An event-based approach for examining the effects of wildland fire decisions on communities

Treesearch

Stephen F. McCool; James A. Burchfield; Daniel R. Williams; Matthew S. Carroll

2006-01-01

Public concern over the consequences of forest fire to wildland interface communities has led to increased resources devoted to fire suppression, fuel treatment, and management of fire events. The social consequences of the decisions involved in these and other fire-related actions are largely unknown, except in an anecdotal sense, but do occur at a variety of temporal...

Characterize kinematic rupture history of large earthquakes with Multiple Haskell sources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, Z.; Zhan, Z.

2017-12-01

Earthquakes are often regarded as continuous rupture along a single fault, but the occurrence of complex large events involving multiple faults and dynamic triggering challenges this view. Such rupture complexities cause difficulties in existing finite fault inversion algorithms, because they rely on specific parameterizations and regularizations to obtain physically meaningful solutions. Furthermore, it is difficult to assess reliability and uncertainty of obtained rupture models. Here we develop a Multi-Haskell Source (MHS) method to estimate rupture process of large earthquakes as a series of sub-events of varying location, timing and directivity. Each sub-event is characterized by a Haskell rupture model with uniform dislocation and constant unilateral rupture velocity. This flexible yet simple source parameterization allows us to constrain first-order rupture complexity of large earthquakes robustly. Additionally, relatively few parameters in the inverse problem yields improved uncertainty analysis based on Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling in a Bayesian framework. Synthetic tests and application of MHS method on real earthquakes show that our method can capture major features of large earthquake rupture process, and provide information for more detailed rupture history analysis.

Best Practices in the Evaluation of Large-scale STEM-focused Events: A Review of Recent Literature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shebby, S.; Cobb, W. H.; Buxner, S.; Shipp, S. S.

2015-12-01

Each year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sponsors a variety of educational events to share information with educators, students, and the general public. Intended outcomes of these events include increased interest in and awareness of the mission and goals of NASA. Events range in size from relatively small family science nights at a local school to large-scale mission and celestial event celebrations involving thousands of members of the general public. To support community members in designing event evaluations, the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Planetary Science Forum sponsored the creation of a Best Practices Guide. The guide was generated by reviewing published large-scale event evaluation reports; however, the best practices described within are pertinent for all event organizers and evaluators regardless of event size. Each source included in the guide identified numerous challenges to conducting their event evaluation. These included difficulty in identifying extant instruments or items, collecting representative data, and disaggregating data to inform different evaluation questions. Overall, the guide demonstrates that evaluations of the large-scale events are generally done at a very basic level, with the types of data collected limited to observable demographic information and participant reactions collected via online survey. In addition to these findings, this presentation will describe evaluation best practices that will help practitioners move beyond these basic indicators and examine how to make the evaluation process an integral—and valuable—element of event planning, ultimately informing event outcomes and impacts. It will provide detailed information on five recommendations presented in the guide: 1) consider evaluation methodology, including data analysis, in advance; 2) design data collection instruments well in advance of the event; 3) collect data at different times and from multiple sources; 4) use technology to make the job easier; and 5) be aware of how challenging it is to measure impact.

Paleoseismologic evidence for large-magnitude (Mw 7.5-8.0) earthquakes on the Ventura blind thrust fault: Implications for multifault ruptures in the Transverse Ranges of southern California

USGS Publications Warehouse

McAuliffe, Lee J.; Dolan, James F.; Rhodes, Edward J.; Hubbard, Judith; Shaw, John H.; Pratt, Thomas L.

2015-01-01

Detailed analysis of continuously cored boreholes and cone penetrometer tests (CPTs), high-resolution seismic-reflection data, and luminescence and 14C dates from Holocene strata folded above the tip of the Ventura blind thrust fault constrain the ages and displacements of the two (or more) most recent earthquakes. These two earthquakes, which are identified by a prominent surface fold scarp and a stratigraphic sequence that thickens across an older buried fold scarp, occurred before the 235-yr-long historic era and after 805 ± 75 yr ago (most recent folding event[s]) and between 4065 and 4665 yr ago (previous folding event[s]). Minimum uplift in these two scarp-forming events was ∼6 m for the most recent earthquake(s) and ∼5.2 m for the previous event(s). Large uplifts such as these typically occur in large-magnitude earthquakes in the range of Mw7.5–8.0. Any such events along the Ventura fault would likely involve rupture of other Transverse Ranges faults to the east and west and/or rupture downward onto the deep, low-angle décollements that underlie these faults. The proximity of this large reverse-fault system to major population centers, including the greater Los Angeles region, and the potential for tsunami generation during ruptures extending offshore along the western parts of the system highlight the importance of understanding the complex behavior of these faults for probabilistic seismic hazard assessment.

The 2016 Kumamoto-Oita earthquake sequence: aftershock seismicity gap and dynamic triggering in volcanic areas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uchide, Takahiko; Horikawa, Haruo; Nakai, Misato; Matsushita, Reiken; Shigematsu, Norio; Ando, Ryosuke; Imanishi, Kazutoshi

2016-11-01

The 2016 Kumamoto-Oita earthquake sequence involving three large events ( M w ≥ 6) in the central Kyushu Island, southwest Japan, activated seismicities in two volcanic areas with unusual and puzzling spatial gaps after the largest earthquake ( M w 7.0) of April 16, 2016. We attempt to reveal the seismic process during the sequence by following seismological data analyses. Our hypocenter relocation result implies that the large events ruptured different faults of a complex fault system. A slip inversion analysis of the largest event indicates a large slip in the seismicity gap (Aso gap) in the caldera of Mt. Aso, which probably released accumulated stress and resulted in little aftershock production. We identified that the largest event dynamically triggered a mid-M6 event at Yufuin (80 km northeast of the epicenter), which is consistent with existence of the 20-km long zone where seismicity was activated and surface offset was observed. These findings will help us study the contribution of the identified complexity in fault geometries and the geotherm in the volcanic areas to the revealed seismic process and consequently improve our understanding of the seismo-volcano tectonics.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

Precipitation event tracking reveals that precipitation characteristics respond differently under seasonal, interannual, and anthropogenic forcing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, C.; Chang, W.; Kong, W.; Wang, J.; Kotamarthi, V. R.; Stein, M.; Moyer, E. J.

2017-12-01

Change in precipitation characteristics is an especially concerning potential impact of climate change, and both model and observational studies suggest that increases in precipitation intensity are likely. However, studies to date have focused on mean accumulated precipitation rather than on the characteristics of individual events. We report here on a study using a novel rainstorm identification tracking algorithm (Chang et al. 2016) that allows evaluating changes in spatio-temporal characteristics of events. We analyze high-resolution precipitation from dynamically downscaled regional climate simulations over the continental U.S. (WRF driven by CCSM4) of present and future climate conditions. We show that precipitation events show distinct characteristic changes for natural seasonal and interannual variations and for anthropogenic greenhouse-gas forcing. In all cases, wetter seasons/years/future climate states are associated with increased precipitation intensity, but other precipitation characteristics respond differently to the different drivers. For example, under anthropogenic forcing, future wetter climate states involve smaller individual event sizes (partially offsetting their increased intensity). Under natural variability, however, wetter years involve larger mean event sizes. Event identification and tracking algorithms thus allow distinguishing drivers of different types of precipitation changes, and in relating those changes to large-scale processes.

Numerical investigations with WRF about atmospheric features leading to heavy precipitation and flood events over the Central Andes' complex topography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zamuriano, Marcelo; Brönnimann, Stefan

2017-04-01

It's known that some extremes such as heavy rainfalls, flood events, heatwaves and droughts depend largely on the atmospheric circulation and local features. Bolivia is no exception and while the large scale dynamics over the Amazon has been largely investigated, the local features driven by the Andes Cordillera and the Altiplano is still poorly documented. New insights on the regional atmospheric dynamics preceding heavy precipitation and flood events over the complex topography of the Andes-Amazon interface are added through numerical investigations of several case events: flash flood episodes over La Paz city and the extreme 2014 flood in south-western Amazon basin. Large scale atmospheric water transport is dynamically downscaled in order to take into account the complex topography forcing and local features as modulators of these events. For this purpose, a series of high resolution numerical experiments with the WRF-ARW model is conducted using various global datasets and parameterizations. While several mechanisms have been suggested to explain the dynamics of these episodes, they have not been tested yet through numerical modelling experiments. The simulations captures realistically the local water transport and the terrain influence over atmospheric circulation, even though the precipitation intensity is in general unrealistic. Nevertheless, the results show that Dynamical Downscaling over the tropical Andes' complex terrain provides useful meteorological data for a variety of studies and contributes to a better understanding of physical processes involved in the configuration of these events.

How fault geometry controls earthquake magnitude

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bletery, Q.; Thomas, A.; Karlstrom, L.; Rempel, A. W.; Sladen, A.; De Barros, L.

2016-12-01

Recent large megathrust earthquakes, such as the Mw9.3 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake in 2004 and the Mw9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake in 2011, astonished the scientific community. The first event occurred in a relatively low-convergence-rate subduction zone where events of its size were unexpected. The second event involved 60 m of shallow slip in a region thought to be aseismicaly creeping and hence incapable of hosting very large magnitude earthquakes. These earthquakes highlight gaps in our understanding of mega-earthquake rupture processes and the factors controlling their global distribution. Here we show that gradients in dip angle exert a primary control on mega-earthquake occurrence. We calculate the curvature along the major subduction zones of the world and show that past mega-earthquakes occurred on flat (low-curvature) interfaces. A simplified analytic model demonstrates that shear strength heterogeneity increases with curvature. Stress loading on flat megathrusts is more homogeneous and hence more likely to be released simultaneously over large areas than on highly-curved faults. Therefore, the absence of asperities on large faults might counter-intuitively be a source of higher hazard.

Interactive risk analysis on crash injury severity at a mountainous freeway with tunnel groups in China.

PubMed

Huang, Helai; Peng, Yunying; Wang, Jie; Luo, Qizhang; Li, Xiang

2018-02-01

Traffic safety of freeways has attracted major concerns, especially for a mountainous freeway affected by adverse terrain conditions, constrained roadway geometry and complicated driving environments. On the basis of a comprehensive dataset collected from a mountainous freeway with a length of 61km but gathering 12 tunnels, this study seeks to examining the interactive effect of mountainous freeway alignment, driving behaviors, vehicle characteristics and environmental factors on crash severity. A classification and regression tree (CART) model is employed as it can deal with high-order interactions between explanatory variables. Results show that the driving behavior is the most important determinant for injury severity of mountainous freeway crashes, followed by the crash time, grade, curve radius and vehicle type. These variables, interacted with the factors of season and crash location, may largely account for the likelihood of high risk events which may result in severe crashes. Events associated with a notably higher probability of severe crashes include coach drivers involved in improper lane changing and other improper actions, drivers involved in speeding during afternoon or evening, drivers involved in speeding along large curve and straight segment during morning, noon or night, and drivers involved in fatigue while passing along the downgrade. Safety interventions to prevent severe crashes at the mountainous freeway include hierarchical supervision in terms of hazardous driving events, enhanced enforcement for speeding and fatigue driving, deployment of advanced driving assistance systems for fatigue driving warning, and cumulative driving time monitoring for long-distance-travel freight vehicles. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Formulating a subgrid-scale breakup model for microbubble generation from interfacial collisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Wai Hong Ronald; Mirjalili, Shahab; Urzay, Javier; Mani, Ali; Moin, Parviz

2017-11-01

Multiphase flows often involve impact events that engender important effects like the generation of a myriad of tiny bubbles that are subsequently transported in large liquid bodies. These impact events are created by large-scale phenomena like breaking waves on ocean surfaces, and often involve the relative approach of liquid surfaces. This relative motion generates continuously shrinking length scales as the entrapped gas layer thins and eventually breaks up into microbubbles. The treatment of this disparity in length scales is computationally challenging. In this presentation, a framework is presented that addresses a subgrid-scale (SGS) model aimed at capturing the process of microbubble generation. This work sets up the components in an overarching volume-of-fluid (VoF) toolset and investigates the analytical foundations of an SGS model for describing the breakup of a thin air film trapped between two approaching water bodies in a physical regime corresponding to Mesler entrainment. Constituents of the SGS model, such as the identification of impact events and the accurate computation of the local characteristic curvature in a VoF-based architecture, and the treatment of the air layer breakup, are discussed and illustrated in simplified scenarios. Supported by Office of Naval Research (ONR)/A*STAR (Singapore).

Public health consequences on vulnerable populations from acute chemical releases.

PubMed

Ruckart, Perri Zeitz; Orr, Maureen F

2008-07-09

Data from a large, multi-state surveillance system on acute chemical releases were analyzed to describe the type of events that are potentially affecting vulnerable populations (children, elderly and hospitalized patients) in order to better prevent and plan for these types of incidents in the future. During 2003-2005, there were 231 events where vulnerable populations were within ¼ mile of the event and the area of impact was greater than 200 feet from the facility/point of release. Most events occurred on a weekday during times when day care centers or schools were likely to be in session. Equipment failure and human error caused a majority of the releases. Agencies involved in preparing for and responding to chemical emergencies should work with hospitals, nursing homes, day care centers, and schools to develop policies and procedures for initiating appropriate protective measures and managing the medical needs of patients. Chemical emergency response drills should involve the entire community to protect those that may be more susceptible to harm.

Public Health Consequences on Vulnerable Populations from Acute Chemical Releases

PubMed Central

Ruckart, Perri Zeitz; Orr, Maureen F.

2008-01-01

Data from a large, multi-state surveillance system on acute chemical releases were analyzed to describe the type of events that are potentially affecting vulnerable populations (children, elderly and hospitalized patients) in order to better prevent and plan for these types of incidents in the future. During 2003–2005, there were 231 events where vulnerable populations were within ¼ mile of the event and the area of impact was greater than 200 feet from the facility/point of release. Most events occurred on a weekday during times when day care centers or schools were likely to be in session. Equipment failure and human error caused a majority of the releases. Agencies involved in preparing for and responding to chemical emergencies should work with hospitals, nursing homes, day care centers, and schools to develop policies and procedures for initiating appropriate protective measures and managing the medical needs of patients. Chemical emergency response drills should involve the entire community to protect those that may be more susceptible to harm. PMID:21572842

Operational momentum in large-number addition and subtraction by 9-month-olds.

PubMed

McCrink, Koleen; Wynn, Karen

2009-08-01

Recent studies on nonsymbolic arithmetic have illustrated that under conditions that prevent exact calculation, adults display a systematic tendency to overestimate the answers to addition problems and underestimate the answers to subtraction problems. It has been suggested that this operational momentum results from exposure to a culture-specific practice of representing numbers spatially; alternatively, the mind may represent numbers in spatial terms from early in development. In the current study, we asked whether operational momentum is present during infancy, prior to exposure to culture-specific representations of numbers. Infants (9-month-olds) were shown videos of events involving the addition or subtraction of objects with three different types of outcomes: numerically correct, too large, and too small. Infants looked significantly longer only at those incorrect outcomes that violated the momentum of the arithmetic operation (i.e., at too-large outcomes in subtraction events and too-small outcomes in addition events). The presence of operational momentum during infancy indicates developmental continuity in the underlying mechanisms used when operating over numerical representations.

Systematic assessment of scaffold hopping versus activity cliff formation across bioactive compound classes following a molecular hierarchy.

PubMed

Stumpfe, Dagmar; Dimova, Dilyana; Bajorath, Jürgen

2015-07-01

Scaffold hopping and activity cliff formation define opposite ends of the activity landscape feature spectrum. To rationalize these events at the level of scaffolds, active compounds involved in scaffold hopping were required to contain topologically distinct scaffolds but have only limited differences in potency, whereas compounds involved in activity cliffs were required to share the same scaffold but have large differences in potency. A systematic search was carried out for compounds involved in scaffold hopping and/or activity cliff formation. Results obtained for compound data sets covering more than 300 human targets revealed clear trends. If scaffolds represented multiple but fewer than 10 active compounds, nearly 90% of all scaffolds were exclusively involved in hopping events. With increasing compound coverage, the fraction of scaffolds involved in both scaffold hopping and activity cliff formation significantly increased to more than 50%. However, ∼40% of the scaffolds representing large numbers of active compounds continued to be exclusively involved in scaffold hopping. More than 200 scaffolds with broad target coverage were identified that consistently represented potent compounds and yielded an abundance of scaffold hops in the low-nanomolar range. These and other subsets of scaffolds we characterized are of prime interest for structure-activity relationship (SAR) exploration and compound design. Therefore, the complete scaffold classification generated in the course of our analysis is made freely available. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Investigation of wheelchair instability during transport in large accessible transit vehicles.

PubMed

Salipur, Zdravko; Frost, Karen; Bertocci, Gina

2012-01-01

Large accessible transit vehicles (LATVs, fixed-route intracity buses), generally considered safe, may not be as safe for wheelchair-seated passengers. Transit provider practices vary regarding use of wheelchair tiedown and occupant restraint systems (WTORSs), while recent research suggests high levels of WTORS disuse and misuse. We sought to better understand wheelchair and wheelchair passenger instabilities related to WTORS disuse and misuse on LATVs. This article presents a retrospective review of 295 video surveillance records of wheelchair passenger trips on LATVs. Wheelchair trips involving disuse and misuse of WTORS were quantified and categorized based on WTORS configurations. Cases of wheelchair and wheelchair passenger instability were categorized based on severity, type, and direction. Three adverse events involving severe wheelchair and/or passenger instability were examined in greater detail. Results showed 20.3% of records involved wheelchair-related adverse events (95% minor instabilities, 5% severe instabilities). Scooters were most likely to be unstable, followed by manual and power wheelchairs. In most instability cases, no tiedowns were used to secure the wheelchair and no lap belt was used to restrain the wheelchair passenger properly. In many instances, the lap belt was misused in an attempt to secure the wheelchair, whereas the shoulder belt was never used.

Suicide and Murder-Suicide Involving Aircraft.

PubMed

Kenedi, Christopher; Friedman, Susan Hatters; Watson, Dougal; Preitner, Claude

2016-04-01

This is a systematic review of suicide and homicide-suicide events involving aircraft. In aeromedical literature and in the media, these very different events are both described as pilot suicide, but in psychiatry they are considered separate events with distinct risk factors. Medical databases, internet search engines, and aviation safety databases were searched in a systematic way to obtain relevant cases. Relevant articles were searched for additional references. There were 65 cases of pilot suicide and 6 cases of passengers who jumped from aircraft found. There were also 18 cases of homicide-suicide found involving 732 deaths. Pilots perpetrated 13 homicide-suicide events. Compared to non-aviation samples, a large percentage of pilot suicides in this study were homicide-suicides (17%). Homicide-suicide events occur extremely rarely. However, their impact in terms of the proportion of deaths is significant when compared to deaths from accidents. There is evidence of clustering where pilot suicides occur after by media reports of suicide or homicide-suicide. Five of six homicide-suicide events by pilots of commercial airliners occurred after they were left alone in the cockpit. This, along with a sixth incident in which active intervention by a Japan Air crew saved 147 lives, suggests that having two flight members in the cockpit is potentially protective. No single factor was associated with the risk for suicide or homicide-suicide. Factors associated with both events included legal and financial crises, occupational conflict, mental illness, and relationship stressors. Drugs and/or alcohol played a role in almost half of suicides, but not in homicide-suicides.

Formulation and Optimization of Robust Sensor Placement Problems for Drinking Water Contamination Warning Systems

DOE PAGES

Watson, Jean-Paul; Murray, Regan; Hart, William E.

2009-11-13

We report that the sensor placement problem in contamination warning system design for municipal water distribution networks involves maximizing the protection level afforded by limited numbers of sensors, typically quantified as the expected impact of a contamination event; the issue of how to mitigate against high-consequence events is either handled implicitly or ignored entirely. Consequently, expected-case sensor placements run the risk of failing to protect against high-consequence 9/11-style attacks. In contrast, robust sensor placements address this concern by focusing strictly on high-consequence events and placing sensors to minimize the impact of these events. We introduce several robust variations of themore » sensor placement problem, distinguished by how they quantify the potential damage due to high-consequence events. We explore the nature of robust versus expected-case sensor placements on three real-world large-scale distribution networks. We find that robust sensor placements can yield large reductions in the number and magnitude of high-consequence events, with only modest increases in expected impact. Finally, the ability to trade-off between robust and expected-case impacts is a key unexplored dimension in contamination warning system design.« less

Managing Physical Education Lessons: An Interactional Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barker, Dean; Annerstedt, Claes

2016-01-01

Physical education (PE) lessons involve complex and dynamic interactive sequences between students, equipment and teacher. The potential for unexpected and/or unintended events is relatively large, a point reflected in an increasing amount of scholarship dealing with classroom management (CM). This scholarship further suggests that unexpected and…

Project Aprendizaje. Final Evaluation Report 1992-93.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Andrew

This report provides evaluative information regarding the effectiveness of Project Aprendizaje, a New York City program that served 269 Spanish-speaking students of limited English proficiency (LEP). The project promoted parent and community involvement by sponsoring cultural events, such as a large Latin American festival. Students developed…

Environmental Risk Evaluation System – An Approach to Ranking Risk of Ocean Energy Development on Coastal and Estuarine Environments

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Copping, Andrea E.; Hanna, Luke A.; Van Cleve, Frances B.

Deployment and operation of ocean energy devices does not represent the first foray into industrialization of the oceans; shipping, nearshore development, waste disposal, subsea mining, oil and gas extraction, and large-scale commercial fishing all coexist in various states of equilibrium with the marine environment. In most cases these industries were developed without a clear understanding of the likely outcomes of large-scale development. In virtually every country where the harvest of ocean energy is emerging, regulators and stakeholders require that the industry examine potential effects of devices, minimize the footprint of effects, and provide management measures that either avoid the impactsmore » or mitigate to further reduce the residual impacts. The ERES analysis is based on scenarios that are consistent with sequences of events that lead to adverse impacts, distinguishing between episodic, intermittent, and chronic risks. In the context of ocean energy development, an episodic scenario might involve the exceedingly rare but potentially devastating event of an oil spill from vessels caused by the presence of the device, while vulnerable receptors are present; understanding the risk of such a scenario involves determining the probability of the occurrence by examining factors such as the petroleum content of ocean energy devices, the vessel traffic volume and the proximity of shipping lanes to the ocean energy devices, the reliability of the control measures to avoid an episodic event, and the likely presence of seabirds, marine mammals, or fish that may be affected by oil. In contrast, chronic risk scenarios involve events or circumstances that are continuous, so that risk characterization involves assessing only the severity of the consequences. An example of a chronic risk scenario might be the toxicity to marine organisms due to low-level chemical releases from anti-biofouling paints and coatings that may be used on devices, and the effect that the level of toxicity may have on marine flora and fauna. Between these two extremes are intermittent events, such as encounters between fish and rotating tidal turbine blades that will occur only when fish are present and the tidal device is turning. A key feature of understanding risk is describing the uncertainty associated with the occurrence of an episodic, intermittent, or chronic event, as well as the uncertainty of the resulting consequences.« less

Recent collisional jet from a primitive asteroid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novaković, Bojan; Dell'Oro, Aldo; Cellino, Alberto; Knežević, Zoran

2012-09-01

In this paper we show an example of a young asteroid cluster located in a dynamically stable region, which was produced by partial disruption of a primitive body about 30 km in size. We estimate its age to be only 1.9 ± 0.3 Myr; thus, its post-impact evolution should have been very limited. The large difference in size between the largest object and the other cluster members means that this was a cratering event. The parent body had a large orbital inclination and was subject to collisions with typical impact speeds higher by a factor of 2 than in the most common situations encountered in the main belt. For the first time, we have at our disposal the observable outcome of a very recent event to study high-speed collisions involving primitive asteroids, providing very useful constraints to numerical simulations of these events and to laboratory experiments.

Aftershocks and triggering processes in rock fracture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davidsen, J.; Kwiatek, G.; Goebel, T.; Stanchits, S. A.; Dresen, G.

2017-12-01

One of the hallmarks of our understanding of seismicity in nature is the importance of triggering processes, which makes the forecasting of seismic activity feasible. These triggering processes by which one earthquake induces (dynamic or static) stress changes leading to potentially multiple other earthquakes are at the core relaxation processes. A specic example of triggering are aftershocks following a large earthquake, which have been observed to follow certain empirical relationships such as the Omori-Utsu relation. Such an empirical relation should arise from the underlying microscopic dynamics of the involved physical processes but the exact connection remains to be established. Simple explanations have been proposed but their general applicability is unclear. Many explanations involve the picture of an earthquake as a purely frictional sliding event. Here, we present experimental evidence that these empirical relationships are not limited to frictional processes but also arise in fracture zone formation and are mostly related to compaction-type events. Our analysis is based on tri-axial compression experiments under constant displacement rate on sandstone and granite samples using spatially located acoustic emission events and their focal mechanisms. More importantly, we show that event-event triggering plays an important role in the presence of large-scale or macrocopic imperfections while such triggering is basically absent if no signicant imperfections are present. We also show that spatial localization and an increase in activity rates close to failure do not necessarily imply triggering behavior associated with aftershocks. Only if a macroscopic crack is formed and its propagation remains subcritical do we observe significant triggering.

[Analysis of the incidence and causes of mass casualty events in a southern Germany medical rescue area].

PubMed

Beck, A; Bayeff-Filloff, M; Bischoff, M; Schneider, B M

2002-11-01

The growing number of mass casualty events during the early 1990s led, in January 1996, to the foundation of an honorary group of specially trained emergency physicians for dealing primarily with the management of large-scale emergency events and mass casualties. The incidence and quantity of these casualties was analysed in order to be better prepared for such events in the future. All calls prospectively registered by the Augsburg Rescue Co-ordination Centre (ARCC) in the 5 years from July 1997 to June 2002 were analysed, distinguishing between the different types of damage, number of patients involved, and time of occurrence (time of day/season). The area served by the ARCC includes the city of Augsburg with its surrounding counties. An estimated 850,000 inhabitants live in this area of 4,100 square kilometers (1,600 square miles). Since 1998, more than 145,000 calls a year have been dealt with of which 28,000 were covered by emergency physicians. In the 5 year period discussed here, 75 large-scale-calls were registered, giving an average incidence of 1.25 calls/month. Most of the calls were fire alarms, followed by car accidents. In total, we were able to serve more than 800 patients. The lowest number per event was two people during an emergency landing of a sport aircraft; the largest number was about 150 patients during a large open-air event in the city. While there was no difference in the time of day at which the event happened, most occurred in November and December. Taking these results into account, the authors, supported by the members of the emergency physician team of the German Trauma Society, developed an algorithm describing the optimal procedure for mass casualty events. This is presented here. In mass casualty or large-scale emergency events, an experienced emergency physician is necessary to co-ordinate the rescue brigades on site.

Remote Sensing Laboratory - RSL

ScienceCinema

None

2018-01-16

One of the primary resources supporting homeland security is the Remote Sensing Laboratory, or RSL. The Laboratory creates advanced technologies for emergency response operations, radiological incident response, and other remote sensing activities. RSL emergency response teams are on call 24-hours a day, and maintain the capability to deploy domestically and internationally in response to threats involving the loss, theft, or release of nuclear or radioactive material. Such incidents might include Nuclear Power Plant accidents, terrorist incidents involving nuclear or radiological materials, NASA launches, and transportation accidents involving nuclear materials. Working with the US Department of Homeland Security, RSL personnel equip, maintain, and conduct training on the mobile detection deployment unit, to provide nuclear radiological security at major national events such as the super bowl, the Indianapolis 500, New Year's Eve celebrations, presidential inaugurations, international meetings and conferences, just about any event where large numbers of people will gather.

Remote Sensing Laboratory - RSL

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

None

2014-11-06

One of the primary resources supporting homeland security is the Remote Sensing Laboratory, or RSL. The Laboratory creates advanced technologies for emergency response operations, radiological incident response, and other remote sensing activities. RSL emergency response teams are on call 24-hours a day, and maintain the capability to deploy domestically and internationally in response to threats involving the loss, theft, or release of nuclear or radioactive material. Such incidents might include Nuclear Power Plant accidents, terrorist incidents involving nuclear or radiological materials, NASA launches, and transportation accidents involving nuclear materials. Working with the US Department of Homeland Security, RSL personnel equip,more » maintain, and conduct training on the mobile detection deployment unit, to provide nuclear radiological security at major national events such as the super bowl, the Indianapolis 500, New Year's Eve celebrations, presidential inaugurations, international meetings and conferences, just about any event where large numbers of people will gather.« less

Temporal Constraint Reasoning With Preferences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khatib, Lina; Morris, Paul; Morris, Robert; Rossi, Francesca

2001-01-01

A number of reasoning problems involving the manipulation of temporal information can naturally be viewed as implicitly inducing an ordering of potential local decisions involving time (specifically, associated with durations or orderings of events) on the basis of preferences. For example. a pair of events might be constrained to occur in a certain order, and, in addition. it might be preferable that the delay between them be as large, or as small, as possible. This paper explores problems in which a set of temporal constraints is specified, where each constraint is associated with preference criteria for making local decisions about the events involved in the constraint, and a reasoner must infer a complete solution to the problem such that, to the extent possible, these local preferences are met in the best way. A constraint framework for reasoning about time is generalized to allow for preferences over event distances and durations, and we study the complexity of solving problems in the resulting formalism. It is shown that while in general such problems are NP-hard, some restrictions on the shape of the preference functions, and on the structure of the preference set, can be enforced to achieve tractability. In these cases, a simple generalization of a single-source shortest path algorithm can be used to compute a globally preferred solution in polynomial time.

Seismic Signals Recorded During Artificial and Natural Karst Recharge Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bilek, S. L.; Luhmann, A. J.; Diniakos, R. S.; Morton, E.; Rinehart, A. J.; Alexander, E. C., Jr.; Alexander, S. C.; Larsen, M.; Green, J. A.

2016-12-01

Seismology has recently been used to explore a variety of surficial processes, including tracking landslides, glaciers, and river flow. The seismic data collected can provide useful information about these flow processes, particularly in areas where other flow-related observations are difficult to make. Underground flow through karst aquifers is an area of significant interest, where most of the flow occurs through preferential flow conduits whose locations are largely unknown. We investigate seismic signals generated by both controlled and natural recharge into a karst aquifer system located near Bear Spring, near Eyota, MN, USA. The controlled recharge experiments involved injecting a pool full of water ( 13,000 L) into a dry overflow spring, which then flowed underground until it was discharged at Bear Spring. The natural recharge fortuitously involved a large rainstorm that supplied over 2 inches of rain in a few hour period, which caused the overflow spring to start flowing and total discharge to increase from a background of 100 L/s to 300 L/s. These events were recorded by 12 seismometers (11 short period and 1 broadband with 500 Hz sampling rate) all placed within the 4500 m2 area containing the dry overflow spring and predicted underground flow path. Spectrograms for the artificial and natural recharge events show significant seismic energy over a broad frequency range (few to nearly 220 Hz) during the periods of artificial recharge, largely contained during the period of water injection. Stations closest to Bear Spring see peak seismic energy in the 20-30 Hz range during these tests, likely related to changes in the underground water flow. During the natural recharge event, we find much longer duration of seismic energy over the broad frequency range. We compare these seismic results with discharge measurements conducted during all tests at Bear Spring, as well as with rainfall measurements recorded for the natural recharge event.

Evaluating the implementation of a national disclosure policy for large-scale adverse events in an integrated health care system: identification of gaps and successes.

PubMed

Maguire, Elizabeth M; Bokhour, Barbara G; Wagner, Todd H; Asch, Steven M; Gifford, Allen L; Gallagher, Thomas H; Durfee, Janet M; Martinello, Richard A; Elwy, A Rani

2016-11-11

Many healthcare organizations have developed disclosure policies for large-scale adverse events, including the Veterans Health Administration (VA). This study evaluated VA's national large-scale disclosure policy and identifies gaps and successes in its implementation. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with leaders, hospital employees, and patients at nine sites to elicit their perceptions of recent large-scale adverse events notifications and the national disclosure policy. Data were coded using the constructs of the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). We conducted 97 interviews. Insights included how to handle the communication of large-scale disclosures through multiple levels of a large healthcare organization and manage ongoing communications about the event with employees. Of the 5 CFIR constructs and 26 sub-constructs assessed, seven were prominent in interviews. Leaders and employees specifically mentioned key problem areas involving 1) networks and communications during disclosure, 2) organizational culture, 3) engagement of external change agents during disclosure, and 4) a need for reflecting on and evaluating the policy implementation and disclosure itself. Patients shared 5) preferences for personal outreach by phone in place of the current use of certified letters. All interviewees discussed 6) issues with execution and 7) costs of the disclosure. CFIR analysis reveals key problem areas that need to be addresses during disclosure, including: timely communication patterns throughout the organization, establishing a supportive culture prior to implementation, using patient-approved, effective communications strategies during disclosures; providing follow-up support for employees and patients, and sharing lessons learned.

Simulating large-scale pedestrian movement using CA and event driven model: Methodology and case study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jun; Fu, Siyao; He, Haibo; Jia, Hongfei; Li, Yanzhong; Guo, Yi

2015-11-01

Large-scale regional evacuation is an important part of national security emergency response plan. Large commercial shopping area, as the typical service system, its emergency evacuation is one of the hot research topics. A systematic methodology based on Cellular Automata with the Dynamic Floor Field and event driven model has been proposed, and the methodology has been examined within context of a case study involving the evacuation within a commercial shopping mall. Pedestrians walking is based on Cellular Automata and event driven model. In this paper, the event driven model is adopted to simulate the pedestrian movement patterns, the simulation process is divided into normal situation and emergency evacuation. The model is composed of four layers: environment layer, customer layer, clerk layer and trajectory layer. For the simulation of movement route of pedestrians, the model takes into account purchase intention of customers and density of pedestrians. Based on evacuation model of Cellular Automata with Dynamic Floor Field and event driven model, we can reflect behavior characteristics of customers and clerks at the situations of normal and emergency evacuation. The distribution of individual evacuation time as a function of initial positions and the dynamics of the evacuation process is studied. Our results indicate that the evacuation model using the combination of Cellular Automata with Dynamic Floor Field and event driven scheduling can be used to simulate the evacuation of pedestrian flows in indoor areas with complicated surroundings and to investigate the layout of shopping mall.

Adverse events associated with single dose oral analgesics for acute postoperative pain in adults - an overview of Cochrane reviews.

PubMed

Moore, R Andrew; Derry, Sheena; Aldington, Dominic; Wiffen, Philip J

2015-10-13

This is an update of a Cochrane overview published in Issue 9, 2011; that overview considered both efficacy and adverse events. This overview considers adverse events, with efficacy dealt with in a separate overview.Thirty-nine Cochrane reviews of randomised trials have examined the adverse events associated with individual drug interventions in acute postoperative pain. This overview brings together the results of those individual reviews. To provide an overview of adverse event rates associated with single-dose oral analgesics, compared with placebo, for acute postoperative pain in adults. We identified systematic reviews in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews on The Cochrane Library through a simple search strategy. All reviews were overseen by a single review group. We extracted information related to participants experiencing any adverse event, and reports of serious adverse events, and deaths from the individual reviews. Information was available from 39 Cochrane reviews for 41 different analgesics or analgesic combinations (51 drug/dose/formulations) tested in single oral doses in participants with moderate or severe postoperative pain. This involved around 350 unique studies involving about 35,000 participants. Most studies involved younger participants with pain following removal of molar teeth.For most nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), paracetamol, and combinations not containing opioids, there were few examples where participants experienced significantly more or fewer adverse events than with placebo. For aspirin 1000 mg and diflunisal 1000 mg, opioids, or fixed-dose combination drugs containing opioids, participants typically experienced significantly more adverse events than with placebo. Studies of combinations of ibuprofen and paracetamol reported significantly fewer adverse events.Serious adverse events were rare, occurring a rate of about 1 in 3200 participants.Most reviews did not report specific adverse events. Despite ongoing problems with the measurement, recording, and reporting of adverse events in clinical trials and in systematic reviews, the large amount of information available for single oral doses of analgesics provides evidence that adverse events rates are generally similar with active drug and placebo in these circumstances, except at higher doses of some drugs, and in combinations including opioids.

Foreshock occurrence before large earthquakes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reasenberg, P.A.

1999-01-01

Rates of foreshock occurrence involving shallow M ??? 6 and M ??? 7 mainshocks and M ??? 5 foreshocks were measured in two worldwide catalogs over ???20-year intervals. The overall rates observed are similar to ones measured in previous worldwide and regional studies when they are normalized for the ranges of magnitude difference they each span. The observed worldwide rates were compared to a generic model of earthquake clustering based on patterns of small and moderate aftershocks in California. The aftershock model was extended to the case of moderate foreshocks preceding large mainshocks. Overall, the observed worldwide foreshock rates exceed the extended California generic model by a factor of ???2. Significant differences in foreshock rate were found among subsets of earthquakes defined by their focal mechanism and tectonic region, with the rate before thrust events higher and the rate before strike-slip events lower than the worldwide average. Among the thrust events, a large majority, composed of events located in shallow subduction zones, had a high foreshock rate, while a minority, located in continental thrust belts, had a low rate. These differences may explain why previous surveys have found low foreshock rates among thrust events in California (especially southern California), while the worldwide observations suggests the opposite: California, lacking an active subduction zone in most of its territory, and including a region of mountain-building thrusts in the south, reflects the low rate apparently typical for continental thrusts, while the worldwide observations, dominated by shallow subduction zone events, are foreshock-rich. If this is so, then the California generic model may significantly underestimate the conditional probability for a very large (M ??? 8) earthquake following a potential (M ??? 7) foreshock in Cascadia. The magnitude differences among the identified foreshock-mainshock pairs in the Harvard catalog are consistent with a uniform distribution over the range of observation.

Distributions of observed death tolls govern sensitivity to human fatalities

PubMed Central

Olivola, Christopher Y.; Sagara, Namika

2009-01-01

How we react to humanitarian crises, epidemics, and other tragic events involving the loss of human lives depends largely on the extent to which we are moved by the size of their associated death tolls. Many studies have demonstrated that people generally exhibit a diminishing sensitivity to the number of human fatalities and, equivalently, a preference for risky (vs. sure) alternatives in decisions under risk involving human losses. However, the reason for this tendency remains unknown. Here we show that the distributions of event-related death tolls that people observe govern their evaluations of, and risk preferences concerning, human fatalities. In particular, we show that our diminishing sensitivity to human fatalities follows from the fact that these death tolls are approximately power-law distributed. We further show that, by manipulating the distribution of mortality-related events that people observe, we can alter their risk preferences in decisions involving fatalities. Finally, we show that the tendency to be risk-seeking in mortality-related decisions is lower in countries in which high-mortality events are more frequently observed. Our results support a model of magnitude evaluation based on memory sampling and relative judgment. This model departs from the utility-based approaches typically encountered in psychology and economics in that it does not rely on stable, underlying value representations to explain valuation and choice, or on choice behavior to derive value functions. Instead, preferences concerning human fatalities emerge spontaneously from the distributions of sampled events and the relative nature of the evaluation process. PMID:20018778

Large earthquake rupture process variations on the Middle America megathrust

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Lingling; Lay, Thorne; Kanamori, Hiroo

2013-11-01

The megathrust fault between the underthrusting Cocos plate and overriding Caribbean plate recently experienced three large ruptures: the August 27, 2012 (Mw 7.3) El Salvador; September 5, 2012 (Mw 7.6) Costa Rica; and November 7, 2012 (Mw 7.4) Guatemala earthquakes. All three events involve shallow-dipping thrust faulting on the plate boundary, but they had variable rupture processes. The El Salvador earthquake ruptured from about 4 to 20 km depth, with a relatively large centroid time of ˜19 s, low seismic moment-scaled energy release, and a depleted teleseismic short-period source spectrum similar to that of the September 2, 1992 (Mw 7.6) Nicaragua tsunami earthquake that ruptured the adjacent shallow portion of the plate boundary. The Costa Rica and Guatemala earthquakes had large slip in the depth range 15 to 30 km, and more typical teleseismic source spectra. Regional seismic recordings have higher short-period energy levels for the Costa Rica event relative to the El Salvador event, consistent with the teleseismic observations. A broadband regional waveform template correlation analysis is applied to categorize the focal mechanisms for larger aftershocks of the three events. Modeling of regional wave spectral ratios for clustered events with similar mechanisms indicates that interplate thrust events have corner frequencies, normalized by a reference model, that increase down-dip from anomalously low values near the Middle America trench. Relatively high corner frequencies are found for thrust events near Costa Rica; thus, variations along strike of the trench may also be important. Geodetic observations indicate trench-parallel motion of a forearc sliver extending from Costa Rica to Guatemala, and low seismic coupling on the megathrust has been inferred from a lack of boundary-perpendicular strain accumulation. The slip distributions and seismic radiation from the large regional thrust events indicate relatively strong seismic coupling near Nicoya, Costa Rica, patchy zones of strong seismic coupling in the shallowest megathrust region along Nicaragua and El Salvador, and small deeper patchy zones of strong seismic coupling near Guatemala, which can be reconciled with the geodetic observations as long as the strong coupling is limited to a small fraction of the megathrust area.

2q36.3 is associated with prognosis for oestrogen receptor-negative breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy

PubMed Central

Li, Jingmei; Lindström, Linda S.; Foo, Jia N.; Rafiq, Sajjad; Schmidt, Marjanka K.; Pharoah, Paul D. P.; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Dennis, Joe; Bolla, Manjeet K.; Wang, Qin; Van ‘t Veer, Laura J.; Cornelissen, Sten; Rutgers, Emiel; Southey, Melissa C.; Apicella, Carmel; Dite, Gillian S.; Hopper, John L.; Fasching, Peter A.; Haeberle, Lothar; Ekici, Arif B.; Beckmann, Matthias W.; Blomqvist, Carl; Muranen, Taru A.; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Lindblom, Annika; Margolin, Sara; Mannermaa, Arto; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Hartikainen, Jaana M.; Kataja, Vesa; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Investigators, kConFab; Phillips, Kelly-Anne; McLachlan, Sue-Anne; Lambrechts, Diether; Thienpont, Bernard; Smeets, Ann; Wildiers, Hans; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Seibold, Petra; Rudolph, Anja; Giles, Graham G.; Baglietto, Laura; Severi, Gianluca; Haiman, Christopher A.; Henderson, Brian E.; Schumacher, Fredrick; Le Marchand, Loic; Kristensen, Vessela; Alnæs, Grethe I. Grenaker; Borresen-Dale, Anne-Lise; Nord, Silje; Winqvist, Robert; Pylkäs, Katri; Jukkola-Vuorinen, Arja; Grip, Mervi; Andrulis, Irene L.; Knight, Julia A.; Glendon, Gord; Tchatchou, Sandrine; Devilee, Peter; Tollenaar, Robert; Seynaeve, Caroline; Hooning, Maartje; Kriege, Mieke; Hollestelle, Antoinette; van den Ouweland, Ans; Li, Yi; Hamann, Ute; Torres, Diana; Ulmer, Hans U.; Rüdiger, Thomas; Shen, Chen-Yang; Hsiung, Chia-Ni; Wu, Pei-Ei; Chen, Shou-Tung; Teo, Soo Hwang; Taib, Nur Aishah Mohd; Har Yip, Cheng; Fuang Ho, Gwo; Matsuo, Keitaro; Ito, Hidemi; Iwata, Hiroji; Tajima, Kazuo; Kang, Daehee; Choi, Ji-Yeob; Park, Sue K.; Yoo, Keun-Young; Maishman, Tom; Tapper, William J.; Dunning, Alison; Shah, Mitul; Luben, Robert; Brown, Judith; Chuen Khor, Chiea; Eccles, Diana M.; Nevanlinna, Heli; Easton, Douglas; Humphreys, Keith; Liu, Jianjun; Hall, Per; Czene, Kamila

2014-01-01

Large population-based registry studies have shown that breast cancer prognosis is inherited. Here we analyse single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of genes implicated in human immunology and inflammation as candidates for prognostic markers of breast cancer survival involving 1,804 oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative patients treated with chemotherapy (279 events) from 14 European studies in a prior large-scale genotyping experiment, which is part of the Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study (COGS) initiative. We carry out replication using Asian COGS samples (n=522, 53 events) and the Prospective Study of Outcomes in Sporadic versus Hereditary breast cancer (POSH) study (n=315, 108 events). Rs4458204_A near CCL20 (2q36.3) is found to be associated with breast cancer-specific death at a genome-wide significant level (n=2,641, 440 events, combined allelic hazard ratio (HR)=1.81 (1.49–2.19); P for trend=1.90 × 10−9). Such survival-associated variants can represent ideal targets for tailored therapeutics, and may also enhance our current prognostic prediction capabilities. PMID:24937182

2q36.3 is associated with prognosis for oestrogen receptor-negative breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy.

PubMed

Li, Jingmei; Lindström, Linda S; Foo, Jia N; Rafiq, Sajjad; Schmidt, Marjanka K; Pharoah, Paul D P; Michailidou, Kyriaki; Dennis, Joe; Bolla, Manjeet K; Wang, Qin; Van 't Veer, Laura J; Cornelissen, Sten; Rutgers, Emiel; Southey, Melissa C; Apicella, Carmel; Dite, Gillian S; Hopper, John L; Fasching, Peter A; Haeberle, Lothar; Ekici, Arif B; Beckmann, Matthias W; Blomqvist, Carl; Muranen, Taru A; Aittomäki, Kristiina; Lindblom, Annika; Margolin, Sara; Mannermaa, Arto; Kosma, Veli-Matti; Hartikainen, Jaana M; Kataja, Vesa; Chenevix-Trench, Georgia; Phillips, Kelly-Anne; McLachlan, Sue-Anne; Lambrechts, Diether; Thienpont, Bernard; Smeets, Ann; Wildiers, Hans; Chang-Claude, Jenny; Flesch-Janys, Dieter; Seibold, Petra; Rudolph, Anja; Giles, Graham G; Baglietto, Laura; Severi, Gianluca; Haiman, Christopher A; Henderson, Brian E; Schumacher, Fredrick; Le Marchand, Loic; Kristensen, Vessela; Alnæs, Grethe I Grenaker; Borresen-Dale, Anne-Lise; Nord, Silje; Winqvist, Robert; Pylkäs, Katri; Jukkola-Vuorinen, Arja; Grip, Mervi; Andrulis, Irene L; Knight, Julia A; Glendon, Gord; Tchatchou, Sandrine; Devilee, Peter; Tollenaar, Robert; Seynaeve, Caroline; Hooning, Maartje; Kriege, Mieke; Hollestelle, Antoinette; van den Ouweland, Ans; Li, Yi; Hamann, Ute; Torres, Diana; Ulmer, Hans U; Rüdiger, Thomas; Shen, Chen-Yang; Hsiung, Chia-Ni; Wu, Pei-Ei; Chen, Shou-Tung; Teo, Soo Hwang; Taib, Nur Aishah Mohd; Har Yip, Cheng; Fuang Ho, Gwo; Matsuo, Keitaro; Ito, Hidemi; Iwata, Hiroji; Tajima, Kazuo; Kang, Daehee; Choi, Ji-Yeob; Park, Sue K; Yoo, Keun-Young; Maishman, Tom; Tapper, William J; Dunning, Alison; Shah, Mitul; Luben, Robert; Brown, Judith; Khor, Chiea Chuen; Eccles, Diana M; Nevanlinna, Heli; Easton, Douglas; Humphreys, Keith; Liu, Jianjun; Hall, Per; Czene, Kamila

2014-06-17

Large population-based registry studies have shown that breast cancer prognosis is inherited. Here we analyse single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of genes implicated in human immunology and inflammation as candidates for prognostic markers of breast cancer survival involving 1,804 oestrogen receptor (ER)-negative patients treated with chemotherapy (279 events) from 14 European studies in a prior large-scale genotyping experiment, which is part of the Collaborative Oncological Gene-environment Study (COGS) initiative. We carry out replication using Asian COGS samples (n=522, 53 events) and the Prospective Study of Outcomes in Sporadic versus Hereditary breast cancer (POSH) study (n=315, 108 events). Rs4458204_A near CCL20 (2q36.3) is found to be associated with breast cancer-specific death at a genome-wide significant level (n=2,641, 440 events, combined allelic hazard ratio (HR)=1.81 (1.49-2.19); P for trend=1.90 × 10(-9)). Such survival-associated variants can represent ideal targets for tailored therapeutics, and may also enhance our current prognostic prediction capabilities.

Search and rescue response to a large-scale rockfall disaster.

PubMed

Procter, Emily; Strapazzon, Giacomo; Balkenhol, Karla; Fop, Ernst; Faggionato, Alessandro; Mayr, Karl; Falk, Markus; Brugger, Hermann

2015-03-01

To describe the prehospital management and safety of search and rescue (SAR) teams involved in a large-scale rockfall disaster and monitor the acute and chronic health effects on personnel with severe dolomitic dust exposure. SAR personnel underwent on-site medical screening and lung function testing 3 months and 3 years after the event. The emergency dispatch center was responsible for central coordination of resources. One hundred fifty SAR members from multidisciplinary air- and ground-based teams as well as geotechnical experts were dispatched to a provisionary operation center. Acute exposure to dolomite dust with detectable silicon and magnesium concentrations was not associated with (sub)acute or chronic sequelae or a clinically significant impairment in lung function in exposed personnel. The risk for personnel involved in mountain SAR operations is rarely reported and not easily investigated or quantified. This case exemplifies the importance of a multiskilled team and additional considerations for prehospital management during natural hazard events. Safety plans should include compulsory protective measures and medical monitoring of personnel. Copyright © 2015 Wilderness Medical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

HEP in Greek Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fassouliotis, Dimitris; Kourkoumelis, Christine; Vourakis, Stylianos

2017-03-01

The HEP Inquiry learning resources created over the last four years by the European outreach projects are reviewed. The resources are mostly addressed to high school students and the purpose is to ignite their interest on science. In addition, at the University of Athens for the last four years we have been using the HYPATIA online event analysis tool as a lab course for fourth year undergraduate physics students, majoring in HEP. Each year 40-50 students highly appreciated the course, since they get a direct involvement in the actual toplevel research. Up to now, the course was limited to visual inspection of a few tens of ATLAS events. Recently we have enriched the course with additional analysis exercises, which involve large samples of events. The students, through a user friendly interface can analyze the samples (both signal and background ones) and optimize the cut selection in order to search for the Higgs decay H □ 4 leptons. Recently ATLAS released 1/fb of data, so starting now the students analyse real data.

Hypnosis, memory and amnesia.

PubMed Central

Kihlstrom, J F

1997-01-01

Hypnotized subjects respond to suggestions from the hypnotist for imaginative experiences involving alterations in perception and memory. Individual differences in hypnotizability are only weakly related to other forms of suggestibility. Neuropsychological speculations about hypnosis focus on the right hemisphere and/or the frontal lobes. Posthypnotic amnesia refers to subjects' difficulty in remembering, after hypnosis, the events and experiences that transpired while they were hypnotized. Posthypnotic amnesia is not an instance of state-dependent memory, but it does seem to involve a disruption of retrieval processes similar to the functional amnesias observed in clinical dissociative disorders. Implicit memory, however, is largely spared, and may underlie subjects' ability to recognize events that they cannot recall. Hypnotic hypermnesia refers to improved memory for past events. However, such improvements are illusory: hypermnesia suggestions increase false recollection, as well as subjects' confidence in both true and false memories. Hypnotic age regression can be subjectively compelling, but does not involve the ablation of adult memory, or the reinstatement of childlike modes of mental functioning, or the revivification of memory. The clinical and forensic use of hypermnesia and age regression to enhance memory in patients, victims and witnesses (e.g. recovered memory therapy for child sexual abuse) should be discouraged. PMID:9415925

Department of Homeland Security national planning scenarios: a spectrum of imaging findings to educate the radiologists.

PubMed

Burch, Heather; Kitley, Charles A; Naeem, Mohammed

2010-07-01

Following the events of the September 11th attack, there has been an increasing concern about the possibility of a future attack on our homeland. In response, the United States Department of Homeland Defense has planned for a future attack by formulating multiple scenarios which may occur in the event of such a disaster. Radiology will play a key role in each of these scenarios, assisting with triage, diagnosis, and therapy of the large populations which potentially could be involved. This article describes some of these scenarios as well the response which will be expected of the radiology community in the event of such a disaster.

Run, hide, or fight: anti-predation strategies in endangered red-nosed cuxiú (Chiropotes albinasus, Pitheciidae) in southeastern Amazonia.

PubMed

Barnett, Adrian A; Silla, João M; de Oliveira, Tadeu; Boyle, Sarah A; Bezerra, Bruna M; Spironello, Wilson R; Setz, Eleonore Z F; da Silva, Rafaela F Soares; de Albuquerque Teixeira, Samara; Todd, Lucy M; Pinto, Liliam P

2017-04-01

Although primate predation is rarely observed, a series of primate anti-predation strategies have been described. Energetic costs of such strategies can vary from high-cost mobbing, via less costly alarm calling, to low-cost furtive concealment. Here we report the anti-predation strategies of red-nosed cuxiú, Chiropotes albinasus, based on direct observations from four study sites in southeastern Brazilian Amazonia. Over a collective period of 1255 fieldwork hours, we observed nine direct interactions between raptors (all potential predators) and red-nosed cuxiús. Of these, one (11%) resulted in predation. Raptors involved were: Harpia harpyja (four events), Leucopternis sp. (two events), Spizaëtus tyrannus (one event), and unidentified large raptors (two events). Predation attempts occurred in flooded-forest and terra firme rainforest, were directed at both adult and non-adult cuxiús, and involved both adult and juvenile raptors. Anti-predation strategies adopted by the cuxiús included: (1) group defence and mobbing behaviour (two occasions), (2) dropping into dense sub-canopy (seven occasions), (3) alarm calling (eight occasions), and (4) fleeing to, and hiding in, dense vegetation (eight occasions). During each encounter at least two of these behaviours were recorded. These are the first published records of predation, predation attempts, and anti-predator behaviour involving red-nosed cuxiú.

Female chromosome X mosaicism is age-related and preferentially affects the inactivated X chromosome.

PubMed

Machiela, Mitchell J; Zhou, Weiyin; Karlins, Eric; Sampson, Joshua N; Freedman, Neal D; Yang, Qi; Hicks, Belynda; Dagnall, Casey; Hautman, Christopher; Jacobs, Kevin B; Abnet, Christian C; Aldrich, Melinda C; Amos, Christopher; Amundadottir, Laufey T; Arslan, Alan A; Beane-Freeman, Laura E; Berndt, Sonja I; Black, Amanda; Blot, William J; Bock, Cathryn H; Bracci, Paige M; Brinton, Louise A; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H Bas; Burdett, Laurie; Buring, Julie E; Butler, Mary A; Canzian, Federico; Carreón, Tania; Chaffee, Kari G; Chang, I-Shou; Chatterjee, Nilanjan; Chen, Chu; Chen, Constance; Chen, Kexin; Chung, Charles C; Cook, Linda S; Crous Bou, Marta; Cullen, Michael; Davis, Faith G; De Vivo, Immaculata; Ding, Ti; Doherty, Jennifer; Duell, Eric J; Epstein, Caroline G; Fan, Jin-Hu; Figueroa, Jonine D; Fraumeni, Joseph F; Friedenreich, Christine M; Fuchs, Charles S; Gallinger, Steven; Gao, Yu-Tang; Gapstur, Susan M; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Gaudet, Mia M; Gaziano, J Michael; Giles, Graham G; Gillanders, Elizabeth M; Giovannucci, Edward L; Goldin, Lynn; Goldstein, Alisa M; Haiman, Christopher A; Hallmans, Goran; Hankinson, Susan E; Harris, Curtis C; Henriksson, Roger; Holly, Elizabeth A; Hong, Yun-Chul; Hoover, Robert N; Hsiung, Chao A; Hu, Nan; Hu, Wei; Hunter, David J; Hutchinson, Amy; Jenab, Mazda; Johansen, Christoffer; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Kim, Hee Nam; Kim, Yeul Hong; Kim, Young Tae; Klein, Alison P; Klein, Robert; Koh, Woon-Puay; Kolonel, Laurence N; Kooperberg, Charles; Kraft, Peter; Krogh, Vittorio; Kurtz, Robert C; LaCroix, Andrea; Lan, Qing; Landi, Maria Teresa; Marchand, Loic Le; Li, Donghui; Liang, Xiaolin; Liao, Linda M; Lin, Dongxin; Liu, Jianjun; Lissowska, Jolanta; Lu, Lingeng; Magliocco, Anthony M; Malats, Nuria; Matsuo, Keitaro; McNeill, Lorna H; McWilliams, Robert R; Melin, Beatrice S; Mirabello, Lisa; Moore, Lee; Olson, Sara H; Orlow, Irene; Park, Jae Yong; Patiño-Garcia, Ana; Peplonska, Beata; Peters, Ulrike; Petersen, Gloria M; Pooler, Loreall; Prescott, Jennifer; Prokunina-Olsson, Ludmila; Purdue, Mark P; Qiao, You-Lin; Rajaraman, Preetha; Real, Francisco X; Riboli, Elio; Risch, Harvey A; Rodriguez-Santiago, Benjamin; Ruder, Avima M; Savage, Sharon A; Schumacher, Fredrick; Schwartz, Ann G; Schwartz, Kendra L; Seow, Adeline; Wendy Setiawan, Veronica; Severi, Gianluca; Shen, Hongbing; Sheng, Xin; Shin, Min-Ho; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Silverman, Debra T; Spitz, Margaret R; Stevens, Victoria L; Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael; Stram, Daniel; Tang, Ze-Zhong; Taylor, Philip R; Teras, Lauren R; Tobias, Geoffrey S; Van Den Berg, David; Visvanathan, Kala; Wacholder, Sholom; Wang, Jiu-Cun; Wang, Zhaoming; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Wheeler, William; White, Emily; Wiencke, John K; Wolpin, Brian M; Wong, Maria Pik; Wu, Chen; Wu, Tangchun; Wu, Xifeng; Wu, Yi-Long; Wunder, Jay S; Xia, Lucy; Yang, Hannah P; Yang, Pan-Chyr; Yu, Kai; Zanetti, Krista A; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zheng, Wei; Zhou, Baosen; Ziegler, Regina G; Perez-Jurado, Luis A; Caporaso, Neil E; Rothman, Nathaniel; Tucker, Margaret; Dean, Michael C; Yeager, Meredith; Chanock, Stephen J

2016-06-13

To investigate large structural clonal mosaicism of chromosome X, we analysed the SNP microarray intensity data of 38,303 women from cancer genome-wide association studies (20,878 cases and 17,425 controls) and detected 124 mosaic X events >2 Mb in 97 (0.25%) women. Here we show rates for X-chromosome mosaicism are four times higher than mean autosomal rates; X mosaic events more often include the entire chromosome and participants with X events more likely harbour autosomal mosaic events. X mosaicism frequency increases with age (0.11% in 50-year olds; 0.45% in 75-year olds), as reported for Y and autosomes. Methylation array analyses of 33 women with X mosaicism indicate events preferentially involve the inactive X chromosome. Our results provide further evidence that the sex chromosomes undergo mosaic events more frequently than autosomes, which could have implications for understanding the underlying mechanisms of mosaic events and their possible contribution to risk for chronic diseases.

Female chromosome X mosaicism is age-related and preferentially affects the inactivated X chromosome

PubMed Central

Machiela, Mitchell J.; Zhou, Weiyin; Karlins, Eric; Sampson, Joshua N.; Freedman, Neal D.; Yang, Qi; Hicks, Belynda; Dagnall, Casey; Hautman, Christopher; Jacobs, Kevin B.; Abnet, Christian C.; Aldrich, Melinda C.; Amos, Christopher; Amundadottir, Laufey T.; Arslan, Alan A.; Beane-Freeman, Laura E.; Berndt, Sonja I.; Black, Amanda; Blot, William J.; Bock, Cathryn H.; Bracci, Paige M.; Brinton, Louise A.; Bueno-de-Mesquita, H Bas; Burdett, Laurie; Buring, Julie E.; Butler, Mary A.; Canzian, Federico; Carreón, Tania; Chaffee, Kari G.; Chang, I-Shou; Chatterjee, Nilanjan; Chen, Chu; Chen, Constance; Chen, Kexin; Chung, Charles C.; Cook, Linda S.; Crous Bou, Marta; Cullen, Michael; Davis, Faith G.; De Vivo, Immaculata; Ding, Ti; Doherty, Jennifer; Duell, Eric J.; Epstein, Caroline G.; Fan, Jin-Hu; Figueroa, Jonine D.; Fraumeni, Joseph F.; Friedenreich, Christine M.; Fuchs, Charles S.; Gallinger, Steven; Gao, Yu-Tang; Gapstur, Susan M.; Garcia-Closas, Montserrat; Gaudet, Mia M.; Gaziano, J. Michael; Giles, Graham G.; Gillanders, Elizabeth M.; Giovannucci, Edward L.; Goldin, Lynn; Goldstein, Alisa M.; Haiman, Christopher A.; Hallmans, Goran; Hankinson, Susan E.; Harris, Curtis C.; Henriksson, Roger; Holly, Elizabeth A.; Hong, Yun-Chul; Hoover, Robert N.; Hsiung, Chao A.; Hu, Nan; Hu, Wei; Hunter, David J.; Hutchinson, Amy; Jenab, Mazda; Johansen, Christoffer; Khaw, Kay-Tee; Kim, Hee Nam; Kim, Yeul Hong; Kim, Young Tae; Klein, Alison P.; Klein, Robert; Koh, Woon-Puay; Kolonel, Laurence N.; Kooperberg, Charles; Kraft, Peter; Krogh, Vittorio; Kurtz, Robert C.; LaCroix, Andrea; Lan, Qing; Landi, Maria Teresa; Marchand, Loic Le; Li, Donghui; Liang, Xiaolin; Liao, Linda M.; Lin, Dongxin; Liu, Jianjun; Lissowska, Jolanta; Lu, Lingeng; Magliocco, Anthony M.; Malats, Nuria; Matsuo, Keitaro; McNeill, Lorna H.; McWilliams, Robert R.; Melin, Beatrice S.; Mirabello, Lisa; Moore, Lee; Olson, Sara H.; Orlow, Irene; Park, Jae Yong; Patiño-Garcia, Ana; Peplonska, Beata; Peters, Ulrike; Petersen, Gloria M.; Pooler, Loreall; Prescott, Jennifer; Prokunina-Olsson, Ludmila; Purdue, Mark P.; Qiao, You-Lin; Rajaraman, Preetha; Real, Francisco X.; Riboli, Elio; Risch, Harvey A.; Rodriguez-Santiago, Benjamin; Ruder, Avima M.; Savage, Sharon A.; Schumacher, Fredrick; Schwartz, Ann G.; Schwartz, Kendra L.; Seow, Adeline; Wendy Setiawan, Veronica; Severi, Gianluca; Shen, Hongbing; Sheng, Xin; Shin, Min-Ho; Shu, Xiao-Ou; Silverman, Debra T.; Spitz, Margaret R.; Stevens, Victoria L.; Stolzenberg-Solomon, Rachael; Stram, Daniel; Tang, Ze-Zhong; Taylor, Philip R.; Teras, Lauren R.; Tobias, Geoffrey S.; Van Den Berg, David; Visvanathan, Kala; Wacholder, Sholom; Wang, Jiu-Cun; Wang, Zhaoming; Wentzensen, Nicolas; Wheeler, William; White, Emily; Wiencke, John K.; Wolpin, Brian M.; Wong, Maria Pik; Wu, Chen; Wu, Tangchun; Wu, Xifeng; Wu, Yi-Long; Wunder, Jay S.; Xia, Lucy; Yang, Hannah P.; Yang, Pan-Chyr; Yu, Kai; Zanetti, Krista A.; Zeleniuch-Jacquotte, Anne; Zheng, Wei; Zhou, Baosen; Ziegler, Regina G.; Perez-Jurado, Luis A.; Caporaso, Neil E.; Rothman, Nathaniel; Tucker, Margaret; Dean, Michael C.; Yeager, Meredith; Chanock, Stephen J.

2016-01-01

To investigate large structural clonal mosaicism of chromosome X, we analysed the SNP microarray intensity data of 38,303 women from cancer genome-wide association studies (20,878 cases and 17,425 controls) and detected 124 mosaic X events >2 Mb in 97 (0.25%) women. Here we show rates for X-chromosome mosaicism are four times higher than mean autosomal rates; X mosaic events more often include the entire chromosome and participants with X events more likely harbour autosomal mosaic events. X mosaicism frequency increases with age (0.11% in 50-year olds; 0.45% in 75-year olds), as reported for Y and autosomes. Methylation array analyses of 33 women with X mosaicism indicate events preferentially involve the inactive X chromosome. Our results provide further evidence that the sex chromosomes undergo mosaic events more frequently than autosomes, which could have implications for understanding the underlying mechanisms of mosaic events and their possible contribution to risk for chronic diseases. PMID:27291797

Determination of Moulting Events in Rock Lobsters from Pleopod Clipping

PubMed Central

Gardner, Caleb; Mills, David J.

2013-01-01

Rock lobster growth is routinely measured for research to optimise management measures such as size limits and quotas. The process of estimating growth is complicated in crustaceans as growth only occurs when the animal moults. As data are typically collected by tag-recapture methods, the timing of moulting events can bias results. For example, if annual moulting events take place within a very short time-at-large after tagging, or if time-at-large is long and no moulting occurs. Classifying data into cases where moulting has / has not occurred during time-at-large can be required and can generally be determined by change in size between release and recapture. However, in old or slow growth individuals the moult increment can be too small to provide surety that moulting has occurred. A method that has been used since the 1970’s to determine moulting in rock lobsters involves clipping the distal portion of a pleopod so that any regeneration observed at recapture can be used as evidence of a moult. We examined the use of this method in both tank and long-duration field trials within a marine protected area, which provided access to large animals with smaller growth increments. Our results emphasised that determination of moulting by change in size was unreliable with larger lobsters and that pleopod clipping can assist in identifying moulting events. However, regeneration was an unreliable measure of moulting if clipping occurred less than three months before the moult. PMID:24009769

Determination of moulting events in rock lobsters from pleopod clipping.

PubMed

Gardner, Caleb; Mills, David J

2013-01-01

Rock lobster growth is routinely measured for research to optimise management measures such as size limits and quotas. The process of estimating growth is complicated in crustaceans as growth only occurs when the animal moults. As data are typically collected by tag-recapture methods, the timing of moulting events can bias results. For example, if annual moulting events take place within a very short time-at-large after tagging, or if time-at-large is long and no moulting occurs. Classifying data into cases where moulting has / has not occurred during time-at-large can be required and can generally be determined by change in size between release and recapture. However, in old or slow growth individuals the moult increment can be too small to provide surety that moulting has occurred. A method that has been used since the 1970's to determine moulting in rock lobsters involves clipping the distal portion of a pleopod so that any regeneration observed at recapture can be used as evidence of a moult. We examined the use of this method in both tank and long-duration field trials within a marine protected area, which provided access to large animals with smaller growth increments. Our results emphasised that determination of moulting by change in size was unreliable with larger lobsters and that pleopod clipping can assist in identifying moulting events. However, regeneration was an unreliable measure of moulting if clipping occurred less than three months before the moult.

Consistent simulation of nonresonant diphoton production in hadron collisions including associated jet production up to two jets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odaka, Shigeru; Kurihara, Yoshimasa

2016-12-01

An event generator for diphoton (γ γ ) production in hadron collisions that includes associated jet production up to two jets has been developed using a subtraction method based on the limited leading-log subtraction. The parton shower (PS) simulation to restore the subtracted divergent components involves both quantum electrodynamic (QED) and quantum chromodynamic radiation, and QED radiation at very small Q2 is simulated by referring to a fragmentation function (FF). The PS/FF simulation has the ability to enforce the radiation of a given number of energetic photons. The generated events can be fed to PYTHIA to obtain particle (hadron) level event information, which enables us to perform realistic simulations of photon isolation and hadron-jet reconstruction. The simulated events, in which the loop-mediated g g →γ γ process is involved, reasonably reproduce the diphoton kinematics measured at the LHC. Using the developed simulation, we found that the two-jet processes significantly contribute to diphoton production. A large two-jet contribution can be considered as a common feature in electroweak-boson production in hadron collisions although the reason is yet to be understood. Discussion concerning the treatment of the underlying events in photon isolation is necessary for future higher precision measurements.

Risk and safety of pediatric sedation/anesthesia for procedures outside the operating room.

PubMed

Cravero, Joseph P

2009-08-01

Sedation and anesthesia outside the operating room represents a rapidly growing field of practice that involves a number of different specialty providers including anesthesiology. The literature surrounding this work is found in a variety of journals - many outside anesthesiology. This review is intended to inform readers about the current status of risk and safety involving sedation/anesthesia for tests and minor procedures utilizing a wide range of sources. Two large database studies have helped to define the frequency and nature of adverse events in pediatric sedation/anesthesia practice from a multispecialty perspective. A number of papers describing respiratory and hemodynamic aspects of dexmedetomidine sedation have also been published. Finally, a number of studies relating to training sedation providers, reporting of sedation adverse events, sedation for vulnerable populations, and (in particular) ketamine sedation adverse respiratory events have also come to light. The latest publications continue to document a relatively low risk to pediatric sedation yet also warn us about the potential adverse events in this field. The results help to define competencies required to deliver pediatric sedation and make this practice even safer. Particularly interesting are new jargon and methodologies for defining adverse events and the use of new methods for training sedation providers.

[Attitudes of personnel monitoring intra-hospital adverse events in Colombia].

PubMed

Gaitán-Duarte, Hernando; Gómez Sánchez, Pió I; Eslava-Schmalbach, Javier

2009-10-01

Detecting adverse events (AE) is part of managing hospitalised patients' safety. Suitable AE monitoring is affected by many factors regarding any particular institution and its workers. This article was aimed at describing the difficulties emerging from identifying and evaluating events and suggested interventions from the workers' viewpoint. Qualitative research. A focus group was formed with key informants from previous research entitled 'The incidence and avoidability of adverse events in three institutions in Colombia, 2006.' A conceptual framework was constructed based on publications pertaining to AEs and health-providing institutions; summaries were made by topic regarding the content of the focus group's work by systematising, categorising and readjusting the data. The triangulation method was used for guar-anteeing its credibility, transferability, reliability and that it could be confirmed. It is commonly thought that monitoring AE only consists of taking inventories related to negative work consequences into account; this opinion has been determined by prior organisational culture. Strategies used for increasing AE reporting were: intrapersonal work, raising awareness that nobody is exempt from being involved in an adverse event and encouraging administrative support for resolving deficiencies. The prospective monitoring method becomes hampered when applying it to services involving a large volume of information. A tendency was observed for specialist committees to underestimate an event's association. Heath workers, support personnel and management must have mutual confidence and adopt team-work so that future AE may be prevented.

Mechanism of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus entry into cells.

PubMed

Borrow, P; Oldstone, M B

1994-01-01

The path that the arenavirus lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) uses to enter rodent fibroblastic cell lines was dissected by infectivity and inhibition studies and immunoelectron microscopy. Lysosomotropic weak bases (chloroquine and ammonium chloride) and carboxylic ionophores (monensin and nigericin) inhibited virus entry, assessed as virus nucleoprotein expression at early times post-infection, indicating that the entry process involved a pH-dependent fusion step in intracellular vesicles. That entry occurred in vesicles rather than by direct fusion of virions with the plasma membrane was confirmed by immunoelectron microscopy. The vesicles involved were large (150-300 nm diameter), smooth-walled, and not associated with clathrin. Unlike classical phagocytosis, virus uptake in these vesicles was a microfilament-independent process, as it was not blocked by cytochalasins. LCMV entry into rodent fibroblast cell lines thus involves viropexis in large smooth-walled vesicles, followed by a pH-dependent fusion event inside the cell.

The Final Days of Paracas in Cerro del Gentil, Chincha Valley, Peru

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

This article describes and analyzes a highly significant archaeological context discovered in a late Paracas (400–200 BCE) sunken patio in the monumental platform mound of Cerro Gentil, located in the Chincha Valley, Peru. This patio area was used for several centuries for ritual activities, including large-scale feasting and other public gatherings. At one point late in this historical sequence people deposited a great deal of objects in what is demonstrably a single historical event. This was quickly followed by a series of minor events stratigraphically immediately above this larger event. This entire ritual process included the consumption of liquids and food, and involved the offering of whole pottery, pottery fragments, botanical remains, bone, lithics, baskets, pyro-engraved gourds, mummies, and other objects. We interpret these events as an “abandonment ceremony” or “termination ritual” during the late Paracas period, one that may have lasted for weeks or even months. The subsequent Topará occupation at the site (ca. 200 BCE- AD 100) involved the architectural enhancement of the mound area, but the pattern of use of the patio itself ended. Such a termination ritual signals a reorganization in the regional political structure of Paracas society. PMID:27144824

Associations of Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplement Use With Cardiovascular Disease Risks: Meta-analysis of 10 Trials Involving 77 917 Individuals.

PubMed

Aung, Theingi; Halsey, Jim; Kromhout, Daan; Gerstein, Hertzel C; Marchioli, Roberto; Tavazzi, Luigi; Geleijnse, Johanna M; Rauch, Bernhard; Ness, Andrew; Galan, Pilar; Chew, Emily Y; Bosch, Jackie; Collins, Rory; Lewington, Sarah; Armitage, Jane; Clarke, Robert

2018-03-01

Current guidelines advocate the use of marine-derived omega-3 fatty acids supplements for the prevention of coronary heart disease and major vascular events in people with prior coronary heart disease, but large trials of omega-3 fatty acids have produced conflicting results. To conduct a meta-analysis of all large trials assessing the associations of omega-3 fatty acid supplements with the risk of fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease and major vascular events in the full study population and prespecified subgroups. This meta-analysis included randomized trials that involved at least 500 participants and a treatment duration of at least 1 year and that assessed associations of omega-3 fatty acids with the risk of vascular events. Aggregated study-level data were obtained from 10 large randomized clinical trials. Rate ratios for each trial were synthesized using observed minus expected statistics and variances. Summary rate ratios were estimated by a fixed-effects meta-analysis using 95% confidence intervals for major diseases and 99% confidence intervals for all subgroups. The main outcomes included fatal coronary heart disease, nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke, major vascular events, and all-cause mortality, as well as major vascular events in study population subgroups. Of the 77 917 high-risk individuals participating in the 10 trials, 47 803 (61.4%) were men, and the mean age at entry was 64.0 years; the trials lasted a mean of 4.4 years. The associations of treatment with outcomes were assessed on 6273 coronary heart disease events (2695 coronary heart disease deaths and 2276 nonfatal myocardial infarctions) and 12 001 major vascular events. Randomization to omega-3 fatty acid supplementation (eicosapentaenoic acid dose range, 226-1800 mg/d) had no significant associations with coronary heart disease death (rate ratio [RR], 0.93; 99% CI, 0.83-1.03; P = .05), nonfatal myocardial infarction (RR, 0.97; 99% CI, 0.87-1.08; P = .43) or any coronary heart disease events (RR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.90-1.01; P = .12). Neither did randomization to omega-3 fatty acid supplementation have any significant associations with major vascular events (RR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.93-1.01; P = .10), overall or in any subgroups, including subgroups composed of persons with prior coronary heart disease, diabetes, lipid levels greater than a given cutoff level, or statin use. This meta-analysis demonstrated that omega-3 fatty acids had no significant association with fatal or nonfatal coronary heart disease or any major vascular events. It provides no support for current recommendations for the use of such supplements in people with a history of coronary heart disease.

A review for identification of initiating events in event tree development process on nuclear power plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riyadi, Eko H.

2014-09-01

Initiating event is defined as any event either internal or external to the nuclear power plants (NPPs) that perturbs the steady state operation of the plant, if operating, thereby initiating an abnormal event such as transient or loss of coolant accident (LOCA) within the NPPs. These initiating events trigger sequences of events that challenge plant control and safety systems whose failure could potentially lead to core damage or large early release. Selection for initiating events consists of two steps i.e. first step, definition of possible events, such as by evaluating a comprehensive engineering, and by constructing a top level logic model. Then the second step, grouping of identified initiating event's by the safety function to be performed or combinations of systems responses. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss initiating events identification in event tree development process and to reviews other probabilistic safety assessments (PSA). The identification of initiating events also involves the past operating experience, review of other PSA, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), feedback from system modeling, and master logic diagram (special type of fault tree). By using the method of study for the condition of the traditional US PSA categorization in detail, could be obtained the important initiating events that are categorized into LOCA, transients and external events.

Foreshock occurrence rates before large earthquakes worldwide

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reasenberg, P.A.

1999-01-01

Global rates of foreshock occurrence involving shallow M ??? 6 and M ??? 7 mainshocks and M ??? 5 foreshocks were measured, using earthquakes listed in the Harvard CMT catalog for the period 1978-1996. These rates are similar to rates ones measured in previous worldwide and regional studies when they are normalized for the ranges of magnitude difference they each span. The observed worldwide rates were compared to a generic model of earthquake clustering, which is based on patterns of small and moderate aftershocks in California, and were found to exceed the California model by a factor of approximately 2. Significant differences in foreshock rate were found among subsets of earthquakes defined by their focal mechanism and tectonic region, with the rate before thrust events higher and the rate before strike-slip events lower than the worldwide average. Among the thrust events a large majority, composed of events located in shallow subduction zones, registered a high foreshock rate, while a minority, located in continental thrust belts, measured a low rate. These differences may explain why previous surveys have revealed low foreshock rates among thrust events in California (especially southern California), while the worldwide observations suggest the opposite: California, lacking an active subduction zone in most of its territory, and including a region of mountain-building thrusts in the south, reflects the low rate apparently typical for continental thrusts, while the worldwide observations, dominated by shallow subduction zone events, are foreshock-rich.

Prevention of Hydrogeological Risk: The Time and Space Distribution of Catastrophic Events In A Selected Coastal Area of The Campanian Region, Italy.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esposito, E.; Porfido, S.; Violante, C.; Alaia, F.

Hydrogeological phenomena induced by rainstorm events occurring along a narrow coastal area of about 20 km, that lies between Amalfi and Salerno (Salerno Gulf), have been studied in detail. Several case histories have been reconstructed, since the XIX century, through the analysis of a wide variety of published and unpublished histor- ical and current sources, including scientific papers, archival and library documents, newspapers, state documents and available technical notes. The area develops on a uplifted region, with high gradient fluvial paths which account for the low stability of recent pyroclastic covers, related to the Somma-Vesuvio activity. The detachment of volcanic deposits is also favored by their different permeability. This study lead us to recognize at least twenty flooding phenomena of different magnitude. Among these, four particular events occurred in conjunction with exceptional daily rainfall intensity (up to 500 mm). In all cases the area involved was sufficiently large to hit numer- ous small historical villages. The rainstorms triggered several landslides, remarkable debris flows and overflowing which caused the loss of hundreds of human life and se- vere damage to the economic, social and infrastructural reality. Three flooding events followed in 25 years occurred over a relatively short time space. The first occurred on 7 October 1899, after 12-18 hours of heavy rainfall producing great damages in about twenty villages, distributed along the coast and inner areas. Eightyseven were the victims and hundreds the injuries. On 24-25 October 1910, a rainfall event lasting 35 hours induced the flooding that hit most of the coastal area between Salerno and Ravello (SA). About 400 buildings were completely destroyed, 200 were the dead and hundreds the injuries. Large landslides occurred in the villages of Cetara (SA) and Amalfi (SA). On 26 March 1924 after a heavy rainfall, sliding phenomena involving large volumes of material, occurred at Amalfi (SA) and Atrani (SA). Rock falls and de- bris flows were the most frequently observed phenomena throughout the investigated area. An extraordinary rainstorm on 25-26 October 1954 caused a great flood disaster. The thunderstorm gave way to 500 mm of rain in about 14 hours time. Three hundred and sixteen were the victims thousands the injuries, hundreds of buildings were com- pletely destroyed and many roads and railways were heavily damaged. Many sliding 1 phenomena involving different volumes were induced, ephemeral prograding shores were observed along the coast at river mouths. 2

Pseudorapidity configurations in collisions between gold nuclei and track-emulsion nuclei

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gulamov, K. G.; Zhokhova, S. I.; Lugovoi, V. V., E-mail: lugovoi@uzsci.net

2010-07-15

A method of parametrically invariant quantities is developed for studying pseudorapidity configurations in nucleus-nucleus collisions involving a large number of secondary particles. In simple models where the spectrum of pseudorapidities depends on three parameters, the shape of the spectrum may differ strongly from the shape of pseudorapidity configurations in individual events. Pseudorapidity configurations in collisions between gold nuclei of energy 10.6 GeV per nucleon and track-emulsion nuclei are contrasted against those in random stars calculated theoretically. An investigation of pseudorapidity configurations in individual events is an efficient method for verifying theoretical models.

Child disaster mental health interventions, part II

PubMed Central

Pfefferbaum, Betty; Sweeton, Jennifer L.; Newman, Elana; Varma, Vandana; Noffsinger, Mary A.; Shaw, Jon A.; Chrisman, Allan K.; Nitiéma, Pascal

2014-01-01

This review summarizes current knowledge on the timing of child disaster mental health intervention delivery, the settings for intervention delivery, the expertise of providers, and therapeutic approaches. Studies have been conducted on interventions delivered during all phases of disaster management from pre event through many months post event. Many interventions were administered in schools which offer access to large numbers of children. Providers included mental health professionals and school personnel. Studies described individual and group interventions, some with parent involvement. The next generation of interventions and studies should be based on an empirical analysis of a number of key areas. PMID:26295009

Energy Partition and Variability of Earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanamori, H.

2003-12-01

During an earthquake the potential energy (strain energy + gravitational energy + rotational energy) is released, and the released potential energy (Δ W) is partitioned into radiated energy (ER), fracture energy (EG), and thermal energy (E H). How Δ W is partitioned into these energies controls the behavior of an earthquake. The merit of the slip-weakening concept is that only ER and EG control the dynamics, and EH can be treated separately to discuss the thermal characteristics of an earthquake. In general, if EG/E_R is small, the event is ``brittle", if EG /ER is large, the event is ``quasi static" or, in more common terms, ``slow earthquakes" or ``creep". If EH is very large, the event may well be called a thermal runaway rather than an earthquake. The difference in energy partition has important implications for the rupture initiation, evolution and excitation of long-period ground motions from very large earthquakes. We review the current state of knowledge on this problem in light of seismological observations and the basic physics of fracture. With seismological methods, we can measure only ER and the lower-bound of Δ W, Δ W0, and estimation of other energies involves many assumptions. ER: Although ER can be directly measured from the radiated waves, its determination is difficult because a large fraction of energy radiated at the source is attenuated during propagation. With the commonly used teleseismic and regional methods, only for events with MW>7 and MW>4, respectively, we can directly measure more than 10% of the total radiated energy. The rest must be estimated after correction for attenuation. Thus, large uncertainties are involved, especially for small earthquakes. Δ W0: To estimate Δ W0, estimation of the source dimension is required. Again, only for large earthquakes, the source dimension can be estimated reliably. With the source dimension, the static stress drop, Δ σ S, and Δ W0, can be estimated. EG: Seismologically, EG is the energy mechanically dissipated during faulting. In the context of the slip-weakening model, EG can be estimated from Δ W0 and ER. Alternatively, EG can be estimated from the laboratory data on the surface energy, the grain size and the total volume of newly formed fault gouge. This method suggests that, for crustal earthquakes, EG/E_R is very small, less than 0.2 even for extreme cases, for earthquakes with MW>7. This is consistent with the EG estimated with seismological methods, and the fast rupture speeds during most large earthquakes. For shallow subduction-zone earthquakes, EG/E_R varies substantially depending on the tectonic environments. EH: Direct estimation of EH is difficult. However, even with modest friction, EH can be very large, enough to melt or even dissociate a significant amount of material near the slip zone for large events with large slip, and the associated thermal effects may have significant effects on fault dynamics. The energy partition varies significantly for different types of earthquakes, e.g. large earthquakes on mature faults, large earthquakes on faults with low slip rates, subduction-zone earthquakes, deep focus earthquakes etc; this variability manifests itself in the difference in the evolution of seismic slip pattern. The different behaviors will be illustrated using the examples for large earthquakes, including, the 2001 Kunlun, the 1998 Balleny Is., the 1994 Bolivia, the 2001 India earthquake, the 1999 Chi-Chi, and the 2002 Denali earthquakes.

Involving Patients and Families in the Analysis of Suicides, Suicide Attempts, and Other Sentinel Events in Mental Healthcare: A Qualitative Study in The Netherlands.

PubMed

Bouwman, Renée; de Graaff, Bert; de Beurs, Derek; van de Bovenkamp, Hester; Leistikow, Ian; Friele, Roland

2018-05-29

Involving patients and families in mental healthcare is becoming more commonplace, but little is known about how they are involved in the aftermath of serious adverse events related to quality of care (sentinel events, including suicides). This study explores the role patients and families have in formal processes after sentinel events in Dutch mental healthcare. We analyzed the existing policies of 15 healthcare organizations and spoke with 35 stakeholders including patients, families, their counselors, the national regulator, and professionals. Respondents argue that involving patients and families is valuable to help deal with the event emotionally, provide additional information, and prevent escalation. Results indicate that involving patients and families is only described in sentinel event policies to a limited extent. In practice, involvement consists mostly of providing aftercare and sharing information about the event by providers. Complexities such as privacy concerns and involuntary admissions are said to hinder involvement. Respondents also emphasize that involvement should not be obligatory and stress the need for patients and families to be involved throughout the process of treatment. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for involving patients and families after sentinel events. The first step seems to be early involvement during treatment process itself.

Impact Detection for Characterization of Complex Multiphase Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chan, Wai Hong Ronald; Urzay, Javier; Mani, Ali; Moin, Parviz

2016-11-01

Multiphase flows often involve a wide range of impact events, such as liquid droplets impinging on a liquid pool or gas bubbles coalescing in a liquid medium. These events contribute to a myriad of large-scale phenomena, including breaking waves on ocean surfaces. As impacts between surfaces necessarily occur at isolated points, numerical simulations of impact events will require the resolution of molecular scales near the impact points for accurate modeling. This can be prohibitively expensive unless subgrid impact and breakup models are formulated to capture the effects of the interactions. The first step in a large-eddy simulation (LES) based computational methodology for complex multiphase flows like air-sea interactions requires effective detection of these impact events. The starting point of this work is a collision detection algorithm for structured grids on a coupled level set / volume of fluid (CLSVOF) solver adapted from an earlier algorithm for cloth animations that triangulates the interface with the marching cubes method. We explore the extension of collision detection to a geometric VOF solver and to unstructured grids. Supported by ONR/A*STAR. Agency of Science, Technology and Research, Singapore; Office of Naval Research, USA.

