Measurement of Planetary Boundary Layer Winds with Scanning Doppler Lidar

The accurate measurement of wind profiles in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) is important not only for numerical weather prediction, but also for air quality modeling. Two wind retrieval methods using scanning Doppler light detection and ranging (lidar) measurements were compared and validated with simultaneous radiosonde soundings. A comparison with 17 radiosonde sounding profiles showed that the sine-fitting method was able to retrieve a larger number of data points, but the singular value decomposition method showed significantly smaller bias (0.57 m s(-1)) and root-mean-square error (1.75 m s(-1)) with radiosonde soundings. Increasing the averaging time interval of radial velocity for obtaining velocity azimuth display scans to 15 min resulted in better agreement with radiosonde soundings due to the signal averaging effect on noise. Simultaneous measurements from collocated wind Doppler lidar and aerosol Mie-scattering lidar revealed the temporal evolution of PBL winds and the vertical distribution of aerosols within the PBL

Robust Distributed Clustering Algorithm Over Multitask Networks

We propose a new adaptive clustering algorithm that is robust to various multitask environments. Positional relationships among optimal vectors and a reference signal are determined by using the mean-square deviation relation derived from a one-step least-mean-square update. Clustering is performed by combining determinations on the positional relationships at several iterations. From this geometrical basis, unlike the conventional clustering algorithms using simple thresholding method, the proposed algorithm can perform clustering accurately in various multitask environments. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has more accurate estimation accuracy than the conventional algorithms and is insensitive to parameter selection.11Ysciescopu

Point Mutation of Hoxd12 in Mice

Purpose: Genes of the HoxD cluster play a major role in vertebrate limb development, and changes that modify the Hoxd12 locus affect other genes also, suggesting that HoxD function is coordinated by a control mechanism involving multiple genes during limb morphogenesis. In this study, mutant phenotypes were produced by treatment of mice with chemical mutagen, N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea (ENU). We analyzed mutant mice exhibiting the specific microdactyly phenotype and examined the genes affected. Materials and Methods: We focused on phenotype characteristics including size, bone formation, and digit morphology of ENU-induced microdactyly mice. The expressions of several molecules were analyzed by genome-wide screening and quantitative real-time PCR to define the affected genes. Results: We report on limb phenotypes of an ENU-induced A-to-C mutation in the Hoxd12 gene, resulting in alanine-to-serine conversion. Microdactyly mice exhibited growth defects in the zeugopod and autopod, shortening of digits, a missing tip of digit I, limb growth affected, and dramatic increases in the expressions of Fgf4 and Lmx1b. However, the expression level of Shh was not changed Hoxd12 point mutated mice. Conclusion: These results suggest that point mutation rather than the entire deletion of Hoxd12, such as in knockout and transgenic mice, causes the abnormal limb phenotype in microdactyly mice. The precise nature of the spectrum of differences requires further investigation.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Staphylococcal enterotoxin sensitization in a community-based population : a potential role in adult-onset asthma

Background: Recent studies suggest that Staphylococcus aureus enterotoxin sensitization is a risk factor for asthma. However, there is a paucity of epidemiologic evidence on adult-onset asthma in community-based populations. Objective: We sought to evaluate the epidemiology and the clinical significance of staphylococcal enterotoxin sensitization in community-based adult populations. Methods: The present analyses were performed using the baseline data set of Korean adult population surveys, consisting of 1080 adults (mean age=60.2years) recruited from an urban and a rural community. Questionnaires, methacholine challenge tests, and allergen skin tests were performed for defining clinical phenotypes. Sera were analysed for total IgE and enterotoxin-specific IgE using ImmunoCAP. Results: Staphylococcal enterotoxin sensitization (0.35kU/L) had a prevalence of 27.0%. Risk factors were identified as male sex, current smoking, advanced age (61years), and inhalant allergen sensitization. Current asthma was mostly adult onset (18years old) and showed independent associations with high enterotoxin-specific IgE levels in multivariate logistic regression tests. In multivariate linear regressions, staphylococcal enterotoxin-specific IgE level was identified as the major determinant factor for total IgE level. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance: Staphylococcal enterotoxin sensitization was independently associated with adult-onset asthma in adult community populations. Strong correlations between the enterotoxin-specific IgE and total IgE levels support the clinical significance. The present findings warrant further studies for the precise roles of staphylococcal enterotoxin sensitization in the asthma pathogenesis

Microspinning: Local Surface Mixing via Rotation of Magnetic Microparticles for Efficient Small-Volume Bioassays

The need for high-throughput screening has led to the miniaturization of the reaction volume of the chamber in bioassays. As the reactor gets smaller, surface tension dominates the gravitational or inertial force, and mixing efficiency decreases in small-scale reactions. Because passive mixing by simple diffusion in tens of microliter-scale volumes takes a long time, active mixing is needed. Here, we report an efficient micromixing method using magnetically rotating microparticles with patterned magnetization induced by magnetic nanoparticle chains. Because the microparticles have magnetization patterning due to fabrication with magnetic nanoparticle chains, the microparticles can rotate along the external rotating magnetic field, causing micromixing. We validated the reaction efficiency by comparing this micromixing method with other mixing methods such as simple diffusion and the use of a rocking shaker at various working volumes. This method has the potential to be widely utilized in suspension assay technology as an efficient mixing strategy

Design, Analysis and Empirical Researches for Solar Heat Collecting System based on Flat Mirrors Combination

There has been a dramatic increase of research on energy production using solar energy. This research aims to examine development of concentrating solar collector that is related to mid-high solar energy field. Although the use of dish type solar thermal system has been common in the existing high-efficiency collector technology, several problems have been raised. In order to solve these issues, the frame has been designed as flat plate type with Fresnel lens and the structural stability has been proved by analysis. Furthermore, the experiment that checks collectorrsquos temperature has been performed for the correct works of the stirling engine

Fiber Type Specific Presence of GIutathione Transferase Isoenzymes in the Rat SkeIetaI Musele Tissue

Glutathione transferases (GST) are a group of enzymes, majorly responsible for biochemical detoxification by conjugating glutathione to a set of hydrophobic ligands. The tissue isoenzyme pattern of the enzymes has been well illustrated with their significance of histological localization. But in the cases of muscle tissue, the GST isoenzyme pattern has not yet been clearly studied. In the present experiment, we have carried out an immunohistochemical analysis on the distribution of GST isoenzymes using anti GST-P and anti GST-L antibodies on cardiac, smooth and skeletal muscle tissues. The results showed that the intestinal smooth muscle and cardiac muscles are very weakly immunostained for both anti GST-L and P antibodies. In contrast, major bundles of skeletal muscles were positively responsive to GST-L antibody. Therefore, we compared the expression of GST-L in the muscle tissues of the soleus and plantaris, which were composed dominantly of type I fiber and type II fiber, respectively. The data indicated that only type II fibers in the plantaris muscle tissue were positive to GST-L antibody, which was confirmed by specific ATPase staining. And the soleus muscle, consisting mainly of type I fibers, contains a higher amount of GST-P isoenzyme than the plantaris muscle. Therefore, it can be suggested that the expression of GST isoenzyme can be used as a type-specific marker for the type II fiber of skeletal muscles. And moreover, the differential pattern of GST isoenzymes in those muscle tissues according to fiber types may contribute to explaining the differences in fatigue-sensitivity of muscles to exercise