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Journal of Biophysics
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 830741, 7 pages
Cytoskeletal Strains in Modeled Optohydrodynamically Stressed Healthy and Diseased Biological Cells
1Regenerative Bioengineering Laboratory, Department of Biology, Science Research & Teaching Center (SRTC), Portland State University, P.O. Box 751, Portland, OR 97207, USA
2Department of Surgery, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA
3Center for Allaying Health Disparities through Research and Education (CADRE) and Department of Mathematics & Computer Science, Central State University, Wilberforce, OH 45384, USA
Received 27 September 2012; Revised 6 November 2012; Accepted 6 November 2012
Academic Editor: George Perry
Copyright © 2012 Sean S. Kohles et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Controlled external chemomechanical stimuli have been shown to influence cellular and tissue regeneration/degeneration, especially with regards to distinct disease sequelae or health maintenance. Recently, a unique three-dimensional stress state was mathematically derived to describe the experimental stresses applied to isolated living cells suspended in an optohydrodynamic trap (optical tweezers combined with microfluidics). These formulae were previously developed in two and three dimensions from the fundamental equations describing creeping flows past a suspended sphere. The objective of the current study is to determine the full-field cellular strain response due to the applied three-dimensional stress environment through a multiphysics computational simulation. In this investigation, the multiscale cytoskeletal structures are modeled as homogeneous, isotropic, and linearly elastic. The resulting computational biophysics can be directly compared with experimental strain measurements, other modeling interpretations of cellular mechanics including the liquid drop theory, and biokinetic models of biomolecule dynamics. The described multiphysics computational framework will facilitate more realistic cytoskeletal model interpretations, whose intracellular structures can be distinctly defined, including the cellular membrane substructures, nucleus, and organelles.
1. Introduction
The current research on human diseases primarily focuses on the molecular, microbiological, immunological, and pathological influences. The mechanical basis of disease is now often being explored to decipher any direct contributions toward the physiological response [1, 2]. In functionally loaded tissues such as cartilage and bone, cells (chondrocytes and osteocytes) experience multiaxial forces (hydrostatic, compressive, tensile, and shear), which play a significant role in modulating the biological function through maintenance of the phenotype and production of a neotissue [3]. Conversely, abnormal mechanical forces (either static or dynamic) can lead to altered cell behavior resulting in pathological matrix synthesis, increased catabolic activity (degradation), and ultimately osteoarthritis or osteoporosis (apoptosis) [4]. Our previous investigations have indicated that chondrocytes and likely other cell types respond to their stress-strain environments in a temporal and spatial manner [5]. It has also just been shown that individual cellular mechanical properties may indicate the regenerative potential of mesenchymal stem cells [6]. Investigations of the biomechanics at the cellular level have also identified the biomarkers of disease. Cytoskeletal stiffness of metastatic cancer cells was reported as more than 70% softer than the benign cells that line the body cavity in patients with suspected lung, breast, and pancreatic cancer [7]. These approaches highlight the utility of single-cell biomechanics as a critical component of advancing microscale therapeutics.
Advancements in laser technology and microfluidics now allow the use of optical tweezers or traps and fluid mechanics to manipulate isolated single cells [8, 9]. Isolated loads can be applied experimentally to single cells in culture to quantify cellular and cytoskeletal biomechanics. One can then apply forces and displacements as small as pico-Newtons and nanometers, respectively [10–12]. The local microenvironment can therefore be precisely manipulated to facilitate biomechanical test sequences on individual biological cells and molecular structures.
In order to explore the connection between external mechanical stimulation and cellular regeneration or degeneration, we developed a three-dimensional, multiphysics computational model to fully characterize a unique micromechanical environment. The applied stress state within our custom-fabricated optical and hydrodynamic (optohydrodynamic) trap have been mathematically developed from the fundamental equations describing microfluidic creeping flows past a suspended sphere. The objective described in the following paper is to explore the full-field cellular strain response to a range of applied stresses and cellular moduli. The described computational framework will now allow us to develop more realistic cellular models, whose intracellular structures are distinctly identified. This approach is specifically focused on addressing our ongoing efforts in health disparity research [13].
2. Methods
2.1. Single Cell Biomechanics and Optohydrodynamic Trapping
Living non-adhered, suspended osteoblasts, chondrocytes, fibroblasts, and myoblasts have recently been isolated and mechanically manipulated [12, 16]. Primary cultures of chondrogenic and osteogenic tissues were generated directly from rat long bones, while muscle cells were acquired from the mouse-derived myoblast C2C12 cell line (ATCC, CRL-1772, Manassas, VA, USA). All cells were tested at room temperature experiments (~20.5°C) in a flow media consisting of a physiological buffer resulting in a media viscosity of ~1 mPa s. This single cell biomechanical manipulation was made available by combining optical trapping with microfluidics to create the optohydrodynamic trap. This work was facilitated by an instrument, which integrates two laser-based techniques for the mechanical characterization of cellular and biomolecular structures [8, 12].
The optical tweezers or the trap component of the device utilizes an infrared laser (λ = 1,064 nm) to suspend micron-sized objects with nanometer position control and pico-Newton constraining forces. In the Mie regime, where objects are larger in dimension than the wavelength of the trapping laser (here biological cells), a ray optics description indicates the transfer of refracted light and the associated momentum into trapping forces (Figure 1). Micron-particle image velocimetry can be engaged by incorporating two frequency-doubled lasers ( nm) aligned through the same optical path as the OT for full-field flow velocity characterization. However, the nanoparticles associated with velocity imaging have proven deleterious to cellular health, but provide useful experimental validation of flows around synthetic micron-sized particles.
