 6490 paired UA and urine cultures were analyzed, consisting of 3949 clean and 2541 contaminated samples. SEC presence was less common with male gender, older age, and smaller BMI. Urine cultures were 19.2% positive overall, and SECs were more common in contaminated cultures. AUCs for individual markers ranged from 0.557 to 0.796, with pyuria, bacteriuria, and leukocyte esterase having higher AUC in clean samples over contaminated. Conclusion Analysis of AUC for individual urinalysis markers showed reduced diagnostic accuracy in the presence of SECs. SEC presence also reflected much higher rates of contaminated cultures. These results support the reduced reliance on contaminated UA specimens for ruling in UTI in ED patients.
Values of Exemplary Jesuit College Graduates

What values do undergraduates adopt and internalize as a result of their college experiences at a Catholic Jesuit college/university? In an attempt to answer this question, the authors chose 21 exemplary graduates from 2000-2007 at a Catholic, Jesuit college in the northeastern part of the United States and conducted a ten question intensive interview with each of them. After transcribing and coding the interviews, it was discovered that these graduates had a strong grasp of such Jesuit ideals as “men and women for others,” “educating the whole person,” “ cura personalis ,” and “ magis, ” but apparently a weaker grasp of the more recent Jesuit emphasis on diversity and social justice. Faculty and members of the campus ministry staff had a strong influence on helping these graduates to develop a better sense of Jesuit values. Campus ministry activities, service and immersion trips, and research with faculty helped those interviewed to learn and practice Jesuit values.
Emerging Global Cities: Structural Similarities and Historical Differences

The evolution of the capitalist economy over the centuries has been characterized by the rise of one or a few cities to a position of prominence as centers for coordination of financial commercial activities worldwide. Sassen identified three such “global cities” in the contemporary era: London, New York, and Tokyo. We trace the emergence of those such “new global” cities—Dubai, Miami, and Singapore—highlighting the structural similarities of their economies and their rather different historical trajectories. Politics and a legal system anchored in English Common Law are elements found in all three cities, but in very different forms and with different functions. We examine the political evolution of each of these cities and the challenges facing them in the short-to-medium term. The experiences of these three cities offer key lessons for those aspiring to a similar position of global prominence in the future.
Distribution of deep-water scleractinian and stylasterid corals across abiotic environmental gradients on three seamounts in the Anegada Passage.

In the Caribbean Basin the distribution and diversity patterns of deep-sea scleractinian corals and stylasterid hydrocorals are poorly known compared to their shallow-water relatives. In this study, we examined species distribution and community assembly patterns of scleractinian and stylasterid corals on three high-profile seamounts within the Anegada Passage, a deep-water throughway linking the Caribbean Sea and western North Atlantic. Using remotely operated vehicle surveys conducted on the E/V Nautilus by the ROV Hercules in 2014, we characterized coral assemblages and seawater environmental variables between 162 and 2,157 m on Dog Seamount, Conrad Seamount, and Noroit Seamount. In all, 13 morphospecies of scleractinian and stylasterid corals were identified from video with stylasterids being numerically more abundant than both colonial and solitary scleractinians. Cosmopolitan framework-forming species including Madrepora oculata and Solenosmilia variabilis were present but occurred in patchy distributions among the three seamounts. Framework-forming species occurred at or above the depth of the aragonite saturation horizon with stylasterid hydrocorals being the only coral taxon observed below Ωarag values of 1. Coral assemblage variation was found to be strongly associated with depth and aragonite saturation state, while other environmental variables exerted less influence. This study enhances our understanding of the factors that regulate scleractinian and stylasterid coral distribution in an underreported marginal sea and establishes a baseline for monitoring future environmental changes due to ocean acidification and deoxygenation in the tropical western Atlantic.
Modifying the Network-Based Stochastic SEIR Model to Account for Quarantine

