893 research outputs found
The brainstem reticular formation is a small-world, not scale-free, network
Recently, it has been demonstrated that several complex systems may have simple graph-theoretic characterizations as so-called ‘small-world’ and ‘scale-free’ networks. These networks have also been applied to the gross neural connectivity between primate cortical areas and the nervous system of Caenorhabditis elegans. Here, we extend this work to a specific neural circuit of the vertebrate brain—the medial reticular formation (RF) of the brainstem—and, in doing so, we have made three key contributions. First, this work constitutes the first model (and quantitative review) of this important brain structure for over three decades. Second, we have developed the first graph-theoretic analysis of vertebrate brain connectivity at the neural network level. Third, we propose simple metrics to quantitatively assess the extent to which the networks studied are small-world or scale-free. We conclude that the medial RF is configured to create small-world (implying coherent rapid-processing capabilities), but not scale-free, type networks under assumptions which are amenable to quantitative measurement
Adverse Cerebral Outcomes after Coronary Bypass Surgery
ABSTRACT
Background Acute changes in cerebral function after elective coronary bypass surgery are a difficult clinical problem. We carried out a multicenter study to determine the incidence and predictors of — and the use of resources associated with — perioperative adverse neurologic events, including cerebral injury.
Methods In a prospective study, we evaluated 2108 patients from 24 U.S. institutions for two general categories of neurologic outcome: type I (focal injury, or stupor or coma at discharge) and type II (deterioration in intellectual function, memory deficit, or seizures).
Results Adverse cerebral outcomes occurred in 129 patients (6.1 percent). A total of 3.1 percent had type I neurologic outcomes (8 died of cerebral injury, 55 had nonfatal strokes, 2 had transient ischemic attacks, and 1 had stupor), and 3.0 percent had type II outcomes (55 had deterioration of intellectual function and 8 had seizures). Patients with adverse cerebral outcomes had higher in-hospital mortality (21 percent of patients with type I outcomes died, vs. 10 percent of those with type II and 2 percent of those with no adverse cerebral outcome; P0.001 for all comparisons), longer hospitalization (25 days with type I outcomes, 21 days with type II, and 10 days with no adverse outcome; P0.001), and a higher rate of discharge to facilities for intermediate- or long-term care (47 percent, 30 percent, and 8 percent; P0.001). Predictors of type I outcomes were proximal aortic atherosclerosis, a history of neurologic disease, and older age; predictors of type II outcomes were older age, systolic hypertension on admission, pulmonary disease, and excessive consumption of alcohol.
Conclusions Adverse cerebral outcomes after coronary bypass surgery are relatively common and serious; they are associated with substantial increases in mortality, length of hospitalization, and use of intermediate- or long-term care facilities. New diagnostic and therapeutic strategies must be developed to lessen such injury. (N Engl J Med 1996;335:1857-63.)
Random Geometric Graphs
We analyse graphs in which each vertex is assigned random coordinates in a
geometric space of arbitrary dimensionality and only edges between adjacent
points are present. The critical connectivity is found numerically by examining
the size of the largest cluster. We derive an analytical expression for the
cluster coefficient which shows that the graphs are distinctly different from
standard random graphs, even for infinite dimensionality. Insights relevant for
graph bi-partitioning are included.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures. Minor changes. Added reference
Metastable States in Spin Glasses and Disordered Ferromagnets
We study analytically M-spin-flip stable states in disordered short-ranged
Ising models (spin glasses and ferromagnets) in all dimensions and for all M.
Our approach is primarily dynamical and is based on the convergence of a
zero-temperature dynamical process with flips of lattice animals up to size M
and starting from a deep quench, to a metastable limit. The results (rigorous
and nonrigorous, in infinite and finite volumes) concern many aspects of
metastable states: their numbers, basins of attraction, energy densities,
overlaps, remanent magnetizations and relations to thermodynamic states. For
example, we show that their overlap distribution is a delta-function at zero.
We also define a dynamics for M=infinity, which provides a potential tool for
investigating ground state structure.Comment: 34 pages (LaTeX); to appear in Physical Review
Percolation model for structural phase transitions in LiHIO mixed crystals
A percolation model is proposed to explain the structural phase transitions
found in LiHIO mixed crystals as a function of the
concentration parameter . The percolation thresholds are obtained from Monte
Carlo simulations on the specific lattices occupied by lithium atoms and
hydrogen bonds. The theoretical results strongly suggest that percolating
lithium vacancies and hydrogen bonds are indeed responsible for the solid
solution observed in the experimental range .Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Interfaces with a single growth inhomogeneity and anchored boundaries
The dynamics of a one dimensional growth model involving attachment and
detachment of particles is studied in the presence of a localized growth
inhomogeneity along with anchored boundary conditions. At large times, the
latter enforce an equilibrium stationary regime which allows for an exact
calculation of roughening exponents. The stochastic evolution is related to a
spin Hamiltonian whose spectrum gap embodies the dynamic scaling exponent of
late stages. For vanishing gaps the interface can exhibit a slow morphological
transition followed by a change of scaling regimes which are studied
numerically. Instead, a faceting dynamics arises for gapful situations.Comment: REVTeX, 11 pages, 9 Postscript figure
Book Reviews
Review of New Perspectives in Archeology, by Sally R. Binford and Lewis R. Binford, eds.; The Archaeology of Ancient China, by Kwang-chih Chang; Prehistoric Animals and Their Hunters, by I. W. Cornwall; Contes Malgaches en Dialecte Sakalava: Textes, Traduction, Grammaire et Lexique, by Otto Chr. Dahl; An Ethnographic Bibliography of New Guinea; Archaeology on the Island of Mo'orea, French Polynesia, by Roger C. Green, Kaye Green, Roy Rappaport, Ann Rappaport, and Janet Davidson; Polynesian Culture History: Essays in Honor of Kenneth P. Emory, by Genevieve A. Highland, et al.; Computer Analysis of Chronological Seriation, by Frank Hole and Mary Shaw; Prehistoric Japanese Arts: Jomon Pottery, by J. Edward Kidder and Teruya Esaka; A Selected and Annotated Bibliography of Korean Anthropology, by Eugene I. Knez and Chang-Su Swanson; Die Religionen der Sudsee und Australiens, by Hans Nevermann, Ernest A. Worms, and Helmut Petri; Geschichte und Sozialordnung der Sherpa, by Michael Oppitz; The Vermilion Bird: T'ang Images of the South, by Edward H. Schafer; Fijian Material Culture: A Study of Cultural Context, Function, and Change, by Alan Richard Tippett
Self-Similar Scalar Field Collapse: Naked Singularities and Critical Behaviour
Homothetic scalar field collapse is considered in this article. By making a
suitable choice of variables the equations are reduced to an autonomous system.
