Unimodular Gravity and Averaging

The question of the averaging of inhomogeneous spacetimes in cosmology is important for the correct interpretation of cosmological data. In this paper we suggest a conceptually simpler approach to averaging in cosmology based on the averaging of scalars within unimodular gravity. As an illustration, we consider the example of an exact spherically symmetric dust model, and show that within this approach averaging introduces correlations (corrections) to the effective dynamical evolution equation in the form of a spatial curvature term.Comment: 10 page

The effects of regional insolation differences upon advanced solar thermal electric power plant performance and energy costs

The performance and cost of the 10 MWe advanced solar thermal electric power plants sited in various regions of the continental United States were determined. The regional insolation data base is discussed. A range for the forecast cost of conventional electricity by region and nationally over the next several cades are presented

The effects of regional insolation differences upon advanced solar thermal electric power plant performance and energy costs

The performance and cost of four 10 MWe advanced solar thermal electric power plants sited in various regions of the continental United States was studied. Each region has different insolation characteristics which result in varying collector field areas, plant performance, capital costs and energy costs. The regional variation in solar plant performance was assessed in relation to the expected rise in the future cost of residential and commercial electricity supplied by conventional utility power systems in the same regions. A discussion of the regional insolation data base is presented along with a description of the solar systems performance and costs. A range for the forecast cost of conventional electricity by region and nationally over the next several decades is given

Antiproton-deuteron annihilation at low energies

Recent experimental studies of the antiproton-deuteron system at low energies have shown that the imaginary part of the antiproton-deuteron scattering length is smaller than the antiproton-proton one. Two- and three-body systems with strong annihilation are investigated and a mechanism explaining this unexpected relation between the imaginary parts of the scattering lengths is proposed.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to be published in The European Physical Journal

Structural and Kinetic Comparison of Acetolactate Synthase and Acetohydroxyacid Synthase from Klebsiella pneumoniae

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Acetolactate synthase (ALS) and acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS) are two thiamin diphosphate (ThDP)-dependent enzymes that catalyze the formation of acetolactate from two molecules of pyruvate. In addition to acetolactate, AHAS can catalyze the formation of acetohydroxybutyrate from pyruvate and α-ketobutyrate. When formed by AHAS, these compounds are important precursors to the essential amino acids valine and isoleucine. Conversely, ALS forms acetolactate as a precursor to 2,3-butanediol, a product formed in an alternative pathway to mixed acid fermentation. While these enzymes catalyze the same reaction, they have been found to be quite different. Such differences include: biological function, pH optimum, cofactor requirements, reaction kinetics and quaternary structure. Importantly, AHAS has been identified as the target of the widely-used sulfonylurea and imidazolinone herbicides, which has led to many structural and kinetic studies on AHAS enzymes from plants, bacteria, and fungi. ALS, on the other hand, has only been identified in bacteria, and has largely not seen such extensive characterization. Finally, although some bacteria contain both enzymes, they have never been studied in detail from the same organism. Here, the ALS and AHAS enzymes from Klebsiella pneumoniae were studied using steady-state kinetic analyses, X-ray crystallography, site-directed and site-saturation mutagenesis, and cell growth complementation assays to i) compare the kinetic parameters of each enzyme, ii) compare the active sites to probe their differences in substrate profile and iii) test the ability of ALS to function in place of AHAS in vivo

PANEL: Changing Expectations from Department Chairs in the Dynamic Environment of Higher Education

The dynamic environment of higher education defines and redefines roles of faculty and administrators. Department chairs have a unique position in colleges as they are part of the faculty as well as administrators. Expectations from department chairs include a long list of activities. They have to deal with a variety of tenured and tenure track faculty at different levels, such as instructors, senior instructors, assistant, associate, full professors, and per-course faculty (adjuncts). Students are another group for them to manage, including undergraduate, graduate students with different concentrations, majors and minors as well as transfer, study-away, study abroad students besides graduate assistants, work-study, and regular student workers. They also must interact with the staff in their department along with other departments or units in their college and other units of their universities. Most importantly, they have to get along and work with other administrators. What’s counted so far involve direct and indirect internal stakeholders. There are also external stakeholders that consist of corporate executives, small business owners and advisory boards that have numerous roles from internships, student placement opportunities, fundraising engagements, guest speaking, client projects, etc. While department chairs need to take all internal and external stakeholders into consideration, they have to perform many departmental activities from curriculum and program development and review, class scheduling, faculty, staff, student evaluations, to recruitment, enrollment and retention management, budgeting and control. Furthermore, they are expected to stay transparent, diverse, collegial, and productive while managing these complex relationships for hitting multiple moving targets in a very dynamic environment. To further complicate the situation faced by chairs, many are finding that their paperwork and administrative responsibilities have proliferated. Indeed, while attempting to navigate the increasingly complex and multi-faceted environment discussed above, many chairs are faced with increasing paperwork and administrative responsibilities that can easily consume 20-30+ hours a week. In conclusion, this panel will discuss best practices of becoming a department chair and sustaining that role over number of years successfully. Specifically, it will help benchmark best practices for department chairs in implementing their visionary leadership for data driven decision making without losing sight of human touch

