Passive components in the subscriber loop

The status of passive optical components for optical fiber subscriber loop systems is reviewed in the context of the most often discussed architectures. These architectures and the passive component types and functions are described. It is shown how the components are meeting the key functional requirements of interconnection, furcation, and filtration. A logic flow to the evolution of the architecture which is based on the expected development of the passive components is indicated     

Client and counselor verbal category systems for the analysis of trainees' counseling.

Developed a set of operationally defined verbal behavior categories for clients, the client verbal behavior system (CL-VBS), and for counselors, the counselor verbal behavior system (CO-VBS), to match the categories in the training models developed by R. R. Carkhuff and W. A. Anthony (1979) and by A. F. Ivey and J. Authier (1978) to study the acquisition of the skills and their impact on client responses and outcomes. Experts (the 1st 2 authors) established the content validity. Reliability was ascertained by examining agreement among 12 judges and their concordance with a criterion set by the authors. Both reliabilities were highly significant. The criterion analysis revealed sources of errors which showed how to improve the systems' designs and training in a 2nd study with an additional 6 judges (graduate counseling students). As a result of this study, the CL-VBS and the CO-VBS are ready for the study of the efficacy of the Carkhuff and Ivey training models, the impact of counselor skills on clients, reciprocal interaction effects, and the impact of these factors on client outcomes. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Formation and properties of artificially-layered SrCuO2/BaCuO2 superconducting superlattices

Pulsed-laser deposition is used to synthesize artificially-layered high-temperature superconductors. Using the constraint of epitaxy to stabilize SrCuO₂/BaCuO₂ superlattices in the infinite layer structure, novel thin-film compounds are formed which superconduct at temperatures as high as 70 K. These results demonstrate that pulsed-laser deposition and epitaxial stabilization can be effectively used to engineer artificially-layered thin-film superconducting cuprate materials.     

Association of p53 mutations with metastatic prostate cancer

In prostate cancer, mutation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene has been associated with locally advanced disease and hormone-resistant disease that is predominantly localized to bone. However, little is known regarding the status of the p53 gene in metastatic prostate cancer that has not been treated with hormonal manipulation. We evaluated formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded malignant tissues from 86 patients with various stages of prostate cancer, including pathologically confined, locally advanced, and metastatic disease, to detect abnormal p53 nuclear protein accumulation using immunohistochemistry. No abnormal p53 immunostaining was detected in 18 patients with prostate cancer confined to the gland. Two tumors from 21 patients with locally advanced disease (extracapsular extension and/or seminal vesicle invasion) had abnormal nuclear p53 accumulation, and a mutation in exon 7 of the p53 gene was detected in tumor DNA from one patient using single-strand conformation polymorphism-direct sequencing analysis. Of the remaining 47 patients studied in whom tissues from the prostate gland and a metastatic site (44 lymph node, 2 bone, and 1 lung) were available, only 3 had received hormonal therapy prior to obtaining metastatic tissue. In four patients both primary and metastatic tumors demonstrated accumulation of p53 protein, whereas seven additional patients exhibited p53 accumulation only at the metastatic site. In three patients the metastatic tumors harbored missense single-base substitutions in exon 5, as detected using single-strand conformation polymorphism-direct sequencing. These results indicate that p53 abnormalities are associated with lymph node metastases derived from prostate cancer patients that had not undergone hormonal therapy.     

Impaired motor coordination correlates with persistent multiple climbing fiber innervation in PKC gamma mutant mice

It is generally believed that a smooth execution of a compound movement, or motor coordination, requires learning of component movements as well as experience-based refinement of the motor program as a whole. PKC gamma mutant mice display impaired motor coordination but intact eyeblink conditioning, a form of component movement learning. Cerebellar long-term depression, a putative cellular mechanism for component motor learning, is also unimpaired. Thus, PKC gamma mutant mice are defective in refinement of the motor program. In the accompanying paper, we demonstrate that innervation of multiple climbing fibers onto Purkinje cells persists in adulthood in these mutant mice. We propose that this defective elimination of surplus climbing fibers underlies motor discoordination.     

Delivering services by building and running virtual organisations

Customers in the future are likely to obtain their services from coalitions of service providers. These coalitions can be described as virtual organisations (VOs); they are groups of service providers that form relationships to service customers’ demands on an ad-hoc basis. For a VO to be effective, it must be reliable and scalable, and, realistically, it must be created and maintained in a dynamic, open and competitive environment. The CONOISE-G project has focused on resolving the technology challenges that emerged from these requirements. Specifically, CONOISE-G provides mechanisms to assure effective operation of VOs in the face of failure, unexpected events and changing requirements in a dynamic, open and competitive environment. In this paper, we describe the CONOISE-G system, motivated by a scenario based on mobile service provision, outline its use in the context of VO formation and perturbation, and review current efforts to progress the work to deal with unreliable information sources.     

Inactivation of brainstem motor nuclei blocks expression but not acquisition of the rabbit's classically conditioned eyeblink response.

Rabbits were eyeblink conditioned while their accessory abducens nucleus (ACC), facial nucleus ( FN), and surrounding reticular formation (RF) were temporarily inactivated with microinjections of muscimol to determine whether these structures are critically involved in acquisition of the conditioned eyeblink response (CR). Rabbits performed no CRs or unconditioned responses (URs) during inactivation training. Training was continued without inactivation and rabbits performed the CR at asymptotic levels from the start of training without inactivation. They had fully learned the CR while their ACC, FN, and RF were inactivated, despite performing no CRs or URs at all during inactivation. These results rule out any critical role for neurons within the ACC, FN, or surrounding RF in acquisition of the classically conditioned eyeblink response. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of boron substitution on the superconducting state of UBe13

Perlecan has been previously been shown to support attachment of a wide variety of cells through interactions of its core protein with the cell surface. The core protein domains involved in cell adhesion are, however, unknown. The laminin-like domain III of murine perlecan contains an RGDS sequence and is a likely candidate for supporting integrin-mediated cell attachment. We made a cDNA construct corresponding to domain III and containing an in frame signal peptide at the 5' end as well as in frame a stop codon at the 3' end by using cDNA clones to perlecan. The construct was inserted into the pRC/CMV vector and transfected into HT1080 cells, and the secreted recombinant domain III, a 130-kDa protein, was purified from the medium. The size of proteolytic fragments produced by digestion with V8 protease as well as analysis of the rotary shadowed image of the recombinant protein indicated it was produced in a native conformation. Recombinant domain III coated on tissue culture dishes, supports adhesion of an epithelial-like mouse mammary tumor cell line MMT 060562 in a dose-dependent manner. This interaction was inhibited specifically by the RGDS synthetic peptide and intact perlecan, but not laminin. This domain III RGD-dependent cell attachment activity indicates a role for perlecan in integrin-mediated signaling.