Then using a combination of numerical and analytic techniques it is shown that
there are two classes of solutions. The first consists of solutions with a
non-singular origin in which the scalar field collapses and disperses again.
There is a singularity at one point of these solutions, however it is not
visible to observers at finite radius. The second class of solutions includes
both black holes and naked singularities with a critical evolution (which is
neither) interpolating between these two extremes. The properties of these
solutions are discussed in detail. The paper also contains some speculation
about the significance of self-similarity in recent numerical studies.Comment: 27 pages including 5 encapsulated postcript figures in separate
compressed file, report NCL94-TP1
Cosolvent flushing for the remediation of PAHs from former manufactured gas plants
Cosolvent flushing is a technique that has been proposed for the removal of hydrophobic organic contaminants in the subsurface. Cosolvents have been shown to dramatically increase the solubility of such compounds compared to the aqueous solubility; however, limited data are available on the effectiveness of cosolvents for field-contaminated media. In this work, we examine cosolvent flushing for the removal of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil from a former manufactured gas plant (FMGP). Batch studies confirmed that the relationship between the soil-cosolvent partitioning coefficient (Ki) and the volume fraction of cosolvent (fc) followed a standard log-linear equation. Using methanol at an fc of 0.95, column studies were conducted at varying length scales, ranging from 11.9 to 110 cm. Removal of PAH compounds was determined as a function of pore volumes (PVs) of cosolvent flushed. Despite using a high fc, rate and chromatographic effects were observed in all the columns. PAH effluent concentrations were modeled using a common two-site sorption model. Model fits were improved by using MeOH breakthrough curves to determine fitted dispersion coefficients. Fitted mass-transfer rates were two to three orders of magnitude lower than predicted values based on published data using artificially contaminated sands
Soil nutrients and beta diversity in the Bornean Dipterocarpaceae: evidence for niche partitioning by tropical rain forest trees
1 The relative importance of niche- and dispersal-mediated processes in structuring diverse tropical plant communities remains poorly understood. Here, we link mesoscale beta diversity to soil variation throughout a lowland Bornean watershed underlain by alluvium, sedimentary and granite parent materials ( c . 340 ha, 8–200 m a.s.l.). We test the hypothesis that species turnover across the habitat gradient reflects interspecific partitioning of soil resources. 2 Floristic inventories (≥ 1 cm d.b.h.) of the Dipterocarpaceae, the dominant Bornean canopy tree family, were combined with extensive soil analyses in 30 (0.16 ha) plots. Six samples per plot were analysed for total C, N, P, K, Ca and Mg, exchangeable K, Ca and Mg, extractable P, texture, and pH. 3 Extractable P, exchangeable K, and total C, N and P varied significantly among substrates and were highest on alluvium. Thirty-one dipterocarp species ( n = 2634 individuals, five genera) were recorded. Dipterocarp density was similar across substrates, but richness and diversity were highest on nutrient-poor granite and lowest on nutrient-rich alluvium. 4 Eighteen of 22 species were positively or negatively associated with parent material. In 8 of 16 abundant species, tree distribution (≥ 10 cm d.b.h.) was more strongly non-random than juveniles (1–10 cm d.b.h.), suggesting higher juvenile mortality in unsuitable habitats. The dominant species Dipterocarpus sublamellatus (> 50% of stems) was indifferent to substrate, but nine of 11 ‘subdominant’ species (> 8 individuals ha −1 ) were substrate specialists. 5 Eighteen of 22 species were significantly associated with soil nutrients, especially P, Mg and Ca. Floristic variation was significantly correlated with edaphic and geographical distance for all stems ≥ 1 cm d.b.h. in Mantel analyses. However, juvenile variation (1–10 cm d.b.h.) was more strongly related to geographical distance than edaphic factors, while the converse held for established trees (≥ 10 cm d.b.h.), suggesting increased importance of niche processes with size class. 6 Pervasive dipterocarp associations with soil factors suggest that niche partitioning structures dipterocarp tree communities. Yet, much floristic variation unrelated to soil was correlated with geographical distance between plots, suggesting that dispersal and niche processes jointly determine mesoscale beta diversity in the Bornean Dipterocarpaceae. Journal of Ecology (2005) doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2005.01077.xPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72822/1/j.1365-2745.2005.01077.x.pd
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