Mesoproterozoic graphite deposits, New Jersey Highlands: Geologic and stable isotopic evidence for possible algal origins

USGS Publications Warehouse

Volkert, R.A.

2000-01-01

Graphite deposits of Mesoproterozoic age are locally abundant in the eastern New Jersey Highlands, where they are hosted by sulphidic biotite-quartz-feldspar gneiss, metaquartzite, and anatectic pegmatite. Gneiss and metaquartzite represent a shallow marine shelf sequence of locally organic-rich sand and mud. Graphite from massive deposits within metaquartzite yielded ??13C values of -26 ?? 2??? (1??), and graphite from massive deposits within biotite-quartz-feldspar gneiss yielded ??13C values of -23 ??4???. Disseminated graphite from biotite-quartz-feldspar gneiss country rock was -22 ??3???, indistinguishable from the massive deposits hosted by the same lithology. Anatectic pegmatite is graphitic only where generated from graphite-bearing host rocks; one sample gave a ??13C value of -15???. The ??34S values of trace pyrrhotite are uniform within individual deposits, but vary from 0 to 9??? from one deposit to another. Apart from pegmatitic occurrences, evidence is lacking for long-range mobilization of carbon during Grenvillian orogenesis or post-Grenvillian tectonism. The field, petrographic, and isotope data suggest that massive graphite was formed by granulite-facies metamorphism of Proterozoic accumulations of sedimentary organic matter, possibly algal mats. Preservation of these accumulations in the sedimentary environment requires anoxic basin waters or rapid burial. Anoxia would also favour the accumulation of dissolved ferrous iron in basin waters, which may explain some of the metasediment-hosted massive magnetite deposits in the New Jersey Highlands. ?? 2000 NRC.

Planet Formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; DeVincenzi, Donald L. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

An overview of current theories of star and planet formation is presented. These models are based upon observations of the Solar System and of young stars and their environments. They predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, although it is possible that in some cases such planets are lost to orbital decay within the protoplanetary disk. The frequency of formation of gas giant planets is more difficult to predict theoretically. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates.

Formation of Planetary Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; DeVincenzi, Donald (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

An overview of current theories of star and planet formation is presented. These models are based upon observations of the Solar System and of young stars and their environments. They predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, although it is possible that in some cases such planets are lost to orbital decay within the protoplanetary disk. The frequency of formation of gas giant planets is more difficult to predict theoretically. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates.

The Birth of Planetary Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissaur, Jack L.

1997-01-01

An overview of current theories of star and planet formation is presented. These models are based upon observations of the Solar System and of young stars and their environments. They predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, although it is possible that in some cases such planets are lost to orbital decay within the protoplanetary disk. The frequency of formation of gas giant planets is more difficult to predict theoretically. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates.

Occurrence and origin of minerals in a chamosite-bearing coal of Late Permian age, Zhaotong, Yunnan, China

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dai, S.; Chou, C.-L.

2007-01-01

The minerals found in the no.5 coal (Late Permian) from the Zhaotong Coalfield, Yunnan Province, southwestern China, have been examined and found to consist mainly of kaolinite, pyrite, chamosite, quartz, and calcite, with trace amounts of illite and mixed-layer illite-smectite. The proportion of chamosite in clay minerals ranges from 32 to 56 wt%, with an average of 46 wt%. Chamosite is distributed not only in collodetrinite, but also occurs as cell fillings in fusinite, semifusinite, and telinite. The high content and mode of occurrence of chamosite in this mine indicate its formation by interaction of kaolinite with Fe-Mg-rich fluids during early diagenesis. Except for a minor amount of terfigenous quartz, most quartz is of authigenic origin and formed from kaolinite desilication. The calcite content of the no. 5 coal is 1.4-6.3% (with an average of 3%) and is distributed in collodetrinite and as cell fillings of coal-forming plants. Calcite originated from seawater invasion during peat accumulation. Pyrite occurs in several ways: as massive, framboidal, isolated enhedral/ anhedral, and euhedral forms. In addition, the presence of a large amount of pyritized red algae provides strong evidence of seawater invasion during peat accumulation. The red algae may have played an important role in the enrichment of sulfur in the coal. The characteristic assemblage of minerals in this mine resulted from a unique basinal environment in which the mineral matter was derived from a basaltic source region, volcanic activity, and seawater transgression during coal formation.

Transport of metals and sulphur in magmas by flotation of sulphide melt on vapour bubbles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mungall, J. E.; Brenan, J. M.; Godel, B.; Barnes, S. J.; Gaillard, F.

2015-03-01

Emissions of sulphur and metals from magmas in Earth’s shallow crust can have global impacts on human society. Sulphur-bearing gases emitted into the atmosphere during volcanic eruptions affect climate, and metals and sulphur can accumulate in the crust above a magma reservoir to form giant copper and gold ore deposits, as well as massive sulphur anomalies. The volumes of sulphur and metals that accumulate in the crust over time exceed the amounts that could have been derived from an isolated magma reservoir. They are instead thought to come from injections of multiple new batches of vapour- and sulphide-saturated magmas into the existing reservoirs. However, the mechanism for the selective upward transfer of sulphur and metals is poorly understood because their main carrier phase, sulphide melt, is dense and is assumed to settle to the bottoms of magma reservoirs. Here we use laboratory experiments as well as gas-speciation and mass-balance models to show that droplets of sulphide melt can attach to vapour bubbles to form compound drops that float. We demonstrate the feasibility of this mechanism for the upward mobility of sulphide liquids to the shallow crust. Our work provides a mechanism for the atmospheric release of large amounts of sulphur, and contradicts the widely held assumption that dense sulphide liquids rich in sulphur, copper and gold will remain sequestered in the deep crust.

Multiple sources and extensive degradation of terrestrial sedimentary organic matter across an energetic, wide continental shelf

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Chun; Wagner, Thomas; Pan, Jian-Ming; Pancost, Richard D.

2011-08-01

The fate of organic carbon in marine sediments is closely linked to atmospheric CO2 concentrations and thus to climate variability over geological time scales. The East China Sea (ECS) is characterized not only by massive terrestrial organic matter (TOM) inputs from the Yangtze (Changjiang) River but also by a shallow (<130 m) and broad (>500 km) continental shelf with widespread relict sands, such that it is distinct from other continental margins. We examine the diagenesis of sedimentary TOM and the impacts of relict sands on TOM in the ECS. The results reveal that bulk δ13Corg values correlate with terrestrial biomarker concentrations in muddy and accumulative areas; in contrast, depleted δ13Corg values around -24.5‰ co-occur with almost absent terrestrial biomarkers in sandy/erosional areas. We suggest that mixing of contemporary TOM and marine OM dominates in the muddy/accumulative shelf areas, whereas a putative relict OM, associated with relict sands, appears to be significant in many sandy/erosional shelf areas. Given the global occurrence of relict sands, a persistent amount of relict OC (e.g., 0.1%) may complicate TOM budget calculations. In addition, our observations reveal that TOM is extensively partitioned and degraded in the estuary and continues to be partitioned and degraded during the along-shore and across-shelf transport, which is reflected by decreases in terrestrial biomarker concentrations and increases in degradation indices. This study highlights the unique and dynamic role of shallow and wide continental shelves with massive relict sands on TOM cycling.

Planetary Formation: From the Earth and Moon to Extrasolar Giant Planets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack; DeVincenzi, Donald (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

An overview of current theories of star and planet formation is presented. These models are based upon observations of the Solar System and of young stars and their environments. They predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, although it is possible that in some cases such planets are lost to orbital decay within the protoplanetary disk. The frequency of formation of gas giant planets is more difficult to predict theoretically. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates. Specific issues to be discussed include: (1) how large a solid core is needed to initiate rapid accumulation of gas? (2) can giant planets form very close to stars? (3) could a giant impact leading to lunar formation have occurred approximately 100 million years after the condensation of the oldest meteorites?

Planetary Formation: From the Earth and Moon to Extrasolar Giant Planets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; DeVincenzi, Donald (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

An overview of current theories of star and planet formation is presented. These models are based upon observations of the Solar System and of young stars and their environments. They predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, although it is possible that in some cases-such planets are lost to orbital decay within the protoplanetary disk. The frequency of formation of gas giant planets is more difficult to predict theoretically. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates. Specific issues to be discussed include: (1) how large a solid core is needed to initiate rapid accumulation of gas? (2) can giant planets form very close to stars? (3) could a giant impact leading to lunar formation have occurred approx. 100 million years after the condensation of the oldest meteorites?

Planet Formation and the Characteristics of Extrasolar Planets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; DeVincenzi, Donald L. (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

An overview of current theories of planetary growth, emphasizing the formation of extrasolar planets, is presented. Models of planet formation are based upon observations of the Solar System, extrasolar planets, and young stars and their environments. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but if they become massive enough before the protoplanetary disk dissipates, then they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas. These models predict that rocky planets should form in orbit about most single stars. It is uncertain whether or not gas giant planet formation is common, because most protoplanetary disks may dissipate before solid planetary cores can grow large enough to gravitationally trap substantial quantities of gas. A potential hazard to planetary systems is radial decay of planetary orbits resulting from interactions with material within the disk. Planets more massive than Earth have the potential to decay the fastest, and may be able to sweep up smaller planets in their path. The implications of the giant planets found in recent radial velocity searches for the abundances of habitable planets are discussed.

Origin and Diversity of Planetary Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Young, Richard E. (Technical Monitor)

1997-01-01

Modern theories of star and planet formation, which are based upon observations of the Solar System and of young stars and their environments, predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, although it is possible that most such planets are lost to orbital decay within the protoplanetary disk. The frequency of formation of gas giant planets is more difficult to predict theoretically. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates. Models for the formation of the giant planets found in recent radial velocity searches are discussed.

The Birth of Planetary Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Young, Richard E. (Technical Monitor)

1997-01-01

An overview of current theories of star and planet formation is presented. These models are based upon observations of the Solar System and of young stars and their environments, and they predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, although it is possible that in some cases such planets are lost to orbital decay within the protoplanetary disk. The frequency of formation of gas giant planets is more difficult to predict theoretically. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates.

DYNAMICAL ACCRETION OF PRIMORDIAL ATMOSPHERES AROUND PLANETS WITH MASSES BETWEEN 0.1 AND 5 M {sub ⊕} IN THE HABITABLE ZONE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stökl, Alexander; Dorfi, Ernst A.; Johnstone, Colin P.

2016-07-10

In the early, disk-embedded phase of evolution of terrestrial planets, a protoplanetary core can accumulate gas from the circumstellar disk into a planetary envelope. In order to relate the accumulation and structure of this primordial atmosphere to the thermal evolution of the planetary core, we calculated atmosphere models characterized by the surface temperature of the core. We considered cores with masses between 0.1 and 5 M {sub ⊕} situated in the habitable zone around a solar-like star. The time-dependent simulations in 1D-spherical symmetry include the hydrodynamics equations, gray radiative transport, and convective energy transport. Using an implicit time integration scheme,more » we can use large time steps and and thus efficiently cover evolutionary timescales. Our results show that planetary atmospheres, when considered with reference to a fixed core temperature, are not necessarily stable, and multiple solutions may exist for one core temperature. As the structure and properties of nebula-embedded planetary atmospheres are an inherently time-dependent problem, we calculated estimates for the amount of primordial atmosphere by simulating the accretion process of disk gas onto planetary cores and the subsequent evolution of the embedded atmospheres. The temperature of the planetary core is thereby determined from the computation of the internal energy budget of the core. For cores more massive than about one Earth mass, we obtain that a comparatively short duration of the disk-embedded phase (∼10{sup 5} years) is sufficient for the accumulation of significant amounts of hydrogen atmosphere that are unlikely to be removed by later atmospheric escape processes.« less

Insects, Fires, and Climate Change: Implications for Snow Cover, Water Resources and Ecosystem Recovery in Western North America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brooks, P. D.; Harpold, A. A.; Biederman, J. A.; Litvak, M. E.; Broxton, P. D.; Gochis, D.; Molotch, N. P.; Troch, P. A.; Ewers, B. E.

2012-12-01

Unprecedented levels of insect induced tree mortality and massive wildfires both have spread through the forests of Western North America over the last decade. Warming temperatures and increased drought stress have been implicated as major factors in the increasing spatial extent and frequency of these forest disturbances, but it is unclear how simultaneous changes in forest structure and climate will interact to affect either downstream water resources or the regeneration and recovery of forested ecosystems. Because both streamflow and ecosystem productivity depend on seasonal snowmelt, a critical knowledge gap exists in how these disturbances will interact with a changing climate to control to the amount, timing, and the partitioning of seasonal snow cover This presentation will address this knowledge gap by synthesizing recent work on snowpack dynamics and ecosystem productivity from seasonally snow-covered forests along a gradient of snow depth and duration from Arizona to Montana. These include undisturbed sites, recently burned forests, and areas of extensive insect-induced forest mortality. Both before-after and control-impacted studies of forest disturbance on snow accumulation and ablation suggest that the spatial scale of snow distribution increases following disturbance, but net snow water input likely will not increase under a warming climate. While forest disturbance changes spatial scale of snowpack partitioning, the amount and especially the timing of snow cover accumulation and ablation are strongly related to interannual variability in ecosystem productivity with both earlier snowmelt and later snow accumulation associated with decreased carbon uptake. These observations suggest that the ecosystem services of water provision and carbon storage may be very different in the forests that regenerate after disturbance.

Time-Dependent Simulations of the Formation and Evolution of Disk-Accreted Atmospheres Around Terrestrial Planets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stoekl, Alexander; Dorfi, Ernst

2014-05-01

In the early, embedded phase of evolution of terrestrial planets, the planetary core accumulates gas from the circumstellar disk into a planetary envelope. This atmosphere is very significant for the further thermal evolution of the planet by forming an insulation around the rocky core. The disk-captured envelope is also the staring point for the atmospheric evolution where the atmosphere is modified by outgassing from the planetary core and atmospheric mass loss once the planet is exposed to the radiation field of the host star. The final amount of persistent atmosphere around the evolved planet very much characterizes the planet and is a key criterion for habitability. The established way to study disk accumulated atmospheres are hydrostatic models, even though in many cases the assumption of stationarity is unlikely to be fulfilled. We present, for the first time, time-dependent radiation hydrodynamics simulations of the accumulation process and the interaction between the disk-nebula gas and the planetary core. The calculations were performed with the TAPIR-Code (short for The adaptive, implicit RHD-Code) in spherical symmetry solving the equations of hydrodynamics, gray radiative transport, and convective energy transport. The models range from the surface of the solid core up to the Hill radius where the planetary envelope merges into the surrounding protoplanetary disk. Our results show that the time-scale of gas capturing and atmospheric growth strongly depends on the mass of the solid core. The amount of atmosphere accumulated during the lifetime of the protoplanetary disk (typically a few Myr) varies accordingly with the mass of the planet. Thus, a core with Mars-mass will end up with about 10 bar of atmosphere while for an Earth-mass core, the surface pressure reaches several 1000 bar. Even larger planets with several Earth masses quickly capture massive envelopes which in turn become gravitationally unstable leading to runaway accretion and the eventual formation of a gas planet.

New insights into Fe localization in plant tissues

PubMed Central

Roschzttardtz, Hannetz; Conéjéro, Geneviève; Divol, Fanchon; Alcon, Carine; Verdeil, Jean-Luc; Curie, Catherine; Mari, Stéphane

2013-01-01

Deciphering cellular iron (Fe) homeostasis requires having access to both quantitative and qualitative information on the subcellular pools of Fe in tissues and their dynamics within the cells. We have taken advantage of the Perls/DAB Fe staining procedure to perform a systematic analysis of Fe distribution in roots, leaves and reproductive organs of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, using wild-type and mutant genotypes affected in iron transport and storage. Roots of soil-grown plants accumulate iron in the apoplast of the central cylinder, a pattern that is strongly intensified when the citrate effluxer FRD3 is not functional, thus stressing the importance of citrate in the apoplastic movement of Fe. In leaves, Fe level is low and only detected in and around vascular tissues. In contrast, Fe staining in leaves of iron-treated plants extends in the surrounding mesophyll cells where Fe deposits, likely corresponding to Fe-ferritin complexes, accumulate in the chloroplasts. The loss of ferritins in the fer1,3,4 triple mutant provoked a massive accumulation of Fe in the apoplastic space, suggesting that in the absence of iron buffering in the chloroplast, cells activate iron efflux and/or repress iron influx to limit the amount of iron in the cell. In flowers, Perls/DAB staining has revealed a major sink for Fe in the anthers. In particular, developing pollen grains accumulate detectable amounts of Fe in small-size intracellular bodies that aggregate around the vegetative nucleus at the binuclear stage and that were identified as amyloplasts. In conclusion, using the Perls/DAB procedure combined to selected mutant genotypes, this study has established a reliable atlas of Fe distribution in the main Arabidopsis organs, proving and refining long-assumed intracellular locations and uncovering new ones. This “iron map” of Arabidopsis will serve as a basis for future studies of possible actors of iron movement in plant tissues and cell compartments. PMID:24046774

Citrate metabolism and its complications in non-massive blood transfusions: association with decompensated metabolic alkalosis+respiratory acidosis and serum electrolyte levels.

PubMed

Bıçakçı, Zafer; Olcay, Lale

2014-06-01

Metabolic alkalosis, which is a non-massive blood transfusion complication, is not reported in the literature although metabolic alkalosis dependent on citrate metabolism is reported to be a massive blood transfusion complication. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of elevated carbon dioxide production due to citrate metabolism and serum electrolyte imbalance in patients who received frequent non-massive blood transfusions. Fifteen inpatients who were diagnosed with different conditions and who received frequent blood transfusions (10-30 ml/kg/day) were prospectively evaluated. Patients who had initial metabolic alkalosis (bicarbonate>26 mmol/l), who needed at least one intensive blood transfusion in one-to-three days for a period of at least 15 days, and whose total transfusion amount did not fit the massive blood transfusion definition (<80 ml/kg) were included in the study. The estimated mean total citrate administered via blood and blood products was calculated as 43.2 ± 34.19 mg/kg/day (a total of 647.70 mg/kg in 15 days). Decompensated metabolic alkalosis+respiratory acidosis developed as a result of citrate metabolism. There was a positive correlation between cumulative amount of citrate and the use of fresh frozen plasma, venous blood pH, ionized calcium, serum-blood gas sodium and mortality, whereas there was a negative correlation between cumulative amount of citrate and serum calcium levels, serum phosphorus levels and amount of urine chloride. In non-massive, but frequent blood transfusions, elevated carbon dioxide production due to citrate metabolism causes intracellular acidosis. As a result of intracellular acidosis compensation, decompensated metabolic alkalosis+respiratory acidosis and electrolyte imbalance may develop. This situation may contribute to the increase in mortality. In conclusion, it should be noted that non-massive, but frequent blood transfusions may result in certain complications. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Query-Structure Based Web Page Indexing

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-11-01

the massive amount of data present on the web. In our third participation in the web track at TREC 2012, we explore the idea of building an...the ad-hoc and diversity task. 1 INTRODUCTION The rapid growth and massive quantities of data on the Internet have increased the importance and...complexity of information retrieval systems. The amount and the diversity of the web data introduce shortcomings in the way search engines rank their

A review of the effects of agricultural and industrial contamination on the Ebro delta biota and wildlife.

PubMed

Mañosa, S; Mateo, R; Guitart, R

2001-10-01

The Ebro delta (NE Spain) is a 320 km2 wetland area of international importance for conservation. The area is devoted to rice farming and receives large amounts of pesticides. Industrial pollutants are also carried to the delta by the river. The information accumulated during the last 25 year on the effect of such pollution on the biota is reviewed in order to identify the existing gaps and needs for management. Organochlorine pesticides were legally used until 1977, which has resulted in the widespread presence of these compounds in the Ebro delta biota. Lethal, sublethal or other detrimental effects of these pesticides on wildlife in the area were poorly investigated, but negative effects on the reproduction of ducks and herons were reported. Nowadays, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are the main responsible of organochlorine pollution in the area: concentrations in biota samples are higher than levels observed in nearby coastal areas, as a result of the significant PCB inputs by the river which, in 1990, were evaluated at 126 kg yr(-1). The massive use of herbicides is thought to have contributed to the elimation of macrophyte vegetation in the lagoons during the eighties, which had strong consequences on diving ducks and coot populations. Weed control is also related to the loss of biodiversity held by rice fields. The massive and inadequate use of organophosphorus and carbamate pesticides (involving more than 20,000 t yr(-1) has produced some waterbird mortality events, and may have direct and indirect effects on other non-target organisms. The accumulation in the soil of lead pellets used in waterfowl shooting is estimated to kill some 16,300 waterbirds in the Ebro delta every year.

Accumulation of Carotenoids and Expression of Carotenoid Biosynthetic Genes during Maturation in Citrus Fruit1

PubMed Central

Kato, Masaya; Ikoma, Yoshinori; Matsumoto, Hikaru; Sugiura, Minoru; Hyodo, Hiroshi; Yano, Masamichi

2004-01-01

The relationship between carotenoid accumulation and the expression of carotenoid biosynthetic genes during fruit maturation was investigated in three citrus varieties, Satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marc.), Valencia orange (Citrus sinensis Osbeck), and Lisbon lemon (Citrus limon Burm.f.). We cloned the cDNAs for phytoene synthase (CitPSY), phytoene desaturase (CitPDS), ζ-carotene (car) desaturase (CitZDS), carotenoid isomerase (CitCRTISO), lycopene β-cyclase (CitLCYb), β-ring hydroxylase (CitHYb), zeaxanthin (zea) epoxidase (CitZEP), and lycopene ε-cyclase (CitLCYe) from Satsuma mandarin, which shared high identities in nucleotide sequences with Valencia orange, Lisbon lemon, and other plant species. With the transition of peel color from green to orange, the change from β,ε-carotenoid (α-car and lutein) accumulation to β,β-carotenoid (β-car, β-cryptoxanthin, zea, and violaxanthin) accumulation was observed in the flavedos of Satsuma mandarin and Valencia orange, accompanying the disappearance of CitLCYe transcripts and the increase in CitLCYb transcripts. Even in green fruit, high levels of β,ε-carotenoids and CitLCYe transcripts were not observed in the juice sacs. As fruit maturation progressed in Satsuma mandarin and Valencia orange, a simultaneous increase in the expression of genes (CitPSY, CitPDS, CitZDS, CitLCYb, CitHYb, and CitZEP) led to massive β,β-xanthophyll (β-cryptoxanthin, zea, and violaxanthin) accumulation in both the flavedo and juice sacs. The gene expression of CitCRTISO was kept low or decreased in the flavedo during massive β,β-xanthophyll accumulation. In the flavedo of Lisbon lemon and Satsuma mandarin, massive accumulation of phytoene was observed with a decrease in the transcript level for CitPDS. Thus, the carotenoid accumulation during citrus fruit maturation was highly regulated by the coordination of the expression among carotenoid biosynthetic genes. In this paper, the mechanism leading to diversity in β,β-xanthophyll compositions between Satsuma mandarin and Valencia orange was also discussed on the basis of the substrate specificity of β-ring hydroxylase and the balance of expression between upstream synthesis genes (CitPSY, CitPDS, CitZDS, and CitLCYb) and downstream synthesis genes (CitHYb and CitZEP). PMID:14739348

A Hybrid Multilevel Storage Architecture for Electric Power Dispatching Big Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Hu; Huang, Bibin; Hong, Bowen; Hu, Jing

2017-10-01

Electric power dispatching is the center of the whole power system. In the long run time, the power dispatching center has accumulated a large amount of data. These data are now stored in different power professional systems and form lots of information isolated islands. Integrating these data and do comprehensive analysis can greatly improve the intelligent level of power dispatching. In this paper, a hybrid multilevel storage architecture for electrical power dispatching big data is proposed. It introduces relational database and NoSQL database to establish a power grid panoramic data center, effectively meet power dispatching big data storage needs, including the unified storage of structured and unstructured data fast access of massive real-time data, data version management and so on. It can be solid foundation for follow-up depth analysis of power dispatching big data.

Epigenetic changes of DNA repair genes in cancer.

PubMed

Lahtz, Christoph; Pfeifer, Gerd P

2011-02-01

'Every Hour Hurts, The Last One Kills'. That is an old saying about getting old. Every day, thousands of DNA damaging events take place in each cell of our body, but efficient DNA repair systems have evolved to prevent that. However, our DNA repair system and that of most other organisms are not as perfect as that of Deinococcus radiodurans, for example, which is able to repair massive amounts of DNA damage at one time. In many instances, accumulation of DNA damage has been linked to cancer, and genetic deficiencies in specific DNA repair genes are associated with tumor-prone phenotypes. In addition to mutations, which can be either inherited or somatically acquired, epigenetic silencing of DNA repair genes may promote tumorigenesis. This review will summarize current knowledge of the epigenetic inactivation of different DNA repair components in human cancer.

Improving Hierarchical Models Using Historical Data with Applications in High-Throughput Genomics Data Analysis.

PubMed

Li, Ben; Li, Yunxiao; Qin, Zhaohui S

2017-06-01

Modern high-throughput biotechnologies such as microarray and next generation sequencing produce a massive amount of information for each sample assayed. However, in a typical high-throughput experiment, only limited amount of data are observed for each individual feature, thus the classical 'large p , small n ' problem. Bayesian hierarchical model, capable of borrowing strength across features within the same dataset, has been recognized as an effective tool in analyzing such data. However, the shrinkage effect, the most prominent feature of hierarchical features, can lead to undesirable over-correction for some features. In this work, we discuss possible causes of the over-correction problem and propose several alternative solutions. Our strategy is rooted in the fact that in the Big Data era, large amount of historical data are available which should be taken advantage of. Our strategy presents a new framework to enhance the Bayesian hierarchical model. Through simulation and real data analysis, we demonstrated superior performance of the proposed strategy. Our new strategy also enables borrowing information across different platforms which could be extremely useful with emergence of new technologies and accumulation of data from different platforms in the Big Data era. Our method has been implemented in R package "adaptiveHM", which is freely available from https://github.com/benliemory/adaptiveHM.

Improving Hierarchical Models Using Historical Data with Applications in High-Throughput Genomics Data Analysis

PubMed Central

Li, Ben; Li, Yunxiao; Qin, Zhaohui S.

2016-01-01

Modern high-throughput biotechnologies such as microarray and next generation sequencing produce a massive amount of information for each sample assayed. However, in a typical high-throughput experiment, only limited amount of data are observed for each individual feature, thus the classical ‘large p, small n’ problem. Bayesian hierarchical model, capable of borrowing strength across features within the same dataset, has been recognized as an effective tool in analyzing such data. However, the shrinkage effect, the most prominent feature of hierarchical features, can lead to undesirable over-correction for some features. In this work, we discuss possible causes of the over-correction problem and propose several alternative solutions. Our strategy is rooted in the fact that in the Big Data era, large amount of historical data are available which should be taken advantage of. Our strategy presents a new framework to enhance the Bayesian hierarchical model. Through simulation and real data analysis, we demonstrated superior performance of the proposed strategy. Our new strategy also enables borrowing information across different platforms which could be extremely useful with emergence of new technologies and accumulation of data from different platforms in the Big Data era. Our method has been implemented in R package “adaptiveHM”, which is freely available from https://github.com/benliemory/adaptiveHM. PMID:28919931

Mass loss and stellar superwinds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vink, Jorick S.

2017-09-01

Mass loss bridges the gap between massive stars and supernovae (SNe) in two major ways: (i) theoretically, it is the amount of mass lost that determines the mass of the star prior to explosion and (ii) observations of the circumstellar material around SNe may teach us the type of progenitor that made the SN. Here, I present the latest models and observations of mass loss from massive stars, both for canonical massive O stars, as well as very massive stars that show Wolf-Rayet type features. This article is part of the themed issue 'Bridging the gap: from massive stars to supernovae'.

GPU-Meta-Storms: computing the structure similarities among massive amount of microbial community samples using GPU.

PubMed

Su, Xiaoquan; Wang, Xuetao; Jing, Gongchao; Ning, Kang

2014-04-01

The number of microbial community samples is increasing with exponential speed. Data-mining among microbial community samples could facilitate the discovery of valuable biological information that is still hidden in the massive data. However, current methods for the comparison among microbial communities are limited by their ability to process large amount of samples each with complex community structure. We have developed an optimized GPU-based software, GPU-Meta-Storms, to efficiently measure the quantitative phylogenetic similarity among massive amount of microbial community samples. Our results have shown that GPU-Meta-Storms would be able to compute the pair-wise similarity scores for 10 240 samples within 20 min, which gained a speed-up of >17 000 times compared with single-core CPU, and >2600 times compared with 16-core CPU. Therefore, the high-performance of GPU-Meta-Storms could facilitate in-depth data mining among massive microbial community samples, and make the real-time analysis and monitoring of temporal or conditional changes for microbial communities possible. GPU-Meta-Storms is implemented by CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) and C++. Source code is available at http://www.computationalbioenergy.org/meta-storms.html.

Argo_CUDA: Exhaustive GPU based approach for motif discovery in large DNA datasets.

PubMed

Vishnevsky, Oleg V; Bocharnikov, Andrey V; Kolchanov, Nikolay A

2018-02-01

The development of chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-seq) technology has revolutionized the genetic analysis of the basic mechanisms underlying transcription regulation and led to accumulation of information about a huge amount of DNA sequences. There are a lot of web services which are currently available for de novo motif discovery in datasets containing information about DNA/protein binding. An enormous motif diversity makes their finding challenging. In order to avoid the difficulties, researchers use different stochastic approaches. Unfortunately, the efficiency of the motif discovery programs dramatically declines with the query set size increase. This leads to the fact that only a fraction of top "peak" ChIP-Seq segments can be analyzed or the area of analysis should be narrowed. Thus, the motif discovery in massive datasets remains a challenging issue. Argo_Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) web service is designed to process the massive DNA data. It is a program for the detection of degenerate oligonucleotide motifs of fixed length written in 15-letter IUPAC code. Argo_CUDA is a full-exhaustive approach based on the high-performance GPU technologies. Compared with the existing motif discovery web services, Argo_CUDA shows good prediction quality on simulated sets. The analysis of ChIP-Seq sequences revealed the motifs which correspond to known transcription factor binding sites.

Loss of the chloride channel ClC-7 leads to lysosomal storage disease and neurodegeneration

PubMed Central

Kasper, Dagmar; Planells-Cases, Rosa; Fuhrmann, Jens C; Scheel, Olaf; Zeitz, Oliver; Ruether, Klaus; Schmitt, Anja; Poët, Mallorie; Steinfeld, Robert; Schweizer, Michaela; Kornak, Uwe; Jentsch, Thomas J

2005-01-01

ClC-7 is a chloride channel of late endosomes and lysosomes. In osteoclasts, it may cooperate with H+-ATPases in acidifying the resorption lacuna. In mice and man, loss of ClC-7 or the H+-ATPase a3 subunit causes osteopetrosis, a disease characterized by defective bone resorption. We show that ClC-7 knockout mice additionally display neurodegeneration and severe lysosomal storage disease despite unchanged lysosomal pH in cultured neurons. Rescuing their bone phenotype by transgenic expression of ClC-7 in osteoclasts moderately increased their lifespan and revealed a further progression of the central nervous system pathology. Histological analysis demonstrated an accumulation of electron-dense material in neurons, autofluorescent structures, microglial activation and astrogliosis. Like in human neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis, there was a strong accumulation of subunit c of the mitochondrial ATP synthase and increased amounts of lysosomal enzymes. Such alterations were minor or absent in ClC-3 knockout mice, despite a massive neurodegeneration. Osteopetrotic oc/oc mice, lacking a functional H+-ATPase a3 subunit, showed no comparable retinal or neuronal degeneration. There are important medical implications as defects in the H+-ATPase and ClC-7 can underlie human osteopetrosis. PMID:15706348

Formation of Outer Planets: Overview

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack

2003-01-01

An overview of current theories of planetary formation, with emphasis on giant planets is presented. The most detailed models are based upon observation of our own Solar System and of young stars and their environments. Terrestrial planets are believe to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. According to the prevailing core instability model, giant planets begin their growth by the accumulation of small solid bodies, as do terrestrial planets. However, unlike terrestrial planets, the growing giant cores become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk disspates. The primary questions regarding the core instability model is whether planets with small cores can accrete gaseous enveloples within the lifetimes of gaseous protoplanetary disks. The main alternative giant planet formation model is the disk instability model, in which gaseous planets form directly via gravitational instabilities within protoplanetary disks. Formation of giant planets via gas instability has never been demonstrated for realistic disk conditions. Moreover, this model has difficulty explaining the supersolar abundances of heavy elements in Jupiter and Saturn, and it does not explain the orgin of planets like Uranus and Neptune.

Sclerotherapy with bleomycin for recurrent massive inguinal lymphoceles following partial vulvectomy and bilateral lymphadenectomy-Case report and literature review.

PubMed

Elsandabesee, D; Sharma, B; Preston, J; Ostrowski, J; Nieto, J

2004-02-01

Formation of lymphoceles following radical vulvectomy presents a formidable problem that is associated with high degree of morbidity. A variety of approaches have been described in the literature to treat this condition. An 82-year-old woman developed massive inguinal lymphoceles following partial vulvectomy and inguinal lymphadenectomy for cancer vulva. The lymphoceles involved wide surface areas extending to both flanks, and accumulation of lymph was very rapid at a rate of 1 l daily. The condition failed to respond to continuous drainage and compression for 6 weeks, but responded quickly to sclerotherapy using bleomycin without any significant side effects. Intracavitary bleomycin could be used safely and effectively in huge rapidly accumulating lymphoceles.

Long-term accumulation and transport of anthropogenic phosphorus in world river basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Powers, S. M.

2015-12-01

Global food production crucially depends on phosphorus (P). In agricultural and urban landscapes, much P is anthropogenic, entering via trade, and then can be transported by a combination of fluvial and human processes. To date there have been few long-term, large-scale analyses combining both fluvial and human modes of P transport. Here we present reconstructed historical records of anthropogenic P entering and leaving soils and aquatic systems via a combination of trade, infrastructure, food waste, and fluvial fluxes. We then report the net annual P inputs, and the mass of P that has accumulated over the long-term, for entire river basins. Our analyses reveal rapid historical P accumulation for two mixed agricultural-urban landscapes (Thames Basin, UK, Yangtze Basin, China), and one rural agricultural landscape (Maumee Basin, USA). We also show that the human P fluxes massively dominate over the fluvial fluxes in these large basins. For Thames and Maumee Basins, recently there has been modest P depletion/drawdown of the massive P pool accumulated in prior decades, whereas the Yangtze Basin has consistently and rapidly accumulated P since 1980. These first estimates of the magnitude of historical P accumulation in contrasting settings illustrate the scope of management challenges surrounding the storage, fate, exploitation, and reactivation of legacy P that is currently present in the Earth's critical zone.

Vitamin E toxicity in neonatal piglets.

PubMed

Hale, T W; Rais-Bahrami, K; Montgomery, D L; Harkey, C; Habersang, R W

1995-01-01

Intravenous vitamin E was associated with the deaths of 38 infants in the US in 1984. Because the vitamin E preparation used contained both vitamin E and a high level of polysorbate detergent, the etiology of the syndrome remains unknown. In this study, we determined the tissue disposition of an intravenous preparation of vitamin E solubilized with polysorbate (E-Ferol) in neonatal piglets. One to two-day-old piglets were injected daily with 50 IU/kg/d of vitamin E for a period of 13 days. Other groups were injected intramuscularly, or with a slow, 7 h intravenous infusion with 50 IU/kg/d vitamin E for six days. Massive splenic accumulation of vitamin E (16,004 micrograms/g vs 73 micrograms/g in controls) occurred following rapid injection, with far lesser concentrations in the liver and lung. Levels of vitamin E in the kidney and heart were only slightly above control. Tissue changes correlated with dosage and duration of vitamin E administration and suggested massive accumulation of vitamin E in cells of the mononuclear phagocyte system. Following slow intravenous infusion the highest levels of vitamin E occurred in the liver rather than spleen. Intramuscular injections at similar doses produced slight, but insignificant changes in tissue levels of vitamin E. We speculate that rapid intravenous injection of vitamin E emulsions produces massive accumulation in phagocytic cells of the spleen and to a lesser extent liver and lung, possibly leading to increased susceptibility to sepsis and/or abnormal pulmonary function. Slow infusions of vitamin E produce major accumulations in the liver rather than spleen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Delayed fungal evolution did not cause the Paleozoic peak in coal production.

PubMed

Nelsen, Matthew P; DiMichele, William A; Peters, Shanan E; Boyce, C Kevin

2016-03-01

Organic carbon burial plays a critical role in Earth systems, influencing atmospheric O2 and CO2 concentrations and, thereby, climate. The Carboniferous Period of the Paleozoic is so named for massive, widespread coal deposits. A widely accepted explanation for this peak in coal production is a temporal lag between the evolution of abundant lignin production in woody plants and the subsequent evolution of lignin-degrading Agaricomycetes fungi, resulting in a period when vast amounts of lignin-rich plant material accumulated. Here, we reject this evolutionary lag hypothesis, based on assessment of phylogenomic, geochemical, paleontological, and stratigraphic evidence. Lignin-degrading Agaricomycetes may have been present before the Carboniferous, and lignin degradation was likely never restricted to them and their class II peroxidases, because lignin modification is known to occur via other enzymatic mechanisms in other fungal and bacterial lineages. Furthermore, a large proportion of Carboniferous coal horizons are dominated by unlignified lycopsid periderm with equivalent coal accumulation rates continuing through several transitions between floral dominance by lignin-poor lycopsids and lignin-rich tree ferns and seed plants. Thus, biochemical composition had little relevance to coal accumulation. Throughout the fossil record, evidence of decay is pervasive in all organic matter exposed subaerially during deposition, and high coal accumulation rates have continued to the present wherever environmental conditions permit. Rather than a consequence of a temporal decoupling of evolutionary innovations between fungi and plants, Paleozoic coal abundance was likely the result of a unique combination of everwet tropical conditions and extensive depositional systems during the assembly of Pangea.

Delayed fungal evolution did not cause the Paleozoic peak in coal production

PubMed Central

Nelsen, Matthew P.; DiMichele, William A.; Peters, Shanan E.; Boyce, C. Kevin

2016-01-01

Organic carbon burial plays a critical role in Earth systems, influencing atmospheric O2 and CO2 concentrations and, thereby, climate. The Carboniferous Period of the Paleozoic is so named for massive, widespread coal deposits. A widely accepted explanation for this peak in coal production is a temporal lag between the evolution of abundant lignin production in woody plants and the subsequent evolution of lignin-degrading Agaricomycetes fungi, resulting in a period when vast amounts of lignin-rich plant material accumulated. Here, we reject this evolutionary lag hypothesis, based on assessment of phylogenomic, geochemical, paleontological, and stratigraphic evidence. Lignin-degrading Agaricomycetes may have been present before the Carboniferous, and lignin degradation was likely never restricted to them and their class II peroxidases, because lignin modification is known to occur via other enzymatic mechanisms in other fungal and bacterial lineages. Furthermore, a large proportion of Carboniferous coal horizons are dominated by unlignified lycopsid periderm with equivalent coal accumulation rates continuing through several transitions between floral dominance by lignin-poor lycopsids and lignin-rich tree ferns and seed plants. Thus, biochemical composition had little relevance to coal accumulation. Throughout the fossil record, evidence of decay is pervasive in all organic matter exposed subaerially during deposition, and high coal accumulation rates have continued to the present wherever environmental conditions permit. Rather than a consequence of a temporal decoupling of evolutionary innovations between fungi and plants, Paleozoic coal abundance was likely the result of a unique combination of everwet tropical conditions and extensive depositional systems during the assembly of Pangea. PMID:26787881

Interstitial pulmonary fibrosis and progressive massive fibrosis related to smoking methamphetamine with talc as filler.

PubMed

Baylor, Peter A; Sobenes, Juan R; Vallyathan, Val

2013-05-01

We present a case of interstitial pulmonary fibrosis accompanied by radiographic evidence of progressive massive fibrosis in a patient who had a 15-20 year history of almost daily recreational inhalation of methamphetamine. Mineralogical analysis confirmed the presence of talc on biopsy of the area of progressive massive fibrosis. The coexistence of interstitial pulmonary fibrosis and progressive massive fibrosis suggests that prolonged recreational inhalation of methamphetamine that has been "cut" with talc can result in sufficient amount of talc being inhaled to result in interstitial pulmonary fibrosis and progressive massive fibrosis in the absence of other causes.

Mass loss and stellar superwinds.

PubMed

Vink, Jorick S

2017-10-28

Mass loss bridges the gap between massive stars and supernovae (SNe) in two major ways: (i) theoretically, it is the amount of mass lost that determines the mass of the star prior to explosion and (ii) observations of the circumstellar material around SNe may teach us the type of progenitor that made the SN. Here, I present the latest models and observations of mass loss from massive stars, both for canonical massive O stars, as well as very massive stars that show Wolf-Rayet type features.This article is part of the themed issue 'Bridging the gap: from massive stars to supernovae'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Massive thoracoabdominal aortic thrombosis in a patient with iatrogenic Cushing syndrome.

PubMed

Kim, Dong Hun; Choi, Dong-Hyun; Lee, Young-Min; Kang, Joon Tae; Chae, Seung Seok; Kim, Bo-Bae; Ki, Young-Jae; Kim, Jin Hwa; Chung, Joong-Wha; Koh, Young-Youp

2014-01-01

Massive thoracoabdominal aortic thrombosis is a rare finding in patients with iatrogenic Cushing syndrome in the absence of any coagulation abnormality. It frequently represents an urgent surgical situation. We report the case of an 82-year-old woman with massive aortic thrombosis secondary to iatrogenic Cushing syndrome. A follow-up computed tomography scan showed a decreased amount of thrombus in the aorta after anticoagulation therapy alone.

Frequent summer nuptial flights of ants provide a primary food source for bats

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levin, Eran; Yom-Tov, Yoram; Barnea, Anat

2009-04-01

In many ant species, nuptial flight tends to be short in time and assumed to be synchronous across a large area. Here, we report that, in the upper Jordan Valley, northern Israel, massive nuptial flights of Carpenter ants ( Camponotus sp.) occur frequently throughout the summer, and their alates form up to 90% of the diet of the greater mouse-tailed bat ( Rhinopoma microphyllum) during this period. This fat and protein-rich diet enables female bats to lactate during summer, and the large amount of fat that both sexes accumulate may serve as an energy source for their following winter hibernation and posthibernation mating in early spring (March-April). We suggest that the annual movement of these bats to the Mediterranean region of Israel may have evolved in order to enable them to exploit the extremely nutritious forms of ant alates when the bats’ energetic demands are highest.

Dynamics of the Final Stages of Terrestrial Planet Growth and the Formation of the Earth-Moon System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Rivera, Eugenio J.; DeVincenzi, Donald (Technical Monitor)

2000-01-01

An overview of current theories of star and planet formation, with emphasis on terrestrial planet accretion and the formation of the Earth-Moon system is presented. These models predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, although it is possible that in some cases such planets are lost to orbital decay within the protoplanetary disk. The frequency of formation of gas giant planets is more difficult to predict theoretically. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant impacts during the final stages of growth can produce large planetary satellites, such as Earth's Moon. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates.

Theories of Giant Planet Formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Young, Richard E. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

An overview of current theories of planetary formation, with emphasis on giant planets, is presented. The most detailed models are based upon observations of our own Solar System and of young stars and their environments. While these models predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, the frequency of formation of gas giant planets is more difficult to predict theoretically. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth as do terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates. Most models for extrasolar giant planets suggest that they formed as did Jupiter and Saturn (in nearly circular orbits, far enough from the star that ice could), and subsequently migrated to their current positions, although some models suggest in situ formation.

Absence of ppGpp Leads to Increased Mobilization of Intermediately Accumulated Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate) in Ralstonia eutropha H16

PubMed Central

Juengert, Janina R.; Borisova, Marina; Wolz, Christiane; Brigham, Christopher J.; Sinskey, Anthony J.

2017-01-01

ABSTRACT In this study, we constructed a set of Ralstonia eutropha H16 strains with single, double, or triple deletions of the (p)ppGpp synthase/hydrolase (spoT1), (p)ppGpp synthase (spoT2), and/or polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) depolymerase (phaZa1 or phaZa3) gene, and we determined the impact on the levels of (p)ppGpp and on accumulated PHB. Mutants with deletions of both the spoT1 and spoT2 genes were unable to synthesize detectable amounts of (p)ppGpp and accumulated only minor amounts of PHB, due to PhaZa1-mediated depolymerization of PHB. In contrast, unusually high levels of PHB were found in strains in which the (p)ppGpp concentration was increased by the overexpression of (p)ppGpp synthase (SpoT2) and the absence of (p)ppGpp hydrolase. Determination of (p)ppGpp levels in wild-type R. eutropha under different growth conditions and induction of the stringent response by amino acid analogs showed that the concentrations of (p)ppGpp during the growth phase determine the amount of PHB remaining in later growth phases by influencing the efficiency of the PHB mobilization system in stationary growth. The data reported for a previously constructed ΔspoT2 strain (C. J. Brigham, D. R. Speth, C. Rha, and A. J. Sinskey, Appl Environ Microbiol 78:8033–8044, 2012, https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.01693-12) were identified as due to an experimental error in strain construction, and our results are in contrast to the previous indication that the spoT2 gene product is essential for PHB accumulation in R. eutropha. IMPORTANCE Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is an important intracellular carbon and energy storage compound in many prokaryotes and helps cells survive periods of starvation and other stress conditions. Research activities in several laboratories over the past 3 decades have shown that both PHB synthase and PHB depolymerase are constitutively expressed in most PHB-accumulating bacteria, such as Ralstonia eutropha. This implies that PHB synthase and depolymerase activities must be well regulated in order to avoid a futile cycle of simultaneous PHB synthesis and PHB degradation (mobilization). Previous reports suggested that the stringent response in Rhizobium etli and R. eutropha is involved in the regulation of PHB metabolism. However, the levels of (p)ppGpp and the influence of those levels on PHB accumulation and PHB mobilization have not yet been determined for any PHB-accumulating species. In this study, we optimized a (p)ppGpp extraction procedure and a high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS)-based detection method for the quantification of (p)ppGpp in R. eutropha. This enabled us to study the relationship between the concentrations of (p)ppGpp and the accumulated levels of PHB in the wild type and in several constructed mutant strains. We show that overproduction of the alarmone (p)ppGpp correlated with reduced growth and massive overproduction of PHB. In contrast, in the absence of (p)ppGpp, mobilization of PHB was dramatically enhanced. PMID:28455332

Is there a basin-centered gas accumulation in Cotton Valley Group Sandstones, Gulf Coast Basin, U.S.A.?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Bartberger, Charles E.; Dyman, Thaddeus S.; Condon, Steven M.

2002-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, is reevaluating the resource potential of selected domestic basin-centered gas accumulations. Basin-centered gas accumulations are characterized by presence of gas in extensive low-permeability (tight) reservoirs in which conventional seals and trapping mechanisms are absent, abnormally high or low reservoir pressures exist, and gas-water contacts are absent. In 1995, the USGS assessed one basin-centered gas play and two conventional plays within the trend of Jurassic and Cretaceous Cotton Valley Group fl uvial-deltaic and barrierisland/ strandplain sandstones across the onshore northern Gulf of Mexico Basin. Detailed evaluation of geologic and production data provides new insights into these Cotton Valley plays. Two Cotton Valley sandstone trends are identifi ed based on reservoir properties and gas-production characteristics. Transgressive blanket sandstones across northern Louisiana have relatively high porosity and permeability and do not require fracture stimulation to produce gas at commercial rates. South of this trend, and extending westward into eastern Texas, massive sandstones of the Cotton Valley trend exhibit low porosity and permeability and require fracture stimulation. The high permeability of Cotton Valley blanket sandstones is not conducive to the presence of basin-centered gas, but lowpermeability massive sandstones provide the type of reservoir in which basin-centered gas accumulations commonly occur. Data on source rocks, including burial and thermal history, are consistent with the interpretation of potential basincentered gas within Cotton Valley sandstones. However, pressure gradients throughout most of the blanket- and massivesandstone trends are normal or nearly normal, which is not characteristic of basin-centered gas accumulations. The presence of gas-water contacts in at least seven fi elds across the blanket-sandstone trend together with relatively high permeabilities and high gas-production rates without fracture stimulation indicate that fi elds in this trend are conventional. Within the tight massive-sandstone trend, permeability is suffi ciently low that gas-water transition zones are vertically extensive and gas-water contacts either have not been encountered or are poorly defi ned. With increasing depth through these transition zones, gas saturation decreases and water saturation increases until eventually gas saturations become suffi ciently low that, in terms of ultimate cumulative production, wells are noncommercial. Such progressive increase in water saturation with depth suggests that poorly defi ned gas-water contacts probably are present below the depth at which wells become noncommercial. The interpreted presence of gas-water contacts within the tight, Cotton Valley massive-sandstone trend suggests that gas accumulations in this trend, too, are conventional, and that a basin-centered gas accumulation does not exist within Cotton Valley sandstones in the northern Gulf Basin.

On the spatial distributions of dense cores in Orion B

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parker, Richard J.

2018-05-01

We quantify the spatial distributions of dense cores in three spatially distinct areas of the Orion B star-forming region. For L1622, NGC 2068/NGC 2071, and NGC 2023/NGC 2024, we measure the amount of spatial substructure using the Q-parameter and find all three regions to be spatially substructured (Q < 0.8). We quantify the amount of mass segregation using ΛMSR and find that the most massive cores are mildly mass segregated in NGC 2068/NGC 2071 (ΛMSR ˜ 2), and very mass segregated in NGC 2023/NGC 2024 (Λ _MSR = 28^{+13}_{-10} for the four most massive cores). Whereas the most massive cores in L1622 are not in areas of relatively high surface density, or deeper gravitational potentials, the massive cores in NGC 2068/NGC 2071 and NGC 2023/NGC 2024 are significantly so. Given the low density (10 cores pc-2) and spatial substructure of cores in Orion B, the mass segregation cannot be dynamical. Our results are also inconsistent with simulations in which the most massive stars form via competitive accretion, and instead hint that magnetic fields may be important in influencing the primordial spatial distributions of gas and stars in star-forming regions.

Improving Performance and Predictability of Storage Arrays

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altiparmak, Nihat

2013-01-01

Massive amount of data is generated everyday through sensors, Internet transactions, social networks, video, and all other digital sources available. Many organizations store this data to enable breakthrough discoveries and innovation in science, engineering, medicine, and commerce. Such massive scale of data poses new research problems called big…

Accumulation of vitamin A in the hepatic stellate cell of arctic top predators.

PubMed

Senoo, Haruki; Imai, Katsuyuki; Mezaki, Yoshihiro; Miura, Mitsutaka; Morii, Mayako; Fujiwara, Mutsunori; Blomhoff, Rune

2012-10-01

We performed a systematic characterization of the hepatic vitamin A storage in mammals and birds of the Svalbard Archipelago and Greenland. The liver of top predators, including polar bear, Arctic fox, bearded seal, and glaucous gull, contained about 10-20 times more vitamin A than the liver of all other arctic animals studied, as well as their genetically related continental top predators. The values are also high compared to normal human and experimental animals like mouse and rat. This massive amount of hepatic vitamin A was located in large autofluorescent lipid droplets in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs; also called vitamin A-storing cells, lipocytes, interstitial cells, fat-storing cells, or Ito cells). The droplets made up most of the cells' cytoplasm. The development of such an efficient vitamin A-storing mechanism in HSCs may have contributed to the survival of top predators in the extreme environment of the arctic. These animals demonstrated no signs of hypervitaminosis A. We suggest that HSCs have capacity to take-up and store large amounts of vitamin A, which may play a pivotal role in maintenance of the food web, food chain, biodiversity, and eventually ecology of the arctic. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Novel Pathway for Triacylglycerol Biosynthesis Is Responsible for the Accumulation of Massive Quantities of Glycerolipids in the Surface Wax of Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) Fruit[OPEN

PubMed Central

Ohlrogge, John B.

2016-01-01

Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica) fruits synthesize an extremely thick and unusual layer of crystalline surface wax that accumulates to 32% of fruit dry weight, the highest reported surface lipid accumulation in plants. The composition is also striking, consisting of completely saturated triacylglycerol, diacylglycerol, and monoacylglycerol with palmitate and myristate acyl chains. To gain insight into the unique properties of Bayberry wax synthesis, we examined the chemical and morphological development of the wax layer, monitored wax biosynthesis through [14C]-radiolabeling, and sequenced the transcriptome. Radiolabeling identified sn-2 monoacylglycerol as an initial glycerolipid intermediate. The kinetics of [14C]-DAG and [14C]-TAG accumulation and the regiospecificity of their [14C]-acyl chains indicated distinct pools of acyl donors and that final TAG assembly occurs outside of cells. The most highly expressed lipid-related genes were associated with production of cutin, whereas transcripts for conventional TAG synthesis were >50-fold less abundant. The biochemical and expression data together indicate that Bayberry surface glycerolipids are synthesized by a pathway for TAG synthesis that is related to cutin biosynthesis. The combination of a unique surface wax and massive accumulation may aid understanding of how plants produce and secrete non-membrane glycerolipids and also how to engineer alternative pathways for lipid production in non-seeds. PMID:26744217

Formation and Detection of Planetary Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; DeVincenzi, Donald (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

Modern theories of star and planet formation and of the orbital stability of planetary systems are described and used to discuss possible characteristics of undiscovered planetary systems. The most detailed models of planetary growth are based upon observations of planets and smaller bodies within our own Solar System and of young stars and their environments. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth as do terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates. These models predict that rocky planets should form in orbit about most single stars. It is uncertain whether or not gas giant planet formation is common, because most protoplanetary disks may dissipate before solid planetary cores can grow large enough to gravitationally trap substantial quantities of gas. A potential hazard to planetary systems is radial decay of planetary orbits resulting from interactions with material within the disk. Planets more massive than Earth have the potential to decay the fastest, and may be able to sweep up smaller planets in their path. The implications of the giant planets found in recent radial velocity searches for the abundances of habitable planets are discussed, and the methods that are being used and planned for detecting and characterizing extrasolar planets are reviewed.

Planet Formation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Fonda, Mark (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Modern theories of star and planet formation and of the orbital stability of planetary systems are described and used to discuss possible characteristics of undiscovered planetary systems. The most detailed models of planetary growth are based upon observations of planets and smaller bodies within our own Solar System and of young stars and their environments. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth as do terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates. These models predict that rocky planets should form in orbit about most single stars. It is uncertain whether or not gas giant planet formation is common, because most protoplanetary disks may dissipate before solid planetary cores can grow large enough to gravitationally trap substantial quantities of gas. A potential hazard to planetary systems is radial decay of planetary orbits resulting from interactions with material within the disk. Planets more massive than Earth have the potential to decay the fastest, and may be able to sweep up smaller planets in their path. The implications of the giant planets found in recent radial velocity searches for the abundances of habitable planets are discussed, and the methods that are being used and planned for detecting and characterizing extrasolar planets are reviewed.

Condensate of massive graviton and dark matter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aoki, Katsuki; Maeda, Kei-ichi

2018-02-01

We study coherently oscillating massive gravitons in the ghost-free bigravity theory. This coherent field can be interpreted as a condensate of the massive gravitons. We first define the effective energy-momentum tensor of the coherent massive gravitons in a curved spacetime. We then study the background dynamics of the Universe and the cosmic structure formation including the effects of the coherent massive gravitons. We find that the condensate of the massive graviton behaves as a dark matter component of the Universe. From the geometrical point of view the condensate is regarded as a spacetime anisotropy. Hence, in our scenario, dark matter is originated from the tiny deformation of the spacetime. We also discuss a production of the spacetime anisotropy and find that the extragalactic magnetic field of a primordial origin can yield a sufficient amount for dark matter.

Conservative treatment of massive hemothorax in a girl with neuroblastoma.

PubMed

Shiokawa, Naohiro; Okamoto, Yasuhiro; Kodama, Yuichi; Nishikawa, Takuro; Tanabe, Takayuki; Mukai, Motoi; Yoshioka, Takako; Kawano, Yoshifumi

2016-10-01

We report the case of a 1-year-old girl with stage 4 neuroblastoma who developed massive hemothorax due to tumor invasion before treatment. She presented with tachypnea, worsening anemia, and oxygen desaturation. Hemothorax was diagnosed based on chest radiography, ultrasonography, and diagnostic thoracic puncture results. High neuron-specific enolase, vanillylmandelic acid, and homovanillic acid as well as computed tomography strongly supported a diagnosis of neuroblastoma. Chemotherapy along with intermittent puncture drainage, oxygen, and blood transfusion reduced the accumulated blood, and hemothorax disappeared within 1 week. Thus, it is possible to avoid invasive treatment for massive hemothorax by initiating chemotherapy for chemosensitive solid tumors, including neuroblastoma. © 2016 Japan Pediatric Society.

Peer Assessment for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Suen, Hoi K.

2014-01-01

The teach-learn-assess cycle in education is broken in a typical massive open online course (MOOC). Without formative assessment and feedback, MOOCs amount to information dump or broadcasting shows, not educational experiences. A number of remedies have been attempted to bring formative assessment back into MOOCs, each with its own limits and…

Verification and recovery of thick deposits of massive gas hydrate from chimney structures, eastern margin of Japan Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsumoto, R.; Kakuwa, Y.; Snyder, G. T.; Tanahashi, M.; Yanagimoto, Y.; Morita, S.

2016-12-01

The initial scientific research that was carried out between 2004 and 2013 has provided us with invaluable evidence that gas hydrates occur widely on and below the sea floor down to approximately 30 mbsf within gas chimney structures in Japan Sea (Matsumoto, 2005; 2009). In 2013, METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) launched a 3-year exploration project to assess the resource potential of shallow gas hydrates in Japan Sea. During the course of the project, Meiji University and AIST conducted: sea-going geophysical surveys with AUV, and high resolution 3D seismic and CSEM. These were followed by LWD and coring down to BSR depths, and coupled with a number of analyses and experiments. Regional mapping by MBES and SBP has confirmed 1742 gas chimneys in an area of 64,000km2 along the eastern margin of Japan Sea and around Hokkaido. Multiple LWD operations have revealed anomalous profiles such as extremely low natural gamma ray, high velocity Vp, and high resistivity Ro down to BSR depths, providing a strong indication that thick and massive gas hydrates exist throughout gas chimneys above the BSR. In several cases, conventional coring using 6-m long core liners recovered nearly 6 m long massive gas hydrates in several horizons adjacent to the anomalous LWD sites.The PCTB pressure coring system (Geotek Ltd) successfully cored 2-m long intervals of undisturbed, pressurized hydrate-bearing cores, providing valuable information about the in-situ occurrence and textural relations of hydrate and surrounding sediments. Full dissociation and slow degassing experiments of pressurized cores were conducted using onboard PCATS (Pressure core analysis and transfer system) to measure the amount of gases from hydrates. The mean volume fraction of gas hydrates in well-developed gas chimney structures is estimated to be 30 to 86 vol.% based on coupled PCATS and chloride anomaly profiles. Such an unusually high accumulation of gas hydrates in gas chimneys is assumed to have been caused by high TOC accumulation in rifted basins, followed by enhanced thermal maturation by high heat flow of young Japan Sea and, the subsequent migration of deep seated thermogenic gases as a consequence of the tectonic inversion some million years ago. This study was conducted under the commission from AIST as a part of the methane hydrate project of METI.

Impact of dissolution on the sedimentary record of the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bralower, Timothy J.; Kelly, D. Clay; Gibbs, Samantha; Farley, Kenneth; Eccles, Laurie; Lindemann, T. Logan; Smith, Gregory J.

2014-09-01

The input of massive amounts of carbon to the atmosphere and ocean at the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; ˜55.53 Ma) resulted in pervasive carbonate dissolution at the seafloor. At many sites this dissolution also penetrated into the underlying sediment column. The magnitude of dissolution at and below the seafloor, a process known as chemical erosion, and its effect on the stratigraphy of the PETM, are notoriously difficult to constrain. Here, we illuminate the impact of dissolution by analyzing the complete spectrum of sedimentological grain sizes across the PETM at three deep-sea sites characterized by a range of bottom water dissolution intensity. We show that the grain size spectrum provides a measure of the sediment fraction lost during dissolution. We compare these data with dissolution and other proxy records, electron micrograph observations of samples and lithology. The complete data set indicates that the two sites with slower carbonate accumulation, and less active bioturbation, are characterized by significant chemical erosion. At the third site, higher carbonate accumulation rates, more active bioturbation, and possibly winnowing have limited the impacts of dissolution. However, grain size data suggest that bioturbation and winnowing were not sufficiently intense to diminish the fidelity of isotopic and microfossil assemblage records.

Massive binary stars as a probe of massive star formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kiminki, Daniel C.

2010-10-01

Massive stars are among the largest and most influential objects we know of on a sub-galactic scale. Binary systems, composed of at least one of these stars, may be responsible for several types of phenomena, including type Ib/c supernovae, short and long gamma ray bursts, high-velocity runaway O and B-type stars, and the density of the parent star clusters. Our understanding of these stars has met with limited success, especially in the area of their formation. Current formation theories rely on the accumulated statistics of massive binary systems that are limited because of their sample size or the inhomogeneous environments from which the statistics are collected. The purpose of this work is to provide a higher-level analysis of close massive binary characteristics using the radial velocity information of 113 massive stars (B3 and earlier) and binary orbital properties for the 19 known close massive binaries in the Cygnus OB2 Association. This work provides an analysis using the largest amount of massive star and binary information ever compiled for an O-star rich cluster like Cygnus OB2, and compliments other O-star binary studies such as NGC 6231, NGC 2244, and NGC 6611. I first report the discovery of 73 new O or B-type stars and 13 new massive binaries by this survey. This work involved the use of 75 successful nights of spectroscopic observation at the Wyoming Infrared Observatory in addition to observations obtained using the Hydra multi-object spectrograph at WIYN, the HIRES echelle spectrograph at KECK, and the Hamilton spectrograph at LICK. I use these data to estimate the spectrophotometric distance to the cluster and to measure the mean systemic velocity and the one-sided velocity dispersion of the cluster. Finally, I compare these data to a series of Monte Carlo models, the results of which indicate that the binary fraction of the cluster is 57 +/- 5% and that the indices for the power law distributions, describing the log of the periods, mass-ratios, and eccentricities, are --0.2 +/- 0.3, 0.3 +/- 0.3, and --0.8 +/- 0.3 respectively (or not consistent with a simple power law distribution). The observed distributions indicate a preference for short period systems with nearly circular orbits and companions that are not likely drawn from a standard initial mass function, as would be expected from random pairing. An interesting and unexpected result is that the period distribution is inconsistent with a standard power-law slope stemming mainly from an excess of periods between 3 and 5 days and an absence of periods between 7 and 14 days. One possible explanation of this phenomenon is that the binary systems with periods from 7--14 days are migrating to periods of 3--5 days. In addition, the binary distribution here is not consistent with previous suggestions in the literature that 45% of OB binaries are members of twin systems (mass ratio near 1).

[Nitrate accumulating capability of some market garden vegetables].

PubMed

Blanc, D

1976-01-01

Nitrate accumulation in plant is essentially function of the amount of nitrate nitrogen present in the substrate. That can be provided by mineral fertilizers or by organic manure. Due to the amount of nitrogen fertilizers needed in order to obtain sufficient yields the presence of nitrate is a general phenomenon in vegetable. Nevertheless the distribution of nitrate ions in the different parts of the plant influences the importance of the accumulation in the different kinds of vegetable. The experiments reported showed that leaves contain more nitrate ions than roots and roots more than fruit. The results obtained in soilless culture on lettuces, tomatoes and egg-plant demonstrated that the amount of accumulated nitrate is also dependent on the equilibrium between the different ions in the nutrient solution. Ammonium, potassium, sulfate and molybdenum have been shown to influence the rate of nitrate accumulation in the different species. It appears that it is not possible to obtain vegetable without nitrate, but it is possible, by an equilibrated fertilization, to reduce the amount accumulated in the tissue.

Massive accumulation of luminal protease-deficient axonal lysosomes at Alzheimer's disease amyloid plaques.

PubMed

Gowrishankar, Swetha; Yuan, Peng; Wu, Yumei; Schrag, Matthew; Paradise, Summer; Grutzendler, Jaime; De Camilli, Pietro; Ferguson, Shawn M

2015-07-14

Through a comprehensive analysis of organellar markers in mouse models of Alzheimer's disease, we document a massive accumulation of lysosome-like organelles at amyloid plaques and establish that the majority of these organelles reside within swollen axons that contact the amyloid deposits. This close spatial relationship between axonal lysosome accumulation and extracellular amyloid aggregates was observed from the earliest stages of β-amyloid deposition. Notably, we discovered that lysosomes that accumulate in such axons are lacking in multiple soluble luminal proteases and thus are predicted to be unable to efficiently degrade proteinaceous cargos. Of relevance to Alzheimer's disease, β-secretase (BACE1), the protein that initiates amyloidogenic processing of the amyloid precursor protein and which is a substrate for these proteases, builds up at these sites. Furthermore, through a comparison between the axonal lysosome accumulations at amyloid plaques and neuronal lysosomes of the wild-type brain, we identified a similar, naturally occurring population of lysosome-like organelles in neuronal processes that is also defined by its low luminal protease content. In conjunction with emerging evidence that the lysosomal maturation of endosomes and autophagosomes is coupled to their retrograde transport, our results suggest that extracellular β-amyloid deposits cause a local impairment in the retrograde axonal transport of lysosome precursors, leading to their accumulation and a blockade in their further maturation. This study both advances understanding of Alzheimer's disease brain pathology and provides new insights into the subcellular organization of neuronal lysosomes that may have broader relevance to other neurodegenerative diseases with a lysosomal component to their pathology.

Massive accumulation of luminal protease-deficient axonal lysosomes at Alzheimer’s disease amyloid plaques

PubMed Central

Gowrishankar, Swetha; Yuan, Peng; Wu, Yumei; Schrag, Matthew; Paradise, Summer; Grutzendler, Jaime; De Camilli, Pietro; Ferguson, Shawn M.

