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Sample records for kappa micron prime

  1. Lateralized kappa opioid receptor signaling from the amygdala central nucleus promotes stress-induced functional pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nation, Kelsey M; De Felice, Milena; Hernandez, Pablo I; Dodick, David W; Neugebauer, Volker; Navratilova, Edita; Porreca, Frank

    2018-05-01

    The response of diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (DNIC) is often decreased, or lost, in stress-related functional pain syndromes. Because the dynorphin/kappa opioid receptor (KOR) pathway is activated by stress, we determined its role in DNIC using a model of stress-induced functional pain. Male, Sprague-Dawley rats were primed for 7 days with systemic morphine resulting in opioid-induced hyperalgesia. Fourteen days after priming, when hyperalgesia was resolved, rats were exposed to environmental stress and DNIC was evaluated by measuring hind paw response threshold to noxious pressure (test stimulus) after capsaicin injection in the forepaw (conditioning stimulus). Morphine priming without stress did not alter DNIC. However, stress produced a loss of DNIC in morphine-primed rats in both hind paws that was abolished by systemic administration of the KOR antagonist, nor-binaltorphimine (nor-BNI). Microinjection of nor-BNI into the right, but not left, central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) prevented the loss of DNIC in morphine-primed rats. Diffuse noxious inhibitory controls were not modulated by bilateral nor-BNI in the rostral ventromedial medulla. Stress increased dynorphin content in both the left and right CeA of primed rats, reaching significance only in the right CeA; no change was observed in the rostral ventromedial medulla or hypothalamus. Although morphine priming alone is not sufficient to influence DNIC, it establishes a state of latent sensitization that amplifies the consequences of stress. After priming, stress-induced dynorphin/KOR signaling from the right CeA inhibits DNIC in both hind paws, likely reflecting enhanced descending facilitation that masks descending inhibition. Kappa opioid receptor antagonists may provide a new therapeutic strategy for stress-related functional pain disorders.

  2. Crystal structures of bis(cyanido)bis(N,N Prime -diethylthiourea-{kappa}S) mercury(II) and bis(cyanido)bis(N,N Prime -dipropylthiourea-{kappa}S) mercury(II)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ahmad, Saeed, E-mail: saeed_a786@hotmail.com; Sadaf, Haseeba [University of Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemistry (Pakistan); Altaf, Muhammad; Stoeckli-Evans, Helen [University of Neuchatel, Institute of Physics (Switzerland); Seerat-ur-Rehman [University of Engineering and Technology, Department of Chemistry (Pakistan); Bashir, Sarfaraz Ahmed [Government College Asghar Mall, Department of Chemistry (Pakistan)

    2013-09-15

    Two mercury(II) complexes containing cyanide and, N,N Prime -diethylthiourea (detu) and N,N Prime -dipropylthiourea (dprtu) ligands, [(detu){sub 2}Hg(CN){sub 2}] (1) and [(dprtu){sub 2}Hg(CN){sub 2}] (2), respectively, have been prepared and characterized by X-ray crystallography. In the both complexes Hg atom lies on a 2-fold rotation axis, and is coordinated to the sulfur atoms of two thiourea ligands and to two cyanide carbon atoms. Both have a distorted tetrahedral environment with bond angles about the Hg atoms in the range of 93.41(4) Degree-Sign -146.75(19) Degree-Sign . In the crystal structures symmetry related molecules are linked via N-H-N hydrogen bonds resulting in the formation of a two-dimensional network in 1, while in 2 a double stranded one-dimensional chain is formed.

  3. Analgesia produced by exposure to 2450-MHz radiofrequency radiation (RFR) is mediated by brain mu- and kappa-opioid receptors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Salomon, G.; Park, E.J.; Quock, R.M. (Univ. of Illinois, Rockford (United States))

    1992-02-26

    This study was conducted to identify the opioid receptor subtype(s) responsible for RFR-induced analgesia. Male Swiss Webster mice, 20-25 g, were exposed to 20 mW/cm{sup 2} RFR in a 2,450-MHz waveguide system for 10 min, then tested 15 min later in the abdominal constriction paradigm which detects {mu}- and {kappa}-opioid activity. Immediately following RFR exposure, different groups of mice were pretreated intracerebroventricularly with different opioid receptor blockers with selectivity for {mu}- or {kappa}-opioid receptors. Results show that RFR-induced analgesia was attenuated by higher but not lower doses of the non-selective antagonist naloxone, but the selective {mu}-opioid antagonist {beta}-funaltrexamine and by the selective {kappa}-opioid antagonist norbinaltorphimine. RFR-induced analgesia was also reduced by subcutaneous pretreatment with 5.0 mg/kg of the {mu}-/{kappa}-opioid antagonist({minus})-5,9-diethyl-{alpha}-5,9-dialkyl-2{prime}-hydroxy-6,7-benzomorphan(MR-2266). These findings suggest that RFR-induced analgesia may be mediated by both {mu}- and {kappa}-opioid mechanisms.

  4. Prevalence of mood disorders and utility of the PRIME-MD in patients undergoing radiation therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leopold, Kenneth A.; Ahles, Tim A.; Walch, Susan; Amdur, Robert J.; Mott, Leila A.; Wiegand-Packard, Linda; Oxman, Thomas E.

    1998-01-01

    Purpose: To validate a short, structured interview procedure that allows practicing oncologists to quickly and reliably identify mood disorders in their patients, and to estimate the prevalence and types of mood disorders in a radiation therapy patient setting, noting relationships between mood disorders and patient characteristics. Methods: Consecutive, eligible adult patients from the practices of two radiation oncologists were administered the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) by the treating physician. A subset of these patients was also evaluated with the SCID, administered by trained mental health care personnel. Agreement between the two instruments was examined using the kappa statistic. Prevalence of mood disorders was determined from the PRIME-MD. The significance of relationships between patient characteristics and mood disorders was examined by chi-square and ANOVA analysis, and subsequently by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: One hundred twenty-two patients were studied. Fifty-three of these were administered the SCID. Agreement between the two instruments was very good (kappa = 0.70). A diagnosis of a depressive or anxiety disorder by the PRIME-MD was made in 59 of the 122 patients (48%, 95% confidence interval = 39%, 58%). Multivariate analysis showed that a diagnosis of a depressive mood disorder was significantly related to pain intensity and prior history of depression. Conclusion: We have demonstrated the validity and feasibility of the PRIME-MD administered by oncologists in making diagnoses of mood disorders. The prevalence of mood disorders in our set of patients undergoing a course of RT was nearly 50%. Future studies should describe the natural history of these disorders, and determine optimal intervention strategies

  5. An Automation Interface for Kappa PC

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hartvig, Susanne C

    1999-01-01

    The reports documents an automation interface for Kappa PC. The automation interface can be used to embed Kappa applications in 32-bit Windowsapplications.The interface includes functions for initialising Kappa, for loading an application, for settingvalues, for getting values, and for stopping...

  6. Cdc25A promotes cell survival by stimulating NF-{kappa}B activity through I{kappa}B-{alpha} phosphorylation and destabilization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hong, Hey-Young; Choi, Jiyeon [Department of Biochemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Kangwon National University, 192-1 Hyoja-2-dong, Chuncheon 200-701 (Korea, Republic of); Cho, Young-Wook [Korea Basic Science Institute, Chuncheon Center, Gangwondaehak-gil 1, Chuncheon 200-701 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Byung-Chul, E-mail: bckim@kangwon.ac.kr [Department of Biochemistry, College of Natural Sciences, Kangwon National University, 192-1 Hyoja-2-dong, Chuncheon 200-701 (Korea, Republic of)

    2012-04-06

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We examine the antiapoptotic mechanisms of Cdc25A. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Smad7 decreases the phosphorylation of I{kappa}B-alpha at Ser-32. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Smad7 positively regulates NF-{kappa}B activity through I{kappa}B-alpha ubiquitination. -- Abstract: Cell division cycle 25A (Cdc25A), a dual specificity protein phosphatase, exhibits anti-apoptotic activity, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are poorly characterized. Here we report that Cdc25A inhibits cisplatin-induced apoptotic cell death by stimulating nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-{kappa}B) activity. In HEK-293 cells, Cdc25A decreased protein level of inhibitor subunit kappa B alpha (I{kappa}-B{alpha}) in association with increased serine 32-phosphorylation, followed by stimulation of transcriptional activity of NF-{kappa}B. Inhibition of NF-{kappa}B activity by chemical inhibitor or overexpression of I{kappa}-B{alpha} in Cdc25A-elevated cancer cells resistant to cisplatin improved their sensitivity to cisplatin-induced apoptosis. Our data show for the first time that Cdc25A has an important physiological role in NF-{kappa}B activity regulation and it may be an important survival mechanism of cancer cells.

  7. Reexamining unconscious response priming: A liminal-prime paradigm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Avneon, Maayan; Lamy, Dominique

    2018-03-01

    Research on the limits of unconscious processing typically relies on the subliminal-prime paradigm. However, this paradigm is limited in the issues it can address. Here, we examined the implications of using the liminal-prime paradigm, which allows comparing unconscious and conscious priming with constant stimulation. We adapted an iconic demonstration of unconscious response priming to the liminal-prime paradigm. On the one hand, temporal attention allocated to the prime and its relevance to the task increased the magnitude of response priming. On the other hand, the longer RTs associated with the dual task inherent to the paradigm resulted in response priming being underestimated, because unconscious priming effects were shorter-lived than conscious-priming effects. Nevertheless, when the impact of long RTs was alleviated by considering the fastest trials or by imposing a response deadline, conscious response priming remained considerably larger than unconscious response priming. These findings suggest that conscious perception strongly modulates response priming. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. The disagreeable behaviour of the kappa statistic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flight, Laura; Julious, Steven A

    2015-01-01

    It is often of interest to measure the agreement between a number of raters when an outcome is nominal or ordinal. The kappa statistic is used as a measure of agreement. The statistic is highly sensitive to the distribution of the marginal totals and can produce unreliable results. Other statistics such as the proportion of concordance, maximum attainable kappa and prevalence and bias adjusted kappa should be considered to indicate how well the kappa statistic represents agreement in the data. Each kappa should be considered and interpreted based on the context of the data being analysed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  9. Characterization of kappa 1 and kappa 2 opioid binding sites in frog (Rana esculenta) brain membrane preparation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Benyhe, S.; Varga, E.; Hepp, J.; Magyar, A.; Borsodi, A.; Wollemann, M.

    1990-09-01

    The distribution and properties of frog brain kappa-opioid receptor subtypes differ not only from those of the guinea pig brain, but also from that of the rat brain. In guinea pig cerebellum the kappa 1 is the dominant receptor subtype, frog brain contains mainly the kappa 2 subtype, and the distribution of the rat brain subtypes is intermediate between the two others. In competition experiments it has been established that ethylketocyclazocine and N-cyclopropylmethyl-norazidomorphine, which are nonselective kappa-ligands, have relatively high affinities to frog brain membranes. The kappa 2 ligands (Met5)enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 and etorphine also show high affinities to the frog brain. Kappa 1 binding sites measured in the presence of 5 microM/D-Ala2-Leu5/enkephalin represent 25-30% of (3H)ethylketocyclazocine binding in frog brain membranes. The kappa 2 subtype in frog brain resembles more to the mu subtype than the delta subtype of opioid receptors, but it differs from the mu subtype in displaying low affinity toward beta-endorphin and /D-Ala2-(Me)Phe4-Gly5-ol/enkephalin (DAGO). From our data it is evident that the opioid receptor subtypes are already present in the amphibian brain but the differences among them are less pronounced than in mammalian brain.

  10. Characterization of kappa 1 and kappa 2 opioid binding sites in frog (Rana esculenta) brain membrane preparation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benyhe, S.; Varga, E.; Hepp, J.; Magyar, A.; Borsodi, A.; Wollemann, M.

    1990-01-01

    The distribution and properties of frog brain kappa-opioid receptor subtypes differ not only from those of the guinea pig brain, but also from that of the rat brain. In guinea pig cerebellum the kappa 1 is the dominant receptor subtype, frog brain contains mainly the kappa 2 subtype, and the distribution of the rat brain subtypes is intermediate between the two others. In competition experiments it has been established that ethylketocyclazocine and N-cyclopropylmethyl-norazidomorphine, which are nonselective kappa-ligands, have relatively high affinities to frog brain membranes. The kappa 2 ligands (Met5)enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 and etorphine also show high affinities to the frog brain. Kappa 1 binding sites measured in the presence of 5 microM/D-Ala2-Leu5/enkephalin represent 25-30% of [3H]ethylketocyclazocine binding in frog brain membranes. The kappa 2 subtype in frog brain resembles more to the mu subtype than the delta subtype of opioid receptors, but it differs from the mu subtype in displaying low affinity toward beta-endorphin and /D-Ala2-(Me)Phe4-Gly5-ol/enkephalin (DAGO). From our data it is evident that the opioid receptor subtypes are already present in the amphibian brain but the differences among them are less pronounced than in mammalian brain

  11. {kappa}-deformed realization of D=4 conformal algebra

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Klimek, M. [Technical Univ. of Czestochowa, Inst. of Mathematics and Computer Science, Czestochowa (Poland); Lukierski, J. [Universite de Geneve, Department de Physique Theorique, Geneve (Switzerland)

    1995-07-01

    We describe the generators of {kappa}-conformal transformations, leaving invariant the {kappa}-deformed d`Alembert equation. In such a way one obtains the conformal extension of-shell spin spin zero realization of {kappa}-deformed Poincare algebra. Finally the algebraic structure of {kappa}-deformed conformal algebra is discussed. (author). 23 refs.

  12. Masked priming effect reflects evidence accumulated by the prime.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinoshita, Sachiko; Norris, Dennis

    2010-01-01

    In the same-different match task, masked priming is observed with the same responses but not different responses. Norris and Kinoshita's (2008) Bayesian reader account of masked priming explains this pattern based on the same principle as that explaining the absence of priming for nonwords in the lexical decision task. The pattern of priming follows from the way the model makes optimal decisions in the two tasks; priming does not depend on first activating the prime and then the target. An alternative explanation is in terms of a bias towards responding "same" that exactly counters the facilitatory effect of lexical access. The present study tested these two views by varying both the degree to which the prime predicts the response and the visibility of the prime. Unmasked primes produced effects expected from the view that priming is influenced by the degree to which the prime predicts the response. In contrast, with masked primes, the size of priming for the same response was completely unaffected by predictability. These results rule out response bias as an explanation of the absence of masked priming for different responses and, in turn, indicate that masked priming is not a consequence of automatic lexical access of the prime.

  13. Angle Kappa and its importance in refractive surgery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Majid Moshirfar

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Angle kappa is the difference between the pupillary and visual axis. This measurement is of paramount consideration in refractive surgery, as proper centration is required for optimal results. Angle kappa may contribute to MFIOL decentration and its resultant photic phenomena. Adjusting placement of MFIOLs for angle kappa is not supported by the literature but is likely to help reduce glare and haloes. Centering LASIK in angle kappa patients over the corneal light reflex is safe, efficacious, and recommended. Centering in-between the corneal reflex and the entrance pupil is also safe and efficacious. The literature regarding PRK in patients with an angle kappa is sparse but centering on the corneal reflex is assumed to be similar to centering LASIK on the corneal reflex. Thus, centration of MFIOLs, LASIK, and PRK should be focused on the corneal reflex for patients with a large angle kappa. More research is needed to guide surgeons′ approach to angle kappa.

  14. Preliminary Estimation of Kappa Parameter in Croatia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanko, Davor; Markušić, Snježana; Ivančić, Ines; Mario, Gazdek; Gülerce, Zeynep

    2017-12-01

    Spectral parameter kappa κ is used to describe spectral amplitude decay “crash syndrome” at high frequencies. The purpose of this research is to estimate spectral parameter kappa for the first time in Croatia based on small and moderate earthquakes. Recordings of local earthquakes with magnitudes higher than 3, epicentre distances less than 150 km, and focal depths less than 30 km from seismological stations in Croatia are used. The value of kappa was estimated from the acceleration amplitude spectrum of shear waves from the slope of the high-frequency part where the spectrum starts to decay rapidly to a noise floor. Kappa models as a function of a site and distance were derived from a standard linear regression of kappa-distance dependence. Site kappa was determined from the extrapolation of the regression line to a zero distance. The preliminary results of site kappa across Croatia are promising. In this research, these results are compared with local site condition parameters for each station, e.g. shear wave velocity in the upper 30 m from geophysical measurements and with existing global shear wave velocity - site kappa values. Spatial distribution of individual kappa’s is compared with the azimuthal distribution of earthquake epicentres. These results are significant for a couple of reasons: to extend the knowledge of the attenuation of near-surface crust layers of the Dinarides and to provide additional information on the local earthquake parameters for updating seismic hazard maps of studied area. Site kappa can be used in the re-creation, and re-calibration of attenuation of peak horizontal and/or vertical acceleration in the Dinarides area since information on the local site conditions were not included in the previous studies.

  15. Tunable Heterodyne Receiver from 100 Micron to 1,000 Micron for Airborne Observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roeser, H. P.; Wattenbach, R.; Vanderwal, P.

    1984-01-01

    Interest in high resolution spectrometers for the submillimeter wavelength range from 100 micron to 1,000 micron is mostly stimulated by molecular spectroscopy in radioastronomy and atmospheric physics, and by plasma diagnostic experiments. Schottky diodes in waveguide mixer technology and InSb-hot electron bolometers are successfully used in the 0.5 to a few millimeter range whereas tandem Fabry-Perot spectrometers combined with photoconductive detectors (Ge:Sb and Ge:Ga) are used for the 100 micron range. Recent research on heterodyne spectrometers, with Schottky diodes in an open structure mixer and a molecular laser as local oscillators, which can be used over the whole wavelength range is summarized.

  16. Transposed-Letter Priming Effects with Masked Subset Primes: A Re-Examination of the "Relative Position Priming Constraint"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stinchcombe, Eric J.; Lupker, Stephen J.; Davis, Colin J.

    2012-01-01

    Three experiments are reported investigating the role of letter order in orthographic subset priming (e.g., "grdn"-GARDEN) using both the conventional masked priming technique as well as the sandwich priming technique in a lexical decision task. In all three experiments, subset primes produced priming with the effect being considerably…

  17. NF-kappaB in Lung Tumorigenesis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cai, Zhenjian; Tchou-Wong, Kam-Meng; Rom, William N.

    2011-01-01

    The development of lung cancer in humans can be divided into three steps initiation, promotion and progression. This process is driven by alterations in related signal transduction pathways. These pathways signal the aberrant activation of NF-kappaB, a transcription factor that regulates the expression of genes important for lung tumorigenesis. Our current knowledge about the role of the NF-kappaB signaling pathway in the development of lung cancer has been bolstered by animal models demonstrating the connection between K-ras and tobacco induced lung transformation with NF-kappaB. Activation of downstream genes leads to cell proliferation, inhibition of apoptosis, angiogenesis, inflammation, invasion, and metastasis

  18. NF-kappaB in Lung Tumorigenesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cai, Zhenjian [Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, 462 First Avenue, NBV 7N24, New York, NY 10016 (United States); Tchou-Wong, Kam-Meng; Rom, William N., E-mail: william.rom@nyumc.org [Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, 462 First Avenue, NBV 7N24, New York, NY 10016 (United States); Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University School of Medicine, 57 Old Forge Road, Tuxedo, NY 10987 (United States)

    2011-12-14

    The development of lung cancer in humans can be divided into three steps initiation, promotion and progression. This process is driven by alterations in related signal transduction pathways. These pathways signal the aberrant activation of NF-kappaB, a transcription factor that regulates the expression of genes important for lung tumorigenesis. Our current knowledge about the role of the NF-kappaB signaling pathway in the development of lung cancer has been bolstered by animal models demonstrating the connection between K-ras and tobacco induced lung transformation with NF-kappaB. Activation of downstream genes leads to cell proliferation, inhibition of apoptosis, angiogenesis, inflammation, invasion, and metastasis.

  19. Measurement of the Parameter Kappa, and Reevaluation of Kappa for Small to Moderate Earthquakes at Seismic Stations in the Vicinity of Yucca Mountain, Nevada

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Biasi, Glenn; Anderson, John G

    2007-01-01

    The parameter kappa was defined by Anderson and Hough (1984) to describe the high-frequency spectral roll-off of the strong motion seismic spectrum. In the work of Su et al., (1996) the numerical value of kappa estimated for sites near Yucca Mountain was small (∼20 ms). The estimate obtained from these events has been applied through a rigorous methodology to develop design earthquake spectra with magnitude over 5.0. Smaller values of kappa lead to higher estimated ground motions in the methodology used by the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA) for Yucca Mountain. An increase of 10 ms in kappa could result in a substantial decrease in the high frequency level of the predicted ground motions. Any parameter that plays such a critical role deserves close examination. Here, we study kappa and its associated uncertainties. The data set used by Su et al (1996) consisted of 12 M 2.8 to 4.5 earthquakes recorded at temporary stations deployed after the June 1992 Little Skull Mountain earthquake. The kappa elements of that study were revisited by Anderson and Su (MOL.20071203.0134) and substantially confirmed. One weakness of those studies is the limited data used. Few of these stations were on tuff or on Yucca Mountain itself. A decade of Southern Great Basin Digital Seismic Network (SGBDSN) recording has now yielded a larger body of on-scale, well calibrated digital ground motion records suitable for investigating kappa. We use the SGBDSN data to check some of the original assumptions, improve the statistical confidence of the conclusions, and determine values of kappa for stations on or near Yucca Mountain. The outstanding issues in kappa analysis, as they apply to Yucca Mountain, include: (1) The number itself. The kappa estimate near 20 msec from Su et al. (1996) and Anderson and Su (MOL.20071203.0134) is markedly smaller than is considered typical in California (Silva, 1995). The low kappa value has engineering consequences because when it is applied in

  20. Measurement of the Parameter Kappa, and Reevaluation of Kappa for Small to Moderate Earthquakes at Seismic Stations in the Vicinity of Yucca Mountain, Nevada

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Biasi, Glenn; Anderson, John G

    2007-12-05

    The parameter kappa was defined by Anderson and Hough (1984) to describe the high-frequency spectral roll-off of the strong motion seismic spectrum. In the work of Su et al., (1996) the numerical value of kappa estimated for sites near Yucca Mountain was small (~20 ms). The estimate obtained from these events has been applied through a rigorous methodology to develop design earthquake spectra with magnitude over 5.0. Smaller values of kappa lead to higher estimated ground motions in the methodology used by the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Analysis (PSHA) for Yucca Mountain. An increase of 10 ms in kappa could result in a substantial decrease in the high frequency level of the predicted ground motions. Any parameter that plays such a critical role deserves close examination. Here, we study kappa and its associated uncertainties. The data set used by Su et al (1996) consisted of 12 M 2.8 to 4.5 earthquakes recorded at temporary stations deployed after the June 1992 Little Skull Mountain earthquake. The kappa elements of that study were revisited by Anderson and Su (MOL.20071203.0134) and substantially confirmed. One weakness of those studies is the limited data used. Few of these stations were on tuff or on Yucca Mountain itself. A decade of Southern Great Basin Digital Seismic Network (SGBDSN) recording has now yielded a larger body of on-scale, well calibrated digital ground motion records suitable for investigating kappa. We use the SGBDSN data to check some of the original assumptions, improve the statistical confidence of the conclusions, and determine values of kappa for stations on or near Yucca Mountain. The outstanding issues in kappa analysis, as they apply to Yucca Mountain, include: 1. The number itself. The kappa estimate near 20 msec from Su et al. (1996) and Anderson and Su (MOL.20071203.0134) is markedly smaller than is considered typical in California (Silva, 1995). The low kappa value has engineering consequences because when it is applied in ground

  1. Measurement of Angle Kappa Using Ultrasound Biomicroscopy and Corneal Topography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeo, Joon Hyung; Moon, Nam Ju; Lee, Jeong Kyu

    2017-06-01

    To introduce a new convenient and accurate method to measure the angle kappa using ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) and corneal topography. Data from 42 eyes (13 males and 29 females) were analyzed in this study. The angle kappa was measured using Orbscan II and calculated with UBM and corneal topography. The angle kappa of the dominant eye was compared with measurements by Orbscan II. The mean patient age was 36.4 ± 13.8 years. The average angle kappa measured by Orbscan II was 3.98° ± 1.12°, while the average angle kappa calculated with UBM and corneal topography was 3.19° ± 1.15°. The difference in angle kappa measured by the two methods was statistically significant (p topography to calculate the angle kappa. This method is convenient to use and allows for measurement of the angle kappa without an expensive device. © 2017 The Korean Ophthalmological Society

  2. Scalar field propagation in the phi^4 kappa-Minkowski model

    OpenAIRE

    Meljanac, S.; Samsarov, A.; Trampetic, J.; Wohlgenannt, M.

    2011-01-01

    In this article we use the noncommutative (NC) kappa-Minkowski phi^4 model based on the kappa-deformed star product, ({*}_h). The action is modified by expanding up to linear order in the kappa-deformation parameter a, producing an effective model on commutative spacetime. For the computation of the tadpole diagram contributions to the scalar field propagation/self-energy, we anticipate that statistics on the kappa-Minkowski is specifically kappa-deformed. Thus our prescription in fact repres...

  3. Fast widely-tunable single-frequency 2-micron laser for remote-sensing applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henderson, Sammy W.; Hale, Charley P.

    2017-08-01

    We are developing a family of fast, widely-tunable cw diode-pumped single frequency solid-state lasers, called Swift. The Swift laser architecture is compatible with operation using many different solid-state laser crystals for operation at various emission lines between 1 and 2.1 micron. The initial prototype Swift laser using a Tm,Ho:YLF laser crystal near 2.05 micron wavelength achieved over 100 mW of single frequency cw output power, up to 50 GHz-wide, fast, mode-hop-free piezoelectric tunability, and 100 kHz/ms frequency stability. For the Tm,Ho:YLF laser material, the fast 50 GHz tuning range can be centered at any wavelength from 2047-2059 nm using appropriate intracavity spectral filters. The frequency stability and power are sufficient to serve as the local oscillator (LO) laser in long-range coherent wind-measuring lidar systems, as well as a frequency-agile master oscillator (MO) or injection-seed source for larger pulsed transmitter lasers. The rapid and wide frequency tunablity meets the requirements for integrated-path or range-resolved differential absorption lidar or applications where targets with significantly different line of sight velocities (Doppler shifts) must be tracked. Initial demonstration of an even more compact version of the Swift is also described which requires less prime power and produces less waste heat.

  4. Kappa-Electrons Downstream of the Solar Wind Termination Shock

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fahr, H. J.

    2017-12-01

    A theoretical description of the solar wind electron distribution function downstream of the termination shock under the influence of the shock-induced injection of overshooting KeV-energetic electrons will be presented. A kinetic phasespace transport equation in the bulk frame of the heliosheath plasma flow is developed for the solar wind electrons, taking into account shock-induced electron injection, convective changes, magnetic cooling processes and whistler wave-induced energy diffusion. Assuming that the local electron distribution under the prevailing Non-LTE conditions can be represented by a local kappa function with a local kappa parameter that varies with the streamline coordinates, we determine the parameters of the resulting, initial kappa distribution for the downstream electrons. From this initial function spectral electron fluxes can be derived and can be compared with those measured by the VOYAGER-1 spacecraft in the range between 40 to 70 KeV. It can then be shown that with kappa values around kappa = 6 one can in fact fit these data very satisfactorily. In addition it is shown that for isentropic electron flows kappa-distributed electrons have to undergo simultaneous changes of both parameters, i.e. kappa and theta, of the electron kappa function. It is also shown then that under the influence of energy sinks and sources the electron flux becomes non-isentropic with electron entropies changing along the streamline.

  5. Diode laser trabeculoplasty in open angle glaucoma: 50 micron vs. 100 micron spot size.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veljko, Andreić; Miljković, Aleksandar; Babić, Nikola

    2011-01-01

    The study was aimed at evaluating the efficacy of diode laser trabeculoplsaty in lowering intraocular pressure in patients with both primary open-angle glaucoma and exfoliation glaucoma by using different size of laser spot. This six-month, unmasked, controlled, prospective study included sixty-two patients with the same number of eyes, who were divided into two groups. Trabeculoplasty was performed with 50 micron and 100 micron laser spot size in the group I and group II, respectively. Other laser parameters were the same for both groups: the wave length of 532 nm, 0.1 second single emission with the power of 600-1200 mW was applied on the 180 degrees of the trabeculum. The mean intraocular pressure decrease in the 50 micron group (group 1) on day 7 was 24% from the baseline and after six-month follow-up period the intraocular pressure decrease was 29.8% (p < 0.001). In the 100 micron group (group II), the mean intraocular pressure decrease on day 7 was 26.5% and after six months it was 39% (p < 0.001).

  6. Nonequilibrium approach regarding metals from a linearised kappa distribution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Domenech-Garret, J. L.

    2017-10-01

    The widely used kappa distribution functions develop high-energy tails through an adjustable kappa parameter. The aim of this work is to show that such a parameter can itself be regarded as a function, which entangles information about the sources of disequilibrium. We first derive and analyse an expanded Fermi-Dirac kappa distribution. Later, we use this expanded form to obtain an explicit analytical expression for the kappa parameter of a heated metal on which an external electric field is applied. We show that such a kappa index causes departures from equilibrium depending on the physical magnitudes. Finally, we study the role of temperature and electric field on such a parameter, which characterises the electron population of a metal out of equilibrium.

  7. Insights into iron and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) involvement in chronic inflammatory processes in peritoneal endometriosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Defrère, Sylvie; González-Ramos, Reinaldo; Lousse, Jean-Christophe; Colette, Sébastien; Donnez, Olivier; Donnez, Jacques; Van Langendonckt, Anne

    2011-08-01

    Endometriosis is a chronic pelvic inflammatory process. Local inflammation is known to play a role in pain and infertility associated with the disease, and may be extensively involved in molecular and cellular processes leading to endometriosis development. In this review, we focus on two inflammatory mediators clearly implicated in the pathogenesis of endometriosis, iron and NF-kappaB, and their potential association. Iron is essential for all living organisms, but excess iron results in toxicity and is linked to pathological disorders. In endometriosis patients, iron overload has been demonstrated in the different compartments of the peritoneal cavity (peritoneal fluid, endometriotic lesions, peritoneum and macrophages). This iron overload affects numerous mechanisms involved in endometriosis development. Moreover, iron can generate free radical species able to react with a wide range of cellular constituents, inducing cellular damage. Overproduction of reactive oxygen species also impairs cellular function by altering gene expression via regulation of redox-sensitive transcription factors such as NF-kappaB, which is clearly implicated in endometriosis. Indeed, NF-kappaB is activated in endometriotic lesions and peritoneal macrophages of endometriosis patients, which stimulates synthesis of proinflammatory cytokines, generating a positive feedback loop in the NF-kappaB pathway. NF-kappaB-mediated gene transcription promotes a variety of processes, including endometriotic lesion establishment, maintenance and development. In conclusion, iron and NF-kappaB appear to be linked and both are clearly involved in endometriosis development, making these pathways an attractive target for future treatment and prevention of this disease.

  8. The Prime Numbers Hidden Symmetric Structure and its Relation to the Twin Prime Infinitude and an Improved Prime Number Theorem

    CERN Document Server

    Mikoss, I

    2006-01-01

    Due to the sieving process represented by a Secondary Sieving Map; during the generation of the prime numbers, geometric structures with definite symmetries are formed which become evident through their geometrical representations. The study of these structures allows the development of a constructive prime generating formula. This defines a mean prime density yielding a second order recursive and discrete prime producing formula and a second order differential equation whose solutions produce an improved Prime Number Theorem. Applying these results to twin prime pairs is possible to generate a Twin Prime Number Theorem and important conclusions about the infinitude of the twin primes.

  9. Nonplanar ion acoustic waves with kappa-distributed electrons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sahu, Biswajit

    2011-01-01

    Using the standard reductive perturbation technique, nonlinear cylindrical and spherical Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equations are derived for the propagation of ion acoustic solitary waves in an unmagnetized collisionless plasma with kappa distributed electrons and warm ions. The influence of kappa-distributed electrons and the effects caused by the transverse perturbation on cylindrical and spherical ion acoustic waves (IAWs) are investigated. It is observed that increase in the kappa distributed electrons (i.e., decreasing κ) decreases the amplitude of the solitary electrostatic potential structures. The numerical results are presented to understand the formation of ion acoustic solitary waves with kappa-distributed electrons in nonplanar geometry. The present investigation may have relevance in the study of propagation of IAWs in space and laboratory plasmas.

  10. NF-kappaB mediates FGF signal regulation of msx-1 expression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bushdid, P B; Chen, C L; Brantley, D M; Yull, F; Raghow, R; Kerr, L D; Barnett, J V

    2001-09-01

    The nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) family of transcription factors is involved in proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis in a stage- and cell-dependent manner. Recent evidence has shown that NF-kappaB activity is necessary for both chicken and mouse limb development. We report here that the NF-kappaB family member c-rel and the homeodomain gene msx-1 have partially overlapping expression patterns in the developing chick limb. In addition, inhibition of NF-kappaB activity resulted in a decrease in msx-1 mRNA expression. Sequence analysis of the msx-1 promoter revealed three potential kappaB-binding sites similar to the interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) kappaB-binding site. These sites bound to c-Rel, as shown by electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA). Furthermore, inhibition of NF-kappaB activity significantly reduced transactivation of the msx-1 promoter in response to FGF-2/-4, known stimulators of msx-1 expression. These results suggest that NF-kappaB mediates the FGF-2/-4 signal regulation of msx-1 gene expression. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

  11. Numerical solution of High-kappa model of superconductivity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Karamikhova, R. [Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States)

    1996-12-31

    We present formulation and finite element approximations of High-kappa model of superconductivity which is valid in the high {kappa}, high magnetic field setting and accounts for applied magnetic field and current. Major part of this work deals with steady-state and dynamic computational experiments which illustrate our theoretical results numerically. In our experiments we use Galerkin discretization in space along with Backward-Euler and Crank-Nicolson schemes in time. We show that for moderate values of {kappa}, steady states of the model system, computed using the High-kappa model, are virtually identical with results computed using the full Ginzburg-Landau (G-L) equations. We illustrate numerically optimal rates of convergence in space and time for the L{sup 2} and H{sup 1} norms of the error in the High-kappa solution. Finally, our numerical approximations demonstrate some well-known experimentally observed properties of high-temperature superconductors, such as appearance of vortices, effects of increasing the applied magnetic field and the sample size, and the effect of applied constant current.

  12. ESTUDIO PRELIMINAR SOBRE LA INFLUENCIA DE LA CARRAGENINA KAPPA, KAPPA I.II Y GOMA TARA EN LA VISCOSIDAD Y TIXOTROPÍA DE LAS SALMUERAS DE INYECCIÓN PARA JAMONES COCIDOS PICADOS DE CERDO PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE INFLUENCE OF KAPPA, KAPPA I.II CARRAGEENAN AND TARA GUM IN THE VISCOSITY AND THIXOTROPY OF INJECTION BRINES FOR COOKED CHOPPED HAMS OF PORK

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio Alexander Molina Cote

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available El presente estudio determinó el efecto que sobre la viscosidad y la tixotropía de una salmuera de masajeo para jamones picados cocidos de cerdo, tiene la adición de carragenina kappa, carragenina kappa I.II y goma tara, cuando son usadas a un nivel del 1% en la salmuera. Para tal efecto se incorporaron seis mezclas distintas de hidrocoloides provenientes de la carragenina kappa, kappa I.II y goma tara (individualmente, en mezclas binarias y mezclas terciarias, en una salmuera de inyección y masajeo para jamones; a las cuales se les determinó su comportamiento viscoso y tixotrópico a 4 ºC. Los datos obtenidos de índice de tixotropía (máximos, se analizaron mediante un modelo cuadrático derivado de un arreglo de mezclas. Los resultados mostraron que todas las salmueras se comportaron tixotrópicamente, presentando mayor área de histéresis, las mezclas que contenían goma tara. El modelo usado para el índice de tixotropía arrojó, con un nivel de significancia de 0,05, que la relación óptima, es la que contiene la mezcla de carragenina kappa I.II-goma tara (79% y 21%. Adicionalmente, las salmueras que contenían carragenina kappa, carragenina kappa I.II y carragenina kappa-carragenina kappa I.II presentaron menor viscosidad que las mezclas que contenían goma tara.The aim of this study was to determine the thixotropy´s effect of a massage brine in cooked chopped pork hams with addition of kappa, kappa I.II carrageenan, tara gum and their mixtures, when were used at 1% injection level of brine to meat. Six mixtures were evaluated. A protocol for thixotropy measurement adjusted to the conditions of brines used taking in account salinity, pH, temperature and shear stress. Data obtained from thixotropy index (maximum were analyzed with quadratic model derived from blends array. Results showed thixotropic measurement to brines presented a very small area, showing structural changes, but with very fast recovery. It was observed

  13. Priming semantico e museografia / Semantic priming and museography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Annalisa Banzi

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available Il priming è una tipologia di memoria implicita che facilita l’apprendimento di stimoli di diversa natura (stimoli visivi, semantici, etc.. Un allestimento museale che adotti strumenti basati sul priming potrebbe aiutare il pubblico a selezionare i contenuti relativi agli oggetti esposti. In questo articolo viene descritta l’applicazione del priming semantico allo spazio museale. Questa operazione in prima battutta potrebbe essere letta come una mancanza di fiducia nelle capacità cognitive del visitatore nel discriminare il significato delle informazioni. In realtà è una forma di sostegno per aiutare il visitatore a sviluppare gradualmente una propria metodologia di approccio ai contenuti proposti nel museo. Grazie al priming, il pubblico riceve una serie di stimoli che possono aiutare a costituire la base delle proprie conoscenze in ambito storico-artistico ed essere il punto di partenza sul quale costruire un metodo critico.   Many psychological aspects such as motivation, emotion, and attention, affect human learning. Among these, priming triggers and tunes implicit memory processes. Hence the goal of this paper is to check whether semantic priming can be used as an effective tool to design a supportive museum environment where people can easily learn. Moreover, the resulting stronger and more persistent memories could encourage museum visitors to learn more and better, and to develop a method to “read” the artworks. After a brief overview of current models of semantic priming, practical and theoretical issues are considered and discussed.

  14. Prescribed 3-D Direct Writing of Suspended Micron/Sub-micron Scale Fiber Structures via a Robotic Dispensing System.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Hanwen; Cambron, Scott D; Keynton, Robert S

    2015-06-12

    A 3-axis dispensing system is utilized to control the initiating and terminating fiber positions and trajectory via the dispensing software. The polymer fiber length and orientation is defined by the spatial positioning of the dispensing system 3-axis stages. The fiber diameter is defined by the prescribed dispense time of the dispensing system valve, the feed rate (the speed at which the stage traverses from an initiating to a terminating position), the gauge diameter of the dispensing tip, the viscosity and surface tension of the polymer solution, and the programmed drawing length. The stage feed rate affects the polymer solution's evaporation rate and capillary breakup of the filaments. The dispensing system consists of a pneumatic valve controller, a droplet-dispensing valve and a dispensing tip. Characterization of the direct write process to determine the optimum combination of factors leads to repeatedly acquiring the desired range of fiber diameters. The advantage of this robotic dispensing system is the ease of obtaining a precise range of micron/sub-micron fibers onto a desired, programmed location via automated process control. Here, the discussed self-assembled micron/sub-micron scale 3D structures have been employed to fabricate suspended structures to create micron/sub-micron fluidic devices and bioengineered scaffolds.

  15. nor-BNI Antagonism of Kappa Opioid Agonist-Induced Reinstatement of Ethanol-Seeking Behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erin Harshberger

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Recent work suggests that the dynorphin (DYN/kappa opioid receptor (KOR system may be a key mediator in the behavioral effects of alcohol. The objective of the present study was to examine the ability of the KOR antagonist norbinaltorphimine (nor-BNI to attenuate relapse to ethanol seeking due to priming injections of the KOR agonist U50,488 at time points consistent with KOR selectivity. Male Wistar rats were trained to self-administer a 10% ethanol solution, and then responding was extinguished. Following extinction, rats were injected with U50,488 (0.1–10 mg/kg, i.p. or saline and were tested for the reinstatement of ethanol seeking. Next, the ability of the nonselective opioid receptor antagonist naltrexone (0 or 3.0 mg/kg, s.c. and nor-BNI (0 or 20.0 mg/kg, i.p. to block U50,488-induced reinstatement was examined. Priming injections U50,488 reinstated responding on the previously ethanol-associated lever. Pretreatment with naltrexone reduced the reinstatement of ethanol-seeking behavior. nor-BNI also attenuated KOR agonist-induced reinstatement, but to a lesser extent than naltrexone, when injected 24 hours prior to injections of U50,488, a time point that is consistent with KOR selectivity. While these results suggest that activation of KORs is a key mechanism in the regulation of ethanol-seeking behavior, U50,488-induced reinstatement may not be fully selective for KORs.

  16. Interactions among oscillatory pathways in NF-kappa B signaling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    White Michael RH

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Sustained stimulation with tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha induces substantial oscillations—observed at both the single cell and population levels—in the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B system. Although the mechanism has not yet been elucidated fully, a core system has been identified consisting of a negative feedback loop involving NF-kappa B (RelA:p50 hetero-dimer and its inhibitor I-kappa B-alpha. Many authors have suggested that this core oscillator should couple to other oscillatory pathways. Results First we analyse single-cell data from experiments in which the NF-kappa B system is forced by short trains of strong pulses of TNF-alpha. Power spectra of the ratio of nuclear-to-cytoplasmic concentration of NF-kappa B suggest that the cells' responses are entrained by the pulsing frequency. Using a recent model of the NF-kappa B system due to Caroline Horton, we carried out extensive numerical simulations to analyze the response frequencies induced by trains of pulses of TNF-alpha stimulation having a wide range of frequencies and amplitudes. These studies suggest that for sufficiently weak stimulation, various nonlinear resonances should be observable. To explore further the possibility of probing alternative feedback mechanisms, we also coupled the model to sinusoidal signals with a wide range of strengths and frequencies. Our results show that, at least in simulation, frequencies other than those of the forcing and the main NF-kappa B oscillator can be excited via sub- and superharmonic resonance, producing quasiperiodic and even chaotic dynamics. Conclusions Our numerical results suggest that the entrainment phenomena observed in pulse-stimulated experiments is a consequence of the high intensity of the stimulation. Computational studies based on current models suggest that resonant interactions between periodic pulsatile forcing and the system's natural frequencies may become evident for sufficiently

  17. Ion-cyclotron instability in plasmas described by product-bi-kappa distributions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Santos, M. S. dos; Ziebell, L. F.; Gaelzer, R.

    2015-01-01

    The dispersion relation for parallel propagating waves in the ion-cyclotron branch is investigated numerically by considering that the velocity distribution of the ion population is a function of type product-bi-kappa. We investigate the effects of the non-thermal features and of the anisotropy associated with this type of distribution on the ion-cyclotron instability, as well as the influence of different forms of the electron distribution, by considering Maxwellian distributions, bi-kappa distributions, and product-bi-kappa distributions. The cases of ions described by either Maxwellian or bi-kappa distributions are also considered, for comparison. The results of the numerical analysis show that the increase in the non-thermal character associated with the anisotropic kappa distributions for ions contributes to enhance the instability as compared to that obtained in the Maxwellian case, in magnitude and in wave number range, with more significant enhancement for the case of ion product-bi-kappa distributions than for the case of ion bi-kappa distributions. It is also shown that the ion-cyclotron instability is decreased if the electrons are described by product-bi-kappa distributions, while electrons described by bi-kappa distributions lead to growth rates which are very similar to those obtained considering a Maxwellian distribution for the electron population

  18. MICRON-SIZED POLYMER PARTICLES FROM TANZANIAN ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Micron sized polymeric particles were prepared from cashew nut shell liquid and subsequently functionalized to produce micron-sized carboxylated cation exchange resin (MCCER). By titrimetry and analytical procedures employing atomic absorption spectrometry, an assessment of the cation exchange capability of the ...

  19. Exposure to chronic mild stress prevents kappa opioid-mediated reinstatement of cocaine and nicotine place preference

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ream eAl-Hasani

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Stress increases the risk of drug abuse, causes relapse to drug seeking, and potentiates the rewarding properties of both nicotine and cocaine. Understanding the mechanisms by which stress regulates the rewarding properties of drugs of abuse provides valuable insight into potential treatments for drug abuse. Prior reports have demonstrated that stress causes dynorphin release, activating kappa-opioid receptors (KOR in monoamine circuits resulting in both potentiation and reinstatement of cocaine and nicotine conditioned place preference. Here we report that kappa-opioid dependent reinstatement of cocaine and nicotine place preference is reduced when the mice are exposed to a randomized chronic mild stress regime prior to training in a conditioned place preference-reinstatement paradigm. The chronic mild stress schedule involves seven different stressors (removal of nesting for 24hr, 5min forced swim stress at 15°C, 8hr food and water deprivation, damp bedding overnight, white noise, cage tilt and disrupted home cage lighting rotated over a three-week period. This response is KOR-selective, because chronic mild stress does not protect against cocaine or nicotine drug-primed reinstatement. This protection from reinstatement is also observed following sub-chronic social defeat stress, where each mouse is placed in an aggressor mouse home cage for a period of 20 min over five days. In contrast, a single acute stressor resulted in a potentiation of KOR-induced reinstatement, similarly to previously reported. Prior studies have shown that stress alters sensitivity to opioids and prior stress can influence the pharmacodynamics of the opioid receptor system. Together, these findings suggest that exposure to different forms of stress may cause a dysregulation of kappa opioid circuitry and that changes resulting from mild stress can have protective and adaptive effects against drug relapse.

  20. Smelly primes – when olfactory primes do or do not work

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Monique A Smeets

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available In applied olfactory cognition the effects that olfactory stimulation can have on (human behavior are investigated. To enable an efficient application of olfactory stimuli a model of how they may lead to a change in behavior is proposed. To this end we use the concept of olfactory priming. Olfactory priming may prompt a special view on priming as the olfactory sense has some unique properties which make odors special types of primes. Examples of such properties are the ability of odors to influence our behavior outside of awareness, to lead to strong affective evaluations, to evoke specific memories, and to associate easily and quickly to other environmental stimuli. Opportunities and limitations for using odors as primes are related to these properties, and alternative explanations for reported findings are offered. Implications for olfactory semantic, construal, behavior and goal priming are given based on a brief overview of the priming literature from social psychology and from olfactory perception science. We end by formulating recommendations and ideas for a future research agenda and applications for olfactory priming.

  1. Colorectal cancer: can nutrients modulate NF-kappaB and apoptosis?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravasco, Paula; Aranha, Márcia M; Borralho, Pedro M; Moreira da Silva, Isabel B; Correia, Luís; Fernandes, Afonso; Rodrigues, Cecília M P; Camilo, Maria

    2010-02-01

    NF-kappaB may promote carcinogenesis by altering cell cycle, inflammatory responses and apoptosis-related gene expression, though cell mechanisms relating diet and colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unveiled in humans. This study in patients with CRC aimed to explore potential interactions between the dietary pattern, nutrient intake, expression of NF-kappaB, apoptosis and tumour histological aggressiveness. Usual diet was assessed by diet history; nutrient composition was determined by DIETPLAN software. Histologically classified patient tissue samples (adenoma, adenocarcinoma and normal surrounding mucosa) were obtained via biopsies during colonoscopy (n=16) or surgery (n=8). NF-kappaB expression was determined by immunohistochemistry and apoptosis by TUNEL assay. NF-kappaB expression and apoptosis were higher in tumours (p<0.01), greater along with histological aggressiveness (p<0.01). Highest intake terciles of animal protein, refined carbohydrates, saturated fat, n-6 fatty acids and alcohol were associated with higher NF-kappaB, apoptosis and histological aggressiveness (p<0.01); the opposite tissue characteristics were associated with highest intake terciles of n-3 fatty acids, fibre, vitamin E, flavonoids, isoflavones, beta-carotene and selenium (p<0.002). Additionally, higher n-6:n-3 fatty acids ratio (median 26:1) was associated with higher NF-kappaB (p<0.006) and apoptosis (p<0.01), and more aggressive histology (p<0.01). Conversely, lower n-6:n-3 fatty acids ratio (median 6:1) was associated with lower NF-kappaB (p<0.002) and apoptosis (p<0.002), and less aggressive histology (p<0.002). NF-kappaB expression and apoptosis increased from adenoma to poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. This degenerative transition, recognized as key in carcinogenesis, appear to have been influenced by a diet promoting a pro-inflammatory milieu that can trigger NF-kappaB. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.

  2. Stacking faults of {gamma}{prime}{prime} phase precipitated in a Ni-15Cr-8Fe-6Nb alloy; Ni-15Cr-8Fe-6Nb gokin ni sekishutsusuru {gamma}{prime}{prime} sonai no sekiso kekkan

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kusabiraki, K; Ikeuchi, S [Toyama University, Toyama (Japan). Faculty of Engineering

    1995-09-01

    The stacking faults of a metastable {gamma}{prime}{prime} phase precipitated in a nickel-base superalloy, a modified NCF 3 type alloy (X-750M) were investigated by transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction method. The {gamma}{prime}{prime} precipitates are circular shaped plates at the early stage of aging and they become elliptic or irregular shaped plates at the latter stage of aging up to 1033K. Contrast which suggests the existence of stacking faults on {l_brace}112{r_brace}{sub {gamma}{prime}{prime}} planes can be seen in many of large {gamma}{prime}{prime} precipitates extracted from the specimens aged at 1033K. It is clear that the values of {gamma}{prime}{prime}/{gamma} lattice mismatch increase with increasing the aging time from the measurement of lattice constants of the {gamma} and the {gamma}{prime}{prime} phase. The formation of stacking faults on {l_brace}112{r_brace}{sub {gamma}{prime}{prime}} in the large {gamma}{prime}{prime} precipitates is due to the movement of an a/6 [111] partial dislocation introduced by {gamma}{prime}{prime} /{gamma} coherency strain. Since a part of stacking sequence has a similar crystal structure to that of a stable {delta} phase precipitates in {gamma} phase, the formation of stacking faults in the {gamma}{prime}{prime} precipitates is considered to be favorable for the stabilization of them. 14 refs., 10 figs., 1 tab.

  3. Involvement of nuclear factor {kappa}B in platelet CD40 signaling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hachem, Ahmed [Laboratory of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Montreal Heart Institute, 5000 Belanger, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H1T 1C8 (Canada); Yacoub, Daniel [Laboratory of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Montreal Heart Institute, 5000 Belanger, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H1T 1C8 (Canada); Centre Hospitalier Universite de Montreal, 264 boul. Rene-Levesque est, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2X 1P1 (Canada); Zaid, Younes [Laboratory of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Montreal Heart Institute, 5000 Belanger, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H1T 1C8 (Canada); Mourad, Walid [Universite de Montreal, Department of Medicine, 2900 boul. Edouard-Montpetit, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3T 1J4 (Canada); Centre Hospitalier Universite de Montreal, 264 boul. Rene-Levesque est, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2X 1P1 (Canada); Merhi, Yahye, E-mail: yahye.merhi@icm-mhi.org [Laboratory of Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Montreal Heart Institute, 5000 Belanger, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H1T 1C8 (Canada); Universite de Montreal, Department of Medicine, 2900 boul. Edouard-Montpetit, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3T 1J4 (Canada)

    2012-08-17

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer sCD40L induces TRAF2 association to CD40 and NF-{kappa}B activation in platelets. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer I{kappa}B{alpha} phosphorylation downstream of CD40L/CD40 signaling is independent of p38 MAPK phosphorylation. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer I{kappa}B{alpha} is required for sCD40L-induced platelet activation and potentiation of aggregation. -- Abstract: CD40 ligand (CD40L) is a thrombo-inflammatory molecule that predicts cardiovascular events. Platelets constitute the major source of soluble CD40L (sCD40L), which has been shown to potentiate platelet activation and aggregation, in a CD40-dependent manner, via p38 mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) and Rac1 signaling. In many cells, the CD40L/CD40 dyad also induces activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-{kappa}B). Given that platelets contain NF-{kappa}B, we hypothesized that it may be involved in platelet CD40 signaling and function. In human platelets, sCD40L induces association of CD40 with its adaptor protein the tumor necrosis factor receptor associated factor 2 and triggers phosphorylation of I{kappa}B{alpha}, which are abolished by CD40L blockade. Inhibition of I{kappa}B{alpha} phosphorylation reverses sCD40L-induced I{kappa}B{alpha} phosphorylation without affecting p38 MAPK phosphorylation. On the other hand, inhibition of p38 MAPK phosphorylation has no effect on I{kappa}B{alpha} phosphorylation, indicating a divergence in the signaling pathway originating from CD40 upon its ligation. In functional studies, inhibition of I{kappa}B{alpha} phosphorylation reverses sCD40L-induced platelet activation and potentiation of platelet aggregation in response to a sub-threshold concentration of collagen. This study demonstrates that the sCD40L/CD40 axis triggers NF-{kappa}B activation in platelets. This signaling pathway plays a critical role in platelet activation and aggregation upon sCD40L stimulation and may represent an important target against thrombo

  4. Deformation Behavior of Sub-micron and Micron Sized Alumina Particles in Compression.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sarobol, Pylin; Chandross, Michael E.; Carroll, Jay; Mook, William; Boyce, Brad; Kotula, Paul Gabriel; McKenzie, Bonnie Beth; Bufford, Daniel Charles; Hall, Aaron Christopher.

    2014-09-01

    The ability to integrate ceramics with other materials has been limited due to high temperature (>800degC) ceramic processing. Recently, researchers demonstrated a novel process , aerosol deposition (AD), to fabricate ceramic films at room temperature (RT). In this process, sub - micro n sized ceramic particles are accelerated by pressurized gas, impacted on the substrate, plastically deformed, and form a dense film under vacuum. This AD process eliminates high temperature processing thereby enabling new coatings and device integration, in which ceramics can be deposited on metals, plastics, and glass. However, k nowledge in fundamental mechanisms for ceramic particle s to deform and form a dense ceramic film is still needed and is essential in advancing this novel RT technology. In this wo rk, a combination of experimentation and atomistic simulation was used to determine the deformation behavior of sub - micron sized ceramic particle s ; this is the first fundamental step needed to explain coating formation in the AD process . High purity, singl e crystal, alpha alumina particles with nominal size s of 0.3 um and 3.0 um were examined. Particle characterization, using transmission electron microscopy (TEM ), showed that the 0.3 u m particles were relatively defect - free single crystals whereas 3.0 u m p articles were highly defective single crystals or particles contained low angle grain boundaries. Sub - micron sized Al 2 O 3 particles exhibited ductile failure in compression. In situ compression experiments showed 0.3um particles deformed plastically, fractured, and became polycrystalline. Moreover, dislocation activit y was observed within the se particles during compression . These sub - micron sized Al 2 O 3 particles exhibited large accum ulated strain (2 - 3 times those of micron - sized particles) before first fracture. I n agreement with the findings from experimentation , a tomistic simulation s of nano - Al 2 O 3 particles showed dislocation slip and

  5. Prime tight frames

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lemvig, Jakob; Miller, Christopher; Okoudjou, Kasso A.

    2014-01-01

    to suggest effective analysis and synthesis computation strategies for such frames. Finally, we describe all prime frames constructed from the spectral tetris method, and, as a byproduct, we obtain a characterization of when the spectral tetris construction works for redundancies below two.......We introduce a class of finite tight frames called prime tight frames and prove some of their elementary properties. In particular, we show that any finite tight frame can be written as a union of prime tight frames. We then characterize all prime harmonic tight frames and use thischaracterization...

  6. Non-cognate translation priming in masked priming lexical decision experiments: A meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wen, Yun; van Heuven, Walter J B

    2017-06-01

    The masked translation priming paradigm has been widely used in the last 25 years to investigate word processing in bilinguals. Motivated by studies reporting mixed findings, in particular for second language (L2) to first language (L1) translation priming, we conducted, for the first time in the literature, a meta-analysis of 64 masked priming lexical decision experiments across 24 studies to assess the effect sizes of L1-L2 and L2-L1 non-cognate translation priming effects in bilinguals. Our meta-analysis also investigated the influence of potential moderators of translation priming effects. The results provided clear evidence of significant translation priming effects for both directions, with L1-L2 translation priming significantly larger than L2-L1 translation priming (i.e., effect size of 0.86 vs. 0.31). The analyses also revealed that L1-L2 translation effect sizes were moderated by the interval between prime and target (ISI), whereas L2-L1 translation effect sizes were modulated by the number of items per cell. Theoretical and methodological implications of this meta-analysis are discussed and recommendations for future studies are provided.

  7. Kappa. -electron capture probability in sup 167 Tm

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sree Krishna Murty, G.; Chandrasekhar Rao, M.V.S.; Radha Krishna, K.; Bhuloka Reddy, S.; Satyanarayana, G.; Ramana Rao, P.V.; Sastry, D.L. (Andhra Univ., Visakhapatnam (India). Labs. for Nuclear Research); Chintalapudi, S.N. (Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Calcutta (India))

    1990-07-01

    The {Kappa}-electron capture probability in the decay of {sup 167}Tm for the first-forbidden transition 1/2{sup +}{yields}3/2{sup -} was measured using the sum-coincidence method and employing a hyper-pure Ge system. The P{sub {Kappa}} value is found to be 0.835{plus minus}0.029, in agreement with the theoretical value of 0.829. (author).

  8. Dissolution enhancement of Tibolone by micronization technique

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kailash Bansal

    2012-01-01

    Conclusion: Micronization technique has a significant impact on the dissolution of Tibolone. The experimental findings suggest that micronization can be used for the preparation of rapidly dissolving formulations of Tibolone, and could potentially lead to improvement in the in-vivo bioavailability of Tibolone oral tablets.

  9. Study of lead phytoavailability for atmospheric industrial micronic and sub-micronic particles in relation with lead speciation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Uzu, G. [EcoLab UMR 5245 CNRS-INPT-UPS, ENSAT BP 32607 Auzeville Tolosane, 31326 Castanet Tolosan (France)], E-mail: gaelle.uzu@ensat.fr; Sobanska, S. [LASIR UMR 8516, Universite des Sciences et Technologies de Lille, Batiment C5, 59655 Villeneuve d' Ascq Cedex (France)], E-mail: Sophie.Sobanska@univ-lille1.fr; Aliouane, Y. [EcoLab UMR 5245 CNRS-INPT-UPS, ENSAT BP 32607 Auzeville Tolosane, 31326 Castanet Tolosan (France); Pradere, P. [Chemical Metal Treatment Company, STCM, 30-32 chemin de Fondeyre, 31200 Toulouse (France)], E-mail: p.pradere@stc-metaux.com; Dumat, C. [EcoLab UMR 5245 CNRS-INPT-UPS, ENSAT BP 32607 Auzeville Tolosane, 31326 Castanet Tolosan (France)], E-mail: camille.dumat@ensat.fr

    2009-04-15

    Particles from channelled emissions of a battery recycling facility were size-segregated and investigated to correlate their speciation and morphology with their transfer towards lettuce. Microculture experiments carried out with various calcareous soils spiked with micronic and sub-micronic particles (1650 {+-} 20 mg Pb kg{sup -1}) highlighted a greater transfer in soils mixed with the finest particles. According to XRD and Raman spectroscopy results, the two fractions presented differences in the amount of minor lead compounds like carbonates, but their speciation was quite similar, in decreasing order of abundance: PbS, PbSO{sub 4}, PbSO{sub 4}.PbO, {alpha}-PbO and Pb{sup 0}. Morphology investigations revealed that PM{sub 2.5} (i.e. Particulate Matter 2.5 composed of particles suspended in air with aerodynamic diameters of 2.5 {mu}m or less) contained many Pb nanoballs and nanocrystals which could influence lead availability. The soil-plant transfer of lead was mainly influenced by size and was very well estimated by 0.01 M CaCl{sub 2} extraction. - The soil-lettuce lead transfer from atmospheric industrial sub-micronic and micronic particles depends on particle size.

  10. Study of lead phytoavailability for atmospheric industrial micronic and sub-micronic particles in relation with lead speciation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uzu, G.; Sobanska, S.; Aliouane, Y.; Pradere, P.; Dumat, C.

    2009-01-01

    Particles from channelled emissions of a battery recycling facility were size-segregated and investigated to correlate their speciation and morphology with their transfer towards lettuce. Microculture experiments carried out with various calcareous soils spiked with micronic and sub-micronic particles (1650 ± 20 mg Pb kg -1 ) highlighted a greater transfer in soils mixed with the finest particles. According to XRD and Raman spectroscopy results, the two fractions presented differences in the amount of minor lead compounds like carbonates, but their speciation was quite similar, in decreasing order of abundance: PbS, PbSO 4 , PbSO 4 .PbO, α-PbO and Pb 0 . Morphology investigations revealed that PM 2.5 (i.e. Particulate Matter 2.5 composed of particles suspended in air with aerodynamic diameters of 2.5 μm or less) contained many Pb nanoballs and nanocrystals which could influence lead availability. The soil-plant transfer of lead was mainly influenced by size and was very well estimated by 0.01 M CaCl 2 extraction. - The soil-lettuce lead transfer from atmospheric industrial sub-micronic and micronic particles depends on particle size

  11. Functional inhibition of NF-kappa B signal transduction in alpha v alpha beta 3 integrin expressing endothelial cells by using RGD-PEG-modified adenovirus with a mutant I kappa B gene

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ogawara, K; Kuldo, JM; Oosterhuis, K; Kroesen, BJ; Rots, MG; Trautwein, C; Kimura, T; Haisma, HJ; Molema, G

    2006-01-01

    In order to selectively block nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B)-dependent signal transduction in angiogenic endothelial cells, we constructed an alpha v beta 3 integrin specific adenovirus encoding dominant negative I kappa B (dnI kappa B) as a therapeutic gene. By virtue of RGD modification of

  12. Kappa statistic for clustered matched-pair data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Zhao; Zhou, Ming

    2014-07-10

    Kappa statistic is widely used to assess the agreement between two procedures in the independent matched-pair data. For matched-pair data collected in clusters, on the basis of the delta method and sampling techniques, we propose a nonparametric variance estimator for the kappa statistic without within-cluster correlation structure or distributional assumptions. The results of an extensive Monte Carlo simulation study demonstrate that the proposed kappa statistic provides consistent estimation and the proposed variance estimator behaves reasonably well for at least a moderately large number of clusters (e.g., K ≥50). Compared with the variance estimator ignoring dependence within a cluster, the proposed variance estimator performs better in maintaining the nominal coverage probability when the intra-cluster correlation is fair (ρ ≥0.3), with more pronounced improvement when ρ is further increased. To illustrate the practical application of the proposed estimator, we analyze two real data examples of clustered matched-pair data. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  13. One Micron Laser Technology Advancements at GSFC

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heaps, William S.

    2010-01-01

    This slide presentation reviews the advancements made in one micron laser technology at Goddard Space Flight Center. It includes information about risk factors that are being addressed by GSFC, and overviews of the various programs that GSFC is currently managing that are using 1 micron laser technology.

  14. Priming in concert: Assimilation and contrast with multiple affective and gender primes.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fockenberg, D.A.; Koole, S.L.; Semin, G.R.

    2008-01-01

    The present research investigated the influence of multiple sequential primes on social categorization processes. Study 1 examined an evaluative decision task in which targets were preceded and succeeded by two primes. As expected, the temporally closest forward primes had assimilative effects on

  15. Physico Chemical Characteristic of Kappa Carrageenan Degraded Using Hydrogen Peroxide

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rizky Febriansyah Siregar

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available AbstractKappa carrageenan is polysaccharide that widely used in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, textile and printing industries as coagulate agent, stabilizer and gelling agent. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 is strong oxidator to degrade polysaccharide. Hydrogen peroxide has some advantades such as cheap, easy to get and savety environment. Degradation method using hydrogen peroxide is a technology based on establishment radical hydoxile reactive that attack the glycosidic of polysaccharides as a result reducing in molecular weight of polysaccharide. The aims of this study were to analyze the effect of hydrogen peroxide concentration, temperature and degradation time to molecular weight of refined kappa carrageenan. Structural changes on kappa carrageenan degradation were characterized by viscometer, SEM and FTIR. Hydrogen peroxide concentration, temperature and degradation time were significantly reducing molecular weight and changes in the structural function of refined kappa carrageenan. The lowest molecular weight of refined kappa carrageenan degraded was obtained from the treatment 3% of hydrogen peroxide at temperature 80°C and degradation time for 4 hours.

  16. The 3 micron spectrum of NGC 4565

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adamson, A.J.; Whittet, D.C.B.

