Ballastic signature identification systems study

The results are described of an attempt to establish a uniform procedure for documenting (recording) expended bullet signatures as effortlessly as possible and to build a comprehensive library of these signatures in a form that will permit the automated comparison of a new suspect bullet with the prestored library. The ultimate objective is to achieve a standardized format that will permit nationwide interaction between police departments, crime laboratories, and other interested law enforcement agencies

LOCAL COOPERATIVES' EVALUATION OF BUSINESS INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Agricultural cooperatives have been restructuring, by way of mergers, acquisitions, joint-ventures, and strategic alliances, to increase efficiencies to remain competitive in a changing business environment. The research evaluating the reorganization of cooperatives has revealed that less than one-half of the restructured businesses are financially successful. There is the potential to significantly influence the future health of the cooperative business sector if, first, insights can be gained concerning the factors being considered by cooperative managers when making restructuring decisions and, second, extension education programs can be adapted to meet the greatest need. In this study we examine: (a) what methods of valuation cooperatives are using when evaluating new business opportunities, and (b) what factors influence the methods of valuation preferred by cooperatives when evaluating new business opportunities.capital budgeting methods, cooperatives, finance, restructuring, Agribusiness,

Electrostatic considerations affecting the calculated HOMO-LUMO gap in protein molecules.

A detailed study of energy differences between the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (HOMO-LUMO gaps) in protein systems and water clusters is presented. Recent work questioning the applicability of Kohn-Sham density-functional theory to proteins and large water clusters (E. Rudberg, J. Phys.: Condens. Mat. 2012, 24, 072202) has demonstrated vanishing HOMO-LUMO gaps for these systems, which is generally attributed to the treatment of exchange in the functional used. The present work shows that the vanishing gap is, in fact, an electrostatic artefact of the method used to prepare the system. Practical solutions for ensuring the gap is maintained when the system size is increased are demonstrated. This work has important implications for the use of large-scale density-functional theory in biomolecular systems, particularly in the simulation of photoemission, optical absorption and electronic transport, all of which depend critically on differences between energies of molecular orbitals.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Space Station Freedom data management system growth and evolution report

The Information Sciences Division at the NASA Ames Research Center has completed a 6-month study of portions of the Space Station Freedom Data Management System (DMS). This study looked at the present capabilities and future growth potential of the DMS, and the results are documented in this report. Issues have been raised that were discussed with the appropriate Johnson Space Center (JSC) management and Work Package-2 contractor organizations. Areas requiring additional study have been identified and suggestions for long-term upgrades have been proposed. This activity has allowed the Ames personnel to develop a rapport with the JSC civil service and contractor teams that does permit an independent check and balance technique for the DMS

“It’s like my life but more, and better!” - Playing with the Cathaby Shark Girls: MMORPGs, young people and fantasy-based social play

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2011 A B Academic Publishers.Digital technology has opened up a range of new on-line leisure spaces for young people. Despite their popularity, on-line games and Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games in particular are still a comparatively under-researched area in the fields of both Education and more broadly Youth Studies. Drawing on a Five year ethnographic study, this paper considers the ways that young people use the virtual spaces offered by MMORPGs. This paper suggests that MMORPGs represent significant arenas within which young people act out a range of social narratives through gaming. It argues that MMORPG have become important fantasy spaces which offer young people possibilities to engage in what were formally material practices. Although this form of play is grounded in the everyday it also extends material practices and offers new and unique forms of symbolic experimentation, thus I argue that game-play narratives cannot be divorced from the everyday lives of their participants

Linear-scaling time-dependent density-functional theory beyond the Tamm-Dancoff approximation: Obtaining efficiency and accuracy with in situ optimised local orbitals.

We present a solution of the full time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) eigenvalue equation in the linear response formalism exhibiting a linear-scaling computational complexity with system size, without relying on the simplifying Tamm-Dancoff approximation (TDA). The implementation relies on representing the occupied and unoccupied subspaces with two different sets of in situ optimised localised functions, yielding a very compact and efficient representation of the transition density matrix of the excitation with the accuracy associated with a systematic basis set. The TDDFT eigenvalue equation is solved using a preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm that is very memory-efficient. The algorithm is validated on a small test molecule and a good agreement with results obtained from standard quantum chemistry packages is found, with the preconditioner yielding a significant improvement in convergence rates. The method developed in this work is then used to reproduce experimental results of the absorption spectrum of bacteriochlorophyll in an organic solvent, where it is demonstrated that the TDA fails to reproduce the main features of the low energy spectrum, while the full TDDFT equation yields results in good qualitative agreement with experimental data. Furthermore, the need for explicitly including parts of the solvent into the TDDFT calculations is highlighted, making the treatment of large system sizes necessary that are well within reach of the capabilities of the algorithm introduced here. Finally, the linear-scaling properties of the algorithm are demonstrated by computing the lowest excitation energy of bacteriochlorophyll in solution. The largest systems considered in this work are of the same order of magnitude as a variety of widely studied pigment-protein complexes, opening up the possibility of studying their properties without having to resort to any semiclassical approximations to parts of the protein environment.T.J.Z. acknowledges the support of EPSRC under Grant No. EP/J017639/1 and the ARCHER eCSE programme. M.C.P. and P.D.H. acknowledge the support of EPSRC under Grant No. EP/J015059/1. The underlying data of this publication can be accessed via the following persistent URI: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/251293This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from AIP via http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.493628

Factors Controlling Porosity and Permeability in the Curdsville Member of the Lexington Limestone