In this article, we present a modification to the network-based stochastic SEIR epidemic model which allows for modifications to the underlying contact network to account for the effects of quarantine. We also discuss the changes needed to the model to incorporate situations where some proportion of the individuals who are infected remain asymptomatic throughout the course of the disease. Using a generic network model where every potential contact exists with the same common probability, we conduct a simulation study in which we vary four key model parameters (transmission rate, probability of remaining asymptomatic, and the mean lengths of time spent in the Exposed and Infectious disease states) and examine the resulting impacts on various metrics of epidemic severity, including the effective reproduction number. We find that the mean length of time spent in the Infectious state and the transmission rate are the most important model parameters, while the mean length of time spent in the Exposed state and the probability of remaining asymptomatic are less important.
Fellowship, gender, and scholarly productivity: trends among academic neurosurgeons in the US

OBJECTIVE Current data on fellowship choice and completion by neurosurgical residents are limited, especially in relation to gender, scholarly productivity, and career progression. The objective of this study was to determine gender differences in the selection of fellowship training and subsequent scholarly productivity and career progression. METHODS The authors conducted a quantitative analysis of the fellowship training information of practicing US academic neurosurgeons. Information was extracted from publicly available websites, the Scopus database, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Open Payments website. RESULTS Of 1641 total academic neurosurgeons, 1403 (85.5%) were fellowship trained. There were disproportionately more men (89.9%) compared to women (10.1%). A higher proportion of women completed fellowships than men (p = 0.004). Proportionally, significantly more women completed fellowships in pediatrics (p < 0.0001), neurooncology (p = 0.012), and critical care/trauma (p = 0.001), while significantly more men completed a spine fellowship (p = 0.012). Within those who were fellowship trained, the academic rank of professor was significantly more commonly held by men (p = 0.001), but assistant professor was held significantly more often by women (p = 0.017). The fellowships with the largest mean h-indices were functional/stereotactic, pediatrics, and critical care/trauma. Despite more women completing neurooncology and pediatric fellowships, men had significantly greater h-indices in these subspecialties compared to women. Women had more industry funding awards than men in pediatrics (p < 0.0001), while men had more in spine (p = 0.023). CONCLUSIONS Women were found to have higher rates for fellowship completion compared with their male counterparts, yet had lower scholarly productivity in every subspecialty. Fellowship choice remains unequally distributed between genders, and scholarly productivity and career progression varies between fellowship choice.
Abstract 5668: Genomic correlates of PD-L1 expression are associated with response to immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer

PD-L1 expression is the primary clinical biomarker of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) response in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); patients with tumors that express higher levels of PD-L1 tend to have better responses. However, somatic genomic events correlating with PD-L1 expression are not fully defined. To investigate this, we utilized a DFCI cohort of 909 non-squamous NSCLC samples grouped into 3 categories of PD-L1 expression based on immunohistochemistry (IHC): Compared to PD-L1 high tumors, PD-L1 neg. cases were more likely to have mutations in STK11 (Permutation test, q=7e-4), EGFR (q=7e-4), CTNNB1 (q=0.04), APC (q=0.17), and SMARCA4 (q=0.2). CN losses that more significantly occurred in PD-L1 neg. tumors included deletions of PD-L1, PD-L2, and JAK2 (Fisher exact test, q We assessed the association of these somatic alterations with PD-L1 mRNA expression in an independent cohort of 529 TCGA primary lung tumors. STK11 mutation (Mann-Whitney test, q Next, we examined if somatic alterations associated with PD-L1 expression were also correlated with progression free (PFS) or overall survival (OS) using a partially-overlapping DFCI cohort of 468 advanced stage NSCLCs. STK11 mutation (Log-rank test, q=0.1), EGFR mutation (q We observed the previously identified (Schabath, et al 2016) mutual exclusivity between EGFR and STK11 mutations. We further show that they may indicate distinct subtypes of PD-L1 neg. tumors with STK11 mutant tumors exhibiting strikingly worse prognosis after ICB (med. PFS 52 vs 64 days, p In summary, we confirm the findings that STK11 and EGFR mutations are associated with reduced PD-L1 expression and worse prognosis after ICB (Rizvi, et al 2018) and identify CN loss of the PD-L1 locus as a potential novel biomarker of lower PD-L1 expression and worse ICB outcomes. In addition, we show a novel anticorrelation between Wnt pathway alterations and PD-L1 expression by IHC. Taken together, this work suggests a role of specific mutations and CNVs in affecting PD-L1 expression and response to ICB. Citation Format: Liam F. Spurr, Giuseppe Lamberti, Yvonne Y. Li, Biagio Ricciuti, Gonzalo Recondo, Renato Umeton, Lynette M. Sholl, Matthew L. Meyerson, Andrew D. Cherniack, Mark M. Awad. Genomic correlates of PD-L1 expression are associated with response to immunotherapy in non-small cell lung cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 5668.
Development and validation of a general legal moral disengagement scale

