bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Recent Changes in Explosively Developing Extratropical Cyclones over the Winter Northwestern Pacific
Authors: Iwao Koki , Inatsu Masaru , Kimoto Masahide 
Published: May 2012

AbstractThis study investigated recent changes in the characteristics of explosively developing extratropical cyclones over the northwestern Pacific region in winter from 1979/80 to 2010/11 by using reanalysis data from the Japanese 25-yr Reanalysis/Japan Meteorological Agency Climate Data Assimilation System (JRA-25/JCDAS). The results showed that the frequency of explosive cyclones increased in the northwestern Pacific region east of Japan. This increase was accompanied by a decrease in the number of slowly developing cyclones, indicating an increase in the cyclone growth rate. Moreover, most of the increased explosive cyclones east of Japan originated southwest of Japan. A comparison of the dynamical features and energy budgets of two composite cyclones in the earlier and later halves of the study period suggested that the increase was due to an enhancement of the low-level baroclinicity to the east of Japan and an increase in humidity associated with sea surface temperature warming and enhanced evaporation along the eastern shore of the Asian continent.
Indian Ocean Feedback to the ENSO Transition in a Multimodel Ensemble
Authors: Kug Jong-Seong , Ham Yoo-Geun 
Published: May 2012

Abstract
Observational studies hypothesized that Indian Ocean (IO) feedback plays a role in leading to a fast transition of El Niño. When El Niño accompanies IO warming, IO warming induces the equatorial easterlies over the western Pacific (WP), leading to a rapid termination of El Niño via an oceanic adjust process. In this study, this IO feedback is reinvestigated using the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 3 (CMIP3) coupled GCM simulations. It is found that most of the climate models mimic this IO feedback reasonably, supporting the observational hypothesis. However, most climate models tend to underestimate the strength of the IO feedback, which means the phase transition of ENSO due to the IO feedback is less effective than the observed one. Furthermore, there is great intermodel diversity in simulating the strength of the IO feedback. It is shown that the strength of the IO feedback is related to the precipitation responses to El Niño and IO SST forcings over the warm-pool regions. Moreover, the authors suggest that the distribution of climatological precipitation is one important component in controlling the strength of the IO feedback.
Impact of Assimilating AMSU-A Radiances on Forecasts of 2008 Atlantic Tropical Cyclones Initialized with a Limited-Area Ensemble Kalman Filter
Authors: Liu Zhiquan , Schwartz Craig S. , Snyder Chris , Ha So-Young 
Published: May 2012

Abstract
The impact of assimilating radiance observations from the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A) on forecasts of several tropical cyclones (TCs) was studied using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) and a limited-area ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF). Analysis/forecast cycling experiments with and without AMSU-A radiance assimilation were performed over the Atlantic Ocean for the period 11 August–13 September 2008, when five named storms formed. For convenience, the radiance forward operators and bias-correction coefficients, along with the majority of quality-control decisions, were computed by a separate, preexisting variational assimilation system. The bias-correction coefficients were obtained from 3-month offline statistics and fixed during the EnKF analysis cycles. The vertical location of each radiance observation, which is required for covariance localization in the EnKF, was taken to be the level at which the AMSU-A channels’ weighting functions peaked.
Deterministic 72-h WRF forecasts initialized from the ensemble-mean analyses were evaluated with a focus on TC prediction. Assimilating AMSU-A radiances produced better depictions of the environmental fields when compared to reanalyses and dropwindsonde observations. Radiance assimilation also resulted in substantial improvement of TC track and intensity forecasts with track-error reduction up to 16% for forecasts beyond 36 h. Additionally, assimilating both radiances and satellite winds gave markedly more benefit for TC track forecasts than solely assimilating radiances.
A study on the morphology of thin copper films on para-aramid yarns and their influence on the yarn’s electro-conductive and mechanical properties
Authors: Schwarz Anne , Hakuzimana Jean , Westbroek Philippe , Mey Gilbert De , Priniotakis Georgios , Nyokong Tebello , Langenhove Lieva Van 
Published: May 2012