Bacteriological conversion in twenty urinary tuberculosis patients treated with ofloxacin, rifampin and isoniazid: a 10-year follow-up study

Twenty patients withuri nary tuberculosis were treated withofloxac in (200 mg/day, 6 months), rifampin (600 mg/day, 3 months) and isoniazid (300 mg/day, 3 months) between 1989 and 1990. All patients were new cases, diagnosed by observation and/or isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in one of the three morning urine samples. Bacteriological culture conversion (negativization) was assessed as a clinical guide of efficacy, comparing it, as the only parameter, against a control group (150 patients) withurina ry tuberculosis who received conventional therapy. Bacteriological follow-up studies were performed in bothgroups monthly for 6 months, then again 6 months later and then every year for 10 years after completion of treatment. In the 20 patients, the initial culture was positive with over 100 colonies per culture (>50%); the smear was positive in 45% of the patients (most were 2+). All strains were susceptible to rifampin, isoniazid and ofloxacin. Two patients discontinued treatment. Beginning withth e first monthof treatment, the bacteriological conversion was 100%, 89.5% and 100% in the remaining controls. In the control group, which received conventional treatment, the conversion was: 90%, 87%, 93% and 100% in the remaining controls. Treatment withofloxacin resulted in a bacteriological conversion similar to that following conventional treatment (p>0.05, Fisher’s exact test). After 10 years of patient follow-up, we conclude that ofloxacin, in combination withrifampin and isoniazid (bothfor 3 months only is effective against M. tuberculosis, providing satisfactory bacteriological and clinical efficacy

PANEL: Are Students Our Customers? Perils and Pitfalls of Students as Customers

Customer service has been a part of marketing for years. A common definition is: “Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer\u27s needs by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high quality service and assistance before, during, and after the customer\u27s requirements are met.” This approach has been main streamed in higher education by Neal Raisman in his four books on the subject. This panel will present and discuss the perils and pitfalls of this approach in higher education along with a summary of an informal survey of marketing Professors

An attempt to optimize the outcome of penetrating keratoplasty in congenital aniridia-associated keratopathy (AAK)

Purpose To propose an optimized microsurgical and medical approach to reduce the risk of complications after penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) in patients with aniridia-associated keratopathy (AAK). Methods Retrospective observational case series of 25 PKP performed in 16 patients with AAK. Preoperative indications were endothelial decompensation and vascularized scars (68%) or graft failure (32%) due to limbal stem cell deficiency. The optimized approach included a combination of a small corneal graft size (around 7.0 mm), interrupted 10–0nylon sutures, simultaneous AMT as a patch, large bandage contact lens, temporary lateral tarsorrhaphy, postoperative autologous serum eye drops, and systemic immunosuppression. Main outcome measures included: visual acuity, transplant survival, and complications encountered during follow-up of 107 weeks on average. Results A complete modified keratoplasty scheme was used in 10 of 25 PKP (group 1), while at least one of the modifications was missing in the other 15 PKP (group 2). After 8 weeks of follow-up, the epithelium was closed in 23 eyes. Visual acuity improved in 19 eyes at 6 months of follow-up, and remained stable in six eyes. None of the eyes showed a decrease in visual acuity. At the last post-operative follow-up, this visual improvement persisted in 14 eyes and graft survival rate after 156 weeks (3 years) was 69% in group 1 versus 44% in group 2 (p = 0.39, log-rank test). Secondary corneal neovascularization (8%), scarring (4%), ulcer (4%), or graft rejection (8%) happened mostly in the second group which was missing at least one of the suggested modifications. Conclusions PKP in congenital aniridia must be considered as a high-risk keratoplasty. An optimized therapeutic approach seems to be promising in order to reduce the postoperative complication rate in these most difficult eyes