Biological activities of solubilized surface antigens of embryonic and polyoma-virus-transformed cells.

Various antigenic activities of polyoma virus-transformed and embryonic mouse cells were retained after 3M KCl solubilization of surface components. Particularly, transplantation antigen (TSTA) demonstrated by homograft rejection, and surface (S) antigen, detected by inhibition of immunofluorescence on polyoma-virus-transformed mouse cells, could be demonstrated. The crude soluble extracts were partially purified by salting out with (NH4)2SO4. In the case of polyoma-virus-transformed cells, TSTA and a part of S antigen activity were found in the same fraction (60% (NH4)2SO4 saturation) while another part of S antigen was salted out at 80% saturation. By chromatography, S antigen activity was found in 2 zones for transformed cells and in one zone for embryonic cells. One of these zones was common to both cell extracts

Development of a Remote Rock Fragmentation Size Distribution Measurement System for Surface Mines Using 3D Photogrammetry

One of the factors that can affect the efficiency of a mining operation is the fragmentation size distribution of blasted rock. A consistent fragmentation size allows the company to streamline its process, and more importantly, minimize costs. In order to maintain this fragmentation size, monitoring must be done regularly so that adjustments can be made. Traditional methods such as manual sieving and visual estimation are have been used for this purpose, but limitations on sampling procedure and bias make these methods relatively inefficient. One of the solutions that were developed was to use digital image-based particle size analysis. The study proposes a cloud-based 3D photogrammetry rock fragmentation size distribution system that will make use of multiple images to create 3D models that can then be analyzed and segmented to provide a fragmentation size distribution. Several pictures of a muckpile using a smartphone are taken from an angle and compiled into a dataset. This is used as input for a Structure-from-Motion algorithm, which can create a 3D point cloud from the image data. This point cloud is then subjected to clustering so that the individual fragments can be represented and their dimensions could be measured. Finally, from these dimensions, a fragmentation size distribution can be created. As the system requires a large amount of computing power, it can be implemented in a remote server so that it can be accessible in the field. This system could provide surface mine operators an easy way to estimate size distribution using only a smartphone

A Novel Heterophilic Antibody Interaction Involves IgG4

IgG4 has been implicated in a diverse set of complex pathologies - e.g. autoimmune pancreatitis (AIP), idiopathic membranous nephropathy - and carries unique features including lack of activation of the classical complement pathway and a dynamic Fab-arm exchange. We recently showed that the rheumatoid factor (RF)-like activity of IgG4 is achieved through a hitherto unknown, Fc-Fc (and not Fab-Fc as is the case in classical RF; CRF) interaction; hence the name, novel RF (NRF). Here, we further explore the resemblance/difference between CRF and NRF. As heterophilic interactions of human IgM RF (CRF) are well known, we checked whether this is the case for IgG4. Human IgG4 showed variable reactivity to animal IgGs: reacting intensely with rabbit and mouse IgGs, but weakly with others. The binding to rabbit IgG was not through the Fab (as in CRF) but via the Fc piece, as was recently shown for human IgG (NRF). This binding correlates with the IgG4 concentration per se and could therefore be of diagnostic usage and incidentally explain some observed interferences in biological assays. In conclusion, here is defined a novel heterophilic antibody interaction and is established the universality of the unique Fc-Fc binding, both involving IgG4.ArticleSCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF IMMUNOLOGY. 71(2):109-114 (2010)journal articl

An Artificial Intelligence Technique to Characterizae Surface-Breaking Cracks

A neural network with an analog output is presented to determine the angle of inclination of a surface-breaking crack from ultrasonic backscattering data. A neural network which was trained by the use of synthetic data set to estimate the depth of a crack, assuming that the inclined crack angle is known, was presented earlier[1,2]. In this study, a neural network estimates the angle of inclination of the surface-breaking crack, assuming that the depth of the crack is 2.0mm, by utilizing the waveforms of backscattered signals from the crack. The plate with a surface-breaking crack is immersed in water and the crack is insonified from the opposite side of the plate. The angle of incidence with the normal to the insonified face of the plate is taken to be 18.9°. The neural network is a feed-forward three layered network. The training algorithm is an error back-propagation algorithm which has been discussed in Refs. [3,4]. The theoretical data obtained by the boundary element method are used for the training. The performance of the trained network is tested by synthetic and experimental data

Phase Separation Kinetics in a Model with Order-Parameter Dependent Mobility

We present extensive results from 2-dimensional simulations of phase separation kinetics in a model with order-parameter dependent mobility. We find that the time-dependent structure factor exhibits dynamical scaling and the scaling function is numerically indistinguishable from that for the Cahn-Hilliard (CH) equation, even in the limit where surface diffusion is the mechanism for domain growth. This supports the view that the scaling form of the structure factor is "universal" and leads us to question the conventional wisdom that an accurate representation of the scaled structure factor for the CH equation can only be obtained from a theory which correctly models bulk diffusion.Comment: To appear in PRE, figures available on reques

Dynamics of Monopoles and Flux Tubes in Two-Flavor Dynamical QCD

We investigate the confining properties of the QCD vacuum with $N_f=2$ flavors of dynamical quarks, and compare the results with the properties of the quenched theory. We use non-perturbatively $\mathcal{O}(a)$ improved Wilson fermions to keep cut-off effects small. We focus on color magnetic monopoles. Among the quantities we study are the monopole density and the monopole screening length, the static potential and the profile of the color electric flux tube. We furthermore derive the low-energy effective monopole action. Marked differences between the quenched and dynamical vacuum are found.Comment: 34 pages, 28 figures, Late