Signalling mechanisms of long term facilitation of breathing with intermittent hypoxia.

Intermittent hypoxia causes long-term facilitation (LTF) of respiratory motor nerve activity and ventilation, which manifests as a persistent increase over the normoxic baseline for an hour or more after the acute hypoxic ventilatory response. LTF is likely involved in sleep apnea, but its exact role is uncertain. Previously, LTF was defined as a serotonergic mechanism, but new evidence shows that multiple signaling pathways can elicit LTF. This raises new questions about the interactions between signaling pathways in different time domains of the hypoxic ventilatory response, which can no longer be defined simply in terms of neurochemical mechanisms

Investigation of upwind, multigrid, multiblock numerical schemes for three dimensional flows. Volume 1: Runge-Kutta methods for a thin layer Navier-Stokes solver

A state-of-the-art computer code has been developed that incorporates a modified Runge-Kutta time integration scheme, upwind numerical techniques, multigrid acceleration, and multi-block capabilities (RUMM). A three-dimensional thin-layer formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations is employed. For turbulent flow cases, the Baldwin-Lomax algebraic turbulence model is used. Two different upwind techniques are available: van Leer's flux-vector splitting and Roe's flux-difference splitting. Full approximation multi-grid plus implicit residual and corrector smoothing were implemented to enhance the rate of convergence. Multi-block capabilities were developed to provide geometric flexibility. This feature allows the developed computer code to accommodate any grid topology or grid configuration with multiple topologies. The results shown in this dissertation were chosen to validate the computer code and display its geometric flexibility, which is provided by the multi-block structure

The Evolution of Securitization in Multifamily Mortgage markets and Its Effect on lending Rates

Loan purchase and securitization by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and private-label commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) grew rapidly during the 1990s and accounted for more than one-half of the net growth in multifamily debt over the decade. By facilitating the integration of the multifamily mortgage market into the broader capital markets, securitization helped to create new sources of credit as some traditional portfolio investors—savings institutions and life insurers—reduced their share of loan holdings. A model of commercial mortgage rates at life insurers, expressed relative to a comparable-term Treasury yield, was estimated over a twenty-two-year period. The parameter estimates supported an option-based pricing model of rate determination; proxies for CMBS activity showed no significant effect.

Possible Lattice Distortions in the Hubbard Model for Graphene

The Hubbard model on the honeycomb lattice is a well known model for graphene. Equally well known is the Peierls type of instability of the lattice bond lengths. In the context of these two approximations we ask and answer the question of the possible lattice distortions for graphene in zero magnetic field. The answer is that in the thermodynamic limit only periodic, reflection-symmetric distortions are allowed and these have at most six atoms per unit cell as compared to two atoms for the undistorted lattice.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Full-scale semispan tests of a business-jet wing with a natural laminar flow airfoil

A full-scale semispan model was investigated to evaluate and document the low-speed, high-lift characteristics of a business-jet class wing that utilized the HSNLF(1)-0213 airfoil section and a single-slotted flap system. Also, boundary-layer transition effects were examined, a segmented leading-edge droop for improved stall/spin resistance was studied, and two roll-controlled devices were evaluated. The wind-tunnel investigation showed that deployment of single-slotted, trailing-edge flap was effective in providing substantial increments in lift required for takeoff and landing performance. Fixed-transition studies to investigate premature tripping of the boundary layer indicated no adverse effects in lift and pitching-moment characteristics for either the cruise or landing configuration. The full-scale results also suggested the need to further optimize the leading-edge droop design that was developed in the subscale tests

Stability and Absence of Binding for Multi-Polaron Systems

We resolve several longstanding problems concerning the stability and the absence of multi-particle binding for N\geq 2 polarons. Fr\"ohlich's 1937 polaron model describes non-relativistic particles interacting with a scalar quantized field with coupling \sqrt\alpha, and with each other by Coulomb repulsion of strength U. We prove the following: (i) While there is a known thermodynamic instability for U<2\alpha, stability of matter does hold for U>2\alpha, that is, the ground state energy per particle has a finite limit as N\to\infty. (ii) There is no binding of any kind if U exceeds a critical value that depends on \alpha but not on N. The same results are shown to hold for the Pekar-Tomasevich model.Comment: 23 page

