Point source models for the gravitational lens B1608+656: Indeterminacy in the prediction of the Hubble constant

We apply elliptical isothermal mass models to reproduce the point source properties, i.e. image positions, flux density ratios and time delay ratios, of the quadruple lens B1608+656. A wide set of suitable solutions is found, showing that models that only fit the properties of point sources are under-constrained and can lead to a large uncertainty in the prediction of Ho. We present two examples of models predicting Ho=100 km/(s Mpc) (chi^2=4) and Ho=69 km/(s Mpc) (chi^2=24).Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure. To appear in "Gravitational Lensing: Recent Progress and Future Goals", Boston University, MA, July 1999, eds. T.G. Brainerd and C.S. Kochane

Eastward, ho!

California ; Population

Analyse de la motivation et du processus décisionnel d'investissement en "crowdfunding"

Avant 2008, la réalité du financement des entreprises et des startups se résumait aux crédits bancaires et à l’aide financière de la famille ou des amis. Mais ça... c’était avant ! Aujourd’hui, l’émergence du financement participatif (« crowdfunding ») leur permet d’élargir leurs sources de financement externe. En effet, elles peuvent à présent obtenir le soutien financier de particuliers (en anglais, « the crowd »). Le principe du « crowdfunding » est simple. Il est inspiré du dicton français : « Les petits ruisseaux font les grandes rivières ». Grâce au financement participatif, les entrepreneurs peuvent récolter de petites sommes d’argent auprès d’un grand nombre de personnes pour financer la réalisation d’un projet. Ce travail va s’intéresser plus spécifiquement au « crowdinvesting », qui permet à des investisseurs d’apporter une contribution financière à un projet et de devenir ainsi actionnaires de l’entreprise qu’ils soutiennent. En outre, le sujet principal concerne les investisseurs, leur intérêt à investir et les critères de décision qu’ils utilisent. La problématique à laquelle j’ai souhaité répondre est : Que recherchent ou qu’attendent ces investisseurs et comment prennent-­ils leurs décisions d’investissement ? Afin de réaliser ce travail, un sondage a été fait auprès de 163 personnes. L’analyse de la motivation des investisseurs a été réalisée grâce au modèle des quatre valeurs de Sweeney et Soutar (2001) : la valeur fonctionnelle et qualité, la valeur monétaire, la valeur émotionnelle et la valeur sociale. Les résultats ont permis de définir différentes variables qui conduisent un investisseur à soutenir un projet par le biais du « crowdinvesting ». En ce qui concerne le processus décisionnel d’investissement, l’analyse a été effectuée grâce aux précédents travaux sur les « Business Angels ». Selon les résultats, ces derniers et les investisseurs en « crowdinvesting » sont similaires sur certains points, et appliquent des critères de décision similaires tout au long de leur processus

Newsletter, Homeward Ho! , March 14, 1946

The newsletter, Homeward Ho! , dated March 14, 1946, covers news of interest to the sailors on the S. S. Sea Porpoise. Headlines in this issue include Iran Situation May Threaten Ono, Stalin Denounces Churchill, Sports, and Quiz. The newsletter also includes the ships progress notes, anecdotes about the ship\u27s occupants, and illustrations.https://scholarsjunction.msstate.edu/mss-bogan-newsletters/1007/thumbnail.jp

Role of the protective gene Heme Oxygenase-1 in the control of T cell mediated responses

