Obtaining Boiler Fuel Gas to Reduce Air Pollution: The Policy of the Federal Power Commission

Receptors interacting with the constant domain of immunoglobulins (Igs) have a number of important functions in vertebrates. They facilitate phagocytosis by opsonization, are key components in antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity as well as activating cells to release granules. In mammals, four major types of classical Fc receptors (FcRs) for IgG have been identified, one high-affinity receptor for IgE, one for both IgM and IgA, one for IgM and one for IgA. All of these receptors are related in structure and all of them, except the IgA receptor, are found in primates on chromosome 1, indicating that they originate from a common ancestor by successive gene duplications. The number of Ig isotypes has increased gradually during vertebrate evolution and this increase has likely been accompanied by a similar increase in isotype-specific receptors. To test this hypothesis we have performed a detailed bioinformatics analysis of a panel of vertebrate genomes. The first components to appear are the poly-Ig receptors (PIGRs), receptors similar to the classic FcRs in mammals, so called FcRL receptors, and the FcR gamma chain. These molecules are not found in cartilagous fish and may first appear within bony fishes, indicating a major step in Fc receptor evolution at the appearance of bony fish. In contrast, the receptor for IgA is only found in placental mammals, indicating a relatively late appearance. The IgM and IgA/M receptors are first observed in the monotremes, exemplified by the platypus, indicating an appearance during early mammalian evolution. Clearly identifiable classical receptors for IgG and IgE are found only in marsupials and placental mammals, but closely related receptors are found in the platypus, indicating a second major step in Fc receptor evolution during early mammalian evolution, involving the appearance of classical IgG and IgE receptors from FcRL molecules and IgM and IgA/M receptors from PIGR

Electroweak baryogenesis in the Z3-invariant NMSSM

We calculate the baryon asymmetry of the Universe in the Z3-invariant Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model where the interactions of the singlino provide the necessary source of charge and parity violation. Using the closed time path formalism, we derive and solve transport equations for the cases where the singlet acquires a vacuum expectation value (VEV) before and during the electroweak phase transition. We perform a detailed scan to show how the baryon asymmetry varies throughout the relevant parameter space. Our results show that the case where the singlet acquires a VEV during the electroweak phase transition typically generates a larger baryon asymmetry, although we expect that the case where the singlet acquires a VEV first is far more common for any model in which parameters unify at a high scale. Finally, we examine the dependence of the baryon asymmetry on the three-body interactions involving gauge singlets.Comment: 24 pages, version submitted to the journa

Characterization of mechanical properties and study of microstructures of friction stir welded joints fabricated from similar and dissimilar alloys of aluminum

The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on March 19, 2008)Includes bibliographical references.Thesis (M.S.) University of Missouri-Columbia 2007.Dissertations, Academic -- University of Missouri--Columbia -- Mechanical and aerospace engineering.The objective of this research was to characterize the mechanical properties and study the microstructures of the friction stir welded joints to obtain the optimum process conditions that would result in the desired microstructure and properties for sheet metal formed structures. The joints were tested for mechanical properties such as tensile strength, ductility and formability and the microstructure was studied under optical microscope, scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive spectrograph (EDS). Tests were conducted on a Cincinnati Milling machine which was generously donated by the Boeing Company which was transformed in to a friction stir welding machine by designing and manufacturing the required fixtures. The experiments were designed using response surface methodology (RSM) as the design of experiments, a L9 array was designed and the joints fabricated were tested for their mechanical properties and the microstructure was studied to obtain the optimal process conditions. The optimal conditions were identified for friction stir welding of AA 2024-T3, AA 7075-T6 and a combination of both the alloys

Naturalness, Supersymmetry and Implications for LHC and Dark Matter

It is shown that the Hyperbolic Branch of the radiative electroweak symmetry breaking contains in it three regions: the Focal Point, Focal Curves, and Focal Surfaces. Further, the Focal Point is shown to lie on the boundary of a Focal Curve. These focal regions allow for a small $\mu$ while scalar masses can become large and may lie in the several TeV region. It is shown that for the mSUGRA model the current LHC-7 constraint depletes the Focal Point region while regions on Focal Curves and Focal Surfaces remain largely intact. The LHC implications for models which lie on Focal Curves are briefly discussed as well as the implications of dark matter constraints for the Focal Point, Focal Curves and Focal Surfaces are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

