bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Intrabdominal fat is related to metabolic risk factors in Hispanic Americans, African Americans and in girls
Authors: Casazza K , Dulin‐Keita A , Gower BA , Fernandez JR 
Published: August 2009

AbstractAim:  This study aimed to test the association of individual adipose depots on cardiometabolic outcomes, whether the association varied by depot and if the associations differed by race/ethnicity or gender in early pubertal children.Methods:  Three hundred and twenty children (53% male) aged 7–12 years self‐identified as African American (AA; n = 114), European American (EA; n = 120) or Hispanic American (HA; n = 86) participated. Insulin dynamics were assessed by intravenous glucose tolerance test; body composition with DXA; fat distribution with CT.Results:  AA had the least fat in each depot and HA had the most. Fat accumulation negatively impacted cardiometabolic outcomes independent of race/ethnicity or gender. AA and females were reproductively more mature. In AA and HA, each measure of adiposity influenced the insulin sensitivity index (SI), whereas intra‐abdominal adipose tissue (IAAT) did not contribute to SI in EA. IAAT was positively associated with blood pressure in AA only. In females, adiposity adversely influenced cardiometabolic outcomes such that total fat mass, IAAT and/or SAAT was inversely associated with SI, and positively associated with blood pressure and fasting insulin.Conclusion:  IAAT is uniquely related to metabolic risk factors in Hispanic Americans, African Americans and girls, suggesting that either the threshold for adverse effects of IAAT is lower, or the IAAT metabolism differs in these groups.
Genetic estimates of contemporary effective population size in an endangered butterfly indicate a possible role for genetic compensation
Authors: Saarinen Emily V. , Austin James D. , Daniels Jaret C. 
Published: August 2009

AbstractThe effective population size (Ne) is a critical evolutionary and conservation parameter that can indicate the adaptive potential of populations. Robust estimates of Ne of endangered taxa have been previously hampered by estimators that are sensitive to sample size. We estimated Ne on two remaining populations of the endangered Miami blue butterfly, a formerly widespread taxon in Florida. Our goal was to determine the consistency of various temporal and point estimators on inferring Ne and to determine the utility of this information for understanding the role of genetic stochasticity. We found that recently developed ‘unbiased estimators’ generally performed better than some older methods in that the former had more realistic Ne estimates and were more consistent with what is known about adult population size. Overall, Ne/N ratios based on census point counts were high. We suggest that this pattern may reflect genetic compensation caused by reduced reproductive variance due to breeding population size not being limited by resources. Assuming Ne and N are not heavily biased, it appears that the lack of gene flow between distant populations may be a greater genetic threat in the short term than the loss of heterozygosity due to inbreeding.
Mathematical Representations in Science: A Cognitive–Historical Case History
Authors: Tweney Ryan D. 
Published: August 2009

AbstractThe important role of mathematical representations in scientific thinking has received little attention from cognitive scientists. This study argues that neglect of this issue is unwarranted, given existing cognitive theories and laws, together with promising results from the cognitive historical analysis of several important scientists. In particular, while the mathematical wizardry of James Clerk Maxwell differed dramatically from the experimental approaches favored by Michael Faraday, Maxwell himself recognized Faraday as “in reality a mathematician of a very high order,” and his own work as in some respects a re‐representation of Faraday’s field theory in analytic terms. The implications of the similarities and differences between the two figures open new perspectives on the cognitive role of mathematics as a learned mode of representation in science.
Subacromial Impingement: Is there Correlation between Symptoms, Arthroscopic Findings and Outcomes?
Authors: Snow Martyn , Cheong Daniel , Funk Lennard 
Published: August 2009

