cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Speaking ability progress of language learners in online and face-to-face courses

This study's goal was to determine if appropriately designed, completely virtual formats of language courses are able to engender in students speaking ability progress comparable to that fostered within traditional face-to-face (F2F) classrooms. The study further sought to clarify language learners' perceptions of online Japanese courses. The speaking ability of all participants was assessed at the beginning and end of their Japanese language course. A mixed-design analysis of variance was conducted to analyze the effect of course type on speaking ability. Results showed that participant speaking ability improved significantly over time regardless of course type (online or F2F). This study also revealed that the majority of participants were able to use online tools with ease and found the online format to be an effective method of learning Japanese. Two principal reasons for studying Japanese online are reported. Implications and suggestions are discussed.
Interpreting Moran Eigenvector Maps with the Getis-Ord Gi* Statistic

Spatial weights matrices used in quantitative geography furnish maps with their individual latent eigenvectors, whose geographic distributions portray distinct spatial autocorrelation (SA) componen...
Metatranscriptomics to characterize respiratory virome, microbiome, and host response directly from clinical samples

We developed a metatranscriptomics method that can simultaneously capture the respiratory virome, microbiome, and host response directly from low biomass samples. Using nasal swab samples, we capture RNA virome with sufficient sequencing depth required to assemble complete genomes. We find a surprisingly high frequency of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and coronavirus (CoV) in healthy children, and a high frequency of RSV-A and RSV-B co-detections in children with symptomatic RSV. In addition, we have identified commensal and pathogenic bacteria and fungi at the species level. Functional analysis revealed that H. influenzae was highly active in symptomatic RSV subjects. The host nasal transcriptome reveled upregulation of the innate immune system, anti-viral response and inflammasome pathway, and downregulation of fatty acid pathways in children with symptomatic RSV. Overall, we demonstrate that our method is broadly applicable to infer the transcriptome landscape of an infected system, surveil respiratory infections, and to sequence RNA viruses directly from clinical samples.
Shimon Even: A Promise Problem

The late Shimon Even was one of the inventors of “promise problems,” which demand correct solutions only for instances having a separate promised property. The chapter described a simple problem about exponentially long pairs of paths in graphs promised to have nothing else that is surprisingly hard to classify.
Actions of Ga on A3 defined by homogeneous derivations

The first example of an algebraic action of Ga on affine 3-space having maximal rank 3 is produced. Its fixed points consist of a single line in A3, and Ga is realized as an algebraic subgroup of Autk(A3) whose non-trivial elements are of degree 41. The corresponding derivation is homogeneous and irreducible of degree 4. Since triangulable actions are never of maximal rank, this action is non-triangulable. This action is embedded, for each n ≥ 3, into a Ga-action on An, in such a way that the resulting action has rank n, thus showing that algebraic Ga-actions on An having maximal rank exist for each n ≥ 3. Also considered is the general case of a homogeneous locally nilpotent derivation on k[3]. The main tool here is the exponent of a polynomial relative to the derivation. By describing such derivations of type (2, d + 1), where d is the degree of the derivation, it is shown that actions induced by homogeneous derivations of degree less than four have rank at most 2. The rank 3 example mentioned above appears as a special case of Theorem 4.2.
Governing China’s Energy in the Context of Global Governance

Abstract This article seeks to understand what role China can and will play in global energy governance by examining how its domestic energy context shapes the country’s attitudes toward the multilateral, market and climate change aspects of global energy governance. It finds that China demonstrates a preference for bilateral/regional to multilateral energy institutions, exhibits an inclination to blend state and market when pursuing energy security, and shows a principally consistent but pragmatically flexible approach to global negotiations on climate change. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, China’s engagement with the international energy order suggests that a rising and energy-hungry China has not and is unlikely to upset the very system that has benefited and will continue to benefit the country. Instead, this article argues that China has shown signs and promises of contributing to global energy governance by offering financial, technical solutions and stimulating the world to develop clean energy. However, energy governance in China has experienced considerable capacity decay in the era of reform and globalization. This decay not only bodes ill for the country’s ability to lead in global energy governance but also complicates international attempts to engage China on complex energy and climate challenges. Policy Implications • The fragmentation of the central government in China, together with the rise of substate actors and state-owned flagship energy corporations in the country’s energy governance, means that it is unrealistic to expect China to have a unified view and voice on global energy governance in the near term. • In light of the fundamental interests of China to engage the international system, the country’s absence from the world’s most important multilateral energy institutions says as much about its reluctance to join these restrictive organizations as these organizations’ lack of seriousness to engage China. • The blending of market tools to a state-dominated energy economy characterizes China’s state capitalism approach to addressing complex energy challenges and the country has largely exported this approach when it engages the international energy market. • China’s staunch positions on climate change bespeak its preoccupation with development, but its changing attitudes toward key issues in global climate negotiations reflect its flexible and pragmatic approach to development. • To seek effective participation from China in global energy governance, the international community cannot engage Beijing alone; instead, it must also engage local governments in China that have gained autonomy over energy affairs and those restructured and partially marketized energy SOEs that have exhibited entrepreneurship in shaping and implementing the country’s energy and climate policies.
Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA)

