cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Novel Urinary Biomarkers for Acute Kidney Injury and Prediction of Clinical Outcomes After Pediatric Cardiac Surgery.

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious complication of pediatric cardiac surgery, with high morbidity and mortality. We aimed to evaluate the perioperative risk factors for AKI, and the validity of novel diagnostic urinary biomarkers after pediatric cardiac surgery. We analyzed 103 consecutive pediatric patients (≤ 18 years old), who underwent cardiac surgery. AKI was defined by ≥ 50% increase in serum creatinine levels from baseline. Urinary liver-type fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP) and neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) were measured postoperatively at the intensive care unit (ICU) admission, subsequently at 4, 12, and 24 h. Areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curves (AUC) were calculated at each assessment time. AKI had developed in 47 patients (45.6%) by the second postoperative day. Univentricular status, aortic cross-clamping time, and intraoperative fluid balance were independently associated with AKI (p = 0.02, 0.01 and 0.01, respectively). Urinary L-FABP and NGAL were significantly higher in the AKI group at each point (p < 0.05). The predictive abilities of both biomarkers (AUC = 0.78–0.90) at ICU admission and 4 h after were especially high. The patients with L-FABP greater than the cutoff value at ICU admission and 4 h after ICU admission had significantly longer intubation and hospitalization periods (p < 0.05). Those with elevated NGAL levels at admission, and 4 h and 24 h after ICU admission, had significantly longer intubation, ICU stay, and hospitalization (p < 0.05). L-FABP and NGAL can be useful biomarkers for detecting early AKI after pediatric cardiac surgery and predicting adverse clinical outcomes.
FOUR – MATRICES AND LINEAR SYSTEMS

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a study of systems which may involve more than two equations or more than two unknowns. A linear system that has no solutions is said to be inconsistent; if it has at least one solution, it is called consistent. The rows, also called horizontal lines, of an augmented matrix correspond to the equations in the associated linear system. A rectangular array of numbers is called a matrix. The numbers in the array are called the entries of the matrix. There are four properties of an augmented matrix in reduced row echelon form. Those four properties are: (1) if a row is not made up entirely of zeros, then the leftmost nonzero number in the row is a 1; (2) if there are any rows consisting entirely of zeros, they are all together at the bottom of the matrix; (3) in two successive rows, not consisting entirely of zeros, the first nonzero number in the lower row is to the right of the first non-zero number in the upper row; and (4) each column that contains the first nonzero number of some row has zeros everywhere else.
Heidegger e o iPad: presença e imagem na pandemia

This article aims at exploring different dimensions of our digital moment. The Covid-19 crisis has allowed us to experiment with images on an unprecedented level. Taking that as a point of departure, and building upon a number of philosophical references, I ask whether virtual meetings are opposed to an “experience” that we so often conceive in Benjaminian terms. If two people sit in silence in front of connected computers, are they together? This simple question triggers a series of reflections on the very nature of images and what we call presence. Even though my final take on the current expanded digital experience is positive, the questions it allows us to raise are many. At the core of my argument is the presence of the body and the social implications of the digitization of the world, as well as the remote teaching experience.
Acoustic-Phonetic Mismatches Impair Serial Recall of Degraded Words.

Sequences of phonologically similar words are more difficult to remember than phonologically distinct sequences. This study investigated whether this difficulty arises in the acoustic similarity of...
The Spectral Theorem, Stable Subspaces and v. Neumann Algebras

The general remarks given in the beginning of the last chapter apply equally well at present. The main object is to prove the spectral theorem for self adjoint continuous operators in Hilbert space and introduce the reader to the elements of the theory of v. Neumann algebras. The contents of Sections 1 and 2 are needed only for the proof of the spectral theorem, which is given in Section 3. Almost all the material presented in Sections 4, 5 and 6 will be used later. Most of it can be read without being familiar with the contents of Chapter I. Similarly an understanding of the statement of the spectral theorem requires no background in Banach algebra theory but the proof relies heavily on the fundamental results discussed in Chapter I.
THE IMPACT OF CAPITAL FLOWS ON DOMESTIC INVESTMENT IN TRANSITION ECONOMIES 1

During the 1990s most transition economies undertook a series of market reforms, including opening their capital accounts. This paper uses static and dynamic panel techniques to assess the effect of FDI, foreign loans and portfolio flows on domestic investment. In this partial adjustment setup, capital flows can have contemporaneous and long-term effects on investment. For countries with less developed financial markets and weaker institutions, our estimates for the FDI coefficient are larger than one, suggesting FDI stimulates investment in other sectors of the economy ("spillover" effects). Over the longer term, each dollar of FDI generates at least one additional dollar of local investment. In transition countries with stronger governance indicators, long-term loans raise domestic investment and FDI produces small spillover effects in the long run. Limited portfolio flows into the transition economies have no effect on capital formation in either group. JEL Classification: F21, F30, P33
The End Environmental Externalities Manifesto: A Rights-Based Foundation for Environmental Law

