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Wind turbines can cause interference to nearby radars due to strong backscattering. As a recently recognized type of radar interference, wind turbine radar signatures need to be fully studied. The scaled measurement of a wind turbine model has been proposed to characterize wind turbine radar signatures. The radar wind turbine testbed (RWT$^2$) has been developed for such a purpose. Polarimetric radar signatures derived from measurements reveal unique features that can be exploited to help identify wind turbines from desired radar targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the Spectrum-Time Estimation and Processing (STEP) algorithm developed in the Atmospheric Radar Research Center (ARRC) at the University of Oklahoma (OU). The STEP processing framework integrates three novel algorithms recently developed in ARRC: spectrum clutter identification, bi-Gaussian clutter filtering, and multi-lag moment estimation. The three modules of STEP algorithm fulfill three functions: clutter identification, clutter filtering and noise reduction, respectively. The performance of STEP has been evaluated using simulated data as well as real data collected by the C-band polarimetric research radar OU-Polarimetric Radar for Innovations in Meteorology and Engineering. Results show that STEP algorithm can effectively improve quality of polarimetric weather data in the presence of ground clutter and noise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the National Weather Radar Testbed (NWRT) was installed in 2004, a single-channel digital receiver was implemented so that the radar could mimic typical Weather Surveillance Radar (WSR) version 1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) capability. This, however, left unused eight other channels, built into the antenna. This paper describes the hardware instrumentation of a recently completed project that digitizes the radar signals produced by these channels. The NWRT is the nation's first phased array devoted to weather observations, and this testbed serves as an evaluation platform to test new hardware and signal processing concepts. The multichannel digital data will foster a new generation of adaptive/fast scanning techniques and space-antenna/interferometry measurements, which will then be used for improved weather forecasting via data assimilation. The multichannel receiver collects signals from the sum, azimuth-difference, elevation-difference, and five broad-beamed auxiliary channels. One of the major advantages of the NWRT is the capability to adaptively scan weather phenomena at a higher temporal resolution than is possible with the WSR-88D. Access to the auxiliary channels will enable clutter mitigation and advanced array processing for higher data quality with shorter dwell times. Potential benefits of higher quality and higher resolution data include: better understanding of storm dynamics and convective initiation; better detection of small-scale phenomena, including tornadoes and microbursts; and crossbeam wind, shear, and turbulence estimates. These items have the distinct possibility to ultimately render increased lead time for warnings and improved weather prediction. Finally, samples of recently collected data are presented in the results section of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study presents a new identification and mitigation scheme of second trip contamination for pulsed Doppler polarimetric weather radars with the ability of random phase coding. This scheme can be easily implemented in a magnetron radar without any hardware changes. For relatively weak contamination, identification and mitigation are based on a multilag processing method, which uses multiple lags of both the auto- and cross-correlation functions to estimate radar moments. For relatively strong contamination, instantaneous phase variations of horizontal and vertical polarization channels are combined into a simple fuzzy-logic scheme to complete the identification. Data from the C-band OU-PRIME radar are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme for identification and mitigation of second-trip echoes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Yolk sac tumours (YSTs) and germinomas are the two major pure histological subtypes of germ cell tumours. To date, the role of DNA methylation in the aetiology of this class of tumour has only been analysed in adult testicular forms and with respect to only a few genes.Methods: A bank of paediatric tumours was analysed for global methylation of LINE-1 repeat elements and global methylation of regulatory elements using GoldenGate methylation arrays.Results: Both germinomas and YSTs exhibited significant global hypomethylation of LINE-1 elements. However, in germinomas, methylation of gene regulatory regions differed little from control samples, whereas YSTs exhibited increased methylation at a large proportion of the loci tested, showing a 'methylator' phenotype, including silencing of genes associated with Caspase-8-dependent apoptosis. Furthermore, we found that the methylator phenotype of YSTs was coincident with higher levels of expression of the DNA methyltransferase, DNA (cytosine-5)-methyltransferase 3B, suggesting a mechanism underlying the phenotype.Conclusion: Epigenetic silencing of a large number of potential tumour suppressor genes in YSTs might explain why they exhibit a more aggressive natural history than germinomas and silencing of genes associated with Caspase-8-dependent cell death might explain the relative resistance of YSTs to conventional therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trends in current weather research involve active phased-array radar systems that have several advantages over conventional radars with klystron or magnetron transmitters. However, phased-array radars generally do not have the same peak transmit power capability as conventional systems so they must transmit longer pulses to maintain an equivalent average power on target. Increasing transmits pulse duration increases range gate size but the use of pulse compression offers a means of recovering the otherwise lost resolution. To evaluate pulse compression for use in future weather radar systems, modifications to a weather radar simulator have been made to incorporate phase-coding into its functionality. Data derived from Barker-coded pulses with matched and mismatched filters were compared with data obtained from uncoded pulses to evaluate the pulse compression performance. Additionally, pulse compression was simulated using data collected from an experimental radar to validate the simulated results. The data derived from both experimental and simulated methods were then applied to a fuzzy logic tornado detection algorithm to examine the effects of the pulse compression process. It was found that the fuzzy logic process was sufficiently robust to maintain high levels of detection accuracy with low false alarm rates even though biases were observed in the pulse-compressed data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A case study illustrating the impact of moisture variability on convection initiation in a synoptically active environment without strong moisture gradients is presented. The preconvective environment on 30 April 2007 nearly satisfied the three conditions for convection initiation: moisture, instability, and a low-level lifting mechanism. However, a sounding analysis showed that a low-level inversion layer and high LFC would prevent convection initiation because the convective updraft velocities required to overcome the convective inhibition (CIN) were much higher than updraft velocities typically observed in convergence zones. Radar refractivity retrievals from the Twin Lakes, Oklahoma (KTLX), Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) showed a moisture pool contributing up to a 2°C increase in dewpoint temperature where the initial storm-scale convergence was observed. The analysis of the storm-relative wind field revealed that the developing storm ingested the higher moisture associated with the moisture pool. Sounding analyses showed that the moisture pool reduced or nearly eliminated CIN, lowered the LFC by about 500 m, and increased CAPE by 2.5 times. Thus, these small-scale moisture changes increased the likelihood of convection initiation within the moisture pool by creating a more favorable thermodynamic environment. The results suggest that refractivity data could improve convection initiation forecasts by assessing moisture variability at finer scales than the current observation network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2007 and 2008 spring refractivity experiments at KTLX investigated the potential utility of high-resolution, near-surface refractivity measurements to operational forecasting. During these experiments, forecasters at the Norman, Oklahoma, National Weather Service Forecast Office (NWSFO) assessed refractivity and scan-to-scan refractivity change fields retrieved from the Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler weather radar near Oklahoma City—Twin Lakes, Oklahoma (KTLX). Both quantitative and qualitative analysis methods were used to analyze the 41 responses from seven forecasters to a questionnaire designed to measure the impact of refractivity fields on forecast operations. The analysis revealed that forecasts benefited from the refractivity fields on 25% of the days included in the evaluation. In each of these cases, the refractivity fields provided complementary information that somewhat enhanced the forecasters’ capability to analyze the near-surface environment and boosted their confidence in moisture trends. A case in point was the ability to track a retreating dryline after its location was obscured by a weak reflectivity bloom caused by biological scatterers. Forecasters unanimously agreed, however, that the impact of this complementary information on their forecasts was too insignificant to justify its addition as an operational dataset. The applicability of these findings to other NWSFOs may be limited to locations with similar weather situations and access to surface data networks like the Oklahoma Mesonet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A computationally simple cross-correlation model for multiple backscattering from a continuous wave (CW) noise radar is developed and verified with theoretical analysis and brute-force time-domain simulations. Based on this cross-correlation model, a modification of an existing numerical method originally developed by Holdsworth and Reid for spaced antenna (SA) pulsed radar is used to simulate the estimated cross correlation corresponding to atmospheric backscattering using a coherent CW noise radar. Subsequently, coherent radar imaging (CRI) processing comparisons between the CW noise radar and a conventional pulsed radar are presented that verify the potential of CW noise radar for atmospheric imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The wind power industry has seen tremendous growth over the past decade and with it has come the need for clutter mitigation techniques for nearby radar systems. Wind turbines can impart upon these radars a unique type of interference that is not removed with conventional clutter-filtering methods. Time series data from Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) stations near wind farms were collected and spectral analysis was used to investigate the detailed characteristics of wind turbine clutter. Techniques to mask wind turbine clutter were developed that utilize multiquadric interpolation in two and three dimensions and can be applied to both the spectral moments and spectral components. In an effort to improve performance, a nowcasting algorithm was incorporated into the interpolation scheme via a least mean squares criterion. The masking techniques described in this paper will be shown to reduce the impact of wind turbine clutter on weather radar systems at the expense of spatial resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the accuracy of the Doppler beam-swinging (DBS) technique for wind measurements is studied using an imaging radar—the turbulent eddy profiler (TEP) developed by the University of Massachusetts, with data collected in summer 2003. With up to 64 independent receivers, and using coherent radar imaging (CRI), several hundred partially independent beams can be formed simultaneously within the volume defined by the transmit beam. By selecting a subset of these beams, an unprecedented number of DBS configurations with varying zenith angle, azimuth angle, and number of beams can be investigated. The angular distributions of echo power and radial velocity obtained by CRI provide a unique opportunity to validate the inherent assumption in the DBS method of homogeneity across the region defined by the beam directions. Through comparison with a reference wind field, calculated as the optimal uniform wind field derived from all CRI beams with sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the accuracy of the wind estimates for various DBS configurations is statistically analyzed. It is shown that for a three-beam DBS configuration, although the validity of the homogeneity assumption is enhanced at smaller zenith angles, the root-mean-square (RMS) error increases because of the ill-conditioned matrix in the DBS algorithm. As expected, inhomogeneities in the wind field produce large bias for the three-beam DBS configuration for large zenith angles. An optimal zenith angle, in terms of RMS error, of approximately 9°–10° was estimated. It is further shown that RMS error can be significantly reduced by increasing the number of off-vertical beams used for the DBS processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A three-dimensional radar simulator capable of generating simulated raw time series data for a weather radar has been designed and implemented. The characteristics of the radar signals (amplitude, phase) are derived from the atmospheric fields from a high-resolution numerical weather model, although actual measured fields could be used. A field of thousands of scatterers is populated within the field of view of the virtual radar. Reflectivity characteristics of the targets are determined from well-known parameterization schemes. Doppler characteristics are derived by forcing the discrete scatterers to move with the three-dimensional wind field. Conventional moment-generating radar simulators use atmospheric conditions and a set of weighting functions to produce theoretical moment maps, which allow for the study of radar characteristics and limitations given particular configurations. In contrast to these radar simulators, the algorithm presented here is capable of producing sample-to-sample time series data that are collected by a radar system of virtually any design. Thus, this new radar simulator allows for the test and analysis of advanced topics, such as phased array antennas, clutter mitigation schemes, waveform design studies, and spectral-based methods. Limited examples exemplifying the usefulness and flexibility of the simulator will be provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malignant germ cell tumours (MGCTs) of childhood are a rare group of neoplasms that comprise many histological subtypes and arise at numerous different sites. Genomic imbalances have been described in these tumours but, largely because of the paucity of cases reported in the literature, it is unclear how they relate to abnormalities in adult MGCTs and impact on potential systems for classifying GCTs. We have used metaphase-based comparative genomic hybridisation to analyse the largest series of paediatric MGCTs reported to date, representing 34 primary tumours (22 yolk sac tumours (YSTs), 11 germinomatous tumours and one metastatic embryonal carcinoma) occurring in children from birth to age 16, including 17 ovarian MGCTs. The large dataset enabled us to undertake statistical analysis, with the aim of identifying associations worthy of further investigation between patterns of genomic imbalance and clinicopathological parameters. The YSTs showed an increased frequency of 1p- (P=0.003), 3p+ (P=0.02), 4q− (P=0.07) and 6q− (P=0.004) compared to germinomatous tumours. Gain of 12p, which is invariably seen in adult MGCTs, was present in 53% of primary MGCTs of children aged 5–16 and was also observed in four of 14 YSTs affecting children less than 5. Two of these cases (14% of MGCTs in children less than 5) showed gain of the 12p11 locus considered to be particularly relevant in adult MGCTs. Gain of 12p showed a significant association with gain of 12q. Conversely, MGCTs without 12p gain displayed a significantly increased frequency of loss on 16p (P=0.04), suggesting that this imbalance may contribute to tumour development in such cases. This data provides new insight into the biology of this under-investigated tumour group and will direct future studies on the significance of specific genetic abnormalities.British Journal of Cancer (2007) 96, 667–676. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6603602 www.bjcancer.com Published online 6 February 2007 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights recent results obtained with the Turbulent Eddy Profiler (TEP), which was developed by the University of Massachusetts. This unique 915-MHz radar has up to 64 spatially separated receiving elements, each with an independent receiver. The calibrated raw data provided by this array could be processed using sophisticated imaging algorithms to resolve the horizontal structures within each range gate. After collecting all of the closely spaced horizontal slices, the TEP radar can produce three-dimensional images of echo power, radial velocity, and spectral width. From the radial velocity measurements, it is possible to estimate the three-dimensional wind with high horizontal and vertical resolution. Given the flexibility of the TEP system, various array configurations are possible. In the present work exploitation of the flexibility of TEP is attempted to enhance the rejection of clutter from unwanted biological targets. From statistical studies, most biological clutter results from targets outside the main imaging field of view, that is, the sidelobes and grating lobes (if they exist) of the receiving beam. Because the TEP array's minimum receiver separation exceeds the spatial Nyquist sampling requirement, substantial