Problems in determining sea surface topography

Anticipated problems for determining ocean dynamics signals from sea surface topography are discussed. The needs for repeated tracks are listed if oceanic tides or ocean turbulence are to be determined

An outlook for cargo aircraft of the future

An assessment is provided of the future of air cargo by analyzing air cargo statistics and trends, by noting air cargo system problems and inefficiencies, by analyzing characteristics of air-eligible commodities, and by showing the promise of new technology for future cargo aircraft with significant improvements in costs and efficiency. NASA's proposed program is reviewed which would sponsor the research needed to provide for development of advanced designs by 1985

A human colonic crypt culture system to study regulation of stem cell-driven tissue renewal and physiological function

The intestinal epithelium is one of the most rapidly renewing tissues in the human body and fulfils vital physiological roles such as barrier function and transport of nutrients and fluid. Investigation of gut epithelial physiology in health and disease has been hampered by the lack of ex vivo models of the native human intestinal epithelium. Recently, remarkable progress has been made in defining intestinal stem cells and in generating intestinal organoid cultures. In parallel, we have developed a 3D culture system of the native human colonic epithelium that recapitulates the topological hierarchy of stem cell-driven tissue renewal and permits the physiological study of native polarized epithelial cells. Here we describe methods to establish 3D cultures of intact human colonic crypts and conduct real-time imaging of intestinal tissue renewal, cellular signalling, and physiological function, in conjunction with manipulation of gene expression by lentiviral or adenoviral transduction. Visualization of mRNA- and protein-expression patterns in cultured human colonic crypts, and cross-validation with crypts derived from fixed mucosal biopsies, is also described. Alongside studies using intestinal organoids, the near-native human colonic crypt culture model will help to bridge the gap that exists between investigation of colon cancer cell lines and/or animal (tissue) studies, and progression to clinical trials. To this end, the near native human colonic crypt model provides a platform to aid the development of novel strategies for the prevention of inflammatory bowel disease and cancer

SU(3) symmetry breaking in lower fp-shell nuclei

Results of shell-model calculations for lower fp-shell nuclei show that SU(3) symmetry breaking in this region is driven by the single-particle spin-orbit splitting. However, even though states of the yrast band exhibit SU(3) symmetry breaking, the results also show that the yrast band B(E2) values are insensitive to this fragmentation of the SU(3) symmetry; specifically, the quadrupole collectivity as measured by B(E2) transition strengths between low lying members of the yrast band remain high even though SU(3) appears to be broken. Results for $^{44,46,48}Ti$ and $^{48}Cr$ using the Kuo-Brown-3 two-body interaction are given to illustrate these observations.Comment: Updated to the published versio

Brown representability for space-valued functors

In this paper we prove two theorems which resemble the classical cohomological and homological Brown representability theorems. The main difference is that our results classify small contravariant functors from spaces to spaces up to weak equivalence of functors. In more detail, we show that every small contravariant functor from spaces to spaces which takes coproducts to products up to homotopy and takes homotopy pushouts to homotopy pullbacks is naturally weekly equivalent to a representable functor. The second representability theorem states: every contravariant continuous functor from the category of finite simplicial sets to simplicial sets taking homotopy pushouts to homotopy pullbacks is equivalent to the restriction of a representable functor. This theorem may be considered as a contravariant analog of Goodwillie's classification of linear functors.Comment: 19 pages, final version, accepted by the Israel Journal of Mathematic

