cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Pooled Ecotype Sequencing Reveals Candidate Genetic Mechanisms for Adaptive Differentiation and Reproductive Isolation

The early stages of speciation are often characterized by the formation of partially reproductively isolated ecotypes, which evolve as a by-product of divergent selective forces that are endemic to different habitats. Identifying the genomic regions, genes and ultimately functional polymorphisms that are involved in the processes of ecotype formation is inherently challenging, as there are likely to be many different loci involved in the process. To localize candidate regions of the genome contributing to ecotype formation, we conducted whole-genome pooled sequencing (pool-seq) with 47 coastal perennial and 50 inland annual populations of the yellow monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatus. Coastal perennial and inland annual ecotypes of M. guttatus have previously been shown to be ecologically reproductively isolated and highly locally adapted to their respective habitats. Our pool-seq results found allelic differentiation between the ecotypes for two chromosomal inversions, suggesting that frequencies of inversion heterokaryotypes are strongly differentiated between the ecotypes. Further, there were elevated levels of nonsynonymous change across chromosomal inversions. Across the genome, we identified multiple strong candidate genes potentially driving the morphological, life history and salt tolerance differences between the ecotypes. Several candidate genes coincide with previously identified quantitative trait locus regions and also show a signature of recent natural selection. Overall, the results of our study add to growing support for a major role of chromosomal inversions in adaptation and speciation and provide new insights into the genetic mechanisms underlying classic plant ecotype adaptations to wet and dry habitats.
The benefits of using ATE systems in the testing of printed circuit boards

An industry-based pragmatic review is provided of the economic and product-quality consequences of automatic test equipment (ATE) usage in printed circuit board testing. The company selection process, the nature of the industrial participants, and the data collection process are described. The benefits obtained by users are identified. It is demonstrated that the use of ATE systems does result in definable economic and quality-level benefits. >
Adaptation opportunities and constraints in coupled systems: Evidence from the U.S. energy-water nexus

Over the past decade, adaptation has emerged as an important risk management strategy to address climate change and avoid adverse consequences. These endeavors overwhelmingly focus on actions within sectors and thus fail to account for coupled effects across systems. This paper focuses on adaptation constraints that arise from the interdependencies of coupled systems, and the opportunities that emerge when adaptation strategies integrate such interdependencies. Three general constraints to adaptation in coupled systems are identified and detailed using evidence from the United States energy-water nexus: insufficient data and information, path dependence, and institutional fragmentation and disorganization. Adaptation constraints within the energy-water nexus are especially difficult to avoid or overcome at local and regional scales owing to complex, and poorly integrated, governance structures. This indicates that some degree of national coordination is an important enabling condition to overcome constraints and enable adaptation throughout the energy-water nexus.
Parental Monitoring Protects against the Effects of Parent and Adolescent Depressed Mood on Adolescent Drinking

Abstract Objective Parental monitoring is a well-established protective factor for adolescent drinking. This study examined whether parental monitoring protected against three common risk factors for alcohol use in a sample of high-risk adolescents: parental depressed mood, adolescent depressed mood, and parental alcohol use. Methods Participants included 117 adolescents (mean age = 15.5; 52% female) who presented to the hospital emergency department due to an alcohol-related event and their primary parent/guardian. Adolescents completed self-report measures of alcohol use frequency, depressed mood, and parental monitoring, while parents completed self-report measures of problematic alcohol use and depressed mood. Results Hierarchical regression confirmed that parental monitoring was associated with lower frequency of adolescent alcohol use, even after controlling for the three risk factors. Significant interactions were found between parental monitoring and both adolescent and parental depressed mood. Parental monitoring had significant protective effects against drinking frequency among adolescents with higher levels of depressed mood, but not among adolescents with lower levels of depressed mood. By contrast, parental monitoring only had protective effects among those parents with lower levels of depressed mood. Parental problematic alcohol use did not affect the relationship between parental monitoring and adolescent alcohol use. Conclusions Our results suggest that adolescents with high levels of depressed mood may be more likely to benefit from parental monitoring, whereas parents with high levels of depressed mood may be less likely to monitor effectively. Interventions targeting parental monitoring in high-risk adolescents should take into account the influence of both adolescent and parental depressed mood.
Other-Regarding Behavior and Sustainable Entrepreneurship: The Role of Activated Responsibility

Given that, next to profit related motives, also socially and environmentally related motives influence the recognition and exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities (and particularly those that contribute to public goods), we study the question of how individuals are cognitively affected by their degree of other-regarding behavior regarding both, recognizing as well as exploiting entrepreneurial opportunities. We formulate hypotheses by extending the theory of planned behavior with the norm activation model and test these using data from students at the natural science and business administration and economics departments of a medium sized German university. We show that other-regarding behavior influences entrepreneurial intentions towards creating public goods only if being activated by the entrepreneurs’ responsibility towards the negative consequences of not acting in favor of others.
Variational Principles and Residual Bounds for Nonpotential Equations

Solutions of nonsymmetric linear equations whose symmetric part is positive definite are first characterized as saddle points of a strictly convex—concave quadratic function. The associated primal problem is shown to be equivalent to a weighted quadratic minimum residual optimization problem. An a posteriori error estimate for approximate solutions is derived. Similar results are then obtained for semilinear finite-dimensional systems of equations. These include global optimization problems for the solutions and existence results based on min-max theorems. Under further assumptions, uniqueness theorems are proven using saddle point theorems.
Submesoscale features and their interaction with fronts and internal tides in a high-resolution coupled atmosphere-ocean-wave model of the Bay of Bengal

Large freshwater fluxes into the Bay of Bengal by rainfall and river discharges result in strong salinity fronts in the bay. In this study, a high-resolution coupled atmosphere-ocean-wave model with comprehensive physics is used to model the weather, ocean circulation, and wave field in the Bay of Bengal. Our objective is to explore the submesoscale activity that occurs in a realistic coupled model that resolves mesoscales and allows part of the submesoscale field. Horizontal resolution in the atmosphere varies from 2 to 6 km and is 13 km for surface waves, while the ocean model is submesoscale permitting with resolutions as high as 1.5 km and a vertical resolution of 0.5 m in the upper 10 m. In this paper, three different cases of oceanic submesoscale features are discussed. In the first case, heavy rainfall and intense downdrafts produced by atmospheric convection are found to force submesoscale currents, temperature, and salinity anomalies in the oceanic mixed layer and impact the mesoscale flow. In a second case, strong solitary-like waves are generated by semidiurnal tides in the Andaman Sea and interact with mesoscale flows and fronts and affect submesoscale features generated along fronts. A third source of submesoscale variability is found further north in the Bay of Bengal where river outflows help maintain strong salinity gradients throughout the year. For that case, a comparison with satellite observations of sea surface height anomalies, sea surface temperature, and chlorophyll shows that the model captures the observed mesoscale eddy features of the flow field, but in addition, submesoscale upwelling and downwelling patterns associated with ageostrophic secondary circulations along density fronts are also captured by the model.
Post-operative radiation therapy in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer and the impact of sequential versus concurrent chemotherapy.

Lung cancer is the second most common cancer and the leading cause of death from cancer in the United States (1). Despite the adoption of lung cancer screening, most patients present with locally advanced or advanced disease which is associated with poor survival (1).
A critical assessment of outcomes in emergency versus nonemergency general surgery using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database.

Emergent operations are thought to carry higher morbidity and mortality than nonemergent cases. However, there is a lack of specific outcomes data for emergent general surgery procedures. The objec...
Survival, and Growth Response of Douglas-Fir Trees to Increasing Levels of Bole, Root, and Crown Damage

We applied a range of bole and root damage treatments to young Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii [Mirb.] Franco) trees. Significant natural damage occurred to tree crowns over the course of the 10-year study allowing for an analysis of how damage severity to tree boles, tree roots, and tree tops impacts growth and cumulative survival of trees. Tree bole damage severity, measured by percent bole circumference removed, exponentially reduced cumulative survival across the study period, whereas damage to tree roots had no significant impact on survival. Bole damage had different impacts on survival depending on the relative size of trees that were damaged. At higher levels of bole damage, trees with larger relative diameters had accelerated mortality rates compared with trees with smaller relative diameters. Tree crown height loss averaged at the treatment within stand level reduced the impacts of bole damage on tree cumulative survival response. Increasing bole, root, and tree crown damage severity led to reductions in estimated maximum diameter and height. Bole damage and damage to tree crowns hastened the decline of diameter growth rates and delayed the decline of height growth rates.
Do Vaccines Cause Chronic Inflammatory Disseminated Polyneuropathy (CIDP)

Vaccines currently routinely recommended to the general population in the U.S. have not been shown to cause chronic inflammatory disseminated polyneuropathy (CIDP).
Stabilization of multi-group neutron transport with transport-corrected cross-sections

Abstract Many deterministic neutron transport solvers rely on the source iteration method to solve the multi-group neutron transport equation. Often, these solvers rely on transport corrected cross-sections for accurate prediction of the neutron flux distribution. Transport corrected within-group scattering cross-sections can become negative, and if these negative cross-sections are large in magnitude, source iteration can become unstable and fail to converge for certain cases. In this study, we present evidence of this convergence issue for the method of characteristics (MOC) on full-core PWR problems with common transport correction schemes. A theoretical discussion is presented to illustrate the reason for the convergence issues. Previously established stabilization methods are compared with a newly proposed stabilization method. Results show that the new stabilization method allows for faster convergence than previous techniques. In addition, the effect of Coarse Mesh Finite Difference (CMFD) acceleration on stability is analyzed, showing that CMFD acceleration with full-group structure can overcome the convergence issues, but a stabilization technique is necessary for convergence when a condensed group structure is used.
Large grain growth in Cu2ZnSnS4 thin films in the absence of Na using rapid thermal annealing