Factors controlling the porosity and permeability of the Curdsville Limestone Member of the Lexington Limestone of Middle Ordovician Age in the Blue Grass Region of Kentucky are geological. Microstratigraphic analysis had led to the division of the lower Lexington Limestone, consisting principally of the Curdsville Member into three beds which may be subdivided into zones made up of several lithologic types and sub-types. Lower, middle, and upper bed characteristics are helpful in determining the regional depositional history in the progressively transgressing Curdsville sea. Paleogeography of Curdsville time has been determined by delineation of two local facies: (1) a carbonate bank--shoal area facies, and (2) a shelf--channel area facies. Permeable carbonate bank--shoal facies are best developed on the structurally high Jessamine Dome Shoal Area where the Curdsville Limestone is found at shallow depth. Ground waters of meteoric origin have created sink holes, solution valleys, and caverns through solution enlargement of fractures comprising an extensive intersecting joint system. Detailed examination of the Bryantsville Quadrangle on the Jessamine Dome Shoal Area indicates that fracture traces such as sink hole, solution valley, and stream channel alignments are controlled mainly by nearly vertical joints in the Curdsville and underlying Tyrone Limestones. High frequency and intersection of joint fractures may indicate the presence of permeable limestone aquifers at shallow depth, The hypothesis can be tested by drilling several wells in prospective areas

What Powers the Compact Radio Emission in Nearby Elliptical and S0 Galaxies?

Many nearby early-type (elliptical and S0) galaxies contain weak (milli-Jansky level) nuclear radio sources on scales a few hundred parsecs or less. The origin of the radio emission, however, has remained unclear, especially in volume-limited samples that select intrinsically less luminous galaxies. Both active galactic nuclei and nuclear star formation have been suggested as possible mechanisms for producing the radio emission. This paper utilizes optical spectroscopic information to address this issue. A substantial fraction of the early-type galaxies surveyed with the Very Large Array by Wrobel & Heeschen (1991) exhibits detectable optical emission lines in their nuclei down to very sensitive limits. Comparison of the observed radio continuum power with that expected from the thermal gas traced by the optical emission lines implies that the bulk of the radio emission is nonthermal. Both the incidence and the strength of optical line emission correlate with the radio power. At a fixed line luminosity, ellipticals have stronger radio cores than S0s. The relation between radio power and line emission observed in this sample is consistent with the low-luminosity extension of similar relations seen in classical radio galaxies and luminous Seyfert nuclei. A plausible interpretation of this result is that the weak nuclear sources in nearby early-type galaxies are the low-luminosity counterparts of more powerful AGNs. The spectroscopic evidence supports this picture. Most of the emission-line objects are optically classified as Seyfert nuclei or low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs), the majority of which are likely to be accretion-powered sources.Comment: LaTex, 16 pages including embedded figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Radio Observations of the Hubble Deep Field South Region III: The 2.5, 5.2 and 8.7 GHz Catalogues and Radio Source Properties

Deep radio observations of a wide region centred on the Hubble Deep Field South have been performed, providing one of the most sensitive set of radio observations acquired on the Australia Telescope Compact Array to date. A central rms of ~10 microJy is reached at four frequencies (1.4, 2.5, 5.2 and 8.7 GHz). In this paper the full source catalogues from the 2.5, 5.2 and 8.7 GHz observations are presented to complement Paper II, along with a detailed analysis of image quality and noise. We produce a consolidated catalogue by matching sources across all four frequencies of our survey. Radio spectral indices are used to investigate the nature of the radio sources and identify a number of sources with flat or inverted radio spectra, which indicates AGN activity. We also find several other interesting sources, including a broadline emitting radio galaxy, a giant radio galaxy and three Gigahertz Peaked Spectrum sources.Comment: Accepted by AJ. 13 figures and 13 table

Obesity challenges the hepatoprotective function of the integrated stress response to asparaginase exposure in mice

Obesity increases risk for liver toxicity by the anti-leukemic agent asparaginase, but the mechanism is unknown. Asparaginase activates the integrated stress response (ISR) via sensing amino acid depletion by the eukaryotic initiation factor 2 (eIF2) kinase GCN2. The goal of this work was to discern the impact of obesity, alone versus alongside genetic disruption of the ISR, on mechanisms of liver protection during chronic asparaginase exposure in mice. Following diet-induced obesity, biochemical analysis of livers revealed that asparaginase provoked hepatic steatosis that coincided with activation of another eIF2 kinase PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase (PERK), a major ISR transducer to ER stress. Genetic loss of Gcn2 intensified hepatic PERK activation to asparaginase, yet surprisingly, mRNA levels of key ISR gene targets such as Atf5 and Trib3 failed to increase. Instead, mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) signal transduction was unleashed, and this coincided with liver dysfunction reflected by a failure to maintain hydrogen sulfide production or apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB100) expression. In contrast, obese mice lacking hepatic activating transcription factor 4 (Atf4) showed an exaggerated ISR and greater loss of endogenous hydrogen sulfide but normal inhibition of mTORC1 and maintenance of ApoB100 during asparaginase exposure. In both genetic mouse models, expression and phosphorylation of Sestrin2, an ATF4 gene target, was increased by asparaginase, suggesting mTORC1 inhibition during asparaginase exposure is not driven via eIF2-ATF4-Sestrin2. In conclusion, obesity promotes a maladaptive ISR during asparaginase exposure. GCN2 functions to repress mTORC1 activity and maintain ApoB100 protein levels independently of Atf4 expression, whereas hydrogen sulfide production is promoted via GCN2-ATF4 pathway