2015-01-01

Through a comprehensive analysis of organellar markers in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, we document a massive accumulation of lysosome-like organelles at amyloid plaques and establish that the majority of these organelles reside within swollen axons that contact the amyloid deposits. This close spatial relationship between axonal lysosome accumulation and extracellular amyloid aggregates was observed from the earliest stages of β-amyloid deposition. Notably, we discovered that lysosomes that accumulate in such axons are lacking in multiple soluble luminal proteases and thus are predicted to be unable to efficiently degrade proteinaceous cargos. Of relevance to Alzheimer’s disease, β-secretase (BACE1), the protein that initiates amyloidogenic processing of the amyloid precursor protein and which is a substrate for these proteases, builds up at these sites. Furthermore, through a comparison between the axonal lysosome accumulations at amyloid plaques and neuronal lysosomes of the wild-type brain, we identified a similar, naturally occurring population of lysosome-like organelles in neuronal processes that is also defined by its low luminal protease content. In conjunction with emerging evidence that the lysosomal maturation of endosomes and autophagosomes is coupled to their retrograde transport, our results suggest that extracellular β-amyloid deposits cause a local impairment in the retrograde axonal transport of lysosome precursors, leading to their accumulation and a blockade in their further maturation. This study both advances understanding of Alzheimer’s disease brain pathology and provides new insights into the subcellular organization of neuronal lysosomes that may have broader relevance to other neurodegenerative diseases with a lysosomal component to their pathology. PMID:26124111

Enhanced isoprenoid production from xylose by engineered Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

PubMed

Kwak, Suryang; Kim, Soo Rin; Xu, Haiqing; Zhang, Guo-Chang; Lane, Stephan; Kim, Heejin; Jin, Yong-Su

2017-11-01

Saccharomyces cerevisiae has limited capabilities for producing fuels and chemicals derived from acetyl-CoA, such as isoprenoids, due to a rigid flux partition toward ethanol during glucose metabolism. Despite numerous efforts, xylose fermentation by engineered yeast harboring heterologous xylose metabolic pathways was not as efficient as glucose fermentation for producing ethanol. Therefore, we hypothesized that xylose metabolism by engineered yeast might be a better fit for producing non-ethanol metabolites. We indeed found that engineered S. cerevisiae on xylose showed higher expression levels of the enzymes involved in ethanol assimilation and cytosolic acetyl-CoA synthesis than on glucose. When genetic perturbations necessary for overproducing squalene and amorphadiene were introduced into engineered S. cerevisiae capable of fermenting xylose, we observed higher titers and yields of isoprenoids under xylose than glucose conditions. Specifically, co-overexpression of a truncated HMG1 (tHMG1) and ERG10 led to substantially higher squalene accumulation under xylose than glucose conditions. In contrast to glucose utilization producing massive amounts of ethanol regardless of aeration, xylose utilization allowed much less amounts of ethanol accumulation, indicating ethanol is simultaneously re-assimilated with xylose consumption and utilized for the biosynthesis of cytosolic acetyl-CoA. In addition, xylose utilization by engineered yeast with overexpression of tHMG1, ERG10, and ADS coding for amorphadiene synthase, and the down-regulation of ERG9 resulted in enhanced amorphadiene production as compared to glucose utilization. These results suggest that the problem of the rigid flux partition toward ethanol production in yeast during the production of isoprenoids and other acetyl-CoA derived chemicals can be bypassed by using xylose instead of glucose as a carbon source. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 2581-2591. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Chapter 2. Assessment of undiscovered conventional oil and gas resources--Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous Cotton Valley group, Jurassic Smackover interior salt basins total petroleum system, in the East Texas basin and Louisiana-Mississippi salt basins provinces.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Dyman, T.S.; Condon, S.M.

2006-01-01

The Jurassic Smackover Interior Salt Basins Total Petroleum System is defined for this assessment to include (1) Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation carbonates and calcareous shales and (2) Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous Cotton Valley Group organic-rich shales. The Jurassic Smackover Interior Salt Basins Total Petroleum System includes four conventional Cotton Valley assessment units: Cotton Valley Blanket Sandstone Gas (AU 50490201), Cotton Valley Massive Sandstone Gas (AU 50490202), Cotton Valley Updip Oil and Gas (AU 50490203), and Cotton Valley Hypothetical Updip Oil (AU 50490204). Together, these four assessment units are estimated to contain a mean undiscovered conventional resource of 29.81 million barrels of oil, 605.03 billion cubic feet of gas, and 19.00 million barrels of natural gas liquids. The Cotton Valley Group represents the first major influx of clastic sediment into the ancestral Gulf of Mexico. Major depocenters were located in south-central Mississippi, along the Louisiana-Mississippi border, and in northeast Texas. Reservoir properties and production characteristics were used to identify two Cotton Valley Group sandstone trends across northern Louisiana and east Texas: a high-permeability blanket-sandstone trend and a downdip, low-permeability massive-sandstone trend. Pressure gradients throughout most of both trends are normal, which is characteristic of conventional rather than continuous basin-center gas accumulations. Indications that accumulations in this trend are conventional rather than continuous include (1) gas-water contacts in at least seven fields across the blanket-sandstone trend, (2) relatively high reservoir permeabilities, and (3) high gas-production rates without fracture stimulation. Permeability is sufficiently low in the massive-sandstone trend that gas-water transition zones are vertically extensive and gas-water contacts are poorly defined. The interpreted presence of gas-water contacts within the Cotton Valley massive-sandstone trend, however, suggests that accumulations in this trend are also conventional.

The minimal amount of starting DNA for Agilent’s hybrid capture-based targeted massively parallel sequencing

PubMed Central

Chung, Jongsuk; Son, Dae-Soon; Jeon, Hyo-Jeong; Kim, Kyoung-Mee; Park, Gahee; Ryu, Gyu Ha; Park, Woong-Yang; Park, Donghyun

2016-01-01

Targeted capture massively parallel sequencing is increasingly being used in clinical settings, and as costs continue to decline, use of this technology may become routine in health care. However, a limited amount of tissue has often been a challenge in meeting quality requirements. To offer a practical guideline for the minimum amount of input DNA for targeted sequencing, we optimized and evaluated the performance of targeted sequencing depending on the input DNA amount. First, using various amounts of input DNA, we compared commercially available library construction kits and selected Agilent’s SureSelect-XT and KAPA Biosystems’ Hyper Prep kits as the kits most compatible with targeted deep sequencing using Agilent’s SureSelect custom capture. Then, we optimized the adapter ligation conditions of the Hyper Prep kit to improve library construction efficiency and adapted multiplexed hybrid selection to reduce the cost of sequencing. In this study, we systematically evaluated the performance of the optimized protocol depending on the amount of input DNA, ranging from 6.25 to 200 ng, suggesting the minimal input DNA amounts based on coverage depths required for specific applications. PMID:27220682

Genetics Home Reference: Farber lipogranulomatosis

MedlinePlus

... breakdown and use of fats in the body (lipid metabolism). In affected individuals, lipids accumulate abnormally in cells and tissues throughout the ... health problems beginning in infancy due to massive lipid deposits in the liver, spleen, lungs, and immune ...

Genetic risk prediction using a spatial autoregressive model with adaptive lasso.

PubMed

Wen, Yalu; Shen, Xiaoxi; Lu, Qing

2018-05-31

With rapidly evolving high-throughput technologies, studies are being initiated to accelerate the process toward precision medicine. The collection of the vast amounts of sequencing data provides us with great opportunities to systematically study the role of a deep catalog of sequencing variants in risk prediction. Nevertheless, the massive amount of noise signals and low frequencies of rare variants in sequencing data pose great analytical challenges on risk prediction modeling. Motivated by the development in spatial statistics, we propose a spatial autoregressive model with adaptive lasso (SARAL) for risk prediction modeling using high-dimensional sequencing data. The SARAL is a set-based approach, and thus, it reduces the data dimension and accumulates genetic effects within a single-nucleotide variant (SNV) set. Moreover, it allows different SNV sets having various magnitudes and directions of effect sizes, which reflects the nature of complex diseases. With the adaptive lasso implemented, SARAL can shrink the effects of noise SNV sets to be zero and, thus, further improve prediction accuracy. Through simulation studies, we demonstrate that, overall, SARAL is comparable to, if not better than, the genomic best linear unbiased prediction method. The method is further illustrated by an application to the sequencing data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Metal release from stainless steel particles in vitro-influence of particle size.

PubMed

Midander, K; Pan, J; Wallinder, I Odnevall; Leygraf, C

2007-01-01

Human inhalation of airborne metallic particles is important for health risk assessment. To study interactions between metallic particles and the human body, metal release measurements of stainless steel powder particles were performed in two synthetic biological media simulating lung-like environments. Particle size and media strongly influence the metal release process. The release rate of Fe is enhanced compared with Cr and Ni. In artificial lysosomal fluid (ALF, pH 4.5), the accumulated amounts of released metal per particle loading increase drastically with decreasing particle size. The release rate of Fe per unit surface area increases with decreasing particle size. Compared with massive sheet metal, fine powder particles (<4 microm) show similar release rates of Cr and Ni, but a higher release rate of Fe. Release rates in Gamble's solution (pH 7.4), for all powders investigated, are significantly lower compared to ALF. No clear trend is seen related to particle size in Gamble's solution.

Planetary Formation: From The Earth And Moon To Extrasolar Planets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; DeVincenzi, Donald (Technical Monitor)

1999-01-01

An overview of current theories of planetary growth, emphasizing the formation of habitable planets, is presented. These models are based upon observations of the Solar System and of young stars and their environments. They predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, although it is possible that in some cases such planets are lost - to orbital decay within the protoplanetary disk. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but if they become massive enough before the protoplanetary disk dissipates, then they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas. Specific issues to be discussed include: (1) how do giant planets influence the formation and habitability of terrestrial planets? (2) could a giant impact leading to lunar formation have occurred - 100 million years after the condensation of the oldest meteorites?

The Formation of the Earth-Moon System and the Planets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Young, Richard E. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

An overview of current theories of star and planet formation, with emphasis on terrestrial planet accretion and the formation of the Earth-Moon system is presented. These models are based upon observations of the Solar System and of young stars and their environments. They predict that rocky planets should form around most single stars, although it is possible that in some cases such planets are lost to orbital decay within the protoplanetary disk. The frequency of formation of gas giant planets is more difficult to predict theoretically. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant impacts during the final stages of growth can produce large planetary satellites, such as Earth's Moon. Giant planets begin their growth like terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates.

Understanding renal nuclear protein accumulation: an in vitro approach to explain an in vivo phenomenon.

PubMed

Luks, Lisanne; Maier, Marcia Y; Sacchi, Silvia; Pollegioni, Loredano; Dietrich, Daniel R

2017-11-01

Proper subcellular trafficking is essential to prevent protein mislocalization and aggregation. Transport of the peroxisomal enzyme D-amino acid oxidase (DAAO) appears dysregulated by specific pharmaceuticals, e.g., the anti-overactive bladder drug propiverine or a norepinephrine/serotonin reuptake inhibitor (NSRI), resulting in massive cytosolic and nuclear accumulations in rat kidney. To assess the underlying molecular mechanism of the latter, we aimed to characterize the nature of peroxisomal and cyto-nuclear shuttling of human and rat DAAO overexpressed in three cell lines using confocal microscopy. Indeed, interference with peroxisomal transport via deletion of the PTS1 signal or PEX5 knockdown resulted in induced nuclear DAAO localization. Having demonstrated the absence of active nuclear import and employing variably sized mCherry- and/or EYFP-fusion proteins of DAAO and catalase, we showed that peroxisomal proteins ≤134 kDa can passively diffuse into mammalian cell nuclei-thereby contradicting the often-cited 40 kDa diffusion limit. Moreover, their inherent nuclear presence and nuclear accumulation subsequent to proteasome inhibition or abrogated peroxisomal transport suggests that nuclear localization is a characteristic in the lifecycle of peroxisomal proteins. Based on this molecular trafficking analysis, we suggest that pharmaceuticals like propiverine or an NSRI may interfere with peroxisomal protein targeting and import, consequently resulting in massive nuclear protein accumulation in vivo.

Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): the connection between metals, specific SFR and H I gas in galaxies: the Z-SSFR relation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lara-López, M. A.; Hopkins, A. M.; López-Sánchez, A. R.; Brough, S.; Colless, M.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Driver, S.; Foster, C.; Liske, J.; Loveday, J.; Robotham, A. S. G.; Sharp, R. G.; Steele, O.; Taylor, E. N.

2013-06-01

We study the interplay between gas phase metallicity (Z), specific star formation rate (SSFR) and neutral hydrogen gas (H I) for galaxies of different stellar masses. Our study uses spectroscopic data from Galaxy and Mass Assembly and Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) star-forming galaxies, as well as H I detection from the Arecibo Legacy Fast Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFALFA) and Galex Arecibo SDSS Survey (GASS) public catalogues. We present a model based on the Z-SSFR relation that shows that at a given stellar mass, depending on the amount of gas, galaxies will follow opposite behaviours. Low-mass galaxies with a large amount of gas will show high SSFR and low metallicities, while low-mass galaxies with small amounts of gas will show lower SSFR and high metallicities. In contrast, massive galaxies with a large amount of gas will show moderate SSFR and high metallicities, while massive galaxies with small amounts of gas will show low SSFR and low metallicities. Using ALFALFA and GASS counterparts, we find that the amount of gas is related to those drastic differences in Z and SSFR for galaxies of a similar stellar mass.

Microparticles controllable accumulation, arrangement, and spatial shaping performed by tapered-fiber-based laser-induced convection flow.

PubMed

Zhang, Yu; Lei, Jiaojie; Zhang, Yaxun; Liu, Zhihai; Zhang, Jianzhong; Yang, Xinghua; Yang, Jun; Yuan, Libo

2017-10-30

The ability to arrange cells and/or microparticles into the desired pattern is critical in biological, chemical, and metamaterial studies and other applications. Researchers have developed a variety of patterning techniques, which either have a limited capacity to simultaneously trap massive particles or lack the spatial resolution necessary to manipulate individual particle. Several approaches have been proposed that combine both high spatial selectivity and high throughput simultaneously. However, those methods are complex and difficult to fabricate. In this article, we propose and demonstrate a simple method that combines the laser-induced convection flow and fiber-based optical trapping methods to perform both regular and special spatial shaping arrangement. Essentially, we combine a light field with a large optical intensity gradient distribution and a thermal field with a large temperature gradient distribution to perform the microparticles shaping arrangement. The tapered-fiber-based laser-induced convection flow provides not only the batch manipulation of massive particles, but also the finer manipulation of special one or several particles, which break out the limit of single-fiber-based massive/individual particles photothermal manipulation. The combination technique allows for microparticles quick accumulation, single-layer and multilayer arrangement; special spatial shaping arrangement/adjustment, and microparticles sorting.

GEMINI: a computationally-efficient search engine for large gene expression datasets.

PubMed

DeFreitas, Timothy; Saddiki, Hachem; Flaherty, Patrick

2016-02-24

Low-cost DNA sequencing allows organizations to accumulate massive amounts of genomic data and use that data to answer a diverse range of research questions. Presently, users must search for relevant genomic data using a keyword, accession number of meta-data tag. However, in this search paradigm the form of the query - a text-based string - is mismatched with the form of the target - a genomic profile. To improve access to massive genomic data resources, we have developed a fast search engine, GEMINI, that uses a genomic profile as a query to search for similar genomic profiles. GEMINI implements a nearest-neighbor search algorithm using a vantage-point tree to store a database of n profiles and in certain circumstances achieves an [Formula: see text] expected query time in the limit. We tested GEMINI on breast and ovarian cancer gene expression data from The Cancer Genome Atlas project and show that it achieves a query time that scales as the logarithm of the number of records in practice on genomic data. In a database with 10(5) samples, GEMINI identifies the nearest neighbor in 0.05 sec compared to a brute force search time of 0.6 sec. GEMINI is a fast search engine that uses a query genomic profile to search for similar profiles in a very large genomic database. It enables users to identify similar profiles independent of sample label, data origin or other meta-data information.

Negativity in Massive Online Open Courses: Impacts on Learning and Teaching and How Instructional Teams May Be Able to Address It

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Comer, Denise; Baker, Ryan; Wang, Yuan

2015-01-01

There are many positive aspects of teaching and learning in Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs), for both instructors and students. However, there is also a considerable amount of negativity in MOOCs, emerging from learners on discussion forums and through peer assessment, from disciplinary colleagues and from public discourse around MOOCs.…

Intercity passenger rail : Amtrak's progress in improving its financial condition has been mixed

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-07-01

Since its creation in 1971, Amtrak has accumulated massive financial losses, with recent losses averaging more than $800 million per year. To help Amtrak sustain operations and make needed capital investments, the federal government has provided Amtr...

Soil and public health: invisible bridges

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Public health institutions, as ancient as civilizations itself, are intrinsically connected with soils. The massive body of the empirical knowledge about this connection has been accumulated. Recently unraveling the underlying mechanisms of this link has begun, and many of them appear to have the m...

Plasmonic photothermal accumulation of particles by a microfiber decorated with gold nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Ying; Hu, Yanjun; Wu, Xingda

2017-08-01

This paper introduces an efficient method for accumulation of particles via thermophoresis and thermal convection sustained by localized surface plasmon energy. Gold nanorods were deposited on the designated surface of a microfiber, when a 808 nm laser at an optical power of 12 mV launched into the microfiber, particles dispersed in the water were massively trapped and aggregated on the substrate. This work is envisioned to have application in photothermal cancer therapy, photothermal imaging, and targeted drug delivery.

Dynamic behaviour analysis of an energy accumulation system comprising a composite flywheel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Portnov, G. G.; Kulakov, V. L.; Barinov, I. N.

1994-01-01

A simple system for energy accumulation comprising a rim and a massive shaft with elastic couplings was considered; the shaft runs in elastic damping bearings. Forced vibrations of the flywheel system induced by linear and angular eccentricities of composite rim were investigated. The effect of variation of different parameters of the system (stiffness of bearings, viscous friction coefficients of bearings, mass and moment of inertia of the shaft) on damping of radial and angular forced vibrations has been estimated.

Mineralogy, geochemistry, and Sr-Pb isotopic geochemistry of hydrothermal massive sulfides from the 15.2°S hydrothermal field, Mid-Atlantic Ridge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Hao; Li, Xiaohu; Chu, Fengyou; Li, Zhenggang; Wang, Jianqiang; Yu, Xing; Bi, Dongwei

2018-04-01

The 15.2°S hydrothermal field is located at 15.2°S, 13.4°W within the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) and was initially discovered during Cruise DY125-22 by the Chinese expedition during R/V Dayangyihao in 2011. Here, we provide detailed mineralogical, bulk geochemical, and Sr-Pb isotopic data for massive sulfides and basalts from the 15.2°S hydrothermal field to improve our understanding of the mineral compositions, geochemical characteristics, type of hydrothermal field, and the source of metals present at this vent site. The samples include 14 massive sulfides and a single basalt. The massive sulfides are dominated by pyrite with minor amounts of sphalerite and chalcopyrite, although a few samples also contain minor amounts of gordaite, a sulfate mineral. The sulfides have bulk compositions that contain low concentrations of Cu + Zn (mean 7.84 wt%), Co (mean 183 ppm), Ni (mean 3 ppm), and Ba (mean 16 ppm), similar to the Normal Mid-Ocean Ridge Basalt (N-MORB) type deposits along the MAR but different to the compositions of the Enriched-MORB (E-MORB) and ultramafic type deposits along this spreading ridge. Sulfides from the study area have Pb isotopic compositions (206Pb/204Pb = 18.4502-18.4538, 207Pb/204Pb = 15.4903-15.4936, 208Pb/204Pb = 37.8936-37.9176) that are similar to those of the basalt sample (206Pb/204Pb = 18.3381, 207Pb/204Pb = 15.5041, 208Pb/204Pb = 37.9411), indicating that the metals within the sulfides were derived from leaching of the surrounding basaltic rocks. The sulfides also have 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.708200-0.709049) that are much higher than typical MAR hydrothermal fluids (0.7028-0.7046), suggesting that the hydrothermal fluids mixed with a significant amount of seawater during massive sulfide precipitation.

76 FR 44658 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Form 1041-A

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-26

... 1041-A AGENCY: Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury. ACTION: Notice and request for comments... Form 1041-A, U.S. Information Return-Trust Accumulation of Charitable Amounts. DATES: Written comments... Accumulation of Charitable Amounts. [[Page 44659

Accumulation of dieldrin in an alga (Scenedesmus obliquus), Daphnia magna, and the guppy (Poecilia reticulata)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Reinert, Robert E.

1972-01-01

Scenedesmus obliquus, Daphnia magna, and Poecilia reticulata accumulated dieldrin directly from water; average concentration factors (concentration in organism, dry weight, divided by concentration in water) were 1282 for the alga, 13,954 for D. magna, and 49,307 (estimated) for the guppy. The amount accumulated by each species at equilibrium (after about 1.5, 3-4, and 18 days, respectively) was directly proportional to the concentration of dieldrin in the water. Daphnia magna and guppies accumulated more dieldrin from water than from food that had been exposed to similar concentrations in water. When guppies were fed equal daily rations of D. magna containing different concentrations of insecticide, the amounts of dieldrin accumulated by the fish were directly proportional to the concentration in D. magna; when two lots of guppies were fed different quantities of D. magna (10 and 20 organisms per day) containing identical concentrations of dieldrin, however, the amounts accumulated did not differ substantially.

Predicting the amount of intraperitoneal fluid accumulation by computed tomography and its clinical use in patients with perforated peptic ulcer.

PubMed

Ishiguro, Toru; Kumagai, Youichi; Baba, Hiroyuki; Tajima, Yusuke; Imaizumi, Hideko; Suzuki, Okihide; Kuwabara, Koki; Matsuzawa, Takeaki; Sobajima, Jun; Fukuchi, Minoru; Ishibashi, Keiichiro; Mochiki, Erito; Ishida, Hideyuki

2014-01-01

The correlation between the amount of peritoneal fluid and clinical parameters in patients with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) has not been investigated. The authors' objective was to derive a reliable formula for determining the amount of peritoneal fluid in patients with PPU before surgery, and to evaluate the correlation between the estimated amount of peritoneal fluid and clinical parameters. We investigated 62 consecutive patients who underwent emergency surgery for PPU, and in whom prediction of the amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid was possible by computed tomography (CT) using the methods described by Oriuchi et al. We examined the relationship between the predicted amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid and that measured during surgery, and the relationship between the amount of fluid predicted preoperatively or measured during surgery and several clinical parameters. There was a significant positive correlation between the amount of fluid predicted by CT scan and that measured during surgery. When patients with gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer were analyzed collectively, the predicted amount of intraperitoneal fluid and the amount measured during surgery were each associated with the period from onset until CT scan, perforation size, the Mannheim peritoneal index, and the severity of postoperative complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification. Our present results suggest that the method of Oriuchi et al is useful for predicting the amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid in patients with PPU, and that this would be potentially helpful for treatment decision-making and estimating the severity of postoperative complications.

Predicting the Amount of Intraperitoneal Fluid Accumulation by Computed Tomography and Its Clinical Use in Patients With Perforated Peptic Ulcer

PubMed Central

Ishiguro, Toru; Kumagai, Youichi; Baba, Hiroyuki; Tajima, Yusuke; Imaizumi, Hideko; Suzuki, Okihide; Kuwabara, Koki; Matsuzawa, Takeaki; Sobajima, Jun; Fukuchi, Minoru; Ishibashi, Keiichiro; Mochiki, Erito; Ishida, Hideyuki

2014-01-01

The correlation between the amount of peritoneal fluid and clinical parameters in patients with perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) has not been investigated. The authors' objective was to derive a reliable formula for determining the amount of peritoneal fluid in patients with PPU before surgery, and to evaluate the correlation between the estimated amount of peritoneal fluid and clinical parameters. We investigated 62 consecutive patients who underwent emergency surgery for PPU, and in whom prediction of the amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid was possible by computed tomography (CT) using the methods described by Oriuchi et al. We examined the relationship between the predicted amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid and that measured during surgery, and the relationship between the amount of fluid predicted preoperatively or measured during surgery and several clinical parameters. There was a significant positive correlation between the amount of fluid predicted by CT scan and that measured during surgery. When patients with gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer were analyzed collectively, the predicted amount of intraperitoneal fluid and the amount measured during surgery were each associated with the period from onset until CT scan, perforation size, the Mannheim peritoneal index, and the severity of postoperative complications according to the Clavien–Dindo classification. Our present results suggest that the method of Oriuchi et al is useful for predicting the amount of accumulated intraperitoneal fluid in patients with PPU, and that this would be potentially helpful for treatment decision-making and estimating the severity of postoperative complications. PMID:25437594

Problematic usage among highly-engaged players of massively multiplayer online role playing games.

PubMed

Peters, Christopher S; Malesky, L Alvin

2008-08-01

One popular facet of Internet gaming is the massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). Some individuals spend so much time playing these games that it creates problems in their lives. This study focused on players of World of Warcraft. Factor analysis revealed one factor related to problematic usage, which was correlated with amount of time played, and personality characteristics of agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and extraversion.

Soils and public health: a microbially-mediated nexus

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Public health institutions, as ancient as civilizations itself, have been intrinsically connected with soils. The massive body of the empirical knowledge about this connection was accumulated. Recently unraveling the underlying mechanisms of this nexus has begun, and many of them appeared to have th...

Deflate-gate: Conservative Management of a Large Ruptured Hydrocele

PubMed Central

Flores, Viktor X.; Wallen, Jared J.; Martinez, Danny R.; Carrion, Rafael

2015-01-01

A hydrocele is a common cause of intrascrotal swelling that results when fluid accumulates between the parietal and visceral layers of the tunica vaginalis. Over time, fluid may collect to form a massive hydrocele and result in significant discomfort for the patient. In this case report, we present a rare event of a 28-year-old gentleman with a documented massive hydrocele measuring 14.1 × 8.9 cm who ruptured his hydrocele during sexual intercourse. We expectantly managed the patient's ruptured hydrocele and encountered no complications throughout the course of his recovery. PMID:26793551

Exploiting NASA's Cumulus Earth Science Cloud Archive with Services and Computation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pilone, D.; Quinn, P.; Jazayeri, A.; Schuler, I.; Plofchan, P.; Baynes, K.; Ramachandran, R.

2017-12-01

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) houses nearly 30PBs of critical Earth Science data and with upcoming missions is expected to balloon to between 200PBs-300PBs over the next seven years. In addition to the massive increase in data collected, researchers and application developers want more and faster access - enabling complex visualizations, long time-series analysis, and cross dataset research without needing to copy and manage massive amounts of data locally. NASA has started prototyping with commercial cloud providers to make this data available in elastic cloud compute environments, allowing application developers direct access to the massive EOSDIS holdings. In this talk we'll explain the principles behind the archive architecture and share our experience of dealing with large amounts of data with serverless architectures including AWS Lambda, the Elastic Container Service (ECS) for long running jobs, and why we dropped thousands of lines of code for AWS Step Functions. We'll discuss best practices and patterns for accessing and using data available in a shared object store (S3) and leveraging events and message passing for sophisticated and highly scalable processing and analysis workflows. Finally we'll share capabilities NASA and cloud services are making available on the archives to enable massively scalable analysis and computation in a variety of formats and tools.

The Phytoalexin Resveratrol Regulates the Initiation of Hypersensitive Cell Death in Vitis Cell

PubMed Central

Chang, Xiaoli; Heene, Ernst; Qiao, Fei; Nick, Peter

2011-01-01

Resveratrol is a major phytoalexin produced by plants in response to various stresses and promotes disease resistance. The resistance of North American grapevine Vitis rupestris is correlated with a hypersensitive reaction (HR), while susceptible European Vitis vinifera cv. ‘Pinot Noir’ does not exhibit HR, but expresses basal defence. We have shown previously that in cell lines derived from the two Vitis species, the bacterial effector Harpin induced a rapid and sensitive accumulation of stilbene synthase (StSy) transcripts, followed by massive cell death in V. rupestris. In the present work, we analysed the function of the phytoalexin resveratrol, the product of StSy. We found that cv. ‘Pinot Noir’ accumulated low resveratrol and its glycoside trans-piceid, whereas V. rupestris produced massive trans-resveratrol and the toxic oxidative δ-viniferin, indicating that the preferred metabolitism of resveratrol plays role in Vitis resistance. Cellular responses to resveratrol included rapid alkalinisation, accumulation of pathogenesis-related protein 5 (PR5) transcripts, oxidative burst, actin bundling, and cell death. Microtubule disruption and induction of StSy were triggered by Harpin, but not by resveratrol. Whereas most responses proceeded with different amplitude for the two cell lines, the accumulation of resveratrol, and the competence for resveratrol-induced oxidative burst differed in quality. The data lead to a model, where resveratrol, in addition to its classical role as antimicrobial phytoalexin, represents an important regulator for initiation of HR-related cell death. PMID:22053190

Too Much Information--Too Much Apprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hijazi, Sam

2004-01-01

The information age along with the exponential increase in information technology has brought an unexpected amount of information. The endeavor to sort and extract a meaning from the massive amount of data has become a challenging task to many educators and managers. This research is an attempt to collect the most common suggestions to reduce the…

A different method for calculation of the deflection angle of light passing close to a massive object by Fermat’s principle

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Akkus, Harun, E-mail: physicisthakkus@gmail.com

2013-12-15

We introduce a method for calculating the amount of deflection angle of light passing close to a massive object. It is based on Fermat’s principle. The varying refractive index of medium around the massive object is obtained from the Buckingham pi-theorem. Highlights: •A different and simpler method for the calculation of deflection angle of light. •Not a curved space, only 2-D Euclidean space. •Getting a varying refractive index from the Buckingham pi-theorem. •Obtaining the some results of general relativity from Fermat’s principle.

Inhibition of Mitochondrial Pyruvate Transport by Zaprinast Causes Massive Accumulation of Aspartate at the Expense of Glutamate in the Retina*

PubMed Central

Du, Jianhai; Cleghorn, Whitney M.; Contreras, Laura; Lindsay, Ken; Rountree, Austin M.; Chertov, Andrei O.; Turner, Sally J.; Sahaboglu, Ayse; Linton, Jonathan; Sadilek, Martin; Satrústegui, Jorgina; Sweet, Ian R.; Paquet-Durand, François; Hurley, James B.

2013-01-01

Transport of pyruvate into mitochondria by the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier is crucial for complete oxidation of glucose and for biosynthesis of amino acids and lipids. Zaprinast is a well known phosphodiesterase inhibitor and lead compound for sildenafil. We found Zaprinast alters the metabolomic profile of mitochondrial intermediates and amino acids in retina and brain. This metabolic effect of Zaprinast does not depend on inhibition of phosphodiesterase activity. By providing 13C-labeled glucose and glutamine as fuels, we found that the metabolic profile of the Zaprinast effect is nearly identical to that of inhibitors of the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier. Both stimulate oxidation of glutamate and massive accumulation of aspartate. Moreover, Zaprinast inhibits pyruvate-driven O2 consumption in brain mitochondria and blocks mitochondrial pyruvate carrier in liver mitochondria. Inactivation of the aspartate glutamate carrier in retina does not attenuate the metabolic effect of Zaprinast. Our results show that Zaprinast is a potent inhibitor of mitochondrial pyruvate carrier activity, and this action causes aspartate to accumulate at the expense of glutamate. Our findings show that Zaprinast is a specific mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) inhibitor and may help to elucidate the roles of MPC in amino acid metabolism and hypoglycemia. PMID:24187136

Accumulation of intra-cellular polyphosphate in Chlorella vulgaris cells is related to indole-3-acetic acid produced by Azospirillum brasilense.

PubMed

Meza, Beatriz; de-Bashan, Luz E; Hernandez, Juan-Pablo; Bashan, Yoav

2015-06-01

Accumulation of intra-cellular phosphate, as polyphosphate, was measured when the microalga Chlorella vulgaris was immobilized in alginate with either of two wild-type strains of the microalgae growth-promoting bacterium Azospirillum brasilense or their corresponding IAA-attenuated mutants. Wild type strains of A. brasilense induced higher amounts of intra-cellular phosphate in Chlorella than their respective mutants. Calculations comparing intra-cellular phosphate accumulation by culture or net accumulation by the cell and the amount of IAA that was produced by each of these strains revealed that higher IAA was linked to higher accumulations of intra-cellular phosphate. Application of four levels of exogenous IAA reported for A. brasilense and their IAA-attenuated mutants to cultures of C. vulgaris enhanced accumulation of intra-cellular phosphate; the higher the content of IAA per culture or per single cell, the higher was the amount of accumulated phosphate. When an IAA-attenuated mutant was complemented with exogenous IAA, accumulation of intra-cellular phosphate at the culture level was even higher than phosphate accumulation with the respective wild type strains. When calculating the net accumulation of intra-cellular phosphate in the complementation experiment, net intra-cellular phosphate induced by the IAA-attenuated mutant was completely restored and was similar to the wild strains. We propose that IAA produced by A. brasilense is linked to polyphosphate accumulation in C. vulgaris. Copyright © 2015 Institut Pasteur. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Solar-Panel Dust Accumulation and Cleanings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2005-01-01

Air-fall dust accumulates on the solar panels of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers, reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the solar arrays. Pre-launch models predicted steady dust accumulation. However, the rovers have been blessed with occasional wind events that clear significant amounts of dust from the solar panels.

This graph shows the effects of those panel-cleaning events on the amount of electricity generated by Spirit's solar panels. The horizontal scale is the number of Martian days (sols) after Spirit's Jan. 4, 2005, (Universal Time) landing on Mars. The vertical scale indicates output from the rover's solar panels as a fraction of the amount produced when the clean panels first opened. Note that the gradual declines are interrupted by occasional sharp increases, such as a dust-cleaning event on sol 420.

The extreme risk of personal data breaches and the erosion of privacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wheatley, Spencer; Maillart, Thomas; Sornette, Didier

2016-01-01

Personal data breaches from organisations, enabling mass identity fraud, constitute an extreme risk. This risk worsens daily as an ever-growing amount of personal data are stored by organisations and on-line, and the attack surface surrounding this data becomes larger and harder to secure. Further, breached information is distributed and accumulates in the hands of cyber criminals, thus driving a cumulative erosion of privacy. Statistical modeling of breach data from 2000 through 2015 provides insights into this risk: A current maximum breach size of about 200 million is detected, and is expected to grow by fifty percent over the next five years. The breach sizes are found to be well modeled by an extremely heavy tailed truncated Pareto distribution, with tail exponent parameter decreasing linearly from 0.57 in 2007 to 0.37 in 2015. With this current model, given a breach contains above fifty thousand items, there is a ten percent probability of exceeding ten million. A size effect is unearthed where both the frequency and severity of breaches scale with organisation size like s0.6. Projections indicate that the total amount of breached information is expected to double from two to four billion items within the next five years, eclipsing the population of users of the Internet. This massive and uncontrolled dissemination of personal identities raises fundamental concerns about privacy.

Electric Charge Accumulation in Polar and Non-Polar Polymers under Electron Beam Irradiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagasawa, Kenichiro; Honjoh, Masato; Takada, Tatsuo; Miyake, Hiroaki; Tanaka, Yasuhiro

The electric charge accumulation under an electron beam irradiation (40 keV and 60 keV) was measured by using the pressure wave propagation (PWP) method in the dielectric insulation materials, such as polar polymeric films (polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene-naphthalate (PEN), polyimide (PI), and polyethylene-terephthalate (PET)) and non-polar polymeric films (polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)). The PE and PTFE (non-polar polymers) showed the properties of large amount of electric charge accumulation over 50 C/m3 and long saturation time over 80 minutes. The PP and PS (non-polar polymer) showed the properties of middle amount of charge accumulation about 20 C/m3 and middle saturation time about 1 to 20 minutes. The PC, PEN, PI and PET (polar polymers) showed the properties of small amount of charge accumulation about 5 to 20 C/m3 and within short saturation time about 1.0 minutes. This paper summarizes the relationship between the properties of charge accumulation and chemical structural formula, and compares between the electro static potential distribution with negative charged polymer and its chemical structural formula.

The effect of cleanliness control during installation work on the amount of accumulated dust in ducts of new HVAC installations.

PubMed

Holopainen, R; Tuomainen, M; Asikainen, V; Pasanen, P; Säteri, J; Seppänen, O

2002-09-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the amount of dust in supply air ducts in recently installed ventilation systems. The samples for the determination of dust accumulation were collected from supply air ducts in 18 new buildings that have been constructed according to two different cleanliness control levels classified as category P1 (low oil residues and protected against contaminations) and category P2, as defined in the Classification of Indoor Climate, Construction and Building Materials. In the ducts installed according to the requirements of cleanliness category P1 the mean amount of accumulated dust was 0.9 g/m2 (0.4-2.9 g/m2), and in the ducts installed according to the cleanliness category P2 it was 2.3 g/m2 (1.2-4.9 g/m2). A significant difference was found in the mean amounts of dust between ducts of categories P1 and P2 (P < 0.008). The cleanliness control procedure in category P1 proved to be a useful and effective tool for preventing dust accumulation in new air ducts during the construction process. Additionally, the ducts without residual oil had lower amounts of accumulated dust indicating that the demand for oil free components in the cleanliness classification is reasonable.

Nonparametric Density Estimation Based on Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network for Large Noisy Data.

PubMed

Nakamura, Yoshihiro; Hasegawa, Osamu

2017-01-01

With the ongoing development and expansion of communication networks and sensors, massive amounts of data are continuously generated in real time from real environments. Beforehand, prediction of a distribution underlying such data is difficult; furthermore, the data include substantial amounts of noise. These factors make it difficult to estimate probability densities. To handle these issues and massive amounts of data, we propose a nonparametric density estimator that rapidly learns data online and has high robustness. Our approach is an extension of both kernel density estimation (KDE) and a self-organizing incremental neural network (SOINN); therefore, we call our approach KDESOINN. An SOINN provides a clustering method that learns about the given data as networks of prototype of data; more specifically, an SOINN can learn the distribution underlying the given data. Using this information, KDESOINN estimates the probability density function. The results of our experiments show that KDESOINN outperforms or achieves performance comparable to the current state-of-the-art approaches in terms of robustness, learning time, and accuracy.

Snow as an accumulator of air pollutants

Treesearch

Robert T. Brown

1976-01-01

Using simple analytical techniques, the amounts of air pollutants accumulated in winter snow were determined and the results correlated with lichen survival on trees. Pollutants measured were particulate matter, sulfate, and chloride. An inverse relationship was found between amounts of each of these pollutants and the abundance of various lichens.

Apoptosis in fatal Ebola infection. Does the virus toll the bell for immune system?

PubMed

Baize, S; Leroy, E M; Mavoungou, E; Fisher-Hoch, S P

2000-02-01

In fatal Ebola virus hemorrhagic fever massive intravascular apoptosis develops rapidly following infection and progressing relentlessly until death. While data suggest that T lymphocytes are mainly deleted by apoptosis in PBMC of human fatal cases, experimental Ebola infection in animal models have shown some evidence of destruction of lymphocytes in spleen and lymph nodes probably involving both T and B cells. Nevertheless, we are able to conclude from the accumulated evidence that early interactions between Ebola virus and the immune system, probably via macrophages, main targets for viral replication, lead to massive destruction of immune cells in fatal cases.

Debilitating lung disease among surface coal miners with no underground mining tenure.

PubMed

Halldin, Cara N; Reed, William R; Joy, Gerald J; Colinet, Jay F; Rider, James P; Petsonk, Edward L; Abraham, Jerrold L; Wolfe, Anita L; Storey, Eileen; Laney, A Scott

2015-01-01

To characterize exposure histories and respiratory disease among surface coal miners identified with progressive massive fibrosis from a 2010 to 2011 pneumoconiosis survey. Job history, tenure, and radiograph interpretations were verified. Previous radiographs were reviewed when available. Telephone follow-up sought additional work and medical history information. Among eight miners who worked as drill operators or blasters for most of their tenure (median, 35.5 years), two reported poor dust control practices, working in visible dust clouds as recently as 2012. Chest radiographs progressed to progressive massive fibrosis in as few as 11 years. One miner's lung biopsy demonstrated fibrosis and interstitial accumulation of macrophages containing abundant silica, aluminum silicate, and titanium dust particles. Overexposure to respirable silica resulted in progressive massive fibrosis among current surface coal miners with no underground mining tenure. Inadequate dust control during drilling/blasting is likely an important etiologic factor.

Debilitating Lung Disease Among Surface Coal Miners With No Underground Mining Tenure

PubMed Central

Halldin, Cara N.; Reed, William R.; Joy, Gerald J.; Colinet, Jay F.; Rider, James P.; Petsonk, Edward L.; Abraham, Jerrold L.; Wolfe, Anita L.; Storey, Eileen; Laney, A. Scott

2015-01-01

Objective To characterize exposure histories and respiratory disease among surface coal miners identified with progressive massive fibrosis from a 2010 to 2011 pneumoconiosis survey. Methods Job history, tenure, and radiograph interpretations were verified. Previous radiographs were reviewed when available. Telephone follow-up sought additional work and medical history information. Results Among eight miners who worked as drill operators or blasters for most of their tenure (median, 35.5 years), two reported poor dust control practices, working in visible dust clouds as recently as 2012. Chest radiographs progressed to progressive massive fibrosis in as few as 11 years. One miner’s lung biopsy demonstrated fibrosis and interstitial accumulation of macrophages containing abundant silica, aluminum silicate, and titanium dust particles. Conclusions Overexposure to respirable silica resulted in progressive massive fibrosis among current surface coal miners with no underground mining tenure. Inadequate dust control during drilling/blasting is likely an important etiologic factor. PMID:25563541

Massive ovarian edema associated with a broad ligament leiomyoma: a case report and review.

PubMed

Harrison, Beth T; Berg, Robert E; Mittal, Khush

2014-07-01

Massive ovarian edema is a rare disorder in which there is marked accumulation of interstitial fluid in the stroma of the ovary. Grossly, the involved ovary is an enlarged solid mass with a smooth tan-white surface, easily confused with a neoplasm. Microscopically, it features diffuse interstitial edema sparing follicles and outer cortex, dilated lymphatic vessels, thick-walled veins, fibromatosis, and luteinized stromal cells. It is believed that massive ovarian edema arises from interference in lymphatic drainage and venous return of the ovary secondary to partial torsion among other etiologies. Herein we provide the first description of unilateral ovarian edema in association with a large leiomyoma in the ipsilateral broad ligament. It is important to recognize the various presentations of this benign entity and to consider it in the differential diagnosis of an adnexal mass in a reproductive age woman.

Massive problem reports mining and analysis based parallelism for similar search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Ya; Hu, Cailin; Xiong, Han; Wei, Xiafei; Li, Ling

2017-05-01

Massive problem reports and solutions accumulated over time and continuously collected in XML Spreadsheet (XMLSS) format from enterprises and organizations, which record a series of comprehensive description about problems that can help technicians to trace problems and their solutions. It's a significant and challenging issue to effectively manage and analyze these massive semi-structured data to provide similar problem solutions, decisions of immediate problem and assisting product optimization for users during hardware and software maintenance. For this purpose, we build a data management system to manage, mine and analyze these data search results that can be categorized and organized into several categories for users to quickly find out where their interesting results locate. Experiment results demonstrate that this system is better than traditional centralized management system on the performance and the adaptive capability of heterogeneous data greatly. Besides, because of re-extracting topics, it enables each cluster to be described more precise and reasonable.

Massive sulfide metallogenesis at a late Mesozoic sediment-covered spreading axis: Evidence from the Franciscan complex and contemporary analogues

USGS Publications Warehouse

Koski, Randolph A.; Lamons, Roberta C.; Dumoulin, Julie A.; Bouse, Robin M.

1993-01-01

The Island Mountain deposit, an anomalous massive sulfide in the Central belt of the Franciscan subduction complex, northern California Coast Ranges, formed during hydrothermal activity in a sediment-dominated paleo-sea-floor environment. Although the base of the massive sulfide is juxtaposed against a 500-m-wide melange band, its gradational upper contact within a coherent sequence of sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone indicates that hydrothermal activity was concurrent with turbidite deposition. Accumulations of sulfide breccia and clastic sulfide were produced by mass wasting of the sulfide mound prior to burial by turbidites. The bulk composition of sulfide samples (pyrrhotite rich; high Cu, As, and Au contents; radiogenic Pb isotope ratios) is consistent with a hydrothermal system dominated by fluid-sediment interaction. On the basis of a comparison with possible contemporary tectonic analogues at the southern Gorda Ridge and the Chile margin triple junction, we propose that massive sulfide mineralization in the Central belt of the Franciscan complex resulted from hydrothermal activity at a late Mesozoic sediment-covered ridge axis prior to collision with the North American plate.

Massive sulfide metallogenesis at a late Mesozoic sediment-covered spreading axis: Evidence from the Franciscan complex and contemporary analogues

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koski, Randolph A.; Lamons, Roberta C.; Dumoulin, Julie A.; Bouse, Robin M.

1993-02-01

The Island Mountain deposit, an anomalous massive sulfide in the Central belt of the Franciscan subduction complex, northern California Coast Ranges, formed during hydrothermal activity in a sediment-dominated paleo-sea-floor environment. Although the base of the massive sulfide is juxtaposed against a 500-m-wide melange band, its gradational upper contact within a coherent sequence of sandstone, siltstone, and mudstone indicates that hydrothermal activity was concurrent with turbidite deposition. Accumulations of sulfide breccia and clastic sulfide were produced by mass wasting of the sulfide mound prior to burial by turbidites. The bulk composition of sulfide samples (pyrrhotite rich; high Cu, As, and Au contents; radiogenic Pb isotope ratios) is consistent with a hydrothermal system dominated by fluid-sediment interaction. On the basis of a comparison with possible contemporary tectonic analogues at the southern Gorda Ridge and the Chile margin triple junction, we propose that massive sulfide mineralization in the Central belt of the Franciscan complex resulted from hydrothermal activity at a late Mesozoic sediment-covered ridge axis prior to collision with the North American plate.

Analyzing the importance of wind-blown snow accumulations on Mount

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nestler, Alexander; Huss, Matthias; Ambartsumian, Rouben; Hambarian, Artak; Mohr, Sandra; Santi, Flavio

2013-04-01

Armenia's climate has a predominantly continental character with high amounts of precipitation and low temperatures during wintertime and a lack of precipitation together with high temperatures during summer. On the volcano Mount Aragatz, snow is relocated by strong winds into massive accumulations between 2500 and 4100 m a.s.l. during the winter season. These snow accumulations appear every winter in regular patterns as cornices on the lee side of sharp edges, such as those of ridges and canyons, which are arranged in a radial manner around the central crater. The biggest cornices almost outlast the hot period and provide considerable amounts of melt water until they disappear completely by the end of August. Snow melt water is known to have a high economic importance for agriculture on the slopes of Mount Aragatz and in the surroundings of Armenia's captial Yerewan. The aim of this study is to estimate the quantity of water naturally stored as snow on Mount Aragatz, and to what degree the use of geotextiles can prolong the lives of these snow accumulations. The characteristics and the spatial distribution of snow cornices on Mount Aragatz were determined using classical glaciological methods in June/July 2011 and 2012, involving snow depth soundings, water equivalent measurements and snow melt monitoring using ablation stakes, together with GPS mappings and classifications obtained from satellite images of the snow cornices. The combination of these data with ASTER DEMs and local weather data allows the modelling of the formation of wind-driven snow accumulations. Statistical relationships between the measured extent and volume of the snow cornices and surface parameters such as slope, aspect and curvature are established. In order to analyze the meltdown of the snow accumulations and the consequent impacts on runoff generation and the hydrological regime, a glacio-hydrological model integrating topographic parameters and meteorological data is applied. The combination of in-situ field data and satellite information allows an estimation of the water volume that is stored in the form of snow on Mount Aragatz. Using numerical modelling, we extend these results to other years, and calculate past and future water yields from snow melt from Mount Aragatz. This study is performed in the frame of the Armenian-Swiss project "Freezwater" that aims at an artificial managing of snow melting to better time the release of melt water at low cost. In the past few years, an artificial glacier was built up successfully, and geotextiles were used to reduce the melt rates of snow cornices. In order to estimate the efficiency of geotextiles in delaying the melt-down, ablation rates of protected snow surfaces were compared to those of uncovered areas. This study will contribute to the understanding of aeolian processes within the cryosphere as well as it will help to gain engineering knowledge concerning a new and efficient water storage technique.

Dynamics of Small RNA Profiles of Virus and Host Origin in Wheat Cultivars Synergistically Infected by Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus and Triticum Mosaic Virus: Virus Infection Caused a Drastic Shift in the Endogenous Small RNA Profile

PubMed Central

Tatineni, Satyanarayana; Riethoven, Jean-Jack M.; Graybosch, Robert A.; French, Roy; Mitra, Amitava

2014-01-01

Co-infection of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) by Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV, a Tritimovirus) and Triticum mosaic virus (TriMV, a Poacevirus) of the family Potyviridae causes synergistic interaction. In this study, the effects of the synergistic interaction between WSMV and TriMV on endogenous and virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs) were examined in susceptible (‘Arapahoe’) and temperature-sensitive resistant (‘Mace’) wheat cultivars at 18°C and 27°C. Single and double infections in wheat caused a shift in the profile of endogenous small RNAs from 24 nt being the most predominant in healthy plants to 21 nt in infected wheat. Massive amounts of 21 and 22 nt vsiRNAs accumulated in singly and doubly infected Arapahoe at both temperatures and in Mace at 27°C but not 18°C. The plus- and minus-sense vsiRNAs were distributed throughout the genomic RNAs in Arapahoe at both temperature regimens and in Mace at 27°C, although some regions served as hot-spots, spawning an excessive number of vsiRNAs. The vsiRNA peaks were conserved among cultivars, suggesting that the Dicer-like enzymes in susceptible and resistant cultivars similarly accessed the genomic RNAs of WSMV or TriMV. Accumulation of large amounts of vsiRNAs in doubly infected plants suggests that the silencing suppressor proteins encoded by TriMV and WSMV do not prevent the formation of vsiRNAs; thus, the synergistic effect observed is independent from RNA-silencing mediated vsiRNA biogenesis. The high-resolution map of endogenous and vsiRNAs from WSMV- and/or TriMV-infected wheat cultivars may form a foundation for understanding the virus-host interactions, the effect of synergistic interactions on host defense, and virus resistance mechanisms in wheat. PMID:25365307

Dynamics of small RNA profiles of virus and host origin in wheat cultivars synergistically infected by Wheat streak mosaic virus and Triticum mosaic virus: virus infection caused a drastic shift in the endogenous small RNA profile.

PubMed

Tatineni, Satyanarayana; Riethoven, Jean-Jack M; Graybosch, Robert A; French, Roy; Mitra, Amitava

2014-01-01

Co-infection of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) by Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV, a Tritimovirus) and Triticum mosaic virus (TriMV, a Poacevirus) of the family Potyviridae causes synergistic interaction. In this study, the effects of the synergistic interaction between WSMV and TriMV on endogenous and virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs) were examined in susceptible ('Arapahoe') and temperature-sensitive resistant ('Mace') wheat cultivars at 18°C and 27°C. Single and double infections in wheat caused a shift in the profile of endogenous small RNAs from 24 nt being the most predominant in healthy plants to 21 nt in infected wheat. Massive amounts of 21 and 22 nt vsiRNAs accumulated in singly and doubly infected Arapahoe at both temperatures and in Mace at 27°C but not 18°C. The plus- and minus-sense vsiRNAs were distributed throughout the genomic RNAs in Arapahoe at both temperature regimens and in Mace at 27°C, although some regions served as hot-spots, spawning an excessive number of vsiRNAs. The vsiRNA peaks were conserved among cultivars, suggesting that the Dicer-like enzymes in susceptible and resistant cultivars similarly accessed the genomic RNAs of WSMV or TriMV. Accumulation of large amounts of vsiRNAs in doubly infected plants suggests that the silencing suppressor proteins encoded by TriMV and WSMV do not prevent the formation of vsiRNAs; thus, the synergistic effect observed is independent from RNA-silencing mediated vsiRNA biogenesis. The high-resolution map of endogenous and vsiRNAs from WSMV- and/or TriMV-infected wheat cultivars may form a foundation for understanding the virus-host interactions, the effect of synergistic interactions on host defense, and virus resistance mechanisms in wheat.

Ground magnetometer survey in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, Alaska. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Trible, M. C.

1972-01-01

A reconnaissance magnetometer survey was conducted with both total- and vertical-field magnetometers. The large, sharp, narrow total magnetic anomalies observed over a zone of relict fumaroles in Broken Mountain Valley showed spectacular agreement with the surficial geology. Such a correlation is a strong indication that accumulations of magnetic minerals have been preserved along these fissure vents at shallow depths. Since large magnetic anomalies were measured near fumarolic markings along all of the traverses, it is proposed that the retention of sublimates along fumarolic vents is common throughout the Valley. The generally concentric contours of the vertical magnetic anomaly at the head of the Valley suggest that the dome of Novarupta is merely the surficial expression of a very massive conical-shaped intrusive centered just northeast of the dome. The magnetometer survey indicates that the pyroclastics in the Valley may be over 150 meters thick. Such an estimate is compatible with the volume of eruptive material needed to compensate for the subsidence surrounding Novarupta as well as a sizable amount of other regional subsidence.

Carotenoid Distribution in Living Cells of Haematococcus pluvialis (Chlorophyceae)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Collins, Aaron M.; Jones, Howland D. T.; Han, Danxiang

Haematococcus pluvialis is a freshwater unicellular green microalga belonging to the class Chlorophyceae and is of commercial interest for its ability to accumulate massive amounts of the red ketocarotenoid astaxanthin (3,3'-dihydroxy-β,β-carotene-4,4'-dione). Using confocal Raman microscopy and multivariate analysis, we demonstrate the ability to spectrally resolve resonance–enhanced Raman signatures associated with astaxanthin and β-carotene along with chlorophyll fluorescence. By mathematically isolating these spectral signatures, in turn, it is possible to locate these species independent of each other in living cells of H. pluvialis in various stages of the life cycle. Chlorophyll emission was found only in the chloroplast whereas astaxanthin wasmore » identified within globular and punctate regions of the cytoplasmic space. Moreover, we found evidence for β-carotene to be co-located with both the chloroplast and astaxanthin in the cytosol. These observations imply that β-carotene is a precursor for astaxanthin and the synthesis of astaxanthin occurs outside the chloroplast. Finally, our work demonstrates the broad utility of confocal Raman microscopy to resolve spectral signatures of highly similar chromophores in living cells.« less

Faulting and off-axis submarine massive sulfide accumulation at slow spreading mid-ocean ridges: A numerical modeling perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andersen, C.; Theissen-Krah, S.; Hannington, M.; Rüpke, L.; Petersen, S.

2017-06-01

The potential of mining seafloor massive sulfide deposits for metals such as Cu, Zn, and Au is currently debated. One key challenge is to predict where the largest deposits worth mining might form, which in turn requires understanding the pattern of subseafloor hydrothermal mass and energy transport. Numerical models of heat and fluid flow are applied to illustrate the important role of fault zone properties (permeability and width) in controlling mass accumulation at hydrothermal vents at slow spreading ridges. We combine modeled mass-flow rates, vent temperatures, and vent field dimensions with the known fluid chemistry at the fault-controlled Logatchev 1 hydrothermal field of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. We predict that the 135 kilotons of SMS at this site (estimated by other studies) can have accumulated with a minimum depositional efficiency of 5% in the known duration of hydrothermal venting (58,200 year age of the deposit). In general, the most productive faults must provide an efficient fluid pathway while at the same time limit cooling due to mixing with entrained cold seawater. This balance is best met by faults that are just wide and permeable enough to control a hydrothermal plume rising through the oceanic crust. Model runs with increased basal heat input, mimicking a heat flow contribution from along-axis, lead to higher mass fluxes and vent temperatures, capable of significantly higher SMS accumulation rates. Nonsteady state conditions, such as the influence of a cooling magmatic intrusion beneath the fault zone, also can temporarily increase the mass flux while sustaining high vent temperatures.

Genome-wide analysis reveals phytohormone action during cassava storage root initiation.

PubMed

Sojikul, Punchapat; Saithong, Treenut; Kalapanulak, Saowalak; Pisuttinusart, Nuttapat; Limsirichaikul, Siripan; Tanaka, Maho; Utsumi, Yoshinori; Sakurai, Tetsuya; Seki, Motoaki; Narangajavana, Jarunya

2015-08-01

Development of storage roots is a process associated with a phase change from cell division and elongation to radial growth and accumulation of massive amounts of reserve substances such as starch. Knowledge of the regulation of cassava storage root formation has accumulated over time; however, gene regulation during the initiation and early stage of storage root development is still poorly understood. In this study, transcription profiling of fibrous, intermediate and storage roots at eight weeks old were investigated using a 60-mer-oligo microarray. Transcription and gene expression were found to be the key regulating processes during the transition stage from fibrous to intermediate roots, while homeostasis and signal transduction influenced regulation from intermediate roots to storage roots. Clustering analysis of significant genes and transcription factors (TF) indicated that a number of phytohormone-related TF were differentially expressed; therefore, phytohormone-related genes were assembled into a network of correlative nodes. We propose a model showing the relationship between KNOX1 and phytohormones during storage root initiation. Exogeneous treatment of phytohormones N (6) -benzylaminopurine and 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid were used to induce the storage root initiation stage and to investigate expression patterns of the genes involved in storage root initiation. The results support the hypothesis that phytohormones are acting in concert to regulate the onset of cassava storage root development. Moreover, MeAGL20 is a factor that might play an important role at the onset of storage root initiation when the root tip becomes swollen.

Role of sucrose phosphate synthase in sucrose biosynthesis in ripening bananas and its relationship to the respiratory climacteric.

PubMed

Hubbard, N L; Pharr, D M; Huber, S C

1990-09-01

During ripening of bananas (Musa spp. [AAA group, Cavendish subgroup]), there is a massive conversion of starch to sucrose. Also during ripening there is a rise in respiration known as the respiratory climacteric. In this study changes in carbohydrate content, activities of starch and sucrose metabolizing enzymes, and respiration were measured to assess their potential interrelationships. Sucrose phosphate synthase activity increased dramatically during the first 4 days after initiation of ripening by ethylene treatment. Starch concentration decreased and sucrose concentration increased during this time period. Developmental changes in sucrose phosphate synthase activity were measured with limiting substrate (plus Pi) and saturating substrate concentrations. Activities were not parallel under the two assay conditions, providing tentative evidence that kinetically different forms of the enzyme may exist at different stages of ripening. Sucrose accumulation rate was most highly correlated with sucrose phosphate synthase activity assayed with limiting substrate concentrations (plus Pi). The cumulative amount of CO(2) respired during ripening was positively correlated with sugar accumulation (R(2) = 0.97). From this linear regression it was calculated that a constant 0.605 millimoles of CO(2) was evolved per mole of sucrose formed throughout ripening. Using this quantity, the percentage of the total respiratory ATP produced which was required for the conversion of starch to sucrose was calculated assuming different models for carbon export from the amyloplast. The results suggest that sucrose biosynthesis during ripening constitutes a significant sink for respiratory ATP.

Role of Sucrose Phosphate Synthase in Sucrose Biosynthesis in Ripening Bananas and Its Relationship to the Respiratory Climacteric 1

PubMed Central

Hubbard, Natalie L.; Pharr, D. Mason; Huber, Steven C.

1990-01-01

During ripening of bananas (Musa spp. [AAA group, Cavendish subgroup]), there is a massive conversion of starch to sucrose. Also during ripening there is a rise in respiration known as the respiratory climacteric. In this study changes in carbohydrate content, activities of starch and sucrose metabolizing enzymes, and respiration were measured to assess their potential interrelationships. Sucrose phosphate synthase activity increased dramatically during the first 4 days after initiation of ripening by ethylene treatment. Starch concentration decreased and sucrose concentration increased during this time period. Developmental changes in sucrose phosphate synthase activity were measured with limiting substrate (plus Pi) and saturating substrate concentrations. Activities were not parallel under the two assay conditions, providing tentative evidence that kinetically different forms of the enzyme may exist at different stages of ripening. Sucrose accumulation rate was most highly correlated with sucrose phosphate synthase activity assayed with limiting substrate concentrations (plus Pi). The cumulative amount of CO2 respired during ripening was positively correlated with sugar accumulation (R2 = 0.97). From this linear regression it was calculated that a constant 0.605 millimoles of CO2 was evolved per mole of sucrose formed throughout ripening. Using this quantity, the percentage of the total respiratory ATP produced which was required for the conversion of starch to sucrose was calculated assuming different models for carbon export from the amyloplast. The results suggest that sucrose biosynthesis during ripening constitutes a significant sink for respiratory ATP. PMID:16667688

Protein Folding and the Challenges of Maintaining Endoplasmic Reticulum Proteostasis in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

PubMed

Romero, Freddy; Summer, Ross

2017-11-01

Alveolar epithelial type II (AEII) cells are "professional" secretory cells that synthesize and secrete massive quantities of proteins to produce pulmonary surfactant and maintain airway immune defenses. To facilitate this high level of protein synthesis, AEII cells are equipped with an elaborate endoplasmic reticulum (ER) structure and possess an abundance of the machinery needed to fold, assemble, and secrete proteins. However, conditions that suddenly increase the quantity of new proteins entering the ER or that impede the capacity of the ER to fold proteins can cause misfolded or unfolded proteins to accumulate in the ER lumen, also called ER stress. To minimize this stress, AEII cells adapt by (1) reducing the quantity of proteins entering the ER, (2) increasing the amount of protein-folding machinery, and (3) removing misfolded proteins when they accumulate. Although these adaptive responses, aptly named the unfolded protein response, are usually effective in reducing ER stress, chronic aggregation of misfolded proteins is recognized as a hallmark feature of AEII cells in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Although mutations in surfactant proteins are linked to the development of ER stress in some rare IPF cases, the mechanisms causing protein misfolding in most cases are unknown. In this article, we review the mechanisms regulating ER proteostasis and highlight specific aspects of protein folding and the unfolded protein response that are most vulnerable to failure. Then, we postulate mechanisms other than genetic mutations that might contribute to protein aggregation in the alveolar epithelium of IPF lung.

Bridging the gap: from massive stars to supernovae

PubMed Central

Crowther, Paul A.; Janka, Hans-Thomas; Langer, Norbert

2017-01-01

Almost since the beginning, massive stars and their resultant supernovae have played a crucial role in the Universe. These objects produce tremendous amounts of energy and new, heavy elements that enrich galaxies, encourage new stars to form and sculpt the shapes of galaxies that we see today. The end of millions of years of massive star evolution and the beginning of hundreds or thousands of years of supernova evolution are separated by a matter of a few seconds, in which some of the most extreme physics found in the Universe causes the explosive and terminal disruption of the star. Key questions remain unanswered in both the studies of how massive stars evolve and the behaviour of supernovae, and it appears the solutions may not lie on just one side of the explosion or the other or in just the domain of the stellar evolution or the supernova astrophysics communities. The need to view massive star evolution and supernovae as continuous phases in a single narrative motivated the Theo Murphy international scientific meeting ‘Bridging the gap: from massive stars to supernovae’ at Chicheley Hall, UK, in June 2016, with the specific purpose of simultaneously addressing the scientific connections between theoretical and observational studies of massive stars and their supernovae, through engaging astronomers from both communities. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Bridging the gap: from massive stars to supernovae’. PMID:28923995

Bridging the gap: from massive stars to supernovae.

PubMed

Maund, Justyn R; Crowther, Paul A; Janka, Hans-Thomas; Langer, Norbert

2017-10-28

Almost since the beginning, massive stars and their resultant supernovae have played a crucial role in the Universe. These objects produce tremendous amounts of energy and new, heavy elements that enrich galaxies, encourage new stars to form and sculpt the shapes of galaxies that we see today. The end of millions of years of massive star evolution and the beginning of hundreds or thousands of years of supernova evolution are separated by a matter of a few seconds, in which some of the most extreme physics found in the Universe causes the explosive and terminal disruption of the star. Key questions remain unanswered in both the studies of how massive stars evolve and the behaviour of supernovae, and it appears the solutions may not lie on just one side of the explosion or the other or in just the domain of the stellar evolution or the supernova astrophysics communities. The need to view massive star evolution and supernovae as continuous phases in a single narrative motivated the Theo Murphy international scientific meeting 'Bridging the gap: from massive stars to supernovae' at Chicheley Hall, UK, in June 2016, with the specific purpose of simultaneously addressing the scientific connections between theoretical and observational studies of massive stars and their supernovae, through engaging astronomers from both communities.This article is part of the themed issue 'Bridging the gap: from massive stars to supernovae'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Accumulation of a swarm of small planetesimals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wetherill, G. W.; Stewart, Glen R.

1989-01-01

The present gasdynamic study of the planetesimal-accumulation stage in which 10-km bodies in the neighborhood of 1 AU grow to 10 to the 25th-10 to the 27th g mass, or 'planetary embryo' size, attempts to identify the circumstances under which runaway growth forms a small number of massive embryos in the terrestrial-planet region on a 0.1-1.0 million year time-scale. No runaways are found, however, unless more plausible physical processes are invoked; in that case, runaways in the terrestrial planet region are probable on a 0.1 million-year time-scale, and the final stage of planetary accumulation may involve the growth of these embryos into the present planets on a 10-100 million-year time-scale.

Tourmaline in Appalachian - Caledonian massive sulphide deposits and its exploration significance.

USGS Publications Warehouse

Slack, J.F.

1982-01-01

Tourmaline is a common gangue mineral in several types of stratabound mineral deposits, including some massive base-metal sulphide ores of the Appalachian - Caledonian orogen. It is most abundant (sometimes forming massive foliated tourmalinite) in sediment-hosted deposits, such as those at the Elizabeth Cu mine and the Ore Knob Cu mine (North Carolina, USA). Trace amounts of tourmaline occur associated with volcanic-hosted deposits in the Piedmont and New England and also in the Trondheim district. Tourmaline associated with the massive sulphide deposits are Mg- rich dravites with major- and trace-element compositions significantly different from schorl. It is suggested that the necessary B was produced by submarine exhalative processes as a part of the same hydrothermal system that deposited the ores. An abundance of dravite in non-evaporitic terrains is believed to indicate proximity to former subaqueous fumarolic centres.-R.A.H.

Poly-(Epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(hydroxy-butyrate) (PHB) blends containing seaweed fibers: Morphology and thermal-mechanical properties

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Massive quantities of marine seaweed, Ulva armoricana are washed onto shores of many European countries and accumulates as waste. Attempts were made to utilize this renewable resource in hybrid composites by blending the algal biomass with biodegradable polymers such as poly(hydroxy-butyrate) and po...

Poly-(epsilon-caprolactone)(PCL) and poly(hydroxy-butyrate)(PHB) blends containing seaweed fibers: morphology and thermal-mechanical properties.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Massive quantities of marine seaweed, Ulva armoricana are washed onto shores of many European countries and accumulates as waste. Attempts were made to utilize this renewable resource in hybrid composites by blending the algal biomass with biodegradable polymers such as poly(hydroxy-butyrate) and po...

Chemical Pleurodesis with Oxytetracycline in Congenital Chylothorax.

PubMed

Utture, Alpana; Kodur, Vinayak; Mondkar, Jayashree

2016-12-15

Congenital chylothorax is an accumulation of chyle in the pleural space that may present in neonatal period with respiratory distress. A 34-week preterm who presented with massive congenital chylothorax complicated with hydrops fetalis. The neonate was treated successfully by pleurodesis with Oxytetracycline. Pleurodesis with oxytetracycline seems to be effective in treatment of congenital chylothorax.

The Geologic Signature of Anaerobic Oxidation of Methane (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ussler, W.; Paull, C. K.

