Major Potential Factors Research Articles

Combustion dynamics of large-scale wildfires

A fact often overlooked is that large-scale wildfires, although occurring infrequently, are responsible for the overwhelming majority of fire-related suppression costs, economic losses, and natural resources damages. Fortunately, the increasingly severe problems of large-scale wildfires worldwide have been receiving ever-growing academic attention. The high-intensity burning behaviors in wildfires stem from the significant interaction of combustion with heat transfer and atmospheric flow under complicated fuel, meteorology, and topography conditions. Therefore, mitigating measures against large-scale wildfire disasters have grown into a challenging research focus for combustion scientists. Research over the past century has resulted in incrementally enhanced insights into the mechanisms of combustion dynamics underlying the various erratic behaviors in large-scale wildfires, with theories and models of fire accelerations developed and validated. These advances are expected to improve the efficacy of large-scale wildfire predictions significantly. Nevertheless, the physical interpretation of the acceleration of large-scale wildfires is far from adequate and complete. This paper intends not to make a comprehensive review of the entire wildfire research field, but to depict an overall pattern of the essential factors that lead an initial small-scale spreading flame to a large-scale wildfire beyond control. It is outlined that the complicated transformation of fuel preheating mechanisms determines the growth of surface fire spread, while varied large-size flame fronts and unique spread modes induced in specific fire environments play an essential role in fire spread acceleration. Additionally, multiple fires burning and merging often act as crucial steps for accelerating surface fire spread, generating large-size flames, and triggering unique spread modes. These major potential factors strike the energy balance of a low-intensity wildfire and push it to a high-intensity state. Several issues regarding intensely burning behaviors in large-scale wildfires are selected for in-depth discussions, for which an overview of the progress and challenges in research is presented. It is concluded that the fundamental exploration targeted at developing application tools capable of dealing with large-scale wildfires remains at its early stages. Opportunities for innovation are abundant, yet systematic and long-term research programs are required.

Association Between Demodex Infestation and Ocular Surface Microbiota in Patients With Demodex Blepharitis.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the ocular microbial communities in humans with and without demodex blepharitis in order to elucidate the relationship between ocular microorganisms and demodex infestation.Methods: Bacterial 16S rRNA genes of conjunctival sac samples from 30 demodex blepharitis patients and 14 healthy controls were sequenced using a pyrosequencing method, and their bacterial community structures were compared by bioinformatics.Results: Bacterial community clustering of conjunctival sac in the demodex blepharitis group were significantly distinct from the healthy control group, with significantly higher relative abundances of Firmicutes and Corynebacterium at the phyla level, as well as higher abundances of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium at the genus level. The relative abundance of Staphylococcus epidermidis (0.07–2.27%) was positively correlated with the demodex amount and modified OSDI. The major potential factors contribute to demodex blepharitis were Bacilli, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria, Lactobacillus and Streptophyta.Conclusions: Patients with demodex blepharitis have varying degrees of bacterial microbiota imbalance in the conjunctival sac. Demodex serving as vectors to transfer both skin and environmental flora might be the potential mechanism. In addition, the number and type of demodex affect the specific ocular surface bacteria, presenting as ocular discomfort and obvious signs of blepharitis.

Environmentally sensitive grain-size component records and its response to climatic and anthropogenic influences in Bosten Lake region, China

Using 137Cs and 210Pb dating and multi-proxy evidence from a 41-cm sediment core from Bosten Lake in China, the responses of sediment grain size to environmental changes were reconstructed over the past 150 years. After the end of the Little Ice Age, the climate of the Bosten Lake region became warmer and drier, and the lake water level decreased. The results indicated that the lowest water storage periods occurred at approximately 1920–1930 AD. Decreases in the Siberian High intensity and water vapour transport from the Indian Ocean during this period led to a reduction in the water vapour supply, which resulted in reduced lake levels in the period 1920–1930 AD. Then, the lake was at a high level until the 1960s. The water storage then declined in the 1960s. Since the 1960s, the contents of total organic carbon and total nitrogen have significantly decreased, which is closely related to the significant decline in water level and increased water salinity caused by enhanced water demands. Increased irrigation water demand as a result of expanding cultivated areas and climate change, coupled with a reduced input of water vapour, resulted in the worst water environment in approximately 1980–1990 AD. Since the late 1980s, the water level of the lake has risen, and the lake primary productivity of Bosten Lake has improved. Through the application of statistical methods to grain size data from Bosten Lake combined with the abovementioned data on climate change and human activities, two major potential factors influencing the grain size of terrigenous clastic material were revealed. The first factor, consistent with a grain size of 3.31 μm, is related to the recent increase in agricultural acreage in the Bosten Lake watershed and may reflect increases in atmospheric dust. The second factor, correlated with grain sizes of 11.48 μm and 69.18 μm, can be used to reflect changes in the lake hydrological state. It is suggested that the grain sizes of these lake sediments sensitively reflect changes in the hydrological characteristics of the basin and can be used to reconstruct the history of climate change and human activities.

