Energy Prices, Inflation, and Recession, 1974-1975

The energy price shock depressed real output by two percent in 1974 and by five percent in 1975, according to our results. Prices rose by four percent in 1974 and by another two percent in 1975. These conclusions are derived from an aggregate model of the U.S. economy with an explicit role of energy in production. The distinction between expected and unexpected shocks is an important part of the model. We also examine monetary and fiscal policies that might have offset the energy shock.

How to Track Protists in Three Dimensions

We present an apparatus optimized for tracking swimming microorganisms in the size range 10-1000 microns, in three dimensions (3D), far from surfaces, and with negligible background convective fluid motion. CCD cameras attached to two long working distance microscopes synchronously image the sample from two perpendicular directions, with narrowband dark-field or bright-field illumination chosen to avoid triggering a phototactic response. The images from the two cameras can be combined to yield 3D tracks of the organism. Using additional, highly directional broad-spectrum illumination with millisecond timing control the phototactic trajectories in 3D of organisms ranging from Chlamydomonas to Volvox can be studied in detail. Surface-mediated hydrodynamic interactions can also be investigated without convective interference. Minimal modifications to the apparatus allow for studies of chemotaxis and other taxes.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

Fluid dynamics of bacterial turbulence

Self-sustained turbulent structures have been observed in a wide range of living fluids, yet no quantitative theory exists to explain their properties. We report experiments on active turbulence in highly concentrated 3D suspensions of Bacillus subtilis and compare them with a minimal fourth-order vector-field theory for incompressible bacterial dynamics. Velocimetry of bacteria and surrounding fluid, determined by imaging cells and tracking colloidal tracers, yields consistent results for velocity statistics and correlations over two orders of magnitude in kinetic energy, revealing a decrease of fluid memory with increasing swimming activity and linear scaling between energy and enstrophy. The best-fit model parameters allow for quantitative agreement with experimental data.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Meso-scale turbulence in living fluids

Turbulence is ubiquitous, from oceanic currents to small-scale biological and quantum systems. Self-sustained turbulent motion in microbial suspensions presents an intriguing example of collective dynamical behavior amongst the simplest forms of life, and is important for fluid mixing and molecular transport on the microscale. The mathematical characterization of turbulence phenomena in active non-equilibrium fluids proves even more difficult than for conventional liquids or gases. It is not known which features of turbulent phases in living matter are universal or system-specific, or which generalizations of the Navier-Stokes equations are able to describe them adequately. Here, we combine experiments, particle simulations, and continuum theory to identify the statistical properties of self-sustained meso-scale turbulence in active systems. To study how dimensionality and boundary conditions affect collective bacterial dynamics, we measured energy spectra and structure functions in dense Bacillus subtilis suspensions in quasi-2D and 3D geometries. Our experimental results for the bacterial flow statistics agree well with predictions from a minimal model for self-propelled rods, suggesting that at high concentrations the collective motion of the bacteria is dominated by short-range interactions. To provide a basis for future theoretical studies, we propose a minimal continuum model for incompressible bacterial flow. A detailed numerical analysis of the 2D case shows that this theory can reproduce many of the experimentally observed features of self-sustained active turbulence.Comment: accepted PNAS version, 6 pages, click doi for Supplementary Informatio

Mechanism of the fluxional behaviour in (1–5-η-cycloheptadienyl)-(1–5-η-cycloheptatrienyl)iron

Evidence for a 1.2-shift mechanism of the 1-5-η-cycloheptatrienyl moiety with respect to the central iron atom of the title compound is presented together with absolute assignments of the ^(13)C n.m.r. chemical shifts of the C_(7)H_(7) ring. A low-temperature rocking motion of both rings can be frozen out at -70 °C

Betamethasone in prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting following breast surgery.

To investigate whether betamethasone decreases the incidence of postoperative nausea/vomiting (PONV) and reduces postoperative pain following partial mastectomy

Direct measurement of the flow field around swimming microorganisms

Swimming microorganisms create flows that influence their mutual interactions and modify the rheology of their suspensions. While extensively studied theoretically, these flows have not been measured in detail around any freely-swimming microorganism. We report such measurements for the microphytes Volvox carteri and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The minute ~0.3% density excess of V. carteri over water leads to a strongly dominant Stokeslet contribution, with the widely-assumed stresslet flow only a correction to the subleading source dipole term. This implies that suspensions of V. carteri have features similar to suspensions of sedimenting particles. The flow in the region around C. reinhardtii where significant hydrodynamic interaction is likely to occur differs qualitatively from a "puller" stresslet, and can be described by a simple three-Stokeslet model.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PR

Geografiske hol i ei nasjonal ordbok – om geografisk representasjon av kjeldene i Norsk Ordbok

Geographical holes in a national dictionary – about geographical representation of thesources in Norsk Ordbok. Norsk Ordbok covers both the written language ’nynorsk’ and thespoken language in Norway. As a national dictionary, there is a demand for geographicalrepresentation when it comes to the spoken language. Nevertheless this survey shows that thespoken language in the northern part of Northern Norway and in most cities, is very poorlydocumented. The main reason for this seems to be a heritage from an earlier neogrammaticalinfluenced linguistic tradition which was characterised by studies with Old Norse as onecomparative component. Little attention was paid to dialects which were a product of languagecontact, which is the case for both the dialects in the northern part of Northern Norway and inthe cities until late in the 1970's. Norsk Ordbok was organised as a project i 2002 and there is nowsome effort put in balancing the source material with a view to geographical representation

Why Our Next President May Keep His or her Senate Seat: A Conjecture on the Constitution’s Incompatibility Clause

Heart diseases are common and significant contributors to worldwide mortality and morbidity. During recent years complement mediated inflammation has been shown to be an important player in a variety of heart diseases. Despite some negative results from clinical trials using complement inhibitors, emerging evidence points to an association between the complement system and heart diseases. Thus, complement seems to be important in coronary heart disease as well as in heart failure, where several studies underscore the prognostic importance of complement activation. Furthermore, patients with atrial fibrillation often share risk factors both with coronary heart disease and heart failure, and there is some evidence implicating complement activation in atrial fibrillation. Moreover, Chagas heart disease, a protozoal infection, is an important cause of heart failure in Latin America, and the complement system is crucial for the protozoa-host interaction. Thus, complement activation appears to be involved in the pathophysiology of a diverse range of cardiac conditions. Determination of the exact role of complement in the various heart diseases will hopefully help to identify patients that might benefit from therapeutic complement intervention