1,921 research outputs found
Ascendance : submission traits as correlated with some aspects of the authoritarian personality
The problem is to see if there is a correlation between some of the ideologies that make-up the fascist personality, as measured in terms of the University of California Public Opinion Study and Ascendance - Submission traits as measured in terms of the A-S Reaction Study. Is there a statistical correlation between the E - ethnocentric, PHC political-economic conservatism, and F - fascist scale, and ascendance-submission traits of individuals? If so, what does this correlation imply? What generalizations can be made on the basis of statistical indications, if any? Will this study indicate that it will be possible to predict from the score or category on one test as to the score on the other test
Gas Rich Dwarf Spheroidals
We present evidence that nearly half of the dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph
and dSph/dIrr) in the Local Group are associated with large reservoirs of
atomic gas, in some cases larger than the stellar mass. The gas is sometimes
found at large distance (~10 kpc) from the center of a galaxy and is not
necessarily centered on it. Similarly large quantities of ionized gas could be
hidden in these systems as well. The properties of some of the gas reservoirs
are similar to the median properties of the High-Velocity Clouds (HVCs); two of
the HI reservoirs are catalogued HVCs. The association of the HI with the dwarf
spheroidals might thus provide a link between the HVCs and stars. We show that
the HI content of the Local Group dSphs and dIrrs exhibits a sharp decline if
the galaxy is within 250 kpc of either the Milky Way or M31. This can be
explained if both galaxies have a sufficiently massive x-ray emitting halo that
produces ram-pressure stripping if a dwarf ventures too close to either giant
spiral. We also investigate tidal stripping of the dwarf galaxies and find that
although it may play a role, it cannot explain the apparent total absence of
neutral gas in most dSph galaxies at distances less than 250 kpc. For the
derived mean density of the hot gas, n_0 = 2.5e-5 cm^-2, ram-pressure stripping
is found to be more than an order of magnitude more effective in removing the
gas from the dSph galaxies. The hot halo, with an inferred mass of 1e10 solar
masses, may represent a reservoir of ~1000 destroyed dwarf systems, either HVCs
or true dwarf galaxies similar to those we observe now.Comment: AASTex preprint style, 27 pages including 12 figures. Submitted to
ApJ. See also http://astro.berkeley.edu/~robisha
Theory of a Continuous H Normal-to-Superconducting Transition
I study the transition within the Ginzburg-Landau model, with
-component order parameter . I find a renormalized fixed point free
energy, exact in limit, suggestive of a nd-order
transition in contrast to a general belief of a st-order transition. The
thermal fluctuations for force one to consider an infinite set of
marginally relevant operators for . I find , predicting
that the ODLRO does not survive thermal fluctuations in . The result is
a solution to a critical fixed point that was found to be inaccessible within
-expansion, previously considered in E.Brezin, D.R.Nelson,
A.Thiaville, Phys.Rev.B {\bf 31}, 7124 (1985), and was interpreted as a
st-order transition.Comment: 4 pages, self-unpacking uuencoded compressed postscript file with a
figure already inside text; to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett
Aquilegia, Vol. 24 No. 5, November-December 2000: Newsletter of the Colorado Native Plant Society
https://epublications.regis.edu/aquilegia/1182/thumbnail.jp
Comparison of approaches for rational siRNA design leading to a new efficient and transparent method
Current literature describes several methods for the design of efficient siRNAs with 19 perfectly matched base pairs and 2 nt overhangs. Using four independent databases totaling 3336 experimentally verified siRNAs, we compared how well several of these methods predict siRNA cleavage efficiency. According to receiver operating characteristics (ROC) and correlation analyses, the best programs were BioPredsi, ThermoComposition and DSIR. We also studied individual parameters that significantly and consistently correlated with siRNA efficacy in different databases. As a result of this work we developed a new method which utilizes linear regression fitting with local duplex stability, nucleotide position-dependent preferences and total G/C content of siRNA duplexes as input parameters. The new method's discrimination ability of efficient and inefficient siRNAs is comparable with that of the best methods identified, but its parameters are more obviously related to the mechanisms of siRNA action in comparison with BioPredsi. This permits insight to the underlying physical features and relative importance of the parameters. The new method of predicting siRNA efficiency is faster than that of ThermoComposition because it does not employ time-consuming RNA secondary structure calculations and has much less parameters than DSIR. It is available as a web tool called ‘siRNA scales’
Genetic regulation of glucoraphanin accumulation in Beneforté® broccoli
Diets rich in broccoli (Brassica oleracea var italica) have been associated with maintenance of cardiovascular health and reduction in risk of cancer. These health benefits have been
attributed to glucoraphanin that specifically accumulates in broccoli. The development of broccoli with enhanced concentrations of glucoraphanin may deliver greater health benefits.
