Climatological characteristics of high altitude wind shear and lapse rate layers

Indications of the climatological distribution of wind shear and temperature lapse and inversion rates as observed by rawinsonde measurements over the western United States are recorded. Frequencies of the strongest shear, lapse rates, and inversion layer strengths were observed for a 1 year period of record and were tabulated for the lower troposphere, the upper troposphere, and five altitude intervals in the lower stratosphere. Selected bivariate frequencies were also tabulated. Strong wind shears, lapse rates, and inversion are observed less frequently as altitude increases from 175 millibars to 20 millibars. On a seasonal basis the frequencies were higher in winter than in summer except for minor influences due to increased tropopause altitude in summer and the stratospheric wind reversal in the spring and fall

Markov chain techniques for predicting the maximum wind in the maximum dynamic pressure region for launching space vehicles

Markov chain techniques for predicting maximum wind in maximum dynamic pressure region for spacecraft launchin

Revised prediction (estimation) of Cape Kennedy, Florida, wind speed profile

The prediction of the wind profile maximum speed at Cape Kennedy, Florida, is made for any selected calendar data. The prediction is based on a normal probability distribution model with 15 years of smoothed input data and is static in the sense that no dynamic principles of persistence or synoptic features are considered. Comparison with similar predictions based on 6 years of data shows the same general pattern, but the variability decreased with the increase of sample size

Is There Extra Cost of Institutional Care for MS Patients?

Throughout life, patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) require increasing levels of support, rehabilitative services, and eventual skilled nursing facility (SNF) care. There are concerns that access to SNF care for MS patients is limited because of perceived higher costs of their care. This study compares costs of caring for an MS patient versus those of a typical SNF patient. We merged SNF cost report data with the 2001-2006 Nursing Home Minimum Data Set (MDS) to calculate percentage of MS residents-days and facility case-mix indices (CMIs). We estimated the average facility daily cost using hybrid cost functions, adjusted for facility ownership, average facility wages, CMI-adjusted number of SNF days, and percentage of MS residents-days. We describe specific characteristics of SNF with high and low MS volumes and examine any sources of variation in cost. MS patients were no longer more costly than typical SNF patients. A greater proportion of MS patients had no significant effect on facility daily costs (P = 0.26). MS patients were more likely to receive care in government-owned facilities (OR = 1.904) located in the Western (OR = 2.133) and Midwestern (OR = 1.3) parts of the USA (P < 0.05). Cost of SNF care is not a likely explanation for the perceived access barriers that MS patients face

Security Theorems via Model Theory

A model-theoretic approach can establish security theorems for cryptographic protocols. Formulas expressing authentication and non-disclosure properties of protocols have a special form. They are quantified implications for all xs . (phi implies for some ys . psi). Models (interpretations) for these formulas are *skeletons*, partially ordered structures consisting of a number of local protocol behaviors. Realized skeletons contain enough local sessions to explain all the behavior, when combined with some possible adversary behaviors. We show two results. (1) If phi is the antecedent of a security goal, then there is a skeleton A_phi such that, for every skeleton B, phi is satisfied in B iff there is a homomorphism from A_phi to B. (2) A protocol enforces for all xs . (phi implies for some ys . psi) iff every realized homomorphic image of A_phi satisfies psi. Hence, to verify a security goal, one can use the Cryptographic Protocol Shapes Analyzer CPSA (TACAS, 2007) to identify minimal realized skeletons, or "shapes," that are homomorphic images of A_phi. If psi holds in each of these shapes, then the goal holds

Probabilities of good, marginal, and poor flying conditions for space shuttle ferry flights

Empirical probabilities are provided for good, marginal, and poor flying weather for ferrying the Space Shuttle Orbiter from Edwards AFB, California, to Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and from Edwards AFB to Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama. Results are given by month for each overall route plus segments of each route. The criteria for defining a day as good, marginal, or poor and the method of computing the relative frequencies and conditional probabilities for monthly reference periods are described

An empirical analysis of the 10-15 km maximum winds to determine Apollo and AAP launch opportunities, Cape Kennedy, Florida

Empirical analysis of maximum wind speeds in space vehicular dynamic pressure region over Cape Kennedy for Apollo and AAP launche

A signaling pathway leading to metastasis is controlled by N-cadherin and the FGF receptor

The intracellular signaling events causing tumor cells to become metastatic are not well understood. N-cadherin and FGF-2 synergistically increase migration, invasion, and secretion of extracellular proteases in breast tumor cells. Here, we define a metastatic signaling cascade activated by N-cadherin and FGF-2. In the presence of N-cadherin, FGF-2 caused sustained activation of the MAPK-ERK pathway, leading to MMP-9 gene transcription and cellular invasion. N-cadherin prevented the FGF receptor (FGFR) from undergoing ligand-induced internalization, resulting in increased FGFR-1 stability. Association of FGFR-1 with N-cadherin was mediated by the first two Ig-like domains of FGFR-1. These results suggest that protection of the FGFR-1 from ligand-induced downregulation by N-cadherin enhances receptor signaling and provides a mechanism by which tumor cells can acquire metastatic properties