Temporal dynamics and impact of event interactions in cyber-social populations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yi-Qing; Li, Xiang

2013-03-01

The advance of information technologies provides powerful measures to digitize social interactions and facilitate quantitative investigations. To explore large-scale indoor interactions of a social population, we analyze 18 715 users' Wi-Fi access logs recorded in a Chinese university campus during 3 months, and define event interaction (EI) to characterize the concurrent interactions of multiple users inferred by their geographic coincidences—co-locating in the same small region at the same time. We propose three rules to construct a transmission graph, which depicts the topological and temporal features of event interactions. The vertex dynamics of transmission graph tells that the active durations of EIs fall into the truncated power-law distributions, which is independent on the number of involved individuals. The edge dynamics of transmission graph reports that the transmission durations present a truncated power-law pattern independent on the daily and weekly periodicities. Besides, in the aggregated transmission graph, low-degree vertices previously neglected in the aggregated static networks may participate in the large-degree EIs, which is verified by three data sets covering different sizes of social populations with various rendezvouses. This work highlights the temporal significance of event interactions in cyber-social populations.

The pathophysiology of cigarette smoking and cardiovascular disease: an update.

PubMed

Ambrose, John A; Barua, Rajat S

2004-05-19

Cigarette smoking (CS) continues to be a major health hazard, and it contributes significantly to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Cigarette smoking impacts all phases of atherosclerosis from endothelial dysfunction to acute clinical events, the latter being largely thrombotic. Both active and passive (environmental) cigarette smoke exposure predispose to cardiovascular events. Whether there is a distinct direct dose-dependent correlation between cigarette smoke exposure and risk is debatable, as some recent experimental clinical studies have shown a non-linear relation to cigarette smoke exposure. The exact toxic components of cigarette smoke and the mechanisms involved in CS-related cardiovascular dysfunction are largely unknown, but CS increases inflammation, thrombosis, and oxidation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Recent experimental and clinical data support the hypothesis that cigarette smoke exposure increases oxidative stress as a potential mechanism for initiating cardiovascular dysfunction.

The shackles of misfortune: social adversity assessment and representation in a chronic-disease epidemiological setting.

PubMed

Surtees, Paul G; Wainwright, Nicholas W J

2007-01-01

Research evidence is accumulating to support an association between social adversity and the development of predisease processes and physical disease outcomes. While methodological advances have been achieved in the assessment of social adversity, significant barriers remain to their adoption in chronic disease epidemiological settings consequent upon the need to limit participant burden and restrictions imposed by cohort size and cost. A large-scale population-based cohort study, as part of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer, Norfolk, UK, provided an opportunity to include a comprehensive postal assessment of social adversity. A total of 20,921 participants reported details of 16,031 adverse circumstances during childhood, 119,056 life events and 106,170 person-years of difficulties experienced during adulthood. Impact and adaptation indices were constructed from responses to questions regarding specific life events experienced. There was no evidence that younger participants reported more difficulties in childhood than those who were older, and no evidence of clustering of loss events involving the death of first degree relatives according to their recency. However, there was evidence of recall bias for events not involving loss with increased event rates observed in the few years immediately prior to questionnaire completion. Women reported similar events as more upsetting, and that they took longer to get over their effects, than men. Difficulties experienced in childhood, life events and difficulties in adulthood, event impact and adaptation were all associated with worse physical functional health. Reported slow adaptation to the effects of life events was associated with the largest decrement in physical functional health. These findings strengthen the rationale for including a collection of comprehensive social adversity data within chronic disease epidemiological settings and offer promise for aiding understanding of individual differences in physical disease aetiology.

Data Albums: An Event Driven Search, Aggregation and Curation Tool for Earth Science

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramachandran, Rahul; Kulkarni, Ajinkya; Maskey, Manil; Bakare, Rohan; Basyal, Sabin; Li, Xiang; Flynn, Shannon

2014-01-01

One of the largest continuing challenges in any Earth science investigation is the discovery and access of useful science content from the increasingly large volumes of Earth science data and related information available. Approaches used in Earth science research such as case study analysis and climatology studies involve gathering discovering and gathering diverse data sets and information to support the research goals. Research based on case studies involves a detailed description of specific weather events using data from different sources, to characterize physical processes in play for a specific event. Climatology-based research tends to focus on the representativeness of a given event, by studying the characteristics and distribution of a large number of events. This allows researchers to generalize characteristics such as spatio-temporal distribution, intensity, annual cycle, duration, etc. To gather relevant data and information for case studies and climatology analysis is both tedious and time consuming. Current Earth science data systems are designed with the assumption that researchers access data primarily by instrument or geophysical parameter. Those who know exactly the datasets of interest can obtain the specific files they need using these systems. However, in cases where researchers are interested in studying a significant event, they have to manually assemble a variety of datasets relevant to it by searching the different distributed data systems. In these cases, a search process needs to be organized around the event rather than observing instruments. In addition, the existing data systems assume users have sufficient knowledge regarding the domain vocabulary to be able to effectively utilize their catalogs. These systems do not support new or interdisciplinary researchers who may be unfamiliar with the domain terminology. This paper presents a specialized search, aggregation and curation tool for Earth science to address these existing challenges. The search tool automatically creates curated "Data Albums", aggregated collections of information related to a specific science topic or event, containing links to relevant data files (granules) from different instruments; tools and services for visualization and analysis; and information about the event contained in news reports, images or videos to supplement research analysis. Curation in the tool is driven via an ontology based relevancy ranking algorithm to filter out non-relevant information and data.

The detection of a population of submillimeter-bright, strongly lensed galaxies.

PubMed

Negrello, Mattia; Hopwood, R; De Zotti, G; Cooray, A; Verma, A; Bock, J; Frayer, D T; Gurwell, M A; Omont, A; Neri, R; Dannerbauer, H; Leeuw, L L; Barton, E; Cooke, J; Kim, S; da Cunha, E; Rodighiero, G; Cox, P; Bonfield, D G; Jarvis, M J; Serjeant, S; Ivison, R J; Dye, S; Aretxaga, I; Hughes, D H; Ibar, E; Bertoldi, F; Valtchanov, I; Eales, S; Dunne, L; Driver, S P; Auld, R; Buttiglione, S; Cava, A; Grady, C A; Clements, D L; Dariush, A; Fritz, J; Hill, D; Hornbeck, J B; Kelvin, L; Lagache, G; Lopez-Caniego, M; Gonzalez-Nuevo, J; Maddox, S; Pascale, E; Pohlen, M; Rigby, E E; Robotham, A; Simpson, C; Smith, D J B; Temi, P; Thompson, M A; Woodgate, B E; York, D G; Aguirre, J E; Beelen, A; Blain, A; Baker, A J; Birkinshaw, M; Blundell, R; Bradford, C M; Burgarella, D; Danese, L; Dunlop, J S; Fleuren, S; Glenn, J; Harris, A I; Kamenetzky, J; Lupu, R E; Maddalena, R J; Madore, B F; Maloney, P R; Matsuhara, H; Michaowski, M J; Murphy, E J; Naylor, B J; Nguyen, H; Popescu, C; Rawlings, S; Rigopoulou, D; Scott, D; Scott, K S; Seibert, M; Smail, I; Tuffs, R J; Vieira, J D; van der Werf, P P; Zmuidzinas, J

2010-11-05

Gravitational lensing is a powerful astrophysical and cosmological probe and is particularly valuable at submillimeter wavelengths for the study of the statistical and individual properties of dusty star-forming galaxies. However, the identification of gravitational lenses is often time-intensive, involving the sifting of large volumes of imaging or spectroscopic data to find few candidates. We used early data from the Herschel Astrophysical Terahertz Large Area Survey to demonstrate that wide-area submillimeter surveys can simply and easily detect strong gravitational lensing events, with close to 100% efficiency.

The extragalactic universe - An alternative view

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Arp, H. C.; Burbidge, G.; Hoyle, F.; Wickramasing, N. C.; Narlikar, J. V.

1990-01-01

It is argued that the currently popular cosmological model is subject to many doubts based on observational data which suggest that there never was a Big Bang. It is further argued that the observational evidence concerning nonthermal objects with large redshifts leads to the conclusion that these redshifts are largely intrinsic in origin. These objects do not lie at large cosmological distances, but rather much closer with z(c) less than about 0.1. This in turn means that there is no evidence for evolution in the discrete objects, and that what is seen in them are creation events involving the ejection of new matter from the nuclei of galaxies.

Association of Impulsive Solar Energetic Particle Events With Large-Scale Coronal Waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bucik, R.; Innes, D.; Mason, G. M.; Wiedenbeck, M. E.

2016-12-01

Impulsive or 3He-rich solar energetic particle (SEP) events have been commonly associated with EUV jets and narrow CMEs which are believed to be the signatures of magnetic reconnection involving field lines open to interplanetary space. The elemental and isotopic fractionation in these events are thought to be caused by processes confined to the flare sites. In addition to their anomalous abundances, 3He-rich SEPs show puzzling energy spectral shapes varying from rounded forms to power laws where the later are characteristics of shock acceleration. In this study we identify 32 impulsive SEP events observed by the ACE near the Earth during the solar minimum period 2007-2010 and examine their solar sources with the high resolution STEREO EUV images. Leading the Earth, STEREO-A provided for the first time a direct view on impulsive SEP event sources, which are generally located on the Sun's western hemisphere. Surprisingly, we find that about half of the impulsive SEP events in this survey are associated with large-scale EUV coronal waves. An examination of the wave front propagation and the coronal magnetic field connections suggests that the EUV waves may affect the injection of 3He-rich SEPs into interplanetary space. We found the events with jets tend to be associated with rounded spectra and the events with coronal waves with power laws. This suggests that coronal waves may be related to the unknown second stage mechanism commonly used to interpret spectral forms of 3He-rich SEPs. R. Bucik is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft under grant BU 3115/2-1.

Analysis of brand personality to involve event involvement and loyalty: A case study of Jakarta Fashion Week 2017

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nasution, A. H.; Rachmawan, Y. A.

2018-04-01

Fashion trend in the world changed extremely fast. Fashion has become the one of people’s lifestyle in the world. Fashion week events in several areas can be a measurement of fahion trend nowadays. There was a fashion week event in Indonesia called Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW) aims to show fashion trend to people who want to improve their fashion style. People will join some events if the event has involvement to them, hence they will come to that event again and again. Annually and continuously event is really important to create loyalty among people who are involved in it, in order to increase positive development towards the organizer in organizing the next event. Saving a huge amount from the marketing budget, and creating a higher quality event. This study aims to know the effect of 5 brand personality dimension to event involvement and loyalty in Jakarta Fashion Week (JFW). This study use quantitative confirmative method with Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis technique. The sample of this study is 150 respondents who became a participant of Jakarta Fashion Week 2017. Result show that there was significant effect of 5 brand personality dimension to 3 dimension of event involvement and loyalty. Meanwhile, there was one dimension of event involvement called personal self-expression that has not effect to loyalty.

Individual differences in current events knowledge: contributions of ability, personality, and interests.

PubMed

Hambrick, David Z; Meinz, Elizabeth J; Oswald, Frederick L

2007-03-01

What accounts for individual differences in the sort of knowledge that people may draw on in everyday cognitive tasks, such as deciding whom to vote for in a presidential election, how to invest money in the stock market, or what team to bet on in a friendly wager? In a large sample of undergraduate students, we investigated correlates of individual differences in recently acquired knowledge of current events in domains such as politics, business, and sports. Structural equation modeling revealed two predictive pathways: one involving cognitive ability factors and the other involving two major nonability factors (personality and interests). The results of this study add to what is known about the sources of individual differences in knowledge and are interpreted in the context of theoretical conceptions of adult intelligence that emphasize the centrality and importance of knowledge (e.g., Ackerman, 1996; Cattell, 1971).

Study of the Source Regions of Coronal Mass Ejections Using Yohkoh SXT Data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Webb, David F.; Kahler, Stephen W.

1997-01-01

The scientific objective of the program was to better understand how CMEs (Coronal Mass Ejections) are initiated at the sun by examining structures on the disk which are related to the origins of CMEs. CMEs represent important disruptions of large-scale structures of closed magnetic fields in the corona, and result in significant disturbances of the interplanetary medium and near-Earth space. The program pertained to NASA's objectives of understanding the physics of solar activity and the structured and evolution of the corona, and the results are being applied to understanding CMEs currently being observed by SOHO near the sun and by WIND and Ulysses in the heliosphere. Three general areas of research were pursued in the program. One was to use Yohkoh soft X-ray telescope (SXT) images of eruptive events visible against the solar disk to examine the coronal structures and the boundaries of the large-scale magnetic fields considered to be involved in coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The second area involved a survey and study of SXT X-ray arcade events which exhibit dimming, or the possible depletion of coronal material above and possibly before onset of the bright long-duration event (LDE). Finally, we studied the SXT data during periods when white light CMEs were observed the HAO Mauna Loa K-coronameter and, conversely, we examined the white light data during periods when expanding X-ray loops were observed at the limb.

"How can I not?": men's pathways to involvement in anti-violence against women work.

PubMed

Casey, Erin; Smith, Tyler

2010-08-01

Despite growing male participation in ending violence against women, little is known about the factors that precipitate men's engagement as antiviolence "allies." This study presents findings from a qualitative analysis of interviews with 27 men who recently initiated involvement in an organization or event dedicated to ending sexual or domestic violence. Findings suggest that men's engagement is a process that occurs over time, that happens largely through existing social networks, and that is influenced by exposure to sensitizing experiences, tangible involvement opportunities and specific types of meaning making related to violence. Implications for models of ally development and for efforts to engage men in antiviolence work are discussed.

Ensemble Modeling of the July 23, 2012 CME Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cash, M. D.; Biesecker, D. A.; Millward, G.; Arge, C. N.; Henney, C. J.

2013-12-01

On July 23, 2012 a large and very fast coronal mass ejection (CME) was observed by STEREO A. This CME was unusual in that the estimates of the speed of the CME ranged from 2125 km/s to 2780 km/s based on dividing the distance of STEREO A from the Sun by the transit time of the CME. Modeling of this CME event with the WSA-Enlil model has also suggested that a very fast speed is required in order to obtain the correct arrival time at 1 AU. We present a systematic study of parameter space for the July 23, 2012 CME event through an ensemble study using the WSA-Enlil model to predict the arrival time of the CME at STEREO A. We investigate how variations in the initial speed, angular width, and direction affect the predicted arrival time. We also explore how variations in the background solar wind influence CME arrival time by using varying ADAPT maps within our ensemble study. Factors involved in the fast transit time of this large CME are discussed and the optimal CME parameters are presented.

Planning for the Leicester City Football Club victory parade.

PubMed

Halse, Martin

2017-01-01

This paper details the multiagency planning for and delivery of the Leicester City Football Club victory parade at the end of the 2015/16 football season to celebrate the team winning the Barclays Premier League. This is compared and contrasted with the planning and delivery of the reinterment of the mortal remains of King Richard III, which took place in Leicester a little more than 12 months prior. Both events were unprecedentedly high-profile for a comparatively small city and the routes involved had much in common. However, the amount of time to plan each event differed greatly: approximately 18 months for the reinterment and just five weeks for the victory parade. The events were largely un-ticketed but with very different crowd profiles. This paper describes the background to both events; their context and setting; the structure of the planning groups; contingency planning considerations and implementation; pre-event exercises; command, control and coordination arrangements; business continuity issues; communications and lessons learned.

Catastrophic flooding origin of shelf valley systems in the English Channel.

PubMed

Gupta, Sanjeev; Collier, Jenny S; Palmer-Felgate, Andy; Potter, Graeme

2007-07-19

Megaflood events involving sudden discharges of exceptionally large volumes of water are rare, but can significantly affect landscape evolution, continental-scale drainage patterns and climate change. It has been proposed that a significant flood event eroded a network of large ancient valleys on the floor of the English Channel-the narrow seaway between England and France. This hypothesis has remained untested through lack of direct evidence, and alternative non-catastrophist ideas have been entertained for valley formation. Here we analyse a new regional bathymetric map of part of the English Channel derived from high-resolution sonar data, which shows the morphology of the valley in unprecedented detail. We observe a large bedrock-floored valley that contains a distinct assemblage of landforms, including streamlined islands and longitudinal erosional grooves, which are indicative of large-scale subaerial erosion by high-magnitude water discharges. Our observations support the megaflood model, in which breaching of a rock dam at the Dover Strait instigated catastrophic drainage of a large pro-glacial lake in the southern North Sea basin. We suggest that megaflooding provides an explanation for the permanent isolation of Britain from mainland Europe during interglacial high-sea-level stands, and consequently for patterns of early human colonisation of Britain together with the large-scale reorganization of palaeodrainage in northwest Europe.

A review for identification of initiating events in event tree development process on nuclear power plants

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Riyadi, Eko H., E-mail: e.riyadi@bapeten.go.id

2014-09-30

Initiating event is defined as any event either internal or external to the nuclear power plants (NPPs) that perturbs the steady state operation of the plant, if operating, thereby initiating an abnormal event such as transient or loss of coolant accident (LOCA) within the NPPs. These initiating events trigger sequences of events that challenge plant control and safety systems whose failure could potentially lead to core damage or large early release. Selection for initiating events consists of two steps i.e. first step, definition of possible events, such as by evaluating a comprehensive engineering, and by constructing a top level logicmore » model. Then the second step, grouping of identified initiating event's by the safety function to be performed or combinations of systems responses. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to discuss initiating events identification in event tree development process and to reviews other probabilistic safety assessments (PSA). The identification of initiating events also involves the past operating experience, review of other PSA, failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA), feedback from system modeling, and master logic diagram (special type of fault tree). By using the method of study for the condition of the traditional US PSA categorization in detail, could be obtained the important initiating events that are categorized into LOCA, transients and external events.« less

Passive seismic monitoring of the Bering Glacier during its last surge event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhan, Z.

2017-12-01

The physical causes behind glacier surges are still unclear. Numerous evidences suggest that they probably involve changes in glacier basal conditions, such as switch of basal water system from concentrated large tunnels to a distributed "layer" as "connected cavities". However, most remote sensing approaches can not penetrate to the base to monitor such changes continuously. Here we apply seismic interferometry using ambient noise to monitor glacier seismic structures, especially to detect possible signatures of the hypothesized high-pressure water "layer". As an example, we derive an 11-year long history of seismic structure of the Bering Glacier, Alaska, covering its latest surge event. We observe substantial drops of Rayleigh and Love wavespeeds across the glacier during the surge event, potentially caused by changes in crevasse density, glacier thickness, and basal conditions.

Who Does a Better Job? Work Quality and Quantity Comparison between Student Volunteers and Students Who Get Extra Credit

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Omori, Megumi; Feldhaus, Heather

2015-01-01

Although undergraduate students are often involved in academic research as volunteers, paid assistants or to receive extra-credit, very little attention has been paid to how well these students perform when they assist researchers. The current study compares the number of surveys gathered at a large local event and the number of missing entries…

Wounding coordinately induces cell wall protein, cell cycle and pectin methyl esterase genes involved in tuber closing layer and wound periderm development

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is the world’s fourth largest food crop and large financial losses are incurred each year from wound and bruise related injuries. However, little is known about the coordinate induction of genes that may be associated with or mark major wound-healing events. In this s...

Acute primary actinomycosis involving the hard palate of a diabetic patient.

PubMed

de Andrade, Ana Luiza Dias Leite; Novaes, Márcio Menezes; Germano, Adriano Rocha; Luz, Kleber Giovanni; de Almeida Freitas, Roseana; Galvão, Hébel Cavalcanti

2014-03-01

Actinomycosis is a relatively rare infection caused by saprophytic bacteria of the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract that can become pathogenic. The chronic hyperglycemia of diabetes mellitus induces events that promote structural changes in various tissues and are associated with problems in wound healing. This infection remains largely unknown to most clinicians because of its different presentations, and palatal involvement is extremely rare. This report describes the case of a 46-year-old woman who was diagnosed with actinomycosis involving the hard palate. The main clinical, histopathologic, and therapeutic characteristics and differential diagnosis of actinomycosis are reviewed. To date, 3 cases of actinomycosis involving the hard palate have been reported. Copyright © 2014 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Multiperspective smFRET reveals rate-determining late intermediates of ribosomal translocation.

PubMed

Wasserman, Michael R; Alejo, Jose L; Altman, Roger B; Blanchard, Scott C

2016-04-01

Directional translocation of the ribosome through the mRNA open reading frame is a critical determinant of translational fidelity. This process entails a complex interplay of large-scale conformational changes within the actively translating particle, which together coordinate the movement of tRNA and mRNA substrates with respect to the large and small ribosomal subunits. Using pre-steady state, single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer imaging, we tracked the nature and timing of these conformational events within the Escherichia coli ribosome from five structural perspectives. Our investigations revealed direct evidence of structurally and kinetically distinct late intermediates during substrate movement, whose resolution determines the rate of translocation. These steps involve intramolecular events within the EF-G-GDP-bound ribosome, including exaggerated, reversible fluctuations of the small-subunit head domain, which ultimately facilitate peptidyl-tRNA's movement into its final post-translocation position.

Multi-perspective smFRET reveals rate-determining late intermediates of ribosomal translocation

PubMed Central

Wasserman, Michael R.; Alejo, Jose L.; Altman, Roger B.; Blanchard, Scott C.

2016-01-01

Directional translocation of the ribosome through the messenger RNA open reading frame is a critical determinant of translational fidelity. This process entails a complex interplay of large-scale conformational changes within the actively translating particle, which together coordinate the movement of transfer and messenger RNA substrates with respect to the large and small ribosomal subunits. Using pre-steady state, single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer imaging, we have tracked the nature and timing of these conformational events within the Escherichia coli ribosome from five structural perspectives. Our investigations reveal direct evidence of structurally and kinetically distinct, late intermediates during substrate movement, whose resolution is rate-determining to the translocation mechanism. These steps involve intra-molecular events within the EFG(GDP)-bound ribosome, including exaggerated, reversible fluctuations of the small subunit head domain, which ultimately facilitate peptidyl-tRNA’s movement into its final post-translocation position. PMID:26926435

The halo current in ASDEX Upgrade

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pautasso, G.; Giannone, L.; Gruber, O.; Herrmann, A.; Maraschek, M.; Schuhbeck, K. H.; ASDEX Upgrade Team

2011-04-01

Due to the complexity of the phenomena involved, a self-consistent physical model for the prediction of the halo current is not available. Therefore the ITER specifications of the spatial distribution and evolution of the halo current rely on empirical assumptions. This paper presents the results of an extensive analysis of the halo current measured in ASDEX Upgrade with particular emphasis on the evolution of the halo region, on the magnitude and time history of the halo current, and on the structure and duration of its toroidal and poloidal asymmetries. The effective length of the poloidal path of the halo current in the vessel is found to be rather insensitive to plasma parameters. Large values of the toroidally averaged halo current are observed in both vertical displacement events and centred disruptions but last a small fraction of the current quench; they coincide typically with a large but short-lived MHD event.

Precipitation-snowmelt timing and snowmelt augmentation of large peak flow events, western Cascades, Oregon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jennings, Keith; Jones, Julia A.

2015-09-01

This study tested multiple hydrologic mechanisms to explain snowpack dynamics in extreme rain-on-snow floods, which occur widely in the temperate and polar regions. We examined 26, 10 day large storm events over the period 1992-2012 in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest in western Oregon, using statistical analyses (regression, ANOVA, and wavelet coherence) of hourly snowmelt lysimeter, air and dewpoint temperature, wind speed, precipitation, and discharge data. All events involved snowpack outflow, but only seven events had continuous net snowpack outflow, including three of the five top-ranked peak discharge events. Peak discharge was not related to precipitation rate, but it was related to the 10 day sum of precipitation and net snowpack outflow, indicating an increased flood response to continuously melting snowpacks. The two largest peak discharge events in the study had significant wavelet coherence at multiple time scales over several days; a distribution of phase differences between precipitation and net snowpack outflow at the 12-32 h time scale with a sharp peak at π/2 radians; and strongly correlated snowpack outflow among lysimeters representing 42% of basin area. The recipe for an extreme rain-on-snow event includes persistent, slow melt within the snowpack, which appears to produce a near-saturated zone within the snowpack throughout the landscape, such that the snowpack may transmit pressure waves of precipitation directly to streams, and this process is synchronized across the landscape. Further work is needed to understand the internal dynamics of a melting snowpack throughout a snow-covered landscape and its contribution to extreme rain-on-snow floods.

Seismic Events and Tidal Forces near the Grounding Line of Beardmore Glacier, Antarctica

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cooley, J.; Winberry, J. P.; Conway, H.; Koutnik, M. R.

2016-12-01

Ice shelves are floating extensions of large ice sheets. Weakening or break-up of these ice shelves allow ice upstream to move off the continent at increased rates, contributing to sea level rise. One prominent mechanism by which shelves are weakened is through crevasse formation. Icequakes are small magnitude seismic events that occur within a volume of ice which reveal areas where crevasses on an ice shelf might form, providing insight into ice shelf stability. The processes that drive these crevassing events are not well-understood, but past research on icequakes near the grounding line has found a correlation with tide. During high tide, there is a large mass of water pushing against the ice shelf, compressing it. As the tide falls, so does this pressure, allowing the ice shelf to stretch. This creates an enormous amount of stress, released as crevasses, near the grounding line. Preliminary examination of data taken over a three week period in the austral summer of 2013/14 at Beardmore Glacier also reveals a tidal correlation, but with rising tide playing a bigger role than previously thought. I aim to find a pattern in the physical locations of events which separates those that occur during rising tide from those that occur during falling tide, to take steps in understanding what constraint rising tide could have on the creation of crevasses. Research methods involve programming scripts to automate counting of events, locating the epicenters with beamforming, calculating the local magnitudes of the events, and utilizing processed GPS data to correlate the events to ocean tide.

Amateur Astronomers As Public Outreach Partners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennett, M. A.

2006-08-01

Amateur astronomers involved in public outreach represent a huge, largely untapped source of energy and enthusiasm to help astronomers reach the general public. Even though many astronomy educators already work with amateur astronomers, the potential educational impact of amateur astronomers as public outreach ambassadors remains largely unrealized. Surveys and other work by the ASP in the US show that more than 20% of astronomy club members routinely participate in public engagement and educational events, such as public star parties, classroom visits, work with youth and community groups, etc. Amateur astronomers who participate in public outreach events are knowledgeable about astronomy and passionate about sharing their hobby with other people. They are very willing to work with astronomers and astronomy educators. They want useful materials, support, and training. In the USA, the ASP operates "The Night Sky Network," (funded by NASA). We have developed specialized materials and training, tested by and used by amateur astronomers. This project works with nearly 200 local astronomy clubs in 50 states to help them conduct more effective public outreach events. It has resulted in nearly 3,600 outreach events (reaching nearly 300,000 people) in just two years. In this presentation we examine key success factors, lessons learned, and suggest how astronomers outside the US can recruit and work with "outreach amateur astronomers" in their own countries.

Device closure of secundum atrial septal defect's and the risk of cardiac erosion.

PubMed

Thomson, J D R; Qureshi, S A

2015-12-01

Cardiac erosion related to transcatheter atrial septal defect closure devices is of increasing concern. Erosion is reported to have occurred with most of currently available occluder devices. Perhaps due to the very large number of implants worldwide, the Amplatzer (St Jude) occluder is associated with the majority of cardiac erosion events reported in the literature. Best current estimates of the incidence of erosion with the St Jude device are between one and three cases per 1000 implants. Most events occur early after implantation and it is rare, although not unheard of, for events to occur after a year following device insertion. It is important that those involved with closure programmes are vigilant for the problem, because device-related erosion is associated with a significant mortality risk. Despite considerable debate, the risk factors (either patient or device) for erosion remain unclear and require further investigation. Currently available data sets have focussed largely on erosion cohorts and are unable to place these cases in appropriate context with non-erosion closure cases. What is certain is that programmes implanting these devices must take care to implant appropriately sized devices and have in place plans to ensure that patients are both well informed and can access help and advice in the event of developing symptoms.

Introducing HEP to high-school and university students through ATLAS event analysis tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fassouliotis, Dimitris; Kourkoumelis, Christine; Vourakis, Stylianos

2017-12-01

Several EU outreach projects have been running for a few years now and have created a large number of inquiry based educational resources for highschool teachers and students. Their goal is the promotion of science education in schools though new methods built on the inquiry based education techniques, involving large consortia of European partners and implementation of largescale pilots in a very large number of European schools. Until recently there has been a shortage of educational scenaria addressed to university students to be implemented in the framework of the laboratory courses. Two such scenaria were introduced recently at the National and Kapodistrian University undergraduate labs and are described below.

Investigation of persistent Multiplets at the EGS reservoir of Soultz-Sous-Forêts, France

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lengliné, O.; Cauchie, L.; Schmittbuhl, J.

2017-12-01

During the exploitation of geothermal reservoirs, abundant seismicity is generally observed, especially during phases of hydraulic stimulations. The induced seismicity at the Enhanced Geothermal System of Soultz-Sous-Forêts in France, has been thoroughly studied over the years of exploitation. The mechanism at its origin has been related to both fluid pressure increases during stimulation and aseismic creeping movements. The fluid-induced seismic events often exhibit a high degree of similarity and the mechanism at the origin of these repeated events is thought to be associated with slow slip process where asperities on the rupture zone act several times.To have a better understanding of the mechanisms associated with such events and on the damaged zones involved during the hydraulic stimulations, we investigate the behavior of the multiplets and their persistent nature over several water injection intervals. For this purpose, we analyzed large datasets recorded from a borehole seismic network for several water injection periods (1993, 2000). For each stimulation interval, thousands of events are recorded at depth. We detected the events using a STA/LTA approach and classified them into families of comparable waveforms using an approach based on cross-correlation analysis. Classification of the seismic events is then improved depending on their location within the multiplets. For this purpose, inter-event distances within multiplets are examined and determined from cross-correlation analysis between pairs of events. These distances are then compared to the source dimensions derived from the estimation of the corner frequencies estimation. The multiplets properties (location, events size) are then investigated within and over several hydraulic tests. Hopefully these steps will lead to increase the knowledge on the repetitive nature of these events and the investigation of their persistence will outline the heterogeneities of the structures (regional stress perturbations, fluid flow channeling) regularly involved during the different stimulations.

Microwave evidence for large-scale changes associated with a filament eruption

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kundu, M. R.; Schmahl, E. J.; Fu, Q.-J.

1989-01-01

VLA observations at 6 and 20 cm wavelengths taken on August 3, 1985 are presented, showing an eruptive filament event in which microwave emission originated in two widely separated regions during the disintegration of the filament. The amount of heat required for the enhancement is estimated. Near-simultaneous changes in intensity and polarization were observed in the western components of the northern and southern regions. It is suggested that large-scale magnetic interconnections permitted the two regions to respond similarly to an external energy or mass source involved in the disruption of the filament.

Precambrian perspectives.

PubMed

Goodwin, A M

1981-07-03

The Precambrian record is interpreted in terms of an evolutionary progression that moves in the direction of increasing continental stability. An early, highly mobile microplate tectonics phase progressed through a more stable, largely intracratonic, ensialic, mobile belt phase to the modern macroplate tectonics phase that involves large, rigid lithospheric plates. Various phases are characterized by distinctive crustal associations. Three controls-bulk earth heat production, crustal fractionation and cratonization, and atmospheric oxygen accumulation-are viewed as the cumulative cause of the trends and events that characterize the crust at different stages of development, from its inception approximately 4.6 billion years ago to the present.

The SERENDIP 2 SETI project: Current status

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bowyer, C. S.; Werthimer, D.; Donnelly, C.; Herrick, W.; Lampton, M.

1991-01-01

Over the past 30 years, interest in extraterrestrial intelligence has progressed from philosophical discussion to rigorous scientific endeavors attempting to make contact. Since it is impossible to assess the probability of success and the amount of telescope time needed for detection, Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Projects are plagued with the problem of attaining the large amounts of time needed on the world's precious few large radio telescopes. To circumvent this problem, the Search for Extraterrestrial Radio Emissions from Nearby Developed Intelligent Populations (SERENDIP) instrument operates autonomously in a piggyback mode utilizing whatever observing plan is chosen by the primary observer. In this way, large quantities of high-quality data can be collected in a cost-effective and unobtrusive manner. During normal operations, SERENDIP logs statistically significant events for further offline analysis. Due to the large number of terrestrial and near-space transmitters on earth, a major element of the SERENDIP project involves identifying and rejecting spurious signals from these sources. Another major element of the SERENDIP Project (as well as most other SETI efforts) is detecting extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) signals. Events selected as candidate ETI signals are studied further in a targeted search program which utilizes between 24 to 48 hours of dedicated telescope time each year.

Investigation on the characteristics of seismic events observed during stimulation of geothermal reservoirs at Basel, Switzerland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mukuhira, Y.; Asanuma, H.; Niitsuma, H.; Häring, M. O.

2011-12-01

Hydraulic stimulation is commonly used to develop engineered geothermal systems (EGS) and enhancement of oil recovery (EOR). Occurrence of seismic events with larger magnitude has been highlighted as one of the practical and critical problems. Some seismic events with moment magnitude (Mw) larger than 2.0 occurred during and after hydraulic stimulation in Basel, Switzerland, in 2006, and these large events led to the geothermal project discontinued. We defined the large event as seismic events with Mw>2.0, and have investigated fundamental characteristics of them as summarized in Table 1. It has been revealed that the characteristics of the large events are dependent on hypocentral location and origin time. We also found most of the large events occurred from 2 types of fracture planes: 6 of 9large events had FPSs with N-S azimuth. Other 3 large events including the largest events had FPSs ESE-WNW azimuth, which can be interpreted as "most slip-able" under stress state at Basel. The large events clearly followed "constant stress drop scaling law". We also estimated critical pore pressure for shear slip using Coulomb failure criterion, and have revealed that the critical pore pressure of the large events was relatively lower. Our result shows that the occurrences of the large events can not be simply interpreted by previous experience on induced seismicity.

The BioLexicon: a large-scale terminological resource for biomedical text mining

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Due to the rapidly expanding body of biomedical literature, biologists require increasingly sophisticated and efficient systems to help them to search for relevant information. Such systems should account for the multiple written variants used to represent biomedical concepts, and allow the user to search for specific pieces of knowledge (or events) involving these concepts, e.g., protein-protein interactions. Such functionality requires access to detailed information about words used in the biomedical literature. Existing databases and ontologies often have a specific focus and are oriented towards human use. Consequently, biological knowledge is dispersed amongst many resources, which often do not attempt to account for the large and frequently changing set of variants that appear in the literature. Additionally, such resources typically do not provide information about how terms relate to each other in texts to describe events. Results This article provides an overview of the design, construction and evaluation of a large-scale lexical and conceptual resource for the biomedical domain, the BioLexicon. The resource can be exploited by text mining tools at several levels, e.g., part-of-speech tagging, recognition of biomedical entities, and the extraction of events in which they are involved. As such, the BioLexicon must account for real usage of words in biomedical texts. In particular, the BioLexicon gathers together different types of terms from several existing data resources into a single, unified repository, and augments them with new term variants automatically extracted from biomedical literature. Extraction of events is facilitated through the inclusion of biologically pertinent verbs (around which events are typically organized) together with information about typical patterns of grammatical and semantic behaviour, which are acquired from domain-specific texts. In order to foster interoperability, the BioLexicon is modelled using the Lexical Markup Framework, an ISO standard. Conclusions The BioLexicon contains over 2.2 M lexical entries and over 1.8 M terminological variants, as well as over 3.3 M semantic relations, including over 2 M synonymy relations. Its exploitation can benefit both application developers and users. We demonstrate some such benefits by describing integration of the resource into a number of different tools, and evaluating improvements in performance that this can bring. PMID:21992002

The BioLexicon: a large-scale terminological resource for biomedical text mining.

PubMed

Thompson, Paul; McNaught, John; Montemagni, Simonetta; Calzolari, Nicoletta; del Gratta, Riccardo; Lee, Vivian; Marchi, Simone; Monachini, Monica; Pezik, Piotr; Quochi, Valeria; Rupp, C J; Sasaki, Yutaka; Venturi, Giulia; Rebholz-Schuhmann, Dietrich; Ananiadou, Sophia

2011-10-12

Due to the rapidly expanding body of biomedical literature, biologists require increasingly sophisticated and efficient systems to help them to search for relevant information. Such systems should account for the multiple written variants used to represent biomedical concepts, and allow the user to search for specific pieces of knowledge (or events) involving these concepts, e.g., protein-protein interactions. Such functionality requires access to detailed information about words used in the biomedical literature. Existing databases and ontologies often have a specific focus and are oriented towards human use. Consequently, biological knowledge is dispersed amongst many resources, which often do not attempt to account for the large and frequently changing set of variants that appear in the literature. Additionally, such resources typically do not provide information about how terms relate to each other in texts to describe events. This article provides an overview of the design, construction and evaluation of a large-scale lexical and conceptual resource for the biomedical domain, the BioLexicon. The resource can be exploited by text mining tools at several levels, e.g., part-of-speech tagging, recognition of biomedical entities, and the extraction of events in which they are involved. As such, the BioLexicon must account for real usage of words in biomedical texts. In particular, the BioLexicon gathers together different types of terms from several existing data resources into a single, unified repository, and augments them with new term variants automatically extracted from biomedical literature. Extraction of events is facilitated through the inclusion of biologically pertinent verbs (around which events are typically organized) together with information about typical patterns of grammatical and semantic behaviour, which are acquired from domain-specific texts. In order to foster interoperability, the BioLexicon is modelled using the Lexical Markup Framework, an ISO standard. The BioLexicon contains over 2.2 M lexical entries and over 1.8 M terminological variants, as well as over 3.3 M semantic relations, including over 2 M synonymy relations. Its exploitation can benefit both application developers and users. We demonstrate some such benefits by describing integration of the resource into a number of different tools, and evaluating improvements in performance that this can bring.

Induced seismicity in EGS reservoir : analysis of persistent multiplets at Soultz-sous-Forêts, France

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cauchie, Léna; Lengliné, Olivier; Schmittbuhl, Jean

2017-04-01

Abundant seismicity is generally observed during the exploitation of geothermal reservoirs, especially during phases of hydraulic stimulations. At the Enhanced Geothermal System of Soultz-Sous-Forêts in France, the induced seismicity has been thoroughly studied over the years of exploitation and the mechanism at its origin has been related to both fluid pressure increase during stimulation and aseismic creeping movements. The fluid-induced seismic events often exhibit a high degree of similarity and the mechanism at the origin of these repeated events is thought to be associated with slow slip process where asperities on the rupture zone act several times. In order to improve our knowledge on the mechanisms associated with such events and on the damaged zones involved during the hydraulic stimulations, we investigate the behaviour of the multiplets and their persistent nature, if it prevails, over several water injection intervals. For this purpose, we analysed large datasets recorded from a downhole seismic network for several water injection periods (1993, 2000, …). For each stimulation interval, thousands of events are recorded at depth. We detected the events using the continuous kurtosis-based migration method and classified them into families of comparable waveforms using an approach based on cross-correlation analysis. We obtain precise relative locations of the multiplets using differential arrival times obtained through cross-correlation of similar waveforms. Finally, the properties of the similar fluid-induced seismic events are derived (magnitude, spectral content) and examined over the several hydraulic tests. Hopefully these steps will lead to a better understanding of the repetitive nature of these events and the investigation of their persistence will outline the heterogeneities of the structures (temperatures anomalies, regional stress perturbations, fluid flow channelling) regularly involved during the different stimulations.

“How Can I Not?”: Men's Pathways to Involvement in Anti-Violence Against Women Work

PubMed Central

Casey, Erin; Smith, Tyler

2015-01-01

Despite growing male participation in ending violence against women, little is known about the factors that precipitate men's engagement as antiviolence “allies.” This study presents findings from a qualitative analysis of interviews with 27 men who recently initiated involvement in an organization or event dedicated to ending sexual or domestic violence. Findings suggest that men's engagement is a process that occurs over time, that happens largely through existing social networks, and that is influenced by exposure to sensitizing experiences, tangible involvement opportunities and specific types of meaning making related to violence. Implications for models of ally development and for efforts to engage men in antiviolence work are discussed. PMID:20679189

Public support for restrictions on fast food company sponsorship of community events.

PubMed

Pettigrew, Simone; Pescud, Melanie; Rosenberg, Michael; Ferguson, Renee; Houghton, Stephen

2012-01-01

This study investigated community attitudes to fast food companies' sponsorship of community events. The aim was to inform future efforts to introduce greater restrictions on these marketing activities to reduce child obesity. While previous research has focused on the sponsorship of sporting events, the present study included all community events and gauged public support for fast food company sponsorships in general as well as specific sponsorship activities such as securing event naming rights, advertising on event premises, and distributing free items to children in the form of food and redeemable vouchers. A large and diverse sample of Western Australian adults (n=2,005) responded to a community attitudes telephone survey that included questions relating to event sponsorship. Almost half of the respondents reported that the promotion of fast foods is inappropriate at community events, and only a third considered it appropriate at events where children are likely to be present. Around two-thirds agreed that promoting fast foods at such events sends contradictory messages to children and just a quarter of respondents considered it acceptable for free fast food to be distributed at events or for children to be rewarded for participation with fast food vouchers. The results suggest that efforts to reduce child obesity that involve restrictions on the sponsorship of community events by organisations promoting unhealthy foods may be supported by a substantial proportion of the population.

Rapid extraction of auditory feature contingencies.

PubMed

Bendixen, Alexandra; Prinz, Wolfgang; Horváth, János; Trujillo-Barreto, Nelson J; Schröger, Erich

2008-07-01

Contingent relations between sensory events render the environment predictable and thus facilitate adaptive behavior. The human capacity to detect such relations has been comprehensively demonstrated in paradigms in which contingency rules were task-relevant or in which they applied to motor behavior. The extent to which contingencies can also be extracted from events that are unrelated to the current goals of the organism has remained largely unclear. The present study addressed the emergence of contingency-related effects for behaviorally irrelevant auditory stimuli and the cortical areas involved in the processing of such contingency rules. Contingent relations between different features of temporally separate events were embedded in a new dynamic protocol. Participants were presented with the auditory stimulus sequences while their attention was captured by a video. The mismatch negativity (MMN) component of the event-related brain potential (ERP) was employed as an electrophysiological correlate of contingency detection. MMN generators were localized by means of scalp current density (SCD) and primary current density (PCD) analyses with variable resolution electromagnetic tomography (VARETA). Results show that task-irrelevant contingencies can be extracted from about fifteen to twenty successive events conforming to the contingent relation. Topographic and tomographic analyses reveal the involvement of the auditory cortex in the processing of contingency violations. The present data provide evidence for the rapid encoding of complex extrapolative relations in sensory areas. This capacity is of fundamental importance for the organism in its attempt to model the sensory environment outside the focus of attention.

Application of “Systems Vaccinology” to Evaluate Inflammation and Reactogenicity of Adjuvanted Preventative Vaccines

PubMed Central

Lewis, David J. M.; Lythgoe, Mark P.

2015-01-01

Advances in “omics” technology (transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, genomics/epigenomics, etc.) allied with statistical and bioinformatics tools are providing insights into basic mechanisms of vaccine and adjuvant efficacy or inflammation/reactogenicity. Predictive biomarkers of relatively frequent inflammatory reactogenicity may be identified in systems vaccinology studies involving tens or hundreds of participants and used to screen new vaccines and adjuvants in in vitro, ex vivo, animal, or human models. The identification of rare events (such as those observed with initial rotavirus vaccine or suspected autoimmune complications) will require interrogation of large data sets and population-based research before application of systems vaccinology. The Innovative Medicine Initiative funded public-private project BIOVACSAFE is an initial attempt to systematically identify biomarkers of relatively common inflammatory events after adjuvanted immunization using human, animal, and population-based models. Discriminatory profiles or biomarkers are being identified, which require validation in large trials involving thousands of participants before they can be generalized. Ultimately, it is to be hoped that the knowledge gained from such initiatives will provide tools to the industry, academia, and regulators to select optimal noninflammatory but immunogenic and effective vaccine adjuvant combinations, thereby shortening product development cycles and identifying unsuitable vaccine candidates that would fail in expensive late stage development or postmarketing. PMID:26380327

Analyses of Old “Prokaryotic” Proteins Indicate Functional Diversification in Arabidopsis and Oryza sativa

PubMed Central

Singh, Anupama; Jethva, Minesh; Singla-Pareek, Sneh L.; Pareek, Ashwani; Kushwaha, Hemant R.

2016-01-01

During evolution, various processes such as duplication, divergence, recombination, and many other events leads to the evolution of new genes with novel functions. These evolutionary events, thus significantly impact the evolution of cellular, physiological, morphological, and other phenotypic trait of organisms. While evolving, eukaryotes have acquired large number of genes from the earlier prokaryotes. This work is focused upon identification of old “prokaryotic” proteins in Arabidopsis and Oryza sativa genome, further highlighting their possible role(s) in the two genomes. Our results suggest that with respect to their genome size, the fraction of old “prokaryotic” proteins is higher in Arabidopsis than in Oryza sativa. The large fractions of such proteins encoding genes were found to be localized in various endo-symbiotic organelles. The domain architecture of the old “prokaryotic” proteins revealed similar distribution in both Arabidopsis and Oryza sativa genomes showing their conserved evolution. In Oryza sativa, the old “prokaryotic” proteins were more involved in developmental processes, might be due to constant man-made selection pressure for better agronomic traits/productivity. While in Arabidopsis, these proteins were involved in metabolic functions. Overall, the analysis indicates the distinct pattern of evolution of old “prokaryotic” proteins in Arabidopsis and Oryza sativa. PMID:27014324

Integration of fringe projection and two-dimensional digital image correlation for three-dimensional displacements measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Felipe-Sesé, Luis; López-Alba, Elías; Siegmann, Philip; Díaz, Francisco A.

2016-12-01

A low-cost approach for three-dimensional (3-D) full-field displacement measurement is applied for the analysis of large displacements involved in two different mechanical events. The method is based on a combination of fringe projection and two-dimensional digital image correlation (DIC) techniques. The two techniques have been employed simultaneously using an RGB camera and a color encoding method; therefore, it is possible to measure in-plane and out-of-plane displacements at the same time with only one camera even at high speed rates. The potential of the proposed methodology has been employed for the analysis of large displacements during contact experiments in a soft material block. Displacement results have been successfully compared with those obtained using a 3D-DIC commercial system. Moreover, the analysis of displacements during an impact test on a metal plate was performed to emphasize the application of the methodology for dynamics events. Results show a good level of agreement, highlighting the potential of FP + 2D DIC as low-cost alternative for the analysis of large deformations problems.

[Costs of serious adverse events in a community teaching hospital, in Mexico].

PubMed

Gutiérrez-Mendoza, Luis Meave; Torres-Montes, Abraham; Soria-Orozco, Manuel; Padrón-Salas, Aldanely; Ramírez-Hernández, María Elizabeth

2015-01-01

Serious adverse events during hospital care are a worldwide reality and threaten the safety of the hospitalised patient. To identify serious adverse events related to healthcare and direct hospital costs in a Teaching Hospital in México. A study was conducted in a 250-bed Teaching Hospital in San Luis Potosi, Mexico. Data were obtained from the Quality and Patient Safety Department based on 2012 incidents report. Every event was reviewed and analysed by an expert team using the "fish bone" tool. The costs were calculated since the event took place until discharge or death of the patient. A total of 34 serious adverse events were identified. The average cost was $117,440.89 Mexican pesos (approx. €7,000). The great majority (82.35%) were largely preventable and related to the process of care. Undergraduate medical staff were involved in 58.82%, and 14.7% of patients had suffered adverse events in other hospitals. Serious adverse events in a Teaching Hospital setting need to be analysed to learn and deploy interventions to prevent and improve patient safety. The direct costs of these events are similar to those reported in developed countries. Copyright © 2015 Academia Mexicana de Cirugía A.C. Published by Masson Doyma México S.A. All rights reserved.

'Other Spaces' for the Dangerous Dead of Provincial England, c.1752-1832.

PubMed

Hurren, Elizabeth T

2018-01-01

The Murder Act (1752) decreed that homicide perpetrators should be hanged and sent for post-execution punishment. This article explores the event management of criminal dissections by penal surgeons in situ . It reveals that the punishment parade of the condemned did not stop at the scaffold, contrary to the impression in many standard historical accounts. Instead, ordinary people accompanied criminal corpses to many different types of dissection venues. Penal surgeons hand-picked these performance spaces that were socially produced for legal and practical reasons. They had to be able to process large numbers of people who wanted to be part of the consumption of post-mortem 'harm' in English communities. Event management on location had to have emotional and visual appeal, moral coherence, be timed appropriately, and, if successful, would enhance the deterrence value of the capital code. Yet, managing the 'dangerous dead' involved a great deal of discretionary justice with unpredictable outcomes. It often happened in 'counter-sites' of punishment in the community and involved a great deal of immersive theatre. Some events worked well, others threatened the social order. In 'Other Spaces' the 'Dangerous Dead' was hence a fascinating feature of the Murder Act outside the Metropolis from 1752 to 1832.

The 03 April 2017 Botswana M6.5 earthquake: Preliminary results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Midzi, Vunganai; Saunders, I.; Manzunzu, B.; Kwadiba, M. T.; Jele, V.; Mantsha, R.; Marimira, K. T.; Mulabisana, T. F.; Ntibinyane, O.; Pule, T.; Rathod, G. W.; Sitali, M.; Tabane, L.; van Aswegen, G.; Zulu, B. S.

2018-07-01

An earthquake of magnitude Mw 6.5 occurred on the evening of 3 April 2017 in Central Botswana, southern Africa. The event was well recorded by the regional seismic networks. The location by the Council for Geoscience (CGS) placed it near the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve. Its effects were felt widely in southern Africa and were pronounced for residents of Gauteng and the North West Province in South Africa. In response to this event, the CGS, together with the Botswana Geoscience Institute (BGI), embarked on two scientific projects. The first project involved a macroseismic survey to study the extent and nature of the effects of the event in southern Africa. This involved CGS and BGI scientists soliciting information from members of the public through questionnaire surveys. More information was collected through questionnaires submitted online by the public. In total, 181 questionnaires were obtained through interviews and 151 online from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia through collaboration between the CGS, the Meteorological Services Department of Zimbabwe and the Geological Survey of Namibia. All collected data were analysed to produce 79 intensity data points (IDPs) located all over the region, with maximum intensity values of VI (according to the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale) observed near the epicentre. This is quite a low value of maximum intensity for such a large event, but was expected given that the epicentral region is in a national park which is sparsely populated. The second scientific project involved the rapid installation of a temporary network of six seismograph stations in and around the location of the main event with the purpose of detecting and recording its aftershocks over a period of three months. Data recorded in the first month of April 2017 were collected and delivered to both the CGS and BGI for processing. More than 500 aftershock events of magnitude ML ≥ 0.8 were recorded and analysed for this period. All the events were located at the eastern edge of the Central Kgalagadi Park near the location of the main event in two clear clusters. The observed clusters imply that a segmented fault is the source of these earthquakes and is oriented in a NW-SE direction, similar to the direction inferred from the fault plane solution of the main event.

Organizing a large-scale Physiology Understanding (PhUn) Week event at a science center.

PubMed

VanRyn, Valerie S; Poteracki, James M; Balzer, Micaela; Wehrwein, Erica A

2018-06-01

For the past 6 yr, the Department of Physiology at Michigan State University (MSU) has partnered with Impression 5 Science Center in Lansing, MI. Together, we host a day-long community engagement event on a Saturday each year in early November coinciding with the American Physiological Society's Physiology Understanding Week. The purpose was to provide a fun and memorable hands-on experience for children and families. This paper describes the detailed planning and logistics. The event takes place in the main exhibit space at the science center, generally has 15-17 physiology activities stations set up as booths run by volunteers, and the event runs as an open-house format. Three to five trained volunteers were needed per station for the full day. Since this was primarily based on undergraduate student volunteer involvement (a population already limited for time), morning, afternoon, and/or full-day shifts were offered to accommodate a variety of schedules. Additional set-up, clean-up, and general help was also recruited. Overall, ~100-150 MSU students, faculty, and staff members served as volunteers, alongside Impression 5 staff. Hosting the event at the science center generated a larger audience, aided in advertisement, and allowed for access to a large facility capable of handling the 600-1,000 attendees. The partnership facilitated the sharing of equipment and supplies for physiology demonstrations, allowed for activities on site in the chemistry laboratory space, and facilitated the growth of new community partnerships with local schools and groups who attended the event.

The Kolka-Karmadon rock/ice slide of 20 September 2002: an extraordinary event of historical dimensions in North Ossetia, Russian Caucasus

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haeberli, Wilfried; Huggel, Christian; Kääb, Andreas; Zgraggen-Oswald, Sonja; Polkvoj, Alexander; Galushkin, Igor; Zotikov, Igor; Osokin, Nikolay

On 20 September 2002, an enormous rock/ice slide and subsequent mud-flow occurred on the northern slope of the Kazbek massif, Northern Ossetia, Russian Caucasus. It started on the north-northeast wall of Dzhimarai-Khokh (4780 m a.s.l.) and seriously affected the valley of Genaldon/Karmadon. Immediate governmental actions, available scientific information, first reconstructions, hazard assessments and monitoring activities as well as initial expert judgments/recommendations are documented in order to enable more detailed analyses and modelling of the event by the wider scientific community. Among the most remarkable aspects related to this event are (1) the relation between the recent event and somewhat smaller but quite similar events that occurred earlier in historical times (1835, 1902), (2) the interactions between unstable local geological structures and complex geothermal and hydraulic conditions in the starting zone with permafrost, cold to polythermal hanging glaciers and volcanic effects (hot springs) in close contact with each other, (3) the erosion and incorporation of a debris-covered valley glacier largely enhancing the sliding volume of rocks, ice, firn, snow, water and probably air to a total of about 100 × 106 m3, and (4) the astonishingly high flow velocities (up to 300 km h-1) and enormous length of travel path (18 km plus 15 km of debris/mud-flow). This extraordinary case illustrates that large catastrophic events in high mountain regions typically involve a multitude of factors and require integrated consideration of complex chains of processes, a task which must be undertaken by qualified groups of experts.

Seismic and Geodetic Monitoring of the Nicoya, Costa Rica, Seismic Gap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Protti, M.; Gonzalez, V.; Schwartz, S.; Dixon, T.; Kato, T.; Kaneda, Y.; Simila, G.; Sampson, D.

2007-05-01

The Nicoya segment of the Middle America Trench has been recognized as a mature seismic gap with potential to generate a large earthquake in the near future (it ruptured with large earthquakes in 1853, 1900 and 1950). Low level of background seismicity and fast crustal deformation of the forearc are indicatives of strong coupling along the plate interface. Given its high seismic potential, the available data and especially the fact that the Nicoya peninsula extends over large part of the rupture area, this gap was selected as one of the two sites for a MARGINS-SEIZE experiment. With the goal of documenting the evolution of loading and stress release along this seismic gap, an international effort involving several institutions from Costa Rica, the United States and Japan is being carried out for over a decade in the region. This effort involves the installation of temporary and permanent seismic and geodetic networks. The seismic network includes short period, broad band and strong motion instruments. The seismic monitoring has provided valuable information on the geometry and characteristics of the plate interface. The geodetic network includes temporary and permanent GPS stations as well as surface and borehole tiltmeters. The geodetic networks have helped quantify the extend and degree of coupling. A continuously recording, three- station GPS network on the Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica, recorded what we believe is the first slow slip event observed along the plate interface of the Costa Rica subduction zone. We will present results from these monitoring networks. Collaborative international efforts are focused on expanding these seismic and geodetic networks to provide improved resolution of future creep events, to enhanced understanding of the mechanical behavior of the Nicoya subduction segment of the Middle American Trench and possibly capture the next large earthquake and its potential precursor deformation.

Revisiting Recombination Signal in the Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus: A Simulation Approach

PubMed Central

Johansson, Magnus; Norberg, Peter

2016-01-01

The hypothesis of wide spread reticulate evolution in Tick-Borne Encephalitis virus (TBEV) has recently gained momentum with several publications describing past recombination events involving various TBEV clades. Despite a large body of work, no consensus has yet emerged on TBEV evolutionary dynamics. Understanding the occurrence and frequency of recombination in TBEV bears significant impact on epidemiology, evolution, and vaccination with live vaccines. In this study, we investigated the possibility of detecting recombination events in TBEV by simulating recombinations at several locations on the virus’ phylogenetic tree and for different lengths of recombining fragments. We derived estimations of rates of true and false positive for the detection of past recombination events for seven recombination detection algorithms. Our analytical framework can be applied to any investigation dealing with the difficult task of distinguishing genuine recombination signal from background noise. Our results suggest that the problem of false positives associated with low detection P-values in TBEV, is more insidious than generally acknowledged. We reappraised the recombination signals present in the empirical data, and showed that reliable signals could only be obtained in a few cases when highly genetically divergent strains were involved, whereas false positives were common among genetically similar strains. We thus conclude that recombination among wild-type TBEV strains may occur, which has potential implications for vaccination with live vaccines, but that these events are surprisingly rare. PMID:27760182

Mental simulation of routes during navigation involves adaptive temporal compression

PubMed Central

Arnold, Aiden E.G.F.; Iaria, Giuseppe; Ekstrom, Arne D.

2016-01-01

Mental simulation is a hallmark feature of human cognition, allowing features from memories to be flexibly used during prospection. While past studies demonstrate the preservation of real-world features such as size and distance during mental simulation, their temporal dynamics remains unknown. Here, we compare mental simulations to navigation of routes in a large-scale spatial environment to test the hypothesis that such simulations are temporally compressed in an adaptive manner. Our results show that simulations occurred at 2.39x the speed it took to navigate a route, increasing in compression (3.57x) for slower movement speeds. Participant self-reports of vividness and spatial coherence of simulations also correlated strongly with simulation duration, providing an important link between subjective experiences of simulated events and how spatial representations are combined during prospection. These findings suggest that simulation of spatial events involve adaptive temporal mechanisms, mediated partly by the fidelity of memories used to generate the simulation. PMID:27568586

Origin and dynamics of depositionary subduction margins

USGS Publications Warehouse

Vannucchi, Paola; Morgan, Jason P.; Silver, Eli; Kluesner, Jared W.

2016-01-01

Here we propose a new framework for forearc evolution that focuses on the potential feedbacks between subduction tectonics, sedimentation, and geomorphology that take place during an extreme event of subduction erosion. These feedbacks can lead to the creation of a “depositionary forearc,” a forearc structure that extends the traditional division of forearcs into accretionary or erosive subduction margins by demonstrating a mode of rapid basin accretion during an erosive event at a subduction margin. A depositionary mode of forearc evolution occurs when terrigenous sediments are deposited directly on the forearc while it is being removed from below by subduction erosion. In the most extreme case, an entire forearc can be removed by a single subduction erosion event followed by depositionary replacement without involving transfer of sediments from the incoming plate. We need to further recognize that subduction forearcs are often shaped by interactions between slow, long-term processes, and sudden extreme events reflecting the sudden influences of large-scale morphological variations in the incoming plate. Both types of processes contribute to the large-scale architecture of the forearc, with extreme events associated with a replacive depositionary mode that rapidly creates sections of a typical forearc margin. The persistent upward diversion of the megathrust is likely to affect its geometry, frictional nature, and hydrogeology. Therefore, the stresses along the fault and individual earthquake rupture characteristics are also expected to be more variable in these erosive systems than in systems with long-lived megathrust surfaces.

Tailoring leisure to suit a wider audience through creative event planning with a multi-sensory approach.

PubMed

Stonier, Claire L

2008-01-01

Caregiving for long-term conditions is increasingly focused on holistic "person centred" care [9,34], with leisure and recreation providing an important and essential part of maintaining quality of life. This article documents examples of large leisure events and creative projects. These were adapted for, and considered to be suitable and supportive of, the needs of adults with complex and profound disability as a result of neurological damage or disease. The ways in which events have been tailored by the Recreation and Leisure Service, incorporating sensory elements with the view to increased accessibility and enjoyment for participants, are highlighted in this article. The ultimate challenge faced was programming events to suit more than 170 people aged over 18 who each have particular preferences, varied interests and abilities including the most profound physical and cognitive impairments. These developments and changes in format have encouraged essential input from participants themselves and their families and carers, whilst involving the wider community; volunteers, external charitable groups and professional organisations.

Terrestrial lidar measurement of an ongoing calving event on Lange Glacier.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pętlicki, Michał

2017-04-01

Increased tourist and scientific marine traffic along the fronts of tidewater glaciers face a security risk due to possible calving-related hazards. A series of serious accidents involving the falling ice block, calving-generated tsunami wave and the ice projectile impacts were reported. Despite the large interest in calving mechanics, still little is known about the impact range of calving events. Three ongoing calving events on Lange Glacier, King George Island, South Shetland Islands were measured with a terrestrial lidar, giving an insight to the mechanics of the calving processes including the subsequent splash of sea water and the range of ice projectiles released from the front. During the acquisition of the point cloud of the ice front, three calving events of different size occurred. The volume of the calved ice, its potential energy and free-fall velocity was computed and compared with the range of the water splash and ice projectiles. Such measurements can be used in future to mitigate the risk of calving-related marine accidents.

Mass killings and detection of impacts

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mclaren, Digby J.

1988-01-01

Highly energetic bolide impacts occur and their flux is known. For larger bodies the energy release is greater than for any other short-term global phenomenon. Such impacts produce or release a large variety of shock induced changes including major atmospheric, sedimentologic, seismic and volcanic events. These events must necessarily leave a variety of records in the stratigraphic column, including mass killings resulting in major changes in population density and reduction or extinction of many taxonomic groups, followed by characteristic patterns of faunal and flora replacement. Of these effects, mass killings, marked by large-scale loss of biomass, are the most easily detected evidence in the field but must be manifest on a near-global scale. Such mass killings that appear to be approximately synchronous and involve disappearance of biomass at a bedding plane in many sedimentologically independent sections globally suggest a common cause and probable synchroneity. Mass killings identify an horizon which may be examined for evidence of cause. Geochemical markers may be ephemeral and absence may not be significant. There appears to be no reason why ongoing phenomena such as climate and sea-level changes are primary causes of anomolous episodic events.

Mass killings and detection of impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McLaren, Digby J.

Highly energetic bolide impacts occur and their flux is known. For larger bodies the energy release is greater than for any other short-term global phenomenon. Such impacts produce or release a large variety of shock induced changes including major atmospheric, sedimentologic, seismic and volcanic events. These events must necessarily leave a variety of records in the stratigraphic column, including mass killings resulting in major changes in population density and reduction or extinction of many taxonomic groups, followed by characteristic patterns of faunal and flora replacement. Of these effects, mass killings, marked by large-scale loss of biomass, are the most easily detected evidence in the field but must be manifest on a near-global scale. Such mass killings that appear to be approximately synchronous and involve disappearance of biomass at a bedding plane in many sedimentologically independent sections globally suggest a common cause and probable synchroneity. Mass killings identify an horizon which may be examined for evidence of cause. Geochemical markers may be ephemeral and absence may not be significant. There appears to be no reason why ongoing phenomena such as climate and sea-level changes are primary causes of anomolous episodic events.

Retainment of r-process material in dwarf galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beniamini, Paz; Dvorkin, Irina; Silk, Joe

2018-04-01

The synthesis of r-process elements is known to involve extremely energetic explosions. At the same time, recent observations find significant r-process enrichment even in extremely small ultra-faint dwarf (UFD) galaxies. This raises the question of retainment of those elements within their hosts. We estimate the retainment fraction and find that it is large ˜0.9, unless the r-process event is very energetic (≳ 1052erg) and / or the host has lost a large fraction of its gas prior to the event. We estimate the r-process mass per event and rate as implied by abundances in UFDs, taking into account imperfect retainment and different models of UFD evolution. The results are consistent with previous estimates (Beniamini et al. 2016b) and with the constraints from the recently detected macronova accompanying a neutron star merger (GW170817). We also estimate the distribution of abundances predicted by these models. We find that ˜0.07 of UFDs should have r-process enrichment. The results are consistent with both the mean values and the fluctuations of [Eu/Fe] in galactic metal poor stars, supporting the possibility that UFDs are the main 'building blocks' of the galactic halo population.

Purchase decision involvement: Event management segments and related event behavior

Treesearch

Rodney B. Warnick; David C. Bojanic

2012-01-01

The goal of this research was to examine the relationships between different levels of event purchase decision involvement (PDI) segments and their respective event behaviors (e.g., expenditures, travel behavior, event consumption and satisfaction). The specific purpose was to answer two major research questions: 1) Can PDI identify different levels or segments of...

POM Pulses: Characterizing the Physical and Chemical Properties of Particulate Organic Matter (POM) Mobilized by Large Storm Events and its Influence on Receiving Fluvial Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johnson, E. R.; Rowland, R. D.; Protokowicz, J.; Inamdar, S. P.; Kan, J.; Vargas, R.

2016-12-01

Extreme storm events have tremendous erosive energy which is capable of mobilizing vast amounts of material from watershed sources into fluvial systems. This complex mixture of sediment and particulate organic matter (POM) is a nutrient source, and has the potential to impact downstream water quality. The impact of POM on receiving aquatic systems can vary not only by the total amount exported but also by the various sources involved and the particle sizes of POM. This study examines the composition of POM in potential sources and within-event POM by: (1) determining the amount and quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM) that can be leached from coarse, medium and fine particle classes; (2) assessing the C and N content and isotopic character of within-event POM; and (3) coupling physical and chemical properties to evaluate storm event POM influence on stream water. Storm event POM samples and source sediments were collected from a forested headwater catchment (second order stream) in the Piedmont region of Maryland. Samples were sieved into three particle classes - coarse (2mm-1mm), medium (1mm-250µm) and fine (<250µm). Extractions were performed for three particle class sizes and the resulting fluorescent organic matter was analyzed. Carbon (C) and Nitrogen (N) amount, C:N ratio, and isotopic analysis of 13C and 15N were performed on solid state event and source material. Future work will include examination of microbial communities associated with POM particle size classes. Physical size class separation of within-event POM exhibited differences in C:N ratios, δ15N composition, and extracted DOM lability. Smaller size classes exhibited lower C:N ratios, more enriched δ15N and more recalcitrant properties in leached DOM. Source material had varying C:N ratios and contributions to leached DOM. These results indicate that both source and size class strongly influence the POM contribution to fluvial systems during large storm events.

Our current approach to root cause analysis: is it contributing to our failure to improve patient safety?

PubMed

Kellogg, Kathryn M; Hettinger, Zach; Shah, Manish; Wears, Robert L; Sellers, Craig R; Squires, Melissa; Fairbanks, Rollin J

2017-05-01

Despite over a decade of efforts to reduce the adverse event rate in healthcare, the rate has remained relatively unchanged. Root cause analysis (RCA) is a process used by hospitals in an attempt to reduce adverse event rates; however, the outputs of this process have not been well studied in healthcare. This study aimed to examine the types of solutions proposed in RCAs over an 8-year period at a major academic medical institution. All state-reportable adverse events were gathered, and those for which an RCA was performed were analysed. A consensus rating process was used to determine a severity rating for each case. A qualitative approach was used to categorise the types of solutions proposed by the RCA team in each case and descriptive statistics were calculated. 302 RCAs were reviewed. The most common event types involved a procedure complication, followed by cardiopulmonary arrest, neurological deficit and retained foreign body. In 106 RCAs, solutions were proposed. A large proportion (38.7%) of RCAs with solutions proposed involved a patient death. Of the 731 proposed solutions, the most common solution types were training (20%), process change (19.6%) and policy reinforcement (15.2%). We found that multiple event types were repeated in the study period, despite repeated RCAs. This study found that the most commonly proposed solutions were weaker actions, which were less likely to decrease event recurrence. These findings support recent attempts to improve the RCA process and to develop guidance for the creation of effective and sustainable solutions to be used by RCA teams. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Structural analysis and implicit 3D modelling of Jwaneng Mine: Insights into deformation of the Transvaal Supergroup in SE Botswana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Creus, P. K.; Basson, I. J.; Stoch, B.; Mogorosi, O.; Gabanakgosi, K.; Ramsden, F.; Gaegopolwe, P.

2018-01-01

Country rock at Jwaneng Diamond Mine provides a rare insight into the deformational history of the Transvaal Supergroup in southern Botswana. The ca. 235 Ma kimberlite diatremes intruded into late Archaean to Early Proterozoic, mixed, siliciclastic-carbonate sediments, that were subjected to at least three deformational events. The first deformational event (D1), caused by NW-SE directed compression, is responsible for NE-trending, open folds (F1) with associated diverging, fanning, axial planar cleavage. The second deformational event (D2) is probably progressive, involving a clockwise rotation of the principal stress to NE-SW trends. Early D2, which was N-S directed, involved left-lateral, oblique shearing along cleavage planes that developed around F1 folds, along with the development of antithetic structures. Progressive clockwise rotation of far-field forces saw the development of NW-trending folds (F2) and its associated, weak, axial planar cleavage. D3 is an extensional event in which normal faulting, along pre-existing cleavage planes, created a series of rhomboid-shaped, fault-bounded blocks. Normal faults, which bound these blocks, are the dominant structures at Jwaneng Mine. Combined with block rotation and NW-dipping bedding, a horst-like structure on the northwestern limb of a broad, gentle, NE-trending anticline is indicated. The early compressional and subsequent extensional events are consistent throughout the Jwaneng-Ramotswa-Lobatse-Thabazimbi area, suggesting that a large area records the same fault geometry and, consequently, deformational history. It is proposed that Jwaneng Mine is at or near the northernmost limit of the initial, northwards-directed compressional event.

Lightning and severe thunderstorms in event management.

PubMed

Walsh, Katie M

2012-01-01

There are a few national position stands/guidelines that address environmental conditions in athletics, yet they do not govern all outdoor sports. Extreme heat and cold, lightning, and severe wind can all be fatal, yet the majority of outdoor sports have no published guidelines addressing these conditions in relation to activity. Available research on extreme heat and cold conditions in athletics provides prevention strategies, to include acclimatization. Lightning and severe wind are two environmental conditions to which humans cannot accommodate, and they both can be deadly. There are strong positions on extreme heat/cold and lightning safety in athletics, but none affiliated with severe winds. Medical personnel involved in planning large outdoor sporting events must know of the presence of nationally published weather-related documents and apply them to their event. In addition, research needs to be expanded in the realm of establishing guidelines for safety to participants and spectators in severe wind conditions.

The 2013 Russian fireball largest ever detected by CTBTO infrasound sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Pichon, Alexis; Ceranna, Lars; Pilger, Christoph; Mialle, Pierrick; Brown, David; Herry, Pascal; Brachet, Nicolas

2013-07-01

15 February 2013, a large Earth-impacting fireball disintegrated over the Ural Mountains. This extraordinary event is, together with the 1908 Tunguska fireball, among the most energetic events ever instrumentally recorded. It generated infrasound returns, after circling the globe, at distances up to ~85,000 km, and was detected at 20 infrasonic stations of the global International Monitoring System (IMS). For the first time since the establishment of the IMS infrasound network, multiple arrivals involving waves that traveled twice round the globe have been clearly identified. A preliminary estimate of the explosive energy using empirical period-yield scaling relations gives a value of 460 kt of TNT equivalent. In the context of the future verification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, this event provides a prominent milestone for studying in detail infrasound propagation around the globe for almost 3 days as well as for calibrating the performance of the IMS network.

Search for supersymmetry in events with a photon, a lepton, and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √{ s} = 8 TeV

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khachatryan, V.; Sirunyan, A. M.; Tumasyan, A.; Adam, W.; Asilar, E.; Bergauer, T.; Brandstetter, J.; Brondolin, E.; Dragicevic, M.; Erö, J.; Flechl, M.; Friedl, M.; Frühwirth, R.; Ghete, V. M.; Hartl, C.; Hörmann, N.; Hrubec, J.; Jeitler, M.; Knünz, V.; König, A.; Krammer, M.; Krätschmer, I.; Liko, D.; Matsushita, T.; Mikulec, I.; Rabady, D.; Rahbaran, B.; Rohringer, H.; Schieck, J.; Schöfbeck, R.; Strauss, J.; Treberer-Treberspurg, W.; Waltenberger, W.; Wulz, C.-E.; Mossolov, V.; Shumeiko, N.; Suarez Gonzalez, J.; Alderweireldt, S.; Cornelis, T.; de Wolf, E. A.; Janssen, X.; Knutsson, A.; Lauwers, J.; Luyckx, S.; Ochesanu, S.; Rougny, R.; van de Klundert, M.; van Haevermaet, H.; van Mechelen, P.; van Remortel, N.; van Spilbeeck, A.; Abu Zeid, S.; Blekman, F.; D'Hondt, J.; Daci, N.; de Bruyn, I.; Deroover, K.; Heracleous, N.; Keaveney, J.; Lowette, S.; Moreels, L.; Olbrechts, A.; Python, Q.; Strom, D.; Tavernier, S.; van Doninck, W.; van Mulders, P.; van Onsem, G. P.; van Parijs, I.; Barria, P.; Caillol, C.; Clerbaux, B.; de Lentdecker, G.; Delannoy, H.; Dobur, D.; Fasanella, G.; Favart, L.; Gay, A. P. R.; Grebenyuk, A.; Lenzi, T.; Léonard, A.; Maerschalk, T.; Marinov, A.; Perniè, L.; Randle-Conde, A.; Reis, T.; Seva, T.; Vander Velde, C.; Vanlaer, P.; Yonamine, R.; Zenoni, F.; Zhang, F.; Beernaert, K.; Benucci, L.; Cimmino, A.; Crucy, S.; Fagot, A.; Garcia, G.; Gul, M.; McCartin, J.; Ocampo Rios, A. A.; Poyraz, D.; Ryckbosch, D.; Salva, S.; Sigamani, M.; Strobbe, N.; Tytgat, M.; van Driessche, W.; Yazgan, E.; Zaganidis, N.; Basegmez, S.; Beluffi, C.; Bondu, O.; Brochet, S.; Bruno, G.; Castello, R.; Caudron, A.; Ceard, L.; da Silveira, G. G.; Delaere, C.; Favart, D.; Forthomme, L.; Giammanco, A.; Hollar, J.; Jafari, A.; Jez, P.; Komm, M.; Lemaitre, V.; Mertens, A.; Nuttens, C.; Perrini, L.; Pin, A.; Piotrzkowski, K.; Popov, A.; Quertenmont, L.; Selvaggi, M.; Vidal Marono, M.; Beliy, N.; Hammad, G. H.; Aldá Júnior, W. L.; Alves, G. A.; Brito, L.; Correa Martins Junior, M.; Dos Reis Martins, T.; Hensel, C.; Mora Herrera, C.; Moraes, A.; Pol, M. E.; Rebello Teles, P.; Belchior Batista Das Chagas, E.; Carvalho, W.; Chinellato, J.; Custódio, A.; da Costa, E. M.; de Jesus Damiao, D.; de Oliveira Martins, C.; Fonseca de Souza, S.; Huertas Guativa, L. M.; Malbouisson, H.; Matos Figueiredo, D.; Mundim, L.; Nogima, H.; Prado da Silva, W. L.; Santoro, A.; Sznajder, A.; Tonelli Manganote, E. J.; Vilela Pereira, A.; Ahuja, S.; Bernardes, C. A.; de Souza Santos, A.; Dogra, S.; Fernandez Perez Tomei, T. R.; Gregores, E. M.; Mercadante, P. G.; Moon, C. S.; Novaes, S. F.; Padula, Sandra S.; Romero Abad, D.; Ruiz Vargas, J. C.; Aleksandrov, A.; Genchev, V.; Hadjiiska, R.; Iaydjiev, P.; Piperov, S.; Rodozov, M.; Stoykova, S.; Sultanov, G.; Vutova, M.; Dimitrov, A.; Glushkov, I.; Litov, L.; Pavlov, B.; Petkov, P.; Ahmad, M.; Bian, J. G.; Chen, G. M.; Chen, H. S.; Chen, M.; Cheng, T.; Du, R.; Jiang, C. H.; Plestina, R.; Romeo, F.; Shaheen, S. M.; Tao, J.; Wang, C.; Wang, Z.; Zhang, H.; Asawatangtrakuldee, C.; Ban, Y.; Li, Q.; Liu, S.; Mao, Y.; Qian, S. J.; Wang, D.; Xu, Z.; Zou, W.; Avila, C.; Cabrera, A.; Chaparro Sierra, L. F.; Florez, C.; Gomez, J. P.; Gomez Moreno, B.; Sanabria, J. C.; Godinovic, N.; Lelas, D.; Polic, D.; Puljak, I.; Antunovic, Z.; Kovac, M.; Brigljevic, V.; Kadija, K.; Luetic, J.; Sudic, L.; Attikis, A.; Mavromanolakis, G.; Mousa, J.; Nicolaou, C.; Ptochos, F.; Razis, P. A.; Rykaczewski, H.; Bodlak, M.; Finger, M.; Finger, M.; Aly, R.; El-Khateeb, E.; Elkafrawy, T.; Lotfy, A.; Mohamed, A.; Radi, A.; Salama, E.; Sayed, A.; Calpas, B.; Kadastik, M.; Murumaa, M.; Raidal, M.; Tiko, A.; Veelken, C.; Eerola, P.; Pekkanen, J.; Voutilainen, M.; Härkönen, J.; Karimäki, V.; Kinnunen, R.; Lampén, T.; Lassila-Perini, K.; Lehti, S.; Lindén, T.; Luukka, P.; Mäenpää, T.; Peltola, T.; Tuominen, E.; Tuominiemi, J.; Tuovinen, E.; Wendland, L.; Talvitie, J.; Tuuva, T.; Besancon, M.; Couderc, F.; Dejardin, M.; Denegri, D.; Fabbro, B.; Faure, J. L.; Favaro, C.; Ferri, F.; Ganjour, S.; Givernaud, A.; Gras, P.; Hamel de Monchenault, G.; Jarry, P.; Locci, E.; Machet, M.; Malcles, J.; Rander, J.; Rosowsky, A.; Titov, M.; Zghiche, A.; Baffioni, S.; Beaudette, F.; Busson, P.; Cadamuro, L.; Chapon, E.; Charlot, C.; Dahms, T.; Davignon, O.; Filipovic, N.; Florent, A.; Granier de Cassagnac, R.; Lisniak, S.; Mastrolorenzo, L.; Miné, P.; Naranjo, I. N.; Nguyen, M.; Ochando, C.; Ortona, G.; Paganini, P.; Regnard, S.; Salerno, R.; Sauvan, J. B.; Sirois, Y.; Strebler, T.; Yilmaz, Y.; Zabi, A.; Agram, J.-L.; Andrea, J.; Aubin, A.; Bloch, D.; Brom, J.-M.; Buttignol, M.; Chabert, E. C.; Chanon, N.; Collard, C.; Conte, E.; Coubez, X.; Fontaine, J.-C.; Gelé, D.; Goerlach, U.; Goetzmann, C.; Le Bihan, A.-C.; Merlin, J. A.; Skovpen, K.; van Hove, P.; Gadrat, S.; Beauceron, S.; Bernet, C.; Boudoul, G.; Bouvier, E.; Carrillo Montoya, C. A.; Chasserat, J.; Chierici, R.; Contardo, D.; Courbon, B.; Depasse, P.; El Mamouni, H.; Fan, J.; Fay, J.; Gascon, S.; Gouzevitch, M.; Ille, B.; Laktineh, I. B.; Lethuillier, M.; Mirabito, L.; Pequegnot, A. L.; Perries, S.; Ruiz Alvarez, J. D.; Sabes, D.; Sgandurra, L.; Sordini, V.; Vander Donckt, M.; Verdier, P.; Viret, S.; Xiao, H.; Toriashvili, T.; Tsamalaidze, Z.; Autermann, C.; Beranek, S.; Edelhoff, M.; Feld, L.; Heister, A.; Kiesel, M. K.; Klein, K.; Lipinski, M.; Ostapchuk, A.; Preuten, M.; Raupach, F.; Sammet, J.; Schael, S.; Schulte, J. F.; Verlage, T.; Weber, H.; Wittmer, B.; Zhukov, V.; Ata, M.; Brodski, M.; Dietz-Laursonn, E.; Duchardt, D.; Endres, M.; Erdmann, M.; Erdweg, S.; Esch, T.; Fischer, R.; Güth, A.; Hebbeker, T.; Heidemann, C.; Hoepfner, K.; Klingebiel, D.; Knutzen, S.; Kreuzer, P.; Merschmeyer, M.; Meyer, A.; Millet, P.; Olschewski, M.; Padeken, K.; Papacz, P.; Pook, T.; Radziej, M.; Reithler, H.; Rieger, M.; Scheuch, F.; Sonnenschein, L.; Teyssier, D.; Thüer, S.; Cherepanov, V.; Erdogan, Y.; Flügge, G.; Geenen, H.; Geisler, M.; Hoehle, F.; Kargoll, B.; Kress, T.; Kuessel, Y.; Künsken, A.; Lingemann, J.; Nehrkorn, A.; Nowack, A.; Nugent, I. M.; Pistone, C.; Pooth, O.; Stahl, A.; Aldaya Martin, M.; Asin, I.; Bartosik, N.; Behnke, O.; Behrens, U.; Bell, A. J.; Borras, K.; Burgmeier, A.; Cakir, A.; Calligaris, L.; Campbell, A.; Choudhury, S.; Costanza, F.; Diez Pardos, C.; Dolinska, G.; Dooling, S.; Dorland, T.; Eckerlin, G.; Eckstein, D.; Eichhorn, T.; Flucke, G.; Gallo, E.; Garay Garcia, J.; Geiser, A.; Gizhko, A.; Gunnellini, P.; Hauk, J.; Hempel, M.; Jung, H.; Kalogeropoulos, A.; Karacheban, O.; Kasemann, M.; Katsas, P.; Kieseler, J.; Kleinwort, C.; Korol, I.; Lange, W.; Leonard, J.; Lipka, K.; Lobanov, A.; Lohmann, W.; Mankel, R.; Marfin, I.; Melzer-Pellmann, I.-A.; Meyer, A. B.; Mittag, G.; Mnich, J.; Mussgiller, A.; Naumann-Emme, S.; Nayak, A.; Ntomari, E.; Perrey, H.; Pitzl, D.; Placakyte, R.; Raspereza, A.; Ribeiro Cipriano, P. M.; Roland, B.; Sahin, M. Ö.; Saxena, P.; Schoerner-Sadenius, T.; Schröder, M.; Seitz, C.; Spannagel, S.; Trippkewitz, K. D.; Walsh, R.; Wissing, C.; Blobel, V.; Centis Vignali, M.; Draeger, A. R.; Erfle, J.; Garutti, E.; Goebel, K.; Gonzalez, D.; Görner, M.; Haller, J.; Hoffmann, M.; Höing, R. S.; Junkes, A.; Klanner, R.; Kogler, R.; Lapsien, T.; Lenz, T.; Marchesini, I.; Marconi, D.; Nowatschin, D.; Ott, J.; Pantaleo, F.; Peiffer, T.; Perieanu, A.; Pietsch, N.; Poehlsen, J.; Rathjens, D.; Sander, C.; Schettler, H.; Schleper, P.; Schlieckau, E.; Schmidt, A.; Schwandt, J.; Seidel, M.; Sola, V.; Stadie, H.; Steinbrück, G.; Tholen, H.; Troendle, D.; Usai, E.; Vanelderen, L.; Vanhoefer, A.; Akbiyik, M.; Barth, C.; Baus, C.; Berger, J.; Böser, C.; Butz, E.; Chwalek, T.; Colombo, F.; de Boer, W.; Descroix, A.; Dierlamm, A.; Feindt, M.; Frensch, F.; Giffels, M.; Gilbert, A.; Hartmann, F.; Husemann, U.; Kassel, F.; Katkov, I.; Kornmayer, A.; Lobelle Pardo, P.; Mozer, M. U.; Müller, T.; Müller, Th.; Plagge, M.; Quast, G.; Rabbertz, K.; Röcker, S.; Roscher, F.; Simonis, H. J.; Stober, F. M.; Ulrich, R.; Wagner-Kuhr, J.; Wayand, S.; Weiler, T.; Wöhrmann, C.; Wolf, R.; Anagnostou, G.; Daskalakis, G.; Geralis, T.; Giakoumopoulou, V. A.; Kyriakis, A.; Loukas, D.; Markou, A.; Psallidas, A.; Topsis-Giotis, I.; Agapitos, A.; Kesisoglou, S.; Panagiotou, A.; Saoulidou, N.; Tziaferi, E.; Evangelou, I.; Flouris, G.; Foudas, C.; Kokkas, P.; Loukas, N.; Manthos, N.; Papadopoulos, I.; Paradas, E.; Strologas, J.; Bencze, G.; Hajdu, C.; Hazi, A.; Hidas, P.; Horvath, D.; Sikler, F.; Veszpremi, V.; Vesztergombi, G.; Zsigmond, A. J.; Beni, N.; Czellar, S.; Karancsi, J.; Molnar, J.; Szillasi, Z.; Bartók, M.; Makovec, A.; Raics, P.; Trocsanyi, Z. L.; Ujvari, B.; Mal, P.; Mandal, K.; Sahoo, N.; Swain, S. K.; Bansal, S.; Beri, S. B.; Bhatnagar, V.; Chawla, R.; Gupta, R.; Bhawandeep, U.; Kalsi, A. K.; Kaur, A.; Kaur, M.; Kumar, R.; Mehta, A.; Mittal, M.; Nishu, N.; Singh, J. B.; Walia, G.; Kumar, Ashok; Kumar, Arun; Bhardwaj, A.; Choudhary, B. C.; Garg, R. B.; Kumar, A.; Malhotra, S.; Naimuddin, M.; Ranjan, K.; Sharma, R.; Sharma, V.; Banerjee, S.; Bhattacharya, S.; Chatterjee, K.; Dey, S.; Dutta, S.; Jain, Sa.; Jain, Sh.; Khurana, R.; Majumdar, N.; Modak, A.; Mondal, K.; Mukherjee, S.; Mukhopadhyay, S.; Roy, A.; Roy, D.; Roy Chowdhury, S.; Sarkar, S.; Sharan, M.; Abdulsalam, A.; Chudasama, R.; Dutta, D.; Jha, V.; Kumar, V.; Mohanty, A. K.; Pant, L. M.; Shukla, P.; Topkar, A.; Aziz, T.; Banerjee, S.; Bhowmik, S.; Chatterjee, R. M.; Dewanjee, R. K.; Dugad, S.; Ganguly, S.; Ghosh, S.; Guchait, M.; Gurtu, A.; Kole, G.; Kumar, S.; Mahakud, B.; Maity, M.; Majumder, G.; Mazumdar, K.; Mitra, S.; Mohanty, G. B.; Parida, B.; Sarkar, T.; Sudhakar, K.; Sur, N.; Sutar, B.; Wickramage, N.; Sharma, S.; Bakhshiansohi, H.; Behnamian, H.; Etesami, S. M.; Fahim, A.; Goldouzian, R.; Khakzad, M.; Mohammadi Najafabadi, M.; Naseri, M.; Paktinat Mehdiabadi, S.; Rezaei Hosseinabadi, F.; Safarzadeh, B.; Zeinali, M.; Felcini, M.; Grunewald, M.; Abbrescia, M.; Calabria, C.; Caputo, C.; Chhibra, S. S.; Colaleo, A.; Creanza, D.; Cristella, L.; de Filippis, N.; de Palma, M.; Fiore, L.; Iaselli, G.; Maggi, G.; Maggi, M.; Miniello, G.; My, S.; Nuzzo, S.; Pompili, A.; Pugliese, G.; Radogna, R.; Ranieri, A.; Selvaggi, G.; Silvestris, L.; Venditti, R.; Verwilligen, P.; Abbiendi, G.; Battilana, C.; Benvenuti, A. C.; Bonacorsi, D.; Braibant-Giacomelli, S.; Brigliadori, L.; Campanini, R.; Capiluppi, P.; Castro, A.; Cavallo, F. R.; Codispoti, G.; Cuffiani, M.; Dallavalle, G. M.; Fabbri, F.; Fanfani, A.; Fasanella, D.; Giacomelli, P.; Grandi, C.; Guiducci, L.; Marcellini, S.; Masetti, G.; Montanari, A.; Navarria, F. L.; Perrotta, A.; Rossi, A. M.; Rovelli, T.; Siroli, G. P.; Tosi, N.; Travaglini, R.; Cappello, G.; Chiorboli, M.; Costa, S.; Giordano, F.; Potenza, R.; Tricomi, A.; Tuve, C.; Barbagli, G.; Ciulli, V.; Civinini, C.; D'Alessandro, R.; Focardi, E.; Gonzi, S.; Gori, V.; Lenzi, P.; Meschini, M.; Paoletti, S.; Sguazzoni, G.; Tropiano, A.; Viliani, L.; Benussi, L.; Bianco, S.; Fabbri, F.; Piccolo, D.; Calvelli, V.; Ferro, F.; Lo Vetere, M.; Monge, M. R.; Robutti, E.; Tosi, S.; Dinardo, M. E.; Fiorendi, S.; Gennai, S.; Gerosa, R.; Ghezzi, A.; Govoni, P.; Malvezzi, S.; Manzoni, R. A.; Marzocchi, B.; Menasce, D.; Moroni, L.; Paganoni, M.; Pedrini, D.; Ragazzi, S.; Redaelli, N.; Tabarelli de Fatis, T.; Buontempo, S.; Cavallo, N.; di Guida, S.; Esposito, M.; Fabozzi, F.; Iorio, A. O. 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P., III; Majumder, D.; Malek, M.; Murray, M.; Noonan, D.; Sanders, S.; Stringer, R.; Wang, Q.; Wood, J. S.; Chakaberia, I.; Ivanov, A.; Kaadze, K.; Khalil, S.; Makouski, M.; Maravin, Y.; Mohammadi, A.; Saini, L. K.; Skhirtladze, N.; Svintradze, I.; Toda, S.; Lange, D.; Rebassoo, F.; Wright, D.; Anelli, C.; Baden, A.; Baron, O.; Belloni, A.; Calvert, B.; Eno, S. C.; Ferraioli, C.; Gomez, J. A.; Hadley, N. J.; Jabeen, S.; Kellogg, R. G.; Kolberg, T.; Kunkle, J.; Lu, Y.; Mignerey, A. C.; Pedro, K.; Shin, Y. H.; Skuja, A.; Tonjes, M. B.; Tonwar, S. C.; Apyan, A.; Barbieri, R.; Baty, A.; Bierwagen, K.; Brandt, S.; Busza, W.; Cali, I. A.; Demiragli, Z.; Di Matteo, L.; Gomez Ceballos, G.; Goncharov, M.; Gulhan, D.; Innocenti, G. M.; Klute, M.; Kovalskyi, D.; Lai, Y. S.; Lee, Y.-J.; Levin, A.; Luckey, P. D.; McGinn, C.; Mironov, C.; Niu, X.; Paus, C.; Ralph, D.; Roland, C.; Roland, G.; Salfeld-Nebgen, J.; Stephans, G. S. F.; Sumorok, K.; Varma, M.; Velicanu, D.; Veverka, J.; Wang, J.; Wang, T. W.; Wyslouch, B.; Yang, M.; Zhukova, V.; Dahmes, B.; Finkel, A.; Gude, A.; Hansen, P.; Kalafut, S.; Kao, S. C.; Klapoetke, K.; Kubota, Y.; Lesko, Z.; Mans, J.; Nourbakhsh, S.; Ruckstuhl, N.; Rusack, R.; Tambe, N.; Turkewitz, J.; Acosta, J. G.; Oliveros, S.; Avdeeva, E.; Bloom, K.; Bose, S.; Claes, D. R.; Dominguez, A.; Fangmeier, C.; Gonzalez Suarez, R.; Kamalieddin, R.; Keller, J.; Knowlton, D.; Kravchenko, I.; Lazo-Flores, J.; Meier, F.; Monroy, J.; Ratnikov, F.; Siado, J. E.; Snow, G. R.; Alyari, M.; Dolen, J.; George, J.; Godshalk, A.; Iashvili, I.; Kaisen, J.; Kharchilava, A.; Kumar, A.; Rappoccio, S.; Alverson, G.; Barberis, E.; Baumgartel, D.; Chasco, M.; Hortiangtham, A.; Massironi, A.; Morse, D. M.; Nash, D.; Orimoto, T.; Teixeira de Lima, R.; Trocino, D.; Wang, R.-J.; Wood, D.; Zhang, J.; Hahn, K. A.; Kubik, A.; Mucia, N.; Odell, N.; Pollack, B.; Pozdnyakov, A.; Schmitt, M.; Stoynev, S.; Sung, K.; Trovato, M.; Velasco, M.; Won, S.; Brinkerhoff, A.; Dev, N.; Hildreth, M.; Jessop, C.; Karmgard, D. J.; Kellams, N.; Lannon, K.; Lynch, S.; Marinelli, N.; Meng, F.; Mueller, C.; Musienko, Y.; Pearson, T.; Planer, M.; Ruchti, R.; Smith, G.; Valls, N.; Wayne, M.; Wolf, M.; Woodard, A.; Antonelli, L.; Brinson, J.; Bylsma, B.; Durkin, L. S.; Flowers, S.; Hart, A.; Hill, C.; Hughes, R.; Kotov, K.; Ling, T. Y.; Liu, B.; Luo, W.; Puigh, D.; Rodenburg, M.; Winer, B. L.; Wulsin, H. W.; Driga, O.; Elmer, P.; Hardenbrook, J.; Hebda, P.; Koay, S. A.; Lujan, P.; Marlow, D.; Medvedeva, T.; Mooney, M.; Olsen, J.; Palmer, C.; Piroué, P.; Quan, X.; Saka, H.; Stickland, D.; Tully, C.; Werner, J. S.; Zuranski, A.; Malik, S.; Barnes, V. E.; Benedetti, D.; Bortoletto, D.; Gutay, L.; Jha, M. K.; Jones, M.; Jung, K.; Kress, M.; Leonardo, N.; Miller, D. H.; Neumeister, N.; Primavera, F.; Radburn-Smith, B. C.; Shi, X.; Shipsey, I.; Silvers, D.; Sun, J.; Svyatkovskiy, A.; Wang, F.; Xie, W.; Xu, L.; Zablocki, J.; Parashar, N.; Stupak, J.; Adair, A.; Akgun, B.; Chen, Z.; Ecklund, K. M.; Geurts, F. J. M.; Guilbaud, M.; Li, W.; Michlin, B.; Northup, M.; Padley, B. P.; Redjimi, R.; Roberts, J.; Rorie, J.; Tu, Z.; Zabel, J.; Betchart, B.; Bodek, A.; de Barbaro, P.; Demina, R.; Eshaq, Y.; Ferbel, T.; Galanti, M.; Garcia-Bellido, A.; Goldenzweig, P.; Han, J.; Harel, A.; Hindrichs, O.; Khukhunaishvili, A.; Petrillo, G.; Verzetti, M.; Demortier, L.; Arora, S.; Barker, A.; Chou, J. P.; Contreras-Campana, C.; Contreras-Campana, E.; Duggan, D.; Ferencek, D.; Gershtein, Y.; Gray, R.; Halkiadakis, E.; Hidas, D.; Hughes, E.; Kaplan, S.; Kunnawalkam Elayavalli, R.; Lath, A.; Panwalkar, S.; Park, M.; Salur, S.; Schnetzer, S.; Sheffield, D.; Somalwar, S.; Stone, R.; Thomas, S.; Thomassen, P.; Walker, M.; Foerster, M.; Riley, G.; Rose, K.; Spanier, S.; York, A.; Bouhali, O.; Castaneda Hernandez, A.; Dalchenko, M.; de Mattia, M.; Delgado, A.; Dildick, S.; Eusebi, R.; Flanagan, W.; Gilmore, J.; Kamon, T.; Krutelyov, V.; Montalvo, R.; Mueller, R.; Osipenkov, I.; Pakhotin, Y.; Patel, R.; Perloff, A.; Roe, J.; Rose, A.; Safonov, A.; Tatarinov, A.; Ulmer, K. A.; Akchurin, N.; Cowden, C.; Damgov, J.; Dragoiu, C.; Dudero, P. R.; Faulkner, J.; Kunori, S.; Lamichhane, K.; Lee, S. W.; Libeiro, T.; Undleeb, S.; Volobouev, I.; Appelt, E.; Delannoy, A. G.; Greene, S.; Gurrola, A.; Janjam, R.; Johns, W.; Maguire, C.; Mao, Y.; Melo, A.; Sheldon, P.; Snook, B.; Tuo, S.; Velkovska, J.; Xu, Q.; Arenton, M. W.; Boutle, S.; Cox, B.; Francis, B.; Goodell, J.; Hirosky, R.; Ledovskoy, A.; Li, H.; Lin, C.; Neu, C.; Wolfe, E.; Wood, J.; Xia, F.; Clarke, C.; Harr, R.; Karchin, P. E.; Kottachchi Kankanamge Don, C.; Lamichhane, P.; Sturdy, J.; Belknap, D. A.; Carlsmith, D.; Cepeda, M.; Christian, A.; Dasu, S.; Dodd, L.; Duric, S.; Friis, E.; Gomber, B.; Hall-Wilton, R.; Herndon, M.; Hervé, A.; Klabbers, P.; Lanaro, A.; Levine, A.; Long, K.; Loveless, R.; Mohapatra, A.; Ojalvo, I.; Perry, T.; Pierro, G. A.; Polese, G.; Ross, I.; Ruggles, T.; Sarangi, T.; Savin, A.; Sharma, A.; Smith, N.; Smith, W. H.; Taylor, D.; Woods, N.

