670 research outputs found
Issues in ATM Support of High-Performance, Geographically Distributed Computing
This report experimentally assesses the effect of the underlying network in a cluster-based computing environment. The assessment is quantified by application-level benchmarking, process-level communication, and network file input/output. Two testbeds were considered, one small cluster of Sun workstations and another large cluster composed of 32 high-end IBM RS/6000 platforms. The clusters had Ethernet, fiber distributed data interface (FDDI), Fibre Channel, and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network interface cards installed, providing the same processors and operating system for the entire suite of experiments. The primary goal of this report is to assess the suitability of an ATM-based, local-area network to support interprocess communication and remote file input/output systems for distributed computing
Further Evidence for Intrinsic Redshifts in Normal Spiral Galaxies
Evidence from galaxy absolute magnitudes, linear diameters, and HyperLeda
images is presented which strongly supports the interpretation that some normal
spiral galaxies can contain large non-cosmological (intrinsic) redshifts in
excess of 5000 km s-1.Comment: 17 pages, Astrophysics&Space Science - Accepted for publicatio
Structural and biophysical characterization of bacillus thuringiensis insecticidal proteins Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1
Bacillus thuringiensis strains are well known for the production of insecticidal proteins upon sporulation and these proteins are deposited in parasporal crystalline inclusions. The majority of these insect-specific toxins exhibit three domains in the mature toxin sequence. However, other Cry toxins are structurally and evolutionarily unrelated to this three-domain family and little is known of their three dimensional structures, limiting our understanding of their mechanisms of action and our ability to engineer the proteins to enhance their function. Among the non-three domain Cry toxins, the Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1 proteins from B. thuringiensis strain PS149B1 are required to act together to produce toxicity to the western corn rootworm (WCR) Diabrotica virgifera virgifera Le Conte via a pore forming mechanism of action. Cry34Ab1 is a protein of ∼14 kDa with features of the aegerolysin family (Pfam06355) of proteins that have known membrane disrupting activity, while Cry35Ab1 is a ∼44 kDa member of the toxin_10 family (Pfam05431) that includes other insecticidal proteins such as the binary toxin BinA/BinB. The Cry34Ab1/Cry35Ab1 proteins represent an important seed trait technology having been developed as insect resistance traits in commercialized corn hybrids for control of WCR. The structures of Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1 have been elucidated to 2.15 Å and 1.80 Å resolution, respectively. The solution structures of the toxins were further studied by small angle X-ray scattering and native electrospray ion mobility mass spectrometry. We present here the first published structure from the aegerolysin protein domain family and the structural comparisons of Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1 with other pore forming toxins
The changing of the guard: groupwork with people who have intellectual disabilities
This paper considers the impact of service systems on group activities. It describes an inter-professional groupwork project facilitated by a social worker and a community nurse. The project provided an emancipatory experience for a group of adults who had intellectual disabilities. The group was charged with the task of reviewing and updating the recruitment and interview processes used by a 'Learning Disability Partnership Board', when employing new support workers.
The paper begins with a brief history of intellectual disability and provides a context to the underpinning philosophical belief that people should be encouraged and supported to inhabit valued social roles no matter what disability they may have. It then identifies the ways in which the sponsoring health, education and social care services impacted on the creation and development of a groupwork project. It might have been expected that the nature of the intellectual disability would have been the major influence on group process. However the paper reveals that organisational constraints had a significant impact on group functioning. Issues including, staffing budgets and transport contracts impacted on group process and function.
