cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Molecular characterization of Staphylococcus intermedius carriage by healthy dogs and comparison of antimicrobial susceptibility patterns to isolates from dogs with pyoderma

Abstract We conducted an epidemiological study of Staphylococcus intermedius using arbitrarily primed PCR (AP-PCR) and antibiograms. One hundred and twenty-five S. intermedius isolates were recovered from the oral cavity and/or cranial hair coat of healthy dogs enrolled in a pet therapy program. Commensal S. intermedius was cultured from 32% of the oral cavity cultures and 13% of the cranial hair coat cultures. We characterized the colonization of the dogs as transient, intermittent, or persistent. For dogs characterized as persistently colonized, 73% of the isolates came from the oral cavity. These isolates were also genotyped by AP-PCR. A single major AP-PCR type was observed in 91% of the dogs (n = 22); minor variations were frequently observed in these major types. Antibiograms of these commensal isolates were compared to antibiograms from 97 historical clinical isolates (1988–1992) obtained from cases of canine pyoderma. Resistance was most often observed to penicillin (64% and 55%) and tetracycline (38% and 38%) among the commensal and clinical isolates, respectively. The commensal isolates were significantly less resistant to erythromycin, clarithromycin, clindamycin, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Our data suggests that differences in both genotype and antimicrobial susceptibility phenotypes exist among S. intermedius strains isolated from different anatomic sites from the same dog and supports the opportunistic nature of S. intermedius in canine infections.
The role of pelvic and para‐aortic lymph node dissection in the surgical treatment of endometrial cancer: a view from the USA

• Intraoperative tumour diameter measurement in endometrial cancer is useful for identifying women at extremely low risk of lymph node invasion. • Surgical staging in endometrial cancer is instrumental for defining the need for and extent of postoperative therapy, thus avoiding over- and undertreatment. • Adequate surgical staging in endometrial cancer includes bilateral pelvic and para-aortic lymphadenectomy extending to renal vessels. Learning objectives: • To define diagnostic and possible therapeutic roles of systematic surgical staging in endometrial cancer. • To define anatomical borders of adequate surgical staging in endometrial cancer. Ethical issues: • How can over- and undertreatment of endometrial cancer be avoided? Please cite this article as: Mariani A, Dowdy S, Podratz K. The role of pelvic and para-aortic lymph node dissection in the surgical treatment of endometrial cancer: a view from the USA. The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist 2009;11:199–204.
Genetics and Intelligence: A Review

A survey of the literature of the past 50 years reveals remarkable consistency in the accumulated data relating mental functioning to genetic potentials. Intragroup resemblance in intellectual abilities increases in proportion to the degree genetic relationship.
The Political Roots of Disability Claims: How State Environments and Policies Shape Citizen Demands

Who gets what from government is partly determined by who applies for government programs. Despite the importance of the claiming process, political scientists have said little about the factors th...
Antidotes and neuropathic potential of isofenphos.

Isofenphos (IFP, Amaze 4, Oftanol 4, O-ethyl-O-2-isopropoxYcarbonyl phenyl isopropylphosphoramidothioate), the active organophosphate ester (OP) in a pesticide (Oftanol) registered by the EPA for home and garden use, was applied in the fall of 1983 to soil in a suburb of Sacramento, California to eradicate the Japanese Beetle. Questions as to the effectiveness of atropine and 2pralidoxime (2-PAM), approved antidotes to OP poisoning, in treating acute exposure to IFP led to a multispecies study. ~is report of the first experiments on chickens and rats includes evidence that IFP produces organophosphate ester-induced delayed neuropathy (OPIDN) in the chicken.
Distribution of Practice and Pre-Task Ability in the Acquisition of Three Discrete Gross Motor Skills

Following the administration of a valid pretask ability measure, all subjects were randomly assigned to one of two experimental groups with the constraint that each contain equal numbers of individuals of high and low ability. The first group practiced under distributed conditions and the second under massed conditions. A 2 by 2 analysis of variance showed that there were no significant differences in the rates of learning between massed and distributed practice groups for each of the three criterion tasks: the floor kip, the hip circle, and the glide kip. Subjects of high ability acquired all of the criterion tasks in significantly fewer trials than did subjects of low ability, regardless of the temporal conditions of practice. A significant interaction between ability and practice condition was observed for only one of the criterion tasks, the glide kip. These findings are discussed in terms of both the taxonomical factors of the tasks employed and the theoretical issues which pertain to distribution of...
Optimisation and quantitative investment management

This paper provides a brief survey of some of the key issues in building a successful quantitative equity portfolio construction platform, integrating a data warehouse, a rebalancing engine, a back-testing engine as well as an attribution methodology. Optimisation models and software are central elements of such a platform. They serve as sophisticated tools for transferring the excess return ideas generated through research and testing into portfolios that best represent these ideas. In addition to the standard mean-variance optimisation models that are adjusted for transaction costs and taxes, advanced topics such as multi-period portfolio selection models and robust optimisation approaches are discussed.
Predictors of weight gain and cardiovascular risk in a cohort of racially diverse kidney transplant recipients.