2010-12-01

Anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is an enormous sink in anoxic marine sediments for methane produced in situ or ascending through the sediment column towards the seafloor. Existing estimates indicate that between 75 and 382 Tg of sedimentary methane are oxidized each year before reaching the sediment-water interface making AOM a diagenetic process of global significance. This methane is derived from a variety of sources including microbial production, thermocatalytic cracking of complex organic matter, decomposing gas hydrates, and possibly abiogenic processes. Stables isotopes of membrane lipid biomarkers and authigenic carbonates associated with zones of AOM, fluorescence in situ hybridization, and anaerobic methane incubations have substantiated the role Archaea and sulfate-reducing bacteria have in driving AOM. The products of AOM are dissolved inorganic carbon (predominantly HCO3-) and bisulfide (HS-). Stable isotope measurements of authigenic carbonates associated with zones of AOM are consistent with the diagenetic carbon being primarily methane derived. These methane-derived carbonates occur in a variety of forms including sedimentary nodules and thin lenses within and below zones of contemporary AOM; outcrops of slabs, ledges, and jagged authigenic carbonates exhumed on the seafloor; and authigenic carbonate mounds associated with near-subsurface methane gas accumulations. Examples of exhumed authigenic carbonates include rugged outcrops along the Guaymas Transform in the Gulf of California, extensive slabs and ledges in the Eel River Basin, and mounds in various stages of development near Bullseye Vent, off Vancouver Island and in the Santa Monica Basin. It is clear from basic microbial biogeochemistry and the occurrences of massive authigenic carbonate which span a large range in size that DIC produced by AOM is preserved as authigenic carbonate within the seafloor and not on the seafloor. These exhumed authigenic carbonate provide a glimpse of how authigenic carbonates may be appear in the geologic record. Based on the stochiometry of the AOM reaction [CH4 + SO4= → HCO3- + HS-], HCO3- and HS- should occur in a 1:1 molar ratio in sediment pore water. Methane-derived carbonates are common in methane-rich sediments and methane venting areas, however the corresponding amount of HS- precipitated as iron monosulfides (FeS) is not. The prediction, based on their molecular weights and densities, is that the volume ratio of authigenic carbonate to FeS should be 2:1. However, in anoxic Black Sea sediments, where a high degree of preservation would be expected, the authigenic carbonate to FeS ratio is ~50:1. Massive accumulations of FeS associated with authigenic carbonates have not been observed. There are a number of fates for the HS- produced by AOM: (1) HS- is oxidized in situ adding sulfate back to the pore water pool; (2) HS- selectively diffuses (relative to HCO3-) towards the seafloor and is oxidized in the benthic water column; or (3) FeS precipitates, but is oxidized when authigenic carbonates are exhumed leaving a vuggy texture. None of these explanations are entirely satisfactory for the early diagenetic loss of HS- from sediments, but strongly suggest that massive accumulations of FeS derived from AOM will not be found in the geologic record.

The Cycle of Dust in the Milky Ways: Clues from the High-Redshift and the Local Universe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dwek, Eli

2008-01-01

Massive amount of dust has been observed at high-redshifts when the universe was a mere 900 Myr old. The formation and evolution of dust is there dominated by massive stars and interstellar processes. In contrast, in the local universe lower mass stars, predominantly 2-5 Msun AGB stars, play the dominant role in the production of interstellar dust. These two extreme environments offer fascinating clues about the evolution of dust in the Milky Way galaxy

Report on Development of CFEA (Collective Front-End Analysis) Procedures: Specification of CFEA Model & Results of the HAWK CFEA

DTIC Science & Technology

1985-03-01

0423 9. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT, PROJECT, TASK AREA & WORK UNIT NUMBERSApplied Science Associates, Inc. AREAOU U...the workload on the user and help organize the massive amounts of data involved, job aids have been developed for CFEA users. A trial CFEA was conducted...coupled with the complex and massive nature of a CFEA of a battalion-sized [ organization could make the prospect of conducting a CFEA seem a bit over

Concentration-dependent effect of hypocalcaemia on mortality of patients with critical bleeding requiring massive transfusion: a cohort study.

PubMed

Ho, K M; Leonard, A D

2011-01-01

Mortality of patients with critical bleeding requiring massive transfusion is high. Although hypothermia, acidosis and coagulopathy have been well described as important determinants of mortality in patients with critical bleeding requiring massive transfusion, the risk factors and outcome associated with hypocalcaemia in these patients remain uncertain. This cohort study assessed the relationship between the lowest ionised calcium concentration during the 24-hour period of critical bleeding and the hospital mortality of 352 consecutive patients, while adjusting for diagnosis, acidosis, coagulation results, transfusion requirements and use of recombinant factor VIIa. Hypocalcaemia was common (mean concentrations 0.77 mmol/l, SD 0.19) and had a linear; concentration-dependent relationship with mortality (odds ratio [OR] 1.25 per 0.1 mmol/l decrement, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.04 to 1.52; P = 0.02). Hypocalcaemia accounted for 12.5% of the variability and was more important than the lowest fibrinogen concentrations (10.8%), acidosis (7.9%) and lowest platelet counts (7.7%) in predicting hospital mortality. The amount of fresh frozen plasma transfused (OR 1.09 per unit, 95% CI: 1.02 to 1.17; P = 0.02) and acidosis (OR 1.45 per 0.1 decrement, 95% CI: 1.19 to 1.72; P = 0.01) were associated with the occurrence of severe hypocalcaemia (< 0.8 mmol/l). In conclusion, ionised calcium concentrations had an inverse concentration-dependent relationship with mortality of patients with critical bleeding requiring massive transfusion. Both acidosis and the amount of fresh frozen plasma transfused were the main risk factors for severe hypocalcaemia. Further research is needed to determine whether preventing ionised hypocalcaemia can reduce mortality of patients with critical bleeding requiring massive transfusion.

Effects of Weather, Time, and Pollution Level on the Amount of Particulate Matter Deposited on Leaves of Ligustrum lucidum

PubMed Central

Wang, Huixia; Shi, Hui; Wang, Yanhui

2015-01-01

This paper investigated the spatial and temporal variations in the amounts of PM accumulated on leaves of Ligustrum lucidum, a common evergreen tree species in North China. The effects of rainfall and wind on the amounts of PM deposited on foliage were also determined. The amounts of PM (g·m−2) retained by leaves of L. lucidum differed significantly among the sites (from 0.96 to 5.56) and over time (from 2.51 to 4.48). The largest amounts of PM on foliage of L. lucidum were observed on plants growing at the most polluted site. During the year, the highest and lowest accumulation of PM occurred in November and August, respectively. A considerable proportion of the accumulated PM on leaves was removed by rainfall events (28–48% of PM) and strong winds (27–36% of PM), and more precipitation or higher maximum wind speed could remove more PM from leaves. Rainfall removed mainly large and coarse particles, while fine particles adhered more strongly to the foliage. These results suggested that the effects of local weather conditions (e.g., rainfall, strong wind), different seasons, and pollution levels should be considered in evaluating total PM accumulation on leaves. PMID:25685849

Effects of weather, time, and pollution level on the amount of particulate matter deposited on leaves of Ligustrum lucidum.

PubMed

Wang, Huixia; Shi, Hui; Wang, Yanhui

2015-01-01

This paper investigated the spatial and temporal variations in the amounts of PM accumulated on leaves of Ligustrum lucidum, a common evergreen tree species in North China. The effects of rainfall and wind on the amounts of PM deposited on foliage were also determined. The amounts of PM (g · m(-2)) retained by leaves of L. lucidum differed significantly among the sites (from 0.96 to 5.56) and over time (from 2.51 to 4.48). The largest amounts of PM on foliage of L. lucidum were observed on plants growing at the most polluted site. During the year, the highest and lowest accumulation of PM occurred in November and August, respectively. A considerable proportion of the accumulated PM on leaves was removed by rainfall events (28-48% of PM) and strong winds (27-36% of PM), and more precipitation or higher maximum wind speed could remove more PM from leaves. Rainfall removed mainly large and coarse particles, while fine particles adhered more strongly to the foliage. These results suggested that the effects of local weather conditions (e.g., rainfall, strong wind), different seasons, and pollution levels should be considered in evaluating total PM accumulation on leaves.

26 CFR 1.263A-11 - Accumulated production expenditures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 3 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Accumulated production expenditures. 1.263A-11... TAX (CONTINUED) INCOME TAXES (CONTINUED) Items Not Deductible § 1.263A-11 Accumulated production expenditures. (a) General rule. Accumulated production expenditures generally means the cumulative amount of...

26 CFR 1.263A-11 - Accumulated production expenditures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 3 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Accumulated production expenditures. 1.263A-11... TAX (CONTINUED) INCOME TAXES (CONTINUED) Items Not Deductible § 1.263A-11 Accumulated production expenditures. (a) General rule. Accumulated production expenditures generally means the cumulative amount of...

26 CFR 1.263A-11 - Accumulated production expenditures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 3 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Accumulated production expenditures. 1.263A-11... TAX (CONTINUED) INCOME TAXES (CONTINUED) Items Not Deductible § 1.263A-11 Accumulated production expenditures. (a) General rule. Accumulated production expenditures generally means the cumulative amount of...

26 CFR 1.263A-11 - Accumulated production expenditures.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 3 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Accumulated production expenditures. 1.263A-11... TAX (CONTINUED) INCOME TAXES (CONTINUED) Items Not Deductible § 1.263A-11 Accumulated production expenditures. (a) General rule. Accumulated production expenditures generally means the cumulative amount of...

Changes of Multiple Metal Accumulation (MMA) in New Orleans Soil: Preliminary Evaluation of Differences between Survey I (1992) and Survey II (2000)

PubMed Central

Mielke, Howard W.; Gonzales, Christopher; Powell, Eric; MielkeJr, Paul W.

2005-01-01

Soil metal surveys were conducted in Baltimore, MD (1976–1979), Minnesota (1981–1988) and most recently, New Orleans, LA (1989-present). The unique characteristic of New Orleans is that it has two surveys; Survey I was completed in 1992 and Survey II was completed in 2000. This paper seeks to determine if there is a perceptible change in the amount of metals during less than a decade that separated these surveys. The Survey I collection was 4,026 samples stratified by 283 census tracts. All samples were collected in residential neighborhoods at least one block from a busy street. The Survey II collection was 5,467 samples stratified by 286 census tracts (plus City Park). The Survey II collection included busy streets as a category of samples. For comparison, the busy street category of 1,078 samples was excluded from Survey II for a total of 4,388 samples. The extraction methods of the two surveys used the same protocol for strength of acid (1 M HNO3), shaker-time (2 hours), and room temperature (~22ºC). However, Survey II differed in amount of sample used in extraction. For Surveys I and II, 4.0g and 0.4g were used respectively. The same ICP-AES was used to measure 8 metals in both surveys. To evaluate the analytical results of the two methods, reference soil samples (n=36) from the Wageningen Evaluating Programs for Analytical Laboratories, International Soil-analytical Exchange (WEPAL; ISE) were used. The relationship between the 4.0 and 0.4 g results were linear and the Survey I results were adjusted for sample:acid ratio. Further evaluation was done by creating interpolated Multiple Metal Accumulation (MMA) maps based on the median MMA for each census tract. A new map was created by dividing Survey II MMA by Survey I MMA. The ratio indicates increases of soil metals in the inner city and decreases of soil metals in the outlying areas of Metropolitan New Orleans. Comparing fresh parent alluvium from the Mississippi River with urban soil metal quantities demonstrates that the soils of New Orleans have undergone a massive accumulation of metals. The preliminary results provide ideas about methods needed to further evaluate the changes between these surveys. PMID:16705833

A New Way to Manage TCGA Data - TCGA

Cancer.gov

Rachel Karchin, of Johns Hopkins University's Department of Biomedical Engineering, is developing a tool that will help researchers sort through the massive amounts of genomic data gathered from TCGA's ovarian cancer tumor samples.

Intelligent transportation systems data compression using wavelet decomposition technique.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-12-01

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) generates massive amounts of traffic data, which posts : challenges for data storage, transmission and retrieval. Data compression and reconstruction technique plays an : important role in ITS data procession....

Atypical Findings in Massive Bupropion Overdose: A Case Report and Discussion of Psychopharmacologic Issues.

PubMed

Zhu, Yuanjia; Kolawole, Tiwalola; Jimenez, Xavier F

2016-09-01

Bupropion is an atypical antidepressant that is structurally similar to amphetamines. Its primary toxic effects include seizure, sinus tachycardia, hypertension, and agitation; however, at higher amounts of ingestion, paradoxical cardiac effects are seen. We report the case of a 21-year-old woman who ingested 13.5 g of bupropion, a dose higher than any other previously reported. The patient presented with seizure, sinus tachycardia with prolonged QTc and QRS intervals, dilated pupils, and agitation. Four days after overdose, the patient's sinus tachycardia and prolonged QTc and QRS intervals resolved with symptomatic management, but she soon developed sinus bradycardia, hypotension, and mild transaminitis. With continued conservative management and close monitoring, her sinus bradycardia resolved 8 days after the overdose. The transaminitis resolved 12 days after the overdose. Our findings are consistent with previously reported toxic effects associated with common overdose amounts of bupropion. In addition, we have observed transient cardiotoxicity manifesting as sinus bradycardia associated with massive bupropion overdose. These findings are less frequently reported and must be considered when managing patients with massive bupropion overdose. We review the psychopharmacologic implications of this and comment on previous literature.

Clot accumulation characteristics of plasminogen-bearing liposomes in a flow-system. Groningen Utrecht Institute for Drug Exploration.

PubMed

Heeremans, J L; Prevost, R; Feitsma, H; Kluft, C; Crommelin, D J

1998-01-01

In this study, the clot accumulation properties of liposome-coupled plasminogen were compared to those of free (non-liposomal) plasminogen in an in vitro, closed-loop, flow-system. After introduction of a clot into the closed system, double-radiolabelled plasminogen-liposomes were administered and the accumulation of radiolabel on the entire clot was measured. Liposomal plasminogen showed improved accumulation over free plasminogen, on both a fibrin clot and a whole blood clot. Moreover, once liposomal plasminogen was fibrin associated, it could not be washed away with buffer, in contrast to free plasminogen. Liposomal plasminogen was able to compete successfully with an excess of free plasminogen. The plateau levels for the accumulated amount of plasminogen depended on the incubated amount of plasminogen and were influenced by partial degradation of the clot. Furthermore, it was shown that a threshold liposomal plasminogen surface-density was needed for optimum clot accumulation.

A probabilistic view of chaparral and forest fire regimes in southern California and northern Baja California

Treesearch

Richard A. Minnich; Ernesto Franco-Vizcaíno

2009-01-01

Fire suppression in industrialized countries encourages massive smoke emissions from high-intensity fires as a result of two inextricably related processes under current suppression policies: the nonrandom occurrence of vegetation fires in extreme weather states and the anomalous accumulation of spatially homogenous fuels. We propose as an organizing idea that the...

Lipid accumulation in human breast cancer cells injured by iron depletors.

PubMed

De Bortoli, Maida; Taverna, Elena; Maffioli, Elisa; Casalini, Patrizia; Crisafi, Francesco; Kumar, Vikas; Caccia, Claudio; Polli, Dario; Tedeschi, Gabriella; Bongarzone, Italia

2018-04-03

Current insights into the effects of iron deficiency in tumour cells are not commensurate with the importance of iron in cell metabolism. Studies have predominantly focused on the effects of oxygen or glucose scarcity in tumour cells, while attributing insufficient emphasis to the inadequate supply of iron in hypoxic regions. Cellular responses to iron deficiency and hypoxia are interlinked and may strongly affect tumour metabolism. We examined the morphological, proteomic, and metabolic effects induced by two iron chelators-deferoxamine (DFO) and di-2-pyridylketone 4,4-dimethyl-3-thiosemicarbazone (Dp44mT)-on MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-157 breast cancer cells. These chelators induced a cytoplasmic massive vacuolation and accumulation of lipid droplets (LDs), eventually followed by implosive, non-autophagic, and non-apoptotic death similar to methuosis. Vacuoles and LDs are generated by expansion of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) based on extracellular fluid import, which includes unsaturated fatty acids that accumulate in LDs. Typical physiological phenomena associated with hypoxia are observed, such as inhibition of translation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and metabolic remodelling. These survival-oriented changes are associated with a greater expression of epithelial/mesenchymal transcription markers. Iron starvation induces a hypoxia-like program able to scavenge nutrients from the extracellular environment, and cells assume a hypertrophic phenotype. Such survival strategy is accompanied by the ER-dependent massive cytoplasmic vacuolization, mitochondrial dysfunctions, and LD accumulation and then evolves into cell death. LDs containing a greater proportion of unsaturated lipids are released as a consequence of cell death. The consequence of the disruption of iron metabolism in tumour tissue and the effects of LDs on intercellular communication, cancer-inflammation axis, and immunity remain to be explored. Considering the potential benefits, these are crucial subjects for future mechanistic and clinical studies.

Induced High-Yield Production of Zeaxanthin, Lutein, and β-Carotene by a Mutant of Chlorella zofingiensis.

PubMed

Huang, Weiping; Lin, Yan; He, Mingxia; Gong, Yuhao; Huang, Junchao

2018-01-31

Natural resources of zeaxanthin are extremely limited. A Chlorella zofingiensis mutant (CZ-bkt1), which could accumulate high amounts of zeaxanthin, was generated and characterized. CZ-bkt1 was achieved by treating the algal cells with a chemical mutagen followed by a color-based colony-screening approach. CZ-bkt1 was found to consist of a dysfunctional carotenoid ketolase, leading to the accumulation of zeaxanthin rather than to its downstream ketocarotenoid astaxanthin. Light irradiation, glucose, NaCl, and nitrogen deficiency all induced CZ-bkt1 to accumulate zeaxanthin. CZ-bkt1 accumulated zeaxanthin up to 7.00 ± 0.82 mg/g when induced by high-light irradiation and nitrogen deficiency and up to 36.79 ± 2.23 mg/L by additional feeding with glucose. Furthermore, in addition to zeaxanthin, CZ-bkt1 also accumulated high amounts of β-carotene (7.18 ± 0.72 mg/g or 34.64 ± 1.39 mg/L) and lutein (13.81 ± 1.23 mg/g or 33.97 ± 2.61 mg/L). CZ-bkt1 is the sole species up to date with the ability to accumulate high amounts of the three carotenoids that are essential for human health.

Massive Collection of Full-Length Complementary DNA Clones and Microarray Analyses:. Keys to Rice Transcriptome Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kikuchi, Shoshi

2009-02-01

Completion of the high-precision genome sequence analysis of rice led to the collection of about 35,000 full-length cDNA clones and the determination of their complete sequences. Mapping of these full-length cDNA sequences has given us information on (1) the number of genes expressed in the rice genome; (2) the start and end positions and exon-intron structures of rice genes; (3) alternative transcripts; (4) possible encoded proteins; (5) non-protein-coding (np) RNAs; (6) the density of gene localization on the chromosome; (7) setting the parameters of gene prediction programs; and (8) the construction of a microarray system that monitors global gene expression. Manual curation for rice gene annotation by using mapping information on full-length cDNA and EST assemblies has revealed about 32,000 expressed genes in the rice genome. Analysis of major gene families, such as those encoding membrane transport proteins (pumps, ion channels, and secondary transporters), along with the evolution from bacteria to higher animals and plants, reveals how gene numbers have increased through adaptation to circumstances. Family-based gene annotation also gives us a new way of comparing organisms. Massive amounts of data on gene expression under many kinds of physiological conditions are being accumulated in rice oligoarrays (22K and 44K) based on full-length cDNA sequences. Cluster analyses of genes that have the same promoter cis-elements, that have similar expression profiles, or that encode enzymes in the same metabolic pathways or signal transduction cascades give us clues to understanding the networks of gene expression in rice. As a tool for that purpose, we recently developed "RiCES", a tool for searching for cis-elements in the promoter regions of clustered genes.

The Synthesis of 44Ti and 56Ni in Massive Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chieffi, Alessandro; Limongi, Marco

2017-02-01

We discuss the influence of rotation on the combined synthesis of {}44{Ti} and {}56{Ni} in massive stars. While {}56{Ni} is significantly produced by both complete and incomplete explosive Si burning, {}44{Ti} is mainly produced by complete explosive Si burning, with a minor contribution (in standard non-rotating models) from incomplete explosive Si burning and O burning (both explosive and hydrostatic). We find that, in most cases, the thickness of the region exposed to incomplete explosive Si burning increases in rotating models (initial velocity, v ini = 300 km s-1) and since {}56{Ni} is significantly produced in this zone, the fraction of mass coming from the complete explosive Si burning zone necessary to get the required amount of {}56{Ni} reduces. Therefore the amount of {}44{Ti} ejected for a given fixed amount of {}56{Ni} decreases in rotating models. However, some rotating models at [Fe/H] = -1 develop a very extended O convective shell in which a consistent amount of {}44{Ti} is formed, preserved, and ejected in the interstellar medium. Hence a better modeling of the thermal instabilities (convection) in the advanced burning phases together with a critical analysis of the cross sections of the nuclear reactions operating in O burning are relevant for the understanding of the synthesis of {}44{Ti}.

Annual Changes in Forst Floor Weights Under a Southeast Missouri Oak Stand

Treesearch

Robert M. Loomis

1975-01-01

Amount of organic matter on the forest floor under a typical southeast Missouri oak stand varies about 2.1 tons/acre from season of greatest to season to least accumulation. This also corresponds to the amount of annual litter fall. Maximum accumulation of 7.5 tons/acre occured in Novermber after leaf-fall. Summer decomposition is rapid; minimumof 5.4 tons/acre was...

Thought Leaders during Crises in Massive Social Networks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Corley, Courtney D.; Farber, Robert M.; Reynolds, William

The vast amount of social media data that can be gathered from the internet coupled with workflows that utilize both commodity systems and massively parallel supercomputers, such as the Cray XMT, open new vistas for research to support health, defense, and national security. Computer technology now enables the analysis of graph structures containing more than 4 billion vertices joined by 34 billion edges along with metrics and massively parallel algorithms that exhibit near-linear scalability according to number of processors. The challenge lies in making this massive data and analysis comprehensible to an analyst and end-users that require actionable knowledge tomore » carry out their duties. Simply stated, we have developed language and content agnostic techniques to reduce large graphs built from vast media corpora into forms people can understand. Specifically, our tools and metrics act as a survey tool to identify thought leaders' -- those members that lead or reflect the thoughts and opinions of an online community, independent of the source language.« less

A novel methodology to estimate the evolution of construction waste in construction sites.

PubMed

Katz, Amnon; Baum, Hadassa

2011-02-01

This paper focuses on the accumulation of construction waste generated throughout the erection of new residential buildings. A special methodology was developed in order to provide a model that will predict the flow of construction waste. The amount of waste and its constituents, produced on 10 relatively large construction sites (7000-32,000 m(2) of built area) was monitored periodically for a limited time. A model that predicts the accumulation of construction waste was developed based on these field observations. According to the model, waste accumulates in an exponential manner, i.e. smaller amounts are generated during the early stages of construction and increasing amounts are generated towards the end of the project. The total amount of waste from these sites was estimated at 0.2m(3) per 1m(2) floor area. A good correlation was found between the model predictions and actual data from the field survey. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unraveling Massive Crocins Transport and Accumulation through Proteome and Microscopy Tools during the Development of Saffron Stigma

PubMed Central

Gómez-Gómez, Lourdes; Parra-Vega, Verónica; Rivas-Sendra, Alba; Seguí-Simarro, Jose M.; Molina, Rosa Victoria; Pallotti, Claudia; Rubio-Moraga, Ángela; Diretto, Gianfranco; Prieto, Alicia; Ahrazem, Oussama

2017-01-01

Crocins, the glucosides of crocetin, are present at high concentrations in saffron stigmas and accumulate in the vacuole. However, the biogenesis of the saffron chromoplast, the changes during the development of the stigma and the transport of crocins to the vacuole, are processes that remain poorly understood. We studied the process of chromoplast differentiation in saffron throughout stigma development by means of transmission electron microscopy. Our results provided an overview of a massive transport of crocins to the vacuole in the later developmental stages, when electron dense drops of a much greater size than plastoglobules (here defined “crocinoplast”) were observed in the chromoplast, connected to the vacuole with a subsequent transfer of these large globules inside the vacuole. A proteome analysis of chromoplasts from saffron stigma allowed the identification of several well-known plastid proteins and new candidates involved in crocetin metabolism. Furthermore, expressions throughout five developmental stages of candidate genes responsible for carotenoid and apocarotenoid biogenesis, crocins transport to the vacuole and starch metabolism were analyzed. Correlation matrices and networks were exploited to identify a series of transcripts highly associated to crocetin (such as 1-Deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase (DXS), 1-Deoxy-d-xylulose 5-phosphate reductoisomerase (DXR), carotenoid isomerase (CRTISO), Crocetin glucosyltransferase 2 (UGT2), etc.) and crocin (e.g., ζ-carotene desaturase (ZDS) and plastid-lipid-associated proteins (PLAP2)) accumulation; in addition, candidate aldehyde dehydrogenase (ADH) genes were highlighted. PMID:28045431

Gingival overgrowth in Pompe disease: a case report.

PubMed

de Gijt, J Pieter; van Capelle, Carine I; Oosterhuis, J Wolter; van der Ploeg, Ans T; van der Wal, Karel G H

2011-08-01

Pompe disease, or glycogen storage disease type 2, is a rare inheritable metabolic disease caused by a deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme acid α-glucosidase. Patients with the classic infantile form of Pompe disease present with symptoms during the first 3 months after birth, and most will die within their first year. Recently, enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with recombinant human α-glucosidase became commercially available for Pompe disease. This is a case report of an 8-year-old girl with the infantile form of Pompe disease who is one of the longest survivors through ERT. The patient was tetraplegic when she started ERT. At age 3 years, she developed massive gingival overgrowth and could not close her mouth, prompting a reduction of the gingival overgrowth surgically. We expected that massive accumulation of glycogen would explain the gingival overgrowth. However, histopathology of the gingiva tissue showed marked glycogen accumulation in smooth muscle cells of the arteries, but the glycogen content in fibroblasts did not exceed that of control individuals. Further, there was an increase of immature collagen in the connective tissue, and signs of a mild chronic inflammation. We concluded that glycogen storage is not a direct causative factor of gingival overgrowth in our patient. Chronic inflammation, dryness of the gingiva, or even the minimal glycogen accumulation in the fibroblasts may have played a role. Copyright © 2011 American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Depositional processes in large-scale debris-flow experiments

USGS Publications Warehouse

Major, J.J.

1997-01-01

This study examines the depositional process and characteristics of deposits of large-scale experimental debris flows (to 15 m3) composed of mixtures of gravel (to 32 mm), sand, and mud. The experiments were performed using a 95-m-long, 2-m-wide debris-flow flume that slopes 31??. Following release, experimental debris flows invariably developed numerous shallow (???10 cm deep) surges. Sediment transported by surges accumulated abruptly on a 3?? runout slope at the mouth of the flume. Deposits developed in a complex manner through a combination of shoving forward and shouldering aside previously deposited debris and through progressive vertical accretion. Progressive accretion by the experimental flows is contrary to commonly assumed en masse sedimentation by debris flows. Despite progressive sediment emplacement, deposits were composed of unstratified accumulations of generally unsorted debris; hence massively textured, poorly sorted debris-flow deposits are not emplaced uniquely en masse. The depositional process was recorded mainly by deposit morphology and surface texture and was not faithfully registered by interior sedimentary texture; homogeneous internal textures could be misinterpreted as the result of en masse emplacement by a single surge. Deposition of sediment by similar, yet separate, debris flows produced a homogenous, massively textured composite deposit having little stratigraphic distinction. Similar deposit characteristics and textures are observed in natural debris-flow deposits. Experimental production of massively textured deposits by progressive sediment accretion limits interpretations that can be drawn from deposit characteristics and casts doubt on methods of estimating flow properties from deposit thickness or from relations between particle size and bed thickness.

Purely Dry Mergers do not Explain the Observed Evolution of Massive Early-type Galaxies since z ~ 1

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sonnenfeld, Alessandro; Nipoti, Carlo; Treu, Tommaso

2014-05-01

Several studies have suggested that the observed size evolution of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) can be explained as a combination of dry mergers and progenitor bias, at least since z ~ 1. In this paper we carry out a new test of the dry-merger scenario based on recent lensing measurements of the evolution of the mass density profile of ETGs. We construct a theoretical model for the joint evolution of the size and mass density profile slope γ' driven by dry mergers occurring at rates given by cosmological simulations. Such dry-merger model predicts a strong decrease of γ' with cosmic time, inconsistent with the almost constant γ' inferred from observations in the redshift range 0 < z < 1. We then show with a simple toy model that a modest amount of cold gas in the mergers—consistent with the upper limits on recent star formation in ETGs—is sufficient to reconcile the model with measurements of γ'. By fitting for the amount of gas accreted during mergers, we find that models with dissipation are consistent with observations of the evolution in both size and density slope, if ~4% of the total final stellar mass arises from the gas accreted since z ~ 1. Purely dry merger models are ruled out at >99% CL. We thus suggest a scenario where the outer regions of massive ETGs grow by accretion of stars and dark matter, while small amounts of dissipation and nuclear star formation conspire to keep the mass density profile constant and approximately isothermal.

Digital asset management.

PubMed

Humphrey, Clinton D; Tollefson, Travis T; Kriet, J David

2010-05-01

Facial plastic surgeons are accumulating massive digital image databases with the evolution of photodocumentation and widespread adoption of digital photography. Managing and maximizing the utility of these vast data repositories, or digital asset management (DAM), is a persistent challenge. Developing a DAM workflow that incorporates a file naming algorithm and metadata assignment will increase the utility of a surgeon's digital images. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cadmium uptake, accumulation, and remobilization in iron plaque and rice tissues at different growth stages.

PubMed

Zhou, Hang; Zhu, Wei; Yang, Wen-Tao; Gu, Jiao-Feng; Gao, Zi-Xiang; Chen, Li-Wei; Du, Wen-Qi; Zhang, Ping; Peng, Pei-Qin; Liao, Bo-Han

2018-05-15

Rice consumption is considered the main source of human dietary Cd intake in Southeast Asia. This study aimed to investigate Cd uptake, accumulation, and remobilization in iron plaque and rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. 'Xiangwanxian 12') tissues at different growth stages. A pot experiment was performed in two Cd-contaminated paddy soils. Cd concentrations in iron plaque and rice tissues at five different growth stages (tillering, booting, milky, dough, and maturing) were measured. Cd concentrations in iron plaque and rice tissues (roots, stems, leaves, spikelet, husks, and brown rice) varied with growth stage. Cd accumulation in rice plants increased with extending growth in both soils, reaching 15.3 and 35.4μg/pot, respectively, at the maturing stage. The amounts of Cd in brown rice increased from the milky to maturing stages, with the greatest percentage uptake during the maturing stage. Cd amount in iron plaque significantly affected the uptake and accumulation of Cd in roots and aerial parts of rice plants. Accumulated Cd in leaves was remobilized and transported during the booting to maturing stages, and the contributions of Cd transportation from leaves to brown rice were 30.0% and 22.5% in the two soils, respectively. A large amount of Cd accumulated in brown rice during the maturing stage. The transportation of remobilized Cd from leaves was also important for the accumulation of Cd in brown rice. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Footwear and flooring: charge generation in combination with a person as influenced by environmental moisture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swenson, D. E.

2015-10-01

It is well known that a person walking on a floor will liberate electrostatic charge. The amount of charge that can be accumulated on a person by walking is dependent on many factors that are also well understood. Among these factors is the electrical resistance between a person and ground. The electrical resistance of footwear, other clothing, a person's skin resistance and the contact resistance between footwear and the floor impact the total resistance of the system. As important as measuring resistance may be as an evaluation method, it does not take into account triboelectric generation of charge. The recent revisions of ANSI/ESD S20.20[1] from the ESD Association and IEC61340-5-1[2] from IEC TC101 - Electrostatics, both include a dynamic walking test since experience in recent years has shown that resistance alone does not predict how a footwear and flooring system will actually perform. The USA group ASHRAE1, commissioned a study to evaluate electrostatic charge generation inside data centres as influenced by environmental moisture (relative and absolute humidity)[3][4]. The reason for this study is that past data centre operating guidelines have called for a very narrow range of temperature and humidity control, largely because of the anecdotal evidence that moderate to high RH impacts static electricity generation and accumulation. This results in a massive consumption of electricity to maintain a narrow window of temperature and environmental moisture. Broadening or eliminating humidity controls could result in a major saving of electricity and money.

Impact of selenium supply on Se-methylselenocysteine and glucosinolate accumulation in selenium-biofortified Brassica sprouts.

PubMed

Avila, Fabricio William; Yang, Yong; Faquin, Valdemar; Ramos, Silvio Junio; Guilherme, Luiz Roberto G; Thannhauser, Theodore W; Li, Li

2014-12-15

Brassica sprouts are widely marketed as functional foods. Here we examined the effects of Se treatment on the accumulation of anticancer compound Se-methylselenocysteine (SeMSCys) and glucosinolates in Brassica sprouts. Cultivars from the six most extensively consumed Brassica vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, green cabbage, Chinese cabbage, kale, and Brussels sprouts) were used. We found that Se-biofortified Brassica sprouts all were able to synthesize significant amounts of SeMSCys. Analysis of glucosinolate profiles revealed that each Brassica crop accumulated different types and amounts of glucosinolates. Cauliflower sprouts had high total glucosinolate content. Broccoli sprouts contained high levels of glucoraphanin, a precursor for potent anticancer compound. Although studies have reported an inverse relationship between accumulation of Se and glucosinolates in mature Brassica plants, Se supply generally did not affect glucosinolate accumulation in Brassica sprouts. Thus, Brassica vegetable sprouts can be biofortified with Se for the accumulation of SeMSCys without negative effects on chemopreventive glucosinolate contents. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Arsenic accumulation by the aquatic fern Azolla: comparison of arsenate uptake, speciation and efflux by A. caroliniana and A. filiculoides.

PubMed

Zhang, Xin; Lin, Ai-Jun; Zhao, Fang-Jie; Xu, Guo-Zhong; Duan, Gui-Lan; Zhu, Yong-Guan

2008-12-01

This study investigates As accumulation and tolerance of the aquatic fern Azolla. Fifty strains of Azolla showed a large variation in As accumulation. The highest- and lowest-accumulating ferns among the 50 strains were chosen for further investigations. Azolla caroliniana accumulated two times more As than Azolla filiculoides owing to a higher influx velocity for arsenate. A. filiculoides was more resistant to external arsenate due to a lower uptake. Both strains showed a similar degree of tolerance to internal As. Arsenate and arsenite were the dominant As species in both Azolla strains, with methylated As species accounting for <5% of the total As. A. filiculoides had a higher proportion of arsenite than A. caroliniana. Both strains effluxed more arsenate than arsenite, and the amount of As efflux was proportional to the amount of As accumulation. The potential of growing Azolla in paddy fields to reduce As transfer from soil and water to rice should be further evaluated.

Connections in wood and foliage

Treesearch

Kevin T. Smith

2009-01-01

Trees are networked systems that capture energy, move massive amounts of water and material, and provide the setting for human society and for the lives of many associated organisms. Tree survival depends on making and breaking the right connections within these networks.

GHOSTS: The Stellar Populations in the Outskirts of Massive Disk Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Jong, Roelof; Radburn-Smith, D. J.; Seth, A. C.; GHOSTS Team

2007-12-01

In recent years we have started to appreciate that the outskirts of galaxies contain valuable information about the formation process of galaxies. In hierarchical galaxy formation the stellar halos and thick disks of galaxies are thought to be the result of accretion of minor satellites, predominantly in the earlier assembly phases. The size, metallicity, and amount of substructure in current day halos are therefore directly related to issues like the small scale properties of the primordial power spectrum of density fluctuations and the suppression of star formation in small dark matter halos. I will show highlights from our ongoing HST/ACS/WFPC2 GHOSTS survey of the resolved stellar populations of 14 nearby, massive disk galaxies. I will show that the smaller galaxies (Vrot 100 km/s) have very small halos, but that most massive disk galaxies (Vrot 200 km/s) have very extended stellar envelopes. The luminosity of these envelopes seems to correlate with Hubble type and bulge-to-disk ratio, calling into question whether these are very extended bulge populations or inner halo populations. The amount of substructure varies strongly between galaxies. Finally, I will present the stellar populations of a very low surface brightness stream around M83, showing that it is old and fairly metal rich.

Debris Discs: Modeling/theory review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thébault, P.

2012-03-01

An impressive amount of photometric, spectroscopic and imaging observations of circumstellar debris discs has been accumulated over the past 3 decades, revealing that they come in all shapes and flavours, from young post-planet-formation systems like Beta-Pic to much older ones like Vega. What we see in these systems are small grains, which are probably only the tip of the iceberg of a vast population of larger (undetectable) collisionally-eroding bodies, leftover from the planet-formation process. Understanding the spatial structure, physical properties, origin and evolution of this dust is of crucial importance, as it is our only window into what is going on in these systems. Dust can be used as a tracer of the distribution of their collisional progenitors and of possible hidden massive pertubers, but can also allow to derive valuable information about the disc's total mass, size distribution or chemical composition. I will review the state of the art in numerical models of debris disc, and present some important issues that are explored by current modelling efforts: planet-disc interactions, link between cold (i.e. Herschel-observed) and hot discs, effect of binarity, transient versus continuous processes, etc. I will finally present some possible perspectives for the development of future models.

Growth of a Hydrate Mound in the Sea of Japan over 300 ka as Revealed by U-Th Ages of MDAC and by H2S Concentrations of Massive Hydrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsumoto, R.; Snyder, G. T.; Hiruta, A.; Kakizaki, Y.; Huang, C. Y.; Shen, C. C.

2017-12-01

The geological and geophysical exploration of gas hydrate in the Sea of Japan has revealed that hydrates occur as thick massive deposits within gas chimneys which often give rise to pingo-like hydrate mounds on the seafloor. We examine one case in which LWD has demonstrated anomalous profiles including both very low natural gamma ray (<10 API) and high acoustic velocities (2.5 to 3.5 km/s) extending down to 120mbsf, the base of gas hydrate stability (BGHS)[1]. Both conventional and pressure coring have confirmed thick, massive deposits of pure-gas hydrates. Hydrates in the shallow subsurface (< 20mbsf) are characterized by high H2S concentrations corresponding to AOM-induced production of HS-. The deeper hydrates generally have negligible amounts of H2S, with occasional exceptions in which H2S is moderately high. These observations lead us to conclude that both the re-equilibration and growth of hydrates in high CH4 and low to zero H2S conditions has continued during burial, and that this ongoing growth is an essential processes involved in the development of massive hydrates in the Sea of Japan.Regardless of depth, the Japan Sea gas hydrates are closely associated with 13-C depleted, methane-derived authigenic carbonates (MDACs). These MDACs are considered to have been formed at near-SMT depths as a response to increased alkalinity caused by AOM and, as such, MDACs are assumed to represent approximate paleo-seafloor at times of enhanced methane flux and intensive accumulation of gas hydrate in shallow subsurface. U-Th ages of MDACs collected from various depths in a mound-chimney system in central Joetsu Spur have revealed that the paleo-seafloor of 300 ka is presently situated at 30 to 55 mbsf within the gas chimney, in contrast to off-mound sites where it is situated at 100 mbsf. This suggests that at 300 ka the mound stood as a "hydrate-pingo" of 70 m high relative to the surrounding sea floor. At this time, the BGHS shoaled upwards 10m due to eustatic sea level fall, resulting in the dissociation of gas hydrates right above the BGHS and an enhancement of methane flux through the gas chimney. This study was conducted under the commission from AIST as a part of the methane hydrate research project funded by METI. Reference [1] Matsumoto et al. (2017), Fire in the Ice, 17, 1-6.

Wildfire Health and Economic Impacts Case Study###

EPA Science Inventory

Since 2008 eastern North Carolina experienced 6 major wildfires, far exceeding the historic 50 year expected rate of return. Initiated by the lighting strikes, these fires spread across multiple feet deep, dry and extremely vulnerable peat bogs. The fires produced massive amounts...

Observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud with Fermi

DOE PAGES

Abdo, A. A.; Ackermann, M.; Ajello, M.; ...

2010-03-18

Context. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is to date the only normal external galaxy that has been detected in high-energy gamma rays. High-energy gamma rays trace particle acceleration processes and gamma-ray observations allow the nature and sites of acceleration to be studied. Aims. We characterise the distribution and sources of cosmic rays in the LMC from analysis of gamma-ray observations. Methods. We analyse 11 months of continuous sky-survey observations obtained with the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi Gamma-Ray Space Telescope and compare it to tracers of the interstellar medium and models of the gamma-ray sources in the LMC. Results.more » The LMC is detected at 33σ significance. The integrated >100 MeV photon flux of the LMC amounts to (2.6 ± 0.2) × 10 -7 ph cm -2 s -1 which corresponds to an energy flux of (1.6 ± 0.1) × 10 -10 erg cm -2 s -1, with additional systematic uncertainties of 16%. The analysis reveals the massive star forming region 30 Doradus as a bright source of gamma-ray emission in the LMC in addition to fainter emission regions found in the northern part of the galaxy. The gamma-ray emission from the LMC shows very little correlation with gas density and is rather correlated to tracers of massive star forming regions. The close confinement of gamma-ray emission to star forming regions suggests a relatively short GeV cosmic-ray proton diffusion length. In conclusion, the close correlation between cosmic-ray density and massive star tracers supports the idea that cosmic rays are accelerated in massive star forming regions as a result of the large amounts of kinetic energy that are input by the stellar winds and supernova explosions of massive stars into the interstellar medium.« less

Aggressive management of massive hemothorax in patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

PubMed

Huang, Pei-Ming; Ko, Wen-Je; Tsai, Pi-Ru; Kuo, Shuenn-Wen; Hsu, Hsao-Hsun; Chen, Jin-Shing; Lee, Jang-Ming; Lee, Yung-Chie

2012-01-01

Massive hemothorax in patients on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is potentially life threatening and remains a medical challenge. In this study, we present the clinical results of using aggressive management to treat a consecutive series of patients on ECMO whose conditions were complicated by massive hemothorax. Between November 2003 and February 2010, 14 adult patients on ECMO developed massive hemothorax that was unrelated to the cannulation problems of the ECMO circuit at National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. Information was obtained regarding patient demographics, disease course, and treatment. Aggressive treatment of hemothorax included blood component therapy, chest tube drainage, pleural epinephrine irrigation, and surgical intervention. The criteria for surgical intervention, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), or open-window thoracostomy included one-third or more of the thoracic cavity that had accumulated blood clots resulting in a compromised cardiopulmonary status, continuous blood loss > 300mL/hour for 4 hours or more, or continued bleeding for 24 hours after persistent blood transfusion. All hemothoraces were unilateral. With coagulopathic correction, control of bleeding was obtained in two patients after decompression of the pleural cavity, four patients after pleural epinephrine irrigation, and eight of 14 patients required surgical intervention for blood clot evacuation. There were no specific findings except blood clot accumulation in each of the patients who underwent thoracotomy or VATS. Three of the eight patients required multiple operations to treat persistent bleeding. The in-hospital mortality rate was 36% (5 of 14 patients); one patient died of intractable bleeding and four deaths were related to multiple organ failure. Blood transfusion (Mann-Whitney U test; p=0.039) and comorbidities such as bacteremia, septic shock, diabetic mellitus, and immunocompromised status (Fisher exact test; p=0.031) were found to be significant and independent predictors of mortality. However, other factors such as age, complicated pneumothorax, and ECMO circuit duration were not statistically correlated with mortality. ECMO-related massive hemothorax usually occurred unilaterally and presented as a life-threatening condition. With intensive treatment, nearly two-thirds of the patients were saved. The most significant risk factor for mortality was the presence of a comorbidity such as sepsis, diabetic mellitus, or immunocompromised status. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Dynamics of massive black holes as a possible candidate of Galactic dark matter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Xu, Guohong; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.

1994-01-01

If the dark halo of the Galaxy is comprised of massive black holes (MBHs), then those within approximately 1 kpc will spiral to the center, where they will interact with one another, forming binaries which contract, owing to further dynamical friction, and then possibly merge to become more massive objects by emission of gravitational radiation. If successive mergers would invariably lead, as has been proposed by various authors, to the formation of a very massive nucleus of 10(exp 8) solar mass, then the idea of MBHs as a dark matter candidate could be excluded on observational grounds, since the observed limit (or value) for a Galactic central black hole is approximately 10(exp 6.5) solar mass. But, if successive mergers are delayed or prevented by other processes, such as the gravitational slingshot or rocket effect of gravitational radiation, then a large mass accumulation will not occur. In order to resolve this issue, we perform detailed N-body simulations using a modfied Aarseth code to explore the dynamical behavior of the MBHs, and we find that for a 'best estimate' model of the Galaxy a runaway does not occur. The code treates the MBHs as subject to the primary gravitational forces of one another and to the smooth stellar distribution, as well as the secondary perturbations in their orbits due to another and to the smooth stellar distribution, as well as the secondary perturbations in their orbits due to dynamical friction and gravitational radiation. Instead of a runaway, three-body interactions between hard binaries and single MBHs eject massive objects before accumulation of more than a few units, so that typically the center will contain zero, one, or two MBHs. We study how the situation depends in detail on the mass per MBH, the rotation of the halo, the mass distribution within the Galaxy, and other parameters. A runaway will most sensitively depend on the ratio of initial (spheroid/halo) central mass densities and secondarily on the typical values for the mass per MBH, with the rough dividing line, using Galactic parameters, being M(sub BH) less than or = 10(exp 6.5) solar mass. Using parameters from Lacey & Ostriker (1985) and our most accurate model for Galaxy, no runaway occurs.

[Massive trichuriasis in an adult diagnosed by colonoscopy].

PubMed

Sapunar, J; Gil, L C; Gil, J G

1999-01-01

A case of massive trichuriasis in a 37-year-old female from a rural locality of the Metropolitan Region of Chile, with antecedents of alcoholism, chronic hepatic damage and portal cavernomatosis, is presented. Since 12 year ago she has had geophagia. In the last six months she has frequently presented liquid diarrhea, colic abdominal pains, tenesmus and sensation of abdominal distention. Clinical and laboratory tests confirmed her hepatic affection associated with a celiac disease with anemia and hypereosinophilia. Within a week diarrhea became worse and dysentery appeared. A colonoscopy revealed an impressive and massive trichuriasis. The patient was successfully treated with two cures of 200 mg tablets of mebendazole twice daily for three days with a week interval. After the first cure she evacuated a big amount of Tricuris trichiura, fecal evacuations became normal, geophagia disappeared and recovered 4 kg of body weight.

A massively parallel computational approach to coupled thermoelastic/porous gas flow problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shia, David; Mcmanus, Hugh L.

1995-01-01

A new computational scheme for coupled thermoelastic/porous gas flow problems is presented. Heat transfer, gas flow, and dynamic thermoelastic governing equations are expressed in fully explicit form, and solved on a massively parallel computer. The transpiration cooling problem is used as an example problem. The numerical solutions have been verified by comparison to available analytical solutions. Transient temperature, pressure, and stress distributions have been obtained. Small spatial oscillations in pressure and stress have been observed, which would be impractical to predict with previously available schemes. Comparisons between serial and massively parallel versions of the scheme have also been made. The results indicate that for small scale problems the serial and parallel versions use practically the same amount of CPU time. However, as the problem size increases the parallel version becomes more efficient than the serial version.

Thermal stress control using waste steel fibers in massive concretes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sarabi, Sahar; Bakhshi, Hossein; Sarkardeh, Hamed; Nikoo, Hamed Safaye

2017-11-01

One of the important subjects in massive concrete structures is the control of the generated heat of hydration and consequently the potential of cracking due to the thermal stress expansion. In the present study, using the waste turnery steel fibers in the massive concretes, the amount of used cement was reduced without changing the compressive strength. By substituting a part of the cement with waste steel fibers, the costs and the generated hydration heat were reduced and the tensile strength was increased. The results showed that by using 0.5% turnery waste steel fibers and consequently, reducing to 32% the cement content, the hydration heat reduced to 23.4% without changing the compressive strength. Moreover, the maximum heat gradient reduced from 18.5% in the plain concrete sample to 12% in the fiber-reinforced concrete sample.

Wetland Sedimentation from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turner, R. Eugene; Baustian, Joseph J.; Swenson, Erick M.; Spicer, Jennifer S.

2006-10-01

More than 131 × 106 metric tons (MT) of inorganic sediments accumulated in coastal wetlands when Hurricanes Katrina and Rita crossed the Louisiana coast in 2005, plus another 281 × 106 MT when accumulation was prorated for open water area. The annualized combined amount of inorganic sediments per hurricane equals (i) 12% of the Mississippi River's suspended load, (ii) 5.5 times the inorganic load delivered by overbank flooding before flood protection levees were constructed, and (iii) 227 times the amount introduced by a river diversion built for wetland restoration. The accumulation from hurricanes is sufficient to account for all the inorganic sediments in healthy saltmarsh wetlands.

Quantitative trait loci controlling amounts and types of epicuticular waxes in onion

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Natural variation exists in onion (Allium cepa L.) for amounts and types of epicuticular waxes on leaves. Wild-type waxy onion possesses copious amounts of these waxes, while the foliage of semi-glossy and glossy phenotypes accumulate significantly less wax. Reduced amounts of epicuticular waxes hav...

18 CFR 367.2283 - Account 228.3, Accumulated provision for pensions and benefits.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

..., Accumulated provision for pensions and benefits. 367.2283 Section 367.2283 Conservation of Power and Water....2283 Account 228.3, Accumulated provision for pensions and benefits. (a) This account must include provisions made by the service company and amounts contributed by employees for pensions, accident and death...

Biomechanical effect of latissimus dorsi tendon transfer for irreparable massive cuff tear.

PubMed

Oh, Joo Han; Tilan, Justin; Chen, Yu-Jen; Chung, Kyung Chil; McGarry, Michelle H; Lee, Thay Q

2013-02-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the biomechanical effects of latissimus dorsi transfer in a cadaveric model of massive posterosuperior rotator cuff tear. Eight cadaveric shoulders were tested at 0°, 30°, and 60° of abduction in the scapular plane with anatomically based muscle loading. Humeral rotational range of motion and the amount of humeral rotation due to muscle loading were measured. Glenohumeral kinematics and contact characteristics were measured throughout the range of motion. After testing in the intact condition, the supraspinatus and infraspinatus were resected. The cuff tear was then repaired by latissimus dorsi transfer. Two muscle loading conditions were applied after latissimus transfer to simulate increased tension that may occur due to limited muscle excursion. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used for statistical analysis. The amount of internal rotation due to muscle loading and maximum internal rotation increased with massive cuff tear and was restored with latissimus transfer (P < .05). At maximum internal rotation, the humeral head apex shifted anteriorly, superiorly, and laterally at 0° of abduction after massive cuff tear (P < .05); this abnormal shift was corrected with latissimus transfer (P < .05). However, at 30° and 60° of abduction, latissimus transfer significantly altered kinematics (P < .05) and latissimus transfer with increased muscle loading increased contact pressure, especially at 60° of abduction. Latissimus dorsi transfer is beneficial in restoring humeral internal/external rotational range of motion, the internal/external rotational balance of the humerus, and glenohumeral kinematics at 0° of abduction. However, latissimus dorsi transfer with simulated limited excursion may lead to an overcompensation that can further deteriorate normal biomechanics, especially at higher abduction angles. Published by Mosby, Inc.

A New Framework and Prototype Solution for Clinical Decision Support and Research in Genomics and Other Data-intensive Fields of Medicine.

PubMed

Evans, James P; Wilhelmsen, Kirk C; Berg, Jonathan; Schmitt, Charles P; Krishnamurthy, Ashok; Fecho, Karamarie; Ahalt, Stanley C

2016-01-01

In genomics and other fields, it is now possible to capture and store large amounts of data in electronic medical records (EMRs). However, it is not clear if the routine accumulation of massive amounts of (largely uninterpretable) data will yield any health benefits to patients. Nevertheless, the use of large-scale medical data is likely to grow. To meet emerging challenges and facilitate optimal use of genomic data, our institution initiated a comprehensive planning process that addresses the needs of all stakeholders (e.g., patients, families, healthcare providers, researchers, technical staff, administrators). Our experience with this process and a key genomics research project contributed to the proposed framework. We propose a two-pronged Genomic Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) that encompasses the concept of the "Clinical Mendeliome" as a patient-centric list of genomic variants that are clinically actionable and introduces the concept of the "Archival Value Criterion" as a decision-making formalism that approximates the cost-effectiveness of capturing, storing, and curating genome-scale sequencing data. We describe a prototype Genomic CDSS that we developed as a first step toward implementation of the framework. The proposed framework and prototype solution are designed to address the perspectives of stakeholders, stimulate effective clinical use of genomic data, drive genomic research, and meet current and future needs. The framework also can be broadly applied to additional fields, including other '-omics' fields. We advocate for the creation of a Task Force on the Clinical Mendeliome, charged with defining Clinical Mendeliomes and drafting clinical guidelines for their use.

Proteomic analysis of chromoplasts from six crop species reveals insights into chromoplast function and development.

PubMed

Wang, Yong-Qiang; Yang, Yong; Fei, Zhangjun; Yuan, Hui; Fish, Tara; Thannhauser, Theodore W; Mazourek, Michael; Kochian, Leon V; Wang, Xiaowu; Li, Li

2013-02-01

Chromoplasts are unique plastids that accumulate massive amounts of carotenoids. To gain a general and comparative characterization of chromoplast proteins, this study performed proteomic analysis of chromoplasts from six carotenoid-rich crops: watermelon, tomato, carrot, orange cauliflower, red papaya, and red bell pepper. Stromal and membrane proteins of chromoplasts were separated by 1D gel electrophoresis and analysed using nLC-MS/MS. A total of 953-2262 proteins from chromoplasts of different crop species were identified. Approximately 60% of the identified proteins were predicted to be plastid localized. Functional classification using MapMan bins revealed large numbers of proteins involved in protein metabolism, transport, amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, and redox in chromoplasts from all six species. Seventeen core carotenoid metabolic enzymes were identified. Phytoene synthase, phytoene desaturase, ζ-carotene desaturase, 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase, and carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase 1 were found in almost all crops, suggesting relative abundance of them among the carotenoid pathway enzymes. Chromoplasts from different crops contained abundant amounts of ATP synthase and adenine nucleotide translocator, which indicates an important role of ATP production and transport in chromoplast development. Distinctive abundant proteins were observed in chromoplast from different crops, including capsanthin/capsorubin synthase and fibrillins in pepper, superoxide dismutase in watermelon, carrot, and cauliflower, and glutathione-S-transferease in papaya. The comparative analysis of chromoplast proteins among six crop species offers new insights into the general metabolism and function of chromoplasts as well as the uniqueness of chromoplasts in specific crop species. This work provides reference datasets for future experimental study of chromoplast biogenesis, development, and regulation in plants.

PREPping Students for Authentic Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dolan, Erin L.; Lally, David J.; Brooks, Eric; Tax, Frans E.

2008-01-01

In this article, the authors describe a large-scale research collaboration, the Partnership for Research and Education in Plants (PREP), which has capitalized on publicly available databases that contain massive amounts of biological information; stock centers that house and distribute inexpensive organisms with different genotypes; and the…

Efficient Access to Massive Amounts of Tape-Resident Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, David; Lauret, Jérôme

2017-10-01

Randomly restoring files from tapes degrades the read performance primarily due to frequent tape mounts. The high latency and time-consuming tape mount and dismount is a major issue when accessing massive amounts of data from tape storage. BNL’s mass storage system currently holds more than 80 PB of data on tapes, managed by HPSS. To restore files from HPSS, we make use of a scheduler software, called ERADAT. This scheduler system was originally based on code from Oak Ridge National Lab, developed in the early 2000s. After some major modifications and enhancements, ERADAT now provides advanced HPSS resource management, priority queuing, resource sharing, web-browser visibility of real-time staging activities and advanced real-time statistics and graphs. ERADAT is also integrated with ACSLS and HPSS for near real-time mount statistics and resource control in HPSS. ERADAT is also the interface between HPSS and other applications such as the locally developed Data Carousel, providing fair resource-sharing policies and related capabilities. ERADAT has demonstrated great performance at BNL.

The Influence of Dietary Fat on Liver Fat Accumulation

PubMed Central

Green, Charlotte J.; Hodson, Leanne

2014-01-01

Obesity is a known risk factor for the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); however, it has been suggested that dietary fat, both amount and composition, may play a pivotal role in its development, independent of body fatness. Studies that have investigated the role of dietary fat on liver fat accumulation are reasonably sparse. We review here the available work that has investigated the impact of dietary fat: amount, composition and frequency, on liver fat accumulation in human observational and intervention studies. Overall, it would seem that total calorie consumption, rather than dietary fat composition, is an important factor in the development of fatty liver disease in humans. PMID:25389901

Constraining the physics of carbon crystallization through pulsations of a massive DAV BPM37093

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nitta, Atsuko; Kepler, S. O.; Chené, André-Nicolas; Koester, D.; Provencal, J. L.; Kleinmani, S. J.; Sullivan, D. J.; Chote, Paul; Sefako, Ramotholo; Kanaan, Antonio; Romero, Alejandra; Corti, Mariela; Kilic, Mukremin; Montgomery, M. H.; Winget, D. E.

We are trying to reduce the largest uncertainties in using white dwarf stars as Galactic chronometers by understanding the details of carbon crystalliazation that currently result in a 1-2 Gyr uncertainty in the ages of the oldest white dwarf stars. We expect the coolest white dwarf stars to have crystallized interiors, but theory also predicts hotter white dwarf stars, if they are massive enough, will also have some core crystallization. BPM 37093 is the first discovered of only a handful of known massive white dwarf stars that are also pulsating DAV, or ZZ Ceti, variables. Our approach is to use the pulsations to constrain the core composition and amount of crystallization. Here we report our analysis of 4 hours of continuous time series spectroscopy of BPM 37093 with Gemini South combined with simultaneous time-series photometry from Mt. John (New Zealand), SAAO, PROMPT, and Complejo Astronomico El Leoncito (CASLEO, Argentina).

High Resolution Satellite Data reveals Massive Export of Carbon and Nitrogen-Rich Seagrass Wrack from Greater Florida Bay to the Open Ocean after Hurricane Irma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dierssen, H. M.; Hedley, J. D.; Russell, B. J.; Vaudrey, J. M.; Perry, R. A.

2017-12-01

Episodic storms are known to be important drivers of ocean ecosystem processes, but the impacts are notoriously difficult to quantify with traditional sampling techniques. Here, we use stunning high spatial resolution satellite imagery from Sentinel 2A collected 13 September 2017, only days after Hurricane Irma passed directly over the Florida Keys, to quantify massive amounts of floating vegetative material. This Category 4 storm passed directly over the Florida Keys, bringing wind gusts over 35 m s-1 and creating turbulence in the water column that scoured the seafloor. The imagery reveals as initial estimate of 40 km2 of surface drifting material. Although the identity of the brown material cannot be fully determined without a hyperspectral sensor, the accumulations are consistent with our past research showing large aggregations of seagrass leaves or "wrack" advected under high winds from dense beds of Syringodium filiforme within Greater Florida Bay to the oceanic waters of the Atlantic. Using measurements of wrack collected from this area, we estimate that this single event corresponds to a total export of 9.7 x 1010 gC and 2.7 x 109 gN from the seagrass beds. This high amount of export is not considered typical for many types of tropical seagrass meadows that are thought to highly recycle nutrients within the beds. Elemental analysis of seagrass leaves from Greater Florida Bay is consistent with nitrogen-fixation in the beds, which could provide the means to sustain a large export of nitrogen from the meadows. As the wrack travels at the sea surface, some of these nutrients are exuded into the surrounding waters providing a nutrient subsidy of dissolved and particulate carbon and nitrogen and making the wrack an ecological hot spot for organisms. Although wrack can potentially remain floating for months, the ultimate fate of the wrack is to either wash ashore, providing connectivity between marine and terrestrial ecosystems, or sink to the seafloor. If most of the wrack sinks, this single localized event represents 0.3-0.7% of the average daily carbon export of phytoplankton to the seafloor for the entire ocean (5-12 Pg C yr-1). New earth-observing satellite technology is allowing for more detailed analyses of the important role of episodic events in shaping aquatic ecology and influencing global biogeochemistry.

U.S. Air Forces Aerial Spray Mission: Should the Department of Defense Continue to Operate this Weapon of Mass Dispersion

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-12-01

pesticide application over farm fields to produce a better crop.2 On 3 August 1921 in a joint effort between the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Dayton, Ohio... pesticide dissemination because of the relatively small amount of product needed to spray for nuisance insects over a vast area. The ULV system is... pesticide per minute. Applications that require massive amounts of liquid herbicide to neutralize cheatgrass and other fire-prone, invasive vegetation on

Place in Perspective: Extracting Online Information about Points of Interest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alves, Ana O.; Pereira, Francisco C.; Rodrigues, Filipe; Oliveirinha, João

During the last few years, the amount of online descriptive information about places has reached reasonable dimensions for many cities in the world. Being such information mostly in Natural Language text, Information Extraction techniques are needed for obtaining the meaning of places that underlies these massive amounts of commonsense and user made sources. In this article, we show how we automatically label places using Information Extraction techniques applied to online resources such as Wikipedia, Yellow Pages and Yahoo!.

Comparative induction of nitrate reductase by nitrate and nitrite in barley leaves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Aslam, M.; Rosichan, J. L.; Huffaker, R. C.

1987-01-01

The comparative induction of nitrate reductase (NR) by ambient NO3- and NO2- as a function of influx, reduction (as NR was induced) and accumulation in detached leaves of 8-day-old barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) seedlings was determined. The dynamic interaction of NO3- influx, reduction and accumulation on NR induction was shown. The activity of NR, as it was induced, influenced its further induction by affecting the internal concentration of NO3-. As the ambient concentration of NO3- increased, the relative influences imposed by influx and reduction on NO3- accumulation changed with influx becoming a more predominant regulant. Significant levels of NO3- accumulated in NO2(-)-fed leaves. When the leaves were supplied cycloheximide or tungstate along with NO2-, about 60% more NO3- accumulated in the leaves than in the absence of the inhibitors. In NO3(-)-supplied leaves NR induction was observed at an ambient concentration of as low as 0.02 mM. No NR induction occurred in leaves supplied with NO2- until the ambient NO2- concentration was 0.5 mM. In fact, NR induction from NO2- solutions was not seen until NO3- was detected in the leaves. The amount of NO3- accumulating in NO2(-)-fed leaves induced similar levels of NR as did equivalent amounts of NO3- accumulating from NO3(-)-fed leaves. In all cases the internal concentration of NO3-, but not NO2-, was highly correlated with the amount of NR induced. The evidence indicated that NO3- was a more likely inducer of NR than was NO2-.

Active pixel sensor array with electronic shuttering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fossum, Eric R. (Inventor)

2002-01-01

An active pixel cell includes electronic shuttering capability. The cell can be shuttered to prevent additional charge accumulation. One mode transfers the current charge to a storage node that is blocked against accumulation of optical radiation. The charge is sampled from a floating node. Since the charge is stored, the node can be sampled at the beginning and the end of every cycle. Another aspect allows charge to spill out of the well whenever the charge amount gets higher than some amount, thereby providing anti blooming.

Carbohydrate and elicitor enhanced withanolide (withaferin A and withanolide A) accumulation in hairy root cultures of Withania somnifera (L.).

PubMed

Doma, Madhavi; Abhayankar, Gauri; Reddy, V D; Kavi Kishor, P B

2012-07-01

Leaves of Withania somnifera contained more withaferin A and withanolide A than roots indicating that these compounds mainly accumulate in leaves. With an increase in age of the plant, withaferin A was enhanced with a corresponding decrease in withanolide A. Hairy root cultures were induced from leaf explants using Agrobacterium rhizogenes and the transgenic nature of hairy roots was confirmed by partial isolation and sequencing of rolB gene, which could not be amplified in untransformed plant parts. In hairy roots, withaferin A accumulated at 2, 3 and 4% but not at 6% sucrose, the highest amount being 1733 microg/g dry weight at 4% level. High and equal amounts of withaferin A and withanolide A accumulated (890 and 886 microg/g dry tissue respectively) only at 3% sucrose. Increasing concentrations of glucose enhanced withaferin A and it peaked at 5% level (3866 microg/g dry tissue). This amount is 2842 and 34% higher compared to untransformed roots and leaves (collected from 210-day-old plants) respectively. Withanolide A was detected at 5% glucose but not at other concentrations. While chitosan and nitric oxide increased withaferin A, jasmonic acid decreased it. Acetyl salicylic acid stimulated accumulation of both withaferin A and withanolide A at higher concentrations. Triadimefon, a fungicide, enhanced withaferin A by 1626 and 3061% (not detected earlier) compared to hairy and intact roots respectively.

Multi-source and ontology-based retrieval engine for maize mutant phenotypes

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

In the midst of this genomics era, major plant genome databases are collecting massive amounts of heterogeneous information, including sequence data, gene product information, images of mutant phenotypes, etc., as well as textual descriptions of many of these entities. While basic browsing and sear...

Infants Hierarchically Organize Memory Representations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenberg, Rebecca D.; Feigenson, Lisa

2013-01-01

Throughout development, working memory is subject to capacity limits that severely constrain short-term storage. However, adults can massively expand the total amount of remembered information by grouping items into "chunks". Although infants also have been shown to chunk objects in memory, little is known regarding the limits of this…

Administrative Uses of Microcomputers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crawford, Chase

1987-01-01

This paper examines the administrative uses of the microcomputer, stating that high performance educational managers are likely to have microcomputers in their organizations. Four situations that would justify the use of a computer are: (1) when massive amounts of data are processed through well-defined operations; (2) when data processing is…

Health burden from peat wildfire in North Carolina

EPA Science Inventory

In June 2008, a wildfire smoldering through rich peat deposits in the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge produced massive amounts of smoke and exposed a largely rural North Carolina area to air pollution in access of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. In this talk, w...

Chimpanzees can point to smaller amounts of food to accumulate larger amounts but they still fail the reverse-reward contingency task.

