141 research outputs found

    Investigating Miniature Electrodynamic Tethers and Interaction with the Low Earth Orbit Plasma

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    Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106509/1/AIAA2013-5391.pd

    Investigating Miniaturized Electrodynamic Tethers for Picosatellites and Femtosatellites

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    Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143110/1/1.A33629.pd

    Supporting Data for the Characterization of PNA-DNA Four-Way Junctions

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    Holliday or DNA four-way junctions (4WJs) are cruciform/bent structures composed of four DNA duplexes. 4WJs are key intermediates in homologous genetic recombination and double-strand break repair. To investigate 4WJs in vitro, junctions are assembled using four asymmetric DNA strands. The presence of four asymmetric strands about the junction branch point eliminates branch migration, and effectively immobilizes the resulting 4WJ. The purpose of these experiments is to show that immobile 4WJs composed of DNA and peptide nucleic acids (PNAs) can be distinguished from contaminating labile nucleic acid structures. These data compare the electrophoretic mobility of hybrid PNA–DNA junctions vs. i) a classic immobile DNA 4WJ, J1 and ii) contaminating nucleic acid structures

    The impacts of increasing drought on forest dynamics, structure, and biodiversity in the United States

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    We synthesize insights from current understanding of drought impacts at stand‐to‐biogeographic scales, including management options, and we identify challenges to be addressed with new research. Large stand‐level shifts underway in western forests already are showing the importance of interactions involving drought, insects, and fire. Diebacks, changes in composition and structure, and shifting range limits are widely observed. In the eastern US, the effects of increasing drought are becoming better understood at the level of individual trees, but this knowledge cannot yet be confidently translated to predictions of changing structure and diversity of forest stands. While eastern forests have not experienced the types of changes seen in western forests in recent decades, they too are vulnerable to drought and could experience significant changes with increased severity, frequency, or duration in drought. Throughout the continental United States, the combination of projected large climate‐induced shifts in suitable habitat from modeling studies and limited potential for the rapid migration of tree populations suggests that changing tree and forest biogeography could substantially lag habitat shifts already underway. Forest management practices can partially ameliorate drought impacts through reductions in stand density, selection of drought‐tolerant species and genotypes, artificial regeneration, and the development of multistructured stands. However, silvicultural treatments also could exacerbate drought impacts unless implemented with careful attention to site and stand characteristics. Gaps in our understanding should motivate new research on the effects of interactions involving climate and other species at the stand scale and how interactions and multiple responses are represented in models. This assessment indicates that, without a stronger empirical basis for drought impacts at the stand scale, more complex models may provide limited guidance.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134257/1/gcb13160_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134257/2/gcb13160.pd

    Preliminary spatiotemporal analysis of the association between socio-environmental factors and suicide

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The seasonality of suicide has long been recognised. However, little is known about the relative importance of socio-environmental factors in the occurrence of suicide in different geographical areas. This study examined the association of climate, socioeconomic and demographic factors with suicide in Queensland, Australia, using a spatiotemporal approach.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seasonal data on suicide, demographic variables and socioeconomic indexes for areas in each Local Government Area (LGA) between 1999 and 2003 were acquired from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Climate data were supplied by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. A multivariable generalized estimating equation model was used to examine the impact of socio-environmental factors on suicide.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The preliminary data analyses show that far north Queensland had the highest suicide incidence (e.g., Cook and Mornington Shires), while the south-western areas had the lowest incidence (e.g., Barcoo and Bauhinia Shires) in all the seasons. Maximum temperature, unemployment rate, the proportion of Indigenous population and the proportion of population with low individual income were statistically significantly and positively associated with suicide. There were weaker but not significant associations for other variables.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Maximum temperature, the proportion of Indigenous population and unemployment rate appeared to be major determinants of suicide at a LGA level in Queensland.</p

    The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Diagnostic Criteria for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

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    Objective: To develop new diagnostic criteria for mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) that are appropriate for use across the lifespan and in sports, civilian trauma, and military settings. Design: Rapid evidence reviews on 12 clinical questions and Delphi method for expert consensus. Participants: The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Task Force of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Brain Injury Special Interest Group convened a Working Group of 17 members and an external interdisciplinary expert panel of 32 clinician-scientists. Public stakeholder feedback was analyzed from 68 individuals and 23 organizations. Results: The first 2 Delphi votes asked the expert panel to rate their agreement with both the diagnostic criteria for mild TBI and the supporting evidence statements. In the first round, 10 of 12 evidence statements reached consensus agreement. Revised evidence statements underwent a second round of expert panel voting, where consensus was achieved for all. For the diagnostic criteria, the final agreement rate, after the third vote, was 90.7%. Public stakeholder feedback was incorporated into the diagnostic criteria revision prior to the third expert panel vote. A terminology question was added to the third round of Delphi voting, where 30 of 32 (93.8%) expert panel members agreed that ‘the diagnostic label ‘concussion’ may be used interchangeably with ‘mild TBI’ when neuroimaging is normal or not clinically indicated.’ Conclusions: New diagnostic criteria for mild TBI were developed through an evidence review and expert consensus process. Having unified diagnostic criteria for mild TBI can improve the quality and consistency of mild TBI research and clinical care.</p

