Magnetomechanical effect in nickel and cobalt

The change in magnetization as a result of applied uniaxial stress has been measured in nickel and cobalt. Both tensile and compressive stresses were applied up to 125 MPa. Magnetostriction and anhysteretic magnetization as a function of stress were also measured. The change in magnetization with stress depended on the applied stress and the displacement between the prevailing magnetization and anhysteretic. At the loop tips, nickel showed a +6 mT (compression) and −6 mT (tension) magnetization change while cobalt displayed a +15 mT (compression) and −15 mT (tension) magnetization change. At remanence,nickel decreased in magnetization by 45 mT under either sign of stress, while cobalt decreased by 20 mT also under either sign of stress. Magnetomechanical changes in magnetization near the loop tips were mostly reversible, while at remanence the magnetomechanical change was predominately irreversible. Cobalt generally displayed larger changes in magnetization with stress than nickel at locations close to the loop tips, while the converse was true at locations near remanence. The results confirm the hypothesis that the magnetomechanical effect(dM/dσ) depends on the displacement between the anhysteretic and prevailing magnetization

Posterior cricoid region fluoroscopic findings: the posterior cricoid plication.

The region posterior to the cricoid cartilage is challenging to assess fluoroscopically. The purpose of this investigation is to critically evaluate the posterior cricoid (PC) region on fluoroscopy and describe patterns of common findings. This was a case control study. All fluoroscopic swallowing studies performed between June 16, 2009, and February 9, 2010, were reviewed for features seen in the PC region. These findings were categorized into distinct patterns and compared to fluoroscopic studies performed in a cohort of normal volunteers. Two hundred patient studies and 149 healthy volunteer studies were reviewed. The mean age of the referred patient cohort and the volunteer cohort was 57 years (±19) and 61 years (±16), respectively (p > 0.05). The patient cohort was 53% male and the control cohort was 56% female (p > 0.05). Four groups were identified. Pharyngoesophageal webs were seen in 7% (10/149) of controls and 14% (28/200) of patients (p = 0.03). A PC arch impression was seen in 16% of patients (32/200) and controls (24/149) (p = 1). A PC plication was demonstrated in 23% (34/149) of controls and 30% (60/200) of patients (p = 0.13). No distinctive PC region findings were seen in 54% (81/149) of controls and 42% (84/200) of referred patients (p = 0.02). Four patients (2%) had both a web and a PC plication. Four categories of PC region findings were identified (unremarkable PC region, web, PC arch impression, and PC plication). Both patients referred for swallowing studies and healthy volunteers demonstrated esophageal webs, PC arch impressions, and PC plications. Only webs were more common in patients than in control subjects (p = 0.03). The PC impression and PC plication are likely to represent normal variants that may be identified on fluoroscopic swallow studies

Predicting Greater Prairie-Chicken Lek Site Suitability to Inform Conservation Actions

The demands of a growing human population dictates that expansion of energy infrastructure, roads, and other development frequently takes place in native rangelands. Particularly, transmission lines and roads commonly divide rural landscapes and increase fragmentation. This has direct and indirect consequences on native wildlife that can be mitigated through thoughtful planning and proactive approaches to identifying areas of high conservation priority. We used nine years (2003–2011) of Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido) lek locations totaling 870 unique leks sites in Kansas and seven geographic information system (GIS) layers describing land cover, topography, and anthropogenic structures to model habitat suitability across the state. The models obtained had low omission rates (\u3c0.18) and high area under the curve scores (AUC \u3e0.81), indicating high model performance and reliability of predicted habitat suitability for Greater Prairie-Chickens. We found that elevation was the most influential in predicting lek locations, contributing three times more predictive power than any other variable. However, models were improved by the addition of land cover and anthropogenic features (transmission lines, roads, and oil and gas structures). Overall, our analysis provides a hierarchal understanding of Greater Prairie-Chicken habitat suitability that is broadly based on geomorphological features followed by land cover suitability. We found that when land features and vegetation cover are suitable for Greater Prairie-Chickens, fragmentation by anthropogenic sources such as roadways and transmission lines are a concern. Therefore, it is our recommendation that future human development in Kansas avoid areas that our models identified as highly suitable for Greater Prairie-Chickens and focus development on land cover types that are of lower conservation concern

Boundary driven zero-range processes in random media

The stationary states of boundary driven zero-range processes in random media with quenched disorder are examined, and the motion of a tagged particle is analyzed. For symmetric transition rates, also known as the random barrier model, the stationary state is found to be trivial in absence of boundary drive. Out of equilibrium, two further cases are distinguished according to the tail of the disorder distribution. For strong disorder, the fugacity profiles are found to be governed by the paths of normalized $\alpha$-stable subordinators. The expectations of integrated functions of the tagged particle position are calculated for three types of routes.Comment: 23 page

Dobinski-type relations and the Log-normal distribution

We consider sequences of generalized Bell numbers B(n), n=0,1,... for which there exist Dobinski-type summation formulas; that is, where B(n) is represented as an infinite sum over k of terms P(k)^n/D(k). These include the standard Bell numbers and their generalizations appearing in the normal ordering of powers of boson monomials, as well as variants of the "ordered" Bell numbers. For any such B we demonstrate that every positive integral power of B(m(n)), where m(n) is a quadratic function of n with positive integral coefficients, is the n-th moment of a positive function on the positive real axis, given by a weighted infinite sum of log-normal distributions.Comment: 7 pages, 2 Figure

