Cottonwood in Cotton Candy

Cottonwood in Cotton Candy was an artistic expression which utilized experimental textile design by having incorporated sustainable found fibers. This piece was intended to be displayed as a hands-on, dual-sided table cover. This research combined poplar seed hair fibers (cottonwood) with wool fibers, which were felted to silk chiffon. The color scheme and aesthetic was inspired by cotton candy. Cotton candy shares the open, light and airy essence of cottonwood seed hair fibers. The cottonwood fibers were washed and carded. In addition, the silk illustrates decorative fabric manipulation methods which included fold and clamp dye resist techniques, dye discharge, and felting. It was discovered that cottonwood seed fiber hairs accepted dye when manually manipulated, and lent themselves to being felted when mixed with wool roving. The objective of this design research was to demonstrate the ability of cottonwood seed hair fibers to be incorporated into an artistic textile creation

Traditional Textile Revival: Demonstrating the Potential of Pina Fabric for Apparel

Piña fabric, which is made of pineapple fibers, has been a part of the history of the Philippine Islands for over four-hundred years. Historically, garments made of piña were mostly designed in the same way: light beige in color, use of embroidery and standardized styling. Today in the Philippines garments made from piña are used primarily for Filipino political and formal occasions. The traditional styling of piña garments does not attract attention from the Western market, therefore piña receives minimal exposure outside of the Philippines. This gap in piña fabric exposure framed the purpose of this design thesis: to demonstrate the potential of piña fabric for apparel in the Western market. The intent of this project was to help preserve the piña weaving craft and the production of piña fabrics in the Philippines because piña fabric has been found to be at risk of extinction.Two frameworks drove the product development process: Ruppert-Stroescu & Hawley’s (2014) A Typology of Creativity in Fashion Design and Development and Karl Aspelund’s (2014) The Creative Process. Five ensembles were created using piña-seda (a piña and silk blend) fabric which was transformed by dyeing, draping, and cutting the fabric on the bias, then creating silhouettes including women’s dresses, gowns, pants, and separates. It was discovered that piña-seda fabric can be machine washed and machine dried; however, hand washing and line drying is recommended. The fabric accepted fiber reactive dyes, however, dark colors were difficult to achieve. Fiber reactive dyes were discharged and overdyed without destroying the fabric. The piña-seda accepted iron-pressing on the silk setting. Irregularities in the fabric weave were discovered. The result was a capsule collection for women targeted at a designer-level Western audience. An outside design expert evaluated the collection for its leadership design qualities and deemed the collection was appropriate for the Western market. The piña fabric surface finish and drape substantiated that piña-seda can be used to create garments that differ from traditional piña fabric garments of the Philippines. Further studies investigating the piña weaving and dyeing process and consumer perception of piña in the Western market are recommended.Design, Housing, & Merchandisin

Solar-like oscillations in the G9.5 subgiant beta Aquilae

An interesting asteroseismic target is the G9.5 IV solar-like star beta Aql. This is an ideal target for asteroseismic investigations, because precise astrometric measurements are available from Hipparcos that greatly help in constraining the theoretical interpretation of the results. The star was observed during six nights in August 2009 by means of the high-resolution \'echelle spectrograph SARG operating with the TNG 3.58 m Italian telescope on the Canary Islands, exploiting the iodine cell technique. We present the result and the detailed analysis of high-precision radial velocity measurements, where the possibility of detecting time individual p-mode frequencies for the first and deriving their corresponding asymptotic values will be discussed. The time-series analysis carried out from \sim 800 collected spectra shows the typical p-mode frequency pattern with a maximum centered at 416 \muHz. In the frequency range 300 - 600 \muHz we identified for the first time six high S/N (\gtrsim 3.5) modes with l = 0,2 and 11 < n < 16 and three possible candidates for mixed modes (l = 1), although the p-mode identification for this type of star appears to be quite difficult owing to a substantial presence of avoided crossings. The large frequency separation and the surface term from the set of identified modes by means of the asymptotic relation were derived for the first time. Their values are \Delta \nu = 29.56 \pm 0.10 \muHz and \epsilon = 1.29 \pm 0.04, consistent with expectations. The most likely value for the small separation is \delta\nu_{02} = 2.55 \pm 0.71 \muHz.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, accepted by A&

Intermediate Resolution Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of 36 late-M Dwarfs