    1990-01-01

    Researchers spectrum of NGC 4565 is essentially featureless. The absence of the 3.0 micron feature (Tau 3.0 less than 0.05) implies that the extinction to the nucleus does not arise to a significant degree in molecular clouds. Researchers deduce Tau 3.0/A sub V less than 0.01, compared with approx. 0.022 for GC-IRS7. These results support the conclusion (McFadzean et al. 1989) that the 3.0 micron absorption in the GC-IR sources is due to the presence of ice in a (probably single) foreground molecular cloud. The 3.4 micron feature is also weak or absent in the researchers spectrum of NGC 4565 (Tau 3.4 less than or equal to 0.07), hence, Tau 3.4/A sub V less than or equal to 0.016, compared with approx. 0.008 towards GC-IRS7. The absence of the feature in NGC 4565 at the signal-to-noise level of the current observations is consistent with a probable moderate degree of extinction towards the nucleus. The observations of NGC 4565 provide a useful comparison for studies of dust in the Galaxy. Limits have been set on the strengths of the 3.0 and 3.4 micron features in NGC 4565. The absence of 3.0 micron absorption is significant, and supports the view that the feature at this wavelength in the Galactic Centre is due to water-ice absorption in a foreground molecular cloud. The non-detection of the 3.4 micron absorption is less surprising and provides indirect support for the association between this feature and the diffuse interstellar medium. The current spectrum probably represents the best that can be achieved with a single-detector instrument within reasonable integration times. It will clearly be of interest in the future to obtain spectra of higher signal-to-noise, as a positive detection of the 3.4 micron feature in an external galaxy, even at a low level, would be of considerable astrophysical significance

  17. TLR4 activates NF-{kappa}B in human ovarian granulosa tumor cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Woods, Dori C., E-mail: dwoods2@partners.org [Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology, Vincent Obstetrics and Gynecology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114 (United States); White, Yvonne A.R. [Vincent Center for Reproductive Biology, Vincent Obstetrics and Gynecology Service, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114 (United States); Dau, Caroline [University of California, San Francisco, School of Dentistry, San Francisco, CA 94143 (United States); Johnson, A.L. [Center for Reproductive Biology and Health, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)

    2011-06-17

    Highlights: {yields} TLR4 is expressed in human ovarian granulosa tumor cells. {yields} Acting through TLR4, LPS and HSP60 induce a NF{kappa}B signaling cascade in human ovarian granulosa tumor cells. {yields} NF{kappa}B activation or inhibition did not alter chemosensitivity to TRAIL or cisplatin. -- Abstract: Previous studies have demonstrated expression of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in the surface epithelium of normal ovaries (OSE) and in epithelial ovarian tumors. Most notably, OSE-derived cancers express TLR4, which activates the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-{kappa}B) signaling cascade as a mediator of inflammatory response. Currently, there is considerable interest in elucidating the role of TLR-mediated signaling in cancers. Nevertheless, the expression of TLRs in granulosa cell tumors (GCTs) of the ovary, and the extent to which GCT expression of TLRs may influence cell-signaling pathways and/or modulate the efficacy of chemotherapeutics, has yet to be determined. In the present study, human GCT lines (COV434 and KGN) were utilized to evaluate expression of functional TLR4. TLR4 is expressed in GCT cell lines and ligation of TLR4 with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) led to I{kappa}B degradation and activation of NF-{kappa}B. NF-{kappa}B activation was confirmed by nuclear localization of NF-{kappa}B p65 following treatment with LPS and the naturally occurring ligand, HSP60. Notably, immunoneutralization of TLR4 blocked nuclear localization, and inhibition of NF-{kappa}B signaling attenuated LPS-induced TNF{alpha} plus increased doubling time in both cell lines. Contradictory to reports using human OSE cell lines, inhibition of NF-{kappa}B signaling failed to sensitize GCT lines to TRAIL or cisplatin. In summary, findings herein are the first to demonstrate a functional TLR-signaling pathway specifically in GCTs, and indicate that in contrast to OSE-derived cancers, inhibition of NF-{kappa}B does not sensitize GCTs to TRAIL or cisplatin.

  18. Study Of Calcium And Potassium Different Nature Strength Gel Kappa-Carrageenan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Петро Васильович Гурський

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The influence of certain organic and mineral salts of potassium and calcium for strength gel kappa-carrageenan. The influence of the mass concentration of individual calcium for strength gels with different content kappa-carrageenan. Grounded mass concentration of some calcium salts for use in the composition of the jelly for sweet and savory dishes based on kappa-carrageenan

  19. The elimination of positive priming with increasing prime duration reflects a transition from perceptual fluency to disfluency rather than bias against primed words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potter, Kevin W; Donkin, Chris; Huber, David E

    2018-03-01

    With immediate repetition priming of forced choice perceptual identification, short prime durations produce positive priming (i.e., priming the target leads to higher accuracy, while priming the foil leads to lower accuracy). Many theories explain positive priming following short duration primes as reflecting increased perceptual fluency for the primed target (i.e., decreased identification latency). However, most studies only examine either accuracy or response times, rather than considering the joint constraints of response times and accuracy to properly address the role of decision biases and response caution. This is a critical oversight because several theories propose that the transition to negative priming following a long duration prime reflects a decision strategy to compensate for the effect of increased perceptual fluency. In contrast, the nROUSE model of Huber and O'Reilly (2003) explains this transition as reflecting perceptual habituation, and thus a change to perceptual disfluency. We confirmed this prediction by applying a sequential sampling model (the diffusion race model) to accuracy and response time distributions from a new single item same-different version of the priming task. In this way, we measured strategic biases and perceptual fluency in each condition for each subject. The nROUSE model was only applied to accuracy from the original forced-choice version of the priming task. This application of nROUSE produced separate predictions for each subject regarding the degree of fluency and disfluency in each condition, and these predictions were confirmed by the drift rate parameters (i.e., fluency) from the response time model in contrast to the threshold parameters (i.e., bias). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Circumvention of nuclear factor kappaB-induced chemoresistance by cytoplasmic-targeted anthracyclines.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilyeu, Jennifer D; Panta, Ganesh R; Cavin, Lakita G; Barrett, Christina M; Turner, Eddie J; Sweatman, Trevor W; Israel, Mervyn; Lothstein, Leonard; Arsura, Marcello

    2004-04-01

    Nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) has been implicated in inducible chemoresistance against anthracyclines. In an effort to improve the cytotoxicity of anthracyclines while reducing their cardiotoxic effects, we have developed a novel class of extranuclear-localizing 14-O-acylanthracyclines that bind to the phorbol ester/diacylglycerol-binding C1b domain of conventional and novel protein kinase C (PKC) isoforms, thereby promoting an apoptotic response. Because PKCs have been shown to be involved in NF-kappaB activation, in this report, we determined the mechanism of NF-kappaB activation by N-benzyladriamycin-14-valerate (AD 198) and N-benzyladriamycin-14-pivalate (AD 445), two novel 14-O-acylanthracylines. We show that the induction of NF-kappaB activity in response to drug treatment relies on the activation of PKC-delta and NF-kappaB-activating kinase (NAK), independent of ataxia telengectasia mutated and p53 activities. In turn, NAK activates the IKK complex through phosphorylation of the IKK-2 subunit. We find that neither NF-kappaB activation nor ectopic expression of Bcl-X(L) confers protection from AD 198-induced cell killing. Overall, our data indicate that activation of novel PKC isoforms by cytoplasmic-targeted 14-O-acylanthracyclines promotes an apoptotic response independent of DNA damage, which is unimpeded by inducible activation of NF-kappaB.

  1. On the Control of Single-Prime Negative Priming: The Effects of Practice and Time Course

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Hsuan-Fu

    2009-01-01

    Single-prime negative priming refers to the phenomenon wherein repetition of a prime as the probe target results in delayed response. Sometimes this effect has been found to be contingent on participants' unawareness of the primes, and sometimes it has not. Further, sometimes this effect has been found to be eliminated when the prime could predict…

  2. Subliminal semantic priming in speech.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jérôme Daltrozzo

    Full Text Available Numerous studies have reported subliminal repetition and semantic priming in the visual modality. We transferred this paradigm to the auditory modality. Prime awareness was manipulated by a reduction of sound intensity level. Uncategorized prime words (according to a post-test were followed by semantically related, unrelated, or repeated target words (presented without intensity reduction and participants performed a lexical decision task (LDT. Participants with slower reaction times in the LDT showed semantic priming (faster reaction times for semantically related compared to unrelated targets and negative repetition priming (slower reaction times for repeated compared to semantically related targets. This is the first report of semantic priming in the auditory modality without conscious categorization of the prime.

  3. Primes, Geometry and Condensed Matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Al Rabeh R. H.

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Fascination with primes dates back to the Greeks and before. Primes are named by some "the elementary particles of arithmetic" as every nonprime integer is made of a unique set of primes. In this article we point to new connections between primes, geometry and physics which show that primes could be called "the elementary particles of physics" too. This study considers the problem of closely packing similar circles/spheres in 2D/3D space. This is in effect a discretization process of space and the allowable number in a pack is found to lead to some unexpected cases of prime configurations which is independent of the size of the constituents. We next suggest that a non-prime can be considered geometrically as a symmetric collection that is separable (factorable into similar parts- six is two threes or three twos for example. A collection that has no such symmetry is a prime. As a result, a physical prime aggregate is more difficult to split symmetrically resulting in an inherent stability. This "number/physical" stability idea applies to bigger collections made from smaller (prime units leading to larger stable prime structures in a limitless scaling up process. The distribution of primes among numbers can be understood better using the packing ideas described here and we further suggest that differing numbers (and values of distinct prime factors making a nonprime collection is an important factor in determining the probability and method of possible and subsequent disintegration. Disintegration is bound by energy conservation and is closely related to symmetry by Noether theorems. Thinking of condensed matter as the packing of identical elements, we examine plots of the masses of chemical elements of the periodic table, and also those of the elementary particles of physics, and show that prime packing rules seem to play a role in the make up of matter. The plots show convincingly that the growth of prime numbers and that of the masses of

  4. Investigation of dust particle removal efficiency of self-priming venturi scrubber using computational fluid dynamics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarim Ahmed

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available A venturi scrubber is an important element of Filtered Containment Venting System (FCVS for the removal of aerosols in contaminated air. The present work involves computational fluid dynamics (CFD study of dust particle removal efficiency of a venturi scrubber operating in self-priming mode using ANSYS CFX. Titanium oxide (TiO2 particles having sizes of 1 micron have been taken as dust particles. CFD methodology to simulate the venturi scrubber has been first developed. The cascade atomization and breakup (CAB model has been used to predict deformation of water droplets, whereas the Eulerian–Lagrangian approach has been used to handle multiphase flow involving air, dust, and water. The developed methodology has been applied to simulate venturi scrubber geometry taken from the literature. Dust particle removal efficiency has been calculated for forced feed operation of venturi scrubber and found to be in good agreement with the results available in the literature. In the second part, venturi scrubber along with a tank has been modeled in CFX, and transient simulations have been performed to study self-priming phenomenon. Self-priming has been observed by plotting the velocity vector fields of water. Suction of water in the venturi scrubber occurred due to the difference between static pressure in the venturi scrubber and the hydrostatic pressure of water inside the tank. Dust particle removal efficiency has been calculated for inlet air velocities of 1 m/s and 3 m/s. It has been observed that removal efficiency is higher in case of higher inlet air velocity. Keywords: Computational Fluid Dynamics, Dust Particles, Filtered Containment Venting System, Self-priming Venturi Scrubber, Venturi Scrubber

  5. NF-kappaB signaling: a tale of two pathways in skeletal myogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bakkar, Nadine; Guttridge, Denis C

    2010-04-01

    NF-kappaB is a ubiquitiously expressed transcription factor that plays vital roles in innate immunity and other processes involving cellular survival, proliferation, and differentiation. Activation of NF-kappaB is controlled by an IkappaB kinase (IKK) complex that can direct either canonical (classical) NF-kappaB signaling by degrading the IkappaB inhibitor and releasing p65/p50 dimers to the nucleus, or causes p100 processing and nuclear translocation of RelB/p52 via a noncanonical (alternative) pathway. Under physiological conditions, NF-kappaB activity is transiently regulated, whereas constitutive activation of this transcription factor typically in the classical pathway is associated with a multitude of disease conditions, including those related to skeletal muscle. How NF-kappaB functions in muscle diseases is currently under intense investigation. Insight into this role of NF-kappaB may be gained by understanding at a more basic level how this transcription factor contributes to skeletal muscle cell differentiation. Recent data from knockout mice support that the classical NF-kappaB pathway functions as an inhibitor of skeletal myogenesis and muscle regeneration acting through multiple mechanisms. In contrast, alternative NF-kappaB signaling does not appear to be required for myofiber conversion, but instead functions in myotube homeostasis by regulating mitochondrial biogenesis. Additional knowledge of these signaling pathways in skeletal myogenesis should aid in the development of specific inhibitors that may be useful in treatments of muscle disorders.

  6. Clinical validation of nuclear factor kappa B expression in invasive breast cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agrawal, Anil Kumar; Pielka, Ewa; Lipinski, Artur; Jelen, Michal; Kielan, Wojciech; Agrawal, Siddarth

    2018-01-01

    Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Polish women. The expression of transcription nuclear factor kappa B, a key inducer of inflammatory response promoting carcinogenesis and cancer progression in breast cancer, is not well-established. We assessed the nuclear factor kappa B expression in a total of 119 invasive breast carcinomas and 25 healthy control samples and correlated this expression pattern with several clinical and pathologic parameters including histologic type and grade, tumor size, lymph node status, estrogen receptor status, and progesterone receptor status. The data used for the analysis were derived from medical records. An immunohistochemical analysis of nuclear factor kappa B, estrogen receptor, and progesterone receptor was carried out and evaluation of stainings was performed. The expression of nuclear factor kappa B was significantly higher than that in the corresponding healthy control samples. No statistical difference was demonstrated in nuclear factor kappa B expression in relation to age, menopausal status, lymph node status, tumor size and location, grade and histologic type of tumor, and hormonal status (estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor). Nuclear factor kappa B is significantly overexpressed in invasive breast cancer tissues. Although nuclear factor kappa B status does not correlate with clinicopathological findings, it might provide important additional information on prognosis and become a promising object for targeted therapy.

  7. Improvement of Pulping Uniformity by Measurement of Single Fiber Kappa Number

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Richard R. Gustafson; James B. Callis

    2001-11-20

    A method to measure the kappa of single fibers by staining with a fluorescent dye, Acridine Orange (AO), has been developed. This method is now applied to develop and automated flow-through instrument that permits routine kappa analysis on thousands of images of AO stained fibers to give the fiber kappa number distribution of a pulp sample in a few minutes. The design and operation of the instrument are similar to that of a flow cytometer but with the addition of extensive fiber imaging capability. Fluorescence measurements in the flow-through instrument are found to be consistent with those made with fluorescence microscope provided the signal processing in the flow-thou instrument is handled propertly. The kappa distributions of pulps that were analyzed by means of a density gradient column are compared to those measured with the flow-through instrument with good results. The kappa distributions of various laboratory pulps and commercial pulps have been measured. It has been found that all pulps are non-uniform but that ommercial pulps generally have broader kappa distributions thatn their laboratory counterparts. The effects of different pulping methods and chip pretreatments on pulp uniformity are discussed in the report. Finally, the application of flow-through fluorescence technology to other single fiber measurements are presented.

  8. Efavirenz Dissolution Enhancement I: Co-Micronization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helvécio Vinícius Antunes Rocha

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available AIDS constitutes one of the most serious infectious diseases, representing a major public health priority. Efavirenz (EFV, one of the most widely used drugs for this pathology, belongs to the Class II of the Biopharmaceutics Classification System for drugs with very poor water solubility. To improve EFV’s dissolution profile, changes can be made to the physical properties of the drug that do not lead to any accompanying molecular modifications. Therefore, the study objective was to develop and characterize systems with efavirenz able to improve its dissolution, which were co-processed with sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP. The technique used was co-micronization. Three different drug:excipient ratios were tested for each of the two carriers. The drug dispersion dissolution results showed significant improvement for all the co-processed samples in comparison to non-processed material and corresponding physical mixtures. The dissolution profiles obtained for dispersion with co-micronized SLS samples proved superior to those of co-micronized PVP, with the proportion (1:0.25 proving the optimal mixture. The improvements may be explained by the hypothesis that formation of a hydrophilic layer on the surface of the micronized drug increases the wettability of the system formed, corroborated by characterization results indicating no loss of crystallinity and an absence of interaction at the molecular level.

  9. Cognate status and cross-script translation priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voga, Madeleine; Grainger, Jonathan

    2007-07-01

    Greek-French bilinguals were tested in three masked priming experiments with Greek primes and French targets. Related primes were the translation equivalents of target words, morphologically related to targets, or phonologically related to targets. In Experiment 1, cognate translation equivalents (phonologically similar translations) showed facilitatory priming, relative to matched phonologically related primes, in conditions in which morphologically related primes showed no effect (50-msec prime exposure). Cross-language morphological priming emerged at longer prime exposure durations (66 msec), but cognate primes continued to generate more priming than did those in the morphological condition. In Experiments 2 and 3, the level of phonological overlap across translation equivalents was varied, and priming effects were measured against those for matched phonologically related primes and those in an unrelated prime condition. When measured against the unrelated baseline, cognate primes showed the typical advantage over noncognate primes. However, this cognate advantage disappeared when priming was measured against the phonologically related prime condition. The results are discussed in terms of how translation equivalents are represented in bilingual memory.

  10. False memories and lexical decision: even twelve primes do not cause long-term semantic priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeelenberg, René; Pecher, Diane

    2002-03-01

    Semantic priming effects are usually obtained only if the prime is presented shortly before the target stimulus. Recent evidence obtained with the so-called false memory paradigm suggests, however, that in both explicit and implicit memory tasks semantic relations between words can result in long-lasting effects when multiple 'primes' are presented. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether these effects would generalize to lexical decision. In four experiments we showed that even as many as 12 primes do not cause long-term semantic priming. In all experiments, however, a repetition priming effect was obtained. The present results are consistent with a number of other results showing that semantic information plays a minimal role in long-term priming in visual word recognition.

  11. Purinergic signaling is required for fluid shear stress-induced NF-{kappa}B translocation in osteoblasts

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Genetos, Damian C., E-mail: dgenetos@ucdavis.edu [Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology, and Physiology, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, CA (United States); Karin, Norman J. [Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA (United States); Geist, Derik J. [Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN (United States); Donahue, Henry J. [Division of Musculoskeletal Sciences, Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA (United States); Duncan, Randall L. [Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN (United States)

    2011-04-01

    Fluid shear stress regulates gene expression in osteoblasts, in part by activation of the transcription factor NF-{kappa}B. We examined whether this process was under the control of purinoceptor activation. MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts under static conditions expressed the NF-{kappa}B inhibitory protein I{kappa}B{alpha} and exhibited cytosolic localization of NF-{kappa}B. Under fluid shear stress, I{kappa}B{alpha} levels decreased, and concomitant nuclear localization of NF-{kappa}B was observed. Cells exposed to fluid shear stress in ATP-depleted medium exhibited no significant reduction in I{kappa}B{alpha}, and NF-{kappa}B remained within the cytosol. Similar results were found using oxidized ATP or Brilliant Blue G, P2X{sub 7} receptor antagonists, indicating that the P2X{sub 7} receptor is responsible for fluid shear-stress-induced I{kappa}B{alpha} degradation and nuclear accumulation of NF-{kappa}B. Pharmacologic blockage of the P2Y6 receptor also prevented shear-induced I{kappa}B{alpha} degradation. These phenomena involved neither ERK1/2 signaling nor autocrine activation by P2X{sub 7}-generated lysophosphatidic acid. Our results suggest that fluid shear stress regulates NF-{kappa}B activity through the P2Y{sub 6} and P2X{sub 7} receptor.

  12. Primes, Geometry and Condensed Matter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Al Rabeh R. H.

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Fascination with primes dates back to the Greeks and before. Primes are named by some “the elementary particles of arithmetic” as every nonprime integer is made of a unique set of primes. In this article we point to new connections between primes, geometry and physics which show that primes could be called “the elementary particles of physics” too. This study considers the problem of closely packing similar circles / spheres in 2D / 3D space. This is in effect a discretization process of space and the allowable num- ber in a pack is found to lead to some unexpected cases of prime configurations which is independent of the size of the constituents. We next suggest that a non-prime can be considered geometrically as a symmetric collection that is separable (factorable into similar parts- six is two threes or three twos for example. A collection that has no such symmetry is a prime. As a result, a physical prime aggregate is more difficult to split symmetrically resulting in an inherent stability. This “number / physical” stability idea applies to bigger collections made from smaller (prime units leading to larger sta- ble prime structures in a limitless scaling up process. The distribution of primes among numbers can be understood better using the packing ideas described here and we further suggest that differing numbers (and values of distinct prime factors making a nonprime collection is an important factor in determining the probability and method of possible and subsequent disintegration. Disintegration is bound by energy conservation and is closely related to symmetry by Noether theorems. Thinking of condensed matter as the packing of identical elements, we examine plots of the masses of chemical elements of the periodic table, and also those of the elementary particles of physics, and show that prime packing rules seem to play a role in the make up of matter. The plots show con- vincingly that the growth of prime numbers and that

  13. Characterization of immunoglobulin A kappa autoantibodies to human lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme-3

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Weijers, R. N.; Oude Elferink, R. P.; Mulder, J.; Kruijswijk, H.

    1987-01-01

    We have purified with a cumulative recovery of 48% from the serum of a patient the immunoglobulin A kappa subunit of the lactate dehydrogenase-immunoglobulin A kappa (LD-IgA kappa) complex. It appears that the pI range of the complex is 5.4-5.8. The Ig part of the complex showed a monoclonal

  14. Ion and electron Kappa distribution functions in the plasma sheet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moya, P. S.; Stepanova, M. V.; Espinoza, C.; Antonova, E. E.; Valdivia, J. A.

    2017-12-01

    We present a study of ion and electron flux spectra in the Earth's plasma sheet using kappa distribution functions. Satellite data from the THEMIS mission were collected for thousands of crossings through the plasma sheet, between 7 and 35 Re and during the years 2008-2009. The events were separated according to the geomagnetic activity at the time. Our results show the distribution of the kappa index and characteristic energies across the plasma sheet and its evolution with distance to Earth for quiet times and for the substorm expansion and recovery phases. For the ions, it is observed that the kappa values tend to decrease outwards and that this effect is more significant in the dusk sector, where the smallest values are found for distances beyond 15 Re. The main effect of the substorms appears as an enhancement of this behavior. The electrons show a much more homogeneous distribution in quiet times, with a mild tendency for larger kappa values at larger distances. During substorms, the kappa values tend to equalize and appear very homogenous during expansion. However, they exhibit a significant increase in the dusk sector during the recovery substorm phase. Finally, we observe that the characteristic energy of the particles during substorms increases and concentrate at distances less than 15 Re.

  15. Airborne spectrophotometry of P/Halley from 16 to 30 microns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herter, T.; Gull, G. E.; Campins, H.

    1986-01-01

    Comet Halley was observed in the 16 to 30 micron region using the Cornell University 7-channel spectrometer (resolution = 0.02) on board the Kuiper Airborne Observatory on 1985 Dec. 14.2. A 30-arcsec aperture (FWHM) was used. Measurements centered on the nuclear condensation micron indicate that if present, the 20 micron silicate feature is very weak, and that a relatively narrow strong feature centered at 28.4 microns possibly exists. However, this feature may be an artifact of incomplete correction for telluric water vapor absorption.

  16. Modulation of the NF-kappaB pathway by Bordetella pertussis filamentous hemagglutinin.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tzvia Abramson

    Full Text Available Filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA is a cell-associated and secreted adhesin produced by Bordetella pertussis with pro-apoptotic and pro-inflammatory activity in host cells. Given the importance of the NF-kappaB transcription factor family in these host cell responses, we examined the effect of FHA on NF-kappaB activation in macrophages and bronchial epithelial cells, both of which are relevant cell types during natural infection.Exposure to FHA of primary human monocytes and transformed U-937 macrophages, but not BEAS-2B epithelial cells, resulted in early activation of the NF-kappaB pathway, as manifested by the degradation of cytosolic IkappaB alpha, by NF-kappaB DNA binding, and by the subsequent secretion of NF-kappaB-regulated inflammatory cytokines. However, exposure of macrophages and human monocytes to FHA for two hours or more resulted in the accumulation of cytosolic IkappaB alpha, and the failure of TNF-alpha to activate NF-kappaB. Proteasome activity was attenuated following exposure of cells to FHA for 2 hours, as was the nuclear translocation of RelA in BEAS-2B cells.These results reveal a complex temporal dynamic, and suggest that despite short term effects to the contrary, longer exposures of host cells to this secreted adhesin may block NF-kappaB activation, and perhaps lead to a compromised immune response to this bacterial pathogen.

  17. Micronization increases vitamin E carrying and releasing abilities of insoluble fiber.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsu, Pang-Kuei; Chien, Po-Jung; Chau, Chi-Fai

    2008-03-26

    This study was to investigate the effects of micronization on vitamin-carrying capacity and slow-release ability of carambola (starfruit) insoluble fiber (IF) and cellulose using in vitro and in vivomodels. Upon micronization, carambola IF (8.1 microm) underwent structural changes to expose more functional groups in the fiber matrix and to exhibit higher oil-holding capacity ( approximately 20.4-fold). Micronized fibers in forms of fiber-vitamin composites, particularly the micronized carambola IF-vitamin composite, were capable of carrying vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) up to 9.6-fold over their unmicronized forms and releasing nutrient gradually. Animal studies demonstrated that the adminstration of micronized carambola IF-vitamin composite could maintain the plasma vitamin E of rats at relatively higher levels (2.1-3.6-fold of the initial values) for at least 5 h. The results suggested that micronized fibers, particularly the micronized carambola IF, could be exploited as potential nutrient carriers in food applications and also be used to produce slow-release formulations.

  18. Sequential Stereotype Priming: A Meta-Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kidder, Ciara K; White, Katherine R; Hinojos, Michelle R; Sandoval, Mayra; Crites, Stephen L

    2017-08-01

    Psychological interest in stereotype measurement has spanned nearly a century, with researchers adopting implicit measures in the 1980s to complement explicit measures. One of the most frequently used implicit measures of stereotypes is the sequential priming paradigm. The current meta-analysis examines stereotype priming, focusing specifically on this paradigm. To contribute to ongoing discussions regarding methodological rigor in social psychology, one primary goal was to identify methodological moderators of the stereotype priming effect-whether priming is due to a relation between the prime and target stimuli, the prime and target response, participant task, stereotype dimension, stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), and stimuli type. Data from 39 studies yielded 87 individual effect sizes from 5,497 participants. Analyses revealed that stereotype priming is significantly moderated by the presence of prime-response relations, participant task, stereotype dimension, target stimulus type, SOA, and prime repetition. These results carry both practical and theoretical implications for future research on stereotype priming.

  19. Kappa statistic to measure agreement beyond chance in free-response assessments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carpentier, Marc; Combescure, Christophe; Merlini, Laura; Perneger, Thomas V

    2017-04-19

    The usual kappa statistic requires that all observations be enumerated. However, in free-response assessments, only positive (or abnormal) findings are notified, but negative (or normal) findings are not. This situation occurs frequently in imaging or other diagnostic studies. We propose here a kappa statistic that is suitable for free-response assessments. We derived the equivalent of Cohen's kappa statistic for two raters under the assumption that the number of possible findings for any given patient is very large, as well as a formula for sampling variance that is applicable to independent observations (for clustered observations, a bootstrap procedure is proposed). The proposed statistic was applied to a real-life dataset, and compared with the common practice of collapsing observations within a finite number of regions of interest. The free-response kappa is computed from the total numbers of discordant (b and c) and concordant positive (d) observations made in all patients, as 2d/(b + c + 2d). In 84 full-body magnetic resonance imaging procedures in children that were evaluated by 2 independent raters, the free-response kappa statistic was 0.820. Aggregation of results within regions of interest resulted in overestimation of agreement beyond chance. The free-response kappa provides an estimate of agreement beyond chance in situations where only positive findings are reported by raters.

  20. Is NF-kappaB a good target for cancer therapy? Hopes and pitfalls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baud, Véronique; Karin, Michael

    2009-01-01

    Nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) transcription factors have a key role in many physiological processes such as innate and adaptive immune responses, cell proliferation, cell death, and inflammation. It has become clear that aberrant regulation of NF-kappaB and the signalling pathways that control its activity are involved in cancer development and progression, as well as in resistance to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. This article discusses recent evidence from cancer genetics and cancer genome studies that support the involvement of NF-kappaB in human cancer, particularly in multiple myeloma. The therapeutic potential and benefit of targeting NF-kappaB in cancer, and the possible complications and pitfalls of such an approach, are explored.

  1. PENGARUH KONSUMSI KAPPA-KARAGENAN TERHADAP GLUKOSA DARAH TIKUS WISTAR (Ratus norvegicus DIABETES [The Effect of Kappa-Carrageenan Consumption on Blood Glucose Level of Diabetic Wistar Rat (Ratus norwegicus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hardoko

    2006-04-01

    Full Text Available The effect of kappa-carrageenan consumption on blood glucose level were studied on diabetic male wistar rat (Ratus norvegicus.The rats were made diabetic by aloxan injection, and then were given that a ration contains 5, 10, 15, 20% (w/w kappa-carrageenan, standard ration (negative control, and parental glibenklamid (positive control. The results showed that the standard ration could not reduce blood glucose from hyperglycemic to normal level, while the ration contained kappacarrageenan could. The higher kappa-carrageenan seaweed level in the ration has higher capacity to decrease blood glucose level. The ration containing 20% and 15% kappa-carrageenan could reduce blood glucose in 18 and 21 days, respectively.The effect of this ration was similar to that of glibenklamid which reduced blood glucose to normal level in 18 days. The ration containing 5 and 10% kappa-carrageenan could reduce blood glucose level; Blood glucose leve return to normal on the 21st day.

  2. Nomogram for sample size calculation on a straightforward basis for the kappa statistic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Hyunsook; Choi, Yunhee; Hahn, Seokyung; Park, Sue Kyung; Park, Byung-Joo

    2014-09-01

    Kappa is a widely used measure of agreement. However, it may not be straightforward in some situation such as sample size calculation due to the kappa paradox: high agreement but low kappa. Hence, it seems reasonable in sample size calculation that the level of agreement under a certain marginal prevalence is considered in terms of a simple proportion of agreement rather than a kappa value. Therefore, sample size formulae and nomograms using a simple proportion of agreement rather than a kappa under certain marginal prevalences are proposed. A sample size formula was derived using the kappa statistic under the common correlation model and goodness-of-fit statistic. The nomogram for the sample size formula was developed using SAS 9.3. The sample size formulae using a simple proportion of agreement instead of a kappa statistic and nomograms to eliminate the inconvenience of using a mathematical formula were produced. A nomogram for sample size calculation with a simple proportion of agreement should be useful in the planning stages when the focus of interest is on testing the hypothesis of interobserver agreement involving two raters and nominal outcome measures. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Correlation of infrared reflectance ratios at 2.3 microns/1.6 micron and 1.1 micron/1.6 micron with delta O-18 values delineating fossil hydrothermal systems in the Idaho batholith

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillespie, A. R.; Criss, R. E.

    1983-01-01

    Reflectance ratios from laboratory spectra and airborne multispectral images are found to be strongly correlated with delta O-18 values of granite rocks in the Idaho batholith. The correlation is largely a result of interactions between hot water and rock, which lowered the delta O-18 values of the rocks and produced secondary hydrous material. Maps of the ratio of reflectivities at 2.3 and 1.6 microns should delineate fossil hydrothermal systems and provide estimates of alteration intensity. However, hydrous minerals produced during deuteric alteration or weathering cannot be unambiguously distinguished in remotely sensed images from the products of propylitic alteration without the use of narrow-band scanners. The reflectivity at 1.6 micron is strongly correlated with rock density and may be useful in distinguishing rock types in granitic terranes.

  4. Unconscious Congruency Priming from Unpracticed Words Is Modulated by Prime-Target Semantic Relatedness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortells, Juan J.; Mari-Beffa, Paloma; Plaza-Ayllon, Vanesa

    2013-01-01

    Participants performed a 2-choice categorization task on visible word targets that were preceded by novel (unpracticed) prime words. The prime words were presented for 33 ms and followed either immediately (Experiments 1-3) or after a variable delay (Experiments 1 and 4) by a pattern mask. Both subjective and objective measures of prime visibility…

  5. Leading, but not trailing, primes influence temporal order perception: further evidence for an attentional account of perceptual latency priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scharlau, Ingrid

    2002-11-01

    Presenting a masked prime leading a target influences the perceived onset of the masking target (perceptual latency priming; Scharlau & Neumann, in press). This priming effect is explained by the asynchronous updating model (Neumann, 1982; Scharlau & Neumann, in press): The prime initiates attentional allocation toward its location, which renders a trailing target at the same place consciously available earlier. In three experiments, this perceptual latency priming by leading primes was examined jointly with the effects of trailing primes in order to compare the explanation of the asynchronous updating model with the onset-averaging and the P-center hypotheses. Experiment 1 showed that an attended, as well as an unattended, prime leads to perceptual latency priming. In addition, a large effect of trailing primes on the onset of a target was found. As Experiment 2 demonstrated, this effect is quite robust, although smaller than that of a leading prime. In Experiment 3, masked primes were used. Under these conditions, no influence of trailing primes could be found, whereas perceptual latency priming persisted. Thus, a nonattentional explanation for the effect of trailing primes seems likely.

  6. Mechanisms of subliminal response priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiesel, Andrea; Kunde, Wilfried; Hoffmann, Joachim

    2008-07-15

    Subliminal response priming has been considered to operate on several stages, e.g. perceptual, central or motor stages might be affected. While primes' impact on target perception has been clearly demonstrated, semantic response priming recently has been thrown into doubt (e.g. Klinger, Burton, & Pitts, 2000). Finally, LRP studies have revealed that subliminal primes evoke motor processes. Yet, the premises for such prime-evoked motor activation are not settled. A transfer of priming to stimuli that have never been presented as targets appears particularly interesting because it suggests a level of processing that goes beyond a reactivation of previously acquired S-R links. Yet, such transfer has not always withstood empirical testing. To account for these contradictory results, we proposed a two-process model (Kunde, Kiesel, & Hoffmann, 2003): First, participants build up expectations regarding imperative stimuli for the required responses according to experience and/or instructions. Second, stimuli that match these "action triggers" directly activate the corresponding motor responses irrespective of their conscious identification. In line with these assumptions, recent studies revealed that non-target primes induce priming when they fit the current task intentions and when they are expected in the experimental setting.

  7. Micron Scale Mineralogy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caldwell, W. A.; Tamura, N.; Celestre, R. S.; Padmore, H. A.; Patel, J. R.

    2002-12-01

    Although x-ray diffraction has been used for nearly a century as the mineralogist's definitive tool in determining crystalline structures, it has proved impossible to use this technique to spatially resolve the highly heterogeneous nature of many minerals at the mesoscopic level. Due to recent revolutions in the brightness of x-ray sources and in our ability to focus x-rays, we can now carry out conventional monochromatic rotation crystallography as well as Laue diffraction with sub-micron spatial resolution and produce maps of orientation, strain, mineral type, and even chemical speciation over tens of microns in a short amount of time. We have pioneered the development of these techniques at the 3rd generation synchrotron radiation source (Advanced Light Source) in Berkeley, and will describe their application to understanding the structure of a quartz-geode. Our results show the manner in which grain structure and texture change as a function of distance from the cavity wall and are compared with models of crystal growth in such systems. This example highlights the great utility of a synchrotron based x-ray micro-diffraction beamline and the possibilities it opens to the mineralogist.

  8. 3 micron spectrophotometry of Comet Halley - Evidence for water ice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bregman, Jesse D.; Tielens, A. G. G. M.; Witteborn, Fred C.; Rank, David M.; Wooden, Diane

    1988-01-01

    Structure has been observed in the 3-3.6 micron preperihelion spectrum of Comet Halley consistent with either an absorption band near 3.1 microns or emission near 3.3 microns. The results suggest that a large fraction of the water molecules lost by the comet are initially ejected in the form of small ice particles rather than in the gas phase.

  9. Mitochondria mediate tumor necrosis factor-alpha/NF-kappaB signaling in skeletal muscle myotubes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Y. P.; Atkins, C. M.; Sweatt, J. D.; Reid, M. B.; Hamilton, S. L. (Principal Investigator)

    1999-01-01

    Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is implicated in muscle atrophy and weakness associated with a variety of chronic diseases. Recently, we reported that TNF-alpha directly induces muscle protein degradation in differentiated skeletal muscle myotubes, where it rapidly activates nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB). We also have found that protein loss induced by TNF-alpha is NF-kappaB dependent. In the present study, we analyzed the signaling pathway by which TNF-alpha activates NF-kappaB in myotubes differentiated from C2C12 and rat primary myoblasts. We found that activation of NF-kappaB by TNF-alpha was blocked by rotenone or amytal, inhibitors of complex I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain. On the other hand, antimycin A, an inhibitor of complex III, enhanced TNF-alpha activation of NK-kappaB. These results suggest a key role of mitochondria-derived reactive oxygen species (ROS) in mediating NF-kappaB activation in muscle. In addition, we found that TNF-alpha stimulated protein kinase C (PKC) activity. However, other signal transduction mediators including ceramide, Ca2+, phospholipase A2 (PLA2), and nitric oxide (NO) do not appear to be involved in the activation of NF-kappaB.

  10. Kappa opioid receptors stimulate phosphoinositide turnover in rat brain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Periyasamy, S.; Hoss, W. (Univ. of Toledo, OH (USA))

    1990-01-01

    The effects of various subtype-selective opioid agonists and antagonists on the phosphoinositide (PI) turnover response were investigated in the rat brain. The {kappa}-agonists U-50,488H and ketocyclazocine produced a concentration-dependent increase in the accumulation of IP's in hippocampal slices. The other {kappa}-agonists Dynorphin-A (1-13) amide, and its protected analog D(Ala){sup 2}-dynorphin-A (1-13) amide also produced a significant increase in the formation of ({sup 3}H)-IP's, whereas the {mu}-selective agonists (D-Ala{sup 2}-N-Me-Phe{sup 4}-Gly{sup 5}-ol)-enkephalin and morphine and the {delta}-selective agonist (D-Pen{sup 2,5})-enkephalin were ineffective. The increase in IP's formation elicited by U-50,488H was partially antagonized by naloxone and more completely antagonized by the {kappa}-selective antagonists nor-binaltorphimine and MR 2266. The formation of IP's induced by U-50,488H varies with the regions of the brain used, being highest in hippocampus and amygdala, and lowest in striatum and pons-medullar. The results indicate that brain {kappa}- but neither {mu}- nor {delta}- receptors are coupled to the PI turnover response.

  11. Distribution of kappa opioid receptors in the brain of young and old male rats

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maggi, R.; Limonta, P.; Dondi, D.; Martini, L.; Piva, F.

    1989-01-01

    The experiments to be described have been designed in order to: (a) provide new information on the concentrations of opioid kappa receptors in different regions of the brain of the male rats; and (b) to analyze whether the density of brain kappa receptors might be modified by the process of aging. The concentration of kappa receptors was investigated in the hypothalamus, amygdala, mesencephalon, corpus striatum, hippocampus, thalamus, frontal poles, anterior and posterior cortex collected from male rats of 2 and 19 months of age. 3 H-bremazocine (BRZ) was used as the ligand of kappa receptors, after protection of mu and delta receptors respectively with dihydromorphine and d-ala-d-leu-enkephalin. The results obtained show that: (1) in young male rats, the number of kappa opioid receptors is different in the various brain areas examined. (2) Aging exerts little influence on the number of kappa receptors in the majority of the brain structures considered. However in the amygdala and in the thalamus the number of kappa receptors was increased in old animals

  12. Rhizosphere priming: a nutrient perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Feike Auke Dijkstra

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Rhizosphere priming is the change in decomposition of soil organic matter (SOM caused by root activity. Rhizosphere priming plays a crucial role in soil carbon (C dynamics and their response to global climate change. Rhizosphere priming may be affected by soil nutrient availability, but rhizosphere priming itself can also affect nutrient supply to plants. These interactive effects may be of particular relevance in understanding the sustained increase in plant growth and nutrient supply in response to a rise in atmospheric CO2 concentration. We examined how these interactions were affected by elevated CO2 in two similar semiarid grassland field studies. We found that an increase in rhizosphere priming enhanced the release of nitrogen (N through decomposition of a larger fraction of SOM in one study, but not in the other. We postulate that rhizosphere priming may enhance N supply to plants in systems that are N limited, but that rhizosphere priming may not occur in systems that are phosphorus (P limited. Under P limitation, rhizodeposition may be used for mobilisation of P, rather than for decomposition of SOM. Therefore, with increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, rhizosphere priming may play a larger role in affecting C sequestration in N poor than in P poor soils.

  13. Pengaruh Temperatur, Waktu, dan Aditif Dalam Pembuatan Zircon Micronized

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sajima

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Research on temperature, time and additives effects on milling process in micronized-zircon production has been conducted. The production of zircon micronized started from sorting process on mining products then followed by beneficiation, roasting, leaching, dryng and milling processes. The results showed that the optimum conditions of the roasting process was at the temperature of 425 °C, in 25 minutes and using 4% additives. In these conditions, micronized zircon (2 µm obtained as much as 92.10% in10 minutes milling time.

  14. Regulation of NF-{kappa}B activity in astrocytes: effects of flavonoids at dietary-relevant concentrations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Spilsbury, Alison [Reading School of Pharmacy, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6UB (United Kingdom); Vauzour, David; Spencer, Jeremy P.E. [Molecular Nutrition Group, Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics, School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AP (United Kingdom); Rattray, Marcus, E-mail: m.a.n.rattray@reading.ac.uk [Reading School of Pharmacy, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6UB (United Kingdom)

    2012-02-17

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We tested the hypothesis that low concentrations of flavonoids inhibit NF-{kappa}B in astrocytes. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Primary cultured astrocytes possess a functional {kappa}B-system, measured using luciferase assays. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Seven flavonoids (100 nM-1 {mu}M) failed to reduce NF-{kappa}B activity in astrocytes. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Four flavonoids (100 nM-1 {mu}M) failed to reduce TNFa-stimulated NF-{kappa}B activity in astrocytes. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer (-)-Epicatechin did not regulate nuclear translocation of the NF-{kappa}B subunit, p65. -- Abstract: Neuroinflammation plays an important role in the progression of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Sustained activation of nuclear transcription factor {kappa}B (NF-{kappa}B) is thought to play an important role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders. Flavonoids have been shown to possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and we investigated whether flavonoids, at submicromolar concentrations relevant to their bioavailability from the diet, were able to modulate NF-{kappa}B signalling in astrocytes. Using luciferase reporter assays, we found that tumour necrosis factor (TNF{alpha}, 150 ng/ml) increased NF-{kappa}B-mediated transcription in primary cultures of mouse cortical astrocytes, which was abolished on co-transfection of a dominant-negative I{kappa}B{alpha} construct. In addition, TNF{alpha} increased nuclear localisation of p65 as shown by immunocytochemistry. To investigate potential flavonoid modulation of NF-{kappa}B activity, astrocytes were treated with flavonoids from different classes; flavan-3-ols ((-)-epicatechin and (+)-catechin), flavones (luteolin and chrysin), a flavonol (kaempferol) or the flavanones (naringenin and hesperetin) at dietary-relevant concentrations (0.1-1 {mu}M) for 18 h. None of the flavonoids modulated constitutive or

  15. Degree of handedness and priming: Further evidence for a distinction between production and identification priming mechanisms.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Donna J. LaVoie

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The distinction between implicit and explicit forms of memory retrieval is long-standing, and important to the extent it reveals how different neural architecture supports different aspects of memory function. Similarly, distinctions have been made between kinds of repetition priming, a form of implicit memory retrieval. This study focuses on the production-identification priming distinction, which delineates priming tasks involving verification of stimulus features as compared to priming tasks that require use of a cue to guide response retrieval. Studies investigating this dissociation in dementia or similar patient populations indicate that these forms of priming may differ in their neural bases. The current study looks at degree of handedness as a way of investigating inferred neural architecture supporting these two forms of priming. A growing body of research indicates that degree of handedness (consistent, or CH, versus inconsistent, or ICH is associated with greater interhemispheric interaction and functional access to right hemisphere processing in ICH, with superior performance seen in ICH on memory tasks reliant on this processing. Arguments about the theoretical mechanisms underlying identification and production forms of perceptual priming tasks suggest that performance on these tasks will differ as a function of degree of handedness. We tested this question in a group of CH and ICH young adults, who were asked to study lists of words prior to performing a production priming task (word stem completion, a perceptual word identification task, and a word stem cued recall task. While both handedness groups exhibited reliable priming across tasks, word stem completion priming was greater in ICH than CH participants, with identification priming not differing between groups. This dissociation supports the argument that production and identification forms of priming have different underlying neural bases.

  16. Rapid response learning of brand logo priming: Evidence that brand priming is not dominated by rapid response learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Boehm, Stephan G; Smith, Ciaran; Muench, Niklas; Noble, Kirsty; Atherton, Catherine

    2017-08-31

    Repetition priming increases the accuracy and speed of responses to repeatedly processed stimuli. Repetition priming can result from two complementary sources: rapid response learning and facilitation within perceptual and conceptual networks. In conceptual classification tasks, rapid response learning dominates priming of object recognition, but it does not dominate priming of person recognition. This suggests that the relative engagement of network facilitation and rapid response learning depends on the stimulus domain. Here, we addressed the importance of the stimulus domain for rapid response learning by investigating priming in another domain, brands. In three experiments, participants performed conceptual decisions for brand logos. Strong priming was present, but it was not dominated by rapid response learning. These findings add further support to the importance of the stimulus domain for the relative importance of network facilitation and rapid response learning, and they indicate that brand priming is more similar to person recognition priming than object recognition priming, perhaps because priming of both brands and persons requires individuation.

  17. The Carnegie Hubble Program: The Leavitt Law at 3.6 microns and 4.5 microns in the Large Magellanic Cloud

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scowcroft, Victoria; Freedman, Wendy L.; Madore, Barry F.; Monson, Andrew J.; Persson, S. E.; Seibert, Mark; Rigby, Jane R.; Sturch, Laura

    2011-01-01

    The Carnegie Hubble Program (CHP) is designed to improve the extragalactic distance scale using data from the post-cryogenic era of Spitzer. The ultimate goal is a determination of the Hubble constant to an accuracy of 2%. This paper is the first in a series on the Cepheid population of the Large Magellanic Cloud, and focuses on the period-luminosity relations (Leavitt laws) that will be used, in conjunction with observations of Milky Way Cepheids, to set the slope and zero-point of the Cepheid distance scale in the mid-infrared. To this end, we have obtained uniformly-sampled light curves for 85 LMC Cepheids, having periods between 6 and 140 days. Period- luminosity and period-color relations are presented in the 3.6 micron and 4.5 micron bands. We demonstrate that the 3.6 micron band is a superb distance indicator. The cyclical variation of the [3.6]-[4.5] color has been measured for the first time. We attribute the amplitude and phase of the color curves to the dissociation and recombination of CO molecules in the Cepheid s atmosphere. The CO affects only the 4.5 micron flux making it a potential metallicity indicator.

  18. Mechanisms of masked evaluative priming: task sets modulate behavioral and electrophysiological priming for picture and words differentially.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiefer, Markus; Liegel, Nathalie; Zovko, Monika; Wentura, Dirk

    2017-04-01

    Research with the evaluative priming paradigm has shown that affective evaluation processes reliably influence cognition and behavior, even when triggered outside awareness. However, the precise mechanisms underlying such subliminal evaluative priming effects, response activation vs semantic processing, are matter of a debate. In this study, we determined the relative contribution of semantic processing and response activation to masked evaluative priming with pictures and words. To this end, we investigated the modulation of masked pictorial vs verbal priming by previously activated perceptual vs semantic task sets and assessed the electrophysiological correlates of priming using event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Behavioral and electrophysiological effects showed a differential modulation of pictorial and verbal subliminal priming by previously activated task sets: Pictorial priming was only observed during the perceptual but not during the semantic task set. Verbal priming, in contrast, was found when either task set was activated. Furthermore, only verbal priming was associated with a modulation of the N400 ERP component, an index of semantic processing, whereas a priming-related modulation of earlier ERPs, indexing visuo-motor S-R activation, was found for both picture and words. The results thus demonstrate that different neuro-cognitive processes contribute to unconscious evaluative priming depending on the stimulus format. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  19. Effects of protein-energy malnutrition on NF-kappaB signalling in murine peritoneal macrophages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fock, Ricardo Ambrósio; Rogero, Marcelo Macedo; Vinolo, Marco Aurélio Ramirez; Curi, Rui; Borges, Maria Carolina; Borelli, Primavera

    2010-04-01

    Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) is an important public health problem affecting millions of people worldwide. PEM decreases resistance to infection, impairing a number of physiological processes. In unstimulated cells, NF-kappaB is kept from binding to its consensus sequence by the inhibitor I kappaB alpha, which retains NF-kappaB in the cytoplasm. Upon various signals, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), I kappaB alpha is rapidly degraded and NF-kappaB is induced to translocate into the nucleus, where it activates expression of various genes that participate in the inflammatory response, including those involved in the synthesis of TNF-alpha. TRAF-6 is a cytoplasmic adapter protein that links the stimulatory signal from Toll like receptor-4 to NF-kappaB. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of malnutrition on induction of TNF-alpha by LPS in murine peritoneal macrophages. We evaluated peritoneal cellularity, the expression of MyD88, TRAF-6, IKK, I kappaB alpha and NF-kappaB, NF-kappaB activation and TNF-alpha mRNA and protein synthesis in macrophages. Two-month-old male BALB/C mice were submitted to PEM with a low-protein diet that contained 2% protein, compared to 12% protein in the control diet. When the experimental group had lost about 20% of the original body weight, it was used in the subsequent experiments. Malnourished animals presented anemia, leucopenia and severe reduction in peritoneal cavity cellularity. TNF-alpha mRNA and protein levels of macrophages stimulated with LPS were significantly lower in malnourished animals. PEM also decreased TRAF-6 expression and NF-kappaB activation after LPS stimulation. These results led us to conclude that PEM changes NF-kB signalling pathway in macrophages to LPS stimulus.

  20. Status of 2 micron laser technology program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Storm, Mark

    1991-01-01

    The status of 2 micron lasers for windshear detection is described in viewgraph form Theoretical atmospheric and instrument system studies have demonstrated that the 2.1 micron Ho:YAG lasers can effectively measure wind speeds in both wet and dry conditions with accuracies of 1 m/sec. Two micron laser technology looks very promising in the near future, but several technical questions remain. The Ho:YAG laser would be small, compact, and efficient, requiring little or no maintenance. Since the Ho:YAG laser is laser diode pumped and has no moving part, the lifetime of this laser would be directly related to the diode laser lifetimes which can perform in excess of 10,000 hours. Efficiencies of 3 to 12 percent are expected, but laser demonstrations confirming the ability to Q-switch this laser are required. Coherent laser operation has been demonstrated for both the CW and Q-switched lasers.

  1. A Prime Example of the Maluma/Takete Effect? Testing for Sound Symbolic Priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidhu, David M; Pexman, Penny M

    2017-09-01

    Certain nonwords, like maluma and takete, are associated with roundness and sharpness, respectively. However, this has typically been demonstrated using explicit tasks. We investigated whether this association would be detectable using a more implicit measure-a sequential priming task. We began with a replication of the standard Maluma/Takete effect (Experiments 1a and 1b) before examining whether round and sharp nonword primes facilitated the categorization of congruent shapes (Experiment 2). We found modest evidence of a priming effect in response accuracy. We next examined whether nonword primes affected categorization of ambiguous shapes, using visual (Experiment 3) and auditory primes (Experiment 4). We found that ambiguous shapes were categorized as round (sharp) more often following the presentation of a round (sharp) nonword. This suggests that phonemes may activate related shape information which then affects the processing of shapes, and that this association emerges even when participants are not explicitly searching for it. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  2. Prime Slaughter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Valente, Andrea; Marchetti, Emanuela

    2011-01-01

    of primality and factorization into playful interactions, addressed to primary and early secondary school children. Taking into account individual needs expressed by children regarding play, during a participatory design processes aimed at enhancing learning in museums, Prime Slaughter allows for multiple......Starting from the difficulty of creating playful representation of domain-specific abstract concepts, this study discusses the design of Prime Slaughter, a computer game aimed at facilitating individual sense-making of abstract mathematical concepts. Specifically the game proposes a transposition...

  3. Immunoglobulin gene expression and regulation of rearrangement in kappa transgenic mice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ritchie, K.A.

    1986-01-01

    Transgenic mice were produced by microinjection of the functionally rearranged immunoglobulin kappa gene from the myeloma MOPC-21 into the male pronucleus of fertilized mouse eggs, and implantation of the microinjected embryos into foster mothers. Mice that integrated the injected gene were detected by hybridizing tail DNA dots with radioactively labelled pBR322 plasmid DNA, which detects pBR322 sequences left as a tag on the microinjected DNA. Mice that integrated the injected gene (six males) were mated and the DNA, RNA and serum kappa chains of their offspring were analyzed. A rabbit anti-mouse kappa chain antiserum was also produced for use in detection of mouse kappa chains on protein blots. Hybridomas were produced from the spleen cells of these kappa transgenic mice to immortalize representative B cells and to investigate expression of the transgenic kappa gene, its effect on allelic exclusion, and its effect on the control of light chain gene rearrangement and expression. The results show that the microinjected DNA is integrated as concatamers in unique single or, rarely, two separate sites in the genome. The concatamers are composed of several copies (16 to 64) of injected DNA arranged in a head to tail fashion. The transgene is expressed into protein normally and in a tissue specific fashion. For the first time in these transgenic mice, all tissues contain a functionally rearranged and potentially expressible immunoglobulin gene. The transgene is expressed only in B cells and not in hepatocytes, for example. This indicates that rearrangement of immunoglobulin genes is necessary but not sufficient for the tissue specific expression of these genes by B cells

  4. Discovery: Prime Numbers

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Mestre, Neville

    2008-01-01

    Prime numbers are important as the building blocks for the set of all natural numbers, because prime factorisation is an important and useful property of all natural numbers. Students can discover them by using the method known as the Sieve of Eratosthenes, named after the Greek geographer and astronomer who lived from c. 276-194 BC. Eratosthenes…

  5. A new structural class of proteasome inhibitors that prevent NF-kappa B activation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lum, R T; Kerwar, S S; Meyer, S M; Nelson, M G; Schow, S R; Shiffman, D; Wick, M M; Joly, A

    1998-05-01

    The multicatalytic proteinase or proteasome is a highly conserved cellular structure that is responsible for the ATP-dependent proteolysis of many proteins involved in important regulatory cellular processes. We have identified a novel class of inhibitors of the chymotrypsin-like proteolytic activity of the 20S proteasome that exhibit IC50 values ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 microgram/mL (0.1 to 1 microM). In cell proliferation assays, these compounds inhibit growth with an IC50 ranging from 5 to 10 micrograms/mL (10-20 microM). A representative member of this class of inhibitors was tested in other biological assays. CVT-634 (5-methoxy-1-indanone-3-acetyl-leu-D-leu-1-indanylamide) prevented lipopolysaccharide (LPS), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-, and phorbol ester-induced activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) in vitro by preventing signal-induced degradation of I kappa B-alpha. In these studies, the I kappa B-alpha that accumulated was hyperphosphorylated, indicating that CVT-634 did not inhibit I kappa B-alpha kinase, the enzyme responsible for signal-induced phosphorylation of I kappa B-alpha. In vivo studies indicated that CVT-634 prevented LPS-induced TNF synthesis in a murine macrophage cell line. In addition, in mice pretreated with CVT-634 at 25 and 50 mg/kg and subsequently treated with LPS, serum TNF levels were significantly lower (225 +/- 59 and 83 +/- 41 pg/mL, respectively) than in those mice that were treated only with LPS (865 +/- 282 pg/mL). These studies suggest that specific inhibition of the chymotrypsin-like activity of the proteasome is sufficient to prevent signal-induced NF-kappa B activation and that the proteasome is a novel target for the identification of agents that may be useful in the treatment of diseases whose etiology is dependent upon the activation of NF-kappa B.

  6. Nuclear factor-kappaB activation correlates with better prognosis and Akt activation in human gastric cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Byung Lan; Lee, Hye Seung; Jung, Jieun; Cho, Sung Jin; Chung, Hee-Yong; Kim, Woo Ho; Jin, Young-Woo; Kim, Chong Soon; Nam, Seon Young

    2005-04-01

    Because the biological significance of constitutive nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation in human gastric cancer is unclear, we undertook this study to clarify the regulatory mechanism of NF-kappaB activation and its clinical significance. Immunohistochemistry for NF-kappaB/RelA was done on 290 human gastric carcinoma specimens placed on tissue array slides. The correlations between NF-kappaB activation and clinicopathologic features, prognosis, Akt activation, tumor suppressor gene expression, or Bcl-2 expression were analyzed. We also did luciferase reporter assay, Western blot analysis, and reverse transcription-PCR using the SNU-216 human gastric cancer cell line transduced with retroviral vectors containing constitutively active Akt or the NF-kappaB repressor mutant of IkappaBalpha. Nuclear expression of RelA was found in 18% of the gastric carcinomas and was higher in early-stage pathologic tumor-node-metastasis (P = 0.019). A negative correlation was observed between NF-kappaB activation and lymphatic invasion (P = 0.034) and a positive correlation between NF-kappaB activation and overall survival rate of gastric cancer patients (P = 0.0228). In addition, NF-kappaB activation was positively correlated with pAkt (P = 0.047), p16 (P = 0.004), adenomatous polyposis coli (P Smad4 (P = 0.002), and kangai 1 (P Akt. NF-kappaB activation was frequently observed in early-stage gastric carcinoma and was significantly correlated with better prognosis and Akt activation. These findings suggest that NF-kappaB activation is a valuable prognostic variable in gastric carcinoma.

  7. Solar-Powered, Micron-Gap Thermophotovoltaics for MEO Applications, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed innovation is an InGaAs-based, radiation-tolerant, micron-gap thermophotovoltaic (MTPV) technology. The use of a micron wide gap between the radiation...

  8. Memory extinction entails the inhibition of the transcription factor NF-kappaB.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emiliano Merlo

    Full Text Available In contextual memories, an association between a positive or negative reinforcement and the contextual cues where the reinforcement occurs is formed. The re-exposure to the context without reinforcement can lead to memory extinction or reconsolidation, depending on the number of events or duration of a single event of context re-exposure. Extinction involves the temporary waning of the previously acquired conditioned response. The molecular processes underlying extinction and the mechanisms which determine if memory will reconsolidate or extinguish after retrieval are not well characterized, particularly the role of transcription factors and gene expression. Here we studied the participation of a transcription factor, NF-kappaB, in memory extinction. In the crab context-signal memory, the activation of NF-kappaB plays a critical role in consolidation and reconsolidation, memory processes that are well characterized in this model. The administration of a NF-kappaB inhibitor, sulfasalazine prior to extinction session impeded spontaneous recovery. Moreover, reinstatement experiments showed that the original memory was not affected and that NF-kappaB inhibition by sulfasalazine impaired spontaneous recovery strengthening the ongoing memory extinction process. Interestingly, in animals with fully consolidated memory, a brief re-exposure to the training context induced neuronal NF-kappaB activation and reconsolidation, while prolonged re-exposure induced NF-kappaB inhibition and memory extinction. These data constitutes a novel insight into the molecular mechanisms involved in the switch between memory reconsolidation and extinction. Moreover, we propose the inhibition of NF-kappaB as the engaged mechanism underlying extinction, supporting a novel approach for the pharmacological enhancement of this memory process. The accurate description of the molecular mechanisms that support memory extinction is potentially useful for developing new strategies

  9. Respiratory syncytial virus M2-1 protein induces the activation of nuclear factor kappa B

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reimers, Kerstin [Klinik fuer Plastische, Hand-und Wiederherstellungschirurgie, Podbielskistrasse 380, D-30659 Hannover (Germany); Buchholz, Katja [Institut fuer Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Otto-von-Guericke-Universitaet Magdeburg, Leipzigerstrasse 44, D-39120 Magdeburg (Germany); Werchau, Hermann [Institut fuer Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Otto-von-Guericke-Universitaet Magdeburg, Leipzigerstrasse 44, D-39120 Magdeburg (Germany)

    2005-01-20

    Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) induces the production of a number of cytokines and chemokines by activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-{kappa}B). The activation of NF-{kappa}B has been shown to depend on viral replication in the infected cells. In this study, we demonstrate that expression of RSV M2-1 protein, a transcriptional processivity and anti-termination factor, is sufficient to activate NF-{kappa}B in A549 cells. Electromobility shift assays show increased NF-{kappa}B complexes in the nuclei of M2-1-expressing cells. M2-1 protein is found in nuclei of M2-1-expressing cells and in RSV-infected cells. Co-immunoprecipitations of nuclear extracts of M2-1-expressing cells and of RSV-infected cells revealed an association of M2-1 with Rel A protein. Furthermore, the activation of NF-{kappa}B depends on the C-terminus of the RSV M2-1 protein, as shown by NF-{kappa}B-induced gene expression of a reporter gene construct.

  10. Receptor tyrosine phosphatase R-PTP-kappa mediates homophilic binding

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sap, J; Jiang, Y P; Friedlander, D

    1994-01-01

    Receptor tyrosine phosphatases (R-PTPases) feature PTPase domains in the context of a receptor-like transmembrane topology. The R-PTPase R-PTP-kappa displays an extracellular domain composed of fibronectin type III motifs, a single immunoglobulin domain, as well as a recently defined MAM domain (Y...... not require PTPase activity or posttranslational proteolytic cleavage of the R-PTP-kappa protein and is calcium independent. The results suggest that R-PTPases may provide a link between cell-cell contact and cellular signaling events involving tyrosine phosphorylation....

  11. Superficial Priming in Episodic Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dopkins, Stephen; Sargent, Jesse; Ngo, Catherine T.

    2010-01-01

    We explored the effect of superficial priming in episodic recognition and found it to be different from the effect of semantic priming in episodic recognition. Participants made recognition judgments to pairs of items, with each pair consisting of a prime item and a test item. Correct positive responses to the test item were impeded if the prime…

  12. Syntactic priming in American Sign Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Matthew L; Ferreira, Victor S; Mayberry, Rachel I

    2015-01-01

    Psycholinguistic studies of sign language processing provide valuable opportunities to assess whether language phenomena, which are primarily studied in spoken language, are fundamentally shaped by peripheral biology. For example, we know that when given a choice between two syntactically permissible ways to express the same proposition, speakers tend to choose structures that were recently used, a phenomenon known as syntactic priming. Here, we report two experiments testing syntactic priming of a noun phrase construction in American Sign Language (ASL). Experiment 1 shows that second language (L2) signers with normal hearing exhibit syntactic priming in ASL and that priming is stronger when the head noun is repeated between prime and target (the lexical boost effect). Experiment 2 shows that syntactic priming is equally strong among deaf native L1 signers, deaf late L1 learners, and hearing L2 signers. Experiment 2 also tested for, but did not find evidence of, phonological or semantic boosts to syntactic priming in ASL. These results show that despite the profound differences between spoken and signed languages in terms of how they are produced and perceived, the psychological representation of sentence structure (as assessed by syntactic priming) operates similarly in sign and speech.

  13. Repetition Priming Magnitude Depends on Affirmative Prime Responses: A Test of Two Congruity Explanations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiet, Paula; Sorensen, Linda; Mayne, Zachary; Corgiat, Damon; Woltz, Dan

    2016-01-01

    We conducted 2 experiments to evaluate the impact of positive prime responses on repetition priming effects while decoupling this impact from content congruity and specific evaluation operations. Our first experiment consisted of word-meaning comparison trials that required participants to evaluate synonyms or antonyms. A crossing of evaluation operation with semantic content allowed us to test the goal-content congruity hypothesis against the semantic congruity explanation for greater facilitation from positive response primes. Results suggested that operation-based priming is affected by goal-content congruity. A second experiment tested the observed effect of positive responses on repetition priming using mental rotation of irregular shapes, affording a test of the impact of congruity in evaluation goals and content in a nonverbal stimulus domain. Both experiments produced a pattern of results inconsistent with Schulman's (1974) semantic congruity account and instead implicated a different form of congruity that affects memory for prior operations rather than memory for semantic and episodic content.

  14. Airborne spectrophotometry of Comet Halley from 5 to 9 microns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campins, H.; Bregman, J. D.; Witteborn, F. C.; Wooden, D. H.; Rank, D. M.; Cohen, M.; Allamandola, Louis J.; Tielens, Alexander G. G. M.

    1986-01-01

    Spectrophotometry from 5 to 9 microns (resolution = 0.02) of comet Halley was obtained from the Kuiper Airborne Observatory on 1985 Dec. 12.1 and 1986 April 8.6 and 10.5 UT. Two spectral features are apparent in all the observations, one from 5.24 to 5.6 microns, and the silicate emission feature which has an onset between 7 and 8 microns. There is no evidence for the 7.5 microns feature observed by the Vega 1 spacecraft; the large difference between the areal coverage viewed from the spacecraft and the airplane may explain the discrepancy. Color temperatures significantly higher than a blackbody indicate that small particles are abundant in the coma. Significant spatial and temporal variations in the spectrum show trends similar to those observed from the ground.

  15. Identification of a novel A20-binding inhibitor of nuclear factor-kappa B activation termed ABIN-2.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Huffel, S; Delaei, F; Heyninck, K; De Valck, D; Beyaert, R

    2001-08-10

    The nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) plays a central role in the regulation of genes implicated in immune responses, inflammatory processes, and apoptotic cell death. The zinc finger protein A20 is a cellular inhibitor of NF-kappaB activation by various stimuli and plays a critical role in terminating NF-kappaB responses. The underlying mechanism for NF-kappaB inhibition by A20 is still unknown. A20 has been shown to interact with several proteins including tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factors 2 and 6, as well as the inhibitory protein of kappaB kinase (IKK) gamma protein. Here we report the cloning and characterization of ABIN-2, a previously unknown protein that binds to the COOH-terminal zinc finger domain of A20. NF-kappaB activation induced by TNF and interleukin-1 is inhibited by overexpression of ABIN-2. The latter also inhibits NF-kappaB activation induced by overexpression of receptor-interacting protein or TNF receptor-associated factor 2. In contrast, NF-kappaB activation by overexpression of IKKbeta or direct activators of the IKK complex, such as Tax, cannot be inhibited by ABIN-2. These results indicate that ABIN-2 interferes with NF-kappaB activation upstream of the IKK complex and that it might contribute to the NF-kappaB-inhibitory function of A20.

  16. Complex architecture of primes and natural numbers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    García-Pérez, Guillermo; Serrano, M Ángeles; Boguñá, Marián

    2014-08-01

    Natural numbers can be divided in two nonoverlapping infinite sets, primes and composites, with composites factorizing into primes. Despite their apparent simplicity, the elucidation of the architecture of natural numbers with primes as building blocks remains elusive. Here, we propose a new approach to decoding the architecture of natural numbers based on complex networks and stochastic processes theory. We introduce a parameter-free non-Markovian dynamical model that naturally generates random primes and their relation with composite numbers with remarkable accuracy. Our model satisfies the prime number theorem as an emerging property and a refined version of Cramér's conjecture about the statistics of gaps between consecutive primes that seems closer to reality than the original Cramér's version. Regarding composites, the model helps us to derive the prime factors counting function, giving the probability of distinct prime factors for any integer. Probabilistic models like ours can help to get deeper insights about primes and the complex architecture of natural numbers.

  17. Z(prime) Phenomenology and the LHC

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rizzo, Thomas G.