Current moral disengagement (MD) scales are insufficient for measuring MD in general legal contexts. We created a general legal MD scale measuring moral disengagement from both minor and serious cr...
New approach to electroweak symmetry nonrestoration

Electroweak symmetry nonrestoration up to high temperatures well above the electroweak scale offers new alternatives for baryogenesis. We propose a new approach for electroweak symmetry nonrestoration via an inert Higgs sector that couples to the Standard Model Higgs as well as an extended scalar singlet sector. We implement renormalization group improvements and thermal resummation, necessary to evaluate the effective potential spanning over a broad range of energy scales and temperatures. We present examples of benchmark scenarios that allow for electroweak symmetry nonrestoration all the way up to hundreds of TeV temperatures and also feature suppressed sphaleron washout factors down to the electroweak scale. Our method for transmitting the Standard Model broken electroweak symmetry to an inert Higgs sector has several intriguing implications for (electroweak) baryogenesis and early universe thermal histories and can be scrutinized through Higgs physics phenomenology and electroweak precision measurements at the HL-LHC.
Declining energy predicts incident mobility disability and mortality risk in healthy older adults

BACKGROUND The purpose was to examine whether longitudinal changes in self-reported energy predict incident mobility disability and mortality. We further explored whether changes in energy-related behaviors (physical activity, appetite, or sleep quality) would explain these associations. METHODS N = 2021 participants from the Health, Aging and Body Composition Study free from mobility disability and with at least three energy assessments from years 2 to 10. MEASUREMENTS The outcomes were time to first self-reported inability to walk a quarter of a mile (mobility disability) and death. Self-reported energy level (SEL) was a single-item indicator over the prior month, ranging from 0 to 10; person-specific slopes measured whether individuals increased or decreased in SEL across the total follow-up time (mean 7.09 years, +1.72, range 2-8 years). Potential energy-related mediators were baseline and change in self-reported physical activity, appetite, and sleep quality. Covariates were baseline levels and change in demographics, health characteristics and behaviors, tiredness, cognition, mood, and gait speed. RESULTS A total of 947 developed disability and 567 died over the study follow-up. A one-point change in SEL over the follow-up (or an average 0.125 points/year) was inversely associated with a 35% risk of incident mobility disability (hazard ratio = 0.65, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.55, 0.76, p < 0.001) and 33% risk of death (hazard ratio = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.42, 0.87, p = 0.003), independent of covariates. Potential energy-related mediators did not attenuate this association. CONCLUSIONS In this longitudinal analysis of community-dwelling older adults, energy decline was common and a significant independent predictor of disability risk and mortality.
mRNA Vaccines in the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), emerged in China in December 2019 and quickly spread around the globe, killing more than 3 million people and causing a severe economic crisis. This extraordinary situation prompted entities in government, industry, and academia to work together at unprecedented speed to develop safe and effective vaccines. Indeed, vaccines of multiple types have been generated in record time, and many have been evaluated in clinical trials. Of these, messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines have emerged as lead candidates due to their speed of development and high degree of safety and efficacy. To date, two mRNA vaccines have received approval for human use, providing proof of the feasibility of this next-generation vaccine modality. This review gives a detailed overview about the types of mRNA vaccines developed for SARS-CoV-2, discusses and compares preclinical and clinical data, gives a mechanistic overview about immune responses generated by mRNA vaccination, and speculates on the challenges and promising future of this emergent vaccine platform. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Medicine, Volume 73 is January 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
Composite system adequacy evaluation using sequential Monte Carlo simulation for deregulated power systems