Three high-glucoraphanin F1 broccoli hybrids were developed in independent programmes through genome introgression from the wild species Brassica villosa. Glucoraphanin and other metabolites were quantified in experimental field trials. Global SNP analyses quantified the differential extent of B. villosa introgression
The high-glucoraphanin broccoli hybrids contained 2.5–3 times the glucoraphanin content of standard hybrids due to enhanced sulphate assimilation and modifications in sulphur partitioning between sulphur-containing metabolites. All of the high-glucoraphanin hybrids possessed an introgressed B. villosa segment which contained a B. villosa Myb28 allele. Myb28
expression was increased in all of the high-glucoraphanin hybrids. Two high-glucoraphanin hybrids have been commercialised as Beneforte broccoli.
The study illustrates the translation of research on glucosinolate genetics from Arabidopsis to broccoli, the use of wild Brassica species to develop cultivars with potential consumer benefits, and the development of cultivars with contrasting concentrations of glucoraphanin for use in blinded human intervention studie
Transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome in dynamical small-world networks
The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is still threatening
the world because of a possible resurgence. In the current situation that
effective medical treatments such as antiviral drugs are not discovered yet,
dynamical features of the epidemics should be clarified for establishing
strategies for tracing, quarantine, isolation, and regulating social behavior
of the public at appropriate costs. Here we propose a network model for SARS
epidemics and discuss why superspreaders emerged and why SARS spread especially
in hospitals, which were key factors of the recent outbreak. We suggest that
superspreaders are biologically contagious patients, and they may amplify the
spreads by going to potentially contagious places such as hospitals. To avoid
mass transmission in hospitals, it may be a good measure to treat suspected
cases without hospitalizing them. Finally, we indicate that SARS probably
propagates in small-world networks associated with human contacts and that the
biological nature of individuals and social group properties are factors more
important than the heterogeneous rates of social contacts among individuals.
This is in marked contrast with epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases or
computer viruses to which scale-free network models often apply.Comment: 4 figure
Validation of microscopic observation drug susceptibility testing for rapid, direct rifampicin and isoniazid drug susceptibility testing in patients receiving tuberculosis treatment.
Drug susceptibility testing (DST) is often needed in patients clinically failing tuberculosis (TB) therapy. Most studies of phenotypic direct drug susceptibility tests, such as microscopic observation drug susceptibility (MODS) tests, have been performed in patients not receiving TB treatment. The effect of ongoing TB treatment on the performance of MODS direct DST has not been previously explored, but patients failing such therapy constitute an important target group. The aim of this study was to determine the performance of MODS direct rifampicin and isoniazid DST in patients clinically failing first-line TB treatment, and to compare MODS direct DST with indirect proportion method DST. Sputa from 264 TB patients were cultured in parallel in Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) and MODS assays; strains were tested for rifampicin and isoniazid susceptibility by the proportion method at the national reference laboratory. Ninety-three samples were culture-positive by LJ and MODS (concordance of 96%; kappa 0.92). With conventional MODS plate DST reading (performed on the same day as the sample is classified as culture-positive), the isoniazid DST concordance was 96.8% (kappa 0.89), and the concordance for rifampicin susceptibility testing was 92.6% (kappa 0.80). Reading of MODS DST plates 1 week after cultures had been determined to be culture-positive improved overall performance marginally-the isoniazid DST concordance was 95.7% (kappa 0.85); and the rifampicin DST concordance was 96.8% (kappa 0.91). Sensitivity for detection of multidrug-resistant TB was 95.8%. MODS testing provided reliable rifampicin and isoniazid DST results for samples obtained from patients receiving TB therapy. A modified DST reading schedule for such samples, with a final reading 1 week after a MODS culture turns positive, marginally improves the concordance with reference DST
High-precision calculations of dispersion coefficients, static dipole polarizabilities, and atom-wall interaction constants for alkali-metal atoms
The van der Waals coefficients for the alkali-metal atoms from Na to Fr
interacting in their ground states, are calculated using relativistic ab initio
methods. The accuracy of the calculations is estimated by also evaluating
atomic static electric dipole polarizabilities and coefficients for the
interaction of the atoms with a perfectly conducting wall. The results are in
excellent agreement with the latest data from ultra-cold collisions and from
studies of magnetic field induced Feshbach resonances in Na and Rb. For Cs we
provide critically needed data for ultra-cold collision studies
Energy conservation in citrus processing. Final project report
Alternative energy conserving systems for use in citrus processing plants were synthesized and evaluated in terms of energy savings and economic return. The energy intensive operations that are carried out in citrus processing plants include conveying and extraction, concentration, peel drying, refrigeration, and pasteurization. The alternative energy conserving systems are synthesized from components and subsystems that are arranged to make use of energy cascading and thermodynamic regeneration to reduce the overall energy usage. System requirements such as air pollution rules and plant processing load cycles, a characterization of major operations, description of alternative system concepts, and the evaluation of alternative systems in terms of economic parameters and energy usage are identified
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