bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
High-Resolution Global Climate Simulations with the ECMWF Model in Project Athena: Experimental Design, Model Climate, and Seasonal Forecast Skill
Authors: Jung T. , Miller M. J. , Palmer T. N. , Towers P. , Wedi N. , Achuthavarier D. , Adams J. M. , Altshuler E. L. , Cash B. A. , Kinter J. L. , Marx L. , Stan C. , Hodges K. I.
Published: November 2011

The sensitivity to the horizontal resolution of the climate, anthropogenic climate change, and seasonal predictive skill of the ECMWF model has been studied as part of Project Athena—an international collaboration formed to test the hypothesis that substantial progress in simulating and predicting climate can be achieved if mesoscale and subsynoptic atmospheric phenomena are more realistically represented in climate models.

In this study the experiments carried out with the ECMWF model (atmosphere only) are described in detail. Here, the focus is on the tropics and the Northern Hemisphere extratropics during boreal winter. The resolutions considered in Project Athena for the ECMWF model are T159 (126 km), T511 (39 km), T1279 (16 km), and T2047 (10 km). It was found that increasing horizontal resolution improves the tropical precipitation, the tropical atmospheric circulation, the frequency of occurrence of Euro-Atlantic blocking, and the representation of extratropical cyclones in large parts of the Northern Hemisphere extratropics. All of these improvements come from the increase in resolution from T159 to T511 with relatively small changes for further resolution increases to T1279 and T2047, although it should be noted that results from this very highest resolution are from a previously untested model version. Problems in simulating the Madden–Julian oscillation remain unchanged for all resolutions tested. There is some evidence that increasing horizontal resolution to T1279 leads to moderate increases in seasonal forecast skill during boreal winter in the tropics and Northern Hemisphere extratropics. Sensitivity experiments are discussed, which helps to foster a better understanding of some of the resolution dependence found for the ECMWF model in Project Athena.
Parameterization of Runway Visual Range as a Function of Visibility: Implications for Numerical Weather Prediction Models
Authors: Boudala Faisal S. , Isaac George A. , Crawford Robert W. , Reid Janti
Published: November 2011

A parameterization of runway visual range (RVR) has been developed using relevant meteorological parameters such as visibility (Vk), relative humidity (RH), temperature (T), precipitation intensity (PI), and precipitation type (PT) measured in years between 2009 and 2011 at Toronto Pearson International Airport during the Canadian Airport Nowcasting Project. The FD12P probe measured PI, Vk, and PT. The observed Vk and PT were tested against data reported by hourly surface observations (SAs). The measured Vk has correlated well with the SA with a correlation coefficient (r) of 0.76 for Vk < 5 km, but the FD12P underestimated visibility by about 20% with a mean difference (MD) of about 196 m. For Vk < 2 km, the FD12P overestimated visibility by about 7% with an MD of 60 m. The SA reported slightly more snow events—22% as compared to 17%—but the FD12P reported many more snow grain cases than the SA. Both the SA and the FD12P reported rain at similar frequency—4% and 5%, respectively. Using a theoretical approach, a parameterization that can be used to determine RVR as a function of Vk has been developed. Using the observed T, RH, and dewpoint temperature (Td), a new parameterization for predicting Vk/RVR in fog has been also developed. These parameterizations agreed with observations (r ≈ 0.8). The parameterizations have been tested using the Canadian Environmental Multiscale Regional model. The results show that when PI, RH, and T are reasonably predicted and the fog events are correctly diagnosed, the model can be used to forecast RVR.
Incidence-Angle Dependency of TRMM PR Rain Estimates
Authors: Hirose Masafumi , Shimizu Shuji , Oki Riko , Iguchi Toshio , Short David A. , Nakamura Kenji
Published: November 2011

The incidence-angle differences of estimated surface rainfall obtained from the precipitation radar (PR) on board the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite were investigated. The bias before the orbit boost in August 2001 relative to the near-nadir statistics was 2.7% over the ocean and −5.8% over land. After the boost, the bias was −3.2% and −9.5%, respectively. These biases were further quantified with respect to error sources, that is, the beam mismatch correction error, detection capability of storms with low-level storm-top height, and residual effects. For shallow storms lower than 3 km, most incidence-angle differences were caused by main lobe contamination. For nonshallow storms, several error factors resulted in 5.3% overestimates over the ocean and 5.1% underestimates over land for the period before the boost. The remaining uncertainty in local low-level profiles was identified as a controversial issue.