Founding quantum theory on the basis of consciousness

In the present work, quantum theory is founded on the framework of consciousness, in contrast to earlier suggestions that consciousness might be understood starting from quantum theory. The notion of streams of consciousness, usually restricted to conscious beings, is extended to the notion of a Universal/Global stream of conscious flow of ordered events. The streams of conscious events which we experience constitute sub-streams of the Universal stream. Our postulated ontological character of consciousness also consists of an operator which acts on a state of potential consciousness to create or modify the likelihoods for later events to occur and become part of the Universal conscious flow. A generalized process of measurement-perception is introduced, where the operation of consciousness brings into existence, from a state of potentiality, the event in consciousness. This is mathematically represented by (a) an operator acting on the state of potential-consciousness before an actual event arises in consciousness and (b) the reflecting of the result of this operation back onto the state of potential-consciousness for comparison in order for the event to arise in consciousness. Beginning from our postulated ontology that consciousness is primary and from the most elementary conscious contents, such as perception of periodic change and motion, quantum theory follows naturally as the description of the conscious experience.Comment: 41 pages, 3 figures. To be published in Foundations of Physics, Vol 36 (6) (June 2006), published online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10701-006-9049-

A Golf Programme for People with Severe and Enduring Mental Health Problems

This article reports a pioneering golf programme for people with severe and enduring mental health problems. Following a discussion of the problems and possibilities of golf as a form of physical activity for this group, we outline the structure, organisation, and ethos of the golf programme. Through an analysis of qualitative case study data collected during the programme, we discuss the response to the programme from service users and mental health professionals. We conclude by highlighting aspects of the programme which were critical to its success and offering suggestions for further initiatives in this area

Vaccine candidates derived from a novel infectious cDNA clone of an American genotype dengue virus type 2

BACKGROUND: A dengue virus type 2 (DEN-2 Tonga/74) isolated from a 1974 epidemic was characterized by mild illness and belongs to the American genotype of DEN-2 viruses. To prepare a vaccine candidate, a previously described 30 nucleotide deletion (Δ30) in the 3' untranslated region of DEN-4 has been engineered into the DEN-2 isolate. METHODS: A full-length cDNA clone was generated from the DEN-2 virus and used to produce recombinant DEN-2 (rDEN-2) and rDEN2Δ30. Viruses were evaluated for replication in SCID mice transplanted with human hepatoma cells (SCID-HuH-7 mice), in mosquitoes, and in rhesus monkeys. Neutralizing antibody induction and protective efficacy were also assessed in rhesus monkeys. RESULTS: The rDEN2Δ30 virus was ten-fold reduced in replication in SCID-HuH-7 mice when compared to the parent virus. The rDEN-2 viruses were not infectious for Aedes mosquitoes, but both readily infected Toxorynchites mosquitoes. In rhesus monkeys, rDEN2Δ30 appeared to be slightly attenuated when compared to the parent virus as measured by duration and peak of viremia and neutralizing antibody induction. A derivative of rDEN2Δ30, designated rDEN2Δ30-4995, was generated by incorporation of a point mutation previously identified in the NS3 gene of DEN-4 and was found to be more attenuated than rDEN2Δ30 in SCID-HuH-7 mice. CONCLUSIONS: The rDEN2Δ30 and rDEN2Δ30-4995 viruses can be considered for evaluation in humans and for inclusion in a tetravalent dengue vaccine

Ramified rectilinear polygons: coordinatization by dendrons

Simple rectilinear polygons (i.e. rectilinear polygons without holes or cutpoints) can be regarded as finite rectangular cell complexes coordinatized by two finite dendrons. The intrinsic $l_1$-metric is thus inherited from the product of the two finite dendrons via an isometric embedding. The rectangular cell complexes that share this same embedding property are called ramified rectilinear polygons. The links of vertices in these cell complexes may be arbitrary bipartite graphs, in contrast to simple rectilinear polygons where the links of points are either 4-cycles or paths of length at most 3. Ramified rectilinear polygons are particular instances of rectangular complexes obtained from cube-free median graphs, or equivalently simply connected rectangular complexes with triangle-free links. The underlying graphs of finite ramified rectilinear polygons can be recognized among graphs in linear time by a Lexicographic Breadth-First-Search. Whereas the symmetry of a simple rectilinear polygon is very restricted (with automorphism group being a subgroup of the dihedral group $D_4$), ramified rectilinear polygons are universal: every finite group is the automorphism group of some ramified rectilinear polygon.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure