Progress Report on Dynamics of Particulate Matter in Fluid Suspensions

This report describes work performed during the period from August 1, 1949 to November, 1950. When the project was started, it was financed for one year with the intention of continuing it for a second year, and the program was planned accordingly. However, after about three months of operation, it became necessary for reasons of economy to reconsider the original plans, with the result that the funds for the first year's operation were reduced and plans for continuing the work beyond the first year were dropped. In the early summer of 1950, the U. S. Air Force indicated its interest in sponsoring the work. In view of this prospect, the Office of Naval Research (ONR) allotted funds for an additional three-months' period to allow time for working out the necessary contractual arrangements with the Air Force for continuing the work. These arrangements were worked out and the studies were continued under contract with the Office of Air Research, starting November 1, 1950

Water Tunnel Experiments on Spheres in Cavity Flow

A program of experimental work on air-supported cavity flow has been in progress in the Free Surface Tunnel for some time now and a considerable amount of data has been taken. Most of this work has been concerned with cones and disks, which have distinct points at which the cavity separates from the nose, but it was thought worthwhile to extend the investigations to include continuously curving noses with shapes such as spheres and ellipsoids. As a start in this direction, a number of tests have been made on spheres with attached cavities. The sphere was selected as a convenient shape because of its simplicity, the availability of models already made up, and the possibility of comparing results with those of other investigators. The purpose of the present note is to report the test data taken so far; detailed analysis and comparison will be postponed for a future report

An Impact Model for Experiential Activities of Farming and Food Education in Agricultural Sustainable Tourism

This paper examines the development, implementation, and implications of farming and food experiential activities and the effects of these activities on agricultural sustainable tourism. A model is proposed that examines the major correlates and possible impacts related to these variables. A heuristic inquiry research design was adopted, employing a major multiple case study approach. In addition to secondary data, primary data were collected through 18 interviews with farmers, customers, government employees, community leaders and scholars, as well as 132 quantitative surveys from tourists and visitors involved in the activities on site. The major cases of the Small Bee Project, Pitaya Tour and three other examples of farming and food education programs are introduced. Results show that farming and food educational experiences provide participants with more awareness of ecological sustainability, food safety, and a sense of sociability, as well as an appreciation of the linkages between farming and safe food. Farming and food education are still developing and need more promotion, training and support. More cooperation is desired among both the private and public sectors, as well as the local community. The local farmers could benefit from training to increase knowledge about the latest scientific advances and technology tools, adopt practices that are less harmful to the environment, reduce food contamination, build professional tours for farming and food education, and increase profits. This study concludes that a comprehensive farming and food education program includes farming experiences, nutrition, food safety, and environmental education about respecting sustainable development. The major correlates of farming and food educational experiences include positive attitudes towards green tourism and potential demands for authentic experiences and educational experiences in food safety. These correlates contribute to the perceived value of experiential activities in farming and food education. Further, possible impacts of these experiential education activities on participants in this type of agricultural sustainable tourism include more awareness of ecological sustainability and food safety

ABL Genomic Editing Sufficiently Abolishes Oncogenesis of Human Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Cells In Vitro and In Vivo

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) is the most common type of leukemia in adults, and more than 90% of CML patients harbor the abnormal Philadelphia chromosome (Ph) that encodes the BCR-ABL oncoprotein. Although the ABL kinase inhibitor (imatinib) has proven to be very effective in achieving high remission rates and improving prognosis, up to 33% of CML patients still cannot achieve an optimal response. Here, we used CRISPR/Cas9 to specifically target the BCR-ABL junction region in K562 cells, resulting in the inhibition of cancer cell growth and oncogenesis. Due to the variety of BCR-ABL junctions in CML patients, we utilized gene editing of the human ABL gene for clinical applications. Using the ABL gene-edited virus in K562 cells, we detected 41.2% indels in ABL sgRNA_2-infected cells. The ABL-edited cells reveled significant suppression of BCR-ABL protein expression and downstream signals, inhibiting cell growth and increasing cell apoptosis. Next, we introduced the ABL gene-edited virus into a systemic K562 leukemia xenograft mouse model, and bioluminescence imaging of the mice showed a significant reduction in the leukemia cell population in ABL-targeted mice, compared to the scramble sgRNA virus-injected mice. In CML cells from clinical samples, infection with the ABL gene-edited virus resulted in more than 30.9% indels and significant cancer cell death. Notably, no off-target effects or bone marrow cell suppression was found using the ABL gene-edited virus, ensuring both user safety and treatment efficacy. This study demonstrated the critical role of the ABL gene in maintaining CML cell survival and tumorigenicity in vitro and in vivo. ABL gene editing-based therapy might provide a potential strategy for imatinib-insensitive or resistant CML patient

A comparative population-based study of prostate cancer incidence and mortality rates in Singapore, Sweden and Geneva, Switzerland from 1973 to 2006

10.1186/1471-2407-12-222BMC Cancer12-BCMA

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Turbulence and Diffusion as Factors in Sediment Transportation

The importance of turbulence in the transportation of sediment has long been recognized by hydraulic engineers and research workers in fluid flow. The turbulence contains the cross components of flow that transport or diffuse sediment from the bed into the main body of the stream. Without this turbulent motion no sediment could be picked up from the bed and there would be no muddy streams. Transport would be limited to the small amount resulting from the rolling and sliding of particles at the bed under the action of viscous shear