The bias-corrected dataset updates the interannual variation in rainfall obtained from the TRMM PR. The increasing rainfall features and recent high-rainfall years were consistent with prior studies based on other microwave sensors. The coherent signals and slight differences in the temporal variation compared with the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) data indicate the importance of further internal and cross validations based on long-term observation by multiple sensors.
New Insights into Annual and Semiannual Cycles of Sea Level Pressure
Authors: Chen Ge , Qian Chengcheng , Zhang Caiyun
Published: November 2011

Sea level pressure (SLP) acts, on the one hand, as a “bridge parameter” to which geophysical properties at the air–sea interface (e.g., wind stress and sea surface height) are linked, and on the other hand, as an “index parameter” by which major atmospheric oscillations, including the well-known Southern Oscillation, are defined. Using 144 yr (1854–1997) of extended reconstructed SLP data, seasonal patterns of its variability are reinvestigated in detail. New features on fundamental structure of its annual and semiannual cycles are revealed in two aspects. First, the spatiotemporal patterns of yearly and half-yearly SLPs are basically determined by a network of “amphidromes,” which are surrounded by rotational variations. Fourteen cyclonic and anticyclonic annual SLP amphidromes (half each and often in pair) are found in the global ocean, while the numbers of the two types of semiannual amphidrome are 11 and 9, respectively. The second dominant feature in SLP variability is the pattern of oscillation or seesaw for both annual and semiannual components. At least eight oscillation zones are identified for the annual cycle, which can be categorized into a boreal winter mode and an austral winter mode. As for the semiannual cycle, the seesaw pattern is geographically divided into three regimes: the North Pacific regime, the North Atlantic regime, and the Southern Ocean regime. These findings serve as a new contribution to characterizing and understanding the seasonality of the global ocean–atmosphere system.
Chemotherapy-associated thromboembolic risk in cancer outpatients and effect of nadroparin thromboprophylaxis: results of a retrospective analysis of the PROTECHT study
Authors: Barni Sandro , Labianca Roberto , Agnelli Giancarlo , Bonizzoni Erminio , Verso Melina , Mandalà Mario , Brighenti Matteo , Petrelli Fausto , Bianchini Carlo , Perrone Tania , Gasparini Giampietro
Published: November 2011

Background

Cancer patients receiving chemotherapy are at increased risk of thrombosis. Nadroparin has been demonstrated to reduce the incidence of venous and arterial thrombotic events (TEs) by about 50% in cancer outpatients receiving chemotherapy. The aims of this retrospective analysis were to evaluate the thromboembolic risk and the benefit of thromboprophylaxis according to type of chemotherapy.

Methods

Cancer outpatients were randomly assigned to receive subcutaneous injections of nadroparin or placebo. The incidence of symptomatic TEs was assessed according to the type of chemotherapy. Results were reported as risk ratios with associated 95% CI and two-tailed probability values.

Results

769 and 381 patients have been evaluated in the nadroparin and placebo group, respectively. In the absence of thromboprophylaxis, the highest rate of TEs was found in patients receiving gemcitabine- (8.1%) or cisplatin-based chemotherapy (7.0%). The combination of gemcitabine and cisplatin or carboplatin increased the risk to 10.2%. Thromboprophylaxis reduced TE risk by 68% in patients receiving gemcitabine; with a further decrease to 78% in those receiving a combination of gemcitabine and platinum.

Conclusions

This retrospective analysis confirms that patients undergoing chemotherapy including gemcitabine, platinum analogues or their combination are at higher risk of TEs. Our results also suggest that outpatients receiving chemotherapy regimens including these agents might achieve an increased benefit from thromboprophylaxis with nadroparin. Clinical Trial registration number: NCT 00951574
Reverse time migration of multiples for subsalt imaging
Authors: Liu Yike , Chang Xu , Jin Degang , He Ruiqing , Sun Hongchuan , Zheng Yingcai
Published: November 2011

Some hydrocarbon reservoirs are trapped beneath salt bodies, where seismic imaging is greatly challenged due to poor illumination. Multiple reflections have different propagation wave paths from primary reflections and thus can be used to complement the illuminations where primary reflections from beneath the salt are not acquired. Consequently, migration of multiples can sometimes provide better subsalt images compared to conventional migration which uses primary reflections only. In this paper, we propose to modify conventional reverse time migration so that multiples can be used as constructive reflection energy for subsalt imaging. This new approach replaces the impulsive source wavelet with the recorded data containing both primaries and multiples and uses predicted multiples as the input data instead of primary reflections. In the reverse time migration process, multiples recorded on the surface are extrapolated backward in time to each depth level, and the observed data with both primaries and multiples are extrapolated forward in time to the same depth levels, followed by a crosscorrelation imaging condition. A numerical test on the Sigsbee2B data set shows that a wider coverage and a more balanced illumination of the subsurface can be achieved by migration of multiples compared with conventional migration of primary reflections. This example demonstrates that reverse time migration of multiples might be a promising method for complex subsalt imaging.
Compression and coding for cable-free land acquisition systems
Authors: Savazzi Stefano , Spagnolini Umberto
Published: November 2011

The use of cable-free equipment in land acquisition systems is one of the most promising technological breakthroughs toward the minimization of operating costs in high-density surveys. Even if solutions based on remote data storage with some quality data control are reaching a good degree of maturity, their limitations compared to cabled systems are now recognized as unacceptable in land operations. Wireless upload of the entire seismic dataset (or part of it) while shooting is the most challenging task of future generation cable-free systems. Data compression and coding before transmitting over the wireless medium is of strategic importance to reduce the data rate per seismic channel. We have designed data compression systems tailored for cable-free acquisitions. Cable-free receivers are connected by multihop topology so that the encoding of seismic traces optimally exploits the temporal and spatial coherence of data to maximize redundancy. Synthetic and real data are used to simulate the compression settings to evaluate their benefits. Finally, we also discuss the impact of the distortion on signal introduced by the wireless channel fluctuations.
Visibility analysis for optimal imaging of target areas and its application to a Gulf of Mexico deep-water data set
Authors: Menyoli Elive , Jin Shengwen , Xu Shiyong , Graber Stuart
Published: November 2011