The hydrodynamic component of this approach is facilitated through a microfluidic chip design configured in the form of a cross-junction channel (Figure 2). This geometry creates an extensional flow environment and a stagnation point at the channel's geometric center. Cells are positioned at the centroid with the optical trap and manipulated with microfluidics, thus creating the optohydrodynamic trap. The cell experiences a total drag force equal to zero, confirmed by integrating the stress tensor as defined by the normal (form drag) and shear (friction drag) stresses (Figure 3). This reflects the mechanical stability or the saddle-point nature of the optohydrodynamic trap. Previous studies describe chip fabrication in detail including the control of the gravity-driven flow initially associated with microfluidic manipulation [8].
2.2. Applied Fluid Stress Analysis
The two- and three-dimensional stress states were previously developed as applied to the surface of a nonrotating spheroid cell of radius , within the optohydrodynamic trap [2, 12, 14, 15]. Briefly, the full-field fluid velocity vector was constructed from the constitutive equations describing a non-rotating sphere suspended in a general linear flow with viscosity and pressure distribution [17]. In the polar-spherical components (-- magnitudes and -- vectors), the generalized flow field produces the individual velocity components: including the pressure distribution
The velocity gradients can be converted into the applied fluid stresses by applying the constitutive equation for an incompressible, Newtonian fluid [18]: where is the stress tensor and is the identity matrix associated with the local isotropic (hydrostatic) pressure distribution . The strain rate tensor can be characterized by the flow velocity gradient tensor and its transpose:
By incorporating the velocity and pressure fields into the gradient analysis and then in turn into the constitutive equation, the fluidic stress tensor can be fully defined as
Defining the stress tensor at the cellular surface, , produces the volumetric fluidic stress state applied to the cell: where the full-field stress state can then be defined in terms of distinct normal, , and shear, and , stress components, respectively, in polar spherical coordinates: A three-dimensional presentation of the stresses was developed (MATLAB, MathWorks, Inc., Natick, MA) for demonstration of the site-specific nature of the stress distributions (Figure 4).
2.3. Stress versus Strain Modeling
The six deviatoric stresses were combined as an effective stress value, [19], as a means to model the three-dimensional stress state: Here, the maximum polar coordinate derived stresses were converted to the Cartesian coordinate stresses such that the maximum normal stresses are located along the -- axes and the maximum shear stresses are defined along the 45° orientation off-axis locations.
Volumetric strain, , based on the strain invariants, , was defined to encompass the full-field deformation response of the cell within the multiaxial fluidic loading environment and does not apply the small-displacement theory assumption. The Cartesian axes associated with the maximum normal strains were determined from a Mohr's circle analysis [12, 20]:
The experimental approach described earlier is a planar-wise measurement technique; thus the optical depth strain value, , can be determined through a transposition of the planar loading scenario, again through a Mohr's circle analysis [21]: However, in this modeling presentation here, the full-field stress state and the corresponding strains are fully characterized.
The optohydrodynamic deviatoric stress state was applied to an isotropic, homogenous biological cell (20 μm in diameter) within a multiphysics computational environment (COMSOL v4.0, Palo Alto, CA, USA) in order to determine the individual principal strains and in turn the volumetric strains.
3. Results
In this work, we continue to examine the cellular biomechanics induced within a controlled micromechanical environment. Three-dimensional cellular strains were computationally modeled in silico with multiphysics software applying the analytically defined stress state (Figure 5). Volumetric stress and strain relationships indicated both the nonlinear response of the spherical cellular structure as well as the logarithmic increase in strain with subsequently softer cellular moduli (Figure 6). This biomechanical softening represents our hypothesized transition from healthy to diseased cellular states. This relationship is further explored when examining the direct relationship of strain with elastic moduli (Figure 7). The extreme strain response induced in diseased cells indicates their further vulnerability when passively or actively resisting applied stresses.
4. Discussion
We explored the full-field cellular strain response to a range of applied hydrodynamic stresses and cellular moduli, representing various degrees of functional loading and health/disease, respectively. The computational framework now allows us to develop more realistic cellular models with intracellular and membranous structures, distinct in spatial, elastic, and active transport characteristics [22].
The mechanical properties of a single cell are often formulated using either macroscopic or microscopic approaches [23]. Macroscopic approaches, as partially described in this work, homogenize every cellular component to produce an isotropic or anisotropic yet homogeneous continuum model so that the mechanical properties of cells can be formulated using temporal and spatially continuous partial differential equations [24]. Future efforts will incorporate a more microscopic approach, which regards the cell as a biocomposite material consisting of randomly or uniformly spaced anisotropic reinforcement cytoskeletal materials within an isotropic medium. The microscopic approach generally obtains the biomechanical response of a single cell by applying the mechanical boundary conditions at the individual fiber and matrix level, scaling "up" to the cellular level. Microscopic approaches often provide much more detail into the subtle interaction between the cytoskeletal fibers and matrix, which potentially leads to a more accurate model of the cellular behavior, such as characterizing the irreversible deformation of the cellular skeleton [25]. Unfortunately, refined microscopic models suffer from inhibitory computational and storage costs [26, 27].
When interpreting the potential geometric changes in cellular shape associated with mechanical loading, the cell may experience some interesting membrane transitions triggering unique biologic cues. Under suspension and hydrostatic loading, the cell's volume () can be defined as a sphere, , with radii . As seen here during the hydrodynamic extensional loading state, the isotropic, homogenous cell model deformed into a scalene ellipsoid with equal and opposite tensile and compressive strains in the horizontal plane. However, with the future inclusion of intracellular structures and organelles as well as nonlinear elastic properties assigned to the membrane and cytoskeleton, cellular models may also deform into either an oblate spheroid (formed when an ellipse is rotated about its minor axis, ) or a prolate spheroid (formed when an ellipse is rotated about its major axis, ). The resulting shape here replicated a scalene ellipsoid likely due to different maximum stresses applied in the three orthogonal axes. Ongoing experiments and modeling will continue to explore multiaxial single-cell biomechanics as well as the biologic triggers associated with geometric shape-shifting [28].
