Nuclear Condensations of Furan

In connection with studies on orientation of furan and the synthesis of beta-substituted furans, condensation reactions have been effected with diazomethane, aryl-diazonium compounds, diazoacetic ester and related types with furan and its derivatives. The condensations in some cases are preceded by 1,2- and 1,4- additions. It appears that the difficulty in preparing simple furan-diazonium compounds is due, in part, to the ready coupling reaction of the diazonium group with the furan nucleus

Farm water systems

"February, 1940""An adequate supply of pure water is essential for good health of the farm family, and when piped under pressure to the home and other parts of the farmstead, where needed, it is a most valuable asset. Water available under pressure in the home will probably save more time and energy than any other one improvement requiring a similar investment. Considerable valuable time and labor can likewise be saved by having water piped to livestock watering troughs in the barns, feed lots, or pastures. Furthermore, pure, fresh water available to livestock and poultry whenever it is wanted promotes better growth and production."--First page

Development of integrated thermionic circuits for high-temperature applications

Integrated thermionic circuits (ITC) capable of extended operation in ambient temperatures up to 500 C are studied. A set of practical design and performance equations is demonstrated. Experimental results are discussed in which both devices and simple circuits were successfully operated in 5000 C environments for extended periods. It is suggested that ITC's may become an important technology for high temperature instrumentation and control systems in geothermal and other high temperature environments

Distinguishing left- and right-handed molecules by two-step coherent pulses

Chiral molecules with broken parity symmetries can be modeled as quantum systems with cyclic-transition structures. By using these novel properties, we design two-step laser pulses to distinguish left- and right-handed molecules from the enantiomers. After the applied pulse drivings, one kind chiral molecules are trapped in coherent population trapping state, while the other ones are pumped to the highest states for ionizations. Then, different chiral molecules can be separated.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures

Effect of an acute dose of omega-3 fish oil following exercise-induced muscle damage

Purpose The purpose of this double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to examine the effect of two fish oil supplements, one high in EPA (750 mg EPA, 50 mg DHA) and one low in EPA (150 mg EPA, 100 mg DHA), taken acutely as a recovery strategy following EIMD. Methods Twenty-seven physically active males (26 ± 4 year, 1.77 ± 0.07 m, 80 ± 10 kg) completed 100 plyometric drop jumps to induce muscle damage. Perceptual (perceived soreness) and functional (isokinetic muscle strength at 60° and 180° s−1, squat jump performance and countermovement jump performance) indices of EIMD were recorded before, and 1, 24, 48, 72, and 96h after the damaging protocol. Immediately after the damaging protocol, volunteers ingested either a placebo (Con), a low-EPA fish oil (Low EPA) or a high-EPA fish oil (High EPA) at a dose of 1 g per 10 kg body mass. Results A significant group main effect was observed for squat jump, with the High EPA group performing better than Con and Low EPA groups (average performance decrement, 2.1, 8.3 and 9.8%, respectively), and similar findings were observed for countermovement jump performance, (average performance decrement, 1.7, 6.8 and 6.8%, respectively, p = 0.07). Significant time, but no interaction main effects were observed for all functional and perceptual indices measured, although large effect sizes demonstrate a possible ameliorating effect of high dose of EPA fish supplementation (effect sizes ≥0.14). Conclusion This study indicates that an acute dose of high-EPA fish oil may ameliorate the functional changes following EIMD

The White Dwarfs within 20 Parsecs of the Sun: Kinematics and Statistics

We present the kinematical properties, distribution of spectroscopic subtypes, stellar population subcomponents of the white dwarfs within 20 pc of the sun. We find no convincing evidence of halo white dwarfs in the total 20 pc sample of 129 white dwarfs nor is there convincing evidence of genuine thick disk subcomponent members within 20 parsecs. Virtually the entire 20 pc sample likely belongs to the thin disk. The total DA to non-DA ratio of the 20 pc sample is 1.6, a manifestation of deepening envelope convection which transforms DA stars with sufficiently thin H surface layers into non-DAs. The addition of 5 new stars to the 20 pc sample yields a revised local space density of white dwarfs of $4.9\pm0.5 \times 10^{-3}$ M_{\sun}/yr and a corresponding mass density of $3.3\pm0.3 \times 10^{-3}$ M_{\sun}/pc$^{3}$. We find that at least 15% of the white dwarfs within 20 parsecs of the sun (the DAZ and DZ stars) have photospheric metals that possibly originate from accretion of circumstellar material (debris disks) around them. If this interpretation is correct, this suggests the possibility that the same percentage have planets or asteroid-like bodies orbiting them.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

Assimilation of healthy and indulgent impressions from labelling influences fullness but not intake or sensory experience

Background: Recent evidence suggests that products believed to be healthy may be over-consumed relative to believed indulgent or highly caloric products. The extent to which these effects relate to expectations from labelling, oral experience or assimilation of expectations is unclear. Over two experiments, we tested the hypotheses that healthy and indulgent information could be assimilated by oral experience of beverages and influence sensory evaluation, expected satiety, satiation and subsequent appetite. Additionally, we explored how expectation-experience congruency influenced these factors. Results: Results supported some assimilation of healthiness and indulgent ratings—study 1 showed that indulgent ratings enhanced by the indulgent label persisted post-tasting, and this resulted in increased fullness ratings. In study 2, congruency of healthy labels and oral experience promoted enhanced healthiness ratings. These healthiness and indulgent beliefs did not influence sensory analysis or intake—these were dictated by the products themselves. Healthy labels, but not experience, were associated with decreased expected satiety. Conclusions: Overall labels generated expectations, and some assimilation where there were congruencies between expectation and experience, but oral experience tended to override initial expectations to determine ultimate sensory evaluations and intake. Familiarity with the sensory properties of the test beverages may have resulted in the use of prior knowledge, rather than the label information, to guide evaluations and behaviour

Interactive metagenomic visualization in a Web browser

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A critical output of metagenomic studies is the estimation of abundances of taxonomical or functional groups. The inherent uncertainty in assignments to these groups makes it important to consider both their hierarchical contexts and their prediction confidence. The current tools for visualizing metagenomic data, however, omit or distort quantitative hierarchical relationships and lack the facility for displaying secondary variables.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here we present Krona, a new visualization tool that allows intuitive exploration of relative abundances and confidences within the complex hierarchies of metagenomic classifications. Krona combines a variant of radial, space-filling displays with parametric coloring and interactive polar-coordinate zooming. The HTML5 and JavaScript implementation enables fully interactive charts that can be explored with any modern Web browser, without the need for installed software or plug-ins. This Web-based architecture also allows each chart to be an independent document, making them easy to share via e-mail or post to a standard Web server. To illustrate Krona's utility, we describe its application to various metagenomic data sets and its compatibility with popular metagenomic analysis tools.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Krona is both a powerful metagenomic visualization tool and a demonstration of the potential of HTML5 for highly accessible bioinformatic visualizations. Its rich and interactive displays facilitate more informed interpretations of metagenomic analyses, while its implementation as a browser-based application makes it extremely portable and easily adopted into existing analysis packages. Both the Krona rendering code and conversion tools are freely available under a BSD open-source license, and available from: <url>http://krona.sourceforge.net</url>.</p

Simultaneous genome sequencing of symbionts and their hosts

Second-generation sequencing has made possible the sequencing of genomes of interest for even small research groups. However, obtaining separate clean cultures and clonal or inbred samples of metazoan hosts and their bacterial symbionts is often difficult. We present a computational pipeline for separating metazoan and bacterial DNA in silico rather than at the bench. The method relies on the generation of deep coverage of all the genomes in a mixed sample using Illumina short-read sequencing technology, and using aggregate properties of the different genomes to identify read sets belonging to each. This inexpensive and rapid approach has been used to sequence several nematode genomes and their bacterial endosymbionts in the last year in our laboratory and can also be used to visualize and identify unexpected contaminants (or possible symbionts) in genomic DNA samples. We hope that this method will enable researchers studying symbiotic systems to move from gene-centric to genome-centric approaches