cssi/SciSciGPT-SciSciNet huggingface dataset:
Abnormal body composition is a predictor of adverse outcomes after autologous haematopoietic cell transplantation

BACKGROUND The number of patients undergoing autologous haematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) is growing, but little is known about the factors that predict adverse outcomes. Low muscle mass and obesity are associated with disability and premature mortality in individuals with non-malignant diseases and may predict outcomes after autologous HCT. METHODS This was a retrospective cohort study of 320 patients who underwent autologous HCT for Hodgkin or non-Hodgkin lymphoma between 2009 and 2014. Sarcopenia {skeletal muscle index male: <43 cm/m2 [body mass index (BMI) < 25 kg/m2 ] or < 53 cm/m2 [BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 ] and female: <41 cm/m2 [regardless of BMI]) and obesity [total abdominal adiposity ≥450.0 cm2 (male), ≥396.4 cm2 (female)] were assessed from single-slice abdominal pre-HCT computed tomography images. Length of hospital stay, first unplanned intensive care unit admission, and 30-day unplanned readmission were evaluated based on body composition using multivariable regression analysis, and mortality was evaluated with Kaplan-Meier analysis and Gray's test. RESULTS Median age at HCT was 53.3 years (range, 18.5 to 78.1 years); 26.3% were sarcopenic and an additional 7.8% were sarcopenic obese pre-HCT. Sarcopenic obesity was associated with increased risk of prolonged hospitalization [odds ratio (OR) = 3.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3-9.8], intensive care unit admission (OR = 4.7, 95% CI 1.5-16.1), and unplanned readmission after HCT (OR = 13.6, 95% CI 2.5-62.8). Patients who were sarcopenic obese also had the highest mortality risk at 1 year [hazard ratio (HR): 3.9, 95% CI 1.1-11.0] and 5 years (HR: 2.5, 95% CI 1.1-5.5), compared with patients with normal body composition. Sarcopenia alone, but not obesity alone, was associated with an increased risk of these outcomes, albeit with a lower magnitude of risk than in patients who were sarcopenic obese. CONCLUSIONS Sarcopenic obesity was an important predictor of outcomes in patients undergoing autologous HCT. These findings could inform targeted prevention strategies in patients at highest risk of complications after HCT.
Is Patient Satisfaction Dictated by Quality of Care Among Patients Undergoing Complex Surgical Procedures for a Malignant Indication

The current study aimed to define the relationship between patient satisfaction, hospital-level factors, and clinical outcomes among patients undergoing major surgery for cancer. The Medicare Inpatient Standard Analytic Files were used to identify patients undergoing lung, esophageal, colorectal, hepatic, or pancreatic surgery between 2016 and 2017, and Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey data were used to assess performance in terms of patient satisfaction. Among 60,446 patients, half were female (n = 31,244, 52%) with a median age of 73 years (interquartile range [IQR] 69–78 years). Patients who underwent surgery for esophageal resection (odds ratio [OR] 2.44; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.10–5.40) and were Caucasian (OR 2.43; 95% CI 2.11–2.81) had optimal patient satisfaction. Hospital level factors such as urban location (OR 3.69; 95% CI 3.16–4.29), 200 + beds (OR 3.58; 95% CI 3.09–4.13), greater inpatient surgical volume (OR 3.03; 95% CI 2.82–3.25), higher nurse-to-bed ratio (OR 4.57; 95% CI 4.25–4.92), non-profit hospital status (OR 1.14; 95% CI 1.01–1.29), and non-teaching hospital status (OR 1.52; 95% CI 1.39–1.65) were related to optimal patient satisfaction. In adjusted analysis, patients undergoing surgery at hospitals reporting poor or average patient satisfaction had 22% higher odds of 90-day mortality than patients undergoing surgery at optimal-satisfaction hospitals (OR 1.22; 95% CI 1.09–1.36). In addition, hospitals with the highest patient satisfaction scores also had the highest proportion of surgical cases that achieved the composite textbook outcome (TO) quality metric (OR 1.12; 95% CI 1.05–1.20). Higher patient satisfaction was strongly associated with hospital structural measures such as bed number, urban location, nurse-to-bed ratio, and “optimal” TO after cancer surgery. These data highlight how high quality of care can directly lead to improved patient satisfaction among surgical patients with cancer.
How a river’s length and discharge relate to the precipitation in its basin

The authors selected 14 representative world rivers. The authors wish to find out how a river’s length and basin’s precipitation relate to its discharge. This will be accomplished by dividing the discharge rate at its mouth by its length, generating the river’s discharge gain per kilometer (DGPK), basically how rapidly the river gains flow as it progresses to its mouth. Then the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (PCC) will be used to measure to what degree the DGPK correlates to the mean precipitation over the river basin over the 14 rivers studied in this paper. Since the correlation turns out to be significant, the corresponding regression line will be generated. As will be seen, a significant contribution of this paper is a simple and easy to use model that allows us to predict river discharge based on precipitation over the river’s basin.
A hierarchical Bayesian model of storm surge and total water levels across the Great Lakes shoreline – Lake Ontario