The latest technological advances in new materials and devices enabled wearable systems to be created by utilizing textile solutions. These solutions require electro-conductive yarns as a basic component. Although the production of electro-conductive yarn is widely reported, research is still necessary to characterize them to advance their electro-conductive and mechanical properties. Hence, we served this need and characterized copper-coated para-aramid yarns produced by an in-house developed electroless deposition method. In this paper we present our investigation on the yarn’s copper layer characteristics after deposition. Furthermore, we looked, in depth, at the yarn’s electro-conductive properties before and after washing as well as their mechanical properties before and after copper deposition. We found a dependency of the copper layer morphology on its deposition time. This is directly correlated to the resulting layer thickness and hence to the yarn’s electro-conductive properties, demonstrating the autocatalytic nature of the coating process. Above that, the electro-conductive properties of the coated yarn linearly decrease with washing cycles. Furthermore, the copper coating impairs the yarn’s mechanical properties decreasing its specific stress at break by 30%.
Thermoplastic natural rubber based on polyamide-12 blended with various types of natural rubber
Authors: Nakason Charoen , Narathichat Maswanee , Kummerlöwe Claudia , Vennemann Norbert 
Published: May 2012

Thermoplastic natural rubber (NR) of dynamically cured 60/40 NR/polyamide (PA) blends has been prepared by using three types of NR: unmodified air dried sheet NR, epoxidized NR (ENR) with 25 and 50 mol% epoxides. Plasticizer (i.e. dioctyl phthalate (DOP)) and processing oils (i.e. treated distillate aromatic extract and paraffinic oils) were incorporated in the blends. Stress relaxation, rheological, mechanical, and thermal properties of the blends were investigated. It was found that mixing torque, shear viscosity, tensile strength, and hardness of the oil-extended blends exhibited lower values compared with the blends without oil. But higher elongation was observed due to the distribution of oil into PA-12 and rubber phases. Furthermore, an increasing trend of stress relaxation behavior and rubber index was observed in the blends with DOP, which revealed an improvement in elastic properties. It was also found that the incorporation of DOP caused an enhancement in thermal behavior in terms of T10, T50, T90, and integral values, but a reduction in the glass transition temperature ( Tg) of NR phase and crystallization temperature ( Tc) of PA-12 matrix was also observed. This is attributed to the similar solubility parameter of DOP compared with the blend components. It was also found that the dynamically cured blends showed smaller rubber domains dispersed in PA-12 matrix. However, the addition of DOP resulted in an increase in the size of vulcanized rubber particles.
Effect of gamma irradiation on some properties of reclaimed rubber/nitrile–butadiene rubber blend and its swelling in motor and brake oils
Authors: Hassan Medhat M , Aly Raouf O , El-Ghandour AH , Abdelnaby Heba A 
Published: May 2012

Reclaimed rubber powder (RRP) was treated by the addition of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) to impart desired properties suitable for oil resistance applications. The produced GMA-RRP was mixed with nitrile–butadiene rubber (NBR) in various compositions. The blends were irradiated with gamma radiation doses of 50–250 kGy. The compounding of the blend factors has been elaborated using Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Different properties of the synthesized unirradiated and irradiated blends such as tensile strength, elongation at break, hardness, swelling behavior in motor and brake oils and thermal stability were investigated with respect to the RRP content. Results show that the tensile strength, hardness and swelling resistance increase with increasing NBR content in the blend. It has been shown that the tensile strength increased with dose. Similarly, hardness values, reported for the same composition, apparently increased with dose within the range of 50–250 kGy. The residual mass percentage of blends obviously increased upon the incorporation of incremental RRP. The swelling percentage steadily decreases with increasing radiation dose due to the radiation-induced cross-linking.
Effect of zinc oxide concentration and testing rate on shear properties of Standard Malaysian Rubber (SMR) L-based pressure-sensitive adhesives
Authors: Poh BT , Ng WC 
Published: May 2012

