Otolith Microstructure in Young-of-the Year Dolly Varden, Salvelinus malma, from American and Asian Populations: Resolution of Comparative Life History Characteristics

Sigittal otoliths from young-of-the-year Dolly Varden, Salvelinus malma, captured from Cripple River, Alaska and Cha'atam River, Russia were prepared and observed with transmitted light microscopy. Distinct microstructure in samples from both locations indicated daily growth increments, hatching checks and first feeding checks that confirm literature findings in other salmonids. We used increment counts to estimate the ages of individual juveniles and calculated hatch dates and times of first feeding from those ages. Increments deposited before the first feeding mark were significantly smaller then those formed after this mark. Alaskan and Russian fish showed a significant difference in hatching times and the period of first feeding. Summer growth rates of the Russian population, calculated from length-at-the-age data, were faster (0.356 mm/day) than those of the Alaskan population (0.301 mm/day). However, when the average growth rate was calcualted with the formula GR=(Lcapture-Lhatching)/age, the values were higher for the Alaskan population (0.25 mm/day) than for the Russian population (0.20 mm/day). When otolith radius-fish size relationships were estimated, Alaskan otoliths were found to be larger for the same size fish, because wider increments were deposited in fish from Alaska. Increment width also was related to time of the year: wider increments were deposited during the warmer months. Otolith microstructure provided insights into the early life history of young-of-the-year Dolly Varden from American and Asian populations.Des sagittas provenant de Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma) de l'année capturées dans la Cripple en Alaska et dans la Cha'atam en Russie ont été préparées et étudiées au microscope pour examen par transmission. Une microstructure distincte dans les échantillons provenant des deux sites révélait une croissance quotidienne, des repères de l'éclosion et des repères de la première phase alimentaire, qui confirment les résultats consignés dans la documentation sur d'autres salmonidés. On s'est servi du comptage des unités d'accroissement pour estimer l'âge des individus juvéniles et on a calculé la date d'éclosion et la date de la première phase alimentaire à partir de cet âge. Les unités d'accroissement formées avant le repère signalant le début de la phase alimentaire étaient nettement moindres que celles qui se sont formées après ce repère. Les poissons d'Alaska et ceux de Russie montraient une nette différence dans leurs dates d'éclosion et dans celles signalant le début de la phase alimentaire. Les taux de croissance estivaux de la population russe, calculés à partir des données sur la longueur à un âge précis, étaient plus rapides (0,356 mm/jour) que ceux de la population alaskienne (0,301 mm/jour). Cependant, quand on calculait le taux moyen de croissance à l'aide de la formule TC = (Lcapture - Léclosion)/âge, les valeurs étaient supérieures pour la population alaskienne (0,25 mm/jour) que pour la population russe (0,20 mm/jour). Lorsqu'on a estimé la relation entre le rayon de l'otolithe et la grosseur du poisson, on a trouvé que les otolithes alaskiennes étaient plus grosses pour la même taille de poisson, parce que les unités d'accroissement chez les poissons alaskiens étaient plus grandes. La taille des unités d'accroissement était aussi reliée à la période de l'année, le plus fort de l'augmentation ayant lieu durant les mois chauds. La microstructure des otolithes a permis de mieux comprendre la première étape de la vie de la Dolly Varden de l'année, venant de populations américaine et asiatique

Euclidean ramsey theorems. I

AbstractThe general Ramsey problem can be described as follows: Let A and B be two sets, and R a subset of A × B. For a ϵ A denote by R(a) the set {b ϵ B | (a, b) ϵ R}. R is called r-Ramsey if for any r-part partition of B there is some a ϵ A with R(a) in one part. We investigate questions of whether or not certain R are r-Ramsey where B is a Euclidean space and R is defined geometrically

The Use of Statistical Quality Control Charts to Evaluate Changes in Individual Performance

An employee's readiness to perform (RTP) has become an important issue facing today's industries. Some industries have turned to cognitive performance testing to provide answers regarding their employee's abilities to work safely and effectively. Such tests are designed to assess the employee's current state of preparedness for work without identifying specific causes for any noted performance impairment. This paper evaluates performance-based RTP tests with regard to the metrics by which performance change is judged. In addition to evaluating a current commonly used metric, several statistical quality control charts were examined as alternate methods for identifying impaired performance. Traditional Shewhart charts were used as well as exponentially weighted moving average charts and cumulative sum charts. A comparative analysis of the various methods revealed that control chart techniques provided superior effectiveness over the current method. Specifically, exponentially weighted moving average charts were effective in evaluating continuous performance measures and Shewhart p charts were effective in evaluating discrete measure data.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline

Montgomery Multiplication on the Cell

A technique to speed up Montgomery multiplication targeted at the Synergistic Processor Elements (SPE) of the Cell Broadband Engine is proposed. The technique consists of splitting a number into four consecutive parts. These parts are placed one by one in each of the four element positions of a vector, representing columns in a 4-SIMD organization. This representation enables arithmetic to be performed in a 4-SIMD fashion. An implementation of the Montgomery multiplication using this technique is up to 2.47 times faster compared to an unrolled implementation of Montgomery multiplication, which is part of the IBM multi-precision math library, for odd moduli of length 160 to 2048 bits. The presented technique can also be applied to speed up Montgomery multiplication on other SIMD-architectures

Identification of clonal hematopoiesis mutations in solid tumor patients undergoing unpaired next-generation sequencing assays

Purpose: In this era of precision-based medicine, for optimal patient care, results reported from commercial next-generation sequencing (NGS) assays should adequately reflect the burden of somatic mutations in the tumor being sequenced. Here, we sought to determine the prevalence of clonal hematopoiesis leading to possible misattribution of tumor mutation calls on unpaired Foundation Medicine NGS assays. Experimental Design: This was a retrospective cohort study of individuals undergoing NGS of solid tumors from two large cancer centers. We identified and quantified mutations in genes known to be frequently altered in clonal hematopoiesis (DNMT3A, TET2, ASXL1, TP53, ATM, CHEK2, SF3B1, CBL, JAK2) that were returned to physicians on clinical Foundation Medicine reports. For a subset of patients, we explored the frequency of true clonal hematopoiesis by comparing mutations on Foundation Medicine reports with matched blood sequencing. Results: Mutations in genes that are frequently altered in clonal hematopoiesis were identified in 65% (1,139/1,757) of patients undergoing NGS. When excluding TP53, which is often mutated in solid tumors, these events were still seen in 35% (619/1,757) of patients. Utilizing paired blood specimens, we were able to confirm that 8% (18/226) of mutations reported in these genes were true clonal hematopoiesis events. The majority of DNMT3A mutations (64%, 7/11) and minority of TP53 mutations (4%, 2/50) were clonal hematopoiesis. Conclusions: Clonal hematopoiesis mutations are commonly reported on unpaired NGS testing. It is important to recognize clonal hematopoiesis as a possible cause of misattribution of mutation origin when applying NGS findings to a patient's care