X-Ray Diffraction Studies on Nerve

A summary of the present knowledge of the composition and molecular structure of nerve tissue with particular reference to the application of X-ray technic to the problem

T Cells as Vehicles for Cancer Vaccination

The success of cancer vaccines is dependent on the delivery of tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) within lymphoid tissue in the context of costimulatory molecules and immune stimulatory cytokines. Dendritic cells (DCs) are commonly utilized to elicit antitumor immune responses due to their attractive costimulatory molecule and cytokine expression profile. However, the efficacy of DC-based vaccines is limited by the poor viability and lymph-node migration of exogenously generated DCs in vivo. Alternatively, adoptively transferred T cells persist for long periods of time in vivo and readily migrate between the lymphoid and vascular compartments. In addition, T cells may be genetically modified to express both TAA and DC-activating molecules, suggesting that T cells may be ideal candidates to serve as cellular vehicles for antigen delivery to lymph node-resident DCs in vivo. This paper discusses the concept of using T cells to induce tumor-specific immunity for vaccination against cancer

Recovery From Monocular Deprivation Using Binocular Deprivation: Experimental Observations and Theoretical Analysis

Ocular dominance (OD) plasticity is a robust paradigm for examining the functional consequences of synaptic plasticity. Previous experimental and theoretical results have shown that OD plasticity can be accounted for by known synaptic plasticity mechanisms, using the assumption that deprivation by lid suture eliminates spatial structure in the deprived channel. Here we show that in the mouse, recovery from monocular lid suture can be obtained by subsequent binocular lid suture but not by dark rearing. This poses a significant challenge to previous theoretical results. We therefore performed simulations with a natural input environment appropriate for mouse visual cortex. In contrast to previous work we assume that lid suture causes degradation but not elimination of spatial structure, whereas dark rearing produces elimination of spatial structure. We present experimental evidence that supports this assumption, measuring responses through sutured lids in the mouse. The change in assumptions about the input environment is sufficient to account for new experimental observations, while still accounting for previous experimental results

Bound on Lorentz- and CPT-Violating Boost Effects for the Neutron

A search for an annual variation of a daily sidereal modulation of the frequency difference between co-located ${}^{129}$Xe and ${}^{3}$He Zeeman masers sets a stringent limit on boost-dependent Lorentz and CPT violation involving the neutron, consistent with no effect at the level of 150 nHz. In the framework of the general Standard-Model Extension, the present result provides the first clean test for the fermion sector of the symmetry of spacetime under boost transformations at a level of $10^{-27}$ GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Incompressible flow in porous media with fractional diffusion

In this paper we study the heat transfer with a general fractional diffusion term of an incompressible fluid in a porous medium governed by Darcy's law. We show formation of singularities with infinite energy and for finite energy we obtain existence and uniqueness results of strong solutions for the sub-critical and critical cases. We prove global existence of weak solutions for different cases. Moreover, we obtain the decay of the solution in $L^p$, for any $p\geq2$, and the asymptotic behavior is shown. Finally, we prove the existence of an attractor in a weak sense and, for the sub-critical dissipative case with $\alpha\in (1,2]$, we obtain the existence of the global attractor for the solutions in the space $H^s$ for any $s > (N/2)+1-\alpha$

First Passage Time in a Two-Layer System

As a first step in the first passage problem for passive tracer in stratified porous media, we consider the case of a two-dimensional system consisting of two layers with different convection velocities. Using a lattice generating function formalism and a variety of analytic and numerical techniques, we calculate the asymptotic behavior of the first passage time probability distribution. We show analytically that the asymptotic distribution is a simple exponential in time for any choice of the velocities. The decay constant is given in terms of the largest eigenvalue of an operator related to a half-space Green's function. For the anti-symmetric case of opposite velocities in the layers, we show that the decay constant for system length $L$ crosses over from $L^{-2}$ behavior in diffusive limit to $L^{-1}$ behavior in the convective regime, where the crossover length $L^*$ is given in terms of the velocities. We also have formulated a general self-consistency relation, from which we have developed a recursive approach which is useful for studying the short time behavior.Comment: LaTeX, 28 pages, 7 figures not include

Dispersion enhancement and damping by buoyancy driven flows in 2D networks of capillaries

The influence of a small relative density difference on the displacement of two miscible liquids is studied experimentally in transparent 2D networks of micro channels. Both stable displacements in which the denser fluid enters at the bottom of the cell and displaces the lighter one and unstable displacements in which the lighter fluid is injected at the bottom and displaces the denser one are realized. Except at the lowest mean flow velocity U, the average $C(x,t)$ of the relative concentration satisfies a convection-dispersion equation. The dispersion coefficient is studied as function of the relative magnitude of fluid velocity and of the velocity of buoyancy driven fluid motion. A model is suggested and its applicability to previous results obtained in 3D media is discussed

The structure of radiatively induced Lorentz and CPT violation in QED at finite temperature

We obtain the induced Lorentz- and CPT-violating term in QED at finite temperature using imaginary-time formalism and dimensional regularization. Its form resembles a Chern-Simons-like structure, but, unexpectedly, it does not depend on the temporal component of the fixed $b_\mu$ constant vector that is coupled to the axial current. Nevertheless Ward identities are respected and its coefficient vanishes at T=0, consistently with previous computations with the same regularization procedure, and it is a non-trivial function of temperature. We argue that at finite $T$ a Chern-Simons-like Lorentz- and CPT-violating term is generically present, the value of its coefficient being unambiguously determined up to a $T-$independent constant, related to the zero-temperature renormalization conditions.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, 1 figure in eps-format (included

Numerical Methods for Flow in Fractured Porous Media

In this work we present the mathematical models for single-phase flow in fractured porous media. An overview of the most common approaches is considered, which includes continuous fracture models and discrete fracture models. For the latter, we discuss strategies that are developed in literature for its numerical solution mainly related to the geometrical relation between the fractures and porous media grids

Robotic milking technologies and renegotiating situated ethical relationships on UK dairy farms

Robotic or automatic milking systems (AMS) are novel technologies that take over the labor of dairy farming and reduce the need for human-animal interactions. Because robotic milking involves the replacement of 'conventional' twice-a-day milking managed by people with a system that supposedly allows cows the freedom to be milked automatically whenever they choose, some claim robotic milking has health and welfare benefits for cows, increases productivity, and has lifestyle advantages for dairy farmers. This paper examines how established ethical relations on dairy farms are unsettled by the intervention of a radically different technology such as AMS. The renegotiation of ethical relationships is thus an important dimension of how the actors involved are re-assembled around a new technology. The paper draws on in-depth research on UK dairy farms comparing those using conventional milking technologies with those using AMS. We explore the situated ethical relations that are negotiated in practice, focusing on the contingent and complex nature of human-animal-technology interactions. We show that ethical relations are situated and emergent, and that as the identities, roles, and subjectivities of humans and animals are unsettled through the intervention of a new technology, the ethical relations also shift. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht