85 research outputs found
Nucleosynthesis: Stellar and Solar Abundances and Atomic Data
Abundance observations indicate the presence of often surprisingly large
amounts of neutron capture (i.e., s- and r-process) elements in old Galactic
halo and globular cluster stars. These observations provide insight into the
nature of the earliest generations of stars in the Galaxy -- the progenitors of
the halo stars -- responsible for neutron-capture synthesis. Comparisons of
abundance trends can be used to understand the chemical evolution of the Galaxy
and the nature of heavy element nucleosynthesis. In addition age
determinations, based upon long-lived radioactive nuclei abundances, can now be
obtained. These stellar abundance determinations depend critically upon atomic
data. Improved laboratory transition probabilities have been recently obtained
for a number of elements. These new gf values have been used to greatly refine
the abundances of neutron-capture elemental abundances in the solar photosphere
and in very metal-poor Galactic halo stars. The newly determined stellar
abundances are surprisingly consistent with a (relative) Solar System r-process
pattern, and are also consistent with abundance predictions expected from such
neutron-capture nucleosynthesis.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 1 table. To appear in the Proceedings of the NASA
Laboratory Astrophysics Workshop in Las Vegas, NV (February 2006
Effects of Mesenchymal Stem Cell and Growth Factor Delivery on Cartilage Repair in a Mini-Pig Model
We have recently shown that mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) embedded in a hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogel and exposed to chondrogenic factors (transforming growth factor–β3 [TGF-β3]) produce a cartilage-like tissue in vitro. The current objective was to determine if these same factors could be combined immediately prior to implantation to induce a superior healing response in vivo relative to the hydrogel alone
Reachability analysis for AWS-based networks
Cloud services provide the ability to provision virtual networked infrastructure on demand over the Internet. The rapid growth of these virtually provisioned cloud networks has increased the demand for automated reasoning tools capable of identifying misconfigurations or security vulnerabilities. This type of automation gives customers the assurance they need to deploy sensitive workloads. It can also reduce the cost and time-to-market for regulated customers looking to establish compliance certification for cloud-based applications. In this industrial case-study, we describe a new network reachability reasoning tool, called Tiros, that uses off-the-shelf automated theorem proving tools to fill this need. Tiros is the foundation of a recently introduced network security analysis feature in the Amazon Inspector service now available to millions of customers building applications in the cloud. Tiros is also used within Amazon Web Services (AWS) to automate the checking of compliance certification and adherence to security invariants for many AWS services that build on existing AWS networking features
Puberty Predicts Approach But Not Avoidance on the Iowa Gambling Task in a Multinational Sample
According to the dual systems model of adolescent risk taking, sensation seeking and impulse control follow different developmental trajectories across adolescence and are governed by two different brain systems. The authors tested whether different underlying processes also drive age differences in reward approach and cost avoidance. Using a modified Iowa Gambling Task in a multinational, cross‐sectional sample of 3,234 adolescents (ages 9–17; M = 12.87, SD = 2.36), pubertal maturation, but not age, predicted reward approach, mediated through higher sensation seeking. In contrast, age, but not pubertal maturation, predicted increased cost avoidance, mediated through greater impulse control. These findings add to evidence that adolescent behavior is best understood as the product of two interacting, but independently developing, brain systems
Buoyancy sources for a large, unrooted mountain range, the Sierra Nevada, California: Evidence from xenolith thermobarometry
Regulation of signal duration and the statistical dynamics of kinase activation by scaffold proteins
Scaffolding proteins that direct the assembly of multiple kinases into a
spatially localized signaling complex are often essential for the maintenance
of an appropriate biological response. Although scaffolds are widely believed
to have dramatic effects on the dynamics of signal propagation, the mechanisms
that underlie these consequences are not well understood. Here, Monte Carlo
simulations of a model kinase cascade are used to investigate how the temporal
characteristics of signaling cascades can be influenced by the presence of
scaffold proteins. Specifically, we examine the effects of spatially localizing
kinase components on a scaffold on signaling dynamics. The simulations indicate
that a major effect that scaffolds exert on the dynamics of cell signaling is
to control how the activation of protein kinases is distributed over time.
Scaffolds can influence the timing of kinase activation by allowing for kinases
to become activated over a broad range of times, thus allowing for signaling at
both early and late times. Scaffold concentrations that result in optimal
signal amplitude also result in the broadest distributions of times over which
kinases are activated. These calculations provide insights into one mechanism
that describes how the duration of a signal can potentially be regulated in a
scaffold mediated protein kinase cascade. Our results illustrate another
complexity in the broad array of control properties that emerge from the
physical effects of spatially localizing components of kinase cascades on
scaffold proteins.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
U/PB zircon, strontium, and oxygen isotopic and geochronological study of the southernmost Sierra Nevada Batholith, California
Age Patterns in Risk Taking Across the World
Epidemiological data indicate that risk behaviors are among the leading causes of adolescent morbidity and mortality worldwide. Consistent with this, laboratory-based studies of age differences in risk behavior allude to a peak in adolescence, suggesting that adolescents demonstrate a heightened propensity, or inherent inclination, to take risks. Unlike epidemiological reports, studies of risk taking propensity have been limited to Western samples, leaving questions about the extent to which heightened risk taking propensity is an inherent or culturally constructed aspect of adolescence. In the present study, age patterns in risk-taking propensity (using two laboratory tasks: the Stoplight and the BART) and real-world risk taking (using self-reports of health and antisocial risk taking) were examined in a sample of 5227 individuals (50.7% female) ages 10–30 (M = 17.05 years, SD = 5.91) from 11 Western and non-Western countries (China, Colombia, Cyprus, India, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, the Philippines, Sweden, Thailand, and the US). Two hypotheses were tested: (1) risk taking follows an inverted-U pattern across age groups, peaking earlier on measures of risk taking propensity than on measures of real-world risk taking, and (2) age patterns in risk taking propensity are more consistent across countries than age patterns in real-world risk taking. Overall, risk taking followed the hypothesized inverted-U pattern across age groups, with health risk taking evincing the latest peak. Age patterns in risk taking propensity were more consistent across countries than age patterns in real-world risk taking. Results suggest that although the association between age and risk taking is sensitive to measurement and culture, around the world, risk taking is generally highest among late adolescents
Digital geographies of public art: New global politics
Responding to geography’s digital and political turns, this article presents an original critical synthesis of the under-examined niche of networked geographies of public-art practices in today’s politicised digital culture. This article advances insights into digital public art as politics, and its role in politicising online public spaces with foci on: how digital technologies have instigated do-it-yourself modes for the co-creation of art content within peer-to-peer contexts; the way art is ‘stretched’ and experienced in/across the digital public sphere; and how user-(co-)created content has become subject to (mis)uses, simultaneously informed by digital ‘artivism’ and a new global politics infused with populism
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