193 research outputs found
Pre-Frontal Cortex Activity of Male Drivers in the Presence of Passengers During Simulated Driving: An Exploratory Functional Near- Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Study
Adolescents are more likely to be involved in motor vehicle crashes in the presence of peer passengers, and risky driving behaviors of male teenagers increase in the presence of male peer passengers. There could be several mechanisms of the influence of peer passengers, however it is evident that the male teenage driver with a male peer passenger makes riskier decisions than when alone. The developing teenage brain’s activity is different from that of adults during decision-making, especially in regions associated with impulse control, response inhibition, and risk taking. This study tested the feasibility of using functional nearinfrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a non-invasive brain imaging method that allows in vivo measurements of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin in cortical tissue, to study drivers’ brain activation during simulated driving. Cortical activity was measured in participants driving alone and in the presence of a passenger. When at a dilemma zone at a signalized intersection participants showed increased activation in regions of the left and right medial pre-frontal cortex when driving with a passenger as compared to when driving alone
Biofilm assists recognition of avian trackways in Late Pleistocene coastal aeolianites, South Africa
Fourteen fossil avian tracksites have been identified in Late Pleistocene aeolianite deposits on the Cape south coast of SouthAfrica. One
of these sites is unusual because of the preferential adherence of organic material (biofilm) to the natural cast tracks. This has enabled the
recognition and identification of two ~6 m long, approximately parallel trackways that would otherwise not have been noticed. The
trackways are visible from a distance of over 100 metres and contain 20 and 14 individual tracks, respectively. Up to 50 avian tracks are
evident at this site. As the biofilm layer continues to thicken, the trackways become increasingly visible. Avian trackways of this length
are globally rare.We propose that the biofilm adheres to sections with higher relief on a sedimentary surface, and that an understanding
of this mode of preservation can be useful to more easily identify trackways in areas of comparable geological setting.JN
Spin Discrimination in Three-Body Decays
The identification of the correct model for physics beyond the Standard Model
requires the determination of the spin of new particles. We investigate to
which extent the spin of a new particle can be identified in scenarios
where it decays dominantly in three-body decays . Here we
assume that is a candidate for dark matter and escapes direct detection at
a high energy collider such as the LHC. We show that in the case that all
intermediate particles are heavy, one can get information on the spins of
and at the LHC by exploiting the invariant mass distribution of the two
standard model fermions. We develop a model-independent strategy to determine
the spins without prior knowledge of the unknown couplings and test it in a
series of Monte Carlo studies.Comment: 31+1 pages, 4 figures, 8 tables, JHEP.cls include
Sistem Pengendali Kecepatan Motor Dc Pada Lift Barang Menggunakan Kontroler Pid Berbasis Atmega 2560
Lift barang adalah angkutan transportasi vertikal digunakan untuk memindahkan barang. Lift ini sangat khusus fungsinya untuk barang saja, lift ini hampir sama dengan lift penumpang namun ada sedikit perbedaan dalam sistem keamanannya. Lift barang yang sekarang memang sudah otomatis tetapi hanya pada gedung bertingkat tinggi. Untuk minimarket atau home industry yang memiliki struktur bangunan 2 lantai, banyak dijumpai masih menggunakan pengkatrolan secara manual oleh tenaga manusia untuk memindahkan barang. Hal ini cukup tidak efisien. Pada penelitian ini telah dirancang sistem pengaturan kecepatan motor DC pada lift barang menggunakan kontoler PID dengan kontruksi sistem yang sederhana. Digunakan Kontroler PID untuk mengurangi kesalahan, sehingga putaran motor dapat sesuai dengan kecepatan yang diinginkan. Dengan bantuan kontroler PID maka lift barang mampu bergerak dengan aman dan halus. Pada skripsi ini digunakan metode Ziegler-Nichols tunning 2. Dalam pembuatannya digunakan Arduino Mega 2560, rotary encoder Autonic E40H8 500-6-L-5, limit switch, dan motor DC. Berdasarkan data respons sistem yang diperoleh dari pengujian dengan menggunakan metode kedua Ziegler-Nichols, maka parameter kontroler PID dapat ditentukan dengan gain Kp = 7.71, Ki = 7.035 dan Kd = 2.113.Kata Kunci— Lift barang, Pengendalian Kecepatan, PID, Arduino Mega 2560
Theropod courtship: large scale physical evidence of display arenas and avian-like scrape ceremony behaviour by Cretaceous dinosaurs
Relationships between non-avian theropod dinosaurs and extant and fossil birds are a major focus of current paleobiological research. Despite extensive phylogenetic and morphological support, behavioural evidence is mostly ambiguous and does not usually fossilize. Thus, inferences that dinosaurs, especially theropods displayed behaviour analogous to modern birds are intriguing but speculative. Here we present extensive and geographically widespread physical evidence of substrate scraping behavior by large theropods considered as compelling evidence of "display arenas" or leks, and consistent with "nest scrape display" behaviour among many extant ground-nesting birds. Large scrapes, up to 2 m in diameter, occur abundantly at several Cretaceous sites in Colorado. They constitute a previously unknown category of large dinosaurian trace fossil, inferred to fill gaps in our understanding of early phases in the breeding cycle of theropods. The trace makers were probably lekking species that were seasonally active at large display arena sites. Such scrapes indicate stereotypical avian behaviour hitherto unknown among Cretaceous theropods, and most likely associated with terrirorial activity in the breeding season. The scrapes most probably occur near nesting colonies, as yet unknown or no longer preserved in the immediate study areas. Thus, they provide clues to paleoenvironments where such nesting sites occurred
LHC Searches for Non-Chiral Weakly Charged Multiplets
Because the TeV-scale to be probed at the Large Hadron Collider should shed
light on the naturalness, hierarchy, and dark matter problems, most searches to
date have focused on new physics signatures motivated by possible solutions to
these puzzles. In this paper, we consider some candidates for new states that
although not well-motivated from this standpoint are obvious possibilities that
current search strategies would miss. In particular we consider vector
representations of fermions in multiplets of with a lightest neutral
state. Standard search strategies would fail to find such particles because of
the expected small one-loop-level splitting between charged and neutral states.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figure
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Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Patients With Primary Immune Regulatory Disorders (PIRD): A Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium (PIDTC) Survey.