The described multiphysics computational framework will facilitate more realistic cytoskeletal model interpretations, whose intracellular structures can be distinctly defined, including the cellular membrane substructures, nucleus, and organelles. Future results will provide mathematical outcomes supporting the ongoing investigations in tissue and cellular engineering.
Support was provided by a National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Academic Research Enhancement Award (Grant no. EB007077), a National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities Exploratory Program Grant (Grant no. MD003350), creating the CSU Center for Allaying Health Disparities through Research and Education, and awards from the Collins Medical Trust.
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Who: Julianna Margulies
What: Actress Julianna Margulies arrives at the 24th Annual Producers Guild Awards held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 26, 2013 in Beverly Hills, California.
Dress: Julianna looks elegant wearing a vintage black strapless gown with a beaded sweat heart trim.
Dark red lip color, cascading retro tresses, and a pair 5.00 carat (each) Fred Leighton's diamond stud earrings and 1930's aquamarine and diamond ring set the mood.
Credit: Getty

subset: commoncrawl


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Is it possible to achieve a 'single sign in' using sharepoint as part of a legacy intranet?
My setup is simple; I have an intranet 'intranet.mydomain.com' which authenticates a username and password against a list in a MYSQL database. I am using the calendar and wiki functions of sharepoint which is installed at 'intranet.mydomain.com/sharerpoint'.
Is it possible for sharepoint to utilise the session variables of an asp based intranet?
It is possible you will be able to combine authentication using LDAP, but I doubt you can just use the session variables from the existing app.
More about alternate authentication providers in SharePoint:
Im still looking at alternative methods to acheive this.
Is it possible to link from my intranet to sharepoint as below:
Would it then be simple to recode sharepoint to pick up this data?
Assuming that tis would work; I would need to ensure that the sharepoint and intranet user list was always the same.
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Trying Something New14 Feb 2017
I've wanted a place to store research, learning, and various other things for a while now. I only have a few ideas, and I don't promise, or want, this to be a regular thing.
I'll post infrequently, but try to be thorough. Often times I search and search and only get pieces of information, but never one complete end-to-end guide for what I'm trying to solve. So, I aim to make my successes for my unique configuration/infrastructure problems known here for anyone else trying to solve the same problems.


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1. Jordan (4-0)
Class: 5A
Was: 3. Last week: Beat Alta, 36-24. Outlook: Showed off offensive versatility with dominant rush attack in first victory over Alta in six years. Next up: vs. Copper Hills, Friday.
2. East (4-0)
Class: 4A
Was: 1. Last week: Beat Woods Cross, 28-7. Outlook: Great defense has helped East overcome some fumble problems, but it will need to clean those up with some tough region games upcoming. Next up: vs. Clearfield, Friday.
3. Alta (4-1)
Class: 5A
Was: 2. Last week: Lost to Jordan, 36-24. Outlook: An inability to run the football the past two weeks has made Alta pretty one-dimensional, with QB Chipper Lucero attempting 88 total passes. Next up: vs. Brighton, Friday.
4. Syracuse (5-0)
Class: 5A
Was: 4. Last week: Beat Davis, 28-14. Outlook: Opened Region 1 play with a solid victory over Davis, its first win over the Darts since 2008. Next up: vs. Layton, Friday.
5. Bingham (4-1)
Class: 5A
Was: 5. Last week: Beat Cottonwood, 34-14. Outlook: Has quietly gone about its business since Alta loss, and heads to Region 4 play this week as the clear-cut team to beat. Next up: vs. Riverton, Friday.
6. Northridge (5-0)
Class: 5A
Was: 6. Last week: Beat Fremont, 42-18. Outlook: Four different players scored touchdowns last week, balance that has made Northridge very difficult to stop this year. Next up: at Weber, Friday.
7. Timpview (4-1)
Class: 4A
Was: 9. Last week: Beat Maple Mountain, 38-7. Outlook: Has steamrolled two straight Region 8 foes heading into big league game with undeafeated Timpanogos this week. Next up: at Timpanogos, Friday.
8. Logan (4-1)
Class: 4A
Was: 11. Last week: Beat Bonneville, 54-20. Outlook: Week 1 hiccup to Northridge is very much in the rearview mirror after four straight blowout victories. Next up: vs. Roy, Friday.
9. Brighton (5-0)
Class: 5A
Was: 7. Last week: Beat Pleasant Grove, 17-16. Outlook: Coming off a hardly-impressive win over Pleasant Grove, the schedule gets much tougher with rival Alta up this week. Next up: at Alta, Friday.
10. Hurricane (5-0)
Class: 3A
Was: 8. Last week: Beat Dixie, 34-32. Outlook: Demonstrated the resiliency you'd expect from a defending state champion in rallying past Dixie last weekend. Next up: at Snow Canyon, Friday.
11. Woods Cross (4-1)
Class: 4A
Was: 10. Last week: Lost to East, 28-7. Outlook: Couldn't get anything going offensively against East's vaunted defense in dropping its Region 6 opener last week. Next up: at Cyprus, Friday.
12. Bountiful (4-1)
Class: 4A
Was: 12. Last week: Beat Cyprus, 56-10. Outlook: After steamrolling two easy opponents, the schedule gets much tougher this week as Bountiful travels to region rival Highland. Next up: at Highland, Friday.
13. Lone Peak (3-2)
Class: 5A
Was: 13. Last week: Beat West, 27-14. Outlook: Following an up-and-down preseason, the Knights head into region play with several question marks still to be answered. Next up: at American Fork, Friday.
14. Mountain Crest (3-2)
Class: 4A
Was: 14. Last week: Beat Sky View, 44-24. Outlook: Trailing 17-14 late in the first half last week, the Mustangs outscored Sky View 27-10 the rest of the way to open region play with a win. Next up: at Bonneville, Friday.