Deregulation has brought many changes to the vertically regulated power system. As a result, the analyses methods of power system tend to change too, among which are reliability evaluation issues. This paper addresses several issues concerning the implementation of composite system adequacy evaluation using sequential Monte Carlo simulation method. They include incorporating the modeling of bilateral and pool type transactions into the state sampling stage and the optimal power flow (OPF) with the consideration of transaction patterns into the state evaluation stage. Examples are given out to demonstrate these considerations.
Alcoa Pressure Calcination Process for Alumina

A new alumina calcination process developed at Alcoa Laboratories is described. Alumina is calcined in two stages. In the first stage, alumina hydrate is heated indirectly to 500°C in a decomposer vessel. Released water is recovered as process steam at 110 psig pressure. Partial transformation of gibbsite to boehmite occurs under hydrothermal conditions of the decomposer. The product from the decomposer containing about 5% LOI is then calcined by direct heating to 850°C to obtain smelting grade alumina. The final product is highly attrition resistant, has a surface area of 50–80 m2/g and a LOI of less than 1%. Accounting for the recovered steam, the effective fuel consumption for the new calcination process is only 1.6 GJ/t A12O3.
Protecting Children on the Internet: Mission Impossible?

Congress's latest effort to protect children from on-line predators banned the pandering or soliciting of child pornography regardless of whether the images were actual or virtual. My paper discusses last term's Supreme Court decision in United States v. Williams that upheld the prohibition and ruled that an offer to engage in illegal activity is unprotected speech. I place Williams within the larger context of the classic impossibility defense that differentiates between factually and legally frustrated attempts, and show how the majority and dissenting opinions fall into these two camps. I propose that the revival of the impossibility debate sparked by Internet cases is misguided and that, in fact, the Internet provides the best reason for rejecting impossibility as a bar to prosecuting predators.
Focal epithelial hyperplasia. Report of a case.

Abstract A case of focal epithelial hyperplasia has been presented and etiologic concepts have been discussed.
Glycoprotein biosynthesis in the alg3 Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutant. II. Structure of novel Man6-10GlcNAc2 processing intermediates on secreted invertase.

Abstract Alg3 yeast mutants synthesize endoglycosidase H-resistant oligosaccharides whose precursor for elongation is Man1 alpha-->2Man1 alpha-->2Man1 alpha-->3(Man1 alpha-->6)Man1 beta-->4GlcNAc2 (Verostek, M.F., Atkinson, P.H., and Trimble, R. B. (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 5547-5551). To characterize alg3 glycan elongation in vivo, oligosaccharides on alg3,sec18 invertase synthesized and secreted at 26 degrees C were released with peptide-N4-N-acetyl-beta-glucosaminyl asparagine amidase and purified by Bio-Gel P-4 chromatography. Large (Man > 30GlcNAc2) and intermediate (Man5-10GlcNAc2) sized oligosaccharides were pooled separately, and the smaller ones were exchanged with 2H2O for one- and two-dimensional DQF-COSY 1H NMR analyses at 500 MHz. Although there was no detectable substitution of the terminal alpha 1,6-core-linked mannose, addition of alpha 1,6-, alpha 1,2-, and alpha 1,3-mannoses to the alpha 1,3-linked core branch of a majority of the Man5 precursor was analogous to core-filling reactions seen on wild type invertase glycans (Trimble, R.B., and Atkinson, P.H. (1986) J. Biol. Chem. 261, 9815-9824). Two additional types of oligosaccharide structures were found; those which retained glucose and those consistent with mannan elongation. Glucose retention appeared to be due to inefficient trimming from minor glucosylated intermediates, while mannan elongation was by extension of a new alpha 1,6-linked branch from the alpha 1,3-core-linked residue as seen in wild-type core oligosaccharides (Hernandez, L.M., Ballou, L., Alvarado, E., Gillece-Castro, B.L., Burlingame, A.L., and Ballou, C. E. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 11849-11856) or mnn1,mnn2,mnn10 processing intermediates (Ballou, L., Alvarado, E., Tsai, P-k., Dell, A., and Ballou, C.E. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 11857-11864). Thus, the alpha 1,6-linked branch additions which form Man9GlcNAc2-PP-dolichol from Man5GlcNAc2-PP-dolichol appear to provide important structural information enabling efficient recognition by the endoplasmic reticulum-glucosyltransferases forming oligosaccharide-lipid as well as the glucosidases involved in early trimming reactions, but the alg3 mutant documents that they are unnecessary for normal yeast mannan elongation.
6-bit low power low area frequency modulation based flash ADC