2016-06-01

A search for supersymmetry involving events with at least one photon, one electron or muon, and large missing transverse momentum has been performed by the CMS experiment. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb-1 of pp collisions at √{ s} = 8 TeV, produced at the CERN LHC. No excess of events is observed beyond expectations from standard model processes. The result of the search is interpreted in the context of a general model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, where the charged and neutral winos are the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particles. Within this model, winos with a mass up to 360 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level. Two simplified models inspired by gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking are also examined, and used to derive upper limits on the production cross sections of specific supersymmetric processes.

Predictors of older drivers' involvement in high-range speeding behavior.

PubMed

Chevalier, Anna; Coxon, Kristy; Rogers, Kris; Chevalier, Aran John; Wall, John; Brown, Julie; Clarke, Elizabeth; Ivers, Rebecca; Keay, Lisa

2017-02-17

Even small increases in vehicle speed raise crash risk and resulting injury severity. Older drivers are at increased risk of involvement in casualty crashes and injury compared to younger drivers. However, there is little objective evidence about older drivers' speeding. This study investigates the nature and predictors of high-range speeding among drivers aged 75-94 years. Speed per second was estimated using Global Positioning System devices installed in participants' vehicles. High-range speeding events were defined as traveling an average 10+km/h above the speed limit over 30 seconds. Descriptive analysis examined speeding events by participant characteristics and mileage driven. Regression analyses were used to examine the association between involvement in high-range speeding events and possible predictive factors. Most (96%, 182/190) participants agreed to have their vehicle instrumented, and speeding events were accurately recorded for 97% (177/182) of participants. While 77% (136/177) of participants were involved in one or more high-range events, 42% (75/177) were involved in greater than five events during 12-months of data collection. Participants involved in high-range events drove approximately twice as many kilometres as those not involved. High-range events tended to be infrequent (median = 6 per 10,000 km; IQR = 2-18). The rate of high-range speeding was associated with better cognitive function and attention to the driving environment. This suggests those older drivers with poorer cognition and visual attention may drive more cautiously, thereby reducing their high-range speeding behavior.

Three-dimensional displacements of a large volcano flank movement during the May 2010 eruptions at Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaefer, L. N.; Wang, T.; Escobar-Wolf, R.; Oommen, T.; Lu, Z.; Kim, J.; Lundgren, P. R.; Waite, G. P.

2017-01-01

Although massive flank failure is fairly common in the evolution of volcanoes, measurements of flank movement indicative of instability are rare. Here 3-D displacements from airborne radar amplitude images derived using an amplitude image pixel offset tracking technique show that the west and southwest flanks of Pacaya Volcano in Guatemala experienced large ( 4 m), discrete landsliding that was ultimately aborted. Pixel offset tracking improved measurement recovery by nearly 50% over classic interferometric synthetic aperture radar techniques, providing unique measurements at the event. The 3-D displacement field shows that the flank moved coherently downslope along a complex failure surface involving both rotational and along-slope movement. Notably, the lack of continuous movement of the slide in the years leading up to the event emphasizes that active movement should not always be expected at volcanoes for which triggering factors (e.g., magmatic intrusions and eruptions) could precipitate sudden major flank instability.

A Counter-IED Preparedness Methodology for Large Event Planning

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Payne, Patricia W; Koch, Daniel B

Since 2009, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has been involved in a project sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate aimed at improving preparedness against Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) at large sporting events. Led by the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) as part of the Southeast Region Research Initiative, the project partners have been developing tools and methodologies for use by security personnel and first responders at sports stadiums. ORNL s contribution has been to develop an automated process to gather and organize disparate data that is usually part of an organization s security plan. Themore » organized data informs a table-top exercise (TTX) conducted by USM using additional tools developed by them and their subcontractors. After participating in several pilot TTXs, patterns are beginning to emerge that would enable improvements to be formulated to increase the level of counter-IED preparedness. This paper focuses on the data collection and analysis process and shares insights gained to date.« less

Using Hybrid Techniques for Generating Watershed-scale Flood Models in an Integrated Modeling Framework

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saksena, S.; Merwade, V.; Singhofen, P.

2017-12-01

There is an increasing global trend towards developing large scale flood models that account for spatial heterogeneity at watershed scales to drive the future flood risk planning. Integrated surface water-groundwater modeling procedures can elucidate all the hydrologic processes taking part during a flood event to provide accurate flood outputs. Even though the advantages of using integrated modeling are widely acknowledged, the complexity of integrated process representation, computation time and number of input parameters required have deterred its application to flood inundation mapping, especially for large watersheds. This study presents a faster approach for creating watershed scale flood models using a hybrid design that breaks down the watershed into multiple regions of variable spatial resolution by prioritizing higher order streams. The methodology involves creating a hybrid model for the Upper Wabash River Basin in Indiana using Interconnected Channel and Pond Routing (ICPR) and comparing the performance with a fully-integrated 2D hydrodynamic model. The hybrid approach involves simplification procedures such as 1D channel-2D floodplain coupling; hydrologic basin (HUC-12) integration with 2D groundwater for rainfall-runoff routing; and varying spatial resolution of 2D overland flow based on stream order. The results for a 50-year return period storm event show that hybrid model (NSE=0.87) performance is similar to the 2D integrated model (NSE=0.88) but the computational time is reduced to half. The results suggest that significant computational efficiency can be obtained while maintaining model accuracy for large-scale flood models by using hybrid approaches for model creation.

The Courage to Care-An innovative arts-based event to engage students and the local community to reflect on Australian nurses' roles in the First World War and after.

PubMed

McAllister, Margaret; Davis, Susan; Brien, Donna Lee; Rogers, Irene; Flanagan, Wendy; Howie, Virginia; Dargusch, Jo

2016-12-01

There is a large body of work that documents the history of the nursing profession and the experiences of nurses during significant historical eras such as the First World War. Yet learning about nursing history is commonly a tiny, or absent, component in the undergraduate nursing curriculum. This paper discusses an innovative project that had multiple aims. A primary aim was to engage nursing students and educators in a project that valued nursing history by integrating it into an event to celebrate International Nurses Day. As the paper will explain, other aims were in organising the event so that it capitalised on particular creative arts strengths within the faculty, offering cross-disciplinary connections, engagement and appreciation. A Readers' Theatre event, involving academics and students in nursing, creative arts and education, was conceived, developed and performed for the community. The theme was the experiences of First World War nurses and how they encapsulated values important to nursing today - the 6 Cs - which guide high standards of nursing. The 6 Cs are care, compassion, competence, communication, courage and commitment. We called the Readers' Theatre "The Courage to Care", and this involved a 4month process of script development, event planning and a performance. This process and outcomes were evaluated, prompting a reflection on the strengths and challenges of working in this creative way to engage a wide group of stakeholders to advance the profession of nursing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Supercontinental warming of the mantle at the origin of gigantic flood basalts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coltice, N.; Phillips, B. R.; Bertrand, H.; Ricard, Y.; Rey, P.

2006-12-01

Continents episodically cluster together into a supercontinent, eventually breaking up with intense magmatic activity supposedly causedby mantle plumes. The break-up of Pangea, the last supercontinent, was accompanied by the emplacement of the largest known continental flood basalt, the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, causing massive extinctions at the Triassic/Jurassic boundary. However, there is little support for a plume origin for this catastrophic event. On the basis of 2D and 3D spherical convection modelling in a internally heated mantle, we show that continental aggregation leads to large-scale melting without requiring the involvement of plumes. When only internal heat sources in the mantle are considered, the formationof a supercontinent causes the enlargement of the wavelength of the flow and a subcontinental warming as large as 100^{\\mboxo}C. This temperature increase may lead to large- scale melting without the involvment of plumes. Our results suggest the existence of two distinct types of continental flood basalts, caused by plume or by supercontinental warming. We review some potential candidates for our proposed model.

Global warming of the mantle at the origin of flood basalts over supercontinents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coltice, N.; Phillips, B. R.; Bertrand, H.; Ricard, Y.; Rey, P.

2007-05-01

Continents episodically cluster together into a supercontinent, eventually breaking up with intense magmatic activity supposedly caused by mantle plumes (Morgan, 1983; Richards et al., 1989; Condie, 2004). The breakup of Pangea, the last supercontinent, was accompanied by the emplacement of the largest known continental flood basalt, the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province, which caused massive extinctions at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary (Marzoli et al., 1999). However, there is little support for a plume origin for this catastrophic event (McHone, 2000). On the basis of convection modeling in an internally heated mantle, this paper shows that continental aggregation promotes large-scale melting without requiring the involvement of plumes. When only internal heat sources in the mantle are considered, the formation of a supercontinent causes the enlargement of flow wavelength and a subcontinental increase in temperature as large as 100 °C. This temperature increase may lead to large-scale melting without the involvement of plumes. Our results suggest the existence of two distinct types of continental flood basalts, caused by plume or by mantle global warming.

Rare event simulation in radiation transport

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kollman, Craig

1993-10-01

This dissertation studies methods for estimating extremely small probabilities by Monte Carlo simulation. Problems in radiation transport typically involve estimating very rare events or the expected value of a random variable which is with overwhelming probability equal to zero. These problems often have high dimensional state spaces and irregular geometries so that analytic solutions are not possible. Monte Carlo simulation must be used to estimate the radiation dosage being transported to a particular location. If the area is well shielded the probability of any one particular particle getting through is very small. Because of the large number of particles involved,more » even a tiny fraction penetrating the shield may represent an unacceptable level of radiation. It therefore becomes critical to be able to accurately estimate this extremely small probability. Importance sampling is a well known technique for improving the efficiency of rare event calculations. Here, a new set of probabilities is used in the simulation runs. The results are multiple by the likelihood ratio between the true and simulated probabilities so as to keep the estimator unbiased. The variance of the resulting estimator is very sensitive to which new set of transition probabilities are chosen. It is shown that a zero variance estimator does exist, but that its computation requires exact knowledge of the solution. A simple random walk with an associated killing model for the scatter of neutrons is introduced. Large deviation results for optimal importance sampling in random walks are extended to the case where killing is present. An adaptive ``learning`` algorithm for implementing importance sampling is given for more general Markov chain models of neutron scatter. For finite state spaces this algorithm is shown to give with probability one, a sequence of estimates converging exponentially fast to the true solution.« less

Risk Factors, Etiological Classification, Topographical Location, and Outcome in Medullary Infarctions.

PubMed

Gökçal, Elif; Baran, Gözde; Niftaliyev, Elvin; Güzel, Vildan; Asil, Talip

2017-07-01

An understanding of the etiological mechanisms is important for therapeutic decisions and prognostic evaluation of patients with ischemic stroke. The object of this study was to evaluate the risk factors, etiological subtypes, and topography of lesion in patients with medullary infarctions (MIs). Besides, we also investigated early neurological deterioration, new vascular events, and functional outcome of all patients at 3-month follow-up. We analyzed our database consisting of patients who were diagnosed with acute MI and who were admitted within 24 hours of onset. Etiological classification of stroke was made on the basis of the Trial of Org 1972 in Acute Stroke Treatment criteria. All of the infarctions were grouped into anteromedial, anterolateral, lateral, and posterior arterial territories and also categorized into those involving the upper, middle, or lower medulla oblongata. Early neurological deterioration, major vascular events within the first 3 months of follow-up and modified Rankin Score at 3 months were reviewed. A total of 65 patients with medullary infarctions were reviewed. Involved arterial territories differed according to the etiological classification. Large artery atherosclerosis was the most common etiological subtype; however, small vessel disease was the most common subtype in medial MIs. The lesions involving the anteromedial territory were common in the upper medullary region, whereas the lesions involving the posterior and lateral territories were common in the lower medulla oblangata. Recurrent stroke was seen in the posterior and lateral territories; however, early progression and poor functional outcome were mostly seen in lesions involving the anteromedial territories.

Multiple roles for the actin cytoskeleton during regulated exocytosis

PubMed Central

Porat-Shliom, Natalie; Milberg, Oleg; Masedunskas, Andrius; Weigert, Roberto

2014-01-01

Regulated exocytosis is the main mechanism utilized by specialized secretory cells to deliver molecules to the cell surface by virtue of membranous containers (i.e. secretory vesicles). The process involves a series of highly coordinated and sequential steps, which include the biogenesis of the vesicles, their delivery to the cell periphery, their fusion with the plasma membrane and the release of their content into the extracellular space. Each of these steps is regulated by the actin cytoskeleton. In this review, we summarize the current knowledge regarding the involvement of actin and its associated molecules during each of the exocytic steps in vertebrates, and suggest that the overall role of the actin cytoskeleton during regulated exocytosis is linked to the architecture and the physiology of the secretory cells under examination. Specifically, in neurons, neuroendocrine, endocrine, and hematopoietic cells, which contain small secretory vesicles that undergo rapid exocytosis (on the order of milliseconds), the actin cytoskeleton plays a role in pre-fusion events, where it acts primarily as a functional barrier and facilitates docking. In exocrine and other secretory cells, which contain large secretory vesicles that undergo slow exocytosis (seconds to minutes), the actin cytoskeleton plays a role in post-fusion events, where it regulates the dynamics of the fusion pore, facilitates the integration of the vesicles into the plasma membrane, provides structural support, and promotes the expulsion of large cargo molecules. PMID:22986507

Seismic Search Engine: A distributed database for mining large scale seismic data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Y.; Vaidya, S.; Kuzma, H. A.

2009-12-01

The International Monitoring System (IMS) of the CTBTO collects terabytes worth of seismic measurements from many receiver stations situated around the earth with the goal of detecting underground nuclear testing events and distinguishing them from other benign, but more common events such as earthquakes and mine blasts. The International Data Center (IDC) processes and analyzes these measurements, as they are collected by the IMS, to summarize event detections in daily bulletins. Thereafter, the data measurements are archived into a large format database. Our proposed Seismic Search Engine (SSE) will facilitate a framework for data exploration of the seismic database as well as the development of seismic data mining algorithms. Analogous to GenBank, the annotated genetic sequence database maintained by NIH, through SSE, we intend to provide public access to seismic data and a set of processing and analysis tools, along with community-generated annotations and statistical models to help interpret the data. SSE will implement queries as user-defined functions composed from standard tools and models. Each query is compiled and executed over the database internally before reporting results back to the user. Since queries are expressed with standard tools and models, users can easily reproduce published results within this framework for peer-review and making metric comparisons. As an illustration, an example query is “what are the best receiver stations in East Asia for detecting events in the Middle East?” Evaluating this query involves listing all receiver stations in East Asia, characterizing known seismic events in that region, and constructing a profile for each receiver station to determine how effective its measurements are at predicting each event. The results of this query can be used to help prioritize how data is collected, identify defective instruments, and guide future sensor placements.

Biological Studies of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

PubMed Central

Pitman, Roger K.; Rasmusson, Ann M.; Koenen, Karestan C.; Shin, Lisa M.; Orr, Scott P.; Gilbertson, Mark W.; Milad, Mohammed R.; Liberzon, Israel

2016-01-01

Preface Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the only major mental disorder for which a cause is considered to be known, viz., an event that involves threat to the physical integrity of oneself or others and induces a response of intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Although PTSD is still largely regarded as a psychological phenomenon, over the past three decades the growth of the biological PTSD literature has been explosive, and thousands of references now exist. Ultimately, the impact of an environmental event, such as a psychological trauma, must be understood at organic, cellular, and molecular levels. The present review attempts to present the current state of this understanding, based upon psychophysiological, structural and functional neuroimaging, endocrinological, genetic, and molecular biological studies in humans and in animal models. PMID:23047775

‘Other Spaces’ for the Dangerous Dead of Provincial England, c.1752–1832

PubMed Central

HURREN, ELIZABETH T.

2018-01-01

Abstract The Murder Act (1752) decreed that homicide perpetrators should be hanged and sent for post‐execution punishment. This article explores the event management of criminal dissections by penal surgeons in situ. It reveals that the punishment parade of the condemned did not stop at the scaffold, contrary to the impression in many standard historical accounts. Instead, ordinary people accompanied criminal corpses to many different types of dissection venues. Penal surgeons hand‐picked these performance spaces that were socially produced for legal and practical reasons. They had to be able to process large numbers of people who wanted to be part of the consumption of post‐mortem ‘harm’ in English communities. Event management on location had to have emotional and visual appeal, moral coherence, be timed appropriately, and, if successful, would enhance the deterrence value of the capital code. Yet, managing the ‘dangerous dead’ involved a great deal of discretionary justice with unpredictable outcomes. It often happened in ‘counter‐sites’ of punishment in the community and involved a great deal of immersive theatre. Some events worked well, others threatened the social order. In ‘Other Spaces’ the ‘Dangerous Dead’ was hence a fascinating feature of the Murder Act outside the Metropolis from 1752 to 1832. PMID:29491511

Search for supersymmetry in events containing a same-flavour opposite-sign dilepton pair, jets, and large missing transverse momentum in [Formula: see text] TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector.

PubMed

Aad, G; Abbott, B; Abdallah, J; Abdinov, O; Aben, R; Abolins, M; AbouZeid, O S; Abramowicz, H; Abreu, H; Abreu, R; Abulaiti, Y; Acharya, B S; Adamczyk, L; Adams, D L; Adelman, J; Adomeit, S; Adye, T; Affolder, A A; Agatonovic-Jovin, T; Aguilar-Saavedra, J A; Agustoni, M; Ahlen, S P; Ahmadov, F; Aielli, G; Akerstedt, H; Åkesson, T P A; Akimoto, G; Akimov, A V; Alberghi, G L; Albert, J; Albrand, S; Alconada Verzini, M J; Aleksa, M; Aleksandrov, I N; Alexa, C; Alexander, G; Alexopoulos, T; Alhroob, M; Alimonti, G; Alio, L; Alison, J; Alkire, S P; Allbrooke, B M M; Allport, P P; Aloisio, A; Alonso, A; Alonso, F; Alpigiani, C; Altheimer, A; Alvarez Gonzalez, B; Piqueras, D Álvarez; Alviggi, M G; Amako, K; Amaral Coutinho, Y; Amelung, C; Amidei, D; Amor Dos Santos, S P; Amorim, A; Amoroso, S; Amram, N; Amundsen, G; Anastopoulos, C; Ancu, L S; Andari, N; Andeen, T; Anders, C F; Anders, G; Anderson, K J; Andreazza, A; Andrei, V; Angelidakis, S; Angelozzi, I; Anger, P; Angerami, A; Anghinolfi, F; 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Vazeille, F; Vazquez Schroeder, T; Veatch, J; Veloso, F; Velz, T; Veneziano, S; Ventura, A; Ventura, D; Venturi, M; Venturi, N; Venturini, A; Vercesi, V; Verducci, M; Verkerke, W; Vermeulen, J C; Vest, A; Vetterli, M C; Viazlo, O; Vichou, I; Vickey, T; Vickey Boeriu, O E; Viehhauser, G H A; Viel, S; Vigne, R; Villa, M; Villaplana Perez, M; Vilucchi, E; Vincter, M G; Vinogradov, V B; Vivarelli, I; Vives Vaque, F; Vlachos, S; Vladoiu, D; Vlasak, M; Vogel, M; Vokac, P; Volpi, G; Volpi, M; von der Schmitt, H; von Radziewski, H; von Toerne, E; Vorobel, V; Vorobev, K; Vos, M; Voss, R; Vossebeld, J H; Vranjes, N; Vranjes Milosavljevic, M; Vrba, V; Vreeswijk, M; Vuillermet, R; Vukotic, I; Vykydal, Z; Wagner, P; Wagner, W; Wahlberg, H; Wahrmund, S; Wakabayashi, J; Walder, J; Walker, R; Walkowiak, W; Wang, C; Wang, F; Wang, H; Wang, H; Wang, J; Wang, J; Wang, K; Wang, R; Wang, S M; Wang, T; Wang, X; Wanotayaroj, C; Warburton, A; Ward, C P; Wardrope, D R; Warsinsky, M; Washbrook, A; Wasicki, C; Watkins, P M; Watson, A T; Watson, I J; Watson, M F; Watts, G; Watts, S; Waugh, B M; Webb, S; Weber, M S; Weber, S W; Webster, J S; Weidberg, A R; Weinert, B; Weingarten, J; Weiser, C; Weits, H; Wells, P S; Wenaus, T; Wengler, T; Wenig, S; Wermes, N; Werner, M; Werner, P; Wessels, M; Wetter, J; Whalen, K; Wharton, A M; White, A; White, M J; White, R; White, S; Whiteson, D; Wickens, F J; Wiedenmann, W; Wielers, M; Wienemann, P; Wiglesworth, C; Wiik-Fuchs, L A M; Wildauer, A; Wilkens, H G; Williams, H H; Williams, S; Willis, C; Willocq, S; Wilson, A; Wilson, J A; Wingerter-Seez, I; Winklmeier, F; Winter, B T; Wittgen, M; Wittkowski, J; Wollstadt, S J; Wolter, M W; Wolters, H; Wosiek, B K; Wotschack, J; Woudstra, M J; Wozniak, K W; Wu, M; Wu, M; Wu, S L; Wu, X; Wu, Y; Wyatt, T R; Wynne, B M; Xella, S; Xu, D; Xu, L; Yabsley, B; Yacoob, S; Yakabe, R; Yamada, M; Yamaguchi, Y; Yamamoto, A; Yamamoto, S; Yamanaka, T; Yamauchi, K; Yamazaki, Y; Yan, Z; Yang, H; Yang, H; Yang, Y; Yao, L; Yao, W-M; Yasu, Y; Yatsenko, E; Yau Wong, K H; Ye, J; Ye, S; Yeletskikh, I; Yen, A L; Yildirim, E; Yorita, K; Yoshida, R; Yoshihara, K; Young, C; Young, C J S; Youssef, S; Yu, D R; Yu, J; Yu, J M; Yu, J; Yuan, L; Yurkewicz, A; Yusuff, I; Zabinski, B; Zaidan, R; Zaitsev, A M; Zalieckas, J; Zaman, A; Zambito, S; Zanello, L; Zanzi, D; Zeitnitz, C; Zeman, M; Zemla, A; Zengel, K; Zenin, O; Ženiš, T; Zerwas, D; Zhang, D; Zhang, F; Zhang, J; Zhang, L; Zhang, R; Zhang, X; Zhang, Z; Zhao, X; Zhao, Y; Zhao, Z; Zhemchugov, A; Zhong, J; Zhou, B; Zhou, C; Zhou, L; Zhou, L; Zhou, N; Zhu, C G; Zhu, H; Zhu, J; Zhu, Y; Zhuang, X; Zhukov, K; Zibell, A; Zieminska, D; Zimine, N I; Zimmermann, C; Zimmermann, R; Zimmermann, S; Zinonos, Z; Zinser, M; Ziolkowski, M; Živković, L; Zobernig, G; Zoccoli, A; Zur Nedden, M; Zurzolo, G; Zwalinski, L

Two searches for supersymmetric particles in final states containing a same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pair, jets and large missing transverse momentum are presented. The proton-proton collision data used in these searches were collected at a centre-of-mass energy [Formula: see text] TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb[Formula: see text]. Two leptonic production mechanisms are considered: decays of squarks and gluinos with Z bosons in the final state, resulting in a peak in the dilepton invariant mass distribution around the Z -boson mass; and decays of neutralinos (e.g. [Formula: see text]), resulting in a kinematic endpoint in the dilepton invariant mass distribution. For the former, an excess of events above the expected Standard Model background is observed, with a significance of three standard deviations. In the latter case, the data are well-described by the expected Standard Model background. The results from each channel are interpreted in the context of several supersymmetric models involving the production of squarks and gluinos.

[TREATMENT DILEMMAS IN BEHÇET'S SYNDROME].

PubMed

Zeller, Lior; Ling, Edoard; Abu-Shakra, Mahmoud

2016-02-01

Behçet's disease is an inflammatory systemic disorder, characterized by a relapsing and remitting course, it manifests with oral and genital ulcerations, skin lesions, uveitis, vasculitis, central nervous system and gastrointestinal involvement. The main histopathological finding is widespread vasculitis of the arteries and veins. Therapy is variable and depends largely on the severity of the disease and organ involvement. There is common practice to treat with anticoagulation in patients suffering from vessel thrombosis, but there are no control trials to support this tendency. Anticoagulation treatment can cause major bleeding events in patients suffering from aneurysms. In this case report we describe a treatment dilemma in a patient suffering from deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary aneurysms.

Gravity sensing, a largely misunderstood trigger of plant orientated growth.

PubMed

Lopez, David; Tocquard, Kévin; Venisse, Jean-Stéphane; Legué, Valerie; Roeckel-Drevet, Patricia

2014-01-01

Gravity is a crucial environmental factor regulating plant growth and development. Plants have the ability to sense a change in the direction of gravity, which leads to the re-orientation of their growth direction, so-called gravitropism. In general, plant stems grow upward (negative gravitropism), whereas roots grow downward (positive gravitropism). Models describing the gravitropic response following the tilting of plants are presented and highlight that gravitropic curvature involves both gravisensing and mechanosensing, thus allowing to revisit experimental data. We also discuss the challenge to set up experimental designs for discriminating between gravisensing and mechanosensing. We then present the cellular events and the molecular actors known to be specifically involved in gravity sensing.

Potential benefits of underride guards in large truck side crashes.

PubMed

Brumbelow, Matthew L

2012-01-01

To evaluate the maximum potential for side underride guards (SUGs) to reduce passenger vehicle occupant fatalities and injuries in crashes with large trucks in the United States. Examination of the Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) identified 206 crash events involving a passenger vehicle impact with the side of a large truck. Each case was evaluated to determine whether the most severe injury sustained by a passenger vehicle occupant was a result of the impact with the side of the truck and whether an SUG could have reduced the injury severity. Data from the 2006-2008 Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and Trucks Involved in Fatal Accidents (TIFA) survey were used to compare the types of trucks involved in all fatal side impacts with passenger vehicles with the truck types in the LTCCS cases that were studied. FARS and TIFA data also were used to estimate the total annual number of passenger vehicle occupants killed in truck side impacts. In 143 of the 206 cases, the truck side impact produced the most severe injury sustained by a passenger vehicle occupant. In the other cases, no passenger vehicle occupant was injured or the most severe injury was due to an event preceding or following the truck side impact. Forty-nine of these occupants sustained injuries coded as level 3 or higher on the abbreviated injury scale (AIS) or were killed. SUGs could have reduced injury severity in 76 of the 143 cases, including 38 of the 49 cases with an AIS ≥ 3 coded injury or fatality. Semi-trailers were the most common type of impacted truck unit, both overall and when considering only cases where an SUG could have mitigated injury severity. Crashes where the front of the passenger vehicle struck the side of the semi-trailer perpendicularly or obliquely from the oncoming direction were less common overall than side-to-side and oblique/same direction crashes but more often produced an AIS ≥ 3 injury or fatality. The distribution of truck types in the LTCCS sample was similar to that in the FARS and TIFA data. Overall, around 1600 passenger vehicle occupants were killed in 2-vehicle truck side impact crashes during 2006-2008, or 22 percent of all passenger vehicle occupants who died in 2-vehicle crashes with large trucks. Structural incompatibility was a common factor in LTCCS crashes between passenger vehicles and the sides of large trucks. SUGs could have reduced injury risk in around three fourths of the crashes that produced an AIS ≥ 3 injury or fatality. Most of these crashes involved semi-trailers. However, the necessary strength and location of these SUGs present technical challenges that need to be addressed.

Large-scale synchronized activity during vocal deviance detection in the zebra finch auditory forebrain.

PubMed

Beckers, Gabriël J L; Gahr, Manfred

2012-08-01

Auditory systems bias responses to sounds that are unexpected on the basis of recent stimulus history, a phenomenon that has been widely studied using sequences of unmodulated tones (mismatch negativity; stimulus-specific adaptation). Such a paradigm, however, does not directly reflect problems that neural systems normally solve for adaptive behavior. We recorded multiunit responses in the caudomedial auditory forebrain of anesthetized zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) at 32 sites simultaneously, to contact calls that recur probabilistically at a rate that is used in communication. Neurons in secondary, but not primary, auditory areas respond preferentially to calls when they are unexpected (deviant) compared with the same calls when they are expected (standard). This response bias is predominantly due to sites more often not responding to standard events than to deviant events. When two call stimuli alternate between standard and deviant roles, most sites exhibit a response bias to deviant events of both stimuli. This suggests that biases are not based on a use-dependent decrease in response strength but involve a more complex mechanism that is sensitive to auditory deviance per se. Furthermore, between many secondary sites, responses are tightly synchronized, a phenomenon that is driven by internal neuronal interactions rather than by the timing of stimulus acoustic features. We hypothesize that this deviance-sensitive, internally synchronized network of neurons is involved in the involuntary capturing of attention by unexpected and behaviorally potentially relevant events in natural auditory scenes.

The morphometric and stratigraphic framework for estimates of debris flow incidence in the North Cascades foothills, Washington State, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kovanen, Dori J.; Slaymaker, Olav

2008-07-01

Active debris flow fans in the North Cascade Foothills of Washington State constitute a natural hazard of importance to land managers, private property owners and personal security. In the absence of measurements of the sediment fluxes involved in debris flow events, a morphological-evolutionary systems approach, emphasizing stratigraphy, dating, fan morphology and debris flow basin morphometry, was used. Using the stratigraphic framework and 47 radiocarbon dates, frequency of occurrence and relative magnitudes of debris flow events have been estimated for three spatial scales of debris flow systems: the within-fan site scale (84 observations); the fan meso-scale (six observations) and the lumped fan, regional or macro-scale (one fan average and adjacent lake sediments). In order to characterize the morphometric framework, plots of basin area v. fan area, basin area v. fan gradient and the Melton ruggedness number v. fan gradient for the 12 debris flow basins were compared with those documented for semi-arid and paraglacial fans. Basin area to fan area ratios were generally consistent with the estimated level of debris flow activity during the Holocene as reported below. Terrain analysis of three of the most active debris flow basins revealed the variety of modes of slope failure and sediment production in the region. Micro-scale debris flow event systems indicated a range of recurrence intervals for large debris flows from 106-3645 years. The spatial variation of these rates across the fans was generally consistent with previously mapped hazard zones. At the fan meso-scale, the range of recurrence intervals for large debris flows was 273-1566 years and at the regional scale, the estimated recurrence interval of large debris flows was 874 years (with undetermined error bands) during the past 7290 years. Dated lake sediments from the adjacent Lake Whatcom gave recurrence intervals for large sediment producing events ranging from 481-557 years over the past 3900 years and clearly discernible sedimentation events in the lacustrine sediments had a recurrence interval of 67-78 years over that same period.

Placebo effects in trials evaluating 12 selected minimally invasive interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis

PubMed Central

Holtedahl, Robin; Brox, Jens Ivar; Tjomsland, Ole

2015-01-01

Objectives To analyse the impact of placebo effects on outcome in trials of selected minimally invasive procedures and to assess reported adverse events in both trial arms. Design A systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources and study selection We searched MEDLINE and Cochrane library to identify systematic reviews of musculoskeletal, neurological and cardiac conditions published between January 2009 and January 2014 comparing selected minimally invasive with placebo (sham) procedures. We searched MEDLINE for additional randomised controlled trials published between January 2000 and January 2014. Data synthesis Effect sizes (ES) in the active and placebo arms in the trials’ primary and pooled secondary end points were calculated. Linear regression was used to analyse the association between end points in the active and sham groups. Reported adverse events in both trial arms were registered. Results We included 21 trials involving 2519 adult participants. For primary end points, there was a large clinical effect (ES≥0.8) after active treatment in 12 trials and after sham procedures in 11 trials. For secondary end points, 7 and 5 trials showed a large clinical effect. Three trials showed a moderate difference in ES between active treatment and sham on primary end points (ES ≥0.5) but no trials reported a large difference. No trials showed large or moderate differences in ES on pooled secondary end points. Regression analysis of end points in active treatment and sham arms estimated an R2 of 0.78 for primary and 0.84 for secondary end points. Adverse events after sham were in most cases minor and of short duration. Conclusions The generally small differences in ES between active treatment and sham suggest that non-specific mechanisms, including placebo, are major predictors of the observed effects. Adverse events related to sham procedures were mainly minor and short-lived. Ethical arguments frequently raised against sham-controlled trials were generally not substantiated. PMID:25636794

Behaviorism, Private Events, and the Molar View of Behavior

PubMed Central

Baum, William M

2011-01-01

Viewing the science of behavior (behavior analysis) to be a natural science, radical behaviorism rejects any form of dualism, including subjective–objective or inner–outer dualism. Yet radical behaviorists often claim that treating private events as covert behavior and internal stimuli is necessary and important to behavior analysis. To the contrary, this paper argues that, compared with the rejection of dualism, private events constitute a trivial idea and are irrelevant to accounts of behavior. Viewed in the framework of evolutionary theory or for any practical purpose, behavior is commerce with the environment. By its very nature, behavior is extended in time. The temptation to posit private events arises when an activity is viewed in too small a time frame, obscuring what the activity does. When activities are viewed in an appropriately extended time frame, private events become irrelevant to the account. This insight provides the answer to many philosophical questions about thinking, sensing, and feeling. Confusion about private events arises in large part from failure to appreciate fully the radical implications of replacing mentalistic ideas about language with the concept of verbal behavior. Like other operant behavior, verbal behavior involves no agent and no hidden causes; like all natural events, it is caused by other natural events. In a science of behavior grounded in evolutionary theory, the same set of principles applies to verbal and nonverbal behavior and to human and nonhuman organisms. PMID:22532740

From Tornadoes to Earthquakes: Forecast Verification for Binary Events Applied to the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, Earthquake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, C.; Rundle, J. B.; Holliday, J. R.; Nanjo, K.; Turcotte, D. L.; Li, S.; Tiampo, K. F.

2005-12-01

Forecast verification procedures for statistical events with binary outcomes typically rely on the use of contingency tables and Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) diagrams. Originally developed for the statistical evaluation of tornado forecasts on a county-by-county basis, these methods can be adapted to the evaluation of competing earthquake forecasts. Here we apply these methods retrospectively to two forecasts for the m = 7.3 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, earthquake. These forecasts are based on a method, Pattern Informatics (PI), that locates likely sites for future large earthquakes based on large change in activity of the smallest earthquakes. A competing null hypothesis, Relative Intensity (RI), is based on the idea that future large earthquake locations are correlated with sites having the greatest frequency of small earthquakes. We show that for Taiwan, the PI forecast method is superior to the RI forecast null hypothesis. Inspection of the two maps indicates that their forecast locations are indeed quite different. Our results confirm an earlier result suggesting that the earthquake preparation process for events such as the Chi-Chi earthquake involves anomalous changes in activation or quiescence, and that signatures of these processes can be detected in precursory seismicity data. Furthermore, we find that our methods can accurately forecast the locations of aftershocks from precursory seismicity changes alone, implying that the main shock together with its aftershocks represent a single manifestation of the formation of a high-stress region nucleating prior to the main shock.

The 3 April 2017 Botswana M6.5 Earthquake: Scientific Rapid Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Midzi, V.; Jele, V.; Kwadiba, M. T.; Mantsha, R.; Manzunzu, B.; Mulabisana, T. F.; Ntibinyane, O.; Pule, T.; Saunders, I.; Tabane, L.; van Aswegen, G.; Zulu, B. S.

2017-12-01

An earthquake of magnitude M6.5 occurred in the evening of 3 April 2017 in Central Botswana. The event was well recorded by the regional network and located by both the Council for Geoscience (CGS) and United States Geological Survey (USGS). Its effects were felt widely in southern Africa and were especially pronounced for residence of Gauteng and the North West Province. In response to these events, the CGS, together with the Botswana Geoscience Institute (BGI), embarked on two scientific projects. The first involved the quick installation of a temporary network of six seismograph stations in and around the location of the main Botswana event with the purpose of detecting and recording its aftershocks. Initially the intention had been to record the events for a period of one month, but on realizing just how active the area was it was decided to extend the period to three months. Data recorded in the first month were collected and delivered to both the CGS and BGI for processing. Currently data recorded in April 2017 after the installation of the stations has been analysed and more than 500 located aftershocks identified. All are located at the eastern edge of the Central Kalahari Park near the location of the main event in clear two clusters. The observed clusters imply that a segmented fault is the source of these earthquakes and is oriented in a NW-SE direction. The second scientific project involved a macroseismic survey to study the extent and nature of the effects of the event in southern Africa. This involved CGS and BGI scientists conducting interviews of members of the public to extract as much information as possible. Other data were collected from questionnaires submitted online by the public. In total 180 questionnaires were obtained through interviews and 141 online from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia. All collected data have been analysed to produce 76 intensity data points located all over the region, with maximum intensity values of VI (according to the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale) observed near the epicenter. These are quite low values of intensity for such a large event, but are to be expected given that the epicentral region is in a national park which is sparsely populated.

Symptoms of borderline personality disorder predict interpersonal (but not independent) stressful life events in a community sample of older adults.

PubMed

Powers, Abigail D; Gleason, Marci E J; Oltmanns, Thomas F

2013-05-01

Individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often experience stressful life events at a higher frequency than those without BPD. It is less clear what specific types of events are involved in this effect, and it has not been determined whether some features of BPD are more important than others in accounting for this effect. The latter issue is important in light of the heterogeneous nature of this diagnostic construct. These issues were examined in a large, representative community sample of men and women, ages 55-64. Ten Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev., DSM-IV-TR, Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Association, 2000) personality disorders were assessed at baseline using the Structured Interview for DSM-IV Personality: SIDP-IV (B. Pfohl, N. Blum, & M. Zimmerman, 1997, Washington, DC, American Psychiatric Press). Life events were measured at three sequential assessments following baseline at 6-month (N = 1,294), 12-month (N = 1,070), and 18-month (N = 837) follow-ups. Stressful life events were identified using a self-report questionnaire (LTE-Q; List of Threatening Experiences Questionnaire: A subset of prescribed life events with considerable long-term contextual threat by T. Brugha, C. Bebbington, P. Tennant, and J. Hurry, 1985, Psychological Medicine, Vol. 15, pp. 189-194.) followed by a telephone interview. Only borderline personality pathology was related to an increase in the frequency of interpersonal stressful life events. Three specific symptoms of BPD were largely responsible for this connection: unstable interpersonal relationships, impulsivity, and chronic feelings of emptiness (negative association). Symptoms of avoidant and schizoid personality disorders were associated with a reduced number of stressful life events that are considered to be outside a person's control (e.g., serious illness, injury, or death of a loved one). None of the personality disorders predicted an increase in the number of stressful financial events (e.g., major financial crisis). These findings suggest that, as individuals approach later life, certain features of BPD continue to serve as important risk factors for stressful life events of an interpersonal nature. © 2013 American Psychological Association

Endoplasmic reticulum calcium release potentiates the ER stress and cell death caused by an oxidative stress in MCF-7 cells.

PubMed

Dejeans, Nicolas; Tajeddine, Nicolas; Beck, Raphaël; Verrax, Julien; Taper, Henryk; Gailly, Philippe; Calderon, Pedro Buc

2010-05-01

Increase in cytosolic calcium concentration ([Ca2+](c)), release of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) calcium ([Ca2+](er)) and ER stress have been proposed to be involved in oxidative toxicity. Nevertheless, their relative involvements in the processes leading to cell death are not well defined. In this study, we investigated whether oxidative stress generated during ascorbate-driven menadione redox cycling (Asc/Men) could trigger these three events, and, if so, whether they contributed to Asc/Men cytoxicity in MCF-7 cells. Using microspectrofluorimetry, we demonstrated that Asc/Men-generated oxidative stress was associated with a slow and moderate increase in [Ca2+](c), largely preceding permeation of propidium iodide, and thus cell death. Asc/Men treatment was shown to partially deplete ER calcium stores after 90 min (decrease by 45% compared to control). This event was associated with ER stress activation, as shown by analysis of eIF2 phosphorylation and expression of the molecular chaperone GRP94. Thapsigargin (TG) was then used to study the effect of complete [Ca2+](er) emptying during the oxidative stress generated by Asc/Men. Surprisingly, the combination of TG and Asc/Men increased ER stress to a level considerably higher than that observed for either treatment alone, suggesting that [Ca2+](er) release alone is not sufficient to explain ER stress activation during oxidative stress. Finally, TG-mediated [Ca2+](er) release largely potentiated ER stress, DNA fragmentation and cell death caused by Asc/Men, supporting a role of ER stress in the process of Asc/Men cytotoxicity. Taken together, our results highlight the involvement of ER stress and [Ca2+](er) decrease in the process of oxidative stress-induced cell death in MCF-7 cells. 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Mass gatherings: a systematic review of the literature on large events].

PubMed

Llorente Nieto, Pedro; González-Alcaide, Gregorio; Ramos, José M

2017-07-01

We reviewed the literature on mass gatherings published worldwide to determine event types and topics or epidemiologic aspects covered. Articles using the term mass gatherings indexed in the Scopus database between 2000 and 2015 were reviewed. Of the 518 returned, we selected 96 with relevant information. The main event types studied were related to sports (46%), music (25%) or religious/social content (23%), and the most commonly studied locations were the United States (n=21), the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (n=17), Australia (n=11), and the United Kingdom (n=10). The four most often studied events were the Hajj (n=17), the Olympic games (n=13), World Youth Day (n=8), and the FIFA World Cup (n=6). The main topics studied were models of health care (n=55), health care evaluation by means of rates of patients presenting for care or transferred to hospitals (n=21), respiratory pathogens (n=18), syndromic surveillance (n=10), and the global spread of diseases (n=10). Mass gatherings are an emerging area of study addressed by various medical specialties that have focused on studying the health care models used at such events. Emergency medicine is particularly involved with this research topic.

Fandom Biases Retrospective Judgments Not Perception.

PubMed

Huff, Markus; Papenmeier, Frank; Maurer, Annika E; Meitz, Tino G K; Garsoffky, Bärbel; Schwan, Stephan

2017-02-24

Attitudes and motivations have been shown to affect the processing of visual input, indicating that observers may see a given situation each literally in a different way. Yet, in real-life, processing information in an unbiased manner is considered to be of high adaptive value. Attitudinal and motivational effects were found for attention, characterization, categorization, and memory. On the other hand, for dynamic real-life events, visual processing has been found to be highly synchronous among viewers. Thus, while in a seminal study fandom as a particularly strong case of attitudes did bias judgments of a sports event, it left the question open whether attitudes do bias prior processing stages. Here, we investigated influences of fandom during the live TV broadcasting of the 2013 UEFA-Champions-League Final regarding attention, event segmentation, immediate and delayed cued recall, as well as affect, memory confidence, and retrospective judgments. Even though we replicated biased retrospective judgments, we found that eye-movements, event segmentation, and cued recall were largely similar across both groups of fans. Our findings demonstrate that, while highly involving sports events are interpreted in a fan dependent way, at initial stages they are processed in an unbiased manner.

Fandom Biases Retrospective Judgments Not Perception

PubMed Central

Huff, Markus; Papenmeier, Frank; Maurer, Annika E.; Meitz, Tino G. K.; Garsoffky, Bärbel; Schwan, Stephan

2017-01-01

Attitudes and motivations have been shown to affect the processing of visual input, indicating that observers may see a given situation each literally in a different way. Yet, in real-life, processing information in an unbiased manner is considered to be of high adaptive value. Attitudinal and motivational effects were found for attention, characterization, categorization, and memory. On the other hand, for dynamic real-life events, visual processing has been found to be highly synchronous among viewers. Thus, while in a seminal study fandom as a particularly strong case of attitudes did bias judgments of a sports event, it left the question open whether attitudes do bias prior processing stages. Here, we investigated influences of fandom during the live TV broadcasting of the 2013 UEFA-Champions-League Final regarding attention, event segmentation, immediate and delayed cued recall, as well as affect, memory confidence, and retrospective judgments. Even though we replicated biased retrospective judgments, we found that eye-movements, event segmentation, and cued recall were largely similar across both groups of fans. Our findings demonstrate that, while highly involving sports events are interpreted in a fan dependent way, at initial stages they are processed in an unbiased manner. PMID:28233877

Imaging and Molecular Markers for Patients with Lung Cancer: Approaches with Molecular Targets, Complementary/Innovative Treatment, and Therapeutic Modalities

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-02-01

Thrombocytopenia, Grade 3 in 1 patient • Hypomagnesemia, Grade 3 in 1 patient • Hypokalemia, Grade 3 in 2 patient • Pneumonia , Grade 3 in 7 patients...urgently needed. While the molecular events involved in lung cancer pathogenesis are being unraveled by ongoing large scale genomics, proteomics, and...tumor initiation, progression and metastasis are an important first step leading to the development of new prognostic markers and targets for therapy

Set-Membership Identification for Robust Control Design

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-04-28

system G can be regarded as having no memory in (18) in terms of G and 0, we get of events prior to t = 1, the initial time. Roughly, this means all...algorithm in [1]. Also in our application, the size of the matrices involved is quite large and special attention should be paid to the memory ...management and algorithmic implementation; otherwise huge amounts of memory will be required to perform the optimization even for modest values of M and N

Exploring theory space with Monte Carlo reweighting

DOE PAGES

Gainer, James S.; Lykken, Joseph; Matchev, Konstantin T.; ...

2014-10-13

Theories of new physics often involve a large number of unknown parameters which need to be scanned. Additionally, a putative signal in a particular channel may be due to a variety of distinct models of new physics. This makes experimental attempts to constrain the parameter space of motivated new physics models with a high degree of generality quite challenging. We describe how the reweighting of events may allow this challenge to be met, as fully simulated Monte Carlo samples generated for arbitrary benchmark models can be effectively re-used. Specifically, we suggest procedures that allow more efficient collaboration between theorists andmore » experimentalists in exploring large theory parameter spaces in a rigorous way at the LHC.« less

Performance of basic kinematic thresholds in the identification of crash and near-crash events within naturalistic driving data.

PubMed

Perez, Miguel A; Sudweeks, Jeremy D; Sears, Edie; Antin, Jonathan; Lee, Suzanne; Hankey, Jonathan M; Dingus, Thomas A

2017-06-01

Understanding causal factors for traffic safety-critical events (e.g., crashes and near-crashes) is an important step in reducing their frequency and severity. Naturalistic driving data offers unparalleled insight into these factors, but requires identification of situations where crashes are present within large volumes of data. Sensitivity and specificity of these identification approaches are key to minimizing the resources required to validate candidate crash events. This investigation used data from the Second Strategic Highway Research Program Naturalistic Driving Study (SHRP 2 NDS) and the Canada Naturalistic Driving Study (CNDS) to develop and validate different kinematic thresholds that can be used to detect crash events. Results indicate that the sensitivity of many of these approaches can be quite low, but can be improved by selecting particular threshold levels based on detection performance. Additional improvements in these approaches are possible, and may involve leveraging combinations of different detection approaches, including advanced statistical techniques and artificial intelligence approaches, additional parameter modifications, and automation of validation processes. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Walker devices and microswitch technology to enhance assisted indoor ambulation by persons with multiple disabilities: three single-case studies.

PubMed

Lancioni, Giulio E; Singh, Nirbhay N; O'Reilly, Mark F; Sigafoos, Jeff; Oliva, Doretta; Campodonico, Francesca; Buono, Serafino

2013-07-01

These three single-case studies assessed the use of walker devices and microswitch technology for promoting ambulation behavior among persons with multiple disabilities. The walker devices were equipped with support and weight lifting features. The microswitch technology ensured that brief stimulation followed the participants' ambulation responses. The participants were two children (i.e., Study I and Study II) and one man (i.e., Study III) with poor ambulation performance. The ambulation efforts of the child in Study I involved regular steps, while those of the child in Study II involved pushing responses (i.e., he pushed himself forward with both feet while sitting on the walker's saddle). The man involved in Study III combined his poor ambulation performance with problem behavior, such as shouting or slapping his face. The results were positive for all three participants. The first two participants had a large increase in the number of steps/pushes performed during the ambulation events provided and in the percentages of those events that they completed independently. The third participant improved his ambulation performance as well as his general behavior (i.e., had a decline in problem behavior and an increase in indices of happiness). The wide-ranging implications of the results are discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluation of the impact of storm event inputs on levels of gross primary production and respiration in a drinking water reservoir

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samal, N. R.; Pierson, D. C.; Staehr, P. A.; Pradhanang, S. M.; Smith, D. G.

2013-12-01

Episodic inputs of dissolved and particulate material during storm events can have important effects on lake and reservoir ecosystem function and also impact reservoir drinking water quality. We evaluate the impacts of storm events using vertical profiles of temperature, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, conductivity and chlorophyll automatically collected at 6 hour intervals in Ashokan Reservoir, which is a part of the New York City drinking water supply. Storm driven inputs to the reservoir periodically result in large input of suspended sediments that result in reservoir turbidity levels exceeding 25 NTU, and substantial reductions in the euphotic depth. Dissolved materials associated with these same storms would be expected to stimulate bacterial production. This study involves the use of a conceptual model to calculate depth specific estimates of gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystem respiration (R) using three years of data that included 777 events that increased reservoir turbidity levels to over 25 NTU. Using data from before, during and after storm events, we examine how the balance between GPP and R is influenced by storm related increases in turbidity and dissolved organic matter, which would in turn influence light attenuation and bacterial production. Key words: metabolism, primary production, GPP, respiration, euphotic depth, storm event, reservoir

Extreme events in a vortex gas simulation of a turbulent half-jet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suryanarayanan, Saikishan; Pathikonda, Gokul; Narasimha, Roddam

2012-11-01

Extensive simulations [arXiv:1008.2876v1 [physics.flu-dyn], BAPS.2010.DFD.LE.4] have shown that the temporally evolving vortex gas mixing layer has 3 regimes, including one which has a universal spreading rate. The present study explores the development of spatially evolving mixing layers, using a vortex gas model based on Basu et al. (1995 Appl. Math. Modelling). The effects of the velocity ratio (r) are analyzed via the most extensive simulations of this kind till date, involving up to 10000 vortices and averaging over up to 1000 convective times. While the temporal limit is approached as r approaches unity, striking features such as extreme events involving coherent structures, bending, deviation of the convection velocity from mean velocity, spatial feedback and greater sensitivity to downstream and free stream boundary conditions are observed in the half-jet (r = 0) limit. A detailed statistical analysis reveals possible causes for the large scatter across experiments, as opposed to the commonly adopted explanation of asymptotic dependence on initial conditions. Supported in part by contract no. Intel/RN/4288.

Statistical inference of the generation probability of T-cell receptors from sequence repertoires.

PubMed

Murugan, Anand; Mora, Thierry; Walczak, Aleksandra M; Callan, Curtis G

2012-10-02

Stochastic rearrangement of germline V-, D-, and J-genes to create variable coding sequence for certain cell surface receptors is at the origin of immune system diversity. This process, known as "VDJ recombination", is implemented via a series of stochastic molecular events involving gene choices and random nucleotide insertions between, and deletions from, genes. We use large sequence repertoires of the variable CDR3 region of human CD4+ T-cell receptor beta chains to infer the statistical properties of these basic biochemical events. Because any given CDR3 sequence can be produced in multiple ways, the probability distribution of hidden recombination events cannot be inferred directly from the observed sequences; we therefore develop a maximum likelihood inference method to achieve this end. To separate the properties of the molecular rearrangement mechanism from the effects of selection, we focus on nonproductive CDR3 sequences in T-cell DNA. We infer the joint distribution of the various generative events that occur when a new T-cell receptor gene is created. We find a rich picture of correlation (and absence thereof), providing insight into the molecular mechanisms involved. The generative event statistics are consistent between individuals, suggesting a universal biochemical process. Our probabilistic model predicts the generation probability of any specific CDR3 sequence by the primitive recombination process, allowing us to quantify the potential diversity of the T-cell repertoire and to understand why some sequences are shared between individuals. We argue that the use of formal statistical inference methods, of the kind presented in this paper, will be essential for quantitative understanding of the generation and evolution of diversity in the adaptive immune system.

SQERTSS: Dynamic rank based throttling of transition probabilities in kinetic Monte Carlo simulations

DOE PAGES

Danielson, Thomas; Sutton, Jonathan E.; Hin, Céline; ...

2017-06-09

Lattice based Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations offer a powerful simulation technique for investigating large reaction networks while retaining spatial configuration information, unlike ordinary differential equations. However, large chemical reaction networks can contain reaction processes with rates spanning multiple orders of magnitude. This can lead to the problem of “KMC stiffness” (similar to stiffness in differential equations), where the computational expense has the potential to be overwhelmed by very short time-steps during KMC simulations, with the simulation spending an inordinate amount of KMC steps / cpu-time simulating fast frivolous processes (FFPs) without progressing the system (reaction network). In order tomore » achieve simulation times that are experimentally relevant or desired for predictions, a dynamic throttling algorithm involving separation of the processes into speed-ranks based on event frequencies has been designed and implemented with the intent of decreasing the probability of FFP events, and increasing the probability of slow process events -- allowing rate limiting events to become more likely to be observed in KMC simulations. This Staggered Quasi-Equilibrium Rank-based Throttling for Steady-state (SQERTSS) algorithm designed for use in achieving and simulating steady-state conditions in KMC simulations. Lastly, as shown in this work, the SQERTSS algorithm also works for transient conditions: the correct configuration space and final state will still be achieved if the required assumptions are not violated, with the caveat that the sizes of the time-steps may be distorted during the transient period.« less

SQERTSS: Dynamic rank based throttling of transition probabilities in kinetic Monte Carlo simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Danielson, Thomas; Sutton, Jonathan E.; Hin, Céline; Savara, Aditya

2017-10-01

Lattice based Kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations offer a powerful simulation technique for investigating large reaction networks while retaining spatial configuration information, unlike ordinary differential equations. However, large chemical reaction networks can contain reaction processes with rates spanning multiple orders of magnitude. This can lead to the problem of "KMC stiffness" (similar to stiffness in differential equations), where the computational expense has the potential to be overwhelmed by very short time-steps during KMC simulations, with the simulation spending an inordinate amount of KMC steps/CPU time simulating fast frivolous processes (FFPs) without progressing the system (reaction network). In order to achieve simulation times that are experimentally relevant or desired for predictions, a dynamic throttling algorithm involving separation of the processes into speed-ranks based on event frequencies has been designed and implemented with the intent of decreasing the probability of FFP events, and increasing the probability of slow process events-allowing rate limiting events to become more likely to be observed in KMC simulations. This Staggered Quasi-Equilibrium Rank-based Throttling for Steady-state (SQERTSS) algorithm is designed for use in achieving and simulating steady-state conditions in KMC simulations. As shown in this work, the SQERTSS algorithm also works for transient conditions: the correct configuration space and final state will still be achieved if the required assumptions are not violated, with the caveat that the sizes of the time-steps may be distorted during the transient period.

A Spectral Analysis of a Rare "Dwarf Eat Dwarf" Cannibalism Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Theakanath, Kuriakose; Toloba, E.; Guhathakurta, P.; Romanowsky, A. J.; Ramachandran, N.; Arnold, J.

2014-01-01

We have used Keck/DEIMOS to conduct the first detailed spectroscopic study of the recently discovered stellar stream in the Large Magellanic Cloud analog NGC 4449. Martinez-Delgado et al. (2012), using the tip of the red giant branch (TRGB), found that both objects, the stream and NGC 4449, are at the same distance, which suggests that this stream is the remnant of the first ongoing dwarf-dwarf cannibalism event known so far. Learning about the orbital properties of this event is a powerful tool to constrain the physical conditions involved in dwarf-dwarf merger events. The low surface-brightness of this structure makes impossible to obtain integrated light spectroscopic measurements, and its distance (3.8 Mpc) is too large as to observe stars individually. In the color-magnitude diagram of the stellar stream there is an excess of objects brighter than the TRGB which are potential star blends. We designed our DEIMOS mask to contain as many of these objects as possible and, while some of them turned out to be background galaxies, a handful happened to be star blends in the stream. Our velocity measurements along the stream prove that it is gravitationally bound to NGC 4449 and put strong constraints on the orbital properties of the infall. This research was carried out under the auspices of UCSC's Science Internship Program. We thank the National Science Foundation for funding support. ET was supported by a Fulbright fellowship.

Large Scale Meteorological Pattern of Extreme Rainfall in Indonesia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuswanto, Heri; Grotjahn, Richard; Rachmi, Arinda; Suhermi, Novri; Oktania, Erma; Wijaya, Yosep

2014-05-01

Extreme Weather Events (EWEs) cause negative impacts socially, economically, and environmentally. Considering these facts, forecasting EWEs is crucial work. Indonesia has been identified as being among the countries most vulnerable to the risk of natural disasters, such as floods, heat waves, and droughts. Current forecasting of extreme events in Indonesia is carried out by interpreting synoptic maps for several fields without taking into account the link between the observed events in the 'target' area with remote conditions. This situation may cause misidentification of the event leading to an inaccurate prediction. Grotjahn and Faure (2008) compute composite maps from extreme events (including heat waves and intense rainfall) to help forecasters identify such events in model output. The composite maps show large scale meteorological patterns (LSMP) that occurred during historical EWEs. Some vital information about the EWEs can be acquired from studying such maps, in addition to providing forecaster guidance. Such maps have robust mid-latitude meteorological patterns (for Sacramento and California Central Valley, USA EWEs). We study the performance of the composite approach for tropical weather condition such as Indonesia. Initially, the composite maps are developed to identify and forecast the extreme weather events in Indramayu district- West Java, the main producer of rice in Indonesia and contributes to about 60% of the national total rice production. Studying extreme weather events happening in Indramayu is important since EWEs there affect national agricultural and fisheries activities. During a recent EWE more than a thousand houses in Indramayu suffered from serious flooding with each home more than one meter underwater. The flood also destroyed a thousand hectares of rice plantings in 5 regencies. Identifying the dates of extreme events is one of the most important steps and has to be carried out carefully. An approach has been applied to identify the dates involving observations from multiple sites (rain gauges). The approach combines the POT (Peaks Over Threshold) with 'declustering' of the data to approximate independence based on the autocorrelation structure of each rainfall series. The cross correlation among sites is considered also to develop the event's criteria yielding a rational choice of the extreme dates given the 'spotty' nature of the intense convection. Based on the identified dates, we are developing a supporting tool for forecasting extreme rainfall based on the corresponding large-scale meteorological patterns (LSMPs). The LSMPs methodology focuses on the larger-scale patterns that the model are better able to forecast, as those larger-scale patterns create the conditions fostering the local EWE. Bootstrap resampling method is applied to highlight the key features that statistically significant with the extreme events. Grotjahn, R., and G. Faure. 2008: Composite Predictor Maps of Extraordinary Weather Events in the Sacramento California Region. Weather and Forecasting. 23: 313-335.

Event centrality as a unique predictor of posttraumatic stress symptoms and perceived disability following spinal cord injury.

PubMed

Boals, A; Trost, Z; Berntsen, D; Nowlin, L; Wheelis, T; Monden, K R

2017-11-01

We conducted a cross-sectional study involving completion of self-report measures. Individuals who acquire a spinal cord injury (SCI) face numerous physical and psychological challenges, with the former receiving considerable less attention during the rehabilitation process. In this article, we examined event centrality as a unique predictor of psychological outcomes in a sample of individuals receiving rehabilitation for SCI. Event centrality refers to the extent to which individuals construe a stressful experience as a core part of their identity. In samples of individuals exposed to psychological traumas (for example, sexual assault or military combat), event centrality has emerged as a consistent and powerful predictor of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSSs). This is the first study to examine event centrality in an SCI sample. Inpatient rehabilitation program in a large urban city in the Southwestern United States. A sample of 55 participants in rehabilitation for a recent SCI completed measures of event centrality, PTSS, depressed mood and perceived disability. Event centrality was significantly related to perceived disability (r=0.48) and PTSS (r=0.31) and accounted for unique variance in these two outcomes after controlling for demographics and depressed mood. Event centrality is common among individuals with SCI and may be a unique contributor to worse psychological and functional outcomes. We hope our findings will alert health-care professionals to the importance of event centrality. This study was supported by a grant from the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF89).

A Roadmap for Recovery/Decontamination Plan for Critical Infrastructure after CBRN Event Involving Drinking Water Utilities: Scoping Study

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-05-01

A Roadmap for Recovery/Decontamination Plan for Critical Infrastructure after CBRN Event Involving Drinking Water Utilities: Scoping Study... Drinking Water Utilities was supported by the Canadian Safety and Security Program (CSSP) which is led by Defence Research and Development Canada’s Centre...after CBRN Event Involving Drinking Water Utilities Scoping Study Prepared by: Vladimir Blinov Konstantin Volchek Emergencies Science and

Genome assembly with in vitro proximity ligation data and whole-genome triplication in lettuce

PubMed Central

Reyes-Chin-Wo, Sebastian; Wang, Zhiwen; Yang, Xinhua; Kozik, Alexander; Arikit, Siwaret; Song, Chi; Xia, Liangfeng; Froenicke, Lutz; Lavelle, Dean O.; Truco, María-José; Xia, Rui; Zhu, Shilin; Xu, Chunyan; Xu, Huaqin; Xu, Xun; Cox, Kyle; Korf, Ian; Meyers, Blake C.; Michelmore, Richard W.

2017-01-01

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is a major crop and a member of the large, highly successful Compositae family of flowering plants. Here we present a reference assembly for the species and family. This was generated using whole-genome shotgun Illumina reads plus in vitro proximity ligation data to create large superscaffolds; it was validated genetically and superscaffolds were oriented in genetic bins ordered along nine chromosomal pseudomolecules. We identify several genomic features that may have contributed to the success of the family, including genes encoding Cycloidea-like transcription factors, kinases, enzymes involved in rubber biosynthesis and disease resistance proteins that are expanded in the genome. We characterize 21 novel microRNAs, one of which may trigger phasiRNAs from numerous kinase transcripts. We provide evidence for a whole-genome triplication event specific but basal to the Compositae. We detect 26% of the genome in triplicated regions containing 30% of all genes that are enriched for regulatory sequences and depleted for genes involved in defence. PMID:28401891

Evidence for Coseismic Rupture Beyond the Base of the Seismogenic Layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zielke, O.; Wesnousky, S.

2010-12-01

For scientific reasons and hazard assessment it is important to better understand the physics and rupture characteristics of large, destructive earthquakes. However, those events occur infrequently, severely obstructing their analysis. Smaller but more frequent earthquakes are usually studied and their characteristics are extrapolated to assess large earthquake behavior, assuming that small and large events are associated with the same physical processes and parameters. For small and moderate size earthquakes it was observed and independently derived from elastic models that coseismic stress drop is independent of earthquake size and that slip is proportional to the smallest rupture dimension. It is therefore assumed that large earthquake stress drops are essentially equal to the stress drop of their smaller size siblings. It is further assumed that the slip amount of large events does not further increase once it ruptures the full seismogenic layer--the base of the seismogenic layer is commonly thought to limit the earthquake down-dip rupture extend and thus defines the smallest rupture dimension. However, slip observations for many large strike-slip events show how offset gradually increases with rupture length. Two explanations have been formulated: If the rupture width of those events were indeed limited by the base of the seismogenic layer, the observations would imply larger stress drops and possibly other processes involved in large earthquake rupture, questioning the validity of the aforementioned extrapolation from small to large earthquakes. On the other hand, if rupture width of large earthquakes were not limited by the base of the seismogenic layer but were allowed to extend further down (as suggested by recent studies), the increased slip amount may be explained without an increase in stress drop or additional rupture mechanisms for large earthquakes. For the study we present here, we analyzed seismic data constraining the depth extent of large earthquakes relative to the depth of the seismogenic base. We utilized time series data of aftershock depths for a number of large strike-slip earthquakes, generating aftershock time vs. depth histograms to investigate the temporal variation in depth distribution. Based on hypocenter depth of small earthquakes along the Landers fault (causing the 1992 M7.3 Landers earthquake), we identified the base of the seismogenic layer at ~10km. Aftershocks that occurred only days after the Landers earthquake had maximum depths of ~18km, suggesting that rupture of the main shock extended this far down and therefore went well below the base of the seismogenic layer. Maximum aftershock depth then decayed roughly logarithmically, reaching the previous value of ~10km after about 5.5years. We argue that these observations are a logical consequence of the visco-elastic rheology of crustal rocks: Coseismically highly increased strains elevate the crustal stiffness, temporarily lowering the base of the seismogenic layer and permitting initiation of slip instabilities at depths that are otherwise characterized by viscous behavior. Extrapolation from small to large earthquakes is therefore permitted. No additional stress drop or rupture mechanism is required to explain the data.

Response and recovery of streams to an intense regional flooding event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dethier, E.; Magilligan, F. J.; Renshaw, C. E.; Kantack, K. M.

2015-12-01

Determining the relative roles of frequent and infrequent events on landscape form and material transport has implications for understanding landscape development, and informs planning and infrastructure decisions. Flooding due to Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 provides a unique opportunity to examine the effects of a rare, major disturbance across a broad area (14,000 km2). Intense flooding caused variable but widespread channel and riparian reconfiguration, including 995 channel-adjacent mass-wasting events, collectively referred to here as landslides, that mostly occurred in glacial deposits. Of these, about half involved reactivation of existing scars. Landslides were generally small, ranging from 60 - 26,000 m2 in planform, and covered less than 0.01 % of land in the region, yet sediment input from landslides alone (131 mm/kyr when integrated over the study area) exceeded inferred local background erosion rates by 60 times. If Irene inputs are included in a thirty-year erosion record, the estimated erosion rate, 7.2 mm/kyr, aligns closely with long-term regional rates of 5-10 mm/kyr. Landslides also input trees to streams, increasing large wood influence on those reaches. Combined wood and sediment inputs contributed to channel changes downstream of landslides. In four years since Irene, terrestrial lidar and suspended sediment sampling has documented continued large wood and sediment input. Erosion occurred on each of seventeen monitored landslides during snowmelt, but is otherwise limited except during intense precipitation and/or flood events. Repeat lidar models have recorded erosion of up to 5,000 m3 on a single slide in one year, including as much as 4000 m3 during a single event. Tree fall on scarps during erosion events creates sediment traps at the base of landslides, contributing to an observed return to equilibrium slopes. Despite trapping, substantial sediment continues to enter streams. Ninety-five suspended sediment samples from forty sites show that landslides remain important sediment sources. Across a range of flows, 2014 - 2015 sediment flux for a given discharge is an order of magnitude higher than pre-Irene flux. Though landslide slope relaxation suggests incipient recovery from Irene, persistent rapid erosion of large wood and sediment indicates that recovery is still on-going.

Rare Event Simulation in Radiation Transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kollman, Craig

This dissertation studies methods for estimating extremely small probabilities by Monte Carlo simulation. Problems in radiation transport typically involve estimating very rare events or the expected value of a random variable which is with overwhelming probability equal to zero. These problems often have high dimensional state spaces and irregular geometries so that analytic solutions are not possible. Monte Carlo simulation must be used to estimate the radiation dosage being transported to a particular location. If the area is well shielded the probability of any one particular particle getting through is very small. Because of the large number of particles involved, even a tiny fraction penetrating the shield may represent an unacceptable level of radiation. It therefore becomes critical to be able to accurately estimate this extremely small probability. Importance sampling is a well known technique for improving the efficiency of rare event calculations. Here, a new set of probabilities is used in the simulation runs. The results are multiplied by the likelihood ratio between the true and simulated probabilities so as to keep our estimator unbiased. The variance of the resulting estimator is very sensitive to which new set of transition probabilities are chosen. It is shown that a zero variance estimator does exist, but that its computation requires exact knowledge of the solution. A simple random walk with an associated killing model for the scatter of neutrons is introduced. Large deviation results for optimal importance sampling in random walks are extended to the case where killing is present. An adaptive "learning" algorithm for implementing importance sampling is given for more general Markov chain models of neutron scatter. For finite state spaces this algorithm is shown to give, with probability one, a sequence of estimates converging exponentially fast to the true solution. In the final chapter, an attempt to generalize this algorithm to a continuous state space is made. This involves partitioning the space into a finite number of cells. There is a tradeoff between additional computation per iteration and variance reduction per iteration that arises in determining the optimal grid size. All versions of this algorithm can be thought of as a compromise between deterministic and Monte Carlo methods, capturing advantages of both techniques.

Decision support methods for the detection of adverse events in post-marketing data.

PubMed

Hauben, M; Bate, A

2009-04-01

Spontaneous reporting is a crucial component of post-marketing drug safety surveillance despite its significant limitations. The size and complexity of some spontaneous reporting system databases represent a challenge for drug safety professionals who traditionally have relied heavily on the scientific and clinical acumen of the prepared mind. Computer algorithms that calculate statistical measures of reporting frequency for huge numbers of drug-event combinations are increasingly used to support pharamcovigilance analysts screening large spontaneous reporting system databases. After an overview of pharmacovigilance and spontaneous reporting systems, we discuss the theory and application of contemporary computer algorithms in regular use, those under development, and the practical considerations involved in the implementation of computer algorithms within a comprehensive and holistic drug safety signal detection program.

Evolution of large-sclae plasma structures in comets: Kinematics and physics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brandt, John C.

1988-01-01

Disconnection Events are the dramatic part of the periodic morphology involving the separation of the entire plasma tail from the head region of the comet and the growth of a new plasma. The coordinated observations of Comet Halley recorded approximately 30 DEs during the 7 months of plasma activity; 19 of these are obvious. The plasma physics of these events were approached via a detailed, kinematic investigation of specific DEs and the solar-wind environment associated with it. As the detailed investigations are completed, researchers should be able to answer the question of a single or multiple mechanism(s) for DEs and determine which mechanism(s) are important. At present, the mechanism of sunward magnetic reconnection caused by interplanetary sector boundary crossing in consistent with the data available.

Integrated database for rapid mass movements in Norway

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaedicke, C.; Lied, K.; Kronholm, K.

2009-03-01

Rapid gravitational slope mass movements include all kinds of short term relocation of geological material, snow or ice. Traditionally, information about such events is collected separately in different databases covering selected geographical regions and types of movement. In Norway the terrain is susceptible to all types of rapid gravitational slope mass movements ranging from single rocks hitting roads and houses to large snow avalanches and rock slides where entire mountainsides collapse into fjords creating flood waves and endangering large areas. In addition, quick clay slides occur in desalinated marine sediments in South Eastern and Mid Norway. For the authorities and inhabitants of endangered areas, the type of threat is of minor importance and mitigation measures have to consider several types of rapid mass movements simultaneously. An integrated national database for all types of rapid mass movements built around individual events has been established. Only three data entries are mandatory: time, location and type of movement. The remaining optional parameters enable recording of detailed information about the terrain, materials involved and damages caused. Pictures, movies and other documentation can be uploaded into the database. A web-based graphical user interface has been developed allowing new events to be entered, as well as editing and querying for all events. An integration of the database into a GIS system is currently under development. Datasets from various national sources like the road authorities and the Geological Survey of Norway were imported into the database. Today, the database contains 33 000 rapid mass movement events from the last five hundred years covering the entire country. A first analysis of the data shows that the most frequent type of recorded rapid mass movement is rock slides and snow avalanches followed by debris slides in third place. Most events are recorded in the steep fjord terrain of the Norwegian west coast, but major events are recorded all over the country. Snow avalanches account for most fatalities, while large rock slides causing flood waves and huge quick clay slides are the most damaging individual events in terms of damage to infrastructure and property and for causing multiple fatalities. The quality of the data is strongly influenced by the personal engagement of local observers and varying observation routines. This database is a unique source for statistical analysis including, risk analysis and the relation between rapid mass movements and climate. The database of rapid mass movement events will also facilitate validation of national hazard and risk maps.

Framework for probabilistic flood risk assessment in an Alpine region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schneeberger, Klaus; Huttenlau, Matthias; Steinberger, Thomas; Achleitner, Stefan; Stötter, Johann

2014-05-01

Flooding is among the natural hazards that regularly cause significant losses to property and human lives. The assessment of flood risk delivers crucial information for all participants involved in flood risk management and especially for local authorities and insurance companies in order to estimate the possible flood losses. Therefore a framework for assessing flood risk has been developed and is introduced with the presented contribution. Flood risk is thereby defined as combination of the probability of flood events and of potential flood damages. The probability of occurrence is described through the spatial and temporal characterisation of flood. The potential flood damages are determined in the course of vulnerability assessment, whereas, the exposure and the vulnerability of the elements at risks are considered. Direct costs caused by flooding with the focus on residential building are analysed. The innovative part of this contribution lies on the development of a framework which takes the probability of flood events and their spatio-temporal characteristic into account. Usually the probability of flooding will be determined by means of recurrence intervals for an entire catchment without any spatial variation. This may lead to a misinterpretation of the flood risk. Within the presented framework the probabilistic flood risk assessment is based on analysis of a large number of spatial correlated flood events. Since the number of historic flood events is relatively small additional events have to be generated synthetically. This temporal extrapolation is realised by means of the method proposed by Heffernan and Tawn (2004). It is used to generate a large number of possible spatial correlated flood events within a larger catchment. The approach is based on the modelling of multivariate extremes considering the spatial dependence structure of flood events. The input for this approach are time series derived from river gauging stations. In a next step the historic and synthetic flood events have to be spatially interpolated from point scale (i.e. river gauges) to the river network. Therefore, topological kriging (Top-kriging) proposed by Skøien et al. (2006) is applied. Top-kriging considers the nested structure of river networks and is therefore suitable to regionalise flood characteristics. Thus, the characteristics of a large number of possible flood events can be transferred to arbitrary locations (e.g. community level) at the river network within a study region. This framework has been used to generate a set of spatial correlated river flood events in the Austrian Federal Province of Vorarlberg. In addition, loss-probability-curves for each community has been calculated based on official inundation maps of public authorities, elements at risks and their vulnerability. One location along the river network within each community refers as interface between the set of flood events and the individual loss-probability relationships for the individual communities. Consequently, every flood event from the historic and synthetic generated dataset can be monetary evaluated. Thus, a time series comprising a large number of flood events and their corresponding monetary losses serves as basis for a probabilistic flood risk assessment. This includes expected annual losses and estimates of extreme event losses, which occur over the course of a certain time period. The gained results are essential decision-support for primary insurers, reinsurance companies and public authorities in order to setup a scale adequate risk management.

On flares, substorms, and the theory of impulsive flux transfer events

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bratenahl, A.; Baum, P. J.

