32,859 research outputs found
Evaluate ERTS Imagery for Mapping and Detection of Changes of Snowcover on Land and on Glaciers
ERTS-1 imagery for mapping and detecting changes in snow cover on land and glacier
SIMMUNE, a tool for simulating and analyzing immune system behavior
We present a new approach to the simulation and analysis of immune system
behavior. The simulations that can be done with our software package called
SIMMUNE are based on immunological data that describe the behavior of immune
system agents (cells, molecules) on a microscopial (i.e. agent-agent
interaction) scale by defining cellular stimulus-response mechanisms. Since the
behavior of the agents in SIMMUNE can be very flexibly configured, its
application is not limited to immune system simulations. We outline the
principles of SIMMUNE's multiscale analysis of emergent structure within the
simulated immune system that allow the identification of immunological contexts
using minimal a priori assumptions about the higher level organization of the
immune system.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figure
Recommended from our members
Using data from connected thermostats to track large power outages in the United States
The detection of power outages is an essential activity for electric utilities. A large, national dataset of Internet-connected thermostats was used to explore and illustrate the ability of Internet-connected devices to geospatially track outages caused by hurricanes and other major weather events. The method was applied to nine major outage events, including hurricanes and windstorms. In one event, Hurricane Irma, a network of about 1000 thermostats provided quantitatively similar results to detailed utility data with respect to the number of homes without power and identification of the most severely affected regions. The method generated regionally uniform outage data that would give emergency authorities additional visibility into the scope and magnitude of outages. The network of thermostat-sensors also made it possible to calculate a higher resolution version of outage duration (or SAIDI) at a level of customer-level visibility that was not previously available
The Influence of Safety, Efficacy, and Medical Condition Severity on Natural v. Synthetic Drug Preference
Research indicates that there is a preference for natural v. synthetic products, but the influence of this preference on drug choice in the medical domain is largely unknown. We present 5 studies in which participants were asked to consider a hypothetical situation in which they had a medical issue requiring pharmacological therapy. Participants ( N = 1223) were asked to select a natural, plant-derived, or synthetic drug. In studies 1a and 1b, approximately 79% of participants selected the natural v. synthetic drug, even though the safety and efficacy of the drugs were identical. Furthermore, participants rated the natural drug as safer than the synthetic drug, and as that difference increased, the odds of choosing the natural over synthetic drug increased. In studies 2 and 3, approximately 20% of participants selected the natural drug even when they were informed that it was less safe (study 2) or less effective (study 3) than the synthetic drug. Finally, in study 4, approximately 65% of participants chose a natural over synthetic drug regardless of the severity of a specific medical condition (mild v. severe hypertension), and this choice was predicted by perceived safety and efficacy differences. Overall, these data indicate that there is a bias for natural over synthetic drugs. This bias could have implications for drug choice and usage
Effects of Hyperbaric Hypoxia on Some Enzyme Systems in the Mammalian Liver
The metabolic effects of hypobaric hypoxic stress on the mammalian liver were studied. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) activity of mouse liver homogenates were measured after exposure to an equivalent altitude of 36,000 feet and compared to controls kept at zero altitude. After six and twelve hour incubation periods, the altitude exposed samples demonstrated a significantly higher LDH activity than controls. SDH activity remained unchanged from controls after six hours but was significantly lower than controls after a 12 hour exposure to altitude. It is concluded that the changes in enzyme activity reflect a metabolic control mechanism attempting to maintain adequate energy production during periods of exposure to hypobaric hypoxic stress
Priming God-Related Concepts Increases Anxiety and Task Persistence
Research on the relationship between religiosity and anxiety has been mixed, with some studies revealing a positive relation and other studies revealing a negative relation. The current research used an experimental design, perhaps for the first time, to examine anxiety and task persistence during a stressful situation. Christians and Atheists/Agnostics/Others were primed with God-related or neutral (non-God related) concepts before completing an unsolvable anagram task described as a measure of verbal intelligence. The results revealed that the God-related primes increased both task persistence and anxiousness, which suggests that experimentally induced God-related thoughts caused participants to persist longer on a stressful task, but also to feel more anxious after finishing it. No effect of religious affiliation was found, however, indicating that God-related priming affected Christians and non-Christians in a similar fashion
A hit-and-run Giant Impact scenario
The formation of the Moon from the debris of a slow and grazing giant impact
of a Mars-sized impactor on the proto-Earth (Cameron & Ward 1976, Canup &
Asphaug 2001) is widely accepted today. We present an alternative scenario with
a hit-and-run collision (Asphaug 2010) with a fractionally increased impact
velocity and a steeper impact angle.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, in press in ICARUS note
Comparison of different methods for estimating snowcover in forested, mountainous basins using LANDSAT (ERTS) images
Snow-covered areas on LANDSAT (ERTS) images of the Santiam River basin, Oregon, and other basins in Washington were measured using several operators and methods. Seven methods were used: (1) Snowline tracing followed by measurement with planimeter, (2) mean snowline altitudes determined from many locations, (3) estimates in 2.5 x 2.5 km boxes of snow-covered area with reference to snow-free images, (4) single radiance-threshold level for entire basin, (5) radiance-threshold setting locally edited by reference to altitude contours and other images, (6) two-band color-sensitive extraction locally edited as in (5), and (7) digital (spectral) pattern recognition techniques. The seven methods are compared in regard to speed of measurement, precision, the ability to recognize snow in deep shadow or in trees, relative cost, and whether useful supplemental data are produced
- …