PubMed

Beran, Michael J; James, Brielle T; Whitham, Will; Parrish, Audrey E

2016-10-01

The reverse-reward contingency task presents 2 food sets to an animal, and they are required to choose the smaller of the 2 sets in order to receive the larger food set. Intriguingly, the majority of species tested on the reverse-reward task fail to learn this contingency in the absence of large trial counts, correction trials, and punishment techniques. The unique difficulty of this seemingly simple task likely reflects a failure of inhibitory control which is required to point toward a smaller and less desirable reward rather than a larger and more desirable reward. This failure by chimpanzees and other primates to pass the reverse-reward task is striking given the self-control they exhibit in a variety of other paradigms. For example, chimpanzees have consistently demonstrated a high capacity for delay of gratification in order to maximize accumulating food rewards in which foods are added item-by-item to a growing set until the subject consumes the rewards. To study the mechanisms underlying success in the accumulation task and failure in the reverse-reward task, we presented chimpanzees with several combinations of these 2 tasks to determine when chimpanzees might succeed in pointing to smaller food sets over larger food sets and how the nature of the task might determine the animals' success or failure. Across experiments, 3 chimpanzees repeatedly failed to solve the reverse-reward task, whereas they accumulated nearly all food items across all instances of the accumulation self-control task, even when they had to point to small amounts of food to accumulate larger amounts. These data indicate that constraints of these 2 related but still different tasks of behavioral inhibition are dependent upon the animals' perceptions of the choice set, their sense of control over the contents of choice sets, and the nature of the task constraints. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Citrus Chlorophyllase Dynamics at Ethylene-Induced Fruit Color-Break: A Study of Chlorophyllase Expression, Posttranslational Processing Kinetics, and in Situ Intracellular Localization1[OA

PubMed Central

Azoulay Shemer, Tamar; Harpaz-Saad, Smadar; Belausov, Eduard; Lovat, Nicole; Krokhin, Oleg; Spicer, Victor; Standing, Kenneth G.; Goldschmidt, Eliezer E.; Eyal, Yoram

2008-01-01

Fruit color-break is the visual manifestation of the developmentally regulated transition of chloroplasts to chromoplasts during fruit ripening and often involves biosynthesis of copious amounts of carotenoids concomitant with massive breakdown of chlorophyll. Regulation of chlorophyll breakdown at different physiological and developmental stages of the plant life cycle, particularly at fruit color-break, is still not well understood. Here, we present the dynamics of native chlorophyllase (Chlase) and chlorophyll breakdown in lemon (Citrus limon) fruit during ethylene-induced color-break. We show, using in situ immunofluorescence on ethylene-treated fruit peel (flavedo) tissue, that citrus Chlase is located in the plastid, in contrast to recent reports suggesting cytoplasmic localization of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) Chlases. At the intra-organellar level, Chlase signal was found to overlap mostly with chlorophyll fluorescence, suggesting association of most of the Chlase protein with the photosynthetic membranes. Confocal microscopy analysis showed that the kinetics of chlorophyll breakdown was not uniform in the flavedo cells. Chlorophyll quantity at the cellular level was negatively correlated with plastid Chlase accumulation; plastids with reduced chlorophyll content were found by in situ immunofluorescence to contain significant levels of Chlase, while plastids containing still-intact chlorophyll lacked any Chlase signal. Immunoblot and protein-mass spectrometry analyses were used to demonstrate that citrus Chlase initially accumulates as an approximately 35-kD precursor, which is subsequently N-terminally processed to approximately 33-kD mature forms by cleavage at either of three consecutive amino acid positions. Chlase plastid localization, expression kinetics, and the negative correlation with chlorophyll levels support the central role of the enzyme in chlorophyll breakdown during citrus fruit color-break. PMID:18633118

Vitamin A-coupled liposomes containing siRNA against HSP47 ameliorate skin fibrosis in chronic graft-versus-host disease.

PubMed

Yamakawa, Tomohiro; Ohigashi, Hiroyuki; Hashimoto, Daigo; Hayase, Eiko; Takahashi, Shuichiro; Miyazaki, Miyono; Minomi, Kenjiro; Onozawa, Masahiro; Niitsu, Yoshiro; Teshima, Takanori

2018-03-29

Chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT) is characterized by multiorgan fibrosis and profoundly affects the quality of life of transplant survivors. Heat shock protein 47 (HSP47), a collagen-specific molecular chaperone, plays a critical role in collagen synthesis in myofibroblasts. We explored the role of HSP47 in the fibrotic process of cutaneous chronic GVHD in mice. Immunohistochemical analysis showed massive fibrosis with elevated amounts of collagen deposits and accumulation of F4/80 + macrophages, as well as myofibroblasts expressing HSP47 and retinol-binding protein 1 in the skin after allogeneic SCT. Repeated injection of anti-colony-stimulating factor (CSF-1) receptor-blocking antibodies significantly reduced HSP47 + myofibroblasts in the skin, indicating a macrophage-dependent accumulation of myofibroblasts. Vitamin A-coupled liposomes carrying HSP47 small interfering RNA (siRNA) (VA-lip HSP47) delivered HSP47 siRNA to cells expressing vitamin A receptors and knocked down their HSP47 in vitro. Intravenously injected VA-lip HSP47 were specifically distributed to skin fibrotic lesions and did not affect collagen synthesis in healthy skin. VA-lip HSP47 knocked down HSP47 expression in myofibroblasts and significantly reduced collagen deposition without inducing systemic immunosuppression. It also abrogated fibrosis in the salivary glands. These results highlight a cascade of fibrosis in chronic GVHD; macrophage production of transforming growth factor β mediates fibroblast differentiation to HSP47 + myofibroblasts that produce collagen. VA-lip HSP47 represent a novel strategy to modulate fibrosis in chronic GVHD by targeting HSP47 + myofibroblasts without inducing immunosuppression. © 2018 by The American Society of Hematology.

Increased Laforin and Laforin Binding to Glycogen Underlie Lafora Body Formation in Malin-deficient Lafora Disease*

PubMed Central

Tiberia, Erica; Turnbull, Julie; Wang, Tony; Ruggieri, Alessandra; Zhao, Xiao-Chu; Pencea, Nela; Israelian, Johan; Wang, Yin; Ackerley, Cameron A.; Wang, Peixiang; Liu, Yan; Minassian, Berge A.

2012-01-01

The solubility of glycogen, essential to its metabolism, is a property of its shape, a sphere generated through extensive branching during synthesis. Lafora disease (LD) is a severe teenage-onset neurodegenerative epilepsy and results from multiorgan accumulations, termed Lafora bodies (LB), of abnormally structured aggregation-prone and digestion-resistant glycogen. LD is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the EPM2A or EPM2B gene, encoding the interacting laforin phosphatase and malin E3 ubiquitin ligase enzymes, respectively. The substrate and function of malin are unknown; an early counterintuitive observation in cell culture experiments that it targets laforin to proteasomal degradation was not pursued until now. The substrate and function of laforin have recently been elucidated. Laforin dephosphorylates glycogen during synthesis, without which phosphate ions interfere with and distort glycogen construction, leading to LB. We hypothesized that laforin in excess or not removed following its action on glycogen also interferes with glycogen formation. We show in malin-deficient mice that the absence of malin results in massively increased laforin preceding the appearance of LB and that laforin gradually accumulates in glycogen, which corresponds to progressive LB generation. We show that increasing the amounts of laforin in cell culture causes LB formation and that this occurs only with glycogen binding-competent laforin. In summary, malin deficiency causes increased laforin, increased laforin binding to glycogen, and LB formation. Furthermore, increased levels of laforin, when it can bind glycogen, causes LB. We conclude that malin functions to regulate laforin and that malin deficiency at least in part causes LB and LD through increased laforin binding to glycogen. PMID:22669944

Coma, Hyperthermia and Bleeding Associated with Massive LSD Overdose

PubMed Central

Klock, John C.; Boerner, Udo; Becker, Charles E.

1974-01-01

Eight patients were seen within 15 minutes of intranasal self-administration of large amounts of pure D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) tartrate powder. Emesis and collapse occurred along with signs of sympathetic overactivity, hyperthermia, coma and respiratory arrest. Mild generalized bleeding occurred in several patients and evidence of platelet dysfunction was present in all. Serum and gastric concentrations of LSD tartrate ranged from 2.1 to 26 nanograms per ml and 1,000 to 7,000 μg per 100 ml, respectively. With supportive care, all patients recovered. Massive LSD overdose in man is life-threatening and produces striking and distinctive manifestations. ImagesFigure 1. PMID:4816396

Coma, hyperthermia and bleeding associated with massive LSD overdose. A report of eight cases.

PubMed

Klock, J C; Boerner, U; Becker, C E

1974-03-01

Eight patients were seen within 15 minutes of intranasal self-administration of large amounts of pure D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) tartrate powder. Emesis and collapse occurred along with signs of sympathetic overactivity, hyperthermia, coma and respiratory arrest. Mild generalized bleeding occurred in several patients and evidence of platelet dysfunction was present in all. Serum and gastric concentrations of LSD tartrate ranged from 2.1 to 26 nanograms per ml and 1,000 to 7,000 mug per 100 ml, respectively. With supportive care, all patients recovered. Massive LSD overdose in man is life-threatening and produces striking and distinctive manifestations.

QCD corrections to massive color-octet vector boson pair production

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Freitas, Ayres; Wiegand, Daniel

2017-09-01

This paper describes the calculation of the next-to-leading order (NLO) QCD corrections to massive color-octet vector boson pair production at hadron colliders. As a concrete framework, a two-site coloron model with an internal parity is chosen, which can be regarded as an effective low-energy approximation of Kaluza-Klein gluon physics in universal extra dimensions. The renormalization procedure involves several subtleties, which are discussed in detail. The impact of the NLO corrections is relatively modest, amounting to a reduction of 11-14% in the total cross-section, but they significantly reduce the scale dependence of the LO result.

Smart integrated microsystems: the energy efficiency challenge (Conference Presentation) (Plenary Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benini, Luca

2017-06-01

The "internet of everything" envisions trillions of connected objects loaded with high-bandwidth sensors requiring massive amounts of local signal processing, fusion, pattern extraction and classification. From the computational viewpoint, the challenge is formidable and can be addressed only by pushing computing fabrics toward massive parallelism and brain-like energy efficiency levels. CMOS technology can still take us a long way toward this goal, but technology scaling is losing steam. Energy efficiency improvement will increasingly hinge on architecture, circuits, design techniques such as heterogeneous 3D integration, mixed-signal preprocessing, event-based approximate computing and non-Von-Neumann architectures for scalable acceleration.

Enhancing Nanoparticle Accumulation and Retention in Desmoplastic Tumors via Vascular Disruption for Internal Radiation Therapy

PubMed Central

Satterlee, Andrew B.; Rojas, Juan D.; Dayton, Paul A.; Huang, Leaf

2017-01-01

Aggressive, desmoplastic tumors are notoriously difficult to treat because of their extensive stroma, high interstitial pressure, and resistant tumor microenvironment. We have developed a combination therapy that can significantly slow the growth of large, stroma-rich tumors by causing massive apoptosis in the tumor center while simultaneously increasing nanoparticle uptake through a treatment-induced increase in the accumulation and retention of nanoparticles in the tumor. The vascular disrupting agent Combretastatin A-4 Phosphate (CA4P) is able to increase the accumulation of radiation-containing nanoparticles for internal radiation therapy, and the retention of these delivered radioisotopes is maintained over several days. We use ultrasound to measure the effect of CA4P in live tumor-bearing mice, and we encapsulate the radio-theranostic isotope 177Lutetium as a therapeutic agent as well as a means to measure nanoparticle accumulation and retention in the tumor. This combination therapy induces prolonged apoptosis in the tumor, decreasing both the fibroblast and total cell density and allowing further tumor growth inhibition using a cisplatin-containing nanoparticle. PMID:28042332

A clinical update on massive ovarian oedema – a pseudotumour?

PubMed Central

Praveen, RS; Pallavi, VR; Rajashekar, K; Usha, A; Umadevi, K; Bafna, UD

2013-01-01

Objective: Benign massive ovarian oedema is a rare clinical entity arising from the ovaries, and it poses a significant clinical challenge as it can be easily mistaken for neoplasm. Due to the lack of pathognomonic clinical features or characteristic hallmarks on non-invasive diagnostic modalities and the dependence on the final histopathology, the efforts of the surgeon have been deviated from performing fertility-sparing surgery on young women. The lack of standardised guidelines due to the rarity of this condition calls for a review of the literature to enable the clinician to formulate treatment guidelines. Methods and Material: A Medline search on the PubMed database for literature published in English from 1969 to 2011 was done using the keywords ‘massive ovarian oedema, massive ovarian oedema case report or case series, and pseudotumour of ovary’. A total of 177 women who had undergone a variety of treatments were retrieved. We also report the management options we used for four women presenting to us between August 2000 and October 2011, as well as a review of the literature. Result: A total of 177 cases of massive ovarian oedema were identified. Out of these cases 151 (85.3%) were primary massive ovarian oedema; secondary massive ovarian oedema was identified in 26 (14.7%) cases. A salpingo-oophorectomy was done in 145 (81.9%) cases, 12 (6.8%) cases had an abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. A total of 76 (42.9%) cases intraoperatively were found to have ovarian torsions, and one patient with primary massive ovarian oedema had ascites. Conservative treatment was carried out in 20 (11.3%) patients; 14 of these had a wedge biopsy with frozen section and with or without ovarian suspension, one patient had diagnostic laparotomy, and five cases had only ultrasonographic or magnetic resonance imaging monitoring and symptomatic treatment. The four cases treated at the regional cancer institute from 2000 to 2011 revealed that the first three cases had salpingo-oophorectomy and the fourth case received a successful conservative treatment. Conclusion: The majority of massive ovarian oedemas will respond to judicious use of intraoperative wedge resection and frozen section for the confirmation of diagnosis. The detorsion and transfixation of the ovary or partial debulking and drainage of fluid accumulated in the cyst may be more appropriate to preserve hormonal function and fertility in these young women. PMID:23717339

A clinical update on massive ovarian oedema - a pseudotumour?

PubMed

Praveen, Rs; Pallavi, Vr; Rajashekar, K; Usha, A; Umadevi, K; Bafna, Ud

2013-01-01

Benign massive ovarian oedema is a rare clinical entity arising from the ovaries, and it poses a significant clinical challenge as it can be easily mistaken for neoplasm. Due to the lack of pathognomonic clinical features or characteristic hallmarks on non-invasive diagnostic modalities and the dependence on the final histopathology, the efforts of the surgeon have been deviated from performing fertility-sparing surgery on young women. The lack of standardised guidelines due to the rarity of this condition calls for a review of the literature to enable the clinician to formulate treatment guidelines. A Medline search on the PubMed database for literature published in English from 1969 to 2011 was done using the keywords 'massive ovarian oedema, massive ovarian oedema case report or case series, and pseudotumour of ovary'. A total of 177 women who had undergone a variety of treatments were retrieved. We also report the management options we used for four women presenting to us between August 2000 and October 2011, as well as a review of the literature. A total of 177 cases of massive ovarian oedema were identified. Out of these cases 151 (85.3%) were primary massive ovarian oedema; secondary massive ovarian oedema was identified in 26 (14.7%) cases. A salpingo-oophorectomy was done in 145 (81.9%) cases, 12 (6.8%) cases had an abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. A total of 76 (42.9%) cases intraoperatively were found to have ovarian torsions, and one patient with primary massive ovarian oedema had ascites. Conservative treatment was carried out in 20 (11.3%) patients; 14 of these had a wedge biopsy with frozen section and with or without ovarian suspension, one patient had diagnostic laparotomy, and five cases had only ultrasonographic or magnetic resonance imaging monitoring and symptomatic treatment. The four cases treated at the regional cancer institute from 2000 to 2011 revealed that the first three cases had salpingo-oophorectomy and the fourth case received a successful conservative treatment. The majority of massive ovarian oedemas will respond to judicious use of intraoperative wedge resection and frozen section for the confirmation of diagnosis. The detorsion and transfixation of the ovary or partial debulking and drainage of fluid accumulated in the cyst may be more appropriate to preserve hormonal function and fertility in these young women.

Massive Volcanic SO2 Oxidation and Sulphate Aerosol Deposition in Cenozoic North America

EPA Science Inventory

Volcanic eruptions release a large amount of sulphur dioxide (SO₂) into the atmosphere. SO₂ is oxidized to sulphate and can subsequently form sulphate aerosol, which can affect the Earth's radiation balance, biologic productivity and high-altitude ozone co...

Generation and Limiters of Rogue Waves

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

Jacobs, 7320 Ruth H. Preller, 7300 1231 1008.3 E. R. Franchi , 7000 Erick Rogers, 7322 1. REFERENCES AND ENCLOSURES 2. TYPE OF PUBLICATION OR...wave heights do not grow unlimited. With massive amount of global wave observations available nowadays, wave heights much in excess of 30m have never

Fermilab | Tevatron | Experiments

Science.gov Websites

electrons, muons and charged hadrons followed curved paths through them. The slower or less massive the particles, the greater was the magnet's effect on them, and the more they curved. Scientists therefore used the amount which a particle's track curved to determine its momentum. This information helped them

Recent Developments in Young-Earth Creationist Geology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Heaton, Timothy H.

2009-01-01

Young-earth creationism has undergone a shift in emphasis toward building of historical models that incorporate Biblical and scientific evidence and the acceptance of scientific conclusions that were formerly rejected. The RATE Group admitted that massive amounts of radioactive decay occurred during earth history but proposed a period of…

Frameworks Coordinate Scientific Data Management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2012-01-01

Jet Propulsion Laboratory computer scientists developed a unique software framework to help NASA manage its massive amounts of science data. Through a partnership with the Apache Software Foundation of Forest Hill, Maryland, the technology is now available as an open-source solution and is in use by cancer researchers and pediatric hospitals.

Communities of Practice and Professional Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chalmers, Lex; Keown, Paul

2006-01-01

The Internet has had a transformative effect on many aspects of contemporary living. While there may be a tendency to overstate the impacts of this technology, workplaces and work practices in many societies have been greatly affected by almost instant access to massive amounts of information, delivered through broadening bandwidth. This paper…

A HIERARCHICAL MODELING FRAMEWORK FOR GEOLOGICAL STORAGE OF CARBON DIOXIDE

EPA Science Inventory

Carbon Capture and Storage, or CCS, is likely to be an important technology in a carbonconstrained world. CCS will involve subsurface injection of massive amounts of captured CO₂, on a scale that has not previously been approached. The unprecedented scale of t...

Social Data Analytics Using Tensors and Sparse Techniques

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Miao

2014-01-01

The development of internet and mobile technologies is driving an earthshaking social media revolution. They bring the internet world a huge amount of social media content, such as images, videos, comments, etc. Those massive media content and complicate social structures require the analytic expertise to transform those flood of information into…

Virtual Bioinformatics Distance Learning Suite

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tolvanen, Martti; Vihinen, Mauno

2004-01-01

Distance learning as a computer-aided concept allows students to take courses from anywhere at any time. In bioinformatics, computers are needed to collect, store, process, and analyze massive amounts of biological and biomedical data. We have applied the concept of distance learning in virtual bioinformatics to provide university course material…

Social Studies Special Issue: Civic Literacy in a Digital Age

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

VanFossen, Phillip J.; Berson, Michael J.

2008-01-01

Young people today consume large amounts of information through various media outlets and simultaneously create and distribute their own messages via information and communication technologies and massively multiplayer online gaming. In doing so, these "digital natives" are often exposed to violent, racist, or other deleterious messages.…

Simplified Antenna Group Determination of RS Overhead Reduced Massive MIMO for Wireless Sensor Networks.

PubMed

Lee, Byung Moo

2017-12-29

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems can be applied to support numerous internet of things (IoT) devices using its excessive amount of transmitter (TX) antennas. However, one of the big obstacles for the realization of the massive MIMO system is the overhead of reference signal (RS), because the number of RS is proportional to the number of TX antennas and/or related user equipments (UEs). It has been already reported that antenna group-based RS overhead reduction can be very effective to the efficient operation of massive MIMO, but the method of deciding the number of antennas needed in each group is at question. In this paper, we propose a simplified determination scheme of the number of antennas needed in each group for RS overhead reduced massive MIMO to support many IoT devices. Supporting many distributed IoT devices is a framework to configure wireless sensor networks. Our contribution can be divided into two parts. First, we derive simple closed-form approximations of the achievable spectral efficiency (SE) by using zero-forcing (ZF) and matched filtering (MF) precoding for the RS overhead reduced massive MIMO systems with channel estimation error. The closed-form approximations include a channel error factor that can be adjusted according to the method of the channel estimation. Second, based on the closed-form approximation, we present an efficient algorithm determining the number of antennas needed in each group for the group-based RS overhead reduction scheme. The algorithm depends on the exact inverse functions of the derived closed-form approximations of SE. It is verified with theoretical analysis and simulation that the proposed algorithm works well, and thus can be used as an important tool for massive MIMO systems to support many distributed IoT devices.

Simplified Antenna Group Determination of RS Overhead Reduced Massive MIMO for Wireless Sensor Networks

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems can be applied to support numerous internet of things (IoT) devices using its excessive amount of transmitter (TX) antennas. However, one of the big obstacles for the realization of the massive MIMO system is the overhead of reference signal (RS), because the number of RS is proportional to the number of TX antennas and/or related user equipments (UEs). It has been already reported that antenna group-based RS overhead reduction can be very effective to the efficient operation of massive MIMO, but the method of deciding the number of antennas needed in each group is at question. In this paper, we propose a simplified determination scheme of the number of antennas needed in each group for RS overhead reduced massive MIMO to support many IoT devices. Supporting many distributed IoT devices is a framework to configure wireless sensor networks. Our contribution can be divided into two parts. First, we derive simple closed-form approximations of the achievable spectral efficiency (SE) by using zero-forcing (ZF) and matched filtering (MF) precoding for the RS overhead reduced massive MIMO systems with channel estimation error. The closed-form approximations include a channel error factor that can be adjusted according to the method of the channel estimation. Second, based on the closed-form approximation, we present an efficient algorithm determining the number of antennas needed in each group for the group-based RS overhead reduction scheme. The algorithm depends on the exact inverse functions of the derived closed-form approximations of SE. It is verified with theoretical analysis and simulation that the proposed algorithm works well, and thus can be used as an important tool for massive MIMO systems to support many distributed IoT devices. PMID:29286339

Accumulation of evidence during sequential decision making: the importance of top-down factors.

PubMed

de Lange, Floris P; Jensen, Ole; Dehaene, Stanislas

2010-01-13

In the last decade, great progress has been made in characterizing the accumulation of neural information during simple unitary perceptual decisions. However, much less is known about how sequentially presented evidence is integrated over time for successful decision making. The aim of this study was to study the mechanisms of sequential decision making in humans. In a magnetoencephalography (MEG) study, we presented healthy volunteers with sequences of centrally presented arrows. Sequence length varied between one and five arrows, and the accumulated directions of the arrows informed the subject about which hand to use for a button press at the end of the sequence (e.g., LRLRR should result in a right-hand press). Mathematical modeling suggested that nonlinear accumulation was the rational strategy for performing this task in the presence of no or little noise, whereas quasilinear accumulation was optimal in the presence of substantial noise. MEG recordings showed a correlate of evidence integration over parietal and central cortex that was inversely related to the amount of accumulated evidence (i.e., when more evidence was accumulated, neural activity for new stimuli was attenuated). This modulation of activity likely reflects a top-down influence on sensory processing, effectively constraining the influence of sensory information on the decision variable over time. The results indicate that, when making decisions on the basis of sequential information, the human nervous system integrates evidence in a nonlinear manner, using the amount of previously accumulated information to constrain the accumulation of additional evidence.

THE FORMATION OF SECONDARY STELLAR GENERATIONS IN MASSIVE YOUNG STAR CLUSTERS FROM RAPIDLY COOLING SHOCKED STELLAR WINDS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wünsch, R.; Palouš, J.; Ehlerová, S.

We study a model of rapidly cooling shocked stellar winds in young massive clusters and estimate the circumstances under which secondary star formation, out of the reinserted winds from a first stellar generation (1G), is possible. We have used two implementations of the model: a highly idealized, computationally inexpensive, spherically symmetric semi-analytic model, and a complex, three-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic, simulation; they are in a good mutual agreement. The results confirm our previous findings that, in a cluster with 1G mass 10{sup 7} M {sub ⊙} and half-mass–radius 2.38 pc, the shocked stellar winds become thermally unstable, collapse into dense gaseous structuresmore » that partially accumulate inside the cluster, self-shield against ionizing stellar radiation, and form the second generation (2G) of stars. We have used the semi-analytic model to explore a subset of the parameter space covering a wide range of the observationally poorly constrained parameters: the heating efficiency, η {sub he}, and the mass loading, η {sub ml}. The results show that the fraction of the 1G stellar winds accumulating inside the cluster can be larger than 50% if η {sub he} ≲ 10%, which is suggested by the observations. Furthermore, for low η {sub he}, the model provides a self-consistent mechanism predicting 2G stars forming only in the central zones of the cluster. Finally, we have calculated the accumulated warm gas emission in the H30 α recombination line, analyzed its velocity profile, and estimated its intensity for super star clusters in interacting galaxies NGC4038/9 (Antennae) showing that the warm gas should be detectable with ALMA.« less

Accumulation of catechins in tea in relation to accumulation of mRNA from genes involved in catechin biosynthesis.

PubMed

Eungwanichayapant, P D; Popluechai, S

2009-02-01

Catechins are a group of polyphenols found in tea (Camellia sinensis var. sinensis) at high levels. They are beneficial for health. From the study on accumulation of catechins in shoots and mature leaves of a tea cultivar, Oolong No. 17, using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), it was found that the amounts of most catechins in the shoots were higher than those in the mature leaves, with an exception of catechins gallate (CG) that was found in trace amounts in both the shoots and mature leaves. mRNA accumulation of genes involved in catechin synthesis was studied using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The results showed that the mRNA accumulation of the genes were higher in the shoots than in the mature leaves. These genes included genes of phenylalanine ammonia-lyase 1 (PAL1; EC 4.3.1.5), chalcone synthase (CHS; EC 2.3.1.74), dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR; EC 1.1.1.219), leucoanthocyanidin reductase (LCR; EC 1.17.1.3), and flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H; EC 1.14.11.9).

Ongoing Massive Star Formation in NGC 604

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez-Galarza, J. R.; Hunter, D.; Groves, B.; Brandl, B.

2012-12-01

NGC 604 is the second most massive H II region in the Local Group, thus an important laboratory for massive star formation. Using a combination of observational and analytical tools that include Spitzer spectroscopy, Herschel photometry, Chandra imaging, and Bayesian spectral energy distribution fitting, we investigate the physical conditions in NGC 604 and quantify the amount of massive star formation currently taking place. We derive an average age of 4 ± 1 Myr and a total stellar mass of 1.6+1.6 - 1.0 × 105 M ⊙ for the entire region, in agreement with previous optical studies. Across the region, we find an effect of the X-ray field on both the abundance of aromatic molecules and the [Si II] emission. Within NGC 604, we identify several individual bright infrared sources with diameters of about 15 pc and luminosity-weighted masses between 103 M ⊙ and 104 M ⊙. Their spectral properties indicate that some of these sources are embedded clusters in process of formation, which together account for ~8% of the total stellar mass in the NGC 604 system. The variations of the radiation field strength across NGC 604 are consistent with a sequential star formation scenario, with at least two bursts in the last few million years. Our results indicate that massive star formation in NGC 604 is still ongoing, likely triggered by the earlier bursts.

Petermann Glacier, North Greenland: massive calving in 2010 and the past half century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Johannessen, O. M.; Babiker, M.; Miles, M. W.

2011-01-01

Greenland's marine-terminating glaciers drain large amounts of solid ice through calving of icebergs, as well as melting of floating glacial ice. Petermann Glacier, North Greenland, has the Northern Hemisphere's long floating ice shelf. A massive (~270 km2) calving event was observed from satellite sensors in August 2010. In order to understand this in perspective, here we perform a comprehensive retrospective data analysis of Petermann Glacier calving-front variability spanning half a century. Here we establish that there have been at least four massive (100+ km2) calving events over the past 50 years: (1) 1959-1961 (~153 km2), (2) 1991 (~168 km2), (3) 2001 (~71 km2) and (4) 2010 (~270 km2), as well as ~31 km2 calved in 2008. The terminus position in 2010 has retreated ~15 km beyond the envelope of previous observations. Whether the massive calving in 2010 represents natural episodic variability or a response to global and/or ocean warming in the fjord remains speculative, although this event supports the contention that the ice shelf recently has become vulnerable due to extensive fracturing and channelized basal melting.

The composition of coexisting jarosite-group minerals and water from the Richmond mine, Iron Mountain, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Jamieson, Heather E.; Robinson, Clare; Alpers, Charles N.; Nordstrom, D. Kirk; Poustovetov, Alexei; Lowers, Heather A.

2005-01-01

Jarosite-group minerals accumulate in the form of stalactites and fine-grained mud on massive pyrite in the D drift of the Richmond mine, Iron Mountain, California. Water samples were collected by placing beakers under the dripping stalactites and by extracting pore water from the mud using a centrifuge. The water is rich in Fe3+ and SO4 2−, with a pH of approximately 2.1, which is significantly higher than the extremely acidic waters found elsewhere in the mine. Electron-microprobe analysis and X-ray mapping indicate that the small crystals (<10 μm in diameter) are compositionally zoned with respect to Na and K, and include hydronium jarosite corresponding to the formula (H3O)0.6K0.3Na0.1Fe3 3+(SO4)2(OH)6. The proton-microprobe analyses indicate that the jarosite-group minerals contain significant amounts of As, Pb and Zn, and minor levels of Bi, Rb, Sb, Se, Sn and Sr. Speciation modeling indicates that the drip waters are supersaturated with respect to jarosite-group minerals. The expected range in composition of jarosite-group solid-solution in equilibrium with the pore water extracted from the mud was found to be consistent with the observed range in composition.

Analysis of the giant genomes of Fritillaria (Liliaceae) indicates that a lack of DNA removal characterizes extreme expansions in genome size.

PubMed

Kelly, Laura J; Renny-Byfield, Simon; Pellicer, Jaume; Macas, Jiří; Novák, Petr; Neumann, Pavel; Lysak, Martin A; Day, Peter D; Berger, Madeleine; Fay, Michael F; Nichols, Richard A; Leitch, Andrew R; Leitch, Ilia J

2015-10-01

Plants exhibit an extraordinary range of genome sizes, varying by > 2000-fold between the smallest and largest recorded values. In the absence of polyploidy, changes in the amount of repetitive DNA (transposable elements and tandem repeats) are primarily responsible for genome size differences between species. However, there is ongoing debate regarding the relative importance of amplification of repetitive DNA versus its deletion in governing genome size. Using data from 454 sequencing, we analysed the most repetitive fraction of some of the largest known genomes for diploid plant species, from members of Fritillaria. We revealed that genomic expansion has not resulted from the recent massive amplification of just a handful of repeat families, as shown in species with smaller genomes. Instead, the bulk of these immense genomes is composed of highly heterogeneous, relatively low-abundance repeat-derived DNA, supporting a scenario where amplified repeats continually accumulate due to infrequent DNA removal. Our results indicate that a lack of deletion and low turnover of repetitive DNA are major contributors to the evolution of extremely large genomes and show that their size cannot simply be accounted for by the activity of a small number of high-abundance repeat families. © 2015 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2015 New Phytologist Trust.

Effect of saline waste solution infiltration rates on uranium retention and spatial distribution in Hanford sediments.

PubMed

Wan, Jiamin; Tokunaga, Tetsu K; Kim, Yongman; Wang, Zheming; Lanzirotti, Antonio; Saiz, Eduardo; Serne, R Jeffrey

2008-03-15

The accidental overfilling of waste liquid from tank BX-102 at the Hanford Site in 1951 put about 10 t of U(VI) into the vadose zone. In order to understand the dominant geochemical reactions and transport processes that occurred during the initial infiltration and to help understand current spatial distribution, we simulated the waste liquid spilling event in laboratory sediment columns using synthesized metal waste solution. We found that, as the plume propagated through sediments, pH decreased greatly (as much as 4 units) at the moving plume front. Infiltration flow rates strongly affect U behavior. Slower flow rates resulted in higher sediment-associated U concentrations, and higher flow rates (> or =5 cm/day) permitted practically unretarded U transport. Therefore, given the very high Ksat of most of Hanford formation, the low permeability zones within the sediment could have been most important in retaining high concentrations of U during initial release into the vadose zone. Massive amount of colloids, including U-colloids, formed at the plume fronts. Total U concentrations (aqueous and colloid) within plume fronts exceeded the source concentration by up to 5-fold. Uranium colloid formation and accumulation at the neutralized plume front could be one mechanism responsible for highly heterogeneous U distribution observed in the contaminated Hanford vadose zone.

In vitro manipulation of gene expression in larval Schistosoma: a model for postgenomic approaches in Trematoda

PubMed Central

YOSHINO, TIMOTHY P.; DINGUIRARD, NATHALIE; DE MORAES MOURÃO, MARINA

2013-01-01

SUMMARY With rapid developments in DNA and protein sequencing technologies, combined with powerful bioinformatics tools, a continued acceleration of gene identification in parasitic helminths is predicted, potentially leading to discovery of new drug and vaccine targets, enhanced diagnostics and insights into the complex biology underlying host-parasite interactions. For the schistosome blood flukes, with the recent completion of genome sequencing and comprehensive transcriptomic datasets, there has accumulated massive amounts of gene sequence data, for which, in the vast majority of cases, little is known about actual functions within the intact organism. In this review we attempt to bring together traditional in vitro cultivation approaches and recent emergent technologies of molecular genomics, transcriptomics and genetic manipulation to illustrate the considerable progress made in our understanding of trematode gene expression and function during development of the intramolluscan larval stages. Using several prominent trematode families (Schistosomatidae, Fasciolidae, Echinostomatidae), we have focused on the current status of in vitro larval isolation/cultivation as a source of valuable raw material supporting gene discovery efforts in model digeneans that include whole genome sequencing, transcript and protein expression profiling during larval development, and progress made in the in vitro manipulation of genes and their expression in larval trematodes using transgenic and RNA interference (RNAi) approaches. PMID:19961646

Direct and Indirect Dark Matter Detection in Gauge Theories (in Portuguese)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Queiroz, Farinaldo

The Dark matter (DM) problem constitutes a key question at the interface among Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology. The observational data which have been accumulated in the last years point to an existence of non baryonic amount of DM. Since the Standard Model (SM) does not provide any candidate for such non-baryonic DM, the evidence of DM is a major indication for new physics beyond the SM. We will study in this work one of the most popular DM candidates, the so called WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) from a direct and indirect detection perspective. In order to approach themore » direct and indirect dection of DM in the context of Particle Physics in a more pedagogic way, we will begin our discussion talking about a minimal extension of the SM. Later we will work on the subject in a 3-3-1 model. Next, we will study the role of WIMPs in the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Lastly, we will look for indirect DM signals in the center of our galaxy using the NASA Satellite, called Fermi-LAT. Through a comprehensive analysis of the data events observed by Fermi-LAT and some background models, we will constrain the dark matter annihilation cross section for several annihilation channels and dark matter halo profiles.« less

The biological impacts of ingested radioactive materials on the pale grass blue butterfly

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nohara, Chiyo; Hiyama, Atsuki; Taira, Wataru; Tanahara, Akira; Otaki, Joji M.

2014-05-01

A massive amount of radioactive materials has been released into the environment by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, but its biological impacts have rarely been examined. Here, we have quantitatively evaluated the relationship between the dose of ingested radioactive cesium and mortality and abnormality rates using the pale grass blue butterfly, Zizeeria maha. When larvae from Okinawa, which is likely the least polluted locality in Japan, were fed leaves collected from polluted localities, mortality and abnormality rates increased sharply at low doses in response to the ingested cesium dose. This dose-response relationship was best fitted by power function models, which indicated that the half lethal and abnormal doses were 1.9 and 0.76 Bq per larva, corresponding to 54,000 and 22,000 Bq per kilogram body weight, respectively. Both the retention of radioactive cesium in a pupa relative to the ingested dose throughout the larval stage and the accumulation of radioactive cesium in a pupa relative to the activity concentration in a diet were highest at the lowest level of cesium ingested. We conclude that the risk of ingesting a polluted diet is realistic, at least for this butterfly, and likely for certain other organisms living in the polluted area.

Random access with adaptive packet aggregation in LTE/LTE-A.

PubMed

Zhou, Kaijie; Nikaein, Navid

While random access presents a promising solution for efficient uplink channel access, the preamble collision rate can significantly increase when massive number of devices simultaneously access the channel. To address this issue and improve the reliability of the random access, an adaptive packet aggregation method is proposed. With the proposed method, a device does not trigger a random access for every single packet. Instead, it starts a random access when the number of aggregated packets reaches a given threshold. This method reduces the packet collision rate at the expense of an extra latency, which is used to accumulate multiple packets into a single transmission unit. Therefore, the tradeoff between packet loss rate and channel access latency has to be carefully selected. We use semi-Markov model to derive the packet loss rate and channel access latency as functions of packet aggregation number. Hence, the optimal amount of aggregated packets can be found, which keeps the loss rate below the desired value while minimizing the access latency. We also apply for the idea of packet aggregation for power saving, where a device aggregates as many packets as possible until the latency constraint is reached. Simulations are carried out to evaluate our methods. We find that the packet loss rate and/or power consumption are significantly reduced with the proposed method.

The biological impacts of ingested radioactive materials on the pale grass blue butterfly.

PubMed

Nohara, Chiyo; Hiyama, Atsuki; Taira, Wataru; Tanahara, Akira; Otaki, Joji M

2014-05-15

A massive amount of radioactive materials has been released into the environment by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, but its biological impacts have rarely been examined. Here, we have quantitatively evaluated the relationship between the dose of ingested radioactive cesium and mortality and abnormality rates using the pale grass blue butterfly, Zizeeria maha. When larvae from Okinawa, which is likely the least polluted locality in Japan, were fed leaves collected from polluted localities, mortality and abnormality rates increased sharply at low doses in response to the ingested cesium dose. This dose-response relationship was best fitted by power function models, which indicated that the half lethal and abnormal doses were 1.9 and 0.76 Bq per larva, corresponding to 54,000 and 22,000 Bq per kilogram body weight, respectively. Both the retention of radioactive cesium in a pupa relative to the ingested dose throughout the larval stage and the accumulation of radioactive cesium in a pupa relative to the activity concentration in a diet were highest at the lowest level of cesium ingested. We conclude that the risk of ingesting a polluted diet is realistic, at least for this butterfly, and likely for certain other organisms living in the polluted area.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ludi-Herrera, Katlyn D.

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is working to conserve water through recycling. This report will focus on the water conservation that has been accumulated through the recycling of paper, ceiling tiles, compost, and plastic. It will be discussed the use of water in the process of manufacturing these materials and the amount of water that is used. The way that water is conserved will be reviewed. From the stand point of SNL it will be discussed the amount of material that has been accumulated from 2010 to the first two quarters of 2013 and how much water this material has saved.

Phytoremediation of particulate matter from indoor air by Chlorophytum comosum L. plants.

PubMed

Gawrońska, H; Bakera, B

Higher plants, including spider plants, are able to take up and degrade/detoxify various pollutants in the air. Although nearly 120 plant species have been tested for indoor air phytoremediation, to the best of the authors' knowledge, data on particulate matter (PM) phytoremediation from indoor air are not yet available in literature. This work determined the ability of spider plants to take up PM, one of the most harmful pollutants to man, in the indoor air of five rooms housing different activities (a dental clinic, a perfume-bottling room, a suburban house, an apartment and an office). It was found that spider plants accumulate PM of both categories (water washable and trapped in waxes) and in all three size fractions determined and that the amount differed depending on the type of activity taking place in the particular rooms ranging from 13.62 to 19.79 μg/cm 2 . The amount of wax deposited on the leaves of plants grown in these rooms also differed (34.46-72.97 μg/cm 2 ). The results of this study also demonstrated that the amount of PM accumulated on aluminium plates was always significantly lower than that accumulated on the plants' leaves, showing that more than simply gravity forces are involved in PM accumulation on leaf blades.

Carbon stocks and accumulation rates in Pacific Northwest forests: role of stand age, plant community, and productivity

Treesearch

Andrew N. Gray; Thomas R. Whittier; Mark E. Harmon

2016-01-01

Forest ecosystems are removing significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. Both abiotic resource availability and biotic interactions during forest succession affect C accumulation rates and maximum C stocks. However, the timing and controls on the peak and decline in C accumulation rates as stands age, trees increase in size, and canopy gaps become prevalent...

A 15.65-solar-mass black hole in an eclipsing binary in the nearby spiral galaxy M 33.

PubMed

Orosz, Jerome A; McClintock, Jeffrey E; Narayan, Ramesh; Bailyn, Charles D; Hartman, Joel D; Macri, Lucas; Liu, Jiefeng; Pietsch, Wolfgang; Remillard, Ronald A; Shporer, Avi; Mazeh, Tsevi

2007-10-18

Stellar-mass black holes are found in X-ray-emitting binary systems, where their mass can be determined from the dynamics of their companion stars. Models of stellar evolution have difficulty producing black holes in close binaries with masses more than ten times that of the Sun (>10; ref. 4), which is consistent with the fact that the most massive stellar black holes known so far all have masses within one standard deviation of 10. Here we report a mass of (15.65 +/- 1.45) for the black hole in the recently discovered system M 33 X-7, which is located in the nearby galaxy Messier 33 (M 33) and is the only known black hole that is in an eclipsing binary. To produce such a massive black hole, the progenitor star must have retained much of its outer envelope until after helium fusion in the core was completed. On the other hand, in order for the black hole to be in its present 3.45-day orbit about its (70.0 +/- 6.9) companion, there must have been a 'common envelope' phase of evolution in which a significant amount of mass was lost from the system. We find that the common envelope phase could not have occurred in M 33 X-7 unless the amount of mass lost from the progenitor during its evolution was an order of magnitude less than what is usually assumed in evolutionary models of massive stars.

Pericardiocentesis in massive pericardial effusions due to hypothyroidism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nainggolan, F. H.; Dalimunthe, N. N.; Harahap, S.; Isnanta, R.; Realsyah, T.; Safri, Z.; Hasan, R.

2018-03-01

Pericardial effusion is the accumulation of abnormal fluid in the pericardial cavity. The symptoms are not specific and associated with the underlying disease. It was reported that a 53-year-old male patient entered the Emergency Room with a shortness of breath, and getting worse during activity and position. There was weight loss and smoking history. The history of diabetic, hypertension and malignancy were denied. On physical examination showed the enlarged right and left heart border and weakened heartbeat sheer off is found and edema pretibial and normal the other. The laboratory results;blood routine, renal and liver function within normal; lipid profile: hypercholesterolemia; viral marker is non-reactive.Rontgen thorax suggests cardiomegaly, but there was no infiltrate or nodules. Electrocardiogram (ECG) showed a low voltage. Echocardiography examination showed massive pericardial effusion. Pericardiosynthetis performed produces 750 cc of clear yellow liquid and showed transudate. Other laboratory tests such as ANA test, anti ds-DNA, cyfra were a normal impression. Thyroid function: hypothyroid, Mantoux test is negative. Finally, the patient is a massive pericardial effusion caused by hypothyroidism. The pericardiocentesis took, and the hypothyroid drug of euthirax is administered. The patient was well done and continued for recontrol.

The Dramatic Size and Kinematic Evolution of Massive Early-type Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lapi, A.; Pantoni, L.; Zanisi, L.; Shi, J.; Mancuso, C.; Massardi, M.; Shankar, F.; Bressan, A.; Danese, L.

2018-04-01

We aim to provide a holistic view on the typical size and kinematic evolution of massive early-type galaxies (ETGs) that encompasses their high-z star-forming progenitors, their high-z quiescent counterparts, and their configurations in the local Universe. Our investigation covers the main processes playing a relevant role in the cosmic evolution of ETGs. Specifically, their early fast evolution comprises biased collapse of the low angular momentum gaseous baryons located in the inner regions of the host dark matter halo; cooling, fragmentation, and infall of the gas down to the radius set by the centrifugal barrier; further rapid compaction via clump/gas migration toward the galaxy center, where strong heavily dust-enshrouded star formation takes place and most of the stellar mass is accumulated; and ejection of substantial gas amount from the inner regions by feedback processes, which causes a dramatic puffing-up of the stellar component. In the late slow evolution, passive aging of stellar populations and mass additions by dry merger events occur. We describe these processes relying on prescriptions inspired by basic physical arguments and by numerical simulations to derive new analytical estimates of the relevant sizes, timescales, and kinematic properties for individual galaxies along their evolution. Then we obtain quantitative results as a function of galaxy mass and redshift, and compare them to recent observational constraints on half-light size R e , on the ratio v/σ between rotation velocity and velocity dispersion (for gas and stars) and on the specific angular momentum j ⋆ of the stellar component; we find good consistency with the available multiband data in average values and dispersion, both for local ETGs and for their z ∼ 1–2 star-forming and quiescent progenitors. The outcomes of our analysis can provide hints to gauge sub-grid recipes implemented in simulations, to tune numerical experiments focused on specific processes, and to plan future multiband, high-resolution observations on high-redshift star-forming and quiescent galaxies with next-generation facilities.

Redox-controlled carbon and phosphorus burial: A mechanism for enhanced organic carbon sequestration during the PETM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Komar, Nemanja; Zeebe, Richard E.

2017-12-01

Geological records reveal a major perturbation in carbon cycling during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM, ∼56 Ma), marked by global warming of more than 5 °C and a prominent negative carbon isotope excursion of at least 2.5‰ within the marine realm. The entire event lasted about 200,000 yr and was associated with a massive release of light carbon into the ocean-atmosphere system over several thousands of years. Here we focus on the terminal stage of the PETM, during which the ocean-atmosphere system rapidly recovered from the carbon cycle perturbation. We employ a carbon-cycle box model to examine the feedbacks between surface ocean biological production, carbon, oxygen, phosphorus, and carbonate chemistry during massive CO2 release events, such as the PETM. The model results indicate that the redox-controlled carbon-phosphorus feedback is capable of producing enhanced organic carbon sequestration during large carbon emission events. The locale of carbon oxidation (ocean vs. atmosphere) does not affect the amount of carbon sequestered. However, even though the model produces trends consistent with oxygen, excess accumulation rates of organic carbon (∼1700 Pg C during the recovery stage), export production and δ13 C data, it fails to reproduce the magnitude of change of sediment carbonate content and the CCD over-deepening during the recovery stage. The CCD and sediment carbonate content overshoot during the recovery stage is muted by a predicted increase in CaCO3 rain. Nonetheless, there are indications that the CaCO3 export remained relatively constant during the PETM. If this was indeed true, then an initial pulse of 3,000 Pg C followed by an additional, slow leak of 2,500 Pg C could have triggered an accelerated nutrient supply to the surface ocean instigating enhanced organic carbon export, consequently increasing organic carbon sequestration, resulting in an accelerated restoration of ocean-atmosphere biogeochemistry during the termination phase of the PETM.

First results from the IllustrisTNG simulations: the galaxy colour bimodality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, Dylan; Pillepich, Annalisa; Springel, Volker; Weinberger, Rainer; Hernquist, Lars; Pakmor, Rüdiger; Genel, Shy; Torrey, Paul; Vogelsberger, Mark; Kauffmann, Guinevere; Marinacci, Federico; Naiman, Jill

2018-03-01

We introduce the first two simulations of the IllustrisTNG project, a next generation of cosmological magnetohydrodynamical simulations, focusing on the optical colours of galaxies. We explore TNG100, a rerun of the original Illustris box, and TNG300, which includes 2 × 25003 resolution elements in a volume 20 times larger. Here, we present first results on the galaxy colour bimodality at low redshift. Accounting for the attenuation of stellar light by dust, we compare the simulated (g - r) colours of 109 < M⋆/M⊙ < 1012.5 galaxies to the observed distribution from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find a striking improvement with respect to the original Illustris simulation, as well as excellent quantitative agreement with the observations, with a sharp transition in median colour from blue to red at a characteristic M⋆ ˜ 1010.5 M⊙. Investigating the build-up of the colour-mass plane and the formation of the red sequence, we demonstrate that the primary driver of galaxy colour transition is supermassive black hole feedback in its low accretion state. Across the entire population the median colour transition time-scale Δtgreen is ˜1.6 Gyr, a value which drops for increasingly massive galaxies. We find signatures of the physical process of quenching: at fixed stellar mass, redder galaxies have lower star formation rates, gas fractions, and gas metallicities; their stellar populations are also older and their large-scale interstellar magnetic fields weaker than in bluer galaxies. Finally, we measure the amount of stellar mass growth on the red sequence. Galaxies with M⋆ > 1011 M⊙ which redden at z < 1 accumulate on average ˜25 per cent of their final z = 0 mass post-reddening; at the same time, ˜18 per cent of such massive galaxies acquire half or more of their final stellar mass while on the red sequence.

World-wide amateur observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eversberg, T.; Aldoretta, E. J.; Knapen, J. H.; Moffat, A. F. J.; Morel, T.; Ramiaramanantsoa, T.; Rauw, G.; Richardson, N. D.; St-Louis, N.; Teodoro, M.

For some years now, spectroscopic measurements of massive stars in the amateur domain have been fulfilling professional requirements. Various groups in the northern and southern hemispheres have been established, running successful professional-amateur (ProAm) collaborative campaigns, e.g., on WR, O and B type stars. Today high quality data (echelle and long-slit) are regularly delivered and corresponding results published. Night-to-night long-term observations over months to years open a new opportunity for massive-star research. We introduce recent and ongoing sample campaigns (e.g. ɛ Aur, WR 134, ζ Pup), show respective results and highlight the vast amount of data collected in various data bases. Ultimately it is in the time-dependent domain where amateurs can shine most.

Distribution and biokinetic analysis of 210Pb and 210Po in poultry due to ingestion of dicalcium phosphate.

PubMed

Casacuberta, N; Traversa, F L; Masqué, P; Garcia-Orellana, J; Anguita, M; Gasa, J; Garcia-Tenorio, R

2010-09-15

Dicalcium phosphate (DCP) is used as a calcium supplement for food producing animals (i.e., cattle, poultry and pig). When DCP is produced via wet acid digestion of the phosphate rock and depending on the acid used in the industrial process, the final product can result in enhanced (210)Pb and (210)Po specific activities (approximately 2000 Bq.kg(-1)). Both (210)Pb and (210)Po are of great interest because their contribution to the dose received by ingestion is potentially large. The aims of this work are to examine the accumulation of (210)Pb and (210)Po in chicken tissues during the first 42 days of life and to build a suitable single-compartment biokinetic model to understand the behavior of both radionuclides within the entire animal using the experimental results. Three commercial corn-soybean-based diets containing different amounts and sources of DCP were fed to broilers during a period of 42 days. The results show that diets containing enhanced concentrations of (210)Pb and (210)Po lead to larger specific accumulation in broiler tissues compared to the blank diet. Radionuclides do not accumulate homogeneously within the animal body: (210)Pb follows the calcium pathways to some extent and accumulates largely in bones, while (210)Po accumulates to a large extent in liver and kidneys. However, the total amount of radionuclide accumulation in tissues is small compared to the amounts excreted in feces. The single-compartment non-linear biokinetic model proposed here for (210)Pb and (210)Po in the whole animal takes into account the size evolution and is self-consistent in that no fitting parameterization of intake and excretions rates is required. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Before Industrialization: A Rural Social System Base Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Summers, Gene F.; And Others

A recent trend in American economic life has been the location of industrial complexes in traditionally rural areas. When this occurs, there are often accompanying rapid and sometimes traumatic changes in the rural community. These changes, in part, result from investment of new and massive amounts of capital, new employment opportunities,…

Overcoming Challenges of the Technological Age by Teaching Information Literacy Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Melynda

2010-01-01

The technological age has forever altered every aspect of life and work. Technology has changed how people locate and view information. However, the transition from print to electronic formats has created numerous challenges for individuals to overcome. These challenges include coping with the massive amounts of information bombarding people and…

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mercier, C.W.

The Network File System (NFS) will be the user interface to a High-Performance Data System (HPDS) being developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). HPDS will manage high-capacity, high-performance storage systems connected directly to a high-speed network from distributed workstations. NFS will be modified to maximize performance and to manage massive amounts of data. 6 refs., 3 figs.

Surveillance in the Information Age: Text Quantification, Anomaly Detection, and Empirical Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Hsin-Min

2010-01-01

Deep penetration of personal computers, data communication networks, and the Internet has created a massive platform for data collection, dissemination, storage, and retrieval. Large amounts of textual data are now available at a very low cost. Valuable information, such as consumer preferences, new product developments, trends, and opportunities,…

Alginate-based polysaccharide beads for cationic contaminant sorption from water

Treesearch

Mei Li; Thomas Elder; Gisela Buschle-Diller

2016-01-01

Massive amounts of agricultural and industrial water worldwide are polluted by different types of contaminants that harm the environment and impact human health. Removing the contaminants from effluents by adsorbent materials made from abundant, inexpensive polysaccharides is a feasible approach to deal with this problem. In this research, alginate beads combined with...

In situ BioTransformation Of Mercury-Contaminated Groundwater In Kazakhstan Utilizing Native Bacteria

EPA Science Inventory

The Northern outskirts of Pavlodar were contaminated with mercury as a result of activity at the former PO "Khimprom" chemical plant. The plant produced chlorine and alkali from the 1970s into the 1990s using the electrolytic amalgam method entailing the use of massive amounts o...

Pilot Scale In Situ BioTransformation Of Mercury-Contaminated Groundwater In Kazakhstan Utilizing Native Bacteria

EPA Science Inventory

The Northern outskirts of Pavlodar were contaminated with mercury as a result of activity at the former PO "Khimprom" chemical plant. The plant produced chlorine and alkali from the 1970s into the 1990s using the electrolytic amalgam method entailing the use of massive amounts o...

In Situ BioTransformation of Mercury-Contaminated Groundwater In Kazakhstan Utilizing Native Bacteria (Presentation)

EPA Science Inventory

The Northern outskirts of Pavlodar were contaminated with mercury as a result of activity at the former PO "Khimprom" chemical plant. The plant produced chlorine and alkali from the 1970's into the 1990's using the electrolytic amalgam method entailing the use of massive amounts...

Preliminary Validation of Composite Material Constitutive Characterization

Treesearch

John G. Michopoulos; Athanasios lliopoulos; John C. Hermanson; Adrian C. Orifici; Rodney S. Thomson

2012-01-01

This paper is describing the preliminary results of an effort to validate a methodology developed for composite material constitutive characterization. This methodology involves using massive amounts of data produced from multiaxially tested coupons via a 6-DoF robotic system called NRL66.3 developed at the Naval Research Laboratory. The testing is followed by...

Banning the Bottle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palliser, Janna

2010-01-01

Bottled water is ubiquitous, taken for granted, and seemingly benign. Americans are consuming bottled water in massive amounts and spending a lot of money: In 2007, Americans spent $11.7 billion on 8.8 billions gallons of bottled water (Gashler 2008). That same year, two million plastic water bottles were used in the United States every five…

SQ 10 R.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaughnessy, Michael F.

While many students have found SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) and PQ 4 R (Preview, Question, Read, Reflect, Recite, Review) systems to be helpful, developmental/remedial students may need more assistance than the average freshman. Students who need more help to deal with the massive amounts of reading that needs to be done in…

Listen, Listen, Listen and Listen: Building a Comprehension Corpus and Making It Comprehensible

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mordaunt, Owen G.; Olson, Daniel W.

2010-01-01

Listening comprehension input is necessary for language learning and acculturation. One approach to developing listening comprehension skills is through exposure to massive amounts of naturally occurring spoken language input. But exposure to this input is not enough; learners also need to make the comprehension corpus meaningful to their learning…

Exploring the Integration of Data Mining and Data Visualization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Yi

2011-01-01

Due to the rapid advances in computing and sensing technologies, enormous amounts of data are being generated everyday in various applications. The integration of data mining and data visualization has been widely used to analyze these massive and complex data sets to discover hidden patterns. For both data mining and visualization to be…

V for Voice: Strategies for Bolstering Communication Skills in Statistics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khachatryan, Davit; Karst, Nathaniel

2017-01-01

With the ease and automation of data collection and plummeting storage costs, organizations are faced with massive amounts of data that present two pressing challenges: technical analysis of the data themselves and communication of the analytics process and its products. Although a plethora of academic and practitioner literature have focused on…

Especial Skills: Their Emergence with Massive Amounts of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Keetch, Katherine M.; Schmidt, Richard A.; Lee, Timothy D.; Young, Douglas E.

2005-01-01

Differing viewpoints concerning the specificity and generality of motor skill representations in memory were compared by contrasting versions of a skill having either extensive or minimal specific practice. In Experiments 1 and 2, skilled basketball players more accurately performed set shots at the foul line than would be predicted on the basis…

Impact of Improved Combat Casualty Care on Combat Wounded Undergoing Exploratory Laparotomy and Massive Transfusion

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-07-01

given to evidence - based medicine in the 20th century has not only allowed improved dissemination of information to civilian providers but has also...limiting the amount of crystalloid used to resuscitate patients by 61%. This is further confirmation that evidence - based medicine changes in practice are at

Proteomic analysis of chromoplasts from six crop species reveals insights into chromoplast function and development

PubMed Central

Wang, Yong-Qiang; Yang, Yong; Li, Li

2013-01-01

Chromoplasts are unique plastids that accumulate massive amounts of carotenoids. To gain a general and comparative characterization of chromoplast proteins, this study performed proteomic analysis of chromoplasts from six carotenoid-rich crops: watermelon, tomato, carrot, orange cauliflower, red papaya, and red bell pepper. Stromal and membrane proteins of chromoplasts were separated by 1D gel electrophoresis and analysed using nLC-MS/MS. A total of 953–2262 proteins from chromoplasts of different crop species were identified. Approximately 60% of the identified proteins were predicted to be plastid localized. Functional classification using MapMan bins revealed large numbers of proteins involved in protein metabolism, transport, amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, and redox in chromoplasts from all six species. Seventeen core carotenoid metabolic enzymes were identified. Phytoene synthase, phytoene desaturase, ζ-carotene desaturase, 9-cis-epoxycarotenoid dioxygenase, and carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase 1 were found in almost all crops, suggesting relative abundance of them among the carotenoid pathway enzymes. Chromoplasts from different crops contained abundant amounts of ATP synthase and adenine nucleotide translocator, which indicates an important role of ATP production and transport in chromoplast development. Distinctive abundant proteins were observed in chromoplast from different crops, including capsanthin/capsorubin synthase and fibrillins in pepper, superoxide dismutase in watermelon, carrot, and cauliflower, and glutathione-S-transferease in papaya. The comparative analysis of chromoplast proteins among six crop species offers new insights into the general metabolism and function of chromoplasts as well as the uniqueness of chromoplasts in specific crop species. This work provides reference datasets for future experimental study of chromoplast biogenesis, development, and regulation in plants. PMID:23314817

Lamin A/C Is Required for ChAT-Dependent Neuroblastoma Differentiation.

PubMed

Guglielmi, Loredana; Nardella, Marta; Musa, Carla; Iannetti, Ilaria; Arisi, Ivan; D'Onofrio, Mara; Storti, Andrea; Valentini, Alessandra; Cacci, Emanuele; Biagioni, Stefano; Augusti-Tocco, Gabriella; D'Agnano, Igea; Felsani, Armando

2017-07-01

The mouse neuroblastoma N18TG2 clone is unable to differentiate and is defective for the enzymes of the biosynthesis of neurotransmitters. The forced expression of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in these cells results in the synthesis and release of acetylcholine (Ach) and hence in the expression of neurospecific features and markers. To understand how the expression of ChAT triggered neuronal differentiation, we studied the differences in genome-wide transcription profiles between the N18TG2 parental cells and its ChAT-expressing 2/4 derived clone. The engagement of the 2/4 cells in the neuronal developmental program was confirmed by the increase of the expression level of several differentiation-related genes and by the reduction of the amount of transcripts of cell cycle genes. At the same time, we observed a massive reorganization of cytoskeletal proteins in terms of gene expression, with the accumulation of the nucleoskeletal lamina component Lamin A/C in differentiating cells. The increase of the Lmna transcripts induced by ChAT expression in 2/4 cells was mimicked treating the parental N18TG2 cells with the acetylcholine receptor agonist carbachol, thus demonstrating the direct role played by this receptor in neuron nuclei maturation. Conversely, a treatment of 2/4 cells with the muscarinic receptor antagonist atropine resulted in the reduction of the amount of Lmna RNA. Finally, the hypothesis that Lmna gene product might play a crucial role in the ChAT-dependent molecular differentiation cascade was strongly supported by Lmna knockdown in 2/4 cells leading to the downregulation of genes involved in differentiation and cytoskeleton formation and to the upregulation of genes known to regulate self-renewal and stemness.

A New Framework and Prototype Solution for Clinical Decision Support and Research in Genomics and Other Data-intensive Fields of Medicine

PubMed Central

Evans, James P.; Wilhelmsen, Kirk C.; Berg, Jonathan; Schmitt, Charles P.; Krishnamurthy, Ashok; Fecho, Karamarie; Ahalt, Stanley C.

2016-01-01

Introduction: In genomics and other fields, it is now possible to capture and store large amounts of data in electronic medical records (EMRs). However, it is not clear if the routine accumulation of massive amounts of (largely uninterpretable) data will yield any health benefits to patients. Nevertheless, the use of large-scale medical data is likely to grow. To meet emerging challenges and facilitate optimal use of genomic data, our institution initiated a comprehensive planning process that addresses the needs of all stakeholders (e.g., patients, families, healthcare providers, researchers, technical staff, administrators). Our experience with this process and a key genomics research project contributed to the proposed framework. Framework: We propose a two-pronged Genomic Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) that encompasses the concept of the “Clinical Mendeliome” as a patient-centric list of genomic variants that are clinically actionable and introduces the concept of the “Archival Value Criterion” as a decision-making formalism that approximates the cost-effectiveness of capturing, storing, and curating genome-scale sequencing data. We describe a prototype Genomic CDSS that we developed as a first step toward implementation of the framework. Conclusion: The proposed framework and prototype solution are designed to address the perspectives of stakeholders, stimulate effective clinical use of genomic data, drive genomic research, and meet current and future needs. The framework also can be broadly applied to additional fields, including other ‘-omics’ fields. We advocate for the creation of a Task Force on the Clinical Mendeliome, charged with defining Clinical Mendeliomes and drafting clinical guidelines for their use. PMID:27195307

Pleural effusion leading to right atrial collapse.

PubMed

Khouzam, Rami N; Yusuf, Jawwad

2014-01-01

Rapid accumulation of pericardial fluid can lead to tamponade, resulting in cardiac chambers' collapse, which can lead to hemodynamic and clinical instability, potentially needing emergent pericardiocentesis. Pleural effusion should also be considered as a potential, if rare, cause of cardiac chambers' collapse and possibly cardiac tamponade. This phenomenon has clinical implications because hemodynamically unstable patients with moderate to large pleural effusion may actually need thoracentesis instead of massive volume resuscitation, inotropic agents, or pericardiocentesis. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

BIOAVAILABILITY OF CHEMICAL CONTAMINANTS IN AQUATIC SYSTEMS

EPA Science Inventory

Before a chemical can elicit toxicity, the animal must accumulate a dose at a target tissue of sufficient magnitude to produce a response. Bioavailability refers to the degree to which this accumulation occurs relative to the amount of chemical present in the environment, and is ...

Methods for assessing autophagy and autophagic cell death.

PubMed

Tasdemir, Ezgi; Galluzzi, Lorenzo; Maiuri, M Chiara; Criollo, Alfredo; Vitale, Ilio; Hangen, Emilie; Modjtahedi, Nazanine; Kroemer, Guido

2008-01-01

Autophagic (or type 2) cell death is characterized by the massive accumulation of autophagic vacuoles (autophagosomes) in the cytoplasm of cells that lack signs of apoptosis (type 1 cell death). Here we detail and critically assess a series of methods to promote and inhibit autophagy via pharmacological and genetic manipulations. We also review the techniques currently available to detect autophagy, including transmission electron microscopy, half-life assessments of long-lived proteins, detection of LC3 maturation/aggregation, fluorescence microscopy, and colocalization of mitochondrion- or endoplasmic reticulum-specific markers with lysosomal proteins. Massive autophagic vacuolization may cause cellular stress and represent a frustrated attempt of adaptation. In this case, cell death occurs with (or in spite of) autophagy. When cell death occurs through autophagy, on the contrary, the inhibition of the autophagic process should prevent cellular demise. Accordingly, we describe a strategy for discriminating cell death with autophagy from cell death through autophagy.

The emission of nitrous oxide upon wetting a rice soil following a dry season fallow

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byrnes, B. H.; Holt, L. S.; Austin, E. R.

1993-12-01

A greenhouse experiment was conducted to measure nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from a soil, which had been planted to flooded transplanted rice, as it was rewetted to simulate the end of a dry season fallow period. The pots of soil had been cropped to transplanted rice with two commonly used nitrogen (N) fertilizer treatments and a control, and the soil had been puddled before transplanting. Large amounts of nitrate N accumulated in the soils during the dry season fallow, and the N fertilizers applied to the previous crop had little effect on nitrate accumulation. There was little N2O emission during the nitrification period. With water additions meant to simulate rainfall events at the beginning of a wet season, the soil redox dropped slightly, and large amounts of N2O began to be emitted. Large emissions began 5 days after each of the two simulated rainy season watering events and stopped abruptly at soil saturation, even though considerable amounts of nitrate still remained in the soil after saturation. Total measured emissions amounted to 6 to 7 kg N2O-N ha-1 for the period. Although these measurements were made in a system which may have favored nitrate accumulation, they are the first known measurements of N2O made from a rice soil as it is wetted. Nitrous oxide emitted from the flooding of rice soils that have accumulated nitrate during a dry season fallow may be a major source of N2O additions to the atmosphere.

Assessing the Capacity of Plant Species to Accumulate Particulate Matter in Beijing, China

PubMed Central

Mo, Li; Ma, Zeyu; Xu, Yansen; Sun, Fengbin; Lun, Xiaoxiu; Liu, Xuhui; Chen, Jungang; Yu, Xinxiao

2015-01-01

Air pollution causes serious problems in spring in northern China; therefore, studying the ability of different plants to accumulate particulate matter (PM) at the beginning of the growing season may benefit urban planners in their attempts to control air pollution. This study evaluated deposits of PM on the leaves and in the wax layer of 35 species (11 shrubs, 24 trees) in Beijing, China. Differences in the accumulation of PM were observed between species. Cephalotaxus sinensis, Euonymus japonicus, Broussonetia papyriferar, Koelreuteria paniculata and Quercus variabilis were all efficient in capturing small particles. The plants exhibiting high amounts of total PM accumulation (on leaf surfaces and/or in the wax layer), also showed comparatively high levels of PM accumulation across all particle sizes. A comparison of shrubs and trees did not reveal obvious differences in their ability to accumulate particles based on growth form; a combination of plantings with different growth forms can efficiently reduce airborne PM concentrations near the ground. To test the relationships between leaf traits and PM accumulation, leaf samples of selected species were observed using a scanning electron microscope. Growth forms with greater amounts of pubescence and increased roughness supported PM accumulation; the adaxial leaf surfaces collected more particles than the abaxial surfaces. The results of this study may inform the selection of species for urban green areas where the goal is to capture air pollutants and mitigate the adverse effects of air pollution on human health. PMID:26506104

26 CFR 1.665(c)-1 - Accumulation distributions of certain foreign trusts; in general.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... below zero) by the amount of income required to be distributed currently. (In computing the amount of an... distributable net income reduced (but not below zero) by the amount required to be distributed currently. This... unless there is undistributed net income in at least one of the preceding taxable years which began after...

Accumulation and distribution of iron, cadmium, lead and nickel in cucumber plants grown in hydroponics containing two different chelated iron supplies.

PubMed

Csog, Árpád; Mihucz, Victor G; Tatár, Eniko; Fodor, Ferenc; Virág, István; Majdik, Cornelia; Záray, Gyula

2011-07-01

Cucumber plants grown in hydroponics containing 10 μM Cd(II), Ni(II) and Pb(II), and iron supplied as Fe(III) EDTA or Fe(III) citrate in identical concentrations, were investigated by total-reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry with special emphasis on the determination of iron accumulation and distribution within the different plant compartments (root, stem, cotyledon and leaves). The extent of Cd, Ni and Pb accumulation and distribution were also determined. Generally, iron and heavy-metal contaminant accumulation was higher when Fe(III) citrate was used. The accumulation of nickel and lead was higher by about 20% and 100%, respectively, if the iron supply was Fe(III) citrate. The accumulation of Cd was similar. In the case of Fe(III) citrate, the total amounts of Fe taken up were similar in the control and heavy-metal-treated plants (27-31 μmol/plant). Further, the amounts of iron transported from the root towards the shoot of the control, lead- and nickel-contaminated plants were independent of the iron(III) form. Although Fe mobility could be characterized as being low, its distribution within the shoot was not significantly affected by the heavy metals investigated. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Increased torulene accumulation in red yeast Sporidiobolus pararoseus NGR as stress response to high salt conditions.

PubMed

Li, Chunji; Zhang, Ning; Li, Bingxue; Xu, Qiong; Song, Jia; Wei, Na; Wang, Wenjing; Zou, Hongtao

2017-12-15

Carotenoids represent a class of molecules valuable for food, chemical and pharmaceutical industries. As a microbial carotenoid, torulene possesses potential health-promoting effects in human. However, few studies have been conducted to investigate optimal condition for its large-scale commercial production to date. Sporidiobolus pararoseus NGR, a pigmented yeast, was shown previously to accumulate considerable amounts of torulene, β-carotene, and torularhodin. In this study, the effect of salt stress on the production of carotenoids in S. pararoseus NGR was investigated. After 5days of cultivation, the total amount of carotenoids was significantly higher in 0.75M (3.952mg/L) and 1M (2.89mg/L) NaCl treatments than control (1.636mg/L), respectively. Among them, the increase in torulene accumulation is the main contributor to the improvement in total amount of carotenoids under 0.75 and 1M NaCl treatments. Together, our results should advance the development of metabolic engineering for the commercial production of torulene. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Specificity vs. Generalizability: Emergence of Especial Skills in Classical Archery

PubMed Central

Czyż, Stanisław H.; Moss, Sarah J.

2016-01-01

There is evidence that the recall schema becomes more refined after constant practice. It is also believed that massive amounts of constant practice eventually leads to the emergence of especial skills, i.e., skills that have an advantage in performance over other actions from within the same class of actions. This advantage in performance was noticed when one-criterion practice, e.g., basketball free throws, was compared to non-practiced variations of the skill. However, there is no evidence whether multi-criterion massive amounts of practice would give an advantage to the trained variations of the skill over non-trained, i.e., whether such practice would eventually lead to the development of (multi)-especial skills. The purpose of this study was to determine whether massive amount of practice involving four criterion variations of the skill will give an advantage in performance to the criterions over the class of actions. In two experiments, we analyzed data from female (n = 8) and male classical archers (n = 10), who were required to shoot 30 shots from four accustomed distances, i.e., males at 30, 50, 70, and 90 m and females at 30, 50, 60, and 70 m. The shooting accuracy for the untrained distances (16 distances in men and 14 in women) was used to compile a regression line for distance over shooting accuracy. Regression determined (expected) values were then compared to the shooting accuracy of the trained distances. Data revealed no significant differences between real and expected results at trained distances, except for the 70 m shooting distance in men. The F-test for lack of fit showed that the regression computed for trained and non-trained shooting distances was linear. It can be concluded that especial skills emerge only after very specific practice, i.e., constant practice limited to only one variation of the skill. PMID:27547196

Specificity vs. Generalizability: Emergence of Especial Skills in Classical Archery.

PubMed

Czyż, Stanisław H; Moss, Sarah J

2016-01-01

There is evidence that the recall schema becomes more refined after constant practice. It is also believed that massive amounts of constant practice eventually leads to the emergence of especial skills, i.e., skills that have an advantage in performance over other actions from within the same class of actions. This advantage in performance was noticed when one-criterion practice, e.g., basketball free throws, was compared to non-practiced variations of the skill. However, there is no evidence whether multi-criterion massive amounts of practice would give an advantage to the trained variations of the skill over non-trained, i.e., whether such practice would eventually lead to the development of (multi)-especial skills. The purpose of this study was to determine whether massive amount of practice involving four criterion variations of the skill will give an advantage in performance to the criterions over the class of actions. In two experiments, we analyzed data from female (n = 8) and male classical archers (n = 10), who were required to shoot 30 shots from four accustomed distances, i.e., males at 30, 50, 70, and 90 m and females at 30, 50, 60, and 70 m. The shooting accuracy for the untrained distances (16 distances in men and 14 in women) was used to compile a regression line for distance over shooting accuracy. Regression determined (expected) values were then compared to the shooting accuracy of the trained distances. Data revealed no significant differences between real and expected results at trained distances, except for the 70 m shooting distance in men. The F-test for lack of fit showed that the regression computed for trained and non-trained shooting distances was linear. It can be concluded that especial skills emerge only after very specific practice, i.e., constant practice limited to only one variation of the skill.

Chromatin-Bound IκBα Regulates a Subset of Polycomb Target Genes in Differentiation and Cancer

PubMed Central

Mulero, María Carmen; Ferres-Marco, Dolors; Islam, Abul; Margalef, Pol; Pecoraro, Matteo; Toll, Agustí; Drechsel, Nils; Charneco, Cristina; Davis, Shelly; Bellora, Nicolás; Gallardo, Fernando; López-Arribillaga, Erika; Asensio-Juan, Elena; Rodilla, Verónica; González, Jessica; Iglesias, Mar; Shih, Vincent; Albà, M. Mar; Di Croce, Luciano; Hoffmann, Alexander; Miyamoto, Shigeki; Villà-Freixa, Jordi; López-Bigas, Nuria; Keyes, William M.; Domínguez, María; Bigas, Anna; Espinosa, Lluís

2014-01-01

Summary IκB proteins are the primary inhibitors of NF-κB. Here, we demonstrate that sumoylated and phosphorylated IκBα accumulates in the nucleus of keratinocytes and interacts with histones H2A and H4 at the regulatory region of HOX and IRX genes. Chromatin-bound IκBα modulates Polycomb recruitment and imparts their competence to be activated by TNFα. Mutations in the Drosophila IκBα gene cactus enhance the homeotic phenotype of Polycomb mutants, which is not counteracted by mutations in dorsal/NF-κB. Oncogenic transformation of keratinocytes results in cytoplasmic IκBα translocation associated with a massive activation of Hox. Accumulation of cytoplasmic IκBα was found in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) associated with IKK activation and HOX upregulation. PMID:23850221

Column Store for GWAC: A High-cadence, High-density, Large-scale Astronomical Light Curve Pipeline and Distributed Shared-nothing Database

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wan, Meng; Wu, Chao; Wang, Jing; Qiu, Yulei; Xin, Liping; Mullender, Sjoerd; Mühleisen, Hannes; Scheers, Bart; Zhang, Ying; Nes, Niels; Kersten, Martin; Huang, Yongpan; Deng, Jinsong; Wei, Jianyan

2016-11-01

The ground-based wide-angle camera array (GWAC), a part of the SVOM space mission, will search for various types of optical transients by continuously imaging a field of view (FOV) of 5000 degrees2 every 15 s. Each exposure consists of 36 × 4k × 4k pixels, typically resulting in 36 × ˜175,600 extracted sources. For a modern time-domain astronomy project like GWAC, which produces massive amounts of data with a high cadence, it is challenging to search for short timescale transients in both real-time and archived data, and to build long-term light curves for variable sources. Here, we develop a high-cadence, high-density light curve pipeline (HCHDLP) to process the GWAC data in real-time, and design a distributed shared-nothing database to manage the massive amount of archived data which will be used to generate a source catalog with more than 100 billion records during 10 years of operation. First, we develop HCHDLP based on the column-store DBMS of MonetDB, taking advantage of MonetDB’s high performance when applied to massive data processing. To realize the real-time functionality of HCHDLP, we optimize the pipeline in its source association function, including both time and space complexity from outside the database (SQL semantic) and inside (RANGE-JOIN implementation), as well as in its strategy of building complex light curves. The optimized source association function is accelerated by three orders of magnitude. Second, we build a distributed database using a two-level time partitioning strategy via the MERGE TABLE and REMOTE TABLE technology of MonetDB. Intensive tests validate that our database architecture is able to achieve both linear scalability in response time and concurrent access by multiple users. In summary, our studies provide guidance for a solution to GWAC in real-time data processing and management of massive data.

Different origin of adipogenic stem cells influences the response to antiretroviral drugs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gibellini, Lara; De Biasi, Sara; Nasi, Milena

Lipodystrophy (LD) is a main side effect of antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection, and can be provoked by nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and protease inhibitors (PIs). LD exists in different forms, characterized by fat loss, accumulation, or both, but its pathogenesis is still unclear. In particular, few data exist concerning the effects of antiretroviral drugs on adipocyte differentiation. Adipose tissue can arise either from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), that include bone marrow-derived MSCs (hBM-MSCs), or from ectodermal stem cells, that include dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs). To analyze whether the embryonal origin of adipocytes might impact the occurrence ofmore » different phenotypes in LD, we quantified the effects of several antiretroviral drugs on the adipogenic differentiation of hBM-MSCs and hDPSCs. hBM-MSCs and hDPSCs were isolated from healthy donors. Cells were treated with 10 and 50 μM stavudine (d4T), efavirenz (EFV), atazanavir (ATV), ritonavir (RTV), and ATV-boosted RTV. Viability and adipogenesis were evaluated by staining with propidium iodide, oil red, and adipoRed; mRNA levels of genes involved in adipocyte differentiation, i.e. CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein alpha (CEBPα) and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), and in adipocyte functions, i.e. fatty acid synthase (FASN), fatty acid binding protein-4 (FABP4), perilipin-1 (PLIN1) and 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate O-acyltransferase-2 (AGPAT2), were quantified by real time PCR. We found that ATV, RTV, EFV, and ATV-boosted RTV, but not d4T, caused massive cell death in both cell types. EFV and d4T affected the accumulation of lipid droplets and induced changes in mRNA levels of genes involved in adipocyte functions in hBM-MSCs, while RTV and ATV had little effects. All drugs stimulated the accumulation of lipid droplets in hDPSCs. Thus, the adipogenic differentiation of human stem cells can be influenced by antiretroviral drugs, and depends, at least in part, on their embryonal origin. - Highlights: • ATV, RTV, EFV and ATV-boosted RTV induce massive cell death in hBM-MSCs and hDPSCs. • EFV and d4T strongly affect the accumulation of lipid droplets in hBM-MSCs. • All drugs stimulate the accumulation of lipid droplets in hDPSCs.« less

Laforin prevents stress-induced polyglucosan body formation and Lafora disease progression in neurons.

PubMed

Wang, Yin; Ma, Keli; Wang, Peixiang; Baba, Otto; Zhang, Helen; Parent, Jack M; Zheng, Pan; Liu, Yang; Minassian, Berge A; Liu, Yan

2013-08-01

Glycogen, the largest cytosolic macromolecule, is soluble because of intricate construction generating perfect hydrophilic-surfaced spheres. Little is known about neuronal glycogen function and metabolism, though progress is accruing through the neurodegenerative epilepsy Lafora disease (LD) proteins laforin and malin. Neurons in LD exhibit Lafora bodies (LBs), large accumulations of malconstructed insoluble glycogen (polyglucosans). We demonstrated that the laforin-malin complex reduces LBs and protects neuronal cells against endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced apoptosis. We now show that stress induces polyglucosan formation in normal neurons in culture and in the brain. This is mediated by increased glucose-6-phosphate allosterically hyperactivating muscle glycogen synthase (GS1) and is followed by activation of the glycogen digesting enzyme glycogen phosphorylase. In the absence of laforin, stress-induced polyglucosans are undigested and accumulate into massive LBs, and in laforin-deficient mice, stress drastically accelerates LB accumulation and LD. The mechanism through which laforin-malin mediates polyglucosan degradation remains unclear but involves GS1 dephosphorylation by laforin. Our work uncovers the presence of rapid polyglucosan metabolism as part of the normal physiology of neuroprotection. We propose that deficiency in the degradative phase of this metabolism, leading to LB accumulation and resultant seizure predisposition and neurodegeneration, underlies LD.

Review on the APP/PS1KI mouse model: intraneuronal Abeta accumulation triggers axonopathy, neuron loss and working memory impairment.

PubMed

Bayer, T A; Wirths, O

2008-02-01

Accumulating evidence points to an important role of intraneuronal Abeta as a trigger of the pathological cascade of events leading to neurodegeneration and eventually to Alzheimer's disease (AD) with its typical clinical symptoms, like memory impairment and change in personality. As a new concept, intraneuronal accumulation of Abeta instead of extracellular Abeta deposition has been introduced to be the disease-triggering event in AD. The present review compiles current knowledge on the amyloid precursor protein (APP)/PS1KI mouse model with early and massive intraneuronal Abeta42 accumulation: (1) The APP/PS1KI mouse model exhibits early robust brain and spinal cord axonal degeneration and hippocampal CA1 neuron loss. (2) At the same time-point, a dramatic, age-dependent reduced ability to perform working memory and motor tasks is observed. (3) The APP/PS1KI mice are smaller and show development of a thoracolumbar kyphosis, together with an incremental loss of body weight. (4) Onset of the observed behavioral alterations correlates well with robust axonal degeneration in brain and spinal cord and with abundant hippocampal CA1 neuron loss.

Where is the magnetic energy for the expansion phase of auroral substorms accumulated? 2. The main body, not the magnetotail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akasofu, Syun-Ichi

2017-08-01

It is suggested that the magnetosphere tries to stabilize itself by quickly unloading the magnetic energy accumulated within its main body, when the accumulated magnetic energy exceeds a limited amount, which can be identified as the energy for the expansion phase. It is this process which manifests as the impulsive expansion phase, during which auroral arcs advance well beyond the presubstorm latitude in the midnight sector. It was shown in the previous paper that the magnetotail does not have enough magnetic energy for a medium substorm (energy 5 × 1015 J; AE = 1000 nT). In this paper, it is shown that (1) the reason of the short lifetime (1-1.5 h) of the expansion phase is due to the fact that a limited amount of magnetic energy accumulated during the growth phase is dissipated in a period similar to the duration of the growth phase (1-1.5 h); the accumulation rate is similar to the dissipation rate during the expansion phase: (2) when the main body of the magnetosphere accumulates the magnetic energy, it is inflated; β (= (nkT/B2/8π)) even at XGSM = -6 RE becomes close to 1.0 for magnetic energy (2.9 × 1014 J) which is less than the amount consumed by a medium intensity substorm. (3) As a result, the plasma sheet current and thus the magnetosphere are expected to become unstable, unloading the accumulated excess magnetic energy and resulting in current reduction and deflation. (4) The resulting deflation can cause an earthward electric field of 5-50 mV/m, which can generate Bostrom's current system, which is mainly responsible in producing various phenomena of the expansion phase. (5) The large range of substorm intensity (AE = 100-2000 nT) is likely to be due to the location where the energy is accumulated; the closer is the distance to the Earth (XGSM between -10 RE and -4 RE), the more intense the substorm intensity is.

Chlorinated hydrocarbons in the marine environment. A report prepared by the Panel on Monitoring Persistent Pesticides in the Marine Environment of the Committee on Oceanography

USGS Publications Warehouse

,; Goldberg, E.D.; Butler, P.; Meier, P.; Menzel, D.; Paulik, G.; Risebrough, R.; Stickel, L.F.

1971-01-01

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS : The oceans are an ultimate accumulation site for the persistent chlorinated hydrocarbons. As much as 25 percent of the DDT compounds produced to date may have been transferred to the sea. The amount of DDT compounds in the marine biota is estimated to be less than 0.1 percent of total production, yet this amount has produced a demonstrable impact upon the marine environment. Populations of fish-eating birds have experienced reproductive failure and decline. With continued accumulations of persistent chlorinated hydrocarbons in the marine ecosystem, additional species will be threatened. Continued release of these pollutants to the environment can only accelerate the accumulation of unacceptable levels of persistent chlorinated hydrocarbons in the tissues of marine food fish. Certain risks in the utilization of chlorinated hydrocarbons are especially hard to quantify, but they require serious consideration. The rate at which such substances degrade to harmless products in the marine system is unknown; the half-lives of some of the more persistent materials are certainly of the order of years, and perhaps even of decades or centuries. If most of the remaining 75 percent of the persistent chlorinated hydrocarbons is now in reservoirs that will in time transfer their contents to the sea, we may expect an increased level of these substances in marine organisms, despite future improvements of manufacturing practices. In fact, if these compounds degrade with half-lives of decades or longer, there will be no opportunity to redress the consequences. The more the problems are studied, the more unexpected effects are identified. In view of the findings of the past decade, our prediction of the potential hazards of chlorinated hydrocarbons in the marine environment may be vastly underestimated. The Panel makes the following recommendations, which will be developed and expanded in the remainder of the report: ? A massive national effort should be made immediately to effect a drastic reduction of the escape of persistent toxicants into the environment, with the ultimate aim of achieving virtual cessation in the shortest possible time. ? Programs should be designed both to determine the rates of entry of each pollutant into the marine environment and to make base-line determinations of the distribution of the pollutants among the components of that environment, These should be followed by a program of monitoring long-term trends in order to record progress and to document possible disaster. ? The laws relating to the registration of chemical substances and the release of production figures by government should be examined and perhaps revised in light of evidence of environmental deterioration caused by some of these substances.

Plant Response to TSWV and Seed Accumulation of Resveratrol in Peanut

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Biotic and abiotic stress may induce peanut plants to produce a high amount of resveratrol. The relationship of plant response to tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and seed accumulation of resveratrol was investigated. Twenty peanut accessions and six wild relatives were selected from the US peanut g...

Individual Differences in Sequence Learning Ability and Second Language Acquisition in Early Childhood and Adulthood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Granena, Gisela

2013-01-01

Language aptitude has been hypothesized as a factor that can compensate for postcritical period effects in language learning capacity. However, previous research has primarily focused on instructed contexts and rarely on acquisition-rich learning environments where there is a potential for massive amounts of input. In addition, the studies…

How the Mastery Rubric for Statistical Literacy Can Generate Actionable Evidence about Statistical and Quantitative Learning Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tractenberg, Rochelle E.

2017-01-01

Statistical literacy is essential to an informed citizenry; and two emerging trends highlight a growing need for training that achieves this literacy. The first trend is towards "big" data: while automated analyses can exploit massive amounts of data, the interpretation--and possibly more importantly, the replication--of results are…

Comparative Study of Emission Factors and Mutagenicity of Red Oak and Peat Smoke from Smoldering and Flaming Combustion

EPA Science Inventory

Wildfire events produce massive amounts of smoke and thus play an important role in local and regional air quality as well as public health. It is not well understood however if the impacts of wildfire smoke are influenced by fuel types or combustion conditions. Here we develop...

1988-2000 Long-Range Plan for Technology of the Texas State Board of Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Board of Education, Austin.

This plan plots the course for meeting educational needs in Texas through such technologies as computer-based systems, devices for storage and retrieval of massive amounts of information, telecommunications for audio, video, and information sharing, and other electronic media devised by the year 2000 that can help meet the instructional and…

An extension of the plant ontology project supporting wood anatomy and development research

Treesearch

Federic Lens; Laurel Cooper; Maria Alejandra Gandolfo; Andrew Groover; Pankaj Jaiswal; Barbara Lachenbruch; Rachel Spicer; Margaret E. Staton; Dennis W. Stevenson; Ramona L. Walls; Jill Wegrzyn

2012-01-01

A wealth of information on plant anatomy and morphology is available in the current and historical literature, and molecular biologists are producing massive amounts of transcriptome and genome data that can be used to gain better insights into the development, evolution, ecology, and physiological function of plant anatomical attributes. Integrating anatomical and...

Watson for Genomics: Moving Personalized Medicine Forward.

PubMed

Rhrissorrakrai, Kahn; Koyama, Takahiko; Parida, Laxmi

2016-08-01

The confluence of genomic technologies and cognitive computing has brought us to the doorstep of widespread usage of personalized medicine. Cognitive systems, such as Watson for Genomics (WG), integrate massive amounts of new omic data with the current body of knowledge to assist physicians in analyzing and acting on patient's genomic profiles. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Toward an Innovative, Basic Program Model for the Improvement of Professional Instruction in Dental Education: A Review of the Literature.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wulf, Kathleen M.; And Others

1980-01-01

An analysis of the massive amount of literature pertaining to the improvement of professional instruction in dental education resulted in the formation of a comprehensive model of 10 categories, including Delphi technique; systems approach; agencies; workshops; multi-media, self-instruction; evaluation paradigms, measurement, courses, and…

The Effectiveness of "Knowledge Management System" in Research Mentoring Using Knowledge Engineering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sriwichai, Puangpet; Meksamoot, Komsak; Chakpitak, Nopasit; Dahal, Keshav; Jengjalean, Anchalee

2014-01-01

Currently, many old universities in Thailand have been facing the occurrence of lecturer massive retirement. This leads to the large amount of newly Ph. D. graduate recruitment for taking immediate responsibilities to teach and conduct research without mentoring by senior staff as well as in new universities. Therefore, this paper aims to propose…

Modeling MOOC Student Behavior with Two-Layer Hidden Markov Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geigle, Chase; Zhai, ChengXiang

2017-01-01

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) provide educators with an abundance of data describing how students interact with the platform, but this data is highly underutilized today. This is in part due to the lack of sophisticated tools to provide interpretable and actionable summaries of huge amounts of MOOC activity present in log data. To address…

Dual Audio Television; an Experiment in Saturday Morning Broadcast and a Summary Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Borton, Terry; And Others

The Philadelphia City Schools engaged in a four-year program to develop and test dual audio television, a way to help children learn more from the massive amounts of time they spend watching commercial television. The format consisted of an instructional radio broadcast which accompanied popular television shows and attempted to clarify and…

SCOOP: A Measurement and Database of Student Online Search Behavior and Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhou, Mingming

2015-01-01

The ability to access and process massive amounts of online information is required in many learning situations. In order to develop a better understanding of student online search process especially in academic contexts, an online tool (SCOOP) is developed for tracking mouse behavior on the web to build a more extensive account of student web…

NSDL K-12 Science Literacy Maps: A Visual Tool for Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Payo, Robert

2008-01-01

Given the massive amount of science and mathematics content available online, libraries working with science teachers can become lost when attempting to select material that is both compelling for the learner and effective in addressing learning goals. Tools that help educators identify the most appropriate resources can be a great time saver.…

Three-dimensional mantle dynamics with an endothermic phase transition

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Honda, S.; Balachandar, S.; Yuen, D. A.; Reuteler, D.

1993-01-01

3D convection for the spinel to perovskite phase change has been simulated numerically. Results for Rayleigh (Ra) numbers of 0(10 exp 6) show intermittent layering with a strong robust plume rising through the phase boundary. Many descending instabilities are deflected but merging cold sheets come together at a junction. A pool of cold material accumulates underneath in the phase-transition zone. A strong gravitational instability results, which precipitates a rapid and massive discharge of upper-mantle material.

High-performance Negative Database for Massive Data Management System of The Mingantu Spectral Radioheliograph

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Congming; Wang, Feng; Deng, Hui; Liu, Yingbo; Liu, Cuiyin; Wei, Shoulin

2017-08-01

As a dedicated synthetic aperture radio interferometer in China, the MingantU SpEctral Radioheliograph (MUSER), initially known as the Chinese Spectral RadioHeliograph (CSRH), has entered the stage of routine observation. More than 23 million data records per day need to be effectively managed to provide high-performance data query and retrieval for scientific data reduction. In light of these massive amounts of data generated by the MUSER, in this paper, a novel data management technique called the negative database (ND) is proposed and used to implement a data management system for the MUSER. Based on the key-value database, the ND technique makes complete utilization of the complement set of observational data to derive the requisite information. Experimental results showed that the proposed ND can significantly reduce storage volume in comparison with a relational database management system (RDBMS). Even when considering the time needed to derive records that were absent, its overall performance, including querying and deriving the data of the ND, is comparable with that of a relational database management system (RDBMS). The ND technique effectively solves the problem of massive data storage for the MUSER and is a valuable reference for the massive data management required in next-generation telescopes.

Surface Operations Systems Improve Airport Efficiency

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2009-01-01

With Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contracts from Ames Research Center, Mosaic ATM of Leesburg, Virginia created software to analyze surface operations at airports. Surface surveillance systems, which report locations every second for thousands of air and ground vehicles, generate massive amounts of data, making gathering and analyzing this information difficult. Mosaic?s Surface Operations Data Analysis and Adaptation (SODAA) tool is an off-line support tool that can analyze how well the airport surface operation is working and can help redesign procedures to improve operations. SODAA helps researchers pinpoint trends and correlations in vast amounts of recorded airport operations data.

Total carbon accumulation in a tropical forest landscape.

PubMed

Sierra, Carlos A; Del Valle, Jorge I; Restrepo, Hector I

2012-12-19

Regrowing tropical forests worldwide sequester important amounts of carbon and restore part of the C emissions emitted by deforestation. However, there are large uncertainties concerning the rates of carbon accumulation after the abandonment of agricultural and pasture land. We report here accumulation of total carbon stocks (TCS) in a chronosequence of secondary forests at a mid-elevation landscape (900-1200 m asl) in the Andean mountains of Colombia. We found positive accumulation rates for all ecosystem pools except soil carbon, which showed no significant trend of recovery after 36 years of secondary succession. We used these data to develop a simple model to predict accumulation of TCS over time. This model performed remarkably well predicting TCS at other chronosequences in the Americas (Root Mean Square Error < 40 Mg C ha-1), which provided an opportunity to explore different assumptions in the calculation of large-scale carbon budgets. Simulations of TCS with our empirical model were used to test three assumptions often made in carbon budgets: 1) the use of carbon accumulation in tree aboveground biomass as a surrogate for accumulation of TCS, 2) the implicit consideration of carbon legacies from previous land-use, and 3) the omission of landscape age in calculating accumulation rates of TCS. Our simulations showed that in many situations carbon can be released from regrowing secondary forests depending on the amount of carbon legacies and the average age of the landscape. In most cases, the rates used to predict carbon accumulation in the Americas were above the rates predicted in our simulations. These biome level rates seemed to be realistic only in landscapes not affected by carbon legacies from previous land-use and mean ages of around 10 years.

Total carbon accumulation in a tropical forest landscape

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Regrowing tropical forests worldwide sequester important amounts of carbon and restore part of the C emissions emitted by deforestation. However, there are large uncertainties concerning the rates of carbon accumulation after the abandonment of agricultural and pasture land. We report here accumulation of total carbon stocks (TCS) in a chronosequence of secondary forests at a mid-elevation landscape (900-1200 m asl) in the Andean mountains of Colombia. Results We found positive accumulation rates for all ecosystem pools except soil carbon, which showed no significant trend of recovery after 36 years of secondary succession. We used these data to develop a simple model to predict accumulation of TCS over time. This model performed remarkably well predicting TCS at other chronosequences in the Americas (Root Mean Square Error < 40 Mg C ha-1), which provided an opportunity to explore different assumptions in the calculation of large-scale carbon budgets. Simulations of TCS with our empirical model were used to test three assumptions often made in carbon budgets: 1) the use of carbon accumulation in tree aboveground biomass as a surrogate for accumulation of TCS, 2) the implicit consideration of carbon legacies from previous land-use, and 3) the omission of landscape age in calculating accumulation rates of TCS. Conclusions Our simulations showed that in many situations carbon can be released from regrowing secondary forests depending on the amount of carbon legacies and the average age of the landscape. In most cases, the rates used to predict carbon accumulation in the Americas were above the rates predicted in our simulations. These biome level rates seemed to be realistic only in landscapes not affected by carbon legacies from previous land-use and mean ages of around 10 years. PMID:23249727

Characterizing the Disk of a Recent Massive Collisional Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Inseok

2015-10-01

Debris disks play a key role in the formation and evolution of planetary systems. On rare occasions, circumstellar material appears as strictly warm infrared excess in regions of expected terrestrial planet formation and so present an interesting opportunity for the study of terrestrial planetary regions. There are only a few known cases of extreme, warm, dusty disks which lack any colder outer component including BD+20 307, HD 172555, EF Cha, and HD 23514. We have recently found a new system TYC 8830-410-1 belonging to this rare group. Warm dust grains are extremely short-lived, and the extraordinary amount of warm dust near these stars can only be plausibly explainable by a recent (or on-going) massive transient event such as the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB) or plantary collisions. LHB-like events are seen generally in a system with a dominant cold disk, however, warm dust only systems show no hint of a massive cold disk. Planetary collisions leave a telltale sign of strange mid-IR spectral feature such as silica and we want to fully characterize the spectral shape of the newly found system with SOFIA/FORCAST. With SOFIA/FORCAST, we propose to obtain two narrow band photometric measurements between 6 and 9 microns. These FORCAST photometric measurements will constrain the amount and temperature of the warm disk in the system. There are less than a handful systems with a strong hint of recent planetary collisions. With the firmly constrained warm disk around TYC 8830-410-1, we will publish the discovery in a leading astronomical journal accompanied with a potential press release through SOFIA.

Memory Accumulation Mechanisms in Human Cortex Are Independent of Motor Intentions

PubMed Central

Tosoni, Annalisa; Mignogna, Valeria; McAvoy, Mark P.; Shulman, Gordon L.; Corbetta, Maurizio; Romani, Gian Luca

2014-01-01

Previous studies on perceptual decision-making have often emphasized a tight link between decisions and motor intentions. Human decisions, however, also depend on memories or experiences that are not closely tied to specific motor responses. Recent neuroimaging findings have suggested that, during episodic retrieval, parietal activity reflects the accumulation of evidence for memory decisions. It is currently unknown, however, whether these evidence accumulation signals are functionally linked to signals for motor intentions coded in frontoparietal regions and whether activity in the putative memory accumulator tracks the amount of evidence for only previous experience, as reflected in “old” reports, or for both old and new decisions, as reflected in the accuracy of memory judgments. Here, human participants used saccadic-eye and hand-pointing movements to report recognition judgments on pictures defined by different degrees of evidence for old or new decisions. A set of cortical regions, including the middle intraparietal sulcus, showed a monotonic variation of the fMRI BOLD signal that scaled with perceived memory strength (older > newer), compatible with an asymmetrical memory accumulator. Another set, including the hippocampus and the angular gyrus, showed a nonmonotonic response profile tracking memory accuracy (higher > lower evidence), compatible with a symmetrical accumulator. In contrast, eye and hand effector-specific regions in frontoparietal cortex tracked motor intentions but were not modulated by the amount of evidence for the effector outcome. We conclude that item recognition decisions are supported by a combination of symmetrical and asymmetrical accumulation signals largely segregated from motor intentions. PMID:24828652

Descriptions of mineral occurrences and interpretation of mineralized rock geochemical data in the Stikine geophysical survey area, Southeastern Alaska

USGS Publications Warehouse

Taylor, Cliff D.

2003-01-01

Detailed descriptions of some of the more significant mineral occurrences in the Stikine Airborne Geophysical Survey Project Area are presented based upon site-specific examinations by the U.S. Geological Survey in May of 1998. Reconnaissance geochemical data on unmineralized igneous and sedimentary host rocks, and mineralized rocks are also presented and are accompanied by a brief analysis of geochemical signatures typical of each occurrence. Consistent with the stated goal of the geophysical survey; to stimulate exploration for polymetallic massive sulfides similar to the Greens Creek deposit, the majority of the described occurrences are possible members of a belt of Late Triassic mineral deposits that are distributed along the eastern edge of the Alexander terrane in southeastern Alaska. Many of the described occurrences in the Duncan Canal-Zarembo Island area share similarities to the Greens Creek deposit. When considered as a whole, the geology, mineralogy, and geochemistry of these occurrences help to define a transitional portion of the Late Triassic mineral belt where changes in shallow to deeper water stratigraphy and arc-like to rift-related igneous rocks are accompanied by concomitant changes in the size, morphology, and metal endowments of the mineral occurrences. As a result, Late Triassic mineral occurrences in the area appear as: 1) small, discontinuous, structurally controlled stockwork veins in mafic volcanic rocks, 2) small, irregular replacements and stratabound horizons of diagenetic semi-massive sulfides in dolostones and calcareous shales, and as 3) larger, recognizably stratiform accumulations of baritic, semi-massive to massive sulfides at and near the contact between mafic volcanic rocks and overlying sedimentary rocks. Empirical exploration guidelines for Greens Creek-like polymetallic massive sulfide deposits in southeastern Alaska include: 1) a Late Triassic volcano-sedimentary host sequence exhibiting evidence of succession from tectonic activity to quiescence (such as conglomeratic and/or mafic volcaniclastics or flows overlain by platform carbonate or shale sequences), 2) presence and proximity to Late Triassic mafic-ultramafic intrusions, 3) presence of quartz-carbonate-fuchsite altered ultramafic bodies, 4) pyritic, graphitic shales, 5) presence of barite and/or iron-manganese-rich carbonates, 6) low-iron sphalerite and antimony-rich sulfosalt minerals, 7) a geochemical signature including Fe-Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag-Au-Sb-Hg-As-Cd-Ba-Mn-Mo-Tl and the ultramafic-related suite of elements Ni-Cr-Co, and 8) a geophysical signature characterized by the coincidence of a sharp resistivity contrast with evidence for buried intrusive rocks. Critical factors for the development of larger, economic orebodies are significant thickness of pyritic, graphitic shale indicating that a locally reducing sedimentary setting was established and that accumulation of an insulating shale blank occurred, and proximity to Late Triassic aged hypabyssal mafic-ultramafic intrusive rocks.

Sulfur pollution: an environmental study of Welland, Ontario

Treesearch

Michael R. Moss

1977-01-01

The distribution of sulfur as an environmental pollutant is analysed in the vicinity of Welland, Ontario. A biogeochemical-cycle approach enables areas of excess accumulation to be compared among all linked ecosystem components. Although the patterns of distribution are similar, the amounts of sulfur accumulated in different ecosystems, grassland and woodland, show...

Saturn’s Formation and Early Evolution at the Origin of Jupiter’s Massive Moons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ronnet, T.; Mousis, O.; Vernazza, P.; Lunine, J. I.; Crida, A.

2018-05-01

The four massive Galilean satellites are believed to have formed within a circumplanetary disk during the last stages of Jupiter’s formation. While the existence of a circum-Jovian disk is supported by hydrodynamic simulations, no consensus exists regarding the origin and delivery mechanisms of the building blocks of the forming satellites. The opening of a gap in the circumsolar disk would have efficiently isolated Jupiter from the main sources of solid material. However, a reservoir of planetesimals should have existed at the outer edge of Jupiter’s gap, where solids were trapped and accumulated over time. Here we show that the formation of Saturn’s core within this reservoir, or its prompt inward migration, allows planetesimals to be redistributed from this reservoir toward Jupiter and the inner Solar System, thereby providing enough material to form the Galilean satellites and to populate the Main Belt with primitive asteroids. We find that the orbit of planetesimals captured within the circum-Jovian disk are circularized through friction with gas in a compact system comparable to the current radial extent of the Galilean satellites. The decisive role of Saturn in the delivery mechanism has strong implications for the occurrence of massive moons around extrasolar giant planets as they would preferentially form around planets within multiple planet systems.

Chromatin-bound IκBα regulates a subset of polycomb target genes in differentiation and cancer.

PubMed

Mulero, María Carmen; Ferres-Marco, Dolors; Islam, Abul; Margalef, Pol; Pecoraro, Matteo; Toll, Agustí; Drechsel, Nils; Charneco, Cristina; Davis, Shelly; Bellora, Nicolás; Gallardo, Fernando; López-Arribillaga, Erika; Asensio-Juan, Elena; Rodilla, Verónica; González, Jessica; Iglesias, Mar; Shih, Vincent; Mar Albà, M; Di Croce, Luciano; Hoffmann, Alexander; Miyamoto, Shigeki; Villà-Freixa, Jordi; López-Bigas, Nuria; Keyes, William M; Domínguez, María; Bigas, Anna; Espinosa, Lluís

2013-08-12

IκB proteins are the primary inhibitors of NF-κB. Here, we demonstrate that sumoylated and phosphorylated IκBα accumulates in the nucleus of keratinocytes and interacts with histones H2A and H4 at the regulatory region of HOX and IRX genes. Chromatin-bound IκBα modulates Polycomb recruitment and imparts their competence to be activated by TNFα. Mutations in the Drosophila IκBα gene cactus enhance the homeotic phenotype of Polycomb mutants, which is not counteracted by mutations in dorsal/NF-κB. Oncogenic transformation of keratinocytes results in cytoplasmic IκBα translocation associated with a massive activation of Hox. Accumulation of cytoplasmic IκBα was found in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) associated with IKK activation and HOX upregulation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

30 CFR 1206.356 - How do I calculate royalty or fees due on geothermal resources I use for direct use purposes?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... energy source will be based on the amount of thermal energy that would otherwise be used by the direct use facility in place of the geothermal resource. That amount of thermal energy (in Btu) displaced by... frequency of computing and accumulating the amount of thermal energy displaced will be determined and...

30 CFR 1206.356 - How do I calculate royalty or fees due on geothermal resources I use for direct use purposes?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... energy source will be based on the amount of thermal energy that would otherwise be used by the direct use facility in place of the geothermal resource. That amount of thermal energy (in Btu) displaced by... frequency of computing and accumulating the amount of thermal energy displaced will be determined and...

30 CFR 1206.356 - How do I calculate royalty or fees due on geothermal resources I use for direct use purposes?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... energy source will be based on the amount of thermal energy that would otherwise be used by the direct use facility in place of the geothermal resource. That amount of thermal energy (in Btu) displaced by... frequency of computing and accumulating the amount of thermal energy displaced will be determined and...

Effect of Various Conditions on Accumulation of Oxytetracycline in Escherichia coli

PubMed Central

Izaki, Kazuo; Arima, Kei

1965-01-01

Izaki, Kazuo (University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan), and Kei Arima. Effect of various conditions on accumulation of oxytetracycline in Escherichia coli. J. Bacteriol. 89:1335–1339. 1965.—Accumulation of large amounts of oxytetracycline occurred in Escherichia coli when the cells were incubated with high concentrations of oxytetracycline (100 to 400 μg/ml) in nutrient broth or in a medium containing glucose, K2HPO4, and MgSO4. In the absence of glucose or MgSO4, the accumulation was very small. The optimal pH for accumulation was about 6.5. Manganous ion could replace Mg++ in promoting the accumulation, though with decreased effectiveness. Malate and succinate were effective promoters of accumulation as well as glucose. Accumulation was inhibited at low temperatures or in the presence of metabolic inhibitors such as 2,4-dinitrophenol or sodium azide. Images PMID:14293007

Geology and oil and gas assessment of the Fruitland Total Petroleum System, San Juan Basin, New Mexico and Colorado: Chapter 6 in Geology and Oil and Gas Assessment of the Fruitland Total Petroleum System, San Juan Basin, New Mexico and Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ridgley, J.L.; Condon, S.M.; Hatch, J.R.

2013-01-01

Four assessment units (AU) were defined in the Fruitland TPS. Of the four AUs, one consists of conventional gas accumulations and the other three are continuous-type gas accumulations: Tertiary Conventional Gas AU, Pictured Cliffs Continuous Gas AU, Basin Fruitland Coalbed Gas (CBG) AU, and Fruitland Fairway CBG AU. No oil resources that have the potential for additions to reserves in the next 30 years were estimated for this TPS. Gas resources that have the potential for additions to reserves in the next 30 years are estimated at a mean of 29.3 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCFG). Of this amount, 23.58 TCFG will come from coal-bed gas accumulations and 83.1 percent of this total is estimated to come from the Basin Fruitland CBG AU. The remaining 5.72 TCFG is allocated to continuous-type gas accumulations (5.64 TCFG) and conventional gas accumulations (0.08 TCFG). Although the Fruitland Fairway CBG AU has produced the most significant amount of coal-bed gas to date, the area of the AU is limited. New potentially productive wells will come from infill drilling, and the number of these wells will be limited by effective drainage area. Total natural gas liquids (NGL) that have the potential for additions to reserves in the next 30 years are estimated at a mean of 17.76 million barrels. Of this amount, 16.92 million barrels will come from the Pictured Cliffs Continuous Gas AU and the remainder from the Tertiary Conventional Gas AU.

Dynamic Database. Efficiently Convert Massive Quantities of Sensor Data into Actionable Information for Tactical Commanders

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-06-01

As the number of sensors, platforms, exploitation sites, and command and control nodes continues to grow in response to Joint Vision 2010 information ... dominance requirements, Commanders and analysts will have an ever increasing need to collect and process vast amounts of data over wide areas using a large number of disparate sensors and information gathering sources.

Working in a Text Mine; Is Access about to Go down?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emery, Jill

2008-01-01

The age of networked research and networked data analysis is upon us. "Wired Magazine" proclaims on the cover of their July 2008 issue: "The End of Science. The quest for knowledge used to begin with grand theories. Now it begins with massive amounts of data. Welcome to the Petabyte Age." Computing technology is sufficiently complex at this point…

Stop Programming Robots: How to Prepare Every Student for Success in Any Career

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chester, Eric

2012-01-01

While technology has made communicating "easy," it has done so at the cost of communication that is "meaningful." And for information to be internalized to the point where it is remembered, used and valued, it must be meaningful. In other words, technology makes it easy to disseminate massive amounts of information to the masses, but teaching a…

Teaching Case: Introduction to NoSQL in a Traditional Database Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fowler, Brad; Godin, Joy; Geddy, Margaret

2016-01-01

Many organizations are dealing with the increasing demands of big data, so they are turning to NoSQL databases as their preferred system for handling the unique problems of capturing and storing massive amounts of data. Therefore, it is likely that employees in all sizes of organizations will encounter NoSQL databases. Thus, to be more job-ready,…

Critical Pedagogy and the Decolonial Option: Challenges to the Inevitability of Capitalism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monzó, Lilia D.; McLaren, Peter

2014-01-01

The demise of capitalism was theoretically prophesied by Marx who posited that the world would come to such a state of destruction and human suffering that no amount of coercion or concessions would suffice to stop the massive uprisings that would lead us into a new socialist alternative. Although the downfall of world capitalism may seem…

We're all in this together: decisionmaking to address climate change in a complex world

Treesearch

Jonathan Thompson; Ralph Alig

2009-01-01

Forests significantly influence the global carbon budget: they store massive amounts of carbon in their wood and soil, they sequester atmospheric carbon as they grow, and they emit carbon as a greenhouse gas when harvested or converted to another use. These factors make forest conservation and management important components of most strategies for adapting to and...

The Effects of Leadership on Carrier Air Wing Sixteen’s Loss Rates during Operation Rolling Thunder, 1965-1968

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-06-16

7 Corsair . As the war in Southeast Asia expanded, the massive amounts of ordnance being dropped on Laos, Cambodia, South Vietnam, and North Vietnam...over North Vietnam. Though gravely wounded, one of Foster’s main concerns while he 89 lay in the Oriskany’s sick bay was the impact on Tom Spitzer

Should You Trust Your Money to a Robot?

PubMed

Dhar, Vasant

2015-06-01

Financial markets emanate massive amounts of data from which machines can, in principle, learn to invest with minimal initial guidance from humans. I contrast human and machine strengths and weaknesses in making investment decisions. The analysis reveals areas in the investment landscape where machines are already very active and those where machines are likely to make significant inroads in the next few years.

On the Block: Student Data and Privacy in the Digital Age--The Seventheenth Annual Report on Schoolhouse Commercializing Trends, 2013-2014

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molnar, Alex; Boninger, Faith

2015-01-01

Computer technology has made it possible to aggregate, collate, analyze, and store massive amounts of information about students. School districts and private companies that sell their services to the education market now regularly collect such information, raising significant issues about the privacy rights of students. Most school districts lack…

Game-powered machine learning

PubMed Central

Barrington, Luke; Turnbull, Douglas; Lanckriet, Gert

2012-01-01

Searching for relevant content in a massive amount of multimedia information is facilitated by accurately annotating each image, video, or song with a large number of relevant semantic keywords, or tags. We introduce game-powered machine learning, an integrated approach to annotating multimedia content that combines the effectiveness of human computation, through online games, with the scalability of machine learning. We investigate this framework for labeling music. First, a socially-oriented music annotation game called Herd It collects reliable music annotations based on the “wisdom of the crowds.” Second, these annotated examples are used to train a supervised machine learning system. Third, the machine learning system actively directs the annotation games to collect new data that will most benefit future model iterations. Once trained, the system can automatically annotate a corpus of music much larger than what could be labeled using human computation alone. Automatically annotated songs can be retrieved based on their semantic relevance to text-based queries (e.g., “funky jazz with saxophone,” “spooky electronica,” etc.). Based on the results presented in this paper, we find that actively coupling annotation games with machine learning provides a reliable and scalable approach to making searchable massive amounts of multimedia data. PMID:22460786

Game-powered machine learning.

PubMed

Barrington, Luke; Turnbull, Douglas; Lanckriet, Gert

2012-04-24

Searching for relevant content in a massive amount of multimedia information is facilitated by accurately annotating each image, video, or song with a large number of relevant semantic keywords, or tags. We introduce game-powered machine learning, an integrated approach to annotating multimedia content that combines the effectiveness of human computation, through online games, with the scalability of machine learning. We investigate this framework for labeling music. First, a socially-oriented music annotation game called Herd It collects reliable music annotations based on the "wisdom of the crowds." Second, these annotated examples are used to train a supervised machine learning system. Third, the machine learning system actively directs the annotation games to collect new data that will most benefit future model iterations. Once trained, the system can automatically annotate a corpus of music much larger than what could be labeled using human computation alone. Automatically annotated songs can be retrieved based on their semantic relevance to text-based queries (e.g., "funky jazz with saxophone," "spooky electronica," etc.). Based on the results presented in this paper, we find that actively coupling annotation games with machine learning provides a reliable and scalable approach to making searchable massive amounts of multimedia data.

The Feasibility of Linear Motors and High-Energy Thrusters for Massive Aerospace Vehicles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stull, M. A.

A combination of two propulsion technologies, superconducting linear motors using ambient magnetic fields and high- energy particle beam thrusters, may make it possible to develop massive aerospace vehicles the size of aircraft carriers. If certain critical thresholds can be attained, linear motors can enable massive vehicles to fly within the atmosphere and can propel them to orbit. Thrusters can do neither, because power requirements are prohibitive. However, unless superconductors having extremely high critical current densities can be developed, the interplanetary magnetic field is too weak for linear motors to provide sufficient acceleration to reach even nearby planets. On the other hand, high-energy thrusters can provide adequate acceleration using a minimal amount of reaction mass, at achievable levels of power generation. If the requirements for linear motor propulsion can be met, combining the two modes of propulsion could enable huge nuclear powered spacecraft to reach at least the inner planets of the solar system, the asteroid belt, and possibly Jupiter, in reasonably short times under continuous acceleration, opening them to exploration, resource development and colonization.

Massive naproxen overdose with serial serum levels.

PubMed

Al-Abri, Suad A; Anderson, Ilene B; Pedram, Fatehi; Colby, Jennifer M; Olson, Kent R

2015-03-01

Massive naproxen overdose is not commonly reported. Severe metabolic acidosis and seizure have been described, but the use of renal replacement therapy has not been studied in the context of overdose. A 28-year-old man ingested 70 g of naproxen along with an unknown amount of alcohol in a suicidal attempt. On examination in the emergency department 90 min later, he was drowsy but had normal vital signs apart from sinus tachycardia. Serum naproxen level 90 min after ingestion was 1,580 mg/L (therapeutic range 25-75 mg/L). He developed metabolic acidosis requiring renal replacement therapy using sustained low efficiency dialysis (SLED) and continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH) and had recurrent seizure activity requiring intubation within 4 h from ingestion. He recovered after 48 h. Massive naproxen overdose can present with serious toxicity including seizures, altered mental status, and metabolic acidosis. Hemodialysis and renal replacement therapy may correct the acid base disturbance and provide support in cases of renal impairment in context of naproxen overdose, but further studies are needed to determine the extraction of naproxen.

Mineralogy, textures, and relative age relationships of massive sulfide ore in the West Shasta district, California ( USA).

USGS Publications Warehouse

Howe, S.S.

1985-01-01

The Devonian massive sulfide orebodies of the West Shasta district in N California are composed primarily of pyrite, with lesser amounts of other sulfide and gangue minerals. Examination of polished thin sections of more than 100 samples from the Mammoth, Shasta King, Early Bird, Balaklala, Keystone, and Iron Mountain mines suggests that mineralization may be divided into 6 paragenetic stages, the last 5 each separated by an episode of deformation: 1) precipitation of fine-grained, locally colloform and framboidal pyrite and sphalerite; 2) deposition of fine-grained arsenopyrite and coarse-grained pyrite; 3) penetration and local replacement of sulfide minerals of stages 1 and 2 along growth zones and fractures by chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, tennantite, pyrrhotite, bornite, and idaite; 4) recrystallization and remobilization of existing minerals; 5) deposition of quartz, white mica, chlorite, and calcite; and 6) formation of bornite, digenite, chalcocite, and covellite during supergene enrichment of several orebodies at the Iron Mountain mine. Mineralogic and textural evidence do not support a second major episode of massive sulfide mineralization during the Permian. -from Author

Ultrasonographic evaluation of abdominal distension in 52 camels (Camelus dromedarius).

PubMed

Tharwat, Mohamed; Al-Sobayil, Fahd; Ali, Ahmed; Buczinski, Sébastien

2012-08-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the diagnostic value of ultrasonography in the evaluation of abdominal distension in 52 camels (Camelus dromedarius). The conditions included trypanosomiasis (n=35), intestinal obstruction (n=12) and ruptured urinary bladder (n=5). Fifteen clinically normal camels were included as controls. Transabdominal and transrectal ultrasonography was carried out on all camels. In animals with trypanosomiasis, ultrasonographic findings included accumulation of massive amounts of hypoechoic abdominal fluids where liver, intestine, kidney, spleen and urinary bladder were imaged floating. Except in two cases of bile duct calcification and one of hepatic abscessation, no detectable abnormal sonographic lesions were detected while imaging the hepatic and renal parenchyma, and the heart and its valves and major blood vessels. In camels with intestinal obstruction, ultrasonographic findings included distended intestinal loops with markedly reduced or absent motility. In one camel, the intestinal lumen contained localised hyperechoic material that was consistent with a foreign body. Hypoechoic fluid with or without fibrin was seen between intestinal loops. In camels with ruptured urinary bladder, ultrasonographic findings included collapsed and perforated bladder, echogenic blood clots within the urinary bladder and peritoneal cavity, increased thickness of the bladder wall, floating intestines in hypoechogenic fluid and echogenic calculi within the urethra. Ultrasonography was considered a useful tool for the evaluation of dromedary camels with abdominal distension. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Advances in computational approaches for prioritizing driver mutations and significantly mutated genes in cancer genomes.

PubMed

Cheng, Feixiong; Zhao, Junfei; Zhao, Zhongming

2016-07-01

Cancer is often driven by the accumulation of genetic alterations, including single nucleotide variants, small insertions or deletions, gene fusions, copy-number variations, and large chromosomal rearrangements. Recent advances in next-generation sequencing technologies have helped investigators generate massive amounts of cancer genomic data and catalog somatic mutations in both common and rare cancer types. So far, the somatic mutation landscapes and signatures of >10 major cancer types have been reported; however, pinpointing driver mutations and cancer genes from millions of available cancer somatic mutations remains a monumental challenge. To tackle this important task, many methods and computational tools have been developed during the past several years and, thus, a review of its advances is urgently needed. Here, we first summarize the main features of these methods and tools for whole-exome, whole-genome and whole-transcriptome sequencing data. Then, we discuss major challenges like tumor intra-heterogeneity, tumor sample saturation and functionality of synonymous mutations in cancer, all of which may result in false-positive discoveries. Finally, we highlight new directions in studying regulatory roles of noncoding somatic mutations and quantitatively measuring circulating tumor DNA in cancer. This review may help investigators find an appropriate tool for detecting potential driver or actionable mutations in rapidly emerging precision cancer medicine. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Increased accumulation of magnetic nanoparticles by magnetizable implant materials for the treatment of implant-associated complications

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background In orthopaedic surgery, accumulation of agents such as anti-infectives in the bone as target tissue is difficult. The use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) as carriers principally enables their accumulation via an externally applied magnetic field. Magnetizable implants are principally able to increase the strength of an externally applied magnetic field to reach also deep-seated parts in the body. Therefore, the integration of bone-addressed therapeutics in MNPs and their accumulation at a magnetic orthopaedic implant could improve the treatment of implant related infections. In this study a martensitic steel platelet as implant placeholder was used to examine its accumulation and retention capacity of MNPs in an in vitro experimental set up considering different experimental frame conditions as magnet quantity and distance to each other, implant thickness and flow velocity. Results The magnetic field strength increased to approximately 112% when a martensitic stainless steel platelet was located between the magnet poles. Therewith a significantly higher amount of magnetic nanoparticles could be accumulated in the area of the platelet compared to the sole magnetic field. During flushing of the tube system mimicking the in vivo blood flow, the magnetized platelet was able to retain a higher amount of MNPs without an external magnetic field compared to the set up with no mounted platelet during flushing of the system. Generally, a higher flow velocity led to lower amounts of accumulated MNPs. A higher quantity of magnets and a lower distance between magnets led to a higher magnetic field strength. Albeit not significantly the magnetic field strength tended to increase with thicker platelets. Conclusion A martensitic steel platelet significantly improved the attachment of magnetic nanoparticles in an in vitro flow system and therewith indicates the potential of magnetic implant materials in orthopaedic surgery. The use of a remanent magnetic implant material could improve the efficiency of capturing MNPs especially when the external magnetic field is turned off thus facilitating and prolonging the effect. In this way higher drug levels in the target area might be attained resulting in lower inconveniences for the patient. PMID:24112871

Increased accumulation of magnetic nanoparticles by magnetizable implant materials for the treatment of implant-associated complications.

PubMed

Angrisani, Nina; Foth, Franziska; Kietzmann, Manfred; Schumacher, Stephan; Angrisani, Gian Luigi; Christel, Anne; Behrens, Peter; Reifenrath, Janin

2013-10-10

In orthopaedic surgery, accumulation of agents such as anti-infectives in the bone as target tissue is difficult. The use of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) as carriers principally enables their accumulation via an externally applied magnetic field. Magnetizable implants are principally able to increase the strength of an externally applied magnetic field to reach also deep-seated parts in the body. Therefore, the integration of bone-addressed therapeutics in MNPs and their accumulation at a magnetic orthopaedic implant could improve the treatment of implant related infections. In this study a martensitic steel platelet as implant placeholder was used to examine its accumulation and retention capacity of MNPs in an in vitro experimental set up considering different experimental frame conditions as magnet quantity and distance to each other, implant thickness and flow velocity. The magnetic field strength increased to approximately 112% when a martensitic stainless steel platelet was located between the magnet poles. Therewith a significantly higher amount of magnetic nanoparticles could be accumulated in the area of the platelet compared to the sole magnetic field. During flushing of the tube system mimicking the in vivo blood flow, the magnetized platelet was able to retain a higher amount of MNPs without an external magnetic field compared to the set up with no mounted platelet during flushing of the system. Generally, a higher flow velocity led to lower amounts of accumulated MNPs. A higher quantity of magnets and a lower distance between magnets led to a higher magnetic field strength. Albeit not significantly the magnetic field strength tended to increase with thicker platelets. A martensitic steel platelet significantly improved the attachment of magnetic nanoparticles in an in vitro flow system and therewith indicates the potential of magnetic implant materials in orthopaedic surgery. The use of a remanent magnetic implant material could improve the efficiency of capturing MNPs especially when the external magnetic field is turned off thus facilitating and prolonging the effect. In this way higher drug levels in the target area might be attained resulting in lower inconveniences for the patient.

Accumulation of Reserve Carbohydrate by Rumen Protozoa and Bacteria in Competition for Glucose

PubMed Central

Denton, Bethany L.; Diese, Leanne E.; Firkins, Jeffrey L.

2014-01-01

The aim of this study was to determine if rumen protozoa could form large amounts of reserve carbohydrate compared to the amounts formed by bacteria when competing for glucose in batch cultures. We separated large protozoa and small bacteria from rumen fluid by filtration and centrifugation, recombined equal protein masses of each group into one mixture, and subsequently harvested (reseparated) these groups at intervals after glucose dosing. This method allowed us to monitor reserve carbohydrate accumulation of protozoa and bacteria individually. When mixtures were dosed with a moderate concentration of glucose (4.62 or 5 mM) (n = 2 each), protozoa accumulated large amounts of reserve carbohydrate; 58.7% (standard error of the mean [SEM], 2.2%) glucose carbon was recovered from protozoal reserve carbohydrate at time of peak reserve carbohydrate concentrations. Only 1.7% (SEM, 2.2%) was recovered in bacterial reserve carbohydrate, which was less than that for protozoa (P < 0.001). When provided a high concentration of glucose (20 mM) (n = 4 each), 24.1% (SEM, 2.2%) of glucose carbon was recovered from protozoal reserve carbohydrate, which was still higher (P = 0.001) than the 5.0% (SEM, 2.2%) glucose carbon recovered from bacterial reserve carbohydrate. Our novel competition experiments directly demonstrate that mixed protozoa can sequester sugar away from bacteria by accumulating reserve carbohydrate, giving protozoa a competitive advantage and stabilizing fermentation in the rumen. Similar experiments could be used to investigate the importance of starch sequestration. PMID:25548053

Shifting of the resonance location for planets embedded in circumstellar disks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marzari, F.

2018-03-01

Context. In the early evolution of a planetary system, a pair of planets may be captured in a mean motion resonance while still embedded in their nesting circumstellar disk. Aims: The goal is to estimate the direction and amount of shift in the semimajor axis of the resonance location due to the disk gravity as a function of the gas density and mass of the planets. The stability of the resonance lock when the disk dissipates is also tested. Methods: The orbital evolution of a large number of systems is numerically integrated within a three-body problem in which the disk potential is computed as a series of expansion. This is a good approximation, at least over a limited amount of time. Results: Two different resonances are studied: the 2:1 and the 3:2. In both cases the shift is inwards, even if by a different amount, when the planets are massive and carve a gap in the disk. For super-Earths, the shift is instead outwards. Different disk densities, Σ, are considered and the resonance shift depends almost linearly on Σ. The gas dissipation leads to destabilization of a significant number of resonant systems, in particular if it is fast. Conclusions: The presence of a massive circumstellar disk may significantly affect the resonant behavior of a pair of planets by shifting the resonant location and by decreasing the size of the stability region. The disk dissipation may explain some systems found close to a resonance but not locked in it.

26 CFR 1.662(a)-1 - Inclusion of amounts in gross income of beneficiaries of estates and complex trusts; general.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 8 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Inclusion of amounts in gross income of beneficiaries of estates and complex trusts; general. 1.662(a)-1 Section 1.662(a)-1 Internal Revenue INTERNAL... Trusts Which May Accumulate Income Or Which Distribute Corpus § 1.662(a)-1 Inclusion of amounts in gross...

Joint enhancement of lead accumulation in Brassica plants by EDTA and ammonium sulfate in sand culture.

PubMed

Xiong, Zhi-ting; Lu, Ping

2002-04-01

When EDTA was added alone in the Pb-contaminated sand, the plant biomass and the total Pb amount in Plant decreased in both species, Brassica pekinensis and B. juncea var. multiceps, though the shoot Pb amount increased. In contrast, when (NH4)2SO4 was added alone in the Pb-contaminated sand, little effect was observed on the shoot Pb amount, though the root Pb amount was significantly increased in B. juncea var. multiceps. When amending EDTA and (NH4)2SO4 in combination, however, the shoot Pb amount in both species substantially increased, being, on an average, 2 times and 9 times higher than that in EDTA alone or (NH4)2SO4 alone amended treatment, respectively. The two amendments showed antagonism for plant growth, but synergism for Pb bioaccumulation. B. pekinensis showed its highest level of shoot and total Pb amount in the treatment amended with EDTA and (NH4)2SO4 only a half as much as in the other treatments. It is inferred that the mechanisms responsible for the joint-enhanced Pb accumulation might be concerned with the acidification of the growth medium, cation exchange reaction and relieving EDTA induced toxicity as results by amending ammonium sulfate.

Learning from Massive Distributed Data Sets (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, E. L.; Braverman, A. J.

2013-12-01

Technologies for remote sensing and ever-expanding computer experiments in climate science are generating massive data sets. Meanwhile, it has been common in all areas of large-scale science to have these 'big data' distributed over multiple different physical locations, and moving large amounts of data can be impractical. In this talk, we will discuss efficient ways for us to summarize and learn from distributed data. We formulate a graphical model to mimic the main characteristics of a distributed-data network, including the size of the data sets and speed of moving data. With this nominal model, we investigate the trade off between prediction accurate and cost of data movement, theoretically and through simulation experiments. We will also discuss new implementations of spatial and spatio-temporal statistical methods optimized for distributed data.

26 CFR 1.535-3 - Accumulated earnings credit.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... section 243(b)(3) and § 1.243-5 (relating to effect of 100-percent dividends received deduction under... way create an inference that an accumulation in excess of $150,000 ($100,000 in the case of taxable...,000 and that a deduction has been allowed under section 535(b)(6) in the amount of $5,000. Since the...

Plant Resistance to TSWV and Seed Accumulation of Resveratrol within Peanut Germplasm and Its Wild Relatives in the US Collection

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Biotic and abiotic stress may induce peanut plants to produce a high amount of resveratrol. The relationship of plant response to tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and seed accumulation of resveratrol was investigated. Twenty peanut accessions and six wild relatives were selected from the US peanut g...

A PDE Pricing Framework for Cross-Currency Interest Rate Derivatives with Target Redemption Features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christara, Christina C.; Minh Dang, Duy; Jackson, Kenneth R.; Lakhany, Asif

2010-09-01

We propose a general framework for efficient pricing via a partial differential equation (PDE) approach for exotic cross-currency interest rate (IR) derivatives, with strong emphasis on long-dated foreign exchange (FX) IR hybrids, namely Power Reverse Dual Currency (PRDC) swaps with a FX Target Redemption (FX-TARN) provision. The FX-TARN provision provides a cap on the FX-linked PRDC coupon amounts, and once the accumulated coupon amount reaches this cap, the underlying PRDC swap terminates. Our PDE pricing framework is based on an auxiliary state variable to keep track of the total accumulated PRDC coupon amount. Finite differences on uniform grids and the Alternating Direction Implicit (ADI) method are used for the spatial and time discretizations, respectively, of the model-dependent PDE corresponding to each discretized value of the auxiliary variable. Numerical examples illustrating the convergence properties of the numerical methods are provided.

Laforin Prevents Stress-Induced Polyglucosan Body Formation and Lafora Disease Progression in Neurons

PubMed Central

Wang, Yin; Ma, Keli; Wang, Peixiang; Baba, Otto; Zhang, Helen; Parent, Jack M.; Zheng, Pan; Liu, Yang; Minassian, Berge A; Liu, Yan

2013-01-01

Glycogen, the largest cytosolic macromolecule, is soluble because of intricate construction generating perfect hydrophilic-surfaced spheres. Little is known about neuronal glycogen function and metabolism, though progress is accruing through the neurodegenerative epilepsy Lafora disease (LD) proteins laforin and malin. Neurons in LD exhibit Lafora bodies (LBs), large accumulations of malconstructed insoluble glycogen (polyglucosans). We demonstrated that the laforin-malin complex reduces LBs and protects neuronal cells against endoplasmic reticulum stress-induced apoptosis. We now show that stress induces polyglucosan formation in normal neurons in culture and in brain. This is mediated by increased glucose-6-phosphate allosterically hyperactivating muscle glycogen synthase (GS1), and is followed by activation of the glycogen digesting enzyme glycogen phosphorylase. In the absence of laforin, stress-induced polyglucosans are undigested and accumulate into massive LBs, and in laforin-deficient mice stress drastically accelerates LB accumulation and LD. The mechanism through which laforin-malin mediates polyglucosan degradation remains unclear but involves GS1 dephosphorylation by laforin. Our work uncovers the presence of rapid polyglucosan metabolism as part of the normal physiology of neuroprotection. We propose that deficiency in the degradative phase of this metabolism, leading to LB accumulation and resultant seizure predisposition and neurodegeneration, underlies LD. PMID:23546741

Accumulation of astaxanthin by a new Haematococcus pluvialis strain BM1 from the white sea coastal rocks (Russia).

PubMed

Chekanov, Konstantin; Lobakova, Elena; Selyakh, Irina; Semenova, Larisa; Sidorov, Roman; Solovchenko, Alexei

2014-08-15

We report on a novel arctic strain BM1 of a carotenogenic chlorophyte from a coastal habitat with harsh environmental conditions (wide variations in solar irradiance, temperature, salinity and nutrient availability) identified as Haematococcus pluvialis Flotow. Increased (25‰) salinity exerted no adverse effect on the growth of the green BM1 cells. Under stressful conditions (high light, nitrogen and phosphorus deprivation), green vegetative cells of H. pluvialis BM1 grown in BG11 medium formed non-motile palmelloid cells and, eventually, hematocysts capable of a massive accumulation of the keto-carotenoid astaxanthin with a high nutraceutical and therapeutic potential. Routinely, astaxanthin was accumulated at the level of 4% of the cell dry weight (DW), reaching, under prolonged stress, 5.5% DW. Astaxanthin was predominantly accumulated in the form of mono- and diesters of fatty acids from C16 and C18 families. The palmelloids and hematocysts were characterized by the formation of red-colored cytoplasmic lipid droplets, increasingly large in size and number. The lipid droplets tended to merge and occupied almost the entire volume of the cell at the advanced stages of stress-induced carotenogenesis. The potential application of the new strain for the production of astaxanthin is discussed in comparison with the H. pluvialis strains currently employed in microalgal biotechnology.

Regional-scale calculation of the LS factor using parallel processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Kai; Tang, Guoan; Jiang, Ling; Zhu, A.-Xing; Yang, Jianyi; Song, Xiaodong

2015-05-01

With the increase of data resolution and the increasing application of USLE over large areas, the existing serial implementation of algorithms for computing the LS factor is becoming a bottleneck. In this paper, a parallel processing model based on message passing interface (MPI) is presented for the calculation of the LS factor, so that massive datasets at a regional scale can be processed efficiently. The parallel model contains algorithms for calculating flow direction, flow accumulation, drainage network, slope, slope length and the LS factor. According to the existence of data dependence, the algorithms are divided into local algorithms and global algorithms. Parallel strategy are designed according to the algorithm characters including the decomposition method for maintaining the integrity of the results, optimized workflow for reducing the time taken for exporting the unnecessary intermediate data and a buffer-communication-computation strategy for improving the communication efficiency. Experiments on a multi-node system show that the proposed parallel model allows efficient calculation of the LS factor at a regional scale with a massive dataset.

The Expanding Bipolar Shell of the Helium Nova V445 Puppis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Woudt, P. A.; Steeghs, D.; Karovska, M.; Warner, B.; Groot, P. J.; Nelemans, G.; Roelofs, G. H. A.; Marsh, T. R.; Nagayama, T.; Smits, D. P.; O'Brien, T.

2009-11-01

From multi-epoch adaptive optics imaging and integral field unit spectroscopy, we report the discovery of an expanding and narrowly confined bipolar shell surrounding the helium nova V445 Puppis (Nova Puppis 2000). An equatorial dust disc obscures the nova remnant, and the outflow is characterized by a large polar outflow velocity of 6720 ± 650 km s-1 and knots moving at even larger velocities of 8450 ± 570 km s-1. We derive an expansion parallax distance of 8.2 ± 0.5 kpc and deduce a pre-outburst luminosity of the underlying binary of log L/L sun = 4.34 ± 0.36. The derived luminosity suggests that V445 Puppis probably contains a massive white dwarf accreting at high rate from a helium star companion making it part of a population of binary stars that potentially lead to supernova Ia explosions due to accumulation of helium-rich material on the surface of a massive white dwarf.

Scaling Patterns of Natural Urban Places as a Rule for Enhancing Their Urban Functionality Using Trajectory Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jia, T.; Yu, X.

2018-04-01

With the availability of massive trajectory data, it is highly valuable to reveal their activity information for many domains such as understanding the functionality of urban regions. This article utilizes the scaling patterns of human activities to enhance functional distribution of natural urban places. Specifically, we proposed a temporal city clustering algorithm to aggregate the stopping locations into natural urban places, which are reported to follow remarkable power law distributions of sizes and obey a universal law of economy of scale on human interactions with urban infrastructure. Besides, we proposed a novel Bayesian inference model with damping factor to estimate the most likely POI type associated with a stopping location. Our results suggest that hot natural urban places could be effectively identified from their scaling patterns and their functionality can be very well enhanced. For instance, natural urban places containing airport or railway station can be highly stressed by accumulating the massive types of human activities.

Massive remobilization of permafrost carbon during post-glacial warming

PubMed Central

Tesi, T.; Muschitiello, F.; Smittenberg, R. H.; Jakobsson, M.; Vonk, J. E.; Hill, P.; Andersson, A.; Kirchner, N.; Noormets, R.; Dudarev, O.; Semiletov, I.; Gustafsson, Ö

2016-01-01

Recent hypotheses, based on atmospheric records and models, suggest that permafrost carbon (PF-C) accumulated during the last glaciation may have been an important source for the atmospheric CO2 rise during post-glacial warming. However, direct physical indications for such PF-C release have so far been absent. Here we use the Laptev Sea (Arctic Ocean) as an archive to investigate PF-C destabilization during the last glacial–interglacial period. Our results show evidence for massive supply of PF-C from Siberian soils as a result of severe active layer deepening in response to the warming. Thawing of PF-C must also have brought about an enhanced organic matter respiration and, thus, these findings suggest that PF-C may indeed have been an important source of CO2 across the extensive permafrost domain. The results challenge current paradigms on the post-glacial CO2 rise and, at the same time, serve as a harbinger for possible consequences of the present-day warming of PF-C soils. PMID:27897191

Massive remobilization of permafrost carbon during post-glacial warming

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tesi, T.; Muschitiello, F.; Smittenberg, R. H.; Jakobsson, M.; Vonk, J. E.; Hill, P.; Andersson, A.; Kirchner, N.; Noormets, R.; Dudarev, O.; Semiletov, I.; Gustafsson, Ö.

2016-11-01

Recent hypotheses, based on atmospheric records and models, suggest that permafrost carbon (PF-C) accumulated during the last glaciation may have been an important source for the atmospheric CO2 rise during post-glacial warming. However, direct physical indications for such PF-C release have so far been absent. Here we use the Laptev Sea (Arctic Ocean) as an archive to investigate PF-C destabilization during the last glacial-interglacial period. Our results show evidence for massive supply of PF-C from Siberian soils as a result of severe active layer deepening in response to the warming. Thawing of PF-C must also have brought about an enhanced organic matter respiration and, thus, these findings suggest that PF-C may indeed have been an important source of CO2 across the extensive permafrost domain. The results challenge current paradigms on the post-glacial CO2 rise and, at the same time, serve as a harbinger for possible consequences of the present-day warming of PF-C soils.

Severe impacts of brown tides caused by Sargassum spp. on near-shore Caribbean seagrass communities.

PubMed

van Tussenbroek, Brigitta I; Hernández Arana, Héctor A; Rodríguez-Martínez, Rosa E; Espinoza-Avalos, Julio; Canizales-Flores, Hazel M; González-Godoy, Carlos E; Barba-Santos, M Guadalupe; Vega-Zepeda, Alejandro; Collado-Vides, Ligia

2017-09-15

From mid-2014 until the end of 2015, the Mexican Caribbean coast experienced a massive influx of drifting Sargassum spp. that accumulated on the shores, resulting in build-up of decaying beach-cast material and near-shore murky brown waters (Sargassum-brown-tides, Sbt). The effects of Sbt on four near-shore waters included reduction in light, oxygen (hypoxia or anoxia) and pH. The monthly influx of nitrogen, and phosphorus by drifting Sargassum spp. was estimated at 6150 and 61kgkm -1 respectively, resulting in eutrophication. Near-shore seagrass meadows dominated by Thalassia testudinum were replaced by a community dominated by calcareous rhizophytic algae and drifting algae and/or epiphytes, resulting in 61.6-99.5% loss of below-ground biomass. Near-shore corals suffered total or partial mortality. Recovery of affected seagrass meadows may take years or even decades, or changes could be permanent if massive influxes of Sargassum spp. recur. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Phylogeography of Aegean green toads (Bufo viridis subgroup): continental hybrid swarm vs. insular diversification with discovery of a new island endemic.

PubMed

Dufresnes, Christophe; Lymberakis, Petros; Kornilios, Panagiotis; Savary, Romain; Perrin, Nicolas; Stöck, Matthias

2018-05-02

Debated aspects in speciation research concern the amount of gene flow between incipient species under secondary contact and the modes by which post-zygotic isolation accumulates. Secondary contact zones of allopatric lineages, involving varying levels of divergence, provide natural settings for comparative studies, for which the Aegean (Eastern Mediterranean) geography offers unique scenarios. In Palearctic green toads (Bufo viridis subgroup or Bufotes), Plio-Pleistocene (~ 2.6 Mya) diverged species show a sharp transition without contemporary gene flow, while younger lineages, diverged in the Lower-Pleistocene (~ 1.9 Mya), admix over tens of kilometers. Here, we conducted a fine-scale multilocus phylogeographic analysis of continental and insular green toads from the Aegean, where a third pair of taxa, involving Mid-Pleistocene diverged (~ 1.5 Mya) mitochondrial lineages, earlier tentatively named viridis and variabilis, (co-)occurs. We discovered a new lineage, endemic to Naxos (Central Cyclades), while coastal islands and Crete feature weak genetic differentiation from the continent. In continental Greece, both lineages, viridis and variabilis, form a hybrid swarm, involving massive mitochondrial and nuclear admixture over hundreds of kilometers, without obvious selection against hybrids. The genetic signatures of insular Aegean toads appear governed by bathymetry and Quaternary sea level changes, resulting in long-term isolation (Central Cyclades: Naxos) and recent land-bridges (coastal islands). Conversely, Crete has been isolated since the end of the Messinian salinity crisis (5.3 My) and Cretan populations thus likely result from human-mediated colonization, at least since Antiquity, from Peloponnese and Anatolia. Comparisons of green toad hybrid zones support the idea that post-zygotic hybrid incompatibilities accumulate gradually over the genome. In this radiation, only one million years of divergence separate a scenario of complete reproductive isolation, from a secondary contact resulting in near panmixia.

Mineralogical and geochemical characterization of waste rocks from a gold mine in northeastern Thailand: application for environmental impact protection.

PubMed

Assawincharoenkij, Thitiphan; Hauzenberger, Christoph; Ettinger, Karl; Sutthirat, Chakkaphan

2018-02-01

Waste rocks from gold mining in northeastern Thailand are classified as sandstone, siltstone, gossan, skarn, skarn-sulfide, massive sulfide, diorite, and limestone/marble. Among these rocks, skarn-sulfide and massive sulfide rocks have the potential to generate acid mine drainage (AMD) because they contain significant amounts of sulfide minerals, i.e., pyrrhotite, pyrite, arsenopyrite, and chalcopyrite. Moreover, both sulfide rocks present high contents of As and Cu, which are caused by the occurrence of arsenopyrite and chalcopyrite, respectively. Another main concern is gossan contents, which are composed of goethite, hydrous ferric oxide (HFO), quartz, gypsum, and oxidized pyroxene. X-ray maps using electron probe micro-analysis (EPMA) indicate distribution of some toxic elements in Fe-oxyhydroxide minerals in the gossan waste rock. Arsenic (up to 1.37 wt.%) and copper (up to 0.60 wt.%) are found in goethite, HFO, and along the oxidized rim of pyroxene. Therefore, the gossan rock appears to be a source of As, Cu, and Mn. As a result, massive sulfide, skarn-sulfide, and gossan have the potential to cause environmental impacts, particularly AMD and toxic element contamination. Consequently, the massive sulfide and skarn-sulfide waste rocks should be protected from oxygen and water to avoid an oxidizing environment, whereas the gossan waste rocks should be protected from the formation of AMD to prevent heavy metal contamination.

Uncertainties in s-process nucleosynthesis in massive stars determined by Monte Carlo variations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishimura, N.; Hirschi, R.; Rauscher, T.; St. J. Murphy, A.; Cescutti, G.

2017-08-01

The s-process in massive stars produces the weak component of the s-process (nuclei up to A ˜ 90), in amounts that match solar abundances. For heavier isotopes, such as barium, production through neutron capture is significantly enhanced in very metal-poor stars with fast rotation. However, detailed theoretical predictions for the resulting final s-process abundances have important uncertainties caused both by the underlying uncertainties in the nuclear physics (principally neutron-capture reaction and β-decay rates) as well as by the stellar evolution modelling. In this work, we investigated the impact of nuclear-physics uncertainties relevant to the s-process in massive stars. Using a Monte Carlo based approach, we performed extensive nuclear reaction network calculations that include newly evaluated upper and lower limits for the individual temperature-dependent reaction rates. We found that most of the uncertainty in the final abundances is caused by uncertainties in the neutron-capture rates, while β-decay rate uncertainties affect only a few nuclei near s-process branchings. The s-process in rotating metal-poor stars shows quantitatively different uncertainties and key reactions, although the qualitative characteristics are similar. We confirmed that our results do not significantly change at different metallicities for fast rotating massive stars in the very low metallicity regime. We highlight which of the identified key reactions are realistic candidates for improved measurement by future experiments.

The Galactic Distribution of Massive Star Formation from the Red MSX Source Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Figura, Charles C.; Urquhart, J. S.

2013-01-01

Massive stars inject enormous amounts of energy into their environments in the form of UV radiation and molecular outflows, creating HII regions and enriching local chemistry. These effects provide feedback mechanisms that aid in regulating star formation in the region, and may trigger the formation of subsequent generations of stars. Understanding the mechanics of massive star formation presents an important key to understanding this process and its role in shaping the dynamics of galactic structure. The Red MSX Source (RMS) survey is a multi-wavelength investigation of ~1200 massive young stellar objects (MYSO) and ultra-compact HII (UCHII) regions identified from a sample of colour-selected sources from the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) point source catalog and Two Micron All Sky Survey. We present a study of over 900 MYSO and UCHII regions investigated by the RMS survey. We review the methods used to determine distances, and investigate the radial galactocentric distribution of these sources in context with the observed structure of the galaxy. The distribution of MYSO and UCHII regions is found to be spatially correlated with the spiral arms and galactic bar. We examine the radial distribution of MYSOs and UCHII regions and find variations in the star formation rate between the inner and outer Galaxy and discuss the implications for star formation throughout the galactic disc.

High Resolution Studies of Mass Loss from Massive Binary Stars

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Corcoran, Michael F.; Gull, Theodore R.; Hamaguchi, Kenji; Richardson, Noel; Madura, Thomas; Post Russell, Christopher Michael; Teodoro, Mairan; Nichols, Joy S.; Moffat, Anthony F. J.; Shenar, Tomer; Pablo, Herbert

2017-01-01

Mass loss from hot luminous single and binary stars has a significant, perhaps decisive, effect on their evolution. The combination of X-ray observations of hot shocked gas embedded in the stellar winds and high-resolution optical/UV spectra of the cooler mass in the outflow provides unique ways to study the unstable process by which massive stars lose mass both through continuous stellar winds and rare, impulsive, large-scale mass ejections. The ability to obtain coordinated observations with the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) and the Chandra High-Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) and other X-ray observatories has allowed, for the first time, studies of resolved line emisssion over the temperature range of 104- 108K, and has provided observations to confront numerical dynamical models in three dimensions. Such observations advance our knowledge of mass-loss asymmetries, spatial and temporal variabilities, and the fundamental underlying physics of the hot shocked outflow, providing more realistic constraints on the amount of mass lost by different luminous stars in a variety of evolutionary stages. We discuss the impact that these joint observational studies have had on our understanding of dynamical mass outflows from massive stars, with particular emphasis on two important massive binaries, Delta Ori Aa, a linchpin of the mass luminosity relation for upper HRD main sequence stars, and the supermassive colliding wind binary Eta Carinae.

Types and Evolution of Gas Hydrate System along the Tectonically Active Zones of the Western Pacific: Nankai Trough vs. Eastern Margin of Japan Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsumoto, R.; Tomaru, H.; Takeuchi, L.; Hiruta, A.; Ishizaki, O.; Aoyama, C.; Machiyama, H.; Goto, T.

2007-12-01

A series of sea-going surveys of marine gas hydrates around Japan Islands for more than a decade has revealed characteristic and contrasting features and evolution of gas hydrate system between the Nankai subduction zone and the Joetsu Basin of Japan Sea. Gas hydrate of the Nankai trough largely occurs as pore-filling type, laterally extending in turbidites. Methane is depleted in C-13, mostly derived from microbial brake-down of organic matters. Strong and continuous BSRs occur at around 270 mbsf, corresponding to the base of gas hydrate stability (BGHS). Furthermore, double BSRs with weak reflector (BSR-2) 20-30 m below BSR appear in uplifting knolls. BSR-2 is explained as a relic BSR, which coincides with BGHS. Combination effects of uplifting of gas hydrate bearing sediments and sea-level fall are likely to have caused shoaling of BGHS and BSRs, dissociation of gas hydrate between old and new BRSs, and further accumulation of gas hydrates above BSR. Thus the recycling of methane at BGHS triggered by glacial sea level fall contributed for the development of subsurface gas hydrate deposits. Joetsu basin is located on a newly formed convergent boundary between Eurasia and Philippine Sea Plates. Well-defined circular pockmarks with ca.500 m in diameter develop on the folded and faulted Umitaka spur and Joetsu knoll in the basin. A number of circular swells and mounds, 200-500 m in diameter, have been also recognized nearby the pockmarks. Thus the Umitaka spur and perhaps Joetsu knoll are characterized by rough topography of pockmarks and mounds. Methane of plumes and gas hydrate originates in deep-seated thermogenic gases with relatively heavy carbon. 3D seismic profiles clearly depict gas chimney structures below pockmark-mound zones, and gigantic methane plumes stand on the mounds not in the pockmarks. Pockmarks are often considered as vent holes, however, those of the Joestu Basin are quite. BSRs occur at about 150 mbsr, corresponding to very high heat flow, and are widely distributed throughout the area, while no double BSRs are observed. BSRs within gas chimneys are very strong and often exhibit pull-up structure. A number of piston corers have recovered chunks of massive gas hydrate from the mounds. ROV dives observed gas hydrates exposed atop the mounds. Furthermore, electric ocean floor survey has revealed that sediments below the pockmark-mound zones were not conductive. These lines of evidence suggest that the mounds are more-or-less composed of or at least contain significant amounts of methane. Sea-level fall during the last glacial, 120 m in Japan Sea, should have caused instability of gas hydrate, in particular, those within pockmarks. Pull-up structures within the chimney seem to support the model that the mounds are gas hydrate dome and the pockmark, probably a relic hydrate mound. Glacial sea level fall should have caused massive dissociation of subsurface methane hydrate as in case of the Nankai trough. However the methane from the dissociation of massive hydrate in the chimney should escape to seawater to form a crater-like depression pockmarks. Considering active venting, gigantic plumes, inferred violent venting and perhaps floating of massive gas hydrates, gas hydrate deposits are to be formed during warmer, high-sea level periods, and episodic dissociation and massive emission of methane to ocean/atmosphere system.

Changes in amino acid profile and metal content in seeds of Cicer arietinum L. (chickpea) grown under various fly-ash amendments.

PubMed

Gupta, D K; Tripathi, R D; Rai, U N; Dwivedi, S; Mishra, Seema; Srivastava, S; Inouhe, M

2006-11-01

Seeds of Cicer arietinum L. plants are edible and a valuable source of protein. Accumulation of toxic metals in the edible part of the plant, grown in fields close to fly-ash (FA) landfills, may pose a threat to human health. In the present study, the effects of FA and its amendments with different ameliorants viz., garden soil (GS), press mud (PM) and saw dust (SD), on total soluble protein contents, amino acid composition and metal accumulation in seeds were investigated in var. CSG-8962 and var. C-235 of C. arietinum. Plants accumulated adequate amounts of essential metals viz. Fe, Cu, Zn in seeds, while the toxic metals such as Cd and Cr were taken up in smaller quantities. The accumulation of Cr and Cd was less in var. C-235 than var. CSG-8962. Amendment of FA with PM enhanced the amount of soluble protein and amino acids in both varieties and was found to be superior among all tested ameliorants. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis of amino acids showed better response in var. C-235 as compared to var. CSG-8962. Thus var. C-235 seems to be suitable for cultivation in FA contaminated areas due to more accumulation of essential metals and less accumulation of toxic metals in seeds. Application of PM may further improve the growth of plants and nutritional quality of seeds.

Oleaginous yeasts from Antarctica: Screening and preliminary approach on lipid accumulation.

PubMed

Viñarta, Silvana C; Angelicola, M Virginia; Barros, J Maximiliano; Fernández, Pablo M; Mac Cormak, Walter; Aybar, Manuel J; de Figueroa, Lucía I C

2016-12-01

The capability of 17 Rhodotorula spp. isolated from Antarctica to accumulate intracellular lipids in nitrogen-limited medium was investigated. As results, 10 isolates were selected by Nile red staining, while 12 isolates were selected as oleaginous by analysis of total lipid content (20.4-73%, w/w of dry biomass). The higher lipid production and accumulation was exhibited for six strains belonging to three species of Rhodotorula (Rhodotorula glutinis, Rhodotorula glacialis, and Rhodotorula laryngis). This is the first report where R. laryngis have been identified within oleaginous specie. Lipid accumulation was evaluated comparatively in two nitrogen-limited glucose-based media (MI and MII). MI (low C/N ratio) was more suitable for biomass and lipid production while in MII (high C/N ratio) total lipid content was improved. R. glutinis R4, R. glacialis R15, and R. glutinis R48 showed high lipid concentrations (4.65-6.93 g L -1 ) and they were able to accumulate large amounts of lipids per gram of biomass (47-77%, w/w). A similar profile in fatty acids composition and content of neutral lipids to vegetable oils was observed, indicating that lipids produced by oleaginous Antarctic yeasts can be considered an alternative feedstock for biodiesel production. Antarctica represents an important source of oleaginous yeasts with adaptive capabilities to accumulate considerable amounts of lipids with biotechnological interest at 15 °C and 25 °C. © 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Carbon sequestration in two created riverine wetlands in the midwestern United States.

PubMed

Bernal, Blanca; Mitsch, William J

2013-07-01

Wetlands have the ability to accumulate significant amounts of carbon (C) and thus could provide an effective approach to mitigate greenhouse gas accumulation in the atmosphere. Wetland hydrology, age, and management can affect primary productivity, decomposition, and ultimately C sequestration in riverine wetlands, but these aspects of wetland biogeochemistry have not been adequately investigated, especially in created wetlands. In this study we investigate the ability of created freshwater wetlands to sequester C by determining the sediment accretion and soil C accumulation of two 15-yr-old created wetlands in central Ohio-one planted and one naturally colonized. We measured the amount of sediment and soil C accumulated over the parent material and found that these created wetlands accumulated an average of 242 g C m yr, 70% more than a similar natural wetland in the region and 26% more than the rate estimated for these same wetlands 5 yr before this study. The C sequestration of the naturally colonized wetland was 22% higher than that of the planted wetland (267 ± 17 vs. 219 ± 15 g C m yr, respectively). Soil C accrual accounted for 66% of the aboveground net primary productivity on average. Open water communities had the highest C accumulation rates in both wetlands. This study shows that created wetlands can be natural, cost-effective tools to sequester C to mitigate the effect of greenhouse gas emissions. Copyright © by the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America, Inc.

Restrictive Versus Massive Fluid Resuscitation Strategy (REFILL study), influence on blood loss and hemostatic parameters in obstetric hemorrhage: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

PubMed

de Lange, Natascha; Schol, Pim; Lancé, Marcus; Woiski, Mallory; Langenveld, Josje; Rijnders, Robbert; Smits, Luc; Wassen, Martine; Henskens, Yvonne; Scheepers, Hubertina

2018-03-06

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is associated with maternal morbidity and mortality and has an increasing incidence in high-resource countries, despite dissemination of guidelines, introduction of skills training, and correction for risk factors. Current guidelines advise the administration, as fluid resuscitation, of almost twice the amount of blood lost. This advice is not evidence-based and could potentially harm patients. All women attending the outpatient clinic who are eligible will be informed of the study; oral and written informed consent will be obtained. Where there is more than 500 ml blood loss and ongoing bleeding, patients will be randomized to care as usual, fluid resuscitation with 1.5-2 times the amount of blood loss or fluid resuscitation with 0.75-1.0 times the blood loss. Blood loss will be assessed by weighing all draping. A blood sample, for determining hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, thrombocyte concentration, and conventional coagulation parameters will be taken at the start of the study, after 60 min, and 12-18 h after delivery. In a subgroup of women, additional thromboelastometric parameters will be obtained. Our hypothesis is that massive fluid administration might lead to a progression of bleeding due to secondary coagulation disorders. In non-pregnant individuals with massive blood loss, restrictive fluid management has been shown to prevent a progression to dilution coagulopathy. These data, however, cannot be extrapolated to women in labor. Our objective is to compare both resuscitation protocols in women with early, mild PPH (blood loss 500-750 ml) and ongoing bleeding, taking as primary outcome measure the progression to severe PPH (blood loss > 1000 ml). Netherlands Trial Register, NTR 3789 . Registered on 11 January 2013.

Energy and the English Industrial Revolution.

PubMed

Wrigley, E A

2013-03-13

Societies before the Industrial Revolution were dependent on the annual cycle of plant photosynthesis for both heat and mechanical energy. The quantity of energy available each year was therefore limited, and economic growth was necessarily constrained. In the Industrial Revolution, energy usage increased massively and output rose accordingly. The energy source continued to be plant photosynthesis, but accumulated over a geological age in the form of coal. This poses a problem for the future. Fossil fuels are a depleting stock, whereas in pre-industrial time the energy source, though limited, was renewed each year.

Beet yellow stunt virus in cells of Sonchus oleraceus L. and its relation to host mitochondria.

PubMed

Esau, K

1979-10-15

In Sonchus oleraceus L. (Asteraceae) infected with the beet yellow stunt virus (BYSV) the virions are found in phloem cells, including the sieve elements. In parenchymatous phloem cells, the virus is present mainly in the cytoplasm. In some parenchymatous cells, containing massive accumulations of virus, the flexuous rodlike virus particles are found partly inserted into mitochondrial cristae. The mitochondrial envelope is absent where virus is present in the cristae. A similar relation between virus and host mitochondria apparently has not been recorded for any other plant virus.

Stover composition in maize and sorghum reveals remarkable genetic variation and plasticity for carbohydrate accumulation

DOE PAGES

Sekhon, Rajandeep S.; Breitzman, Matthew W.; Silva, Renato R.; ...

2016-06-08

Carbohydrates stored in vegetative organs, particularly stems, of grasses are a very important source of energy. We examined carbohydrate accumulation in adult sorghum and maize hybrids with distinct phenology and different end uses (grain, silage, sucrose or sweetness in stalk juice, and biomass). Remarkable variation was observed for nonstructural carbohydrates and structural polysaccharides during three key developmental stages both between and within hybrids developed for distinct end use in both species. At the onset of the reproductive phase (average 65 days after planting, DAP), a wide range for accumulation of non-structural carbohydrates (free glucose and sucrose combined), was observed inmore » internodes of maize (11-24%) and sorghum (7-36%) indicating substantial variation for transient storage of excess photosynthate during periods of low grain or vegetative sink strength. Remobilization of these reserves for supporting grain fill or vegetative growth was evident from lower amounts in maize (8-19%) and sorghum (9-27%) near the end of the reproductive period (average 95 DAP). At physiological maturity of grain hybrids (average 120 DAP), amounts of these carbohydrates were generally unchanged in maize (9-21%) and sorghum (16-27%) suggesting a loss of photosynthetic assimilation due to weakening sink demand. Nonetheless, high amounts of non-structural carbohydrates at maturity even in grain maize and sorghum (15-18%) highlight the potential for developing dual-purpose (grain/stover) crops. For both species, the amounts of structural polysaccharides in the cell wall, measured as monomeric components (glucose and pentose), decreased during grain fill but remained unchanged thereafter with maize biomass possessing slightly higher amounts than sorghum. In conclusion, availability of carbohydrates in maize and sorghum highlights the potential for developing energy-rich dedicated biofuel or dual-purpose (grain/stover) crops.« less

[Effects of grafting and nitrogen fertilization on melon yield and nitrogen uptake and utilization].

PubMed

Xue, Liang; Ma, Zhong Ming; DU, Shao Ping

2017-06-18

A split-field design experiment was carried out using two main methods of cultivation (grafting and self-rooted cultivation) and subplots with different nitrogen application levels (0, 120, 240, and 360 kg N·hm -2 ) to investigate the effects of cultivation method and nitrogen application levels on the yield and quality of melons, nitrogen transfer, nitrogen distribution, and nitrogen utilization rate. The results showed that melons produced by grafting cultivation had a 7.3% increase in yield and a 0.16%-3.28% decrease in soluble solid content, compared to those produced by self-rooted cultivation. The amount of nitrogen accumulated in melons grafted in the early growth phase was lower than that in self-rooted melons, and higher after fruiting. During harvest, nitrogen accumulation amount in grafted melon plants was 5.2% higher than that in self-rooted plants and nitrogen accumulation amount in fruits was 10.3% higher. Grafting cultivation increased the amount of nitrogen transfer from plants to fruits by 20.9% compared to self-rooted cultivation. Nitrogen distribution in fruits was >80% in grafted melons, whereas that in self-rooted melons was <80%. Under the same level of nitrogen fertilization, melons cultivated by grafting showed 1.3%-4.2% increase in nitrogen absorption and utilization rate, 2.73-5.56 kg·kg -1 increase in nitrogen agronomic efficiency, and 7.39-16.18 kg·kg -1 increase in nitrogen physiological efficiency, compared to self-rooted cultivation. On the basis of the combined perspective of commercial melon yield, and nitrogen absorption and utilization rate, an applied nitrogen amount of 240 kg·hm -2 is most suitable for graf-ting cultivation in this region.

Stover composition in maize and sorghum reveals remarkable genetic variation and plasticity for carbohydrate accumulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sekhon, Rajandeep S.; Breitzman, Matthew W.; Silva, Renato R.

Carbohydrates stored in vegetative organs, particularly stems, of grasses are a very important source of energy. We examined carbohydrate accumulation in adult sorghum and maize hybrids with distinct phenology and different end uses (grain, silage, sucrose or sweetness in stalk juice, and biomass). Remarkable variation was observed for nonstructural carbohydrates and structural polysaccharides during three key developmental stages both between and within hybrids developed for distinct end use in both species. At the onset of the reproductive phase (average 65 days after planting, DAP), a wide range for accumulation of non-structural carbohydrates (free glucose and sucrose combined), was observed inmore » internodes of maize (11-24%) and sorghum (7-36%) indicating substantial variation for transient storage of excess photosynthate during periods of low grain or vegetative sink strength. Remobilization of these reserves for supporting grain fill or vegetative growth was evident from lower amounts in maize (8-19%) and sorghum (9-27%) near the end of the reproductive period (average 95 DAP). At physiological maturity of grain hybrids (average 120 DAP), amounts of these carbohydrates were generally unchanged in maize (9-21%) and sorghum (16-27%) suggesting a loss of photosynthetic assimilation due to weakening sink demand. Nonetheless, high amounts of non-structural carbohydrates at maturity even in grain maize and sorghum (15-18%) highlight the potential for developing dual-purpose (grain/stover) crops. For both species, the amounts of structural polysaccharides in the cell wall, measured as monomeric components (glucose and pentose), decreased during grain fill but remained unchanged thereafter with maize biomass possessing slightly higher amounts than sorghum. In conclusion, availability of carbohydrates in maize and sorghum highlights the potential for developing energy-rich dedicated biofuel or dual-purpose (grain/stover) crops.« less

Composite Material Testing Data Reduction to Adjust for the Systematic 6-DOF Testing Machine Aberrations

Treesearch

Athanasios lliopoulos; John G. Michopoulos; John G. C. Hermanson

2012-01-01

This paper describes a data reduction methodology for eliminating the systematic aberrations introduced by the unwanted behavior of a multiaxial testing machine, into the massive amounts of experimental data collected from testing of composite material coupons. The machine in reference is a custom made 6-DoF system called NRL66.3 and developed at the NAval...

Space station onboard propulsion system: Technology study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcallister, J. G.; Rudland, R. S.; Redd, L. R.; Beekman, D. H.; Cuffin, S. M.; Beer, C. M.; Mccarthy, K. K.

1987-01-01

The objective was to prepare for the design of the space station propulsion system. Propulsion system concepts were defined and schematics were developed for the most viable concepts. A dual model bipropellant system was found to deliver the largest amount of payload. However, when resupply is considered, an electrolysis system with 10 percent accumulators requires less resupply propellant, though it is penalized by the amount of time required to fill the accumulators and the power requirements for the electrolyzer. A computer simulation was prepared, which was originally intended to simulate the water electrolysis propulsion system but which was expanded to model other types of systems such as cold gas, monopropellant and bipropellant storable systems.

Father's Labour Migration and Children's School Discontinuation in Rural Mozambique.

PubMed

Yabiku, Scott T; Agadjanian, Victor

2017-08-01

We examine how the discontinuation of schooling among left-behind children is related to multiple dimensions of male labor migration: the accumulation of migration experience, the timing of these migration experiences in the child's life course, and the economic success of the migration. Our setting is rural southern Mozambique, an impoverished area with massive male labor out-migration. Results show that fathers' economically successful labor migration is more beneficial for children's schooling than unsuccessful migration or non-migration. There are large differences, however, by gender: compared to sons of non-migrants, sons of migrant fathers (regardless of migration success) have lower rates of school discontinuation, while daughters of migrant fathers have rates of school discontinuation no different than daughters of non-migrants. Furthermore, accumulated labor migration across the child's life course is beneficial for boys' schooling, but not girls'. Remittances sent in the past year reduce the rate of discontinuation for sons, but not daughters.

Ins(1,4,5)P{sub 3} facilitates ATP accumulation via phosphocreatine/creatine kinase in the endoplasmic reticulum extracted from MDCK cells

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sun, Jing; Department of Dental Implantology, School of Stomatology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200072; Ogata, Shigenori

2010-07-02

So far, the content and accumulation of ATP in isolated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) are little understood. First, we confirmed using electron microscopic and Western blotting techniques that the samples extracted from MDCK cells are endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The amounts of ATP in the extracted ER were measured from the filtrate after a spinning down of ultrafiltration spin column packed with ER. When the ER sample (5 {mu}g) after 3 days freezing was suspended in intracellular medium (ICM), 0.1% Triton X and ultrapure water (UPW), ATP amounts from the ER with UPW were the highest and over 10 times compared withmore » that from the control with ICM, indicating that UPW is the most effective tool in destroying the ER membrane. After a 10-min-incubation with ICM containing phosphocreatine (PCr)/creatine kinase (CK) of the fresh ER. ATP amounts in the filtrate obtained by spinning down were not changed from that in the control (no PCr/CK). However, ATP amounts in the filtrate from the second spinning down of the ER (treated with PCr/CK) suspended in UPW became over 10-fold compared with the control. When 1 {mu}M inositol(1,4,5)trisphosphate (Ins(1,4,5)P{sub 3}) was added in the incubation medium (ICM with PCr/CK), ATP amounts from the filtrate after the second spinning down were further enhanced around three times. This enhancement was almost canceled by Ca{sup 2+}-removal from ICM and by adding thapsigargin, a Ca{sup 2+}-ATPase inhibitor, but not by 2-APB and heparin, Ins(1,4,5)P{sub 3} receptor antagonists. Administration of 500 {mu}M adenosine to the incubation medium (with PCr/CK) failed to enhance the accumulation of ATP in the ER. These findings suggest that the ER originally contains ATP and ATP accumulation in the ER is promoted by PCr/CK and Ins(1,4,5)P{sub 3}.« less

Balancing bulk gas accumulation and gas output before and during lava fountaining episodes at Mt. Etna

PubMed Central

Carbone, Daniele; Zuccarello, Luciano; Messina, Alfio; Scollo, Simona; Rymer, Hazel

2015-01-01

We focus on a sequence of 9 lava fountains from Etna that occurred in 2011, separated by intervals of 5 to 10 days. Continuous measurements allowed to discover the occurrence of gravity decreases before the onset of most fountaining episodes. We propose that the gravity changes are due to the pre-fountaining accumulation of a foam layer at shallow levels in the plumbing system of the volcano. Relying on the relationship between amount of gas trapped in the foam and amount of gas emitted during each episode, we develop a conceptual model of the mechanism controlling the passage from Strombolian to lava fountaining activity. Gas leakage from the foam layer during the late stages of its accumulation increases the gas volume fraction at upper levels, thus inducing a decrease of the magma-static pressure in the trapping zone and a further growth of the foam. This feedback mechanism eventually leads to the collapse of the foam layer and to the onset of lava fountaining. The possibility to detect the development of a foam layer at depth and to set quantitative constraints on the amount of trapped gas is important because of the implications for forecasting explosive eruptions and predicting their intensity. PMID:26656099

Legacy phosphorus in the Baltic Sea and implications for reversing eutrophication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McCrackin, M. L.; Gustafsson, B.; Humborg, C.; Hong, B.; Svanbäck, A.; Swaney, D. P.; Viktorsson, L.

2015-12-01

Eutrophication has depleted concentrations of dissolved oxygen in bottom waters of the Baltic Sea, resulting in the world's largest "dead" zone. A number of measures have been implemented to reduce nutrient inputs and, indeed, between 1995 and 2012 phosphorus (P) loads to the sea deceased 19%. The long-term accumulation and subsequent release of P from both the catchment and marine sediments combined with 30-year water residence times could significantly delay recovery from eutrophication. We estimated net P accumulation (legacy P) for the Baltic Sea using the Net Anthropogenic Phosphorus Inputs (NAPI) approach and historical records of food and feed trade and riverine fluxes. Net P inputs to the catchment peaked at 0.7 million tons per year during the 1970's and since the political and economical changes in Eastern Europe during the 1990's, decreased to 0.2-0.3 million tons per year. P accumulation on land is ten times greater than accumulation in the sea (20 million and 2 million tons, respectively). Of the P retained on land, the majority (18-19 million tons) is in agricultural lands, with the balance in lake sediments. Of the 2 million tons in the sea, two-thirds are in sediments and one-third in the water column. The success of nutrient management actions in reducing river nutrient fluxes will lead to improvement in the Baltic Sea environment, but the massive accumulation of P on land will complicate efforts to achieve complete recovery.

Highly accurate quantitative spectroscopy of massive stars in the Galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nieva, María-Fernanda; Przybilla, Norbert

2017-11-01

Achieving high accuracy and precision in stellar parameter and chemical composition determinations is challenging in massive star spectroscopy. On one hand, the target selection for an unbiased sample build-up is complicated by several types of peculiarities that can occur in individual objects. On the other hand, composite spectra are often not recognized as such even at medium-high spectral resolution and typical signal-to-noise ratios, despite multiplicity among massive stars is widespread. In particular, surveys that produce large amounts of automatically reduced data are prone to oversight of details that turn hazardous for the analysis with techniques that have been developed for a set of standard assumptions applicable to a spectrum of a single star. Much larger systematic errors than anticipated may therefore result because of the unrecognized true nature of the investigated objects, or much smaller sample sizes of objects for the analysis than initially planned, if recognized. More factors to be taken care of are the multiple steps from the choice of instrument over the details of the data reduction chain to the choice of modelling code, input data, analysis technique and the selection of the spectral lines to be analyzed. Only when avoiding all the possible pitfalls, a precise and accurate characterization of the stars in terms of fundamental parameters and chemical fingerprints can be achieved that form the basis for further investigations regarding e.g. stellar structure and evolution or the chemical evolution of the Galaxy. The scope of the present work is to provide the massive star and also other astrophysical communities with criteria to evaluate the quality of spectroscopic investigations of massive stars before interpreting them in a broader context. The discussion is guided by our experiences made in the course of over a decade of studies of massive star spectroscopy ranging from the simplest single objects to multiple systems.

Measurement of trace impurities in ultra pure hydrogen and deuterium at the parts-per-billion level using gas chromatography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ganzha, V.; Ivshin, K.; Kammel, P.; Kravchenko, P.; Kravtsov, P.; Petitjean, C.; Trofimov, V.; Vasilyev, A.; Vorobyov, A.; Vznuzdaev, M.; Wauters, F.

2018-02-01

A series of muon experiments at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland deploy ultra-pure hydrogen active targets. A new gas impurity analysis technique was developed, based on conventional gas chromatography, with the capability to measure part-per-billion (ppb) traces of nitrogen and oxygen in hydrogen and deuterium. Key ingredients are a cryogenic admixture accumulation, a directly connected sampling system and a dedicated calibration setup. The dependence of the measured concentration on the sample volume was investigated, confirming that all impurities from the sample gas are collected in the accumulation column and measured with the gas chromatograph. The system was calibrated utilizing dynamic dilution of admixtures into the gas flow down to sub-ppb level concentrations. The total amount of impurities accumulated in the purification system during a three month long experimental run was measured and agreed well with the calculated amount based on the measured concentrations in the flow.

Overearning.

PubMed

Hsee, Christopher K; Zhang, Jiao; Cai, Cindy F; Zhang, Shirley

2013-06-01

High productivity and high earning rates brought about by modern technologies make it possible for people to work less and enjoy more, yet many continue to work assiduously to earn more. Do people overearn--forgo leisure to work and earn beyond their needs? This question is understudied, partly because in real life, determining the right amount of earning and defining overearning are difficult. In this research, we introduced a minimalistic paradigm that allows researchers to study overearning in a controlled laboratory setting. Using this paradigm, we found that individuals do overearn, even at the cost of happiness, and that overearning is a result of mindless accumulation--a tendency to work and earn until feeling tired rather than until having enough. Supporting the mindless-accumulation notion, our results show, first, that individuals work about the same amount regardless of earning rates and hence are more likely to overearn when earning rates are high than when they are low, and second, that prompting individuals to consider the consequences of their earnings or denying them excessive earnings can disrupt mindless accumulation and enhance happiness.

Influence of oxidative and nitrosative stress on accumulation of diphosphate intermediates of the non-mevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis in corynebacteria and mycobacteria.

PubMed

Artsatbanov, V Yu; Vostroknutova, G N; Shleeva, M O; Goncharenko, A V; Zinin, A I; Ostrovsky, D N; Kapreliants, A S

2012-04-01

Artificial generation of oxygen superoxide radicals in actively growing cultures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Myc. smegmatis, and Corynebacterium ammoniagenes is followed by accumulation in the bacterial cells of substantial amounts of 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol-2,4-cyclodiphosphate (MEcDP) - an intermediate of the non-mevalonate pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis (MEP) - most possibly due to the interaction of the oxygen radicals with the 4Fe-4S group in the active center and inhibition of the enzyme (E)-4-oxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl diphosphate synthase (IspG). Cadmium ions known to inhibit IspG enzyme in chloroplasts (Rivasseau, C., Seemann, M., Boisson, A. M., Streb, P., Gout, E., Douce, R., Rohmer, M., and Bligny, R. (2009) Plant Cell Environ., 32, 82-92), when added to culture of Myc. smegmatis, substantially increase accumulation of MEcDP induced by oxidative stress with no accumulation of other organic phosphate intermediates in the cell. Corynebacterium ammoniagenes'', well-known for its ability to synthesize large amounts of MEcDP, was also shown to accumulate this unique cyclodiphosphate in actively growing culture when NO at low concentration is artificially generated in the medium. A possible role of the MEP-pathway of isoprenoid biosynthesis and a role of its central intermediate MEcDP in bacterial response to nitrosative and oxidative stress is discussed.

Fish tapeworm Khawia sinensis: an indicator of environmental microcystins?

PubMed

Palikova, Miroslava; Adamovsky, Ondrej; Blaha, Ludek; Mares, Jan; Kopp, Radovan; Navratil, Stanislav; Cutakova, Zdenka; Soukupova, Zdenka; Pikula, Jiri

2013-01-01

Parasites have recently been recognized as accumulation indicators that take up and bio-concentrate substances from environmental pollution. Interestingly, helminths of fish are known to accumulate metals from the ambient environment and to contain several orders of magnitude higher concentrations than hosts. While the majority of reports mention inorganic toxin accumulation in parasites, studies concerning effects of organic pollution are infrequent and little is known about the potential of parasites to bio-accumulate microcystins. The parasite-host system of tapeworm Khawia sinensis and common carp (Cyprinus carpio) was used to address this issue. Both the tapeworms and livers were dissected from experimental carps orally exposed to cyanobacterial biomass for 20 days. The total dose of microcystins amounted to 27 mg/kg of feed, i.e., 0.4 mg/kg of fish mass a day. Microcystin concentrations in tapeworms and carp liver tissues were measured using the LC-MS/MS method. Considering the three measured microcystin variants LR, YR and RR, only MC-RR was detected and its concentrations in tapeworms and carp liver tissue amounted to 5.78±3.78 ng/g and 2.11±0.74 ng/g fresh weight (p<0.05), respectively. Here we show accumulation of microcystin MC-RR in the tapeworm Khawia sinensis, a parasite of common carp (Cyprinus carpio). As this is the first report addressing this issue, further studies will be necessary to examine this specific parasite-host system.

Aluminum and Alzheimer's disease: after a century of controversy, is there a plausible link?

PubMed

Tomljenovic, Lucija

2011-01-01

The brain is a highly compartmentalized organ exceptionally susceptible to accumulation of metabolic errors. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease of the elderly and is characterized by regional specificity of neural aberrations associated with higher cognitive functions. Aluminum (Al) is the most abundant neurotoxic metal on earth, widely bioavailable to humans and repeatedly shown to accumulate in AD-susceptible neuronal foci. In spite of this, the role of Al in AD has been heavily disputed based on the following claims: 1) bioavailable Al cannot enter the brain in sufficient amounts to cause damage, 2) excess Al is efficiently excreted from the body, and 3) Al accumulation in neurons is a consequence rather than a cause of neuronal loss. Research, however, reveals that: 1) very small amounts of Al are needed to produce neurotoxicity and this criterion is satisfied through dietary Al intake, 2) Al sequesters different transport mechanisms to actively traverse brain barriers, 3) incremental acquisition of small amounts of Al over a lifetime favors its selective accumulation in brain tissues, and 4) since 1911, experimental evidence has repeatedly demonstrated that chronic Al intoxication reproduces neuropathological hallmarks of AD. Misconceptions about Al bioavailability may have misled scientists regarding the significance of Al in the pathogenesis of AD. The hypothesis that Al significantly contributes to AD is built upon very solid experimental evidence and should not be dismissed. Immediate steps should be taken to lessen human exposure to Al, which may be the single most aggravating and avoidable factor related to AD.

Accumulation of reserve carbohydrate by rumen protozoa and bacteria in competition for glucose.

PubMed

Denton, Bethany L; Diese, Leanne E; Firkins, Jeffrey L; Hackmann, Timothy J

2015-03-01

The aim of this study was to determine if rumen protozoa could form large amounts of reserve carbohydrate compared to the amounts formed by bacteria when competing for glucose in batch cultures. We separated large protozoa and small bacteria from rumen fluid by filtration and centrifugation, recombined equal protein masses of each group into one mixture, and subsequently harvested (reseparated) these groups at intervals after glucose dosing. This method allowed us to monitor reserve carbohydrate accumulation of protozoa and bacteria individually. When mixtures were dosed with a moderate concentration of glucose (4.62 or 5 mM) (n = 2 each), protozoa accumulated large amounts of reserve carbohydrate; 58.7% (standard error of the mean [SEM], 2.2%) glucose carbon was recovered from protozoal reserve carbohydrate at time of peak reserve carbohydrate concentrations. Only 1.7% (SEM, 2.2%) was recovered in bacterial reserve carbohydrate, which was less than that for protozoa (P < 0.001). When provided a high concentration of glucose (20 mM) (n = 4 each), 24.1% (SEM, 2.2%) of glucose carbon was recovered from protozoal reserve carbohydrate, which was still higher (P = 0.001) than the 5.0% (SEM, 2.2%) glucose carbon recovered from bacterial reserve carbohydrate. Our novel competition experiments directly demonstrate that mixed protozoa can sequester sugar away from bacteria by accumulating reserve carbohydrate, giving protozoa a competitive advantage and stabilizing fermentation in the rumen. Similar experiments could be used to investigate the importance of starch sequestration. Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

CO and H(3)(+) in the protoplanetary disk around the star HD141569.

PubMed

Brittain, Sean D; Rettig, Terrence W

2002-07-04

Massive planets have now been found orbiting about 80 stars. A long outstanding question critical to theories of planet formation has been the timescale on which gas-giant planets form; in particular, stars more massive than the Sun may blow away the surrounding gas associated with their formation more quickly than it can be accumulated by the protoplanetary cores. Evidence for a protoplanet around a Herbig AeBe star (such stars are 2 3 times more massive than the Sun) would constrain the timescale of planet formation. Here we report the detection of CO and H(3)(+) emission from the 5-10-million-year-old Herbig AeBe star HD141569. We interpret the CO data as indicating that the inner disk surrounding the star is past the early phase of accretion and planetesimal formation, and that most of the gas has been cleared out to a distance of more than 17 astronomical units. CO effectively destroys H(3)(+) (ref. 2), so their presence in the same source is surprising. Moreover, H(3)(+) line emission has previously been detected only from the atmospheres of the giant planets in the Solar System. The H(3)(+) and CO may therefore be distributed in the disk at different circumstellar distances, or, alternatively, H(3)(+) may be located in the extended envelope of a protoplanet.

In situ accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) in bone matrix and its correlation with osteoclastic bone resorption.

PubMed

Dong, X Neil; Qin, An; Xu, Jiake; Wang, Xiaodu

2011-08-01

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been observed to accumulate in bone with increasing age and may impose effects on bone resorption activities. However, the underlying mechanism of AGEs accumulation in bone is still poorly understood. In this study, human cortical bone specimens from young (31±6years old), middle-aged (51±3years old) and elderly (76±4years old) groups were examined to determine the spatial-temporal distribution of AGEs in bone matrix and its effect on bone resorption activities by directly culturing osteoclastic cells on bone slices. The results of this study indicated that the fluorescence intensity (excitation wave length 360nm and emission wave length 470±40nm) could be used to estimate the relative distribution of AGEs in bone (pentosidine as its marker) under an epifluorescence microscope. Using the fluorescence intensity as the relative measure of AGEs concentration, it was found that the concentration of AGEs varied with biological tissue ages, showing the greatest amount in the interstitial tissue, followed by the old osteons, and the least amount in newly formed osteons. In addition, AGEs accumulation was found to be dependent on donor ages, suggesting that the younger the donor the less AGEs were accumulated in the tissue. Most interestingly, AGEs accumulation appeared to initiate from the region of cement lines, and spread diffusively to the other parts as the tissue aged. Finally, it was observed that the bone resorption activities of osteoclasts were positively correlated with the in situ concentration of AGEs and such an effect was enhanced with increasing donor age. These findings may help elucidate the mechanism of AGEs accumulation in bone and its association with bone remodeling process. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

IN SITU ACCUMULATION OF ADVANCED GLYCATION ENDPRODUCTS (AGES) IN BONE MATRIX AND ITS CORRELATION WITH OSTEOCLASTIC BONE RESORPTION

PubMed Central

Dong, X. Neil; Qin, An; Xu, Jiake; Wang, Xiaodu

2011-01-01

Advanced glycation end products (AGEs) have been observed to accumulate in bone with increasing age and may impose effects on bone resorption activities. However, the underlying mechanism of AGEs accumulation in bone is still poorly understood. In this study, human cortical bone specimens from young (31±6 years old), middle-aged (51±3 years old) and elderly (76±4 years old) groups were examined to determine the spatial-temporal distribution of AGEs in bone matrix and its effect on bone resorption activities by directly culturing osteoclastic cells on bone slices. The results of this study indicated that the fluorescence intensity (excitation wave length 360 nm and emission wave length 470±40 nm) could be used to estimate the relative distribution of AGEs in bone (pentosidine as its marker) under an epifluorescence microscope. Using the fluorescence intensity as the relative measure of AGEs concentration, it was found that the concentration of AGEs varied with biological tissue ages, showing the greatest amount in the interstitial tissue, followed by the old osteons, and the least amount in newly formed osteons. In addition, AGEs accumulation was found to be dependent on donor ages, suggesting that the younger the donor the less AGEs were accumulated in the tissue. Most interestingly, AGEs accumulation appeared to initiate from the region of cement lines, and spread diffusively to the other parts as the tissue aged. Finally, it was observed that the bone resorption activities of osteoclasts were positively correlated with the in situ concentration of AGEs and such an effect was enhanced with increasing donor age. These findings may help elucidate the mechanism of AGEs accumulation in bone and its association with bone remodeling process. PMID:21530698

Downlink Training Techniques for FDD Massive MIMO Systems: Open-Loop and Closed-Loop Training With Memory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choi, Junil; Love, David J.; Bidigare, Patrick

2014-10-01

The concept of deploying a large number of antennas at the base station, often called massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), has drawn considerable interest because of its potential ability to revolutionize current wireless communication systems. Most literature on massive MIMO systems assumes time division duplexing (TDD), although frequency division duplexing (FDD) dominates current cellular systems. Due to the large number of transmit antennas at the base station, currently standardized approaches would require a large percentage of the precious downlink and uplink resources in FDD massive MIMO be used for training signal transmissions and channel state information (CSI) feedback. To reduce the overhead of the downlink training phase, we propose practical open-loop and closed-loop training frameworks in this paper. We assume the base station and the user share a common set of training signals in advance. In open-loop training, the base station transmits training signals in a round-robin manner, and the user successively estimates the current channel using long-term channel statistics such as temporal and spatial correlations and previous channel estimates. In closed-loop training, the user feeds back the best training signal to be sent in the future based on channel prediction and the previously received training signals. With a small amount of feedback from the user to the base station, closed-loop training offers better performance in the data communication phase, especially when the signal-to-noise ratio is low, the number of transmit antennas is large, or prior channel estimates are not accurate at the beginning of the communication setup, all of which would be mostly beneficial for massive MIMO systems.

The nature of ultra-massive lens galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canameras, Raoul

2017-08-01

During the past decade, strong gravitational lensing analyses have contributed tremendously to the characterization of the inner properties of massive early-type galaxies, beyond the local Universe. Here we intend to extend studies of this kind to the most massive lens galaxies known to date, well outside the mass limits investigated by previous lensing surveys. This will allow us to probe the physics of the likely descendants of the most violent episodes of star formation and of the compact massive galaxies at high redshift. We propose WFC3 imaging (F438W and F160W) of four extremely massive early-type lens galaxies at z 0.5, in order to put them into context with the evolutionary trends of ellipticals as a function of mass and redshift. These systems were discovered in the SDSS and show one single main lens galaxy with a stellar mass above 1.5x10^12 Msun and large Einstein radii. Our high-resolution spectroscopic follow-up with VLT/X-shooter provides secure lens and source redshifts, between 0.3 and 0.7 and between 1.5 and 2.5, respectively, and confirm extreme stellar velocity dispersions > 400 km/s for the lenses. The excellent angular resolution of the proposed WFC3 imaging - not achievable from the ground - is the remaining indispensable piece of information to :(1) Resolve the lens structural parameters and obtain robust measurements of their stellar mass distributions,(2) Model the amount and distribution of the lens total masses and measure their M/L ratios and stellar IMF with joint strong lensing and stellar dynamics analyses,(3) Enhance our on-going lens models through the most accurate positions and morphologies of the blue multiply-imaged sources.

Mask data processing in the era of multibeam writers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abboud, Frank E.; Asturias, Michael; Chandramouli, Maesh; Tezuka, Yoshihiro

2014-10-01

Mask writers' architectures have evolved through the years in response to ever tightening requirements for better resolution, tighter feature placement, improved CD control, and tolerable write time. The unprecedented extension of optical lithography and the myriad of Resolution Enhancement Techniques have tasked current mask writers with ever increasing shot count and higher dose, and therefore, increasing write time. Once again, we see the need for a transition to a new type of mask writer based on massively parallel architecture. These platforms offer a step function improvement in both dose and the ability to process massive amounts of data. The higher dose and almost unlimited appetite for edge corrections open new windows of opportunity to further push the envelope. These architectures are also naturally capable of producing curvilinear shapes, making the need to approximate a curve with multiple Manhattan shapes unnecessary.

Recycling rice husks for high-capacity lithium battery anodes

PubMed Central

Jung, Dae Soo; Ryou, Myung-Hyun; Sung, Yong Joo; Park, Seung Bin; Choi, Jang Wook

2013-01-01

The rice husk is the outer covering of a rice kernel and protects the inner ingredients from external attack by insects and bacteria. To perform this function while ventilating air and moisture, rice plants have developed unique nanoporous silica layers in their husks through years of natural evolution. Despite the massive amount of annual production near 108 tons worldwide, so far rice husks have been recycled only for low-value agricultural items. In an effort to recycle rice husks for high-value applications, we convert the silica to silicon and use it for high-capacity lithium battery anodes. Taking advantage of the interconnected nanoporous structure naturally existing in rice husks, the converted silicon exhibits excellent electrochemical performance as a lithium battery anode, suggesting that rice husks can be a massive resource for use in high-capacity lithium battery negative electrodes. PMID:23836636

Recycling rice husks for high-capacity lithium battery anodes.

PubMed

Jung, Dae Soo; Ryou, Myung-Hyun; Sung, Yong Joo; Park, Seung Bin; Choi, Jang Wook

2013-07-23

The rice husk is the outer covering of a rice kernel and protects the inner ingredients from external attack by insects and bacteria. To perform this function while ventilating air and moisture, rice plants have developed unique nanoporous silica layers in their husks through years of natural evolution. Despite the massive amount of annual production near 10(8) tons worldwide, so far rice husks have been recycled only for low-value agricultural items. In an effort to recycle rice husks for high-value applications, we convert the silica to silicon and use it for high-capacity lithium battery anodes. Taking advantage of the interconnected nanoporous structure naturally existing in rice husks, the converted silicon exhibits excellent electrochemical performance as a lithium battery anode, suggesting that rice husks can be a massive resource for use in high-capacity lithium battery negative electrodes.

Distributed Fast Self-Organized Maps for Massive Spectrophotometric Data Analysis †.

PubMed

Dafonte, Carlos; Garabato, Daniel; Álvarez, Marco A; Manteiga, Minia

2018-05-03

Analyzing huge amounts of data becomes essential in the era of Big Data, where databases are populated with hundreds of Gigabytes that must be processed to extract knowledge. Hence, classical algorithms must be adapted towards distributed computing methodologies that leverage the underlying computational power of these platforms. Here, a parallel, scalable, and optimized design for self-organized maps (SOM) is proposed in order to analyze massive data gathered by the spectrophotometric sensor of the European Space Agency (ESA) Gaia spacecraft, although it could be extrapolated to other domains. The performance comparison between the sequential implementation and the distributed ones based on Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark is an important part of the work, as well as the detailed analysis of the proposed optimizations. Finally, a domain-specific visualization tool to explore astronomical SOMs is presented.

Gas hydrate accumulation at the Hakon Mosby Mud Volcano

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ginsburg, G.D.; Milkov, A.V.; Soloviev, V.A.; Egorov, A.V.; Cherkashev, G.A.; Vogt, P.R.; Crane, K.; Lorenson, T.D.; Khutorskoy, M.D.

1999-01-01

Gas hydrate (GH) accumulation is characterized and modeled for the Hakon Mosby mud volcano, ca. 1.5 km across, located on the Norway-Barents-Svalbard margin. Pore water chemical and isotopic results based on shallow sediment cores as well as geothermal and geomorphological data suggest that the GH accumulation is of a concentric pattern controlled by and formed essentially from the ascending mud volcano fluid. The gas hydrate content of sediment peaks at 25% by volume, averaging about 1.2% throughout the accumulation. The amount of hydrate methane is estimated at ca. 108 m3 STP, which could account for about 1-10% of the gas that has escaped from the volcano since its origin.

The presence of insect at composting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mudruňka, J.; Lyčková, B.; Kučerová, R.; Glogarová, V.; Závada, J.; Gibesová, B.; Takač, D.

2017-10-01

During composting biodegradable waste, microbic organisms reproduce massively, most of which belong to serious biopathogens which are able to penetrate various environmental layers. Their vector species include dipterous insect (Diptera) which reaches considerable amounts in composting plant premises as well as home composting units, mainly during summer months. Therefore measures must be taken to eliminate or reduce this unwanted phenomenon (sanitisation, disinfection). For evaluating obtained results, relative abundance calculation was chosen.

Implications of an Independent Kosovo for Russia’s Near Abroad

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-10-01

as Chair of the Standing Committee on International Law and Ethics of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine . He is admitted to...of Kosovar Albanians converted to Islam, while Serbs remained Serbian Orthodox. More than 500 years later, Serbia and Montenegro regained the...massive amounts of funding would be needed to build new plants and/or overhaul existing structures. Without final status resolution, investors are

Anatomy of an online misinformation network.

PubMed

Shao, Chengcheng; Hui, Pik-Mai; Wang, Lei; Jiang, Xinwen; Flammini, Alessandro; Menczer, Filippo; Ciampaglia, Giovanni Luca

2018-01-01

Massive amounts of fake news and conspiratorial content have spread over social media before and after the 2016 US Presidential Elections despite intense fact-checking efforts. How do the spread of misinformation and fact-checking compete? What are the structural and dynamic characteristics of the core of the misinformation diffusion network, and who are its main purveyors? How to reduce the overall amount of misinformation? To explore these questions we built Hoaxy, an open platform that enables large-scale, systematic studies of how misinformation and fact-checking spread and compete on Twitter. Hoaxy captures public tweets that include links to articles from low-credibility and fact-checking sources. We perform k-core decomposition on a diffusion network obtained from two million retweets produced by several hundred thousand accounts over the six months before the election. As we move from the periphery to the core of the network, fact-checking nearly disappears, while social bots proliferate. The number of users in the main core reaches equilibrium around the time of the election, with limited churn and increasingly dense connections. We conclude by quantifying how effectively the network can be disrupted by penalizing the most central nodes. These findings provide a first look at the anatomy of a massive online misinformation diffusion network.

Anatomy of an online misinformation network

PubMed Central

Wang, Lei; Jiang, Xinwen; Flammini, Alessandro; Ciampaglia, Giovanni Luca

2018-01-01

Massive amounts of fake news and conspiratorial content have spread over social media before and after the 2016 US Presidential Elections despite intense fact-checking efforts. How do the spread of misinformation and fact-checking compete? What are the structural and dynamic characteristics of the core of the misinformation diffusion network, and who are its main purveyors? How to reduce the overall amount of misinformation? To explore these questions we built Hoaxy, an open platform that enables large-scale, systematic studies of how misinformation and fact-checking spread and compete on Twitter. Hoaxy captures public tweets that include links to articles from low-credibility and fact-checking sources. We perform k-core decomposition on a diffusion network obtained from two million retweets produced by several hundred thousand accounts over the six months before the election. As we move from the periphery to the core of the network, fact-checking nearly disappears, while social bots proliferate. The number of users in the main core reaches equilibrium around the time of the election, with limited churn and increasingly dense connections. We conclude by quantifying how effectively the network can be disrupted by penalizing the most central nodes. These findings provide a first look at the anatomy of a massive online misinformation diffusion network. PMID:29702657

Impact of drought stress on specialised metabolism: Biosynthesis and the expression of monoterpene synthases in sage (Salvia officinalis).

PubMed

Radwan, Alzahraa; Kleinwächter, Maik; Selmar, Dirk

2017-09-01

In previous experiments, we demonstrated that the amount of monoterpenes in sage is increased massively by drought stress. Our current study is aimed to elucidate whether this increase is due, at least in part, to elevated activity of the monoterpene synthases responsible for the biosynthesis of essential oils in sage. Accordingly, the transcription rates of the monoterpene synthases were analyzed. Salvia officinalis plants were cultivated under moderate drought stress. The concentrations of monoterpenes as well as the expression of the monoterpene synthases were analyzed. The amount of monoterpenes massively increased in response to drought stress; it doubled after just two days of drought stress. The observed changes in monoterpene content mostly match with the patterns of monoterpene synthase expressions. The expression of bornyl diphosphate synthase was strongly up-regulated; its maximum level was reached after two days. Sabinene synthase increased gradually and reached a maximum after two weeks. In contrast, the transcript level of cineole synthase continuously declined. This study revealed that the stress related increase of biosynthesis is not only due to a "passive" shift caused by the stress related over-reduced status, but also is due - at least in part-to an "active" up-regulation of the enzymes involved. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

CD-ROM And Knowledge Integration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rann, Leonard S.

1988-06-01

As the title of this paper suggests, it is about CD-ROM technology and the structuring of massive databases. Even more, it is about the impact CD-ROM has had on the publication of massive amounts of information, and the unique qualities of the medium that allows for the most sophisticated computer retrieval techniques that have ever been used. I am not drawing on experience as a pedant in the educational field, but rather as a software and database designer who has worked with CD-ROM since its inception. I will be giving examples from my company's current applications, as well as discussing some of the challenges that face information publishers in the future. In particular I have a belief about what the most valuable outlet can be created using CD-ROM will be: The CD-ROM is particularly suited for the mass delivery of information systems and databases that either require or utilize a large amount of computational preprocessing to allow a real-time or interactive response to be achieved. Until the advent of CD-ROM technology this level of sophistication in publication was virtually impossible. I will further explain this later in this paper. First, I will discuss the salient features of CD-ROM that make it unique in the world of data storage for electronic publishing.

Enzymatic mechanism of oxalate production in the TCA and glyoxylate pathways using various isolates of Antrodia radiculosa

Treesearch

K.M. Jenkins; S.V. Diehl; C.A. Clausen; F. Green

2011-01-01

Brown-rot fungi produce oxalate in large amounts; however, levels of accumulation and function vary by species. Copper-tolerant fungi, like Antrodia radiculosa, produce and accumulate high levels of oxalate in response to copper. Oxalate biosynthesis in copper-tolerant fungi has been linked to the glyoxylate and tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycles. Within these two cycles...

PeakVizor: Visual Analytics of Peaks in Video Clickstreams from Massive Open Online Courses.

PubMed

Chen, Qing; Chen, Yuanzhe; Liu, Dongyu; Shi, Conglei; Wu, Yingcai; Qu, Huamin

2016-10-01

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) aim to facilitate open-access and massive-participation education. These courses have attracted millions of learners recently. At present, most MOOC platforms record the web log data of learner interactions with course videos. Such large amounts of multivariate data pose a new challenge in terms of analyzing online learning behaviors. Previous studies have mainly focused on the aggregate behaviors of learners from a summative view; however, few attempts have been made to conduct a detailed analysis of such behaviors. To determine complex learning patterns in MOOC video interactions, this paper introduces a comprehensive visualization system called PeakVizor. This system enables course instructors and education experts to analyze the "peaks" or the video segments that generate numerous clickstreams. The system features three views at different levels: the overview with glyphs to display valuable statistics regarding the peaks detected; the flow view to present spatio-temporal information regarding the peaks; and the correlation view to show the correlation between different learner groups and the peaks. Case studies and interviews conducted with domain experts have demonstrated the usefulness and effectiveness of PeakVizor, and new findings about learning behaviors in MOOC platforms have been reported.

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Transfer Tokens Repeatedly with a Partner to Accumulate Rewards in a Self-Control Task

PubMed Central

Parrish, Audrey E.; Perdue, Bonnie M.; Evans, Theodore A.; Beran, Michael J.

2013-01-01

There has been extensive research investigating self-control in humans and nonhuman animals, yet we know surprisingly little about how one’s social environment influences self-control. The present study examined the self-control of chimpanzees in a task that required active engagement with conspecifics. The task consisted of transferring a token back and forth with a partner animal in order to accumulate food rewards, one item per token transfer. Self-control was required because at any point in the trial, either chimpanzee could obtain their accumulated rewards, but doing so discontinued the food accumulation and ended the trial for both individuals. Chimpanzees readily engaged the task and accumulated the majority of available rewards before ending each trial, and they did so across a number of conditions that varied the identity of the partner, the presence/absence of the experimenter, and the means by which they could obtain rewards. A second experiment examined chimpanzees’ self-control when given the choice between immediately available food items and a potentially larger amount of rewards that could be obtained by engaging the token transfer task with a partner. Chimpanzees were flexible in their decision-making in this test, typically choosing the option representing the largest amount of food, even if it involved delayed accumulation of the rewards via the token transfer task. These results demonstrate that chimpanzees can exhibit self-control in situations involving social interactions, and they encourage further research into this important aspect of the self-control scenario. PMID:23381691

Biotransformation of ferulic acid to 4-vinylguaiacol by Enterobacter soli and E. aerogenes.

