An analysis of diffuse light attenuation in the northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone using the SeaWiFS satellite data record

The Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (SeaWiFS) derived diffuse light attenuation along the Louisiana continental shelf (LCS) was examined at monthly scales from 1998 to 2007 to characterize temporal and spatial patterns, and responsible physical forcing conditions. The SeaWiFS diffuse light attenuation ranged from 0.10 to 2.64 m^− 1. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis suggested that spatial and temporal patterns in diffuse light attenuation were influenced by wind speed, nutrient loading, and river discharge from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya River Basin. SeaWiFS daily integrated surface photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, 400-700 nm) and diffuse light attenuation were used to calculate the absolute PAR and percentage of surface PAR that reached the sediment water interface (SWI) on the LCS. Large portions of the LCS were euphotic to the SWI especially during April and May. This finding implied that significant primary production was possible beneath the pycnocline during spring and early summer. In addition, this study was the first to demonstrate that the euphotic depth was correlated to the depth at which the water column turned hypoxic on the LCS. The development of hypoxic waters may be influenced by decreased light availability below the pycnocline in addition to aforementioned physical forcing.     

The VILMA intelligent vehicle: an architectural design for cooperative control between driver and automated system

Railway Engineering Science - Intelligent autonomous vehicles have received a great degree of attention in recent years. Although the technology required for these vehicles is relatively advanced,...     

County-level determinants of local public services in Appalachia: a multivariate spatial autoregressive model approach

We develop a multivariate spatial autoregressive model of local public expenditure determination based on the maximization of a strictly quasi-concave community utility function. The existence of spatial interdependence is tested for both the spatial error and spatial lag model. The full model is estimated by efficient GMM following Kelejian and Prucha (J Real Estate Finan Econ 17(1):99?C121, 1998). The results indicate significant spillover effects among local governments with respect to spending on public services. The OLS estimates of the conventional (non-spatial) model and the corresponding maximum likelihood estimates of the spatial lag and the spatial error models are presented for comparison purposes. The GMM estimates are found to be more efficient.     

Resurgence of Emerald Shiners Notropis atherinoides in Lake Huron's Main Basin

Emerald shiners Notropis atherinoides were formerly common in Lakes Huron and Michigan, but declined during the 1960s as the exotic alewife Alosa pseudoharengus proliferated. The Lake Huron emerald shiner population was chronically depressed through 2004; however, we detected resurgence in emerald shiner density and biomass in Lake Huron during acoustic and midwater trawl surveys conducted during 2004–2006. Emerald shiners were not found during 2004, but by 2006 main basin density exceeded 500 fish/ha, biomass estimates exceeded 0.5 kg/ha, and emerald shiners contributed more to pelagic biomass than alewives or rainbow smelt Osmerus mordax. Length frequency distributions suggested that increased density was the result of two consecutive strong year classes in 2005 and 2006. Emerald shiner distributions also expanded from a focus in western Lake Huron in 2005 to a lakewide distribution in 2006. Emerald shiners occurred offshore, but were nearly always associated with epilimnetic surface waters warmer than 19°C. Resurgence of emerald shiners was likely a consequence of reduced alewife abundance, as they declined concurrently with alewife proliferation during the early 1960s. Return of this species may benefit native nearshore piscivores; however, benefits to Pacific salmonids Oncorhynchus spp. are uncertain because emerald shiners are smaller and still less abundant than historically important prey species, and they may be thermally segregated from salmonines.     

Long-Term Follow-Up to a Randomized Clinical Trial of Multisystemic Therapy With Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders.

In this study, the authors examined the long-term criminal activity of 176 youths who had participated in either multisystemic therapy (MST) or individual therapy (IT) in a randomized clinical trial (C. M. Borduin et al., 1995). Arrest and incarceration data were obtained on average 13.7 (range = 10.2-15.9) years later when participants were on average 28.8 years old. Results show that MST participants had significantly lower recidivism rates at follow-up than did their counterparts who participated in IT (50% vs. 81%, respectively). Moreover, MST participants had 54% fewer arrests and 57% fewer days of confinement in adult detention facilities. This investigation represents the longest follow-up to date of a MST clinical trial and suggests that MST is relatively effective in reducing criminal activity among serious and violent juvenile offenders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pulmonary embolism; lung scanning interpretation: about words

