Modeling aviation baggage screening security systems: a case study

Aviation security protects vital national interests, as well as passengers and aircraft. Key components of an aviation security system include baggage and passenger screening devices and operations. Determining how and where to assign (deploy) such devices can be quite challenging. Moreover, even after such systems are in place, it can be difficult to measure their effectiveness. This paper describes how discrete optimization models can be used to address these questions, based on three performance measures that quantify the effectiveness of airport baggage screening security device systems. These models are used to solve for optimal airport baggage screening security device deployments considering the number of passengers on a set of flights who have not been cleared using a security risk assessment system in use by the Federal Aviation Administration (i.e., passengers whose baggage is subjected to screening), the number of flights in this set, and the size of the aircraft for such flights. Several examples are provided to illustrate these results, including an example that uses data available from the Official Airline Guide.     

Greater task difficulty amplifies the facilitatory effect of des-glycinamide arginine vasopressin on appetitively motivated learning.

39 3–6 mo old male Long-Evans rats were trained in a discrete-trial forward autoshaping paradigm to touch an extended lever to earn food pellets. Reinforcement was delivered either simultaneously with or 6 sec after lever retraction, which occurred either noncontingently after 15 sec or when the Ss touched the lever. Treatment with subcutaneous des-glycinamide arginine vasopressin (DGAVP [15 μg/kg]) 1 hr before sessions increased the rate of acquisition of the extended-lever-touch response and also facilitated development of intertrial (adjunctive) nose poking. The effects of the peptide were more robust in the more difficult delayed reinforcement task. Results are consistent with previous findings that DGAVP lacks the classical peripheral activity of vasopressin. In both experiments, peptide treatment was terminated before asymptotic levels of performance were attained; the continued facilitation of acquisition in treated groups suggests a specific enhancement of learning and/or enhanced memory retrieval. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Triggering of cellulase biosynthesis by cellulose in Trichoderma reesei. Involvement of a constitutive, sophorose-inducible, glucose-inhibited beta-diglucoside permease

We prepared [U-14C]cellobiose by cultivating Acetobacter pasteurianus in the presence of [U-14C]glucose and hydrolyzing the [U-14C]cellulose formed with beta-glucosidase-free cellulase from Trichoderma reesei. This 14C-labeled cellobiose was used to investigate the presence of an uptake system for cellobiose in T. reesei. Evidence was obtained for the presence of a high affinity (Km for cellobiose 0.3 microM) but low activity (2.5 milliunits/mg fungal dry weight) cellobiose permease. The permease is formed constitutively, but higher levels are formed after addition of sophorose (glucosyl-beta-1,2-diglucoside), a reputed cellulase inducer. The permease appears to be specific for beta-diglucosides, as the uptake of [U-14C]cellobiose is inhibited by sophorose, gentiobiose (glucosyl-beta-1,3-glucoside), and cellobiose. Under these conditions, cellooligodextrines (n, 4-7; final concentration, 1 mM) are not inhibitors. Glucose, but no other monosaccharides, inhibits the permease. The hypersecretory mutant T. reesei RUT C-30 exhibits elevated permease activities, whereas in T. reesei QM 9979, a mutant strain defective in the induction of cellulases by cellulose or sophorose, strongly reduced permease activities were demonstrated. The results stress a hitherto not recognized point of control in the induction of cellulases by T. reesei at the level of uptake of cellulose oligosaccharides.     

Exclusion of BMP6 as a candidate gene for cleidocranial dysplasia

Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) is an autosomal dominant, generalized skeletal dysplasia in humans that has been mapped to the short arm of chromosome 6. We report linkage of a CCD mutation to 6p21 in a large family and exclude the bone morphogenetic protein 6 gene (BMP6) as a candidate for the disease by cytogenetic localization and genetic recombination. CCD was linked with a maximal two-point LOD score of 7.22 with marker D6S452 at theta = 0. One relative with a recombination between D6S451 and D6S459 and another individual with a recombination between D6S465 and CCD places the mutation within a 7 cM region between D6S451 and D6S465 at 6p21. A phage P1 genomic clone spanning most of the BMP6 gene hybridized to chromosome 6 in band region p23-p24 using FISH analysis, placing this gene cytogenetically more distal than the region of linkage for CCD. We derived a new polymorphic marker from this same P1 clone and found recombinations between the marker and CCD in this family. The results confirm the map position of CCD on 6p21, further refine the CCD genetic interval by identifying a recombination between D6S451 and D6S459, and exclude BMP6 as a candidate gene.     

Cortisone-induced osteoporosis: effects on bone adenylate cyclase

The majority of patients with soft tissue or bone sarcomas of the upper extremity can be treated today with limb-saving procedures using combined modality therapies. For patients with a tumor in the shoulder area, sometimes an interscapulothoracic amputation is the only radical surgical treatment. However, in selected cases, in which the tumor does not involve the neurovascular bundle, a limb-sparing alternative might be the Tikhoff-Linberg resection. Normal function of the hand and forearm, with reasonable function of the elbow, can be maintained by this procedure. Four case histories are reported.     

Calculation of the concentrated flux density distribution in parabolic trough collectors by a semifinite formulation

A first integral of the concentrated radiant flux density for trough concentrators is derived by exploiting the symmetry of these cylindrical systems. The resulting semifinite formulation yields both conceptual advantages and computational efficiency. The formulation is illustrated by application to the parabolic trough concentrator. The elementary example of determining the concentrated flux density at the nominal focal plane is first considered. The more realistic case of a round absorber tube, which can shade the reflector, centered on the focal line is also studied. This more practical geometry, which corresponds to most commercial designs, has previously received little attention in the open literature. These applications illustrate that the semifinite formulation presented herein can be a simple and useful tool for the analysis and design of trough concentrators.     

Large specimen bone embedment and cement line staining

Undecalcified embedment of large bone specimens is often challenging. A method is presented here that is suitable for methacrylate embedment of sections of canine vertebrae while retaining the ability to localize tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase activity. Specimens also retained tetracycline labelling, and sectioned preparations were readily stained with routine bone procedures. A modification of the Bodian silver stain, used for examining the nerves and spinal cord in these specimens, provided a useful stain for canaliculi and cement lines in trabecular and cortical bone. This stain is advantageous when both bone and nerve tissue are of interest, as in spinal fusion studies.     

High quality LTCC resonator for voltage-controlled oscillator

Design and technology of microwave conductor lines embedded in low-temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) multilayer substrates are summarized with a focus on achieving the highest possible quality (Q) factor for a given line inductance. The work was initiated to test the integrability of base station voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) in ceramic multilayer substrates. This approach leads to a miniaturization of current versions by a factor of 2 to 4. However, base station specifications for phase noise and hence resonator Q are extremely demanding. Therefore, both the design and the processing technology were optimized. By choosing a twin-line design with two parallel lines vertically separated by a single LTCC layer, Q factors of 90 and 180 have been achieved for integrated 5.5 nH inductors at frequencies of 640 MHz and 1650 MHz, respectively. Application of this result to VCO modules in standard LTCC technology already yields low phase noise levels, e.g., -136 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset, which is suitable for base station applications. However, further noise reduction is expected from a dedicated high Q fabrication process that uses conventional via punching and filling steps to replace the ceramic material between the two lines by conductive silver paste. This raises the Q to 120 and 200, respectively, at the two frequencies and adds extra degrees of freedom to LTCC design for low-loss wireless solutions.