1976-01-01

Solar flares and magnetospheric substorms are discussed in the context of a general theory of impulsive flux transfer events (IFTE). IFTE theory, derived from laboratory observations in the Double Inverse Pinch Device (DIPD), provides a quantitative extension of 'neutral sheet' theories to include nonsteady field line reconnection. Current flow along the reconnection line increases with magnetic flux storage. When flux build-up exceeds the level corresponding to a critical limit on the current, instabilities induce a sudden transition in the mode of conduction. The resulting IFTE, indifferent to the specific modes and instabilities involved, is the more energetic, the lower the initial resistivity. It is the more violent, the greater the resulting resistivity increase and the faster its growth. Violent events can develop very large voltage transients along the reconnection line. Persistent build-up promoting conditions produce relaxation oscillations in the quantity of flux and energy stored (build-up-IFTE cycles). It is difficult to avoid the conclusion: flares and substorms are examples of IFTE.

Red Roses and Gift Chocolates Are Judged More Positively in the U.S. Near Valentine's Day: Evidence of Naturally Occurring Cultural Priming.

PubMed

Zayas, Vivian; Pandey, Gayathri; Tabak, Joshua

2017-01-01

Attitudes are not static, but constructed at the moment of the evaluation, incorporating temporary contextual influences. How do meaningful events that naturally occur within a culture, such as a national holiday, shape evaluative judgments of objects related to the holiday? We focused on evaluations of red roses and gift chocolates, which are everyday objects, but also iconic of Valentine's Day in the U.S. We reasoned that if cultural events shape evaluations, then roses and chocolates would be evaluated differently near Valentine's Day. Using a large and diverse U.S. sample, we found that as Valentine's Day neared, evaluations of roses and chocolates (but not a comparison object) were evaluated more positively. Increases in positivity of roses and chocolates covaried with their increased cultural relevance, as quantified by the volume of web search queries involving these terms. These findings provide a demonstration of naturally occurring cultural priming by which the salience of cultural events shape evaluations.

Large Deformation Dynamic Bending of Composite Beams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Derian, E. J.; Hyer, M. W.

1986-01-01

Studies were conducted on the large deformation response of composite beams subjected to a dynamic axial load. The beams were loaded with a moderate eccentricity to promote bending. The study was primarily experimental but some finite element results were obtained. Both the deformation and the failure of the beams were of interest. The static response of the beams was also studied to determine potential differences between the static and dynamic failure. Twelve different laminate types were tested. The beams were loaded dynamically with a gravity driven impactor traveling at 19.6 ft/sec and quasi-static tests were conducted on identical beams in a displacement controlled manner. For laminates of practical interest, the failure modes under static and dynamic loadings were identical. Failure in most of the laminate types occurred in a single event involving 40% to 50% of the plies. However, failure in laminates with 30 deg or 15 deg off-axis plies occured in several events. All laminates exhibited bimodular elastic properties. Using empirically determined flexural properties, a finite element analysis was reasonably accurate in predicting the static and dynamic deformation response.

Active surveillance of postmarket medical product safety in the Federal Partners' Collaboration.

PubMed

Robb, Melissa A; Racoosin, Judith A; Worrall, Chris; Chapman, Summer; Coster, Trinka; Cunningham, Francesca E

2012-11-01

After half a century of monitoring voluntary reports of medical product adverse events, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has launched a long-term project to build an adverse events monitoring system, the Sentinel System, which can access and evaluate electronic health care data to help monitor the safety of regulated medical products once they are marketed. On the basis of experience gathered through a number of collaborative efforts, the Federal Partners' Collaboration pilot project, involving FDA, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Department of Veteran Affairs, and the Department of Defense, is already enabling FDA to leverage the power of large public health care databases to assess, in near real time, the utility of analytical tools and methodologies that are being developed for use in the Sentinel System. Active medical product safety surveillance is enhanced by use of these large public health databases because specific populations of exposed patients can be identified and analyzed, and can be further stratified by key variables such as age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, and basis for eligibility to examine important subgroups.

Social Involvement Modulates the Response to Novel and Adverse Life Events in Mice.

PubMed

Colnaghi, Luca; Clemenza, Kelly; Groleau, Sarah E; Weiss, Shira; Snyder, Anna M; Lopez-Rosas, Mariana; Levine, Amir A

2016-01-01

Epidemiological findings suggest that social involvement plays a major role in establishing resilience to adversity, however, the neurobiology by which social involvement confers protection is not well understood. Hypothesizing that social involvement confers resilience by changing the way adverse life events are encoded, we designed a series of behavioral tests in mice that utilize the presence or absence of conspecific cage mates in measuring response to novel and adverse events. We found that the presence of cage mates increased movement after exposure to a novel environment, increased time spent in the open arms of the elevated plus maze, and decreased freezing time after a foot shock as well as expedited fear extinction, therefore significantly changing the response to adversity. This is a first description of a mouse model for the effects of social involvement on adverse life events. Understanding how social involvement provides resilience to adversity may contribute to the future treatment and prevention of mental and physical illness.

Large and unexpected runup events and their relation to the incident wave field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, C.; Ozkan-Haller, H. T.; Garcia-Medina, G.; Holman, R. A.; Ruggiero, P.

2016-12-01

Unusually large runup events are important for the prediction of dune erosion, inundation and coastal flooding during storms and lie at the tail of swash maxima probability distributions. We also distinguish a unique type of large runup event that is sudden and unexpected even if the landward reach of the runup is not a statistical extreme. These unusual runup events are anecdotally reported to be more prevalent on dissipative beaches and are the leading cause of death by drowning along the U.S. Pacific Northwest (northern California, Oregon, and Washington). Herein we examine the environmental conditions that are conducive to large and unexpected runup events and begin to forecast their potential occurrence, validating these predictions with ongoing observations. We explore and compare the statistics of large runup events on two beach types, a dissipative beach at Agate Beach, OR, and the intermediate/reflective site at Duck, NC. Video-based runup observations along with incident wave information from offshore instrumentation are used to assess how frequently large or unexpected runup events occur, how the statistics of these runup events relate to the incident wave characteristics (e.g. height, period, narrow-bandedness), and whether or not these events are indeed more prevalent on dissipative beaches.

A Very Bright, Very Hot, and Very Long Flaring Event from the M Dwarf Binary System DG CVn

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Osten, Rachel A.; Kowalski, Adam; Drake, Stephen; Krimm, Hans; Page, Kim; Gazeas, Kosmas; Page, Mathew; Miguel, Enrique De; Novak, Rudolf; Gehrels, Cornelis

2016-01-01

On 2014 April 23, the Swift satellite responded to a hard X-ray transient detected by its Burst Alert Telescope, which turned out to be a stellar flare from a nearby, young M dwarf binary DG CVn. We utilize observations at X-ray, UV, optical, and radio wavelengths to infer the properties of two large flares. The X-ray spectrum of the primary outburst can be described over the 0.3100 kiloelectron volts bandpass by either a single very high-temperature plasma or a nonthermal thick-target bremsstrahlung model, and we rule out the nonthermal model based on energetic grounds. The temperatures were the highest seen spectroscopically in a stellar flare, at T(sub x) of 290 megakelvin. The first event was followed by a comparably energetic event almost a day later. We constrain the photospheric area involved in each of the two flares to be greater than 10(exp 20) sq cm, and find evidence from flux ratios in the second event of contributions to the white light flare emission in addition to the usual hot, T approximately 10(exp 4) K blackbody emission seen in the impulsive phase of flares. The radiated energy in X-rays and white light reveal these events to be the two most energetic X-ray flares observed from an M dwarf, with X-ray radiated energies in the 0.3-10 kiloelectron volts bandpass of 4 x 10(exp 35) and 9 x 10(exp 35) erg, and optical flare energies at E(sub V) of 2.8 x 10(exp 34) and 5.2 x 10(exp 34) erg, respectively. The results presented here should be integrated into updated modeling of the astrophysical impact of large stellar flares on close-in exoplanetary atmospheres.

Evidence for Alfvén Waves in Source Flares of Impulsive Solar Energetic Particle Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bucik, R.; Innes, D.; Mason, G. M.; Wiedenbeck, M. E.; Gomez-Herrero, R.; Nitta, N.

2017-12-01

Impulsive solar energetic particle events, characterised by a peculiar elemental composition with the rare elements like 3He and ultra-heavy ions enhanced by factors up to ten thousand above their thermal abundance, have been puzzling for almost 50 years. The solar sources of these events have been commonly associated with coronal jets, believed to be a signature of magnetic reconnection involving field lines open to interplanetary space. Here we present some of the most intense events, highly enriched in both 3He and heavier ions. The corresponding high-resolution, extreme-ultraviolet imaging observations have revealed for the first time a helical structure in the source flare with a jet-like shape. A mini-filament at the base of the jet appears to trigger these events. The events were observed with the two Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories on the backside of the Sun, during the period of increased solar activity in 2014. During the last decade, it has been established that the helical motions in coronal jets represent propagating Alfvén waves. Revealing such magnetic-untwisting waves in the solar sources of highly enriched events in this study is consistent with a stochastic acceleration mechanism. An examination of jets in previously reported impulsive solar energetic particle events indicates that they tend to be large-scale blowout jets, sometimes cleanly showing a twisted configuration.The work of R. Bucik is supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft grant BU 3115/2-1.

Rehabilitation and education are underutilized for mild stroke and TIA sufferers.

PubMed

Faux, Steven G; Arora, Pooja; Shiner, Christine T; Thompson-Butel, Angelica G; Klein, Linda A

2018-06-01

Transient ischemic attack (TIA) and mild stroke represent a large proportion of cerebrovascular events, at high risk of being followed by recurrent, serious events. The importance of early education addressing risk management, secondary prevention and lifestyle modifications is the centerpiece of further stroke prevention. However, delivering education and rehabilitation to this population can be complex and challenging. Via synthesis of a narrative review and clinical experience, we explore the unique and inherent complexities of rehabilitation management and education provision for patients following mild stroke and TIA. A considerable proportion of TIA/mild stroke survivors have ongoing rehabilitation needs that are poorly addressed. The need for rehabilitation in these patients is often overlooked, and available assessment tools lack the sensitivity to identify common subtle impairments in cognition, mood, language and fatigue. Active and accessible education interventions need to be initiated early after the event, and integrated with ongoing rehabilitation management. Priority areas in need of future development in this field are highlighted and discussed. Implications for rehabilitation Survivors of mild stroke and TIA have ongoing unmet rehabilitation needs and require a unique approach to rehabilitation and education. Rehabilitation needs are difficult to assess and poorly addressed in this cohort, where available assessment tools lack the sensitivity required to identify subtle impairments. Education needs to be initiated early after the event and involve active engagement of the patient in order to improve stroke knowledge, mood and motivate adherence to lifestyle modifications and secondary prevention. Rehabilitation physicians are currently an underutilized resource, who should be more involved in the management of all patients following TIA or mild stroke.

The flood event that affected Badajoz in November 1997

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorente, P.; Hernández, E.; Queralt, S.; Ribera, P.

2008-04-01

The flooding episode of November 1997 in Badajoz was one of the most dramatic catastrophes in Spain: as a result, there were 21 fatalities and huge financial damages. The main purpose of this work is to assess the prevailing synoptic conditions as well as detailing the mesoscale effects by means of moisture sources and dynamic and thermodynamic instability analysis involved in the November 1997 Spanish severe weather episode. In order to achieve the above, this flood event is described in terms of moisture content evolution by means of individual particle simulation along 3-day back-trajectories. A Lagrangian model is applied in order to characterize the atmospheric particles involved in the focused case (localization, height and specific humidity) which give rise to sudden precipitation stream. Geopotential height and temperature fields were used to describe the synoptic situation. Thermodynamic indices, such as CAPE, SWEAT and KI, and dynamic parameters like potential vorticity anomaly at 330 K isentropic surface and Q vector divergence were also calculated in order to complete the analysis and to give a thorough weather frame taking into account the atmospheric instability. The results of this work suggest this flood event was due mainly to strong dynamic instability along with large amounts of moisture advected by a trough, while the thermodynamic instability played a secondary role. Finally, a new methodology based on a technique proposed by Tremblay (2005) has been developed in order to separate the precipitation into stratiform and convective components. It is evident that the event was associated with a predominant convective regime.

Search for pair production of gluinos decaying via stop and sbottom in events with b -jets and large missing transverse momentum in p p collisions at s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

DOE PAGES

Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abdallah, J.; ...

2016-08-09

A search for supersymmetry involving the pair production of gluinos decaying via third-generation squarks to the lightest neutralino (χ˜ 0 1) is reported. It uses an LHC proton-proton data set at a center-of-mass energy √s = 13 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb –1 collected with the ATLAS detector in 2015. The signal is searched for in events containing several energetic jets, of which at least three must be identified as b jets, large missing transverse momentum, and, potentially, isolated electrons or muons. Large-radius jets with a high mass are also used to identify highly boosted top quarks.more » No excess is found above the predicted background. For χ˜ 0 1 masses below approximately 700 GeV, gluino masses of less than 1.78 TeV and 1.76 TeV are excluded at the 95% C.L. in simplified models of the pair production of gluinos decaying via sbottom and stop, respectively. Furthermore, these results significantly extend the exclusion limits obtained with the √s = 8 TeV data set.« less

Heating during solar nebula formation and Mg isotopic fractionation in precursor grains of CAIs and chondrules

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sasaki, S.; Nagahara, H.; Kitagami, K.; Nakagawa, Y.

1994-01-01

In some Ca-Al-rich inclusion (CAI) grains, mass-dependent isotopic fractionations of Mg, Si, and O are observed and large Mg isotopic fractionation is interpreted to have been produced by cosmochemical processes such as evaporation and condensation. Mass-dependent Mg isotopic fractionation was found in olivine chondrules of Allende meteorites. Presented is an approximate formula for the temperature of the solar nebula that depends on heliocentric distance and the initial gas distribution. Shock heating during solar nebula formation can cause evaporative fractionation within interstellar grains involved in a gas at the inner zone (a less than 3 AU) of the disk. Alternatively collision of late-accreting gas blobs might cause similar heating if Sigma(sub s) and Sigma are large enough. Since the grain size is small, the solid/gas mass ratio is low and solar (low P(sub O2)), and the ambient gas pressure is low, this heating event could not produce chondrules themselves. Chondrule formation should proceed around the disk midplane after dust grains would grow and sediment to increase the solid/gas ratio there. The heating source there is uncertain, but transient rapid accretion through the disk could release a large amount of heat, which would be observed as FU Orionis events.

Search for supersymmetry in events containing a same-flavour opposite-sign dilepton pair, jets, and large missing transverse momentum in √s = 8  TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

DOE PAGES

Aad, G.

2015-07-08

Two searches for supersymmetric particles in final states containing a same-flavour opposite-sign lepton pair, jets and large missing transverse momentum are presented. The proton–proton collision data used in these searches were collected at a centre-of-mass energy √s=8 TeV by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb -1. Two leptonic production mechanisms are considered: decays of squarks and gluinos with Z bosons in the final state, resulting in a peak in the dilepton invariant mass distribution around the Z-boson mass; and decays of neutralinos (e.g. χ ~0 2→ℓ +ℓ -χ ~0more » 1), resulting in a kinematic endpoint in the dilepton invariant mass distribution. For the former, an excess of events above the expected Standard Model background is observed, with a significance of three standard deviations. In the latter case, the data are well-described by the expected Standard Model background. Results from each channel are interpreted in the context of several supersymmetric models involving the production of squarks and gluinos.« less

Preventing alcohol misuse in young people aged 9-11 years through promoting family communication: an exploratory evaluation of the Kids, Adults Together (KAT) Programme

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Alcohol misuse by young people is an important public health issue, and has led to the development of a range of prevention interventions. Evidence concerning the most effective approaches to intervention design and implementation is limited. Parental involvement in school-based interventions is important, but many programmes fail to recruit large numbers of parents. This paper reports findings from an exploratory evaluation of a new alcohol misuse prevention programme - Kids, Adults Together (KAT), which comprised a classroom component, engagement with parents through a fun evening for families with children aged 9-11 years, and a DVD. The evaluation aimed to establish the programme's theoretical basis, explore implementation processes and acceptability, and identify plausible precursors of the intended long-term outcomes. Methods Documentary analysis and interviews with key personnel examined the programme's development. Classroom preparation and KAT family events in two schools were observed. Focus groups with children, and interviews with parents who attended KAT family events were held immediately after programme delivery, and again after three months. Interviews with head teachers and with teachers who delivered the classroom preparation were conducted. Follow-up interviews with programme personnel were undertaken. Questionnaires were sent to parents of all children involved in classroom preparation. Results KAT achieved high levels of acceptability and involvement among both children and parents. Main perceived impacts of the programme were increased pro-social communication within families (including discussions about harmful parental alcohol consumption), heightened knowledge and awareness of the effects of alcohol consumption and key legal and health issues, and changes in parental drinking behaviours. Conclusions KAT demonstrated promise as a prevention intervention, primarily through its impact on knowledge and communication processes within families, and its ability to engage with large numbers of parents. A key programme mechanism was the classroom preparation's facilitation of parental involvement in the family fun evening. The programme also incorporated features identified in the literature as likely to increase effectiveness, including a focus on harm reduction, interactive delivery, and targeting primary-school-age children. Further research is needed to test and develop programme theory through implementation in different school contexts, and to examine potential longer-term impacts, and the feasibility of large scale delivery. PMID:22004185

[Suicide exposure and its modulatory effects on relations between life events and suicide risk in Chinese college students].

PubMed

Zhao, Jiubo; Zhao, Jingbo; Xiao, Rong; Yang, Xueling; Zhang, Xiaoyuan

2013-08-01

To explore the incidence of suicide exposure and its association with suicide risk in Chinese college students, and study the modulatory effects of suicide exposure on the relations between life events and suicide risks. A total of 8202 college students from 12 Chinese colleges and universities in mainland China completed a cross-sectional survey that included suicidal behaviors questionnaire-revised (SBQ-R), Adolescent Self-Rating Life Events Check List (ASLEC), suicide exposure questionnaire, social and demographic characteristics questionnaire. The incidence of exposure to suicide events involving close relatives and acquaintances were 3.9% and 11.8% among sampled Chinese college students, respectively. Students exposed to suicide events involving close relatives had significantly higher total SBQ-R scores than those who did not (5.51∓2.44 vs 4.68∓2.11, P<0.01), and suicide events of acquaintances were also associated with significantly increased total SBQ-R scores (5.51∓2.44 vs 4.68∓2.11, P<0.01); these suicides events all contributed to significantly increased rates of suicidal ideation, suicide plans and suicide attempts in the college students (P<0.05). The life events showed a significant positive correlation with suicide risks (0.11≤r≤0.26, P<0.01). The interactions of exposure to suicide events involving close relatives and acquaintances and the interactions of life events and suicide of close relatives for suicide risk were not significant (P>0.05), but exposure to acquaintance suicide events moderated the effects of life events on suicide risk (P<0.01), and the college students with a high level of life events and history of acquaintance suicide had the highest risk for suicide. In Chinese college students, the risk of suicide is closely associated with exposure to suicide events and life events, and exposure to suicide events involving acquaintances can modulate the effects of life events on suicide risk.

Determining hillslope-channel connectivity in an agricultural catchment using rare-earth oxide tracers and random forests.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masselink, Rens; Temme, Arnaud; Giménez, Rafael; Casalí, Javier; Keesstra, Saskia

2017-04-01

Soil erosion from agricultural areas is a large problem, because of off-site effects like the rapid filling of reservoirs. To mitigate the problem of sediments from agricultural areas reaching the channel, reservoirs and other surface waters, it is important to understand hillslope-channel connectivity and catchment connectivity. To determine the functioning of hillslope-channel connectivity and the continuation of transport of these sediments in the channel, it is necessary to obtain data on sediment transport from the hillslopes to the channels. Simultaneously, the factors that influence sediment export out of the catchment need to be studied. For measuring hillslope-channel sediment connectivity, Rare-Earth Oxide (REO) tracers were applied to a hillslope in an agricultural catchment in Navarre, Spain, preceding the winter of 2014-2015. The results showed that during the winter there was no sediment transport from the hillslope to the channel. Analysis of precipitation data showed that total precipitation quantities did not differ much from the mean. However, precipitation intensities were low, causing little sediment mobilisation. To test the implication of the REO results at the catchment scale, two conceptual models for sediment connectivity were assessed using a Random Forest (RF) machine learning method. One model proposes that small events provide sediment for large events, while the other proposes that only large events cause sediment detachment and small events subsequently remove these sediments from near and in the channel. The RF method was applied to a daily dataset of sediment yield from the catchment (N=2451 days), and two subsets of the whole dataset: small events (N=2319) and large events (N=132). For sediment yield prediction of small events, variables related to large preceding events were the most important. The model for large events underperformed and, therefore, we could not draw any immediate conclusions whether small events influence the amount of sediment exported during large events. Both REO tracers and RF method showed that low intensity events do not contribute any sediments to the channel in the Latxaga catchment (cf. Masselink et al., 2016). Sediment dynamics are dominated by sediment mobilisation during large (high intensity) events. Sediments are for a large part exported during those events, but large amount of sediments are deposited in and near the channel after these events. These sediments are gradually removed by small events. To better understand the delivery of sediments to the channel and how large and small events influence each other more field data on hillslope-channel connectivity and within-channel sediment dynamics is necessary. Reference: Masselink, R.J.H., Keesstra, S.D., Temme, A.J.A.M., Seeger, M., Giménez, R., Casalí, J., 2016. Modelling Discharge and Sediment Yield at Catchment Scale Using Connectivity Components. Land Degrad. Dev. 27, 933-945. doi:10.1002/ldr.2512

Identification of transcription coactivator OCA-B-dependent genes involved in antigen-dependent B cell differentiation by cDNA array analyses.

PubMed

Kim, Unkyu; Siegel, Rachael; Ren, Xiaodi; Gunther, Cary S; Gaasterland, Terry; Roeder, Robert G

2003-07-22

The tissue-specific transcriptional coactivator OCA-B is required for antigen-dependent B cell differentiation events, including germinal center formation. However, the identity of OCA-B target genes involved in this process is unknown. This study has used large-scale cDNA arrays to monitor changes in gene expression patterns that accompany mature B cell differentiation. B cell receptor ligation alone induces many genes involved in B cell expansion, whereas B cell receptor and helper T cell costimulation induce genes associated with B cell effector function. OCA-B expression is induced by both B cell receptor ligation alone and helper T cell costimulation, suggesting that OCA-B is involved in B cell expansion as well as B cell function. Accordingly, several genes involved in cell proliferation and signaling, such as Lck, Kcnn4, Cdc37, cyclin D3, B4galt1, and Ms4a11, have been identified as OCA-B-dependent genes. Further studies on the roles played by these genes in B cells will contribute to an understanding of B cell differentiation.

Insights into earthquake hazard map performance from shaking history simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stein, S.; Vanneste, K.; Camelbeeck, T.; Vleminckx, B.

2017-12-01

Why recent large earthquakes caused shaking stronger than predicted by earthquake hazard maps is under debate. This issue has two parts. Verification involves how well maps implement probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) ("have we built the map right?"). Validation asks how well maps forecast shaking ("have we built the right map?"). We explore how well a map can ideally perform by simulating an area's shaking history and comparing "observed" shaking to that predicted by a map generated for the same parameters. The simulations yield shaking distributions whose mean is consistent with the map, but individual shaking histories show large scatter. Infrequent large earthquakes cause shaking much stronger than mapped, as observed. Hence, PSHA seems internally consistent and can be regarded as verified. Validation is harder because an earthquake history can yield shaking higher or lower than that predicted while being consistent with the hazard map. The scatter decreases for longer observation times because the largest earthquakes and resulting shaking are increasingly likely to have occurred. For the same reason, scatter is much less for the more active plate boundary than for a continental interior. For a continental interior, where the mapped hazard is low, even an M4 event produces exceedances at some sites. Larger earthquakes produce exceedances at more sites. Thus many exceedances result from small earthquakes, but infrequent large ones may cause very large exceedances. However, for a plate boundary, an M6 event produces exceedance at only a few sites, and an M7 produces them in a larger, but still relatively small, portion of the study area. As reality gives only one history, and a real map involves assumptions about more complicated source geometries and occurrence rates, which are unlikely to be exactly correct and thus will contribute additional scatter, it is hard to assess whether misfit between actual shaking and a map — notably higher-than-mapped shaking — arises by chance or reflects biases in the map. Due to this problem, there are limits to how well we can expect hazard maps to predict future shaking, as well as to our ability to test the performance of a hazard map based on available observations.

Attitudes toward noise, perceived hearing symptoms, and reported use of hearing protection among college students: Influence of youth culture

PubMed Central

Balanay, Jo Anne G.; Kearney, Gregory D.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the attitude toward noise, perceived hearing symptoms, noisy activities that were participated in, and factors associated with hearing protection use among college students. A 44-item online survey was completed by 2,151 college students (aged 17 years and above) to assess the attitudes toward noise, perceived hearing symptoms related to noise exposure, and use of hearing protection around noisy activities. Among the participants, 39.6% experienced at least one hearing symptom, with ear pain as the most frequently reported (22.5%). About 80% of the participants were involved in at least one noise activity, out of which 41% reported the use of hearing protection. A large majority of those with ear pain, hearing loss, permanent tinnitus, and noise sensitivity was involved in attending a sporting event, which was the most reported noisy activity. The highest reported hearing protection use was in the use of firearms, and the lowest in discos/ dances. The reported use of hearing protection is associated with having at least one hearing symptom but the relationship is stronger with tinnitus, hearing loss, and ear pain (χ2 = 30.5-43.5, P < 0.01) as compared to noise sensitivity (χ2 = 3.8, P = 0.03); it is also associated with anti-noise attitudes, particularly in youth social events. Universities and colleges have important roles in protecting young adults’ hearing by integrating hearing conservation topic in the college curriculum, promoting hearing health by student health services, involving student groups in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) awareness and prevention, and establishing noise level limitations for all on-campus events. PMID:26572699

Attitudes toward noise, perceived hearing symptoms, and reported use of hearing protection among college students: Influence of youth culture.

PubMed

Balanay, Jo Anne G; Kearney, Gregory D

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the attitude toward noise, perceived hearing symptoms, noisy activities that were participated in, and factors associated with hearing protection use among college students. A 44-item online survey was completed by 2,151 college students (aged 17 years and above) to assess the attitudes toward noise, perceived hearing symptoms related to noise exposure, and use of hearing protection around noisy activities. Among the participants, 39.6% experienced at least one hearing symptom, with ear pain as the most frequently reported (22.5%). About 80% of the participants were involved in at least one noise activity, out of which 41% reported the use of hearing protection. A large majority of those with ear pain, hearing loss, permanent tinnitus, and noise sensitivity was involved in attending a sporting event, which was the most reported noisy activity. The highest reported hearing protection use was in the use of firearms, and the lowest in discos/ dances. The reported use of hearing protection is associated with having at least one hearing symptom but the relationship is stronger with tinnitus, hearing loss, and ear pain (χ² = 30.5-43.5, P< 0.01) as compared to noise sensitivity (χ² = 3.8, P= 0.03); it is also associated with anti-noise attitudes, particularly in youth social events. Universities and colleges have important roles in protecting young adults' hearing by integrating hearing conservation topic in the college curriculum, promoting hearing health by student health services, involving student groups in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) awareness and prevention, and establishing noise level limitations for all on-campus events.

Transcriptome profiling of Vitis amurensis, an extremely cold-tolerant Chinese wild Vitis species, reveals candidate genes and events that potentially connected to cold stress.

PubMed

Xu, Weirong; Li, Ruimin; Zhang, Ningbo; Ma, Fuli; Jiao, Yuntong; Wang, Zhenping

2014-11-01

Vitis amurensis Rupr. is an exceptional wild-growing Vitis (grape) species that can safely survive a wide range of cold conditions, but the underlying cold-adaptive mechanism associated with gene regulation is poorly investigated. We have analyzed the physiochemical and transcriptomic changes caused by cold stress in a cold-tolerant accession, 'Heilongjiang seedling', of Chinese wild V. amurensis. We statistically determined that a total of 6,850 cold-regulated transcripts were involved in cold regulation, including 3,676 up-regulated and 3,174 down-regulated transcripts. A global survey of messenger RNA revealed that skipped exon is the most prevalent form of alternative spicing event. Importantly, we found that the total splicing events increased with the prolonged cold stress. We also identified thirty-eight major TF families that were involved in cold regulation, some of which were previously unknown. Moreover, a large number of candidate pathways for the metabolism or biosynthesis of secondary metabolites were found to be regulated by cold, which is of potential importance in coordinating cold tolerance with growth and development. Several heat shock proteins and heat shock factors were also detected to be intensively cold-regulated. Furthermore, we validated the expression profiles of 16 candidates using qRT-PCR to further confirm the accuracy of the RNA-seq data. Our results provide a genome-wide view of the dynamic changes in the transcriptome of V. amurensis, in which it is evident that various structural and regulatory genes are crucial for cold tolerance/adaptation. Moreover, our robust dataset advances our knowledge of the genes involved in the complex regulatory networks of cold stress and leads to a better understanding of cold tolerance mechanisms in this extremely cold-tolerant Vitis species.

The proteome of exudates from germinating Lupinus albus seeds is secreted through a selective dual-step process and contains proteins involved in plant defence.

PubMed

Scarafoni, Alessio; Ronchi, Alessandro; Prinsi, Bhakti; Espen, Luca; Assante, Gemma; Venturini, Giovanni; Duranti, Marcello

2013-03-01

The general knowledge of defence activity during the first steps of seed germination is still largely incomplete. The present study focused on the proteins released in the exudates of germinating white lupin seeds. During the first 24 h, a release of proteins was observed. Initially (i.e. during the first 12 h), the proteins found in exudates reflected the composition of the seed, indicating a passive extrusion of pre-formed proteins. Subsequently, when the rate of protein release was at its highest, the composition of the released proteome changed drastically. This transition occurred in a short time, indicating that more selective and regulated events, such as secretory processes, took place soon after the onset of germination. The present study considered: (a) the characterization of the proteome accumulated in the germinating medium collected after the appearance of the post-extrusion events; (b) the biosynthetic origin and the modalities that are the basis of protein release outside the seeds; and (c) an assessment of antifungal activity of these exudates. The most represented protein in the exudate was chitinase, which was synthesized de novo. The other proteins are involved in the cellular mechanisms responding to stress events, including biotic ones. This exudate was effectively able to inhibit fungal growth. The results of the present study indicate that seed exudation is a dual-step process that leads to the secretion of selected proteins and thus is not a result of passive leakage. The released proteome is involved in protecting the spermosphere environment and thus may act as first defence against pathogens. © 2013 The Authors Journal compilation © 2013 FEBS.

Executive Summary from the 2017 Emergency Medicine Resident Wellness Consensus Summit

PubMed Central

Ankel, Felix; Doty, Christopher I.; Chung, Arlene; Lin, Michelle

2018-01-01

Introduction Physician wellness has recently become a popular topic of conversation and publication within the house of medicine and specifically within emergency medicine (EM). Through a joint collaboration involving Academic Life in Emergency Medicine’s (ALiEM) Wellness Think Tank, Essentials of Emergency Medicine (EEM), and the Emergency Medicine Residents’ Association (EMRA), a one-day Resident Wellness Consensus Summit (RWCS) was organized. Methods The RWCS was held on May 15, 2017, as a pre-day event prior to the 2017 EEM conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Seven months before the RWCS event, pre-work began in the ALiEM Wellness Think Tank, which was launched in October 2016. The Wellness Think Tank is a virtual community of practice involving EM residents from the U.S. and Canada, hosted on the Slack digital-messaging platform. A working group was formed for each of the four predetermined themes: wellness curriculum development; educator toolkit resources for specific wellness topics; programmatic innovations; and wellness-targeted technologies. Results Pre-work for RWCS included 142 residents from 100 different training programs in the Wellness Think Tank. Participants in the actual RWCS event included 44 EM residents, five EM attendings who participated as facilitators, and three EM attendings who acted as participants. The four working groups ultimately reached a consensus on their specific objectives to improve resident wellness on both the individual and program level. Conclusion The Resident Wellness Consensus Summit was a unique and novel consensus meeting, involving residents as the primary stakeholders. The summit demonstrated that it is possible to galvanize a large group of stakeholders in a relatively short time by creating robust trust, communication, and online learning networks to create resources that support resident wellness. PMID:29560062

Understanding opioid overdose characteristics involving prescription and illicit opioids: A mixed methods analysis.

PubMed

Yarborough, Bobbi Jo H; Stumbo, Scott P; Janoff, Shannon L; Yarborough, Micah T; McCarty, Dennis; Chilcoat, Howard D; Coplan, Paul M; Green, Carla A

2016-10-01

Opioid abuse and misuse are significant public health issues. The CDC estimated 72% of pharmaceutical-related overdose deaths in the US in 2012 involved opioids. While studies of opioid overdoses have identified sociodemographic characteristics, agents used, administration routes, and medication sources associated with overdoses, we know less about the context and life circumstances of the people who experience these events. We analyzed interviews (n=87) with survivors of opioid overdoses or family members of decedents. Individuals experiencing overdoses were members of a large integrated health system. Using ICD codes for opioid overdoses and poisonings, we identified participants from five purposefully derived pools of health-plan members who had: 1) prescriptions for OxyContin(®) or single-ingredient sustained-release oxycodone, 2) oxycodone single-ingredient immediate release, 3) other long-acting opioids, 4) other short-acting opioids, or 5) no active opioid prescriptions. Individuals who experienced opioid overdoses abused and misused multiple medications/drugs; experienced dose-related miscommunications or medication-taking errors; had mental health and/or substance use conditions; reported chronic pain; or had unstable resources or family/social support. Many had combinations of these risks. Most events involved polysubstance use, often including benzodiazepines. Accidental overdoses were commonly the result of abuse or misuse, some in response to inadequately treated chronic pain or, less commonly, medication-related mistakes. Suicide attempts were frequently triggered by consecutive negative life events. To identify people at greater risk of opioid overdose, efforts should focus on screening for prescribed and illicit polysubstance use, impaired cognition, and changes in life circumstances, psychosocial risks/supports, and pain control. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Executive Summary from the 2017 Emergency Medicine Resident Wellness Consensus Summit.

PubMed

Battaglioli, Nicole; Ankel, Felix; Doty, Christopher I; Chung, Arlene; Lin, Michelle

2018-03-01

Physician wellness has recently become a popular topic of conversation and publication within the house of medicine and specifically within emergency medicine (EM). Through a joint collaboration involving Academic Life in Emergency Medicine's (ALiEM) Wellness Think Tank, Essentials of Emergency Medicine (EEM), and the Emergency Medicine Residents' Association (EMRA), a one-day Resident Wellness Consensus Summit (RWCS) was organized. The RWCS was held on May 15, 2017, as a pre-day event prior to the 2017 EEM conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. Seven months before the RWCS event, pre-work began in the ALiEM Wellness Think Tank, which was launched in October 2016. The Wellness Think Tank is a virtual community of practice involving EM residents from the U.S. and Canada, hosted on the Slack digital-messaging platform. A working group was formed for each of the four predetermined themes: wellness curriculum development; educator toolkit resources for specific wellness topics; programmatic innovations; and wellness-targeted technologies. Pre-work for RWCS included 142 residents from 100 different training programs in the Wellness Think Tank. Participants in the actual RWCS event included 44 EM residents, five EM attendings who participated as facilitators, and three EM attendings who acted as participants. The four working groups ultimately reached a consensus on their specific objectives to improve resident wellness on both the individual and program level. The Resident Wellness Consensus Summit was a unique and novel consensus meeting, involving residents as the primary stakeholders. The summit demonstrated that it is possible to galvanize a large group of stakeholders in a relatively short time by creating robust trust, communication, and online learning networks to create resources that support resident wellness.

Northerly surface winds over the eastern North Pacific Ocean in spring and summer

USGS Publications Warehouse

Taylor, S.V.; Cayan, D.R.; Graham, N.E.; Georgakakos, K.P.

2008-01-01

Persistent spring and summer northerly surface winds are the defining climatological feature of the western coast of North America, especially south of the Oregon coast. Northerly surface winds are important for upwelling and a vast array of other biological, oceanic, and atmospheric processes. Intermittence in northerly coastal surface wind is characterized and wind events are quantitatively defined using coastal buoy data south of Cape Mendocino on the northern California coast. The defined wind events are then used as a basis for composites in order to explain the spatial evolution of various atmospheric and oceanic processes. Wind events involve large-scale changes in the three-dimensional atmospheric circulation including the eastern North Pacific subtropical anticyclone and southeast trade winds. Composites of QSCAT satellite scatterometer wind estimates from 1999 to 2005 based on a single coastal buoy indicate that wind events typically last 72-96 h and result in anomalies in surface wind and Ekman pumping that extend over 1000 kin from the west coast of North America. It may be useful to consider ocean circulation and dependent ecosystem dynamics and the distribution of temperature, moisture, and aerosols in the atmospheric boundary layer in the context of wind events defined herein. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Parents' stressful life events and adolescent depressed mood.

PubMed

Ge, X; Conger, R D; Lorenz, F O; Simons, R L

1994-03-01

The present study of 451 families living in the rural Midwest examines a mediational model of the relationship between the stressful life events experienced by parents and adolescent depressed mood. This model is intended to overcome two limitations in previous research on the relationship between parents' stressful events and adolescent depressed mood by 1) examining a mediating process involving parental mood and parenting behavior, and 2) using multiple informants to assess the theoretical constructs. Findings from the present study indicate that stressful life events experienced by parents are first related to parents' depressed mood which operates to disrupt skillful parenting practices. The disrupted parenting practices in turn place adolescents at increased risk for developing depressive symptoms. The results show that inclusion of these mediating processes represents a significant improvement over the bivariate model and that the hypothesized mediational model generalizes to four parent-adolescent dyads: fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons, and mothers and daughters. Moreover, parents' stressful life events are related directly to adolescent boys' depressed mood only when parents' reports are included in both theoretical constructs. When parents' reports are removed as an indicator for the adolescent depressed mood construct, the effects of parental stress on adolescent depressed mood are largely accounted for by stress-related parental depressed mood and harsh/inconsistent parenting.

Multiscale models and stochastic simulation methods for computing rare but key binding events in cell biology

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guerrier, C.; Holcman, D., E-mail: david.holcman@ens.fr; Mathematical Institute, Oxford OX2 6GG, Newton Institute

The main difficulty in simulating diffusion processes at a molecular level in cell microdomains is due to the multiple scales involving nano- to micrometers. Few to many particles have to be simulated and simultaneously tracked while there are exploring a large portion of the space for binding small targets, such as buffers or active sites. Bridging the small and large spatial scales is achieved by rare events representing Brownian particles finding small targets and characterized by long-time distribution. These rare events are the bottleneck of numerical simulations. A naive stochastic simulation requires running many Brownian particles together, which is computationallymore » greedy and inefficient. Solving the associated partial differential equations is also difficult due to the time dependent boundary conditions, narrow passages and mixed boundary conditions at small windows. We present here two reduced modeling approaches for a fast computation of diffusing fluxes in microdomains. The first approach is based on a Markov mass-action law equations coupled to a Markov chain. The second is a Gillespie's method based on the narrow escape theory for coarse-graining the geometry of the domain into Poissonian rates. The main application concerns diffusion in cellular biology, where we compute as an example the distribution of arrival times of calcium ions to small hidden targets to trigger vesicular release.« less

Development of a flash flood warning system based on real-time radar data and process-based erosion modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schindewolf, Marcus; Kaiser, Andreas; Buchholtz, Arno; Schmidt, Jürgen

2017-04-01

Extreme rainfall events and resulting flash floods led to massive devastations in Germany during spring 2016. The study presented aims on the development of a early warning system, which allows the simulation and assessment of negative effects on infrastructure by radar-based heavy rainfall predictions, serving as input data for the process-based soil loss and deposition model EROSION 3D. Our approach enables a detailed identification of runoff and sediment fluxes in agricultural used landscapes. In a first step, documented historical events were analyzed concerning the accordance of measured radar rainfall and large scale erosion risk maps. A second step focused on a small scale erosion monitoring via UAV of source areas of heavy flooding events and a model reconstruction of the processes involved. In all examples damages were caused to local infrastructure. Both analyses are promising in order to detect runoff and sediment delivering areas even in a high temporal and spatial resolution. Results prove the important role of late-covering crops such as maize, sugar beet or potatoes in runoff generation. While e.g. winter wheat positively affects extensive runoff generation on undulating landscapes, massive soil loss and thus muddy flows are observed and depicted in model results. Future research aims on large scale model parameterization and application in real time, uncertainty estimation of precipitation forecast and interface developments.

Slow Unlocking Processes Preceding the 2015 Mw 8.4 Illapel, Chile, Earthquake

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Hui; Meng, Lingsen

2018-05-01

On 16 September 2015, the Mw 8.4 Illapel earthquake occurred in central Chile with no intense foreshock sequences documented in the regional earthquake catalog. Here we employ the matched-filter technique based on an enhanced template data set of previously catalogued events. We perform a continuous search over an 4-year period before the Illapel mainshock to recover the uncatalogued small events and repeating earthquakes. Repeating earthquakes are found both to the north and south of the mainshock rupture zone. To the south of the rupture zone, the seismicity and repeater-inferred aseismic slip progressively accelerate around the Illapel epicenter starting from 140 days before the mainshock. This may indicate an unlocking process involving the interplay of seismic and aseismic slip. The acceleration culminates in a M 5.3 event of low-angle thrust mechanism, which occurred 36 days before the Mw 8.4 mainshock. It is then followed by a relative quiescence in seismicity until the mainshock occurred. This quiescence might correspond to an intermediate period of stable slip before rupture initiation. In addition, to the north of the mainshock rupture area, the last aseismic-slip episode occurs within 175-95 days before the mainshock and accumulates the largest amount of slip in the observation period. The simultaneous occurrence of aseismic-slip transients over a large area is consistent with large-scale slow unlocking processes preceding the Illapel mainshock.

End-to-End Commitment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newcomb, John

2004-01-01

The end-to-end test would verify the complex sequence of events from lander separation to landing. Due to the large distances involved and the significant delay time in sending a command and receiving verification, the lander needed to operate autonomously after it separated from the orbiter. It had to sense conditions, make decisions, and act accordingly. We were flying into a relatively unknown set of conditions-a Martian atmosphere of unknown pressure, density, and consistency to land on a surface of unknown altitude, and one which had an unknown bearing strength.

Large Scale Water Vapor Sources Relative to the October 2000 Piedmont Flood

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turato, Barbara; Reale, Oreste; Siccardi, Franco

2003-01-01

Very intense mesoscale or synoptic-scale rainfall events can occasionally be observed in the Mediterranean region without any deep cyclone developing over the areas affected by precipitation. In these perplexing cases the synoptic situation can superficially look similar to cases in which very little precipitation occurs. These situations could possibly baffle the operational weather forecasters. In this article, the major precipitation event that affected Piedmont (Italy) between 13 and 16 October 2000 is investigated. This is one of the cases in which no intense cyclone was observed within the Mediterranean region at any time, only a moderate system was present, and yet exceptional rainfall and flooding occurred. The emphasis of this study is on the moisture origin and transport. Moisture and energy balances are computed on different space- and time-scales, revealing that precipitation exceeds evaporation over an area inclusive of Piedmont and the northwestern Mediterranean region, on a time-scale encompassing the event and about two weeks preceding it. This is suggestive of an important moisture contribution originating from outside the region. A synoptic and dynamic analysis is then performed to outline the potential mechanisms that could have contributed to the large-scale moisture transport. The central part of the work uses a quasi-isentropic water-vapor back trajectory technique. The moisture sources obtained by this technique are compared with the results of the balances and with the synoptic situation, to unveil possible dynamic mechanisms and physical processes involved. It is found that moisture sources on a variety of atmospheric scales contribute to this event. First, an important contribution is caused by the extratropical remnants of former tropical storm Leslie. The large-scale environment related to this system allows a significant amount of moisture to be carried towards Europe. This happens on a time- scale of about 5-15 days preceding the Piedmont event. Second, water-vapor intrusions from the African Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone and evaporation from the eastern Atlantic contribute on the 2-5 day time-scale. The large-scale moist dynamics appears therefore to be one important factor enabling a moderate Mediterranean cyclone to produce heavy precipitation. Finally, local evaporation from the Mediterranean, water-vapor recycling, and orographically-induced low-level convergence enhance and concentrate the moisture over the area where heavy precipitation occurs. This happens on a 12-72 hour time-scale.

Reconciling Horse Welfare, Worker Safety, and Public Expectations: Horse Event Incident Management Systems in Australia

PubMed Central

Fiedler, Julie M.; McGreevy, Paul D.

2016-01-01

Simple Summary Although often highly rewarding, human-horse interactions can also be dangerous. Using examples from equine and other contexts, this article acknowledges the growing public awareness of animal welfare, work underway towards safer equestrian workplaces, and the potential for adapting large animal rescue skills for the purposes of horse event incident management. Additionally, we identity the need for further research into communication strategies that address animal welfare and safety issues that arise when humans and horses interact in the workplace. Abstract Human-horse interactions have a rich tradition and can be highly rewarding, particularly within sport and recreation pursuits, but they can also be dangerous or even life-threatening. In parallel, sport and recreation pursuits involving animals, including horses, are facing an increased level of public scrutiny in relation to the use of animals for these purposes. However, the challenge lies with event organisers to reconcile the expectations of the public, the need to meet legal requirements to reduce or eliminate risks to paid and volunteer workers, and address horse welfare. In this article we explore incident management at horse events as an example of a situation where volunteers and horses can be placed at risk during a rescue. We introduce large animal rescue skills as a solution to improving worker safety and improving horse welfare outcomes. Whilst there are government and horse industry initiatives to improve safety and address animal welfare, there remains a pressing need to invest in a strong communication plan which will improve the safety of workplaces in which humans and horses interact. PMID:26927189

Assessing the extent and impact of the masking effect of disproportionality analyses on two spontaneous reporting systems databases.

PubMed

Maignen, Francois; Hauben, Manfred; Hung, Eric; Van Holle, Lionel; Dogne, Jean-Michel

2014-02-01

Masking is a statistical issue by which signals are hidden by the presence of other medicines in the database. In the absence algorithm, the impact of the masking effect has not been fully investigated. Our study is aimed at assessing the extent and the impact of the masking effect on two large spontaneous reporting databases. Cross sectional study using a set of terms of importance for public health in two spontaneous reporting databases. The analyses were performed on EudraVigilance (EV) and the Pfizer spontaneous reporting database (PfDB). Using the masking ratio, we have identified and removed the products inducing the highest masking effect. Studying a total of almost 50 000 drug-event combinations masking had an impact on approximately 60% of drug-event combinations were masked by another product with a masking ratio >1 in EV and 84% in PfDB. The prevalence of important masking was quite rare (0.003% of the DECs) and mainly affected events rarely reported in EV. The products involved in the highest masking effects are products known to induce the reaction. The removal of the masking effect of the highest masking product has revealed 974 signals of disproportionate reporting in EV including true signals. The study shows that the original ranking provided by the quantitative methods included in our study is marginally affected by the removal of the masking product. Our study suggests that significant masking is rare in large spontaneous databases and mostly affects events rarely reported in EV. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Compression Algorithm Analysis of In-Situ (S)TEM Video: Towards Automatic Event Detection and Characterization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Teuton, Jeremy R.; Griswold, Richard L.; Mehdi, Beata L.

Precise analysis of both (S)TEM images and video are time and labor intensive processes. As an example, determining when crystal growth and shrinkage occurs during the dynamic process of Li dendrite deposition and stripping involves manually scanning through each frame in the video to extract a specific set of frames/images. For large numbers of images, this process can be very time consuming, so a fast and accurate automated method is desirable. Given this need, we developed software that uses analysis of video compression statistics for detecting and characterizing events in large data sets. This software works by converting the datamore » into a series of images which it compresses into an MPEG-2 video using the open source “avconv” utility [1]. The software does not use the video itself, but rather analyzes the video statistics from the first pass of the video encoding that avconv records in the log file. This file contains statistics for each frame of the video including the frame quality, intra-texture and predicted texture bits, forward and backward motion vector resolution, among others. In all, avconv records 15 statistics for each frame. By combining different statistics, we have been able to detect events in various types of data. We have developed an interactive tool for exploring the data and the statistics that aids the analyst in selecting useful statistics for each analysis. Going forward, an algorithm for detecting and possibly describing events automatically can be written based on statistic(s) for each data type.« less

Time Variations in Forecasts and Occurrences of Large Solar Energetic Particle Events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kahler, S. W.

2015-12-01

The onsets and development of large solar energetic (E > 10 MeV) particle (SEP) events have been characterized in many studies. The statistics of SEP event onset delay times from associated solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which depend on solar source longitudes, can be used to provide better predictions of whether a SEP event will occur following a large flare or fast CME. In addition, size distributions of peak SEP event intensities provide a means for a probabilistic forecast of peak intensities attained in observed SEP increases. SEP event peak intensities have been compared with their rise and decay times for insight into the acceleration and transport processes. These two time scales are generally treated as independent parameters describing the development of a SEP event, but we can invoke an alternative two-parameter description based on the assumption that decay times exceed rise times for all events. These two parameters, from the well known Weibull distribution, provide an event description in terms of its basic shape and duration. We apply this distribution to several large SEP events and ask what the characteristic parameters and their dependence on source longitudes can tell us about the origins of these important events.

A hierarchical stress release model for synthetic seismicity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bebbington, Mark

1997-06-01

We construct a stochastic dynamic model for synthetic seismicity involving stochastic stress input, release, and transfer in an environment of heterogeneous strength and interacting segments. The model is not fault-specific, having a number of adjustable parameters with physical interpretation, namely, stress relaxation, stress transfer, stress dissipation, segment structure, strength, and strength heterogeneity, which affect the seismicity in various ways. Local parameters are chosen to be consistent with large historical events, other parameters to reproduce bulk seismicity statistics for the fault as a whole. The one-dimensional fault is divided into a number of segments, each comprising a varying number of nodes. Stress input occurs at each node in a simple random process, representing the slow buildup due to tectonic plate movements. Events are initiated, subject to a stochastic hazard function, when the stress on a node exceeds the local strength. An event begins with the transfer of excess stress to neighboring nodes, which may in turn transfer their excess stress to the next neighbor. If the event grows to include the entire segment, then most of the stress on the segment is transferred to neighboring segments (or dissipated) in a characteristic event. These large events may themselves spread to other segments. We use the Middle America Trench to demonstrate that this model, using simple stochastic stress input and triggering mechanisms, can produce behavior consistent with the historical record over five units of magnitude. We also investigate the effects of perturbing various parameters in order to show how the model might be tailored to a specific fault structure. The strength of the model lies in this ability to reproduce the behavior of a general linear fault system through the choice of a relatively small number of parameters. It remains to develop a procedure for estimating the internal state of the model from the historical observations in order to use the model for forward prediction.

Neural Darwinism and consciousness.

PubMed

Seth, Anil K; Baars, Bernard J

2005-03-01

Neural Darwinism (ND) is a large scale selectionist theory of brain development and function that has been hypothesized to relate to consciousness. According to ND, consciousness is entailed by reentrant interactions among neuronal populations in the thalamocortical system (the 'dynamic core'). These interactions, which permit high-order discriminations among possible core states, confer selective advantages on organisms possessing them by linking current perceptual events to a past history of value-dependent learning. Here, we assess the consistency of ND with 16 widely recognized properties of consciousness, both physiological (for example, consciousness is associated with widespread, relatively fast, low amplitude interactions in the thalamocortical system), and phenomenal (for example, consciousness involves the existence of a private flow of events available only to the experiencing subject). While no theory accounts fully for all of these properties at present, we find that ND and its recent extensions fare well.

Modeling complex systems in the geosciences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balcerak, Ernie

2013-03-01

Many geophysical phenomena can be described as complex systems, involving phenomena such as extreme or "wild" events that often do not follow the Gaussian distribution that would be expected if the events were simply random and uncorrelated. For instance, some geophysical phenomena like earthquakes show a much higher occurrence of relatively large values than would a Gaussian distribution and so are examples of the "Noah effect" (named by Benoit Mandelbrot for the exceptionally heavy rain in the biblical flood). Other geophysical phenomena are examples of the "Joseph effect," in which a state is especially persistent, such as a spell of multiple consecutive hot days (heat waves) or several dry summers in a row. The Joseph effect was named after the biblical story in which Joseph's dream of seven fat cows and seven thin ones predicted 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of drought.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Khachatryan, Vardan

Our search for supersymmetry involving events with at least one photon, one electron or muon, and large missing transverse momentum has been performed by the CMS experiment. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb -1 of pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV, produced at the CERN LHC. No excess of events is observed beyond expectations from standard model processes. The result of the search is interpreted in the context of a general model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, where the charged and neutral winos are the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particles. Within this model, winos with amore » mass up to 360 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level. Also, two simplified models inspired by gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking are also examined, and used to derive upper limits on the production cross sections of specific supersymmetric processes.« less

Wide-field in vivo neocortical calcium dye imaging using a convection-enhanced loading technique combined with simultaneous multiwavelength imaging of voltage-sensitive dyes and hemodynamic signals

PubMed Central

Ma, Hongtao; Harris, Samuel; Rahmani, Redi; Lacefield, Clay O.; Zhao, Mingrui; Daniel, Andy G. S.; Zhou, Zhiping; Bruno, Randy M.; Berwick, Jason; Schwartz, Theodore H.

2014-01-01

Abstract. In vivo calcium imaging is an incredibly powerful technique that provides simultaneous information on fast neuronal events, such as action potentials and subthreshold synaptic activity, as well as slower events that occur in the glia and surrounding neuropil. Bulk-loading methods that involve multiple injections can be used for single-cell as well as wide-field imaging studies. However, multiple injections result in inhomogeneous loading as well as multiple sites of potential cortical injury. We used convection-enhanced delivery to create smooth, continuous loading of a large area of the cortical surface through a solitary injection site and demonstrated the efficacy of the technique using confocal microscopy imaging of single cells and physiological responses to single-trial events of spontaneous activity, somatosensory-evoked potentials, and epileptiform events. Combinations of calcium imaging with voltage-sensitive dye and intrinsic signal imaging demonstrate the utility of this technique in neurovascular coupling investigations. Convection-enhanced loading of calcium dyes may be a useful technique to advance the study of cortical processing when widespread loading of a wide-field imaging is required. PMID:25525611

Wide-field in vivo neocortical calcium dye imaging using a convection-enhanced loading technique combined with simultaneous multiwavelength imaging of voltage-sensitive dyes and hemodynamic signals.

PubMed

Ma, Hongtao; Harris, Samuel; Rahmani, Redi; Lacefield, Clay O; Zhao, Mingrui; Daniel, Andy G S; Zhou, Zhiping; Bruno, Randy M; Berwick, Jason; Schwartz, Theodore H

2014-07-24

In vivo calcium imaging is an incredibly powerful technique that provides simultaneous information on fast neuronal events, such as action potentials and subthreshold synaptic activity, as well as slower events that occur in the glia and surrounding neuropil. Bulk-loading methods that involve multiple injections can be used for single-cell as well as wide-field imaging studies. However, multiple injections result in inhomogeneous loading as well as multiple sites of potential cortical injury. We used convection-enhanced delivery to create smooth, continuous loading of a large area of the cortical surface through a solitary injection site and demonstrated the efficacy of the technique using confocal microscopy imaging of single cells and physiological responses to single-trial events of spontaneous activity, somatosensory-evoked potentials, and epileptiform events. Combinations of calcium imaging with voltage-sensitive dye and intrinsic signal imaging demonstrate the utility of this technique in neurovascular coupling investigations. Convection-enhanced loading of calcium dyes may be a useful technique to advance the study of cortical processing when widespread loading of a wide-field imaging is required.

Climate modelling of mass-extinction events: a review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feulner, Georg

2009-07-01

Despite tremendous interest in the topic and decades of research, the origins of the major losses of biodiversity in the history of life on Earth remain elusive. A variety of possible causes for these mass-extinction events have been investigated, including impacts of asteroids or comets, large-scale volcanic eruptions, effects from changes in the distribution of continents caused by plate tectonics, and biological factors, to name but a few. Many of these suggested drivers involve or indeed require changes of Earth's climate, which then affect the biosphere of our planet, causing a global reduction in the diversity of biological species. It can be argued, therefore, that a detailed understanding of these climatic variations and their effects on ecosystems are prerequisites for a solution to the enigma of biological extinctions. Apart from investigations of the paleoclimate data of the time periods of mass extinctions, climate-modelling experiments should be able to shed some light on these dramatic events. Somewhat surprisingly, however, only a few comprehensive modelling studies of the climate changes associated with extinction events have been undertaken. These studies will be reviewed in this paper. Furthermore, the role of modelling in extinction research in general and suggestions for future research are discussed.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bučík, Radoslav; Innes, Davina E.; Mason, Glenn M.

Small, {sup 3}He-rich solar energetic particle (SEP) events have been commonly associated with extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) jets and narrow coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that are believed to be the signatures of magnetic reconnection, involving field lines open to interplanetary space. The elemental and isotopic fractionation in these events are thought to be caused by processes confined to the flare sites. In this study, we identify 32 {sup 3}He-rich SEP events observed by the Advanced Composition Explorer , near the Earth, during the solar minimum period 2007–2010, and we examine their solar sources with the high resolution Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (more » STEREO ) EUV images. Leading the Earth, STEREO -A has provided, for the first time, a direct view on {sup 3}He-rich flares, which are generally located on the Sun’s western hemisphere. Surprisingly, we find that about half of the {sup 3}He-rich SEP events in this survey are associated with large-scale EUV coronal waves. An examination of the wave front propagation, the source-flare distribution, and the coronal magnetic field connections suggests that the EUV waves may affect the injection of {sup 3}He-rich SEPs into interplanetary space.« less

Concurrent Schedules of Positive and Negative Reinforcement: Differential-Impact and Differential-Outcomes Hypotheses

PubMed Central

Magoon, Michael A; Critchfield, Thomas S

2008-01-01

Considerable evidence from outside of operant psychology suggests that aversive events exert greater influence over behavior than equal-sized positive-reinforcement events. Operant theory is largely moot on this point, and most operant research is uninformative because of a scaling problem that prevents aversive events and those based on positive reinforcement from being directly compared. In the present investigation, humans' mouse-click responses were maintained on similarly structured, concurrent schedules of positive (money gain) and negative (avoidance of money loss) reinforcement. Because gains and losses were of equal magnitude, according to the analytical conventions of the generalized matching law, bias (log b ≠ 0) would indicate differential impact by one type of consequence; however, no systematic bias was observed. Further research is needed to reconcile this outcome with apparently robust findings in other literatures of superior behavior control by aversive events. In an incidental finding, the linear function relating log behavior ratio and log reinforcement ratio was steeper for concurrent negative and positive reinforcement than for control conditions involving concurrent positive reinforcement. This may represent the first empirical confirmation of a free-operant differential-outcomes effect predicted by contingency-discriminability theories of choice. PMID:18683609

Dynamin Regulates Specific Membrane Fusion Events Necessary for Acrosomal Exocytosis in Mouse Spermatozoa

PubMed Central

Reid, Andrew T.; Lord, Tessa; Stanger, Simone J.; Roman, Shaun D.; McCluskey, Adam; Robinson, Phillip J.; Aitken, R. John; Nixon, Brett

2012-01-01

Mammalian spermatozoa must complete an acrosome reaction prior to fertilizing an oocyte. The acrosome reaction is a unique exocytotic event involving a series of prolonged membrane fusions that ultimately result in the production of membrane vesicles and release of the acrosomal contents. This event requires the concerted action of a large number of fusion-competent signaling and scaffolding proteins. Here we show that two different members of the dynamin GTPase family localize to the developing acrosome of maturing mouse germ cells. Both dynamin 1 and 2 also remain within the periacrosomal region of mature mouse spermatozoa and are thus well positioned to regulate the acrosome reaction. Two pharmacological inhibitors of dynamin, dynasore and Dyngo-4a, blocked the in vitro induction of acrosomal exocytosis by progesterone, but not by the calcium ionophore A23187, and elicited a concomitant reduction of in vitro fertilization. In vivo treatment with these inhibitors also resulted in spermatozoa displaying reduced acrosome reaction potential. Dynamin 1 and 2 phosphorylation increased on progesterone treatment, and this was also selectively blocked by dynasore. On the basis of our collective data, we propose that dynamin could regulate specific membrane fusion events necessary for acrosomal exocytosis in mouse spermatozoa. PMID:22977254

Dynamics and Adaptive Benefits of Protein Domain Emergence and Arrangements during Plant Genome Evolution

PubMed Central

Kersting, Anna R.; Bornberg-Bauer, Erich; Moore, Andrew D.; Grath, Sonja

2012-01-01

Plant genomes are generally very large, mostly paleopolyploid, and have numerous gene duplicates and complex genomic features such as repeats and transposable elements. Many of these features have been hypothesized to enable plants, which cannot easily escape environmental challenges, to rapidly adapt. Another mechanism, which has recently been well described as a major facilitator of rapid adaptation in bacteria, animals, and fungi but not yet for plants, is modular rearrangement of protein-coding genes. Due to the high precision of profile-based methods, rearrangements can be well captured at the protein level by characterizing the emergence, loss, and rearrangements of protein domains, their structural, functional, and evolutionary building blocks. Here, we study the dynamics of domain rearrangements and explore their adaptive benefit in 27 plant and 3 algal genomes. We use a phylogenomic approach by which we can explain the formation of 88% of all arrangements by single-step events, such as fusion, fission, and terminal loss of domains. We find many domains are lost along every lineage, but at least 500 domains are novel, that is, they are unique to green plants and emerged more or less recently. These novel domains duplicate and rearrange more readily within their genomes than ancient domains and are overproportionally involved in stress response and developmental innovations. Novel domains more often affect regulatory proteins and show a higher degree of structural disorder than ancient domains. Whereas a relatively large and well-conserved core set of single-domain proteins exists, long multi-domain arrangements tend to be species-specific. We find that duplicated genes are more often involved in rearrangements. Although fission events typically impact metabolic proteins, fusion events often create new signaling proteins essential for environmental sensing. Taken together, the high volatility of single domains and complex arrangements in plant genomes demonstrate the importance of modularity for environmental adaptability of plants. PMID:22250127

Neural correlates of improvements in personality and behavior following a neurological event.

PubMed

King, Marcie L; Manzel, Kenneth; Bruss, Joel; Tranel, Daniel

2017-11-21

Research on changes in personality and behavior following brain damage has focused largely on negative outcomes, such as increased irritability, moodiness, and social inappropriateness. However, clinical observations suggest that some patients may actually show positive personality and behavioral changes following a neurological event. In the current work, we investigated neuroanatomical correlates of positive personality and behavioral changes following a discrete neurological event (e.g., stroke, benign tumor resection). Patients (N = 97) were rated by a well-known family member or friend on five domains of personality and behavior: social behavior, irascibility, hypo-emotionality, distress, and executive functioning. Ratings were acquired during the chronic epoch of recovery, when psychological status was stabilized. We identified patients who showed positive changes in personality and behavior in one or more domains of functioning. Lesion analyses indicated that positive changes in personality and behavior were most consistently related to damage to the bilateral frontal polar regions and the right anterior dorsolateral prefrontal region. These findings support the conclusion that improvements in personality and behavior can occur after a neurological event, and that such changes have systematic neuroanatomical correlates. Patients who showed positive changes in personality and behavior following a neurological event were rated as having more disturbed functioning prior to the event. Our study may be taken as preliminary evidence that improvements in personality and behavior following a neurological event may involve dampening of (premorbidly) more extreme expressions of emotion. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hunting for shallow slow-slip events at Cascadia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Y. J.; Bletery, Q.; Fan, W.; Janiszewski, H. A.; Lynch, E.; McCormack, K. A.; Phillips, N. J.; Rousset, B.; Seyler, C.; French, M. E.; Gaherty, J. B.; Regalla, C.

2017-12-01

The discovery of slow earthquakes at subduction zones is one of the major breakthroughs of Earth science in the last two decades. Slow earthquakes involve a wide spectrum of fault slip behaviors and seismic radiation patterns, such as tremor, low-frequency earthquakes, and slow-slip events. The last of these are particularly interesting due to their large moment releases accompanied by minimal ground shaking. Slow-slip events have been reported at various subduction zones ; most of these slow-slip events are located down-dip of the megathrust seismogenic zone, while a few up-dip cases have recently been observed at Nankai and New Zealand. Up-dip slow-slip events illuminate the structure of faulting environments and rupture mechanisms of tsunami earthquakes. Their possible presence and location at a particular subduction zone can help assess earthquake and tsunami hazard for that region. However, their typical location distant from the coast requires the development of techniques using offshore instrumentation. Here, we investigate the absolute pressure gauges (APG) of the Cascadia Initiative, a four year amphibious seismic experiment, to search for possible shallow up-dip slow-slip events in the Cascadia subduction zone. These instruments are collocated with ocean bottom seismometers (OBS) and located close to buoys and onshore GPS stations, offering the opportunity to investigate the utility of multiple datasets. Ultimately, we aim to develop a protocol to analyze APG data for offshore shallow slow-slip event detections and quantify uncertainties, with direct applications to understanding the up-dip subduction interface system in Cascadia.

Large-Scale Event Extraction from Literature with Multi-Level Gene Normalization

PubMed Central

Wei, Chih-Hsuan; Hakala, Kai; Pyysalo, Sampo; Ananiadou, Sophia; Kao, Hung-Yu; Lu, Zhiyong; Salakoski, Tapio; Van de Peer, Yves; Ginter, Filip

2013-01-01

Text mining for the life sciences aims to aid database curation, knowledge summarization and information retrieval through the automated processing of biomedical texts. To provide comprehensive coverage and enable full integration with existing biomolecular database records, it is crucial that text mining tools scale up to millions of articles and that their analyses can be unambiguously linked to information recorded in resources such as UniProt, KEGG, BioGRID and NCBI databases. In this study, we investigate how fully automated text mining of complex biomolecular events can be augmented with a normalization strategy that identifies biological concepts in text, mapping them to identifiers at varying levels of granularity, ranging from canonicalized symbols to unique gene and proteins and broad gene families. To this end, we have combined two state-of-the-art text mining components, previously evaluated on two community-wide challenges, and have extended and improved upon these methods by exploiting their complementary nature. Using these systems, we perform normalization and event extraction to create a large-scale resource that is publicly available, unique in semantic scope, and covers all 21.9 million PubMed abstracts and 460 thousand PubMed Central open access full-text articles. This dataset contains 40 million biomolecular events involving 76 million gene/protein mentions, linked to 122 thousand distinct genes from 5032 species across the full taxonomic tree. Detailed evaluations and analyses reveal promising results for application of this data in database and pathway curation efforts. The main software components used in this study are released under an open-source license. Further, the resulting dataset is freely accessible through a novel API, providing programmatic and customized access (http://www.evexdb.org/api/v001/). Finally, to allow for large-scale bioinformatic analyses, the entire resource is available for bulk download from http://evexdb.org/download/, under the Creative Commons – Attribution – Share Alike (CC BY-SA) license. PMID:23613707

Development of a coupled hydrological - hydrodynamic model for probabilistic catchment flood inundation modelling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quinn, Niall; Freer, Jim; Coxon, Gemma; Dunne, Toby; Neal, Jeff; Bates, Paul; Sampson, Chris; Smith, Andy; Parkin, Geoff

2017-04-01

Computationally efficient flood inundation modelling systems capable of representing important hydrological and hydrodynamic flood generating processes over relatively large regions are vital for those interested in flood preparation, response, and real time forecasting. However, such systems are currently not readily available. This can be particularly important where flood predictions from intense rainfall are considered as the processes leading to flooding often involve localised, non-linear spatially connected hillslope-catchment responses. Therefore, this research introduces a novel hydrological-hydraulic modelling framework for the provision of probabilistic flood inundation predictions across catchment to regional scales that explicitly account for spatial variability in rainfall-runoff and routing processes. Approaches have been developed to automate the provision of required input datasets and estimate essential catchment characteristics from freely available, national datasets. This is an essential component of the framework as when making predictions over multiple catchments or at relatively large scales, and where data is often scarce, obtaining local information and manually incorporating it into the model quickly becomes infeasible. An extreme flooding event in the town of Morpeth, NE England, in 2008 was used as a first case study evaluation of the modelling framework introduced. The results demonstrated a high degree of prediction accuracy when comparing modelled and reconstructed event characteristics for the event, while the efficiency of the modelling approach used enabled the generation of relatively large ensembles of realisations from which uncertainty within the prediction may be represented. This research supports previous literature highlighting the importance of probabilistic forecasting, particularly during extreme events, which can be often be poorly characterised or even missed by deterministic predictions due to the inherent uncertainty in any model application. Future research will aim to further evaluate the robustness of the approaches introduced by applying the modelling framework to a variety of historical flood events across UK catchments. Furthermore, the flexibility and efficiency of the framework is ideally suited to the examination of the propagation of errors through the model which will help gain a better understanding of the dominant sources of uncertainty currently impacting flood inundation predictions.

Communicating with children and adolescents about the risk of natural disasters.

PubMed

Midtbust, Liv Gunvor Hove; Dyregrov, Atle; Djup, Heidi Wittrup

2018-01-01

A vast number of people annually are affected by natural disasters. Children are at risk of losing their lives and suffer mentally or physically after such events. The fostering of resilience and preparedness ahead of disasters can reduce untoward effects of disastrous events. Risk communication and disaster education are considered important aspects of disaster preparedness, but little is known about whether such strategies influence children's behaviour when natural disasters occur or how they cope in the aftermath. This paper presents and discusses various strategies that promote preparedness activities to save lives. To a minor extent, it also includes strategies that can promote coping in the aftermath. Strategies such as informational campaigns, educational activities, psychoeducation and parental guidance are addressed. The literature to date indicates that schools are a suitable arena for risk communication, and that adolescents themselves should be involved and engaged in the communication strategies. However, the relationship between knowledge of preparedness strategies and the resulting preparedness actions is largely unknown. It is unknown whether changes in awareness and attitudes have resulted in actual behaviour change. It is advocated that preparedness activities and parental involvement should supplement information-based strategies.

The Evolutionary History and Diverse Physiological Roles of the Grapevine Calcium-Dependent Protein Kinase Gene Family

PubMed Central

Chen, Fei; Fasoli, Marianna; Tornielli, Giovanni Battista; Dal Santo, Silvia; Pezzotti, Mario; Zhang, Liangsheng; Cai, Bin; Cheng, Zong-Ming

2013-01-01

Calcium-dependent protein kinases (CDPKs) are molecular switches that bind Ca2+, ATP, and protein substrates, acting as sensor relays and responders that convert Ca2+ signals, created by developmental processes and environmental stresses, into phosphorylation events. The precise functions of the CDPKs in grapevine (Vitis vinifera) are largely unknown. We therefore investigated the phylogenetic relationships and expression profiles of the 17 CDPK genes identified in the 12x grapevine genome sequence, resolving them into four subfamilies based on phylogenetic tree topology and gene structures. The origins of the CDPKs during grapevine evolution were characterized, involving 13 expansion events. Transcriptomic analysis using 54 tissues and developmental stages revealed three types of CDPK gene expression profiles: constitutive (housekeeping CDPKs), partitioned functions, and prevalent in pollen/stamen. We identified two duplicated CDPK genes that had evolved from housekeeping to pollen-prevalent functions and whose origin correlated with that of seed plants, suggesting neofunctionalization with an important role in pollen development and also potential value in the breeding of seedless varieties. We also found that CDPKs were involved in three abiotic stress signaling pathways and could therefore be used to investigate the crosstalk between stress responses. PMID:24324631

Cost of Crashes Related to Road Conditions, United States, 2006

PubMed Central

Zaloshnja, Eduard; Miller, Ted R.

2009-01-01

This is the first study to estimate the cost of crashes related to road conditions in the U.S. To model the probability that road conditions contributed to the involvement of a vehicle in the crash, we used 2000–03 Large Truck Crash Causation Study (LTCCS) data, the only dataset that provides detailed information whether road conditions contributed to crash occurrence. We applied the logistic regression results to a costed national crash dataset in order to calculate the probability that road conditions contributed to the involvement of a vehicle in each crash. In crashes where someone was moderately to seriously injured (AIS-2-6) in a vehicle that harmfully impacted a large tree or medium or large non-breakaway pole, or if the first harmful event was collision with a bridge, we changed the calculated probability of being road-related to 1. We used the state distribution of costs of fatal crashes where road conditions contributed to crash occurrence or severity to estimate the respective state distribution of non-fatal crash costs. The estimated comprehensive cost of traffic crashes where road conditions contributed to crash occurrence or severity was $217.5 billion in 2006. This represented 43.6% of the total comprehensive crash cost. The large share of crash costs related to road design and conditions underlines the importance of these factors in highway safety. Road conditions are largely controllable. Road maintenance and upgrading can prevent crashes and reduce injury severity. PMID:20184840

Analyses of infrequent (quasi-decadal) large groundwater recharge events in the northern Great Basin: Their importance for groundwater availability, use, and management

USGS Publications Warehouse

Masbruch, Melissa D.; Rumsey, Christine; Gangopadhyay, Subhrendu; Susong, David D.; Pruitt, Tom

2016-01-01

There has been a considerable amount of research linking climatic variability to hydrologic responses in the western United States. Although much effort has been spent to assess and predict changes in surface water resources, little has been done to understand how climatic events and changes affect groundwater resources. This study focuses on characterizing and quantifying the effects of large, multiyear, quasi-decadal groundwater recharge events in the northern Utah portion of the Great Basin for the period 1960–2013. Annual groundwater level data were analyzed with climatic data to characterize climatic conditions and frequency of these large recharge events. Using observed water-level changes and multivariate analysis, five large groundwater recharge events were identified with a frequency of about 11–13 years. These events were generally characterized as having above-average annual precipitation and snow water equivalent and below-average seasonal temperatures, especially during the spring (April through June). Existing groundwater flow models for several basins within the study area were used to quantify changes in groundwater storage from these events. Simulated groundwater storage increases per basin from a single recharge event ranged from about 115 to 205 Mm3. Extrapolating these amounts over the entire northern Great Basin indicates that a single large quasi-decadal recharge event could result in billions of cubic meters of groundwater storage. Understanding the role of these large quasi-decadal recharge events in replenishing aquifers and sustaining water supplies is crucial for long-term groundwater management.

Large Solar Energetic Particle Events Associated With Filament Eruptions Outside Active Regions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gopalswamy, N.; Makela, P.; Akiyama, S.; Yashiro, S.; Xie, H.; Thakur, N.; Kahler, S. W.

2015-01-01

We report on four large filament eruptions (FEs) from solar cycles 23 and 24 that were associated with large solar energetic particle (SEP) events and interplanetary type II radio bursts. The post-eruption arcades corresponded mostly to C-class soft X-ray enhancements, but an M1.0 flare was associated with one event. However, the associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were fast (speeds approx. 1000 km/s) and appeared as halo CMEs in the coronagraph field of view. The interplanetary type II radio bursts occurred over a wide wavelength range, indicating the existence of strong shocks throughout the inner heliosphere. No metric type II bursts were present in three events, indicating that the shocks formed beyond 2-3 Rs. In one case, there was a metric type II burst with low starting frequency, indicating a shock formation height of approx.2 Rs. The FE-associated SEP events did have softer spectra (spectral index >4) in the 10-100 MeV range, but there were other low-intensity SEP events with spectral indices ?4. Some of these events are likely FE-SEP events, but were not classified as such in the literature because they occurred close to active regions. Some were definitely associated with large active region flares, but the shock formation height was large. We definitely find a diminished role for flares and complex type III burst durations in these large SEP events. Fast CMEs and shock formation at larger distances from the Sun seem to be the primary characteristics of the FE-associated SEP events.

Implementation of effective alcohol control strategies is needed at large sports and entertainment events.

PubMed

Lyne, Mark; Galloway, Andrew

2012-02-01

To assess the implementation and effectiveness of strategies and actions to eliminate and/or reduce alcohol-related problems at large sports and entertainment events in New Zealand. We conducted site visits and monitoring observations at venues before, during and after a variety of large events between March 2009 and November 2010. Thirteen events were attended at nine different venues. Events included rugby, rugby league and cricket matches, motor racing, rowing, horse racing, an outdoor music festival, and food and wine festivals. Most large events appeared to pass with few or no alcohol-related problems. The exceptions were one of the horse-race meetings, a rugby league match and one food and wine festival. Common contexts at events where alcohol-related problems were seen included: inadequate alcohol control and management by security staff; the ability to purchase four alcoholic drinks (rather than two) at a time; inexperienced bar staff untrained in responsible alcohol service; no or little promotion of low and non-alcoholic drinks; and a lack of monitoring and enforcement of the law on intoxication. An important approach to prevent and reduce alcohol-related problems at large spots and entertainment events is the use of specific alcohol-control strategies. The management of alcohol consumption is a major part of event management that must be planned with harm-minimisation strategies well in advance of the event itself. If strategies and actions are not properly implemented to manage the sale and supply of alcohol at large events, there is significant risk of alcohol-related problems and harm resulting from them. © 2012 The Authors. ANZJPH © 2012 Public Health Association of Australia.

Limited accessibility to designs and results of Japanese large-scale clinical trials for cardiovascular diseases.

PubMed

Sawata, Hiroshi; Ueshima, Kenji; Tsutani, Kiichiro

2011-04-14

Clinical evidence is important for improving the treatment of patients by health care providers. In the study of cardiovascular diseases, large-scale clinical trials involving thousands of participants are required to evaluate the risks of cardiac events and/or death. The problems encountered in conducting the Japanese Acute Myocardial Infarction Prospective (JAMP) study highlighted the difficulties involved in obtaining the financial and infrastructural resources necessary for conducting large-scale clinical trials. The objectives of the current study were: 1) to clarify the current funding and infrastructural environment surrounding large-scale clinical trials in cardiovascular and metabolic diseases in Japan, and 2) to find ways to improve the environment surrounding clinical trials in Japan more generally. We examined clinical trials examining cardiovascular diseases that evaluated true endpoints and involved 300 or more participants using Pub-Med, Ichushi (by the Japan Medical Abstracts Society, a non-profit organization), websites of related medical societies, the University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN) Clinical Trials Registry, and clinicaltrials.gov at three points in time: 30 November, 2004, 25 February, 2007 and 25 July, 2009. We found a total of 152 trials that met our criteria for 'large-scale clinical trials' examining cardiovascular diseases in Japan. Of these, 72.4% were randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Of 152 trials, 9.2% of the trials examined more than 10,000 participants, and 42.8% examined between 1,000 and 10,000 participants. The number of large-scale clinical trials markedly increased from 2001 to 2004, but suddenly decreased in 2007, then began to increase again. Ischemic heart disease (39.5%) was the most common target disease. Most of the larger-scale trials were funded by private organizations such as pharmaceutical companies. The designs and results of 13 trials were not disclosed. To improve the quality of clinical trials, all sponsors should register trials and disclose the funding sources before the enrolment of participants, and publish their results after the completion of each study.

High school students' posttraumatic symptoms, substance abuse and involvement in violence in the aftermath of war.

PubMed

Schiff, Miriam; Pat-Horenczyk, Ruth; Benbenishty, Rami; Brom, Danny; Baum, Naomi; Astor, Ron Avi

2012-10-01

This study examined one-year after effects of exposure to war events on adolescents' Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms (PTS) and risk behaviors (substance use and involvement in school violence). In addition, it addressed two potential vulnerability factors: at the micro level, it examined whether childhood trauma raised the vulnerability of Israeli adolescents to PTS and risk behaviors when exposed to war events. At the macro level, we explored whether ethnicity, i.e., being an Israeli Arab, is a vulnerability factor to PTS and risk behaviors. We used a representative sample of 7th to 11th grade students from the north of Israel that included 4151 students: 1800 Jewish (54.4% boys) and 2351 Arab (41.5% boys). We assessed exposure to war events and childhood traumatic events, PTS and PTSD, substance use (alcohol, cannabis, Ecstasy) and involvement in school violence. The findings revealed extensive exposure to war events among both Jewish and Arab students. A year after the war, its effects on adolescents were still manifested in PTS, and involvement in school violence and substance use. Exposure to child physical abuse was associated with higher levels of PTS symptoms, substance use and involvement in violence. Exposure to other traumatic events was also associated with greater PTS symptoms and involvement in violence but not with greater substance use. Arab students were a more vulnerable population. They reported higher PTS symptoms, more cannabis use and greater involvement in school violence than Jewish students. However, exposure to war events had similar effects on both Arab and Jewish students. We conclude that war effects include a broad range of psychological distress and risk behaviors that last long after the war ends, especially among youth who have experienced childhood trauma and high exposure to war-related stressors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thousands of exon skipping events differentiate among splicing patterns in sixteen human tissues.

PubMed

Florea, Liliana; Song, Li; Salzberg, Steven L

2013-01-01

Alternative splicing is widely recognized for its roles in regulating genes and creating gene diversity. However, despite many efforts, the repertoire of gene splicing variation is still incompletely characterized, even in humans. Here we describe a new computational system, ASprofile, and its application to RNA-seq data from Illumina's Human Body Map project (>2.5 billion reads).  Using the system, we identified putative alternative splicing events in 16 different human tissues, which provide a dynamic picture of splicing variation across the tissues. We detected 26,989 potential exon skipping events representing differences in splicing patterns among the tissues. A large proportion of the events (>60%) were novel, involving new exons (~3000), new introns (~16000), or both. When tracing these events across the sixteen tissues, only a small number (4-7%) appeared to be differentially expressed ('switched') between two tissues, while 30-45% showed little variation, and the remaining 50-65% were not present in one or both tissues compared.  Novel exon skipping events appeared to be slightly less variable than known events, but were more tissue-specific. Our study represents the first effort to build a comprehensive catalog of alternative splicing in normal human tissues from RNA-seq data, while providing insights into the role of alternative splicing in shaping tissue transcriptome differences. The catalog of events and the ASprofile software are freely available from the Zenodo repository ( http://zenodo.org/record/7068; doi: 10.5281/zenodo.7068) and from our web site http://ccb.jhu.edu/software/ASprofile.

Pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

PubMed

Morgan, Sarah; Orrell, Richard W

2016-09-01

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or motor neuron disease is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disorder. The primary involvement is of motor neurons in the brain, spinal cord and peripherally. There is secondary weakness of muscles and primary involvement of other brain regions, especially involving cognition. Peer-reviewed journal articles and reviews. PubMed.gov The pathogenesis of ALS remains largely unknown. There are a wide range of potential mechanisms related to neurodegeneration. An increasing number of genetic factors are recognized. There remains controversy, or lack of knowledge, in explaining how cellular events manifest as the complex human disease. There is controversy as to how well cellular and animal models of disease relate to the human disease. Large-scale international collaborative genetic epidemiological studies are replacing local studies. Therapies related to pathogenesis remain elusive, with the greatest advances to date relating to provision of care (including multidisciplinary management) and supportive care (nutrition and respiratory support). The identification of C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeats as the most frequent genetic background to ALS, and the association with frontotemporal dementia, gives the potential of a genetic background against which to study other risk factors, triggers and pathogenic mechanisms, and to develop potential therapies. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Accident sequence precursor events with age-related contributors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murphy, G.A.; Kohn, W.E.

1995-12-31

The Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) Program at ORNL analyzed about 14.000 Licensee Event Reports (LERs) filed by US nuclear power plants 1987--1993. There were 193 events identified as precursors to potential severe core accident sequences. These are reported in G/CR-4674. Volumes 7 through 20. Under the NRC Nuclear Plant Aging Research program, the authors evaluated these events to determine the extent to which component aging played a role. Events were selected that involved age-related equipment degradation that initiated an event or contributed to an event sequence. For the 7-year period, ORNL identified 36 events that involved aging degradation as amore » contributor to an ASP event. Except for 1992, the percentage of age-related events within the total number of ASP events over the 7-year period ({approximately}19%) appears fairly consistent up to 1991. No correlation between plant ape and number of precursor events was found. A summary list of the age-related events is presented in the report.« less

How to Involve Concessionaires & Vendors in Your Recycling Program

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This fact sheet is written for operations managers, recycling and event coordinators, and other key decisionmakers involved in planning and managing public venues and events. It explains the key role in recycling played by concessionaires.

Burn Injury and Explosions: An Australian Perspective

PubMed Central

Greenwood, John E.

2009-01-01

Objectives: Increasingly (but not exclusively), terrorist activity and the use of explosive devices have enjoyed the focus of the global media. This paper aims to bring a range of issues to attention, to highlight how burn injuries are sustained in such incidents and why burn injuries (and thus burn disasters) are so complicated to manage. Materials and Methods: The author's experience with burn injury caused during explosions and his involvement in burn disaster situations has been summarized to form the basis of the article. This has been expanded upon with discussion points which provide a strategy for planning for such events and by a broad sample of the literature. Results: Several strategies are suggested to facilitate planning for burn disasters and to illustrate to those not directly involved why forward planning is pivotal to success when these incidents occur. Conclusions: Disasters generating large numbers of burn-injured are relatively frequent. Explosive devices are widespread in their use both in military and increasingly in civilian fields. Encompassing a large range of aetiologies, geographical sites, populations, and resources; burn disaster management is difficult and planning essential. PMID:19834533

Differences in Work-Related Adverse Events by Sex and Industry in Cases Involving Compensation for Mental Disorders and Suicide in Japan From 2010 to 2014.

PubMed

Yamauchi, Takashi; Sasaki, Takeshi; Yoshikawa, Toru; Matsumoto, Shun; Takahashi, Masaya; Suka, Machi; Yanagisawa, Hiroyuki

2018-04-01

This study aimed to clarify whether work-related adverse events in cases involving compensation for mental disorders and suicide differ by sex and industry using a database containing all relevant cases reported from 2010 to 2014 in Japan. A total of 1362 eligible cases involving compensation for mental disorders (422 females and 940 males) were analyzed. Among males, 55.7% of cases were attributed to "long working hours." In both sexes, the frequencies of cases attributed to "long working hours" and other events differed significantly by industry. Among cases involving compensation for suicide, 71.4% were attributed to "long working hours." The frequency distribution of work-related adverse events differed significantly by sex and industry. These differences should be taken into consideration in the development of industry-specific preventive measures for occupational mental disorders.

