Integrating geographical information and augmented reality techniques for mobile escape guidelines on nuclear accident sites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsai, Ming-Kuan; Lee, Yung-Ching; Lu, Chung-Hsin; Chen, Mei-Hsin; Chou, Tien-Yin; Yau, Nie-Jia

2012-01-01

During nuclear accidents, when radioactive materials spread into the environment, the people in the affected areas should evacuate immediately. However, few information systems are available regarding escape guidelines for nuclear accidents. Therefore, this study constructs escape guidelines on mobile phones. This application is called Mobile Escape Guidelines (MEG) and adopts two techniques. One technique is the geographical information that offers multiple representations; the other is the augmented reality that provides semi-realistic information services. When this study tested the mobile escape guidelines, the results showed that this application was capable of identifying the correct locations of users, showing the escape routes, filtering geographical layers, and rapidly generating the relief reports. Users could evacuate from nuclear accident sites easily, even without relief personnel, since using slim devices to access the mobile escape guidelines is convenient. Overall, this study is a useful reference for a nuclear accident emergency response.

Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as an Emergent System: A Dynamic Systems Theory Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Karimi-Aghdam, Saeed

2017-03-01

This paper sets out to present a novel construal of one of the notions of Vygotskian cultural-historical theory viz., zone of proximal development (ZPD) drawing upon dynamic systems theory. The principal thesis maintains that ZDP is an emergent and dynamic system which is engendered by a dialectical concatenation of psychogenesic and sociogenesic facets of human development over time. It is reasoned that Vygotskian cultural-historical theory of human development, by invoking dialectical logic, has transcended Cartesian substance dualism and in turn has proffered a monistic and process-anchored ontology for emerging becoming of human consciousness. Likewise, it is contended that dynamic systems theory, having assumed fluent flux of reality with a capital R as its ontological axiom, entails a consilience of cognitive and contextual conceptual schemes to describe, explain, and optimize human development. The paper concludes by drawing some interpretive conclusions in regard to ZPD from dynamic systems theory perspective.

Retrieval of a leaflet escaped in a Tri-technologies bileaflet mechanical prosthetic valve.

Science.gov (United States)

Cianciulli, Tomás F; Lax, Jorge A; Saccheri, María C; Guidoin, Robert; Salvado, César M; Fernández, Adrián J; Prezioso, Horacio A

2008-01-01

The escape of the prosthetic heart valve disc is one of the causes of prosthetic dysfunction that requires emergency surgery. The removal of the embolized disc should be carried out because of the risk of a progressive extrusion on the aortic wall. Several imaging techniques can be used for the detection of the missing disc localization. In this report we describe a 32-year-old man who underwent mitral valve replacement with a Tri-technologies bileaflet valve three years ago, and was admitted in cardiogenic shock. Transesophageal echocardiography showed acute-onset massive mitral regurgitation. The patient underwent emergency replacement of the prosthetic valve. Only one of the two leaflets remained in the removed prosthetic valve. The missing leaflet could not be found within the cardiac cavity. The abdominal fluoroscopic study and plain radiography were unable to detect the escaped leaflet. The abdominal computed tomography scan and the ultrasound showed the escaped leaflet in the terminal portion of the aortic bifurcation. To retrieve the embolized disc laparotomy and aortotomy were performed three months later. The escaped leaflet shows a fracture of one of the pivot systems caused by structural failure. This kind of failure mode is usually the result of high stress concentration.

Integrating geographical information and augmented reality techniques for mobile escape guidelines on nuclear accident sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Ming-Kuan; Lee, Yung-Ching; Lu, Chung-Hsin; Chen, Mei-Hsin; Chou, Tien-Yin; Yau, Nie-Jia

2012-07-01

During nuclear accidents, when radioactive materials spread into the environment, the people in the affected areas should evacuate immediately. However, few information systems are available regarding escape guidelines for nuclear accidents. Therefore, this study constructs escape guidelines on mobile phones. This application is called Mobile Escape Guidelines (MEG) and adopts two techniques. One technique is the geographical information that offers multiple representations; the other is the augmented reality that provides semi-realistic information services. When this study tested the mobile escape guidelines, the results showed that this application was capable of identifying the correct locations of users, showing the escape routes, filtering geographical layers, and rapidly generating the relief reports. Users could evacuate from nuclear accident sites easily, even without relief personnel, since using slim devices to access the mobile escape guidelines is convenient. Overall, this study is a useful reference for a nuclear accident emergency response. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hydrodynamic escape from planetary atmospheres

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Feng

Hydrodynamic escape is an important process in the formation and evolution of planetary atmospheres. Due to the existence of a singularity point near the transonic point, it is difficult to find transonic steady state solutions by solving the time-independent hydrodynamic equations. In addition to that, most previous works assume that all energy driving the escape flow is deposited in one narrow layer. This assumption not only results in less accurate solutions to the hydrodynamic escape problem, but also makes it difficult to include other chemical and physical processes in the hydrodynamic escape models. In this work, a numerical model describing the transonic hydrodynamic escape from planetary atmospheres is developed. A robust solution technique is used to solve the time dependent hydrodynamic equations. The method has been validated in an isothermal atmosphere where an analytical solution is available. The hydrodynamic model is applied to 3 cases: hydrogen escape from small orbit extrasolar planets, hydrogen escape from a hydrogen rich early Earth's atmosphere, and nitrogen/methane escape from Pluto's atmosphere. Results of simulations on extrasolar planets are in good agreement with the observations of the transiting extrasolar planet HD209458b. Hydrodynamic escape of hydrogen from other hypothetical close-in extrasolar planets are simulated and the influence of hydrogen escape on the long-term evolution of these extrasolar planets are discussed. Simulations on early Earth suggest that hydrodynamic escape of hydrogen from a hydrogen rich early Earth's atmosphere is about two orders magnitude slower than the diffusion limited escape rate. A hydrogen rich early Earth's atmosphere could have been maintained by the balance between the hydrogen escape and the supply of hydrogen into the atmosphere by volcanic outgassing. Origin of life may have occurred in the organic soup ocean created by the efficient formation of prebiotic molecules in the hydrogen rich early

Acute Mitral Valve Dysfunction Due to Escape of Prosthetic Mechanical Leaflet and Peripheral Leaftlet Embolization.

Science.gov (United States)

Calik, Eyup Serhat; Limandal, Husnu Kamil; Arslan, Umit; Tort, Mehmet; Yildiz, Ziya; Bayram, Ednan; Dag, Ozgur; Kaygin, Mehmet Ali; Erkut, Bilgehan

2015-12-14

Leaflet escape of prosthetic valve is rare but potentially life threatening. Early diagnosis is essential on account of avoiding mortality, and emergency surgical correction is compulsory. This complication has previously been reported for both monoleaflet and bileaflet valve models. A 30-year-old man who had undergone mitral valve replacement with a bileaflet valve 8 years prior at another center was admitted with acute-onset with cardiogenic shock as an emergency case. Transthoracic echocardiograms showed acute-starting severe mitral regurgitation associated with prosthetic mitral valve. There was a suspicious finding of a single prosthetic mitral leaflet. But the problem related with the valve wasn't specifically determined. The patient underwent emergent surgery for replacement of the damaged prosthetic valves immediately. There was no tissue impingement and thrombosis, one of the two leaflets was absent, and there were no signs of endocarditis or pannus formation in the prosthetic valve. The missing leaflet could not be found within the cardiac cavity. The abdominal fluoroscopic study and plain radiography were unable to detect the escaped leaflet during surgery. The damaged valve was removed and a replacement 29 mm bileaflet mechanical valve was inserted by right lateral thoracotomy. After post-operative week one, the abdominal computed tomography scan and the ultrasound showed the escaped leaflet in the left femoral artery. Fifteen days after the surgery the escaped leaflet was removed safely from the left femoral artery and the patient made a complete recovery. The escaped leaflet showed a fracture of one of the pivot systems caused by structural failure. Early cardiac surgery should be applied because of life-threatening problems.

Injury rate in a helicopter underwater escape trainer (HUET) from 2005-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Brooks, Christopher J; MacDonald, Conor V; Gibbs, Peter N A

2014-08-01

Helicopter underwater escape training (HUET) carries a potential for injury and this paper identifies the injury rate. A marine survival training school registry of all students trained between 2005-2012 in HUET and the coinciding accident records were examined. There were 8902 students trained in a helicopter underwater escape simulator for a total of 59,245 underwater escapes. There were 40 cases where only first-aid was required and 3 serious injuries (a laceration requiring 5 sutures, 1 dislocated shoulder, and 1 water aspiration requiring hospitalization). There were no deaths and no problems reported with using the Emergency Breathing System (EBS) or Air Pocket. Of the injuries, 11 were due to the student using a poor escape technique. The overall probability of injury was 0.74 per 1000 ascents. In HUET training, there is a very low injury rate with almost no significant severity. Although not scientifically proven, this would suggest that the low incident rate is due to good medical screening and the attention given by instructors to anxious students. Compared to other training such as diving, parachute jumping, and submarine escape training, the rate of injury was considerably lower.

Automated guidance algorithms for a space station-based crew escape vehicle.

Science.gov (United States)

Flanary, R; Hammen, D G; Ito, D; Rabalais, B W; Rishikof, B H; Siebold, K H

2003-04-01

An escape vehicle was designed to provide an emergency evacuation for crew members living on a space station. For maximum escape capability, the escape vehicle needs to have the ability to safely evacuate a station in a contingency scenario such as an uncontrolled (e.g., tumbling) station. This emergency escape sequence will typically be divided into three events: The first separation event (SEP1), the navigation reconstruction event, and the second separation event (SEP2). SEP1 is responsible for taking the spacecraft from its docking port to a distance greater than the maximum radius of the rotating station. The navigation reconstruction event takes place prior to the SEP2 event and establishes the orbital state to within the tolerance limits necessary for SEP2. The SEP2 event calculates and performs an avoidance burn to prevent station recontact during the next several orbits. This paper presents the tools and results for the whole separation sequence with an emphasis on the two separation events. The first challenge includes collision avoidance during the escape sequence while the station is in an uncontrolled rotational state, with rotation rates of up to 2 degrees per second. The task of avoiding a collision may require the use of the Vehicle's de-orbit propulsion system for maximum thrust and minimum dwell time within the vicinity of the station vicinity. The thrust of the propulsion system is in a single direction, and can be controlled only by the attitude of the spacecraft. Escape algorithms based on a look-up table or analytical guidance can be implemented since the rotation rate and the angular momentum vector can be sensed onboard and a-priori knowledge of the position and relative orientation are available. In addition, crew intervention has been provided for in the event of unforeseen obstacles in the escape path. The purpose of the SEP2 burn is to avoid re-contact with the station over an extended period of time. Performing this maneuver requires

Titan's hydrodynamically escaping atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Strobel, Darrell F.

2008-02-01

The upper atmosphere of Titan is currently losing mass at a rate ˜(4-5)×10 amus, by hydrodynamic escape as a high density, slow outward expansion driven principally by solar UV heating by CH 4 absorption. The hydrodynamic mass loss is essentially CH 4 and H 2 escape. Their combined escape rates are restricted by power limitations from attaining their limiting rates (and limiting fluxes). Hence they must exhibit gravitational diffusive separation in the upper atmosphere with increasing mixing ratios to eventually become major constituents in the exosphere. A theoretical model with solar EUV heating by N 2 absorption balanced by HCN rotational line cooling in the upper thermosphere yields densities and temperatures consistent with the Huygens Atmospheric Science Investigation (HASI) data [Fulchignoni, M., and 42 colleagues, 2005. Nature 438, 785-791], with a peak temperature of ˜185-190 K between 3500-3550 km. This model implies hydrodynamic escape rates of ˜2×10 CHs and 5×10 Hs, or some other combination with a higher H 2 escape flux, much closer to its limiting value, at the expense of a slightly lower CH 4 escape rate. Nonthermal escape processes are not required to account for the loss rates of CH 4 and H 2, inferred by the Cassini Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) measurements [Yelle, R.V., Borggren, N., de la Haye, V., Kasprzak, W.T., Niemann, H.B., Müller-Wodarg, I., Waite Jr., J.H., 2006. Icarus 182, 567-576].

Characterization of extra-solar planets and their atmospheres (Spectroscopy of transits and atmospheric escape)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bourrier, Vincent

2014-01-01

Hot Jupiters are exo-planets so close to their star that their atmosphere can lose gas because of hydrodynamic escape. Transiting gaseous giants are an excellent way to understand this mechanism, but it is necessary to study other types of planets to determine its impact on the exo-planetary population. This thesis aims at using transit spectroscopy to observe the atmosphere of several exo-planets, to study their properties and to contribute to the characterization of hydrodynamic escape. UV lines observed with the Hubble telescope are analyzed with the numerical model of upper atmospheres we developed. Using the Ly-α line we identify energetic and dynamical interactions between the atmospheres of the hot Jupiters HD209458b and HD189733b and their stars. We study the dependence of the escape on the environment of a planet and on its physical properties, through the observation of a super-Earth and a warm Jupiter in the 55 Cnc system. Using observations of HD209458b, we show that magnesium lines are a window on the region of formation of hydrodynamic escape. We study the potential of transit spectroscopy in the near-UV to detect new cases of atmospheric escape. This mechanism is fostered by the proximity of a planet to its star, which makes it even more important to understand the formation and migration processes that can be traced in the alignment of a planetary system. Using measures from the spectrographs HARPS-N and SOPHIE we study the alignments of 55 Cnc e and the Kepler candidate KOI 12.01, whose planetary nature we also seek to validate. (author)

Highlights of the Global HIV-1 CSF Escape Consortium Meeting, 9 June 2016, Bethesda, MD, USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph, Jeymohan; Cinque, Paola; Colosi, Deborah; Dravid, Ameet; Ene, Luminita; Fox, Howard; Gabuzda, Dana; Gisslen, Magnus; Beth Joseph, Sarah; Letendre, Scott; Mukerji, Shibani S; Nath, Avindra; Perez-Valero, Ignacio; Persaud, Deborah; Price, Richard W; Rao, Vasudev R; Sacktor, Ned; Swanstrom, Ronald; Winston, Alan; Wojna, Valerie; Wright, Edwina; Spudich, Serena

2016-10-05

CSF HIV escape is a recently recognised phenomenon that suggests that despite suppressive treatment, HIV RNA may be detected in the CNS compartment in some individuals. In rare cases this is associated with clinical neurological disease, while in most cases, neurological consequences are not apparent. Attempts at characterising the biological substrates of CSF escape and further investigating the neurological consequences need to be made to better understand the implications of this condition for the HIV cure agenda as well as for clinical outcomes. The Global CSF HIV-1 Escape Consortium meeting, convened by the US National Institute of Mental Health, was a first step to gather investigators from diverse sites to discuss opportunities for future collaborative work on this emerging issue. To better understand CSF HIV escape and allow cross-site data reconciliation, it will be useful to reach a consensus set of definitions of the distinct forms of CSF escape, without which concerted cross-site efforts are difficult.

Investigating the Consequences of Interference between Multiple CD8+ T Cell Escape Mutations in Early HIV Infection.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Garcia

2016-02-01

Full Text Available During early human immunodeficiency virus (HIV infection multiple CD8+ T cell responses are elicited almost simultaneously. These responses exert strong selective pressures on different parts of HIV's genome, and select for mutations that escape recognition and are thus beneficial to the virus. Some studies reveal that the later these escape mutations emerge, the more slowly they go to fixation. This pattern of escape rate decrease(ERD can arise by distinct mechanisms. In particular, in large populations with high beneficial mutation rates interference among different escape strains--an effect that can emerge in evolution with asexual reproduction and results in delayed fixation times of beneficial mutations compared to sexual reproduction--could significantly impact the escape rates of mutations. In this paper, we investigated how interference between these concurrent escape mutations affects their escape rates in systems with multiple epitopes, and whether it could be a source of the ERD pattern. To address these issues, we developed a multilocus Wright-Fisher model of HIV dynamics with selection, mutation and recombination, serving as a null-model for interference. We also derived an interference-free null model assuming initial neutral evolution before immune response elicitation. We found that interference between several equally selectively advantageous mutations can generate the observed ERD pattern. We also found that the number of loci, as well as recombination rates substantially affect ERD. These effects can be explained by the underexponential decline of escape rates over time. Lastly, we found that the observed ERD pattern in HIV infected individuals is consistent with both independent, interference-free mutations as well as interference effects. Our results confirm that interference effects should be considered when analyzing HIV escape mutations. The challenge in estimating escape rates and mutation-associated selective

Means of escape provisions and evacuation simulation of public building in Malaysia and Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Samad, Muna Hanim Abdul; Taib, Nooriati; Ying, Choo Siew

2017-10-01

The Uniform Building By-law 1984 of Malaysia is the legal document governing fire safety requirements in buildings. Its prescriptive nature has made the requirements out dated from the viewpoint of current performance based approach in most developed countries. The means of escape provisions is a critical requirement to safeguard occupants' safety in fire especially in public buildings. As stipulated in the UBBL 1984, the means of escape provisions includes sufficient escape routes, travel distance, protection of escape routes, etc. designated as means to allow occupants to escape within a safe period of time. This research aims at investigating the effectiveness of those provisions in public buildings during evacuation process involving massive crowd during emergencies. This research includes a scenario-based study on evacuation processes using two software i.e. PyroSim, a crowd modelling software to conduct smoke study and Pathfinder to stimulate evacuation model of building in Malaysia and Singapore as comparative study. The results show that the buildings used as case study were designed according to Malaysian UBBL 1984 and Singapore Firecode, 2013 respectively provide relative safe means of escape. The simulations of fire and smoke and coupled with simulation of evacuation have demonstrated that although there are adequate exits designated according to fire requirements, the impact of the geometry of atriums on the behavior of fire and smoke have significant effect on escape time especially for unfamiliar user of the premises.

Do the visual conditions at the point of escape affect European sea bass escape behavior?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I.E. PAPADAKIS

2013-03-01

Full Text Available European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax, an important species for the Mediterranean aquaculture industry, has been reported to escape from sea cage installations. Fish escapes are caused mainly by operational and technical failures that eventually result into a creation of a tear. Escapees may interact with wild stocks through interbreeding, transfer of pathogens and competition for food. The aim of this study was to examine at which extent the presence of a visible obstacle close to a tear on the net have an influence on sea bass propensity to escape. Fish were initially confined into small sea cages, with a tear at one side. The escape behavior was tested under experimental conditions. It is clearly demonstrated that sea bass was able to locate a tear on the net pen, immediately after its appearance. Crossings occurred in all cages, in singles or in a series of up to seven individuals. The presence of an obstacle close to the net tear altered the escape behavior of D. labrax resulting in a delay that eventually reduced the escape rate. Concluding, it is highly recommended that sea bass cages should be kept internally the culture array. Furthermore, the placement of artificial obstacles close to the sea cages could be an efficient practice that mitigates the escape risk after severe environmental conditions.

The Toxiscape Hunt: An Escape Room-Scavenger Hunt for Toxicology Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Megan Boysen-Osborn

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Audience: This scavenger hunt/escape room is a didactic activity for emergency medicine residents or fourth-year medical students rotating in emergency medicine. Introduction: Between 2008-2011, 1.1 million patients presented to U.S. emergency departments each year for poisonings,1 including acute ingestions, envenomations, occupational exposures, and overdoses. Toxicologic exposures are considered part of the core curriculum for emergency medicine (EM residents, who must understand the presentation and treatment of such patients.2 Educating residents in a unique, engaging format such as an “escape room” activity provides an alternative to the didactic format of teaching this material, which may build medical knowledge and team rapport amongst residents.3 Objectives: By the end of the activity, learners should be able to: Calculate an anion and osmolal gap. Recognize poisonings amenable to hemodialysis. Interpret EKG changes related to a variety of ingestions, including beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers, digitalis, and tricyclic antidepressants. Recognize poisonous plants and their clinical toxidromes. Calculate loading dose of N-acetylcysteine as antidote for acute acetaminophen ingestion. Collaborate as a team to arrive at solutions of problems. Recognize poisons that have available antidotes Know the clinical effect of various types of snake envenomations. Recognize the toxicity associated with at least four household chemicals. Know the antidotes for six common poisonings. Methods: This didactic exercise is a small group activity, utilizing puzzles to apply toxicology knowledge.

Leaflet escape in a new bileaflet mechanical valve: TRI technologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Bottio, Tomaso; Casarotto, Dino; Thiene, Gaetano; Caprili, Luca; Angelini, Annalisa; Gerosa, Gino

2003-05-13

Leaflet escape is a mode of structural valve failure for mechanical prostheses. This complication previously has been reported for both monoleaflet and bileaflet valve models. We report 2 leaflet escape occurrences observed in 2 patients who underwent valve replacement with a TRI Technologies valve prosthesis. At the University of Padua, between November 2000 and February 2002, 36 TRI Technologies valve prostheses (26 aortic and 10 mitral) were implanted in 34 patients (12 women and 22 men) with a mean age of 59.9+/-10.3 years (range, 30 to 75 years). There were 5 deaths: 3 in hospital, 1 early after discharge, and 1 late. Two patients experienced a catastrophic prosthetic leaflet escape; the first patient was a 52-year-old man who died 10 days after aortic valve and ascending aorta replacement, and the second was a 58-year-old man who underwent a successful emergency reoperation 20 months after mitral valve replacement. Examination of the explanted prostheses showed in both cases a leaflet escape caused by a leaflet's pivoting system fracture. Prophylactic replacement was then successfully accomplished so far in 12 patients, without evidence of structural valve failure in any of them. Among other significant postoperative complications, we observed 3 major thromboembolisms, 1 hemorrhage, and 1 paravalvular leak. These catastrophes prompted us to interrupt the implantation program, and they cast a shadow on the durability of the TRI Technologies valve prosthesis because of its high risk of structural failure.

Calculations of condensed moisture escape from a NPP spray pond

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bratuta, Eh. G.; Yaroshenko, T.I.

1988-01-01

A method for calculating water losses due to condensed moisture escape with a wind away from a spray pond used for cooling steam turbine condensator water and emergency nuclear reactor cooling is developed. The method is based on solving a three-dimensional equation of single drop motion, assuming that during the whole flight only gravity and aerodynamic resistance forces act on a drop. The basic parameter variation ranges are the following: 0-18 m/s wind velocity, 0.04-0.12 MPa pressure drop at the nozzle output, 1-2 m height of sprayers above the pond mirror. The given method permits to determine both the amount of circulation water loss and the local liquid flow rate distribution pattern as well as the area around the pond receiving the escaped moisture that is necessary for estimating the ecological situation near a NPP

Creating Engaging Escape Rooms for the Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholson, Scott

2018-01-01

Escape rooms are "live-action team-based games where players discover clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal (usually escaping from the room) in a limited amount of time." Escape Rooms are one type of Escape Game, which are narrative-based challenges that use puzzles, tasks,…

Escaping and repairing behaviors of the termite Odontotermes formosanus (Blattodea: Termitidae in response to disturbance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongpeng Xiong

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The escaping behavior of termites has been documented under laboratory conditions; however, no study has been conducted in a field setting due to the difficulty of observing natural behaviors inside wood or structures (e.g., nests, tunnels, etc.. The black-winged termite, Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki, is a subterranean macrotermitine species which builds extensive mud tubes on tree trunks. In the present study, 41 videos (totaling ∼2,700 min were taken on 22 colonies/subcolonies of O. formosanus after their mud tubes were partially damaged by hand. In general, termites consistently demonstrated three phases of escape, including initiation (wandering near the mud-tube breach, individual escaping (single termites moving downward, and massive, unidirectional escaping flows (groups of termites moving downward. Downward moving and repairing were the dominant behavioral activities of individuals and were significantly more frequent than upward moving, turning/backward moving, or wandering. Interestingly, termites in escaping flows moved significantly faster than escaping individuals. Repairing behavior was observed shortly after the disturbance, and new mud tubes were preferentially constructed from the bottom up. When predators (i.e., ants were present, however, termites stopped moving and quickly sealed the mud-tube openings by capping the broken ends. Our study provides an interesting example that documents an animal (besides humans simultaneously carrying out pathway repairs and emergency evacuation without congestion.

Escaping and repairing behaviors of the termite Odontotermes formosanus (Blattodea: Termitidae) in response to disturbance.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Hongpeng; Chen, Xuan; Wen, Yuzhen; Layne, Michael; Sun, Zhaohui; Ma, Tao; Wen, Xiujun; Wang, Cai

2018-01-01

The escaping behavior of termites has been documented under laboratory conditions; however, no study has been conducted in a field setting due to the difficulty of observing natural behaviors inside wood or structures (e.g., nests, tunnels, etc.). The black-winged termite, Odontotermes formosanus (Shiraki), is a subterranean macrotermitine species which builds extensive mud tubes on tree trunks. In the present study, 41 videos (totaling ∼2,700 min) were taken on 22 colonies/subcolonies of O. formosanus after their mud tubes were partially damaged by hand. In general, termites consistently demonstrated three phases of escape, including initiation (wandering near the mud-tube breach), individual escaping (single termites moving downward), and massive, unidirectional escaping flows (groups of termites moving downward). Downward moving and repairing were the dominant behavioral activities of individuals and were significantly more frequent than upward moving, turning/backward moving, or wandering. Interestingly, termites in escaping flows moved significantly faster than escaping individuals. Repairing behavior was observed shortly after the disturbance, and new mud tubes were preferentially constructed from the bottom up. When predators (i.e., ants) were present, however, termites stopped moving and quickly sealed the mud-tube openings by capping the broken ends. Our study provides an interesting example that documents an animal (besides humans) simultaneously carrying out pathway repairs and emergency evacuation without congestion.

Titan's hydrodynamically escaping atmosphere: Escape rates and the structure of the exobase region

Science.gov (United States)

Strobel, Darrell F.

2009-08-01

In Strobel [Strobel, D.F., 2008. Icarus, 193, 588-594] a mass loss rate from Titan's upper atmosphere, ˜4.5×10 amus, was calculated for a single constituent, N 2 atmosphere by hydrodynamic escape as a high density, slow outward expansion driven principally by solar UV heating due to CH 4 absorption. It was estimated, but not proven, that the hydrodynamic mass loss is essentially CH 4 and H 2 escape. Here the individual conservation of momentum equations for the three major components of the upper atmosphere (N 2, CH 4, H 2) are solved in the low Mach number limit and compared with Cassini Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) measurements to demonstrate that light gases (CH 4, H 2) preferentially escape over the heavy gas (N 2). The lightest gas (H 2) escapes with a flux 99% of its limiting flux, whereas CH 4 is restricted to ⩾75% of its limiting flux because there is insufficient solar power to support escape at the limiting rate. The respective calculated H 2 and CH 4 escape rates are 9.2×10 and 1.7×10 s, for a total of ˜4.6×10 amus. From the calculated densities, mean free paths of N 2, CH 4, H 2, and macroscopic length scales, an extended region above the classic exobase is inferred where frequent collisions are still occurring and thermal heat conduction can deliver power to lift the escaping gas out of the gravitational potential well. In this region rapid acceleration of CH 4 outflow occurs. With the thermal structure of Titan's thermosphere inferred from INMS data by Müller-Wodarg et al. [Müller-Wodarg, I.C.F., Yelle, R.V., Cui, J., Waite Jr., J.H., 2008. J. Geophys. Res. 113, doi:10.1029/2007JE003033. E10005], in combination with calculated temperature profiles that include sputter induced plasma heating at the exobase, it is concluded that on average that the integrated, globally average, orbit-averaged, plasma heating rate during the Cassini epoch does not exceed ˜5×10 eVcms ( ˜0.0008 ergcms).

Age-related differences in decision-making for digital escape route signage under strenuous emergency conditions of tilted passenger ships.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwee-Meier, Sonja Th; Mertens, Alexander; Schlick, Christopher M

2017-03-01

This age-differentiated study investigated preferences for new digital, situation-adaptive escape route signage with informative and flashing elements under simulated emergency conditions of tilted passenger ships. The decision-making behaviour of 26 young (20-30 years) and 26 elderly (60-77 years) participants was observed in four conditions varying in applied stressors and in level versus uphill walking at 7° and 14°. In line with previous studies, decisions of young participants were significantly influenced by flashing elements on signs. In contrast, elderly participants based their decisions significantly stronger on integrated information about the sign's updatedness and reported irritation by flashing elements. These preferences were also persistent under increased mental, emotional and physical strain, evaluated by ratings and (psycho-)physiological measures. The findings demonstrate the importance to carefully design digital, situation-adaptive signage for passenger ships in a way that it not only attracts attention but also inspires trust especially for the elderly population. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Physics escape room as an educational tool

Science.gov (United States)

Vörös, Alpár István Vita; Sárközi, Zsuzsa

2017-12-01

Escape rooms have flourished in the last decade. These are adventure games in which players work together to solve puzzles using hints, clues and a strategy to escape from a locked room. In many cases they use different phenomena related to physics. Hence the idea of using escape rooms in science centers or even in classroom activities. Escape rooms are designed for one single team of players, the method is more suitable for activities in a science centre. In our paper, we show that escape rooms' puzzle solving methods could be used in physics classroom activities as well, taking into account that several teams have to work together in the same room/place. We have developed an educational escape game for physics of fluids, as this topic is left out from the Romanian high-school curriculum. We have tried out our game during the project week called "Şcoala altfel" ("school in a different way") and in a physics camp for gifted students. We present the designed physics escape game and the results.

Temperature as a proximate factor in orientation behavior

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reynolds, W.W.

1977-05-01

Temperature serves as a proximate factor (cue, guidepost, sign stimulus, or directive factor) affecting locomotor responses of fishes. Although temperature can also serve as an ultimate ecological factor, as in behavioral thermoregulation, nonthermal factors may in some cases provide the ultimate adaptive or ecological value of a temperature response; some examples are habitat selection, intraspecific size segregation, interspecific niche differentiation, isolating mechanisms, predator avoidance, prey location, escape reactions, and migrations (thermoperiodic, diel, seasonal, spawning). Conversely, nonthermal variables such as light intensity or water depth may act as accessory proximate factors in thermoregulation. In spawning migrations, thermal requirements of eggs and larvae may take precedence over the (often different) preferenda or optima of adults. Although thermal responses of fishes are largely innate and species specific, ontogenetic and other changes can occur. Since temperature can serve as an unconditioned reinforcer in operant conditioning, thermal responses are not limited to simple kineses or taxes. Nonthermal factors such as photoperiod, circadian rhythms, currents, social and biotic interactions, stresses, infections, or chemicals can affect thermal responses, and may account for some lack of conformity between laboratory preferenda and field distributions and behaviors.

The atmospheric escape at Mars: complementing the scenario

Science.gov (United States)

Lilensten, Jean; Simon, Cyril; Barthélémy, Mathieu; Thissen, Roland; Ehrenreich, David; Gronoff, Guillaume; Witasse, Olivier

2013-04-01

In the recent years, the presence of dications in the atmospheres of Mars, Venus, Earth and Titan has been modeled and assessed. These studies also suggested that these ions could participate to the escape of the planetary atmospheres because a large fraction of them is unstable and highly ener- getic. When they dissociate, their internal energy is transformed into kinetic energy which may be larger than the escape energy. This study assesses the impact of the doubly-charged ions in the escape of CO2-dominated planetary atmospheres and to compare it to the escape of thermal photo-ions.We solve a Boltzmann transport equation at daytime taking into account the dissociative states of CO++ for a simplified single constituent atmosphere of a 2 case-study planet. We compute the escape of fast ions using a Beer-Lambert approach. We study three test-cases. On a Mars-analog planet in today's conditions, we retrieve the measured electron escape flux. When comparing the two mechanisms (i.e. excluding solar wind effects, sputtering ...), the escape due to the fast ions issuing from the dissociation of dications may account for up to 6% of the total and the escape of thermal ions for the remaining. We show that these two mechanisms cannot explain the escape of the atmosphere since the magnetic field vanished but complement the other processes and allow writing the scenario of the Mars escape. We show that the atmosphere of a Mars analog planet would empty in another giga years and a half. At Venus orbit, the contribution of the dications in the escape rate is negligible.When simulating the hot Jupiter HD209458b, the two processes cannot explain the measured escape flux of C+.

The Life Saving Effects of Hospital Proximity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bertoli, Paola; Grembi, Veronica

We assess the lifesaving effect of hospital proximity using data on fatality rates of road-traffic accidents. While most of the literature on this topic is based on changes in distance to the nearest hospital triggered by hospital closures and use OLS estimates, our identification comes from......) increases the fatality rate by 13.84% on the sample average. This is equal to a 0.92 additional death per every 100 accidents. We show that OLS estimates provide a downward biased measure of the real effect of hospital proximity because they do not fully solve spatial sorting problems. Proximity matters...... more when the road safety is low; the emergency service is not properly organized, and the nearest hospital has lower quality standards....

Escape of charged particles from a neutron star

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pelizzari, M.A.

1976-01-01

The theory of particle trajectories in an axisymmetric magnetic field, formulated by C. Stormer, can be extended to cover conservative force fields as well. As such, it is an ideal tool to study the escape of charged particles from a rapidly rotating neutron star, enabling one to determine the maximum range of their trajectories in space. With the aid of this theory, it is shown that a neutron star, rotating in a vacuum with rotation and magnetic axes aligned, will not evolve a perfectly conducting magnetosphere if the neutron star is the only source of charge. The sign of charge accelerated from the equatorial regions will be magnetically trapped to a toroidal region very near the star, and the opposite sign of charge, emerging from the polar regions, will escape from the magnetosphere until a critical stellar charge is reached, after which polar charges will be electrostatically bound to the magnetosphere. This selective magnetic trapping of one sign of charge, which prevents the formation of a stellar wind, is a consequence of the magnetic field's orientation relative to the internal charge density of the neutron star

Asymmetric Effects on Escape Rates of Bistable System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Canjun; Mei Dongcheng; Dai Zucheng

2011-01-01

The asymmetric effects on the escape rates from the stable states x ± in the bistable system are analyzed. The results indicate that the multiplicative noise and the additive noise always enhance the particle escape from stable states x ± of bistable. However, the asymmetric parameter r enhances the particle escape from stable state x + , and holds back the particle escape from stable state x - . (general)

Dications and thermal ions in planetary atmospheric escape

Science.gov (United States)

Lilensten, J.; Simon Wedlund, C.; Barthélémy, M.; Thissen, R.; Ehrenreich, D.; Gronoff, G.; Witasse, O.

2013-01-01

In the recent years, the presence of dications in the atmospheres of Mars, Venus, Earth and Titan has been modeled and assessed. These studies also suggested that these ions could participate to the escape of the planetary atmospheres because a large fraction of them is unstable and highly energetic. When they dissociate, their internal energy is transformed into kinetic energy which may be larger than the escape energy. The goal of this study is to assess the impact of the doubly-charged ions in the escape of CO2-dominated planetary atmospheres and to compare it to the escape of thermal photo-ions. We solve a Boltzmann transport equation at daytime taking into account the dissociative states of CO2++ for a simplified single constituent atmosphere of a case-study planet. We compute the escape of fast ions using a Beer-Lambert approach. We study three test-cases. On a Mars-analog planet in today's conditions, we retrieve the measured electron escape flux. When comparing the two mechanisms (i.e. excluding solar wind effects, sputtering, etc.), the escape due to the fast ions issuing from the dissociation of dications may account for up to 6% of the total and the escape of thermal ions for the remaining. We show that these two mechanisms cannot explain the escape of the atmosphere since the magnetic field vanished and even contribute only marginally to this loss. We show that with these two mechanisms, the atmosphere of a Mars analog planet would empty in another giga years and a half. At Venus orbit, the contribution of the dications in the escape rate is negligible. When simulating the hot Jupiter HD 209458 b, the two processes cannot explain the measured escape flux of C+. This study shows that the dications may constitute a source of the escape of planetary atmospheres which had not been taken into account until now. This source, although marginal, is not negligible. The influence of the photoionization is of course large, but cannot explain alone the loss of Mars

Pleiotropic effects of hemagglutinin amino acid substitutions of H5 influenza escape mutants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rudneva, Irina A.; Timofeeva, Tatiana A.; Ignatieva, Anna V.; Shilov, Aleksandr A.; Krylov, Petr S.; Ilyushina, Natalia A.; Kaverin, Nikolai V.

2013-01-01

In the present study we assessed pleiotropic characteristics of the antibody-selected mutations. We examined pH optimum of fusion, temperatures of HA heat inactivation, and in vitro and in vivo replication kinetics of the previously obtained influenza H5 escape mutants. Our results showed that HA1 N142K mutation significantly lowered the pH of fusion optimum. Mutations of the escape mutants located in the HA lateral loop significantly affected H5 HA thermostability (P<0.05). HA changes at positions 131, 144, 145, and 156 and substitutions at positions 131, 142, 145, and 156 affected the replicative ability of H5 escape mutants in vitro and in vivo, respectively. Overall, a co-variation between antigenic specificity and different HA phenotypic properties has been demonstrated. We believe that the monitoring of pleiotropic effects of the HA mutations found in H5 escape mutants is essential for accurate prediction of mutants with pandemic potential. - Highlights: • HA1 N142K mutation significantly lowered the pH of fusion optimum. • Mutations located in the HA lateral loop significantly affected H5 HA thermostability. • HA changes at positions 131, 142, 144, 145, and 156 affected the replicative ability of H5 mutants. • Acquisition of glycosylation site could lead to the emergence of multiple pleiotropic effects

Pleiotropic effects of hemagglutinin amino acid substitutions of H5 influenza escape mutants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rudneva, Irina A.; Timofeeva, Tatiana A.; Ignatieva, Anna V.; Shilov, Aleksandr A.; Krylov, Petr S. [D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology, 123098 Moscow (Russian Federation); Ilyushina, Natalia A., E-mail: Natalia.Ilyushina@fda.hhs.gov [FDA CDER, 29 Lincoln Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892 (United States); Kaverin, Nikolai V., E-mail: nik.kaverin@gmail.com [D.I. Ivanovsky Institute of Virology, 123098 Moscow (Russian Federation)

2013-12-15

In the present study we assessed pleiotropic characteristics of the antibody-selected mutations. We examined pH optimum of fusion, temperatures of HA heat inactivation, and in vitro and in vivo replication kinetics of the previously obtained influenza H5 escape mutants. Our results showed that HA1 N142K mutation significantly lowered the pH of fusion optimum. Mutations of the escape mutants located in the HA lateral loop significantly affected H5 HA thermostability (P<0.05). HA changes at positions 131, 144, 145, and 156 and substitutions at positions 131, 142, 145, and 156 affected the replicative ability of H5 escape mutants in vitro and in vivo, respectively. Overall, a co-variation between antigenic specificity and different HA phenotypic properties has been demonstrated. We believe that the monitoring of pleiotropic effects of the HA mutations found in H5 escape mutants is essential for accurate prediction of mutants with pandemic potential. - Highlights: • HA1 N142K mutation significantly lowered the pH of fusion optimum. • Mutations located in the HA lateral loop significantly affected H5 HA thermostability. • HA changes at positions 131, 142, 144, 145, and 156 affected the replicative ability of H5 mutants. • Acquisition of glycosylation site could lead to the emergence of multiple pleiotropic effects.

Non-thermal escape of molecular hydrogen from Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Gacesa, M.; Zhang, P.; Kharchenko, V.

2012-05-01

We present a detailed theoretical analysis of non-thermal escape of molecular hydrogen from Mars induced by collisions with hot atomic oxygen from the Martian corona. To accurately describe the energy transfer in O + H2(v, j) collisions, we performed extensive quantum-mechanical calculations of state-to-state elastic, inelastic, and reactive cross sections. The escape flux of H2 molecules was evaluated using a simplified 1D column model of the Martian atmosphere with realistic densities of atmospheric gases and hot oxygen production rates for low solar activity conditions. An average intensity of the non-thermal escape flux of H2 of 1.9 × 105 cm-2s-1 was obtained considering energetic O atoms produced in dissociative recombinations of O2+ ions. Predicted ro-vibrational distribution of the escaping H2 was found to contain a significant fraction of higher rotational states. While the non-thermal escape rate was found to be lower than Jeans rate for H2 molecules, the non-thermal escape rates of HD and D2 are significantly higher than their respective Jeans rates. The accurate evaluation of the collisional escape flux of H2 and its isotopes is important for understanding non-thermal escape of molecules from Mars, as well as for the formation of hot H2 Martian corona. The described molecular ejection mechanism is general and expected to contribute to atmospheric escape of H2 and other light molecules from planets, satellites, and exoplanetary bodies.

Strange culinary encounters::stranger fetichism in "Jamie's Italian escape" and "Gordon's great escape"

OpenAIRE

Leer, Jonatan; Kjær, Katrine Meldgaard

2015-01-01

In this article, we examine the ways in which the encountering of 'other' food cultures is played out in the two travelogue cooking shows Gordon's Great Escape and Jamie's Italian Escape. We investigate how the two protagonist chefs Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay imagine, meet and evaluate the ‘other’ food cultures in these programs, paying special attention to how the encounter with the local Indian and Italian is imagined to be a gateway to an authentic and/or primitive experience. Our main...

Two examples of escaping harmonic maps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pereira do Valle, A.; Verjovsky, A.

1988-12-01

This paper is part of a study on the existence of special harmonic maps on complete non-compact Riemannian manifolds. We generalize the notion of escaping geodesic and prove some results on the existence of escaping harmonic maps. 11 refs, 6 figs

Risks incurred by hydrogen escaping from containers and conduits

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Swain, M.R.; Grilliot, E.S. [Univ. of Miami, Coral Gables, FL (United States); Swain, M.N. [Analytical Technologies, Inc., Miami, FL (United States)

1998-08-01

This paper is a discussion of a method for hydrogen leak classification. Leaks are classified as; gas escapes into enclosed spaces, gas escapes into partially enclosed spaces (vented), and gas escapes into unenclosed spaces. Each of the three enclosure classifications is further divided into two subclasses; total volume of hydrogen escaped and flow rate of escaping hydrogen. A method to aid in risk assessment determination in partially enclosed spaces is proposed and verified for several enclosure geometries. Examples are discussed for additional enclosure geometries.

Neurovascular plexus theory for "escape pain phenomenon" in lower third molar surgery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gururaj Arakeri

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Pain during extraction of impacted mandibular third molars which can occur despite adequate local anesthesia is termed as "escape pain phenomenon". Recently, it was described during elevation of a mesioangular impacted mandibular third molar and also while curetting an extracted third molar socket. This phenomenon has been overlooked, as it was previously considered secondary to pressure effect on the inferior alveolar neurovascular bundle (IANB. However, it is unlikely that the pain impulses originate from direct pressure on the IANB, as the nerve is blocked more proximally at its entry into the mandible. The authors speculated that the occasional presence of a neurovascular plexus (NVP independent of the IANB causes the escape of a pain impulse upon stimulation by root pressure or instrumentation. To validate the presence of such a plexus, a meticulous literature search and review were performed. The search revealed evidence of the occasional presence of a NVP consisting of auriculotemporal and/or retromolar neural filaments. The plexus may be present around the inferior alveolar artery or embedded within the IANB, and does not innervate the tooth. This plexus likely propagates pain impulses only upon stimulation by compression or instrumentation in the apical area of the tooth socket. This theory explains the absence of pain during tooth sectioning and bone guttering in the presence of a complete inferior alveolar nerve block.

Martian Atmospheric and Ionospheric plasma Escape

Science.gov (United States)

Lundin, Rickard

2016-04-01

Solar forcing is responsible for the heating, ionization, photochemistry, and erosion processes in the upper atmosphere throughout the lifetime of the terrestrial planets. Of the four terrestrial planets, the Earth is the only one with a fully developed biosphere, while our kin Venus and Mars have evolved into arid inhabitable planets. As for Mars, there are ample evidences for an early Noachian, water rich period on Mars. The question is, what made Mars evolve so differently compared to the Earth? Various hydrosphere and atmospheric evolution scenarios for Mars have been forwarded based on surface morphology, chemical composition, simulations, semi-empiric (in-situ data) models, and the long-term evolution of the Sun. Progress has been made, but the case is still open regarding the changes that led to the present arid surface and tenuous atmosphere at Mars. This presentation addresses the long-term variability of the Sun, the solar forcing impact on the Martian atmosphere, and its interaction with the space environment - an electromagnetic wave and particle interaction with the upper atmosphere that has implications for its photochemistry, composition, and energization that governs thermal and non-thermal escape. Non-thermal escape implies an electromagnetic upward energization of planetary ions and molecules to velocities above escape velocity, a process governed by a combination of solar EUV radiation (ionization), and energy and momentum transfer by the solar wind. The ion escape issue dates back to the early Soviet and US-missions to Mars, but the first more accurate estimates of escape rates came with the Phobos-2 mission in 1989. Better-quality ion composition measurement results of atmospheric/ionospheric ion escape from Mars, obtained from ESA Mars Express (MEX) instruments, have improved our understanding of the ion escape mechanism. With the NASA MAVEN spacecraft orbiting Mars since Sept. 2014, dual in-situ measurement with plasma instruments are now

Narrow Escape of Interacting Diffusing Particles

Science.gov (United States)

Agranov, Tal; Meerson, Baruch

2018-03-01

The narrow escape problem deals with the calculation of the mean escape time (MET) of a Brownian particle from a bounded domain through a small hole on the domain's boundary. Here we develop a formalism which allows us to evaluate the nonescape probability of a gas of diffusing particles that may interact with each other. In some cases the nonescape probability allows us to evaluate the MET of the first particle. The formalism is based on the fluctuating hydrodynamics and the recently developed macroscopic fluctuation theory. We also uncover an unexpected connection between the narrow escape of interacting particles and thermal runaway in chemical reactors.

Mars atmospheric escape and evolution; interaction with the solar wind

Science.gov (United States)

Chassefière, Eric; Leblanc, François

2004-09-01

This tutorial deals with the question of atmospheric escape on Mars. After a brief introduction describing the general context of Mars escape studies, we will present in Section 2 a simplified theory of thermal escape, of both Jeans and hydrodynamic types. The phenomenon of hydrodynamic escape, still hypothetical and not proved to have ever existed on terrestrial planets, will be treated with the help of two well known examples: (i) the isotopic fractionation of xenon in Mars and Earth atmospheres, (ii) the paradox of missing oxygen in Venus atmosphere. In Section 3, a simplified approach of non-thermal escape will be developed, treating in a specific way the different kinds of escape (photochemical escape, ion sputtering, ion escape and ionospheric outflow). As a matter of illustration, some calculations of the relative contributions of these mechanisms, and of their time evolutions, will be given, and the magnitude of the total amount of atmosphere lost by non-thermal escape will be estimated. Section 4 will present the state of knowledge concerning the constraints derived from Mars isotopic geochemistry in terms of past escape and evolution. Finally, a few conclusions, which are more interrogations, will be proposed.

Cerebrospinal Fluid HIV Escape from Antiretroviral Therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferretti, Francesca; Gisslen, Magnus; Cinque, Paola; Price, Richard W

2015-06-01

CNS infection is a nearly constant facet of systemic CNS infection and is generally well controlled by suppressive systemic antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, there are instances when HIV can be detected in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) despite suppression of plasma viruses below the clinical limits of measurement. We review three types of CSF viral escape: asymptomatic, neuro-symptomatic, and secondary. The first, asymptomatic CSF escape, is seemingly benign and characterized by lack of discernable neurological deterioration or subsequent CNS disease progression. Neuro-symptomatic CSF escape is an uncommon, but important, entity characterized by new or progressive CNS disease that is critical to recognize clinically because of its management implications. Finally, secondary CSF escape, which may be even more uncommon, is defined by an increase of CSF HIV replication in association with a concomitant non-HIV infection, as a consequence of the local inflammatory response. Understanding these CSF escape settings not only is important for clinical diagnosis and management but also may provide insight into the CNS HIV reservoir.

Emergence of Ebola Virus Escape Variants in Infected Nonhuman Primates Treated with the MB-003 Antibody Cocktail

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey R. Kugelman

2015-09-01

Full Text Available MB-003, a plant-derived monoclonal antibody cocktail used effectively in treatment of Ebola virus infection in non-human primates, was unable to protect two of six animals when initiated 1 or 2 days post-infection. We characterized a mechanism of viral escape in one of the animals, after observation of two clusters of genomic mutations that resulted in five nonsynonymous mutations in the monoclonal antibody target sites. These mutations were linked to a reduction in antibody binding and later confirmed to be present in a viral isolate that was not neutralized in vitro. Retrospective evaluation of a second independent study allowed the identification of a similar case. Four SNPs in previously identified positions were found in this second fatality, suggesting that genetic drift could be a potential cause for treatment failure. These findings highlight the importance selecting different target domains for each component of the cocktail to minimize the potential for viral escape.

Decompression illness in goats following simulated submarine escape: 1993-2006.

Science.gov (United States)

Seddon, F M; Thacker, J C; Fisher, A S; Jurd, K M; White, M G; Loveman, G A M

2014-01-01

The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence commissioned work to define the relationship between the internal pressure of a distressed submarine (DISSUB), the depth from which escape is made and the risk of decompression illness (DCI). The program of work used an animal model (goat) to define these risks and this paper reports the incidence and type of DCI observed. A total of 748 pressure exposures comprising saturation only, escape only or saturation followed by escape were conducted in the submarine escape simulator between 1993 and 2006. The DCI following saturation exposures was predominantly limb pain, whereas following escape exposures the DCI predominantly involved the central nervous system and was fast in onset. There was no strong relationship between the risk of DCI and the range of escape depths investigated. The risk of DCI incurred from escape following saturation was greater than that obtained by combining the risks for the independent saturation only, and escape only, exposures. The output from this program of work has led to improved advice on the safety of submarine escape.

Escaping carbon lock-in

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Unruh, G.C.

2002-01-01

This article explores the climate policy implications of the arguments made in ''Understanding carbon lock-in'' (Unruh, 2000), which posited that industrial countries have become locked-into fossil fuel-based energy systems through path dependent processes driven by increasing returns to scale. Carbon lock-in arises through technological, organizational, social and institutional co-evolution, ''culminating'' in what was termed as techno-institutional complex (TIC). In order to resolve the climate problem, an escape from the lock-in condition is required. However, due to the self-referential nature of TIC, escape conditions are unlikely to be generated internally and it is argued here that erogenous forces are probably required. (author)

Air Pollution and Nonmalignant Respiratory Mortality in 16 Cohorts within the ESCAPE Project

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dimakopoulou, Konstantina; Samoli, Evangelia; Beelen, Rob

2014-01-01

Rationale: Prospective cohort studies have shown that chronic exposure to particulate matter and traffic related air pollution is associated with reduced survival. However, the effects on non-malignant respiratory mortality are less studied and those reported are less consistent. Objectives: We...... have investigated the relationship of long-term exposure to air pollution and non-malignant respiratory mortality in 16 cohorts with individual level data within the multi center European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE). Methods: Data from 16 ongoing cohort studies from Europe were...... used. The total number of subjects was 307,553. There were 1,559 respiratory deaths during follow-up. Measurements: Air pollution exposure was estimated by land use regression models at the baseline residential addresses of study participants and traffic-proximity variables were derived from...

Orbital and escape dynamics in barred galaxies - III. The 3D system: correlations between the basins of escape and the NHIMs

Science.gov (United States)

Zotos, Euaggelos E.; Jung, Christof

2018-01-01

The escape dynamics of the stars in a barred galaxy composed of a spherically symmetric central nucleus, a bar, a flat thin disc and a dark matter halo component is investigated by using a realistic three degrees of freedom (3-d.o.f.) dynamical model. Modern colour-coded diagrams are used for distinguishing between bounded and escaping motion. In addition, the smaller alignment index method is deployed for determining the regular, sticky or chaotic nature of bounded orbits. We reveal the basins of escape corresponding to the escape through the two symmetrical escape channels around the Lagrange points L2 and L3 and also we relate them with the corresponding distribution of the escape times of the orbits. Furthermore, we demonstrate how the stable manifolds, around the index-1 saddle points, accurately define the fractal basin boundaries observed in the colour-coded diagrams. The development scenario of the fundamental vertical Lyapunov periodic orbit is thoroughly explored for obtaining a more complete view of the unfolding of the singular behaviour of the dynamics at the cusp values of the parameters. Finally, we examine how the combination of the most important parameters of the bar (such as the semimajor axis and the angular velocity) influences the observed stellar structures (rings and spirals), which are formed by escaping stars guided by the invariant manifolds near the saddle points.

MAVEN Pickup Ion Constraints on Mars Neutral Escape

Science.gov (United States)

Rahmati, A.; Larson, D. E.; Cravens, T.; Lillis, R. J.; Dunn, P.; Halekas, J. S.; McFadden, J. P.; Mitchell, D. L.; Thiemann, E.; Connerney, J. E. P.; DiBraccio, G. A.; Espley, J. R.; Eparvier, F. G.

2017-12-01

Mars is currently losing its atmosphere mainly due to the escape of neutral hydrogen and oxygen. Directly measuring the rate of escaping neutrals is difficult, because the neutral density in the Mars exosphere is dominated, up to several Martian radii, by atoms that are gravitationally bound to the planet. Neutral atoms in the Martian exosphere, however, can get ionized, picked up, and accelerated by the solar wind motional electric field and energized to energies high enough for particle detectors to measure them. The MAVEN SEP instrument detects O+ pickup ions that are created at altitudes where the escaping part of the exosphere is dominant. Fluxes of these ions reflect neutral densities in the distant exosphere of Mars, allowing us to constrain neutral oxygen escape rates. The MAVEN SWIA and STATIC instruments measure pickup H+ and O+ created closer to Mars; comparisons of these data with models can be used to constrain exospheric hot O and thermal H densities and escape rates. In this work, pickup ion measurements from SEP, SWIA, and STATIC, taken during the first 3 Earth years of the MAVEN mission, are compared to the outputs of a pickup ion model to constrain the variability of neutral escape at Mars. The model is based on data from six MAVEN instruments, namely, MAG providing magnetic field used in calculating pickup ion trajectories, SWIA providing solar wind velocity as well as 3D pickup H+ and O+ spectra, SWEA providing solar wind electron spectrum used in electron impact ionization rate calculations, SEP providing pickup O+ spectra, STATIC providing mass resolved 3D pickup H+ and O+ spectra, and EUVM providing solar EUV spectra used in photoionization rate calculations. A variability of less than a factor of two is observed in hot oxygen escape rates, whereas thermal escape of hydrogen varies by an order of magnitude with Mars season. This hydrogen escape variability challenges our understanding of the H cycle at Mars, but is consistent with other

A New Paradigm for Evaluating Avoidance/Escape Motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Tsutsui-Kimura, Iku; Bouchekioua, Youcef; Mimura, Masaru; Tanaka, Kenji F

2017-07-01

Organisms have evolved to approach pleasurable opportunities and to avoid or escape from aversive experiences. These 2 distinct motivations are referred to as approach and avoidance/escape motivations and are both considered vital for survival. Despite several recent advances in understanding the neurobiology of motivation, most studies addressed approach but not avoidance/escape motivation. Here we develop a new experimental paradigm to quantify avoidance/escape motivation and examine the pharmacological validity. We set up an avoidance variable ratio 5 task in which mice were required to press a lever for variable times to avoid an upcoming aversive stimulus (foot shock) or to escape the ongoing aversive event if they failed to avoid it. We i.p. injected ketamine (0, 1, or 5 mg/kg) or buspirone (0, 5, or 10 mg/kg) 20 or 30 minutes before the behavioral task to see if ketamine enhanced avoidance/escape behavior and buspirone diminished it as previously reported. We found that the performance on the avoidance variable ratio 5 task was sensitive to the intensity of the aversive stimulus. Treatment with ketamine increased while that with buspirone decreased the probability of avoidance from an aversive stimulus in the variable ratio 5 task, being consistent with previous reports. Our new paradigm will prove useful for quantifying avoidance/escape motivation and will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of motivation. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of CINP.

30 CFR 75.382 - Mechanical escape facilities.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... with brakes that can stop the fully loaded platform, cage, or other device. (c) Mechanical escape facilities, including automatic elevators, shall be examined weekly. The weekly examination of this equipment... cages, platforms, or elevators. (e) Mechanical escape facilities shall have rated capacities consistent...

Some Possible Cases of Escape Mimicry in Neotropical Butterflies.

Science.gov (United States)

Pinheiro, C E G; Freitas, A V L

2014-10-01

The possibility that escape or evasive mimicry evolved in butterflies and other prey insects in a similar fashion to classical Batesian and Müllerian mimicry has long been advanced in the literature. However, there is a general disagreement among lepidopterists and evolutionary biologists on whether or not escape mimicry exists, as well as in which mimicry rings this form of mimicry has evolved. Here, we review some purported cases of escape mimicry in Neotropical butterflies and suggest new mimicry rings involving several species of Archaeoprepona, Prepona, and Doxocopa (the "bright blue bands" ring) and species of Colobura and Hypna (the "creamy bands" ring) where the palatability of butterflies, their ability to escape predator attacks, geographic distribution, relative abundance, and co-occurrence in the same habitats strongly suggest that escape mimicry is involved. In addition, we also indicate other butterfly taxa whose similarities of coloration patterns could be due to escape mimicry and would constitute important case studies for future investigation.

Using virtual reality to determine how emergency signs facilitate way-finding.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Chieh-Hsin; Wu, Wu-Tai; Lin, Ching-Yuan

2009-07-01

In this study, virtual reality was the tool used to construct an experimental space. Three scenarios - one without emergency signs, another with an old-version emergency sign, and the third with a new-version emergency sign - were created, after which 107 subjects, divided into three groups, engaged in an emergency escape game to determine if and how various emergency signs aid in way-finding in the event of an emergency. Under the presupposition that the minimum time needed for an emergency escape without any mistake occurring was 40s, we found that the average way-finding time in the scenario without any emergency signs was 123.8s, for the scenario with the new-version signs 84.8s, and for the scenario with the old-version signs 75.6s; statistically, this demonstrated that the absence of signs results in slower escape than either old signs (p=0.001) or new signs (p=0.005). These findings indicate that signs do help way-finding greatly. Males were found to exhibit better way-finding skills than females (pConstruction workers and fire safety personnel, as a combined group, did not fare better than others with less presumed prior experience with building plans or emergency exit procedures. In addition, when faced with both an emergency direction sign and an exit door, almost half of the subjects (42% of the participants) were chosen to take the door instead of following the direction posted on the sign. Finally, we found that, at T-intersections, the majority of participants (60%) chose to turn left versus right.

Female-biased expression of long non-coding RNAs in domains that escape X-inactivation in mouse

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lu Lu

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Sexual dimorphism in brain gene expression has been recognized in several animal species. However, the relevant regulatory mechanisms remain poorly understood. To investigate whether sex-biased gene expression in mammalian brain is globally regulated or locally regulated in diverse brain structures, and to study the genomic organisation of brain-expressed sex-biased genes, we performed a large scale gene expression analysis of distinct brain regions in adult male and female mice. Results This study revealed spatial specificity in sex-biased transcription in the mouse brain, and identified 173 sex-biased genes in the striatum; 19 in the neocortex; 12 in the hippocampus and 31 in the eye. Genes located on sex chromosomes were consistently over-represented in all brain regions. Analysis on a subset of genes with sex-bias in more than one tissue revealed Y-encoded male-biased transcripts and X-encoded female-biased transcripts known to escape X-inactivation. In addition, we identified novel coding and non-coding X-linked genes with female-biased expression in multiple tissues. Interestingly, the chromosomal positions of all of the female-biased non-coding genes are in close proximity to protein-coding genes that escape X-inactivation. This defines X-chromosome domains each of which contains a coding and a non-coding female-biased gene. Lack of repressive chromatin marks in non-coding transcribed loci supports the possibility that they escape X-inactivation. Moreover, RNA-DNA combined FISH experiments confirmed the biallelic expression of one such novel domain. Conclusion This study demonstrated that the amount of genes with sex-biased expression varies between individual brain regions in mouse. The sex-biased genes identified are localized on many chromosomes. At the same time, sexually dimorphic gene expression that is common to several parts of the brain is mostly restricted to the sex chromosomes. Moreover, the study uncovered

GREEN PEA GALAXIES REVEAL SECRETS OF Lyα ESCAPE

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Huan; Wang, Junxian [CAS Key Laboratory for Research in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China (China); Malhotra, Sangeeta; Rhoads, James E. [Arizona State University, School of Earth and Space Exploration (United States); Gronke, Max; Dijkstra, Mark [Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo (Norway); Jaskot, Anne [Smith College, Northampton, MA (United States); Zheng, Zhenya, E-mail: yanghuan@mail.ustc.edu.cn, E-mail: huan.y@asu.edu, E-mail: Sangeeta.Malhotra@asu.edu, E-mail: James.Rhoads@asu.edu [Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago (Chile)

2016-04-01

We analyze archival Lyα spectra of 12 “Green Pea” galaxies observed with the Hubble Space Telescope, model their Lyα profiles with radiative transfer models, and explore the dependence of the Lyα escape fraction on various properties. Green Pea galaxies are nearby compact starburst galaxies with [O iii] λ5007 equivalent widths (EWs) of hundreds of Å. All 12 Green Pea galaxies in our sample show Lyα lines in emission, with an Lyα EW distribution similar to high-redshift Lyα emitters. Combining the optical and UV spectra of Green Pea galaxies, we estimate their Lyα escape fractions and find correlations between Lyα escape fraction and kinematic features of Lyα profiles. The escape fraction of Lyα in these galaxies ranges from 1.4% to 67%. We also find that the Lyα escape fraction depends strongly on metallicity and moderately on dust extinction. We compare their high-quality Lyα profiles with single H i shell radiative transfer models and find that the Lyα escape fraction anticorrelates with the derived H i column densities. Single-shell models fit most Lyα profiles well, but not the ones with the highest escape fractions of Lyα. Our results suggest that low H i column density and low metallicity are essential for Lyα escape and make a galaxy an Lyα emitter.

