Some aspects of twist drill design

A mathematical approach to the flute disposal capacity based on the diameter of the circle which could be inscribed in the flute space is presented. It is important to know what order of drill rigidity is required for good performance when drilling various work materials. The main features of the cross-section profile which could affect the stiffness of a twist drill are the cross-sectional area and the second moment of area. The relationship between the various drill parameters and these features is one aspect to be investigated in this paper. Empirical equations based on the results obtained from this investigation are presented.     

Using global positioning system for bus priority in London: traffic signals close to bus stops

London's bus network is one of the largest and most comprehensive urban transport systems in the world. The contribution of buses is recognised by implementing a series of initiatives including bus priority at traffic signals. London has a long history of the implementation of bus priority at traffic signals. It has kept pace with the development of new technologies by updating its bus priority system. Now, London is moving towards a bus management system based on global positioning system (GPS), which will also be used to provide bus priority at traffic signals. The authors describe theoretical work carried out by TRG on behalf of Transport for London Bus Priority Team to tackle the challenge posed by locational error associated with GPS where a traffic signal is close to a bus stop     

Long-term static testing of an FRP prototype highway structure

In recent years it has become apparent that the labour and maintenance costs of highway structures fabricated from conventional constructional materials (i.e. steel and concrete) are rising, and therefore the whole life cost of these structures is being significantly affected. Highway structures manufactured from advanced composite materials provide a viable solution to reduce substantially both the labour and the maintenance costs, whilst providing structures that behave in accordance with the present British code of practice for highway structures.

The principle objectives of the investigations were to undertake experimentally and to verify, where applicable, numerically the suitability of advanced fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite materials manufactured in the form of box beams for use as highway structures. It was also important to research into any unique behaviour exhibited by the FRP structures while under test and to develop relevant theoretical models and formulae to characterize completely this behaviour.

The composite box beam showed no signs of global deterioration and generally behaved as predicted; the short term stiffness of the beam measured at specific times during the test did not decrease to any extent. There was some local flexural cracking in the connectors at the position of the applied loads, but this can be eliminated by design. The creep and deflections of the beam at the end of the test were well within acceptable limits.     

Thrombospondin-1 expression in human myometrium before and during pregnancy, before and during labor, and in human myometrial cells in culture

The activation of latent transforming growth factor beta (L-TGFbeta) is essential for the action of TGFbeta, which, in turn, is involved in the regulation of expression of some progesterone-responsive genes. One mechanism by which TGFbeta is activated involves thrombospondin (TSP), a protein that binds extracellular proteins. Immunoreactive TSP (irTSP) protein and TSP-1 mRNA in myometrial tissues of ovulatory and pregnant women were localized by immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. IrTSP and TSP-1 mRNA were randomly distributed in myometrial smooth muscle cells of some, but not all, tissues of pregnant women at term before labor; but in some areas of most of these tissues, irTSP was intense and commonly localized extracellularly. Intense irTSP and TSP-1 mRNA in myocytes were more common in myometrium during labor. In myometrium from ovulatory women (n = 26), irTSP was localized primarily in vascular smooth muscle cells and was detected occasionally in scattered myocytes. Little TSP-1 mRNA was demonstrable by in situ hybridization in vessels or myocytes of myometrial tissue from ovulatory women (n = 7). By Northern analysis of total RNA, TSP-1 mRNA was detected in myometrial tissue of pregnant women and in human myometrial smooth muscle cells in culture. The levels of TSP-1 mRNA in myometrial tissues of pregnant women during labor (n = 18) were greater than those in myometrium at > 37 wk gestation before labor began (n = 25, p < 0.001). The ratios of TSP-1 to glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase mRNAs in 3 myometrial tissues during oxytocin-induced labor were not statistically different from those in myometrium during spontaneous labor but were greater than those in myometrium before labor (p < 0.05). The level of TSP-1 mRNA in confluent human myometrial cells in culture was relatively high, was increased by treatment with fetal bovine serum, and was decreased by treatment with platelet-derived growth factor or activators of adenylyl cyclase or protein kinase C. Myometrial cells in culture constitute a useful model for studying the regulation of TSP-1 gene expression in human myometrium.     

Endothelin induces dopamine release from rat striatum via endothelin-B receptors

The aim of the present study was to determine whether local administration of endothelin induces the release of dopamine in the rat striatum and to characterize and localize endothelin receptors in this brain region. Local injection of endothelin-1 (10 pmol) into the ventral striatum of urethane-anaesthetized rats caused an increase of 8 microM in the extracellular concentration of dopamine as measured by in vivo chronoamperometry. The peak increase in dopamine concentration occurred within 5 min of endothelin injection. Injection of the selective endothelin-B receptor agonist [Ala1.3,11.15]endothelin-1 (10 pmol) also caused an increase in extracellular dopamine concentration, suggesting that endothelin is acting at the endothelin-B receptor to elicit its effect. In rats with unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the nigrostriatal pathway, the response to local injection of endothelin-1 (10 pmol) was significantly inhibited on the lesioned side as compared to the non-lesioned side. In contrast, pretreatment of the rats with the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist dizocilpine maleate (5 mg/kg, i.p.) or the nitric oxide synthase inhibitor NG-nitro-L-arginine (3 mg/kg, i.p.) did not alter the endothelin-induced release of dopamine. In binding studies, addition of endothelin-1 displaced [125I]endothelin-1 with a Ki of 220 pM. The endothelin-B receptor antagonist BQ788 displaced [125I]endothelin-1 with a Ki of 120 nM, whereas the endothelin-A receptor antagonist BQ123 produced only a 25% displacement at 10 microM, suggesting that endothelin receptors in the striatum are of the endothelin-B subtype. In rats with unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine lesions of the nigrostriatal dopamine system, [125I]endothelin-1 binding was reduced by 53% in lesioned striatum compared to non-lesioned striatum, with no difference in the Kd. These data provide evidence that endothelin acts on a homogeneous population of endothelin-B receptors within the striatum to cause the release of dopamine and that a significant proportion of these receptors is located on dopaminergic neurons.     

Effect of rilmenidine on the cadiovascular responses to stress in the conscious rabbit

The acetoacetyl-CoA reductase and the polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) synthase from Ralstonia eutropha (formerly Alcaligenes eutrophus) were expressed in Escherichia coli, Klebsiella aerogenes, and PHA-negative mutants of R. eutropha and Pseudomonas putida. While expression in E. coli strains resulted in the accumulation of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) [PHB], strains of R. eutropha, P. putida and K. aerogenes accumulated poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate) [poly(3HB-co-3HHx)] when even chain fatty acids were provided as carbon source, and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) [poly(3HB-co-3HV)] when odd chain fatty acids were provided as carbon source. This suggests that fatty acid degradation can be directly accessed employing only the acetoacetyl-CoA reductase and the PHA synthase. This is also the first proof that the PHA synthase from R. eutropha can incorporate 3-hydroxyhexanoate (3HHx) into PHA and has, therefore, a broader substrate specificity than previously described.     

Locomotor activity rhythms in dogs vary with age and cognitive status.

Beagle dogs exhibited diurnal patterns of locomotor activity that varied as a function of age, cognitive status, and housing environment. Aged dogs housed in an indoor facility showed a delayed onset of activity following lights on and displayed shorter bouts of activity, with more rest periods during the day, compared with young dogs. Cognitively impaired aged dogs were more active and showed a delayed peak of activity compared with unimpaired aged dogs. Housing in continuous light did not disrupt activity rhythms. The effect of age was less prominent in dogs housed in an indoor/outdoor facility. This suggests that bright sunlight and natural light-dark transitions are better able to consolidate and synchronize the activity rhythms of the dogs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in the course of cognitive skill acquisition: The role of regional cortical shrinkage and cognitive resources.

This study examined the impact of age-related differences in regional cerebral volumes and cognitive resources on acquisition of a cognitive skill. Volumes of brain regions were measured on magnetic resonance images of healthy adults (aged 22-80). At the early stage of learning to solve the Tower of Hanoi puzzle, speed and efficiency were associated with age, prefrontal cortex volume, and working memory. A similar pattern of brain-behavior associations was observed with perseveration measured on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. None of the examined structural brain variables were important at the later stages of skill acquisition. When hypertensive participants were excluded, the effect of prefrontal shrinkage on executive aspects of performance was no longer significant, but the effect of working memory remained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental Performance of Full-Depth Precast, Prestressed Concrete Overhang, Bridge Deck Panels

The performance of a new full-depth precast overhang panel system for concrete bridge decks is investigated experimentally. In contrast to conventional cast-in-place deck overhangs, the proposed full-depth precast overhang system has the potential to speed up construction, reduce costs, and improve safety. Load-deformation behavior up to factored design load limits is first investigated. The panel is then loaded near its edge to examine the collapse capacity and the associated failure modes—particularly the influence of panel-to-panel connections that exist, transverse to the bridge deck axis. Comparative tests are also conducted with a conventional cast-in-place overhang system. When compared to the conventional cast-in-place overhang behavior, the experimental results show that the precast full-depth overhang introduces different behavior modes, largely due to the influence of the partial depth panel-to-panel connection, which reduces the capacity by some 13%.     

Baroreflex control of heart rate and cardiac hypertrophy in angiotensin II-induced hypertension in rabbits

The cardiac hypertrophy observed in hypertension is thought to be responsible for the accompanying deficiency in the baroreflex control of heart rate. In this study, we assessed the baroreflex relationship between heart rate and arterial pressure on a group of seven rabbits during a normotensive period, during the early phase of angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced hypertension II week) (50 ng/kg per minute i.v. via osmotic minipumps), after 7 weeks of continuous hypertension, then 2 days after Ang II was stopped, and finally 7 days after Ang II. Left ventricles were weighed for measurement of left ventricular weight-body weight ratio. One week of intravenous Ang II infusion produced hypertension (mean arterial pressure from 80 +/- 2 up to 115 +/- 8 mm Hg), with significantly increased heart rate and hematocrit. The heart rate-arterial pressure baroreflex curve was shifted to the right, with a significant 45% reduction in the gain of the reflex (-6.4 +/- 1.5 to -3.5 +/- 0.2 beats per minute/mm Hg). After 7 weeks of Ang II, arterial pressure was still elevated (112 +/- 4 mm Hg) and the gain of the baroreflex curve still somewhat attenuated, although it was no longer markedly different from normotensive levels (gain, -5.09 +/- 0.95, 20% reduction from normotensive level). Two days after the Ang II infusion was stopped, arterial pressure had returned to normotensive levels, although hematocrit and heart rate remained elevated. At this time, the baroreflex curve was similar to prehypertensive control levels, with no further changes when measured again 7 days after Ang II. Cardiac hypertrophy was present when measured at 7 days after angiotensin (left ventricular weight-body weight ratio: 1.78 +/- 0.05 versus 1.35 +/- 0.04 g/kg, hypertensive versus normotensive, P < .05). Thus, although Ang II infusion produced an initial deficit in the baroreflex control of heart rate, this effect became less as the hypertension continued. Furthermore, although cardiac hypertrophy developed, its presence did not appear to be sufficient to produce a decrease in barosensitivity independent of raised arterial pressure.