15. Herriman (4-1)
Class: 4A
Was: 16. Last week: Beat Hillcrest, 56-7. Outlook: Rushed for a whopping 478 yards in a convincing region-opening victory last week, and did it without injured Francis Bernard as well. Next up: at Skyline, Friday.
16. Juan Diego (5-0)
Class: 3A
Was: 17. Last week: Beat Granger, 49-7. Outlook: Rolled to a surprisingly easy victory over Granger last week by forcing four turnovers and slowing down Granger's ground game. Next up: at Union, Friday.
17. Riverton (3-2)
Class: 5A
Was: 19. Last week: Beat Kearns, 41-13. Outlook: Coming off a solid win over Kearns, Riverton looks to snap eight-game losing streak against Bingham in region opener this week. Next up: at Bingham, Friday.
18. Timpanogos (5-0)
Class: 4A
Was: 20. Last week: Beat Springville, 29-2. Outlook: Defense has been vastly improved this season, but this week it faces by far its toughest test of the season against Timpview. Next up: vs. Timpview, Friday.
19. Davis (3-2)
Class: 5A
Was: 15. Last week: Lost to Syracuse, 28-14. Outlook: After dropping region opener to Syracuse, Darts are in a virtual must-win situation if they hope to host a playoff game later this season. Next up: vs. Fremont, Friday.
20. Highland (3-2)
Class: 4A
Was: 21. Last week: Beat Clearfield, 56-14. Outlook: Following expected easy victory over Clearfield, dives into heart of region schedule with Bountiful and Woods Cross upcoming. Next up: vs. Bountiful, Friday.
21. Box Elder (4-1)
Class: 4A
Was: 22. Last week: Beat Roy, 39-17. Outlook: Defense will face arguably its toughest tests to date the next two weeks with games against Sky View and Mountain Crest. Next up: vs. Sky View, Thursday.
22. Stansbury (5-0)
Class: 3A
Was: 24. Last week: Beat Tooele, 55-0. Outlook: The next two weeks against Morgan and Desert Hills will be the first measuring sticks of the season for undefeated Stansbury. Next up: at Morgan, Friday.
23. Pleasant Grove (3-2)
Class: 5A31 comments on this story
Was: 23. Last week: Lost to Brighton, 17-16. Outlook: Couldn't close the deal at Pleasant Grove last week, which would've been the Vikings' most impressive win of the season. Next up: vs. Lehi, Friday.
24. Dixie (4-1)
Class: 3A
Was: —. Last week: Lost to Hurricane, 34-32. Outlook: Can't dwell on narrow loss to Hurricane, because Desert Hills looms this week in another huge Region 9 tilt. Next up: vs. Desert Hills, Friday.
25. Granger (4-1)
Class: 5A
Was: 18. Last week: Lost to Juan Diego, 49-7. Outlook: Neither the offense or defense came to play against Juan Diego in a surprising blowout loss. Next up: at Viewmont, Friday.
Dropped out: No. 25 Roy


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Grief Center to hold creative coping group for kids; deadline July 23
Staff Report
The Grief Center at Northern Illinois Hospice will host 90-minute sessions using play-based therapy and other creative coping techniques for children ages 6-12 who have experienced the death of someone close to them.
The creative therapy will give children the chance to share fears and feelings in the context of a fun and comfortable environment and help them learn appropriate ways to cope with their grief.
Two sessions are available in both groups for children to attend. Session one is offered from 6:30 to 8 p.m., July 25, or from 3 to 4:30 p.m., July 26. Session two is offered from 10 to 11:30 a.m., July 28, or from 3 to 4:30 p.m., Aug. 2.
Registration is required by July 23.
For more information, contact Brooke at (815) 398-0500.
Founded in 1979, Northern Illinois Hospice and Grief Center (a 501(c)(3) organization) provides superior, compassionate end-of-life care for individuals, bereavement support for families and friends, and group and individual grief counseling for children, teens and adults.
For more information, visit www.northernillinoishospice.org or call (815) 398-0500.
From the July 18-24, 2012, issue


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(Article by Tom G.) I believe this was rumoured a few days ago, when Bob Hoskins decided to spread early Christmas cheer, by announcing Robert Zemeckis' latest project (the interesting thing is Bob Hoskins is not officially signed up to be in the film, so maybe he's just excited for pal, or desperately wants a role…but the fact he broke the story early, doesn't look too good for him!).
Anyway, by using the same state of the art technology which created an extremely creepy CGI Tom Hanks in Polar Express, Zemeckis is conjuring up a new version of A Christmas Carol for Walt Disney Pictures (because clearly all the other 20 or so adaptations of the story didn't quite get the message across).
And the star is none other than Jim Carrey, an actor who I absolutely love and who pains me every-time he accepts a really bad role in a film. What troubles me about this movie in particular, is that Zemeckis has signed Carrey up to not only play Scrooge, but also the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Now I don't doubt that Jimbo will have no problem pulling these characters off, and I'm sure they'll be an absolute hoot. But my issue is this recent trend of one actor playing a dozen roles (I'm looking at you Murphy! What does it take for you to be funny again!). While I can see the argument that it gives a performer a chance to develop a host of characters and get carried away, I find it troubling when actors are simply acting with…themselves. I just don't really believe you can produce an interesting performance in that instance, and I'd be much more interested watching two thespians play off each other, rather than a gang ofCarrey's mugging it up in a dank room. Hell even Michael Caine had the benefit of working with Muppets in his version of this tale!
Click here to read more on this story, and when the film arrives, look out for Bob Hoskins playing a lump of CGI coal!


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Despite being left in ninth place on the grid for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, Penske's Will Power put in the perfect performance to win a thrilling race.
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When an ill-timed red flag in qualifying on Saturday robbed Will Power of a record lap time around the 2.38-mile, 17-turn Barber Motorsports Park road course and dumped him into ninth place on the starting grid for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, it looked like the Australian was going to be missing out on any chance of a win and would have to settle for damage control instead.
