Spectra of objects which lie along several lines of sight through the diffuse interstellar medium (DISM) reveal an absorption feature near 3.4 micrometers, which has been attributed to saturated aliphatic hydrocarbons on interstellar grains. The similarity of the absorption bands near 3.4 micrometers (2950 cm-1) along different lines of sight indicates that the carrier of this band lies in the ...

The carbon nanorods (CNR’s) were synthesized using flame reactor with diffusion burner. The growth of carbon nanorods in presence and absence of catalyst has been studied. The role of ferrocene as catalyst in the synthesis of carbon nanorods was investigated using a Flame Reactor at different oxygen to fuel ratios. The fuel used over here is acetylene. The fuel i.e., acetylene to oxygen ratio i...

When the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was launched in 1988, there were more than 350 000 cases a year in more than 125 countries. In 2003, there were just 784 cases. This year will be critical for the initiative led by WHO, Rotary International, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF. If vaccination campaigns can immunize all children in Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and ...

In several recent conferences, the principal questions have been whether xenotransplantation technology should be encouraged and, if so, how it should be regulated. Because the prospect of successful transplantation of animal organs into humans is still remote, the rush to achieve consensus about clinical application would be inexplicable were it not for two ostensibly unrelated issues. The fir...

Cancer cells rapidly evolve a multitude of defense mechanisms to evade the effects of the oncologist's drug arsenal. Unfortunately, clinical strategies to overcome these lag far behind. This mismatch likely underlies our inability to implement new durable treatment strategies. Here, a new form of multidrug resistance, inducible drug glucuronidation, is discussed. This form was discovered while ...

Artificial intelligence started with the goal of understanding minds by attempting to build them. This essay discussed how our field’s research has become unbalanced, and what might be done to change this situation. Specifically, I argue that more of our efforts should be focused on creating integrated cognitive systems. The founding of this journal will hopefully help by promoting such research.

kidney disease (CKD) adds to their prognostic evaluation in terms of mortality. They conclude that the determination of inflammatory markers is not helpful if age and comorbidity are taken into account. It would, however, be appropriate if some further analyses were performed before such a conclusion is advanced. The conclusion of Caravaca et al. [1] is based on a multivariate Cox-regression an...

A fiber-optic microphobe is described which is inexpensive and simple to build and use. It consists of an 80-micrometers optical fiber which at the end is tapered down to a rounded sensing tip of 20-30-micrometers diameter. The detector is a hybrid photodiode/amplifier. The probe has a sensitivity of 0.01 microEinst m-2 s-1 and a spectral range of 300-1,100 nm. Spectral light gradients were...

Dispersed nickel sulfate NiSO4 microclusters on Si substrates were fragmented by pulsed excimer laser irradiation to serve as catalysts for carbon nanotube/nanofiber CNT/CNF growth. At proper fluences, NiSO4 clusters were pulverized into nanoparticles. The sizes of clusters/nanoparticles were found to be dependent on laser fluence and laser pulse number. By increasing the laser fluence from 100...