Investigating the role of the land surface in explaining the interannual variation of the net radiation balance over the Western Sahara and sub-Sahara

The status of the data sets is discussed. Progress was made in both data analysis and modeling areas. The atmospheric and land surface contributions to the net radiation budget over the Sahara-Sahel region is being decoupled. The interannual variability of these two processes was investigated and this variability related to seasonal rainfall fluctuations. A modified Barnes objective analysis scheme was developed which uses an eliptic scan pattern and a 3-pass iteration of the difference fields

Evaluation of a combinatorial approach to prion inactivation using an oxidizing agent, SDS, and proteinase K

BACKGROUND: Prions demonstrate an unusual resistance to methods effective at inactivating conventional microorganisms. This has resulted in a very tangible and difficult infection control challenge to the medical and veterinary communities, as well as animal agriculture and related industries. Currently accepted practices of harsh chemical treatments such as prolonged exposure to sodium hydroxide or sodium hypochlorite, or autoclaving are not suitable in many situations. Less caustic and more readily applicable treatments to contaminated environments are therefore desirable. We recently demonstrated that exposure of the RML scrapie agent to a commercial product containing sodium percarbonate (SPC-P) with or without sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) rendered PrP(Sc) sensitive to proteinase K (PK), but did not eliminate infectivity. The current study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a combinatorial approach to inactivating prions by exposing RML-positive brain homogenate to SPC-P and SDS followed by PK. Treated samples were evaluated for PrP(Sc)-immunoreactivity by western blot, and residual infectivity by mouse bioassay. RESULTS: Treatment of infected brain homogenate with SPC-P and SDS followed by PK exposure resulted in a 4–5 log(10) reduction in infectivity when bioassayed in tga20 mice. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that exposure of the RML scrapie agent to SPC-P and SDS followed by PK markedly reduces, but does not eliminate infectivity. The results of this study encourage further investigation into whether consecutive or concomitant exposure to sodium percarbonate, SDS, and a protease may serve as a viable and non-caustic option for prion inactivation

Outcomes of Shoulder Arthroplasty Performed for Postinfectious Arthritis.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the functional outcomes, infection rate, and complications associated with shoulder arthroplasty for sequelae of prior septic arthritis. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of 17 patients who underwent shoulder arthroplasty for sequelae of septic arthritis. Patients were analyzed for patient-reported outcomes, complications, and reoperations. Results: The 17 patients in this cohort were an average age of 65.4 ± 12.2 years old, were 58.8% male, and had an average body mass index of 27.9 ± 4.1 kg/m Conclusions: Shoulder arthroplasty after septic arthritis had inconsistent functional outcomes and high complication rates but no reinfection

Perturbative Wilsonian Formalism for Noncommutative Gauge Theories in the Matrix Representation

We study the perturbative approach to the Wilsonian integration of noncommutative gauge theories in the matrix representation. We begin by motivating the study of noncommutative gauge theories and reviewing the matrix formulation. We then systematically develop the perturbative treatment of UV states and calculate both the leading and next to leading order one- and two-loop corrections to the quantum effective action. Throughout, we discuss how our formalism clarifies problems associated with UV-IR mixing, a particular emphasis being placed on the dipole structure imposed by noncommutative gauge invariance. Ultimately, using the structural understanding developed in this work, we are able to determine the exact form of perturbative corrections in the UV regime defined by $\theta\Lambda^2\gg 1$. Finally, we apply our results to the analysis of the divergence structure and show that 3+1 and higher dimensional noncommutative theories that allow renormalization beyond one-loop are not self-consistent.Comment: PhD thesis, Latex, 84 pages, 13 figure

Interacting Dipoles from Matrix Formulation of Noncommutative Gauge Theories

We study the IR behavior of noncommutative gauge theory in the matrix formulation. We find that in this approach, the nature of the UV/IR mixing is easily understood, which allows us to perform a reliable calculation of the quantum effective action for the long wavelength modes of the noncommutative gauge field. At one loop, we find that our description is weakly coupled only in the supersymmetric theory. At two loops, we find non-trivial interaction terms suggestive of dipole degrees of freedom. These dipoles exhibit a channel duality reminiscent of string theory.Comment: LaTeX 11 pages, 4 figures; v.2 minor changes and some references added; v.3 many more technical details added and significantly different presentation, use REVTeX 4, to appear in PR

American Enterprise in the European Common Market: A Legal Profile. Volume 1.