After all: no one can really pass at Barber. Especially not without the old push to pass power boost systems (and as for those new-fangled KERS and DRS toys the F1 drivers have - forget it.) Add to that a field still tip-toeing around their new hardware and scared about breaking anything, and there was no realistic prospect of seeing any real action around here.
Well, it turns out that someone forgot to send out the memo to that effect.
From the moment that Will Power and Simon Pagenaud went either side of a slow EJ Viso down into turn 5 on the first lap, the action didn't stop. Everywhere you looked there were fierce battles going on all over the place, up and down the running order - the battle for the top spot was no more or less fierce than the scramble that was going on over 20th. This was racing of a sheer level of sparkling entertainment and unpredictability that the IZOD IndyCar Series hasn't seen since ... You fill in the blank. If you say "since ever", we're not going to disagree with you.
In the process we found out that the new 2012 IndyCar Safety cell chassis - the DW12 - is a robust little bruiser. Who knew? That aero bodywork that everyone expected to shatter at the first glancing blow proved well up to anything that the drivers threw at it on Sunday, and in the case of Marco Andretti that was quite a bit. He spent the first two thirds of the race seemingly looking for a fight at every corner, and pulling off some excellent tough-minded passes right up to the moment that his rear tyres fell off a cliff and he turned from being the hunter to the hunted for the final stint, rapidly succumbing to the overtaking moves of many of those he'd bested earlier in the race.
Power was another driver seizing his overtaking chances where they presented themselves, but he was rather more cautious and careful than Marco. "We were quick when we needed to be, put ourselves in a position to win - which I did not think was possible this morning," he said.
He was also rather more strategy-minded, starting on the harder-compound tyres to get them out of the way in a short first stint that then allowed him to run on the softer tyres for the rest of the day and make up spots while others cycled through on the harder rubber.
"It was an absolute team effort," said Power. "We went in thinking that we have to kind of be a little off-strategy to the other guys to be able to pass around here. So we started on black tyres, everyone else started on reds. We went to reds when everyone was on blacks. That got us a couple of spots.
"Then just with good stops and good strategy calls put me out in clean air so we could use our speed" he continued. "We slowly passed one by one. It was a very good team effort, absolute team effort. The strategy was perfect. The stops were perfect."
Power was up to sixth place after the first pit stop sequence was completed, which - thanks to a small hold-up for the Penske and Andretti teams - saw Scott Dixon emerge in front on lap 27 having leapfrogged early leaders Helio Castroneves and James Hinchcliffe. Power found himself behind Tony Kanaan, but a fine late-braking move by Power into turn 5 on lap 30 saw the Australian move past and up into fifth place, which would have to do until the next round of pit stops. Power came in on lap 41 while Dixon had a half dozen laps in hand and didn't have to come in until lap 47.
Dixon's stop was slow - like many teams found on Sunday, there were some issues with affixing the new tyres - and he emerged back on track only just ahead of Power. For the next few minutes it looked as though Power would take the lead there and then, but Power's tyres were already worn compared with the leader and he slowly fell off the back of the Ganassi and had to concentrate on maintaining his position ahead of the cars of Castroneves and Hinchcliffe that he had just jumped over with his pit stop.
By two-thirds race distance Dixon had a 3s lead over Power and looked to have the better of his fellow Antipodean. Power rallied and closed up the gap towards the end of the stint, but the final round of pit stops remained Power's only realistic chance of striking for the lead and he came in first of the two on lap 65. A lap later and Dixon responded, coming onto a suddenly crowded pit road: a problem with the rear right wheel nut falling out of the wheel gun caused a critical delay, and Dixon found himself having to wait a split second before pulling out of his pit box because of Viso coming past. Combined with being held up by HVM's Simona de Silvestro on pit entrance, Dixon lost the vital margin and when he emerged from his stop it was to see the #12 Penske car flash past just ahead of him.
"The last stop we had a bit of a fumble on one of the tyres where there was a wheel nut or something," said Dixon later. "On the out-lap I would say Will gained two or three seconds just because he wasn't in traffic. Then I think they were maybe a little bit quicker on their stop as well. Between that and trying to get out of the pits behind Viso, I'd say we lost three or four seconds in that, which gave Will the advantage."
Out on the track while all this was going on, Katherine Legge had spun off at turn 9 and her Lotus Dragon beached itself in the gravel trap. A full course caution was absolutely inevitable, but new race director Beaux Barfield knew better than to call it right in the middle of a round of pit stops and instead delayed it until the moment that Helio Castroneves - the last of the cars still in contention for the race win - came onto pit lane.
That set up a double-file restart on lap 76, however, with Power and Dixon starting alongside each other at the green flag. Dixon initially appeared to have the jump, but Power had the better line and was able to sweep the Kiwi just far enough out to skim the dirt verge and force him to ease off. Power had the position - and the victory, as he didn't put a wheel wrong for the remaining 14 laps of the race.
"The restart, got a good jump on them," said Dixon. "But obviously being on the inside, all [Power] had to do was drive in deeper. I had been really the first one to lift or he could have kept going and I would have run wide. Tried for a few laps there, burned the rear tyres off with about five or ten to go. That was all said and done."
The biggest loser in that final restart turned out to be James Hinchcliffe, who lost positions to Graham Rahal and Simon Pagenaud and fell from fourth place, to end his otherwise strong day in a rather frustrating sixth.
"If we would have beat Helio out of the pits on that final stop then I just would have had to keep him behind me, which on this track isn't impossible," Hinchcliffe noted. "But that yellow came out and because of the way the timing line works coming out of the pits they gave him the spot and again I got stuck on the outside for the restart. Graham got around me and that gave Pagenaud the run and we lost two spots that we shouldn't have. It's pretty disappointing given where we started."
Castroneves felt a sense of responsibility for Hinchcliffe's poor restart and offered an apology to the Canadian. "My car was already bad with those reds and as soon as we restarted the race it pushed so bad that we kind of squeezed him and I felt terrible," he said.
