The adenylate cyclase receptor complex and aqueous humor formation.

The secretory tissue of the eye, the ciliary processes, contains an enzyme receptor complex, composed of membrane proteins, the catalytic moiety of the enzyme adenylate cyclase, a guanyl nucleotide regulatory protein (or N protein), and other features. The enzyme can be activated by well-known neurohumoral or humoral agents, catecholamines, glycoprotein hormones produced by the hypothalamic pituitary axis, and other related compounds, including placental gonadotropin, organic fluorides, and forskolin, a diterpene. These compounds cause the ciliary epithelia to produce cyclic AMP at an accelerated rate. Cyclic AMP, as a second messenger, causes, either directly or indirectly, a decrease in the net rate of aqueous humor inflow that may be modulated by cofactors. Clinical syndromes fit the experimental data so that an integrated explanation can be given for the reduced intraocular pressure witnessed under certain central nervous system and adrenergic influences. The molecular biology of this concept provides important leads for future investigations that bear directly both upon the regulation of intraocular pressure and upon glaucoma

Incoherent dynamics in neutron-matter interaction

Coherent and incoherent neutron-matter interaction is studied inside a recently introduced approach to subdynamics of a macrosystem. The equation describing the interaction is of the Lindblad type and using the Fermi pseudopotential we show that the commutator term is an optical potential leading to well-known relations in neutron optics. The other terms, usually ignored in optical descriptions and linked to the dynamic structure function of the medium, give an incoherent contribution to the dynamics, which keeps diffuse scattering and attenuation of the coherent beam into account, thus warranting fulfilment of the optical theorem. The relevance of this analysis to experiments in neutron interferometry is briefly discussed.Comment: 15 pages, revtex, no figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Reduced dimension modeling of leading edge turbulent interaction noise

A computational aeroacoustics approach is used to model the effects of real airfoil geometry on leading edge turbulent interaction noise for symmetric airfoils at zero angle of attack. For the first time, one-component (transverse), two-component (transverse and streamwise), and three-component (transverse, streamwise, and spanwise) synthesized turbulent disturbances are modeled instead of single frequency transverse gusts, which previous computational studies of leading edge noise have been confined to. The effects of the inclusion of streamwise and spanwise disturbances on the noise are assessed, and it is shown that accurate noise predictions for symmetric airfoils can be made by modeling only the transverse disturbances, which reduces the computational expense of simulations. Additionally, the two-component turbulent synthesis method is used to model the effects of airfoil thickness on the noise for thicknesses ranging from 2% to 12%. By using sufficient airfoil thicknesses to show trends, it is found that airfoil thickness will reduce the noise at high frequency, and that the sound power P will reduce linearly with increasing airfoil thickness

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF FIELD WHEAT VARIETAL PERFORMANCE TRIALS

The purpose of this research was to formulate statistical models and assumptions to apply to the problem of comparing wheat varieties for yielding ability among locations within seasons and over seasons. The methodology could just as well be applied to field testing of other crops for yield or other characteristics of interest (test weight, protein level, etc.) The methodology approaches the problem of comparing varieties by comparing how well each measures up when matched against some common checks. For each variety, the basic data are differences in yield between the variety and the average yield of the checks at different testing locations within a season and over seasons. The differences are assumed to be nature-randomized sample values from a population of differences created by different environments within seasons and over seasons. The methodology is illustrated by application to hard red spring wheat varieties in the U. S. N orthem Plains. Results showing varieties in descending order by differential yielding ability, together with standard errors and probabilities when testing null hypotheses, provide a consolidated summary of elite varieties in testing programs

The recoverability of fingerprints on paper exposed to elevated temperatures - Part 2: natural fluorescence