PubMed

Hunter, William J; Manter, Daniel K; van der Lelie, Daniel

2012-12-01

We investigated the conversion of ferulic acid to 4-vinylguaiacol (4-VG), vanillin, vanillyl alcohol, and vanillic acid by five Enterobacter strains. These high-value chemicals are usually synthesized by chemical methods but biological synthesis adds market value. Ferulic acid, a relatively inexpensive component of agricultural crops, is plentiful in corn hulls, cereal bran, and sugar-beet pulp. Two Enterobacter strains, E. soli, and E. aerogenes, accumulated 550-600 ppm amounts of 4-VG when grown in media containing 1,000 ppm ferulic acid; no accumulations were observed with the other strains. Decreasing the amount of ferulic acid present in the media increased the conversion efficiency. When ferulic acid was supplied in 500, 250, or 125 ppm amounts E. aerogenes converted ~72 % of the ferulic acid present to 4-VG while E. soli converted ~100 % of the ferulic acid to 4-VG when supplied with 250 or 125 ppm amounts of ferulic acid. Also, lowering the pH improved the conversion efficiency. At pH 5.0 E. aerogenes converted ~84 % and E. soli converted ~100 % of 1,000 ppm ferulic acid to 4-VG. Only small, 1-5 ppm, accumulations of vanillin, vanillyl alcohol, and vanillic acid were observed. E. soli has a putative phenolic acid decarboxylase (PAD) that is 168 amino acids long and is similar to PADs in other enterobacteriales; this protein is likely involved in the bioconversion of ferulic acid to 4-VG. E. soli or E. aerogenes might be useful as a means of biotransforming ferulic acid to 4-VG.

Biofilms' contribution to organic carbon in salt marsh sediments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valentine, K.; Quirk, T. E.; Mariotti, G.; Hotard, A.

2017-12-01

Coastal salt marshes are productive environments with high potential for carbon (C) accumulation. Organic C in salt marsh sediment is typically attributed to plant biomass. Recent field measurements, however, suggest that biofilms - mainly composed of benthic diatoms and their secretion - also contribute to basal C in these environments and can be important contributors to marsh productivity, C cycling, and potentially, C sequestration. The potential for biofilms to soil organic C and the influence of mineral sedimentation of biofilm-based C accumulation is unknown. We conducted controlled laboratory experiments to test (1) whether biofilms add measurable amounts of organic C to the sediment and (2) the effect of mineral sedimentation rate on the amount of biofilm-based C accumulation. Settled beds of pure bentonite mud were created in 10-cm-wide cylinders. Each cylinder was inoculated with biofilms collected from a marsh in Louisiana. A small amount of mud was added weekly for 11 weeks. Control experiments without biofilms were also performed. Biofilms were grown with a 12/12 hours cycle, with a gentle mixing of the water column that did not cause sediment resuspension, with a nutrient-rich medium that was exchanged weekly, and in the absence of metazoan grazing. At the end of the experiment, the sediment columns were analyzed for depth-integrated chl-a, loss on ignition (LOI), and total organic carbon (TOC). Chl-a values ranged from 26-113 mg/cm2, LOI values ranged from 86-456 g/m2/yr, and TOC values ranged from 31-211 g/m2/yr. All three of these metrics (chl-a, LOI, and TOC) increased with the rate of mineral sedimentation. These results show that biofilms, in the absence of erosion and grazing, can significantly contribute to C accumulation in salt marshes, especially with high rates of mineral sedimentation. Given the short time scale of the experiment, the increase in organic C accumulation with the rate of sedimentation is attributed to stimulated biofilm production rather than increased C preservation.

Astrophysics and Big Data: Challenges, Methods, and Tools

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garofalo, Mauro; Botta, Alessio; Ventre, Giorgio

2017-06-01

Nowadays there is no field research which is not flooded with data. Among the sciences, astrophysics has always been driven by the analysis of massive amounts of data. The development of new and more sophisticated observation facilities, both ground-based and spaceborne, has led data more and more complex (Variety), an exponential growth of both data Volume (i.e., in the order of petabytes), and Velocity in terms of production and transmission. Therefore, new and advanced processing solutions will be needed to process this huge amount of data. We investigate some of these solutions, based on machine learning models as well as tools and architectures for Big Data analysis that can be exploited in the astrophysical context.

Transfer of interferon alfa into human breast milk.

PubMed

Kumar, A R; Hale, T W; Mock, R E

2000-08-01

Originally assumed to be antiviral substances, the efficacy of interferons in a number of pathologies, including malignancies, multiple sclerosis, and other immune syndromes, is increasingly recognized. This study provides data on the transfer of interferon alfa (2B) into human milk of a patient receiving massive intravenous doses for the treatment of malignant melanoma. Following an intravenous dose of 30 million IU, the amount of interferon transferred into human milk was only slightly elevated (1551 IU/mL) when compared to control milk (1249 IU/mL). These data suggest that even following enormous doses, interferon is probably too large in molecular weight to transfer into human milk in clinically relevant amounts.

Ecoinformatics: supporting ecology as a data-intensive science.

PubMed

Michener, William K; Jones, Matthew B

2012-02-01

Ecology is evolving rapidly and increasingly changing into a more open, accountable, interdisciplinary, collaborative and data-intensive science. Discovering, integrating and analyzing massive amounts of heterogeneous data are central to ecology as researchers address complex questions at scales from the gene to the biosphere. Ecoinformatics offers tools and approaches for managing ecological data and transforming the data into information and knowledge. Here, we review the state-of-the-art and recent advances in ecoinformatics that can benefit ecologists and environmental scientists as they tackle increasingly challenging questions that require voluminous amounts of data across disciplines and scales of space and time. We also highlight the challenges and opportunities that remain. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Quality-Related Parameters in Mature Kernels of Polygalacturonase Inhibiting Protein (PGIP) Transgenic Bread Wheat Infected with Fusarium graminearum.

PubMed

Masci, Stefania; Laino, Paolo; Janni, Michela; Botticella, Ermelinda; Di Carli, Mariasole; Benvenuto, Eugenio; Danieli, Pier Paolo; Lilley, Kathryn S; Lafiandra, Domenico; D'Ovidio, Renato

2015-04-22

Fusarium head blight, caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum, has a detrimental effect on both productivity and qualitative properties of wheat. To evaluate its impact on wheat flour, we compared its effect on quality-related parameters between a transgenic bread wheat line expressing a bean polygalacturonase inhibiting protein (PGIP) and its control line. We have compared metabolic proteins, the amounts of gluten proteins and their relative ratios, starch content, yield, extent of pathogen contamination, and deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation. These comparisons showed that Fusarium significantly decreases the amount of starch in infected control plants, but not in infected PGIP plants. The flour of PGIP plants contained also a lower amount of pathogen biomass and DON accumulation. Conversely, both gluten and metabolic proteins were not significantly influenced either by the transgene or by fungal infection. These results indicate that the transgenic PGIP expression reduces the level of infection, without changing significantly the wheat seed proteome and other quality-related parameters.

Dual Mode NOx Sensor: Measuring Both the Accumulated Amount and Instantaneous Level at Low Concentrations

PubMed Central

Groß, Andrea; Beulertz, Gregor; Marr, Isabella; Kubinski, David J.; Visser, Jaco H.; Moos, Ralf

2012-01-01

The accumulating-type (or integrating-type) NOx sensor principle offers two operation modes to measure low levels of NOx: The direct signal gives the total amount dosed over a time interval and its derivative the instantaneous concentration. With a linear sensor response, no baseline drift, and both response times and recovery times in the range of the gas exchange time of the test bench (5 to 7 s), the integrating sensor is well suited to reliably detect low levels of NOx. Experimental results are presented demonstrating the sensor’s integrating properties for the total amount detection and its sensitivity to both NO and to NO2. We also show the correlation between the derivative of the sensor signal and the known gas concentration. The long-term detection of NOx in the sub-ppm range (e.g., for air quality measurements) is discussed. Additionally, a self-adaption of the measurement range taking advantage of the temperature dependency of the sensitivity is addressed. PMID:22736980

Global Protein Oxidation Profiling Suggests Efficient Mitochondrial Proteome Homeostasis During Aging*

PubMed Central

Ramallo Guevara, Carina; Philipp, Oliver; Hamann, Andrea; Werner, Alexandra; Osiewacz, Heinz D.; Rexroth, Sascha; Rögner, Matthias; Poetsch, Ansgar

2016-01-01

The free radical theory of aging is based on the idea that reactive oxygen species (ROS) may lead to the accumulation of age-related protein oxidation. Because themajority of cellular ROS is generated at the respiratory electron transport chain, this study focuses on the mitochondrial proteome of the aging model Podospora anserina as target for ROS-induced damage. To ensure the detection of even low abundant modified peptides, separation by long gradient nLC-ESI-MS/MS and an appropriate statistical workflow for iTRAQ quantification was developed. Artificial protein oxidation was minimized by establishing gel-free sample preparation in the presence of reducing and iron-chelating agents. This first large scale, oxidative modification-centric study for P. anserina allowed the comprehensive quantification of 22 different oxidative amino acid modifications, and notably the quantitative comparison of oxidized and nonoxidized protein species. In total 2341 proteins were quantified. For 746 both protein species (unmodified and oxidatively modified) were detected and the modification sites determined. The data revealed that methionine residues are preferably oxidized. Further prominent identified modifications in decreasing order of occurrence were carbonylation as well as formation of N-formylkynurenine and pyrrolidinone. Interestingly, for the majority of proteins a positive correlation of changes in protein amount and oxidative damage were noticed, and a general decrease in protein amounts at late age. However, it was discovered that few proteins changed in oxidative damage in accordance with former reports. Our data suggest that P. anserina is efficiently capable to counteract ROS-induced protein damage during aging as long as protein de novo synthesis is functioning, ultimately leading to an overall constant relationship between damaged and undamaged protein species. These findings contradict a massive increase in protein oxidation during aging and rather suggest a protein damage homeostasis mechanism even at late age. PMID:26884511

Accumulation of Astaxanthin by a New Haematococcus pluvialis Strain BM1 from the White Sea Coastal Rocks (Russia)

PubMed Central

Chekanov, Konstantin; Lobakova, Elena; Selyakh, Irina; Semenova, Larisa; Sidorov, Roman; Solovchenko, Alexei

2014-01-01

We report on a novel arctic strain BM1 of a carotenogenic chlorophyte from a coastal habitat with harsh environmental conditions (wide variations in solar irradiance, temperature, salinity and nutrient availability) identified as Haematococcus pluvialis Flotow. Increased (25‰) salinity exerted no adverse effect on the growth of the green BM1 cells. Under stressful conditions (high light, nitrogen and phosphorus deprivation), green vegetative cells of H. pluvialis BM1 grown in BG11 medium formed non-motile palmelloid cells and, eventually, hematocysts capable of a massive accumulation of the keto-carotenoid astaxanthin with a high nutraceutical and therapeutic potential. Routinely, astaxanthin was accumulated at the level of 4% of the cell dry weight (DW), reaching, under prolonged stress, 5.5% DW. Astaxanthin was predominantly accumulated in the form of mono- and diesters of fatty acids from C16 and C18 families. The palmelloids and hematocysts were characterized by the formation of red-colored cytoplasmic lipid droplets, increasingly large in size and number. The lipid droplets tended to merge and occupied almost the entire volume of the cell at the advanced stages of stress-induced carotenogenesis. The potential application of the new strain for the production of astaxanthin is discussed in comparison with the H. pluvialis strains currently employed in microalgal biotechnology. PMID:25196836

Metabolic and histological implications of intrahepatic triglyceride content in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

PubMed

Bril, Fernando; Barb, Diana; Portillo-Sanchez, Paola; Biernacki, Diane; Lomonaco, Romina; Suman, Amitabh; Weber, Michelle H; Budd, Jeffrey T; Lupi, Maria E; Cusi, Kenneth

2017-04-01

The cut-off point of intrahepatic triglyceride (IHTG) content to define nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS) was established based on the 95th percentile in a group of healthy individuals (i.e., ≥5.56%). Whether this threshold correlates with metabolic and histological changes and whether a further accumulation of IHTG is associated with worsening of these parameters has not been properly assessed in a large cohort of patients. In this cross-sectional study, 352 subjects were carefully characterized with the following studies: liver 1 H-MRS; euglycemic insulin clamp with measurement of glucose turnover; oral glucose tolerance test; and a liver biopsy. Hepatic insulin sensitivity (suppression of endogenous glucose production by insulin) was affected early on after IHTG content was ∼1.5% and remained uniformly impaired (∼40%-45%), regardless of further IHTG accumulation. Skeletal muscle insulin sensitivity showed a gradual impairment at low degrees of IHTG accumulation, but remained unchanged after IHTG content reached the ∼6 ± 2% threshold. A similar pattern was observed for metabolic changes typically associated with NAFLD, such as hypertriglyceridemia and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). In contrast, adipose tissue insulin sensitivity (suppression of free fatty acids by insulin) showed a continuous worsening across the spectrum of IHTG accumulation in NAFLD (r = -0.38; P < 0.001). Histological severity of liver disease (inflammation, ballooning, and fibrosis) was not associated with the amount of IHTG content. IHTG accumulation is strongly associated with adipose tissue insulin resistance (IR), supporting the current theory of lipotoxicity as a driver of IHTG accumulation. Once IHTG accumulation reaches ∼6 ± 2%, skeletal muscle IR, hypertriglyceridemia, and low HDL-C become fully established. Histological activity appears to have an early threshold and is not significantly influenced by increasing amounts of IHTG accumulation. (Hepatology 2017;65:1132-1144). © 2016 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Levels of small molecules and enzymes in the mother cell compartment and the forespore of sporulating Bacillus megaterium.

PubMed

Singh, R P; Setlow, B; Setlow, P

1977-06-01

We have determined the amounts of a number of small molecules and enzymes in the mother cell compartment and the developing forespore during sporulation of Bacillus megaterium. Significant amounts of adenosine 5'-triphosphate and reduced nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide were present in the forespore compartment before accumulation of dipicolinic acid (DPA), but these compounds disappeared as DPA was accumulated. 3-Phosphoglyceric acid (3-PGA) accumulated only within the developing forespore, beginning 1 to 2 h before DPA accumulation. Throughout its development the forespore contained constant levels of enzymes of both 3-PGA synthesis (phosphoglycerate kinase and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) and 3-PGA utilization (phosphoglycerate mutase, enolase, and pyruvate kinase) at levels similar to those in the mother cell and the dormant spore. Despite the presence of enzymes for 3-PGA utilization, this compound was stable within isolated forespores. Two acid-soluble proteins (A and B proteins) also accumulated only in the forespore, beginning 1 to 2 h before DPA accumulation. At this time the specific protease involved in degradation of the A and B proteins during germination also appeared, but only in the forespore compartment. Nevertheless, the A and B proteins were stable within isolated forespores. Arginine and glutamic acid accumulated within the forespore in parallel with DPA accumulation. The forespore also contained the enzyme arginase at a level similar to that in the mother cell and a level of glutamic acid decarboxylase 2- to 25-fold higher than that in the mother cell, depending on when in sporulation the forespores were isolated. The specific activities of several other enzymes (protease active on hemoglobin, ornithine transcarbamylase, malate dehydrogenase, aconitase, and isocitrate dehydrogenase) in forespores were about 10% or less of the values in the mother cell. Aminopeptidase was present at similar levels in both compartments; threonine deaminase was not found in either compartment.

[Migration in soil and accumulation in plants of peaceful nuclear explosion products in Perm region].

PubMed

Raskosha, N G; Shuktova, I I

2015-01-01

The data on the migration capacity in soil and accumulation of 238Pu, 239, 240Pu, 137Cs and 90Sr by plants in the area of a peaceful nuclear explosion located in the taiga zone are presented. The influence of the soil parameters on the distribution and transformation forms of the radionuclides in the podzolic soil profile was studied. The major amounts of man-made radionuclides were found in the matter of the ground lip. The accumulation parameters of pollutants by plants were the highest for the leaves, young branches and conifer of trees.

Accumulation of a 5’ proximal subgenomic RNA of Citrus tristeza virus is correlated with encapsidation by the minor coat protein

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

During replication, Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) produces large amounts of two unusual subgenomic (sg) RNAs that are positive-stranded and 5' -coterminal. Although these RNAs are produced in similar amounts and are similar in size, with LMT1 (~750 nt) only slightly larger than LMT2 (~650), we found ...

Abnormal Septation and Inhibition of Sporulation by Accumulation of l-α-Glycerophosphate in Bacillus subtilis Mutants

PubMed Central

Oh, Yong K.; Freese, Elisabeth B.; Freese, Ernst

1973-01-01

Accumulation of l-α-glycerophosphate, in cells of Bacillus subtilis mutants lacking the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-independent glycerophosphate dehydrogenase activity, suppresses both growth and sporulation. After growth has stopped, the cells slowly develop one and later more asymmetric septa that are thicker than normal prespore septa and apparently contain too much cell wall material to allow further membrane development into forespores or spores. l-Malate prevents accumulation of glycerophosphate and restores sporulation of the mutant. Glucose or gluconate cannot resotre sporulation, because they still effect glycerophosphate accumulation via de novo synthesis. If that accumulation is blocked in a double mutant, which is unable to make glycerophosphate from or to metabolize it into Embden-Meyerhof compounds, then nonsuppressing amounts of glucose or gluconate can restore sporulation. Images PMID:4632310

Searches for Kaluza-Klein graviton excitations and microscopic black holes with the aid of the CMS detector at the LHC

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Savina, M. V., E-mail: savina@cern.ch

2015-06-15

A survey of the results of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment that concern searches for massive Kaluza-Klein graviton excitations and microscopic black holes, quantum black holes, and string balls within models of low-energy multidimensional gravity is presented on behalf of the CMS Collaboration. The analysis in question is performed on the basis of a complete sample of data accumulated for proton-proton collisions at the c.m. energies of 7 and 8 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) over the period spanning 2010 and 2012.

Rectal ulcer in a patient with VZV sacral meningoradiculitis (Elsberg syndrome).

PubMed

Matsumoto, Hideyuki; Shimizu, Takahiro; Tokushige, Shin-ichi; Mizuno, Hideo; Igeta, Yukifusa; Hashida, Hideji

2012-01-01

This report describes the case of a 55-year-old woman with varicella-zoster virus (VZV) sacral meningoradiculitis (Elsberg syndrome) who presented with herpes zoster in the left S2 dermatome area, urinary retention, and constipation. Lumbar magnetic resonance imaging showed the left sacral nerve root swelling with enhancement. Thereafter, she suddenly showed massive hematochezia and hemorrhagic shock because of a rectal ulcer. To elucidate the relation between Elsberg syndrome and rectal ulcer, accumulation of similar cases is necessary. To avoid severe complications, attention must be devoted to the possibility of rectal bleeding in the early stage of Elsberg syndrome.

Astronomers Gain Important Insight on How Massive Stars Form

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2006-09-01

Astronomers using the National Science Foundation's Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope have discovered key evidence that may help them figure out how very massive stars can form. Young Star Graphic Artist's Conception of Young Star Showing Motions Detected in G24 A1: (1) Infall toward torus, (2) Rotation and (3) outflow. CREDIT: Bill Saxton, NRAO/AUI/NSF Click on image for larger graphic file (JPEG, 129K) "We think we know how stars like the Sun are formed, but there are major problems in determining how a star 10 times more massive than the Sun can accumulate that much mass. The new observations with the VLA have provided important clues to resolving that mystery," said Maria Teresa Beltran, of the University of Barcelona in Spain. Beltran and other astronomers from Italy and Hawaii studied a young, massive star called G24 A1 about 25,000 light-years from Earth. This object is about 20 times more massive than the Sun. The scientists reported their findings in the September 28 issue of the journal Nature. Stars form when giant interstellar clouds of gas and dust collapse gravitationally, compacting the material into what becomes the star. While astronomers believe they understand this process reasonably well for smaller stars, the theoretical framework ran into a hitch with larger stars. "When a star gets up to about eight times the mass of the Sun, it pours out enough light and other radiation to stop the further infall of material," Beltran explained. "We know there are many stars bigger than that, so the question is, how do they get that much mass?" One idea is that infalling matter forms a disk whirling around the star. With most of the radiation escaping without hitting the disk, material can continue to fall into the star from the disk. According to this model, some material will be flung outward along the rotation axis of the disk into powerful outflows. "If this model is correct, there should be material falling inward, rushing outward and rotating around the star all at the same time," Beltran said. "In fact, that's exactly what we saw in G24 A1. It's the first time all three types of motion have been seen in a single young massive star," she added. The scientists traced motions in gas around the young star by studying radio waves emitted by ammonia molecules at a frequency near 23 GHz. The Doppler shift in the frequency of the radio waves gave them the information on the motions of the gas. This technique allowed them to detect gas falling inward toward a large "doughnut," or torus, surrounding the disk presumed to be orbiting the young star. "Our detection of gas falling inward toward the star is an important milestone," Beltran said. The infall of the gas is consistent with the idea of material accreting onto the star in a non-spherical manner, such as in a disk. This supports that idea, which is one of several proposed ways for massive stars to accumulate their great bulk. Others include collisions of smaller stars. "Our findings suggest that the disk model is a plausible way to make stars up to 20 times the mass of the Sun. We'll continue to study G24 A1 and other objects to improve our understanding," Beltran said. Beltran worked with Riccardo Cesaroni and Leonardo Testi of the Astrophysical Observatory of Arcetri of INAF in Firenze, Italy, Claudio Codella and Luca Olmi of the Institute of Radioastronomy of INAF in Firenze, Italy, and Ray Furuya of the Japanese Subaru Telescope in Hawaii. The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.

Impurity transport during neutral beam injection in the ISX-B tokamak

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Isler, R. C.; Crume, E. C.; Arnurius, D. E.

1980-10-01

In ohmically heated ISX-B discharges, both the intrinsic iron impurity ions and small amounts of argon introduced as a test gas accumulate at the center of the plasma. But during certain beam-heated discharges, it appears that this accumulation does not take place. These results may reflect the conclusion of Stacey and Sigmar that momentum transferred from the beams to the plasma can inhibit inward impurity transport.

D-PSA-K: A Model for Estimating the Accumulated Potential Damage on Kiwifruit Canes Caused by Bacterial Canker during the Growing and Overwintering Seasons.

PubMed

Do, Ki Seok; Chung, Bong Nam; Joa, Jae Ho

2016-12-01

We developed a model, termed D-PSA-K, to estimate the accumulated potential damage on kiwifruit canes caused by bacterial canker during the growing and overwintering seasons. The model consisted of three parts including estimation of the amount of necrotic lesion in a non-frozen environment, the rate of necrosis increase in a freezing environment during the overwintering season, and the amount of necrotic lesion on kiwifruit canes caused by bacterial canker during the overwintering and growing seasons. We evaluated the model's accuracy by comparing the observed maximum disease incidence on kiwifruit canes against the damage estimated using weather and disease data collected at Wando during 1994-1997 and at Seogwipo during 2014-2015. For the Hayward cultivar, D-PSA-K estimated the accumulated damage as approximately nine times the observed maximum disease incidence. For the Hort16A cultivar, the accumulated damage estimated by D-PSA-K was high when the observed disease incidence was high. D-PSA-K could assist kiwifruit growers in selecting optimal sites for kiwifruit cultivation and establishing improved production plans by predicting the loss in kiwifruit production due to bacterial canker, using past weather or future climate change data.

Characterization of a salt-responsive 24-kilodalton glycoprotein in Mesembryanthemum crystallinum.

PubMed Central

Yen, H E; Edwards, G E; Grimes, H D

1994-01-01

A concanavalin A (Con A)-binding polypeptide with a molecular mass of 24 kD (termed "SRgp24") was associated with the intercellular space of Mesembryanthemum crystallinum L. callus. When callus was grown in medium containing between 0 and 100 mM NaCl, SRgp24 was detected by Con A binding. Increasing the NaCl concentration to 200 mM caused a reduction in the amount of SRgp24 within 3 d, and returning the callus to medium without salt resulted in an accumulation of SRgp24. Immunoblot analysis showed that appreciable amounts of SRgp24 accumulated in the leaves when plants were grown under sodium-limiting conditions. Unlike most of the cell-wall Con A-binding proteins in M. crystallinum callus, the carbohydrate moiety of SRgp24 was resistant to endoglycosidase H digestion. After purification of SRgp24, the N terminus was sequenced and found to share 55 to 60% identity with the N terminus of osmotin, a group 5 pathogenesis-related protein (PR-5) that accumulates in salt-adapted tobacco cell suspension. Immunocytochemical assays, with affinity-purified antibodies to SRgp24, indicated that SRgp24 preferentially accumulated in the cell-wall region. We conclude that SRgp24 is a salt-responsive glycoprotein related to the PR-5 family in M. crystallinum. PMID:7972493

A Lactobacillus mutant capable of accumulating long-chain polyphosphates that enhance intestinal barrier function.

PubMed

Saiki, Asako; Ishida, Yasuaki; Segawa, Shuichi; Hirota, Ryuichi; Nakamura, Takeshi; Kuroda, Akio

2016-05-01

Inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) was previously identified as a probiotic-derived substance that enhances intestinal barrier function. PolyP-accumulating bacteria are expected to have beneficial effects on the human gastrointestinal tract. In this study, we selected Lactobacillus paracasei JCM 1163 as a strain with the potential to accumulate polyP, because among the probiotic bacteria stored in our laboratory, it had the largest amount of polyP. The chain length of polyP accumulated in L. paracasei JCM 1163 was approximately 700 phosphate (Pi) residues. L. paracasei JCM 1163 accumulated polyP when Pi was added to Pi-starved cells. We further improved the ability of L. paracasei JCM 1163 to accumulate polyP by nitrosoguanidine mutagenesis. The mutant accumulated polyP at a level of 1500 nmol/mg protein-approximately 190 times that of the wild-type strain. PolyP extracted from the L. paracasei JCM 1163 significantly suppressed the oxidant-induced intestinal permeability in mouse small intestine. In conclusion, we have succeeded in breeding the polyP-accumulating Lactobacillus mutant that is expected to enhance intestinal barrier function.

Deposits from Creams Containing 20% (w/w) Urea and Suppression of Crystallization (Part 2): Novel Analytical Methods of Urea Accumulated in the Stratum Corneum by Tape stripping and Colorimetry.

PubMed

Goto, Norio; Morita, Yutaka; Terada, Katsuhide

2016-01-01

The transfer of urea from a urea formulation to the stratum corneum varies with the formulation base and form, and impacts the formulation's therapeutic effect. Consequently, determining the amount of urea transferred is essential for developing efficient formulations. This study assessed a simple method for measuring the amount of urea accumulated in the stratum corneum. Conventional methods rely on labeling urea used in the formulation with radiocarbon ((14)C) or other radioactive isotopes (RIs), retrieving the transferred urea from the stratum corneum by tape stripping, then quantitating the urea. The handling and use of RIs, however, is subject to legal regulation and can only be performed in sanctioned facilities, so methods employing RIs are neither simple nor convenient. We therefore developed a non-radiolabel method "tape stripping-colorimetry (T-C)" that combines tape stripping with colorimetry (urease-glutamate dehydrogenase (GLDH)) for the quantitative measurement of urea. Urea in the stratum corneum is collected by tape stripping and measured using urease-GLDH, which is commonly used to measure urea nitrogen in blood tests. The results indicate that accurate urea measurement by the T-C method requires the application of 1400 mg (on hairless rats) of a 20% urea solution on a 50 cm(2) (5×10 cm) area. Further, we determined the amount of urea accumulated in the stratum corneum using formulations with different urea concentrations, and the time course of urea accumulation from formulations differing in the rate of urea crystallization. We demonstrate that the T-C method is simple and convenient, with no need for (14)C or other RIs.

The effects of moderately high temperature on zeaxanthin accumulation and decay.

PubMed

Zhang, Ru; Kramer, David M; Cruz, Jeffrey A; Struck, Kimberly R; Sharkey, Thomas D

2011-09-01

Moderately high temperature reduces photosynthetic capacities of leaves with large effects on thylakoid reactions of photosynthesis, including xanthophyll conversion in the lipid phase of the thylakoid membrane. In previous studies, we have found that leaf temperature of 40°C increased zeaxanthin accumulation in dark-adapted, intact tobacco leaves following a brief illumination, but did not change the amount of zeaxanthin in light-adatped leaves. To investigate heat effects on zeaxanthin accumulation and decay, zeaxanthin level was monitored optically in dark-adapted, intact tobacco and Arabidopsis thaliana leaves at either 23 or 40°C under 45-min illumination. Heated leaves had more zeaxanthin following 3-min light but had less or comparable amounts of zeaxanthin by the end of 45 min of illumination. Zeaxanthin accumulated faster at light initiation and decayed faster upon darkening in leaves at 40°C than leaves at 23°C, indicating that heat increased the activities of both violaxanthin de-epoxidase (VDE) and zeaxanthin epoxidase (ZE). In addition, our optical measurement demonstrated in vivo that weak light enhances zeaxanthin decay relative to darkness in intact leaves of tobacco and Arabidopsis, confirming previous observations in isolated spinach chloroplasts. However, the maximum rate of decay is similar for weak light and darkness, and we used the maximum rate of decay following darkness as a measure of the rate of ZE during steady-state light. A simulation indicated that high temperature should cause a large shift in the pH dependence of the amount of zeaxanthin in leaves because of differential effects on VDE and ZE. This allows for the reduction in ΔpH caused by heat to be offset by increased VDE activity relative to ZE.

A chemical extraction method for mimicking bioavailability of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to wheat grown in soils containing various amounts of organic matter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shu Tao; Fuliu Xu; Wenxin Liu

Severe contamination of agricultural soils by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) occurs in many places in China mainly as a result of coal and biomass combustion. Because ingestion is the main source of human exposure to PAHs and vegetables are basic ingredients for the Chinese diet, it is important to know how and to what extent PAHs are accumulated in vegetables produced in contaminated soils. This study, evaluated the extent to which organic matter contents in soils influence the accumulation of PAHs by the roots of wheat plants and have developed a rapid chemical method for determining the bioavailability of PAH.more » Four PAHs, naphthalene, acenaphthylene, fluorene, and phenanthrene, were added to natural soil samples with different amounts of organic matter for pot experiments to evaluate apparent bioavailability of PAHs to wheat roots (Triticum aestivum L.). The extractabilities of PAHs in the soil were tested by a sequential extraction scheme using accelerated solvent extraction with water, n-hexane, and a mixture of dichloromethane and acetone as solvents. The water or n-hexane-extractable PAHs were positively correlated to dissolved organic matter (DOM) and negatively correlated to total organic matter (TOM), indicating mobilization and immobilization effects of DOM and TOM on soil PAHs, respectively. The apparent accumulation of PAHs by wheat roots was also positively and negatively correlated to DOM and TOM, respectively. As a result, there are positive correlations between the amounts of PAHs extracted by water or n-hexane and the quantities accumulated in plant roots, suggesting the feasibility of using water- or n-hexanes-extractable fractions as indicators of PAH availability to plants. 19 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab.« less

Openwebglobe 2: Visualization of Complex 3D-GEODATA in the (mobile) Webbrowser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Christen, M.

2016-06-01

Providing worldwide high resolution data for virtual globes consists of compute and storage intense tasks for processing data. Furthermore, rendering complex 3D-Geodata, such as 3D-City models with an extremely high polygon count and a vast amount of textures at interactive framerates is still a very challenging task, especially on mobile devices. This paper presents an approach for processing, caching and serving massive geospatial data in a cloud-based environment for large scale, out-of-core, highly scalable 3D scene rendering on a web based virtual globe. Cloud computing is used for processing large amounts of geospatial data and also for providing 2D and 3D map data to a large amount of (mobile) web clients. In this paper the approach for processing, rendering and caching very large datasets in the currently developed virtual globe "OpenWebGlobe 2" is shown, which displays 3D-Geodata on nearly every device.

UNDERSTANDING HOW PLANETS BECOME MASSIVE. I. DESCRIPTION AND VALIDATION OF A NEW TOY MODEL

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ormel, C. W.; Kobayashi, H., E-mail: ormel@astro.berkeley.edu, E-mail: hkobayas@nagoya-u.ac.jp

2012-03-10

The formation of giant planets requires the accumulation of {approx}10 Earth masses in solids; but how do protoplanets acquire their mass? There are many, often competing, processes that regulate the accretion rate of protoplanets. To assess their effects we present a new, publicly available toy model. The rationale behind the toy model is that it encompasses as many physically relevant processes as possible, but at the same time does not compromise its simplicity, speed, and physical insight. The toy model follows a modular structure, where key features-e.g., planetesimal fragmentation, radial orbital decay, nebula turbulence-can be switched on or off. Ourmore » model assumes three discrete components (fragments, planetesimals, and embryos) and is zero dimensional in space. We have tested the outcomes of the toy model against literature results and generally find satisfactory agreement. We include, for the first time, model features that capture the three-way interactions among small particles, gas, and protoplanets. Collisions among planetesimals will result in fragmentation, transferring a substantial amount of the solid mass to small particles, which couple strongly to the gas. Our results indicate that the efficiency of the accretion process then becomes very sensitive to the gas properties-especially to the turbulent state and the magnitude of the disk headwind (the decrease of the orbital velocity of the gas with respect to Keplerian)-as well as to the characteristic fragment size.« less

ChIP-PIT: Enhancing the Analysis of ChIP-Seq Data Using Convex-Relaxed Pair-Wise Interaction Tensor Decomposition.

PubMed

Zhu, Lin; Guo, Wei-Li; Deng, Su-Ping; Huang, De-Shuang

2016-01-01

In recent years, thanks to the efforts of individual scientists and research consortiums, a huge amount of chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq) experimental data have been accumulated. Instead of investigating them independently, several recent studies have convincingly demonstrated that a wealth of scientific insights can be gained by integrative analysis of these ChIP-seq data. However, when used for the purpose of integrative analysis, a serious drawback of current ChIP-seq technique is that it is still expensive and time-consuming to generate ChIP-seq datasets of high standard. Most researchers are therefore unable to obtain complete ChIP-seq data for several TFs in a wide variety of cell lines, which considerably limits the understanding of transcriptional regulation pattern. In this paper, we propose a novel method called ChIP-PIT to overcome the aforementioned limitation. In ChIP-PIT, ChIP-seq data corresponding to a diverse collection of cell types, TFs and genes are fused together using the three-mode pair-wise interaction tensor (PIT) model, and the prediction of unperformed ChIP-seq experimental results is formulated as a tensor completion problem. Computationally, we propose efficient first-order method based on extensions of coordinate descent method to learn the optimal solution of ChIP-PIT, which makes it particularly suitable for the analysis of massive scale ChIP-seq data. Experimental evaluation the ENCODE data illustrate the usefulness of the proposed model.

Reconstruction of dynamic structures of experimental setups based on measurable experimental data only

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Tian-Yu; Chen, Yang; Yang, Hu-Jiang; Xiao, Jing-Hua; Hu, Gang

2018-03-01

Nowadays, massive amounts of data have been accumulated in various and wide fields, it has become today one of the central issues in interdisciplinary fields to analyze existing data and extract as much useful information as possible from data. It is often that the output data of systems are measurable while dynamic structures producing these data are hidden, and thus studies to reveal system structures by analyzing available data, i.e., reconstructions of systems become one of the most important tasks of information extractions. In the past, most of the works in this respect were based on theoretical analyses and numerical verifications. Direct analyses of experimental data are very rare. In physical science, most of the analyses of experimental setups were based on the first principles of physics laws, i.e., so-called top-down analyses. In this paper, we conducted an experiment of “Boer resonant instrument for forced vibration” (BRIFV) and inferred the dynamic structure of the experimental set purely from the analysis of the measurable experimental data, i.e., by applying the bottom-up strategy. Dynamics of the experimental set is strongly nonlinear and chaotic, and itʼs subjects to inevitable noises. We proposed to use high-order correlation computations to treat nonlinear dynamics; use two-time correlations to treat noise effects. By applying these approaches, we have successfully reconstructed the structure of the experimental setup, and the dynamic system reconstructed with the measured data reproduces good experimental results in a wide range of parameters.

Characterization of iron oxide nanoparticle films at the air–water interface in Arctic tundra waters

DOE PAGES

Jubb, Aaron M.; Eskelsen, Jeremy R.; Yin, Xiangping Lisa; ...

2018-04-04

Here, massive amounts of organic carbon have accumulated in Arctic permafrost and soils due to anoxic and low temperature conditions that limit aerobic microbial respiration. Alternative electron acceptors are thus required for microbes to degrade organic carbon in these soils. Iron or iron oxides have been recognized to play an important role in carbon cycle processes in Arctic soils, although the exact form and role as an electron acceptor or donor remain poorly understood. Here, Arctic biofilms collected during the summers of 2016 and 2017 from tundra surface waters on the Seward Peninsula of western Alaska were characterized with amore » suite of microscopic and spectroscopic methods. We hypothesized that these films contain redox-active minerals bound to biological polymers. The major components of the films were found to be iron oxide nanoparticle aggregates associated with extracellular polymeric substances. The observed mineral phases varied between films collected in different years with magnetite (Fe 2+Fe 2 3+O 4) nanoparticles (<5 nm) predominantly identified in the 2016 films, while for films collected in 2017 ferrihydrite-like amorphous iron oxyhydroxides were found. While the exact formation mechanism of these Artic iron oxide films remains to be explored, the presence of magnetite and other iron oxide/oxyhydroxide nanoparticles at the air–water interface may represent a previously unknown source of electron acceptors for continual anaerobic microbial respiration of organic carbon within poorly drained Arctic tundra.« less

Distribution and assessment of Pb in the supergene environment of the Huainan Coal Mining Area, Anhui, China.

PubMed

Fang, Ting; Liu, Guijian; Zhou, Chuncai; Yuan, Zijiao; Lam, Paul Kwan Sing

2014-08-01

Coal mining area is highly subject to lead (Pb) pollution from coal mining activities. Several decades of coal mining and processing practices in dozens of coal mines in the Huainan Coal Mining Area (HCMA) have led to the accumulation of massive amounts of coal gangue, which piled in dumps. In order to investigate the impacts of coal gangue dumps on Pb level in the supergene media of the HCMA, a systematic sampling campaign comprising coal gangue, soil, wheat, and earthworm samples was conducted. The average Pb content in the coal mining area soil is 24 mg/kg, which is slightly higher than the associated coal gangues (23 mg/kg) and markedly higher than reference region soil (12.6 mg/kg). Soil in the HCMA present a slight to moderate Pb contamination, which might be related to the weathering and leaching of coal gangue dumps. Lateral distribution of Pb in HCMA soil differed among individual coal mines. The soil profile distribution of Pb depends on both natural and anthropogenic contributions. Average Pb content is higher in roots than in stems, leaves, and wheat husks, while the Pb level in seeds exceeded the maximum Pb allowance for foods (Maximum Levels of Contaminants in Foods of China, GB 2762-2012). Earthworms in the selected area are significantly enriched in Pb, suggesting higher bio-available Pb level in soil in the HCMA.

Polyarginine nanocapsules: a new platform for intracellular drug delivery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lozano, M. V.; Lollo, G.; Alonso-Nocelo, M.; Brea, J.; Vidal, A.; Torres, D.; Alonso, M. J.

2013-03-01

This report describes the development of a new nanocarrier, named as polyarginine (PArg) nanocapsules, specifically designed for overcoming cellular barriers. These nanocapsules are composed of an oily core and a PArg corona. The attachment of the PArg corona was mediated by its interaction with the oily core, which was conveniently stabilized with phosphatidylcholine. Hybrid PArg/PEG nanocapsules could also be obtained by introducing PEG-stearate in the nanocapsules formation process. The nanocapsules had an average size in the range of 120-160 nm, and a positive surface charge, which varied between +56 and +28 mV for PArg and PArg/PEG nanocapsules, respectively. They could accommodate significant amounts of lipophilic drugs, i.e., docetaxel, in their core, and also polar negatively charged molecules, i.e., plasmid DNA, on their coating. As a preliminary proof-of-principle, we explored the ability of these nanocarriers to enter cancer cells and to inhibit proliferation in the non-small cell lung cancer NCI-H460 cell line, using flow cytometry and confocal microscopy analysis. The results indicated that PArg nanocapsules are rapidly and massively accumulated into the NCI-H460 cells and that the PArg shell plays a critical role in the internalization process. Moreover, the incubation with docetaxel-loaded nanocapsules with NCI-H460 cells led to an enhanced inhibition of their proliferation, as compared to the free drug. Overall, this is the first report of the potential of PArg nanocapsules as intracellular drug delivery vehicles.

Characterization of iron oxide nanoparticle films at the air–water interface in Arctic tundra waters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jubb, Aaron M.; Eskelsen, Jeremy R.; Yin, Xiangping Lisa

Here, massive amounts of organic carbon have accumulated in Arctic permafrost and soils due to anoxic and low temperature conditions that limit aerobic microbial respiration. Alternative electron acceptors are thus required for microbes to degrade organic carbon in these soils. Iron or iron oxides have been recognized to play an important role in carbon cycle processes in Arctic soils, although the exact form and role as an electron acceptor or donor remain poorly understood. Here, Arctic biofilms collected during the summers of 2016 and 2017 from tundra surface waters on the Seward Peninsula of western Alaska were characterized with amore » suite of microscopic and spectroscopic methods. We hypothesized that these films contain redox-active minerals bound to biological polymers. The major components of the films were found to be iron oxide nanoparticle aggregates associated with extracellular polymeric substances. The observed mineral phases varied between films collected in different years with magnetite (Fe 2+Fe 2 3+O 4) nanoparticles (<5 nm) predominantly identified in the 2016 films, while for films collected in 2017 ferrihydrite-like amorphous iron oxyhydroxides were found. While the exact formation mechanism of these Artic iron oxide films remains to be explored, the presence of magnetite and other iron oxide/oxyhydroxide nanoparticles at the air–water interface may represent a previously unknown source of electron acceptors for continual anaerobic microbial respiration of organic carbon within poorly drained Arctic tundra.« less

Formation of Jupiter and Saturn

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; Young, Richard E. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

An overview of current theories of the formation of our Solar System, with emphasis on giant planets, is presented. The most detailed models are based upon observations of planets and smaller bodies within our own Solar System and of young stars and their environments. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth as do terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates. Larger disk mass allows for faster growth of solid planetary bodies. The ability of a solid planet to trap gas from the protoplanetary disk increases rapidly as its mass increases (because the depth of its gravitational potential well increases), but decreases as the planetesimal accretion rate is increased (as it becomes hotter). The net effect of increasing disk mass is that gas giant planets form more rapidly, but with larger core masses. Observations of circumstellar disks suggest an upper bound on the time available prior to dissipation of the gas, and planetary models place upper limits on core sizes. Together, these constraints suggest that Jupiter and Saturn formed in 1-10 million years, and the density of solids in the region of their formation was a few times as large as the lower bound provided by the traditional minimum mass nebula.

Formation of Jupiter and Saturn

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lissauer, Jack J.; DeVincenzi, Donald L. (Technical Monitor)

1998-01-01

An overview of current theories of the formation of our Solar System, with emphasis on giant planets, is presented. The most detailed models are based upon observations of planets and smaller bodies within our own Solar System and of young stars and their environments. Terrestrial planets are believed to grow via pairwise accretion until the spacing of planetary orbits becomes large enough that the configuration is stable for the age of the system. Giant planets begin their growth as do terrestrial planets, but they become massive enough that they are able to accumulate substantial amounts of gas before the protoplanetary disk dissipates. Larger disk mass allows for faster growth of solid planetary bodies. The ability of a solid planet to trap gas from the protoplanetary disk increases rapidly as its mass increases (because the depth of its gravitational potential well increases), but decreases as the planetesimal accretion rate is increased (as it becomes hotter). The net effect of increasing disk mass is that gas giant planets form more rapidly, but with larger core masses. Observations of circumstellar disks suggest an upper bound on the time available prior to dissipation of the gas, and planetary models place upper limits on core sizes. Together, these constraints suggest that Jupiter and Saturn formed in 1 - 10 million years, and the density of solids in the region of their formation was a few times as large as the lower bound provided by the traditional minimum mass nebula.

Sedimentology and genetic stratigraphy of Dean and Spraberry Formations (Permian), Midland basin, Texas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Handford, C.R.

1981-09-01

The Spraberry trend of west Texas, once known as the world's largest uneconomic oil field, will undoubtedly become an increasingly important objective for the development of enhanced oil recovery techniques in fine-grained, low-permeability, low-pressure reservoirs. As the trend expands, facies and stratigraphic data should be integrated into exploration strategies. The Spraberry and Dean Formations may be divided into three genetic sequences, each consisting of several hundred feet of interbedded shale and carbonate overlain by a roughly equal amount of sandstone and siltstone. These sequences record episodes of shelf-margin progradation, deep-water resedimentation of shelf-derived carbonate debris, followed by influxes of terrigenousmore » clastics into the basin by way of feeder channels or submarine canyons, and suspension settling of fine-grained sediment from the water column. Four lithofacies comprise the terrigenous clastics of the Spraberry and Dean Fomations: (1) cross-laminated, massive, and parallel-laminated sandstone, (2) laminated siltstone, (3) bioturbated siltstone, and (4) black, organic-rich shale. Carbonate lithofacies occur mostly in the form of thin-bedded turbidites, slump, and debris-flow deposits. Terrigenous clastic rocks display facies sequences, isopach patterns, and sedimentary structures suggestive of deposition from turbidity currents, and long-lived saline density underflow and interflow currents. Clastic isopach patterns reflect an overall southward thinning of clastics in the Midland basin. Channelized flow and suspension settling were responsible for the formation of elongate fan-shaped accumulations of clastic sediments.« less

Using SAR satellite data time series for regional glacier mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Winsvold, Solveig H.; Kääb, Andreas; Nuth, Christopher; Andreassen, Liss M.; van Pelt, Ward J. J.; Schellenberger, Thomas

2018-03-01

With dense SAR satellite data time series it is possible to map surface and subsurface glacier properties that vary in time. On Sentinel-1A and RADARSAT-2 backscatter time series images over mainland Norway and Svalbard, we outline how to map glaciers using descriptive methods. We present five application scenarios. The first shows potential for tracking transient snow lines with SAR backscatter time series and correlates with both optical satellite images (Sentinel-2A and Landsat 8) and equilibrium line altitudes derived from in situ surface mass balance data. In the second application scenario, time series representation of glacier facies corresponding to SAR glacier zones shows potential for a more accurate delineation of the zones and how they change in time. The third application scenario investigates the firn evolution using dense SAR backscatter time series together with a coupled energy balance and multilayer firn model. We find strong correlation between backscatter signals with both the modeled firn air content and modeled wetness in the firn. In the fourth application scenario, we highlight how winter rain events can be detected in SAR time series, revealing important information about the area extent of internal accumulation. In the last application scenario, averaged summer SAR images were found to have potential in assisting the process of mapping glaciers outlines, especially in the presence of seasonal snow. Altogether we present examples of how to map glaciers and to further understand glaciological processes using the existing and future massive amount of multi-sensor time series data.

Dual influence of colloidal silica on skin deposition of vitamins C and E simultaneously incorporated in topical microemulsions.

PubMed

Rozman, Branka; Gosenca, Mirjam; Gasperlin, Mirjana; Padois, Karine; Falson, Franciose

2010-07-01

Colloidal silica is the thickener of interest for topical formulations and can therefore be used to optimize the viscosity of both hydrophilic and lipophilic microemulsions (MEs). To the best of our knowledge, no information is available about the effect of topically applied colloidal silica on skin penetration of drugs. So, our aim was to determine its influence on the effectiveness of ME in the simultaneous delivery of vitamins C and E to the skin. Two different aspects of silica possible function were investigated. Its effects on formulation characteristics were studied by determination of partition coefficient of the vitamins, their solubility and release profile. The direct impact of silica on the skin was further evaluated by transepidermal water loss measurements, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and cell toxicity determination (MTT assay). The addition of colloidal silica to ME was shown to increase significantly the vitamins' solubility and their partition to the phase in which they were less soluble. Its presence also increased the amount of both vitamins in epidermis, which was confirmed by release studies. Furthermore, we demonstrated that colloidal silica interacts with excised skin. It decreased transepidermal water loss, probably by retaining water in the stratum corneum because of its massive accumulation in the upper layers, as revealed by SEM. The results confirmed that addition of colloidal silica in ME simultaneously loaded with vitamins C and E enhanced vitamins' skin bioavailability by its dual influence on delivery characteristics of ME as well as on skin properties.

Anoxic monimolimnia: Nutrients devious feeders or bombs ready to explode?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gianni, Areti; Zacharias, Ierotheos

2015-04-01

Coastal regions are under strong human influence and its environmental impact is reflected into their water quality. Oligotrophic estuaries and coastal systems have changed in mesotrophic and/or eutrophic, shown an increase in toxic algal blooms, hypoxic/anoxic events, and massive mortalities of many aquatic and benthic organisms. In strongly stratified and productive water basins, bottom water dissolved oxygen is depleted due to the excessive organic matter decomposition in these depths. Distribution and recycling of nutrients in their water column is inextricably dependent on oxygenation and redox conditions. Bottom water anoxia accelerates PO43-, NH4+ and H2S recycling and accumulation from organic matter decomposition. The anoxic, H2S, PO43- and NH4+ rich bottom water constitutes a toxic layer, threatening the balance of the entire ecosystem. In permanently stratified water basins, storm events could result in stratification destruction and water column total mixing. The turnover brings large amounts of H2S to the surface resulting in low levels of oxygen and massive fish kills. PO43- and NH4+ are released to the interface and surface waters promoting algal blooms. Μore organic matter is produced fueling anoxia. The arising question is, whether the balance of an anoxic water ecosystem is under the threat of its hypolimnetic nutrient and sulfide load, only in the case of storm events and water column total mixing. In polymictic water basins it is clear that the accumulated, in the bottom layer, nutrients will supply surface waters, after the pycnocline overturn. Besides this mechanism of basins' water quality degradation is nowadays recognized as one of the biggest obstacles in eutrophic environments management and restoration efforts. The role of internal load, in permanently stratified water basins, is not so clear. In the present study the impact of storm events on water column stability and bottom water anoxia of meromictic coastal basins, is investigated. The importance of internal load is emerged, presenting the disturbance on the main nutrients, dissolved oxygen, hydrogen sulfide and chlorophyll distribution, caused by the total water column mixing. Additionally, the relationship between temporal nutrients variations in surface layers, of permanent anoxic coastal basins with a) changes on the physicochemical characteristics of their water column, b) changes on the bottom water phosphorus and nitrogen concentration and c) their effect on the basin's primary productivity, is sought. In order to achieve the objectives of this study, two different sets of Aitoliko basin's (western Greece) data were used. The first one includes measurements of physicochemical parameters, nutrients, chlorophyll and hydrogen sulfide, four days after a storm event and the consequent anoxic crisis in Aitoliko basin on 4th of December 2008. The second one contains respective data obtained from a biennial (May 2006-May 2008) basin's monitoring. The changes in the physical, chemical and biological characteristics, of Aitoliko basin water column, after its total mixing, highlighted the importance of the accumulated nutrients and sulfides in the bottom layer. In addition, turned out that bottom layer can supply with nutrients the surface waters, even during periods of high water column stratification. Small scale, subtle, changes in physicochemical and hydrological basin's characteristics promoted this supply, affecting both quantitative and qualitative the ecosystem's primary productivity and shifting its quality character.

[The importance of genealogy applied to genetic research in Costa Rica].

PubMed

Meléndez Obando, Mauricio O

2004-09-01

The extensive development of genealogical studies based on archival documents has provided powerful support for genetic research in Costa Rica over the past quarter century. As a result, several questions of population history have been answered, such as those involving hereditary illnesses, suggesting additional avenues and questions as well. Similarly, the preservation of massive amounts of historical documentation highlights the major advantages that the Costa Rican population offers to genetic research.

Journal of Special Operations Medicine. Volume 7, Edition 4, Fall 2007

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-01-01

which demonstrated massive amounts of pericardial fat , but no blood (a false positive FAST). Exploratory laparatomy revealed a catastrophic supra...ARTERIAL GAS EMBOLISM An additional concern in the unconscious diver is barotrauma and arterial gas embolism (AGE). Boyle’s law states that as pressure...ment in 32 cases of air embolism (abs). Proceedings: Joint Meeting on Diving andHyperbaric Medicine, 11-18 August. Amsterdam, The Netherlands, pg. 90. 13

Litterfall Production Prior to and during Hurricanes Irma and Maria in Four Puerto Rican Forests

Treesearch

Xianbin Liu; Xiucheng Zeng; Xiaoming Zou; Grizelle González; Chao Wang; Si Yang

2018-01-01

Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck Puerto Rico on the 6th and 20th of September 2017, respectively. These two powerful Cat 5 hurricanes severely defoliated forest canopy and deposited massive amounts of litterfall in the forests across the island. We established a 1-ha research plot in each of four forests (Guánica State Forest, Río Abajo State Forest, Guayama Research...

14. Photographic copy of photograph, dated 21 July 1971 (original ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

14. Photographic copy of photograph, dated 21 July 1971 (original print in possession of U.S. Space & Strategic Defense Command Historic Office CSSD-HO, Huntsville, AL). Photographer unknown. View of missile site control building turret wall during early construction, illustrating the massive amount of rebar utilized in the project. - Stanley R. Mickelsen Safeguard Complex, Missile Site Control Building, Northeast of Tactical Road; southeast of Tactical Road South, Nekoma, Cavalier County, ND

The shadow world of superstring theories

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kolb, E. W.; Turner, M. S.; Seckel, D.

1985-01-01

Some possible astrophysical and cosmological implications of 'shadow matter', a form of matter which only interacts gravitationally with ordinary matter and which may or may not be identical in its properties to ordinary matter, are considered. The possible existence, amount, and location of shadow matter in the solar system are discussed, and the significance of shadow matter for primordial nucleosynthesis, macroscopic asymmetry, baryogenesis, double-bubble inflation, and asymmetric microphysics is addressed. Massive shadow states are discussed.

America’s Achilles Heel: Defense Against High-altitude Electromagnetic Pulse-policy vs. Practice

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-12

Directives SCADA Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems SHIELD Act Secure High-voltage Infrastructure for Electricity from Lethal Damage Act...take place, it is important to understand the effects of the components of EMP from a high-altitude nuclear detonation. The requirements for shielding ...Mass Ejection (CME). A massive, bubble-shaped burst of plasma expanding outward from the Sun’s corona, in which large amounts of superheated

Colestipol

MedlinePlus

... used with diet changes (restriction of cholesterol and fat intake) to reduce the amount of cholesterol and ... substances in your blood. Accumulation of cholesterol and fats along the walls of your arteries (a process ...

Mucolipidoses

MedlinePlus

... materials within cells. In ML, abnormal amounts of carbohydrates and fatty materials (lipids) accumulate in cells. Because ... roles is to pick up substances such as carbohydrates and lipids and break them down into smaller ...

A paradigm shift towards low-nitrifying production systems: the role of biological nitrification inhibition (BNI).

PubMed

Subbarao, G V; Sahrawat, K L; Nakahara, K; Rao, I M; Ishitani, M; Hash, C T; Kishii, M; Bonnett, D G; Berry, W L; Lata, J C

2013-07-01

Agriculture is the single largest geo-engineering initiative that humans have initiated on planet Earth, largely through the introduction of unprecedented amounts of reactive nitrogen (N) into ecosystems. A major portion of this reactive N applied as fertilizer leaks into the environment in massive amounts, with cascading negative effects on ecosystem health and function. Natural ecosystems utilize many of the multiple pathways in the N cycle to regulate N flow. In contrast, the massive amounts of N currently applied to agricultural systems cycle primarily through the nitrification pathway, a single inefficient route that channels much of this reactive N into the environment. This is largely due to the rapid nitrifying soil environment of present-day agricultural systems. In this Viewpoint paper, the importance of regulating nitrification as a strategy to minimize N leakage and to improve N-use efficiency (NUE) in agricultural systems is highlighted. The ability to suppress soil nitrification by the release of nitrification inhibitors from plant roots is termed 'biological nitrification inhibition' (BNI), an active plant-mediated natural function that can limit the amount of N cycling via the nitrification pathway. The development of a bioassay using luminescent Nitrosomonas to quantify nitrification inhibitory activity from roots has facilitated the characterization of BNI function. Release of BNIs from roots is a tightly regulated physiological process, with extensive genetic variability found in selected crops and pasture grasses. Here, the current status of understanding of the BNI function is reviewed using Brachiaria forage grasses, wheat and sorghum to illustrate how BNI function can be utilized for achieving low-nitrifying agricultural systems. A fundamental shift towards ammonium (NH4(+))-dominated agricultural systems could be achieved by using crops and pastures with high BNI capacities. When viewed from an agricultural and environmental perspective, the BNI function in plants could potentially have a large influence on biogeochemical cycling and closure of the N loop in crop-livestock systems.

A paradigm shift towards low-nitrifying production systems: the role of biological nitrification inhibition (BNI)

PubMed Central

Subbarao, G. V.; Sahrawat, K. L.; Nakahara, K.; Rao, I. M.; Ishitani, M.; Hash, C. T.; Kishii, M.; Bonnett, D. G.; Berry, W. L.; Lata, J. C.

2013-01-01

Background Agriculture is the single largest geo-engineering initiative that humans have initiated on planet Earth, largely through the introduction of unprecedented amounts of reactive nitrogen (N) into ecosystems. A major portion of this reactive N applied as fertilizer leaks into the environment in massive amounts, with cascading negative effects on ecosystem health and function. Natural ecosystems utilize many of the multiple pathways in the N cycle to regulate N flow. In contrast, the massive amounts of N currently applied to agricultural systems cycle primarily through the nitrification pathway, a single inefficient route that channels much of this reactive N into the environment. This is largely due to the rapid nitrifying soil environment of present-day agricultural systems. Scope In this Viewpoint paper, the importance of regulating nitrification as a strategy to minimize N leakage and to improve N-use efficiency (NUE) in agricultural systems is highlighted. The ability to suppress soil nitrification by the release of nitrification inhibitors from plant roots is termed ‘biological nitrification inhibition’ (BNI), an active plant-mediated natural function that can limit the amount of N cycling via the nitrification pathway. The development of a bioassay using luminescent Nitrosomonas to quantify nitrification inhibitory activity from roots has facilitated the characterization of BNI function. Release of BNIs from roots is a tightly regulated physiological process, with extensive genetic variability found in selected crops and pasture grasses. Here, the current status of understanding of the BNI function is reviewed using Brachiaria forage grasses, wheat and sorghum to illustrate how BNI function can be utilized for achieving low-nitrifying agricultural systems. A fundamental shift towards ammonium (NH4+)-dominated agricultural systems could be achieved by using crops and pastures with high BNI capacities. When viewed from an agricultural and environmental perspective, the BNI function in plants could potentially have a large influence on biogeochemical cycling and closure of the N loop in crop–livestock systems. PMID:23118123

The radiation asymmetry in MGI rapid shutdown on J-TEXT tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tong, Ruihai; Chen, Zhongyong; Huang, Duwei; Cheng, Zhifeng; Zhang, Xiaolong; Zhuang, Ge; J-TEXT Team

2017-10-01

Disruptions, the sudden termination of tokamak fusion plasmas by instabilities, have the potential to cause severe material wall damage to large tokamaks like ITER. The mitigation of disruption damage is an essential part of any fusion reactor system. Massive gas injection (MGI) rapid shutdown is a technique in which large amounts of noble gas are injected into the plasma in order to safely radiate the plasma energy evenly over the entire plasma-facing first wall. However, the radiated energy during the thermal quench (TQ) in massive gas injection (MGI) induced disruptions is found toroidal asymmetric, and the degrees of asymmetry correlate with the gas penetration and MGI induced magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) activities. A toroidal and poloidal array of ultraviolet photodiodes (AXUV) has been developed to investigate the radiation asymmetry on J-TEXT tokamak. Together with the upgraded mirnov probe arrays, the relation between MGI triggered MHD activities with radiation asymmetry is studied.

Minimization of Roll Firings for Optimal Propellant Maneuvers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leach, Parker C.

Attitude control of the International Space Station (ISS) is critical for operations, impacting power, communications, and thermal systems. The station uses gyroscopes and thrusters for attitude control, and reorientations are normally assisted by thrusters on docked vehicles. When the docked vehicles are unavailable, the reduction in control authority in the roll axis results in frequent jet firings and massive fuel consumption. To improve this situation, new guidance and control schemes are desired that provide control with fewer roll firings. Optimal control software was utilized to solve for potential candidates that satisfied desired conditions with the goal of minimizing total propellant. An ISS simulation too was then used to test these solutions for feasibility. After several problem reformulations, multiple candidate solutions minimizing or completely eliminating roll firings were found. Flight implementation would not only save massive amounts of fuel and thus money, but also reduce ISS wear and tear, thereby extending its lifetime.

Template based parallel checkpointing in a massively parallel computer system

DOEpatents

Archer, Charles Jens [Rochester, MN; Inglett, Todd Alan [Rochester, MN

2009-01-13

A method and apparatus for a template based parallel checkpoint save for a massively parallel super computer system using a parallel variation of the rsync protocol, and network broadcast. In preferred embodiments, the checkpoint data for each node is compared to a template checkpoint file that resides in the storage and that was previously produced. Embodiments herein greatly decrease the amount of data that must be transmitted and stored for faster checkpointing and increased efficiency of the computer system. Embodiments are directed to a parallel computer system with nodes arranged in a cluster with a high speed interconnect that can perform broadcast communication. The checkpoint contains a set of actual small data blocks with their corresponding checksums from all nodes in the system. The data blocks may be compressed using conventional non-lossy data compression algorithms to further reduce the overall checkpoint size.

Continuous and massive intake of chitosan affects mineral and fat-soluble vitamin status in rats fed on a high-fat diet.

PubMed

Deuchi, K; Kanauchi, O; Shizukuishi, M; Kobayashi, E

1995-07-01

We investigated the effects of continuous and massive intake of chitosan with sodium ascorbate (AsN) on the mineral and the fat-soluble vitamin status in male Sprague-Dawley rats fed on a high-fat diet. The apparent fat digestibility in the chitosan-receiving group was significantly lower than that in the cellulose- or glucosamine-receiving group. Chitosan feeding for 2 weeks caused a decrease in mineral absorption and bone mineral content, and it was necessary to administer twice the amount of Ca in the AIN-76 formula, which was supplemented with AsN, to prevent such a decrease in the bone mineral content. Moreover, the ingestion of chitosan along with AsN led to a marked and rapid decrease in the serum vitamin E level, while such a loss in vitamin E was not observed for rats given glucosamine monomer instead of chitosan.

Data, Meet Compute: NASA's Cumulus Ingest Architecture

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Quinn, Patrick

2018-01-01

NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) houses nearly 30PBs of critical Earth Science data and with upcoming missions is expected to balloon to between 200PBs-300PBs over the next seven years. In addition to the massive increase in data collected, researchers and application developers want more and faster access - enabling complex visualizations, long time-series analysis, and cross dataset research without needing to copy and manage massive amounts of data locally. NASA has looked to the cloud to address these needs, building its Cumulus system to manage the ingest of diverse data in a wide variety of formats into the cloud. In this talk, we look at what Cumulus is from a high level and then take a deep dive into how it manages complexity and versioning associated with multiple AWS Lambda and ECS microservices communicating through AWS Step Functions across several disparate installations

Roadmap of optical communications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agrell, Erik; Karlsson, Magnus; Chraplyvy, A. R.; Richardson, David J.; Krummrich, Peter M.; Winzer, Peter; Roberts, Kim; Fischer, Johannes Karl; Savory, Seb J.; Eggleton, Benjamin J.; Secondini, Marco; Kschischang, Frank R.; Lord, Andrew; Prat, Josep; Tomkos, Ioannis; Bowers, John E.; Srinivasan, Sudha; Brandt-Pearce, Maïté; Gisin, Nicolas

2016-06-01

Lightwave communications is a necessity for the information age. Optical links provide enormous bandwidth, and the optical fiber is the only medium that can meet the modern society's needs for transporting massive amounts of data over long distances. Applications range from global high-capacity networks, which constitute the backbone of the internet, to the massively parallel interconnects that provide data connectivity inside datacenters and supercomputers. Optical communications is a diverse and rapidly changing field, where experts in photonics, communications, electronics, and signal processing work side by side to meet the ever-increasing demands for higher capacity, lower cost, and lower energy consumption, while adapting the system design to novel services and technologies. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this rich research field, Journal of Optics has invited 16 researchers, each a world-leading expert in their respective subfields, to contribute a section to this invited review article, summarizing their views on state-of-the-art and future developments in optical communications.

Grid Computing for Earth Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Renard, Philippe; Badoux, Vincent; Petitdidier, Monique; Cossu, Roberto

2009-04-01

The fundamental challenges facing humankind at the beginning of the 21st century require an effective response to the massive changes that are putting increasing pressure on the environment and society. The worldwide Earth science community, with its mosaic of disciplines and players (academia, industry, national surveys, international organizations, and so forth), provides a scientific basis for addressing issues such as the development of new energy resources; a secure water supply; safe storage of nuclear waste; the analysis, modeling, and mitigation of climate changes; and the assessment of natural and industrial risks. In addition, the Earth science community provides short- and medium-term prediction of weather and natural hazards in real time, and model simulations of a host of phenomena relating to the Earth and its space environment. These capabilities require that the Earth science community utilize, both in real and remote time, massive amounts of data, which are usually distributed among many different organizations and data centers.

cGMP accumulation causes photoreceptor degeneration in CNG channel deficiency: evidence of cGMP cytotoxicity independently of enhanced CNG channel function.

PubMed

Xu, Jianhua; Morris, Lynsie; Thapa, Arjun; Ma, Hongwei; Michalakis, Stylianos; Biel, Martin; Baehr, Wolfgang; Peshenko, Igor V; Dizhoor, Alexander M; Ding, Xi-Qin

2013-09-11

Photoreceptor cyclic nucleotide-gated (CNG) channels regulate Ca(2+) influx in rod and cone photoreceptors. cGMP, the native ligand of the photoreceptor CNG channels, has been associated with cytotoxicity when its levels rise above normal due to defects in photoreceptor phosphodiesterase (PDE6) or regulation of retinal guanylyl cyclase (retGC). We found a massive accumulation of cGMP in CNGA3-deficient retina and investigated whether cGMP accumulation plays a role in cone degeneration in CNG channel deficiency. The time course study showed that the retinal cGMP level in Cnga3(-/-);Nrl(-/-) mice with CNGA3 deficiency on a cone-dominant background was sharply increased at postnatal day 8 (P8), peaked around P10-P15, remained high through P30-P60, and returned to near control level at P90. This elevation pattern correlated with photoreceptor apoptotic death, which peaked around P15-P20. In Cnga3(-/-);Gucy2e(-/-) mice lacking retGC1, cone density and expression levels of cone-specific proteins were significantly increased compared with Cnga3(-/-), consistent with a role of cGMP accumulation as the major contributor to cone death caused by CNG channel deficiency. The activity and expression levels of cGMP-dependent protein kinase G (PKG) were significantly increased in Cnga3(-/-);Nrl(-/-) retina compared with Nrl(-/-), suggesting an involvement of PKG regulation in cell death. Our results indicate that cGMP accumulation in photoreceptors can itself exert cytotoxic effect in cones, independently of CNG channel activity and Ca(2+) influx.