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array, or ALMA, is an international telescope project which will be built over the coming decade in Northern Chile. With over 7000 m2 of collecting area comprised of 64 12m antennas arrayed over baselines up to 14 km in extent, ALMA will provide images of unprecedented clarity and detail. One revolutionary feature of ALMA will be its ability to combine interferometric and single telescope data, providing complete flux recovery. ALMA will cover a spectral wavelength range from 7mm to 0.3 mm or shorter wavelengths, providing astronomy with its first detailed look at the structures which emit millimeter and submillimeter photons, the most abundant photons in the Universe.
Abstract 2494: A pilot proteomic analysis to identify biomarker proteins in human pancreatic cancer using reverse phase protein array

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA Background: Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the U.S, and with an overall 5-year survival rate less than 4%. The high mortality rate of patients with pancreatic cancer is primarily due to the difficulty of early diagnosis and a lack of effective therapies. There is an urgent need to discover novel molecular targets for early diagnosis and new therapeutic approaches to improve the clinical outcome of this deadly disease. Reverse-phase protein assay (RPPA), a high throughput proteomic approach, provides us a platform to identify differentially expressed proteins and characterize posttranslational protein modifications involved in tumorigenesis. Methods: In the present study here, we carried out proteomic analysis of pancreatic cancer specimens with matched adjacent, normal-appearing tissue samples from 15 pancreatic cancer patients to evaluate the differentially expressed biomarker proteins. The antibody panel used for RPPA included 132 key proteins involved in various cancer-related pathways. The paired t test was used to determine the significant differences between matched pairs, and the false discovery rate-adjusted p values (q values) were calculated to take into account the effect of multiple comparisons. Result: Out of the panel of 132 proteins included in RPPA, we found 19 of them had statistically significant differences in expression between matched pairs (q <0.05). Among these 19 proteins, AKT, -catenin, GAB2, and PAI-1 were identified as differentially overexpressed in the pancreatic tumor (a fold change of T/N ≥ 1.5). In addition, overexpression of AKT, -catenin, and GAB2 in pancreatic cancer tissue identified in RPPA has been confirmed by western blot analysis. Further analysis identified several significantly associated canonical pathways and overrepresented network functions using the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA) tool. Conclusion: In conclusion, among the three proteins identified in RPPA and validated by western blot, overexpression of GAB2 has not been reported previously in pancreatic cancer. Considering the essential role of GAB2 in two major signaling pathways in cancer (the PI3-AKT and the ERK signaling pathways), identification of GAB2 in pancreatic cancer may provide additional insight into this cancer's pathogenesis. Citation Format: Yu-jing Huang, Nianxiang Zhang, Marsha Frazier, Chongjuan Wei. A pilot proteomic analysis to identify biomarker proteins in human pancreatic cancer using reverse phase protein array. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2494. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2494
The Concept and Performance of 'The Code' in 'The Merchant of Venice'

This essay elaborates on several prior endeavors that explored the bonding of Portia and Shylock in the last two scenes of The Merchant of Venice. Both characters revere codes, in contradistinction to the insider male world of Venice, which easily traduces promises, oaths, and laws anytime the fluid situation so demands. Portia can do this, too; she plays both with her father's testamentary code and with the Shylock-Antonio contract. The trial scene as it progresses, however, teaches her the costs of such (comedic) playfulness. She responds with special antipathy when Antonio - asked to do mercy to Shylock - instead cruelly manipulates the Alien Statute utterly to destroy the Jew. By the time she returns to Belmont in Act V, she has learned from Shylock that the marriage code, symbolized by the ring, can indeed be honored. For this to happen in her own marriage, however, she must rid her husband and herself of the baleful mediation of Antonio.
Multi-stage MMSE/MOE receivers for frequency selective fading channels in DS-CDMA systems

A multi-stage minimum mean square error filter bank (MS-MMSE-FB) and a minimum output energy filter bank (MS-MOE-FB) for the detection of DS-CDMA (Direct-Sequence Code-Division Multi-Access) signals under a dynamic multi-path fading environment are presented. The output signal-to-interference plus noise ratios (SINRs) for both MS-MMSE-FB and MS-MOE-FB are derived. The analytical results reveal how the output SINRs of reduced-rank MS-MMSE-FB and MS-MOE-FB vary with the rank of filters. The findings coincide with results of Honig and Goldstein (see IEEE Trans. on Communications, 2000), namely, the rank needed to achieve a target performance does not scale with the system loading in an additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel. The derivation shows that, with the aid of desired user's channel information, the rank of the receivers can be drastically dropped without affecting the steady state SINR, an important factor for interference suppression in a dynamic fading channel with adaptive MS-MMSE-FB/MS-MOE-FB detections.
Neural networks for active sonar classification

