Remote Detection of Clear Air Turbulence. Part I - Pulsed Microwave Radars

Pulsed microwave radar backscattering used in model tests of clear air turbulence detectio

Calibrating Online Survey Sample for Economic Impact Analysis

Online surveys have emerged as low-cost data collection approach in empirical researches; however, the validity of data remains questionable. Therefore, we employed a stochastic frontier estimation method to calibrate online recreational expenditure. Study results suggested the presence of inefficiency on online surveys. Analysis was extended to estimate economic impact of nature based recreation on a local economy.calibration, online survey, onsite survey, stochastic frontier approach, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Efficacy of Female Rat Models in Translational Cardiovascular Aging Research

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women in the United States. Aging is a primary risk factor for the development of cardiovascular disease as well as cardiovascular-related morbidity and mortality. Aging is a universal process that all humans undergo; however, research in aging is limited by cost and time constraints. Therefore, most research in aging has been done in primates and rodents; however it is unknown how well the effects of aging in rat models translate into humans. To compound the complication of aging gender has also been indicated as a risk factor for various cardiovascular diseases. This review addresses the systemic pathophysiology of the cardiovascular system associated with aging and gender for aging research with regard to the applicability of rat derived data for translational application to human aging

Magnetization of rotating ferrofluids: the effect of polydispersity

The influence of polydispersity on the magnetization is analyzed in a nonequilibrium situation where a cylindrical ferrofluid column is enforced to rotate with constant frequency like a rigid body in a homogeneous magnetic field that is applied perpendicular to the cylinder axis. Then, the magnetization and the internal magnetic field are not longer parallel to each other and their directions differ from that of the applied magnetic field. Experimental results on the transverse magnetization component perpendicular to the applied field are compared and analyzed as functions of rotation frequency and field strength with different polydisperse Debye models that take into account the polydispersity in different ways and to a varying degree.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Journal of Physics

When and Why Did Human Brains Decrease in Size? A New Change-Point Analysis and Insights From Brain Evolution in Ants

Human brain size nearly quadrupled in the six million years since Homo last shared a common ancestor with chimpanzees, but human brains are thought to have decreased in volume since the end of the last Ice Age. The timing and reason for this decrease is enigmatic. Here we use change-point analysis to estimate the timing of changes in the rate of hominin brain evolution. We find that hominin brains experienced positive rate changes at 2.1 and 1.5 million years ago, coincident with the early evolution of Homo and technological innovations evident in the archeological record. But we also find that human brain size reduction was surprisingly recent, occurring in the last 3,000 years. Our dating does not support hypotheses concerning brain size reduction as a by-product of body size reduction, a result of a shift to an agricultural diet, or a consequence of self-domestication. We suggest our analysis supports the hypothesis that the recent decrease in brain size may instead result from the externalization of knowledge and advantages of group-level decision-making due in part to the advent of social systems of distributed cognition and the storage and sharing of information. Humans live in social groups in which multiple brains contribute to the emergence of collective intelligence. Although difficult to study in the deep history of Homo, the impacts of group size, social organization, collective intelligence and other potential selective forces on brain evolution can be elucidated using ants as models. The remarkable ecological diversity of ants and their species richness encompasses forms convergent in aspects of human sociality, including large group size, agrarian life histories, division of labor, and collective cognition. Ants provide a wide range of social systems to generate and test hypotheses concerning brain size enlargement or reduction and aid in interpreting patterns of brain evolution identified in humans. Although humans and ants represent very different routes in social and cognitive evolution, the insights ants offer can broadly inform us of the selective forces that influence brain size

Effect of aging on cellular mechanotransduction

Aging is becoming a critical heath care issue and a burgeoning economic burden on society. Mechanotransduction is the ability of the cell to sense, process, and respond to mechanical stimuli and is an important regulator of physiologic function that has been found to play a role in regulating gene expression, protein synthesis, cell differentiation, tissue growth, and most recently, the pathophysiology of disease. Here we will review some of the recent findings of this field and attempt, where possible, to present changes in mechanotransduction that are associated with the aging process in several selected physiological systems, including musculoskeletal, cardiovascular, neuronal, respiratory systems and skin

ATS-6 attenuation diversity measurements at 20 and 30 GHz

The results of data obtained at The University of Texas at Austin in conjunction with the ATS-6 millimeter wave experiment are presented. Attenuation measurements at 30 GHz and sky noise data at 20 GHz were obtained simultaneously at each of two sites separated by 11 km. Space diversity reduces outage time for a system in Austin, Texas with a 10 dB fade margin at 30 GHz from 15 hours to 16 minutes per year. The maximum cloud height shows a good correlation to the maximum attenuations measured