possibilities for grating-lobe clutter exist and are observed in actual array data. When imaging over the transmit beam volume, the receiving array main lobe is scanned over a ±12.5° region. This scanning also sweeps the grating lobes over a wide angular region, virtually guaranteeing that a biological scatterer outside of the main beam will appear somewhere in the imaged volume. This paper focuses on suppressing pointlike targets in the grating-lobe regions. With a subtle change to the standard TEP array hardware configuration, it is shown via simulations and actual experimental observations (collected in June 2003) that adaptive beamforming methods can subsequently be used to significantly suppress the effects of point targets on the wind field estimates. These pointlike targets can be birds or planes with strong reflectivity. By pointlike the authors mean its appearance is a distinct point (up to the imaging resolution) in the images. The pointlike strong reflectivity signature exploits the capability of adaptive beamforming to suppress the interference using the new array configuration. It should be noted that this same array configuration does not exhibit this beneficial effect when standard Fourier beamforming is employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycobacterial preparations have been used with limited success against cancer apart from superficial bladder cancer. Recently, a therapeutic vaccine derived from Mycobacterium vaccae has been given to patients with prostate cancer and melanoma indicating a possible beneficial effect on disease activity in such patients. We have recently initiated a series of randomized studies to test the feasibility and toxicity of combining a preparation of heat-killed Mycobacterium vaccae (designated SRL172) with a multidrug chemotherapy regimen to treat patients with inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and mesothelioma. 28 evaluable patients with previously untreated symptomatic NSCLC and mesothelioma were randomized to receive either 3 weekly intravenous combination chemotherapy alone, or chemotherapy given with monthly intra-dermal injections of SRL172. Safety and tolerability were scored by common toxicity criteria and efficacy was evaluated by survival of patients and by tumour response assessed by CT scanning. The toxicity of chemotherapy was similar in the two groups. SRL172 caused mild inflammation at the injection site. In the group of patients randomized to receive chemotherapy combined with SRL172, there was a trend towards improved response rate (54% vs. 33%) with more patients in the combined arm receiving radical surgery and radiotherapy, improved median survival (9.7 months vs. 7.5 months) and improved 1 year survival (42% vs. 18%). SRL172 appeared to improve sleep (P = 0.08) and improved appetite (P = 0.01). There was no detectable change in serum cytokine levels for gamma-interferon and TNF-α before and after treatment. In patients with NSCLC and mesothelioma, there may be a beneficial interaction when chemotherapy is administered in combination with SRL172. Confirmation of this effect and further investigation is underway in a randomized phase III trial and in laboratory models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two cases of non-familial haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) are presented in which treatment with interferon alfa and gammaglobulin was associated with complete clinical remission. In one case, serological evidence of recent Epstein-Barr virus infection was found. Natural killer cell activity was within normal limits in both children, compatible with a secondary form of HLH. The combination of interferon alfa and intravenous gammaglobulin requires further evaluation in the treatment of non-familial HLH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article concerns with several implications of the unstable identity formation presumed to be associated with psychopathological states. Hypothesis I predicts that psychiatric inpatients, because of a tenuous or poorly developed sense of personal identity, would demonstrate greater externality on J.B. Rotter's measure of internal-external control, as compared with patients hospitalized for nonpsychiatric reasons. Hypothesis II predicts less acceptance of parental norms and values (less "identification" with parents in this sense) by the psychiatric patients, as measured by P.E. Slater's Parental Role Perceptions (PRP) test. A third hypothesis predicted a perception of greater parental warmth and support among the nonpsychiatric than among the psychiatric patients. The study also explores the relationship of locus of control to individuals' perceptions of their parents, though no formal predictions were made in this area. The expectation that degree of identification with parents would be related to individuals' perceptions of parental warmth could not be directly evaluated in the present study because of the nonindependence of these two PRP measures. Measures of social competence and psychiatric diagnosis are also included in the present study, on an exploratory basis.

The article focuses on the common patterns of neurotic reaction, as automatization and hypochondriasis, in individuals. People who demonstrate an abnormal, psychoneurotic concern over bodily health constitute a psychiatric and social problem of no small proportions. Among the aged, for example, hypochondnasis is reported to be the most common pattern of neurotic reaction. A review of a wide range of hypochondriacal phenomena seems to implicate both constitutional and environmental determinants of hypochondriacal experience. Automatization behaviors are behaviors so well practiced and overlearned that a minimum of physical or mental effort is required for their successful efficient execution. Such behaviors include the bulk of everyday, routine, repetitive activities, such as maintaining one's balance, walking, reading, talking. Not only the motor apparatus but also perception and thinking show automatization-that exercise of cognitive functions automatizes methods of problem-solving just as it does walking, speaking, or writing.