We present observations of 36 late-M dwarfs obtained with the KeckII/NIRSPEC in the J-band at a resolution of \sim20,000. We have measured projected rotational velocities, absolute radial velocities, and pseudo-equivalent widths of atomic lines. 12 of our targets did not have previous measurements in the literature. For the other 24 targets, we confirm previously reported measurements. We find that 13 stars from our sample have vsini below our measurement threshold (12 km/s) whereas four of our targets are fast rotators (vsini > 30 km/s). As fast rotation causes spectral features to be washed out, stars with low projected rotational velocities are sought for radial velocity surveys. At our intermediate spectral resolution we have confirmed the identification of neutral atomic lines reported in Mclean et al. 2007. We also calculated pseudo-equivalent widths (p-EW) of 12 atomic lines. Our results confirm that the p-EW of K I lines are strongly dependent on spectral types. We observe that the p-EW of Fe I and Mn I lines remain fairly constant with later spectral type. We suggest that those lines are particularly suitable for deriving metallicities for late-M dwarfs.Comment: accepted in Astronomical Journal. 30 pages, 7 tables, and 7 figure

Infrared radial velocities of vB 10

We present radial velocities of the M8V-type, very low-mass star vB 10 that have been obtained at four different epochs of observations between 2001 and 2008. We use high-resolution (R ~ 20,000) near-infrared (J-band) spectra taken with the NIRSPEC instrument on the Keck II telescope. Our data suggest that vB 10 shows radial velocity variability with an amplitude of ~1 km/s, a result that is consistent with the recent finding of a massive planet companion around the star by Pravdo & Shaklan (2009). More velocity measurements and a better sampling of the orbital phase are required to precisely constrain the orbital parameters and the individual masses of the pair.Comment: 4 pages, accepted for publication in A&A Letter

Cottonwood in Cotton Candy

Cottonwood in Cotton Candy was an artistic expression which utilized experimental textile design by having incorporated sustainable found fibers. This piece was intended to be displayed as a hands-on, dual-sided table cover. This research combined poplar seed hair fibers (cottonwood) with wool fibers, which were felted to silk chiffon. The color scheme and aesthetic was inspired by cotton candy. Cotton candy shares the open, light and airy essence of cottonwood seed hair fibers. The cottonwood fibers were washed and carded. In addition, the silk illustrates decorative fabric manipulation methods which included fold and clamp dye resist techniques, dye discharge, and felting. It was discovered that cottonwood seed fiber hairs accepted dye when manually manipulated, and lent themselves to being felted when mixed with wool roving. The objective of this design research was to demonstrate the ability of cottonwood seed hair fibers to be incorporated into an artistic textile creation.</p

Rosiglitazone for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes has long been recognised as a strong, independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, a problem which accounts for approximately 70% of all mortality in people with diabetes. Prospective studies show that compared to their non-diabetic counterparts, the relative risk of cardiovascular mortality for men with diabetes is two to three and for women with diabetes is three to four. The two biggest trials in type 2 diabetes, the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) and the University Group Diabetes Program (UGDP) study did not reveal a reduction of cardiovascular endpoints through improved metabolic control. Theoretical benefits of the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPAR-gamma) activator rosiglitazone on endothelial function and cardiovascular risk factors might result in fewer macrovascular disease events in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of rosiglitazone in the treatment of type 2 diabetes. SEARCH STRATEGY: Studies were obtained from computerised searches of MEDLINE, EMBASE and The Cochrane Library. SELECTION CRITERIA: Studies were included if they were randomised controlled trials in adult people with type 2 diabetes mellitus and had a trial duration of at least 24 weeks. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. Pooling of studies by means of fixed-effects meta-analysis could be performed for adverse events only. MAIN RESULTS: Eighteen trials which randomised 3888 people to rosiglitazone treatment were identified. Longest duration of therapy was four years with a median of 26 weeks. Published studies of at least 24 weeks rosiglitazone treatment in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus did not provide evidence that patient-oriented outcomes like mortality, morbidity, adverse effects, costs and health-related quality of life are positively influenced by this compound. Metabolic control measured by glycosylated haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) as a surrogate endpoint did not demonstrate clinically relevant differences to other oral antidiabetic drugs. Occurrence of oedema was significantly raised (OR 2.27, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.83 to 2.81). The single large RCT (ADOPT - A Diabetes Outcomes Progression Trial) indicated increased cardiovascular risk. New data on raised fracture rates in women reveal extensive action of rosiglitazone in various body tissues. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: New studies should focus on patient-oriented outcomes to clarify the benefit-risk ratio of rosiglitazone therapy. Safety data and adverse events of all investigations (published and unpublished) should be made available to the public