The effect of zinc oxide and testing rate on shear strength of natural rubber-based pressure-sensitive adhesives was studied using coumarone-indene resin and toluene as the tackifier resin and solvent, respectively. The range of zinc oxide concentration varied from 0 to 60 parts per hundred parts (phr) of rubber, whereas the testing rate was from 10 to 50 cm/min. Viscosity and shear strength of adhesive were determined using a Brookfield viscometer and a Lloyd Adhesion Tester, respectively. Results show that the viscosity of adhesive increases gradually with the increase in zinc oxide concentration. For a fixed coating thickness, shear strength increases with zinc oxide loading up to 20 phr, after which it drops with further addition of zinc oxide, an observation that is attributed to varying degree of cohesive strength of adhesive. Shear strength increases with coating thickness and testing rate, suggesting that the shear strength is both thickness- and rate-dependent.
Application properties of TCP/OMMT flame-retardant system in NR composites
Authors: Wang Jincheng , Xingyu Dong , Wenli Hao , Yi Zhao , Xi Guo , Ding Wu 
Published: May 2012

Due to high flammability setback of most natural and synthetic rubbers, a novel organic/inorganic hybrid flame-retardant additive by the combination of tricresyl phosphate (TCP) and organomontmorillonite (OMMT) was prepared and used in the preparation of flame-retardant rubber composites. Different types of natural rubber (NR)/TCP/OMMT composites were prepared with different amounts of this novel additive. Then, the main properties were researched and compared with the composites directly incorporated with TCP or OMMT. The tensile strength and elongation at break of NR/TCP-10/OMMT-5 were 15.5 MPa and 673%, respectively, which increased about 10% and 16% compared with that of NR/TCP-10 composite. Meanwhile, the abrasion loss of NR/TCP-10/OMMT-5 was 0.49 cm3, decreased by 26% in comparison with that of NR/OMMT-5 composite, that is, to 0.62 cm3. Moreover, the limiting oxygen index value was increased to about 34.0% and the thermal stability of which was also improved with the addition of 10 parts per hundreds of rubber of TCP and OMMT into NR systems. In addition, the plausible mechanism for the improvement of reinforcing, wear resistant, and flame-retardant properties were put forward.
Human Inferior Turbinate
Authors: Hwang Se Hwan , Kim Su Young , Park Sun Hwa , Choi Mi Young , Kang Hyun Wook , Seol Young‐Joon , Park Jeong Hun , Cho Dong‐Woo , Hong Oak Kee , Rha Jong Gu , Kim Sung Won 
Published: May 2012

ObjectiveMesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are multipotent progenitor cells in adult tissues. Current challenges for the clinical application of MSCs include donor site morbidity, which underscores the need to identify alternative sources of MSCs. This study aimed to explore potential new sources of multipotent MSCs for use in tissue regeneration and the functional restoration of organs.Study DesignMixed methods research.SettingTertiary care center.Subjects and MethodsThe authors isolated MSCs from human inferior turbinate tissues discarded during turbinate surgery of 10 patients for nasal obstruction. The expression of surface markers for MSCs was assessed by fluorescence‐activated cell sorting. The differentiation potential of human turbinate mesenchymal stromal cells (hTMSCs) was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction, and Western blot analysis.ResultsSurface epitope analysis revealed that hTMSCs were negative for CD14, CD19, CD34, and HLA‐DR and positive for CD29, CD73, and CD90, representing a characteristic phenotype of MSCs. Extracellular matrices with characteristics of cartilage, bone, and adipose tissue were produced by inducing the chondrogenic, osteogenic, and adipogenic differentiation of hTMSCs, respectively. The expression of neuron‐specific markers in hTMSCs was confirmed immunocytochemically.ConclusionThe hTMSCs represent a new source of multipotent MSCs that are potentially applicable to tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The availability of differentiated adult cells will allow the development of an effective tissue regeneration method.
Three‐Dimensional Segmented Volumetric Analysis of Sporadic Vestibular Schwannomas
Authors: Walz Patrick C. , Bush Matthew L. , Robinett Zachary , Kirsch Claudia F. E. , Welling D. Bradley 
Published: May 2012