The rapid expansion of international trade during the past fifteen years has confronted the American business counselor with a great variety of new problems. Solutions to these problems were not expounded to him in his pre-war legal education, nor are they to be found in the rich proliferation of advance sheets, digests, and loose-leaf services with which the modern American lawyer is blessed. When he turns to foreign counsel, he finds that a lack of common legal background makes meaningful professional communication difficult. This book has been prepared with the primary purpose of helping those American lawyers who, because of their clients\u27 expanding activities, confront for the first time the problems of trading with and trading in the European Common Market. It is designed to give them an over-all picture of the new legal framework of the Market itself and of the laws of business organization, labor relations, industrial property, competition, and taxation which prevail there. With this background American lawyers should be better able to select and use the services of the European experts on whom they must, of course, depend for definitive counsel.https://repository.law.umich.edu/michigan_legal_studies/1002/thumbnail.jp

American Enterprise in the European Common Market: A Legal Profile. Volume 2.

The rapid expansion of international trade during the past fifteen years has confronted the American business counselor with a great variety of new problems. Solutions to these problems were not expounded to him in his pre-war legal education, nor are they to be found in the rich proliferation of advance sheets, digests, and loose-leaf services with which the modern American lawyer is blessed. When he turns to foreign counsel, he finds that a lack of common legal background makes meaningful professional communication difficult. This book has been prepared with the primary purpose of helping those American lawyers who, because of their clients\u27 expanding activities, confront for the first time the problems of trading with and trading in the European Common Market. It is designed to give them an over-all picture of the new legal framework of the Market itself and of the laws of business organization, labor relations, industrial property, competition, and taxation which prevail there. With this background American lawyers should be better able to select and use the services of the European experts on whom they must, of course, depend for definitive counsel.https://repository.law.umich.edu/michigan_legal_studies/1003/thumbnail.jp

Methodologies for Housing Justice Resource Guide

This Resource Guide is the outcome of a Summer Institute on Methodologies for Housing Justice convened by the Institute on Inequality and Democracy at UCLA Luskin as part of the Housing Justice in Unequal Cities Network, which is supported by the National Science Foundation (BCS 1758774). Held in Los Angeles in August 2019, the Summer Institute brought together participants from cities around the world. As is the case with the overall scope and purpose of the Housing Justice in Unequal Cities Network, it created a shared terrain of scholarship for movement-based and university-based scholars. Dissatisfied with the canonical methods that are in use in housing studies and guided by housing justice movements that are active research communities, the Summer Institute was premised on the assertion that methodology is political. Methodology is rooted in arguments about the world and involves relations of power and knowledge. The method itself – be it countermapping or people’s diaries – does not ensure an ethics of solidarity and a purpose of justice. Such goals require methodologies for liberation. Thus, as is evident in this Resource Guide, our endeavor foregrounds innovative methods that are being used by researchers across academia and activism and explicitly situates such methods in an orientation towards housing justice

Innate immunodeficiency following genetic ablation of Mcl1 in natural killer cells

The cytokine IL-15 is required for natural killer (NK) cell homeostasis; however, the intrinsic mechanism governing this requirement remains unexplored. Here we identify the absolute requirement for myeloid cell leukaemia sequence-1 (Mcl1) in the sustained survival of NK cells in vivo. Mcl1 is highly expressed in NK cells and regulated by IL-15 in a dose-dependent manner via STAT5 phosphorylation and subsequent binding to the 3'-UTR of Mcl1. Specific deletion of Mcl1 in NK cells results in the absolute loss of NK cells from all tissues owing to a failure to antagonize pro-apoptotic proteins in the outer mitochondrial membrane. This NK lymphopenia results in mice succumbing to multiorgan melanoma metastases, being permissive to allogeneic transplantation and being resistant to toxic shock following polymicrobial sepsis challenge. These results clearly demonstrate a non-redundant pathway linking IL-15 to Mcl1 in the maintenance of NK cells and innate immune responses in vivo