Preliminary results on two-dimensional interferometry of HL Tau

Preliminary two-dimensional speckle interferometry results of HL Tau were found to be qualitatively similar to those found with one-dimensional slit scanning techniques; results consist of a resolved component (approximately 0.7 arcsec in size) and an unresolved component. Researchers are currently reducing the rest of the data (taken on three different telescopes and at three different wavelengths) and are also exploring other high resolution methods like the shift and add technique and selecting only the very best images for processing. The availability of even better two-dimensional arrays within the next couple of years promises to make speckle interferometry and other high resolution techniques very powerful and exiting tools for probing a variety of objects in the subarcsec regime

Hippocampal BDNF regulates a shift from flexible, goal-directed to habit memory system function following cocaine abstinence.

The transition from recreational drug use to addiction involves pathological learning processes that support a persistent shift from flexible, goal-directed to habit behavioral control. Here, we examined the molecular mechanisms supporting altered function in hippocampal (HPC) and dorsolateral striatum (DLS) memory systems following abstinence from repeated cocaine. After 3 weeks of cocaine abstinence (experimenter- or self-administered), we tested new behavioral learning in male rats using a dual-solution maze task, which provides an unbiased approach to assess HPC- versus DLS-dependent learning strategies. Dorsal hippocampus (dHPC) and DLS brain tissues were collected after memory testing to identify transcriptional adaptations associated with cocaine-induced shifts in behavioral learning. Our results demonstrate that following prolonged cocaine abstinence rats show a bias toward the use of an inflexible, habit memory system (DLS) in lieu of a more flexible, easily updated memory system involving the HPC. This memory system bias was associated with upregulation and downregulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene expression and transcriptionally permissive histone acetylation (acetylated histone H3, AcH3) in the DLS and dHPC, respectively. Using viral-mediated gene transfer, we overexpressed BDNF in the dHPC during cocaine abstinence and new maze learning. This manipulation restored HPC-dependent behavioral control. These findings provide a system-level understanding of altered plasticity and behavioral learning following cocaine abstinence and inform mechanisms mediating the organization of learning and memory more broadly

Design and fabrication of silicon on insulator optical waveguide devices

In this thesis we present design, fabrication and testing of several photonic devices on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. The historical developments in micro-optic technology including problems it has faced and its current state of maturity is outlined. The most recent integration trends of electronics and optics, particularly the transition of micro-optics to silicon on insulator platform will be reviewed. With this foundation in silicon photonics several rib waveguide structures including directional couplers, WDM couplers, y-branches and MMI splitters are designed, simulated, and fabricated on an SOI substrate. Beam propagation method (BPM) was used in the modeling of these devices. Computation time is reduced by using a least squared regression to predict coupler behavior and losses in devices with varying dimensions and shape. A fabrication procedure is developed, characterized and implemented. The final devices are tested, and qualitative results provided

Animal genetic resource trade flows: Economic assessment

Throughout human history, livestock producers have relied on a vibrant international exchange of genentic resources to achieve improvements in the quality and productivity of their animals. In recent years, however, some observers have argued that changes in the legal, technological, and economic environment now imply that international exchanges of animal genetic resources (AnGR) systematically benefit rich countries at the expense of poor countries. It is argued that international flows of AnGR are displacing the indigenous animal genetic resources of developing countries, and alos that the genetic wealth of the developing world is being expropriated by rich countries. In reaction, there have been growing calls for limitations and/or barriers to the exchange of animal genetic resources. These discussions, however, seem to be based on limited information about the magnitude and direction of current trade flows in AnGR. This paper offers an analysis of AnGR trade flows from 1990 to 2005. The paper draws on national-level data from 150 countries that reported information to the United States Statistics Division. Three major trade categories were evaluated: live cattle and pigs for breeding, and cattle semen. Over the period studied, Europe and North America were the primary exporters of genetic resources for the species evaluated. OECD countries accounted for 98.7, 92.5, and 95% of cattle semen, live cattle, and swine exports in 2005, respectively. In evaluation the direction of trade between developed (North) and developing (South) countries, North-South trade had the largest magnitude, followed by North-South, South-South, and South-North. The data do not support the notion that Southern genetic resources are being used on a large scale in the North. We believe that importation from South to North is limited by the vast discrepancies in production efficiency and production systems between countries in the North and South. Given the low volume of South-North exchange, it seems doubtful that sufficient revenues could be acquired through a “benefit-sharing mechanism" to have any substantial impact on in situ or ex situ conservation efforts, or to generate benefits for poor livestock keepers in developing countries. We question whether global agreements or restrictions on trade will achieve the improving the well-being of the poor. We suggest that resources instead be urgently employed for conservation and that more direct measures should be taken to aid poor farmers, ranchers, and herders in their efforts to conserve genetic resources.animal genetic resources, gene flow, germplasm trade

Mirror Symmetry is T-Duality

It is argued that every Calabi-Yau manifold $X$ with a mirror $Y$ admits a family of supersymmetric toroidal 3-cycles. Moreover the moduli space of such cycles together with their flat connections is precisely the space $Y$. The mirror transformation is equivalent to T-duality on the 3-cycles. The geometry of moduli space is addressed in a general framework. Several examples are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, harvmac -- some references added, typos correcte

D-Branes and Spin^c Structures

It was recently pointed out by E. Witten that for a D-brane to consistently wrap a submanifold of some manifold, the normal bundle must admit a Spin^c structure. We examine this constraint in the case of type II string compactifications with vanishing cosmological constant, and argue that in all such cases, the normal bundle to a supersymmetric cycle is automatically Spin^c.Comment: 9 pages, LaTe

Acute Hyperkalemia: A Novel Strategy To Prevent Insulin Induced Hypoglycemia

https://digitalcommons.psjhealth.org/summit_all/1001/thumbnail.jp

BPS States, String Duality, and Nodal Curves on K3

We describe the counting of BPS states of Type II strings on K3 by relating the supersymmetric cycles of genus $g$ to the number of rational curves with $g$ double points on K3. The generating function for the number of such curves is the left-moving partition function of the bosonic string.Comment: 12 pages, harvma

Computer Simulation of Cytoskeleton-Induced Blebbing in Lipid Membranes

Blebs are balloon-shaped membrane protrusions that form during many physiological processes. Using computer simulation of a particle-based model for self-assembled lipid bilayers coupled to an elastic meshwork, we investigated the phase behavior and kinetics of blebbing. We found that blebs form for large values of the ratio between the areas of the bilayer and the cytoskeleton. We also found that blebbing can be induced when the cytoskeleton is subject to a localized ablation or a uniform compression. The results obtained are qualitatively in agreement with the experimental evidence and the model opens up the possibility to study the kinetics of bleb formation in detail.Comment: To appear in Physical Review

D-Branes, Derived Categories, and Grothendieck Groups

In this paper we describe how Grothendieck groups of coherent sheaves and locally free sheaves can be used to describe type II D-branes, in the case that all D-branes are wrapped on complex varieties and all connections are holomorphic. Our proposal is in the same spirit as recent discussions of K-theory and D-branes; within the restricted class mentioned, Grothendieck groups encode a choice of connection on each D-brane worldvolume, in addition to information about the smooth bundles. We also point out that derived categories can also be used to give insight into D-brane constructions, and analyze how a Z_2 subset of the T-duality group acting on D-branes on tori can be understood in terms of a Fourier-Mukai transformation.Comment: LaTeX, 21 page