Marine wide-azimuth data in the Gulf of Mexico, reverse time migration (RTM) and anisotropic velocity models have led to significant improvement in subsalt imaging. However, imaging of some steeply dipping subsalt targets such as three-way closures against salt is still difficult. This can be attributed to poor illumination and noise contaminations from various shot records. We apply the visibility analysis method that quantitatively determines which shot records contribute most energy on a specific subsalt prospect area. As a result we selectively migrate only those shot records thereby reducing noise contamination from low energy contributing shot records, improving signal continuity and better trap definition in the target area. Like conventional illumination analysis, the computation takes into account the overburden velocity distribution, acquisition geometry, target reflectivity and dip angle. We used 2D and 3D synthetic data examples to test the concepts and applicability of the method. A Gulf of Mexico case study example using wide-azimuth data demonstrated its use in an industry scale project. It is shown that for the particular 60°–65° subsalt target of interest only 30% of the wide-azimuth shot records are sufficient for the imaging. By reducing noise, the image results show significant improvement in the subsalt area compared to the full shot record RTM volume.
Dirty salt velocity inversion: The road to a clearer subsalt image
Authors: Ji Shuo , Huang Tony , Fu Kang , Li Zhengxue
Published: November 2011

For deep-water Gulf of Mexico, accurate salt geometry is critical to subsalt imaging. This requires the definition of both external and internal salt geometries. In recent years, external salt geometry (i.e., boundaries between allochthonous salt and background sediment) has improved a great deal due to advances in acquisition, velocity model building, and migration algorithms. But when it comes to defining internal salt geometry (i.e., intrasalt inclusions or dirty salt), no efficient method has yet been developed. In common industry practices, intrasalt inclusions (and thus their velocity anomalies) are generally ignored during the model building stages. However, as external salt geometries reach higher levels of accuracy, it becomes more important to consider the once-ignored effects of dirty salt. We have developed a reflectivity-based approach for dirty salt velocity inversion. This method takes true-amplitude reverse time migration stack volumes as input, then estimates the dirty salt velocity based on reflectivity under a 1D assumption. Results from a 2D synthetic data set and a real 3D Wide Azimuth data set demonstrated that the reflectivity inversion scheme significantly improves the subsalt image for certain areas. In general, we believe that this method produces a better salt model than the traditional clean salt velocity approach.
Use of RTM full 3D subsurface angle gathers for subsalt velocity update and image optimization: Case study at Shenzi field
Authors: Zhou Zheng-Zheng , Howard Michael , Mifflin Cheryl
Published: November 2011

Various reverse time migration (RTM) angle gather generation techniques have been developed to address poor subsalt data quality and multiarrival induced problems in gathers from Kirchhoff migration. But these techniques introduce new problems, such as inaccuracies in 2D subsurface angle gathers and edge diffraction artifacts in 3D subsurface angle gathers. The unique rich-azimuth data set acquired over the Shenzi field in the Gulf of Mexico enabled the generally artifact-free generation of 3D subsurface angle gathers. Using this data set, we carried out suprasalt tomography and salt model building steps and then produced 3D angle gathers to update the subsalt velocity. We used tilted transverse isotropy RTM with extended image condition to generate full 3D subsurface offset domain common image gathers, which were subsequently converted to 3D angle gathers. The angle gathers were substacked along the subsurface azimuth axis into azimuth sectors. Residual moveout analysis was carried out, and ray-based tomography was used to update velocities. The updated velocity model resulted in improved imaging of the subsalt section. We also applied residual moveout and selective stacking to 3D angle gathers from the final migration to produce an optimized stack image.
Novel Developed Systems and Techniques Based on Double-Network Principle
Authors: Wu Zi Liang , Kurokawa Takayuki , Gong Jian Ping
Published: November 2011

The double-network hydrogels (DN gels), developed by our group in 2003, have attracted increasing attention due to their excellent mechanical performance and unique fracture mechanism. The anomalously large fracture energy of DN gels up to 2200 J m−2 originates from the specific combination of two networks with contrasting properties. The first brittle network serves as sacrificial bonds, which breaks into small clusters to efficiently disperse the stress around the crack tip into the surrounding damage zone, while the second ductile polymer chains act as hidden length, which extends extensively to sustain large deformation. The DN gels also exhibit good biocompatibility and low friction resistance. Owing to these superior properties, DN gels possess promising prospective in industrial and medicine fields, especially for load-bearing artificial soft tissues such as artificial cartilage. However, there are several critical problems limiting the practical applications of DN gels, such as how to produce tough artificial tissue with complex shapes or bond a gel to a solid substrate. To address these specific issues, we have developed new systems and techniques based on the DN principle. These achievements, including synthesis of ultrathin DN gels, bonding of one gel to another gel or solid substrate, free-shaping of DN gels, enhancing typical single network gels by creating a DN structure, will be briefly introduced in this account paper. We believe that these new techniques will substantially promote the practical applications of DN hydrogels and extent the DN principle to other systems.
p-Aminophenyl Alkyl Ether-based 19F MRI Probe for Specific Detection and Imaging of Hypochlorite Ion
Authors: Doura Tomohiro , An Qi , Sugihara Fuminori , Matsuda Tetsuya , Sando Shinsuke
Published: November 2011

We report a 19F MRI probe for the specific detection and imaging of −OCl. Our designed probe, having p-aminophenyl alkyl scaffold, reacted expeditiously with −OCl to produce a trifluoroethanol. Concomitant with the reaction, the 19F chemical shift changed by 2.6 ppm, allowing the visualization of −OCl-dependent probe-to-product conversion using 19F MRI.
Raman, UV–vis, and CD Spectroscopic Studies of Dodecameric Oxyhemocyanin from Carcinus aestuarii
Authors: Andersen Niels H , Zoppellaro Giorgio , Bubacco Luigi , Casella Luigi , Andersson K Kristoffer
Published: November 2011

The stable dodecameric oxy form of Carcinus aestuarii hemocyanin (Cae oxy-Hc) has been probed by resonance Raman, UV–vis, and CD spectroscopy. A clear signal emerged at 746 cm−1 (Raman) sensitive to isotopic exchange with 18O2 (−40 cm−1), thus confirming the presence of a μ-η2:η2 peroxide coordinated to the cupric centers. The optical fingerprints of Cae oxy-Hc show that symmetry breaking exists at the Cu(II)–O22−–Cu(II) core and that exciton coupling effects are present in the visible region of the spectra.
Terrestrial Perspective on Authigenic Clay Mineral Production in Ancient Martian Lakes
Authors: Bristow Thomas F. , Milliken Ralph E.
Published: November 2011

The discovery of phyllosilicates in terrains of Noachian age (>3.5 Ga) on Mars implies a period in the planet’s history that was characterized by wetter, warmer conditions that may have been more hospitable for life than the cold and dry conditions prevalent today. More specific information about the original locations and mechanisms of clay mineral formation on Mars is not as well constrained, however, in part because the origin of particular clay minerals is often non-unique. For example, Fe and Mg smectite-bearing deposits on Mars may have formed in various environments, including the weathering profiles of basic volcanic rocks, impact-induced hydrothermal sites, or in bodies of standing water. The identification of lacustrine deposits on Mars is of great interest due to their potential for the preservation of organic material, but identifying any given suite of sedimentary rocks as such is difficult when limited to mineralogy and morphology derived from orbital data. Here, the processes and conditions leading to clay mineral formation in lakes and evaporative marine basins on Earth are reviewed, with a focus on the spatial and stratigraphic distribution of clays in these settings. The goal is to provide criteria to determine if certain Martian clay deposits are consistent with such an origin, which in turn will aid in the identification of possible ancient habitable environments on Mars.
Evidence for Low-Grade Metamorphism, Hydrothermal Alteration, and Diagenesis on Mars from Phyllosilicate Mineral Assemblages
Authors: Ehlmann Bethany L. , Mustard John F. , Clark Roger N. , Swayze Gregg A. , Murchie Scott L.
Published: November 2011

The enhanced spatial and spectral resolution provided by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has led to the discovery of numerous hydrated silicate minerals on Mars, particularly in the ancient, cratered crust comprising the southern highlands. Phases recently identified using visible/near-infrared spectra include: smectite, chlorite, prehnite, high-charge phyllosilicates (illite or muscovite), the zeolite analcime, opaline silica, and serpentine. Some mineral assemblages represent the products of aqueous alteration at elevated temperatures. Geologic occurrences of these mineral assemblages are described using examples from west of the Isidis basin near the Nili Fossae and with reference to differences in implied temperature, fluid composition, and starting materials during alteration. The alteration minerals are not distributed homogeneously. Rather, certain craters host distinctive alteration assemblages: (1) prehnite-chloritesilica, (2) analcime-silica-Fe,Mg-smectite-chlorite, (3) chlorite-illite (muscovite), and (4) serpentine, which furthermore has been found in bedrock units. These assemblages contrast with the prevalence of solely Fe,Mg-smectites in most phyllosilicate-bearing terrains on Mars, and they represent materials altered at depth then exposed by cratering. Of the minerals found to date, prehnite provides the clearest evidence for subsurface, hydrothermal/metamorphic alteration, as it forms only under highly restricted conditions (T = 200–400°C). Multiple mechanisms exist for forming the other individual minerals; however, the most likely formation mechanisms for the characteristic mineralogic assemblages observed are, for (1) and (2), low-grade metamorphism or hydrothermal (<400°C) circulation of fluids in basalt; for (3), transformation of trioctahedral smectites to chlorite and dioctahedral smectites to illite during diagenesis; and for (4), low-grade metamorphism or hydrothermal (<400°C) circulation of fluids in ultramafic rocks. Evidence for high-grade metamorphism at elevated pressures or temperatures >400°C has not been found.
Synthesis of lipid A and inner-core lipopolysaccharide (LPS) ligands containing 4-amino-4-deoxy-L-arabinose units
Authors: Zamyatina Alla , Hollaus Ralph , Blaukopf Markus , Kosma Paul
Published: November 2011