ObjectiveTo compare 3‐D segmented volumetric analysis of vestibular schwannomas (VS) with traditional linear tumor measurement on serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies to assess volume and growth rates.Study DesignCase series with retrospective chart review.SettingTertiary care medical center.MethodsThis analysis identified 24 VS patients clinically followed with serial gadolinium enhanced images. Maximum linear dimensions (MLD) were obtained from gadolinium‐contrasted T1 sequences from 3 serial MRI scans per RECIST guidelines. MLD was cubed (MLD3) and orthogonal analysis (OA) was carried out to provide volumetric estimates for comparison with segmented data. Segmented volumetric analysis (SVA) was performed with semi‐automated 3‐D conformal procedure. Tumor volume, percentage change in volume, and interval percentage change were compared using paired 2‐tailed t tests.ResultsThe average interval between MRIs was 2.6 years. Volume estimates differed significantly between SVA and OA and MLD3 at all intervals. Linear growth measurements averaged 0.5 mm/y (5.4%). Volumetric growth was 50 mm3/y (22.8%) with SVA, 110 mm3/y (19.6%) with OA, and 210 mm3/y (14.4%) with MLD3 estimates. Differences between MLD and both MLD3 and SVA were significant, but significance between MLD3 and SVA was only identified in interval analysis. Progression was identified in 75% more patients with SVA than OA, MLD3, or MLD.ConclusionsVS assume complex configurations. Linear measurements inaccurately estimate tumor volume and growth compared with segmented analysis. SVA is a useful clinical tool that accurately assesses tumor volume. Use of outcomes such as tumor volume and percentage of volume change may be more sensitive in assessing tumor progression compared with linear measurements.
Polypropylene/clay nanocomposites
Authors: Zaman Haydar U , Hun Park Deuk , Khan Ruhul A , Yoon Keun-Byoung 
Published: May 2012

In this study, polypropylene (PP)/organoclay nanocomposites were prepared by melt-compounding PP with three levels of clay loading (3, 5 and 7 wt%), using two different compatibilizers with various contents (5, 10 and 15 wt %), maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (PPMA) and hexamethylenediamine-modified maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (PPHMA). Effects of structure, mechanical properties and crystallization behaviors of the compatibilizers on the clay dispersion and the amount of clay on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites were investigated. The PPHMA compatibilized system conferred higher mechanical properties than the PPMA compatibilized case. It was found that the PPHMA yielded better clay dispersion and more exfoliated structure compared with the PPMA. Microstructural characterization of the samples was also characterized by transmission electron microscopy. Differential scanning calorimetry results indicate that the addition of compatibilizer increased the crystallization temperature as a result of heterogeneous nucleation effect of clay on PP.
The Effect of Goniometric Alignment on Passive Ankle Dorsiflexion Range of Motion among Patients Following Ankle Arthrodesis or Arthroplasty
Authors: Conley Kelly A. , Geist Kathleen , Shaw Jonathan N. , Labib Sameh A. , Johanson Marie A. 
Published: May 2012