Background To determine whether a correlation exists between the clinical symptoms and signs of impingement, and the severity of the lesions seen at bursoscopy. Methods Fifty-five patients who underwent arthroscopic subacromial decompression were analyzed. Pre-operatively patients completed an assessment form consisting of visual analogue pain score, and shoulder satisfaction. The degree of clinical impingement was also recorded. At arthroscopy impingement was classified according to the Copeland-Levy classification. Post-operatively the shoulder assessment was repeated. Statistical analysis was carried to determine if the degree of impingement at arthroscopy correlated with pre-operative pain, satisfaction and clinical signs of impingement. Results Pre-operative pain level, shoulder satisfaction and degree of clinical impingement did not correlate significantly with severity of the lesions of the acromion and cuff. (average correlation coefficient r2 0.018.) There was no correlation between the improvement in the shoulders post-operatively and the severity of lesions (r2 0.008). Conclusion There was no correlation between pain, clinical signs or outcomes of subacromial decompression and the severity of impingement lesions seen at arthroscopy.
An Extragradient Method for Mixed Equilibrium Problems and Fixed Point Problems
Authors: Yao Yonghong , Liou Yeong-Cheng , Wu Yuh-Jenn 
Published: August 2009

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the problem of approximating a common element of the set of fixed points of a demicontractive mapping and the set of solutions of a mixed equilibrium problem. First, we propose an extragradient method for solving the mixed equilibrium problems and the fixed point problems. Subsequently, we prove the strong convergence of the proposed algorithm under some mild assumptions.
Synoptic and Meso-α Scale Aspects of Flash Flood Events1
Authors: Maddox R. A. , Chappell C. F. , Hoxit L. R. 
Published: August 2009