Abstract This study presents a novel approach to determine the distribution of compound flood events composed of storm surge and static water levels along the Great Lakes shoreline. A mixture distribution of the bulk (Student-t) and tail (GPD-negative binomial) components of storm surge is estimated in a hierarchical Bayesian modeling framework. Parameters are modeled across the entire shoreline using Gaussian processes and hourly gauged data, with priors for spatial autocorrelation informed by numerical output from a lake hydrodynamic model. The distribution of total water levels is obtained through Monte Carlo sampling that combines the estimated distribution of surge with stochastic traces of static lake levels that account for water level management, seasonality, and plausible variability in water supplies. The approach can therefore support coastal flood risk assessments in cases when the distribution of static water levels changes are due to altered water level management or climate change. The model is applied in a case study on Lake Ontario. Results suggest that spatial variability in parameter estimates varies significantly by month and mixture distribution component. Evaluations of performance indicate the model is able to capture adequately storm surge behavior at gauges across the lakeshore, even under cross-validation. A frequency analysis of total water levels at two ungauged sites is presented, with specific attention given to the implications of model assumptions on uncertainty in design events. The paper concludes with a discussion of model limitations and avenues for future work.
Moral Standards and Corporation’s Moral Responsibility

It has been an old argument that Business Corporation is a legal entity, a separate entity, and separate from the owner. It has a blanket to protect itself from being sued. The corporate veil has been used as a shield to protect itself from prosecution. With such protection, how can it be morally responsible for its actions? Moral responsibility is only applied to humans, not to any other things. However, this paper will argue otherwise. Based on paper reviews, it is found that one of the requirements in determining moral responsibility is the presence or the absence of knowledge and free will in a certain act. Such requirement clearly strengthen the idea that a corporation, though it is a separate entity from the owner may not completely out of hand, wash its hands and can just do what it wants but it has to be also guided by moral standards and take moral responsibility to its immoral actions. The reason is that a corporation as an entity is still composed of rational beings that have the knowledge and free will in pursuing their objectives. Therefore, when things go wrong in the corporation, it is not only individual employees who committed the crime are taking the moral blame but also the corporation as a whole including the owner.
Can We Prevent a Technological Arms Race in University Student Cheating

This column surveys the technologies and techniques that both sides—students and instructors—use in the arms race. We discuss the risks, the false positives, and threats to privacy.
Masers and Other Quantum Mechanical Amplifiers

Publisher Summary This chapter describes the various aspects of maser and other quantum mechanical amplifiers. Solid-state masers have been constructed that operate in both the two-level and three-level mode. They have been used at frequencies from 300 Mc/sec to 40,000 Mc/sec. An amplifier with an extremely low noise level presents possibilities for the detection of signals heretofore lost in background noise. Both theoretical and experimental investigations show that relative to any other existing network, the maser noise contribution is usually negligible. Thermal noise may be circumvented by operating the amplifier at a temperature near zero degrees Kelvin. The power output of a maser oscillator system is sensitive to the output coupling to the cavity. The cavity design is an extremely important parameter for successful operation. It is not only important that the unloaded quality factor be high, but also that the cavity should be long and narrow so that the beam may have a long interaction time with the radiofrequency. The paramagnetic two-level solid state maser is also elaborated.
T-Even Bacteriophage-Tolerant Mutants of Escherichia coli B II. Nucleic Acid Metabolism

T-even bacteriophage-tolerant mutants are strains of Escherichia coli which can adsorb T-even phages but cannot support the growth of infective virus. Under some conditions, the infected cells are not killed. Mutant cells infected by phage T6 are able to carry out several metabolic functions associated with normal virus development, including arrest of bacterial nucleic acid and protein synthesis, incorporation of isotopic precursors into viral nucleic acids and proteins, synthesis of early enzymes of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) metabolism, formation of rapidly sedimenting DNA intermediates, and formation of normal levels of early and late messenger ribonucleic acid species. Phage are unable to mutate to forms capable of growth on these mutants. The nature of the biochemical alteration leading to tolerance is still unknown.
Prioritizing Pedestrian Corridors Using Walkability Performance Metrics and Decision Analysis

Recent sustainability initiatives have shown that targeting pedestrian infrastructure improvement programs can enhance walkability and reduce traffic volume. Smart growth planning supports the need not only to build additional nonmotorized facilities, but also to improve the planning, prioritization, and funding process. Identifying pedestrian infrastructure needs through the development of an index can resolve inconsistencies and inequities regarding funding sustainable transportation infrastructure. This research investigates how transportation planning agencies can improve the process of prioritizing pedestrian improvement projects through two objectives: (1) the development of the pedestrian corridor improvement index (PCII); and (2) the application of PCII to pathways in Union County, Pennsylvania, as a case study. The PCII integrates pedestrian performance metrics with the analytic hierarchy process to assist in the prioritization of pedestrian pathway improvements. In order to test the applicability and relevance of the index to a real world network, four pathways in Union County, Pennsylvania, are evaluated and recommendations on the implementation process are provided. The PCII serves as a tool for agencies to enhance the decision-making process for planning pedestrian improvement projects.
Local Multichannel Deconvolution