    The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Diagnostic Criteria for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

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    Objective: To develop new diagnostic criteria for mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) that are appropriate for use across the lifespan and in sports, civilian trauma, and military settings. Design: Rapid evidence reviews on 12 clinical questions and Delphi method for expert consensus. Participants: The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Task Force of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Brain Injury Special Interest Group convened a Working Group of 17 members and an external interdisciplinary expert panel of 32 clinician-scientists. Public stakeholder feedback was analyzed from 68 individuals and 23 organizations. Results: The first 2 Delphi votes asked the expert panel to rate their agreement with both the diagnostic criteria for mild TBI and the supporting evidence statements. In the first round, 10 of 12 evidence statements reached consensus agreement. Revised evidence statements underwent a second round of expert panel voting, where consensus was achieved for all. For the diagnostic criteria, the final agreement rate, after the third vote, was 90.7%. Public stakeholder feedback was incorporated into the diagnostic criteria revision prior to the third expert panel vote. A terminology question was added to the third round of Delphi voting, where 30 of 32 (93.8%) expert panel members agreed that ‘the diagnostic label ‘concussion’ may be used interchangeably with ‘mild TBI’ when neuroimaging is normal or not clinically indicated.’ Conclusions: New diagnostic criteria for mild TBI were developed through an evidence review and expert consensus process. Having unified diagnostic criteria for mild TBI can improve the quality and consistency of mild TBI research and clinical care.</p

    The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Diagnostic Criteria for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

    Get PDF
    Objective: To develop new diagnostic criteria for mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) that are appropriate for use across the lifespan and in sports, civilian trauma, and military settings. Design: Rapid evidence reviews on 12 clinical questions and Delphi method for expert consensus. Participants: The Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Task Force of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Brain Injury Special Interest Group convened a Working Group of 17 members and an external interdisciplinary expert panel of 32 clinician-scientists. Public stakeholder feedback was analyzed from 68 individuals and 23 organizations. Results: The first 2 Delphi votes asked the expert panel to rate their agreement with both the diagnostic criteria for mild TBI and the supporting evidence statements. In the first round, 10 of 12 evidence statements reached consensus agreement. Revised evidence statements underwent a second round of expert panel voting, where consensus was achieved for all. For the diagnostic criteria, the final agreement rate, after the third vote, was 90.7%. Public stakeholder feedback was incorporated into the diagnostic criteria revision prior to the third expert panel vote. A terminology question was added to the third round of Delphi voting, where 30 of 32 (93.8%) expert panel members agreed that ‘the diagnostic label ‘concussion’ may be used interchangeably with ‘mild TBI’ when neuroimaging is normal or not clinically indicated.’ Conclusions: New diagnostic criteria for mild TBI were developed through an evidence review and expert consensus process. Having unified diagnostic criteria for mild TBI can improve the quality and consistency of mild TBI research and clinical care.</p

    Progressive ductile shearing during till accretion within the deforming bed of a palaeo-ice stream

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    This paper presents the results of a detailed microstructural study of a thick till formed beneath the Weichselian (Devensian) Odra palaeo-ice stream, west of Środa Wielkopolska, Poland. This SE-flowing ice stream was one of a number of corridors of faster flowing ice which drained the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in the Baltic region. Macroscopically, the massive, laterally extensive till which formed the bed of this ice stream lacks any obvious evidence of glaciotectonism (thrusting, folding). However, microscale analysis reveals that bed deformation was dominated by foliation development, recording progressive ductile shearing within a subhorizontal subglacial shear zone. Five successive generations of clast microfabric (S1 to S5) have been identified defining a set of up-ice and down-ice dipping Riedel shears, as well as a subhorizontal shear foliation coplanar to the ice-bed interface. Cross-cutting relationships between the shear fabrics record temporal changes in the style of deformation during this progressive shear event. Kinematic indicators (S-C and ECC-type fabrics) within the till indicate a consistent SE-directed shear sense, in agreement with the regional ice flow pattern. A model of bed deformation involving incremental progressive simple shear during till accretion is proposed. The relative age of this deformation was diachronous becoming progressively younger upwards, compatible with subglacial shearing having accompanied till accretion at the top of the deforming bed. Variation in the relative intensity of the microfabrics records changes in the magnitude of the cumulative strain imposed on the till and the degree of coupling between the ice and underlying bed during fast ice flow

    The Physics of the B Factories

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    This work is on the Physics of the B Factories. Part A of this book contains a brief description of the SLAC and KEK B Factories as well as their detectors, BaBar and Belle, and data taking related issues. Part B discusses tools and methods used by the experiments in order to obtain results. The results themselves can be found in Part C
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