Coseismic fault-related fold model, growth structure, and the historic multisegment blind thrust earthquake on the basement-involved Yoro thrust, central Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ishiyama, Tatsuya; Mueller, Karl; Sato, Hiroshi; Togo, Masami

2007-03-01

We use high-resolution seismic reflection profiles, boring transects, and mapping of fold scarps that deform late Quaternary and Holocene sediments to define the kinematic evolution, subsurface geometry, coseismic behavior, and fault slip rates for an active, basement-involved blind thrust system in central Japan. Coseismic fold scarps on the Yoro basement-involved fold are defined by narrow fold limbs and angular hinges on seismic profiles, suggesting that at least 3.9 km of fault slip is consumed by wedge thrust folding in the upper 10 km of the crust. The close coincidence and kinematic link between folded horizons and the underlying thrust geometry indicate that the Yoro basement-involved fold has accommodated slip at an average rate of 3.2 ± 0.1 mm/yr on a shallowly west dipping thrust fault since early Pleistocene time. Past large-magnitude earthquakes, including an historic M˜7.7 event in A.D. 1586 that occurred on the Yoro blind thrust, are shown to have produced discrete folding by curved hinge kink band migration above the eastward propagating tip of the wedge thrust. Coseismic fold scarps formed during the A.D. 1586 earthquake can be traced along the en echelon active folds that extend for at least 60 km, in spite of different styles of folding along the apparently hard-linked Nobi-Ise blind thrust system. We thus emphasize the importance of this multisegment earthquake rupture across these structures and the potential risk for similar future events in en echelon active fold and thrust belts.

Defining the diverse spectrum of inversions, complex structural variation, and chromothripsis in the morbid human genome.

PubMed

Collins, Ryan L; Brand, Harrison; Redin, Claire E; Hanscom, Carrie; Antolik, Caroline; Stone, Matthew R; Glessner, Joseph T; Mason, Tamara; Pregno, Giulia; Dorrani, Naghmeh; Mandrile, Giorgia; Giachino, Daniela; Perrin, Danielle; Walsh, Cole; Cipicchio, Michelle; Costello, Maura; Stortchevoi, Alexei; An, Joon-Yong; Currall, Benjamin B; Seabra, Catarina M; Ragavendran, Ashok; Margolin, Lauren; Martinez-Agosto, Julian A; Lucente, Diane; Levy, Brynn; Sanders, Stephan J; Wapner, Ronald J; Quintero-Rivera, Fabiola; Kloosterman, Wigard; Talkowski, Michael E

2017-03-06

Structural variation (SV) influences genome organization and contributes to human disease. However, the complete mutational spectrum of SV has not been routinely captured in disease association studies. We sequenced 689 participants with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental abnormalities to construct a genome-wide map of large SV. Using long-insert jumping libraries at 105X mean physical coverage and linked-read whole-genome sequencing from 10X Genomics, we document seven major SV classes at ~5 kb SV resolution. Our results encompass 11,735 distinct large SV sites, 38.1% of which are novel and 16.8% of which are balanced or complex. We characterize 16 recurrent subclasses of complex SV (cxSV), revealing that: (1) cxSV are larger and rarer than canonical SV; (2) each genome harbors 14 large cxSV on average; (3) 84.4% of large cxSVs involve inversion; and (4) most large cxSV (93.8%) have not been delineated in previous studies. Rare SVs are more likely to disrupt coding and regulatory non-coding loci, particularly when truncating constrained and disease-associated genes. We also identify multiple cases of catastrophic chromosomal rearrangements known as chromoanagenesis, including somatic chromoanasynthesis, and extreme balanced germline chromothripsis events involving up to 65 breakpoints and 60.6 Mb across four chromosomes, further defining rare categories of extreme cxSV. These data provide a foundational map of large SV in the morbid human genome and demonstrate a previously underappreciated abundance and diversity of cxSV that should be considered in genomic studies of human disease.

Twelve- to 14-Month-Old Infants Can Predict Single-Event Probability with Large Set Sizes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Denison, Stephanie; Xu, Fei

2010-01-01

Previous research has revealed that infants can reason correctly about single-event probabilities with small but not large set sizes (Bonatti, 2008; Teglas "et al.", 2007). The current study asks whether infants can make predictions regarding single-event probability with large set sizes using a novel procedure. Infants completed two trials: A…

Effects of detector dead-time on quantitative analyses involving boron and multi-hit detection events in atom probe tomography.

PubMed

Meisenkothen, Frederick; Steel, Eric B; Prosa, Ty J; Henry, Karen T; Prakash Kolli, R

2015-12-01

In atom probe tomography (APT), some elements tend to field evaporate preferentially in multi-hit detection events. Boron (B) is one such element. It is thought that a large fraction of the B signal may be lost during data acquisition and is not reported in the mass spectrum or in the 3-D APT reconstruction. Understanding the relationship between the field evaporation behavior of B and the limitations for detecting multi-hit events can provide insight into the signal loss mechanism for B and may suggest ways to improve B detection accuracy. The present work reports data for nominally pure B and for B-implanted silicon (Si) (NIST-SRM2137) at dose levels two-orders of magnitude lower than previously studied by Da Costa, et al. in 2012. Boron concentration profiles collected from SRM2137 specimens qualitatively confirmed a signal loss mechanism is at work in laser pulsed atom probe measurements of B in Si. Ion correlation analysis was used to graphically demonstrate that the detector dead-time results in few same isotope, same charge-state (SISCS) ion pairs being properly recorded in the multi-hit data, explaining why B is consistently under-represented in quantitative analyses. Given the important role of detector dead-time as a signal loss mechanism, the results from three different methods of estimating the detector dead-time are presented. The findings of this study apply to all quantitative analyses that involve multi-hit data, but the dead-time will have the greatest effect on the elements that have a significant quantity of ions detected in multi-hit events. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Report to Congress on abnormal occurrences, October--December 1993. Volume 16, No. 4

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1994-04-01

Section 208 of the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 identifies an abnormal occurrence as an unscheduled incident or event that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission determines to be significant from the standpoint of public health or safety and requires a quarterly report of such events to be made to Congress. This report covers the period from October 1 through December 31, 1993. This report discusses six abnormal occurrences at NRC-licensed facilities. Five involved medical brachytherapy misadministrations, and one involved an overexposure to a nursing infant. Seven abnormal occurrences that were reported by the Agreement States are also discussed, based on informationmore » provided by the Agreement States as of February 28, 1994. Of these events, three involved brachytherapy misadministrations, one involved a teletherapy misadministration, one involved a theft of radioactive material during transport and improper disposal, and two involved lost sources.« less

High-Performance Monitoring Architecture for Large-Scale Distributed Systems Using Event Filtering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Maly, K.

1998-01-01

Monitoring is an essential process to observe and improve the reliability and the performance of large-scale distributed (LSD) systems. In an LSD environment, a large number of events is generated by the system components during its execution or interaction with external objects (e.g. users or processes). Monitoring such events is necessary for observing the run-time behavior of LSD systems and providing status information required for debugging, tuning and managing such applications. However, correlated events are generated concurrently and could be distributed in various locations in the applications environment which complicates the management decisions process and thereby makes monitoring LSD systems an intricate task. We propose a scalable high-performance monitoring architecture for LSD systems to detect and classify interesting local and global events and disseminate the monitoring information to the corresponding end- points management applications such as debugging and reactive control tools to improve the application performance and reliability. A large volume of events may be generated due to the extensive demands of the monitoring applications and the high interaction of LSD systems. The monitoring architecture employs a high-performance event filtering mechanism to efficiently process the large volume of event traffic generated by LSD systems and minimize the intrusiveness of the monitoring process by reducing the event traffic flow in the system and distributing the monitoring computation. Our architecture also supports dynamic and flexible reconfiguration of the monitoring mechanism via its Instrumentation and subscription components. As a case study, we show how our monitoring architecture can be utilized to improve the reliability and the performance of the Interactive Remote Instruction (IRI) system which is a large-scale distributed system for collaborative distance learning. The filtering mechanism represents an Intrinsic component integrated with the monitoring architecture to reduce the volume of event traffic flow in the system, and thereby reduce the intrusiveness of the monitoring process. We are developing an event filtering architecture to efficiently process the large volume of event traffic generated by LSD systems (such as distributed interactive applications). This filtering architecture is used to monitor collaborative distance learning application for obtaining debugging and feedback information. Our architecture supports the dynamic (re)configuration and optimization of event filters in large-scale distributed systems. Our work represents a major contribution by (1) survey and evaluating existing event filtering mechanisms In supporting monitoring LSD systems and (2) devising an integrated scalable high- performance architecture of event filtering that spans several kev application domains, presenting techniques to improve the functionality, performance and scalability. This paper describes the primary characteristics and challenges of developing high-performance event filtering for monitoring LSD systems. We survey existing event filtering mechanisms and explain key characteristics for each technique. In addition, we discuss limitations with existing event filtering mechanisms and outline how our architecture will improve key aspects of event filtering.

Deposits from the 12 July Dome Collapse and Explosive Activity at Soufriere Hills Volcano, 12-15 July 2003

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Edmonds, M.; Herd, R.; Strutt, M.; Mann, C.

2003-12-01

A large dome collapse took place on 12-13 July 2003 at Soufriere Hills Volcano. This event was the largest in magnitude during the 1995-2003 eruption and involved over 120 million m3 andesite dome and talus material. The collapse took place over 18 hours and culminated in an explosive phase that continued intermittently until 15 July 2003. Prior to the collapse, the total volume of the dome was 230 million m3 and was made up of remnants of lava erupted 1997-2001, talus material and fresh andesite dome lava erupted during the last two years. Talus made up around 50% of the total dome volume. This paper describes and interprets the pyroclastic flow and airfall deposits from this event, using other monitoring data and empirical evidence to reconstruct the dome collapse. The airfall and pyroclastic flow deposits were studied in detail over the weeks following the collapse. Airfall deposits were studied at 45 locations around the island and 75 samples were collected for analysis. The surge deposit stretched over 10 km2 on land and 35 pits were dug at intervals through it. The sections were described and sampled, yielding a further 60 samples for grain size analysis. Further sampling was carried out on the block and ash deposits in the Tar River Valley and on the Tar River Fan. Pumices from the post-collapse explosion sequence were collected and their densities measured and mass coverage estimated. Deposit maps for airfall, lithics and pumices were constructed for all of the individual events and a map to show the distribution of the main surge unit was generated. The collapse was monitored in real-time using the MVO seismic network and observations from the field. The sequence of events was as follows. From 09:00 to 18:00, low-energy pyroclastic flows took place, confined to the Tar River Valley, which reached the sea at the mouth of Tar River. These flows gradually increased in energy throughout the day but were not associated with energetic, large surges. By 18:00 the pyroclastic flows had increased in volume and were causing phreatic explosions as large, hot blocks hit the sea on the Tar River Fan. By 20:00 the pyroclastic flows had changed in character and were associated with a larger seismic signal and powerful surges that traveled up to 3 km off the coast over the surface of the sea. The most energetic phase of the eruption took place between 22:30 12 July and 01:30 13 July. The dome collapse of 12-13 July culminated in several very large individual pyroclastic flows, representing the collapse of the massive, hot, gas-rich interior of the lava dome. One very large flow was associated with a destructive and energetic surge that swept over topography to the north of the Tar River, killed 40-50 cows, removed trees at their bases and caused large clasts to become embedded in trees at a height of 1.5 m above the ground surface north of Irish Ghaut. The unloading of such large masses of lava dome from over the vent area caused large and powerful explosions. The mapping of the deposits from this event has shed light on the origins of the surge and the timing of large phreatic and magmatic explosions and has led to a new understanding of the hazard potential of large surges derived from the Tar River Valley during large dome collapses at Soufriere Hills Volcano.

Simulation of surface hardening in the deep rolling process by means of an axial symmetric nodal averaged finite element

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Morrev, P. G.; Gordon, V. A.

2018-03-01

Surface hardening by deep rolling can be considered as the axial symmetric problem in some special events (namely, when large R and small r radii of the deforming roller meet the requirement R>> r). An axisymmetric nodal averaged stabilized finite element is formulated. The formulation is based on a variational principle with a penalty (stabilizing) item in order to involve large elastic-plastic strain and near to incompressible materials. The deep rolling process for a steel rod is analyzed. Axial residual stress, yield stress, and Odkvist’s parameter are calculated. The residual stress is compared with the data obtained by other authors using a three-dimensional statement of the problem. The results obtained demonstrate essential advantages of the newly developed finite element.

The Vulnerability of People to Damaging Hydrogeological Events in the Calabria Region (Southern Italy)

PubMed Central

Salvati, Paola; Aceto, Luigi; Bianchi, Cinzia; Pasqua, Angela Aurora; Guzzetti, Fausto

2017-01-01

Background: Damaging Hydrogeological Events (DHEs) are severe weather periods during which floods, landslides, lightning, windstorms, hail or storm surges can harm people. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency/intensity of DHEs and, consequently, the potential harm to people. Method: We investigated the impacts of DHEs on people in Calabria (Italy) over 37 years (1980–2016). Data on 7288 people physically affected by DHEs were gathered from the systematic analysis of regional newspapers and collected in the database named PEOPLE. The damage was codified in three severity levels as follows: fatalities (people who were killed), injured (people who suffered physical harm) and involved (people who were present at the place where an accident occurred but survived and were not harmed). During the study period, we recorded 68 fatalities, 566 injured and 6654 people involved in the events. Results: Males were more frequently killed, injured and involved than females, and females who suffered fatalities were older than males who suffered fatalities, perhaps indicating that younger females tended to be more cautious than same-aged males, while older females showed an intrinsic greater vulnerability. Involved people were younger than injured people and fatalities, suggesting that younger people show greater promptness in reacting to dangerous situations. Floods caused the majority of the fatalities, injured and involved people, followed by landslides. Lightning was the most dangerous phenomenon, and it affected a relatively low number of people, killing 11.63% of them and causing injuries to 37.2%. Fatalities and injuries mainly occurred outdoors, largely along roads. In contrast, people indoors, essentially in public or private buildings, were more frequently involved without suffering harm. Being “dragged by water/mud” and “surrounded by water/mud”, respectively, represented the two extremes of dynamic dangerousness. The dragging effect of rapid-flowing water totally or partially obstructed the attempts of people to save their lives. In contrast, people surrounded by steady water/mud encountered difficulties but ultimately could survive. Conclusions: The study outcomes can be used in informational campaigns to increase risk awareness among both administrators and citizens and to improve community resilience, particularly in promoting self-protective behaviors and avoiding the underestimation of hazardous situations. PMID:29286338

Incremental assembly and prolonged consolidation of Cordilleran magma chambers--Evidence from the Southern Rocky Mountain volcanic field

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lipman, Peter W.

2007-01-01

Plutons thus provide an integrated record of prolonged magmatic evolution, while volcanism offers snapshots of conditions at early stages. Growth of subvolcanic batholiths involved sustained multistage open-system processes. These commonly involved ignimbrite eruptions at times of peak power input, but assembly and consolidation processes continued at diminishing rates long after peak volcanism. Some evidence cited for early incremental pluton assembly more likely records late events during or after volcanism. Contrasts between relatively primitive arc systems dominated by andesitic compositions and small upper-crustal plutons versus more silicic volcanic fields and associated batholiths probably reflect intertwined contrasts in crustal thickness and magmatic power input. Lower power input would lead to a Cascade- or Aleutian-type arc system, where intermediate-composition magma erupts directly from middle- and lower-crustal storage without development of large shallow plutons. Andean and southern Rocky Mountain–type systems begin similarly with intermediate-composition volcanism, but increasing magma production, perhaps triggered by abrupt changes in plate boundaries, leads to development of larger upper-crustal reservoirs, more silicic compositions, large ignimbrites, and batholiths. Lack of geophysical evidence for voluminous eruptible magma beneath young calderas suggests that near-solidus plutons can be rejuvenated rapidly by high-temperature mafic recharge, potentially causing large explosive eruptions with only brief precursors.

Spatiotemporal stick-slip phenomena in a coupled continuum-granular system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ecke, Robert

In sheared granular media, stick-slip behavior is ubiquitous, especially at very small shear rates and weak drive coupling. The resulting slips are characteristic of natural phenomena such as earthquakes and well as being a delicate probe of the collective dynamics of the granular system. In that spirit, we developed a laboratory experiment consisting of sheared elastic plates separated by a narrow gap filled with quasi-two-dimensional granular material (bi-dispersed nylon rods) . We directly determine the spatial and temporal distributions of strain displacements of the elastic continuum over 200 spatial points located adjacent to the gap. Slip events can be divided into large system-spanning events and spatially distributed smaller events. The small events have a probability distribution of event moment consistent with an M - 3 / 2 power law scaling and a Poisson distributed recurrence time distribution. Large events have a broad, log-normal moment distribution and a mean repetition time. As the applied normal force increases, there are fractionally more (less) large (small) events, and the large-event moment distribution broadens. The magnitude of the slip motion of the plates is well correlated with the root-mean-square displacements of the granular matter. Our results are consistent with mean field descriptions of statistical models of earthquakes and avalanches. We further explore the high-speed dynamics of system events and also discuss the effective granular friction of the sheared layer. We find that large events result from stored elastic energy in the plates in this coupled granular-continuum system.

Analysis of Infrequent (Quasi-Decadal) Large Groundwater Recharge Events: A Case Study for Northern Utah, United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masbruch, M.; Rumsey, C.; Gangopadhyay, S.; Susong, D.; Pruitt, T.

2015-12-01

There has been a considerable amount of research linking climatic variability to hydrologic responses in arid and semi-arid regions such as the western United States. Although much effort has been spent to assess and predict changes in surface-water resources, little has been done to understand how climatic events and changes affect groundwater resources. This study focuses on quantifying the effects of large quasi-decadal groundwater recharge events on groundwater in the northern Utah portion of the Great Basin for the period 1960 to 2013. Groundwater-level monitoring data were analyzed with climatic data to characterize climatic conditions and frequency of these large recharge events. Using observed water-level changes and multivariate analysis, five large groundwater recharge events were identified within the study area and period, with a frequency of about 11 to 13 years. These events were generally characterized as having above-average annual precipitation and snow water equivalent and below-average seasonal temperatures, especially during the spring (April through June). Existing groundwater flow models for several basins within the study area were used to quantify changes in groundwater storage from these events. Simulated groundwater storage increases per basin from a single event ranged from about 115 Mm3 (93,000 acre-feet) to 205 Mm3 (166,000 acre-ft). Extrapolating these amounts over the entire northern Great Basin indicates that even a single large quasi-decadal recharge event could result in billions of cubic meters (millions of acre-feet) of groundwater recharge. Understanding the role of these large quasi-decadal recharge events in replenishing aquifers and sustaining water supplies is crucial for making informed water management decisions.

LARGE SOLAR ENERGETIC PARTICLE EVENTS ASSOCIATED WITH FILAMENT ERUPTIONS OUTSIDE ACTIVE REGIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gopalswamy, N.; Mäkelä, P.; Akiyama, S.

2015-06-10

We report on four large filament eruptions (FEs) from solar cycles 23 and 24 that were associated with large solar energetic particle (SEP) events and interplanetary type II radio bursts. The post-eruption arcades corresponded mostly to C-class soft X-ray enhancements, but an M1.0 flare was associated with one event. However, the associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were fast (speeds ∼ 1000 km s{sup −1}) and appeared as halo CMEs in the coronagraph field of view. The interplanetary type II radio bursts occurred over a wide wavelength range, indicating the existence of strong shocks throughout the inner heliosphere. No metric typemore » II bursts were present in three events, indicating that the shocks formed beyond 2–3 Rs. In one case, there was a metric type II burst with low starting frequency, indicating a shock formation height of ∼2 Rs. The FE-associated SEP events did have softer spectra (spectral index >4) in the 10–100 MeV range, but there were other low-intensity SEP events with spectral indices ≥4. Some of these events are likely FE-SEP events, but were not classified as such in the literature because they occurred close to active regions. Some were definitely associated with large active region flares, but the shock formation height was large. We definitely find a diminished role for flares and complex type III burst durations in these large SEP events. Fast CMEs and shock formation at larger distances from the Sun seem to be the primary characteristics of the FE-associated SEP events.« less

Effects of Hurricane Katrina and Other Adverse Life Events on Adolescent Female Offenders: A Test of General Strain Theory

PubMed Central

Robertson, Angela R.; Stein, Judith A.; Schaefer-Rohleder, Lacey

2011-01-01

This study tested Agnew’s General Strain Theory (GST) by examining the roles of anger, anxiety, and maladaptive coping in mediating the relationship between strain and three outcomes (serious delinquency, minor delinquency, and continued involvement in the juvenile justice system) among adolescent female offenders (N = 261). Strains consisted of adverse life events and exposure to Hurricane Katrina. Greater exposure to Hurricane Katrina was directly related to serious delinquency and maladaptive coping. Hurricane Katrina also had an indirect effect on minor delinquency and Post–Katrina juvenile justice involvement mediated through maladaptive coping. Adverse life events were associated with increased anger, anxiety, and maladaptive coping. Anger mediated the relationship between adverse life events and serious delinquency. Anxiety mediated the relationship between adverse life events and minor delinquency. Maladaptive coping strategies were associated with minor delinquency and juvenile justice involvement. Findings lend support to GST. PMID:21572904

Large Scale Data Mining to Improve Usability of Data: An Intelligent Archive Testbed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramapriyan, Hampapuram; Isaac, David; Yang, Wenli; Morse, Steve

2005-01-01

Research in certain scientific disciplines - including Earth science, particle physics, and astrophysics - continually faces the challenge that the volume of data needed to perform valid scientific research can at times overwhelm even a sizable research community. The desire to improve utilization of this data gave rise to the Intelligent Archives project, which seeks to make data archives active participants in a knowledge building system capable of discovering events or patterns that represent new information or knowledge. Data mining can automatically discover patterns and events, but it is generally viewed as unsuited for large-scale use in disciplines like Earth science that routinely involve very high data volumes. Dozens of research projects have shown promising uses of data mining in Earth science, but all of these are based on experiments with data subsets of a few gigabytes or less, rather than the terabytes or petabytes typically encountered in operational systems. To bridge this gap, the Intelligent Archives project is establishing a testbed with the goal of demonstrating the use of data mining techniques in an operationally-relevant environment. This paper discusses the goals of the testbed and the design choices surrounding critical issues that arose during testbed implementation.

Ice Nucleation in Deep Convection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jensen, Eric; Ackerman, Andrew; Stevens, David; Gore, Warren J. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The processes controlling production of ice crystals in deep, rapidly ascending convective columns are poorly understood due to the difficulties involved with either modeling or in situ sampling of these violent clouds. A large number of ice crystals are no doubt generated when droplets freeze at about -40 C. However, at higher levels, these crystals are likely depleted due to precipitation and detrainment. As the ice surface area decreases, the relative humidity can increase well above ice saturation, resulting in bursts of ice nucleation. We will present simulations of these processes using a large-eddy simulation model with detailed microphysics. Size bins are included for aerosols, liquid droplets, ice crystals, and mixed-phase (ice/liquid) hydrometers. Microphysical processes simulated include droplet activation, freezing, melting, homogeneous freezing of sulfate aerosols, and heterogeneous ice nucleation. We are focusing on the importance of ice nucleation events in the upper part of the cloud at temperatures below -40 C. We will show that the ultimate evolution of the cloud in this region (and the anvil produced by the convection) is sensitive to these ice nucleation events, and hence to the composition of upper tropospheric aerosols that get entrained into the convective column.

Extending information retrieval methods to personalized genomic-based studies of disease.

PubMed

Ye, Shuyun; Dawson, John A; Kendziorski, Christina

2014-01-01

Genomic-based studies of disease now involve diverse types of data collected on large groups of patients. A major challenge facing statistical scientists is how best to combine the data, extract important features, and comprehensively characterize the ways in which they affect an individual's disease course and likelihood of response to treatment. We have developed a survival-supervised latent Dirichlet allocation (survLDA) modeling framework to address these challenges. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) models have proven extremely effective at identifying themes common across large collections of text, but applications to genomics have been limited. Our framework extends LDA to the genome by considering each patient as a "document" with "text" detailing his/her clinical events and genomic state. We then further extend the framework to allow for supervision by a time-to-event response. The model enables the efficient identification of collections of clinical and genomic features that co-occur within patient subgroups, and then characterizes each patient by those features. An application of survLDA to The Cancer Genome Atlas ovarian project identifies informative patient subgroups showing differential response to treatment, and validation in an independent cohort demonstrates the potential for patient-specific inference.

Linking The Atlantic Gyres: Warm, Saline Intrusions From Subtropical Atlantic to the Nordic Seas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hakkinen, Sirpa M.; Rhines, P. B.

2010-01-01

Ocean state estimates from SODA assimilation are analyzed to understand how major shifts in the North Atlantic Current path relate to AMOC, and how these shifts are related to large scale ocean circulation and surface forcing. These complement surface-drifter and altimetry data showing the same events. SODA data indicate that the warm water limb of AMOC, reaching to at least 600m depth, expanded in density/salinity space greatly after 1995, and that Similar events occurred in the late 1960s and around 1980. While there were large changes in the upper limb, there was no immediate response in the dense return flow, at least not in SODA, however one would expect a delayed response of increasing AMOC due to the positive feedback from increased salt transport. These upper limb changes are winddriven, involving changes in the eastern subpolar gyre, visible in the subduction of low potential vorticity waters. The subtropical gyre has been weak during the times of the northward intrusions of the highly saline subtropical waters, while the NAO index has been neutral or in a negative phase. The image of subtropical/subpolar gyre exchange through teleconnections within the AMOC overturning cell will be described.

Search for massive, long-lived particles using multitrack displaced vertices or displaced lepton pairs in p p collisions at \\(\\sqrt{s} = 8\\) TeV with the ATLAS detector

DOE PAGES

Aad, G.

2015-10-13

Many extensions of the Standard Model posit the existence of heavy particles with long lifetimes. This article presents the results of a search for events containing at least one long-lived particle that decays at a significant distance from its production point into two leptons or into five or more charged particles. In this study, this analysis uses a data sample of proton-proton collisions at \\(\\sqrt{s} = 8\\) TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb⁻¹ collected in 2012 by the ATLAS detector operating at the Large Hadron Collider. No events are observed in any of the signal regions, andmore » limits are set on model parameters within supersymmetric scenarios involving R-parity violation, split supersymmetry, and gauge mediation. In some of the search channels, the trigger and search strategy are based only on the decay products of individual long-lived particles, irrespective of the rest of the event. In these cases, the provided limits can easily be reinterpreted in different scenarios.« less

Red Roses and Gift Chocolates Are Judged More Positively in the U.S. Near Valentine’s Day: Evidence of Naturally Occurring Cultural Priming

PubMed Central

Zayas, Vivian; Pandey, Gayathri; Tabak, Joshua

2017-01-01

Attitudes are not static, but constructed at the moment of the evaluation, incorporating temporary contextual influences. How do meaningful events that naturally occur within a culture, such as a national holiday, shape evaluative judgments of objects related to the holiday? We focused on evaluations of red roses and gift chocolates, which are everyday objects, but also iconic of Valentine’s Day in the U.S. We reasoned that if cultural events shape evaluations, then roses and chocolates would be evaluated differently near Valentine’s Day. Using a large and diverse U.S. sample, we found that as Valentine’s Day neared, evaluations of roses and chocolates (but not a comparison object) were evaluated more positively. Increases in positivity of roses and chocolates covaried with their increased cultural relevance, as quantified by the volume of web search queries involving these terms. These findings provide a demonstration of naturally occurring cultural priming by which the salience of cultural events shape evaluations. PMID:28373852

Effects of coarse-graining on fluctuations in gene expression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pedraza, Juan; Paulsson, Johan

2008-03-01

Many cellular components are present in such low numbers per cell that random births and deaths of individual molecules can cause significant `noise' in concentrations. But biochemical events do not necessarily occur in steps of individual molecules. Some processes are greatly randomized when synthesis or degradation occurs in large bursts of many molecules in a short time interval. Conversely, each birth or death of a macromolecule could involve several small steps, creating a memory between individual events. Here we present generalized theory for stochastic gene expression, formulating the variance in protein abundance in terms of the randomness of the individual events, and discuss the effective coarse-graining of the molecular hardware. We show that common molecular mechanisms produce gestation and senescence periods that can reduce noise without changing average abundances, lifetimes, or any concentration-dependent control loops. We also show that single-cell experimental methods that are now commonplace in cell biology do not discriminate between qualitatively different stochastic principles, but that this in turn makes them better suited for identifying which components introduce fluctuations.

Structure and seismic hazard of the Ventura Avenue anticline and Ventura fault, California: Prospect for large, multisegment ruptures in the Western Transverse Ranges

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hubbard, Judith; Shaw, John H.; Dolan, James F.; Pratt, Thomas L.; McAuliffe, Lee J.; Rockwell, Thomas K.

2014-01-01

The Ventura Avenue anticline is one of the fastest uplifting structures in southern California, rising at ∼5  mm/yr. We use well data and seismic reflection profiles to show that the anticline is underlain by the Ventura fault, which extends to seismogenic depth. Fault offset increases with depth, implying that the Ventura Avenue anticline is a fault‐propagation fold. A decrease in the uplift rate since ∼30±10  ka is consistent with the Ventura fault breaking through to the surface at that time and implies that the fault has a recent dip‐slip rate of ∼4.4–6.9  mm/yr.To the west, the Ventura fault and fold trend continues offshore as the Pitas Point fault and its associated hanging wall anticline. The Ventura–Pitas Point fault appears to flatten at about 7.5 km depth to a detachment, called the Sisar decollement, then step down on a blind thrust fault to the north. Other regional faults, including the San Cayetano and Red Mountain faults, link with this system at depth. We suggest that below 7.5 km, these faults may form a nearly continuous surface, posing the threat of large, multisegment earthquakes.Holocene marine terraces on the Ventura Avenue anticline suggest that it grows in discrete events with 5–10 m of uplift, with the latest event having occurred ∼800 years ago (Rockwell, 2011). Uplift this large would require large earthquakes (Mw 7.7–8.1) involving the entire Ventura/Pitas Point system and possibly more structures along strike, such as the San Cayetano fault. Because of the local geography and geology, such events would be associated with significant ground shaking amplification and regional tsunamis.

A reduction for spiking integrate-and-fire network dynamics ranging from homogeneity to synchrony.

PubMed

Zhang, J W; Rangan, A V

2015-04-01

In this paper we provide a general methodology for systematically reducing the dynamics of a class of integrate-and-fire networks down to an augmented 4-dimensional system of ordinary-differential-equations. The class of integrate-and-fire networks we focus on are homogeneously-structured, strongly coupled, and fluctuation-driven. Our reduction succeeds where most current firing-rate and population-dynamics models fail because we account for the emergence of 'multiple-firing-events' involving the semi-synchronous firing of many neurons. These multiple-firing-events are largely responsible for the fluctuations generated by the network and, as a result, our reduction faithfully describes many dynamic regimes ranging from homogeneous to synchronous. Our reduction is based on first principles, and provides an analyzable link between the integrate-and-fire network parameters and the relatively low-dimensional dynamics underlying the 4-dimensional augmented ODE.

Citizen's dosimeter

DOEpatents

Klemic, Gladys [Naperville, IL; Bailey, Paul [Chicago, IL; Breheny, Cecilia [Yonkers, NY

2008-09-02

The present invention relates to a citizen's dosimeter. More specifically, the invention relates to a small, portable, personal dosimetry device designed to be used in the wake of a event involving a Radiological Dispersal Device (RDD), Improvised Nuclear Device (IND), or other event resulting in the contamination of large area with radioactive material or where on site personal dosimetry is required. The card sized dosimeter generally comprises: a lower card layer, the lower card body having an inner and outer side; a upper card layer, the layer card having an inner and outer side; an optically stimulated luminescent material (OSLM), wherein the OSLM is sandwiched between the inner side of the lower card layer and the inner side of the upper card layer during dosimeter radiation recording, a shutter means for exposing at least one side of the OSLM for dosimeter readout; and an energy compensation filter attached to the outer sides of the lower and upper card layers.

Cloud Formation and Water Transport on Mars after Major Outflow Events

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Santiago, D. L.; Colaprete, A.; Kreslavsky, M.; Kahre, M. A.; Asphaug, E.

2012-01-01

The triggering of a robust water cycle on Mars might have been caused by the gigantic flooding events evidenced by outflow channels. We use the Ames Mars General Circulation Model (MGCM) to test this hypothesis, studying how these presumably abrupt eruptions of water might have affected the climate of Mars in the past. We model where the water ultimately went as part of a transient atmospheric water cycle, to answer questions including: (1) Can sudden introductions of large amounts of water on the Martian surface lead to a new equilibrated water cycle? (2) What are the roles of water vapor and water ice clouds to sudden changes in the water cycle on Mars? (3) How are radiative feedbacks involved with this? (4) What is the ultimate fate of the outflow water? (5) Can we tie certain geological features to outflow water redistributed by the atmosphere?

Thermal Destruction of TETS: Experiments and Modeling ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Symposium Paper In the event of a contamination event involving chemical warfare agents (CWAs) or toxic industrial chemicals (TICs), large quantities of potentially contaminated materials, both indoor and outdoor, may be treated with thermal incineration during the site remediation process. Even if the CWAs or TICs of interest are not particularly thermally stable and might be expected to decompose readily in a high temperature combustion environment, the refractory nature of many materials found inside and outside buildings may present heat transfer challenges in an incineration system depending on how the materials are packaged and fed into the incinerator. This paper reports on a study to examine the thermal decomposition of a banned rodenticide, tetramethylene disulfotetramine (TETS) in a laboratory reactor, analysis of the results using classical reactor design theory, and subsequent scale-up of the results to a computer-simulation of a full-scale commercial hazardous waste incinerator processing ceiling tile contaminated with residual TETS.

The Molecular Structure of Te146 and Its Derivatives in Drosophila Melanogaster

PubMed Central

Lovering, R.; Harden, N.; Ashburner, M.

1991-01-01

TE146 is a giant transposon of Drosophila melanogaster. It carries two copies of the white and roughest genes, normally found on the X chromosome. The structure of this transposon has been studied at the molecular level. TE146 may transpose to new chromosome positions, excise and be lost from the genome or undergo internal rearrangements. The termini of TE146 are foldback DNA elements (FB); the transposon also carries two internal FB elements. Loss or internal rearrangement of TE146 involves recombination between different FB elements. These events have been mapped molecularly, by taking advantage of the fact that the FB sequences are composed largely of a regular 155-bp repeat sequence that is cut by the restriction enzyme TaqI, and are shown to be nonrandom. We suggest that these FB-FB exchange events occur by mitotic sister-chromatid exchange in the premeiotic germ line. PMID:1649070

Data acquisition and readout system for the LUX dark matter experiment

DOE PAGES

Akerib, D. S.; Bai, X.; Bedikian, S.; ...

2011-11-28

LUX is a two-phase (liquid/gas) xenon time projection chamber designed to detect nuclear recoils from interactions with dark matter particles. Signals from the LUX detector are processed by custom-built analog electronics which provide properly shaped signals for the trigger and data acquisition (DAQ) systems. The DAQ is comprised of commercial digitizers with firmware customized for the LUX experiment. Data acquisition systems in rare-event searches must accommodate high rate and large dynamic range during precision calibrations involving radioactive sources, while also delivering low threshold for maximum sensitivity. The LUX DAQ meets these challenges using real-time baseline sup- pression that allows formore » a maximum event acquisition rate in excess of 1.5 kHz with virtually no deadtime. This work describes the LUX DAQ and the novel acquisition techniques employed in the LUX experiment.« less

Strange quark matter fragmentation in astrophysical events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paulucci, L.; Horvath, J. E.

2014-06-01

The conjecture of Bodmer-Witten-Terazawa suggesting a form of quark matter (Strange Quark Matter) as the ground state of hadronic interactions has been studied in laboratory and astrophysical contexts by a large number of authors. If strange stars exist, some violent events involving these compact objects, such as mergers and even their formation process, might eject some strange matter into the interstellar medium that could be detected as a trace signal in the cosmic ray flux. To evaluate this possibility, it is necessary to understand how this matter in bulk would fragment in the form of strangelets (small lumps of strange quark matter in which finite effects become important). We calculate the mass distribution outcome using the statistical multifragmentation model and point out several caveats affecting it. In particular, the possibility that strangelets fragmentation will render a tiny fraction of contamination in the cosmic ray flux is discussed.

Computing Earthquake Probabilities on Global Scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holliday, James R.; Graves, William R.; Rundle, John B.; Turcotte, Donald L.

2016-03-01

Large devastating events in systems such as earthquakes, typhoons, market crashes, electricity grid blackouts, floods, droughts, wars and conflicts, and landslides can be unexpected and devastating. Events in many of these systems display frequency-size statistics that are power laws. Previously, we presented a new method for calculating probabilities for large events in systems such as these. This method counts the number of small events since the last large event and then converts this count into a probability by using a Weibull probability law. We applied this method to the calculation of large earthquake probabilities in California-Nevada, USA. In that study, we considered a fixed geographic region and assumed that all earthquakes within that region, large magnitudes as well as small, were perfectly correlated. In the present article, we extend this model to systems in which the events have a finite correlation length. We modify our previous results by employing the correlation function for near mean field systems having long-range interactions, an example of which is earthquakes and elastic interactions. We then construct an application of the method and show examples of computed earthquake probabilities.

Acute and Chronic Regulation of Aldosterone Production

PubMed Central

Hattangady, Namita; Olala, Lawrence; Bollag, Wendy B.; Rainey, William E.

2011-01-01

Aldosterone is the major mineralocorticoid synthesized by the adrenal. Secretion of aldosterone is regulated tightly by the adrenocortical glomerulosa cells due to the selective expression of CYP11B2 in the outermost zone, the zona glomerulosa. Aldosterone is largely responsible for regulation of systemic blood pressure through the absorption of electrolytes and water under the regulation of certain specific agonists. Angiotensin II (Ang II), potassium (K+) and adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) are the main physiological agonists which regulate aldosterone secretion. The mechanisms involved in this process may be regulated minutes after a stimulus (acutely) through increased expression and phosphorylation of the steroidogenic acute regulatory (StAR) protein, over hours to days (chronically) by increased expression of the enzymes involved in the synthesis of aldosterone, particularly aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2). Imbalance in any of these processes may lead to several aldosterone excess disorders. In this review we attempt to summarize the key molecular events involved in and specifically attributed to the acute and chronic phases of aldosterone secretion. PMID:21839803

Rapidly Evolving Transients in the Dark Energy Survey

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pursiainen, M.; et al.

We present the results of a search for rapidly evolving transients in the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Programme. These events are characterized by fast light curve evolution (rise to peak inmore » $$\\lesssim 10$$ d and exponential decline in $$\\lesssim30$$ d after peak). We discovered 72 events, including 37 transients with a spectroscopic redshift from host galaxy spectral features. The 37 events increase the total number of rapid optical transients by more than factor of two. They are found at a wide range of redshifts ($0.05M_\\mathrm{g}>-22.25$$). The multiband photometry is well fit by a blackbody up to few weeks after peak. The events appear to be hot ($$T\\approx10000-30000$$ K) and large ($$R\\approx 10^{14}-2\\cdot10^{15}$$ cm) at peak, and generally expand and cool in time, though some events show evidence for a receding photosphere with roughly constant temperature. Spectra taken around peak are dominated by a blue featureless continuum consistent with hot, optically thick ejecta. We compare our events with a previously suggested physical scenario involving shock breakout in an optically thick wind surrounding a core-collapse supernova (CCSNe), we conclude that current models for such a scenario might need an additional power source to describe the exponential decline. We find these transients tend to favor star-forming host galaxies, which could be consistent with a core-collapse origin. However, more detailed modeling of the light curves is necessary to determine their physical origin.« less

Food and beverage industries' participation in health scientific events: considerations on conflicts of interest.

PubMed

Canella, Daniela S; Martins, Ana Paula B; Silva, Hugo F R; Passanha, Adriana; Lourenço, Bárbara H

2015-10-01

Several sectors of the industry (pharmaceutical, food, and other) often occupy a prominent position in scientific meetings on health. The aim of this article is to discuss the participation of food and beverage industries (Big Food and Big Soda) in events organized by scientific institutions in health and nutrition, highlighting potential conflicts of interest in such partnerships. As an example, the authors report the case of a Brazilian national event organized by a nutrition scientific association in 2011. Focused on the theme "Evidence-based Nutrition," the event's scientific program was largely influenced by corporate sponsors. For example, a symposium at this congress was organized by a beverage company known worldwide for its sugar-sweetened products and classified as the "diamond sponsor" of the event. While debating the adoption of healthy lifestyles in the current scenario of rising occurrence of obesity, the rationale for health promotion was reduced to providing information that would motivate rational individual choices, thus ignoring any political, economic, cultural, marketing, and social factors involved in the global process of nutrition transition. The authors conclude that conflicts of interest are present in the participation of food and beverage industries in health scientific events. The industries' strategy attempts to grant legitimacy to the production and marketing of their products through an association with adequate health practices. Health professionals and policy-makers should reflect on such partnerships because their main purpose is to generate profit, not the promotion of public health.

Use of Ground Motion Simulations of a Historical Earthquake for the Assessment of Past and Future Urban Risks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kentel, E.; Çelik, A.; karimzadeh Naghshineh, S.; Askan, A.

2017-12-01

Erzincan city located in the Eastern part of Turkey at the conjunction of three active faults is one of the most hazardous regions in the world. In addition to several historical events, this city has experienced one of the largest earthquakes during the last century: The 27 December 1939 (Ms=8.0) event. With limited knowledge of the tectonic structure by then, the city center was relocated to the North after the 1939 earthquake by almost 5km, indeed closer to the existing major strike slip fault. This decision coupled with poor construction technologies, led to severe damage during a later event that occurred on 13 March 1992 (Mw=6.6). The 1939 earthquake occurred in the pre-instrumental era in the region with no available local seismograms whereas the 1992 event was only recorded by 3 nearby stations. There are empirical isoseismal maps from both events indicating indirectly the spatial distribution of the damage. In this study, we focus on this region and present a multidisciplinary approach to discuss the different components of uncertainties involved in the assessment and mitigation of seismic risk in urban areas. For this initial attempt, ground motion simulation of the 1939 event is performed to obtain the anticipated ground motions and shaking intensities. Using these quantified results along with the spatial distribution of the observed damage, the relocation decision is assessed and suggestions are provided for future large earthquakes to minimize potential earthquake risks.

Lightning Prediction using Electric Field Measurements Associated with Convective Events at a Tropical Location

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jana, S.; Chakraborty, R.; Maitra, A.

2017-12-01

Nowcasting of lightning activities during intense convective events using a single electric field monitor (EFM) has been carried out at a tropical location, Kolkata (22.65oN, 88.45oE). Before and at the onset of heavy lightning, certain changes of electric field (EF) can be related to high liquid water content (LWC) and low cloud base height (CBH). The present study discusses the utility of EF observation to show a few aspects of convective events. Large convective cloud showed by high LWC and low CBH can be detected from EF variation which could be a precursor of upcoming convective events. Suitable values of EF gradient can be used as an indicator of impending lightning events. An EF variation of 0.195 kV/m/min can predict lightning within 17.5 km radius with a probability of detection (POD) of 91% and false alarm rate (FAR) of 8% with a lead time of 45 min. The total number of predicted lightning strikes is nearly 9 times less than that measured by the lightning detector. This prediction technique can, therefore, give an estimate of cloud to ground (CG) and intra cloud (IC) lighting occurrences within the surrounding area. This prediction technique involving POD, FAR and lead time information shows a better prediction capability compared to the techniques reported earlier. Thus an EFM can be effectively used for prediction of lightning events at a tropical location.

Kindling of life stress in bipolar disorder: comparison of sensitization and autonomy models.

PubMed

Weiss, Rachel B; Stange, Jonathan P; Boland, Elaine M; Black, Shimrit K; LaBelle, Denise R; Abramson, Lyn Y; Alloy, Lauren B

2015-02-01

Research on life stress in bipolar disorder largely fails to account for the possibility of a dynamic relationship between psychosocial stress and episode initiation. The kindling hypothesis (Post, 1992) states that over the course of recurrent affective disorders, there is a weakening temporal relationship between major life stress and episode initiation that could reflect either a progressive sensitization or progressive autonomy to life stress. The present study involved a comprehensive and precise examination of the kindling hypothesis in 102 participants with bipolar II disorder that allowed for a direct comparison of sensitization and autonomy models. Polarity-specific tests were conducted across the continuum of event severity with respect to impact and frequency of life events. Hypotheses were polarity- and event-valence specific and were based on the stress sensitization model. Results were only partially consistent with the sensitization model: Individuals with more prior mood episodes had an increased frequency of minor negative events before depression and of minor positive events before hypomania. However, the number of past episodes did not moderate relationships between life events and time until prospective onset of mood episodes. These results are more consistent with a sensitization than an autonomy model, but several predictions of the sensitization model were not supported. Methodological strengths, limitations, and implications are discussed regarding putative changes in stress reactivity that may occur with repeated exposure to mood episodes in bipolar II disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Osten, Rachel A.; Kowalski, Adam; Drake, Stephen A.

On 2014 April 23, the Swift satellite responded to a hard X-ray transient detected by its Burst Alert Telescope, which turned out to be a stellar flare from a nearby, young M dwarf binary DG CVn. We utilize observations at X-ray, UV, optical, and radio wavelengths to infer the properties of two large flares. The X-ray spectrum of the primary outburst can be described over the 0.3–100 keV bandpass by either a single very high-temperature plasma or a nonthermal thick-target bremsstrahlung model, and we rule out the nonthermal model based on energetic grounds. The temperatures were the highest seen spectroscopically inmore » a stellar flare, at T{sub X} of 290 MK. The first event was followed by a comparably energetic event almost a day later. We constrain the photospheric area involved in each of the two flares to be >10{sup 20} cm{sup 2}, and find evidence from flux ratios in the second event of contributions to the white light flare emission in addition to the usual hot, T  ∼ 10{sup 4} K blackbody emission seen in the impulsive phase of flares. The radiated energy in X-rays and white light reveal these events to be the two most energetic X-ray flares observed from an M dwarf, with X-ray radiated energies in the 0.3–10 keV bandpass of 4 × 10{sup 35} and 9 × 10{sup 35} erg, and optical flare energies at E{sub V} of 2.8 × 10{sup 34} and 5.2 × 10{sup 34} erg, respectively. The results presented here should be integrated into updated modeling of the astrophysical impact of large stellar flares on close-in exoplanetary atmospheres.« less

An automated approach towards detecting complex behaviours in deep brain oscillations.

PubMed

Mace, Michael; Yousif, Nada; Naushahi, Mohammad; Abdullah-Al-Mamun, Khondaker; Wang, Shouyan; Nandi, Dipankar; Vaidyanathan, Ravi

2014-03-15

Extracting event-related potentials (ERPs) from neurological rhythms is of fundamental importance in neuroscience research. Standard ERP techniques typically require the associated ERP waveform to have low variance, be shape and latency invariant and require many repeated trials. Additionally, the non-ERP part of the signal needs to be sampled from an uncorrelated Gaussian process. This limits methods of analysis to quantifying simple behaviours and movements only when multi-trial data-sets are available. We introduce a method for automatically detecting events associated with complex or large-scale behaviours, where the ERP need not conform to the aforementioned requirements. The algorithm is based on the calculation of a detection contour and adaptive threshold. These are combined using logical operations to produce a binary signal indicating the presence (or absence) of an event with the associated detection parameters tuned using a multi-objective genetic algorithm. To validate the proposed methodology, deep brain signals were recorded from implanted electrodes in patients with Parkinson's disease as they participated in a large movement-based behavioural paradigm. The experiment involved bilateral recordings of local field potentials from the sub-thalamic nucleus (STN) and pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) during an orientation task. After tuning, the algorithm is able to extract events achieving training set sensitivities and specificities of [87.5 ± 6.5, 76.7 ± 12.8, 90.0 ± 4.1] and [92.6 ± 6.3, 86.0 ± 9.0, 29.8 ± 12.3] (mean ± 1 std) for the three subjects, averaged across the four neural sites. Furthermore, the methodology has the potential for utility in real-time applications as only a single-trial ERP is required. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Event Driven Hybrid Identity Management Approach to Privacy Enhanced e-Health

PubMed Central

Sánchez-Guerrero, Rosa; Almenárez, Florina; Díaz-Sánchez, Daniel; Marín, Andrés; Arias, Patricia; Sanvido, Fabio

2012-01-01

Credential-based authorization offers interesting advantages for ubiquitous scenarios involving limited devices such as sensors and personal mobile equipment: the verification can be done locally; it offers a more reduced computational cost than its competitors for issuing, storing, and verification; and it naturally supports rights delegation. The main drawback is the revocation of rights. Revocation requires handling potentially large revocation lists, or using protocols to check the revocation status, bringing extra communication costs not acceptable for sensors and other limited devices. Moreover, the effective revocation consent—considered as a privacy rule in sensitive scenarios—has not been fully addressed. This paper proposes an event-based mechanism empowering a new concept, the sleepyhead credentials, which allows to substitute time constraints and explicit revocation by activating and deactivating authorization rights according to events. Our approach is to integrate this concept in IdM systems in a hybrid model supporting delegation, which can be an interesting alternative for scenarios where revocation of consent and user privacy are critical. The delegation includes a SAML compliant protocol, which we have validated through a proof-of-concept implementation. This article also explains the mathematical model describing the event-based model and offers estimations of the overhead introduced by the system. The paper focus on health care scenarios, where we show the flexibility of the proposed event-based user consent revocation mechanism. PMID:22778634

An event driven hybrid identity management approach to privacy enhanced e-health.

PubMed

Sánchez-Guerrero, Rosa; Almenárez, Florina; Díaz-Sánchez, Daniel; Marín, Andrés; Arias, Patricia; Sanvido, Fabio

2012-01-01

Credential-based authorization offers interesting advantages for ubiquitous scenarios involving limited devices such as sensors and personal mobile equipment: the verification can be done locally; it offers a more reduced computational cost than its competitors for issuing, storing, and verification; and it naturally supports rights delegation. The main drawback is the revocation of rights. Revocation requires handling potentially large revocation lists, or using protocols to check the revocation status, bringing extra communication costs not acceptable for sensors and other limited devices. Moreover, the effective revocation consent--considered as a privacy rule in sensitive scenarios--has not been fully addressed. This paper proposes an event-based mechanism empowering a new concept, the sleepyhead credentials, which allows to substitute time constraints and explicit revocation by activating and deactivating authorization rights according to events. Our approach is to integrate this concept in IdM systems in a hybrid model supporting delegation, which can be an interesting alternative for scenarios where revocation of consent and user privacy are critical. The delegation includes a SAML compliant protocol, which we have validated through a proof-of-concept implementation. This article also explains the mathematical model describing the event-based model and offers estimations of the overhead introduced by the system. The paper focus on health care scenarios, where we show the flexibility of the proposed event-based user consent revocation mechanism.

River-ice break-up/freeze-up: a review of climatic drivers, historical trends and future predictions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prowse, T. D.; Bonsal, B. R.; Duguay, C. R.; Lacroix, M. P.

2007-10-01

River ice plays a fundamental role in biological, chemical and physical processes that control freshwater regimes of the cold regions. Moreover, it can have enormous economic implications for river-based developments. All such activities and processes can be modified significantly by any changes to river-ice thickness, composition or event timing and severity. This paper briefly reviews some of the major hydraulic, mechanical and thermodynamic processes controlling river-ice events and how these are influenced by variations in climate. A regional and temporal synthesis is also made of the observed historical trends in river-ice break-up/freeze-up occurrence from the Eurasian and North American cold regions. This involves assessment of several hydroclimatic variables that have influenced past trends and variability in river-ice break-up/freeze-up dates including air-temperature indicators (e.g. seasonal temperature, 0°C isotherm dates and various degree-days) and large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns or teleconnections. Implications of future climate change on the timing and severity of river-ice events are presented and discussed in relation to the historical trends. Attention is drawn to the increasing trends towards the occurrence of mid-winter break-up events that can produce especially severe flood conditions but prove to be the most difficult type of event to model and predict.

A Coupled Earthquake-Tsunami Simulation Framework Applied to the Sumatra 2004 Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vater, Stefan; Bader, Michael; Behrens, Jörn; van Dinther, Ylona; Gabriel, Alice-Agnes; Madden, Elizabeth H.; Ulrich, Thomas; Uphoff, Carsten; Wollherr, Stephanie; van Zelst, Iris

2017-04-01

Large earthquakes along subduction zone interfaces have generated destructive tsunamis near Chile in 1960, Sumatra in 2004, and northeast Japan in 2011. In order to better understand these extreme events, we have developed tools for physics-based, coupled earthquake-tsunami simulations. This simulation framework is applied to the 2004 Indian Ocean M 9.1-9.3 earthquake and tsunami, a devastating event that resulted in the loss of more than 230,000 lives. The earthquake rupture simulation is performed using an ADER discontinuous Galerkin discretization on an unstructured tetrahedral mesh with the software SeisSol. Advantages of this approach include accurate representation of complex fault and sea floor geometries and a parallelized and efficient workflow in high-performance computing environments. Accurate and efficient representation of the tsunami evolution and inundation at the coast is achieved with an adaptive mesh discretizing the shallow water equations with a second-order Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (RKDG) scheme. With the application of the framework to this historic event, we aim to better understand the involved mechanisms between the dynamic earthquake within the earth's crust, the resulting tsunami wave within the ocean, and the final coastal inundation process. Earthquake model results are constrained by GPS surface displacements and tsunami model results are compared with buoy and inundation data. This research is part of the ASCETE Project, "Advanced Simulation of Coupled Earthquake and Tsunami Events", funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.

Associations of Omega-3 Fatty Acid Supplement Use With Cardiovascular Disease Risks

PubMed Central

Aung, Theingi; Halsey, Jim; Kromhout, Daan; Gerstein, Hertzel C.; Marchioli, Roberto; Tavazzi, Luigi; Geleijnse, Johanna M.; Rauch, Bernhard; Ness, Andrew; Galan, Pilar; Chew, Emily Y.; Bosch, Jackie; Collins, Rory; Lewington, Sarah; Armitage, Jane

2018-01-01

Importance Current guidelines advocate the use of marine-derived omega-3 fatty acids supplements for the prevention of coronary heart disease and major vascular events in people with prior coronary heart disease, but large trials of omega-3 fatty acids have produced conflicting results. Objective To conduct a meta-analysis of all large trials assessing the associations of omega-3 fatty acid supplements with the risk of fatal and nonfatal coronary heart disease and major vascular events in the full study population and prespecified subgroups. Data Sources and Study Selection This meta-analysis included randomized trials that involved at least 500 participants and a treatment duration of at least 1 year and that assessed associations of omega-3 fatty acids with the risk of vascular events. Data Extraction and Synthesis Aggregated study-level data were obtained from 10 large randomized clinical trials. Rate ratios for each trial were synthesized using observed minus expected statistics and variances. Summary rate ratios were estimated by a fixed-effects meta-analysis using 95% confidence intervals for major diseases and 99% confidence intervals for all subgroups. Main Outcomes and Measures The main outcomes included fatal coronary heart disease, nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke, major vascular events, and all-cause mortality, as well as major vascular events in study population subgroups. Results Of the 77 917 high-risk individuals participating in the 10 trials, 47 803 (61.4%) were men, and the mean age at entry was 64.0 years; the trials lasted a mean of 4.4 years. The associations of treatment with outcomes were assessed on 6273 coronary heart disease events (2695 coronary heart disease deaths and 2276 nonfatal myocardial infarctions) and 12 001 major vascular events. Randomization to omega-3 fatty acid supplementation (eicosapentaenoic acid dose range, 226-1800 mg/d) had no significant associations with coronary heart disease death (rate ratio [RR], 0.93; 99% CI, 0.83-1.03; P = .05), nonfatal myocardial infarction (RR, 0.97; 99% CI, 0.87-1.08; P = .43) or any coronary heart disease events (RR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.90-1.01; P = .12). Neither did randomization to omega-3 fatty acid supplementation have any significant associations with major vascular events (RR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.93-1.01; P = .10), overall or in any subgroups, including subgroups composed of persons with prior coronary heart disease, diabetes, lipid levels greater than a given cutoff level, or statin use. Conclusions and Relevance This meta-analysis demonstrated that omega-3 fatty acids had no significant association with fatal or nonfatal coronary heart disease or any major vascular events. It provides no support for current recommendations for the use of such supplements in people with a history of coronary heart disease. PMID:29387889

Creating a comprehensive quality-controlled dataset of severe weather occurrence in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Groenemeijer, P.; Kühne, T.; Liang, Z.; Holzer, A.; Feuerstein, B.; Dotzek, N.

2010-09-01

Ground-truth quality-controlled data on severe weather occurrence is required for meaningful research on severe weather hazards. Such data are collected by observation networks of several authorities in Europe, most prominently the National Hydrometeorological Institutes (NHMS). However, some events challenge the capabilities of such conventional networks by their isolated and short-lived nature. These rare and very localized but extreme events include thunderstorm wind gusts, large hail and tornadoes and are poorly resolved by synoptic observations. Moreover, their detection by remote-sensing techniques such as radar and satellites is in development and has proven to be difficult. Using the fact that all across across Europe there are many people with a special personal or professional interest in such events, who are typically organized in associations, allows pursuing a different strategy. Data delivered to the European Severe Weather Database is recorded and quality controlled by ESSL and a large number of partners including the Hydrometeorological Institutes of Germany, Finland, Austria, Italy and Bulgaria. Additionally, nine associations of storm spotters and centres of expertise in these and other countries are involved. The two categories of organizations (NHMSes/other) each have different privileges in the quality control procedure, which involves assigning a quality level of QC0+ (plausibility checked), QC1 (confirmed by reliable sources) or QC2 (verified) to each of the reports. Within the EWENT project funded by the EU 7th framework programme, the RegioExakt project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, and with support from the German Weather Service (DWD), several enhancements of the ESWD have been and will be carried out. Completed enhancements include the creation of an interface that allows partner organizations to upload data automatically, in the case of our German partner "Skywarn Germany" in near-real time. Moreover, the database's web-interface has been translated into 14 European languages. At the time of writing, a nowcast-mode to the web interface, which renders the ESWD a convenient tool for meteorologists in forecast centres, is being developed. In the near future, within the EWENT project, an extension of the data set with several other isolated but extreme events including avalanches, landslides, heavy snowfall and extremely powerful lightning flashes, is foreseen. The resulting ESWD dataset, that grows at a rate of 4000-5000 events per year, is used for wide range of purposes including the validation of remote-sensing techniques, forecast verification studies, projections of the future severe storm climate, and risk assessments. Its users include scientists working for EUMETSAT, NASA, NSSL, DLR, and several reinsurance companies.

Thermal, Petrologic, and Structural Conditions for the September 2017 M=8.2 and M=7.1 intra-slab earthquakes in Mexico

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, K.; Gao, X.; Rogers, G. C.

2017-12-01

The M=8.2 Tehuantepec and M=7.1 Puebla earthquakes of September 2017 are similar to the 1999 Oaxaca (M=7.5, Mexico), 2001 Geiyo (M=6.7, Nankai), and 2001 Nisqually (M=6.8, Cascadia) earthquakes. All these events are normal-faulting events in the 40-60 km depth range within young and warm subducting slabs. They all ruptured the mantle part of the slab. To investigate the thermal and petrologic conditions of these earthquakes, we have developed finite element thermal models in the areas of the two September events. Along the northern transect for the M=7.1 event, where the age of the incoming plate is 13.5 Ma, the slab geometry is well constrained by previous receiver function and earthquake location studies. Two available hypocenter locations of the main shock fall within or at the lower boundary of our model-predicted zone of serpentine (antigorite) stability in the slab mantle. Along the southern transect for the M=8.2 event, where the age of the incoming plate is 25.5 Ma, the slab geometry is less well known, and we have considered two published geometrical models. Several available hypocenter locations of the main shock are within or below the serpentine stability zone, depending on which slab geometry is assumed. Most of the rupture zone is shallower than the hypocenter. The model results support the following hypothesis. The two September earthquakes probably ruptured pre-existing normal faults that extended into the oceanic mantle and had been locally hydrated prior to and during the beginning phase of subduction. The earthquakes may have initiated at the dehydration boundary of antigorite or chlorite, facilitated by elevated pore fluid pressure (dehydration embrittlement). Most of the rupture was in the uppermost mantle part of the slab but may have involved parts of the slab crust. That large intra-slab earthquakes of this type tend to involve mantle rupture has been explained as due to the structural condition caused by warm-slab metamorphism (Wang et al., 2004): The upper crust of the slab is too fragmented due to metamorphic densification, but hydrated deep-cutting faults can produce large earthquakes in the more coherent mantle and lower crust. Wang, K., J. F. Cassidy, I. Wada, and A. J. Smith (2004), Effects of metamorphic crustal densification on earthquake size in warm slabs, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L01605, doi:10.1029/2003GL018644.

A synthesis of Jurassic and Early Cretaceous crustal evolution along the southern margin of the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate and implications for defining tectonic boundaries active during opening of Arctic Ocean basins

USGS Publications Warehouse

Till, Alison B.

2016-01-01

A synthesis of Late Jurassic and Early Cretaceous collision-related metamorphic events in the Arctic Alaska–Chukotka microplate clarifies its likely movement history during opening of the Amerasian and Canada basins. Comprehensive tectonic reconstructions of basin opening have been problematic, in part, because of the large size of the microplate, uncertainties in the location and kinematics of structures bounding the microplate, and lack of information on its internal deformation history. Many reconstructions have treated Arctic Alaska and Chukotka as a single crustal entity largely on the basis of similarities in their Mesozoic structural trends and similar late Proterozoic and early Paleozoic histories. Others have located Chukotka near Siberia during the Triassic and Jurassic, on the basis of detrital zircon age populations, and suggested that it was Arctic Alaska alone that rotated. The Mesozoic metamorphic histories of Arctic Alaska and Chukotka can be used to test the validity of these two approaches.A synthesis of the distribution, character, and timing of metamorphic events reveals substantial differences in the histories of the southern margin of the microplate in Chukotka in comparison to Arctic Alaska and places specific limitations on tectonic reconstructions. During the Late Jurassic and earliest Cretaceous, the Arctic Alaska margin was subducted to the south, while the Chukotka margin was the upper plate of a north-dipping subduction zone or a zone of transpression. An early Aptian blueschist- and greenschist-facies belt records the most profound crustal thickening event in the evolution of the orogen. It may have resulted in thicknesses of 50–60 km and was likely the cause of flexural subsidence in the foredeep of the Brooks Range. This event involved northern Alaska and northeasternmost Chukotka; it did not involve central and western Chukotka. Arctic Alaska and Chukotka evolved separately until the Aptian thickening event, which was likely a result of the rotation of Arctic Alaska into central and western Chukotka. In northeastern Chukotka, the thickened rocks are separated from the relatively little thickened continental crust of the remainder of Chukotka by the oceanic rocks of the Kolyuchin-Mechigmen zone. The zone is a candidate for an Early Cretaceous suture that separated most of Chukotka from northeast Chukotka and Alaska. Albian patterns of magmatism, metamorphism, and deformation in Chukotka and the Seward Peninsula may represent an example of escape tectonics that developed in response to final amalgamation of Chukotka with Eurasia.

Issues in Informal Education: Event-Based Science Communication Involving Planetaria and the Internet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, Mitzi L.; Gallagher, D. L.; Whitt, A.; Whitaker, Ann F. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

For the last several years the Science Directorate at Marshall Space Flight Center has carried out a diverse program of Internet-based science communication. The program includes extended stories about NASA science, a curriculum resource for teachers tied to national education standards, on-line activities for students, and webcasts of real-time events. The focus of sharing real-time science related events has been to involve and excite students and the public about science. Events have involved meteor showers, solar eclipses, natural very low frequency radio emissions, and amateur balloon flights. In some cases broadcasts accommodate active feedback and questions from Internet participants. Panel participation will be used to communicate the problems and lessons learned from these activities over the last three years.

Mapping Surface Features Produced by an Active Landslide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parise, Mario; Gueguen, Erwan; Vennari, Carmela

2016-10-01

A large landslide reactivated on December 2013, at Montescaglioso, southern Italy, after 56 hours of rainfall. The landslide disrupted over 500 m of a freeway, involved a few warehouses, a supermarket, and private homes. After the event, it has been performed field surveys, aided by visual analysis of terrestrial and helicopter photographs, to compile a map of the surface deformations. The geomorphological features mapped included single fractures, sets of fractures, tension cracks, trenches, and pressure ridges. In this paper we present the methodology used, the map obtained through the intensive field work, and discuss the main surface features produced by the landslide.

A Compton Suppressed Gamma Ray Counter For Radio Assay of Materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Godfrey, Benjamin

2016-03-01

Rare event searches, such as direct dark matter experiments, require materials with ultra-low levels of natural radioactivity. We present a neutron activation analysis (NAA) technique for assaying metals, specifically titanium used for cryostat construction. Earlier attempts at NAA encountered limitations due to bulk activation via (n, p) reactions, which contributed to large continuum backgrounds due to Compton tails. Our method involves a heavy water shielded exposure to minimize (n,p) reactions and a sodium iodide shielded high purity germanium counter for the gamma ray assay. Preliminary results on assays for U/Th/K contamination in titaniumwill be presented.

Zilsel's Thesis, Maritime Culture, and Iberian Science in Early Modern Europe.

PubMed

Leitão, Henrique; Sánchez, Antonio

2017-01-01

Zilsel's thesis on the artisanal origins of modern science remains one of the most original proposals about the emergence of scientific modernity. We propose to inspect the scientific developments in Iberia in the early modern period using Zilsel's ideas as a guideline. Our purpose is to show that his ideas illuminate the situation in Iberia but also that the Iberian case is a remarkable illustration of Zilsel's thesis. Furthermore, we argue that Zilsel's thesis is essentially a sociological explanation that cannot be applied to isolated cases; its use implies global events that involve extended societies over large periods of time.

On the episodic nature of derecho-producing convective systems in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ashley, Walker S.; Mote, Thomas L.; Bentley, Mace L.

2005-11-01

Convectively generated windstorms occur over broad temporal and spatial scales; however, one of the larger-scale and most intense of these windstorms has been given the name derecho. This study illustrates the tendency for derecho-producing mesoscale convective systems to group together across the United States - forming a derecho series. The derecho series is recognized as any succession of derechos that develop within a similar synoptic environment with no more than 72 h separating individual events. A derecho dataset for the period 1994-2003 was assembled to investigate the groupings of these extremely damaging convective wind events. Results indicate that over 62% of the derechos in the dataset were members of a derecho series. On average, nearly six series affected the United States annually. Most derecho series consisted of two or three events; though, 14 series during the period of record contained four or more events. Two separate series involved nine derechos within a period of nine days. Analyses reveal that derecho series largely frequent regions of the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and the south-central Great Plains during May, June, and July. Results suggest that once a derecho occurred during May, June, or July, there was a 58% chance that this event was the first of a series of two or more, and about a 46% chance that this was the first of a derecho series consisting of three or more events. The derecho series climatology reveals that forecasters in regions frequented by derechos should be prepared for the probable regeneration of a derecho-producing convective system after an initial event occurs. Copyright

Clinical features of patients with dysthymia in a large cohort of Han Chinese women with recurrent major depression.

PubMed

Wu, Wenqing; Wang, Zhoubing; Wei, Yan; Zhang, Guanghua; Shi, Shenxun; Gao, Jingfang; Li, Youhui; Tao, Ming; Zhang, Kerang; Wang, Xumei; Gao, Chengge; Yang, Lijun; Li, Kan; Shi, Jianguo; Wang, Gang; Liu, Lanfen; Zhang, Jinbei; Du, Bo; Jiang, Guoqing; Shen, Jianhua; Liu, Ying; Liang, Wei; Sun, Jing; Hu, Jian; Liu, Tiebang; Wang, Xueyi; Miao, Guodong; Meng, Huaqing; Li, Yi; Hu, Chunmei; Li, Yi; Huang, Guoping; Li, Gongying; Ha, Baowei; Deng, Hong; Mei, Qiyi; Zhong, Hui; Gao, Shugui; Sang, Hong; Zhang, Yutang; Fang, Xiang; Yu, Fengyu; Yang, Donglin; Liu, Tieqiao; Chen, Yunchun; Hong, Xiaohong; Wu, Wenyuan; Chen, Guibing; Cai, Min; Song, Yan; Pan, Jiyang; Dong, Jicheng; Pan, Runde; Zhang, Wei; Shen, Zhenming; Liu, Zhengrong; Gu, Danhua; Wang, Xiaoping; Liu, Xiaojuan; Zhang, Qiwen; Li, Yihan; Chen, Yiping; Kendler, Kenneth S; Flint, Jonathan; Zhang, Zhen

2013-01-01

Dysthymia is a form of chronic mild depression that has a complex relationship with major depressive disorder (MDD). Here we investigate the role of environmental risk factors, including stressful life events and parenting style, in patients with both MDD and dysthymia. We ask whether these risk factors act in the same way in MDD with and without dysthymia. We examined the clinical features in 5,950 Han Chinese women with MDD between 30-60 years of age across China. We confirmed earlier results by replicating prior analyses in 3,950 new MDD cases. There were no significant differences between the two data sets. We identified sixteen stressful life events that significantly increase the risk of dysthymia, given the presence of MDD. Low parental warmth, from either mother or father, increases the risk of dysthymia. Highly threatening but short-lived threats (such as rape) are more specific for MDD than dysthymia. While for MDD more severe life events show the largest odds ratio versus controls, this was not seen for cases of MDD with or without dysthymia. There are increased rates of stressful life events in MDD with dysthymia, but the impact of life events on susceptibility to dysthymia with MDD differs from that seen for MDD alone. The pattern does not fit a simple dose-response relationship, suggesting that there are moderating factors involved in the relationship between environmental precipitants and the onset of dysthymia. It is possible that severe life events in childhood events index a general susceptibility to chronic depression, rather than acting specifically as risk factors for dysthymia.

Cost Analysis of Endoscopic Mucosal Resection vs Surgery for Large Laterally Spreading Colorectal Lesions.

PubMed

Jayanna, Mahesh; Burgess, Nicholas G; Singh, Rajvinder; Hourigan, Luke F; Brown, Gregor J; Zanati, Simon A; Moss, Alan; Lim, James; Sonson, Rebecca; Williams, Stephen J; Bourke, Michael J

2016-02-01

Large laterally spreading lesions (LSL) in the colon and rectum can be safely and effectively removed by endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR). However, many patients still undergo surgery. Endoscopic treatment may be more cost effective. We compared the costs of endoscopic versus surgical management of large LSL. We performed a prospective, observational, multicenter study of consecutive patients referred to 1 of 7 academic hospitals in Australia for the management of large LSL (≥ 20 mm) from January 2010 to December 2013. We collected data on numbers of patients undergoing EMR, actual endoscopic management costs (index colonoscopy, hospital stay, adverse events, and first surveillance colonoscopy), characteristics of patients and lesions, outcomes, and adverse events, and findings from follow-up examinations 14 days, 4-6 months, and 16-18 months after treatment. We compared data from patients who underwent EMR with those from a model in which all patients underwent surgery without any complications. Event-specific costs, based on Australian refined diagnosis-related group codes, were used to estimate average cost per patient. EMR was performed on 1489 lesions (mean size, 36 mm) in 1353 patients (mean age, 67 years; 52.1% male). Total costs involved in the endoscopic management of large LSL were US $6,316,593 and total inpatient hospitalization length of stay was 1180 days. The total cost predicted for the surgical management group was US $16,601,502, with a total inpatient hospitalization length of stay of 4986 days. Endoscopic management produced a potential total cost saving of US $10,284,909; the mean cost difference per patient was US $7602 (95% confidence interval, $8458-$9220; P < .001). Inpatient hospitalization length of stay was reduced by 2.81 nights per patient (95% confidence interval, 2.69-2.94; P < .001). In a large multicenter study, endoscopic management of large LSL by EMR was significantly more cost-effective than surgery. Endoscopic management by EMR at an appropriately experienced and resourced tertiary center should be considered the first line of therapy for most patients with this disorder. This approach is likely to deliver substantial overall health expenditure savings. ClinicalTrials.gov, Number: NCT01368289. Copyright © 2016 AGA Institute. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Value of primordial and primary prevention for cardiovascular disease: a policy statement from the American Heart Association.

PubMed

Weintraub, William S; Daniels, Stephen R; Burke, Lora E; Franklin, Barry A; Goff, David C; Hayman, Laura L; Lloyd-Jones, Donald; Pandey, Dilip K; Sanchez, Eduardo J; Schram, Andrea Parsons; Whitsel, Laurie P

2011-08-23

The process of atherosclerosis may begin in youth and continue for decades, leading to both nonfatal and fatal cardiovascular events, including myocardial infarction, stroke, and sudden death. With primordial and primary prevention, cardiovascular disease is largely preventable. Clinical trial evidence has shown convincingly that pharmacological treatment of risk factors can prevent events. The data are less definitive but also highly suggestive that appropriate public policy and lifestyle interventions aimed at eliminating tobacco use, limiting salt consumption, encouraging physical exercise, and improving diet can prevent events. There has been concern about whether efforts aimed at primordial and primary prevention provide value (ie, whether such interventions are worth what we pay for them). Although questions about the value of therapeutics for acute disease may be addressed by cost-effectiveness analysis, the long time frames involved in evaluating preventive interventions make cost-effectiveness analysis difficult and necessarily flawed. Nonetheless, cost-effectiveness analyses reviewed in this policy statement largely suggest that public policy, community efforts, and pharmacological intervention are all likely to be cost-effective and often cost saving compared with common benchmarks. The high direct medical care and indirect costs of cardiovascular disease-approaching $450 billion a year in 2010 and projected to rise to over $1 trillion a year by 2030-make this a critical medical and societal issue. Prevention of cardiovascular disease will also provide great value in developing a healthier, more productive society.

Sampling procedures for throughfall monitoring: A simulation study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zimmermann, Beate; Zimmermann, Alexander; Lark, Richard Murray; Elsenbeer, Helmut

2010-01-01

What is the most appropriate sampling scheme to estimate event-based average throughfall? A satisfactory answer to this seemingly simple question has yet to be found, a failure which we attribute to previous efforts' dependence on empirical studies. Here we try to answer this question by simulating stochastic throughfall fields based on parameters for statistical models of large monitoring data sets. We subsequently sampled these fields with different sampling designs and variable sample supports. We evaluated the performance of a particular sampling scheme with respect to the uncertainty of possible estimated means of throughfall volumes. Even for a relative error limit of 20%, an impractically large number of small, funnel-type collectors would be required to estimate mean throughfall, particularly for small events. While stratification of the target area is not superior to simple random sampling, cluster random sampling involves the risk of being less efficient. A larger sample support, e.g., the use of trough-type collectors, considerably reduces the necessary sample sizes and eliminates the sensitivity of the mean to outliers. Since the gain in time associated with the manual handling of troughs versus funnels depends on the local precipitation regime, the employment of automatically recording clusters of long troughs emerges as the most promising sampling scheme. Even so, a relative error of less than 5% appears out of reach for throughfall under heterogeneous canopies. We therefore suspect a considerable uncertainty of input parameters for interception models derived from measured throughfall, in particular, for those requiring data of small throughfall events.

Methods to isolate a large amount of generative cells, sperm cells and vegetative nuclei from tomato pollen for "omics" analysis.

PubMed

Lu, Yunlong; Wei, Liqin; Wang, Tai

2015-01-01

The development of sperm cells (SCs) from microspores involves a set of finely regulated molecular and cellular events and the coordination of these events. The mechanisms underlying these events and their interconnections remain a major challenge. Systems analysis of genome-wide molecular networks and functional modules with high-throughput "omics" approaches is crucial for understanding the mechanisms; however, this study is hindered because of the difficulty in isolating a large amount of cells of different types, especially generative cells (GCs), from the pollen. Here, we optimized the conditions of tomato pollen germination and pollen tube growth to allow for long-term growth of pollen tubes in vitro with SCs generated in the tube. Using this culture system, we developed methods for isolating GCs, SCs and vegetative cell nuclei (VN) from just-germinated tomato pollen grains and growing pollen tubes and their purification by Percoll density gradient centrifugation. The purity and viability of isolated GCs and SCs were confirmed by microscopy examination and fluorescein diacetate staining, respectively, and the integrity of VN was confirmed by propidium iodide staining. We could obtain about 1.5 million GCs and 2.0 million SCs each from 180 mg initiated pollen grains, and 10 million VN from 270 mg initiated pollen grains germinated in vitro in each experiment. These methods provide the necessary preconditions for systematic biology studies of SC development and differentiation in higher plants.

Flood-Basalt Eruptions and Extraterrestrial Impacts Linked to Mass-Extinction Events and Times of Ocean Anoxia of the Past 260 Myr

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rampino, M. R.

2017-12-01

Correlations among impacts, flood-basalt episodes, extinctions and ocean anoxic events have been proposed. A closer look at the data, shows 13 documented extinction events over the last 260 Myr, 12 of which coincide, within errors, with the ages of flood-basalt eruptions (8 events) or large impacts (6 events) (Figure 1). The null hypothesis that this could occur by chance can be rejected with >99.99% confidence. Large impacts (craters >70 km in diameter) coincide with extinction events at 36 (two impacts), 66, 145, 168 (?) and 215 Myr ago. The ages of flood basalts coincide with extinctions at 66, 94, 118, 133 (?), 183, 201, 252, and 259 Myr ago (Figure 1). Only the age of the K-Pg boundary at 66 Myr is known to correlate with both a large impact and a flood-basalt province, which may help explain the severity of that mass extinction. The age of the North Atlantic Volcanic Province Basalts (56 Myr ago), while not marked by an extinction event, coincides with the PETM climatic episode. Furthermore, at least 7 periods with evidence of anoxia in the oceans in the last 260 Myr coincide with the ages of flood-basalt eruptions (with >99.99% confidence), and are also coeval with extinction events, suggesting a causal connection (Figure 1). These statistical relationships argue that most mass extinction events are related to environmental catastrophes produced by large-volume flood-basalt eruptions and large asteroid or comet impacts.

Preventable mix-ups of tuberculin and vaccines: reports to the US Vaccine and Drug Safety Reporting Systems.

PubMed

Chang, Soju; Pool, Vitali; O'Connell, Kathryn; Polder, Jacquelyn A; Iskander, John; Sweeney, Colleen; Ball, Robert; Braun, M Miles

2008-01-01

Errors involving the mix-up of tuberculin purified protein derivative (PPD) and vaccines leading to adverse reactions and unnecessary medical management have been reported previously. To determine the frequency of PPD-vaccine mix-ups reported to the US Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and the Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS), characterize adverse events and clusters involving mix-ups and describe reported contributory factors. We reviewed AERS reports from 1969 to 2005 and VAERS reports from 1990 to 2005. We defined a mix-up error event as an incident in which a single patient or a cluster of patients inadvertently received vaccine instead of a PPD product or received a PPD product instead of vaccine. We defined a cluster as inadvertent administration of PPD or vaccine products to more than one patient in the same facility within 1 month. Of 115 mix-up events identified, 101 involved inadvertent administration of vaccines instead of PPD. Product confusion involved PPD and multiple vaccines. The annual number of reported mix-ups increased from an average of one event per year in the early 1990s to an average of ten events per year in the early part of this decade. More than 240 adults and children were affected and the majority reported local injection site reactions. Four individuals were hospitalized (all recovered) after receiving the wrong products. Several patients were inappropriately started on tuberculosis prophylaxis as a result of a vaccine local reaction being interpreted as a positive tuberculin skin test. Reported potential contributory factors involved both system factors (e.g. similar packaging) and human errors (e.g. failure to read label before product administration). To prevent PPD-vaccine mix-ups, proper storage, handling and administration of vaccine and PPD products is necessary.

Impact of a Single Unusually Large Rainfall Event on the Level of Risk Used for Infrastructure Design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhakal, N.; Jain, S.

2013-12-01

Rare and unusually large events (such as hurricanes and floods) can create unusual and interesting trends in statistics. Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution is usually used to statistically describe extreme rainfall events. A number of the recent studies have shown that the frequency of extreme rainfall events has increased over the last century and as a result, there has been change in parameters of GEV distribution with the time (non-stationary). But what impact does a single unusually large rainfall event (e.g., hurricane Irene) have on the GEV parameters and consequently on the level of risks or the return periods used in designing the civil infrastructures? In other words, if such a large event occurs today, how will it influence the level of risks (estimated based on past rainfall records) for the civil infrastructures? To answer these questions, we performed sensitivity analysis of the distribution parameters of GEV as well as the return periods to unusually large outlier events. The long-term precipitation records over the period of 1981-2010 from 12 USHCN stations across the state of Maine were used for analysis. For most of the stations, addition of each outlier event caused an increase in the shape parameter with a huge decrease on the corresponding return period. This is a key consideration for time-varying engineering design. These isolated extreme weather events should simultaneously be considered with traditional statistical methodology related to extreme events while designing civil infrastructures (such as dams, bridges, and culverts). Such analysis is also useful in understanding the statistical uncertainty of projecting extreme events into future.

Insulin Pump Malfunction During Hospitalization: Two Case Reports.

PubMed

Faulds, Eileen R; Wyne, Kathleen L; Buschur, Elizabeth O; McDaniel, Jodi; Dungan, Kathleen

2016-06-01

Insulin pump malfunctions and failures continue to occur; however, more severe malfunctions such as the "runaway pump" phenomenon are rarely reported. This article describes two cases of pump malfunction in which pump users appear to have received an unsolicited bolus of insulin resulting in severe episodes of hypoglycemia during hospitalization. Both cases of insulin pump malfunction occurred in the inpatient setting at a large academic medical center in the United States. An analysis of the corresponding insulin pump downloads was performed. The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database was searched for similar cases involving Medtronic (Northridge, CA) insulin pumps using the terms "pump," "infusion," "insulin AND malfunction AND Medtronic." The two cases described show remarkable similarities, each demonstrating a severe hypoglycemic event preceded by an infusion site change followed by an alarm. In both cases a rapid spraying of insulin was reported. The insulin pump downloads validated much of the patients' and medical staff's descriptions of events. The FDA's MAUDE database search revealed 425 cases meeting our search term criteria. All cases were reviewed. Seven cases were identified involving independent movement of the reservoir piston. The cases detailed are the first to describe an insulin pump malfunction of this nature in the hospital setting involving unsolicited insulin boluses leading to severe hypoglycemia. The cases are particularly compelling in that they were witnessed by medical personnel. Providers and patients should receive instruction education on the recognition and management of insulin pump malfunction.

Disclosing harmful medical errors to patients: tackling three tough cases.

PubMed

Gallagher, Thomas H; Bell, Sigall K; Smith, Kelly M; Mello, Michelle M; McDonald, Timothy B

2009-09-01

A gap exists between recommendations to disclose errors to patients and current practice. This gap may reflect important, yet unanswered questions about implementing disclosure principles. We explore some of these unanswered questions by presenting three real cases that pose challenging disclosure dilemmas. The first case involves a pancreas transplant that failed due to the pancreas graft being discarded, an error that was not disclosed partly because the family did not ask clarifying questions. Relying on patient or family questions to determine the content of disclosure is problematic. We propose a standard of materiality that can help clinicians to decide what information to disclose. The second case involves a fatal diagnostic error that the patient's widower was unaware had happened. The error was not disclosed out of concern that disclosure would cause the widower more harm than good. This case highlights how institutions can overlook patients' and families' needs following errors and emphasizes that benevolent deception has little role in disclosure. Institutions should consider whether involving neutral third parties could make disclosures more patient centered. The third case presents an intraoperative cardiac arrest due to a large air embolism where uncertainty around the clinical event was high and complicated the disclosure. Uncertainty is common to many medical errors but should not deter open conversations with patients and families about what is and is not known about the event. Continued discussion within the medical profession about applying disclosure principles to real-world cases can help to better meet patients' and families' needs following medical errors.

Driver Behavior During Overtaking Maneuvers from the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study.

PubMed

Chen, Rong; Kusano, Kristofer D; Gabler, Hampton C

2015-01-01

Lane changes with the intention to overtake the vehicle in front are especially challenging scenarios for forward collision warning (FCW) designs. These overtaking maneuvers can occur at high relative vehicle speeds and often involve no brake and/or turn signal application. Therefore, overtaking presents the potential of erroneously triggering the FCW. A better understanding of driver behavior during lane change events can improve designs of this human-machine interface and increase driver acceptance of FCW. The objective of this study was to aid FCW design by characterizing driver behavior during lane change events using naturalistic driving study data. The analysis was based on data from the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study, collected by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. The 100-Car study contains approximately 1.2 million vehicle miles of driving and 43,000 h of data collected from 108 primary drivers. In order to identify overtaking maneuvers from a large sample of driving data, an algorithm to automatically identify overtaking events was developed. The lead vehicle and minimum time to collision (TTC) at the start of lane change events was identified using radar processing techniques developed in a previous study. The lane change identification algorithm was validated against video analysis, which manually identified 1,425 lane change events from approximately 126 full trips. Forty-five drivers with valid time series data were selected from the 100-Car study. From the sample of drivers, our algorithm identified 326,238 lane change events. A total of 90,639 lane change events were found to involve a closing lead vehicle. Lane change events were evenly distributed between left side and right side lane changes. The characterization of lane change frequency and minimum TTC was divided into 10 mph speed bins for vehicle travel speeds between 10 and 90 mph. For all lane change events with a closing lead vehicle, the results showed that drivers change lanes most frequently in the 40-50 mph speed range. Minimum TTC was found to increase with travel speed. The variability in minimum TTC between drivers also increased with travel speed. This study developed and validated an algorithm to detect lane change events in the 100-Car Naturalistic Driving Study and characterized lane change events in the database. The characterization of driver behavior in lane change events showed that driver lane change frequency and minimum TTC vary with travel speed. The characterization of overtaking maneuvers from this study will aid in improving the overall effectiveness of FCW systems by providing active safety system designers with further understanding of driver action in overtaking maneuvers, thereby increasing system warning accuracy, reducing erroneous warnings, and improving driver acceptance.

Efficacy and Tolerance of Anti-Tumor Necrosis Factor α Agents in Cutaneous Sarcoidosis: A French Study of 46 Cases.