    2006-01-01

    A brief pedagogical overview of the phenomenology of Z(prime) gauge bosons is ILC in determining Z(prime) properties is also discussed. and explore in detail how the LHC may discover and help elucidate the models, review the current constraints on the possible properties of a Z(prime) nature of these new particles. We provide an overview of the Z(prime) studies presented. Such particles can arise in various electroweak extensions of that have been performed by both ATLAS and CMS. The role of the the Standard Model (SM). We provide a quick survey of a number of Z(prime)

  18. Transposed-letter priming of prelexical orthographic representations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinoshita, Sachiko; Norris, Dennis

    2009-01-01

    A prime generated by transposing two internal letters (e.g., jugde) produces strong priming of the original word (judge). In lexical decision, this transposed-letter (TL) priming effect is generally weak or absent for nonword targets; thus, it is unclear whether the origin of this effect is lexical or prelexical. The authors describe the Bayesian Reader theory of masked priming (D. Norris & S. Kinoshita, 2008), which explains why nonwords do not show priming in lexical decision but why they do in the cross-case same-different task. This analysis is followed by 3 experiments that show that priming in this task is not based on low-level perceptual similarity between the prime and target, or on phonology, to make the case that priming is based on prelexical orthographic representation. The authors then use this task to demonstrate equivalent TL priming effects for nonwords and words. The results are interpreted as the first reliable evidence based on the masked priming procedure that letter position is not coded absolutely within the prelexical, orthographic representation. The implications of the results for current letter position coding schemes are discussed.

  19. Wrath of God: religious primes and punishment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McKay, Ryan; Efferson, Charles; Whitehouse, Harvey; Fehr, Ernst

    2011-06-22

    Recent evidence indicates that priming participants with religious concepts promotes prosocial sharing behaviour. In the present study, we investigated whether religious priming also promotes the costly punishment of unfair behaviour. A total of 304 participants played a punishment game. Before the punishment stage began, participants were subliminally primed with religion primes, secular punishment primes or control primes. We found that religious primes strongly increased the costly punishment of unfair behaviours for a subset of our participants--those who had previously donated to a religious organization. We discuss two proximate mechanisms potentially underpinning this effect. The first is a 'supernatural watcher' mechanism, whereby religious participants punish unfair behaviours when primed because they sense that not doing so will enrage or disappoint an observing supernatural agent. The second is a 'behavioural priming' mechanism, whereby religious primes activate cultural norms pertaining to fairness and its enforcement and occasion behaviour consistent with those norms. We conclude that our results are consistent with dual inheritance proposals about religion and cooperation, whereby religions harness the byproducts of genetically inherited cognitive mechanisms in ways that enhance the survival prospects of their adherents.

  20. Recognizing Plant Defense Priming

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Martinez-Medina, Ainhoa; Flors, Victor; Heil, Martin; Mauch-Mani, Brigitte; Pieterse, Corné M J|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/113115113; Pozo, Maria J; Ton, Jurriaan; van Dam, Nicole M; Conrath, Uwe

    2016-01-01

    Defense priming conditions diverse plant species for the superinduction of defense, often resulting in enhanced pest and disease resistance and abiotic stress tolerance. Here, we propose a guideline that might assist the plant research community in a consistent assessment of defense priming in

  1. Recognizing plant defense priming

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Martinez-Medina, A.; Flors, V.; Heil, M.; Mauch-Mani, B.; Pieterse, C.M.J.; Pozo, M.J.; Ton, J.; Van Dam, N.M.; Conrath, U.

    2016-01-01

    Defense priming conditions diverse plant species for the superinduction of defense, often resulting in enhanced pest and disease resistance and abiotic stress tolerance. Here, we propose a guideline that might assist the plant research community in a consistent assessment of defense priming in

  2. Syntactic priming in American Sign Language.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthew L Hall

    Full Text Available Psycholinguistic studies of sign language processing provide valuable opportunities to assess whether language phenomena, which are primarily studied in spoken language, are fundamentally shaped by peripheral biology. For example, we know that when given a choice between two syntactically permissible ways to express the same proposition, speakers tend to choose structures that were recently used, a phenomenon known as syntactic priming. Here, we report two experiments testing syntactic priming of a noun phrase construction in American Sign Language (ASL. Experiment 1 shows that second language (L2 signers with normal hearing exhibit syntactic priming in ASL and that priming is stronger when the head noun is repeated between prime and target (the lexical boost effect. Experiment 2 shows that syntactic priming is equally strong among deaf native L1 signers, deaf late L1 learners, and hearing L2 signers. Experiment 2 also tested for, but did not find evidence of, phonological or semantic boosts to syntactic priming in ASL. These results show that despite the profound differences between spoken and signed languages in terms of how they are produced and perceived, the psychological representation of sentence structure (as assessed by syntactic priming operates similarly in sign and speech.

  3. Multisensory Flavor Priming

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dijksterhuis, Garmt Bernard

    2016-01-01

    with a taxonomy of different priming situations. In food-related applications of flavor, both bottom-up (sensory) as well as top-down (expectations) processes are at play. Most of the complex interactions that this leads to take place outside the awareness of the perceiving subject. A model is presented where...... many, past and current, aspects (sensory, surroundings, social, somatic, sentimental) of a (flavor) perception, together result in the perception of a flavor, its liking. or its choice. This model borrows on ideas from priming, situated/embodied cognition, and (food-related) perception.......Flavor is multisensory; several interacting sensory systems-taste, smell, and mouthfeel-together comprise "flavor," making it a cognitively constructed percept rather than a bottom-up sensory one. In this chapter, some of the complications this entails for flavor priming are introduced, along...

  4. Semantic priming, not repetition priming, is to blame for false hearing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rogers, Chad S

    2017-08-01

    Contextual and sensory information are combined in speech perception. Conflict between the two can lead to false hearing, defined as a high-confidence misidentification of a spoken word. Rogers, Jacoby, and Sommers (Psychology and Aging, 27(1), 33-45, 2012) found that older adults are more susceptible to false hearing than are young adults, using a combination of semantic priming and repetition priming to create context. In this study, the type of context (repetition vs. sematic priming) responsible for false hearing was examined. Older and young adult participants read and listened to a list of paired associates (e.g., ROW-BOAT) and were told to remember the pairs for a later memory test. Following the memory test, participants identified words masked in noise that were preceded by a cue word in the clear. Targets were semantically associated to the cue (e.g., ROW-BOAT), unrelated to the cue (e.g., JAW-PASS), or phonologically related to a semantic associate of the cue (e.g., ROW-GOAT). How often each cue word and its paired associate were presented prior to the memory test was manipulated (0, 3, or 5 times) to test effects of repetition priming. Results showed repetitions had no effect on rates of context-based listening or false hearing. However, repetition did significantly increase sensory information as a basis for metacognitive judgments in young and older adults. This pattern suggests that semantic priming dominates as the basis for false hearing and highlights context and sensory information operating as qualitatively different bases for listening and metacognition.

  5. Modified Multi Prime RSA Cryptosystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghazali Kamardan, M.; Aminudin, N.; Che-Him, Norziha; Sufahani, Suliadi; Khalid, Kamil; Roslan, Rozaini

    2018-04-01

    RSA [1] is one of the mostly used cryptosystem in securing data and information. Though, it has been recently discovered that RSA has some weaknesses and in advance technology, RSA is believed to be inefficient especially when it comes to decryption. Thus, a new algorithm called Multi prime RSA, an extended version of the standard RSA is studied. Then, a modification is made to the Multi prime RSA where another keys is shared secretly between the receiver and the sender to increase the securerity. As in RSA, the methodology used for modified Multi-prime RSA also consists of three phases; 1. Key Generation in which the secret and public keys are generated and published. In this phase, the secrecy is improved by adding more prime numbers and addition of secret keys. 2. Encryption of the message using the public and secret keys given. 3. Decryption of the secret message using the secret key generated. For the decryption phase, a method called Chinese Remainder Theorem is used which helps to fasten the computation. Since Multi prime RSA use more than two prime numbers, the algorithm is more efficient and secure when compared to the standard RSA. Furthermore, in modified Multi prime RSA another secret key is introduced to increase the obstacle to the attacker. Therefore, it is strongly believed that this new algorithm is better and can be an alternative to the RSA.

  6. The pros and cons of masked priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forster, K I

    1998-03-01

    Masked priming paradigms offer the promise of tapping automatic, strategy-free lexical processing, as evidenced by the lack of expectancy disconfirmation effects, and proportionality effects in semantic priming experiments. But several recent findings suggest the effects may be prelexical. These findings concern nonword priming effects in lexical decision and naming, the effects of mixed-case presentation on nonword priming, and the dependence of priming on the nature of the distractors in lexical decision, suggesting possible strategy effects. The theory underlying each of these effects is discussed, and alternative explanations are developed that do not preclude a lexical basis for masked priming effects.

  7. Macromolecular complexes of lysozyme with kappa carrageenan

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Antonov, Y.A.; Zhuravleva, I.L.; Cardinaels, R.; Moldenaers, P.

    2018-01-01

    We present a structural study of the complexation and binding of lysozyme (Lys) with kappa carrageenan (kCG) by means of turbidity measurements, phase analysis, dynamic and electrophoretic light scattering, differential scanning microcalorimetry (DSMC), confocal laser scanning (CLSM) microscopy,

  8. Priming Ability Emotional Intelligence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schutte, Nicola S.; Malouff, John M.

    2012-01-01

    Two studies examined whether priming self-schemas relating to successful emotional competency results in better emotional intelligence performance. In the first study participants were randomly assigned to a successful emotional competency self-schema prime condition or a control condition and then completed an ability measure of emotional…

  9. A new gene in A. rubens: A sea star Ig kappa gene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vincent, Nadine; Osteras, Magne; Otten, Patricia; Leclerc, Michel

    2014-12-01

    The sea star Asterias rubens reacts specifically to the antigen:HRP (horse-radish peroxydase) and produces an antibody anti-HRP. We previously identified a candidate Ig kappa gene corresponding to this manuscript. We show now the gene referred to as: "sea star Ig kappa gene in its specificity".

  10. Gnotobiotic IL-10; NF-kappaB mice develop rapid and severe colitis following Campylobacter jejuni infection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisabeth Lippert

    2009-10-01

    Full Text Available Limited information is available on the molecular mechanisms associated with Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni induced food-borne diarrheal illnesses. In this study, we investigated the function of TLR/NF-kappaB signaling in C. jejuni induced pathogenesis using gnotobiotic IL-10(-/-; NF-kappaB(EGFP mice. In vitro analysis showed that C. jejuni induced IkappaB phosphorylation, followed by enhanced NF-kappaB transcriptional activity and increased IL-6, MIP-2alpha and NOD2 mRNA accumulation in infected-mouse colonic epithelial cells CMT93. Importantly, these events were blocked by molecular delivery of an IkappaB inhibitor (Ad5IkappaBAA. NF-kappaB signalling was also important for C.jejuni-induced cytokine gene expression in bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. Importantly, C. jejuni associated IL-10(-/-; NF-kappaB(EGFP mice developed mild (day 5 and severe (day 14 ulcerating colonic inflammation and bloody diarrhea as assessed by colonoscopy and histological analysis. Macroscopic analysis showed elevated EGFP expression indicating NF-kappaB activation throughout the colon of C. jejuni associated IL-10(-/-; NF-kappaB(EGFP mice, while fluorescence microscopy revealed EGFP positive cells to be exclusively located in lamina propria mononuclear cells. Pharmacological NF-kappaB inhibition using Bay 11-7085 did not ameliorate C. jejuni induced colonic inflammation. Our findings indicate that C. jejuni induces rapid and severe intestinal inflammation in a susceptible host that correlates with enhanced NF-kappaB activity from lamina propria immune cells.

  11. Psychotherapy augmentation through preconscious priming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Francois eBorgeat

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To test the hypothesis that repeated preconscious (masked priming of personalized positive cognitions could augment cognitive change and facilitate achievement of patients’ goals following a therapy.Methods: Twenty social phobic patients (13 women completed a 36 weeks study beginning by 12 weeks of group behavioural therapy. After the therapy, they received 6 weeks of preconscious priming and 6 weeks of a control procedure in a randomized cross-over design. The Priming condition involved listening twice daily with a passive attitude to a recording of individualized formulations of appropriate cognitions and attitudes masked by music. The Control condition involved listening to an indistinguishable recording where the formulations had been replaced by random numbers. Changes in social cognitions were measured by the Social Interaction Self Statements Test (SISST.Results: Patients improved following therapy. The Priming procedure was associated with increased positive cognitions and decreased negative cognitions on the SISST while the Control procedure was not. The Priming procedure induced more cognitive change when applied immediately after the group therapy. Conclusion: An effect of priming was observed on social phobia related cognitions in the expected direction. This self administered addition to a therapy could be seen as an augmentation strategy.

  12. Prime time news: the influence of primed positive and negative emotion on susceptibility to false memories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porter, Stephen; ten Brinke, Leanne; Riley, Sean N; Baker, Alysha

    2014-01-01

    We examined the relation between emotion and susceptibility to misinformation using a novel paradigm, the ambiguous stimuli affective priming (ASAP) paradigm. Participants (N = 88) viewed ambiguous neutral images primed either at encoding or retrieval to be interpreted as either highly positive or negative (or neutral/not primed). After viewing the images, they either were asked misleading or non-leading questions. Following a delay, memory accuracy for the original images was assessed. Results indicated that any emotional priming at encoding led to a higher susceptibility to misinformation relative to priming at recall. In particular, inducing a negative interpretation of the image at encoding led to an increased susceptibility of false memories for major misinformation (an entire object not actually present in the scene). In contrast, this pattern was reversed when priming was used at recall; a negative reinterpretation of the image decreased memory distortion relative to unprimed images. These findings suggest that, with precise experimental control, the experience of emotion at event encoding, in particular, is implicated in false memory susceptibility.

  13. Expression of a truncated receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase kappa in the brain of an adult transgenic mouse

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shen, P; Canoll, P D; Sap, J

    1999-01-01

    processes such as axonal growth and target recognition, as has been demonstrated for certain Drosophila RPTPs. The brain distribution of RPTP-kappa-expressing cells has not been determined, however. In a gene-trap mouse model with a beta-gal+neo (beta-geo) insertion in the endogenous RPTP-kappa gene......-6596]. Nevertheless, since the transgene's expression is driven by the endogenous RPTP-kappa promoter, distribution of the truncated RPTP-kappa/beta-geo fusion protein should reflect the regional and cellular expression of wild-type RPTP-kappa, and thus may identify sites where RPTP-kappa is important. Towards...... that goal, we have used this mouse model to map the distribution of the truncated RPTP-kappa/beta-geo fusion protein in the adult mouse brain using beta-galactosidase as a marker enzyme. Visualization of the beta-galactosidase activity revealed a non-random pattern of expression, and identified cells...

  14. Space-Valence Priming with Subliminal and Supraliminal Words

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ulrich eAnsorge

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available To date it is unclear whether (1 awareness-independent non-evaluative semantic processes influence affective semantics and whether (2 awareness-independent affective semantics influence non-evaluative semantic processing. In the current study, we investigated these questions with the help of subliminal (masked primes and visible targets in a space-valence across-category congruence effect. In line with (1, we found that subliminal space prime words influenced valence classification of supraliminal target words (Experiment 1: Classifications were faster with a congruent prime (e.g., the prime ‘up’ before the target ‘happy’ than with an incongruent prime (e.g., the prime ‘up’ before the target ‘sad’. In contrast to (2, no influence of subliminal valence primes on the classification of supraliminal space targets into up- and down-words was found (Experiment 2. Control conditions showed that standard masked response-priming effects were found with both subliminal prime types, and that an across-category congruence effect was also found with supraliminal valence primes and spatial target words. The final Experiment 3 confirmed that the across-category congruence effect indeed reflected priming of target categorization of a relevant meaning category. Together, the data jointly confirmed prediction (1 that awareness-independent non-evaluative semantic priming influences valence judgments.

  15. Human placenta: relative content of antibodies of different classes and subclasses (IgG1-IgG4) containing lambda- and kappa-light chains and chimeric lambda-kappa-immunoglobulins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lekchnov, Evgenii A; Sedykh, Sergey E; Dmitrenok, Pavel S; Buneva, Valentina N; Nevinsky, Georgy A

    2015-06-01

    The specific organ placenta is much more than a filter: it is an organ that protects, feeds and regulates the growth of the embryo. Affinity chromatography, ELISA, SDS-PAGE and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry were used. Using 10 intact human placentas deprived of blood, a quantitative analysis of average relative content [% of total immunoglobulins (Igs)] was carried out for the first time: (92.7), IgA (2.4), IgM (2.5), kappa-antibodies (51.4), lambda-antibodies (48.6), IgG1 (47.0), IgG2 (39.5), IgG3 (8.8) and IgG4 (4.3). It was shown for the first time that placenta contains sIgA (2.5%). In the classic paradigm, Igs represent products of clonal B-cell populations, each producing antibodies recognizing a single antigen. There is a common belief that IgGs in mammalian biological fluids are monovalent molecules having stable structures and two identical antigen-binding sites. However, similarly to human milk Igs, placenta antibodies undergo extensive half-molecule exchange and the IgG pool consists of 43.5 ± 15.0% kappa-kappa-IgGs and 41.6 ± 17.0% lambda-lambda-IgGs, while 15.0 ± 4.0% of the IgGs contained both kappa- and lambda-light chains. Kappa-kappa-IgGs and lambda-lambda-IgGs contained, respectively (%): IgG1 (47.7 and 34.4), IgG2 (36.3 and 44.5), IgG3 (7.4 and 11.8) and IgG4 (7.5 and 9.1), while chimeric kappa-lambda-IgGs consisted of (%): 43.5 IgG1, 41.0 IgG2, 5.6 IgG3 and 7.9 IgG4. Our data are indicative of the possibility of half-molecule exchange between placenta IgGs of various subclasses, raised against different antigens, which explains a very well-known polyspecificity and cross-reactivity of different human IgGs. © The Japanese Society for Immunology. 2015. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  16. Balloon observations of galactic and extragalactic objects at 100 microns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoffmann, W. F.

    1972-01-01

    Recent far-infrared balloon-borne instruments have yielded observations of a number of bright sources at 100 microns. Many of these coincide with HII regions where molecular line emision has been detected. There is some indication of 100 micron emission which does not coincide with radio measurements.

  17. DMPD: New insights into NF-kappaB regulation and function. [Dynamic Macrophage Pathway CSML Database

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available 18775672 New insights into NF-kappaB regulation and function. Sun SC, Ley SC. Trend...ction. PubmedID 18775672 Title New insights into NF-kappaB regulation and function....s Immunol. 2008 Oct;29(10):469-78. Epub 2008 Sep 3. (.png) (.svg) (.html) (.csml) Show New insights into NF-kappaB regulation and fun

  18. Building Numbers from Primes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burkhart, Jerry

    2009-01-01

    Prime numbers are often described as the "building blocks" of natural numbers. This article shows how the author and his students took this idea literally by using prime factorizations to build numbers with blocks. In this activity, students explore many concepts of number theory, including the relationship between greatest common factors and…

  19. Recognizing Plant Defense Priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinez-Medina, Ainhoa; Flors, Victor; Heil, Martin; Mauch-Mani, Brigitte; Pieterse, Corné M J; Pozo, Maria J; Ton, Jurriaan; van Dam, Nicole M; Conrath, Uwe

    2016-10-01

    Defense priming conditions diverse plant species for the superinduction of defense, often resulting in enhanced pest and disease resistance and abiotic stress tolerance. Here, we propose a guideline that might assist the plant research community in a consistent assessment of defense priming in plants. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. The structure factor of primes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, G.; Martelli, F.; Torquato, S.

    2018-03-01

    Although the prime numbers are deterministic, they can be viewed, by some measures, as pseudo-random numbers. In this article, we numerically study the pair statistics of the primes using statistical-mechanical methods, particularly the structure factor S(k) in an interval M ≤slant p ≤slant M + L with M large, and L/M smaller than unity. We show that the structure factor of the prime-number configurations in such intervals exhibits well-defined Bragg-like peaks along with a small ‘diffuse’ contribution. This indicates that primes are appreciably more correlated and ordered than previously thought. Our numerical results definitively suggest an explicit formula for the locations and heights of the peaks. This formula predicts infinitely many peaks in any non-zero interval, similar to the behavior of quasicrystals. However, primes differ from quasicrystals in that the ratio between the location of any two predicted peaks is rational. We also show numerically that the diffuse part decays slowly as M and L increases. This suggests that the diffuse part vanishes in an appropriate infinite-system-size limit.

  1. DMPD: Ubiquitin: tool and target for intracellular NF-kappaB inhibitors. [Dynamic Macrophage Pathway CSML Database

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available 16982211 Ubiquitin: tool and target for intracellular NF-kappaB inhibitors. Wullaer...vg) (.html) (.csml) Show Ubiquitin: tool and target for intracellular NF-kappaB inhibitors. PubmedID 1698221...1 Title Ubiquitin: tool and target for intracellular NF-kappaB inhibitors. Author

  2. Bench-scale testing of a micronized magnetite, fine-coal cleaning process

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Suardini, P.J. [Custom Coals, International, Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

    1995-11-01

    Custom Coals, International has installed and is presently testing a 500 lb/hr. micronized-magnetite, fine-coal cleaning circuit at PETC`s Process Research Facility (PRF). The cost-shared project was awarded as part of the Coal Preparation Program`s, High Efficiency Preparation Subprogram. The project includes design, construction, testing, and decommissioning of a fully-integrated, bench-scale circuit, complete with feed coal classification to remove the minus 30 micron slimes, dense medium cycloning of the 300 by 30 micron feed coal using a nominal minus 10 micron size magnetite medium, and medium recovery using drain and rinse screens and various stages and types of magnetic separators. This paper describes the project circuit and goals, including a description of the current project status and the sources of coal and magnetite which are being tested.

  3. PrimeFaces beginner's guide

    CERN Document Server

    Reddy, K Siva Prasad

    2013-01-01

    A guide for beginner's with step-by-step instructions and an easy-to-follow approach.PrimeFaces Beginners Guide is a simple and effective guide for beginners, wanting to learn and implement PrimeFaces in their JSF-based applications. Some basic JSF and jQuery skills are required before you start working through the book.

  4. 8- to 13-micron spectrophotometry of Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feierberg, M. A.; Witteborn, F. C.; Johnson, J. R.; Campins, H.

    1984-01-01

    Spectrophotometry between 8.0 and 13.0 microns at 2 percent spectral resolution is presented for areas in and near the nuclear condensation of Comet IRAS-Araki-Alcock (1983d) on May 11 and 12, 1983. All the spectra can be fit very well by blackbody curves, and no 10-micron silicate emissions are seen. The temperature structure of the coma suggests the presence of small (radii less than 5 microns) dust particles within 150 km of the nucleus and larger ones further out. The change in the spatial distribution of the infrared flux between the two nights suggests that an outburst may have occurred sometime on May 11.

  5. Semantic priming without association: a meta-analytic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, M

    2000-12-01

    A meta-analysis of 26 studies indicated that automatic semantic priming can occur without association. Priming did not vary substantially with differences in variables that affect automatic versus strategic processing, such as time spent processing the prime and target, relationship proportion, and task (except that average effects were smaller in the naming task). Although category coordinates were investigated in the majority of studies, synonyms, antonyms, and script relations also demonstrated priming; functional relations showed greater priming, and essential and perceptual relations showed less. The average effect size for semantic priming was smaller than that for associative priming, suggesting that there is an "associative boost" from adding an associative relationship to a semantic one. The implications of these findings for the modularity thesis and for models of semantic priming are discussed.

  6. Expression of a truncated receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase kappa in the brain of an adult transgenic mouse

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shen, P; Canoll, P D; Sap, J

    1999-01-01

    that goal, we have used this mouse model to map the distribution of the truncated RPTP-kappa/beta-geo fusion protein in the adult mouse brain using beta-galactosidase as a marker enzyme. Visualization of the beta-galactosidase activity revealed a non-random pattern of expression, and identified cells......-6596]. Nevertheless, since the transgene's expression is driven by the endogenous RPTP-kappa promoter, distribution of the truncated RPTP-kappa/beta-geo fusion protein should reflect the regional and cellular expression of wild-type RPTP-kappa, and thus may identify sites where RPTP-kappa is important. Towards...

  7. Spectroscopy of the fractional vortex eigenfrequency in a long Josephson 0-{kappa} junction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buckenmaier, K.; Gaber, T.; Schittenhelm, I.; Kleiner, R.; Koelle, D.; Goldobin, E. [Physikalisches Inst., Experimentalphysik II, Univ. Tuebingen (Germany); Siegel, M. [Univ. Karlsruhe (Germany). Inst. fuer Mikro- und Nanoelektronische Systeme

    2007-07-01

    In long Josephson junctions with a {kappa}-phase discontinuity, created by two current injectors, a fractional Josephson vortex (FJV) is spontaneously formed at the interface between the 0- and {kappa}-part. A FJV carries an arbitrary fraction {phi}/{phi}{sub 0}={kappa}/2{pi} of the magnetic flux quantum {phi}{sub 0}{approx}2.07 x 10{sup -15} Wb. In contrast to fluxons, FJVs are pinned at the discontinuity point, but in underdamped systems they are able to oscillate around their equilibrium point with characteristic eigenfrequencies. To experimentally determine the eigenfrequency we stimulated a FJV by irradiating our sample with microwaves. At resonance the junction switches to the resistive state. A measurement of the switching probability thus allows to determine the FJV eigenfrequency as a function of bias current and {kappa}. We compare our results with the prediction of the perturbed sine-Gordon equation. (orig.)

  8. Colloidal gas-liquid condensation of polystyrene latex particles with intermediate kappa a values (5 to 160, a > kappa(-1)).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ishikawa, Masamichi; Kitano, Ryota

    2010-02-16

    Polystyrene latex particles showed gas-liquid condensation under the conditions of large particle radius (a > kappa(-1)) and intermediate kappa a, where kappa is the Debye-Hückel parameter and a is the particle radius. The particles were dissolved in deionized water containing ethanol from 0 to 77 vol %, settled to the bottom of the glass plate within 1 h, and then laterally moved toward the center of a cell over a 20 h period in reaching a state of equilibrium condensation. All of the suspensions that were 1 and 3 microm in diameter and 0.01-0.20 vol % in concentration realized similar gas-liquid condensation with clear gas-liquid boundaries. In 50 vol % ethanol solvent, additional ethanol was added to enhance the sedimentation force so as to restrict the particles in a monoparticle layer thickness. The coexistence of gas-liquid-solid (crystalline solid) was microscopically recognized from the periphery to the center of the condensates. A phase diagram of the gas-liquid condensation was created as a function of KCl concentration at a particle diameter of 3 microm, 0.10 vol % concentration, and 50:50 water/ethanol solvent at room temperature. The miscibility gap was observed in the concentration range from 1 to 250 microM. There was an upper limit of salt concentration where the phase separation disappeared, showing nearly critical behavior of macroscopic density fluctuation from 250 microM to 1 mM. These results add new experimental evidence to the existence of colloidal gas-liquid condensation and specify conditions of like-charge attraction between particles.

  9. A note on the kappa statistic for clustered dichotomous data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Ming; Yang, Zhao

    2014-06-30

    The kappa statistic is widely used to assess the agreement between two raters. Motivated by a simulation-based cluster bootstrap method to calculate the variance of the kappa statistic for clustered physician-patients dichotomous data, we investigate its special correlation structure and develop a new simple and efficient data generation algorithm. For the clustered physician-patients dichotomous data, based on the delta method and its special covariance structure, we propose a semi-parametric variance estimator for the kappa statistic. An extensive Monte Carlo simulation study is performed to evaluate the performance of the new proposal and five existing methods with respect to the empirical coverage probability, root-mean-square error, and average width of the 95% confidence interval for the kappa statistic. The variance estimator ignoring the dependence within a cluster is generally inappropriate, and the variance estimators from the new proposal, bootstrap-based methods, and the sampling-based delta method perform reasonably well for at least a moderately large number of clusters (e.g., the number of clusters K ⩾50). The new proposal and sampling-based delta method provide convenient tools for efficient computations and non-simulation-based alternatives to the existing bootstrap-based methods. Moreover, the new proposal has acceptable performance even when the number of clusters is as small as K = 25. To illustrate the practical application of all the methods, one psychiatric research data and two simulated clustered physician-patients dichotomous data are analyzed. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  10. Molecular cloning and expression of bovine kappa-casein in Escherichia coli

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Y.C.; Richardson, T.

    1988-01-01

    A cDNA library was constructed using poly(A) + RNA from bovine mammary gland. This cDNA library of 6000 clones was screened employing colony hybridization using 32 P-labelled oligonucleotide probes and restriction endonuclease mapping. The cDNA from the selected plasmid, pKR76, was sequenced using the dideoxy-chain termination method. The cDNA insert of pKR76 carries the full-length sequence, which codes for mature kappa-casein protein. The amino acid sequence deduced from the cDNA sequence fits the published amino acid sequence with three exceptions; the reported pyroglutamic acid at position 1, tyrosine at position 35, and aspartic acid at position 81 are, respectively, a glutamine, a histidine, and an asparagine in the clone containing pKR76. The MspI-, NlaIV-cleaved fragment (630 base pair) from the kappa-casein cDNA insert has been subcloned into expression vectors pUC18 and pKK233-2, which contain a lac promoter and a trc promoter, respectively. Escherichia coli cells carrying the recombinant expression plasmids were shown to produce kappa-casein protein having the expected mobility on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and being recognized by specific antibodies raised against natural bovine kappa-casein

  11. Priming methods in semantics and pragmatics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maldonado, Mora; Spector, Benjamin; Chemla, Emmanuel

    2017-01-01

    Structural priming is a powerful method to inform linguistic theories. We argue that this method extends nicely beyond syntax to theories of meaning. Priming, however, should still be seen as only one of the tools available for linguistic data collection. Specifically, because priming can occur at different, potentially conflicting levels, it cannot detect every aspect of linguistic representations.

  12. New spectrometric measurement of atmospheric 60 micron emission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grossmann, K.U.; Barthol, P.; Frings, W.; Hennig, R.; Offermann, D.

    1982-01-01

    Absolute zenith intensities of the atomic oxygen fine structure emission at 63 microns measured above Kiruna, Sweden, on December 9, 1981, in the altitude range of 85 km to 237 km are discussed. The data obtained are compared with theoretical predictions for this emission. For the model intensity calculations, both local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) and non-LTE conditions are assumed. The significance of the 63-micron emission as a cooling mechanism of the thermosphere is briefly discussed. It is noted that the geomagnetic field before and during the flight was very quiet

  13. Significant differences in physicochemical properties of human immunoglobulin kappa and lambda CDR3 regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine L Townsend

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Antibody variable regions are composed of a heavy and a light chain and in humans there are two light chain isotypes: kappa and lambda. Despite their importance in receptor editing, the light chain is often overlooked in the antibody literature, with the focus being on the heavy chain CDR-H3 region. In this paper, we set out to investigate the physicochemical and structural differences between human kappa and lambda light chain CDR regions. We constructed a dataset containing over 29,000 - light chain variable region sequences from IgM-transcribing, newly formed B cells isolated from human bone marrow and peripheral blood. We also used a published human naïve dataset to investigate the CDR-H3 properties of heavy chains paired with kappa and lambda light chains, and probed the Protein Data Bank (PDB to investigate the structural differences between kappa and lambda antibody CDR regions. We found that kappa and lambda light chains have very different CDR physicochemical and structural properties, whereas the heavy chains with which they are paired do not differ significantly. We also observed that the mean CDR3 N nucleotide addition in the kappa, lambda and heavy chain gene rearrangements are correlated within donors, but can differ between donors. This indicates that TdT may work with differing efficiencies between different people, but the same efficiency in the different classes of immunoglobulin chain within one person. We have observed large differences in the physicochemical and structural properties of kappa and lambda light chain CDR regions. This may reflect different roles in the humoral immune response.

  14. Significant Differences in Physicochemical Properties of Human Immunoglobulin Kappa and Lambda CDR3 Regions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Townsend, Catherine L; Laffy, Julie M J; Wu, Yu-Chang Bryan; Silva O'Hare, Joselli; Martin, Victoria; Kipling, David; Fraternali, Franca; Dunn-Walters, Deborah K

    2016-01-01

    Antibody variable regions are composed of a heavy and a light chain, and in humans, there are two light chain isotypes: kappa and lambda. Despite their importance in receptor editing, the light chain is often overlooked in the antibody literature, with the focus being on the heavy chain complementarity-determining region (CDR)-H3 region. In this paper, we set out to investigate the physicochemical and structural differences between human kappa and lambda light chain CDR regions. We constructed a dataset containing over 29,000 light chain variable region sequences from IgM-transcribing, newly formed B cells isolated from human bone marrow and peripheral blood. We also used a published human naïve dataset to investigate the CDR-H3 properties of heavy chains paired with kappa and lambda light chains and probed the Protein Data Bank to investigate the structural differences between kappa and lambda antibody CDR regions. We found that kappa and lambda light chains have very different CDR physicochemical and structural properties, whereas the heavy chains with which they are paired do not differ significantly. We also observed that the mean CDR3 N nucleotide addition in the kappa, lambda, and heavy chain gene rearrangements are correlated within donors but can differ between donors. This indicates that terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase may work with differing efficiencies between different people but the same efficiency in the different classes of immunoglobulin chain within one person. We have observed large differences in the physicochemical and structural properties of kappa and lambda light chain CDR regions. This may reflect different roles in the humoral immune response.

  15. Method for rapidly determining a pulp kappa number using spectrophotometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chai, Xin-Sheng; Zhu, Jun Yong

    2002-01-01

    A system and method for rapidly determining the pulp kappa number through direct measurement of the potassium permanganate concentration in a pulp-permanganate solution using spectrophotometry. Specifically, the present invention uses strong acidification to carry out the pulp-permanganate oxidation reaction in the pulp-permanganate solution to prevent the precipitation of manganese dioxide (MnO.sub.2). Consequently, spectral interference from the precipitated MnO.sub.2 is eliminated and the oxidation reaction becomes dominant. The spectral intensity of the oxidation reaction is then analyzed to determine the pulp kappa number.

  16. [{sup 11}C]-MeJDTic: a novel radioligand for {kappa}-opioid receptor positron emission tomography imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Poisnel, Geraldine; Oueslati, Farhana; Dhilly, Martine; Delamare, Jerome [Groupe de Developpements Methodologiques en Tomographie par Emission de Positons, DSV/DRM UMR CEA 2E, Universite de Caen-Basse Normandie, Centre Cyceron, 14074 Caen Cedex (France); Perrio, Cecile [Groupe de Developpements Methodologiques en Tomographie par Emission de Positons, DSV/DRM UMR CEA 2E, Universite de Caen-Basse Normandie, Centre Cyceron, 14074 Caen Cedex (France)], E-mail: perrio@cyceron.fr; Debruyne, Daniele [Groupe de Developpements Methodologiques en Tomographie par Emission de Positons, DSV/DRM UMR CEA 2E, Universite de Caen-Basse Normandie, Centre Cyceron, 14074 Caen Cedex (France)], E-mail: debruyne@cyceron.fr; Barre, Louisa [Groupe de Developpements Methodologiques en Tomographie par Emission de Positons, DSV/DRM UMR CEA 2E, Universite de Caen-Basse Normandie, Centre Cyceron, 14074 Caen Cedex (France)

    2008-07-15

    Introduction: Radiopharmaceuticals that can bind selectively the {kappa}-opioid receptor may present opportunities for staging clinical brain disorders and evaluating the efficiency of new therapies related to stroke, neurodegenerative diseases or opiate addiction. The N-methylated derivative of JDTic (named MeJDTic), which has been recently described as a potent and selective antagonist of {kappa}-opioid receptor in vitro, was labeled with carbon-11 and evaluated for in vivo imaging the {kappa}-opioid receptor in mice. Methods: [{sup 11}C]-MeJDTic was prepared by methylation of JDTic with [{sup 11}C]-methyl triflate. The binding of [{sup 11}C]-MeJDTic to {kappa}-opioid receptor was investigated ex vivo by biodistribution and competition studies using nonfasted male CD1 mice. Results: [{sup 11}C]-MeJDTic exhibited a high and rapid distribution in peripheral organs. The uptake was maximal in lung where the {kappa} receptor is largely expressed. [{sup 11}C]-MeJDTic rapidly crossed the blood-brain barrier and accumulated in the brain regions of interest (hypothalamus). The parent ligand remained the major radioactive compound in brain during the experiment. Chase studies with U50,488 (a {kappa} referring agonist), morphine (a {mu} agonist) and naltrindole (a {delta} antagonist) demonstrated that this uptake was the result of specific binding to the {kappa}-opioid receptor. Conclusion: These findings suggested that [{sup 11}C]-MeJDTic appeared to be a promising selective 'lead' radioligand for {kappa}-opioid receptor PET imaging.

  17. Persistent activation of NF-kappaB related to IkappaB's degradation profiles during early chemical hepatocarcinogenesis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    García-Román Rebeca

    2007-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background To define the NF-kappaB activation in early stages of hepatocarcinogenesis and its IkappaB's degradation profiles in comparison to sole liver regeneration. Methods Western-blot and EMSA analyses were performed for the NF-kappaB activation. The transcriptional activity of NF-kappaB was determined by RT-PCR of the IkappaB-α mRNA. The IkappaB's degradation proteins were determined by Western-blot assay. Results We demonstrated the persistent activation of NF-kappaB during early stages of hepatocarcinogenesis, which reached maximal level 30 min after partial hepatectomy. The DNA binding and transcriptional activity of NF-kappaB, were sustained during early steps of hepatocarcinogenesis in comparison to only partial hepatectomy, which displayed a transitory NF-kappaB activation. In early stages of hepatocarconogenesis, the IkappaB-α degradation turned out to be acute and transitory, but the low levels of IkappaB-β persisted even 15 days after partial hepatectomy. Interestingly, IkappaB-β degradation is not induced after sole partial hepatectomy. Conclusion We propose that during liver regeneration, the transitory stimulation of the transcription factor response, assures blockade of NF-kappaB until recovery of the total mass of the liver and the persistent NF-kappaB activation in early hepatocarcinogenesis may be due to IkappaB-β and IkappaB-α degradation, mainly IkappaB-β degradation, which contributes to gene transcription related to proliferation required for neoplasic progression.

  18. Removal of Thin Cirrus Path Radiances in the 0.4-1.0 micron Spectral Region Using the 1.375-micron Strong Water Vapor Absorption Channel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Bo-Cai; Kaufman, Yoram J.; Han, Wei; Wiscombe, Warren J.

    1998-01-01

    Through analysis of spectral imaging data acquired with the Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) from an ER-2 aircraft at 20 km altitude during several field programs, it was found that narrow channels near the center of the strong 1.38-micron water vapor band are very sensitive in detecting thin cirrus clouds. Based on this observation from AVIRIS data, a channel centered at 1.375 microns with a width of 30 nm was selected for the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) for remote sensing of cirrus clouds from space. The sensitivity of the 1.375-micron MODIS channel to detect thin cirrus clouds during the day time is expected to be one to two orders of magnitude better than the current infrared emission techniques. As a result, a larger fraction of the satellite data will likely be identified as containing cirrus clouds. In order to make better studies of surface reflectance properties, thin cirrus effects must be removed from satellite images. We have developed an empirical approach for removing/correcting thin cirrus effects in the 0.4 - 1.0 micron region using channels near 1.375 microns. This algorithm will be incorporated into the present MODIS atmospheric correction algorithms for ocean color and land applications and will yield improved MODIS atmospheric aerosol, land surface, and ocean color products.

  19. Regulation of development and function of different T cell subtypes by Rel/NF-{kappa}B family members

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vallabhapurapu, S.

    2004-09-01

    This study reveals the requirement of distinct members of the Rel/NF-{kappa}B family in both hematopoietic and non-hematopoietic cells for the development of thymic NKT cells. Activation of NF-{kappa}B via the classical I{kappa}B{alpha}-regulated pathway is required within the NKT precursors for their efficient maturation from NK1.1{sup -} precursors to mature NK1.1{sup +} NKT cells. The Rel/NF-{kappa}B family member RelB, on the other hand, is required in thymic stromal cells for the generation of very early NK1.1{sup -} precursors. NF-{kappa}B-inducing kinase (NIK) has also been shown to be required in thymic stromal cells for NKT cell development and this study demonstrates that NIK specifically regulates both constitutive and signal-induced DNA binding of RelB, but not RelA. Moreover, NIK-induced DNA binding of RelB depends on the processing of inhibitory p100 to p52, revealing an alternate pathway of NF-{kappa}B induction. Thus, Rel/NF-{kappa}B complexes activated by the classical I{kappa}B{alpha}-regulated pathway in NKT precursors and an alternate NIK/p100/RelB pathway in thymic stromal cells regulate different stages of NKT cell development. (orig.)

  20. Variability of Jupiter's Five-Micron Hot Spot Inventory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yanamandra-Fisher, Padma A.; Orton, G. S.; Wakefield, L.; Rogers, J. H.; Simon-Miller, A. A.; Boydstun, K.

    2012-01-01

    Global upheavals on Jupiter involve changes in the albedo of entire axisymmetric regions, lasting several years, with the last two occurring in 1989 and 2006. Against this backdrop of planetary-scale changes, discrete features such as the Great Red Spot (GRS), and other vortices exhibit changes on shorter spatial- and time-scales. We track the variability of the discrete equatorial 5-micron hot spots, semi-evenly spaced in longitude and confined to a narrow latitude band centered at 6.5degN (southern edge of the North Equatorial Belt, NEB), abundant in Voyager images. Tantalizingly similar patterns were observed in the visible (bright plumes and blue-gray regions), where reflectivity in the red is anti-correlated with 5-microns thermal radiance. Ortiz et al. (1998, GRL, 103) characterized the latitude and drift rates of the hot spots, including the descent of the Galileo probe at the southern edge of a 5-micron hot spot, as the superposition of equatorial Rossby waves, with phase speeds between 99 - 103m/s, relative to System III. We note that the high 5-micron radiances correlate well but not perfectly with high 8.57-micron radiances. Because the latter are modulated primarily by changes in the upper ammonia (NH3) ice cloud opacity, this correlation implies that changes in the ammonia ice cloud field may be responsible for the variability seen in the 5-m maps. During the NEB fade (2011 - early 2012), however, these otherwise ubiquitous features were absent, an atmospheric state not seen in decades. The ongoing NEB revival indicates nascent 5-m hot spots as early as April 2012, with corresponding visible dark spots. Their continuing growth through July 2012 indicates the possit.le re-establishment of Rossby waves. The South Equatorial Belt (SEB) and NEB revivals began similarly with an instability that developed into a major outbreak, and many similarities in the observed propagation of clear regions.

  1. Structural priming, action planning, and grammar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacDonald, Maryellen C; Weiss, Daniel J

    2017-01-01

    Structural priming is poorly understood and cannot inform accounts of grammar for two reasons. First, those who view performance as grammar + processing will always be able to attribute psycholinguistic data to processing rather than grammar. Second, structural priming may be simply an example of hysteresis effects in general action planning. If so, then priming offers no special insight into grammar.

  2. The priming of basic combinatory responses in MEG.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanco-Elorrieta, Esti; Ferreira, Victor S; Del Prato, Paul; Pylkkänen, Liina

    2018-01-01

    Priming has been a powerful tool for the study of human memory and especially the memory representations relevant for language. However, although it is well established that lexical access can be primed, we do not know exactly what types of computations can be primed above the word level. This work took a neurobiological approach and assessed the ways in which the complex representation of a minimal combinatory phrase, such as red boat, can be primed, as evidenced by the spatiotemporal profiles of magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals. Specifically, we built upon recent progress on the neural signatures of phrasal composition and tested whether the brain activities implicated for the basic combination of two words could be primed. In two experiments, MEG was recorded during a picture naming task where the prime trials were designed to replicate previously reported combinatory effects and the target trials to test whether those combinatory effects could be primed. The manipulation of the primes was successful in eliciting larger activity for adjective-noun combinations than single nouns in left anterior temporal and ventromedial prefrontal cortices, replicating prior MEG studies on parallel contrasts. Priming of similarly timed activity was observed during target trials in anterior temporal cortex, but only when the prime and target shared an adjective. No priming in temporal cortex was observed for single word repetition and two control tasks showed that the priming effect was not elicited if the prime pictures were simply viewed but not named. In sum, this work provides evidence that very basic combinatory operations can be primed, with the necessity for some lexical overlap between prime and target suggesting combinatory conceptual, as opposed to syntactic processing. Both our combinatory and priming effects were early, onsetting between 100 and 150ms after picture onset and thus are likely to reflect the very earliest planning stages of a combinatory message

  3. Social priming increases nonverbal expressive behaviors in schizophrenia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jonathan Del-Monte

    Full Text Available Semantic priming tasks are classically used to influence and implicitly promote target behaviors. Recently, several studies have demonstrated that prosocial semantic priming modulated feelings of social affiliation. The main aim of this study was to determine whether inducing feelings of social affiliation using priming tasks could modulate nonverbal social behaviors in schizophrenia. We used the Scrambled Sentence Task to prime schizophrenia patients according to three priming group conditions: pro-social, non-social or anti-social. Forty-five schizophrenia patients, diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR, were randomly assigned to one of the three priming groups of 15 participants. We evaluated nonverbal social behaviors using the Motor-Affective subscale of the Motor-Affective-Social-Scale. Results showed that schizophrenia patients with pro-social priming had significantly more nonverbal behaviors than schizophrenia patients with anti-social and non-social priming conditions. Schizophrenia patient behaviors are affected by social priming. Our results have several clinical implications for the rehabilitation of social skills impairments frequently encountered among individuals with schizophrenia.

  4. Optical coding theory with Prime

    CERN Document Server

    Kwong, Wing C

    2013-01-01

    Although several books cover the coding theory of wireless communications and the hardware technologies and coding techniques of optical CDMA, no book has been specifically dedicated to optical coding theory-until now. Written by renowned authorities in the field, Optical Coding Theory with Prime gathers together in one volume the fundamentals and developments of optical coding theory, with a focus on families of prime codes, supplemented with several families of non-prime codes. The book also explores potential applications to coding-based optical systems and networks. Learn How to Construct

  5. A high resolution atlas of the galactic plane at 12 microns and 25 microns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Price, Stephan D.; Korte, Rose M.; Sample, Rebecca S.; Kennealy, John P.; Gonsalves, Robert A.

    1994-01-01

    High resolution images of the 12 micron and 25 micron IRAS survey data from each HCON crossing the Galactic Plane are being created for those regions that the original IRAS processing labeled as confused. This encompasses the area within 100 deg longitude of the Galactic Center and within 3 deg to 10 deg of the Plane. The procedures used to create the images preserve the spatial resolution inherent in the IRAS instrument. The images are separated into diffuse and point source components and candidate sources are extracted from the point source image after non-linear spatial sharpening. Fluxes are estimated by convolving the candidate sources with the point response function and cross-correlating with the original point source image. A source is considered real if it is seen on at least two HCON's with a rather generous flux match but a stringent position criterion. A number of fields spanning a range of source densities from low to high have been examined. Initial analysis indicates that the imaging and extraction works quite well up to a source density of about 100 sources per square degree or down to roughly 0.8 Janskys.

  6. Priming of antiherbivore defensive responses in plants

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Jinwon Kim; Gary W.Felton

    2013-01-01

    Defense priming is defined as increased readiness of defense induction.A growing body of literature indicates that plants (or intact parts of a plant) are primed in anticipation of impending environmental stresses,both biotic and abiotic,and upon the following stimulus,induce defenses more quickly and strongly.For instance,some plants previously exposed to herbivore-inducible plant volatiles (HIPVs) from neighboring plants under herbivore attack show faster or stronger defense activation and enhanced insect resistance when challenged with secondary insect feeding.Research on priming of antiherbivore defense has been limited to the HIPV-mediated mechanism until recently,but significant advances were made in the past three years,including non-HIPV-mediated defense priming,epigenetic modifications as the molecular mechanism of priming,and others.It is timely to consider the advances in research on defense priming in the plantinsect interactions.

  7. Method of producing carbon coated nano- and micron-scale particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perry, W. Lee; Weigle, John C; Phillips, Jonathan

    2013-12-17

    A method of making carbon-coated nano- or micron-scale particles comprising entraining particles in an aerosol gas, providing a carbon-containing gas, providing a plasma gas, mixing the aerosol gas, the carbon-containing gas, and the plasma gas proximate a torch, bombarding the mixed gases with microwaves, and collecting resulting carbon-coated nano- or micron-scale particles.

  8. Random reward priming is task-contingent: The robustness of the 1-trial reward priming effect

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Árni Gunnar Ásgeirsson

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Consistent financial reward of particular features influences the allocation of visual attention in many ways. More surprising are 1-trial reward priming effects on attention where reward schedules are random and reward on one trial influences attentional allocation on the next. Those findings are thought to reflect that rewarded features become more salient than unrewarded ones on the subsequent trial. Here we attempt to conceptually replicate this effect, testing its generalizability. In three versions of an analogous paradigm to the additional singleton paradigm involving singleton search for a Gabor patch of odd spatial frequency we found no evidence of reward priming, while we only partially replicate the reward priming in the exact original paradigm tested by Hickey and colleagues. The results cast doubt on the proposal that random reward enhances salience, suggested in the original papers, and highlight the need for a more nuanced account. In many other paradigms reward effects have been found to progress gradually, becoming stronger as they build up, and we argue that for robust reward priming, reward schedules need to be more consistent than in the original 1-trial reward priming paradigm.

  9. Guilt by Association: The 13 micron Dust Feature in Circumstellar Shells and Related Spectral Features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sloan, G. C.; Kraemer, K. E.; Goebel, J. H.; Price, S. D.

    A study of spectra from the SWS on ISO of optically thin oxygen-rich dust shells shows that the strength of the 13 micron dust emission feature is correlated with the CO2 bands (13--17 microns) and dust emission features at 19.8 and 28.1 microns. SRb variables tend to show stronger 13 micron features than Mira variables, suggesting that the presence of the 13 micron and related features depends on pulsation mode and mass-loss rate. The absence of any correlation to dust emission features at 16.8 and 32 microns makes spinel an unlikely carrier. The most plausible carrier of the 13 micron feature remains crystalline alumina, and we suggest that the related dust features may be crystalline silicates. When dust forms in regions of low density, it may condense into crystalline grain structures.

  10. Analysis and Quantitation of NF-[kappa]B Nuclear Translocation in Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha (TNF-[alpha]) Activated Vascular Endothelial Cells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fuseler, John W.; Merrill, Dana M.; Rogers, Jennifer A.; Grisham, Matthew B.; Wolf, Robert E.

    2006-07-01

    Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-[kappa]B) is a heterodimeric transcription factor typically composed of p50 and p65 subunits and is a pleiotropic regulator of various inflammatory and immune responses. In quiescent cells, p50/p65 dimers are sequestered in the cytoplasm bound to its inhibitors, the I-[kappa]Bs, which prevent entry into the nucleus. Following cellular stimulation, the I-[kappa]Bs are rapidly degraded, activating NF-[kappa]B. The active form of NF-[kappa]B rapidly translocates into the nucleus, binding to consensus sequences in the promoter/enhancer region of various genes, promoting their transcription. In human vascular endothelial cells activated with tumor necrosis factor-alpha, the activation and translocation of NF-[kappa]B is rapid, reaching maximal nuclear localization by 30 min. In this study, the appearance of NF-[kappa]B (p65 subunit, p65-NF-[kappa]B) in the nucleus visualized by immunofluorescence and quantified by morphometric image analysis (integrated optical density, IOD) is compared to the appearance of activated p65-NF-[kappa]B protein in the nucleus determined biochemically. The appearance of p65-NF-[kappa]B in the nucleus measured by fluorescence image analysis and biochemically express a linear correlation (R2 = 0.9477). These data suggest that localization and relative protein concentrations of NF-[kappa]B can be reliably determined from IOD measurements of the immunofluorescent labeled protein.

  11. Heterodyne spatial interferometry of circumstellar dust shells at a wavelength of 11 microns

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sutton, E.C.

    1979-01-01

    The spatial distribution of the 11 micron thermal emission from circumstellar dust envelopes has been studied using an infrared heterodyne interferometer. Circumstellar dust envelopes often exist around cool, late-type stars. These envelopes radiate strongly at 11 microns, particularly if they are composed of silicate grains, which have a strong emission feature near this wavelength. By measuring the spatial distribution of this dust emission it is possible to probe the temperatures and densities of the circumstellar material and thereby to gain an understanding of the structures of circumstellar envelopes. Among the sources which have been observed with this interferometer are α Orionis, o Ceti, VY Canis Majoris, and IRC + 10216. The 11 micron brightness distributions of these objects all have spatially extended dust-emission components which are resolved in these measurements. The dust envelopes of α Orionis and o Ceti are optically thin, having optical depths at 11 microns of 0.02 and 0.04, respectively. In addition, variations are seen in the 11 micron brightness distribution of o Ceti which correlate with the stellar variability. These variations primarily represent changes in the relative amount of spatially compact photospheric emission and spatially extended dust emission. The source VY Canis Majoris, on the other had, has a dust envelope which is optically thick at 11 microns. The dust envelope of IRC + 10216, although optically thick at visible wavelengths, does not seem to be optically thick at 11 microns since there is a spatially compact component of the 11 micron brightness distribution which presumably represents emission from the central star

  12. Two micron pore size MCP-based image intensifiers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glesener, John; Estrera, Joseph

    2010-02-01

    Image intensifiers (I2) have many advantages as detectors. They offer single photon sensitivity in an imaging format, they're light in weight and analog I2 systems can operate for hours on a single AA battery. Their light output is such as to exploit the peak in color sensitivity of the human eye. Until recent developments in CMOS sensors, they also were one of the highest resolution sensors available. The closest all solid state solution, the Texas Instruments Impactron chip, comes in a 1 megapixel format. Depending on the level of integration, an Impactron based system can consume 20 to 40 watts in a system configuration. In further investing in I2 technology, L-3 EOS determined that increasing I2 resolution merited a high priority. Increased I2 resolution offers the system user two desirable options: 1) increased detection and identification ranges while maintaining field-of-view (FOV) or 2) increasing FOV while maintaining the original system resolution. One of the areas where an investment in resolution is being made is in the microchannel plate (MCP). Incorporation of a 2 micron MCP into an image tube has the potential of increasing the system resolution of currently fielded systems. Both inverting and non-inverting configurations are being evaluated. Inverting tubes are being characterized in night vision goggle (NVG) and sights. The non-inverting 2 micron tube is being characterized for high resolution I2CMOS camera applications. Preliminary measurements show an increase in the MTF over a standard 5 micron pore size, 6 micron pitch plate. Current results will be presented.

  13. Micron scale spectroscopic analysis of materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    James, David; Finlayson, Trevor; Prawer, Steven

    1991-01-01

    The goal of this proposal is the establishment of a facility which will enable complete micron scale spectroscopic analysis of any sample which can be imaged in the optical microscope. Current applications include studies of carbon fibres, diamond thin films, ceramics (zirconia and high T c superconductors), semiconductors, wood pulp, wool fibres, mineral inclusions, proteins, plant cells, polymers, fluoride glasses, and optical fibres. The range of interests crosses traditional discipline boundaries and augurs well for a truly interdisciplinary collaboration. Developments in instrumentation such as confocal imaging are planned to achieve sub-micron resolution, and advances in computer software and hardware will enable the aforementioned spectroscopies to be used to map molecular and crystalline phases on the surfaces of materials. Coupled with existing compositional microprobes (e.g. the proton microprobe) the possibilities for the development of new, powerful, hybrid imaging technologies appear to be excellent

  14. Influence of the Efavirenz Micronization on Tableting and Dissolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucio Mendes Cabral

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to propose an analytical procedure that provides the effects of particle size and surface area on dissolution of efavirenz. Five different batches obtained by different micronization processes and with different particle size distribution and surface area were studied. The preformulation studies and dissolution curves were used to confirm the particle size distribution effect on drug solubility. No polymorphic variety or amorphization was observed in the tested batches and the particle size distribution was determined as directly responsible for the improvement of drug dissolution. The influence of the preparation process on the tablets derived from efavirenz was observed in the final dissolution result in which agglomeration, usually seen in non-lipophilic micronized material, was avoided through the use of an appropriate wet granulation method. For these reasons, micronization may represent one viable alternative for the formulation of brick dust drugs.

  15. Mechanisms of masked evaluative priming: task sets modulate behavioral and electrophysiological priming for picture and words differentially

    OpenAIRE

    Kiefer, Markus; Liegel, Nathalie; Zovko, Monika; Wentura, Dirk

    2016-01-01

    Research with the evaluative priming paradigm has shown that affective evaluation processes reliably influence cognition and behavior, even when triggered outside awareness. However, the precise mechanisms underlying such subliminal evaluative priming effects, response activation vs semantic processing, are matter of a debate. In this study, we determined the relative contribution of semantic processing and response activation to masked evaluative priming with pictures and words. To this end,...

  16. Priming analogical reasoning with false memories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Mark L; Garner, Sarah R; Threadgold, Emma; Ball, Linden J

    2015-08-01

    Like true memories, false memories are capable of priming answers to insight-based problems. Recent research has attempted to extend this paradigm to more advanced problem-solving tasks, including those involving verbal analogical reasoning. However, these experiments are constrained inasmuch as problem solutions could be generated via spreading activation mechanisms (much like false memories themselves) rather than using complex reasoning processes. In three experiments we examined false memory priming of complex analogical reasoning tasks in the absence of simple semantic associations. In Experiment 1, we demonstrated the robustness of false memory priming in analogical reasoning when backward associative strength among the problem terms was eliminated. In Experiments 2a and 2b, we extended these findings by demonstrating priming on newly created homonym analogies that can only be solved by inhibiting semantic associations within the analogy. Overall, the findings of the present experiments provide evidence that the efficacy of false memory priming extends to complex analogical reasoning problems.

  17. Priming intelligent behavior: an elusive phenomenon.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David R Shanks

    Full Text Available Can behavior be unconsciously primed via the activation of attitudes, stereotypes, or other concepts? A number of studies have suggested that such priming effects can occur, and a prominent illustration is the claim that individuals' accuracy in answering general knowledge questions can be influenced by activating intelligence-related concepts such as professor or soccer hooligan. In 9 experiments with 475 participants we employed the procedures used in these studies, as well as a number of variants of those procedures, in an attempt to obtain this intelligence priming effect. None of the experiments obtained the effect, although financial incentives did boost performance. A Bayesian analysis reveals considerable evidential support for the null hypothesis. The results conform to the pattern typically obtained in word priming experiments in which priming is very narrow in its generalization and unconscious (subliminal influences, if they occur at all, are extremely short-lived. We encourage others to explore the circumstances in which this phenomenon might be obtained.

  18. Priming Intelligent Behavior: An Elusive Phenomenon

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shanks, David R.; Newell, Ben R.; Lee, Eun Hee; Balakrishnan, Divya; Ekelund, Lisa; Cenac, Zarus; Kavvadia, Fragkiski; Moore, Christopher

    2013-01-01

    Can behavior be unconsciously primed via the activation of attitudes, stereotypes, or other concepts? A number of studies have suggested that such priming effects can occur, and a prominent illustration is the claim that individuals' accuracy in answering general knowledge questions can be influenced by activating intelligence-related concepts such as professor or soccer hooligan. In 9 experiments with 475 participants we employed the procedures used in these studies, as well as a number of variants of those procedures, in an attempt to obtain this intelligence priming effect. None of the experiments obtained the effect, although financial incentives did boost performance. A Bayesian analysis reveals considerable evidential support for the null hypothesis. The results conform to the pattern typically obtained in word priming experiments in which priming is very narrow in its generalization and unconscious (subliminal) influences, if they occur at all, are extremely short-lived. We encourage others to explore the circumstances in which this phenomenon might be obtained. PMID:23637732

  19. DMPD: NF-kappaB activation by reactive oxygen species: fifteen years later. [Dynamic Macrophage Pathway CSML Database

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available 16723122 NF-kappaB activation by reactive oxygen species: fifteen years later. Gloi...svg) (.html) (.csml) Show NF-kappaB activation by reactive oxygen species: fifteen years later. PubmedID 167...23122 Title NF-kappaB activation by reactive oxygen species: fifteen years later.

  20. Cationization of kappa- and iota-carrageenan--Characterization and properties of amphoteric polysaccharides.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barahona, Tamara; Prado, Héctor J; Bonelli, Pablo R; Cukierman, Ana L; Fissore, Eliana L; Gerschenson, Lia N; Matulewicz, María C

    2015-08-01

    Commercial kappa- and iota carrageenans were cationized with 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium chloride in aqueous sodium hydroxide solution. For kappa-carrageenan three derivatives with different degrees of substitution were obtained. Native and amphoteric kappa-carrageenans were characterized by NMR and infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron and atomic force microscopy; methanolysis products were studied by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. Young moduli and the strain at break of films, differential scanning calorimetry, rheological and flocculation behavior were also evaluated; the native and the amphoteric derivatives showed different and interesting properties. Cationization of iota-carrageenan was more difficult, indicating as it was previously observed for agarose, that substitution starts preferentially on the 2-position of 3,6-anhydrogalactose residues; in iota-carrageenan this latter unit is sulfated. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. MPQS with three large primes

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Leyland, P.; Lenstra, A.K.; Dodson, B.; Muffett, A.; Wagstaff, S.; Fieker, C.; Kohel, D.R.

    2002-01-01

    We report the factorization of a 135-digit integer by the triple-large-prime variation of the multiple polynomial quadratic sieve. Previous workers [6][10] had suggested that using more than two large primes would be counterproductive, because of the greatly increased number of false reports from

  2. Shifting evaluation windows : predictable forward primes with long SOAs eliminate the impact of backward primes.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Fockenberg, D. A. F.; Koole, S.L.; Lakens, D.; Semin, G.R.

    2013-01-01

    Recent work suggests that people evaluate target stimuli within short and flexible time periods called evaluation windows. Stimuli that briefly precede a target (forward primes) or briefly succeed a target (backward primes) are often included in the target's evaluation. In this article, the authors

  3. Compact 2 Micron Seed Laser, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This proposal is for the development of innovative compact, high power and extremely reliable 2 micron seed laser using newly developed Tm3+ doped germanate glass...

  4. NMR study on the network structure of a mixed gel of kappa and iota carrageenans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Bingjie; Du, Lei; Matsukawa, Shingo

    2016-10-05

    The temperature dependencies of the (1)H T2 and diffusion coefficient (D) of a mixed solution of kappa-carrageenan and iota-carrageenan were measured by NMR. Rheological and NMR measurements suggested an exponential formation of rigid aggregates of kappa-carrageenan and a gradual formation of fine aggregates of iota-carrageenan during two step increases of G'. The results also suggested that longer carrageenan chains are preferentially involved in aggregation, thus resulting in a decrease in the average Mw of solute carrageenans. The results of diffusion measurements for poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) suggested that kappa-carrageenan formed thick aggregates that decreased hindrance to PEO diffusion by decreasing the solute kappa-carrageenan concentration in the voids of the aggregated chains, and that iota-carrageenan formed fine aggregates that decreased the solute iota-carrageenan concentration less. DPEO in a mixed solution of kappa-carrageenan and iota-carrageenan suggested two possibilities for the microscopic network structure: an interpenetrating network structure, or micro-phase separation. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  5. Induction of oncogene addiction shift to NF-{kappa}B by camptothecin in solid tumor cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Togano, Tomiteru; Sasaki, Masataka; Watanabe, Mariko; Nakashima, Makoto [Department of Hematology, School of Medicine, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 228-8555 (Japan); Tsuruo, Takashi [Cancer Chemotherapy Center, Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research, 3-10-6 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-8550 (Japan); Umezawa, Kazuo [Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, 3-14-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa 223-0061 (Japan); Higashihara, Masaaki [Department of Hematology, School of Medicine, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 228-8555 (Japan); Watanabe, Toshiki [Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology, Department of Medical Genome Sciences, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, University of Tokyo, 4-6-1 Shirokanedai, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8639 (Japan); Horie, Ryouichi, E-mail: rhorie@med.kitasato-u.ac.jp [Department of Hematology, School of Medicine, Kitasato University, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 228-8555 (Japan)

    2009-12-04

    The biological basis of the resistance of solid tumor cells to chemotherapy is not well understood. While addressing this problem, we found that gastric cancer cell line St-4/CPT, lung cancer cell line A549/CPT, and colon cancer cell line HT-29/CPT, all of which are resistant to camptothecin (CPT), showed strong and constitutive nuclear factor (NF)-{kappa}B activity driven by I{kappa}B kinase compared with their parental cell lines St-4, A549, and HT-29. A new NF-{kappa}B inhibitor, dehydroxymethylepoxyquinomicin (DHMEQ), reduced viability and induced apoptosis in St-4/CPT, A549/CPT, and HT-29/CPT cell lines, while their parental cell lines were resistant to DHMEQ. The results in this study present an example of the shift in signals that support the survival of solid tumor cells to NF-{kappa}B during the acquisition of resistance to CPT. The results also indicate that solid tumor cells that become resistant to chemotherapy may be more easily treated by NF-{kappa}B inhibitors.

  6. Sub-micron accurate track navigation method ''Navi'' for the analysis of Nuclear Emulsion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoshioka, T; Yoshida, J; Kodama, K

    2011-01-01

    Sub-micron accurate track navigation in Nuclear Emulsion is realized by using low energy signals detected by automated Nuclear Emulsion read-out systems. Using those much dense ''noise'', about 10 4 times larger than the real tracks, the accuracy of the track position navigation reaches to be sub micron only by using the information of a microscope field of view, 200 micron times 200 micron. This method is applied to OPERA analysis in Japan, i.e. support of human eye checks of the candidate tracks, confirmation of neutrino interaction vertexes and to embed missing track segments to the track data read-out by automated systems.

  7. Sub-micron accurate track navigation method ``Navi'' for the analysis of Nuclear Emulsion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoshioka, T.; Yoshida, J.; Kodama, K.

    2011-03-01

    Sub-micron accurate track navigation in Nuclear Emulsion is realized by using low energy signals detected by automated Nuclear Emulsion read-out systems. Using those much dense ``noise'', about 104 times larger than the real tracks, the accuracy of the track position navigation reaches to be sub micron only by using the information of a microscope field of view, 200 micron times 200 micron. This method is applied to OPERA analysis in Japan, i.e. support of human eye checks of the candidate tracks, confirmation of neutrino interaction vertexes and to embed missing track segments to the track data read-out by automated systems.

  8. Wheat seed enhancement by vitamin and hormonal priming

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khan, M.B.; Gurchani, M.A.; Hussain, M.