Graham Rahal was happy to finish in fourth place, having led for a period during the pit stop cycles and not having made an error all afternoon - just ultimately not quite having the pace of the leaders: "The Service Central Chip Ganassi Team did a fantastic job," he said. "We made no mistakes and that's what it's all about and at the end of the day we had a really solid finish. We move on from here on to Long Beach with a lot of confidence. We know we can run with these guys and we're going to try to do it again."
And Simon Pagenaud, finishing in fifth place, was one of the stars of the day, putting in some terrific overtaking moves during the afternoon. "I tell you today this car was probably the fastest one out there today," he said, calling fifth a really good result for Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports. "They say you can't pass around here, but I have a few tricks I'm not going to tell anyone. It was a fun, physical race."
Another driver for a small single-car team, Mike Conway in the #14 AJ Foyt Racing car, also had an impressive day at Barber. He was rarely out of the top ten and proved to be one of the few who was able to repel more overtaking moves than he yielded to. "Happy we finished in top 10 which is what we needed - still struggling with certain level of grip out there," he said.
Conway's only bad moment happened right at the very beginning of the race. "I was on the outside of Scott and he clipped Rahal and went wide. I was on the outside and had to drift out on grass. As I pulled back in I got so much stuff on my tyres, I couldn't get through turn 2. So much understeer, would've run into people. I lost a bunch of positions but got a couple back. We just had to hang in there all day. Tough day."
Rubens Barrichello was another to have a long, tough day of things and at one point seemed stuck well down the running order. But the veteran F1 driver dug deep and kept working at it, and by the closing laps he had popped up into the top ten in a strong eighth spot.
"Starting so far back and at some points in the race even further back, I think it was a positive that I was able to work my way back through the field," he said after completing only his second IZOD IndyCar Series race. "By the end of the race, I had one of the fastest running cars, so I think it was enjoyable to watch and for me to race."
Even so, Barrichello made it clear that he had been hoping and wanting for more from Barber, one of the few tracks that he'll race on this year that he won't arrive at completely unfamiliar with. "It's hard to be happy with [just] a top ten," he said. "People race hard over here, but they were fair. I had many knocks and bumps, but the cars are so robust in this series that we can luckily get away with it."
Barrichello had a particularly hard-fought battle over the closing laps with a familiar face from the F1 world - Sebastien Bourdais, who put a Lotus-powered car into the top ten by the chequered flag through a brilliant piece of driving against the odds.
"It was a really good race," said the former Toro Rosso F1 driver and four-time Champ Car champion. "I honestly didn't believe we were going to hold off Justin [Wilson], [James] Jakes and [Dario] Franchitti and all these guys and race them this close because we know we're at a big power disadvantage.
"Every time we get in traffic, we get swallowed up like we don't exist, so I was a little down before the race. Expectations were not super high," he admitted. "I was very happy with my car ... When the other cars lost their tyres, it really helped me put the moves of them. Our car held its tyres very well and that put us in that position. We passed a lot of people and it was a pretty exciting day."
It proved that while Lotus are definitely the engine minnows at this early stage of the season, there are signs of plenty of promise in the hands of the right driver. Oriol Servia also did commendably well, putting the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Lotus-powered car into 13th place, while Simona de Silvestro finished in 20th for HVM. Katherine Legge's spin off left her five laps off the lead by the end and down in 23rd place, while the fifth member of the Lotus contingent was Alex Tagliani who didn't complete a single lap before an electronics problem with the gearbox linkage caused the engine to die on him - similar to the problem that had hit Bourdais in the morning warm-up which had briefly left the Frenchman fearing an engine change might be required.
Taglinai was one of only three retirements during the race - a significant improvement on the reliability-challenged season opener last weekend at St Petersburg. Charlie Kimball had an mechanical issue shortly after running off-track through a chicane and had to park up at the midway point of the race, while Takuma Sato's Rahal Letterman Lanigan car died coming out of turn 6 after the Japanese driver had been challenging for position with Servia.
"It just stopped running - no drive to the rear wheels," said team co-owner Bobby Rahal.
"We were on the way to recovering positions but then all of a sudden I lost power," added Sato himself. "It is disappointing to have mechanical failures in two consecutive races but there are some positives from the weekend. I hope in Long Beach we are able to be competitive again and have a strong finish."
Tony Kanaan went multiple laps down after a shock absorber went bad on him, and Justin Wilson lost time and positions with a spin in turn 2 on lap 61, but fortunately he kept the engine running and was able to get underway again. Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing's rookie driver Josef Newgarden lost part of his front wing while trying to overtake Ed Carpenter but the debris was swept up under the Legge caution and Newgarden was able to continue to the finish on the lead lap in 17th place.
Penske's Ryan Briscoe had a tough day well off the pace of his podium-bound team mates with his tyres falling off shockingly in the middle section of the race, forcing him to compromise his race strategy by coming in for a new set which left him down in 14th place.
And then there was the curious case of Dario Franchitti: with his team mate up ahead challenging Castroneves and Power for the lead, Franchitti seemed mired in the teen positions for far too much of the race. Starting from 18th position on the grid he made some forward progress but would then plateau, and even fall back during the pit stops; nothing he did seemed to be working.
"It was a busy day and I passed a lot of cars, he said. "We lost some spaces on the first start and the last restart we pushed on the grass. No one was doing it intentionally, it's just people are trying to get out of each other's way and make some moves ... That last yellow we didn't need," he added.
But after the restart he kept at it and made some more late passes that saw him finish just in the top ten - which all things considered was a success, and Franchitti was visibly relieved with it.
"I have never been so happy for a 10th place finish," he admitted. "I think that is the best my car has felt through all of the practices and races and qualifying that we have had this year, so I will take that as a positive and that will give us some kind of direction going into Long Beach.