Attachment of 4-amino-4-deoxy-L-arabinose (Ara4N) to phosphates or sugar hydroxyl groups of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) contributes to bacterial resistance against common antibiotics. For a detailed study of antigenic properties and binding interactions, Ara4N-containing inner-core ligands related to Burkholderia and Proteus LPS have been synthesized in good yields. Glycosylation at position 8 of allyl glycosides of oct-2-ulosonic acids (Ko, Kdo) has been accomplished using an N-phenyltrifluoroacetimidate 4-azido-4-deoxy-L-arabinosyl glycosyl donor followed by azide reduction and global deprotection. The β-L-Ara4N-(1 → 8)-α-Kdo disaccharide was further extended into the branched β-L-Ara4N-(1 → 8)[α-Kdo-(2 → 4)]-α-Kdo trisaccharide via a regioselective glycosylation of a protected triol intermediate. Synthesis of Ara4N-modified lipid A part structure occurring in the LPS of Burkholderia, Pseudomonas, and Klebsiellla strains was accomplished using the H-phosphonate approach. The stereocontrolled assembly of the phosphodiester linkage connecting glycosidic centers of two aminosugars was elaborated employing an anomeric H-phosphonate of cyclic silyl-ether protected 4-azido-4-deoxy-β-L-arabinose, which was coupled to the hemiacetal of the lipid A GlcN-disaccharide backbone. Conditions for global deprotection, which warrant the integrity of “double anomeric” phosphodiester linkage, were successfully developed. Introduction of thiol-terminated spacer at the synthetic ligands allows both coupling to bovine serum albumin (BSA) and immobilization on gold nanoparticles as well as generation of glycoarrays.
Family Rule as the Highest Stage of Communism
Authors: MONDAY CHRIS
Published: November 2011

This article contends that North Korean familism forms part of a broader trend toward family rule in post-socialist countries. Rather than being an outcast, North Korea has become the norm. The notion of “Red Family” as an ideal type is introduced by demonstrating that the selectorate of socialist societies is gradually transforming into a ruling caste. The adoption of the “Red Family” as a mode of governance profoundly impacts diplomacy, the legal system, the economy, technology, and culture.
Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization
Authors: CIORCIARI JOHN D.
Published: November 2011

In 2010, the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization agreement established a new Asian financial arrangement to help address potential currency or liquidity crises. This article analyzes the origins and basic features of the new arrangement, which reflect both progress and the continuing political challenges of building regional institutions in Asia.
Carl Linnaeus and the Visual Representation of Nature
Authors: Charmantier Isabelle
Published: November 2011

The Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) is reputed to have transformed botanical practice by shunning the process of illustrating plants and relying on the primacy of literary descriptions of plant specimens. Botanists and historians have long debated Linnaeus's capacities as a draftsman. While some of his detailed sketches of plants and insects reveal a sure hand, his more general drawings of landscapes and people seem ill-executed. The overwhelming consensus, based mostly on his Lapland diary (1732), is that Linnaeus could not draw. Little has been said, however, on the role of drawing and other visual representations in Linnaeus's daily work as seen in his other numerous manuscripts. These manuscripts, held mostly at the Linnean Society of London, are peppered with sketches, maps, tables, and diagrams. Reassessing these manuscripts, along with the printed works that also contain illustrations of plant species, shows that Linnaeus's thinking was profoundly visual and that he routinely used visual representational devices in his various publications. This paper aims to explore the full range of visual representations Linnaeus used through his working life, and to reevaluate the epistemological value of visualization in the making of natural knowledge. By analyzing Linnaeus's use of drawings, maps, tables, and diagrams, I will show that he did not, as has been asserted, reduce the discipline of botany to text, and that his visual thinking played a fundamental role in his construction of new systems of classification.
“My Goose Child Martina”:
Authors: Munz Tania
Published: November 2011

In 1935, the graylag goose Martina (1935–?) hatched from an egg in the home of the zoologist Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989). Martina imprinted on Lorenz, slept in his bedroom, mated with the gander Martin, and flew off in 1937. Over the following decades, Konrad Lorenz helped to establish the discipline of ethology, received a share of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and continued to write about his famous goose Martina. This essay examines the different instantiations of the geese in general, and Martina in particular, in Lorenz's writings aimed at readerships that included prewar zoologists, National Socialist psychologists, and popular audiences from the 1930s to 1980s. By developing an animal with her own biography, Lorenz created an individual whose lived and rhetorical agency made her especially well suited to perform widely divergent aspects of his evolving science. While a significant literature in the history of science has explored the standardization and stabilization of animals in science, I show how Lorenz's creation of a highly protean and increasingly public Martina was co-constitutive of the establishment of his science and public persona.
Playing Music for a Smarter Ear: Cognitive, Perceptual and Neurobiological Evidence
Authors: Strait Dana , Kraus Nina
Published: November 2011

