Analysis of Whistling Patterns in the Eastern Bob-White, Colinus v. virginianus L.

The cheery whistle of the male bob-white, Colinus v. virgmzanus L., is a familiar and welcome sign of spring wherever this species occurs. Game biologists have made practical use of the bob-white\u27s whistle by using roadside counts of whistling bob-whites as a means of estimating changes in relative abundance from year to year (Bennitt, 1951) . As devised by Bennitt for use in Missouri, the roadside whistle counts required the services of a large number of observers. Each obsnver was assigned a predetermined station consisting of about thirty miles of all-weather road within a major soil type. Counts were made during the first hour after sunrise on any two calm, dry days between July 13-19. The first observation was made at the starting point at sunrise. The observer recorded the number of bob-whites heard whistling. Thereafter the observer stopped at one-mile intervals along his assigned route during the hour, counting the whistling birds at each stop. At the beginning and end of the hour he recorded air temperature, cloudiness, and wind velocity, and at each stop he recorded type of road, time, and mileage

The alchemy of ideas

This article presents an assessment of the power of ideas and their role in initiating change and progress. The enormous potential cascade effect is illustrated by examining the movement of Modernism in the arts. Next, the immense scope and capabilities of the modern scientific endeavor—with robotic space exploration at the scale of 10⁹ meters at one extreme and the wonders of nanoscience at the scale of 10⁻⁹ m at the other—are examined. The attitudes and philosophies of neurological surgery are related to those involved in the Modernist movement and placed on the defined scale of contemporary scientific activity

Epidermal growth factor receptor (ErbB1) expression in prostate cancer progression: Correlation with androgen independence

BACKGROUND The role of the epidermal growth factor receptor (ErbB1) in the progression of prostate cancer is incompletely understood. METHODS Tissue microarrays from hormone-naive and advanced androgen-independent tumors were used to investigate the role of ErbB1 in prostate cancer progression. RESULTS ErbB1 expression in tumor tissues was strongly associated with hormone-refractory status (odds ratio = 6.67, 95% CI = (2.6, 17.4), P  = 0.0001). However, ErbB1 overexpression was not a statistically significant covariate in a multivariate proportional hazards model for biochemical failure of hormone-naÏve prostate cancer. Moreover, ErbB1 overexpression was not associated with tumor differentiation ( P  = 0.44), positive margins ( P  = 0.53), seminal vesicle invasion ( P  = 0.69), extraprostatic extension ( P  = 0.10), or preoperative PSA ( P  = 0.18) in the hormone-naÏve group. CONCLUSIONS These findings are consistent with a model in which ErbB1 expression increases during the development of the androgen-independent state, and suggest that drugs targeted toward ErbB signaling could be of therapeutic relevance in the management of advanced prostatic carcinoma. Prostate 66: 1437–1444, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/55786/1/20460_ftp.pd

A STRUCTURAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF FLAWS DETECTED DURING ULTRASONIC EXAMINATION OF TANK 15

Ultrasonic (UT) inspection of Tank 15 was conducted between April and July 2007 in accordance with the Tank 15 UT inspection plan. This was a planned re-inspection of this tank, the previous one was performed in 2002. Ten cracks were characterized in the previous examination. The re-inspection was performed to verify the present models and understanding for stress corrosion cracking. During this re-examination, one indication that was initially reported as a 'possible perpendicular crack <25% through wall' in 2002, was clearly shown not to be a crack. Additionally, examination of a new area immediately adjacent to other cracks along a vertical weld revealed three new cracks. It is not known when these new cracks formed as they could very well have been present in 2002 as well. Therefore, a total of twelve cracks were evaluated during the re-examination. A critical review of the information describing stress corrosion crack behavior for the SRS waste tanks, as well as a summary review of the service history of Tank 15, was performed. Each crack was then evaluated for service exposure history, consistency of the crack behavior with the current understanding of stress corrosion cracking, and present and future impact to the structural integrity of the tank. Crack instability calculations were performed on each crack for a bounding waste removal loading condition in Tank 15. In all cases, the crack behavior was determined to be consistent with the previous understanding of stress corrosion cracking in the SRS waste tank environment. The length of the cracks was limited due to the short-range nature of the residual stresses near seam, repair and attachment welds. Of the twelve cracks, nine were located in the vapor space above the sludge layer, including the three new cracks. Comparison of the crack lengths measured in 2002 and 2007 revealed that crack growth had occurred in four of the six previously measured vapor space cracks. However, the growth remained within the residual stress zone. None of the three cracks beneath the sludge showed evidence of growth. The impact of the cracks that grew on the future service of Tank 15 was also assessed. Tank 15 is expected to undergo closure activities including sludge waste removal. A bounding loading condition for waste removal of the sludge at the bottom of Tank 15 was considered for this analysis. The analysis showed that the combination of hydrostatic, seismic, pump and weld residual stresses are not expected to drive any of the cracks identified during the Tank 15 UT inspection to instability. Wall thickness mapping for general thinning and pitting was also performed. No significant wall thinning was observed. The average wall thickness values were well above nominal. Two isolated pit-like indications were observed. Both were approximately 30 mils deep. However, the remaining wall thickness was still greater than nominal specified for the original construction plate material. It was recommended that a third examination of selected cracks in Tank 15 be performed in 2014. This examination would provide information to determine whether any additional detectable degradation is occurring in Tank 15 and to supplement the basis for characterization of conditions that are non-aggressive to tank corrosion damage. The in-service inspection program is re-evaluated on a three year periodicity. The Type I and II tanks are not active receipt tanks at present, and are therefore not a part of the In-Service Inspection Program for the Type III Tanks [1]. Changes to the mission for Tank 15 and other Type I and II tanks may be considered by the In-Service Inspection Review Committee (ISIRC) and the program adjusted accordingly

FITNESS-FOR-SERVICE ASSESSMENT FOR A RADIOACTIVE WASTE TANK THAT CONTAINS STRESS CORROSION CRACKS

Radioactive wastes are confined in 49 underground storage tanks at the Savannah River Site. The tanks are examined by ultrasonic (UT) methods for thinning, pitting, and stress corrosion cracking in order to assess fitness-for-service. During an inspection in 2002, ten cracks were identified on one of the tanks. Given the location of the cracks (i.e., adjacent to welds, weld attachments, and weld repairs), fabrication details (e.g., this tank was not stress-relieved), and the service history the degradation mechanism was stress corrosion cracking. Crack instability calculations utilizing API-579 guidance were performed to show that the combination of expected future service condition hydrostatic and weld residual stresses do not drive any of the identified cracks to instability. The cracks were re-inspected in 2007 to determine if crack growth had occurred. During this re-examination, one indication that was initially reported as a 'possible perpendicular crack <25% through wall' in 2002, was clearly shown not to be a crack. Additionally, examination of a new area immediately adjacent to other cracks along a vertical weld revealed three new cracks. It is not known when these new cracks formed as they could very well have been present in 2002 as well. Therefore, a total of twelve cracks were evaluated during the re-examination. Comparison of the crack lengths measured in 2002 and 2007 revealed that crack growth had occurred in four of the nine previously measured cracks. The crack length extension ranged from 0.25 to 1.8 inches. However, in all cases the cracks still remained within the residual stress zone (i.e., within two to three inches of the weld). The impact of the cracks that grew on the future service of Tank 15 was re-assessed. API-579 crack instability calculations were again performed, based on expected future service conditions and trended crack growth rates for the future tank service cycle. The analysis showed that the combined hydrostatic and weld residual stresses do not drive the identified cracks to instability. This tank expected to be decommissioned in the near future. However, if these plans are delayed, it was recommended that a third examination of selected cracks in the tank be performed in 2014

CYP1B1 copy number variation is not a major contributor to primary congenital glaucoma

This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 3.0, or CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 (see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ for license terms). The authors retain copyright and grant Molecular Vision an irrevocable, royalty-free, perpetual license to publish and distribute the article, in all formats now known or later developed, and to identify Molecular Vision as the original publisher.Purpose: To evaluate the prevalence and the diagnostic utility of testing for CYP1B1 copy number variation (CNV) in primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) cases unexplained by CYP1B1 point mutations in The Australian and New Zealand Registry of Advanced Glaucoma. Methods: In total, 50 PCG cases either heterozygous for disease-causing variants or with no CYP1B1 sequence variants were included in the study. CYP1B1 CNV was analyzed by Multiplex Ligation-dependent Probe Amplification (MLPA). Results: No deletions or duplications were found in any of the cases. Conclusion: This is the first study to report on CYP1B1 CNV in PCG cases. Our findings show that this mechanism is not a major contributor to the phenotype and is of limited diagnostic utility

DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATION OF MATERIALS PROPERTIES FOR FLAW STABILITY ANALYSIS IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENT SERVICE

Discovery of aging phenomena in the materials of a structure may arise after its design and construction that impact its structural integrity. This condition can be addressed through a demonstration of integrity with the material-specific degraded conditions. Two case studies of development of fracture and crack growth property data, and their application in development of in-service inspection programs for nuclear structures in the defense complex are presented. The first case study covers the development of fracture toughness properties in the form of J-R curves for rolled plate Type 304 stainless steel with Type 308 stainless steel filler in the application to demonstrate the integrity of the reactor tanks of the heavy water production reactors at the Savannah River Site. The fracture properties for the base, weld, and heat-affected zone of the weldments irradiated at low temperatures (110-150 C) up to 6.4 dpa{sub NRT} and 275 appm helium were developed. An expert group provided consensus for application of the irradiated properties for material input to acceptance criteria for ultrasonic examination of the reactor tanks. Dr. Spencer H. Bush played a lead advisory role in this work. The second case study covers the development of fracture toughness for A285 carbon steel in high level radioactive waste tanks. The approach in this case study incorporated a statistical experimental design for material testing to address metallurgical factors important to fracture toughness. Tolerance intervals were constructed to identify the lower bound fracture toughness for material input to flaw disposition through acceptance by analysis

Multiple luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) protein variants, interspecies reactivity of anti-LHR mAb clone 3B5, subcellular localization of LHR in human placenta, pelvic floor and brain, and possible role for LHR in the development of abnormal pregnancy, pelvic floor disorders and Alzheimer's disease

Distinct luteinizing hormone receptor (LHR) protein variants exist due to the posttranslational modifications. Besides ovaries, LHR immunoreactivity (LHRI) was also found in other tissues, such as the brain, fallopian tube, endometrium, trophoblast and resident tissue macrophages. The 3B5 mouse monoclonal antibody was raised against purified rat LHR. In rat, porcine and human ovaries, the 3B5 identified six distinct LHR bands migrating at ~92, 80, 68, 59, 52 and 48 kDa. Characteristic LHRI was detected in rat, human and porcine corpora lutea. During cellular differentiation, subcellular LHR distribution changed from none to granular cytoplasmic, perinuclear, surface, nuclear and no staining. There were also differences in vascular LHR expression – lack of LHRI in ovarian vessels and strong staining of vessels in other tissues investigated. In normal human term placentae, villous LHRI was associated with blood sinusoids and cytotrophoblast cells, and rarely detected in trophoblastic syncytium. In all abnormal placentae, the LHRI of sinusoids was absent, and syncytium showed either enhanced (immature placental phenotypes) or no LHRI (aged placental phenotype). LHRI in human brain was identified in microglial cells (CD68+ resident macrophages). Protein extracts from human vaginal wall and levator ani muscle and fascia showed strong ~92 and 68 kDa species, and LHRI was detected in smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, resident macrophages and nuclei of skeletal muscle fibers. Our observations indicate that, in contrast to the theory on the role of vascular hormone receptors in preferential pick up of circulating hormones, there is no need to enhance selective pick up rather only prevent LH/CG transport to inappropriate sites. Abnormal placental LHR expression may play a role in the development of abnormal pregnancy. Expression of LHR in the pelvic floor compartments suggests that high LH levels in postmenopausal women may contribute to the pelvic floor relaxation and increased incidence of pelvic floor disorders. Since chorionic gonadotropin increases secretion of a variety of cytokines by monocytes, and induces their inflammatory reaction and phagocytic activity, high LH levels in aging individuals may also activate microglia (mononuclear phagocyte system in the central nervous system) and contribute to the development of Alzheimer's disease and other inflammation-mediated neurodegenerative diseases