117 research outputs found
The problem of shot selection in basketball
In basketball, every time the offense produces a shot opportunity the player
with the ball must decide whether the shot is worth taking. In this paper, I
explore the question of when a team should shoot and when they should pass up
the shot by considering a simple theoretical model of the shot selection
process, in which the quality of shot opportunities generated by the offense is
assumed to fall randomly within a uniform distribution. I derive an answer to
the question "how likely must the shot be to go in before the player should
take it?", and show that this "lower cutoff" for shot quality depends
crucially on the number of shot opportunities remaining (say, before the
shot clock expires), with larger demanding that only higher-quality shots
should be taken. The function is also derived in the presence of a
finite turnover rate and used to predict the shooting rate of an
optimal-shooting team as a function of time. This prediction is compared to
observed shooting rates from the National Basketball Association (NBA), and the
comparison suggests that NBA players tend to wait too long before shooting and
undervalue the probability of committing a turnover.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures; comparison to NBA data adde
Cannabinoid receptor 2 modulates maturation of dendritic cells and their capacity to induce hapten-induced contact hypersensitivity
Contact hypersensitivity (CHS) is an established animal model for allergic contact dermatitis. Dendritic cells (DCs) play an important role in the sensitization phase of CHS by initiating T cell responses to topically applied haptens. The cannabinoid receptors 1 (CB1) and 2 (CB2) modulate DC functions and inflammatory skin responses, but their influence on the capacity of haptenized DCs to induce CHS is still unknown. We found lower CHS responses to 2,4-dinitro-1-fluorobenzene (DNFB) in wild type (WT) mice after adoptive transfer of haptenized Cnr2-/- and Cnr1-/-/Cnr2-/- bone marrow (BM) DCs as compared to transfer of WT DCs. In contrast, induction of CHS was not affected in WT recipients after transfer of Cnr1-/- DCs. In vitro stimulated Cnr2-/- DCs showed lower CCR7 and CXCR4 expression when compared to WT cells, while in vitro migration towards the chemokine ligands was not affected by CB2. Upregulation of MHC class II and co-stimulatory molecules was also reduced in Cnr2-/- DCs. This study demonstrates that CB2 modulates the maturation phenotype of DCs but not their chemotactic capacities in vitro. These findings and the fact that CHS responses mediated by Cnr2-/- DCs are reduced suggest that CB2 is a promising target for the treatment of inflammatory skin conditions.Evelyn Gaffal, Andrea M. Kemter, Stefanie Scheu, Rafael Leite Dantas,
Jens Vogt, Bernhard Baune, Thomas Tüting, Andreas Zimmer and Judith Alferin
Mechanisms of T cell organotropism
F.M.M.-B. is supported by the British Heart Foundation, the Medical Research Council of the UK and the Gates Foundation
Expression profiles of immune mediators in feline Coronavirus-infected cells and clinical samples of feline Coronavirus-positive cats
`Kunsthuis` aan het Merwedekanaal: Transformatie van het OPG magazijn
Studi UtrechtRMITArchitectur
An operant tracking procedure in the auditory assessment of profoundly retarded individuals.
The present study investigated a discrete-trials, operant tracking and a descending-series procedure for the determination of hearing levels with profoundly retarded individuals. These individuals were previously diagnosed as untestable. Following stimulus-control training with errorless discrimination procedures, hearing levels for each individual were examined with both procedures. For P-1 and P-2, the operant tracking procedure was administered following a descending-series procedure. Both were observed to "track" their own hearing levels. For P-3, the operant tracking procedure was administered first, followed by the descending-series procedure. Although P-3 also "tracked" her own hearing level, more variable responding was observed. Nonetheless, the operant tracking procedure proved quite workable and may provide for improved hearing testing with "difficult-to-test" individuals
Copper complexes of polymer-bound 4-aminopyridine as redox catalysts for the oxidative coupling of 2,6-dimethylphenol
To improve the process of oxidative coupling of 2,6-dimethylphenol (DMP) to polyphenyleneoxide (PPO) with homogeneous soluble copper catalysts, a new type of ligand for the copper complexation was tested, viz. 4-disubstituted aminopyridine (I). Under comparable mild reaction conditions the new catalysts were able to transfer DMP within a short reaction period and with very good specificity to high molecular weight PPO. These ligands were bound to linear, partially chloromethylated, polystyrene in order to increase the re-oxidation rate of the catalyst in the nonpolar environment created by the polystyrene matrix. The intrinsic activities of the macromolecular catalysts, expressed as the rate-determining rate constant, k2, was increased up to 0.14 s−, which is a thirty-five-fold increase compared to the low-molar mass catalysts based on pyridine
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