Binding, Stability, and Non-binding of Multi-polaron Systems

The binding of polarons, or its absence, is an old and subtle topic. After defining the model we state some recent theorems of ours. First, the transition from many-body collapse to the existence of a thermodynamic limit for N polarons occurs precisely at U=2\alpha, where U is the electronic Coulomb repulsion and \alpha is the polaron coupling constant. Second, if U is large enough, there is no multi-polaron binding of any kind. We also discuss the Pekar-Tomasevich approximation to the ground state energy, which is valid for large \alpha. Finally, we derive exact results, not reported before, about the one-dimensional toy model introduced by E. P. Gross.Comment: 12 pages; contribution to the proceedings of the conference QMath 11 (Hradec Kralove, September 2010); clarification added after Theorem 4.

Ground state properties of multi-polaron systems

We summarize our recent results on the ground state energy of multi-polaron systems. In particular, we discuss stability and existence of the thermodynamic limit, and we discuss the absence of binding in the case of large Coulomb repulsion and the corresponding binding-unbinding transition. We also consider the Pekar-Tomasevich approximation to the ground state energy and we study radial symmetry of the ground state density.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of ICMP12, Aalborg, Denmark, August 6--11, 2012; 8 page

A mutant of Neurospora crassa deficient in cytochrome c heme lyase activity cannot import cytochrome c into mitochondria

The nuclear cyt-2-1 mutant of Neurospora crassa is characterized by a gross deficiency of cytochrome c (Bertrand, H., and Collins, R. A. (1978) Mol. Gen. Genet. 166, 1-13). The mutant produces mRNA that can be translated into apocytochrome c in vitro. Apocytochrome c is also synthesized in vivo in cyt-2-1, but it is rapidly degraded and thus does not accumulate in the cytosol. Mitochondria from wild-type cells bind apocytochrome c made in vitro from either wild-type or cyt-2-1 mRNA and convert it to holocytochrome c. This conversion depends on the addition of heme by cytochrome c heme lyase and is coupled to translocation of cytochrome c into the intermembrane space. Mitochondria from the cyt-2-1 strain are deficient in the ability to bind apocytochrome c. They are also completely devoid of cytochrome c heme lyase activity. These defects explain the inability of the cyt-2-1 mutant to convert apocytochrome c to the holo form and to import it into mitochondria

Absorbed dose measurements and predictions on LDEF

The overall radiation environment of the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) was determined in part through the use of thermoluminescent detectors (TLD's) which were included in several experiments. The results given are from four experiments (A0015 Biostack, M0004 Fiber Optics Data Link, P0004 Seeds in Space, and P0006 Linear Energy Transfer Spectrum Measurement) and represent a large fraction of existing absorbed dose data. The TLD's were located on the leading and the trailing edges and the Earth end of the spacecraft under various shielding depths (0.48 to 15.4 g/sq cm). The measured absorbed doses were found to reflect both directional dependence of incident trapped protons and shielding. At the leading edge, doses ranged from 2.10 to 2.58 Gy under shielding of 2.90 to 1.37 g/sq cm Al equivalent (M0004). At the trailing edge, doses varied from 3.04 to 4.49 Gy under shielding of 11.7 to 3.85 g/sq cm (A0015), doses varied from 2.91 to 6.64 Gy under shielding of 11.1 to 0.48 g/sq cm (P0004), and a dose range of 2.66 to 6.48 Gy was measured under shielding of 15.4 to 0.48 g/sq cm (P0006). At the Earth end of the spacecraft, doses from 2.41 to 3.93 Gy were found under shielding of 10.0 to 1.66 g/sq cm (A0015). The effect of the trapped proton anisotropy was such that the western side of LDEF received more than 2 times the dose of the eastern side at shielding depths of approximately 1 g/sq cm. Calculations utilizing a directional model of trapped proton spectra predict smaller doses than those measured, being about 50 percent of measured values at the trailing edge and Earth end, and about 80 percent near the leading edge