Tese de doutoramento em Ciências Biomédicas, (Ciências Biopatológicas), apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa através da Faculdade de Medicina, 2008As reacções inflamatórias, geralmente desencadeadas por infeccões e/ou lesões a nível dos tecidos, desempenham um papel fundamental na iniciação de respostas imunes adaptativas e conduzem, em última análise, à eliminação do evento instigador. São vários os mecanismos intrínsecos a esta resposta complexa que asseguram, após a remoção do estímulo nocivo, a correcta reparação quer a nível estrutural quer funcional do tecido afectado, ou seja, o regresso à homeostase. A importância destes mecanismos pode ser comprovada pelo facto de a não resolução das reacções inflamatórias ser uma etapa crítica para o estabelecimento e/ou progressão de um número crescente de patologias. Um dos mecanismos envolvidos na resolução da inflamação consiste na expressão do enzima Heme Oxygenase-1 (HO-1). Em condições inflamatórias, a HO-1 torna-se o enzima limitante no catabolismo dos grupos hémicos livres dando origem a quantidades equimolares de monoxido de carbono (CO), ferro (Fe) e biliverdina (BV). Estes produtos reduzem a reacção inflamatória e evitam o desenvolvimento de doenças inflamatórias. Esta Tese teve como objectivo examinar o papel da HO-1 na regulação do estabelecimento e progressão de condições neuroinflamatórias mediadas por linfócitos T. O trabalho agora apresentado sugere que a HO-1 dita o resultado patológico associado com processos neuroinflamatórios em ratinho, tais como a encefalomielite autoimune experimental (EAE), um modelo de esclerose múltipla (EM), ou a malária cerebral experimental (MCE) resultante da infecção com Plasmodium spp.Inflammatory reactions, elicited in most cases upon infection and/or injury, are critical for the initiation of adaptive immunity and ultimately lead to the removal of the inciting stimuli. Intrinsic to this complex response, there are several mechanisms that operate to ensure that, once the inciting stimulus is dealt with, structural and functional repair of the injured site is attained, i.e. return to homeostasis. However, failure to resolve inflammatory reactions is thought to contribute in a critical manner to the establishment and/or progression of a growing list of pathologic conditions. One of the mechanisms involved in the resolution of inflammation relies in the expression of Heme Oxygenase (HO)-1. Under inflammatory conditions, HO-1 becomes the rate-limiting enzyme in the catabolism of heme, yielding equimolar amounts of carbon monoxide (CO), free iron (Fe) and biliverdin (BV). These heme degradation products dampen inflammation and prevent the development of inflammatory diseases. The focus of this Thesis was to address whether HO-1 regulates the establishment and progression of T cell-mediated neuroinflammatory conditions. The body of work presented herewith suggests that HO-1 can dictate the pathologic outcome of neuroinflammation in mice, as it occurs either during autoimmunity-driven experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model of multiple sclerosis (MS), or during experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) triggered upon infection with Plasmodium spp. Induction of EAE in HO-1-deficient (Hmox-1-/-) mice led to enhanced central nervous system (CNS) demyelination, paralysis and mortality, as compared to wild-type (Hmox-1+/+) mice. Pharmacological induction of HO-1 expression after EAE onset improved the clinical course of the disease, an effect associated with inhibition of T helper (TH) and CD8+ T cell accumulation, proliferation and effector function within the CNS. HO-1 did not act via modulation of the suppressor activity of naturally occurring regulatory T cells (Treg), known to ensure peripheral tolerance to self-antigens and immune homeostasis. Furthermore, under homeostatic conditions Treg development, maintenance and function were found to be independent of HO-1, as assessed in Hmox-1-/- mice. Instead, the mechanism underlying the protective effect of HO-1 is shown to rely on its ability to inhibit major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II expression by antigen presenting cells, including dendritic cells, microglia and macrophages. Likewise, Hmox-1 deletion or pharmacological inhibition of its activity resulted in increased ECM incidence in otherwise resistant mouse strains whereas pharmacological induction of HO-1 greatly reduced ECM incidence in susceptible mouse strains. The protection afforded by pharmacological induction of HO-1 expression was associated with decreased CD8+ T cell sequestration in the CNS, a critical event in the development of neurological damage associated with ECM. In both pathologies, i.e. EAE and ECM, exogenous CO mimicked these protective effects, suggesting that CO is the main contributor to the protective action of HO-1. Finally, we present evidence of a novel mechanism by which CO counters the development of one of these pathologies, ECM, based on its ability to bind hemoglobin, prevent its oxidation and subsequently the generation of free heme, a central effector molecule in the pathogenesis of ECM. Overall, the findings presented in this Thesis suggest that, during the establishment and/or progression of neuroinflammation, HO-1 and/or CO limit the deleterious effects associated with neuroinflammatory responses, possibly by modulating antigen presenting cells activity, in a manner that prevents the pathologic outcome of these conditions. Further, these results support the notion that pharmacological modulation of HO-1 or CO administration might be potential therapeutic strategies to counter neuroinflammatory diseases