"There was some good racing though," he added. "There were some really good races out there today ... Hopefully it was a good day for the fans. There was a massive crowd and a lot of enthusiasm so it's cool."
It had indeed been a massive crowd at Barber Motorsports Park - close on being the biggest-ever attendance at the venue for any event. And the fans had been treated to a genuine racing entertainment spectacle, one of the best that the series has put on in a long while.
Part of that was the mixed-up grid after some topsy-turvy practice and qualifying sessions that left drivers out of position and determined to do something about it. Some more of the credit can go down to some of the most intelligent race control officiating seen in recent times in this or many other motorsports series. Then there's the reliability of the cars and the engines, and a growing parity between the teams and manufacturers that makes for some great racing action - notably the top eight was a perfectly balanced four-all score draw between Honda and Chevrolet this week.
All in all, the DW12 is shaping up to be an excellent addition to the series: tough and highly capable, fast and agile, not afraid of a scrap and determined to give fans a great afternoon's entertainment. In other words, very much like the driver for whom it is named in honour, who helped test and develop the car in 2011 and who has clearly left the series with a very promising legacy to move forward with.
Full race results are available.


text: Late last year NVidia swallowed its primary rival, the struggling 3dfx Interactive, to make the graphics board race a two-horse one. With the unveiling this week of the GeForce3 chip set and its programmable NfiniteFX engine, NVidia is pressing its lead on ATI Technologies's high-end Radeon board. You'll first see the new chip set in cards for Power Macs and Window PCs in March, and a version of the chip set is also booked for use in Microsoft's upcoming Xbox game console. In fact, Apple previewed the GeForce3 at Macworld Tokyo earlier in February, crediting it with enabling photo-realistic graphics and custom lighting that heightens drama. It will be available for the new Power Mac G4 introduced in January. The Mac version of the card will sell for around £400, with the PC version starting around £360. On the surface, the GeForce3 doesn't appear striking: Its 200MHz core clock speed is the same as that of the GeForce2 GTS (and slower than the 250 MHz of the GeForce2 Ultra). Its memory clock speed is the same as that of the Ultra. But its smaller .15-micron design, more-efficient graphics handling, and loads of transistors (57 million, more than twice that of the GeForce2 GTS) make it a much faster chip set than any in the GeForce2 line. "These devices are at least as complex as the latest processors from Intel," Reynolds says. In fact, the Pentium 4 has 42 million transistors, 15 million less than the GeForce3. Programming options boost realism These new and faster chips don't just speed up frame rates and increase screen resolution - they often use effects that make objects look better, such as the GeForce3's high-resolution antialiasing. Antialiasing removes the jagged edges of graphical objects to provide a smoother image, but the process can also slow performance to the point that many users turn off the feature. The GeForce3 promises nearly four times the speed of the GeForce2 Ultra in antialiasing, says Geoffrey Ballew, product manager for the GeForce3 line. But it isn't the speed increases alone that make the GeForce3 stand out, it's also the flexibility of its NfiniteFX engine. Since the engine is programmable, developers can create lighting effects and custom looks for screen objects and backgrounds instead of being forced to choose from a limited set. John Carmack, lead programmer at Id software and the brains behind the first-person shooters Doom and Quake, praises the chip in his online .plan file. "The short answer is that the GeForce3 is fantastic," says Carmack. "I haven't had such an impression of raising the performance bar since the Voodoo2 came out, and there are a ton of new features for programmers to play with." The capabilities of the GeForce3 mirror those supported by Microsoft's DirectX 8 application programming interface, says product manager Ballew. "We worked with Microsoft to define it, and we will work with Microsoft to refine it," he says.


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Published Monday, Sept. 9, 2013 | 12:54 p.m.
Updated Monday, Sept. 9, 2013 | 8:30 p.m.
WASHINGTON — Sen. Harry Reid announced Monday night that he will delay plans to have the Senate vote to authorize limited strikes against Syria, to give President Barack Obama more time to update Congress on a rapidly changing situation.
"I don't think we need to see how fast we can do this," Reid said. "We have to see how well we can do this matter."
Reid, who supports limited strikes, had argued earlier on Monday that supporting the military option is a must for anyone with a conscience.
"'The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crisis maintain their neutrality,'" Reid said, quoting Dante's Inferno to explain his views on Syria.
"Some say it's not our fight. Some say Syria is too far away. Some say it's not in our security interest," Reid said. "I believe America must set the example for the rest of the world."
But on Monday, already tenuous support for military engagement in Congress was further weakened by reports that Russia had persuaded Syria to turn over its chemical weapons to international authorities.
In interviews with television networks Monday afternoon, Obama sounded positive about the developments — and said he had in fact, already discussed them with Russian President Vladimir Putin during last week's G20 conference.
"If we can exhaust these diplomatic efforts and come up with a formula that gives the international community a verifiable, enforceable mechanism to deal with these chemical weapons in Syria, then I'm all for it," Obama told PBS's NewsHour. "But we're going to have to see specifics."
The developments are further slowing a process that had already begun to lose momentum over the weekend.
As Congress returned Monday, doubts — especially in the House — threatened to derail Obama's effort to earn congressional approval for military strikes in Syria.
Against that backdrop, Reid pledged that the Senate would vote on Wednesday to authorize limited strikes in Syria. Reid did not entirely take that option off the table Monday night — he simply said that he intended to give Obama more time to make his case, amid changing circumstances, to lawmakers and the country on Tuesday night, and would set up a Syria vote "when appropriate."
Procedurally, Reid is expecting to need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.
Urging lawmakers to "remember our history," Reid cited the death tolls from mustard gas in World War I and gas chambers in the Nazi concentration camps of World War II, as specters that might drive lawmakers to vote in favor of the authorization. And he recounted images from videos of an Aug. 21 attack on civilians — especially children — in Ghouta, Syria.
