The Crossbyton project

The Analog Design Verification System (ADVS), the largest single solar collector built, was tested. Referred to as the Solar Gridiron or Bowl Concept, it employs a stationary mirror, with tracking accomplished by the mirror

The final frontier : the integration of banking and commerce. Part 1, the likely outcome of eliminating the barrier

Exploring the potential effects of removing the legal barriers between banks and commercial firms, this article surveys economic theory as well as experience in other developed countries and in U.S. nonbank conglomerates.Banks and banking ; Banking law

Data-driven Design of Engineering Processes with COREPROModeler

Enterprises increasingly demand IT support for the coordination of their engineering processes, which often consist of hundreds up to thousands of sub-processes. From a technical viewpoint, these sub-processes have to be concurrently executed and synchronized considering numerous interdependencies. So far, this coordination has mainly been accomplished manually, which has resulted in errors and inconsistencies. In order to deal with this problem, we have to better understand the interdependencies between the subprocesses to be coordinated. In particular, we can benefit from the fact that sub-processes are often correlated to the assembly of a product (represented by a product data structure). This information can be utilized for the modeling and execution of so-called data-driven process structures. In this paper, we present the COREPRO demonstrator that supports the data-driven modeling of these process structures. The approach explicitly establishes a close linkage between product data structures and engineering processes

Colloidal hydrodynamic coupling in concentric optical vortices

Optical vortex traps created from helical modes of light can drive fluid-borne colloidal particles in circular trajectories. Concentric circulating rings of particles formed by coaxial optical vortices form a microscopic Couette cell, in which the amount of hydrodynamic drag experienced by the spheres depends on the relative sense of the rings' circulation. Tracking the particles' motions makes possible measurements of the hydrodynamic coupling between the circular particle trains and addresses recently proposed hydrodynamic instabilities for collective colloidal motions on optical vortices.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Europhysics Letter

Análise da rentabilidade dos sistemas empresarial e familiar de produção de pêssego no sul do Rio Grande do Sul.

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Drosophila adult muscle development and regeneration

Myogenesis is a highly orchestrated, complex developmental process by which cell lineages that are mesodermal in origin generate differentiated multinucleate muscle cells as a final product. Considerable insight into the process of myogenesis has been obtained for the embryonic development of the larval muscles of Drosophila. More recently, the postembryonic development of the muscles of the adult fly has become a focus of experimental investigation of myogenesis since specific flight muscles of the fly manifest remarkable similarities to vertebrate muscles in their development and organization. In this review, we catalog some of the milestones in the study of myogenesis in the large adult-specific flight muscles of Drosophila. The identification of mesoderm-derived muscle stem cell lineages, the characterization of the symmetric and asymmetric divisions through which they produce adult-specific myoblasts, the multifaceted processes of myoblast fusion, and the unexpected discovery of quiescent satellite cells that can be activated by injury are discussed. Moreover, the finding that all of these processes incorporate a plethora of signaling interactions with other myogenic cells and with niche-like neighboring tissue is considered. Finally, we briefly point out possible future developments in the area of Drosophila myogenesis that may lead to of new avenues of genetic research into the roles of muscle stem cells in development, disease and aging

Cascaded Parametric Amplification for Highly Efficient Terahertz Generation

A highly efficient, practical approach to high-energy terahertz (THz) generation based on spectrally cascaded optical parametric amplification (THz-COPA) is introduced. The THz wave initially generated by difference frequency generation between a strong narrowband optical pump and optical seed (0.1-10% of pump energy) kick-starts a repeated or cascaded energy down-conversion of pump photons. This helps to greatly surpass the quantum-defect efficiency and results in exponential growth of THz energy over crystal length. In cryogenically cooled periodically poled lithium niobate, energy conversion efficiencies >8% for 100 ps pulses are predicted. The calculations account for cascading effects, absorption, dispersion and laser-induced damage. Due to the coupled nonlinear interaction of multiple triplets of waves, THz-COPA exhibits physics distinct from conventional three-wave mixing parametric amplifiers. This in turn governs optimal phase-matching conditions, evolution of optical spectra as well as limitations of the nonlinear process.Comment: 5 pages, double colum

