Decisions are most effective after collecting sufficient evidence to accurately predict rewarding outcomes. We investigated whether human participants optimally seek evidence and we characterized the brain areas associated with their evidence seeking. Participants viewed sequences of bead colors drawn from hidden urns and attempted to infer the majority bead color in each urn. When viewing each...

A SISCAPA (stable isotope standards and capture by anti-peptide antibodies) method for specific antibody-based capture of individual tryptic peptides from a digest of whole human plasma was developed using a simplified magnetic bead protocol and a novel rotary magnetic bead trap device. Following off-line equilibrium binding of peptides by antibodies and subsequent capture of the antibodies on ...

To automate a welding process, which is the present trend in fabrication industry, it is essential that mathematical models have to be developed to relate the process variables to the weld bead parameters. Submerged arc welding (SAW) is characterized by its high reliability, deep penetration, smooth finish and high productivity especially for welding of pipes and boiler joints. In the present w...

We describe and characterize an exceptionally rapid and simple new technique for loading large numbers of cultured cells with large macromolecules. The culture medium of the cell monolayer is replaced by a small volume of the macromolecule to be loaded. Glass beads (75-500 micron diameter) are then sprinkled onto the cells, the cells are washed free of beads and exogenous macromolecules, and 'b...

Effects of bilateral chemical lesions of the medial basal ganglia [lobus parolfactorius (LPO)] were examined in 7- to 14-d-old domestic chicks. Chicks were trained in a color discrimination task, in which the subject had to peck one of the two colored beads associated with rewards that differed in quantity (amount of food) and/or temporal proximity (delay of food delivery from peck). In experim...

Intracellular collagen degradation by fibroblasts is an important but poorly understood pathway for the physiological remodeling of mature connective tissues. The objective of this study was to determine whether gingival fibroblasts that express endogenous alpha(2)beta(1) integrin, the collagen receptor, would exhibit the cellular machinery required for phagosomal maturation and collagen degrad...

Nontransferrin-bound iron (NTBI) is a heterogeneously speciated plasma iron, typically detectable when transferrin saturation (TfSat) exceeds 75%. Here, we examine factors affecting NTBI levels by a recently discovered direct chelator-based (CP851) fluorescent bead-linked flow-cytometric assay (bead-NTBI), compared with the established indirect nitrilotriacetate (NTA) assay in 122 iron-overload...

The arc welding process is widely used in industry but its automatic control is limited by the difficulty in measuring the weld bead geometry and closing the control loop on the arc, which has adverse environmental conditions. To address this problem, this work proposes a system to capture the welding variables and send stimuli to the Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) conventional process with a con...

A method is described to measure the refractive index dispersion with wavelength of optically trapped solid particles in air. Knowledge of the refraction properties of solid particles is critical for the study of aerosol; both in the laboratory and in the atmosphere for climate studies. Single micron-sized polystyrene beads were optically trapped in air using a vertically aligned counter-propag...

Cytoskeletal reorganization processes can be analyzed by studying the nanometer-scale spontaneous motion of beads bound to the cytoskeleton. The bead motion is determined by force fluctuations within the cytoskeletal network that originates from myosin motor activity and dynamic restructuring of cytoskeletal filaments. We investigated to what extend the spontaneous bead motion is influenced by ...