An Extraskeletal Osteosarcoma

On August 5, 1970, an eight-year-old Collie was admitted into Stange Memorial Clinic with a growth on the thorax adjacent to the right leg. The subcutaneous mass was very hard and about 7 cm. in diameter

Stellar Signatures of AGN Jet Triggered Star Formation

To investigate feedback between relativistic jets emanating from Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) and the stellar population of the host galaxy, we analyze the long-term evolution of the galaxy-scale simulations by Gaibler et al. (2012) of jets in massive, gas-rich galaxies at z ~ 2 - 3 and of stars formed in the host galaxies. We find strong, jet-induced differences in the resulting stellar populations of galaxies that host relativistic jets and galaxies that do not, including correlations in stellar locations, velocities, and ages. Jets are found to generate distributions of increased radial and vertical velocities that persist long enough to effectively extend the stellar structure of the host. The jets cause the formation of bow shocks that move out through the disk, generating rings of star formation within the disk. The bow shock often accelerates pockets of gas in which stars form, yielding populations of stars with significant radial and vertical velocities, some of which have large enough velocities to escape the galaxy. These stellar population signatures can serve to identify past jet activity as well as jet-induced star formation

Catching sparks from well-forged neutralinos

In this paper we present a new search technique for electroweakinos, the superpartners of electroweak gauge and Higgs bosons, based on final states with missing transverse energy, a photon, and a dilepton pair, $\ell^+\,\ell^- + \gamma + \displaystyle{\not} E_T$. Unlike traditional electroweakino searches, which perform best when $m_{\widetilde{\chi}^0_{2,3}} - m_{\widetilde{\chi}^0_1}, m_{\widetilde{\chi}^{\pm}} - m_{\widetilde{\chi}^0_1} > m_Z$, our search favors nearly degenerate spectra; degenerate electroweakinos typically have a larger branching ratio to photons, and the cut $m_{\ell\ell} \ll m_Z$ effectively removes on-shell Z boson backgrounds while retaining the signal. This feature makes our technique optimal for `well-tempered' scenarios, where the dark matter relic abundance is achieved with inter-electroweakino splittings of $\sim 20 - 70\,\text{GeV}$. Additionally, our strategy applies to a wider range of scenarios where the lightest neutralinos are almost degenerate, but only make up a subdominant component of the dark matter -- a spectrum we dub `well-forged'. Focusing on bino-Higgsino admixtures, we present optimal cuts and expected efficiencies for several benchmark scenarios. We find bino-Higgsino mixtures with $m_{\widetilde{\chi}^0_{2,3}} \lesssim 190\,\text{GeV}$ and $m_{\widetilde{\chi}^0_{2,3}} - m_{\widetilde{\chi}^0_1} \cong 30\,\text{GeV}$ can be uncovered after roughly $600\,\text{fb}^{-1}$ of luminosity at the 14 TeV LHC. Scenarios with lighter states require less data for discovery, while scenarios with heavier states or larger mass splittings are harder to discriminate from the background and require more data. Unlike many searches for supersymmetry, electroweakino searches are one area where the high luminosity of the next LHC run, rather than the increased energy, is crucial for discovery.Comment: Updated to published version. Reference adde, discussion of other models expanded, and typos fixed. revtex4-1, 29 pages, 9 figures, and 3 table

The Regulation of Mucosal Immunity by Inflammatory Mediators

Despite massive efforts to develop effective therapeutic options for the treatment of asthma, disease prevalence continues to increase. Approximately 300 million people worldwide have been estimated to be affected by asthma, and it remains a leading cause of childhood hospitalization. While environmental as well as genetic causative agents have been identified, the heterogeneous nature of the disease has proven difficult to effectively treat. Asthma is characterized as chronic inflammation of the airway characterized by increased airway hyperreactivity, increased goblet cell hyperplasia, and airway remodeling. While these effects are traditionally regarded to be mediated through the actions of CD4+ Th2 cells, recent advances have suggested that underlying innate immune cell populations within the airway mucosa might exert a critical role in the development of asthma. However, the inflammatory mediators and respective mechanisms responsible for this role remain poorly understood. In this study, we attempt to elucidate the role of two mucosal-associated inflammatory mediators, S-nitrosoglutathione and prostaglandin I2 in the pathogenesis of asthma in two distinct mouse models of allergic asthma. In our first study, we demonstrated that therapeutic treatment using SPL-334, a specific inhibitor of S-nitrosoglutathione reductase, significantly reduced the development of allergic airway inflammation. In our second study, we demonstrated that loss of prostaglandin I2 signaling resulted in significant alterations in pulmonary NK cells. Using an in vivo depletion method, we demonstrated that pulmonary NK cells are responsible for attenuated development of house dust-mite induced allergic airway inflammation. In our third and final study, we demonstrated that loss of prostaglandin I2 signaling leads to substantial reduction in the production of non-antigen-specific IgG2b and IgA via an undetermined mechanism. The results of this dissertation strongly suggest that regulation of mucosal immunity by inflammatory mediators such as S-nitrosoglutathione and prostaglandin I2 can have profound effects on the development of mucosal-associated diseases, and offer novel insights into potential future therapeutic targets for the treatment of diseases such as asthma