Tumorangiogenese und Immunsuppression: Strategische Angriffspunkte für neue Therapieansätze beim Plattenepithelkarzinom der Mundhöhle (HNSCC)

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Die Tumorangiogenese und tumorassoziierte Immunsuppression sind Grundvoraussetzung für eine erfolgreiche Tumorevolution. Unsere bisherigen Analysen zeigen, dass Mundhöhlenkarzinomzellen über eine Produktion von TGF-β1 ("transforming growth factor-beta1") und MCP-1 ("monocyte chemoattractant protein-1") die Makrophageninfiltration in den Tumor stimulieren. Die angelockten Makrophagen produzieren den angiogenetischen sowie immunsupprimierenden Wachstumsfaktor VEGF ("vascular endothelial growth factor") und induzieren zudem die Produktion dieses Faktors über Interleukin (IL)-1α in den Tumorzellen. Neuere In-vitro-Studien zeigen, dass Retinsäure (VitaminA) die TGF-β1- und MCP-1-Produktion der Tumorzellen hemmt. Deshalb wurde in der vorliegenden Studie der Einfluss von Retinsäure auf die Makrophageninfiltration und VEGF-Produktion im Mausmodell analysiert. Material und Methoden: Mäusen der AJ-Linie (10Mäuse pro Gruppe) wurden Polyethylenschwämme (5×2mm3) mit humanen HNSCC-Zellen (450.000-150.0000/10μl RPMI) subkutan eingepflanzt. Mäuse mit Tumoren von mindestens 0,7-1 cm3 Durchmesser wurden täglich mit Retinsäure (160µg/kg) i.p. behandelt. Nach 21Tagen wurden die Schwämme entnommen und immunhistologisch nach VEGF-A, MCP-1, CD68 und CD31 untersucht. Die Bestimmung der Serumwerte von VEGF-A und MCP-1 erfolgte mit dem ELISA. Die Organe wurden entnommen und nach Makro- und- Mikrometastasen untersucht. Ergebnisse: Bei allen mit Retinsäure behandelten Tieren kam es zur vollständigen Tumorregression. Die Mäuse wiesen keinen Metastasenbefall auf (p=0,00) und die Makrophageninfiltration in den Tumor konnte blockiert werden (p=0,007). Alle behandelten Tiere regulierten die MCP-1- (0pg/ml) und VEGF-A-Serumwerte (12pg/ml) herunter (p=0,001). Schlussfolgerung: Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die Blockierung der Makrophageninfiltration in den Tumor mit VitaminA ein möglicher Therapieansatz ist, um die Induktion der zwei wichtigsten Überlebensstrategien des Tumors, Immunsuppression und Angiogenese, zu hemme

The Final Frontier: The Integration of Banking and Commerce. Part 1: The Likely Outcome of Eliminating the Barrier

The policy debate on whether to strengthen or to remove the legal barriers between banking and commerce has paid little attention to what the practical effects of removing the barriers would be. To help answer this question, this article, the first part of a two-part study, provides an overview of the potential gains of integrating banking and commerce. Economic theory, the authors note, suggests that joint corporate ownership of banks and commercial firms has several potential benefits, including economies of scale and scope, increased internal capital markets, and diversification. Commercial firms could also enjoy a significant reduction in funding costs if affiliation with a bank extended the federal safety net for banks to cover the commercial firms' liabilities. But some benefits are already available without common ownership. Moreover, common ownership may also result in some disadvantages, such as significant diseconomies of scale and scope. Actual experience provides better insight than theory can about the relative magnitudes of the benefits and costs of cross-industry combinations. U.S. experience with limited openings between banking and nonbank activities suggests that the most common combinations were banks with nonbank financial firms, relationships that were authorized by a 1999 reform act. Foreign experience and U.S. conglomerates of nonbank firms in different industries fail to provide compelling evidence for large-scale combinations of banking and commercial firms