"If we allow Assad's use of chemical weapons to go unchecked and unanswered, hostile forces around the world will assume these type of attacks are permissible," Reid said. "That's why the massacres in Syria are our business and our concern, both as humans and Americans."
But while Reid's passion was palpable, his arguments did not cut to the core of what skeptics have been voicing as their prime concerns.
One concern, raised immediately after Reid's comments by Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., is whether Reid and others in favor of strikes are motivated by their moral outrage or by a desire to protect the credibility of the president, who last year called the use of chemical weapons in Syria a "red line."
"I'm certain that if the president had not drawn his red line, Assad's use of chemical weapons would be roundly condemned," Coats said. "But we would be no more near to engage in this civil war than in other conflicts" where chemical weapons have been used.
Another unanswered concern comes from the ranks of Reid's own Nevada delegation. Both Republican and Democratic representatives have shared in Reid's revulsion at the attack, but they have openly wondered whether the U.S. has given enough thought to what might happen after a limited strike.
"It is not enough to just send a message to Assad without understanding the implications for our long-term strategy in Syria, in the Middle East and with Iran and North Korea," Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., said last week.
In an interview with Charlie Rose broadcast on PBS Monday night, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad warned the United States that if there is an attack, "you should expect everything" in response, both from the Syrian government and from terrorist groups.


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Third annual Run for the Roses deemed a success
Theatre L'Homme Dieu (TLHD) held its third annual Run for the Roses fundraiser on Saturday, May 4 at the Alexandria Golf Club.
More than 100 people attended the Kentucky Derby-themed party. Volunteer help was offered by 15 members of the Newcomers.
Proceeds from the silent auction, 50/50 raffle, games and event went to support the programming that TLHD brings to the Alexandria area during the summer months.
The event was sponsored by Geneva Capital, Arabella Manor, Cullen's Home Center and Geyer Rental.
Donors to the silent auction and games included Doolittle's, Alexandria Area Arts Association, Walmart, Carlos Creek Winery, Cinema 9, Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center, Lake Region Eye Center, Pete's County Market and Hedine Jewelers.
Two of the items were a week-long stay at a villa in Puerto Vallarta and a two-night stay at Wynn Las Vegas.
TLHD looks forward to another summer of productions, with plans already under way for next year's Run for the Roses fundraiser, slated for Saturday, May 3.


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Grace Burrowes
The Laird (Captive Hearts)
Sourcebooks Casablanca / September 2, 2014 / $7.99 print and digital
He left his bride to go to war...
After years of soldiering, Michael Brodie returns to his Highland estate to find that the bride he left behind has become a stranger. Brenna is self-sufficient, competent, confident-and furious about Michael's prolonged absence.
Now his most important battle will be for her heart
Brenna is also hurt, bewildered, and tired of fighting for the respect of those around her. Michael left her when she needed him most, and then stayed away even after the war ended. Nonetheless, the young man who abandoned her has come home a wiser, more patient and honorable husband. But if she trusts Michael with the truths she's been guarding, he'll have to choose between his wife and everything else he holds dear.
In her most recent novel, The Traitor, Grace Burrowes accomplished the difficult challenge of rehabilitating Sebastian St. Clair, formerly a professional torturer in Napoleon's employ. The Laird is a book for anyone who found The Traitor too-light-hearted. The story of Sebastian's boon companion Michael Brodie and Michael's long-estranged wife Brenna, The Laird details sensitively yet frankly with a very dark topic indeed: the sexual abuse of a child. Although Burrowes is not gratuitous in her handling of this topic, neither does she pull any punches. This has been your trigger warning.
Michael married Brenna when she was only sixteen, immediately before he left home to do his part against the Corsican. Even though—with what must have been superhuman restraint—he refused to consummate the marriage, as he didn't want to risk leaving Brenna pregnant and alone, she begged him to take her with him. He declined that offer, too—he wasn't taking his wife into any war zone—not realizing that his new bride was fighting her own private battles.
In fact, for years, Brenna had been enduring the perverted attentions of a very sick individual (I won't spoil his identity here, but you'll probably figure it out right away), who stuck around after Michael left, ostensibly to keep an eye on things. Then, Michael didn't come home, even after Napoleon was routed, and letters were scarce. Of course, the mails were not as reliable then as they are now, and mail between Michael and Brenna was even less reliable than it might otherwise have been, if you're picking up what I'm putting down.
Now he's home, and Brenna is sitting on nine long years of suppressed rage and fear. Michael knows that he has some fences to mend, but he doesn't grasp the extent of Brenna's pain. He just knows that she's acting cold, stand-offish, and modest to an almost ridiculous degree. Meanwhile, his estate seems to be falling apart. And worst of all, his youngest sister Maeve has unexpectedly arrived. She's lonely and feels neglected. And the very worst person possible has noticed her.
Given its subject matter, The Laird will not be to everyone's taste. However, those who do read it will enjoy Burrowes' deft characterization and suspenseful plot—and will appreciate the opportunity to catch up with Sebastian and Milly from The Traitor, who appear on the scene at a particularly opportune moment to offer a shoulder and a listening ear to the beleaguered couple. And at the end, when Michael declares to his wife "I will fall in love with you every day for the next hundred years," and she replies "I'll fall in love with you every night, then. We'll share the work," it's particularly satisfying; this couple, of all of Burrowes' many happy pairs, has fought hard for their HEA, and their victory over the most malign forces seems especially hard-earned and nobly won.
Again, Burrowes doesn't sugarcoat matters, and sensitive readers should be aware that there's a scene near the end in which Brenna describes—delicately, but very specifically— the abuse she's suffered. It's deeply disturbing, and it ought to be. However, the book ends on a happy and hopeful note. Michael and Brenna's suffering is intense, but that makes their eventual HEA all the more satisfactory.
Learn more about or order a copy of The Laird by Grace Burrowes, available September 2, 2014:
Kate Nagy contributes to Geek Speak Magazine and blogs at http://kateholdscourt.wordpress.com/.