GIS Server Application for Avalanche Studies

Forecasting avalanches is a complex task that the “GIS Server Application for Avalanche Studies” project prototype attempts to address. This server application provides detailed information -- such as name, average activity rate, elevation, and aspect -- on each known avalanche path within this study area. The prototype serves as a tool for forecasters to share their knowledge with other civilians who frequent the study area, as well as other forecasters. The primary goal of this project was to establish a tool that utilizes historical weather and avalanche activity data to determine areas where avalanches have occurred in the past and are most likely to occur again, based on forecasted weather conditions. The creation of this GIS model to process data and determine focus areas would allow forecasters to spend more time in the field by eliminating land areas of less concern. This type of model would be valuable for forecasters when they are asked to make predictions for unfamiliar regions, such as forecasting for international events like the winter Olympics or foreign countries to support military efforts. In order to accomplish this, an Arc model was created which allows individuals to enter predicted weather values such as temperature and precipitation. The tool then executes a query on historical information to find other dates with very similar conditions. Upon completion of this query, a secondary query is conducted to determine what avalanche activity occurred on those days. This information is then transferred to a shapefile with the same color scheme as the Colorado Avalanche Information Center’s (CAIC) avalanche probability Danger Rose, which is used by forecasters to communicate vii avalanche probability. Avalanche areas are symbolized as green, yellow, or red depending on whether the most similar days had zero, one, or more than one avalanche, respectively. This feature gives forecasters and other individuals access to tools to examine potential avalanche danger without accessing the areas themselves

Using GIS to Support Midland County Parks and Recreation Department’s Trail Management Plan

Trail management is an important function performed by the Director of the Parks and Recreation Department, Midland County, Michigan. The Director has determined that a GIS system is a necessary tool for aiding him with the different management issues surrounding the twenty-one mile rail-trail and other numerous hiking, mountain biking and cross country ski trails located throughout the county. As of 2003, the National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring program has only been implemented on the federal level in 270 I&M parks with plans to spread to all national parks. Seeing how the program has grown over the last decade, with major strides in the past five years, the Director of Parks and Recreation determined that Inventory and Monitoring could, and should, be used within Midland County Parks system, with the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail being the pilot study for management of the park systems’ natural resources. The project describes an extension built in ArcGIS, an ArcPad applet and an ArcIMS that help the director with organization, operation and management of the different trails within the county and the Inventory and Monitoring program

Scenic Design for The Metal Children

A scenic design for the play “The Metal Children” by Adam Rapp was created and performed by the steps of the design process used in the design program at the University of Arkansas Department of Theatre. The Metal Children presents itself as a multi-unit set. With a script that introduces five different locations, one begins to question how we move forward with every different scene fluidly and in a quick scene shift time. When beginning the design process, I had to look at the show as if it were a musical with multiple scenic pieces that would fly in and out in a choreographed fashion to match the pacing of the actors around it. Because one of the main motifs of the show involved Young Adult Literature, I decided to handle scene shifts and overall scenic looks as if the show was progressing forward like one would turn the pages in a book. Overall the production was successful and operated very smoothly, because of the design and tech team involved could take my vision and recreate it on stage

Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia in a Dog

Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia is a naturally occurring disease of dogs characterized usually by thrombocytopenia, hemolytic anemia, reticulocytosis, and a positive direct anti-globulin test (Coomb\u27s test). The anemia manifests itself by acute hemolytic crises which are separated by varying periods of normalcy. The disease is usually observed in dogs between two and eight years of age