The cost of the sword: escape performance in male swordtails.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alex Baumgartner

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The handicap theory of sexual selection posits that male display traits that are favored in mate choice come at a significant cost to performance. We tested one facet of this hypothesis in the green swordtail (Xiphophorus helleri. In this species, the lower ray of male caudal fin is extended into a 'sword', which serves to attract potential mates. However, bearing a long sword may increase drag and thus compromise a male's ability to swim effectively. We tested escape performance in this species by eliciting C-start escape responses, an instinctive escape behavior, in males with various sword lengths. We then removed males' swords and retested escape performance. We found no relationship between escape performance and sword length and no effect of sword removal on escape performance. While having a large sword may attract a predator's attention, our results suggest that sword size does not compromise a male's escape performance.

Centrifugally Stimulated Exospheric Ion Escape at Mercury

Science.gov (United States)

Delcourt, Dominique; Seki, K.; Terada, N.; Moore, Thomas E.

2012-01-01

We investigate the transport of ions in the low-altitude magnetosphere magnetosphere of Mercury. We show that, because of small spatial scales, the centrifugal effect due to curvature of the E B drift paths can lead to significant particle energization in the parallel direction. We demonstrate that because of this effect, ions with initial speed smaller than the escape speed such as those produced via thermal desorption can overcome gravity and escape into the magnetosphere. The escape route of this low-energy exosphere originating material is largely controlled by the magnetospheric convection rate. This escape route spreads over a narrower range of altitudes when the convection rate increases. Bulk transport of low-energy planetary material thus occurs within a limited region of space once moderate magnetospheric convection is established. These results suggest that, via release of material otherwise gravitationally trapped, the E B related centrifugal acceleration is an important mechanism for the net supply of plasma to the magnetosphere of Mercury.

Escape Geography--Developing Middle-School Students' Sense of Place.

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Rodney F.; Molina, Laurie E. S.

1992-01-01

Suggests a social studies unit on escaping geography. Examines escape from dangerous places including an airliner, hotel fire, or war zone or from a social situation such as a boring speech or party. Describes historic escapes such as the Underground Railroad and the Berlin Wall. Lists learning strategies such as awareness of space and cognitive…

Symmetry-based reciprocity: evolutionary constraints on a proximate mechanism.

Science.gov (United States)

Campennì, Marco; Schino, Gabriele

2016-01-01

Background. While the evolution of reciprocal cooperation has attracted an enormous attention, the proximate mechanisms underlying the ability of animals to cooperate reciprocally are comparatively neglected. Symmetry-based reciprocity is a hypothetical proximate mechanism that has been suggested to be widespread among cognitively unsophisticated animals. Methods. We developed two agent-based models of symmetry-based reciprocity (one relying on an arbitrary tag and the other on interindividual proximity) and tested their ability both to reproduce significant emergent features of cooperation in group living animals and to promote the evolution of cooperation. Results. Populations formed by agents adopting symmetry-based reciprocity showed differentiated "social relationships" and a positive correlation between cooperation given and received: two common aspects of animal cooperation. However, when reproduction and selection across multiple generations were added to the models, agents adopting symmetry-based reciprocity were outcompeted by selfish agents that never cooperated. Discussion. In order to evolve, hypothetical proximate mechanisms must be able to stand competition from alternative strategies. While the results of our simulations require confirmation using analytical methods, we provisionally suggest symmetry-based reciprocity is to be abandoned as a possible proximate mechanism underlying the ability of animals to reciprocate cooperative interactions.

The influence of panic on the efficiency of escape

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Jia-Quan; Wang, Xu-Wen; Jiang, Luo-Luo

2018-02-01

Whenever we (such as pedestrians) perceive a high density or imminent danger in a confined space, we tend to be panic, which can lead to severe injuries even in the absence of real dangers. Although it is difficult to measure panics in real conditions, we introduced a simple model to study the collective behaviors in condition of fire with dense smoke. Owing to blocking the sight with dense smoke, pedestrians in this condition have two strategies to escape: random-walking or walking along the wall. When the pedestrians are in moderate panic that mean the two types of behaviors are mixed(random-walking and walking along the wall). Our simulation results show that moderate panic, meaning that two escape strategies are mixed, reduces the escape time. In addition, the results indicate that moderate panic can improve the efficiency of escape, this theory also can be useful in a real escape situation. We hope that our research provides the theoretical understanding of underlying mechanisms of panic escape in the condition of poor sight.

Escape behaviour of birds in urban parks and cemeteries across Europe: Evidence of behavioural adaptation to human activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Morelli, Federico; Mikula, Peter; Benedetti, Yanina; Bussière, Raphaël; Jerzak, Leszek; Tryjanowski, Piotr

2018-08-01

Urban environments are very heterogeneous, and birds living in the proximity of humans have to adapt to local conditions, e.g. by changing their behavioural response to potential predators. In this study, we tested whether the escape distance of birds (measured as flight initiation distance; FID) differed between parks and cemeteries, areas characterized by different microhabitat conditions and human conduct, that are determinants of animal behaviour at large spatial scales. While escape behaviour of park populations of birds was often examined, cemetery populations have not been studied to the same extent and a large-scale comparison is still missing. Overall, we collected 2139 FID estimates for 44 bird species recorded in 79 parks and 90 cemeteries in four European countries: Czech Republic, France, Italy and Poland. Mixed model procedure was applied to study escape behaviour in relation to type of area (park or cemetery), environmental characteristics (area size, coverage by trees, shrubs, grass, chapels, tombstones, flowerbeds, number of street lamps) and human activity (human density, pedestrians speed and ratio of men/women). Birds allowed people closer in cemeteries than in parks in all countries. This pattern was persistent even when focusing on intraspecific differences in FID between populations of the most common bird species. Escape distance of birds was negatively correlated with the size of parks/cemeteries, while positively associated with tombstone coverage and human density in both types of habitat. Our findings highlight the ability of birds to adapt their behaviour to different types of urban areas, based on local environmental conditions, including the character of human-bird interactions. Our results also suggest that this behavioural pattern may be widespread across urban landscapes. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Room escape at class: escape games activities to facilitate the motivation and learning in computer science

OpenAIRE

Borrego, Carlos; Fernández, Cristina; Blanes, Ian; Robles, Sergi

2017-01-01

Real-life room-escape games are ludic activities in which participants enter a room in order to get out of it only after solving some riddles. In this paper, we explain a Room Escape teaching experience developed in the Engineering School at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The goal of this activity is to increase student’s motivation and to improve their learning on two courses of the second year in the Computer Engineering degree: Computer Networksand Information and Security Peer Revi...

Room escape at class: Escape games activities to facilitate the motivation and learning in computer science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carlos Borrego

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Real-life room-escape games are ludic activities in which participants enter a room in order to get out of it only after solving some riddles. In this paper, we explain a Room Escape teaching experience developed in the Engineering School at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The goal of this activity is to increase student’s motivation and to improve their learning on two courses of the second year in the Computer Engineering degree: Computer Networksand Information and Security.

Thermal escape from extrasolar giant planets.

Science.gov (United States)

Koskinen, Tommi T; Lavvas, Panayotis; Harris, Matthew J; Yelle, Roger V

2014-04-28

The detection of hot atomic hydrogen and heavy atoms and ions at high altitudes around close-in extrasolar giant planets (EGPs) such as HD209458b implies that these planets have hot and rapidly escaping atmospheres that extend to several planetary radii. These characteristics, however, cannot be generalized to all close-in EGPs. The thermal escape mechanism and mass loss rate from EGPs depend on a complex interplay between photochemistry and radiative transfer driven by the stellar UV radiation. In this study, we explore how these processes change under different levels of irradiation on giant planets with different characteristics. We confirm that there are two distinct regimes of thermal escape from EGPs, and that the transition between these regimes is relatively sharp. Our results have implications for thermal mass loss rates from different EGPs that we discuss in the context of currently known planets and the detectability of their upper atmospheres.

New insights on the collisional escape of light neutrals from Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Gacesa, Marko; Zahnle, Kevin

2017-04-01

Photodissociative recombination (PDR) of atmospheric molecules on Mars is a major mechanism of production of hot (suprathermal) atoms with sufficient kinetic energy to either directly escape to space or to eject other atmospheric species. This collisional ejection mechanism is important for evaluating the escape rates of all light neutrals that are too heavy to escape via Jeans escape. In particular, it plays a role in estimating the total volume of escaped water constituents (i.e., O and H) from Mars, as well as influences evolution of the atmospheric [D]/[H] ratio1. We present revised estimates of total collisional escape rates of neutral light elements including H, He, and H2, based on recent (years 2015-2016) atmospheric density profiles obtained from the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission. We also estimate the contribution to the collisional escape from Energetic Neutral Atoms (ENAs) produced in charge-exchange of solar wind H+ and He+ ions with atmospheric gases2,3. Scattering of hot oxygen and atmospheric species of interest is modeled using fully-quantum reactive scattering formalism1,3. The escape rates are evaluated using a 1D model of the atmosphere supplemented with MAVEN measurements of the neutrals. Finally, new estimates of contributions of these non-thermal mechanisms to the estimated PDR escape rates from young Mars4 are presented. [1] M. Gacesa and V. Kharchenko, "Non-thermal escape of molecular hydrogen from Mars", Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L10203 (2012). [2] N. Lewkow and V. Kharchenko, "Precipitation of Energetic Neutral Atoms and Escape Fluxes induced from the Mars Atmosphere", Astroph. J., 790, 98 (2014). [3] M. Gacesa, N. Lewkow, and V. Kharchenko, "Non-thermal production and escape of OH from the upper atmosphere of Mars", Icarus 284, 90 (2017). [4] J. Zhao, F. Tian, Y. Ni, and X. Huang, "DR-induced escape of O and C from early Mars", Icarus 284, 305 (2017).

Discussion on environment control technology of escaping cavern to uranium mines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao Yongkai

2012-01-01

As the important refuge of Uranium Mines, the environment of Escaping Cavern is important to the miner's life. In order to attain the standard of Environment Control, the paper gave the method of Environment Control to the fire danger, pervious, collapse; Gave the isolating prevention time; represented the scheme of compressed-air self-help system, high pressure oxygen system, emergency oxygen system; Introduced the air purge equipment to handle the CO, CO 2 , bacterium and other harmful gas. At the same time, gave the method to control the temperature with the phase-change materials and private prevention. (author)

Enhanced Endosomal Escape by Light-Fueled Liquid-Metal Transformer.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Yue; Lin, Yiliang; Chen, Zhaowei; Hu, Quanyin; Liu, Yang; Yu, Shuangjiang; Gao, Wei; Dickey, Michael D; Gu, Zhen

2017-04-12

Effective endosomal escape remains as the "holy grail" for endocytosis-based intracellular drug delivery. To date, most of the endosomal escape strategies rely on small molecules, cationic polymers, or pore-forming proteins, which are often limited by the systemic toxicity and lack of specificity. We describe here a light-fueled liquid-metal transformer for effective endosomal escape-facilitated cargo delivery via a chemical-mechanical process. The nanoscale transformer can be prepared by a simple approach of sonicating a low-toxicity liquid-metal. When coated with graphene quantum dots (GQDs), the resulting nanospheres demonstrate the ability to absorb and convert photoenergy to drive the simultaneous phase separation and morphological transformation of the inner liquid-metal core. The morphological transformation from nanospheres to hollow nanorods with a remarkable change of aspect ratio can physically disrupt the endosomal membrane to promote endosomal escape of payloads. This metal-based nanotransformer equipped with GQDs provides a new strategy for facilitating effective endosomal escape to achieve spatiotemporally controlled drug delivery with enhanced efficacy.

Mutator suppression and escape from replication error-induced extinction in yeast.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alan J Herr

2011-10-01

Full Text Available Cells rely on a network of conserved pathways to govern DNA replication fidelity. Loss of polymerase proofreading or mismatch repair elevates spontaneous mutation and facilitates cellular adaptation. However, double mutants are inviable, suggesting that extreme mutation rates exceed an error threshold. Here we combine alleles that affect DNA polymerase δ (Pol δ proofreading and mismatch repair to define the maximal error rate in haploid yeast and to characterize genetic suppressors of mutator phenotypes. We show that populations tolerate mutation rates 1,000-fold above wild-type levels but collapse when the rate exceeds 10⁻³ inactivating mutations per gene per cell division. Variants that escape this error-induced extinction (eex rapidly emerge from mutator clones. One-third of the escape mutants result from second-site changes in Pol δ that suppress the proofreading-deficient phenotype, while two-thirds are extragenic. The structural locations of the Pol δ changes suggest multiple antimutator mechanisms. Our studies reveal the transient nature of eukaryotic mutators and show that mutator phenotypes are readily suppressed by genetic adaptation. This has implications for the role of mutator phenotypes in cancer.

Escape of protists in predator-generated feeding currents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Hans Henrik

2002-01-01

The ciliate Strobilidium sp. and 2 flagellates, Chrysochromulina simplex and Gymnodinium sp., were exposed to predator-generated feeding currents, and their escape responses were quantified using 2- and 3-dimensional video techniques. All 3 studied organisms responded by escaping at a defined dis...

Research Techniques Made Simple: Emerging Methods to Elucidate Protein Interactions through Spatial Proximity.

Science.gov (United States)

Che, Yonglu; Khavari, Paul A

2017-12-01

Interactions between proteins are essential for fundamental cellular processes, and the diversity of such interactions enables the vast variety of functions essential for life. A persistent goal in biological research is to develop assays that can faithfully capture different types of protein interactions to allow their study. A major step forward in this direction came with a family of methods that delineates spatial proximity of proteins as an indirect measure of protein-protein interaction. A variety of enzyme- and DNA ligation-based methods measure protein co-localization in space, capturing novel interactions that were previously too transient or low affinity to be identified. Here we review some of the methods that have been successfully used to measure spatially proximal protein-protein interactions. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Isolated Proximal Tibiofibular Dislocation during Soccer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Casey Chiu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Proximal tibiofibular dislocations are rarely encountered in the Emergency Department (ED. We present a case involving a man presenting to the ED with left knee pain after making a sharp left turn on the soccer field. His physical exam was only remarkable for tenderness over the lateral fibular head. His X-rays showed subtle abnormalities of the tibiofibular joint. The dislocation was reduced and the patient was discharged from the ED with orthopedic follow-up.

PROXIMAL: a method for Prediction of Xenobiotic Metabolism.

Science.gov (United States)

Yousofshahi, Mona; Manteiga, Sara; Wu, Charmian; Lee, Kyongbum; Hassoun, Soha

2015-12-22

Contamination of the environment with bioactive chemicals has emerged as a potential public health risk. These substances that may cause distress or disease in humans can be found in air, water and food supplies. An open question is whether these chemicals transform into potentially more active or toxic derivatives via xenobiotic metabolizing enzymes expressed in the body. We present a new prediction tool, which we call PROXIMAL (Prediction of Xenobiotic Metabolism) for identifying possible transformation products of xenobiotic chemicals in the liver. Using reaction data from DrugBank and KEGG, PROXIMAL builds look-up tables that catalog the sites and types of structural modifications performed by Phase I and Phase II enzymes. Given a compound of interest, PROXIMAL searches for substructures that match the sites cataloged in the look-up tables, applies the corresponding modifications to generate a panel of possible transformation products, and ranks the products based on the activity and abundance of the enzymes involved. PROXIMAL generates transformations that are specific for the chemical of interest by analyzing the chemical's substructures. We evaluate the accuracy of PROXIMAL's predictions through case studies on two environmental chemicals with suspected endocrine disrupting activity, bisphenol A (BPA) and 4-chlorobiphenyl (PCB3). Comparisons with published reports confirm 5 out of 7 and 17 out of 26 of the predicted derivatives for BPA and PCB3, respectively. We also compare biotransformation predictions generated by PROXIMAL with those generated by METEOR and Metaprint2D-react, two other prediction tools. PROXIMAL can predict transformations of chemicals that contain substructures recognizable by human liver enzymes. It also has the ability to rank the predicted metabolites based on the activity and abundance of enzymes involved in xenobiotic transformation.

THE ESCAPE FRACTION OF IONIZING RADIATION FROM GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benson, Andrew; Venkatesan, Aparna; Shull, J. Michael

2013-01-01

The escape of ionizing radiation from galaxies plays a critical role in the evolution of gas in galaxies, and the heating and ionization history of the intergalactic medium. We present semi-analytic calculations of the escape fraction of ionizing radiation for both hydrogen and helium from galaxies ranging from primordial systems to disk-type galaxies that are not heavily dust-obscured. We consider variations in the galaxy density profile, source type, location, and spectrum, and gas overdensity/distribution factors. For sufficiently hard first-light sources, the helium ionization fronts closely track or advance beyond that of hydrogen. Key new results in this work include calculations of the escape fractions for He I and He II ionizing radiation, and the impact of partial ionization from X-rays from early active galactic nuclei or stellar clusters on the escape fractions from galaxy halos. When factoring in frequency-dependent effects, we find that X-rays play an important role in boosting the escape fractions for both hydrogen and helium, but especially for He II. We briefly discuss the implications of these results for recent observations of the He II reionization epoch at low redshifts, as well as the UV data and emission-line signatures from early galaxies anticipated from future satellite missions.

THE ESCAPE FRACTION OF IONIZING RADIATION FROM GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benson, Andrew [Carnegie Observatories, 813 Santa Barbara Street, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States); Venkatesan, Aparna [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94117 (United States); Shull, J. Michael, E-mail: abenson@obs.carnegiescience.edu, E-mail: avenkatesan@usfca.edu, E-mail: michael.shull@colorado.edu [CASA, Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 (United States)

2013-06-10

The escape of ionizing radiation from galaxies plays a critical role in the evolution of gas in galaxies, and the heating and ionization history of the intergalactic medium. We present semi-analytic calculations of the escape fraction of ionizing radiation for both hydrogen and helium from galaxies ranging from primordial systems to disk-type galaxies that are not heavily dust-obscured. We consider variations in the galaxy density profile, source type, location, and spectrum, and gas overdensity/distribution factors. For sufficiently hard first-light sources, the helium ionization fronts closely track or advance beyond that of hydrogen. Key new results in this work include calculations of the escape fractions for He I and He II ionizing radiation, and the impact of partial ionization from X-rays from early active galactic nuclei or stellar clusters on the escape fractions from galaxy halos. When factoring in frequency-dependent effects, we find that X-rays play an important role in boosting the escape fractions for both hydrogen and helium, but especially for He II. We briefly discuss the implications of these results for recent observations of the He II reionization epoch at low redshifts, as well as the UV data and emission-line signatures from early galaxies anticipated from future satellite missions.

Behavioral analyses of wind-evoked escape of the cricket, Gryllodes sigillatus.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanou, Masamichi; Konishi, Atsuko; Suenaga, Rie

2006-04-01

The wind-evoked escape behavior of the cricket Gryllodes sigillatus was investigated using an air puff stimulus. A high velocity air puff elicited the escape behavior in many crickets. The crickets tended to escape away from the stimulus source, but the direction was not accurately oriented 180 degrees from the stimulus. After bilateral cercal ablation, only a few crickets showed wind-evoked escape behavior, and their response rates did not increase even 19 days after ablation. Therefore, information on air motion detected by cercal filiform hairs is essential for triggering wind-evoked behavior. After unilateral cercal ablation, the 81.3% response rate of intact crickets decreased to 16.5%, that is, it decreased to almost 20% that of intact crickets. One week after unilateral cercal ablation, the response rate recovered to more than 60% that of intact crickets. However, the accuracy rate of the escape direction of G. sigillatus showed no change even immediately after the unilateral cercal ablation. Therefore, both cerci are not necessarily required to determine the escape direction. The behavioral characteristics of wind-evoked escape of G. sigillatus are compared with those of another species of cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus. The two species of cricket employ different strategies for wind-evoked escape.

Viral CTL escape mutants are generated in lymph nodes and subsequently become fixed in plasma and rectal mucosa during acute SIV infection of macaques.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas H Vanderford

2011-05-01

Full Text Available SIV(mac239 infection of rhesus macaques (RMs results in AIDS despite the generation of a strong antiviral cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL response, possibly due to the emergence of viral escape mutants that prevent recognition of infected cells by CTLs. To determine the anatomic origin of these SIV mutants, we longitudinally assessed the presence of CTL escape variants in two MamuA*01-restricted immunodominant epitopes (Tat-SL8 and Gag-CM9 in the plasma, PBMCs, lymph nodes (LN, and rectal biopsies (RB of fifteen SIV(mac239-infected RMs. As expected, Gag-CM9 did not exhibit signs of escape before day 84 post infection. In contrast, Tat-SL8 escape mutants were apparent in all tissues by day 14 post infection. Interestingly LNs and plasma exhibited the highest level of escape at day 14 and day 28 post infection, respectively, with the rate of escape in the RB remaining lower throughout the acute infection. The possibility that CTL escape occurs in LNs before RBs is confirmed by the observation that the specific mutants found at high frequency in LNs at day 14 post infection became dominant at day 28 post infection in plasma, PBMC, and RB. Finally, the frequency of escape mutants in plasma at day 28 post infection correlated strongly with the level Tat-SL8-specific CD8 T cells in the LN and PBMC at day 14 post infection. These results indicate that LNs represent the primary source of CTL escape mutants during the acute phase of SIV(mac239 infection, suggesting that LNs are the main anatomic sites of virus replication and/or the tissues in which CTL pressure is most effective in selecting SIV escape variants.

ULTRAVIOLET ESCAPE FRACTIONS FROM GIANT MOLECULAR CLOUDS DURING EARLY CLUSTER FORMATION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Howard, Corey; Pudritz, Ralph [Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1 (Canada); Klessen, Ralf [Zentrum für Astronomie der Universität Heidelberg, Institut für Theoretische Astrophysik Albert-Ueberle-Str. 2, D-69120 Heidelberg (Germany)

2017-01-01

The UV photon escape fraction from molecular clouds is a key parameter for understanding the ionization of the interstellar medium and extragalactic processes such as cosmic reionization. We present the ionizing photon flux and the corresponding photon escape fraction ( f {sub esc}) arising as a consequence of star cluster formation in a turbulent, 10{sup 6} M {sub ⊙} giant molecular cloud, simulated using the code FLASH. We make use of sink particles to represent young, star-forming clusters coupled with a radiative transfer scheme to calculate the emergent UV flux. We find that the ionizing photon flux across the cloud boundary is highly variable in time and space due to the turbulent nature of the intervening gas. The escaping photon fraction remains at ∼5% for the first 2.5 Myr, followed by two pronounced peaks at 3.25 and 3.8 Myr with a maximum f {sub esc} of 30% and 37%, respectively. These peaks are due to the formation of large H ii regions that expand into regions of lower density, some of which reaching the cloud surface. However, these phases are short-lived, and f {sub esc} drops sharply as the H ii regions are quenched by the central cluster passing through high-density material due to the turbulent nature of the cloud. We find an average f {sub esc} of 15% with factor of two variations over 1 Myr timescales. Our results suggest that assuming a single value for f {sub esc} from a molecular cloud is in general a poor approximation, and that the dynamical evolution of the system leads to large temporal variation.

European SpaceCraft for the study of Atmospheric Particle Escape (ESCAPE): a mission proposed in response to the ESA M5-call

Science.gov (United States)

Dandouras, Iannis; Yamauchi, Masatoshi; Rème, Henri; De Keyser, Johan; Marghitu, Octav; Fazakerley, Andrew; Grison, Benjamin; Kistler, Lynn; Milillo, Anna; Nakamura, Rumi; Paschalidis, Nikolaos; Paschalis, Antonis; Pinçon, Jean-Louis; Sakanoi, Takeshi; Wieser, Martin; Wurz, Peter; Yoshikawa, Ichiro; Häggström, Ingemar; Liemohn, Mike; Tian, Feng

2017-04-01

ESCAPE is a mission proposed in response to the ESA-M5 call that will quantitatively estimate the amount of escaping particles of the major atmospheric components (nitrogen and oxygen), as neutral and ionised species, escaping from the Earth as a magnetised planet. The spatial distribution and temporal variability of the flux of these species and their isotopic composition will be for the first time systematically investigated in an extended altitude range, from the exobase/upper ionosphere (500 km altitude) up to the magnetosphere. The goal is to understand the importance of each escape mechanism, its dependence on solar and geomagnetic activity, and to infer the history of the Earth's atmosphere over a long (geological scale) time period. Since the solar EUV and solar wind conditions during solar maximum at present are comparable to the solar minimum conditions 1-2 billion years ago, the escaping amount and the isotope and N/O ratios should be obtained as a function of external forcing (solar and geomagnetic conditions) to allow a scaling to the past. The result will be used as a reference to understand the atmospheric/ionospheric evolution of magnetised planets. To achieve this goal, a slowly spinning spacecraft is proposed equipped with a suite of instruments developed and supplied by an international consortium. These instruments will detect the upper atmosphere and magnetosphere escaping populations by a combination of in-situ measurements and of remote-sensing observations.

Flight mechanics and control of escape manoeuvres in hummingbirds. II. Aerodynamic force production, flight control and performance limitations.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Bo; Tobalske, Bret W; Powers, Donald R; Hedrick, Tyson L; Wang, Yi; Wethington, Susan M; Chiu, George T-C; Deng, Xinyan

2016-11-15

The superior manoeuvrability of hummingbirds emerges from complex interactions of specialized neural and physiological processes with the unique flight dynamics of flapping wings. Escape manoeuvring is an ecologically relevant, natural behaviour of hummingbirds, from which we can gain understanding into the functional limits of vertebrate locomotor capacity. Here, we extend our kinematic analysis of escape manoeuvres from a companion paper to assess two potential limiting factors of the manoeuvring performance of hummingbirds: (1) muscle mechanical power output and (2) delays in the neural sensing and control system. We focused on the magnificent hummingbird (Eugenes fulgens, 7.8 g) and the black-chinned hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri, 3.1 g), which represent large and small species, respectively. We first estimated the aerodynamic forces, moments and the mechanical power of escape manoeuvres using measured wing kinematics. Comparing active-manoeuvring and passive-damping aerodynamic moments, we found that pitch dynamics were lightly damped and dominated by the effect of inertia, while roll dynamics were highly damped. To achieve observed closed-loop performance, pitch manoeuvres required faster sensorimotor transduction, as hummingbirds can only tolerate half the delay allowed in roll manoeuvres. Accordingly, our results suggested that pitch control may require a more sophisticated control strategy, such as those based on prediction. For the magnificent hummingbird, we estimated that escape manoeuvres required muscle mass-specific power 4.5 times that during hovering. Therefore, in addition to the limitation imposed by sensorimotor delays, muscle power could also limit the performance of escape manoeuvres. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

To run or hide?: escape behaviour in a cryptic African snake | Maritz ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Optimal escape theory predicts that escape behaviour of an organism is best understood in terms of costs and benefits of escaping relative to risk of predation. However, risk of predation facing an organism is dependent on various biotic and abiotic factors. In order to better understand escape behaviour of an African snake, ...

Amplitude modulation control of escape from a potential well

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chacón, R.; Martínez García-Hoz, A.; Miralles, J.J.; Martínez, P.J.

2014-01-01

We demonstrate the effectiveness of periodic amplitude modulations in controlling (suppressing and enhancing) escape from a potential well through the universal model of a damped Helmholtz oscillator subjected to an external periodic excitation (the escape-inducing excitation) whose amplitude is periodically modulated (the escape-controlling excitation). Analytical and numerical results show that this multiplicative control works reliably for different subharmonic resonances between the two periodic excitations involved, and that its effectiveness is comparable to those of different methods of additive control. Additionally, we demonstrate the robustness of the multiplicative control against the presence of low-intensity Gaussian noise. -- Highlights: •Multiplicative control of escape from a potential well has been demonstrated. •Theoretical predictions are obtained from a Melnikov analysis. •It has been shown the robustness of the multiplicative control against noise.

Life events and escape in conversion disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholson, T R; Aybek, S; Craig, T; Harris, T; Wojcik, W; David, A S; Kanaan, R A

2016-09-01

Psychological models of conversion disorder (CD) traditionally assume that psychosocial stressors are identifiable around symptom onset. In the face of limited supportive evidence such models are being challenged. Forty-three motor CD patients, 28 depression patients and 28 healthy controls were assessed using the Life Events and Difficulties Schedule in the year before symptom onset. A novel 'escape' rating for events was developed to test the Freudian theory that physical symptoms of CD could provide escape from stressors, a form of 'secondary gain'. CD patients had significantly more severe life events and 'escape' events than controls. In the month before symptom onset at least one severe event was identified in 56% of CD patients - significantly more than 21% of depression patients [odds ratio (OR) 4.63, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.56-13.70] and healthy controls (OR 5.81, 95% CI 1.86-18.2). In the same time period 53% of CD patients had at least one 'high escape' event - again significantly higher than 14% in depression patients (OR 6.90, 95% CI 2.05-23.6) and 0% in healthy controls. Previous sexual abuse was more commonly reported in CD than controls, and in one third of female patients was contextually relevant to life events at symptom onset. The majority (88%) of life events of potential aetiological relevance were not identified by routine clinical assessments. Nine per cent of CD patients had no identifiable severe life events. Evidence was found supporting the psychological model of CD, the Freudian notion of escape and the potential aetiological relevance of childhood traumas in some patients. Uncovering stressors of potential aetiological relevance requires thorough psychosocial evaluation.

Ion escape fluxes from the terrestrial high-latitude ionosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barakat, A.R.; Schunk, R.W.; Moore, T.E.; Waite, J.H. Jr.

1987-01-01

The coupled continuity and momentum equations for H + , O + , and electrons were solved for the terrestrial ionosphere in order to determine the limiting ion escape fluxes at high latitudes. The effects of solar cycle, season, geomagnetic activity, and the altitude of the acceleration region on the ion escape fluxes were studied for average conditions. In addition, a systematic parameter study was conducted to determine the extent to which variations in ionospheric conditions (for example, electron temperature, ion temperature, induced vertical ion drifts, etc.) can affect the results. The main conclusions of the study are as follows: (1) as solar activity increases, the general trend is for an increase in the limiting O + escape flux and a decrease in the limiting H + escape flux; (2) in winter the limiting escape fluxes of both O + and H + are larger than those in summer, particularly for low geomagnetic activity; (3) the O + content of the ion outflow increases with increasing ''demand'' imposed on the ionosphere by a high-altitude acceleration process, with increasing solar activity, with increasing geomagnetic activity, with increasing solar elevation from winter to summer, and with a lowering of the altitude of the acceleration region; (4) when H + is in a near-diffusive equilibrium state and a selective mechanism accelerates O + , the limiting O + escape flux is significantly reduced compared to that obtained when an H + outflow also occurs; and (5) at a given time or location the general trends described above can be significantly modified or even reversed owing to natural variations of the ionospheric ion and electron temperatures, induced vertical ion drifts, etc. The general trends obtained for average conditions appear to mimic the qualitative behavior determined from statistically averaged data for comparable absolute escape flux magnitudes

Antibody escape kinetics of equine infectious anemia virus infection of horses.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Elissa J; Nanda, Seema; Mealey, Robert H

2015-07-01

Lentivirus escape from neutralizing antibodies (NAbs) is not well understood. In this work, we quantified antibody escape of a lentivirus, using antibody escape data from horses infected with equine infectious anemia virus. We calculated antibody blocking rates of wild-type virus, fitness costs of mutant virus, and growth rates of both viruses. These quantitative kinetic estimates of antibody escape are important for understanding lentiviral control by antibody neutralization and in developing NAb-eliciting vaccine strategies. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Escape peak ratios in silicon X-ray charge coupled devices (CCDs)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCarthy, K.J.; Owens, A.; Keay, A.

1997-01-01

The intensity of the escape peak from the CCDs developed for the Joint European X-ray Telescope (JET-X) has been investigated over the energy range 2-10 keV. Both measured and calculated escape peak ratios (i.e., the ratio of counts in the escape peak to the sum of the counts in the escape and main peaks) are found to be in excellent agreement for all event sizes (i.e., single pixel events, 1 and 2 pixel events, etc.). Using a Monte Carlo simulation the escape peak ratio has been investigated as a function of pixel size and depletion depth. For completeness, we list the energy dependent parameterised forms for five CCDs used in three major astronomy missions. (orig.)

Escape from Telomere-Driven Crisis Is DNA Ligase III Dependent

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rhiannon E. Jones

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Short dysfunctional telomeres are capable of fusion, generating dicentric chromosomes and initiating breakage-fusion-bridge cycles. Cells that escape the ensuing cellular crisis exhibit large-scale genomic rearrangements that drive clonal evolution and malignant progression. We demonstrate that there is an absolute requirement for fully functional DNA ligase III (LIG3, but not ligase IV (LIG4, to facilitate the escape from a telomere-driven crisis. LIG3- and LIG4-dependent alternative (A and classical (C nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ pathways were capable of mediating the fusion of short dysfunctional telomeres, both displaying characteristic patterns of microhomology and deletion. Cells that failed to escape crisis exhibited increased proportions of C-NHEJ-mediated interchromosomal fusions, whereas those that escaped displayed increased proportions of intrachromosomal fusions. We propose that the balance between inter- and intrachromosomal telomere fusions dictates the ability of human cells to escape crisis and is influenced by the relative activities of A- and C-NHEJ at short dysfunctional telomeres.

Passive Facebook use, Facebook addiction, and associations with escapism: an experimental vignette study

OpenAIRE

Young, LN; Kuss, DJ; Griffiths, MD; Howard, CJ

2017-01-01

There is relatively little research considering motivations of passive Facebook use. However, research regarding motivations of general Facebook use indicates that people use Facebook to escape – and that escapism may motivate passive Facebook use. Research also suggests that using Facebook to escape is associated with Facebook addiction. Using an experimental vignette design, the present research investigated whether passive Facebook use is motivated by escapism and whether this escape motiv...

European SpaceCraft for the study of Atmospheric Particle Escape (ESCAPE): a planetary mission to Earth, proposed in response to the ESA M5-call

Science.gov (United States)

Dandouras, I.; Yamauchi, M.; Rème, H.; De Keyser, J.; Marghitu, O.; Fazakerley, A.; Grison, B.; Kistler, L.; Milillo, A.; Nakamura, R.; Paschalidis, N.; Paschalis, A.; Pinçon, J.-L.; Sakanoi, T.; Wieser, M.; Wurz, P.; Yoshikawa, I.; Häggström, I.; Liemohn, M.; Tian, F.

2017-09-01

ESCAPE is a mission proposed in response to the ESA-M5 call that will quantitatively estimate the amount of escaping particles of the major atmospheric components (nitrogen and oxygen), as neutral and ionised species, escaping from the Earth as a magnetised planet. The goal is to understand the importance of each escape mechanism, its dependence on solar and geomagnetic activity, and to infer the history of the Earth's atmospheric composition over a long (geological scale) time period. Since the solar EUV and solar wind conditions during solar maximum at present are comparable to the solar minimum conditions 1-2 billion years ago, the escaping amount and the isotope and N/O ratios should be obtained as a function of external forcing (solar and geomagnetic conditions) to allow a scaling to the past. The result will be used as a reference to understand the atmospheric/ionospheric evolution of magnetised planets, which is essential for habitability.

Improving escape panel selectivity in Nephrops directed fisheries by actively stimulating fish behaviour

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krag, Ludvig Ahm; Herrmann, Bent; Feekings, Jordan P.

2017-01-01

The efficiency of escape panels inserted in trawls relies on fish actively attempting to escape through them. However, several studies indicate that most fish drift towards the aft end of the trawl, passing the escape panel through which they easily could have escaped, without making contact with...

Escape from viscosity : the kinematics and hydrodynamics of copepod foraging and escape swimming

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Duren, LA; Videler, JJ

Feeding and escape swimming in adult females of the calanoid copepod. Temora lopgicornis Muller were investigated and compared. Swimming velocities were calculated using a 3-D filming setup., Foraging velocities ranged between 2 and 6 min s(-1), while maximum velocities of up to 80 mm s(-1) were

Emergency escape system uses self-braking mechanism on fixed cable

Science.gov (United States)

Billings, C. R.; Mc Daris, R. A.; Mc Gough, J. T.; Neal, P. F.

1966-01-01

Slide-wire system with a twist level slide device incorporates automatic descent and braking for the safe and rapid evacuation of personnel from tall structures. This device is used on any tall structure that might require emergency evacuation. It is also used to transfer materials and equipment.

Escape probabilities for fluorescent x-rays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dance, D.R.; Day, G.J.

1985-01-01

Computation of the energy absorption efficiency of an x-ray photon detector involves consideration of the histories of the secondary particles produced in any initial or secondary interaction which may occur within the detector. In particular, the K or higher shell fluorescent x-rays which may be emitted following a photoelectric interaction can carry away a large fraction of the energy of the incident photon, especially if this energy is just above an absorption edge. The effects of such photons cannot be ignored and a correction term, depending upon the probability that the fluorescent x-rays will escape from the detector, must be applied to the energy absorption efficiency. For detectors such as x-ray intensifying screens, it has been usual to calculate this probability by numerical integration. In this note analytic expressions are derived for the escape probability of fluorescent photons from planar detectors in terms of exponential integral functions. Rational approximations for these functions are readily available and these analytic expressions therefore facilitate the computation of photon absorption efficiencies. A table is presented which should obviate the need for calculating the escape probability for most cases of interest. (author)

Black holes escaping from domain walls

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Flachi, Antonino; Sasaki, Misao; Pujolas, Oriol; Tanaka, Takahiro

2006-01-01

Previous studies concerning the interaction of branes and black holes suggested that a small black hole intersecting a brane may escape via a mechanism of reconnection. Here we consider this problem by studying the interaction of a small black hole and a domain wall composed of a scalar field and simulate the evolution of this system when the black hole acquires an initial recoil velocity. We test and confirm previous results, however, unlike the cases previously studied, in the more general set-up considered here, we are able to follow the evolution of the system also during the separation, and completely illustrate how the escape of the black hole takes place

Antarctic krill; assessment of mesh size selectivity and escape mortality from trawls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krafft, Bjørn A.; Krag, Ludvig Ahm; Herrmann, Bent

2015-01-01

Marine AS. The project will examine krill escape mortality from the codend during a full scale field experiment, model size selectivity and escape mortality in codends including different designs and assess the size selectivity in the trawl body forward of the codend. Based on end results from the preceding...... examinations we will be able to predict size selectivity and escape mortality from the entire trawl body with the appurtenant mortality for different trawl designs......This working paper presents the aims and methodology for a three-year-project (commenced in 2015) assessing size selectivity and escape mortality of Antarctic krill from trawl nets. The project is widely based on acquired experiences from a completed study Net Escapement of Antarctic krill...

Escape from the Alternative

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marin Dinu

2006-12-01

Full Text Available This paper sets out to elaborate on Romania’s specific agenda regarding the approach to the integration process in the EU as a project of modernization. The focus is on the functional aspects, the type of strategic solutions destined to consolidate the specific transformations belonging to post-communist transition seen as an internal transition, on the one hand and on the other hand to push convergence as the essence of integration, marked by the vision of EU integration as a continuation of change, which is the stage of external transition. Identifying the prominent factors and the pragmatic priorities of the escape from the peripheries of development by engaging in evolution by way of the second modernization constitutes as well a target for analysis. One particularity of the method of analysis is the review if the value-set of the bobsled effect of path dependency – the path of the peripheries – as well as of the set of values of the escape from the peripheries.

Teachers Offering Healthy Escape Options for Teenagers in Pain

Science.gov (United States)

Kaywell, Joan F.

2005-01-01

"[T]wenty-five percent of today's teenagers have inordinate emotional baggage beyond the normal angst of adolescence." This burden can lead to unhealthy escapes, including substance abuse, sexual activity, violence, eating disorders, and suicide. One healthy escape, however, lies in books, where students can read about teenagers living in painful…

Proximal Humerus

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Diercks, Ron L.; Bain, Gregory; Itoi, Eiji; Di Giacomo, Giovanni; Sugaya, Hiroyuki

2015-01-01

This chapter describes the bony structures of the proximal humerus. The proximal humerus is often regarded as consisting of four parts, which assists in understanding function and, more specially, describes the essential parts in reconstruction after fracture or in joint replacement. These are the

Species-specific escape of Plasmodium sporozoites from oocysts of avian, rodent, and human malarial parasites.

Science.gov (United States)

Orfano, Alessandra S; Nacif-Pimenta, Rafael; Duarte, Ana P M; Villegas, Luis M; Rodrigues, Nilton B; Pinto, Luciana C; Campos, Keillen M M; Pinilla, Yudi T; Chaves, Bárbara; Barbosa Guerra, Maria G V; Monteiro, Wuelton M; Smith, Ryan C; Molina-Cruz, Alvaro; Lacerda, Marcus V G; Secundino, Nágila F C; Jacobs-Lorena, Marcelo; Barillas-Mury, Carolina; Pimenta, Paulo F P

2016-08-02

Malaria is transmitted when an infected mosquito delivers Plasmodium sporozoites into a vertebrate host. There are many species of Plasmodium and, in general, the infection is host-specific. For example, Plasmodium gallinaceum is an avian parasite, while Plasmodium berghei infects mice. These two parasites have been extensively used as experimental models of malaria transmission. Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax are the most important agents of human malaria, a life-threatening disease of global importance. To complete their life cycle, Plasmodium parasites must traverse the mosquito midgut and form an oocyst that will divide continuously. Mature oocysts release thousands of sporozoites into the mosquito haemolymph that must reach the salivary gland to infect a new vertebrate host. The current understanding of the biology of oocyst formation and sporozoite release is mostly based on experimental infections with P. berghei, and the conclusions are generalized to other Plasmodium species that infect humans without further morphological analyses. Here, it is described the microanatomy of sporozoite escape from oocysts of four Plasmodium species: the two laboratory models, P. gallinaceum and P. berghei, and the two main species that cause malaria in humans, P. vivax and P. falciparum. It was found that sporozoites have species-specific mechanisms of escape from the oocyst. The two model species of Plasmodium had a common mechanism, in which the oocyst wall breaks down before sporozoites emerge. In contrast, P. vivax and P. falciparum sporozoites show a dynamic escape mechanism from the oocyst via polarized propulsion. This study demonstrated that Plasmodium species do not share a common mechanism of sporozoite escape, as previously thought, but show complex and species-specific mechanisms. In addition, the knowledge of this phenomenon in human Plasmodium can facilitate transmission-blocking studies and not those ones only based on the murine and avian models.

Restricting wolves risks escape

Science.gov (United States)

Mech, L. David; Ballard, Warren; Bangs, Ed; Ream, Bob

2010-01-01

Implementing the proposal set forth by Licht and colleagues (BioScience 60: 147–153) requires restricting wolves to tiny "islands," areas that are magnitudes smaller than the ranges of most wolf populations. Wolves naturally have large ranges; restricting their spatial needs increases the risk of wolves escaping, exacerbating public relations and political and legal problems.

Escape manoeuvres in the spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias).

Science.gov (United States)

Domenici, Paolo; Standen, Emily M; Levine, Robert P

2004-06-01

The locomotor performance of dogfish during escape responses was observed by means of high-speed video. Dogfish show C-type escape responses that are comparable with those shown previously in teleosts. Dogfish show high variability of turning rates of the anterior part of the body (head to centre of mass), i.e. with peak values from 434 to 1023 deg. s(-1). We suggest that this variability may be due to the presence of two types of escape manoeuvres, i.e. responses with high and low turning rates, as previously found in a teleost species. Fast responses (i.e. with high maximum turning rates, ranging between 766 and 1023 deg. s(-1)) showed significantly higher locomotor performance than slow responses (i.e. with low maximum turning rates, ranging between 434 and 593 deg. s(-1)) in terms of distance covered, speed and acceleration, although no differences were found in the turning radius of the centre of mass during the escape manoeuvres. The existence of two types of escape responses would have implications in terms of both neural control and muscular activation patterns. When compared with literature data for the locomotor performance of bony fishes, dogfish showed relatively low speed and acceleration, comparable turning rates and a turning radius that is in the low part of the range when compared with teleosts, indicating relatively high manoeuvrability. The locomotor performance observed in dogfish is consistent with their morphological characteristics: (1) low locomotor performance associated with low thrust developed by their relatively small posterior depth of section and (2) relatively high manoeuvrability associated with their high flexibility.

Heat-induced symmetry breaking in ant (Hymenoptera: Formicidae escape behavior.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuan-Kai Chung

Full Text Available The collective egress of social insects is important in dangerous situations such as natural disasters or enemy attacks. Some studies have described the phenomenon of symmetry breaking in ants, with two exits induced by a repellent. However, whether symmetry breaking occurs under high temperature conditions, which are a common abiotic stress, remains unknown. In our study, we deposited a group of Polyrhachis dives ants on a heated platform and counted the number of escaping ants with two identical exits. We discovered that ants asymmetrically escaped through two exits when the temperature of the heated platform was >32.75°C. The degree of asymmetry increased linearly with the temperature of the platform. Furthermore, the higher the temperature of heated platform was, the more ants escaped from the heated platform. However, the number of escaping ants decreased for 3 min when the temperature was higher than the critical thermal limit (39.46°C, which is the threshold for ants to endure high temperature without a loss of performance. Moreover, the ants tended to form small groups to escape from the thermal stress. A preparatory formation of ant grouping was observed before they reached the exit, indicating that the ants actively clustered rather than accidentally gathered at the exits to escape. We suggest that a combination of individual and grouping ants may help to optimize the likelihood of survival during evacuation.

Gamma-ray escape peak characteristics of radiation-damaged reverse-electrode germanium coaxial detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pehl, R.H.; Hull, E.L.; Madden, N.W.; Xing Jingshu; Friesel, D.L.

1996-01-01

A comparison of the characteristics of full-energy gamma-ray peaks and their corresponding escape peaks when high energy photons interact in radiation damaged reverse-electrode (n-type) germanium coaxial detectors is presented. Coaxial detector geometry is the dominant factor, causing charge collection to be dramatically better for interactions occurring near the outer periphery of the detector as well as increasing of the probability of escape events occurring in this region. It follows that the resolution of escape peaks is better than that of ordinary gamma-ray peaks. This is experimentally verified. A nearly identical but undamaged detector exhibited significant Doppler broadening of single escape peaks. Because double escape events preferentially occur at outer radii, energy shifts of double escape reflect extremely small amounts of charge trapping in undamaged detectors. (orig.)

29 CFR 1918.100 - Emergency action plans.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... action plans. (a) Scope and application. This section requires all employers to develop and implement an... departments that can be contacted for further information or explanation of duties under the plan. (c) Alarm... emergency action or for reaction time for safe escape of employees from the workplace or the immediate work...

29 CFR 1917.30 - Emergency action plans.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... action plans—(1) Scope and application. This paragraph (a) requires all employers to develop and... departments that can be contacted for further information or explanation of duties under the plan. (3) Alarm... emergency action and for reaction time for safe escape of employees from the workplace or the immediate work...

Buying to blunt negative feelings : Materialistic escape from the self

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Donnelly, Grant E.; Ksendzova, Masha; Howell, Ryan T.; Vohs, Kathleen D.; Baumeister, Roy F.

2016-01-01

We propose that escape theory, which describes how individuals seek to free themselves from aversive states of self-awareness, helps explain key patterns of materialistic people's behavior. As predicted by escape theory, materialistic individuals may feel dissatisfied with their standard of living,

Unsteady motion: escape jumps in planktonic copepods, their kinematics and energetics

Science.gov (United States)

Kiørboe, Thomas; Andersen, Anders; Langlois, Vincent J.; Jakobsen, Hans H.

2010-01-01

We describe the kinematics of escape jumps in three species of 0.3–3.0 mm-sized planktonic copepods. We find similar kinematics between species with periodically alternating power strokes and passive coasting and a resulting highly fluctuating escape velocity. By direct numerical simulations, we estimate the force and power output needed to accelerate and overcome drag. Both are very high compared with those of other organisms, as are the escape velocities in comparison to startle velocities of other aquatic animals. Thus, the maximum weight-specific force, which for muscle motors of other animals has been found to be near constant at 57 N (kg muscle)−1, is more than an order of magnitude higher for the escaping copepods. We argue that this is feasible because most copepods have different systems for steady propulsion (feeding appendages) and intensive escapes (swimming legs), with the muscular arrangement of the latter probably adapted for high force production during short-lasting bursts. The resulting escape velocities scale with body length to power 0.65, different from the size-scaling of both similar sized and larger animals moving at constant velocity, but similar to that found for startle velocities in other aquatic organisms. The relative duration of the pauses between power strokes was observed to increase with organism size. We demonstrate that this is an inherent property of swimming by alternating power strokes and pauses. We finally show that the Strouhal number is in the range of peak propulsion efficiency, again suggesting that copepods are optimally designed for rapid escape jumps. PMID:20462876

Measurement of the resonance escape probability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anthony, J.P.; Bacher, P.; Lheureux, L.; Moreau, J.; Schmitt, A.P.

1957-01-01

The average cadmium ratio in natural uranium rods has been measured, using equal diameter natural uranium disks. These values correlated with independent measurements of the lattice buckling, enabled us to calculate values of the resonance escape probability for the G1 reactor with one or the other of two definitions. Measurements were performed on 26 mm and 32 mm rods, giving the following values for the resonance escape probability p: 0.8976 ± 0.005 and 0.912 ± 0.006 (d. 26 mm), 0.8627 ± 0.009 and 0.884 ± 0.01 (d. 32 mm). The influence of either definition on the lattice parameters is discussed, leading to values of the effective integral. Similar experiments have been performed with thorium rods. (author) [fr

Escape response of planktonic protists to fluid mechanical signals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Hans Henrik

2001-01-01

The escape response to fluid mechanical signals was examined in 6 protists, 4 ciliates and 2 dinoflagellates. When exposed to a siphon flow. 3 species of ciliates, Balanion comatum, Strobilidium sp., and Mesodinium pulex, responded with escape jumps. The threshold deformation rates required...... times lower than that of a non-jumping similar sized protist when the predator was Temora longicornis, which captures prey entrained in a feeding current. However, when the predator was the ambush- feeding copepod Acartia tonsa, the predation mortalities of jumping and non-jumping protists were...... of similar magnitude. Escape responses may thus be advantageous in some situations. However, jumping behaviour may also enhance susceptibility to some predators, explaining the different predator avoidance strategies (jumping or not) that have evolved in planktonic protists....

Xenon Fractionation and Archean Hydrogen Escape

Science.gov (United States)

Zahnle, K. J.

2015-01-01

Xenon is the heaviest gas found in significant quantities in natural planetary atmospheres. It would seem the least likely to escape. Yet there is more evidence for xenon escape from Earth than for any element other than helium and perhaps neon. The most straightforward evidence is that most of the radiogenic Xe from the decay of (129)I (half-life 15.7 Myr) and (244)Pu (half-life 81 Myr) that is Earth's birthright is missing. The missing xenon is often attributed to the impact erosion of early atmospheres of Earth and its ancestors. It is obvious that if most of the radiogenic xenon were driven off by impacts, most of the rest of the atmophiles fared the same fate. The other line of evidence is in the nonradiogenic isotopes of xenon and its silent partner, krypton. Atmospheric xenon is strongly mass fractionated (at about 4% per amu) compared to any known solar system source (Figure 1). This is in stark contrast to krypton, which may not be fractionated at all: atmospheric Kr is slightly heavier than solar Kr (at about 0.5% per amu), but it is the same as in carbonaceous chondrites. Nonradiogenic xenon is also under abundant relative to krypton (the so-called "missing xenon" problem). Together these observations imply that xenon has been subject to fractionating escape and krypton not.

A Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Model Of Thermal Escape From Titan

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, Robert E.; Tucker, O. J.

2008-09-01

Recent analysis of density profiles vs. altitude from the Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) on Cassini (Waite et al. 2005) suggest Titan could have loss a significant amount of atmosphere in 4 Gyr at present escape rates (e.g., Johnson 2008). Strobel 2008 applied a slow hydrodynamic escape model to Titan's atmosphere using solar heating below the exobase to drive upward thermal conduction and power escape. However, near the exobase continuum models become problematic as a result of the increasing rarefaction in the atmosphere. The microscopic nature of DSMC is directly suitable to model atmosphere flow in nominal exobase region (e.g., Michael et. al. 2005). Our Preliminary DSMC models have shown no evidence for slow hydrodynamic escape of N2 and CH4 from Titan's atmosphere using boundary conditions normalized to the atmospheric properties in Strobel (2008). In this paper we use a 1D radial Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) model of heating in Titan's upper atmosphere to estimate the escape rate as a function of the Jean's parameter. In this way we can test under what conditions the suggested deviations from Jeans escape would occur. In addition, we will be able to extract the necessary energy deposition to power the heavy molecule loss rates suggested in recent models (Strobel 2008; Yelle et. al. 2008). Michael, M. Johnson, R.E. 2005 Energy Deposition of pickup ions and heating of Titan's atmosphere. Planat. Sp. Sci. 53, 1510-1514 Johnson, R.E., "Sputtering and Heating of Titan's Upper Atmosphere", Proc Royal Soc. (London) (2008) Strobel, D.F. 2008 Titan's hydrodynamically escaping atmosphere. Icarus 193, 588-594 Yelle, R.V., J. Cui and I. C.F. Muller-Wodarg 2008 Methane Escape from Titan's Atmosphere. J. Geophys. Res in press Waite, J.H., Jr., Niemann, H.B., Yelle, R.V. et al. 2005 Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer Results from the First Flyby of Titan. Science 308, 982-986

Escaping and Falling into Poverty in India Today.

Science.gov (United States)

Thorat, Amit; Vanneman, Reeve; Desai, Sonalde; Dubey, Amaresh

2017-05-01

The study examines the dynamic nature of movements into and out of poverty over a period when poverty has fallen substantially in India. The analysis identifies people who escaped poverty and those who fell into it over the period 2005 to 2012. The analysis identifies people who escaped poverty and those who fell into it over the period 2005 to 2012. Using panel data from the India Human Development Survey for 2005 and 2012, we find that the risks of marginalized communities such as Dalits and Adivasis of falling into or remaining in poverty were higher than those for more privileged groups. Some, but not all of these higher risks are explained by educational, financial, and social disadvantages of these groups in 2005. Results from a logistic regression show that some factors that help people escape poverty differ from those that push people into it and that the strength of their effects varies.

Sharks modulate their escape behavior in response to predator size, speed and approach orientation.

Science.gov (United States)

Seamone, Scott; Blaine, Tristan; Higham, Timothy E

2014-12-01

Escape responses are often critical for surviving predator-prey interactions. Nevertheless, little is known about how predator size, speed and approach orientation impact escape performance, especially in larger prey that are primarily viewed as predators. We used realistic shark models to examine how altering predatory behavior and morphology (size, speed and approach orientation) influences escape behavior and performance in Squalus acanthias, a shark that is preyed upon by apex marine predators. Predator models induced C-start escape responses, and increasing the size and speed of the models triggered a more intense response (increased escape turning rate and acceleration). In addition, increased predator size resulted in greater responsiveness from the sharks. Among the responses, predator approach orientation had the most significant impact on escapes, such that the head-on approach, as compared to the tail-on approach, induced greater reaction distances and increased escape turning rate, speed and acceleration. Thus, the anterior binocular vision in sharks renders them less effective at detecting predators approaching from behind. However, it appears that sharks compensate by performing high-intensity escapes, likely induced by the lateral line system, or by a sudden visual flash of the predator entering their field of view. Our study reveals key aspects of escape behavior in sharks, highlighting the modulation of performance in response to predator approach. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Proximity to Industrial Food Animal Production and Asthma Exacerbations in Pennsylvania, 2005-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Rasmussen, Sara G; Casey, Joan A; Bandeen-Roche, Karen; Schwartz, Brian S

2017-03-31

The research on industrial food animal production (IFAP) and asthma exacerbations in the United States has relied on small sample sizes and/or self-reported outcomes. We assessed associations of proximity to large-scale and densely stocked swine and dairy/veal IFAP with three types of asthma exacerbations: hospitalizations, emergency encounters, and oral corticosteroid (OCS) medication orders from Geisinger Clinic in Pennsylvania. We used a diagnosis code ( International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification code 493.x) and medication orders from electronic health records to identify these exacerbations among asthma patients ( n = 35,269) from 2005-2012. We compared residential proximity to swine or dairy/veal IFAP (dichotomized as <3 miles (4.8 km) or ≥3 miles) among asthma patients with and without exacerbations and estimated odds ratios using multilevel logistic regression. In adjusted models, proximity to IFAP was associated (odds ratio (95% confidence interval)) with OCS orders (1.11 (1.04-1.19)) and hospitalizations (1.29 (1.15-1.46)), but not emergency encounters (1.12 (0.91-1.37)). This study contributes to growing evidence that IFAP may impact health, in this case clinically-documented asthma exacerbations. No prior study has evaluated the association of IFAP and clinically-documented asthma exacerbations in the United States.

Quantifying the impact of human immunodeficiency virus-1 escape from cytotoxic T-lymphocytes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulrich D Kadolsky

2010-11-01

Full Text Available HIV-1 escape from the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL response leads to a weakening of viral control and is likely to be detrimental to the patient. To date, the impact of escape on viral load and CD4(+ T cell count has not been quantified, primarily because of sparse longitudinal data and the difficulty of separating cause and effect in cross-sectional studies. We use two independent methods to quantify the impact of HIV-1 escape from CTLs in chronic infection: mathematical modelling of escape and statistical analysis of a cross-sectional cohort. Mathematical modelling revealed a modest increase in log viral load of 0.051 copies ml(-1 per escape event. Analysis of the cross-sectional cohort revealed a significant positive association between viral load and the number of "escape events", after correcting for length of infection and rate of replication. We estimate that a single CTL escape event leads to a viral load increase of 0.11 log copies ml(-1 (95% confidence interval: 0.040-0.18, consistent with the predictions from the mathematical modelling. Overall, the number of escape events could only account for approximately 6% of the viral load variation in the cohort. Our findings indicate that although the loss of the CTL response for a single epitope results in a highly statistically significant increase in viral load, the biological impact is modest. We suggest that this small increase in viral load is explained by the small growth advantage of the variant relative to the wildtype virus. Escape from CTLs had a measurable, but unexpectedly low, impact on viral load in chronic infection.

Cnidoscolus (Euphorbiaceae) escaped in Malesia?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Welzen, van P.C.; Fernández-Casas, F.J.

2017-01-01

The genus Cnidoscolus, a species rich genus in the Americas, has been introduced in the Philippines. A cultivar of Cnidoscolus aconitifolius is used as vegetable and has been collected from gardens in Manila and Pasay City and two times near Cebu City. It cannot be excluded that it has escaped

Plasma Clouds and Snowplows: Bulk Plasma Escape from Mars Observed by MAVEN

Science.gov (United States)

Halekas, J. S.; Brain, D. A.; Ruhunusiri, S.; McFadden, J. P.; Mitchell, D. L.; Mazelle, C.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Harada, Y.; Hara, T.; Espley, J. R.;

A proximity effect in adults' contamination intuitions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura R. Kim

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Magical beliefs about contagion via contact (Rozin, Nemeroff, Wane, and Sherrod, 1989 may emerge when people overgeneralize real-world mechanisms of contamination beyond their appropriate boundaries (Lindeman and Aarnio, 2007. Do people similarly overextend knowledge of airborne contamination mechanisms? Previous work has shown that very young children believe merely being close to a contamination source can contaminate an item (Springer and Belk 1994; we asked whether this same hyper-avoidant intuition is also reflected in adults' judgments. In two studies, we measured adults' ratings of the desirability of an object that had made contact with a source of contamination, an object nearby that had made no contact with the contaminant, and an object far away that had also made no contact. Adults showed a clear proximity effect, wherein objects near the contamination source were perceived to be less desirable than those far away, even though a separate group of adults unanimously acknowledged that contaminants could not possibly have made contact with either the nearby or far-away object (Study 1. The proximity effect also remained robust when a third group of adults was explicitly told that no contaminating particles had made contact with the objects at any time (Study 2. We discuss implications of our findings for extending the scope of magical contagion effects beyond the contact principle, for understanding the persistence of intuitive theories despite broad acceptance of science-based theories, and for constraining interpretations of the developmental work on proximity beliefs.

