The 1856 presidential campaign in Virginia

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the 1856 presidential election campaign was conducted in Virginia. The paper specifically investigates how Virginia newspapers interpreted the events of the campaign. The role played by the political leadership of Virginia in the 1856 election is also examined. The paper is based on contemporary newspaper editorials and political speeches. The manuscripts of prominent Virginia politicians during the period are also utilized. The paper illustrates how Democratic newspaper editorials in Virginia used scare tactics to convince readers that Virginia Know-Nothings were abolitionists. Know-Nothing editorials responded by emphasizing support for the Union and repudiating Democratic calls for secession. The paper compares how Democratic and Know-Nothing political leaders in Virginia participated in the 1856 campaign

Weekly Versus Monthly Testosterone Administration On Fast and Slow Skeletal Muscle Fibers in Older Adult Males

Context: In older adults, loss of mobility due to sarcopenia is exacerbated in men with low serum T. T replacement therapy is known to increase muscle mass and strength, but the effect of weekly (WK) vs monthly (MO) administration on specific fiber types is unknown. Objective: To determine the efficacy of WK vs MO T replacement on the size and functional capacity of individual fast and slow skeletal muscle fiber types. Design, Setting, and Patients: Subjects were randomized into a 5-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. All subjects (ages, 61–71 y) were community-dwelling men who had T levels \u3c 500 ng/dL. Intervention: Subjects were dosed weekly for 5 months, receiving continuous T (WK, n = 5; 100 mg T enanthate, im injection), monthly cycled T (MO, n = 7; alternating months of T and placebo), or placebo (n = 7). Muscle biopsies of the vastus lateralis were obtained before and after treatment. Main Outcome Measures: Main outcomes for individual slow and fast fibers included fiber diameter, peak force (P0), rate of tension development, maximal shortening velocity, peak power, and Ca2+ sensitivity. Results: Both treatments increased fiber diameter and peak power, with WK treatment 5-fold more effective than MO in increasing type I fiber P0. WK effects on fiber diameter and force were 1.5-fold higher in slow fibers compared to fast fibers. In fast type II fibers, diameter and P0 increased similarly between treatments. The increased power was entirely due to increased fiber size and force. Conclusions: In conclusion, T replacement effects were fiber-type dependent, restricted to increases in cell size, P0, and peak power, and dependent on the paradigm selected (WK vs MO)

PREDICTORS OF INTERNATIONAL SKI FEDERATION DISTANCE CROSS-COUNTRY RANKING

The Internationl Ski Federation (FIS) ranks Nordic skiers internationally based on race performance. This study aimed to determine if a relationship exists between FIS rankings and performance indicators such as maximum oxygen uptake, metabolic economy, and muscular endurance test performance. Muscular endurance (sit-up + pull-up and push-up + pull-up) were the best predictors utilizing stepwise regression resampling cross-validation (66 hold out groups). The sit-up + pull-up regression was a better fit than the push-up + pull-up (R2 = 0.506 & 0.349, p = 0.053 & 0.203, respectively). Muscular endurance test performance predicts FIS scores better than measures of oxygen consumption measures. Upper-body and core musculature may be an important determinant of performance, as it contributes to generation of propulsive forces in Nordic skiing

Reliability of center of pressure measures during successive ski-simulated squat tasks

Laboratory assessments of alpine ski tasks have the potential to be an effective initial investigation method prior to more intensive on-snow testing. Research questions involving acute changes elicited by sport-essential equipment would be an ideal application for such investigations. The purpose of the current study was to determine the reliability of a ski-simulated squat task on centre of pressure indices. Successive squat tasks were performed in skis at a ski-simulated rhythm and analysed during four experimental conditions. Reliability analysis via repeated measures ANOVAs and intraclass correlation coefficients resulted in good to excellent reliability of centre of pressure outputs. The current study proposes a laboratory test that is reliable and encompasses biomechanical challenges presented by the alpine ski boot-binding complex

JOINT COORDINATION ADAPTATIONS TO AN IMPLEMENTED RAMP ANGLE IN RECREATIONAL ALPINE SKIERS

Most ski boot-binding complexes have a positive ramp angle. This angle is not regulated or reported in the alpine ski industry, but may influence skier balance and pressure control. Therefore joint coordination during a dynamic ski squat task with increasing boot ramp angle (0°, 1°, 2°) in alpine skiers (n=19) was investigated. Average joint coupling angles were significantly different between barefoot and ski conditions, as well as between the three ramp angles during the upward phase of a squat. The percentage of squat with uncoordinated knee-ankle joint movements tended to increase in ski conditions versus barefoot conditions, and coordinated hip-knee movement was reduced with alpine boot-binding-ski complexes. These differences in joint coordination and average coupling angles may impact skier balance and pressure control across the ski while skiing

Transcriptional Signatures of Tau and Amyloid Neuropathology

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is associated with the intracellular aggregation of hyperphosphorylated tau and the accumulation of β-amyloid in the neocortex. We use transgenic mice harboring human tau (rTg4510) and amyloid precursor protein (J20) mutations to investigate transcriptional changes associated with the progression of tau and amyloid pathology. rTg4510 mice are characterized by widespread transcriptional differences in the entorhinal cortex with changes paralleling neuropathological burden across multiple brain regions. Differentially expressed transcripts overlap with genes identified in genetic studies of familial and sporadic AD. Systems-level analyses identify discrete co-expression networks associated with the progressive accumulation of tau that are enriched for genes and pathways previously implicated in AD pathology and overlap with co-expression networks identified in human AD cortex. Our data provide further evidence for an immune-response component in the accumulation of tau and reveal molecular pathways associated with the progression of AD neuropathology.This article is freely available via Open Access. Click on the Publisher URL to access it via the publisher's site.WT_/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom MR/M008924/1/MRC_/Medical Research Council/United Kingdompublished version, accepted version, submitted versio

Energy Budget of Cosmological First-order Phase Transitions

The study of the hydrodynamics of bubble growth in first-order phase transitions is very relevant for electroweak baryogenesis, as the baryon asymmetry depends sensitively on the bubble wall velocity, and also for predicting the size of the gravity wave signal resulting from bubble collisions, which depends on both the bubble wall velocity and the plasma fluid velocity. We perform such study in different bubble expansion regimes, namely deflagrations, detonations, hybrids (steady states) and runaway solutions (accelerating wall), without relying on a specific particle physics model. We compute the efficiency of the transfer of vacuum energy to the bubble wall and the plasma in all regimes. We clarify the condition determining the runaway regime and stress that in most models of strong first-order phase transitions this will modify expectations for the gravity wave signal. Indeed, in this case, most of the kinetic energy is concentrated in the wall and almost no turbulent fluid motions are expected since the surrounding fluid is kept mostly at rest.Comment: 36 pages, 14 figure

Topological Masses From Broken Supersymmetry

We develop a formalism for computing one-loop gravitational corrections to the effective action of D-branes. In particular, we study bulk to brane mediation of supersymmetry breaking in models where supersymmetry is broken at the tree-level in the closed string sector (bulk) by Scherk-Schwarz boundary conditions, while it is realized on a collection of D-branes in a linear or non-linear way. We compute the gravitational corrections to the fermion masses $m_{1/2}$ (gauginos or goldstino) induced from the exchange of closed strings, which are non-vanishing for world-sheets with Euler characteristic -1 (``genus 3/2'') due to a string diagram with one handle and one hole. We show that the corrections have a topological origin and that in general, for a small gravitino mass, the induced mass behaves as $m_{1/2}\propto g^4 m_{3/2}$, with $g$ the gauge coupling. In generic orbifold compactifications however, this leading term vanishes as a consequence of cancellations caused by discrete symmetries, and the remainder is exponentially suppressed by a factor of $\exp(-1/\alpha'm^2_{3/2})$.Comment: 33 pages, 5 figures. v2 is the final Nuclear Physics B version including an additional reference and some minor correction

Interaction of peroxynitric acid with solid H_2O ice

The uptake of peroxynitric acid (PNA), HO_2NO_2 or HNO_4, on solid H_2O ice at 193 K (−80°C) was studied using a fast flow‐mass spectrometric technique. An uptake coefficient of 0.15 ± 0.10 was measured, where the quoted uncertainty denotes 2 standard deviations. The uptake process did not result in the production of gas phase products. The composition of the condensed phase was investigated using programmed heating (3 K min^(−1)) of the substrate coupled with mass spectrometric detection of desorbed species. Significant quantities of HNO_4 and HNO_3 desorbed from the substrates at temperatures above 225 K and 246 K, respectively. The desorbed HNO_3, which was less than 9% of the desorbed HNO_4 and remained unchanged upon incubation of the substrate, was likely due to impurities in the HNO_4 samples rather than reaction of HNO_4 on the substrate. The onset temperatures for HNO_4 desorption increased with increasing H_2O to HNO_4 ratios, indicating that HNO_4, like HNO_3, tends to be hydrated in the presence of water. These observations suggest possible mechanisms for removal of HNO_4 or repartitioning of total odd nitrogen species in the Earth's upper troposphere and stratosphere

String Theoretic Bounds on Lorentz-Violating Warped Compactification

We consider warped compactifications that solve the 10 dimensional supergravity equations of motion at a point, stabilize the position of a D3-brane world, and admit a warp factor that violates Lorentz invariance along the brane. This gives a string embedding of ``asymmetrically warped'' models which we use to calculate stringy (\alpha') corrections to standard model dispersion relations, paying attention to the maximum speeds for different particles. We find, from the dispersion relations, limits on gravitational Lorentz violation in these models, improving on current limits on the speed of graviton propagation, including those derived from field theoretic loops. We comment on the viability of models that use asymmetric warping for self-tuning of the brane cosmological constant.Comment: 20pg, JHEP3; v2 additional references, slight change to intro; v3. added referenc