    2011-01-01

    Seed priming has proven beneficial in many important agricultural crops. The present study was conducted to explore the role (if any) of hormonal and vitamin seed priming to improve the germination, seedling emergence, early seedling establishment, electrolyte leakage and nutrients uptake in wheat seedlings. The wheat seeds were soaked for 48 hours in aerated solution of salicylic acid, ascorbic acid, kinetin and GA3 with 20 ppm concentration of each solution, whereas untreated seeds were taken as control. Seed priming with ascorbic acid resulted in maximum final germination and emergence percentage (FGP and FEP), radical and plumule length, root and shoot length, number of secondary roots, root shoot ratio, root dry weight, shoot dry weight and seedling dry weight compared to control (untreated seeds). Minimum mean germination and emergence time (MGT and MET) was recorded in seeds primed with kinetin and GA3. While in case of biochemical attributes, seedling potassium contents were decreased by hormonal seed priming while total soluble sugars were increased by salicylic acid and ascorbic acid seed priming. Hormonal seed priming had non-significant effect on phosphorus seedling contents. Untreated (Control) seeds showed maximum electrical conductivity at 0.5, 1, 2, 6, 12 and 24 h after inbibition than primed seeds against the minimum electrical conductivity that was recorded in seeds primed with salicylic acid and ascorbic acid. In conclusion, the wheat seeds primed with 20 ppm solution of ascorbic acid may be used for wheat seed invigoration. (author)

  9. NIK and IKKbeta interdependence in NF-kappaB signalling--flux analysis of regulation through metabolites.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hong-Bum; Evans, Iona; Smallwood, Rod; Holcombe, Mike; Qwarnstrom, Eva E

    2010-02-01

    Activation of the transcription factor NF-kappaB is central to control of immune and inflammatory responses. Cytokine induced activation through the classical or canonical pathway relies on degradation of the inhibitor, IkappaBalpha and regulation by the IKKbeta kinase. In addition, the NF-kappaB is activated through the NF-kappaB-inducing kinase, NIK. Analysis of the IKK/NIK inter-relationship and its impact on NF-kappaB control, were analysed by mathematical modelling, using matrix formalism and stoichiometrically balanced reactions. The analysis considered a range of bio-reactions and core metabolites and their role in relation to kinase activation and in control of specific steps of the NF-kappaB pathway. The model predicts a growth-rate and time-dependent transfer of the primary kinase activity from IKKbeta to NIK. In addition, it suggests that NIK/IKKbeta interdependence is controlled by intermediates of phosphoribosylpyrophosphate (PRPP) within the glycolysis pathway, and thus, identifies a link between specific metabolic events and kinase activation in inflammatory signal transduction. Subsequent in vitro experiments, carried out to validate the impact of IKK/NIK interdependence, confirmed signal amplification at the level of the NF-kappaB/IkappaBalpha complex control in the presence of both kinases. Further, they demonstrate that the induced potentiation is due to synergistic enhancement of relA-dependent activation. Copyright (c) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Radiation Pressure Measurements on Micron Size Individual Dust Grains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbas, M. M.; Craven, P.D.; Spann, J. F.; Tankosic, D.; Witherow, W. K.; LeClair, A.; West, E.; Sheldon, R.; Gallagher, D. L.; Adrian, M. L.

    2003-01-01

    Measurements of electromagnetic radiation pressure have been made on individual silica (SiO2) particles levitated in an electrodynamic balance. These measurements were made by inserting single charged particles of known diameter in the 0.2 micron to 6.82 micron range and irradiating them from above with laser radiation focused to beam-widths of approx. 175-400 micron, at ambient pressures approx. 10(exp -3) to 10(exp -4) torr. The downward displacement of the particle due to the radiation force is balanced by the electrostatic force indicated by the compensating dc potential applied to the balance electrodes, providing a direct measure of the radiation force on the levitated particle. Theoretical calculations of the radiation pressure with a least-squares fit to the measured data yield the radiation pressure efficiencies of the particles, and comparisons with Mie scattering theory calculations provide the imaginary part of the refractive index of silica and the corresponding extinction and scattering efficiencies.

  11. Compact 2 Micron Seed Laser, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — This proposal is for the development of new compact, high power and extremely reliable 2 micron seed laser using newly developed Tm3+ doped germanate glass fibers,...

  12. on skin keratinocytes by nuclear factor-kappa B

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    DR. NJ TONUKARI

    2012-06-21

    Jun 21, 2012 ... Effects of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) on ... AGE levels, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) localization and cell viability were measured in vivo. ..... and related alteration in NF-κB activity, we treated normal cells by ...

  13. Scanning SQUID susceptometers with sub-micron spatial resolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kirtley, John R., E-mail: jkirtley@stanford.edu; Rosenberg, Aaron J.; Palmstrom, Johanna C.; Holland, Connor M.; Moler, Kathryn A. [Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-4045 (United States); Paulius, Lisa [Department of Physics, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008-5252 (United States); Spanton, Eric M. [Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305-4045 (United States); Schiessl, Daniel [Attocube Systems AG, Königinstraße 11A, 80539 Munich (Germany); Jermain, Colin L.; Gibbons, Jonathan [Department of Physics, Cornell University, Cornell, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States); Fung, Y.-K.K.; Gibson, Gerald W. [IBM Research Division, T. J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, New York 10598 (United States); Huber, Martin E. [Department of Physics, University of Colorado Denver, Denver, Colorado 80217-3364 (United States); Ralph, Daniel C. [Department of Physics, Cornell University, Cornell, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States); Kavli Institute at Cornell, Ithaca, New York 14853 (United States); Ketchen, Mark B. [OcteVue, Hadley, Massachusetts 01035 (United States)

    2016-09-15

    Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) microscopy has excellent magnetic field sensitivity, but suffers from modest spatial resolution when compared with other scanning probes. This spatial resolution is determined by both the size of the field sensitive area and the spacing between this area and the sample surface. In this paper we describe scanning SQUID susceptometers that achieve sub-micron spatial resolution while retaining a white noise floor flux sensitivity of ≈2μΦ{sub 0}/Hz{sup 1/2}. This high spatial resolution is accomplished by deep sub-micron feature sizes, well shielded pickup loops fabricated using a planarized process, and a deep etch step that minimizes the spacing between the sample surface and the SQUID pickup loop. We describe the design, modeling, fabrication, and testing of these sensors. Although sub-micron spatial resolution has been achieved previously in scanning SQUID sensors, our sensors not only achieve high spatial resolution but also have integrated modulation coils for flux feedback, integrated field coils for susceptibility measurements, and batch processing. They are therefore a generally applicable tool for imaging sample magnetization, currents, and susceptibilities with higher spatial resolution than previous susceptometers.

  14. Scanning SQUID susceptometers with sub-micron spatial resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirtley, John R.; Rosenberg, Aaron J.; Palmstrom, Johanna C.; Holland, Connor M.; Moler, Kathryn A.; Paulius, Lisa; Spanton, Eric M.; Schiessl, Daniel; Jermain, Colin L.; Gibbons, Jonathan; Fung, Y.-K.K.; Gibson, Gerald W.; Huber, Martin E.; Ralph, Daniel C.; Ketchen, Mark B.

    2016-01-01

    Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) microscopy has excellent magnetic field sensitivity, but suffers from modest spatial resolution when compared with other scanning probes. This spatial resolution is determined by both the size of the field sensitive area and the spacing between this area and the sample surface. In this paper we describe scanning SQUID susceptometers that achieve sub-micron spatial resolution while retaining a white noise floor flux sensitivity of ≈2μΦ_0/Hz"1"/"2. This high spatial resolution is accomplished by deep sub-micron feature sizes, well shielded pickup loops fabricated using a planarized process, and a deep etch step that minimizes the spacing between the sample surface and the SQUID pickup loop. We describe the design, modeling, fabrication, and testing of these sensors. Although sub-micron spatial resolution has been achieved previously in scanning SQUID sensors, our sensors not only achieve high spatial resolution but also have integrated modulation coils for flux feedback, integrated field coils for susceptibility measurements, and batch processing. They are therefore a generally applicable tool for imaging sample magnetization, currents, and susceptibilities with higher spatial resolution than previous susceptometers.

  15. Supersensitive Kappa Opioid Receptors Promotes Ethanol Withdrawal-Related Behaviors and Reduce Dopamine Signaling in the Nucleus Accumbens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rose, Jamie H; Karkhanis, Anushree N; Chen, Rong; Gioia, Dominic; Lopez, Marcelo F; Becker, Howard C; McCool, Brian A; Jones, Sara R

    2016-05-01

    Chronic ethanol exposure reduces dopamine transmission in the nucleus accumbens, which may contribute to the negative affective symptoms associated with ethanol withdrawal. Kappa opioid receptors have been implicated in withdrawal-induced excessive drinking and anxiety-like behaviors and are known to inhibit dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. The effects of chronic ethanol exposure on kappa opioid receptor-mediated changes in dopamine transmission at the level of the dopamine terminal and withdrawal-related behaviors were examined. Five weeks of chronic intermittent ethanol exposure in male C57BL/6 mice were used to examine the role of kappa opioid receptors in chronic ethanol-induced increases in ethanol intake and marble burying, a measure of anxiety/compulsive-like behavior. Drinking and marble burying were evaluated before and after chronic intermittent ethanol exposure, with and without kappa opioid receptor blockade by nor-binaltorphimine (10mg/kg i.p.). Functional alterations in kappa opioid receptors were assessed using fast scan cyclic voltammetry in brain slices containing the nucleus accumbens. Chronic intermittent ethanol-exposed mice showed increased ethanol drinking and marble burying compared with controls, which was attenuated with kappa opioid receptor blockade. Chronic intermittent ethanol-induced increases in behavior were replicated with kappa opioid receptor activation in naïve mice. Fast scan cyclic voltammetry revealed that chronic intermittent ethanol reduced accumbal dopamine release and increased uptake rates, promoting a hypodopaminergic state of this region. Kappa opioid receptor activation with U50,488H concentration-dependently decreased dopamine release in both groups; however, this effect was greater in chronic intermittent ethanol-treated mice, indicating kappa opioid receptor supersensitivity in this group. These data suggest that the chronic intermittent ethanol-induced increase in ethanol intake and anxiety

  16. Commutators of Littlewood-Paley gκ∗$g_{\\kappa}^{*} $-functions on non-homogeneous metric measure spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lu Guanghui

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The main purpose of this paper is to prove that the boundedness of the commutator Mκ,b∗$\\mathcal{M}_{\\kappa,b}^{*} $ generated by the Littlewood-Paley operator Mκ∗$\\mathcal{M}_{\\kappa}^{*} $ and RBMO (μ function on non-homogeneous metric measure spaces satisfying the upper doubling and the geometrically doubling conditions. Under the assumption that the kernel of Mκ∗$\\mathcal{M}_{\\kappa}^{*} $ satisfies a certain Hörmander-type condition, the authors prove that Mκ,b∗$\\mathcal{M}_{\\kappa,b}^{*} $ is bounded on Lebesgue spaces Lp(μ for 1 < p < ∞, bounded from the space L log L(μ to the weak Lebesgue space L1,∞(μ, and is bounded from the atomic Hardy spaces H1(μ to the weak Lebesgue spaces L1,∞(μ.

  17. Lexical priming in Alzheimer's disease and aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arroyo-Anlló, Eva Maria; Beauchamps, Mireille; Ingrand, Pierre; Neau, Jean Philippe; Gil, Roger

    2013-01-01

    Lexical priming was examined in patients with Alzheimer's disease and in aphasic patients. Control participants were divided into young and elderly [cf. Arroyo-Anlló et al.: Eur J Cogn Psychol 2004;16:535-553]. For lexical priming, a word-stem completion task was used. Normal elderly participants had lexical priming scores that were significantly lower than those of young individuals. Analysis of covariance with age and educational level as covariates showed that the control participants, aphasic and Alzheimer patients did not differ significantly on the lexical priming task. Our results suggest that performance in the lexical priming task diminishes with physiological aging, but is not significantly affected by mild or moderate Alzheimer's disease or by fluent or non-fluent aphasia. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  18. Omentin inhibits TNF-{alpha}-induced expression of adhesion molecules in endothelial cells via ERK/NF-{kappa}B pathway

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhong, Xia, E-mail: zhongxia1977@126.com [Department of Emergency, Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan 250021 (China); Li, Xiaonan; Liu, Fuli; Tan, Hui [Department of Emergency, Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan 250021 (China); Shang, Deya, E-mail: wenhuashenghuo1@163.com [Department of Emergency, Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong University, Jinan 250021 (China)

    2012-08-24

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Omentin inhibited TNF-{alpha}-induced adhesion of THP-1 cells to HUVECs. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Omentin reduces expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 induced by TNF-{alpha} in HUVECs. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Omentin inhibits TNF-{alpha}-induced ERK and NF-{kappa}B activation in HUVECs. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Omentin supreeses TNF-{alpha}-induced expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 via ERK/NF-{kappa}B pathway. -- Abstract: In the present study, we investigated whether omentin affected the expression of intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) in tumor necrosis factor-{alpha} (TNF-{alpha}) induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Our data showed that omentin decreased TNF-{alpha}-induced expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 in HUVECs. In addition, omentin inhibited TNF-{alpha}-induced adhesion of THP-1 cells to HUVECs. Further, we found that omentin inhibited TNF-{alpha}-activated signal pathway of nuclear factor-{kappa}B (NF-{kappa}B) by preventing NF-{kappa}B inhibitory protein (I{kappa}B{alpha}) degradation and NF-{kappa}B/DNA binding activity. Omentin pretreatment significantly inhibited TNF-{alpha}-induced ERK activity and ERK phosphorylation in HUVECs. Pretreatment with PD98059 suppressed TNF-{alpha}-induced NF-{kappa}B activity. Omentin, NF-kB inhibitor (BAY11-7082) and ERK inhibitor (PD98059) reduced the up-regulation of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 induced by TNF-{alpha}. These results suggest that omentin may inhibit TNF-{alpha}-induced expression of adhesion molecules in endothelial cells via blocking ERK/NF-{kappa}B pathway.

  19. Observer variability in the assessment of type and dysplasia of colorectal adenomas, analyzed using kappa statistics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, P; Krogsgaard, M R; Christiansen, J

    1995-01-01

    . The kappa values for Observer A vs. B and Observer C vs. B were 0.3480 and 0.3770, respectively (both type and dysplasia). Values for type were better than for dysplasia, but agreement was only fair to moderate. CONCLUSION: The interobserver agreement was moderate to almost perfect, but the intraobserver...... agreement was only fair to moderate. A simpler classification system or a centralization of assessments would probably increase kappa values....... of adenomas were assessed twice by three experienced pathologists, with an interval of two months. Results were analyzed using kappa statistics. RESULTS: For agreement between first and second assessment (both type and grade of dysplasia), kappa values for the three specialists were 0.5345, 0.9022, and 0...

  20. New long-wavelength Nd:YAG laser at 1.44 micron: effect on brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martiniuk, R; Bauer, J A; McKean, J D; Tulip, J; Mielke, B W

    1989-02-01

    A wavelength-shifted Nd:YAG laser, tuned to coincide with the infrared absorption peak of water at 1.44 microns, was used to make lesions in normal rabbit brain. A total of 48 lesions were made with power up to 20 W, with energy up to 40 joules, and with two different spot sizes. These lesions were compared to lesions made with 1.06 microns radiation from an Nd:YAG laser under identical operating conditions. Measurements of blood-brain barrier damage and width, depth, and volume of tissue affected were obtained 30 minutes after placement of the lesions. It was found that 1.44-microns lesions produced photoevaporative tissue loss at the highest intensities used. The layer of coagulated tissue remaining after photovaporization had a mean thickness of 0.6 mm irrespective of the volume of tissue removed. There was no photovaporization in the 1.06-microns lesions. In addition, the amount of peripheral edema per unit volume of tissue coagulated was approximately half at the 1.44-microns wavelength. These findings suggest that the 1.44-microns Nd:YAG laser may be a useful surgical instrument since it combines the photoevaporative effect of the CO2 laser while maintaining the advantages of the conventional Nd:YAG laser (quartz fiber delivery and effective hemostasis).

  1. The prime numbers and their distribution

    CERN Document Server

    Tenenbaum, Gerald

    2000-01-01

    One notable new direction this century in the study of primes has been the influx of ideas from probability. The goal of this book is to provide insights into the prime numbers and to describe how a sequence so tautly determined can incorporate such a striking amount of randomness. The book opens with some classic topics of number theory. It ends with a discussion of some of the outstanding conjectures in number theory. In between are an excellent chapter on the stochastic properties of primes and a walk through an elementary proof of the Prime Number Theorem. This book is suitable for anyone who has had a little number theory and some advanced calculus involving estimates. Its engaging style and invigorating point of view will make refreshing reading for advanced undergraduates through research mathematicians.

  2. Semantic transparency affects morphological priming . . . eventually.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyer, Vera; Kornishova, Dana

    2018-05-01

    Semantic transparency has been in the focus of psycholinguistic research for decades, with the controversy about the time course of the application of morpho-semantic information during the processing of morphologically complex words not yet resolved. This study reports two masked priming studies with English - ness and Russian - ost' nominalisations, investigating how semantic transparency modulates native speakers' morphological priming effects at short and long stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs). In both languages, we found increased morphological priming for nominalisations at the transparent end of the scale (e.g. paleness - pale) in comparison to items at the opaque end of the scale (e.g. business - busy) but only at longer prime durations. The present findings are in line with models that posit an initial phase of morpho-orthographic (semantically blind) decomposition.

  3. Alfven waves in dusty plasmas with plasma particles described by anisotropic kappa distributions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Galvao, R. A.; Ziebell, L. F. [Instituto de Fisica, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Caixa Postal 15051, CEP: 91501-970, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil); Gaelzer, R. [Instituto de Fisica e Matematica, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, Caixa Postal 354-Campus UFPel, CEP: 96010-900 Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil); Juli, M. C. de [Centro de Radio-Astronomia e Astrofisica Mackenzie-CRAAM, Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, Rua da Consolacao 896, CEP: 01302-907 Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo (Brazil)

    2012-12-15

    We utilize a kinetic description to study the dispersion relation of Alfven waves propagating parallelly to the ambient magnetic field in a dusty plasma, taking into account the fluctuation of the charge of the dust particles, which is due to inelastic collisions with electrons and ions. We consider a plasma in which the velocity distribution functions of the plasma particles are modelled as anisotropic kappa distributions, study the dispersion relation for several combinations of the parameters {kappa}{sub Parallel-To} and {kappa}{sub Up-Tack }, and emphasize the effect of the anisotropy of the distributions on the mode coupling which occurs in a dusty plasma, between waves in the branch of circularly polarized waves and waves in the whistler branch.

  4. Behavioral meaningful opioidergic stimulation activates kappa receptor gene expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. Teodorov

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available The periaqueductal gray (PAG has been reported to be a location for opioid regulation of pain and a potential site for behavioral selection in females. Opioid-mediated behavioral and physiological responses differ according to the activity of opioid receptor subtypes. The present study investigated the effects of the peripheral injection of the kappa-opioid receptor agonist U69593 into the dorsal subcutaneous region of animals on maternal behavior and on Oprk1 gene activity in the PAG of female rats. Female Wistar rats weighing 200-250 g at the beginning of the study were randomly divided into 2 groups for maternal behavior and gene expression experiments. On day 5, pups were removed at 7:00 am and placed in another home cage that was distant from their mother. Thirty minutes after removing the pups, the dams were treated with U69593 (0.15 mg/kg, sc or 0.9% saline (up to 1 mL/kg and after 30 min were evaluated in the maternal behavior test. Latencies in seconds for pup retrieval, grouping, crouching, and full maternal behavior were scored. The results showed that U69593 administration inhibited maternal behavior (P < 0.05 because a lower percentage of kappa group dams showed retrieval of first pup, retrieving all pups, grouping, crouching and displaying full maternal behavior compared to the saline group. Opioid gene expression was evaluated using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR. A single injection of U69593 increased Oprk1 PAG expression in both virgin (P < 0.05 and lactating female rats (P < 0.01, with no significant effect on Oprm1 or Oprd1 gene activity. Thus, the expression of kappa-opioid receptors in the PAG may be modulated by single opioid receptor stimulation and behavioral meaningful opioidergic transmission in the adult female might occur simultaneously to specific changes in gene expression of kappa-opioid receptor subtype. This is yet another alert for the complex role of the opioid system in

  5. Continued Funding for Prime Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-04-18

    PHP language with the help of CMF Drupal-6. The standard modules of the Drupal core set are developed by third parties and obtained from the...repository drupal.org. Part of the modules was modified specifically for the PrIMe portal. The PrIMe portal uses MySQL for the database technology. It is

  6. Identification of Nonlinear Micron-Level Mechanics for a Precision Deployable Joint

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bullock, S. J.; Peterson, L. D.

    1994-01-01

    The experimental identification of micron-level nonlinear joint mechanics and dynamics for a pin-clevis joint used in a precision, adaptive, deployable space structure are investigated. The force-state mapping method is used to identify the behavior of the joint under a preload. The results of applying a single tension-compression cycle to the joint under a tensile preload are presented. The observed micron-level behavior is highly nonlinear and involves all six rigid body motion degrees-of-freedom of the joint. it is also suggests that at micron levels of motion modelling of the joint mechanics and dynamics must include the interactions between all internal components, such as the pin, bushings, and the joint node.

  7. Adaptive evolution of relish, a Drosophila NF-kappaB/IkappaB protein.

    OpenAIRE

    Begun, D J; Whitley, P

    2000-01-01

    NF-kappaB and IkappaB proteins have central roles in regulation of inflammation and innate immunity in mammals. Homologues of these proteins also play an important role in regulation of the Drosophila immune response. Here we present a molecular population genetic analysis of Relish, a Drosophila NF-kappaB/IkappaB protein, in Drosophila simulans and D. melanogaster. We find strong evidence for adaptive protein evolution in D. simulans, but not in D. melanogaster. The adaptive evolution appear...

  8. Beeldverwerking met de Micron Automatic Processor

    OpenAIRE

    Goyens, Frank

    2017-01-01

    Deze thesis is een onderzoek naar toepassingen binnen beeldverwerking op de Micron Automata Processor hardware. De hardware wordt vergeleken met populaire hedendaagse hardware. Ook bevat dit onderzoek nuttige informatie en strategieën voor het ontwikkelen van nieuwe toepassingen. Bevindingen in dit onderzoek omvatten proof of concept algoritmes en een praktische toepassing.

  9. Rapid modulation of spoken word recognition by visual primes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okano, Kana; Grainger, Jonathan; Holcomb, Phillip J

    2016-02-01

    In a masked cross-modal priming experiment with ERP recordings, spoken Japanese words were primed with words written in one of the two syllabary scripts of Japanese. An early priming effect, peaking at around 200ms after onset of the spoken word target, was seen in left lateral electrode sites for Katakana primes, and later effects were seen for both Hiragana and Katakana primes on the N400 ERP component. The early effect is thought to reflect the efficiency with which words in Katakana script make contact with sublexical phonological representations involved in spoken language comprehension, due to the particular way this script is used by Japanese readers. This demonstrates fast-acting influences of visual primes on the processing of auditory target words, and suggests that briefly presented visual primes can influence sublexical processing of auditory target words. The later N400 priming effects, on the other hand, most likely reflect cross-modal influences on activity at the level of whole-word phonology and semantics.

  10. Prime implicants in dynamic reliability analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tyrväinen, Tero

    2016-01-01

    This paper develops an improved definition of a prime implicant for the needs of dynamic reliability analysis. Reliability analyses often aim to identify minimal cut sets or prime implicants, which are minimal conditions that cause an undesired top event, such as a system's failure. Dynamic reliability analysis methods take the time-dependent behaviour of a system into account. This means that the state of a component can change in the analysed time frame and prime implicants can include the failure of a component at different time points. There can also be dynamic constraints on a component's behaviour. For example, a component can be non-repairable in the given time frame. If a non-repairable component needs to be failed at a certain time point to cause the top event, we consider that the condition that it is failed at the latest possible time point is minimal, and the condition in which it fails earlier non-minimal. The traditional definition of a prime implicant does not account for this type of time-related minimality. In this paper, a new definition is introduced and illustrated using a dynamic flowgraph methodology model. - Highlights: • A new definition of a prime implicant is developed for dynamic reliability analysis. • The new definition takes time-related minimality into account. • The new definition is needed in dynamic flowgraph methodology. • Results can be represented by a smaller number of prime implicants.

  11. 48 CFR 45.501 - Prime contractor alternate locations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 48 Federal Acquisition Regulations System 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Prime contractor alternate... CONTRACT MANAGEMENT GOVERNMENT PROPERTY Support Government Property Administration 45.501 Prime contractor... administration from another contract administration office, for purposes of evaluating prime contractor...

  12. Event generators for {{\\eta }}/{{{\\eta }}}^{^{\\prime} } decays at BESIII

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, Nian; Zhang, Zhen-Yu; Fang, Shuang-Shi; Zhou, Xiang; Du, Lin-Lin; Qiao, Hao-Xue

    2018-01-01

    The light unflavoured meson {{η }}/{{{η }}}^{\\prime } decays are valuable for testing non-perturbative quantum chromodynamics and exploring new physics beyond the Standard Model. This paper describes a series of event generators, including {{η }}/{{{η }}}^{\\prime }\\to {{γ }}{{{l}}}+{{{l}}}-, {{η }}/{{{η }}}^{\\prime }\\to {{γ }}{{{π }}}+{{{π }}}-, {{{η }}}^{\\prime }\\to {{ω }}{{{e}}}+{{{e}}}-, {{η }}\\to {{{π }}}+{{{π }}}-{{{π }}}0, {{η }}/{{{η }}}^{\\prime }\\to {{{π }}}0{{{π }}}0{{{π }}}0, {{{η }}}^{\\prime }\\to {{η }}{{π }}{{π }} and {{{η }}}^{\\prime }\\to {{{π }}}+{{{π }}}-{{{π }}}+{{{π }}}-/{{{π }}}+{{{π }}}-{{{π }}}0{{{π }}}0, which have been developed for investigating {{η }}/{{{η }}}^{\\prime } decay dynamics. For most of these generators, their usability has been validated in BESIII analyses for determining the detection efficiency, and background studies. The consistency between data and Monte Carlo shows that these generators work well in the BESIII simulation, and will also be useful for ongoing BESIII analyses and other experiments for studying {{η }}/{{{η }}}^{\\prime } physics. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (11205117, 11575133, 11675184), the China Scholarship Council (201506275156), the Wuhan University PhD Short-time Mobility Program 2016, the Joint Funds of the NSFC and Henan Province (U1504112)

  13. Pim-2 activates API-5 to inhibit the apoptosis of hepatocellular carcinoma cells through NF-kappaB pathway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Ke; Zhang, Wei; Shi, Yujun; Gong, Jianping

    2010-06-01

    Pim-2 is proved to be relevant to the tumorigenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but the mechanism is unclear. We studied the relationship among Pim-2, NF-kappaB and API-5. In our experiment, expression level of the three factors and phosphorylation level of API-5, as well as NF-kappaB activity, were detected in HCC tissues and the nontumorous controls. Then Pim-2 gene was transfected into nontumorous liver cells L02, and Pim-2 SiRNA was transfected into hepatoblastoma cell line HepG2. Parthenolide was added as NF-kappaB inhibitor. The same detections as above were repeated in the cells, along with the apoptosis analysis. We found the levels of Pim-2, NF-kappaB and API-5, as well as NF-kappaB activity, were significantly higher in HCC tissues. Pim-2 level was increased in L02 cells after the transfection of Pim-2 gene, but decreased in HepG2 cells after the transfection of Pim-2 SiRNA. The levels of NF-kappaB and API-5, as well as NF-kappaB activity and API-5 phosphorylation level, were in accordance with Pim-2 level, but could be reversed by Parthenolide. Cell apoptosis rates were negatively correlated with API-5 phosphorylation level. Therefore, we infer that Pim-2 could activate API-5 to inhibit the apoptosis of liver cells, and NF-kappaB is the key regulator.

  14. The rings of Saturn - New near-infrared reflectance measurements and a 0.326-4.08 micron summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clark, R.N.; McCord, T.B.

    1980-01-01

    A new high-photometric-precision reflectance spectrum of Saturn's rings covering the spectral region 0.65 to 2.5 microns is presented and three previously unreported absorption features at 1.25, 0.85, and probably 1.04 microns are identified. The 1.25- and 1.04 micron absorptions are due to water ice. The 0.85 microns feature may be due to a combination of 0.81- and 0.90 micron ice absorptions but this feature appears too strong relative to the 1.04 micron band to be completely explained by water ice. Another possibility is that the 0.85 micron band is due to Fe(3+)-bearing minerals in an ice-mineral mixture. This explanation could also account for the drop in the visible and ultraviolet reflectance and the rise in reflectance around 3.6 microns. Finally, a composite spectrum from 0.325 to 4.08 is presented which will be useful for future analysis and laboratory studies

  15. Replication of each copy of the yeast 2 micron DNA plasmid occurs during the S phase.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zakian, V A; Brewer, B J; Fangman, W L

    1979-08-01

    Saccharomyces cerevisiae contains 50-100 copies per cell of a circular plasmid called 2 micron DNA. Replication of this DNA was studied in two ways. The distribution of replication events among 2 micron DNA molecules was examined by density transfer experiments with asynchronous cultures. The data show that 2 micron DNA replication is similar to chromosomal DNA replication: essentially all 2 micron duplexes were of hybrid density at one cell doubling after the density transfer, with the majority having one fully dense strand and one fully light strand. The results show that replication of 2 micron DNA occurs by a semiconservative mechanism where each of the plasmid molecules replicates once each cell cycle. 2 micron DNA is the only known example of a multiple-copy, extrachromosomal DNA in which every molecule replicates in each cell cycle. Quantitative analysis of the data indicates that 2 micron DNA replication is limited to a fraction of the cell cycle. The period in the cell cycle when 2 micron DNA replicates was examined directly with synchronous cell cultures. Synchronization was accomplished by sequentially arresting cells in G1 phase using the yeast pheromone alpha-factor and incubating at the restrictive temperature for a cell cycle (cdc 7) mutant. Replication was monitored by adding 3H-uracil to cells previously labeled with 14C-uracil, and determining the 3H/14C ratio for purified DNA species. 2 micron DNA replication did not occur during the G1 arrest periods. However, the population of 2 micron DNA doubled during the synchronous S phase at the permissive temperature, with most of the replication occurring in the first third of S phase. Our results indicate that a mechanism exists which insures that the origin of replication of each 2 micron DNA molecule is activated each S phase. As with chromosomal DNA, further activation is prevented until the next cell cycle. We propose that the mechanism which controls the replication initiation of each 2 micron DNA

  16. The frequency attenuation effect in identity and associative priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nievas, Francisco

    2010-05-01

    Three lexical decision experiments were carried out, where the masked priming paradigm is used to study the role of the frequency attenuation effect (more priming in low-frequency target words than in high-frequency target words) in repetition and associative priming, manipulating Prime Duration (PD) and Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA). A new concept was introduced, Minimum Time Threshold (MTT), this is, the minimum time interval of exposure to the masked word in order to become aware of it. Results support the notion that MTT is a key to the appearance of the frequency attenuation effect when enough word processing time is allowed. Results do not support the unified explanation of masked priming and long-term priming as proposed by Bodner and Masson (2001). Moreover, information feedback from the semantic level was not the reason for the frequency attenuation effect in repetition priming.

  17. 1300 micron continuum observations of the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud core

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goldsmith, P.F.; Snell, R.L.; Lis, D.C.

    1987-01-01

    Observations with 23-arcsec angular resolution are obtained of the continuum emission at 1300 microns wavelength from the central region of the Sgr B2 molecular cloud, which contains the north and middle high-mass star-forming regions and associated radio continuum and maser sources. The spatial resolution of the present data shows that the 1300-micron continuum emission peak is located at Sgr B2(N), in contrast to the midinfrared emission, which is centered on Sgr B2(M). Comparison with 53 micron data having comparable angular resolution suggests that there is optically thick foreground dust which prevents detection of Sgr B2(N) at wavelengths not greater than 100 microns. Within the about 1.5 x 3.5 pc region mapped, the total mass is 500,000 solar masses and the mean H2 density is 300,000/cu cm, somewhat larger than found in previous investigations. 27 references

  18. Measurement of Interobserver Disagreement: Correction of Cohen’s Kappa for Negative Values

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tarald O. Kvålseth

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available As measures of interobserver agreement for both nominal and ordinal categories, Cohen’s kappa coefficients appear to be the most widely used with simple and meaningful interpretations. However, for negative coefficient values when (the probability of observed disagreement exceeds chance-expected disagreement, no fixed lower bounds exist for the kappa coefficients and their interpretations are no longer meaningful and may be entirely misleading. In this paper, alternative measures of disagreement (or negative agreement are proposed as simple corrections or modifications of Cohen’s kappa coefficients. The new coefficients have a fixed lower bound of −1 that can be attained irrespective of the marginal distributions. A coefficient is formulated for the case when the classification categories are nominal and a weighted coefficient is proposed for ordinal categories. Besides coefficients for the overall disagreement across categories, disagreement coefficients for individual categories are presented. Statistical inference procedures are developed and numerical examples are provided.

  19. Ion acoustic solitons in a plasma with two-temperature kappa-distributed electrons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baluku, T. K.; Hellberg, M. A. [School of Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000 (South Africa)

    2012-01-15

    Existence domains and characteristics of ion acoustic solitons are studied in a two-temperature electron plasma with both electron components being kappa-distributed, as found in Saturn's magnetosphere. As is the case for double-Boltzmann electrons, solitons of both polarities can exist over restricted ranges of fractional hot electron density ratio for this plasma model. Low {kappa} values, which indicate increased suprathermal particles in the tail of the distribution, yield a smaller domain in the parameter space of hot density fraction and normalized soliton velocity (f, M), over which both soliton polarities are supported for a given plasma composition (the coexistence region). For some density ratios that support coexistence, solitons occur even at the lowest (critical) Mach number (i.e., at the acoustic speed), as found recently for a number of other plasma models. Like Maxwellians, low-{kappa} distributions also support positive potential double layers over a narrow range of low fractional cool electron density (<10%).

  20. The effects of divided attention on auditory priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mulligan, Neil W; Duke, Marquinn; Cooper, Angela W

    2007-09-01

    Traditional theorizing stresses the importance of attentional state during encoding for later memory, based primarily on research with explicit memory. Recent research has begun to investigate the role of attention in implicit memory but has focused almost exclusively on priming in the visual modality. The present experiments examined the effect of divided attention on auditory implicit memory, using auditory perceptual identification, word-stem completion and word-fragment completion. Participants heard study words under full attention conditions or while simultaneously carrying out a distractor task (the divided attention condition). In Experiment 1, a distractor task with low response frequency failed to disrupt later auditory priming (but diminished explicit memory as assessed with auditory recognition). In Experiment 2, a distractor task with greater response frequency disrupted priming on all three of the auditory priming tasks as well as the explicit test. These results imply that although auditory priming is less reliant on attention than explicit memory, it is still greatly affected by at least some divided-attention manipulations. These results are consistent with research using visual priming tasks and have relevance for hypotheses regarding attention and auditory priming.

  1. NIRS Characterization of Paper Pulps to Predict Kappa Number

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Moral

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Rice is one of the most abundant food crops in the world and its straw stands as an important source of fibres both from an economic and an environmental point of view. Pulp characterization is of special relevance in works involving alternative raw materials, since pulp properties are closely linked to the quality of the final product. One of the analytical techniques that can be used in pulp characterization is near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS. The use of NIRS has economic and technical advantages over conventional techniques. This paper aims to discuss the convenience of using NIRS to predict Kappa number in rice straw pulps produced under different conditions. We found that the resulting Kappa number can be acceptably estimated by NIRS, as the errors obtained with that method are similar to those found for other techniques.

  2. Affective priming using facial expressions modulates liking for abstract art.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Flexas, Albert; Rosselló, Jaume; Christensen, Julia F; Nadal, Marcos; Olivera La Rosa, Antonio; Munar, Enric

    2013-01-01

    We examined the influence of affective priming on the appreciation of abstract artworks using an evaluative priming task. Facial primes (showing happiness, disgust or no emotion) were presented under brief (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony, SOA = 20 ms) and extended (SOA = 300 ms) conditions. Differences in aesthetic liking for abstract paintings depending on the emotion expressed in the preceding primes provided a measure of the priming effect. The results showed that, for the extended SOA, artworks were liked more when preceded by happiness primes and less when preceded by disgust primes. Facial expressions of happiness, though not of disgust, exerted similar effects in the brief SOA condition. Subjective measures and a forced-choice task revealed no evidence of prime awareness in the suboptimal condition. Our results are congruent with findings showing that the affective transfer elicited by priming biases evaluative judgments, extending previous research to the domain of aesthetic appreciation.

  3. Affective priming using facial expressions modulates liking for abstract art.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Albert Flexas

    Full Text Available We examined the influence of affective priming on the appreciation of abstract artworks using an evaluative priming task. Facial primes (showing happiness, disgust or no emotion were presented under brief (Stimulus Onset Asynchrony, SOA = 20 ms and extended (SOA = 300 ms conditions. Differences in aesthetic liking for abstract paintings depending on the emotion expressed in the preceding primes provided a measure of the priming effect. The results showed that, for the extended SOA, artworks were liked more when preceded by happiness primes and less when preceded by disgust primes. Facial expressions of happiness, though not of disgust, exerted similar effects in the brief SOA condition. Subjective measures and a forced-choice task revealed no evidence of prime awareness in the suboptimal condition. Our results are congruent with findings showing that the affective transfer elicited by priming biases evaluative judgments, extending previous research to the domain of aesthetic appreciation.

  4. Object color affects identification and repetition priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uttl, Bob; Graf, Peter; Santacruz, Pilar

    2006-10-01

    We investigated the influence of color on the identification of both non-studied and studied objects. Participants studied black and white and color photos of common objects and memory was assessed with an identification test. Consistent with our meta-analysis of prior research, we found that objects were easier to identify from color than from black and white photos. We also found substantial priming in all conditions, and study-to-test changes in an object's color reduced the magnitude of priming. Color-specific priming effects were large for color-complex objects, but minimal for color-simple objects. The pattern and magnitude of priming effects was not influenced either by the extent to which an object always appears in the same color (i.e., whether a color is symptomatic of an object) or by the object's origin (natural versus fabricated). We discuss the implications of our findings for theoretical accounts of object perception and repetition priming.

  5. Hydrogen inhalation reduced epithelial apoptosis in ventilator-induced lung injury via a mechanism involving nuclear factor-kappa B activation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huang, Chien-Sheng [Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Taipei-Veterans General Hospital and National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan (China); Kawamura, Tomohiro; Peng, Ximei [Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Tochigi, Naobumi [Department of Pathology, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA (United States); Shigemura, Norihisa [Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Billiar, Timothy R. [Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Nakao, Atsunori, E-mail: anakao@imap.pitt.edu [Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Department of Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (United States); Toyoda, Yoshiya [Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

    2011-05-06

    Highlights: {yields} Hydrogen is a regulatory molecule with antiinflammatory and antiapoptotic protective effects. {yields} There is very limited information on the pathways regulated in vivo by the hydrogen. {yields} Antiapoptotic abilities of hydrogen were explained by upregulation of the antiapoptotic gene. {yields} NF{kappa}B activation during hydrogen treatment was correlated with elevated antiapoptotic protein. {yields} NF{kappa}B activation associated with increase Bcl-2 may contribute to cytoprotection of hydrogen. -- Abstract: We recently demonstrated the inhalation of hydrogen gas, a novel medical therapeutic gas, ameliorates ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI); however, the molecular mechanisms by which hydrogen ameliorates VILI remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated whether inhaled hydrogen gas modulates the nuclear factor-kappa B (NF{kappa}B) signaling pathway. VILI was generated in male C57BL6 mice by performing a tracheostomy and placing the mice on a mechanical ventilator (tidal volume of 30 ml/kg or 10 ml/kg without positive end-expiratory pressure). The ventilator delivered either 2% nitrogen or 2% hydrogen in balanced air. NF{kappa}B activation, as indicated by NF{kappa}B DNA binding, was detected by electrophoretic mobility shift assays and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Hydrogen gas inhalation increased NF{kappa}B DNA binding after 1 h of ventilation and decreased NF{kappa}B DNA binding after 2 h of ventilation, as compared with controls. The early activation of NF{kappa}B during hydrogen treatment was correlated with elevated levels of the antiapoptotic protein Bcl-2 and decreased levels of Bax. Hydrogen inhalation increased oxygen tension, decreased lung edema, and decreased the expression of proinflammatory mediators. Chemical inhibition of early NF{kappa}B activation using SN50 reversed these protective effects. NF{kappa}B activation and an associated increase in the expression of Bcl-2 may contribute, in part, to the

  6. Preserved semantic priming effect in alexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mimura, M; Goodglass, H; Milberg, W

    1996-09-01

    BH, a left-handed patient with alexia and nonfluent aphasia, was presented with a lexical-decision task in which words and pronounceable pseudowords were preceded by semantically related or unrelated picture primes (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, BH was given an explicit reading task using the word lists from Experiment 1. Performance on Experiment 2 disclosed severe reading deficits in both oral reading and semantic matching of the words to pictures. However, in Experiment 1, BH demonstrated a significant semantic priming effect, responding more accurately and more quickly to words preceded by related primes than by unrelated primes. The present results suggest that even in a patient with severe alexia, implicit access to semantic information can be preserved in the absence of explicit identification. The possibility of categorical gradient in implicit activation (living vs. nonliving) in BH was also discussed, which, however, needs to be clarified in the further investigation.

  7. Insulin receptor substrate-3, interacting with Bcl-3, enhances p50 NF-{kappa}B activity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kabuta, Tomohiro [Departments of Animal Sciences and Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657 (Japan); Department of Degenerative Neurological Diseases, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8502 (Japan); Hakuno, Fumihiko; Cho, Yoshitake; Yamanaka, Daisuke; Chida, Kazuhiro [Departments of Animal Sciences and Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657 (Japan); Asano, Tomoichiro [Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima 734-8551 (Japan); Wada, Keiji [Department of Degenerative Neurological Diseases, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Kodaira, Tokyo 187-8502 (Japan); Takahashi, Shin-Ichiro, E-mail: atkshin@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp [Departments of Animal Sciences and Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657 (Japan)

    2010-04-09

    The insulin receptor substrate (IRS) proteins are major substrates of both insulin receptor and insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I receptor tyrosine kinases. Previously, we reported that IRS-3 is localized to both cytosol and nucleus, and possesses transcriptional activity. In the present study, we identified Bcl-3 as a novel binding protein to IRS-3. Bcl-3 is a nuclear protein, which forms a complex with the homodimer of p50 NF-{kappa}B, leading to enhancement of transcription through p50 NF-{kappa}B. We found that Bcl-3 interacts with the pleckstrin homology domain and the phosphotyrosine binding domain of IRS-3, and that IRS-3 interacts with the ankyrin repeat domain of Bcl-3. In addition, IRS-3 augmented the binding activity of p50 to the NF-{kappa}B DNA binding site, as well as the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-{alpha}-induced transcriptional activity of NF-{kappa}B. Lastly, IRS-3 enhanced NF-{kappa}B-dependent anti-apoptotic gene induction and consequently inhibited TNF-{alpha}-induced cell death. This series of results proposes a novel function for IRS-3 as a transcriptional regulator in TNF-{alpha} signaling, distinct from its function as a substrate of insulin/IGF receptor kinases.

  8. Australia's First Prime Ministerial Library: Past and Future

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carman-Brown, Lesley; Henderson, Kandy-Jane; Wallace, Lesley

    2005-01-01

    In creating Australia's first prime ministerial library, a new cultural institution was developed which blends professional practice from the fields of librarianship, education, archives, journalism and museums. The John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library honours the contribution of wartime prime minister John Curtin, works towards the advancement…

  9. DMPD: Signaling to NF-kappaB by Toll-like receptors. [Dynamic Macrophage Pathway CSML Database

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available l Med. 2007 Nov;13(11):460-9. Epub 2007 Oct 29. (.png) (.svg) (.html) (.csml) Show Signaling to NF-kappaB by Toll-like receptors. Pub...medID 18029230 Title Signaling to NF-kappaB by Toll-like receptors. Authors Kawai T

  10. A computational approach to negative priming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schrobsdorff, H.; Ihrke, M.; Kabisch, B.; Behrendt, J.; Hasselhorn, M.; Herrmann, J. Michael

    2007-09-01

    Priming is characterized by a sensitivity of reaction times to the sequence of stimuli in psychophysical experiments. The reduction of the reaction time observed in positive priming is well-known and experimentally understood (Scarborough et al., J. Exp. Psycholol: Hum. Percept. Perform., 3, pp. 1-17, 1977). Negative priming—the opposite effect—is experimentally less tangible (Fox, Psychonom. Bull. Rev., 2, pp. 145-173, 1995). The dependence on subtle parameter changes (such as response-stimulus interval) usually varies. The sensitivity of the negative priming effect bears great potential for applications in research in fields such as memory, selective attention, and ageing effects. We develop and analyse a computational realization, CISAM, of a recent psychological model for action decision making, the ISAM (Kabisch, PhD thesis, Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat, 2003), which is sensitive to priming conditions. With the dynamical systems approach of the CISAM, we show that a single adaptive threshold mechanism is sufficient to explain both positive and negative priming effects. This is achieved by comparing results obtained by the computational modelling with experimental data from our laboratory. The implementation provides a rich base from which testable predictions can be derived, e.g. with respect to hitherto untested stimulus combinations (e.g. single-object trials).

  11. 125I-DPDYN, monoiodo [D-Pro10]- dynorphin (1-11), is an effective and useful tool for the study of kappa opioid receptors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gairin, J.E.; Jomary, C.; Cros, J.; Meunier, J.C.

    1986-01-01

    Iodination of the kappa-selective peptide DPDYN, [D-Pro10]-dynorphin (1-11), has been performed. The non radioactive monoiodo derivative of DPDYN retains kappa-selectivity (kappa/mu = 48 and kappa/delta = 140), despite a general but moderate decrease in affinity. Radioiodination of DPDYN leads to the monoiodinated peptide (S.A 700-800 Ci/mmol) which interacts specifically and reversibly with the kappa-sites in guinea-pig cerebellum membranes with high affinity (KD = 0.12-0.18 nM). In guinea-pig brain (mu-delta-kappa) and rabbit cerebellum (kappa much less than mu), 125 I-DPDYN discriminates between kappa- and other (mu, delta) binding sites. We have used this new labelled probe for the direct, precise and rapid (exposure time less than 100 hours) visualization of kappa-sites in guinea-pig and rabbit cerebellar slices using autoradiography

  12. The effect of unimodal affective priming on dichotic emotion recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Voyer, Daniel; Myles, Daniel

    2017-11-15

    The present report concerns two experiments extending to unimodal priming the cross-modal priming effects observed with auditory emotions by Harding and Voyer [(2016). Laterality effects in cross-modal affective priming. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 21, 585-605]. Experiment 1 used binaural targets to establish the presence of the priming effect and Experiment 2 used dichotically presented targets to examine auditory asymmetries. In Experiment 1, 82 university students completed a task in which binaural targets consisting of one of 4 English words inflected in one of 4 emotional tones were preceded by binaural primes consisting of one of 4 Mandarin words pronounced in the same (congruent) or different (incongruent) emotional tones. Trials where the prime emotion was congruent with the target emotion showed faster responses and higher accuracy in identifying the target emotion. In Experiment 2, 60 undergraduate students participated and the target was presented dichotically instead of binaurally. Primes congruent with the left ear produced a large left ear advantage, whereas right congruent primes produced a right ear advantage. These results indicate that unimodal priming produces stronger effects than those observed under cross-modal priming. The findings suggest that priming should likely be considered a strong top-down influence on laterality effects.

  13. Stress priming in picture naming: an SOA study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schiller, Niels O; Fikkert, Paula; Levelt, Clara C

    2004-01-01

    This study investigates whether or not the representation of lexical stress information can be primed during speech production. In four experiments, we attempted to prime the stress position of bisyllabic target nouns (picture names) having initial and final stress with auditory prime words having either the same or different stress as the target (e.g., WORtel-MOtor vs. koSTUUM-MOtor; capital letters indicate stressed syllables in prime-target pairs). Furthermore, half of the prime words were semantically related, the other half unrelated. Overall, picture names were not produced faster when the prime word had the same stress as the target than when the prime had different stress, i.e., there was no stress-priming effect in any experiment. This result would not be expected if stress were stored in the lexicon. However, targets with initial stress were responded to faster than final-stress targets. The reason for this effect was neither the quality of the pictures nor frequency of occurrence or voice-key characteristics. We hypothesize here that this stress effect is a genuine encoding effect, i.e., words with stress on the second syllable take longer to be encoded because their stress pattern is irregular with respect to the lexical distribution of bisyllabic stress patterns, even though it can be regular with respect to metrical stress rules in Dutch. The results of the experiments are discussed in the framework of models of phonological encoding.

  14. The use of mechanically activated micronized coal in thermal power engineering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Burdukov Anatoliy P.

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Coal is one of the main energy resources and development of new promising technologies on its basis is certainly topical. This article discusses the use of new technology of gas and fuel oil replacement by mechanically activated micronized coal in power engineering: ignition and stabilization of pulverized coal flame combustion, as well as gasification of micronized coal in the flow. The new technology coal combustion with two stages of grinding is suggested. Optimization of the scheme of two-stage combustion is calculated. The first experimental data on the combustion process are obtained. The first demonstration tests on gas and heavy oil replacement by micronized coal during boiler ignition were carried out in the real power boiler with the capacity of 320 tons of steam per hour.

  15. Observations of the 63 micron forbidden O I line in Herbig-Haro objects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cohen, M.; Hollenbach, D.J.; Haas, M.R.; Erickson, E.F.

    1988-01-01

    The paper presents observations of the 63 micron forbidden O I line from Herbig-Haro objects and their exciting stars. Forbidden O I 63 micron emission is detected toward the HH-exciting stars T Tau, DG Tau, L1551 IRS 5, and toward the HH objects HH 7-11, HH 42A, and HH 43 which are displaced from their exciting stars. The forbidden O I emission is associated with these flows on the basis of its spatial coincidence and its negative radial velocities. If the exciting stars drive bipolar flows in which the 63 micron emission follows that at 6300 A, the absence of redshifted 63 micron lines from the three exciting stars might indicate that the disks hypothesized to overlie the receding lobes of these flows are still optically thick in the far-infrared. 50 references

  16. Specific and non-specific match effects in negative priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Labossière, Danielle I; Leboe-McGowan, Jason P

    2018-01-01

    The negative priming effect occurs when withholding a response to a stimulus impairs generation of subsequent responding to a same or a related stimulus. Our goal was to use the negative priming procedure to obtain insights about the memory representations generated by ignoring vs. attending/responding to a prime stimulus. Across three experiments we observed that ignoring a prime stimulus tends to generate higher identity-independent, non-specific repetition effects, owing to an overlap in the coarse perceptual form of a prime distractor and a probe target. By contrast, attended repetition effects generate predominantly identity-specific sources of facilitation. We use these findings to advocate for using laboratory phenomena to illustrate general principles that can be of practical use to non-specialists. In the case of the negative priming procedure, we propose that the procedure provides a useful means for investigating attention/memory interactions, even if the specific cause (or causes) of negative priming effects remain unresolved. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. The impact of auditory white noise on semantic priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angwin, Anthony J; Wilson, Wayne J; Copland, David A; Barry, Robert J; Myatt, Grace; Arnott, Wendy L

    2018-04-10

    It has been proposed that white noise can improve cognitive performance for some individuals, particularly those with lower attention, and that this effect may be mediated by dopaminergic circuitry. Given existing evidence that semantic priming is modulated by dopamine, this study investigated whether white noise can facilitate semantic priming. Seventy-eight adults completed an auditory semantic priming task with and without white noise, at either a short or long inter-stimulus interval (ISI). Measures of both direct and indirect semantic priming were examined. Analysis of the results revealed significant direct and indirect priming effects at each ISI in noise and silence, however noise significantly reduced the magnitude of indirect priming. Analyses of subgroups with higher versus lower attention revealed a reduction to indirect priming in noise relative to silence for participants with lower executive and orienting attention. These findings suggest that white noise focuses automatic spreading activation, which may be driven by modulation of dopaminergic circuitry. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Mapping the transcription termination region of the mouse immunoglobulin kappa gene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu, M.; Garrard, W.T.

    1986-01-01

    To define the transcription termination region of the mouse immunoglobulin kappa gene, they have subcloned single copy DNA sequences corresponding to both the template and the non-template strands of this locus. In vitro nuclear transcription with isolated MPC-11 nuclei was performed and the resulting 32 P-labeled RNA was hybridized to slot-blotted, single-stranded M13 probes covering regions within and flanking the kappa gene. The hybridization pattern for the template-strand reveals that transcription terminates within the region between 1.1 to 2.3 kb downstream from the poly(A) site. Ten different short sequences (8-13 bp) reside within 460 bp of this region that exhibit homology with sequences found in the termination regions of mouse β-globin and chicken ovalbumin genes. Transcription of the non-template strand occurs on either side of this termination region. They note that no transcription is detectable on the non-template strand downstream of the enhancer, indicating that if RNA polymerase II enters at this site, it does not initiate transcription during transit to the promoter region. They conclude that transcription of the kappa gene passes the poly(A) addition site and terminates within 2.3 Kb downstream

  19. Performance of a 1-micron, 1-joule Coherent Launch Site Atmospheric Wind Sounder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hawley, James G.; Targ, Russell; Bruner, Richard; Henderson, Sammy W.; Hale, Charles P.; Vetorino, Steven; Lee, R. W.; Harper, Scott; Khan, Tayyab

    1992-01-01

    The paper describes the design and performance of the Coherent Launch Site Atmospheric Wind Sounder (CLAWS), which is a test and demonstration program designed for monitoring winds with a solid-state lidar in real time for the launch site vehicle guidance and control application. Analyses were conducted to trade off CO2 (9.11- and 10.6-microns), Ho:YAG (2.09 microns), and Nd:YAG (1.06-micron) laser-based lidars. The measurements set a new altitude record (26 km) for coherent wind measurements in the stratosphere.

  20. DMPD: Nuclear factor-kappaB: activation and regulation during toll-like receptorsignaling. [Dynamic Macrophage Pathway CSML Database

    Lifescience Database Archive (English)

    Full Text Available 17349209 Nuclear factor-kappaB: activation and regulation during toll-like receptorsignaling. Carmody...uclear factor-kappaB: activation and regulation during toll-like receptorsignaling. Authors Carmody

  1. p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase up-regulates NF-{kappa}B transcriptional activation through RelA phosphorylation during stretch-induced myogenesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ji, Guoping [Department of Orthodontics, College of Stomatology, Ninth People' s Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Research Institute of Stomatology, Shanghai 200011 (China); Liu, Dongxu [Department of Orthodontics, College of Stomatology, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province 250012 (China); Liu, Jing [Department of Orthodontics, The Affiliated Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong Province 266075 (China); Gao, Hui [Department of Orthodontics, Tianjin Stomatological Hospital, Tianjin 300041 (China); Yuan, Xiao, E-mail: yuanxiaoqd@163.com [Department of Orthodontics, The Affiliated Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong Province 266075 (China); Shen, Gang, E-mail: ganshen2007@163.com [Department of Orthodontics, College of Stomatology, Ninth People' s Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Research Institute of Stomatology, Shanghai 200011 (China)

    2010-01-01

    p38 MAPK and nuclear factor-B (NF-B) signaling pathways play an indispensable role in the control of skeletal myogenesis. The specific contribution of these signaling pathways to the response of myoblast to the mechanical stimulation and the molecular mechanisms underlying this response remain unresolved. Using an established in vitro model, we now show that p38 MAP kinase activity regulates the transcriptional activation of NF-{kappa}B in response to mechanical stimulation of myoblasts. Furthermore, SB203580 blocked stretch-induced NF-{kappa}B activation during myogenesis, not through down-regulation of degradation of I{kappa}B-{alpha}, and consequent translocation of the p65 subunit of NF-{kappa}B to the nucleus. It is likely that stretch-induced NF-{kappa}B activation by phosphorylation of p65 NF-{kappa}B. Moreover, depletion of p38{alpha} using siRNA significantly reduces stretch-induced phosphorylation of RelA and NF-{kappa}B activity. These results provides the first evidence of a cross-talk between p38 MAPK and NF-{kappa}B signaling pathways during stretch-induced myogenesis, with phosphorylation of RelA being one of the effectors of this promyogenic mechanism. The {alpha} isoform of p38MAP kinase regulates the transcriptional activation of NF-{kappa}B following stimulation with cyclic stretch.

  2. Bounded Gaps between Products of Special Primes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ping Ngai Chung

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available In their breakthrough paper in 2006, Goldston, Graham, Pintz and Yıldırım proved several results about bounded gaps between products of two distinct primes. Frank Thorne expanded on this result, proving bounded gaps in the set of square-free numbers with r prime factors for any r ≥ 2, all of which are in a given set of primes. His results yield applications to the divisibility of class numbers and the triviality of ranks of elliptic curves. In this paper, we relax the condition on the number of prime factors and prove an analogous result using a modified approach. We then revisit Thorne’s applications and give a better bound in each case.

  3. Negative Priming in Free Recall Reconsidered

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanczakowski, Maciej; Beaman, C. Philip; Jones, Dylan M.

    2016-01-01

    Negative priming in free recall is the finding of impaired memory performance when previously ignored auditory distracters become targets of encoding and retrieval. This negative priming has been attributed to an aftereffect of deploying inhibitory mechanisms that serve to suppress auditory distraction and minimize interference with learning and…

  4. Measuring micron size beams in the SLC final focus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCormick, D.; Ross, M.; DeBarger, S.

    1994-10-01

    A pair of high resolution wire scanners have been built and installed in the SLC final focus. The final focus optics uses a set of de-magnifying telescopes, and an ideal location for a beam size monitor is at one of the magnified image points of the interaction point. The image point chosen for these scanners is in the middle of a large bend magnet. The design beam spots here are about 2 microns in the vertical and 20 microns in the horizontal plane. The scanners presented a number of design challenges. In this paper we discuss the mechanical design of the scanner, and fabrication techniques of its ceramic wire support card which holds many 4 and 7 um carbon wires. Accurate motion of the wire during a scan is critical. In this paper we describe tests of stepper motors, gear combinations, and radiation hardened encoders needed to produce the required motion with a step resolution of 80 nanometers. Also presented here are the results of scattered radiation detector placement studies carried out to optimize the signal from the 4 micron wires. Finally, we present measurements from the scanner

  5. Caseinomacropeptide self-association is dependent on whether the peptide is free or restricted in kappa-casein

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mikkelsen, T.L.; Frokiaer, H.; Topp, C.

    2005-01-01

    There is a general agreement that the experimentally determined molecular weight (MW) of caseinomacropeptide (CMP) is greater than the theoretical MW. Some studies suggest that this is due to a pH-dependent aggregation of monomeric CMP. How this aggregation is influenced by pH is not understood. ...... are irreversibly associated, CMP in kappa-CN may associate reversibly in a pH-dependent manner. We suggest that interactions between para-kappa-CN parts of the kappa-CN molecules may be a requisite for the pH-dependent dissociation/association....

  6. Novel Word Lexicalization and the Prime Lexicality Effect

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiao, Xiaomei; Forster, Kenneth I.

    2013-01-01

    This study investigates how newly learned words are integrated into the first-language lexicon using masked priming. Two lexical decision experiments are reported, with the aim of establishing whether newly learned words behave like real words in a masked form priming experiment. If they do, they should show a prime lexicality effect (PLE), in…

  7. Tribomechanical micronization and activation of whey protein ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Tribomechanics is a part of physics that is concerned with the study of phenomena that appear during milling under dynamic conditions. Tribomechanical micronization and activation (TMA) of whey protein concentrates (WPC) and zeolites (type clinoptilolite) were carried out. Samples of powdered WPC and zeolite were ...

  8. Detection of the 3.4- and 2.8-micron emission features in Comet Bradfield (1987s)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brooke, T.Y.; Tokunaga, A.T.; Knacke, R.F.; Owen, T.C.; Mumma, M.J.

    1990-01-01

    Comet Bradfield's 3.4-micron C-H emission feature at 3.4 microns, as well as the emission feature near 2.8 microns, exhibit spectral shapes similar to those noted in Comets Halley and Wilson; the derived abundances of the C-H bonds in all three comets are also comparable (within water production rate uncertainties). These data support the hypothesis that the species responsible for the 3.4- and 2.8-micron features may be common to all comets. Beyond this, the widely differing ages of the three comets suggest that the 3.4-micron feature-emitting organics are not the product of surface irradiation processes after the comets' formation. 25 refs

  9. Pattern imprinting in deep sub-micron static random access memories induced by total dose irradiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Qi-Wen; Yu, Xue-Feng; Cui, Jiang-Wei; Guo, Qi; Ren, Di-Yuan; Cong, Zhong-Chao; Zhou, Hang

    2014-10-01

    Pattern imprinting in deep sub-micron static random access memories (SRAMs) during total dose irradiation is investigated in detail. As the dose accumulates, the data pattern of memory cells loading during irradiation is gradually imprinted on their background data pattern. We build a relationship between the memory cell's static noise margin (SNM) and the background data, and study the influence of irradiation on the probability density function of ΔSNM, which is the difference between two data sides' SNMs, to discuss the reason for pattern imprinting. Finally, we demonstrate that, for micron and deep sub-micron devices, the mechanism of pattern imprinting is the bias-dependent threshold shift of the transistor, but for a deep sub-micron device the shift results from charge trapping in the shallow trench isolation (STI) oxide rather than from the gate oxide of the micron-device.

  10. Identity negative priming: a phenomenon of perception, recognition or selection?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hecke Schrobsdorff

    Full Text Available The present study addresses the problem whether negative priming (NP is due to information processing in perception, recognition or selection. We argue that most NP studies confound priming and perceptual similarity of prime-probe episodes and implement a color-switch paradigm in order to resolve the issue. In a series of three identity negative priming experiments with verbal naming response, we determined when NP and positive priming (PP occur during a trial. The first experiment assessed the impact of target color on priming effects. It consisted of two blocks, each with a different fixed target color. With respect to target color no differential priming effects were found. In Experiment 2 the target color was indicated by a cue for each trial. Here we resolved the confounding of perceptual similarity and priming condition. In trials with coinciding colors for prime and probe, we found priming effects similar to Experiment 1. However, trials with a target color switch showed such effects only in trials with role-reversal (distractor-to-target or target-to-distractor, whereas the positive priming (PP effect in the target-repetition trials disappeared. Finally, Experiment 3 split trial processing into two phases by presenting the trial-wise color cue only after the stimulus objects had been recognized. We found recognition in every priming condition to be faster than in control trials. We were hence led to the conclusion that PP is strongly affected by perception, in contrast to NP which emerges during selection, i.e., the two effects cannot be explained by a single mechanism.

  11. Can False Memories Prime Problem Solutions?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howe, Mark L.; Garner, Sarah R.; Dewhurst, Stephen A.; Ball, Linden J.

    2010-01-01

    Previous research has suggested that false memories can prime performance on related implicit and explicit memory tasks. The present research examined whether false memories can also be used to prime higher order cognitive processes, namely, insight-based problem solving. Participants were asked to solve a number of compound remote associate task…

  12. Fabrication, microstructure, and mechanical properties of high strength cobalt sub-micron structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jin Sumin; Burek, Michael J.; Evans, Robert D.; Jahed, Zeinab; Leung, Michael C.; Evans, Neal D.; Tsui, Ting Y.

    2012-01-01

    The mechanical properties exhibited by sub-micron scale columnar structures of cobalt, fabricated by electron beam lithography and electroplating techniques, were investigated through uniaxial compression. Transmission electron microscopy analyses show these specimens possess a microstructure with sub-micron grains which are elongated and aligned near to the pillar loading axis. In addition, small nanocrystalline cobalt crystals are also present within the columnar structure. These specimens display exceptional mechanical strength comparable with both bulk polycrystalline and nanocrystalline cobalt deposited by electroplating. Size-dependent softening with shrinking sample dimensions is also observed in this work. Additionally, the strength of these sub-micron structures appears to be strain rate sensitive and comparable with bulk nanocrystalline cobalt specimens.

  13. Affective Priming in Major Depressive Disorder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joelle eLeMoult

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available Research on cognitive biases in depression has provided considerable evidence for the impact of emotion on cognition. Individuals with depression tend to preferentially process mood-congruent material and to show deficits in the processing of positive material leading to biases in attention, memory, and judgments. More research is needed, however, to fully understand which cognitive processes are affected. The current study further examines the impact of emotion on cognition using a priming design with facial expressions of emotion. Specifically, this study tested whether the presentation of facial expressions of emotion affects subsequent processing of affective material in participants with major depressive disorder (MDD and healthy controls (CTL. Facial expressions displaying happy, sad, angry, disgusted, or neutral expressions were presented as primes for 500ms, and participants’ speed to identify a subsequent target’s emotional expression was assessed. All participants displayed greater interference from emotional versus neutral primes, marked by slower response times to judge the emotion of the target face when it was preceded by an emotional prime. Importantly, the CTL group showed the strongest interference when happy emotional expressions served as primes whereas the MDD group failed to show this bias. These results add to a growing literature that shows that depression is associated with difficulties in the processing of positive material.

  14. Corneal NF-kappaB activity is necessary for the retention of transparency in the cornea of UV-B-exposed transgenic reporter mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexander, George; Carlsen, Harald; Blomhoff, Rune

    2006-04-01

    To determine the dynamics of Nuclear Factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) in murine corneal pathology and the role of NF-kappaB in maintaining corneal clarity after ultraviolet B radiation insult, transgenic mice containing NF-kappaB-luciferase reporter were exposed to LPS (bacterial lipopolysaccharide), TNF-alpha (Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha) or 4 kJ m(-2) UV-B radiation. NF-kappaB decoy oligonucleotides were also administered in some of the UV-B experiments. Following various exposure times, the mice were sacrificed and whole eyes or corneal tissues were obtained. Whole eyes were examined for scattering using a point-source optical imaging technique. Tissue homogenates were examined for luciferase activity using a luminometer. TNF-alpha and LPS-injected NF-kappaB-luciferase transgenic mice demonstrated 3-10-fold increases in cornea NF-kappaB with peak activities at 4 and 6 hr post-injection, respectively. Mice exposed to 4 kJ m(-2) UV-B exhibited a 3-fold increase in NF-kappaB activity 4 hr post-exposure. The administration of NF-kappaB-decoy oligonucleotides to mice had the effect of reducing UV-B-induced NF-kappaB activity in the cornea and significantly increasing the amount of light scattering in UV-B exposed corneas 7 days post-UV-B exposure when compared to sham injected mice. These results indicate that NF-kappaB is activated in cornea in pathologies that involves increased plasma levels of LPS and TNF-alpha, as well as direct UV-B exposure, and suggest that NF-kappaB activation play an essential part in the corneal healing process.