Escape Excel: A tool for preventing gene symbol and accession conversion errors.

Science.gov (United States)

Welsh, Eric A; Stewart, Paul A; Kuenzi, Brent M; Eschrich, James A

2017-01-01

Microsoft Excel automatically converts certain gene symbols, database accessions, and other alphanumeric text into dates, scientific notation, and other numerical representations. These conversions lead to subsequent, irreversible, corruption of the imported text. A recent survey of popular genomic literature estimates that one-fifth of all papers with supplementary gene lists suffer from this issue. Here, we present an open-source tool, Escape Excel, which prevents these erroneous conversions by generating an escaped text file that can be safely imported into Excel. Escape Excel is implemented in a variety of formats (http://www.github.com/pstew/escape_excel), including a command line based Perl script, a Windows-only Excel Add-In, an OS X drag-and-drop application, a simple web-server, and as a Galaxy web environment interface. Test server implementations are accessible as a Galaxy interface (http://apostl.moffitt.org) and simple non-Galaxy web server (http://apostl.moffitt.org:8000/). Escape Excel detects and escapes a wide variety of problematic text strings so that they are not erroneously converted into other representations upon importation into Excel. Examples of problematic strings include date-like strings, time-like strings, leading zeroes in front of numbers, and long numeric and alphanumeric identifiers that should not be automatically converted into scientific notation. It is hoped that greater awareness of these potential data corruption issues, together with diligent escaping of text files prior to importation into Excel, will help to reduce the amount of Excel-corrupted data in scientific analyses and publications.

ESCAPE: an integrated climate model for the EC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rotmans, J.

1992-01-01

A framework has been developed for the evaluation of policy options for climate change, called ESCAPE (Evaluation of Strategies to address Climate change by Adapting to and Preventing Emissions). ESCAPE consists of a suite of linked models which enables scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions to be constructed and their impact on global and regional climate and sea level and sectors of the European economy to be assessed. Conclusions resulting from simulations with the ESCAPE 1.1 model include: the major problem of a climate change for the EC is a sea level rise; Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain will be faced with higher costs in the agricultural sector; worldwide implementation of an EC carbon tax leads to about 12% lower worldwide CO 2 emissions; to stabilize CO 2 emissions an Ecotax of 18 dollars per barrel would be required; and in all cases the rate of global temperature increase will be above the rate of 0.1 degree C per decade for the coming 40 years. 2 figs

Extinction Correction Significantly Influences the Estimate of the Lyα Escape Fraction

Science.gov (United States)

An, Fang Xia; Zheng, Xian Zhong; Hao, Cai-Na; Huang, Jia-Sheng; Xia, Xiao-Yang

2017-02-01

The Lyα escape fraction is a key measure to constrain the neutral state of the intergalactic medium and then to understand how the universe was fully reionized. We combine deep narrowband imaging data from the custom-made filter NB393 and the {{{H}}}2S1 filter centered at 2.14 μm to examine the Lyα emitters and Hα emitters at the same redshift z = 2.24. The combination of these two populations allows us to determine the Lyα escape fraction at z = 2.24. Over an area of 383 arcmin2 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field South (ECDFS), 124 Lyα emitters are detected down to NB393 = 26.4 mag at the 5σ level, and 56 Hα emitters come from An et al. Of these, four have both Lyα and Hα emissions (LAHAEs). We also collect the Lyα emitters and Hα emitters at z = 2.24 in the COSMOS field from the literature, and increase the number of LAHAEs to 15 in total. About one-third of them are AGNs. We measure the individual/volumetric Lyα escape fraction by comparing the observed Lyα luminosity/luminosity density to the extinction-corrected Hα luminosity/luminosity density. We revisit the extinction correction for Hα emitters using the Galactic extinction law with color excess for nebular emission. We also adopt the Calzetti extinction law together with an identical color excess for stellar and nebular regions to explore how the uncertainties in extinction correction affect the estimate of individual and global Lyα escape fractions. In both cases, an anti-correlation between the Lyα escape fraction and dust attenuation is found among the LAHAEs, suggesting that dust absorption is responsible for the suppression of the escaping Lyα photons. However, the estimated Lyα escape fraction of individual LAHAEs varies by up to ˜3 percentage points between the two methods of extinction correction. We find the global Lyα escape fraction at z = 2.24 to be (3.7 ± 1.4)% in the ECDFS. The variation in the color excess of the extinction causes a discrepancy of ˜1 percentage point

Addressing Complex Societal Problems: Enabling Multiple Dimensions of Proximity to Sustain Partnerships for Collective Impact in Quebec

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nii A. Addy

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Sustainable solutions for complex societal problems, like poverty, require informing stakeholders about progress and changes needed as they collaborate. Yet, inter-organizational collaboration researchers highlight monumental challenges in measuring seemingly intangible factors during collective impact processes. We grapple with the question: How can decision-makers coherently conceptualize and measure seemingly intangible factors to sustain partnerships for the emergence of collective impact? We conducted an inductive process case study to address this question, analyzing data from documents, observations, and interviews of 24 philanthropy leaders and multiple stakeholders in a decades-long partnership involving Canada’s largest private family foundation, government and community networks, and during which a “collective impact project” emerged in Quebec Province, Canada. The multidimensional proximity framework provided an analytical lens. During the first phase of the partnership studied, there was a lack of baseline measurement of largely qualitative factors—conceptualized as cognitive, social, and institutional proximity between stakeholders—which evaluations suggested were important for explaining which community networks successfully brought about desired outcomes. Non-measurement of these factors was a problem in providing evidence for sustained engagement of stakeholders, such as government and local businesses. We develop a multidimensional proximity model that coherently conceptualizes qualitative proximity factors, for measuring their change over time.

Proximal Alternating Direction Method with Relaxed Proximal Parameters for the Least Squares Covariance Adjustment Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Minghua Xu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We consider the problem of seeking a symmetric positive semidefinite matrix in a closed convex set to approximate a given matrix. This problem may arise in several areas of numerical linear algebra or come from finance industry or statistics and thus has many applications. For solving this class of matrix optimization problems, many methods have been proposed in the literature. The proximal alternating direction method is one of those methods which can be easily applied to solve these matrix optimization problems. Generally, the proximal parameters of the proximal alternating direction method are greater than zero. In this paper, we conclude that the restriction on the proximal parameters can be relaxed for solving this kind of matrix optimization problems. Numerical experiments also show that the proximal alternating direction method with the relaxed proximal parameters is convergent and generally has a better performance than the classical proximal alternating direction method.

Optimization of a Compton-suppression system by escape-peak ratio

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niu, H.; Chao, J.H.; Wu, S.-C.

1996-01-01

A Compton-suppression system consisting of an HPGe central detector surrounded by eight BGO scintillators in an annular geometry was assembled. This system is dedicated to in-beam γ-ray measurements. The ratios of full-energy to single-escape peak and full-energy of double-escape peak, at γ-rays of 2754, 4443 and 6130 keV, were used to derive associated suppression factors in order to optimize detection conditions of the system. The suppression factors derived both from the escape peak ratios and the corresponding peak-to-Compton ratios of the γ-ray spectra are compared and discussed. This optimization technique may be of great significance for analyzing complicated spectra, where high-energy γ-rays are considered for analytical use. (Author)

Application of escape probability to line transfer in laser-produced plasmas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Y.T.; London, R.A.; Zimmerman, G.B.; Haglestein, P.L.

1989-01-01

In this paper the authors apply the escape probability method to treat transfer of optically thick lines in laser-produced plasmas in plan-parallel geometry. They investigate the effect of self-absorption on the ionization balance and ion level populations. In addition, they calculate such effect on the laser gains in an exploding foil target heated by an optical laser. Due to the large ion streaming motion in laser-produced plasmas, absorption of an emitted photon occurs only over the length in which the Doppler shift is equal to the line width. They find that the escape probability calculated with the Doppler shift is larger compared to the escape probability for a static plasma. Therefore, the ion streaming motion contributes significantly to the line transfer process in laser-produced plasmas. As examples, they have applied escape probability to calculate transfer of optically thick lines in both ablating slab and exploding foil targets under irradiation of a high-power optical laser

DWARF GALAXIES WITH IONIZING RADIATION FEEDBACK. I. ESCAPE OF IONIZING PHOTONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ji-hoon; Krumholz, Mark R.; Goldbaum, Nathan J.; Wise, John H.; Turk, Matthew J.; Abel, Tom

2013-01-01

We describe a new method for simulating ionizing radiation and supernova feedback in the analogs of low-redshift galactic disks. In this method, which we call star-forming molecular cloud (SFMC) particles, we use a ray-tracing technique to solve the radiative transfer equation for ultraviolet photons emitted by thousands of distinct particles on the fly. Joined with high numerical resolution of 3.8 pc, the realistic description of stellar feedback helps to self-regulate star formation. This new feedback scheme also enables us to study the escape of ionizing photons from star-forming clumps and from a galaxy, and to examine the evolving environment of star-forming gas clumps. By simulating a galactic disk in a halo of 2.3 × 10 11 M ☉ , we find that the average escape fraction from all radiating sources on the spiral arms (excluding the central 2.5 kpc) fluctuates between 0.08% and 5.9% during a ∼20 Myr period with a mean value of 1.1%. The flux of escaped photons from these sources is not strongly beamed, but manifests a large opening angle of more than 60° from the galactic pole. Further, we investigate the escape fraction per SFMC particle, f esc (i), and how it evolves as the particle ages. We discover that the average escape fraction f esc is dominated by a small number of SFMC particles with high f esc (i). On average, the escape fraction from an SFMC particle rises from 0.27% at its birth to 2.1% at the end of a particle lifetime, 6 Myr. This is because SFMC particles drift away from the dense gas clumps in which they were born, and because the gas around the star-forming clumps is dispersed by ionizing radiation and supernova feedback. The framework established in this study brings deeper insight into the physics of photon escape fraction from an individual star-forming clump and from a galactic disk

Estimating Collisionally-Induced Escape Rates of Light Neutrals from Early Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Gacesa, M.; Zahnle, K. J.

2016-12-01

Collisions of atmospheric gases with hot oxygen atoms constitute an important non-thermal mechanism of escape of light atomic and molecular species at Mars. In this study, we present revised theoretical estimates of non-thermal escape rates of neutral O, H, He, and H2 based on recent atmospheric density profiles obtained from the NASA Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission and related theoretical models. As primary sources of hot oxygen, we consider dissociative recombination of O2+ and CO2+ molecular ions. We also consider hot oxygen atoms energized in primary and secondary collisions with energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) produced in charge-exchange of solar wind H+ and He+ ions with atmospheric gases1,2. Scattering of hot oxygen and atmospheric species of interest is modeled using fully-quantum reactive scattering formalism3. This approach allows us to construct distributions of vibrationally and rotationally excited states and predict the products' emission spectra. In addition, we estimate formation rates of excited, translationally hot hydroxyl molecules in the upper atmosphere of Mars. The escape rates are calculated from the kinetic energy distributions of the reaction products using an enhanced 1D model of the atmosphere for a range of orbital and solar parameters. Finally, by considering different scenarios, we estimate the influence of these escape mechanisms on the evolution of Mars's atmosphere throughout previous epochs and their impact on the atmospheric D/H ratio. M.G.'s research was supported by an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the NASA Ames Research Center, administered by Universities Space Research Association under contract with NASA. 1N. Lewkow and V. Kharchenko, "Precipitation of Energetic Neutral Atoms and Escape Fluxes induced from the Mars Atmosphere", Astroph. J., 790, 98 (2014) 2M. Gacesa, N. Lewkow, and V. Kharchenko, "Non-thermal production and escape of OH from the upper atmosphere of Mars", arXiv:1607

Escape of atmospheres and loss of water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hunten, D.M.; Donahue, T.M.; Walker, J.C.G.; Kasting, J.F.

1989-01-01

The properties and limitations of several loss processes for atmospheric gases are presented and discussed. They include thermal loss (Jeans and hydrodynamic); nonthermal loss (all processes involve charged particles); and impact erosion, including thermal escape from a molten body heated by rapid accretion. Hydrodynamic escape, or blowoff, is of particular interest because it offers the prospect of processing large quantities of gas and enriching the remainder in heavy elements and isotopes. In a second part, the water budgets and likely evolutionary histories of Venus, Earth and Mars are assessed. Although it is tempting to associate the great D/H enrichment on Venus with loss of a large initial endowment, a steady state with juvenile water (perhaps from comets) is equally probable

Escape from R-peptide deletion in a γ-retrovirus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schneider, Irene C.; Eckhardt, Manon; Brynza, Julia; Collins, Mary K.; Cichutek, Klaus; Buchholz, Christian J.

2011-01-01

The R peptide in the cytoplasmic tail (C-tail) of γ-retroviral envelope proteins (Env) prevents membrane fusion before budding. To analyse its role in the formation of replication competent, infectious particles, we developed chimeric murine leukaemia viruses (MLV) with unmodified or R-peptide deleted Env proteins of the gibbon ape leukaemia virus (GaLV). While titres of these viruses were unaffected, R-peptide deficiency led to strongly impaired spreading. Most remarkably, we isolated an escape mutant which had restored an open reading frame for a C-terminal extension of the truncated C-tail. A reconstituted virus encoding this escape C-tail replicated in cell culture. In contrast to R-peptide deficient Env, particle incorporation of the escape Env was effective due to an enhanced protein expression and restored intracellular co-localisation with Gag proteins. Our data demonstrate that the R peptide not only regulates membrane fusion but also mediates efficient Env protein particle incorporation in γ-retrovirus infected cells.

Geometrical E-beam proximity correction for raster scan systems

Science.gov (United States)

Belic, Nikola; Eisenmann, Hans; Hartmann, Hans; Waas, Thomas

1999-04-01

High pattern fidelity is a basic requirement for the generation of masks containing sub micro structures and for direct writing. Increasing needs mainly emerging from OPC at mask level and x-ray lithography require a correction of the e-beam proximity effect. The most part of e-beam writers are raster scan system. This paper describes a new method for geometrical pattern correction in order to provide a correction solution for e-beam system that are not able to apply variable doses.

Effects of metamorphosis on the aquatic escape response of the two-lined salamander (Eurycea bislineata).

Science.gov (United States)

Azizi, Emanuel; Landberg, Tobias

2002-03-01

Although numerous studies have described the escape kinematics of fishes, little is known about the aquatic escape responses of salamanders. We compare the escape kinematics of larval and adult Eurycea bislineata, the two-lined salamander, to examine the effects of metamorphosis on aquatic escape performance. We hypothesize that shape changes associated with resorption of the larval tail fin at metamorphosis will affect aquatic locomotor performance. Escape responses were recorded using high-speed video, and the effects of life stage and total length on escape kinematics were analyzed statistically using analysis of covariance. Our results show that both larval and adult E. bislineata use a two-stage escape response (similar to the C-starts of fishes) that consists of a preparatory (stage 1) and a propulsive (stage 2) stroke. The duration of both kinematic stages and the distance traveled during stage 2 increased with total length. Both larval and adult E. bislineata had final escape trajectories that were directed away from the stimulus. The main kinematic difference between larvae and adults is that adults exhibit significantly greater maximum curvature during stage 1. Total escape duration and the distance traveled during stage 2 did not differ significantly between larvae and adults. Despite the significantly lower tail aspect ratio of adults, we found no significant decrease in the overall escape performance of adult E. bislineata. Our results suggest that adults may compensate for the decrease in tail aspect ratio by increasing their maximum curvature. These findings do not support the hypothesis that larvae exhibit better locomotor performance than adults as a result of stronger selective pressures on early life stages.

Hydrogen escape from Mars enhanced by deep convection in dust storms

Science.gov (United States)

Heavens, Nicholas G.; Kleinböhl, Armin; Chaffin, Michael S.; Halekas, Jasper S.; Kass, David M.; Hayne, Paul O.; McCleese, Daniel J.; Piqueux, Sylvain; Shirley, James H.; Schofield, John T.

2018-02-01

Present-day water loss from Mars provides insight into Mars's past habitability1-3. Its main mechanism is thought to be Jeans escape of a steady hydrogen reservoir sourced from odd-oxygen reactions with near-surface water vapour2, 4,5. The observed escape rate, however, is strongly variable and correlates poorly with solar extreme-ultraviolet radiation flux6-8, which was predicted to modulate escape9. This variability has recently been attributed to hydrogen sourced from photolysed middle atmospheric water vapour10, whose vertical and seasonal distribution is only partly characterized and understood11-13. Here, we report multi-annual observational estimates of water content and dust and water transport to the middle atmosphere from Mars Climate Sounder data. We provide strong evidence that the transport of water vapour and ice to the middle atmosphere by deep convection in Martian dust storms can enhance hydrogen escape. Planet-encircling dust storms can raise the effective hygropause (where water content rapidly decreases to effectively zero) from 50 to 80 km above the areoid (the reference equipotential surface). Smaller dust storms contribute to an annual mode in water content at 40-50 km that may explain seasonal variability in escape. Our results imply that Martian atmospheric chemistry and evolution can be strongly affected by the meteorology of the lower and middle atmosphere of Mars.

Realities of proximity facility siting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeMott, D.L.

1981-01-01

Numerous commercial nuclear power plant sites have 2 to 3 reactors located together, and a group of Facilities with capabilities for fuel fabrication, a nuclear reactor, a storage area for spent fuel, and a maintenance area for contaminated equipment and radioactive waste storage are being designed and constructed in the US. The proximity of these facilities to each other provides that the ordinary flow of materials remain within a limited area. Interactions between the various facilities include shared resources such as communication, fire protection, security, medical services, transportation, water, electrical, personnel, emergency planning, transport of hazardous material between facilities, and common safety and radiological requirements between facilities. This paper will explore the advantages and disadvantages of multiple facilities at one site. Problem areas are identified, and recommendations for planning and coordination are discussed

Proximity credentials: A survey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wright, L.J.

1987-04-01

Credentials as a means of identifying individuals have traditionally been a photo badge and more recently, the coded credential. Another type of badge, the proximity credential, is making inroads in the personnel identification field. This badge can be read from a distance instead of being veiewed by a guard or inserted into a reading device. This report reviews proximity credentials, identifies the companies marketing or developing proximity credentials, and describes their respective credentials. 3 tabs

Escape rate for nonequilibrium processes dominated by strong non-detailed balance force

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Ying; Xu, Song; Ao, Ping

2018-02-01

Quantifying the escape rate from a meta-stable state is essential to understand a wide range of dynamical processes. Kramers' classical rate formula is the product of an exponential function of the potential barrier height and a pre-factor related to the friction coefficient. Although many applications of the rate formula focused on the exponential term, the prefactor can have a significant effect on the escape rate in certain parameter regions, such as the overdamped limit and the underdamped limit. There have been continuous interests to understand the effect of non-detailed balance on the escape rate; however, how the prefactor behaves under strong non-detailed balance force remains elusive. In this work, we find that the escape rate formula has a vanishing prefactor with decreasing friction strength under the strong non-detailed balance limit. We both obtain analytical solutions in specific examples and provide a derivation for more general cases. We further verify the result by simulations and propose a testable experimental system of a charged Brownian particle in electromagnetic field. Our study demonstrates that a special care is required to estimate the effect of prefactor on the escape rate when non-detailed balance force dominates.

Escape Distance in Ground-Nesting Birds Differs with Individual Level of Camouflage.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson-Aggarwal, Jared K; Troscianko, Jolyon T; Stevens, Martin; Spottiswoode, Claire N

2016-08-01

Camouflage is one of the most widespread antipredator strategies in the animal kingdom, yet no animal can match its background perfectly in a complex environment. Therefore, selection should favor individuals that use information on how effective their camouflage is in their immediate habitat when responding to an approaching threat. In a field study of African ground-nesting birds (plovers, coursers, and nightjars), we tested the hypothesis that individuals adaptively modulate their escape behavior in relation to their degree of background matching. We used digital imaging and models of predator vision to quantify differences in color, luminance, and pattern between eggs and their background, as well as the plumage of incubating adult nightjars. We found that plovers and coursers showed greater escape distances when their eggs were a poorer pattern match to the background. Nightjars sit on their eggs until a potential threat is nearby, and, correspondingly, they showed greater escape distances when the pattern and color match of the incubating adult's plumage-rather than its eggs-was a poorer match to the background. Finally, escape distances were shorter in the middle of the day, suggesting that escape behavior is mediated by both camouflage and thermoregulation.

Transitions between three swimming gaits in Paramecium escape.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamel, Amandine; Fisch, Cathy; Combettes, Laurent; Dupuis-Williams, Pascale; Baroud, Charles N

2011-05-03

Paramecium and other protists are able to swim at velocities reaching several times their body size per second by beating their cilia in an organized fashion. The cilia beat in an asymmetric stroke, which breaks the time reversal symmetry of small scale flows. Here we show that Paramecium uses three different swimming gaits to escape from an aggression, applied in the form of a focused laser heating. For a weak aggression, normal swimming is sufficient and produces a steady swimming velocity. As the heating amplitude is increased, a higher acceleration and faster swimming are achieved through synchronized beating of the cilia, which begin by producing oscillating swimming velocities and later give way to the usual gait. Finally, escape from a life-threatening aggression is achieved by a "jumping" gait, which does not rely on the cilia but is achieved through the explosive release of a group of trichocysts in the direction of the hot spot. Measurements through high-speed video explain the role of trichocysts in defending against aggressions while showing unexpected transitions in the swimming of microorganisms. These measurements also demonstrate that Paramecium optimizes its escape pattern by taking advantage of its inertia.

Exospheric density and escape fluxes of atomic isotopes on Venus and Mars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wallis, M.K.

1978-01-01

Energetic neutrals in dissociative recombinations near or above the exobase provided an important component of exospheric density and escape fluxes. Plasma thermal velocities provide the main contribution to the velocity spread and an exact integral for the escape flux applicable in marginal cases is found for a simple atmosphere and collisional cut-off. Atomic fragments from recombination of diatomic oxygen and nitrogen ions in the Venus and Mars atmospheres are examined and density integrals derived. The oxygen escape flux on Mars is half that previously estimated and there is very little isotope preference supplementing diffusive separation. However, escape of the heavier 15 N isotope is low by a factor two. Reinterpretation of its 75% enrichment as detected by Viking leads to a range 0.4-1.4 mbar for the primeval nitrogen content on Mars. (author)

Escapement of Cape hakes under the fishing line of the Namibian ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The objective of this study was to establish whether Cape hakes Merluccius capensis and M. paradoxus escape under the fishing line and to identify any species or length dependence of escape rates. Experiments were carried out in Namibian waters during two cruises in October 2002 and October 2003. A collection bag ...

The effects of escape from self and interpersonal relationship on the pathological use of Internet games.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwon, Jung-Hye; Chung, Chung-Suk; Lee, Jung

2011-02-01

The purpose of the present study was to examine whether Baumeister's escape from self theory may account for the pathological use of Internet games among Korean adolescents. A sample of 1,136 junior high school students completed measures assessing Internet game addiction (IGA), real-ideal self discrepancy, escape from self, current mood, peer relationships, perceived parent-child relationship, and parental supervision. IGA was significantly correlated with all of these variables. Multiple regression analysis showed that escape from self best explained the adolescents' IGA. A path model yielded significant paths from self-discrepancy to negative mood, from negative mood to escape from self, and from escape from self to IGA. These results support the validity of using the escape from self theory to explain the adolescents' IGA, thereby suggesting that adolescents become addicted to Internet games in an attempt to escape from self and reality.

Effects of emergence time and early social rearing environment on behaviour of Atlantic salmon: Consequences for juvenile fitness and smolt migration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Martin Hage; Johnsson, Jörgen I.; Winberg, Svante

2015-01-01

-reared separately or in co-culture for four months to test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits. Twenty fish from each of the six treatment groups were then subjected to three individual-based behavioural tests: basal locomotor activity, boldness, and escape response. Following behavioural...... suggested to be coupled with individual behavioural traits. Here, we further investigate the link between timing of spawning nest emergence and behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits in fish with different emergence times, and assess...... characterization, the fish were released into a near-natural experimental stream. Results showed differences in escape behaviour between emergence groups in a net restraining test, but the social rearing environment did not affect individual behavioural expression. Emergence time and social environment had...

An unusual case: right proximal ureteral compression by the ovarian vein and distal ureteral compression by the external iliac vein

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Halil Ibrahim Serin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available A 32-years old woman presented to the emergency room of Bozok University Research Hospital with right renal colic. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT showed compression of the proximal ureter by the right ovarian vein and compression of the right distal ureter by the right external iliac vein. To the best of our knowledge, right proximal ureteral compression by the ovarian vein together with distal ureteral compression by the external iliac vein have not been reported in the literature. Ovarian vein and external iliac vein compression should be considered in patients presenting to the emergency room with renal colic or low back pain and a dilated collecting system.

Improving the effectiveness of escape windows in directed Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus trawl fisheries

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Niels; Holst, René; Frandsen, Rikke

2012-01-01

A substantial improvement in the bycatch selectivity of Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus trawls is required, particularly with respect to cod Gadus morhua , whose stocks are at low levels in several areas. Conventional escape windows are not adequate to properly release cod and other bycatch...... species caught in the trawls. To address this issue, we developed a novel sorting box concept consisting of a four-panel section with a window on the top in order to improve the escape of cod and other bycatch species through an escape window while retaining the target catch of Norway lobster. The concept....... The reduction in bycatch decreased with decreasing mesh size and increasing height of the sorting box. Escape of Norway lobster through the escape window was limited. A modified version of the sorting box concept was implemented in the Kattegat fishery from 2009 onwards...

A Substantial Plume of Escaping Planetary Ions in the MSE Northern Hemisphere Observed by MAVEN

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Y.; Fang, X.; Brain, D. A.; McFadden, J. P.; Halekas, J. S.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Curry, S.; Harada, Y.; Luhmann, J. G.; Jakosky, B. M.

2015-12-01

The Mars-solar wind interaction accelerates and transports planetary ions away from Mars through a number of processes, including pick-up by the electromagnetic fields. The Mars Atmospheric and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft has frequently detected strong escaping planetary ion fluxes in both tailward and upstream solar wind motional electric field directions since the beginning of its science phase in November 2014. Our statistical study using three-month MAVEN data from November 2014 through February 2015 illustrates a substantial plume-like escaping planetary ion population organized by the upstream electric field with strong fluxes widely distributed in the northern hemisphere of the Mars-Sun-Electric-field (MSE) coordinate system, which is generally consistent with model predictions. The plume constitutes an important planetary ion escape channel from the Martian atmosphere in addition to the tailward escape. The >25eV O+ escape rate through the plume is estimated to be ~35% of the tailward escape and ~25% of the total escape. We will compare the dynamics of the plume and tailward escaping ions based on their velocity-space distributions with respect to the electromagnetic fields. We will also discuss the variations of the plume characteristics between different ion species (O+, O2+, and CO2+) and from the effect of different solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions.

Energy transfer in O collisions with He isotopes and helium escape from Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Bovino, S.; Zhang, P.; Kharchenko, V.; Dalgarno, A.

2010-12-01

Helium is one of the dominant constituents in the upper atmosphere of Mars [1]. Thermal (Jeans’) escape of He is negligible on Mars [2] and major mechanism of escape is related to the collisional ejection of He atoms by energetic oxygen. Collisional ejection dominates over ion-related mechanisms [3] and evaluation of the escape flux of neutral He becomes an important issue. The dissociative recombination of O2+ is considered to be the major source of energetic oxygen atoms [4]. We report accurate data on energy-transfer collisions between hot oxygen atoms and the atmospheric helium gas. Angular dependent scattering cross sections for elastic collisions of O(3P) and O(1D) atoms with helium gas have been calculated quantum mechanically and found to be surprisingly similar. Cross sections, computed for collisions with both helium isotopes, 3He and 4He, have been used to construct the kernel of the Boltzmann equation, describing the energy relaxation of hot oxygen atoms. Computed rates of energy transfer in O + He collisions have been used to evaluate the flux of He atoms escaping from the Mars atmosphere at different solar conditions. We have identified atmospheric layers mostly responsible for production of the He escape flux. Our results are consistent with recent data from Monte Carlo simulations of the escape of O atoms: strong angular anisotropy of atomic cross sections leads to an increased transparency of the upper atmosphere for escaping O flux [5] and stimulate the collisional ejection of He atoms. References [1] Krasnopolsky, V. A., and G. R. Gladstone (2005), Helium on Mars and Venus: EUVE observations and modeling, Icarus, 176, 395. [2] Chassefiere E. and F. Leblanc (2004), Mars atmospheric escape and evolution; interaction with the solar wind, Planetary and Space Science, 52, 1039 [3] Krasnopolsky, V. (2010), Solar activity variations of thermospheric temperatures on Mars and a problem of CO in the lower atmoshpere, Icarus, 207, 638. [4] Fox, J. L

Social networks, geographic proximity, and firm performance in Viet Nam

OpenAIRE

Howard, Emma

2017-01-01

This paper uses panel data to assess the relative importance of social networks and geographic proximity to micro, small, and medium enterprises in Viet Nam. The results suggest that a larger social network, and hiring employees mainly through social networks, are both correlated with higher value added per worker. The number of government officials and civil servants in a firm's network emerges as particularly important. When the quality of contacts is controlled for, firms with tighter soci...

A proximal point algorithm with generalized proximal distances to BEPs

OpenAIRE

Bento, G. C.; Neto, J. X. Cruz; Lopes, J. O.; Soares Jr, P. A.; Soubeyran, A.

2014-01-01

We consider a bilevel problem involving two monotone equilibrium bifunctions and we show that this problem can be solved by a proximal point method with generalized proximal distances. We propose a framework for the convergence analysis of the sequences generated by the algorithm. This class of problems is very interesting because it covers mathematical programs and optimization problems under equilibrium constraints. As an application, we consider the problem of the stability and change dyna...

Constraining Lyman continuum escape using Machine Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Giri, Sambit K.; Zackrisson, Erik; Binggeli, Christian; Pelckmans, Kristiaan; Cubo, Rubén; Mellema, Garrelt

2018-05-01

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will observe the rest-frame ultraviolet/optical spectra of galaxies from the epoch of reionization (EoR) in unprecedented detail. While escaping into the intergalactic medium, hydrogen-ionizing (Lyman continuum; LyC) photons from the galaxies will contribute to the bluer end of the UV slope and make nebular emission lines less prominent. We present a method to constrain leakage of the LyC photons using the spectra of high redshift (z >~ 6) galaxies. We simulate JWST/NIRSpec observations of galaxies at z =6-9 by matching the fluxes of galaxies observed in the Frontier Fields observations of galaxy cluster MACS-J0416. Our method predicts the escape fraction fesc with a mean absolute error Δfesc ~ 0.14. The method also predicts the redshifts of the galaxies with an error .

Non-thermal escape rates of atmospheric H and D from Mars using MAVEN data

Science.gov (United States)

Gacesa, M.; Zahnle, K. J.

2017-12-01

Geological evidence suggests that an ocean of liquid water existed on Mars until at least middle to late Noachian era (4.1 to 3.8 Ga) and possibly, at least episodically, as late as Hesperian. Between 67% and 87% of the total primordial amount of water, equal to about 70 to 110 meters equivalent (spread over the entire Mars' surface), is believed to have escape to space, while about 35 meters remains on or beneath the surface as water ice. Establishing better constraints on these numbers and identifying the responsible atmospheric loss processes remains the major objective of NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) mission. The ratio of atmospheric Deuterium and Hydrogen (D/H) on Mars is one of the best indicators of water loss to space. While majority of H and D escape through thermal Jeans escape, up to 10% of D can escape to space via non-thermal mechanisms, such as collisions with superthermal neutral atoms. In this study, we present new estimates of non-thermal escape rates of light molecules of interest to the water evolution, including H2, HD, OH, and OD, based on recent measurements of atmospheric density and temperature profiles by MAVEN. The escape mechanisms considered include photochemical sources of hot O, as well as collisions with energetic neutral atoms produced in charge-exchange of solar wind ions with atmospheric gases1,2. Energy transport and escape rates are modeled using quantum reactive scattering formalism3 and seasonal variations are illustrated. Finally, a simple estimate of the role of the non-thermal escape mechanisms in previous eras is given. We conclude that D escape rates can be affected by the non-thermal processes with consequences on the estimates of primordial water inventory based on the D/H ratio. [1] N. Lewkow and V. Kharchenko, Astroph. J., 790, 98 (2014) [2] M. Gacesa, N. Lewkow, V. Kharchenko, Icarus 284, 90 (2017) [3] M. Gacesa and V. Kharchenko, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L10203 (2012)

Genomics of Stress Escape in Arabidopsis Thaliana

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Das, D.

2016-01-01

In nature, two highly diverse environmental signals, flooding and shade, sensed through their own unique receptor systems, share physiological and molecular similarities in the context of accelerated shoot elongation in plants (a conserved stress-escape strategy), suggesting a possible cross-talk

Learning from escaped prescribed fire reviews

Science.gov (United States)

Anne E. Black; Dave Thomas; James Saveland; Jennifer D. Ziegler

2011-01-01

The U.S. wildland fire community has developed a number of innovative methods for conducting a review following escape of a prescribed fire (expanding on the typical regional or local reviews, to include more of a learning focus - expanded After Action Reviews, reviews that incorporate High Reliability Organizing, Facilitated Learning Analyses, etc). The stated purpose...

Endovascular treatment in proximal and intracranial carotid occlusion 9 hours after symptom onset

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jakubowska, Malgorzata M.; Michels, Peter; Mueller-Jensen, Axel; Leppien, Andreas; Eckert, Bernd

2008-01-01

A debate is emerging over whether the treatment time window in acute stroke can be extended beyond 6 h if penumbral tissue can be identified. Treatment decisions are very difficult in cases of tandem proximal carotid occlusion with arterioarterial intracranial embolism. We enter this debate with the present report on a case of atherosclerotic proximal carotid occlusion and resulting periocclusional carotid T embolism that was successfully treated 9 h after symptom onset. The case of a 68-year-old man with fluctuating symptoms of right-hemispheric stroke is presented (NIHSS score 12-20 on admission). CT angiography demonstrated proximal carotid occlusion and periocclusional embolism of the entire internal carotid artery (ICA) including the carotid T segment. Penumbral tissue was diagnosed by nonenhanced and perfusion CT imaging 7.5 h after symptom onset. Treatment was initiated 9 h after symptom onset by passing the proximal occlusion with a microcatheter and local administration of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) into the carotid T segment at the level of posterior communicating artery (PCoA) origin. Recanalization of the ICA and middle cerebral artery was accomplished within 1 h by flow establishment via the PCoA. The atherosclerotic proximal ICA occlusion was not stented due to the risk of embolism from remnant thrombi in the petrous and cavernous ICA segments. Follow-up MRI showed only mild haemorrhagic infarct transformation of the initial infarct core. The patient was discharged from hospital 18 days after treatment with NIHSS score 5. If penumbral tissue can be conclusively identified, endovascular treatment in proximal and intracranial tandem occlusion can be successful, even in treatments initiated 6-9 h after stroke onset. If the intracranial flow after recanalization can be established via the circle of Willis, the underlying proximal ICA occlusion may not require treatment. (orig.)

Endovascular treatment in proximal and intracranial carotid occlusion 9 hours after symptom onset

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jakubowska, Malgorzata M.; Michels, Peter; Mueller-Jensen, Axel [Asklepios Clinic Altona, Department of Neurology, Hamburg (Germany); Leppien, Andreas; Eckert, Bernd [Asklepios Clinic Altona, Department of Neuroradiology, Hamburg (Germany)

2008-07-15

A debate is emerging over whether the treatment time window in acute stroke can be extended beyond 6 h if penumbral tissue can be identified. Treatment decisions are very difficult in cases of tandem proximal carotid occlusion with arterioarterial intracranial embolism. We enter this debate with the present report on a case of atherosclerotic proximal carotid occlusion and resulting periocclusional carotid T embolism that was successfully treated 9 h after symptom onset. The case of a 68-year-old man with fluctuating symptoms of right-hemispheric stroke is presented (NIHSS score 12-20 on admission). CT angiography demonstrated proximal carotid occlusion and periocclusional embolism of the entire internal carotid artery (ICA) including the carotid T segment. Penumbral tissue was diagnosed by nonenhanced and perfusion CT imaging 7.5 h after symptom onset. Treatment was initiated 9 h after symptom onset by passing the proximal occlusion with a microcatheter and local administration of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) into the carotid T segment at the level of posterior communicating artery (PCoA) origin. Recanalization of the ICA and middle cerebral artery was accomplished within 1 h by flow establishment via the PCoA. The atherosclerotic proximal ICA occlusion was not stented due to the risk of embolism from remnant thrombi in the petrous and cavernous ICA segments. Follow-up MRI showed only mild haemorrhagic infarct transformation of the initial infarct core. The patient was discharged from hospital 18 days after treatment with NIHSS score 5. If penumbral tissue can be conclusively identified, endovascular treatment in proximal and intracranial tandem occlusion can be successful, even in treatments initiated 6-9 h after stroke onset. If the intracranial flow after recanalization can be established via the circle of Willis, the underlying proximal ICA occlusion may not require treatment. (orig.)

Never ever? Characteristics, outcomes and motivations of patients who abscond or escape: A 5-year review of escapes and absconds from two medium and low secure forensic units.

Science.gov (United States)

Mezey, Gillian; Durkin, Catherine; Dodge, Liam; White, Sarah

2015-12-01

Absconds and escapes by psychiatric patients from secure forensic psychiatric settings create public anxiety and are poorly understood. To describe secure hospital patients who escape from within the secure perimeter or abscond, and test for differences between these groups. Escapes and absconds between 2008 and 2012 from the medium and low secure forensic psychiatric inpatient units of two London National Health Service Trusts were identified through the Trusts' databases. Demographic, offending, mental health and incident data were extracted from records for each. Seventy-seven incidents, involving 54 patients, were identified over the five years. These were 13 escapes involving 12 patients, representing a rate of 0.04 per 1000 bed days, and 64 absconds involving 42 patients, a rate of 0.26 per 1000 bed days; 15 (28%) patients were absent without leave more than once. Over half of the patients came back voluntarily within 24 hours of leaving. Over 50% of them had drunk alcohol or taken drugs while away from the unit. Escapees were more likely to be transferred prisoners and to have planned their escape, less likely to return to the unit voluntarily and away longer than patients who absconded. Offending was rare during unauthorised leave--just three offences among the 77 incidents; self-harm was more likely. Motives for absconding included: wanting freedom or drink or drugs, family worries and/or dissatisfaction with aspects of treatment. Escapes or absconding from secure healthcare units have different characteristics, but may best be prevented by convergent strategies. Relational security is likely to be as important for foiling plans for the former as it is for reducing boredom, building strong family support and managing substance misuse in the latter. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Local niche experimentation in the energy transitions : a theoretical and empirical exploration of proximity and disadvantages

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coenen, Lars; Raven, R.P.J.M.; Verbong, G.P.J.

2010-01-01

This paper discusses how the approach of Strategic Niche Management (SNM) relates to proximity advantages in innovation processes as identified in the geography of innovation literature. The latter claims that the locations where innovation emerge and thrive are not coincidental, but that they

Temporal and ontogenetic variation in the escape response of Ameiva festiva (Squamata, Teiidae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lattanzio

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Several factors have been shown to affect lizard escape behavior (flight initiation distance or FID, the distance between predator and prey when the prey initiates escape. Patterns of daily activity, such as foraging or movement behavior, vary with respect to time of day, supporting that escape responses may vary temporally as well. However, there remains scant information regarding the effects of time of day on FID. During peak activity, FID may decrease due to increased cost of giving up resources (e.g., prey or potential mates. An alternative hypothesis is that FID may increase because lizard activity in general may serve to alert a predator in advance of its approach. A lizard in this scenario may be favored to flee sooner rather than later. Moreover, juvenile and adult lizards of multiple species may differ in behavioral, ecological, and morphological traits that could influence escape decisions. I tested the effects of time of day (in 30-min intervals and age (juvenile or adult on the FID of a tropical whiptail lizard, Ameiva festiva in Costa Rica. I found that A. festiva escape responses varied with time of day such that in general, their FID decreased throughout the day. In addition, I observed a peak in FID from mid to late-morning that matches published estimates of peak activity times for A. festiva. Overall, juvenile A. festiva initiated an escape response sooner than adults, which may be related to differences in perceived risk associated with differences in size and predator experience between the two age groups. I conclude that escape responses may be contingent on both the activity level of the animal at the time of approach and its age.

How Hospitable Are Space Weather Affected Habitable Zones? The Role of Ion Escape

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Airapetian, Vladimir S.; Glocer, Alex; Khazanov, George V.; Danchi, William C.; Loyd, R. O. P.; France, Kevin; Sojka, Jan; Liemohn, Michael W.

2017-01-01

Atmospheres of exoplanets in the habitable zones around active young G-K-M stars are subject to extreme X-ray and EUV (XUV) fluxes from their host stars that can initiate atmospheric erosion. Atmospheric loss affects exoplanetary habitability in terms of surface water inventory, atmospheric pressure, the efficiency of greenhouse warming, and the dosage of the UV surface irradiation. Thermal escape models suggest that exoplanetary atmospheres around active K-M stars should undergo massive hydrogen escape, while heavier species including oxygen will accumulate forming an oxidizing atmosphere. Here, we show that non-thermal oxygen ion escape could be as important as thermal, hydrodynamic H escape in removing the constituents of water from exoplanetary atmospheres under supersolar XUV irradiation. Our models suggest that the atmospheres of a significant fraction of Earth-like exoplanets around M dwarfs and active K stars exposed to high XUV fluxes will incur a significant atmospheric loss rate of oxygen and nitrogen, which will make them uninhabitable within a few tens to hundreds of Myr, given a low replenishment rate from volcanism or cometary bombardment. Our non-thermal escape models have important implications for the habitability of the Proxima Centauri’s terrestrial planet.

How Hospitable Are Space Weather Affected Habitable Zones? The Role of Ion Escape

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Airapetian, Vladimir S.; Glocer, Alex; Khazanov, George V.; Danchi, William C. [NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD (United States); Loyd, R. O. P.; France, Kevin [University of Colorado/LASP, Boulder, CO (United States); Sojka, Jan [Utah State University, Logan, UT (United States); Liemohn, Michael W. [University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

2017-02-10

Atmospheres of exoplanets in the habitable zones around active young G-K-M stars are subject to extreme X-ray and EUV (XUV) fluxes from their host stars that can initiate atmospheric erosion. Atmospheric loss affects exoplanetary habitability in terms of surface water inventory, atmospheric pressure, the efficiency of greenhouse warming, and the dosage of the UV surface irradiation. Thermal escape models suggest that exoplanetary atmospheres around active K-M stars should undergo massive hydrogen escape, while heavier species including oxygen will accumulate forming an oxidizing atmosphere. Here, we show that non-thermal oxygen ion escape could be as important as thermal, hydrodynamic H escape in removing the constituents of water from exoplanetary atmospheres under supersolar XUV irradiation. Our models suggest that the atmospheres of a significant fraction of Earth-like exoplanets around M dwarfs and active K stars exposed to high XUV fluxes will incur a significant atmospheric loss rate of oxygen and nitrogen, which will make them uninhabitable within a few tens to hundreds of Myr, given a low replenishment rate from volcanism or cometary bombardment. Our non-thermal escape models have important implications for the habitability of the Proxima Centauri’s terrestrial planet.

An analytical evaluation for spatial-dependent intra-pebble Dancoff factor and escape probability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Songhyun; Kim, Hong-Chul; Kim, Jong Kyung; Kim, Soon Young; Noh, Jae Man

2009-01-01

The analytical evaluation of spatial-dependent intra-pebble Dancoff factors and their escape probabilities is pursued by the model developed in this study. Intra-pebble Dancoff factors and their escape probabilities are calculated as a function of fuel kernel radius, number of fuel kernels, and fuel region radius. The method in this study can be easily utilized to analyze the tendency of spatial-dependent intra-pebble Dancoff factor and spatial-dependent fuel region escape probability for the various geometries because it is faster than the MCNP method as well as good accuracy. (author)

Escaping domestic violence: A qualitative study of women who left their abusive husbands

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Surianti Sukeri, PhD

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Objectives: This qualitative study aims to discover the factors that influenced the decisions of women who successfully escaped domestic violence by attaining a divorce. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 women, ages 21-56 who were either divorced or currently in the process of getting divorced in Kelantan, Malaysia. Results: Several themes emerged, indicating the following five reasons for divorce: 1 reaching the point of ultimatum, 2 having adequate support pre- and post-divorce, 3 concern for children's welfare, 4 seeking financial independence, and 5 fear of harm. Conclusion: The identification of the driving factors for divorce may spark a change in our society's mindset to empower female divorcees and allow them to lead happy, abuse-free lives. Keywords: Divorce, Domestic violence, In-depth interview, Malaysia

Environmental education excursions and proximity to urban green space : Densification in a ‘compact city’

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wolsink, M.

2016-01-01

The value of urban green space for environmental education fieldwork is empirically investigated in a study among all secondary schools in Amsterdam. The article describes how the proximity of schools to green spaces emerges as a new factor in the ‘sustainable city’ and the ‘compact city’ debate.

30 CFR 57.11053 - Escape and evacuation plans.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... of principal air flow, location of escape routes and locations of existing telephones, primary fans... maps or diagrams shall be posted at all shaft stations and in underground shops, lunchrooms, and...

Pade approximant calculations for neutron escape probability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El Wakil, S.A.; Saad, E.A.; Hendi, A.A.

1984-07-01

The neutron escape probability from a non-multiplying slab containing internal source is defined in terms of a functional relation for the scattering function for the diffuse reflection problem. The Pade approximant technique is used to get numerical results which compare with exact results. (author)

Net escapement of Antartic krill in trawls

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krafft, B.A.; Krag, Ludvig Ahm; Herrmann, Bent

This document describes the aims and methodology of a three year project (commenced in 2012) entitled Net Escapement of Antarctic krill in Trawls (NEAT). The study will include a morphology based mathematical modeling (FISHSELECT) of different sex and maturity groups of Antarctic krill (Euphausia...

A longitudinal study of perceptual grouping by proximity, luminance and shape in infants at two, four and six months

OpenAIRE

Farran, E. K.; Brown, J. H.; Cole, V. L.; Houston-Price, C.; Karmiloff-Smith, A.

2008-01-01

Grouping by luminance and shape similarity has previously been demonstrated in neonates and at 4 months, respectively. By contrast, grouping by proximity has hitherto not been investigated in infancy. This is also the first study to chart the developmental emergence of perceptual grouping longitudinally. Sixty-one infants were presented with a matrix of local stimuli grouped horizontally or vertically by luminance, shape or proximity at 2, 4, and 6 months. Infants were exposed to each set of ...

European policymaking on the tobacco advertising ban: the importance of escape routes.

Science.gov (United States)

Adamini, Sandra; Versluis, Esther; Maarse, Hans

2011-01-01

This article analyses the European Union policymaking process regarding tobacco advertising. While others already highlighted the importance of intergovernmental bargaining between member states to explain the outcome of the tobacco advertising case, the main aim of this article is to identify the use of escape routes by the Commission, the European Parliament, the Council and interest groups that played an important role in overcoming the deadlock. When looking at the different institutions that structure policymaking, we argue that indeed focusing on escape routes provides a clear insight in the process and in what strategies were necessary to 'make Europe work'. In the end, it appears to be a combination of escape routes that resulted in the final decision.

Escaping Electrons from Intense Laser-Solid Interactions as a Function of Laser Spot Size

OpenAIRE

Rusby, Dean; Gray, Ross; Butler, Nick; Dance, Rachel; Scott, Graeme; Bagnoud, Vincent; Zielbauer, Bernhard; McKenna, Paul; Neely, David

2018-01-01

The interaction of a high-intensity laser with a solid target produces an energetic distribution of electrons that pass into the target. These electrons reach the rear surface of the target creating strong electric potentials that act to restrict the further escape of additional electrons. The measurement of the angle, flux and spectra of the electrons that do escape gives insights to the initial interaction. Here, the escaping electrons have been measured using a differentially filtered imag...

A convergent and essential interneuron pathway for Mauthner-cell-mediated escapes.

Science.gov (United States)

Lacoste, Alix M B; Schoppik, David; Robson, Drew N; Haesemeyer, Martin; Portugues, Ruben; Li, Jennifer M; Randlett, Owen; Wee, Caroline L; Engert, Florian; Schier, Alexander F

2015-06-01

The Mauthner cell (M-cell) is a command-like neuron in teleost fish whose firing in response to aversive stimuli is correlated with short-latency escapes [1-3]. M-cells have been proposed as evolutionary ancestors of startle response neurons of the mammalian reticular formation [4], and studies of this circuit have uncovered important principles in neurobiology that generalize to more complex vertebrate models [3]. The main excitatory input was thought to originate from multisensory afferents synapsing directly onto the M-cell dendrites [3]. Here, we describe an additional, convergent pathway that is essential for the M-cell-mediated startle behavior in larval zebrafish. It is composed of excitatory interneurons called spiral fiber neurons, which project to the M-cell axon hillock. By in vivo calcium imaging, we found that spiral fiber neurons are active in response to aversive stimuli capable of eliciting escapes. Like M-cell ablations, bilateral ablations of spiral fiber neurons largely eliminate short-latency escapes. Unilateral spiral fiber neuron ablations shift the directionality of escapes and indicate that spiral fiber neurons excite the M-cell in a lateralized manner. Their optogenetic activation increases the probability of short-latency escapes, supporting the notion that spiral fiber neurons help activate M-cell-mediated startle behavior. These results reveal that spiral fiber neurons are essential for the function of the M-cell in response to sensory cues and suggest that convergent excitatory inputs that differ in their input location and timing ensure reliable activation of the M-cell, a feedforward excitatory motif that may extend to other neural circuits. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Flowing water affects fish fast-starts: escape performance of the Hawaiian stream goby, Sicyopterus stimpsoni.

Science.gov (United States)

Diamond, Kelly M; Schoenfuss, Heiko L; Walker, Jeffrey A; Blob, Richard W

2016-10-01

Experimental measurements of escape performance in fishes have typically been conducted in still water; however, many fishes inhabit environments with flow that could impact escape behavior. We examined the influences of flow and predator attack direction on the escape behavior of fish, using juveniles of the amphidromous Hawaiian goby Sicyopterus stimpsoni In nature, these fish must escape ambush predation while moving through streams with high-velocity flow. We measured the escape performance of juvenile gobies while exposing them to a range of water velocities encountered in natural streams and stimulating fish from three different directions. Frequency of response across treatments indicated strong effects of flow conditions and attack direction. Juvenile S. stimpsoni had uniformly high response rates for attacks from a caudal direction (opposite flow); however, response rates for attacks from a cranial direction (matching flow) decreased dramatically as flow speed increased. Mechanical stimuli produced by predators attacking in the same direction as flow might be masked by the flow environment, impairing the ability of prey to detect attacks. Thus, the likelihood of successful escape performance in fishes can depend critically on environmental context. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Mass fractionation during transonic escape and implications for loss of water from Mars and Venus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zahnle, K.J.; Kasting, J.F.

1986-01-01

Hydrodynamic escape of hydrogen from a planetary atmosphere can remove heavier gases as well as hydrogen, provided that the escape rate is sufficiently large. Analytic approximations for the degree of mass fractionation of a trace species during hydrodynamic escape are compared with accurate numerical solutions for the case of transonic outflow. The analytic approximations are most accurate when the ratio of molecular weights of the heavier and lighter constituents is large so that nonlinear terms in the momentum equation for the heavy constituent become small. The simplest analytic formula is readily generalized to the case where a heavy constituent is also a major species. Application of the generalized formula to hypothetical episodes of hydrodynamic escape from Venus and Mars suggests that both hydrogen and oxygen could have escaped; thus, substantial quantities of water may have been lost without the need to oxidize large amounts of the crust. 29 references

Biomechanics of Tetrahymena escaping from dead ends

Science.gov (United States)

Ishikawa, Takuji; Kikuchi, Kenji

2017-11-01

Behaviors of swimming microorganisms in complex environments are important in understanding cells' distribution in nature and in industries. Although cell's swimming and spreading in an infinite fluid has been intensively investigated, that in a narrow region bounded by walls is still unclear. Thus, in this study, we used Tetrahymena thermophila as a model microorganism, and experimentally investigated its behavior between flat plates with an angle. The results showed that the cells tended to escape from the narrow region, and the swimming velocity and the radius of curvature of the trajectories decreased as they swam narrower region. We then developed a computational model of swimming Tetrahymena. The results showed that the escaping behavior could be well explained by fluid mechanics. The obtained knowledge is useful in understanding cells' behaviors in complex environments, such as in porous media and in a granular matter. This research was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grants, numbers 25000008 and 17H00853.

Evaluation of K x-ray escape and crosstalk in CdTe detectors and multi-channel detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ohtsuchi, Tetsuro; Ohmori, Koichi; Tsutsui, Hiroshi; Baba, Sueki

1995-01-01

The simple structure of CdTe semiconductor detectors facilitates their downsizing, and their possible application to radiographic sensors has been studied. The escape of K X-rays from these detectors increases with reduction of their dimensions and affects the measurements of X- and gamma-ray spectra. K X-rays also produce crosstalk in multi-channel detectors with adjacent channels. Therefore, K X-rays which escape from the detector elements degrade both the precision of energy spectra and spatial resolution. The ratios of escape peak integrated counts to total photon counts for various sizes of CdTe single detectors were calculated for gamma rays using the Monte Carlo method. Also, escape and crosstalk ratios were simulated for the CdTe multi-channel detectors. The theoretical results were tested experimentally for 59.54-keV gamma rays from a 241 Am radioactive source. Results showed that escape ratios for single detectors were strongly dependent on element size and thickness. The escape and crosstalk ratios increased with closer channel pitch. The calculated results showed a good agreement with the experimental data. The calculations made it clear that K X-rays which escaped to neighboring channels induced crosstalk more frequently at smaller channel pitch in multichannel detectors. A radiation shielding grid which blocked incident photons between the boundary channels was also tested by experiment and by calculation. It was effective in reducing the probability of escape and crosstalk

On the relative contributions of noncontingent reinforcement and escape extinction in the treatment of food refusal.

Science.gov (United States)

Reed, Gregory K; Piazza, Cathleen C; Patel, Meeta R; Layer, Stacy A; Bachmeyer, Melanie H; Bethke, Stephanie D; Gutshall, Katharine A

2004-01-01

In the current investigation, we evaluated the relative effects of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR), escape extinction, and a combination of NCR and escape extinction as treatment for the feeding problems exhibited by 4 children. For each participant, consumption increased only when escape extinction was implemented, independent of whether NCR was present or absent. These results were consistent with prior research suggesting that positive reinforcement alone is insufficient for increasing consumption, and that escape extinction often is necessary to increase and maintain food acceptance. However, NCR appeared to decrease inappropriate behavior for some participants.

Escape/Aggression Incidence in Sexually Abused Juvenile Delinquents.

Science.gov (United States)

Reich, John W.; Gutierres, Sara E.

1979-01-01

Reports a continuation of prior research testing a theoretical model which predicts that juveniles subjected to abuse will not become aggressive but will engage in escape and social avoidance behaviors. Analysis supported the hypothesis. (Author)

Escape windows to improve the size selectivity in the Baltic cod trawl fishery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Niels; Holst, René; Foldager, L.

2002-01-01

A rapid decrease of the stock of Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) has provided the incentive to improve the size selectivity in the trawl fishery. Use of escape windows is permitted in the legislation to give means of improving the size selectivity of cod as an alternative to a traditional standard codend....... The history of the use of escape windows in the Baltic Sea cod fishery is reviewed. The present escape windows do not function optimally. The objective of this new experiment was to compare an improved design of escape window, which is placed in the upper panel, with that of standard codend. Three standard...... of the codend selectivity was formulated to analyse the results and determine the effects of codend type, mesh size and other recorded variables. L50 and SR increased significantly with the mesh size. L50 was significantly increased and SR significantly reduced for a window codend with the same window mesh size...

Pre-Hospital 12-Lead Electrocardiogram within 60 Minutes Differentiates Proximal versus Nonproximal Left Anterior Descending Artery Myocardial Infarction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James J McCarthy

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Acute anterior myocardial infarctions caused by proximal left anterior descending (LAD artery occlusions are associated with a higher morbidity and mortality. Early identification of high-risk patients via the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG could assist physicians and emergency response teams in providing early and aggressive care for patients with anterior ST-elevation myocardial infarctions (STEMI. Approximately 25% of US hospitals have primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI capability for the treatment of acute myocardial infarctions. Given the paucity of hospitals capable of PCI, early identification of more severe myocardial infarction may prompt emergency medical service routing of these patients to PCI-capable hospitals. We sought to determine if the 12 lead ECG is capable of predicting proximal LAD artery occlusions. Methods: In a retrospective, post-hoc analysis of the Pre-Hospital Administration of Thrombolytic Therapy with Urgent Culprit Artery Revascularization pilot trial, we compared the ECG findings of proximal and nonproximal LAD occlusions for patients who had undergone an ECG within 180 minutes of symptom onset. Results: In this study, 72 patients had anterior STEMIs, with ECGs performed within 180 minutes of symptom onset. In patients who had undergone ECGs within 60 minutes (n¼35, the mean sum of ST elevation (STE in leads V1 through V6 plus ST depression (STD in leads II, III, and aVF was 19.2 mm for proximal LAD occlusions and 11.7 mm for nonproximal LAD occlusions (P¼0.007. A sum STE in V1 through V6 plus STD in II, III, and aVF of at least 17.5 mm had a sensitivity of 52.3%, specificity of 92.9%, positive predictive value of 91.7%, and negative predictive value of 56.5% for proximal LAD occlusions. When the ECG was performed more than 60 minutes after symptom onset (n¼37, there was no significant difference in ST-segment deviation between the 2 groups. Conclusion: The sum STE (V1-V6 and STD (II

Quantifying factors determining the rate of CTL escape and reversion during acute and chronic phases of HIV infection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ganusov, Vitaly V [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Korber, Bette M [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Perelson, Alan S [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2009-01-01

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) often evades cytotoxic T cell (CTL) responses by generating variants that are not recognized by CTLs. However, the importance and quantitative details of CTL escape in humans are poorly understood. In part, this is because most studies looking at escape of HIV from CTL responses are cross-sectional and are limited to early or chronic phases of the infection. We use a novel technique of single genome amplification (SGA) to identify longitudinal changes in the transmitted/founder virus from the establishment of infection to the viral set point at 1 year after the infection. We find that HIV escapes from virus-specific CTL responses as early as 30-50 days since the infection, and the rates of viral escapes during acute phase of the infection are much higher than was estimated in previous studies. However, even though with time virus acquires additional escape mutations, these late mutations accumulate at a slower rate. A poor correlation between the rate of CTL escape in a particular epitope and the magnitude of the epitope-specific CTL response suggests that the lower rate of late escapes is unlikely due to a low efficacy of the HIV-specific CTL responses in the chronic phase of the infection. Instead, our results suggest that late and slow escapes are likely to arise because of high fitness cost to the viral replication associated with such CTL escapes. Targeting epitopes in which virus escapes slowly or does not escape at all by CTL responses may, therefore, be a promising direction for the development of T cell based HIV vaccines.

Measuring behaviours for escaping from house fires: use of latent variable models to summarise multiple behaviours.

Science.gov (United States)

Ploubidis, G B; Edwards, P; Kendrick, D

2015-12-15

This paper reports the development and testing of a construct measuring parental fire safety behaviours for planning escape from a house fire. Latent variable modelling of data on parental-reported fire safety behaviours and plans for escaping from a house fire and multivariable logistic regression to quantify the association between groups defined by the latent variable modelling and parental-report of having a plan for escaping from a house fire. Data comes from 1112 participants in a cluster randomised controlled trial set in children's centres in 4 study centres in the UK. A two class model provided the best fit to the data, combining responses to five fire safety planning behaviours. The first group ('more behaviours for escaping from a house fire') comprised 86% of participants who were most likely to have a torch, be aware of how their smoke alarm sounds, to have external door and window keys accessible, and exits clear. The second group ('fewer behaviours for escaping from a house fire') comprised 14% of participants who were less likely to report these five behaviours. After adjusting for potential confounders, participants allocated to the 'more behaviours for escaping from a house fire group were 2.5 times more likely to report having an escape plan (OR 2.48; 95% CI 1.59-3.86) than those in the "fewer behaviours for escaping from a house fire" group. Multiple fire safety behaviour questions can be combined into a single binary summary measure of fire safety behaviours for escaping from a house fire. Our findings will be useful to future studies wishing to use a single measure of fire safety planning behaviour as measures of outcome or exposure. NCT 01452191. Date of registration 13/10/2011.

