Phenomenological Constraints on the Transport Properties of QCD Matter with Data-Driven Model Averaging.

Using combined data from the Relativistic Heavy Ion and Large Hadron Colliders, we constrain the shear and bulk viscosities of quark-gluon plasma (QGP) at temperatures of ∼150-350  MeV. We use Bayesian inference to translate experimental and theoretical uncertainties into probabilistic constraints for the viscosities. With Bayesian model averaging we propagate an estimate of the model uncertainty generated by the transition from hydrodynamics to hadron transport in the plasma's final evolution stage, providing the most reliable phenomenological constraints to date on the QGP viscosities.

The Origins and Evolution of the Journal of Aging and Social Policy.

In this essay the current and previous editors discuss the history of the . In reviewing the past thirty years of publishing the Journal, one can see three phases: Phase 1 took pace during the first decade (1989-1997), Phase 2 covered the next decade and a half or so (1998-2015), and Phase 3 reflects the past five years, a period of continuing growth and success (2016-Present). Despite its inevitable challenges, the overcame each and has arrived.

Development of Conjugate Addition of Lithium Dialkylcuprates to Thiochromones: Synthesis of 2-Alkylthiochroman-4-ones and Additional Synthetic Applications.

Lithium dialkylcuprates undergo conjugate addition to thiochromones to afford 2-alkylthiochroman-4-ones in good yields. This approach provide an efficient and general synthetic approach to privileged sulfur-containing structural motifs and valuable precursors for many pharmaceuticals, starting from common substrates-thiochromones. Good yields of 2-alkyl-substituted thiochroman-4-ones are attained with lithium dialkylcuprates, lithium alkylcyanocuprates or substoichiometric amount of copper salts.

Effective Visualization of Temporal Ensembles.

An ensemble is a collection of related datasets, called members, built from a series of runs of a simulation or an experiment. Ensembles are large, temporal, multidimensional, and multivariate, making them difficult to analyze. Another important challenge is visualizing ensembles that vary both in space and time.

SERPINB3/B4 contributes to early inflammation and barrier dysfunction in an experimental murine model of atopic dermatitis.

Serine proteases are critical for epidermal barrier homeostasis, and their aberrant expression and/or activity is associated with chronic skin diseases. Elevated levels of the serine protease inhibitors SERPINB3 and SERPINB4 are seen in patients with atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. However, their mechanistic role in the skin is unknown.

Overexpression of dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 attenuates airway inflammation in a mouse model of asthma.

Levels of asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, are increased in lung, sputum, exhaled breath condensate and plasma samples from asthma patients. ADMA is metabolized primarily by dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase 1 (DDAH1) and DDAH2. We determined the effect of DDAH1 overexpression on development of allergic inflammation in a mouse model of asthma.

EGFR signaling blunts allergen-induced IL-6 production and Th17 responses in the skin and attenuates development and relapse of atopic dermatitis.

Despite the important role for epidermal growth factor (EGF) in epithelial homeostasis and wound healing, it has not been investigated in atopic dermatitis (AD). We used AD animal models to explore the role of EGF in AD. In an acute AD model, skin transepidermal water loss was significantly attenuated in EGF-treated mice.

IL-13 receptor α2 contributes to development of experimental allergic asthma.

Background: IL-13 receptor α2 (IL-13Rα2) binds IL-13 with high affinity and modulates IL-13 responses. There are soluble and membrane forms of IL-13Rα2 generated by alternative splicing in mice, but human subjects express only the membrane form of IL-13Rα2 (memIL-13Rα2).

Objective: We determined the role of memIL-13Rα2 in the development of allergic inflammation in mouse models of asthma.

Center domains and their phenomenological consequences.

We argue that the domain structure of deconfined QCD matter, which can be inferred from the properties of the Polyakov loop, can simultaneously explain the two most prominent experimentally verified features of the quark-gluon plasma, namely its large opacity as well as its near ideal fluid properties.

The state of gerontology--opus one.

An examination of the state of gerontology as observed from the office of the provost prepared for the 2012 GSA Kent Award Lecture. Strengths and weaknesses of the field are identified in the context of the changing environment of higher education. This article identifies specific recommendations for strengthening the field, particularly in the arena of theory development, with the implications for long-range financial support within research universities.

Surface availability of beta-glucans is critical determinant of host immune response to Cladosporium cladosporioides.

Background: It is well accepted that mold exposure is a major contributor to the development of asthma, and beta-glucans are often used as a surrogate for mold exposure in the environment. Beta-glucans are an important component of mold spores and are recognized by the immune system by their receptor, Dectin-1. Cladosporium cladosporioides spores have a high beta-glucan content, but the beta-glucans are not available on the surface of live spores.

Dectin-1 and IL-17A suppress murine asthma induced by Aspergillus versicolor but not Cladosporium cladosporioides due to differences in β-glucan surface exposure.

There is considerable evidence supporting a role for mold exposure in the pathogenesis and expression of childhood asthma. Aspergillus versicolor and Cladosporium cladosporioides are common molds that have been implicated in asthma. In a model of mold-induced asthma, mice were repeatedly exposed to either A.