Larger grain sizes and crystallographic texture in the absorber layer are correlated with performance in polycrystalline inorganic thin film solar cells because they lead to reduced densities of recombination centers and traps at grain boundaries. In this work, we compare the effects of rapid thermal annealing (RTA) and furnace annealing on film morphology, grain growth, and crystallographic texture in Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) thin films deposited on Mo-coated glass by RF cosputtering. Using x-ray diffraction (XRD),scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), we show that RTA induces significant grain growth and texture without the degradation of the substrate caused in furnace annealing by the high temperatures required for CZTS phase formation. CZTS grains grown in RTA annealed samples were 2–3 times larger than those in furnace-annealed samples. Significantly, this is demonstrated in RTA on sodium-free glass which implies that RTA and similar processing methods may be capable of producing desirable CZTS grain distributions on alternative substrates such as metal foil, plastic, or thin glass.
Effects of Weak Electric Field on the Photoluminescence Behavior of Bi3+-Doped YVO4:Eu3+ Core–Shell Nanoparticles

Tuning the luminescent properties of nanophosphors by modifying the energy level hybridization has been previously achieved by methods such as heat treatments or applying strong magnetic/electric fields. However, these methods can permanently distort the crystal geometry or are limited to the continuous application of strong fields. This work aims to modify the energy level hybridization of doped (Eu3+/Bi3+) YVO4 nanoparticles (NPs) via surface functionalization with polarized molecules. Incorporating Bi3+ into YVO4:Eu3+ core NPs resulted in a red shift of the excitation edge by ∼30 nm and a decrease in the Eu3+ emission lifetime. Moving the Bi3+ to the YVO4 shell layer allowed for the modification of Bi3+/VO43– energy level hybridization ion pairs without significant quenching of the Eu3+ ions in the core. Polarized molecules (NH2-BZA and NO2-BZA) were used for selective tuning of the electron density at the interface, impacting the Bi3+/VO43– energy level hybridization and the luminescent behavior of th...
Methanogenesis marker protein 10 (Mmp10) from Methanosarcina acetivorans is a radical S-adenosylmethionine methylase that unexpectedly requires cobalamin

Methyl coenzyme M reductase (MCR) catalyzes the last step in the biological production of methane by methanogenic archaea, as well as the first step in the anaerobic oxidation of methane to methanol by methanotrophic archaea. MCR contains a number of unique post-translational modifications in its α subunit, including thioglycine, 1-N-methylhistidine, S-methylcysteine, 5-C-(S)-methylarginine, and 2-C-(S)-methylglutamine. Recently, genes responsible for the thioglycine and methylarginine modifications have been identified in bioinformatics studies and in vivo complementation of select mutants; however, none of these reactions has been verified in vitro. Herein, we purified and biochemically characterized the radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) protein MaMmp10, the product of the methanogenesis marker protein 10 gene in the methane-producing archaea Methanosarcina acetivorans. Using an array of approaches, including kinetic assays, LC-MS–based quantification, and MALDI TOF–TOF MS analyses, we found that MaMmp10 catalyzes the methylation of the equivalent of Arg285 in a peptide substrate surrogate, but only in the presence of cobalamin. We noted that the methyl group derives from SAM, with cobalamin acting as an intermediate carrier, and that MaMmp10 contains a C-terminal cobalamin-binding domain. Given that Mmp10 has not been annotated as a cobalamin-binding protein, these findings suggest that cobalamin-dependent radical SAM proteins are more prevalent than previously thought.
When are Securities Class Actions Dismissed, When Do They Settle, and for How Much?

This article provides basic descriptive statistics on the outcomes of securities class actions. We provide data on how many dismissals without prejudice courts permit, rates of dismissal with prejudice, and the timing of settlements with respect to motions to dismiss, motions for summary judgment and trial. We also provide descriptive statistics on the duration of discovery and how settlement size and settlement timing are related to on another.
Multifunctional radical quenchers as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of mitochondrial dysfunction

Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with a wide range of human diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, and is believed to cause or contribute to the etiology of these diseases. These disorders are frequently associated with increased levels of reactive oxygen species. One of the design strategies for therapeutic intervention involves the development of novel small molecules containing redox cores, which can scavenge reactive oxygen radicals and selectively block oxidative damage to the mitochondria. Presently, we describe recent research dealing with multifunctional radical quenchers as antioxidants able to scavenge reactive oxygen radicals. The review encompasses ubiquinone and tocopherol analogs, as well as novel pyri(mi)dinol derivatives, and their ability to function as protective agents in cellular models of mitochondrial diseases.
Abstract 4411: A gene set enrichment analysis approach in single-cells along pseudotime trajectories reveals the dynamic activity of oncogenic pathways

Single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) has advanced studies of heterogeneous tissues and cell populations in both healthy and disease states. Dimensionality reduction methods leverage this highly granular data to identify cellular states not captured by “bulk” gene expression or to organize cells along ‘pseudotime9 trajectories related to biological processes such as cell cycle or cellular differentiation. Cellular states and trajectories are often annotated using individual marker genes and not gene sets or pathways, despite their more reliable and interpretable association to biological processes. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) was designed to test the enrichment of gene sets in bulk transcriptomic data, but due to the sparsity of the expression data, has not been adapted to single cell analysis. We propose a method to compute gene set enrichment for scRNA-seq data, which calculates an enrichment score for each cell in the dataset. We apply this method to a set of matched ovarian cancer cell lines with acquired resistance to carboplatin. After aligning the cells to a cell-cycle derived pseudotime trajectory, the activity of pathways which were dysregulated in bulk expression profiles appeared to change with the cell cycle progression. The analysis further identified interferon alpha signaling induction in resistant cells, independent of differences in cell cycle progression. Hence, by quantifying and analyzing pathway-level transcriptional activity in the context of a single-cell pseudotime trajectory, the proposed method provides more interpretable annotation of biological processes altered in cancer progression and treatment. Citation Format: Alexander T. Wenzel, Devora Champa, Stephen B. Howell, Jill P. Mesirov, Olivier Harismendy. A gene set enrichment analysis approach in single-cells along pseudotime trajectories reveals the dynamic activity of oncogenic pathways [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 4411.
Anesthetic management of unruptured intracranial aneurysms : a qualitative systematic review

Intracranial aneurysms (IA) occur in 3-5% of the general population and may require surgical or endovascular obliteration if the patient is symptomatic or has an increased risk of rupture. These procedures carry an inherent risk of neurological complications, and the outcome can be influenced by the physiological and pharmacological effects of the administered anesthetics. Despite the critical role of anesthetic agents, however, there are no current studies to systematically assess the intraoperative anesthetic risks, benefits, and outcome effects in this population. In this systematic review of the literature, we carefully examine the existing evidence on the risks and benefits of common anesthetic agents during IA obliteration, their physiological and clinical characteristics, and effects on neurological outcome. The initial search strategy captured a total of 287 published studies. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, 28 studies were included in the final report. Our data showed that both volatile and intravenous anesthetics are commonly employed, without evidence that either is superior. Although no specific anesthetic regimens are promoted, their unique neurological, cardiovascular, and physiological properties may be critical to the outcome in vulnerable patients. In particular, patients at risk for perioperative ischemia may benefit from timely administration of anesthetic agents with neuroprotective properties and optimization of their physiological parameters. Further studies are warranted to examine if these anesthetic regimens can reduce the risk of neurological injury and improve the overall outcome in these patients.
The function of innovation culture in the success of new services

The role of culture has been important for the success of new service development. As an example, Sheth highlighted the role of resistance to innovation and the cultural orientation of developing c...
Computational study of the effect of core–skin structure on the mechanical properties of carbon nanofibers

The effect of the core–skin structure on the mechanical properties of carbon nanofibers is investigated in large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of tensile deformation of carbon nanofibers with the core–skin and homogeneous structures. Contrary to an established notion of the deleterious effect of the skin layer on the strength of carbon fibers, the presence of a high-quality skin layer is found to increase both the Young’s modulus and tensile strength of the nanofiber. A detailed analysis of the fracture process indicates that the nanofiber strengthening is related to the ability of skin layer to suppress crack nucleation at the core–skin interface. The computational predictions suggest that the design of new approaches to carbon fiber manufacturing and processing leading to the generation of a high-quality skin layer while avoiding the introduction of structural defects at the core–skin interface may yield a significant enhancement of the mechanical properties of carbon fibers.
Worsening Quality of Life in Indolent Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients in Active Surveillance: A 12-Month Longitudinal Study.

ABSTRACT Introduction Newly diagnosed indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (NHL/CLL) patients are often monitored for disease progression to delay the impact of cancer-directed therapy on patients’ quality of life. However, research on quality of life in patients under active surveillance versus in cancer-directed treatment has yielded mixed results. This study examined distress and quality of life in indolent NHL/CLL patients in active surveillance or cancer-directed treatment over the first-year post-diagnosis. Patients and Methods Adult patients (≥21 years) with newly diagnosed indolent NHL/CLL completed electronic self-report measure of distress and quality of life every 4 months over the course of a year for a total of 4 surveys. Fisher's exact test and t-tests were used to examine demographic and disease differences between patients receiving different treatments. Mixed-effect models were also used to compare overall differences between treatment status over time, accounting for missing values. Results The sample consisted of 64 patients with known baseline treatment status who did not change treatments over the course of the study. Total quality of life and physical, social and functional quality of life improved over time in patients receiving cancer-directed treatment and decreased over time in patients under active surveillance. Relative to patients in active treatment, overall, social, and functional quality of life in patients under surveillance changed more slowly over time. Discussion Active surveillance may have negative implications for patient quality of life, despite that a common goal of active surveillance is to delay the impact of treatment (e.g., appointments, toxicities) on quality of life.
Humidity-controlled direct ink writing for micro-additive manufacturing with water-based inks

Abstract Direct-ink-writing type additive manufacturing with water-based inks such as hydrogels or polymer solutions is broadly utilized for bioprinting applications. However, the resolution of this implementation is limited due to the rapid ink drying experienced at small size scales leading to nozzle clogging and low fidelity prints. To address this issue, a humidity-controlled direct-ink-writing (HCDIW) approach is presented, where the microenvironment around the printing nozzle is controlled through introduction of aerosolized water. Using this approach, the nozzle microenvironment can be varied between undersaturated yet high relative humidity (ambient to 100% RH) to oversaturated conditions where condensing droplets are deposited on the already printed ink filaments. The influence of the aerosolized water and the resultant micro-environment on the printing process was studied using water dissolved sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (NaCMC) ink, specifically focusing on nozzle clogging, printed filament geometry, surface quality and layer by layer stacking. These studies showed that the ink drying induced nozzle clogging issues can be mitigated through increased relative humidity at the nozzle exit and is virtually eliminated for ~100 μm nozzles in oversaturated conditions. The decelerated ink drying under the effect of aerosolized water leads to reduced solute advection and skin formation. This in turn improves surface roughness while reducing adverse effects such as coffee-ring and void formation during additive manufacturing of micro-scale structures. Furthermore, layer-to-layer fusion and associated side-surface quality were improved specifically in undersaturated conditions. Reduction of deposited ink filament concentration in oversaturated conditions leads to excessive spreading of the deposited inks leading to geometric distortions. These results indicate that the humidity control approach can significantly improve the resolution of the direct-ink-writing approaches, enabling processing of water-based inks at micro-scales.
Religious Piety and Sexual Passion: What Is the Connection?

The association between religiosity and the construct of sexual passion was examined to see whether religiosity is associated with harmonious, inhibited, and obsessive sexual passion styles. Using ...
Implementation and 1-year follow-up of the cardiovascular ICU standardised handover.

BACKGROUND Miscommunication during clinical handover can lead to partial information transfer and healthcare provider dissatisfaction. We hypothesised that a quality improvement project to standardise the cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) handover could improve healthcare provider satisfaction and reduce information omission. METHODS After institutional review board approval, the operating room (OR) to CVICU handover was audited prior, post and 1 year after standardisation implementation. The medical information transferred, healthcare provider participation and satisfaction, and patient outcome data were collected. Additionally, surveys were sent to the OR and CVICU staff by email. RESULTS There were 68 handover processes observed. The odds of greater satisfaction with handover for providers were 18 times higher with the process post implementation (p<0.0001) and 26 times higher 1 year after implementation (p<0.0001). There was statistically significant difference between intensive care unit resident presence (45% vs 76% vs 91%, p=0.004), surgical faculty presence (10% vs 36% vs 45%, p=0.034) and surgical fellow presence (15% vs 64% vs 62%, p=0.001) between the three time periods. More information related to the surgeon (5% vs 52% vs 27%, p=0.002), the medical history (65% vs 96% vs 91%, p=0.014) and the cardiopulmonary bypass (47% vs 88% vs 76%, p=0.017) was conveyed. The duration of mechanical ventilation was shorter after implementation (2.2±2.6 days vs 1.2±1.9 days vs 0.5±1.2 days, p=0.026). CONCLUSIONS One year after the OR to CVICU standardised handover implementation, the healthcare provider satisfaction remained increased, more team members participated and the information transfer increased. Although some clinical outcomes improved, further studies are recommended to prove causality.
SamQL: a structured query language and filtering tool for the SAM/BAM file format.