We introduce a method to locally restore multiple blurred images that yields an extended boundary of the restored image. In particular, we provide a method for finding solutions that are compactly (finitely) supported to the multichannel deconvolution equation when the impulse responses are also compactly supported distributions. This method allows us to broaden the scope of calculating solutions for any particular type of function beyond what was possible in D.F. Walnut (J. Fourier Anal. Appl., Vol. 4, No. 6, pp. 669–709, 1998). During reconstruction, noise from the blurred images is added locally in neighborhoods dependent on the support of the restoration filters. Numerical simulations indicate that these filters may highly increase the magnitude of the noise but with a slight regularization of the filters, the results obtained show the effectiveness of this method.
Signal sequences stop killer cells.

During protein synthesis, many proteins destined to be carried to the cell surface are tagged with a so-called signal sequence which guides their translocation into the endoplasmic reticulum. Once that job had been done, such sequences were thought to be redundant. A striking and unexpected twist comes in the form of the discovery that signal sequences have a highly specific function in immune recognition through the agency of class I molecules of the major histocompatibility complex. It turns out that they have a central place in controlling the tolerance of types of lymphocytes known as natural killer cells to the body's own tissues.
Health Promotion in a Multicultural Community

(1990). Health Promotion in a Multicultural Community. Health Education: Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 13-15.
Evaluation and Management of the Adolescent Varicocele

Purpose: Varicocele is one of the most common genital conditions referred to pediatric urologists. Most adolescents with varicocele are asymptomatic and their fertility future (and surgery benefit) is largely unknown. This review assesses varicocele evaluation, management and indications for repair, as well as types and success of varicocelectomy.Materials and Methods: A systematic literature review was performed on Embase™, PubMed® and Google Scholar™ for adolescent varicocele. Original research articles and relevant reviews were examined, and a synopsis of these data was generated for a comprehensive review of clinical adolescent varicocele management.Results: The prevalence of adolescent varicocele is similar to the adult population. While ultrasound is the most sensitive method for determining testicular volumes, orchidometer measurement may be adequate to gauge significant discordance. Significant hypotrophy of the affected testis with poor total testicular volume may indicate a testis at risk and wa...
DFT analysis into the intermediates of nickel pyridinethiolate catalysed proton reduction

Nickel pyridine 2-thiolate (Ni(PyS)3−) has shown good stability and activity as a H2 generation catalyst for use in solar energy storage. The experimentally proposed catalytic pathway is explored using DFT calculations. Free energy changes along the reaction coordinate, spin states, localization of charge and geometry of the intermediates were explored. Calculations were performed using Gaussian 09 with a B3P86/6-31+G(d) basis set and a CPCM water solvation model. Of particular interest were our findings that the first reduction occurs at the nickel rather than through non-innocent ligands and that water coordination is not favourable although protonation of the pyridyl nitrogen causes dechelation. Sequential and concerted proton coupled electron transfer were considered in the formation of the hydride.
Automated detection and location of tectonic tremor along the entire Cascadia margin from 2005 to 2011

Abstract We have constructed an automated routine to identify prominent bursts of tectonic tremor and locate their source region during time periods of raised amplitude in the tremor passband. This approach characterizes 62 episodes of tectonic tremor between 2005 and 2011, with tremor epicenters forming a narrow band spanning the entire length of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. We find a range of along-strike lengths in individual episodes, but the length appears proportional to both duration and geodetic moment, consistent with proposed scaling laws for slow earthquake phenomena. Examination of individual episodes in detail reveals intriguing updip–downdip migration patterns, including slow updip migration during initiation and repetitive downdip migration between different episodes. The broader catalog of tremor episodes refines the inferences from earlier work that episodic tremor and slip are segmented along-strike and correlated with apparent seismogenic zone segmentation in most cases. The overall band of tremor is offset ∼ 50 km from the downdip edge of interseismic coupling along the central and northern parts of the subduction zone. Along the southern part of the subduction zone, it is adjacent to this boundary, suggesting that the locked and transition zones may be more closely linked in southern Cascadia.
An Introduction to Design Arguments: Fine tuning I: positive arguments