  15. Instant PrimeFaces starter

    CERN Document Server

    Hlavats, Ian

    2013-01-01

    Get to grips with a new technology, understand what it is and what it can do for you, and then get to work with the most important features and tasks. Instant Primefaces Starter is a fast-paced, introductory guide designed to give you all the information you need to start using Primfaces, instantly.Instant PrimeFaces Starter is great for developers looking to get started quickly with PrimeFaces. It's assumed that you have some JSF experience already, as well as familiarity with other Java technologies such as CDI and JPA and an understanding of MVC principles, object-relational mapping (ORM),

  16. NF-kappaB signaling mediates vascular smooth muscle endothelin type B receptor expression in resistance arteries

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zheng, Jian-Pu; Zhang, Yaping; Edvinsson, Lars

    2010-01-01

    Vascular smooth muscle cells (SMC) endothelin type B (ET(B)) receptor upregulation results in strong vasoconstriction and reduction of local blood flow. We hypothesizes that the underlying molecular mechanisms involve transcriptional factor nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) pathway. ET(B) recepto...

  17. Facial expression primes and implicit regulation of negative emotion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, HeungSik; Kim, Shin Ah; Kim, Sang Hee

    2015-06-17

    An individual's responses to emotional information are influenced not only by the emotional quality of the information, but also by the context in which the information is presented. We hypothesized that facial expressions of happiness and anger would serve as primes to modulate subjective and neural responses to subsequently presented negative information. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a functional MRI study in which the brains of healthy adults were scanned while they performed an emotion-rating task. During the task, participants viewed a series of negative and neutral photos, one at a time; each photo was presented after a picture showing a face expressing a happy, angry, or neutral emotion. Brain imaging results showed that compared with neutral primes, happy facial primes increased activation during negative emotion in the dorsal anterior cingulated cortex and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which are typically implicated in conflict detection and implicit emotion control, respectively. Conversely, relative to neutral primes, angry primes activated the right middle temporal gyrus and the left supramarginal gyrus during the experience of negative emotion. Activity in the amygdala in response to negative emotion was marginally reduced after exposure to happy primes compared with angry primes. Relative to neutral primes, angry facial primes increased the subjectively experienced intensity of negative emotion. The current study results suggest that prior exposure to facial expressions of emotions modulates the subsequent experience of negative emotion by implicitly activating the emotion-regulation system.

  18. Masked priming for the comparative evaluation of camouflage conspicuity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brunyé, Tad T; Eddy, Marianna D; Cain, Matthew S; Hepfinger, Lisa B; Rock, Kathryn

    2017-07-01

    Human observer test and evaluation of camouflage patterns is critical for understanding relative pattern conspicuity against a range of background scenes. However, very few validated methodologies exist for this purpose, and those that do carry several limitations. Five experiments examined whether masked priming with a dot probe could be used to reliably differentiate camouflage patterns. In each experiment, participants were primed with a camouflaged target appearing on the left or right of the screen, and then made a speeded response to a dot probe appearing on the same (congruent) or different (incongruent) side. Across experiments we parametrically varied prime duration between 35, 42, 49, 56, and 63 ms. Results demonstrated that as prime duration increased, a response time disadvantage for incongruent trials emerged with certain camouflage patterns. Interestingly, the most conspicuous patterns showed behavioral differences at a relatively brief (49 ms) prime duration, whereas behavioral differences were only found at longer prime durations for less conspicuous patterns; this overall results pattern matched that predicted by a visual salience model. Together, we demonstrate the viability of masked priming for the test and evaluation of camouflage patterns, and correlated outcomes for saliency models and primed object processing. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  19. Long-term repetition priming with symmetrical polygons and words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kersteen-Tucker, Z

    1991-01-01

    In two different tasks, subjects were asked to make lexical decisions (word or nonword) and symmetry judgments (symmetrical or nonsymmetrical) about two-dimensional polygons. In both tasks, every stimulus was repeated at one of four lags (0, 1, 4, or 8 items interposed between the first and second stimulus presentations). This paradigm, known as repetition priming, revealed comparable short-term priming (Lag 0) and long-term priming (Lags 1, 4, and 8) both for symmetrical polygons and for words. A shorter term component (Lags 0 and 1) of priming was observed for nonwords, and only very short-term priming (Lag 0) was observed for nonsymmetrical polygons. These results indicate that response facilitation accruing from repeated exposure can be observed for stimuli that have no preexisting memory representations and suggest that perceptual factors contribute to repetition-priming effects.

  20. Semantic Priming for Coordinate Distant Concepts in Alzheimer's Disease Patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perri, R.; Zannino, G. D.; Caltagirone, C.; Carlesimo, G. A.

    2011-01-01

    Semantic priming paradigms have been used to investigate semantic knowledge in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). While priming effects produced by prime-target pairs with associative relatedness reflect processes at both lexical and semantic levels, priming effects produced by words that are semantically related but not associated should…

  1. Phenotyping polyclonal kappa and lambda light chain molecular mass distributions in patient serum using mass spectrometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barnidge, David R; Dasari, Surendra; Ramirez-Alvarado, Marina; Fontan, Adrian; Willrich, Maria A V; Tschumper, Renee C; Jelinek, Diane F; Snyder, Melissa R; Dispenzieri, Angela; Katzmann, Jerry A; Murray, David L

    2014-11-07

    We previously described a microLC-ESI-Q-TOF MS method for identifying monoclonal immunoglobulins in serum and then tracking them over time using their accurate molecular mass. Here we demonstrate how the same methodology can be used to identify and characterize polyclonal immunoglobulins in serum. We establish that two molecular mass distributions observed by microLC-ESI-Q-TOF MS are from polyclonal kappa and lambda light chains using a combination of theoretical molecular masses from gene sequence data and the analysis of commercially available purified polyclonal IgG kappa and IgG lambda from normal human serum. A linear regression comparison of kappa/lambda ratios for 74 serum samples (25 hypergammaglobulinemia, 24 hypogammaglobulinemia, 25 normal) determined by microflowLC-ESI-Q-TOF MS and immunonephelometry had a slope of 1.37 and a correlation coefficient of 0.639. In addition to providing kappa/lambda ratios, the same microLC-ESI-Q-TOF MS analysis can determine the molecular mass for oligoclonal light chains observed above the polyclonal background in patient samples. In 2 patients with immune disorders and hypergammaglobulinemia, we observed a skewed polyclonal molecular mass distribution which translated into biased kappa/lambda ratios. Mass spectrometry provides a rapid and simple way to combine the polyclonal kappa/lambda light chain abundance ratios with the identification of dominant monoclonal as well as oligoclonal light chain immunoglobulins. We anticipate that this approach to evaluating immunoglobulin light chains will lead to improved understanding of immune deficiencies, autoimmune diseases, and antibody responses.

  2. Pattern imprinting in deep sub-micron static random access memories induced by total dose irradiation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zheng Qi-Wen; Yu Xue-Feng; Cui Jiang-Wei; Guo Qi; Ren Di-Yuan; Cong Zhong-Chao; Zhou Hang

    2014-01-01

    Pattern imprinting in deep sub-micron static random access memories (SRAMs) during total dose irradiation is investigated in detail. As the dose accumulates, the data pattern of memory cells loading during irradiation is gradually imprinted on their background data pattern. We build a relationship between the memory cell's static noise margin (SNM) and the background data, and study the influence of irradiation on the probability density function of ΔSNM, which is the difference between two data sides' SNMs, to discuss the reason for pattern imprinting. Finally, we demonstrate that, for micron and deep sub-micron devices, the mechanism of pattern imprinting is the bias-dependent threshold shift of the transistor, but for a deep sub-micron device the shift results from charge trapping in the shallow trench isolation (STI) oxide rather than from the gate oxide of the micron-device. (condensed matter: structural, mechanical, and thermal properties)

  3. Bmi-1 promotes the aggressiveness of glioma via activating the NF-kappaB/MMP-9 signaling pathway

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jiang, Lili; Wu, Jueheng; Yang, Yi; Liu, Liping; Song, Libing; Li, Jun; Li, Mengfeng

    2012-01-01

    The prognosis of human glioma is poor, and the highly invasive nature of the disease represents a major impediment to current therapeutic modalities. The oncoprotein B-cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 protein (Bmi-1) has been linked to the development and progression of glioma; however, the biological role of Bmi-1 in the invasion of glioma remains unclear. A172 and LN229 glioma cells were engineered to overexpress Bmi-1 via stable transfection or to be silenced for Bmi-1 expression using RNA interfering method. Migration and invasiveness of the engineered cells were assessed using wound healing assay, Transwell migration assay, Transwell matrix penetration assay and 3-D spheroid invasion assay. MMP-9 expression and activity were measured using real-time PCR, ELISA and the gelatin zymography methods. Expression of NF-kappaB target genes was quantified using real-time PCR. NF-kappaB transcriptional activity was assessed using an NF-kappaB luciferase reporter system. Expression of Bmi-1 and MMP-9 in clinical specimens was analyzed using immunohistochemical assay. Ectopic overexpression of Bmi-1 dramatically increased, whereas knockdown of endogenous Bmi-1 reduced, the invasiveness and migration of glioma cells. NF-kappaB transcriptional activity and MMP-9 expression and activity were significantly increased in Bmi-1-overexpressing but reduced in Bmi-1-silenced cells. The reporter luciferase activity driven by MMP-9 promoter in Bmi-1-overexpressing cells was dependent on the presence of a functional NF-kappaB binding site, and blockade of NF-kappaB signaling inhibited the upregulation of MMP-9 in Bmi-1 overexpressing cells. Furthermore, expression of Bmi-1 correlated with NF-kappaB nuclear translocation as well as MMP-9 expression in clinical glioma samples. Bmi-1 may play an important role in the development of aggressive phenotype of glioma via activating the NF-kappaB/MMP-9 pathway and therefore might represent a novel therapeutic

  4. Bmi-1 promotes the aggressiveness of glioma via activating the NF-kappaB/MMP-9 signaling pathway

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jiang Lili

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background The prognosis of human glioma is poor, and the highly invasive nature of the disease represents a major impediment to current therapeutic modalities. The oncoprotein B-cell-specific Moloney murine leukemia virus integration site 1 protein (Bmi-1 has been linked to the development and progression of glioma; however, the biological role of Bmi-1 in the invasion of glioma remains unclear. Methods A172 and LN229 glioma cells were engineered to overexpress Bmi-1 via stable transfection or to be silenced for Bmi-1 expression using RNA interfering method. Migration and invasiveness of the engineered cells were assessed using wound healing assay, Transwell migration assay, Transwell matrix penetration assay and 3-D spheroid invasion assay. MMP-9 expression and activity were measured using real-time PCR, ELISA and the gelatin zymography methods. Expression of NF-kappaB target genes was quantified using real-time PCR. NF-kappaB transcriptional activity was assessed using an NF-kappaB luciferase reporter system. Expression of Bmi-1 and MMP-9 in clinical specimens was analyzed using immunohistochemical assay. Results Ectopic overexpression of Bmi-1 dramatically increased, whereas knockdown of endogenous Bmi-1 reduced, the invasiveness and migration of glioma cells. NF-kappaB transcriptional activity and MMP-9 expression and activity were significantly increased in Bmi-1-overexpressing but reduced in Bmi-1-silenced cells. The reporter luciferase activity driven by MMP-9 promoter in Bmi-1-overexpressing cells was dependent on the presence of a functional NF-kappaB binding site, and blockade of NF-kappaB signaling inhibited the upregulation of MMP-9 in Bmi-1 overexpressing cells. Furthermore, expression of Bmi-1 correlated with NF-kappaB nuclear translocation as well as MMP-9 expression in clinical glioma samples. Conclusions Bmi-1 may play an important role in the development of aggressive phenotype of glioma via activating the NF-kappa

  5. Syntactic Priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicol, Janet L.

    1996-01-01

    Reviews the syntactic priming task, a paradigm involving the presentation of a phrasal or clausal context, followed by the presentation of a target item for lexical decision or naming. Notes that response times are faster for targets syntactically congruent with the preceding context than for incongruent targets. Outlines how to administer this…

  6. A prime a day keeps calories away: The effects of supraliminal priming on food consumption and the moderating role of gender and eating restraint.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minas, Randall K; Poor, Morgan; Dennis, Alan R; Bartelt, Valerie L

    2016-10-01

    The link between intentions and action in weight control is weaker than previously thought, so recent research has called for further investigation of ways to improve weight control that bypass conscious intentions. Priming has been shown to have effects on individual behavior in a variety of contexts by influencing subconscious cognition. This paper investigates the effects of semantic priming using healthy body image, goal-oriented words on food consumption. The moderating role of both restrained eating and gender is investigated. 161 participants were involved in an experiment using a novel version of a scrambled sentence priming game. The outcome measure was the number of kilocalories consumed, examined using a between subjects ANCOVA with priming, gender, restrained eating index, self-reported BMI, and two interaction terms (primingxgender, and primingxrestrained eating index). There was no main effect of priming but there was an interaction of priming with gender. Females consumed significantly fewer kilocalories after being exposed to priming words related to a healthy body image (i.e. "slim", "fit,") compared to females receiving the neutral prime, with a medium effect size (d = 0.58). The body image prime did not significantly affect food intake for males, nor did it have a differential effect on restrained eaters. This study shows that priming can be an effective method for influencing females to reduce food intake, regardless of whether they are restrained or unrestrained eaters. Future studies could investigate whether different priming words related to a male's healthy body image goal (i.e. "buff," "muscles," etc.) would similarly reduce food intake for males. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  7. Euclidean Primes Have the Minimum Number of Primitive Roots

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Křížek, Michal; Somer, L.

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 12, č. 1 (2008), s. 121-127 ISSN 0972-5555 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR(CZ) IAA100190803 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10190503 Keywords : Euclidean primes * Fermat primes * Sophie Germain primes Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics

  8. Italy's Prime Minister visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Stefania Pandolfi

    2015-01-01

    On Tuesday, 7 July 2015, the Prime Minister of the Italian Republic, Matteo Renzi, visited CERN. He was accompanied by a delegation that included Italy's Minister for Education, University and Research, Stefania Giannini.   From left to right: Fernando Ferroni, President of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN); Sergio Bertolucci, CERN Director for Research and Scientific Computing; Stefania Giannini, Italy's Minister of Education, University and Research; Matteo Renzi, Prime Minister of the Italian Republic; Fabiola Gianotti, CERN Director-General Designate; Rolf Heuer, CERN Director-General.   The Prime Minister was welcomed by members of the CERN Management together with former CERN Director-General and Senator for Life of the Italian Republic, Carlo Rubbia. After a brief general introduction to CERN’s activities by Rolf Heuer, the Italian delegation visited LHC Point 1. After a tour of the ATLAS control room, they donned helmets to visit th...

  9. Novel selective kappa-opioid ligands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peeters, O M; Jamroz, D; Blaton, N M; De Ranter, C J

    1999-03-15

    The single-crystal X-ray structures of (-)-dimethyl[(2S)-1-(5,6,7,8- tetrahydro-5-oxonaphthalene-2-acetyl)piperidin-2-ylmethyl ]ammonium chloride, C20H29N2O2+.Cl-(BRL-53001A), and (-)-ethylmethyl[(2S)-1-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-5-oxonaphthalene- 2- acetyl)piperidin-2-ylmethyl]-ammonium chloride dihydrate, C21H31N2O2+.Cl-.2H2O (BRL-53188A), have been determined. The two molecules have different conformations in the 1-tetralon-6-ylacetyl residue but the same conformation in the 1-acetyl-2-(dialkylaminomethyl)piperidine moiety. The conformations found are in agreement with the required chemical features for kappa affinity and antinociceptive potency.

  10. A two-level model of rise time in quantum cascade laser materials applied to 5 micron, 9 micron and terahertz-range wavelengths

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Webb, J F; Yong, K S C; Haldar, M K

    2014-01-01

    An equivalent circuit simulation of a two-level rate equation model for quantum cascade laser (QCL) materials is used to study the turn on delay and rise time for three QCLs with 5 micron, 9 micron and terahertz-range wavelengths. In order to do this it is necessary that the model can deal with large signal responses and not be restricted to small signal responses; the model used here is capable of this. The effect of varying some of the characteristic times in the model is also investigated. The comparison of the terahertz wave QCL with the others is particularly important given the increased interest in terahertz sources which have a large range of important applications, such as in medical imaging

  11. Prime alternative algebras that are nearly commutative

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pchelintsev, S V

    2004-01-01

    We prove that by deforming the multiplication in a prime commutative alternative algebra using a C-operation we obtain a prime non-commutative alternative algebra. Under certain restrictions on non-commutative algebras this relation between algebras is reversible. Isotopes are special cases of deformations. We introduce and study a linear space generated by the Bruck C-operations. We prove that the Bruck space is generated by operations of rank 1 and 2 and that 'general' Bruck operations of rank 2 are independent in the following sense: a sum of n operations of rank 2 cannot be written as a linear combination of (n-1) operations of rank 2 and an arbitrary operation of rank 1. We describe infinite series of non-isomorphic prime non-commutative algebras of bounded degree that are deformations of a concrete prime commutative algebra

  12. Syntactic Variance and Priming Effects in Translation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bangalore, Srinivas; Behrens, Bergljot; Carl, Michael

    2016-01-01

    The present work investigates the relationship between syntactic variation and priming in translation. It is based on the claim that languages share a common cognitive network of neural activity. When the source and target languages are solicited in a translation context, this shared network can...... lead to facilitation effects, so-called priming effects. We suggest that priming is a default setting in translation, a special case of language use where source and target languages are constantly co-activated. Such priming effects are not restricted to lexical elements, but do also occur...... on the syntactic level. We tested these hypotheses with translation data from the TPR database, more specifically for three language pairs (English-German, English-Danish, and English-Spanish). Our results show that response times are shorter when syntactic structures are shared. The model explains this through...

  13. Solid methane on Triton and Pluto - 3- to 4-micron spectrophotometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spencer, John R.; Buie, Marc W.; Bjoraker, Gordon L.

    1990-01-01

    Methane has been identified in the Pluto/Charon system on the basis of absorption features in the reflectance spectrum at 1.5 and 2.3 microns; attention is presently given to observations of a 3.25 micron-centered deep absorption feature in Triton and Pluto/Charon system reflectance spectra. This absorption may indicate the presence of solid methane, constituting either the dominant surface species or a mixture with a highly transparent substance, such as N2 frost.

  14. The Nature of Affective Priming in Music and Speech

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Goerlich, K.S.; Witteman, J.; Schiller, N.O.; Van Heuven, V.J.; Aleman, A.; Martens, S.

    The phenomenon of affective priming has caught scientific interest for over 30 years, yet the nature of the affective priming effect remains elusive. This study investigated the underlying mechanism of cross-modal affective priming and the influence of affective incongruence in music and speech on

  15. Design and implementation of a micron-sized electron column fabricated by focused ion beam milling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wicki, Flavio, E-mail: flavio.wicki@physik.uzh.ch; Longchamp, Jean-Nicolas; Escher, Conrad; Fink, Hans-Werner

    2016-01-15

    We have designed, fabricated and tested a micron-sized electron column with an overall length of about 700 microns comprising two electron lenses; a micro-lens with a minimal bore of 1 micron followed by a second lens with a bore of up to 50 microns in diameter to shape a coherent low-energy electron wave front. The design criteria follow the notion of scaling down source size, lens-dimensions and kinetic electron energy for minimizing spherical aberrations to ensure a parallel coherent electron wave front. All lens apertures have been milled employing a focused ion beam and could thus be precisely aligned within a tolerance of about 300 nm from the optical axis. Experimentally, the final column shapes a quasi-planar wave front with a minimal full divergence angle of 4 mrad and electron energies as low as 100 eV. - Highlights: • Electron optics • Scaling laws • Low-energy electrons • Coherent electron beams • Micron-sized electron column.

  16. Non-uniform plastic deformation of micron scale objects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Niordson, Christian Frithiof; Hutchinson, J. W.

    2003-01-01

    Significant increases in apparent flow strength are observed when non-uniform plastic deformation of metals occurs at the scale ranging from roughly one to ten microns. Several basic plane strain problems are analyzed numerically in this paper based on a new formulation of strain gradient...... plasticity. The problems are the tangential and normal loading of a finite rectangular block of material bonded to rigid platens and having traction-free ends, and the normal loading of a half-space by a flat, rigid punch. The solutions illustrate fundamental features of plasticity at the micron scale...... that are not captured by conventional plasticity theory. These include the role of material length parameters in establishing the size dependence of strength and the elevation of resistance to plastic flow resulting from constraint on plastic flow at boundaries. Details of the finite element method employed...

  17. The priming of priming: Evidence that the N400 reflects context-dependent post-retrieval word integration in working memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steinhauer, Karsten; Royle, Phaedra; Drury, John E; Fromont, Lauren A

    2017-06-09

    Which cognitive processes are reflected by the N400 in ERPs is still controversial. Various recent articles (Lau et al., 2008; Brouwer et al., 2012) have revived the idea that only lexical pre-activation processes (such as automatic spreading activation, ASA) are strongly supported, while post-lexical integrative processes are not. Challenging this view, the present ERP study replicates a behavioral study by McKoon and Ratcliff (1995) who demonstrated that a prime-target pair such as finger - hand shows stronger priming when a majority of other pairs in the list share the analogous semantic relationship (here: part-whole), even at short stimulus onset asynchronies (250ms). We created lists with four different types of semantic relationship (synonyms, part-whole, category-member, and opposites) and compared priming for pairs in a consistent list with those in an inconsistent list as well as unrelated items. Highly significant N400 reductions were found for both relatedness priming (unrelated vs. inconsistent) and relational priming (inconsistent vs. consistent). These data are taken as strong evidence that N400 priming effects are not exclusively carried by ASA-like mechanisms during lexical retrieval but also include post-lexical integration in working memory. We link the present findings to a neurocomputational model for relational reasoning (Knowlton et al., 2012) and to recent discussions of context-dependent conceptual activations (Yee and Thompson-Schill, 2016). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Improving Consumer Decisions: The Conscious Use of Primes as Performance Enhancers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leonardo Nicolao

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Through this article we examine ways through which consumers can take advantage of marketers’ priming attempts and make better decisions. Specifically, we investigate what happens when individuals are made aware of primes that may potentially improve their performance. Using an Embedded Figures Test, we demonstrate that individuals can be consciously primed into an analytic thinking mindset and perform better when they believe that the prime will enhance performance. Individuals are able to successfully ignore the prime when they believe that the prime hinders performance. Utilizing both holistic and analytic primes and by alternating the valence of the prime’s potential outcome, we are able to disentangle the conscious effects of primes from demand effects. We discuss how these findings may lead to and suggest avenues for future research.

  19. Persistent Structural Priming from Language Comprehension to Language Production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bock, Kathryn; Dell, Gary S.; Chang, Franklin; Onishi, Kristine H.

    2007-01-01

    To examine the relationship between syntactic processes in language comprehension and language production, we compared structural persistence from sentence primes that speakers heard to persistence from primes that speakers produced. [Bock, J. K., & Griffin, Z. M. (2000). The persistence of structural priming: transient activation or implicit…

  20. Application of iota and kappa carrageenans to traditional several food using modified cassava flour

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Baarri, A. N.; Legowo, A. M.; Rizqiati, H.; Widayat; Septianingrum, A.; Sabrina, H. N.; Arganis, L. M.; Saraswati, R. O.; Mochtar, Rr C. P. R.

    2018-01-01

    Carrageenan has been known well as hydrocolloids that forming viscous dispersions and gels when dispersed in water. The carrageenan has not been widely applied to traditional foods. Therefore, the aim of this research was to determine the effect of kappa and iota carrageenans in traditional food models using modified cassava flour, sugar, and coconut milk. The textural properties, i.e. hardness, cohesiveness, springiness and adhesiveness have been measured using texture analyzer. The study indicated that traditional food models added kappa carrageenan at 2% generated remarkably higher in the hardness, cohesiveness, and springiness than those added iota carrageenan. On the other hand, the reserve result were found in the adhesiveness parameter. As conclusion, kappa carrageenan scan be potentially used for producing traditional foods based on the hard-texture-oriented foods whereas iota carrageenan can be used for the traditional foods with better adhesiveness.

  1. Effects of Religious Priming Concepts on Prosocial Behavior Towards Ingroup and Outgroup.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Batara, Jame Bryan L; Franco, Pamela S; Quiachon, Mequia Angelo M; Sembrero, Dianelle Rose M

    2016-11-01

    Several studies show that there is a connection between religion and prosociality (e.g., Saroglou, 2013). To investigate whether there is a causal relationship between these two variables, a growing number of scholars employed priming religious concepts and measure its influence on prosocial behavior (e.g., Pichon, Boccato, & Saroglou, 2007). In the recent development of religious priming, Ritter and Preston (2013) argued that different primes (agent prime, spiritual/abstract prime, and institutional prime) may also have varying influence on prosocial behavior specifically helping an ingroup or an outgroup target. With this in mind, a 2 (social categorization of the target of help) by 3 (agent prime, institutional prime, spiritual prime) experiment was conducted to directly investigate this hypothesis. Results suggest that priming religious concepts especially the spiritual prime can increase prosocial behaviors. However, no significant effect was found on the social categorization which implies that Filipino participants elicit prosocial behavior regardless of the social categorization (be it ingroup or outgroup) of the target of help. The present study's findings contribute to further the literature on religious priming and its influence on prosocial behavior.

  2. Cirhin up-regulates a canonical NF-{kappa}B element through strong interaction with Cirip/HIVEP1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu, Bin; Mitchell, Grant A. [Genetique Medicale, Centre de Recherche CHU Sainte-Justine, Departement de Pediatrie, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, QC (Canada); Richter, Andrea, E-mail: andrea.richter@umontreal.ca [Genetique Medicale, Centre de Recherche CHU Sainte-Justine, Departement de Pediatrie, Universite de Montreal, Montreal, QC (Canada)

    2009-11-01

    North American Indian childhood cirrhosis (NAIC/CIRH1A) is a severe autosomal recessive intrahepatic cholestasis. All NAIC patients have a homozygous mutation in CIRH1A that changes conserved Arg565 to Trp (R565W) in Cirhin, a nucleolar protein of unknown function. Subcellular localization is unaffected by the mutation. Yeast two-hybrid screening identified Cirip (Cirhin interaction protein) and found that interaction between Cirip and R565W-Cirhin was weakened. Co-immunoprecipitation of the two proteins from nuclear extracts of HeLa cells strongly supports the yeast two hybrid results. Cirip has essentially the same sequence as the C-terminal of HIVEP1, a regulator of a canonical NF-{kappa}B sequence. Since Cirip has the zinc fingers required for this interaction, we developed an in vitro assay based on this element in mammalian cells to demonstrate functional Cirhin-Cirip interaction. The strong positive effect of Cirip on the NF-{kappa}B sequence was further increased by both Cirhin and R565W-Cirhin. Importantly, the effect of R565W-Cirhin was weaker than that of the wild type protein. We observed increased levels of Cirhin-Cirip complex in nuclear extracts in the presence of this NF-{kappa}B sequence. Our hypothesis is that Cirhin is a transcriptional regulatory factor of this NF-{kappa}B sequence and could be a participant in the regulation of other genes with NF-{kappa}B responsive elements. Since the activities of genes regulated through NF-{kappa}B responsive elements are especially important during development, this interaction may be a key to explain the perinatal appearance of NAIC.

  3. Arithmetically Related Ideal Topologies and the Infinitude of Primes ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    algebra. Mathematics Subject Classification (1991): 11N80, 11N25, 11A41, 11T99, 13A15, 20M25 Keywords: x-ideal, topological semigroup, ideal topology, infinitude of primes, generalized primes and integers, distribution, integers, specified multiplicative constraints, primes, ideals, multiplicative ideal theory, semigroup

  4. Religious Priming: A Meta-Analysis With a Focus on Prosociality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shariff, Azim F; Willard, Aiyana K; Andersen, Teresa; Norenzayan, Ara

    2016-02-01

    Priming has emerged as a valuable tool within the psychological study of religion, allowing for tests of religion's causal effect on a number of psychological outcomes, such as prosocial behavior. As the literature has grown, questions about the reliability and boundary conditions of religious priming have arisen. We use a combination of traditional effect-size analyses, p-curve analyses, and adjustments for publication bias to evaluate the robustness of four types of religious priming (Analyses 1-3), review the empirical evidence for religion's effect specifically on prosocial behavior (Analyses 4-5), and test whether religious-priming effects generalize to individuals who report little or no religiosity (Analyses 6-7). Results across 93 studies and 11,653 participants show that religious priming has robust effects across a variety of outcome measures-prosocial measures included. Religious priming does not, however, reliably affect non-religious participants-suggesting that priming depends on the cognitive activation of culturally transmitted religious beliefs. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

  5. New treatment of periodontal diseases by using NF-kappaB decoy oligodeoxynucleotides via prevention of bone resorption and promotion of wound healing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, Hideo; Nakagami, Hironori; Morita, Shosuke; Tsukamoto, Ikuyo; Osako, Mariana Kiomy; Nakagami, Futoshi; Shimosato, Takashi; Minobe, Noriko; Morishita, Ryuichi

    2009-09-01

    Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappaB) is involved in osteoclast differentiation and activation. Thus, the blockade of the NF-kappaB pathway might be a novel therapeutic strategy for treating bone metabolic diseases. Periodontitis is subgingival inflammation caused by bacterial infection; this disease also is thought to be a chronic focal point responsible for systemic diseases. In this study, NF-kappaB decoy oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) were topically applied for experimental periodontitis in a debris-accumulation model and wound healing in a bone-defect model of beagle dogs to investigate the effect of decoy ODN on bone metabolism. Application of NF-kappaB decoy ODN significantly reduced interleukin-6 activity in crevicular fluid and improved alveolar bone loss in the analysis of dental radiographs and DEXA. Direct measurement of exposed root that lost alveolar bone support revealed that NF-kappaB decoy treatment dramatically protected bone from loss. In a bone-defect model, NF-kappaB decoy ODN promoted the healing process as compared with control scrambled decoy in micro-CT analysis. Overall, inhibition of NF-kappaB by decoy strategy prevented the progression of bone loss in periodontitis and promoted the wound healing in bone defects through the inhibition of osteoclastic bone resorption. Targeting of NF-kappaB might be a potential therapy in various bone metabolic diseases.

  6. Promoting Physical Activity through Priming the Content of Motivation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tom St Quinton

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Non-conscious processes are important in influencing the performance of a number of behaviors, such as physical activity. One way that such processes can be influenced is through priming. Despite this, approaches within health psychology have predominantly focused on reflective processes with a number of psychological theories dedicated to identifying the predictors of intention. In doing so, critical beliefs and thoughts are first identified and then altered within interventions. Such work has shown limited effectiveness, however, with a gap apparent between what one intends to do and what subsequently ensues. Although there have been attempts to bridge this gap, such as theoretical integration, recent efforts include priming implicit processes. The aim of this commentary is to demonstrate the potential effectiveness of priming non-conscious processes and to suggest that the content of motivation should also succumb to priming influences. This brief review suggests that priming one of the most influential conscious processes, that of self-efficacy, could demonstrate particular effectiveness in promoting physical activity. Thus, the main purpose of the article is to suggest that the content of implicit processes as well their more traditional conscious counterparts may provide useful intervention targets. To achieve this, the article will first introduce the role of non-conscious processes and behavioral priming. Following this, the more common reflective processes will be outlined as well as attempts at theoretical integration. Finally, the article will identify studies priming non-conscious processes and will then suggest priming self-efficacy.

  7. Method for priming and DNA sequencing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mugasimangalam, R.C.; Ulanovsky, L.E.

    1997-12-01

    A method is presented for improving the priming specificity of an oligonucleotide primer that is non-unique in a nucleic acid template which includes selecting a continuous stretch of several nucleotides in the template DNA where one of the four bases does not occur in the stretch. This also includes bringing the template DNA in contract with a non-unique primer partially or fully complimentary to the sequence immediately upstream of the selected sequence stretch. This results in polymerase-mediated differential extension of the primer in the presence of a subset of deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates that does not contain the base complementary to the base absent in the selected sequence stretch. These reactions occur at a temperature sufficiently low for allowing the extension of the non-unique primer. The method causes polymerase-mediated extension reactions in the presence of all four natural deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates or modifications. At this high temperature discrimination occurs against priming sites of the non-unique primer where the differential extension has not made the primer sufficiently stable to prime. However, the primer extended at the selected stretch is sufficiently stable to prime.

  8. Auditory phonological priming in children and adults during word repetition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cleary, Miranda; Schwartz, Richard G.

    2004-05-01

    Short-term auditory phonological priming effects involve changes in the speed with which words are processed by a listener as a function of recent exposure to other similar-sounding words. Activation of phonological/lexical representations appears to persist beyond the immediate offset of a word, influencing subsequent processing. Priming effects are commonly cited as demonstrating concurrent activation of word/phonological candidates during word identification. Phonological priming is controversial, the direction of effects (facilitating versus slowing) varying with the prime-target relationship. In adults, it has repeatedly been demonstrated, however, that hearing a prime word that rhymes with the following target word (ISI=50 ms) decreases the time necessary to initiate repetition of the target, relative to when the prime and target have no phonemic overlap. Activation of phonological representations in children has not typically been studied using this paradigm, auditory-word + picture-naming tasks being used instead. The present study employed an auditory phonological priming paradigm being developed for use with normal-hearing and hearing-impaired children. Initial results from normal-hearing adults replicate previous reports of faster naming times for targets following a rhyming prime word than for targets following a prime having no phonemes in common. Results from normal-hearing children will also be reported. [Work supported by NIH-NIDCD T32DC000039.

  9. Effects of Religious Priming Concepts on Prosocial Behavior Towards Ingroup and Outgroup

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jame Bryan L. Batara

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Several studies show that there is a connection between religion and prosociality (e.g., Saroglou, 2013. To investigate whether there is a causal relationship between these two variables, a growing number of scholars employed priming religious concepts and measure its influence on prosocial behavior (e.g., Pichon, Boccato, & Saroglou, 2007. In the recent development of religious priming, Ritter and Preston (2013 argued that different primes (agent prime, spiritual/abstract prime, and institutional prime may also have varying influence on prosocial behavior specifically helping an ingroup or an outgroup target. With this in mind, a 2 (social categorization of the target of help by 3 (agent prime, institutional prime, spiritual prime experiment was conducted to directly investigate this hypothesis. Results suggest that priming religious concepts especially the spiritual prime can increase prosocial behaviors. However, no significant effect was found on the social categorization which implies that Filipino participants elicit prosocial behavior regardless of the social categorization (be it ingroup or outgroup of the target of help. The present study’s findings contribute to further the literature on religious priming and its influence on prosocial behavior.

  10. Stochastic resolution analysis of co-prime arrays in radar

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pribic, R; Coutiño Minguez, M.A.; Leus, G.J.T.

    2016-01-01

    Resolution from co-prime arrays and from a full ULA of the size equal to the virtual size of co-prime arrays is investigated. We take into account not only the resulting beam width but also the fact that fewer measurements are acquired by co-prime arrays. This fact is relevant in compressive

  11. Nuclear IL-33 is a transcriptional regulator of NF-{kappa}B p65 and induces endothelial cell activation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Choi, Yeon-Sook; Park, Jeong Ae; Kim, Jihye; Rho, Seung-Sik; Park, Hyojin [Department of Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Young-Myeong [Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon (Korea, Republic of); Kwon, Young-Guen, E-mail: ygkwon@yonsei.ac.kr [Department of Biochemistry, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-749 (Korea, Republic of)

    2012-05-04

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer IL-33 as nuclear factor regulated expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Nuclear IL-33 increased the transcription of NF-{kappa}B p65 by binding to the p65 promoter. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Nuclear IL-33 controls NF-{kappa}B-dependent inflammatory responses. -- Abstract: Interleukin (IL)-33, an IL-1 family member, acts as an extracellular cytokine by binding its cognate receptor, ST2. IL-33 is also a chromatin-binding transcriptional regulator highly expressed in the nuclei of endothelial cells. However, the function of IL-33 as a nuclear factor is poorly defined. Here, we show that IL-33 is a novel transcriptional regulator of the p65 subunit of the NF-{kappa}B complex and is involved in endothelial cell activation. Quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR and Western blot analyses indicated that IL-33 mediates the expression of intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 and vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM)-1 in endothelial cells basally and in response to tumor necrosis factor-{alpha}-treatment. IL-33-induced ICAM-1/VCAM-1 expression was dependent on the regulatory effect of IL-33 on the nuclear factor (NF)-{kappa}B pathway; NF-{kappa}B p65 expression was enhanced by IL-33 overexpression and, conversely, reduced by IL-33 knockdown. Moreover, NF-{kappa}B p65 promoter activity and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis revealed that IL-33 binds to the p65 promoter region in the nucleus. Our data provide the first evidence that IL-33 in the nucleus of endothelial cells participates in inflammatory reactions as a transcriptional regulator of NF-{kappa}B p65.

  12. Associative priming in a masked perceptual identification task: evidence for automatic processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pecher, Diane; Zeelenberg, René; Raaijmakers, Jeroen G W

    2002-10-01

    Two experiments investigated the influence of automatic and strategic processes on associative priming effects in a perceptual identification task in which prime-target pairs are briefly presented and masked. In this paradigm, priming is defined as a higher percentage of correctly identified targets for related pairs than for unrelated pairs. In Experiment 1, priming was obtained for mediated word pairs. This mediated priming effect was affected neither by the presence of direct associations nor by the presentation time of the primes, indicating that automatic priming effects play a role in perceptual identification. Experiment 2 showed that the priming effect was not affected by the proportion (.90 vs. .10) of related pairs if primes were presented briefly to prevent their identification. However, a large proportion effect was found when primes were presented for 1000 ms so that they were clearly visible. These results indicate that priming in a masked perceptual identification task is the result of automatic processes and is not affected by strategies. The present paradigm provides a valuable alternative to more commonly used tasks such as lexical decision.

  13. Adiabatic pressure dependence of the 2.7 and 1.9 micron water vapor bands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mathai, C. V.; Walls, W. L.; Broersma, S.

    1977-01-01

    An acoustic excitation technique is used to determine the adiabatic pressure derivative of the spectral absorptance of the 2.7 and 1.9 micron water vapor bands, and the 3.5 micron HCl band. The dependence of this derivative on thermodynamic parameters such as temperature, concentration, and pressure is evaluated. A cross-flow water vapor system is used to measure spectral absorptance. Taking F as the ratio of nonrigid to rotor line strengths, it is found that an F factor correction is needed for the 2.7 micron band. The F factor for the 1.9 micron band is also determined. In the wings of each band a wavelength can be found where the concentration dependence is predominant. Farther out in the wings a local maximum occurs for the temperature derivative. It is suggested that the pressure derivative is significant in the core of the band.

  14. Sub-micron filter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tepper, Frederick [Sanford, FL; Kaledin, Leonid [Port Orange, FL

    2009-10-13

    Aluminum hydroxide fibers approximately 2 nanometers in diameter and with surface areas ranging from 200 to 650 m.sup.2/g have been found to be highly electropositive. When dispersed in water they are able to attach to and retain electronegative particles. When combined into a composite filter with other fibers or particles they can filter bacteria and nano size particulates such as viruses and colloidal particles at high flux through the filter. Such filters can be used for purification and sterilization of water, biological, medical and pharmaceutical fluids, and as a collector/concentrator for detection and assay of microbes and viruses. The alumina fibers are also capable of filtering sub-micron inorganic and metallic particles to produce ultra pure water. The fibers are suitable as a substrate for growth of cells. Macromolecules such as proteins may be separated from each other based on their electronegative charges.

  15. Homophilic interactions mediated by receptor tyrosine phosphatases mu and kappa. A critical role for the novel extracellular MAM domain

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zondag, G C; Koningstein, G M; Jiang, Y P

    1995-01-01

    and is found in diverse transmembrane proteins, is not known. We previously reported that both RPTP mu and RPTP kappa can mediate homophilic cell interactions when expressed in insect cells. Here we show that despite their striking structural similarity, RPTP mu and RPTP kappa fail to interact...... in a heterophilic manner. To examine the role of the MAM domain in homophilic binding, we expressed a mutant RPTP mu lacking the MAM domain in insect Sf9 cells. Truncated RPTP mu is properly expressed at the cell surface but fails to promote cell-cell adhesion. Homophilic cell adhesion is fully restored...... in a chimeric RPTP mu molecule containing the MAM domain of RPTP kappa. However, this chimeric RPTP mu does not interact with either RPTP mu or RPTP kappa. These results indicate that the MAM domain of RPTP mu and RPTP kappa is essential for homophilic cell-cell interaction and helps determine the specificity...

  16. Transformation and Release of Micronized Cu Used as a Wood Preservative in Treated Wood in Wetland Soil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Micronized Cu (µ-Cu) is used as a wood preservative, replacing toxic Chromated Copper Arsenates. Micronized Cu is Malachite [Cu2CO3(OH)2] that has been milled to micron/submicron particles, many with diameters less than 100 nm, and then mixed with quat or azol biocides. I...

  17. Commensal-induced regulatory T cells mediate protection against pathogen-stimulated NF-kappaB activation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caitlin O'Mahony

    Full Text Available Host defence against infection requires a range of innate and adaptive immune responses that may lead to tissue damage. Such immune-mediated pathologies can be controlled with appropriate T regulatory (Treg activity. The aim of the present study was to determine the influence of gut microbiota composition on Treg cellular activity and NF-kappaB activation associated with infection. Mice consumed the commensal microbe Bifidobacterium infantis 35624 followed by infection with Salmonella typhimurium or injection with LPS. In vivo NF-kappaB activation was quantified using biophotonic imaging. CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cell phenotypes and cytokine levels were assessed using flow cytometry while CD4+ T cells were isolated using magnetic beads for adoptive transfer to naïve animals. In vivo imaging revealed profound inhibition of infection and LPS induced NF-kappaB activity that preceded a reduction in S. typhimurium numbers and murine sickness behaviour scores in B. infantis-fed mice. In addition, pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion, T cell proliferation, and dendritic cell co-stimulatory molecule expression were significantly reduced. In contrast, CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ T cell numbers were significantly increased in the mucosa and spleen of mice fed B. infantis. Adoptive transfer of CD4+CD25+ T cells transferred the NF-kappaB inhibitory activity. Consumption of a single commensal micro-organism drives the generation and function of Treg cells which control excessive NF-kappaB activation in vivo. These cellular interactions provide the basis for a more complete understanding of the commensal-host-pathogen trilogue that contribute to host homeostatic mechanisms underpinning protection against aberrant activation of the innate immune system in response to a translocating pathogen or systemic LPS.

  18. Soft tissue engineering with micronized-gingival connective tissues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noda, Sawako; Sumita, Yoshinori; Ohba, Seigo; Yamamoto, Hideyuki; Asahina, Izumi

    2018-01-01

    The free gingival graft (FGG) and connective tissue graft (CTG) are currently considered to be the gold standards for keratinized gingival tissue reconstruction and augmentation. However, these procedures have some disadvantages in harvesting large grafts, such as donor-site morbidity as well as insufficient gingival width and thickness at the recipient site post-treatment. To solve these problems, we focused on an alternative strategy using micronized tissue transplantation (micro-graft). In this study, we first investigated whether transplantation of micronized gingival connective tissues (MGCTs) promotes skin wound healing. MGCTs (≤100 µm) were obtained by mincing a small piece (8 mm 3 ) of porcine keratinized gingiva using the RIGENERA system. The MGCTs were then transplanted to a full skin defect (5 mm in diameter) on the dorsal surface of immunodeficient mice after seeding to an atelocollagen matrix. Transplantations of atelocollagen matrixes with and without micronized dermis were employed as experimental controls. The results indicated that MGCTs markedly promote the vascularization and epithelialization of the defect area 14 days after transplantation compared to the experimental controls. After 21 days, complete wound closure with low contraction was obtained only in the MGCT grafts. Tracking analysis of transplanted MGCTs revealed that some mesenchymal cells derived from MGCTs can survive during healing and may function to assist in wound healing. We propose here that micro-grafting with MGCTs represents an alternative strategy for keratinized tissue reconstruction that is characterized by low morbidity and ready availability. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. Suggestibility and negative priming: two replication studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    David, Daniel; Brown, Richard J

    2002-07-01

    Research suggests that inhibiting the effect of irrelevant stimuli on subsequent thought and action (cognitive inhibition) may be an important component of suggestibility. Two small correlation studies were conducted to address the relationship between different aspects of suggestibility and individual differences in cognitive inhibition, operationalized as the degree of negative priming generated by to-be-ignored stimuli in a semantic categorization task. The first study found significant positive correlations between negative priming, hypnotic suggestibility, and creative imagination; a significant negative correlation was obtained between negative priming and interrogative suggestibility, demonstrating the discriminant validity of the study results. The second study replicated the correlation between negative priming and hypnotic suggestibility, using a different suggestibility measurement procedure that assessed subjective experience and hypnotic involuntariness as well as objective responses to suggestions. These studies support the notion that the ability to engage in cognitive inhibition may be an important component of hypnotic responsivity and maybe of other forms of suggestibility.

  20. DNA polymerase preference determines PCR priming efficiency.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Wenjing; Byrne-Steele, Miranda; Wang, Chunlin; Lu, Stanley; Clemmons, Scott; Zahorchak, Robert J; Han, Jian

    2014-01-30

    Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is one of the most important developments in modern biotechnology. However, PCR is known to introduce biases, especially during multiplex reactions. Recent studies have implicated the DNA polymerase as the primary source of bias, particularly initiation of polymerization on the template strand. In our study, amplification from a synthetic library containing a 12 nucleotide random portion was used to provide an in-depth characterization of DNA polymerase priming bias. The synthetic library was amplified with three commercially available DNA polymerases using an anchored primer with a random 3' hexamer end. After normalization, the next generation sequencing (NGS) results of the amplified libraries were directly compared to the unamplified synthetic library. Here, high throughput sequencing was used to systematically demonstrate and characterize DNA polymerase priming bias. We demonstrate that certain sequence motifs are preferred over others as primers where the six nucleotide sequences at the 3' end of the primer, as well as the sequences four base pairs downstream of the priming site, may influence priming efficiencies. DNA polymerases in the same family from two different commercial vendors prefer similar motifs, while another commercially available enzyme from a different DNA polymerase family prefers different motifs. Furthermore, the preferred priming motifs are GC-rich. The DNA polymerase preference for certain sequence motifs was verified by amplification from single-primer templates. We incorporated the observed DNA polymerase preference into a primer-design program that guides the placement of the primer to an optimal location on the template. DNA polymerase priming bias was characterized using a synthetic library amplification system and NGS. The characterization of DNA polymerase priming bias was then utilized to guide the primer-design process and demonstrate varying amplification efficiencies among three commercially

  1. 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D{sub 3} impairs NF-{kappa}B activation in human naive B cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Geldmeyer-Hilt, Kerstin, E-mail: kerstin.hilt@charite.de [Allergie-Centrum-Charite, CCM, Klinik fuer Dermatologie und Allergologie, Charite - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Chariteplatz 1, 10117 Berlin (Germany); Heine, Guido, E-mail: guido.heine@charite.de [Allergie-Centrum-Charite, CCM, Klinik fuer Dermatologie und Allergologie, Charite - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Chariteplatz 1, 10117 Berlin (Germany); Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin, Chariteplatz 1, 10117 Berlin (Germany); Hartmann, Bjoern, E-mail: bjoern.hartmann@charite.de [Allergie-Centrum-Charite, CCM, Klinik fuer Dermatologie und Allergologie, Charite - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Chariteplatz 1, 10117 Berlin (Germany); Baumgrass, Ria, E-mail: baumgrass@drfz.de [Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin, Chariteplatz 1, 10117 Berlin (Germany); Radbruch, Andreas, E-mail: radbruch@drfz.de [Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin, Chariteplatz 1, 10117 Berlin (Germany); Worm, Margitta, E-mail: margitta.worm@charite.de [Allergie-Centrum-Charite, CCM, Klinik fuer Dermatologie und Allergologie, Charite - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Chariteplatz 1, 10117 Berlin (Germany)

    2011-04-22

    Highlights: {yields} In naive B cells, VDR activation by calcitriol results in reduced NF-{kappa}B p105 and p50 protein expression. {yields} Ligating the VDR with calcitriol causes reduced nuclear translocation of NF-{kappa}B p65. {yields} Reduced nuclear amount of p65 after calcitriol incubation results in reduced binding of p65 on the p105 promoter. {yields} Thus, vitamin D receptor signaling may reduce or prevent activation of B cells and unwanted immune responses, e.g. in IgE dependent diseases such as allergic asthma. -- Abstract: 1{alpha},25-dihydroxyvitamin D{sub 3} (calcitriol), the bioactive metabolite of vitamin D, modulates the activation and inhibits IgE production of anti-CD40 and IL-4 stimulated human peripheral B cells. Engagement of CD40 results in NF-{kappa}B p50 activation, which is essential for the class switch to IgE. Herein, we investigated by which mechanism calcitriol modulates NF-{kappa}B mediated activation of human naive B cells. Naive B cells were predominantly targeted by calcitriol in comparison with memory B cells as shown by pronounced induction of the VDR target gene cyp24a1. Vitamin D receptor activation resulted in a strongly reduced p105/p50 protein and mRNA expression in human naive B cells. This effect is mediated by impaired nuclear translocation of p65 and consequently reduced binding of p65 to its binding site in the p105 promoter. Our data indicate that the vitamin D receptor reduces NF-{kappa}B activation by interference with NF-{kappa}B p65 and p105. Thus, the vitamin D receptor inhibits costimulatory signal transduction in naive B cells, namely by reducing CD40 signaling.

  2. The impact of kappa number composition on eucalyptus kraft pulp bleachability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. M. Costa

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available Consumption of chemicals during ECF bleaching of kraft pulp correlates reasonably well with kappa number, which measures with KMnO4 the total amount of oxidizable material in the pulp. However, the method does not distinguish between the oxidizable material in residual lignin and other structures susceptible to oxidation, such as hexenuronic acids (HexAs, extractives and carbonyl groups in the pulp. In this study an attempt is made to separate the main contributors to the kappa number in oxygen - delignified eucalyptus Kraft pulps and evaluate how these fractions behave during ECF bleaching using chlorine dioxide as the sole oxidant (DEDD sequence. Residual lignin and HexAs proved to be the main fractions contributing to the kappa number and chlorine dioxide consumption in ECF bleaching. Pulp bleachability with chlorine dioxide increases with increasing HexAs content of the pulp but chlorine dioxide per se does not react with HexAs. Reduction of pulp with sodium borohydride under conditions for removing carbonyl groups has no impact on bleachability. No correlation was found between the pulp of the extractive content and pulp bleachability. The removal of HexAs prior to ECF bleaching significantly decreases the formation of chlorinated organics in the pulp (OX and filtrates (AOX as well as of oxalic acids in the filtrates.

  3. Evaluation of the kappa-opioid receptor-selective tracer [{sup 11}C]GR103545 in awake rhesus macaques

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schoultz, Bent W. [University of Oslo, Department of Chemistry, Oslo (Norway); Hjornevik, Trine; Willoch, Frode [University of Oslo, Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience and Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Oslo (Norway); Akershus University Hospital, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Loerenskog (Norway); Marton, Janos [ABX Advanced Biochemical Compounds GmbH, Radeberg (Germany); Noda, Akihiro; Murakami, Yoshihiro; Miyoshi, Sosuke; Nishimura, Shintaro [Medical and Pharmacological Research Center Foundation, Basic Research Department, Hakui City, Ishikawa (Japan); Aarstad, Erik [University College of London, Institute of Nuclear Medicine, London (United Kingdom); Drzezga, Alexander [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Munich (Germany); Matsunari, Ichiro [Medical and Pharmacological Research Center Foundation, Clinical Research Department, Hakui City, Ishikawa (Japan); Henriksen, Gjermund [University of Oslo, Department of Chemistry, Oslo (Norway); Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Department of Nuclear Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Munich (Germany)

    2010-06-15

    The recent development in radiosynthesis of the {sup 11}C-carbamate function increases the potential of [{sup 11}C]GR103545, which for the last decade has been regarded as promising for imaging the kappa-opioid receptor ({kappa}-OR) with PET. In the present study, [{sup 11}C]GR103545 was evaluated in awake rhesus macaques. Separate investigations were performed to clarify the OR subtype selectivity of this compound. Regional brain uptake kinetics of [{sup 11}C]GR103545 was studied 0-120 min after injection. The binding affinity and opioid subtype selectivity of [{sup 11}C]GR103545 was determined in cells transfected with cloned human opioid receptors. In vitro binding assays demonstrated a high affinity of GR103545 for {kappa}-OR (K{sub i} = 0.02 {+-}0.01 nM) with excellent selectivity over {mu}-OR (6 x 10{sup 2}-fold) and {delta}-OR (2 x 10{sup 4}-fold). PET imaging revealed a volume of distribution (V{sub T}) pattern consistent with the known distribution of {kappa}-OR, with striatum = temporal cortex > cingulate cortex > frontal cortex > parietal cortex > thalamus > cerebellum. [{sup 11}C]GR103545 is selective for {kappa}-OR and holds promise for use to selectively depict and quantify this receptor in humans by means of PET. (orig.)

  4. Alcohol Primes, Expectancies, and the Working Self-Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hicks, Joshua A.; Schlegel, Rebecca J.; Friedman, Ronald S.; McCarthy, Denis M.

    2016-01-01

    Previous research has shown that alcohol consumption can lead to momentary changes in the self-concept (e.g., Steele & Josephs, 1990). In two studies (n = 150), we examined whether the implicit activation of alcohol expectancies (i.e., sociability-related expectancies) would also lead to changes in self-perception. To test this idea, participants first completed a measure of sociability-related alcohol expectancies. In a subsequent laboratory session, participants were exposed to either alcohol-related primes (i.e., pictures or words associated with alcohol) or neutral primes. After the priming task, participants completed an ostensibly unrelated self-concept survey that contained words related to sociability (e.g., “outgoing”) and non-sociability related words (e.g., “clever”). For both studies, results revealed that sociability-related alcohol expectancies were positively associated with sociability-related self-concept ratings for participants exposed to alcohol primes, but not for participants exposed to the neutral primes. Implications for the role implicit self-concept activation may have on drinking behaviors are discussed. PMID:19769437

  5. Visual Priming of Inverted and Rotated Objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knowlton, Barbara J.; McAuliffe, Sean P.; Coelho, Chase J.; Hummel, John E.

    2009-01-01

    Object images are identified more efficiently after prior exposure. Here, the authors investigated shape representations supporting object priming. The dependent measure in all experiments was the minimum exposure duration required to correctly identify an object image in a rapid serial visual presentation stream. Priming was defined as the change…

  6. Priming in the Type I-F CRISPR-Cas system triggers strand-independent spacer acquisition, bi-directionally from the primed protospacer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richter, Corinna; Dy, Ron L; McKenzie, Rebecca E; Watson, Bridget N J; Taylor, Corinda; Chang, James T; McNeil, Matthew B; Staals, Raymond H J; Fineran, Peter C

    2014-07-01

    Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), in combination with CRISPR associated (cas) genes, constitute CRISPR-Cas bacterial adaptive immune systems. To generate immunity, these systems acquire short sequences of nucleic acids from foreign invaders and incorporate these into their CRISPR arrays as spacers. This adaptation process is the least characterized step in CRISPR-Cas immunity. Here, we used Pectobacterium atrosepticum to investigate adaptation in Type I-F CRISPR-Cas systems. Pre-existing spacers that matched plasmids stimulated hyperactive primed acquisition and resulted in the incorporation of up to nine new spacers across all three native CRISPR arrays. Endogenous expression of the cas genes was sufficient, yet required, for priming. The new spacers inhibited conjugation and transformation, and interference was enhanced with increasing numbers of new spacers. We analyzed ∼ 350 new spacers acquired in priming events and identified a 5'-protospacer-GG-3' protospacer adjacent motif. In contrast to priming in Type I-E systems, new spacers matched either plasmid strand and a biased distribution, including clustering near the primed protospacer, suggested a bi-directional translocation model for the Cas1:Cas2-3 adaptation machinery. Taken together these results indicate priming adaptation occurs in different CRISPR-Cas systems, that it can be highly active in wild-type strains and that the underlying mechanisms vary. © The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  7. Binding of kappa- and sigma-opiates in rat brain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wolozin, B.L.; Nishimura, S.; Pasternak, G.W.

    1982-01-01

    Detailed displacements of [ 3 H]dihydromorphine by ketocyclazocine and SKF 10,047, [ 3 H]ethylketocyclazocine by SKF 10,047, and [ 3 H]SKF 10,047 by ketocyclazocine are all multiphasic, suggesting multiple binding sites. After treating brain tissue in vitro with naloxazone, all displacements lose the initial inhibition of 3 H-ligand binding by low concentrations of unlabeled drugs. Together with Scatchard analysis of saturation experiments, these studies suggest a common site which binds mu-, kappa, and sigma-opiates and enkephalins equally well and with highest affinity (KD less than 1 nM). The ability of unlabeled drugs to displace the low affinity binding of [ 3 H]dihydromorphine (KD . 3 nM), [ 3 H]ethylketocyclazocine (KD . 4 nM), [ 3 H]SKF 10,047 (KD . 6 nM), and D-Ala2-D-Leu5-[ 3 H]enkephalin (KD . 5 nM) remaining after treating tissue with naloxazone demonstrates unique pharmacological profiles for each. These results suggest the existence of distinct binding sites for kappa- and sigma-opiates which differ from those sites which selectively bind morphine (mu) and enkephalin

  8. Ultraviolet inactivation and photoreactivation of the cholera phage 'Kappa'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samad, S.A.; Bhattacharyya, S.C.; Chatterjee, S.N.

    1987-01-01

    The lysogenic cholera phage, 'Kappa' is some ten to twenty folds more resistant to UV (254 nm) than are most of the T. phages of E. coli, or the cholera phage PL 163/10, or the host V. cholerae strain H218 Sm r , the 37% (D 37 ) and 10% (D 10 ) survival doses being 255.8 J/m 2 and 633.6 J/m 2 respectively. The UV-irradiated 'Kappa' phages could be photoreactivated in the host V. cholerae strain H218 Sm r to a maximum extent of 40%. The removal of the number of lethal hits per phage by the survival-enhancement treatment (photoreactivation) with time followed an exponential relation, the constant probability of removal of lethal hit per unit time being 2.8x10 -2 min -1 . The UV-irradiated phages could also be Weigle reactivated in the host strain of H218 Sm r by a small degree, the maximum reactivation factor (ratio of survivals in UV-irradiated and non-irradiated hosts) being 1.50. (orig.)

  9. [Neural correlates of priming in vision: evidence from neuropsychology and neuroimaging].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kristjánsson, Arni

    2005-04-01

    When we look around us, we are overall more likely to notice objects that we have recently looked at; an effect known as priming. For example, when the color or shape of a visual search target is repeated, observers find the target faster than otherwise. Here I summarize recent research undertaken to uncover the temporary changes in brain activity that accompany these priming effects. In light of the fact that priming seems to have a large effect on how attention is allocated, we investigated priming effects in a visual search task on patients suffering from the neurological disorder "hemispatial neglect" in which patients typically fail to notice display items in one of their visual hemifields. Priming of target color was relatively normal for these patients, while priming of target location seemed to require awareness of the briefly presented visual search target. An experiment with functional magnetic resonance imaging of normal observers revealed that both color and location priming had a strong modulatory influence on attentional mechanisms of the frontal and parietal cortex. Color priming was also correlated with changes in activity in visual cortex as well as color processing areas in the temporal lobe. Location priming was correlated with changes in activity near the temporo- parietal junction and lateral inferior frontal cortex, areas that have been connected with attentional capture; which ties well with our finding of deficits of location priming for the neglect patients who indeed have lesions in the temporo-parietal junction. Overall, the results confirm the tight coupling of visual attention and priming in vision, and also that the visual areas of the brain show some modulation of activity as priming develops.

  10. Natural gas prime movers: A prime income opportunity?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katz, M.G.

    1997-01-01

    Although almost every factory, for example, uses compressed air to operate and control equipment--from power tools to packaging machinery--most air compressors are driven by electric motors. Similarly, although industry uses refrigeration for everything from freezing food to chilling warehouses to making chemicals and ice to operating skating rinks, natural gas powers only about 100 industrial refrigeration units in North America. But several factors are beginning to make natural gas more attractive as a prime mover. For one thing, the rising cost of electricity, with its demand or time-of-day and summer on-peak charges, has everyone looking for ways to cut their electric bills. At the same time, in the wake of deregulation of the nation's electric industry, customers can build on-site power plants that use natural gas to generate their own electricity, or have outside power suppliers or energy service companies (ESCOs) do it for them. Waste and exhaust heat, which can represent up to 60% of the total energy supplied from both engines and turbines, can be captured and used. Finally, growing concern over electric power outages has made natural gas more attractive for mission-critical operations, while new financing options let people buy and install natural gas prime movers more easily

  11. Tungsten phosphanylarylthiolato complexes [W{PhP(2-SC6H4)2-kappa3S,S',P} 2] and [W{P(2-SC6H4)3-kappa4S,S',S",P}2]: synthesis, structures and redox chemistry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hildebrand, Alexandra; Lönnecke, Peter; Silaghi-Dumitrescu, Luminita; Hey-Hawkins, Evamarie

    2008-09-14

    PhP(2-SHC6H4)2 (PS2H2) reacts with WCl6 with reduction of tungsten to give the air-sensitive tungsten(IV) complex [W{PhP(2-SC6H4)2-kappa(3)S,S',P}2] (1). 1 is oxidised in air to [WO{PhPO(2-SC6H4)2-kappa(3)S,S',O}{PhP(2-SC6H4)2-kappa(3)S,S',P}] (2). The attempted synthesis of 2 by reaction of 1 with iodosobenzene as oxidising agent was unsuccessful. [W{P(2-SC6H4)3-kappa(4)S,S',S",P}2] (3) was formed in the reaction of P(2-SHC6H4)3 (PS3H3) with WCl6. The W(VI) complex 3 contains two PS3(3-) ligands, each coordinated in a tetradentate fashion resulting in a tungsten coordination number of eight. The reaction of 3 with AgBF4 yields the dinuclear tungsten complex [W2{P(2-SC6H4)3-kappa(4)S,S',S",P}3]BF4 (4). Complexes 1-4 were characterised by spectral methods and X-ray structure determination.

  12. The effects of the concreteness of differently valenced words on affective priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yao, Zhao; Wang, Zhenhong

    2013-07-01

    This study aimed to determine whether affective priming is influenced by the concreteness of emotional words. To address this question, we conducted three experiments using lexical decision-priming task. In Experiment 1, positive-abstract (PA) and positive-concrete (PC) words were used as primes to examine the effect of the concreteness of positive words on affective priming, and in Experiment 2, negative-abstract (NA) and negative-concrete (NC) words were used as primes to examine the effect of the concreteness of negative words on affective priming. Results showed that participants responded faster to affectively congruent-abstract trails than incongruent-abstract trails in PA prime conditions, but for PC or negative word (NC and NA) prime conditions, there were no differences between the response times of congruent trails and incongruent trails. To examine the reliability of the priming effects observed in Experiments 1 and 2, we set up a neutral condition as a baseline in Experiment 3, through which we confirmed the difference in the affective priming effect between positive and negative primes in a concrete-abstract dimension. PA words were found to have the tendency to possess more emotional load and facilitate affective association between the prime and the target. The study finding suggests that aside from arousal and valence, the concreteness of positive words also has an impact on affective priming effect. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Dust-acoustic solitons in quantum plasma with kappa-distributed ions

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Abstract. Arbitrary amplitude dust-acoustic (DA) solitary waves in an unmagnetized and col- lisionless quantum dusty plasma comprising cold dust particles, kappa (κ)-distributed ions and degenerate electrons are investigated. The influence of suprathermality and quantum effects on the linear dispersion relation of DA ...

  14. An improved Fuzzy Kappa statistic that accounts for spatial autocorrelation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hagen - Zanker, A.H.

    2009-01-01

    The Fuzzy Kappa statistic expresses the agreement between two categorical raster maps. The statistic goes beyond cell-by-cell comparison and gives partial credit to cells based on the categories found in the neighborhood. When matching categories are found at shorter distances the agreement is

  15. Single frequency narrow linewidth 2 micron laser, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — NASA needs narrow linewidth lasers in the 1.5 or 2 micron wavelength regime for coherent Lidar applications. The laser should be tunable by several nm and frequency...