Foreign Language Reading Anxiety Among Indonesian EFL Senior High School Students

This study aims to investigate foreign language reading anxiety among Indonesian EFL Senior High School students. Thirty two students of grade eleven in a senior high school in Bandung were involved as the participants. This study employed a survey research design. The primary data source was collected by two types of questionnaires and the secondary data source was gained by interview. The findings revealed that most of the students perceived anxiety in medium level (71,9%). The study found that there were two major potential factors of foreign language reading anxiety namely text features and personal factors. Under the concept of text features, there are three sources of foreign language reading anxiety including unknown vocabulary, unfamiliar topic, and unfamiliar culture. Unknown vocabulary was considered as the most potential factor of reading anxiety under the aspect of text features (49%). On the other hand, under the concept of personal factors, there are two sources of foreign language reading anxiety including afraid of making errors, and worry about reading effects. Afraid of making error was nominated as the highest potential factor of reading anxiety under the aspect of personal factors (39%). Implication to the study and recommendations for further research were considered.
 
 Keywords: Foreign language reading anxiety, potential factors of foreign language reading anxiety

English

Exploration of the biomechanical interaction of musculoskeletal system keeps endorsing the fact that the human body can ensure efficient biomechanics without any kinematic aberrations in the joints. Excluding the injuries caused by unexpected collisions, the major potential factors that ruin the protective configuration of musculoskeletal system can be lack of exercise and incorrect exercise. A fresh perspective; ‘force couple mechanics (FCM) on femur’ (torque on femur by two muscular forces in opposite directions at two different locations), has been discussed in this article using fundamental information on anatomical linkages of muscles & correlation of various scientific reports, finally expected to stimulate electromyographic studies to dig out further scientific data.

Characterize Dilemma Zone and Minimize its Effect at Coordinated Signalized Intersections

Dilemma zone at signalized intersection has been recognized as a major potential factor causing rear-end and right-angle crashes. However, the impacts of dilemma zone have seldom been considered in optimization procedures of signal coordination. This paper conducts a comprehensive evaluation of effects of optimization objectives for signal coordination at two coordinated signalized intersections. Microscopic traffic simulation software, VISSIM, was used to represent the stochastic variation of traffic flow. The results indicate that the traffic flow fluctuation, the optimization objectives, and traffic demand level have significant impacts on dilemma zone distribution. Compared with length of dilemma zone, the number of vehicles in dilemma zone is more sensitive to the signal coordination. The method to avoid dilemma zone is also proposed based on simulation results.

Use of growth factor-loaded acetylated polysaccharide as a coating material to improve endothelialization of vascular stents

Endothelial cell-coated stents have attracted interest as an ideal treatment method for preventing restenosis following stent deployment to the peripheral locations. In an attempt to evaluate the proliferation and differentiation activities of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), the acetylated polysaccharide, pullulan acetate (PA), loaded with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (PA/V), a major potential factor influencing vascularization, was examined as a coating for peripherally placed stents. The surface of the PA/V-coated stents observed by scanning electron microscopy was smoother than that of the bare nitinol stents. In an in vitro study, the HUVECs attached to PA/V-coated stents survived and proliferated well compared to the bare stents or stents with only a PA coating (without VEGF). These results were supported by in vivo tests using nude mice. In addition, histology and immunohistochemistry analyses showed that mature endothelial cell-specific markers were expressed at high levels by HUVECs attached to PA-coated stents when VEGF was released. These results suggest that coating stents with PA/V provides a new effective approach for increasing endothelization and prevents stent restenosis.

Identical Skin Toxins by Convergent Molecular Adaptation in Frogs

The Tree of Life is rife with adaptive convergences at all scales and biological levels of complexity. However, natural selection is not likely to result in the independent evolution of identical gene products. Here we report such a striking example of evolutionary convergence in the toxic skin secretions of two distantly related frog lineages. Caeruleins are important decapeptides in pharmacological and clinical research [1] and are commonly believed to represent a single evolutionary class of peptides [2-4]. Instead, our phylogenetic analyses combining transcriptome and genome data reveal that independently evolved precursor genes encode identical caeruleins in Xenopus and Litoria frogs. The former arose by duplication from the cholecystokinin (cck) gene, whereas the latter was derived from the gastrin gene. These hormone genes that are involved in many physiological processes diverged early in vertebrate evolution, after a segmental duplication during the Cambrian period. Besides implicating convergent mutations of the peptide-encoding sequence, recurrent caerulein origins entail parallel shifts of expression from the gut-brain axis to skin secretory glands. These results highlight extreme structural convergence in anciently diverged genes as an evolutionary mechanism through which recurrent adaptation is attained across large phylogenetic distances.

