518 research outputs found
Replication Data for: The Malapportionment of the House of Representatives: 1940-2020
No full textIn the latest round of House apportionment following the 2020 Census, the state of New York lost a seat by an extremely small margin: if a mere 89 people were added to the state’s 20 million population, it would have kept the seat. Political observers pointed to the Census’s tendency to undercount minority and immigrant populations as the primary culprit. However, New York’s seat loss is as much as an issue of apportionment as it is of counting: the current apportionment method used by the federal government, Huntington-Hill’s method, is biased against the more populous states such as New York. If an alternative apportionment method were used, such as Webster’s method, New York would also have kept the seat. This article discusses four historical apportionment methods – Hamilton’s method, Huntington-Hill’s method, Jefferson’s method, and Webster’s method. These methods are then evaluated against three criteria of within-quota, consistency, and unbiasedness. The article proceeds to show that Huntington-Hill’s method has produced biased apportionment results in eight out of nine apportionments since its official adoption in 1941. It concludes with the recommendation of replacing the current apportionment method with the only unbiased divisor method: Webster’s method
sj-docx-1-tar-10.1177_17534666231214134 – Supplemental material for Nebulization versus metered-dose inhaler and spacer in bronchodilator responsiveness testing: a retrospective study
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-tar-10.1177_17534666231214134 for Nebulization versus metered-dose inhaler and spacer in bronchodilator responsiveness testing: a retrospective study by Rongli Lu, Ying Li, Chengping Hu, Pinhua Pan, Qiaohong Zhao and Ruoxi He in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease</p
sj-docx-2-tar-10.1177_17534666231214134 – Supplemental material for Nebulization versus metered-dose inhaler and spacer in bronchodilator responsiveness testing: a retrospective study
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-2-tar-10.1177_17534666231214134 for Nebulization versus metered-dose inhaler and spacer in bronchodilator responsiveness testing: a retrospective study by Rongli Lu, Ying Li, Chengping Hu, Pinhua Pan, Qiaohong Zhao and Ruoxi He in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease</p
sj-docx-1-tar-10.1177_17534666231206249 – Supplemental material for Associations of medication regimen complexity with medication adherence and clinical outcomes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a prospective study
No full textSupplemental material, sj-docx-1-tar-10.1177_17534666231206249 for Associations of medication regimen complexity with medication adherence and clinical outcomes in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a prospective study by Ruoxi He, Ye Wang, Xiaoxia Ren, Ke Huang, Jieping Lei, Hongtao Niu, Wei Li, Fen Dong, Baicun Li, Ting Yang and Chen Wang in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease</p
Research on the Similarities between the Plot of Ji Chun Tai and Content of Sichuan Opera
Get PDFJi Chun Tai is the masterpiece of Sichuan dialect on late Qing Dynasty, composed of 40 vernacular short stories. It is divided into four parts, namely, Yuan Ji, Heng Ji, Li Ji, and Zhen Ji. Each part contains ten short stories. The author of Ji Chun Tai is a literator from Zhong Jiang who failed in imperial examination System in late Qing Dynasty. There are a large number of Sichuan Opera elements in those forty vernacular short stories. Generally speaking, the plot of Ji Chun Tai is full of ups and downs, together with relatively concentrated conflicts, which reflects the characteristics of Sichuan opera. Besides, the thought of persuasion and punishment, strong superstitious color, and detective story in Ji Chui Tai are combined together to reflect the characteristics of Sichuan Opera
Monitoring Reaction Intermediates in Plasma-Driven SO2, NO, and NO2 Remediation Chemistry Using in Situ SERS Spectroscopy
Get PDFIn situ surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy is used to identify the key reaction intermediates during the plasma-based removal of NO and SO2 under dry and wet conditions on Ag nanoparticles. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations are used to confirm the experimental observations by calculating the vibrational modes of the surface-bound intermediate species. Here, we provide spectroscopic evidence that the wet plasma increases the SO2 and the NOx removal through the formation of highly reactive OH radicals, driving the reactions to H2SO4 and HNO3, respectively. We observed the formation of SO3 and SO4 species in the SO2 wet-plasma-driven remediation, while in the dry plasma, we only identified SO3 adsorbed on the Ag surface. During the removal of NO in the dry and wet plasma, both NO2 and NO3 species were observed on the Ag surface; however, the concentration of NO3 species was enhanced under wet-plasma conditions. By closing the loop between the experimental and DFT-calculated spectra, we identified not only the adsorbed species associated with each peak in the SERS spectra but also their orientation and adsorption site, providing a detailed atomistic picture of the chemical reaction pathway and surface interaction chemistry.Fil: Li, Shujin. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Zhao, Bofan. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Aguirre, Alejo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Instituto de Desarrollo Tecnológico para la Industria Química; ArgentinaFil: Wang, Yu. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Li, Ruoxi. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Yang, Sisi. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Aravind, Indu. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Cai, Zhi. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Chen, Ran. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Jensen, Lasse. University of Southern California; Estados UnidosFil: Cronin, Stephen B.. University of Southern California; Estados Unido
Dynamic Programming of Innate Immunity in Health and Disease
No full textWhether innate immune cells may be adapted into potential memory states has becoming an important question in the field of immunity. Although previous conceptual paradigm failed to acknowledge this important question, emerging clinical and basic observations have started to shed intriguing clues to shake the previous dogma regarding innate immunity of being "simple", "raw", "first-line defense with no memory". We have aimed to further address this fundamental issue in this dissertation work, under the close guidance of Dr. Liwu Li. We have chosen to use the model system of Toll-Like-Receptor (TLR) signaling networks within primary monocytes.
TLRs play fundamental roles in sensing pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and modulation of innate immunity. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an endotoxin found on the cell membrane of gram-negative bacteria, is the ligand of TLR4 and induces a range of inflammatory as well as anti-inflammatory responses. Higher dosages of LPS were known to cause robust yet transient expression of pro-inflammatory mediators. On the other hand, the effects of super-low dose LPS, commonly manifested in humans with adverse health conditions, have been largely ignored in the basic research field. Super-low dose LPS may skew host immune environment into a mild non-resolving pro-inflammatory state, which is a risk factor for inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis, compromised wound healing, and elevated risks for sepsis.
Our central hypothesize is that monocytes may be adapted by super-low dose LPS into a non-resolving low-grade inflammatory state conducive for the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. We have employed both in vitro cell culture system as well as in vivo disease models to test this hypothesis.
For the in vitro system, we have cultured primary murine monocytes with increasing signal strength of LPS. Monocyte phenotypes such as the expression of key inflammatory mediators including cytokines, chemokines, and cellular surface markers were studied. Potential molecular and cellular mechanisms were examined. We revealed a novel low-grade inflammatory monocyte phenotype termed ML adapted by super-low dose LPS, mediated through IRF5.
For the in vivo system, we have employed both acute and chronic models of inflammation. For the chronic model, we have tested the effects of super-low dose LPS on monocyte polarization in vivo, as well as its contribution to the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Furthermore, we have tested the effects of programmed monocytes on wound healing. For the acute model, we have tested the effects of pre-conditioning with super-low dose LPS on the subsequence risks of sepsis elicited by cecal ligation and puncture. We have demonstrated aggravated atherosclerosis, compromised wound healing, and increased sepsis mortality in mice pre-conditioned with super-low dose LPS.
Taken together, our findings reveal that monocytes can be differentially programmed into distinct states, depending on the signal strength of LPS. The differential programming and adaptation of monocytes can occur both in vitro and in vivo, and may bear profound pathological consequences.Ph. D
The Determination of Satellite Orbital Decay From POD Data During Geomagnetic Storms
No full textAbstract In our previous study (Li et al., 2017, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-016-9052-1), we derived the satellite energy‐decay with a 20‐min resolution based on the Precise Orbit Determination (POD) data, using a proximate analytic approach to represent the time variation gravitational potential. In this follow‐up study, we improved the previous approach and calculated the POD‐based energy‐decays by using a numerical integration approach. Based on the precise energy‐decays, the orbital decays and decay rates with higher accuracy and resolution were further derived. The relative deviations of the orbital decays are generally less than 10% with respect to the accelerometer‐reference. The satellite orbital decays and decay rates derived from this approach were used to study the effects of geomagnetic activities and background density on the orbital changes. Our results show that, during the severe November 2003 storm, the storm‐induced orbital decay rate increased by a factor of 8 with respect to the quiet‐time reference. This POD‐based integration approach was also applied to study the orbital changes of multiple satellites at different altitudes during the September 2017 moderate storm. It is found that the storm‐induced orbital decay rates of Swarm‐B, Swarm‐A, and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites increased by 100%–150% depending on their altitudes. Overall, the results suggest that our integration approach has better performance than the previous approach in deriving the orbital decay rate at solar minimum or at high altitude when the atmospheric density is relatively low
Reliability analysis of sea-dikes in Shanghai city, China
No full textThis research focuses on the estimation the failure probability of Shanghai sea-dikes system, taking into account several failure mechanisms. This method follows fully probabilistic approach, in which all relevant parameters for the resistances and the hydraulic loads vary according to specific distributions.Civil Engineering | Hydraulic Engineerin
Water shell: A trip for water
No full textWater shell is a Utopian vision based on the thinking of water in the Tashkent context. It is the reflection over the political and chronological aspect of water: The water distribution is largely decided by the political importance of places, and so intervened by city development. Besides, the water body is shrinking in Tashkent in a long-time span. From the research, an assumed ironic story comes out: Water in Tashkent is irreversibly shrinking, so the water shell is built to take powerful people to find a new land full of water. The water shell floats or walks along the city main canal secretly and silently. It can be seen as an amphibious adaptation to the dry context of Tashkent. The water shell takes in water from outside, purifies, and produces hydro-energy. The inner space operates as the mechanism of water flows. It explores the intrinsic properties of water.Architecture, Urbanism and Building Science
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