  16. Oxygen transfer rate identifies priming compounds in parsley cells.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schilling, Jana Viola; Schillheim, Britta; Mahr, Stefan; Reufer, Yannik; Sanjoyo, Sandi; Conrath, Uwe; Büchs, Jochen

    2015-11-25

    In modern agriculture, the call for an alternative crop protection strategy increases because of the desired reduction of fungicide and pesticide use and the continuously evolving resistance of pathogens and pests to agrochemicals. The direct activation of the plant immune system does not provide a promising plant protection measure because of high fitness costs. However, upon treatment with certain natural or synthetic compounds, plant cells can promote to a fitness cost-saving, primed state of enhanced defense. In the primed state, plants respond to biotic and abiotic stress with faster and stronger activation of defense, and this is often associated with immunity and abiotic stress tolerance. Until now, the identification of chemical compounds with priming-inducing activity (so-called plant activators) relied on tedious and invasive approaches, or required the late detection of secreted furanocoumarin phytoalexins in parsley cell cultures. Thus, simple, fast, straightforward, and noninvasive techniques for identifying priming-inducing compounds for plant protection are very welcome. This report demonstrates that a respiration activity-monitoring system (RAMOS) can identify compounds with defense priming-inducing activity in parsley cell suspension in culture. RAMOS relies on the quasi-continuous, noninvasive online determination of the oxygen transfer rate (OTR). Treatment of parsley culture cells with the known plant activator salicylic acid (SA), a natural plant defense signal, resulted in an OTR increase. Addition of the defense elicitor Pep13, a cell wall peptide of Phythophthora sojae, induced two distinctive OTR peaks that were higher in SA-primed cells than in unprimed cells upon Pep13 challenge. Both, the OTR increase after priming with SA and the Pep13 challenge were dose-dependent. Furthermore, there was a close correlation of a compound's activity to enhance the oxygen consumption in parsley cells and its capacity to prime Pep13-induced furanocoumarin

  17. Measurement of Branching Fractions and Charge Asymmetries in B Meson Decays to eta(prime)K*, eta(prime)rho, and eta pi

    CERN Document Server

    Ford, W

    2003-01-01

    The present preliminary measurements of branching fractions and charge asymmetries for the B meson decays B -> eta(prime) K*, B -> eta(prime)rho, and B sup + -> eta(prime)pi sup +. The data were recorded with the BABAR detector at PEP-II and correspond to 89 x 10 sup 6 B(bar B) pairs produced in e sup + e sup - annihilation through the UPSILON(4S) resonance. They find the branching fractions BETA(B sup 0 -> eta K* sup 0) = (19.0 sub - sub 2 sub . sub 1 sup + sup 2 sup . sup 2 +- 1.3) x 10 sup - sup 6 , BETA(B sup + -> eta K* sup +) = (25.7 sub - sub 3 sub . sub 6 sup + sup 3 sup . sup 8 +- 1.8) x 10 sup - sup 6 with 90% confidence, and BETA(B sup + -> eta(prime)pi sup +) = (2.8 sub - sub 1 sub . sub 0 sup + sup 1 sup . sup 3 +- 0.3) x 10 sup - sup 6 ( eta(prime)K* sup 0) eta(prime)K* sup +) < 12 x 10 sup - sup 6. The time-integrated charge asymmetries are A sub c sub h (eta K* sup 0) = +0.03 +- 0.11 +- 0.02, A sub c sub h (eta K* sup +) = +0.15 +- 0.14 +- 0.02, and A sub c sub h (eta rho sup +) = +0.06 +-...

  18. Proteasome and NF-kappaB inhibiting phaeophytins from the green alga Cladophora fascicularis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Xinping; Li, Min; Xu, Bo; Zhu, Xiaobin; Deng, Zhiwei; Lin, Wenhan

    2007-03-21

    Chemical examination of the green alga Cladophora fascicularis resulted in the isolation and characterization of a new porphyrin derivative, porphyrinolactone (1), along with five known phaeophytins 2-6 and fourteen sterols and cycloartanes. The structure of 1 was determined on the basis of spectroscopic analyses and by comparison of its NMR data with those of known phaeophytins. Compounds 1-6 displayed moderate inhibition of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) induced nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation, while 2 and 4 displayed potential inhibitory activity toward proteasome chymotripsin-like activation. The primary structure-activity relationship was also discussed.

  19. 7 CFR 29.1166 - Primings (P Group).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... 7 Agriculture 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Primings (P Group). 29.1166 Section 29.1166... REGULATIONS TOBACCO INSPECTION Standards Grades § 29.1166 Primings (P Group). This group consists of round-tipped leaves from the lowest portion of the stalk. Leaves of the P group ripen prematurely as a result...

  20. Effects of age and sedentary lifestyle on skeletal muscle NF-kappaB signaling in men.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buford, Thomas W; Cooke, Matthew B; Manini, Todd M; Leeuwenburgh, Christiaan; Willoughby, Darryn S

    2010-05-01

    Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) is a critical signaling molecule of disuse-induced skeletal muscle atrophy. However, few studies have carefully investigated whether similar pathways are modulated with physical activity and age. The present study examined lean mass, maximal force production, and skeletal muscle NF-kappaB signaling in 41 men categorized as sedentary (OS, N = 13, 63.85 +/- 6.59 year), physically active (OA, N = 14, 60.71 +/- 5.54 year), or young and sedentary (YS, N = 14, 21.35 +/- 3.84 year). Muscle tissue from the vastus lateralis was assayed for messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of the beta subunit of IkB kinase (IKKbeta), cytosolic protein content of phosphorylated inhibitor of kappa B alpha (pIKBalpha), and nuclear content of NF-kappaB subunits p50 and p65. When compared with YS, OS demonstrated age-related muscle atrophy and reduced isokinetic knee extension torque. Physical activity in older individuals preserved maximal isokinetic knee extension torque. OS muscle contained 50% more pIKBalpha than OA and 61% more pIKBalpha than YS. Furthermore, nuclear p65 was significantly elevated in OS compared with YS. OS muscle did not differ from either of the other two groups for nuclear p50 or for mRNA expression of IKKbeta. These results indicate that skeletal muscle content of nuclear-bound p65 is elevated by age in humans. The elevation in nuclear-bound p65 appears to be at least partially due to significant increases in pIKBalpha. A sedentary lifestyle appears to play some role in increased IKBalpha; however, further research is needed to identify downstream effects of this increase.

  1. Priming healthy eating. You can't prime all the people all of the time.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forwood, Suzanna E; Ahern, Amy L; Hollands, Gareth J; Ng, Yin-Lam; Marteau, Theresa M

    2015-06-01

    In the context of a food purchasing environment filled with advertising and promotions, and an increased desire from policy makers to guide individuals toward choosing healthier foods, this study tests whether priming methods that use healthy food adverts to increase preference for healthier food generalize to a representative population. In two studies (Study 1 n = 143; Study 2 n = 764), participants were randomly allocated to a prime condition, where they viewed fruit and vegetable advertisements, or a control condition, with no advertisements. A subsequent forced choice task assessed preference between fruits and other sweet snacks. Additional measures included current hunger and thirst, dietary restraint, age, gender, education and self-reported weight and height. In Study 1, hunger reduced preferences for fruits (OR (95% CI) = 0.38 (0.26-0.56), p choice was unaffected by hunger or the prime. This study provides preliminary evidence that the effects of adverts on healthy eating choices depend on key individual traits (education level) and states (hunger), do not generalize to a broader population and have the potential to increase health inequalities arising from food choice. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  2. Priming healthy eating. You can't prime all the people all of the time☆

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forwood, Suzanna E.; Ahern, Amy L.; Hollands, Gareth J.; Ng, Yin-Lam; Marteau, Theresa M.

    2015-01-01

    Objective In the context of a food purchasing environment filled with advertising and promotions, and an increased desire from policy makers to guide individuals toward choosing healthier foods, this study tests whether priming methods that use healthy food adverts to increase preference for healthier food generalize to a representative population. MethodsIn two studies (Study 1 n = 143; Study 2 n = 764), participants were randomly allocated to a prime condition, where they viewed fruit and vegetable advertisements, or a control condition, with no advertisements. A subsequent forced choice task assessed preference between fruits and other sweet snacks. Additional measures included current hunger and thirst, dietary restraint, age, gender, education and self-reported weight and height. ResultsIn Study 1, hunger reduced preferences for fruits (OR (95% CI) = 0.38 (0.26–0.56), p choice was unaffected by hunger or the prime. ConclusionThis study provides preliminary evidence that the effects of adverts on healthy eating choices depend on key individual traits (education level) and states (hunger), do not generalize to a broader population and have the potential to increase health inequalities arising from food choice. PMID:25636234

  3. Suggestion-Induced Modulation of Semantic Priming during Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulrich, Martin; Kiefer, Markus; Bongartz, Walter; Grön, Georg; Hoenig, Klaus

    2015-01-01

    Using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a primed visual lexical decision task, we investigated the neural and functional mechanisms underlying modulations of semantic word processing through hypnotic suggestions aimed at altering lexical processing of primes. The priming task was to discriminate between target words and pseudowords presented 200 ms after the prime word which was semantically related or unrelated to the target. In a counterbalanced study design, each participant performed the task once at normal wakefulness and once after the administration of hypnotic suggestions to perceive the prime as a meaningless symbol of a foreign language. Neural correlates of priming were defined as significantly lower activations upon semantically related compared to unrelated trials. We found significant suggestive treatment-induced reductions in neural priming, albeit irrespective of the degree of suggestibility. Neural priming was attenuated upon suggestive treatment compared with normal wakefulness in brain regions supporting automatic (fusiform gyrus) and controlled semantic processing (superior and middle temporal gyri, pre- and postcentral gyri, and supplementary motor area). Hence, suggestions reduced semantic word processing by conjointly dampening both automatic and strategic semantic processes. PMID:25923740

  4. Suggestion-Induced Modulation of Semantic Priming during Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Ulrich

    Full Text Available Using functional magnetic resonance imaging during a primed visual lexical decision task, we investigated the neural and functional mechanisms underlying modulations of semantic word processing through hypnotic suggestions aimed at altering lexical processing of primes. The priming task was to discriminate between target words and pseudowords presented 200 ms after the prime word which was semantically related or unrelated to the target. In a counterbalanced study design, each participant performed the task once at normal wakefulness and once after the administration of hypnotic suggestions to perceive the prime as a meaningless symbol of a foreign language. Neural correlates of priming were defined as significantly lower activations upon semantically related compared to unrelated trials. We found significant suggestive treatment-induced reductions in neural priming, albeit irrespective of the degree of suggestibility. Neural priming was attenuated upon suggestive treatment compared with normal wakefulness in brain regions supporting automatic (fusiform gyrus and controlled semantic processing (superior and middle temporal gyri, pre- and postcentral gyri, and supplementary motor area. Hence, suggestions reduced semantic word processing by conjointly dampening both automatic and strategic semantic processes.

  5. Filling in the Gaps: Priming and the Ethics of Pharmaceutical Advertising.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biegler, Paul

    2015-06-01

    A prime is a cue that makes associated concepts, behaviors, and goals more psychologically accessible to people, influencing their responses in subsequent related environments. I build a case that Direct to Consumer Advertising of Prescription Pharmaceuticals (DTCA) operates as a prime that causes some viewers to prefer and pursue the advertised drug. Drawing on literature from social psychology I show that people subject to priming are mostly unaware of its influence and liable to misattribute the reasons for their primed actions. Misattribution typically includes heightened appraisals of the value of a primed goal. Consistent with this account, I argue that viewers primed by DTCA hold favorable, yet false beliefs about the safety and efficacy of the advertised drug. I further argue that, because those drug properties are material to viewers with the relevant illness, priming in DTCA can undermine the autonomy of their medicine choices. The threat to autonomy posed by priming in DTCA suggests it warrants attention from both regulators and the wider research community. It also adds further reason to be sceptical about the permissibility of this form of advertising.

  6. Anterior medial prefrontal cortex implements social priming of mimicry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yin; Hamilton, Antonia F de C

    2015-04-01

    The neural and cognitive mechanisms by which primed constructs can impact on social behavior are poorly understood. In the present study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore how scrambled sentence priming can impact on mimicry behavior. Sentences involving pro/antisocial events from a first/third-person point of view were presented in short blocks, followed by a reaction-time assessment of mimicry. Behavioral results showed that both prosociality and viewpoint impact on mimicry, and fMRI analysis showed this effect is implemented by anterior medial prefrontal cortex (amPFC). We suggest that social primes may subtly modulate processing in amPFC in a manner linked to the later behavior, and that this same region also implements the top-down control of mimicry responses. This priming may be linked to processing of self-schemas in amPFC. Our findings demonstrate how social priming can be studied with fMRI, and have important implications for our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of prime-to-behavior effects as well as for current theories in social psychology. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  7. Positional priming of pop-out is nested in visuospatial context.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gokce, Ahu; Müller, Hermann J; Geyer, Thomas

    2013-11-26

    The present study investigated facilitatory and inhibitory positional priming using a variant of Maljkovic and Nakayama's (1996) priming of pop-out task. Here, the singleton target and the distractors could be presented in different visuospatial contexts-but identical screen locations-across trials, permitting positional priming based on individual locations to be disentangled from priming based on interitem configural relations. The results revealed both significant facilitatory priming, i.e., faster reaction times (RTs) to target presented at previous target relative to previously empty locations, and inhibitory priming, i.e., slower RTs to target at previous distractor relative to previously empty locations. However, both effects were contingent on repetitions versus changes of stimulus arrangement: While facilitation of target locations was dependent on the repetition of the exact item configuration (e.g., T-type followed by T-type stimulus arrangement), the inhibitory effect was more "tolerant," being influenced by repetitions versus changes of the item's visuospatial category (T-type followed by Z-type pattern; cf. Garner & Clement, 1963). The results suggest that facilitatory and inhibitory priming are distinct phenomena (Finke et al., 2009) and that both effects are sensitive to subtle information about the arrangement of the display items (Geyer, Zehetleitner, & Müller, 2010). The results are discussed with respect to the stage(s) of visual pop-out search that are influenced by positional priming.

  8. Unlocking the energy capabilities of micron-sized LiFePO4.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Limin; Zhang, Yelong; Wang, Jiawei; Ma, Lipo; Ma, Shunchao; Zhang, Yantao; Wang, Erkang; Bi, Yujing; Wang, Deyu; McKee, William C; Xu, Ye; Chen, Jitao; Zhang, Qinghua; Nan, Cewen; Gu, Lin; Bruce, Peter G; Peng, Zhangquan

    2015-08-03

    Utilization of LiFePO4 as a cathode material for Li-ion batteries often requires size nanonization coupled with calcination-based carbon coating to improve its electrochemical performance, which, however, is usually at the expense of tap density and may be environmentally problematic. Here we report the utilization of micron-sized LiFePO4, which has a higher tap density than its nano-sized siblings, by forming a conducting polymer coating on its surface with a greener diazonium chemistry. Specifically, micron-sized LiFePO4 particles have been uniformly coated with a thin polyphenylene film via the spontaneous reaction between LiFePO4 and an aromatic diazonium salt of benzenediazonium tetrafluoroborate. The coated micron-sized LiFePO4, compared with its pristine counterpart, has shown improved electrical conductivity, high rate capability and excellent cyclability when used as a 'carbon additive free' cathode material for rechargeable Li-ion batteries. The bonding mechanism of polyphenylene to LiFePO4/FePO4 has been understood with density functional theory calculations.

  9. Simulation of Micron-Sized Debris Populations in Low Earth Orbit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Y.-L.; Matney, M.; Liou, J.-C.; Hyde, J. L.; Prior, T. G.

    2010-01-01

    The update of ORDEM2000, the NASA Orbital Debris Engineering Model, to its new version . ORDEM2010, is nearly complete. As a part of the ORDEM upgrade, this paper addresses the simulation of micro-debris (greater than 10 micron and smaller than 1 mm in size) populations in low Earth orbit. The principal data used in the modeling of the micron-sized debris populations are in-situ hypervelocity impact records, accumulated in post-flight damage surveys on the space-exposed surfaces of returned spacecrafts. The development of the micro-debris model populations follows the general approach to deriving other ORDEM2010-required input populations for various components and types of debris. This paper describes the key elements and major steps in the statistical inference of the ORDEM2010 micro-debris populations. A crucial step is the construction of a degradation/ejecta source model to provide prior information on the micron-sized objects (such as orbital and object-size distributions). Another critical step is to link model populations with data, which is rather involved. It demands detailed information on area-time/directionality for all the space-exposed elements of a shuttle orbiter and damage laws, which relate impact damage with the physical properties of a projectile and impact conditions such as impact angle and velocity. Also needed are model-predicted debris fluxes as a function of object size and impact velocity from all possible directions. In spite of the very limited quantity of the available shuttle impact data, the population-derivation process is satisfactorily stable. Final modeling results obtained from shuttle window and radiator impact data are reasonably convergent and consistent, especially for the debris populations with object-size thresholds at 10 and 100 micron.

  10. Micron-size hydrogen cluster target for laser-driven proton acceleration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jinno, S.; Kanasaki, M.; Uno, M.; Matsui, R.; Uesaka, M.; Kishimoto, Y.; Fukuda, Y.

    2018-04-01

    As a new laser-driven ion acceleration technique, we proposed a way to produce impurity-free, highly reproducible, and robust proton beams exceeding 100 MeV using a Coulomb explosion of micron-size hydrogen clusters. In this study, micron-size hydrogen clusters were generated by expanding the cooled high-pressure hydrogen gas into a vacuum via a conical nozzle connected to a solenoid valve cooled by a mechanical cryostat. The size distributions of the hydrogen clusters were evaluated by measuring the angular distribution of laser light scattered from the clusters. The data were analyzed mathematically based on the Mie scattering theory combined with the Tikhonov regularization method. The maximum size of the hydrogen cluster at 25 K and 6 MPa in the stagnation state was recognized to be 2.15 ± 0.10 μm. The mean cluster size decreased with increasing temperature, and was found to be much larger than that given by Hagena’s formula. This discrepancy suggests that the micron-size hydrogen clusters were formed by the atomization (spallation) of the liquid or supercritical fluid phase of hydrogen. In addition, the density profiles of the gas phase were evaluated for 25 to 80 K at 6 MPa using a Nomarski interferometer. Based on the measurement results and the equation of state for hydrogen, the cluster mass fraction was obtained. 3D particles-in-cell (PIC) simulations concerning the interaction processes of micron-size hydrogen clusters with high power laser pulses predicted the generation of protons exceeding 100 MeV and accelerating in a laser propagation direction via an anisotropic Coulomb explosion mechanism, thus demonstrating a future candidate in laser-driven proton sources for upcoming multi-petawatt lasers.

  11. Lentiviral-mediated targeted NF-kappaB blockade in dorsal spinal cord glia attenuates sciatic nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain in the rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meunier, Alice; Latrémolière, Alban; Dominguez, Elisa; Mauborgne, Annie; Philippe, Stéphanie; Hamon, Michel; Mallet, Jacques; Benoliel, Jean-Jacques; Pohl, Michel

    2007-04-01

    Neuropathic pain developing after peripheral nerve injury is associated with altered neuronal and glial cell functions in the spinal cord. Activated glia produces algogenic mediators, exacerbating pain. Among the different intracellular pathways possibly involved in the modified glial function, the nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) system is of particular interest, as numerous genes encoding inflammation- and pain-related molecules are controlled by this transcription factor. NF-kappaB is a pleiotropic factor also involved in central nervous system homeostasy. To study its role in chronic pain, it is thus essential to inhibit the NF-kappaB pathway selectively in activated spinal glial cells. Here, we show that when restricted to spinal cord and targeted to glial cells, lentiviral vector-mediated delivery of NF-kappaB super- repressor IkappaBalpha resulted in an inhibition of the NF-kappaB pathway activated in the rat spinal cord after sciatic nerve injury (chronic constriction injury, CCI). Concomitantly, IkappaBalpha overproduction prevented the enhanced expression of interleukin-6 and of inducible nitric oxide synthase associated with chronic constriction injury and resulted in prolonged antihyperalgesic and antiallodynic effects. These data show that targeted blockade of NF-kappaB activity in spinal glia efficiently alleviates pain behavior in CCI rats, demonstrating the active participation of the glial NF-kappaB pathway in the development of neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve injury.

  12. PROXIMATE COMPOSITION AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DRY PASTA INCORPORATED WITH MICRONIZED CORN PERICARP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JOÃO RENATO DE JESUS JUNQUEIRA

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Pastas are generally accepted all over the world, mainly because they are versatile, cheap and easy - to - prepare. They are not nutritionally balanced, since they provide mainly carbohydrates. As a result of this, it is important to use ingredients which could improve the nutritional deficiencies, without affecting the technological and sensorial characteristics. This study evaluated the effect of using wheat semolina and micronized corn pericarp (MCP, on the proximate composition, cooking quality and color of spaghetti type pasta. Spaghetti pasta was produced using wheat semolina with the incorporation of micronized corn pericarp, at levels of 0, 10, 20 and 30%. There were no significant differences (p > 0.05 between the formulated samples with regards to the contents of moisture and lipid, cooking time, weight gain and volume increase. As observed, supplementation with micronized corn pericarp presented significant difference on the contents of proteins, minerals, dietary fiber and solid soluble loss of the spaghetti pasta (p < 0.05. With increase in micronized corn pericarp concentration, the color difference became accentuated. The use of MCP appears to be viable, providing a nutritionally enriched product without further impairment on pasta quality.

  13. Almost Fixed-Point-Free Automorphisms of Prime Power Order

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B.A.F. Wehrfritz

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available We study the effect under various rank restrictions of a group having an automorphism of prime power order whose fixed-point set is also finite of prime power order for the same prime. Generally our conclusions are that the group has a soluble normal subgroup of bounded derived length. Not surprisingly the bound gets larger as the rank restrictions get weaker.

  14. Seed priming improves salinity tolerance of wheat varieties

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jamal, Y.; Shafi, M.; Arif, M.

    2011-01-01

    To evaluate the response of wheat varieties to seed priming and salinity, an experiment was conducted in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications at Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (IBGE), KPK Agricultural University, Peshawar, Pakistan. The performance of 6 wheat varieties (Tatara-96, Ghaznavi-98, Fakhri Sarhad, Bakhtawar-92, Pirsabaq-2004 and Auqab-2000) at two seed conditions (primed with 30 mM NaCl and un primed) under four salinity levels (0, 40, 80 and 120 mM) was studied. Statistical analysis of the data revealed that salinity, seed priming and varieties had significantly (P= 0.05) affected shoot fresh weight plant/sup -1/ shoot dry weight plant/sup -1/, shoot Na/sup +/ contents (mg g/sup -1/ dry weight), shoot K/sup +/ contents (mg g/sup -1/ dry weight) and shoot K/sup +/Na/sup +/ ratio. Maximum shoot fresh weight plant/sup -1/ (7.71 g), shoot dry weight plant/sup -1/ (1.68 g), shoot K/sup +/ contents (1.39 mg g/sup -1/ dry weight) and shoot K/sup +/ Na/sup +/ratio (1.45) were recorded from Bakhtawar-92 as compared with other varieties. Highest shoot Na/sup +/ contents (1.43 mg g/sup -1/ dry weight) were recorded from Auqab-2000 when compared with other varieties. All parameters were enhanced with seed priming except shoot Na/sup +/ contents, which reduced significantly (p= 0.05) with seed priming. (author)

  15. Ganoderma lucidum suppresses growth of breast cancer cells through the inhibition of Akt/NF-kappaB signaling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Jiahua; Slivova, Veronika; Harvey, Kevin; Valachovicova, Tatiana; Sliva, Daniel

    2004-01-01

    Ganoderma lucidum (Reishi, Lingzhi) is a popular Asian mushroom that has been used for more than 2 millennia for the general promotion of health and was therefore called the "Mushroom of Immortality." Ganoderma lucidum was also used in traditional Chinese medicine to prevent or treat a variety of diseases, including cancer. We previously demonstrated that Ganoderma lucidum suppresses the invasive behavior of breast cancer cells by inhibiting the transcription factor NF-kappaB. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for the inhibitory effects of Ganoderma lucidum on the growth of highly invasive and metastatic breast cancer cells has not been fully elucidated. Here, we show that Ganoderma lucidum inhibits proliferation of breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells by downregulating Akt/NF-kappaB signaling. Ganoderma lucidum suppresses phosphorylation of Akt on Ser473 and downregulates the expression of Akt, which results in the inhibition of NF-kappaB activity in MDA-MB-231 cells. The biological effect of Ganoderma lucidum was demonstrated by cell cycle arrest at G0/G1, which was the result of the downregulation of expression of NF-kappaB-regulated cyclin D1, followed by the inhibition of cdk4. Our results suggest that Ganoderma lucidum inhibits the growth of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells by modulating Akt/NF-kappaB signaling and could have potential therapeutic use for the treatment of breast cancer.

  16. Behavioral Priming 2.0: Enter a Dynamical Systems Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krpan, Dario

    2017-01-01

    On a daily basis, people are exposed to numerous stimuli, ranging from colors and smells to sounds and words, that could potentially activate different cognitive constructs and influence their actions. This type of influence on human behavior is referred to as priming. Roughly two decades ago, behavioral priming was hailed as one of the core forces that shape automatic behavior. However, failures to replicate some of the representative findings in this domain soon followed, which posed the following question: “How robust are behavioral priming effects, and to what extent are they actually important in shaping people's actions?” To shed a new light on this question, I revisit behavioral priming through the prism of a dynamical systems perspective (DSP). The DSP is a scientific paradigm that has been developed through a combined effort of many different academic disciplines, ranging from mathematics and physics to biology, economics, psychology, etc., and it deals with behavior of simple and complex systems over time. In the present paper, I use conceptual and methodological tools stemming from the DSP to propose circumstances under which behavioral priming effects are likely to occur. More precisely, I outline three possible types of the influence of priming on human behavior, to which I refer as emergence, readjustment, and attractor switch, and propose experimental designs to examine them. Finally, I discuss relevant implications for behavioral priming effects and their replications. PMID:28769846

  17. Behavioral Priming 2.0: Enter a Dynamical Systems Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dario Krpan

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available On a daily basis, people are exposed to numerous stimuli, ranging from colors and smells to sounds and words, that could potentially activate different cognitive constructs and influence their actions. This type of influence on human behavior is referred to as priming. Roughly two decades ago, behavioral priming was hailed as one of the core forces that shape automatic behavior. However, failures to replicate some of the representative findings in this domain soon followed, which posed the following question: “How robust are behavioral priming effects, and to what extent are they actually important in shaping people's actions?” To shed a new light on this question, I revisit behavioral priming through the prism of a dynamical systems perspective (DSP. The DSP is a scientific paradigm that has been developed through a combined effort of many different academic disciplines, ranging from mathematics and physics to biology, economics, psychology, etc., and it deals with behavior of simple and complex systems over time. In the present paper, I use conceptual and methodological tools stemming from the DSP to propose circumstances under which behavioral priming effects are likely to occur. More precisely, I outline three possible types of the influence of priming on human behavior, to which I refer as emergence, readjustment, and attractor switch, and propose experimental designs to examine them. Finally, I discuss relevant implications for behavioral priming effects and their replications.

  18. An extracellular subtilase switch for immune priming in Arabidopsis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vicente Ramírez

    Full Text Available In higher eukaryotes, induced resistance associates with acquisition of a priming state of the cells for a more effective activation of innate immunity; however, the nature of the components for mounting this type of immunological memory is not well known. We identified an extracellular subtilase from Arabidopsis, SBT3.3, the overexpression of which enhances innate immune responses while the loss of function compromises them. SBT3.3 expression initiates a durable autoinduction mechanism that promotes chromatin remodeling and activates a salicylic acid(SA-dependent mechanism of priming of defense genes for amplified response. Moreover, SBT3.3 expression-sensitized plants for enhanced expression of the OXI1 kinase gene and activation of MAP kinases following pathogen attack, providing additional clues for the regulation of immune priming by SBT3.3. Conversely, in sbt3.3 mutant plants pathogen-mediated induction of SA-related defense gene expression is drastically reduced and activation of MAP kinases inhibited. Moreover, chromatin remodeling of defense-related genes normally associated with activation of an immune priming response appear inhibited in sbt3.3 plants, further indicating the importance of the extracellular SBT3.3 subtilase in the establishment of immune priming. Our results also point to an epigenetic control in the regulation of plant immunity, since SBT3.3 is up-regulated and priming activated when epigenetic control is impeded. SBT3.3 represents a new regulator of primed immunity.

  19. Semantic priming effects of synonyms, antonyms, frame, implication and verb-object categories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elsa Skënderi-Rakipllari

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Semantic priming has been a major subject of interest for psycholinguists, whose aim is to discover how lexical memory is structured and organized. The facilitation process of word retrieval through semantic priming has long been studied. The present research is aimed to reveal which semantic category has the best priming effect. Through a lexical decision task experiment we compared the reaction times of masked primed pairs and unprimed pairs. In addition, we analyzed the reaction times and priming effect of connected semantic relations: antonymy, frame, synonymy, implication and verb-object. The data collected and interpreted unveiled that the mean reaction times of primed pairs were shorter than those of unprimed pairs. As to semantic priming, the most significantly primed pairs were those of implications and verb- objects, and not those of synonymy or antonymy as it might be expected.

  20. Number theory an introduction via the density of primes

    CERN Document Server

    Fine, Benjamin

    2016-01-01

    Now in its second edition, this textbook provides an introduction and overview of number theory based on the density and properties of the prime numbers. This unique approach offers both a firm background in the standard material of number theory, as well as an overview of the entire discipline. All of the essential topics are covered, such as the fundamental theorem of arithmetic, theory of congruences, quadratic reciprocity, arithmetic functions, and the distribution of primes. New in this edition are coverage of p-adic numbers, Hensel's lemma, multiple zeta-values, and elliptic curve methods in primality testing. Key topics and features include: A solid introduction to analytic number theory, including full proofs of Dirichlet's Theorem and the Prime Number Theorem Concise treatment of algebraic number theory, including a complete presentation of primes, prime factorizations in algebraic number fields, and unique factorization of ideals Discussion of the AKS algorithm, which shows that primality testing is...

  1. Spectral statistics and scattering resonances of complex primes arrays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Ren; Pinheiro, Felipe A.; Dal Negro, Luca

    2018-01-01

    We introduce a class of aperiodic arrays of electric dipoles generated from the distribution of prime numbers in complex quadratic fields (Eisenstein and Gaussian primes) as well as quaternion primes (Hurwitz and Lifschitz primes), and study the nature of their scattering resonances using the vectorial Green's matrix method. In these systems we demonstrate several distinctive spectral properties, such as the absence of level repulsion in the strongly scattering regime, critical statistics of level spacings, and the existence of critical modes, which are extended fractal modes with long lifetimes not supported by either random or periodic systems. Moreover, we show that one can predict important physical properties, such as the existence spectral gaps, by analyzing the eigenvalue distribution of the Green's matrix of the arrays in the complex plane. Our results unveil the importance of aperiodic correlations in prime number arrays for the engineering of gapped photonic media that support far richer mode localization and spectral properties compared to usual periodic and random media.

  2. NF-kappaB specifically activates BMP-2 gene expression in growth plate chondrocytes in vivo and in a chondrocyte cell line in vitro.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Jian Q; Xing, Lianping; Zhang, Jiang-Hong; Zhao, Ming; Horn, Diane; Chan, Jeannie; Boyce, Brendan F; Harris, Stephen E; Mundy, Gregory R; Chen, Di

    2003-08-01

    Bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) regulates growth plate chondrogenesis during development and postnatal bone growth, but the control mechanisms of BMP-2 expression in growth plate chondrocytes are unknown. Here we have used both in vitro and in vivo approaches to demonstrate that transcription factor, NF-kappaB, regulates BMP-2 gene expression in chondrocytes. Two putative NF-kappaB response elements were found in the -2712/+165 region of the BMP-2 gene. Cotransfection of mutant I-kappaBalpha expression plasmids with BMP-2 promoter-luciferase reporters into TMC-23 chondrocyte cell line suppressed BMP-2 transcription. Mutations in NF-kappaB response elements in the BMP-2 gene lead to decreases in BMP-2 promoter activity. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay using nuclear extracts from TMC-23 chondrocytic cells revealed that the NF-kappaB subunits p50 and p65 bound to the NF-kappaB response elements of the BMP-2 gene. Thus, NF-kappaB may positively regulate BMP-2 gene transcription. Consistent with these findings, expression of BMP-2 mRNA was significantly reduced in growth plate chondrocytes in NF-kappaB p50/p52 dKO mice, which associated with decreased numbers of 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdUrd)-positive cells in the proliferating zone of growth plate in these mice. Therefore, in postnatal growth plate chondrocytes, expression of BMP-2 is regulated by NF-kappaB, which may play an important role in chondrogenesis.

  3. Attentional Control and the Relatedness Proportion Effect in Semantic Priming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutchison, Keith A.

    2007-01-01

    In 2 experiments, participants completed both an attentional control battery (OSPAN, antisaccade, and Stroop tasks) and a modified semantic priming task. The priming task measured relatedness proportion (RP) effects within subjects, with the color of the prime indicating the probability that the to-be-named target would be related. In Experiment…

  4. Does pizza prime coin? Perceptual priming in lexical decision and pronunciation.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pecher, D.; Zeelenberg, R.; Raaijmakers, J.G.W.

    1998-01-01

    In 6 experiments the authors investigated priming for perceptually related word pairs (i.e., words that refer to objects with the same shape such as pizza-coin), trying to replicate earlier findings by R. Schreuder et al (see record 1985-06198-001) while avoiding some of the methodological problems

  5. Allograph priming is based on abstract letter identities: Evidence from Japanese kana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kinoshita, Sachiko; Schubert, Teresa; Verdonschot, Rinus G

    2018-04-23

    It is well-established that allographs like the uppercase and lowercase forms of the Roman alphabet (e.g., a and A) map onto the same "abstract letter identity," orthographic representations that are independent of the visual form. Consistent with this, in the allograph match task ("Are 'a' and 'A' the same letter?"), priming by a masked letter prime is equally robust for visually dissimilar prime-target pairs (e.g., d and D) and similar pairs (e.g., c and C). However, in principle this pattern of priming is also consistent with the possibility that allograph priming is purely phonological, based on the letter name. Because different allographic forms of the same letter, by definition, share a letter name, it is impossible to rule out this possibility a priori. In the present study, we investigated the influence of shared letter names by taking advantage of the fact that Japanese is written in two distinct writing systems, syllabic kana-that has two parallel forms, hiragana and katakana-and logographic kanji. Using the allograph match task, we tested whether a kanji prime with the same pronunciation as the target kana (e.g., - い, both pronounced /i/) produces the same amount of priming as a kana prime in the opposite kana form (e.g., イ- い). We found that the kana primes produced substantially greater priming than the phonologically identical kanji prime, which we take as evidence that allograph priming is based on abstract kana identity, not purely phonology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  6. Continuous micron-scaled rope engineering using a rotating multi-nozzle electrospinning emitter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Chunchen; Gao, Chengcheng; Chang, Ming-Wei; Ahmad, Zeeshan; Li, Jing-Song

    2016-10-01

    Electrospinning (ES) enables simple production of fibers for broad applications (e.g., biomedical engineering, energy storage, and electronics). However, resulting structures are predominantly random; displaying significant disordered fiber entanglement, which inevitably gives rise to structural variations and reproducibility on the micron scale. Surface and structural features on this scale are critical for biomaterials, tissue engineering, and pharmaceutical sciences. In this letter, a modified ES technique using a rotating multi-nozzle emitter is developed and utilized to fabricate continuous micron-scaled polycaprolactone (PCL) ropes, providing control on fiber intercalation (twist) and structural order. Micron-scaled ropes comprising 312 twists per millimeter are generated, and rope diameter and pitch length are regulated using polymer concentration and process parameters. Electric field simulations confirm vector and distribution mechanisms, which influence fiber orientation and deposition during the process. The modified fabrication system provides much needed control on reproducibility and fiber entanglement which is crucial for electrospun biomedical materials.

  7. Effects of the kappa opioid receptor antagonist MR-2266-BS on the acquisition of ethanol preference

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sandi, C.; Borrell, J.; Guaza, C. (Cajal Institute, Madrid (Spain))

    1990-01-01

    Using a paradigm by which rats forced to drink a weak ethanol solution develop ethanol preference in consecutive retention testing days, the effects of the administration of the kappa opioid antagonist MR-2266-BS, prior to or after the forced ethanol session, were studied. Pre-conditioning subcutaneous (s.c.) administration of 1 mg/kg of MR-2266-BS induced a decrease in subsequent ethanol consumption without significantly modifying the acquisition of ethanol preference. Post-conditioning administration of MR-2266-BS induced both a dose-dependent reduction in ethanol consumption and in preference throughout the three following days. The results of the present study provide further support of the involvement of kappa-type opioids on drinking behavior, and suggest that kappa receptors may be involved in the consumption and development of preference to ethanol.

  8. Influence of Individual and Group Priming on Medical Students

    OpenAIRE

    McGeown, Helen Rosemary

    2009-01-01

    This study investigated the impact of information on level of prototypicality of the ingroup ‘medical students’, comparing self-esteem effects for those primed as individuals with self-esteem effects for those primed as group members. Indication of prototypicality was given by false feedback on purported individual levels of empathy, an important group norm for medical students. As well as priming type having interactive effects with prototypicality information, it was hypothesized that initi...

  9. Positions priming in briefly presented search arrays

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Asgeirsson, Arni Gunnar; Kristjánsson, Árni; Kyllingsbæk, Søren

    2011-01-01

    Repetition priming in visual search has been a topic of extensive research since Maljkovic & Nakayama [1994, Memory & Cognition, 22, 657-672] presented the first detailed studies of such effects. Their results showed large reductions in reaction times when target color was repeated on consecutive...... the targets are oddly colored alphanumeric characters. The effects arise at very low exposure durations and benefit accuracy at all exposure durations towards the subjects’ ceiling. We conclude that temporally constricted experimental conditions can add to our understanding priming in visual search...... pop-out search trials. Such repetition effects have since been generalized to a multitude of target attributes. Priming has primarily been investigated using self-terminating visual search paradigms, comparing differences in response times. Response accuracy has predominantly served as a control...

  10. Emotion potentiates response activation and inhibition in masked priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bocanegra, Bruno R; Zeelenberg, René

    2012-01-01

    Previous studies have shown that emotion can have 2-fold effects on perception. At the object-level, emotional stimuli benefit from a stimulus-specific boost in visual attention at the relative expense of competing stimuli. At the visual feature-level, recent findings indicate that emotion may inhibit the processing of small visual details and facilitate the processing of coarse visual features. In the present study, we investigated whether emotion can boost the activation and inhibition of automatic motor responses that are generated prior to overt perception. To investigate this, we tested whether an emotional cue affects covert motor responses in a masked priming task. We used a masked priming paradigm in which participants responded to target arrows that were preceded by invisible congruent or incongruent prime arrows. In the standard paradigm, participants react faster, and commit fewer errors responding to the directionality of target arrows, when they are preceded by congruent vs. incongruent masked prime arrows (positive congruency effect, PCE). However, as prime-target SOAs increase, this effect reverses (negative congruency effect, NCE). These findings have been explained as evidence for an initial activation and a subsequent inhibition of a partial response elicited by the masked prime arrow. Our results show that the presentation of fearful face cues, compared to neutral face cues, increased the size of both the PCE and NCE, despite the fact that the primes were invisible. This is the first demonstration that emotion prepares an individual's visuomotor system for automatic activation and inhibition of motor responses in the absence of visual awareness.

  11. Prime Slaughter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Valente, Andrea; Marchetti, Emanuela

    2011-01-01

    of primality and factorization into playful interactions, addressed to primary and early secondary school children. Taking into account individual needs expressed by children regarding play, during a participatory design processes aimed at enhancing learning in museums, Prime Slaughter allows for multiple...... forms of play and their integration. A simple working prototype has already been developed; it will be tested and re-designed through participatory workshops, involving a group of children in our target group....

  12. Color coherent effects in (e,e{prime}N) and (e,e{prime}N,N(h)) processes at CEBAF

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Frankfurt, L.L.; Sargsyan, M.M. [Tel Aviv Univ. (Israel); Strikman, M.I. [Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States)]|[St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Inst. (Russian Federation)

    1994-04-01

    The options for investigating color coherent effects and competing nuclear effects of nucleon-nucleon correlations in nuclei, nuclear shell effects in (e, e{prime}N) and (e, e{prime}NN(h)) reactions are considered. They argue that extension of CEBAF energies to reach Q{sup 2} = 10 GeV{sup 2} will allow systematical investigations of color coherent effects in nonperturbative regime of QCD and their interplay with nuclear effects.

  13. STEP--a System for Teaching Experimental Psychology using E-Prime.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacWhinney, B; St James, J; Schunn, C; Li, P; Schneider, W

    2001-05-01

    Students in psychology need to learn to design and analyze their own experiments. However, software that allows students to build experiments on their own has been limited in a variety of ways. The shipping of the first full release of the E-Prime system later this year will open up a new opportunity for addressing this problem. Because E-Prime promises to become the standard for building experiments in psychology, it is now possible to construct a Web-based resource that uses E-Prime as the delivery engine for a wide variety of instructional materials. This new system, funded by the National Science Foundation, is called STEP (System for the Teaching of Experimental Psychology). The goal of the STEP Project is to provide instructional materials that will facilitate the use of E-Prime in various learning contexts. We are now compiling a large set of classic experiments implemented in E-Prime and available over the Internet from http://step.psy.cmu.edu. The Web site also distributes instructional materials for building courses in experimental psychology based on E-Prime.

  14. Prime Minister of Pakistan visits CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Anaïs Schaeffer

    2016-01-01

    On Saturday, 23 January 2016, CERN welcomed Mr Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan.   From left to right: Minister of Finance Mr Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, CERN Director-General Fabiola Gianotti and CMS national contact physicist Hafeez Hoorani. Mr Muhammad Nawaz Sharif arrived at Point 5 in Cessy, where he was welcomed onto French soil by the sous-préfet of Cessy, Stéphane Donnot, and, representing CERN, Director-General Fabiola Gianotti, Directors Eckhard Elsen and Charlotte Warakaulle, and Rüdiger Voss, the adviser for relations with Pakistan. It was the first visit by a head of government of Pakistan since the country became CERN's latest Associate Member State in July 2015. The Prime Minister then had the opportunity to visit the CMS underground experimental area accompanied by the CMS Spokesperson, Tiziano Camporesi, and the CMS collaboration’...

  15. The NF-kappa B inhibitor, celastrol, could enhance the anti-cancer effect of gambogic acid on oral squamous cell carcinoma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He, Di; Chen, Wantao; Xu, Qin; Yan, Ming; Zhang, Ping; Zhou, Xiaojian; Zhang, Zhiyuan; Duan, Wenhu; Zhong, Laiping; Ye, Dongxia

    2009-01-01

    Gambogic acid (GA) is a major active ingredient of gamboge, a widely used traditional Chinese medicine that has been reported to be a potent cytotoxic agent against some malignant tumors. Many studies have shown that the NF-kappa B signaling pathway plays an important role in anti-apoptosis and the drug resistance of tumor cells during chemotherapy. In this study, the effects and mechanisms of GA and the NF-kappa B inhibitor celastrol on oral cancer cells were investigated. Three human oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines, Tca8113, TSCC and NT, were treated with GA alone, celastrol alone or GA plus celastrol. Cytotoxicity was assessed by MTT assay. The rate of apoptosis was examined with annexin V/PI staining as well as transmission electronic microscopy in Tca8113 cells. The level of constitutive NF-kappa B activity in oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines was determined by immunofluorescence assays and nuclear extracts and electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) in vitro. To further investigate the role of NF-kappa B activity in GA and celastrol treatment in oral squamous cell carcinoma, we used the dominant negative mutant SR-IκBα to inhibit NF-kappa B activity and to observe its influence on the effect of GA. The results showed that GA could inhibit the proliferation and induce the apoptosis of the oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines and that the NF-kappa B pathway was simultaneously activated by GA treatment. The minimal cytotoxic dose of celastrol was able to effectively suppress the GA-induced NF-kappa B pathway activation. Following the combined treatment with GA and the minimal cytotoxic dose of celastrol or the dominant negative mutant SR-IκBα, proliferation was significantly inhibited, and the apoptotic rate of Tca8113 cells was significantly increased. The combination of GA and celastrol has a synergistic antitumor effect. The effect can be primarily attributed to apoptosis induced by a decrease in NF-kappa B pathway activation. The

  16. SIRT1 overexpression decreases cisplatin-induced acetylation of NF-{kappa}B p65 subunit and cytotoxicity in renal proximal tubule cells

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jung, Yu Jin; Lee, Jung Eun; Lee, Ae Sin [Department of Internal Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of); Kang, Kyung Pyo; Lee, Sik; Park, Sung Kwang [Department of Internal Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of); Institute for Medical Sciences, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Sang Yong [Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of); Institute for Medical Sciences, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of); Han, Myung Kwan [Department of Microbiology, Institute for Medical Sciences, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Duk Hoon [Division of Forensic Medicine, National Forensic Service, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Won, E-mail: kwon@jbnu.ac.kr [Department of Internal Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of); Institute for Medical Sciences, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju (Korea, Republic of)

    2012-03-09

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Cisplatin increases acetylation of NF-{kappa}B p65 subunit in HK2 cells. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer SIRT1 overexpression decreases cisplatin-induced p65 acetylation and -cytotoxicity. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Resveratrol decreased cisplatin-induced cell viability through deacetylation of p65. -- Abstract: As the increased acetylation of p65 is linked to nuclear factor-{kappa}B (NF-{kappa}B) activation, the regulation of p65 acetylation can be a potential target for the treatment of inflammatory injury. Cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity is an important issue in chemotherapy of cancer patients. SIRT1, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD{sup +})-dependent protein deacetylase, has been implicated in a variety of cellular processes such as inflammatory injury and the control of multidrug resistance in cancer. However, there is no report on the effect of SIRT1 overexpression on cisplatin-induced acetylation of p65 subunit of NF-{kappa}B and cell injury. To investigate the effect of SIRT1 in on cisplatin-induced acetylation of p65 subunit of NF-{kappa}B and cell injury, HK2 cells were exposed with SIRT1 overexpression, LacZ adenovirus or dominant negative adenovirus after treatment with cisplatin. While protein expression of SIRT1 was decreased by cisplatin treatment compared with control buffer treatment, acetylation of NF-{kappa}B p65 subunit was significantly increased after treatment with cisplatin. Overexpression of SIRT1 ameliorated the increased acetylation of p65 of NF-{kappa}B during cisplatin treatment and cisplatin-induced cytotoxicity. Further, treatment of cisplatin-treated HK2 cells with resveratrol, a SIRT1 activator, also decreased acetylation of NF-{kappa}B p65 subunit and cisplatin-induced increase of the cell viability in HK2 cells. Our findings suggests that the regulation of acetylation of p65 of NF-{kappa}B through SIRT1 can be a possible target to attenuate cisplatin-induced renal cell damage.

  17. Ordovician and Silurian Phi Kappa and Trail Creek formations, Pioneer Mountains, central Idaho; stratigraphic and structural revisions, and new data on graptolite faunas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dover, James H.; Berry, William B.N.; Ross, Reuben James

    1980-01-01

    Recent geologic mapping in the northern Pioneer Mountains combined with the identification of graptolites from 116 new collections indicate that the Ordovician and Silurian Phi Kappa and Trail Creek Formations occur in a series of thrust-bounded slices within a broad zone of imbricate thrust faulting. Though confirming a deformational style first reported in a 1963 study by Michael Churkin, our data suggest that the complexity and regional extent of the thrust zone were not previously recognized. Most previously published sections of the Phi Kappa and Trail Creek Formations were measured across unrecognized thrust faults and therefore include not only structural repetitions of graptolitic Ordovician and Silurian rocks but also other tectonically juxtaposed lithostratigraphic units of diverse ages as well. Because of this discovery, the need to reconsider the stratigraphic validity of these formations and their lithology, nomenclature, structural distribution, facies relations, and graptolite faunas has arisen. The Phi Kappa Formation in most thrust slices has internal stratigraphic continuity despite the intensity of deformation to which it was subjected. As revised herein, the Phi Kappa Formation is restricted to a structurally repeated succession of predominantly black, carbonaceous, graptolitic argillite and shale. Some limy, light-gray-weathering shale occurs in the middle part of the section, and fine-grained locally pebbly quartzite is present at the base. The basal quartzite is here named the Basin Gulch Quartzite Member of the Phi Kappa. The Phi Kappa redefined on a lithologic basis represents the span of Ordovician time from W. B. N. Berry's graptolite zones 2-4 through 15 and also includes approximately 17 m of lithologically identical shale of Early and Middle Silurian age at the top. The lower contact of the formation as revised is tectonic. The Phi Kappa is gradationally overlain by the Trail Creek Formation as restricted herein. Most of the coarser

  18. Behavioral meaningful opioidergic stimulation activates kappa receptor gene expression

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teodorov, E.; Ferrari, M.F.R.; Fior-Chadi, D.R.; Camarini, R.; Felício, L.F.

    2012-01-01

    The periaqueductal gray (PAG) has been reported to be a location for opioid regulation of pain and a potential site for behavioral selection in females. Opioid-mediated behavioral and physiological responses differ according to the activity of opioid receptor subtypes. The present study investigated the effects of the peripheral injection of the kappa-opioid receptor agonist U69593 into the dorsal subcutaneous region of animals on maternal behavior and on Oprk1 gene activity in the PAG of female rats. Female Wistar rats weighing 200-250 g at the beginning of the study were randomly divided into 2 groups for maternal behavior and gene expression experiments. On day 5, pups were removed at 7:00 am and placed in another home cage that was distant from their mother. Thirty minutes after removing the pups, the dams were treated with U69593 (0.15 mg/kg, sc) or 0.9% saline (up to 1 mL/kg) and after 30 min were evaluated in the maternal behavior test. Latencies in seconds for pup retrieval, grouping, crouching, and full maternal behavior were scored. The results showed that U69593 administration inhibited maternal behavior (P < 0.05) because a lower percentage of U69593 group dams showed retrieval of first pup, retrieving all pups, grouping, crouching and displaying full maternal behavior compared to the saline group. Opioid gene expression was evaluated using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). A single injection of U69593 increased Oprk1 PAG expression in both virgin (P < 0.05) and lactating female rats (P < 0.01), with no significant effect on Oprm1 or Oprd1 gene activity. Thus, the expression of kappa-opioid receptors in the PAG may be modulated by single opioid receptor stimulation and behavioral meaningful opioidergic transmission in the adult female might occur simultaneously to specific changes in gene expression of kappa-opioid receptor subtype. This is yet another alert for the complex role of the opioid system in female

  19. Behavioral meaningful opioidergic stimulation activates kappa receptor gene expression

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Teodorov, E. [Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição, Universidade Federal do ABC, São Paulo, SP (Brazil); Ferrari, M.F.R. [Departamento de Genética e Biologia Evolutiva, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP (Brazil); Fior-Chadi, D.R. [Departamento de Fisiologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP (Brazil); Camarini, R. [Departamento de Farmacologia, Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP (Brazil); Felício, L.F. [Departamento de Patologia, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP (Brazil)

    2012-06-01

    The periaqueductal gray (PAG) has been reported to be a location for opioid regulation of pain and a potential site for behavioral selection in females. Opioid-mediated behavioral and physiological responses differ according to the activity of opioid receptor subtypes. The present study investigated the effects of the peripheral injection of the kappa-opioid receptor agonist U69593 into the dorsal subcutaneous region of animals on maternal behavior and on Oprk1 gene activity in the PAG of female rats. Female Wistar rats weighing 200-250 g at the beginning of the study were randomly divided into 2 groups for maternal behavior and gene expression experiments. On day 5, pups were removed at 7:00 am and placed in another home cage that was distant from their mother. Thirty minutes after removing the pups, the dams were treated with U69593 (0.15 mg/kg, sc) or 0.9% saline (up to 1 mL/kg) and after 30 min were evaluated in the maternal behavior test. Latencies in seconds for pup retrieval, grouping, crouching, and full maternal behavior were scored. The results showed that U69593 administration inhibited maternal behavior (P < 0.05) because a lower percentage of U69593 group dams showed retrieval of first pup, retrieving all pups, grouping, crouching and displaying full maternal behavior compared to the saline group. Opioid gene expression was evaluated using real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). A single injection of U69593 increased Oprk1 PAG expression in both virgin (P < 0.05) and lactating female rats (P < 0.01), with no significant effect on Oprm1 or Oprd1 gene activity. Thus, the expression of kappa-opioid receptors in the PAG may be modulated by single opioid receptor stimulation and behavioral meaningful opioidergic transmission in the adult female might occur simultaneously to specific changes in gene expression of kappa-opioid receptor subtype. This is yet another alert for the complex role of the opioid system in female

  20. PrimeFaces blueprints

    CERN Document Server

    Jonna, Sudheer

    2014-01-01

    If you are a Java developer with experience of frontend UI development, and want to take the plunge to develop stunning UI applications with the most popular JSF framework, PrimeFaces, then this book is for you. For those with entrepreneurial aspirations, this book will provide valuable insights into how to utilize successful business models.

  1. Neural correlates of cross-domain affective priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Qin; Li, Xiaohua; Gold, Brian T; Jiang, Yang

    2010-05-06

    The affective priming effect has mostly been studied using reaction time (RT) measures; however, the neural bases of affective priming are not well established. To understand the neural correlates of cross-domain emotional stimuli presented rapidly, we obtained event-related potential (ERP) measures during an affective priming task using short SOA (stimulus onset asynchrony) conditions. Two sets of 480 picture-word pairs were presented at SOAs of either 150ms or 250ms between prime and target stimuli. Participants decided whether the valence of each target word was pleasant or unpleasant. Behavioral results from both SOA conditions were consistent with previous reports of affective priming, with longer RTs for incongruent than congruent pairs at SOAs of 150ms (771 vs. 738ms) and 250ms (765 vs. 720ms). ERP results revealed that the N400 effect (associated with incongruent pairs in affective processing) occurred at anterior scalp regions at an SOA of 150ms, and this effect was only observed for negative target words across the scalp at an SOA of 250ms. In contrast, late positive potentials (LPPs) (associated with attentional resource allocation) occurred across the scalp at an SOA of 250ms. LPPs were only observed for positive target words at posterior parts of the brain at an SOA of 150ms. Our finding of ERP signatures at very short SOAs provides the first neural evidence that affective pictures can exert an automatic influence on the evaluation of affective target words. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Radiation Pressure Measurements on Micron-Size Individual Dust Grains

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abbas, M. M.; Craven, P. D.; Spann, J. F.; Witherow, W. K.; West, E. A.; Gallagher, D. L.; Adrian, M. L.; Fishman, G. J.; Tankosic, D.; LeClair, A.

    2003-01-01

    Measurements of electromagnetic radiation pressure have been made on individual silica (SiO2) particles levitated in an electrodynamic balance. These measurements were made by inserting single charged particles of known diameter in the 0.2- to 6.82-micron range and irradiating them from above with laser radiation focused to beam widths of approximately 175- 400 microns at ambient pressures particle due to the radiation force is balanced by the electrostatic force indicated by the compensating dc potential applied to the balance electrodes, providing a direct measure of the radiation force on the levitated particle. Theoretical calculations of the radiation pressure with a least-squares fit to the measured data yield the radiation pressure efficiencies of the particles, and comparisons with Mie scattering theory calculations provide the imaginary part of the refractive index of SiO2 and the corresponding extinction and scattering efficiencies.

  3. The set of prime numbers: Multiscale analysis and numeric accelerators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iovane, Gerardo

    2009-01-01

    In this work, we show that the prime numbers follow a multiscale distribution. Indeed they can be classified thanks to tree structures, which are expressed in terms of two maximal subsets of N and using multilayer selection rules, acting on these sets of prime candidates. Consequently, the prime numbers follow a specific deterministic rules. Indeed, a numeric accelerator for generating primes can be realized in terms of the above mentioned specific rules. From the comparison with the Fibonacci numbers a beautiful harmony comes in terms of the Golden Mean which is relevant to high energy physics and E-Infinity theory too.

  4. Localized Gastric Amyloidosis with Kappa and Lambda Light Chain Co-Expression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yong Hwan Ahn

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available Esophagogastroduodenoscopy for cancer screening was performed in a 55-year-old woman as part of a health screening program, and revealed a depressed lesion approximately 20 mm in diameter in the lesser curvature of the mid-gastric body. Several biopsy specimens were collected as the lesion resembled early gastric cancer; however, histopathologic evaluation revealed chronic active gastritis with an ulcer and amorphous eosinophilic material deposition. Congo red staining identified amyloid proteins, and apple-green birefringence was shown using polarized light microscopy. Immunohistochemical staining revealed the presence of kappa and lambda chain-positive plasma cells. There was no evidence of underlying plasma cell dyscrasia or amyloid deposition in other segments of the gastrointestinal tract. Echocardiography and computed tomography of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis did not show any significant findings. Thus, the patient was diagnosed with localized gastric amyloidosis with kappa and lambda light chain coexpression.

  5. Ovation Prime Real-Time

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Ovation Prime Real-Time (OPRT) product is a real-time forecast and nowcast model of auroral power and is an operational implementation of the work by Newell et...

  6. The effect of arsenic thermal diffusion on the morphology and photoluminescence properties of sub-micron ZnO rods

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ding Meng [Department of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun 130023 (China); Laboratory of Excited State Processes, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130021 (China); Yao Bin, E-mail: binyao@jlu.edu.c [Department of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun 130023 (China); Zhao Dongxu, E-mail: dxzhao2000@yahoo.com.c [Laboratory of Excited State Processes, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130021 (China); Fang Fang; Shen Dezhen; Zhang Zhenzhong [Laboratory of Excited State Processes, Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130021 (China)

    2010-05-31

    As-doped sub-micron ZnO rods were realized by a simple thermal diffusion process using a GaAs wafer as an arsenic resource. The surface of the sub-micron ZnO rods became rough and the morphology of As-doped sub-micron ZnO rods changed markedly with increasing diffusion temperature. From the results of energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence, arsenic elements were confirmed to be introduced into the sub-micron ZnO rods. The acceptor ionization energy was deduced to be about 110 meV based on the temperature-dependent PL spectra.

  7. The effect of arsenic thermal diffusion on the morphology and photoluminescence properties of sub-micron ZnO rods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ding Meng; Yao Bin; Zhao Dongxu; Fang Fang; Shen Dezhen; Zhang Zhenzhong

    2010-01-01

    As-doped sub-micron ZnO rods were realized by a simple thermal diffusion process using a GaAs wafer as an arsenic resource. The surface of the sub-micron ZnO rods became rough and the morphology of As-doped sub-micron ZnO rods changed markedly with increasing diffusion temperature. From the results of energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence, arsenic elements were confirmed to be introduced into the sub-micron ZnO rods. The acceptor ionization energy was deduced to be about 110 meV based on the temperature-dependent PL spectra.

  8. Priming of disability and elderly stereotype in motor performance: similar or specific effects?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ginsberg, Frederik; Rohmer, Odile; Louvet, Eva

    2012-04-01

    In three experimental studies, the effects of priming participants with the disability stereotype were investigated with respect to their subsequent motor performance. Also explored were effects of activating two similar stereotypes, persons with a disability and elderly people. In Study 1, participants were primed with the disability stereotype versus with a neutral prime, and then asked to perform on a motor coordination task. In Studies 2 and 3, a third condition was introduced: priming participants with the elderly stereotype. Results indicated that priming participants with the disability stereotype altered their motor performance: they showed decreased manual dexterity and performed slower than the non-primed participants. Priming with the elderly stereotype decreased only performance speed. These findings underline that prime-to-behavior effects may depend on activation of specific stereotype content.

  9. Tumour Necrosis Factor-alpha and Nuclear Factor-kappa B Gene Variants in Sepsis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acar, Leyla; Atalan, Nazan; Karagedik, E Hande; Ergen, Arzu

    2018-01-20

    The humoral system is activated and various cytokines are released due to infections in tissues and traumatic damage. Nuclear factor-kappa B dimers are encoded by nuclear factor-kappa B genes and regulate transcription of several crucial proteins of inflammation such as tumour necrosis factor-alpha. To investigate the possible effect of polymorphisms on tumour necrosis factor-alpha serum levels with clinical and prognostic parameters of sepsis by determining the nuclear factor-kappa B-1-94 ins/del ATTG and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (-308 G/A) gene polymorphisms and tumour necrosis factor-alpha serum levels. Case-control study. Seventy-two patients with sepsis and 104 healthy controls were included in the study. In order to determine the polymorphisms of nuclear factor-kappa B-1-94 ins/del ATTG and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (-308 G/A), polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis was performed and serum tumour necrosis factor-alpha levels were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We observed no significant differences in tumour necrosis factor-alpha serum levels between the study groups. In the patient group, an increase in the tumour necrosis factor-alpha serum levels in patients carrying the tumour necrosis factor-alpha (-308 G/A) A allele compared to those without the A allele was found to be statistically significant. Additionally, an increase in the tumour necrosis factor-alpha serum levels in patients carrying tumour necrosis factor-alpha (-308 G/A) AA genotype compared with patients carrying the AG or GG genotypes was statistically significant. No significant differences were found in these 2 polymorphisms between the patient and control groups (p>0.05). Our results showed the AA genotype and the A allele of the tumour necrosis factor-alpha (-308 G/A) polymorphism may be used as a predictor of elevated tumour necrosis factor-alpha levels in patients with sepsis.

  10. Differential regulation of. mu. , delta, kappa opioid receptors by Mn/sup + +/

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Szuecs, M.; Oetting, G.M.; Coscia, C.J.

    1986-03-05

    Differential effects of Mn/sup + +/ on three opioid receptor subtypes of rat brain membranes were evaluated. Concentration dependency studies performed with 0.05-20 mM Mn/sup + +/ revealed that only the delta receptors are stimulated at any concentration. The binding of 1 nM /sup 3/H-DAGO was not stimulated by low concentrations (< 1mM) of Mn/sup + +/, and was significantly inhibited at higher concentrations (40% at 20 mM). 1 nM /sup 3/H-EKC (+100nM DAGO and 100nM DADLE) binding was inhibited by Mn/sup + +/ in the entire concentration range. While regulation of ..mu.. receptor binding did not change during postnatal development, delta and kappa binding displayed a pronounced developmental time-dependency. Kappa sites were hardly affected by Mn/sup + +/ at day 5, and adult levels of inhibition were reached only after the third week postnatal. In contrast, 1 nM /sup 3/H-DADLE (+10nM DAGO) binding was most sensitive to Mn/sup + +/ on day 5 after birth (100% stimulation with 5-20 mM). The ED/sub 50/ of Mn/sup + +/ stimulation was unchanged during maturation. These immature delta sites displayed a similar extent of Mn/sup + +/ reversal of Gpp(NH)p inhibition as seen in microsomes, which represent a good model of N/sub i/-uncoupled receptors. These data suggest that ..mu.., delta and kappa receptors are differently coupled to N/sub i/. Moreover, a second divalent cation binding site, in addition to that on N/sub i/ might exist for delta receptors.

  11. Target Categorization with Primes that Vary in Both Congruency and Sense Modality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathryn eWeatherford

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In two experiments we examined conceptual priming within and across sense modalities by varying the modality (picture and environmental sounds and the category congruency of prime-target pairs. Both experiments used a repetition priming paradigm, but Experiment 1 studied priming effects with a task that required a superordinate categorization response (man-made or natural, while Experiment 2 used a lower-level category response (musical instruments or animal: one that was more closely associated with the basic level of the semantic network. Results from Experiment 1 showed a strong effect of target modality and two distinct patterns of conceptual priming effects with picture and environmental sound targets. However, no priming advantage was found when congruent and incongruent primes were compared. Results from Experiment 2, found congruency effects that were specific to environmental sound targets when preceded by picture primes. The findings provide support for the intermodal event file and multisensory framework, and suggest that auditory and visual features about a single item in a conceptual category may be more tightly connected than two different items from the same category.

  12. Colorimetry and prime colours--a theorem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hornaes, Hans Petter; Wold, Jan Henrik; Farup, Ivar

    2005-08-01

    Human colour vision is the result of a complex process involving topics ranging from physics of light to perception. Whereas the diversity of light entering the eye in principle span an infinite-dimensional vector space in terms of the spectral power distributions, the space of human colour perceptions is three dimensional. One important consequence of this is that a variety of colours can be visually matched by a mixture of only three adequately chosen reference lights. It has been observed that there exists one particular set of monochromatic reference lights that, according to a certain definition, is optimal for producing colour matches. These reference lights are commonly denoted prime colours. In the present paper, we intend to rigorously show that the existence of prime colours is not particular to the human visual system as sometimes stated, but rather an algebraic consequence of the manner in which a kind of colorimetric functions called colour-matching functions are defined and transformed. The solution is based on maximisation of a determinant determining the gamut size of the colour space spanned by the prime colours. Cramer's rule for solving a set of linear equations is an essential part of the proof. By means of examples, it is shown that mathematically the optimal set of reference lights is not unique in general, and that the existence of a maximum determinant is not a necessary condition for the existence of prime colours.

  13. Koefesien Kappa sebagai Indeks Kesepakatan Hasil Diognosis Mikroskopis Malaria di Kabupaten Belu Nusa Tenggara Timur

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fridolina Mau

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available AbstractBlood slide examination is used as standard malaria diagnosis in Indonesia. Quality assurance for malaria microscopic examination is an important issue in the monitoring and supervision of the administration of antimalarials drugs. This step was done to determine the accuracy of thediagnosis, thus could be used for further evaluation in improving the skills of microscopic health centre personnel. This study aims to determine the accuracy of malaria microscopic examination at Primary health centre and District Health Office personnels in Belu District, Nusa Tenggara Timur.The study was an observational research with cross sectional approach. The competency of primary health center and district healt office microscopist in examining malaria blood smears were evaluated using standard blood smears compared with smears from Passive Case Detection (PCD activities. Performance in preparing blood smear were evaluatied by observation and filling the checklist. The study was conducted in April - Juni 2012 in Belu District, NTT. Quality assurance was assessed based on the results of cross-checking and assessments of Kappa coefficient between primary health centre and district Health office microscopic personnel and those between district health centers and Department of parasitology, faculty of Medicine, (Gadjah Mada University certified microscopicpersonnel. Result shows that the strength of agreement between the Primary Health Centre and the District Health Office microscopic personnel centers was "good" (kappa 0.61 to 0.80, while those between District Health Office and Department of Parasitology UGM showed poor agreement (0,20– 0,40Keywords : microscopic examination of malaria, Belu District, cross check, KappaAbstrakPemeriksaan sediaan darah masih merupakan baku emas penegakan diagnosis malaria di Indonesia. Pemantapan kualitas mikroskopis malaria merupakan hal penting dalam pemantauan dan pengawasan pemberian obat anti malaria yang tepat

  14. Making sense of the Sense Model: translation priming with Japanese-English bilinguals

    OpenAIRE

    Allen, David; Conklin, Kathy; Van Heuven, Walter J.B.

    2015-01-01

    Many studies have reported that first language (L1) translation primes speed responses to second language (L2) targets, whereas L2 translation primes generally do not speed up responses to L1 targets in lexical decision. According to the Sense Model (Finkbeiner, Forster, Nicol & Nakamura, 2004) this asymmetry is due to the proportion of senses activated by the prime. Because L2 primes activate only a subset of the L1 translations senses, priming is not observed. In this study we test the pred...