Active sonar classification has been a challenging pattern recognition problem for many years mainly due to the complexity of ocean environment. Improvement of sensors and data acquisition can be very costly and can only provide limited improvement in classification. Neural networks are ideally suited to active sonar classification problems with the potential advantages. In the paper, some active sonar data characteristics are presented, and the performances of several feedforward neural networks are evaluated and compared with the traditional nearest neighbor decision rule. It is concluded that the neural networks studied not only can outperform but also are far more robust than the traditional classifiers. >
Natural Language Information Formatting: The Automatic Conversion of Texts to a Structured Data Base

Publisher Summary The field of computerized language processing encompasses a wide range of goals and methodologies, ranging from such theoretical objectives as the modeling of human linguistic behavior and human language acquisition, to such goals as machine translation, natural language systems for man–machine communication, and speech recognition. What unites these varied endeavors is the need to come to grips with the special features of natural language as a communication system. The chapter approaches the problems from the viewpoint of information science, with applications envisioned primarily in science information retrieval and data base management. The chapter also attempts to provide a general solution to the following problem: Given a collection of documents on a particular subject written in English or another natural language, how can computer programs arrange the information contained in the documents so that it can be accessed from different points of view for a variety of informational tasks. This assumes that there are underlying common features in the texts that can be made explicit by formal procedures. For the field of information management the solution to this problem would extend the data bases on which data processing functions that have already been automated can operate. The chapter discusses the principles and methods of analysis, and computer programs for information formatting. If indeed it is possible to obtain structured data bases from textual material, then the potential for new computer applications is large. In this section a few applications are sketched with reference to how they would be realized on a data base of computer-formatted medical records.
A reconnaissance method for delineation of tracts for regional-scale mineral-resource assessment based on geologic-map data

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is proposing to conduct a global mineral-resource assessment using geologic maps, significant deposits, and exploration history as minimal data requirements. Using a geologic map and locations of significant pluton-related deposits, the pluton-related-deposit tract maps from the USGS national mineral-resource assessment have been reproduced with GIS-based analysis and modeling techniques. Agreement, kappa, and Jaccard's C correlation statistics between the expert USGS and calculated tract maps of 87%, 40%, and 28%, respectively, have been achieved using a combination of weights-of-evidence and weighted logistic regression methods. Between the experts' and calculated maps, the ranking of states measured by total permissive area correlates at 84%. The disagreement between the experts and calculated results can be explained primarily by tracts defined by geophysical evidence not considered in the calculations, generalization of tracts by the experts, differences in map scales, and the experts' inclusion of large tracts that are arguably not permissive. This analysis shows that tracts for regional mineral-resource assessment approximating those delineated by USGS experts can be calculated using weights of evidence and weighted logistic regression, a geologic map, and the location of significant deposits. Weights of evidence and weighted logistic regression applied to a global geologic map could provide quickly a useful reconnaissance definition of tracts for mineral assessment that is tied to the data and is reproducible.
Ending up with the right partner

How do the correct maternal and paternal chromosomes find one another during sexual reproduction? New data from fission yeast indicate that the search for the right partner is simplified by pre-alignment of the chromosomes through clustering of their ends.
The Unfinished Peace after World War I: America, Britain and the Stabilisation of Europe, 1919–1932