The results of the project show how, with adequate support, people with intellectual disability can make important decisions that have long-reaching impacts on the services
Autonomous Development of Social Referencing Skills
International audienceIn this work, we are interested in understanding how emo- tional interactions with a social partner can bootstrap increasingly com- plex behaviors such as social referencing. Our idea is that social refer- encing as well as facial expression recognition can emerge from a simple sensori-motor system involving emotional stimuli. Without knowing that the other is an agent, the robot is able to learn some complex tasks if the human partner has some “empathy” or at least “resonate” with the robot head (low level emotional resonance). Hence we advocate the idea that social referencing can be bootstrapped from a simple sensori-motor system not dedicated to social interactions
Mathematical Aspects of the Periodic Law
We review different studies of the Periodic Law and the set of chemical
elements from a mathematical point of view. This discussion covers the first
attempts made in the 19th century up to the present day. Mathematics employed
to study the periodic system includes number theory, information theory, order
theory, set theory and topology. Each theory used shows that it is possible to
provide the Periodic Law with a mathematical structure. We also show that it is
possible to study the chemical elements taking advantage of their
phenomenological properties, and that it is not always necessary to reduce the
concept of chemical elements to the quantum atomic concept to be able to find
interpretations for the Periodic Law. Finally, a connection is noted between
the lengths of the periods of the Periodic Law and the philosophical
Pythagorean doctrine.Comment: 20 pages, PDF fil
Intrinsic Redshifts and the Tully-Fisher Distance Scale
The Tully-Fisher relationship (TFR) has been shown to have a relatively small
observed scatter of ~ +/-0.35 mag implying an intrinsic scatter < +/-0.30 mag.
However, when the TFR is calibrated from distances derived from the Hubble
relation for field galaxies scatter is consistently found to be +/-0.64 to
+/-0.84 mag. This significantly larger scatter requires that intrinsic TFR
scatter is actually much larger than +/-0.30 mag, that field galaxies have an
intrinsic TFR scatter much larger than cluster spirals, or that field galaxies
have a velocity dispersion relative to the Hubble flow in excess of 1000 km
s-1. Each of these potential explanations faces difficulties contradicted by
available data and the results of previous studies. An alternative explanation
is that the measured redshifts of galaxies are composed of a cosmological
redshift component predicted from the value of the Hubble Constant and a
superimposed intrinsic redshift component previously identified in other
studies. This intrinsic redshift component may exceed 5000 km s-1 in individual
galaxies. In this alternative scenario a possible value for the Hubble Constant
is 55-60 km s-1 Mpc-1.Comment: 15 pages, Astrophysics&Space Science - Accepted for publicatio
Stellar structure and compact objects before 1940: Towards relativistic astrophysics
Since the mid-1920s, different strands of research used stars as "physics
laboratories" for investigating the nature of matter under extreme densities
and pressures, impossible to realize on Earth. To trace this process this paper
is following the evolution of the concept of a dense core in stars, which was
important both for an understanding of stellar evolution and as a testing
ground for the fast-evolving field of nuclear physics. In spite of the divide
between physicists and astrophysicists, some key actors working in the
cross-fertilized soil of overlapping but different scientific cultures
formulated models and tentative theories that gradually evolved into more
realistic and structured astrophysical objects. These investigations culminated
in the first contact with general relativity in 1939, when J. Robert
Oppenheimer and his students George Volkoff and Hartland Snyder systematically
applied the theory to the dense core of a collapsing neutron star. This
pioneering application of Einstein's theory to an astrophysical compact object
can be regarded as a milestone in the path eventually leading to the emergence
of relativistic astrophysics in the early 1960s.Comment: 83 pages, 4 figures, submitted to the European Physical Journal
Mycobacterium tuberculosis phagosome
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75241/1/j.1365-2958.1999.01279.x.pd
Factors influencing participation in outdoor physical activity promotion schemes: The case of South Staffordshire, England
Policy exhortations for promoting outdoor physical activity have increased considerably in England and Wales over the past 20 years. Despite a considerable number of schemes developing during this period to encourage physical activity and exercise, marked population-level changes in outdoor physical activity behaviour have not been seen. The paper explores the triggers to this participation using a five-fold classification: physical infrastructure; information infrastructure; administrative infrastructure; participant constraints and participant preferences. Through a series of interviews in a case study 'healthy exercise' scheme in South Staffordshire, a district local authority in England, these triggers to participation are identified and explored. It is concluded that whilst the infrastructure triggers can be manipulated by scheme providers in an attempt to improve scheme participation, participant triggers fall largely beyond the control of scheme providers. Research suggests, too, that participant triggers tend to be stronger than infrastructure ones. Because of this, where there is a lack of healthy exercise scheme success, this cannot necessarily be attributed to scheme providers as it might be as a result of user triggers. For the same reason, it might be beyond the influence of scheme providers to turn 'failing' exercise schemes into successful ones. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
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