Abstract OBJECTIVE: Renal transplantation is associated with an increased risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and marked racial and ethnic disparities in graft and patient survival. We characterized differences in racial and ethnic susceptibility to weight gain, diabetes, and alterations in circulating lipid levels and isolated independent predictors of those changes in a diverse population of kidney transplant recipients. METHODS: The data for this analysis were drawn from a prospectively collected database of 506 renal transplant recipients obtained between 1983 and 1998. Univariate and multivariate analyses characterized differences in outcomes and predictors of cardiovascular risk by race and ethnicity. RESULTS: In all recipients, coronary artery disease was the most common cause of death, and African-American recipients had the shortest graft survival and the highest percentage of deaths. At 1 y post-transplantation, 39% of African-American recipients were obese (body mass index > 30), and the odds ratios for post-transplant diabetes were 3.5 and 5 times greater in non-white and obese recipients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple regression analysis confirmed the predominant independent effect of African American race or ethnicity on weight gain; however, hypercholesterolemia was independent of race or ethnicity and predicted by cyclosporine treatment and post-transplant diabetes. Therefore, kidney transplantation represents a state of accelerated atherogenic risk induced in part by the metabolic effects of immunosuppressive medications and compounded by marked racial and ethnic disparities in weight gain and diabetes risk.
A numerical study on pile-up in nanoindentation creep

In this paper, we simulate materials of variable hardness, work hardening exponent, χ = ∂1nσ/∂1ne of 0.1?0.3 and a strain rate sensitivity of von Mises stress, vσ = ∂1nσ/∂1ne of 0.08?0.16 to estimate pile-ups and sink-ins during indentation creep and compare the results with literature data. We report that materials pile-up for vΗ/vσ ≥ 1.0 and sink-in for vΗ/vσ < 1.0, vσ is the strain rate sensitivity of the hardness. vΗ/vσ approaches 1 for small Η/E*, i.e., soft materials and deformation is dominated by pile-up, whereas when vΗ/vσ approaches 0 for large Η/E* corresponds to purely elastic deformation which is apparently dominated by sink-in in a manner prescribed by Hertzian contact mechanics.
THE POLICY ACCEPTANCE IN THE UNITED STATES OF RELIANCE ON AUTOMATIC FISCAL STABILIZERS

MOST ECONOMISTS IN the United States would now include flexible taxes and transfers in their ideal fiscal programs. Widely differing emphasis would be given their role, however. Not only are various views held on how heavily economic stability should be weighted among various policy goals, but also divergences in opinion arise over the efficacy of automatic fiscal changes in promoting such a goal. In contrast to this present concern with automatic stabilizers, discretionary fiscal changes would have dominated, if not completely occupied, the stage only a decade ago. And if we go back two decades, the preponderance of professional opinion would have favored insensitive taxes and transfers. Indeed, the major works on tax sensitivity up to the time that Bretherton made his important contribution' were motivated by the search for taxes that were insensitive to national income and would thus not unbalance depression budgets.2 Such a major change in attitude raises the interesting question of how and why it came about. It depended, of course, on the development of an adequate body of theory to point toward and support a changed position on fiscal policy, the high spots of which are reviewed in Section II of this paper. But the appeal of automatic stabilizers also depended on failures of discretionary policies, discussed in Section III. With this ground cleared, we then detail, in Section IV, the gradual appearance of automatic fiscal stabilizers in policy statements on governmental fiscal policy. A discussion of this sort cannot help leaning heavily on personal judgments. Yet the dominant pattern reveals itself clearly enough, I think, to minimize differences in personal interpretation.
Reversible staining and peptide mapping of proteins transferred to nitrocellulose after separation by sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

We describe a staining technique, using Ponceau S in very mild conditions, by which proteins can be visualized on nitrocellulose replicas without being permanently fixed to the membrane itself, thus allowing subsequent procedures such as immunoblotting or preparative elution of the proteins to be performed. This staining technique can detect 250 to 500 ng protein, which is essentially the same sensitivity seen for Coomassie blue staining of proteins on nitrocellulose. The Ponceau S staining technique was used to locate proteins on nitrocellulose replicas for subsequent in situ radioiodination and trypsin digestion, followed by separation of the resultant digests in two-dimensional peptide analysis. Staining proteins with Ponceau S did not interfere with either the radioiodination or trypsin digestion, as indicated by essentially identical peptide patterns being obtained for the internal protein p26 from equine infectious anemia virus, regardless of whether the digests were prepared from polyacrylamide gel slices or nitrocellulose sections. The combination of preparation of radioiodinated tryptic digests on nitrocellulose and subsequent two-dimensional analysis is sensitive enough to detect peptide additions and deletions occurring in the surface antigen gp90 recovered from two antigenically distinct strains of equine infectious anemia virus. Thus these procedures provide a relatively simple, inexpensive, and highly reproducible technique for the analysis of as little as 250 nanograms of protein after separation by electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels.
Higher-order lloyd interferometer.

