Experimental studies of perceptual processes, section two Progress report, Jan. - Sep. 30, 1965

Complex discriminative behavior, fixed ratio reinforcement of large units of behavior and deferred reinforcement studied in chimpanzee

Dynamic conversion of solar generated heat to electricity

The effort undertaken during this program led to the selection of the water-superheated steam (850 psig/900 F) crescent central receiver as the preferred concept from among 11 candidate systems across the technological spectrum of the dynamic conversion of solar generated heat to electricity. The solar power plant designs were investigated in the range of plant capacities from 100 to 1000 Mw(e). The investigations considered the impacts of plant size, collector design, feed-water temperature ratio, heat rejection equipment, ground cover, and location on solar power technical and economic feasibility. For the distributed receiver systems, the optimization studies showed that plant capacities less than 100 Mw(e) may be best. Although the size of central receiver concepts was not parametrically investigated, all indications are that the optimal plant capacity for central receiver systems will be in the range from 50 to 200 Mw(e). Solar thermal power plant site selection criteria and methodology were also established and used to evaluate potentially suitable sites. The result of this effort was to identify a site south of Inyokern, California, as typically suitable for a solar thermal power plant. The criteria used in the selection process included insolation and climatological characteristics, topography, and seismic history as well as water availability

Star formation rates of distant luminous infrared galaxies derived from Halpha and IR luminosities

We present a study of the star formation rate (SFR) for a sample of 16 distant galaxies detected by ISOCAM at 15um in the CFRS0300+00 and CFRS1400+52 fields. Their high quality and intermediate resolution VLT/FORS spectra have allowed a proper correction of the Balmer emission lines from the underlying absorption. Extinction estimates using the Hbeta/Hgamma and the Halpha/Hbeta Balmer decrement are in excellent agreement, providing a robust measurement of the instantaneous SFR based on the extinction-corrected Halpha luminosity. Star formation has also been estimated exploiting the correlations between IR luminosity and those at MIR and radio wavelengths. Our study shows that the relationship between the two SFR estimates follow two distinct regimes: (1) for galaxies with SFRIR below ~ 100Msolar/yr, the SFR deduced from Halpha measurements is a good approximation of the global SFR and (2) for galaxies near of ULIRGs regime, corrected Halpha SFR understimated the SFR by a factor of 1.5 to 2. Our analyses suggest that heavily extincted regions completely hidden in optical bands (such as those found in Arp 220) contribute to less than 20% of the global budget of star formation history up to z=1.Comment: (1) GEPI, Obs. Meudon, France ;(2) CEA-Saclay, France ;(3) ESO, Gemany ;(4) IAC, Spain. To appear in A&

Biochemische Serumparameter bei in Gefangenschaft gehaltenen Gazellen

Objective: This study aimed at comparing serum parameters of clinically healthy gazelles of Al Wabra Wildlife Preservation (AWWP), Qatar, with reference ranges of domestic and other wild ruminants, in order to gain, on the one hand, insight into the nutritional status of the animals, and, on the other hand, to establish reference ranges for the investigated species. Material and methods: Serum biochemistry parameters and mineral levels were measured in 250 clinically healthy individuals of the species Soemmering's gazelle (Gazella soemmerringii), Speke's gazelle (Gazella spekei), Dorcas gazelle (Gazella dorcas), Saudi gazelle (Gazella saudiya), Mountain gazelle (Gazella gazella), Arabian goitered gazelle (Gazella subgutturosa marica) and Chinkara Pakistani gazelle (Gazella benetti). Results: With respect to the nutritional status, the supplementation with trace elements (selenium, copper, zinc, iron) was adequate at AWWP according to measured serum levels. In contrast, serum levels of phosphorus, total protein and albumin indicated a suboptimal feeding situation, most likely due to the low quality of the roughage available in the region. The levels of sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, choride, triglycerides, cholesterol, creatinine, ALT- as well as GGT avtivity were -as in other wild ruminants-within the reference range of domestic ruminants, which therefore should be applicable to ruminants in general. The contents of glucose, blood urea nitrogen, creatine kinase and ALP, in contrast, seem to be generally elevated in wild ruminants. While other wild ruminants display an AST activity comparable to those of domestic ruminants, gazelles of both this and other studies had elevated values of this enzyme. Conclusion and clinical relevance: These peculiarities need to be accounted for when interpreting blood values

Microjansky sources at 1.4 GHz

We present a deep 1.4 GHz survey made with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), having a background RMS of 9 microJy near the image phase centre, up to 25 microJy at the edge of a 50' field of view. Over 770 radio sources brighter than 45 microJy have been catalogued in the field. The differential source counts in the deep field provide tentative support for the growing evidence that the microjansky radio population exhibits significantly higher clustering than found at higher flux density cutoffs. The optical identification rate on CCD images is approximately 50% to R=22.5, and the optical counterparts of the faintest radio sources appear to be mainly single galaxies close to this optical magnitude limit.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted by ApJ Letters 4 May 199

Computer-assisted ex vivo, normothermic small bowel perfusion

Background: In the present study, a technique for computer-assisted, normothermic, oxygenated, ex vivo, recirculating small bowel perfusion was established as a tool to investigate organ pretreatment protocols and ischemia/reperfusion phenomena. A prerequisite for the desired setup was an organ chamber for ex vivo perfusion and the use of syngeneic whole blood as perfusate. Methods: The entire small bowel was harvested from Lewis rats and perfused in an organ chamber ex vivo for at least 2 h. The temperature was kept at 37 degrees C in a water bath. Three experimental groups were explored, characterized by different perfusion solutions. The basic perfusate consisted of syngeneic whole blood diluted with either NaCl, Krebs' solution or Krebs' solution and norepinephrine to a hematocrit of 30%. In addition, in each group l-glutamine was administered intraluminally. The desired perfusion pressure was 100 mm Hg which was kept constant with a computer-assisted data acquisition software, which measured an-line pressure, oxygenation, flow, temperature and pH and adjusted the pressure by changing the flow via a peristaltic pump. The viability of the preparation was tested by measuring oxygen consumption and maltose absorption, which requires intact enzymes of the mucosal brush border to break down maltose into glucose. Results: Organ perfusion in group 1 (dilution with NaCl) revealed problems such as hypersecretion into the bowel lumen, low vascular resistance and no maltose uptake. In contrast a viable organ could be demonstrated using Krebs' solution as dilution solution. The addition of norepinephrine led to an improved perfusion over the entire perfusion period. Maltose absorption was comparable to tests conducted with native small bower. Oxygen consumption was stable during the 2-hour perfusion period. Conclusions: The ex vivo perfusion system established enables small bowel perfusion for at least 2 h. The viability of the graft could be demonstrated. The perfusion time achieved is sufficient to study leukocyte/lymphocyte interaction with the endothelium of the graft vessels. In addition, a viable small bowel, after 2 h of ex vivo perfusion, facilitates testing of pretreatment protocols for the reduction of the immunogenicity of small bowel allografts. Copyright (C) 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel

Kerncraft: A Tool for Analytic Performance Modeling of Loop Kernels

Achieving optimal program performance requires deep insight into the interaction between hardware and software. For software developers without an in-depth background in computer architecture, understanding and fully utilizing modern architectures is close to impossible. Analytic loop performance modeling is a useful way to understand the relevant bottlenecks of code execution based on simple machine models. The Roofline Model and the Execution-Cache-Memory (ECM) model are proven approaches to performance modeling of loop nests. In comparison to the Roofline model, the ECM model can also describes the single-core performance and saturation behavior on a multicore chip. We give an introduction to the Roofline and ECM models, and to stencil performance modeling using layer conditions (LC). We then present Kerncraft, a tool that can automatically construct Roofline and ECM models for loop nests by performing the required code, data transfer, and LC analysis. The layer condition analysis allows to predict optimal spatial blocking factors for loop nests. Together with the models it enables an ab-initio estimate of the potential benefits of loop blocking optimizations and of useful block sizes. In cases where LC analysis is not easily possible, Kerncraft supports a cache simulator as a fallback option. Using a 25-point long-range stencil we demonstrate the usefulness and predictive power of the Kerncraft tool.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

The reaction 13C(alpha,n)16O: a background for the observation of geo-neutrinos

The absolute cross section of the $^{13}$C($\alpha$,n)$^{16}$O reaction has been measured at E$_{\alpha}$ = 0.8 to 8.0 MeV with an overall accuracy of 4%. The precision is needed to subtract reliably a background in the observation of geo-neutrinos, e.g. in the KamLAND detector.Comment: LaTex file, 13 pages including 3 ps figures. Any request to [email protected]. Phys. Rev . C, to appea