131,466 research outputs found
Combustion and Society: A Fire-Centred History of Energy Use
No full textFire is a force that links everyday human activities to some of the most powerful energetic movements of the Earth. Drawing together the energy-centred social theory of Georges Bataille, the fire-centred environmental history of Stephen Pyne, and the work of a number of ‘pyrotechnology’ scholars, the paper proposes that the generalized study of combustion is a key to contextualizing human energetic practices within a broader ‘economy’ of terrestrial and cosmic energy flows. We examine the relatively recent turn towards fossil-fuelled ‘internal combustion’ in the light of a much longer human history of ‘broadcast’ burning of vegetation and of artisanal pyrotechnologies – the use of heat to transform diverse materials. A combustion-centred analysis, it is argued, brings human collective life into closer contact with the geochemical and geologic conditions of earthly existence, while also pointing to the significance of explorative, experimental and even playful dispositions towards energy and matter. © 2014, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved
Local Access to Random Walks
No full textFor a graph G on n vertices, naively sampling the position of a random walk of at time t requires work Ω(t). We desire local access algorithms supporting position_G(t) queries, which return the position of a random walk from some fixed start vertex s at time t, where the joint distribution of returned positions is 1/poly(n) close to those of a uniformly random walk in ₁ distance.
We first give an algorithm for local access to random walks on a given undirected d-regular graph with Õ(1/(1-λ)√n) runtime per query, where λ is the second-largest eigenvalue of the random walk matrix of the graph in absolute value. Since random d-regular graphs G(n,d) are expanders with high probability, this gives an Õ(√n) algorithm for a graph drawn from G(n,d) whp, which improves on the naive method for small numbers of queries.
We then prove that no algorithm with subconstant error given probe access to an input d-regular graph can have runtime better than Ω(√n/log(n)) per query in expectation when the input graph is drawn from G(n,d), obtaining a nearly matching lower bound. We further show an Ω(n^{1/4}) runtime per query lower bound even with an oblivious adversary (i.e. when the query sequence is fixed in advance).
We then show that for families of graphs with additional group theoretic structure, dramatically better results can be achieved. We give local access to walks on small-degree abelian Cayley graphs, including cycles and hypercubes, with runtime polylog(n) per query. This also allows for efficient local access to walks on polylog degree expanders. We show that our techniques apply to graphs with high degree by extending or results to graphs constructed using the tensor product (giving fast local access to walks on degree n^ε graphs for any ε ∈ (0,1]) and Cartesian product
Pseudorandom Generators for Unbounded-Width Permutation Branching Programs
No full textWe prove that the Impagliazzo-Nisan-Wigderson [Impagliazzo et al., 1994] pseudorandom generator (PRG) fools ordered (read-once) permutation branching programs of unbounded width with a seed length of Õ(log d + log n ⋅ log(1/ε)), assuming the program has only one accepting vertex in the final layer. Here, n is the length of the program, d is the degree (equivalently, the alphabet size), and ε is the error of the PRG. In contrast, we show that a randomly chosen generator requires seed length Ω(n log d) to fool such unbounded-width programs. Thus, this is an unusual case where an explicit construction is "better than random."
Except when the program’s width w is very small, this is an improvement over prior work. For example, when w = poly(n) and d = 2, the best prior PRG for permutation branching programs was simply Nisan’s PRG [Nisan, 1992], which fools general ordered branching programs with seed length O(log(wn/ε) log n). We prove a seed length lower bound of Ω̃(log d + log n ⋅ log(1/ε)) for fooling these unbounded-width programs, showing that our seed length is near-optimal. In fact, when ε ≤ 1/log n, our seed length is within a constant factor of optimal. Our analysis of the INW generator uses the connection between the PRG and the derandomized square of Rozenman and Vadhan [Rozenman and Vadhan, 2005] and the recent analysis of the latter in terms of unit-circle approximation by Ahmadinejad et al. [Ahmadinejad et al., 2020]
Bradykinin-stimulated phosphatidate and 1,2-diacylglycerol accumulation in guinea-pig airway smooth muscle: evidence for regulation 'down-stream' of phospholipases
No full textBradykinin-treatment of cultured airway smooth muscle (ASM) induced the formation of [3H]1,2-diacylglycerol ([3H]1,2-DG), [3H]1,3-diacylglycerol ([3H]1,3-DG) and [3H]phosphatidic acid ([3H]PtdOH) in [3H]palmitate-labelled cells and of [3H]choline in [3H]methyl choline-labelled cells. [3H]1,2-DG and [3H]1,3-DG responses were biphasic with an initial transient phase from 0-2 min and a second sustained phase to 10 min. In contrast, [3H]PtdOH accumulation plateaued at 2 min stimulation as did [3H]choline formation. The bradykinin-stimulated [3H]1,2-DG and [3H]PtdOH responses exhibited similar concentration dependencies (EC50 values: [3H]1,2-DG 5.14 +/- 2.82 nM; [3H]1,3-DG 4.95 +/- 1.12 nM; [3H]PtdOH 1.52 +/- 0.82 nM). In contrast, PMA elicited a [3H]PtdOH response, but was without effect upon [3H]DG levels. Bradykinin-induced accumulation of [3H]1,2-DG and [3H]PtdOH was insensitive to blockade by a bradykinin B2-receptor antagonist, NPC567 (40 microM) and the B1-receptor agonist, Des-Arg9-bradykinin, (10 microM) failed to elicit a response. These observations are similar to those obtained previously for bradykinin-stimulated phospholipase D activity in ASM (Pyne S. and Pyne N. J., Br. J. Pharmac. 110, 477-481, 1993). Thus, both bradykinin-stimulated 1,2-DG and PtdOH accumulation may also be regulated via a novel B3-receptor. Bradykinin-stimulated formation of [3H]PtdOH was partially inhibited by butan-1-ol (by 47.25 +/- 12.7%, n = 3) which had no effect upon basal or bradykinin-stimulated levels of [3H]1,2-DG or upon basal [3H]PtdOH