A cosmic conspiracy? In 1979, a curious paper appeared in the pages of the eminent scientific journal Nature . The paper was unusual because it did not report on novel experimental findings. It did not offer a new theory or explanation of known phenomena. It did not even survey the current status of a developing branch of science as other ‘review articles’ in the journal typically do. Instead, it argued for a long list of coincidences of two kinds. First, there are the connections between different branches of physical science. As the paper’s authors, B. J. Carr and M. J. Rees explain, “[t]he structure of the physical world is manifested on many different scales, ranging from the Universe on the largest scale, down through galaxies, stars and planets, to living creatures, cells and atoms … Each level of structure requires for its description and explanation a different branch of physical theory, so it is not always appreciated how intimately they are related.” They set out in part to exhibit this intimate connection by demonstrating how most of these disparate ‘natural scales’ described by different theories are all determined by a shared handful of dimensionless parameters. In fact, most of their examples involve just three parameters: the electromagnetic fine-structure constant (α), the gravitational fine-structure constant (α G ), and the electron-to-proton mass ratio (m e /m p ). So, for instance, the authors provide a simple physical argument for the fact that most stars have a mass in a range between 0.1 and 10 times that of our Sun. This range of possibility is itself dictated by the parameter α G . Of course, that parameter might have had a different value, at least as a logical possibility. In that case, the range of masses computed would be different. So whatever value α G has, physical processes of the sort operating in our universe guarantee that stars form only in a particular range, but what that range is could be different. Similarly, the authors argue that the size of a typical atom is dictated by the value of α – the bigger α is, the smaller a typical atom is.
Bitz, Ginoux, Jacobson, Nizkorodov, and Yang Receive 2013 Atmospheric Sciences Ascent Awards: Citation for Cecilia M. Bitz

The Atmospheric Sciences section of AGU awards one of the five Ascent Awards to Dr. Paul A. Ginoux of the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for outstanding world-leading research on dust aerosols using observations and models that has contributed to a comprehensive scientific understanding of atmospheric aerosols.”
Use of simulation technology in dental education

Simulation is becoming very beneficial in the area of health care education. Dentistry has used various types of simulation in preclinical education for some time. This article discusses the impact of the current simulation laboratories on dental education and reviews advanced technology simulation that has recently become available or is in the developmental stage. The abilities of advanced technology simulation, its advantages and disadvantages, and its potential to affect dental education are addressed.
Learning to multitask: Effects of video game practice on electrophysiological indices of attention and resource allocation

Changes in attention allocation with complex task learning reflect processing automatization and more efficient control. We studied these changes using ERP and EEG spectral analyses in subjects playing Space Fortress, a complex video game comprising standard cognitive task components. We hypothesized that training would free up attentional resources for a secondary auditory oddball task. Both P3 and delta EEG showed a processing trade-off between game and oddball tasks, but only some game events showed reduced attention requirements with practice. Training magnified a transient increase in alpha power following both primary and secondary task events. This contrasted with alpha suppression observed when the oddball task was performed alone, suggesting that alpha may be related to attention switching. Hence, P3 and EEG spectral data are differentially sensitive to changes in attentional processing occurring with complex task training.
Second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese tones by tonal and non-tonal language speakers

Abstract This study examines whether second language (L2) learners from tonal and non-tonal first language (L1) backgrounds differ in their perception and production of L2 tones. Ten English-speaking and nine Cantonese-speaking learners participated in Experiment 1, which consisted of the following three tasks: identifying auditory tonal stimuli using Mandarin tonal labels (Identification), mimicking tonal stimuli (Mimicry), and producing tones based upon Mandarin tonal labels (Reading). The results of Experiment 1 showed that the Cantonese group did not perform significantly better than the English group in perceiving and producing Mandarin tones. Both groups had significant difficulty in distinguishing Mandarin Tone 2 (T2) and Tone 3 (T3), and the Cantonese group also had additional trouble distinguishing Mandarin Tone 1 (T1) and Tone 4 (T4). Overall, across the different tasks of Experiment 1 learners had similar accuracy rates and error patterns, indicating comparable tone perception and production abilities. However, learners were significantly better at mimicking tones than at identifying or reading them, suggesting that the major difficulty learners faced in acquiring Mandarin tones was associating pitch contours with discrete tonal labels. This difficulty, however, may be specific to tone acquisition. Seven of the nine Cantonese participants took part in Experiment 2, which assessed their perceptual assimilation of Mandarin tones to Cantonese tones. The results of Experiment 2 helped explain Cantonese learners' T1–T4 confusion by showing that these two tones were mapped onto overlapping Cantonese tonal categories. However, the mapping results would not predict prevailing T2–T3 confusion as observed in Experiment 1, suggesting that this confusion stemmed from factors outside of learners' L1 experience. This study argues that the T2–T3 contrast is hard for L2 learners regardless of their native languages, because of these two tones' acoustic similarity and complex phonological relationship. This suggests that for explaining difficulties in acquisition of certain L2 sounds, factors other than learners' L1 background may also play a significant role.
Sectorial anisotropy of solar cosmic rays.

