CHL1 encodes a component of the low-affinity nitrate uptake system in Arabidopsis and shows cell type-specific expression in roots

The Arabidopsis CHL1 (AtNRT1) gene confers sensitivity to the herbicide chlorate and encodes a nitrate-regulated nitrate transporter. However, how CHL1 participates in nitrate uptake in plants is not yet clear. In this study, we examined the in vivo function of CHL1 with in vivo uptake measurements and in situ hybridization experiments. Under most conditions tested, the amount of nitrate uptake by a chl1 deletion mutant was found to be significantly less than that of the wild type. This uptake deficiency was reversed when a CHL1 cDNA clone driven by the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter was expressed in transgenic chl1 plants. Furthermore, tissue-specific expression patterns showed that near the root tip, CHL1 mRNA is found primarily in the epidermis, but further from the root tip, the mRNA is found in the cortex or endodermis. These results are consistent with the involvement of CHL1 in nitrate uptake at different stages of root cell development. A functional analysis in Xenopus oocytes indicated that CHL1 is a low-affinity nitrate transporter with a K(m) value of approximately 8.5 mM for nitrate. This finding is consistent with the chlorate resistance phenotype of chl1 mutants. However, these results do not fit the current model of a single, constitutive component for the low-affinity uptake system. To reconcile this discrepancy and the complex uptake behavior observed, we propose a "two-gene" model for the low-affinity nitrate uptake system of Arabidopsis.     

Tests for comparing images based on randomization and permutation methods

Tests comparing image sets can play a critical role in PET research, providing a yes-no answer to the question "Are two image sets different?" The statistical goal is to determine how often observed differences would occur by chance alone. We examined randomization methods to provide several omnibus test for PET images and compared these tests with two currently used methods. In the first series of analyses, normally distributed image data were simulated fulfilling the requirements of standard statistical tests. These analyses generated power estimates and compared the various test statistics under optimal conditions. Varying whether the standard deviations were local or pooled estimates provided an assessment of a distinguishing feature between the SPM and Montreal methods. In a second series of analyses, we more closely simulated current PET acquisition and analysis techniques. Finally, PET images from normal subjects were used as an example of randomization. Randomization proved to be a highly flexible and powerful statistical procedure. Furthermore, the randomization test does not require extensive and unrealistic statistical assumptions made by standard procedures currently in use.     

Design, fabrication and analysis of micromachined high sensitivity and 0% cross-axis sensitivity capacitive accelerometers

This paper presents the design and fabrication of three MEMS based capacitive accelerometers. The first design illustrates the achievement of an accelerometer with 0% cross-axis sensitivity and has been fabricated using PolyMUMPs, a multi-user surface-micromachining process. A unidirectional parallel plate configuration is utilized in this design to illustrate the achievement of 0% cross-axis sensitivity and an acceptable performance range. In addition, a method is introduced to improve the sensitivity of a capacitive sensor employing a transverse configuration based on the relationship of initial gaps setup in comb-finger arrangements. A design based on this technique and the PolyMUMPs fabrication process is illustrated which demonstrates a sensitivity value of 4.07 fF/μm, with a nonlinearity of 2.05% for a ±3 μm sensor operating range. The last design based on this method and the SOIMUMPs fabrication process exhibits a sensitivity of 3.45 pF/μm for ±1 μm operating range of the sensor.     

Bovine muscle shortening and protein degradation after electrical stimulation, excision and chilling

Electrical stimulation-dependent improvement in beef tenderness resulted from mechanisms other than avoidance of cold shortening in excised muscle chilled at a normal rate (10°C at 10h post-stimulation). At normal chilling rate, electrical stimulation enhanced degradation of the myofibrillar proteins, alpha actinin and troponin-T, and increased the amount of a 30 000 dalton protein, as assessed by gel electrophoresis, whereas sarcomere lengths were not different from unstimulated muscle. Under slightly accelerated chilling conditions (10°C at 5 h post stimulation), electrical stimulation prevented cold shortening but the meat was more tender than, and had the same sarcomere length as, unstimulated muscle chilled to 10°C in 10 h. Electrical stimulation did not improve the tenderness of beef chilled at a rapid rate (10°C at 2 h post stimulation), nor did it prevent cold shortening when muscles were chilled rapidly.     

An OSCA™ architecture characterization of network functionality and data

This article demonstrates that the Bellcore OSCA architecture can serve as a basis for the metaarchitecture for software architectures that must support interoperability among functionality that traditionally has resided in operation systems and functionality that traditionally has resided in network elements (NE) (i.e., interoperability among operations functionality and network functionality). The need for this interoperability is driven by such telephone company business needs, as the need for customers to access operations capabilities spanning operations systems and NEs, the need for new service offerings to span operations systems and NEs, the need for a flexible environment for service development, and the need to manage all corporate data as a company resource. As a result, it is becoming beneficial to apply interoperability requirements to the network functionality that interfaces with operations systems. Therefore, it is reasonable to apply the OSCA architecture to network functionality. This article applies the OSCA architecture interoperability principles of separation of concerns to current and emerging network functionality. It demonstrates that this functionality can be partitioned among the three OSCA architecture layers of corporate data, processing, and user, and that there are a number of benefits to applying the OSCA interoperability principles to network functionality.     

The mechanism of brittle fracture in notched impact tests on polycarbonate

The impact testing of notched polycarbonate bars that are thick enough to yield in plane strain has been investigated. Shear bands occur in the plastic zone that resemble the slip line field for yielding from a circular notch. Eventually, an internal craze nucleates at the tip of the plastic zone, where the stresses are highest, and a crack forms in the thickest part of the craze. Above –15 C the stress for the craze to nucleate is a nearly constant multiple of the yield stress. It is shown that previous observations that annealing polycarbonate causes a ductile to brittle transition is a consequence of testing bars of thickness less than 5 mm.     

Calculations of diffusion and diffusion-limited processes in Ni3Al using accelerated molecular dynamics

We present a systematic microscopic approach to diffusion and diffusion-limited processes in Ni₃Al. These processes have been identified as controlling the deformation of the material under specific circumstances. The embedded atom method calculations are done using kinetic Monte Carlo combined with the Dimer method of finding saddlepoints. We compute the tracer diffusivities as functions of composition and temperature. The comparison with available experiments is good. We find that at temperatures below about 1000 K, the diffusivity is a sharp function of composition, showing a pronounced dip on the Ni-rich side at 76 at.% Ni. This agrees well with experiment, except that the experiments show this structure setting in a temperatures below about 1300 K. We show that the structure arises from the composition dependence of both the vacancy formation energy and pre-exponential of the diffusivity. We also compute the mobility of an anti-phase boundary perpendicular to its plane, and conclude that vacancy-assistance is very plausible. We conclude that the kMC + Dimer method works well for these problems above 700 K but less effectively below, owing to the presence of short-range, low-energy hops that tend to localize the vacancy and lower the efficiency of the calculation.