Producing approximate answers to database queries

We have designed and implemented a query processor, called APPROXIMATE, that makes approximate answers available if part of the database is unavailable or if there is not enough time to produce an exact answer. The accuracy of the approximate answers produced improves monotonically with the amount of data retrieved to produce the result. The exact answer is produced if all of the needed data are available and query processing is allowed to continue until completion. The monotone query processing algorithm of APPROXIMATE works within the standard relational algebra framework and can be implemented on a relational database system with little change to the relational architecture. We describe here the approximation semantics of APPROXIMATE that serves as the basis for meaningful approximations of both set-valued and single-valued queries. We show how APPROXIMATE is implemented to make effective use of semantic information, provided by an object-oriented view of the database, and describe the additional overhead required by APPROXIMATE

How did the introduction of managed care for the uninsured in Iowa affect the use of substance abuse services?

Concerns about access under managed care have been raised for vulnerable populations such as publicly funded patients with substance abuse problems. To estimate the effects of the Iowa Managed Substance Abuse Care Plan (IMSACP) on substance abuse service use by publicly funded patients, service use before and after IMSACP was compared; adjustments were made for changes in population sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Between fiscal years 1994 and 1997, patient case mix was marked by a higher burden of illness and the use of inpatient, residential nondetox, outpatient counseling, and assessment services declined, while use of intensive outpatient and residential detox services increased. Findings were similar among women, children, and homeless persons. Thus, care moved away from high-cost inpatient settings to less costly venues. Without knowing the impact on treatment outcomes, these changes cannot be interpreted as improved provider efficiency versus simply cost containment and profit maximization

REDUCED ILEUM PERISTALTIC CONTRACTILITY IN CYSTIC FIBROSIS SWINE

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessive multiorgan disease caused by mutations in the gene encoding for the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane conductance Regulator (CFTR). Even though CF-related lung diseases have traditionally been the main focus of both research and clinical concern, many extrapulmonary complications affect CF patient’s quality of life. With the improvements in lung health and increases in the median age of survival for CF patients, extrapulmonary complications have gained increasing attention. Abdominal complications have been reported as the most common extrapulmonary diseases in CF patients. However, the research of the underpinning causes for these clinical presentations of CF is still evolving. This study focused on testing ileum peristaltic contraction between CFTR knockout (CFTR-/- or CF) and wild-type pigs as a model using the organ bath system. We tested the contractility of the ileum ex vivo in CFTR-/- and wild-type swine immediately after birth (i.e. neonates), when the animals do not display any lung disease, and in one-week-old animals that start to develop signs of lung disease. We measured basal ileum peristalsis and the contraction induced by the agonists, acetylcholine, serotonin, and histamine. We then found that, in general, contraction in the CF ileum decreased compared to wild-type ileum right at birth and did not improve a week later. Moreover, CF pig ileum responded with a lower maximum contraction after stimulation with acetylcholine. The results support the hypothesis that the dysfunction of the CFTR channel results in reduced contraction. We hypothesize that the peristaltic contraction defect may be at the level of the intestinal smooth muscle

Porting and Testing NPOESS CrIMSS EDR Algorithms

As a part of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) and the NPOESS Preparatory Project (NPP), the instruments Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) and Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) make up the Cross-track Infrared and Microwave Sounder Suite (CrIMSS). CrIMSS will primarily provide global temperature, moisture, and pressure profiles and calibrated radiances [1]. In preparation for the NPOESS/NPP launch, porting and testing of the CrIMSS Environmental Data Record (EDR) algorithms need to be performed

Interstellar Interloper 1I/2017 U1: Observations from the NOT and WIYN Telescopes

We present observations of the interstellar interloper 1I/2017 U1 ('Oumuamua) taken during its 2017 October flyby of Earth. The optical colors B-V = 0.70$\pm$0.06, V-R = 0.45$\pm$0.05, overlap those of the D-type Jovian Trojan asteroids and are incompatible with the ultrared objects which are abundant in the Kuiper belt. With a mean absolute magnitude $H_V$ = 22.95 and assuming a geometric albedo $p_V$ = 0.1, we find an average radius of 55 m. No coma is apparent; we deduce a limit to the dust mass production rate of only $\sim$ 2$\times$10$^{-4}$ kg s$^{-1}$, ruling out the existence of exposed ice covering more than a few m$^2$ of the surface. Volatiles in this body, if they exist, must lie beneath an involatile surface mantle $\gtrsim$0.5 m thick, perhaps a product of prolonged cosmic ray processing in the interstellar medium. The lightcurve range is unusually large at $\sim$2.0$\pm$0.2 magnitudes. Interpreted as a rotational lightcurve the body has semi-axes $\sim$230 m $\times$ 35 m. A $\sim$6:1 axis ratio is extreme relative to most small solar system asteroids and suggests that albedo variations may additionally contribute to the variability. The lightcurve is consistent with a two-peaked period $\sim$8.26 hr but the period is non-unique as a result of aliasing in the data. Except for its unusually elongated shape, 1I/2017 U1 is a physically unremarkable, sub-kilometer, slightly red, rotating object from another planetary system. The steady-state population of similar, $\sim$100 m scale interstellar objects inside the orbit of Neptune is $\sim$10$^4$, each with a residence time $\sim$10 yr.Comment: 25 Pages, 2 Tables, 7 Figures; submitted to ApJ

Functional characterization of the active Mutator-like transposable element, Muta1 from the mosquito Aedes aegypti

Yeast transposition assay constructs. (A) Structures of pMuta1_PAG415 and pWL89Ae. AmpR, ampicillin resistance gene; ori, E. coli replication origin; Pgal1, GAL1 promoter; CYC1 ter, terminator; CEN, centromere sequences of yeast chromosomes; ARS, autonomous replication site. Dashed lines indicate the position of nonautonomous element insertions, in the 5’UTR and coding region respectively. Black arrows indicate the positions of primers used for PCR analysis in Figure S3A. (B) Excision from coding region of ADE2. (C) Excision from 5’ UTR of ADE2. (D) Reintegration. In the parental strain, pWL89A carries Muta1HIS in the coding region of ADE2. Reintegration is assayed by selecting cells that retain the HIS marker in Muta1HIS when the parental plasmid is excluded by 5-FOA treatment, which is toxic to Ura+ cells. (TIF 602 kb

Eye movements of young and older adults during reading

This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.The eye movements of young and older adults were tracked as they read sentences varying in syntactic complexity. In Experiment 1, cleft object and object relative clause sentences were more difficult to process than cleft subject and subject relative clause sentences; however, older adults made many more regressions, resulting in increased regression path fixation times and total fixation times, than young adults while processing cleft object and object relative clause sentences. In Experiment 2, older adults experienced more difficulty than young adults while reading cleft and relative clause sentences with temporary syntactic ambiguities created by deleting the that complementizers. Regression analyses indicated that readers with smaller working memories need more regressions and longer fixation times to process cleft object and object relative clause sentences. These results suggest that age-associated declines in working memory do affect syntactic processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved