Conclusion

Concluding analysis of the challenges of regulating PGD

Upper-limb exercise in tetraplegia using functional electrical stimulation

Cervical spinal cord injury can result in dysfunction in both the lower and upper limbs (tetraplegia), andmay be accompanied by a range of secondary complications. The degree of upper-limb dysfunctiondepends upon the level and completeness of the lesion; in this paper we consider tetraplegics with a neurological level in the range C4-C6. A person with a C5- or C6-level injury will generally retain control of the shoulder and elbow flexor muscles biceps), but will have no control of the hand, wrist or elbow extensors (triceps).With a complete C4 injury voluntary control of the entire arm is lost. Thus, we propose that functional electrical stimulation (FES) of the biceps and triceps muscles may enhance the efficacy of cyclical upper-limb exercise. Alternatives for partial restoration of function include tendon transfer surgery or mechanical orthoses1. Previous FES research for C4-C6 tetraplegics has focused on systems for hand function2,3 and improved working area (i.e. overhead reach)4,5,6,7, but the provision of upper-limb exercise modalities using FES assistance has been neglected. This is important because the lack of effective exercise can lead rapidly to severe cardiopulmonary deconditioning in this population

Rest Frame Optical Spectra of Lyman Break Galaxies: Other Lensing Arcs around MS1512-cB58

We have obtained near-infrared spectra of two images of the galaxy at z=2.72 which is gravitationally lensed by the foreground cluster MS1512+36. The brighter arc, cB58, is an image of only the nucleus and the southern half of the background galaxy, while the fainter image, A2, encompasses the entire background galaxy. Thus the gravitational lensing provides spatial resolution on a smaller scale than is routinely available by other methods. Our observations indicate no evidence for any systematic rotational velocity gradient across the face of this galaxy. The nucleus and outer regions of the galaxy do not differ in their gas reddening or excitation level, based on the identical Hα/5007 ratios. cB58 (which is more dominated by the nucleus) has relatively stronger continuum emission, perhaps because of a higher ratio of old to young stars, compared to the outer parts of the galaxy. A second emission line source, denoted as K1, at a slightly lower redshift was serendipitously detected in the slit. It appears to be the gravitationally lensed image of another background galaxy in the same group as cB58

Distinguishing coherent atomic processes using wave mixing

We are able to clearly distinguish the processes responsible for enhanced low-intensity atomic Kerr nonlinearity, namely coherent population trapping and coherent population oscillations in experiments performed on the Rb D1 line, where one or the other process dominates under appropriate conditions. The potential of this new approach based on wave mixing for probing coherent atomic media is discussed. It allows the new spectral components to be detected with sub-kHz resolution, which is well below the laser linewidth limit. Spatial selectivity and enhanced sensitivity make this method useful for testing dilute cold atomic samples.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Near-Infrared Observations of the Environments of Radio Quiet QSOs at z >~ 1

We present the results of an infrared survey of QSO fields at z=0.95, 0.995 and 1.5. Each z<1 field was imaged to typical continuum limits of J=20.5, Kprime=19 (5 sigma), and line fluxes of 1.3E10{-16}ergs/cm^2/s (1 sigma)in a 1% interference filter. 16 fields were chosen with z~0.95 targets, 14 with z~0.995 and 6 with z~1.5. A total area of 0.05 square degrees was surveyed, and two emission-line objects were found. We present the infrared and optical photometry of these objects. Optical spectroscopy has confirmed the redshift of one object (at z=0.989) and is consistent with the other object having a similar redshift. We discuss the density of such objects across a range of redshifts from this survey and others in the literature. We also present number-magnitude counts for galaxies in the fields of radio quiet QSOs, supporting the interpretation that they exist in lower density environments than their radio loud counterparts. The J-band number counts are among the first to be published in the J=16--20.Comment: 34 pages, including 12 figures; accepted for publication in the Ap

