Tolkien and the Deadly Sin of Greed

Tolkien’s genius as a writer and insight as a philosopher and theologian (of sorts) are reflected in his subtle yet impactful interweaving of the consequences of greed within the lives of the peoples of Middle-Earth. He shows readers that greed is not simply the love of money. Greed is the root of all evil, and it takes a variety of forms, as represented by Sauron’s desire to possess power over and control others, Saruman’s imitative desire, and Feanor’s over-possessiveness of his sub-creative acts. Tolkien also reveals that a proper relationship with nature can provide recovery from the drab familiarity which the appropriation of nature can cause. Ultimately, Tolkien shows that in relinquishing possession of the things and people we most desire, we can find a greater sense of personhood, relationality, and peace within the world

Transfer function determination of the primary loop of a conceptual nuclear Brayton space powerplant

Transfer functions for primary loop of conceptual nuclear Brayton space power plan

Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Associated Clinical Features in Latino and Caucasian Patients from a Single Center.

INTRODUCTION AND AIM:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer in adults and has seen a rapid increase in incidence in the United States. Racial and ethnic differences in HCC incidence have been observed, with Latinos showing the greatest increase over the past four decades, highlighting a concerning health disparity. The goal of the present study was to compare the clinical features at the time of diagnosis of HCC in Latino and Caucasian patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS:We retrospectively screened a total of 556 charts of Latino and Caucasian patients with HCC. RESULTS:The mean age of HCC diagnosis was not significantly different between Latinos and Caucasians, but Latinos presented with higher body mass index (BMI). Rates of hypertension, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia were similar in the two groups. The most common etiology of liver disease was alcohol drinking in Latinos, and chronic hepatitis C in Caucasian patients. Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH) was the associated diagnosis in 8.6% of Latinos and 4.7% of Caucasians. Interestingly, alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels at time of diagnosis were higher in Latino patients compared to Caucasians, but this difference was evident only in male patients. Multifocal HCC was slightly more frequent in Latinos, but the two groups had similar cancerous vascular invasion. Latino patients also presented with higher rates of both ascites and hepatic encephalopathy. CONCLUSION:Latino and Caucasian patients with HCC present with a different profile of etiologies, but cancer features appear to be more severe in Latinos

Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy observed by H.E.S.S

Dwarf spheroidal galaxies are characterized by a large measured mass-to-light ratio and are not expected to be the site of high-luminosity non-thermal high-energy gamma-ray emissions. Therefore they are among the most promising candidates for indirect searches of dark matter particle annihilation signals in gamma rays. The Sagittarius dwarf spheroidal galaxy has been regularly observed by the High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) of Cherenkov telescopes for more than 90 hours, searching for TeV gamma-ray emission from annihilation of dark matter particles. In absence of a significant signal, new constraints on the annihilation crosssection of the dark matter particles applicable for Majorana Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) are derived.Comment: In Proceedings of the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2013), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil

Synthesis and Evaluation of Substituted Coumarin Derivatives as Inhibitors of Monoamine Oxidase B

Monoamine oxidase B (MAO B) is of clinical importance due to its perceived role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, making inhibitors of MAO B popular candidates for drug design. A series of coumarin derivatives have been prepared and assayed, revealing that the synthesized inhibitors act through a competitive mode of inhibition. In addition, these inhibitors are potent with Ki values in the nanomolar range. Overall, substitution at the 3- position of the coumarin was found to be important to inhibitor potency and further study of 3-aryl coumarin substitution computationally led to the prediction of 3-(3-aminophenyl)-6-hydroxycoumarin as a lead compound for future study as a more potent MAO B inhibitor

Water ice in the dark dune spots of Richardson crater on Mars

In this study we assess the presence, nature and properties of ices - in particular water ice - that occur within these spots using HIRISE and CRISM observations, as well as the LMD Global Climate Model. Our studies focus on Richardson crater (72{\deg}S, 179{\deg}E) and cover southern spring and summer (LS 175{\deg} - 17 341{\deg}). Three units have been identified of these spots: dark core, gray ring and bright halo. Each unit show characteristic changes as the season progress. In winter, the whole area is covered by CO2 ice with H2O ice contamination. Dark spots form during late winter and early spring. During spring, the dark spots are located in a 10 cm thick depression compared to the surrounding bright ice-rich layer. They are spectrally characterized by weak CO2 ice signatures that probably result from spatial mixing of CO2 ice rich and ice free regions within pixels, and from mixing of surface signatures due to aerosols scattering. The bright halo shaped by winds shows stronger CO2 absorptions than the average ice covered terrain, which is consistent with a formation process involving CO2 re-condensation. According to spectral, morphological and modeling considerations, the gray ring is composed of a thin layer of a few tens of {\mu}m of water ice. Two sources/processes could participate to the enrichment of water ice in the gray ring unit: (i) water ice condensation at the surface in early fall (prior to the condensation of a CO2 rich winter layer) or during winter time (due to cold trapping of the CO2 layer); (ii) ejection of dust grains surrounded by water ice by the geyser activity responsible for the dark spot. In any case, water ice remains longer in the gray ring unit after the complete sublimation of the CO2. Finally, we also looked for liquid water in the near-IR CRISM spectra using linear unmixing modeling but found no conclusive evidence for it

Variabilité des caractéristiques statistiques des pluies extrêmes dans les Alpes francaises