Cost-Effectiveness of Pediatric Influenza Vaccination in The Netherlands

Objective: This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of extending the Dutch influenza vaccination program for elderly and medical high-risk groups to include pediatric influenza vaccination, taking indirect protection into account. Methods: An age-structured dynamic transmission model was used that was calibrated to influenza-associated GP visits over 4 seasons (2010-2011 to 2013-2014). The clinical and economic impact of different pediatric vaccination strategies were compared over 20 years, varying the targeted age range, the vaccine type for children or elderly and high-risk groups. Outcome measures include averted symptomatic infections and deaths, societal costs and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios. Costs and QALYs were discounted at 4% and 1.5% annually. Results: At an assumed coverage of 50%, adding pediatric vaccination for 2to 17-year-olds with quadrivalent live-attenuated vaccine to the current vaccination program for elderly and medical high-groups with quadrivalent inactivated vaccine was estimated to avert, on average, 401 820 symptomatic cases and 72 deaths per year. Approximately half of averted symptomatic cases and 99% of averted deaths were prevented in other age groups than 2to 17-year-olds due to herd immunity. The cumulative discounted 20-year economic impact was 35 068 QALYs gained and V1687 million saved, that is, the intervention was cost-saving. This vaccination strategy had the highest probability of being the most cost-effective strategy considered, dominating pediatric strategies targeting 2to 6-year-olds or 2to 12-year-olds or strategies with trivalent inactivated vaccine. Conclusion: Modeling indicates that introducing pediatric influenza vaccination in The Netherlands is cost-saving, reducing the influenza-related disease burden substantially

The impact of predation by marine mammals on Patagonian toothfish longline fisheries

Predatory interaction of marine mammals with longline fisheries is observed globally, leading to partial or complete loss of the catch and in some parts of the world to considerable financial loss. Depredation can also create additional unrecorded fishing mortality of a stock and has the potential to introduce bias to stock assessments. Here we aim to characterise depredation in the Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) fishery around South Georgia focusing on the spatio-temporal component of these interactions. Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella), sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus), and orcas (Orcinus orca) frequently feed on fish hooked on longlines around South Georgia. A third of longlines encounter sperm whales, but loss of catch due to sperm whales is insignificant when compared to that due to orcas, which interact with only 5% of longlines but can take more than half of the catch in some cases. Orca depredation around South Georgia is spatially limited and focused in areas of putative migration routes, and the impact is compounded as a result of the fishery also concentrating in those areas at those times. Understanding the seasonal behaviour of orcas and the spatial and temporal distribution of “depredation hot spots” can reduce marine mammal interactions, will improve assessment and management of the stock and contribute to increased operational efficiency of the fishery. Such information is valuable in the effort to resolve the human-mammal conflict for resources

Magnescope: Applications in nondestructive evaluation

This paper describes recent results obtained with the Magnescope, which has been used on location in industrial environments and has successfully detected impending fatigue failure, creep damage, applied stress, and microstructural differences. It is concluded that the device provides a useful nondestructive method for evaluating the mechanical properties of materials through the measurement of their structure sensitive magnetic properties

Recent developments in modeling of the stress derivative of magnetization in ferromagnetic materials

The effect of changing stress on the magnetization of ferromagnetic materials leads to behavior in which the magnetization may increase, or decrease, when exposed to the same stress under the same external conditions. A simple empirical law seems to govern the behavior when the magnetization begins from a major hysteresis loop. The application of the law of approach, in which the derivative of the magnetization with respect to the elastic energy supplied dM/dW is proportional to the magnetization displacement M an−M, is discussed

Sphingosine kinase 2 inhibition synergises with bortezomib to target myeloma by enhancing endoplasmic reticulum stress

Published: April 14, 2017The proteasome inhibitor bortezomib has proven to be invaluable in the treatment of myeloma. By exploiting the inherent high immunoglobulin protein production of malignant plasma cells, bortezomib induces endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and the unfolded protein response (UPR), resulting in myeloma cell death. In most cases, however, the disease remains incurable highlighting the need for new therapeutic targets. Sphingosine kinase 2 (SK2) has been proposed as one such therapeutic target for myeloma. Our observations that bortezomib and SK2 inhibitors independently elicited induction of ER stress and the UPR prompted us to examine potential synergy between these agents in myeloma. Targeting SK2 synergistically contributed to ER stress and UPR activation induced by bortezomib, as evidenced by activation of the IRE1 pathway and stress kinases JNK and p38MAPK, thereby resulting in potent synergistic myeloma apoptosis in vitro. The combination of bortezomib and SK2 inhibition also exhibited strong in vivo synergy and favourable effects on bone disease. Therefore, our studies suggest that perturbations of sphingolipid signalling can synergistically enhance the effects seen with proteasome inhibition, highlighting the potential for the combination of these two modes of increasing ER stress to be formally evaluated in clinical trials for the treatment of myeloma patients.Craig T. Wallington-Beddoe, Melissa K. Bennett, Kate Vandyke, Lorena Davies, Julia R. Zebol, Paul A.B. Moretti, Melissa R. Pitman, Duncan R. Hewett, Andrew C.W. Zannettino and Stuart M. Pitso