Part III - The effects of thermal stresses on the aerobic and anaerobic work capacities of men Final scientific report

Effects of hyperthermia and hypothermia on aerobic and anaerobic work capacities of me

The effects of dehydration on the aerobic and anaerobic capacities of men, part IV FINAL scientific report

Dehydration effects on work capacity and aerobic capacities of me

Cone and rod function in cone degenerations

AbstractProgressive cone dystrophy (CD) is usually marked in the initial stages by reduced visual acuity, color vision deficiency and alterations in the photopic electroretinogram, while morphological alterations can be very mild; in some forms rods are affected in a later stage as well. We examined 40 patients with progressive cone dystrophy to determine the extent of functional losses in the cone system with psychophysical tests. A great variety of visual acuity and fundus alterations was found. Myopia was present in 74% of the patients. An autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance predominated (32%). No prevalence of gender was found. The age of onset ranged between 10 and 30 yr. All patients had progression of their symptoms. The total error score in color arrangement tests, the saturated Farnsworth Panel D-15 and the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue test, was pathologic with a predominance of confusions along the tritan and scotopic axis. Especially if visual acuity was below 0.5, color vision defects increased, but color vision defects were also found in patients with normal visual acuity. A general decrease of sensitivity in all three cone mechanisms was observed in measurements of spectral sensitivity. Moreover, cone-cone interaction as tested by transient tritanopia measurements was usually disturbed. In the dark adaptation function the threshold of the cone branch was usually elevated. These tests provide a good means to ascertain the correct diagnosis in early stages of the disease and to monitor progression in patients suffering from cone dystrophy

VoIP under the EU regulatory framework : preventing foreclosure?

In June 2004, the European Commission (EC) issued an "Information and Consultation Document" (European Commission 2004) that discussed how the Regulatory Framework of the European Union (EU) should be adapted to accommodate Voice over IP (VoIP) and invited relevant parties to comment on the Consultation Document. In our study, we use the responses of the different market parties to identify how incumbents seek to foreclose the market for VoIP telephony. From these responses we conclude that foreclosure is not only attempted by setting high prices for the use of infrastructure, but also by the strategic choice of infrastructure technology, which raises the cost of entry. We label the latter form of foreclosure "technological foreclosure" – as opposed to "market foreclosure". A simple modeling exercise shows that regulators seeking to avoid market foreclosure might trigger technological foreclosure. We argue that this has happened with the unbundling of the local loop in the EU, and that it might happen again with the transition to VoIP. We conclude that the current rights and obligations assigned to telecom companies effectively protect incumbents from competition by VoIP entrants. Moreover, the inaction of regulatory authorities when it comes to numbering and communication protocols is advantageous for incumbents and might obstruct the provision of new services in the future

Unifying the Micro and Macro Properties of AGN Feeding and Feedback

United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (PF4-150126

Reduced nonlinear description of Farley-Buneman instability

In the study on nonlinear wave-wave processes in an ionosphere and a magnetosphere usually the main attention is paid to investigation of plasma turbulence at well developed stage, when the wide spectrum of plasma wave is present. On the other side, it is well known that even if the number of cooperating waves remains small due to a competition of processes of their instability and attenuation, the turbulence appears in the result of their stochastic behavior. The regimes of nonlinear dynamics of low frequency waves excited due to Farley-Buneman instability in weakly ionized and inhomogeneous ionospheric plasma in the presence of electric current perpendicular to ambient magnetic field are considered. The problem is essentially three dimensional and difficult for full numerical simulation, but the strong collisional damping of waves allow to assume that in this case a perturbed state of plasma can be described as finite set of interacting waves, some of which are unstable and other strongly damping. The proposed nonlinear model allow to make full study of nonlinear stabilization, conditions of stochasticity and to consider the different regimes and properties of few mode plasma turbulence.Comment: The extended version of work, published in AIP Conf. Proc. 993, 113 (2008

Weak localization in ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)As nanostructures

We report on the observation of weak localization in arrays of (Ga,Mn)As nanowires at millikelvin temperatures. The corresponding phase coherence length is typically between 100 nm and 200 nm at 20 mK. Strong spin-orbit interaction in the material is manifested by a weak anti-localization correction around zero magnetic field.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

XPS Study of Superconducting LiTi2O4 and LiTi2-xCuxO4 Sol-Gel Derived Powders and Thin Films

In this work X-ray photoelectron studies of lithium titanate and copper doped lithium titanate are presented. Both, powder and thin lms samples were prepared by sol gel method. After preparation, the samples were heated in argon atmosphere at various temperatures in a range from 500 ◦C to 600 ◦C for 20 h. The crystalline structure of the samples was investigated by X-ray di raction, while the oxidation states of the elements were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy method. X-ray di raction measurements con rmed spinel phase of all manufactured samples. However it is well known that electrical and superconducting properties of lithium titanate are strongly correlated not only with structure, but also with oxidation state of Ti ions. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy investigations revealed mixture of Ti3+ and Ti4+ ions, although the Ti3+/Ti4+ ratio is much smaller than 1 2 needed for superconductivity. In this work dependence between calcination temperature as well as amount of Cu dopant and Ti3+/Ti4+ proportion are reported

Programming multiple protein patterns on a single DNA nanostructure

The ability to create assemblies of proteins with spacing on the nanometer scale has important implications for proteomics, biodetection, and self-assembly. Structural DNA nanotechnology has led to the creation of a variety of nanostructures which should be capable of serving as an addressable template for the creation of complex molecular assemblies. The goal of such systems is to be able to position proteins or other components in distinct patterns with precise spacing. These systems take advantage of the well-defined structure and spacing of DNA and use these properties to act as a template for secondary components in a bottom-up approach toward self-assembly. Previous work in this area has primarily focused on the use of chemical or structural modifications of the DNA template in order to attach or recruit proteins or nanoparticles. We have recently shown that a single polyamide-biotin conjugate is capable of binding to a DX array made from two tiles without any modification of the target DNA