Radon gas, useful for medical purposes, safely fixed in quartz

Radon gas is enclosed in quartz or glass ampules by subjecting the gas sealed at a low pressure in the ampules to an ionization process. This process is useful for preparing fixed radon sources for radiological treatment of malignancies, without the danger of releasing radioactive gases

Bell's Theorem from Moore's Theorem

It is shown that the restrictions of what can be inferred from classically-recorded observational outcomes that are imposed by the no-cloning theorem, the Kochen-Specker theorem and Bell's theorem also follow from restrictions on inferences from observations formulated within classical automata theory. Similarities between the assumptions underlying classical automata theory and those underlying universally-unitary quantum theory are discussed.Comment: 12 pages; to appear in Int. J. General System

THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL CONSIDERATIONS OF ELICITING PREFERENCES AND MODEL ESTIMATION IN CONJOINT ANALYSIS

The theoretical underpinnings associated with eliciting consumer preferences and statistical properties of alternative models in conjoint analysis are examined. Results show that model selection makes little difference in the context of sign and significance of coefficients. However, results show that tobit is a better predictor of ordinal ranking relative to the probit model.Demand and Price Analysis,

Analysis of Cardinal and Ordinal Assumptions in Conjoint Analysis

Of twenty-three agricultural economics conjoint analyses conducted between 1990 and 2001, seventeen used interval-rating scales, with estimation procedures varying widely. This study tests cardinality assumptions in conjoint analysis when interval-rating scales are used, and tests whether the ordered probit or two-limit tobit model is the most valid. Results indicate that cardinality assumptions are invalid, but estimates of the underlying utility scale for the two models do not differ. Thus, while the ordered probit model is theoretically more appealing, the two-limit tobit model may be more useful in practice, especially in cases with limited degrees of freedom, such as with individual-level conjoint models.ordered probit, two-limit probit, conjoint analysis, cardinality, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

The theoretical reflectance of X-rays from optical surfaces

The theoretical reflectance of X-rays from various materials and evaporated films is presented. A computer program was written that computes the reflected intensity as a function of the angle of the incident radiation. The quantities necessary to generate the efficiency and their effect on the data are demonstrated. Five materials were chosen for evaluation: (1) fused silica, (2) chromium, (3) beryllium, (4) gold, and (5) a thin layer contaminant. Fused silica is a versatile and common material; chromium has high reflection efficiency at X-ray wavelengths and is in the middle of the atomic number range; beryllium contains a single atomic shell and has a low range atomic number; gold contains multiple atomic shells and has a high atomic number; the contaminant is treated as a thin film in the calculations and results are given as a function of thickness for selected wavelengths. The theoretical results are compared to experimental data at lambda = 8.34 A

The Revival of Galactic Cosmic Ray Nucleosynthesis?

Because of the roughly linear correlation between Be/H and Fe/H in low metallicity halo stars, it has been argued that a ``primary'' component in the nucleosynthesis of Be must be present in addition to the ``secondary'' component from standard Galactic cosmic ray nucleosynthesis. In this paper we critically re-evaluate the evidence for the primary versus secondary character of Li, Be, and B evolution, analyzing both in the observations and in Galactic chemical evolution models. While it appears that [Be/H] versus [Fe/H] has a logarithmic slope near 1, it is rather the Be-O trend that directly arises from the physics of spallation production. Using new abundances for oxygen in halo stars based on UV OH lines, we find that the Be-O slope has a large uncertainty due to systematic effects, rendering it difficult to distinguish from the data between the secondary slope of 2 and the primary slope of 1. The possible difference between the Be-Fe and Be-O slopes is a consequence of the variation in O/Fe versus Fe: recent data suggests a negative slope rather than zero (i.e., Fe $\propto$ O) as is often assumed. In addition to a phenomenological analysis of Be and B evolution, we have also examined the predicted LiBeB, O, and Fe trends in Galactic chemical evolution models which include outflow. Based on our results, it is possible that a good fit to the LiBeB evolution requires only traditional the Galactic cosmic ray spallation, and the (primary) neutrino-process contribution to B11. We thus suggest that these two processes might be sufficient to explain Li6, Be, and B evolution in the Galaxy, without the need for an additional primary source of Be and B.Comment: 25 pages, latex, 8 ps figures, figure 1 correcte

The anti-cancer effect of retinoic acid signaling in CRC occurs via decreased growth of ALDH+ colon cancer stem cells and increased differentiation of stem cells

Background: Tumorigenesis is driven by stem cell (SC) overpopulation. BecauseALDH is both a marker for SCs in many tissues and a key enzyme in retinoid acid (RA)signaling, we studied RA signaling in normal and malignant colonic SCs.Hypothesis: RA signaling regulates growth and differentiation of ALDH+ colonicSCs dysregulation of RA signaling contributes to SC overpopulation and colorectalcancer (CRC) development.Methods: We analyzed normal and malignant colonic tissues and CRC cell linesto see if retinoid receptors (RXR &RAR) are exclusively expressed in ALDH+ SCs,and if RA signaling changes during CRC development. We determined whether RAsignaling regulates cancer SC (CSC) proliferation, differentiation, sphere formation,and population size.Results: RXR &RAR were expressed in ALDH+ colonic SCs, but not in MCM2+proliferative cells. Western blotting/immunostaining of CRCs revealed that RAsignaling components become overexpressed in parallel with ALDH overexpression,which coincides with the known overpopulation of ALDH+ SCs that occurs during,and drives, CRC development. Treatment of SCs with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)decreased proliferation, sphere formation and ALDH+ SC population size, and induceddifferentiation along the neuroendocrine cell (NEC) lineage.Conclusions: Retinoid signaling, by regulating ALDH+ colonic CSCs, decreases SCproliferation, sphere formation, and population size, and increases SC differentiation toNECs. Dysregulation of RA signaling in colonic SCs likely contributes to overpopulationof ALDH+ SCs and CRC growth.Implications: That retinoid receptors RXR and RAR are selectively expressed inALDH+ SCs indicates RA signaling mainly occurs via ALDH+ SCs, which provides amechanism to selectively target CSCs. © 2018 Impact Journals LLC. All rights reserved

Does Context Matter in Determining Psychological Abuse? Effects of Pattern, Harm, Relationship, and Norms

This study explored contextual influences in determining whether psychologically aggressive actions constitute abuse. One hundred and thirty-one undergraduates completed measures of key experiences, attitudes, and traits, and rated abusiveness of behaviors in a series of vignettes. Vignettes varied contexts in which behaviors occurred, including whether the behavior was a pattern, whether there was harm to the recipient, characteristics of the initiator-recipient relationship, and whether behavior was normative. Results showed no effects for participants\u27 gender, past experiences with psychological aggression, and traits or attitudes. Findings indicated that behaviors were rated as more abusive when harm to recipient was evident. Findings regarding patterns of behavior, relationship, and normative contexts were less consistent. Implications for measurement of psychological abuse are discussed