human hearing depends on a combination of cognitive and sensory processes that function by means of an interactive circuitry of bottom-up and top-down neural pathways, extending from the cochlea to the cortex and back again. Given that similar neural pathways are recruited to process sounds related to both music and language, it is not surprising that the auditory expertise gained over years of consistent music practice fine-tunes the human auditory system in a comprehensive fashion, strengthening neurobiological and cognitive underpinnings of both music and speech processing. In this review we argue not only that common neural mechanisms for speech and music exist, but that experience in music leads to enhancements in sensory and cognitive contributors to speech processing. Of specific interest is the potential for music training to bolster neural mechanisms that undergird language-related skills, such as reading and hearing speech in background noise, which are critical to academic progress, emotional health, and vocational success.
Music Training and Reading Readiness
Authors: Tsang Christine D. , Conrad Nicole J.
Published: November 2011

several reports have noted significant associations among phonological awareness, early reading skills, and music perception skills in young children. We examined whether music processing skills differentially predicted reading performance in a broad age range of 69 children with and without formal music training. Pitch perception was correlated with phonological awareness, a finding consistent with the hypothesis that basic auditory processing skills underlie the association between music and reading abilities. Nevertheless, the correlation between music skills and reading skills was affected by the presence of formal music training: pitch discrimination predicted reading ability only in children without formal music training. Studies examining the association between music perception and reading (and perhaps other cognitive domains as well) should not ignore the factor of music training.
Effect of Music Training on Promoting Preliteracy Skills: Preliminary Causal Evidence
Authors: Moreno Sylvain , Friesen Deanna , Bialystok Ellen
Published: November 2011

the present study investigated whether music training fosters children's preliteracy skills. Sixty children were randomly assigned to participate in a 20-day training program in either music or visual art. Before and after training, children's phonological awareness and their ability to map visual symbols onto words (i.e., visual-auditory learning) were assessed. Equivalent improvement after training was observed for both groups on the phonological awareness measure, but the children with music training improved significantly more than the art-trained children on the visual-auditory learning measure. Music training appears to benefit certain skills necessary for reading.
Do Mathematicians Have Above Average Musical Skill?
Authors: Haimson Jennifer , Swain Deanna , Winner Ellen
Published: November 2011

accompanying the view that music training leads to improved mathematical performance is the view that that there is an overlap between the kinds of skills needed for music and mathematics. We examined the popular conception that mathematicians have better music abilities than nonmathematicians. We administered a self-report questionnaire via the internet to assess musicality (music perception and music memory) and musicianship (music performance and music creation). Respondents were doctoral-level members of the American Mathematical Association or the Modern Language Association (i.e., literature and language scholars). The mathematics group did not exhibit higher levels of either musicality or musicianship. Among those reporting high music-performance ability (facility in playing an instrument and/or sight-reading ability), mathematicians did not report significantly greater musicality than did the literature/language scholars. These findings do not lend support to the hypothesis that mathematicians are more musical than people with nonquantitative backgrounds.
Rhizomatic Subjects
Authors: Prystash Justin
Published: November 2011

By examining Thomas Carlyle's scientific writings (often buried in his “literary” texts) and placing them in relation to Charles Kingsley's work on marine biology, this essay explores how these writers posit a transcendent, eternal origin in order to stabilize a normative hierarchy of subjectivity in the present. Their concept of the eternal origin was internally subverted, however, through the metaphorical irruption of organisms from natural history, especially the roots of plants and coral. These nonhierarchical, rhizomatic organisms express, as Carlyle puts it, so many “rhizophagous” threats to a stable English society. Due to the ontological and epistemological instability of the biological referent, these metaphors also continually subvert Carlyle's language and political message, from his early essays on Goethe to the Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850). Kingsley presents an analogous case. In the dream sequence in Alton Locke (1850), for example, he paradoxically portrays the transcendent origin of male subjectivity as materialist and matriarchal: the “madrepore” (or “mother-passage,” a type of coral) that forms the basis of Alton's identity is described in terms of its femininity, temporal flux, and biological indeterminacy (only later is this origin subsumed in the telos of the divine “All-Father”). Ultimately, both Carlyle and Kingsley reveal the extent to which concepts of temporality and biology formed and deformed Victorian subjectivity in the pre-Darwinian period.
Mantras and Mūrtis
Authors: Saunders Jennifer B.
Published: November 2011

This article examines the contemporary relationship between the Ārya Samāj and Sanātan Dharm movements among Hindus in India and abroad. Since their beginnings in the nineteenth century, the two loosely organized groups have disagreed about correct ritual practice, with the Arya Samaj promoting a simple “Vedic” fire sacrifice, and those identifying as Sanātan Dharm accepting image worship as an integral aspect of Hindu practice. While Hindus whose families come from northwest India identify themselves, their families, and their practices as either Arya Samaji or Sanatani, fieldwork conducted in India and the United States from 1999 to 2009 suggests that the relationships between these two movements are more flexible than this discourse indicates. This article argues that the Arya Samaj and Sanātan Dharm positions have been combined within extended families, individual ritual practices, and transnational communities in more fluid ways than previously understood.
Hà Nội's Responses to Beijing's Renewed Enthusiasm to Aid North Vietnam, 1970–1972
Authors: Path Kosal
Published: November 2011

