Vasopressin versus norepinephrine infusion in patients with septic shock

Background Vasopressin is commonly used as an adjunct to catecholamines to support blood pressure in refractory septic shock, but its effect on mortality is unknown. We hypothesized that low-dose vasopressin as compared with norepinephrine would decrease mortality among patients with septic shock who were being treated with conventional (catecholamine) vasopressors

Critical Review of Theoretical Models for Anomalous Effects (Cold Fusion) in Deuterated Metals

We briefly summarize the reported anomalous effects in deuterated metals at ambient temperature, commonly known as "Cold Fusion" (CF), with an emphasis on important experiments as well as the theoretical basis for the opposition to interpreting them as cold fusion. Then we critically examine more than 25 theoretical models for CF, including unusual nuclear and exotic chemical hypotheses. We conclude that they do not explain the data.Comment: 51 pages, 4 Figure

Depression and Sexual Orientation During Young Adulthood: Diversity Among Sexual Minority Subgroups and the Role of Gender Nonconformity.

Sexual minority individuals are at an elevated risk for depression compared to their heterosexual counterparts, yet less is known about how depression status varies across sexual minority subgroups (i.e., mostly heterosexuals, bisexuals, and lesbians and gay men). Moreover, studies on the role of young adult gender nonconformity in the relation between sexual orientation and depression are scarce and have yielded mixed findings. The current study examined the disparities between sexual minorities and heterosexuals during young adulthood in concurrent depression near the beginning of young adulthood and prospective depression 6 years later, paying attention to the diversity within sexual minority subgroups and the role of gender nonconformity. Drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (N = 9421), we found that after accounting for demographics, sampling weight, and sampling design, self-identified mostly heterosexual and bisexual young adults, but not lesbians and gay men, reported significantly higher concurrent depression compared to heterosexuals; moreover, only mostly heterosexual young adults were more depressed than heterosexuals 6 years later. Furthermore, while young adult gender nonconforming behavior was associated with more concurrent depression regardless of sexual orientation, its negative impact on mental health decreased over time. Surprisingly, previous gender nonconformity predicted decreased prospective depression among lesbians and gay men whereas, among heterosexual individuals, increased gender nonconformity was not associated with prospective depression. Together, the results suggested the importance of investigating diversity and the influence of young adult gender nonconformity in future research on the mental health of sexual minorities.The authors acknowledge support for this research: the University of Arizona Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences Fitch Nesbitt Endowment and a University of Arizona Graduate Access Fellowship to the second author. This research uses data from Add Health, a program project directed by Kathleen Mullan Harris and designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Information on how to obtain the Add Health data files is available on the Add Health website (http://​www.​cpc.​unc.​edu/​addhealth). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis. The authors thank Noel Card and Susan Stryker for comments on the previous versions of this article and Richard Lippa and Katerina Sinclair for methodological and statistical consult. The authors also thank the anonymous reviewers and the Editor for their helpful comments.This is the accepted manuscript of a paper published in Archives of Sexual Behavior (Li G, Pollitt AM, Russell ST, Archives of Sexual Behavior 2015, doi:10.1007/s10508-015-0515-3). The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0515-3

Auditory-visual cross-modal perception

Presented of the 6th International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD), Atlanta, GA, April 2-5, 2000The quality of realism in virtual environments is typically considered to be a function of visual and audio fidelity mutually exclusive of each other. However, the virtual environment participant, being human, is multi-modal by nature. Therefore, in order to more accurately validate the levels of auditory and visual fidelity required in a virtual environment, a better understanding is needed of the intersensory or cross-modal effects between the auditory and visual sense modalities. To identify whether any pertinent auditory-visual cross-modal perception phenomena exist, 108 subjects participated in three experiments which are completely automated using HTML, Java, and JavaScript computer programming languages. Visual and auditory display quality perception are measured intramodally and intermodally by manipulating visual display pixel resolution and Gaussian white noise level and by manipulating auditory display sampling frequency and Gaussian white noise level.Statistically significant results indicate that 1) high-quality auditory displays coupled with high-quality visual displays increase the quality perception of the visual displays relative to the evaluation of the visual display alone, and 2) low-quality auditory displays coupled with high-quality visual displays decrease the quality perception of the auditory displays relative to the evaluation of the auditory display alone. These findings strongly suggest that the quality of realism in virtual environments must be a function of both auditory and visual display fidelities inclusive of each other

Auditory-visual cross-modal perception phenomena

The quality of realism in virtual environments is typically considered to be a function of visual and audio fidelity mutually exclusive of each other. However, the virtual environment participant, being human, is multi- modal by nature. Therefore, in order to more accurately validate the levels of auditory and visual fidelity required in a virtual environment, a better understanding is needed of the intersensory or cross modal effects between the auditory and visual sense modalities. To identify whether any pertinent auditory visual cross modal perception phenomena exist, 108 subjects participated in three main experiments which were completely automated using HTML, Java, and JavaScript computer programming languages. Visual and auditory display quality perception were measured intramodally and intermodally by manipulating visual display pixel resolution and Gaussian white noise level and by manipulating auditory display sampling frequency and Gaussian white noise level. Statistically significant results indicate that: (1) medium or high quality auditory displays coupled with high quality visual displays increase the quality perception of the visual displays relative to the evaluation of the visual display alone, and (2) low quality auditory displays coupled with high quality visual displays decrease the quality perception of the auditory displays relative to the evaluation of the auditory display alone. These findings strongly suggest that the quality of realism in virtual environments must be a function of both auditory and visual display fidelities inclusive of each other.http://www.archive.org/details/auditoryvisualcr00storMajor, United States ArmyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Npsnet-3d Sound Server: An Effective Use Of The Auditory Channel

The current MIDI-based sound system for the distributed virtual environment of NPSNET can only generate aural cues via free-field format in two dimensions. To increase the effectiveness of the auditory channel in NPSNET, a sound system is needed which can generate aural cues via free-field format in three dimensions. The approach taken was to build upon the current NPSNET sound system: NPSNET-PAS [ROES94]. Hardware limitations of NPSNET-PAS sound generating equipment were identified and more capable off-the-shelf sound equipment was procured. In software, a new algorithm was developed which properly distributes the total volume of a virtual sound source to a cube-like configuration of eight loudspeakers. A second algorithm, based on the Precedence Effect, was also developed in an attempt to enhance one s ability to localize a sound source. Synthetic reverberation using digital signal processors was added to enhance perceptual distance of the generated aural cues. The result of this research is a MIDI-based free-field sound system consisting of off-the-shelf sound equipment and computer software capable of generating aural cues in three dimensions for use in NPSNET. This sound system was tested during numerous demonstrations of NPSNET and proved capable of generating eight independent audio channels required for potential output to a cube-like configuration of eight loudspeakers laying the foundation for increasing one s level of immersion in NPSNET

NPSNET-3D Sound Server: An Effective Use of the Auditory Channel

The current MIDI-based sound system for the distributed virtual environment of NPSNET can only generate aural cues via free-field format in two dimensions. To increase the effectiveness of the auditory channel in NPSNET, a sound system is needed which can generate aural cues via free-field f..

Interactions in perceived quality of auditory-visual displays

The quality of realism in virtual environments (VEs) is typically considered to be a function of visual and audio fidelity mutually exclusive of each other. However, the VE participant, being human, is multimodal by nature. Therefore, in order to validate more accurately the levels of auditory and visual fidelity that are required in a virtual environment, a better understanding is needed of the intersensory or crossmodal effects between the auditory and visual sense modalities. To identify whether any pertinent auditory-visual cross-modal perception phenomena exist, 108 subjects participated in three experiments which were completely automated using HTML, Java, and JavaScript programming languages. Visual and auditory display quality perceptions were measured intra- and intermodally by manipulating the pixel resolution of the visual display and Gaussian white noise level, and by manipulating the sampling frequency of the auditory display and Gaussian white noise level. Statistically significant results indicate that high-quality auditory displays coupled with highquality visual displays increase the quality perception of the visual displays relative to the evaluation of the visual display alone, and that low-quality auditory displays coupled with high-quality visual displays decrease the quality perception of the auditory displays relative to the evaluation of the auditory display alone. These findings strongly suggest that the quality of realism in VEs must be a function of both auditory and visual display fidelities inclusive of each other

Navier-Stokes Analysis of Lift-Enhancing Tabs on Multi-Element Airfoils

The flow over multi-element airfoils with flat-plate lift-enhancing tabs was numerically investigated. Tabs ranging in height from 0.25 to 1.25% of the reference airfoil chord were studied near the trailing edge of the main element. The two-dimensional numerical simulation employed an incompressible Navier–Stokes solver using a structured, embedded grid topology. The effects of various tabs were studied at a constant Reynolds number on a two-element airfoil with a slotted flap. Both computed and measured results indicated that a tab in the main-element cove improved the maximum lift and lift-to-drag ratio relative to the baseline airfoil without a tab. Computed streamlines revealed that the additional turning caused by the tab may reduce the amount of separated flow on the flap. A three-element airfoil was also studied over a range of Reynolds numbers, with computed results shown to be in good agreement with experimental data