Previous work by the authors [1] investigated the recoverability of fingerprints on paper which had been exposed to elevated temperatures by comparing various chemical enhancement techniques (ninhydrin, 1,8-diazafluoren-9-one (DFO), and physical developer (PD)). During that study, it became apparent, as a consequence of observations made in operational work [2], that fingerprints on paper subjected to 150˚C fluoresced under examination with green light of waveband 473-548nm with a 549nm viewing filter. This work examined the three types of prints (eccrine, sebaceous, and ungroomed) after 20 min exposure to the temperature range 110˚C to 190˚C (in 10˚C increments) and found that the eccrine fingerprints fluoresced more brightly. This indicated that it was a component of the eccrine deposit which was causing the fluorescence. Luminance measurements found that the maximum fluorescence was experienced at 170˚C on both types of paper. As a consequence, eccrine heat-treated fingerprints were viewed under violet-blue (350-469nm), blue (352-509nm), and green light (473-548nm) which indicated that the greatest luminance intensities were obtained under blue light and the smallest under green light. In order to determine what component of the eccrine fingerprint was causing this fluorescence, five of the most prevalent amino acids (alanine, aspartic acid, glycine, lysine, and serine) [3-4] were exposed to this temperature range. The luminance measurements were taken under exposure to the green light in order for the minimum fluorescence to be observed, with an assumption that blue-violet or blue illumination will provide brighter fluorescence in practice. The results indicated that four of the amino acids are behaving similarly across the temperature range, but with slightly different luminance measurements, but all are exhibiting some level of fluorescence. Thermal degradation products of alanine and aspartic acid have been suggested by Richmond-Aylor et al. [5]. The structure of these thermal degradation products is cyclic in nature, and as such, there is a possibility that two of these products would fluorescence. Sodium chloride and urea were also exposed to the temperature range and they also fluoresced to some extent. This work shows that eccrine fingerprints that have been exposed to temperatures of between 130˚C to 180˚C will fluoresce under violet-blue, blue, and green light. This level of fluorescence for ungroomed fingerprints is much less but this will be dependent on the individual, the more eccrine the deposit, the stronger the fluorescence. This work shows that the amino acids, sodium chloride, and urea present in fingerprint deposits are all contributing to the fluorescence of the print, but may not be the sole contributor as other eccrine components have not yet been tested

Formalism for obtaining nuclear momentum distributions by the Deep Inelastic Neutron Scattering technique

We present a new formalism to obtain momentum distributions in condensed matter from Neutron Compton Profiles measured by the Deep Inelastic Neutron Scattering technique. The formalism describes exactly the Neutron Compton Profiles as an integral in the momentum variable $y$. As a result we obtain a Volterra equation of the first kind that relates the experimentally measured magnitude with the momentum distributions of the nuclei in the sample. The integration kernel is related with the incident neutron spectrum, the total cross section of the filter analyzer and the detectors efficiency function. A comparison of the present formalism with the customarily employed approximation based on a convolution of the momentum distribution with a resolution function is presented. We describe the inaccuracies that the use of this approximation produces, and propose a new data treatment procedure based on the present formalism.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Mirrors for slow neutrons from holographic nanoparticle-polymer free-standing film-gratings

We report on successful tests of holographically arranged grating-structures in nanoparticle-polymer composites in the form of 100 microns thin free-standing films, i.e. without sample containers or covers that could cause unwanted absorption/incoherent scattering of very-cold neutrons. Despite their large diameter of 2 cm, the flexible materials are of high optical quality and yield mirror-like reflectivity of about 90% for neutrons of 4.1 nm wavelength

Spatial Dynamics of Nesting Behavior: Lizards Shift Microhabitats to Construct Nests with Beneficial Thermal Properties

Because temperature affects the growth, development, and survival of embryos,oviparous mothers should discriminate carefully among available nesting sites. We combined a radiotelemetric study of animal movements with a spatial mapping of environmental temperatures to test predictions about the nesting behavior of the eastern fence lizard (Sceloporus undulatus). Females made large excursions from their typical home ranges to construct nests in exposed substrates. These excursions appeared to be related solely to nesting because all females returned to forested habitat immediately afterward. On average, 1% (range ¼ 0–8%, n ¼ 19) of the area used by a female during nesting was contained within the area used before and after nesting. The selection of nesting sites matched predictions based on laboratory studies of embryonic performance; specifically, females nested in extremely open habitat at a mean of 6 cm depth. Spatial mapping of soil temperatures revealed that temperatures of nesting areas exceeded those of areas typically used by females, indicating that females preferred to construct warm nests that speed embryonic growth and development. However, this behavior could reduce the survivorship of females because of the need to rapidly navigate unfamiliar and exposed terrain