Le but de cet article est la recherche de liaisons entre les précipitations extrêmes de pas de temps de 1 à 24 heures dans les Alpes Françaises. En particulier, il semble important de pouvoir déduire les valeurs pour de faibles pas de temps (1h, 2h... ) de celles de forts pas de temps, 24h en particulier. En effet, nous disposons actuellement de peu d'enregistrements historiques à pas de temps fin. En fait, le réseau de pluviographes utilisé est constitué de seulement 65 stations. Par contre, l'existence d'un réseau très dense de pluviomètres permet de déterminer les caractéristiques de pas de temps 24h.Pour ce faire, nous définissons une variable traduisant l'évolution des précipitations en fonction du temps de retour pour chaque pas de temps et chaque station : le gradex. Nous avons testé plusieurs types de relations pour lier les gradex des différents pas de temps entre eux : relation linéaire, puissance, exponentielle, logarithmique ; c'est la relation linéaire qui est la meilleure dans les Alpes Françaises. L'étude des relations entre les gradex des différents pas de temps montre que les pas de temps voisins sont bien corrélés entre eux, ce qui n'est plus le cas lorsque les pas de temps deviennent très distincts. Ces résultats sont confirmés par la définition de 4 régions homogènes par rapport aux précipitations extrêmes sur lesquelles nous testons l'éventualité de relations linéaires entre les gradex des différents pas de temps.Finalement, nous avons mis en évidence l'absence de relations simples permettant de passer de pas de temps longs à des pas de temps faibles. Par contre, on peut passer sans trop d'erreur d'un pas de temps de 24 heures à celui de 12 heures ou 6 heures, résultat déjà fort intéressant.For many development projects, it is important to have some idea of the magnitude of extreme precipitation events that may occur for different probability levels and for time steps of less than 24 hours. Unfortunately, most existing rain gauge networks measure precipitation on only a daily basis. In the French Alps, 65 rain gauge stations provide precipitation data over short time steps (1 to 24 hours). This very diverse network, managed jointly by the French electrical utility (Electricité de France), the national weather office (Météorologie Nationale) and the regional water resources service (SRAE), provides a valuable basis for investigating possible relationships between the characteristics of extreme precipitation for 24-hour periods and those for shorter time periods. The results of such a study, although of course valid only for the investigated area, should provide an indication of whether or not it is possible to calculate the characteristics of rainfall over short time steps from much denser 24-hour rain gauge networks. A statistical analysis was carried out to estimate extreme rainfall values for return periods of 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 years and for time steps of 1, 2, 3, 6, 12 and 24 hours. Each station is therefore associated with 36 precipitation values as a function of return period and duration. A variable referred to as the gradex (gradient of the exponential) is defined, reflecting the change in precipitation values as a function of the return period for each time step and each station. The definition of this variable is based on the fact that Gumbel's law is used to represent the frequency distribution of extreme rainfalls over time intervals extending from 1 hour up to several days, which is equivalent to assuming an exponentially decreasing frequency distribution for extreme rainfalls for a given time step and a given location. When plotted on Gumbel paper, the right-hand part of this distribution has a slope equal to the parameter "a" of Gumbel's law: F(x)=exp{-exp{-(x-x>indice>0/a}}where F(x) is the probability of occurrence of a value less than x. The parameter "a" is the gradex, and has the same dimensions as x. It can be determined with the method of moments :a(t)=0.78xσxwhere σxis the standard deviation of the sample.This definition is equivalent to taking the slope of the line passing through the points corresponding to T=20 and 100 years on a Gumbel plot. For each of the stations, we can evaluate six gradex values, i.e. one for each time step. In this way, for each of the 65 stations and for each time step, we obtain the gradex values and estimated precipitation values for return periods from 2 to 100 years.Several types of curves were tested in order to determine possible relationships among the gradex values for different time steps, including linear, power law, exponential and logarithmic relationships. For the French Alps, the best fit was obtained with a linear relationship and we calculated the corresponding correlation coefficients. We found that the gradex values were well correlated for adjacent time steps, but not for those that were very different. In particular, it would appear to be impossible to deduce gradex values for very small time steps (1 to 6 hours) from the 24-hour gradex. The 24-hour gradex accounts for only 17% of the variance of the 1-hour gradex, while it accounts for 92% of the variance of the 12-hour gradex. Using a linear relationship, the only gradex values that can be estimated with any degree of accuracy from the 24-hour value are those corresponding to time steps greater than 6 hours.To check these results, we carried out a similar study after dividing the test area into four regions. The extreme precipitation values for these regions presented similar characteristics (same order of magnitude of precipitation and gradex values). For each region, we looked for significant linear relationships between the gradex values for the different time steps. The conclusions were the same as when we considered the entire area, i.e. the relationship between the gradex values of short time steps and the 24-hour values is very poor.We have shown that no simple relationship exists to deduce values for short time steps from those measured for long time steps. The problem we posed at the outset therefore appears to have no straight-forward solution. A network of rain gauges measuring daily precipitation values cannot be used to determine the statistical characteristics of the precipitation for much shorter time steps, i.e. less than 6 hours. The only solution would be to use devices capable of measuring the precipitation over short time intervals, for instance recording rain gauges or automatic stations linked to data acquisition systems. Unfortunately such devices have not been in use for a long time and provide records for periods rarely exceeding ten years.In conclusion, this study reveals the limits for the extrapolation of extreme daily rainfall characteristics to shorter time steps

Experimental investigation of insolation-driven dust ejection from Mars’ CO2 ice caps

Mars’ polar caps are – depending on hemisphere and season - partially or totally covered with CO2 ice. Icy surfaces such as the polar caps of Mars behave differently from surfaces covered with rock and soil when they are irradiated by solar light. The latter absorb and reflect incoming solar radiation within a thin layer beneath the surface. In contrast, ices are partially transparent in the visible spectral range and opaque in the infrared. Due to this fact, the solar radiation can penetrate to a certain depth and raise the temperature of the ice or dust below the surface. This may play an important role in the energy balance of icy surfaces in the solar system, as already noted in previous investigations. We investigated the temperature profiles inside CO2 ice samples including a dust layer under Martian conditions. We have been able to trigger dust eruptions, but also demonstrated that these require a very narrow range of temperature and ambient pressure. We discuss possible implications for the understanding of phenomena such as arachneiform patterns or fan shaped deposits as observed in Mars’ southern polar region