The authors argue that the goal for the next stage of U.S. environmental law should be to internalize environmental externalities (principally harms to health from releases to the environment) to the maximum extent feasible. Where it is not possible to eliminate harms entirely, as a second best solution the authors propose financial compensation to compensate victims to the fullest extent possible plus disclosure of the basis for a polluter's conclusion that their releases will not harm others. The authors argue this goal - rather than benefit-cost analysis or economic efficiency - should be the guiding principle for the environmental law of the future, based on the natural law and philosophical principle that members of a community have an ethical obligation not to harm one another.
Where Did the Notion that Forces are Unobservable Come from

As a school boy, I was informed by my chums that alligators lived in the Brooklyn sewers, abandoned pets that subsequently grew into giant saurians. It seems to me that modern philosophy of science is burdened by a large heritage of folklore not completely dissimilar to that of my alligators. A book like Bas Van Fraassen’s The Scientific Image 1 contains comparatively little direct argument for its “anti-realism” — it rests instead upon sundry appeals to historical lineage: “I, Van Fraassen, now present an up-to-date defence of the empiricism favored by Hume, Duhem and Carnap”. Leaving Hume and Carnap aside, it is certainly true that opinions of an extreme anti-realist tenor can be easily extracted from the writings of many scientists — not simply Duhem — of the late nineteenth century. Passages can be culled, for example, from Karl Pearson’s The Grammar of Science 2 that might make the most rabid modern anti-realist blush. So I asked myself, “Why were these guys beefing? What, so long before quantum theory, drove so many Victorians and Edwardians into antirealist arms?” A complete accounting would be very complicated, but an important part of the answer traces some peculiar puzzles that attend classical treatments of continua-that is, fluids, elastic solids, aethers and other forms of continuously flexible bodies.
International Cooperation in Magnetospheric Physics

International scientific cooperation in the geosciences started long ago. The main driving force was the need to make measurements simultaneously at different points of the globe. Today, especially in magnetospheric physics, there are additional reasons, one of which is the need to marshal human resources on a world-wide scale to study and understand the ever-increasing complexities of the system. The solution of “global” problems of magnetospheric physics calls for a new mission-oriented mode of work, based on a carefully planned community approach. An internationally coordinated interplay between experiment, theory and computer simulation studies is necessary, as well as a new interactive mode of sharing information and data. In this age of endemically declining budgets for basic science, the international community of magnetospheric physicists must join in an all-out effort to chart their work according to consensus priorities and it must devise strategies to transmit the excitement of their science effectively to the world public.
Single-molecule enzymology.

Viewing a movie of an enzyme molecule made by molecular dynamics simulation, we see incredible details of molecular motions, be they changes of the conformation or actions during a chemical reaction. Molecular dynamics simulations have advanced our understanding of the dynamics of macromolecules in ways that would not be deducible from the static crystal structures [1, 2]. Unfortunately, these “virtual movies” do not run long enough, compared to the time scale of milliseconds to seconds in which most enzymatic reactions take place. In recent years, rapid advances in the patch clamp technique [3], atomic force microscopy [4, 5], optical tweezers [6, 7], and fluorescence microscopy [8, 9, 10, 11] have permitted making single-molecule “movies” in situ at the millisecond to second time scale. These techniques do not have time resolutions as high as that of molecular dynamics simulations, but their single-molecule sensitivities allow probing of conformational motions, which are otherwise masked in ensemble-averaged experiments. Moreover, chemical reactions can now be observed on a single-molecule basis. For example, enzymatic turnovers of a few motor proteins [12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17] and a few enzymes [18, 19, 20] have been monitored in real time.
FLEXnav: fuzzy logic expert rule-based position estimation for mobile robots on rugged terrain

Most mobile robots use a combination of absolute and relative sensing techniques for position estimation. Relative positioning techniques are generally known as dead-reckoning. Many systems use odometry as their only dead-reckoning means. However, fiber optic gyroscopes have become more affordable and are being used on many platforms to supplement odometry, especially in indoor applications. Still, if the terrain is not level (i.e., rugged or rolling terrain), the tilt of the vehicle introduces errors into the conversion of gyro readings to vehicle heading. In order to overcome this problem vehicle tilt must be measured and factored into the heading computation. The paper introduces a new fuzzy logic expert rule-based navigation (FLEXnav) method for fusing data from multiple low- to medium-cost gyroscopes and accelerometers in order to estimate accurately the heading and tilt of a mobile robot. Experimental results of mobile robot runs over rugged terrain are presented, showing the effectiveness of our FLEXnav method.
Positive selection in a Schnurri.

Regulation of the transcription factor Shn-2 by signals emanating from the TCR can distinguish positive from negative selection of developing thymocytes.
The roles of MCDW and deep water iron supply in sustaining a recurrent phytoplankton bloom on central Pennell Bank (Ross Sea)

During January–February 2011 standing stocks of phytoplankton (chl a) in the Pennell Bank region of the Ross Sea were variable over 10–100 km spatial scales. One area of elevated chl a on central Pennell Bank (CPB) appeared to be a recurrent mid-summer feature. The western flank (WF) of Pennell Bank had pronounced signatures of Modified Circumpolar Deep Water (MCDW). We evaluated the spatial extent of Fe limitation and net primary production and tested whether MCDW may provide elevated amounts of Fe to the CPB region, through a combination of in situ measurements, shipboard incubations and a horizontally resolved physical model. Regional fluxes of dissolved Fe from deep to surface waters were compared to calculated Fe demands. Low in situ variable to maximum fluorescence (Fv/Fm; 0.24–0.37) and surface water dissolved Fe concentrations (� 0.12–0.21 nM) were suggestive of widespread limitation, corroborated by the consistent responses (Fv/Fm, growth, and nutrient removal ratios) of incubation treatments to Fe addition. MCDW from the WF region had lower dissolved Fe concentrations than that measured in CDW (Circumpolar Deep Water), which suggests on-shelf modification with Fe deplete surface waters and is consistent with the lack of stimulation due to incubation amendments with filtered MCDW. Model results and empirical data suggest MCDW from the WF region is further modified and mixed en route to the CPB region, leading to both the erosion of the canonical MCDW signature and an elevated dissolved Fe inventory of CPB region deep water. This suggests the addition of Fe possibly via diagenesis, as suggested by Marsay et al. (2014). Calculated deep water supply rates to the surface waters of CPB were � 0.18–0.43 m d � 1 , while calculated rates at the WF or northern Pennell Bank (NPB) regions were negative. The CPB populations exhibited � 4.5-fold higher net production rates compared to those in the WF and NPB regions and required 520–3200 nmol Fe m � 2 d � 1 . The modeled vertical supply rates seem to provide � 2–15% of the estimated Fe requirement. Since this flux is based on subsurface dissolved Fe inventories, it does not account for any bioavailable Fe from deep water particulate sources or for Fe recycling in the upper water column. These data suggest the recurrent productivity hotspots at CPB are not fueled by Fe-rich MCDW but are partially supported by the delivery of Fe through vertical exchange processes. & 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Rethinking Technology outside the Classroom

New teaching technologies will increasingly allow students to access the basic course information before they come to class. As teachers using these new technologies, our mission is to create homework and assignments that inspire them to interrogate the course content outside of class time. We can then rethink the type of work students do in class to develop more sophisticated intellectual engagement than taking notes from a lecture.
PARADIS: an efficient parallel algorithm for in-place radix sort

In-place radix sort is a popular distribution-based sorting algorithm for short numeric or string keys due to its linear run-time and constant memory complexity. However, efficient parallelization of in-place radix sort is very challenging for two reasons. First, the initial phase of permuting elements into buckets suffers read-write dependency inherent in its in-place nature. Secondly, load balancing of the recursive application of the algorithm to the resulting buckets is difficult when the buckets are of very different sizes, which happens for skewed distributions of the input data. In this paper, we present a novel parallel in-place radix sort algorithm, PARADIS, which addresses both problems: a) "speculative permutation" solves the first problem by assigning multiple non-continuous array stripes to each processor. The resulting shared-nothing scheme achieves full parallelization. Since our speculative permutation is not complete, it is followed by a "repair" phase, which can again be done in parallel without any data sharing among the processors. b) "distribution-adaptive load balancing" solves the second problem. We dynamically allocate processors in the context of radix sort, so as to minimize the overall completion time. Our experimental results show that PARADIS offers excellent performance/scalability on a wide range of input data sets.
Mitogenic activity of rat salivary glands after electrical stimulation of parasympathetic nerves

Electrical stimulation of the parasympathetic innervation to parotid or submandibular gland for 30 or 60 min resulted in increased [3H]thymidine uptake of both glands when measurements were made 18 h later. With 30 min of stimulation, the mean increase in parotid was 30% compared with unstimulated mates, and after 60 min of stimulation, the increase was 76%. Stimulation for 30 min with the adrenergic antagonists propranolol and phenoxybenzamine present showed an increase in [3H]thymidine of 76%. Stimulation of the chorda tympani for 30 min resulted in a mean increase of 59% in thymidine uptake of the sympathectomized submandibular gland compared with the unstimulated sympathectomized mate. beta-1,4-Galactosyltransferase activity of both stimulated parotid and submandibular glands also showed an increase of 71%. On the basis of the composition of the saliva in the oral cavity, we confirmed the identity of the stimulated nerve to parotid gland as the parasympathetic (auriculotemporal). Na, K, and amylase concentrations resembled closely the composition of saliva obtained directly from the duct with electrical stimulation of the parasympathetic nerve. These data provide the first evidence that electrical stimulation of the parasympathetic nerve to parotid and submandibular glands causes a mitogenic response in each of these organs; the data also provide the first evidence that electrical stimulation of the parasympathetic nerve causes an increase in levels of the enzyme beta-1,4-galactosyltransferase, known to be implicated in hyperplastic responses.
A personal level identification friend or foe system employing free space optical communications

Identification friend or foe (IFF) is a well established and important military application currently employing radio. These RF based systems are generally limited to aircraft and large vehicles such as ships. However, the recent experience in Desert Storm, involving highly mobile close support operations, was one where the inability to IFF ground targets such as men and small vehicles caused several incident of fracticide. The prevent future incidents of this sort, a manpack level IFF system seems called for. While current RF based systems might be downsized for manpack use, it is unlikely radio could provide the required resolution and low cost needed to deploy universal protection on each soldier. Free space optical communications links however, seem to offer the promise of meeting this need. The paper considers and explores the fit of free space optical technology with the personal IFF application. >
Litigation and democracy: restoring a realistic prospect of trial

In this essay we review some of the evidence confirming, and some of the reasons underlying, the phenomenon of the vanishing trial in federal civil cases and examine some of the costs of that phenomenon for democratic values, including in particular democratic values represented by the right to a jury trial under the Seventh Amendment. We discuss the Supreme Court’s recent pleading decisions in Twombly and Iqbal as examples of procedural attacks on democracy in four dimensions: (1) they put the right to jury trial in jeopardy; (2) they undercut the effectiveness of congressional statutes designed to compensate citizens for injury and/or to enable implementation of important social norms through private enforcement; (3) they side-step not only congressional review but the entire rulemaking process that Congress prescribed, including multiple steps designed to facilitate broad public participation, and (4) they reward the lawlessness of lower courts that had ignored prior Court precedent proscribing fact-pleading requirements imposed by judicial decision with comparable lawlessness (and reportedly have spurred another cycle of lawlessness in district courts that have ignored them). We then suggest some remedial measures that might restore a realistic prospect of trial, a number of which would depart from the norm of trans-substantive procedure. We propose that the rulemakers develop a separate track for simple cases – a category that would not include cases for which there is objective evidence of congressional reliance on private enforcement -- that would employ bright-line rules permitting very limited discovery and virtually no case management. Recognizing that document discovery presents the most difficult reform challenge, we suggest a rule requiring that document requests in simple cases be specific. For discovery in complex cases, we stress the need for empirical study, particularly in light of the recent Federal Rule amendments concerning electronic discovery. We also suggest the development of discovery protocols by the stakeholders in substantive law litigation areas believed (or, in the event of additional empirical work, found) to involve disproportionate discovery. Finally, doubting that rule amendments could fix what is wrong with summary judgment today, we argue that courts should be given the resources necessary to allow judges to do what judges used to do. Believing that the current state of destructive friction between civil litigation and democracy is a product not just of inadequate resources, but also of the triumph of institutional and professional self-interest and both legislative and judicial politics, we contend that our citizens deserve better. The aspirations of our founders for trials in open court and jury trials are not obsolete, and neither is the duty of the judiciary, within constitutional limits, to respect clearly articulated statutory norms and clearly articulated legislative policy.
Superuniversality of acceleration correlations for random walks on fractals

The acceleration-acceleration correlation function, K(t)=(a(t).a(0)) (a=d2r/dt2, where r is the displacement), of a random walker on a fractal lattice is studied analytically and numerically on percolation clusters and on diffusion-limited aggregates at dimensions d=2,3. After t(>>1) discrete time steps, the authors find K(t)=A(t)/(r2(t)), with A(t) approximately (-1)t. At a fixed distance R from the origin they find the superuniversal law K(R) approximately R-2 on all fractals and for all d.
Narrow-bandwidth picosecond BBO-MOPA system: construction and experimental validation

The construction of a double, synchronously pumped OPO is described. It generates pulses with duration 25 ps and repetition rate of 10 Hz. The bandwidth of the radiation is 1.36 cm-1, close to the Fourier limit. A single pulse from each oscillator is further amplified with an OPA obtaining pulse energies up to 3.7 mJ. This source can be tuned between 410 nm and 2000 nm.© (2001) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
Comparability of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements of optical coherence tomography instruments.