Prologue: the truncated peace of Versailles and its consequences, 1919-23 1. The wider challenges: the legacy of the 'Great War' and the era of imperialism 2. Wilson, Lloyd George and the quest for a 'peace to end all wars' 3. The ill-founded peace settlement of 1919 4. The escalation of Europe's post-Versailles crisis, 1920-23 Part I. The Anglo-American Stabilisation of Europe, 1923-4: 5. Towards a progressive transformation of European politics: the reorientation of American stabilisation policy, 1921-3 6. Towards transatlantic co-operation and a new European order: the reorientation of British stabilisation policy, 1922-4 7. The turning point - the Anglo-American intervention in the Ruhr crisis 8. From antagonism to accommodation: the reorientation of French and German postwar policies, 1923-4 9. The two paths to the London conference: the Dawes process and the recasting of European international politics 10. The first 'real' peace settlement after World War 1: the London agreement of 1924 and the consequences of the 'economic peace' Part II. Europe's Nascent Pax Anglo-Americana, 1924-5: 11. The dawning of a progressive Pax Americana in Europe? 12. Towards the Locarno pact - Britain's quest for a new European concert, 1924-5 13. Regression? US policy and the 'political insurance' of Europe's 'economic peace' 14. Beyond irreconcilable differences? German and French approaches to Locarno 15. The path to Locarno - and its transatlantic dimension 16. The second 'real' peace settlement after World War I: the Locarno conference and the emergence of a new concert of Europe Part III. The Unfinished Transatlantic Peace Order: the system of London and Locarno, 1926-9 17. Sustaining peaceful change and stability - the challenges of the latter 1920s 18. Progressive visions and limited commitments: American stabilisation efforts in the era of London and Locarno 19. 'Reciprocity'? Britain as 'honest broker' in the Locarno system 20. The new European concert - and its limits 21. The quest for a 'final postwar agreement' at Thoiry 22. Towards a peaceful change of Polish-German relations? 23. Achievements and constraints - the European security system of the latter 1920s 24. No 'new world order' - the limits of the Kellogg-Briand Pact 25. Towards the young process - the final bid to fortify the system of London and Locarno 26. The last 'grand bargain' after World War I - the Hague Settlement of 1929 Epilogue Conclusion.
Significance of Air Infiltration on Building Energy Conservation Design, Standards, and Codes

Air infiltration in residences accounts for 30 to 75 percent of the heating load, and present design procedures in commercial buildings result in excessive amounts of controlled fresh air introduction to offset air exfiltration losses. Simulation studies on retrofit potential of residences reveal that, while portions of the building heating and cooling loads can be reduced substantially using cost-effective techniques, air infiltration remains a dominant factor in the loads. With the advent of a priority status for energy conservation, many new standards have been developed. These standards have been of three primary natures: prescriptive, component performance, and performance. Because new residential designs are making buildings tighter, with less air infiltration, three new standards are necessary to follow the trend in design. These standards are: (1) the use of pressurization-evacuation test methods to set a construction quality performance standard, (2) the use of ducted outside air with heat recovery for fresh air introduction to super-tight residences, and (3) the use of ducted outside air to fossil-fuel burning units for combustion purposes.
Effect of Rennet Coagulation Time on Composition, Yield, and Quality of Reduced-Fat Cheddar Cheese

This study compared the effect of coagulum firmness at cutting on composition of 50% reduced-fat Cheddar cheese. Coagulum firmness was determined by subjective evaluation by the cheese maker. Three firmness levels were tested, and these corresponded to average times of coagulant addition to cutting the curd of 25, 48, and 65 min. A slow acid-producing culture was used, and ripening times were altered to give similar curd pH values throughout cheese making. A longer rennet coagulation time (firmer coagulum at cutting) resulted in an increase in cheese moisture as well as an increase in cheese yield. The percentages of fat recovered in the cheese decreased with increasing curd firmness. The percentage of nitrogen recovered in the cheese was similar among the treatments. The amount of whey collected from the curd after milling increased as the coagulum firmness at cutting increased. Higher moisture content and lower pH of cheese made from the firmer curd at cutting contributed to softer, smoother-bodied cheeses, but the Cheddar flavor intensity was not affected.
Report of aggressive renal cell carcinoma in two patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease

Renal cell carcinoma is relatively common in patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease, yet characteristically follows a less aggressive course compared with sporadic renal cell carcinoma. We report on 2 patients with von Hippel-Lindau disease and atypically aggressive renal tumors. In these patients, more rigorous screening guidelines may help to identify the more aggressive variants.
A closer look at the relation between tax complexity and tax equity perceptions

Increasing compliance complexity is often blamed for increased non-compliance with the income tax, in part due to the negative impact complexity is assumed to have on taxpayers' equity perceptions. However, no strong theoretical basis has been offered to support a systematic relation between compliance complexity and equity perceptions, and empirical evidence regarding a relation between complexity and compliance is mixed. Relying on the social psychology and justice literatures, we develop hypotheses regarding the conditions under which tax complexity might be expected to impact equity perceptions. We conduct an experiment in which subjects assess different forms of a hypothetical tax provision with identical economic consequences. Consistent with our hypotheses, we find that the provision's complexity negatively affects equity assessments only when subjects are prompted with an alternative provision with relatively favorable economic consequences, and then only when no explicit justification for its complexity and relative economic consequences is offered. The contingent nature of the relation between complexity and equity perceptions, and its consequences for policy makers concerned with tax compliance, simplification, and more comprehensive tax reform, are discussed.
A methodological study on fitting a nonlinear stochastic model of the AIDS epidemic in Philadelphia

