741 research outputs found
The Leeway of Shipping Containers at Different Immersion Levels
The leeway of 20-foot containers in typical distress conditions is
established through field experiments in a Norwegian fjord and in open-ocean
conditions off the coast of France with wind speed ranging from calm to 14 m/s.
The experimental setup is described in detail and certain recommendations given
for experiments on objects of this size. The results are compared with the
leeway of a scaled-down container before the full set of measured leeway
characteristics are compared with a semi-analytical model of immersed
containers. Our results are broadly consistent with the semi-analytical model,
but the model is found to be sensitive to choice of drag coefficient and makes
no estimate of the cross-wind leeway of containers. We extend the results from
the semi-analytical immersion model by extrapolating the observed leeway
divergence and estimates of the experimental uncertainty to various realistic
immersion levels. The sensitivity of these leeway estimates at different
immersion levels are tested using a stochastic trajectory model. Search areas
are found to be sensitive to the exact immersion levels, the choice of drag
coefficient and somewhat less sensitive to the inclusion of leeway divergence.
We further compare the search areas thus found with a range of trajectories
estimated using the semi-analytical model with only perturbations to the
immersion level. We find that the search areas calculated without estimates of
crosswind leeway and its uncertainty will grossly underestimate the rate of
expansion of the search areas. We recommend that stochastic trajectory models
of container drift should account for these uncertainties by generating search
areas for different immersion levels and with the uncertainties in crosswind
and downwind leeway reported from our field experiments.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures and 5 tables; Ocean Dynamics, Special Issue on
Advances in Search and Rescue at Sea (2012
Sonography for hip joint effusion in adults with hip pain
OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of ultrasonic hip joint effusion and
its relation with clinical, radiological and laboratory (ESR) findings in
adults with hip pain. METHODS: Patients (n = 224) aged 50 years or older
with hip pain, referred by the general practitioner for radiological
investigation, underwent a standardised examination. The distance between
the ventral capsule and the femoral neck, an increase in which represents
joint effusion, was measured sonographically. Joint effusion was defined
in three different ways: "effusion" according to Koski's definition,
"major effusion", and "asymmetrical effusion" based on only individual
side differences. RESULTS: "Effusion" was present in 80 (38%), "major
effusion" in 20 (9%), and "asymmetrical effusion" in 47 (22%) patients.
Pain in the groin or medial thigh, pain aggravated by lying on the side,
decreased extension/internal rotation/abduction/flexion, painful external
rotation, and pain on palpation in the groin showed a significant relation
(adjusted for age and radiological osteoarthritis of the hip) with
ultrasonic hip joint effusion. "Major effusion" showed a significant
relation with an increased ESR. When patients with bilateral pain and
increased ESR were excluded, a side difference in the range of motion of
extension of the hip was shown to be a good predictor for "asymmetrical
effusion" (positive predictive value: 71%, negative predictive value:
80%). CONCLUSION: This study showed a relatively high prevalence of
ultrasonic joint effusion in adults with hip pain in general practice.
Furthermore the results indicate a relation between joint effusion and
clinical signs
miR-132/212 knockout mice reveal roles for these miRNAs in regulating cortical synaptic transmission and plasticity
miR-132 and miR-212 are two closely related miRNAs encoded in the same intron of a small non-coding gene, which have been suggested to play roles in both immune and neuronal function. We describe here the generation and initial characterisation of a miR-132/212 double knockout mouse. These mice were viable and fertile with no overt adverse phenotype. Analysis of innate immune responses, including TLR-induced cytokine production and IFNβ induction in response to viral infection of primary fibroblasts did not reveal any phenotype in the knockouts. In contrast, the loss of miR-132 and miR-212, while not overtly affecting neuronal morphology, did affect synaptic function. In both hippocampal and neocortical slices miR-132/212 knockout reduced basal synaptic transmission, without affecting paired-pulse facilitation. Hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) induced by tetanic stimulation was not affected by miR-132/212 deletion, whilst theta burst LTP was enhanced. In contrast, neocortical theta burst-induced LTP was inhibited by loss of miR-132/212. Together these results indicate that miR-132 and/or miR-212 play a significant role in synaptic function, possibly by regulating the number of postsynaptic AMPA receptors under basal conditions and during activity-dependent synaptic plasticity
Vortices on Orbifolds
The Abelian and non-Abelian vortices on orbifolds are investigated based on
the moduli matrix approach, which is a powerful method to deal with the BPS
equation. The moduli space and the vortex collision are discussed through the
moduli matrix as well as the regular space. It is also shown that a quiver
structure is found in the Kahler quotient, and a half of ADHM is obtained for
the vortex theory on the orbifolds as the case before orbifolding.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures; references adde
The Cosmic Microwave Background and Particle Physics
In forthcoming years, connections between cosmology and particle physics will
be made increasingly important with the advent of a new generation of cosmic
microwave background (CMB) experiments. Here, we review a number of these
links. Our primary focus is on new CMB tests of inflation. We explain how the
inflationary predictions for the geometry of the Universe and primordial
density perturbations will be tested by CMB temperature fluctuations, and how
the gravitational waves predicted by inflation can be pursued with the CMB
polarization. The CMB signatures of topological defects and primordial magnetic
fields from cosmological phase transitions are also discussed. Furthermore, we
review current and future CMB constraints on various types of dark matter (e.g.
massive neutrinos, weakly interacting massive particles, axions, vacuum
energy), decaying particles, the baryon asymmetry of the Universe,
ultra-high-energy cosmic rays, exotic cosmological topologies, and other new
physics.Comment: 43 pages. To appear in Annual Reviews of Nuclear and Particle Scienc
Six-Month Mortality among HIV-Infected Adults Presenting for Antiretroviral Therapy with Unexplained Weight Loss, Chronic Fever or Chronic Diarrhea in Malawi.
In sub-Saharan Africa, early mortality is high following initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART). We investigated 6-month outcomes and factors associated with mortality in HIV-infected adults being assessed for ART initiation and presenting with weight loss, chronic fever or diarrhea, and with negative TB sputum microscopy
The Role of Innate APOBEC3G and Adaptive AID Immune Responses in HLA-HIV/SIV Immunized SHIV Infected Macaques
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
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