An analysis of state laws designed to effect economic control of the market milk industry.

Bibliography: p.60-61.

Analysis of media coverage on breastfeeding policy in Washington State

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Using the R package Shiny to create web applications that facilitate quantitative gene expression analysis

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2016-06

A study on transition of iron from active into passive state

An investigation was carried out on the transition of an iron electrode from active to passive state in a sulphuric acid solution. It was found that the active-passive transition was an auto-catalytic process in which a pre-passive film grew on the electrode surface. The growing pre-passive film had a fractal edge whose dimension was affected by the applied passivating potential and the presence of chlorides in the solution. Applying a more positive passivating potential led to a faster active-passive transition and resulted in a more irregular pre-passive film. If chlorides were introduced into the sulphuric acid solution, the active-passive transition became more rapid and the pre-passive film more irregular. Apart from the influence on the growth of the pre-passive film, the presence of chlorides in the passivating solution was found to deteriorate the stability of the final passive film. All these phenomena can be understood if the passivating iron electrode is regarded as a dissipative system. To explain these results, a fractal pre-film model is proposed in this paper. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CXCR4/SDF1 interaction inhibits the primordial to primary follicle transition in the neonatal mouse ovary

The molecular mechanisms behind the entry of the primordial follicle into the growing follicle pool remain poorly understood. To investigate this process further, a microarray-based comparison was undertaken between 2-day postpartum mouse ovaries consisting of primordial follicles/naked oocytes only and those with both primordial follicles and newly activated follicles (7-day postpartum). Gene candidates identified included the chemoattractive cytokine stromal derived factor-1 (SDF1) and its receptor CXCR4. SDF1 and CXCR4 have been implicated in a variety of physiological processes including the migration of embryonic germ cells to the gonads. SDF1-alpha expression increased with the developmental stage of the follicle. Embryonic expression was found to be dichotomous post-genii cell migration, with low expression in the female. Immunohistochemical studies nonetheless indicate that the autocrine pattern of expression ligand and receptor begins during embryonic life. Addition of recombinant SDF1-alpha to neonatal mouse ovaries in vitro resulted in significantly higher follicle densities than for control ovaries. TUNEL analysis indicated no detectable difference in populations of apoptotic cells of treated or control ovaries. Treated ovaries also contained a significantly lower percentage of activated follicles as determined by measurement of oocyte diameter and morphological analysis. Treatment of cultured ovaries with an inhibitor of SDF1-alpha, AMD3100, ablated the effect of SDF1-alpha. By retaining follicles in an unactivated state, SDF1/CXCR4 signaling may play an important role in maintaining the size and longevity of the primordial follicle pool. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Mixed order parameters, accidental nodes and broken time reversal symmetry in organic superconductors: a group theoretical analysis

We present a group theoretical analysis of several classes of organic superconductor. We predict that highly frustrated organic superconductors, such as K-(ET)(2)Cu-2(CN)(3) (where ET is BEDT-TTF, bis(ethylenedithio) tetrathiafulvalene) and beta'-[Pd(dmit)(2)](2)X, undergo two superconducting phase transitions, the first from the normal state to a d-wave superconductor and the second to a d + id state. We show that the monoclinic distortion of K-(ET)(2)Cu(NCS)(2) means that the symmetry of its superconducting order parameter is different from that of orthorhombic-K-(ET)(2)Cu[N(CN)(2)] Br. We propose that beta'' and theta phase organic superconductors have d(xy) + s order parameters.

Simulation of glassy state relaxations in polymers: A static analysis of methyl group and methoxy group rotation in poly(vinyl methyl ether)

We show that the simple quasi-static technique, also called the adiabatic mapping technique, can be used to determine the energetics of rotation of methyl and methoxy groups in amorphous poly(vinyl methyl ether) even though the latter process is too slow to be amenable to direct molecular dynamics simulation. For the methyl group rotation, we find that the mean and standard deviation of the simulated rotational barrier heights agree well with experimental data from quasi-elastic neutron scattering. In the case of the methoxy groups we find that just 4% of the groups contribute more than 90% of the observed dielectric relaxation strength. The groups which make the most contribution are those which, by virtue of their particular conformation and local environment, have two alternative positions of similar energy.