PURPOSE To compare retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) measurements between two ocular coherence tomography (OCT) instruments (OCT 2000 and Stratus OCT; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA) and compare their diagnostic precision. METHODS One hundred thirty-nine consecutive subjects were imaged (3 x 3.4-mm diameter circular scans) on the same day with each instrument. Thirty-five patients were excluded due to poor-quality images. RNFL thicknesses measured by the two instruments were compared, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine diagnostic precision. RESULTS A randomly selected eye of each of 104 participants (28 with open-angle glaucoma, 40 with suspected glaucoma, and 36 healthy subjects) was analyzed. RNFL thickness measurements generally were thicker with OCT 2000 than with Stratus OCT. The difference in global RNFL thickness between instruments was within 20 microm in 66 (65%) of subjects and within 10 microm (the instrument's limit of resolution) in 25 (25%) subjects. Application of a correction factor to OCT 2000 measurements predicted Stratus OCT RNFL thickness within 10 microm of the observed measurement in 75% of the eyes. For both instruments, highest ROC curve areas (better discrimination between glaucomatous and normal eyes) were found in the inferior sector. Discrimination using global RNFL thickness was better with Stratus OCT than OCT 2000 (P = 0.043). CONCLUSIONS RNFL thickness measurements measured by OCT 2000 can be approximated to measurements made by Stratus OCT using correction factors calculated by this study. However, there remains considerable variability that exceeds the limits of resolution afforded by the instruments themselves. Therefore comparisons between instruments using these approximations should be interpreted with caution.
Diverging interpretations associated with the perspectives of the speaker and recipient in conversations

Participants in six experiments were asked to assume that they were either the speaker or the recipient of a reply to a potentially face-threatening question. In all experiments, participants were more likely to interpret the replies as conveying an indirect negative meaning when they took the perspective of the recipient than when they took the perspective of the speaker. This divergence occurred with both a between-participants and a within-participants manipulation, and with open-ended and forced-choice formats. In Experiment 5, the divergence was eliminated when participants were asked to adopt the perspective of both interactants, and in Experiment 6 the effect did not occur for direct replies. Overall, the results suggest that the ambiguity inherent in language use may result in differing interpretations of conversational meaning as a function of perspective.
Defining acute kidney injury in database studies: the effects of varying the baseline kidney function assessment period and considering CKD status.

Background Existing acute kidney injury (AKI) definitions are not well adapted for database studies, leading to a great variety of methods used in research. Variations in time before hospitalization used to assess baseline kidney function when identifying episodes of AKI may lead to different case samples and mortality risks in database studies, but the magnitude of these effects is not known. Study Design A retrospective cohort study. Settings & Participants 1,126,636 veterans hospitalized at least once within the US Department of Veterans Affairs health care system between 2000 and 2005. Predictor AKI was defined by comparing (using ratio [≥1.5] or difference [increase of 0.3-0.5 mg/dL]) the highest serum creatinine level during hospitalization with the lowest level during 4 different baseline assessment periods (in-hospital only and 3, 6, or 12 months preadmission). Outcomes & Measurements In-hospital mortality risk was estimated using multivariable logistic regression models. Results Using the ratio definition, the cumulative incidence of AKI ranged from 12.5% (in-hospital only) to 18.3% (12 months preadmission). Newly added cases had milder AKI and lower mortality risk. The discriminative power increased slightly (C statistic increased from 0.846 to 0.855; P = 0.001) by extending the baseline period to at least 3 months. Both the ratio and difference definitions did not perform well in patients with chronic kidney disease stages 4 and 5. Limitations Possibility of residual confounding and under-representation of women (4.5%). Conclusions Many additional AKI cases may be identified by extending the baseline assessment period; however, added cases may be less severe with lower mortality risk. The relative strengths of these biases and combined effects of reducing misclassification (identification of more AKI cases) and increasing risk dilution (identifying milder cases) may vary across populations. Consensus regarding how baseline kidney function should be determined in database studies should be reached.
Linking Indoor Air and Pharmacokinetic Models to Assess Tetrachloroethylene Risk

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models describing the uptake, metabolism, and excretion of xenobiotic compounds are now proposed for use in regulatory health-risk assessments. In this study we investigate the extent of PCE metabolism arising from domestic respiratory exposure to tetrachloroethylene (PCE) from ground water, as predicted using a PBPK model. Indoor exposure patterns we use as input to the PBPK model are realistic ones generated from a three-compartment model describing volatilization of PCE from domestic water into household air. Values we use for the metabolic parameters of the PBPK model are estimated from data on urinary metabolites in workers exposed to PCE. It is shown that for respiratory PCE exposure due to typical levels of PCE in ground water, use of time-weighted average air concentrations with a steady-state PBPK model yields estimates of total metabolized PCE similar to those obtained using completely dynamic modeling, despite considerable uncertainty in key exposure- and metabolic-model parameters. These findings suggest that, for PCE, risk estimation taking pharmacokinetics into account may be accomplished using a simple analytic approach.
Truth Strategies and University Organization

Different combinations of reasoning and experience define four "truth strategies"-sets of rules which guide the search for knowledge and the elimination of error-in the modern university. The authors discuss how the presence of multiple truth strategies and shifts in strategies within fields affect the organization and administration of universities.
Multicentric pigmented Bowen's disease: A clinically benign squamous cell carcinoma in situ

Abstract Multicentric pigmented Bowen's disease is a newly recognized entity which affects younger individuals and mainly involves genital areas. It is histologically indistinguishable from Bowen's disease (squamous cell carcinoma in situ ) but differs remarkably in its clinical features, prognosis, and management. The case reported here describes such a disease entity and emphasizes the need of correlating clinical information with histopathologic features in arriving at a correct diagnosis.
Corrigendum to “Testing an astronomically based decadal-scale empirical harmonic climate model versus the general circulation climate models” [J. Atmos. Sol.-Terr. Phys. (2012) 124-137]

