Spatial land-use inventory, modeling, and projection/Denver metropolitan area, with inputs from existing maps, airphotos, and LANDSAT imagery

A landscape model was constructed with 34 land-use, physiographic, socioeconomic, and transportation maps. A simple Markov land-use trend model was constructed from observed rates of change and nonchange from photointerpreted 1963 and 1970 airphotos. Seven multivariate land-use projection models predicting 1970 spatial land-use changes achieved accuracies from 42 to 57 percent. A final modeling strategy was designed, which combines both Markov trend and multivariate spatial projection processes. Landsat-1 image preprocessing included geometric rectification/resampling, spectral-band, and band/insolation ratioing operations. A new, systematic grid-sampled point training-set approach proved to be useful when tested on the four orginal MSS bands, ten image bands and ratios, and all 48 image and map variables (less land use). Ten variable accuracy was raised over 15 percentage points from 38.4 to 53.9 percent, with the use of the 31 ancillary variables. A land-use classification map was produced with an optimal ten-channel subset of four image bands and six ancillary map variables. Point-by-point verification of 331,776 points against a 1972/1973 U.S. Geological Survey (UGSG) land-use map prepared with airphotos and the same classification scheme showed average first-, second-, and third-order accuracies of 76.3, 58.4, and 33.0 percent, respectively

Semiclassical Extremal Blackholes

Extremal black holes are studied in a two dimensional model motivated by a dimensional reduction from four dimensions. Their quantum corrected geometry is calculated semiclassically and a mild singularity is shown to appear at the horizon. Extensions of the geometry past the horizon are not unique but there are continuations free from malevolent singularities. A few comments are made about the relevance of these results to four dimensions and to the study of black hole entropy and information loss.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures upon request, CALT-68-1833 - (new version corrects omissions in previous list of references

Achieving enhanced gain in photorefractive polymers by eliminating electron contributions using large bias fields

Photorefractive polymers have been extensively studied for over two decades and have found applications in holographic displays and optical image processing. The complexity of these materials arises from multiple charge contributions, for example, leading to the formation of competing photorefractive gratings. It has been recently shown that in a photorefractive polymer at relatively moderate applied electric fields the primary charge carriers (holes) establish an initial grating, followed by a subsequent competing grating (electrons) resulting in a decreased two-beam coupling and diffraction efficiencies. In this paper, it is shown that with relatively large sustainable bias fields, the two-beam coupling efficiency is enhanced owing to a decreased electron contribution. These results also explain the cause of dielectric breakdown experienced under large bias fields. Our conclusions are supported by self-pumped transient two-beam coupling and photocurrent measurements as a function of applied bias fields at different wavelengths

Discovery and Validation of Barrett's Esophagus MicroRNA Transcriptome by Next Generation Sequencing

Objective: Barrett's esophagus (BE) is transition from squamous to columnar mucosa as a result of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). The role of microRNA during this transition has not been systematically studied. Design: For initial screening, total RNA from 5 GERD and 6 BE patients was size fractionated. RNA <70 nucleotides was subjected to SOLiD 3 library preparation and next generation sequencing (NGS). Bioinformatics analysis was performed using R package “DEseq”. A p value<0.05 adjusted for a false discovery rate of 5% was considered significant. NGS-identified miRNA were validated using qRT-PCR in an independent group of 40 GERD and 27 BE patients. MicroRNA expression of human BE tissues was also compared with three BE cell lines. Results: NGS detected 19.6 million raw reads per sample. 53.1% of filtered reads mapped to miRBase version 18. NGS analysis followed by qRT-PCR validation found 10 differentially expressed miRNA; several are novel (-708-5p, -944, -224-5p and -3065-5p). Up- or down- regulation predicted by NGS was matched by qRT-PCR in every case. Human BE tissues and BE cell lines showed a high degree of concordance (70–80%) in miRNA expression. Prediction analysis identified targets that mapped to developmental signaling pathways such as TGFβ and Notch and inflammatory pathways such as toll-like receptor signaling and TGFβ. Cluster analysis found similarly regulated (up or down) miRNA to share common targets suggesting coordination between miRNA. Conclusion: Using highly sensitive next-generation sequencing, we have performed a comprehensive genome wide analysis of microRNA in BE and GERD patients. Differentially expressed miRNA between BE and GERD have been further validated. Expression of miRNA between BE human tissues and BE cell lines are highly correlated. These miRNA should be studied in biological models to further understand BE development

Intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation in US and non-US centres: results of the Benchmark® Registry

Aims To examine differences in patient characteristics and outcomes in 19 636 patients enrolled in the USA and 3027 patients enrolled in other countries undergoing intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) counterpulsation. Methods and results Indications for IABP use; a larger percentage of US patients were identified as ‘early support and stabilization for angiography or angioplasty' (21.1% US vs 11.8% non-US), and ‘pre-operative support for high-risk CABG' (15.9% vs 6.6%). A smaller percentage of US patients vs non-US patients were identified as ‘weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass' (14.3% vs 28.2%), and ‘refractory ventricular failure' (6.2% vs 9.8%). One out of five patients in both groups was listed as ‘cardiogenic shock' (18.9% US vs 20.2% non-US). All cause, risk-adjusted, in-hospital mortality (20.1% vs 28.7%; P<0.001), and mortality with IABP in place (10.8% vs 18.0%; P<0.001) were lower at US vs non-US sites. In both US and non-US institutions, IABP associated complication rates, such as IABP-related mortality (0.05% vs 0.07%), major limb ischaemia (0.9% vs 0.8%), and severe bleeding (0.9% vs 0.8%), were low. Conclusions IABP counterpulsation is deployed at an earlier clinical stage in US patients. Mortality rates are higher for non-US patients, particularly for patients with non-surgery cardiac interventions, even after adjusting for risk factors. Complication rates were low. Physicians should therefore not be reluctant to use IABP in high-risk patients undergoing cardiac procedure

Time invariance violating nuclear electric octupole moments

The existence of a nuclear electric octupole moment (EOM) requires both parity and time invariance violation. The EOMs of odd $Z$ nuclei that are induced by a particular T- and P-odd interaction are calculated. We compare such octupole moments with the collective EOMs that can occur in nuclei having a static octupole deformation. A nuclear EOM can induce a parity and time invariance violating atomic electric dipole moment, and the magnitude of this effect is calculated. The contribution of a nuclear EOM to such a dipole moment is found, in most cases, to be smaller than that of other mechanisms of atomic electric dipole moment production.Comment: Uses RevTex, 25 page

Chargino contributions to ϵ′/ϵ\epsilon^{\prime}/ \epsilon in the left-right supersymmetric model

We analyze the chargino contributions to the CP violating ratio $\epsilon^{\prime}/\epsilon$ in the left-right supersymmetric model. We study the possibility that these contributions alone can saturate the experimental value of $\epsilon^{\prime}/\epsilon$. We derive conservative bounds on supersymmetric flavor violation parameters in the up squark LL, RR, LR and RL sectors, using the mass insertion approximation. While the LL bounds are found to be consistent with the MSSM values, the LR constraints are new and much stronger.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, 2 table

Time Dynamics of Self-Pumped Reflection Gratings in a Photorefractive Polymer

The time dynamics of self-pumped reflection gratings in a commonly used photorefractive polymer PDCST:PVK:ECZ-BBP:C60 with no additional electron sources or traps is investigated. While holes are normally the mobile charges and responsible for grating formation, our experimental observations, analyzed using multi-exponential fitting curves, show evidence of electrons in addition to holes as charge carriers, particularly above an applied field of 40 V/μm. The dependence of effective carrier mobilities on the applied electric field, deduced from experimental results, show stronger field dependence of electron mobility at high electric fields. At an applied field of 70 V/μm, electron and hole mobilities become approximately equal, and the contribution of electrons on grating formation becomes significant

National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry and IFCC Committee for Standardization of Markers of Cardiac Damage Laboratory Medicine Practice Guidelines: Analytical Issues for Biochemical Markers of Acute Coronary Syndromes

n/

A fourth generation, anomalous like-sign dimuon charge asymmetry and the LHC

A fourth chiral generation, with $m_{t^\prime}$ in the range $\sim (300 - 500)$ GeV and a moderate value of the CP-violating phase can explain the anomalous like-sign dimuon charge asymmetry observed recently by the D0 collaboration. The required parameters are found to be consistent with constraints from other $B$ and $K$ decays. The presence of such quarks, apart from being detectable in the early stages of the LHC, would also have important consequences in the electroweak symmetry breaking sector.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, Figure 1 is modified, more discussions are added in section 2. new references adde