Goniometric measurement is a standard method used to quantify limited ankle dorsiflexion (DF). However, compensatory motion at the subtalar and midtarsal joints might also contribute to the amount of ankle DF obtained by goniometric measurements. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of goniometric alignment on DF range of motion measurement among patients following ankle arthrodesis or arthroplasty and age- and gender-matched controls. A total of 22 participants were recruited to participate in this observational cohort study, including 7 patients following total ankle arthroplasty (2 male, 5 female; mean age = 67.5 years, standard deviation [SD] = 9.6 years), 4 patients following ankle arthrodesis (2 male, 2 female; mean age = 70.5 years, SD = 5.2 years), and 11 age- and gender-matched controls (4 male, 7 female; mean age 67.5 years, SD = 9.0 years). Two investigators measured and recorded ankle DF passive range of motion (PROM) using a randomly determined sequence of 2 alignment methods: (1) the distal aspect of the lateral calcaneus, and (2) the fifth metatarsal. One-sample t tests were performed to assess differences in ankle DF between the 2 different alignment methods. Significantly greater degrees of DF were obtained when aligning with the fifth metatarsal versus the lateral calcaneus on the patients’ uninvolved sides and the randomly selected side of matched controls ( P < .05) but not on the patients’ operative side ( P > .05). This study found that more degrees of DF PROM are measured when aligning a goniometer with the fifth metatarsal versus the calcaneus on the uninvolved side of patients and matched controls. Levels of Evidence: Diagnostic, Level IV
Transcytosis of HTLV-1 across a tight human epithelial barrier and infection of subepithelial dendritic cells
Authors: Martin-Latil Sandra , Gnädig Nina F. , Mallet Adeline , Desdouits Marion , Guivel-Benhassine Florence , Jeannin Patricia , Prevost Marie-Christine , Schwartz Olivier , Gessain Antoine , Ozden Simona , Ceccaldi Pierre-Emmanuel 
Published: May 2012

AbstractHuman T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is the causative agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma and HTLV-1–associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis. In addition to blood transfusion and sexual transmission, HTLV-1 is transmitted mainly through prolonged breastfeeding, and such infection represents a major risk for the development of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma. Although HTLV-1–infected lymphocytes can be retrieved from maternal milk, the mechanisms of HTLV-1 transmission through the digestive tract remain unknown. In the present study, we assessed HTLV-1 transport across the epithelial barrier using an in vitro model. Our results show that the integrity of the epithelial barrier was maintained during coculture with HTLV-1–infected lymphocytes, because neither morphological nor functional alterations of the cell monolayer were observed. Enterocytes were not susceptible to HTLV-1 infection, but free infectious HTLV-1 virions could cross the epithelial barrier via a transcytosis mechanism. Such virions were able to infect productively human dendritic cells located beneath the epithelial barrier. Our data indicate that HTLV-1 crosses the tight epithelial barrier without disruption or infection of the epithelium to further infect target cells such as dendritic cells. The present study provides the first data pertaining to the mode of HTLV-1 transport across a tight epithelial barrier, as can occur during mother-to-child HTLV-1 transmission during breastfeeding.
Granule exocytosis is required for platelet spreading: differential sorting of α-granules expressing VAMP-7
Authors: Peters Christian G. , Michelson Alan D. , Flaumenhaft Robert 
Published: May 2012

Abstract
There has been recent controversy as to whether platelet α-granules represent a single granule population or are composed of different subpopulations that serve discrete functions. To address this question, we evaluated the localization of vesicle-associated membrane proteins (VAMPs) in spread platelets to determine whether platelets actively sort a specific subpopulation of α-granules to the periphery during spreading. Immunofluorescence microscopy demonstrated that granules expressing VAMP-3 and VAMP-8 localized to the central granulomere of spread platelets along with the granule cargos von Willebrand factor and serotonin. In contrast, α-granules expressing VAMP-7 translocated to the periphery of spread platelets along with the granule cargos TIMP2 and VEFG. Time-lapse microscopy demonstrated that α-granules expressing VAMP-7 actively moved from the granulomere to the periphery during spreading. Platelets from a patient with gray platelet syndrome lacked α-granules and demonstrated only minimal spreading. Similarly, spreading was impaired in platelets obtained from Unc13dJinx mice, which are deficient in Munc13-4 and have an exocytosis defect. These studies identify a new α-granule subtype expressing VAMP-7 that moves to the periphery during spreading, supporting the premise that α-granules are heterogeneous and demonstrating that granule exocytosis is required for platelet spreading.