Unsteady motion: escape jumps in planktonic copepods, their kinematics and energetics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kiørboe, Thomas; Andersen, Anders Peter; Langlois, Vincent J.

2010-01-01

velocities in other aquatic organisms. The relative duration of the pauses between power strokes was observed to increase with organism size. We demonstrate that this is an inherent property of swimming by alternating power strokes and pauses. We finally show that the Strouhal number is in the range of peak......We describe the kinematics of escape jumps in three species of 0.3–3.0 mm-sized planktonic copepods. We find similar kinematics between species with periodically alternating power strokes and passive coasting and a resulting highly fluctuating escape velocity. By direct numerical simulations, we...... estimate the force and power output needed to accelerate and overcome drag. Both are very high compared with those of other organisms, as are the escape velocities in comparison to startle velocities of other aquatic animals. Thus, the maximum weight-specific force, which for muscle motors of other animals...

The production and escape of nitrogen atoms on Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, J. L.

1993-01-01

Updated rate coefficients and a revised ionosphere-thermosphere model are used to compute the production rates and densities of odd nitrogen species in the Martian atmosphere. Computed density profiles for N(4S), N(2D), N(2P), and NO are presented. The model NO densities are found to be about a factor of 2-3 less than those measured by the Viking 1 mass spectrometer. Revised values for the escape rates of N atoms from dissociative recombination and ionospheric reactions are also computed. Dissociative recombination is found to be comparable in importance to photodissociation at low solar activity, but it is still the most important escape mechanism for N-14 at high solar activity.

EscapeScape: Simulating Ecopedagogy for the Tourist

Science.gov (United States)

Nakagawa, Yoshifumi

2018-01-01

Environmental education as a theory and practice of ecopedagogical simulation positively acknowledges various accidental happenings in the learner's experience. By working with and on the accidents, the learner is encouraged to imagine the real object that escapes his/her experience and thus cannot be and should not be reduced into human…

46 CFR 169.313 - Means of escape.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Means of escape. 169.313 Section 169.313 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) NAUTICAL SCHOOLS SAILING SCHOOL VESSELS Construction... apart, uniform for the length of the ladder; (3) At least 3 inches from the nearest permanent object in...

PROXIMITY MANAGEMENT IN CRISIS CONDITIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ion Dorin BUMBENECI

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to evaluate the level of assimilation for the terms "Proximity Management" and "Proximity Manager", both in the specialized literature and in practice. The study has two parts: the theoretical research of the two terms, and an evaluation of the use of Proximity management in 32 companies in Gorj, Romania. The object of the evaluation resides in 27 companies with less than 50 employees and 5 companies with more than 50 employees.

Effective climate-energy solutions, escape routes and peak oil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M. van den

2012-01-01

Many well-intended climate-energy strategies are ineffective in the absence of serious environmental regulation. This holds, among others, for direct support of clean energy, voluntary energy conservation, technical standards on a limited set of products, unilateral stringent carbon pricing, and awaiting peak oil as a climate strategy. All of these suffer from “escape routes” that indirectly increase CO 2 emissions and thus make the original strategy ineffective. On the other hand, environmental regulation alone may lead to a myopia-bias, stimulating early dominance of cost-effective technologies and a focus on incremental innovations associated with such technologies rather than on radical innovations. Although adopting a partial viewpoint keeps the analysis simple, we urgently need a more inclusive systems perspective on climate solutions. This will allow the formulation of an effective climate policy package that addresses the various escape routes. - Highlights: ► Many well-intended climate-energy strategies are ineffective because of escape routes. ► In this context the relationship between peak oil and climate policy receives attention. ► Environmental regulation alone creates myopia-bias, the resolution of which requires technology-specific policies. ► To formulate an effective climate policy package an inclusive systems perspective is needed.

On the relative contributions of positive reinforcement and escape extinction in the treatment of food refusal.

Science.gov (United States)

Piazza, Cathleen C; Patel, Meeta R; Gulotta, Charles S; Sevin, Bari M; Layer, Stacy A

2003-01-01

We compared the effects of positive reinforcement alone, escape extinction alone, and positive reinforcement with escape extinction in the treatment of the food and fluid refusal of 4 children who had been diagnosed with a pediatric feeding disorder. Consumption did not increase when positive reinforcement was implemented alone. By contrast, consumption increased for all participants when escape extinction was implemented, independent of the presence or absence of positive reinforcement. However, the addition of positive reinforcement to escape extinction was associated with beneficial effects (e.g., greater decreases in negative vocalizations and inappropriate behavior) for some participants.

Fixation and escape times in stochastic game learning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Realpe-Gomez, John; Szczesny, Bartosz; Galla, Tobias; Dall’Asta, Luca

2012-01-01

Evolutionary dynamics in finite populations is known to fixate eventually in the absence of mutation. We here show that a similar phenomenon can be found in stochastic game dynamical batch learning, and investigate fixation in learning processes in a simple 2×2 game, for two-player games with cyclic interaction, and in the context of the best-shot network game. The analogues of finite populations in evolution are here finite batches of observations between strategy updates. We study when and how such fixation can occur, and present results on the average time-to-fixation from numerical simulations. Simple cases are also amenable to analytical approaches and we provide estimates of the behaviour of so-called escape times as a function of the batch size. The differences and similarities with escape and fixation in evolutionary dynamics are discussed. (paper)

Rapid endosomal escape of prickly nanodiamonds: implications for gene delivery

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Zhiqin; Miu, Kaikei; Lung, Pingsai; Zhang, Silu; Zhao, Saisai; Chang, Huan-Cheng; Lin, Ge; Li, Quan

2015-06-01

The prickly nanodiamonds easily entered cells via endocytosis followed by unique intracellular translocation characteristics—quick endosomal escape followed by stable residence in cytoplasm. Endosomal membrane rupturing is identified as the major route of nanodiamonds’ escaping the vesicle confinement and to the cytoplasm. Little cytotoxicity is observed to associate with the nanodiamonds’ cytosolic release. Such features enable its application for gene delivery, which requires both effective cellular uptake and cytosolic release of the gene. Taking green fluorescent protein gene as an example, we demonstrate the successful cytosolic delivery and expression of such a gene using the prickly nanodiamonds as carrier.

Rapid endosomal escape of prickly nanodiamonds: implications for gene delivery

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Zhiqin; Miu, Kaikei; Lung, Pingsai; Zhang, Silu; Zhao, Saisai; Chang, Huan-Cheng; Lin, Ge; Li, Quan

2015-01-01

The prickly nanodiamonds easily entered cells via endocytosis followed by unique intracellular translocation characteristics—quick endosomal escape followed by stable residence in cytoplasm. Endosomal membrane rupturing is identified as the major route of nanodiamonds’ escaping the vesicle confinement and to the cytoplasm. Little cytotoxicity is observed to associate with the nanodiamonds’ cytosolic release. Such features enable its application for gene delivery, which requires both effective cellular uptake and cytosolic release of the gene. Taking green fluorescent protein gene as an example, we demonstrate the successful cytosolic delivery and expression of such a gene using the prickly nanodiamonds as carrier. PMID:26123532

Rapid endosomal escape of prickly nanodiamonds: implications for gene delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Zhiqin; Miu, Kaikei; Lung, Pingsai; Zhang, Silu; Zhao, Saisai; Chang, Huan-Cheng; Lin, Ge; Li, Quan

2015-06-30

The prickly nanodiamonds easily entered cells via endocytosis followed by unique intracellular translocation characteristics—quick endosomal escape followed by stable residence in cytoplasm. Endosomal membrane rupturing is identified as the major route of nanodiamonds' escaping the vesicle confinement and to the cytoplasm. Little cytotoxicity is observed to associate with the nanodiamonds' cytosolic release. Such features enable its application for gene delivery, which requires both effective cellular uptake and cytosolic release of the gene. Taking green fluorescent protein gene as an example, we demonstrate the successful cytosolic delivery and expression of such a gene using the prickly nanodiamonds as carrier.

Four-channel ZnS scintillator measurements of escaping tritons in TFTR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zweben, S.J.

1988-10-01

A four-channel scintillation detector capable of measuring tritons, protons, and alphas escaping from a tokamak plasma was operated during the 1986 run period of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). Signals consistent with the expected 1 MeV triton behavior have been observed during deuterium operation. Backgrounds associated with neutrons, gammas, and soft x-rays have been evaluated in situ. Such a detector should be capable of measuring escaping alphas during the D/T phase of TFTR. 16 refs., 10 figs

Four-channel ZnS scintillator measurements of escaping tritons in TFTR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zweben, S.J.

1988-10-01

A four-channel scintillation detector capable of measuring tritons, protons, and alphas escaping from a tokamak plasma was operated during the 1986 run period of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). Signals consistent with the expected 1 MeV triton behavior have been observed during deuterium operation. Backgrounds associated with neutrons, gammas, and soft x-rays have been evaluated in situ. Such a detector should be capable of measuring escaping alphas during the D/T phase of TFTR. 16 refs., 10 figs.

Proximal tubular hypertrophy and enlarged glomerular and proximal tubular urinary space in obese subjects with proteinuria.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Tobar

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Obesity is associated with glomerular hyperfiltration, increased proximal tubular sodium reabsorption, glomerular enlargement and renal hypertrophy. A single experimental study reported an increased glomerular urinary space in obese dogs. Whether proximal tubular volume is increased in obese subjects and whether their glomerular and tubular urinary spaces are enlarged is unknown. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether proximal tubules and glomerular and tubular urinary space are enlarged in obese subjects with proteinuria and glomerular hyperfiltration. METHODS: Kidney biopsies from 11 non-diabetic obese with proteinuria and 14 non-diabetic lean patients with a creatinine clearance above 50 ml/min and with mild or no interstitial fibrosis were retrospectively analyzed using morphometric methods. The cross-sectional area of the proximal tubular epithelium and lumen, the volume of the glomerular tuft and of Bowman's space and the nuclei number per tubular profile were estimated. RESULTS: Creatinine clearance was higher in the obese than in the lean group (P=0.03. Proteinuria was similarly increased in both groups. Compared to the lean group, the obese group displayed a 104% higher glomerular tuft volume (P=0.001, a 94% higher Bowman's space volume (P=0.003, a 33% higher cross-sectional area of the proximal tubular epithelium (P=0.02 and a 54% higher cross-sectional area of the proximal tubular lumen (P=0.01. The nuclei number per proximal tubular profile was similar in both groups, suggesting that the increase in tubular volume is due to hypertrophy and not to hyperplasia. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity-related glomerular hyperfiltration is associated with proximal tubular epithelial hypertrophy and increased glomerular and tubular urinary space volume in subjects with proteinuria. The expanded glomerular and urinary space is probably a direct consequence of glomerular hyperfiltration. These effects may be involved in the pathogenesis of obesity

Fractures of the proximal humerus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brorson, Stig

2013-01-01

Fractures of the proximal humerus have been diagnosed and managed since the earliest known surgical texts. For more than four millennia the preferred treatment was forceful traction, closed reduction, and immobilization with linen soaked in combinations of oil, honey, alum, wine, or cerate......, classification of proximal humeral fractures remains a challenge for the conduct, reporting, and interpretation of clinical trials. The evidence for the benefits of surgery in complex fractures of the proximal humerus is weak. In three systematic reviews I studied the outcome after locking plate osteosynthesis...

Psycho-Social Issues in Mine Emergencies: The Impact on the Individual, the Organization and the Community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kathleen M. Kowalski-Trakofler

2012-06-01

Full Text Available This paper draws on research conducted in the past two decades examining issues related to the human element in mine disasters. While much of the emergency response community employs a systems approach that takes into account psychosocial issues as they impact all aspects of an emergency, the mining industry has lagged behind in integrating this critical element. It is only within the past few years that behavioral interventions have begun to be seen as a part of disaster readiness and resiliency in the industry. The authors discuss the potential applications of psychosocial studies and suggest ways to improve mine emergency planning, psychological support, and decision-making during a response, as well as actions in the aftermath of incidents. Topics covered, among others, include an economic rationale for including such studies in planning a mine emergency response, sociological issues as they impact such things as leadership and rescue team dynamics, and psychological issues that have an effect on individual capacity to function under stress such as during escape, in refuge alternatives, and in body recovery. This information is intended to influence the mine emergency escape curriculum and impact actions and decision-making during and after a mine emergency. The ultimate goal is to mitigate the trauma experienced by individuals, the organization, and the community.

Studying the superconductor-ferromagnet proximity effect with polarised neutron reflectometry

Science.gov (United States)

Satchell, Nathan; Cooper, Joshaniel; Kinane, Christy; Witt, James; Burnell, Gavin; Langridge, Sean

At the interface between a superconductor (S) and ferromagnet (F), an inhomogeneity can convert singlet Cooper pairs into the (spin aligned) long ranged triplet component (LRTC). The manipulation of the LRTC forms the basis of the emerging field of super-spintronics. Several theoretical works predict modification to the local magnetic state inside the S layer with the inclusion of triplet Cooper pairs, however there are now several experimental observations which disagree on both the magnitude and direction of this induced moment (see for example and). Here we report on measurements of the proximity effect using polarised neutron reflectometry, a technique sensitive to changes in the total magnetisation of a S-F heterostructure. Our results suggest that a `smoking gun' direct signature of the LRTC is below the sensitivity of our technique, we are able to study the inverse effect namely a modification to the ferromagnetism by proximity to singlet superconductivity. These observations are supported by XMCD measurements showing changes to the Fe and Co below the S layer Tc.

Computer Self-Efficacy, Competitive Anxiety and Flow State: Escaping from Firing Online Game

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, Jon-Chao; Pei-Yu, Chiu; Shih, Hsiao-Feng; Lin, Pei-Shin; Hong, Jon-Chao

2012-01-01

Flow state in game playing affected by computer self-efficacy and game competitive anxiety was studied. In order to examine the effect of those constructs with high competition, this study select "Escaping from firing online game" which require college students to escape from fire and rescue people and eliminate the fire damage along the way of…

Partial control of chaotic transients using escape times

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sabuco, Juan; Zambrano, Samuel; Sanjuan, Miguel A F

2010-01-01

The partial control technique allows one to keep the trajectories of a dynamical system inside a region where there is a chaotic saddle and from which nearly all the trajectories diverge. Its main advantage is that this goal is achieved even if the corrections applied to the trajectories are smaller than the action of environmental noise on the dynamics, a counterintuitive result that is obtained by using certain safe sets. Using the Henon map as a paradigm, we show here the deep relationship between the safe sets and the sets of points with different escape times, the escape time sets. Furthermore, we show that it is possible to find certain extended safe sets that can be used instead of the safe sets in the partial control technique. Numerical simulations confirm our findings and show that in some situations, the use of extended safe sets can be more advantageous.

The return of international labour migrants in the ESCAP Region.

Science.gov (United States)

1986-03-01

The social phenomenon of massive temporary international labor migration from the ESCAP region has emerged extremely rapidly. Within 10 years, the number of persons from ESCAP countries grew from a negligible one to 3.5 million. Related research and government policies have lagged behind this latest surge in migration. Most research conducted has been small-scale and lacks an analytical or theoretical framework. Policy formulation for temporary labor migration is difficult because most of the rapid growth in the industry has occurred as a result of private efforts, with a minimum of government intervention. It is now difficult, for the government to provide effective regulations or measures to stimulate and assist the process. Regulations on compulsory remittances or overseas minimum wages have proved to be unrealistic and, if not rescinded, are routinely circumvented. The most effective policies to assist return migrants may not be those which are intended to do so, but those which control the earlier stages of the migration process, such as recruitment, working conditions, and banking arrangements. The most valuable policies may also include those affecting education, training, employment, and general socioeconomic growth. Governments are recommended to provide social services for migrants and their families who are experiencing problems, and to institute community programs in areas with a large number of labor migrants. Governmental efforts to promote forms of labor migration beneficial to the workers would be valuable and should include measures to identify overseas labor markets for employing its nationals, government ot government labor contracts, and government participation in joint-venture projects. International migration should be analyzed in the context of theories and social change in order for governments to formulate effective measures for the reintegration of returning workers. Labor migration on the current scale has many social implications for

Anomalous barrier escape: The roles of noise distribution and correlation

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Meng; Zhang, Jia-Ming; Bao, Jing-Dong

2017-05-01

We study numerically and analytically the barrier escape dynamics of a particle driven by an underlying correlated Lévy noise for a smooth metastable potential. A "quasi-monochrome-color" Lévy noise, i.e., the first-order derivative variable of a linear second-order differential equation subjected to a symmetric α-stable white Lévy noise, also called the harmonic velocity Lévy noise, is proposed. Note that the time-integral of the noise Green function of this kind is equal to zero. This leads to the existence of underlying negative time correlation and implies that a step in one direction is likely followed by a step in the other direction. By using the noise of this kind as a driving source, we discuss the competition between long flights and underlying negative correlations in the metastable dynamics. The quite rich behaviors in the parameter space including an optimum α for the stationary escape rate have been found. Remarkably, slow diffusion does not decrease the stationary rate while a negative correlation increases net escape. An approximate expression for the Lévy-Kramers rate is obtained to support the numerically observed dependencies.

Initial outcome and efficacy of S3 proximal humerus locking plate in the treatment of proximal humerus fractures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Zhiming; Zhu Xuesong; Bao Zhaohua; Yang Huilin

2012-01-01

Objective: to explore the initial outcome and efficacy of S 3 proximal humerus locking plate in the treatment of proximal humerus fractures. Methods: Twenty-two patients with proximal humerus fracture were treated with the S 3 proximal humerus locking plate. Most of the fractures were complex, two-part (n=4), three-part (n=11) and four-part (n=7) fractures according to the Neer classification of the proximal humerus fractures. Results: All patients were followed up for 3∼15 months. There were no complications related to the implant including loosening or breakage of the plate. Good and excellent results were documented in 17 patients fair results in 4 patients according the Neer scores of shoulder. Conclusion: New design concepts of S 3 proximal humerus plate provide the subchondral support and the internal fixation support. With the addition of the proper exercise of the shoulder joint, the outcomes would be satisfied. (authors)

Inhibition of chaotic escape from a potential well using small parametric modulations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chacon, R.; Balibrea, F.; Lopez, M.A.

1996-01-01

It is shown theoretically for the first time that, depending on its period, amplitude, and initial phase, a periodic parametric modulation can suppress a chaotic escape from a potential well. The instance of the Helmholtz oscillator is used to demonstrate, by means of Melnikov close-quote s method, that parametric modulations of the linear or quadratic potential terms inhibit chaotic escape when certain resonance conditions are met. copyright 1996 American Institute of Physics

On the relative contributions of positive reinforcement and escape extinction in the treatment of food refusal.

OpenAIRE

Piazza, Cathleen C; Patel, Meeta R; Gulotta, Charles S; Sevin, Bari M; Layer, Stacy A

2003-01-01

We compared the effects of positive reinforcement alone, escape extinction alone, and positive reinforcement with escape extinction in the treatment of the food and fluid refusal of 4 children who had been diagnosed with a pediatric feeding disorder. Consumption did not increase when positive reinforcement was implemented alone. By contrast, consumption increased for all participants when escape extinction was implemented, independent of the presence or absence of positive reinforcement. Howe...

Escape angles in bulk chi((2)) soliton interactions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Johansen, Steffen Kjær; Bang, Ole; Sørensen, Mads Peter

2002-01-01

We develop a theory for nonplanar interaction between two identical type I spatial solitons propagating at opposite, but arbitrary transverse angles in quadratic nonlinear (or so-called chi((2))) bulk, media. We predict quantitatively the outwards escape angle, below which the solitons turn around...

Preliminary study on leadership proximity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghinea Valentina Mihaela

2017-07-01

Full Text Available In general, it is agreed that effective leadership requires a certain degree of proximity, either physical or mental, which enables leaders to maintain control over their followers and communicate their vision. Although we agree with the leadership proximity principles which states that leaders are able to efficiently serve only those people with whom they interact frequently, in this article we focus instead on the disadvantages of being too close and the way in which close proximity can actually hurt the effectiveness of leadership. The main effects that we discuss regard the way in which proximity and familiarity allow followers to see the weaknesses and faults of the leader much more easily and thus diminish the leader’s heroic aura, and the emotional bias that results from a leader being too familiar with his followers which will impede the process of rational decision making. As a result, we argue that there exists a functional proximity which allows the leader the necessary space in which to perform effective identity work and to hide the backstage aspects of leadership, while also allowing him an emotional buffer zone which will enable him to maintain the ability to see clearly and make rational decisions.

Escapism among players of MMORPGs--conceptual clarification, its relation to mental health factors, and development of a new measure.

Science.gov (United States)

Hagström, David; Kaldo, Viktor

2014-01-01

Previous studies show that the concept of escapism needs to be clarified and that its relation to problematic online gaming and other factors needs further examination. This study uses well-established, basic learning theory to clarify the concept of escapism, and examines its relation to problematic gaming, psychological distress, and satisfaction with life among players of massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs). MMORPG players (n=201) answered an online questionnaire where these factors were measured and correlated with a previously developed scale on motivation to play (MTPI), including extra items to cover positive and negative aspects of escapism. Factor analysis and construct validation show that positive aspects of escapism are theoretically and empirically unstable and that escapism is best clarified as purely "negative escapism," corresponding to playing being negatively reinforced as a way of avoiding everyday hassles and distress. Negative escapism had a stronger relationship to symptoms of Internet addiction, psychological distress, and life satisfaction than other variables and other more positive motivations to play. Future studies should use the revised subscale for escapism (in the MTPI-R) presented in the present study, for example when screening for Internet addiction.

ProxImaL: efficient image optimization using proximal algorithms

KAUST Repository

Heide, Felix; Diamond, Steven; Nieß ner, Matthias; Ragan-Kelley, Jonathan; Heidrich, Wolfgang; Wetzstein, Gordon

2016-01-01

domain-specific language and compiler for image optimization problems that makes it easy to experiment with different problem formulations and algorithm choices. The language uses proximal operators as the fundamental building blocks of a variety

PROXIMAL DISABILITY AND SPINAL DEFORMITY INDEX IN PATIENTS WITH PROXIMAL FEMUR FRACTURES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sylvio Mistro Neto

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Objective : To evaluate the quality of life related to the spine in patients with proximal femoral fractures. Methods : Study conducted in a tertiary public hospital in patients with proximal femoral fractures caused by low-energy trauma, through the Oswestry Disability Index questionnaire to asses complaints related to the spine at the time of life prior to the femoral fracture. The thoracic and lumbar spine of patients were also evaluated applying the radiographic index described by Gennant (Spinal Deformity Index, which assesses the number and severity of fractures. Results : Seventeen subjects completed the study. All had some degree of vertebral fracture. Patients were classified in the categories of severe and very severe disability in the questionnaire about quality of life. It was found that the higher SDI, the better the quality of life. Conclusion : There is a strong association of disability related to the spine in patients with proximal femoral fracture, and this complaint must be systematically evaluated in patients with appendicular fracture.

The escape of brownian particle over potential barriers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhong Yunxiao

1985-01-01

A convenient method is introduced to calculate the rate of escape of Brownian particle over potential barriers by exact solution of Smoluchowskian equation. This method is applied to calculate the nuclear fission probabilities. The results for four different cases are compared with the results of other theories

Escaping blood-fed malaria mosquitoes minimize tactile detection without compromising on take-off speed

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Muijres, F.T.; Chang, S.W.; Veen, van W.G.; Spitzen, J.; Biemans, B.T.; Koehl, M.A.R.; Dudley, R.

2017-01-01

To escape after taking a blood meal, a mosquito must exert forces sufficiently high to take off when carrying a load roughly equal to its body weight, while simultaneously avoiding detection by minimizing tactile signals exerted on the host’s skin. We studied this trade-off between escape speed and

Outgassing History and Escape of the Martian Atmosphere and Water Inventory

Science.gov (United States)

Lammer, Helmut; Chassefière, Eric; Karatekin, Özgür; Morschhauser, Achim; Niles, Paul B.; Mousis, Olivier; Odert, Petra; Möstl, Ute V.; Breuer, Doris; Dehant, Véronique; Grott, Matthias; Gröller, Hannes; Hauber, Ernst; Pham, Lê Binh San

2013-01-01

The evolution and escape of the martian atmosphere and the planet's water inventory can be separated into an early and late evolutionary epoch. The first epoch started from the planet's origin and lasted ˜500 Myr. Because of the high EUV flux of the young Sun and Mars' low gravity it was accompanied by hydrodynamic blow-off of hydrogen and strong thermal escape rates of dragged heavier species such as O and C atoms. After the main part of the protoatmosphere was lost, impact-related volatiles and mantle outgassing may have resulted in accumulation of a secondary CO2 atmosphere of a few tens to a few hundred mbar around ˜4-4.3 Gyr ago. The evolution of the atmospheric surface pressure and water inventory of such a secondary atmosphere during the second epoch which lasted from the end of the Noachian until today was most likely determined by a complex interplay of various nonthermal atmospheric escape processes, impacts, carbonate precipitation, and serpentinization during the Hesperian and Amazonian epochs which led to the present day surface pressure.

ProxImaL: efficient image optimization using proximal algorithms

KAUST Repository

Heide, Felix

2016-07-11

Computational photography systems are becoming increasingly diverse, while computational resources-for example on mobile platforms-are rapidly increasing. As diverse as these camera systems may be, slightly different variants of the underlying image processing tasks, such as demosaicking, deconvolution, denoising, inpainting, image fusion, and alignment, are shared between all of these systems. Formal optimization methods have recently been demonstrated to achieve state-of-the-art quality for many of these applications. Unfortunately, different combinations of natural image priors and optimization algorithms may be optimal for different problems, and implementing and testing each combination is currently a time-consuming and error-prone process. ProxImaL is a domain-specific language and compiler for image optimization problems that makes it easy to experiment with different problem formulations and algorithm choices. The language uses proximal operators as the fundamental building blocks of a variety of linear and nonlinear image formation models and cost functions, advanced image priors, and noise models. The compiler intelligently chooses the best way to translate a problem formulation and choice of optimization algorithm into an efficient solver implementation. In applications to the image processing pipeline, deconvolution in the presence of Poisson-distributed shot noise, and burst denoising, we show that a few lines of ProxImaL code can generate highly efficient solvers that achieve state-of-the-art results. We also show applications to the nonlinear and nonconvex problem of phase retrieval.

The rate of immune escape vanishes when multiple immune responses control an HIV infection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Deutekom, Hanneke W. M.; Wijnker, Gilles; de Boer, Rob J.

2013-01-01

During the first months of HIV infection, the virus typically evolves several immune escape mutations. These mutations are found in epitopes in viral proteins and reduce the impact of the CD8⁺ T cells specific for these epitopes. Recent data show that only a subset of the epitopes escapes, that most

The upstream escape of energized solar wind protons from the bow shock

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Greenstadt, E.W.

1975-01-01

Recently, there have been some systematic observations of backstreaming protons at the Earth's bow shock with parallel velocity components and total energies much too high to be associated with the usual long-period upstream waves or to be produced by Sonnerup's simple reflection process (Lin et al., 1974), and these protons (30-100keV) were attributed to some unknown acceleration mechanism in the upstream region. The observations of Lof et al. involved protons in high pitch angle, and, although their reasons for favoring an upstream acceleration were quite different, it may seem intuitive that high pitch angle particles would have difficulty escaping the shock, especially at large field-normal angles. Such an inference would superficially support the notion of energization outside the bow shock. It seems worthwhile therefore to examine the extent to which the geometry of individual particle motion alone might select among reflected particles those that can escape upstream and those that cannot. In this paper the geometry of escape is described and some simple numerical examples are worked out for a few special cases. It is found that protons with rather high energies and pitch angles can escape the shock at only marginally quasi-parallel field orientations (i.e., thetasub(nB) approximately 50 0 ), even if they have quite moderate speeds parallel to B. (Auth.)

A New Window into Escaping Exoplanet Atmospheres: 10830 Å Line of Helium

Science.gov (United States)

Oklopčić, Antonija; Hirata, Christopher M.

2018-03-01

Observational evidence for escaping exoplanet atmospheres has been obtained for a few exoplanets to date. It comes from strong transit signals detected in the ultraviolet, most notably in the wings of the hydrogen Lyα (Lyα) line. However, the core of the Lyα line is often heavily affected by interstellar absorption and geocoronal emission, limiting the information about the atmosphere that can be extracted from that part of the spectrum. Transit observations in atomic lines that are (a) sensitive enough to trace the rarefied gas in the planetary wind and (b) do not suffer from significant extinction by the interstellar medium could enable more detailed observations, and thus provide better constraints on theoretical models of escaping atmospheres. The absorption line of a metastable state of helium at 10830 Å could satisfy both of these conditions for some exoplanets. We develop a simple 1D model of escaping planetary atmospheres containing hydrogen and helium. We use it to calculate the density profile of helium in the 23S metastable excited state and the expected in-transit absorption at 10830 Å for two exoplanets known to have escaping atmospheres. Our results indicate that exoplanets similar to GJ 436b and HD 209458b should exhibit enhanced transit depths at 10830 Å, with ∼8% and ∼2% excess absorption in the line core, respectively.

Proximity effect in semiconductor films with spin-splitting and spin-orbit interaction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Michelsen, Jens; Grein, Roland [Institut fuer Theoretische Festkoerperphysik, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128 Karlsruhe (Germany)

2012-07-01

Superconducting heterostructures with spin-active materials have emerged as promising platforms for engineering topological superconductors featuring Majorana bound states at surfaces, edges and vortices. Here we present a method for evaluating, from a microscopic model, the band structure of a semiconductor film of finite thickness deposited on top of a conventional superconductor. Analytical expressions for the proximity induced gap openings are presented in terms of microscopic parameters and the proximity effect in presence of spin-orbit and exchange splitting is visualized in terms of Andreev reflection processes. An expression for the topological invariant, associated with the existence of Majorana bound states, is shown to depend only on parameters of the semiconductor film. The finite thickness of the film leads to resonant states in the film giving rise to a complex band structure with the topological phase alternating between trivial and non-trivial as the parameters are tuned of the film are tuned.

Thermoresponsive pegylated bubble liposome nanovectors for efficient siRNA delivery via endosomal escape

KAUST Repository

Alamoudi, Kholod

2017-05-19

Improving the delivery of siRNA into cancer cells via bubble liposomes. Designing a thermoresponsive pegylated liposome through the introduction of ammonium bicarbonate salt into liposomes so as to control their endosomal escape for gene therapy.A sub-200 nm nanovector was fully characterized and examined for cellular uptake, cytotoxicity, endosomal escape and gene silencing.The siRNA-liposomes were internalized into cancer cells within 5 min and then released siRNAs in the cytosol prior to lysosomal degradation upon external temperature elevation. This was confirmed by confocal bioimaging and gene silencing reaching up to 90% and further demonstrated by the protein inhibition of both target genes.The thermoresponsiveness of ammonium bicarbonate containing liposomes enabled the rapid endosomal escape of the particles and resulted in an efficient gene silencing.

Thermoresponsive pegylated bubble liposome nanovectors for efficient siRNA delivery via endosomal escape

KAUST Repository

Alamoudi, Kholod; Martins, Patricia; Croissant, Jonas G.; Patil, Sachin; Omar, Haneen; Khashab, Niveen M.

2017-01-01

Improving the delivery of siRNA into cancer cells via bubble liposomes. Designing a thermoresponsive pegylated liposome through the introduction of ammonium bicarbonate salt into liposomes so as to control their endosomal escape for gene therapy.A sub-200 nm nanovector was fully characterized and examined for cellular uptake, cytotoxicity, endosomal escape and gene silencing.The siRNA-liposomes were internalized into cancer cells within 5 min and then released siRNAs in the cytosol prior to lysosomal degradation upon external temperature elevation. This was confirmed by confocal bioimaging and gene silencing reaching up to 90% and further demonstrated by the protein inhibition of both target genes.The thermoresponsiveness of ammonium bicarbonate containing liposomes enabled the rapid endosomal escape of the particles and resulted in an efficient gene silencing.

HIV-1 viral escape in cerebrospinal fluid of subjects on suppressive antiretroviral treatment.

Science.gov (United States)

Edén, Arvid; Fuchs, Dietmar; Hagberg, Lars; Nilsson, Staffan; Spudich, Serena; Svennerholm, Bo; Price, Richard W; Gisslén, Magnus

2010-12-15

Occasional cases of viral escape in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) despite suppression of plasma human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA have been reported. We investigated CSF viral escape in subjects treated with commonly used antiretroviral therapy regimens in relation to intrathecal immune activation and central nervous system penetration effectiveness (CPE) rank. Sixty-nine neurologically asymptomatic subjects treated with antiretroviral therapy >6 months and plasma HIV-1 RNA penetration effectiveness rank was not a significant predictor of detectable CSF virus or CSF neopterin levels. Viral escape in CSF is more common than previously reported, suggesting that low-grade central nervous system infection may continue in treated patients. Although these findings need extension in longitudinal studies, they suggest the utility of monitoring CSF responses, as new treatment combinations and strategies modify clinical practice.

Current and emerging screening methods to identify post-head-emergence frost adaptation in wheat and barley.

Science.gov (United States)

Frederiks, T M; Christopher, J T; Harvey, G L; Sutherland, M W; Borrell, A K

2012-09-01

Cereal crops can suffer substantial damage if frosts occur at heading. Identification of post-head-emergence frost (PHEF) resistance in cereals poses a number of unique and difficult challenges. Many decades of research have failed to identify genotypes with PHEF resistance that could offer economically significant benefit to growers. Research and breeding gains have been limited by the available screening systems. Using traditional frost screening systems, genotypes that escape frost injury in trials due to spatial temperature differences and/or small differences in phenology can be misidentified as resistant. We believe that by improving techniques to minimize frost escapes, such 'false-positive' results can be confidently identified and eliminated. Artificial freezing chambers or manipulated natural frost treatments offer many potential advantages but are not yet at the stage where they can be reliably used for frost screening in breeding programmes. Here we describe the development of a novel photoperiod gradient method (PGM) that facilitates screening of genotypes of different phenology under natural field frosts at matched developmental stages. By identifying frost escapes and increasing the efficiency of field screening, the PGM ensures that research effort can be focused on finding genotypes with improved PHEF resistance. To maximize the likelihood of identifying PHEF resistance, we propose that the PGM form part of an integrated strategy to (i) source germplasm;(ii) facilitate high throughput screening; and (iii) permit detailed validation. PGM may also be useful in other studies where either a range of developmental stages and/or synchronized development are desired.

MAVEN Observations of Escaping Planetary Ions from the Martian Atmosphere: Mass, Velocity, and Spatial Distributions

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Yaxue; Fang, Xiaohua; Brain, D. A.; McFadden, James P.; Halekas, Jasper; Connerney, Jack

2015-04-01

The Mars-solar wind interaction accelerates and transports planetary ions away from the Martian atmosphere through a number of processes, including ‘pick-up’ by electromagnetic fields. The MAVEN spacecraft has made routine observations of escaping planetary ions since its arrival at Mars in September 2014. The SupraThermal And Thermal Ion Composition (STATIC) instrument measures the ion energy, mass, and angular spectra. It has detected energetic planetary ions during most of the spacecraft orbits, which are attributed to the pick-up process. We found significant variations in the escaping ion mass and velocity distributions from the STATIC data, which can be explained by factors such as varying solar wind conditions, contributions of particles from different source locations and different phases during the pick-up process. We also study the spatial distributions of different planetary ion species, which can provide insight into the physics of ion escaping process and enhance our understanding of atmospheric erosion by the solar wind. Our results will be further interpreted within the context of the upstream solar wind conditions measured by the MAVEN Solar Wind Ion Analyzer (SWIA) instrument and the magnetic field environment measured by the Magnetometer (MAG) instrument. Our study shows that the ion spatial distribution in the Mars-Sun-Electric-Field (MSE) coordinate system and the velocity space distribution with respect to the local magnetic field line can be used to distinguish the ions escaping through the polar plume and those through the tail region. The contribution of the polar plume ion escape to the total escape rate will also be discussed.

Proximal Probes Facility

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — The Proximal Probes Facility consists of laboratories for microscopy, spectroscopy, and probing of nanostructured materials and their functional properties. At the...

Threat of Deportation as Proximal Social Determinant of Mental Health Amongst Migrant Workers.

Science.gov (United States)

Harrigan, Nicholas M; Koh, Chiu Yee; Amirrudin, Amirah

2017-06-01

While migration health studies traditionally focused on socioeconomic determinants of health, an emerging body of literature is exploring migration status as a proximate cause of health outcomes. Study 1 is a path analysis of the predictors of mental health amongst 582 documented migrant workers in Singapore, and shows that threat of deportation is one of the most important proximate social determinants of predicted mental illness, and a mediator of the impact of workplace conflict on mental health. Study 2 is a qualitative study of the narratives of 149 migrant workers who were in workplace conflict with their employers, and demonstrates that workers believed threats were used as a negotiating strategy during workplace conflicts. Findings suggest that migration status places workers who come into workplace conflict with their employers at heightened risk of mental illness because migration status can be used as a tool by employers in workplace negotiations.

Escape panels in trawls – a consistent management tool?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krag, Ludvig Ahm; Herrmann, Bent; Feekings, Jordan P.

2016-01-01

), saithe (Pollachius virens), haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus), plaice (Pleuronectes platessa) and Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus). Thus the modification by fishers of certain gear properties not specified in the legislation can significantly influence the efficiency of an escape panel. We discuss...

Neighborhoods and manageable proximity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stavros Stavrides

2011-08-01

Full Text Available The theatricality of urban encounters is above all a theatricality of distances which allow for the encounter. The absolute “strangeness” of the crowd (Simmel 1997: 74 expressed, in its purest form, in the absolute proximity of a crowded subway train, does not generally allow for any movements of approach, but only for nervous hostile reactions and submissive hypnotic gestures. Neither forced intersections in the course of pedestrians or vehicles, nor the instantaneous crossing of distances by the technology of live broadcasting and remote control give birth to places of encounter. In the forced proximity of the metropolitan crowd which haunted the city of the 19th and 20th century, as well as in the forced proximity of the tele-presence which haunts the dystopic prospect of the future “omnipolis” (Virilio 1997: 74, the necessary distance, which is the stage of an encounter between different instances of otherness, is dissipated.

Digital contrast subtraction radiography for proximal caries diagnosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kang, Byung Cheol; Yoon, Suk Ja

2002-01-01

To determine whether subtraction images utilizing contrast media can improve the diagnostic performance of proximal caries diagnosis compared to conventional periapical radiographic images. Thirty-six teeth with 57 proximal surfaces were radiographied using a size no.2 RVG-ui sensor (Trophy Radiology, Marne-la-Vallee, France). The teeth immersed in water-soluble contrast media and subtraction images were taken. Each tooth was then sectioned for histologic examination. The digital radiographic images and subtraction images were examined and interpreted by three dentists for proximal caries. The results of the proximal caries diagnosis were then verified with the results of the histologic examination. The proximal caries sensitivity using digital subtraction radiography was significantly higher than simply examining a single digital radiograph. The sensitivity of the proximal dentinal carious lesion when analyzed with the subtraction radiograph and the radiograph together was higher than with the subtraction radiograph or the radiograph alone. The use of subtraction radiography with contrast media may be useful for detecting proximal dentinal carious lesions.

Neutron scattering in the proximate quantum spin liquid α-RuCl3

Science.gov (United States)

Banerjee, Arnab; Yan, Jiaqiang; Knolle, Johannes; Bridges, Craig A.; Stone, Matthew B.; Lumsden, Mark D.; Mandrus, David G.; Tennant, David A.; Moessner, Roderich; Nagler, Stephen E.

2017-06-01

The Kitaev quantum spin liquid (KQSL) is an exotic emergent state of matter exhibiting Majorana fermion and gauge flux excitations. The magnetic insulator α-RuCl3 is thought to realize a proximate KQSL. We used neutron scattering on single crystals of α-RuCl3 to reconstruct dynamical correlations in energy-momentum space. We discovered highly unusual signals, including a column of scattering over a large energy interval around the Brillouin zone center, which is very stable with temperature. This finding is consistent with scattering from the Majorana excitations of a KQSL. Other, more delicate experimental features can be transparently associated with perturbations to an ideal model. Our results encourage further study of this prototypical material and may open a window into investigating emergent magnetic Majorana fermions in correlated materials.

Comparative pick-up ion distributions at Mars and Venus: Consequences for atmospheric deposition and escape

Science.gov (United States)

Curry, Shannon M.; Luhmann, Janet; Ma, Yingjuan; Liemohn, Michael; Dong, Chuanfei; Hara, Takuya

2015-09-01

Without the shielding of a substantial intrinsic dipole magnetic field, the atmospheres of Mars and Venus are particularly susceptible to similar atmospheric ion energization and scavenging processes. However, each planet has different attributes and external conditions controlling its high altitude planetary ion spatial and energy distributions. This paper describes analogous test particle simulations in background MHD fields that allow us to compare the properties and fates, precipitation or escape, of the mainly O+ atmospheric pick-up ions at Mars and Venus. The goal is to illustrate how atmospheric and planetary scales affect the upper atmospheres and space environments of our terrestrial planet neighbors. The results show the expected convection electric field-related hemispheric asymmetries in both precipitation and escape, where the degree of asymmetry at each planet is determined by the planetary scale and local interplanetary field strength. At Venus, the kinetic treatment of O+ reveals a strong nightside source of precipitation while Mars' crustal fields complicate the simple asymmetry in ion precipitation and drive a dayside source of precipitation. The pickup O+ escape pattern at both Venus and Mars exhibits low energy tailward escape, but Mars exhibits a prominent, high energy 'polar plume' feature in the hemisphere of the upward convection electric field while the Venus ion wake shows only a modest poleward concentration. The overall escape is larger at Venus than Mars (2.1 ×1025 and 4.3 ×1024 at solar maximum, respectively), but the efficiency (likelihood) of O+ escaping is 2-3 times higher at Mars. The consequences of these comparisons for pickup ion related atmospheric energy deposition, loss rates, and detection on spacecraft including PVO, VEX, MEX and MAVEN are considered. In particular, both O+ precipitation and escape show electric field controlled asymmetries that grow with energy, while the O+ fluxes and energy spectra at selected spatial

Calculus Rules for V-Proximal Subdifferentials in Smooth Banach Spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Messaoud Bounkhel

2016-01-01

Full Text Available In 2010, Bounkhel et al. introduced new proximal concepts (analytic proximal subdifferential, geometric proximal subdifferential, and proximal normal cone in reflexive smooth Banach spaces. They proved, in p-uniformly convex and q-uniformly smooth Banach spaces, the density theorem for the new concepts of proximal subdifferential and various important properties for both proximal subdifferential concepts and the proximal normal cone concept. In this paper, we establish calculus rules (fuzzy sum rule and chain rule for both proximal subdifferentials and we prove the Bishop-Phelps theorem for the proximal normal cone. The limiting concept for both proximal subdifferentials and for the proximal normal cone is defined and studied. We prove that both limiting constructions coincide with the Mordukhovich constructions under some assumptions on the space. Applications to nonconvex minimisation problems and nonconvex variational inequalities are established.

On-Demand Targeting: Investigating Biology with Proximity-Directed Chemistry.

Science.gov (United States)

Long, Marcus J C; Poganik, Jesse R; Aye, Yimon

2016-03-23

Proximity enhancement is a central chemical tenet underpinning an exciting suite of small-molecule toolsets that have allowed us to unravel many biological complexities. The leitmotif of this opus is "tethering"-a strategy in which a multifunctional small molecule serves as a template to bring proteins/biomolecules together. Scaffolding approaches have been powerfully applied to control diverse biological outcomes such as protein-protein association, protein stability, activity, and improve imaging capabilities. A new twist on this strategy has recently appeared, in which the small-molecule probe is engineered to unleash controlled amounts of reactive chemical signals within the microenvironment of a target protein. Modification of a specific target elicits a precisely timed and spatially controlled gain-of-function (or dominant loss-of-function) signaling response. Presented herein is a unique personal outlook conceptualizing the powerful proximity-enhanced chemical biology toolsets into two paradigms: "multifunctional scaffolding" versus "on-demand targeting". By addressing the latest advances and challenges in the established yet constantly evolving multifunctional scaffolding strategies as well as in the emerging on-demand precision targeting (and related) systems, this Perspective is aimed at choosing when it is best to employ each of the two strategies, with an emphasis toward further promoting novel applications and discoveries stemming from these innovative chemical biology platforms.

Library Lockdown: An escape room by kids for the community

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Thoegersen

2016-11-01

Full Text Available In Brief Hoping to bring the unexpected to Nebraska City, the Morton-James Public Library applied for an ALA Association for Library Service to Children Curiosity Creates grant to undertake an ambitious project: build an escape room. In a library storage room. With children. The hope was  by trying something completely different, we could increase interest in the library throughout the community and build a sense of ownership in the participants, while encouraging creativity and having a lot of fun. Library Lockdown was a four-month program that brought several dozen kids together—age 8 to 13—to build a fully-functioning escape room. Their creation, the Lab of Dr. Morton McBrains, is now open for business.

Malaria parasites: the great escape

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurent Rénia

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Parasites of the genus Plasmodium have a complex life cycle. They alternate between their final mosquito host and their intermediate hosts. The parasite can be either extra- or intracellular, depending on the stage of development. By modifying their shape, motility, and metabolic requirements, the parasite adapts to the different environments in their different hosts. The parasite has evolved to escape the multiple immune mechanisms in the host that try to block parasite development at the different stages of their development. In this article, we describe the mechanisms reported thus far that allow the Plasmodium parasite to evade innate and adaptive immune responses.

Escaping the Self: Identity, Group Identification and Violence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James Hardie-Bick

2016-12-01

Full Text Available This article draws on the early work of Erich Fromm. In Escape from Freedom Fromm (1969 [1941] directly addressed the psychological mechanisms of escape modern individuals employ to protect themselves from feelings of ontological insecurity and existential estrangement. The article builds on Fromm’s analysis by discussing the significance of his escape mechanisms for understanding the dynamic psychological attractions of identifying with entitative groups. Fromm’s work will be discussed in relation to Hogg’s recent work on uncertainty-identity theory. The aim of the article is to examine the advantages of combining Fromm’s psychoanalytic analysis with Hogg’s uncertainty-identity theory and to highlight the potential this approach has for understanding why groups engage in violent and destructive behaviour. Este artículo se inspira en las primeras obras de Erich Fromm. En El miedo a la libertad, Fromm (1969 [1941] abordó directamente los mecanismos psicológicos de evasión que los individuos modernos emplean para protegerse de los sentimientos de inseguridad ontológica y distanciamiento existencial. Este artículo se basa en el análisis de Fromm exponiendo el significado de sus mecanismos de evasión para entender las atracciones psicológicas dinámicas de identificación con grupos entitativos. Se analizará la obra de Fromm en relación con la obra reciente de Hogg sobre la teoría de incertidumbre identitaria. El objetivo del artículo es examinar las ventajas de combinar el análisis psicoanalítico de Fromm con la teoría de incertidumbre identitaria de Hogg, y destacar el potencial que tiene esta aproximación para comprender por qué los grupos adoptan un comportamiento violento y destructivo. DOWNLOAD THIS PAPER FROM SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2875737

Super-Relaxed ( -Proximal Point Algorithms, Relaxed ( -Proximal Point Algorithms, Linear Convergence Analysis, and Nonlinear Variational Inclusions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Agarwal RaviP

2009-01-01

Full Text Available We glance at recent advances to the general theory of maximal (set-valued monotone mappings and their role demonstrated to examine the convex programming and closely related field of nonlinear variational inequalities. We focus mostly on applications of the super-relaxed ( -proximal point algorithm to the context of solving a class of nonlinear variational inclusion problems, based on the notion of maximal ( -monotonicity. Investigations highlighted in this communication are greatly influenced by the celebrated work of Rockafellar (1976, while others have played a significant part as well in generalizing the proximal point algorithm considered by Rockafellar (1976 to the case of the relaxed proximal point algorithm by Eckstein and Bertsekas (1992. Even for the linear convergence analysis for the overrelaxed (or super-relaxed ( -proximal point algorithm, the fundamental model for Rockafellar's case does the job. Furthermore, we attempt to explore possibilities of generalizing the Yosida regularization/approximation in light of maximal ( -monotonicity, and then applying to first-order evolution equations/inclusions.

Escape and transmission probabilities in cylindrical geometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bjerke, M.A.

1980-01-01

An improved technique for the generation of escape and transmission probabilities in cylindrical geometry was applied to the existing resonance cross section processing code ROLAIDS. The algorithm of Hwang and Toppel, [ANL-FRA-TM-118] (with modifications) was employed. The probabilities generated were found to be as accurate as those given by the method previously applied in ROLAIDS, while requiring much less computer core storage and CPU time

Treatment of Escape-Maintained Behavior with Positive Reinforcement: The Role of Reinforcement Contingency and Density

Science.gov (United States)

Ingvarsson, Einar T.; Hanley, Gregory P.; Welter, Katherine M.

2009-01-01

Functional analyses suggested that the disruptive behavior of three preschool children was maintained by escape from demands. While keeping the escape contingency intact, we conducted (a) a density analysis in which the children earned preferred items for task completion according to two schedules that varied in reinforcement density, and (b) a…

Biomechanical evaluation of straight antegrade nailing in proximal humeral fractures: the rationale of the "proximal anchoring point".

Science.gov (United States)

Euler, Simon A; Petri, Maximilian; Venderley, Melanie B; Dornan, Grant J; Schmoelz, Werner; Turnbull, Travis Lee; Plecko, Michael; Kralinger, Franz S; Millett, Peter J

2017-09-01

Varus failure is one of the most common failure modes following surgical treatment of proximal humeral fractures. Straight antegrade nails (SAN) theoretically provide increased stability by anchoring to the densest zone of the proximal humerus (subchondral zone) with the end of the nail. The aim of this study was to biomechanically investigate the characteristics of this "proximal anchoring point" (PAP). We hypothesized that the PAP would improve stability compared to the same construct without the PAP. Straight antegrade humeral nailing was performed in 20 matched pairs of human cadaveric humeri for a simulated unstable two-part fracture. Biomechanical testing, with stepwise increasing cyclic axial loading (50-N increments each 100 cycles) at an angle of 20° abduction revealed significantly higher median loads to failure for SAN constructs with the PAP (median, 450 N; range, 200-1.000 N) compared to those without the PAP (median, 325 N; range, 100-500 N; p = 0.009). SAN constructs with press-fit proximal extensions (endcaps) showed similar median loads to failure (median, 400 N; range, 200-650 N), when compared to the undersized, commercially available SAN endcaps (median, 450 N; range, 200-600 N; p = 0.240). The PAP provided significantly increased stability in SAN constructs compared to the same setup without this additional proximal anchoring point. Varus-displacing forces to the humeral head were superiorly reduced in this setting. This study provides biomechanical evidence for the "proximal anchoring point's" rationale. Straight antegrade humeral nailing may be beneficial for patients undergoing surgical treatment for unstable proximal humeral fractures to decrease secondary varus displacement and thus potentially reduce revision rates.

Educational Gaming for Pharmacy Students - Design and Evaluation of a Diabetes-themed Escape Room.

Science.gov (United States)

Eukel, Heidi N; Frenzel, Jeanne E; Cernusca, Dan

2017-09-01

Objective. To design an educational game that will increase third-year professional pharmacy students' knowledge of diabetes mellitus disease management and to evaluate their perceived value of the game. Methods. Faculty members created an innovative educational game, the diabetes escape room. An authentic escape room gaming environment was established through the use of a locked room, an escape time limit, and game rules within which student teams completed complex puzzles focused on diabetes disease management. To evaluate the impact, students completed a pre-test and post-test to measure the knowledge they've gained and a perception survey to identify moderating factors that could help instructors improve the game's effectiveness and utility. Results. Students showed statistically significant increases in knowledge after completion of the game. A one-sample t -test indicated that students' mean perception was statistically significantly higher than the mean value of the evaluation scale. This statically significant result proved that this gaming act offers a potential instructional benefit beyond its novelty. Conclusion. The diabetes escape room proved to be a valuable educational game that increased students' knowledge of diabetes mellitus disease management and showed a positive perceived overall value by student participants.

Molecular Dications in Planetary Atmospheric Escape

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Falcinelli

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Fundamental properties of multiply charged molecular ions, such as energetics, structure, stability, lifetime and fragmentation dynamics, are relevant to understand and model the behavior of gaseous plasmas as well as ionosphere and astrophysical environments. Experimental determinations of the Kinetic Energy Released (KER for ions originating from dissociations reactions, induced by Coulomb explosion of doubly charged molecular ions (molecular dications produced by double photoionization of CO2, N2O and C2H2 molecules of interest in planetary atmospheres, are reported. The KER measurement as a function of the ultraviolet (UV photon energy in the range of 28–65 eV was extracted from the electron-ion-ion coincidence spectra obtained by using tunable synchrotron radiation coupled with ion imaging techniques at the ELETTRA Synchrotron Light Laboratory Trieste, Italy. These experiments, coupled with a computational analysis based on a Monte Carlo trajectory simulation, allow assessing the probability of escape for simple ionic species in the upper atmosphere of Mars, Venus and Titan. The measured KER in the case of H+, C+, CH+, CH2+, N+, O+, CO+, N2+ and NO+ fragment ions range between 1.0 and 5.5 eV, being large enough to allow these ionic species to participate in the atmospheric escape from such planets into space. In the case of Mars, we suggest a possible explanation for the observed behavior of the O+ and CO22+ ion density profiles.

Escape rate from strange sets as an eigenvalue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tel, T.

1986-06-01

A new method is applied for calculating the escape rate from chaotic repellers or semi-attractors, based on the eigenvalue problem of the master equation of discrete dynamical systems. The corresponding eigenfunction is found to be smooth along unstable directions and to be, in general, a fractal measure. Examples of one and two dimensional maps are investigated. (author)

Early low-titer neutralizing antibodies impede HIV-1 replication and select for virus escape.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katharine J Bar

Full Text Available Single genome sequencing of early HIV-1 genomes provides a sensitive, dynamic assessment of virus evolution and insight into the earliest anti-viral immune responses in vivo. By using this approach, together with deep sequencing, site-directed mutagenesis, antibody adsorptions and virus-entry assays, we found evidence in three subjects of neutralizing antibody (Nab responses as early as 2 weeks post-seroconversion, with Nab titers as low as 1∶20 to 1∶50 (IC(50 selecting for virus escape. In each of the subjects, Nabs targeted different regions of the HIV-1 envelope (Env in a strain-specific, conformationally sensitive manner. In subject CH40, virus escape was first mediated by mutations in the V1 region of the Env, followed by V3. HIV-1 specific monoclonal antibodies from this subject mapped to an immunodominant region at the base of V3 and exhibited neutralizing patterns indistinguishable from polyclonal antibody responses, indicating V1-V3 interactions within the Env trimer. In subject CH77, escape mutations mapped to the V2 region of Env, several of which selected for alterations of glycosylation. And in subject CH58, escape mutations mapped to the Env outer domain. In all three subjects, initial Nab recognition was followed by sequential rounds of virus escape and Nab elicitation, with Nab escape variants exhibiting variable costs to replication fitness. Although delayed in comparison with autologous CD8 T-cell responses, our findings show that Nabs appear earlier in HIV-1 infection than previously recognized, target diverse sites on HIV-1 Env, and impede virus replication at surprisingly low titers. The unexpected in vivo sensitivity of early transmitted/founder virus to Nabs raises the possibility that similarly low concentrations of vaccine-induced Nabs could impair virus acquisition in natural HIV-1 transmission, where the risk of infection is low and the number of viruses responsible for transmission and productive clinical

Extended exposure to elevated temperature affects escape response behaviour in coral reef fishes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Donald T. Warren

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The threat of predation, and the prey’s response, are important drivers of community dynamics. Yet environmental temperature can have a significant effect on predation avoidance techniques such as fast-start performance observed in marine fishes. While it is known that temperature increases can influence performance and behaviour in the short-term, little is known about how species respond to extended exposure during development. We produced a startle response in two species of damselfish, the lemon damsel Pomacentrus moluccensis, and the Ambon damselfish Pomacentrus amboinensis, by the repeated use of a drop stimulus. We show that the length of thermal exposure of juveniles to elevated temperature significantly affects this escape responses. Short-term (4d exposure to warmer temperature affected directionality and responsiveness for both species. After long-term (90d exposure, only P. moluccensis showed beneficial plasticity, with directionality returning to control levels. Responsiveness also decreased in both species, possibly to compensate for higher temperatures. There was no effect of temperature or length of exposure on latency to react, maximum swimming speed, or escape distance suggesting that the physical ability to escape was maintained. Evidence suggests that elevated temperature may impact some fish species through its effect on the behavioural responses while under threat rather than having a direct influence on their physical ability to perform an effective escape response.

Giant proximity effect in ferromagnetic bilayers

Science.gov (United States)

Ramos, Silvia; Charlton, Tim; Quintanilla, Jorge; Suter, Andreas; Moodera, Jagadeesh; Prokscha, Thomas; Salman, Zaher; Forgan, Ted

2013-03-01

The proximity effect is a phenomenon where an ordered state leaks from a material into an adjacent one over some finite distance, ξ. For superconductors, this distance is ~ the coherence length. Nevertheless much longer-range, ``giant'' proximity effects have been observed in cuprate junctions. This surprising effect can be understood as a consequence of critical opalescence. Since this occurs near all second order phase transitions, giant proximity effects should be very general and, in particular, they should be present in magnetic systems. The ferromagnetic proximity effect has the advantage that its order parameter (magnetization) can be observed directly. We investigate the above phenomenon in Co/EuS bilayer films, where both materials undergo ferromagnetic transitions but at rather different temperatures (bulk TC of 1400K for Co and 16.6K for EuS). A dramatic increase in the range of the proximity effect is expected near the TC of EuS. We present the results of our measurements of the magnetization profiles as a function of temperature, carried out using the complementary techniques of low energy muon rotation and polarized neutron reflectivity. Work supported by EPSRC, STFC and ONR grant N00014-09-1-0177 and NSF grant DMR 0504158.

Learning and CRF-Induced Indecision during Escape and Submission in Rainbow Trout during Socially Aggressive Interactions in the Stress-Alternatives Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tangi R. Summers

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Socially stressful environments induce a phenotypic dichotomy of coping measures for populations in response to a dominant aggressor and given a route of egress. This submission- (Stay or escape-oriented (Escape dichotomy represents individual decision-making under the stressful influence of hostile social environments. We utilized the Stress-Alternatives Model (SAM to explore behavioral factors which might predict behavioral phenotype in rainbow trout. The SAM is a compartmentalized tank, with smaller and larger trout separated by an opaque divider until social interaction, and another divider occluding a safety zone, accessible by way of an escape route only large enough for the smaller fish. We hypothesized that distinctive behavioral responses during the first social interaction would indicate a predisposition for one of the behavioral phenotypes in the subsequent interactions. Surprisingly, increased amount or intensity of aggression received had no significant effect on promoting escape in test fish. In fact, during the first day of interaction, fish that turned toward their larger opponent during attack eventually learned to escape. Escaping fish also learn to monitor the patrolling behavior of aggressors, and eventually escape primarily when they are not being observed. Escape per se, was also predicted in trout exhibiting increased movements directed toward the escape route. By contrast, fish that consistently remained in the tank with the aggressor (Stay showed significantly higher frequency of swimming in subordinate positions, at the top or the bottom of the water column, as well as sitting at the bottom. In addition, a corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF-induced behavior, snap-shake, was also displayed in untreated fish during aggressive social interaction, and blocked by a CRF1 receptor antagonist. Especially prevalent among the Stay phenotype, snap-shake indicates indecision regarding escape-related behaviors. Snap-shake was also

2D collisional-radiative model for non-uniform argon plasmas: with or without ‘escape factor’

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, Xi-Ming; Tsankov, Tsanko Vaskov; Luggenhölscher, Dirk; Czarnetzki, Uwe

2015-01-01

Collisional-radiative models for excited rare-gas atoms in low-temperature plasmas are a widely investigated topic. When these plasmas are optically thick, an ‘escape factor’ is introduced into the models to account for the reabsorption of photons (so-called radiation trapping process). This factor is usually obtained assuming a uniform density profile of the excited species; however, such an assumption is often not satisfied in a bounded plasma. This article reports for the first time a self-consistent collisional-radiative model without using an ad hoc ‘escape factor’ for excited Ar atoms in the 2p states (in Paschen’s notation). Rather, the rate balance equations—i.e. the radiation transfer equations—of the 2p states are numerically solved to yield the actual density profiles. The predictions of this self-consistent model and a model based on the escape factor concept are compared with spatially-resolved emission measurements in a low-pressure inductive Ar plasma. The self-consistent model agrees well with the experiment but the ‘escape factor’ model shows considerable deviations. By the comparative analysis the limitations and shortcomings of the escape factor concept as adopted in a significant number of works are revealed. (paper)

Quantum and thermal phase escape in extended Josephson systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kemp, A.