App chaining software-as-a-service for an advanced manufacturing marketplace

Advances in the field of cloud computing and networking have led to development of Marketplaces (e.g., Awesim) that support Advanced Manufacturing enterprises consisting of Apps. These Marketplaces host Apps that perform simulation and modeling on specialized designs (e.g., pipes, automobile parts). However, the salient limitation in these App Marketplaces is the lack of a development environment that supports effective runtime capabilities for 'Agile Manufacturing' that efficiently and cost-effectively integrates several Apps when building innovative products. To address this problem, we propose a new Software-as-a-Service based App Runtime for the Marketplace environment that can be utilized for agile development of 'Apps' that involve high-performance modeling and simulation. Our solution approach features a web framework for the App runtime that chains together generic set of 'Apps' that run complex simulation jobs on Supercomputer and publish customer facing results. We demonstrate how multiple Apps can be chained using our web framework for a product case study viz., 'WheelSim' deployed in the NSF GENI Cloud platform. Our results show improved App development convenience via rich UI elements interacting with RESTful web services and through dynamic chaining of workflows. Our study also provides App developers with insights pertaining to estimation of resource cost for App pricing issues in the manufacturing Marketplace

Higgs Boson Mass Predictions in SUGRA Unification, Recent LHC-7 Results, and Dark Matter

LHC-7 has narrowed down the mass range of the light Higgs boson. This result is consistent with the supergravity unification framework, and the current Higgs boson mass window implies a rather significant loop correction to the tree value pointing to a relatively heavy scalar sparticle spectrum with universal boundary conditions. It is shown that the largest value of the Higgs boson mass is obtained on the Hyperbolic Branch of radiative breaking. The implications of light Higgs boson in the broader mass range of 115 GeV to 131 GeV and a narrower range of 123 GeV to 127 GeV are explored in the context of the discovery of supersymmetry at LHC-7 and for the observation of dark matter in direct detection experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Techno-Economic Analysis of Hybrid Layered Manufacturing

Subtractive manufacturing (CNC machining) has high quality of geometric and material properties but is slow, costly and infeasible in some cases; additive manufacturing (RP) is just the opposite. Total automation and hence speed is achieved in RP by compromising on quality. Hybrid Layered Manufacturing (HLM) developed at IIT Bombay combines the best features of both these approaches. It uses arc welding for building near-net shapes which are finish machined to final dimensions. High speed of HLM surpasses all other processes for tool making by eliminating NC programming and rough machining. The techno-economic viability of HLM process has been proved through a real life case study. Time and cost of tool making using HLM promises to be substantially lower than that of CNC machining and other RP methods. Interestingly, the material cost in HLM was also found to be lower. HLM is a cheaper retrofitment to any 3 or 5 axis CNC milling machine or machining center.Mechanical Engineerin

Excess Observed in CDF Bs0→μ+μ−B^0_s \to \mu^{+} \mu^{-} and SUSY at the LHC

The recent excess observed by CDF in $B^0_s \to \mu^{+} \mu^{-}$ is interpreted in terms of a possible supersymmetric origin. An analysis is given of the parameter space of mSUGRA and non-universal SUGRA models under the combined constraints from LHC-7 with 165 pb$^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, under the new XENON-100 limits on the neutralino-proton spin independent cross section and under the CDF $B^0_s \to \mu^{+} \mu^{-}$ 90% C.L. limit reported to arise from an excess number of dimuon events. It is found that the predicted value of the branching ratio $B^0_s \to \mu^{+} \mu^{-}$ consistent with all the constraints contains the following set of NLSPs: chargino, stau, stop or CP odd (even) Higgs. The lower bounds of sparticles, including those from the LHC, XENON and CDF $B^0_s\to \mu^+\mu^-$ constraint, are exhibited and the shift in the allowed range of sparticle masses arising solely due to the extra constraint from the CDF result is given. It is pointed out that the two sided CDF 90% C.L. limit puts upper bounds on sparticle masses. An analysis of possible signatures for early discovery at the LHC is carried out corresponding to the signal region in $B^0_s \to \mu^{+} \mu^{-}$. Implications of GUT-scale non-universalities in the gaugino and Higgs sectors are discussed. If the excess seen by the CDF Collaboration is supported by further data from LHCb or D0, this new result could be a harbinger for the discovery of supersymmetry.Comment: References added, text update

Raman spectroscopy: the gateway into tomorrow's virology

In the molecular world, researchers act as detectives working hard to unravel the mysteries surrounding cells. One of the researchers' greatest tools in this endeavor has been Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectroscopy is a spectroscopic technique that measures the unique Raman spectra for every type of biological molecule. As such, Raman spectroscopy has the potential to provide scientists with a library of spectra that can be used to unravel the makeup of an unknown molecule. However, this technique is limited in that it is not able to manipulate particular structures without disturbing their unique environment. Recently, a novel technology that combines Raman spectroscopy with optical tweezers, termed Raman tweezers, evades this problem due to its ability to manipulate a sample without physical contact. As such, Raman tweezers has the potential to become an incredibly effective diagnostic tool for differentially distinguishing tissue, and therefore holds great promise in the field of virology for distinguishing between various virally infected cells. This review provides an introduction for a virologist into the world of spectroscopy and explores many of the potential applications of Raman tweezers in virology. Originally published in Virology Journal, 2006 Vol. 3, No. 51