Stirring apparatus for plural test tubes Patent

Design of mechanical device for stirring several test tubes simultaneousl

ALICE Diffractive Detector Control System for RUN-II in the ALICE Experiment

This paper describes general characteristics of the deployment and commissioned of the Detector Control System (DCS) AD0 for the second phase of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The AD0 detector is installed in the ALICE experiment to provide a better selection of diffractive events.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, To be published in Journal of Physics Conference Series (IOP). Joint Proceedings of the XV Mexican Workshop on Particles and Fields & the XXX Annual Meeting of the Division of Particles and Fields of the Mexican Physical Societ

Bioactive Sphingolipids Mediate Apoptosis and Senescence in Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells

Ceramide is a second messenger involved in apoptosis, cell differentiation, and growth arrest. We hypothesize that in tumor cells, insufficient sphingomyelin (SM) limits the amount of ceramide which can be generated for the probagation of the apoptotic signal resulting from treatment with chemotherapy. As a result, we postulated that exogenous SM will facilitate apoptosis and synergize with chemotherapeutic agents. The current studies examined the response of the Panel human pancreatic cancer cell line to gemcitabine, a nucleoside analog, in the presence and absence of sub-toxic doses of SM. Cytotoxic dose response relationships demonstrated an increased chemosensitivity to gemcitabine with SM inclusion which was synergistic. Treatment with gemcitabine and/or SM led to an increased percentage of apoptotic cells with combination treatment as compared to the single agents. Gemcitabine treatment caused a decrease in the expression of anti-apoptotic bcl-2 family proteins in Panel cells, irrespective of the inclusion of SM. However, treatment of Panel cells with a combination of gemcitabine and exogenous SM resulted in a greater percentage of cells accumulating in the S phase when compared to single agent treatments. Changes in morphology and /3-galactosidase activity in cells treated with gemcitabine were consistent with senescence and gemcitabine-induced senescence was abrogated by concomitant SM treatment. Moreover, exposure of Panel cells to Cg-ceramide demonstrated ceramide induces both apoptosis and senescence in a concentration dependent manner with senescence occurring at lower concentrations and apoptosis at high concentrations. These findings support our proposed model which suggests a cell’s ability to progress through the cell cycle, undergo apoptosis, or enter into senescence is associated with intracellular ceramide levels. By supporting ceramide generation via exogenous SM addition, it is possible to increase apoptosis signaling in tumor cells and increase gemcitabine cytotoxicity. However, failure to generate sufficient signaling ceramide will redirect cells to senescence

Design in clay for architecture

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Nonlinear Discrete Systems with Nonanalytic Dispersion Relations

A discrete system of coupled waves (with nonanalytic dispersion relation) is derived in the context of the spectral transform theory for the Ablowitz Ladik spectral problem (discrete version of the Zakharov-Shabat system). This 3-wave evolution problem is a discrete version of the stimulated Raman scattering equations, and it is shown to be solvable for arbitrary boundary value of the two radiation fields and initial value of the medium state. The spectral transform is constructed on the basis of the D-bar approach.Comment: RevTex file, to appear in Journ. Math. Phy

Self-similar cosmologies in 5D: spatially flat anisotropic models

In the context of theories of Kaluza-Klein type, with a large extra dimension, we study self-similar cosmological models in 5D that are homogeneous, anisotropic and spatially flat. The "ladder" to go between the physics in 5D and 4D is provided by Campbell-Maagard's embedding theorems. We show that the 5-dimensional field equations $R_{AB} = 0$ determine the form of the similarity variable. There are three different possibilities: homothetic, conformal and "wave-like" solutions in 5D. We derive the most general homothetic and conformal solutions to the 5D field equations. They require the extra dimension to be spacelike, and are given in terms of one arbitrary function of the similarity variable and three parameters. The Riemann tensor in 5D is not zero, except in the isotropic limit, which corresponds to the case where the parameters are equal to each other. The solutions can be used as 5D embeddings for a great variety of 4D homogeneous cosmological models, with and without matter, including the Kasner universe. Since the extra dimension is spacelike, the 5D solutions are invariant under the exchange of spatial coordinates. Therefore they also embed a family of spatially {\it inhomogeneous} models in 4D. We show that these models can be interpreted as vacuum solutions in braneworld theory. Our work (I) generalizes the 5D embeddings used for the FLRW models; (II) shows that anisotropic cosmologies are, in general, curved in 5D, in contrast with FLRW models which can always be embedded in a 5D Riemann-flat (Minkowski) manifold; (III) reveals that anisotropic cosmologies can be curved and devoid of matter, both in 5D and 4D, even when the metric in 5D explicitly depends on the extra coordinate, which is quite different from the isotropic case.Comment: Typos corrected. Minor editorial changes and additions in the Introduction and Summary section

Gauge fields and interferometry in folded graphene

Folded graphene flakes are a natural byproduct of the micromechanical exfoliation process. In this Letter we show by a combination of analytical and numerical methods that such systems behave as intriguing interferometers due to the interplay between an externally applied magnetic field and the gauge field induced by the deformations in the region of the fold.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Underrepresentation of Hispanic Bilingual Students in Gifted and Talented Programs: The Role of Teacher Expectations

There is currently an underrepresentation of Hispanic and bilingual students in Gifted and Talented (GT) programs. The present study examines the role of teachers’ expectations and preconceptions of what constitutes a gifted student as possible contributing factors to the underrepresentation of Hispanic and bilingual students in GT programs. Participants will include approximately 100 pre-service teachers and currently practicing teachers in the community. Measures will include a demographic survey, vignettes for identifying giftedness which describe bilingual and monolingual potential gifted students across three ethnic groups, and a survey about student qualities that includes both quantitative and qualitative items. Results and implications will be discussed

Measurements of Transverse Spin Effects with the Forward Pion Detector of STAR

Measurements by the STAR collaboration of neutral pion production at large Feynman x (x_F) in the first polarized proton collisions at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV were reported previously. Cross sections measured at $\eta=3.3$, 3.8 and 4.0 are found to be consistent with next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculations. The analyzing power is consistent with zero at negative x_F and at positive x_F up to ~0.3, then grows more positive with increasing x_F. This behavior can be described by phenomenological models including the Sivers effect, the Collins effect or higher twist contributions in the initial and final states. Forward calorimetry at STAR has been extended, and there are plans for further expansion. An integrated luminosity of 6.8 pb^${-1}$ with average beam polarization of 60% from online polarimetry measurements was sampled with the upgraded FPD in the 2006 RHIC run. This data sample will allow for a detailed map of the \pi^0 analyzing power over kinematic variables bounded by 0.3 < x_F < 0.6 and 1.2 < p_T < 5.0 GeV/c at $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV. The expanded FPD has observed multi-photon final states expected to have "jet-like" characteristics. The transverse spin dependence of jet-like events can discriminate between the Collins and Sivers effects and lead to further progress in understanding the origin of single spin asymmetries in forward particle production. Data were also obtained at $\sqrt{s}=62.4$ GeV for x_F -> 1 to test predictions based on phenomenological fits to earlier STAR results. Recent results, the status of the analysis of 2006 run data and near-term plans will be discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published in the proceedings of the 17th International Spin Physics Symposium (SPIN2006), October 2-7, 2006, Kyoto, Japa