‘‘Consequently, the IPCC projections for the 21st century should not be trusted.’’ (Page 126.) and ‘‘Consequently, the IPCC projections for the 21st century cannot be trusted.’’ (Page 135). to ‘‘IPCC projections for the 21st century should be viewed with great caution because the historical temperature data are herein shown to be likely interpretable in an alternative way that stresses the importance of natural cyclical variability, which would lead to very different 21st projections’’. that may more appropriately describe the findings of the paper and the true intention of the author.
The determination of all six spectral densities of motion for partially oriented dichloromethane-d2

Measurements of spin-lattice relaxation, combined with 2-dimensional measurements of single-and double-quantum spin-echo decay rates, were used to detn. the complete set of spectral d. parameters which characterize D relaxation of CD2Cl2 partially oriented in a nematic liq. crystal (Merck Licristal Phase V). At 31.5 Deg and 9.2 MHz, terms describing cross-correlation between 2 D quadrupole coupling tensors are comparable to the autocorrelation terms. A partial interpretation of these results in terms of anisotropic mol. reorientation and order-director fluctuations is presented and is confirmed by addnl. measurements of the temp. and field dependence of spin-lattice relaxation rates. [on SciFinder (R)]
Nutrient regulation of phytoplankton productivity in Monterey Bay, California

Abstract A series of nutrient enrichment grow-out experiments were conducted in Monterey Bay, California, to assess the relative importance of nutrient availability on growth rates and biomass accumulation of the natural phytoplankton assemblage. During a series of four cruises, enrichments with nitrogen (as nitrate and ammonium), silicate, and Guillard's “ f ” medium consistently demonstrated that the phytoplankton were nitrogen limited, and that the addition of nitrate provided the most potential for growth and biomass accumulation. Contrary to previous reports for Monterey Bay, silicate was not found to limit the accumulation of biomass in this diatom-dominated system, although there was evidence that silicate additions can modify the uptake rates of the biomass-limiting substrate (nitrogen). We conclude that silicate is a regulating, but not limiting, nutrient in this study site. Our results are consistent with both the “shift-up” and “detrital” explanations for changes in specific uptake rates. During upwelling periods (May, September) when the biomass was dominated by phytoplankton, a shift-up type physiological response was observed that was not dependent on the uptake normalization procedure (e.g. chlorophyll versus PN). During the winter months (March, November), characterized by deep mixing, low light, and higher detrital N levels, the apparent shift-up response could be attributed to a change in the PN : Chl ratios and alleviation of light limitation due to the stable light regime provided by the enclosures.
Statin drugs, serum cholesterol, and prostate-specific antigen in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2004.

Purpose We evaluated the associations of statins and serum cholesterol with PSA to understand whether the inverse associations of statins and low cholesterol with aggressive prostate cancer are explained by detection bias.
Microstructures and Mechanical Behavior of Fe-18Mn-10Al-(0.8-1.2)C Steels

In the present work, two Fe-18Mn-10Al-xC low-density steels with different C concentrations were investigated. It is revealed that the difference in C concentration resulted in a marked difference in the microstructures of the investigated steels. The microstructure consisted of ferrite and austenite as well as of precipitates in Fe-18Mn-10Al-0.8C (0.8C steel); while carbides distributed on the austenite matrix in Fe-18Mn-10Al-1.2C (1.2C steel) after the same heat treatment. During deformation, dislocations exhibited a typical paired superdislocation feature in ferrite in 0.8C steel, extensive planar glide occurred in austenite in both steels and Taylor lattice-like structures, and well-developed microbands appeared in 1.2C steel. Overall, 0.8C steel demonstrated a tensile strength of 973.6 MPa and elongation of 44%, and 1.2C steel received a lower tensile strength (881.3 MPa) and a much higher elongation (78%). The strain hardening behavior of the two alloys was also different. The strain hardening rate decreased with strain in a non-monotonic feature for 0.8C steel, while it exhibited a moderate inflection in 1.2C steel.
Characteristic power requirements in underground coal mines

The power consumption in underground coal mines as related to connected horsepower for certain operations or areas is discussed. All the data presented are based upon actual tests extending over a long period of time and represent the average figures for many mines unless otherwise stated.
Long-term incubations of size and density separated soil fractions to inform soil organic carbon decay dynamics