This paper presents a 6-bit frequency modulation based ADC design. The demonstrated design yields a device that uses less than 10% of the power of comparable designs. In addition, this architecture provides a simple and logical way to trade sampling rate for accuracy. The presented device has a power consumption of 30mW while operating at approximately 1.05 GSample/sec with an INL and DNL values of 0.23 and 0.4/-0.3 LSB respectively. The design has been implemented in a 1.8 volt 0.18/spl mu/m CMOS process.
Strong heterogeneity caused by deep mantle layering

[1] Numerical simulations are used to characterize the volumetric heterogeneity associated with proposed chemical layering in the deep mantle. A globally continuous, undulating layer generates enormous amounts of volumetric heterogeneity, which is caused by lateral variations in the layer boundary depth and by strong hot upwellings arising from the top of the layer, in the middle lower mantle region. In contrast, the heterogeneity in the deepest mantle is very weak. Partial cancellation of the temperature and compositional contributions to seismic velocity could mask the layer itself, but the strong signatures of the thermochemical boundary layer and induced upwellings remain, even when fields are filtered to approximate the resolution of global seismic tomographic models. This distinctive heterogeneity is not observed in global seismic tomographic models. Dense material that is restricted to discontinuous “piles” generates heterogeneity that is more consistent, although not entirely, with seismic observations, with strong heterogeneity at the core-mantle boundary. Radial correlation functions display a characteristic narrowing in the vicinity of any chemical layer but are very sensitive to the applied “seismic tomographic” filtering.
ERK reinforces actin polymerization to power persistent edge protrusion during motility.

Cells move through perpetual protrusion and retraction cycles at the leading edge. These cycles are coordinated with substrate adhesion and retraction of the cell rear. We tracked spatial and temporal fluctuations in the molecular activities of individual moving cells to elucidate how extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK) signaling controlled the dynamics of protrusion and retraction cycles. ERK is activated by many cell surface receptors, and we found that ERK signaling specifically reinforced cellular protrusions so that they translated into rapid, sustained forward motion of the leading edge. Using quantitative fluorescent speckle microscopy and cross-correlation analysis, we showed that ERK controlled the rate and timing of actin polymerization by promoting the recruitment of the actin nucleator Arp2/3 to the leading edge. These findings support a model in which surges in ERK activity induced by extracellular cues enhance Arp2/3-mediated actin polymerization to generate protrusion power phases with enough force to counteract increasing membrane tension and to promote sustained motility.
Infertility patients and their partners: differences in the desire for twin gestations

Abstract Objective To explore how the individuals within an infertile couple differ from one another in their attitudes toward the conception of twin gestations. Methods From November 1999 through February 2000, consecutive couples undergoing treatment at a university-based infertility clinic were invited to participate in a face-to-face interview that ascertained their individual desires for singleton and twin gestations and their perception of the risks associated with these pregnancies. Results Of the 94 couples approached, 90 (96%) agreed to participate in the study. Patients estimated the incidence of prematurity, low birth weight, preeclampsia, and postpartum depression in twin gestations to be significantly greater than their partners did (27% versus 17%, 26% versus 17%, 22% versus 16%, and 21% versus 16%, respectively). Despite these higher estimates, the desire for a twin gestation was similar. In 19 couples (21%), the patient and partner did not agree whether a singleton or twin pregnancy was the most preferred outcome. No predictive factor for this discordance could be identified. Conclusion Women undergoing infertility treatment are less risk averse than their partners. Additionally, a sizeable portion of couples do not align in their preference for a twin gestation. These differences should be recognized and addressed during the preconceptional period.
Technology's Impact on the Creative Potential of Youth