A hitherto unobserved sectorial pattern of anisotropy that was limited to a narrow and stable region was displayed by the ground level event (GLE) of January 24, 1971. For the entire 11/2 h interval following onset before isotropy set in, the anisotropy was limited to a 10° cone centered about 60° from the spiral magnetic field line. It is also the first solar particle event for which it is possible, by analytical procedures based upon a theoretical propagation model, to distinguish between two rival candidates for the parent flare.
Internal motions of antibody molecules

ANTIBODY molecules of the IgG class are composed of three covalently linked regions1,2. Two of these (designated Fab) are identical and bind antigen; the third (Fc) has been identified as the site of antibody effector functions (for example, complement fixation), which are activated by antigen binding3. There is evidence that the binding of antigen to the Fab region induces an allosteric transition in IgG and that this transition may be a step in the effector activation process4. The findings of Pecht et al.5 indicate that for complement fixation both Fab regions must bind antigen, even though binding to one induces some conformational change in Fc. Binding of hapten does not lead to complement fixation in general, but some exceptions to this rule are known6. The interchain disulphide bridges must be intact for Fab ligand binding to have a productive effect on the Fc region7,8. Both the Fab and Fc regions have a domain structure; each consists of a pair of compact lobes covalently linked by strands of polypeptide chains9. A schematic diagram of the connectivity of the IgG lobes is given by Padlan10. One of the fundamental questions involved in antibody function is the nature of the mechanism by which binding of antigen to the Fab regions affects the Fc region. Huber et al. have recently outlined a possible allosteric model for the activation step on the basis of X-ray and other data9. In this note we use simple diffusion arguments to estimate the characteristic times associated with the Huber proposal. Since the analysis deals only with the relative motion of the IgG domains, it is possible that slower intradomain structural changes are also involved in the activation process; if so, the estimated characteristic times would be lower bounds for the activation time. The role of conformational transitions in effector function activation is still in dispute11, but we note that the diffusional model may be useful for analysing other dynamical phenomena in immunoglobulins, such as their fluorescence depolarisation behaviour12–14.
A simulation study of a parallel processor with unbalanced loads

It has been well established that the performance of a parallel processor computer system is affected by many design alternatives and the underlying degree of parallelism in the workload. We look at the impact of workloads which load processors in the network unevenly to observe the performance degradation. We constrain the parallel processor architecture to the family of hypercube networks. Each node is loaded with some portion of the workload composed of CPU bursts and I/O, and allowed to run at its on pace until it completes. Since message transmission preempts node processing, communication between nodes complicates the concurrent operation of the network. We vary the degree of load balance, the processing node locality and the ratio of CPU burst time to message transmission time across a generic 16 node hypercube and use total processing time speedup as the performance criteria. Regression models indicate strong nonlinear correlation between the degree of load imbalance and job speedup and a linear effect due to CPU/IO intensity. The locality of workload is shown to be a minor but significant effect. The impact of the load balance, CPU/IO intensity and locality effects on algorithm decomposition is discussed.
Protection of the Neonatal Heart Following Normothermic Ischemia: A Comparison of Oxygenated Saline and Oxygenated versus Nonoxygenated Cardioplegia

Abstract Optimal methods of myocardial preservation in the neonate remain unknown. Hypothermia and cardioplegia have been shown to protect neonatal hearts, but few studies have examined the effects of cardioplegia when administered at normothermia. Accordingly, the role of 37°C St. Thomas' cardioplegic solution in protecting the neonatal heart during 1 hour of ischemia in an isolated working rabbit heart model was examined. Both oxygenated and nonoxygenated cardioplegic solutions (CSs) were evaluated and compared with an oxygenated physiological saline solution (PSS). Following ischemia, control hearts were characterized by severely impaired left ventricular function, whereas all three treatment groups recovered well, indicating that the treatments provided substantial protection. Aortic flow recovered to 62, 63, and 57% of preischemic values for the oxygenated CS, nonoxygenated CS, and oxygenated PSS groups, respectively. Similarly, rate of change of pressure recovered to 76, 80, and 76% of preischemic values for oxygenated CS, nonoxygenated CS, and oxygenated PSS groups. All values were significantly greater than those for the control group. Recovery of developed pressure was significantly improved in all three groups. End-diastolic pressure rose markedly following ischemia in control hearts, was not increased after ischemia in hearts receiving oxygenated and nonoxygenated CS, but was increased in the oxygenated PSS group. These data indicate that crystalloid cardioplegia and oxygenated PSS provide substantial protection in neonatal rabbit hearts, even when delivered at 37°C. No additional benefit was seen when the cardioplegic solution was oxygenated. Therefore, either method of balancing the oxygen supply/demand ratio appears to be beneficial: supplying oxygen intermittently during ischemia (oxygenated PSS group) or decreasing oxygen demand during the ischemic period (cardioplegia groups).
The use of luteinizing hormone releasing hormone analogue for ovulation induction in black sea bass (Centropristis striata)

Abstract Interest in commercial production of black sea bass has increased in recent years, but reliable spawning methods remain problematic. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of oocyte size and luteinizing hormone releasing hormone analogue (LHRHa) dosage and delivery systems on ovulatory success for in vitro fertilization. Vitellogenic females with maximum oocyte diameters of 400–625 μm were implanted with a 95% cholesterol–5% cellulose pellet containing 50 μg of LHRHa. Fish with maximum oocyte diameters 550 μm ovulated. In a second experiment, females with uniformly vitellogenic oocytes (> 500 μm) and implanted with 50 μg LHRHa ovulated substantial numbers of eggs (45,000–192,000 eggs/kg body weight (BW), but fertility was consistently low (0–15%). In a third experiment, 19 of 39 females receiving implants containing 6.3–23.6 μg LHRHa/kg BW during the spawning season ovulated, but fecundity (17,000–339,000 eggs/kg) and fertilization (0–98%) were highly variable. When fish were grouped by developmental index, calculated as the number of oocytes with diameters > 400 μm/total number of oocytes measured, there were no statistical differences among groups with respect to the number of spawns, fecundity or fertilization success. In a fourth experiment, 11 of 13 females with a clutch of fully vitellogenic oocytes that were injected with 20 or 100 μg/kg BW LHRHa ovulated between 1 and 2 times on consecutive days. Five of seven given an implant containing 12.5 μg LHRHa ovulated one or more times. Fish implanted with shams or injected with vehicle alone did not ovulate in any of the experiments. No differences were found in the number of spawns, fecundity or fertilization success from fish receiving different doses of injected or implanted LHRHa. Incubation of pooled eggs produced 155,000 larvae (60% hatch) and 95,000 one-gram juveniles. These results demonstrate that injected or implanted LHRHa is effective for inducing ovulation in black sea bass with maximum oocyte diameters > 500 μm.
A linear-quadratic distributional identity

Abstract In this paper we extend the result of Bateman (1949) to obtain the joint conditional characteristic function of a sum of squares of n noncentral squares of independent normal variates and s 1 of their linear combinations given that these variates lie in a subspace of dimension n - s 2 .
BALTHASAR AND GNOSTIC GENEALOGY

Against the backdrop of Balthasar's recurrence to genealogical labeling of modern discourses that many believe lacks Christian credibility, this essay examines Balthasar's understanding and use of the category of “Gnosticism” to designate modern speculative discourses and the history of their effects. While it is conceded that Balthasar uses “apocalyptic” and “Neoplatonism” to designate the same phenomenon, it is argued that “Gnosticism” is accorded priority. The essay traces the use of both multiple genealogical categories and the relative privileging of “Gnosticism” back to F. C. Baur. At the same time, it also traces back to Baur the essentially narrative criterion for use: Gnosticism is defined by a developmental narrative which has at its center divine pathos. Balthasar, however, inflects this differently than Baur by appeal to Irenaeus's view that the Gnostic metanarrative is a parasitic discourse that disfigures and refigures the biblical narrative. I illustrate how Balthasar is particularly concerned with what he regards as a “Gnostic return” in modern trinitarian thought of a Hegelian vintage. I conclude with some reflections as to how Balthasar's genealogy of Gnosticism could be further developed and conceptually refined.
No increased herniation of the cerebellar tonsils in a group of patients with orthostatic intolerance.

Orthostatic intolerance, seen predominantly in young women, is characterized by symptoms of lightheadedness, fatigue and palpitations in the upright posture. With standing, plasma norepinephrine levels rise dramatically and heart rate often increases by more than 30 beats per minute, although blood pressure does not usually fall. A theory recently popularized in the media suggests that some cases of orthostatic intolerance are related to hindbrain compression, with or without a Chiari I malformation. As a preliminary investigation of this hypothesis, head or cervical spine MRI scans from 23 females with orthostatic intolerance were reviewed. The cerebellar tonsils averaged 0.3 ± 1.9 mm below the foramen magnum. These results were compared to measurements from a control group averaging 0.4 ± 2.6 mm above the foramen magnum (P > 0.05). Tonsillar depression of at least 3 mm occurred in 13 % of both the patient group and the control group. Tonsillar herniation was not found to influence supine or upright blood pressure, heart rate or plasma norepinephrine levels in the patients. We conclude that herniation of the cerebellar tonsils is not a common cause of orthostatic intolerance. However, the single measurement of tonsillar depression might underestimate the number of patients with hindbrain compression.
Evaluation of a brief measure of depressive mood for use in a university counseling center

To study the reliability of Set 1 (A, B, C, D) and Set 2 (E, F, G) of the state and trait forms of the Depression Adjective Check Lists in university counseling centers, four independent studies were conducted. Reliability (internal consistency, split-half, and alternate form) and validity (convergent and discriminant) for both sets and both forms were sufficiently high to warrant use for research and clinical purposes. Additional research needs were mentioned.
Statistics of speckle propagation through the turbulent atmosphere

We have utilized the extended Huygens-Fresnel principle to make an analysis of the first- and second-order statistics of the received intensity for speckle propagation through the turbulent atmosphere. The treatment includes the effects of the turbulent atmosphere on the laser beam as it propagates to the target and on the speckle as it propagates back to the receiver. Formulations have been developed for both the focused and collimated cases. It is assumed in the analysis that phase perturbation of the waves is the dominant effect due to the atmosphere. Utilizing this assumption it can be shown that the fields at the receiver are marginally Gaussian and that the space-averaged, spatial power spectral density at the receiver is “white.” Because of these results, we have assumed that the field statistics at the receiver are jointly Gaussian. This appears to be a reasonable assumption and allows a closed form solution for the variance and covariance to be derived. For a point detector it is found that the normalized variance is unity and independent of the turbulence strength, and that the transverse correlation length becomes proportional to ρ0 as the turbulence strength increases.
The acquisition of categories in Chinese

Abstract How do children learn the grammatical categorization of lexical items, especially given the ‘fuzziness’ of grammatical categories? The set of coverbs in Modern Standard Chinese is heterogeneous and overlaps with the class of verbs. In a study of the acquisition of three coverbs, Chinese children differed in the class to which they initially assigned the coverbs, but they all first treated them as prototypical members which took all the features of the class, irrespective of the adult model. The formation of more mature categories was a process of gradually dropping out and adding features to accord with adult speech.
Analysis of errors in measurement of cardiac output by simultaneous dye and thermal dilution in cardiothoracic surgical patients.

The purpose of this study was a detailed analysis of the random and systematic errors encountered in the measurement of cardiac output by dye and thermal dilution under actual clinical conditions in cardiothoracic surgical patients. Two hundred simultaneous dye and thermal cardiac output measurements were performed in 20 patients by injection of a 10 cm3 bolus of cold indocyanine green dye with on-line analysis employing two portable analogue computers. Agreement between the dye and thermal methods was significantly better in the intensive care unit (r values of 0.88 to 0.94) when compared with the operating room (0.68 to 0.84), a difference thought to reflect the better haemodynamic stability of patients in the intensive care unit. A statistical method was devised allowing separation of random and calibration errors for both the dye and thermal methods. The random error (reproducibility) of a single measurement of cardiac output by either the dye or thermal method, expressed as a standard deviation, approximated ± 7%. The calibration error of a single measurement was estimated to have a standard deviation approximating ± 15% for the dye method, but of less than 5% for the thermal method. A significant difference between simultaneous dye and thermal cardiac outputs was found only for measurements done in the operating room following the induction of anaesthesia. With this exception, it is concluded that both the dye and thermal methods are clinically reliable despite the changing postoperative state of cardiothoracic patients. The ease of performance of thermal dilution measurement recommends its preferential use with no loss of accuracy.
Physician Attitudes Regarding the Prescription of Medical Marijuana

Surveys of physicians' attitudes regarding the therapeutic value of marijuana are rare. Drawing on a national sample of family physicians, general internists, obstetrician-gynecologists, psychiatrists, and addiction specialists, 960 (adjusted response rate 66%) offered opinions about the legal prescription of marijuana as medical therapy. Thirty-six percent believed prescribed marijuana should be legal and 26% were neutral to the proposition. Non-moralistic attitudes toward substance use were significantly associated with support for physician prescription, as was internal medicine and obstetrics-gynecology specialization. Physicians are, in general, less supportive than the general American public regarding the use of medical marijuana.
Do Detailed Work Histories Help to Explain Gender and Race/Ethnic Wage Differentials?

The continuing gender and race/ethnic pay gaps continue to be a matter of considerable concern. Using detailed NLSY data we examine the effects of a number of variables often thought to explain a large part of these gaps. Because the new variables explain some of the differentials our results provide no justification for ascribing all the remaining differentials to discrimination. On the other hand, they explain very little and therefore give no support to those who would discount the possibility of discrimination.
Growth, Zoning, and Neighborhood Organizations: Land Use Conflict in Wilmington, Delaware

: Wilmington, Delaware, has undergone economic transformation in the past decade. Although the city has no formal growth policy, zoning inherently operates to promote or limit growth. This paper explores how community attitudes toward growth are reflected in zoning decisions and seeks to determine whether neighborhood organizations are effective in influencing them. The disposition of zoning applications between 1962 and 1989 was analyzed to determine how progrowth and no-growth sentiments affected the zoning process, particularly when neighborhood organizations were involved. The findings suggest that opposition to upzoning may be effective in challenging growth. While growth demands, as measured by applications for upzoning, have dominated the zoning process, there is evidence that an antigrowth trend after 1975 may have mobilized the frequency of opposition to upzoning.
Large-Scale Near-Duplicate Web Video Retrieval: Challenges and Approaches

This article studies the challenges and opportunities of million-scale near-duplicate video retrieval using three well-known and potentially scalable methods. It concludes that although these approaches can perform efficiently they suffer from a significant performance drop because the efficient features are neither discriminative nor robust enough for versatile cases.
Effects of vestibular stimulation during sleep

Abstract 1. 1. The effects of vestibular stimulation upon eye movements were studied in five sleeping children. 2. 2. The production of depressed nystagmus was significantly associated with the occurrence of the rapid eye movements of sleep. 3. 3. Slow conjugate deviation of the eyes was observed predominantly during the non-rapid eye movements phase of sleep.
The epinephrine assay for superoxide: why dopamine does not work.

