Co‐operative cross‐platform courseware development

The UKMCC (UK Mathematics Courseware Consortium) is a Consortium funded under TLTP (Training and Learning Technology Programme) to produce courseware for service mathematics teaching, using the SEFI (Société Européenne pour la Formation des Ingénieurs) syllabus. There are agreed courseware design guidelines and a simple courseware management system which allows cross‐referencing. Courseware is divided into modules, with an author as implementer for each. On any one hardware platform, a variety of authoring languages is possible. Across hardware platforms, the design guidelines ensure that conversion is possible, and will preserve look and feel. We argue here that these arrangements provide a basis for continued co‐operation between authors and future development as the technology changes

Inhibition of conidiation and photo-induced carotenoid biosynthesis by cyclic-AMP

Inhibition of conidiation and photo-induced carotenoid biosynthesis by cyclic-AM

Immunological studies with pyruvate dehydrogenase complex

Immunological studies with pyruvate dehydrogenase comple

Tricarbonylchlorido(6'7'-dihydro-5’H-spiro[cyclopentane-1,6'-dipyrido-[3,2-d:2',3'-f][1,3]diazepine]-κ2N1,N11)-rhenium(I)

In the title compound, [ReCl(C15H16N4)(CO)3], the ReI ion is coordinated in a distorted octahedral geometry by one Cl atom, two N atoms of the bidentate ligand and three carbonyl groups. The cyclopentane group is orientated in a transoid fashion with respect to the chloride ligand. The dihedral angle between the pryridine rings is 10.91 (12)°. In the crystal, N-H...Cl hydrogen bonds link complex molecules, forming a two-dimensional network parallel to (001)

Tricarbonylchlorido(6’,7’-dihydro-5’H-spiro[cyclohexane-1,6’-dipyrido[3,2-d :2’,3’-f][1,3]diazepine]-κ2N1,N11)rhenium(I)

In the title compound, [ReCl(C16H18N4)(CO)3], the ReI ion is coordinated in a distorted octahedral geometry by one Cl atom, two N atoms of the bidentate ligand and three carbonyl groups. The cyclohexane group is orientated in a transoid fashion with respect to the chloride ligand. In the crystal, N-H...Cl hydrogen bonds link complex molecules, forming a two-dimensional network parallel to (100)

Reliability approach for safe designing on a locking system

The aim of this work is to predict the failure probability of a locking system. This failure probability is assessed using complementary methods: the First-Order Reliability Method (FORM) and Second-Order Reliability Method (SORM) as approximated methods, and Monte Carlo simulations as the reference method. Both types are implemented in a specific software [Phimeca software. Software for reliability analysis developed by Phimeca Engineering S.A.] used in this study. For the Monte Carlo simulations, a response surface, based on experimental design and finite element calculations [Abaqus/Standard User’s Manuel vol. I.], is elaborated so that the relation between the random input variables and structural responses could be established. Investigations of previous reliable methods on two configurations of the locking system show the large sturdiness of the first one and enable design improvements for the second one

Resistance of superconducting nanowires connected to normal metal leads

We study experimentally the low temperature resistance of superconducting nanowires connected to normal metal reservoirs. We find that a substantial fraction of the nanowires is resistive, down to the lowest temperature measured, indicative of an intrinsic boundary resistance due to the Andreev-conversion of normal current to supercurrent. The results are successfully analyzed in terms of the kinetic equations for diffusive superconductors

The implications of climate change scenario selection for future streamflow projection in the Upper Colorado River Basin

The impact of projected 21st century climate conditions on streamflow in the Upper Colorado River Basin was estimated using a multi-model ensemble approach wherein the downscaled outputs of 112 future climate projections from 16 global climate models (GCMs) were used to drive a macroscale hydrology model. By the middle of the century, the impacts on streamflow range, over the entire ensemble, from a decrease of approximately 30% to an increase of approximately the same magnitude. Although prior studies and associated media coverage have focused heavily on the likelihood of a drier future for the Colorado River Basin, approximately 25 to 35% of the ensemble of runs, by 2099 and 2039, respectively, result in no change or increases in streamflow. The broad range of projected impacts is primarily the result of uncertainty in projections of future precipitation, and a relatively small part of the variability of precipitation across the projections can be attributed to the effect of emissions pathways. The simulated evolution of future temperature is strongly influenced by emissions, but temperature has a smaller influence than precipitation on flow. Period change statistics (i.e., the change in flow from one 30-yr period to another) vary as much within a model ensemble as between models and emissions pathways. Even by the end of the current century, the variability across the projections is much greater than changes in the ensemble mean. The relatively large ensemble analysis described herein provides perspective on earlier studies that have used fewer scenarios, and suggests that impact analyses relying on one or a few climate scenarios are unacceptably influenced by the choice of projections

Bottom-Up versus Top-Down Induction of Sleep by Zolpidem Acting on Histaminergic and Neocortex Neurons

Zolpidem, a GABAA receptor-positive modulator, is the gold-standard drug for treating insomnia. Zolpidem prolongs IPSCs to decrease sleep latency and increase sleep time, effects that depend on α2 and/or α3 subunit-containing receptors. Compared with natural NREM sleep, zolpidem also decreases the EEG power, an effect that depends on α1 subunit-containing receptors, and which may make zolpidem-induced sleep less optimal. In this paper, we investigate whether zolpidem needs to potentiate only particular GABAergic pathways to induce sleep without reducing EEG power. Mice with a knock-in F77I mutation in the GABAA receptor γ2 subunit gene are zolpidem-insensitive. Using these mice, GABAA receptors in the frontal motor neocortex and hypothalamic (tuberomammillary nucleus) histaminergic-neurons of γ2I77 mice were made selectively sensitive to zolpidem by genetically swapping the γ2I77 subunits with γ2F77 subunits. When histamine neurons were made selectively zolpidem-sensitive, systemic administration of zolpidem shortened sleep latency and increased sleep time. But in contrast to the effect of zolpidem on wild-type mice, the power in the EEG spectra of NREM sleep was not decreased, suggesting that these EEG power-reducing effects of zolpidem do not depend on reduced histamine release. Selective potentiation of GABAA receptors in the frontal cortex by systemic zolpidem administration also reduced sleep latency, but less so than for histamine neurons. These results could help with the design of new sedatives that induce a more natural sleep