Comparison Analysis of Coal Biodesulfurization and Coal's Pyrite Bioleaching with Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans

PubMed Central

Hong, Fen-Fen; He, Huan; Liu, Jin-Yan; Tao, Xiu-Xiang; Zheng, Lei; Zhao, Yi-Dong

2013-01-01

Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans (A. ferrooxidans) was applied in coal biodesulfurization and coal's pyrite bioleaching. The result showed that A. ferrooxidans had significantly promoted the biodesulfurization of coal and bioleaching of coal's pyrite. After 16 days of processing, the total sulfur removal rate of coal was 50.6%, and among them the removal of pyritic sulfur was up to 69.9%. On the contrary, after 12 days of processing, the coal's pyrite bioleaching rate was 72.0%. SEM micrographs showed that the major pyrite forms in coal were massive and veinlets. It seems that the bacteria took priority to remove the massive pyrite. The sulfur relative contents analysis from XANES showed that the elemental sulfur (28.32%) and jarosite (18.99%) were accumulated in the biotreated residual coal. However, XRD and XANES spectra of residual pyrite indicated that the sulfur components were mainly composed of pyrite (49.34%) and elemental sulfur (50.72%) but no other sulfur contents were detected. Based on the present results, we speculated that the pyrite forms in coal might affect sulfur biooxidation process. PMID:24288464

Data informatics for the Detection, Characterization, and Attribution of Climate Extremes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collins, W.; Wehner, M. F.; O'Brien, T. A.; Paciorek, C. J.; Krishnan, H.; Johnson, J. N.; Prabhat, M.

2015-12-01

The potential for increasing frequency and intensity of extremephenomena including downpours, heat waves, and tropical cyclonesconstitutes one of the primary risks of climate change for society andthe environment. The challenge of characterizing these risks is thatextremes represent the "tails" of distributions of atmosphericphenomena and are, by definition, highly localized and typicallyrelatively transient. Therefore very large volumes of observationaldata and projections of future climate are required to quantify theirproperties in a robust manner. Massive data analytics are required inorder to detect individual extremes, accumulate statistics on theirproperties, quantify how these statistics are changing with time, andattribute the effects of anthropogenic global warming on thesestatistics. We describe examples of the suite of techniques the climate communityis developing to address these analytical challenges. The techniquesinclude massively parallel methods for detecting and trackingatmospheric rivers and cyclones; data-intensive extensions togeneralized extreme value theory to summarize the properties ofextremes; and multi-model ensembles of hindcasts to quantify theattributable risk of anthropogenic influence on individual extremes.We conclude by highlighting examples of these methods developed by ourCASCADE (Calibrated and Systematic Characterization, Attribution, andDetection of Extremes) project.

[Intrauterine fetal therapy of NIHF with massive pleural effusion - a case study].

PubMed

Sobczuk, Kamila; Wojtera, Justyna; Celewicz, Zbigniew; Szaflik, Krzysztof

2013-05-01

Hydrops fetalis (fetal hydrops) is a serious fetal condition defined as abnormal accumulation of fluid in two or more extravascular compartments, including ascites, pleural effusion, pericardial effusion, and skin edema. Edema is classified as immune or non-immune. Today more than 90% of fetal edema has non-immune cause. This paper presents a case of a pregnant woman who was admitted to the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department because of fetal hydrops with massive pleural effusion and polyhydramnios at 34 weeks gestation. The intrauterine therapy consisted of two treatments. During the first surgery amnioreduction, evacuation of fluid from the pleural cavity of the fetus, and shunts to both pleural cavities were performed. During the second surgery amnioreduction, cordocentesis with albumin administration and pleural shunt were performed. Intrauterine therapy led to a reduction of swelling of the fetus from 7mm up to 1-2 mm and the total evacuation of fluid from the pleural cavity and the fetal lung expansion. We also present the condition of the neonate after birth and after 12 months of life.

Biomagnetic Recovery and Bioaccumulation of Selenium Granules in Magnetotactic Bacteria.

PubMed

Tanaka, Masayoshi; Knowles, William; Brown, Rosemary; Hondow, Nicole; Arakaki, Atsushi; Baldwin, Stephen; Staniland, Sarah; Matsunaga, Tadashi

2016-07-01

Using microorganisms to remove waste and/or neutralize pollutants from contaminated water is attracting much attention due to the environmentally friendly nature of this methodology. However, cell recovery remains a bottleneck and a considerable challenge for the development of this process. Magnetotactic bacteria are a unique group of organisms that can be manipulated by an external magnetic field due to the presence of biogenic magnetite crystals formed within their cells. In this study, we demonstrated an account of accumulation and precipitation of amorphous elemental selenium nanoparticles within magnetotactic bacteria alongside and independent of magnetite crystal biomineralization when grown in a medium containing selenium oxyanion (SeO3 (2-)). Quantitative analysis shows that magnetotactic bacteria accumulate the largest amount of target molecules (Se) per cell compared with any other previously reported nonferrous metal/metalloid. For example, 2.4 and 174 times more Se is accumulated than Te taken up into cells and Cd(2+) adsorbed onto the cell surface, respectively. Crucially, the bacteria with high levels of Se accumulation were successfully recovered with an external magnetic field. The biomagnetic recovery and the effective accumulation of target elements demonstrate the potential for application in bioremediation of polluted water. The development of a technique for effective environmental water remediation is urgently required across the globe. A biological remediation process of waste removal and/or neutralization of pollutant from contaminated water using microorganisms has great potential, but cell recovery remains a bottleneck. Magnetotactic bacteria synthesize magnetic particles within their cells, which can be recovered by a magnetic field. Herein, we report an example of accumulation and precipitation of amorphous elemental selenium nanoparticles within magnetotactic bacteria independent of magnetic particle synthesis. The cells were able to accumulate the largest amount of Se compared to other foreign elements. More importantly, the Se-accumulating bacteria were successfully recovered with an external magnetic field. We believe magnetotactic bacteria confer unique advantages of biomagnetic cell recovery and of Se accumulation, providing a new and effective methodology for bioremediation of polluted water. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Tobacco streak virus (strain dahlia) suppresses post-transcriptional gene silencing of flavone synthase II in black dahlia cultivars and causes a drastic flower color change.

PubMed

Deguchi, Ayumi; Tatsuzawa, Fumi; Hosokawa, Munetaka; Doi, Motoaki; Ohno, Sho

2015-09-01

Tobacco streak virus suppressed post-transcriptional gene silencing and caused a flower color change in black dahlias, which supported the role of cyanidin-based anthocyanins for black flower appearance. Black flower color of dahlia (Dahlia variabilis) has been attributed, in part, to the high accumulation of cyanidin-based anthocyanins that occurs when flavone synthesis is reduced because of post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) of flavone synthase II (DvFNS). There are also purple-flowering plants that have emerged from a black cultivar 'Kokucho'. We report that the purple color is not caused by a mutation, as previously thought, but by infection with tobacco streak virus (TSVdahlia), which suppresses the PTGS of DvFNS. When TSVdahlia was eliminated from the purple-flowering 'Kokucho' by leaf primordia-free shoot apical meristem culture, the resulting flowers were black. TSVdahlia-infected purple flowers had lower numbers of siRNAs to DvFNS than black flowers, suggesting that TSVdahlia has a silencing suppressor. The graft inoculation of other black cultivars with TSVdahlia altered their flower color drastically except for 'Fidalgo Blacky', a very deep black cultivar with the highest amount of cyanidin-based anthocyanins. The flowers of all six TSVdahlia-infected cultivars accumulated increased amounts of flavones and reduced amounts of cyanidin-based anthocyanins. 'Fidalgo Blacky' remained black despite the change in pigment accumulation, and the amounts of cyanidin-based anthocyanins in its TSVdahlia-infected plants were still higher than those of other cultivars. We propose that black flower color in dahlia is controlled by two different mechanisms that increase the amount of cyanidin-based anthocyanins: DvFNS PTGS-dependent and -independent mechanisms. If both mechanisms occur simultaneously, the flower color will be blacker than if only a single mechanism is active.

Probing young drinking water biofilms with hard and soft particles.

PubMed

Paris, Tony; Skali-Lami, Salaheddine; Block, Jean-Claude

2009-01-01

The aim of our study was to investigate, through the use of soft (Escherichia coli) and hard (polystyrene microspheres) particles, the distribution and persistence of allochthonous particles inoculated in drinking water flow chambers. Biofilms were allowed to grow for 7-10 months in tap water from Nancy's drinking water network and were composed of bacterial aggregates and filamentous fungi. Both model particles adhered almost exclusively on the biofilms (i.e. on the bacterial aggregates and on the filamentous structures) and not directly on the uncolonized walls (glass or Plexiglas). Biofilm age (i.e. bacterial density and biofilm properties) and convective-diffusion were found to govern particle accumulation: older biofilms and higher wall shear rates both increased the velocity and the amount of particle deposition on the biofilm. Persistence of the polystyrene particles was measured over a two-month period after inoculation. Accumulation amounts were found to be very different between hard and soft particles as only 0.03 per thousand of the soft particles inoculated accumulated in the biofilm against 0.3-0.8% for hard particles.

Massive transfusion: an overview of the main characteristics and potential risks associated with substances used for correction of a coagulopathy.

PubMed

Seghatchian, Jerard; Samama, Meyer Michel

2012-10-01

Massive transfusion (MT) is an empiric mode of treatment advocated for uncontrolled bleeding and massive haemorrhage, aiming at optimal resuscitation and aggressive correction of coagulopathy. Conventional guidelines recommend early administration of crystalloids and colloids in conjunction with red cells, where the red cell also plays a critical haemostatic function. Plasma and platelets are only used in patients with microvascular bleeding with PT/APTT values >1.5 times the normal values and if PLT counts are below 50×10(9)/L. Massive transfusion carries a significant mortality rate (40%), which increases with the number of volume expanders and blood components transfused. Controversies still exist over the optimal ratio of blood components with respect to overall clinical outcomes and collateral damage. While inadequate transfusion is believed to be associated with poor outcomes but empirical over transfusion results in unnecessary donor exposure with an increased rate of sepsis, transfusion overload and infusion of variable amounts of some biological response modifiers (BRMs), which have the potential to cause additional harm. Alternative strategies, such as early use of tranexamic acid are helpful. However in trauma settings the use of warm fresh whole blood (WFWB) instead of reconstituted components with a different ratio of stored components might be the most cost effective and safer option to improve the patient's survival rate and minimise collateral damage. This manuscript, after a brief summary of standard medical intervention in massive transfusion focuses on the main characteristics of various substances currently available to overcome massive transfusion coagulopathy. The relative levels of some BRMs in fresh and aged blood components of the same origin are highlighted and some myths and unresolved issues related to massive transfusion practice are discussed. In brief, the coagulopathy in MT is a complex phenomenon, often complicated by chronic activation of coagulation, platelets, complement and vascular endothelial cells, where haemolysis, microvesiculation, exposure of phosphatidyl serine positive cells, altered red cells with reduced adhesive proteins and the presence of some BRM, could play a pivotal role in the coagulopathy and untoward effects. The challenges of improving the safety of massive transfusion remain as numerous and as varied as ever. The answer may reside in appropriate studies on designer whole blood, combined with new innovative tools to diagnosis a coagulopathy and an evidence based mode of therapy to establish the optimal survival benefit of patients, always taking into account the concept of harm reduction and reduction of collateral damage. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Role of Cations in Accumulation and Release of Phosphate by Acinetobacter Strain 210A

PubMed Central

van Groenestijn, Johan W.; Vlekke, Gerard J. F. M.; Anink, Désirée M. E.; Deinema, Maria H.; Zehnder, Alexander J. B.

1988-01-01

Cells of the strictly aerobic Acinetobacter strain 210A, containing aerobically large amounts of polyphosphate (100 mg of phosphorus per g [dry weight] of biomass), released in the absence of oxygen 1.49 mmol of Pi, 0.77 meq of Mg2+, 0.48 meq of K+, 0.02 meq of Ca2+, and 0.14 meq of NH4+ per g (dry weight) of biomass. The drop in pH during this anaerobic phase was caused by the release of 1.8 protons per PO43− molecule. Cells of Acinetobacter strain 132, which do not accumulate polyphosphate aerobically, released only 0.33 mmol of Pi and 0.13 meq of Mg2+ per g (dry weight) of biomass but released K+ in amounts comparable to those released by strain 210A. Stationary-phase cultures of Acinetobacter strain 210A, in which polyphosphate could not be detected by Neisser staining, aerobically took up phosphate simultaneously with Mg2+, the most important counterion in polyphosphate. In the absence of dissolved phosphate in the medium, no Mg2+ was taken up. Cells containing polyphosphate granules were able to grow in a Mg-free medium, whereas cells without these granules were not. Mg2+ was not essential as a counterion because it could be replaced by Ca2+. The presence of small amounts of K+ was essential for polyphosphate formation in cells of strain 210A. During continuous cultivation under K+ limitation, cells of Acinetobacter strain 210A contained only 14 mg of phosphorus per g (dry weight) of biomass, whereas this element was accumulated in amounts of 59 mg/g under substrate limitation and 41 mg/g under Mg2+ limitation. For phosphate uptake in activated sludge, the presence of K+ seemed to be crucial. PMID:16347788

26 CFR 1.662(a)-1 - Inclusion of amounts in gross income of beneficiaries of estates and complex trusts; general.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 8 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Inclusion of amounts in gross income of beneficiaries of estates and complex trusts; general. 1.662(a)-1 Section 1.662(a)-1 Internal Revenue INTERNAL...) Estates and Trusts Which May Accumulate Income Or Which Distribute Corpus § 1.662(a)-1 Inclusion of...

26 CFR 1.662(a)-1 - Inclusion of amounts in gross income of beneficiaries of estates and complex trusts; general.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 8 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Inclusion of amounts in gross income of beneficiaries of estates and complex trusts; general. 1.662(a)-1 Section 1.662(a)-1 Internal Revenue INTERNAL...) Estates and Trusts Which May Accumulate Income Or Which Distribute Corpus § 1.662(a)-1 Inclusion of...

26 CFR 1.662(a)-1 - Inclusion of amounts in gross income of beneficiaries of estates and complex trusts; general.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 8 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Inclusion of amounts in gross income of beneficiaries of estates and complex trusts; general. 1.662(a)-1 Section 1.662(a)-1 Internal Revenue INTERNAL...) Estates and Trusts Which May Accumulate Income Or Which Distribute Corpus § 1.662(a)-1 Inclusion of...

26 CFR 1.662(a)-1 - Inclusion of amounts in gross income of beneficiaries of estates and complex trusts; general.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 26 Internal Revenue 8 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Inclusion of amounts in gross income of beneficiaries of estates and complex trusts; general. 1.662(a)-1 Section 1.662(a)-1 Internal Revenue INTERNAL...) Estates and Trusts Which May Accumulate Income Or Which Distribute Corpus § 1.662(a)-1 Inclusion of...

Term Cancellations in Computing Floating-Point Gröbner Bases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sasaki, Tateaki; Kako, Fujio

We discuss the term cancellation which makes the floating-point Gröbner basis computation unstable, and show that error accumulation is never negligible in our previous method. Then, we present a new method, which removes accumulated errors as far as possible by reducing matrices constructed from coefficient vectors by the Gaussian elimination. The method manifests amounts of term cancellations caused by the existence of approximate linearly dependent relations among input polynomials.

The Livermore Brain: Massive Deep Learning Networks Enabled by High Performance Computing

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Barry Y.

The proliferation of inexpensive sensor technologies like the ubiquitous digital image sensors has resulted in the collection and sharing of vast amounts of unsorted and unexploited raw data. Companies and governments who are able to collect and make sense of large datasets to help them make better decisions more rapidly will have a competitive advantage in the information era. Machine Learning technologies play a critical role for automating the data understanding process; however, to be maximally effective, useful intermediate representations of the data are required. These representations or “features” are transformations of the raw data into a form where patternsmore » are more easily recognized. Recent breakthroughs in Deep Learning have made it possible to learn these features from large amounts of labeled data. The focus of this project is to develop and extend Deep Learning algorithms for learning features from vast amounts of unlabeled data and to develop the HPC neural network training platform to support the training of massive network models. This LDRD project succeeded in developing new unsupervised feature learning algorithms for images and video and created a scalable neural network training toolkit for HPC. Additionally, this LDRD helped create the world’s largest freely-available image and video dataset supporting open multimedia research and used this dataset for training our deep neural networks. This research helped LLNL capture several work-for-others (WFO) projects, attract new talent, and establish collaborations with leading academic and commercial partners. Finally, this project demonstrated the successful training of the largest unsupervised image neural network using HPC resources and helped establish LLNL leadership at the intersection of Machine Learning and HPC research.« less

Enabling Graph Appliance for Genome Assembly

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Singh, Rina; Graves, Jeffrey A; Lee, Sangkeun

2015-01-01

In recent years, there has been a huge growth in the amount of genomic data available as reads generated from various genome sequencers. The number of reads generated can be huge, ranging from hundreds to billions of nucleotide, each varying in size. Assembling such large amounts of data is one of the challenging computational problems for both biomedical and data scientists. Most of the genome assemblers developed have used de Bruijn graph techniques. A de Bruijn graph represents a collection of read sequences by billions of vertices and edges, which require large amounts of memory and computational power to storemore » and process. This is the major drawback to de Bruijn graph assembly. Massively parallel, multi-threaded, shared memory systems can be leveraged to overcome some of these issues. The objective of our research is to investigate the feasibility and scalability issues of de Bruijn graph assembly on Cray s Urika-GD system; Urika-GD is a high performance graph appliance with a large shared memory and massively multithreaded custom processor designed for executing SPARQL queries over large-scale RDF data sets. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no research on representing a de Bruijn graph as an RDF graph or finding Eulerian paths in RDF graphs using SPARQL for potential genome discovery. In this paper, we address the issues involved in representing a de Bruin graphs as RDF graphs and propose an iterative querying approach for finding Eulerian paths in large RDF graphs. We evaluate the performance of our implementation on real world ebola genome datasets and illustrate how genome assembly can be accomplished with Urika-GD using iterative SPARQL queries.« less

ACCUMULATION OF RADIOCESIUM BY MUSHROOMS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: A LITERATURE REVIEW

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Duff, M

2007-05-28

During the last 50 years, a large amount of information on radionuclide accumulators or ''sentinel-type'' organisms in the environment has been published. Much of this work focused on the risks of food-chain transfer of radionuclides to higher organisms such as reindeer and man. However, until the 1980's and 1990's, there has been little published data on the radiocesium ({sup 134}Cs and {sup 137}Cs) accumulation by mushrooms. This presentation will consist of a review of the published data for {sup 134,137}Cs accumulation by mushrooms in nature. This review will discuss the aspects that promote {sup 134,137}Cs uptake by mushrooms and focusmore » on mushrooms that demonstrate a large propensity for use in the environmental biomonitoring of radiocesium contamination. It will also provide descriptions of habitats for many of these mushrooms and discuss on how growth media and other conditions relate to Cs accumulation.« less

Deregulation of versican and elastin binding protein in solar elastosis.

PubMed

Knott, Anja; Reuschlein, Katja; Lucius, Ralph; Stäb, Franz; Wenck, Horst; Gallinat, Stefan

2009-04-01

Several changes in skin appearance including loss of elasticity and wrinkle formation are associated with alterations in the composition of the dermal extracellular matrix. They are induced by intrinsic aging or by environmental factors such as UV light referred to as photoaging. A general characteristic in the histology of photoaged skin is the accumulation of elastotic material suggesting impaired formation and/or massive breakdown of elastic fibres. In order to shed light on some of the underlying mechanisms we tracked two of the major players in elastic fibre formation in different skin conditions: EBP (elastin binding protein), a regulator of elastic fibre assembly and VER (versican), a component of functional elastic fibres as well as non-functional elastotic material. Using quantitative RT-PCR on skin biopsies we found that the expression levels of VER and EBP were unaltered during intrinsic skin aging. Upon acute UV stress however, VER and EBP showed different regulation patterns: VER mRNA increased after 6 h and was further up-regulated until 24 h. The EBP mRNA by contrast was reduced after 6 h but showed massive induction at 24 h after acute UV stress. In chronically sun-exposed skin, VER protein was accumulated similar to elastotic material in the extracellular space, whereas its mRNA level was consistently reduced compared to sun-protected skin. The EBP mRNA by contrast showed slightly increased expression levels in the sun-exposed area compared to its sun-protected counterpart. Based on these data we propose a model which may help to explain parts of the mechanisms leading to the formation of elastotic masses. We further hypothesize that the presence of elastotic material triggers some yet unknown feedback mechanism(s) resulting in altered expression patterns of VER and EBP in chronically sun-exposed skin.

Regional Mapping and Resource Assessment of Shallow Gas Hydrates of Japan Sea - METI Launched 3 Years Project in 2013.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matsumoto, R.

2014-12-01

Agency of Natural Resources and Energy of METI launched a 3 years shallow gas hydrate exploration project in 2013 to make a precise resource assessment of shallow gas hydrates in the eastern margin of Japan Sea and around Hokkaido. Shallow gas hydrates of Japan Sea occur in fine-grained muddy sediments of shallow subsurface of mounds and gas chimneys in the form of massive nodular to platy accumulation. Gas hydrate bearing mounds are often associated with active methane seeps, bacterial mats and carbonate concretions and pavements. Gases of gas hydrates are derived either from deep thermogenic, shallow microbial or from the mixed gases, contrasting with totally microbial deep-seated stratigraphically controlled hydrates. Shallow gas hydrates in Japan Sea have not been considered as energy resource due to its limited distribution in narrow Joetsu basin. However recently academic research surveys have demonstrated regional distribution of gas chimney and hydrate mound in a number of sedimentary basins along the eastern margin of Japan Sea. Regional mapping of gas chimney and hydrate mound by means of MBES and SBP surveys have confirmed that more than 200 gas chimneys exist in 100 km x 100 km area. ROV dives have identified dense accumulation of hydrates on the wall of half collapsed hydrate mound down to 30 mbsf. Sequential LWD and shallow coring campaign in the Summer of 2014, R/V Hakurei, which is equipped with Fugro Seacore R140 drilling rig, drilled through hydrate mounds and gas chimneys down to the BGHS (base of gas hydrate stability) level and successfully recovered massive gas hydrates bearing sediments from several horizons.

Expression of γ-tocopherol methyltransferase in chloroplasts results in massive proliferation of the inner envelope membrane and decreases susceptibility to salt and metal-induced oxidative stress by reducing reactive oxygen species

PubMed Central

Jin, Shuangxia; Daniell, Henry

2014-01-01

Summary The γ-tocopherol methyltransferase (γ-TMT) is an important enzyme regulating synthesis of four tocopherols (α, γ, β and δ). In this report, we investigated the role of γ-TMT in regulating abiotic stress within chloroplasts. The At γ-tmt overexpressed via the tobacco chloroplast genome accumulated up to 7.7% of the total leaf protein, resulting in massive proliferation of the inner envelope membrane (IEM, up to 8 layers). Such high level expression of γ-TMT converted most of γ-tocopherol to α-tocopherol in transplastomic seeds (~10 fold higher) in the absence of abiotic stress. When grown in 400 mM NaCl, α-tocopherol content in transplastomic TMT leaves increased up to 8.2-fold and 2.4-fold higher than wild-type leaves. Likewise, under heavy metal stress α-tocopherol content in the TMT leaves increased up to 7.5-fold, twice higher than in the wild-type. Under extreme salt stress, the wild-type accumulated higher starch and total soluble sugars but TMT plants were able to regulate sugar transport. Hydrogen peroxide and superoxide content in wild-type increased up to 3-fold within 48 hours of NaCl stress when compared to TMT plants. The ion leakage from TMT leaves was significantly less than wild-type plants under abiotic stress and with less malondialdehyde, indicating lower lipid peroxidation. Taken together, these studies show that α-tocopherol plays a crucial role in the alleviation of salt and heavy metal stresses by decreasing ROS, lipid peroxidation and ion leakage, in addition to enhancing vitamin E conversion. Increased proliferation of the IEM should facilitate studies on retrograde signaling from chloroplast to the nucleus. PMID:25051898

Marine debris accumulation in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: an examination of rates and processes.

PubMed

Dameron, Oliver J; Parke, Michael; Albins, Mark A; Brainard, Russell

2007-04-01

Large amounts of derelict fishing gear accumulate and cause damage to shallow coral reefs of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). To facilitate maintenance of reefs cleaned during 1996-2005 removal efforts, we identify likely high-density debris areas by assessing reef characteristics (depth, benthic habitat type, and energy regime) that influence sub-regional debris accumulation. Previously cleaned backreef and lagoonal reefs at two NWHI locations were resurveyed for accumulated debris using two survey methods. Accumulated debris densities and weights were found to be greater in lagoonal reef areas. Sample weight-based debris densities are extrapolated to similar habitats throughout the NWHI using a spatial 'net habitat' dataset created by generalizing IKONOS satellite derivatives for depth and habitat classification. Prediction accuracy for this dataset is tested using historical debris point data. Annual NWHI debris accumulation is estimated to be 52.0 metric tonnes. For planning purposes, individual NWHI atolls/reefs are allotted a proportion of this total.

Genomewide analysis of Drosophila circular RNAs reveals their structural and sequence properties and age-dependent neural accumulation

PubMed Central

Westholm, Jakub O.; Miura, Pedro; Olson, Sara; Shenker, Sol; Joseph, Brian; Sanfilippo, Piero; Celniker, Susan E.; Graveley, Brenton R.; Lai, Eric C.

2014-01-01

Circularization was recently recognized to broadly expand transcriptome complexity. Here, we exploit massive Drosophila total RNA-sequencing data, >5 billion paired-end reads from >100 libraries covering diverse developmental stages, tissues and cultured cells, to rigorously annotate >2500 fruitfly circular RNAs. These mostly derive from back-splicing of protein-coding genes and lack poly(A) tails, and circularization of hundreds of genes is conserved across multiple Drosophila species. We elucidate structural and sequence properties of Drosophila circular RNAs, which exhibit commonalities and distinctions from mammalian circles. Notably, Drosophila circular RNAs harbor >1000 well-conserved canonical miRNA seed matches, especially within coding regions, and coding conserved miRNA sites reside preferentially within circularized exons. Finally, we analyze the developmental and tissue specificity of circular RNAs, and note their preferred derivation from neural genes and enhanced accumulation in neural tissues. Interestingly, circular isoforms increase dramatically relative to linear isoforms during CNS aging, and constitute a novel aging biomarker. PMID:25544350

Was the extreme and wide-spread marine oil-snow sedimentation and flocculent accumulation (MOSSFA) event during the Deepwater Horizon blow-out unique?

PubMed

Vonk, Sophie M; Hollander, David J; Murk, AlberTinka J

2015-11-15

During the Deepwater Horizon blowout, thick layers of oiled material were deposited on the deep seafloor. This large scale benthic concentration of oil is suggested to have occurred via the process of Marine Oil Snow Sedimentation and Flocculent Accumulation (MOSSFA). This meta-analysis investigates whether MOSSFA occurred in other large oil spills and identifies the main drivers of oil sedimentation. MOSSFA was found to have occurred during the IXTOC I blowout and possibly during the Santa Barbara blowout. Unfortunately, benthic effects were not sufficiently studied for the 52 spills we reviewed. However, based on the current understanding of drivers involved, we conclude that MOSSFA and related benthic contamination may be widespread. We suggest to collect and analyze sediment cores at specific spill locations, as improved understanding of the MOSSFA process will allow better informed spill responses in the future, taking into account possible massive oil sedimentation and smothering of (deep) benthic ecosystems. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Genome-wide Analysis of Drosophila Circular RNAs Reveals Their Structural and Sequence Properties and Age-Dependent Neural Accumulation

DOE PAGES

Westholm, Jakub  O.; Miura, Pedro; Olson, Sara; ...

2014-11-26

Circularization was recently recognized to broadly expand transcriptome complexity. Here, we exploit massive Drosophila total RNA-sequencing data, >5 billion paired-end reads from >100 libraries covering diverse developmental stages, tissues, and cultured cells, to rigorously annotate >2,500 fruit fly circular RNAs. These mostly derive from back-splicing of protein-coding genes and lack poly(A) tails, and the circularization of hundreds of genes is conserved across multiple Drosophila species. We elucidate structural and sequence properties of Drosophila circular RNAs, which exhibit commonalities and distinctions from mammalian circles. Notably, Drosophila circular RNAs harbor >1,000 well-conserved canonical miRNA seed matches, especially within coding regions, and codingmore » conserved miRNA sites reside preferentially within circularized exons. Finally, we analyze the developmental and tissue specificity of circular RNAs and note their preferred derivation from neural genes and enhanced accumulation in neural tissues. Interestingly, circular isoforms increase substantially relative to linear isoforms during CNS aging and constitute an aging biomarker.« less

Genome-wide Analysis of Drosophila Circular RNAs Reveals Their Structural and Sequence Properties and Age-Dependent Neural Accumulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Westholm, Jakub  O.; Miura, Pedro; Olson, Sara

Circularization was recently recognized to broadly expand transcriptome complexity. Here, we exploit massive Drosophila total RNA-sequencing data, >5 billion paired-end reads from >100 libraries covering diverse developmental stages, tissues, and cultured cells, to rigorously annotate >2,500 fruit fly circular RNAs. These mostly derive from back-splicing of protein-coding genes and lack poly(A) tails, and the circularization of hundreds of genes is conserved across multiple Drosophila species. We elucidate structural and sequence properties of Drosophila circular RNAs, which exhibit commonalities and distinctions from mammalian circles. Notably, Drosophila circular RNAs harbor >1,000 well-conserved canonical miRNA seed matches, especially within coding regions, and codingmore » conserved miRNA sites reside preferentially within circularized exons. Finally, we analyze the developmental and tissue specificity of circular RNAs and note their preferred derivation from neural genes and enhanced accumulation in neural tissues. Interestingly, circular isoforms increase substantially relative to linear isoforms during CNS aging and constitute an aging biomarker.« less

Phenol homeostasis is ensured in vanilla fruit by storage under solid form in a new chloroplast-derived organelle, the phenyloplast

PubMed Central

Conéjéro, Geneviève

2014-01-01

A multiple cell imaging approach combining immunofluorescence by confocal microscopy, fluorescence spectral analysis by multiphotonic microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy identified the site of accumulation of 4-O-(3-methoxybenzaldehyde) β-d-glucoside, a phenol glucoside massively stockpiled by vanilla fruit. The glucoside is sufficiently abundant to be detected by spectral analysis of its autofluorescence. The convergent results obtained by these different techniques demonstrated that the phenol glucoside accumulates in the inner volume of redifferentiating chloroplasts as solid amorphous deposits, thus ensuring phenylglucoside cell homeostasis. Redifferentiation starts with the generation of loculi between thylakoid membranes which are progressively filled with the glucoside until a fully matured organelle is obtained. This peculiar mode of storage of a phenolic secondary metabolite is suspected to occur in other plants and its generalization in the Plantae could be considered. This new chloroplast-derived organelle is referred to as a ‘phenyloplast’. PMID:24683183

Phenol homeostasis is ensured in vanilla fruit by storage under solid form in a new chloroplast-derived organelle, the phenyloplast.

PubMed

Brillouet, Jean-Marc; Verdeil, Jean-Luc; Odoux, Eric; Lartaud, Marc; Grisoni, Michel; Conéjéro, Geneviève

2014-06-01

A multiple cell imaging approach combining immunofluorescence by confocal microscopy, fluorescence spectral analysis by multiphotonic microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy identified the site of accumulation of 4-O-(3-methoxybenzaldehyde) β-d-glucoside, a phenol glucoside massively stockpiled by vanilla fruit. The glucoside is sufficiently abundant to be detected by spectral analysis of its autofluorescence. The convergent results obtained by these different techniques demonstrated that the phenol glucoside accumulates in the inner volume of redifferentiating chloroplasts as solid amorphous deposits, thus ensuring phenylglucoside cell homeostasis. Redifferentiation starts with the generation of loculi between thylakoid membranes which are progressively filled with the glucoside until a fully matured organelle is obtained. This peculiar mode of storage of a phenolic secondary metabolite is suspected to occur in other plants and its generalization in the Plantae could be considered. This new chloroplast-derived organelle is referred to as a 'phenyloplast'. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

Plasma transfusion for patients with severe hemorrhage: what is the evidence?

PubMed

Callum, Jeannie L; Rizoli, Sandro

2012-05-01

The following review will detail the current knowledge in massive hemorrhage with regard to the pathophysiology of the coagulation disturbance, the role of plasma, the role of alternatives to plasma, and the clinical value of having a massive transfusion protocol. The coagulation disturbance in trauma patients is more than just the result of consumption of clotting factors at sites of injury and dilution from the infusion of intravenous fluids and red blood cells (RBCs). Even before substantial amounts of fluid resuscitation and RBC transfusion, one-quarter of trauma patients already have abnormal coagulation variables. There is an apparent role for the activation of protein C, hypofibrinogenemia, and fibrin(gen)olysis in the coagulation disturbance after trauma and massive hemorrhage. None of these three disturbances would be completely mitigated by the use of plasma alone, suggesting that there may be an opportunity to improve care of these patients with alternative strategies, such as fibrinogen concentrates and antifibrinolytics. Despite numerous retrospective cohort studies evaluating 1:1 plasma to RBC formula-driven resuscitation, the overall clinical value of this approach is unclear. Studies have even raised concerns regarding a potential increase in morbidity associated with this approach, particularly for patients overtriaged to 1:1 where a massive transfusion is unlikely. We also do not have sufficient evidence to recommend either goal-directed therapy with thromboelastography or early use of fibrinogen replacement, with either cryoprecipitate or fibrinogen concentrates. We have high-quality data that argue against the role for recombinant Factor VIIa that should prompt removal of this strategy from existing protocols. In contrast, we have high-level evidence that all bleeding trauma patients should receive tranexamic acid as soon as possible after injury. This therapy must be included in hemorrhage protocols. If we are to improve the care of massively bleeding patients on a firm scientific ground, we will need large-scale randomized trials to delineate the role of coagulation replacement and the utility of laboratory monitoring. But even until these trials are completed, it is clear that a massive transfusion protocol is needed in all hospitals that manage bleeding patients, to ensure a prompt and coordinated response to hemorrhage. © 2012 American Association of Blood Banks.

Organic Laboratory Experiments: Micro vs. Conventional.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chloupek-McGough, Marge

1989-01-01

Presents relevant statistics accumulated in a fall organic laboratory course. Discusses laboratory equipment setup to lower the amount of waste. Notes decreased solid wastes were produced compared to the previous semester. (MVL)

Health plans keeping drug cost increases in check with programs that promote generics.

PubMed

2002-07-01

To counter the massive amount of drug company detailing and marketing that is partly responsible for driving up pharmaceutical costs, health plans and some independent practice associations are promoting the use of generics to physicians in their networks. While most physicians in capitated contracts don't directly benefit from the movement to encourage generics unless they have pharmacy risk, some health plans are paying physicians financial incentives to increase generic prescribing.

Delivery of Fuel and Construction Materials to South Pole Station

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-07-01

AID-A270 431 Delivery of Fuel and Construction Materials to South Pole Station Stephen L. DenHartog and George L. Blaisdell July 993 DTIC ELECT S OCT...South Pole Station, ideally with minimal impact on the current science and operational program. The new station will require the delivery of massive...amounts of construction materials to this remote site. The existing means of delivering material and fuel to the South Pole include the use of specialized

Black Holes Collide

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-12-08

When two black holes collide, they release massive amounts of energy in the form of gravitational waves that last a fraction of a second and can be "heard" throughout the universe - if you have the right instruments. Today we learned that the #LIGO project heard the telltale chirp of black holes colliding, fulfilling Einstein's General Theory of Relativity. NASA's LISA mission will look for direct evidence of gravitational waves. go.nasa.gov/23ZbqoE This video illustrates what that collision might look like.

Probiotics as control agents in aquaculture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Geovanny D, Gómez R.; Balcázar, José Luis; Ma, Shen

2007-01-01

Infectious diseases constitute a limiting factor in the development of the aquaculture production, and control has solely concentrated on the use of antibiotics. However, the massive use of antibiotics for the control of diseases has been questioned by acquisition of antibiotic resistance and the need of alternative is of prime importance. Probiotics, live microorganisms administered in adequate amounts that confer a healthy effect on the host, are emerging as significant microbial food supplements in the field of prophylaxis.

A physical model of mass ejection in failed supernovae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coughlin, Eric R.; Quataert, Eliot; Fernández, Rodrigo; Kasen, Daniel

2018-06-01

During the core collapse of massive stars, the formation of the proto-neutron star is accompanied by the emission of a significant amount of mass energy (˜0.3 M⊙) in the form of neutrinos. This mass-energy loss generates an outward-propagating pressure wave that steepens into a shock near the stellar surface, potentially powering a weak transient associated with an otherwise-failed supernova. We analytically investigate this mass-loss-induced wave generation and propagation. Heuristic arguments provide an accurate estimate of the amount of energy contained in the outgoing sound pulse. We then develop a general formalism for analysing the response of the star to centrally concentrated mass loss in linear perturbation theory. To build intuition, we apply this formalism to polytropic stellar models, finding qualitative and quantitative agreement with simulations and heuristic arguments. We also apply our results to realistic pre-collapse massive star progenitors (both giants and compact stars). Our analytic results for the sound pulse energy, excitation radius, and steepening in the stellar envelope are in good agreement with full time-dependent hydrodynamic simulations. We show that prior to the sound pulses arrival at the stellar photosphere, the photosphere has already reached velocities ˜ 20-100 per cent of the local sound speed, thus likely modestly decreasing the stellar effective temperature prior to the star disappearing. Our results provide important constraints on the physical properties and observational appearance of failed supernovae.

Stellar Wind Retention and Expulsion in Massive Star Clusters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Naiman, J. P.; Ramirez-Ruiz, E.; Lin, D. N. C.

2018-05-01

Mass and energy injection throughout the lifetime of a star cluster contributes to the gas reservoir available for subsequent episodes of star formation and the feedback energy budget responsible for ejecting material from the cluster. In addition, mass processed in stellar interiors and ejected as winds has the potential to augment the abundance ratios of currently forming stars, or stars which form at a later time from a retained gas reservoir. Here we present hydrodynamical simulations that explore a wide range of cluster masses, compactnesses, metallicities and stellar population age combinations in order to determine the range of parameter space conducive to stellar wind retention or wind powered gas expulsion in star clusters. We discuss the effects of the stellar wind prescription on retention and expulsion effectiveness, using MESA stellar evolutionary models as a test bed for exploring how the amounts of wind retention/expulsion depend upon the amount of mixing between the winds from stars of different masses and ages. We conclude by summarizing some implications for gas retention and expulsion in a variety of compact (σv ≳ 20 kms-1) star clusters including young massive star clusters (105 ≲ M/M⊙ ≲ 107, age ≲ 500 Myrs), intermediate age clusters (105 ≲ M/M⊙ ≲ 107, age ≈ 1 - 4 Gyrs), and globular clusters (105 ≲ M/M⊙ ≲ 107, age ≳ 10 Gyrs).

Understanding Spatiotemporal Patterns of Biking Behavior by Analyzing Massive Bike Sharing Data in Chicago

PubMed Central

Zhou, Xiaolu

2015-01-01

The growing number of bike sharing systems (BSS) in many cities largely facilitates biking for transportation and recreation. Most recent bike sharing systems produce time and location specific data, which enables the study of travel behavior and mobility of each individual. However, despite a rapid growth of interest, studies on massive bike sharing data and the underneath travel pattern are still limited. Few studies have explored and visualized spatiotemporal patterns of bike sharing behavior using flow clustering, nor examined the station functional profiles based on over-demand patterns. This study investigated the spatiotemporal biking pattern in Chicago by analyzing massive BSS data from July to December in 2013 and 2014. The BSS in Chicago gained more popularity. About 15.9% more people subscribed to this service. Specifically, we constructed bike flow similarity graph and used fastgreedy algorithm to detect spatial communities of biking flows. By using the proposed methods, we discovered unique travel patterns on weekdays and weekends as well as different travel trends for customers and subscribers from the noisy massive amount data. In addition, we also examined the temporal demands for bikes and docks using hierarchical clustering method. Results demonstrated the modeled over-demand patterns in Chicago. This study contributes to offer better knowledge of biking flow patterns, which was difficult to obtain using traditional methods. Given the trend of increasing popularity of the BSS and data openness in different cities, methods used in this study can extend to examine the biking patterns and BSS functionality in different cities. PMID:26445357

Star formation induced by cloud-cloud collisions and galactic giant molecular cloud evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kobayashi, Masato I. N.; Kobayashi, Hiroshi; Inutsuka, Shu-ichiro; Fukui, Yasuo

2018-05-01

Recent millimeter/submillimeter observations towards nearby galaxies have started to map the whole disk and to identify giant molecular clouds (GMCs) even in the regions between galactic spiral structures. Observed variations of GMC mass functions in different galactic environments indicates that massive GMCs preferentially reside along galactic spiral structures whereas inter-arm regions have many small GMCs. Based on the phase transition dynamics from magnetized warm neutral medium to molecular clouds, Kobayashi et al. (2017, ApJ, 836, 175) proposes a semi-analytical evolutionary description for GMC mass functions including a cloud-cloud collision (CCC) process. Their results show that CCC is less dominant in shaping the mass function of GMCs than the accretion of dense H I gas driven by the propagation of supersonic shock waves. However, their formulation does not take into account the possible enhancement of star formation by CCC. Millimeter/submillimeter observations within the Milky Way indicate the importance of CCC in the formation of star clusters and massive stars. In this article, we reformulate the time-evolution equation largely modified from Kobayashi et al. (2017, ApJ, 836, 175) so that we additionally compute star formation subsequently taking place in CCC clouds. Our results suggest that, although CCC events between smaller clouds are more frequent than the ones between massive GMCs, CCC-driven star formation is mostly driven by massive GMCs ≳ 10^{5.5} M_{⊙} (where M⊙ is the solar mass). The resultant cumulative CCC-driven star formation may amount to a few 10 percent of the total star formation in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies.

The value of automated gel column agglutination technology in the identification of true inherited D blood types in massively transfused patients.

PubMed

Summers, Thomas; Johnson, Viviana V; Stephan, John P; Johnson, Gloria J; Leonard, George

2009-08-01

Massive transfusion of D- trauma patients in the combat setting involves the use of D+ red blood cells (RBCs) or whole blood along with suboptimal pretransfusion test result documentation. This presents challenges to the transfusion service of tertiary care military hospitals who ultimately receive these casualties because initial D typing results may only reflect the transfused RBCs. After patients are stabilized, mixed-field reaction results on D typing indicate the patient's true inherited D phenotype. This case series illustrates the utility of automated gel column agglutination in detecting mixed-field reactions in these patients. The transfusion service test results, including the automated gel column agglutination D typing results, of four massively transfused D- patients transfused D+ RBCs is presented. To test the sensitivity of the automated gel column agglutination method in detecting mixed-field agglutination reactions, a comparative analysis of three automated technologies using predetermined mixtures of D+ and D- RBCs is also presented. The automated gel column agglutination method detected mixed-field agglutination in D typing in all four patients and in the three prepared control specimens. The automated microwell tube method identified one of the three prepared control specimens as indeterminate, which was subsequently manually confirmed as a mixed-field reaction. The automated solid-phase method was unable to detect any mixed fields. The automated gel column agglutination method provides a sensitive means for detecting mixed-field agglutination reactions in the determination of the true inherited D phenotype of combat casualties transfused massive amounts of D+ RBCs.

Liquid nitrogen ingestion leading to massive pneumoperitoneum without identifiable gastrointestinal perforation.

PubMed

Walsh, Mike J; Tharratt, Steven R; Offerman, Steven R

2010-06-01

Liquid nitrogen (LN) ingestion is unusual, but may be encountered by poison centers, emergency physicians, and general surgeons. Unique properties of LN produce a characteristic pattern of injury. A 19-year-old male college student presented to the Emergency Department complaining of abdominal pain and "bloating" after drinking LN. His presentation vital signs were remarkable only for mild tachypnea and tachycardia. On physical examination, he had mild respiratory difficulty due to abdominal distention. His abdomen was tense and distended. Abdominal X-ray studies revealed a massive pneumoperitoneum. At laparotomy, he was found to have a large amount of peritoneal gas. No perforation was identified. After surgery, the patient made an uneventful recovery and was discharged 5 days later. At 2-week clinic follow-up, he was doing well without complications. Nitrogen is a colorless, odorless gas at room temperature. Due to its low boiling point (-195 degrees C), LN rapidly evaporates when in contact with body surface temperatures. Therefore, ingested LN causes damage by two mechanisms: rapid freezing injury upon mucosal contact and rapid volume expansion as nitrogen gas is formed. Patients who ingest LN may develop gastrointestinal perforation and massive pneumoperitoneum. Because rapid gas formation may allow large volumes to escape from tiny perforations, the exact site of perforation may never be identified. In cases of LN ingestion, mucosal injury and rapid gas formation can cause massive pneumoperitoneum. Although laparotomy is recommended for all patients with signs of perforation, the site of injury may never be identified. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Understanding Spatiotemporal Patterns of Biking Behavior by Analyzing Massive Bike Sharing Data in Chicago.

PubMed

Zhou, Xiaolu

2015-01-01

The growing number of bike sharing systems (BSS) in many cities largely facilitates biking for transportation and recreation. Most recent bike sharing systems produce time and location specific data, which enables the study of travel behavior and mobility of each individual. However, despite a rapid growth of interest, studies on massive bike sharing data and the underneath travel pattern are still limited. Few studies have explored and visualized spatiotemporal patterns of bike sharing behavior using flow clustering, nor examined the station functional profiles based on over-demand patterns. This study investigated the spatiotemporal biking pattern in Chicago by analyzing massive BSS data from July to December in 2013 and 2014. The BSS in Chicago gained more popularity. About 15.9% more people subscribed to this service. Specifically, we constructed bike flow similarity graph and used fastgreedy algorithm to detect spatial communities of biking flows. By using the proposed methods, we discovered unique travel patterns on weekdays and weekends as well as different travel trends for customers and subscribers from the noisy massive amount data. In addition, we also examined the temporal demands for bikes and docks using hierarchical clustering method. Results demonstrated the modeled over-demand patterns in Chicago. This study contributes to offer better knowledge of biking flow patterns, which was difficult to obtain using traditional methods. Given the trend of increasing popularity of the BSS and data openness in different cities, methods used in this study can extend to examine the biking patterns and BSS functionality in different cities.

No obvious sympathetic excitation after massive levothyroxine overdose: A case report.

PubMed

Xue, Jianxin; Zhang, Lei; Qin, Zhiqiang; Li, Ran; Wang, Yi; Zhu, Kai; Li, Xiao; Gao, Xian; Zhang, Jianzhong

2018-06-01

Thyrotoxicosis from an overdose of medicinal thyroid hormone is a condition that may be associated with a significant delay in onset of toxicity. However, limited literature is available regarding thyrotoxicosis attributed to excessive ingestion of exogenous thyroid hormone and most cases described were pediatric clinical researches. Herein, we presented the course of a patient who ingested a massive amount of levothyroxine with no obvious sympathetic excited symptoms exhibited and reviewed feasible treatment options for such overdoses. A 41-year-old woman patient with ureteral calculus ingested a massive amount of levothyroxine (120 tablets, equal to 6 mg in total) during her hospitalization. Her transient vital signs were unremarkable after ingestion except for significantly accelerated breathing rate of 45 times per minute. Initial laboratory findings revealed evidently elevated serum levels of thyroxine (T4) >320 nmol/L, free triiodothyronine (fT3) 10.44 pmol/L, and free thyroxine (fT4) >100 pmol/L. The patient had a history of hypothyroidism, which was managed with thyroid hormone replacement (levothyroxine 100 μg per day). Besides, she also suffered from systemic lupus erythematosus and chronic pancreatitis. This is a case of excessive ingestion of exogenous thyroid hormone in an adult. The interventions included use propranolol to prevent heart failure; utilize hemodialysis to remove redundant thyroid hormone from blood; closely monitor the vital signs, basal metabolic rate, blood biochemical indicators, and serum levels of thyroid hormone. The woman had no obvious symptoms of thyrotoxicosis. After 4 weeks, the results of thyroid function indicated that serum thyroid hormone levels were completely recovered to pre-ingestion levels. Accordingly, the levothyroxine was used again as before. Adults often exhibit more severe symptoms after intaking overdose levothyroxine due to their complex medical history and comorbidities than children. As for them, hemodialysis should be considered as soon as possible. Besides, diverse treatments according to specific symptoms and continuously monitoring were indispensable.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hershkovitz, N.; Oren, A.; Cohen, Y.

The drought-resistant cyanobacteria Phormidium autumnale, strain LPP{sub 4}, and a Chroococcidiopsis sp. accumulated trehalose, sucrose, and both trehalose and sucrose, respectively, in response to matric water stress. Accumulated sugar concentrations reached values of up to 6.2 {mu}g of trehalose per {mu}g of chlorophyll in P. autumnale, 6.9 {mu}g of sucrose per {mu}g of chlorophyll in LPP{sub 4}, and 4.1 {mu}g of sucrose and 3.2 {mu}g of trehalose per {mu}g of chlorophyll in the Chroococcidiopsis sp. The same sugars were accumulated by these cyanobacteria in similar concentrations under osmotic water stress. Cyanobacteria that did not show drought resistance (Plectonema boryanum andmore » Synechococcus strain PCC 7942) did not accumulate significant amounts of sugars when matric water stress was applied.« less

The mystery of a supposed massive star exploding in a brightest cluster galaxy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hosseinzadeh, Griffin

2017-08-01

Most of the diversity of core-collapse supernovae results from late-stage mass loss by their progenitor stars. Supernovae that interact with circumstellar material (CSM) are a particularly good probe of these last stages of stellar evolution. Type Ibn supernovae are a rare and poorly understood class of hydrogen-poor explosions that show signs of interaction with helium-rich CSM. The leading hypothesis is that they are explosions of very massive Wolf-Rayet stars in which the supernova ejecta excites material previously lost by stellar winds. These massive stars have very short lifetimes, and therefore should only found in actively star-forming galaxies. However, PS1-12sk is a Type Ibn supernova found on the outskirts of a giant elliptical galaxy. As this is extraordinary unlikely, we propose to obtain deep UV images of the host environment of PS1-12sk in order to map nearby star formation and/or find a potential unseen star-forming host. If star formation is detected, its amount and location will provide deep insights into the progenitor picture for the poorly-understood Type Ibn class. If star formation is still not detected, these observations would challenge the well-accepted hypothesis that these are core-collapse supernovae at all.

Endoscopic management of massive mercury ingestion

PubMed Central

Zag, Levente; Berkes, Gábor; Takács, Irma F; Szepes, Attila; Szabó, István

2017-01-01

Abstract Rationale: Ingestion of a massive amount of metallic mercury was thought to be harmless until the last century. After that, in a number of cases, mercury ingestion has been associated with appendicitis, impaired liver function, memory deficits, aspiration leading to pneumonitis and acute renal failure. Treatment includes gastric lavage, giving laxatives and chelating agents, but rapid removal of metallic mercury with gastroscopy has not been used. Patient concerns: An 18-year-old man was admitted to our emergency department after drinking 1000 g of metallic mercury as a suicide attempt. Diagnosis: Except from mild umbilical tenderness, he had no other symptoms. Radiography showed a metallic density in the area of the stomach. Intervention: Gastroscopy was performed to remove the mercury. One large pool and several small droplets of mercury were removed from the stomach. Outcomes: Blood and urine mercury levels of the patient remained low during hospitalization. No symptoms of mercury intoxication developed during the follow-up period. Lessons: Massive mercury ingestion may cause several symptoms, which can be prevented with prompt treatment. We used endoscopy to remove the mercury, which shortened the exposure time and minimized the risk of aspiration. This is the first case where endoscopy was used for the management of mercury ingestion. PMID:28562544

[NEII] Line Velocity Structure of Ultracompact HII Regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Okamoto, Yoshiko K.; Kataza, Hirokazu; Yamashita, Takuya; Miyata, Takashi; Sako, Shigeyuki; Honda, Mitsuhiko; Onaka, Takashi; Fujiyoshi, Takuya

Newly formed massive stars are embedded in their natal molecular clouds and are observed as ultracompact HII regions. They emit strong ionic lines such as [NeII] 12.8 micron. Since Ne is ionized by UV photons of E>21.6eV which is higher than the ionization energy of hydrogen atoms the line probes the ionized gas near the ionizing stars. This enables to probe gas motion in the vicinity of recently-formed massive stars. High angular and spectral resolution observations of the [NeII] line will thus provide siginificant information on structures (e.g. disks and outflows) generated through massive star formation. We made [NeII] spectroscopy of ultracompact HII regions using the Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectrometer (COMICS) on the 8.2m Subaru Telescope in July 2002. Spatial and spectral resolutions were 0.5"" and 10000 respectively. Among the targets G45.12+0.13 shows the largest spatial variation in velocity. The brightest area of G45.12+0.13 has the largest line width in the object. The total velocity deviation amounts to 50km/s (peak to peak value) in the observed area. We report the velocity structure of [NeII] emission of G45.12+0.13 and discuss the gas motion near the ionizing star.

Cadmium chemical speciation and absorption in plant in a polluted soil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gigliotti, Giovanni; Massaccesi, Luisa

2013-04-01

Cadmium is a very toxic heavy metal presents in nature in small amounts, with an average content of 0.2 mg kg-1 in the geosphere. Nonetheless, anthropogenic activities such as industrial processes, large use of phosphate fertilizers and sewage sludge disposals may determine a massive accumulation of Cd in soil. Cd is considered a particularly interesting heavy metal as it can be accumulated by plants to levels that can be toxic to humans and animals, when consumed even in minor amounts. The aim of the present work was to study in a soil polluted with Cd for a long time i) the distribution of Cd in different chemical fractions by means of a sequential extraction procedure; ii) the adsorption of Cd by plants grown in this polluted soil; iii) the change in the distribution of Cd in the soil fractions possibly due to root exudates after plant growing. The chemical fractionation procedure used involved the following forms: a) exchangeable, b) bound to carbonates, c) bound to Fe-Mn oxides and hydroxides, d) bound to organic matter, e) residual part. The following reagents and extraction times were applied: a) 1 M CH3COONa (1:10, w/v; pH 8.2) for 16 h at room temperature; b) 0,1 M CH3COOH for 16 h at room temperature; c) 0,1 M NH2OH•HCl (1:10, w/v; adjusted to pH 2.0 with HNO3) for 16 h at room temperature; d) 30% H2O2 (adjusted to pH 2.0 with HNO3) at 85 °C, followed by extraction with 1 M CH3COONH4 (1:10, w/v; adjusted to pH 2.0 with HNO3) for 16 h at room temperature; e) acid digestion with concentrated HNO3 and 30% H2O2 for residue fraction. Festuca seeds were germinated in the contaminated soil in plastic flats and non-contaminated soil. After two days the seedling were submitted to day/night conditions. The seedlings were collected 6 weeks after seeding and divided in roots and shoots and analysed for Cd concentration. The polluted soil has average Cd content of 200 mg kg-1, instead, the Cd content in the same unpolluted soil was about 0.44 mg kg-1. The speciation results showed that a significant amount of Cd (45%), before plant seeding, was associated with the metal oxide fraction (typically Fe-Mn oxides and hydroxides) followed to Cd bound to soil organic matter (39%), despite the content of organic matter in the soil was very low. Instead the amount of Cd bound to carbonates (13%), exchangeable phase (1%) and residue fraction (2.5%) were negligible. After six weeks of plant seeding the Cd fractionation was slightly different, with a decrease of metal bound to oxide and hydroxide from 45% to 29% and an increase of fraction bound to carbonate from 13% to 19% and exchangeable fraction from 1% to 8%. The roots system of Festuca had colonized all pot and the fractionation of metal was disturbed by plants growth. Roots may induce changes in the biochemical, chemical and physical properties of the rhizosphere increasing potentially toxic elements diffusion through the production of roots exudates. The soil environment immediately adjacent to the root can be strongly influenced by root exudates, so that chemical process of dissolution, chelation and precipitation outside the root also occur. Cd was absorbed by plant root in a great concentration, but not translocation to leafs was noticed.

Differential effects of citric acid on cadmium uptake and accumulation between tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass.

PubMed

Wang, ShuTing; Dong, Qin; Wang, ZhaoLong

2017-11-01

Organic acids play an important role in cadmium availability, uptake, translocation, and detoxification. A sand culture experiment was designed to investigate the effects of citric acid on Cd uptake, translocation, and accumulation in tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. The results showed that two grass species presented different Cd chemical forms, organic acid components and amount in roots. The dormant Cd accumulated in roots of tall fescue was the pectate- and protein- integrated form, which contributed by 84.85%. However, in Kentucky bluegrass, the pectate- and protein- integrated Cd was only contributed by 35.78%, and the higher proportion of Cd form was the water soluble Cd-organic acid complexes. In tall fescue, citric acid dramatically enhanced 2.8 fold of Cd uptake, 3 fold of root Cd accumulation, and 2.3 fold of shoot Cd accumulation. In Kentucky bluegrass, citric acid promoted Cd accumulation in roots, but significantly decreased Cd accumulation in shoots. These results suggested that the enhancements of citric acid on Cd uptake, translocation, and accumulation in tall fescue was associated with its promotion of organic acids and the water soluble Cd-organic acid complexes in roots. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wolf, B.A.; Easom, R.A.; Hughes, J.H.

Diacylglycerol accumulation has been examined in secretagogue-stimulated pancreatic islets with a newly developed negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometric method. The muscarinic agonist carbachol induces islet accumulation of diacylglycerol rich in arachidonate and stearate, and a parallel accumulation of {sup 3}H-labeled diacylglycerol occurs in carbachol-stimulated islets that had been prelabeled with ({sup 3}H)glycerol. Islets so labeled do not accumulate {sup 3}H-labeled diacylglycerol in response to D-glucose, but D-glucose does induce islet accumulation of diacylglycerol by mass. This material is rich in palmitate and oleate and contains much smaller amounts of arachidonate. Neither secretagogue influences triacylglycerol labeling, and neither induces releasemore » of ({sup 3}H)choline or ({sup 3}H)phosphocholine from islets prelabeled with ({sup 3}H)choline. These observations indicate that the diacylglycerol that accumulates in islets in response to carbachol arises from hydrolysis of glycerolipids, probably including phosphoinositides. The bulk of the diacylglycerol which accumulates in response to glucose does not arise from glycerolipid hydrolysis and must therefore reflect de novo synthesis. The endogenous diacylglycerol which accumulates in secretagogue-stimulated islets may participate in insulin secretion because exogenous diacylglycerol induces insulin secretion from islets, and an inhibitor of diacylglycerol metabolism to phosphatidic acid augments glucose-induced insulin secretion.« less

Transition from marine deep slope deposits to evaporitic facies of an isolated foreland basin: case study of the Sivas Basin (Turkey)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pichat, Alexandre; Hoareau, Guilhem; Legeay, Etienne; Lopez, Michel; Bonnel, Cédric; Callot, Jean-Paul; Ringenbach, Jean-Claude

2017-04-01

The Sivas Basin, located in the central part of the Anatolian Plateau in Turkey, formed after the closure of the northern Neotethys from Paleocene to Pliocene times. It developed over an ophiolitic basement obducted from the north during the Late Cretaceous. During Paleocene to Eocene times, the onset of the Tauride compression led to the development of a foreland basin affected by north-directed thrusts. The associate general deepening of the basin favored the accumulation of a thick marine turbiditic succession in the foredeep area, followed by a fast shallowing of the basin and thick evaporitic sequence deposition during the late Eocene. We present here the detailed sedimentological architecture of this flysch to evaporite transition. In the northern part of the basin, volcanoclastic turbidites gradually evolved into basinal to prodelta deposits regularly fed by siliciclastic material during flood events. Locally (to the NE), thick-channelized sandstones are attributed to the progradation of delta front distributary channels. The basin became increasingly sediment-starved and evolved toward azoic carbonates and shaly facies, interlayered with organic-rich shales before the first evaporitic deposits. In the southern part of the basin, in the central foredeep, the basinal turbidites become increasingly gypsum-rich and record a massive mega-slump enclosing olistoliths of gypsum and of ophiolitic rocks. Such reworked evaporites were fed by the gravitational collapsing of shallow water evaporites that had previously precipitated in silled piggy-back basins along the southern fold-and-thrust-belt of the Sivas Basin. Tectonic activity that led to the dismantlement of such evaporites probably also contributed to the closure of the basin from the marine domain. From the north to the south, subsequent deposits consist in about 70 meters of secondary massive to fine-grained gypsiferous beds interpreted as recording high to low density gypsum turbidites. Such facies were probably fed from shallow water evaporitic platforms developing contemporaneously along the borders of the halite-? and gypsum-saturated basin. Finally, the reworked evaporites are sealed by a thick (> 100 m) chaotic and coarse crystalline gypsum mass, carrying folded rafts and boudins of carbonate and gypsum beds. Such unit is interpreted as a gypsiferous caprock resulting from the leaching of significant amount of halite deposits. Gypsum crystals are secondary and grew from the hydration of anhydrite grains left as a residual phase after the leaching of halite. The halite probably formed in a perennial shallow hypersaline basin fed in solute by marine seepages. This former halite sequence is interpreted to have triggered mini-basin salt tectonics during the Oligo-Miocene. The described facies and proposed scenario of the Tuzhisar Formation in the central part of the Sivas Basin may find analogies with other Central Anatolian Basins (e.g. the Ulukisla Basin) or with other basin-wide salt accumulations in the world (e.g. in the Carpathian Foredeep).

Acetyl-CoA synthetase is activated as part of the PDH-bypass in the oleaginous green alga Chlorella desiccata

PubMed Central

Avidan, Omri; Pick, Uri

2015-01-01

In a recent study, it has been shown that biosynthesis of triacylglycerol (TAG) in the oleaginous green alga Chlorella desiccata is preceded by a large increase in acetyl-coenzyme A (Ac-CoA) levels and by upregulation of plastidic pyruvate dehydrogenase (ptPDH). It was proposed that the capacity to accumulate high TAG critically depends on enhanced production of Ac-CoA. In this study, two alternative Ac-CoA producers—plastidic Ac-CoA synthase (ptACS) and ATP citrate lyase (ACL)—are shown to be upregulated prior to TAG accumulation under nitrogen deprivation in the oleaginous species C. desiccata, but not in the moderate TAG accumulators Dunaliella tertiolecta and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Measurements of endogenous acetate production and of radiolabelled acetate incorporation into lipids are consistent with the upregulation of ptACS, but suggest that its contribution to the overall TAG biosynthesis is negligible. Induction of ACS and production of endogenous acetate are correlated with activation of alcohol dehydrogenase, suggesting that the upregulation of ptACS is associated with activation of PDH-bypass in C. desiccata. It is proposed that activation of the PDH-bypass in C. desiccata is needed to enable a high rate of lipid biosynthesis under nitrogen deprivation by controlling the level of pyruvate reaching ptPHD and/or mtPDH. This may be an important parameter for massive TAG accumulation in microalgae. PMID:26357883

Acetyl-CoA synthetase is activated as part of the PDH-bypass in the oleaginous green alga Chlorella desiccata.

PubMed

Avidan, Omri; Pick, Uri

2015-12-01

In a recent study, it has been shown that biosynthesis of triacylglycerol (TAG) in the oleaginous green alga Chlorella desiccata is preceded by a large increase in acetyl-coenzyme A (Ac-CoA) levels and by upregulation of plastidic pyruvate dehydrogenase (ptPDH). It was proposed that the capacity to accumulate high TAG critically depends on enhanced production of Ac-CoA. In this study, two alternative Ac-CoA producers-plastidic Ac-CoA synthase (ptACS) and ATP citrate lyase (ACL)-are shown to be upregulated prior to TAG accumulation under nitrogen deprivation in the oleaginous species C. desiccata, but not in the moderate TAG accumulators Dunaliella tertiolecta and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Measurements of endogenous acetate production and of radiolabelled acetate incorporation into lipids are consistent with the upregulation of ptACS, but suggest that its contribution to the overall TAG biosynthesis is negligible. Induction of ACS and production of endogenous acetate are correlated with activation of alcohol dehydrogenase, suggesting that the upregulation of ptACS is associated with activation of PDH-bypass in C. desiccata. It is proposed that activation of the PDH-bypass in C. desiccata is needed to enable a high rate of lipid biosynthesis under nitrogen deprivation by controlling the level of pyruvate reaching ptPHD and/or mtPDH. This may be an important parameter for massive TAG accumulation in microalgae. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

Pharmacological modulation of lipopolysaccharide-induced pleural eosinophilia in the rat; a role for a newly generated protein.

PubMed

Bozza, P T; Castro-Faria-Neto, H C; Martins, M A; Larangeira, A P; Perales, J E; e Silva, P M; Cordeiro, R S

1993-06-01

Intrathoracic injection of endotoxin lipopolysaccharide, LPS into rats induced a dose-dependent increase in the number of eosinophils recovered from the pleural cavity. The pleural eosinophil accumulation peaked within 24-48 h, and returned to basal levels within 120 h. This phenomenon was accompanied by mononuclear cell infiltration, and preceded by massive neutrophil accumulation. Pretreatment with indomethacin, BW 755C (a dual cyclo/lipoxygenase inhibitor), BW A4C (a specific lipoxygenase inhibitor) or the platelet activating factor (PAF) antagonists WEB 2086 and PCA 4248 failed to inhibit the endotoxin-induced pleural eosinophilia, whilst dexamethasone (5-10 micrograms/cavity) or cycloheximide (14-28 micrograms/cavity) abolished this phenomenon. Transfer of the cell-free pleural washing from LPS-treated donor rats to normal recipient rats led to a two-fold increase in the eosinophil counts. Treatment of donors, but not recipients, with cycloheximide or dexamethasone inhibited the eosinophil accumulation induced by the pleural washings, indicating that the generation of the eosinophilotactic activity, but not its effects, depends on protein synthesis. This eosinophilotactic activity was maintained after lyophilization and heating (100 degrees C for 30 min), but was destroyed by trypsin. This substance has a molecular weight ranging between 10 and 50 kDa. The available data suggest that the late eosinophil accumulation induced by LPS is independent of arachidonic acid metabolites and PAF, and probably depends on a newly generated heat-stable soluble protein.