A nonlinear stochastic model accommodating heterogeneous risk behavior and recruitment was fit to Philadelphia public health data adjusted for delays in reporting. The methodological study that was performed resulted in a finding of significant clinical importance. Namely, that the variable time from infection with HIV to seroconversion may be longer than reported in the literature. The finding challenges our understanding of the progression of HIV disease and has profound public health implications. Although the model and the software incorporated several risk categories, such as heterosexual males and females among others, those examined in this paper are confined to white male homosexual/bisexual intravenous drug users and white male homosexual/bisexual nonintravenous drug users. The results of this paper demonstrate that it is possible to fit a rather complex stochastic model to public health data, using computer intensive methods, and thus, more completely reflect the diversity of human behavior represented by the defined risk groups of the data.
Five years of Florida current structure and transport from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship explorer of the Seas

[1] Using ship-of-opportunity platform Explorer of the Seas, five years of full-depth velocity data have been collected across the Florida Straits at 26°N. Between May 2001 and May 2006 the mean transport of the Florida Current was 31.0 ± 4.0 Sv. This compares to a mean transport of 32.4 ± 3.2 Sv inferred from cable voltages at 27°N over the same period, implying an average 1.4 Sv transport into the Straits through the Northwest Providence Channel. The climatological core of the Florida Current is 170 cms−1 and is positioned at 79.8°W, about 10 km east of the shelf break. The largest variability in velocity occurs over the shelf and shelf break and is likely related to shelf waves. A secondary maximum occurs across much of the Straits over the top 100 m of the water column and may be associated with wind events. The annual cycle of Florida Current transports has a range of 4.7 Sv, with a maximum in May–June–July and a minimum in January. The difference between the summer and winter current structure appears as a first baroclinic mode with zero crossing at 150 m. The maximum difference is about 15 cms−1 at the surface and is centered just offshore of the mean current core. On interannual timescales, low-pass filtered Explorer and cable transports show similar downward trends between 2002 and 2005, but diverge over the last year or so of the record.
Bond percolation on a finite lattice: Critical behavior of the (1+ epsilon )-state Potts model.

The continuous n-state Potts model is reinvestigated. The partition function is cast in a form allowing the limit, n\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1, to be taken prior to perturbation-theoretical expansions. Proceeding in this way, we free the theory of pathologies known to plague other approaches. Several alternatives are presented for a Feynman-diagrammatic expansion of the theory, two of which are identical to those utilized in previous analyses of the mdoel. One of the introduced diagrammatic approaches is used to recover known results of one-loop renormalization calculations. It is also utilized to calculate the partition function of the (1+\ensuremath{\epsilon})-state Potts model, and, hence, the generating function for bond percolation, on a finite lattice. This generating function for cluster statistics exhibits the scaling features proposed by Privman and Fisher for systems of finite size.
The effects of prolonged coffee intake on genetically identical mice

Abstract C57BL6J mice were fed coffee over a prolonged period of time (adult life). They had a statistically significant decrease in longevity as compared to the genetically identical controls. The coffee fed animals developed a markedly deteriorated physical condition and lower weights despite the fact that they consumed as much or more food and fluid than the water fed controls.
The reproductive biology of the leech Helobdella stagnalis (L.) in Utah Lake, Utah

Summary The reproductive biology of the glossiphoniid leech Helobdella stagnalis in Utah Lake, Utah was studied for an 18-month period from June 1970 to December 1971. In this lake it was found that the overwintering adult leeches produce two broods of young in May and June. Evidence is presented to support the idea that the same individual can produce two broods. Two complete cycles of gametogenesis also take place. Continuous water temperatures were recorded at the study site to correlate with reproductive activity. Gametogenesis appears to be temperature dependent with the first generation of sperm taking 4 months to be produced in the fall and winter months while the second generation of sperm is produced in 6 weeks during the spring. Egg production follows a similar pattem.
Cold-adapted animals. I. Changes in blood clotting and electrophoretic properties of rabbit plasma.

SummaryRabbits maintained for 2 months at 4°C, developed increases in platelet and erythrocyte count, hematocrit, plasma protein concentration, β-globulins and fibrinogen and in whole blood and plasma clotting times. Decreases occurred in serum albumin concentration and prothrombin time. It was suggested that retardation of clotting in spite of decreased prothrombin time might be due to an increase in resistance of platelets or to some chemical alteration of thromboplasin.
Stochastic Finite-Element Analysis of Seismic Soil-Structure Interaction

A procedure is presented for the probabilistic analysis of the seismic soil-structure interaction problem. The procedure accounts for uncertainty in both the free-field input motion as well as in local site conditions, and structural parameters. Uncertain parameters are modeled using a probabilistic framework as stochastic processes. The site amplification effects are accounted for via a randomized relationship between the soil shear modulus and damping on the one hand, and the shear strain of the subgrade on the other hand, as well as by modeling the shear modulus at low strain level as randomly fluctuating with depth. The various random processes are represented by their respective Karhunen-Loeve expansions, and the solution processes, consisting of the accelerations and generalized forces in the structure, are represented by their coordinates with respect to the polynomial chaos basis. These coordinates are then evaluated by a combination of weighted residuals and stratified sampling schemes. The expansion can be used to carry out very efficiently, extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The procedure is applied to the seismic analysis of a nuclear reactor facility.
Recognition alters the spatial pattern of FMRI activation in early retinotopic cortex.

