Common respiratory diseases.

The self-medication phenomenon in upper respiratory tract infections, rhinosinusitis, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are significant and will continue to increase. Current level of evidence is poor because of the small number of good quality studies, small sample size, short duration, and variation in the composition of the herbal interventions or therapies. The current review points to several potential therapies that could be effective either alone, or as adjuncts to conventional therapies

Ambiguous Recognition: Recursion, Cognitive Blending, and the Problem of Interpretation in Twenty-First-Century Fiction

This dissertation uses theories of cognitive conceptual integration (as outlined by Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner) to propose a model of narrative reading that mediates between narratology and theories of reception. I use this model to demonstrate how new experimental narratives achieve a potent balance between a determinate and open story-form. Where the high postmodernists of the 1970s and 80s created ironic, undecidable story-worlds, the novels considered here allow readers to embrace seemingly opposite propositions without retreating into ironic suspension, trading the postmodernist “neither/nor” for a new “both/and.” This technique demands significant revision of both descriptions of radical experimentation in twenty-first-century novels, and of earlier narratological accounts of the distinction between story and discourse. Each novel considered in this dissertation encourages its reader to recognize combined concepts in the course of the reading process. Shelley Jackson’s Half Life combines singular and plural identity, reimagining individualist subjectivity and the literary treatment of (dis)ability. Mark Z. Danielewski’s Only Revolutions combines objective and subjective temporality, offering a new perspective on American myth-making in the popular post-Kerouac road-novel tradition. Percival Everett’s Erasure combines reliable and unreliable narration to create a complex critique of the idea of an African American novel tradition. M.D. Coverley’s hypertext novel Califia involves the reader in all three of these discursive dimensions at once, updating the marginalized art of hypertext fiction by inviting the reader to see his or her role in navigating the text as both creative and determined—the epitome of open-and-closed form. My analysis demonstrates how cognitive blending is a precise method for describing how a reader interprets complex narrative structures. I propose this blending-model as a new approach to contemporary experimental fiction from the perspective of the reader’s cognitive work, and show how it offers new readings of important contemporary fiction. I argue that twenty-first-century authors attempt simultaneously to construct “open” forms, and to address real socio-cultural concerns in the world; I also argue that a narratology founded on theories of cognitive processes is best-equipped to describe the operations of reading and understanding these complex narrative forms

Searching for Higgs decays to four bottom quarks at LHCb

We discuss the feasibility of seeing a Higgs boson which decays to four bottom quarks through a pair of (pseudo-)scalars at the LHCb experiment to argue that the use of b-physics triggers and off-line vertex reconstruction, as opposed to jet triggers with b tagging, may be more effective for this signal. Focusing on inclusive production for the Higgs, we find that for light scalar masses below 20 GeV, signal reconstruction efficiencies of order a few percent may be enough for LHCb to find evidence for a Higgs with a dominant 4b decay channel.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Recent Enhancements to the National Transonic Facility (Mixed Mode Operations)

The U.S. National Transonic Facility continues to make enhancements to provide quality data in a safe, efficient and cost effective method for aerodynamic ground testing. Recent enhancements discussed in this paper include the development of a Mixed-mode of operations that combine Air-mode operations with Nitrogen-mode operations. This implementation and operational results of this new Mixed-mode expands the ambient temperature transonic region of testing beyond the Air-mode limitations at a significantly reduced cost over Nitrogen Mode operation

Potential benefits of magnetic suspension and balance systems

The potential of Magnetic Suspension and Balance Systems (MSBS) to improve conventional wind tunnel testing techniques is discussed. Topics include: elimination of model geometry distortion and support interference to improve the measurement accuracy of aerodynamic coefficients; removal of testing restrictions due to supports; improved dynamic stability data; and stores separation testing. Substantial increases in wind tunnel productivity are anticipated due to the coalescence of these improvements. Specific improvements in testing methods for missiles, helicopters, fighter aircraft, twin fuselage transports and bombers, state separation, water tunnels, and automobiles are also forecast. In a more speculative vein, new wind tunnel test techniques are envisioned as a result of applying MSBS, including free-flight computer trajectories in the test section, pilot-in-the-loop and designer-in-the-loop testing, shipboard missile launch simulation, and optimization of hybrid hypersonic configurations. Also addressed are potential applications of MSBS to such diverse technologies as medical research and practice, industrial robotics, space weaponry, and ore processing in space

Kennesaw State University Holiday Concert

Many ensembles from KSU\u27s School of Music come together in the dynamic 2020 Holiday Concert. Selected works include Christmas Classics, traditional works, and contemporary pieces. Presented virtually from Morgan Concert Hall of the Bailey Performance Center.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2350/thumbnail.jp

Biogenic Matter Diagenesis on the Sea Floor: A Comparison Between Two Continental Margin Transects

Benthic chamber measurements of the reactants and products involved with biogenic matter diagenesis (oxygen, ammonium, nitrate, silicate, phosphate, TCO2, alkalinity) were used to define fluxes of these solutes into and out of the sediments off southern and central California. Onshore to offshore transects indicate many similarities in benthic fluxes between these regions. The pattern of benthic organic carbon oxidation as a function of water depth, combined with published sediment trap records, suggest that the supply of organic carbon from vertical rain can just meet the sedimentary carbon oxidation + burial demand for the central California region between the depths 100-3500 m. However, there is not enough organic carbon raining through the upper water column to support its oxidation and burial in the basins off southern California. Lateral transport and focusing of refractory carbon within these basins is proposed to account for the carbon buried. The organic carbon burial efficiency is greater off southern California (40-60%) compared to central California (2-20%), even though carbon rain rates are comparable. Oxygen uptake rates are not sensitive to bottom water oxygen concentrations nor to the bulk wt. % organic carbon in surficial sediments. Nitrate uptake rates are well defined by the depth of oxygen penetration into the sediments and the overlying water column nitrate concentration. Nitrate uptake accounts for about 50% of the total denitrification taking place in shelf sediments and denitrification (0.1-1.0 mmolN/m2d) occurs throughout the entire study region. The ratio of carbon oxidized to opal dissolved on the sea floor is constant (0.8 ± 0.2) through a wide range of depths, supporting the hypothesis that opal dissolution kinetics may be dominated by a highly reactive phase. Sea floor carbonate dissolution is negligible within the oxygen minimum zone and reaches maximal rates just above and below this zone (0.2-2.0 mmol/m2d)

Generation of Electrical Power from Stimulated Muscle Contractions Evaluated

This project is a collaborative effort between NASA Glenn Research Center's Revolutionary Aeropropulsion Concepts (RAC) Project, part of the NASA Aerospace Propulsion and Power Program of the Aerospace Technology Enterprise, and Case Western Reserve University's Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) Center. The RAC Project foresees implantable power requirements for future applications such as organically based sensor platforms and robotics that can interface with the human senses. One of the goals of the FES Center is to develop a totally implantable neural prosthesis. This goal is based on feedback from patients who would prefer a system with an internal power source over the currently used system with an external power source. The conversion system under investigation would transform the energy produced from a stimulated muscle contraction into electrical energy. We hypothesize that the output power of the system will be greater than the input power necessary to initiate, sustain, and control the electrical conversion system because of the stored potential energy of the muscle. If the system can be made biocompatible, durable, and with the potential for sustained use, then the biological power source will be a viable solution

Concept Developed for an Implanted Stimulated Muscle-Powered Piezoelectric Generator

Implanted electronic devices are typically powered by batteries or transcutaneous power transmission. Batteries must be replaced or recharged, and transcutaneous power sources burden the patient or subject with external equipment prone to failure. A completely self-sustaining implanted power source would alleviate these limitations. Skeletal muscle provides an available autologous power source containing native chemical energy that produces power in excess of the requirements for muscle activation by motor nerve stimulation. A concept has been developed to convert stimulated skeletal muscle power into electrical energy (see the preceding illustration). We propose to connect a piezoelectric generator between a muscle tendon and bone. Electrically stimulated muscle contractions would exert force on the piezoelectric generator, charging a storage circuit that would be used to power the stimulator and other devices

NQO1-dependent, tumor-selective radiosensitization of non-small cell lung cancers

Purpose: Development of tumor-specific therapies for the treatment of recalcitrant non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs) are urgently needed. Here, we investigated the ability of ß-lapachone (ß-lap, ARQ761 in clinical form) to selectively potentiate the effects of ionizing radiation (IR, 1–3 Gy) in NSCLCs that over-express NAD(P)H:Quinone Oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1). Experimental Design: The mechanism of lethality of low dose IR in combination with sublethal doses of ß-lap were evaluated in NSCLC lines in vitro and validated in subcutaneous and orthotopic xenograph models in vivo. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) studies comparing single versus co-treatments were performed to validate therapeutic efficacy and mechanism of action. Results: ß-Lap administration after IR treatment hyperactivated PARP, greatly lowered NAD+/ATP levels, and increased DSB lesions over time in vitro. Radiosensitization of orthotopic, as well as subcutaneous, NSCLCs occurred with high apparent cures (>70%), even though 1/8 ß-lap doses reach subcutaneous versus orthotopic tumors. No methemoglobinemia or long-term toxicities were noted in any normal tissues, including mouse liver that expresses the highest level of NQO1 (~12 Units) of any normal tissue. PK/PD responses confirm that IR + ß-lap treatments hyperactivate PARP activity, greatly lower NAD+/ATP levels and dramatically inhibit DSB repair in exposed NQO1+ cancer tissue, while low NQO1 levels and high levels of Catalase in associated normal tissue were protective. Conclusion: Our data suggest that combination of sublethal doses of ß-lap and IR is a viable approach to selectively treat NQO1-overexpressing NSCLC and warrant a clinical trial using low-dose IR + ß-lapachone against patients with NQO1+ NSCLCs