Age Effects on Lactic- and Malic-Acid Dehydrogenases in C57BL/6 Mouse Testes

Author Institution: Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio 44240There is evidence that lactic-acid-dehydrogenase (LDH) and malic-acid-dehydrogenase (MDH) activities vary with age in several mammalian organs. This study shows that both enzymes in the testes of the C57BL/6 mouse exhibit age-related changes. These changes are most evident when the LDH/MDH ratio is considered. The LDH/MDH ratio decreases to two days before onset of spermatogenesis, remains unchanged to one day before weaning, increases to four or five days prior to breeding activity, and oscillates through the remainder of the 365 days studied. Although these are in vitro results, activity changes occur coincident with physiological changes in the testes

Distinct information critically distinguishes judgments of face familiarity and identity

Accurately determining the familiarity of another and correctly establishing their identity are vital social skills. A considerable body of work has explored their perceptual and neural underpinnings and debate remains regarding whether they are dissociable, i.e., separable parts of a dual process, or different aspects of a common retrieval process. Less is known about the specific visual information that guides familiarity judgments and how this compares to the information used to identify a face by name. Here we sought to establish the critical information underlying participants’ judgments of facial familiarity and identification. We created a new standardized stimulus set comprising 6 personally familiar and 12 unfamiliar faces and applied the Bubbles reverse-correlation methodology to establish the information driving correct performance in each task. Results revealed that markedly different information underlies familiarity and identity judgments. When categorizing familiarity, participants relied more upon lower spatial-frequency, broad facial cues (eye and face shape) than when categorizing identity, which relied on fine details in the internal features (eyes and mouth). These results provide novel evidence of qualitatively distinct information use in familiarity and identification judgments and emphasize the importance of considering the task set for participants and their processing strategy when investigating face recognition

Fractional-order signal processing using a polymer-electrolyte transistor

Journal ArticleFractional-order systems have applications in the areas of Flight Control, Robotics, Missile Guidance, Control of Structural Vibrations of Space Platforms and Sensor Technology. Fractional-order transfer functions can characterize complex nonlinear dynamics with many fewer parameters than integer-order functions. This paper addresses the use of a polymer-electrolyte transistor (PET) for use in implementating fractional-order algorithms for signal processing. The PET's advantage over the conventional RC and RL circuits is that it can be both functionally scaled and varied for dynamic fractional-order parameter controllability

Transit-Oriented Development: An Examination of America’s Transit Precincts in 2000 & 2010

This study creates a typology of all fixed transit precincts across the United States to categorize all stations as either a Transit Oriented Development (TOD), Transit Adjacent Development (TAD) or hybrid. This typology is based on an index that accounts for density, land use diversity and walkable design. This study also presents a separate non-typological multilevel, multivariate analysis of transit commuting and the built environment, which is unique in that it is the first national study of transit station precincts of its kind to control for both regional and neighborhood level variables. The findings lend support for the TOD concept in generating higher shares of transit commuting within station areas, with implications about how America can accommodate population growth by turning TADs and hybrids into TODs. This can result in more sustainable commuting patterns, a new growth market for housing and real estate in a post-recession economy and the potential decoupling of growth in the economy without the growth in carbon emissions. Much of this could be achievable without the need to necessarily make a major national investment in new infrastructure but in utilizing the existing infrastructure better by encourage more TODs

Effects of Activity, Alcohol, Smoking, and the Menstrual Cycle on Liquid Crystal Breast Thermography

Author Institution: Department of Biological Sciences, Kent State UniversityThis study is part of a continuing program to evaluate the efficacy and reliability of liquid-crystal thermography in breast-cancer detection. The purpose was to evaluate any possible effect(s) of daily activity, smoking, alcohol consumption, amount of sleep, and the menstrual cycle on the liquid-crystal thermographic breast-pattern. Ten apparently healthy women served as subjects and were examined by liquid-crystal thermography every day for 28 (minimum) to 45 (maximum) consecutive days for thermogram changes. The results indicate that daily activity and the menstrual cycle should not affect the reliability of liquid-crystal thermogram interpretation in breast-cancer studies. Alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking prior to liquid-crystal thermographic examination could change the normal pattern to an extent that reliable interpretation might not be possible. There appears to be a thermographic-pattern change closely associated with the probable time of ovulation