Abstract Superoxide oxidizes epinephrine to a semiquinone, initiating a series of reactions leading to the colored product adrenochrome. This popular assay for superoxide is more sensitive at higher pH, and it does not work if dopamine is used instead of epinephrine. A kinetic analysis shows that these effects can be explained by competing reactions that lower the yield of the observed product. The catecholamine quinone may cyclize to form the absorbing product, or it may be reduced back to the semiquinone by superoxide. For epinephrine, the quinone cyclizes quickly and adrenochrome formation dominates, but for dopamine, the quinone cyclizes slowly and the back reaction prevails. The yield of adrenochrome increases if the epinephrine semiquinone reacts with O2 to form more superoxide, but this reaction competes with disproportionation of the semiquinone. Because disproportionation slows as pH increases, both superoxide formation and the yield of adrenochrome increase at higher pH.
Cochlear efferent innervation and function.

Purpose of reviewThis review covers topics relevant to olivocochlear-efferent anatomy and function for which there are new findings in papers from 2009 to early 2010.Recent findingsWork within the review period has increased our understanding of medial olivocochlear (MOC) mechanisms in outer hair ce
Microsatellite instability at AAAG repeat sequences in respiratory tract cancers

We surveyed the occurrence of novel alleles at microsatellite sequences in non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC) using 61 tetranucleotide repeat markers. The presence of at least one new allele, consistent with microsatellite instability (MSI), was observed in 26 of 61 (43%) markers involving 30 of 47 (64%) NSCLC. Twelve of the 26 markers detected new alleles in 2 or more tumors and 11 of these 12 markers contained an AAAG repeat sequence. Using this panel of 12 markers, MSI was detected in 24 of 47 (51%) NSCLC and 10 of 18 (56%) head and neck cancers but was only observed in 8 of 38 (21%) bladder cancers and 3 of 25 (12%) kidney cancers. Our results suggested that about 50% of respiratory tract cancers exhibited microsatellite instability predominantly at AAAG sequences. This distinct type of instability was termed EMAST for elevated microsatellite alterations at selected tetranucleotide repeats. The identification of markers with EMAST should have potential application for the molecular detection of respiratory tract cancers.
Recent studies on Phymatotrichum root rot.

In I923 (20) the disease was recorded in 67 counties of Texas. A recent compilation shows root-rot in I96 counties (text fig. i). It is quite probable that as the studies continue, it will be found that the disease has even a wider distribution. Root-rot has not yet been found in the Plains country around Lubbock, nor in the extreme north of the Texas Panhandle. The absence of the disease from the extreme northern part of the state may be due to the severe winter weather, which may kill out roots of susceptible plants as well as the root-rot fungus itself.
Large-area uniform OMVPE growth for GaAs/AlGaAs quantum-well diode lasers with controlled emission wavelength

The properties of GaAs and AlGaAs epilayers grown in a vertical rotating-disk OMVPE reactor operated at reduced pressure (0.2 atm) are extremely uniform. For substrate rotation at 500 rpm, the thickness uniformity is ±1% for thick epilayers and ±2% for quantum wells 3−10 nm thick. The coefficient of variation in aluminum composition is 1.8 × 10−3 or less. For broad-area GRIN-SCH diode lasers containing a single-quantumwell active layer, the threshold current density and differential quantum efficiency are highly uniform. The laser emission wavelength is precisely controlled by adjusting the active layer thickness and composition. For 175 devices distributed over a 16-cm2 wafer containing a 10-nm-thick Al0.07Ga0.93As active layer, the total variation in emission wavelength is 3.0 nm. For all of these devices and for test devices from nine additional wafers, the wavelengths range from 803.5 to 807.4 nm.
Heat transfer modelling for both workpiece and tool in the friction stir welding process: a coupled model

AbstractIn this paper, a three-dimensional transient-heat transfer model for both the tool and the workpiece in friction stir welding (FSW) has been presented. A moving coordinate is introduced to reduce the difficulty of modelling the heat generation due to the movement of the tool pin. The heat transfer process of the tool and workpiece are coupled at the workpiece/tool interface. The finite difference method was used in solving the energy equations. In order to improve the temperature resolution near the tool in the calculation, a non-uniform grid mesh is generated for the calculation. FSW experiments have been done to validate the modelling results. The calculated results are in good agreement with the experimental ones.
Characteristic energy gain and loss, double ionization, and ionization loss events in Be and BeO secondary electron spectra

Abstract Two satellite peaks have been observed on the high energy side of the Be KVV Auger peak. The lower energy satellite is attributed to coupling of energy from bulk plasmon de-excitations with Auger electrons, and the higher energy event to Auger electrons ejected from Be atoms with doubly ionized K levels. Following oxidation, the ionization loss spectra of BeO were observed to have structure which is interpreted as being related to the density of unfilled electron states above the BeO valence band. In addition, the characteristic loss and the low energy (“true secondary”) spectra of Be and BeO were determined. Peaks in these spectra are discussed in terms of characteristic energies related to excited electron states in the solids.