1,752 research outputs found
The median and the mode as robust meta-analysis estimators in the presence of small-study effects and outliers
Meta-analyses based on systematic literature reviews are commonly used to obtain a quantitative summary of the available evidence on a given topic. However, the reliability of any meta-analysis is constrained by that of its constituent studies. One major limitation is the possibility of small-study effects, when estimates from smaller and larger studies differ systematically. Small-study effects may result from reporting biases (ie, publication bias), from inadequacies of the included studies that are related to study size, or from reasons unrelated to bias. We propose two estimators based on the median and mode to increase the reliability of findings in a meta-analysis by mitigating the influence of small-study effects. By re-examining data from published meta-analyses and by conducting a simulation study, we show that these estimators offer robustness to a range of plausible bias mechanisms, without making explicit modelling assumptions. They are also robust to outlying studies without explicitly removing such studies from the analysis. When meta-analyses are suspected to be at risk of bias because of small-study effects, we recommend reporting the mean, median and modal pooled estimates.</p
Prostaglandin D2 generation from human lung mast cells is catalysed exclusively by cyclooxygenase-1
Mast cells are an exceptionally rich source of prostaglandin D2 (PGD2). PGD2 is pro-inflammatory and can cause bronchoconstriction. The enzyme cyclooxygenase (COX) is central to the generation of prostanoids such as PGD2. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) inhibit COX. COX exists as two isoforms, COX-1 and COX-2. The principal aim of this study was to establish whether COX-1 and/or COX-2 mediates PGD2 generation from human lung mast cells. Mast cells were isolated from human lung tissue and purified by flotation over Percoll and immunomagnetic bead separations. The cells were activated with anti-IgE or Stem Cell Factor (SCF). The generation of PGD2 was determined by ELISA. The effects of NSAIDs (aspirin, ibuprofen, diclofenac, naproxen, indomethacin), COX-1 selective (FR122047), and COX-2 selective (celecoxib) inhibitors on PGD2 generation were determined. The expression of COX-1 and COX-2 in mast cells was determined by Western blotting. All the NSAIDs tested abrogated stimulated PGD2 generation from mast cells except aspirin which was only weakly effective. FR122047 was an effective inhibitor of PGD2 generation (EC50 ~25 nM) from mast cells whereas celecoxib was ineffective. Immunoblotting indicated that COX-1 was strongly expressed in all mast cell preparations while COX-2 expression was weak. No induction of COX-2 was observed following activation of mast cells. These findings indicate that COX-1 is the principal isoform involved in generating PGD2 from human lung mast cells. These studies provide insight into the potential behaviour of NSAIDs in the context of respiratory diseases
Quantum magneto-oscillations in a two-dimensional Fermi liquid
Quantum magneto-oscillations provide a powerfull tool for quantifying
Fermi-liquid parameters of metals. In particular, the quasiparticle effective
mass and spin susceptibility are extracted from the experiment using the
Lifshitz-Kosevich formula, derived under the assumption that the properties of
the system in a non-zero magnetic field are determined uniquely by the
zero-field Fermi-liquid state. This assumption is valid in 3D but, generally
speaking, erroneous in 2D where the Lifshitz-Kosevich formula may be applied
only if the oscillations are strongly damped by thermal smearing and disorder.
In this work, the effects of interactions and disorder on the amplitude of
magneto-oscillations in 2D are studied. It is found that the effective mass
diverges logarithmically with decreasing temperature signaling a deviation from
the Fermi-liquid behavior. It is also shown that the quasiparticle lifetime due
to inelastic interactions does not enter the oscillation amplitude, although
these interactions do renormalize the effective mass. This result provides a
generalization of the Fowler-Prange theorem formulated originally for the
electron-phonon interaction.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Space Logistics Modeling and Simulation Analysis using SpaceNet: Four Application Cases
The future of space exploration will not be limited to sortie-style missions to single destinations. Even in present exploration taking place at the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit, logistics is complicated by flights arriving from five launch sites on Earth. The future challenges of space logistics given complex campaigns of interconnected missions in deep space will require innovative tools to aid planning and conceptual design. This paper presents a modeling framework to evaluate the propulsive and logistics feasibility of space exploration from the macro-logistics perspective, which covers the delivery of elements and resources to support demands generated during exploration. The modeling framework is implemented in a versatile and unifying software tool, SpaceNet, for general space exploration scenario analysis. Four space exploration scenarios are presented as application cases to highlight the applicability of the framework across vastly different scenarios. The first case investigates the resupply of the International Space Station between 2010 and 2015 using 77 missions combining NASA, European Space Agency, Japanese Space Agency, Russian Space Agency, and commercial space transportation. The second case models a lunar outpost build-up consisting of 17 flights to achieve continuous human presence over eight years. The third case models and evaluates a conceptual sortie-style mission to a near-Earth object, 1999 AO10. Finally, the fourth case models a flexible path type human exploration in the vicinity of Mars using a combination of human and tele-operated exploration. Taken together these cases demonstrate the challenges and logistical requirements of future human space exploration campaigns during the period from 2010-2050 and illustrate the ability of SpaceNet to model and simulate the feasibility of meeting these requirements.United States. Dept. of DefenseUnited States. Air Force Office of Scientific ResearchAmerican Society for Engineering Education. National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship32 CFR 168
Thermodynamic Description of the Relaxation of Two-Dimensional Euler Turbulence Using Tsallis Statistics
Euler turbulence has been experimentally observed to relax to a
metaequilibrium state that does not maximize the Boltzmann entropy, but rather
seems to minimize enstrophy. We show that a recent generalization of
thermodynamics and statistics due to Tsallis is capable of explaining this
phenomenon in a natural way. The maximization of the generalized entropy
for this system leads to precisely the same profiles predicted by the
Restricted Minimum Enstrophy theory of Huang and Driscoll. This makes possible
the construction of a comprehensive thermodynamic description of Euler
turbulence.Comment: 15 pages, RevTe
Extreme Active Molecular Jets in L1448C
The protostellar jet driven by L1448C was observed in the SiO J=8-7 and CO
J=3-2 lines and 350 GHz dust continuum at ~1" resolution with the Submillimeter
Array (SMA). A narrow jet from the northern source L1448C(N) was observed in
the SiO and the high-velocity CO. The jet consists of a chain of emission knots
with an inter-knot spacing of ~2" (500 AU) and a semi-periodic velocity
variation. The innermost pair of knots, which are significant in the SiO map
but barely seen in the CO, are located at ~1" (250 AU) from the central source,
L1448C(N). Since the dynamical time scale for the innermost pair is only ~10
yr, SiO may have been formed in the protostellar wind through the gas-phase
reaction, or been formed on the dust grain and directly released into the gas
phase by means of shocks. It is found that the jet is extremely active with a
mechanical luminosity of ~7 L_sun, which is comparable to the bolometric
luminosity of the central source (7.5 L_sun). The mass accretion rate onto the
protostar derived from the mass-loss rate is ~10^{-5} M_sun/yr. Such a high
mass accretion rate suggests that the mass and the age of the central star are
0.03-0.09 M_sun and (4-12)x10^3 yr, respectively, implying that the central
star is in the very early stage of protostellar evolution. The low-velocity CO
emission delineates two V-shaped shells with a common apex at L1448C(N). The
kinematics of these shells are reproduced by the model of a wide opening angle
wind. The co-existence of the highly-collimated jets and the wide-opening angle
shells can be explained by the unified X-wind model" in which highly-collimated
jet components correspond to the on-axis density enhancement of the
wide-opening angle wind. The CO =3--2 map also revealed the second outflow
driven by the southern source L1448C(S) located at ~8.3" (2000 AU) from
L1448C(N).Comment: 45 pages, 13 figures, Accepted for the publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Semiclassical theory of transport in a random magnetic field
We study the semiclassical kinetics of 2D fermions in a smoothly varying
magnetic field . The nature of the transport depends crucially on
both the strength of the random component of and its mean
value . For , the governing parameter is ,
where is the correlation length of disorder and is the Larmor radius
in the field . While for the Drude theory applies, at
most particles drift adiabatically along closed contours and are
localized in the adiabatic approximation. The conductivity is then determined
by a special class of trajectories, the "snake states", which percolate by
scattering at the saddle points of where the adiabaticity of their
motion breaks down. The external field also suppresses the diffusion by
creating a percolation network of drifting cyclotron orbits. This kind of
percolation is due only to a weak violation of the adiabaticity of the
cyclotron rotation, yielding an exponential drop of the conductivity at large
. In the regime the crossover between the snake-state
percolation and the percolation of the drift orbits with increasing
has the character of a phase transition (localization of snake states) smeared
exponentially weakly by non-adiabatic effects. The ac conductivity also
reflects the dynamical properties of particles moving on the fractal
percolation network. In particular, it has a sharp kink at zero frequency and
falls off exponentially at higher frequencies. We also discuss the nature of
the quantum magnetooscillations. Detailed numerical studies confirm the
analytical findings. The shape of the magnetoresistivity at is
in good agreement with experimental data in the FQHE regime near .Comment: 22 pages REVTEX, 14 figure
A New Relativistic High Temperature Bose-Einstein Condensation
We discuss the properties of an ideal relativistic gas of events possessing
Bose-Einstein statistics. We find that the mass spectrum of such a system is
bounded by where is the usual chemical
potential, is an intrinsic dimensional scale parameter for the motion of an
event in space-time, and is an additional mass potential of the
ensemble. For the system including both particles and antiparticles, with
nonzero chemical potential the mass spectrum is shown to be bounded by
and a special type of high-temperature
Bose-Einstein condensation can occur. We study this Bose-Einstein condensation,
and show that it corresponds to a phase transition from the sector of
continuous relativistic mass distributions to a sector in which the boson mass
distribution becomes sharp at a definite mass This phenomenon
provides a mechanism for the mass distribution of the particles to be sharp at
some definite value.Comment: Latex, 22 page
Travelling and sticky affects: : Exploring teens and sexualized cyberbullying through a Butlerian-Deleuzian- Guattarian lens
In this paper we combine the thinking of Deleuze and Guattari (1984, 1987) with Judith Butler’s (1990, 1993, 2004, 2009) work to follow the rhizomatic becomings of young people’s affective relations in a range of on- and off-line school spaces. In particular we explore how events that may be designated as sexual cyberbullying are constituted and how they are mediated by technology (such as texting or in/through social networking sites). Drawing on findings from two different studies looking at teens’ uses of and experiences with social networking sites, Arto in Denmark, and Bebo in the UK, we use this approach to think about how affects flow, are distributed, and become fixed in assemblages. We map how affects are manoeuvred and potentially disrupted by young people, suggesting that in the incidences discussed affects travel as well as stick in points of fixation. We argue that we need to grasp both affective flow and fixity in order to gain knowledge of how subjectification of the gendered/classed/racialised/sexualised body emerges. A Butlerian-Deleuzian-Guattarian frame helps us to map some of these affective complexities that shape sexualized cyberbully events; and to recognize technologically mediated lines of flight when subjectifications are at least temporarily disrupted and new terms of recognition and intelligibility staked out. Keywords
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