Relying on Vietnamese archival documents, this article reveals that Chinese chauvinistic behaviors during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1968) triggered the Vietnamese fear of Chinese expansionism and caused Hà Nội to distrust Beijing's intentions in Indochina. With such fear and distrust, Hà Nội's leaders changed their mind about the desirability of Beijing's proposed redeployment of Chinese volunteers to North Vietnam to confront the US escalation of war in Indochina in the Spring of 1970, despite the fact that they were facing enormous shortage of manpower to meet the dual demand of economic reconstruction in the North and the war effort in the South.
Hearts, Minds and Công Dân Vụ
Authors: Stewart Geoffrey C.
Published: November 2011

This article examines the Special Commissariat for Civic Action as an instrument for nation-building in the First Republic of Vietnam. Originally, the Special Commissariat was intended to serve as a means to fill the power vacuum in the countryside that emerged in the wake of the departure of the Việt Minh cadres relocated to the North, as required by the Geneva Accords. Over time, the Special Commissariat would become tied into Ngô Đình Diệm's larger nation-building agenda of creating a viable, noncommunist South Vietnam capable of standing independently among the nations of the so-called “free world.”
Frameshift Mutagenesis: The Roles of Primer–Template Misalignment and the Nonhomologous End-Joining Pathway inSaccharomyces cerevisiae
Authors: Lehner Kevin , Mudrak Sarah V , Minesinger Brenda K , Jinks-Robertson Sue
Published: November 2011

Small insertions or deletions that alter the reading frame of a gene typically occur in simple repeats such as mononucleotide runs and are thought to reflect spontaneous primer–template misalignment during DNA replication. The resulting extrahelical repeat is efficiently recognized by the mismatch repair machinery, which specifically replaces the newly replicated strand to restore the original sequence. Frameshift mutagenesis is most easily studied using reversion assays, and previous studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae suggested that the length threshold for polymerase slippage in mononucleotide runs is 4N. Because the probability of slippage is strongly correlated with run length, however, it was not clear whether shorter runs were unable to support slippage or whether the resulting frameshifts were obscured by the presence of longer runs. To address this issue, we removed all mononucleotide runs >3N from the yeast lys2ΔBgl and lys2ΔA746 frameshift reversion assays, which detect net 1-bp deletions and insertions, respectively. Analyses demonstrate that 2N and 3N runs can support primer–template misalignment, but there is striking run-specific variation in the frequency of slippage, in the accumulation of +1 vs. −1 frameshifts and in the apparent efficiency of mismatch repair. We suggest that some of this variation reflects the role of flanking sequence in initiating primer–template misalignment and that some reflects replication-independent frameshifts generated by the nonhomologous end-joining pathway. Finally, we demonstrate that nonhomologous end joining is uniquely required for the de novo creation of tandem duplications from noniterated sequence.
[PSI+] Prion Transmission Barriers Protect Saccharomyces cerevisiae from Infection: Intraspecies 'Species Barriers'
Authors: Bateman David A , Wickner Reed B
Published: November 2011

[PSI+] is a prion of Sup35p, an essential translation termination and mRNA turnover factor. The existence of lethal [PSI+] variants, the absence of [PSI+] in wild strains, the mRNA turnover function of the Sup35p prion domain, and the stress reaction to prion infection suggest that [PSI+] is a disease. Nonetheless, others have proposed that [PSI+] and other yeast prions benefit their hosts. We find that wild Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains are polymorphic for the sequence of the prion domain and particularly in the adjacent M domain. Here we establish that these variations within the species produce barriers to prion transmission. The barriers are partially asymmetric in some cases, and evidence for variant specificity in barriers is presented. We propose that, as the PrP 129M/V polymorphism protects people from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, the Sup35p polymorphisms were selected to protect yeast cells from prion infection. In one prion incompatibility group, the barrier is due to N109S in the Sup35 prion domain and several changes in the middle (M) domain, with either the single N109S mutation or the group of M changes (without the N109S) producing a barrier. In another, the barrier is due to a large deletion in the repeat domain. All are outside the region previously believed to determine transmission compatibility. [SWI+], a prion of the chromatin remodeling factor Swi1p, was also proposed to benefit its host. We find that none of 70 wild strains carry this prion, suggesting that it is not beneficial.
Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators for Parallel Mass Sensing
Authors: Chen Shih-Jui , Lin Anderson , Baumgartel Lukas , Kim Eun Sok
Published: November 2011

This paper describes the principle of array sensing with film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) for combinatory mass sensing and the use of the arrayed FBAR resonant mass sensor for parallel detection of protein-ligand reactions in liquid environment. Various ligands were immobilized on the gold layer on the FBAR’s sensing surface for selective protein detection. The FBARs of the arrayed FBAR were fabricated to have different resonant frequencies from one another by adding slightly varied amount of mass loading on the resonators. Results showed that the arrayed FBAR could detect specific bindings on its surfaces as the concentration of the target ligand was varied.
Development of Non-acidic Poly(ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) for Organic and Hybrid Photovoltaic Devices
Authors: Lee Yun-Ju , Ferreira Summer R. , Copeland R. Guild , Moore Diana L. , Hsu Julia W. P.
Published: November 2011