Meteorological conditions associated with more than 150 intense convective precipitation events have been examined. These heavy rainfalls caused flash floods and affected most geographic regions of the conterminous United States. Heavy rains associated with weather systems of tropical origin were not considered. Analyses of surface and standard level upper-air data were undertaken to identify and define important synoptic and mesoscale mechanisms that act to intensify and focus precipitation events over specific regions. These analyses indicated that three basic meteorological patterns were associated with flash flooding in the central and eastern United States. Heavy convective precipitation episodes that occurred in the West were considered as a separate category event. Climatological characteristics, composite analyses, and upper-air data are presented for these four classifications of events.
The large variability of associated meteorological patterns and parameters (especially winds aloft) makes identification of necessary conditions for flash flood-producing rainfall quite difficult; however, a number of features were common to many of the events. An advancing middle-level, short-wave trough often helped to trigger and focus thunderstorm activity. The storm areas were often located very near the mid-tropospheric, large-scale ridge position and occurred within normally benign surface pressure patterns. Many of the intense rainfalls occurred during nighttime hours. These elusive characteristics further complicate a difficult forecast problem.
The Impact of Outflow Environment on Tropical Cyclone Intensification and Structure
Authors: Rappin Eric D. , Morgan Michael C. , Tripoli Gregory J. 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
In this study, the impacts of regions of weak inertial stability on tropical cyclone intensification and peak strength are examined. It is demonstrated that weak inertial stability in the outflow layer minimizes an energy sink of the tropical cyclone secondary circulation and leads to more rapid intensification to the maximum potential intensity. Using a full-physics, three-dimensional numerical weather prediction model, a symmetric distribution of environmental inertial stability is generated using a variable Coriolis parameter. It is found that the lower the value of the Coriolis parameter, the more rapid the strengthening. The lower-latitude simulation is shown to have a significantly stronger secondary circulation with intense divergent outflow against a comparatively weak environmental resistance. However, the impacts of differences in the gradient wind balance between the different latitudes on the core structure cannot be neglected. A second study is then conducted using an asymmetric inertial stability distribution generated by the presence of a jet stream to the north of the tropical cyclone. The initial intensification is similar, or even perhaps slower, in the presence of the jet as a result of increased vertical wind shear. As the system evolves, convective outflow from the tropical cyclone modifies the jet resulting in weaker shear and more rapid intensification of the tropical cyclone–jet couplet. It is argued that the generation of an outflow channel as the tropical cyclone outflow expands into the region of weak inertial stability on the anticyclonic shear side of the jet stream minimizes the energy expenditure of forced subsidence by ventilating all outflow in one long narrow path, allowing radiational cooling to lessen the work of subsidence. Furthermore, it is hypothesized that evolving conditions in the outflow layer modulate the tropical cyclone core structure in such a way that tropical cyclone outflow can access weak inertial stability in the environment.
Convective-Scale Structure and Evolution during a High-Resolution Simulation of Tropical Cyclone Rapid Intensification
Authors: Rogers Robert 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
The role of convective-scale processes in a 1.67-km mesoscale model simulation of the rapid intensification (RI) of Hurricane Dennis (2005) is presented. The structure and evolution of inner-core precipitating areas during RI, the statistical properties of precipitation during times experiencing vigorous convection (termed convective bursts here) and how they differ from nonburst times, possible differences in convective bursts associated with RI and those not associated with RI, and the impacts of precipitation morphology on the vortex-scale structure and evolution during RI are all examined. The onset of RI is linked to an increase in the areal extent of convective precipitation in the inner core, while the inner-core stratiform precipitating area remains unchanged and the intensity increases only after RI has begun. RI is not tied to a dramatic increase in the number of convective bursts nor in the characteristics of the bursts, such as burst intensity. Rather, the immediate cause of RI is a significant increase in updraft mass flux, particularly in the lowest 1.5 km. This increase in updraft mass flux is accomplished primarily by updrafts on the order of 1–2 m s−1, representing the bulk of the vertical motion distribution. However, a period of enhanced updraft mass flux in the midlevels by moderate to strong (&gt;5 m s−1) updrafts located inside the radius of maximum winds occurs ∼6 h prior to RI, indicating a synergistic relationship between convective bursts and the background secondary circulation prior to RI. This result supports the assertion that both buoyantly driven updrafts and slantwise near-neutral ascent are important features in eyewall structure, evolution, and intensification, including RI.
Airborne Observations of Fetch-Limited Waves in the Gulf of Tehuantepec
Authors: Romero Leonel , Melville W. Kendall 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
The authors present airborne observations of fetch-limited waves during strong offshore winds in the Gulf of Tehuantepec. The measurements, collected over a wide range of fetches, include one- and two-dimensional surface wavenumber spectra and turbulent fluxes in winds up to 25 m s−1. The evolution of the wave spectra is in good agreement with the fetch relationships from previous observations. The tails of the observed one-dimensional k1 spectra, in the dominant wave direction, exhibit a power law over a wide range of wavenumbers. The authors present the first quantification of the transition between the equilibrium and saturation ranges for the omnidirectional spectrum in the wavenumber domain. The energy density within the equilibrium range shows a dependence on the wave age. At wavenumbers higher than the spectral peak, the width of the spectrum in the direction orthogonal to the dominant waves is nearly independent of the wave age. However, in the azimuthal direction, the spreading of the spectrum decreases with increasing effective wave age. The bimodal directional distribution, characterized by the lobe amplitude and separation, shows a consistent scaling with both parameters collapsing when scaled by the square root of the wave age. The one-dimensional fetch-limited k1 spectrum is well parameterized with dependence on the effective fetch and friction velocity. At higher wavenumbers within the saturation range, although the one-dimensional saturation in the dominant wave direction is independent of the wind forcing, the saturation in the crosswind direction is weakly dependent on the effective wave age and on average 30% larger than that in the downwind direction. The results are discussed in the context of previous observations and current numerical wind-wave prediction models.
Numerical Modeling of Fetch-Limited Waves in the Gulf of Tehuantepec
Authors: Romero Leonel , Melville W. Kendall 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
During the Gulf of Tehuantepec Experiment (GOTEX), conducted in February 2004, surface-wave measurements were collected using a scanning lidar [Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM)] on the National Science Foundation (NSF)/NCAR C-130 aircraft during fetch-limited conditions with winds speeds ranging from 10 to 25 m s−1. The authors present direct comparisons between the observed evolution of the wave field and numerical simulations using a parameterization of the wave energy dissipation. For low and intermediate wavenumbers, the dissipation corresponds to the saturation-based parameterization by Alves and Banner. However, at higher wavenumbers, their formulation cannot maintain saturation of the spectrum. Here, the authors use a dissipation term that forces the spectrum to match the empirical degree of saturation and explicitly balances the wind input and the nonlinear energy fluxes. All model simulations were carried out with “exact” computations of the nonlinear energy transfer because of four-wave resonant interactions and two empirical wind input functions. There is a good agreement for the integral parameters between the observations and the simulations, with root-mean-square (rms) errors between 5% and 12%. The tail of the computed omnidirectional wavenumber spectrum ϕ(k) can be approximated by two ranges: an equilibrium range, where ϕ ∝ k−5/2, and a saturation range, where ϕ = Bk−3, where B is the empirically determined degree of saturation. However, within the equilibrium range, the modeled ϕ overestimates the energy with rms errors between 20% and 50%, and the computed spectra are found to be narrower than the observations by about 10°. Similarly, the modeled bimodal directional distributions, at wavenumbers higher than the spectral peak, exhibit lobe separations and amplitudes that are consistently smaller than the observations. The lobe separation of the bimodal directional distribution for all simulations approximately scales with the square root of the wave age, which is consistent with the observations. The reasons for differences between the measurements and the simulations are discussed.
The Airborne Demonstrator for the Direct-Detection Doppler Wind Lidar ALADIN on ADM-Aeolus. Part II: Simulations and Rayleigh Receiver Radiometric Performance
Authors: Paffrath Ulrike , Lemmerz Christian , Reitebuch Oliver , Witschas Benjamin , Nikolaus Ines , Freudenthaler Volker 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
In the frame of the Atmospheric Dynamics Mission Aeolus (ADM-Aeolus) satellite mission by the European Space Agency (ESA), a prototype of a direct-detection Doppler wind lidar was developed to measure wind from ground and aircraft at 355 nm. Wind is measured from aerosol backscatter signal with a Fizeau interferometer and from molecular backscatter signal with a Fabry–Perot interferometer. The aim of this study is to validate the satellite instrument before launch, improve the retrieval algorithms, and consolidate the expected performance. The detected backscatter signal intensities determine the instrument wind measurement performance among other factors, such as accuracy of the calibration and stability of the optical alignment. Results of measurements and simulations for a ground-based instrument are compared, analyzed, and discussed. The simulated atmospheric aerosol models were validated by use of an additional backscatter lidar. The measured Rayleigh backscatter signals of the wind lidar prototype up to an altitude of 17 km are compared to simulations and show a good agreement by a factor better than 2, including the analyses of different error sources. First analyses of the signal at the Mie receiver from high cirrus clouds are presented. In addition, the simulations of the Rayleigh signal intensities of the Atmospheric Laser Doppler Instrument (ALADIN) Airborne Demonstrator (A2D) instrument on ground and aircraft were compared to simulations of the satellite system. The satellite signal intensities above 11.5 km are larger than those from the A2D ground-based instrument and always smaller than those from the aircraft for all altitudes.
Calibration of a Multichannel Water Vapor Raman Lidar through Noncollocated Operational Soundings: Optimization and Characterization of Accuracy and Variability
Authors: Dionisi Davide , Congeduti Fernando , Liberti Gian Luigi , Cardillo Francesco 
Published: August 2009

Abstract
This paper presents a parametric automatic procedure to calibrate the multichannel Rayleigh–Mie–Raman lidar at the Institute for Atmospheric Science and Climate of the Italian National Research Council (ISAC-CNR) in Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy, using as a reference the operational 0000 UTC soundings at the WMO station 16245 (Pratica di Mare) located about 25 km southwest of the lidar site. The procedure, which is applied to both channels of the system, first identifies portions of the lidar and radiosonde profiles that are assumed to sample the same features of the water vapor profile, taking into account the different time and space sampling. Then, it computes the calibration coefficient with a best-fit procedure, weighted by the instrumental errors of both radiosounding and lidar. The parameters to be set in the procedure are described, and values adopted are discussed. The procedure was applied to a set of 57 sessions of nighttime 1-min-sampling lidar profiles (roughly about 300 h of measurements) covering the whole annual cycle (February 2007–September 2008). A calibration coefficient is computed for each measurement session. The variability of the calibration coefficients (∼10%) over periods with the same instrumental setting is reduced compared to the values obtained with the previously adopted, operator-assisted, and time-consuming calibration procedure. Reduction of variability, as well as the absence of evident trends, gives confidence both on system stability as well as on the developed procedure. Because of the definition of the calibration coefficient and of the different sampling between lidar and radiosonde, a contribution to the variability resulting from aerosol extinction and to the spatial and temporal variability of the water vapor mixing ratio is expected. A preliminary analysis aimed at identifying the contribution to the variability from these factors is presented. The parametric nature of the procedure makes it suitable for application to similar Raman lidar systems.
Explaining multiple sclerosis prevalence by ultraviolet exposure: a geospatial analysis
Authors: Beretich BD , Beretich TM 
Published: August 2009