The importance of educating students to think critically and creatively was recognized over 2,000 years ago by Socrates, reworked in the 1950s by Benjamin Bloom, and reinforced by many modern-day educators. With changes in lifestyle brought on by innovations in digital technology, teachers, administrators, and parents alike are questioning the effect that these habits could be having on a student's ability to focus. Teachers, especially, are faced with challenges and unknowns in working with students who have grown up in a digital environment that some researchers warn could be disabling important systems of brain development that relate to lack of exposure with traditional reading. Faced with balancing use of traditional texts and an increase in technological resources, teachers are questioning whether today's students have the innate capability of negotiating higher-order thinking and generating creative ideas, as the nature of study habits undergoes transformation. This article explores how ability to ...
An accelerated triangulation method for computing the skeletons of free-form solid models

Abstract Shape skeletons are powerful geometric abstractions that provide useful intermediate representations for a number of geometric operations on solid models including feature recognition, shape decomposition, finite element mesh generation, and shape design. As a result there has been significant interest in the development of effective methods for skeleton generation of general free-form solids. In this paper we describe a method that combines Delaunay triangulation with local numerical optimization schemes for the generation of accurate skeletons of 3D implicit solid models. The proposed method accelerates the slow convergence of Voronoi diagrams to the skeleton, which, without optimization, would require impraelically large sample point sets and resulting meshes to attain acceptable accuracy. The Delaunay triangulation forms the basis for generating the topological structure of the skeleton. The optimization step of the process generates the geometry of the skeleton patches by moving the vertices of Delaunay tetrahedra and relocating their centres to form maximally inscribed spheres. The computational advantage of the optimization scheme is that it involves the solution of one small optimization problem per tetrahedron and its complexity is therefore only linear (O(n)) in the number of points used for the skeleton approximation. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the method on a number of representative solid models.
Low-Dimensional Models for Feedback Stabilization of Unstable Steady States

When the angle of attack of an airfoil is gradually increased at low Reynolds numbers, the flow undergoes a Hopf bifurcation wherein the steady state loses stability in a transition to periodic vortex shedding. The goal of this work is to stabilize these unstable steady states using feedback control. For that purpose, we derive reduced order models valid in the neighborhood of these unstable steady states, using an approximate balanced truncation method valid for large dimensional systems. The original method is valid only for stable systems, and here we present a modification to derive models for unstable sytems, and use the same along with standard linear control techniques such as Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) to obtain stabilizing control laws. We use full-state feedback to stabilize an unstable steady state of a two-dimensional flow past a past flat plate at an angle of attack of 35 degrees. We also present observers that reconstruct the entire flow-field based on the flat-plate lift and drag measurements.
Neutron-proton analyzing power at 50 MeV

The analyzing power in neutron-proton elastic scattering has been measured at 50 MeV. A neutron beam with a polarization of 0.476\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.017, found by an absolute method, was used to determine the analyzing power at seven angles in the range 60\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} to 120\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} center of mass by detecting scattered neutrons. These measurements are complementary to a previous set made at this laboratory in which only recoil protons were observed. The two sets of data agree well in the overlap region and are compared with the only other data measured much earlier by a different method. Absolute statistical errors in the analyzing powers range from \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.019 to \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.023 in addition to a scale uncertainty of about 4% arising from the beam polarization. The results are compared with a phase shift analysis of Signell.
An open-source framework for large-scale, flexible evaluation of biomedical text mining systems.

