Syracuse University Basketball: To Renovate the Carrier Dome or Build a New Arena

This study looked at how Syracuse University basketball fans’ spectator motives impacted their preference on whether to renovate the Carrier Dome or to build a new arena. The purpose of this research was to find out if these Syracuse University basketball fans differed from prior knowledge regarding sport spectator motivation. It was known that fan enjoyment is influenced by convenience of concessions and restrooms (Wakefield, 1995). However, it was also known that fans’ team identification affected resistance to change (Wu, 2012) and sense of home had a positive impact on stadium satisfaction (Lee, 2012). The sample for this study consisted of 93 Syracuse University basketball fans that had access to on online survey through Syracuse University basketball Twitter pages. The results of this study showed that 85% of fans preferred to renovate the Carrier Dome. There were 6 aspects of fan importance and fan satisfaction with the Carrier Dome that had significantly different means between the groups “renovate” and “build new.” Although these aspects had significantly different means statistically, the greatest difference in means between the two groups practically was satisfaction with sense of home. When fans were asked why they preferred to renovate the Carrier Dome they used words such as unique, iconic, landmark, and tradition. These findings were important because it showed that Syracuse University basketball fans had an emotional attachment to the Carrier Dome and would prefer to renovate the facility and continue to have the team play there

Fine tuning of an experimental apparatus for the study of the effects of electric field on flow boiling heat transfer, at microgravity and at normal gravity condition.

Fine tuning of an experimental apparatus for the study of the effects of electric field on flow boiling heat transfer, at microgravity and at normal gravity condition

Impact of phenylpropanoid compounds on heat stress tolerance in carrot cell cultures

The phenylpropanoid and flavonoid families include thousands of specialized metabolites that influence a wide range of processes in plants, including seed dispersal, auxin transport, photoprotection, mechanical support and protection against insect herbivory. Such metabolites play a key role in the protection of plants against abiotic stress, in many cases through their well-known ability to inhibit the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, the precise role of specific phenylpropanoid and flavonoid molecules is unclear. We therefore investigated the role of specific anthocyanins (ACs) and other phenylpropanoids that accumulate in carrot cells cultivated in vitro, focusing on their supposed ability to protect cells from heat stress. First we characterized the effects of heat stress to identify quantifiable morphological traits as markers of heat stress susceptibility. We then fed the cultures with precursors to induce the targeted accumulation of specific compounds, and compared the impact of heat stress in these cultures and unfed controls. Data modeling based on Projection to Latent Structures (PLS) regression revealed that metabolites containing coumaric or caffeic acid, including ACs, correlate with less heat damage. Further experiments suggested that one of the cellular targets damaged by heat stress and protected by these metabolites is the actin microfilament cytoskeleton

Electric fields in plasmas under pulsed currents

Electric fields in a plasma that conducts a high-current pulse are measured as a function of time and space. The experiment is performed using a coaxial configuration, in which a current rising to 160 kA in 100 ns is conducted through a plasma that prefills the region between two coaxial electrodes. The electric field is determined using laser spectroscopy and line-shape analysis. Plasma doping allows for 3D spatially resolved measurements. The measured peak magnitude and propagation velocity of the electric field is found to match those of the Hall electric field, inferred from the magnetic-field front propagation measured previously.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, submitted to PR

Neuralized functions as an E3 ubiquitin ligase during Drosophila development

AbstractThe Notch pathway is a widely studied means of intercellular signaling responsible for the determination of cell fate, cell differentiation, and boundary formation (reviewed in [1, 2]). The main effectors of this pathway, Notch (N) and Delta (Dl), have been shown to function as a receptor and ligand, respectively. Genetic and phenotypic studies suggest that Neuralized (Neu), a RING finger protein, also plays a role within the N-Dl pathway, although its biochemical function is unknown. Here, we show that Neu is required at the plasma membrane for functional activity and that its RING finger domain acts as an E3 ubiquitin ligase. These data suggest that the role of Neu is to target components of the N-Dl pathway for ubiquitination, allowing for propagation and/or regulation of the signal

Status of COLDDIAG: A Cold Vacuum Chamber for Diagnostics

One of the still open issues for the development of superconducting insertion devices is the understanding of the beam heat load. With the aim of measuring the beam heat load to a cold bore and the hope to gain a deeper understanding in the beam heat load mechanisms, a cold vacuum chamber for diagnostics is under construction. The following diagnostics will be implemented: i) retarding field analyzers to measure the electron energy and flux, ii) temperature sensors to measure the total heat load, iii) pressure gauges, iv) and mass spectrometers to measure the gas content. The inner vacuum chamber will be removable in order to test different geometries and materials. This will allow the installation of the cryostat in different synchrotron light sources. COLDDIAG will be built to fit in a short straight section at ANKA. A first installation at the synchrotron light source Diamond is foreseen in June 2011. Here we describe the technical design report of this device and the planned measurements with beam.Comment: Presented at First International Particle Accelerator Conference, IPAC'10, Kyoto, Japan, from 23 to 28 May 201

Study of the SEY dependence on the electron beams dose and energy

During operation, the internal walls of modern particle accelerators are subjected to synchrotron radiation irradiation and/or electron bombardment. Such phenomena do affect surface properties such as the secondary electron yield, (SEY). A low SEY is a key parameter to control and overcome any detrimental effect on the accelerator performance eventually induced by the build-up of an Electron Cloud (EC). In laboratory experiments SEY reduction (called scrubbing) has been studied as a function of dose but the actual kinetic energy dependence has never been considered as an important parameter. For this reason and given the peculiar behaviour observed for low-energy electrons, we decided to study this dependence accurately. Here we report results of SEY measurements performed bombarding Cu samples obtained from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) with different doses of electron beams with energy in the range 10–500 eV. Our results demonstrate that the potentiality of an electron beam to reduce the SEY does not only depend on its dose, but also on its energy. Furthermore, since EC build-up was predicted and observed also in the DAΦNE ring, we report some preliminary measurements on the conditioning of Al samples. An overview of future experiments which we will perform in LNF is then given

One-carbon metabolism in cancer

Cells require one-carbon units for nucleotide synthesis, methylation and reductive metabolism, and these pathways support the high proliferative rate of cancer cells. As such, anti-folates, drugs that target one-carbon metabolism, have long been used in the treatment of cancer. Amino acids, such as serine are a major one-carbon source, and cancer cells are particularly susceptible to deprivation of one-carbon units by serine restriction or inhibition of de novo serine synthesis. Recent work has also begun to decipher the specific pathways and sub-cellular compartments that are important for one-carbon metabolism in cancer cells. In this review we summarise the historical understanding of one-carbon metabolism in cancer, describe the recent findings regarding the generation and usage of one-carbon units and explore possible future therapeutics that could exploit the dependency of cancer cells on one-carbon metabolism

VIRTUAL PROJECTS: BUILDING THE BRIDGE BETWEEN BEST PRACTICES AND PRACTICED PRACTICES

Virtual projects are becoming common with global competition, market development, and not least the financial crisis forcing organizations to reduce their costs drastically. Organizations therefore have to place high importance on ways to carry out virtual projects and consider appropriate practices for performing these projects. This paper compares best practices with practiced practices for virtual projects and discusses ways to bridge the gap between them. We have studied eleven virtual projects in five Danish organizations and compared them with a predefined list of best practices compiled from the literature. The research questions are What are the practiced practices compared with the best practices? and What can we learn from this comparison?. Our findings show that the best practices are followed to a certain extent in virtual projects, but also demonstrate a severe lack of diffusion and adoption, which means that the best practice knowledge has not permeated sufficiently to the practice. Furthermore, the appropriate application of information and communication technology (ICT) remains a big challenge, and finally project managers are not sufficiently trained in organizing and conducting virtual projects. The overall implications for research and practice are to acknowledge virtual project management as a distinct discipline from traditional project management and to address the development of this discipline