The Lloyd moire interferometer was introduced in Appl. Opt.6, 1707 ( 1967), as a means of testing interferometrically a path across very large surfaces in oblique to grazing incidence. The width of the path is determined by the optics in use. For any sensible angle of incidence, the Lloyd interference fringes will be very narrowly spaced, but they are transformed into conveniently visible fringes by a moire grating. The precision of the Lloyd moire interferometer is limited by the very large angle of incidence and by the relatively poor definition of the moire fringes. The objective of the present paper is to show an improved Lloyd interferometer technique, which with equally simple instrumentation permits one to vary and increase the sensitivity in testing large surfaces in oblique incidence by decreasing the angle of incidence.
Bacterial enteritides of poultry

Enteric bacterial infections in poultry pose a threat to intestinal health and can contribute to poor feed efficiency and livability of a flock. A variety of enteric bacterial diseases are recognized in poultry. Three of these bacterial diseases, necrotic enteritis, ulcerative enteritis, and spirochetosis, primarily infect the intestine, whereas other bacterial diseases, such as salmonellosis, colibacillosis, mycobacteriosis, erysipelas, and fowl cholera, affect a variety of organ systems in addition to the intestine. Diagnosis of bacterial enteritis requires monitoring of clinical signs in the flock and proper use of diagnostic methods such as necropsy, histopathology, bacteriology, and serology.
Hardware efficient frequency domain equalization in few-mode fiber coherent transmission systems

Few-mode fiber (FMF) transmission system has become an emerging technology to overcome next capacity crunch. To compensate the large accumulated differential mode group delay (DMGD) and random mode coupling in FMF transmission systems, frequency domain least mean square (FD-LMS) algorithm has been proposed and proven as the most hardware efficient approach. Except for the hardware complexity, convergence speed is another major consideration of adaptive FD-LMS algorithm, especially in FMF system with large accumulated DMGD. We propose two algorithms to improve the convergence speed of the adaptive FD-LMS in FMF transmission systems. One is signal power spectrum density (PSD) dependent adaptive algorithm, which adopts variable step size that is the reciprocal of the power level in each frequency bin. The other is noise power directed adaptive FD-LMS algorithm, which adopts the step size of each frequency bin rendering the posterior errors that will converge to background noise in additive white Gaussian noise channel. Our simulation results show that, in a 3000 km FMF transmission system with 35-ps/km DMGD and optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) of 14 dB, the noise power directed algorithm and PSD dependent algorithm can improve the convergence speed by 54% and 35% over conventional adaptive FD-LMS algorithm with negligible increase in hardware complexity. We also proposed a complexity reduced single-stage adaptive equalizer for compensating both chromatic dispersion (CD) and DMGD simultaneously. The single-stage method can save 6% complex multiplication over conventional two-stage equalization method in a 1000 km FMF transmission system with 76-ps/km DMGD.
Inhibition and excitation of neck and shoulder muscles during unilateral electrical stimulation of the rat neostriatum.

Electrical stimulation of the caudate-putamen (Cd-Pt) in anesthetized adult male rats was used to determine the nature and extent of the control exerted by the Cd-Pt over the following neck and shoulder muscles: the trapezius, biventer cervicis, rectus capitis and scalenus dorsalis. Unilateral Cd-Pt stimulation resulted in a pattern of muscle responses marked by immediate inhibition of ipsilateral spontaneous activity and subsequent excitation of contralateral activity. Lesions of the substantia nigra pars reticulata blocked the excitation in 3 of the 4 muscles, while globus pallidus lesions had equivocal results. However, control ablations of the frontoparietal motor cortex, which blocked excitation in all muscles, and kainic acid lesions of the Cd-Pt, which had no effect on excitation, suggested that the excitation of muscle activity can only be attributed to the stimulation of corticofugal fibers passing through this region (i.e. the Cd-Pt). The inhibition of spontaneous activity does appear to be attributable to stimulation of the Cd-Pt.
Singularly Perturbed Markov Chains

Asymptotic properties of singularly perturbed Markov chains having measurable and/or continuous generators are developed in this work. The Markov chain under consideration has a finite-state space and is allowed to be nonstationary. Its generator consists of a rapidly varying part and a slowly changing part. The primary concerns are on the properties of the probability vectors and an aggregated process that depend on the characteristics of the fast varying part of the generators. The fast changing part of the generators can either consist of l recurrent classes, or include also transient states in addition to the recurrent classes. The case of inclusion of transient states is examined in detail. Convergence of the probability vectors under the weak topology of L2 is obtained first. Then under slightly stronger conditions, it is shown that the convergence also takes place pointwise. Moreover, convergence under the norm topology of L2 is derived. Furthermore, a process with aggregated states is obtained which converges to a Markov chain in distribution.
Risk-adjusted outcome measures and quality of care in nursing homes.