XSophe, a computer simulation software suite for the analysis of electron paramagnetic resonance spectra

The XSophe computer simulation software suite consisting of a daemon, the XSophe interface and the computational program Sophe is a state of the art package for the simulation of electron paramagnetic resonance spectra. The Sophe program performs the computer simulation and includes a number of new technologies including; the SOPHE partition and interpolation schemes, a field segmentation algorithm, homotopy, parallelisation and spectral optimisation. The SOPHE partition and interpolation scheme along with a field segmentation algorithm greatly increases the speed of simulations for most systems. Multidimensional homotopy provides an efficient method for accurately tracing energy levels and hence tracing transitions in the presence of energy level anticrossings and looping transitions and allowing computer simulations in frequency space. Recent enhancements to Sophe include the generalised treatment of distributions of orientational parameters, termed the mosaic misorientation linewidth model and a faster more efficient algorithm for the calculation of resonant field positions and transition probabilities. For complex systems the parallelisation enables the simulation of these systems on a parallel computer and the optimisation algorithms in the suite provide the experimentalist with the possibility of finding the spin Hamiltonian parameters in a systematic manner rather than a trial-and-error process. The XSophe software suite has been used to simulate multifrequency EPR spectra (200 MHz to 6 00 GHz) from isolated spin systems (S > ~½) and coupled centres (Si, Sj _> I/2). Griffin, M.; Muys, A.; Noble, C.; Wang, D.; Eldershaw, C.; Gates, K.E.; Burrage, K.; Hanson, G.R."XSophe, a Computer Simulation Software Suite for the Analysis of Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectra", 1999, Mol. Phys. Rep., 26, 60-84.

Analysis of tissue transglutaminase function in the migration of Swiss 3T3 fibroblasts:the active-state conformation of the enzyme does not affect cell motility but is important for its secretion

Increasing evidence suggests that tissue transglutaminase (tTGase; type II) is externalized from cells, where it may play a key role in cell attachment and spreading and in the stabilization of the extracellular matrix (ECM) through protein cross-linking. However, the relationship between these different functions and the enzyme's mechanism of secretion is not fully understood. We have investigated the role of tTGase in cell migration using two stably transfected fibroblast cell lines in which expression of tTGase in its active and inactive (C277S mutant) states is inducible through the tetracycline-regulated system. Cells overexpressing both forms of tTGase showed increased cell attachment and decreased cell migration on fibronectin. Both forms of the enzyme could be detected on the cell surface, but only the clone overexpressing catalytically active tTGase deposited the enzyme into the ECM and cell growth medium. Cells overexpressing the inactive form of tTGase did not deposit the enzyme into the ECM or secrete it into the cell culture medium. Similar results were obtained when cells were transfected with tTGase mutated at Tyr(274) (Y274A), the proposed site for the cis,trans peptide bond, suggesting that tTGase activity and/or its tertiary conformation dependent on this bond may be essential for its externalization mechanism. These results indicate that tTGase regulates cell motility as a novel cell-surface adhesion protein rather than as a matrix-cross-linking enzyme. They also provide further important insights into the mechanism of externalization of the enzyme into the extracellular matrix.

Equity market integration in the Asia-Pacific region:a smooth transition analysis

We use a smooth transition logistic function to test for equity market integration in a sample of Asia-Pacific countries. This allows us to gauge the speed at which a market is becoming integrated. Of the countries we examine we find that Thailand has the fastest pace of global integration. When we examine the extent to which local integration is taking place, we find that Singapore is experiencing the fastest rise in market integration. © 2004 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Modeling equity market integration using smooth transition analysis:a study of Eastern European stock markets

This paper assesses the extent to which the equity markets of Hungary, Poland the Czech Republic and Russia have become less segmented. Using a variety of tests it is shown there has been a consistent increase in the co-movement of some Eastern European markets and developed markets. Using the variance decompositions from a vector autoregressive representation of returns it is shown that for Poland and Hungary global factors are having an increasing influence on equity returns, suggestive of increased equity market integration. In this paper we model a system of bivariate equity market correlations as a smooth transition logistic trend model in order to establish how rapidly the countries of Eastern Europe are moving away from market segmentation. We find that Hungary is the country which is becoming integrated the most quickly. © 2005 ELsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.