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and nature of a horizontal cleft in the posterior aspect of Hoffa's infrapatellar fat pad and to show pathologic processes involving this cleft. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty consecutive MR imaging examinations of the knee were evaluated for the presence and appearance of a cleft in the infrapatellar fat pad. Examples of abnormalities involving the cleft were collected from additional MR studies. MR imaging, gross dissection, and histologic examination of a cadaveric knee were also performed to evaluate the anatomy and histology of the cleft. RESULTS: The cleft in the infrapatellar fat pad was revealed on MR imaging in 45 of 50 knees and had a variable shape, either linear (82%), pipe-shaped (7%), or globular-shaped (11%). Joint effusion or anterior cruciate ligament tear did not affect the appearance of the cleft. The cleft was located anterior to the distal insertion of the anterior cruciate ligament on the tibia. At gross dissection of the cadaveric knee, the roof of the cleft was formed by the ligamentum mucosum (infrapatellar plica), and the cleft was lined with synovium. The prospective evaluation of additional MR imaging examinations of the knee revealed pathologic entities of the cleft such as ganglion cysts, loose bodies, nodular synovitis, and amyloid. CONCLUSION: A horizontal cleft located in the posterior aspect of the infrapatellar fat pad is a common and normal MR imaging finding with a prevalence of 90%. The horizontal cleft is lined with synovium and its roof is formed by the ligamentum mucosum (infrapatellar plica). This cleft communicates with the knee joint. A distended cleft can form a prominent recess mimicking pathologic processes; conversely, disorders can arise in the cleft.     

Spectrophotometric determination of small proportions of polyunsaturated constituents in fatty materials

Summary Existing ultraviolet spectrophotometric methods have been modified for application primarily to the detection and estimation of low proportions of conjugated and nonconjugated unsaturated constituents in fats, oils, and soaps. The method is applicable also to fatty materials having high proportions of these constituents. Modifications include corrections for absorption by interfering substances, use of alkaline glycerol as an isomerization medium in the analytical procedure, and correction of absorption data on the isomerized product for absorption by conjugated constituents in the material before isomerization. The presence of small proportions of highly unsaturated conjugated and nonconjugated compounds is established in lards, tallows, tallow soaps, and highly purified esters and acids. Tall oil fatty acids are shown to contain approximately 10% of conjugated diene acids and a small amount of linolenic acid. One of the laboratories of the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry, Agricultural Research Administration, United States Department of Agriculture.     

Oxygen transport during extracorporeal oxygenation for the treatment of adult respiratory distress syndrome

An inventory of hemodynamic and respiratory measurements was obtained in two patients with acute respiratory failure syndrome prior to and during venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for study of oxygen transport. As the inspired oxygen concentration fraction was reduced from 1.0 to 0.5 and paO2 was increased from less than 50 to physiologic ranges during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, tachycardia and pulmonary hypertension were reversed. Total oxygen transport was reduced rather than increased. Oxygen consumption and oxygen extraction were not altered during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. However, a striking reduction was observed in cardiac output. After reversal of anoxemia, the total of the cardiac output of the patient and the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation flow were less than the cardiac output of the patient prior to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. These observations provide evidence that the beneficial effects of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation stem, at least in part, from a reduction of the work load on the heart. Since high cardiac output failure is observed during progression of adult respiratory distress syndrome, mechanical support of circulation during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation may be of primary therapeutic benefit.     

Discovering known and unanticipated protein modifications using MS/MS database searching

We present an MS/MS database search algorithm with the following novel features: (1) a novel protein database structure containing extensive preindexing and (2) zone modification searching, which enables the rapid discovery of protein modifications of known (i.e., user-specified) and unanticipated delta masses. All of these features are implemented in Interrogator, the search engine that runs behind the Pro ID, Pro ICAT, and Pro QUANT software products. Speed benchmarks demonstrate that our modification-tolerant database search algorithm is 100-fold faster than traditional database search algorithms when used for comprehensive searches for a broad variety of modification species. The ability to rapidly search for a large variety of known as well as unanticipated modifications allows a significantly greater percentage of MS/MS scans to be identified. We demonstrate this with an example in which, out of a total of 473 identified MS/MS scans, 315 of these scans correspond to unmodified peptides, while 158 scans correspond to a wide variety of modified peptides. In addition, we provide specific examples where the ability to search for unanticipated modifications allows the scientist to discover: unexpected modifications that have biological significance; amino acid mutations; salt-adducted peptides in a sample that has nominally been desalted; peptides arising from nontryptic cleavage in a sample that has nominally been digested using trypsin; other unintended consequences of sample handling procedures.