OBJECTIVES This study examines the use of the patient review instrument (PRI), a reimbursement reporting system used by the New York State Department of Health, to assess quality of care based on risk-adjusted outcomes. METHODS Data for all residents in approximately 550 nursing homes in upstate New York are used to develop five risk-adjusted outcome measures. The five measures are rates of decline in functional status activities of daily living (ADL), rates of increases in severity of decubitus ulcers, physical restraints rates, dehydration rates, and rates of major accidents. Logistic models are used to adjust for individual patients' risk factors. The face validity, content, construct, and criterion validity of these measures is examined. RESULTS Measures based on ADL decline, deterioration in decubiti, and physical restraints rates met all validity criteria and were correlated significantly with deficiency citations. Measures based on accident rates and rates of dehydration did not perform as well. There was significant variation in these quality measures across regions and between for-profit and nonprofit nursing homes. CONCLUSIONS Information about quality of care is important to the efficient operation of competitive markets. Such information, however, often is costly to obtain and not available to individual patients. This study demonstrates that valid risk-adjusted outcome measures of quality can be developed based on data collected for reimbursement purposes.
Unsteady Flamelet Modeling of Differential Diffusion in Turbulent Jet Diffusion Flames

Abstract An unsteady flamelet model, which will be called the Lagrangian Flamelet Model, has been applied to a steady, turbulent CH 4 /H 2 /N 2 –air diffusion flame. The results have been shown to be in reasonable agreement with experimental data for axial velocity, mixture fraction, species mass fractions, and temperature. The application of three different chemical mechanisms leads to the promising conclusion that the state-of-the-art mechanisms yield almost identical results. To explain the still remaining differences from the experimental data, the effects of differential diffusion are discussed. Three possible mechanisms leading to differential diffusion are proposed: Firstly, the occurrence of a laminar mixing layer in a region very close to the nozzle exit; secondly, the molecular diffusivity being of the same order of magnitude as the turbulent eddy diffusivity; thirdly, a typical length scale of the mixing layer thickness being smaller than the small turbulent eddies leading to a laminar sublayer. By investigating the computational results for the considered configuration, the first mechanism has been concluded to be the only possibility. Further calculations have been performed, which account for differential diffusion by assuming the flow to be laminar very close to the nozzle and switching to unity Lewis numbers downstream of the potential core. The results lead to a significant improvement of the agreement to experimental data. It can be shown from the computational results and the experimental data that the differential diffusion effects arise from this laminar region. However, even though the Lewis numbers are assumed to be unity throughout the remaining part of the flow field these differential diffusion effects remain to a certain extent, even in the far downstream region, affecting for instance the centerline temperature by approximately 100 K. This demonstrates that differential diffusion can cause a strong history effect in turbulent jet diffusion flames.
Cytology and intrinsic organization of the perihypoglossal nuclei in the cat.

The morphology of the neurons in the perihypoglossal nuclei (nucleus prepositus, nucleus intercalatus, and nucleus of Roller) of the cat was studied in normal Nissl material, and by intracellular injection of horseradish peroxidase. The neurons in the nucleus prepositus were morphologically heterogeneous. Many of the cells in the ventromedial part of the caudal prepositus had relatively large somata, and complex dendritic trees which arose from numerous proximal dendrites and ramified extensively in the ventromedial aspect of the prepositus. These neurons had thick axons which typically did not give rise to local collaterals. The cells in the dorsolateral part of the caudal prepositus tended to have small somata, and dendritic trees which arborized in that region of the nucleus. The axons of these small cells frequently gave rise to local collaterals which terminated in the prepositus. Most of the cells in the prepositus had medium-sized somata and relatively few dendrites which branched in an isodendritic manner and extended for long distances, frequently leaving the nucleus. These “principal” prepositus neurons had axons which arborized unilaterally, and often gave rise to collaterals which terminated in either the ipsilateral or contralateral prepositus. The neurons in the nucleus of Roller and nucleus intercalatus which were intracellularly injected with horseradish peroxidase resembled the multidendritic and small prepositus cells, respectively. The intrinsic connectivity of the perihypoglossal nuclei was also studied by injecting horseradish peroxidase or 3H-leucine into the prepositus nucleus. The results of these experiments suggest that the perihypoglossal nuclei are highly interconnected bilaterally, although the large cells in the ventromedial prepositus and the nucleus of Roller contribute little to these intrinsic connections, and are not major recipients of intrinsic inputs. On the other hand, the magnitude of the reciprocal connections between the prepositus and the nucleus intercalatus suggests that they are functionally related.
Effects of RO 15-4513 and FG 7142 alone and in combination with ethanol on avoidance in the rat

Rats were trained on a complex avoidance schedule in which responses on one lever postponed shock and responses on another lever occasionally (variable-interval 45 sec schedule) produced 2 min periods of timeout from avoidance. As shown in previous experiments, ethanol (1.5 or 2.0 g/kg) produced an increase in timeout responding relative to avoidance lever rates. These effects were attenuated in five of the six rats by 6 mg/kg RO 15-4513, a dose that did not produce consistent intrinsic effects. In contrast, FG 7142 (10 mg/kg) reliably reversed ethanol effects in only one of the six rats tested. These results support the notion that RO 15-4513 possesses specific ethanol antagonist properties.
Assessment of 6- to 20-Grade Educators' Climate Knowledge and Perceptions: Results From the Climate Stewardship Survey

ABSTRACT The southeastern United States (SEUS) faces numerous potential impacts from a changing climate; however, the population has been characterized with a predominance of naysayers and few climate policies have been implemented by state governments in the region. As such, public education is an important avenue for achieving a climate literate citizenry in the region. Yet little is known about the needs of and influences on this community. We developed the Climate Stewardship Survey (CSS) to assess grades 6–20 educators' knowledge and perceptions of climate change in the SEUS (South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, and Arkansas). The population sampled was an informed volunteer sample of convenience. Our findings demonstrated little misinformation among this informed group was evident and strong knowledge and perceptions of the issue were prevalent. However, some uncertainties about the impacts and causes of climate change persisted. Also, ...
The Epidemiology of Vitamin D and Cancer Risk

The relation between vitamin D status and cancer risk has been investigated in a number of epidemiologic studies, while data from interventional studies remain scarce. The approaches to estimate vitamin D status have been varied and include direct measures of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels, surrogates or determinants of 25(OH)D, including region of residence, intake, and sun exposure estimates. In terms of cancer sites, the body of evidence is most extensive for colorectal cancer, for which support comes from studies of 25(OH)D, vitamin D intake, multiple predictors of 25(OH)D, and region of residence in a sunny climate. The evidence for breast cancer is also intriguing but prospective studies of 25(OH)D are sparse and somewhat conflicting. In one case–control study, retrospectively reported sun exposure during ages 10–19 was most strongly associated with reduced risk of breast cancer. For prostate cancer, the data on circulating 25(OH)D have been equivocal, suggesting no association or a weak inverse association, but studies tend to support a benefit of sun exposure on prostate cancer risk. It is plausible that for prostate cancer, vitamin D level much longer before the time of diagnosis is the most relevant exposure. Most of the epidemiologic studies to date have examined vitamin D status in relation to risk of cancer, but emerging evidence suggests that vitamin D may be an important factor for cancer progression and mortality, independently of any effects on incidence. Further study is needed to establish the precise role of vitamin D on carcinogenesis, especially in terms of when in the life span and on what stages of carcinogenesis vitamin D is relevant, the precise intakes and levels required, the magnitude of the association, and which cancer sites are most affected.
Technical change and the measurement of productivity in an input-output model☆

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between technical change and partial and total factor productivity measurement in an n-sector input-output economy. The level of productivity is shown to increase if there is technical change and constant final demands. However, the aggregate level of productivity can fall if there is technical change and if final demands alter. The relationship between technical change and productivity is complicated and counterintuitive results can occur. When the rate of growth of productivity is analyzed, it is found that productivity growth can decline when there is technical change and accelerating technical change, even if final demands are constant. Implications for intranational and international productivity comparisons are discussed.
Productivity of the southern ocean: a closer look

Abstract 1. 1. This paper reviews present knowledge of the standing crop and productivity of Antarctic phytoplankton and of the factors that govern primary production. 2. 2. Investigations have shown that (a) productivity of Antarctic waters varies by at least one to two orders of magnitude; and (b) generally, these waters display their richness mainly in the coastal regions. 3. 3. Recent studies of the autotrophic and heterotrophic pico- and nanoplankton are reviewed, and new data are presented. 4. 4. The relative abundances of these very small-sized classes of organisms are discussed, and their potentially important role in the emerging paradigm of the Antarctic food web is considered.
Numerical simulations of the near wake of a sphere moving in a steady, horizontal motion through a linearly stratified fluid at Re = 1000

A numerical investigation of the near wake of a sphere moving horizontally through a linearly stratified fluid is presented. Simulations are first performed on a flow with Reynolds number Re = 200 for a range of internal Froude number, 0.1 ≤ Fr ≤ ∞. The simulations capture buoyant characteristic behavior, the presence of vortex shedding at low Fr, and lee waves. Simulations at higher Reynolds number, Re = 1000, for 1 ≤ Fr ≤ ∞ provide a description and parametrization of the near wake, including the density field. At Re = 1000, the effects of utilizing two different averaging techniques in the unsteady near wake region are discussed. Perturbation quantities in the stratified near wake are anisotropic, and based on the oscillations of the centerline vertical perturbation velocity, the Fr at which the stratified near wake may be considered indistinguishable from the uniform density near wake is suggested to be O(100). Parametrization of the near wake is accomplished using the parameterized vertical wake height, downstream distance from the sphere, and Fr as parameters.
The Extraordinary Ordinary Powers of Abductive Reasoning

The psychology of cognition has been influenced by semiotic models of representation, but little work has been done relating semiotics and the process of cognition proper. In this paper, I argue that the semiotically relevant concept of abduction is crucial for this effort. Abduction is identified as the ground-state, or default, mode of cognition. As such, it deals with the issue of reasoning toward meaning and away from what Peirce called `genuine doubt'. In this fashion, abduction is shifted from being solely a logical and semiotic concept to a psychological concept. Abduction is first examined historically, and then further compared to the more traditional reasoning modes of deduction and induction to show how all three are necessary for any complete model of cognition and research into cognition. Different modes of abduction, including detection, diagnosis and divination, and different directions of abductive research in psychology are detailed.
Statistical treatment of large digital chromatographic data sets

Abstract Capturing vast amounts of digital Chromatographic data is now routine, but it brings with it the onerous problems of data reduction, unification and analysis. The methods reported here provide a rapid means of storing, sorting, tabulating and analyzing large sets of Chromatographic data.
Swedish Corporatism in Social Welfare Policy, 1986–1994: An Empirical Examination

Recent literature suggests that Swedish politics is decorporatizing. This article reports on the results of a survey of Swedish interest groups active in social welfare policy, administered in 1986 and 1994. The results cast considerable doubt on the decorporatization thesis. Little change is discernible between the two surveys on indicators of key corporatist behaviours on the part of interest groups and government. The immediate goal of the article is to provide evidence that the Swedish system is not, in fact, decorporatizing to the extent cited in recent literature. A larger aim, however, is to push the study of corporatism in a more empirical direction. The value of the theory will be enhanced if researchers are more precise about what it means and what behaviours should follow from it.
Stock Enhancement in the Management of Freshwater Fisheries: A European Perspective

Abstract The European Inland Fisheries Advisory Commission (EIFAC), a regional commission of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, convened a Symposium on Stock Enhancement in the Management of Freshwater Fisheries in conjunction with its 12th Session held at Budapest, Hungary, 29 May through 2 June 1982. The Symposium addressed the twin problems of introductions of exotic fishes and stockings of native fishes in an effort to define guidelines for both practices in European waters. These two specific aspects of stock manipulation were considered in seven sessions: 1) stocking with non-salmonids; 2) stocking with brown trout (Salmo trutta); 3) stocking with Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar); 4) introductions and transplantations-case histories and experience with some species; 5) introductions-overviews by country and the Lake Kinneret case; 6) ecological and practical aspects; and 7) conclusions and recommendations.
Atmospheric transmission coefficients for hydroxyl rotational lines used in rotational temperature determinations.

Abstract In an effort to retrieve accurate rotational temperatures from hydroxyl (OH) nightglow spectra, a computer model of atmospheric absorption has been combined with a Doppler model of the Λ-doubled OH rotational lines in order to derive transmission coefficients for the individual lines. Atmospheric transmission coefficients have been tabulated for the first three to four major P, Q and R-branch rotational lines of the OH Meinel (4,2), (3,1), (7,4), (6,2) and (8,3) bands. These coefficients have been calculated for OH Doppler temperatures over the typical mesospheric range from 150 to 250 K and for mid- and high-latitude, winter and summer conditions. Finally, the resulting atmospheric transmission coefficients have been applied to a low-noise, near-infrared data set obtained during the high-latitude summer under quiet geophysical conditions. It is shown that these coefficients correct the selective absorption of individual rotational lines in different OH vibrational bands, and thus, resolve the differences in the rotational temperatures inferred from the different vibrational levels of the uncorrected spectra.
Peritonitis - the Western experience

Peritonitis is a common surgical emergency. This manuscript will provide an overview of recent developments in the management of peritonitis in the Western world. Emphasis is placed on the emergence of new treatments and their impact of outcomes.
An optimization algorithm with probabilistic estimation

The authors present a stochastic optimization algorithm based on the idea of the gradient method which incorporates a novel adaptive-precision technique. Unlike recent methods, the proposed algorithm adaptively selects the precision without any need for prior knowledge on the speed of convergence of the generated sequence. The algorithm can avoid increasing the estimation precision unnecessarily, yet it retains its favorable convergence properties. In fact, it tries to maintain a nice balance between the requirements for computational accuracy and those for computational expediency. The authors present two types of convergence results delineating under what assumptions various kinds of convergence can be obtained for the proposed algorithm. They also present a parallel version of the proposed algorithm. >
Spatial Processing of Range-Bin ADCP Data to Resolve Small-Scale Frontal Features