Exploring Ensemble Visualization.

An ensemble is a collection of related datasets. Each dataset, or member, of an ensemble is normally large, multidimensional, and spatio-temporal. Ensembles are used extensively by scientists and mathematicians, for example, by executing a simulation repeatedly with slightly different input parameters and saving the results in an ensemble to see how parameter choices affect the simulation.

200 A GeV Au + Au collisions serve a nearly perfect quark-gluon liquid.

A new robust method to extract the specific shear viscosity (η/s)(QGP) of a quark-gluon plasma (QGP) at temperatures T(c) < T ≲ 2T(c) from the centrality dependence of the eccentricity-scaled elliptic flow v2/ε measured in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions is presented. Coupling viscous fluid dynamics for the QGP with a microscopic transport model for hadronic freeze-out we find for 200 A GeV Au + Au collisions that v2/ε is a universal function of multiplicity density (1/S)(dN(ch)/dy) that depends only on the viscosity but not on the model used for computing the initial fireball eccentricity ε. Comparing with measurements we find 1<4π(η/s)(QGP) < 2.

Downregulation of glutathione S-transferase pi in asthma contributes to enhanced oxidative stress.

Background: Glutathione S-transferase pi (GSTPi) is the predominant redox regulator in the lung. Although evidence implicates an important role for GSTPi in asthma, the mechanism for this has remained elusive.

Objectives: We sought to determine how GSTPi is regulated in asthma and to elucidate its role in maintaining redox homeostasis.

A nonredundant role for mouse Serpinb3a in the induction of mucus production in asthma.

Background: Asthma is a major public health burden worldwide. Studies from our group and others have demonstrated that SERPINB3 and SERPINB4 are induced in patients with asthma; however, their mechanistic role in asthma has yet to be determined.

Objective: To evaluate the role of Serpin3a, the murine homolog of SERPINB3 and SERPINB4, in asthma.

IL-13Rα2 has a protective role in a mouse model of cutaneous inflammation.

IL-13 is expressed in lesions of atopic dermatitis (AD) and has been associated with increased disease severity. IL-13 has two cognate receptors: IL-13Rα1 and IL-13Rα2. Although IL-13Rα2 expression is known to be induced in response to IL-13 in keratinocytes, its function in AD has never been evaluated.

Shear-viscosity to entropy-density ratio of a relativistic hadron gas.

Ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions at the Brookhaven National Laboratory Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) are thought to have produced a state of matter called the quark-gluon plasma, characterized by a very small shear-viscosity to entropy-density ratio eta/s, near the lower bound predicted for that quantity by anti-de Sitter space/conformal field theory methods. As the produced matter expands and cools, it evolves through a phase described by a hadron gas with rapidly increasing eta/s. We calculate eta/s as a function of temperature in this phase both in and out of chemical equilibrium and find that its value poses a challenge for viscous relativistic hydrodynamics, which requires small values of eta/s in order to successfully describe the collective flow observables at the RHIC.

Transverse velocity dependence of the proton-antiproton ratio as a signature of the QCD critical point.

The presence of a critical point in the QCD phase diagram can deform the trajectories describing the evolution of the expanding fireball in the mu_B-T phase diagram. If the average emission time of hadrons is a function of transverse velocity, as microscopic simulations of the hadronic freeze-out dynamics suggest, the deformation of the hydrodynamic trajectories will change the transverse velocity (beta_T) dependence of the proton-antiproton ratio when the fireball passes in the vicinity of the critical point. An unusual beta_T dependence of the [over]p/p ratio in a narrow beam energy window would thus signal the presence of the critical point.

Longitudinal broadening of quenched jets in turbulent color fields.

The nearside distribution of particles at intermediate transverse momentum, associated with a high momentum trigger hadron produced in a high energy heavy-ion collision, is broadened in rapidity compared with the jet cone. This broadened distribution is thought to contain the energy lost by the progenitor parton of the trigger hadron. We show that the broadening can be explained as the final-state deflection of the gluons radiated from the hard parton inside the medium by soft, transversely oriented, turbulent color fields that arise in the presence of plasma instabilities.

Anomalous viscosity of an expanding quark-gluon plasma.

We argue that an expanding quark-gluon plasma has an anomalous viscosity, which arises from interactions with dynamically generated color fields. We derive an expression for the anomalous viscosity in the turbulent plasma domain and apply it to the hydrodynamic expansion phase, when the quark-gluon plasma is near equilibrium. The anomalous viscosity dominates over the collisional viscosity for weak coupling and not too late times.

Medicare reform--a wolf in sheep's clothing.

This article examines the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 as a case study of the political process and examines the elements of the legislation, the process of passage, and implications of some its most controversial components.

Correlated emission of hadrons from recombination of correlated partons.

We discuss different sources of hadron correlations in relativistic heavy ion collisions. We show that correlations among partons in a quasithermal medium can lead to the correlated emission of hadrons by quark recombination and argue that this mechanism offers a plausible explanation for the dihadron correlations in the few GeV/c momentum range observed in Au+Au collisions at the BNL Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider.