Exfoliated Graphite Resistance Based Pressure Sensor for Mapping Plantar Pressure

Undergraduate Basi

NRQCD results on the MILC extra coarse ensemble

We present preliminary results using NRQCD to describe heavy quarks on the MILC 2+1 flavour dynamical extra coarse ensemble. We calculate the spectra of low lying states in bottomonium to complement earlier results on the finer MILC ensembles. We then exploit the coarseness of the lattices to calculate charm propagators using NRQCD. These are used to examine the charmonium spectrum and to calclate the mass of the $B_c$ using NRQCD. Finally we look breifly at the $B_d$ and $B_s$ systems using the imporoved staggered formalism to describe the light valence quarks.Comment: 6 pages, Talk presented at Lattice 2005 (Heavy Quarks), Dublin, 25-30 July 200

Modeling a passive cooling system for photovoltaic cells under concentration

An analysis of the Amonix high concentration photovoltaic (HCPV) passive cooling system was performed in order to obtain a better understanding of the present design and identify poor areas of dissipation. Cooling of photovoltaic tells under high intensity solar irradiance is a major concern when designing concentrating photovoltaic systems. Solar tell temperatures increase if the waste heat is not removed causing the cell voltage to decrease lowering the power generated. The concentrator geometry was studied so a model of the HCPV passive cooling system could be generated to analyze the system numerically. In addition to this experiments were conducted in the field and then used to compare with the numerical results. There was less than a 5% difference between both studies indicating that the numerical results were correct. This study provides beneficial information regarding areas of poor circulation with detailed descriptions about the temperature distributions and air velocity

Canoe Decoration and Meaning Among the Fante of Cape Coast

Ghanaian culture is composed of an endless number of different aspects, all of which are intertwined to the extent that one can hardly decipher between them. During my studies at my home university, I came to discover that it is often impossible to separate African art and African religion, visual art and performing art, and even religion from politics in Africa. Upon arriving in Ghana, I found this to be true and realized just how hard it is to separate these entities, in their complex system of overlap. I chose to study the fishing canoes because I wanted to study an artform that was tightly intertwined with other aspects of the culture including religion, politics, social activity, and economics. I knew that there must be something great behind the names and symbols adorning these boats. Little did I know, though, that all of these cultural aspects and the canoe decoration revolve around one central concept: relationships

The meatification and re-meatification of diets: The unequal burdens of animal flesh and the urgency of plant-meat alternatives

* This report reviews the trajectories of meat consumption shifting from the periphery to the center of human diets (i.e. "meatification") in six countries (two high-income - U.S., Germany; two upper middle-income - Brazil, China; two lower middle-income - India, Nigeria). It also suggests that plant-based ingredients that resemble meat (i.e. "plant-meats") could play an crucial role in reversing meatification although they should not be seen as a silver bullet.* These six countries are chosen as case studies to illuminate the highly uneven character of global livestock production and meat consumption. This unevenness indicates the need to prioritize certain countries in efforts to address the negative impacts of meatification.* The report also draws attention to some critically important points to bear in mind when trying to address meat consumption and production concerns: 1) A handful of huge transnational corporations dominate livestock slaughter and processing, and exert significant influence over meat production and consumption on a world scale. 2) The rise in global meat consumption is not only influenced by consumer preferences and demand, but also affected by agrarian changes and powerful actors in the agro-food system seeking to expand livestock production and absorb chronic grain and oilseed surpluses. 3) Meatification has triggered serious environmental problems

A Quasi-Global Presentation of TIROS III Radiation Data

The TIROS III meteorological satellite was equipped with a five-channel medium resolution radiometer to measure the reflected solar radiation as well as the infrared emission of the earth-atmosphere system in five different spectral regions (Reference 1). According to the initial design of this radiation experiment, one of the most useful applications of the infrared measurements was to be the derivation of day and nighttime cloudiness from Channel 2, which was sensitive within the atmospheric "window" region (8 to 12 microns). Several authors already have demonstrated and discussed the principal usefulness of these data for this particular purpose (References 2, 3, and 4). This present study was performed to investigate and demonstrate the utility of the TIROS radiation data for global synoptic analyses

Positive regulation of meiotic DNA double-strand break formation by activation of the DNA damage checkpoint kinase Mec1(ATR)

During meiosis, formation and repair of programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) create genetic exchange between homologous chromosomes-a process that is critical for reductional meiotic chromosome segregation and the production of genetically diverse sexually reproducing populations. Meiotic DSB formation is a complex process, requiring numerous proteins, of which Spo11 is the evolutionarily conserved catalytic subunit. Precisely how Spo11 and its accessory proteins function or are regulated is unclear. Here, we use Saccharomyces cerevisiae to reveal that meiotic DSB formation is modulated by the Mec1(ATR) branch of the DNA damage signalling cascade, promoting DSB formation when Spo11-mediated catalysis is compromised. Activation of the positive feedback pathway correlates with the formation of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) recombination intermediates and activation of the downstream kinase, Mek1. We show that the requirement for checkpoint activation can be rescued by prolonging meiotic prophase by deleting the NDT80 transcription factor, and that even transient prophase arrest caused by Ndt80 depletion is sufficient to restore meiotic spore viability in checkpoint mutants. Our observations are unexpected given recent reports that the complementary kinase pathway Tel1(ATM) acts to inhibit DSB formation. We propose that such antagonistic regulation of DSB formation by Mec1 and Tel1 creates a regulatory mechanism, where the absolute frequency of DSBs is maintained at a level optimal for genetic exchange and efficient chromosome segregation

A precise determination of the Bc mass from dynamical lattice QCD

We perform a precise calculation of the mass of the B_c meson using unquenched configurations from the MILC collaboration including 2+1 flavours of improved staggered quarks. Lattice NRQCD and the Fermilab formalism are used to describe the b and c quarks respectively. We find the mass of the B_c meson to be 6.304(16) GeVComment: Talk presented at Lattice2004(heavy), Fermilab, June 21-26. 3 pages, 2 figure

Mass of the B_c Meson in Three-Flavor Lattice QCD

We use lattice QCD to predict the mass of the $B_c$ meson. We use the MILC Collaboration's ensembles of lattice gauge fields, which have a quark sea with two flavors much lighter than a third. Our final result is $m_{B_c}=6304\pm12^{+18}_{- 0} MeV$. The first error bar is a sum in quadrature of statistical and systematic uncertainties, and the second is an estimate of heavy-quark discretization effects.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; shorten to fit in PRL; published versio