Abstract Soil organic matter in coarse-textured soils is more vulnerable to environmental disturbances due to reduced potential for soil organic carbon (SOC) stabilization in aggregates or organo-mineral complexes. In sandy loam soils from the Rio Grande Plains region of southern Texas, woody encroachment has resulted in the rapid accrual of root and leaf tissues derived from trees and shrubs into poorly physically protected (macroaggregate >250 μm) and non-mineral associated (free light fraction −3 ) soil fractions. To determine the impact of changing plant input chemistry on potential degradability of accumulating SOC fractions, we measured the quantity and isotopic composition of respired CO 2 from year-long incubations of the macroaggregate and free light soil fractions along a grassland to woodland successional chronosequence. During incubation of both fractions, the proportion of SOC respired from older woody stand soils (∼40–90 yrs) relative to recently established woody stands ( 13 C values of respired CO 2 from all landscape elements indicated a selective release of older grassland-derived SOC in the first month of the macroaggregate incubation, possibly due to the disruption and rapid microbial utilization of grassland SOC after the soil fractionation process. Due to the sensitivity of these rapidly-cycling soil fractions to environmental disturbance and their capacity to influence longer-term SOC dynamics, understanding their decay dynamics is essential for understanding mechanisms of SOC stabilization. This is especially important in coarse-textured soils where large SOC stocks may be present in physical fractions that are relatively unprotected from decomposition.
PROXY FORECASTS: A WORKING STRATEGY

Our Proxy Model of presidential election forecasting declared, from data issued six months before the November contest, that Obama would garner 52.7% of the two-party popular vote. [See the model release in our Monkey Cage blog-post (Lewis-Beck and Tien 2012a) on September 18, 2012, and in the October issue of PS (Lewis-Beck and Tien 2012b).] Thus, that forecast called the correct winner, with a point estimate error of only 0.9 percentage points.
Social determinism, rationality, and partisanship among college students

This study finds high rates of defection from parental partisanship among a sample of undergraduate students at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, despite relying on students' perceptions of their parents' party loyalties, which almost certainly exaggerate agreement between students and parents. There was a much higher rate of defection among students from Republican families than among students from Democratic families. The pattern of defections from parental partisanship was consistent with the rational reevaluation hypothesis: liberal-conservative self-placement was strongly related to party identification among students from Republican families and families without a party preference.
Ventricular Function in Snorers and Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

We hypothesized that intermittent hypoxemia and increased ventricular afterload due to obstructive apnea during sleep (OSA) would cause chronic left ventricular dysfunction. Overnight polysomnography, M-mode and two-dimensional echo-Doppler studies while awake were performed on 51 consecutive snorers, 30 with OSA and 21 without apnea. Patients with previous myocardial infarction, awake hypoxemia or hypercapnia, or other causes of nocturnal hypoxemia were excluded. Echo-Doppler measurements included end-diastolic right and left ventricular dimensions and wall thickness, indices of left ventricular systolic performance (fractional shortening, ejection fraction and ejection time and diastolic performance, (isovolumic relaxation time, ratio of peak early [E] to late [A] diastolic transmitral flow and mitral pressure half-time). Both OSA patients and nonapneic snorers were of similar age. Although OSA patients were heavier, had a greater apnea-hypopnea index, and significant nocturnal hypoxemia, their echo-Doppler measurements were within normal limits and were not significantly different from nonapneic snorers. It is concluded that isolated obstructive sleep apnea does not cause chronic left ventricular dysfunction. (Chest 1992; 102:100–05)
Effect of processing on carbon molecular sieve structure and performance

Sub-micron sized carbon molecular sieve (CMS) materials were produced via ball milling for subsequent use in hybrid material formation. A detailed analysis of the effects of the milling process in the presence of different milling environments is reported. The milling process apparently alters the molecular scale structure and properties of the carbon material. Three cases: unmilled, air milled and nitrogen milled, were analyzed in this work. The property changes were probed using equilibrium sorption experiments with different gases. Furthermore, WAXD and BET results also showed differences between milling processes. Finally in order to improve the interfacial polymer-sieve region of hybrid membranes, the CMS surface was chemically modified with a linkage unit capable of covalently bonding the polymer to the sieve. A published single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNTs) modification method was adopted to attach a primary aromatic amine to the surface. Several aspects including rigidity, chemical composition, bulky groups and length were considered in selecting the preferred linkage unit. Fortunately kinetic and equilibrium sorption properties of the modified sieves showed very little difference from unmodified samples, suggesting that the linkage unit is not excessively filling or obstructing access to the pores of the CMSs during the modification process.
MRI Volumetric Studies in Alzheimer's Disease: Relationship to Clinical and Neuropsychological Variables

The authors studied 34 subjects with probable dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) and 28 healthy, age-matched control subjects, using a 1.5-tesla GE MRI scanner. Absolute volumes of ventricular and sulcal cerebrospinal fluid spaces and volumes, corrected for total intracranial volume, were significantly higher (P < 0.01) in the DAT group, compared to the control group. Right-left measures of hemispheric structural asymmetry were greater in the DAT group, whereas aging alone influenced brain structure in the control group. Also, in the DAT group, certain volumetric measures were significantly correlated with specific clinical indicators of severity of illness and some neuropsychological indices. These data demonstrate widespread structural abnormalities in relatively early DAT and a relationship between brain structure and some measures of cognitive dysfunction.
Pt/Y0.16Zr0.84O1.92/Pt thin film solid oxide fuel cells: Electrode microstructure and stability considerations