Peace Through Prayer

As far back as he could remember he had been afraid of storms. Back there in the early years, some member of the family had set the pace of fear when a storm came. There was an old belief - probably a superstition - that if one sat on a feather bed, lightning wouldn\u27t strike. Anyway, there was a general migration to the bedrooms during a storm. Mother became nervous if the storm was severe, and sister would have a fit of trembling. Brother made a vain show of bravery, which only intensified the uneasiness. All through his seventeen years the boy had had a dread of storms. Perhaps the psychologists would say it was conditioned by those early experiences. So that night he lay huddled among the covers, as the storm raged. The room was dungeon-black, lighted only by the vivid flashes of lightning. All other sound was swallowed up in the crash and rumble of the thunder. He could feel the house shake as the wind dashed against it, seemingly in a mad effort to tear it apart. The rain beat against the window pane in a solid phalanx. And he was scared a pointless, unreasoning, foolish fear

The Case of the Pearl Necklace

I had been teaching a class in psychology at Turner College for four years, when an incident occurred that threatened to bring the taint of scandal on the whole school. A member of one of the sororities reported the loss of a valuable pearl necklace, which, she thought, had been stolen during the dinner hour. The college officials made every attempt to discover the thief with little success. Suspicion\u27s finger pointed to a young man by the name of Henry Stewart, but there was no tangible evidence upon which to make an accusation. Then Dr. Klinger, the president, asked me to see what I could do.. He urged me to prevent the matter from getting into the newspapers

Using Narrow Band Photometry to Detect Young Brown Dwarfs in IC348

We report the discovery of a population of young brown dwarf candidates in the open star cluster IC348 and the development of a new spectroscopic classification technique using narrow band photometry. Observations were made using FLITECAM, the First Light Camera for SOFIA, at the 3-m Shane Telescope at Lick Observatory. FLITECAM is a new 1-5 micron camera with an 8 arcmin field of view. Custom narrow band filters were developed to detect absorption features of water vapor (at 1.495 microns) and methane (at 1.66 microns) characteristic of brown dwarfs. These filters enable spectral classification of stars and brown dwarfs without spectroscopy. FLITECAM's narrow and broadband photometry was verified by examining the color-color and color-magnitude characteristics of stars whose spectral type and reddening was known from previous surveys. Using our narrow band filter photometry method, it was possible to identify an object measured with a signal-to-noise ratio of 20 or better to within +/-3 spectral class subtypes for late-type stars. With this technique, very deep images of the central region of IC348 (H ~ 20.0) have identified 18 sources as possible L or T dwarf candidates. Out of these 18, we expect that between 3 - 6 of these objects are statistically likely to be background stars, with the remainder being true low-mass members of the cluster. If confirmed as cluster members then these are very low-mass objects (~5 Mjupiter). We also describe how two additional narrow band filters can improve the contrast between M, L, and T dwarfs as well as provide a means to determine the reddening of an individual object.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal 27 June 200

The well-coordinated linkage between acidogenicity and aciduricity via insoluble glucans on the surface of Streptococcus mutans.

Streptococcus mutans is considered the principal cariogenic bacterium for dental caries. Despite the recognition of their importance for cariogenesis, the possible coordination among S. mutans' main virulence factors, including glucan production, acidogenicity and aciduricity, has been less well studied. In the present study, using S. mutans strains with surface-displayed pH-sensitive pHluorin, we revealed sucrose availability- and Gtf functionality-dependent proton accumulation on S. mutans surface. Consistent with this, using a pH-sensitive dye, we demonstrated that both in vivo cell-produced and in vitro enzymatically synthesized insoluble glucans displayed proton-concentrating ability. Global transcriptomics revealed proton accumulation triggers the up-regulation of genes encoding functions involved in acid tolerance response in a glucan-dependent manner. Our data suggested that this proton enrichment around S. mutans could pre-condition the bacterium for acid-stress. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found S. mutans strains defective in glucan production were more acid sensitive. Our study revealed for the first time that insoluble glucans is likely an essential factor linking acidogenicity with aciduricity. The coordination of these key virulence factors could provide new insights on how S. mutans may have become a major cariogenic pathogen

An expert system for scheduling requests for communications Links between TDRSS and ERBS

An ERBS-TDRSS Contact Planning System (ERBS-TDRSS CPS) is described which uses a graphics interface and the NASA Transportable Interference Engine. The procedure involves transfer of the ERBS-TDRSS Ground Track Orbit Prediction data to the ERBS flight operations area, where the ERBS-TDRSS CPS automatically generates requests for TDRSS service. As requested events are rejected, alternative context sensitive strategies are employed to generate new requested events until a schedule is completed. A report generator builds schedule requests for separate ERBS-TDRSS contacts