Uji permutasi ASL untuk pengujian hipotesis pada rata-rata

Dalam pengambilan keputusan untuk menerima atau menolak Ho pada permasalahan dua sampel, dapat digunakan, beberapa cora. Penentuannya dapat menggunakan pengamatan terhadap ASL yang merupakan probabilitas pengamatan pada suatu niiai ketika Ho benar. ASL = Pr ob { .6+ Zi ) menspesiiikaSikan sebuah distribusi tunggal, padahal pernyataan Ho : F = Ci Inepipakan suatu keluarga distribusi probabilitas. Sehingga perlu diteinpuh suatu eara untuk menghitung keseluruhan distribusi probabilitas tersebut. Uji Permutasi merupakan suatu cara untuk mengatasi permasalahan dua sampel tersebut. Uji Permutasi dilakukan dengan metnbentuk permutasi dua himpunan Banda. (gabungan dari dua. kelompok data). Hasil pennutasi ini dianggap sebagai replikasi dari data. tersebut. Kemudian dari keseluruhan basil replikasi permutasi diarnbil sampel secara random menggunakan metode Monte Carlo. Selanjutnya sampel dianalisis sehingga akan ditentukan apakah sesuai dengan batas ASL yang telah ditentukan sebelumnya. There are ways in order to decide whether or not the data decisively reject the. null hypothesis Ho in the two-sample problem. Having observed the achieved significance level of the test is defined to be the probability of observing at least that large a value when the null hypothesis Ho of ASL specifies a single distribution, in most problems Ho : F r G leave us with a tinnily of possible null hypothesis distributions rather than just one 'Therefore, Fisher's per mutation test is a clever way of calculating an ASL for the general null hypothesis. Permutation tests are done by performing two subset. groups (combining two data groups ). The permutation's result is replication of that data. In practice it's usually approximated by Monte Carlo methods. Then analize the sample whether or not according to standards ASL

Evaluation of the Seca Inhibitors as Novel Anti-Microbial Agents

The misuse of conventional antibiotics and natural selection of the infectious bacterial population has produced drug resistance. Thus, novel effective antibiotic compounds that treat bacterial infections resistant to available therapies are needed. SecA is an indispensable ATPase of the protein translocation machinery present in all bacteria. SecA is responsible for the secretion of many essential proteins, some toxins and virulence factors, and is essential for bacterial survival. SecA has no counterpart in mammalian cells, thus provides an ideal target for developing antimicrobial agents. SCA-13 (HO) is a pyrimidine analog derived from virtual screening; it exerts the ability to inhibit SecA translocation ATPase activity with an IC50 of 75 µM. HO showed promising bacteriostatic activities against a vacomycin resistant strain of S. aureus Mu50 and B. anthracis Sterne. No significant difference in antimicrobial activity of HO was observed among efflux pump strains of S. aureus, suggesting that compound HO is not a substrate of NorA or MepA efflux pumps. Resistant mutants of E. coli NR698 selected from HO need to be characterized to gain a better understanding of the resistance mechanisms and subsequently will allow for the identification of the drug target

Is health insurance competition good for consumers?

Less insurer competition can lower hospital prices, but savings may not reach consumers, write Kate Ho and Robin S. Le

Origin of Borromean systems

The complex energies of the three-body resonances for one infinitely heavy particle and two non-interacting light particles are the sum of the two contributing two-body complex resonance energies. The bound state of a Borromean system originates from a resonance when the third interaction is introduced, a finite mass is allowed and proper angular momentum coupling is included. The relative importance of these contributions are investigated and the resulting structure of Borromean systems are traced back to the two-body continuum properties. The $0^+$ and $2^+$ states in $^{6}$He result from neutron-core p-states and the ground and first excited state of $^{11}$Li originate from neutron-core $s^2$ and $sp$-states.Comment: Physics Letters B, in pres