Completing the design spectra for graphs with six vertices and eight edges

Apart from two possible exceptions, the design spectrum has been determined for every graph with six vertices and at most eight edges. The purpose of this note is to establish the existence of the two missing designs, both of order 32

The tarantula toxin GxTx detains K+ channel gating charges in their resting conformation.

Allosteric ligands modulate protein activity by altering the energy landscape of conformational space in ligand-protein complexes. Here we investigate how ligand binding to a K+ channel's voltage sensor allosterically modulates opening of its K+-conductive pore. The tarantula venom peptide guangxitoxin-1E (GxTx) binds to the voltage sensors of the rat voltage-gated K+ (Kv) channel Kv2.1 and acts as a partial inverse agonist. When bound to GxTx, Kv2.1 activates more slowly, deactivates more rapidly, and requires more positive voltage to reach the same K+-conductance as the unbound channel. Further, activation kinetics are more sigmoidal, indicating that multiple conformational changes coupled to opening are modulated. Single-channel current amplitudes reveal that each channel opens to full conductance when GxTx is bound. Inhibition of Kv2.1 channels by GxTx results from decreased open probability due to increased occurrence of long-lived closed states; the time constant of the final pore opening step itself is not impacted by GxTx. When intracellular potential is less than 0 mV, GxTx traps the gating charges on Kv2.1's voltage sensors in their most intracellular position. Gating charges translocate at positive voltages, however, indicating that GxTx stabilizes the most intracellular conformation of the voltage sensors (their resting conformation). Kinetic modeling suggests a modulatory mechanism: GxTx reduces the probability of voltage sensors activating, giving the pore opening step less frequent opportunities to occur. This mechanism results in K+-conductance activation kinetics that are voltage-dependent, even if pore opening (the rate-limiting step) has no inherent voltage dependence. We conclude that GxTx stabilizes voltage sensors in a resting conformation, and inhibits K+ currents by limiting opportunities for the channel pore to open, but has little, if any, direct effect on the microscopic kinetics of pore opening. The impact of GxTx on channel gating suggests that Kv2.1's pore opening step does not involve movement of its voltage sensors

Decision-making capacity for treatment in psychiatric and medical in-patients: Cross-sectional, comparative study

BackgroundIs the nature of decision-making capacity (DMC) for treatment significantly different in medical and psychiatric patients?AimsTo compare the abilities relevant to DMC for treatment in medical and psychiatric patients who are able to communicate a treatment choice.MethodA secondary analysis of two cross-sectional studies of consecutive admissions: 125 to a psychiatric hospital and 164 to a medical hospital. The MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool – Treatment and a clinical interview were used to assess decision-making abilities (understanding, appreciating and reasoning) and judgements of DMC. We limited analysis to patients able to express a choice about treatment and stratified the analysis by low and high understanding ability.ResultsMost people scoring low on understanding were judged to lack DMC and there was no difference by hospital (P=0.14). In both hospitals there were patients who were able to understand yet lacked DMC (39% psychiatric v. 13% medical in-patients, P&lt;0.001). Appreciation was a better ‘test’ of DMC in the psychiatric hospital (where psychotic and severe affective disorders predominated) (P&lt;0.001), whereas reasoning was a better test of DMC in the medical hospital (where cognitive impairment was common) (P=0.02).ConclusionsAmong those with good understanding, the appreciation ability had more salience to DMC for treatment in a psychiatric setting and the reasoning ability had more salience in a medical setting.</jats:sec

Reciprocity as deliberative capacity: lessons from a citizens deliberation on carbon pricing mechanisms in Australia

Australia has seen a deep division in opinion in search of a carbon pricing mechanism. While concepts of carbon taxation and emission trading have comparable public support, climate scepticism is influencing the debates in political and public spheres in downplaying the need for carbon pricing. Public deliberation is a possible engagement option to address the conflict inherent in climate policy preferences. This research explores the way that a deliberative forum involving twenty-four Australians promoted effective communication between participants through which conflict between policy preferences became more tangible. While the forum did not eliminate disagreement in preferences in the choice of carbon pricing mechanisms, participants reached consensus on fundamental principles such as the need for trusted sources of information, trusted governance procedures, and transparent accountability by appropriate institutions. Shared political expectations encouraged dialogue and cooperation in discussions by enhancing reciprocal understanding. Two sceptical participants who originally had strong opinions different from the rest of the group managed to find common ground. Public deliberative forums that are conducive to reciprocal communication are able to provide a mechanism for joint problem-solving processes that are less adversarial and more responsive to the range of people\u27s preferences. Keywords: public deliberation, consensus, emission trading, carbon tax, deliberative democracy, Australi

Texas Instruments-Digital Signal Processor(TI-DSP)SMJ320F20 SEL Testing

This viewgraph presentation reviews the testing of the Texas Instrument Digital Signal Processor(TI-DSP)SMJ320F20. Tests were performed to screen for susceptibility to Single Event Latchup (SEL) and measure sensitivity as a function of Linear Energy Transfer (LET) for an application specific test setup. The Heavy Ion Testing of two TI-DSP SMJ320F240 devices experienced Single Event Latchup (SEL) conditions at an LET of 1.8 MeV/(mg/square cm) The devices were exposed from a fluence of 1.76 x l0(exp 3) to 5.00 x 10(exp 6) particles/square cm of the Neon, Argon and Krypton ion beams. For DI(sub DD) an average latchup current occurred at about 700mA, which is a magnitude of 10 over the nominal current of 700mA

Optical injection locking of a THz quantum-cascade VECSEL with an electronic source.

Optical injection locking of a metasurface quantum-cascade (QC) vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL) is demonstrated at 2.5 THz using a Schottky diode frequency multiplier chain as the injection source. The spectral properties of the source are transferred to the laser output with a locked linewidth of ∼1 Hz, as measured by a separate subharmonic diode mixer, and a locking bandwidth of ∼300 MHz is achieved. The large locking range is enabled by the microwatt power levels available from modern diode multipliers. The interplay between the injected signal and feedback from external reflections is studied and demonstrated to increase or decrease the locking bandwidth relative to the classic locking range depending on the phase of the feedback