2006-01-01

In this work I examine phase escape in long annular Josephson tunnel junctions. The sine-Gordon equation governs the dynamics of the phase variable along the junction. This equation supports topological soliton solutions, which correspond to quanta of magnetic flux trapped in the junction barrier. For such Josephson vortices an effective potential is formed by an external magnetic field, while a bias current acts as a driving force. Both together form a metastable potential well, which the vortex is trapped in. When the driving force exceeds the pinning force of the potential, the vortex escapes and the junction switches to the voltage state. At a finite temperature the driving force fluctuates. If the junction's energy scale is small, the phase variable can undergo a macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) process at temperatures below the crossover temperature. Without a vortex trapped, the metastable state is not a potential minimum in space, but a potential minimum at zero phase difference. (orig.)

Quantum and thermal phase escape in extended Josephson systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kemp, A.

2006-07-12

In this work I examine phase escape in long annular Josephson tunnel junctions. The sine-Gordon equation governs the dynamics of the phase variable along the junction. This equation supports topological soliton solutions, which correspond to quanta of magnetic flux trapped in the junction barrier. For such Josephson vortices an effective potential is formed by an external magnetic field, while a bias current acts as a driving force. Both together form a metastable potential well, which the vortex is trapped in. When the driving force exceeds the pinning force of the potential, the vortex escapes and the junction switches to the voltage state. At a finite temperature the driving force fluctuates. If the junction's energy scale is small, the phase variable can undergo a macroscopic quantum tunneling (MQT) process at temperatures below the crossover temperature. Without a vortex trapped, the metastable state is not a potential minimum in space, but a potential minimum at zero phase difference. (orig.)

Quantum Proximity Resonances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heller, E.J.

1996-01-01

It is well known that at long wavelengths λ an s-wave scatterer can have a scattering cross section σ on the order of λ 2 , much larger than its physical size, as measured by the range of its potential. Very interesting phenomena can arise when two or more identical scatterers are placed close together, well within one wavelength. We show that, for a pair of identical scatterers, an extremely narrow p-wave open-quote open-quote proximity close-quote close-quote resonance develops from a broader s-wave resonance of the individual scatterers. A new s-wave resonance of the pair also appears. The relation of these proximity resonances (so called because they appear when the scatterers are close together) to the Thomas and Efimov effects is discussed. copyright 1996 The American Physical Society

Early results for treatment of two- and three-part fractures of the proximal humerus using Contours PHP (proximal humeral plate).

Science.gov (United States)

Biazzo, Alessio; Cardile, Carlo; Brunelli, Luca; Ragni, Paolo; Clementi, Daniele

2017-04-28

The management of displaced 2- and 3-part fractures of the proximal humerus is controversial, both in younger and in elderly patients. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the functional results of the Contours Proximal Humerus Plate (OrthofixR, Bussolengo,Verona, Italy), for the treatment of displaced 2- and 3-part fractures of the proximal humerus. We retrospectively reviewed 55 patients with proximal humerus fractures, who underwent osteosynthesis with Contours Proximal Humerus Plate from December 2011 to March 2015. We had 21 patients with 2-part fractures and with an average age of 67.1 years and 34 patients with 3-part fractures, with average age of 63.6 years. The average union time was 3 months. The mean Constant score was 67 for 2-part fracture group and 64.9 for 3-part fracture group. The difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.18). The overall complication rate was 14.5 %. Six patients underwent additional surgery (10.9%). The most frequent major complication was secondary loss of reduction following varus collapse of the fracture (2 cases). In these patients, there was loss of medial hinge integrity due to impaction and osteoporosis. The placement of the main locking screw in the calcar area to provide inferomedial support is the rational of the Contours Proximal Humerus Plate. Osteosynthesis with Contours Proximal Humerus Plate is a safe system for treating displaced 2- and 3-part fractures of the proximal humerus, with good functional results and complication rates comparable to those reported in the literature.

The Sunburst Arc: Direct Lyman α escape observed in the brightest known lensed galaxy

Science.gov (United States)

Rivera-Thorsen, T. E.; Dahle, H.; Gronke, M.; Bayliss, M.; Rigby, J. R.; Simcoe, R.; Bordoloi, R.; Turner, M.; Furesz, G.

2017-11-01

We present rest-frame ultraviolet and optical spectroscopy of the brightest lensed galaxy yet discovered, at redshift z = 2.4. The source reveals a characteristic triple-peaked Lyman α profile that has been predicted in various theoretical works, but to our knowledge has not been unambiguously observed previously. The feature is well fit by a superposition of two components: a double-peak profile emerging from substantial radiative transfer, and a narrow, central component resulting from directly escaping Lyman α photons, but it is poorly fit by either component alone. We demonstrate that the feature is unlikely to contain contamination from nearby sources, and that the central peak is unaffected by radiative transfer effects except for very slight absorption. The feature is detected at signal-to-noise ratios exceeding 80 per pixel at line center, and bears strong resemblance to synthetic profiles predicted by numerical models. Based on observations obtained at the Magellan-I (Baade) Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

Proximal Hamstring Tendinosis and Partial Ruptures.

Science.gov (United States)

Startzman, Ashley N; Fowler, Oliver; Carreira, Dominic

2017-07-01

Proximal hamstring tendinosis and partial hamstring origin ruptures are painful conditions of the proximal thigh and hip that may occur in the acute, chronic, or acute on chronic setting. Few publications exist related to their diagnosis and management. This systematic review discusses the incidence, treatment, and prognosis of proximal hamstring tendinosis and partial hamstring ruptures. Conservative treatment measures include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, physical therapy, rest, and ice. If these measures fail, platelet-rich plasma or shockwave therapy may be considered. When refractory to conservative management, these injuries may be treated with surgical debridement and hamstring reattachment. [Orthopedics. 2017; 40(4):e574-e582.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

GAMMA-RAY EMISSION OF ACCELERATED PARTICLES ESCAPING A SUPERNOVA REMNANT IN A MOLECULAR CLOUD

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ellison, Donald C.; Bykov, Andrei M.

2011-01-01

We present a model of gamma-ray emission from core-collapse supernovae (SNe) originating from the explosions of massive young stars. The fast forward shock of the supernova remnant (SNR) can accelerate particles by diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) in a cavern blown by a strong, pre-SN stellar wind. As a fundamental part of nonlinear DSA, some fraction of the accelerated particles escape the shock and interact with a surrounding massive dense shell producing hard photon emission. To calculate this emission, we have developed a new Monte Carlo technique for propagating the cosmic rays (CRs) produced by the forward shock of the SNR, into the dense, external material. This technique is incorporated in a hydrodynamic model of an evolving SNR which includes the nonlinear feedback of CRs on the SNR evolution, the production of escaping CRs along with those that remain trapped within the remnant, and the broadband emission of radiation from trapped and escaping CRs. While our combined CR-hydro-escape model is quite general and applies to both core collapse and thermonuclear SNe, the parameters we choose for our discussion here are more typical of SNRs from very massive stars whose emission spectra differ somewhat from those produced by lower mass progenitors directly interacting with a molecular cloud.

Emergency total gastrectomy for massive haemorrhage in a low ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Background: Gastric cancer is the second most common cancer of the gastrointestinal tract behind colorectal cancer in Cameroon. Total gastrectomy which is recommended for proximal gastric cancer is rarely performed and has not been reported in this country. Aim: To report emergency gastrectomy for life threatening ...

UNESCO to blame:Reality or easy escape?

OpenAIRE

Pereira Roders, A Ana; Grigolon, AB Anna

2015-01-01

“UNESCO to blame” is a trend often observed in scholarly works. In those studies UNESCO is accused to privilege Eurocentric standards on heritage conservation. Is this reality or an easy escape? Can this trend be noted in other UNESCO reference texts? This article seeks to answer this question by studying the two main inscription-based conventions and their contribution to heritage management, while performing a data analysis on the countries behind these conventions, and their roles over tim...

Tumor suppressor genes that escape from X-inactivation contribute to cancer sex bias

OpenAIRE

Dunford, Andrew; Weinstock, David M.; Savova, Virginia; Schumacher, Steven E.; Cleary, John P.; Yoda, Akinori; Sullivan, Timothy J.; Hess, Julian M.; Gimelbrant, Alexander A.; Beroukhim, Rameen; Lawrence, Michael S.; Getz, Gad; Lane, Andrew A.

2016-01-01

There is a striking and unexplained male predominance across many cancer types. A subset of X chromosome (chrX) genes can escape X-inactivation, which would protect females from complete functional loss by a single mutation. To identify putative “Escape from X-Inactivation Tumor Suppressor” (EXITS) genes, we compared somatic alterations from >4100 cancers across 21 tumor types for sex bias. Six of 783 non-pseudoautosomal region (PAR) chrX genes (ATRX, CNKSR2, DDX3X, KDM5C, KDM6A, and MAGEC3) ...

Data from: Escaping blood-fed malaria mosquitoes minimize tactile detection without compromising on take-off speed

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Muijres, F.T.; Chang, S.W.; Veen, van W.G.; Spitzen, J.; Biemans, Bart; Koehl, M.A.R.; Dudley, R.

2017-01-01

To escape after taking a blood meal, a mosquito must exert forces sufficiently high to take off when carrying a load roughly equal to its body weight, while simultaneously avoiding detection by minimizing tactile signals exerted on the host's skin. We studied this trade-off between escape speed and

Efektivitas Celah Pelolosan (Escape Gap) Pada Alat Tangkap Pengilar Untuk Menunjang Kelestarian Sumberdaya Ikan

OpenAIRE

Rezeki, Silka Tria; Syofyan, Irwandy; ', Isnaniah

2017-01-01

The research was conducted during of March until June 2016 in Kampar River and Laboratory of Fishing Gear and Material Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science University of Riau. The study aim to determine the extent effectivenes of escape gap. The method used are survey and experiment method. The results of this study shown that the circles escape gap can pass the larva of fish with a value of the effectiveness has 0.89

Proximal Participation: A Pathway into Work

Science.gov (United States)

Chan, Selena

2013-01-01

In a longitudinal case study of apprentices, the term proximal participation was coined to describe the entry process of young people, with unclear career destinations, into the trade of baking. This article unravels the significance of proximal participation in the decision-making processes of young people who enter a trade through initial…

Understanding the Virtualization of the Backpacker Culture and the Emergence of the Flashpacker: A Mixed-Method

Science.gov (United States)

Paris, Cody Morris

2010-01-01

Backpackers are pioneers of mobility, who provide a unique domain for critical tourism research. The lineage of backpacker ideals, including pursuit of authentic experiences, independence, escape and social interaction, can be traced back to the "tramps" of the 1880s and the "drifters" of the 1970s. The recent emergence of the…

Arduino adventures escape from Gemini station

CERN Document Server

Kelly, James Floyd

2013-01-01

Arduino Adventures: Escape from Gemini Station provides a fun introduction to the Arduino microcontroller by putting you (the reader) into the action of a science fiction adventure story.  You'll find yourself following along as Cade and Elle explore Gemini Station-an orbiting museum dedicated to preserving and sharing technology throughout the centuries. Trouble ensues. The station is evacuated, including Cade and Elle's class that was visiting the station on a field trip. Cade and Elle don't make it aboard their shuttle and are trapped on the station along with a friendly artificial intellig

Ultimate and proximate explanations of strong reciprocity.

Science.gov (United States)

Vromen, Jack

2017-08-23

Strong reciprocity (SR) has recently been subject to heated debate. In this debate, the "West camp" (West et al. in Evol Hum Behav 32(4):231-262, 2011), which is critical of the case for SR, and the "Laland camp" (Laland et al. in Science, 334(6062):1512-1516, 2011, Biol Philos 28(5):719-745, 2013), which is sympathetic to the case of SR, seem to take diametrically opposed positions. The West camp criticizes advocates of SR for conflating proximate and ultimate causation. SR is said to be a proximate mechanism that is put forward by its advocates as an ultimate explanation of human cooperation. The West camp thus accuses advocates of SR for not heeding Mayr's original distinction between ultimate and proximate causation. The Laland camp praises advocates of SR for revising Mayr's distinction. Advocates of SR are said to replace Mayr's uni-directional view on the relation between ultimate and proximate causes by the bi-directional one of reciprocal causation. The paper argues that both the West camp and the Laland camp misrepresent what advocates of SR are up to. The West camp is right that SR is a proximate cause of human cooperation. But rather than putting forward SR as an ultimate explanation, as the West camp argues, advocates of SR believe that SR itself is in need of ultimate explanation. Advocates of SR tend to take gene-culture co-evolutionary theory as the correct meta-theoretical framework for advancing ultimate explanations of SR. Appearances notwithstanding, gene-culture coevolutionary theory does not imply Laland et al.'s notion of reciprocal causation. "Reciprocal causation" suggests that proximate and ultimate causes interact simultaneously, while advocates of SR assume that they interact sequentially. I end by arguing that the best way to understand the debate is by disambiguating Mayr's ultimate-proximate distinction. I propose to reserve "ultimate" and "proximate" for different sorts of explanations, and to use other terms for distinguishing

Waiting times for the appearance of cytotoxic T-lymphocyte escape mutants in chronic HIV-1 infection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Yi; Mullins, James I.; Mittler, John E.

2006-01-01

The failure of HIV-1 to escape at some cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes has generally been explained in terms of viral fitness costs or ineffective or attenuated CTL responses. Relatively little attention has been paid to the evolutionary time required for escape mutants to be detected. This time is significantly affected by selection, mutation rates, the presence of other advantageous mutations, and the effective population size of HIV-1 in vivo (typically estimated to be ∼10 3 in chronically infected patients, though one study has estimated it to be ∼10 5 ). Here, we use a forward simulator with experimentally estimated HIV-1 parameters to show that these delays can be substantial. For an effective population size of 10 3 , even highly advantageous mutants (s = 0.5) may not be detected for a couple of years in chronically infected patients, while moderately advantageous escape mutants (s = 0.1) may not be detected for up to 10 years. Even with an effective population size of 10 5 , a moderately advantageous escape mutant (s = 0.1) may not be detected in the population within 2 years if it has to compete with other selectively advantageous mutants. Stochastic evolutionary forces, therefore, in addition to viral fitness costs and ineffective or attenuated CTL responses, must be taken into account when assessing the selection of CTL escape mutations

Escape of high-energy oxygen ions through magnetopause reconnection under northward IMF

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Kasahara

2008-12-01

Full Text Available During a storm recovery phase on 15 May 2005, the Geotail spacecraft repeatedly observed high-energy (>180 keV oxygen ions in the dayside magnetosheath near the equatorial plane. We focused on the time period from 11:20 UT to 13:00 UT, when Geotail observed the oxygen ions and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF was constantly northward. The magnetic reconnection occurrence northward and duskward of Geotail is indicated by the Walén analysis and convective flows in the magnetopause boundary layer. Anisotropic pitch angle distributions of ions suggest that high-energy oxygen ions escaped from the northward of Geotail along the reconnected magnetic field lines. From the low-energy particle precipitation in the polar cap observed by DMSP, which is consistent with magnetic reconnection occurring between the magnetosheath field lines and the magnetospheric closed field lines, we conclude that these oxygen ions are of ring current origin. Our results thus suggest a new escape route of oxygen ions during northward IMF. In the present event, this escape mechanism is more dominant than the leakage via the finite Larmor radius effect across the dayside equatorial magnetopause.

RUNAWAY STARS AND THE ESCAPE OF IONIZING RADIATION FROM HIGH-REDSHIFT GALAXIES

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conroy, Charlie; Kratter, Kaitlin M.

2012-01-01

Approximately 30% of all massive stars in the Galaxy are runaways with velocities exceeding 30 km s –1 . Their high speeds allow them to travel ∼0.1-1 kpc away from their birthplace before they explode at the end of their several Myr lifetimes. At high redshift, when galaxies were much smaller than in the local universe, runaways could venture far from the dense inner regions of their host galaxies. From these large radii, and therefore low column densities, much of their ionizing radiation is able to escape into the intergalactic medium. Runaways may therefore significantly enhance the overall escape fraction of ionizing radiation, f esc , from small galaxies at high redshift. We present simple models of the high-redshift runaway population and its impact on f esc as a function of halo mass, size, and redshift. We find that the inclusion of runaways enhances f esc by factors of ≈1.1-8, depending on halo mass, galaxy geometry, and the mechanism of runaway production, implying that runaways may contribute 50%-90% of the total ionizing radiation escaping from high-redshift galaxies. Runaways may therefore play an important role in reionizing the universe.

Escape from metastable magnetic states: New results on Mn_12 acetate

Science.gov (United States)

Kent, Andrew D.

2000-03-01

The crossover from thermally assisted to pure quantum tunneling has been studied in Mn_12 acetate molecular crystals using micro-Hall effect magnetometry [1]. Several new features, intrinsic to the magnetization relaxation of this material, have been found. First, magnetic hysteresis measurements have been used to accurately identify the energy levels important to the magnetic relaxation (the ``escape levels’’) as a function of the magnetic field and temperature (0.3 to 3 K) [2]. These results indicate that the escape levels can change either smoothly or abruptly with temperature, depending upon the magnetic field magnitude and orientation. Second, relaxation experiments show evidence for a pure quantum relaxation regime at low temperature (Chudnovsky and D. A. Garanin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 4469 (1997)

Prosthetic replacement for proximal humeral fractures.

Science.gov (United States)

Kontakis, George; Tosounidis, Theodoros; Galanakis, Ioannis; Megas, Panagiotis

2008-12-01

The ideal management of complex proximal humeral fractures continues to be debatable. Evolution of proximal humeral fracture management, during the past decade, led to the implementation of many innovations in surgical treatment. Even though the pendulum of treatment seems to swing towards new trends such as locked plating, hemiarthroplasty remains a valid and reliable option that serves the patient's needs well. Hemiarthroplasty is indicated for complex proximal humeral fractures in elderly patients with poor bone stock and when internal fixation is difficult or unreliable. Hemiarthroplasty provides a better result when it is performed early post-injury. Stem height, retroversion and tuberosity positioning are technical aspects of utmost importance. Additionally reverse total shoulder arthroplasty is an alternative new modality that can be used as a primary solution in selected patients with proximal humeral fracture treatment. Failed hemiarthroplasty and fracture sequelae can be successfully managed with reverse total shoulder arthroplasty. Individual decision-making and tailored treatment that takes into consideration the personality of the fracture and the patient's characteristics should be used.

Industrial Computed Tomography using Proximal Algorithm

KAUST Repository

Zang, Guangming

2016-04-14

In this thesis, we present ProxiSART, a flexible proximal framework for robust 3D cone beam tomographic reconstruction based on the Simultaneous Algebraic Reconstruction Technique (SART). We derive the proximal operator for the SART algorithm and use it for minimizing the data term in a proximal algorithm. We show the flexibility of the framework by plugging in different powerful regularizers, and show its robustness in achieving better reconstruction results in the presence of noise and using fewer projections. We compare our framework to state-of-the-art methods and existing popular software tomography reconstruction packages, on both synthetic and real datasets, and show superior reconstruction quality, especially from noisy data and a small number of projections.

Case Study on Economic Return on Investments for Safety and Emergency Lighting in Road Tunnels

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ferdinando Salata

2015-07-01

Full Text Available While planning a double-hole road tunnel with a length higher than one km, it is important to pay attention to the safety factor if an accident occurs. If there is a power outage, in order to avoid critical situations that could jeopardize the safety of the people present (facilitating the stream coming out from the tunnel and the arrival of the emergency personnel, it is really important to guarantee uninterrupted lighting of roadways, mandatory emergency lay-bys, and ways of escape. Uninterrupted service of the lighting systems supply must be guaranteed, in accordance with the current regulations, through the exertion of UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply and power units. During tunnel construction, such devices represent a cost that must be amortized. In this case study, which takes into consideration a section of a road tunnel characterized by emergency lay-bys and ways of escape, emergency and security lighting were planned and installation and management costs were evaluated. The goal of this research was the creation of a cash flow thanks to the energy generated by photovoltaic panels, in a way that the service life of the system (25 years coincided with the amortization of the costs of the backup electrical equipment installation (complying with the regulations. The possibility of over-dimensioning the UPS and providing it with a proper photovoltaic panel surface (235 kWp to generate and exchange electric energy with the grid was taken into consideration.

Space Weathering of Super-Earths: Model Simulations of Exospheric Sodium Escape from 61 Virgo b

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yoneda, M.; Berdyugina, S.; Kuhn, J. [Kiepenheuer Institute for Solar Physics, Schöneckstraße 6, 79104 Freiburg im Breisgau (Germany)

2017-10-01

Rocky exoplanets are expected to be eroded by space weather in a similar way as in the solar system. In particular, Mercury is one of the dramatically eroded planets whose material continuously escapes into its exosphere and further into space. This escape is well traced by sodium atoms scattering sunlight. Due to solar wind impact, micrometeorite impacts, photo-stimulated desorption and thermal desorption, sodium atoms are released from surface regolith. Some of these released sodium atoms are escaping from Mercury’s gravitational-sphere. They are dragged anti-Sun-ward and form a tail structure. We expect similar phenomena on exoplanets. The hot super-Earth 61 Vir b orbiting a G3V star at only 0.05 au may show a similar structure. Because of its small separation from the star, the sodium release mechanisms may be working more efficiently on hot super-Earths than on Mercury, although the strong gravitational force of Earth-sized or even more massive planets may be keeping sodium atoms from escaping from the planet. Here, we performed model simulations for Mercury (to verify our model) and 61 Vir b as a representative super-Earth. We have found that sodium atoms can escape from this exoplanet due to stellar wind sputtering and micrometeorite impacts, to form a sodium tail. However, in contrast to Mercury, the tail on this hot super-Earth is strongly aligned with the anti-starward direction because of higher light pressure. Our model suggests that 61 Vir b seems to have an exo-base atmosphere like that of Mercury.

Space Weathering of Super-Earths: Model Simulations of Exospheric Sodium Escape from 61 Virgo b

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoneda, M.; Berdyugina, S.; Kuhn, J.

2017-01-01

Rocky exoplanets are expected to be eroded by space weather in a similar way as in the solar system. In particular, Mercury is one of the dramatically eroded planets whose material continuously escapes into its exosphere and further into space. This escape is well traced by sodium atoms scattering sunlight. Due to solar wind impact, micrometeorite impacts, photo-stimulated desorption and thermal desorption, sodium atoms are released from surface regolith. Some of these released sodium atoms are escaping from Mercury’s gravitational-sphere. They are dragged anti-Sun-ward and form a tail structure. We expect similar phenomena on exoplanets. The hot super-Earth 61 Vir b orbiting a G3V star at only 0.05 au may show a similar structure. Because of its small separation from the star, the sodium release mechanisms may be working more efficiently on hot super-Earths than on Mercury, although the strong gravitational force of Earth-sized or even more massive planets may be keeping sodium atoms from escaping from the planet. Here, we performed model simulations for Mercury (to verify our model) and 61 Vir b as a representative super-Earth. We have found that sodium atoms can escape from this exoplanet due to stellar wind sputtering and micrometeorite impacts, to form a sodium tail. However, in contrast to Mercury, the tail on this hot super-Earth is strongly aligned with the anti-starward direction because of higher light pressure. Our model suggests that 61 Vir b seems to have an exo-base atmosphere like that of Mercury.

Objective quantification of the food proximity effect on grapes, chocolate and cracker consumption in a Swedish high school. A temporal analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Langlet, Billy; Fagerberg, Petter; Glossner, Andrew; Ioakimidis, Ioannis

2017-01-01

Close food proximity leads to increased short-term energy intake, potentially contributing to the long-term development of obesity. However, its precise effects on eating behaviour are still unclear, especially with food available for extended periods of time. This study involved two similar high school student groups (15-17 years old), which had ad libitum access to grapes, chocolates and crackers during an hour-long experimental session. In the distal condition the foods were placed 6 meters away from the students (n = 24), in contrast to the proximal condition (n = 17) were the food was placed near the students. The identification of the type and the quantification of the amount of each food selected, for each individual serving, was facilitated through use of food scales and video recording. In the proximal condition individuals served themselves grapes and crackers more often and consumed more chocolate than in the distal condition. In total, participants in the proximal condition ingested significantly more energy (726 kcal vs. 504 kcal; p = 0.029), without reporting higher fullness. Food proximity also affected the temporal distribution of servings, with the first five minutes of the sessions corresponding to 53.1% and 45.6% of the total energy intake for the distal and proximal conditions, respectively. After the first five minutes, the servings in the distal condition were strongly clustered in time, with many students getting food together. In the proximal condition however, students displayed an unstructured pattern of servings over time. In conclusion, this study strengthens past evidence regarding the important role of food proximity on individual energy intake and, for the first time, it associates continuous food proximity to the emergence of unstructured eating over time. These conclusions, expanded upon by future studies, could support the creation of meaningful intervention strategies based on spatially and temporally controlled food availability.

Escape of O(3P), O(1D), and O(1S) from the Martian atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Jane L.; Hać, Aleksander B.

2018-01-01

We have computed here the escape probabilities, fluxes and rates for hot O atoms that are initially produced in the ground state and the first two excited metastable states, O(1D)and O(1S), in the Martian thermosphere by dissociative recombination of O2+. In order to compare our results with those of our previous calculations and with those of others, we have employed here the pre-MAVEN models that we have used previously. To compute the escape probabilities, we have employed the Monte Carlo escape code that has been described previously, but we here use for the first time energy-dependent elastic cross sections for collisions of the energetic O atoms with each of the twelve background species in our model. We also incorporate three mechanisms that interchange identities of the O(3P) and O(1D) atoms, including collisional excitation of O(3P) to O(1D), quenching of O(1D) to O(3P), and excitation exchange of O(1D) with O(3P). We find that the escape probabilities of O atoms that are produced initially as O(1D) are reduced compared to those in which these processes are not included, but the escape probabilities of O atoms that are initially produced as O(3P) are not significantly reduced. As a guide for our future research and those of other investigators, we review here what is known about the interactions of O atoms with other species in which the energies of the O atoms are altered, and several other sources of hot and escaping O, many of which have been suggested by other investigators. We will incorporate these data in a future MAVEN-like model.

Proximity sensor system development. CRADA final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haley, D.C. [Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States); Pigoski, T.M. [Merrit Systems, Inc. (United States)

1998-01-01

Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation (LMERC) and Merritt Systems, Inc. (MSI) entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for the development and demonstration of a compact, modular proximity sensing system suitable for application to a wide class of manipulator systems operated in support of environmental restoration and waste management activities. In teleoperated modes, proximity sensing provides the manipulator operator continuous information regarding the proximity of the manipulator to objects in the workspace. In teleoperated and robotic modes, proximity sensing provides added safety through the implementation of active whole arm collision avoidance capabilities. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by LMERC for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), has developed an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design for the electronics required to support a modular whole arm proximity sensing system based on the use of capacitive sensors developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The use of ASIC technology greatly reduces the size of the electronics required to support the selected sensor types allowing deployment of many small sensor nodes over a large area of the manipulator surface to provide maximum sensor coverage. The ASIC design also provides a communication interface to support sensor commands from and sensor data transmission to a distributed processing system which allows modular implementation and operation of the sensor system. MSI is a commercial small business specializing in proximity sensing systems based upon infrared and acoustic sensors.

Proximity sensor system development. CRADA final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haley, D.C.; Pigoski, T.M.

1998-01-01

Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corporation (LMERC) and Merritt Systems, Inc. (MSI) entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) for the development and demonstration of a compact, modular proximity sensing system suitable for application to a wide class of manipulator systems operated in support of environmental restoration and waste management activities. In teleoperated modes, proximity sensing provides the manipulator operator continuous information regarding the proximity of the manipulator to objects in the workspace. In teleoperated and robotic modes, proximity sensing provides added safety through the implementation of active whole arm collision avoidance capabilities. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), managed by LMERC for the United States Department of Energy (DOE), has developed an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) design for the electronics required to support a modular whole arm proximity sensing system based on the use of capacitive sensors developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The use of ASIC technology greatly reduces the size of the electronics required to support the selected sensor types allowing deployment of many small sensor nodes over a large area of the manipulator surface to provide maximum sensor coverage. The ASIC design also provides a communication interface to support sensor commands from and sensor data transmission to a distributed processing system which allows modular implementation and operation of the sensor system. MSI is a commercial small business specializing in proximity sensing systems based upon infrared and acoustic sensors

Quantitative calculations of helium ion escape fluxes from the polar ionospheres

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raitt, W.J.; Schunk, R.W.; Banks, P.M.

1978-01-01

Recent experimental measurements of He + outward fluxes have been obtained for winter and summer hemispheres. The observed fluxes indicate an average He + escape flux of 2 x 10 7 cm -2 s -1 in the winter hemisphere and a factor of 10-20 lower in the summer hemisphere. Earlier theoretical calculations had yielded winter fluxes a factor of 4 lower than the measured values and summer fluxes a further factor of 20 below the winter fluxes. We have attempted to reduce this discrepancy between our earlier theoretical model and the experimental observations by improving our theoretical model in the following ways. The helium photoionization cross sections used are accurate to 10%, the latest solar EUV fluxes measured by the Atmosphere Explorer satellites have been incorporated, and the most recent MSIS model of the neutral atmosphere is contained in the model. A range of conditions covering solar cycle, seasonal, and geomagnetic conditions were studied. The results show a maximum He + escape flux of 1.4 x 10 7 cm -2 s -1 for solar maximum, winter, low magnetic activity conditions, which is within the scatter of the measured fluxes. The computed summer He + escape flux is a factor of 20 lower than the winter value, a result which is in reasonable agreement with the summer experimental observations. Possible reasons for the slight discrepancy between theory and experiment in summer are discussed

Locking plate fixation for proximal humerus fractures.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Burke, Neil G

2012-02-01

Locking plates are increasingly used to surgically treat proximal humerus fractures. Knowledge of the bone quality of the proximal humerus is important. Studies have shown the medial and dorsal aspects of the proximal humeral head to have the highest bone strength, and this should be exploited by fixation techniques, particularly in elderly patients with osteoporosis. The goals of surgery for proximal humeral fractures should involve minimal soft tissue dissection and achieve anatomic reduction of the head complex with sufficient stability to allow for early shoulder mobilization. This article reviews various treatment options, in particular locking plate fixation. Locking plate fixation is associated with a high complication rate, such as avascular necrosis (7.9%), screw cutout (11.6%), and revision surgery (13.7%). These complications are frequently due to the varus deformation of the humeral head. Strategic screw placement in the humeral head would minimize the possibility of loss of fracture reduction and potential hardware complications. Locking plate fixation is a good surgical option for the management of proximal humerus fractures. Complications can be avoided by using better bone stock and by careful screw placement in the humeral head.

[The characteristics of RR-Lorenz plot in persistent atrial fibrillation patients complicating with escape beats and rhythm].

Science.gov (United States)

Pan, Yunping; Zhang, Fangfang; Liu, Ru; Jing, Yan; Shen, Jihong; Li, Zhongjian; Zhu, Huaijie

2014-06-01

To explore the characteristics of RR-Lorenz plot in persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) patients complicating with escape beats and rhythm though ambulatory electrocardiogram. The 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiogram of 291 persistent AF patients in second affiliated hospital of Zhengzhou university from July 2005 to April 2013 were retrospectively analyzed and the RR interval and the QRS wave were measured. Patients were divided into two groups according to the distribution of the RR-Lorenz point [AF without escape beats and rhythm group (Group A, n = 259) and AF with escape beats and rhythm group (Group B, n = 32)]. The characteristics of RR-Lorenz plot between the two groups were compared. (1) Fan-shaped RR-Lorenz plots were evidenced in Group A. (2)In Group B, 30 cases showed fan-shaped with L-shaped and a short dense rods along 45° line. The proportion of escape beats and rhythm was 0.28% (275/98 369) -14.06% (11 263/80 112) . The other 2 cases in group B showed no typical RR-Lorenz plots features. RR-Lorenz plot could help to quickly diagnose persistent AF complicating with escape beats and rhythm according to the typical RR-Lorenz plot characteristics in 24-hour ambulatory electrocardiogram.

Proximal collagenous gastroenteritides:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Ole Haagen; Riis, Lene Buhl; Danese, Silvio

2014-01-01

AIM: While collagenous colitis represents the most common form of the collagenous gastroenteritides, the collagenous entities affecting the proximal part of the gastrointestinal tract are much less recognized and possibly overlooked. The aim was to summarize the latest information through a syste...

Promoting proximal formative assessment with relational discourse

Science.gov (United States)

Scherr, Rachel E.; Close, Hunter G.; McKagan, Sarah B.

2012-02-01

The practice of proximal formative assessment - the continual, responsive attention to students' developing understanding as it is expressed in real time - depends on students' sharing their ideas with instructors and on teachers' attending to them. Rogerian psychology presents an account of the conditions under which proximal formative assessment may be promoted or inhibited: (1) Normal classroom conditions, characterized by evaluation and attention to learning targets, may present threats to students' sense of their own competence and value, causing them to conceal their ideas and reducing the potential for proximal formative assessment. (2) In contrast, discourse patterns characterized by positive anticipation and attention to learner ideas increase the potential for proximal formative assessment and promote self-directed learning. We present an analysis methodology based on these principles and demonstrate its utility for understanding episodes of university physics instruction.

Identification of a Peptide-Pheromone that Enhances Listeria monocytogenes Escape from Host Cell Vacuoles

Science.gov (United States)

Xayarath, Bobbi; Alonzo, Francis; Freitag, Nancy E.

2015-01-01

Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive facultative intracellular bacterial pathogen that invades mammalian cells and escapes from membrane-bound vacuoles to replicate within the host cell cytosol. Gene products required for intracellular bacterial growth and bacterial spread to adjacent cells are regulated by a transcriptional activator known as PrfA. PrfA becomes activated following L. monocytogenes entry into host cells, however the signal that stimulates PrfA activation has not yet been defined. Here we provide evidence for L. monocytogenes secretion of a small peptide pheromone, pPplA, which enhances the escape of L. monocytogenes from host cell vacuoles and may facilitate PrfA activation. The pPplA pheromone is generated via the proteolytic processing of the PplA lipoprotein secretion signal peptide. While the PplA lipoprotein is dispensable for pathogenesis, bacteria lacking the pPplA pheromone are significantly attenuated for virulence in mice and have a reduced efficiency of bacterial escape from the vacuoles of nonprofessional phagocytic cells. Mutational activation of PrfA restores virulence and eliminates the need for pPplA-dependent signaling. Experimental evidence suggests that the pPplA peptide may help signal to L. monocytogenes its presence within the confines of the host cell vacuole, stimulating the expression of gene products that contribute to vacuole escape and facilitating PrfA activation to promote bacterial growth within the cytosol. PMID:25822753

浅析现代人对自由的逃避%Talking about Modern Escape to Freedom

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

苗光磊

2012-01-01

Fromm considered that individual became isolated under the action of multiple factors of economics, politics and warfare in the capitalist world, and many people chose to escape from fTeedom. The main way of escaping from freedom is authoritarianism. This article analyzed how to use this way to escape from freedom by the modem generation.%埃里希.弗罗姆是德裔美籍心理学家、社会学家,法兰克福学派的代表人物之一,本文将对他的《逃避自由》一书中现代人对自由的逃避这一问题展开分析。

Tumor suppressor genes that escape from X-inactivation contribute to cancer sex bias

Science.gov (United States)

Dunford, Andrew; Weinstock, David M.; Savova, Virginia; Schumacher, Steven E.; Cleary, John P.; Yoda, Akinori; Sullivan, Timothy J.; Hess, Julian M.; Gimelbrant, Alexander A.; Beroukhim, Rameen; Lawrence, Michael S.; Getz, Gad; Lane, Andrew A.

2016-01-01

There is a striking and unexplained male predominance across many cancer types. A subset of X chromosome (chrX) genes can escape X-inactivation, which would protect females from complete functional loss by a single mutation. To identify putative “Escape from X-Inactivation Tumor Suppressor” (EXITS) genes, we compared somatic alterations from >4100 cancers across 21 tumor types for sex bias. Six of 783 non-pseudoautosomal region (PAR) chrX genes (ATRX, CNKSR2, DDX3X, KDM5C, KDM6A, and MAGEC3) more frequently harbored loss-of-function mutations in males (based on false discovery rate <0.1), compared to zero of 18,055 autosomal and PAR genes (P<0.0001). Male-biased mutations in genes that escape X-inactivation were observed in combined analysis across many cancers and in several individual tumor types, suggesting a generalized phenomenon. We conclude that biallelic expression of EXITS genes in females explains a portion of the reduced cancer incidence compared to males across a variety of tumor types. PMID:27869828

Tumor-suppressor genes that escape from X-inactivation contribute to cancer sex bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Dunford, Andrew; Weinstock, David M; Savova, Virginia; Schumacher, Steven E; Cleary, John P; Yoda, Akinori; Sullivan, Timothy J; Hess, Julian M; Gimelbrant, Alexander A; Beroukhim, Rameen; Lawrence, Michael S; Getz, Gad; Lane, Andrew A

2017-01-01

There is a striking and unexplained male predominance across many cancer types. A subset of X-chromosome genes can escape X-inactivation, which would protect females from complete functional loss by a single mutation. To identify putative 'escape from X-inactivation tumor-suppressor' (EXITS) genes, we examined somatic alterations from >4,100 cancers across 21 tumor types for sex bias. Six of 783 non-pseudoautosomal region (PAR) X-chromosome genes (ATRX, CNKSR2, DDX3X, KDM5C, KDM6A, and MAGEC3) harbored loss-of-function mutations more frequently in males (based on a false discovery rate < 0.1), in comparison to zero of 18,055 autosomal and PAR genes (Fisher's exact P < 0.0001). Male-biased mutations in genes that escape X-inactivation were observed in combined analysis across many cancers and in several individual tumor types, suggesting a generalized phenomenon. We conclude that biallelic expression of EXITS genes in females explains a portion of the reduced cancer incidence in females as compared to males across a variety of tumor types.

Escape of ionizing radiation from high redshift dwarf galaxies: role of AGN feedback

Science.gov (United States)

Trebitsch, Maxime; Volonteri, Marta; Dubois, Yohan; Madau, Piero

2018-05-01

While low mass, star forming galaxies are often considered as the primary driver of reionization, their actual contribution to the cosmic ultraviolet background is still uncertain, mostly because the escape fraction of ionizing photons is only poorly constrained. Theoretical studies have shown that efficient supernova feedback is a necessary condition to create paths through which ionizing radiation can escape into the intergalactic medium. We investigate the possibility that accreting supermassive black holes in early dwarf galaxies may provide additional feedback and enhance the leakage of ionizing radiation. We use a series of high resolution cosmological radiation hydrodynamics simulations where we isolate the different sources of feedback. We find that supernova feedback prevents the growth of the black hole, thus quenching its associated feedback. Even in cases where the black hole can grow, the structure of the interstellar medium is strongly dominated by supernova feedback. We conclude that, in the dwarf galaxy regime, supermassive black holes do not appear to play a significant role in enhancing the escape fraction and in contributing to the early UV background.

Psychological responses to the proximity of climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Brügger, Adrian; Dessai, Suraje; Devine-Wright, Patrick; Morton, Thomas A.; Pidgeon, Nicholas F.

2015-12-01

A frequent suggestion to increase individuals' willingness to take action on climate change and to support relevant policies is to highlight its proximal consequences, that is, those that are close in space and time. But previous studies that have tested this proximizing approach have not revealed the expected positive effects on individual action and support for addressing climate change. We present three lines of psychological reasoning that provide compelling arguments as to why highlighting proximal impacts of climate change might not be as effective a way to increase individual mitigation and adaptation efforts as is often assumed. Our contextualization of the proximizing approach within established psychological research suggests that, depending on the particular theoretical perspective one takes on this issue, and on specific individual characteristics suggested by these perspectives, proximizing can bring about the intended positive effects, can have no (visible) effect or can even backfire. Thus, the effects of proximizing are much more complex than is commonly assumed. Revealing this complexity contributes to a refined theoretical understanding of the role that psychological distance plays in the context of climate change and opens up further avenues for future research and for interventions.

Critical Proximity as a Methodological Move in Techno-Anthropology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Birkbak, Andreas; Petersen, Morten Krogh; Elgaard Jensen, Torben

2015-01-01

proximity.’ Critical proximity offers an alternative to critical distance, especially with respect to avoiding premature references to abstract panoramas such as democratization and capitalist exploitation in the quest to conduct ‘critical’ analysis. Critical proximity implies, instead, granting the beings...

Distal and Proximal Religiosity as Protective Factors for Adolescent and Emerging Adult Alcohol Use

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michelle V. Porche

2015-04-01

Full Text Available Data from emerging adults (ages 18–29, N = 900 in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication Study was used to examine the influence of childhood and emerging adult religiosity and religious-based decision-making, and childhood adversity, on alcohol use. Childhood religiosity was protective against early alcohol use and progression to later abuse or dependence, but did not significantly offset the influence of childhood adversity on early patterns of heavy drinking in adjusted logistic regression models. Religiosity in emerging adulthood was negatively associated with alcohol use disorders. Protective associations for religiosity varied by gender, ethnicity and childhood adversity histories. Higher religiosity may be protective against early onset alcohol use and later development of alcohol problems, thus, should be considered in prevention programming for youth, particularly in faith-based settings. Mental health providers should allow for integration of clients’ religiosity and spirituality beliefs and practices in treatment settings if clients indicate such interest.

Infiltrating/sealing proximal caries lesions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martignon, S; Ekstrand, K R; Gomez, J

2012-01-01

This randomized split-mouth controlled clinical trial aimed at assessing the therapeutic effects of infiltration vs. sealing for controlling caries progression on proximal surfaces. Out of 90 adult students/patients assessed at university clinics and agreeing to participate, 39, each with 3...... differences in lesion progression between infiltration and placebo (P = 0.0012) and between sealing and placebo (P = 0.0269). The study showed that infiltration and sealing are significantly better than placebo treatment for controlling caries progression on proximal lesions. No significant difference...

Proximal femoral fractures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Palm, Henrik; Teixidor, Jordi

2015-01-01

searched the homepages of the national heath authorities and national orthopedic societies in West Europe and found 11 national or regional (in case of no national) guidelines including any type of proximal femoral fracture surgery. RESULTS: Pathway consensus is outspread (internal fixation for un...

Balancing Biomechanical Constraints: Optimal Escape Speeds When There Is a Trade-off between Speed and Maneuverability.

Science.gov (United States)

Clemente, C J; Wilson, R S

2015-12-01

The ability for prey to escape a pursuing predator is dependent both on the prey's speed away from the threat and on their ability to rapidly change directions, or maneuverability. Given that the biomechanical trade-off between speed and maneuverability limits the simultaneous maximization of both performance traits, animals should not select their fastest possible speeds when running away from a pursuing predator but rather a speed that maximizes the probability of successful escape. We explored how variation in the relationship between speed and maneuverability-or the shape of the trade-off-affects the optimal choice of speed for escaping predators. We used tablet-based games that simulated interactions between predators and prey (human subjects acting as predators attempting to capture "prey" moving across a screen). By defining a specific relationship between speed and maneuverability, we could test the survival of each of the possible behavioral choices available to this phenotype, i.e., the best combination of speed and maneuverability for prey fitness, based on their ability to escape. We found that the shape of the trade-off function affected the prey's optimal speed for success in escaping, the prey's maximum performance in escaping, and the breadth of speeds over which the prey's performance was high. The optimal speed for escape varied only when the trade-off between speed and maneuverability was non-linear. Phenotypes possessing trade-off functions for which maneuverability was only compromised at high speeds exhibited lower optimal speeds. Phenotypes that exhibited greater increases in maneuverability for any decrease in speed were more likely to have broader ranges of performance, meaning that individuals could attain their maximum performance across a broader range of speeds. We also found that there was a differential response of the subject's learning to these different components of locomotion. With increased experience through repeated trials

Energy conversion through mass loading of escaping ionospheric ions for different Kp values

Science.gov (United States)

Yamauchi, Masatoshi; Slapak, Rikard

2018-01-01

By conserving momentum during the mixing of fast solar wind flow and slow planetary ion flow in an inelastic way, mass loading converts kinetic energy to other forms - e.g. first to electrical energy through charge separation and then to thermal energy (randomness) through gyromotion of the newly born cold ions for the comet and Mars cases. Here, we consider the Earth's exterior cusp and plasma mantle, where the ionospheric origin escaping ions with finite temperatures are loaded into the decelerated solar wind flow. Due to direct connectivity to the ionosphere through the geomagnetic field, a large part of this electrical energy is consumed to maintain field-aligned currents (FACs) toward the ionosphere, in a similar manner as the solar wind-driven ionospheric convection in the open geomagnetic field region. We show that the energy extraction rate by the mass loading of escaping ions (ΔK) is sufficient to explain the cusp FACs, and that ΔK depends only on the solar wind velocity accessing the mass-loading region (usw) and the total mass flux of the escaping ions into this region (mloadFload), as ΔK ˜ -mloadFloadu2sw/4. The expected distribution of the separated charges by this process also predicts the observed flowing directions of the cusp FACs for different interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) orientations if we include the deflection of the solar wind flow directions in the exterior cusp. Using empirical relations of u0 ∝ Kp + 1.2 and Fload ∝ exp(0.45Kp) for Kp = 1-7, where u0 is the solar wind velocity upstream of the bow shock, ΔK becomes a simple function of Kp as log10(ΔK) = 0.2 ṡ Kp + 2 ṡ log10(Kp + 1.2) + constant. The major contribution of this nearly linear increase is the Fload term, i.e. positive feedback between the increase of ion escaping rate Fload through the increased energy consumption in the ionosphere for high Kp, and subsequent extraction of more kinetic energy ΔK from the solar wind to the current system by the increased

Proximity correction of high-dosed frame with PROXECCO

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenmann, Hans; Waas, Thomas; Hartmann, Hans

1994-05-01

Usefulness of electron beam lithography is strongly related to the efficiency and quality of methods used for proximity correction. This paper addresses the above issue by proposing an extension to the new proximity correction program PROXECCO. The combination of a framing step with PROXECCO produces a pattern with a very high edge accuracy and still allows usage of the fast correction procedure. Making a frame with a higher dose imitates a fine resolution correction where the coarse part is disregarded. So after handling the high resolution effect by means of framing, an additional coarse correction is still needed. Higher doses have a higher contribution to the proximity effect. This additional proximity effect is taken into account with the help of the multi-dose input of PROXECCO. The dose of the frame is variable, depending on the deposited energy coming from backscattering of the proximity. Simulation proves the very high edge accuracy of the applied method.

Dual pathology proximal median nerve compression of the forearm.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Murphy, Siun M

2013-12-01

We report an unusual case of synchronous pathology in the forearm- the coexistence of a large lipoma of the median nerve together with an osteochondroma of the proximal ulna, giving rise to a dual proximal median nerve compression. Proximal median nerve compression neuropathies in the forearm are uncommon compared to the prevalence of distal compression neuropathies (eg Carpal Tunnel Syndrome). Both neural fibrolipomas (Refs. 1,2) and osteochondromas of the proximal ulna (Ref. 3) in isolation are rare but well documented. Unlike that of a distal compression, a proximal compression of the median nerve will often have a definite cause. Neural fibrolipoma, also called fibrolipomatous hamartoma are rare, slow-growing, benign tumours of peripheral nerves, most often occurring in the median nerve of younger patients. To our knowledge, this is the first report of such dual pathology in the same forearm, giving rise to a severe proximal compression of the median nerve. In this case, the nerve was being pushed anteriorly by the osteochondroma, and was being compressed from within by the intraneural lipoma. This unusual case highlights the advantage of preoperative imaging as part of the workup of proximal median nerve compression.

Giant proximity effect and critical opalescence in EuS

Science.gov (United States)

Charlton, Timothy; Ramos, Silvia; Quintanilla, Jorge; Suter, Andreas; Moodera, Jagadeesh

2015-03-01

The proximity effect is a type of wetting phenomenon where an ordered state, usually magnetism or superconductivity, ``leaks'' from one material into an adjacent one over some finite distance. For superconductors, the characteristic range is of the order of the coherence length, usually hundreds of nm. Nevertheless much longer, ``giant'' proximity effects have been observed in cuprate perovskite junctions. Such giant proximity effects can be understood by taking into account the divergence of the pairing susceptibility in the non-superconducting material when it is itself close to a superconducting instability: a superconducting version of critical opalescence. Since critical opalescence occurs in all second order phase transitions, giant proximity effects are expected to be general, therefor there must be a giant ferromagnetic proximity effect. Compared to its superconducting counterpart, the giant ferromagnetic proximity effect has the advantage that the order parameter (magnetization) can be observed directly. We have fabricated Co/EuS thin films and measured the magnetization profiles as a function of temperature using the complementary techniques of low energy muon relaxation and polarized neutron reflectivity. Details of the proximity effect near TCEuS will be presented.

Ultra-fast Escape of a Octopus-inspired Rocket

Science.gov (United States)

Weymouth, Gabriel; Triantafyllou, Michael

2013-11-01

The octopus, squid, and other cephalopods inflate with water and then release a jet to accelerate in the opposite direction. This escape mechanism is particularly interesting in the octopus because they become initially quite bluff, yet this does not hinder them in achieving impressive bursts of speed. We examine this somewhat paradoxical maneuver using a simple deflating spheroid model in both potential and viscous flow. We demonstrate that the dynamic reduction of the width of the body completely changes the flow and forces acting on the escaping rocket in three ways. First, a body which reduces in size can generate an added mass thrust which counteracts the added mass inertia. Second, the motion of the shrinking wall acts similar to suction on a static wall, reducing separation and drag forces in a viscous fluid, but that this effects depends on the rate of size change. Third, using a combination of these two features it is possible to initially load the fluid with kinetic energy when heavy and bluff and then recover that energy when streamlined and light, enabling ultra-fast accelerations. As a notable example, these mechanisms allow a shrinking spheroid rocket in a heavy inviscid fluid to achieve speeds greater than an identical rocket in the vacuum of space. Southampton Marine and Maritime Institute.

Strong Proximities on Smooth Manifolds and Vorono\\" i Diagrams

OpenAIRE

Peters, J. F.; Guadagni, C.

2015-01-01

This article introduces strongly near smooth manifolds. The main results are (i) second countability of the strongly hit and far-miss topology on a family $\\mathcal{B}$ of subsets on the Lodato proximity space of regular open sets to which singletons are added, (ii) manifold strong proximity, (iii) strong proximity of charts in manifold atlases implies that the charts have nonempty intersection. The application of these results is given in terms of the nearness of atlases and charts of proxim...

A novel escapable social interaction test reveals that social behavior and mPFC activation during an escapable social encounter are altered by post-weaning social isolation and are dependent on the aggressiveness of the stimulus rat

Science.gov (United States)

Goodell, Dayton J.; Ahern, Megan A.; Baynard, Jessica; Wall, Vanessa L.; Bland, Sondra T.

2016-01-01

Post-weaning social isolation (PSI) has been shown to increase aggressive behavior and alter medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) function in social species such as rats. Here we developed a novel escapable social interaction test (ESIT) allowing for the quantification of escape and social behaviors in addition to mPFC activation in response to an aggressive or nonaggressive stimulus rat. Male rats were exposed to 3 weeks of PSI (ISO) or group (GRP) housing, and exposed to 3 trials, with either no trial, all trials, or the last trial only with a stimulus rat. Analysis of social behaviors indicated that ISO rats spent less time in the escape chamber and more time engaged in social interaction, aggressive grooming, and boxing than did GRP rats. Interestingly, during the third trial all rats engaged in more of the quantified social behaviors and spent less time escaping in response to aggressive but not nonaggressive stimulus rats. Rats exposed to nonaggressive stimulus rats on the third trial had greater c-fos and ARC immunoreactivity in the mPFC than those exposed to an aggressive stimulus rat. Conversely, a social encounter produced an increase in large PSD-95 punctae in the mPFC independently of trial number, but only in ISO rats exposed to an aggressive stimulus rat. The results presented here demonstrate that PSI increases interaction time and aggressive behaviors during escapable social interaction, and that the aggressiveness of the stimulus rat in a social encounter is an important component of behavioral and neural outcomes for both isolation and group-reared rats. PMID:27633556

75 FR 5009 - Proximity Detection Systems for Underground Mines

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-01

... Proximity Detection Systems for Underground Mines AGENCY: Mine Safety and Health Administration, Labor... information regarding whether the use of proximity detection systems would reduce the risk of accidents where... . Information on MSHA-approved proximity detection systems is available on the Internet at http://www.msha.gov...

Impact of Antiretroviral Regimens on CSF Viral Escape in a Prospective Multicohort Study of ART-Experienced HIV-1 Infected Adults in the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Mukerji, Shibani S; Misra, Vikas; Lorenz, David R; Uno, Hajime; Morgello, Susan; Franklin, Donald; Ellis, Ronald J; Letendre, Scott; Gabuzda, Dana

2018-04-03

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) viral escape occurs in 4-20% of HIV-infected adults, yet the impact of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on CSF escape is unclear. Prospective study of 1063 participants with baseline plasma viral load (VL) ≤400 copies/ml between 2005-2016. Odds ratio for ART regimens (PI with nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor [PI+NRTI] versus other ART) and CSF escape was estimated using mixed-effects models. Drug resistance mutation frequencies were calculated. Baseline mean age was 46, median plasma VL, CD4 nadir, and CD4 count were 50 copies/mL, 88 cells/μL, and 424 cells/μL, respectively; 48% on PI+NRTI, 33% on non-NRTI, and 6% on integrase inhibitors. During median follow-up of 4.4 years, CSF escape occurred in 77 participants (7.2%). PI+NRTI use was an independent predictor of CSF escape (OR 3.1 [95% CI 1.8-5.0]) in adjusted analyses and models restricted to plasma VL ≤50 copies/ml (pCSF viral escape than non-ATV PI+NRTI regimens. Plasma and CSF M184V/I combined with thymidine-analog mutations were more frequent in CSF escape versus no escape (23% vs. 2.3%). Genotypic susceptibility score-adjusted CNS penetration-effectiveness (CPE) values were calculated for CSF escape with M184V/I mutations (n=34). Adjusted CPE values were low (CSF and plasma in 27 (79%) and 13 (38%), respectively, indicating suboptimal CNS drug availability. PI+NRTI regimens are independent predictors of CSF escape in HIV-infected adults. Reduced CNS ART bioavailability may predispose to CSF escape in patients with M184V/I mutations. Optimizing ART regimens may reduce risk of CSF escape.

Bimalleolar ankle fracture with proximal fibular fracture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Colenbrander, R. J.; Struijs, P. A. A.; Ultee, J. M.

2005-01-01

A 56-year-old female patient suffered a bimalleolar ankle fracture with an additional proximal fibular fracture. This is an unusual fracture type, seldom reported in literature. It was operatively treated by open reduction and internal fixation of the lateral malleolar fracture. The proximal fibular

THE HYADES CLUSTER: IDENTIFICATION OF A PLANETARY SYSTEM AND ESCAPING WHITE DWARFS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zuckerman, B.; Xu, S.; Klein, B.; Jura, M.

2013-01-01

Recently, some hot DA-type white dwarfs have been proposed to plausibly be escaping members of the Hyades. We used hydrogen Balmer lines to measure the radial velocities of seven such stars and confirm that three, and perhaps two others, are/were indeed cluster members and one is not. The other candidate Hyad is strongly magnetic and its membership status remains uncertain. The photospheres of at least one quarter of field white dwarf stars are ''polluted'' by elements heavier than helium that have been accreted. These stars are orbited by extended planetary systems that contain both debris belts and major planets. We surveyed the seven classical single Hyades white dwarfs and the newly identified (escaping) Hyades white dwarfs and found calcium in the photosphere of LP 475-242 of type DBA (now DBAZ), thus implying the presence of an orbiting planetary system. The spectrum of white dwarf GD 31, which may be, but probably is not, an escaping member of the Hyades, displays calcium absorption lines; these originate either from the interstellar medium or, less likely, from a gaseous circumstellar disk. If GD 31 was once a Hyades member, then it would be the first identified white dwarf Hyad with a cooling age >340 Myr.

[Partial replantation following proximal limb injury].

Science.gov (United States)

Dubert, T; Malikov, S A; Dinh, A; Kupatadze, D D; Oberlin, C; Alnot, J Y; Nabokov, B B

2000-11-01

Proximal replantation is a technically feasible but life-threatening procedure. Indications must be restricted to patients in good condition with a good functional prognosis. The goal of replantation must be focused not only on reimplanting the amputated limb but also on achieving a good functional outcome. For the lower limb, simple terminalization remains the best choice in many cases. When a proximal amputation is not suitable for replantation, the main aim of the surgical procedure must be to reconstruct a stump long enough to permit fitting a prosthesis preserving the function of the adjacent joint. If the proximal stump beyond the last joint is very short, it may be possible to restore some length by partial replantation of spared tissues from the amputated part. We present here the results we obtained following this policy. This series included 16 cases of partial replantations, 14 involving the lower limb and 2 the upper limb. All were osteocutaneous microsurgical transfers. For the lower limb, all transfers recovered protective sensitivity following tibial nerve repair. The functional calcaeoplantar unit was used in 13 cases. The transfer of this specialized weight bearing tissue provided a stable distal surface making higher support unnecessary. In one case, we raised a 13-cm vascularized tibial segment covered with foot skin for additional length. For the upper limb, the osteocutaneous transfer, based on the radial artery, was not reinnervated, but this lack of sensitivity did not impair prosthesis fitting. One vascular failure was finally amputated. This was the only unsuccessful result. For all other patients, the surgical procedure facilitated prosthesis fitting and preserved the proximal joint function despite an initially very proximal amputation. The advantages of partial replantation are obvious compared with simple terminalization or secondary reconstruction. There is no secondary donor site and, because there is no major muscle mass in the

Crew emergency return vehicle - Electrical power system design study

Science.gov (United States)

Darcy, E. C.; Barrera, T. P.

1989-01-01

A crew emergency return vehicle (CERV) is proposed to perform the lifeboat function for the manned Space Station Freedom. This escape module will be permanently docked to Freedom and, on demand, will be capable of safely returning the crew to earth. The unique requirements that the CERV imposes on its power source are presented, power source options are examined, and a baseline system is selected. It consists of an active Li-BCX DD-cell modular battery system and was chosen for the maturity of its man-rated design and its low development costs.

Rejecting escape events in large volume Ge detectors by a pulse shape selection procedure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Del Zoppo, A.; Agodi, C.; Alba, R.; Bellia, G.; Coniglione, R.; Loukachine, K.; Maiolino, C.; Migneco, E.; Piattelli, P.; Santonocito, D.; Sapienza, P.

1993-01-01

The dependence of the response to γ-rays of a large volume Ge detector on the interval width of a selected initial rise pulse slope is investigated. The number of escape events associated with a small pulse slope is found to be greater than the corresponding number of full energy events. An escape event rejection procedure based on the observed correlation between energy deposition and pulse shape is discussed. Such a procedure seems particularly suited for the design of highly granular large volume Ge detector arrays. (orig.)

Proximity functions for general right cylinders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kellerer, A.M.

1981-01-01

Distributions of distances between pairs of points within geometrical objects, or the closely related proximity functions and geometric reduction factors, have applications to dosimetric and microdosimetric calculations. For convex bodies these functions are linked to the chord-length distributions that result from random intersections by straight lines. A synopsis of the most important relations is given. The proximity functions and related functions are derived for right cylinders with arbitrary cross sections. The solution utilizes the fact that the squares of the distances between two random points are sums of independently distributed squares of distances parallel and perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder. Analogous formulas are derived for the proximity functions or geometric reduction factors for a cylinder relative to a point. This requires only a minor modification of the solution

TIGRESS: TRIUMF-ISAC gamma-ray escape-suppressed spectrometer

Science.gov (United States)

Svensson, C. E.; Amaudruz, P.; Andreoiu, C.; Andreyev, A.; Austin, R. A. E.; Ball, G. C.; Bandyopadhyay, D.; Boston, A. J.; Chakrawarthy, R. S.; Chen, A. A.; Churchman, R.; Drake, T. E.; Finlay, P.; Garrett, P. E.; Grinyer, G. F.; Hackman, G.; Hyland, B.; Jones, B.; Kanungo, R.; Maharaj, R.; Martin, J. P.; Morris, D.; Morton, A. C.; Pearson, C. J.; Phillips, A. A.; Ressler, J. J.; Roy, R.; Sarazin, F.; Schumaker, M. A.; Scraggs, H. C.; Smith, M. B.; Starinsky, N.; Valiente-Dobón, J. J.; Waddington, J. C.; Watters, L. M.