  15. The 1.4-2.7 micron spectrum of the point source at the galactic center

    Science.gov (United States)

    Treffers, R. R.; Fink, U.; Larson, H. P.; Gautier, T. N., III

    1976-01-01

    The spectrum of the 2-micron point source at the galactic center is presented over the range from 1.4 to 2.7 microns. The two-level-transition CO band heads are seen near 2.3 microns, confirming that the radiation from this source is due to a cool supergiant star. The heliocentric radial velocity is found to be - 173 (+ or -90) km/s and is consistent with the star being in orbit about a dense galactic nucleus. No evidence is found for Brackett-gamma emission, and no interstellar absorption features are seen. Upper limits for the column densities of interstellar H2, CH4, CO, and NH3 are derived.

  16. Withania somnifera Root Extract Enhances Chemotherapy through 'Priming'.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aine Brigette Henley

    Full Text Available Withania somnifera extracts are known for their anti-cancerous, anti-inflammatory and antioxidative properties. One of their mechanisms of actions is to modulate mitochondrial function through increasing oxidative stress. Recently 'priming' has been suggested as a potential mechanism for enhancing cancer cell death. In this study we demonstrate that 'priming', in HT-29 colon cells, with W. somnifera root extract increased the potency of the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. We have also showed the W. somnifera root extract enhanced mitochondrial dysfunction and that the underlying mechanism of 'priming' was selectively through increased ROS. Moreover, we showed that this effect was not seen in non-cancerous cells.

  17. CROSS-TOLERANCE MECHANISM INDUCTION IN MELON SEEDS BY PRIMING PRIOR DRYING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jean Marcel Sousa Lira

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The loss of benefits after re-drying is one of the drawbacks of the seed priming technique. Different types of stresses have been used before re-drying to preserve the priming benefits. This process may be seen as promoting cross tolerance to increase the defense mechanisms that prevent loss of viability in seeds primed after drying. We tested the effect of some stresses to induce cross-tolerance and different drying conditions with the aim of maintaining priming benefits in melon seeds. The seeds were primed in an aerated KNO3 solution (0.35M, -1.7MPa, 25 °C, in the dark for six days. The primed seeds were then submitted to slow drying, fast drying, cold shock + slow drying, cold shock + fast drying, heat shock + slow drying, heat shock + fast drying, PEG + slow drying, PEG + fast drying, ABA + slow drying, ABA + fast drying and no drying (planted directly after priming. We evaluated antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, CAT and APX, germinability, mean time of germination (MTG and mean rate of germination (MRG. A completely randomized design was used with three repetitions of 50 seeds in each treatment. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and means were compared by the Scott-Knott test (p ≤ 0.05. ABA increased SOD activity after drying and CAT activity was reduced by priming. APX activity was not observed. The stress submission prior to re-drying improved the MRG and reduced MTG. Therefore, the induction of the cross-tolerance mechanism could be effective to maintain priming benefits in melon seeds.

  18. Conscious, but not unconscious, logo priming of brands and related words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brintazzoli, Gigliola; Soetens, Eric; Deroost, Natacha; Van den Bussche, Eva

    2012-06-01

    This study assessed whether real-life stimulus material can elicit conscious and unconscious priming. A typical masked priming paradigm was used, with brand logo primes. We used a rigorous method to assess participants' awareness of the subliminal information. Our results show that shortly presented and masked brand logos (e.g., logo of McDonald's) have the power to prime their brand names (e.g., "McDonald's") and, remarkably, words associated to the brand (e.g., "hamburger"). However, this only occurred when the logos could be categorized clearly above the consciousness threshold. Once the primes were presented close to the consciousness threshold, no subliminal influences on behavior were observed. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Challenges, constraints, and results of lens design for 17 micron-bolometer focal plane arrays in 8-12 micron waveband

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuster, Norbert; Franks, John

    2011-06-01

    In the 8-12 micron waveband Focal Plane Arrays (FPA) are available with a 17 micron pixel pitch in different arrays sizes (e.g. 512 x 480 pixels and 320 x 240 pixels) and with excellent electrical properties. Many applications become possible using this new type of IR-detector which will become the future standard in uncooled technology. Lenses with an f-number faster than f/1.5 minimize the diffraction impact on the spatial resolution and guarantee a high thermal resolution for uncooled cameras. Both effects will be quantified. The distinction between Traditional f-number (TF) and Radiometric f-number (RF) is discussed. Lenses with different focal lengths are required for applications in a variety of markets. They are classified by their Horizontal field of view (HFOV). Respecting the requirements for high volume markets, several two lens solutions will be discussed. A commonly accepted parameter of spatial resolution is the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF)-value at the Nyquist frequency of the detector (here 30cy/mm). This parameter of resolution will be presented versus field of view. Wide Angle and Super Wide Angle lenses are susceptible to low relative illumination in the corner of the detector. Measures to reduce this drop to an acceptable value are presented.

  20. On prime ideals and associated spectrum of BCK-algebras

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahsan, J.; Thaheem, A.B.; Deeba, E.Y.

    1989-07-01

    In this paper we study prime ideals and define the spectrum of a bounded commutative BCK-algebra. We also obtain a characterization of minimal prime (lattice) ideals of these algebras. (author). 8 refs, 4 tabs

  1. C3-dependent mechanism of microglial priming relevant to multiple sclerosis

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ramaglia, Valeria; Hughes, Timothy R.; Donev, Rossen M.; Ruseva, Marieta M.; Wu, Xiaobo; Huitinga, Inge; Baas, Frank; Neal, James W.; Morgan, B. Paul

    2012-01-01

    Microglial priming predisposes the brain to neurodegeneration and affects disease progression. The signal to switch from the quiescent to the primed state is unknown. We show that deleting the C3 convertase regulator complement receptor 1-related protein y (Crry) induces microglial priming. Mice

  2. Inflammasome priming is similar for francisella species that differentially induce inflammasome activation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed G Ghonime

    Full Text Available Inflammasome activation is a two-step process where step one, priming, prepares the inflammasome for its subsequent activation, by step two. Classically step one can be induced by LPS priming followed by step two, high dose ATP. Furthermore, when IL-18 processing is used as the inflammasome readout, priming occurs before new protein synthesis. In this context, how intracellular pathogens such as Francisella activate the inflammasome is incompletely understood, particularly regarding the relative importance of priming versus activation steps. To better understand these events we compared Francisella strains that differ in virulence and ability to induce inflammasome activation for their relative effects on step one vs. step two. When using the rapid priming model, i.e., 30 min priming by live or heat killed Francisella strains (step 1, followed by ATP (step 2, we found no difference in IL-18 release, p20 caspase-1 release and ASC oligomerization between Francisella strains (F. novicida, F. holarctica -LVS and F. tularensis Schu S4. This priming is fast, independent of bacteria viability, internalization and phagosome escape, but requires TLR2-mediated ERK phosphorylation. In contrast to their efficient priming capacity, Francisella strains LVS and Schu S4 were impaired in inflammasome triggering compared to F. novicida. Thus, observed differences in inflammasome activation by F. novicida, LVS and Schu S4 depend not on differences in priming but rather on their propensity to trigger the primed inflammasome.

  3. Priming involuntary autobiographical memories in the lab

    OpenAIRE

    Barzykowski, Krystian; Niedźwieńska, Agnieszka

    2018-01-01

    Involuntary autobiographical memories (IAMs) are recollections of personal past that frequently and spontaneously occur in daily life. Initial studies by Mace. Priming involuntary autobiographical memories. Showed that deliberately reminiscing about a certain lifetime period (e.g., high school) significantly increased the number of different IAMs from the same period in subsequent days, suggesting that priming may play a significant role in the retrieval of IAMs in everyday life. In the prese...

  4. How visual working memory contents influence priming of visual attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carlisle, Nancy B; Kristjánsson, Árni

    2017-04-12

    Recent evidence shows that when the contents of visual working memory overlap with targets and distractors in a pop-out search task, intertrial priming is inhibited (Kristjánsson, Sævarsson & Driver, Psychon Bull Rev 20(3):514-521, 2013, Experiment 2, Psychonomic Bulletin and Review). This may reflect an interesting interaction between implicit short-term memory-thought to underlie intertrial priming-and explicit visual working memory. Evidence from a non-pop-out search task suggests that it may specifically be holding distractors in visual working memory that disrupts intertrial priming (Cunningham & Egeth, Psychol Sci 27(4):476-485, 2016, Experiment 2, Psychological Science). We examined whether the inhibition of priming depends on whether feature values in visual working memory overlap with targets or distractors in the pop-out search, and we found that the inhibition of priming resulted from holding distractors in visual working memory. These results are consistent with separate mechanisms of target and distractor effects in intertrial priming, and support the notion that the impact of implicit short-term memory and explicit visual working memory can interact when each provides conflicting attentional signals.

  5. Airborne spectrophotometry of P/Halley from 20 to 65 microns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glaccum, W.; Moseley, S. H.; Campins, H.; Loewenstein, R. F.

    1986-01-01

    Simultaneous 20 to 65 microns spectrometry and 100 microns photometry of P/Halley obtained on board the Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO) in 1985 Dec. and 1986 April are discussed. Spectra with resolution 30 to 50 were obtained with the NASA/Goddard 24 channel grating spectrometer. Measurements were made on the nucleus as well as 5 points along and perpendicular to the Sun-tail direction. The observations reveal the absence of any strong spectral features. The color temperature of the dust varies over time scales as short as 2 days, but is higher than that expected for a rapidly rotating blackbody at the same distance from the Sun. The color temperature does not vary within 1 arcmin of the nucleus, but the coma is brighter on the sunward side than on the antisunward side.

  6. $\\kappa$-Minkowski star product in any dimension from symplectic realization

    OpenAIRE

    Pachol, Anna; Vitale, Patrizia

    2015-01-01

    We derive an explicit expression for the star product reproducing the $\\kappa$-Minkowski Lie algebra in any dimension $n$. The result is obtained by suitably reducing the Wick-Voros star product defined on $\\mathbb{C}^{d}_\\theta$ with $n=d+1$. It is thus shown that the new star product can be obtained from a Jordanian twist.

  7. A proof of the conjecture on the twin primes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zuo-ling, Zhou [Department of Lingnan college, Sun Yat-sen University GuangZhou, GuangDong, 510275 (China)

    2016-06-08

    In this short note, we have proved the conjecture on twin primes using some thoughts of the set theory. Firstly, using the original sieve method and a new notation(concept)introduced by myself, the conjecture on twin primes is summed up as an elementary successive limit, afterwards we form a subsequence of positive integers,and using it,we prove that the successive limits are commutative and complete the proof of the conjecture on twin primes We also give a more straightforward proof of the conjecture.

  8. Korteweg-deVries-Burgers (KdVB) equation in a five component cometary plasma with kappa described electrons and ions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael, Manesh; Willington, Neethu T.; Jayakumar, Neethu; Sebastian, Sijo; Sreekala, G.; Venugopal, Chandu

    2016-12-01

    We investigate the existence of ion-acoustic shock waves in a five component cometary plasma consisting of positively and negatively charged oxygen ions, kappa described hydrogen ions, hot solar electrons, and slightly colder cometary electrons. The KdVB equation has been derived for the system, and its solution plotted for different kappa values, oxygen ion densities, as well as the temperature ratios for the ions. It is found that the amplitude of the shock wave decreases with increasing kappa values. The strength of the shock profile decreases with increasing temperatures of the positively charged oxygen ions and densities of negatively charged oxygen ions.

  9. Aggressive priming online: Facebook adverts can prime aggressive cognitions

    OpenAIRE

    Buchanan, Tom

    2015-01-01

    Through the process of priming, incidental stimuli in our environments can influence our thoughts, feelings and behavior. This may be true of incidental stimuli in online environments, such as adverts on websites. Two experiments (N=325, N=331) showed that the mere presence of advertisements with violent content on a simulated Facebook page induced higher levels of aggression-related cognition in comparison to non-violent adverts (d=0.56 , d=0.71). In a subsequent word recognition task, parti...

  10. Confirmation of linear system theory prediction: Rate of change of Herrnstein's kappa as a function of response-force requirement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDowell, J J; Wood, H M

    1985-01-01

    Four human subjects worked on all combinations of five variable-interval schedules and five reinforcer magnitudes ( cent/reinforcer) in each of two phases of the experiment. In one phase the force requirement on the operandum was low (1 or 11 N) and in the other it was high (25 or 146 N). Estimates of Herrnstein's kappa were obtained at each reinforcer magnitude. The results were: (1) response rate was more sensitive to changes in reinforcement rate at the high than at the low force requirement, (2) kappa increased from the beginning to the end of the magnitude range for all subjects at both force requirements, (3) the reciprocal of kappa was a linear function of the reciprocal of reinforcer magnitude for seven of the eight data sets, and (4) the rate of change of kappa was greater at the high than at the low force requirement by an order of magnitude or more. The second and third findings confirm predictions made by linear system theory, and replicate the results of an earlier experiment (McDowell & Wood, 1984). The fourth finding confirms a further prediction of the theory and supports the theory's interpretation of conflicting data on the constancy of Herrnstein's kappa.

  11. Low Frequency Electrostatic Waves in Weakly Inhomogeneous Magnetoplasma Modeled by Lorentzian (kappa) Distributions

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Basu, Bamandas

    2008-01-01

    ... (to the ambient magnetic field) flow velocities associated with the current. In order to illustrate the distinguishing features of the kappa distributions, stability properties of the low frequency...

  12. Comparison of directly compressed vitamin B12 tablets prepared from micronized rotary-spun microfibers and cast films.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sebe, István; Bodai, Zsolt; Eke, Zsuzsanna; Kállai-Szabó, Barnabás; Szabó, Péter; Zelkó, Romána

    2015-01-01

    Fiber-based dosage forms are potential alternatives of conventional dosage forms from the point of the improved extent and rate of drug dissolution. Rotary-spun polymer fibers and cast films were prepared and micronized in order to direct compress after homogenization with tabletting excipients. Particle size distribution of powder mixtures of micronized fibers and films homogenized with tabletting excipients were determined by laser scattering particle size distribution analyzer. Powder rheological behavior of the mixtures containing micronized fibers and cast films was also compared. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy was applied for the microstructural characterization of micronized fibers and films. The water-soluble vitamin B12 release from the compressed tablets was determined. It was confirmed that the rotary spinning method resulted in homogeneous supramolecularly ordered powder mixture, which was successfully compressed after homogenization with conventional tabletting excipients. The obtained directly compressed tablets showed uniform drug release of low variations. The results highlight the novel application of micronized rotary-spun fibers as intermediate for further processing reserving the original favorable powder characteristics of fibrous systems.

  13. Seed Priming to Overcome Salinity Stress in Persian Cultivars of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ali SEPEHRI

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available In order to investigate the effect of hydro-priming on seed germination with distilled water on germination of five Alfalfa cultivars under salinity stress, an experiment was conducted as a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized design with three replications. Seven levels of hydro-priming and salinity of NaCl including prime and non-salinity, prime and 50 mM salinity, prime and 100 mM salinity, prime and 150 mM salinity, prime and 200 mM salinity, prime and 250 mM salinity and without prime and salinity and five alfalfa varieties, including ‘Hamedani’, ‘Isfahani’, ‘Bami’, ‘Yazdi’ and ‘Ghareh Yonjeh’ were used. The results showed that the main effect of prime, salinity and cultivars and their interaction in all studied traits were significantly affected at the 5% probability level. Priming treatments in non-salinity of all cultivars were the highest. In all cultivars, final germination percentage, length and weight of radicle, plumule and seedling, germination rate and time, relative radicle elongation, vigor index and stress index, were significantly improved in response to priming in salinity levels of 50-200 mM, compared to control. Radicle produced higher length and weight than the plumule in hydro- priming and salinity treatments. ‘Hamedani’ cultivar in most of studied characteristics had a better response than others. The lowest response to salinity stress and priming was observed in ‘Yazdi’ cultivar.

  14. Performance and impedance studies of thin, porous molybdenum and tungsten electrodes for the alkali metal thermoelectric converter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wheeler, B. L.; Williams, R. M.; Jeffries-Nakamura, B.; Lamb, J. L.; Loveland, M. E.; Bankston, C. P.; Cole, T.

    1988-01-01

    Columnar, porous, magnetron-sputtered molybdenum and tungsten films show optimum performance as alkali metal thermoelectric converter electrodes at thicknesses less than 1.0 micron when used with molybdenum or nickel current collector grids. Power densities of 0.40 W/sq cm for 0.5-micron molybdenum films at 1200 K and 0.35 W/sq cm for 0.5-micron tungsten films at 1180 K were obtained at electrode maturity after 40-90 h. Sheet resistances of magnetron sputter deposited films on sodium beta-double-prime-alumina solid electrolyte (BASE) substrates were found to increase very steeply as thickness is decreased below about 0.3-double-prime 0.4-micron. The ac impedance data for these electrodes have been interpreted in terms of contributions from the bulk BASE and the porous electrode/BASE interface. Voltage profiles of operating electrodes show that the total electrode area, of electrodes with thickness less than 2.0 microns, is not utilized efficiently unless a fairly fine (about 1 x 1 mm) current collector grid is employed.

  15. Kappa-receptor selective binding of opioid ligands with a heterocyclic bicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9-one structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benyhe, S; Márki, A; Nachtsheim, Corina; Holzgrabe, Ulrike; Borsodi, Anna

    2003-01-01

    Previous pharmacological results have suggested that members of the heterocyclic bicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9-one-like compounds are potent kappa-opioid receptor specific agonists. One lead molecule of this series. called compound 1 (dimethyl 7-methyl-2,4-di-2-pyridyl-3.7-diazabicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9-one-1,5-dicarboxylate) exhibited high affinity for [3H]ethylketocyclazocine and [3H]U-69.593 binding sites in guinea pig cerebellar membranes which known to be a good source for kappa1 receptors. It was shown by molecular modelling that heterocyclic bicyclo[3.3.1]nonan-9-ones fit very well with the structure of ketazocine, a prototypic kappa-selective benzomorphan compound; when compared to the arylacetamide structure of U-69.593, a specific kappa1-receptor agonist, a similar geometry was found with a slightly different distribution of the charges. It is postulated, that the essential structural skeleton involved in the opioid activity is an aryl-propyl-amine element distributed along the N7-C6-C5-C4-aryl bonds.

  16. Multi-targeted priming for genome-wide gene expression assays

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adomas Aleksandra B

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Complementary approaches to assaying global gene expression are needed to assess gene expression in regions that are poorly assayed by current methodologies. A key component of nearly all gene expression assays is the reverse transcription of transcribed sequences that has traditionally been performed by priming the poly-A tails on many of the transcribed genes in eukaryotes with oligo-dT, or by priming RNA indiscriminately with random hexamers. We designed an algorithm to find common sequence motifs that were present within most protein-coding genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and of Neurospora crassa, but that were not present within their ribosomal RNA or transfer RNA genes. We then experimentally tested whether degenerately priming these motifs with multi-targeted primers improved the accuracy and completeness of transcriptomic assays. Results We discovered two multi-targeted primers that would prime a preponderance of genes in the genomes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Neurospora crassa while avoiding priming ribosomal RNA or transfer RNA. Examining the response of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to nitrogen deficiency and profiling Neurospora crassa early sexual development, we demonstrated that using multi-targeted primers in reverse transcription led to superior performance of microarray profiling and next-generation RNA tag sequencing. Priming with multi-targeted primers in addition to oligo-dT resulted in higher sensitivity, a larger number of well-measured genes and greater power to detect differences in gene expression. Conclusions Our results provide the most complete and detailed expression profiles of the yeast nitrogen starvation response and N. crassa early sexual development to date. Furthermore, our multi-targeting priming methodology for genome-wide gene expression assays provides selective targeting of multiple sequences and counter-selection against undesirable sequences, facilitating a more complete and

  17. Conceptual and non-conceptual repetition priming in category exemplar generation: Evidence from bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francis, Wendy S; Fernandez, Norma P; Bjork, Robert A

    2010-10-01

    One measure of conceptual implicit memory is repetition priming in the generation of exemplars from a semantic category, but does such priming transfer across languages? That is, do the overlapping conceptual representations for translation equivalents provide a sufficient basis for such priming? In Experiment 1 (N=96) participants carried out a deep encoding task, and priming between languages was statistically reliable, but attenuated, relative to within-language priming. Experiment 2 (N=96) replicated the findings of Experiment 1 and assessed the contributions of conceptual and non-conceptual processes using a levels-of-processing manipulation. Words that underwent shallow encoding exhibited within-language, but not between-language, priming. Priming in shallow conditions cannot therefore be explained by incidental activation of the concept. Instead, part of the within-language priming effect, even under deep-encoding conditions, is due to increased availability of language-specific lemmas or phonological word forms.

  18. Physiological and biochemical mechanisms of seed priming-induced chilling tolerance in rice cultivars

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saddam eHussain

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Rice belongs to tropical and subtropical environments and is extremely sensitive to chilling stress particularly during emergence and early stages of seedling development. Seed priming can be a good approach to enhance rice germination and stand establishment under chilling stress. The present study examined the role of different seed priming techniques viz., hydropriming, osmopriming, redox priming, chemical priming, and hormonal priming, in enhancing the chilling tolerance in rice. The most effective reagents and their pre-optimized concentrations based on preliminary experiments were used in this study. Two different rice cultivars were sown under chilling stress (18˚C and normal temperatures (28˚C in separate growth chambers. A non-primed control treatment was also maintained for comparison. Chilling stress caused erratic and delayed germination, poor seedling growth, reduced starch metabolism and lower respiration rate, while higher lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide accumulation in rice seedlings of both cultivars. Nevertheless, all the seed priming treatments effectively alleviated the negative effects of chilling stress. In addition, seed priming treatments triggered the activities of superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, and catalase, and enhanced the accumulations of glutathione and free proline in rice seedlings, which suggests that these measures help prevent the rice seedlings from chilling induced oxidative stress. Chemical priming with selenium and hormonal priming with salicylic acid remained more effective treatments for both rice cultivars under chilling stress than all other priming treatments. The better performance and greater tolerance of primed rice seedlings was associated with enhanced starch metabolism, high respiration rate, lower lipid peroxidation, and strong antioxidative defense system under chilling stress.

  19. Experimental study on the effects of recombinant adenoviral-mediated mI{kappa}B{alpha} gene combined with irradiation on the treatment of hepatocarcinoma

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kejun, Zhang; Dechun, Li; Dongming, Zhu [The First Affiliated Hospital to Suzhou Univ., Suzhou (China); Caixia, Song

    2007-10-15

    Objective: To explore the effect of recombinant adenovirus vector mediated mutant I{kappa}B{alpha} (mI{kappa}B{alpha}) combined with radiation on the hepatocarcinoma. Methods: Limited dilution method was used to test the virus titer in 293 cells. The HCC9204 cells were infected with MOI 10,20,30 and 50 for 48 h, respectively. The expression of p65 and mI{kappa}B{alpha} protein was analyzed by Western blot. Transfected HCC9204 cells and controls were treated with 4 Gy {gamma} rays. The inhibition rate of HCC9204 cells was examined by MTT. Rat models of HCC9204 was constructed. AdmI{kappa}B{alpha} plasmids were injected into tumor tissue and the tumors were administered with 6 Gy {gamma} irradiation 48 hours later. Tumor growth at different time points was recorded during 28 days. Results: The titer of AdmI{kappa}B{alpha} is 1.252 x 10{sup 9} pfu/ml. The expression of mI{kappa}B{alpha} protein was increased with titer of AdmI{kappa}B{alpha}, and p65 protein began to decrease when MOI was 10, and reached the lowest when MOI was 50, they were all dose-dependent. The proliferation of HCC9204 cell lines were suppressed, as was more significant combined with radiation, and the effect was in a viral dose-dependent manner. From days 7 to 28 after AdmI{kappa}B{alpha} gene and radiotherapy, the tumor growth was significantly slower than after irradiation or gene therapy alone. Conclusions: Recombinant adenoviral-mediated mI{kappa}B{alpha} gene, combined with irradiation, can increase the cell-killing effect. It is better than that of either one alone. (authors)

  20. On the last digits of consecutive primes

    OpenAIRE

    Holt, Fred B.

    2016-01-01

    Recently Oliver and Soundararajan made conjectures based on computational enumerations about the frequency of occurrence of pairs of last digits for consecutive primes. By studying Eratosthenes sieve, we have identified discrete dynamic systems that exactly model the populations of gaps across stages of Eratosthenes sieve. Our models provide some insight into the observed biases in the occurrences of last digits in consecutive primes, and the models suggest that the biases will ultimately be ...

  1. NF-kappaB is involved in SHetA2 circumvention of TNF-alpha resistance, but not induction of intrinsic apoptosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chengedza, Shylet; Benbrook, Doris Mangiaracina

    2010-03-01

    Treatment of cancer with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is hindered by resistance and toxicity. The flexible heteroarotinoid, SHetA2, sensitizes resistant ovarian cancer cells to TNF-alpha-induced extrinsic apoptosis, and also induces intrinsic apoptosis as a single agent. This study tested the hypothesis that nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) is involved in SHetA2-regulated intrinsic and extrinsic apoptosis. SHetA2 inhibited basal and TNF-alpha-induced or hydrogen peroxide-induced NF-kappaB activity through counter-regulation of upstream kinase (IkappaB kinase) activity, inhibitor protein (IkappaB-alpha) phosphorylation, and p-65 NF-kappaB subunit nuclear translocation, but independently of reactive oxygen species generation. Ectopic over-expression of p-65, or treatment with TNF-alpha receptor 1 (TNFR1) small interfering RNA or a caspase-8 inhibitor, each attenuated synergistic apoptosis by SHetA2 and TNF-alpha, but did not affect intrinsic apoptosis caused by SHetA2. In conclusion, NF-kappaB repression is involved in SHetA2 circumvention of resistance to TNF-alpha-induced extrinsic apoptosis, but not in SHetA2 induction of intrinsic apoptosis.

  2. Facile Synthesis of Micron-Sized Hollow Silver Spheres as Substrates for Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lixin Xia

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A well-designed type of micron-sized hollow silver sphere was successfully synthesized by a simple hard-template method to be used as substrates for surface-enhanced Raman scattering. 4 Å molecular sieves were employed as a removable solid template. [Ag(NH32]+ was absorbed as the precursor on the surface of the molecular sieve. Formaldehyde was selected as a reducing agent to reduce [Ag(NH32]+, resulting in the formation of a micron-sized silver shell on the surface of the 4 Å molecular sieves. The micron-sized hollow silver spheres were obtained by removing the molecular sieve template. SEM and XRD were used to characterize the structure of the micron-sized hollow silver spheres. The as-prepared micro-silver spheres exhibited robust SERS activity in the presence of adsorbed 4-mercaptobenzoic acid (4-MBA with excitation at 632.8 nm, and the enhancement factor reached ~1.5 × 106. This synthetic process represents a promising method for preparing various hollow metal nanoparticles.

  3. A note on the countable union of prime submodules

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. R. Pournaki

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available Let M be a finitely-generated module over a Noetherian ring R. Suppose is an ideal of R and let N=M and =Ann(M/N. If ⫅J(R, M is complete with respect to the -adic topology, {Pi}i≥1 is a countable family of prime submodules of M, and x∈M, then x+N⫅∪i≥1Pi implies that x+N⫅Pj for some i≥1. This extends a theorem of Sharp and Vámos concerning prime ideals to prime submodules.

  4. Physiological quality and seed respiration of primed Jatropha curcas seeds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Micheli Angelica Horbach

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Seed deterioration is a natural and irreversible process. Nevertheless, seed priming with water and antioxidants can minimize oxidative damage in oilseeds, resulting in attenuation of seed deterioration. The objective of this assay was to evaluate seed priming on respiratory activity of Jatropha curcas submitted to accelerated aging. Seeds from two provenances (Janauba and Pedro J. Caballero were submitted to three priming treatments (control, immersion in deionized water, and with 750 µmol L-1 of ascorbic acid and treated for accelerated aging at 41 °C for 72 h. The results showed that the priming of J. curcas seeds promoted tolerance to accelerated aging. Primed seeds, with ascorbic acid from Janauba and deionized water from Pedro J. Caballero, resulted in a higher percentage of normal seedlings, and increased germination speed index and seed respiration. The decline of physiological quality of J. curcas seeds after accelerated aging is directly associated with a reduction in respiratory activity that is related to seed moisture content.

  5. Priming patient safety: A middle-range theory of safety goal priming via safety culture communication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groves, Patricia S; Bunch, Jacinda L

    2018-05-18

    The aim of this paper is discussion of a new middle-range theory of patient safety goal priming via safety culture communication. Bedside nurses are key to safe care, but there is little theory about how organizations can influence nursing behavior through safety culture to improve patient safety outcomes. We theorize patient safety goal priming via safety culture communication may support organizations in this endeavor. According to this theory, hospital safety culture communication activates a previously held patient safety goal and increases the perceived value of actions nurses can take to achieve that goal. Nurses subsequently prioritize and are motivated to perform tasks and risk assessment related to achieving patient safety. These efforts continue until nurses mitigate or ameliorate identified risks and hazards during the patient care encounter. Critically, this process requires nurses to have a previously held safety goal associated with a repertoire of appropriate actions. This theory suggests undergraduate educators should foster an outcomes focus emphasizing the connections between nursing interventions and safety outcomes, hospitals should strategically structure patient safety primes into communicative activities, and organizations should support professional development including new skills and the latest evidence supporting nursing practice for patient safety. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. The structure of semantic person memory: evidence from semantic priming in person recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiese, Holger

    2011-11-01

    This paper reviews research on the structure of semantic person memory as examined with semantic priming. In this experimental paradigm, a familiarity decision on a target face or written name is usually faster when it is preceded by a related as compared to an unrelated prime. This effect has been shown to be relatively short lived and susceptible to interfering items. Moreover, semantic priming can cross stimulus domains, such that a written name can prime a target face and vice versa. However, it remains controversial whether representations of people are stored in associative networks based on co-occurrence, or in more abstract semantic categories. In line with prominent cognitive models of face recognition, which explain semantic priming by shared semantic information between prime and target, recent research demonstrated that priming could be obtained from purely categorically related, non-associated prime/target pairs. Although strategic processes, such as expectancy and retrospective matching likely contribute, there is also evidence for a non-strategic contribution to priming, presumably related to spreading activation. Finally, a semantic priming effect has been demonstrated in the N400 event-related potential (ERP) component, which may reflect facilitated access to semantic information. It is concluded that categorical relatedness is one organizing principle of semantic person memory. ©2011 The British Psychological Society.

  7. Thioredoxin priming prolongs lung allograft survival by promoting immune tolerance.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hanbo Hu

    Full Text Available Tolerance to allograft antigen is the major challenge and final goal of transplant medicine. Our previous study demonstrated that thioredoxin-1 (Trx priming of donor lung significantly protected allogeneic lung graft. To determine whether Trx priming of donor lung inhibits allograft rejection, extends allograft survival and induces immune tolerance, orthotopic left lung transplantation was performed from Lewis to Sprague-Dawley rats without immunosuppression. Donor lungs were primed with Trx at 4°C for 4 hr prior to transplantation. After up to 37 days post-transplantation, allograft lung morphology, recipient T cell and humoral alloantigen-specific immune responses were examined. We found that Trx-primed lungs exhibited much reduced acute rejection and associated lung injuries resulting in loss of graft functional area at 5-37 days post-transplant in contrast to the control groups. CD4+ T cells from the recipients with Trx-primed grafts responded to the stimulation of dendritic cells (DCs of donor origin, in contrast to DCs from the third party, with significantly reduced proliferation. Consistent with above findings, we observed that CD4+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in spleen cells from the recipients with Trx-primed grafts were significantly increased compared to controls, and CD4+ T cells from the recipients with Trx-primed grafts produced much higher levels of immunosuppressive cytokine, IL-10 when stimulated with allogeneic donor DCs. In addition, humoral immune tolerance was also induced as there was no significant increase levels of serum antibodies against donor antigens in Trx-lung recipients when re-challenged with allogeneic donor antigens. Our results demonstrate that one-time Trx-priming of donor lung grafts prior to transplantation significantly prolongs the survival of the grafts through inducing or promoting cellular and humoral alloantigen-specific immune tolerance, which might be associated with the induction of

  8. The Search for New Luminous Blue Variable Stars: Near-Infrared Spectroscopy of Stars With 24 micron Shells

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stringfellow, Guy; Gvaramadze, Vasilii

    2010-02-01

    Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stars represent an extremely rare class of very luminous and massive stars. Only about a dozen confirmed Galactic LBV stars are known to date, which precludes us from determining a solid evolutionary connection between LBV and other intermediate (e.g. Ofpe/WN9, WNL) phases in the life of very massive stars. The known LBV stars each have their own unique properties, so new discoveries add insight into the properties and evolutionary status of LBVs and massive stars; even one new discovery of objects of this type could provide break-through results in the understanding of the intermediate stages of massive star evolution. We have culled a prime sample of possible LBV candidates from the Spitzer 24 (micron) archival data. All have circumstellar nebulae, rings, and shells (typical of LBVs and related stars) surrounding reddened central stars. Spectroscopic followup of about two dozen optically visible central stars associated with the shells from this sample showed that they are either candidate LBVs, late WN-type Wolf-Rayet stars or blue supergiants. We propose infrared spectroscopic observations of the central stars for a large fraction (23 stars) of our northern sample to determine their nature and discover additional LBV candidates. These stars have no plausible optical counterparts, so infrared spectra are needed. This program requires two nights of Hale time using TripleSpec.

  9. Priming T-cell responses with recombinant measles vaccine vector in a heterologous prime-boost setting in non-human primates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bolton, Diane L; Santra, Sampa; Swett-Tapia, Cindy; Custers, Jerome; Song, Kaimei; Balachandran, Harikrishnan; Mach, Linh; Naim, Hussein; Kozlowski, Pamela A; Lifton, Michelle; Goudsmit, Jaap; Letvin, Norman; Roederer, Mario; Radošević, Katarina

    2012-09-07

    Licensed live attenuated virus vaccines capable of expressing transgenes from other pathogens have the potential to reduce the number of childhood immunizations by eliciting robust immunity to multiple pathogens simultaneously. Recombinant attenuated measles virus (rMV) derived from the Edmonston Zagreb vaccine strain was engineered to express simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Gag protein for the purpose of evaluating the immunogenicity of rMV as a vaccine vector in rhesus macaques. rMV-Gag immunization alone elicited robust measles-specific humoral and cellular responses, but failed to elicit transgene (Gag)-specific immune responses, following aerosol or intratracheal/intramuscular delivery. However, when administered as a priming vaccine to a heterologous boost with recombinant adenovirus serotype 5 expressing the same transgene, rMV-Gag significantly enhanced Gag-specific T lymphocyte responses following rAd5 immunization. Gag-specific humoral responses were not enhanced, however, which may be due to either the transgene or the vector. Cellular response priming by rMV against the transgene was highly effective even when using a suboptimal dose of rAd5 for the boost. These data demonstrate feasibility of using rMV as a priming component of heterologous prime-boost vaccine regimens for pathogens requiring strong cellular responses. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Priming with Rocuronium to Accelerate the Onset Time of Cisatracurium During Intubation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shih-Pin Lin

    2009-01-01

    Conclusion: Priming with rocuronium or cisatracurium for 3 minutes significantly accelerated the onset of cisatracurium. Priming with rocuronium for 3 minutes improved the onset time of cisatracurium even more than priming with cisatracurium itself.

  11. Influence of Process Control Agent on Characterization and Structure of Micron Chitosan Powders Prepared by Ball Milling Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ZHANG Chuan-jie

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available With ethyl alcohol or distilled water as process control agent (PCA, micron chitosan powder was prepared by ball milling method. The yield rate, particle size distribution, micro morphology, viscosity average molecular mass, chemical and crystal structures, and thermal properties of these different micron chitosan powders were measured. The results indicate that the yield rate of micron chitosan powders prepared with ethyl alcohol as PCA increases significantly, and improves to 94.7% from 25% while the amount of ethyl alcohol is 0.75mL/g. The particle size distribution of micron chitosan powder prepared with ethyl alcohol as PCA is concentrated, while the D50 and D90 in size are 824nm and 1629nm respectively. Chitosan do not react with ethyl alcohol used as PCA, but the viscosity average molecular mass of prepared micron chitosan powder decreases by 23%, the crystal structures are destroyed slightly, and its thermal stability is slightly weakened.

  12. Combustion synthesis of micron-sized Sm2Co17 particles via mechanochemical processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, W.; McCormick, P.G.

    1998-01-01

    Full text: The spontaneous formation of Sm 2 Co 17 micron-sized particles via a mechanically induced combustion reaction has been investigated. Sm 2 Co 17 alloy particles of 0.1--2 μm in size embedded in a CaO matrix formed directly via a combustion reaction induced by milling the powder mixture of Sm 2 O 3 , CoO, CaO and Ca over a critical time. The micron-sized Sm 2 Co 17 particles were found to have the TbCu 7 -type structure and characterized by a coercivity value of 7.8 kOe while embedded in the CaO matrix. The effect of subsequent heat treatment on the structure and magnetic properties of as-milled samples was also investigated. Removal of the CaO by a carefully controlled washing process yielded micron-sized Sm 2 Co 17 particles without significant oxidation of the particles. These fine Sm 2 Co 17 particles can be used to produce anisotropic bulk or bonded magnets

  13. The role of selective attention in perceptual and affective priming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, M.; Ladd, S. L.; Gabrieli, J. D.

    2000-01-01

    Two kinds of perceptual priming (word identification and word fragment completion), as well as preference priming (that may rely on special affective mechanisms) were examined after participants either read or named the colors of words and nonwords at study. Participants named the colors of words more slowly than the colors of nonwords, indicating that lexical processing of the words occurred at study. Nonetheless, priming on all three tests was lower after color naming than after reading, despite evidence of lexical processing during color naming shown by slower responses to words than to nonwords. These results indicate that selective attention to (rather than the mere processing of) letter string identity at study is important for subsequent repetition priming.

  14. Fall Colors, 2001-02: Prime Time Diversity Report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, McCrae A.; Miller, Patti; Espejo, Eileen; Grossman-Swenson, Sarah

    Television is an integral part of American culture, and has the ability to play a major role in shaping belief systems, particularly for the youngest and most impressionable viewers. This study is the third annual study of diversity of characters in prime time television programming. The study examined the first two episodes of each prime time…

  15. Sulforaphane Modifies Histone H3, Unpacks Chromatin, and Primes Defense.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schillheim, Britta; Jansen, Irina; Baum, Stephani; Beesley, Alexander; Bolm, Carsten; Conrath, Uwe

    2018-03-01

    Modern crop production calls for agrochemicals that prime plants for enhanced defense. Reliable test systems for spotting priming-inducing chemistry, however, are rare. We developed an assay for the high-throughput search for compounds that prime microbial pattern-induced secretion of antimicrobial furanocoumarins (phytoalexins) in cultured parsley cells. The screen produced 1-isothiocyanato-4-methylsulfinylbutane (sulforaphane; SFN), a secondary metabolite in many crucifers, as a novel defense priming compound. While elucidating SFN's mode of action in defense priming, we found that in Arabidopsis ( Arabidopsis thaliana ) the isothiocyanate provokes covalent modification (K4me3, K9ac) of histone H3 in the promoter and promoter-proximal region of defense genes WRKY6 and PDF1 2 , but not PR1 SFN-triggered H3K4me3 and H3K9ac coincide with chromatin unpacking in the WRKY6 and PDF1 2 regulatory regions, primed WRKY6 expression, unprimed PDF1 2 activation, and reduced susceptibility to downy mildew disease ( Hyaloperonospora arabidopsidis ). Because SFN also directly inhibits H arabidopsidis and other plant pathogens, the isothiocyanate is promising for the development of a plant protectant with a dual mode of action. © 2018 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

  16. An Intersensory Interaction Account of Priming Effects-and Their Absence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klatzky, Roberta L; Creswell, J David

    2014-01-01

    Psychological researchers have found that exposures to stimuli (primes) can subsequently influence people's behavior by pathways that would seem to be quite remote. For example, people exposed to words associated with older adults may walk more slowly. Recently priming studies, particularly those showing dramatic effects on social behavior, have been under scrutiny because of the unreliability of empirical results. In this article, we shed light on the issue by describing a general model of intersensory interaction, in which two or more sources of information provide an estimate or "bid" on a property of the world, with the perceptual outcome being a weighted combination of the bids. When it is extended by adding bids that stem from memory or inference, the model identifies systematic factors that might undermine priming, including random variation in estimates, contextual influences on memory retrieval and inference, competition among information sources, and cognitive control. These factors are not only explanatory but are predictive of when priming effects can be expected. Our hope is that by promoting the understanding of underlying processes that may explain how primes can influence behavior, the bidding model and the general approach that it represents offer novel insights into the hotly debated area of priming research. © The Author(s) 2013.

  17. Bromatological and mycotoxin analysis on soybean meal before and after the industrial process of micronization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andressa Daga

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Aflatoxins, fumonisins and zearalenone take part of the most studied mycotoxin groups due to their toxic effects on animal and human health. This research evaluated samples of soybeans meal used in animal food industry. A hundred and twenty one soybean meal samples were analyzed, so that 66 were analyzed before the industrial processing of micronization and 55 after it. The bromatological average of samples before micronization showed the following answers: 12.4% moisture; 46.4% protein; 79.5% protein solubility; 5.9% ash content; 2.2% fat; 4.3% fiber and 0.02 (ΔpH of urease activity. The samples of micronization soybean meal showed 7.0% average values for moisture and 48.6% for crude protein. The mycotoxin levels were low in natura soybean meal; therefore, average values were 0.5μg kg-1, 29.6μg kg-1 and 56.8μg kg-1 for aflatoxin, zearelenone and fumonisin, respectively. After micronization, the average values for the studied samples were 1.3μg kg-1, 67.5μg kg-1 and 89.1μg kg-1, respectively for the same mycotoxins. The results for bromatological and mycotoxin analyses indicate similarity with the established patterns according to the Brazilian Compendium for Animal feed and reference literature. However, at least one of the three studied mycotoxin was detected in all of the analyzed samples and there was greater contamination of soybeans meal after the micronization process.

  18. Enantioselective kappa opioid binding sites on the macrophage cell line, P388d sub 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carr, D.J.J.; Blalock, J.E. (Univ. of Alabama, Birmingham (USA)); DeCosta, B.R.; Jacobson, A.E.; Rice, K.C. (NIDDK, NIH, Bethesda, MD (USA))

    1991-01-01

    A kappa opioid binding site has been characterized on the macrophage cell line, P388d{sub 1}, using the kappa selective affinity ligand, ({sup 3H}(1S,2S)-(-)-trans-2-isothiocyanato-N-methyl-N-(2-(1-phrrolidinyl) cyclohexyl) benzeneacetamide ((-)BD166). The kappa site has a relative molecular mass (Mr) of 38,000 under nonreducing conditions and 42,000 under reducing conditions. Moreover, it exhibits enantioselectivity in that 1S,2S-(-)-trans-3,4-dichloro-N-methyl-N-(2-(1-pyrrolidinyl)cyclohexyl) benzeneacetamide ((-)-U-50,488) blocks ({sup 3}H)95{alpha},7{alpha},8{beta})-(-)-N-methyl-N-(7-(1- pyrrolidinyl)-1-oxaspiro-(4,5)-dec-8-yl)benzeneacetamide (U-69,593) binding to P388d{sub 1} cells with an IC{sub 50} = 7.0 nM whereas 1R,2R-(+)-trans-3,4-dichloro-N-methyl-N-(2-(1-pyrrolidinyl)cyclohexyl) benzeneacetamide ((+)U-50,488) blocks ({sup 3}H)U-69,593 binding to P388d{sub 1} cells with an IC{sub 50} = 700 nM.

  19. Spitzer IRS (8-30 micron) Spectra of Basaltic Asteroids 1459 Magnya and 956 Elisa: Mineralogy and Thermal Properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, Lucy F.; Emery, J. P.; Moskovitz, N. A.

    2009-01-01

    We report preliminary results from Spitzer IRS (Infrared Spectrograph) spectroscopy of 956 Elisa, 1459 Magnya, and other small basaltic asteroids with the Spitzer IRS. Program targets include members of the dynamical family of the unique large differentiated asteroid 4 Vesta ("Vestoids"), several outer-main-belt basaltic asteroids whose orbits exclude them from originating on 4 Vesta, and the basaltic near-Earth asteroid 4055 Magellan. The preliminary thermal model (STM) fit to the 5--35 micron spectrum of 956 Elisa gives a radius of 5.4 +/- 0.3 km and a subsolar- point temperature of 282.2 +/- 0.5 K. This temperature corresponds to eta approximately equals 1.06 +/- 0.02, which is substantially higher than the eta approximately equals 0.756 characteristic of large main-belt asteroids. Unlike 4 Vesta and other large asteroids, therefore, 956 Elisa has significant thermal inertia in its surface layer. The wavelength of the Christiansen feature (emissivity maximum near 9 micron), the positions and shapes of the narrow maxima (10 micron, 11 micron) within the broad 9--14 micron silicate band, and the 19--20 micron minimum are consistent with features found in the laboratory spectra of diogenites and of low-Ca pyroxenes of similar composition (Wo<5, En50-En75).

  20. Brand priming effect on consumers’ financial risk taking behavior

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Danielle Mantovani

    Full Text Available Abstract Taking the perspective of brand priming theory, this study proposes that brands associated with an audacious personality trait may influence consumers to be take more risks in making subsequent decisions. Two experiments, run in sport brands contexts, showed that individuals exposed to brands with high (vs. low audacity traits demonstrated a higher rate of risk taking in financial decisions. The studies also showed that this effect is moderated by individuals’ experience with the financial market. This moderation suggests that there was an activation of a goal not just semantic activation, but through the brand priming. This research provides insights into how today's consumers deal with brand priming effects in risky choice settings. From a managerial perspective, it can help managers to understand the likely effects of brand priming on behavior and better predict the probability of risk aversion or risk seeking outcomes.

  1. Is Semantic Priming (Ir)rational? Insights from the Speeded Word Fragment Completion Task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyman, Tom; Hutchison, Keith A.; Storms, Gert

    2016-01-01

    Semantic priming, the phenomenon that a target is recognized faster if it is preceded by a semantically related prime, is a well-established effect. However, the mechanisms producing semantic priming are subject of debate. Several theories assume that the underlying processes are controllable and tuned to prime utility. In contrast, purely…

  2. Simultaneous formation and micronization of pharmaceutical cocrystals by rapid expansion of supercritical solutions (RESS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Müllers, Katrin C; Paisana, Maria; Wahl, Martin A

    2015-02-01

    We investigated the RESS process as a means of simultaneous micronization and cocrystallization of a model drug with poor aqueous solubility. 1:1 cocrystals of ibuprofen (IBU) and nicotinamide (NA) were produced with a pilot scale unit for RESS processing.IBU and NA were dissolved in scCO2 at 30 MPa and 50°C. After 24 h, the supercritical solution was expanded at a medium CO2 flow rate of 3.8 kg/h during 60 min into an expansion vessel kept at ambient conditions. Cocrystals were identified with DSC, XRD and confocal Raman microscopy (CRM) and further characterized by SEM, specific surface area, wetting ability, solubility and dissolution testing. Judging by DSC, XRD and CRM, cocrystals with high purity could be produced with the RESS technique. Micronization via RESS was successful, since the specific surface area of RESS cocrystals was increased almost tenfold in comparison to cocrystals produced by slow solvent evaporation. Due to the additional micronization, the mean dissolution time of IBU from RESS cocrystals was decreased. RESS cocrystallization offers the advantage of combining micronization and cocrystallization in a single production step. For drugs with dissolution-limited bioavailability, RESS cocrystallization may therefore be a superior approach in comparison to established cocrystallization techniques.

  3. Increased synovial tissue NF-kappa B1 expression at sites adjacent to the cartilage-pannus junction in rheumatoid arthritis.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Benito, M.J.; Murphy, E.P.; Berg, W.B. van den; Fitzgerald, O.; Bresnihan, B.

    2004-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To compare the expression of the Rel/NF-kappa B subunits, NF-kappa B1 (p50) and RelA (p65), in paired synovial tissue samples selected from sites adjacent to and remote from the cartilage-pannus junction (CPJ) in patients with inflammatory arthritis. METHODS: Synovial tissue was selected

  4. Affective priming of emotional pictures in parafoveal vision: left visual field advantage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calvo, Manuel G; Avero, Pedro

    2008-03-01

    This study investigated whether stimulus affective content can be extracted from visual scenes when these appear in parafoveal locations of the visual field and are foveally masked, and whether there is lateralization involved. Parafoveal prime pleasant or unpleasant scenes were presented for 150 msec 2.5 degrees away from fixation and were followed by a foveal probe scene that was either congruent or incongruent in emotional valence with the prime. Participants responded whether the probe was emotionally positive or negative. Affective priming was demonstrated by shorter response latencies for congruent than for incongruent prime-probe pairs. This effect occurred when the prime was presented in the left visual field at a 300-msec prime-probe stimulus onset asynchrony, even when the prime and the probe were different in physical appearance and semantic category. This result reveals that the affective significance of emotional stimuli can be assessed early through covert attention mechanisms, in the absence of overt eye fixations on the stimuli, and suggests that right-hemisphere dominance is involved.

  5. Verbal priming and taste sensitivity make moral transgressions gross.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herz, Rachel S

    2014-02-01

    The aims of the present study were to assess whether: (a) visceral and moral disgust share a common oral origin (taste); (b) moral transgressions that are also viscerally involving are evaluated accordingly as a function of individual differences in taste sensitivity; (c) verbal priming interacts with taste sensitivity to alter how disgust is experienced in moral transgressions; and (d) whether gender moderates these effects. Standard tests of disgust sensitivity, a questionnaire developed for this research assessing different types of moral transgressions (nonvisceral, implied-visceral, visceral) with the terms "angry" and "grossed-out," and a taste sensitivity test of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) were administered to 102 participants. Results confirmed past findings that the more sensitive to PROP a participant was the more disgusted they were by visceral, but not moral, disgust elicitors. Importantly, the findings newly revealed that taste sensitivity had no bearing on evaluations of moral transgressions, regardless of their visceral nature, when "angry" was the emotion primed. However, when "grossed-out" was primed for evaluating moral violations, the more intense PROP tasted to a participant the more "grossed-out" they were by all transgressions. Women were generally more disgust sensitive and morally condemning than men, but disgust test, transgression type, and priming scale modulated these effects. The present findings support the proposition that moral and visceral disgust do not share a common oral origin, but show that linguistic priming can transform a moral transgression into a viscerally repulsive event and that susceptibility to this priming varies as a function of an individual's sensitivity to the origins of visceral disgust-bitter taste.

  6. Selective kappa-opioid agonists: synthesis and structure-activity relationships of piperidines incorporating on oxo-containing acyl group.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giardina, G; Clarke, G D; Dondio, G; Petrone, G; Sbacchi, M; Vecchietti, V

    1994-10-14

    This study describes the synthesis and the structure-activity relationships (SARs) of the (S)-(-)-enantiomers of a novel class of 2-(aminomethyl)piperidine derivatives, using kappa-opioid binding affinity and antinociceptive potency as the indices of biological activity. Compounds incorporating the 1-tetralon-6-ylacetyl residue (30 and 34-45) demonstrated an in vivo antinociceptive activity greater than predicted on the basis of their kappa-binding affinities. In particular, (2S)-2-[(dimethylamino)methyl]-1-[(5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-5-oxo-2- naphthyl)acetyl]piperidine (34) was found to have a potency similar to spiradoline in animal models of antinociception after subcutaneous administration, with ED50s of 0.47 and 0.73 mumol/kg in the mouse and in the rat abdominal constriction tests, respectively. Further in vivo studies in mice and/or rats revealed that compound 34, compared to other selective kappa-agonists, has a reduced propensity to cause a number of kappa-related side effects, including locomotor impairment/sedation and diuresis, at antinociceptive doses. For example, it has an ED50 of 26.5 mumol/kg sc in the rat rotarod model, exhibiting a ratio of locomotor impairment/sedation vs analgesia of 36. Possible reasons for this differential activity and its clinical consequence are discussed.

  7. Is semantic priming due to association strength or feature overlap? A microanalytic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutchison, Keith A

    2003-12-01

    In a recent meta-analysis, Lucas (2000) concluded that there is strong evidence of an overall pure semantic priming effect but no evidence of priming based purely on association. In the present review, I critically examine the individual studies claiming evidence of featural and associative relations in semantic memory. The most important conclusion is that automatic priming appears to be due to both association strength and feature overlap. Mediated associates provide the strongest evidence of automatic associative priming, whereas functional associates, synonyms, and antonyms instead support priming based on feature overlap. In contrast, automatic priming does not occur for category coordinates or perceptually similar items, at least when presented in the visual modality. The status of other relations, such as collocates, episodic relatives, and script relations, is unclear and requires further experimentation. Implications for current models of semantic representation and priming are discussed.

  8. On the Prime Ideals of C [0, 1

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    It is well known that the set C[0, 1] of real-valuedcontinuous functions on the closed interval [0, 1]has a natural ring structure. Its maximal idealsare known to be points. Here we show thatalthough there exist prime ideals which are notmaximal, the zero set is again a singleton. In particular,each prime ideal is contained in a ...

  9. The effects of alcohol expectancy priming on group bonding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moltisanti, Allison J; Below, Maureen C; Brandon, Karen O; Goldman, Mark S

    2013-12-01

    According to alcohol expectancy theory, drinking-related information is stored in memory and, when cue activated, influences alcohol-related behavior. Priming of alcohol cues and expectancies has been shown to elicit both drinking and nonconsumptive behavior associated with alcohol consumption, such as willingness to meet with a stranger and aggression. These social influence effects have been shown to be moderated by individual differences in alcohol expectancies. In the present study, we tested whether an alcohol prime would facilitate social group bonding even in the absence of consumption, and whether such group bonding would be moderated by individually held social expectancies. One hundred twenty undergraduates (75% female) completed an alcohol expectancy measure prior to participation. Participants were primed with either alcohol or neutral beverage words and completed a collaborative group activity followed by questionnaires measuring perceived group cohesion. Several interactions were found between condition and expectancy reflecting that those in the alcohol prime condition with higher social alcohol expectancies reported greater cohesion on task-related, but not emotion-related, group measures. These findings underscore the complexity of the impact of expectancy and social behavior on drinking: the priming of alcohol expectancies may activate aspects of pro-social behavior, which may influence drinking, which in turn may feedback to positively reinforce social expectancies.

  10. Self-Construal Priming Modulates Self-Evaluation under Social Threat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tianyang Zhang

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that Westerners evaluate themselves in an especially flattering way when faced with a social-evaluative threat. The current study first investigated whether East Asians also have a similar pattern by recruiting Chinese participants and using social-evaluative threat manipulations in which participants perform self-evaluation tasks while adopting different social-evaluative feedbacks (Experiment 1. Then further examined whether the different response patterns can be modulated by different types of self-construal by using social-evaluative threat manipulations in conjunction with a self-construal priming task (Experiment 2. The results showed that, as opposed to Westerners' pattern, Chinese participants rated themselves as having significantly greater above-average effect only when faced with the nonthreatening feedback but not the social-evaluative threat. More importantly, we found that self-construal modulated the self-evaluation under social-evaluative threat: following independent self-construal priming, participants tended to show a greater above-average effect when faced with a social-evaluative threat. However, this pattern in conjunction with a social threat disappeared after participants received interdependent self-construal priming or neutral priming. These findings suggest that the effects of social-evaluative threat on self-evaluation are not culturally universal and is strongly modulated by self-construal priming.

  11. Estimations of Kappa parameter using quasi-thermal noise spectroscopy: Applications on Wind spacecraft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martinović, M.

    2017-12-01

    Quasi-thermal noise (QTN) spectroscopy is an accurate technique for in situ measurements of electron density and temperature in space plasmas. The QTN spectrum has a characteristic noise peak just above the plasma frequency produced by electron quasi-thermal fluctuations, which allows a very accurate measurement of the electron density. The size and shape of the peak are determined by suprathermal electrons. Since this nonthermal electron population is well described by a generalized Lorentzian - Kappa velocity distribution, it is possible to determinate the distribution properties in the solar wind from a measured spectrum. In this work, we discuss some basic properties of the QTN spectrum dependence of the Kappa distribution parameters - total electron density, temperature and the Kappa index, giving an overview on how instrument characteristics and environment conditions affect quality of the measurements. Further on, we aim to apply the method to Wind Thermal Noise Receiver (TNR) measurements. However, the spectra observed by this instrument usually contain contributions from nonthermal phenomena, like ion acoustic waves below, or galactic noise above the plasma frequency. This is why, besides comparison of the theory with observations, work with Wind data requires development of a sophisticated algorithm that distinguish parts of the spectra that are dominated by the QTN, and therefore can be used in our study. Postulates of this algorithm, as well as major results of its implementation, are also presented.

  12. Two micron spectroscopy of the Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy Haro 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Davidge, T.J.; Maillard, J.P.

    1990-01-01

    This paper discusses the results of 2-micron spectroscopic observations of the Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy (BCDG) Haro 2, obtained with the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The spectrum contains emission lines of H I, He I, Fe II, and H2 and strong absorption originating from Delta-v = 2 transitions of CO. The strengths of the various features are discussed and the extinction in the 2-micron region is estimated. The spectrum of Haro 2 is compared with those of other BCDGs and the starburst galaxies NGC 253 and M82. It is found that, in many respects, Haro 2 is a typical starburst galaxy and that its blue near-IR colors are not necessarily a sign of youth. 35 refs

  13. Repetition-priming effect: a cognitive task for the definition of a clinical assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvia Pagani

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available This research aims to study how semantic priming words can influence behavioral measures (RTs, accuracy, to develop an experimental paradigm to differentiate visual neglect and hemianopia. 69 experimental subjects were involved in four experiments. In each experiment target words were preceded by word primes semantically related, neutral or unrelated to the target. The four experiments differed in terms of: number of prime, prime duration and distance between PC monitor and subject. In general, related primes should improve facilitatory effect in target recognition more than unrelated primes, reducing RTs and increasing response accuracy. After repeated ANOVA analysis applied to each experiment and paired comparisons, it is possible to point out that single related primes, shown for 150 ms, greatly improve response behavior in terms of RTs reduction. For future applications to the clinical field, we assume that neglect patients should be facilitated in these specific experimental conditions, due to implicit contralesional prime processing. On the contrary, hemianopics should nowise be facilitated, due to visual field deficit.

  14. Secretory Vesicle Priming by CAPS Is Independent of Its SNARE-Binding MUN Domain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cuc Quynh Nguyen Truong

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Priming of secretory vesicles is a prerequisite for their Ca2+-dependent fusion with the plasma membrane. The key vesicle priming proteins, Munc13s and CAPSs, are thought to mediate vesicle priming by regulating the conformation of the t-SNARE syntaxin, thereby facilitating SNARE complex assembly. Munc13s execute their priming function through their MUN domain. Given that the MUN domain of Ca2+-dependent activator protein for secretion (CAPS also binds syntaxin, it was assumed that CAPSs prime vesicles through the same mechanism as Munc13s. We studied naturally occurring splice variants of CAPS2 in CAPS1/CAPS2-deficient cells and found that CAPS2 primes vesicles independently of its MUN domain. Instead, the pleckstrin homology domain of CAPS2 seemingly is essential for its priming function. Our findings indicate a priming mode for secretory vesicles. This process apparently requires membrane phospholipids, does not involve the binding or direct conformational regulation of syntaxin by MUN domains of CAPSs, and is therefore not redundant with Munc13 action.

  15. Behavioral priming: it's all in the mind, but whose mind?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stéphane Doyen

    Full Text Available The perspective that behavior is often driven by unconscious determinants has become widespread in social psychology. Bargh, Chen, and Burrows' (1996 famous study, in which participants unwittingly exposed to the stereotype of age walked slower when exiting the laboratory, was instrumental in defining this perspective. Here, we present two experiments aimed at replicating the original study. Despite the use of automated timing methods and a larger sample, our first experiment failed to show priming. Our second experiment was aimed at manipulating the beliefs of the experimenters: Half were led to think that participants would walk slower when primed congruently, and the other half was led to expect the opposite. Strikingly, we obtained a walking speed effect, but only when experimenters believed participants would indeed walk slower. This suggests that both priming and experimenters' expectations are instrumental in explaining the walking speed effect. Further, debriefing was suggestive of awareness of the primes. We conclude that unconscious behavioral priming is real, while real, involves mechanisms different from those typically assumed to cause the effect.

  16. The Influence of Working Memory Load on Semantic Priming

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heyman, Tom; Van Rensbergen, Bram; Storms, Gert; Hutchison, Keith A.; De Deyne, Simon

    2015-01-01

    The present research examines the nature of the different processes that have been proposed to underlie semantic priming. Specifically, it has been argued that priming arises as a result of "automatic target activation" and/or the use of strategies like prospective "expectancy generation" and "retrospective semantic…

  17. 76 FR 80907 - TRICARE Prime Urgent Care Demonstration Project

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-12-27

    ... care including minor illness or injury for Active Duty Family Members enrolled in TRICARE Prime or.... Current data indicates that the ADFMs frequently need urgent care while traveling to new duty stations for... DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE Office of the Secretary TRICARE Prime Urgent Care Demonstration Project...

  18. The Problems with the Kappa Statistic as a Metric of Interobserver Agreement on Lesion Detection Using a Third-reader Approach When Locations Are Not Prespecified.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shih, Joanna H; Greer, Matthew D; Turkbey, Baris

    2018-03-16

    To point out the problems with Cohen kappa statistic and to explore alternative metrics to determine interobserver agreement on lesion detection when locations are not prespecified. Use of kappa and two alternative methods, namely index of specific agreement (ISA) and modified kappa, for measuring interobserver agreement on the location of detected lesions are presented. These indices of agreement are illustrated by application to a retrospective multireader study in which nine readers detected and scored prostate cancer lesions in 163 consecutive patients (n = 110 cases, n = 53 controls) using the guideline of Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 on multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging. The proposed modified kappa, which properly corrects for the amount of agreement by chance, is shown to be approximately equivalent to the ISA. In the prostate cancer data, average kappa, modified kappa, and ISA equaled 30%, 55%, and 57%, respectively, for all lesions and 20%, 87%, and 87%, respectively, for index lesions. The application of kappa could result in a substantial downward bias in reader agreement on lesion detection when locations are not prespecified. ISA is recommended for assessment of reader agreement on lesion detection. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  19. Homophonic and semantic priming of Japanese Kanji words: a time course study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hsi-Chin; Yamauchi, Takashi; Tamaoka, Katsuo; Vaid, Jyotsna

    2007-02-01

    In an examination of the time course of activation of phonological and semantic information in processing kanji script, two lexical decision experiments were conducted with native readers of Japanese. Kanji targets were preceded at short (85-msec) and long (150-msec) intervals by homophonic, semantically related, or unrelated primes presented in kanji (Experiment 1) or by hiragana transcriptions of the kanji primes (Experiment 2). When primes were in kanji, semantic relatedness facilitated kanji target recognition at both intervals but homophonic relatedness did not. When primes were in hiragana, kanji target recognition was facilitated by homophonic relatedness at both intervals and by semantic relatedness only at the longer interval. The absence of homophonic priming of kanji targets by kanji primes challenges the universal phonology principle's claim that phonology is central to accessing meaning from print. The stimuli used in the present study may be downloaded from www.psychonomic.org/archive.

  20. Abstract spatial concept priming dynamically influences real-world actions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sarah M Tower-Richardi

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available Experienced regularities in our perceptions and actions play important roles in grounding abstract concepts such as social status, time, and emotion. Might we similarly ground abstract spatial concepts in more experienced-based domains? The present experiment explores this possibility by implicitly priming abstract spatial terms (north, south, east, west and then measuring participants’ hand movement trajectories while they respond to a body-referenced spatial target (up, down, left, right in a verbal (Exp. 1 or spatial (Exp. 2 format. Results from two experiments demonstrate temporally-dynamic and prime-biased movement trajectories when the primes are incongruent with the targets (e.g., north – left, west – up. That is, priming abstract coordinate directions influences subsequent actions in response to concrete target directions. These findings provide the first evidence that abstract concepts of world-centered coordinate axes are implicitly understood in the context of concrete body-referenced axes; critically, this abstract-concrete relationship manifests in motor movements, and may have implications for spatial memory organization.

  1. Priming performance-related concerns induces task-related mind-wandering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordano, Megan L; Touron, Dayna R

    2017-10-01

    Two experiments tested the hypothesis that priming of performance-related concerns would (1) increase the frequency of task-related mind-wandering (i.e., task-related interference; TRI) and (2) decrease task performance. In each experiment, sixty female participants completed an operation span task (OSPAN) containing thought content probes. The task was framed as a math task for those in a condition primed for math-related stereotype threat and as a memory task for those in a control condition. In both studies, women whose performance-related concerns were primed via stereotype threat reported more TRI than women in the control. The second experiment used a more challenging OSPAN task and stereotype primed women also had lower math accuracy than controls. These results support the "control failures×current concerns" framework of mind-wandering, which posits that the degree to which the environmental context triggers personal concerns influences both mind-wandering frequency and content. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Measuring past a micron...

    CERN Multimedia

    Anaïs Schaeffer

    2011-01-01

    Infinity: That is the name of the new ultra-precision machine used by CERN's Metrology Service to measure the copper components for the CLIC accelerating structures. This project is the result of a collaboration between CLIC and the EN Department. Curious to find out more? Read on because there’ll be an opportunity for you to get a very close look at Infinity!    Infinity, the new, ultra-precise, measuring machine, is currently in operation at the CERN Metrology Service. The CLIC (Compact LInear Collider) radiofrequency structures will operate under very high electric fields (100 MV/m). They should be manufactured within minimal mechanical tolerances. To validate the quality of these components, they have to be measured with a precision that far exceeds the machining tolerances, i.e. 0.3 microns. No “ordinary” measuring machine can achieve this precision, but Infinity, the newly developed high-precision three-dimensional measuring machine i...