The Sequence Alignment/Map Format Specification (SAM) is one of the most widely adopted file formats in bioinformatics and many researchers use it daily. Several tools, including most high-throughput sequencing read aligners, use it as their primary output and many more tools have been developed to process it. However, despite its flexibility, SAM encoded files can often be difficult to query and understand even for experienced bioinformaticians. As genomic data are rapidly growing, structured, and efficient queries on data that are encoded in SAM/BAM files are becoming increasingly important. Existing tools are very limited in their query capabilities or are not efficient. Critically, new tools that address these shortcomings, should not be able to support existing large datasets but should also do so without requiring massive data transformations and file infrastructure reorganizations. Here we introduce SamQL, an SQL-like query language for the SAM format with intuitive syntax that supports complex and efficient queries on top of SAM/BAM files and that can replace commonly used Bash one-liners employed by many bioinformaticians. SamQL has high expressive power with no upper limit on query size and when parallelized, outperforms other substantially less expressive software. SamQL is a complete query language that we envision as a step to a structured database engine for genomics. SamQL is written in Go, and is freely available as standalone program and as an open-source library under an MIT license, https://github.com/maragkakislab/samql/ .
The analysis of visual space by the lateral intraparietal area of the monkey: the role of extraretinal signals.

Publisher Summary The experiments described in the chapter concentrates on one subdivision of posterior parietal cortex, the lateral intra parietal area (LIP), which is defined on the basis of its projections from the frontal eye field and which projects to the superior colliculus. This area, placed in a network concerned with orienting, eye movement, and visual attention has seemed to be ideal for a role in spatial analysis and the generation of saccades. These experiments attempt to understand the function of LIP by studying single neurons in this area using a large series of tasks designed to isolate various aspects of spatial analysis. Three conclusions are derived: (1) single LIP neurons receive several different extra-retinal inputs; (2) LIP neurons signal the distance and direction of a spatial location from current or anticipated center of gaze; and (3) this signal can be instantaneously accurate. Enhancement is a general phenomenon in LIP. Analysis of the population of LIP neurons reveals that the great majority of cells give an enhanced response when the stimulus is of importance to the monkey. The independence of enhancement from the monkey's response mode led to the suggestion that all of the activity in the parietal cortex during saccade tasks could be explained as an enhancement of the visual response.
Target Acquisition in Cluttered Environments

The relationship of human target acquisition times and detection probabilities to electronically measured visual clutter was investigated. Ninety computer-generated scenes simulating infrared imagery and containing different levels of clutter and zero, one, two, or three targets were produced. Targets were embedded in these scenes counterbalancing for range and position. Global and local clutter were measured using both statistical variance and probability of edge metrics. Thirty-three aviators, tankers, and infantry soldiers were shown still-video images of the 90 scenes and were instructed to search for targets. Analyses indicate differences between the aviators and tankers in search times and types of errors. Results of multiple regression analyses of global clutter, local clutter, range, target dimension, target complexity, number of targets, and experience on search times are given and discussed in terms search strategies.
ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDIES ON DEVELOPING OOCYTES ON THE SALAMANDER TRITURUS VIRIDESCENS. II. THE FORMATION OF YOLK.

The process of yolk formation in Triturus viridescens is described. Yolk precursor bodies, which have a complex structure of vesicles, granules, and small membranous structures, begin to appear in oocytes with a diameter of 250 μ. Subsequently, in oocytes with a diameter of 500 μ, yolk platelets begin to appear within those bodies. There is no apparent connection between the formation of yolk and mitochondria, dictyosomes, or the endoplasmic reticulum.
Safe schools, positive behavior supports, and mental health supports: Lessons learned from three safe schools/healthy students communities

Abstract This article profiles selected Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) interventions in three Oregon communities that have completed Safe Schools/Healthy Students projects, representing a substantial investment in building school and community collaborations, expanding positive behavior supports in schools, and establishing school-based mental health services. The University of Oregon Institute on Violence and Destructive Behavior served as the local evaluator for these projects. Although the scope of each project encompassed the six intervention elements required by the federal funding agencies, we focus on lessons learned from select components of the projects: Positive Behavior Supports in Schools, Mental Health Service integration, and Sustainability. This article describes the methods and outcomes of each component, from project startup to summative analysis of the outcomes. We conclude with our observations and recommendations for research and evaluation methodology and implementing future SS...
Extended variational principle for the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick spin-glass model

The recent proof by Guerra that the Parisi ansatz provides a lower bound on the free energy of the Sherringtun-Kirkpatrick (SK) spin-glass model could have been taken as offering some support to the validity of the purported solution. In this work we present a broader variational principle, in which the lower bound as well as the actual value are expressed through an optimization procedure for which ultrametric/hierarchal structures form only a subset of the variational class. The validity of Parisi's ansatz for the SK model is still in question. The new variational principle may he of help in critical review of the issue.
Pre-rigor manipulation of beef foreshank alters sarcomere length of individual chuck muscles.

Sixteen beef carcasses were harvested to determine the effect of pre-rigor foreshank positioning on the ultimate sarcomere length and objective tenderness values of seven chuck muscles. After final inspection, the left side foreshank was positioned caudal to the point of the shoulder and secured until the completion of rigor. The right side foreshank served as the control and was allowed to hang in the normal position, cranial to the point of the shoulder. Biceps brachii, infraspinatus, pectoralis profundus, serratus ventralis, supraspinatus, teres major and triceps brachii muscles were excised from each carcass half for sarcomere length and Warner–Bratzler shear force determinations. Results indicate that sarcomere length was altered (P < 0.05) for all muscles. When the foreshank was placed in the caudal position pre-rigor, both the serratus ventralis and triceps brachii muscles had higher (P < 0.05) shear values than when the foreshank was allowed to remain in its natural position. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS As the beef industry continues to search for methods to add value to the chuck, these data may offer insight into a practical method to increase sarcomere length and enhance palatability and marketability of underutilized muscles.
The absorption of vitamin A in prematurely born infants with experience in the use of absorbable vitamin A in the prophylaxis of retrolental fibroplasia.

Forty-two premature infants were tested for vitamin A absorption after the oral ingestion of 0.5 cc. (35,000 U.S.P. units) of percomorph liver oil. Only three (7%) showed good absorption levels. The mean absorption level found from three to five hours after the test dose was 16 units of vitamin A. Forty-one were tested for vitamin A absorption after the oral ingestion of either 2 cc. or 3 cc. (16,000-24,000 U.S.P. units) of vitamin A in a vehicle of either alcohol or propylene glycol. Of these 37 (90%) showed good absorption levels. The mean absorption level found from three to five hours after the test dose was 85 units of vitamin A. Retrolental fibroplasia could not be prevented from developing in a certain number of premature infants9 eyes by the daily oral administration of 5000 U.S.P. of vitamin A in an absorbable water soluble form. Even the addition of 20,000 U.S.P. units of vitamin A in oil by intramuscular injection failed to prevent the development of bilateral retrolental fibroplasia in one infant. If vitamin D follows the same laws of absorption as does vitamin A, the provision of both A and D in a readily absorbable form should be of great practical advantage to the prematurely born infant.
Health Behavior Change Counseling in Surgery for Degenerative Lumbar Spinal Stenosis. Part II: Patient Activation Mediates the Effects of Health Behavior Change Counseling on Rehabilitation Engagement

Abstract Objective To determine the effect of health behavior change counseling (HBCC) on patient activation and the influence of patient activation on rehabilitation engagement, and to identify common barriers to engagement among individuals undergoing surgery for degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis. Design Prospective clinical trial. Setting Academic medical center. Participants Consecutive lumbar spine surgery patients (N=122) defined in our companion article (Part I) were assigned to a control group (did not receive HBCC, n=59) or HBCC group (received HBCC, n=63). Intervention Brief motivational interviewing–based HBCC versus control (significance, P Main Outcome Measures We assessed patient activation before and after intervention. Rehabilitation engagement was assessed using the physical therapist–reported Hopkins Rehabilitation Engagement Rating Scale and by a ratio of self-reported physical therapy and home exercise completion. Common barriers to rehabilitation engagement were identified through thematic analysis. Results Patient activation predicted engagement (standardized regression weight, .682; P P P P =.395). One-third of the HBCC group did not show improvement compared with the control group. Thematic analysis identified 3 common barriers to engagement: (1) low self-efficacy because of lack of knowledge and support (62%); (2) anxiety related to fear of movement (57%); and (3) concern about pain management (48%). Conclusions The influence of HBCC on rehabilitation engagement was mediated by patient activation. Despite improvements in patient activation, one-third of patients reported low rehabilitation engagement. Addressing these barriers should lead to greater improvements in rehabilitation engagement.
Software Hazard Analysis Techniques

As computers are increasingly being used to monitor and/or control systems where software faults or deficiencies could lead to serious consequences such as loss of life, injury, or loss of property, concern is mounting about how to ensure that these computer systems are safe. If it were possible to guarantee that large software systems are correct†, there would be no problem. However, the state of the art for building large software systems does not allow us to achieve this degree of perfection. In fact, we may be orders of magnitude away from the reliability requirements (e.g. 10−7 to 10−9) for such safety-critical systems as aircraft, nuclear power plants, military systems, aerospace systems [Dunham and Knight (1981)].
Speckle from a cascade of two diffusers

Abstract Speckle patterns for single pieces of frosted glass and for pairs with controlled separation have been studied. Intensity versus frequency data are obtained at fixed positions in the Fresnel zone using a tunable dye laser for the illumination. From these intensity data, both the autocorrelation versus frequency and the spectral intensity are computed and shown to be sensitive to the detailed microstructure of the object's surface. Examples of diffuse surfaces adequately characterized by smooth distribution functions and those with glint-like facets requiring δ-function augmentation are presented. For the cascade the autocorrelation function drops initially as controlled by the fine-scale roughness of the separate diffusers, i.e., almost independently of their spacing which is varied from 20 to 110 μm. Its low frequency content is found to be dependent on this spacing.
The Occurrence and Distribution of Methane in the Marine Environment

The distributions of methane dissolved in the sulfide-bearing waters of the Black Sea, the Cariaco Trench, and Lake Nitinat are reported. The gas was not detected in the oxygen-deficient water of the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, in the Santa Barbara Basin, nor in the sulfide-bearing water of Saanich Inlet. Maximum concentrations observed were 70 μmole CH4/l., and the distribution tends to follow that of sulfide. The data indicate that methane is derived from organic compounds not containing nitrogen or phosphorus and that its formation is much slower than that of sulfide. The solubility coefficient in seawater (salinity = 40‰) is 0.0211. (S.T.P.)/l. at 30°C and increases to 0.041 at 5°C. The processes by which methane may be formed in the marine environment are discussed.
Mineralogy Drives Bacterial Biogeography of Hydrothermally Inactive Seafloor Sulfide Deposits

Mid-ocean ridge hydrothermal venting creates sulfide deposits containing gradients in mineralogy, fluid chemistry, and temperature. Even when hydrothermal circulation ceases, sulfides are known to host microbial communities. The relationship between mineralogy and microbial community composition in low-temperature, rock-hosted systems has not been resolved at any spatial scale, local or global. To examine the hypothesis that geochemistry of seafloor deposits is a dominant parameter driving environmental pressure for bacterial communities at low-temperature, the shared community membership, richness, and structure was measured using 16S rRNA gene sequences. The focus of the study was on hydrothermally inactive seafloor deposits from multiple locations within one deposit (e.g., single extinct chimney), within one vent field (intra-vent field), and among globally distributed vent fields from three ocean basins (inter-vent field). Distinct mineral substrates, such as hydrothermally inactive sulfides versus ba...
Divided attention: Storing and classifying briefly presented objects.

Although in many studies divided attention has been examined by having people perform the same task (e.g., report or search) with a large number of objects, in few studies have people had to perform two logically independent tasks involving the same brief display. In two experiments, subjects saw 200-msec arrays of characters. In dual-task blocks, theyclassified the color of some or all of the items (making an immediate response) andstored the shape of some of the items for a later recognition test. There was not much mutual interference between classifying and storing per se. However, the tasks were by no means independent: there was substantial interference whendifferent objects from the array had to be stored for one task and classified for the other. The results confirm that wholly unrelated visual tasks depend on the same input-attention system and suggest that attending to an object for any purpose may entail storing a representation of it in visual short-term memory.
Racial Differences in Battered Women’s Experiences and Preferences for Treatment from Physicians

The present study evaluated racial differences in battered women’s experiences and preferences for treatment from physicians when seeking help for abuse-related issues. Prior research revealed unexpected findings that African American women rated certain physician behaviors related to victim blaming and expression of sympathy for the male partner less negatively than White women. The present study found that when potential confounders, such as source of care, education level, and income were controlled, racial differences in approval ratings of physician behaviors almost disappeared. Only one physician behavior—blaming the patient for the abuse—differentiated the two groups. However, despite racial differences, both groups rated the behavior negatively. Other findings were that, overall, African American women are more likely than White women to seek abuse-related health care from emergency and urgent care settings and have fewer preferences for the race of their physician provider. Both White and African American women preferred to see a female physician. Implications of these findings for future research are discussed.
Numerical simulation of grain growth in liquid phase sintered materials-I. Model

The simulation technique based on the Potts model, originally applied to microstructural coarsening by Srolovitz et al. [Scripta metall., 1983, 17, 241] has been extended to study grain growth by Ostwald ripening in liquid phase sintered materials. The model, which makes no assumptions about solid fractions, grain shapes or diffusion fields around grains, has been developed and characterized in this investigation. A two-dimensional, square lattice is used to digitize the microstructure. The representation of the two phases, solid grains in a liquid matrix, were achieved by populating the lattice with a two-component, canonical ensemble, where the two components were designated as A and B. Grain growth was driven by the reduction in interfacial free energy, which was defined by the bond energies between neighboring sites. The solution-reprecipitation mechanism was simulated by allowing neighboring sites to exchange places via the classical Metropolis algorithm.
Nucleon RMS radii from chiral quark model

Abstract We can reproduce both the proton and neutron charge rms radii by calculating all relevant parameters including order ( ƒ π R) −2 terms of the chiral quark bag model. The pion decay constant ƒ π is determined by the Goldberger-Treiman relation. The neutron charge radius is almost independent of the value of bag radius R.