Building new countryside in China: A geographical perspective

The central government of China recently mapped out an important strategy on “building a new countryside” to overall coordinate urban and rural development and gear up national economic growth. This paper analyzes the potential factors influencing the building of a new countryside in China, and provides a critical discussion of the problems and implications concerning carrying out this campaign, from a geographical perspective. To some extent, regional discrepancies, rural poverty, rural land-use issues and the present international environment are four major potential factors. Our analyses indicated that land consolidation, praised highly by the governments, is not a panacea for China's rural land-use issues concerning building a new countryside, and the key problem is how to reemploy the surplus rural labors and resettle the land-loss farmers. More attentions should be paid to caring for farmers’ future livelihoods in the process of implementing the strategy. The regional measures and policies concerning building a new countryside need to take the obvious regional discrepancies both in physical and socio-economic conditions into account. In a World Trade Organization (WTO) membership environment, efficient land use for non-agricultural economic development, to some extent, needs to be a priority in the eastern region instead of blindly conserving land to maintain food security, part task of which can be shifted to the central region and the northeastern region. More preferential policies should be formulated to reverse the rural brain–drain phenomenon. Based on the analyses and the complexity of China's rural problems, the authors argue that building new countryside in China will be an arduous task and a long road, the target of which is hard to achieve successfully in this century.

Comparative Observation of Skeletal-Dental Abnormalities in Wild, Domestic, and Laboratory Rabbits

Dietary habits must be considered as one of the major potential factors resulting in acquired malocclusions in rabbits. Although the dentition of the wild rabbit and the domesticated laboratory rabbit are basically identical, dietary habits are noticeably different. Therefore, the prevalence of tooth problems between these lagomorph species were investigated anatomically and radiographically. Mean measurements of the skull and dental arches suggested that wild rabbits have slightly shorter and wider skulls and dental arches compared with domestic laboratory rabbits. Root elongation of incisors and check teeth, and periodontal disease were more frequently observed in domestic laboratory rabbits. Diagnostic radiographs from domestic pet rabbits showed relatively higher crowns, severe root elongation, and advanced periodontitis. These results do not provide definitive evidence that dietary habits cause malocclusions, however they suggest that diet is a major factor in the initiation of malocclusions in rabbits.

Nonreplication in Genetic Studies of Complex Diseases—Lessons Learned From Studies of Osteoporosis and Tentative Remedies

Inconsistent results have accumulated in genetic studies of complex diseases/traits over the past decade. Using osteoporosis as an example, we address major potential factors for the nonreplication results and propose some potential remedies. Over the past decade, numerous linkage and association studies have been performed to search for genes predisposing to complex human diseases. However, relatively little success has been achieved, and inconsistent results have accumulated. We argue that those nonreplication results are not unexpected, given the complicated nature of complex diseases and a number of confounding factors. In this article, based on our experience in genetic studies of osteoporosis, we discuss major potential factors for the inconsistent results and propose some potential remedies. We believe that one of the main reasons for this lack of reproducibility is overinterpretation of nominally significant results from studies with insufficient statistical power. We indicate that the power of a study is not only influenced by the sample size, but also by genetic heterogeneity, the extent and degree of linkage disequilibrium (LD) between the markers tested and the causal variants, and the allele frequency differences between them. We also discuss the effects of other confounding factors, including population stratification, phenotype difference, genotype and phenotype quality control, multiple testing, and genuine biological differences. In addition, we note that with low statistical power, even a "replicated" finding is still likely to be a false positive. We believe that with rigorous control of study design and interpretation of different outcomes, inconsistency will be largely reduced, and the chances of successfully revealing genetic components of complex diseases will be greatly improved.

Driving Forces of Informal Sanctions

"Informal sanctions are a major determinant of a society’s social capital because they are key to the enforcement of implicit agreements and social norms. Yet, little is known about the driving forces behind informal sanctions. We systematically examine the determinants of informal sanctions by a large number of experiments. Our experiments allow us to identify the relative importance of three major potential factors: (i) strategic sanctioning for selfish reasons, (ii) non-strategic sanctions driven by spitefulness, and (iii) non-strategic sanctions that are driven by the violation of fairness principles. In addition, the observed sanctioning patterns provide insights into the relevance of different fairness principles.nOur findings show that the violation of fairness principles is the most important driving force of sanctions but, in addition, a non-negligible part of the sanctions is driven by spitefulness. We find surprisingly little evidence for strategic sanctions that are imposed to create future material benefits. While non-strategic sanctions are of major importance in our experiments, strategic sanctions seem to play a negligible role. Within the class of fairnessdrivennsanctions the motive to harm those who committed unfair actions seems mostnimportant."

Further studies on the regulation of human placental steroid 3-sulfatase activity.

Previously, we have proposed that inhibition of human placental steroid sulfatase by endogenous steroids may render it rate limiting and provide a mechanism controlling estrogen synthesis from C19-Δ5-3β-yl sulfates during pregnancy. Inhibitory effects of 129 endogenous and synthetic steroids on DHAS (l7-oxo-5-androsten- 3β-yl sulfate, apparent Km = 3.3 × 10-5M) hydrolysis by human term placental sulfatase have now been determined in vitro. Structure-activity data are compatible with binding of conjugated steroids to the enzyme via 3 sites, in addition to hydrophobic interactions. Inhibitory activity of unconjugated compounds is favored by planar Δ5-or 5α-structures unsubstituted except for oxygen functions at C-3 and C-20. Alternative substrates (e.g., pregnenolone sulfate, apparent Ki = 0.06 × 10-5M), acting competitively, were the most potent inhibitors. They appear to be the major potential factors reducing effective sulfatase levels in the proposed mechanism. Cumulative effects of other endogenous, co...