NOAA-NASA Coastal Zone Color Scanner reanalysis effort

Satellite observations of global ocean chlorophyll span more than two decades. However, incompatibilities between processing algorithms prevent us from quantifying natural variability. We applied a comprehensive reanalysis to the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) archive, called the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NOAA-NASA) CZCS reanalysis (NCR) effort. NCR consisted of (1) algorithm improvement (AI), where CZCS processing algorithms were improved with modernized atmospheric correction and bio-optical algorithms and (2) blending where in situ data were incorporated into the CZCS AI to minimize residual errors. Global spatial and seasonal patterns of NCR chlorophyll indicated remarkable correspondence with modern sensors, suggesting compatibility. The NCR permits quantitative analyses of interannual and interdecadal trends in global ocean chlorophyll.     

Breakthrough pain in cancer patients: characteristics, prevalence, and treatment

"Breakthrough pain" is a common clinical term that has not been conclusively defined or described. Breakthrough pain is a transitory flare of pain experienced when baseline pain has been reduced to a mild or moderate level. Breakthrough pain may be characterized by its relationship to a fixed around-the-clock (ATC) opioid dose, rapid onset and short duration, precipitating events, predictability, pathophysiology (with nociceptive pain being most easily controlled), and etiology. The only prospective study of breakthrough pain conducted to date found a 63% prevalence of breakthrough pain in cancer patients referred to a pain service. Although prevalence figures from other studies vary widely, partly due to the populations chosen, all of the studies verify that breakthrough pain is a serious problem in cancer patients. In fact, several studies have listed incident pain, a subset of breakthrough pain, as a predictor of poor response to analgesic therapy. Breakthrough pain is currently managed with oral or parenteral breakthrough pain medications given in addition to the ATC analgesic regimen. The ATC dosage may also be increased until limited by side effects. Newer agents with a more rapid onset of analgesia and shorter duration of effect may help in the management of breakthrough pain.     

Chromosomal changes and correspondingly altered proto-oncogene expression in human gliomas. Value of combined cytogenetic and molecular genetic analysis

The recA gene from the bacterium Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), a rice pathogen, was cloned based on its ability to complement DNA repair defects of Escherichia coli recA- mutants. The Xoo recA was localized to a 1.3-kb Sau3AI-XhoI fragment and, when cloned into pBR322, specifies increased methylmethanesulfonate and mitomycin C resistance to E. coli recA mutants and allows lambda red- gam- to plaque on an E. coli recA- host. An E. coli recA- strain harboring a plasmid containing the Xoo recA-like gene was shown to produce a 40-kDa protein which cross-reacted with an anti-E. coli RecA antibody. A similar molecular mass protein to RecA has been detected in several Xanthomonas pathovars using an anti-E. coli RecA antibody. Furthermore, the cloned Xoo recA was shown to hybridize to genomic DNA from various Xanthomonas pathovars, but not to genomic DNA from other bacteria species under high-stringency hybridization conditions. These results indicate the isolation of the Xoo recA gene.     

Disk arrays: high-performance, high-reliability storage subsystems

As the performance of other system components continues to improve rapidly, storage subsystem performance becomes increasingly important. Storage subsystem performance and reliability can be enhanced by logically grouping multiple disk drives into disk arrays. Array data organizations are defined by their data distribution schemes and redundancy mechanisms. The various combinations of these two components make disk arrays suitable for a wide range of environments. Many array implementation decisions also result in trade-offs between performance and reliability. Disk arrays are thus an essential tool for satisfying storage performance and reliability requirements, while proper selection of a data organization can tailor an array to a particular environment     

Diverge-Merge Processor: Generalized and Energy-Efficient Dynamic Predication

The branch misprediction penalty is a major performance limiter and a major cause of wasted energy in high-performance processors. The diverge-merge processor reduces this penalty by dynamically predicating a wide range of hard-to-predict branches at runtime in an energy-efficient way that doesn't significantly increase hardware complexity or require major ISA changes     

Calibration of SeaWiFS. I. Direct techniques

We present an overview of the calibration of the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of View Sensor (SeaWiFS) from its performance verification at the manufacturer's facility to the completion of its third year of on-orbit measurements. These calibration procedures have three principal parts: a prelaunch radiometric calibration that is traceable to the National Institute of Standards and Technology; the Transfer-to-Orbit Experiment, a set of measurements that determine changes in the instrument's calibration from its manufacture to the start of on-orbit operations; and measurements of the sun and the moon to determine radiometric changes on orbit. To our knowledge, SeaWiFS is the only instrument that uses routine lunar measurements to determine changes in its radiometric sensitivity. On the basis of these methods, the overall uncertainty in the SeaWiFS top-of-the-atmosphere radiances is estimated to be 4-5%. We also show the results of comparison campaigns with aircraft- and ground-based measurements, plus the results of an experiment, called the Southern Ocean Band 8 Gain Study. These results are used to check the calibration of the SeaWiFS bands. To date, they have not been used to change the instrument's prelaunch calibration coefficients. In addition to these procedures, SeaWiFS is a vicariously calibrated instrument for ocean-color measurements. In the vicarious calibration of the SeaWiFS visible bands, the calibration coefficients are modified to force agreement with surface truth measurements from the Marine Optical Buoy, which is moored off the Hawaiian Island of Lanai. This vicarious calibration is described in a companion paper.     

Morphological and Chemical Composition of Pith and Fibers from Mexican Sugarcane Bagasse

Summary This paper tries to enlarge existing knowledge on the morphology and chemical composition of Mexican sugarcane bagasse carrying out a morphological and chemical analysis of the main fractions, fiber bundles and pith, consisting of vessels and parenchyma. The cell dimensions of the two fractions were determined as well as their chemical composition. Morphology as well as chemical composition of the two fractions are different. Average length of fibers was higher than 1 mm and the ratio fiber length: fiber diameter was the highest of all cell types investigated in this paper. Fibers had a high cell wall thickness which contributes to the stability of these tissue elements. On the other hand, the parenchyma cells were very short with a fairly high diameter and a thin cell wall. Such structure has a negative impact on the papermaking properties of bagasse. Chemical analysis of the two fractions revealed that ash content and hot water extractives of the pith fraction is much higher than for the fiber bundles.

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Serial line scan encoding imaging cytometer for both adherent and suspended cells

We present a new design of an imaging cytometer for high content bioanalysis, which is equipped with a low-cost linear complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) imager (running at ≥40kHz). The fluorescent signals are encoded in a series of line scans across the cellular body, while it streams through a precisely defined line-shaped focus spot. This bioanalysis platform enables the concurrent collection of multiple fluorescence channels, while maintaining both high resolution and excellent throughput (1000 cells/s). We develop several image processing routines for the on-the-fly quantitative analysis of subcellular structures. Finally, we characterize our prototype system by imaging both adherent cells (plate format) and suspended cells (microfluidics format).     

Improving branch prediction accuracy by reducing pattern history table interference

A deeply pipelined superscalar processor needs an accurate branch predictor in order to approach its performance potential. The 2-level branch predictors have been shown to achieve high prediction accuracy, yet they still suffer a significant number of mispredictions. It has been shown that a number of these mispredictions are due to interference in the pattern history tables. This paper details a method for reducing the amount of pattern history table interference by dynamically identifying some easily predictable branches and inhibiting the pattern history table update for these branches. We show that inhibiting the update in this manner reduces the amount of destructive interference in the global history variation of the 2-level branch predictor, resulting in significantly improved branch prediction accuracy for the SPEC 95 benchmarks. For example, for a 2 K Byte gshare predictor, we eliminate 38% of the mispredictions for the gcc benchmark.