Early retinotopic cortex has traditionally been viewed as containing a veridical representation of the low-level properties of the image, not imbued by high-level interpretation and meaning. Yet several recent results indicate that neural representations in early retinotopic cortex reflect not just the sensory properties of the image, but also the perceived size and brightness of image regions. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging pattern analyses to ask whether the representation of an object in early retinotopic cortex changes when the object is recognized compared with when the same stimulus is presented but not recognized. Our data confirmed this hypothesis: the pattern of response in early retinotopic visual cortex to a two-tone “Mooney” image of an object was more similar to the response to the full grayscale photo version of the same image when observers knew what the two-tone image represented than when they did not. Further, in a second experiment, high-level interpretations actually overrode bottom-up stimulus information, such that the pattern of response in early retinotopic cortex to an identified two-tone image was more similar to the response to the photographic version of that stimulus than it was to the response to the identical two-tone image when it was not identified. Our findings are consistent with prior results indicating that perceived size and brightness affect representations in early retinotopic visual cortex and, further, show that even higher-level information—knowledge of object identity—also affects the representation of an object in early retinotopic cortex.
Specificity of action of vanadate to the organ of corti

Abstract Although vanadate strongly inhibits Na/K-ATPase activity of the stria vascularis in vitro, it initially causes no depression of the ouabain-sensitive endocochlear potential (EP) when perfused perilymphatically or via the vasculature. However, when the perilymph of scala tympani is replaced with artificial media containing 0.1 to 1 mM vanadate, there is a large (about 17 mV) increase in the EP of the second cochlear turn. Further experiments showed that the cochlear microphonics declined during the time in which the EP increased, and that the response of these two potentials to vanadate is greater in the second turn than in the first. Injection of 50 nl of 1 mM vanadate (in artificial endolymph) into the endolymphatic space of the second turn caused no increase in the EP. These results support the notion that the early effects of vanadate are on the contra-luminal membranes of cells of the organ of Corti rather than on the stria vascularis. By superimposing anoxia or furosemide (i.v.) upon vanadate intoxication, we determined that the initial increase of the compound EP due to vanadate alone was due to a reduction in magnitude of the negative component of the EP. It is argued that of the three prevalent theories concerning the generation of the negative EP, the data tend to support the hypothesis that the intracellular potential of the hair cells gives rise to the negative EP.
Angular momentum in general relativity: The definition at null infinity includes the spatial definition as a special case

I show that the definition of angular momentum at null infinity given by A. Rizzi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1150 (1998), reduces to the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner definition at spatial infinity in the appropriate limit. This identification reinforces the gauge condition of the null definition as well as the null definition itself. Insight into the place of the null and spatial definitions is also gained. The methods used in this paper are very useful for understanding far-field problems in general relativity; a set of Appendixes gives details of the methods.
Detection of calcific deposits in atherosclerotic lesions by laser Raman spectroscopy

The laser Raman scattering from calcified regions of diseased cardiovascular tissue samples dissected from the coronary arteries and aortic valves was measured. The spectra reveal the characteristic vibrational features of the phosphate grouping in the solid state. Spectral features for the calcified artery segments and aortic valves are compared for details of the chemical and structural makeup of the calcific lesions.
Modeling Information Gathering Decisions in Systems Engineering Projects

Decisions in systems engineering projects commonly are made under significant amounts of uncertainty. This uncertainty can exist in many areas such as the performance of subsystems, interactions between subsystems, or project resource requirements such as budget or personnel. System engineers often can choose to gather information that reduces uncertainty, which allows for potentially better decisions, but at the cost of resources expended in acquiring the information. However, our understanding of how to analyze situations involving gathering information is limited, and thus heuristics, intuition, or deadlines are often used to judge the amount of information gathering needed in a decision. System engineers would benefit from a better understanding of how to determine the amount of information gathering needed to support a decision.This paper introduces Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) as a formalism for modeling information-gathering decisions in systems engineering. A POMDP can model different states, alternatives, outcomes, and probabilities of outcomes to represent a decision maker’s beliefs about his situation. It also can represent sequential decisions in a compact format, avoiding the combinatorial explosion of decision trees and similar representations. The solution of a POMDP, in the form of value functions, prescribes the best course of action based on a decision maker’s beliefs about his situation. The value functions also determine if more information gathering is needed. Sophisticated computational solvers for POMDPs have been developed in recent years, allowing for a straightforward analysis of different alternatives, and determining the optimal course of action in a given situation. This paper demonstrates using a POMDP to model a systems engineering problem, and compares this approach with other approaches that account for information gathering in decision making.© 2014 ASME
Glucose Extraction by the Human Myocardium during Pacing Stress

Glucose extraction by ischemic human myocardium was investigated at the time of diagnostic cardiac catheterization in 27 subjects who had fasted overnight. Paired arterial and coronary sinus blood samples, obtained before and during coronary sinus pacing, were analyzed for glucose and lactate. Pacing to a rate 50 to 70% greater than control or to the development of chest pain induced no significant change in the arterial level of either substrate. No correlation was noted between arterial level and myocardial extraction of either substrate at rest or during stress. Three groups of subjects were identified: group I: those with lactate extraction at rest and during pacing (n = 13); group II: those with lactate extraction at rest but production during pacing (n = 7); and group III: those with lactate production at rest with augmented production during pacing (n = 5). Two additional subjects produced lactate at rest but were not paced. Glucose extraction increased significantly with pacing tachycardia in grou...
Food Intake and Meal Patterns of One Year Old Infants

Nutrient intakes and meal patterns of 8.6 to 15.6 month old infants were investigated by analysing data collected by the caregivers of 29 infants. The caregivers maintained a 7-day diary which included everything the infant ate and other factors including people present during meal time and time of meals. Daily intake and meal size increased as age increased for the infants. A high level of variability in meal size was found, however, the variability in daily intake was much lower indicating an ability to adjust intake at meals to maintain a relatively stable daily intake. Infants were found to be responsive to their stomach contents, however, the circadian rhythm of intake was absent and social facilitation of intake was blunted. It is suggested that these differences are due to the fact the infants have not yet learned to respond to the social and environmental factors which markedly influence the intake of adults.
Congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunt associated with heterotaxy and polysplenia

Background Heterotaxy with polysplenia is associated with many cardiovascular anomalies including the occasional occurrence of congenital extrahepatic portosystemic shunts (CEPS). Missing this anomaly can lead to inappropriate and ineffective therapy.
The role of fair-value accounting in the credit-market crisis

Some observers have suggested that fair-value accounting has exacerbated the credit-market crisis. Those who express this concern believe that fair values assigned to financial assets backed by certain mortgage loans have not reflected their underlying intrinsic or economic values. In turn, these commentators feel that the understated values have resulted in overstated losses and the need to raise additional capital. Arguably, the valuation and liquidity of other securities have been affected. In addition, it is possible that the confusion about the true values of various securities resulted in reduced levels of investor and creditor confidence. In an effort to provide a foundation to address some of these concerns, this paper provides detailed discussions on: the securitisation of subprime mortgages; the application of fair-value accounting to securities backed by subprime and ALT-A loans; and whether or not fair-value accounting for difficult-to-value securities improves transparency, relevance, reliability, and comparability of financial reports.
The Relation Between Knee Flexion Angle and Anterior Cruciate Ligament Femoral Tunnel Characteristics: A Cadaveric Study Comparing a Standard and a Far Anteromedial Portal

Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) femoral tunnel characteristics between 2 common arthroscopic portals used for ACL reconstruction, a standard anteromedial portal and a far anteromedial portal. Methods Seven cadaveric knees were used. A 1.25-mm Kirschner wire was drilled through the center of the ACL femoral footprint and through the distal femur from the standard anteromedial and far anteromedial portals at knee flexion angles of 100°, 120°, and 140°. No formal tunnels were drilled. Each tunnel exit point was marked with a colored pin. After all tunnels were created, the specimens were digitized with a MicroScribe device (Revware, Raleigh, NC) to measure the tunnel length; distance to the posterior femoral cortical wall (posterior cortical margin); and tunnel orientation in the sagittal, coronal, and axial planes. Results The standard anteromedial portal resulted in a longer tunnel length, a less horizontal tunnel in the coronal plane, and a greater posterior cortical margin compared with the far anteromedial portal at all knee flexion angles. For both portal locations, the tunnel length and posterior cortical margin increased, and the tunnel position became more horizontal in the coronal plane, more anterior in the sagittal plane, and less horizontal in the transverse plane as knee flexion increased. Conclusions Portal position affects femoral tunnel characteristics, with results favoring the more laterally positioned standard anteromedial portal at all flexion angles. Increasing the knee flexion angle leads to a longer femoral tunnel length and posterior femoral cortical margin with either portal position. Clinical Relevance Understanding how portal positioning and knee flexion angle affect femoral tunnel orientation and characteristics may lead to improved surgical outcomes after ACL reconstruction.
Equilibrium shape of prismatic dislocation loops under uniform stress

Keywords: Composite materials ; Cooling ; Crystal microstructure ; Crystallization ; Dislocations (crystals) ; Friction ; Glass ; Mathematical models ; Optical microscopy ; Stress analysis ; Vectors ; Burgers vector ; Silver chloride ; Silver compounds Note: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States13596454 (ISSN)DOI: 10.1016/S1359-6454(99)00118-4 Reference LMM-ARTICLE-1999-005doi:10.1016/S1359-6454(99)00118-4View record in Web of ScienceView record in Scopus Record created on 2006-10-09, modified on 2017-05-10
Rates of Conversion of Sulfur Dioxide to Sulfate in a Scrubbed Power Plant Plume

ABSTRACT The rate of conversion of SO2 to SO4 2- was re-estimated from measurements made in the plume of the Cumberland power plant, located on the Cumberland River in north-central Tennessee, after installation of flue gas desulfurization (FGD) scrubbers for SO2 removal in 1994. The ratio of SO2 to NOy emissions into the plume has been reduced to ~0.1, compared with a prescrubber value of ~2. To determine whether the SO2 emissions reduction has correspondingly reduced plume-generated particulate SO4 2- production, we have compared the rates of conversion before and after scrubber installation. The prescrubber estimates were developed from measurements made during the Tennessee Plume Study conducted in the late 1970s. The post-scrubber estimates are based upon two series of research flights in the summers of 1998 and 1999. During two of these flights, the Cumberland plume did not mix with adjacent power plant plumes, enabling rate constants for conversion to be estimated from samples taken in the plume at...
‘Learning and labor’: faculty unionization at the University of Illinois, 1919–1923

This article examines the creation, activities, and demise of the Federation of Teachers of the University of Illinois, American Federation of Teachers Local 41. Organized in 1919, the local sought to unite faculty, provide them with input into academic governance, and improve their remuneration while also linking faculty with other workers. The efforts of, experiences of, and reactions to Local 41 demonstrate conflicted notions of professionalism and labor, divisions within the faculty, barriers between educators and other laborers, and threats to academic freedom during the first wave of faculty unionization.
Primary structure of the 25-kilodalton ookinete antigen from Plasmodium reichenowi.

A 25-kDa cysteine-rich ookinete surface antigen is a candidate in the development of a transmission blocking malaria vaccine [ l ]. Monoclonal antibodies against this target antigen block transmission from vertebrate host tO mosquito vector [2]. Cloning and sequencing o f this antigen gene from Plasmodium falciparum (Pfs25) and Plasmodium gallinaceum (Pgs25) has revealed striking similarity to epidermal growth factor-like domains [3,4]. Inter-species (Pfs25 and Pgs25) comparison has revealed six conserved regions of six or more amino acids, and their role in invasion of mosquito midgut by the ookinete has been suggested [4]. Plasmodium reichenowi is a chimpanzee malaria parasite that is evolutionarily related to the human malaria parasite P. falciparum [5]. Our long-term objective is to identify species-specific differences in the vaccine candidate antigens in evolutionarily related parasites, that will allow us and others to evaluate the usefulness of these regions in vaccine development. We have recently sequenced the CS protein gene from P. reichenowi (submitted for publication). We report here the sequence of the 25-kDa antigen gene from P. reichenowi and compare it with Pfs25 and Pgs25. The gene encoding the 25kDa antigen from P. reichenowi was amplified
Impact of Abnormal Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Results on Short-term Outcome Following Transient Ischemic Attack

Objective To characterize short-term prognoses among patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) and normal diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) results, TIA patients with abnormal DWI results (transient symptoms associated with infarction [TSI]), and patients with completed ischemic stroke (IS). Design Retrospective study. Setting University hospital. Patients We reviewed patient medical records between January 2003 and December 2004 with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes for TIA at admission, resolution of neurological symptoms within 24 hours, magnetic resonance imaging within 48 hours, and a discharge diagnosis of TIA or IS. A random sample of 50 IS patients was selected from all IS admissions and discharges by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes. Demographic, clinical, radiographic, and in-hospital outcome data were recorded. Three diagnostic categories were created: TIA with normal DWI results, TSI, and IS. Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the association between diagnostic category and rate of in-hospital stroke or recurrent TIA among the 3 groups. Results We identified 146 classic TIA (25% with TSI) and 50 IS cases. There were 4 recurrent TIAs and 6 strokes among patients with TSI (27.0%); 3 recurrent TIAs and no strokes among patients with normal DWI results (2.8%); and 1 recurrent stroke and no TIAs among IS patients (2.0%). Transient symptoms associated with infarction was independently associated with in-hospital recurrent TIA or stroke (adjusted odds ratio, 11.2; P Conclusions Transient symptoms associated with infarction is associated with a greater rate of early recurrent TIA and stroke than both IS and TIA with normal DWI results. These data suggest that TSI may be a separate clinical entity with unique prognostic implications.