Abstract A new approach is proposed for the processing of acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) data that has the potential to better resolve the structure of small-scale dynamical features such as strongly convergent current fronts. The essence of this approach is to assign each range bin of radial velocity and backscatter data an x, y, and z position, and then to spatially average the bin data relative to the feature of interest. The approach is illustrated by an analysis of surface-towed ADCP data collected across the Connecticut River plume front. Results using an across-front averaging length of 5 m show that the frontal morphology and circulation (gravity-current head structure, shallow inflow layer, strong sinking motion) are consistently resolved, while 1-m averaging appears additionally to resolve flow instabilities occurring along the frontal interface. Other possible applications are briefly discussed.
Ripple and transition-width trade-off in the design of elliptic filters

In the design of elliptic function filters, passband and stopband specifications are used to determine the order of the filter. In standard design methods, the calculated order is a fraction and the actual filter is designed by using an order which is the smallest integer greater than the calculated fraction. The authors shown how one can use this effective increase to further reduce either the passband ripple, the stopband ripple, or the transition bandwidth to give a well-defined optimal approximation. It is shown how to start with the order and design an optimal elliptic function filter by minimizing any one of the other approximation measures. The authors posed four optimal filter design problems using the Chebyshev error criterion in the passband and stopband. An algorithm is described that allows the solution of these problems using Jacobian elliptic function theory. >
Phase-shifting dynamic holographic interferometry using BSO photorefractive crystals

Holographic interferometry of phase objects as well as diffusely scattering opaque specimens is achieved in quasi real-time using two-wave mixing in photorefractive Bi12SiO20 (BSO) crystals. In the case of diffusely scattering specimens, phase shifting holographic interferometry of a vibrating plate specimen is done by recording at least 3 double pulse holograms with different phase shifts of the reference beam. The good signal-to-noise ratio and resolution of the resulting holographic interferograms enable phase measurement of complex vibration modes. Quasi-heterodyne interferometry is also demonstrated for phase objects under non-recurring loading. A double exposure hologram with two separate reference beams at different incident angles for the two exposures is recorded in a BSO crystal. The two recorded object states are subsequently reconstructed by the reference beams at any desired phase by simply introducing a relative phase shift between the two readout reference beams. Because of the speed of the photorefractive effect and the lack of need for post processing, such a recording material allows image acquisition comparable in temporal resolution to electronic speckle techniques with the image quality of classical holography.© (1997) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Role of cyclic AMP in mediating the effects of MSH, norepinephrine, and melatonin on frog skin color.

Evidence has previously been published indicating that melanocyte stimulating hormone (MSH) acts on the frog skin to increase intracellular concentrations of adenosine 3′,5′- monophosphate (cyclic AMP) and that this nucleotide in turn mediates the action of MSH in causing dispersion of melanin granules with consequent darkening of the frog skin. In the present study both norepinephrine and melatonin were found to inhibit the increase in cyclic AMP levels in response to MSH, and both agents prevented or reversed MSH-induced darkening of frog skin. Neither agent had any effect on frog skin darkening induced by exogenous cyclic AMP or on the in vitro enzymatic degradation of cyclic AMP. The inhibitory effects of norepinephrine on the actions of MSH were prevented by the α-adrenergic blocking agents dihydroergotamine and phentolamine, but these drugs were ineffective against melatonin. In contrast, the β-adrenergic agent isoproterenol had no significant inhibitory effect on MSH-induced cyclic AMP accumulation...
Knowledge-based methods to help clinicians find answers in MEDLINE.

Objectives: Large databases of published medical research can support clinical decision making by providing physicians with the best available evidence. The time required to obtain optimal results from these databases using traditional systems often makes accessing the databases impractical for clinicians. This article explores whether a hybrid approach of augmenting traditional information retrieval with knowledge-based methods facilitates finding practical clinical advice in the research literature. Design: Three experimental systems were evaluated for their ability to find MEDLINE citations providing answers to clinical questions of different complexity. The systems (SemRep, Essie, and CQA-1.0), which rely on domain knowledge and semantic processing to varying extents, were evaluated separately and in combination. Fifteen therapy and prevention questions in three categories (general, intermediate, and specific questions) were searched. The first 10 citations retrieved by each system were randomized, anonymized, and evaluated on a three-point scale. The reasons for ratings were documented. Measurements: Metrics evaluating the overall performance of a system (mean average precision, binary preference) and metrics evaluating the number of relevant documents in the first several presented to a physician were used. Results: Scores (mean average precision 0.57, binary preference 0.71) for fusion of the retrieval results of the three systems are significantly (p 0.01) better than those for any individual system. All three systems present three to four relevant citations in the first five for any question type. Conclusion: The improvements in finding relevant MEDLINE citations due to knowledge-based processing show promise in assisting physicians to answer questions in clinical practice. J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2007;14:772-780. DOI 10.1197/jamia.M2407.
Dc-dc converter topology assessment for large scale distributed photovoltaic plant architectures

