5,571 research outputs found
Preliminary soils and geology investigation -- Puu Alii Residential PUD, Heeia, Oahu, Hawaii
tax map key: 4-6-02W.O. 436-00Includes proposed development, field exploration, subsurface conditions, recommendations, site plan, boring logs, and test pit logs.Brian Gray & Associate
Feasibility level, soils and geology investigation -- Lilipuna Hillside Residence development, Kaneohe, Hawaii
tax map key: 4-6-01W.O. 435-00Includes proposed development, field exploration, subsurface conditions, recommendations, site plan, test pit logs, and grading specifications.Brian Gray & Associate
Glial cells are functionally impaired in juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis and detrimental to neurons.
The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs or Batten disease) are a group of inherited, fatal neurodegenerative disorders of childhood. In these disorders, glial (microglial and astrocyte) activation typically occurs early in disease progression and predicts where neuron loss subsequently occurs. We have found that in the most common juvenile form of NCL (CLN3 disease or JNCL) this glial response is less pronounced in both mouse models and human autopsy material, with the morphological transformation of both astrocytes and microglia severely attenuated or delayed. To investigate their properties, we isolated glia and neurons from Cln3-deficient mice and studied their basic biology in culture. Upon stimulation, both Cln3-deficient astrocytes and microglia also showed an attenuated ability to transform morphologically, and an altered protein secretion profile. These defects were more pronounced in astrocytes, including the reduced secretion of a range of neuroprotective factors, mitogens, chemokines and cytokines, in addition to impaired calcium signalling and glutamate clearance. Cln3-deficient neurons also displayed an abnormal organization of their neurites. Most importantly, using a co-culture system, Cln3-deficient astrocytes and microglia had a negative impact on the survival and morphology of both Cln3-deficient and wildtype neurons, but these effects were largely reversed by growing mutant neurons with healthy glia. These data provide evidence that CLN3 disease astrocytes are functionally compromised. Together with microglia, they may play an active role in neuron loss in this disorder and can be considered as potential targets for therapeutic interventions
Fluctuating Cu-O-Cu Bond model of high temperature superconductivity in cuprates
Twenty years of extensive research has yet to produce a general consensus on
the origin of high temperature superconductivity (HTS). However, several
generic characteristics of the cuprate superconductors have emerged as the
essential ingredients of and/or constraints on any viable microscopic model of
HTS. Besides a Tc of order 100K, the most prominent on the list include a
d-wave superconducting gap with Fermi liquid nodal excitations, a d-wave
pseudogap with the characteristic temperature scale T*, an anomalous
doping-dependent oxygen isotope shift, nanometer-scale gap inhomogeneity, etc..
The key role of planar oxygen vibrations implied by the isotope shift and other
evidence, in the context of CuO2 plane symmetry and charge constraints from the
strong intra-3d Coulomb repulsion U, enforces an anharmonic mechanism in which
the oxygen vibrational amplitude modulates the strength of the in-plane Cu-Cu
bond. We show, within a Fermi liquid framework, that this mechanism can lead to
strong d-wave pairing and to a natural explanation of the salient features of
HTS
'It's a Form of Freedom': The experiences of people with disabilities within equestrian sport
This paper explores the embodied, gendered experiences of disabled horseâriders. Drawing on data from five inâdepth interviews with paradressage riders, the ways in which their involvement in elite disability sport impacts upon their sense of identity and confidence are explored, as well as the considerable health and social benefits that this involvement brings. Social models of disability are employed and the shortcomings of such models, when applied to disability sport, are highlighted. The data presented here demonstrates the necessity of seeing disability sport as an embodied experience and acknowledging the importance of impairment to the experiences of disabled athletes. Living within an impaired body is also a gendered experience and the implications of this when applied to elite disability sport are considered
Molecular dynamics simulation of polymer helix formation using rigid-link methods
Molecular dynamics simulations are used to study structure formation in
simple model polymer chains that are subject to excluded volume and torsional
interactions. The changing conformations exhibited by chains of different
lengths under gradual cooling are followed until each reaches a state from
which no further change is possible. The interactions are chosen so that the
true ground state is a helix, and a high proportion of simulation runs succeed
in reaching this state; the fraction that manage to form defect-free helices is
a function of both chain length and cooling rate. In order to demonstrate
behavior analogous to the formation of protein tertiary structure, additional
attractive interactions are introduced into the model, leading to the
appearance of aligned, antiparallel helix pairs. The simulations employ a
computational approach that deals directly with the internal coordinates in a
recursive manner; this representation is able to maintain constant bond lengths
and angles without the necessity of treating them as an algebraic constraint
problem supplementary to the equations of motion.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figure
Search for gravitational waves associated with the August 2006 timing glitch of the Vela pulsar
The physical mechanisms responsible for pulsar timing glitches are thought to excite quasinormal mode oscillations in their parent neutron star that couple to gravitational-wave emission. In August 2006, a timing glitch was observed in the radio emission of PSR B0833-45, the Vela pulsar. At the time of the glitch, the two colocated Hanford gravitational-wave detectors of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational wave observatory (LIGO) were operational and taking data as part of the fifth LIGO science run (S5). We present the first direct search for the gravitational-wave emission associated with oscillations of the fundamental quadrupole mode excited by a pulsar timing glitch. No gravitational-wave detection
candidate was found. We place Bayesian 90% confidence upper limits of 6.3 x 10^(-21) to 1.4 x 10^(-20) on the peak intrinsic strain amplitude of gravitational-wave ring-down signals, depending on which spherical harmonic mode is excited. The corresponding range of energy upper limits is 5.0 x 10^(-44) to 1.3 x 10^(-45) erg
- âŠ