  3. Word Meaning Frequencies Affect Negative Compatibility Effects In Masked Priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brocher, Andreas; Koenig, Jean-Pierre

    2016-01-01

    Negative compatibility effects (NCEs)-that is, slower responses to targets in related than unrelated prime-target pairs, have been observed in studies using stimulus-response (S-R) priming with stimuli like arrows and plus signs. Although there is no consensus on the underlying mechanism, explanations tend to locate NCEs within the motor-response system. A characteristic property of perceptuo-motor NCEs is a biphasic pattern of activation: A brief period in which very briefly presented (typically) masked primes facilitate processing of related targets is followed by a phase of target processing impairment. In this paper, we present data that suggest that NCEs are not restricted to S-R priming with low-level visual stimuli: The brief (50 ms), backward masked (250 ms) presentation of ambiguous words (bank) leads to slower responses than baseline to words related to the more frequent (rob) but not less frequent meaning (swim). Importantly, we found that slowed responses are preceded by a short phase of response facilitation, replicating the biphasic pattern reported for arrows and plus signs. The biphasic pattern of priming and the fact that the NCEs were found only for target words that are related to their prime word's more frequent meaning has strong implications for any theory of NCEs that locate these effects exclusively within the motor-response system.

  4. Quantitative analysis of multiple kappa-opioid receptors by selective and nonselective ligand binding in guinea pig spinal cord: Resolution of high and low affinity states of the kappa 2 receptors by a computerized model-fitting technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tiberi, M.; Magnan, J.

    1990-01-01

    The binding characteristics of selective and nonselective opioids have been studied in whole guinea pig spinal cord, using a computer fitting method to analyze the data obtained from saturation and competition studies. The delineation of specific binding sites labeled by the mu-selective opioid [3H]D-Ala2,MePhe4,Gly-ol5-enkephalin (Kd = 2.58 nM, R = 4.52 pmol/g of tissue) and by the delta-selective opioid [3H]D-Pen2, D-Pen5-enkephalin (Kd = 2.02 nM, R = 1.47 pmol/g of tissue) suggests the presence of mu and delta-receptors in the spinal cord tissue. The presence of kappa receptors was probed by the kappa-selective opioid [3H]U69593 (Kd = 3.31 nM, R = 2.00 pmol/g of tissue). The pharmacological characterization of the sites labeled by [3H]U69593 confirms the assumption that this ligand discriminates kappa receptors in guinea pig spinal cord. The benzomorphan [3H]ethylketazocine labels a population of receptors with one homogeneous affinity state (Kd = 0.65 nM, R = 7.39 pmol/g of tissue). The total binding capacity of this ligand was not different from the sum of the binding capacities of mu, delta-, and kappa-selective ligands. Under mu- and delta-suppressed conditions, [3H]ethylketazocine still binds to receptors with one homogeneous affinity state (Kd = 0.45 nM, R = 1.69 pmol/g of tissue). Competition studies performed against the binding of [3H]ethylketazocine under these experimental conditions reveal that the pharmacological profile of the radiolabeled receptors is similar to the profile of the kappa receptors labeled with [3H]U69593. Saturation studies using the nonselective opioid [3H]bremazocine demonstrate that this ligand binds to spinal cord membranes with heterogeneous affinities (Kd1 = 0.28 nM, R1 = 7.91 pmol/g of tissue; Kd2 = 3.24 nM, R2 = 11.2 pmol/g of tissue)

  5. Quantitative analysis of multiple kappa-opioid receptors by selective and nonselective ligand binding in guinea pig spinal cord: Resolution of high and low affinity states of the kappa 2 receptors by a computerized model-fitting technique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tiberi, M.; Magnan, J. (Universite de Montreal, Quebec (Canada))

    1990-05-01

    The binding characteristics of selective and nonselective opioids have been studied in whole guinea pig spinal cord, using a computer fitting method to analyze the data obtained from saturation and competition studies. The delineation of specific binding sites labeled by the mu-selective opioid (3H)D-Ala2,MePhe4,Gly-ol5-enkephalin (Kd = 2.58 nM, R = 4.52 pmol/g of tissue) and by the delta-selective opioid (3H)D-Pen2, D-Pen5-enkephalin (Kd = 2.02 nM, R = 1.47 pmol/g of tissue) suggests the presence of mu and delta-receptors in the spinal cord tissue. The presence of kappa receptors was probed by the kappa-selective opioid (3H)U69593 (Kd = 3.31 nM, R = 2.00 pmol/g of tissue). The pharmacological characterization of the sites labeled by (3H)U69593 confirms the assumption that this ligand discriminates kappa receptors in guinea pig spinal cord. The benzomorphan (3H)ethylketazocine labels a population of receptors with one homogeneous affinity state (Kd = 0.65 nM, R = 7.39 pmol/g of tissue). The total binding capacity of this ligand was not different from the sum of the binding capacities of mu, delta-, and kappa-selective ligands. Under mu- and delta-suppressed conditions, (3H)ethylketazocine still binds to receptors with one homogeneous affinity state (Kd = 0.45 nM, R = 1.69 pmol/g of tissue). Competition studies performed against the binding of (3H)ethylketazocine under these experimental conditions reveal that the pharmacological profile of the radiolabeled receptors is similar to the profile of the kappa receptors labeled with (3H)U69593. Saturation studies using the nonselective opioid (3H)bremazocine demonstrate that this ligand binds to spinal cord membranes with heterogeneous affinities (Kd1 = 0.28 nM, R1 = 7.91 pmol/g of tissue; Kd2 = 3.24 nM, R2 = 11.2 pmol/g of tissue).

  6. Reading "glasses" will prime "vision," but reading a pair of "glasses" will not.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neely, J H; VerWys, C A; Kahan, T A

    1998-01-01

    In a lexical decision task with two primes and a target, the target was preceded 300 msec by the second prime (P2) which in turn was preceded by a brief forward and backward masked first prime (P1). When P1 and P2 were unrelated, reaction times were faster when the target was related to P2 (e.g., wave SALT ... pepper) than when the target was unrelated to P2 (and P1--e.g., wave LOAN ... pepper). However, this semantic priming effect was reduced to statistically nonsignificant levels when P1 and P2 were repetitions of the same word. That is, priming did not occur for salt SALT ... pepper relative to loan LOAN ... pepper. This reduction in priming was observed whether P2 and the target were strongly or weakly related. These findings raise problems for current accounts of semantic priming.

  7. Protective protein/cathepsin A down-regulates osteoclastogenesis by associating with and degrading NF-kappaB p50/p65.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masuhara, Masaaki; Sato, Takuya; Hada, Naoto; Hakeda, Yoshiyuki

    2009-01-01

    Disruption of the cooperative function balance between osteoblasts and osteoclasts causes various bone disorders, some of which are attributed to abnormal osteoclast recruitment. Osteoclast differentiation is dependent on the receptor activator of nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB ligand (RANKL) as well as the macrophage colony-stimulating factor. The osteoclast formation induced by cytokines requires activation of NF-kappaB, AP-1 and nuclear factor of activated T cells c1. However, osteoclasts are not the only cell types that express these transcription factors, suggesting that some unknown molecules specific for osteoclasts may associate with the transcription factors. Here, we explored the possibility of molecules binding directly to NF-kappaB and cloned protective protein/cathepsin A (PPCA) by yeast two-hybrid screening using a cDNA library of osteoclast precursors. Forced expression of PPCA with p50/p65 in HEK293 cells decreased both the level of p50/p65 proteins and the transcriptional activity. Abundant PPCA was detected in the lysosomes of the transfected HEK293 cells, but a small amount of this enzyme was also present in the cytosolic fraction. In addition, over-expression of PPCA caused the disappearance of p50/p65 in both the lysosomal and cytosolic fractions. PPCA was expressed throughout osteoclastogenesis, and the expression was slightly up-regulated by RANKL signaling. Knockdown of PPCA in osteoclast precursors with PPCA siRNA stimulated binding of nuclear proteins to oligonucleotides containing an NF-kappaB binding motif and increased osteoclastogenesis. Our present results indicate a novel role for PPCA in osteoclastogenesis via down-regulation of NF-kappaB activity and suggest a new function for PPCA as an NF-kappaB-degrading enzyme in addition to its known multifunctional properties.

  8. Where perception meets memory: a review of repetition priming in visual search tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kristjánsson, Arni; Campana, Gianluca

    2010-01-01

    What we have recently seen and attended to strongly influences how we subsequently allocate visual attention. A clear example is how repeated presentation of an object's features or location in visual search tasks facilitates subsequent detection or identification of that item, a phenomenon known as priming. Here, we review a large body of results from priming studies that suggest that a short-term implicit memory system guides our attention to recently viewed items. The nature of this memory system and the processing level at which visual priming occurs are still debated. Priming might be due to activity modulations of low-level areas coding simple stimulus characteristics or to higher level episodic memory representations of whole objects or visual scenes. Indeed, recent evidence indicates that only minor changes to the stimuli used in priming studies may alter the processing level at which priming occurs. We also review recent behavioral, neuropsychological, and neurophysiological evidence that indicates that the priming patterns are reflected in activity modulations at multiple sites along the visual pathways. We furthermore suggest that studies of priming in visual search may potentially shed important light on the nature of cortical visual representations. Our conclusion is that priming occurs at many different levels of the perceptual hierarchy, reflecting activity modulations ranging from lower to higher levels, depending on the stimulus, task, and context-in fact, the neural loci that are involved in the analysis of the stimuli for which priming effects are seen.

  9. Ignition dynamics and activation energies of metallic thermites: From nano- to micron-scale particulate composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunt, Emily M.; Pantoya, Michelle L.

    2005-08-01

    Ignition behaviors associated with nano- and micron-scale particulate composite thermites were studied experimentally and modeled theoretically. The experimental analysis utilized a CO2 laser ignition apparatus to ignite the front surface of compacted nickel (Ni) and aluminum (Al) pellets at varying heating rates. Ignition delay time and ignition temperature as a function of both Ni and Al particle size were measured using high-speed imaging and microthermocouples. The apparent activation energy was determined from this data using a Kissinger isoconversion method. This study shows that the activation energy is significantly lower for nano- compared with micron-scale particulate media (i.e., as low as 17.4 compared with 162.5kJ /mol, respectively). Two separate Arrhenius-type mathematical models were developed that describe ignition in the nano- and the micron-composite thermites. The micron-composite model is based on a heat balance while the nanocomposite model incorporates the energy of phase transformation in the alumina shell theorized to be an initiating step in the solid-solid diffusion reaction and uniquely appreciable in nanoparticle media. These models were found to describe the ignition of the Ni /Al alloy for a wide range of heating rates.

  10. French Prime Minister tours CERN

    CERN Multimedia

    Anaïs Schaeffer

    2012-01-01

    On 30 July, Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Prime Minister of the French Republic, and Geneviève Fioraso, the Minister of Higher Education and Research, visited the Laboratory.   After being met by the Director-General at LHC Point 5, they visited the CMS control centre and experiment cavern, and got a glimpse of the LHC tunnel at Point 5. The visit ended with a round-table discussion with French and other international members of CERN’s scientific community. During the discussion, the Prime Minister reaffirmed that “support for fundamental research has to be maintained, and France must continue to invest in education, research and innovation.” He also paid tribute to CERN's role in international cooperation, which he qualified as “a fine example of science without borders.”

  11. Priming motivation through unattended speech.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radel, Rémi; Sarrazin, Philippe; Jehu, Marie; Pelletier, Luc

    2013-12-01

    This study examines whether motivation can be primed through unattended speech. Study 1 used a dichotic-listening paradigm and repeated strength measures. In comparison to the baseline condition, in which the unattended channel was only composed by neutral words, the presence of words related to high (low) intensity of motivation led participants to exert more (less) strength when squeezing a hand dynamometer. In a second study, a barely audible conversation was played while participants' attention was mobilized on a demanding task. Participants who were exposed to a conversation depicting intrinsic motivation performed better and persevered longer in a subsequent word-fragment completion task than those exposed to the same conversation made unintelligible. These findings suggest that motivation can be primed without attention. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

  12. Frequency-Locked Single-Frequency Fiber Laser at 2 Micron, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Frequency-locked single-frequency 2 micron fiber laser is proposed to be used for airborne/spaceborne coherent lidar measurements, i.e., Active Sensing of CO2...

  13. Bacterial effector binding to ribosomal protein s3 subverts NF-kappaB function.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaofei Gao

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Enteric bacterial pathogens cause food borne disease, which constitutes an enormous economic and health burden. Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC causes a severe bloody diarrhea following transmission to humans through various means, including contaminated beef and vegetable products, water, or through contact with animals. EHEC also causes a potentially fatal kidney disease (hemolytic uremic syndrome for which there is no effective treatment or prophylaxis. EHEC and other enteric pathogens (e.g., enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC, Salmonella, Shigella, Yersinia utilize a type III secretion system (T3SS to inject virulence proteins (effectors into host cells. While it is known that T3SS effectors subvert host cell function to promote diarrheal disease and bacterial transmission, in many cases, the mechanisms by which these effectors bind to host proteins and disrupt the normal function of intestinal epithelial cells have not been completely characterized. In this study, we present evidence that the E. coli O157:H7 nleH1 and nleH2 genes encode T3SS effectors that bind to the human ribosomal protein S3 (RPS3, a subunit of nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kappaB transcriptional complexes. NleH1 and NleH2 co-localized with RPS3 in the cytoplasm, but not in cell nuclei. The N-terminal region of both NleH1 and NleH2 was required for binding to the N-terminus of RPS3. NleH1 and NleH2 are autophosphorylated Ser/Thr protein kinases, but their binding to RPS3 is independent of kinase activity. NleH1, but not NleH2, reduced the nuclear abundance of RPS3 without altering the p50 or p65 NF-kappaB subunits or affecting the phosphorylation state or abundance of the inhibitory NF-kappaB chaperone IkappaBalpha NleH1 repressed the transcription of a RPS3/NF-kappaB-dependent reporter plasmid, but did not inhibit the transcription of RPS3-independent reporters. In contrast, NleH2 stimulated RPS3-dependent transcription, as well

  14. Goal-Directed Visual Attention Drives Health Goal Priming: An Eye-Tracking Experiment

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Laan, van der Laura N.; Hooge, I.T.C.; Smeets, P.A.M.

    2017-01-01

    Objective: Several lab and field experiments have shown that goal priming interventions can be highly effective in promoting healthy food choices. Less is known, however, about the mechanisms by which goal priming affects food choice. This experiment tested the hypothesis that goal priming affects

  15. The effects of associative and semantic priming in the lexical decision task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perea, Manuel; Rosa, Eva

    2002-08-01

    Four lexical decision experiments were conducted to examine under which conditions automatic semantic priming effects can be obtained. Experiments 1 and 2 analyzed associative/semantic effects at several very short stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs), whereas Experiments 3 and 4 used a single-presentation paradigm at two response-stimulus intervals (RSIs). Experiment 1 tested associatively related pairs from three semantic categories (synonyms, antonyms, and category coordinates). The results showed reliable associative priming effects at all SOAs. In addition, the correlation between associative strength and magnitude of priming was significant only at the shortest SOA (66 ms). When prime-target pairs were semantically but not associatively related (Experiment 2), reliable priming effects were obtained at SOAs of 83 ms and longer. Using the single-presentation paradigm with a short RSI (200 ms, Experiment 3), the priming effect was equal in size for associative + semantic and for semantic-only pairs (a 21-ms effect). When the RSI was set much longer (1,750 ms, Experiment 4), only the associative + semantic pairs showed a reliable priming effect (23 ms). The results are interpreted in the context of models of semantic memory.

  16. Repetition priming with Japanese Kana scripts in word-fragment completion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komatsu, S; Naito, M

    1992-03-01

    Manipulating two types of Japanese Kana script, Katakana and Hiragana, we examined the effects of a script change between study and test on later word-fragment completion. Throughout three experiments, materials were composed of foreign loan nouns normally written in Katakana, but not in Hiragana, according to approved usage in Japanese. Experiment 1 demonstrated the reliable size of cross-script priming between Katakana and Hiragana. In Experiment 2, cross-modal priming was substantial when modality of presentation was changed from auditory to visual. In Experiment 3, generating a target word from its definition induced priming comparable in size to that in the prior reading condition. These results have been confirmed in the Hiragana test, as well as in the Katakana test, thereby suggesting that some conceptual and modality-independent processes may also mediate repetition priming.

  17. Studying Titan's surface photometry in the 5 microns atmospheric window with the Cassini/VIMS instrument

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cornet, T.; Altobelli, N.; Sotin, C.; Le Mouelic, S.; Rodriguez, S.; Philippe, S.; Brown, R. H.; Barnes, J. W.; Buratti, B. J.; Baines, K. H.; Clark, R. N.; Nicholson, P. D.

    2014-12-01

    Due to the influence of methane gas and a thick aerosols haze in the atmosphere, Titan's surface is only visible in 7 spectral atmospheric windows centered at 0.93, 1.08, 1.27, 1.59, 2.01, 2.7-2.8 and 5 microns with the Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS). The 5 microns atmospheric window constitutes the only one being almost insensitive to the haze scattering and which presents only a reduced atmospheric absorption contribution to the signal recorded by the instrument. Despite these advantages leading to the almost direct view of the surface, the 5 microns window is also the noisiest spectral window of the entire VIMS spectrum (an effect highly dependent on the time exposure used for the observations), and it is not totally free from atmospheric contributions, enough to keep "artefacts" in mosaics of several thousands of cubes due to atmospheric and surface photometric effects amplified by the very heterogeneous viewing conditions between each Titan flyby. At first order, a lambertian surface photometry at 5 microns has been used as an initial parameter in order to estimate atmospheric opacity and surface photometry in all VIMS atmospheric windows and to determine the albedo of the surface, yet unknown, both using radiative transfer codes on single cubes or empirical techniques on global hyperspectral mosaics. Other studies suggested that Titan's surface photometry would not be uniquely lambertian but would also contain anisotropic lunar-like contributions. In the present work, we aim at constraining accurately the surface photometry of Titan and residual atmospheric absorption effects in this 5 microns window using a comprehensive study of relevant sites located at various latitudes. Those include bright and dark (dunes) terrains, 5-microns bright terrains (Hotei Regio and Tui Regio), the Huygens Landing Site and high latitudes polar lakes and seas. The VIMS 2004 to 2014 database, composed of more than 40,000 hyperspectral cubes acquired on

  18. Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 enhances NF-kappaB activation in Escherichia coli-stimulated urinary bladder cells through TLR4

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Karlsson Mattias

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Epithelial cells of the urinary tract recognize pathogenic bacteria through pattern recognition receptors on their surface, such as toll-like receptors (TLRs, and mount an immune response through the activation of the NF-kappaB pathway. Some uropathogenic bacteria can subvert these cellular responses, creating problems with how the host eliminates pathogens. Lactobacillus is a genus of lactic acid bacteria that are part of the microbiota and consist of many probiotic strains, some specifically for urogenital infections. Immunomodulation has emerged as an important mode of action of probiotic and commensal lactobacilli and given the importance of epithelial cells, we evaluated the effect of the urogenital probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 on epithelial immune activation. Results Immune activation through the NF-kappaB pathway was initiated by stimulation of T24 urothelial cells with heat-killed Escherichia coli and this was further potentiated when cells were co-cultured with live L. rhamnosus GR-1. Heat-killed lactobacilli were poor activators of NF-kappaB. Concomitant stimulation of bladder cells with E. coli and L. rhamnosus GR-1 increased the levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF, whereas IL-6 and CXCL8 levels were reduced. Another probiotic, L. rhamnosus GG, was also able to potentiate NF-kappaB in these cells although at a significantly reduced level compared to the GR-1 strain. The transcript numbers and protein levels of the lipopolysaccharide receptor TLR4 were significantly increased after co-stimulation with E. coli and lactobacilli compared to controls. Furthermore, inhibition of TLR4 activation by polymixin B completely blocked the lactobacilli potentiation of NF-kappaB. Conclusions The immunological outcome of E. coli challenge of bladder cells was influenced by probiotic L. rhamnosus GR-1, by enhancing the activation of NF-kappaB and TNF release. Thus the urogenital probiotic L. rhamnosus GR-1

  19. The formation of kappa-distribution accelerated electron populations in solar flares

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bian, Nicolas H.; Stackhouse, Duncan J.; Kontar, Eduard P. [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ (United Kingdom); Emslie, A. Gordon, E-mail: n.bian@physics.gla.ac.uk, E-mail: d.stackhouse.1@research.gla.ac.uk, E-mail: eduard@astro.gla.ac.uk, E-mail: emslieg@wku.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101 (United States)

    2014-12-01

    Driven by recent RHESSI observations of confined loop-top hard X-ray sources in solar flares, we consider stochastic acceleration of electrons in the presence of Coulomb collisions. If electron escape from the acceleration region can be neglected, the electron distribution function is determined by a balance between diffusive acceleration and collisions. Such a scenario admits a stationary solution for the electron distribution function that takes the form of a kappa distribution. We show that the evolution toward this kappa distribution involves a 'wave front' propagating forward in velocity space, so that electrons of higher energy are accelerated later; the acceleration timescales with energy according to τ{sub acc} ∼ E {sup 3/2}. At sufficiently high energies escape from the finite-length acceleration region will eventually dominate. For such energies, the electron velocity distribution function is obtained by solving a time-dependent Fokker-Planck equation in the 'leaky-box' approximation. Solutions are obtained in the limit of a small escape rate from an acceleration region that can effectively be considered a thick target.

  20. Diarctigenin, a lignan constituent from Arctium lappa, down-regulated zymosan-induced transcription of inflammatory genes through suppression of DNA binding ability of nuclear factor-kappaB in macrophages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Byung Hak; Hong, Seong Su; Kwon, Soon Woo; Lee, Hwa Young; Sung, Hyeran; Lee, In-Jeong; Hwang, Bang Yeon; Song, Sukgil; Lee, Chong-Kil; Chung, Daehyun; Ahn, Byeongwoo; Nam, Sang-Yoon; Han, Sang-Bae; Kim, Youngsoo

    2008-11-01

    Diarctigenin was previously isolated as an inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) production in macrophages from the seeds of Arctium lappa used as an alternative medicine for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. However, little is known about the molecular basis of these effects. Here, we demonstrated that diarctigenin inhibited the production of NO, prostaglandin E(2), tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and interleukin (IL)-1beta and IL-6 with IC(50) values of 6 to 12 miciroM in zymosan- or lipopolysaccharide-(LPS) activated macrophages. Diarctigenin attenuated zymosan-induced mRNA synthesis of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and also inhibited promoter activities of iNOS and cytokine genes in the cells. Because nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB plays a pivotal role in inflammatory gene transcription, we next investigated the effect of diarctigenin on NF-kappaB activation. Diarctigenin inhibited the transcriptional activity and DNA binding ability of NF-kappaB in zymosan-activated macrophages but did not affect the degradation and phosphorylation of inhibitory kappaB (IkappaB) proteins. Moreover, diarctigenin suppressed expression vector NF-kappaB p65-elicited NF-kappaB activation and also iNOS promoter activity, indicating that the compound could directly target an NF-kappa-activating signal cascade downstream of IkappaB degradation and inhibit NF-kappaB-regulated iNOS expression. Diarctigenin also inhibited the in vitro DNA binding ability of NF-kappaB but did not affect the nuclear import of NF-kappaB p65 in the cells. Taken together, diarctigenin down-regulated zymosan- or LPS-induced inflammatory gene transcription in macrophages, which was due to direct inhibition of the DNA binding ability of NF-kappaB. Finally, this study provides a pharmacological potential of diarctigenin in the NF-kappaB-associated inflammatory disorders.

  1. Comparing Repetition Priming Effects in Words and Arithmetic Equations: Robust Priming Regardless of Color or Response Hand Change

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ailsa Humphries

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Previous studies have shown that stimulus repetition can lead to reliable behavioral improvements. Although this repetition priming (RP effect has been reported in a number of paradigms using a variety of stimuli including words, objects, and faces, only a few studies have investigated mathematical cognition involving arithmetic computation, and no prior research has directly compared RP effects in a linguistic task with an arithmetic task. In two experiments, we used a within-subjects design to investigate and compare the magnitude of RP, and the effects of changing the color or the response hand for repeated, otherwise identical, stimuli in a word and an arithmetic categorization task. The results show that the magnitude of RP was comparable between the two tasks and that changing the color or the response hand had a negligible effect on priming in either task. These results extended previous findings in mathematical cognition. They also indicate that priming does not vary with stimulus domain. The implications of the results were discussed with reference to both facilitation of component processes and episodic memory retrieval of stimulus–response binding.

  2. Comparing Repetition Priming Effects in Words and Arithmetic Equations: Robust Priming Regardless of Color or Response Hand Change.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Humphries, Ailsa; Chen, Zhe; Neumann, Ewald

    2017-01-01

    Previous studies have shown that stimulus repetition can lead to reliable behavioral improvements. Although this repetition priming (RP) effect has been reported in a number of paradigms using a variety of stimuli including words, objects, and faces, only a few studies have investigated mathematical cognition involving arithmetic computation, and no prior research has directly compared RP effects in a linguistic task with an arithmetic task. In two experiments, we used a within-subjects design to investigate and compare the magnitude of RP, and the effects of changing the color or the response hand for repeated, otherwise identical, stimuli in a word and an arithmetic categorization task. The results show that the magnitude of RP was comparable between the two tasks and that changing the color or the response hand had a negligible effect on priming in either task. These results extended previous findings in mathematical cognition. They also indicate that priming does not vary with stimulus domain. The implications of the results were discussed with reference to both facilitation of component processes and episodic memory retrieval of stimulus-response binding.

  3. Vault Safety and Inventory System users manual, PRIME 2350. Revision 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Downey, N.J.

    1994-01-01

    This revision is issued to request review of the attached document: VSIS User Manual, PRIME 2350, which provides user information for the operation of the VSIS (Vault Safety and Inventory System). It describes operational aspects of Prime 2350 minicomputer and vault data acquisition equipment. It also describes the User's Main Menu and menu functions, including REPORTS. Also, system procedures for the Prime 2350 minicomputer are covered

  4. Vault Safety and Inventory System users manual, PRIME 2350. Revision 1

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Downey, N.J.

    1994-12-14

    This revision is issued to request review of the attached document: VSIS User Manual, PRIME 2350, which provides user information for the operation of the VSIS (Vault Safety and Inventory System). It describes operational aspects of Prime 2350 minicomputer and vault data acquisition equipment. It also describes the User`s Main Menu and menu functions, including REPORTS. Also, system procedures for the Prime 2350 minicomputer are covered.

  5. Exploring Visuomotor Priming Following Biological and Non-Biological Stimuli

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gowen, E.; Bradshaw, C.; Galpin, A.; Lawrence, A.; Poliakoff, E.

    2010-01-01

    Observation of human actions influences the observer's own motor system, termed visuomotor priming, and is believed to be caused by automatic activation of mirror neurons. Evidence suggests that priming effects are larger for biological (human) as opposed to non-biological (object) stimuli and enhanced when viewing stimuli in mirror compared to…

  6. Comet C2012 S1 (ISON)s Carbon-rich and Micron-size-dominated Coma Dust

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wooden, D.; De Buizer, J.; Kelley, M.; Sitko, M.; Woodward, C.; Harker, D.; Reach, W.; Russell, R.; Kim, D.; Yanamadra-Fisher, P.; hide

    2014-01-01

    Comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) was unique in that it was a dynamically new comet derived from the Nearly Isotropic Oort cloud reservoir of comets with a sun-grazing orbit. We present thermal models for comet ISON (rh approx.1.15 AU, 2013-Oct-25 11:30 UT) that reveal comet ISON's dust was carbon-rich and dominated by a narrow size distribution dominated by approx. micron-sized grains. We constrained the models by our SOFIA FORCAST photometry at 11.1, 19.7 and 31.5 microns and by a silicate feature strength of approx.1.1 and an 8-13microns continuum greybody color temperature of approx. 275-280 K (using Tbb ? r-0.5 h and Tbb approx. 260-265 K from Subaru COMICS, 2013-Oct-19 UT)[1,2]. N-band spectra of comet ISON with the BASS instrument on the NASA IRTF (2013-Nov-11-12 UT) show a silicate feature strength of approx. 1.1 and an 11.2microns forsterite peak.[3] Our thermal models yield constraints the dust composition as well as grain size distribution parameters: slope, peak grain size, porosity. Specifically, ISON's dust has a low silicate-to- amorphous carbon ratio (approx. 1:9), and the coma size distribution has a steep slope (N4.5) such that the coma is dominated by micron-sized, moderately porous, carbon-rich dust grains. The N-band continuum color temperature implies submicronto micron-size grains and the steep fall off of the SOFIA far-IR photometry requires the size distribution to have fewer relative numbers of larger and cooler grains compared to smaller and hotter grains. A proxy for the dust production rate is f? approx.1500 cm, akin to Af?. ISON has a moderate-to-low dust-to-gas ratio. Comet ISON's dust grain size distribution does not appear similar to the few well-studied long-period Nearly Isotropic Comets (NICs), namely C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) and C/2001 Q4 (NEAT) that had smaller and/or more highly porous grains and larger sizes, or C/2007 N4 (Lulin) and C/2006 P1 (McNaught) that had large and/or compact grains. Radial transport to comet-forming disk distances

  7. Emotion-Specific Priming: Congruence Effects on Affect and Recognition across Negative Emotions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hansen, Christine H.; Shantz, Cynthia A.

    1995-01-01

    Demonstrated the emotion-specific priming effects of negatively valenced emotions (anger, sadness, and fear) in a divided attention task. Results indicated that a negative emotion displayed by a target that matched the emotion induced by a priming manipulation was significantly stronger than an incongruous priming manipulation and displayed…

  8. Dry coating of micronized API powders for improved dissolution of directly compacted tablets with high drug loading.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Han, Xi; Ghoroi, Chinmay; Davé, Rajesh

    2013-02-14

    Motivated by our recent study showing improved flow and dissolution rate of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) powders (20 μm) produced via simultaneous micronization and surface modification through continuous fluid energy milling (FEM) process, the performance of blends and direct compacted tablets with high drug loading is examined. Performance of 50 μm API powders dry coated without micronization is also considered for comparison. Blends of micronized, non-micronized, dry coated or uncoated API powders at 30, 60 and 70% drug loading, are examined. The results show that the blends containing dry coated API powders, even micronized ones, have excellent flowability and high bulk density compared to the blends containing uncoated API, which are required for direct compaction. As the drug loading increases, the difference between dry coated and uncoated blends is more pronounced, as seen in the proposed bulk density-FFC phase map. Dry coating led to improved tablet compactibility profiles, corresponding with the improvements in blend compressibility. The most significant advantage is in tablet dissolution where for all drug loadings, the t(80) for the tablets with dry coated APIs was well under 5 min, indicating that this approach can produce nearly instant release direct compacted tablets at high drug loadings. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Micron system for automatization and analysis of measurements in nuclear photoemulsion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dajon, M.I.; Kotel'nikov, K.A.; Martynov, A.G.; Rappoport, V.M.; Smirnitskij, V.A.; Ozerskij, M.A.

    1987-01-01

    The automatized ''Micron'' system designed for measuring, processing and analyzing events in nuclear photoemulsion is described. The flowsheets of the device, program packages for searching neutrino interactions in nuclear photoemulsion and plotting target diagrams in X-ray emulsion chambers are presented. The ''Micron'' system consists of the following functional units: a three-coordinate measuring microscope MPEh-11 combined with a coordinate recording unit, designed for measuring coordinates of grains in the emulsion and displaying them on a peripheral, a control unit based on ''Elektronika-60'' microcomputer, a controller KK-60 for connecting the CAMAC highway, an analog-to-digital display with the keyboard. The PDP-11/70 is the basic computer. The event of charmed Λ c + barion production followed by the Λ c + →Σ + π + π - decay observed in nuclear photoemulsion is described

  10. 20-Hydroxycholecalciferol, product of vitamin D3 hydroxylation by P450scc, decreases NF-kappaB activity by increasing IkappaB alpha levels in human keratinocytes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zorica Janjetovic

    Full Text Available The side chain of vitamin D3 is hydroxylated in a sequential manner by cytochrome P450scc (CYP11A1 to form 20-hydroxycholecalciferol, which can induce growth arrest and differentiation of both primary and immortalized epidermal keratinocytes. Since nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB plays a pivotal role in the regulation of cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis, we examined the capability of 20-hydroxycholecalciferol to modulate the activity of NF-kappaB, using 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (calcitriol as a positive control. 20-hydroxycholecalciferol inhibits the activation of NFkappaB DNA binding activity as well as NF-kappaB-driven reporter gene activity in keratinocytes. Also, 20-hydroxycholecalciferol induced significant increases in the mRNA and protein levels of the NF-kappaB inhibitor protein, IkappaB alpha, in a time dependent manner, while no changes in total NF-kappaB-p65 mRNA or protein levels were observed. Another measure of NF-kappaB activity, p65 translocation from the cytoplasm into the nucleus was also inhibited in extracts of 20-hydroxycholecalciferol treated keratinocytes. Increased IkappaB alpha was concomitantly observed in cytosolic extracts of 20-hydroxycholecalciferol treated keratinocytes, as determined by immunoblotting and immunofluorescent staining. In keratinocytes lacking vitamin D receptor (VDR, 20-hydroxycholecalciferol did not affect IkappaB alpha mRNA levels, indicating that it requires VDR for its action on NF-kappaB activity. Comparison of the effects of calcitrol, hormonally active form of vitamin D3, with 20-hydrocholecalciferol show that both agents have a similar potency in inhibiting NF-kappaB. Since NF-kappaB is a major transcription factor for the induction of inflammatory mediators, our findings indicate that 20-hydroxycholecalciferol may be an effective therapeutic agent for inflammatory and hyperproliferative skin diseases.

  11. A kinetic analysis of kappa-opioid agonist binding using the selective radioligand (/sup 3/H)U69593

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, J.A.; Hunter, J.C.; Hill, R.G.; Hughes, J.

    1989-07-01

    The interaction of the nonselective opioid ligand (3H)bremazocine and of the kappa-opioid (3H)U69593 with the kappa-receptor was investigated in guinea-pig cortical membranes. Each radioligand bound to a single population of high-affinity sites, although (3H)U69593 apparently recognised only 70% of those sites labelled by (3H)bremazocine. Naloxone and the kappa-selective ligands U69593 and PD117302 exhibited full inhibition of the binding of both radioligands. Kinetic analysis demonstrated biphasic rates of association and dissociation for both (3H)bremazocine and (3H)U69593. Detailed analysis of the binding of (3H)U69593 revealed that the fast rate of association was dependent on radioligand concentration, in contrast to the slow rate, which was independent of ligand concentration. Guanylyl-5'-imidodiphosphate (GppNHp) inhibited binding of (3H)U69593; saturation analysis demonstrated that the inhibitory effects of GppNHp resulted in a decrease in affinity without any significant change in binding capacity. GppNHp attenuated the formation of the slow component of (3H)U69593 binding, while accelerating the fast component. The data are consistent with the formation of a high-affinity complex between the kappa-receptor and a guanine nucleotide binding protein. Guanine nucleotides promote the dissociation of this ternary complex and the stabilisation of a lower-affinity state of the receptor.

  12. Quantitative determination of micronization-induced changes in the solid state of lactose.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Della Bella, A; Müller, M; Soldati, L; Elviri, L; Bettini, R

    2016-05-30

    Lactose, in particular α-lactose monohydrate, is the most used carrier for inhalation. Its surface and solid-state properties play a key role in determining Dry Powder Inhalers (DPIs) performance. Techniques such as X-Ray Powder Diffraction (XRPD) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), which are commonly used for the characterization of lactose, are not always capable of explaining the solid-state changes induced by processing, such as micronization. In the present work, the evaluation of the effect of the micronization process on the solid-state properties of lactose was carried out by XRPD and DSC and a satisfactory, although not unequivocal, interpretation of the thermal behaviour of lactose was obtained. Thus, a new gravimetric method correlating in a quantitative manner the weight change in specific sections of the Dynamic Vapour Sorption (DVS) profile and the amount of different forms of α-lactose (hygroscopic anhydrous, stable anhydrous and amorphous) simultaneously present in a given sample was developed and validated. The method is very simple and provides acceptable accuracy in phase quantitation (LOD=1.6, 2.4 and 2.7%, LOQ=5.4, 8.0 and 8.9% for hygroscopic anhydrous, stable anhydrous and amorphous α-lactose, respectively). The application of this method to a sample of micronized lactose led to results in agreement with those obtained by DSC and evidenced that hygroscopic anhydrous α-lactose, rather than amorphous lactose, can be generated in the micronization process. The proposed method may find a more general application for the quantification of polymorphs of compounds different than lactose, provided that the various solid phases afford different weight variations in specific regions of the DVS profile. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Charging of Individual Micron-Size Interstellar/Planetary Dust Grains by Secondary Electron Emissions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tankosic, D.; Abbas, M. M.

    2012-01-01

    Dust grains in various astrophysical environments are generally charged electrostatically by photoelectric emissions with UV/X-ray radiation, as well as by electron/ion impact. Knowledge of physical and optical properties of individual dust grains is required for understanding of the physical and dynamical processes in space environments and the role of dust in formation of stellar and planetary systems. In this paper, we discuss experimental results on dust charging by electron impact, where low energy electrons are scattered or stick to the dust grains, thereby charging the dust grains negatively, and at sufficiently high energies the incident electrons penetrate the grain leading to excitation and emission of electrons referred to as secondary electron emission (SEE). Currently, very limited experimental data are available for charging of individual micron-size dust grains, particularly by low energy electron impact. Available theoretical models based on the Sternglass equation (Sternglass, 1954) are applicable for neutral, planar, and bulk surfaces only. However, charging properties of individual micron-size dust grains are expected to be different from the values measured on bulk materials. Our recent experimental results on individual, positively charged, micron-size lunar dust grains levitated in an electrodynamic balance facility (at NASA-MSFC) indicate that the SEE by electron impact is a complex process. The electron impact may lead to charging or discharging of dust grains depending upon the grain size, surface potential, electron energy, electron flux, grain composition, and configuration (e.g. Abbas et al, 2010). Here we discuss the complex nature of SEE charging properties of individual micron-size lunar dust grains and silica microspheres.

  14. Asymmetric Membranes Containing Micron-Size Silicon for High Performance Lithium Ion Battery Anode

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Byrd, Ian; Wu, Ji

    2016-01-01

    Micron-size Si anode is notorious for having extremely poor cycle life. It is mainly caused by the large volume change (∼300%) and poor mechanical strength of the Si electrode. Satisfying methods to address this issue are seriously lacking in literature. In this study, novel single-layer, double-layer and triple-layer asymmetric membranes containing micron-size silicon have been fabricated using a simple phase inversion method to dramatically improve its cyclability. The electrochemical performance of these asymmetric membranes as lithium ion battery anodes are evaluated and compared to pure micron-size Si powders and carbonaceous asymmetric membranes. All three types of asymmetric membrane electrodes demonstrate significantly enhanced stability as compared to pure Si powders. The single-layer asymmetric membrane has the largest capacity degradation due to the loss of pulverized Si powders from the membrane surface, only 40% of whose capacity can be retained in 100 cycles. But this performance is still much better than pure micron-size silicon electrode. After being coated with nanoporous carbonaceous layers on both sides of a single-layer asymmetric membrane to make a triple-layer asymmetric membrane (sandwich structure), the capacity retention is notably increased to 88% in 100 cycles at 610 mAh g"−"1 and 0.5C. The enhanced stability is attributed to the extra nanoporous coatings that can prevent the fractured Si powders from being leached out and allow facile lithium ion diffusions. Such a novel, efficient and scalable method may provide beneficiary guidance for designing high capacity lithium ion battery anodes with large volume change issues.

  15. A Gordeyev integral for electrostatic waves in a magnetized plasma with a kappa velocity distribution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mace, R.L.

    2003-01-01

    A Gordeyev-type integral for the investigation of electrostatic waves in magnetized plasma having a kappa or generalized Lorentzian velocity distribution is derived. The integral readily reduces, in the unmagnetized and parallel propagation limits, to simple expressions involving the Z κ function. For propagation perpendicular to the magnetic field, it is shown that the Gordeyev integral can be written in closed form as a sum of two generalized hypergeometric functions, which permits easy analysis of the dispersion relation for electrostatic waves. Employing the same analytical techniques used for the kappa distribution, it is further shown that the well-known Gordeyev integral for a Maxwellian distribution can be written very concisely as a generalized hypergeometric function in the limit of perpendicular propagation. This expression, in addition to its mathematical conciseness, has other advantages over the traditional sum over modified Bessel functions form. Examples of the utility of these generalized hypergeometric series, especially how they simplify analyses of electrostatic waves propagating perpendicular to the magnetic field, are given. The new expression for the Gordeyev integral for perpendicular propagation is solved numerically to obtain the dispersion relations for the electrostatic Bernstein modes in a plasma with a kappa distribution

  16. Comparison of Prime Movers Suitable for USMC Expeditionary Power Sources

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Theiss, T J; Conklin, J. C.; Thomas, John F.; Armstrong, T. R.

    2000-04-18

    This report documents the results of the ORNL investigation into prime movers that would be desirable for the construction of a power system suitable for the United States Marine Corps (USMC) expeditionary forces under Operational Maneuvers From The Sea (OMFTS) doctrine. Discrete power levels of {approx}1, 5, 15, and 30 kW are considered. The only requirement is that the prime mover consumes diesel fuel. A brief description is given for the prime movers to describe their basic scientific foundations and relative advantages and disadvantages. A list of key attributes developed by ORNL has been weighted by the USMC to indicate the level of importance. A total of 14 different prime movers were scored by ORNL personnel in four size ranges (1,5, 15, & 30 kW) for their relative strength in each attribute area. The resulting weighted analysis was used to indicate which prime movers are likely to be suitable for USMC needs. No single engine or prime mover emerged as the clear-cut favorite but several engines scored as well or better than the diesel engine. At the higher load levels (15 & 30 kW), the results indicate that the open Brayton (gas turbine) is a relatively mature technology and likely a suitable choice to meet USMC needs. At the lower power levels, the situation is more difficult and the market alone is not likely to provide an optimum solution in the time frame desired (2010). Several prime movers should be considered for future developments and may be satisfactory; specifically, the Atkinson cycle, the open Brayton cycle (gas turbine), the 2-stroke diesel. The rotary diesel and the solid oxide fuel cell should be backup candidates. Of all these prime movers, the Atkinson cycle may well be the most suitable for this application but is an immature technology. Additional demonstrations of this engine will be conducted at ORNL. If this analysis is positive, then the performance of a generator set using this engine, the open Brayton and the 2-stroke diesel should

  17. Towers of Function Fields over Non-prime Finite Fields

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bassa, Alp; Beelen, Peter; Garcia, Arnaldo

    2015-01-01

    Over all non-prime finite fields, we construct some recursive towers of function fields with many rational places. Thus we obtain a substantial improvement on all known lower bounds for Ihara’s quantity A(ℓ), for ℓ = pn with p prime and n > 3 odd. We relate the explicit equations to Drinfeld modu...

  18. Kappa Opioid Receptors Mediate where Fear Is Expressed Following Extinction Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Sindy; Richardson, Rick; McNally, Gavan P.

    2011-01-01

    Six experiments used a within-subjects renewal design to examine the involvement of kappa opioid receptors (KORs) in regulating the expression and recovery of extinguished fear. Rats were trained to fear a tone conditioned stimulus (CS) via pairings with foot shock in a distinctive context (A). This was followed by extinction training of the CS in…

  19. Independent priming of location and color in identification of briefly presented letters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ásgeirsson, Árni Gunnar; Kristjánsson, Árni; Bundesen, Claus

    2014-01-01

    Attention shifts are facilitated if the items to be attended remain the same across trials. Some researchers argue that this priming effect is perceptual, whereas others propose that priming is postperceptual, involving facilitated response selection. The experimental findings have not been consistent regarding the roles of variables such as task difficulty, response repetition, expectancies, and decision-making. Position priming, when repetition of a target position facilitates responses on a subsequent trial, is another source of disagreement among researchers. Experimental results have likewise been inconsistent as to whether position priming is dependent on the repetition of target features or has an independent effect on attention shifts. We attempted to isolate the perceptual components of priming by presenting brief (10-180 ms) search arrays to eight healthy observers. The task was to identify a color-singleton letter among distractors. All stimulus presentation contingencies were randomized, and responses were unspeeded, to avoid effects of observer expectation and postperceptual effects. Repeating target color and/or position strongly improved performance. The effects of color and position repetition were independent of one another and were stable across participants. The results argue for a strong perceptual component in priming, which biases selection toward recent target features and positions, showing that perceptual mechanisms are sufficient to produce priming in visual search and that such effects can be elicited with limited sensory evidence. The results are the first to demonstrate independent priming of color and position in the identification of briefly presented, postmasked stimuli.

  20. Morphological changes of gamma prime precipitates in nickel-base superalloy single crystals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mackay, R.A.

    1984-07-01

    Changes in the morphology of the gamma prime precipitate were examined during tensile creep at temperatures between 927 and 1038 C in 001-oriented single crystals of a Ni-Al-Mo-Ta superalloy. In this alloy, which has a large negative misfit of -0.80%, the gamma prime particles link together during creep to form platelets, or rafts, which are aligned with their broad faces perpendicular to the applied tensile axis. The dimensions of the gamma and gamma prime phases were measured as directional coarsening developed in an attempt to trace the changing morphology under various stress levels. In addition, the effects of initial microstructure, as well as slight compositional variations, were related to raft development and creep properties. The results showed that directional coarsening of gamma prime began during primary creep, and under certain conditions, continued to develop after the onset of steady-state creep. The length of the rafts increased linearly with time up to a plateau region. The thickness of the rafts, however, remained equal to the initial gamma prime size at least up through the onset of tertiary creep this is a clear indication of the stability of the finely-spaced gamma-gamma prime lamellar structure. It was found that the single crystals with the finest gamma prime size exhibited the longest creep lives, because the resultant rafted structure had a larger number of gamma-gamma prime interfaces per unit volume of material

  1. Changing the threshold-Signals and mechanisms of mast cell priming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halova, Ivana; Rönnberg, Elin; Draberova, Lubica; Vliagoftis, Harissios; Nilsson, Gunnar P; Draber, Petr

    2018-03-01

    Mast cells play a key role in allergy and other inflammatory diseases involving engagement of multivalent antigen with IgE bound to high-affinity IgE receptors (FcεRIs). Aggregation of FcεRIs on mast cells initiates a cascade of signaling events that eventually lead to degranulation, secretion of leukotrienes and prostaglandins, and cytokine and chemokine production contributing to the inflammatory response. Exposure to pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, bacterial and viral products, as well as some other biological products and drugs, induces mast cell transition from the basal state into a primed one, which leads to enhanced response to IgE-antigen complexes. Mast cell priming changes the threshold for antigen-mediated activation by various mechanisms, depending on the priming agent used, which alone usually do not induce mast cell degranulation. In this review, we describe the priming processes induced in mast cells by various cytokines (stem cell factor, interleukins-4, -6 and -33), chemokines, other agents acting through G protein-coupled receptors (adenosine, prostaglandin E 2 , sphingosine-1-phosphate, and β-2-adrenergic receptor agonists), toll-like receptors, and various drugs affecting the cytoskeleton. We will review the current knowledge about the molecular mechanisms behind priming of mast cells leading to degranulation and cytokine production and discuss the biological effects of mast cell priming induced by several cytokines. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  2. Attachment Security Balances Perspectives: Effects of Security Priming on Highly Optimistic and Pessimistic Explanatory Styles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deng, Yanhe; Yan, Mengge; Chen, Henry; Sun, Xin; Zhang, Peng; Zeng, Xianglong; Liu, Xiangping; Lye, Yue

    2016-01-01

    Highly optimistic explanatory style (HOES) and highly pessimistic explanatory style (HPES) are two maladaptive ways to explain the world and may have roots in attachment insecurity. The current study aims to explore the effects of security priming - activating supportive representations of attachment security - on ameliorating these maladaptive explanatory styles. 57 participants with HOES and 57 participants with HPES were randomized into security priming and control conditions. Their scores of overall optimistic attribution were measured before and after priming. Security priming had a moderating effect: the security primed HOES group exhibited lower optimistic attribution, while the security primed HPES group evinced higher scores of optimistic attribution. Furthermore, the security primed HOES group attributed positive outcomes more externally, while the security primed HPES group attributed successful results more internally. The results support the application of security priming interventions on maladaptive explanatory styles. Its potential mechanism and directions for future study are also discussed.

  3. Does the presence of priming hinder subsequent recognition or recall performance?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stark, Shauna M; Gordon, Barry; Stark, Craig E L

    2008-02-01

    Declarative and non-declarative memories are thought be supported by two distinct memory systems that are often posited not to interact. However, Wagner, Maril, and Schacter (2000a) reported that at the time priming was assessed, greater behavioural and neural priming was associated with lower levels of subsequent recognition memory, demonstrating an interaction between declarative and non-declarative memory. We examined this finding using a similar paradigm, in which participants made the same or different semantic word judgements following a short or long lag and subsequent memory test. We found a similar overall pattern of results, with greater behavioural priming associated with a decrease in recognition and recall performance. However, neither various within-participant nor various between-participant analyses revealed significant correlations between priming and subsequent memory performance. These data suggest that both lag and task have effects on priming and declarative memory performance, but that they are largely independent and occur in parallel.

  4. RF discharge slab carbon monoxide laser: overtone lasing (2.5-4.0 micron) and fundamental band tuning (5.0-6.5 micron)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ionin, Andrey A.; Kozlov, Andrey Yu.; Seleznev, Leonid V.; Sinitsyn, Dmitry V.

    2008-10-01

    Overtone lasing and fundamental band tuning was for the first time obtained in a slab carbon monoxide laser. The compact slab CO laser with active volume 3×30×250 mm3 was excited by a repetitively pulsed capacitive RF discharge (81.36 MHz) with pulse repetition rate 100-500 Hz. The laser electrodes were cooled down to 120 K. Gas mixture CO:Air:He at gas pressures 15-22 Torr was used. An optical scheme "frequency selective master oscillator - laser amplifier" was applied for getting fundamental band tuning. Single line lasing with average power up to several tens of mW was observed on ~100 rotational-vibrational transitions of CO molecule within the spectral range ~5.0 - 6.5 micron. Multiline overtone lasing was observed on ~80 spectral lines within the spectral range ~2.5 -4.0 micron, with maximum single line average output power 12 mW. Total output power of the slab overtone CO laser came up to 0.3 W, with maximum laser efficiency 0.5%. Results of parametric studies of the overtone CO laser including complicated time behavior for laser pulses on different overtone vibrational-rotational transitions are discussed.

  5. Self-construal priming affects speed of retrieval from short-term memory.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Justin A Macdonald

    Full Text Available We investigated the effects of collective or individual self-construal priming on recall in a short-term memory (STM task. We primed participants to either their individual or their collective self-construals or a neutral control condition. Participants then completed a STM retrieval task using either random or patterned digit strings. Findings revealed that priming an individual self-construal resulted in faster retrieval of information from STM for both stimulus types. These results indicate that individual self-accessibility improves retrieval speed of digits from STM, regardless of set configuration. More broadly, the present findings extend prior research by adding further evidence of the effects of self-construal priming on cognitive information processing.

  6. The influence of object relative size on priming and explicit memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uttl, Bob; Graf, Peter; Siegenthaler, Amy L

    2008-09-01

    We investigated the effects of object relative size on priming and explicit memory for color photos of common objects. Participants were presented with color photos of pairs of objects displayed in either appropriate or inappropriate relative sizes. Implicit memory was assessed by speed of object size ratings whereas explicit memory was assessed by an old/new recognition test. Study-to-test changes in relative size reduced both priming and explicit memory and had large effects for objects displayed in large vs. small size at test. Our findings of substantial size-specific influences on priming with common objects under some but not other conditions are consistent with instance views of object perception and priming but inconsistent with structural description views.

  7. Mini-Conference on the First Microns of the First Wall

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Stotler, D. P.; Rognlien, T. D.; Krasheninnikov, S. I.

    2008-03-20

    Interactions between plasmas and their surrounding materials (plasma facing components) are of great interest to present and future magnetic fusion experiments, and ITER [ITER Physics Basis Editors, ITER Physics Exper Group Chairs, ITER Joint Central Team, and Physics Inte gration Unit, Nucl. Fusion 39, 2137 (1999)] in particular. This interest is the result of concerns with the survivability of these materials, as well as the impact of these interactions back on the plasma. These interactions begin on the surface, but can have consequences a few microns into the material.This mini-conference on these "first microns" was designed to bring to the Division of Plasma Physics Meeting experts on these topics who would otherwise not attend. At the same time, the mini-conference was intended to expose the broader fusion community to these issues. The mini-conference covered in three, half-day sessions the topics of lithium coatings and surfaces, mixed materials characteristics, and issues associated with graphite.

  8. Mini-Conference on the First Microns of the First Wall

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stotler, D.P.; Rognlien, T.D.; Krasheninnikov, S.I.

    2008-01-01

    Interactions between plasmas and their surrounding materials (plasma facing components) are of great interest to present and future magnetic fusion experiments, and ITER (ITER Physics Basis Editors, ITER Physics Exper Group Chairs, ITER Joint Central Team, and Physics Integration Unit, Nucl. Fusion 39, 2137 (1999)) in particular. This interest is the result of concerns with the survivability of these materials, as well as the impact of these interactions back on the plasma. These interactions begin on the surface, but can have consequences a few microns into the material. This mini-conference on these 'first microns' was designed to bring to the Division of Plasma Physics Meeting experts on these topics who would otherwise not attend. At the same time, the mini-conference was intended to expose the broader fusion community to these issues. The mini-conference covered in three, half-day sessions the topics of lithium coatings and surfaces, mixed materials characteristics, and issues associated with graphite

  9. Developmental differences in masked form priming are not driven by vocabulary growth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhide, Adeetee; Schlaggar, Bradley L; Barnes, Kelly Anne

    2014-01-01

    As children develop into skilled readers, they are able to more quickly and accurately distinguish between words with similar visual forms (i.e., they develop precise lexical representations). The masked form priming lexical decision task is used to test the precision of lexical representations. In this paradigm, a prime (which differs by one letter from the target) is briefly flashed before the target is presented. Participants make a lexical decision to the target. Primes can facilitate reaction time by partially activating the lexical entry for the target. If a prime is unable to facilitate reaction time, it is assumed that participants have a precise orthographic representation of the target and thus the prime is not a close enough match to activate its lexical entry. Previous developmental work has shown that children and adults' lexical decision times are facilitated by form primes preceding words from small neighborhoods (i.e., very few words can be formed by changing one letter in the original word; low N words), but only children are facilitated by form primes preceding words from large neighborhoods (high N words). It has been hypothesized that written vocabulary growth drives the increase in the precision of the orthographic representations; children may not know all of the neighbors of the high N words, making the words effectively low N for them. We tested this hypothesis by (1) equating the effective orthographic neighborhood size of the targets for children and adults and (2) testing whether age or vocabulary size was a better predictor of the extent of form priming. We found priming differences even when controlling for effective neighborhood size. Furthermore, age was a better predictor of form priming effects than was vocabulary size. Our findings provide no support for the hypothesis that growth in written vocabulary size gives rise to more precise lexical representations. We propose that the development of spelling ability may be a more

  10. Developmental differences in masked form priming are not driven by vocabulary growth.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adeetee eBhide

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available As children develop into skilled readers, they are able to more quickly and accurately distinguish between words with similar visual forms (i.e. they develop precise lexical representations. The masked form priming lexical decision task is used to test the precision of lexical representations. In this paradigm, a prime (which differs by one letter from the target is briefly flashed before the target is presented. Participants make a lexical decision to the target. Primes can facilitate reaction time by partially activating the lexical entry for the target. If a prime is unable to facilitate reaction time, it is assumed that participants have a precise orthographic representation of the target and thus the prime is not a close enough match to activate its lexical entry. Previous developmental work has shown that children and adults' lexical decision times are facilitated by form primes preceding words from small neighborhoods (i.e. very few words can be formed by changing one letter in the original word; low N words, but only children are facilitated by form primes preceding words from large neighborhoods (high N words. It has been hypothesized that written vocabulary growth drives the increase in the precision of the orthographic representations; children may not know all of the neighbors of the high N words, making the words effectively low N for them. We tested this hypothesis by 1 equating the effective orthographic neighborhood size of the targets for children and adults and 2 testing whether age or vocabulary size was a better predictor of the extent of form priming. We found priming differences even when controlling for effective neighborhood size. Furthermore, age was a better predictor of form priming effects than vocabulary size. Our findings provide no support for the hypothesis that growth in written vocabulary size gives rise to more precise lexical representations. We propose that the development of spelling ability may be a more

  11. 75 FR 43166 - Information Collection; Central Contractor Registration Requirements for Prime Grant Recipients

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-23

    ...] Information Collection; Central Contractor Registration Requirements for Prime Grant Recipients AGENCY: Office... information collection requirement regarding Central Contractor Registration Requirements for Prime Grant... for the proper performance of functions of the Central Contractor Registration Requirements for Prime...

  12. Prime time sexual harassment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grauerholz, E; King, A

    1997-04-01

    This study explores the explicit and implicit messages of sexual harassment that viewers receive when viewing prime-time television in the US. A content analysis of 48 hours of prime-time television reveals that sexual harassment on television is both highly visible and invisible. Sexual harassment is rendered visible simply by its prominence in these programs. Incidents involving quid-pro-quo harassment and environmental harassment occur with regularity on television. Furthermore, about 84% of the shows studied contained at least one incident of sexual harassment; yet these acts of sexual harassment remained largely invisible because none of the behaviors were labeled as sexual harassment. These incidents are presented in humorous ways, and victims are generally unharmed and very effective at ending the harassment. Although such programs may actually reflect the reality of many women's lives in terms of prevalence of sexual harassment, they perpetuate several myths about sexual harassment, such as that sexual harassment is not serious and that victims should be able to handle the situations themselves.

  13. Priming semantic concepts affects the dynamics of aesthetic appreciation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faerber, Stella J; Leder, Helmut; Gerger, Gernot; Carbon, Claus-Christian

    2010-10-01

    Aesthetic appreciation (AA) plays an important role for purchase decisions, for the appreciation of art and even for the selection of potential mates. It is known that AA is highly reliable in single assessments, but over longer periods of time dynamic changes of AA may occur. We measured AA as a construct derived from the literature through attractiveness, arousal, interestingness, valence, boredom and innovativeness. By means of the semantic network theory we investigated how the priming of AA-relevant semantic concepts impacts the dynamics of AA of unfamiliar product designs (car interiors) that are known to be susceptible to triggering such effects. When participants were primed for innovativeness, strong dynamics were observed, especially when the priming involved additional AA-relevant dimensions. This underlines the relevance of priming of specific semantic networks not only for the cognitive processing of visual material in terms of selective perception or specific representation, but also for the affective-cognitive processing in terms of the dynamics of aesthetic processing. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Semantic context effects and priming in word association.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeelenberg, René; Pecher, Diane; Shiffrin, Richard M; Raaijmakers, Jeroen G W

    2003-09-01

    Two experiments investigated priming in word association, an implicit memory task. In the study phase of Experiment 1, semantically ambiguous target words were presented in sentences that biased their interpretation. The appropriate interpretation of the target was either congruent or incongruent with the cue presented in a subsequent word association task. Priming (i.e., a higher proportion of target responses relative to a nonstudied baseline) was obtained for the congruent condition, but not for the incongruent condition. In Experiment 2, study sentences emphasized particular meaning aspects of nonambiguous targets. The word association task showed a higher proportion of target responses for targets studied in the more congruent sentence context than for targets studied in the less congruent sentence context. These results indicate that priming in word association depends largely on the storage of information relating the cue and target.

  15. Priming dose of phenylhydrazine protects against hemolytic and lethal effects of 2-butoxyethanol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Palkar, Prajakta S.; Philip, Binu K.; Reddy, Ramesh N.; Mehendale, Harihara M.

    2007-01-01

    Protection against a high dose of a toxicant by prior exposure to another toxicant is called heteroprotection. Our objective was to establish a heteroprotection model in RBCs. Female Sprague Dawley rats treated with an LD90 dose of 2-butoxyethanol (BE, 1500 mg/kg in water, 5 ml/kg po) 14 days after priming with 0.9% NaCl suffered 90% mortality by 15 days, whereas all rats receiving the LD90 dose of BE 14 days after priming with phenylhydrazine (PHZ, 125 mg/kg in 0.9% NaCl, 3 ml/kg po) survived. Hematocrit decreased from normal 45% to 24% by day 3 after PHZ priming and improved thereafter. Increasing the time interval between the priming and LD90 dose to 21 days abolished the heteroprotection. RBCs obtained on days 7 and 14 after PHZ priming unlike those on day 21 were resilient to the hemotoxic metabolite of BE, butoxyacetic acid (BAA). Unaltered hepatic alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase activities upon PHZ priming suggested that bioactivation of BE to BAA was unaffected. Lower renal (6 and 12 h) and hepatic (12 h) BAA levels and 3 fold higher excretion of BAA in PHZ-primed rat urine suggested a protective role of toxicokinetics. Higher erythropoietin, reticulocytes, and resiliency of PHZ-primed rat RBCs indicated that newly formed RBCs are resilient to hemolytic BAA. The antioxidant levels in the PHZ-primed rat RBCs did not indicate a protective role in heteroprotection. In conclusion, the resistance of PHZ-primed rats against BE-induced hemotoxicity and lethality is mediated by a combination of altered toxicokinetics, robust erythropoiesis, and resiliency of new RBCs

  16. Precision probes of a leptophobic Z{sup Prime} boson

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buckley, Matthew R., E-mail: mbuckley@fnal.gov [Center for Particle Astrophysics, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL 60510 (United States); Ramsey-Musolf, Michael J. [Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706 (United States); Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)

    2012-06-06

    Extensions of the Standard Model that contain leptophobic Z{sup Prime} gauge bosons are theoretically interesting but difficult to probe directly in high-energy hadron colliders. However, precision measurements of Standard Model neutral current processes can provide powerful indirect tests. We demonstrate that parity-violating deep inelastic scattering of polarized electrons off of deuterium offer a unique probe leptophobic Z{sup Prime} bosons with axial quark couplings and masses above 100 GeV. In addition to covering a wide range of previously uncharted parameter space, planned measurements of the deep inelastic parity-violating eD asymmetry would be capable of testing leptophobic Z{sup Prime} scenarios proposed to explain the CDF W plus dijet anomaly.

  17. The impact of locus of control and priming on the endowment effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Ya-Chung

    2011-10-01

    This paper demonstrates the effects of different priming conditions on the endowment effect with respect to seller and buyer roles for individuals with different loci of control. Individuals with an external locus of control process information less rationally, and they are more susceptible to external influences. In addition, the literature reports that when individuals are making a purchasing decision, they tend to perceive the value of the product as being higher because of its utility aspect because decision makers search for reasons and arguments to justify their choices (Shafir 1993; Tversky & Griffin, 1991). Therefore, this study investigates the effects of different priming conditions (utilitarian priming vs. hedonic priming) on the endowment effect according to each type of locus of control (internal vs. external). The results showed that the endowment effect was larger when externals were exposed to utilitarian priming as opposed to hedonic priming. Finally, the implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed. © 2011 The Author. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology © 2011 The Scandinavian Psychological Associations.

  18. X-ray inactivation and reactivation characteristics of the phage 'kappa'

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bhattacharyya, S.C.; Samad, S.A.; Mandal, J.C.; Chatterjee, S.N.

    1991-01-01

    Vibrio cholerae temperate phage 'kappa' was inactivated by X-ray (60 kV) in a dose dependent manner, the inactivation dose leading to 37% survival (D 37 ) in PBS, pH 7.4 being 0.36 kGy. The phages were significantly protected against X-ray irradiation when histidine or cysteine or both were present in PBS or when phages were irradiated in nutrient broth. The maximum protection was offered when histidine (10.0 nM) and cysteine (10.0 nM) were both present in PBS (dose enhancement factor being 4.17). The X-irradiated 'kappa' phages also underwent a small but significant Weigle reactivation and also Weigle mutagenesis in the UV-irradiated V. cholerae host H218Sm r . The Weigle factor (WF) or the frequency of clear plaque mutants increased with increasing UV dose, attained a maximum at the UV dose of 2.4 Jm -2 and thereafter decreased gradually with further increase of UV dose. The X-ray dose (D)-survival (S) curves could be empirically described by the equation S=exp-(aD+bD 2 ) where 'a' and 'b' are constants depending on the irradiation conditions and good agreement between the theoretical curves and experimental data was obtained. (author). 1 5 refs., 2 fig., 1 tab

  19. Kappa and other nonequilibrium distributions from the Fokker-Planck equation and the relationship to Tsallis entropy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shizgal, Bernie D.

    2018-05-01

    This paper considers two nonequilibrium model systems described by linear Fokker-Planck equations for the time-dependent velocity distribution functions that yield steady state Kappa distributions for specific system parameters. The first system describes the time evolution of a charged test particle in a constant temperature heat bath of a second charged particle. The time dependence of the distribution function of the test particle is given by a Fokker-Planck equation with drift and diffusion coefficients for Coulomb collisions as well as a diffusion coefficient for wave-particle interactions. A second system involves the Fokker-Planck equation for electrons dilutely dispersed in a constant temperature heat bath of atoms or ions and subject to an external time-independent uniform electric field. The momentum transfer cross section for collisions between the two components is assumed to be a power law in reduced speed. The time-dependent Fokker-Planck equations for both model systems are solved with a numerical finite difference method and the approach to equilibrium is rationalized with the Kullback-Leibler relative entropy. For particular choices of the system parameters for both models, the steady distribution is found to be a Kappa distribution. Kappa distributions were introduced as an empirical fitting function that well describe the nonequilibrium features of the distribution functions of electrons and ions in space science as measured by satellite instruments. The calculation of the Kappa distribution from the Fokker-Planck equations provides a direct physically based dynamical approach in contrast to the nonextensive entropy formalism by Tsallis [J. Stat. Phys. 53, 479 (1988), 10.1007/BF01016429].

  20. Deep sub-micron FD-SOI for front-end application

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ikeda, H.; Arai, Y.; Hara, K.; Hayakawa, H.; Hirose, K.; Ikegami, Y.; Ishino, H.; Kasaba, Y.; Kawasaki, T.; Kohriki, T.; Martin, E.; Miyake, H.; Mochizuki, A.; Tajima, H.; Tajima, O.; Takahashi, T.; Takashima, T.; Terada, S.; Tomita, H.; Tsuboyama, T.

    2007-01-01

    In order to confirm benefits of a deep sub-micron FD-SOI and to identify possible issues concerning front-end circuits with the FD-SOI, we have submitted a small design to Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. via the multi-chip project service of VDEC, the University of Tokyo. The initial test results and future plans for development are presented