9,859 research outputs found
Constitutional Law - First Amendment - State Prohibition of All Adevertising by a Lawyer Is Unconstitutional
A Low Cost Remote Sensing System Using PC and Stereo Equipment
A system using a personal computer, speaker, and a microphone is used to
detect objects, and make crude measurements using a carrier modulated by a
pseudorandom noise (PN) code. This system can be constructed using a personal
computer and audio equipment commonly found in the laboratory or at home, or
more sophisticated equipment that can be purchased at reasonable cost. We
demonstrate its value as an instructional tool for teaching concepts of remote
sensing and digital signal processing.Comment: Accepted for publication in American Journal of Physic
HDAC inhibitors increase NRF2-signaling in tumour cells and blunt the efficacy of co-adminstered cytotoxic agents
The NRF2 signalling cascade provides a primary response against electrophilic chemicals and oxidative stress. The activation of NRF2-signaling is anticipated to have adverse clinical consequences; NRF2 is activated in a number of cancers and, additionally, its pharmacological activation by one compound can reduce the toxicity or efficiency of a second agent administered concomitantly. In this work, we have analysed systematically the ability of 152 research, pre-clinical or clinically used drugs to induce an NRF2 response using the MCF7-AREc32 NRF2 reporter. Ten percent of the tested drugs induced an NRF2 response. The NRF2 activators were not restricted to classical cytotoxic alkylating agents but also included a number of emerging anticancer drugs, including an IGF1-R inhibitor (NVP-AEW541), a PIM-1 kinase inhibitor (Pim1 inhibitor 2), a PLK1 inhibitor (BI 2536) and most strikingly seven of nine tested HDAC inhibitors. These findings were further confirmed by demonstrating NRF2-dependent induction of endogenous AKR genes, biomarkers of NRF2 activity. The ability of HDAC inhibitors to stimulate NRF2-signalling did not diminish their own potency as antitumour agents. However, when used to pre-treat cells, they did reduce the efficacy of acrolein. Taken together, our data suggest that the ability of drugs to stimulate NRF2 activity is common and should be investigated as part of the drug-development process
Tubular carbonate concretions as hydrocarbon migration pathways? Examples from North Island, New Zealand
Cold seep carbonate deposits are associated with the development on the sea floor of distinctive chemosynÂŹthetic animal communities and carbonate mineraliÂŹsation as a consequence of microbially mediated anaerobic oxidation of methane. Several possible sources of the methane exist, identifiable from the carbon isotope values of the carbonate precipitates. In the modern, seep carbonates can occur on the sea floor above petroleum reservoirs where an important origin can be from ascending thermogenic hydrocarÂŹbons. The character of geological structures marking the ascent pathways from deep in the subsurface to shallow subsurface levels are poorly understood, but one such structure resulting from focused fluid flow may be tubular carbonate concretions.
Several mudrock-dominated Cenozoic (especially Miocene) sedimentary formations in the North Island of New Zealand include carbonate concretions having a wide range of tubular morphologies. The concretions are typically oriented at high angles to bedding, and often have a central conduit that is either empty or filled with late stage cements. Stable isotope analyses (δ13C, δ18O) suggest that the carbonate cements in the concretions precipitated mainly from ascending methane, likely sourced from a mixture of deep thermogenic and shallow biogenic sources. A clear link between the tubular concretions and overlying paleo-sea floor seep-carbonate deposits exists at some sites.
We suggest that the tubular carbonate concretions mark the subsurface plumbing network of cold seep systems. When exposed and accessible in outcrop, they afford an opportunity to investigate the geochemical evolution of cold seeps, and possibly also the nature of linkages between subsurface and surface portions of such a system. Seep field development has implications for the characterisation of fluid flow in sedimentary basins, for the global carbon cycle, for exerting a biogeochemical influence on the development of marine communities, and for the evaluation of future hydrocarbon resources, recovery, and drilling and production hazards. These matters remain to be fully assessed within a petroleum systems framework for New Zealandâs Cenozoic sedimentary basins
Beyond Goldwater-Nichols
This report culminated almost two years of effort at CSIS, which began by developing an approach for both revisiting the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 and for addressing issues that were beyond the scope of that landmark legislation
Evidence of complex involvement of serotonergic genes with restrictive and binge purge subtypes of anorexia nervosa
Peer reviewedPreprin
Kirigami Actuators
Thin elastic sheets bend easily and, if they are patterned with cuts, can
deform in sophisticated ways. Here we show that carefully tuning the location
and arrangement of cuts within thin sheets enables the design of mechanical
actuators that scale down to atomically-thin 2D materials. We first show that
by understanding the mechanics of a single, non-propagating crack in a sheet we
can generate four fundamental forms of linear actuation: roll, pitch, yaw, and
lift. Our analytical model shows that these deformations are only weakly
dependent on thickness, which we confirm with experiments at centimeter scale
objects and molecular dynamics simulations of graphene and MoS nanoscale
sheets. We show how the interactions between non-propagating cracks can enable
either lift or rotation, and we use a combination of experiments, theory,
continuum computational analysis, and molecular dynamics simulations to provide
mechanistic insights into the geometric and topological design of kirigami
actuators.Comment: Soft Matter, 201
Performance Metrics for the Objective Assessment of Capacitive Deionization Systems
In the growing field of capacitive deionization (CDI), a number of
performance metrics have emerged to describe the desalination process.
Unfortunately, the separation conditions under which these metrics are measured
are often not specified, resulting in optimal performance at minimal removal.
Here we outline a system of performance metrics and reporting conditions that
resolves this issue. Our proposed system is based on volumetric energy
consumption (Wh/m) and throughput productivity (L/h/m) reported for a
specific average concentration reduction, water recovery, and feed salinity. To
facilitate and rationalize comparisons between devices, materials, and
operation modes, we propose a nominal standard testing condition of removing 5
mM from a 20 mM NaCl feed solution at 50% water recovery for CDI research.
Using this separation, we compare the desalination performance of a
flow-through electrode (fte-CDI) cell and a flow between membrane (fb-MCDI)
device, showing how significantly different systems can be compared in terms of
generally desirable desalination characteristics. In general, we find that
performance analysis must be considered carefully so to not allow for ambiguous
separation conditions or the maximization of one metric at the expense of
another. Additionally, for context we discuss a number of important underlying
performance indicators and cell characteristics that are not performance
measures in and of themselves but can be examined to better understand
differences in performance
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