Distributed photovoltaic (PV) plant architectures are emerging as a replacement for the classical central inverter based systems. However, power converters of smaller ratings may have a negative impact on system efficiency, reliability and cost. Therefore, it is necessary to design converters with very high efficiency and simpler topologies in order not to offset the benefits gained by using distributed PV systems. In this paper an evaluation of the selection criteria for dc-dc converters for distributed PV systems is performed; this evaluation includes efficiency, simplicity of design, reliability and cost. Based on this evaluation, recommendations can be made as to which class of converters is best fit for this application.
Artificial neural network classification of texture orientations in seismic images

Texture orientation is a very important attributes used in the interpretation of seismic images. It provides critical clues of continuity and connectivity useful in relating adjacent image areas. The author reports on a novel approach in which stacked seismic data are convolved with directional convolution masks and the results are used as input to an artificial neural network for classification of image areas into a number of discrete texture orientation classes. Test results on a piece of real seismic data from the Gulf of Mexico are shown to illustrate the effectiveness of the approach. The instantaneous responsiveness of a neural net makes this approach very practical in processing a large number of seismic images in which orientation of image events offer important cues needed to link various sections in order to construct a 3D image of the Earth's subsurface.
Exploring the mediational role of coping motives for marijuana use in terms of the relation between anxiety sensitivity and marijuana dependence.

This study evaluated the prediction that coping motives for marijuana use would mediate the relation between anxiety sensitivity and a marijuana dependence diagnosis after controlling for other co-occurring marijuana use motives. Participants were 136 current marijuana users (47.1% women; Mage= 21.9, SD = 7.2). Results were consistent with a mediational effect, with the relation between anxiety sensitivity and marijuana dependence being explained by the addition of coping motives into the model. These results provide novel information related to the putative explanatory role of coping motives for marijuana use in the relation between anxiety sensitivity and marijuana dependence. (Am J Addict 2010;19:277–282)
Thin Film Herringbone Buckling Patterns

Thin metal film deposited on compliant substrate undergoes equi-biaxial compression and buckles into a highly ordered herringbone pattern [1,2]. In this study, it is shown that compare with the bifurcation competing modes, the herringbone mode has the lowest strain energy and therefore it is the preferred buckling pattern in the thin film.
Disease-Specific Extraction of Text from Cardiac Echo Videos for Decision Support

Echo videos are an important modality for cardiac decision support. In addition to describing the shape and motion of the heart, they capture important diagnostic measurements as textual feature-value pairs that are good indicators of the underlying disease. In this paper, we describe reliable extraction of such textual information through selective image processing and region extraction prior to using an OCR engine. We then use tabular layout analysis rules to recover measurement attribute value pairs from the recognized text in videos. The measurement feature-value pairs are used to retrieve matching videos from a database. A ranked list of matching diseases is then obtained through collaborative filtering. Results are demonstrated on a large echo video database of patients with various diseases.
LOVE AS SENSORY STIMULATION: PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF ITS DEPRIVATION AND EXPRESSION

Abstract For the present purpose, love is defined as one’s having stimulation that one desires. The nature of the stimulation can range on a continuum from the most abstract cognitive, to the most direct sensory, forms. Thus, this definition of love encompasses having an emotional bond with a person for whom one yearns, as well as having sensory stimulation that one desires. We address some of the physiological and perceptual consequences both of having, and of not having, love. We propose a neural mechanism by which deprivation of love may generate endogenous, compensatory sensory stimulation that manifests itself as psychosomatic illness. In addition, we propose a neuroendocrine mechanism underlying sexual response and orgasm. The latter includes vaginocervical sensory pathways to the brain that can produce analgesia, release oxytocin, and/or bypass the spinal cord via the vagus nerve. We present evidence of the existence of non-genital orgasms, which suggests that genital orgasm is a special case of a more pervasive orgasmic process. Through recent studies, the mechanisms and manifestations of love and its deprivation are becoming better understood. The better is our understanding of love, the greater is our respect for the significance and potency of its role in mental and physical health. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Pruning recurrent neural networks for improved generalization performance

Determining the architecture of a neural network is an important issue for any learning task. For recurrent neural networks no general methods exist that permit the estimation of the number of layers of hidden neurons, the size of layers or the number of weights. We present a simple pruning heuristic that significantly improves the generalization performance of trained recurrent networks. We illustrate this heuristic by training a fully recurrent neural network on positive and negative strings of a regular grammar. We also show that rules extracted from networks trained with this pruning heuristic are more consistent with the rules to be learned. This performance improvement is obtained by pruning and retraining the networks. Simulations are shown for training and pruning a recurrent neural net on strings generated by two regular grammars, a randomly-generated 10-state grammar and an 8-state, triple-parity grammar. Further simulations indicate that this pruning method can have generalization performance superior to that obtained by training with weight decay. >