We demonstrate improved compatibility of poly(ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) hole transport layer with acid-sensitive materials by addition of a simple base, NaOH or NH4OH, to the aqueous suspension to increase pH. Addition of NaOH to the acidic PEDOT:PSS allowed the deposition of PEDOT:PSS on top of an inverted poly(3-hexylthiophene):ZnO nanoparticle blend hybrid photovoltaic device, and improved device performance due to preservation of the ZnO electron acceptor. To quantitatively investigate the impact of base addition to hole transport layer properties and device performance, we deposited PEDOT:PSS with different pH values on inverted poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester bulk heterojunction devices. We find that NaOH modification results in a substantial work function decrease and series resistance increase. In contrast, the volatile NH4OH leaves PEDOT:PSS with minimal changes in film properties and device performance.
In Vivo Studies of a Nanostructured Titanium Alloy Knee Plate and Pin
Authors: Mirza Rosca Julia C. , Herrera Santana Eladio D. , Vasilescu C. , García Llorente José A.
Published: November 2011

Titanium alloys are among the most used metallic biomaterials, particularly for orthopedic applications. Ever since the pioneer titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) has been used as biomaterial, lack of biocompatibility has been extensively reported and propelled research on improved materials with appropriate mechanical behavior and adequate biocompatibility. Studies have indicated that vanadium produces oxides harmful to the human body; in order to replace vanadium containing Ti alloys, Ti-6Al-7Nb was developed. Today this alloy is the preferred choice for cementless total joint replacements. It is very important to produce a nanostructured bioactive metal implant with appropriate mechanical properties and we applied a chemical and thermal treatment that converts the surface of titanium alloy into bioactive surface. Therefore, bioactive Ti6Al7Nb might represent an alternative for advanced orthopedic implants under load-bearing conditions.

Eleven mini-pigs weighting around 50 kg, with free access to food pellets and water, were the experimental animals for this study. Ten of these pigs (one is the control) were anesthetized and after shaving, disinfection and draping, a straight 3 cm incision was made and the implants (plate and pin) were implanted into the epiphyses of the tibiae. Surgical procedures were performed bilaterally. At 6 months after implantation, the mini-pigs were sacrificed.

After sacrifice, the segments of the proximal tibia epiphyses containing the implanted plates and pins were cut of, fixed in phosphate-buffered formalin and dehydrated in serial concentrations of ethanol after which they were embedded in polyester resin and then cutted and grounded to a thickness of 75-100 μm. With these samples a lot of observations were made: Scanning Electron Microscopy observations, histological examination at implant surface and histological examination of the bone-implant surface and SEM-EDX examinations were also made.

All the results revealed that the plates and pins are in direct contact with newly formed bone without any intervening soft tissue layer. We regard osteoinductive ability of nanostructured Ti6Al7Nb as one of the advantages of this implant in consideration for clinical applications.
Analysis of Cu(InGa)Se2Alloy Film Optical Properties and the Effect of Cu Off-Stoichiometry
Authors: Paulson P. D. , Stephens S. H. , Shafarman W. N.
Published: November 2011

Variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry has been used to characterize Cu(InGa)Se2 thin films as a function of relative Ga content and to study the effects of Cu off-stoichiometry. Uniform Cu(InGa)Se2films were deposited on Mo-coated soda lime glass substrates by elemental evaporation with a wide range of relative Cu and Ga concentrations. Optical constants of Cu(InGa)Se2were determined over the energy range of 0.75–C4.6 eV for films with 0 ≤ Ga/(In+Ga) ≤ 1 and used to determine electronic transition energies. Further, the changes in the optical constants and electronic transitions as a function of Cu off-stoichiometry were determined in Cu-In-Ga-Se films with Cu atomic concentration varying from 10 to 25 % and Ga/(In+Ga) = 0.3. Films with Cu in the range 16–24 % are expected to contain 2 phases so an effective medium approximation is used to model the data. This enables the relative volume fractions of the two phases, and hence composition, to be determined. Two distinctive features are observed in the optical spectra as the Cu concentration decreases. First, the fundamental bandgaps are shifted to higher energies. Second, the critical point features at higher energies become broader suggesting degradation of the crystalline quality of the material.
Physics of CdTe Photovoltaics: from Front to Back
Authors: Karpov V. G. , Shvydka Diana , Roussillon Yann
Published: November 2011

We discuss physical mechanisms underlying the performance and stability of CdTe based thin-film PV. The processes in (i) photovoltaic junction, (ii) back contact, (iii) nonuniformities, (iv) grain boundaries, and (v) light-induced degradation are addressed including their interactions. The physics of thin film PV turns out to be quite different from that of crystalline PV. High surface-volume ratio and lack of crystallinity result in strong interfacial effects, lateral nonuniformities, and shunting-like and adhesion instabilities in thin film structures. This paper is aimed at presenting a ‘big picture'; also, it suggests practical ways of improving thin-film PV.