Bench-to-bedside review: the role of activated protein C in maintaining endothelial tight junction function and its relationship to organ injury.

Activated protein C (APC) has emerged as a novel therapeutic agent for use in selected patients with severe sepsis, even though the mechanism of its benefit is not well established. APC has anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory, antiapoptotic, and profibrinolytic properties, but it is not clear through which of these mechanisms APC exerts its benefit in severe sepsis. Focus has recently turned to the role of APC in maintaining endothelial barrier function, and in vitro and in vivo studies have examined this relationship. This article critically reviews these studies, with a focus on potential mechanisms of action

Reforming the Rentier State: The Imperatives for Change in the Gulf

Chapter

Design of a capillary viscometer with numerical and computational methods

A high temperature and shear rate capillary viscometer has been designed, constructed and recently commissioned. This device will be used to measure the viscosity of semi-solid metals under the high temperature and shear rate conditions, similar to those found in industry. Design criteria for the device included a requirement for a highly controllable temperature (±1ºC) up to 650ºC, capability for injection shear rates above 10,000s−1 and controllable injection profiles. The design of this viscometer was aided with the use of numerical modelling methods based on a power law thixotropic fluid flow relation. This analysis allowed calculation of required injection speeds and expected system forces. Computational modelling work, based on current power law fluid models, was also performed in order to investigate how the viscosity would be expected to fluctuate with shear rate and fraction solid. This data could then be used to compare with experimental work. The computational model was a 2D two-phase theoretical unsteady state model. This was used to evaluate the viscosity of semi-solid metals passing through the designed capillary viscometer at injection speeds of 0.075, 0.5 and 1 m/sec. The effects of fractions solid (fs) of the metal from 0.25, 0.3, 0.33 and 0.50 were also investigated. Strong correlations between these parameters and the resulting viscosity were noted

Prerequisites for Successful Fiscal Reform: Some Preliminary Results

Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management, Winter 1998.Refereed Journal ArticleThis paper examines whether any relationship exists between success or failure of policy reform on the one hand, and various political/economic conditions in place at the time of reform on the other. Nineteen countries were scored using three financial variables to measure the degree of success or failure of the reform. The independent variables were country scores for ten different economic and political conditions. The independent variables were used to try and predict a priori which of the nineteen countries would succeed and which would fail. Eighteen of the nineteen countries were correctly placed into their respective success group. However only three of the ten conditions appeared important in predicting success: a visionary leader, a crisis, and a comprehensive program. Other writers have suggested different sets of predicting variables

Intrinsic multi-scale analysis: a multi-variate empirical mode decomposition framework.

A novel multi-scale approach for quantifying both inter- and intra-component dependence of a complex system is introduced. This is achieved using empirical mode decomposition (EMD), which, unlike conventional scale-estimation methods, obtains a set of scales reflecting the underlying oscillations at the intrinsic scale level. This enables the data-driven operation of several standard data-association measures (intrinsic correlation, intrinsic sample entropy (SE), intrinsic phase synchrony) and, at the same time, preserves the physical meaning of the analysis. The utility of multi-variate extensions of EMD is highlighted, both in terms of robust scale alignment between system components, a pre-requisite for inter-component measures, and in the estimation of feature relevance. We also illuminate that the properties of EMD scales can be used to decouple amplitude and phase information, a necessary step in order to accurately quantify signal dynamics through correlation and SE analysis which are otherwise not possible. Finally, the proposed multi-scale framework is applied to detect directionality, and higher order features such as coupling and regularity, in both synthetic and biological systems

16 x 25 Ge:Ga Detector Arrays for FIFI LS

We are developing two-dimensional 16 x 25 pixel detector arrays of both unstressed and stressed Ge:Ga photoconductive detectors for far-infrared astronomy from SOFIA. The arrays, based on earlier 5 x 5 detector arrays used on the KAO, will be for our new instrument, the Far Infrared Field Imaging Line Spectrometer (FIFI LS). The unstressed Ge:Ga detector array will cover the wavelength range from 40 to 120 microns, and the stressed Ge:Ga detector array from 120 to 210 microns. The detector arrays will be operated with multiplexed integrating amplifiers with cryogenic readout electronics located close to the detector arrays. The design of the stressed detector array and results of current measurements on several prototype 16 pixel linear arrays are reported. They demonstrate the feasibility of the current concept. ***This paper does not include Figures due to astro-ph size limitations. Please download entire file at http://fifi-ls.mpe-garching.mpg.de/spie.det.ps.gz ***Comment: 8 pages, SPIE Proceedings, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation 200

Rapid Effective Trace-Back Capability Value in Reducing the Cost of a Foot and Mouth Disease Event