PubMed

Heidelberger, Valentine; Ingen-Housz-Oro, Saskia; Marquet, Alicia; Mahevas, Matthieu; Bessis, Didier; Bouillet, Laurence; Caux, Frédéric; Chapelon-Abric, Catherine; Debarbieux, Sébastien; Delaporte, Emmanuel; Duval-Modeste, Anne-Bénédicte; Fain, Olivier; Joly, Pascal; Marchand-Adam, Sylvain; Monfort, Jean-Benoît; Noël, Nicolas; Passeron, Thierry; Ruivard, Marc; Sarrot-Reynauld, Françoise; Verrot, Denis; Bouvry, Diane; Fardet, Laurence; Chosidow, Olivier; Sève, Pascal; Valeyre, Dominique

2017-07-01

Evidence for the long-term efficacy and safety of anti-tumor necrosis factor α agents (anti-TNF) in treating cutaneous sarcoidosis is lacking. To determine the efficacy and safety of anti-TNF in treating cutaneous sarcoidosis in a large observational study. STAT (Sarcoidosis Treated with Anti-TNF) is a French retrospective and prospective multicenter observational database that receives data from teaching hospitals and referral centers, as well as several pneumology, dermatology, and internal medicine departments. Included patients had histologically proven sarcoidosis and received anti-TNF between January 2004 and January 2016. We extracted data for patients with skin involvement at anti-TNF initiation. Response to treatment was evaluated for skin and visceral involvement using the ePOST (extra-pulmonary Physician Organ Severity Tool) severity score (from 0 [not affected] to 6 [very severe involvement]). Epidemiological and cutaneous features at baseline, efficacy, steroid-sparing, safety, and relapses were recorded. The overall cutaneous response rate (OCRR) was defined as complete (final cutaneous ePOST score of 0 or 1) or partial response (ePOST drop ≥2 points from baseline but >1 at last follow-up). Among 140 patients in the STAT database, 46 had skin involvement. The most frequent lesions were lupus pernio (n = 21 [46%]) and nodules (n = 20 [43%]). The median cutaneous severity score was 5 and/or 6 at baseline. Twenty-one patients were treated for skin involvement and 25 patients for visceral involvement. Reasons for initiating anti-TNF were failure or adverse effects of previous therapy in 42 patients (93%). Most patients received infliximab (n = 40 [87%]), with systemic steroids in 28 cases (61%) and immunosuppressants in 32 cases (69.5%). The median (range) follow-up was 45 (3-103) months. Of the 46 patients with sarcoidosis and skin involvement who were treated with anti-TNF were included, median (range) age was 50 (14-78) years, and 33 patients (72%) were women. The OCRR was 24% after 3 months, 46% after 6 months, and 79% after 12 months. Steroid sparing was significant. Treatment was discontinued because of adverse events in 11 patients (24%), and 21 infectious events occurred in 14 patients (30%). Infections were more frequent in patients treated for visceral involvement than in those treated for skin involvement (n = 12 of 25 [48%] vs n = 2 of 21 [9.5%], respectively; P = .02). The relapse rate was 44% 18 months after discontinuation of treatment. Relapses during treatment occurred in 35% of cases, mostly during anti-TNF or concomitant treatment tapering. Anti-TNF agents are effective but suspensive in cutaneous sarcoidosis. The risk of infectious events must be considered.

Industrial Accidents Triggered by Natural Hazards: an Emerging Risk Issue

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Renni, Elisabetta; Krausmann, Elisabeth; Basco, Anna; Salzano, Ernesto; Cozzani, Valerio

2010-05-01

Natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding or hurricanes have recently and dramatically hit several countries worldwide. Both direct and indirect consequences involved the population, causing on the one hand a high number of fatalities and on the other hand so relevant economical losses that the national gross product may be affected for many years. Loss of critical industrial infrastructures (electricity generation and distribution, gas pipelines, oil refineries, etc.) also occurred, causing further indirect damage to the population. In several cases, accident scenarios with large releases of hazardous materials were triggered by these natural events, causing so-called "Natech events", in which the overall damage resulted from the simultaneous consequences of the natural event and of the release of hazardous substances. Toxic releases, large fires and explosions, as well as possible long-term environmental pollution, economical losses, and overloading of emergency systems were recognised by post-event studies as the main issues of these Natech scenarios. In recent years the increasing frequency and severity of some natural hazards due to climate change has slowly increased the awareness of Natech risk as an emerging risk among the stakeholders. Indeed, the iNTeg-Risk project, co-funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Program specifically addresses these scenarios among new technological issues on public safety. The present study, in part carried out within the iNTeg-Risk project, was aimed at the analysis and further development of methods and tools for the assessment and mitigation of Natech accidents. Available tools and knowledge gaps in the assessment of Natech scenarios were highlighted. The analysis mainly addressed the potential impact of flood, lightning and earthquake events on industrial installations where hazardous substances are present. Preliminary screening methodologies and more detailed methods based on quantitative risk analysis were developed. Strategies based on the use of multiple information layers aiming at the identification of mitigation and early warning systems were also explored. A case-study in the Emilia-Romagna region is presented.

On-line Machine Learning and Event Detection in Petascale Data Streams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, David R.; Wagstaff, K. L.

2012-01-01

Traditional statistical data mining involves off-line analysis in which all data are available and equally accessible. However, petascale datasets have challenged this premise since it is often impossible to store, let alone analyze, the relevant observations. This has led the machine learning community to investigate adaptive processing chains where data mining is a continuous process. Here pattern recognition permits triage and followup decisions at multiple stages of a processing pipeline. Such techniques can also benefit new astronomical instruments such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) and Square Kilometre Array (SKA) that will generate petascale data volumes. We summarize some machine learning perspectives on real time data mining, with representative cases of astronomical applications and event detection in high volume datastreams. The first is a "supervised classification" approach currently used for transient event detection at the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). It injects known signals of interest - faint single-pulse anomalies - and tunes system parameters to recover these events. This permits meaningful event detection for diverse instrument configurations and observing conditions whose noise cannot be well-characterized in advance. Second, "semi-supervised novelty detection" finds novel events based on statistical deviations from previous patterns. It detects outlier signals of interest while considering known examples of false alarm interference. Applied to data from the Parkes pulsar survey, the approach identifies anomalous "peryton" phenomena that do not match previous event models. Finally, we consider online light curve classification that can trigger adaptive followup measurements of candidate events. Classifier performance analyses suggest optimal survey strategies, and permit principled followup decisions from incomplete data. These examples trace a broad range of algorithm possibilities available for online astronomical data mining. This talk describes research performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved. U.S. Government support acknowledged.

Risk factors for acute chemical releases with public health consequences: Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance in the U.S., 1996–2001

PubMed Central

Ruckart, Perri Z; Wattigney, Wendy A; Kaye, Wendy E

2004-01-01

Background Releases of hazardous materials can cause substantial morbidity and mortality. To reduce and prevent the public health consequences (victims or evacuations) from uncontrolled or illegally released hazardous substances, a more comprehensive analysis is needed to determine risk factors for hazardous materials incidents. Methods Hazardous Substances Emergency Events Surveillance (HSEES) data from 1996 through 2001 were analyzed using bivariate and multiple logistic regression. Fixed-facility and transportation-related events were analyzed separately. Results For fixed-facility events, 2,327 (8%) resulted in at least one victim and 2,844 (10%) involved ordered evacuations. For transportation-related events, 759 (8%) resulted in at least one victim, and 405 (4%) caused evacuation orders. Fire and/or explosion were the strongest risk factors for events involving either victims or evacuations. Stratified analysis of fixed-facility events involving victims showed a strong association for acid releases in the agriculture, forestry, and fisheries industry. Chlorine releases in fixed-facility events resulted in victims and evacuations in more industry categories than any other substance. Conclusions Outreach efforts should focus on preventing and preparing for fires and explosions, acid releases in the agricultural industry, and chlorine releases in fixed facilities. PMID:15496226

A novel approach to increase residents' involvement in reporting adverse events.

PubMed

Scott, David R; Weimer, Melissa; English, Clea; Shaker, Lynn; Ward, William; Choi, Dongseok; Cedfeldt, Andrea; Girard, Donald

2011-06-01

In the wake of the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, national attention has increasingly focused on adverse-event reporting as a means of identifying systems changes to improve patient safety. However, physicians and residents have demonstrated meager involvement in this effort. In 2008-2009, the authors measured participation in adverse-event reporting by 680 residents at Oregon Health & Science University before and after implementing a quality improvement initiative, which consisted of a financial incentive and multifaceted educational campaign. The primary measure of success was an increase in the average monthly adverse-event reports submitted by residents to greater than 5% of the institution's overall report submissions. The average number of adverse events reported by residents increased from 1.6% to 9.0% of the institution's overall event reports, representing a 5.6-fold increase during the initiative (P < .001). The relative percentage of resident-submitted reports defined as "near-misses" increased from 6% to 27% during the initiative (P < .001). The novel approach of integrating a retirement benefit and educational campaign to increase residents' involvement in adverse-event reporting was successful. In addition to increasing residents' contributions to adverse-event reporting to levels higher than any documented in the current literature, there was also a remarkable increase in the relative frequency of near-miss reporting by residents.

Evidence of function for conserved noncoding sequences in Arabidopsis thaliana.

PubMed

Spangler, Jacob B; Subramaniam, Sabarinath; Freeling, Michael; Feltus, F Alex

2012-01-01

• Whole genome duplication events provide a lineage with a large reservoir of genes that can be molded by evolutionary forces into phenotypes that fit alternative environments. A well-studied whole genome duplication, the α-event, occurred in an ancestor of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. Retained segments of the α-event have been defined in recent years in the form of duplicate protein coding sequences (α-pairs) and associated conserved noncoding DNA sequences (CNSs). Our aim was to identify any association between CNSs and α-pair co-functionality at the gene expression level. • Here, we tested for correlation between CNS counts and α-pair co-expression and expression intensity across nine expression datasets: aerial tissue, flowers, leaves, roots, rosettes, seedlings, seeds, shoots and whole plants. • We provide evidence for a putative regulatory role of the CNSs. The association of CNSs with α-pair co-expression and expression intensity varied by gene function, subgene position and the presence of transcription factor binding motifs. A range of possible CNS regulatory mechanisms, including intron-mediated enhancement, messenger RNA fold stability and transcriptional regulation, are discussed. • This study provides a framework to understand how CNS motifs are involved in the maintenance of gene expression after a whole genome duplication event. © 2011 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2011 New Phytologist Trust.

Educating medical staff about responding to a radiological or nuclear emergency.

PubMed

McCurley, M Carol; Miller, Charles W; Tucker, Florie E; Guinn, Amy; Donnelly, Elizabeth; Ansari, Armin; Holcombe, Maire; Nemhauser, Jeffrey B; Whitcomb, Robert C

2009-05-01

A growing body of audience research reveals medical personnel in hospitals are unprepared for a large-scale radiological emergency such as a terrorist event involving radioactive or nuclear materials. Also, medical personnel in hospitals lack a basic understanding of radiation principles, as well as diagnostic and treatment guidelines for radiation exposure. Clinicians have indicated that they lack sufficient training on radiological emergency preparedness; they are potentially unwilling to treat patients if those patients are perceived to be radiologically contaminated; and they have major concerns about public panic and overloading of clinical systems. In response to these findings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a tool kit for use by hospital medical personnel who may be called on to respond to unintentional or intentional mass-casualty radiological and nuclear events. This tool kit includes clinician fact sheets, a clinician pocket guide, a digital video disc (DVD) of just-in-time basic skills training, a CD-ROM training on mass-casualty management, and a satellite broadcast dealing with medical management of radiological events. CDC training information emphasizes the key role that medical health physicists can play in the education and support of emergency department activities following a radiological or nuclear mass-casualty event.

RocketCam systems for providing situational awareness on rockets, spacecraft, and other remote platforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ridenoure, Rex

2004-09-01

Space-borne imaging systems derived from commercial technology have been successfully employed on launch vehicles for several years. Since 1997, over sixty such imagers - all in the product family called RocketCamTM - have operated successfully on 29 launches involving most U.S. launch systems. During this time, these inexpensive systems have demonstrated their utility in engineering analysis of liftoff and ascent events, booster performance, separation events and payload separation operations, and have also been employed to support and document related ground-based engineering tests. Such views from various vantage points provide not only visualization of key events but stunning and extremely positive public relations video content. Near-term applications include capturing key events on Earth-orbiting spacecraft and related proximity operations. This paper examines the history to date of RocketCams on expendable and manned launch vehicles, assesses their current utility on rockets, spacecraft and other aerospace vehicles (e.g., UAVs), and provides guidance for their use in selected defense and security applications. Broad use of RocketCams on defense and security projects will provide critical engineering data for developmental efforts, a large database of in-situ measurements onboard and around aerospace vehicles and platforms, compelling public relations content, and new diagnostic information for systems designers and failure-review panels alike.

Substorms At Jupiter: Galileo Observations of Transient Reconnection in The Near Tail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Russell, C. T.; Khurana, K. K.; Kivelson, M. G.; Huddleston, D. E.

2000-01-01

The magnetic flux content of the Jovian magnetosphere is set by the internal dynamo, but those magnetic field lines are constantly being loaded by heavy ions at the orbit of lo and dragged inexorably outward by the centrifugal force. Vasyliunas has proposed a steady state reconnecting magnetospheric model that sheds plasma islands of zero net magnetic flux and returns nearly empty flux tubes to the inner magnetosphere. The Galileo observations indicate that beyond 40 Rj the current sheet begins to tear and beyond 50 Rj on the nightside explosively reconnects as the tearing site reaches the low density lobe region above and below the current sheet. Small events occur irregularly but on average about every 4 hours and large events about once a day. The magnetic flux reconnected in such events amounts up to about 70,000 Webers/sec and is sufficient to return the outwardly convected magnetic flux to the inner magnetosphere. Since this process releases plasmoids into the jovian tail, as do terrestrial substorms; since this process involves explosive reconnection across the current sheet on the nightside of the planet, as do terrestrial substorms; and since the process is a key in closing the circulation pattern of the magnetic and plasma flux, as it is in terrestrial substorms; we refer to these events as jovian substorms.

Pre-event Smallpox Vaccination for Healthcare Workers Revisited – the Need for a Carefully Screened Multidisciplinary Cadre

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Malone, JD D.

2007-03-01

Abstract As healthcare institutions are a focus of smallpox transmission early in an epidemic, several mathematical models support pre-event smallpox vaccination of healthcare workers (HCWs). The deciding factor for HCW voluntary vaccination is the risk of disease exposure versus the risk of vaccine adverse events. In a United States military population, with careful screening to exclude atopic dermatitis/eczema and immunosuppression, over 1 million vaccinia vaccinations were delivered with 1 fatality attributed to vaccination. Among 37,901 U.S. civilian volunteer healthcare workers vaccinated, 100 serious adverse events were reported including 10 ischemic cardiac episodes and six myocardial infarctions – 2 were fatal.more » This older population had a higher rate of adverse events due to age related coronary artery disease. T-cell mediated inflammatory processes, induced by live vaccinia vaccination, may have a role in the observed acute coronary artery events. With exclusion of individuals at risk for coronary artery disease, atopic dermatitis/eczema, and immunosuppression, HCWs can be smallpox vaccinated with minimal risk. A smallpox pre-vaccinated multidisciplinary cadre (physician, nurse, infection control practitioner, technician) will supply leadership to deal with fear and uncertainty while limiting spread and initial mortality of smallpox. Stochastic – from the Greek meaning “skillful in aiming” – is currently interpreted as arising from chance and involving probability. This issue’s article “Containing a large bioterrorist smallpox attack: a computer simulation approach” by Longini et al. is a discrete time, stochastic computer simulation model that offers additional planning guidance for a smallpox (variola virus) outbreak (1). Although interpretation of the model’s information may differ, Longini’s article concludes “Given that surveillance and containment measures are in place, preemptive vaccination of hospital workers would further reduce the number of smallpox cases and deaths, but would require large numbers of prevaccinations” for the greatest effectiveness. In their simulation, the hospital has 686 workers (a relatively small facility compared to many tertiary care institutions) and 133 make close contact with smallpox cases prior to the initiation of isolation measures. Of 828 cases, 50% originated in the hospital and 13% of the contacts were untraceable. Preemptive smallpox (vaccinia virus) vaccination of 10% of the hospital workers, in addition to surveillance and containment, had a small effect on the average number of cases; however, preemptive vaccination of 50% of the hospital workers had a relatively large effect on case reduction. The larger number of preemptive vaccinations required less contact tracing and “ring” containment vaccinations. A delay of one day in fully implementing surveillance and containment resulted in a large epidemic.« less

Earthquake mechanism and predictability shown by a laboratory fault

USGS Publications Warehouse

King, C.-Y.

1994-01-01

Slip events generated in a laboratory fault model consisting of a circulinear chain of eight spring-connected blocks of approximately equal weight elastically driven to slide on a frictional surface are studied. It is found that most of the input strain energy is released by a relatively few large events, which are approximately time predictable. A large event tends to roughen stress distribution along the fault, whereas the subsequent smaller events tend to smooth the stress distribution and prepare a condition of simultaneous criticality for the occurrence of the next large event. The frequency-size distribution resembles the Gutenberg-Richter relation for earthquakes, except for a falloff for the largest events due to the finite energy-storage capacity of the fault system. Slip distributions, in different events are commonly dissimilar. Stress drop, slip velocity, and rupture velocity all tend to increase with event size. Rupture-initiation locations are usually not close to the maximum-slip locations. ?? 1994 Birkha??user Verlag.

Source Characterization and Seismic Hazard Considerations for Hydraulic Fracture Induced Seismicity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bosman, K.; Viegas, G. F.; Baig, A. M.; Urbancic, T.

2015-12-01

Large microseismic events (M>0) have been shown to be generated during hydraulic fracture treatments relatively frequently. These events are a concern both from public safety and engineering viewpoints. Recent microseismic monitoring projects in the Horn River Basin have utilized both downhole and surface sensors to record events associated with hydraulic fracturing. The resulting hybrid monitoring system has produced a large dataset with two distinct groups of events: large events recorded by the surface network (0

Age-associated power decline from running, jumping, and throwing male masters world records.

PubMed

Gava, Paolo; Kern, Helmut; Carraro, Ugo

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: The capacity to perform everyday tasks is directly related to the muscular power the body can develop (see Appendix). The age-related loss of power is a fact, but the characterization or the rate of muscle power loss remains an open issue. Data useful to study the decline of the skeletal muscles power are largely available from sources other than medical tests, e.g., from track and field competitions of Masters athletes. The aim of our study is to identify the age-related decline trend of the power developed by the athletes in carrying out the track and field events. Absolute male world records of 16 events were collected along with world records of male Masters categories. Performance was normalized with respect to the absolute record; the performance of various age groups is consequently represented by a number ranging from 1 (world absolute records) to 0 (null performance). The performance of a jumping event is transformed into a parameter proportional to the power developed by the athletes: the displacement of the center of gravity of the athlete. Throwing events are further normalized for the decreasing weight of the implements with the increasing age of the Masters athletes. Most track and field events show a linear decline to 70 years. The annual rate of power decline for all the events (running, throwing, and jumping), using a simplified synthesis, is 1.25% per year. The events that involve mostly upper limbs (shot put, javelin throw) show a higher rate of decline (1.4% per year) compared to those where the lower limbs are mostly involved (long jump 1.1%, track events 0.6-0.7% per year). This analysis of muscle power decline is only partially in line with the results of works based on clinical tests. A clarification of the reasons for such discrepancy may provide clinically significant information. Human power decline in Masters athletes was analyzed, adopting a coherent approach based on an extended database. Skeletal muscle power starts declining after the age of 30, with slight variations depending on the events. This conclusion is in line with only some of the previous studies. The various trend lines point to 0 at the age of 110 years, which is in line with the present human survival age. The study can be further developed with a suitable database for male and female Masters performances to facilitate longitudinal studies, which are currently lacking.

Modelling of pollen dispersion in the atmosphere: evaluation with a continuous 1β+1δ lidar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sicard, Michaël; Izquierdo, Rebeca; Jorba, Oriol; Alarcón, Marta; Belmonte, Jordina; Comerón, Adolfo; De Linares, Concepción; Baldasano, José Maria

2018-04-01

Pollen allergenicity plays an important role on human health and wellness. It is thus of large public interest to increase our knowledge of pollen grain behavior in the atmosphere (source, emission, processes involved during their transport, etc.) at fine temporal and spatial scales. First simulations with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center NMMB/BSC-CTM model of Platanus and Pinus dispersion in the atmosphere were performed during a 5-day pollination event observed in Barcelona, Spain, between 27 - 31 March, 2015. The simulations are compared to vertical profiles measured with the continuous Barcelona Micro Pulse Lidar system. First results show that the vertical distribution is well reproduced by the model in shape, but not in intensity, the model largely underestimating in the afternoon. Guidelines are proposed to improve the dispersion of airborne pollen by numerical prediction models.

The Crotone Megalandslide, southern Italy: Architecture, timing and tectonic control.

PubMed

Zecchin, Massimo; Accaino, Flavio; Ceramicola, Silvia; Civile, Dario; Critelli, Salvatore; Da Lio, Cristina; Mangano, Giacomo; Prosser, Giacomo; Teatini, Pietro; Tosi, Luigi

2018-05-17

Large-scale submarine gravitational land movements involving even more than 1,000 m thick sedimentary successions are known as megalandslides. We prove the existence of large-scale gravitational phenomena off the Crotone Basin, a forearc basin located on the Ionian side of Calabria (southern Italy), by seismic, morpho-bathymetric and well data. Our study reveals that the Crotone Megalandslide started moving between Late Zanclean and Early Piacenzian and was triggered by a contractional tectonic event leading to the basin inversion. Seaward gliding of the megalandslide continued until roughly Late Gelasian, and then resumed since Middle Pleistocene with a modest rate. Interestingly, the onshore part of the basin does not show a gravity-driven deformation comparable to that observed in the marine area, and this peculiar evidence allows some speculations on the origin of the megalandslide.

Age-associated Pro-inflammatory Remodeling and Functional Phenotype in the Heart and Large Arteries

PubMed Central

Wang, Mingyi; Shah, Ajay M

2015-01-01

The aging population is increasing dramatically. Aging–associated stress simultaneously drives proinflammatory remodeling, involving angiotensin II and other factors, in both the heart and large arteries. The structural remodeling and functional changes that occur with aging include cardiac and vascular wall stiffening, systolic hypertension and suboptimal ventricular-arterial coupling, features that are often clinically silent and thus termed a silent syndrome. These age-related effects are the result of responses initiated by cardiovascular proinflammatory cells. Local proinflammatory signals are coupled between the heart and arteries due to common mechanical and humoral messengers within a closed circulating system. Thus, targeting proinflammatory signaling molecules would be a promising approach to improve age-associated suboptimal ventricular-arterial coupling, a major predisposing factor for the pathogenesis of clinical cardiovascular events such as heart failure. PMID:25665458

Comparison of energy flows in deep inelastic scattering events with and without a large rapidity gap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Derrick, M.; Krakauer, D.; Magill, S.; Musgrave, B.; Repond, J.; Schlereth, J.; Stanek, R.; Talaga, R. L.; Thron, J.; Arzarello, F.; Ayad, R.; Bari, G.; Basile, M.; Bellagamba, L.; Boscherini, D.; Bruni, A.; Bruni, G.; Bruni, P.; Romeo, G. Cara; Castellini, G.; Chiarini, M.; Cifarelli, L.; Cindolo, F.; Ciralli, F.; Contin, A.; D'Auria, S.; Del Papa, C.; Frasconi, F.; Giusti, P.; Iacobucci, G.; Laurenti, G.; Levi, G.; Maccarrone, G.; Margotti, A.; Massam, T.; Nania, R.; Nemoz, C.; Palmonari, F.; Polini, A.; Sartorelli, G.; Timellini, R.; Garcia, Y. Zamora; Zichichi, A.; Bargende, A.; Crittenden, J.; Desch, K.; Diekmann, B.; Doeker, T.; Feld, L.; Frey, A.; Geerts, M.; Geitz, G.; Grothe, M.; Hartmann, H.; Haun, D.; Heinloth, K.; Hilger, E.; Jakob, H.-P.; Katz, U. F.; Mari, S. M.; Mass, A.; Mengel, S.; Mollen, J.; Paul, E.; Rembser, Ch.; Schattevoy, R.; Schneider, J.-L.; Schramm, D.; Stamm, J.; Wedemeyer, R.; Campbell-Robson, S.; Cassidy, A.; Dyce, N.; Foster, B.; George, S.; Gilmore, R.; Heath, G. P.; Heath, H. F.; Llewellyn, T. J.; Morgado, C. J. S.; Norman, D. J. P.; O'Mara, J. A.; Tapper, R. J.; Wilson, S. S.; Yoshida, R.; Rau, R. R.; Arneodo, M.; Iannotti, L.; Schioppa, M.; Susinno, G.; Bernstein, A.; Caldwell, A.; Gialas, I.; Parsons, J. A.; Ritz, S.; Sciulli, F.; Straub, P. B.; Wai, L.; Yang, S.; Borzemski, P.; Chwastowski, J.; Eskreys, A.; Piotrzkowski, K.; Zachara, M.; Zawiejski, L.; Adamczyk, L.; Bednarek, B.; Eskreys, K.; Jeleń, K.; Kisielewska, D.; Kowalski, T.; Rulikowska-Zarȩbska, E.; Suszycki, L.; Zajaç, J.; Kȩdzierski, T.; Kotański, A.; Przybycień, M.; Bauerdick, L. A. T.; Behrens, U.; Bienlein, J. K.; Böttcher, S.; Coldewey, C.; Drews, G.; Flasiński, M.; Gilkinson, D. J.; Göttlicher, P.; Gutjahr, B.; Haas, T.; Hagge, L.; Hain, W.; Hasell, D.; Heßling, H.; Hultschig, H.; Iga, Y.; Joos, P.; Kasemann, M.; Klanner, R.; Koch, W.; Köpke, L.; Kötz, U.; Kowalski, H.; Kröger, W.; Krüger, J.; Labs, J.; Ladage, A.; Löhr, B.; Löwe, M.; Lüke, D.; Mainusch, J.; Mańczak, O.; Ng, J. S. T.; Nickel, S.; Notz, D.; Ohrenberg, K.; Roco, M.; Rohde, M.; Roldán, J.; Schneekloth, U.; Schroeder, J.; Schulz, W.; Selonke, F.; Stiliaris, E.; Voß, T.; Westphal, D.; Wolf, G.; Youngman, C.; Grabosch, H. J.; Leich, A.; Meyer, A.; Rethfeldt, C.; Schlenstedt, S.; Barbagli, G.; Pelfer, P.; Anzivino, G.; De Pasquale, S.; Qian, S.; Votano, L.; Bamberger, A.; Freidhof, A.; Poser, T.; Söldner-Rembold, S.; Theisen, G.; Trefzger, T.; Brook, N. H.; Bussey, P. J.; Doyle, A. T.; Fleck, I.; Forbes, J. R.; Jamieson, V. A.; Raine, C.; Saxon, D. H.; Stavrianakou, M.; Wilson, A. S.; Dannemann, A.; Holm, U.; Horstmann, D.; Kammerlocher, H.; Krebs, B.; Neumann, T.; Sinkus, R.; Wick, K.; Badura, E.; Burow, B. D.; Fürtjes, A.; Lohrmann, E.; Milewski, J.; Nakahata, M.; Pavel, N.; Poelz, G.; Schott, W.; Terron, J.; Zetsche, F.; Bacon, T. C.; Beuselinck, R.; Butterworth, I.; Gallo, E.; Harris, V. L.; Hung, B. H.; Long, K. R.; Miller, D. B.; Morawitz, P. P. O.; Prinias, A.; Sedgbeer, J. K.; Whitfield, A. F.; Mallik, U.; McCliment, E.; Wang, M. Z.; Zhang, Y.; Cloth, P.; Filges, D.; An, S. H.; Hong, S. M.; Kim, C. O.; Kim, T. Y.; Nam, S. W.; Park, S. K.; Suh, M. H.; Yon, S. H.; Imlay, R.; Kartik, S.; Kim, H.-J.; McNeil, R. R.; Metcalf, W.; Nadendla, V. K.; Barreiro, F.; Cases, G.; Graciani, R.; Hernández, J. M.; Hervás, L.; Labarga, L.; del Peso, J.; Puga, J.; de Trocóniz, J. F.; Ikraiam, F.; Mayer, J. K.; Smith, G. R.; Corriveau, F.; Hanna, D. S.; Hartmann, J.; Hung, L. W.; Lim, J. N.; Matthews, C. G.; Mitchell, J. W.; Patel, P. M.; Sinclair, L. E.; Stairs, D. G.; Laurent, M. St.; Ullmann, R.; Bashkirov, V.; Dolgoshein, B. A.; Stifutkin, A.; Bashindzhagyan, G. L.; Ermolov, P. F.; Gladilin, L. K.; Golubkov, Y. A.; Kobrin, V. D.; Kuzmin, V. A.; Proskuryakov, A. S.; Savin, A. A.; Shcheglova, L. M.; Solomin, A. N.; Zotov, N. P.; Bentvelsen, S.; Botje, M.; Chlebana, F.; Dake, A.; Engelen, J.; de Jong, P.; de Kamps, M.; Kooijman, P.; Kruse, A.; O'Dell, V.; Tenner, A.; Tiecke, H.; Verkerke, W.; Vreeswijk, M.; Wiggers, L.; de Wolf, E.; van Woudenberg, R.; Acosta, D.; Bylsma, B.; Durkin, L. S.; Honscheid, K.; Li, C.; Ling, T. Y.; McLean, K. W.; Murray, W. N.; Park, I. H.; Romanowski, T. A.; Seidlein, R.; Bailey, D. S.; Blair, G. A.; Byrne, A.; Cashmore, R. J.; Cooper-Sarkar, A. M.; Daniels, D.; Devenish, R. C. E.; Harnew, N.; Lancaster, M.; Luffman, P. E.; McFall, J.; Nath, C.; Quadt, A.; Uijterwaal, H.; Walczak, R.; Wilson, F. F.; Yip, T.; Abbiendi, G.; Bertolin, A.; Brugnera, R.; Carlin, R.; Dal Corso, F.; De Giorgi, M.; Dosselli, U.; Gasparini, F.; Limentani, S.; Morandin, M.; Posocco, M.; Stanco, L.; Stroili, R.; Voci, C.; Bulmahn, J.; Butterworth, J. M.; Feild, R. G.; Oh, B. Y.; Whitmore, J. J.; D'Agostini, G.; Iori, M.; Marini, G.; Mattioli, M.; Nigro, A.; Hart, J. C.; McCubbin, N. A.; Prytz, K.; Shah, T. P.; Short, T. L.; Barberis, E.; Cartiglia, N.; Dubbs, T.; Heusch, C.; Van Hook, M.; Hubbard, B.; Lockman, W.; Sadrozinski, H. F.-W.; Seiden, A.; Biltzinger, J.; Seifert, R. J.; Walenta, A. H.; Zech, G.; Abramowicz, H.; Dagan, S.; Levy, A.; Hasegawa, T.; Hazumi, M.; Ishii, T.; Kuze, M.; Mine, S.; Nagasawa, Y.; Nagira, T.; Nakao, M.; Suzuki, I.; Tokushuku, K.; Yamada, S.; Yamazaki, Y.; Chiba, M.; Hamatsu, R.; Hirose, T.; Homma, K.; Kitamura, S.; Nagayama, S.; Nakamitsu, Y.; Cirio, R.; Costa, M.; Ferrero, M. I.; Lamberti, L.; Maselli, S.; Peroni, C.; Sacchi, R.; Solano, A.; Staiano, A.; Dardo, M.; Bailey, D. C.; Bandyopadhyay, D.; Benard, F.; Brkic, M.; Crombie, M. B.; Gingrich, D. M.; Hartner, G. F.; Joo, K. K.; Levman, G. M.; Martin, J. F.; Orr, R. S.; Sampson, C. R.; Teuscher, R. J.; Catterall, C. D.; Jones, T. W.; Kaziewicz, P. B.; Lane, J. B.; Saunders, R. S.; Shulman, J.; Blankenship, K.; Kochocki, J.; Lu, B.; Mo, L. W.; Bogusz, W.; Charchuła, K.; Ciborowski, J.; Gajewski, J.; Grzelak, G.; Kasprzak, M.; Krzyżanowski, M.; Muchorowski, K.; Nowak, R. J.; Pawlak, J. M.; Tymieniecka, T.; Wróblewski, A. K.; Zakrzewski, J. A.; Żarnecki, A. F.; Adamus, M.; Eisenberg, Y.; Glasman, C.; Karshon, U.; Revel, D.; Shapira, A.; Ali, I.; Behrens, B.; Dasu, S.; Fordham, C.; Foudas, C.; Goussiou, A.; Loveless, R. J.; Reeder, D. D.; Silverstein, S.; Smith, W. H.; Tsurugai, T.; Bhadra, S.; Frisken, W. R.; Furutani, K. M.; ZEUS Collaboration

1994-11-01

Energy flows in deep inelastic electron-proton scattering are investigated at a centre-of-mass energy of 269 GeV for the range Q2 ≥ 10 GeV 2 using the ZEUS detector. A comparison is made between events with and without a large rapidity gap between the hadronic system and the proton direction. The energy flows, corrected for detector acceptance and resolution, are shown for these two classes of events in both the HERA laboratory frame and the Breit frame. From the differences in the shapes of these energy flows we conclude that QCD radiation is suppressed in the large-rapidity-gap eents compared to the events without a large rapidity gap.

The Seasonal Predictability of Extreme Wind Events in the Southwest United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seastrand, Simona Renee

Extreme wind events are a common phenomenon in the Southwest United States. Entities such as the United States Air Force (USAF) find the Southwest appealing for many reasons, primarily for the an expansive, unpopulated, and electronically unpolluted space for large-scale training and testing. However, wind events can cause hazards for the USAF including: surface wind gusts can impact the take-off and landing of all aircraft, can tip the airframes of large wing-surface aircraft during the performance of maneuvers close to the ground, and can even impact weapons systems. This dissertation is comprised of three sections intended to further our knowledge and understanding of wind events in the Southwest. The first section builds a climatology of wind events for seven locations in the Southwest during the twelve 3-month seasons of the year. The first section further examines the wind events in relation to terrain and the large-scale flow of the atmosphere. The second section builds upon the first by taking the wind events and generating mid-level composites for each of the twelve 3-month seasons. In the third section, teleconnections identified as consistent with the large-scale circulation in the second paper were used as predictor variables to build a Poisson regression model for each of the twelve 3-month seasons. The purpose of this research is to increase our understanding of the climatology of extreme wind events, increase our understanding of how the large-scale circulation influences extreme wind events, and create a model to enhance predictability of extreme wind events in the Southwest. Knowledge from this paper will help protect personnel and property associated with not only the USAF, but all those in the Southwest.

Analysis of DNA replication associated chromatin decondensation: in vivo assay for understanding chromatin remodeling mechanisms of selected proteins.

PubMed

Borysov, Sergiy; Bryant, Victoria L; Alexandrow, Mark G

2015-01-01

Of critical importance to many of the events underlying transcriptional control of gene expression are modifications to core and linker histones that regulate the accessibility of trans-acting factors to the DNA substrate within the context of chromatin. Likewise, control over the initiation of DNA replication, as well as the ability of the replication machinery to proceed during elongation through the multiple levels of chromatin condensation that are likely to be encountered, is known to involve the creation of chromatin accessibility. In the latter case, chromatin access will likely need to be a transient event so as to prevent total genomic unraveling of the chromatin that would be deleterious to cells. While there are many molecular and biochemical approaches in use to study histone changes and their relationship to transcription and chromatin accessibility, few techniques exist that allow a molecular dissection of the events underlying DNA replication control as it pertains to chromatin changes and accessibility. Here, we outline a novel experimental strategy for addressing the ability of specific proteins to induce large-scale chromatin unfolding (decondensation) in vivo upon site-specific targeting to an engineered locus. Our laboratory has used this powerful system in novel ways to directly address the ability of DNA replication proteins to create chromatin accessibility, and have incorporated modifications to the basic approach that allow for a molecular genetic analysis of the mechanisms and associated factors involved in causing chromatin decondensation by a protein of interest. Alternative approaches involving co-expression of other proteins (competitors or stimulators), concurrent drug treatments, and analysis of co-localizing histone modifications are also addressed, all of which are illustrative of the utility of this experimental system for extending basic findings to physiologically relevant mechanisms. Although used by our group to analyze mechanisms underlying DNA replication associated chromatin accessibility, this unique and powerful experimental system has the propensity to be a valuable tool for understanding chromatin remodeling mechanisms orchestrated by other cellular processes such as DNA repair, recombination, mitotic chromosome condensation, or other chromosome dynamics involving chromatin alterations and accessibility.

CUORE: The Three Towers Test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodsell, Alison; Sparks, Laura

2008-10-01

CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) will be part of the next generation of detectors used to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ). Located in Assergi, Italy at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), CUORE will be a large cryogenic bolometer composed of 988 tellurium dioxide (TeO2) detectors with a total mass of 750 kg, and will search for 0νββ in ^130Te. The intermediate upgrade, CUORE-0, first involves the disassembly of Cuoricino, CUORE's smaller counterpart in operation since 2003, and the readying of the Three Towers test, a diagnostic detector configuration. As the experiment will monitor the extremely rare event of 0νββ, all factors contributing to background need to be minimized to effectively increase the sensitivity. We assisted the LNGS researchers over the summer of 2008 by supporting R&D work with the Three Towers test to reduce the radioactive background of the experiment. Activities involved decontaminating the copper frame of radon daughters, and chemically etching and lapping the TeO2 crystals with nitric acid and silicon dioxide, respectively, to remove surface contaminants which contribute to background counts. This work was supported in part by NSF grant PHY- 0653284 and the California State Faculty Support Grant.

RRP1B Targets PP1 to Mammalian Cell Nucleoli and Is Associated with Pre-60S Ribosomal Subunits

PubMed Central

Chamousset, Delphine; De Wever, Veerle; Moorhead, Greg B.; Chen, Yan; Boisvert, Francois-Michel; Lamond, Angus I.

2010-01-01

A pool of protein phosphatase 1 (PP1) accumulates within nucleoli and accounts for a large fraction of the serine/threonine protein phosphatase activity in this subnuclear structure. Using a combination of fluorescence imaging with quantitative proteomics, we mapped the subnuclear localization of the three mammalian PP1 isoforms stably expressed as GFP-fusions in live cells and identified RRP1B as a novel nucleolar targeting subunit that shows a specificity for PP1β and PP1γ. RRP1B, one of two mammalian orthologues of the yeast Rrp1p protein, shows an RNAse-dependent localization to the granular component of the nucleolus and distributes in a similar manner throughout the cell cycle to proteins involved in later steps of rRNA processing. Quantitative proteomic analysis of complexes containing both RRP1B and PP1γ revealed enrichment of an overlapping subset of large (60S) ribosomal subunit proteins and pre-60S nonribosomal proteins involved in mid-late processing. Targeting of PP1 to this complex by RRP1B in mammalian cells is likely to contribute to modulation of ribosome biogenesis by mechanisms involving reversible phosphorylation events, thus playing a role in the rapid transduction of cellular signals that call for regulation of ribosome production in response to cellular stress and/or changes in growth conditions. PMID:20926688

Predicting the formation and the dispersion of toxic combustion products from the fires of dangerous substances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nevrlý, V.; Bitala, P.; Danihelka, P.; Dobeš, P.; Dlabka, J.; Hejzlar, T.; Baudišová, B.; Míček, D.; Zelinger, Z.

2012-04-01

Natural events, such as wildfires, lightning or earthquakes represent a frequent trigger of industrial fires involving dangerous substances. Dispersion of smoke plume from such fires and the effects of toxic combustion products are one of the reference scenarios expected in the framework of major accident prevention. Nowadays, tools for impact assessment of these events are rather missing. Detailed knowledge of burning material composition, atmospheric conditions, and other factors are required in order to describe quantitatively the source term of toxic fire products and to evaluate the parameters of smoke plume. Nevertheless, an assessment of toxic emissions from large scale fires involves a high degree of uncertainty, because of the complex character of physical and chemical processes in the harsh environment of uncontrolled flame. Among the others, soot particle formation can be mentioned as still being one of the unresolved problems in combustion chemistry, as well as decomposition pathways of chemical substances. Therefore, simplified approach for estimating the emission factors from outdoor fires of dangerous chemicals, utilizable for major accident prevention and preparedness, was developed and the case study illustrating the application of the proposed method was performed. ALOFT-FT software tool based on large eddy simulation of buoyant fire plumes was employed for predicting the local toxic contamination in the down-wind vicinity of the fire. The database of model input parameters can be effectively modified enabling the simulation of the smoke plume from pool fires or jet fires of arbitrary flammable (or combustible) gas, liquid or solid. This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic via the project LD11012 (in the frame of the COST CM0901 Action) and the Ministry of Environment of the Czech Republic (project no. SPII 1a10 45/70).

Adverse Events Involving Radiation Oncology Medical Devices: Comprehensive Analysis of US Food and Drug Administration Data, 1991 to 2015

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Connor, Michael J.; Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California Irvine School of Medicine, Irvine, California; Marshall, Deborah C.

Purpose: Radiation oncology relies on rapidly evolving technology and highly complex processes. The US Food and Drug Administration collects reports of adverse events related to medical devices. We sought to characterize all events involving radiation oncology devices (RODs) from the US Food and Drug Administration's postmarket surveillance Manufacturer and User Facility Device Experience (MAUDE) database, comparing these with non–radiation oncology devices. Methods and Materials: MAUDE data on RODs from 1991 to 2015 were sorted into 4 product categories (external beam, brachytherapy, planning systems, and simulation systems) and 5 device problem categories (software, mechanical, electrical, user error, and dose delivery impact).more » Outcomes included whether the device was evaluated by the manufacturer, adverse event type, remedial action, problem code, device age, and time since 510(k) approval. Descriptive statistics were performed with linear regression of time-series data. Results for RODs were compared with those for other devices by the Pearson χ{sup 2} test for categorical data and 2-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for distributions. Results: There were 4234 ROD and 4,985,698 other device adverse event reports. Adverse event reports increased over time, and events involving RODs peaked in 2011. Most ROD reports involved external beam therapy (50.8%), followed by brachytherapy (24.9%) and treatment planning systems (21.6%). The top problem types were software (30.4%), mechanical (20.9%), and user error (20.4%). RODs differed significantly from other devices in each outcome (P<.001). RODs were more likely to be evaluated by the manufacturer after an event (46.9% vs 33.0%) but less likely to be recalled (10.5% vs 37.9%) (P<.001). Device age and time since 510(k) approval were shorter among RODs (P<.001). Conclusions: Compared with other devices, RODs may experience adverse events sooner after manufacture and market approval. Close postmarket surveillance, improved software design, and manufacturer–user training may help mitigate these events.« less

Precursory enhancement of EIA in the morning sector: Contribution from mid-latitude large earthquakes in the north-east Asian region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ryu, Kwangsun; Oyama, Koh-Ichiro; Bankov, Ludmil; Chen, Chia-Hung; Devi, Minakshi; Liu, Huixin; Liu, Jann-Yenq

2016-01-01

To investigate whether the link between seismic activity and EIA (equatorial ionization anomaly) enhancement is valid for mid-latitude seismic activity, DEMETER observations around seven large earthquakes in the north-east Asian region were fully analyzed (M ⩾ 6.8). In addition, statistical analysis was performed for 35 large earthquakes (M ⩾ 6.0) that occurred during the DEMETER observation period. The results suggest that mid-latitude earthquakes do contribute to EIA enhancement, represented as normalized equatorial Ne , and that ionospheric change precedes seismic events, as has been reported in previous studies. According to statistical studies, the normalized equatorial density enhancement is sensitive and proportional to both the magnitude and the hypocenter depth of an earthquake. The mechanisms that can explain the contribution of mid-latitude seismic activity to EIA variation are briefly discussed based on current explanations of the geochemical and ionospheric processes involved in lithosphere-ionosphere interaction.

Statistical Surrogate Modeling of Atmospheric Dispersion Events Using Bayesian Adaptive Splines

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Francom, D.; Sansó, B.; Bulaevskaya, V.; Lucas, D. D.

2016-12-01

Uncertainty in the inputs of complex computer models, including atmospheric dispersion and transport codes, is often assessed via statistical surrogate models. Surrogate models are computationally efficient statistical approximations of expensive computer models that enable uncertainty analysis. We introduce Bayesian adaptive spline methods for producing surrogate models that capture the major spatiotemporal patterns of the parent model, while satisfying all the necessities of flexibility, accuracy and computational feasibility. We present novel methodological and computational approaches motivated by a controlled atmospheric tracer release experiment conducted at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in California. Traditional methods for building statistical surrogate models often do not scale well to experiments with large amounts of data. Our approach is well suited to experiments involving large numbers of model inputs, large numbers of simulations, and functional output for each simulation. Our approach allows us to perform global sensitivity analysis with ease. We also present an approach to calibration of simulators using field data.

Polar Balloon Experiment for Astrophysics Research (Polar BEAR)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bashindzhagyan, G.; Adams, James H., Jr.; Bashindzhagyan, P.; Chilingarian, A.; Donnelly, J.; Drury, L.; Egorov, N.; Golubkov, S.; Grebenyuk, V.; Kalinin, A.;

Neural Entrainment in Drum Rhythms with Silent Breaks: Evidence from Steady-state Evoked and Event-related Potentials.

PubMed

Stupacher, Jan; Witte, Matthias; Hove, Michael J; Wood, Guilherme

2016-12-01

The fusion of rhythm, beat perception, and movement is often summarized under the term "entrainment" and becomes obvious when we effortlessly tap our feet or snap our fingers to the pulse of music. Entrainment to music involves a large network of brain structures, and neural oscillations at beat-related frequencies can help elucidate how this network is connected. Here, we used EEG to investigate steady-state evoked potentials (SSEPs) and event-related potentials (ERPs) during listening and tapping to drum clips with different rhythmic structures that were interrupted by silent breaks of 2-6 sec. This design allowed us to address the question of whether neural entrainment processes persist after the physical presence of musical rhythms and to link neural oscillations and event-related neural responses. During stimulus presentation, SSEPs were elicited in both tasks (listening and tapping). During silent breaks, SSEPs were only present in the tapping task. Notably, the amplitude of the N1 ERP component was more negative after longer silent breaks, and both N1 and SSEP results indicate that neural entrainment was increased when listening to drum rhythms compared with an isochronous metronome. Taken together, this suggests that neural entrainment to music is not solely driven by the physical input but involves endogenous timing processes. Our findings break ground for a tighter linkage between steady-state and transient evoked neural responses in rhythm processing. Beyond music perception, they further support the crucial role of entrained oscillatory activity in shaping sensory, motor, and cognitive processes in general.

Credibility assessment in child sexual abuse investigations: A descriptive analysis.

PubMed

Melkman, Eran P; Hershkowitz, Irit; Zur, Ronit

2017-05-01

A major challenge in cases of child sexual abuse (CSA) is determining the credibility of children's reports. Consequently cases may be misclassified as false or deemed 'no judgment possible'. Based on a large national sample of reports of CSA made in Israel in 2014, the study examines child and event characteristics contributing to the probability that reports of abuse would be judged credible. National data files of all children aged 3-14, who were referred for investigation following suspected victimization of sexual abuse, and had disclosed sexual abuse, were analyzed. Cases were classified as either 'credible' or 'no judgment possible'. The probability of reaching a 'credible' judgment was examined in relation to characteristics of the child (age, gender, cognitive delay, marital status of the parents,) and of the abusive event (abuse severity, frequency, perpetrator-victim relationship, perpetrator's use of grooming, and perpetrator's use of coercion), controlling for investigator's identity at the cluster level of the analysis. Of 1563 cases analyzed, 57.9% were assessed as credible. The most powerful predictors of a credible judgment were older age and absence of a cognitive delay. Reports of children to married parents, who experienced a single abusive event that involved perpetrator's use of grooming, were also more likely to be judged as credible. Rates of credible judgments found are lower than expected suggesting under-identification of truthful reports of CSA. In particular, those cases of severe and multiple abuse involving younger and cognitively delayed children are the ones with the lowest chances of being assessed as credible. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Insulin detemir improves glycemic control and reduces hypoglycemia in children with type 1 diabetes: findings from the Turkish cohort of the PREDICTIVE observational study.

PubMed

Kurtoglu, Selim; Atabek, Mehmet Emre; Dizdarer, Ceyhun; Pirgon, Ozgur; Isguven, Pinar; Emek, Sevil

2009-09-01

Insulin detemir is a basal insulin analog designed to produce a superior pharmacokinetic profile to basal formulations of human insulin. It has shown consistently improved tolerability in comparison to neutral protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin in adult cohorts, but there are relatively few publications involving pediatric cohorts. The efficacy and safety of insulin detemir in children with type 1 diabetes was assessed using data from the Turkish cohort of PREDICTIVE (a large, multinational, observational) study. The children investigated were using basal-bolus therapy involving NPH insulin or insulin glargine at baseline but were switched to insulin detemir as part of routine clinical care by their physicians. Twelve weeks of treatment with insulin detemir significantly reduced mean hemoglobin A1c (9.7-8.9%, p < 0.001) and mean fasting glucose [185-162 mg/dL (10.3-9 mmol/L), p < 0.01]. Fasting glucose variability was also lower after treatment with insulin detemir than previously (on either NPH or glargine, p < 0.05). The frequencies of total, major and nocturnal hypoglycemic events were significantly reduced with insulin detemir relative to baseline, with an estimated mean of 6.89 fewer events/patient/yr overall (p < 0.001) and 2.6 fewer nocturnal events/patient/yr (p < 0.01). Weight and insulin dose remained relatively unchanged. Twelve weeks of treatment with insulin detemir improved glycemic control and reduced hypoglycemia in children with type 1 diabetes. This improved tolerability might allow further dose titration and therefore additional improvements in glucose control.

Mid-Holocene cluster of large-scale landslides revealed in the Southwestern Alps by 36Cl dating. Insight on an Alpine-scale landslide activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zerathe, Swann; Lebourg, Thomas; Braucher, Régis; Bourlès, Didier

2014-04-01

Although it is generally assumed that the internal structure of a slope (e.g. lithology and rock mass properties, inherited faults and heterogeneities, etc.) is preponderant for the progressive development of large-scale landslides, the ability to identify triggering factors responsible for final slope failures such as glacial debuttressing, seismic activities or climatic changes, especially when considering landslide cluster at an orogen-scale, is still debated. Highlighting in this study the spatial and temporal concordant clustering of deep-seated slope failures in the external Southwestern Alps, we discuss and review the possible causes for such wide-spread slope instabilities at both local and larger (Alpine) scale. High resolution field mapping coupled with electrical resistivity tomography first allows establishing an inventory of large landslides in the Southwestern Alps, determining their structural model, precising their depth limit (100-200 m) as well as the involved rock volumes (>107 m3). We show that they developed in the same geostructural context of thick mudstone layers overlain by faulted limestone and followed a block-spread model of deformation that could evolve in rock-collapse events. Cosmic ray exposure dating (CRE), using both 36Cl and 10Be in coexisting limestone and chert, respectively, has been carried out from the main scarps of six Deep Seated Landslides (DSL) and leads to landslide-failure CRE ages ranging from 3.7 to 4.7 ka. They highlighted: (i) mainly single and fast ruptures and (ii) a possible concomitant initiation with a main peak of activity between 3.3 and 5.1 ka, centered at ca 4.2 ka. Because this region was not affected by historical glaciations events, landslide triggering by glacial unloading can be excluded. The presented data combined with field observations preferentially suggest that these failures were climatically driven and were most likely controlled by high pressure changes in the karstic medium. In effect, the chronicle of failure-ages is concomitant to a well-known climatic pulse, the “4.2 ka” climate event characterized by intense hydrological perturbations associated to the heaviest rainfall period of the entire Holocene. Despite requiring further investigations and discussions, the dating of numerous events across the entire Alps during the middle Holocene period suggests a potential synchronous triggering of several large-scale gravitational-failures induced by the mid-Holocene climatic transition.

Satellite-based characterization of climatic conditions before large-scale general flowering events in Peninsular Malaysia

PubMed Central

Azmy, Muna Maryam; Hashim, Mazlan; Numata, Shinya; Hosaka, Tetsuro; Noor, Nur Supardi Md.; Fletcher, Christine

2016-01-01

General flowering (GF) is a unique phenomenon wherein, at irregular intervals, taxonomically diverse trees in Southeast Asian dipterocarp forests synchronize their reproduction at the community level. Triggers of GF, including drought and low minimum temperatures a few months previously has been limitedly observed across large regional scales due to lack of meteorological stations. Here, we aim to identify the climatic conditions that trigger large-scale GF in Peninsular Malaysia using satellite sensors, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), to evaluate the climatic conditions of focal forests. We observed antecedent drought, low temperature and high photosynthetic radiation conditions before large-scale GF events, suggesting that large-scale GF events could be triggered by these factors. In contrast, we found higher-magnitude GF in forests where lower precipitation preceded large-scale GF events. GF magnitude was also negatively influenced by land surface temperature (LST) for a large-scale GF event. Therefore, we suggest that spatial extent of drought may be related to that of GF forests, and that the spatial pattern of LST may be related to that of GF occurrence. With significant new findings and other results that were consistent with previous research we clarified complicated environmental correlates with the GF phenomenon. PMID:27561887

Satellite-based characterization of climatic conditions before large-scale general flowering events in Peninsular Malaysia.

PubMed

Azmy, Muna Maryam; Hashim, Mazlan; Numata, Shinya; Hosaka, Tetsuro; Noor, Nur Supardi Md; Fletcher, Christine

2016-08-26

General flowering (GF) is a unique phenomenon wherein, at irregular intervals, taxonomically diverse trees in Southeast Asian dipterocarp forests synchronize their reproduction at the community level. Triggers of GF, including drought and low minimum temperatures a few months previously has been limitedly observed across large regional scales due to lack of meteorological stations. Here, we aim to identify the climatic conditions that trigger large-scale GF in Peninsular Malaysia using satellite sensors, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), to evaluate the climatic conditions of focal forests. We observed antecedent drought, low temperature and high photosynthetic radiation conditions before large-scale GF events, suggesting that large-scale GF events could be triggered by these factors. In contrast, we found higher-magnitude GF in forests where lower precipitation preceded large-scale GF events. GF magnitude was also negatively influenced by land surface temperature (LST) for a large-scale GF event. Therefore, we suggest that spatial extent of drought may be related to that of GF forests, and that the spatial pattern of LST may be related to that of GF occurrence. With significant new findings and other results that were consistent with previous research we clarified complicated environmental correlates with the GF phenomenon.

Involved-Node Proton Therapy in Combined Modality Therapy for Hodgkin Lymphoma: Results of a Phase 2 Study

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hoppe, Bradford S., E-mail: bhoppe@floridaproton.org; Flampouri, Stella; Zaiden, Robert

2014-08-01

Purpose: This study describes the early clinical outcomes of a prospective phase 2 study of consolidative involved-node proton therapy (INPT) as a component of combined-mode therapy in patients with stages I to III Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) with mediastinal involvement. Methods and Materials: Between September 2009 and June 2013, 15 patients with newly diagnosed HL received INPT after completing chemotherapy in an institutional review board-approved protocol comparing the dosimetric impact of PT with those of three-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT) and intensity modulated RT. Based on {sup 18}F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ({sup 18}F-FDG PET/CT) response, 5 children received 15 to 25.5more » cobalt Gy equivalent (CGE) of INPT after receiving 4 cycles of Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vincristine, Etoposide, Prednisone, Cyclophosphamide or Vincristine, adriamycin, methotrexate, Prednisone chemotherapy, and 10 adults received 30.6 to 39.6 CGE of INPT after 3 to 6 cycles of Adriamycin, Bleomycine, Vinblastine, Dacarbazine. Patients were routinely evaluated for toxicity during and after treatment, using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 3.0, and for relapse by physical examination and routine imaging. Relapse-free survival (RFS) and event-free survival (EFS) rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method from the time of diagnosis. Results: The median follow-up was 37 months (range, 26-55). Two events occurred during follow-up: 1 relapse (inside and outside the targeted field) and 1 transformation into a primary mediastinal large B cell lymphoma. The 3-year RFS rate was 93%, and the 3-year EFS rate was 87%. No acute or late grade 3 nonhematologic toxicities were observed. Conclusions: Although decades of follow-up will be needed to realize the likely benefit of PT in reducing the risk of radiation-induced late effects, PT following chemotherapy in patients with HL is well-tolerated, and disease outcomes were similar to those of conventional photon therapy.« less

Comparison of the ages of large-body impacts, flood-basalt eruptions, ocean-anoxic events and extinctions over the last 260 million years: a statistical study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rampino, Michael R.; Caldeira, Ken

2018-03-01

Many studies have linked mass extinction events with the catastrophic effects of large-body impacts and flood-basalt eruptions, sometimes as competing explanations. We find that the ages of at least 10 out of a total of 11 documented extinction events over the last 260 Myr (12 out of 13 if we include two lesser extinction events) coincide, within errors, with the best-known ages of either a large impact crater (≥70 km diameter) or a continental flood-basalt eruption. The null hypothesis that this could occur by chance can be rejected with very high confidence (>99.999%). The ages of large impact craters correlate with recognized extinction events at 36 (two impacts), 66, 145 and 215 Myr ago (and possibly an event at 168 Myr ago), and the ages of continental flood basalts correlate with extinctions at 66, 94, 116, 183, 201, 252 and 259 Myr ago (and possibly at 133 Myr ago). Furthermore, at least 7 periods of widespread anoxia in the oceans of the last 260 Myr coincide with the ages of flood-basalt eruptions (with 99.999% confidence), and are coeval with extinctions, suggesting causal connections. These statistical relationships argue that most mass extinction events are related to climatic catastrophes produced by the largest impacts and large-volume continental flood-basalt eruptions.

49 CFR 219.201 - Events for which testing is required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Events for which testing is required. 219.201... § 219.201 Events for which testing is required. (a) List of events. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, post-accident toxicological tests must be conducted after any event that involves...

49 CFR 219.201 - Events for which testing is required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Events for which testing is required. 219.201... § 219.201 Events for which testing is required. (a) List of events. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, post-accident toxicological tests must be conducted after any event that involves...

49 CFR 219.201 - Events for which testing is required.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 49 Transportation 4 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Events for which testing is required. 219.201... § 219.201 Events for which testing is required. (a) List of events. Except as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, post-accident toxicological tests must be conducted after any event that involves...

Pathways leading to an immunological disease: systemic lupus erythematosus

PubMed Central

Zharkova, Olga; Celhar, Teja; Cravens, Petra D.; Satterthwaite, Anne B.; Fairhurst, Anna-Marie

2017-01-01

Abstract SLE is a chronic autoimmune disease caused by perturbations of the immune system. The clinical presentation is heterogeneous, largely because of the multiple genetic and environmental factors that contribute to disease initiation and progression. Over the last 60 years, there have been a number of significant leaps in our understanding of the immunological mechanisms driving disease processes. We now know that multiple leucocyte subsets, together with inflammatory cytokines, chemokines and regulatory mediators that are normally involved in host protection from invading pathogens, contribute to the inflammatory events leading to tissue destruction and organ failure. In this broad overview, we discuss the main pathways involved in SLE and highlight new findings. We describe the immunological changes that characterize this form of autoimmunity. The major leucocytes that are essential for disease progression are discussed, together with key mediators that propagate the immune response and drive the inflammatory response in SLE. PMID:28375453

Sex reversal in the mouse (Mus musculus) is caused by a recurrent nonreciprocal crossover involving the x and an aberrant y chromosome.

PubMed

Singh, L; Jones, K W

1982-02-01

Satellite DNA (Bkm) from the W sex-determining chromosome of snakes, which is related to sequences on the mouse Y chromosome, has been used to analyze the DNA and chromosomes of sex-reversed (Sxr) XXSxr male mice. Such mice exhibit a male-specific Southern blot Bkm hybridization pattern, consistent with the presence of Y-chromosome DNA. In situ hybridization of Bkm to chromosomes of XXSxr mice shows an aberrant concentration of related sequences on the distal terminus of a large mouse chromosome. The XYSxr carrier male, however, shows a pair of small chromosomes, which are presumed to be aberrant Y derivatives. Meiosis in the XYSxr mouse involves transfer of chromatin rich in Bkm-related DNA from the Y-Y1 complex to the X distal terminus. We suggest that this event is responsible for the transmission of the Sxr trait.

The Geomechanics of CO 2 Storage in Deep Sedimentary Formations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rutqvist, Jonny

2012-01-12

This study provides a review of the geomechanics and modeling of geomechanics associated with geologic carbon storage (GCS), focusing on storage in deep sedimentary formations, in particular saline aquifers. The paper first introduces the concept of storage in deep sedimentary formations, the geomechanical processes and issues related with such an operation, and the relevant geomechanical modeling tools. This is followed by a more detailed review of geomechanical aspects, including reservoir stress-strain and microseismicity, well integrity, caprock sealing performance, and the potential for fault reactivation and notable (felt) seismic events. Geomechanical observations at current GCS field deployments, mainly at the Inmore » Salah CO 2 storage project in Algeria, are also integrated into the review. The In Salah project, with its injection into a relatively thin, low-permeability sandstone is an excellent analogue to the saline aquifers that might be used for large scale GCS in parts of Northwest Europe, the U.S. Midwest, and China. Some of the lessons learned at In Salah related to geomechanics are discussed, including how monitoring of geomechanical responses is used for detecting subsurface geomechanical changes and tracking fluid movements, and how such monitoring and geomechanical analyses have led to preventative changes in the injection parameters. Recently, the importance of geomechanics has become more widely recognized among GCS stakeholders, especially with respect to the potential for triggering notable (felt) seismic events and how such events could impact the long-term integrity of a CO 2 repository (as well as how it could impact the public perception of GCS). As described in the paper, to date, no notable seismic event has been reported from any of the current CO 2 storage projects, although some unfelt microseismic activities have been detected by geophones. However, potential future commercial GCS operations from large power plants will require injection at a much larger scale. In conclusion, for such large-scale injections, a staged, learn-as-you-go approach is recommended, involving a gradual increase of injection rates combined with continuous monitoring of geomechanical changes, as well as siting beneath a multiple layered overburden for multiple flow barrier protection, should an unexpected deep fault reactivation occur.« less

Distributed Events in Sentinel: Design and Implementation of a Global Event Detector

DTIC Science & Technology

1999-01-01

local event detector and a global event detector to detect events. Global event detector in this case plays the role of a message sending/receiving than...significant in this case . The system performance will decrease with increase in the number of applications involved in global event detection. Yet from a...Figure 8: A Global event tree (2) 1. Global composite event is detected at the GED In this case , the whole global composite event tree is sent to the

Population, behavioural and physiological responses of an urban population of black swans to an intense annual noise event.

PubMed

Payne, Catherine J; Jessop, Tim S; Guay, Patrick-Jean; Johnstone, Michele; Feore, Megan; Mulder, Raoul A

2012-01-01

Wild animals in urban environments are exposed to a broad range of human activities that have the potential to disturb their life history and behaviour. Wildlife responses to disturbance can range from emigration to modified behaviour, or elevated stress, but these responses are rarely evaluated in concert. We simultaneously examined population, behavioural and hormonal responses of an urban population of black swans Cygnus atratus before, during and after an annual disturbance event involving large crowds and intense noise, the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. Black swan population numbers were lowest one week before the event and rose gradually over the course of the study, peaking after the event, suggesting that the disturbance does not trigger mass emigration. We also found no difference in the proportion of time spent on key behaviours such as locomotion, foraging, resting or self-maintenance over the course of the study. However, basal and capture stress-induced corticosterone levels showed significant variation, consistent with a modest physiological response. Basal plasma corticosterone levels were highest before the event and decreased over the course of the study. Capture-induced stress levels peaked during the Grand Prix and then also declined over the remainder of the study. Our results suggest that even intensely noisy and apparently disruptive events may have relatively low measurable short-term impact on population numbers, behaviour or physiology in urban populations with apparently high tolerance to anthropogenic disturbance. Nevertheless, the potential long-term impact of such disturbance on reproductive success, individual fitness and population health will need to be carefully evaluated.

Southern Ocean Deep-Convection as a Driver of Centennial-to-Millennial-Scale Climate Variability at Southern High Latitudes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pedro, J. B.; Martin, T.; Steig, E. J.; Jochum, M.; Park, W.; Rasmussen, S.

2015-12-01

Antarctic Isotope Maxima (AIM) are centennial-to-millennial scale warming events observed in Antarctic ice core records from the last glacial period and deglaciation. Mounting evidence links AIM events to parallel variations in atmospheric CO2, Southern Ocean (SO) sea surface temperatures and Antarctic Bottom Water production. According to the prevailing view, AIM events are forced from the North Atlantic by melt-water discharge from ice sheets suppressing the production of North Atlantic Deep Water and associated northward heat transport in the Atlantic. However observations and model studies increasingly suggest that melt-water fluxes have the wrong timing to be invoked as such a trigger. Here, drawing on results form the Kiel Climate Model, we present an alternative hypothesis in which AIM events are forced via internal oscillations in SO deep-convection. The quasi-periodic timescale of deep-convection events is set by heat (buoyancy) accumulation at SO intermediate depths and stochastic variability in sea ice conditions and freshening at the surface. Massive heat release from the SO convective zone drives Antarctic and large-scale southern hemisphere warming via a two-stage process involving changes in the location of Southern Ocean fronts, in the strength and intensity of the Westerlies and in meridional ocean and atmospheric heat flux anomalies. The potential for AIM events to be driven by internal Southern Ocean processes and the identification of time-lags internal to the southern high latitudes challenges conventional views on the North Atlantic as the pacemaker of millennial-scale climate variability.

Population, Behavioural and Physiological Responses of an Urban Population of Black Swans to an Intense Annual Noise Event

PubMed Central

Payne, Catherine J.; Jessop, Tim S.; Guay, Patrick-Jean; Johnstone, Michele; Feore, Megan; Mulder, Raoul A.

2012-01-01

Wild animals in urban environments are exposed to a broad range of human activities that have the potential to disturb their life history and behaviour. Wildlife responses to disturbance can range from emigration to modified behaviour, or elevated stress, but these responses are rarely evaluated in concert. We simultaneously examined population, behavioural and hormonal responses of an urban population of black swans Cygnus atratus before, during and after an annual disturbance event involving large crowds and intense noise, the Australian Formula One Grand Prix. Black swan population numbers were lowest one week before the event and rose gradually over the course of the study, peaking after the event, suggesting that the disturbance does not trigger mass emigration. We also found no difference in the proportion of time spent on key behaviours such as locomotion, foraging, resting or self-maintenance over the course of the study. However, basal and capture stress-induced corticosterone levels showed significant variation, consistent with a modest physiological response. Basal plasma corticosterone levels were highest before the event and decreased over the course of the study. Capture-induced stress levels peaked during the Grand Prix and then also declined over the remainder of the study. Our results suggest that even intensely noisy and apparently disruptive events may have relatively low measurable short-term impact on population numbers, behaviour or physiology in urban populations with apparently high tolerance to anthropogenic disturbance. Nevertheless, the potential long-term impact of such disturbance on reproductive success, individual fitness and population health will need to be carefully evaluated. PMID:23024783

The neural basis of temporal order processing in past and future thought.

PubMed

D'Argembeau, Arnaud; Jeunehomme, Olivier; Majerus, Steve; Bastin, Christine; Salmon, Eric

2015-01-01

Although growing evidence has shown that remembering the past and imagining the future recruit a common core network of frontal-parietal-temporal regions, the extent to which these regions contribute to the temporal dimension of autobiographical thought remains unclear. In this fMRI study, we focused on the event-sequencing aspect of time and examined whether ordering past and future events involve common neural substrates. Participants had to determine which of two past (or future) events occurred (or would occur) before the other, and these order judgments were compared with a task requiring to think about the content of the same past or future events. For both past and future events, we found that the left posterior hippocampus was more activated when establishing the order of events, whereas the anterior hippocampus was more activated when representing their content. Aside from the hippocampus, most of the brain regions that were activated when thinking about temporal order (notably the intraparietal sulcus, dorsolateral pFC, dorsal anterior cingulate, and visual cortex) lied outside the core network and may reflect the involvement of controlled processes and visuospatial imagery to locate events in time. Collectively, these findings suggest (a) that the same processing operations are engaged for ordering past events and planned future events in time, (b) that anterior and posterior portions of the hippocampus are involved in processing different aspects of autobiographical thought, and (c) that temporal order is not necessarily an intrinsic property of memory or future thought but instead requires additional, controlled processes.

Large Dosage of Chishao in Formulae for Cholestatic Hepatitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PubMed Central

Ma, Xiao; Wang, Ji; He, Xuan; Zhao, Yanling; Wang, Jiabo; Zhang, Ping; Zhu, Yun; Zhong, Lin; Zheng, Quanfu; Xiao, Xiaohe

2014-01-01

Objective. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of large dosage of Chishao in formulae for treatment of cholestatic hepatitis. Methods. The major databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Chinese Biomedical Database Wanfang, VIP medicine information system, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure) were searched until January 2014. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of large dosage of Chishao in formulae that reported on publications in treatment of cholestatic hepatitis with total efficacy rate, together with the biochemical indices including alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (TBIL), and direct bilirubin (DBIL), were extracted by two reviewers. The Cochrane tool was used for the assessment of risk of bias included trials. Data were analyzed with RevMan 5.2.7 software. Results. 11 RCTs involving 1275 subjects with cholestatic hepatitis were included. Compared with essential therapy, large dosage of Chishao in formulae demonstrated more efficiently with down regulation of serum ALT, AST, TBIL, DBIL. Meanwhile, there were no obvious adverse events. Conclusion. As a promising novel treatment approach, widely using large dosage of Chishao in formulae may enhance the curative efficacy for cholestatic hepatitis. Considering being accepted by more and more practitioners, further rigorously designed clinical studies are required. PMID:24987427

78 FR 35783 - Regattas and Marine Parades in the COTP Lake Michigan Zone

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-14

..., Harborfest Dragon Boat Race; South Haven, MI. The Harborfest Dragon Boat Race is an annual event involving an... 100.909; Chinatown Chamber of Commerce Dragon Boat Race; Chicago, IL. The Chinatown Chamber of Commerce Dragon Boat Race is an annual event involving an estimated 1000 participants maneuvering self...

Guidelines for Teaching the Holocaust: Avoiding Common Pedagogical Errors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lindquist, David H.

2006-01-01

Teaching the Holocaust is a complex undertaking involving twists and turns that can frustrate and even intimidate educators who teach the Holocaust. This complexity involves both the event's history and its pedagogy. In this article, the author considers eight pedagogical approaches that often cause problems in teaching the event. He states each…

Wounding induces expression of genes involved in tuber closing layer and wound-periderm development

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Little is known about the coordinate induction of genes that may be involved in important wound-healing events. In this study, wound-healing events were determined together with wound-induced expression profiles of selected cell cycle, cell wall protein, and pectin methyl esterase genes using tuber...

Do Young Drivers Become Safer After Being Involved in a Collision?

PubMed Central

O’Brien, Fearghal; Bible, Joe; Liu, Danping; Simons-Morton, Bruce G.

2017-01-01

As drivers age, their risk of being involved in a car collision decreases. The present study investigated if this trend is due, in part, to some risky drivers having a collision early in their driving lives and subsequently reducing their risky driving after that negative experience. Accelerometers and video cameras were installed in the vehicles of 16- to 17-year-old drivers (N = 254), allowing coders to measure the number of g-force events (i.e., events in which a threshold acceleration level was exceeded) per 1,000 miles and the number of collisions. Among the 41 participants who experienced a severe collision, the rate of g-force events dropped significantly in the 1st month after the collision, remained unchanged for the 2nd month, and increased significantly in the 3rd month. There were no changes in the rate of g-force events at comparable time points for the drivers not involved in a collision. Being involved in a collision led to a decrease in risky driving, but this may have been a temporary effect. PMID:28406372

Modelling rock fragmentation of Extremely Energetic Rockfalls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Blasio, Fabio; Dattola, Giuseppe; Battista Crosta, Giovanni

2017-04-01

Extremely energetic rockfalls (EER) are phenomena for which the combination of a large volume (at least some thousands of m ) and a free fall height of hundreds of metres, results in a large released energy. We fix a threshold value of around 1/50 of kilotons to define such a type of events. Documented examples include several events with dif-ferent size in the Alps (Dru, 2005, 2011, 265,000, 59,200 m3; val Fiscalina - Cima Una, 2007, 40,000 m3; Thurwieser 2004, ca 2 Mm3; Cengalo, 2011, 1.5*105 m3 in 2016, in Switzerland; Civetta, 2013, ca 50,000 m3;), in the Apennines (Gran Sasso, 2006, 30,000 m3), Rocky Mountains (Yosemite, Happy Isles, 38,000 m3), and Himalaya. EERs may become more frequent on steep and sharp mountain peaks as a consequence of permafrost thawing at higher altitudes. In contrast to low energy rockfalls where block disintegration is limited, in EERs the impact after free fall causes an immediate and efficient release of energy much like an explosion. The severe disintegration of the rock and the corresponding air blast are capable of snapping trees many hundreds of metres ahead of the fall area. Pulverized rock at high speed can abrade tree logs, and the resulting suspension flow may travel much further the impact zone, blanketing vast surrounding areas. Using both published accounts of some of these events and collecting direct data for some of them, we present some basic models to describe the involved processes based on analogies with explosions and explosive fragmentation. Of the initial energy, one part is used up in the rock disintegration, and the rest is shared between the shock wave and air blast. The fragmentation energy is calculated based on the fitting of the dust size spectrum by using different proba-bilistic distribution laws and the definition of a surface energy and by considering the involved strain rate. We find the fragmentation is around one third of the initial boulder energy. Finally, we evaluate the velocity of the corresponding cloud generated by the powder suspension and compare with the information available in literature. keywords: EER, Rockfalls, Disintegration number, Omographic distribution

Location of long-period events below Kilauea Volcano using seismic amplitudes and accurate relative relocation

USGS Publications Warehouse

Battaglia, J.; Got, J.-L.; Okubo, P.

2003-01-01

We present methods for improving the location of long-period (LP) events, deep and shallow, recorded below Kilauea Volcano by the permanent seismic network. LP events might be of particular interest to understanding eruptive processes as their source mechanism is assumed to directly involve fluid transport. However, it is usually difficult or impossible to locate their source using traditional arrival time methods because of emergent wave arrivals. At Kilauea, similar LP waveform signatures suggest the existence of LP multiplets. The waveform similarity suggests spatially close sources, while catalog solutions using arrival time estimates are widely scattered beneath Kilauea's summit caldera. In order to improve estimates of absolute LP location, we use the distribution of seismic amplitudes corrected for station site effects. The decay of the amplitude as a function of hypocentral distance is used for inferring LP location. In a second stage, we use the similarity of the events to calculate their relative positions. The analysis of the entire LP seismicity recorded between January 1997 and December 1999 suggests that a very large part of the LP event population, both deep and shallow, is generated by a small number of compact sources. Deep events are systematically composed of a weak high-frequency onset followed by a low-frequency wave train. Aligning the low-frequency wave trains does not lead to aligning the onsets indicating the two parts of the signal are dissociated. This observation favors an interpretation in terms of triggering and resonance of a magmatic conduit. Instead of defining fault planes, the precise relocation of similar LP events, based on the alignment of the high-energy low-frequency wave trains, defines limited size volumes. Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.

Clinical Features of Patients with Dysthymia in a Large Cohort of Han Chinese Women with Recurrent Major Depression

PubMed Central

Wu, Wenqing; Wang, Zhoubing; Wei, Yan; Zhang, Guanghua; Shi, Shenxun; Gao, Jingfang; Li, Youhui; Tao, Ming; Zhang, Kerang; Wang, Xumei; Gao, Chengge; Yang, Lijun; Li, Kan; Shi, Jianguo; Wang, Gang; Liu, Lanfen; Zhang, Jinbei; Du, Bo; Jiang, Guoqing; Shen, Jianhua; Liu, Ying; Liang, Wei; Sun, Jing; Hu, Jian; Liu, Tiebang; Wang, Xueyi; Miao, Guodong; Meng, Huaqing; Li, Yi; Hu, Chunmei; Li, Yi; Huang, Guoping; Li, Gongying; Ha, Baowei; Deng, Hong; Mei, Qiyi; Zhong, Hui; Gao, Shugui; Sang, Hong; Zhang, Yutang; Fang, Xiang; Yu, Fengyu; Yang, Donglin; Liu, Tieqiao; Chen, Yunchun; Hong, Xiaohong; Wu, Wenyuan; Chen, Guibing; Cai, Min; Song, Yan; Pan, Jiyang; Dong, Jicheng; Pan, Runde; Zhang, Wei; Shen, Zhenming; Liu, Zhengrong; Gu, Danhua; Wang, Xiaoping; Liu, Xiaojuan; Zhang, Qiwen; Li, Yihan; Chen, Yiping; Kendler, Kenneth S.; Flint, Jonathan; Zhang, Zhen

2013-01-01

Background Dysthymia is a form of chronic mild depression that has a complex relationship with major depressive disorder (MDD). Here we investigate the role of environmental risk factors, including stressful life events and parenting style, in patients with both MDD and dysthymia. We ask whether these risk factors act in the same way in MDD with and without dysthymia. Results We examined the clinical features in 5,950 Han Chinese women with MDD between 30–60 years of age across China. We confirmed earlier results by replicating prior analyses in 3,950 new MDD cases. There were no significant differences between the two data sets. We identified sixteen stressful life events that significantly increase the risk of dysthymia, given the presence of MDD. Low parental warmth, from either mother or father, increases the risk of dysthymia. Highly threatening but short-lived threats (such as rape) are more specific for MDD than dysthymia. While for MDD more severe life events show the largest odds ratio versus controls, this was not seen for cases of MDD with or without dysthymia. Conclusions There are increased rates of stressful life events in MDD with dysthymia, but the impact of life events on susceptibility to dysthymia with MDD differs from that seen for MDD alone. The pattern does not fit a simple dose-response relationship, suggesting that there are moderating factors involved in the relationship between environmental precipitants and the onset of dysthymia. It is possible that severe life events in childhood events index a general susceptibility to chronic depression, rather than acting specifically as risk factors for dysthymia. PMID:24386213

Impact of an extreme climatic event on community assembly.

PubMed

Thibault, Katherine M; Brown, James H

2008-03-04

Extreme climatic events are predicted to increase in frequency and magnitude, but their ecological impacts are poorly understood. Such events are large, infrequent, stochastic perturbations that can change the outcome of entrained ecological processes. Here we show how an extreme flood event affected a desert rodent community that has been monitored for 30 years. The flood (i) caused catastrophic, species-specific mortality; (ii) eliminated the incumbency advantage of previously dominant species; (iii) reset long-term population and community trends; (iv) interacted with competitive and metapopulation dynamics; and (v) resulted in rapid, wholesale reorganization of the community. This and a previous extreme rainfall event were punctuational perturbations-they caused large, rapid population- and community-level changes that were superimposed on a background of more gradual trends driven by climate and vegetation change. Captured by chance through long-term monitoring, the impacts of such large, infrequent events provide unique insights into the processes that structure ecological communities.

An assessment of commercial motor vehicle driver distraction using naturalistic driving data.

PubMed

Hickman, Jeffrey S; Hanowski, Richard J

2012-01-01

This study analyzed naturalistic driving data from commercial trucks (3-axle and tractor-trailer/tanker) and buses (transit and motorcoach) during a 3-month period. The data set contained 183 commercial truck and bus fleets comprising 13,306 vehicles and included 1085 crashes, 8375 near crashes, 30,661 crash-relevant conflicts, and 211,171 baseline events. Study results documented the prevalence of tertiary tasks and the risks associated with performing these tasks while driving. Results indicated the odds of involvement in a safety-critical event differed as a function of performing different cell phone-related subtasks while driving. Although the odds ratio for talking/listening on a cell phone while driving was found to not significantly increase the likelihood of involvement in a safety-critical event, other cell phone subtasks (e.g., texting, dialing, reaching) were found to significantly increase the odds of involvement in a safety-critical event. The results suggest that cell phone use while driving should not be considered a simple dichotomous task (yes/no). Consideration should instead be made for a set of discrete cell phone subtasks that are each associated with varying levels of risk. Several hypotheses are presented to explain why cell phone use while driving was found to not increase the likelihood of involvement in a safety-critical event.

Climate Central World Weather Attribution (WWA) project: Real-time extreme weather event attribution analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haustein, Karsten; Otto, Friederike; Uhe, Peter; Allen, Myles; Cullen, Heidi

2015-04-01

Extreme weather detection and attribution analysis has emerged as a core theme in climate science over the last decade or so. By using a combination of observational data and climate models it is possible to identify the role of climate change in certain types of extreme weather events such as sea level rise and its contribution to storm surges, extreme heat events and droughts or heavy rainfall and flood events. These analyses are usually carried out after an extreme event has occurred when reanalysis and observational data become available. The Climate Central WWA project will exploit the increasing forecast skill of seasonal forecast prediction systems such as the UK MetOffice GloSea5 (Global seasonal forecasting system) ensemble forecasting method. This way, the current weather can be fed into climate models to simulate large ensembles of possible weather scenarios before an event has fully emerged yet. This effort runs along parallel and intersecting tracks of science and communications that involve research, message development and testing, staged socialization of attribution science with key audiences, and dissemination. The method we employ uses a very large ensemble of simulations of regional climate models to run two different analyses: one to represent the current climate as it was observed, and one to represent the same events in the world that might have been without human-induced climate change. For the weather "as observed" experiment, the atmospheric model uses observed sea surface temperature (SST) data from GloSea5 (currently) and present-day atmospheric gas concentrations to simulate weather events that are possible given the observed climate conditions. The weather in the "world that might have been" experiments is obtained by removing the anthropogenic forcing from the observed SSTs, thereby simulating a counterfactual world without human activity. The anthropogenic forcing is obtained by comparing the CMIP5 historical and natural simulations from a variety of CMIP5 model ensembles. Here, we present results for the UK 2013/14 winter floods as proof of concept and we show validation and testing results that demonstrate the robustness of our method. We also revisit the record temperatures over Europe in 2014 and present a detailed analysis of this attribution exercise as it is one of the events to demonstrate that we can make a sensible statement of how the odds for such a year to occur have changed while it still unfolds.

Issues in Informal Education: Event-Based Science Communication Involving Planetaria and the Internet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Adams, M.; Gallagher, D. L.; Whitt, A.; Six, N. Frank (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

For the past four years the Science Directorate at Marshall Space Flight Center has carried out a diverse program of science communication through the web resources on the Internet. The program includes extended stories about NAS.4 science, a curriculum resource for teachers tied to national education standards, on-line activities for students, and webcasts of real-time events. Events have involved meteor showers, solar eclipses, natural very low frequency radio emissions, and amateur balloon flights. In some cases broadcasts accommodate active feedback and questions from Internet participants. We give here, examples of events, problems, and lessons learned from these activities.

Case Outcomes in a Communication-and-Resolution Program in New York Hospitals.

PubMed

Mello, Michelle M; Greenberg, Yelena; Senecal, Susan K; Cohn, Janet S

2016-12-01

To determine case outcomes in a communication-and-resolution program (CRP) implemented to respond to adverse events in general surgery. Five acute-care hospitals in New York City. Following CRP implementation, hospitals recorded information about each CRP event for 22 months. Risk managers prospectively collected data in collaboration with representatives from the hospital's insurer. External researchers administered an online satisfaction survey to clinicians involved in CRP events. Among 125 CRP cases, disclosure conversations were carried out in 92 percent, explanations were conveyed in 88 percent, and apologies were offered in 72.8 percent. Three quarters of events did not involve substandard care. Compensation offers beyond bill waivers were deemed appropriate in 9 of 30 of cases in which substandard care caused harm and communicated in six such cases. In 44 percent of cases, hospitals identified steps that could be taken to improve safety. Clinicians had low awareness of the workings of the CRP, but high satisfaction with their experiences. The bulk of CRPs' work is in investigating and communicating about events not caused by substandard care. These CRPs were quite successful in handling such events, but less consistent in offering compensation in cases involving substandard care. © Health Research and Educational Trust.

The devil is in the detail: brain dynamics in preparation for a global-local task.

PubMed

Leaver, Echo E; Low, Kathy A; DiVacri, Assunta; Merla, Arcangelo; Fabiani, Monica; Gratton, Gabriele

2015-08-01

When analyzing visual scenes, it is sometimes important to determine the relevant "grain" size. Attention control mechanisms may help direct our processing to the intended grain size. Here we used the event-related optical signal, a method possessing high temporal and spatial resolution, to examine the involvement of brain structures within the dorsal attention network (DAN) and the visual processing network (VPN) in preparation for the appropriate level of analysis. Behavioral data indicate that the small features of a hierarchical stimulus (local condition) are more difficult to process than the large features (global condition). Consistent with this finding, cues predicting a local trial were associated with greater DAN activation. This activity was bilateral but more pronounced in the left hemisphere, where it showed a frontal-to-parietal progression over time. Furthermore, the amount of DAN activation, especially in the left hemisphere and in parietal regions, was predictive of subsequent performance. Although local cues elicited left-lateralized DAN activity, no preponderantly right activity was observed for global cues; however, the data indicated an interaction between level of analysis (local vs. global) and hemisphere in VPN. They further showed that local processing involves structures in the ventral VPN, whereas global processing involves structures in the dorsal VPN. These results indicate that in our study preparation for analyzing different size features is an asymmetric process, in which greater preparation is required to focus on small rather than large features, perhaps because of their lesser salience. This preparation involves the same DAN used for other attention control operations.

Public Health System Response to Extreme Weather Events.