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
Bradykinin stimulates cAMP synthesis via mitogen-activated protein kinase-dependent regulation of cytosolic phospholipase A2 and prostaglandin E2 release in airway smooth muscle
No full textBradykinin stimulates cAMP synthesis in cultured airway smooth muscle (ASM) cells. This occurs via a pathway that involves: (1) the protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK); (2) the MAPK-dependent phosphorylation and activation of cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) and (3) the utilization of cPLA2-derived arachidonate by the cyclo-oxygenase pathway to produce prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). PGE2 is released and binds to cell surface receptors to stimulate intracellular cAMP synthesis. The signalling pathway was confirmed by the use of PD098059 [the inhibitor of MAPK kinase-1 (MEK-1) activation], AACOCF3 (an inhibitor of cPLA2) and indomethacin (an inhibitor of cyclo-oxygenase), which all reduced bradykinin-stimulated cAMP synthesis. Bradykinin also elicits the inhibition of approx. 60% of the total cAMP phosphodiesterase activity in the cell [Stevens, Pyne, Grady and Pyne (1994) Biochem. J. 297, 233-239]. This is likely to decrease the rate of cAMP degradation markedly and therefore to potentiate PGE2-stimulated cAMP synthesis. Acute treatment of ASM cells with PMA (a direct activator of PKC) also stimulated the MAPK-dependent phosphorylation of cPLA2. However, in contrast with bradykinin, PMA did not stimulate arachidonate release, suggesting that additional signals (e.g. Ca2+ ions) are required for phosphorylation by MAPK to activate cPLA2. PMA was also without effect on PGE2 release and cAMP synthesis. Evidence that PKC can also directly regulate adenylate cyclase was obtained by using cells pretreated with cholera toxin. Under these conditions, PMA stimulated cAMP synthesis independently of arachidonate metabolites. Furthermore the combined treatment of cells with PMA (to activate PKC) and PGE2 (to activate Gs) stimulated synergistic cAMP synthesis. This might be due to the presence of the type 2 adenylate cyclase, which is synergistically activated by Gs and PKC
Preparing a High-Quality and Impactful Sport Science Manuscript
No full textResearch impact can be defined in the context of sports performance and physiology as the contribution to both the research/academic (knowledge discovery) and sporting (real-world application) communities. Practical application has always been a hallmark of the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance (IJSPP), with articles that clearly identify how and why study outcomes can be implemented in training and competition to enhance performance. Some outcomes apply to a broad range of sports, while others are more specific to a sporting discipline, such as aquatic sports, court or field sports, individual time-based sports, or otherwise just meet the requirements of a single sport, discipline, or event. Strengthening the practice and reporting of sport and exercise science research is the responsibility of every author.1 Three key areas in ensuring a high-quality manuscript are project formulation and design; methodology and analytical issues; and style, clarity, and quality of the written presentation
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Adenylate cyclase, cyclic AMP and extracellular-signal-regulated kinase-2 in airway smooth muscle - modulation by protein kinase C and growth serum
No full textBradykinin and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate stimulate adenylate cyclase activity in serum-depleted cultured airway smooth muscle via a protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent pathway. The probable target is the type II adenylate cyclase, which can integrate coincident signals from both PKC and Gs. Therefore, activation of Gs (by cholera-toxin pre-treatment) amplified the bradykinin-stimulated cyclic AMP signal and concurrently attenuated the partial activation of extracellular-signal-regulated kinase-2 (ERK-2) by bradykinin. We have previously demonstrated that, in order to induce full activation of ERK-2 with bradykinin, it is necessary to obliterate PKC-stimulated cyclic AMP formation. We concluded that the cyclic AMP signal limits the magnitude of ERK-2 activation [Pyne, Moughal, Stevens, Tolan and Pyne (1994) Biochem. J. 304, 611-616]. The present study indicates that the bradykinin-stimulated ERK-2 pathway is entirely cyclic AMP-sensitive, and suggests that coincident signal detection by adenylate cyclase may be an important physiological route for the modulation of early mitogenic signalling. Furthermore, the direct inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity enables bradykinin to induce DNA synthesis, indicating that the PKC-dependent activation of adenylate cyclase limits entry of cells into the cell cycle. These studies suggest that the mitogenicity of an agonist may be governed, in part, by its ability to stimulate an inhibitory cyclic AMP signal pathway in the cell. The activation of adenylate cyclase by PKC appears to be downstream of phospholipase D. However, in cells that were maintained in growth serum (i.e. were not growth-arrested), bradykinin was unable to elicit a PKC-stimulated cyclic AMP response. The lesion in the signal-response coupling was not at the level of either the receptor or phospholipase D, which remain functionally operative and suggests modification occurs at either PKC or adenylate cyclase itself. These studies are discussed with respect to the cell signal regulation of mitogenesis in airway smooth muscle
Between Two Fires: A Fire History of Contemporary America by Dr. Stephen J. Pyne, 1st ed.; University of Arizona Press: Tucson, AZ, USA, 2015
No full textBetween Two Fires [1] is one of many books that Dr. Stephen J. Pyne has published about the wildland fire scene.[...
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