2005-10-01

The TRIUMF-ISAC gamma-ray escape-suppressed spectrometer (TIGRESS) is a new γ-ray detector array being developed for use at TRIUMF's Isotope Separator and Accelerator (ISAC) radioactive ion beam facility. TIGRESS will comprise 12 32-fold segmented clover-type HPGe detectors coupled with 20-fold segmented modular Compton suppression shields and custom digital signal processing electronics. This paper provides an overview of the TIGRESS project and progress in its development to date.

Long-term results after proximal thoracic aortic redo surgery.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin Czerny

Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To evaluate early and mid-term results in patients undergoing proximal thoracic aortic redo surgery. METHODS: We analyzed 60 patients (median age 60 years, median logistic EuroSCORE 40 who underwent proximal thoracic aortic redo surgery between January 2005 and April 2012. Outcome and risk factors were analyzed. RESULTS: In hospital mortality was 13%, perioperative neurologic injury was 7%. Fifty percent of patients underwent redo surgery in an urgent or emergency setting. In 65%, partial or total arch replacement with or without conventional or frozen elephant trunk extension was performed. The preoperative logistic EuroSCORE I confirmed to be a reliable predictor of adverse outcome- (ROC 0.786, 95%CI 0.64-0.93 as did the new EuroSCORE II model: ROC 0.882 95%CI 0.78-0.98. Extensive individual logistic EuroSCORE I levels more than 67 showed an OR of 7.01, 95%CI 1.43-34.27. A EuroSCORE II larger than 28 showed an OR of 4.44 (95%CI 1.4-14.06. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified a critical preoperative state (OR 7.96, 95%CI 1.51-38.79 but not advanced age (OR 2.46, 95%CI 0.48-12.66 as the strongest independent predictor of in-hospital mortality. Median follow-up was 23 months (1-52 months. One year and five year actuarial survival rates were 83% and 69% respectively. Freedom from reoperation during follow-up was 100%. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a substantial early attrition rate in patients presenting with a critical preoperative state, proximal thoracic aortic redo surgery provides excellent early and mid-term results. Higher EuroSCORE I and II levels and a critical preoperative state but not advanced age are independent predictors of in-hospital mortality. As a consequence, age alone should no longer be regarded as a contraindication for surgical treatment in this particular group of patients.

ABSORPTION-LINE SPECTROSCOPY OF GRAVITATIONALLY LENSED GALAXIES: FURTHER CONSTRAINTS ON THE ESCAPE FRACTION OF IONIZING PHOTONS AT HIGH REDSHIFT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Leethochawalit, Nicha; Ellis, Richard S.; Zitrin, Adi [Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics, California Institute of Technology, MS 249-17, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Jones, Tucker A. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Drive, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); Stark, Daniel P. [Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)

2016-11-10

The fraction of ionizing photons escaping from high-redshift star-forming galaxies is a key obstacle in evaluating whether galaxies were the primary agents of cosmic reionization. We previously proposed using the covering fraction of low-ionization gas, measured via deep absorption-line spectroscopy, as a proxy. We now present a significant update, sampling seven gravitationally lensed sources at 4 < z < 5. We show that the absorbing gas in our sources is spatially inhomogeneous, with a median covering fraction of 66%. Correcting for reddening according to a dust-in-cloud model, this implies an estimated absolute escape fraction of ≃19% ± 6%. With possible biases and uncertainties, collectively we find that the average escape fraction could be reduced to no less than 11%, excluding the effect of spatial variations. For one of our lensed sources, we have sufficient signal-to-noise ratio to demonstrate the presence of such spatial variations and scatter in its dependence on the Ly α equivalent width, consistent with recent simulations. If this source is typical, our lower limit to the escape fraction could be reduced by a further factor ≃2. Across our sample, we find a modest anticorrelation between the inferred escape fraction and the local star formation rate, consistent with a time delay between a burst and leaking Lyman continuum photons. Our analysis demonstrates considerable variations in the escape fraction, consistent with being governed by the small-scale behavior of star-forming regions, whose activities fluctuate over short timescales. This supports the suggestion that the escape fraction may increase toward the reionization era when star formation becomes more energetic and burst-like.

Theoretical UV absorption spectra of hydrodynamically escaping O2/CO2-rich exoplanetary atmospheres

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gronoff, G.; Mertens, C. J.; Norman, R. B.; Maggiolo, R.; Wedlund, C. Simon; Bell, J.; Bernard, D.; Parkinson, C. J.; Vidal-Madjar, A.

2014-01-01

Characterizing Earth- and Venus-like exoplanets' atmospheres to determine if they are habitable and how they are evolving (e.g., equilibrium or strong erosion) is a challenge. For that endeavor, a key element is the retrieval of the exospheric temperature, which is a marker of some of the processes occurring in the lower layers and controls a large part of the atmospheric escape. We describe a method to determine the exospheric temperature of an O 2 - and/or CO 2 -rich transiting exoplanet, and we simulate the respective spectra of such a planet in hydrostatic equilibrium and hydrodynamic escape. The observation of hydrodynamically escaping atmospheres in young planets may help constrain and improve our understanding of the evolution of the solar system's terrestrial planets' atmospheres. We use the dependency of the absorption spectra of the O 2 and CO 2 molecules on the temperature to estimate the temperature independently of the total absorption of the planet. Combining two observables (two parts of the UV spectra that have a different temperature dependency) with the model, we are able to determine the thermospheric density profile and temperature. If the slope of the density profile is inconsistent with the temperature, then we infer the hydrodynamic escape. We address the question of the possible biases in the application of the method to future observations, and we show that the flare activity should be cautiously monitored to avoid large biases.

Dynamic analysis of trapping and escaping in dual beam optical trap

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Wenqiang; Hu, Huizhu; Su, Heming; Li, Zhenggang; Shen, Yu

2016-10-01

In this paper, we simulate the dynamic movement of a dielectric sphere in optical trap. This dynamic analysis can be used to calibrate optical forces, increase trapping efficiency and measure viscous coefficient of surrounding medium. Since an accurate dynamic analysis is based on a detailed force calculation, we calculate all forces a sphere receives. We get the forces of dual-beam gradient radiation pressure on a micron-sized dielectric sphere in the ray optics regime and utilize Einstein-Ornstein-Uhlenbeck to deal with its Brownian motion forces. Hydrodynamic viscous force also exists when the sphere moves in liquid. Forces from buoyance and gravity are also taken into consideration. Then we simulate trajectory of a sphere when it is subject to all these forces in a dual optical trap. From our dynamic analysis, the sphere can be trapped at an equilibrium point in static water, although it permanently fluctuates around the equilibrium point due to thermal effects. We go a step further to analyze the effects of misalignment of two optical traps. Trapping and escaping phenomena of the sphere in flowing water are also simulated. In flowing water, the sphere is dragged away from the equilibrium point. This dragging distance increases with the decrease of optical power, which results in escaping of the sphere with optical power below a threshold. In both trapping and escaping process we calculate the forces and position of the sphere. Finally, we analyze a trapping region in dual optical tweezers.

Proximity effect at Millikelvin temperatures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mota, A.C.

1986-01-01

Proximity effects have been studied extensively for the past 25 years. Typically, they are in films several thousand angstroms thick at temperatures not so far below T/sub CNS/, the transition temperature of the NS system. Interesting is, however, the proximity effect at temperatures much lower than T/sub CNS/. In this case, the Cooper-pair amplitudes are not small and very long pair penetration lengths into the normal metal can be expected. Thus, we have observed pair penetration lengths. For these investigations very suitable specimens are commercial wires of one filament of NbTi or Nb embedded in a copper matrix. The reasons are the high transmission coefficient at the interface between the copper and the superconductor and the fact that the copper in these commercial wires is rather clean with electron free paths between 5 to 10 μm long. In this paper, the magnetic properties of thick proximity systems in the range of temperatures between T/sub CNS/ and 5 x 10/sup -4/ T/sub CNS/ in both low and high magnetic fields are discussed

Unravelling the escape dynamics and the nature of the normally hyperbolic invariant manifolds in tidally limited star clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Zotos, Euaggelos E.; Jung, Christof

2017-02-01

The escape mechanism of orbits in a star cluster rotating around its parent galaxy in a circular orbit is investigated. A three degrees of freedom model is used for describing the dynamical properties of the Hamiltonian system. The gravitational field of the star cluster is represented by a smooth and spherically symmetric Plummer potential. We distinguish between ordered and chaotic orbits as well as between trapped and escaping orbits, considering only unbounded motion for several energy levels. The Smaller ALignment Index (SALI) method is used for determining the regular or chaotic nature of the orbits. The basins of escape are located and they are also correlated with the corresponding escape time of the orbits. Areas of bounded regular or chaotic motion and basins of escape were found to coexist in the (x, z) plane. The properties of the normally hyperbolic invariant manifolds (NHIMs), located in the vicinity of the index-1 Lagrange points L1 and L2, are also explored. These manifolds are of paramount importance as they control the flow of stars over the saddle points, while they also trigger the formation of tidal tails observed in star clusters. Bifurcation diagrams of the Lyapunov periodic orbits as well as restrictions of the Poincaré map to the NHIMs are deployed for elucidating the dynamics in the neighbourhood of the saddle points. The extended tidal tails, or tidal arms, formed by stars with low velocity which escape through the Lagrange points are monitored. The numerical results of this work are also compared with previous related work.

Estimating escapement of fish and invertebrates in a Danish anchor seine

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Noack, Thomas; Madsen, Niels; Mieske, Bernd

2017-01-01

The codend is generally presumed to be the place where the main selectivity of fish occurs in towed fishing gears, but other parts of the net have been found to contribute to the selectivity process of several invertebrate species. This means that conventional selectivity or survival studies may......) invertebrates from the forward parts of the seine net. For seven species of demersal fish, most fish escaped through the lower panel close to the codend. All invertebrate species were found in higher numbers in the collecting bags than in the codend where many organisms escaped in the lower panel of the wings...... or the belly. Mean levels of visible damage ranged from 1.00 to 3.25 for collected invertebrates and were similar for all gear parts. Common starfish (Asterias rubens), however, showed highest damage in the extension part of the net....

Bridging the gap between high and low acceleration for planetary escape

Science.gov (United States)

Indrikis, Janis; Preble, Jeffrey C.

With the exception of the often time consuming analysis by numerical optimization, no single orbit transfer analysis technique exists that can be applied over a wide range of accelerations. Using the simple planetary escape (parabolic trajectory) mission some of the more common techniques are considered as the limiting bastions at the high and the extremely low acceleration regimes. The brachistochrone, the minimum time of flight path, is proposed as the technique to bridge the gap between the high and low acceleration regions, providing a smooth bridge over the entire acceleration spectrum. A smooth and continuous velocity requirement is established for the planetary escape mission. By using these results, it becomes possible to determine the effect of finite accelerations on mission performance and target propulsion and power system designs which are consistent with a desired mission objective.

Atmospheric loss from the dayside open polar region and its dependence on geomagnetic activity: implications for atmospheric escape on evolutionary timescales

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Slapak

2017-06-01

Full Text Available We have investigated the total O+ escape rate from the dayside open polar region and its dependence on geomagnetic activity, specifically Kp. Two different escape routes of magnetospheric plasma into the solar wind, the plasma mantle, and the high-latitude dayside magnetosheath have been investigated separately. The flux of O+ in the plasma mantle is sufficiently fast to subsequently escape further down the magnetotail passing the neutral point, and it is nearly 3 times larger than that in the dayside magnetosheath. The contribution from the plasma mantle route is estimated as  ∼ 3. 9 × 1024exp(0. 45 Kp [s−1] with a 1 to 2 order of magnitude range for a given geomagnetic activity condition. The extrapolation of this result, including escape via the dayside magnetosheath, indicates an average O+ escape of 3 × 1026 s−1 for the most extreme geomagnetic storms. Assuming that the range is mainly caused by the solar EUV level, which was also larger in the past, the average O+ escape could have reached 1027–28 s−1 a few billion years ago. Integration over time suggests a total oxygen escape from ancient times until the present roughly equal to the atmospheric oxygen content today.

Dual pathology proximal median nerve compression of the forearm.

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, Siun M; Browne, Katherine; Tuite, David J; O'Shaughnessy, Michael

2013-12-01

We report an unusual case of synchronous pathology in the forearm- the coexistence of a large lipoma of the median nerve together with an osteochondroma of the proximal ulna, giving rise to a dual proximal median nerve compression. Proximal median nerve compression neuropathies in the forearm are uncommon compared to the prevalence of distal compression neuropathies (eg Carpal Tunnel Syndrome). Both neural fibrolipomas (Refs. 1,2) and osteochondromas of the proximal ulna (Ref. 3) in isolation are rare but well documented. Unlike that of a distal compression, a proximal compression of the median nerve will often have a definite cause. Neural fibrolipoma, also called fibrolipomatous hamartoma are rare, slow-growing, benign tumours of peripheral nerves, most often occurring in the median nerve of younger patients. To our knowledge, this is the first report of such dual pathology in the same forearm, giving rise to a severe proximal compression of the median nerve. In this case, the nerve was being pushed anteriorly by the osteochondroma, and was being compressed from within by the intraneural lipoma. This unusual case highlights the advantage of preoperative imaging as part of the workup of proximal median nerve compression. Copyright © 2013 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Accounting for escape mortality in fisheries: implications for stock productivity and optimal management.

Science.gov (United States)

Baker, Matthew R; Schindler, Daniel E; Essington, Timothy E; Hilborn, Ray

2014-01-01

Few studies have considered the management implications of mortality to target fish stocks caused by non-retention in commercial harvest gear (escape mortality). We demonstrate the magnitude of this previously unquantified source of mortality and its implications for the population dynamics of exploited stocks, biological metrics, stock productivity, and optimal management. Non-retention in commercial gillnet fisheries for Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) is common and often leads to delayed mortality in spawning populations. This represents losses, not only to fishery harvest, but also in future recruitment to exploited stocks. We estimated incidence of non-retention in Alaskan gillnet fisheries for sockeye salmon (O. nerka) and found disentanglement injuries to be extensive and highly variable between years. Injuries related to non-retention were noted in all spawning populations, and incidence of injury ranged from 6% to 44% of escaped salmon across nine river systems over five years. We also demonstrate that non-retention rates strongly correlate with fishing effort. We applied maximum likelihood and Bayesian approaches to stock-recruitment analyses, discounting estimates of spawning salmon to account for fishery-related mortality in escaped fish. Discounting spawning stock estimates as a function of annual fishing effort improved model fits to historical stock-recruitment data in most modeled systems. This suggests the productivity of exploited stocks has been systematically underestimated. It also suggests that indices of fishing effort may be used to predict escape mortality and correct for losses. Our results illustrate how explicitly accounting for collateral effects of fishery extraction may improve estimates of productivity and better inform management metrics derived from estimates of stock-recruitment analyses.

Centering Single Cells in Microgels via Delayed Crosslinking Supports Long-Term 3D Culture by Preventing Cell Escape

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kamperman, Tom; Henke, Sieger; Visser, Claas Willem; Karperien, Marcel; Leijten, Jeroen

2017-01-01

Single-cell-laden microgels support physiological 3D culture conditions while enabling straightforward handling and high-resolution readouts of individual cells. However, their widespread adoption for long-term cultures is limited by cell escape. In this work, it is demonstrated that cell escape is

Therapeutics targeting tumor immune escape: towards the development of new generation anticancer vaccines.

Science.gov (United States)

Mocellin, Simone; Nitti, Donato

2008-05-01

Despite the evidence that immune effectors can play a significant role in controlling tumor growth under natural conditions or in response to therapeutic manipulation, it is clear that malignant cells evade immune surveillance in most cases. Considering that anticancer vaccination has reached a plateau of results and currently no vaccination regimen is indicated as a standard anticancer therapy, the dissection of the molecular events underlying tumor immune escape is the necessary condition to make anticancer vaccines a therapeutic weapon effective enough to be implemented in the routine clinical setting. Recent years have witnessed significant advances in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor immune escape. These mechanistic insights are fostering the development of rationally designed therapeutics aimed at reverting the immunosuppressive circuits that undermine an effective antitumor immune response. In this review, the best characterized mechanisms that allow cancer cells to evade immune surveillance are overviewed and the most debated controversies constellating this complex field are highlighted. In addition, the latest therapeutic strategies devised to overcome tumor immune escape are described, with special regard to those entering clinical phase investigation. Copyright (c) 2007 Wiley-Periodicals, Inc.

Early Hydrodynamic Escape Limits Rocky Planets to Less Than or Equal to 1.6 Earth Radii

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmer, O. R.; Catling, D. C.

2017-01-01

In the past decade thousands of exoplanet candidates and hundreds of confirmed exoplanets have been found. For sub-Neptune-sized planets, those less than approx. 10 Earth masses, we can separate planets into two broad categories: predominantly rocky planets, and gaseous planets with thick volatile sheaths. Observations and subsequent analysis of these planets show that rocky planets are only found with radii less than approx. 1.6 Earth radii. No rocky planet has yet been found that violates this limit. We propose that hydrodynamic escape of hydrogen rich protoatmospheres, accreted by forming planets, explains the limit in rocky planet size. Following the hydrodynamic escape model employed by Luger et al. (2015), we modelled the XUV driven escape from young planets (less than approx.100 Myr in age) around a Sun-like star. With a simple, first-order model we found that the rocky planet radii limit occurs consistently at approx. 1.6 Earth radii across a wide range of plausible parameter spaces. Our model shows that hydrodynamic escape can explain the observed cutoff between rocky and gaseous planets. Fig. 1 shows the results of our model for rocky planets between 0.5 and 10 Earth masses that accrete 3 wt. % H2/He during formation. The simulation was run for 100 Myr, after that time the XUV flux drops off exponentially and hydrodynamic escape drops with it. A cutoff between rocky planets and gaseous ones is clearly seen at approx. 1.5-1.6 Earth radii. We are only interested in the upper size limit for rocky planets. As such, we assumed pure hydrogen atmospheres and the highest possible isothermal atmospheric temperatures, which will produce an upper limit on the hydrodynamic loss rate. Previous work shows that a reasonable approximation for an upper temperature limit in a hydrogen rich protoatmosphere is 2000-3000 K, consistent with our assumptions. From these results, we propose that the observed dichotomy between mini-Neptunes and rocky worlds is simply explained by

The age structure of selected countries in the ESCAP region.

Science.gov (United States)

Hong, S

1982-01-01

The study objective was to examine the age structure of selected countries in the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) region, using available data and frequently applied indices such as the population pyramid, aged-child ratio, and median age. Based on the overall picture of the age structure thus obtained, age trends and their implication for the near future were arrived at. Countries are grouped into 4 types based on the fertility and mortality levels. Except for Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, the age structure in the 18 ESCAP region countries changed comparatively little over the 1950-80 period. The largest structural change occurred in Singapore, where the proportion of children under age 15 in the population declined significantly from 41-27%, while that of persons 65 years and older more than doubled. This was due primarily to the marked decline in fertility from a total fertility rate (TFR) of 6.7-1.8 during the period. Hong Kong also had a similar major transformation during the same period: the proportion of the old age population increased 2 1/2 times, from 2.5-6.3%. The age structures of the 18 ESCAP countries varied greatly by country. 10 countries of the 2 high fertility and mortality types showed a similar young age structural pattern, i.e., they have higher dependency ratios, a higher proportion of children under 15 years, a lower proportion of population 65 years and older, lower aged-child ratios, and younger median ages than the average countries in the less developed regions of the world. With minimal changes over the 1950-80 period, the gap between these countries and the average of the less developed regions widened. Unlike these 10 (mostly South Asian) countries, moderately low fertility and mortality countries (China, Korea, and Sri Lanka) are located between the world average and the less developed region in most of the indices, particularly during the last decade. Although their rate of population aging is not

Lyα Profile, Dust, and Prediction of Lyα Escape Fraction in Green Pea Galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Huan; Malhotra, Sangeeta; Gronke, Max; Rhoads, James E.; Leitherer, Claus; Wofford, Aida; Jiang, Tianxing; Dijkstra, Mark; Tilvi, V.; Wang, Junxian

2017-08-01

We studied Lyman-α (Lyα) escape in a statistical sample of 43 Green Peas with HST/COS Lyα spectra. Green Peas are nearby star-forming galaxies with strong [O III]λ5007 emission lines. Our sample is four times larger than the previous sample and covers a much more complete range of Green Pea properties. We found that about two-thirds of Green Peas are strong Lyα line emitters with rest-frame Lyα equivalent width > 20 \\mathringA . The Lyα profiles of Green Peas are diverse. The Lyα escape fraction, defined as the ratio of observed Lyα flux to intrinsic Lyα flux, shows anti-correlations with a few Lyα kinematic features—both the blue peak and red peak velocities, the peak separations, and the FWHM of the red portion of the Lyα profile. Using properties measured from Sloan Digital Sky Survey optical spectra, we found many correlations—the Lyα escape fraction generally increases at lower dust reddening, lower metallicity, lower stellar mass, and higher [O III]/[O II] ratio. We fit their Lyα profiles with the H I shell radiative transfer model and found that the Lyα escape fraction is anti-correlated with the best-fit N H I . Finally, we fit an empirical linear relation to predict {f}{esc}{Lyα } from the dust extinction and Lyα red peak velocity. The standard deviation of this relation is about 0.3 dex. This relation can be used to isolate the effect of intergalactic medium (IGM) scatterings from Lyα escape and to probe the IGM optical depth along the line of sight of each z> 7 Lyα emission-line galaxy in the James Webb Space Telescope era.

Effects of phospho- and calciotropic hormones on electrolyte transport in the proximal tubule [version 1; referees: 2 approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Justin J. Lee

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Calcium and phosphate are critical for a myriad of physiological and cellular processes within the organism. Consequently, plasma levels of calcium and phosphate are tightly regulated. This occurs through the combined effects of the phospho- and calciotropic hormones, parathyroid hormone (PTH, active vitamin D3, and fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23. The organs central to this are the kidneys, intestine, and bone. In the kidney, the proximal tubule reabsorbs the majority of filtered calcium and phosphate, which amounts to more than 60% and 90%, respectively. The basic molecular mechanisms responsible for phosphate reclamation are well described, and emerging work is delineating the molecular identity of the paracellular shunt wherein calcium permeates the proximal tubular epithelium. Significant experimental work has delineated the molecular effects of PTH and FGF23 on these processes as well as their regulation of active vitamin D3 synthesis in this nephron segment. The integrative effects of both phospho- and calciotropic hormones on proximal tubular solute transport and subsequently whole body calcium-phosphate balance thus have been further complicated. Here, we first review the molecular mechanisms of calcium and phosphate reabsorption from the proximal tubule and how they are influenced by the phospho- and calciotropic hormones acting on this segment and then consider the implications on both renal calcium and phosphate handling as well as whole body mineral balance.

Entrapment and Escape: Inventional Metaphors in Ronald Reagan's Economic Rhetoric.

Science.gov (United States)

Aden, Roger C.

1989-01-01

Examines Ronald Reagan's use of inventional metaphors of entrapment and escape, language meshing with the American public's perception of the economy in the early 1980s. Notes that Reagan's reliance on inventional metaphors produced a rigidity in his approach to new situations, ultimately damaging his ability to lead the nation. (MM)

A novel escapable social interaction test reveals that social behavior and mPFC activation during an escapable social encounter are altered by post-weaning social isolation and are dependent on the aggressiveness of the stimulus rat.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodell, Dayton J; Ahern, Megan A; Baynard, Jessica; Wall, Vanessa L; Bland, Sondra T

2017-01-15

Post-weaning social isolation (PSI) has been shown to increase aggressive behavior and alter medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) function in social species such as rats. Here we developed a novel escapable social interaction test (ESIT) allowing for the quantification of escape and social behaviors in addition to mPFC activation in response to an aggressive or nonaggressive stimulus rat. Male rats were exposed to 3 weeks of PSI (ISO) or group (GRP) housing, and exposed to 3 trials, with either no trial, all trials, or the last trial only with a stimulus rat. Analysis of social behaviors indicated that ISO rats spent less time in the escape chamber and more time engaged in social interaction, aggressive grooming, and boxing than did GRP rats. Interestingly, during the third trial all rats engaged in more of the quantified social behaviors and spent less time escaping in response to aggressive but not nonaggressive stimulus rats. Rats exposed to nonaggressive stimulus rats on the third trial had greater c-fos and ARC immunoreactivity in the mPFC than those exposed to an aggressive stimulus rat. Conversely, a social encounter produced an increase in large PSD-95 punctae in the mPFC independently of trial number, but only in ISO rats exposed to an aggressive stimulus rat. The results presented here demonstrate that PSI increases interaction time and aggressive behaviors during escapable social interaction, and that the aggressiveness of the stimulus rat in a social encounter is an important component of behavioral and neural outcomes for both isolation and group-reared rats. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Escape of natural satellites from Mercury and Venus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kumar, S S [Virginia Univ., Charlottesville (USA)

1977-09-01

It is suggested that the slow rotations of Mercury and Venus may be connected with the absence of natural satellites around them. If Mercury or Venus possessed a satellite at the time of formation, the tidal evolution would have caused the satellite to recede. At a sufficiently large distance from the planet, the Sun's gravitational influence makes the satellite orbit unstable. The natural satellites of Mercury and Venus might have escaped as a consequence of this instability.

Lionfish misidentification circumvents an optimized escape response by prey.

Science.gov (United States)

McCormick, Mark I; Allan, Bridie J M

2016-01-01

Invasive lionfish represent an unprecedented problem in the Caribbean basin, where they are causing major changes to foodwebs and habitats through their generalized predation on fishes and invertebrates. To ascertain what makes the red lionfish ( Pterois volitans ) such a formidable predator, we examined the reaction of a native damselfish prey, the whitetail damsel ( Pomacentrus chrysurus ), to a repeatable startle stimulus once they had been forewarned of the sight or smell of lionfish. Fast-start responses were compared with prey forewarned of a predatory rockcod ( Cephalopholis microprion ), a corallivorous butterflyfish ( Chaetodon trifasctiatus ) and experimental controls. Forewarning of the sight, smell or a combination of the two cues from a rockcod led to reduced escape latencies and higher response distances, speed and maximal speed compared with controls, suggesting that forewarning primed the prey and enabled a more effective escape response. In contrast, forewarning of lionfish did not affect the fast-start kinematics measured, which were the same as in the control and non-predatory butterflyfish treatments. Lionfish appear to be able to circumvent mechanisms commonly used by prey to identify predators and were misclassified as non-predatory, and this is likely to contribute to their success as predators.

ROLE OF ECOLOGICAL DISTURBANCES IN EMERGENCE OF SYLVATIC ZOONOSES AND NIDAL DISEASES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shivaji Bhattacharya

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Influence of human civilization and disturbance of ecology has an important role on the evolution and emergence of new sylvatic zoonoses as well as nidal diseases.Proper study of different causes and mechanisms of escape of disease agents from their natural boundaries of niche and taking of suitable biosecurity measures for those diseases should be ensured prior to any developmental and welfare activities of human which are responsible for any kind of ecological disturbance.

The double edge to parasite escape: invasive host is less infected but more infectable.

Science.gov (United States)

Keogh, Carolyn L; Miura, Osamu; Nishimura, Tomohiro; Byers, James E

2017-09-01

Nonnative species that escape their native-range parasites may benefit not only from reduced infection pathology, but also from relaxed selection on costly immune defenses, promoting reallocation of resources toward growth or reproduction. However, benefits accruing from a reduction in defense could come at the cost of increased infection susceptibility. We conducted common garden studies of the shore crab Hemigrapsus sanguineus from highly parasitized native (Japan) populations and largely parasite-free invasive (USA) populations to test for differences in susceptibility to infection by native-range rhizocephalan parasites, and to explore differences in host resource allocation. Nonnative individuals showed at least 1.8 times greater susceptibility to infection than their native counterparts, and had reduced standing metabolic rates, suggesting that less of their energy was spent on physiological self-maintenance. Our results support an indirect advantage to parasite escape via the relaxation of costly physiological defenses. However, this advantage comes at the cost of heightened susceptibility, a trade-off of parasite escape that is seldom considered. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Escaping Electrons from Intense Laser-Solid Interactions as a Function of Laser Spot Size

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rusby Dean

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The interaction of a high-intensity laser with a solid target produces an energetic distribution of electrons that pass into the target. These electrons reach the rear surface of the target creating strong electric potentials that act to restrict the further escape of additional electrons. The measurement of the angle, flux and spectra of the electrons that do escape gives insights to the initial interaction. Here, the escaping electrons have been measured using a differentially filtered image plate stack, from interactions with intensities from mid 1020-1017 W/cm2, where the intensity has been reduced by defocussing to increase the size of the focal spot. An increase in electron flux is initially observed as the intensity is reduced from 4x1020 to 6x1018 W/cm2. The temperature of the electron distribution is also measured and found to be relatively constant. 2D particle-in-cell modelling is used to demonstrate the importance of pre-plasma conditions in understanding these observations.

Fuga dalla modernità (fuga verso il mito. L’Escape nelle opere di Tolkien

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clara Assoni

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The Lord of The Rings non è un romanzo per ragazzi o una saga fantasy di pura evasione, ma è un racconto epico di sopravvivenza alle ‘brutture’ del mondo moderno. In On Fairy-Stories Tolkien chiarisce il concetto di escape come molla propulsiva per la sub-creation, momento salvifico per l’essere umano, il cui prodotto è la creazione di un mondo alternativo, improntato alla Bellezza, collocato in un tempo mitico ed eterno. La fantasia ha per Tolkien tre funzioni: recovery, escape e consolation, tra loro indissolubilmente intrecciate. Tale fantasia ristoratrice permette all’essere umano di evadere dal carcere di una vita limitata da menzogne, vuote formalità e condizionamenti. E attraverso di essa l’uomo può ritrovare una freschezza della visione della realtà, depurata dalle scorie contingenti e immersa in un’aurea mitica; l’escape avvia un processo che si adempie e sublima nell’eucatastrophe, oramai non più solo semplice lieto fine delle favole, ma eco dell’Evangelium nel mondo reale.

Structure and Recognition of a Novel HIV-1 gp120-gp41 Interface Antibody that Caused MPER Exposure through Viral Escape

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wibmer, Constantinos Kurt; Gorman, Jason; Ozorowski, Gabriel; Bhiman, Jinal N.; Sheward, Daniel J.; Elliott, Debra H.; Rouelle, Julie; Smira, Ashley; Joyce, M. Gordon; Ndabambi, Nonkululeko; Druz, Aliaksandr; Asokan, Mangai; Burton, Dennis R.; Connors, Mark; Abdool Karim, Salim S.; Mascola, John R.; Robinson, James E.; Ward, Andrew B.; Williamson, Carolyn; Kwong, Peter D.; Morris, Lynn; Moore, Penny L.; Desrosiers, Ronald C.

2017-01-11

A comprehensive understanding of the regions on HIV-1 envelope trimers targeted by broadly neutralizing antibodies may contribute to rational design of an HIV-1 vaccine. We previously identified a participant in the CAPRISA cohort, CAP248, who developed trimer-specific antibodies capable of neutralizing 60% of heterologous viruses at three years post-infection. Here, we report the isolation by B cell culture of monoclonal antibody CAP248-2B, which targets a novel membrane proximal epitope including elements of gp120 and gp41. Despite low maximum inhibition plateaus, often below 50% inhibitory concentrations, the breadth of CAP248-2B significantly correlated with donor plasma. Site-directed mutagenesis, X-ray crystallography, and negative-stain electron microscopy 3D reconstructions revealed how CAP248-2B recognizes a cleavage-dependent epitope that includes the gp120 C terminus. While this epitope is distinct, it overlapped in parts of gp41 with the epitopes of broadly neutralizing antibodies PGT151, VRC34, 35O22, 3BC315, and 10E8. CAP248-2B has a conformationally variable paratope with an unusually long 19 amino acid light chain third complementarity determining region. Two phenylalanines at the loop apex were predicted by docking and mutagenesis data to interact with the viral membrane. Neutralization by CAP248-2B is not dependent on any single glycan proximal to its epitope, and low neutralization plateaus could not be completely explained by N- or O-linked glycosylation pathway inhibitors, furin co-transfection, or pre-incubation with soluble CD4. Viral escape from CAP248-2B involved a cluster of rare mutations in the gp120-gp41 cleavage sites. Simultaneous introduction of these mutations into heterologous viruses abrogated neutralization by CAP248-2B, but enhanced neutralization sensitivity to 35O22, 4E10, and 10E8 by 10-100-fold. Altogether, this study expands the region of the HIV-1 gp120-gp41 quaternary interface that is a target for broadly neutralizing

Energy conversion through mass loading of escaping ionospheric ions for different Kp values

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Yamauchi

2018-01-01

Full Text Available By conserving momentum during the mixing of fast solar wind flow and slow planetary ion flow in an inelastic way, mass loading converts kinetic energy to other forms – e.g. first to electrical energy through charge separation and then to thermal energy (randomness through gyromotion of the newly born cold ions for the comet and Mars cases. Here, we consider the Earth's exterior cusp and plasma mantle, where the ionospheric origin escaping ions with finite temperatures are loaded into the decelerated solar wind flow. Due to direct connectivity to the ionosphere through the geomagnetic field, a large part of this electrical energy is consumed to maintain field-aligned currents (FACs toward the ionosphere, in a similar manner as the solar wind-driven ionospheric convection in the open geomagnetic field region. We show that the energy extraction rate by the mass loading of escaping ions (ΔK is sufficient to explain the cusp FACs, and that ΔK depends only on the solar wind velocity accessing the mass-loading region (usw and the total mass flux of the escaping ions into this region (mloadFload, as ΔK ∼ −mloadFloadu2sw∕4. The expected distribution of the separated charges by this process also predicts the observed flowing directions of the cusp FACs for different interplanetary magnetic field (IMF orientations if we include the deflection of the solar wind flow directions in the exterior cusp. Using empirical relations of u0 ∝ Kp + 1.2 and Fload ∝ exp(0.45Kp for Kp = 1–7, where u0 is the solar wind velocity upstream of the bow shock, ΔK becomes a simple function of Kp as log10(ΔK = 0.2 ⋅ Kp + 2 ⋅ log10(Kp + 1.2 + constant. The major contribution of this nearly linear increase is the Fload term, i.e. positive feedback between the increase of ion escaping rate Fload through the increased energy consumption in the ionosphere for high Kp, and subsequent extraction of more kinetic energy �

A trouser bag experiment that quantify by-catch species escaping ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sea fishing trials were conducted to quantify by-catch species escaping from a modified shrimp trawl codend and retained in a trouser bag. Modification was by inserting a rectangular aluminum frame excluder device with bar spacing of 20mm at the anterior bunt. Thirty replicate landings showed that; Drepane africana have ...

Race as/and the Trace of the Ghost: Jurisprudential Escapism ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Secondly, how the escape from those legal texts evinces, or perhaps even facilitated, a certain evasion of, or anxiety towards the horizontal application of the Bill of Rights which explicitly proscribes overt (racial) discrimination by private non-state actors. And thirdly, how by following a formalist legal approach, one in which ...

Effect of age on proximal esophageal response to swallowing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberto Oliveira Dantas

2010-12-01

Full Text Available CONTEXT: It has been demonstrated that the ageing process affects esophageal motility. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of the age on the proximal esophageal response to wet swallows. METHOD: We measured the proximal esophageal response to swallows of a 5 mL bolus of water in 69 healthy volunteers, 20 of them aged 18-30 years (group I, 27 aged 31-50 years (group II, and 22 aged 51-74 years (group III. We used the manometric method with continuous perfusion. The proximal esophageal contractions were recorded 5 cm from a pharyngeal recording site located 1 cm above the upper esophageal sphincter. The time between the onset of the pharyngeal and of the proximal esophageal recording (pharyngeal-esophageal time and the amplitude, duration and area under the curve of the proximal esophageal contraction were measured. RESULTS: The pharyngeal-esophageal time was shorter in group I subjects than in group II and III subjects (P<0.05. The duration of proximal esophageal contractions was longer in group I than in groups II and III (P<0.001. There was no differences between groups in the amplitude or area under the curve of contractions. There were no differences between groups II and III for any of the measurements. CONCLUSION: We conclude that the age may affects the response of the proximal esophagus to wet swallows.

Symmetry breaking on density in escaping ants: experiment and alarm pheromone model.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geng Li

Full Text Available The symmetry breaking observed in nature is fascinating. This symmetry breaking is observed in both human crowds and ant colonies. In such cases, when escaping from a closed space with two symmetrically located exits, one exit is used more often than the other. Group size and density have been reported as having no significant impact on symmetry breaking, and the alignment rule has been used to model symmetry breaking. Density usually plays important roles in collective behavior. However, density is not well-studied in symmetry breaking, which forms the major basis of this paper. The experiment described in this paper on an ant colony displays an increase then decrease of symmetry breaking versus ant density. This result suggests that a Vicsek-like model with an alignment rule may not be the correct model for escaping ants. Based on biological facts that ants use pheromones to communicate, rather than seeing how other individuals move, we propose a simple yet effective alarm pheromone model. The model results agree well with the experimental outcomes. As a measure, this paper redefines symmetry breaking as the collective asymmetry by deducing the random fluctuations. This research indicates that ants deposit and respond to the alarm pheromone, and the accumulation of this biased information sharing leads to symmetry breaking, which suggests true fundamental rules of collective escape behavior in ants.

Stochastic narrow escape in molecular and cellular biology analysis and applications

CERN Document Server

Holcman, David

2015-01-01

This book covers recent developments in the non-standard asymptotics of the mathematical narrow escape problem in stochastic theory, as well as applications of the narrow escape problem in cell biology. The first part of the book concentrates on mathematical methods, including advanced asymptotic methods in partial equations, and is aimed primarily at applied mathematicians and theoretical physicists who are interested in biological applications. The second part of the book is intended for computational biologists, theoretical chemists, biochemists, biophysicists, and physiologists. It includes a summary of output formulas from the mathematical portion of the book and concentrates on their applications in modeling specific problems in theoretical molecular and cellular biology. Critical biological processes, such as synaptic plasticity and transmission, activation of genes by transcription factors, or double-strained DNA break repair, are controlled by diffusion in structures that have both large and small sp...

Comparative study on demographic-economic model-building for three selected countries of the ESCAP region.

Science.gov (United States)

1980-01-01

The research project involves building models for 3 selected ESCAP countries, Indonesia, Japan, and the Republic of Korea, which are at different stages of demographic transition. This project involves country level research workd esigned, implemented, and monitored with the assistance of ESCAP. Accordingly the 1st Study Directors' Meeting was held in Bangkok during November 16-30, 1979 in a series of informal interactive working sessions for Study Directors, modelling experts, and resource persons. The participants were Study Directors from the above mentioned countries and a few experts from Malaysia, Thailand, ILO, UNRISD, and IBRD. The main objective of the meeting was to help finance the basic model framework in order that National Study Directors will be able to commence their modelling work after the Meeting. As evidenced by the Report of the 1st Study Directors' Meeting, this objective was achieved. Following this meeting, the 3 case studies are being simultaneously undertaken in countries by national study teams with technical support provided by ESCAP.

Experimental study of mixed additive of Ni(II) and piperazine on ammonia escape in CO2 capture using ammonia solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma, Shuangchen; Chen, Gongda; Zhu, Sijie; Wen, Jiaqi; Gao, Ran; Ma, Lan; Chai, Jin

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Compound additive was used to obtain high CO 2 absorption efficiency and low NH 3 escape. • Both organic material and metal ion were applied as compound additive. • Influences of additives on CO 2 absorption and NH 3 escape were investigated. • Possible mechanism and products were analyzed by XRD and UV–visible spectrophotometer. - Abstract: In order to obtain high CO 2 absorption efficiency and low ammonia escape rate, mixed additives of piperazine and Ni(II) were used as absorbent in bubbling reactor. The effects of mixed additive on CO 2 absorption efficiency and ammonia escape rate were investigated; the performances of mixed additive in removal process were compared with that of pure ammonia solution. The proposed mechanism was analyzed by XRD and UV–visible spectrophotometer. The mixed additive has well effect on CO 2 absorption efficiency and ammonia escape reduction. The CO 2 absorption efficiency was 72% when 2 wt% ammonia solution mixed with 0.025 mol/L piperazine and 0.05 mol/L Ni(II), higher than that achieved by 3 wt% ammonia solution without additive, and the amount of ammonia loss was nearly 1/3 compared with 3 wt% pure ammonia solution. This paper provided one feasible method which is beneficial to the balance between CO 2 absorption and ammonia escape in CO 2 capture process.

Background intercomparison with escape-suppressed germanium detectors in underground mines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Szuecs, Tamas; Bemmerer, Daniel [Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Dresden (Germany)

2014-07-01

A key requirement for underground nuclear astrophysics experiments is the very low background level in germanium detectors underground. The reference for these purposes is the world's so far only underground accelerator laboratory for nuclear astrophysics, LUNA. LUNA is located deep underground in the Gran Sasso laboratory in Italy, shielded from cosmic rays by 1400 m of rock. The background at LUNA was studied in detail using an escape-suppressed Clover-type HPGe detector. Exactly the same detector was subsequently transported to the Felsenkeller underground laboratory in Dresden, shielded by 45 m of rock, and the background was shown to be only a factor of three higher than at LUNA when comparing the escape-suppressed spectra, with interesting consequences for underground nuclear astrophysics. As the next step of a systematic study of the effects of a combination of active and passive shielding on the cosmic ray induced background, this detector is now being brought to the ''Reiche Zeche'' mine in Freiberg/Sachsen, shielded by 150 m of rock. The data from the Freiberg measurement are shown and discussed.

The developmental spectrum of proximal radioulnar synostosis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Elliott, Alison M. [University of Manitoba, Winnipeg Regional Health Association Program of Genetics and Metabolism, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); University of Manitoba, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); University of Manitoba, Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); University of Manitoba, WRHA Program of Genetics and Metabolism, Departments of Paediatrics and Child Health, Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Kibria, Lisa [University of Manitoba, Department of School of Medical Rehabilitation, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); Reed, Martin H. [University of Manitoba, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); University of Manitoba, Department of Biochemistry and Medical Genetics, Winnipeg, MB (Canada); University of Manitoba, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Winnipeg, MB (Canada)

2010-01-15

Proximal radioulnar synostosis is a rare upper limb malformation. The elbow is first identifiable at 35 days (after conception), at which stage the cartilaginous anlagen of the humerus, radius and ulna are continuous. Subsequently, longitudinal segmentation produces separation of the distal radius and ulna. However, temporarily, the proximal ends are united and continue to share a common perichondrium. We investigated the hypothesis that posterior congenital dislocation of the radial head and proximal radioulnar fusion are different clinical manifestations of the same primary developmental abnormality. Records were searched for ''proximal radioulnar fusion/posterior radial head dislocation'' in patients followed at the local Children's Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre for Children. Relevant radiographic, demographic and clinical data were recorded. Ethics approval was obtained through the University Research Ethics Board. In total, 28 patients met the inclusion criteria. The majority of patients (16) had bilateral involvement; eight with posterior dislocation of the radial head only; five had posterior radial head dislocation with radioulnar fusion and two had radioulnar fusion without dislocation. One patient had bilateral proximal radioulnar fusion and posterior dislocation of the left radial head. Nine patients had only left-sided involvement, and three had only right-sided involvement.The degree of proximal fusion varied, with some patients showing 'complete' proximal fusion and others showing fusion that occurred slightly distal to the radial head: 'partially separated.' Associated disorders in our cohort included Poland syndrome (two patients), Cornelia de Lange syndrome, chromosome anomalies (including tetrasomy X) and Cenani Lenz syndactyly. The suggestion of a developmental relationship between posterior dislocation of the radial head and proximal radioulnar fusion is supported by the fact that both anomalies

Key concepts in social pedagogy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Harbo, Lotte Junker

2011-01-01

and activities around key social pedagogical concepts, such as the Common Third, the 3 P’s, the Zone of Proximal Development and the Learning Zone model. In the article we explore how a joint activity, for example playing soccer, can be seen as a pedagogical activity and with what intentions it is undertaken......“Now I can actually play soccer with the young people without fearing that my colleagues think I am escaping the paper work.” These were the words from a participant in a social pedagogy training course in England a few years ago. This understanding emerged through in-depth discussions...

Examining the influence of actual-ideal self-discrepancies, depression, and escapism, on pathological gaming among massively multiplayer online adolescent gamers.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Dongdong; Liau, Albert; Khoo, Angeline

2011-09-01

This study examined whether actual-ideal self-discrepancy (AISD) is related to pathological gaming through escapism as a means of reducing depression for adolescent massively multiplayer online gamers. A Discrepancy-reduction Motivation model of pathological video gaming was tested. A survey was conducted on 161 adolescent gamers from secondary schools. Two mediation effects were tested using path analysis: (a) depression would mediate the relationship between AISDs and escapism, and (b) escapism would mediate the relationship between depression and pathological gaming. Results support the hypotheses stated above. The indirect effects of both AISD and depression were significant on pathological gaming. AISD and escapism also had direct effects on pathological gaming. The present study suggests that pathological behaviors may be over-regulated coping strategies of approaching the ideal self and avoiding the actual self.

Discrete Serotonin Systems Mediate Memory Enhancement and Escape Latencies after Unpredicted Aversive Experience in Drosophila Place Memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Divya Sitaraman

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Feedback mechanisms in operant learning are critical for animals to increase reward or reduce punishment. However, not all conditions have a behavior that can readily resolve an event. Animals must then try out different behaviors to better their situation through outcome learning. This form of learning allows for novel solutions and with positive experience can lead to unexpected behavioral routines. Learned helplessness, as a type of outcome learning, manifests in part as increases in escape latency in the face of repeated unpredicted shocks. Little is known about the mechanisms of outcome learning. When fruit fly Drosophilamelanogaster are exposed to unpredicted high temperatures in a place learning paradigm, flies both increase escape latencies and have a higher memory when given control of a place/temperature contingency. Here we describe discrete serotonin neuronal circuits that mediate aversive reinforcement, escape latencies, and memory levels after place learning in the presence and absence of unexpected aversive events. The results show that two features of learned helplessness depend on the same modulatory system as aversive reinforcement. Moreover, changes in aversive reinforcement and escape latency depend on local neural circuit modulation, while memory enhancement requires larger modulation of multiple behavioral control circuits.

An anatomical study of the proximal aspect of the medial femoral condyle to define the proximal-distal condylar length

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chia-Ming Chang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Objective: Despite its possible role in knee arthroplasty, the proximal-distal condylar length (PDCL of the femur has never been reported in the literature. We conducted an anatomic study of the proximal aspect of the medial femoral condyle to propose a method for measuring the PDCL. Materials and Methods: Inspection of dried bone specimens was carried out to assure the most proximal condylar margin (MPCM as the eligible starting point to measure the PDCL. Simulation surgery was performed on seven pairs of cadaveric knees to verify the clinical application of measuring the PDCL after locating the MPCM. Interobserver reliability of this procedure was also analyzed. Results: Observation of the bone specimens showed that the MPCM is a concavity formed by the junction of the distal end of the supracondylar ridge and the proximal margin of the medial condyle. This anatomically distinctive structure made the MPCM an unambiguous landmark. The cadaveric simulation surgical dissection demonstrated that the MPCM is easily accessed in a surgical setting, making the measurement of the PDCL plausible. The intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.78, indicating good interobserver reliability for this technique. Conclusion: This study has suggested that the PDCL can be measured based on the MPCM in a surgical setting. PDCL measurement might be useful in joint line position management, selection of femoral component sizes, and other applications related to the proximal-distal dimension of the knee. Further investigation is required.

How to Escape? The Trap of the Transition in the Recent Cinema of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2000-2012

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz Rawski

2014-12-01

Full Text Available How to Escape? The Trap of the Transition in the Recent Cinema of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2000-2012 The paper concerns the latest cinema of Bosnia and Herzegovina (2000-2012. Focusing on the cinema of social criticism (represented by movies which try to rethink the new socio-political order gradually emerging in BiH after the war of 1992-95, the authors recognize the Bosnian society as a community captured in the trap of an unfinished system transition. The story of the Bosnian society, simultaneously stuck in a dysfunctional and oppressive state and completely devoid of any prospects for the improvement of this situation, seems to be dominated by several escape strategies into an alternative reality: the nostalgic past, the imagined present or the utopian future. In that sense, the Bosnian cinema of social criticism turns out to be a cinema of social escapism.   Jak uciec? Pułapka transformacji w najnowszym kinie Bośni i Hercegowiny (2000-2012 Tekst dotyczy najnowszej kinematografii Bośni i Hercegowiny (2000-2012. Skupienie na nurcie kina krytycznego (do którego zaliczone zostały filmy, które próbują interpretować nowy porządek społeczno-polityczny powoli wyłaniający się w Bośni i Hercegowinie po wojnie z lat 1992-95 pozwala ukazać społeczeństwo Bośni i Hercegowiny jako znajdujące się w pułapce wciąż niedokończonej transformacji systemowej. Opowieść o społeczeństwie z jednej strony uwięzionym w dysfunkcjonalnym i opresyjnym państwie, a z drugiej całkowicie pozbawionym perspektyw i nadziei na poprawę sytuacji, zdominowana jest przez rozmaite strategie ucieczki w alternatywną rzeczywistość: nostalgiczną przeszłość, wyobrażoną teraźniejszość lub utopijną przyszłość. W tym sensie, bośniackie kino krytyczne jawi się jako kino eskapizmu społecznego.

Evaluation and Management of Proximal Humerus Fractures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ekaterina Khmelnitskaya

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Proximal humerus fractures are common injuries, especially among older osteoporotic women. Restoration of function requires a thorough understanding of the neurovascular, musculotendinous, and bony anatomy. This paper addresses the relevant anatomy and highlights various management options, including indication for arthroplasty. In the vast majority of cases, proximal humerus fractures may be treated nonoperatively. In the case of displaced fractures, when surgical intervention may be pursued, numerous constructs have been investigated. Of these, the proximal humerus locking plate is the most widely used. Arthroplasty is generally reserved for comminuted 4-part fractures, head-split fractures, or fractures with significant underlying arthritic changes. Reverse total shoulder arthroplasty is reserved for patients with a deficient rotator cuff, or highly comminuted tuberosities.

A critical review of the ESCAPE project for estimating long-term health effects of air pollution.

Science.gov (United States)

Lipfert, Frederick W

2017-02-01

The European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects (ESCAPE) is a13-nation study of long-term health effects of air pollution based on subjects pooled from up to 22 cohorts that were intended for other purposes. Twenty-five papers have been published on associations of various health endpoints with long-term exposures to NOx, NO2, traffic indicators, PM10, PM2.5 and PM constituents including absorbance (elemental carbon). Seven additional ESCAPE papers found moderate correlations (R2=0.3-0.8) between measured air quality and estimates based on land-use regression that were used; personal exposures were not considered. I found no project summaries or comparisons across papers; here I conflate the 25 ESCAPE findings in the context of other recent European epidemiology studies. Because one ESCAPE cohort contributed about half of the subjects, I consider it and the other 18 cohorts separately to compare their contributions to the combined risk estimates. I emphasize PM2.5 and confirm the published hazard ratio of 1.14 (1.04-1.26) per 10μg/m3 for all-cause mortality. The ESCAPE papers found 16 statistically significant (p<0.05) risks among the125 pollutant-endpoint combinations; 4 each for PM2.5 and PM10, 1 for PM absorbance, 5 for NO2, and 2 for traffic. No PM constituent was consistently significant. No significant associations were reported for cardiovascular mortality; low birthrate was significant for all pollutants except PM absorbance. Based on associations with PM2.5, I find large differences between all-cause death estimates and the sum of specific-cause death estimates. Scatterplots of PM2.5 mortality risks by cause show no consistency across the 18 cohorts, ostensibly because of the relatively few subjects. Overall, I find the ESCAPE project inconclusive and I question whether the efforts required to estimate exposures for small cohorts were worthwhile. I suggest that detailed studies of the large cohort using historical exposures and additional

Atmospheric escape from the TRAPPIST-1 planets and implications for habitability.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Chuanfei; Jin, Meng; Lingam, Manasvi; Airapetian, Vladimir S; Ma, Yingjuan; van der Holst, Bart

2018-01-09

The presence of an atmosphere over sufficiently long timescales is widely perceived as one of the most prominent criteria associated with planetary surface habitability. We address the crucial question of whether the seven Earth-sized planets transiting the recently discovered ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 are capable of retaining their atmospheres. To this effect, we carry out numerical simulations to characterize the stellar wind of TRAPPIST-1 and the atmospheric ion escape rates for all of the seven planets. We also estimate the escape rates analytically and demonstrate that they are in good agreement with the numerical results. We conclude that the outer planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system are capable of retaining their atmospheres over billion-year timescales. The consequences arising from our results are also explored in the context of abiogenesis, biodiversity, and searches for future exoplanets. In light of the many unknowns and assumptions involved, we recommend that these conclusions must be interpreted with due caution.

Atmospheric escape from the TRAPPIST-1 planets and implications for habitability

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Chuanfei; Jin, Meng; Lingam, Manasvi; Airapetian, Vladimir S.; Ma, Yingjuan; van der Holst, Bart

2018-01-01

The presence of an atmosphere over sufficiently long timescales is widely perceived as one of the most prominent criteria associated with planetary surface habitability. We address the crucial question of whether the seven Earth-sized planets transiting the recently discovered ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1 are capable of retaining their atmospheres. To this effect, we carry out numerical simulations to characterize the stellar wind of TRAPPIST-1 and the atmospheric ion escape rates for all of the seven planets. We also estimate the escape rates analytically and demonstrate that they are in good agreement with the numerical results. We conclude that the outer planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system are capable of retaining their atmospheres over billion-year timescales. The consequences arising from our results are also explored in the context of abiogenesis, biodiversity, and searches for future exoplanets. In light of the many unknowns and assumptions involved, we recommend that these conclusions must be interpreted with due caution.

Proximal Focal Femoral Deficiency in Ibadan a Developing ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The cultural aversion to amputation in our environment makes it difficult to employ that option of treatment. Proximal focal femoral deficiency in Ibadan a developing country's perspective and a review of the literature. Keywords: Proximal focal femoral deficiency , congenital malformations , limb malformations , lower limb ...

On the escape of pollutants from urban street canyons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baik, J.J.; Kim, J.J. [Kwangju Inst. of Science and Technology (Korea). Dept. of Environmental Science and Engineering

2002-07-01

Pollutant transport from urban street canyons is numerically investigated using a two-dimensional flow and dispersion model. The ambient wind blows perpendicular to the street and passive pollutants are released at the street level. Results from the control experiment with a street aspect ratio of 1 show that at the roof level of the street canyon, the vertical turbulent flux of pollutants is upward everywhere and the vertical flux of pollutants by mean flow is upward or downward. The horizontally integrated vertical flux of pollutants by mean flow at the roof level of the street canyon is downward and its magnitude is much smaller than that by turbulent process. These results indicate that pollutants escape from the street canyon mainly by turbulent process and that the net effect of mean flow is to make some escaped pollutants reenter the street canyon. Further experiments with different inflow turbulence intensities, inflow wind speeds, and street aspect ratio confirm the findings from the control experiment. In the case of two isolated buildings, the horizontally integrated vertical flux of pollutants by mean flow is upward due to flow separation but the other main results are the same as those from the control experiment. (author)

[Avulsion of the Proximal Hamstring Insertion. Case Reports].

Science.gov (United States)

Mizera, R; Harcuba, R; Kratochvíl, J

2016-01-01

Proximal hamstring avulsion is an uncommon muscle injury with a lack of consensus on indications and the timing and technique of surgery. Poor clinical symptoms and difficulties in the diagnostic process can lead to a false diagnosis. The authors present three cases of proximal hamstring avulsion, two complete and one partial ruptures of the biceps femoris muscle. MRI and ultrasound scans were used for optimal treatment alignment. Acute surgery reconstruction (hamstring strength. Two interesting systematic reviews published on the treatment of proximal hamstring avulsion are discussed in the final part of the paper. Key words: hamstring, rupture, avulsion.

A dual-mode proximity sensor with integrated capacitive and temperature sensing units

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qiu, Shihua; Huang, Ying; He, Xiaoyue; Sun, Zhiguang; Liu, Ping; Liu, Caixia

2015-01-01

The proximity sensor is one of the most important devices in the field of robot application. It can accurately provide the proximity information to assistant robots to interact with human beings and the external environment safely. In this paper, we have proposed and demonstrated a dual-mode proximity sensor composed of capacitive and resistive sensing units. We defined the capacitive type proximity sensor perceiving the proximity information as C-mode and the resistive type proximity sensor detecting as R-mode. Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) were chosen as the R-mode sensing material because of its high performance. The dual-mode proximity sensor presents the following features: (1) the sensing distance of the dual-mode proximity sensor has been enlarged compared with the single capacitive proximity sensor in the same geometrical pattern; (2) experiments have verified that the proposed sensor can sense the proximity information of different materials; (3) the proximity sensing capability of the sensor has been improved by two modes perceive collaboratively, for a plastic block at a temperature of 60 °C: the R-mode will perceive the proximity information when the distance d between the sensor and object is 6.0–17.0 mm and the C-mode will do that when their interval is 0–2.0 mm; additionally two modes will work together when the distance is 2.0–6.0 mm. These features indicate our transducer is very valuable in skin-like sensing applications. (paper)

A Regularized Algorithm for the Proximal Split Feasibility Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhangsong Yao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The proximal split feasibility problem has been studied. A regularized method has been presented for solving the proximal split feasibility problem. Strong convergence theorem is given.

Variation of NO2 and NOx concentrations between and within 36 European study areas: Results from the ESCAPE study

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cyrys, J.; Eeftens, M.R.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/315028300; Heinrich, J.; Ampe, C.; Armengaud, A.; Beelen, R.; Bellander, T.; Beregszaszi, T.; Birk, M.; Cesaroni, G.; Cirach, M.; de Hoogh, K.; de Nazelle, A.; de Vocht, F.; Declercq, C.; Dėdelė, A.; Dimakopoulou, K.; Eriksen, K.; Galassi, C.; Grąulevičienė, R.; Grivas, G.; Gruzieva, O.; Gustafsson, A.H.; Hoffmann, B.; Iakovides, M.; Ineichen, A.; Krämer, U.; Lanki, T.; Lozano, P.; Madsen, C.; Meliefste, K.; Modig, L.; Mölter, A.; Mosler, G.; Nieuwenhuijsen, M.; Nonnemacher, M.; Oldenwening, M.; Peters, A.; Pontet, S.; Probst-Hensch, N.; Quass, U.; Raaschou-Nielsen, O.; Ranzi, A.; Sugiri, D.; Stephanou, E.G.; Taimisto, P.; Tsai, M-Y.; Vaskövi, É.; Villani, S.; Wang, M.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/345480279; Brunekreef, B.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/067548180; Hoek, G.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/069553475

2012-01-01

The ESCAPE study (European Study of Cohorts for Air Pollution Effects) investigates long-term effects of exposure to air pollution on human health in Europe. This paper documents the spatial variation of measured NO2 and NOx concentrations between and within 36 ESCAPE study areas across Europe. In

Proximity approach to problems in topology and analysis

CERN Document Server

Naimpally, Somashekhar

2009-01-01

Dieses Buch konzentriert das aktuelle Gesamtwissen zum Proximity-Konzept und stellt es dem Leser in gut strukturierter Form dar. Hauptaugenmerk liegt auf den vielfältigen Möglichkeiten, die sich aus dem Proximity-Konzept der räumlichen Nähe und seiner Verallgemeinerung im Nearness-Konzept ergeben.

Transition state theory approach to polymer escape from a one dimensional potential well.

Science.gov (United States)

Mökkönen, Harri; Ikonen, Timo; Ala-Nissila, Tapio; Jónsson, Hannes

2015-06-14

The rate of escape of an ideal bead-spring polymer in a symmetric double-well potential is calculated using transition state theory (TST) and the results compared with direct dynamical simulations. The minimum energy path of the transitions becomes flat and the dynamics diffusive for long polymers making the Kramers-Langer estimate poor. However, TST with dynamical corrections based on short time trajectories started at the transition state gives rate constant estimates that agree within a factor of two with the molecular dynamics simulations over a wide range of bead coupling constants and polymer lengths. The computational effort required by the TST approach does not depend on the escape rate and is much smaller than that required by molecular dynamics simulations.

Ionospheric plasma escape by high-altitude electric fields: Magnetic moment ''pumping''

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lundin, R.; Hultqvist, B.

1989-01-01

Measurements of electric fields and the composition of upward flowing ionospheric ions by the Viking spacecraft have provided further insight into the mass dependent plasma escape process taking place in the upper ionosphere. The Viking results of the temperature and mass-composition of individual ion beams suggest that upward flowing ion beams can be generated by a magnetic moment ''pumping'' mechanism caused by low-frequency transverse electric field fluctuations, in addition to a field aligned ''quasi-electrostatic'' acceleration process. Magnetic moment ''pumping'' within transverse electric field gradients can be described as a conversion of electric drift velocity to cyclotron velocity by the inertial drift in time-dependent electric field. This gives an equal cyclotron velocity gain for all plasma species, irrespective of mass. Oxygen ions thus gain 16 times as much transverse energy as protons. In addition to a transverse energy gain above the escape energy, a field-aligned quasi-electrostatic acceleration is considered primarily responsible for the collimated upward flow of ions. The field-aligned acceleration adds a constant parallel energy to escaping ionospheric ions. Thus, ion beams at high altitudes can be explained by a bimodal acceleration from both a transverse (equal velocity) and a parallel (equal energy) acceleration process. The Viking observations also show that the thermal energy of ion beams, and the ion beam width are mass dependent. The average O + /H + ''temperature ratio has been found to be 4.0 from the Viking observations. This is less than the factor of 16 anticipated from a coherent transverse electric field acceleration but greater than the factor of 1 (or even less than 1) expected from a turbulent acceleration process. copyright American Geophysical Union 1989

PROPERTIES OF QSO METAL-LINE ABSORPTION SYSTEMS AT HIGH REDSHIFTS: NATURE AND EVOLUTION OF THE ABSORBERS AND NEW EVIDENCE ON ESCAPE OF IONIZING RADIATION FROM GALAXIES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Boksenberg, Alec [Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA (United Kingdom); Sargent, Wallace L. W., E-mail: boksy@ast.cam.ac.uk [Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)

2015-05-15

Using Voigt-profile-fitting procedures on Keck High Resolution Spectrograph spectra of nine QSOs, we identify 1099 C IV absorber components clumped in 201 systems outside the Lyman forest over 1.6 ≲ z ≲ 4.4. With associated Si IV, C II, Si II  and N V where available, we investigate the bulk statistical and ionization properties of the components and systems and find no significant change in redshift for C IV and Si IV while C II, Si II  and N V change substantially. The C IV components exhibit strong clustering, but no clustering is detected for systems on scales from 150 km s{sup –1} out to 50,000 km s{sup –1}. We conclude that the clustering is due entirely to the peculiar velocities of gas present in the circumgalactic media of galaxies. Using specific combinations of ionic ratios, we compare our observations with model ionization predictions for absorbers exposed to the metagalactic ionizing radiation background augmented by proximity radiation from their associated galaxies and find that the generally accepted means of radiative escape by transparent channels from the internal star-forming sites is spectrally not viable for our stronger absorbers. We develop an active scenario based on runaway stars with resulting changes in the efflux of radiation that naturally enable the needed spectral convergence, and in turn provide empirical indicators of morphological evolution in the associated galaxies. Together with a coexisting population of relatively compact galaxies indicated by the weaker absorbers in our sample, the collective escape of radiation is sufficient to maintain the intergalactic medium ionized over the full range 1.9 < z ≲ 4.4.

Proximity effects in ferromagnet/superconductor structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, H.L.; Sun, G.Y.; Yang, L.Y.; Xing, D.Y.

2004-01-01

The Nambu spinor Green's function approach is applied to study proximity effects in ferromagnet/superconductor (FM/SC) structures. They include the induced superconducting order parameter and density of states (DOS) with superconducting feature on the FM side, and spin-dependent DOS within the energy gap on the SC side. The latter indicates an appearance of gapless superconductivity and a coexistence of ferromagnetism and superconductivity in a small regime near the interface. The influence of exchange energy in FM and barrier strength at interface on the proximity effects is discussed

Radiographic and Computed Tomographic Configuration of Incomplete Proximal Fractures of the Proximal Phalanx in Horses Not Used for Racing.

Science.gov (United States)

Brünisholz, Hervé P; Hagen, Regine; Fürst, Anton E; Kuemmerle, Jan M

2015-10-01

To characterize the configuration of incomplete proximal fractures of the proximal phalanx (P1) in horses not used for racing and compare radiographic with computed tomography (CT) findings. Historical cohort. Twenty-four horses with incomplete fractures of P1. Medical records of horses not used for racing diagnosed with an incomplete proximal fracture of P1 based on clinical and radiographic examination and confirmed by CT between 2008 and 2013 were retrieved. Radiographs and CT studies of these horses were analyzed using a subjective grading system and by measuring variables that characterized fracture configuration. Twenty-four horses were included (20 Warmbloods) with a mean age of 9.5 years and mean body weight of 574 kg. Fourteen forelimbs and 10 hind limbs were affected. Mean duration of lameness was 8.7 weeks. Computed tomography was superior to radiography in both identifying the fracture and determining fracture size and location. On CT, 92% of fractures were located in the mid-sagittal plane. Mean proximodistal length of the fracture was 13 mm. Fractures were frequently not bicortical. Fractures in forelimbs were located significantly more dorsally than fractures in hind limbs. A distinct fracture pattern with 2 subchondral lines running parallel in close proximity to each other was identified in 54% of cases. Incomplete proximal fractures of P1 have significant variation in their configurations, especially their dorsopalmar/-plantar location. Computed tomography examination allowed clear identification of the fracture configurations and was superior to radiography. © Copyright 2015 by The American College of Veterinary Surgeons.

Rocky Worlds Limited to ˜1.8 Earth Radii by Atmospheric Escape during a Star’s Extreme UV Saturation

Science.gov (United States)

Lehmer, Owen R.; Catling, David C.

2017-08-01

Recent observations and analysis of low-mass (primitive atmospheres of low-mass planets results in complete loss of atmospheres during the ˜100 Myr phase of stellar XUV saturation. In contrast, more-massive planets have less-distended atmospheres and less escape, and so retain thick atmospheres through XUV saturation—and then indefinitely as the XUV and escape fluxes drop over time. The agreement between our model and exoplanet data leads us to conclude that hydrodynamic escape plausibly explains the observed upper limit on rocky planet size and few planets (a “valley”, or “radius gap”) in the 1.5-2 R ⊕ range.

Effects of emergence time and early social rearing environment on behaviour of Atlantic salmon: consequences for juvenile fitness and smolt migration.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martin H Larsen

Full Text Available Consistent individual differences in behaviour have been well documented in a variety of animal taxa, but surprisingly little is known about the fitness and life-history consequences of such individual variation. In wild salmonids, the timing of fry emergence from gravel spawning nests has been suggested to be coupled with individual behavioural traits. Here, we further investigate the link between timing of spawning nest emergence and behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar, test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits in fish with different emergence times, and assess whether behavioural traits measured in the laboratory predict growth, survival, and migration status in the wild. Atlantic salmon fry were sorted with respect to emergence time from artificial spawning nest into three groups: early, intermediate, and late. These emergence groups were hatchery-reared separately or in co-culture for four months to test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits. Twenty fish from each of the six treatment groups were then subjected to three individual-based behavioural tests: basal locomotor activity, boldness, and escape response. Following behavioural characterization, the fish were released into a near-natural experimental stream. Results showed differences in escape behaviour between emergence groups in a net restraining test, but the social rearing environment did not affect individual behavioural expression. Emergence time and social environment had no significant effects on survival, growth, and migration status in the stream, although migration propensity was 1.4 to 1.9 times higher for early emerging individuals that were reared separately. In addition, despite individuals showing considerable variation in behaviour across treatment groups, this was not translated into differences in growth, survival, and migration status. Hence, our study adds to the view that fitness (i.e., growth and survival and

Effects of emergence time and early social rearing environment on behaviour of Atlantic salmon: consequences for juvenile fitness and smolt migration.

Science.gov (United States)

Larsen, Martin H; Johnsson, Jörgen I; Winberg, Svante; Wilson, Alexander D M; Hammenstig, David; Thörnqvist, Per-Ove; Midwood, Jonathan D; Aarestrup, Kim; Höglund, Erik

2015-01-01

Consistent individual differences in behaviour have been well documented in a variety of animal taxa, but surprisingly little is known about the fitness and life-history consequences of such individual variation. In wild salmonids, the timing of fry emergence from gravel spawning nests has been suggested to be coupled with individual behavioural traits. Here, we further investigate the link between timing of spawning nest emergence and behaviour of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits in fish with different emergence times, and assess whether behavioural traits measured in the laboratory predict growth, survival, and migration status in the wild. Atlantic salmon fry were sorted with respect to emergence time from artificial spawning nest into three groups: early, intermediate, and late. These emergence groups were hatchery-reared separately or in co-culture for four months to test effects of social rearing environment on behavioural traits. Twenty fish from each of the six treatment groups were then subjected to three individual-based behavioural tests: basal locomotor activity, boldness, and escape response. Following behavioural characterization, the fish were released into a near-natural experimental stream. Results showed differences in escape behaviour between emergence groups in a net restraining test, but the social rearing environment did not affect individual behavioural expression. Emergence time and social environment had no significant effects on survival, growth, and migration status in the stream, although migration propensity was 1.4 to 1.9 times higher for early emerging individuals that were reared separately. In addition, despite individuals showing considerable variation in behaviour across treatment groups, this was not translated into differences in growth, survival, and migration status. Hence, our study adds to the view that fitness (i.e., growth and survival) and life

Epidemiology of humerus fractures in the United States: nationwide emergency department sample, 2008.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sunny H; Szabo, Robert M; Marder, Richard A

2012-03-01

To evaluate the occurrence of emergency department (ED) visits due to humerus fractures in the US. We analyzed the 2008 Nationwide Emergency Department Sample, which contained approximately 28 million ED records. We identified the cases of interest using diagnostic codes for proximal, shaft, and distal humerus fractures. In 2008, approximately 370,000 ED visits in the US resulted from humerus fractures. Proximal humerus fractures were the most common, accounting for 50% of humerus fractures. The incidence rate of proximal humerus fractures followed the shape of an exponential function in the age groups 40-84 years for women (R(2) = 97.9%) and 60-89 years for men (R(2) = 98.2%). After the exponential increase in these age intervals, the growth rate of proximal humerus fracture slowed and eventually decreased. The peak occurrence of distal humerus fractures was in children ages 5-9 years; however, elderly women had an increased risk. As the baby boomer generation ages, unless fracture prevention programs improve, more than 490,000 ED visits due to humerus fractures are expected in 2030 when the youngest of the baby boomers turn age 65 years. Compared to epidemiologic studies in Japan and European countries, the incidence rates of humerus fractures are substantially higher in the US. The high incidence rate of humerus fractures in the expanding elderly population may contribute to the recent trend of rapid increase in shoulder arthroplasty in the US. Rigorous safety measures to reduce falls and improved preventive treatments of osteoporosis are needed. Copyright © 2012 by the American College of Rheumatology.

Mechanical properties of the cuticles of three cockroach species that differ in their wind-evoked escape behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew J. Clark

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The structural and material properties of insect cuticle remain largely unexplored, even though they comprise the majority (approximately 80% of animals. Insect cuticle serves many functions, including protection against predatory attacks, which is especially beneficial to species failing to employ effective running escape responses. Despite recent advances in our understanding of insect escape behaviors and the biomechanics of insect cuticle, there are limited studies on the protective qualities of cuticle to extreme mechanical stresses and strains imposed by predatory attacks, and how these qualities vary between species employing different escape responses. Blattarians (cockroaches provide an appropriate model system for such studies. Wind-evoked running escape responses are strong in Periplaneta americana, weak in Blaberus craniifer and absent in Gromphodorhina portentosa, putting the latter two species at greater risk of being struck by a predator. We hypothesized that the exoskeletons in these two larger species could provide more protection from predatory strikes relative to the exoskeleton of P. americana. We quantified the protective qualities of the exoskeletons by measuring the puncture resistance, tensile strength, strain energy storage, and peak strain in fresh samples of thoracic and abdominal cuticles from these three species. We found a continuum in puncture resistance, tensile strength, and strain energy storage between the three species, which were greatest in G. portentosa, moderate in B. craniifer, and smallest in P. americana. Histological measurements of total cuticle thickness followed this same pattern. However, peak strain followed a different trend between species. The comparisons in the material properties drawn between the cuticles of G. portentosa, B. craniifer, and P. americana demonstrate parallels between cuticular biomechanics and predator running escape responses.

Intrathecal huperzine A increases thermal escape latency and decreases flinching behavior in the formalin test in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Paula; Schachter, Steven; Yaksh, Tony

2010-02-05

Huperzine A (HupA) is an alkaloid isolated from the Chinese club moss Huperzia serrata and has been used for improving memory, cognitive and behavioral function in patients with Alzheimer's disease in China. It has NMDA antagonist and anticholinesterase activity and has shown anticonvulsant and antinociceptive effects in preliminary studies when administered intraperitoneally to mice. To better characterize the antinociceptive effects of HupA at the spinal level, Holtzman rats were implanted with intrathecal catheters to measure thermal escape latency using Hargreaves thermal escape testing system and flinching behavior using the formalin test. Intrathecal (IT) administration of HupA showed a dose-dependent increase in thermal escape latency with an ED50 of 0.57 microg. Atropine reversed the increase in thermal escape latency produced by 10 microg HupA, indicating an antinociceptive mechanism through muscarinic cholinergic receptors. The formalin test showed that HupA decreased flinching behavior in a dose-dependent manner. Atropine also reversed the decrease in flinching behavior caused by 10 microg HupA. A dose-dependent increase of side effects including scratching, biting, and chewing tails was observed, although antinociceptive effects were observed in doses that did not produce any adverse effects. (c) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effects of mesh size and escape gaps on discarding in an Australian giant mud crab (Scylla serrata trap fishery.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matt K Broadhurst

Full Text Available In response to concerns over excessive discarding from Australian recreational round traps (with four funnel entrances used to target giant mud crabs, Scylla serrata, an experiment was done to assess the independent and cumulative utility of paired, bottom-located horizontal escape gaps (46×120 mm and increasing mesh size (from 51 to 101 mm. Compared to conventional traps comprising 51-mm mesh throughout, those with the same mesh size and escape gaps caught significantly fewer (by 95% undersize (<85 mm carapace length--CL crabs while maintaining legal catches. Traps made from 101-mm mesh (but with the same funnel entrances as conventional designs and with and without escape gaps similarly retained fewer undersize crabs and also yellowfin bream Acanthopagrus australis (the key bycatch species by up to 94%, but there were concomitant reductions in fishing power for legal sizes of S. serrata. Although there were no immediate mortalities among any discarded crabs, there was a greater bias towards wounding among post molts than late inter-molts and less damage to individuals in the 101-mm conventional than 51-mm conventional traps (without escape gaps. The results support retrospectively fitting escape gaps in conventional S. serrata traps as a means for reducing discarding, but additional work is required to determine appropriate mesh sizes/configurations that maximize species and size selectivity.

New constraints on the escape of ionizing photons from starburst galaxies using ionization-parameter mapping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zastrow, Jordan; Oey, M. S.; Veilleux, Sylvain; McDonald, Michael

2013-01-01

The fate of ionizing radiation in starburst galaxies is key to understanding cosmic reionization. However, the galactic parameters on which the escape fraction of ionizing radiation depend are not well understood. Ionization-parameter mapping provides a simple, yet effective, way to study the radiative transfer in starburst galaxies. We obtain emission-line ratio maps of [S III]/[S II] for six, nearby, dwarf starbursts: NGC 178, NGC 1482, NGC 1705, NGC 3125, NGC 7126, and He 2-10. The narrowband images are obtained with the Maryland-Magellan Tunable Filter at Las Campanas Observatory. Using these data, we previously reported the discovery of an optically thin ionization cone in NGC 5253, and here we also discover a similar ionization cone in NGC 3125. This latter cone has an opening angle of 40° ± 5° (0.4 sr), indicating that the passageways through which ionizing radiation may travel correspond to a small solid angle. Additionally, there are three sample galaxies that have winds and/or superbubble activity, which should be conducive to escaping radiation, yet they are optically thick. These results support the scenario that an orientation bias limits our ability to directly detect escaping Lyman continuum in many starburst galaxies. A comparison of the star formation properties and histories of the optically thin and thick galaxies is consistent with the model that high escape fractions are limited to galaxies that are old enough (≳3 Myr) for mechanical feedback to have cleared optically thin passageways in the interstellar medium, but young enough (≲5 Myr) that the ionizing stars are still present.

Two-Step Proximal Gradient Algorithm for Low-Rank Matrix Completion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiuyu Wang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we  propose a two-step proximal gradient algorithm to solve nuclear norm regularized least squares for the purpose of recovering low-rank data matrix from sampling of its entries. Each iteration generated by the proposed algorithm is a combination of the latest three points, namely, the previous point, the current iterate, and its proximal gradient point. This algorithm preserves the computational simplicity of classical proximal gradient algorithm where a singular value decomposition in proximal operator is involved. Global convergence is followed directly in the literature. Numerical results are reported to show the efficiency of the algorithm.

Bacteria exploit a polymorphic instability of the flagellar filament to escape from traps.

Science.gov (United States)

Kühn, Marco J; Schmidt, Felix K; Eckhardt, Bruno; Thormann, Kai M

2017-06-13

Many bacterial species swim by rotating single polar helical flagella. Depending on the direction of rotation, they can swim forward or backward and change directions to move along chemical gradients but also to navigate their obstructed natural environment in soils, sediments, or mucus. When they get stuck, they naturally try to back out, but they can also resort to a radically different flagellar mode, which we discovered here. Using high-speed microscopy, we monitored the swimming behavior of the monopolarly flagellated species Shewanella putrefaciens with fluorescently labeled flagellar filaments at an agarose-glass interface. We show that, when a cell gets stuck, the polar flagellar filament executes a polymorphic change into a spiral-like form that wraps around the cell body in a spiral-like fashion and enables the cell to escape by a screw-like backward motion. Microscopy and modeling suggest that this propagation mode is triggered by an instability of the flagellum under reversal of the rotation and the applied torque. The switch is reversible and bacteria that have escaped the trap can return to their normal swimming mode by another reversal of motor direction. The screw-type flagellar arrangement enables a unique mode of propagation and, given the large number of polarly flagellated bacteria, we expect it to be a common and widespread escape or motility mode in complex and structured environments.

Electromagnetic properties of proximity systems

Science.gov (United States)

Kresin, Vladimir Z.

1985-07-01

Magnetic screening in the proximity system Sα-Mβ, where Mβ is a normal metal N, semiconductor (semimetal), or a superconductor, is studied. Main attention is paid to the low-temperature region where nonlocality plays an important role. The thermodynamic Green's-function method is employed in order to describe the behavior of the proximity system in an external field. The temperature and thickness dependences of the penetration depth λ are obtained. The dependence λ(T) differs in a striking way from the dependence in usual superconductors. The strong-coupling effect is taken into account. A special case of screening in a superconducting film backed by a size-quantizing semimetal film is considered. The results obtained are in good agreement with experimental data.

Electromagnetic properties of proximity systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kresin, V.Z.

1985-01-01

Magnetic screening in the proximity system S/sub α/-M/sub β/, where M/sub β/ is a normal metal N, semiconductor (semimetal), or a superconductor, is studied. Main attention is paid to the low-temperature region where nonlocality plays an important role. The thermodynamic Green's-function method is employed in order to describe the behavior of the proximity system in an external field. The temperature and thickness dependences of the penetration depth lambda are obtained. The dependence lambda(T) differs in a striking way from the dependence in usual superconductors. The strong-coupling effect is taken into account. A special case of screening in a superconducting film backed by a size-quantizing semimetal film is considered. The results obtained are in good agreement with experimental data

Proximity operations concept design study, task 6

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, A. N.

1990-01-01

The feasibility of using optical technology to perform the mission of the proximity operations communications subsystem on Space Station Freedom was determined. Proximity operations mission requirements are determined and the relationship to the overall operational environment of the space station is defined. From this information, the design requirements of the communication subsystem are derived. Based on these requirements, a preliminary design is developed and the feasibility of implementation determined. To support the Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle and National Space Transportation System, the optical system development is straightforward. The requirements on extra-vehicular activity are such as to allow large fields of uncertainty, thus exacerbating the acquisition problem; however, an approach is given that could mitigate this problem. In general, it is found that such a system could indeed perform the proximity operations mission requirement, with some development required to support extra-vehicular activity.

The escape of Lyman photons from a young starburst: the case of Haro11†

Science.gov (United States)

Hayes, Matthew; Östlin, Göran; Atek, Hakim; Kunth, Daniel; Mas-Hesse, J. Miguel; Leitherer, Claus; Jiménez-Bailón, Elena; Adamo, Angela

2007-12-01

Lyman α (Lyα) is one of the dominant tools used to probe the star-forming galaxy population at high redshift (z). However, astrophysical interpretations of data drawn from Lyα alone hinge on the Lyα escape fraction which, due to the complex radiative transport, may vary greatly. Here, we map the Lyα emission from the local luminous blue compact galaxy Haro11, a known emitter of Lyα and the only known candidate for low-z Lyman continuum emission. To aid in the interpretation, we perform a detailed ultraviolet and optical multiwavelength analysis and model the stellar population, dust distribution, ionizing photon budget, and star-cluster population. We use archival X-ray observations to further constrain properties of the starburst and estimate the neutral hydrogen column density. The Lyα morphology is found to be largely symmetric around a single young star-forming knot and is strongly decoupled from other wavelengths. From general surface photometry, only very slight correlation is found between Lyα and Hα, E(B - V), and the age of the stellar population. Only around the central Lyα bright cluster do we find the Lyα/Hα ratio at values predicted by the recombination theory. The total Lyα escape fraction is found to be just 3 per cent. We compute that ~90 per cent of the Lyα photons that escape do so after undergoing multiple resonance scattering events, masking their point of origin. This leads to a largely symmetric distribution and, by increasing the distance that photons must travel to escape, decreases the escape probability significantly. While dust must ultimately be responsible for the destruction of Lyα, it plays a little role in governing the observed morphology, which is regulated more by interstellar medium kinematics and geometry. We find tentative evidence for local Lyα equivalent width in the immediate vicinity of star clusters being a function of cluster age, consistent with hydrodynamic studies. We estimate the intrinsic production

The escape of natural satellites from Mercury and Venus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumar, S.S.

1977-01-01

It is suggested that the slow rotations of Mercury and Venus may be connected with the absence of natural satellites around them. If Mercury or Venus possessed a satellite at the time of formation, the tidal evolution would have caused the satellite to recede. At a sufficiently large distance from the planet, the Sun's gravitational influence makes the satellite orbit unstable. The natural satellites of Mercury and Venus might have escaped as a consequence of this instability. (Auth.)

Proximate analysis of Lentinus squarrosulus (Mont.) Singer and ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Each of the mushroom species was separated into its stipe and pileus and used for proximate analysis. There was a highly significant difference (p<0.01) in the proximate composition of the two species. P. atroumbonata had significantly higher crude protein, crude fibre and moisture content than L. squarrosulus while the ...

Genetics Home Reference: proximal 18q deletion syndrome

Science.gov (United States)

... characteristic features. Most cases of proximal 18q deletion syndrome are the result of a new (de novo) deletion and are not inherited from a ... J, Fox PT, Stratton RF, Perry B, Hale DE. Recurrent interstitial deletions of proximal 18q: a new syndrome involving expressive speech delay. Am J Med Genet ...

Superconducting proximity effect in topological materials

Science.gov (United States)

Reeg, Christopher R.

In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in the proximity effect due to its role in the realization of topological superconductivity. In this dissertation, we discuss several results that have been obtained in the field of proximity-induced superconductivity and relate the results to the search for Majorana fermions. First, we show that repulsive electron-electron interactions can induce a non-Majorana zero-energy bound state at the interface between a conventional superconductor and a normal metal. We show that this state is very sensitive to disorder, owing to its lack of topological protection. Second, we show that Rashba spin-orbit coupling, which is one of the key ingredients in engineering a topological superconductor, induces triplet pairing in the proximity effect. When the spin-orbit coupling is strong (i.e., when the characteristic energy scale for spin-orbit coupling is comparable to the Fermi energy), the induced singlet and triplet pairing amplitudes can be comparable in magnitude. Finally, we discuss how the size of the proximity-induced gap, which appears in a low-dimensional material coupled to a superconductor, evolves as the thickness of the (quasi-)low-dimensional material is increased. We show that the induced gap can be comparable to the bulk energy gap of the underlying superconductor in materials that are much thicker than the Fermi wavelength, even in the presence of an interfacial barrier and strong Fermi surface mismatch. This result has important experimental consequences for topological superconductivity, as a sizable gap is required to isolate and detect the Majorana modes.

Proximal focal femoral deficiency: A case report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shashank Sharma

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Proximal focal femoral deficiency (PFFD is a rare congenital anomaly resulting in limb shortening and disability in young. The exact cause of the disease is not known and it may present as varying grades of affection involving the proximal femur and the acetabulum. Recognition of this rare abnormality on radiographs can help manage these cases better since early institution of therapy may help in achieving adequate growth of the femur.

Rocky Worlds Limited to ∼1.8 Earth Radii by Atmospheric Escape during a Star’s Extreme UV Saturation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lehmer, Owen R.; Catling, David C., E-mail: info@lehmer.us [Dept. Earth and Space Sciences, Box 351310, University of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)

2017-08-20

Recent observations and analysis of low-mass (<10 M {sub ⊕}) exoplanets have found that rocky planets only have radii up to 1.5–2 R {sub ⊕}. Two general hypotheses exist for the cause of the dichotomy between rocky and gas-enveloped planets (or possible water worlds): either low-mass planets do not necessarily form thick atmospheres of a few wt.%, or the thick atmospheres on these planets easily escape, driven by X-ray and extreme ultraviolet (XUV) emissions from young parent stars. Here, we show that a cutoff between rocky and gas-enveloped planets due to hydrodynamic escape is most likely to occur at a mean radius of 1.76 ± 0.38 (2 σ ) R {sub ⊕} around Sun-like stars. We examine the limit in rocky planet radii predicted by hydrodynamic escape across a wide range of possible model inputs, using 10,000 parameter combinations drawn randomly from plausible parameter ranges. We find a cutoff between rocky and gas-enveloped planets that agrees with the observed cutoff. The large cross-section available for XUV absorption in the extremely distended primitive atmospheres of low-mass planets results in complete loss of atmospheres during the ∼100 Myr phase of stellar XUV saturation. In contrast, more-massive planets have less-distended atmospheres and less escape, and so retain thick atmospheres through XUV saturation—and then indefinitely as the XUV and escape fluxes drop over time. The agreement between our model and exoplanet data leads us to conclude that hydrodynamic escape plausibly explains the observed upper limit on rocky planet size and few planets (a “valley”, or “radius gap”) in the 1.5–2 R {sub ⊕} range.

The Effect of Solar Wind Variations on the Escape of Oxygen Ions From Mars Through Different Channels: MAVEN Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Dubinin, E.; Fraenz, M.; Pätzold, M.; McFadden, J.; Halekas, J. S.; DiBraccio, G. A.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Eparvier, F.; Brain, D.; Jakosky, B. M.; Vaisberg, O.; Zelenyi, L.

2017-11-01

We present multi-instrument observations of the effects of solar wind on ion escape fluxes on Mars based on the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) data from 1 November 2014 to 15 May 2016. Losses of oxygen ions through different channels (plasma sheet, magnetic lobes, boundary layer, and ion plume) as a function of the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field variations were studied. We have utilized the modified Mars Solar Electric (MSE) coordinate system for separation of the different escape routes. Fluxes of the low-energy (≤30 eV) and high-energy (≥30 eV) ions reveal different trends with changes in the solar wind dynamic pressure, the solar wind flux, and the motional electric field. Major oxygen fluxes occur through the tail of the induced magnetosphere. The solar wind motional electric field produces an asymmetry in the ion fluxes and leads to different relations between ion fluxes supplying the tail from the different hemispheres and the solar wind dynamic pressure (or flux) and the motional electric field. The main driver for escape of the high-energy oxygen ions is the solar wind flux (or dynamic pressure). On the other hand, the low-energy ion component shows the opposite trend: ion flux decreases with increasing solar wind flux. As a result, the averaged total oxygen ion fluxes reveal a low variability with the solar wind strength. The large standard deviations from the averages values of the escape fluxes indicate the existence of mechanisms which can enhance or suppress the efficiency of the ion escape. It is shown that the Martian magnetosphere possesses the properties of a combined magnetosphere which contains different classes of field lines. The existence of the closed magnetic field lines in the near-Mars tail might be responsible for suppression of the ion escape fluxes.

Flight mechanics and control of escape manoeuvres in hummingbirds. I. Flight kinematics.

Science.gov (United States)

Cheng, Bo; Tobalske, Bret W; Powers, Donald R; Hedrick, Tyson L; Wethington, Susan M; Chiu, George T C; Deng, Xinyan

2016-11-15

Hummingbirds are nature's masters of aerobatic manoeuvres. Previous research shows that hummingbirds and insects converged evolutionarily upon similar aerodynamic mechanisms and kinematics in hovering. Herein, we use three-dimensional kinematic data to begin to test for similar convergence of kinematics used for escape flight and to explore the effects of body size upon manoeuvring. We studied four hummingbird species in North America including two large species (magnificent hummingbird, Eugenes fulgens, 7.8 g, and blue-throated hummingbird, Lampornis clemenciae, 8.0 g) and two smaller species (broad-billed hummingbird, Cynanthus latirostris, 3.4 g, and black-chinned hummingbirds Archilochus alexandri, 3.1 g). Starting from a steady hover, hummingbirds consistently manoeuvred away from perceived threats using a drastic escape response that featured body pitch and roll rotations coupled with a large linear acceleration. Hummingbirds changed their flapping frequency and wing trajectory in all three degrees of freedom on a stroke-by-stroke basis, likely causing rapid and significant alteration of the magnitude and direction of aerodynamic forces. Thus it appears that the flight control of hummingbirds does not obey the 'helicopter model' that is valid for similar escape manoeuvres in fruit flies. Except for broad-billed hummingbirds, the hummingbirds had faster reaction times than those reported for visual feedback control in insects. The two larger hummingbird species performed pitch rotations and global-yaw turns with considerably larger magnitude than the smaller species, but roll rates and cumulative roll angles were similar among the four species. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Role of Urbanization, Land-Use Diversity, and Livestock Intensification in Zoonotic Emerging Infectious Diseases

OpenAIRE

Saksena, Sumeet; Fox, Jefferson; Epprecht, Michael; Tran, Chinh; Castrence, Miguel; Nong, Duong; Spencer, James; Lam, Nguyen; Finucane, Melissa; Duc Vien, Tran; Wilcox, Bruce

2014-01-01

Emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) continue to significantly threaten human and animal health. While there has been some progress in identifying underlying proximal driving forces and causal mechanisms of disease emergence, the role of distal factors is most poorly understood. This article focuses on analyzing the statistical association between highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 and urbanization, land-use diversity and poultry intensification. A special form of the urban transiti...

Systemic calciphylaxis presenting as a painful, proximal myopathy.

OpenAIRE

Edelstein, C. L.; Wickham, M. K.; Kirby, P. A.

1992-01-01

A renal transplant patient who presented with a painful, proximal myopathy due to systemic calciphylaxis is described. The myopathy preceded the characteristic skin and soft tissue necrosis. Systemic calciphylaxis should be considered in a dialysis or a renal transplant patient presenting with a painful proximal myopathy even in the absence of necrotic skin lesions.

Escape by the Balearic Lizard (Podarcis lilfordi is affected by elevation of an approaching predator, but not by some other potential predation risk factors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William E. Cooper

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Many predation risk factors to affect escape behavior by lizards, but effects of some potential risk factors are unknown or are variable among species. We studied effects of several risk factors on escape responses by the Balearic lizard (Podarcis lilfordi, Lacertidae on escape responses. Escape was elicited by an approaching experimenter who recorded flight initiation distance (predator-prey distance when escape begins and distance fled. When an experimenter approached from above (upslope, flight initiation distance and distance fled were longer than when the experimenter approached from below. This novel effect suggests that lizards exposed to aerial predation might have been naturally selected to respond rapidly to predators approaching from above or that effects of path inclination of escape ability may differ between predators and prey in a manner requiring a larger margin of safety during approaches from above than below. Although sex differences in aspects of escape occur in some lizards, including lacertids, no sex difference was observed in P. lilfordi. Because vigilance and some other aspects of antipredatory behavior exhibit cortical lateralization, we tested effects of approach from the left and right sides of lizards. As predicted by optimal escape theory, side of approach did not affect flight initiation distance. Because many lizards have color vision and respond to pigmentation of conspecifics in social settings, researchers have often worn only drably colored clothing when simulating predators. This precaution may be unnecessary because flight initiation distance did not differ among investigator shirt colors (red, orange, olive.

Theoretical UV absorption spectra of hydrodynamically escaping O{sub 2}/CO{sub 2}-rich exoplanetary atmospheres

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gronoff, G.; Mertens, C. J.; Norman, R. B. [NASA LaRC, Hampton, VA (United States); Maggiolo, R. [BIRA-IASB, Avenue Circulaire 3, 1180 Brussels (Belgium); Wedlund, C. Simon [Aalto University School of Electrical Engineering Department of Radio Science and Engineering, P.O. Box 13000, FI-00076 Aalto (Finland); Bell, J. [National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, VA (United States); Bernard, D. [IPAG, Grenoble (France); Parkinson, C. J. [University of Michigan, MI (United States); Vidal-Madjar, A., E-mail: Guillaume.P.Gronoff@nasa.gov [Observatoire de Paris, Paris (France)

2014-06-20

Characterizing Earth- and Venus-like exoplanets' atmospheres to determine if they are habitable and how they are evolving (e.g., equilibrium or strong erosion) is a challenge. For that endeavor, a key element is the retrieval of the exospheric temperature, which is a marker of some of the processes occurring in the lower layers and controls a large part of the atmospheric escape. We describe a method to determine the exospheric temperature of an O{sub 2}- and/or CO{sub 2}-rich transiting exoplanet, and we simulate the respective spectra of such a planet in hydrostatic equilibrium and hydrodynamic escape. The observation of hydrodynamically escaping atmospheres in young planets may help constrain and improve our understanding of the evolution of the solar system's terrestrial planets' atmospheres. We use the dependency of the absorption spectra of the O{sub 2} and CO{sub 2} molecules on the temperature to estimate the temperature independently of the total absorption of the planet. Combining two observables (two parts of the UV spectra that have a different temperature dependency) with the model, we are able to determine the thermospheric density profile and temperature. If the slope of the density profile is inconsistent with the temperature, then we infer the hydrodynamic escape. We address the question of the possible biases in the application of the method to future observations, and we show that the flare activity should be cautiously monitored to avoid large biases.

Localized knowledge spillover and the emergence of new technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tanner, Anne Nygaard

2010-01-01

For the past 20 years scholars have found support for the thesis that knowledge spills over in geographical and technological proximity to the source of knowledge creation. It is the objective of this paper to examine whether this understanding of LKS can contribute to a greater understanding...... of emerging technologies and their geographical distribution. The paper examines this by studying the emergence of a generic technology with a very complex knowledge base, namely the fuel cell (FC) technology. The analysis is carried out on an OECD dataset on regionalized PCT patent applications (OECD REGPAT......-related technology fields. These findings corroborate the usefulness of the theory on LKS in explaining elements of the emergence of new technologies. Moreover, the analysis sheds new light on regional development and diversification along new technological trajectory....

Anatomy and Biomechanics of the Finger Proximal Interphalangeal Joint.

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Eric Quan; Yao, Jeffrey

2018-05-01

A complete understanding of the normal anatomy and biomechanics of the proximal interphalangeal joint is critical when treating pathology of the joint as well as in the design of new reconstructive treatments. The osseous anatomy dictates the principles of motion at the proximal interphalangeal joint. Subsequently, the joint is stabilized throughout its motion by the surrounding proximal collateral ligament, accessory collateral ligament, and volar plate. The goal of this article is to review the normal anatomy and biomechanics of the proximal interphalangeal joint and its associated structures, most importantly the proper collateral ligament, accessory collateral ligament, and volar plate. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A method for ion distribution function evaluation using escaping neutral atom kinetic energy samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goncharov, P.R.; Ozaki, T.; Veshchev, E.A.; Sudo, S.

2008-01-01

A reliable method to evaluate the probability density function for escaping atom kinetic energies is required for the analysis of neutral particle diagnostic data used to study the fast ion distribution function in fusion plasmas. Digital processing of solid state detector signals is proposed in this paper as an improvement of the simple histogram approach. Probability density function for kinetic energies of neutral particles escaping from the plasma has been derived in a general form taking into account the plasma ion energy distribution, electron capture and loss rates, superposition along the diagnostic sight line and the magnetic surface geometry. A pseudorandom number generator has been realized that enables a sample of escaping neutral particle energies to be simulated for given plasma parameters and experimental conditions. Empirical probability density estimation code has been developed and tested to reconstruct the probability density function from simulated samples assuming. Maxwellian and classical slowing down plasma ion energy distribution shapes for different temperatures and different slowing down times. The application of the developed probability density estimation code to the analysis of experimental data obtained by the novel Angular-Resolved Multi-Sightline Neutral Particle Analyzer has been studied to obtain the suprathermal particle distributions. The optimum bandwidth parameter selection algorithm has also been realized. (author)

The relative use of proximity, shape similarity, and orientation as visual perceptual grouping cues in tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) and humans (Homo sapiens).

Science.gov (United States)

Spinozzi, Giovanna; De Lillo, Carlo; Truppa, Valentina; Castorina, Giulia

2009-02-01

Recent experimental results suggest that human and nonhuman primates differ in how they process visual information to assemble component parts into global shapes. To assess whether some of the observed differences in perceptual grouping could be accounted for by the prevalence of different grouping factors in different species, we carried out 2 experiments designed to evaluate the relative use of proximity, similarity of shape, and orientation as grouping cues in humans (Homo sapiens) and capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella). Both species showed similarly high levels of accuracy using proximity as a cue. Moreover, for both species, grouping by orientation similarity produced a lower level of performance than grouping by proximity. Differences emerged with respect to the use of shape similarity as a cue. In humans, grouping by shape similarity also proved less effective than grouping by proximity but the same was not observed in capuchins. These results suggest that there may be subtle differences between humans and capuchin monkeys in the weighting assigned to different grouping cues that may affect the way in which they combine local features into global shapes. Copyright 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

Context-Aware Community Construction in Proximity-Based Mobile Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Na Yu

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Sensor-equipped mobile devices have allowed users to participate in various social networking services. We focus on proximity-based mobile social networking environments where users can share information obtained from different places via their mobile devices when they are in proximity. Since people are more likely to share information if they can benefit from the sharing or if they think the information is of interest to others, there might exist community structures where users who share information more often are grouped together. Communities in proximity-based mobile networks represent social groups where connections are built when people are in proximity. We consider information influence (i.e., specify who shares information with whom as the connection and the space and time related to the shared information as the contexts. To model the potential information influences, we construct an influence graph by integrating the space and time contexts into the proximity-based contacts of mobile users. Further, we propose a two-phase strategy to detect and track context-aware communities based on the influence graph and show how the context-aware community structure improves the performance of two types of mobile social applications.

X-ray escape effects in Si, Ge, and NaI detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brunner, G.

1989-01-01

A 3-parameter representation of the type x = K 1 [1 -L(ln(1 + 1/L))] together with L = K 2 E K 3 is recommended for the escape to parent peak ratio. Parameter values are provided for Si, Ge, and NaI detectors. Scattering, which has been neglected up to now, is included. (author)

Comparing Effective Treatments for Attention-Maintained and Escape- Maintained Behaviors in Children with Behavior Disorders: Brief Review and Analysis

OpenAIRE

Lauren Worcester; T. F. McLaughlin

2013-01-01

This literature review compares treatment for attention-maintainedversus escape maintained aberrant behavior in children with behavior disorders. Specifically, studies utilizing time out procedures, differential reinforcement procedures, noncontingent reinforcement, and functional communication training are discussed. It was found that these are effective treatments for attention-maintained behaviors; while escape extinction, positive and negative reinforcement, functional communication trai...

Hybrid external fixation of the proximal tibia: strategies to improve frame stability.

Science.gov (United States)

Roberts, Craig S; Dodds, James C; Perry, Kelvin; Beck, Dennis; Seligson, David; Voor, Michael J

2003-07-01

To determine the specific frame construction strategies that can increase the stability of hybrid (ring with tensioned wires proximally connected by bars to half-pins distally) external fixation of proximal tibia fractures. DESIGN Repeated measures biomechanical testing. Laboratory. Composite fiberglass tibias. Using the Heidelberg and Ilizarov systems, external fixators were tested on composite fiberglass tibias with a 1-cm proximal osteotomy (OTA fracture classification 41-A3.3) in seven frame configurations: unilateral frames with 5-mm diameter half-pins and 6-mm diameter half-pins; hybrid (as described above), with and without a 6-mm anterior proximal half-pin; a "box" hybrid (additional ring group distal to the fracture connected by symmetrically spaced bars to the proximal rings) with and without an anterior, proximal half-pin; and a full, four-ring configuration. Each configuration was loaded in four positions (central, medial, posterior, and posteromedial). Displacement at point of loading of proximal fragment. The "box" hybrid was stiffer than the standard hybrid for all loading positions. The addition of an anterior half-pin stiffened the standard hybrid and the "box" hybrid. The most dramatic improvements in the stability of hybrid frames used for proximal tibial fractures result from addition of an anterior, proximal half-pin.

Sound attenuation and preferred music in the treatment of problem behavior maintained by escape from noise.

Science.gov (United States)

Kettering, Tracy L; Fisher, Wayne W; Kelley, Michael E; LaRue, Robert H

2018-06-06

We examined the extent to which different sounds functioned as motivating operations (MO) that evoked problem behavior during a functional analysis for two participants. Results suggested that escape from loud noises reinforced the problem behavior for one participant and escape from arguing reinforced problem behavior for the other participant. Noncontingent delivery of preferred music through sound-attenuating headphones decreased problem behavior without the use of extinction for both participants. We discuss the results in terms of the abolishing effects of the intervention. © 2018 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Endomedullar nail of metacarpal and proximal phalanges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mendez Olaya, Francisco Javier; Sanchez Mesa, Pedro Antonio

2002-01-01

Prospective study, series of cases; it included patients with diaphysis fractures and union diaphysis-neck or union diaphysis-base of metacarpal and proximal phalanges, in whom was practiced anterograde intramedullary nailing previous closed reduction of the fracture, using prevent intramedullary nail of 1.6 mm. (cem 16) for the metacarpal fractures, and two nail prevent of 1.0 mm. (cem 10) for the proximal phalangeal fractures. Indications: transverse and oblique short fractures, spiral and with comminuting bicortical. Pursuit average is 5.7 months. Frequency surgical intervened patient: 2.2 each month, using this surgical technique a total of 20 (twenty) patients have been operated, 21 (twenty one) fractures; 16 (sixteen) metacarcal fractures and 5 (five) proximal phalangeal fractures, all of them tested using clinical and radiological parameters. Results: good 82%, regular 18%, and bad 0% obtaining bony consolidation and early rehabilitation with incorporation to their habitual works

Optical escape factors for Doppler profiles in spherical, cylindrical and plane parallel geometries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Otsuka, Masamoto.

1977-12-01

Optical escape factors for Doppler profiles in spherical, cylindrical and plane parallel geometries are tabulated over the range of optical depths from 10 -3 to 10 5 . Relations with the known formulae are discussed also. (auth.)

[Wells clinical prediction criteria in patients suspected of having deep vein thrombosis: evaluation of components and use in the emergency department].

Science.gov (United States)

García-Castrillo Riesgo, Luis; Jiménez Hernández, Sònia; Piñera Salmerón, Pascual

2015-01-01

To determine the applicability of the Wells clinical prediction criteria for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in patients in hospital emergency departments and to evaluate the relevance of the score's components. Prospective multicenter cohort study in consecutive hospital emergency department patients suspected of having DVT. Full-leg Doppler compression ultrasound imaging was performed on all patients. We recorded information on variables related to risk for DVT and the components of clinical prediction scales. Wells and Oudega clinical prediction scores were calculated. We studied 362 patients in 23 hospital emergency departments; the mean (SD) age was 65 (18) years and 52.8% were women. DVT was diagnosed in 254 patients (70.16%); 171 (47.2%) had proximal DVT. The clinical probability of DVT according to the Wells scale and the prevalence of proximal DVT were as follows: low probability, 57 patients (14 with DVT, 24.6%); intermediate probability, 124 (43 with DVT, 34.7%), and high probability, 181 (114 with DVT, 63%). Only 5 of the components of the Wells scale were associated with the presence of proximal DVT. The prevalence of DVT is very high in the 3 categories of clinical probability indicated by the Wells score. The prevalences do not correspond to those of the cohort used to validate the scale. It appears to be necessary to develop scales adjusted for use in hospital emergency departments when DVT is suspected.

MR imaging of proximal femur: age-related changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Ju Heon; Jeon, Woo Jin; Sohn, Cheol Ho; Park, Mi Ok; Lee, Seong Mun; Joo, Yang Gu; Suh, Soo Jhi; Pyun, Young Sik

1995-01-01

The purpose of this study is to illustrate MR patterns of signal intensity of proximal femur in normal subjects according to the age distribution. T1-weighted MR images of the proximal femur in 125 subjects, aged 13 days to 25 years, were retrospectively analyzed. Age distribution was classified to 4 groups; below 4 months, 5 months to 4 years, 5 years to 14 years, and 15 years to 25 years. By the age of 4 months, the non-ossified femoral epiphysis was seen as intermediate-signal-intensity cartilage. At 5 months-4 years, the ossified femoral capital epiphysis was seen within intermediate-signal-intensity cartilage and appeared as decreased or increased signal-intensity red or yellow marrow surrounded by a rim of low-signal-intensity cortical bone. At 5-14 years, the ossified femoral capital and greater trochanteric epiphysis were seen within the intermediate-signal-intensity cartilage and appeared as decreased or increased signal-intensity red or yellow marrow. At 15-25 years, the proximal metaphyseal marrow showed increased signal intensity. Four patterns of the metaphyseal marrow were recognized by Ricci et al. The frequency of pattern 1 a progressively decreased with age. Pattern 2 and 3 were visible in the 15-25 years age group. An understanding of the spectrum of normal age-related change of the proximal femoral cartilage and marrow patterns serves as the foundation for interpretation of proximal femur pathologies

Topology of digital images visual pattern discovery in proximity spaces

CERN Document Server

Peters, James F

2014-01-01

This book carries forward recent work on visual patterns and structures in digital images and introduces a near set-based a topology of digital images. Visual patterns arise naturally in digital images viewed as sets of non-abstract points endowed with some form of proximity (nearness) relation. Proximity relations make it possible to construct uniform topolo- gies on the sets of points that constitute a digital image. In keeping with an interest in gaining an understanding of digital images themselves as a rich source of patterns, this book introduces the basics of digital images from a computer vision perspective. In parallel with a computer vision perspective on digital images, this book also introduces the basics of prox- imity spaces. Not only the traditional view of spatial proximity relations but also the more recent descriptive proximity relations are considered. The beauty of the descriptive proximity approach is that it is possible to discover visual set patterns among sets that are non-overlapping ...

Escape trajectories of solar sails and general relativity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kezerashvili, Roman Ya. [Physics Department, New York City College of Technology, City University of New York, 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (United States); Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016 (United States); Vazquez-Poritz, Justin F., E-mail: jvazquez-poritz@citytech.cuny.ed [Physics Department, New York City College of Technology, City University of New York, 300 Jay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (United States); Graduate School and University Center, City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016 (United States)

2009-11-16

General relativity can have a significant impact on the long-range escape trajectories of solar sails deployed near the sun. For example, spacetime curvature in the vicinity of the sun can cause a solar sail traveling from about 4 solar radii to 2550 AU to be deflected by on the order of a million kilometers, and should therefore be taken into account at the beginning of the mission. There are a number of smaller general relativistic effects, such as frame dragging due to the slow rotation of the sun which can cause a deflection of more than one thousand kilometers.

Escape trajectories of solar sails and general relativity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kezerashvili, Roman Ya.; Vazquez-Poritz, Justin F.

2009-01-01

General relativity can have a significant impact on the long-range escape trajectories of solar sails deployed near the sun. For example, spacetime curvature in the vicinity of the sun can cause a solar sail traveling from about 4 solar radii to 2550 AU to be deflected by on the order of a million kilometers, and should therefore be taken into account at the beginning of the mission. There are a number of smaller general relativistic effects, such as frame dragging due to the slow rotation of the sun which can cause a deflection of more than one thousand kilometers.

Review of the SIMMER-II analyses of liquid-metal-cooled fast breeder reactor core-disruptive accident fuel escape

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

DeVault, G.P.; Bell, C.R.

1985-01-01

Early fuel removal from the active core of a liquid-metal-cooled fast breeder reactor undergoing a core-disruptive accident may reduce the potential for large energetics resulting from recriticalities. This paper presents a review of analyses with the SIMMER-II computer program of the effectiveness of possible fuel escape paths. Where possible, how SIMMER-II compares with or is validated against experiments that simulated the escape paths also is discussed

Proximate Analysis of Coal

Science.gov (United States)

Donahue, Craig J.; Rais, Elizabeth A.

2009-01-01

This lab experiment illustrates the use of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) to perform proximate analysis on a series of coal samples of different rank. Peat and coke are also examined. A total of four exercises are described. These are dry exercises as students interpret previously recorded scans. The weight percent moisture, volatile matter,…

The reliability and accuracy of two methods for proximal caries detection and depth on directly visible proximal surfaces: an in vitro study

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ekstrand, K R; Alloza, Alvaro Luna; Promisiero, L

2011-01-01

This study aimed to determine the reliability and accuracy of the ICDAS and radiographs in detecting and estimating the depth of proximal lesions on extracted teeth. The lesions were visible to the naked eye. Three trained examiners scored a total of 132 sound/carious proximal surfaces from 106 p...

Increased transcapillary escape rate of albumin and IgG in essential hypertension

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Parving, H H; Jensen, H A; Westrup, M

1977-01-01

Transcapillary escape rates of albumin and IgG (fractions of intravascular mass of albumin and IgG that pass to the extravascular space per unit time) were determined simultaneously from the initial disappearance of intravenously injected 131I human albumin and 125I human IgG in seven untreated...... subjects suffering from essential hypertension. The average mean arterial blood pressure of these subjects 193/119 mmHg; four subjects had grade I-III funduscopic changes. Transcapillary escape rates of albumin (TERalb) and IgG (TERIgG) were found significantly increased in the hypertensive subjects......, average 7.8 +/- 0.9 (SD) and 4.7 +/- 1.0 (SD) %/h, respectively, compared with normal values of mean 5.2 +/- 1.0 (SD) and 3.0 +/- 0.7 (SD) %/h, respectively (P less than 0.01). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between the mean arterial blood pressure and TER of albumin and of Ig...

The sooner, the better: exercise outcome proximity and intrinsic motivation.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, M Blair; Cooke, Lisa M; Murray, Robyn A; Wilson, Anne E

2014-11-01

Despite evidence that outcomes are highly valued when they are expected sooner rather than further into the future (Ainslie, 1975), limited research effort has been devoted to understanding the role of exercise outcome proximity. The purpose of this study was to examine how temporal proximity to positive outcomes influences exercisers' intrinsic motivation. We expected that focusing people on temporally proximal exercise outcomes would increase intrinsic motivation, especially among low-frequency exercisers. This online experimental study was completed by 135 community exercisers (Mage  = 31.11, SD = 10.29; 62% female) who reported an average of 4.86 exercise bouts per week (SD = 2.12). Participants were randomly assigned to a condition that primed temporally proximal positive exercise outcomes (i.e. experienced during or directly following an exercise bout) or temporally distal outcomes (i.e. experienced after days, months, or years of regular exercise). Participants then reported perceptions of behavioral regulation in exercise. As expected, the proximal exercise outcome condition elicited increased intrinsic regulation among those participants who exercised less frequently (i.e. 1 SD below the mean). This study reveals the importance of considering proximity as an important dimension of exercise outcomes-particularly when promoting intrinsic motivation among relatively infrequent exercisers. © 2014 The International Association of Applied Psychology.

Potential Child Abuse Screening in Emergency Department; a Diagnostic Accuracy Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hossein Dinpanah

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Designing a tool that can differentiate those at risk of child abuse with great diagnostic accuracyis of great interest. The present study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Escape instrumentin triage of at risk cases of child abuse presenting to emergency department (ED. Methods: The present diagnosticaccuracy study performed on 6120 of the children under 16 years old presented to ED during 3 years,using convenience sampling. Confirmation by the child abuse team (pediatrician, a socialworker, and a forensicphysician was considered as the gold standard. Screening performance characteristics of Escape were calculatedusing STATA 21. Results: 6120 children with the mean age of 2.19 § 1.12 years were screened (52.7% girls.137 children were suspected victims of child abuse. Based on child abuse team opinion, 35 (0.5% children wereconfirmed victims of child abuse. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratio and positive andnegative predictive values of this test with 95% CI were 100 (87.6 – 100, 98.3 (97.9 – 98.6, 25.5 (18.6 – 33.8, 100(99.9 – 100, 0.34 (0.25 – 0.46, and 0 (0 – NAN, respectively. Area under the ROC curve was 99.2 (98.9 – 99.4.Conclusion: It seems that Escape is a suitable screening instrument for detection of at risk cases of child abusepresenting to ED. Based on the results of the present study, the accuracy of this screening tool is 99.2%, which isin the excellent range.

Swimming and escape behavior of copepod nauplii: implications for predator-prey interactions among copepods

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Titelman, Josefin

2001-01-01

This study focuses on how prey behavior may affect predation risk through encounter rates and the escape success of the prey given an encounter. Temora longicornis nauplii require stronger hydrodynamic signals to elicit escape than Acartia tonsa nauplii (critical fluid deformation rates, Delta......* of 2.8 to 4.0 and 1.2 to 2.5 s(-1), respectively) suggesting that T. longicornis may be more susceptible to predation. Quantification of naupliar motility behavior and subsequent estimation of the hydrodynamic signals which the nauplii generate suggest that an adult female Centropages typicus may......, the behavior of A. tonsa acts predominantly at the post-encounter stage where its sensitivity to hydrodynamic signals (i,e., low Delta*) effectively compensates for the high predator encounter rate generated by its motility....

Effect of field-dependent mobility on the escape probability. I. Electrons photoinjected in neopentane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mozumder, A.; Carmichael, I.

1978-01-01

A general procedure is described for calculating the escape probability of an electron against neutralization in the presence of an external field after it has been ejected into a dielectric liquid from a planar surface. The present paper utilizes the field-dependent electron mobility measurement in neopentane by Bakale and Schmidt. The calculated escape probability, upon averaging over the initial distribution, is compared with the current efficiency measurement of Holroyd et al. The median thermalization legnth, inferred from this comparison, depends in general upon the assumed form of initial distribution. It is less than the value obtained when the field dependence of the mobility is ignored but greater than that applicable to the high energy irradiation case. A plausible explanation is offered

Correlation between social proximity and mobility similarity.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Chao; Liu, Yiding; Huang, Junming; Rong, Zhihai; Zhou, Tao

2017-09-20

Human behaviors exhibit ubiquitous correlations in many aspects, such as individual and collective levels, temporal and spatial dimensions, content, social and geographical layers. With rich Internet data of online behaviors becoming available, it attracts academic interests to explore human mobility similarity from the perspective of social network proximity. Existent analysis shows a strong correlation between online social proximity and offline mobility similarity, namely, mobile records between friends are significantly more similar than between strangers, and those between friends with common neighbors are even more similar. We argue the importance of the number and diversity of common friends, with a counter intuitive finding that the number of common friends has no positive impact on mobility similarity while the diversity plays a key role, disagreeing with previous studies. Our analysis provides a novel view for better understanding the coupling between human online and offline behaviors, and will help model and predict human behaviors based on social proximity.

Bone mineral density of lumbar spine and proximal femur in healthy males

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Akin, S.; Isikli, S.; Korkusuz, F.; Ungan, M.; Senkoylu, A.

2004-01-01

Relationship between BMD and age at lumbar spine and proximal femur in Turkish males was investigated. Two hundred ninety healthy males (aged 20-59 years) were investigated. BMD of the lumbar spine had its peak at ages 30-39, however, the peak for the proximal femur was between the ages of 20 and 29. There was a significant decrease in BMD at proximal femur after these peak values with increasing age. There was a significant correlation between age and the proximal femoral BMD in males and age has a strong predictive power on proximal femur BMD score. (author)

Proximal soil sensors and data fusion for precision agriculture

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mahmood, H.S.

2013-01-01

different remote and proximal soil sensors are available today that can scan entire fields and give detailed information on various physical, chemical, mechanical and biological soil properties. The first objective of this thesis was to evaluate different proximal soil sensors available today and to

Proximal caries detection: Sirona Sidexis versus Kodak Ektaspeed Plus.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Emad A; Tyndall, Donald A; Ludlow, John B; Caplan, Daniel

2005-01-01

This study compared the accuracy of intraoral film and a charge-coupled device (CCD) receptor for proximal caries detection. Four observers evaluated images of the proximal surfaces of 40 extracted posterior teeth. The presence or absence of caries was scored using a five-point confidence scale. The actual status of each surface was determined from ground section histology. Responses were evaluated by means of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Areas under ROC curves (Az) were assessed through a paired t-test. The performance of the CCD-based intraoral sensor was not different statistically from Ektaspeed Plus film in detecting proximal caries.

Low LET radiolysis escape yields for reducing radicals and H2 in pressurized high temperature water

Science.gov (United States)

Sterniczuk, Marcin; Yakabuskie, Pamela A.; Wren, J. Clara; Jacob, Jasmine A.; Bartels, David M.

2016-04-01

Low Linear Energy Transfer (LET) radiolysis escape yields (G values) are reported for the sum (G(radH)+G(e-)aq) and for G(H2) in subcritical water up to 350 °C. The scavenger system 1-10 mM acetate/0.001 M hydroxide/0.00048 M N2O was used with simultaneous mass spectroscopic detection of H2 and N2 product. Temperature-dependent measurements were carried out with 2.5 MeV electrons from a van de Graaff accelerator, while room temperature calibration measurements were done with a 60Co gamma source. The concentrations and dose range were carefully chosen so that initial spur chemistry is not perturbed and the N2 product yield corresponds to those reducing radicals that escape recombination in pure water. In comparison with a recent review recommendation of Elliot and Bartels (AECL report 153-127160-450-001, 2009), the measured reducing radical yield is seven percent smaller at room temperature but in fairly good agreement above 150 °C. The H2 escape yield is in good agreement throughout the temperature range with several previous studies that used much larger radical scavenging rates. Previous analysis of earlier high temperature measurements of Gesc(radOH) is shown to be flawed, although the actual G values may be nearly correct. The methodology used in the present report greatly reduces the range of possible error and puts the high temperature escape yields for low-LET radiation on a much firmer quantitative foundation than was previously available.

The HIV-1 V3 domain on field isolates: participation in generation of escape virus in vivo and accessibility to neutralizing antibodies

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arendrup, M; Akerblom, L; Heegaard, P M

1995-01-01

The V3 domain is highly variable and induces HIV neutralizing antibodies (NA). Here we addressed the issues of 1) the participation of mutations in V3 in generation of neutralization resistant escape virus in vivo and 2) the applicability of synthetic V3 peptides corresponding to field isolates...... patterns against V3 peptides corresponding to sequential primary and escape field isolates, with the strongest reactivity against late isolated escape virus. These observations suggest that the neutralization epitope was influenced by the appearance of mutations. When used as immunogen in rabbits, V3...... to induce neutralizing immune sera. Seven peptides corresponding to the V3 region of primary and escape virus from 3 HIV-1 infected patients were synthesized and used for antibody (Abs) studies and immunizations. The anti-V3 Abs titre in patient serum was generally low against peptides corresponding...

Computational proximity excursions in the topology of digital images

CERN Document Server

Peters, James F

2016-01-01

This book introduces computational proximity (CP) as an algorithmic approach to finding nonempty sets of points that are either close to each other or far apart. Typically in computational proximity, the book starts with some form of proximity space (topological space equipped with a proximity relation) that has an inherent geometry. In CP, two types of near sets are considered, namely, spatially near sets and descriptivelynear sets. It is shown that connectedness, boundedness, mesh nerves, convexity, shapes and shape theory are principal topics in the study of nearness and separation of physical aswell as abstract sets. CP has a hefty visual content. Applications of CP in computer vision, multimedia, brain activity, biology, social networks, and cosmology are included. The book has been derived from the lectures of the author in a graduate course on the topology of digital images taught over the past several years. Many of the students have provided important insights and valuable suggestions. The topics in ...

Species-specific patterns of swimming escape performance and cholinesterase activity in a guild of aquatic insects exposed to endosulfan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trekels, Hendrik; Van de Meutter, Frank; Stoks, Robby

2012-01-01

Next to imposing direct lethal effects, pollutants may also indirectly impose mortality by making prey organisms more vulnerable to predation. We report that four water boatmen species differed strongly in direct endosulfan-imposed mortality, and only the species that suffered highest mortality, Sigara iactans, also showed a reduction in escape swimming speed. While head AChE activity was inhibited in all four species, body ChE was only inhibited in S. iactans where it covaried with escape swimming speed, indicating a mechanistic link between body ChE and swimming speed. Our study underscores the need for risk assessment to consider sublethal pollutant effects, which may considerably affect survival rates under natural conditions, also when testing concentrations of a pesticide that cause direct mortality. Such sublethal effects may generate discrepancies between laboratory and field studies and should be considered when designing safety factors for toxicants where the risk assessment is solely based on LC50 values. - Highlights: ► Endosulfan, even at lethal levels, did not affect swimming propensity when attacked. ► Endosulfan reduced escape swimming in one out of four tested corixid species. ► Lower body ChE levels were associated with a slower escape speed in one species. ► Head AChE activity was more sensitive to endosulfan than body ChE. ► Endosulfan had strongly different effects on the closely related species. - Endosulfan only detectably reduced escape swimming speed in one of the four studied water boatmen species and this was associated with an inhibition of body ChE.

Effect of doping on room temperature carrier escape mechanisms in InAs/GaAs quantum dot p-i-n junction photovoltaic cells

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sellers, D. G.; Chen, E. Y.; Doty, M. F. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716 (United States); Polly, S. J.; Hubbard, S. M. [NanoPower Research Laboratory, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York 14623 (United States)

2016-05-21

We investigate the effect of doping on the mechanisms of carrier escape from intermediate states in delta-doped InAs/GaAs intermediate band solar cells. The intermediate states arise from InAs quantum dots embedded in a GaAs p-i-n junction cell. We find that doping the sample increases the number of excited-state carriers participating in a cycle of trapping and carrier escape via thermal, optical, and tunneling mechanisms. However, we find that the efficiency of the optically-driven carrier escape mechanism is independent of doping and remains small.

E4orf1 Enhances Glucose Uptake Independent of Proximal Insulin Signaling.

Science.gov (United States)

Na, Ha-Na; Hegde, Vijay; Dubuisson, Olga; Dhurandhar, Nikhil V

2016-01-01

Impaired proximal insulin signaling is often present in diabetes. Hence, approaches to enhance glucose disposal independent of proximal insulin signaling are desirable. Evidence indicates that Adenovirus-derived E4orf1 protein may offer such an approach. This study determined if E4orf1 improves insulin sensitivity and downregulates proximal insulin signaling in vivo and enhances cellular glucose uptake independent of proximal insulin signaling in vitro. High fat fed mice were injected with a retrovirus plasmid expressing E4orf1, or a null vector. E4orf1 significantly improved insulin sensitivity in response to a glucose load. Yet, their proximal insulin signaling in fat depots was impaired, as indicated by reduced tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptor (IR), and significantly increased abundance of ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1 (ENPP1). In 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes E4orf1 expression impaired proximal insulin signaling. Whereas, treatment with rosiglitazone reduced ENPP1 abundance. Unaffected by IR-KD (insulin receptor knockdown) with siRNA, E4orf1 significantly up-regulated distal insulin signaling pathway and enhanced cellular glucose uptake. In vivo, E4orf1 impairs proximal insulin signaling in fat depots yet improves glycemic control. This is probably explained by the ability of E4orf1 to promote cellular glucose uptake independent of proximal insulin signaling. E4orf1 may provide a therapeutic template to enhance glucose disposal in the presence of impaired proximal insulin signaling.

E4orf1 Enhances Glucose Uptake Independent of Proximal Insulin Signaling.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ha-Na Na

Full Text Available Impaired proximal insulin signaling is often present in diabetes. Hence, approaches to enhance glucose disposal independent of proximal insulin signaling are desirable. Evidence indicates that Adenovirus-derived E4orf1 protein may offer such an approach. This study determined if E4orf1 improves insulin sensitivity and downregulates proximal insulin signaling in vivo and enhances cellular glucose uptake independent of proximal insulin signaling in vitro. High fat fed mice were injected with a retrovirus plasmid expressing E4orf1, or a null vector. E4orf1 significantly improved insulin sensitivity in response to a glucose load. Yet, their proximal insulin signaling in fat depots was impaired, as indicated by reduced tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptor (IR, and significantly increased abundance of ectonucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1 (ENPP1. In 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes E4orf1 expression impaired proximal insulin signaling. Whereas, treatment with rosiglitazone reduced ENPP1 abundance. Unaffected by IR-KD (insulin receptor knockdown with siRNA, E4orf1 significantly up-regulated distal insulin signaling pathway and enhanced cellular glucose uptake. In vivo, E4orf1 impairs proximal insulin signaling in fat depots yet improves glycemic control. This is probably explained by the ability of E4orf1 to promote cellular glucose uptake independent of proximal insulin signaling. E4orf1 may provide a therapeutic template to enhance glucose disposal in the presence of impaired proximal insulin signaling.

Emergence of clonal hematopoiesis in the majority of patients with acquired aplastic anemia.

Science.gov (United States)

Babushok, Daria V; Perdigones, Nieves; Perin, Juan C; Olson, Timothy S; Ye, Wenda; Roth, Jacquelyn J; Lind, Curt; Cattier, Carine; Li, Yimei; Hartung, Helge; Paessler, Michele E; Frank, Dale M; Xie, Hongbo M; Cross, Shanna; Cockroft, Joshua D; Podsakoff, Gregory M; Monos, Dimitrios; Biegel, Jaclyn A; Mason, Philip J; Bessler, Monica

2015-04-01

Acquired aplastic anemia (aAA) is a nonmalignant disease caused by autoimmune destruction of early hematopoietic cells. Clonal hematopoiesis is a late complication, seen in 20-25% of older patients. We hypothesized that clonal hematopoiesis in aAA is a more general phenomenon, which can arise early in disease, even in younger patients. To evaluate clonal hematopoiesis in aAA, we used comparative whole exome sequencing of paired bone marrow and skin samples in 22 patients. We found somatic mutations in 16 patients (72.7%) with a median disease duration of 1 year; of these, 12 (66.7%) were patients with pediatric-onset aAA. Fifty-eight mutations in 51 unique genes were found primarily in pathways of immunity and transcriptional regulation. Most frequently mutated was PIGA, with seven mutations. Only two mutations were in genes recurrently mutated in myelodysplastic syndrome. Two patients had oligoclonal loss of the HLA alleles, linking immune escape to clone emergence. Two patients had activating mutations in key signaling pathways (STAT5B (p.N642H) and CAMK2G (p.T306M)). Our results suggest that clonal hematopoiesis in aAA is common, with two mechanisms emerging-immune escape and increased proliferation. Our findings expand conceptual understanding of this nonneoplastic blood disorder. Future prospective studies of clonal hematopoiesis in aAA will be critical for understanding outcomes and for designing personalized treatment strategies. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

E4orf1 Enhances Glucose Uptake Independent of Proximal Insulin Signaling

OpenAIRE

Na, Ha-Na; Hegde, Vijay; Dubuisson, Olga; Dhurandhar, Nikhil V.

2016-01-01

Impaired proximal insulin signaling is often present in diabetes. Hence, approaches to enhance glucose disposal independent of proximal insulin signaling are desirable. Evidence indicates that Adenovirus-derived E4orf1 protein may offer such an approach. This study determined if E4orf1 improves insulin sensitivity and downregulates proximal insulin signaling in vivo and enhances cellular glucose uptake independent of proximal insulin signaling in vitro. High fat fed mice were injected with a ...

The female geriatric proximal humeral fracture: protagonist for straight antegrade nailing?

Science.gov (United States)

Lindtner, Richard A; Kralinger, Franz S; Kapferer, Sebastian; Hengg, Clemens; Wambacher, Markus; Euler, Simon A

2017-10-01

Straight antegrade humeral nailing (SAHN) has become a standard technique for the surgical fixation of proximal humeral fractures, which predominantly affect elderly females. The nail's proximal anchoring point has been demonstrated to be critical to ensure reliable fixation in osteoporotic bone and to prevent iatrogenic damage to the superior rotator cuff bony insertion. Anatomical variations of the proximal humerus, however, may preclude satisfactory anchoring of the nail's proximal end and may bare the risk of rotator cuff violation, even though the nail is inserted as recommended. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anatomical suitability of proximal humeri of geriatric females aged 75 years and older for SAHN. Specifically, we sought to assess the proportion of humeri not anatomically amenable to SAHN for proximal humeral fracture. A total of 303 proximal humeri of 241 females aged 75 years and older (mean age 84.5 ± 5.0 years; range 75-102 years) were analyzed for this study. Multiplanar two-dimensional reformations (true ap, true lateral, and axial) were reconstructed from shoulder computed tomography (CT) data sets. The straight antegrade nail's ideal entry point, "critical point" (CP), and critical distance (CD; distance between ideal entry point and CP) were determined. The rate of proximal humeri not anatomically suitable for SAHN (critical type) was assessed regarding proximal reaming diameters of currently available straight antegrade humeral nails. Overall, 35.6% (108/303) of all proximal humeri were found to be "critical types" (CD straight antegrade nails currently in use. Moreover, 43.2% (131/303) of the humeri were considered "critical types" with regard to the alternatively used larger proximal reaming diameter of 11.5 mm. Mean CD was 9.0 ± 1.7 mm (range 3.5-13.5 mm) and did not correlate with age (r = -0.04, P = 0.54). No significant differences in CD and rate of "critical types" were found between left and right humeri

HEMATOMA OF THE PROXIMAL NAIL FOLD. REPORT OF 41 CASES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang Patricia

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Background: The proximal fold is an important part of the nail apparatus it contributes to the formation of the nail plate and through the cuticle acts as an impermeable barrier protecting it from any cause.Objective: To know the proximal nail fold hematoma caused by the use of pulse oximeter.Material and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted in 41 patients with proximal nail hematoma secondary to the use of oximetry in patients hospitalized in the Intermediate and Intensive Care Unit at the Hospital General de Enfermedades from December 1, 2007 to December 31, 2010.Results: We studied 41 patients with proximal nail fold hematoma secondary to the use of oximeter, 30 (73.1% were males and 11 (26.8% females. The numbers of fingers affected by pulse oximeter were in one digit. 30 (73.1% cases, in two digits 6 (14.6%, in three digits 3 (7.3%, in 4 digits 1 (2.4% and in 5 digits 1 (2.4% case. The most affected proximal nail fold was right index: 24 (58.5%, right middle 11 (26.8%, right ring 6 (14.6%, left index 12 (29.2%, and left middle 6 (14.6% cases.Conclusions: Hematomas of the proximal nail fold may be caused by different traumatisms. The use of pulse oximeter is one of them.

Inter-proximal enamel reduction in contemporary orthodontics.

Science.gov (United States)

Pindoria, J; Fleming, P S; Sharma, P K

2016-12-16

Inter-proximal enamel reduction has gained increasing prominence in recent years being advocated to provide space for orthodontic alignment, to refine contact points and to potentially improve long-term stability. An array of techniques and products are available ranging from hand-held abrasive strips to handpiece mounted burs and discs. The indications for inter-proximal enamel reduction and the importance of formal space analysis, together with the various techniques and armamentarium which may be used to perform it safely in both the labial and buccal segments are outlined.

The main component of an alarm pheromone of kissing bugs plays multiple roles in the cognitive modulation of the escape response

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sebastián eMinoli

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Innate responses in animals can be modulated by experience. Disturbed adults of the triatomine bug Triatoma infestans release an alarm pheromone (AP that elicits an escape response in conspecific larvae. The main component of this AP, the isobutyric acid (IsoAc, alone has already shown to generate an escape response in this species. However, not much is known about the modulation of this behavior by non-associative and associative cognitive processes. We present here evidences of the cognitive capacities of T. infestans larvae in an escape context under different conditioning paradigms, including IsoAc in different roles. We show that: 1 the duration of a pre-exposure to IsoAc plays a main role in determining the type of non-associative learning expressed: short time pre-exposures elicit a sensitization while a longer pre-exposure time triggers a switch from repellence to attractiveness; 2 a simple pre-exposure event is enough to modulate the escape response of larvae to the AP and to its main component: IsoAc; 3 IsoAc and the AP are perceived as different chemical entities; 4 an association between IsoAc and an aversive stimulus can be created under a classical conditioning paradigm; 5 an association between IsoAc and a self-action can be generated under an operant conditioning. These results evince that IsoAc can attain multiple and different cognitive roles in the modulation of the escape response of triatomines and show how cognitive processes can modulate a key behavior for surviving, as it is the escaping response in presence of a potential danger in insects.

Using the Two-Burn Escape Maneuver for Fast Transfers in the Solar System and Beyond

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Robert B.; Richardson, Georgia A.

2010-01-01

The two-burn maneuver to escape the gravitational pull of a central body is described. The maneuver, originally suggested by Hermann Oberth, improves efficiency considerably for a wide range of missions of interest in space exploration and scientific investigation. A clear delineation of when the maneuver is more effective is given, as are methods to extract the most advantage when using the maneuver. Some examples are given of how this maneuver can enable exploration of the outer solar system, near interstellar space, and crewed missions to Mars and beyond. The maneuver has the potential to halve the required infrastructure associated with a crewed mission to Mars and achieve increased solar escape velocities with existing spacecraft technologies.

MINING SECURITY PIPE© (TSM© WITH UNDERGROUND GPS GLOBAL© (RSPG© ESCAPE SECURITY DEVICE IN UNDERGROUND MINING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Barrionuevo GIMÉNEZ

2016-04-01

Full Text Available TSM is escape pipe in case of collapse of terrain. The TSM is a passive security tool placed underground to connect the work area with secure area (mining gallery mainly. TSM is light and hand able pipe made with aramid (Kevlar, carbon fibre, or other kind of new material. The TSM will be placed as a pipe line network with many in/out entrances/exits to rich and connect problem work areas with another parts in a safe mode. Different levels of instrumentation could be added inside such as micro-led escape way suggested, temperature, humidity, level of oxygen, etc.. The open hardware and software like Arduino will be the heart of control and automation system.

Treatment of proximal ulna and olecranon fractures by dorsal plating

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kloen, Peter; Buijze, Geert A.

2009-01-01

OBJECTIVE : Anatomic reconstruction of proximal ulna and olecranon fractures allowing early mobilization and prevention of ulnohumeral arthritis. INDICATIONS : Comminuted olecranon or proximal ulna fractures (including Monteggia fractures), olecranon fractures extending distally from the coronoid

Pizza or Pancake? Formation Models of Gas Escape Biosignatures in Terrestrial and Martian Sediments

Science.gov (United States)

Bonaccorsi, R.; Fairen, A. G.; Baker, L.; McKay, C. P.; Willson, D.

2016-05-01

Fine-grained sedimentary hollowed structures were imaged in Gale Crater, but no biomarkers identified to support biology. Our observation-based (gas escape) terrestrial model could inform on possible martian paleoenvironments at time of formation.

Inexact proximal Newton methods for self-concordant functions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Li, Jinchao; Andersen, Martin Skovgaard; Vandenberghe, Lieven

2016-01-01

with an application to L1-regularized covariance selection, in which prior constraints on the sparsity pattern of the inverse covariance matrix are imposed. In the numerical experiments the proximal Newton steps are computed by an accelerated proximal gradient method, and multifrontal algorithms for positive definite...... matrices with chordal sparsity patterns are used to evaluate gradients and matrix-vector products with the Hessian of the smooth component of the objective....

Proximity effects in topological insulator heterostructures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Xiao-Guang; Wu Guang-Fen; Zhang Gu-Feng; Culcer Dimitrie; Zhang Zhen-Yu; Chen Hua

2013-01-01

Topological insulators (TIs) are bulk insulators that possess robust helical conducting states along their interfaces with conventional insulators. A tremendous research effort has recently been devoted to Tl-based heterostructures, in which conventional proximity effects give rise to a series of exotic physical phenomena. This paper reviews our recent studies on the potential existence of topological proximity effects at the interface between a topological insulator and a normal insulator or other topologically trivial systems. Using first-principles approaches, we have realized the tunability of the vertical location of the topological helical state via intriguing dual-proximity effects. To further elucidate the control parameters of this effect, we have used the graphene-based heterostructures as prototypical systems to reveal a more complete phase diagram. On the application side of the topological helical states, we have presented a catalysis example, where the topological helical state plays an essential role in facilitating surface reactions by serving as an effective electron bath. These discoveries lay the foundation for accurate manipulation of the real space properties of the topological helical state in TI-based heterostructures and pave the way for realization of the salient functionality of topological insulators in future device applications. (topical review - low-dimensional nanostructures and devices)

Self-consciousness and binge eating in college women : an escape from rumination?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dalley, Simon; Donofrio, Stacey

2014-01-01

Background: Binge-eating is a highly distressing symptom that has been found to co-occur with other symptoms of eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa. One perspective of binge eating is that it is an attempt to escape high levels of aversive self-consciousness. A primary aim of this study is to

Complex proximal deposition during the Plinian eruptions of 1912 at Novarupta, Alaska

Science.gov (United States)

Houghton, Bruce F.; Wilson, C.J.N.; Fierstein, J.; Hildreth, W.

2004-01-01

, which were being strongly affected by short-lived instabilities. These instabilities in turn are inferred to be associated with heterogeneities in the mixture of gas and pyroclasts emerging from the vent. Of the parameters that control explosive eruptive behavior, only such sudden and asymmetrical changes in the particle concentration could operate on time scales sufficiently short to explain the rapid changes in the proximal 1912 products. ?? Springer-Verlag 2003.

Are mothers’ and fathers’ parenting characteristics associated with emerging adults’ academic engagement?

Science.gov (United States)

Waterman, Emily A.; Lefkowitz, Eva S.

2017-01-01

Although parenting is clearly linked to academic engagement in adolescence, less is known about links between parenting and academic engagement in emerging adulthood. A diverse sample of college students (N = 633; 53.1% female, 45.7% White/European American, 28.3% Asian American/Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 26.4% Hispanic/Latino American, 21.6% Black/African American, and 2.8% Native American/American Indian) answered surveys about mothers’ and fathers’ parenting style, parent-offspring relationship quality, academic attitudes, academic behaviors, and academic performance. Emerging adults with more permissive mothers viewed grades as less important than emerging adults with less permissive mothers. Mothers’ authoritarian parenting, mothers’ permissive parenting, and relationship quality with father were differentially related to academic engagement depending on emerging adults’ gender. Both mothers’ and fathers’ parenting characteristics may impact the academic engagement of emerging adults via past parenting behaviors and current quality of the parent-offspring relationship, despite decreased physical proximity of emerging adults and their parents. PMID:28529398

Are mothers' and fathers' parenting characteristics associated with emerging adults' academic engagement?

Science.gov (United States)

Waterman, Emily A; Lefkowitz, Eva S

2017-06-01

Although parenting is clearly linked to academic engagement in adolescence, less is known about links between parenting and academic engagement in emerging adulthood. A diverse sample of college students ( N = 633; 53.1% female, 45.7% White/European American, 28.3% Asian American/Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 26.4% Hispanic/Latino American, 21.6% Black/African American, and 2.8% Native American/American Indian) answered surveys about mothers' and fathers' parenting style, parent-offspring relationship quality, academic attitudes, academic behaviors, and academic performance. Emerging adults with more permissive mothers viewed grades as less important than emerging adults with less permissive mothers. Mothers' authoritarian parenting, mothers' permissive parenting, and relationship quality with father were differentially related to academic engagement depending on emerging adults' gender. Both mothers' and fathers' parenting characteristics may impact the academic engagement of emerging adults via past parenting behaviors and current quality of the parent-offspring relationship, despite decreased physical proximity of emerging adults and their parents.

comparative proximate composition and antioxidant vitamins

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DR. AMINU

Keywords: Comparative, proximate composition, antioxidant vitamins, honey. INTRODUCTION ... solution of inverted sugars and complex mixture of other saccharides ... enzymatic browning in apple slices and grape juice. (Khan, 1985).

A quantitative quasispecies theory-based model of virus escape mutation under immune selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Woo, Hyung-June; Reifman, Jaques

2012-08-07

Viral infections involve a complex interplay of the immune response and escape mutation of the virus quasispecies inside a single host. Although fundamental aspects of such a balance of mutation and selection pressure have been established by the quasispecies theory decades ago, its implications have largely remained qualitative. Here, we present a quantitative approach to model the virus evolution under cytotoxic T-lymphocyte immune response. The virus quasispecies dynamics are explicitly represented by mutations in the combined sequence space of a set of epitopes within the viral genome. We stochastically simulated the growth of a viral population originating from a single wild-type founder virus and its recognition and clearance by the immune response, as well as the expansion of its genetic diversity. Applied to the immune escape of a simian immunodeficiency virus epitope, model predictions were quantitatively comparable to the experimental data. Within the model parameter space, we found two qualitatively different regimes of infectious disease pathogenesis, each representing alternative fates of the immune response: It can clear the infection in finite time or eventually be overwhelmed by viral growth and escape mutation. The latter regime exhibits the characteristic disease progression pattern of human immunodeficiency virus, while the former is bounded by maximum mutation rates that can be suppressed by the immune response. Our results demonstrate that, by explicitly representing epitope mutations and thus providing a genotype-phenotype map, the quasispecies theory can form the basis of a detailed sequence-specific model of real-world viral pathogens evolving under immune selection.

Mapping subsurface in proximity to newly-developed sinkhole along roadway.

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-01

MS&T acquired electrical resistivity tomography profiles in immediate proximity to a newly-developed sinkhole in Nixa Missouri : The sinkhole has closed a well-traveled municipal roadway and threatens proximal infrastructure. The intent of this inves...

Taming the escape dynamics of nonadiabatic time-periodically driven quantum dissipative system within the frame of Wigner formalism

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shit, Anindita [Department of Chemistry, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah 711103 (India); Chattopadhyay, Sudip, E-mail: sudip_chattopadhyay@rediffmail.com [Department of Chemistry, Bengal Engineering and Science University, Shibpur, Howrah 711103 (India); Ray Chaudhuri, Jyotipratim, E-mail: jprc_8@yahoo.com [Department of Physics, Katwa College, Katwa, Burdwan 713130 (India)

2014-03-18

Highlights: • Nonadiabatic dynamics of quantum particle under the impact of high-frequency force. • Formulation of time-independent dynamics via Floquet and Kapitza schemes. • Manipulation of external force parameters allows us to control the escape rate. • Increase of (amplitudes/frequency) causes the system to decay faster, in general. • Crossover temperature increases in the presence of the field. - Abstract: Escape under the action of the external modulation constitutes a nontrivial generalization of an conventional Kramers rate because the system is away from thermal equilibrium. A derivation of this result from the point of view of Langevin dynamics in the frame of Floquet theorem in conjunction with the Kapitza–Landau time window (that leads to an attractive description of the time-dependent quantum dynamics in terms of time-independent one) has been provided. The quantum escape rate in the intermediate-to-high and very-high damping regime so obtained analytically using the phase space formalism associated with the Wigner distribution and path-integral formalism bears a quantum correction that depends strongly on the barrier height. It is shown that an increase of (amplitude/frequency) ratio causes the system to decay faster, in general. The crossover temperature between tunneling and thermal activation increases in the presence of field so that quantum effects in the escape are relevant at higher temperatures.

Importance of Neutralizing Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting Multiple Antigenic Sites on the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Spike Glycoprotein To Avoid Neutralization Escape

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Lingshu; Shi, Wei; Chappell, James D.; Joyce, M. Gordon; Zhang, Yi; Kanekiyo, Masaru; Becker, Michelle M.; van Doremalen, Neeltje; Fischer, Robert; Wang, Nianshuang; Corbett, Kizzmekia S.; Choe, Misook; Mason, Rosemarie D.; Van Galen, Joseph G.; Zhou, Tongqing; Saunders, Kevin O.; Tatti, Kathleen M.; Haynes, Lia M.; Kwong, Peter D.; Modjarrad, Kayvon; Kong, Wing-Pui; McLellan, Jason S.; Denison, Mark R.; Munster, Vincent J.; Mascola, John R.; Graham, Barney S.; Gallagher, Tom

2018-03-07

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) causes a highly lethal pulmonary infection with ~35% mortality. The potential for a future pandemic originating from animal reservoirs or health care-associated events is a major public health concern. There are no vaccines or therapeutic agents currently available for MERS-CoV. Using a probe-based single B cell cloning strategy, we have identified and characterized multiple neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) specifically binding to the receptor-binding domain (RBD) or S1 (non-RBD) regions from a convalescent MERS-CoV-infected patient and from immunized rhesus macaques. RBD-specific MAbs tended to have greater neutralizing potency than non-RBD S1-specific MAbs. Six RBD-specific and five S1-specific MAbs could be sorted into four RBD and three non-RBD distinct binding patterns, based on competition assays, mapping neutralization escape variants, and structural analysis. We determined cocrystal structures for two MAbs targeting the RBD from different angles and show they can bind the RBD only in the “out” position. We then showed that selected RBD-specific, non-RBD S1-specific, and S2-specific MAbs given prophylactically prevented MERS-CoV replication in lungs and protected mice from lethal challenge. Importantly, combining RBD- and non-RBD MAbs delayed the emergence of escape mutations in a cell-based virus escape assay. These studies identify MAbs targeting different antigenic sites on S that will be useful for defining mechanisms of MERS-CoV neutralization and for developing more effective interventions to prevent or treat MERS-CoV infections.

IMPORTANCEMERS-CoV causes a highly lethal respiratory infection for which no vaccines or antiviral therapeutic options are currently available. Based on continuing exposure from established reservoirs in dromedary camels and bats, transmission of MERS-CoV into humans and future outbreaks are expected. Using

Simulating the UV escape fractions from molecular cloud populations in star-forming dwarf and spiral galaxies

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, Corey S.; Pudritz, Ralph E.; Harris, William E.; Klessen, Ralf S.

2018-04-01

The escape of ultraviolet photons from the densest regions of the interstellar medium (ISM) - giant molecular clouds (GMCs) - is a poorly constrained parameter which is vital to understanding the ionization of the ISM and the intergalactic medium. We characterize the escape fraction, fesc,GMC, from a suite of individual GMC simulations with masses in the range 104-6 M⊙ using the adaptive-mesh refinement code FLASH. We find significantly different fesc,GMC depending on the GMC mass that can reach >90 per cent in the evolution of 5 × 104 and 105 M⊙ clouds or remain low at ˜5 per cent for most of the lifetime of more massive GMCs. All clouds show fluctuations over short, sub-Myr time-scales produced by flickering H II regions. We combine our results to calculate the total escape fraction (fesc,tot) from GMC populations in dwarf starburst and spiral galaxies by randomly drawing clouds from a GMC mass distribution (dN/dM ∝ Mα, where α is either -1.5 or -2.5) over fixed time intervals. We find typical fesc,tot values of 8 per cent for both the dwarf and spiral models. The fluctuations of fesc,tot, however, are much larger for the dwarf models with values as high as 90 per cent. The photons escaping from the 5 × 104 and 105 M⊙ GMCs are the dominant contributors to fesc,tot in all cases. We also show that the accompanying star formation rates (SFRs) of our model (˜2 × 10-2 and 0.73 M⊙yr-1) are consistent with observations of SFRs in dwarf starburst and spiral galaxies, respectively.

HCP track calculations in Lif:Mg,Ti: 3D modeling of the ''track – escape'' parameter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sattinger, D.; Sharon, A.; Horowitz, Y.S.

2011-01-01

The conceptual framework of the track interaction model (TIM) was conceived in the 1970s and mathematically formulated in the 1980s to describe heavy charged particle TL fluence response supralinearity. The extended track interaction model (ETIM) was developed to include saturation effects due to overlapping tracks and has been applied to both proton and alpha particle TL fluence response. One of the parameters of major importance in the TIM is the ''track – escape'' parameter, defined by N e /N w , where N e represents the number of electrons which escape the parent track during heating, and N w is the number of electrons which recombine within the parent track to produce a TL photon. Recently a first attempt was carried out to theoretically model escape parameters calculated in 2D geometry as a function of particle type and energy using trapping center (TC), luminescent center (LC) and competitive center (CC) occupation probabilities calculated from track segment radial dose distributions and optical absorption (OA) dose response. In this study, the calculations are extended to 3D geometry using a Monte Carlo approach which samples the point of creation of the charge carriers according to the TC occupation probabilities and then estimates N w by sampling the chord length to the track exterior. Charge carriers which escape the irradiated track volume contribute to N e . This more sophisticated 3D calculation of N e /N w is expected to increase the reliability of the modeling of heavy charged particle TL fluence response in the framework of the ETIM and enhance our understanding of “track effects” in Heavy Charged Particle (HCP) induced TL.

The mechanism of lauric acid-modified protein nanocapsules escape from intercellular trafficking vesicles and its implication for drug delivery.

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Lijuan; Liang, Xin; Liu, Gan; Zhou, Yun; Ye, Xinyu; Chen, Xiuli; Miao, Qianwei; Gao, Li; Zhang, Xudong; Mei, Lin

2018-11-01

Protein nanocapsules have exhibited promising potential applications in the field of protein drug delivery. A major issue with various promising nano-sized biotherapeutics including protein nanocapsules is that owing to their particle size they are subject to cellular uptake via endocytosis, and become entrapped and then degraded within endolysosomes, which can significantly impair their therapeutic efficacy. In addition, many nano-sized biotherapeutics could be also sequestered by autophagosomes and degraded through the autolysosomal pathway. Thus, a limiting step in achieving an effective protein therapy is to facilitate the endosomal escape and auto-lysosomal escape to ensure cytosolic delivery of the protein drugs. Here, we prepared a protein nanocapsule based on BSA (nBSA) and the BSA nanocapsules modified with a bilayer of lauric acid (LA-nBSA) to investigate the escape effects from the endosome and autophagosome. The size distribution of nBSA and LA-nBSA analyzed using DLS presents a uniform diameter centered at 10 nm and 16 nm. The data also showed that FITC-labeled nBSA and LA-nBSA were taken up by the cells mainly through Arf-6-dependent endocytosis and Rab34-mediated macropinocytosis. In addition, LA-nBSA could efficiently escape from endosomal before the degradation in endo-lysosomes. Autophagy could also sequester the LA-nBSA through p62 autophagosome vesicles. These two types of nanocapsules underwent different intracellular destinies and lauric acid (LA) coating played a vital role in intracellular particle retention. In conclusion, the protein nanocapsules modified with LA could enhance the protein nanocapsules escape from intercellular trafficking vesicles, and protect the protein from degradation by the lysosomes.

Effect of Co-60 single escape peak on detection of Cs-137 in analysis of radionuclide from research reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, M. S.; Park, S. J.

2006-01-01

The effect of the single escape peak of 1173 keV gamma-rays from Co-60 on the detection of Cs-137 activity is analyzed. The single escape peak of 1173 keV gamma-rays from Co-60 is located at the 662 keV, which is very close to the energy of gamma-rays from Cs-137. This single escape peak may be mistaken for the gamma-ray peak from Cs-137 activity in the case of large area of 1173 keV peak. The detection of Cs-137 is very important to the judgment of the contamination or the leakage of the material containing the fission product like reactor pool water and in the several experiments for reactor physics such as burn-up estimation. In this work, the areas of the single escape peak of the 1173 keV gamma-rays from Co-60 are measured with several full energy peak areas by using the HPGe detector. The critical limit by which we can decide whether the net count of 662 keV peak due to Co-60 would be significant or not is deduced. For this detection system, when the area of full energy peak is larger than 4.5 million, the single escape peak of 1173 keV gamma-rays from Co-60 can be regarded as the single significant peak. Therefore, it is confirmed that the detection of the Cs-137 activity is affected by the Co-60 in this case. Conservatively, for this detection system, it is recommended that the area of 1173 keV peak of Co-60 would be less than 2 million for neglecting the effect of Co-60. (authors)

HCV Genotype 6a Escape From and Resistance to Velpatasvir, Pibrentasvir, and Sofosbuvir in Robust Infectious Cell Culture Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pham, Long V; Ramirez, Santseharay; Gottwein, Judith M

2018-01-01

V was able to propagate and escape in the presence of pibrentasvir with emergence of NS5A-L28S, conferring a high level of resistance to this inhibitor. CONCLUSIONS: Strains of HCV genotype 6a isolated from patients can be adapted to propagate in cultured cells, permitting studies of the complete...... infectious cell culture models of HCV genotype 6a infection to study the effects of these inhibitors and the development of resistance. METHODS: The consensus sequences of prototype strains HK2 (MG717925) and HK6a (MG717928), originating from serum of patients with chronic HCV infection, were determined...... by Sanger sequencing of genomes amplified by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. In vitro noninfectious full-length clones of these 6a strains were subsequently adapted in Huh7.5 cells, primarily by using substitutions identified in JFH1-based Core-NS5A and Core-NS5B genotype 6a recombinants...

HCV Genotype 6a Escape from and Resistance to Velpatasvir, Pibrentasvir, and Sofosbuvir in Robust Infectious Cell Culture Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pham, Long; Ramirez Almeida, Santseharay; Gottwein, Judith Margarete

was able to propagate and escape in the presence of pibrentasvir with emergence of NS5A-L28S, conferring a high level of resistance to this inhibitor. CONCLUSIONS: Strains of HCV genotype 6a isolated from patients can be adapted to propagate in cultured cells, permitting studies of the complete life cycle...... infectious cell culture models of HCV genotype 6a infection to study the effects of these inhibitors and the development of resistance. METHODS: The consensus sequences of prototype strains HK2 (MG717925) and HK6a (MG717928), originating from serum of patients with chronic HCV infection, were determined...... by Sanger sequencing of genomes amplified by reverse transcription-PCR. In vitro non-infectious full-length clones of these 6a strains were subsequently adapted in Huh7.5 cells, primarily by using substitutions identified in JFH1-based core-NS5A and core-NS5B genotype 6a recombinants. We studied...

A supplemental device to return escaping particles to a magnetic mirror reactor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nagata, Mitsuaki [Nippon Electronic Engineering College, Noboribetsu-shi, Hokkaido (Japan); Sawada, Keiichi [Soft Creator Company, Kyoto (Japan)

2018-12-15

Cyclotron resonance is now applied as one of the important means for heating plasma in a fusion reactor. We examined this phenomenon from the viewpoint of electron gyration orbits through a solution of the linearized relativistic equation of motion. We found a powerful term that accelerates a relativistic charged particle largely at a resonance point when a magnetic field strength is very large. In this study, aiming an effect of this term, we consider applying a resonance phenomenon to reducing the number of charged particles that escape from a magnetic mirror reactor. We install a long supplemental device at the exit of a main magnetic bottle and make a cyclotron resonance space within the device, as shown in Fig. 7. If velocities (perpendicular to a magnetic field) of charged particles are accelerated largely within the cyclotron resonance space, the reflection efficiency of a magnetic mirror behind the resonance space ought to be improved. Based on this idea, we discuss such a supplemental device for recovering the maximum number of escaping charged particles. (orig.)

Comparison of different proximity potentials for asymmetric colliding nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dutt, Ishwar; Puri, Rajeev K.

2010-01-01

Using the different versions of phenomenological proximity potential as well as other parametrizations within the proximity concept, we perform a detailed comparative study of fusion barriers for asymmetric colliding nuclei with asymmetry parameter as high as 0.23. In all, 12 different proximity potentials are robust against the experimental data of 60 reactions. Our detailed study reveals that the surface energy coefficient as well as radius of the colliding nuclei depend significantly on the asymmetry parameter. All models are able to explain the fusion barrier heights within ±10% on the average. The potentials due to Bass 80, AW 95, and Denisov DP explain nicely the fusion cross sections at above- as well as below-barrier energies.

Fractures of the proximal humerus involving the intertubercular groove

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahovuo, J.; Paavolainen, P.; Bjoerkenheim, J.M.; Helsinki Univ. Central Hospital

1989-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyse the involvement of the gliding surface of the biceps tendon in fractures of the proximal humerus. Fifteen patients had a fracture of the proximal humerus verified with antero-posterior and axillary radiographs. Tangential radiographs of the intertubercular groove, obtained from the shoulder joint, showed involvement of the intertubercular groove in 13 patients (87%), which could not be shown with other projections. Groove radiographs revealed in 3 patients a dislocation of the fragments of the greater tuberosity large enough to require surgical treatment, but which had not been found using conventional techniques. Therefore, a groove radiograph should be used to precise fractures of the proximal humerus. (orig.)

Rapid selection of escape mutants by the first CD8 T cell responses in acute HIV-1 infection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Korber, Bette Tina Marie [Los Alamos National Laboratory

2008-01-01

The recent failure of a vaccine that primes T cell responses to control primary HIV-1 infection has raised doubts about the role of CD8+ T cells in early HIV-1 infection. We studied four patients who were identified shortly after HIV-1 infection and before seroconversion. In each patient there was very rapid selection of multiple HIV-1 escape mutants in the transmitted virus by CD8 T cells, including examples of complete fixation of non-synonymous substitutions within 2 weeks. Sequencing by single genome amplification suggested that the high rate of virus replication in acute infection gave a selective advantage to virus molecules that contained simultaneous and gained sequential T cell escape mutations. These observations show that whilst early HIV-1 specific CD8 T cells can act against virus, rapid escape means that these T cell responses are unlikely to benefit the patient and may in part explain why current HIV-1 T cell vaccines may not be protective.

Transcapillary escape rate of albumin in hypertensive patients with type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nørgaard, K; Jensen, T; Feldt-Rasmussen, B

1993-01-01

. The systemic blood pressure and the transcapillary escape rate of albumin were measured in the following groups after 4 weeks without antihypertensive treatment: Group 1--eleven healthy control subjects. Group 2--ten Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients with incipient nephropathy (urinary albumin......Diabetic patients with elevated urinary albumin excretion rate (incipient or clinical nephropathy) also have an increased transcapillary escape rate of albumin. This study was designed to clarify whether this is caused by a general vascular dysfunction or by elevated systemic blood pressure...... excretion rate: 30-300 mg/24 h) and normal blood pressure. Group 3--eleven non-diabetic patients with essential hypertension. Group 4--nine Type 1 diabetic patients with hypertension but normal urinary albumin excretion (diabetic patients with nephropathy (urinary...

Increased transcapillary escape rate of albumin in patients with cirrhosis of the liver

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Parving, H H; Ranek, L; Lassen, N A

1977-01-01

The transcapillary escape rate of albumin (TERalb), i.e. the fraction of intravascular mass of albumin that passes to the extravascular space per unit time, was determined from the disappearance of intravenously injected 125I-labelled human serum albumin during the first 60 min after injection...... in nine patients with cirrhosis of the liver. Six of the patients had ascites. The wedged hepatic venous pressure or splenic pulp pressure ranged from 20 to 30 mmHg, mean 26 mmHg. Plasma albumin concentration was low, but plasma volume was slightly enlarged, and thus the intravascular mass of albumin...... was only moderately reduced. The transcapillary escape rate of albumin was significantly elevated in all the cirrhotics, mean 10.2%/h, range 8.8 to 12.3%/h, in comparison to values for twenty-eight normal subjects 5.4%/h, range 3.5-7.2%/h. Our results can best be explained by increased filtration out...

Enhanced escape rate for Hg 254 nm resonance radiation in fluorescent lamps

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lawler, James E; Raizen, Mark G

2013-01-01

The potential of the low-cost MAGIS isotopic separation method to improve fluorescent lamp efficacy is explored using resonance radiation transport simulations. New Hg isotopic mixes are discovered that yield escape rates for 254 nm Hg I resonance radiation equal to 117% to 122% of the rate for a natural isotopic mix under the same lamp conditions. (paper)

Workshop on agricultural and agro-industrial residue utilization in the ESCAP region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vimal, O P

1980-02-01

A summary of the workshop held at Pattaya, Thailand is given at which the present status of both technological and non-technical aspects of utilization of agricultural and industrial residues in the ESCAP region are reviewed. A course of action was recommended whereby national programmes could develop and international assistance be focussed through follow up activities.

Exploiting Proximity-Based Mobile Apps for Large-Scale Location Privacy Probing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuang Zhao

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Proximity-based apps have been changing the way people interact with each other in the physical world. To help people extend their social networks, proximity-based nearby-stranger (NS apps that encourage people to make friends with nearby strangers have gained popularity recently. As another typical type of proximity-based apps, some ridesharing (RS apps allowing drivers to search nearby passengers and get their ridesharing requests also become popular due to their contribution to economy and emission reduction. In this paper, we concentrate on the location privacy of proximity-based mobile apps. By analyzing the communication mechanism, we find that many apps of this type are vulnerable to large-scale location spoofing attack (LLSA. We accordingly propose three approaches to performing LLSA. To evaluate the threat of LLSA posed to proximity-based mobile apps, we perform real-world case studies against an NS app named Weibo and an RS app called Didi. The results show that our approaches can effectively and automatically collect a huge volume of users’ locations or travel records, thereby demonstrating the severity of LLSA. We apply the LLSA approaches against nine popular proximity-based apps with millions of installations to evaluate the defense strength. We finally suggest possible countermeasures for the proposed attacks.

An evaluation of two differential reinforcement procedures with escape extinction to treat food refusal.

Science.gov (United States)

Patel, Meeta R; Piazza, Cathleen C; Martinez, Cheryl J; Volkert, Valerie M; Christine, M Santana

2002-01-01

Consumption of solids and liquids occurs as a chain of behaviors that may include accepting, swallowing, and retaining the food or drink. In the current investigation, we evaluated the relative effectiveness of differential reinforcement of the first behavior in the chain (acceptance) versus differential reinforcement for the terminal behavior in the chain (mouth clean). Three children who had been diagnosed with a feeding disorder participated. Acceptance remained at zero when differential reinforcement contingencies were implemented for acceptance or mouth clean. Acceptance and mouth clean increased for all 3 participants once escape extinction was added to the differential reinforcement procedures, independent of whether reinforcement was provided for acceptance or for mouth clean. Maintenance was observed in 2 children when escape extinction was removed from the treatment package. The mechanism by which consumption increased is discussed in relation to positive and negative reinforcement contingencies.

Comparative morphometric analysis of the proximal femur of African hominids and felids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Gallagher

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Size and shape of the mammalian proximal femur and taxon-specific distinctions in the relative proportions of the proximal articulation, the femoral neck and the proximal femoral diaphysis, are critical determinants in its adaptation to differential biomechanical stresses and observed locomotor habitus in different taxa. The morphometrics of the proximal femur are considered equally critical in the assessment of locomotor habitus of extinct fossil mammals, particularly extinct Miocene anthropoids and Plio-Pleistocene hominins. Analyses of size and shape of k=10 dimensions of the proximal femur were undertaken for a large sample series of two extant mammal families the Felidae and Hominidae using conventional multivariate statistical procedures, commonly used size-correction methods, and post-hoc tests of significance. While significant differences in form do exist, there are equally striking convergences in the functional morphology of extant hominid and felid taxa. Multivariate and bivariate allometric analyses confirm that the proximal femur of these two mammalian families share a common underlying structure manifest in a shared first common principal component. Nevertheless, while considerable convergences in general form of the proximal femur of African hominids and large-bodied felids are apparent, there exist equally discreet distinctions which are consistent with the differential structural demands imposed by their distinct locomotor and behavioural habitus.

Detailed investigations of proximal tubular function in Imerslund-Grasbeck syndrome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Storm, Tina; Zeitz, Christina; Cases, Olivier

2013-01-01

expressed in the small intestine as well as the proximal tubules of the kidney and exhibit an interdependent relationship for post-translational processing and trafficking. In the proximal tubules cubilin is involved in the reabsorption of several filtered plasma proteins including vitamin carriers...

Novel Anti-Melanoma Immunotherapies: Disarming Tumor Escape Mechanisms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sivan Sapoznik

2012-01-01

Full Text Available The immune system fights cancer and sometimes temporarily eliminates it or reaches an equilibrium stage of tumor growth. However, continuous immunological pressure also selects poorly immunogenic tumor variants that eventually escape the immune control system. Here, we focus on metastatic melanoma, a highly immunogenic tumor, and on anti-melanoma immunotherapies, which recently, especially following the FDA approval of Ipilimumab, gained interest from drug development companies. We describe new immunomodulatory approaches currently in the development pipeline, focus on the novel CEACAM1 immune checkpoint, and compare its potential to the extensively described targets, CTLA4 and PD1. This paper combines multi-disciplinary approaches and describes anti-melanoma immunotherapies from molecular, medical, and business angles.

THE EMERGENCE OF LA DECROISSANCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anca Elena Gheorghica

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The paper aims to provide an overview of the emergence of degrowth – the notion designates a grass root, political and academic movement which is progressively spreading since the previous decade across Europe as a reaction to the drawbacks associated with the imperatives of economic growth. The intellectual founder of the new paradigm of degrowth is the Romanian born economist – Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen. The translation of his scientific works and the publication in French was to become the first milestone of degrowth discourse France becoming the cradle of the movement. While degrowth encompasses many dimensions such as equity, ecology, democracy or enjoyment of life, the overarching theme of the movement is the escaping of the economy as a central societal value. Degrowth gained an increasing audience in the beginning of the years 2000’, spreading progressively mostly in other Francophone, Francophile or Latin language speaking countries such as Italy and Spain, but in other European nations as well.

Transmitted/Founder Viruses Rapidly Escape from CD8+ T Cell Responses in Acute Hepatitis C Virus Infection.

Science.gov (United States)

Bull, Rowena A; Leung, Preston; Gaudieri, Silvana; Deshpande, Pooja; Cameron, Barbara; Walker, Melanie; Chopra, Abha; Lloyd, Andrew R; Luciani, Fabio

2015-05-01

The interaction between hepatitis C virus (HCV) and cellular immune responses during very early infection is critical for disease outcome. To date, the impact of antigen-specific cellular immune responses on the evolution of the viral population establishing infection and on potential escape has not been studied. Understanding these early host-virus dynamics is important for the development of a preventative vaccine. Three subjects who were followed longitudinally from the detection of viremia preseroconversion until disease outcome were analyzed. The evolution of transmitted/founder (T/F) viruses was undertaken using deep sequencing. CD8(+) T cell responses were measured via enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot (ELISpot) assay using HLA class I-restricted T/F epitopes. T/F viruses were rapidly extinguished in all subjects associated with either viral clearance (n = 1) or replacement with viral variants leading to establishment of chronic infection (n = 2). CD8(+) T cell responses against 11 T/F epitopes were detectable by 33 to 44 days postinfection, and 5 of these epitopes had not previously been reported. These responses declined rapidly in those who became chronically infected and were maintained in the subject who cleared infection. Higher-magnitude CD8(+) T cell responses were associated with rapid development of immune escape variants at a rate of up to 0.1 per day. Rapid escape from CD8(+) T cell responses has been quantified for the first time in the early phase of primary HCV infection. These rapid escape dynamics were associated with higher-magnitude CD8(+) T cell responses. These findings raise questions regarding optimal selection of immunogens for HCV vaccine development and suggest that detailed analysis of individual epitopes may be required. A major limitation in our detailed understanding of the role of immune response in HCV clearance has been the lack of data on very early primary infection when the transmitted viral variants successfully establish

Compression ultrasonography of the lower extremity with portable vascular ultrasonography can accurately detect deep venous thrombosis in the emergency department.

Science.gov (United States)

Crisp, Jonathan G; Lovato, Luis M; Jang, Timothy B

2010-12-01

Compression ultrasonography of the lower extremity is an established method of detecting proximal lower extremity deep venous thrombosis when performed by a certified operator in a vascular laboratory. Our objective is to determine the sensitivity and specificity of bedside 2-point compression ultrasonography performed in the emergency department (ED) with portable vascular ultrasonography for the detection of proximal lower extremity deep venous thrombosis. We did this by directly comparing emergency physician-performed ultrasonography to lower extremity duplex ultrasonography performed by the Department of Radiology. This was a prospective, cross-sectional study and diagnostic test assessment of a convenience sample of ED patients with a suspected lower extremity deep venous thrombosis, conducted at a single-center, urban, academic ED. All physicians had a 10-minute training session before enrolling patients. ED compression ultrasonography occurred before Department of Radiology ultrasonography and involved identification of 2 specific points: the common femoral and popliteal vessels, with subsequent compression of the common femoral and popliteal veins. The study result was considered positive for proximal lower extremity deep venous thrombosis if either vein was incompressible or a thrombus was visualized. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated with the final radiologist interpretation of the Department of Radiology ultrasonography as the criterion standard. A total of 47 physicians performed 199 2-point compression ultrasonographic examinations in the ED. Median number of examinations per physician was 2 (range 1 to 29 examinations; interquartile range 1 to 5 examinations). There were 45 proximal lower extremity deep venous thromboses observed on Department of Radiology evaluation, all correctly identified by ED 2-point compression ultrasonography. The 153 patients without proximal lower extremity deep venous thrombosis all had a negative ED compression

Sensitivity and specificity of CT- and MRI-scanning in evaluation of occult fracture of the proximal femur

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haubro, M; Stougaard, C; Torfing, T

2015-01-01

AND METHODS: 67 patients (27 males, 40 females, mean age 80.5) seen in the emergency room with hip pain after fall, inability to stand and a primary X-ray without fracture were evaluated with both CT and MRI. The images were analysed by a senior consulting musculoskeletal radiologist, a resident in radiology...... and a resident in orthopaedic surgery. Sensitivity and specificity were estimated with MRI as the golden standard. Kappa value was used to assess level of agreement in both MRI and CT finding. RESULTS: 15 fractures of the proximal femur were found (7 intertrochanteric-, 3 femoral neck and 5 fractures...

Treatment of Unstable Trochanteric Femur Fractures: Proximal Femur Nail Versus Proximal Femur Locking Compression Plate.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Ashutosh Kumar; Narsaria, Nidi; G R, Arun; Srivastava, Vivek

Unstable trochanteric femur fractures are common fractures that are difficult to manage. We conducted a prospective study to compare functional outcomes and complications of 2 different implant designs, proximal femur nail (PFN) and proximal femur locking compression plate (PFLCP), used in internal fixation of unstable trochanteric femur fractures. On hospital admission, 48 patients with unstable trochanteric fractures were randomly assigned (using a sealed envelope method) to treatment with either PFN (24 patients) or PFLCP (24 patients). Perioperative data and complications were recorded. All cases were followed up for 2 years. The groups did not differ significantly (P > .05) in operative time, reduction quality, complications, hospital length of stay, union rate, or time to union. Compared with the PFLCP group, the PFN group had shorter incisions and less blood loss. Regarding functional outcomes, there was no significant difference in mean Harris Hip Score (P = .48) or Palmer and Parker mobility score (P = .58). Both PFN and PFLCP are effective in internal fixation of unstable trochanteric femur fractures.

Two Stages repair of proximal hypospadias: Review of 33 cases

African Journals Online (AJOL)

HussamHassan

Background/Purpose: Proximal hypospadias with chordee is the most challenging variant of hypospadias to reconstruct. During the last 10 years, the approach to sever hypospadias has been controversial. Materials & Methods: During the period from June 2002 to December 2009, I performed 33 cases with proximal.

Chases and escapes the mathematics of pursuit and evasion

CERN Document Server

Nahin, Paul J

2012-01-01

We all played tag when we were kids. What most of us don't realize is that this simple chase game is in fact an application of pursuit theory, and that the same principles of games like tag, dodgeball, and hide-and-seek are also at play in military strategy, high-seas chases by the Coast Guard, and even romantic pursuits. In Chases and Escapes, Paul Nahin gives us the first complete history of this fascinating area of mathematics, from its classical analytical beginnings to the present day. Drawing on game theory, geometry, linear algebra, target-tracking algorithms, and much

Mechanisms of Pulmonary Escape and Dissemination by Cryptococcus neoformans

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steven T. Denham

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Cryptococcus neoformans is a common environmental saprophyte and human fungal pathogen that primarily causes disease in immunocompromised individuals. Similar to many environmentally acquired human fungal pathogens, C. neoformans initiates infection in the lungs. However, the main driver of mortality is invasive cryptococcosis leading to fungal meningitis. After C. neoformans gains a foothold in the lungs, a critical early step in invasion is transversal of the respiratory epithelium. In this review, we summarize current knowledge relating to pulmonary escape. We focus on fungal factors that allow C. neoformans to disseminate from the lungs via intracellular and extracellular routes.

Automatic X-ray inspection for escaped coated particles in spherical fuel elements of high temperature gas-cooled reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Min; Liu, Qi; Zhao, Hongsheng; Li, Ziqiang; Liu, Bing; Li, Xingdong; Meng, Fanyong

2014-01-01

As a core unit of HTGRs (high-temperature gas-cooled reactors), the quality of spherical fuel elements is directly related to the safety and reliability of HTGRs. In line with the design and performance requirements of the spherical fuel elements, no coated fuel particles are permitted to enter the fuel-free zone of a spherical fuel element. For fast and accurate detection of escaped coated fuel particles, X-ray DR (digital radiography) imaging with a step-by-step circular scanning trajectory was adopted for Chinese 10 MW HTGRs. The scanning parameters dominating the volume of the blind zones were optimized to ensure the missing detection of the escaped coated fuel particles is as low as possible. We proposed a dynamic calibration method for tracking the projection of the fuel-free zone accurately, instead of using a fuel-free zone mask of fixed size and position. After the projection data in the fuel-free zone were extracted, image and graphic processing methods were combined for automatic recognition of escaped coated fuel particles, and some practical inspection results were presented. - Highlights: • An X-ray DR imaging system for quality inspection of spherical fuel elements was introduced. • A method for optimizing the blind-zone-related scanning parameter was proposed. • A dynamic calibration method for tracking the fuel-free zone accurately was proposed. • Some inspection results of the disqualified spherical fuel elements with escaped coated fuel particles were presented

Reliable reconstruction of HIV-1 whole genome haplotypes reveals clonal interference and genetic hitchhiking among immune escape variants

Science.gov (United States)

2014-01-01

Background Following transmission, HIV-1 evolves into a diverse population, and next generation sequencing enables us to detect variants occurring at low frequencies. Studying viral evolution at the level of whole genomes was hitherto not possible because next generation sequencing delivers relatively short reads. Results We here provide a proof of principle that whole HIV-1 genomes can be reliably reconstructed from short reads, and use this to study the selection of immune escape mutations at the level of whole genome haplotypes. Using realistically simulated HIV-1 populations, we demonstrate that reconstruction of complete genome haplotypes is feasible with high fidelity. We do not reconstruct all genetically distinct genomes, but each reconstructed haplotype represents one or more of the quasispecies in the HIV-1 population. We then reconstruct 30 whole genome haplotypes from published short sequence reads sampled longitudinally from a single HIV-1 infected patient. We confirm the reliability of the reconstruction by validating our predicted haplotype genes with single genome amplification sequences, and by comparing haplotype frequencies with observed epitope escape frequencies. Conclusions Phylogenetic analysis shows that the HIV-1 population undergoes selection driven evolution, with successive replacement of the viral population by novel dominant strains. We demonstrate that immune escape mutants evolve in a dependent manner with various mutations hitchhiking along with others. As a consequence of this clonal interference, selection coefficients have to be estimated for complete haplotypes and not for individual immune escapes. PMID:24996694

Light escape cones in local reference frames of Kerr-de Sitter black hole spacetimes and related black hole shadows

Science.gov (United States)

Stuchlík, Zdeněk; Charbulák, Daniel; Schee, Jan

2018-03-01

We construct the light escape cones of isotropic spot sources of radiation residing in special classes of reference frames in the Kerr-de Sitter (KdS) black hole spacetimes, namely in the fundamental class of `non-geodesic' locally non-rotating reference frames (LNRFs), and two classes of `geodesic' frames, the radial geodesic frames (RGFs), both falling and escaping, and the frames related to the circular geodesic orbits (CGFs). We compare the cones constructed in a given position for the LNRFs, RGFs, and CGFs. We have shown that the photons locally counter-rotating relative to LNRFs with positive impact parameter and negative covariant energy are confined to the ergosphere region. Finally, we demonstrate that the light escaping cones govern the shadows of black holes located in front of a radiating screen, as seen by the observers in the considered frames. For shadows related to distant static observers the LNRFs are relevant.

Reduced transcapillary escape of albumin during acute blood pressure-lowering in type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients with nephropathy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Parving, H H; Kastrup, J; Smidt, U M

1985-01-01

The effect of acute arterial blood pressure lowering upon albumin extravasation was studied in 10 patients with nephropathy and retinopathy due to long-standing Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. The following variables were measured: transcapillary escape rate of albumin (initial disappearance....... This may be due to elevated hydrostatic pressure in the microcirculation.......The effect of acute arterial blood pressure lowering upon albumin extravasation was studied in 10 patients with nephropathy and retinopathy due to long-standing Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes. The following variables were measured: transcapillary escape rate of albumin (initial disappearance...... induced the following changes: arterial blood pressure decreased from 134/87 to 107/73 mmHg (p less than 0.01), transcapillary escape rate of albumin declined from 8.1 to 6.7% of the intravascular mass of albumin/h (p less than 0.01), albuminuria diminished from 1434 to 815 micrograms/min (p less than 0...

On the importance of high-altitude low-frequency electric fluctuations for the escape of ionospheric ions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lundin, R.; Gustafsson, G.; Eriksson, A.I.; Marklund, G.

1990-01-01

Simultaneous measurements of electric fields and upward moving ionospheric ions from the Viking satellite show that upward escape of ionospheric ions in the tens of eV to tens of keV energy range occurs together with low-frequency electric fluctuations, LEFs (frequencies less than ∼1 Hz). Upward flowing ions are observed when the electric field fluctuations are sufficiently strong in the altitude range ∼2,000-13,500 km covered by Viking. Furthermore, the temperature of the upflowing ions is found to be well correlated with the power spectral density (PSD) of the LEFs. This suggests a conversion of electric field energy into ion thermal energy. A good correlation between the ion temperature and the wave power in the electrostatic ion cyclotron (EIC) frequency range is also found. However, the heating/acceleration and the corresponding escape of ionospheric ions is believed to be primarily caused by LEFs, first because of the much higher power in the LEFs than the power in the EIC frequency range and second because the PSD clearly peaks below ∼1 Hz while the frequency range of the EIC mostly appears as a monotonic tail or background of an overall PSD increase at low frequencies. Electric fluctuations, and the associated escape of ionospheric ions, are mainly observed inside or above the acceleration region. Below the acceleration region, predominantly downward accelerated electrons are observed. This can be understood as a short-circuiting of electric fluctuations by the plasma in the topside ionosphere where the plasma is gaining kinetic energy by the electric field. Thus the electric energy from the source/dynamo in the outer magnetosphere is dissipated in the topside layer of the ionosphere, causing an acceleration and escape of ionospheric plasma

Fast-starting after a breath: air-breathing motions are kinematically similar to escape responses in the catfish Hoplosternum littorale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paolo Domenici

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Fast-starts are brief accelerations commonly observed in fish within the context of predator–prey interactions. In typical C-start escape responses, fish react to a threatening stimulus by bending their body into a C-shape during the first muscle contraction (i.e. stage 1 which provides a sudden acceleration away from the stimulus. Recently, similar C-starts have been recorded in fish aiming at a prey. Little is known about C-starts outside the context of predator–prey interactions, though recent work has shown that escape response can also be induced by high temperature. Here, we test the hypothesis that air-breathing fish may use C-starts in the context of gulping air at the surface. Hoplosternum littorale is an air-breathing freshwater catfish found in South America. Field video observations reveal that their air-breathing behaviour consists of air-gulping at the surface, followed by a fast turn which re-directs the fish towards the bottom. Using high-speed video in the laboratory, we compared the kinematics of the turn immediately following air-gulping performed by H. littorale in normoxia with those of mechanically-triggered C-start escape responses and with routine (i.e. spontaneous turns. Our results show that air-breathing events overlap considerably with escape responses with a large stage 1 angle in terms of turning rates, distance covered and the relationship between these rates. Therefore, these two behaviours can be considered kinematically comparable, suggesting that air-breathing in this species is followed by escape-like C-start motions, presumably to minimise time at the surface and exposure to avian predators. These findings show that C-starts can occur in a variety of contexts in which fish may need to get away from areas of potential danger.

DYNAMO: a Mars upper atmosphere package for investigating solar wind interaction and escape processes, and mapping Martian fields

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chassefiere, E.; Nagy, A.; Mandea, M.

2004-01-01

DYNAMO is a small multi-instrument payload aimed at characterizing current atmospheric escape, which is still poorly constrained, and improving gravity and magnetic field representations, in order to better understand the magnetic, geologic and thermal history of Mars. The internal structure...... of periapsis 170 km), and in a lesser extent 2a, offers an unprecedented opportunity to investigate by in situ probing the chemical and dynamical properties of the deep ionosphere, thermosphere, and the interaction between the atmosphere and the solar wind, and therefore the present atmospheric escape rate...