PubMed

Hunter, Mark D; Hunter, Jennifer C; Yang, Jane E; Crawley, Adam W; Aragón, Tomás J

2016-01-01

Extreme weather events, unpredictable and often far-reaching, constitute a persistent challenge for public health preparedness. The goal of this research is to inform public health systems improvement through examination of extreme weather events, comparing across cases to identify recurring patterns in event and response characteristics. Structured telephone-based interviews were conducted with representatives from health departments to assess characteristics of recent extreme weather events and agencies' responses. Response activities were assessed using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Health Emergency Preparedness Capabilities framework. Challenges that are typical of this response environment are reported. Forty-five local health departments in 20 US states. Respondents described public health system responses to 45 events involving tornadoes, flooding, wildfires, winter weather, hurricanes, and other storms. Events of similar scale were infrequent for a majority (62%) of the communities involved; disruption to critical infrastructure was universal. Public Health Emergency Preparedness Capabilities considered most essential involved environmental health investigations, mass care and sheltering, surveillance and epidemiology, information sharing, and public information and warning. Unanticipated response activities or operational constraints were common. We characterize extreme weather events as a "quadruple threat" because (1) direct threats to population health are accompanied by damage to public health protective and community infrastructure, (2) event characteristics often impose novel and pervasive burdens on communities, (3) responses rely on critical infrastructures whose failure both creates new burdens and diminishes response capacity, and (4) their infrequency and scale further compromise response capacity. Given the challenges associated with extreme weather events, we suggest opportunities for organizational learning and preparedness improvements.

Revised chronostratigraphy of recurrent ignimbritic eruptions in Dominica (Lesser Antilles arc): Implications on the behavior of the magma plumbing system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudon, Georges; Balcone-Boissard, Hélène; Solaro, Clara; Martel, Caroline

2017-09-01

Ignimbritic eruptions represent catastrophic events due to the magma volume involved and the related consequences on Earth's environment in relation with the released gases and the tephra dispersal. Dominica has been recognized as hosting one of the major ignimbritic eruptions of the last 200 ky in the Lesser Antilles arc, called the Roseau Tuff. But more recent works have evidenced several pumiceous events instead of a single large one. Here we propose a revised chronostratigraphy of the explosive activity that occurred in the last tens of thousands years based on three field trips, new 14C ages, detailed lithological and geochemical investigations, in particular a precise characterization of trace element glass chemistry. This eruptive history reconstruction is mainly based on outcrops along the coast and in the valley, since the luxury vegetation in the center of the island mostly precludes sections close to the central volcanic centers. We thus confirm that the Roseau event has been overestimated and that we may recognize five main ignimbritic events: Grande Savane, Layou ( 51 ka), Grand Bay, Roseau ( 33 ka), Grand Fond ( 24 ka). We discuss the possible volcanic center at their origin, in addition to correlations with some Plinian events of lower magnitude that were identified in the Roseau valley and in the southern part of Dominica. This study may help to better constrain the eruptive history of the most active volcanic island of the Lesser Antilles arc, which has important implications on hazard mitigation.

Event processing in X-IFU detector onboard Athena.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ceballos, M. T.; Cobos, B.; van der Kuurs, J.; Fraga-Encinas, R.

2015-05-01

The X-ray Observatory ATHENA was proposed in April 2014 as the mission to implement the science theme "The Hot and Energetic Universe" selected by ESA for L2 (the second Large-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision science programme). One of the two X-ray detectors designed to be onboard ATHENA is X-IFU, a cryogenic microcalorimeter based on Transition Edge Sensor (TES) technology that will provide spatially resolved high-resolution spectroscopy. X-IFU will be developed by a consortium of European research institutions currently from France (leadership), Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Germany and Spain. From Spain, IFCA (CSIC-UC) is involved in the Digital Readout Electronics (DRE) unit of the X-IFU detector, in particular in the Event Processor Subsytem. We at IFCA are in charge of the development and implementation in the DRE unit of the Event Processing algorithms, designed to recognize, from a noisy signal, the intensity pulses generated by the absorption of the X-ray photons, and lately extract their main parameters (coordinates, energy, arrival time, grade, etc.) Here we will present the design and performance of the algorithms developed for the event recognition (adjusted derivative), and pulse grading/qualification as well as the progress in the algorithms designed to extract the energy content of the pulses (pulse optimal filtering). IFCA will finally have the responsibility of the implementation on board in the (TBD) FPGAs or micro-processors of the DRE unit, where this Event Processing part will take place, to fit into the limited telemetry of the instrument.

Long Return Periods for Earthquakes in San Gorgonio Pass and Implications for Large Ruptures of the San Andreas Fault in Southern California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yule, J.; McBurnett, P.; Ramzan, S.

2011-12-01

The largest discontinuity in the surface trace of the San Andreas fault occurs in southern California at San Gorgonio Pass. Here, San Andreas motion moves through a 20 km-wide compressive stepover on the dextral-oblique-slip thrust system known as the San Gorgonio Pass fault zone. This thrust-dominated system is thought to rupture during very large San Andreas events that also involve strike-slip fault segments north and south of the Pass region. A wealth of paleoseismic data document that the San Andreas fault segments on either side of the Pass, in the San Bernardino/Mojave Desert and Coachella Valley regions, rupture on average every ~100 yrs and ~200 yrs, respectively. In contrast, we report here a notably longer return period for ruptures of the San Gorgonio Pass fault zone. For example, features exposed in trenches at the Cabezon site reveal that the most recent earthquake occurred 600-700 yrs ago (this and other ages reported here are constrained by C-14 calibrated ages from charcoal). The rupture at Cabezon broke a 10 m-wide zone of east-west striking thrusts and produced a >2 m-high scarp. Slip during this event is estimated to be >4.5 m. Evidence for a penultimate event was not uncovered but presumably lies beneath ~1000 yr-old strata at the base of the trenches. In Millard Canyon, 5 km to the west of Cabezon, the San Gorgonio Pass fault zone splits into two splays. The northern splay is expressed by 2.5 ± 0.7 m and 5.0 ± 0.7 m scarps in alluvial terraces constrained to be ~1300 and ~2500 yrs old, respectively. The scarp on the younger, low terrace postdates terrace abandonment ~1300 yrs ago and probably correlates with the 600-700 yr-old event at Cabezon, though we cannot rule out that a different event produced the northern Millard scarp. Trenches excavated in the low terrace reveal growth folding and secondary faulting and clear evidence for a penultimate event ~1350-1450 yrs ago, during alluvial deposition prior to the abandonment of the low terrace. Subtle evidence for a third event is poorly constrained by age data to have occurred between 1600 and 2500 yrs ago. The southern splay at Millard Canyon forms a 1.5 ± 0.1 m scarp in an alluvial terrace that is inset into the lowest terrace at the northern Millard site, and therefore must be < ~1300 yrs old. Slip on this fault probably occurred during the most recent rupture in the Pass. In summary, we think that the most recent earthquake occurred 600-700 yrs ago and generated ~6 m of slip on the San Gorgonio Pass fault zone. The evidence for two older earthquakes is less complete but suggests that they are similar in style and magnitude to the most recent event. The available data therefore suggest that the San Gorgonio Pass fault zone has produced three large (~6 m) events in the last ~2000 yrs, a return period of ~700 yrs assuming that the next rupture is imminent. We prefer a model whereby a majority of San Andreas fault ruptures end as they approach the Pass region from the north or the south (like the Wrightwood event of A.D. 1812 and possibly the Coachella Valley event of ~A.D. 1680). Relatively rare (once-per-millennia?), through-going San Andreas events break the San Gorgonio Pass fault zone and produce the region's largest earthquakes.

Whistlers in Neptune's magnetosphere: Evidence of atmospheric lightning

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gurnett, D. A.; Kurth, W. S.; Cairns, I. H.; Granroth, L. J.

1990-01-01

During the Voyager 2 flyby of Neptune, a series of 16 whistler-like events were detected by the plasma wave instrument near closest approach. These events were observed at radial distances from 1.30 to 1.99 R sub N and magnetic latitudes from -7 to 33 deg. The frequencies ranged from 6.1 to 12.0 kHz, and the dispersions fit the Eckersley law for lightning-generated whistlers. Lightning in the atmosphere of Neptune is the only known source of such signals. The frequency range of the whistlers (up to 12 kHz) indicates that the local electron densities are substantially higher (N sub e greater than 30 t0 100 per cu cm) than indicated by the in situ plasma measurements. The dispersion of the whistlers is very large, typically 26,000 sec Hz(exp 0.5). Based on existing plasma density models and measurements, the dispersions are too large to be accounted for by a single direct path from the lightning source to the spacecraft. Therefore, multiple bounces from one hemisphere to the other are required. The most likely propagation path probably involves a lightning source on the dayside of the planet, with repeated bounces through the dense dayside ionosphere at low L-values.

Modification of the Sandwich Estimator in Generalized Estimating Equations with Correlated Binary Outcomes in Rare Event and Small Sample Settings

PubMed Central

Rogers, Paul; Stoner, Julie

2016-01-01

Regression models for correlated binary outcomes are commonly fit using a Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) methodology. GEE uses the Liang and Zeger sandwich estimator to produce unbiased standard error estimators for regression coefficients in large sample settings even when the covariance structure is misspecified. The sandwich estimator performs optimally in balanced designs when the number of participants is large, and there are few repeated measurements. The sandwich estimator is not without drawbacks; its asymptotic properties do not hold in small sample settings. In these situations, the sandwich estimator is biased downwards, underestimating the variances. In this project, a modified form for the sandwich estimator is proposed to correct this deficiency. The performance of this new sandwich estimator is compared to the traditional Liang and Zeger estimator as well as alternative forms proposed by Morel, Pan and Mancl and DeRouen. The performance of each estimator was assessed with 95% coverage probabilities for the regression coefficient estimators using simulated data under various combinations of sample sizes and outcome prevalence values with an Independence (IND), Autoregressive (AR) and Compound Symmetry (CS) correlation structure. This research is motivated by investigations involving rare-event outcomes in aviation data. PMID:26998504

Learning to REDUCE: A Reduced Electricity Consumption Prediction Ensemble

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aman, Saima; Chelmis, Charalampos; Prasanna, Viktor

Utilities use Demand Response (DR) to balance supply and demand in the electric grid by involving customers in efforts to reduce electricity consumption during peak periods. To implement and adapt DR under dynamically changing conditions of the grid, reliable prediction of reduced consumption is critical. However, despite the wealth of research on electricity consumption prediction and DR being long in practice, the problem of reduced consumption prediction remains largely un-addressed. In this paper, we identify unique computational challenges associated with the prediction of reduced consumption and contrast this to that of normal consumption and DR baseline prediction.We propose a novelmore » ensemble model that leverages different sequences of daily electricity consumption on DR event days as well as contextual attributes for reduced consumption prediction. We demonstrate the success of our model on a large, real-world, high resolution dataset from a university microgrid comprising of over 950 DR events across a diverse set of 32 buildings. Our model achieves an average error of 13.5%, an 8.8% improvement over the baseline. Our work is particularly relevant for buildings where electricity consumption is not tied to strict schedules. Our results and insights should prove useful to the researchers and practitioners working in the sustainable energy domain.« less

A mitochondrial stratigraphy for island southeast Asia.

PubMed

Hill, Catherine; Soares, Pedro; Mormina, Maru; Macaulay, Vincent; Clarke, Dougie; Blumbach, Petya B; Vizuete-Forster, Matthieu; Forster, Peter; Bulbeck, David; Oppenheimer, Stephen; Richards, Martin

2007-01-01

Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) was first colonized by modern humans at least 45,000 years ago, but the extent to which the modern inhabitants trace their ancestry to the first settlers is a matter of debate. It is widely held, in both archaeology and linguistics, that they are largely descended from a second wave of dispersal, proto-Austronesian-speaking agriculturalists who originated in China and spread to Taiwan approximately 5,500 years ago. From there, they are thought to have dispersed into ISEA approximately 4,000 years ago, assimilating the indigenous populations. Here, we demonstrate that mitochondrial DNA diversity in the region is extremely high and includes a large number of indigenous clades. Only a fraction of these date back to the time of first settlement, and the majority appear to mark dispersals in the late-Pleistocene or early-Holocene epoch most likely triggered by postglacial flooding. There are much closer genetic links to Taiwan than to the mainland, but most of these probably predated the mid-Holocene "Out of Taiwan" event as traditionally envisioned. Only approximately 20% at most of modern mitochondrial DNAs in ISEA could be linked to such an event, suggesting that, if an agriculturalist migration did take place, it was demographically minor, at least with regard to the involvement of women.

Cognitive constraints on constituent order: Evidence from elicited pantomime

PubMed Central

Hall, Matthew L.; Mayberry, Rachel I.; Ferreira, Victor S.

2014-01-01

To what extent does human cognition influence the structure of human language? Recent experiments using elicited pantomime suggest that the prevalence of Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order across the world's languages may arise in part because SOV order is most compatible with how we conceptually represent transitive events (Goldin-Meadow, So, Özyürek, & Mylander, 2008). However, this raises the question as to why non-SOV orders exist. Two recent studies (Meir, Lifshitz, Ilkbasaran, & Padden, 2010; Gibson et al., 2013) suggest that SOV might be suboptimal for describing events in which both the agent and patient are plausible agents (e.g. a woman pushing a boy); we call these “reversible” events. We replicate these findings using elicited pantomime and offer a new interpretation. Meir et al.'s (2010) account is framed largely in terms of constraints on comprehension, while Gibson et al.'s (2013) account involves minimizing the risk of information loss or memory degradation. We offer an alternative hypothesis that is grounded in constraints on production. We consider the implications of these findings for the distribution of constituent order in the world's spoken languages and for the structure of emerging sign languages. PMID:23792806

CFD Applications in Support of the Space Shuttle Risk Assessment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baum, Joseph D.; Mestreau, Eric; Luo, Hong; Sharov, Dmitri; Fragola, Joseph; Loehner, Rainald; Cook, Steve (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

The paper describes a numerical study of a potential accident scenario of the space shuttle, operating at the same flight conditions as flight 51L, the Challenger accident. The interest in performing this simulation is derived by evidence that indicates that the event itself did not exert large enough blast loading on the shuttle to break it apart. Rather, the quasi-steady aerodynamic loading on the damaged, unbalance vehicle caused the break-up. Despite the enormous explosive potential of the shuttle total fuel load (both liquid and solid), the post accident explosives working group estimated the maximum energy involvement to be equivalent to about five hundreds of pounds of TNT. This understanding motivated the simulation described here. To err on the conservative side, we modeled the event as an explosion, and used the maximum energy estimate. We modeled the transient detonation of a 500 lbs spherical charge of TNT, placed at the main engine, and the resulting blast wave propagation about the complete stack. Tracking of peak pressures and impulses at hundreds of locations on the vehicle surface indicate that the blast load was insufficient to break the vehicle, hence demonstrating likely crew survivability through such an event.

An Ontology-Based GIS for Genomic Data Management of Rumen Microbes

PubMed Central

Jelokhani-Niaraki, Saber; Minuchehr, Zarrin; Nassiri, Mohammad Reza

2015-01-01

During recent years, there has been exponential growth in biological information. With the emergence of large datasets in biology, life scientists are encountering bottlenecks in handling the biological data. This study presents an integrated geographic information system (GIS)-ontology application for handling microbial genome data. The application uses a linear referencing technique as one of the GIS functionalities to represent genes as linear events on the genome layer, where users can define/change the attributes of genes in an event table and interactively see the gene events on a genome layer. Our application adopted ontology to portray and store genomic data in a semantic framework, which facilitates data-sharing among biology domains, applications, and experts. The application was developed in two steps. In the first step, the genome annotated data were prepared and stored in a MySQL database. The second step involved the connection of the database to both ArcGIS and Protégé as the GIS engine and ontology platform, respectively. We have designed this application specifically to manage the genome-annotated data of rumen microbial populations. Such a GIS-ontology application offers powerful capabilities for visualizing, managing, reusing, sharing, and querying genome-related data. PMID:25873847

An Ontology-Based GIS for Genomic Data Management of Rumen Microbes.

PubMed

Jelokhani-Niaraki, Saber; Tahmoorespur, Mojtaba; Minuchehr, Zarrin; Nassiri, Mohammad Reza

2015-03-01

During recent years, there has been exponential growth in biological information. With the emergence of large datasets in biology, life scientists are encountering bottlenecks in handling the biological data. This study presents an integrated geographic information system (GIS)-ontology application for handling microbial genome data. The application uses a linear referencing technique as one of the GIS functionalities to represent genes as linear events on the genome layer, where users can define/change the attributes of genes in an event table and interactively see the gene events on a genome layer. Our application adopted ontology to portray and store genomic data in a semantic framework, which facilitates data-sharing among biology domains, applications, and experts. The application was developed in two steps. In the first step, the genome annotated data were prepared and stored in a MySQL database. The second step involved the connection of the database to both ArcGIS and Protégé as the GIS engine and ontology platform, respectively. We have designed this application specifically to manage the genome-annotated data of rumen microbial populations. Such a GIS-ontology application offers powerful capabilities for visualizing, managing, reusing, sharing, and querying genome-related data.

A cultural historical activity theory perspective to understand preservice science teachers' reflections on and tensions during a microteaching experience

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sezen-Barrie, Asli; Tran, Minh-Dan; McDonald, Scott P.; Kelly, Gregory J.

2014-09-01

This study draws from cultural historical activity theory (CHAT) to analyze preservice teachers' reflections on a microteaching activity. Microteaching activities involved preservice educators teaching middle school students from local schools. The study was conducted with 23 preservice teachers enrolled in a large university's teacher education program. During this secondary science teaching methods course, every pair of preservice teachers engaged in 20 minute microteaching activity with 3-5 middle school students. The microteaching was videotaped, and the teachers subsequently provided voice-over reflections on a second audio track. Transcriptions of the microteaching events were analyzed through the formation of event maps showing the phases of activity and the organizational sequence of actions. Event maps were used to investigate the focus of preservice teachers' reflections. The results showed that while learning from their microteaching, preservice teachers focused primarily on the mediating artifacts and gave least attention to the larger teaching community surrounding these activities. Use of CHAT helped to identify challenges in different elements of the microteaching activity. The study contributes to how reflective practice can be enhanced through attention to the social and cultural dimensions of the teaching.

The Extent of Consumer Product Involvement in Paediatric Injuries

PubMed Central

Catchpoole, Jesani; Walker, Sue; Vallmuur, Kirsten

2016-01-01

A challenge in utilising health sector injury data for Product Safety purposes is that clinically coded data have limited ability to inform regulators about product involvement in injury events, given data entry is bound by a predefined set of codes. Text narratives collected in emergency departments can potentially address this limitation by providing relevant product information with additional accompanying context. This study aims to identify and quantify consumer product involvement in paediatric injuries recorded in emergency department-based injury surveillance data. A total of 7743 paediatric injuries were randomly selected from Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit database and associated text narratives were manually reviewed to determine product involvement in the injury event. A Product Involvement Factor classification system was used to categorise these injury cases. Overall, 44% of all reviewed cases were associated with consumer products, with proximity factor (25%) being identified as the most common involvement of a product in an injury event. Only 6% were established as being directly due to the product. The study highlights the importance of utilising injury data to inform product safety initiatives where text narratives can be used to identify the type and involvement of products in injury cases. PMID:27399744

The Extent of Consumer Product Involvement in Paediatric Injuries.

PubMed

Catchpoole, Jesani; Walker, Sue; Vallmuur, Kirsten

2016-07-07

A challenge in utilising health sector injury data for Product Safety purposes is that clinically coded data have limited ability to inform regulators about product involvement in injury events, given data entry is bound by a predefined set of codes. Text narratives collected in emergency departments can potentially address this limitation by providing relevant product information with additional accompanying context. This study aims to identify and quantify consumer product involvement in paediatric injuries recorded in emergency department-based injury surveillance data. A total of 7743 paediatric injuries were randomly selected from Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit database and associated text narratives were manually reviewed to determine product involvement in the injury event. A Product Involvement Factor classification system was used to categorise these injury cases. Overall, 44% of all reviewed cases were associated with consumer products, with proximity factor (25%) being identified as the most common involvement of a product in an injury event. Only 6% were established as being directly due to the product. The study highlights the importance of utilising injury data to inform product safety initiatives where text narratives can be used to identify the type and involvement of products in injury cases.

Improved microseismic event locations through large-N arrays and wave-equation imaging and inversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Witten, B.; Shragge, J. C.

2016-12-01

The recent increased focus on small-scale seismicity, Mw < 4 has come about primarily for two reasons. First, there is an increase in induced seismicity related to injection operations primarily for wastewater disposal and hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas recovery and for geothermal energy production. While the seismicity associated with injection is sometimes felt, it is more often weak. Some weak events are detected on current sparse arrays; however, accurate location of the events often requires a larger number of (multi-component) sensors. This leads to the second reason for an increased focus on small magnitude seismicity: a greater number of seismometers are being deployed in large N-arrays. The greater number of sensors decreases the detection threshold and therefore significantly increases the number of weak events found. Overall, these two factors bring new challenges and opportunities. Many standard seismological location and inversion techniques are geared toward large, easily identifiable events recorded on a sparse number of stations. However, with large-N arrays we can detect small events by utilizing multi-trace processing techniques, and increased processing power equips us with tools that employ more complete physics for simultaneously locating events and inverting for P- and S-wave velocity structure. We present a method that uses large-N arrays and wave-equation-based imaging and inversion to jointly locate earthquakes and estimate the elastic velocities of the earth. The technique requires no picking and is thus suitable for weak events. We validate the methodology through synthetic and field data examples.

Studies of electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves using AMPTE/CCE and Dynamics Explorer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erlandson, Robert E.

1993-01-01

The principal activity during the past six months has involved the analysis of ion cyclotron waves recorded from DE-2 using the magnetic field experiment and electric field experiment. The results of this study have been published in the Geophysical Research Letters (GRL). The primary finding of this paper is that ion cyclotron waves were found to heat electrons, as observed in the DE-2 Langmuir probe data, through a Landau damping process. A second activity, which was started during the last six months, involves the study of large amplitude approximately one Hz electric and magnetic field oscillations recorded in the nightside auroral zone at substorm onset. Work is under way to determine the properties of these waves and investigate any association these waves may have with the substorm initiation process. A third activity under way involves a comprehensive study of ion cyclotron waves recorded at ionospheric altitudes by DE-2. This study will be an extension of the work reported in the GRL paper and will involve a larger sampling of wave events. This paper will focus on wave properties at ionospheric altitudes. A fourth activity involves a more in-depth analysis of the acceleration mechanisms and the resulting electron distributions based on the observations presented in the GRL paper.

Highlights of the second ISCB Student Council Symposium in Africa, 2017.

PubMed

Rafael, Candice N; Ashano, Efejiro; Moosa, Yumna; Shome, Sayane; DeBlasio, Dan

2017-01-01

Student Council Symposiums (SCSs) have been found to be very useful for students and young researchers. This is especially true given that the events are held directly before large international conferences, giving attendees a chance to gain exposure and have a warm up to the social nuances involved in attending such a meeting. This was the second SCS held in Africa in conjunction with the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) and the African Society for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology's (ASBCB) biennial meeting. This symposium was organised by students within the society inside Africa and was held on the 10 th of October 2017 in Entebbe, Uganda.

Challenges Facing 3-D Audio Display Design for Multimedia

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Begault, Durand R.; Null, Cynthia H. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

The challenges facing successful multimedia presentation depend largely on the expectations of the designer and end user for a given application. Perceptual limitations in distance, elevation and azimuth sound source simulation differ significantly between headphone and cross-talk cancellation loudspeaker listening and therefore must be considered. Simulation of an environmental context is desirable but the quality depends on processing resources and lack of interaction with the host acoustical environment. While techniques such as data reduction of head-related transfer functions have been used widely to improve simulation fidelity, another approach involves determining thresholds for environmental acoustic events. Psychoacoustic studies relevant to this approach are reviewed in consideration of multimedia applications

Lorre cluster: an outcome of recent asteroid collision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novakovic, B.; Dell'Oro, A.; Cellino, A.; Knezevic, Z.

2012-09-01

Here we show an example of a young asteroid cluster located in a dynamically stable region, which was produced by partial disruption of a primitive body about 30 km in size. According to our estimation it is only 1.9±0.3 Myr old, thus its post-impact evolution is very limited. The parent body had a large orbital inclination, and was subject to collisions with typical impact speeds higher by a factor of 2 than in the most common situations encountered in the main belt. For the first time we have at disposal the observable outcome of a very recent event to study high-speed collisions involving primitive asteroids.

Reducing Information Overload in Large Seismic Data Sets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

HAMPTON,JEFFERY W.; YOUNG,CHRISTOPHER J.; MERCHANT,BION J.

2000-08-02

Event catalogs for seismic data can become very large. Furthermore, as researchers collect multiple catalogs and reconcile them into a single catalog that is stored in a relational database, the reconciled set becomes even larger. The sheer number of these events makes searching for relevant events to compare with events of interest problematic. Information overload in this form can lead to the data sets being under-utilized and/or used incorrectly or inconsistently. Thus, efforts have been initiated to research techniques and strategies for helping researchers to make better use of large data sets. In this paper, the authors present their effortsmore » to do so in two ways: (1) the Event Search Engine, which is a waveform correlation tool and (2) some content analysis tools, which area combination of custom-built and commercial off-the-shelf tools for accessing, managing, and querying seismic data stored in a relational database. The current Event Search Engine is based on a hierarchical clustering tool known as the dendrogram tool, which is written as a MatSeis graphical user interface. The dendrogram tool allows the user to build dendrogram diagrams for a set of waveforms by controlling phase windowing, down-sampling, filtering, enveloping, and the clustering method (e.g. single linkage, complete linkage, flexible method). It also allows the clustering to be based on two or more stations simultaneously, which is important to bridge gaps in the sparsely recorded event sets anticipated in such a large reconciled event set. Current efforts are focusing on tools to help the researcher winnow the clusters defined using the dendrogram tool down to the minimum optimal identification set. This will become critical as the number of reference events in the reconciled event set continually grows. The dendrogram tool is part of the MatSeis analysis package, which is available on the Nuclear Explosion Monitoring Research and Engineering Program Web Site. As part of the research into how to winnow the reference events in these large reconciled event sets, additional database query approaches have been developed to provide windows into these datasets. These custom built content analysis tools help identify dataset characteristics that can potentially aid in providing a basis for comparing similar reference events in these large reconciled event sets. Once these characteristics can be identified, algorithms can be developed to create and add to the reduced set of events used by the Event Search Engine. These content analysis tools have already been useful in providing information on station coverage of the referenced events and basic statistical, information on events in the research datasets. The tools can also provide researchers with a quick way to find interesting and useful events within the research datasets. The tools could also be used as a means to review reference event datasets as part of a dataset delivery verification process. There has also been an effort to explore the usefulness of commercially available web-based software to help with this problem. The advantages of using off-the-shelf software applications, such as Oracle's WebDB, to manipulate, customize and manage research data are being investigated. These types of applications are being examined to provide access to large integrated data sets for regional seismic research in Asia. All of these software tools would provide the researcher with unprecedented power without having to learn the intricacies and complexities of relational database systems.« less

PREFACE: Fourth Symposium on Large TPCs for Low Energy Rare Event Detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Irastorza, Igor G.; Colas, Paul; Giomataris, Ioannis

2009-07-01

The Fourth International Symposium on large TPCs for low-energy rare-event detection was held at the Hermite auditorium of the Insitute Henri Poincaréte, 11 rue Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris on 18-19 December 2008. As in previous instances of the meeting, held always in Paris in 2006, 2004 and 2002, it gathered a significant community of physicists involved in rare event searches and/or development of time projection chambers (TPCs). The purpose of the meeting was to present and discuss the status of current experiments or projects involving the use of large TPCs for the search of rare events, like low-energy neutrinos, double beta decay, dark matter or axion experiments, as well as to discuss new results and ideas in the framework of the last developments of Micro Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGD), and how these are being - or could be - applied to the mentioned searches. The rapid evolvement of these devices and the relevance of their latest results need to be efficiently transferred to the rare event community. The creation of this series of meetings followed the motivation of bringing together both know-hows and it is proving to be a fruitful area of collaboration. Once more, the format of the meeting proved to be a success. A short (2 days) and relatively informal program with some recent highlighted results, rather than exhaustive reviews, attracted the interest of the audience. The symposium, fourth of the series, is becoming consolidated as a regular meeting place for the synergic interplay between the fields of rare events and TPC development. Apart from the usual topics central to the conference subject, like the status of some low-energy neutrino physics and double beta decay experiments, dark matter experiments (and in general physics in underground laboratories), axion searches, or development results, every year the conference programme is enriched with original slightly off-topic contributions that trigger the curiosity and stimulate further thought. This time we enjoyed some talks on cosmology and the possible detection of relic neutrinos. The present volume contains the proceedings of the conference. All papers published here have been peer reviewed through process administered by the Editors to meet standards for publication. They correspond to 16 of the talks given in the conference and they all represent high quality work in the above mentioned fields. The successful organization of the Symposium was made possible thanks to the contribution of the members of the Organizing Committee and International Advisory Committee. We want to thank in particular the session chairmen, J Iliopoulos, Ph Gorodetzky, B Mansoulié, J-E Augustin, D Santos, S Jullian and S Loucatos for their contribution to the smooth running of the workshop. The symposium was free of fees, which was made possible thanks to the financial support from CEA/IRFU and CNRS/IN2P3, the two major French research organizations that are gratefully acknowledged. We greatly acknowledge the contribution of the University of Zaragoza to the publication of these proceedings. Finally we want to thank the speakers for the high quality of their talks and all participants for coming to Paris and actively contributing in the meeting.

Geomorphic consequences of two large glacier and rock glacier destabilizations in the Central and northern Chilean Andes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iribarren Anacona, Pablo; Bodin, Xavier

2010-05-01

Mountain areas are occasionaly affected by complex mass movements of high magnitude and large extent, which generally involve water, snow, rock and ice in variable proportions. Those events can take the form of rock avalanche, landslide, debris flow, glacier collapse or a combination of these phenomenons. In the Central Andes of Chile, they affect hardly accessible regions with low population, explaining the scarcity of previous studies. Nevertheless, during the last 30 years, some documented examples of such events in this region have shown that the volume of material involved is in the order of several millions of m³, the areas affected can reach several tenth of km² and the velocity of the movement can exceed several tenths of m/s. In this context, this study intends i) to inventory and to describe the main characteristics of events previously documented in the Central Andes of Chile, and ii) analyse in detail two recent events (2005-2007) never described before which have affected in one case a glacier and in another case a rock glacier. With the objectives of determining the possible chain of triggering factors and interpreting the event's significance in terms of geomorphic, cryogenic and climatic dynamics, we used air photographs, satellite imagery (Landsat TM & ETM+; Quick Bird when available in Google Earth 5.0), data from the closest meteorological stations, glacier mass balance data and seismic records to investigate the collapse of a rock glacier occurred in 2006 on the west-facing flank of the Cerro Las Tórtolas (6160 m asl; 29°58' S. - 69°55' W.), in the arid North of Chile, and the collapse of a glacier that occurred during austral summer 2006-2007 on the South side of the Tinguiririca Volcano (4075 m asl; 34°48' S. - 70°21' W.). The rock glacier collapse of the Cerro Las Tórtolas West flank occurred during the spring of 2006, but signs of destabilization were already observable since the end of 2005. The deposit of the collapsed mass of the glacier covered 0.12km², nevertheless part of the material mobilized was channelised in a 200m-wide ravine generating an hyper-concentrated flow of snow, ice, water and debris, which traveled for 3 km downslope. The event of the Tinguiririca Volcano South flank occurred between the 29th of December 2006 and the 14th of January 2007 and affected a mountain glacier of 0.46 km². The destabilization of this later led to a quasi complete detachment of the glacier mass, which flowed to the bottom of the valley and, incorporating rock debris, snow and water, traveled downslope for more than 7 km. The destabilization and collapse of both studied landforms occurred during exceptionnaly warm periods of spring and summer and the climatic conditions produced intense glacier downwasting in Chile. This situation might have favoured the destabilization, either by reducing the basal friction of the glacier or by saturating the detritic sole of the rock glacier, both mechanisms being related to large quantity of melt water in the system. Although further research is needed, this temporal concordance suggests that those extreme geomorphologic phenomenons could be partly related to warming air temperatures.

Donor cornea tissue in cases of drowning or water submersion: eye banks practice patterns and tissue outcomes.

PubMed

Vijayakumar, Nithya P; Parikh, Purak; Mian, Shahzad I; Tennant, Brad; Grossman, Gregory H; Albrecht, Bob; Niziol, Leslie M; Woodward, Maria A

2018-03-01

Surgical use of donor corneal tissue from victims of water submersion (drowning or submersion secondary to death) remains controversial due to limited evidence about the quality of these tissues. To assess the safety of donor corneal tissue from victims of water submersion, an investigation of eye banks' practice patterns and tissue outcomes was conducted. All 79 Eye Bank Association of America accredited eye banks were contacted for a phone interview of practices regarding tissue from victims of water submersion. A retrospective review of corneal tissues from 2014 to 2016 from a large eye bank network was performed to identify all donors submerged in water. Corneal epithelial integrity, endothelial cell density (ECD), rim cultures, and adverse events were analyzed for associations with water submersion characteristics. 49 eye banks (62% response) participated in the survey. 55% of these eye banks had specific, written protocol for tissue eligibility from donors submerged in water. With or without specific protocol, eye banks reported considering water type (84%) and length of time submerged (92%) to determine eligibility. 22% of eye banks reported medical director involvement when eligibility determination was unclear. 79 tissues from 40 donors who were submerged were identified in 2014-2016 eye bank data. No donor tissues had pre-processing corneal infiltrates, positive rim cultures, or adverse events post-keratoplasty. Corneal epithelial integrity and ECD were not associated with water type or length of time submerged. In conclusion, data from a large eye bank network showed no adverse events or outcomes, indicating these tissues may be safe.

Simultaneous profiling of activity patterns in multiple neuronal subclasses.

PubMed

Parrish, R Ryley; Grady, John; Codadu, Neela K; Trevelyan, Andrew J; Racca, Claudia

2018-06-01

Neuronal networks typically comprise heterogeneous populations of neurons. A core objective when seeking to understand such networks, therefore, is to identify what roles these different neuronal classes play. Acquiring single cell electrophysiology data for multiple cell classes can prove to be a large and daunting task. Alternatively, Ca 2+ network imaging provides activity profiles of large numbers of neurons simultaneously, but without distinguishing between cell classes. We therefore developed a strategy for combining cellular electrophysiology, Ca 2+ network imaging, and immunohistochemistry to provide activity profiles for multiple cell classes at once. This involves cross-referencing easily identifiable landmarks between imaging of the live and fixed tissue, and then using custom MATLAB functions to realign the two imaging data sets, to correct for distortions of the tissue introduced by the fixation or immunohistochemical processing. We illustrate the methodology for analyses of activity profiles during epileptiform events recorded in mouse brain slices. We further demonstrate the activity profile of a population of parvalbumin-positive interneurons prior, during, and following a seizure-like event. Current approaches to Ca 2+ network imaging analyses are severely limited in their ability to subclassify neurons, and often rely on transgenic approaches to identify cell classes. In contrast, our methodology is a generic, affordable, and flexible technique to characterize neuronal behaviour with respect to classification based on morphological and neurochemical identity. We present a new approach for analysing Ca 2+ network imaging datasets, and use this to explore the parvalbumin-positive interneuron activity during epileptiform events. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Global analysis of exon creation versus loss and the role of alternative splicing in 17 vertebrate genomes

PubMed Central

Alekseyenko, Alexander V.; Kim, Namshin; Lee, Christopher J.

2007-01-01

Association of alternative splicing (AS) with accelerated rates of exon evolution in some organisms has recently aroused widespread interest in its role in evolution of eukaryotic gene structure. Previous studies were limited to analysis of exon creation or lost events in mouse and/or human only. Our multigenome approach provides a way for (1) distinguishing creation and loss events on the large scale; (2) uncovering details of the evolutionary mechanisms involved; (3) estimating the corresponding rates over a wide range of evolutionary times and organisms; and (4) assessing the impact of AS on those evolutionary rates. We use previously unpublished independent analyses of alternative splicing in five species (human, mouse, dog, cow, and zebrafish) from the ASAP database combined with genomewide multiple alignment of 17 genomes to analyze exon creation and loss of both constitutively and alternatively spliced exons in mammals, fish, and birds. Our analysis provides a comprehensive database of exon creation and loss events over 360 million years of vertebrate evolution, including tens of thousands of alternative and constitutive exons. We find that exon inclusion level is inversely related to the rate of exon creation. In addition, we provide a detailed in-depth analysis of mechanisms of exon creation and loss, which suggests that a large fraction of nonrepetitive created exons are results of ab initio creation from purely intronic sequences. Our data indicate an important role for alternative splicing in creation of new exons and provide a useful novel database resource for future genome evolution research. PMID:17369312

HS.Register - An Audit-Trail Tool to Respond to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

PubMed

Gonçalves-Ferreira, Duarte; Leite, Mariana; Santos-Pereira, Cátia; Correia, Manuel E; Antunes, Luis; Cruz-Correia, Ricardo

2018-01-01

Introduction The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) compels health care institutions and their software providers to properly document all personal data processing and provide clear evidence that their systems are inline with the GDPR. All applications involved in personal data processing should therefore produce meaningful event logs that can later be used for the effective auditing of complex processes. Aim This paper aims to describe and evaluate HS.Register, a system created to collect and securely manage at scale audit logs and data produced by a large number of systems. Methods HS.Register creates a single audit log by collecting and aggregating all kinds of meaningful event logs and data (e.g. ActiveDirectory, syslog, log4j, web server logs, REST, SOAP and HL7 messages). It also includes specially built dashboards for easy auditing and monitoring of complex processes, crossing different systems in an integrated way, as well as providing tools for helping on the auditing and on the diagnostics of difficult problems, using a simple web application. HS.Register is currently installed at five large Portuguese Hospitals and is composed of the following open-source components: HAproxy, RabbitMQ, Elasticsearch, Logstash and Kibana. Results HS.Register currently collects and analyses an average of 93 million events per week and it is being used to document and audit HL7 communications. Discussion Auditing tools like HS.Register are likely to become mandatory in the near future to allow for traceability and detailed auditing for GDPR compliance.

Maltreatment, Child Welfare, and Recidivism in a Sample of Deep-End Crossover Youth.

PubMed

Baglivio, Michael T; Wolff, Kevin T; Piquero, Alex R; Bilchik, Shay; Jackowski, Katherine; Greenwald, Mark A; Epps, Nathan

2016-04-01

Although research has oft-documented a maltreatment-delinquency link, the effect of involvement in-and timing of-child welfare system involvement on offending has received less attention. We examine whether the timing of child welfare involvement has differential effects on recidivism of deep-end juvenile offenders (youth who have been adjudicated delinquent by the court and placed in juvenile justice residential programs). The current study uses a large, diverse sample of 12,955 youth completing juvenile justice residential programs between 1 January 2010 and 30 June 2013 in Florida (13 % female, 55 % Black, 11 % Hispanic). Additionally, we explore the direct effects of childhood traumatic events on delinquency, as well as their indirect effects through child welfare involvement using structural equation modeling. The findings indicate that adverse childhood experiences fail to exert a direct effect on recidivism, but do exhibit a significant indirect effect on recidivism through child welfare involvement, which is itself associated with recidivism. This means that while having exposures to more types of childhood traumatic events does not, in and of itself, increase the likelihood of re-offending, effects of such experiences operate through child welfare placement. Differences in the effects of maltreatment timing and of adverse childhood experiences are observed across sex and race/ethnicity subgroups. Across all racial subgroups, exposures to adverse childhood experiences have a significant effect on the likelihood of child welfare placement, yet child welfare placement exerts a significant effect on recidivism for White and Hispanic youth, but not for Black youth. Only Hispanic female and White male youth with overlapping child welfare and juvenile justice cases (open cases in both systems at the same time during the study period) were more likely to recidivate than their delinquent-only counterpart youth. Crossover status (child welfare and juvenile justice involvement, whether prior or open cases) was essentially irrelevant with respect to the re-offending of Black youth completing juvenile justice residential programs. The findings indicate the effects of exposure to adverse childhood experiences, and child welfare system and juvenile justice system involvement on re-offending are not uniform across subgroups of youth but that earlier child welfare involvement is more detrimental than concurrent child welfare system involvement when it does matter.

77 FR 46401 - Large Residential Washers From Mexico: Preliminary Determination of Sales at Less Than Fair Value...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-03

... events have occurred.\\1\\ \\1\\ See Large Residential Washers From the Republic of Korea and Mexico... if, in the event of an affirmative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made... the event of a negative preliminary determination, a request for such postponement is made by the...

MyMoon: Engaging the “Missing Link” in Lunar Science Exploration through New Media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shaner, A.; Shupla, C.; Shipp, S. S.; Eriksson, A.

2009-12-01

NASA’s new scientific exploration of the Moon, coupled with the public’s interest in the Moon and innovative social networking approaches, is being leveraged to engage a fresh adult audience in lunar science and exploration. In July 2009 the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) launched a lunar education new media portal, MyMoon. LPI is collaborating with lunar scientists, educators, artists - and the public - to populate the site with science content, diverse media exhibits, events, and opportunities for involvement. Through MyMoon, the general public interacts with lunar content that informs them about lunar science research and missions, and engages them in future plans for lunar exploration and eventual habitation. MyMoon’s objectives are to: 1) develop a dynamic, new media learning portal that will enable the general public, with a focus on adults ages 18-35; 2) host a growing, active audience that becomes further involved in NASA’s lunar exploration by sharing their ideas about lunar topics, creating their own materials, and participating in events and experiences; 3) build a community of enthusiasts through social networking media; 4) create a model for online engagement of audiences 18 to 35, and provide detailed evaluation data on best practices and strategies for success. Immersive new media technologies are changing the way that people interact, work, learn, and teach. These provide potentially high-impact opportunities for reaching an audience of young adults, age 18 to 35, that largely is not accessed by, or accessing, NASA (Dittmar, 2004). MyMoon strives to engage - and involve - this audience to build a community of enthusiasts for lunar scientific exploration through social networks and current and emerging new media platforms, including posting videos on YouTube, photo contests on Flickr, and sharing events and challenges on Facebook and Twitter. MyMoon features interactive exhibits that are audience driven and added on a quarterly basis. Contests and polls encourage audience involvement. Semi-monthly webcasts allow audience members to interact directly with scientists, authors, and artists. A guest blog encourages audience responses to current lunar events and provocative viewpoints. Evaluation is an integral component to the MyMoon project. Evaluation data are obtained in short bursts through visitor feedback, prompted by a virtual squirrel who dares visitors to share their impressions, ideas, and interests in lunar science and exploration. Based on evaluation data, the current challenge that faces MyMoon is marketing further to the target audience; numerous approaches are being tested and evaluated. Dittmar, M. 2004, “The Market Study for Space Exploration,” (Houston, TX, Dittmar Associates, Inc.)

A follow-up study of hygiene in catering premises at large-scale events in the United Kingdom.

PubMed

Willis, C; Elviss, N; McLauchlin, J

2015-01-01

To investigate food hygiene practices at large events by assessing the microbiological quality of ready-to-eat food, drinking water, food preparation surfaces, cleaning cloths and wristbands worn by food handlers for event security purposes. Over a 7-month period, 1662 samples were collected at 153 events and examined for microbiological contamination. Eight per cent of food samples were of an unsatisfactory quality. A further one per cent contained potentially hazardous levels of human pathogenic bacteria. 27% of water samples, 32% of swabs and 56% of cloths were also unsatisfactory. These results represented an improvement in hygiene compared to a previous study carried out 12 months previously. A fifth of food handler wristbands were contaminated with Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli and/or coagulase-positive staphylococci, with those bands made from fabric being more frequently contaminated than those made from plastic or other materials. This study provides evidence that the food hygiene at large-scale events may have improved. However, there is still a need for continued efforts to maintain an ongoing improvement in cleaning regimes and food hygiene management. This study was part of an ongoing focus on large events in the lead-up to the London 2012 Olympics. Lessons learnt here will be important in the planning of future large events. © 2014 Crown copyright. © 2014 Society for Applied Microbiology This article is Published with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and Queen's Printer for Scotland.

Young Infants' Reasoning about Physical Events Involving Inert and Self-Propelled Objects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Luo, Yuyan; Kaufman, Lisa; Baillargeon, Renee

2009-01-01

The present research examined whether 5- to 6.5-month-old infants would hold different expectations about various physical events involving a box after receiving evidence that it was either inert or self-propelled. Infants were surprised if the inert but not the self-propelled box: reversed direction spontaneously (Experiment 1); remained…

Real-time monitoring of CO2 storage sites: Application to Illinois Basin-Decatur Project

USGS Publications Warehouse

Picard, G.; Berard, T.; Chabora, E.; Marsteller, S.; Greenberg, S.; Finley, R.J.; Rinck, U.; Greenaway, R.; Champagnon, C.; Davard, J.

2011-01-01

Optimization of carbon dioxide (CO2) storage operations for efficiency and safety requires use of monitoring techniques and implementation of control protocols. The monitoring techniques consist of permanent sensors and tools deployed for measurement campaigns. Large amounts of data are thus generated. These data must be managed and integrated for interpretation at different time scales. A fast interpretation loop involves combining continuous measurements from permanent sensors as they are collected to enable a rapid response to detected events; a slower loop requires combining large datasets gathered over longer operational periods from all techniques. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it presents an analysis of the monitoring objectives to be performed in the slow and fast interpretation loops. Second, it describes the implementation of the fast interpretation loop with a real-time monitoring system at the Illinois Basin-Decatur Project (IBDP) in Illinois, USA. ?? 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Collective dynamics during cell division

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zapperi, Stefano; Bertalan, Zsolt; Budrikis, Zoe; La Porta, Caterina A. M.

In order to correctly divide, cells have to move all their chromosomes at the center, a process known as congression. This task is performed by the combined action of molecular motors and randomly growing and shrinking microtubules. Chromosomes are captured by growing microtubules and transported by motors using the same microtubules as tracks. Coherent motion occurs as a result of a large collection of random and deterministic dynamical events. Understanding this process is important since a failure in chromosome segregation can lead to chromosomal instability one of the hallmarks of cancer. We describe this complex process in a three dimensional computational model involving thousands of microtubules. The results show that coherent and robust chromosome congression can only happen if the total number of microtubules is neither too small, nor too large. Our results allow for a coherent interpretation a variety of biological factors already associated in the past with chromosomal instability and related pathological conditions.

Genesis and growth of extracellular vesicle-derived microcalcification in atherosclerotic plaques

PubMed Central

Hutcheson, Joshua D.; Goettsch, Claudia; Bertazzo, Sergio; Maldonado, Natalia; Ruiz, Jessica L.; Goh, Wilson; Yabusaki, Katsumi; Faits, Tyler; Bouten, Carlijn; Franck, Gregory; Quillard, Thibaut; Libby, Peter; Aikawa, Masanori; Weinbaum, Sheldon; Aikawa, Elena

2015-01-01

Clinical evidence links arterial calcification and cardiovascular risk. Finite-element modelling of the stress distribution within atherosclerotic plaques has suggested that subcellular microcalcifications in the fibrous cap may promote material failure of the plaque, but that large calcifications can stabilize it. Yet the physicochemical mechanisms underlying such mineral formation and growth in atheromata remain unknown. Here, by using three-dimensional collagen hydrogels that mimic structural features of the atherosclerotic fibrous cap, and high-resolution microscopic and spectroscopic analyses of both the hydrogels and of calcified human plaques, we demonstrate that calcific mineral formation and maturation results from a series of events involving the aggregation of calcifying extracellular vesicles, and the formation of microcalcifications and ultimately large calcification zones. We also show that calcification morphology and the plaque’s collagen content – two determinants of atherosclerotic plaque stability - are interlinked. PMID:26752654

Are large-scale flow experiments informing the science and management of freshwater ecosystems?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Olden, Julian D.; Konrad, Christopher P.; Melis, Theodore S.; Kennard, Mark J.; Freeman, Mary C.; Mims, Meryl C.; Bray, Erin N.; Gido, Keith B.; Hemphill, Nina P.; Lytle, David A.; McMullen, Laura E.; Pyron, Mark; Robinson, Christopher T.; Schmidt, John C.; Williams, John G.

2013-01-01

Greater scientific knowledge, changing societal values, and legislative mandates have emphasized the importance of implementing large-scale flow experiments (FEs) downstream of dams. We provide the first global assessment of FEs to evaluate their success in advancing science and informing management decisions. Systematic review of 113 FEs across 20 countries revealed that clear articulation of experimental objectives, while not universally practiced, was crucial for achieving management outcomes and changing dam-operating policies. Furthermore, changes to dam operations were three times less likely when FEs were conducted primarily for scientific purposes. Despite the recognized importance of riverine flow regimes, four-fifths of FEs involved only discrete flow events. Over three-quarters of FEs documented both abiotic and biotic outcomes, but only one-third examined multiple taxonomic responses, thus limiting how FE results can inform holistic dam management. Future FEs will present new opportunities to advance scientifically credible water policies.

Rapidly Measuring the Speed of Unconscious Learning: Amnesics Learn Quickly and Happy People Slowly

PubMed Central

Dienes, Zoltan; Baddeley, Roland J.; Jansari, Ashok

2012-01-01

Background We introduce a method for quickly determining the rate of implicit learning. Methodology/Principal Findings The task involves making a binary prediction for a probabilistic sequence over 10 minutes; from this it is possible to determine the influence of events of a different number of trials in the past on the current decision. This profile directly reflects the learning rate parameter of a large class of learning algorithms including the delta and Rescorla-Wagner rules. To illustrate the use of the method, we compare a person with amnesia with normal controls and we compare people with induced happy and sad moods. Conclusions/Significance Learning on the task is likely both associative and implicit. We argue theoretically and demonstrate empirically that both amnesia and also transient negative moods can be associated with an especially large learning rate: People with amnesia can learn quickly and happy people slowly. PMID:22457759

60Ma of legume nodulation. What's new? What's changing?

PubMed

Sprent, Janet I

2008-01-01

Current evidence suggests that legumes evolved about 60 million years ago. Genetic material for nodulation was recruited from existing DNA, often following gene duplication. The initial process of infection probably did not involve either root hairs or infection threads. From this initial event, two branched pathways of nodule developmental processes evolved, one involving and one not involving the development of infection threads to 'escort' bacteria to young nodule cells. Extant legumes have a wide range of nodule structures and at least 25% of them do not have infection threads. The latter have uniform infected tissue whereas those that have infection threads have infected cells interspersed with uninfected (interstitial) cells. Each type of nodule may develop indeterminately, with an apical meristem, or show determinate growth. These nodule structures are host determined and are largely congruent with taxonomic position. In addition to variation on the plant side, the last 10 years have seen the recognition of many new types of 'rhizobia', bacteria that can induce nodulation and fix nitrogen. It is not yet possible to fit these into the emerging pattern of nodule evolution.

Promoting undergraduate involvement through the University of Arizona Astronomy Club

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McGraw, Allison M.; Austin, Carmen; Noyes, Matthew; Calahan, Jenny; Lautenbach, Jennifer; Henrici, Andrew; Ryleigh Fitzpatrick, M.; Shirley, Yancy L.

2016-01-01

The University of Arizona Astronomy Club is devoted to undergraduate success in astronomy, physics, planetary sciences and many other related fields. The club promotes many undergraduate opportunities; research projects, participating in telescope observational runs, sponsoring conference attendance as well as several public outreach opportunities. Research projects involving exoplanet transit observations and radio observations of cold molecular clouds allow undergraduates to experience data collection, telescope operations, data reduction and research presentation. The club hosts many star parties and various other public outreach events for the Tucson, Arizona location. The club often constructs their own outreach materials and structures. The club is currently working on creating a portable planetarium to teach about the night sky on the go even on the cloudiest of nights. The club is also working on creating a binocular telescope with two 10" mirrors as a recreation of the local Large Binocular Telescope for outreach purposes as well. This is a club that strives for undergraduate activity and involvement in a range of academic and extracurricular activates, and is welcoming to all majors of all levels in hopes to spark astronomical interest.

The canopy interception-landslide initiation conundrum: insight from a tropical secondary forest in northern Thailand

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sidle, Roy C.; Ziegler, Alan D.

2017-01-01

The interception and smoothing effect of forest canopies on pulses of incident rainfall and its delivery to the soil has been suggested as a factor in moderating peak pore water pressure in soil mantles, thus reducing the risk of shallow landslides. Here we provide 3 years of rainfall and throughfall data in a tropical secondary dipterocarp forest characterized by few large trees in northern Thailand, along with selected soil moisture dynamics, to address this issue. Throughfall was an estimated 88 % of rainfall, varying from 86 to 90 % in individual years. Data from 167 events demonstrate that canopy interception was only weakly associated (via a nonlinear relationship) with total event rainfall, but not significantly correlated with duration, mean intensity, or antecedent 2-day precipitation (API2). Mean interception during small events (≤ 35 mm) was 17 % (n = 135 events) compared with only 7 % for large events (> 35 mm; n = 32). Examining small temporal intervals within the largest and highest intensity events that would potentially trigger landslides revealed complex patterns of interception. The tropical forest canopy had little smoothing effect on incident rainfall during the largest events. During events with high peak intensities, high wind speeds, and/or moderate-to-high pre-event wetting, measured throughfall was occasionally higher than rainfall during large event peaks, demonstrating limited buffering. However, in events with little wetting and low-to-moderate wind speed, early event rainfall peaks were buffered by the canopy. As rainfall continued during most large events, there was little difference between rainfall and throughfall depths. A comparison of both rainfall and throughfall depths to conservative mean intensity-duration thresholds for landslide initiation revealed that throughfall exceeded the threshold in 75 % of the events in which rainfall exceeded the threshold for both wet and dry conditions. Throughfall intensity for the 11 largest events (rainfall = 65-116 mm) plotted near or above the intensity-duration threshold for landslide initiation during wet conditions; 5 of the events were near or above the threshold for dry conditions. Soil moisture responses during large events were heavily and progressively buffered at depths of 1 to 2 m, indicating that the timescale of any short-term smoothing of peak rainfall inputs (i.e., ≤ 1 h) has little influence on peak pore water pressure at depths where landslides would initiate in this area. Given these findings, we conclude that canopy interception would have little effect on mitigating shallow landslide initiation during the types of monsoon rainfall conditions in this and similar tropical secondary forest sites.

Co-Seismic Mass Displacement and its Effect on Earth's Rotation and Gravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chao, B. F.; Gross, R. S.

2004-01-01

Mantle processes often involve large-scale mass transport, ranging from mantle convection, tectonic motions, glacial isostatic adjustment, to tides, atmospheric and oceanic loadings, volcanism and seismicity. On very short time scale of less than an hour, co-seismic event, apart from the "shaking" that is the earthquake, leaves behind permanent (step-function-like) displacements in the crust and mantle. This redistribution of mass changes the Earth's inertia tensor (and hence Earth's rotation in both length-of-day and polar motion), and the gravity field. The question is whether these effects are large enough to be of any significance. In this paper we report updated calculation results based on Chao & Gross. The calculation uses the normal mode summation scheme, applied to over twenty thousand major earthquakes that occurred during 1976-2002, according to source mechanism solutions given by the Harvard Centroid Moment Tensor catalog. Compared to the truly large ones earlier in the century, the earthquakes we study are individually all too small to have left any discernible signature in geodetic records of Earth rotation or global gravity field. However, their collective effects continue to exhibit an extremely strong statistical tendencies, conspiring to decrease J2 and J22 while shortening LOD, resulting in a rounder and more compact Earth. Strong tendency is also seen in the earthquakes trying to "nudge" the Earth rotation pole towards approx. 140 deg.E, roughly opposite to the observed polar drift direction. Currently, the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) is measuring the time-variable gravity to high degree and order with unprecedented accuracy. Our results show that great earthquakes such as the 1960 Chilean or 1964 Alaskan events cause gravitational field changes that are large enough to be detected by GRACE.

A review on EEG-based methods for screening and diagnosing alcohol use disorder.

PubMed

Mumtaz, Wajid; Vuong, Pham Lam; Malik, Aamir Saeed; Rashid, Rusdi Bin Abd

2018-04-01

The screening test for alcohol use disorder (AUD) patients has been of subjective nature and could be misleading in particular cases such as a misreporting the actual quantity of alcohol intake. Although the neuroimaging modality such as electroencephalography (EEG) has shown promising research results in achieving objectivity during the screening and diagnosis of AUD patients. However, the translation of these findings for clinical applications has been largely understudied and hence less clear. This study advocates the use of EEG as a diagnostic and screening tool for AUD patients that may help the clinicians during clinical decision making. In this context, a comprehensive review on EEG-based methods is provided including related electrophysiological techniques reported in the literature. More specifically, the EEG abnormalities associated with the conditions of AUD patients are summarized. The aim is to explore the potentials of objective techniques involving quantities/features derived from resting EEG, event-related potentials or event-related oscillations data.

CUORE: The Three Towers Test

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sparks, Laura; Goodsell, Alison

2009-11-01

Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) will be part of the next generation of detectors used to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0vBB). Located in Assergi, Italy at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (LNGS), CUORE will be a large cryogenic bolometer composed of 988 tellurium dioxide (TeO2) detectors with a total mass of 750 kg, and will search for 0vBB in 130Te. As the experiment will monitor the extremely rare event of 0vBB, all factors contributing to background need to be minimized to effectively increase the sensitivity. We assisted the LNGS researchers over the summer of 2008 by supporting Research and Development efforts to reduce the radioactive background of the experiment. Activities involved decontaminating the copper frame of radon daughters, and chemically etching and lapping the TeO2 crystals with nitric acid and silicon dioxide, respectively, to remove surface contaminants that contribute to background counts. This work was supported in part by NSF grant PHY-0653284 and the California State Faculty Support Grant.

Search for supersymmetry with a photon, a lepton, and missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at $$\\sqrt{s}$$ = 8 TeV

DOE PAGES

Khachatryan, Vardan

2016-03-19

Our search for supersymmetry involving events with at least one photon, one electron or muon, and large missing transverse momentum has been performed by the CMS experiment. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 19.7 fb -1 of pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV, produced at the CERN LHC. No excess of events is observed beyond expectations from standard model processes. The result of the search is interpreted in the context of a general model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, where the charged and neutral winos are the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particles. Within this model, winos with amore » mass up to 360 GeV are excluded at the 95% confidence level. Also, two simplified models inspired by gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking are also examined, and used to derive upper limits on the production cross sections of specific supersymmetric processes.« less

Short history of PACS. Part I: USA.

PubMed

Huang, H K

2011-05-01

This historical review covers the PACS development in the USA during the past 28 years from 1982 to 2010. General historical remarks of PACS and international scene in three stages from infancy, puberty to adolescence are presented. Early PACS development was mostly financed by the federal government including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. PACS evolution went through several stages. The earliest stages included the definition of large-scale PACS, establishment of the DICOM and other standards, the development of some early key PACS related technologies, and PACS implementation strategies. The later stages were in the concept of enterprise PACS, IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) workflow profiles, and ePR with image distribution. The current most excited accomplishment is in the development of the new field in medical imaging informatics. This review goes through these stages and events in the USA during these 28 years, whenever an event involved participants from other countries, the contributors are cited. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Tracing phylogenomic events leading to diversity of Haemophilus influenzae and the emergence of Brazilian Purpuric Fever (BPF)-associated clones

PubMed Central

Papazisi, Leka; Ratnayake, Shashikala; Remortel, Brian G.; Bock, Geoffrey R.; Liang, Wei; Saeed, Alexander I.; Liu, Jia; Fleischmann, Robert D.; Kilian, Mogens; Peterson, Scott N.

2010-01-01

Here we report the use of a multi-genome DNA microarray to elucidate the genomic events associated with the emergence of the clonal variants of H. influenzae biogroup aegyptius causing Brazilian Purpuric Fever (BPF), an important pediatric disease with a high mortality rate. We performed directed genome sequencing of strain HK1212 unique loci to construct a species DNA microarray. Comparative genome hybridization using this microarray enabled us to determine and compare gene complements, and infer reliable phylogenomic relationships among members of the species. The higher genomic variability observed in the genomes of BPF-related strains (clones) and their close relatives may be characterized by significant gene flux related to a subset of functional role categories. We found that the acquisition of a large number of virulence determinants featuring numerous cell membrane proteins coupled to the loss of genes involved in transport, central biosynthetic pathways and in particular, energy production pathways to be characteristics of the BPF genomic variants. PMID:20654709

Concept of operations for triage of mechanical ventilation in an epidemic.

PubMed

Hick, John L; O'Laughlin, Daniel T

2006-02-01

The recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome and the growing potential of an influenza pandemic force us to consider the fact that despite great advances in critical care medicine, we lack the capacity to provide intensive care to the large number of patients that may be generated in an epidemic or multisite bioterrorism event. Because many epidemic and bioterrorist agent illnesses involve respiratory failure, mechanical ventilation is a frequently required intervention but one that is in limited supply. In advance of such an event, we must develop triage criteria that depend on clinical indicators of survivability and resource utilization to allocate scarce health care resources to those who are most likely to benefit. These criteria must be tiered, flexible, and implemented regionally, rather than institutionally, with the backing of public health agencies and relief of liability. This report provides a sample concept of operations for triage of mechanical ventilation in epidemic situations and discusses some of the ethical principles and pitfalls of such systems.

Analysis of the mdr-1 Gene in Patients Co-Infected with Onchocerca volvulus and Loa loa Who Experienced a Post-Ivermectin Serious Adverse Event

PubMed Central

Bourguinat, Catherine; Kamgno, Joseph; Boussinesq, Michel; Mackenzie, Charles D.; Prichard, Roger K.; Geary, Timothy G.

2010-01-01

Ivermectin (IVM) is exceptionally safe in humans, and is used for mass treatment of onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis. However, cases of encephalopathy, sometimes fatal, have been reported in a small number of individuals who harbored large numbers of Loa loa microfilariae (mf). A loss-of-function mutation in the mdr-1 gene in some dog breeds and in mice leads to accumulation of the drug in the brain, causing coma and death. This hypothesis was tested in four individuals from Cameroon who experienced a post-IVM serious adverse event (SAE) and in nine non-SAE matched controls. No loss-of-function mutation was detected in mdr-1 in any subject. However, haplotypes, associated with altered drug disposition, were present as homozygotes in two of the SAE patients (50%), but absent as homozygotes in the controls (0%). An association of high Loa mf load and a genetic predisposition to altered IVM distribution could be involved in IVM SAEs. PMID:20595473

Lead Phytochemicals for Anticancer Drug Development

PubMed Central

Singh, Sukhdev; Sharma, Bhupender; Kanwar, Shamsher S.; Kumar, Ashok

2016-01-01

Cancer is a serious concern at present. A large number of patients die each year due to cancer illnesses in spite of several interventions available. Development of an effective and side effects lacking anticancer therapy is the trending research direction in healthcare pharmacy. Chemical entities present in plants proved to be very potential in this regard. Bioactive phytochemicals are preferential as they pretend differentially on cancer cells only, without altering normal cells. Carcinogenesis is a complex process and includes multiple signaling events. Phytochemicals are pleiotropic in their function and target these events in multiple manners; hence they are most suitable candidate for anticancer drug development. Efforts are in progress to develop lead candidates from phytochemicals those can block or retard the growth of cancer without any side effect. Several phytochemicals manifest anticancer function in vitro and in vivo. This article deals with these lead phytomolecules with their action mechanisms on nuclear and cellular factors involved in carcinogenesis. Additionally, druggability parameters and clinical development of anticancer phytomolecules have also been discussed. PMID:27877185

Platelet Aggregometry Testing: Molecular Mechanisms, Techniques and Clinical Implications

PubMed Central

Koltai, Katalin; Kesmarky, Gabor; Feher, Gergely; Tibold, Antal

2017-01-01

Platelets play a fundamental role in normal hemostasis, while their inherited or acquired dysfunctions are involved in a variety of bleeding disorders or thrombotic events. Several laboratory methodologies or point-of-care testing methods are currently available for clinical and experimental settings. These methods describe different aspects of platelet function based on platelet aggregation, platelet adhesion, the viscoelastic properties during clot formation, the evaluation of thromboxane metabolism or certain flow cytometry techniques. Platelet aggregometry is applied in different clinical settings as monitoring response to antiplatelet therapies, the assessment of perioperative bleeding risk, the diagnosis of inherited bleeding disorders or in transfusion medicine. The rationale for platelet function-driven antiplatelet therapy was based on the result of several studies on patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), where an association between high platelet reactivity despite P2Y12 inhibition and ischemic events as stent thrombosis or cardiovascular death was found. However, recent large scale randomized, controlled trials have consistently failed to demonstrate a benefit of personalised antiplatelet therapy based on platelet function testing. PMID:28820484

Palæo- and Neoproterozoic granitoids and rhyolites from the West Congolian Belt (Gabon, Congo, Cabinda, north Angola): chemical composition and geotectonic implications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vicat, J.-P.; Pouclet, A.

2000-11-01

Various Palæo- and Neoproterozoic granitoid bodies and related rhyolites are located in the West Congolian Belt. The Palæoproterozoic granitoids, dated around 2 Ga, exhibit an Archæan-type tonalite-trondhjemite-granodiorite suite chemical signature and are related to the Eburnean tectnno-magmatic event. In contrast, Neoproterozoic granitoids and rhyolites, dated around 1 Ga, have chemical geotectonic signatures that range from orogenic to intraplate (Nb-negative anomaly, large ion lithophile element enrichment and high field strength element depletion). However, a late Kibaran orogenic event (1.35-1.00 Ga) is unknown in this area. The Neoproterozoic magmatism is interpreted as a consequence of the initiation of pre-Pan-African rifting, which implies the formation or the reactivation of major crustal strike-slip faults with asthenospheric upwelling and the generation of a thermal anomaly. This thermal anomaly could have been responsible for magmatic processes involving the lower crust, as encountered in post-orogenic environments.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Graf, Norman A.; /SLAC

Maximizing the physics performance of detectors being designed for the International Linear Collider, while remaining sensitive to cost constraints, requires a powerful, efficient, and flexible simulation, reconstruction and analysis environment to study the capabilities of a large number of different detector designs. The preparation of Letters Of Intent for the International Linear Collider involved the detailed study of dozens of detector options, layouts and readout technologies; the final physics benchmarking studies required the reconstruction and analysis of hundreds of millions of events. We describe the Java-based software toolkit (org.lcsim) which was used for full event reconstruction and analysis. The componentsmore » are fully modular and are available for tasks from digitization of tracking detector signals through to cluster finding, pattern recognition, track-fitting, calorimeter clustering, individual particle reconstruction, jet-finding, and analysis. The detector is defined by the same xml input files used for the detector response simulation, ensuring the simulation and reconstruction geometries are always commensurate by construction. We discuss the architecture as well as the performance.« less

Is the Australian hospital system adequately prepared for terrorism?

PubMed

Rosenfeld, Jeffrey V; Fitzgerald, Mark; Kossmann, Thomas; Pearce, Andrew; Joseph, Anthony; Joseph, Andrew; Tan, Gim; Gardner, Michele; Shapira, Shmuel

Australian hospitals need to be prepared to deal with mass casualties from terrorist strikes, including bomb blasts and chemical, biological and radiation injury. Injuries from bomb explosions are more severe than those commonly seen in Australian hospitals. In disasters involving mass casualties in urban areas, many of the injured make their own way to hospital, often arriving before the more seriously injured casualties. Major hospitals in Australia should plan for large numbers of undifferentiated and potentially contaminated casualties arriving with minimal warning. It is critical that experienced and trained senior medical officers perform the triage of casualties in emergency departments, with frequent reassessment to detect missed injuries (especially pulmonary blast injury). Hospitals require well developed standard operating procedures for mass casualty events, reinforced by regular drills. Preparing for a major event includes training staff in major incident management, setting up an operational/control unit, nominating key personnel, ensuring there is an efficient intra-hospital communication system, and enhancing links with other emergency services and hospitals.

University of Michigan lecture archiving and related activities of the U-M ATLAS Collaboratory Project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herr, J.; Bhatnagar, T.; Goldfarb, S.; Irrer, J.; McKee, S.; Neal, H. A.

2008-07-01

Large scientific collaborations as well as universities have a growing need for multimedia archiving of meetings and courses. Collaborations need to disseminate training and news to their wide-ranging members, and universities seek to provide their students with more useful studying tools. The University of Michigan ATLAS Collaboratory Project has been involved in the recording and archiving of multimedia lectures since 1999. Our software and hardware architecture has been used to record events for CERN, ATLAS, many units inside the University of Michigan, Fermilab, the American Physical Society and the International Conference on Systems Biology at Harvard. Until 2006 our group functioned primarily as a tiny research/development team with special commitments to the archiving of certain ATLAS events. In 2006 we formed the MScribe project, using a larger scale, and highly automated recording system to record and archive eight University courses in a wide array of subjects. Several robotic carts are wheeled around campus by unskilled student helpers to automatically capture and post to the Web audio, video, slides and chalkboard images. The advances the MScribe project has made in automation of these processes, including a robotic camera operator and automated video processing, are now being used to record ATLAS Collaboration events, making them available more quickly than before and enabling the recording of more events.

Tropical-Subpolar Linkages in the North Atlantic during the last Glacial Period

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vautravers, M. J.; Hodell, D. A.

2010-12-01

We studied millennial-scale changes in planktonic foraminifera assemblages from the last glacial period in a high-resolution core (KN166-14-JPC13) recovered from the southern part of the Gardar Drift in the subpolar North Atlantic. Similar to recent findings reported by Jonkers et al. (2010), we also found that the sub-polar North Atlantic Ocean experienced some seasonal warming during each of the Heinrich Events (HEs). In addition, increasing abundances of tropical species are found just prior to the IRD event marking the end of each Bond cycle, suggesting that summer warming may have been involved in triggering Heinrich events. We suggest that tropical-subtropical water transported via the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift may have triggered the collapse of large NH ice-shelves. Sharp decreases in polar species are tied to abrupt warming following Heinrich Events as documented in Greenland Ice cores and other marine records in the North Atlantic. The record bears a strong resemblance to the tropical record of Cariaco basin (Peterson et al., 2000), suggesting strong tropical-subpolar linkages in the glacial North Atlantic. Enhanced spring productivity, possibly related to eddy activity along the Subpolar Front, is recorded by increased shell size, high δ13C in G. bulloides and other biological indices early during the transition from HE stadials to the following interstadial.

Improving Flash Flood Prediction in Multiple Environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Broxton, P. D.; Troch, P. A.; Schaffner, M.; Unkrich, C.; Goodrich, D.; Wagener, T.; Yatheendradas, S.

2009-12-01

Flash flooding is a major concern in many fast responding headwater catchments . There are many efforts to model and to predict these flood events, though it is not currently possible to adequately predict the nature of flash flood events with a single model, and furthermore, many of these efforts do not even consider snow, which can, by itself, or in combination with rainfall events, cause destructive floods. The current research is aimed at broadening the applicability of flash flood modeling. Specifically, we will take a state of the art flash flood model that is designed to work with warm season precipitation in arid environments, the KINematic runoff and EROSion model (KINEROS2), and combine it with a continuous subsurface flow model and an energy balance snow model. This should improve its predictive capacity in humid environments where lateral subsurface flow significantly contributes to streamflow, and it will make possible the prediction of flooding events that involve rain-on-snow or rapid snowmelt. By modeling changes in the hydrologic state of a catchment before a flood begins, we can also better understand the factors or combination of factors that are necessary to produce large floods. Broadening the applicability of an already state of the art flash flood model, such as KINEROS2, is logical because flash floods can occur in all types of environments, and it may lead to better predictions, which are necessary to preserve life and property.

Continuous Gravity and Tilt Reveal Anomalous Pressure and Density Changes Associated With Gas Pistoning Within the Summit Lava Lake of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai`i

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poland, Michael P.; Carbone, Daniele

2018-03-01

Gas piston events within the summit eruptive vent of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai`i, are characterized by increases in lava level and by decreases in seismic energy release, spattering, and degassing. During 2010-2011, gas piston events were especially well manifested, with lava level rises of tens of meters over the course of several hours, followed by a sudden drop to preevent levels. The changes in lava level were accompanied by directly proportional changes in gravity, but ground deformation determined from tilt was anticorrelative. The small magnitude of the gravity changes, compared to the large changes in volume within the vent during gas pistons, suggests that pistoning involves the accumulation of a very low-density (100-200 kg/m3) foam at the top of the lava column. Co-event ground tilt indicates that rise in lava level is paradoxically associated with deflation (the opposite is usually true), which can be modeled as an increase in the gas content of the magma column between the source reservoir and the surface. Gas pistoning behavior is therefore associated with not only accumulation of a shallow magmatic foam but also more bubbles within the feeder conduit, probably due to the overall decrease in gas emissions from the lava lake during piston events.

Continuous gravity and tilt reveal anomalous pressure and density changes associated with gas pistoning within the summit lava lake of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawaiʻi

USGS Publications Warehouse

Poland, Michael; Carbone, Daniele

2018-01-01

Gas piston events within the summit eruptive vent of Kīlauea Volcano, Hawai‘i, are characterized by increases in lava level and by decreases in seismic energy release, spattering, and degassing. During 2010–2011, gas piston events were especially well manifested, with lava level rises of tens of meters over the course of several hours, followed by a sudden drop to preevent levels. The changes in lava level were accompanied by directly proportional changes in gravity, but ground deformation determined from tilt was anticorrelative. The small magnitude of the gravity changes, compared to the large changes in volume within the vent during gas pistons, suggests that pistoning involves the accumulation of a very low‐density (100–200 kg/m3) foam at the top of the lava column. Co‐event ground tilt indicates that rise in lava level is paradoxically associated with deflation (the opposite is usually true), which can be modeled as an increase in the gas content of the magma column between the source reservoir and the surface. Gas pistoning behavior is therefore associated with not only accumulation of a shallow magmatic foam but also more bubbles within the feeder conduit, probably due to the overall decrease in gas emissions from the lava lake during piston events.

Multiresolution wavelet analysis for efficient analysis, compression and remote display of long-term physiological signals.

PubMed

Khuan, L Y; Bister, M; Blanchfield, P; Salleh, Y M; Ali, R A; Chan, T H

2006-06-01

Increased inter-equipment connectivity coupled with advances in Web technology allows ever escalating amounts of physiological data to be produced, far too much to be displayed adequately on a single computer screen. The consequence is that large quantities of insignificant data will be transmitted and reviewed. This carries an increased risk of overlooking vitally important transients. This paper describes a technique to provide an integrated solution based on a single algorithm for the efficient analysis, compression and remote display of long-term physiological signals with infrequent short duration, yet vital events, to effect a reduction in data transmission and display cluttering and to facilitate reliable data interpretation. The algorithm analyses data at the server end and flags significant events. It produces a compressed version of the signal at a lower resolution that can be satisfactorily viewed in a single screen width. This reduced set of data is initially transmitted together with a set of 'flags' indicating where significant events occur. Subsequent transmissions need only involve transmission of flagged data segments of interest at the required resolution. Efficient processing and code protection with decomposition alone is novel. The fixed transmission length method ensures clutter-less display, irrespective of the data length. The flagging of annotated events in arterial oxygen saturation, electroencephalogram and electrocardiogram illustrates the generic property of the algorithm. Data reduction of 87% to 99% and improved displays are demonstrated.

Sky Fest: A Model of Successful Scientist Participation in E/PO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dalton, H.; Shipp, S. S.; Shaner, A. J.; LaConte, K.; Shupla, C. B.

2014-12-01

Participation in outreach events is an easy way for scientists to get involved with E/PO and reach many people with minimal time commitment. At the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) in Houston, Texas, the E/PO team holds Sky Fest outreach events several times a year. These events each have a science content theme and include several activities for children and their parents, night sky viewing through telescopes, and scientist presentations. LPI scientists have the opportunity to participate in Sky Fest events either by helping lead an activity or by giving the scientist presentation (a short lecture and/or demonstration). Scientists are involved in at least one preparation meeting before the event. This allows them to ask questions, understand what activity they will be leading, and learn the key points that they should be sharing with the public, as well as techniques for effectively teaching members of the public about the event topic. During the event, each activity is run by one E/PO specialist and one scientist, enabling the scientist to learn about effective E/PO practices from the E/PO specialist and the E/PO specialist to get more science information about the event topic. E/PO specialists working together with scientists at stations provides a more complete, richer experience for event participants. Surveys of event participants have shown that interacting one-on-one with scientists is often one of their favorite parts of the events. Interviews with scientists indicated that they enjoyed Sky Fest because there was very little time involved on their parts outside of the actual event; the activities were created and/or chosen by the E/PO professionals, and setup for the events was completed before they arrived. They also enjoyed presenting their topic to people without a background in science, and who would not have otherwise sought out the information that was presented.

Case report of vasovagal syncope associated with single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation in a healthy adult participant.

PubMed

Gillick, Bernadette T; Rich, Tonya; Chen, Mo; Meekins, Gregg D

2015-12-01

Non-invasive brain stimulation-related seizures or syncopal events are rare. However, we report on a syncopal event in a healthy female during a transcranial magnetic stimulation single-pulse testing session. A 47-year-old healthy female presented for a transcranial magnetic stimulation session involving single-pulse assessment of cortical excitability. During the session, the participant appeared to have a brief event involving fainting and myoclonic jerks of the upper extremities. Orthostatic assessment was performed after the event and physician evaluation determined that this was a vasovagal syncopal event. The ethical aspects of this neurophysiology testing protocol were reviewed by the University of Minnesota Institutional Review Board (IRB), and formal IRB approval was deemed unnecessary for single-pulse assessment of healthy control participants not directly involved in a research study. Informed consent was obtained by the participant, including review of potential adverse events. Although rare and rarely reported, vasovagal syncopal events surrounding non-invasive brain stimulation do occur. Thorough pre-screening should incorporate assessment of history of syncope and a plan for risk mitigation if such an event should occur. A complete assessment of the impact of stimulation on the autonomic nervous system is unknown. As such studies expand into patients with myriad neurologic diagnoses, further studies on this effect, in both healthy control and patient populations, are warranted. Such knowledge could contribute to identification of the optimal study participant, and improvements in techniques of stimulation administration.

What differentiates episodic future thinking from complex scene imagery?

PubMed

de Vito, Stefania; Gamboz, Nadia; Brandimonte, Maria A

2012-06-01

We investigated the contributions of familiarity of setting, self-relevance and self-projection in time to episodic future thinking. The role of familiarity of setting was assessed, in Experiment 1, by comparing episodic future thoughts to autobiographical future events supposed to occur in unfamiliar settings. The role of self-relevance was assessed, in Experiment 2, by comparing episodic future thoughts to future events involving familiar others. The role of self-projection in time was assessed, in both Experiments, by comparing episodic future thoughts to autobiographical events that were not temporal in nature. Results indicated that episodic future thoughts were more clearly represented than autobiographical future events occurring in unfamiliar setting and future events involving familiar others. Our results also revealed that episodic future thoughts were indistinguishable from autobiographical atemporal events with respect to both subjective and objective detail ratings. These results suggest that future and atemporal events are mentally represented in a similar way. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Stochastic does not equal ad hoc. [theories of lunar origin

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hartmann, W. K.

1984-01-01

Some classes of influential events in solar system history are class-predictable but not event-predictable. Theories of lunar origin should not ignore class-predictable stochastic events. Impacts and close encounters with large objects during planet formation are class-predictable. These stochastic events, such as large impacts that triggered ejection of Earth-mantle material into a circum-Earth cloud, should not be rejected as ad hoc. A way to deal with such events scientifically is to investigate their consequences; if it can be shown that they might produce the Moon, they become viable concepts in theories of lunar origin.

Cumulative frequency distribution of past species extinctions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Raup, D. M.

1991-01-01

Analysis of Sepkoski's compendium of the time ranges of 30,000+ taxa yields a mean duration of 28.4 ma for genera of fossil invertebrates. This converts to an average extinction rate of 3.5 percent per million years or about one percent every 286,000 years. Using survivorship techniques, these estimates can be converted to the species level, yielding a Phanerozoic average of one percent species extinction every 40,000 years. Variation in extinction rates through time is far greater than the null expectation of a homogeneous birth-death model and this reflects the well-known episodicity of extinction ranging from a few large mass extinctions to so-called background extinction. The observed variation in rates can be used to construct a cumulative frequency distribution of extinction intensity, and this distribution, in the form of a kill curve for species, shows the expected waiting times between extinction events of a given intensity. The kill curve is an average description of the extinction events of a given intensity. The kill curve is an average description of the extinction record and does not imply any cause or causes of extinction. The kill curve shows, among other things, that only about five percent of total species extinctions in the Phanerozoic were involved in the five largest mass extinctions. The other 95 percent were distributed among large and small events not normally called mass extinctions. As an exploration of the possibly absurd proposition that most past extinctions were produced by the effects of large-body impact, the kill curve for species was mapped on the comparable distribution for comet and asteroid impacts. The result is a curve predicting the species kill for a given size of impacting object (expressed as crater size). The results are reasonable in that impacts producing craters less than 30 km (diameter) cause negligible extinction but those producing craters 100-150 km (diameter) cause extinction of species in the range of 45-60 percent.

Evaluating the potential for catastrophic fault-rupture-related hazards affecting a key hydroelectric and irrigation region in central Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rust, D.; Korjenkov, A.; Tibaldi, A.; Usmanova, M.

2009-04-01

The Toktogul hydroelectric and irrigation scheme is the largest in central Asia, with a reservoir containing almost 20 km3 of water behind a 230 m-high dam. Annually, the scheme generates 1200 MW of electricity that is distributed over Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. The scheme is vital for the economic, social and agricultural stability and development of the emerging central Asian republics it serves and, since it is no longer administered centrally as it was in Soviet times, is increasingly the focus of cross-border tensions involving competing needs for irrigation water and power supplies. Our work aims to identify and evaluate potential geo-environmental threats to this region for the benefit of stakeholders; with recommendations for measures to mitigate a range of threat scenarios, presented in a user-friendly GIS format. Most notably these scenarios involve the potential for very large magnitude earthquakes, with associated widespread slope instability, occurring on the little known Talas - Fergana fault. This structure, some 700 km long, bisects the Toktogul region within the actively (~20 mm a-1) contracting Tien Shan mountain range and exhibits geological characteristics similar to large strike-slip faults such as the San Andreas. Historical records are limited in this inaccessible mountainous region that, until Soviet times, was occupied by mainly nomadic peoples, but do not indicate recent fault rupture. This highlights the role of geological investigations in assembling a record of past catastrophic events to serve as a guide for what may be expected in the future, as well as the inherent difficulties in attempting geological forecasts to a precision that is useful on human timescales. Such forecasts in this region must also include the presence of some 23 uranium mining waste dumps within the mountain valleys, a legacy from Soviet times, as well as arsenic-rich waste dumps remaining from an earlier era of gold mining. Many of these toxic dumps are vulnerable to seismically induced landsliding, release of reservoir water and breaching of very large (up to several km3) landslide-dammed lakes within the deep mountain valleys typical of the fault zone. The May 2008 earthquake in neighboring Sichuan, in which some 30 landslide-dammed lakes were created, may be useful in refining hazard scenarios developed from the multi-pronged analysis employed in our study. This analysis involves compiling all relevant existing data, such as seismic archives held in paper format, within the project GIS. Spatial and temporal patterns exhibited by these compiled data, together with focal mechanism determinations where possible, are combined with data on the distribution and nature of geological units to provide estimates of peak ground acceleration and the likely incidence of seismically-triggered slope instability. This compilation also identifies data deficiencies to be targeted using a portable seismometer network, geophysical and geodetic surveys, InSAR and other remote sensing data; all combined with geotechnical and palaeoseismological fieldwork. Initial results from this approach confirm the ground-shaking potential of Talas-Fergana rupture events, suggest a long-term slip rate as high as 15 mm a-1, and the occurrence of the last ground-rupturing event some 4-500 years BP. The lack of significant activity since that event suggests the Talas-Fergana structure may comprise a seismic gap within the Tien-Shan, highlighting the importance of hazard scenarios in proposing mitigation measures against potentially catastrophic threats, such as extensive pollution of irrigated lands in the Fergana Valley downstream from Toktogul on which some 10 million people depend.

Modern geomorphology in a post-glacial landscape and implications for river restoration, eastern Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, USA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minear, J. T.; Wright, S. A.; Roche, J. W.

2011-12-01

Yosemite National Park, USA, is one of the most popular national parks in the country with over 3.9 million visitors annually. The majority of tourists visit a relatively small area around the Merced River in scenic eastern Yosemite Valley, which has resulted in degradation to the river and streambanks. The National Park Service is updating the long-term management plan for the Merced River which includes river restoration. A key component determining the success of future river restoration efforts is the transport and supply of sediment. For this study, we investigate the modern geomorphology of the eastern Yosemite Valley region. For the watershed and reach analyses, we draw from a variety of topographic and hydrologic records, including 20-years of data from permanent cross sections, aerial and ground-based LiDAR surveys, and a nearly 100-year hydrologic record. In addition, we utilize hydraulic and sediment transport models to investigate channel velocities, bed shear stress and sediment transport at the reach scale. From the watershed-scale analysis, it is likely that large-scale remnant glacial features exert a primary control on the sediment supply to the study area with relatively small volumes of both suspended and bedload sediment being contributed to the study site. Two of the three major watersheds, Tenaya Creek and the upper Merced River, likely contribute only small amounts of bedload downstream due to low-gradient depositional reaches. Though little-known, the third major watershed, Illilouette Creek, is the only watershed capable of contributing larger amounts of bedload material, though the bedload material is likely contributed only during high flow events. High flows in the Yosemite Valley region have two different distributions: large early winter storm events above the 20-year return interval, and moderate snowmelt flows at and below the 20-year return interval. Sediment transport analyses indicate that bedload transport is dominated by relatively frequent (<2 year) snowmelt flow events and that the coarsest material in the reach (>110 mm) is mobile during these flows. The permanent cross sections record large topographic changes, including infilling at key bars, associated with the 1997 flood, the largest recorded early winter event (100-year return interval). Following snowmelt events post-1997, cross sections are returning to near pre-1997 levels. The cross section data suggest there is likely a disconnect between sediment supplied to the reach and sediment transport, with the majority of sediment supply occurring during large early winter events while the majority of sediment transport occurs during snowmelt events. An implication of our findings for river restoration in this area of the Merced River is that the ability of the channel to rebuild streambanks is relatively low, given the low suspended sediment supply. In contrast, bedload transport is relatively frequent and occurs in significant quantities, suggesting that river restoration involving bed recovery (e.g. recovery of pools formed by riprap or bridges) should be relatively rapid if obstructions are removed.