Abstract Symmetric, free standing thin film micro-solid oxide fuel cells of Pt/Y0.16Zr0.84O1.92/Pt structure are studied in this report. The role of parameters such as electrolyte thickness and electrode porosity on fuel cell power output was investigated. A peak power density of 1037 mW cm−2 was exhibited with an optimized structure consisting of nano-porous Pt electrodes and 100 nm thick Y0.16Zr0.84O1.92 with an open circuit voltage of 0.968 V at 500 °C using H2 as fuel and standing air as the oxidant. A twelve hour test of these devices indicates that overall performance shows extreme sensitivity to microstructural changes in the pure metallic electrodes. Results presented herein enable mechanistic routes to performance optimization, provide device stability data and are relevant to advancing micro-fuel cells for portable energy.
Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure Analysis of Coenzyme B12 Bound to Methylmalonyl-Coenzyme A Mutase Using Global Mapping Techniques†

The two available crystallographic structures of cobalamin dependent enzymes, the 27 kDa fragment of the methylcobalamin-dependent enzyme, methionine synthase, from Escherichia coli [Drennan, C. L. et al. Science 1994, 266, 1669] and the 5‘-deoxyadenosylcobalamin-dependent enzyme methylmalonyl-coenzyme A mutase from Propionibacterium shermanii [Mancia, F. et al. Structure 1996, 4, 339], show striking similarities despite the differences in reaction mechanism. In particular, the 5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole group is detached and replaced by a histidine group of the enzyme. Here we present an analysis of Extended X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (EXAFS) spectroscopic data for both 5‘-deoxyadenosylcobalamin and aquocobalamin bound to methylmalonyl-coenzyme A mutase in the absence of substrate. The analysis is conducted with a suite of programs called AUTOFIT 1.0 [Chance, et al. Biochemistry 1996, 35, 9014], which allows an evenhanded comparison of the goodness-of-fit of the EXAFS data to a varied grid of simulat...
Cell Transfer Studies in Immunosuppressed Mice The Role of the Macrophage

SummaryIn cell transfer experiments C3H recipients, which had been immunosuppressed by cycloleucine, were capable of initiating a primary response to sheep erythrocytes if they were given macrophage-antigen mixtures frolm normal or from Cytoxantreated donors. Similarly prepared macrophages from cycloleucine-treated donors and crude cell suspensions derived from normal spleens were ineffective. If the recipients were immunosuppressed with Cytosan, the results were reversed, in that normal spleen cell-antigen mixtures stimulated antibody synthesis but normal macrophage-antigen mixtures did not. The data which were obtained with drug-treated and with Xirradiated recipients support the concept that antigen processing by the macrophage is necessary for initiating a primary type immune response. They also demonstrate the selective susceptibility of macrophages and spleen cells to immunosuppressive drugs.
The Dynamics of Early Pattern Formation in Amphibian Embryogenesis

Prior to first cleavage the dorsal/ventral polarity of the amphibian egg is established. That polarity can be altered by ultraviolet irradiation. Although embryos irradiated with low doses of UV apparently develop normally through gastrulation, various defects in neural morphogenesis become apparent. Among these defects are abnormalities in the structure of the notochord. In some embryos the notochord is partially defective, while in others it is completely lacking. Detailed analyses of those embryos with the scanning electron microscope generated novel interpretations concerning the role of the notochord in early pattern formation.
How the owl resolves auditory coding ambiguity

The barn owl (Tyto alba) uses interaural time difference (ITD) cues to localize sounds in the horizontal plane. Low-order binaural auditory neurons with sharp frequency tuning act as narrow-band coincidence detectors; such neurons respond equally well to sounds with a particular ITD and its phase equivalents and are said to be phase ambiguous. Higher-order neurons with broad frequency tuning are unambiguously selective for single ITDs in response to broad-band sounds and show little or no response to phase equivalents. Selectivity for single ITDs is thought to arise from the convergence of parallel, narrow-band frequency channels that originate in the cochlea. ITD tuning to variable bandwidth stimuli was measured in higher-order neurons of the owl’s inferior colliculus to examine the rules that govern the relationship between frequency channel convergence and the resolution of phase ambiguity. Ambiguity decreased as stimulus bandwidth increased, reaching a minimum at 2–3 kHz. Two independent mechanisms appear to contribute to the elimination of ambiguity: one suppressive and one facilitative. The integration of information carried by parallel, distributed processing channels is a common theme of sensory processing that spans both modality and species boundaries. The principles underlying the resolution of phase ambiguity and frequency channel convergence in the owl may have implications for other sensory systems, such as electrolocation in electric fish and the computation of binocular disparity in the avian and mammalian visual systems.