Primary Immune Regulatory Disorders (PIRD) are an expanding group of diseases caused by gene defects in several different immune pathways, such as regulatory T cell function. Patients with PIRD develop clinical manifestations associated with diminished and exaggerated immune responses. Management of these patients is complicated; oftentimes immunosuppressive therapies are insufficient, and patients may require hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) for treatment. Analysis of HCT data in PIRD patients have previously focused on a single gene defect. This study surveyed transplanted patients with a phenotypic clinical picture consistent with PIRD treated in 33 Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium centers and European centers. Our data showed that PIRD patients often had immunodeficient and autoimmune features affecting multiple organ systems. Transplantation resulted in resolution of disease manifestations in more than half of the patients with an overall 5-years survival of 67%. This study, the first to encompass disorders across the PIRD spectrum, highlights the need for further research in PIRD management
Perinatal paracetamol exposure in mice does not affect the development of allergic airways disease in early life
Background Current data concerning maternal paracetamol intake during pregnancy, or intake during infancy and risk of wheezing or asthma in childhood is inconclusive based on epidemiological studies. We have investigated whether there is a causal link between maternal paracetamol intake during pregnancy and lactation and the development of house dust mite (HDM) induced allergic airways disease (AAD) in offspring using a neonatal mouse model.
Methods Pregnant mice were administered paracetamol or saline by oral gavage from the day of mating throughout pregnancy and/or lactation. Subsequently, their pups were exposed to intranasal HDM or saline from day 3 of life for up to 6 weeks. Assessments of airway hyper-responsiveness, inflammation and remodelling were made at weaning (3 weeks) and 6 weeks of age.
Results Maternal paracetamol exposure either during pregnancy and/or lactation did not affect development of AAD in offspring at weaning or at 6 weeks. There were no effects of maternal paracetamol at any time point on airway remodelling or IgE levels.
Conclusions Maternal paracetamol did not enhance HDM induced AAD in offspring. Our mechanistic data do not support the hypothesis that prenatal paracetamol exposure increases the risk of childhood asthma
Spin effects in the antler event topology at hadron colliders
We investigate spin correlation effects in the "antler" event topology pp->
A-> B1, B2 -> l^{-}, C1, l^{+}, C2 at the LHC. We study the shapes of several
kinematic variables, including the relative pseudorapidity, relative azimuthal
angle and the energies of the two leptons, as well as several mass variables
M_{ll}, Meff, \sqrt{s}_{min}, MT2, MCT and MCTx. We focus on the two kinematic
extremes of \sqrt{s} - threshold and infinity - and derive analytical
expressions for the differential distributions of several variables, most
notably the cos{\theta_{ll}}^* variable proposed by Barr in hep-ph/0511115. For
all possible spin assignments of particles A, B and C, we derive the
cos{\theta_{ll}}^* differential distribution at threshold, including the
effects of spin correlations. Our analytical results help identify the
problematic cases for spin discrimination.Comment: 43 pages, 14 figures, Preprint typeset in JHEP styl
Pulmonary epithelial cell-derived cytokine TGF-β1 Is a critical cofactor for enhanced innate lymphoid cell function
SummaryEpithelial cells orchestrate pulmonary homeostasis and pathogen defense and play a crucial role in the initiation of allergic immune responses. Maintaining the balance between homeostasis and inappropriate immune activation and associated pathology is particularly complex at mucosal sites that are exposed to billions of potentially antigenic particles daily. We demonstrated that epithelial cell-derived cytokine TGF-β had a central role in the generation of the pulmonary immune response. Mice that specifically lacked epithelial cell-derived TGF-β1 displayed a reduction in type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), resulting in suppression of interleukin-13 and hallmark features of the allergic response including airway hyperreactivity. ILCs in the airway lumen were primed to respond to TGF-β by expressing the receptor TGF-βRII and ILC chemoactivity was enhanced by TGF-β. These data demonstrate that resident epithelial cells instruct immune cells, highlighting the central role of the local environmental niche in defining the nature and magnitude of immune reactions
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