Global Scale Solar Disturbances

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Title, A. M.; Schrijver, C. J.; DeRosa, M. L.

2013-12-01

The combination of the STEREO and SDO missions have allowed for the first time imagery of the entire Sun. This coupled with the high cadence, broad thermal coverage, and the large dynamic range of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on SDO has allowed discovery of impulsive solar disturbances that can significantly affect a hemisphere or more of the solar volume. Such events are often, but not always, associated with M and X class flares. GOES C and even B class flares are also associated with these large scale disturbances. Key to the recognition of the large scale disturbances was the creation of log difference movies. By taking the log of images before differencing events in the corona become much more evident. Because such events cover such a large portion of the solar volume their passage can effect the dynamics of the entire corona as it adjusts to and recovers from their passage. In some cases this may lead to a another flare or filament ejection, but in general direct causal evidence of 'sympathetic' behavior is lacking. However, evidence is accumulating these large scale events create an environment that encourages other solar instabilities to occur. Understanding the source of these events and how the energy that drives them is built up, stored, and suddenly released is critical to understanding the origins of space weather. Example events and comments of their relevance will be presented.

Estimation of source processes of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes from strong motion waveforms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kubo, H.; Suzuki, W.; Aoi, S.; Sekiguchi, H.

2016-12-01

In this study, we estimated the source processes for two large events of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes (the M7.3 event at 1:25 JST on April 16, 2016 and the M6.5 event at 21:26 JST on April 14, 2016) from strong motion waveforms using multiple-time-window linear waveform inversion (Hartzell and Heaton 1983; Sekiguchi et al. 2000). Based on the observations of surface ruptures, the spatial distribution of aftershocks, and the geodetic data, a realistic curved fault model was developed for the source-process analysis of the M7.3 event. The source model obtained for the M7.3 event with a seismic moment of 5.5 × 1019 Nm (Mw 7.1) had two significant ruptures. One rupture propagated toward the northeastern shallow region at 4 s after rupture initiation, and continued with large slips to approximately 16 s. This rupture caused a large slip region with a peak slip of 3.8 m that was located 10-30 km northeast of the hypocenter and reached the caldera of Mt. Aso. The contribution of the large slip region to the seismic waveforms was large at many stations. Another rupture propagated toward the surface from the hypocenter at 2-6 s, and then propagated toward the northeast along the near surface at 6-10 s. This rupture largely contributed to the seismic waveforms at the stations south of the fault and close to the hypocenter. A comparison with the results obtained using a single fault plane model demonstrate that the use of the curved fault model led to improved waveform fit at the stations south of the fault. The extent of the large near-surface slips in this source model for the M7.3 event is roughly consistent with the extent of the observed large surface ruptures. The source model obtained for the M6.5 event with a seismic moment of 1.7 × 1018 Nm (Mw 6.1) had large slips in the region around the hypocenter and in the shallow region north-northeast of the hypocenter, both of which had a maximum slip of 0.7 m. The rupture of the M6.5 event propagated from the former region to the latter region at 1-6 s after rupture initiation, which is expected to have caused the strong ground motions due to the forward directivity effect at KMMH16 and surroundings. The occurrence of the near-surface large slips in this source model for the M6.5 event is consistent with the appearance of small surface cracks, which were observed by some residents.

The Unusual Southern Hemisphere Stratosphere Winter of 2002

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Newman, Paul A.; Nash, Eric R.

2003-01-01

The southern hemisphere stratospheric winter of 2002 was the most unusual winter yet observed in the southern hemisphere climate record. Temperatures near the edge of the Antarctic polar vortex were considerably warmer than normal over the entire course of the winter. The polar night jet was considerably weaker than normal, and was displaced more poleward than has been observed in previous winters. These record high temperatures and weak jet resulted from a series of wave events that took place over the course of the winter. The first large event occurred on 15 May, and the final warming occurred on 25 October. The propagation of these wave events from the troposphere is diagnosed from time series of Eliassen-Palm flux vectors. The wave events tended to occur irregularly over the course of the winter, and pre-conditioned the polar night jet for the extremely large wave event of 22 September. This large wave event resulted in the first ever observed major stratospheric warming in the southern hemisphere. This wave event split the Antarctic ozone hole. The combined effect of the wave events of the 2002 winter resulted in the smallest ozone hole observed since 1988.

Large-Scale Disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gad-El-Hak, Mohamed

"Extreme" events - including climatic events, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and drought - can cause massive disruption to society, including large death tolls and property damage in the billions of dollars. Events in recent years have shown the importance of being prepared and that countries need to work together to help alleviate the resulting pain and suffering. This volume presents a review of the broad research field of large-scale disasters. It establishes a common framework for predicting, controlling and managing both manmade and natural disasters. There is a particular focus on events caused by weather and climate change. Other topics include air pollution, tsunamis, disaster modeling, the use of remote sensing and the logistics of disaster management. It will appeal to scientists, engineers, first responders and health-care professionals, in addition to graduate students and researchers who have an interest in the prediction, prevention or mitigation of large-scale disasters.

Properties of large electric fields in the plasma sheet at 4-7RE measured with Polar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keiling, A.; Wygant, J. R.; Cattell, C.; Johnson, M.; Temerin, M.; Mozer, F. S.; Kletzing, C. A.; Scudder, J.; Russell, C. T.

2001-04-01

Measurements from the Polar satellite provide evidence for large electric field structures in the plasma sheet at geocentric distances of 4-7RE. These structures had amplitudes perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field that can exceed 100 mV m-1 (6 s averaged). Two years (from May 1, 1996, to April 30, 1998) of electric field data (EZ component, approximately along GSE z) were surveyed. The distribution in invariant latitude (ILAT) and magnetic local time (MLT) of large perpendicular electric field events (defined as >=20 mV m-1 for a 6-s average) delineates the statistical auroral oval with the majority of events occurring in the nightside centered around midnight and a smaller concentration around 1500 MLT. The magnitude-versus-altitude distribution of the electric fields between 4 and 7RE in the nightside could be explained by models which assume either shear Alfvén waves propagating into regions of larger background magnetic fields or electrostatic structures being mapped quasi-statically along equipotential magnetic field lines. In addition, this survey yielded 24 very large amplitude events with |E⊥|>=100mVm-1 (6 s averaged), all of which occurred in the nightside. In the spacecraft frame, the electric field structures occurred on timescales ranging from 10 to 60 s. About 85% of these events occurred in the vicinity of the outer boundary of the plasma sheet; the rest occurred in the central plasma sheet. The polarity of the electric fields was dominantly perpendicular to the nominal plasma sheet boundary. For a large fraction of events (<=50%) the ratios of electric and magnetic fields in the period range from 10 to 60 s were consistent with Alfvén waves. Large Poynting flux (up to 2.5 ergs cm-2s-1) dominantly directed downward along the background magnetic field was associated with 21 events. All 24 events occurred during geomagnetic disturbances such as magnetic substorms. A conjugate study with ground stations for 14 events (out of the 24 events) showed that these structures occurred during times of rapid changes in the H component (or X component) of magnetometer data. For most events this time corresponded to the expansion phase; two events occurred during a quick recovery of the negative H bay signature. Thus there is evidence that large electromagnetic energy transfer processes in the plasma sheet occur during the most dynamic phase of geomagnetic disturbances. From the statistical analysis it was found that Polar observed events larger than 100 mV m-1 (50 mV m-1) in the plasma sheet between 2100 and 0300 MLT with a 2-4% (15%) probability per crossing. These probabilities will be compared to the probability of substorm occurrence during Polar plasma sheet crossings.

Characteristics and Future Changes of Great Mississippi Flood Events in a Global Coupled Climate Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Wiel, K.; Kapnick, S. B.; Vecchi, G.; Smith, J. A.

2017-12-01

The Mississippi-Missouri river catchment houses millions of people and much of the U.S. national agricultural production. Severe flooding events can therefore have large negative societal, natural and economic impacts. GFDL FLOR, a global coupled climate model (atmosphere, ocean, land, sea ice with integrated river routing module) is used to investigate the characteristics of great Mississippi floods with an average return period of 100 years. Model experiments under pre-industrial greenhouse gas forcing were conducted for 3400 years, such that the most extreme flooding events were explicitly modeled and the land and/or atmospheric causes could be investigated. It is shown that melt of snow pack and frozen sub-surface water in the Missouri and Upper Mississippi basins prime the river system, subsequently sensitizing it to above average precipitation in the Ohio and Tennessee basins. The months preceding the greatest flooding events are above average wet, leading to moist sub-surface conditions. Anomalous melt depends on the availability of frozen water in the catchment, therefore anomalous amounts of sub-surface frozen water and anomalous large snow pack in winter (Nov-Feb) make the river system susceptible for these great flooding events in spring (Feb-Apr). An additional experiment of 1200 years under transient greenhouse gas forcing (RCP4.5, 5 members) was done to investigate potential future change in flood risk. Based on a peak-over-threshold method, it is found that the number of great flooding events decreases in a warmer future. This decrease coincides with decreasing occurrence of large melt events, but is despite increasing numbers of large precipitation events. Though the model results indicate a decreasing risk for the greatest flooding events, the predictability of events might decrease in a warmer future given the changing characters of melt and precipitation.

Microphysics, Meteorology, Microwave and Modeling of Mediterranean Storms: The M(sup 5) Problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Eric A.; Fiorino, Steven; Mugnai, Alberto; Panegrossi, Giulia; Tripoli, Gregory; Starr, David (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Comprehensive understanding of the microphysical nature of Mediterranean storms requires a combination of in situ meteorological data analysis and radar-passive microwave data analysis, effectively integrated with numerical modeling studies at various scales, particularly from synoptic scale down to mesoscale. The microphysical properties of and their controls on severe storms are intrinsically related to meteorological processes under which storms have evolved, processes which eventually select and control the dominant microphysical properties themselves. Insofar as hazardous Mediterranean storms, highlighted by the September 25-28/1992 Genova flood event, the October 5-7/1998 Friuli flood event, and the October 13-15/2000 Piemonte flood event (all taking place in northern Italy), developing a comprehensive microphysical interpretation requires an understanding of the multiple phases of storm evolution and the heterogeneous nature of precipitation fields within the storm domains. This involves convective development, stratiform transition and decay, orographic lifting, and sloped frontal lifting proc esses. This also involves vertical motions and thermodynamical instabilities governing physical processes that determine details of the liquid/ice water contents, size distributions, and fall rates of the various modes of hydrometeors found within the storm environments. This paper presents detailed 4-dimensional analyses of the microphysical elements of the three severe Mediterranean storms identified above, investigated with the aid of SSM/I and TRMM satellite measurements (and other remote sensing measurements). The analyses are guided by nonhydrostatic mesoscale model simulations at high resolution of the intense rain producing portions of the storm environments. The results emphasize how meteorological controls taking place at the large scale, coupled with localized terrain controls, ultimately determine the most salient features of the bulk microphysical properties of the storms. These results have bearing on precipitation remote sensing from space, and the role of modeling in designing precipitation retrieval algorithms.

SU-E-T-191: PITSTOP: Process Improvement Techniques, Software Tools, and Operating Principles for a Quality Initiative Discovery Framework.

PubMed

Siochi, R

2012-06-01

To develop a quality initiative discovery framework using process improvement techniques, software tools and operating principles. Process deviations are entered into a radiotherapy incident reporting database. Supervisors use an in-house Event Analysis System (EASy) to discuss incidents with staff. Major incidents are analyzed with an in-house Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). A meta-Analysis is performed using association, text mining, key word clustering, and differential frequency analysis. A key operating principle encourages the creation of forcing functions via rapid application development. 504 events have been logged this past year. The results for the key word analysis indicate that the root cause for the top ranked key words was miscommunication. This was also the root cause found from association analysis, where 24% of the time that an event involved a physician it also involved a nurse. Differential frequency analysis revealed that sharp peaks at week 27 were followed by 3 major incidents, two of which were dose related. The peak was largely due to the front desk which caused distractions in other areas. The analysis led to many PI projects but there is still a major systematic issue with the use of forms. The solution we identified is to implement Smart Forms to perform error checking and interlocking. Our first initiative replaced our daily QA checklist with a form that uses custom validation routines, preventing therapists from proceeding with treatments until out of tolerance conditions are corrected. PITSTOP has increased the number of quality initiatives in our department, and we have discovered or confirmed common underlying causes of a variety of seemingly unrelated errors. It has motivated the replacement of all forms with smart forms. © 2012 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

Strategies and Exemplars for Public Outreach Events: Planning, Implementation, Evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cobb, W. H.; Buxner, S.; Shipp, S. S.; Shebby, S.

2015-12-01

IntroductionEach year the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sponsors a variety of public outreach events to share information with educators, students, and the general public. These events are designed to increase interest in and awareness of the mission and goals of NASA. Planning and implementation best practices gleaned from the NASA SMD Education's review of large-scale events, "Best Practices in Outreach Events" will be shared. Outcomes from an event, i C Ceres, celebrating the Dawn mission's arrival at dwarf planet Ceres that utilized these strategies will be shared. Best practices included can be pertinent for all event organizers and evaluators regardless of event size. BackgroundThe literature review focused on identifying evaluations of large-scale public outreach events—and, within these evaluations, identifying best practices. The following criteria for identifying journal articles and reports to potentially include: Public, science-related events open to adults and children. Events with more than 1,000 attendees. Events that occurred during the last 5 years. Evaluations that included information on data collected from visitors and/or volunteers. Evaluations that specified the type of data collected, methodology, and associated results. Planning and Implementation Best PracticesThe literature review revealed key considerations for planning and of large-scale events implementing events. A summary of related best practices is presented below. 1) Advertise the event 2) Use and advertise access to scientists 3) Recruit scientists using these findings 4) Ensure that the event is group and particularly child friendly 5) Target specific event outcomes Best Practices Informing Real-world Planning, Implementation and EvaluationDawn mission's collaborative design of a series of events, i C Ceres, including in-person, interactive events geared to families and live presentations will be shared. Outcomes and lessons learned will be imparted rising from these events and their evaluation. There will be a focus on the family event, in particular the evidence that scientist participation was a particular driver for the event's impact and success.

Distinct Molecular Events during Secretory Granule Biogenesis Revealed by Sensitivities to Brefeldin A

PubMed Central

Fernandez, Carlos J.; Haugwitz, Michael; Eaton, Benjamin; Moore, Hsiao-Ping H.

1997-01-01

The biogenesis of peptide hormone secretory granules involves a series of sorting, modification, and trafficking steps that initiate in the trans-Golgi and trans-Golgi network (TGN). To investigate their temporal order and interrelationships, we have developed a pulse–chase protocol that follows the synthesis and packaging of a sulfated hormone, pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC). In AtT-20 cells, sulfate is incorporated into POMC predominantly on N-linked endoglycosidase H-resistant oligosaccharides. Subcellular fractionation and pharmacological studies confirm that this sulfation occurs at the trans-Golgi/TGN. Subsequent to sulfation, POMC undergoes a number of molecular events before final storage in dense-core granules. The first step involves the transfer of POMC from the sulfation compartment to a processing compartment (immature secretory granules, ISGs): Inhibiting export of pulse-labeled POMC by brefeldin A (BFA) or a 20°C block prevents its proteolytic conversion to mature adrenocorticotropic hormone. Proteolytic cleavage products were found in vesicular fractions corresponding to ISGs, suggesting that the processing machinery is not appreciably activated until POMC exits the sulfation compartment. A large portion of the labeled hormone is secreted from ISGs as incompletely processed intermediates. This unregulated secretory process occurs only during a limited time window: Granules that have matured for 2 to 3 h exhibit very little unregulated release, as evidenced by the efficient storage of the 15-kDa N-terminal fragment that is generated by a relatively late cleavage event within the maturing granule. The second step of granule biogenesis thus involves two maturation events: proteolytic activation of POMC in ISGs and a transition of the organelle from a state of high unregulated release to one that favors intracellular storage. By using BFA, we show that the two processes occurring in ISGs may be uncoupled: although the unregulated secretion from ISGs is impaired by BFA, proteolytic processing of POMC within this organelle proceeds unaffected. The finding that BFA impairs constitutive secretion from both the TGN and ISGs also suggests that these secretory processes may be related in mechanism. Finally, our data indicate that the unusually high levels of unregulated secretion often associated with endocrine tumors may result, at least in part, from inefficient storage of secretory products at the level of ISGs. PMID:9362061

Distinct molecular events during secretory granule biogenesis revealed by sensitivities to brefeldin A.

PubMed

Fernandez, C J; Haugwitz, M; Eaton, B; Moore, H P

1997-11-01

The biogenesis of peptide hormone secretory granules involves a series of sorting, modification, and trafficking steps that initiate in the trans-Golgi and trans-Golgi network (TGN). To investigate their temporal order and interrelationships, we have developed a pulse-chase protocol that follows the synthesis and packaging of a sulfated hormone, pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC). In AtT-20 cells, sulfate is incorporated into POMC predominantly on N-linked endoglycosidase H-resistant oligosaccharides. Subcellular fractionation and pharmacological studies confirm that this sulfation occurs at the trans-Golgi/TGN. Subsequent to sulfation, POMC undergoes a number of molecular events before final storage in dense-core granules. The first step involves the transfer of POMC from the sulfation compartment to a processing compartment (immature secretory granules, ISGs): Inhibiting export of pulse-labeled POMC by brefeldin A (BFA) or a 20 degrees C block prevents its proteolytic conversion to mature adrenocorticotropic hormone. Proteolytic cleavage products were found in vesicular fractions corresponding to ISGs, suggesting that the processing machinery is not appreciably activated until POMC exits the sulfation compartment. A large portion of the labeled hormone is secreted from ISGs as incompletely processed intermediates. This unregulated secretory process occurs only during a limited time window: Granules that have matured for 2 to 3 h exhibit very little unregulated release, as evidenced by the efficient storage of the 15-kDa N-terminal fragment that is generated by a relatively late cleavage event within the maturing granule. The second step of granule biogenesis thus involves two maturation events: proteolytic activation of POMC in ISGs and a transition of the organelle from a state of high unregulated release to one that favors intracellular storage. By using BFA, we show that the two processes occurring in ISGs may be uncoupled: although the unregulated secretion from ISGs is impaired by BFA, proteolytic processing of POMC within this organelle proceeds unaffected. The finding that BFA impairs constitutive secretion from both the TGN and ISGs also suggests that these secretory processes may be related in mechanism. Finally, our data indicate that the unusually high levels of unregulated secretion often associated with endocrine tumors may result, at least in part, from inefficient storage of secretory products at the level of ISGs.

A study on the relationship between mass concentrations, chemistry and number size distribution of urban fine aerosols in Milan, Barcelona and London

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rodríguez, S.; van Dingenen, R.; Putaud, J.-P.; Dell'Acqua, A.; Pey, J.; Querol, X.; Alastuey, A.; Chenery, S.; Ho, K.-F.; Harrison, R.; Tardivo, R.; Scarnato, B.; Gemelli, V.

2007-05-01

A physicochemical characterization, including aerosol number size distribution, chemical composition and mass concentrations, of the urban fine aerosol captured in MILAN, BARCELONA and LONDON is presented in this article. The objective is to obtain a comprehensive picture of the microphysical processes involved in aerosol dynamics during the: 1) regular evolution of the urban aerosol (daily, weekly and seasonal basis) and in the day-to-day variations (from clean-air to pollution-events), and 2) the link between "aerosol chemistry and mass concentrations" with the "number size distribution". The mass concentrations of the fine PM2.5 aerosol exhibit a high correlation with the number concentration of >100 nm particles N>100 (nm) ("accumulation mode particles") which only account for <20% of the total number concentration N of fine aerosols; but do not correlate with the number of <100 nm particles ("ultrafine particles"), which accounts for >80% of fine particles number concentration. Organic matter and black-carbon are the only aerosol components showing a significant correlation with the ultrafine particles, attributed to vehicles exhausts emissions; whereas ammonium-nitrate, ammonium-sulphate and also organic matter and black-carbon correlate with N>100 (nm) and attributed to condensation mechanisms, other particle growth processes and some primary emissions. Time series of the aerosol DpN diameter (dN/dlogD mode), mass PM2.5 concentrations and number N>100 (nm) concentrations exhibit correlated day-to-day variations, which point to a significant involvement of condensation of semi-volatile compounds during urban pollution events. This agrees with the observation that ammonium-nitrate is the component exhibiting the highest increases from mid-to-high pollution episodes, when the highest DpN increases are observed. The results indicates that "fine PM2.5 particles urban pollution events" tend to occur when condensation processes have made particles grow large enough to produce significant number concentrations of N>100 (nm) ("accumulation mode particles"). In contrast, because the low contribution of ultrafine particles to the fine aerosol mass concentrations, high "ultrafine particles N<100(nm) events" frequently occurs under low PM2.5 conditions. The results of this study demonstrate that vehicles exhausts emissions are strongly involved in this ultrafine particles aerosol pollution.

All about Occultation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Riddle, Bob

2001-01-01

Describes occultation events involving the moon, when the moon blocks the view of planets or stars. Describes other events such as a partial solar eclipse, a penumbral lunar eclipse, meteor showers, and moon phases. Provides a list of internet resources related to these events. (DLH)

Assessment of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for simulation of extreme rainfall events in the upper Ganga Basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chawla, Ila; Osuri, Krishna K.; Mujumdar, Pradeep P.; Niyogi, Dev

2018-02-01

Reliable estimates of extreme rainfall events are necessary for an accurate prediction of floods. Most of the global rainfall products are available at a coarse resolution, rendering them less desirable for extreme rainfall analysis. Therefore, regional mesoscale models such as the advanced research version of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are often used to provide rainfall estimates at fine grid spacing. Modelling heavy rainfall events is an enduring challenge, as such events depend on multi-scale interactions, and the model configurations such as grid spacing, physical parameterization and initialization. With this background, the WRF model is implemented in this study to investigate the impact of different processes on extreme rainfall simulation, by considering a representative event that occurred during 15-18 June 2013 over the Ganga Basin in India, which is located at the foothills of the Himalayas. This event is simulated with ensembles involving four different microphysics (MP), two cumulus (CU) parameterizations, two planetary boundary layers (PBLs) and two land surface physics options, as well as different resolutions (grid spacing) within the WRF model. The simulated rainfall is evaluated against the observations from 18 rain gauges and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) 3B42RT version 7 data. From the analysis, it should be noted that the choice of MP scheme influences the spatial pattern of rainfall, while the choice of PBL and CU parameterizations influences the magnitude of rainfall in the model simulations. Further, the WRF run with Goddard MP, Mellor-Yamada-Janjic PBL and Betts-Miller-Janjic CU scheme is found to perform best in simulating this heavy rain event. The selected configuration is evaluated for several heavy to extremely heavy rainfall events that occurred across different months of the monsoon season in the region. The model performance improved through incorporation of detailed land surface processes involving prognostic soil moisture evolution in Noah scheme compared to the simple Slab model. To analyse the effect of model grid spacing, two sets of downscaling ratios - (i) 1 : 3, global to regional (G2R) scale and (ii) 1 : 9, global to convection-permitting scale (G2C) - are employed. Results indicate that a higher downscaling ratio (G2C) causes higher variability and consequently large errors in the simulations. Therefore, G2R is adopted as a suitable choice for simulating heavy rainfall event in the present case study. Further, the WRF-simulated rainfall is found to exhibit less bias when compared with the NCEP FiNaL (FNL) reanalysis data.

Near-term probabilistic forecast of significant wildfire events for the Western United States

Treesearch

Haiganoush K. Preisler; Karin L. Riley; Crystal S. Stonesifer; Dave E. Calkin; Matt Jolly

2016-01-01

Fire danger and potential for large fires in the United States (US) is currently indicated via several forecasted qualitative indices. However, landscape-level quantitative forecasts of the probability of a large fire are currently lacking. In this study, we present a framework for forecasting large fire occurrence - an extreme value event - and evaluating...

A systematic investigation into b values prior to coming large earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nanjo, K.; Yoshida, A.

2017-12-01

The Gutenberg-Richter law for frequency-magnitude distribution of earthquakes is now well established in seismology. The b value, the slope of the distribution, is supposed to reflect heterogeneity of seismogenic region (e.g. Mogi 1962) and development of interplate coupling in subduction zone (e.g. Nanjo et al., 2012; Tormann et al. 2015). In the laboratory as well as in the Earth's crust, the b value is known to be inversely dependent on differential stresses (Scholz 1968, 2015). In this context, the b value could serve as a stress meter to help locate asperities, the highly-stressed patches, in fault planes where large rupture energy is released (e.g. Schorlemmer & Wiemer 2005). However, it still remains uncertain whether the b values of events prior to coming large earthquakes are always low significantly. To clarify this issue, we conducted a systematic investigation into b values prior to large earthquakes in the Japanese Mainland. Since no physical definition of mainshock, foreshock, and aftershock is known, we simply investigated b values of the events with magnitudes larger than the lower-cutoff magnitude, Mc, prior to earthquakes equal to or larger than a threshold magnitude, Mth, where Mth>Mc. Schorlemmer et al. (2005) showed that the b value for different fault types differs significantly, which is supposed to reflect the feature that the fracture stress depends on fault types. Therefore, we classified fault motions into normal, strike-slip, and thrust types based on the mechanism solution of earthquakes, and computed b values of events associated with each fault motion separately. We found that the target events (M≥Mth) and the events that occurred prior to the target events both show a common systematic change in b: normal faulting events have the highest b values, thrust events the lowest and strike-slip events intermediate values. Moreover, we found that the b values for the prior events (M≥Mc) are significantly lower than the b values for the target events (M≥Mth), though their b values change somewhat depending on the choice of the parameter values to define the target events (M≥Mth) and the prior events (M≥Mc). This finding indicates that the b value could be used as an effective index for foreseeing occurrence of large earthquakes, if the parameter values are well-tuned.

Job Displacement and Social Participation over the Lifecourse: Findings for a Cohort of Joiners

PubMed Central

Brand, Jennie E.; Burgard, Sarah A.

2010-01-01

We examine the effects of job displacement, an involuntary event associated with socioeconomic and psychological decline, on social participation. Using more than 45 years of panel data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study, we find that job displacement is associated with significant, long-term lower probabilities of subsequent involvement with various forms of social participation for workers displaced during their prime earnings years; displacement is not associated with lower probabilities of involvement for workers displaced in the years approaching retirement. We also find that post-displacement socioeconomic and psychological decline explain very little of the negative effect of job displacement on social participation, and that a single displacement event, rather than a series of multiple displacement events, is most strongly associated with lower probabilities of social involvement. PMID:20827387

Analysis of P and Pdiff Coda Arrivals for Water Reverberations to Evaluate Shallow Slip Extent in Large Megathrust Earthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rhode, A.; Lay, T.

2017-12-01

Determining the up-dip rupture extent of large megathrust ruptures is important for understanding their tsunami excitation, frictional properties of the shallow megathrust, and potential for separate tsunami earthquake occurrence. On land geodetic data have almost no resolution of the up-dip extent of faulting and teleseismic observations have limited resolution that is strongly influenced by typically poorly known shallow seismic velocity structure near the toe of the accretionary prism. The increase in ocean depth as slip on the megathrust approaches the trench has significant influence on the strength and azimuthal distribution of water reverberations in the far-field P wave coda. For broadband P waves from large earthquakes with dominant signal periods of about 10 s, water reverberations generated by shallow fault slip under deep water may persist for over a minute after the direct P phases have passed, giving a clear signal of slip near the trench. As the coda waves can be quickly evaluated following the P signal, recognition of slip extending to the trench and associated enhanced tsunamigenic potential could be achieved within a few minutes after the P arrival, potentially contributing to rapid tsunami hazard assessment. We examine the broadband P wave coda at distances from 80 to 120° for a large number of recent major and great earthquakes with independently determined slip distributions and known tsunami excitation to evaluate the prospect for rapidly constraining up-dip rupture extent of large megathrust earthquakes. Events known to have significant shallow slip, at least locally extending to the trench (e.g., 2016 Illapel, Chile; 2010 Maule, 2010 Mentawai) do have relatively enhanced coda levels at all azimuths, whereas events that do not rupture the shallow megathrust (e.g., 2007 Sumatra, 2014 Iquique, 2003 Hokkaido) do not. Some events with slip models lacking shallow slip show strong coda generation, raising questions about the up-dip resolution of slip of their finite-fault models, and others show strong azimuthal patterns in coda strength that suggest propagation from the slip zone to the deep near-trench environments is involved rather than slip near the trench. The various behaviors will be integrated into an assessment of this approach.

Identification of a novel AluSx-mediated deletion of exon 3 in the SBDS gene in a patient with Shwachman-Diamond syndrome.

PubMed

Costa, Elísio; Duque, Frederico; Oliveira, Jorge; Garcia, Paula; Gonçalves, Isabel; Diogo, Luísa; Santos, Rosário

2007-01-01

Shwachman-Diamond syndrome (SDS) is caused by mutations in the SBDS gene, most of which are the result of gene conversion events involving its highly homologous pseudogene SBDSP. Here we describe the molecular characterization of the first documented gross deletion in the SBDS gene, in a 4-year-old Portuguese girl with SDS. The clinical diagnosis was based on the presence of hematological symptoms (severe anemia and cyclic neutropenia), pancreatic exocrine insufficiency and skeletal abnormalities. Routine molecular screening revealed heterozygosity for the common splicing mutation c.258+2T>C, and a further step-wise approach led to the detection of a large deletion encompassing exon 3, the endpoints of which were subsequently delineated at the gDNA level. This novel mutation (c.258+374_459+250del), predictably giving rise to an internally deleted polypeptide (p.Ile87_Gln153del), appears to have arisen from an excision event mediated by AluSx elements which are present in introns 2 and 3. Our case illustrates the importance of including gross deletion screening in the SDS diagnostic setting, especially in cases where only one deleterious mutation is detected by routine screening methods. In particular, deletional rearrangements involving exon 3 should be considered, since Alu sequences are known to be an important cause of recurrent mutations.

The 2009 Samoa-Tonga great earthquake triggered doublet

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lay, T.; Ammon, C.J.; Kanamori, H.; Rivera, L.; Koper, K.D.; Hutko, Alexander R.

2010-01-01

Great earthquakes (having seismic magnitudes of at least 8) usually involve abrupt sliding of rock masses at a boundary between tectonic plates. Such interplate ruptures produce dynamic and static stress changes that can activate nearby intraplate aftershocks, as is commonly observed in the trench-slope region seaward of a great subduction zone thrust event1-4. The earthquake sequence addressed here involves a rare instance in which a great trench-slope intraplate earthquake triggered extensive interplate faulting, reversing the typical pattern and broadly expanding the seismic and tsunami hazard. On 29 September 2009, within two minutes of the initiation of a normal faulting event with moment magnitude 8.1 in the outer trench-slope at the northern end of the Tonga subduction zone, two major interplate underthrusting subevents (both with moment magnitude 7.8), with total moment equal to a second great earthquake of moment magnitude 8.0, ruptured the nearby subduction zone megathrust. The collective faulting produced tsunami waves with localized regions of about 12metres run-up that claimed 192 lives in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. Overlap of the seismic signals obscured the fact that distinct faults separated by more than 50km had ruptured with different geometries, with the triggered thrust faulting only being revealed by detailed seismic wave analyses. Extensive interplate and intraplate aftershock activity was activated over a large region of the northern Tonga subduction zone. ?? 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

Interfacial stress affects rat alveolar type II cell signaling and gene expression.

PubMed

Hobi, Nina; Ravasio, Andrea; Haller, Thomas

2012-07-01

Previous work from our group (Ravasio A, Hobi N, Bertocchi C, Jesacher A, Dietl P, Haller T. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 300: C1456-C1465, 2011.) showed that contact of alveolar epithelial type II cells with an air-liquid interface (I(AL)) leads to a paradoxical situation. It is a potential threat that can cause cell injury, but also a Ca(2+)-dependent stimulus for surfactant secretion. Both events can be explained by the impact of interfacial tensile forces on cellular structures. Here, the strength of this mechanical stimulus became also apparent in microarray studies by a rapid and significant change on the transcriptional level. Cells challenged with an I(AL) in two different ways showed activation/inactivation of cellular pathways involved in stress response and defense, and a detailed Pubmatrix search identified genes associated with several lung diseases and injuries. Altogether, they suggest a close relationship of interfacial stress sensation with current models in alveolar micromechanics. Further similarities between I(AL) and cell stretch were found with respect to the underlying signaling events. The source of Ca(2+) was extracellular, and the transmembrane Ca(2+) entry pathway suggests the involvement of a mechanosensitive channel. We conclude that alveolar type II cells, due to their location and morphology, are specific sensors of the I(AL), but largely protected from interfacial stress by surfactant release.

Is there an association with constitutional structural chromosomal abnormalities and hematologic neoplastic process? A short review.

PubMed

Panani, Anna D

2009-04-01

The occasional observation of constitutional chromosomal abnormalities in patients with a malignant disease has led to a number of studies on their potential role in cancer development. Investigations of families with hereditary cancers and constitutional chromosomal abnormalities have been key observations leading to the molecular identification of specific genes implicated in tumorigenesis. Large studies have been reported on the incidence of constitutional chromosomal aberrations in patients with hematologic malignancies, but they could not confirm an increased risk for hematologic malignancy among carriers of structural chromosomal changes. However, it is of particular interest that constitutional structural aberrations with breakpoints similar to leukemia-associated specific breakpoints have been reported in patients with hematologic malignancies. Because of insufficient data, it remains still unclear if these aberrations represent random events or are associated with malignancy. There has been a substantial discussion about mechanisms involved in constitutional structural chromosomal changes in the literature. The documentation of more patients with constitutional structural chromosomal changes could be of major importance. Most importantly, the molecular investigation of chromosomal regions involved in rearrangements could give useful information on the genetic events underlying constitutional anomalies, contributing to isolation of genes important in the development of the neoplastic process. Regarding constitutional anomalies in patients with hematologic disorders, a survey of the cytogenetic data of our cytogenetics unit is herein also presented.

The 2009 Samoa-Tonga great earthquake triggered doublet.

PubMed

Lay, Thorne; Ammon, Charles J; Kanamori, Hiroo; Rivera, Luis; Koper, Keith D; Hutko, Alexander R

2010-08-19

Great earthquakes (having seismic magnitudes of at least 8) usually involve abrupt sliding of rock masses at a boundary between tectonic plates. Such interplate ruptures produce dynamic and static stress changes that can activate nearby intraplate aftershocks, as is commonly observed in the trench-slope region seaward of a great subduction zone thrust event. The earthquake sequence addressed here involves a rare instance in which a great trench-slope intraplate earthquake triggered extensive interplate faulting, reversing the typical pattern and broadly expanding the seismic and tsunami hazard. On 29 September 2009, within two minutes of the initiation of a normal faulting event with moment magnitude 8.1 in the outer trench-slope at the northern end of the Tonga subduction zone, two major interplate underthrusting subevents (both with moment magnitude 7.8), with total moment equal to a second great earthquake of moment magnitude 8.0, ruptured the nearby subduction zone megathrust. The collective faulting produced tsunami waves with localized regions of about 12 metres run-up that claimed 192 lives in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. Overlap of the seismic signals obscured the fact that distinct faults separated by more than 50 km had ruptured with different geometries, with the triggered thrust faulting only being revealed by detailed seismic wave analyses. Extensive interplate and intraplate aftershock activity was activated over a large region of the northern Tonga subduction zone.

Rain-on-snow Events in Southwestern British Columbia: A Long-term Analysis of Meteorological Conditions and Snowpack Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trubilowicz, J. W.; Moore, D.

2015-12-01

Snowpack dynamics and runoff generation in coastal mountain regions are complicated by rain-on-snow (ROS) events. During major ROS events associated with warm, moist air and strong winds, turbulent heat fluxes can produce substantial melt to supplement rainfall, but previous studies suggest this may not be true for smaller, more frequent events. The internal temperature and water content of the snowpack are also expected to influence runoff generation during ROS events: a cold snowpack with no liquid water content will have the ability to store significant amounts of rainfall, whereas a 'ripe' snowpack may begin to melt and generate outflow with little rain input. However, it is not well understood how antecedent snowpack conditions and energy fluxes differ between ROS events that cause large runoff events and those that do not, in large part because major flood-producing ROS events occur infrequently, and thus are often not sampled during short-term research projects. To generate greater understanding of runoff generation over the spectrum of ROS magnitudes and frequencies, we analyzed data from Automated Snow Pillow (ASP) sites, which record hourly air temperature, precipitation and snowpack water equivalent and offer up to several decades of data at each site. We supplemented the ASP data with output from the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) product to support point scale snow modeling for 335 ROS event records from six ASP sites in southwestern BC from 2003 to 2013. Our analysis reconstructed the weather conditions, surface energy exchanges, internal mass and energy states of the snowpack, and generation of snow melt and water available for runoff (WAR) for each ROS event. Results indicate that WAR generation during large events is largely independent of the snowpack conditions, but for smaller events, the antecedent snow conditions play a significant role in either damping or enhancing WAR generation.

Uncertainty estimation of simulated water levels for the Mitch flood event in Tegucigalpa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuentes Andino, Diana Carolina; Halldin, Sven; Keith, Beven; Chong-Yu, Xu

2013-04-01

Hurricane Mitch in 1998 left a devastating flood in Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras. Due to the extremely large magnitude of the Mitch flood, hydrometric measurements were not taken during the event. However, post-event indirect measurements of the discharge were obtained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and post-event surveyed high water marks were obtained by the Japan International Cooperation agency (JICA). This work proposes a methodology to simulate the water level during the Mitch event when the available data is associated with large uncertainty. The results of the two-dimensional hydrodynamic model LISFLOOD-FP will be evaluated using the Generalized Uncertainty Estimation (GLUE) framework. The main challenge in the proposed methodology is to formulate an approach to evaluate the model results when there are large uncertainties coming from both the model parameters and the evaluation data.

Topological events in single molecules of E. coli DNA confined in nanochannels

PubMed Central

Reifenberger, Jeffrey G.; Dorfman, Kevin D.; Cao, Han

2015-01-01

We present experimental data concerning potential topological events such as folds, internal backfolds, and/or knots within long molecules of double-stranded DNA when they are stretched by confinement in a nanochannel. Genomic DNA from E. coli was labeled near the ‘GCTCTTC’ sequence with a fluorescently labeled dUTP analog and stained with the DNA intercalator YOYO. Individual long molecules of DNA were then linearized and imaged using methods based on the NanoChannel Array technology (Irys® System) available from BioNano Genomics. Data were collected on 189,153 molecules of length greater than 50 kilobases. A custom code was developed to search for abnormal intensity spikes in the YOYO backbone profile along the length of individual molecules. By correlating the YOYO intensity spikes with the aligned barcode pattern to the reference, we were able to correlate the bright intensity regions of YOYO with abnormal stretching in the molecule, which suggests these events were either a knot or a region of internal backfolding within the DNA. We interpret the results of our experiments involving molecules exceeding 50 kilobases in the context of existing simulation data for relatively short DNA, typically several kilobases. The frequency of these events is lower than the predictions from simulations, while the size of the events is larger than simulation predictions and often exceeds the molecular weight of the simulated molecules. We also identified DNA molecules that exhibit large, single folds as they enter the nanochannels. Overall, topological events occur at a low frequency (~7% of all molecules) and pose an easily surmountable obstacle for the practice of genome mapping in nanochannels. PMID:25991508

Water isotope variability across single rainfall events in the tropical Pacific

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cobb, K. M.; Moerman, J. W.; Ellis, S. A.; Bennett, L.; Bosma, C.; Hitt, N. T.

2017-12-01

Water isotopologues provide a powerful diagnostic tool for probing the dynamical processes involved in the initiation and evolution of tropical convective events, yet water isotope observations rarely meet the temporal resolution required to resolve such processes. Here we present timeseries of rainfall oxygen and hydrogen isotopologues across over 30 individual convective events sampled at 1- to 5-minute intervals at both terrestrial (Gunung Mulu National Park, 4N, 115W) and maritime (Kiritimati Island, 2N, 157W) sites located in the equatorial Pacific. The sites are the loci of significant paleoclimate research that employ water isotopologues to reconstruct a variety of climatic parameters of interest over the last century, in the case of coral d18O, to hundreds of thousands of years before present, in the case of stalagmite d18O. As such, there is significant scientific value in refining our understanding of water isotope controls at these particular sites. Our results illustrate large, short-term excursions in water isotope values that far exceed the signals recovered in daily timeseries of rainfall isotopologues from the sites, illustrating the fundamental contribution of mesoscale processes in driving rainfall isotope variability. That said, the cross-event profiles exhibit a broad range of trajectories, even for events collected at the same time of day on adjoining days. Profiles collected at different phases of the 2015-2017 strong El Nino-Southern Oscillation cycle also exhibit appreciable variability. We compare our observations to hypothetical profiles from a 1-dimensional model of each rainfall event, as well as to output from 4-dimensional isotope-equipped, ocean-atmosphere coupled models of rainfall isotope variability in the tropical Pacific. We discuss the implications of our findings for the interpretation of water isotope-based reconstructions of hydroclimate in the tropics.

A record of large earthquakes during the past two millennia on the southern Green Valley Fault, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lienkaemper, James J.; Baldwin, John N.; Turner, Robert; Sickler, Robert R.; Brown, Johnathan

2013-01-01

We document evidence for surface-rupturing earthquakes (events) at two trench sites on the southern Green Valley fault, California (SGVF). The 75-80-km long dextral SGVF creeps ~1-4 mm/yr. We identify stratigraphic horizons disrupted by upward-flowering shears and in-filled fissures unlikely to have formed from creep alone. The Mason Rd site exhibits four events from ~1013 CE to the Present. The Lopes Ranch site (LR, 12 km to the south) exhibits three events from 18 BCE to Present including the most recent event (MRE), 1610 ±52 yr CE (1σ) and a two-event interval (18 BCE-238 CE) isolated by a millennium of low deposition. Using Oxcal to model the timing of the 4-event earthquake sequence from radiocarbon data and the LR MRE yields a mean recurrence interval (RI or μ) of 199 ±82 yr (1σ) and ±35 yr (standard error of the mean), the first based on geologic data. The time since the most recent earthquake (open window since MRE) is 402 yr ±52 yr, well past μ~200 yr. The shape of the probability density function (pdf) of the average RI from Oxcal resembles a Brownian Passage Time (BPT) pdf (i.e., rather than normal) that permits rarer longer ruptures potentially involving the Berryessa and Hunting Creek sections of the northernmost GVF. The model coefficient of variation (cv, σ/μ) is 0.41, but a larger value (cv ~0.6) fits better when using BPT. A BPT pdf with μ of 250 yr and cv of 0.6 yields 30-yr rupture probabilities of 20-25% versus a Poisson probability of 11-17%.

Effects of a significant New Madrid Seismic Zone event on oil and natural gas pipelines and their cascading effects to critical infrastructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fields, Damon E.

Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) is a construct that relates preparedness and responsiveness to natural or man-made disasters that involve vulnerable assets deemed essential for the functioning of our economy and society. Infrastructure systems (power grids, bridges, airports, etc.) are vulnerable to disastrous types of events--natural or man-made. Failures of these systems can have devastating effects on communities and entire regions. CIP relates our willingness, ability, and capability to defend, mitigate, and re-constitute those assets that succumb to disasters affecting one or more infrastructure sectors. This qualitative research utilized ethnography and employed interviews with subject matter experts (SMEs) from various fields of study regarding CIP with respect to oil and natural gas pipelines in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The study focused on the research question: What can be done to mitigate vulnerabilities in the oil and natural gas infrastructures, along with the potential cascading effects to interdependent systems, associated with a New Madrid fault event? The researcher also analyzed National Level Exercises (NLE) and real world events, and associated After Action Reports (AAR) and Lessons Learned (LL) in order to place a holistic lens across all infrastructures and their dependencies and interdependencies. Three main themes related to the research question emerged: (a) preparedness, (b) mitigation, and (c) impacts. These themes comprised several dimensions: (a) redundancy, (b) node hardening, (c) education, (d) infrastructure damage, (e) cascading effects, (f) interdependencies, (g) exercises, and (h) earthquake readiness. As themes and dimensions are analyzed, they are considered against findings in AARs and LL from previous real world events and large scale exercise events for validation or rejection.

Examination of adult and child bicyclist safety-relevant events using naturalistic bicycling methodology.

PubMed

Hamann, Cara J; Peek-Asa, Corinne

2017-05-01

Among roadway users, bicyclists are considered vulnerable due to their high risk for injury when involved in a crash. Little is known about the circumstances leading to near crashes, crashes, and related injuries or how these vary by age and gender. The purpose of this study was to examine the rates and characteristics of safety-relevant events (crashes, near crashes, errors, and traffic violations) among adult and child bicyclists. Bicyclist trips were captured using Pedal Portal, a data acquisition and coding system which includes a GPS-enabled video camera and graphical user interface. A total of 179 safety-relevant events were manually coded from trip videos. Overall, child errors and traffic violations occurred at a rate of 1.9 per 100min of riding, compared to 6.3 for adults. However, children rode on the sidewalk 56.4% of the time, compared with 12.7% for adults. For both adults and children, the highest safety-relevant event rates occurred on paved roadways with no bicycle facilities present (Adults=8.6 and Children=7.2, per 100min of riding). Our study, the first naturalistic study to compare safety-relevant events among adults and children, indicates large variation in riding behavior and exposure between child and adult bicyclists. The majority of identified events were traffic violations and we were not able to code all risk-relevant data (e.g., subtle avoidance behaviors, failure to check for traffic, probability of collision). Future naturalistic cycling studies would benefit from enhanced instrumentation (e.g., additional camera views) and coding protocols able to fill these gaps. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

'Fish' (Actinopterygii and Elasmobranchii) diversification patterns through deep time.

PubMed

Guinot, Guillaume; Cavin, Lionel

2016-11-01

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) and Elasmobranchii (sharks, skates and rays) represent more than half of today's vertebrate taxic diversity (approximately 33000 species) and form the largest component of vertebrate diversity in extant aquatic ecosystems. Yet, patterns of 'fish' evolutionary history remain insufficiently understood and previous studies generally treated each group independently mainly because of their contrasting fossil record composition and corresponding sampling strategies. Because direct reading of palaeodiversity curves is affected by several biases affecting the fossil record, analytical approaches are needed to correct for these biases. In this review, we propose a comprehensive analysis based on comparison of large data sets related to competing phylogenies (including all Recent and fossil taxa) and the fossil record for both groups during the Mesozoic-Cainozoic interval. This approach provides information on the 'fish' fossil record quality and on the corrected 'fish' deep-time phylogenetic palaeodiversity signals, with special emphasis on diversification events. Because taxonomic information is preserved after analytical treatment, identified palaeodiversity events are considered both quantitatively and qualitatively and put within corresponding palaeoenvironmental and biological settings. Results indicate a better fossil record quality for elasmobranchs due to their microfossil-like fossil distribution and their very low diversity in freshwater systems, whereas freshwater actinopterygians are diverse in this realm with lower preservation potential. Several important diversification events are identified at familial and generic levels for elasmobranchs, and marine and freshwater actinopterygians, namely in the Early-Middle Jurassic (elasmobranchs), Late Jurassic (actinopterygians), Early Cretaceous (elasmobranchs, freshwater actinopterygians), Cenomanian (all groups) and the Paleocene-Eocene interval (all groups), the latter two representing the two most exceptional radiations among vertebrates. For each of these events along with the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction, we provide an in-depth review of the taxa involved and factors that may have influenced the diversity patterns observed. Among these, palaeotemperatures, sea-levels, ocean circulation and productivity as well as continent fragmentation and environment heterogeneity (reef environments) are parameters that largely impacted on 'fish' evolutionary history, along with other biotic constraints. © 2015 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Earth's portfolio of extreme sediment transport events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korup, Oliver

2012-05-01

Quantitative estimates of sediment flux and the global cycling of sediments from hillslopes to rivers, estuaries, deltas, continental shelves, and deep-sea basins have a long research tradition. In this context, extremely large and commensurately rare sediment transport events have so far eluded a systematic analysis. To start filling this knowledge gap I review some of the highest reported sediment yields in mountain rivers impacted by volcanic eruptions, earthquake- and storm-triggered landslide episodes, and catastrophic dam breaks. Extreme specific yields, defined here as those exceeding the 95th percentile of compiled data, are ~ 104 t km- 2 yr- 1 if averaged over 1 yr. These extreme yields vary by eight orders of magnitude, but systematically decay with reference intervals from minutes to millennia such that yields vary by three orders of magnitude for a given reference interval. Sediment delivery from natural dam breaks and pyroclastic eruptions dominate these yields for a given reference interval. Even if averaged over 102-103 yr, the contribution of individual disturbances may remain elevated above corresponding catchment denudation rates. I further estimate rates of sediment (re-)mobilisation by individual giant terrestrial and submarine mass movements. Less than 50 postglacial submarine mass movements have involved an equivalent of ~ 10% of the contemporary annual global flux of fluvial sediment to Earth's oceans, while mobilisation rates by individual events rival the decadal-scale sediment discharge from tectonically active orogens such as Taiwan or New Zealand. Sediment flushing associated with catastrophic natural dam breaks is non-stationary and shows a distinct kink at the last glacial-interglacial transition, owing to the drainage of very large late Pleistocene ice-marginal lakes. Besides emphasising the contribution of high-magnitude and low-frequency events to the global sediment cascade, these findings stress the importance of sediment storage for fuelling rather than buffering high sediment transport rates.

Updated Rupture Model for the M7.8 October 28, 2012, Haida Gwaii Earthquake as Constrained by GPS-Observed Displacements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nykolaishen, L.; Dragert, H.; Wang, K.; James, T. S.; de Lange Boom, B.; Schmidt, M.; Sinnott, D.

2014-12-01

The M7.8 low-angle thrust earthquake off the west coast of southern Haida Gwaii on October 28, 2012, provided Canadian scientists the opportunity to study a local large thrust earthquake and has provided important information towards an improved understanding of geohazards in coastal British Columbia. Most large events along the Pacific-North America boundary in this region have involved strike-slip motion, such as the 1949 M8.1 earthquake on the Queen Charlotte Fault. In contrast along the southern portion of Haida Gwaii, the young (~8 Ma) Pacific plate crust also underthrusts North America and has been viewed as a small-scale analogy of the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Initial seismic-based rupture models for this event were improved through inclusion of GPS observed coseismic displacements, which are as large as 115 cm of horizontal motion (SSW) and 30 cm of subsidence. Additional campaign-style GPS surveys have since been repeated by the Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) at seven vertical reference benchmarks throughout Haida Gwaii, significantly improving the coverage of coseismic displacement observations in the region. These added offsets were typically calculated by differencing a single occupation before and after the earthquake and preliminary displacement estimates are consistent with previous GPS observations from the Geological Survey of Canada. Addition of the CHS coseismic offset estimates may allow direct inversion of the GPS data to derive a purely GPS-based rupture model. To date, cumulative postseismic displacements at six sites indicate up to 6 cm of motion, varying in azimuth between SSW and SE. Preliminary postseismic timeseries curve fitting to date has utilized a double exponential function characteristic of mantle relaxation. The current postseismic trends also suggest afterslip on the deeper plate interface beneath central Haida Gwaii along with possible induced aseismic slip on a deeper segment of the Queen Charlotte Fault located offshore of southern Moresby Island. A physical explanation involving afterslip will entail the use of logarithmic functions for curve-fitting and will allow quantitative assessment of the relative importance of the two processes.

A systems neurophysiology approach to voluntary event coding.

PubMed

Petruo, Vanessa A; Stock, Ann-Kathrin; Münchau, Alexander; Beste, Christian

2016-07-15

Mechanisms responsible for the integration of perceptual events and appropriate actions (sensorimotor processes) have been subject to intense research. Different theoretical frameworks have been put forward with the "Theory of Event Coding (TEC)" being one of the most influential. In the current study, we focus on the concept of 'event files' within TEC and examine what sub-processes being dissociable by means of cognitive-neurophysiological methods are involved in voluntary event coding. This was combined with EEG source localization. We also introduce reward manipulations to delineate the neurophysiological sub-processes most relevant for performance variations during event coding. The results show that processes involved in voluntary event coding included predominantly stimulus categorization, feature unbinding and response selection, which were reflected by distinct neurophysiological processes (the P1, N2 and P3 ERPs). On a system's neurophysiological level, voluntary event-file coding is thus related to widely distributed parietal-medial frontal networks. Attentional selection processes (N1 ERP) turned out to be less important. Reward modulated stimulus categorization in parietal regions likely reflecting aspects of perceptual decision making but not in other processes. The perceptual categorization stage appears central for voluntary event-file coding. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Composition variations of low energy heavy ions during large solar energetic particle events

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ho, George C., E-mail: George.Ho@jhuapl.edu; Mason, Glenn M., E-mail: Glenn.Mason@jhuapl.edu

2016-03-25

The time-intensity profile of large solar energetic particle (SEP) event is well organized by solar longitude as observed at Earth orbit. This is mostly due to different magnetic connection to the shock that is associated with large SEP event propagates from the Sun to the heliosphere. Earlier studies have shown event averaged heavy ion abundance ratios can also vary as a function of solar longitude. It was found that the Fe/O ratio for high energy particle (>10 MeV/nucleon) is higher for those western magnetically well connected events compare to the eastern events as observed at L1 by the Advanced Composition Explorermore » (ACE) spacecraft. In this paper, we examined the low energy (∼1 MeV/nucleon) heavy ions in 110 isolated SEP events from 2009 to the end of 2014. In addition, the optical and radio signatures for all of our events are identified and when data are available we also located the associated coronal mass ejection (CME) data. Our survey shows a higher Fe/O ratio at events in the well-connected region, while there are no corrections between the event averaged elemental composition with the associated coronal mass ejection speed. This is inconsistent with the higher energy results, but inline with other recent low-energy measurements.« less

Cataloging the biomedical world of pain through semi-automated curation of molecular interactions

PubMed Central

Jamieson, Daniel G.; Roberts, Phoebe M.; Robertson, David L.; Sidders, Ben; Nenadic, Goran

2013-01-01

The vast collection of biomedical literature and its continued expansion has presented a number of challenges to researchers who require structured findings to stay abreast of and analyze molecular mechanisms relevant to their domain of interest. By structuring literature content into topic-specific machine-readable databases, the aggregate data from multiple articles can be used to infer trends that can be compared and contrasted with similar findings from topic-independent resources. Our study presents a generalized procedure for semi-automatically creating a custom topic-specific molecular interaction database through the use of text mining to assist manual curation. We apply the procedure to capture molecular events that underlie ‘pain’, a complex phenomenon with a large societal burden and unmet medical need. We describe how existing text mining solutions are used to build a pain-specific corpus, extract molecular events from it, add context to the extracted events and assess their relevance. The pain-specific corpus contains 765 692 documents from Medline and PubMed Central, from which we extracted 356 499 unique normalized molecular events, with 261 438 single protein events and 93 271 molecular interactions supplied by BioContext. Event chains are annotated with negation, speculation, anatomy, Gene Ontology terms, mutations, pain and disease relevance, which collectively provide detailed insight into how that event chain is associated with pain. The extracted relations are visualized in a wiki platform (wiki-pain.org) that enables efficient manual curation and exploration of the molecular mechanisms that underlie pain. Curation of 1500 grouped event chains ranked by pain relevance revealed 613 accurately extracted unique molecular interactions that in the future can be used to study the underlying mechanisms involved in pain. Our approach demonstrates that combining existing text mining tools with domain-specific terms and wiki-based visualization can facilitate rapid curation of molecular interactions to create a custom database. Database URL: ••• PMID:23707966

Low Probability Tail Event Analysis and Mitigation in BPA Control Area: Task One Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lu, Shuai; Makarov, Yuri V.

This is a report for task one of the tail event analysis project for BPA. Tail event refers to the situation in a power system when unfavorable forecast errors of load and wind are superposed onto fast load and wind ramps, or non-wind generators falling short of scheduled output, the imbalance between generation and load becomes very significant. This type of events occurs infrequently and appears on the tails of the distribution of system power imbalance; therefore, is referred to as tail events. This report analyzes what happened during the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) reliability event on Februarymore » 26, 2008, which was widely reported because of the involvement of wind generation. The objective is to identify sources of the problem, solutions to it and potential improvements that can be made to the system. Lessons learned from the analysis include the following: (1) Large mismatch between generation and load can be caused by load forecast error, wind forecast error and generation scheduling control error on traditional generators, or a combination of all of the above; (2) The capability of system balancing resources should be evaluated both in capacity (MW) and in ramp rate (MW/min), and be procured accordingly to meet both requirements. The resources need to be able to cover a range corresponding to the variability of load and wind in the system, additional to other uncertainties; (3) Unexpected ramps caused by load and wind can both become the cause leading to serious issues; (4) A look-ahead tool evaluating system balancing requirement during real-time operations and comparing that with available system resources should be very helpful to system operators in predicting the forthcoming of similar events and planning ahead; and (5) Demand response (only load reduction in ERCOT event) can effectively reduce load-generation mismatch and terminate frequency deviation in an emergency situation.« less

Cataloging the biomedical world of pain through semi-automated curation of molecular interactions.

PubMed

Jamieson, Daniel G; Roberts, Phoebe M; Robertson, David L; Sidders, Ben; Nenadic, Goran

2013-01-01

The vast collection of biomedical literature and its continued expansion has presented a number of challenges to researchers who require structured findings to stay abreast of and analyze molecular mechanisms relevant to their domain of interest. By structuring literature content into topic-specific machine-readable databases, the aggregate data from multiple articles can be used to infer trends that can be compared and contrasted with similar findings from topic-independent resources. Our study presents a generalized procedure for semi-automatically creating a custom topic-specific molecular interaction database through the use of text mining to assist manual curation. We apply the procedure to capture molecular events that underlie 'pain', a complex phenomenon with a large societal burden and unmet medical need. We describe how existing text mining solutions are used to build a pain-specific corpus, extract molecular events from it, add context to the extracted events and assess their relevance. The pain-specific corpus contains 765 692 documents from Medline and PubMed Central, from which we extracted 356 499 unique normalized molecular events, with 261 438 single protein events and 93 271 molecular interactions supplied by BioContext. Event chains are annotated with negation, speculation, anatomy, Gene Ontology terms, mutations, pain and disease relevance, which collectively provide detailed insight into how that event chain is associated with pain. The extracted relations are visualized in a wiki platform (wiki-pain.org) that enables efficient manual curation and exploration of the molecular mechanisms that underlie pain. Curation of 1500 grouped event chains ranked by pain relevance revealed 613 accurately extracted unique molecular interactions that in the future can be used to study the underlying mechanisms involved in pain. Our approach demonstrates that combining existing text mining tools with domain-specific terms and wiki-based visualization can facilitate rapid curation of molecular interactions to create a custom database. Database URL: •••

Wind-Tunnel Experiments for Gas Dispersion in an Atmospheric Boundary Layer with Large-Scale Turbulent Motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Michioka, Takenobu; Sato, Ayumu; Sada, Koichi

2011-10-01

Large-scale turbulent motions enhancing horizontal gas spread in an atmospheric boundary layer are simulated in a wind-tunnel experiment. The large-scale turbulent motions can be generated using an active grid installed at the front of the test section in the wind tunnel, when appropriate parameters for the angular deflection and the rotation speed are chosen. The power spectra of vertical velocity fluctuations are unchanged with and without the active grid because they are strongly affected by the surface. The power spectra of both streamwise and lateral velocity fluctuations with the active grid increase in the low frequency region, and are closer to the empirical relations inferred from field observations. The large-scale turbulent motions do not affect the Reynolds shear stress, but change the balance of the processes involved. The relative contributions of ejections to sweeps are suppressed by large-scale turbulent motions, indicating that the motions behave as sweep events. The lateral gas spread is enhanced by the lateral large-scale turbulent motions generated by the active grid. The large-scale motions, however, do not affect the vertical velocity fluctuations near the surface, resulting in their having a minimal effect on the vertical gas spread. The peak concentration normalized using the root-mean-squared value of concentration fluctuation is remarkably constant over most regions of the plume irrespective of the operation of the active grid.

Shifts in Summertime Precipitation Accumulation Distributions over the US

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinez-Villalobos, C.; Neelin, J. D.

2016-12-01

Precipitation accumulations, i.e., the amount of precipitation integrated over the course of an event, is a variable with both important physical and societal implications. Previous observational studies show that accumulation distributions have a characteristic shape, with an approximately power law decrease at first, followed by a sharp decrease at a characteristic large event cutoff scale. This cutoff scale is important as it limits the biggest accumulation events. Stochastic prototypes show that the resulting distributions, and importantly the large event cutoff scale, can be understood as a result of the interplay between moisture loss by precipitation and changes in moisture sinks/sources due to fluctuations in moisture divergence over the course of a precipitation event. The strength of this fluctuating moisture sink/source term is expected to increase under global warming, with both theory and climate model simulations predicting a concomitant increase in the large event cutoff scale. This cutoff scale increase has important consequences as it implies an approximately exponential increase for the largest accumulation events. Given its importance, in this study we characterize and track changes in the distribution of precipitation events accumulations over the contiguous US. Accumulation distributions are calculated using hourly precipitation data from 1700 stations, covering the 1974-2013 period over May-October. The resulting distributions largely follow the aforementioned shape, with individual cutoff scales depending on the local climate. An increase in the large event cutoff scale over this period is observed over several regions over the US, most notably over the eastern third of the US. In agreement with the increase in the cutoff, almost exponential increases in the highest accumulation percentiles occur over these regions, with increases in the 99.9 percentile in the Northeast of 70% for example. The relationship to changes in daily precipitation that have previously been noted and to changes in the moisture budget over this period are examined.

Shifts in Summertime Precipitation Accumulation Distributions over the US

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martinez-Villalobos, C.; Neelin, J. D.

2017-12-01

Precipitation accumulations, i.e., the amount of precipitation integrated over the course of an event, is a variable with both important physical and societal implications. Previous observational studies show that accumulation distributions have a characteristic shape, with an approximately power law decrease at first, followed by a sharp decrease at a characteristic large event cutoff scale. This cutoff scale is important as it limits the biggest accumulation events. Stochastic prototypes show that the resulting distributions, and importantly the large event cutoff scale, can be understood as a result of the interplay between moisture loss by precipitation and changes in moisture sinks/sources due to fluctuations in moisture divergence over the course of a precipitation event. The strength of this fluctuating moisture sink/source term is expected to increase under global warming, with both theory and climate model simulations predicting a concomitant increase in the large event cutoff scale. This cutoff scale increase has important consequences as it implies an approximately exponential increase for the largest accumulation events. Given its importance, in this study we characterize and track changes in the distribution of precipitation events accumulations over the contiguous US. Accumulation distributions are calculated using hourly precipitation data from 1700 stations, covering the 1974-2013 period over May-October. The resulting distributions largely follow the aforementioned shape, with individual cutoff scales depending on the local climate. An increase in the large event cutoff scale over this period is observed over several regions over the US, most notably over the eastern third of the US. In agreement with the increase in the cutoff, almost exponential increases in the highest accumulation percentiles occur over these regions, with increases in the 99.9 percentile in the Northeast of 70% for example. The relationship to changes in daily precipitation that have previously been noted and to changes in the moisture budget over this period are examined.

New developments at the Flood Forecasting Centre: operational flood risk assessment and guidance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pilling, Charlie

2017-04-01

The Flood Forecasting Centre (FFC) is a partnership between the UK Met Office, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales. The FFC was established in 2009 to provide an overview of flood risk across England and Wales and to provide flood guidance services primarily for the emergency response community. The FFC provides forecasts for all natural sources of flooding, these being fluvial, surface water, coastal and groundwater. This involves an assessment of possible hydrometeorological events and their impacts over the next five days. During times of heightened flood risk, the close communication between the FFC, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales allows mobilization and deployment of staff and flood defences. Following a number of severe flood events during winters 2013-14 and 2015-16, coupled with a drive from the changing landscape in national incident response, there is a desire to identify flood events at even longer lead time. This earlier assessment and mobilization is becoming increasingly important and high profile within Government. For example, following the exceptional flooding across the north of England in December 2015 the Environment Agency have invested in 40 km of temporary barriers that will be moved around the country to help mitigate against the impacts of large flood events. Efficient and effective use of these barriers depends on identifying the broad regions at risk well in advance of the flood, as well as scaling the magnitude and duration of large events. Partly in response to this, the FFC now produce a flood risk assessment for a month ahead. In addition, since January 2017, the 'new generation' daily flood guidance statement includes an assessment of flood risk for the 6 to 10 day period. Examples of both these new products will be introduced, as will some of the new developments in science and technical capability that underpin these assessments. Examples include improvements to fluvial forecasting from 'fluvial decider', and downscaled hydrometeorological data that generates probabilistic river flows at 6 days lead time using the Delft-FEWS / Grid-to-Grid modelling system. Advances in coastal forecasting from surge and wave ensembles and also the longer range 'coastal decider' approach will also be presented.

Synovial osteochondromatosis involvement in post-traumatic ankle injury.

PubMed

Lee, Daniel K; Louk, Louis; Bell, Bryan L

2008-01-01

Ankle involvement by synovial chondromatosis is unusual. It is unknown whether a post-traumatic event to the ankle induces the formation and development of these lesions. Synovial osteochondromatosis associated with post-traumatic ankle events are rare but suggest trauma to the synovial tissues as being causative, although this has never been statistically confirmed owing to the lack of reports and frequency. We report a case of primary synovial osteochondromatosis involving the tibiotalar joint with painful symptoms after a history of ankle injury, including magnetic resonance imaging findings of this unusual condition.

Emergency Department Visits for Adverse Events Related to Dietary Supplements.

PubMed

Geller, Andrew I; Shehab, Nadine; Weidle, Nina J; Lovegrove, Maribeth C; Wolpert, Beverly J; Timbo, Babgaleh B; Mozersky, Robert P; Budnitz, Daniel S

2015-10-15

Dietary supplements, such as herbal or complementary nutritional products and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), are commonly used in the United States, yet national data on adverse effects are limited. We used nationally representative surveillance data from 63 emergency departments obtained from 2004 through 2013 to describe visits to U.S. emergency departments because of adverse events related to dietary supplements. On the basis of 3667 cases, we estimated that 23,005 (95% confidence interval [CI], 18,611 to 27,398) emergency department visits per year were attributed to adverse events related to dietary supplements. These visits resulted in an estimated 2154 hospitalizations (95% CI, 1342 to 2967) annually. Such visits frequently involved young adults between the ages of 20 and 34 years (28.0% of visits; 95% CI, 25.1 to 30.8) and unsupervised children (21.2% of visits; 95% CI, 18.4 to 24.0). After the exclusion of unsupervised ingestion of dietary supplements by children, 65.9% (95% CI, 63.2 to 68.5) of emergency department visits for single-supplement-related adverse events involved herbal or complementary nutritional products; 31.8% (95% CI, 29.2 to 34.3) involved micronutrients. Herbal or complementary nutritional products for weight loss (25.5%; 95% CI, 23.1 to 27.9) and increased energy (10.0%; 95% CI, 8.0 to 11.9) were commonly implicated. Weight-loss or energy products caused 71.8% (95% CI, 67.6 to 76.1) of supplement-related adverse events involving palpitations, chest pain, or tachycardia, and 58.0% (95% CI, 52.2 to 63.7) involved persons 20 to 34 years of age. Among adults 65 years of age or older, choking or pill-induced dysphagia or globus caused 37.6% (95% CI, 29.1 to 46.2) of all emergency department visits for supplement-related adverse events; micronutrients were implicated in 83.1% (95% CI, 73.3 to 92.9) of these visits. An estimated 23,000 emergency department visits in the United States every year are attributed to adverse events related to dietary supplements. Such visits commonly involve cardiovascular manifestations from weight-loss or energy products among young adults and swallowing problems, often associated with micronutrients, among older adults. (Funded by the Department of Health and Human Services.).

What’s bad in cancer is good in the embryo: Importance of EMT in neural crest development

PubMed Central

Kerosuo, Laura; Bronner-Fraser, Marianne

2012-01-01

Although the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is famous for its role in cancer metastasis, it also is a normal developmental event in which epithelial cells are converted into migratory mesenchymal cells. A prime example of EMT during development occurs when neural crest (NC) cells emigrate from the neural tube thus providing an excellent model to study the principles of EMT in a nonmalignant environment. NC cells start life as neuroepithelial cells intermixed with precursors of the central nervous system. After EMT, they delaminate and begin migrating, often to distant sites in the embryo. While proliferating and maintaining multipotency and cell survival the transitioning neural crest cells lose apicobasal polarity and the basement membrane is broken down. This review discusses how these events are coordinated and regulated, by series of events involving signaling factors, gene regulatory interactions, as well as epigenetic and post-transcriptional modifications. Even though the series of events involved in NC EMT are well known, the sequence in which these steps take place remains a subject of debate, raising the intriguing possibility that, rather than being a single event, neural crest EMT may involve multiple parallel mechanisms. PMID:22430756

Event Boundaries in Memory and Cognition.

PubMed

Radvansky, Gabriel A; Zacks, Jeffrey M

2017-10-01

Research on event cognition is rapidly developing and is revealing fundamental aspects of human cognition. In this paper, we review recent and current work that is driving this field forward. We first outline the Event Horizon Model, which broadly describes the impact of event boundaries on cognition and memory. Then, we address recent work on event segmentation, the role of event cognition in working memory and long-term memory, including event model updating, and long term retention. Throughout we also consider how event cognition varies across individuals and groups of people and consider the neural mechanisms involved.

The Source of Adult Age Differences in Event-Based Prospective Memory: A Multinomial Modeling Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Rebekah E.; Bayen, Ute J.

2006-01-01

Event-based prospective memory involves remembering to perform an action in response to a particular future event. Normal younger and older adults performed event-based prospective memory tasks in 2 experiments. The authors applied a formal multinomial processing tree model of prospective memory (Smith & Bayen, 2004) to disentangle age differences…

Spectral theory of extreme statistics in birth-death systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meerson, Baruch

2008-03-01

Statistics of rare events, or large deviations, in chemical reactions and systems of birth-death type have attracted a great deal of interest in many areas of science including cell biochemistry, astrochemistry, epidemiology, population biology, etc. Large deviations become of vital importance when discrete (non-continuum) nature of a population of ``particles'' (molecules, bacteria, cells, animals or even humans) and stochastic character of interactions can drive the population to extinction. I will briefly review the novel spectral method [1-3] for calculating the extreme statistics of a broad class of birth-death processes and reactions involving a single species. The spectral method combines the probability generating function formalism with the Sturm-Liouville theory of linear differential operators. It involves a controlled perturbative treatment based on a natural large parameter of the problem: the average number of particles/individuals in a stationary or metastable state. For extinction (the first passage) problems the method yields accurate results for the extinction statistics and for the quasi-stationary probability distribution, including the tails, of metastable states. I will demonstrate the power of the method on the example of a branching and annihilation reaction, A ->-2.8mm2mm2A,,A ->-2.8mm2mm , representative of a rather general class of processes. *M. Assaf and B. Meerson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 200602 (2006). *M. Assaf and B. Meerson, Phys. Rev. E 74, 041115 (2006). *M. Assaf and B. Meerson, Phys. Rev. E 75, 031122 (2007).

Frequency of extreme weather events and increased risk of motor vehicle collision in Maryland.

PubMed

Liu, Ann; Soneja, Sutyajeet I; Jiang, Chengsheng; Huang, Chanjuan; Kerns, Timothy; Beck, Kenneth; Mitchell, Clifford; Sapkota, Amir

2017-02-15

Previous studies have shown increased precipitation to be associated with higher frequency of traffic collisions. However, data regarding how extreme weather events, projected to grow in frequency, intensity, and duration in response to a changing climate, might affect the risk of motor vehicle collisions is particularly limited. We investigated the association between frequency of extreme heat and precipitation events and risk of motor vehicle collision in Maryland between 2000 and 2012. Motor vehicle collision data was obtained from the Maryland Automated Accident Reporting System. Each observation in the data set corresponded to a unique collision event. This data was linked to extreme heat and precipitation events that were calculated using location and calendar day specific thresholds. A time-stratified case-crossover analysis was utilized to assess the association between exposure to extreme heat and precipitation events and risk of motor vehicle collision. Additional stratified analyses examined risk by road condition, season, and collisions involving only one vehicle. Overall, there were over 1.28 million motor vehicle collisions recorded in Maryland between 2000 and 2012, of which 461,009 involved injuries or death. There was a 23% increase in risk of collision for every 1-day increase in extreme precipitation event (Odds Ratios (OR) 1.23, 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.22, 1.27). This risk was considerably higher for collisions on roads with a defect or obstruction (OR: 1.46, 95% CI: 1.40, 1.52) and those involving a single vehicle (OR: 1.41, 95% CI: 1.39, 1.43). Change in risk associated with extreme heat events was marginal at best. Extreme precipitation events are associated with an increased risk of motor vehicle collisions in Maryland. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The natural history of recovery for the healthcare provider "second victim" after adverse patient events.

PubMed

Scott, S D; Hirschinger, L E; Cox, K R; McCoig, M; Brandt, J; Hall, L W

2009-10-01

When patients experience unexpected events, some health professionals become "second victims". These care givers feel as though they have failed the patient, second guessing clinical skills, knowledge base and career choice. Although some information exists, a complete understanding of this phenomenon is essential to design and test supportive interventions that achieve a healthy recovery. The purpose of this article is to report interview findings with 31 second victims. After institutional review board approval, second victim volunteers representing different professional groups were solicited for private, hour-long interviews. The semistructured interview covered demographics, participant recount of event, symptoms experienced and recommendations for improving institutional support. After interviews, transcripts were analyzed independently for themes, followed by group deliberation and reflective use with current victims. Participants experienced various symptoms that did not differ by sex or professional group. Our analysis identified six stages that delineate the natural history of the second victim phenomenon. These are (1) chaos and accident response, (2) intrusive reflections, (3) restoring personal integrity, (4) enduring the inquisition, (5) obtaining emotional first aid and (6) moving on. We defined the characteristics and typical questions second victims are desperate to have answered during these stages. Several reported that involvement in improvement work or patient safety advocacy helped them to once again enjoy their work. We now believe the post-event trajectory is largely predictable. Institutional programs could be developed to successfully screen at-risk professionals immediately after an event, and appropriate support could be deployed to expedite recovery and mitigate adverse career outcomes.

Revealing the cascade of slow transients behind a large slow slip event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frank, W.; Rousset, B.; Lasserre, C.; Campillo, M.

2017-12-01

Capable of reaching similar magnitudes to large megathrust earthquakes (Mw > 7), slow slip events play a major role in accommodating tectonic motion on plate boundaries. These slip transients are the slow release of built-up tectonic stress that are geodetically imaged as a predominantly aseismic rupture, which is smooth in both time and space. We demonstrate here that large slow slip events are in fact a complex cascade of short-duration slow transients. Using a dense catalog of low-frequency earthquakes as a guide, we investigate the Mw 7.5 slow slip event that occurred in 2006 along the subduction interface 40 km beneath Guerrero, Mexico. We show that while the long-period surface displacement as recorded by GPS suggests a six month duration, motion in the direction of tectonic release only sporadically occurs over 55 days and its surface signature is attenuated by rapid relocking of the plate interface. These results demonstrate that our current conceptual model of slow and continuous rupture is an artifact of low-resolution geodetic observations of a superposition of small, clustered slip events. Our proposed description of slow slip as a cascade of slow transients implies that we systematically overestimate the duration T and underestimate the moment magnitude M of large slow slip events.

Large heat capacity change in a protein-monovalent cation interaction.

PubMed

Guinto, E R; Di Cera, E

1996-07-09

Current views about protein-ligand interactions state that electrostatic forces drive the binding of charged species and that burial of hydrophobic and polar surfaces controls the heat capacity change associated with the reaction. For the interaction of a protein with a monovalent cation the electrostatic components are expected to be significant due to the ionic nature of the ligand, whereas the heat capacity change is expected to be small due to the size of the surface area involved in the recognition event. The physiologically important interaction of Na+ with thrombin was studied over the temperature range from 5 to 45 degrees C and the ionic strength range from 50 to 800 mM. These measurements reveal an unanticipated result that bears quite generally on studies of molecular recognition and protein folding. Binding of Na+ to thrombin is characterized by a modest dependence on ionic strength but a large and negative heat capacity change of -1.1 +/- 0.1 kcal mol-1 K-1. The small electrostatic coupling can be explained in terms of a minimal perturbation of the ionic atmosphere of the protein upon Na+ binding. The large heat capacity change, however, is difficult to reconcile with current views on the origin of this effect from surface area changes or large folding transitions coupled to binding. It is proposed that this change is linked to burial of a large cluster of water molecules in the Na+ binding pocket upon Na+ binding. Due to their reduced mobility and highly ordered structure, water molecules sequestered in the interior of a protein must have a lower heat capacity compared to those on the surface of a protein or in the bulk solvent. Hence, a binding or folding event where water molecules are buried may result in significant heat capacity changes independent of changes in exposed hydrophobic surface or coupled conformational transitions.

Ischemic stroke subtypes: a population-based study of incidence rates among blacks and whites.

PubMed

Schneider, Alexander T; Kissela, Brett; Woo, Daniel; Kleindorfer, Dawn; Alwell, Kathleen; Miller, Rosemary; Szaflarski, Jerzy; Gebel, James; Khoury, Jane; Shukla, Rakesh; Moomaw, Charles; Pancioli, Arthur; Jauch, Edward; Broderick, Joseph

2004-07-01

Blacks have an excess burden of stroke compared with whites; however, data comparing ischemic stroke subtypes among the 2 groups are limited and typically involve relative frequencies. The objective of this study is to compare the incidence rates of ischemic stroke subtypes between blacks and whites within a large, representative, biracial population. The Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Stroke Study is designed to measure incidence rates and trends of all strokes within a well-defined, large, biracial population. Hospitalized cases were ascertained by International Classification of Disease (9th revision; ICD-9) discharge codes. Out-of-hospital events were ascertained by prospective screening of emergency department admission logs, review of coroners' cases, and monitoring all public health and hospital-based primary care clinics. A sampling scheme was used to ascertain events from nursing homes and all other primary care physician offices. All potential cases underwent detailed chart abstraction and confirmed by physician review. Based on all available clinical, laboratory, and radiographic information, ischemic stroke cases were subtyped into the following categories: cardioembolic, large-vessel, small-vessel, other, and stroke of undetermined cause. Race-specific incidence rates were calculated and compared after adjusting for age and gender, and standardizing to the 1990 US population. Between July 1, 1993, and June 30, 1994, 1956 first-ever ischemic strokes occurred among blacks and whites in the study population. Small-vessel strokes and strokes of undetermined cause were nearly twice as common among blacks. Large-vessel strokes were 40% more common among blacks than whites, and there was a trend toward cardioembolic strokes being more common among blacks. The excess burden of ischemic strokes among blacks compared with whites is not uniformly spread across the different subtypes. Large-vessel strokes are more common and cardioembolic stroke are as common among blacks, traditionally thought to be more common among whites.

Root cause analysis of critical events in neurosurgery, New South Wales.

PubMed

Perotti, Vanessa; Sheridan, Mark M P

2015-09-01

Adverse events reportedly occur in 5% to 10% of health care episodes. Not all adverse events are the result of error; they may arise from systemic faults in the delivery of health care. Catastrophic events are not only physically devastating to patients, but they also attract medical liability and increase health care costs. Root cause analysis (RCA) has become a key tool for health care services to understand those adverse events. This study is a review of all the RCA case reports involving neurosurgical patients in New South Wales between 2008 and 2013. The case reports and data were obtained from the Clinical Excellence Commission database. The data was then categorized by the root causes identified and the recommendations suggested by the RCA committees. Thirty-two case reports were identified in the RCA database. Breaches in policy account for the majority of root causes identified, for example, delays in transfer of patients or wrong-site surgery, which always involved poor adherence to correct patient and site identification procedures. The RCA committees' recommendations included education for staff, and improvements in rostering and procedural guidelines. RCAs have improved the patient safety profile; however, the RCA committees have no power to enforce any recommendation or ensure compliance. A single RCA may provide little learning beyond the unit and staff involved. However, through aggregation of RCA data and dissemination strategies, health care workers can learn from adverse events and prevent future events from occurring. © 2015 Royal Australasian College of Surgeons.

Detecting long tandem duplications in genomic sequences.

PubMed

Audemard, Eric; Schiex, Thomas; Faraut, Thomas

2012-05-08

Detecting duplication segments within completely sequenced genomes provides valuable information to address genome evolution and in particular the important question of the emergence of novel functions. The usual approach to gene duplication detection, based on all-pairs protein gene comparisons, provides only a restricted view of duplication. In this paper, we introduce ReD Tandem, a software using a flow based chaining algorithm targeted at detecting tandem duplication arrays of moderate to longer length regions, with possibly locally weak similarities, directly at the DNA level. On the A. thaliana genome, using a reference set of tandem duplicated genes built using TAIR,(a) we show that ReD Tandem is able to predict a large fraction of recently duplicated genes (dS  <  1) and that it is also able to predict tandem duplications involving non coding elements such as pseudo-genes or RNA genes. ReD Tandem allows to identify large tandem duplications without any annotation, leading to agnostic identification of tandem duplications. This approach nicely complements the usual protein gene based which ignores duplications involving non coding regions. It is however inherently restricted to relatively recent duplications. By recovering otherwise ignored events, ReD Tandem gives a more comprehensive view of existing evolutionary processes and may also allow to improve existing annotations.

Unraveling the Earthquake History of the Denali Fault System, Alaska: Filling a Blank Canvas With Paleoearthquakes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwartz, D. P.; Haeussler, P. J.; Seitz, G. G.; Dawson, T. E.; Stenner, H. D.; Matmon, A.; Crone, A. J.; Personius, S.; Burns, P. B.; Cadena, A.; Thoms, E.

2005-12-01

Developing accurate rupture histories of long, high-slip-rate strike-slip faults is is especially challenging where recurrence is relatively short (hundreds of years), adjacent segments may fail within decades of each other, and uncertainties in dating can be as large as, or larger than, the time between events. The Denali Fault system (DFS) is the major active structure of interior Alaska, but received little study since pioneering fault investigations in the early 1970s. Until the summer of 2003 essentially no data existed on the timing or spatial distribution of past ruptures on the DFS. This changed with the occurrence of the M7.9 2002 Denali fault earthquake, which has been a catalyst for present paleoseismic investigations. It provided a well-constrained rupture length and slip distribution. Strike-slip faulting occurred along 290 km of the Denali and Totschunda faults, leaving unruptured ?140km of the eastern Denali fault, ?180 km of the western Denali fault, and ?70 km of the eastern Totschunda fault. The DFS presents us with a blank canvas on which to fill a chronology of past earthquakes using modern paleoseismic techniques. Aware of correlation issues with potentially closely-timed earthquakes we have a) investigated 11 paleoseismic sites that allow a variety of dating techniques, b) measured paleo offsets, which provide insight into magnitude and rupture length of past events, at 18 locations, and c) developed late Pleistocene and Holocene slip rates using exposure age dating to constrain long-term fault behavior models. We are in the process of: 1) radiocarbon-dating peats involved in faulting and liquefaction, and especially short-lived forest floor vegetation that includes outer rings of trees, spruce needles, and blueberry leaves killed and buried during paleoearthquakes; 2) supporting development of a 700-900 year tree-ring time-series for precise dating of trees used in event timing; 3) employing Pb 210 for constraining the youngest ruptures in sag ponds on the eastern and western Denali fault; and 4) using volcanic ashes in trenches for dating and correlation. Initial results are: 1) Large earthquakes occurred along the 2002 rupture section 350-700 yrb02 (2-sigma, calendar-corrected, years before 2002) with offsets about the same as 2002. The Denali penultimate rupture appears younger (350-570 yrb02) than the Totschunda (580-700 yrb02); 2) The western Denali fault is geomorphically fresh, its MRE likely occurred within the past 250 years, the penultimate event occurred 570-680 yrb02, and slip in each event was 4m; 3) The eastern Denali MRE post-dates peat dated at 550-680 yrb02, is younger than the penultimate Totschunda event, and could be part of the penultimate Denali fault rupture or a separate earthquake; 4) A 120-km section of the Denali fault between tNenana glacier and the Delta River may be a zone of overlap for large events and/or capable of producing smaller earthquakes; its western part has fresh scarps with small (1m) offsets. 2004/2005 field observations show there are longer datable records, with 4-5 events recorded in trenches on the eastern Denali fault and the west end of the 2002 rupture, 2-3 events on the western part of the fault in Denali National Park, and 3-4 events on the Totschunda fault. These and extensive datable material provide the basis to define the paleoseismic history of DFS earthquake ruptures through multiple and complete earthquake cycles.

"That in your hands". A comprehensive process analysis of a significant event in psychotherapy.

PubMed

Elliott, R

1983-05-01

This article illustrates a new approach to the study of change processes in psychotherapy. The approach involves selecting significant change events and analyzing them according to the Comprehensive Process Model. In this model, client and therapist behaviors are analyzed for content, interpersonal action, style and response quality by using information derived from Interpersonal Process Recall, client and therapist objective process ratings and qualitative analyses. The event selected for analysis in this paper was rated by client and therapist as significantly helpful. The focal therapist response was a reflective-interpretive intervention in which the therapist collaboratively and evocatively expanded the client's implicit meanings. The event involved working through an earlier insight and realization of progress by the client. The event suggests an association between subjective "felt shifts" and public "process shifts" in client in-therapy behaviors. A model, consistent with Gendlin's experiential psychotherapy (1970), is offered to describe the change process which occurred in this event.

Metal Transport across Biomembranes: Emerging Models for a Distinct Chemistry*

PubMed Central

Argüello, José M.; Raimunda, Daniel; González-Guerrero, Manuel

2012-01-01

Transition metals are essential components of important biomolecules, and their homeostasis is central to many life processes. Transmembrane transporters are key elements controlling the distribution of metals in various compartments. However, due to their chemical properties, transition elements require transporters with different structural-functional characteristics from those of alkali and alkali earth ions. Emerging structural information and functional studies have revealed distinctive features of metal transport. Among these are the relevance of multifaceted events involving metal transfer among participating proteins, the importance of coordination geometry at transmembrane transport sites, and the presence of the largely irreversible steps associated with vectorial transport. Here, we discuss how these characteristics shape novel transition metal ion transport models. PMID:22389499