Improved evaluation methodologies have been identified as a necessary prerequisite to the improvement of text mining theory and practice. This paper presents a publicly available framework that facilitates thorough, structured, and large-scale evaluations of text mining technologies. The extensibility of this framework and its ability to uncover system-wide characteristics by analyzing component parts as well as its usefulness for facilitating third-party application integration are demonstrated through examples in the biomedical domain. Our evaluation framework was assembled using the Unstructured Information Management Architecture. It was used to analyze a set of gene mention identification systems involving 225 combinations of system, evaluation corpus, and correctness measure. Interactions between all three were found to affect the relative rankings of the systems. A second experiment evaluated gene normalization system performance using as input 4,097 combinations of gene mention systems and gene mention system-combining strategies. Gene mention system recall is shown to affect gene normalization system performance much more than does gene mention system precision, and high gene normalization performance is shown to be achievable with remarkably low levels of gene mention system precision. The software presented in this paper demonstrates the potential for novel discovery resulting from the structured evaluation of biomedical language processing systems, as well as the usefulness of such an evaluation framework for promoting collaboration between developers of biomedical language processing technologies. The code base is available as part of the BioNLP UIMA Component Repository on SourceForge.net.
Resource description framework: metadata and its applications

Universality, the property of the Web that makes it the largest data and information source in the world, is also the property behind the lack of a uniform organization scheme that would allow easy access to data and information. A semantic web, wherein different applications and Web sites can exchange information and hence exploit Web data and information to their full potential, requires the information about Web resources to be represented in a detailed and structured manner. Resource Description Framework (RDF), an effort in this direction supported by the World Wide Web Consortium, provides a means for the description of metadata which is a necessity for the next generation of interoperable Web applications. The success of RDF and the semantic web will depend on (1) the development of applications that prove the applicability of the concept, (2) the availability of application interfaces which enable the development of such applications, and (3) databases and inference systems that exploit RDF to identify and locate most relevant Web resources. In addition, many practical issues, such as security, ease of use, and compatibility, will be crucial in the success of RDF. This survey aims at providing a glimpse at the past, present, and future of this upcoming technology and highlights why we believe that the next generation of the Web will be more organized, informative, searchable, accessible, and, most importantly, useful. It is expected that knowledge discovery and data mining can benefit from RDF and the Semantic Web.
Electronics for a Focal Plane Crystal Spectrometer

The HEAO-B program forced the usual constraints upon the spacecraft experiment electronics: high reliability, low power consumption, and tight packaging at reasonable cost. The programmable high voltage power supplies were unique in both application and simplicity of manufacture. The hybridized measurement chain is a modification of that used on the SAS-C program; the charge amplifier design in particular shows definite improvement in performance over previous work.
Sex estimation using the first cervical vertebra

The articular surfaces and vertebral foramen area of the first cervical vertebra are sexually dimorphic and can be used to sex complete or fragmentary specimens. Eight measurements were taken from the articular regions (superior and inferior) of 100 first cervical vertebrae from Terry collection specimens housed at the Smithsonian Institution. Seven regression and seven discriminant function equations were created that predict sex with 77–85% and 75–85% accuracy, respectively. In separate control tests, measurements from 100 first cervical vertebrae from Hamann-Todd collection individuals (Cleveland Museum of Natural History) and from 34 archaeological specimens were used with the Terry equations. The control samples were sexed with 60—85% accuracy. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Similarities and Differences of Bayesian Designs and Adaptive Designs for Medical Devices: A Regulatory View

This article provides a regulatory view of the design of clinical trials using Bayesian statistics and adaptive methods. The foci are the similarities and differences between Bayesian and adaptive designs for clinical studies for medical devices and the contrast with trials of pharmaceutical drugs. The critical role of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in such designs is highlighted. The previous device experience with Bayesian trials has provided some important insight into the planning of adaptive trials. This article discusses both frequentist and Bayesian adaptive designs and presents several real examples of designs for medical device studies. The crucial role that simulations play in assessing the operating characteristics of the designs is emphasized. The unique advantage of predictive modeling in the Bayesian adaptive design is explored. For adaptive designs there are challenging problems including operational bias and logistical issues. The reporting of both Bayesian and adaptive trials is di...