Background Epidemiologic studies have shown a positive correlation of multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence with latitude. However, there has not been a causal association found. Increased dietary intake and increased serum levels of vitamin D showed to be protective for the development of MS. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation plays an important role in vitamin D synthesis and could potentially explain both latitude differences in MS prevalence and the low levels of vitamin D in individuals with MS. Objective To evaluate the relationship between UV radiation and MS prevalence using geospatial analysis. Methods Geospatial analysis was performed on North American regions and separately for the continental United States. The correlation of UV radiation (measured as UV index [UVI]) versus MS prevalence and UV radiation versus case-control ratios was calculated. In addition, the relative risk (RR) of MS was determined for regions/states with low UV radiation exposure. Results Case-control ratios by US state and MS prevalence by North American region showed a strong negative (inverse) correlation with UVI ( R = −0.72 and −0.86, respectively). The RR for the five highest risk states/lowest UVI versus the five lowest risk states/highest UVI was increased (RR = 1.8–5.4). The RR for MS, when comparing North American regions with lowest and highest UVI, was 3.78 and within US regions was 1.52. Conclusion This analysis suggests a strong association between UV radiation and MS distribution, and an increase in risk for MS in those areas with a low UVI.
Allergy and multiple sclerosis: a population-based case-control study
Authors: Pedotti R , Farinotti M , Falcone C , Borgonovo L , Confalonieri P , Campanella A , Mantegazza R , Pastorello E , Filippini G 
Published: August 2009

Background Epidemiological studies on the association between allergic disorders, T-helper type 2 (Th2) mediated, and multiple sclerosis (MS), a T-helper type 1 (Th1)/Th17-mediated disease, provided conflicting results. Objective The aim of this study was to further examine the association between allergic disorders and MS. Methods The association between MS and previous medical history of any type of allergy has been investigated in a population-based case-control study conducted in Northern Italy, based on telephone interviews to 423 cases and 643 population controls (refusal rates 3.7% and 9.4%, respectively). Controls were a random sample of the general population. Results A history of atopic allergies seems to confer protection against MS (odds ratio [OR], 0.58; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.38–0.89; P = 0.012). In particular, the prevalence of allergic asthma was 4.9% in people with MS and 12% in control subjects (OR = 0.38; 95% CI 0.22–0.66, P < 0.01). No association was found between MS and nonatopic allergies. Conclusions Our findings are confirmatory of the putative protective effect of Th2-mediated disorders on Th1 immune responses associated with MS. A unifying theory on the mechanisms by which previous history of atopic allergies may modify the risk of MS is still lacking.