This study evaluates how the availability of animal tracing affects the cost of a hypothetical Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak in the Texas High Plains using alternative tracing scenarios. To accomplish this objective, the AusSpread epidemic disease spread model (Ward et al., 2006) is used to simulate a High Plains FMD outbreak under different animal tracing possibilities. A simple economic costing module (Elbakidze, 2008) is used to determine the savings in terms of animal disease mitigation costs from rapid, effective trace-back. The savings from increased traceability are then be compared to the cost of a functional National Animal Identification System (NAIS). Initial results indicate that rapid, effective tracing reduces the overall cost of disease outbreaks and that the benefits per animal in terms of reduced cost of an outbreak more than outweigh the annualized cost per animal of implementing a NAIS. A value of time related to controlling an outbreak is estimated to have increased benefits from an identification system that incorporates a rapid response capability. We also find the level of benefits vary depending on the location of initial infection and whether or not welfare slaughter occurs.Traceability, Foot and Mouth Disease, Economics, Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries,

Spitzer spectral line mapping of protostellar outflows: I. Basic data and outflow energetics

We report the results of spectroscopic mapping observations carried out toward protostellar outflows in the BHR71, L1157, L1448, NGC 2071, and VLA 1623 molecular regions using the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) of the Spitzer Space Telescope. These observations, covering the 5.2 - 37 micron spectral region, provide detailed maps of the 8 lowest pure rotational lines of molecular hydrogen and of the [SI] 25.25 micron and [FeII] 26.0 micron fine structure lines. The molecular hydrogen lines, believed to account for a large fraction of the radiative cooling from warm molecular gas that has been heated by a non-dissociative shock, allow the energetics of the outflows to be elucidated. Within the regions mapped towards these 5 outflow sources, total H2 luminosities ranging from 0.02 to 0.75 L(solar) were inferred for the sum of the 8 lowest pure rotational transitions. By contrast, the much weaker [FeII] 26.0 micron fine structure transition traces faster, dissociative shocks; here, only a small fraction of the fast shock luminosity emerges as line radiation that can be detected with Spitzer/IRS.Comment: 38 pages including 17 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

A Keplerian Circumbinary Disk around the Protobinary System L1551 NE

We present SubMillimeter-Array observations of a Keplerian disk around the Class I protobinary system L1551 NE in 335 GHz continuum emission and submillimeter line emission in 13CO (J=3-2) and C18O (J=3-2) at a resolution of ~120 x 80 AU. The 335-GHz dust-continuum image shows a strong central peak closely coincident with the binary protostars and likely corresponding to circumstellar disks, surrounded by a ~600 x 300 AU feature elongated approximately perpendicular to the [Fe II] jet from the southern protostellar component suggestive of a circumbinary disk. The 13CO and C18O images confirm that the circumbinary continuum feature is indeed a rotating disk; furthermore, the C18O channel maps can be well modeled by a geometrically-thin disk exhibiting Keplerian rotation. We estimate a mass for the circumbinary disk of ~0.03-0.12 Msun, compared with an enclosed mass of ~0.8 Msun that is dominated by the protobinary system. Compared with several other Class I protostars known to exhibit Keplerian disks, L1551 NE has the lowest bolometric temperature (~91 K), highest envelope mass (~0.39 Msun), and the lowest ratio in stellar mass to envelope + disk + stellar mass (~0.65). L1551 NE may therefore be the youngest protostellar object so far found to exhibit a Keplerian disk. Our observations present firm evidence that Keplerian disks around binary protostellar systems, ``Keplerian circumbinary disks', can exist. We speculate that tidal effects from binary companions could transport angular momenta toward the inner edge of the circumbinary disk and create the Keplerian circumbinary disk.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure

Resolved Depletion Zones and Spatial Differentiation of N2H+ and N2D+

We present a study on the spatial distribution of N2D+ and N2H+ in thirteen protostellar systems. Eight of thirteen objects observed with the IRAM 30m telescope show relative offsets between the peak N2D+ (J=2-1) and N2H+ (J=1-0) emission. We highlight the case of L1157 using interferometric observations from the Submillimeter Array and Plateau de Bure Interferometer of the N2D+ (J=3-2) and N2H+ (J=1-0) transitions respectively. Depletion of N2D+ in L1157 is clearly observed inside a radius of ~2000 AU (7") and the N2H+ emission is resolved into two peaks at radii of ~1000 AU (3.5"), inside the depletion region of N2D+. Chemical models predict a depletion zone in N2H+ and N2D+ due to destruction of H2D+ at T ~ 20 K and the evaporation of CO off dust grains at the same temperature. However, the abundance offsets of 1000 AU between the two species are not reproduced by chemical models, including a model that follows the infall of the protostellar envelope. The average abundance ratios of N2D+ to N2H+ have been shown to decrease as protostars evolve by Emprechtinger et al., but this is the first time depletion zones of N2D+ have been spatially resolved. We suggest that the difference in depletion zone radii for N2H+ and N2D+ is caused by either the CO evaporation temperature being above 20 K or an H2 ortho-to-para ratio gradient in the inner envelope.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 44 pages 13 Figure